On the third day of March, Huojiazhuang in the west of Yonghe County.
This place is located at the junction of the two provinces, far away from the city, with no more than a hundred households, but when the spring is bright, the ancient cypresses in the mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, and the scenery is beautiful.
The land here was originally barren, and it was just barren mountains in the early days. A scholar named Huo purchased the land and led his servants to cultivate it and build pavilions.
Later, the scholar passed the examination and served as an official in the south for more than ten years. He returned to his hometown and settled here. He multiplied from generation to generation, and today's Huojiazhuang has emerged.
Up to now, the village has been handed down for six generations, and has produced two candidates and seven scholars. The highest, Mr. Huo, has been promoted to the sixth rank of Yangzhou Tongzhi. The year before last, he was promoted to the fifth rank of Ganzhou Tongzhi. But I heard that there The mine slaves were causing trouble, so he didn't take office.
What's more, this promotion is really meaningless, just like being demoted.
The official rank has been raised by two levels, but in fact, can the general magistrate of Yangzhou be the same as the tongzhi of Ganzhou?
Mr. Huo was an honest man. During his four years in Yangzhou, he had never committed any crime for a wealthy family. Except for the regular silver that everyone received from his subordinates, he never took anything else from him.
During his four years in Yangzhou, Mr. Huo did not allow anyone in his family to buy land. Every year, he transported 7,400 taels of regular silver and 65 taels of silver from his salary back to his hometown.
The number of routines is scary, but in Yangzhou, you can’t do without them.
This amount of money is reserved for subordinate officials in each county to hand over when collecting various types of money.
Below there are classics and histories from county magistrates to unofficial ones.
As for the fourth-rank magistrate, the fifth-rank co-prefect, the seventh-rank official, and even the low-ranking jailer in the prefect's yamen.
They already have it, why don't they send another copy to the capital?
Everyone has it, but you don’t want it?
Why don't you come to Yangzhou?
What's more, even if you don't want it, the people will still receive one tael from the court and two taels from the government.
Do you like it or not?
That's not Shanxi or Shaanxi. There's no one to fill the official positions. A county can count as having an official if it only has a master register of history.
Yangzhou Prefecture has a complete bureaucracy system, and even small subordinates can make people fight for their heads.
Thinking back to the years when he was an official in Yangzhou, Mr. Huo saw too much about gardening, visiting brothels, and buying skinny horses. He was obsessed with eating, drinking, and having fun.
Some people spend tens of thousands of taels to make gold foil, climb the gold mountain and scatter it in the wind, and let the people all over the city fight for it, just for a smile.
His age is not worth much in Yangzhou.
Mr. Huo didn't want to meet people when he returned to the small mountain village in Shanxi Province. His family said they wanted to buy a big yard in Fenzhou Prefecture, but he didn't agree, so he stubbornly lived in the mountains of Yonghe County.
Every day I look at the mountains and trees, eat, pee, drink and sleep.
Wealth, other people's wealth.
Sometimes I see other people earning three to five hundred taels, and I think that’s really awesome, and I have to work hard too.
Sometimes when I see others earning three to five million taels, I will doubt the world.
If you are used to seeing those things, you won't have much to live for in this life.
Even if you are materialistic, you will never earn that much money no matter what you do.
If you are worried about your family and country, no matter what you do, a sixth-grade official can't do anything about these things.
Suddenly, the son of the family ran up to the pavilion in the mountain. The heavy footsteps interrupted Mr. Huo's reverie: "I'm so panicked. I throw you again. What happened?"
The boy propped up his knees, lifted up his silk arrow sleeves and tied them to the hem. He wiped his sweat and said, "Dad, there are many people coming to the mountain, holding flags, drums, swords and guns. Many of them even wore the west side. Army cotton armor."
"Western frontier army?"
Mr. Huo was a little panicked. He looked down the mountain but saw no one. After taking a deep breath to calm down, he asked: "Is Fu Renxi in Yongheguan going crazy with hunger? If he wants money, just let him have twenty taels from the account. I'll turn around." Hand me a note, you bastard dares to come to your house with a knife and a gun, you don’t want to live anymore.”
