In Gansu, there is a high platform guarding thousands of households and a camel city.
The sunset in the desert is still full, but when the long river dries up, the Camel City becomes even more lonely in the evening.
Strong winds swept through the yellow sand. This place was once the capital of Northern Liang and an important town in Hexi. But when the oasis faded and turned into a desert, the abandoned city wall that was more than half submerged became a natural camel circle, where merchants traveling from east to west stayed overnight.
The sound of camel bells was heard in the wind and sand. People unloaded goods and set up tents along the base of the city wall. Piles of bonfires were raised. The figure cast on the wall took off the turban that shielded the wind and sand, revealing the purple gold crown tied up in a bun.
Wang Ziyong touched the traces of swords and arrows on the wind-eroded city wall and fell into deep thought until the young man ran over and said, "Master, the camels are all rushing into the city. There won't be thieves here, right?"
Wang Ziyong laughed when he heard this, and then said solemnly: "Little master, in the northwest, the biggest thief king is your brother Lion. Are you still afraid of thieves?"
The young man took off his turban, revealing a face that looked like he was only thirteen or fourteen years old. He scratched his bald little round head, grinned stupidly, sat by the fire, opened the dry and hard sac, and ate a little bit of the water.
It's sixteen.
Wang Ziyong looked at the children beside him and grinned.
Compared with the mighty Liu Chengzong's westward marching army across the border, it was not so easy for Wang Ziyong to leave northern Shaanxi. Most of the elite soldiers who participated with him in aiding the Liao Dynasty stayed in Yan'an Prefecture and were unwilling to eat sand with him westward. .
Starting from Yan'an Prefecture, there were hundreds of people around, and they walked in fear all the way. When they went to Lanzhou to gather people, only thirty-two people arrived as promised.
It's not that he died, he didn't encounter any danger on the road, and he even ate well in Pingliang because of the help from Han Xiaowang and Gao Xian, but many people didn't want to work with him anymore.
Wang Ziyong thought to himself, if thirty-two of his people defected to Liu Chengzong, what status would he have? Not to mention competing with Zhang Tianlin, I'm afraid that I can't even compare with a junior among juniors like Luo Rucai, so I plan to start a career in Lanzhou and then go there when I have a reputation.
With great difficulty, more than 600 people were gathered together, and the news leaked out and they were ordered to be suppressed by the army. However, the Liangzhou Guard was left in silence for a while.
In the end, he felt that he couldn't be stubborn and had to ask Liu Chengzong for some support. However, Wang Ziyong couldn't contact Liu Chengzong and could only find Mr. Liu.
Master Liu's reply was very open. He sent someone to deliver a letter, saying that Xining could support him in arming a thousand troops with swords, guns, swords, halberds, armor and cannons. Wang Ziyong was so frightened that he quickly wrote back and asked Master Liu to stop. What did he want with this?
Today is different from the past. Wang Ziyong himself is not bad, and he is very good at inciting peasants to rebel in northern Shaanxi. During the time when he joined forces with the Lion Camp, he also saw Liu Chengzong's ability to win the hearts of the people without relying on ghosts and gods.
After traveling thousands of miles to aid the Liao Dynasty as an officer, the experiences he saw and heard greatly enhanced his talents.
Especially the defeat in Lanzhou made Wang Ziyong realize the difference between Gansu and northern Shaanxi. If he wanted to do business in Gansu, the last thing he needed was force. Instead, he had to solve the problem from the heart of the people.
As long as the problem of people's hearts is solved, isn't the armor, cannons, cannons and even veterans of the army his reserve barracks?
So his reply to Mr. Liu was that he wanted an educated person who understood military regulations to teach him how to read and write. In addition, he only needed to give ten or twenty men, one hundred and ten taels of silver, and a portrait of Liu Chengzong. .
The manpower is mainly doctors, funeral teams, cooks, and tattoo masters. There are not many people, but the skills required are very high, because there are too many and the king cannot support himself.
