Chapter 095 Taizhou Lou Family
Lou Qing's home was very dilapidated. Chen Cao's first reaction when he stepped in was that he thought of Song Che's home. It was cramped and the tea served was just powdered tea. If the Linhai County Magistrate who was accompanying him had not ordered someone to prepare it, Chen Cao would They all couldn't stop talking.
"This is Lou Qing." The old village chief pointed to Chen Cao respectfully.
Chen Cao put down his tea cup, looked at the honest and courteous middle-aged man in front of him, and said with a smile: "Is this the heir of former Yunnan Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lou Nan?"
There was Lou Nan in Loujia Village, and Lou Qing was really the only descendant of Lou Nan's family. Seeing this young imperial envoy, Lou Qing bowed to Chen Cao in a polite manner: "Lou Qing, a common man , I have met the imperial envoy Lord Dingwu Bo."
When Lou Nan and his eldest son were beheaded, Lou Qing was only fifteen years old. After all, he came from a wealthy family and had learned all the etiquette of meeting people. Chen Cao was a little surprised: "I didn't know there were other people in Mr. Lou's family besides you. nobody else?"
The rules of the Ming Dynasty were very strict, and ordinary people were very particular when meeting officials. Especially for noble officials of Chen Cao's level, they had to kneel when asked to kneel without consent. They could never stand up after a salute.
Obviously, Chen Cao forgot to ask Lou Qing to get up, so Lou Qing knelt down and replied: "If I return to the imperial envoy Ding Wu Bo, my father will only have a commoner left."
"How old are you this year?"
"When this year is over, the grassroots will be fifty." Lou Qing still lowered his head.
Only then did Chen Cao realize that Renlou Qing was still kneeling, so he said, "Get up. I see that you are in good health at fifty, but do you have martial arts passed down from your family?"
Lou Nan was very good at fighting. Before he met Qi Jiguang, he served in the army at Shanhaiguan and fought against the Mongols. Naturally, his descendants also have some skills.
Lou Qing stood up and bowed: "The common people have some martial arts passed down from their families, but they haven't practiced it for many years, so they only taught it to the brat in the family."
"Okay, I will speak frankly about the purpose of coming here. I have been ordered by the Holy Emperor." Chen Cao raised his hand towards the north: "Form up a new army to fight against the Tatars. I came to Zhejiang specifically to recruit generals at all levels from the Qi family army. I think Qi Shaobao has good military training, and all the generals under his command should be able to learn a lot of battle formations. Now that you are fifty, I will naturally not force you to join the army. I came here this time just to let your son Lou Xingye joins the army, I wonder what Brother Lou wants?"
Lou Qing shuddered and knelt down without thinking: "For being able to win the admiration of Imperial Envoy Uncle Dingwu, I would like to thank Uncle Dingwu for his kindness on behalf of that bastard."
"Where is your son Lou Xingye?" Xin Zhao asked.
"Master is here..." Lou Xingye shouted at the gate. He heard that someone from the county was looking for him. He thought that being reported about his beating would inevitably affect his family, so he hurried back.
However, the scene in front of him was very horrifying. Outside the courtyard of his home were the county government officials, and the courtyard was filled with guards with swords in colorful costumes. His old father was kneeling in front of a young man in a python robe.
"Dad..." Lou Xingye hurriedly ran into the yard. Seeing this situation, he hurriedly knelt in front of Chen Cao: "Little Lou Xingye, Huang Si from the next village was injured by me, and he has nothing to do with my father. Please be careful and don’t implicate him.”
"He is a daring guy." Chen Cao nodded appreciatively: "Your clothes are not suitable for your figure. How about wearing a standard armor?"
Lou Xingye raised his head and didn't know what he was talking about. Lou Qing slapped him on the back of the head: "Asshole, this is Uncle Dingwu, the imperial envoy. He came to see you at home and asked you to go to the military camp on errands. I've already accepted it for you, so hurry up. Thank you Uncle Dingwu?"
Lou Nan was involved in many things when he was beheaded. The most annoying thing is that his family has plummeted from a wealthy family to a commoner. It is also stipulated that his children are not allowed to practice literature and martial arts. They have been farmers for generations. Now that there is this opportunity, who doesn't want to take it quickly? What's more, It's Lou Xingye.
When Lou Xingye heard this, he grinned and said: "I have been learning the kung fu taught by my grandfather since I was a child. I wish I could serve the country. I wanted to join the army several times but couldn't because of my grandfather's affairs. Now I have to thank Uncle Wu for his kindness. I wish I could serve the country." I burst into tears of gratitude, and I am willing to give Wu Bo a horse and a horse."
"I don't want you to be in charge," Chen Cao smiled and shook his head: "Keep your skills and use them to fight the Tatars in Liaodong. What do you think?"
Lou Xingye's little chicken pecked at the rice: "I am willing...I am willing...Uncle Xie..."
"Uncle, I heard that Commander Lou's armor is enshrined in the ancestral hall of your Loujia Village?" Chen Cao looked at Lou Qing.
Lou Nan is the pride of the entire Lou family village, but because he was beheaded, the villagers were afraid of being implicated, so they moved his armor out of the ancestral hall. It was not until the first year of Taichang that it was moved back to the ancestral hall. Now it is also regarded as the pride of the Lou family. Worship in the ancestral hall.
"I often want to take my grandfather's armor back, but the old village chief said it belongs to Loujia Village and won't let me take it," Lou Xingye said carelessly.
Chen Cao stood up and clapped his hands: "Uncle Ben makes the decision. You take the armor of your ancestors and join the army with Uncle Ben."
Lou Xingye bowed again: "Uncle Xie Dingwu..."
