Section 1: Bear
Shanxi.
In the western suburbs of Pianguan County, on the official road leading to Hequ County, two horsemen galloped from the west, with black bear battle flags on their backs.
These two horsemen are sentry riders of the 10th Guards Corps. The battle flag of the 10th Guards Corps is a black bear, which looks quite domineering among the armies.
The two sentry horses passed a corner on the official road at the foot of the mountain, and their horses slowed down slightly.
There was a sudden sound of cannon from the mountains on both sides, and then there was the sound of bow strings vibrating.
Hundreds of arrows were fired at them densely, and the two sentry riders of the Tenth Army were suddenly like densely packed hedgehogs.
The two sentry horses groaned continuously and immediately fell to the ground. There was no movement for a moment. The two war horses under their crotches were also covered with arrow feathers. They opened their eyes wide, kicked their hooves wildly, and let out bursts of mournful screams.
A sharp whistle came from the hillside, and then a hundred archers in green clothes and red scarves emerged from the bushes, and a strong man in the lead shouted:
"The dog officers and soldiers are still evil and want to send people to ask for help. Don't be afraid, come and kill each one!"
This strong man is Li Lai, a bear.
On the day Tokugawa Chiki and her entourage arrived in Beijing, the connection between the Western Expeditionary Army and the capital was completely severed by the bandits.
The two groups of sentry horses sent by Deng Changxiong to the capital for help were both killed by "a bear" Li Lai.
Li Lai was the adopted son of King Chuang and commanded the elite old battalion. He was originally a postman and came all the way from Mizhi County. He had great military exploits and was recognized as the successor of King Chuang Li Xianzhong.
Li Lai led a group of archers down the hillside, walked to the dead sentry horse, and asked his soldiers to touch a letter from the sentry horse. He pulled his thick beard under his chin, faced the letter, and read with difficulty:
"The army's food and grass are cut off. The officials of Qin cannot be relied on. There are many bandits. Hequ County cannot hold on. I sincerely ask the Lord Protector to send a large army to rescue..."
After a bear finished reading, he folded the newspaper again and handed it to the soldier behind him.
He stared at the two corpses on the ground and laughed loudly:
"The capital is cut off from grain roads in Shaanxi, and the dog army cannot stand in Shaanxi. If we destroy this army in Hequ County, the other dog armies will not be a concern! Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan are all ours!"
"You guys, continue to guard here. If you encounter the dog army, shoot me! This is the nearest official road from Shanxi to the capital. If you guard it, you can kill them! I go back and give this letter to King Chuang, let him stop hesitating and attack Hequ with all his strength!"
~~~~~~
Section 2: Tiger
In mid-September, most of the post roads between Shaanxi and the capital had been cut off by bandits. Among the bandits, there were many postmen who took refuge. They knew all the roads from Shaanxi to the outside world. They cut off all official roads to the east as soon as they entered Shanxi.
Since then, Liu Zhaosun knew nothing about the tragic war that took place in Hequ County. It wasn't until Deng Changxiong didn't send back any information for a long time that he felt something was wrong.
The garrison of the capital sent out sentries to the west one after another at night. After the sentries entered Shanxi, there was no news. The situation suddenly deteriorated sharply, and an inexplicable fear enveloped the entire capital.
Despite the turmoil in his heart, the Protector remained calm on the surface. He was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He had experienced many critical moments and could always remain calm in critical situations.
The campaign to liquidate the censor continues.
On the eighth day of September, Shen Lian, on the orders of the Protector of the State, led the elite members of the Coil Guards to settle in the Zhenfu Division and became the new owner of the East Factory, replacing the long-vacant position of factory boss. Counting from the first year of Chongzhen's reign, when Shen Lian led lotus collectors to flee the capital, two years had passed, and he finally returned as king. Those in the Zhenfu Division who had offended Shen Lian were all terrified these days, for fear of being retaliated by the murderer, because Shen Baihu had killed many people since he came to the capital.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, after a long ordeal, everyone was surprised to find that Shen Baihu, who had the power of life and death, did not take the opportunity to retaliate. According to the memories of Fanzi who witnessed Shen Lian entering the East Police Factory, Mr. Shen lost his former self. He was angry, but there was a hint of kindness between his eyebrows.
Of course, no one would be fooled by this external generosity. It didn't take long for Zhang Fengyi and three other censors to be arrested and imprisoned by the coir raincoat guards.
In the imperial prison, the three upright censors confessed their accomplices before they were even tortured.
The imperial censors who live in the capital often take group actions to impeach local officials. Specifically, their tactics are similar to those of hyenas who are good at hunting on the African savannah. As long as they smell the anus of the impeached person, they will chase each other in groups and bite each other to pieces. Of course, before officially biting, the hyenas will say hello to their prey in order to solve the problem in a peaceful way. The censor's greeting is usually like this (take Yang Hao's encounter in Liaodong before and after Sarhu as an example):
"Yang Jinglue, why are your accounts for buying horses in Liaodong different from the actual facts?"
"Yang Jinglue, why did you marry your daughter (Yang Qing'er) to Mr. Qian, who is still Liu Wei's adopted son? Do you want to tell the emperor again about how you and Liu Dadao secretly split military pay in Burma?"
"Yang Jinglue, the emperor gave you one million yuan in salary, how much is left now..."
