Chapter 276
Cheng Shijie obviously underestimated these women, especially the women who could survive the bandit army. When the news spread that the Han family was looking for workers in the women's camp, especially the women who worked were guaranteed to have three meals a day. There is a pound of meat.
Of course, these meats are actually canned meat that is about to expire. Although it is said to be meat, in fact, there is not much real meat. The canned food in Liaodong is similar to the canned food in later generations. One pound of meat plus ten pounds of starch can be regarded as a conscientious can. More than 30 pounds of starch are added to one pound of meat. The canned meat tastes similar to the canned luncheon meat of later generations, but it is full of technology and hard work.
"Mrs. Han needs someone to work for her. If you can weave or print and dye, the reward is a can of canned meat per day. If anyone is willing to work for Mrs. Han, you can sign up with me."
After marrying Zhang Dazhuang, the Han family became the Zhang Han family. However, after Zhang Han's death, although the Han family's children still had the surname Zhang, the Han family returned to their natal surname.
Han calls herself Mrs. Han. In people's eyes, she married a man named Han and became Mrs. Han, not her surname Han.
Regardless, it doesn't matter. What's important is that a can of canned meat may be very unfamiliar to ordinary bandits. But the problem is that these family members of old bandits have enjoyed canned meat and know that canned meat is what.
"Sir, can I work for Mrs. Han? Although I can't weave, I can print and dye. Our family used to have a dyeing workshop!"
"Can!"
"Please let me work for Mrs. Han. I will also work hard. I can also weave. My family used to have an embroidery shop."
"I can do it too, I can do anything."
"Write down my name. My name is Zheng Yuanrong. I am a doctor. My father is a famous doctor in Shaanxi. He is known as Zheng Yizhen. Although I can't weave or dye, I can learn..."
Cheng Shijie obviously underestimated the temptation of a can of canned meat. The statistical results of these bandit women and children are surprising. These women include not only doctors and teachers, but also painters and luthiers, as well as singers and dancers, and arithmeticians who are proficient in arithmetic. .
Although Cheng Shijie is aware of the quality level of the Ming Dynasty's citizens, let alone women, even among men, the overall quality of these female bandits has exceeded the overall level of the Ming Dynasty.
Perhaps seeing Cheng Shijie's doubts, Han explained: "Commander, don't look at how depressed these people are now. In the past, they were either from a scholarly family, an official family, or they were also famous prostitutes in a brothel, otherwise they wouldn't They will be attracted by the leaders of the rogue bandits. Ordinary rogue bandits just need to be good-looking when looking for a wife. When they reach a certain level, they will look at each other's abilities!"
Cheng Shijie understood that this was the ancient tradition of taking concubines and showing off, and marrying virtuous wives. Moreover, these rogue bandit leaders who were born as common people like to find wives from official families, just like Gao Jie. To be fair, the Xing family can only be regarded as average in terms of beauty. With Gao Jie's status, he can find countless more beautiful women than the Xing family. beautiful woman.
But the problem is that Gao Jie fell in love with Li Zicheng's wife Xing instead of other women. The same problem is true. Among the family members of the bandit leaders, except for a few who were wives before the rebellion, most of them were women from wealthy families.
Cheng Shijie looked at Mr. Han and said, "You don't need so many talented people who are proficient in arithmetic here. Can you give these talents to me?"
"Okay, the Zhao family, the Yu family, the An family, the Wu family, the Li family, the Qian family, the Tian family, and the Yuan family are all given to me, especially these eight who are young and look great!"
Mr. Han covered his mouth and giggled, so charming that Cheng Shijie suddenly felt hot in his lower abdomen.
What a witch!
At the beginning, Han's hair was withered and yellow, and her complexion was extremely poor. She seemed to be in her forties or fifties. However, with the nutritional supplements during this period, she went from skinny to round and round.
"No, I want this one!"
Cheng Shijie glanced at the place of origin and age of the eight talents. The oldest was twenty-two years old and the youngest was seventeen. No matter how smart they were, they would have much experience. The Jia family was different. The Jia family was older than the Han family. They were thirty-five years old this year. Years old, the eldest son is already nineteen years old. For accountants who calculate accounts, they are the same as Chinese medicine practitioners. The older they are, the more experience they have.
Jia was thirty-five years old, which in future generations would be the golden age of a person's career.
"Commander, why don't you take them all away and bring them to Liaodong? You can use them to set up a professional girls' school. Among them are teachers, painters, violinists, musicians, and arithmeticians who are proficient in arithmetic. They can definitely serve the university. Shuai cultivates more talents!”