Chen Cao walked around Loujia Village and then left with Lou Xingye. Then he ordered Zhao Xin to go to Yiwu immediately and summon the remaining generals and descendants of the Qi Army to come to Taizhou.
Three days later, Chen Cao finally met Gao Chong, who had come to report the news after a long journey.
"Uncle, I am fortunate to have fulfilled my duty..." Gao Chong handed over to Chen Cao: "I have compiled a lot of information in the past two months. After I arrived in Hangzhou, I summoned local investigators to inquire about the situation. There were indeed Japanese people, but they were not in large numbers. Most of them came to pay tribute and stayed. After that, my subordinates went to Jiaxing Prefecture and inquired for four days, but found nothing. However, in Hainingwei, I heard local fishermen talking about Ningbo. Many Japanese came to the government in those days, because after the Jiajing Japanese Rebellion, there were very few Japanese in Zhejiang, so those Japanese came quite suddenly;
So his subordinates led a team to Ningbo, separated more than a thousand people to search, and finally got the news in Dinghai County. "
Gao Chong handed a record to Chen Cao: "In Wangjiaji in the south of Dinghai County, according to the local Li Zheng, at the end of the 43rd year of Wanli, a ship from the East China Sea docked, and many Japanese people got off the ship. This group of people had weapons, and the local people thought they were Japanese pirates. As a result, this group of people performed at the Wangjia Festival, and their performances were novel, and the local people liked to watch them."
"It should be them..." Chen Cao frowned and nodded: "Then what?"
Gao Chong continued: "Ningbo Japanese Rebellion, Japanese pirates first attacked Dinghai County. People who often visited Wangjiaji said that this group of people left the same day the Japanese pirates came ashore and left their boat on the beach of Wangjiaji. The subordinates searched all the way to Baisha Village, and the local villagers also said that these Japanese people were dressed in Ming Dynasty clothes, but Ming Dynasty's speech was stammering, just like the Japanese."
Chen Cao suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Xin Zhao: "Isn't Zhang Chunyao's home in Dinghai County? Where is she now?"
Zhao Xin rolled his eyes and held up his hands: "According to my uncle's instructions, I sent someone from the Hundred Household Office to escort Mrs. Zhang back to her hometown. It is indeed in Dinghai County. My uncle forgot that Mrs. Zhang's father was the former magistrate of Dinghai County. ?”
Chen Cao's heart trembled, and he suddenly remembered something, and his heart sank. Then he thought it couldn't be such a coincidence, but he still felt a little uncomfortable, so he said, "Send someone to remind you. When will Mrs. Zhang come over?"
"I'll take care of it now. Uncle, is it possible that my wife is related to them?" Zhao Xin asked tentatively.
Chen Cao shook his head gently: "I don't think...it won't..." After saying that, he looked at Gao Chong and continued.
"This group of people went all the way south from Shaoxing Prefecture, as far as Fujian, and then went north from Jianning Prefecture in Fujian to Chuzhou, Jinhua, and finally came to Taizhou..."
"Just in Taizhou?" Chen Cao frowned?
Gao Chong nodded: "It's absolutely true. In the Yuehua Mountain, ten miles north of Yuexi Town under the jurisdiction of Ninghai County, it's called Yue'aoping. My subordinate personally pretended to be a salesman and went to check it out. The village cluster is very large. There are also Han Chinese. According to visual inspection, there are at least 300 people in this group. My subordinate met an old hunter who had lived in Yue'aoping for a long time. He talked with him and said that this group of people moved here in the 46th year of Wanli. More than six years.”
"Are there any particularly valuable clues?" Chen Cao looked through the records in his hand.
"Yes..." Gao Chong carefully took off a brocade bag and took out a copper coin: "Uncle, please take a look."
Chen Cao took the copper coin and when he saw the words on it, his heart skipped a beat: "How did it come about?"
"My subordinates pretended to be merchants and bartered with them. They had very little money and basically exchanged goods from the mountains. Before leaving, one of the Japanese children liked candied haws, so my subordinates used some tricks to get the goods."
"Did you lie?" Chen Cao was shocked.
Gao Chong nodded proudly: "Although this money is somewhat similar to the money I made in the Ming Dynasty, the printed words are different. In addition, these people are sneaky. I can think of this group of people based on my uncle's tips. This is the person my uncle is looking for."
"You bastard..." Chen Cao stood up and couldn't help but kicked Gao Chong: "Zhao Xin, immediately gather your troops and go to Yuexi with Ben Bo..."
Zhao Xin took the copper coin from Chen Cao's hand and said doubtfully: "Uncle, this one coin will make us go to war, right?"
"What do you know?" Chen Cao tried to calm himself down: "This 'Qingchang Tongbao' is a circulating coin minted by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the former Japanese generals who conquered barbarians. Our Ming Dynasty does not recognize their copper coins. They only recognized gold and silver, so whenever the Japanese paid tribute to me, the currency they brought was gold and silver. Even if they used copper coins, they would melt the copper coins and trade them directly with copper mines;
These people are so alert, they must know that you Gao Sheng defrauded them of a piece of money, I hope it's not too late for us to rush over now, otherwise..."
Upon hearing this, Gao Chong hurriedly handed over his hand: "Don't worry, uncle, my subordinates have scattered all the people from Qianhusuo around Yue'aoping. No matter where they go, their subordinates will be able to find them. Besides, Gao Chong," Chong chuckled: "In my uncle's name, my subordinates mobilized three Japanese settlements around Yuexi. More than two thousand people gathered on the road out of Yue'aoping. As long as they dared to run, they would be captured. "
Chen Cao glanced sideways at Gao Chong, and then looked at Xin Zhao: "Xin Zhao, you taught this guy his methods, right?"
Xin Zhao: "..."
