Chapter 22 Possessed by Evil
Luo Yonghao's uncanny calculations and ease of control in Yulin Mansion impressed everyone.
Of course, the one who felt the deepest impression was Guan Shengyun, who originally planned to run away like a lost dog. He knew very well that there were only two possibilities for the final outcome: either he was starved to death in the mountains, or he was half-starved to death and was kidnapped by his men and sent to Yulin Mansion for a new life, and then was sent to the capital to be lynched in public. Unexpectedly, Master Luo was able to strategize, talk and laugh with ease, and save everyone from danger. Not only did he make a huge fortune, he also added countless equipment and supplies! As long as there is food, there are soldiers. Along the way, many bandits and fugitive refugees have been accommodated. The tribe has expanded to nearly 4,000 people! Therefore, Guan Shengyun had already determined in his heart that Master Luo was the reincarnation of Mr. Kong Ming. From then on, he obeyed what Master Luo said. Master Luo said he was going to attack Yan'an Prefecture, but Marshal Guan didn't say anything and led his troops southward.
Luo Yonghao said he had no choice but to go to Yan'an Mansion.
To the north of Yulin Prefecture is Shenmu County, which we just left. It is so poor that even a mouse can starve to death. Luo Zhixian will not go back even if he is beaten to death. To the west is Aoer Dusi. Even though the name is Dusi, the Ming Dynasty has no control over it. The border wall is the desert. In the era without machine guns, the Mongolian compatriots were not as good at singing and dancing as they are today. If they don’t come to rob you, you should burn incense. To the east is Taiyuan Prefecture. Shanxi’s significance to the capital of Shaanxi is not at all Fabi, almost every town is full of hard bones that can break teeth... Therefore, we can only go south - if we can run to Henan, the chance of survival will be much greater: that is the Central Plains, as long as we stand firm, Wuhua Tianbao's Nanzhili, Huguang, a land of plenty, and even Bashu, a self-contained corner of the land of abundance, are all within reach!
Although it is not as poor as Shenmu, Ansai County next to Yan'an Prefecture is not much better. Luo Yonghao had a good relationship with Chang Wenping, the magistrate of Ansai County, because they shared the same illness. As early as when the army was still in Yulin Prefecture, he wrote a letter in advance and asked Luo Shifan to send it in disguise. The day after receiving the letter, the family in Changzhi County hitched up a donkey cart and went back to their hometown in Jiangxi to "worship their ancestors." Changzhi County himself "discovered that a walnut tree that had been dead for many years actually bore fruit. It was so huge that it was clearly a sign of auspiciousness coming from heaven. It quickly ran to Yan'an Mansion to "bring good news".
The Holy Emperor has already banned local people from falsely claiming good fortune. Chang Wenping, who is about to reach the age of knowing destiny, suddenly began to believe in such nonsense. Could it be that he has been possessed by some evil spirit? Yu Shengliang, the prefect of Yan'an, naturally criticized a few words tactfully. Unexpectedly, Chang Wenping dared to talk back and repeatedly insisted on going to Beijing to announce the good news in person! Yu Shengliang was furious and scolded the guy bloody, saying he was possessed by an evil spirit and told him to get out. Chang Wenping was startled when he heard this, and then he fell ill and lay bedridden in the inn. It is said that I feel so weak that I even have a headache when I talk. However, my appetite is surprisingly good and I can’t have anything left to eat! Apparently, Lao Chang was possessed by something dirty. Magistrate Yu had no choice but to ask someone to go to Taihe Mountain in the east of the city to hire a Taoist priest to exorcise Changzhi County. Unexpectedly, just as the yellow paper was burning, Changzhi County jumped up from the bed, grabbed the peach wood sword and folded it into two pieces, followed closely. He picked up the incense burner and hit the Taoist priest on the head, then chased the poor Taoist priest two streets barefoot! Yu Shengliang was a little scared: Lao Chang was definitely possessed by the evil spirit, but fortunately it didn't happen in front of him. Obviously, this bright red official robe has restrained the evil heretics! In the past few days, I have been thinking about visiting an expert to slay the demon - because I have received a copy of the side report of Yulin Prefecture's "Great Victory", Yu Zhifu has never thought of other possibilities.
A few days later, Chang Wenping came to apologize. According to him, last night he dreamed of a golden-armored god with a beard and ringed eyes, who used a golden melon hammer to slam down the Tianling Cap. When he woke up in fright, he was sweating profusely and felt indescribably relaxed... Shengliang guessed that it was probably the old tree that had become spiritual over time and wanted to cause trouble in the capital. However, according to the five elements, water is the source of wood, and "people move living things and trees move dead." Obviously, this evildoer did not have enough virtue and left the place. After a few days I couldn't bear it anymore! Chang Wenping was so impressed by this conclusion. Then, the two of them were studying carefully which kind of immortal this golden-armored heavenly general was. Suddenly, they were informed that a large group of thieves seemed to have descended from the sky and had firmly established themselves in Ansai.