Han responded: "Commander, are you leaving now?"
"Yes, let's go!"
Cheng Shijie actually didn't think about beating Zhang Xianzhong to death at once. If Zhang Xianzhong could be easily killed by him, then Zhang Xianzhong would definitely not be able to achieve such a great reputation.
After all, the combat effectiveness of Zhang Xianzhong's army is not strong. He was also defeated by Qin Liangyu and Zuo Liangyu. If Sun Kewang hadn't saved him, Zuo Liangyu would have killed Zhang Xianzhong. But the problem is that he has been living well. of. Regardless of his ability to defeat, Zhang Xianzhong is not bad at escaping.
However, the problem is that what Cheng Shijie doesn't know is that Sun Kewang is not willing to accept it, nor is Zhao Wencai, nor is Meng En.
After Sun Kewang was discovered by Zhang Xianzhong, he learned from the pain, re-armed his troops, and prepared to set off again.
"Commander!"
"Hopefully, how is your injury?"
"The humble position is no longer a problem. I ask the commander-in-chief to give the humble position another chance!"
If you look at the same thing from different angles, you will get different answers. What Cheng Shijie needs is a piece of white paper, because white paper is easy to draw on.
But what Sun Kewang needs is military merit, and the other thing is to let go, to let go of Zhang Xianzhong, and to let go of the past. Since joining Cheng Shijie, Sun Kewang began to participate in Ning Haijun's training.
During the training process, Sun Kewang, a former bandit, was assimilated by Ning Haijun. Like countless Ning Haijun officers, he blindly worshiped Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie is an unparalleled genius. He is so amazing. He can make steel, farm, water conservancy, and train troops. Oh my God, is there anything else he can't do?
Cheng Shijie is now the Duke of Haiguo of the Ming Dynasty, the governor of Liaodong, and the general who conquered the captives. His future is definitely more than this. In this increasingly chaotic world, it is hardworking and talented people like Cheng Shijie who have made great contributions. great opportunity. Follow Cheng Shijie on the battlefield, make achievements, and shine on the lintel.
Of course, they could also get promoted and make a fortune by following Cheng Shijie. Just after this battle, the Ning Navy Cavalry Chief and the Guards Chief had at least several thousand new landowners.
If Zhang Xianzhong is not caught, Cheng Shijie will not be able to live up to his expectations.
"How many people do you want?"
“A humble job requires a thousand men!”
"I will give you a thousand men, equipment for three thousand men, and a hundred blanks to report to you!"
Although Cheng Shijie wanted to use Zhang Xianzhong to cleanse the gentry, the problem was that Zhang Xianzhong was so destructive that almost no grass grew where he and his army passed.
Now that Cheng Shijie is powerful enough, he is not afraid of the gentry not cooperating. Would a man with a knife be afraid of a pen? What a joke. In fact, not many of those gentry have real backbone.
Under the butcher's knife of the Manchus, wouldn't they cooperate? In fact, it cooperates.
If they don't cooperate, then beat them to make them cooperate.
Sun Kewang received Cheng Shijie's order and returned to the rogue camp again.
As time goes by, these bandits actually know what they will face in the future, ten or twenty-five years of labor reform, which is so desperate. Although they are not going to die, they also want to be free.
However, there are only two ways for them to go, either to go to Luzon and hack the natives of Luzon to death. One leader will be sentenced to five years in prison. Even an old criminal who was sentenced to twenty-five years of hard labor only needs five heads of indigenous men. .
But the problem is that now they only go to Luzon in batches, especially the landlubbers in Shaanxi. They train every day, which makes them miserable. If they want to stay in the Central Plains, they can only make meritorious deeds. Seizing Zhang Xianzhong is the best and only opportunity.
As Sun Kewang went to the camp to recruit death squads, tens of thousands of people signed up. Sun Kewang selected more than a thousand people from them. Most of these people were strong and experienced old thieves. Each of them had either fifteen years or two years of experience. Fifteen years of labor reform, and those who have served less than ten years are not eligible to participate.
In this way, Sun Kewang led more than a thousand old thieves into the mountains, carrying half a month's worth of dry food, regardless of the fact that his injuries had not recovered.
As the saying goes, one learns from one's mistakes. Sun Kewang knew that Zhang Xianzhong could not be deceived. Instead of attacking Zhang Xianzhong openly, he resorted to sneak attacks, sap attacks, and secretly set fire to Zhang Xianzhong's food and grass.