"No, no, not General Fu, the commander of the Shaanxi frontier army."
The domestic servant couldn't explain clearly, so he could only point back and said, "Dad, please go down and take a look."
The laws of the Ming Dynasty stipulated the number of servants, so any extra servants were not called servants, but were adopted sons and daughters.
"Walk."
Mr. Huo didn't ask any more questions, took two steps back to the pavilion, picked up the wine bottle, and followed the servant down the mountain.
Walking halfway up the mountain and turning a corner, you can see the appearance of Huojiazhuang.
Huojiazhuang has a fort on the hill.
The year before last, Wang Ergang of Shaanxi rebelled against Sanyue, and construction of the fort began here. At least a letter was sent to Yangzhou and came back late. Then a four-square earth fence was built with loess, and the walls were high and thick.
The two villages where hundreds of households live scattered are located on the two hills outside Tuwei.
The dry-fed terraced fields on the mountain are lush and green, and the corn that has just grown a foot tall is planted there. When it is time to topdress, there are piles of manure everywhere in the field.
Mr. Huo didn't see anyone at first, but even if the servant didn't say anything, he could still get an idea of the situation from the extremely flustered look of the clan members in the village.
Farmers were driving their cars, sheep, cattle and horses towards the fort, and chickens were crowing and dogs were barking everywhere.
The younger generation who were studying in the clan also had bows, crossbows, knives and guns, and were led up the fort wall by their husbands.
Mr. Huo also hurried to the bunker, and then he saw the person coming.
First, more than ten people came from the mountain road, all dressed as pond riders, wearing light armor with bubble nails, iron helmets with the word "Yong" on their heads, and small flags of various colors on their backs, walking along the mountain road.
Each team formed a team of three people, either blocking the mountain road, occupying the fields, or bypassing the village fortress, and selected key points to climb up. Some people stood with bows and others raised flags to signal.
In the next moment, a dozen horsemen with spears and bows came up the slope, or a dozen people came out of the forest with cannons on their shoulders, or a Mara man from Guandao pushed a cannon.
When Mr. Huo boarded the fort, he saw hundreds of soldiers with guns and helmets in all directions, which made him tremble with fear.
The nephew of the tribe was used to being arrogant. He stepped forward and said, "This bunch of Qiu Ba, uncle, let me ask them what they want to do!"
"Forget it now. They are confident and not soldiers. Have you seen that flag?"
If the people who come are officers and soldiers, and if Mr. Huo is afraid at all, just ask him to stand on his head and walk to Zhangjiakou.
But it was obvious that these people were not soldiers. My nephew looked along and saw a red flag among the helmets and guns all over the mountains and plains, with a simple Liu character drawn out of gold thread.
"I'm afraid they are bandits from Qin."
"Qin is a land of thieves and bandits, and people suffering from drought and starvation?" The eldest nephew seemed to have seen a ghost: "Can't people suffering from drought and starvation look like this?"
"Of course the drought-hungry people don't look like this, but there is only one Liu in Qin, Liu Chengzong of Yan'an. He first killed the guerrillas and then the generals. It's a pity that the donated Hongyi cannon is not there."
There was no change in color on Mr. Huo's face. He took a sip from the wine bottle and patted his eldest nephew on the shoulder: "Don't leave the castle. Go and get the pipe from my room."
Get a pipe?
The eldest nephew looked reluctant, turned around and sent a servant, and then came back and asked: "Uncle, if this is not a soldier but a thief, what can we do?"
"Go down if I ask you to. What can I do? Let them surround me. There will be water and food but you won't starve to death. Don't keep wandering around me and lighting up the smoke."
The eldest nephew responded and ran down.
Mr. Huo was holding on to the battlements of the fortress wall. He tried his best with his arms but couldn't stop his legs from shaking. This man really couldn't control himself when he was afraid.