At first, Yu Shengliang refused to believe it, thinking that they might just be ordinary thieves and bandits. At best, their numbers were a bit too large - to be honest, there were only two, three, three or four hundred people, how could there be more? After a few days, as long as the soldiers and horses from all the prefecture and county guard posts around Yan'an Prefecture are mobilized, it is still possible to drive them away with a little effort. Until the personal guards who sent out a reconnaissance report were furious: the bandits really occupied Ansai County, and the flags were quite decent. They were definitely not ordinary bandits - well, ordinary bandits even had tattered clothes, but this group of people actually had Enough cloth to make a flag! Having a flag means there is command and training! Moreover, the soldiers and horses are strong and their morale is like a rainbow. Because they did not dare to enter the city, the exact number is unknown. However, after looking around four doors, there were still three to five thousand people!
Yu Shengliang was dumbfounded now: Are there three to five thousand thieves? And, well trained? These are not bandits or bandits, this is clearly a regular army! With such a scale, not to mention the small Yan'an Prefecture, the combined power of the Shaanxi Dusi Prefecture may not be able to deal with it!
Yu Shengliang convened a group of officials from Yan'an Prefecture and Chang Wenping, the magistrate of Ansai County who "happened" to be stranded, to discuss countermeasures. Everyone was waiting for their analysis: Qingyang Prefecture in the west has always been peaceful, Taiyuan Prefecture in Shanxi and Pingyang Prefecture in the east, Mengmen Pass, Pingguan Yonghe, Guan Xingde Pass, Ma Douguan and Pingdu Pass, these passes, even if Even the army has to fight for a while, and it is impossible to break through easily without making a sound. In the Yulin Guards of Yansui Town in the north, there was a large group of rogue bandits a while ago. Weren't they already defeated by Xiao Changhua, Wu Duogui and others? Hey, wait a minute! Everyone looked at each other, and then they knew something in their minds... They were all veterans who had been in the officialdom for many years. At this time, they still couldn't figure out the mystery. At their age, they were really like dogs. !
Yu Shengliang was so angry: "Xiao Qiushi (the nickname of Xiao Changhua) was so vicious! He diverted trouble to the east, manipulated thieves, turned defeat into victory, and lied about military intelligence... This, this, this is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor! I will definitely do it Join him!"
As soon as these words came out, there was a lot of scoldings in the government office, such as "join him", "the person named Xiao is too immoral", "the person named Xiao is a bastard"...
"Your Majesty, calm down, calm down. The person named Xiao deserves to die! However, I think that how to resist this bandit is a top priority. I also ask your Majesty to be wise." The speaker was Yan Wenlong, a fellow governor of Yan'an Mansion.
"How to resist?" The angry Magistrate Yu almost roared in response, "How do you resist? Our entire government, including the county officials, can we come up with 500 people with swords? Where is the Xiao thief in Yulin? In a frontier fortress, no matter how bad the thieves are at drinking soldiers' blood, there will always be three or five battalions, right? They won't resist, how can you teach Yu how to resist?"
General Judge Mo Hantao tentatively asked: "Sir, calm down. Master Yan is right! Since the Yulin Prefecture was unkind, then don't blame our Yan'an Prefecture for being unjust! Otherwise..." Stop here. After finishing his words, he looked meaningfully at Yu Shengliang and Yan Wenlong who were looking up.
Yan Wenlong glanced at Yu Shengliang and said slowly: "Master, I think that what Mo Tongpan said makes sense. There are thousands of thieves and bandits, and Yan'an Prefecture is definitely not an enemy! To the south is the important area of Xi'an Prefecture, the provincial capital. You must not lose anything. To the east, closing the Mengmen Gate and leveling the Pass is not our business in Shaanxi Province..."
"Absolutely not!" Although Yu Shengliang is a bit pedantic, he still has the idea of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country in his mind - otherwise, with his thirty years of involvement in officialdom, especially his qualifications that have been approved by the Imperial Academy, he would not be able to return home in his sixties. Become a fourth-grade magistrate in a poor place like Yan'an Prefecture. With a dark face, he said angrily: "Confucius said it was benevolence, Mencius said it was righteousness, what are we doing when we read the books of sages? We just die in danger to repay our father! How can we imitate Xiao Qiushi's ignorant behavior!"