Instead, Zhang Xianzhong was embarrassed.
Zhang Xianzhong wanted to fight back, but Sun Kewang immediately retreated and ambushed Zhang Xianzhong with Ning Haijun, Zhao Wencai and Meng En's troops. This made Zhang Xianzhong afraid to fight, but unable to run away, which made Zhang Xianzhong very uncomfortable.
Susong County in the southern part of the Dabie Mountains was originally a bandit den. The leader was called Monk Peng. Later, by chance, Monk Peng and his friends robbed a group of businessmen from Liaodong. After the group of businessmen were kidnapped to San Gong Village, the group of businessmen discovered that the place where they were was actually a natural of phosphate rock veins.
This is a mineral vein about 23 kilometers long. It is one of the largest phosphate mines in China. It is a Proterozoic cosmic precipitation metamorphic phosphate mine like the Maimangling phosphate mine in Hubei and the Haizhou phosphate mine in Jiangsu.
This group of businessmen told Monk Peng that he was begging for food with a cornucopia. Monk Peng knew that the place they were in was actually a mine, so he traded phosphate rock with the Liaodong businessmen. If there was a way, who would be willing to be a bandit? In this way, the phosphate rock here is mined, transported to the foot of the mountain, and then loaded onto a ship, which can be transported to Liaodong. They can exchange the phosphate rock for food in Liaodong.
As the mining industry got better and better, Monk Peng grew from more than a thousand people to more than 4,000 people. But the problem was that just when they were working in full swing, Zhang Xianzhong led the remnants of his men to flee to Susong. He did not dare to do so in the county seat. Fighting, fear of alarming Ning Haijun, just go into the ravine.
Zhang Xianzhong deserved his fate. He entered Sangong Village and found that the village was too rich. It stored more than 18,000 kilograms of salt, a large amount of dried mountain products, and more than 50,000 kilograms of food.
You must know that a county may not be able to grab more than 50,000 stones of grain during this lean period, which shows the huge profits of mining.
Zijinxing, who was tall, with delicate features but sinister eyes, looked at Zhang Xianzhong and said, "Your Majesty, we have made a fortune this time!"
Zhang Xianzhong looked at the neatly arranged silver ingots in the bank vault. Surprisingly, most of the silver was silver coins issued by Liaodong Bank, totaling hundreds of thousands taels of silver. In addition to silver, there were also a large amount of cloth, swords, guns and crossbows. If these miners were not so vigilant, they would not have been killed by Zhang Xianzhong.
"It's a pity that the bandit leader escaped. Otherwise, this place would be easy to defend and difficult to attack. I really want to set up camp here!"
Zhang Xianzhong knew that if a village with more than 4,000 people could exist for so many years, it must have a backer. Maybe they would find their backers if they ran away, especially since so many Liaodong products were found here, whether they were standard swords, guns or fine wines. , even canned.
"Your Majesty, brothers have been holding back a lot during this time. How about we let the brothers relax?"
"Be careful. The bandit leaders ran away and must have gone to move reinforcements. We can't stay here for too long!"
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I promise you won't delay things!"
San Gong Village immediately heard screams and screams, as well as the unscrupulous laughter of the bandits.
As the leader of the bandit, Zhang Xianzhong was naturally given more than a dozen beauties by his subordinates. Of course, the families of miners in these cottages were not like the daughters of wealthy families in the Jiangnan water towns. They were all tall, thick, or skinny.
More than a dozen women were presented to Zhang Xianzhong, their clothes were messy and their expressions were dull. There was only one girl in a yellow skirt. Although her skin was dark, she looked like an ambitious beauty.
However, before Zhang Xianzhong could take action against the beauty, the girl knew that she would not be spared, so she rushed towards one of Zhang Xianzhong's guards, who had a spear in his hand.
"Puch..."
The sharp spear penetrated the girl's chest without any delay. The girl opened her mouth, but a large mouthful of blood gushed out, and she said vaguely: "You will not die well!"
The girl died instantly.
The guard of Zhang Xianzhong was frightened: "Your Majesty, no matter how small it is, she bumped into her herself!"
Zhang Xianzhong looked at the girl whose eyes were still wide open, and she sighed deeply: "Beauty, why are you doing this? Isn't it good to enjoy the blessings with me?"
Zhang Xianzhong picked up a knife, cut off the girl's head, reached out to grab the hair of the head, then placed the head on a plate, took a handkerchief and gently wiped the blood on the head.