When Mr. Liu read the letter, he realized that although he didn't know what Wang Ziyong was thinking, this matter was very easy to handle, which meant that the requirements for intellectuals were a bit high... During the rapid expansion of the Marshal's Mansion, there was a huge shortage of intellectuals who could be sent abroad. Most of the scholars went to Kangning Mansion.
However, Wang Ziyong was also the leader of the former joint forces, so sending a boy there seemed not to be a serious enough concern.
Finally, Mr. Liu decided to send Shiliu.
Anyway, what Wang Ziyong wanted was education. In peacetime, even ordinary landowners could not afford a teacher like Liu Xiangyu. Sixteen studied with Liu Xiangyu for three years, and could even teach the Lion Soldiers at the academy in Juerwan.
Moreover, Shiliu understood military regulations. Except for his young age, it would be trivial to be sent out to teach, and the other conditions were very consistent with Wang Ziyong's requirements.
The most important thing is that everyone knows that Shiliu was Liu Chengzong's little follower at first, and later Liu Xiangyu's book boy. Sending such a little boy here can better reflect Liu Xiangyu's importance than sending other boys.
It's just that this is a bit too heavy for Wang Ziyong. If this kid dies here, he will have no face to go to Liu Chengzong.
Waiting for 16 to bring four guards and a funeral team, a group of more than 20 people entered Gansu along Sunan.
Wang Ziyong almost became a sworn sworn disciple to him, but in the end the two of them discussed it, and Shiliu worshiped Wang Ziyong as his teacher, and Wang Ziyong called Shiliu the little master who taught him how to read.
Sixteen pairs of themselves were sent to Gansu, and they were all excited along the way. In Zhuantianmao in northern Shaanxi and Ju'erwan in Xining, he often heard people talk about Wang Ziyong.
People said that Wang Ziyong was so miraculous that he could always easily pull out a peasant army of thousands of people when needed.
Shiliu also wanted to have such a talent, but when he arrived at Wang Ziyong's place, he was very disappointed... There is no magic trick that can lead to an army, and there is no military camp that Shiliu is familiar with. People don't even live together. Come together when you need to do some business.
This makes Xiao Liu not used to it. People living separately will make Shiliu lose his sense of security, just like returning to northern Shaanxi before meeting Liu Chengzong and fleeing from place to place.
After getting to know Liu Chengzong, no matter what he did, he stayed with the army. The army was his home.
Wang Ziyong established a sect in Gansu, named Sanjie Hui.
They use the three-leaf lotus as their symbol, and the initiation ceremony involves burning incense and pricking blood in a dark room, bowing three times and nine kowtows to the marshal's statue, and then all men and women address each other as brothers, and swear that brothers will help each other in life and death to help each other in good luck and misfortune.
The talented ones among them will have a three-leaf green lotus tattooed on their palms and a Big Dipper on their back, and be awarded titles such as Langtou, Landlord, Judge, and Pioneer.
The rules and regulations were dictated by the king himself, written by Shiliu, and mixed into the military law system... However, in Shiliu's view, their sect had nothing to do with war or rebellion.
They usually work mainly in the outer suburbs of Ganzhou, relieving doormats and orphans living in the countryside. They go into the homes of marginalized people who no one cares about and help those in need. They hear who is seeking medical advice and whose home There is no one to bury the dead people, and they are as happy as the New Year.
So until now, there are not many members of the Sanjie Society in Gansu. There are quite a few people who use white ash to make a three-leaf lotus outside the mud house, but there are only a few local leaders and land-level figures.
This time they passed through Luotuo City and were going to Heiquanyi in the west. According to the head man from the Sanjie Society in Zhenxibao, there was a postman in Heiquanyi who lost his job and his old mother had no money to ask for medicine. She heard that the Sanjie Society The leader of the association was able to help bury the practice of salvation, so he approached them.
They were far apart and the news was transmitted very slowly. Wang Ziyong didn't know if he could catch up to save the people, so in addition to bringing a doctor, he could only prepare funeral arrangements according to the other party's requirements.
Shiliu followed the team and set off. After a simple calculation, he finally determined that Wang Ziyong still wanted to rebel.