Chang Wenping remained silent. First, the position is too low. The youngest here is also a magistrate from a sixth-grade prefecture. It is not his turn as a seventh-grade county magistrate to say anything. Secondly, he has ulterior motives, fearing that this "coincidence" of going to the capital at the same time will attract others' attention, and it will happen again. Got suspicious. But when I heard that Old Yutou wanted to risk his life, I felt really guilty when I thought that the old man sincerely wanted to find a Taoist priest to exorcise myself. He moved his buttocks, which were sitting on half of the chair. When he was about to speak, he didn't want Yan Wenlong to take the first seat. He couldn't help but said: "My lord, this matter needs to be considered in the long term! I am not greedy for life and afraid of death, but what's the use of waiting for death? If the thieves attack in large numbers, how sure do you think you can defend the city? As the saying goes, 'If you keep the green hills, you won't have to worry about not having firewood.' The lower official felt that although Xiao Qiushi deserved death, his approach... seemed to be something he could imitate..."
"No!" Yu Shengliang slapped the table, and his white goatee seemed to be sprouting. "Even if we are 20-30% sure, we must defend the city! I have made up my mind. Now that we have taken advantage of you, It is my duty to break my body into pieces to repay your kindness. When the thieves come, I will go to the city in person! We only need to defend for a few days, and reinforcements will arrive. When the time comes, we should cooperate with each other inside and outside, and annihilate them! The thieves are plotting to cause trouble for others. Don't mention it again!" At this point, a pair of dim yellow eyes glanced around the crowd in a sinister manner, "Otherwise, the national law is intact, so don't blame me for finding it difficult to remember my colleagues!"
When it came to this point, all the officials knew it and kept silent. However, everyone has their own little calculations in mind.
Next, Yan'an Prefecture entered the standard state of war of that era: the suspension bridges of various gates were pulled up, residents outside the city were forcibly brought into the city, their homes and crops were burned, porridge shacks were set up in the open spaces, and the rogues in the market Attracted by the two meals a day with the beggars, they received knives and sticks and went to the wall to help guard, and the night ban started early...
Yu Shengliang wrote an excerpt about participating in the Yulin Prefecture angrily. While sending a post horse to the capital, he also sent a letter of request for help to Xi'an Prefecture and Qingyang Prefecture. If nothing else happened, the two prefectures would then send letters to Hanzhong Prefecture. , Fengxiang, Pingliang, Gongchang, Jinglu and other distant government guards will relay military intelligence reports, and the Shaanxi Dusi Prefecture will issue military orders to mobilize soldiers and horses from all over the country to rush to Yan'an...
However, the facts proved that Yu Shengliang's so-called three-point certainty was still too optimistic - Yan'an Prefecture fell before the prefect's memorial was sent to the capital.
After Luo Shifan delivered the letter to Chang Wenping, he did not return in the direction of Suide. Instead, according to Master Luo's advance instructions, he joined Gu Baihua and more than ten people waiting outside Ansai City, and followed Chang Wenping in batches. Wen Ping sneaked into Yan'an Fucheng!
Chang Wenping, who had nothing to do, received a night patrol job, took a few prisoners, and patrolled the streets at night. Unexpectedly, on the next night when Yan'an Prefecture entered a state of war, to be precise, on the third night In the early morning of the same day, I bumped into Mr. Luo who was openly violating the ban on the street.
The people who sneaked into the city stayed in several different inns according to Master Luo's arrangement. They had been all over Yan'an City in the past few days. When Luo Yonghao was the magistrate of Shenmu County, he had long been known for the old man's temperament. According to the pre-planned plan, it would be good for Yan'an Prefecture to cooperate with Yulin Prefecture, but it was not realistic. Therefore, Master Luo had already thought of the night ban - - In a hurry, the street fence can only block the main street, but it is impossible to block all the alleys.
On the appointed date, everyone climbed over the wall and left the inn at around five o'clock, and then gathered together towards the north gate along the path they had been familiar with in the past few days. Although Luozhi County is extremely poor, Luo Shifan is considered to be a young master. He is full of clever ideas, bickers and has few opponents. However, his skill in stabbing people with a knife is really not good enough, so Guan Shengyun specially asked Gu Baihua to accompany him to protect him. With. These two were unlucky today. Streetblocks were suddenly erected on their original route at night. The road ahead was blocked, Luo Shifan simply pulled Gu Baihua directly onto the street. Not far away, a lantern with the word "Zhengtang" in big words on the top of the bowl turned around on the cross street. Chang Wenping rode a pony and took five or six people with him, and he bumped into it twice.
