It is less than two hundred miles from Pingyuan County to Jinan. The cloudy and cool weather was a good time to ride on horseback, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be the heaviest stretch for Chang Yu and his party.
It’s not that the roads are muddy after heavy rain, but it’s the epitome of the most miserable scene for the people who witnessed the darkest period of the Ming Dynasty.
Jinan Prefecture was robbed twice by Qing troops a few years ago, and the losses were extremely heavy. Even after two years of reproduction and reproduction, the people in the ten houses and nine empty houses were still living in dire straits.
Fortunately among the misfortunes, a few months ago the rebel army passed by them when they marched eastward and northward, and when the Qing army entered the Pass and moved south, they were spared the suffering of military disasters and were only slightly affected when the rebel army marched north.
But is this really lucky again?
not necessarily.
Jinan Prefecture, which originally had only ten houses and nine empty houses, is now full of refugees from surrounding dramas. People from the prefectures and counties in the west who were harmed by the bandits, and people in the prefectures and counties in the northeast that were affected by the Qing army's march south are all going to Jinan Prefecture. I have to make a living within the country.
Everywhere you look in the villages, towns, and counties along the road, you can see refugees who are barely clothed and underfed, and their eyes are dull. There is neither hope nor despair in their eyes, because they are completely numb and resigned to their fate.
Wuzhong, who always liked to play mean and quarrel with Taoist priests, had a solemn face and remained silent the whole time, while Li Muchian had an expressionless face. Perhaps he had traveled around the world for too long and had seen too much of this kind of scene and had long since become numb.
Monk Hai Hongda was taciturn by nature and kept silent all the way, but he could no longer bear to ride his horse to Chang Yu's side and clasped his hands together: "The donor is the governor of Dongchang and has a high position. We can't wait and see whether he can petition the court for disaster relief and provide porridge on behalf of the people. Let them starve to death.”
Chang Yu glanced at him and took a long breath: "Great monk, there are endless natural and man-made disasters. Do you think the court has food for disaster relief now?" He said for a while: "Even if there is some, it is not enough for the capital's disaster relief." Here."
Haihong sighed and said in a low voice: "Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs."
Chang Yu couldn't help but said: "The monk is still reciting the Tao Te Ching."
Haihong smiled bitterly: "No matter how much sutras you recite in this world, you can't relieve the suffering of the people."
"This Governor agrees with this. If chanting sutras and believing in God is useful, why should we wait for the soldiers to fight with blood? War is..." Chang Yu was about to continue, Haihong clasped his palms together: "Isn't the donor going to argue with the poor monk about Buddhism? ?”
Chang Yu was startled, smiled bitterly, shook his head and waved his hands: "I am stupid and can't tell you apart. If a monk wants to tell you, go to Taoist Master Fang. He is good at this." He pointed at Li Muchian not far away.
Monk Haihong glanced over there and said, "How can one distinguish one Buddha from another? I have spent thousands of years still not being able to identify the ugly Yin Mao."
Chang Yu laughed loudly: "What is the Tao and what is the Buddha? The so-called Taoism has the same origin but different paths lead to the same destination. Buddhism and Taoism are just one door and two doors. There is nothing to argue with." He paused slightly and said, "But if we want to distinguish the Tao Te Ching, You may not be able to argue with him. For example, in the sentence just now, the world is unkind and treats all things as stupid dogs. If you ask Taoist Master Fang, the meaning of this sentence is definitely not what you and most people in the world understand."
Haihong naturally didn't go to Li Muchian to debate the scriptures. He didn't have the thought or interest. Now he wanted to fight with the solemn-looking Wuzhong.
Yes, I don’t know why he wanted to fight.
It's not good to fight, so I quickly recited a heart-clearing mantra.
At noon the next day, Chang Yu and his entourage entered Qihe County and arrived at the bank of the Yellow River in the evening, across the river from Jinan City. The soldiers were a little tired from running for days, so they ordered repairs.
Jinan is named after the south of Jishui River. Although Jishui is no longer there, the city has become increasingly famous. It covers 26 counties in four states and has been an important military town in the past dynasties.
There was a cool breeze blowing by the Xiaoqing River. The soldiers were washing their horses and drinking water and lying on the ground. Chang Yu stood with his hands behind his back and looked due south, but could not see the lights of Jinan City. There was a bonfire not far away, which he guessed was where some refugees gathered.
Kuang Ren crossed the river to collect information and came back to inform the nearby people that they had seen a large army crossing the border yesterday morning. It was Liu Zeqing's men who should have returned to the city. Li Muchian proposed to call the people into the city tonight and not give them a chance to prepare for the situation.
When Chang Yu was hesitant, someone came from the other side, but it was Tu Yuan.
Shortly after leaving Beijing, Chang Yu ordered the Black Wolf Camp and the Black Tiger Camp to go to Xuzhou to take care of food and grass, while the other followed Liu Zeqing into Jinan to take up a good position.