This scene made the surrounding guards tremble with fear.
About sixty miles away from San Gong Village, this place used to be a grass market, but it had been looted by the rogue bandits under Zhang Xianzhong. This large market has been reduced to ruins, and dozens of corpses were burned like coke.
"Monkey, look at what's going on here!"
This time Sun Kewang had the support of Cheng Shijie and Ning Haijun, especially Zhao Wencai who handed over more than 160 captured inferior horses to Sun Kewang. Since then, Sun Kewang and others' movement speed has more than doubled.
The monkey stretched out his hand on a wooden pile that was still burning, tested the temperature, then grabbed a pile of horse dung, squeezed it open and observed it. After a long time, he said to Sun Kewang: "Commander Sun, it's them, not ordinary people." Bandits, looking at this method, it must be the guys from the old camp who did it!"
"Which direction did they go and how long did they go?"
"The footprints are too messy. Judging from the traces of the footprints, these people were carrying heavy things and walking toward the southeast, but something is not right!"
"What's wrong?"
"Commander Sun, think about it carefully, how big is this grass market? There are only two to three hundred households in the sky, and two to three hundred households are all poor. How many things are worth their robbery?"
"Are they playing a trick of pretending to be false and pretending to be true?"
Sun Ke looked to the northwest and saw only a few footprints and said, "Did they escape in this direction?"
"I judge that nine times out of ten, it is going in this direction!"
"Fight hard and chase!"
The information between Sun Kewang and the monkey is asymmetric. If Zhang Xianzhong really escapes to the southeast, he will run into Zhao Wencai's troops. Even if he catches up, he will not be able to outrun the four-legged cavalry. If Zhang Xianzhong enters the mountains, his great luck will come.
The monkey led the way, chasing this small army that seemed to only have two or three hundred people. After less than thirty miles, there were more footprints on the road.
"Commander Sun, they are catching up, coming from the ridges on the left and right!"
"Um!"
Sun Ke looked at the dense jungle and said: "The mountains here are high and densely forested, and the mountains are rugged. It is not a problem to hide thousands of troops and horses..."
He suddenly stopped talking, frowned, and listened attentively.
The monkey who was munching on the big cake was startled, his cheeks bulging high, and he asked vaguely: "What's the matter, Commander Sun?"
"There's a situation!"
Sun Kewang said: "Someone is coming, hide quickly!"
At this time, there was a loud noise in the distance. It was obvious that someone was walking along the mountain road, and there were quite a few of them. The thieves did not dare to neglect and hid behind trees and stones.
The old thieves who obtained Ning Haijun's equipment skillfully took out their formation-breaking crossbows, loaded the sharp crossbow arrows into the arrow trough, and pointed at the road. After a while, the footsteps became clearer and clearer, and these footsteps seemed a bit messy.
Sure enough, after half a stick of incense had been used, about two hundred strong young men wearing tattered clothes appeared on the mountain road. At the front of the team, there was a simple stretcher, and on the stretcher was a man covered in blood. Don't know life or death.
"Go quickly, go quickly!"
"Second Master, those thieves are not chasing us, let's..."
"We must rush to the county seat immediately, otherwise our family will be completely destroyed!"
At this moment, Sun Kewang had already recognized that the accent of these people was not Shaanxi, and they did not appear to be from Zhang Xianzhong. Listening to their words, it seemed that they had met Zhang Xianzhong.
He took out his revolver and fired into the sky.
"boom!"
The group of young men were so frightened that some of them were so frightened that they ran away, and some of them lost their feet and fell to the ground. The whole scene was very chaotic.
Sun Kewang appeared in the middle of the road, looked at everyone and said: "Which of you is in charge, come out and speak!"
Not long after, the second master came out obediently. The second master was a failed scholar, known as Sun Xiucai. In fact, he was an unlucky guy. He had not even passed the exam for more than ten years. Until three years ago, their county Zhang The stupid son of a rich man, Zhang Rui, who was illiterate, was admitted as a scholar. This made Sun Xiucai suddenly explode. He took an inkstone and hit the county magistrate on the head.
Although the county magistrate was an eighth-level official, equivalent to the county education and culture director in later generations, he was also an official of the imperial court. Sun Xiucai beat him, but unlike later generations, he would be imprisoned for a few years at most. In the Ming Dynasty, he was a top offender and would be beheaded. crime.