He said to himself that he was unwilling to build this fort back then, but now it seems that he may have to rely on this fort to save his life.
He really didn't want to practice it.
When I received the letter, Mr. Huo drank too much and was enjoying the snow in Slender West Lake.
I didn't even read the letter carefully. I just heard that the servant who delivered the letter said that I needed to build a fort at home and it was estimated that it would cost 600 taels.
Six hundred taels, I can't bear to part with it.
Officials like them in Yangzhou could not find their place at all.
All day long, there are salt merchants' children bringing food, drink and fun. They don't need to spend money wherever they go. They enjoy the best and spend money like water.
But on the other hand, these are all castles in the air. Who doesn't know that this illusion comes with power, and it will naturally go with power.
Who can bear to take his turn to take out money from his pocket, weigh up his salary, and then throw away ten years' salary at once?
But there was nothing I could do if I couldn't bear it. There was someone nearby, so I couldn't lose face, so I agreed to do this and built a fort in my hometown.
At that time, Mr. Huo never thought that this fort would come in handy one day.
But if you insist on saying that he is stingy, that is not the case.
Perhaps he felt guilty. When he heard that the Donglu invaded Jizhou last year, he threw out six hundred taels of silver on the spot and entrusted Zezhou craftsmen from the Weidiao Zezhou to donate one thousand catties of copper red barbarian cannons and one thousand five hundred catties of iron red barbarian cannons. Gate, intends to donate to the imperial court to equip Shanxi Guard reinforcements.
The same amount was six hundred taels. He threw these six hundred taels away without blinking an eye.
The gun price is actually not expensive.
The cost of labor and materials plus a little bonus for Commander Qiu Ba is the cost of a red barbarian cannon donated by Master Huo.
There is no added value of craftsmanship.
But the irony is that as long as the commander's benefits are enough, the enthusiasm of the craftsmen can be guaranteed, and there will be no problems with the craftsmanship.
It started in the Year of Tianqi, and it was popular these days to donate red cannons to the imperial court.
It has been cast by cannon and is being transported from Zezhou to this side.
There's nothing he can do if he doesn't transport it home. Damn Zhang Honggong and Geng Ruqi are both in jail. He just donates it to whom. He can't push the cannon to Beijing by himself.
Mr. Huo thought to himself, why didn't Hou Jin join the invaders earlier? If Hou Jin had joined the invaders earlier, he would have made cannons earlier, the emperor would have put Zhang Honggong and Geng Ruqi in jail earlier, and the red barbarians would have been able to enter the country earlier.
Although he did not have a skilled gunner, Mr. Huo did not dream of killing Liu Chengzong with one shot, but at least two heavy cannons were placed on the wall, which could frighten the thieves on the outside and boost their morale on the inside.
He knew about Liu Chengzong. Throughout the winter last year, the gentry visited relatives and friends and gathered together to enjoy the snow and mountains. The death of General Li Bei of Yan'an Prefecture on the way to take office was their biggest talking point.
One person will laugh secretly in his heart if he knows it, two people can exchange opinions if they know it, and three people can talk things through when they sit together.
Oh, it turns out that the guerrilla general Lu Cheng also died in the hands of Liu Chengzong.
This proved Liu Chengzong's strength from the side, but it did not prevent the scholars from sitting together and mocking Qiu Ba, with patriotic expressions of hatred on their faces.
Of course, the winter talk didn't stop Mr. Huo from trembling in his legs and about to urinate.
Just bragging, no one has this problem yet.
Mr. Huo was counting heads on the wall. As soon as he counted two hundred, someone, guarded by several shields, walked to the foot of the fort and loudly persuaded him to surrender.
Mr. Huo cursed with a trembling voice: "What the hell, you and other thieves are waiting. As soon as the imperial army arrives, this is where you will be buried!"
The hard energy returned to hard energy. He sniffed the pungent smell in his nose and looked back at the black smoke rising into the sky from the castle. He knew very well that the fate of their entire clan was no longer in their own hands.