In the autumn of the second year of Tianqi, these sanctimonious officials and censors were wiped out by Shen Lian.
After experiencing the death of his relatives and killing his enemies, Shen Baihu's temperament changed drastically and he began to become taciturn. He no longer had the arrogance and arrogance of a few years ago. Because he had been with the Protector for a long time, he had become a lot more kind-hearted. .
However, this kind of benevolence requires certain prerequisites. To deal with this group of hyenas who are good at killing, the spy leader is not lenient at all.
Under the torture of Shen Baihu's words and deeds, the censors were forced to expose each other and confess each other's impeachment and blackmail of officials from various places over the years.
Finally, the coir raincoat guards compiled all the confessions of the censors into a book and presented them to the Protector.
After witnessing the various crimes of the censors, Liu Zhaosun, a kind-hearted man, was deeply moved by how well the censors extorted money and abided by the law. So he arranged for bachelors Qian Qianyi, Chen Zizhuang and family Feng Menglong to attack the censors overnight. The confessions of the historians were artistically reprocessed and compiled into a long storybook, which was serialized and updated in the Jingshi Di Bao:
Chapter Ninety-Nine: Demoting Dong Lin Fengyi to assume power and sending the imperial envoy Yang Lian to commit suicide.
Qian Qianyi held the Di newspaper with the scent of ink in his hand and said worriedly:
"Lord Protector, weren't you still against Dong Lin the year before last? Why do you want to overturn their verdict today?"
General Liu Zhaosun read the newspaper back and forth, praising Feng Menglong's brilliant literary talent. In this big brother's writing, the censors all became scumbags who were greedy for money, lustful and committed all kinds of evil. Especially the image of Zhang Fengyi in it was almost the same as Ximen in his "Jin Ping Mei" There is no difference in celebrating.
The Protector looked at Qian Qianyi and smiled at him:
"Grandmaster Qian is overly worried. The people's memory is only seven months. And they don't care about what they hear, they only care about what they can get. So no matter what dynasty, killing corrupt officials is the best way to win the hearts of the people. Without it, First, let’s ruin the reputation of the censors first, and then the common people can drown them without us taking action. This is killing someone with a borrowed knife.”
The Protector wanted to tell Qian Muzhai that in his previous life, people's memory was infinitely close to that of fish, lasting only seven seconds.
Qian Qianyi nodded repeatedly, but secretly thought in his heart: Liu Zhaosun has the heart of a tiger and a wolf, the Ming Dynasty is in danger!
~~~~~
Liu Zhaosun, who has the heart of a tiger and a wolf, is distraught.
He knew that Shaanxi was about to suffer a major defeat, but he had no choice but to do so. Water far away could not quench the thirst nearby, and he had no men to mobilize to assist him now, unless he gave up Shandong and Liaodong.
Throughout September, the only thing that pleased the Lord Protector was that the Tokugawa shogunate carried forward the spirit of craftsman and meticulously fulfilled all the terms of the "Treaty of Ushioseki".
He hasn't been to Yang Qing'er for several days.
On September 15, Yang Hao, the chief minister of the cabinet, hurried over and met Liu Zhaosun at the door, who was holding his daughter's toddler hand.
Yang Shoufu, who was fit and strong, picked up Liu Yufei and said eagerly to his son-in-law:
"Duke Guo Guo, the Japanese princess and the female official have been staying in the guild hall for more than ten days, and no one has entertained them. After all, we are in heaven. What does this mean?"
Liu Zhaosun frowned and said:
"Send him to the palace."
At the end of this year, Apocalypse Emperor Zhu Youjian will be sent to Jeju Island to grow old together with Lord Gwanghae. Before leaving the Ming Dynasty, Lord Protector decided to let him enjoy the treatment of an emperor for the last time.
"How can this be done?"
Yang Gao screamed, and Liu Yufei, who was less than two years old in his arms, chuckled, grabbed Yang Ge's old goatee, and braided the beard between his fingers.
"This is a good opportunity to control the Japanese country. The protector of the country must marry this girl and take her as a concubine..."
Liu Zhaosun said nonchalantly, "I don't like women, especially Japanese women."
~~~~~~
Section 3: Leopard
Jiang Liu'er followed the three Ye Bushou as they trudged forward in the dense forest.
On the second day of September, the first frost fell on Kuyi Island. The branches and leaves of willows and birches swayed with the wind and sank into the muddy ground. A faint rotten smell filled the air.
Occasionally, you can see the remains of limbs that have been eaten by wild beasts on the trail. The broken clothes and dead leaves are mixed together, making people feel like they are in hell.
The more than 30 Kaiyuan soldiers and indigenous people who stayed on Kuyi Island were eaten up by the Cossacks who arrived first.
The uneaten corpses were abandoned in the mountains and forests, followed by tigers, leopards and jackals.
Jiang Liu'er walked behind everyone, his sword slashing across the bushes, making a rustling sound.
The branches covered with thorns were pushed away and then bounced back, hitting his helmet and sometimes sweeping into his face. Not long after walking, there were two cuts on his cheek, which caused burning pain.
Although humans have settled there for a long time, lush virgin forests can be seen everywhere on this largest island in the Ming Dynasty. It can’t be seen to the end at a glance, and the howling of leopards can be vaguely heard in the forest.
Lewen