The two battalions were lightly equipped with fast horses. Although Liu Zeqing went ahead for a day, there were tens of thousands of soldiers and horses marching. They were quickly overtaken by the two battalions, which aroused Liu Zeqing's suspicion and made some repulsive actions until the two battalions stated that they were ordered to go south to Xuzhou to supervise the grain supply. At that time, Liu Zeqing just restrained himself.
But after arriving in Jinan yesterday, Lao Jiu's Black Wolf Camp had military orders not to enter the city. Tu Yuan wanted to enter the city to purchase grain and grass, but was blocked by the defenders from entering. Tu Yuan also had a bad temper and almost got angry. Fight with weapons.
Fortunately, Tu Yuan still had sense and kept in mind Chang Yu's order not to conflict with Liu Zeqing easily, so he wanted to enter the city in the name of Dongchang Guards. Hearing that they were the emperor's personal soldiers, the defenders became arrogant and delayed on the grounds of notification. It's been a day, and I haven't entered the city yet. When I was angry, I heard that Chang Yu was outside the city, so I came to see him immediately.
"It must be Liu Zeqing's intention, otherwise the mere guards would not dare to stop him..." Tu Yuan was furious and scolded Liu Zeqing in front of Chang Yu. The rest of the crowd agreed and encouraged Chang Yu to call the door immediately to see if Liu Zeqing had the one. If you dare not open the door, if you open it, you will be embarrassed; if you don't, you will have another excuse to take advantage of him.
In the past, Chang Yu, who was so angry, would have immediately led his troops to earn face for his subordinates. But now that his mind has matured, he didn't care about it. He swept away the aggrieved people and smiled: "I ran away for several times." Aren't you tired after the day? Wouldn't it be nice to take a cold bath and have a good night's sleep?"
"Mr. Factory Master, Liu Thief's move is really..." Jia Waixiong and Tu Yuan had a good relationship. Seeing that Tu Yuan was holding back his food, he wanted to help him vent his anger. Chang Yu waved his hand to interrupt him and sighed as he looked at the night sky in the south. He said: "Jinan is Liu Zeqing's territory. It will embarrass him if we go to his farm and hit him in the face. Of course, it's okay on weekdays, but we are still here to beg for food this time. You hit someone in the face and then beg for food... Hehe, what will happen if I leave you alone? It’s not worthwhile to go hungry just to keep your tone.”
Everyone was startled for a moment, then relieved, that's right, can we wait until we finish begging for food before slapping him in the face?
At the same time, in the General Military Mansion of Jinan City, Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, and Huama Liu had just had dinner. They were drinking tea and listening to music leisurely in the pavilion beside the lotus pond in the courtyard. After running around for several days and suffering a lot, they now returned to their home. One-third of an acre of land is naturally very satisfying.
As for the tail sent by the little eunuch outside the city, he didn't care at all. What happened to the East Factory Guard? Chicken feathers serve as arrows! As long as the little eunuch doesn't call the door himself, no one can get in.
But why did the little eunuch send a tail to follow him, and what was his intention?
Liu Zeqing couldn't guess. In his opinion, both with the court and with the young eunuch, they were playing their cards right now. The grievances and punishments they had deserved in the past were almost wiped out. As long as they didn't make any big mistakes in the future, they would have no problem. There is no reason to punish oneself with excuses, not to mention that when we go south to use troops and people, we will not be too pushy.
"Could he be here to supervise the army?" Huama Liu raised his eyebrows.
The little eunuch was determined to maintain military discipline. There were people in the ranks of Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, Li Yan and others watching overtly and covertly. Following them with this tail was most likely to monitor whether they were disturbing the people on their way south. After all, the three of them were Soldiers and horses have such a bad reputation.
"Maybe." Liu Zeqing nodded slightly: "What does General Gao think?"
But he didn't hear the reply. He turned around and saw Gao Jie holding a tea cup and staring at a woman playing the piano with a leering look. He couldn't help but laugh in surprise: "It seems that General Gao has been greedy recently."
Only then did Gao Jie react, but he was not embarrassed at all. He wiped his mouth and looked at the woman: "I haven't eaten meat for more than a month. I am indeed very greedy. I just don't know if I can eat the meat in General Liu's house." have to".
Liu Zeqing laughed loudly: "How can Mr. Liu be a stingy person? It would be too stingy to entertain guests without preparing meat. General Gao eats it to his heart's content."
"If that's the case, then Mr. Gao won't be polite!" Gao Jie laughed loudly and stood up, picked up the woman and left. The woman was so frightened that she screamed and struggled, but Gao Jie laughed louder and louder.
"Brother Liu won't favor one thing over another, right?" Huama Liu swallowed his saliva and laughed.
"How can you do that? Brother Liu, please help yourself." Liu Zeqing sighed secretly, these two impatient people... Why, he was also itchy.