It depends on when the Fenzhou Guard, Pingyang Guard and Yonghe Pass Guard Chief Fu Renxi and his gang will come first.
Fu Renxi came first.
In fact, to be precise, if the one-mile radius of this solid earth fortress is used as the boundary, Fu Renxi arrived a little earlier than Mr. Huo.
On the hill opposite the castle.
Liu Chengzong put down the wolf fur bowl on his head, put down the telescope, turned around and asked: "Brother Fu, is this the castle you are talking about?"
Fu Renxi was standing next to him, wearing a military uniform that was not as good as the Huo family's servants. His face was covered with a black scarf, his head bowed, he raised a finger to his mouth and whispered: "General, don't leave." Call me by my last name!”
He cursed in his heart. He was frightened to death the first time he did this, and Liu Chengzong even called him by his last name!
Later, these thieves asked the army to suppress them. If they capture a prisoner and question him, won't he be finished?
Seeing how careful he was, Liu Chengzong laughed out loud: "Then what should I call you?"
"Call me... call me a chest of gold."
This nickname is good, rich and noble.
Liu Chengzong came here entirely because of Fu Renxi.
He always thought that Chengyun was timid, but this guy was actually not timid at all, but he had never killed anyone.
He arranged the baggage outposts and work outposts for transportation in Yatou Mountain. I was responsible for repairing the fort and the transportation outposts were responsible for helping. I also observed the movements of the Yongheguan garrison. If possible, we would contact each other to express feelings and talk about transporting supplies from Shanxi to Shaanxi in the future. thing.
Who would have thought that Liu Chengzong had just left the day before, and that night Chengyun entered Yonghe Pass by himself and went to have dinner with Fu Renxi.
One meal a night, a Huojiabao.
Liu Chengzong was furious when he found out about this and scolded Chengyun. Unexpectedly, this kid actually talked back, saying that it would be useless for Fu Renxi to kill him because he was afraid of what he would do.
But compare your feelings, Cheng Yun entered Yonghe Pass alone, in exchange for Fu Renxi daring to meet Liu Chengzong alone.
"This is the Baozi. Mr. Huo used to be the general magistrate of Yangzhou. He shipped two to thirty thousand taels of silver to his family every year. His family is definitely rich in this Baozi!"
"Two or thirty thousand taels, is it twenty thousand taels per year, or thirty thousand taels per year, have you seen it?"
Liu Chengzong could not believe the amount estimated by others. When he first bought the land in Liujiazhuang, Song Shouzhen and his gang asked for information, and some people said that there were tens of thousands taels in Heilong Mountain.
Without seeing it with one’s own eyes, who knows whether he has money or not?
"I didn't see it, but he must be rich. Last year he donated two red cannons to Shanxi. The cannons were probably just built in February."
Fu Renxi said: "What is the general's plan to surround him like this? Use cannons to bombard him!"
"What you said is very good, but don't rush to beat him first. We will surround him for two days."
"General, if you want to surround me, I won't be here to accompany you." Fu Renxi was still worried and said, "What about the promised money?"
"Don't worry, what I promised you will not change. Are you sure this bungalow has ten thousand taels?"
"I'm sure, there are definitely ten thousand taels. If you hadn't broken this fort, you would have bombarded me later!"
"Okay, then I'll ask the carrier to deliver one thousand taels later, five hundred taels for a box of gold, and five hundred taels to help me buy medicine. After everything is done, there will be 880 taels left to distribute to all the brothers in Guanli."
After saying that, Liu Chengzong nodded to Renxi, sent a team of people to escort him back, turned to look at Baozi again and smiled.
If he does not occupy Yonghe County and advance eastward, the Fenzhou Flag Guard Army in the north will cross the border and cut off his retreat.
This castle is very suitable, with a family of officials and a huge amount of money.
Let’s see now which one of Fenzhou Guard and Pingyang Guard will come.
Liu Chengzong took a deep breath and thought, it doesn't matter if they are all cowards.
Then I'll wait for those two cannons.