Just for the sake of others, they set out from Ganzhou with medicinal materials, doctors, funeral teams and apprentices selected from this group. They crossed dozens of people through the barren fields and the desert that spread for hundreds of miles, and they were almost reaching Jiuquan.
Wang Ziyong's funeral team is very famous in Ganzhou. The doctor is proficient in all kinds of difficult and complicated diseases, the cook can skillfully cook dishes for hundreds of people, and the funeral drummer team is also very professional and experienced; not to mention that Wang Tianshi can preside over the ceremony by himself. The funeral of the Tao family. valley
They were invited by Qianhu to preside over their mother's funeral in Ganzhouwei. They didn't need to leave the coffin, and a funeral ceremony cost forty taels of silver.
But here, as long as someone asks for help from poor people, whether it is for funerals, marriages or medical treatment, they will do whatever they ask for without taking any money.
The carpenters in Zhenxi Fort also made a coffin, which cost so much that no one would do it except those who wanted to rebel.
This time, in addition to carrying out funerals, their mission to the west was to let Shiliu meet their head man in Zhenxi Fort.
He was an old widower in his sixties. He lived in the sand outside Zhenxi Fort in three shabby mud houses. The furnishings in the rooms were simple and the family was extremely poor. They only placed a small clay figure on the stove.
But the house was particularly lively. When the congregation in Zhenxibao heard that Wang Tianshi, the leader of the Gansu Association, was coming, they all rushed to Langtou's house to pay their respects.
This old man is a hard-working man. His ancestors have lived on forty acres of land for generations. But in his father's generation, the desert invaded, and he only had twenty acres of land left. Later, the twenty acres of land were also swallowed up by the desert.
She gave birth to two boys and one girl. The eldest son was bought away, the daughter did not survive, and only the younger son served as a soldier in Zhenxi Fort.
When my wife died, it was just in time for last year's autumn war. When my younger son came back, he was a marginalized man. No one near or near him could lend a helping hand. Wang Ziyong led his men and buried him. From then on, the old man joined the Three Tribulations Society and became a brother. , did not stab Beidou on his back, nor did he stab blood to make an alliance, but only led the congregation of Zhenxi Fort to worship the marshal.
Who is the marshal? It doesn't matter if you don't know.
Zhenxi Fort now has more than fifty congregants, mostly old men, wives and left-behind soldiers, mixed with some bankrupt farmers. They all joined after Wang Ziyong helped the old man prepare for the funeral.
No one cares who they are worshiping. Anyway, King Ming Maitreya married his brother and embraced his old mother Wusheng. The purpose is to worship the marshal. If something happens to his family, there will be someone to help him.
Wang Ziyong took a doctor to check on the illnesses of the members who came to visit him. He also asked a tattoo artist from the Sixteenth Band to preside over the initiation ceremony for the new members. He went to each house and dipped white ash in front of the door. He painted a three-leaf lotus, took a few unemployed and landless men to carry the coffin, and drove the camel team on the road.
The unemployed postman of Heiquan Post is named Suokang. His ancestor is a yellow-headed Uighur. He is in his forties. He has spent half his life at the post station to serve the court for a few coins. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he finally no longer had to work for a few coins. Laid off.
Gansu in the Ming Dynasty was a large military camp. If northern Shaanxi was a semi-military society, then Gansu was a very pure military society.
The military society's control over the people is naturally strong, because every household is a soldier, and the people are naturally organized. But once the soldiers can no longer live, this kind of military management of the people will collapse in an instant.
As society enters a semi-collapse stage, the Han people can still rely on their clans; people from other tribes can still rely on the financial support provided by their own clans.
Only naturalized foreigners like Suokang had Han names for three generations, lived in areas where Han people gathered, and did the work of imperial planning passed down from generation to generation.
After losing their jobs, it was difficult for them to return to their nomadic tribes, and they were not tolerated by the local Han clans. They were helpless and became a truly vulnerable group.
Suokang's life was difficult after he lost his job. His family had no land and he wanted to make a living by martial arts. However, wealthy families in Gansu did not need to hire martial arts guards to guard their homes.