Sun Xiucai fled to the mountains, just as Monk Peng started to do ore business with Liaodong. Although Sun Xiucai was old and did not even dare to kill chickens, the problem was that he was literate and could calculate accounts, so he became the second boss of San Gong Village. .
"My surname is Sun Ming'an, and my courtesy name is Zixia. I am a mine owner in Sangong Mountain. May I ask you your surname?"
"A certain family's surname is Sun, and the name is expected!"
Sun Kewang asked: "Master Sun, what's going on with you?"
"To be honest, warriors, we are all people who fled from Anqing, Huizhou, Huangzhou and other places. We built shacks in the Sangong Mountain area, kept company with wild animals, and lived hard on bark, grass and roots. Later, Liaodong They purchased a large amount of phosphate ore there. We happened to have phosphate ore in Sangong Mountain, so we organized a group of strong young people to mine the ore and transport it to Liaodong to sell in exchange for a few coins to buy some food. We lived a comfortable life. It’s difficult, but there is always hope.”
Sun Xiucai was so anxious that he wiped away tears: "Just today, these damn beasts came to our Sangongshan mining area in the name of begging. Our boss saw that they were pitiful and was willing to give them a bite of food, but , they later came with many more people, and they killed them with their swords! Poor villagers, they were already dead and dismembered before they knew what happened. Some children who were running slowly were caught by them and dragged to the rocks. Fall to death!"
At this point, Sun Xiucai burst into tears: "We just want to dig some mines in exchange for some money. We have never done anything illegal. Why do they want to kill us! My poor mother-in-law can't get up because she is pregnant." He hid in a shack, but they burned him alive, all beasts, they are all beasts!"
Sun Kewang fell silent, and so did the old thieves around him.
Sun Xiucai's accusation included murder and arson, which they all had done before. The old thieves looked at Sun Kewang and signaled whether Sun Kewang wanted to kill someone and silence him.
Sun Kewang asked: "How far is your village from here?"
Sun Xiucai became vigilant. He found that Sun Kewang was about the same distance from those damn thieves. What should he do?
Seeing the doubts and indignation of Sun Xiucai and others, Sun Kewang said: "Master Sun, you don't have to be afraid. I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Ning Navy Guards Division Zuo!"
"Are you really Marshal Cheng's people?"
Sun Xiucai almost heard Cheng Shijie's name from the people in Liaodong, and recognized Yuzi.
Sun Kewang looked proud: "Is there anyone in this world who dares to pretend to be Ning Haijun?"
"But you..."
Sun Xiucai pointed to Sun Kewang's clothes: "Your clothes?"
"We are makeup reconnaissance!"
Sun Ke looked at Sun Xiucai and said, "How many people are there in that group of thieves?"
"Tens of thousands of people!"
"Tens of thousands of people!"
Sun Kewang hesitated. He could doubt Zhang Xianzhong's character, but he could not question his ability to fight. There were tens of thousands of people in the old camp, not to mention they only had 1,000 people. Even if there were 5,000 people, there was no way to deal with them.
To deal with Zhang Xianzhong, Ning Haijun needs to come forward.
"Qin Zhuang"
"exist!"
"Go to the cavalry and inform General Zhao and General Meng to have them come over for a feast!"
"yes!"
As Qin Zhuang and a group of old thieves left, Sun Ke looked at Sun Xiucai and said, "We are going to chase that group of thieves. Do you dare to lead the way?"
From the crowd, a thin voice came: "Dare!"
"Fifth girl!"
The fifth girl said stubbornly: "They captured my sister, I must rescue my sister!"
The young men looked at the five girls with a heavy heart. How could a yellow-flowered girl fall into the hands of those beasts like them?
Sun Kewang saw someone leading the way, and he said excitedly: "How many roads does your village have? Can it lead to the outside?"
"There are three ways!"
Wu Yatou pointed to the road in front of her and said: "This is one that leads to the county town, another one that leads to the dock, and another one in the back mountain, which is a small road!"
"Monkey, you have quick legs and feet, lead a group of people to the back mountain!"
"Are there any brothers willing to lead the way?"
Sun Kewang went crazy thinking about taking credit. Now that he had touched Zhang Xianzhong's tail, he would never act recklessly again. Although they were small in number, the problem was that they still had grenades and landmines in their hands.
Although the number is small, it is enough to trap Zhang Xianzhong.
"Brothers, the opportunity to get promoted and make a fortune is right in front of you, see if you can seize it!"
Sun Kewang said excitedly: "Follow the commander-in-chief and make great achievements! Today!"
(End of chapter)