Most wealthy families in Gansu have more or less private armed forces. Deserters are running around these days, and his resume is not competitive at all.
Suokang could only try to be a porter Lifu, but he couldn't come up with any gifts to pay tribute to the head of the industry. Instead, he was discriminated against because of his appearance. Apart from a few laid-off postmen like him, he had no friends at all.
In the end, out of desperation, a laid-off postman became a tenant, and he naturally became a day laborer hired by the tenant.
In fact, Suokang used to work as a postman, and he always thought that he had many friends. But when he went to seek medical advice for his old mother, he realized that he actually had very few friends.
Two friends brought 210 coins and two bowls of rice. The neighbors who lived in the same village were so poor that they could only live hand to mouth and could not provide any help other than care.
Suokang held two bowls of rice and ran all over Heiquanyi, but could not find a doctor who could help him. He returned home with his two sons who were eating weeds, and his old mother had died.
The old lady didn't die of illness. She couldn't bear to see her son kneel down and kowtow to others in order to keep himself alive, and then fill in the three melons and two dates at home.
So the old lady tied a rope to the window frame while no one was home, tied the other end around her neck, rolled over from the bed, and disappeared.
No matter how much Suokang cries, funeral arrangements must be put on the agenda, but the current situation is that the neighbors are afraid that he will borrow money, and they are also afraid that they will not have the money to give, so they dare not even visit the house.
Just as he was starting to raise money for the funeral again, Wang Ziyong came with a camel team.
The funeral team coming from afar made every household in Heiquanyi feel strange, but Wang Ziyong showed his guilt for being late, and then presented Suokang with his monk's ultimatum and asked him what kind of ritual he wanted. Then the scriptures were recited for seven consecutive days.
At the same time, the doctors they brought also set up stalls in front of Suokang's house to diagnose illnesses and prescribe medicines for the people.
People were grateful. Suokang even burned incense and kowtowed to the marshal's portrait in the darkroom. He made a blood alliance with the villagers who hoped to get help when they encounter the same difficulties in the future. Together they burned incense and kowtowed to become the marshal's parents and children. Sun, I will be the head man who will be in Heiquanyi during the three tribulations.
When something happened, Wang Ziyong took his people away and chose another road to return to Ganzhou.
Shiliu asked on the road: "Master, we always do this. Is this useful for revolts?"
"The imperial court, the army, and even a society all have to employ people. Just like the marshal's office, there are always not enough people. But the government office is different. There are too many people in the government office and too few people are needed, so there are many positions. On the surface, it seems It’s useless. In fact, it doesn’t let people sit idle…just like the post soldiers who were laid off.”
Wang Ziyong explained: "These people are laid off, they are useless people. The most difficult thing for useless people to solve is life and death, and face."
"Unless association can create financial resources, mutual assistance by association cannot solve this problem. You see, everything I do has nothing to do with rebellion, but it will definitely lead to rebellion in the end, because association needs financial resources to solve problems of life, death, and face."
"Doctors need money, weddings and funerals also need money. I treat people and become a lifesaver. Others join the Three Tribulations Society and have brothers to share in their difficulties. If I receive this benefit, I will call him if anything happens in the future. Just come."
Shiliu looked puzzled: "Why are they not afraid of death when they come just by shouting?"
"Be afraid, it's useless to be afraid. They are useless people and have no association. When their old father and mother die, who will conduct the funeral? Who will treat the child who is seriously ill? The whole village is a member of the congregation. What do others think of them? Already? You are now a useless person, how dare you throw away this life-saving straw?"
Wang Ziyong raised his hand and rubbed Shiliu's head, looked at the disciple named 'Little Master' and said with a smile: "Little Master, I have seen people worshiping Maitreya, and I have also seen people worshiping Mother Wusheng. This time I will change it to The portrait of the marshal is just to prove one thing.”
Sixteen asked: "What's the matter?"
"These useless people who are the first to be thrown away, as long as all sentient beings can still stand with them, they don't care whether they worship King Ming, Maitreya, Old Mother or Marshal."
After saying that, Wang Ziyong smiled easily: "Because of the great calamity."
