The moment there was an explosion on the sea, Wang Changsheng also followed a large group of people to the city wall to watch the excitement. When he saw the huge blue and white ship on the sea in the distance, he was surprised and happy.
So he took advantage of the arrival of the Northern Navy and the chaos of the crowd near the city gate to hide in a tea shop near the south gate. When the south gate tower was blown down, Wang Changsheng estimated that the Northern Navy was about to attack, so he rushed to the south gate with two of his men, shot and killed several soldiers guarding the gate, and then opened the city gate.
Thanks to Wang Changsheng's internal support, the Marine Corps of the Northern Navy captured Rongcheng. Afterwards, under his leadership, the Marine Corps battalions and companies quickly captured the three gates in the west, north and east, blocking a group of Manchu officials and wealthy households who were trying to escape in the city.
The local magistrate Jiang did not commit suicide in the end. Because the city was lost too quickly, magistrate Jiang had no time to throw himself into a well or hang himself. The North Navy had already attacked the county government office and killed him and several officials who had not had time to escape. The gentleman was blocked in the second hall. Later, when the bruised Yu Shunsong was rescued from the county jail, Magistrate Jiang realized what a stupid thing he had done.
After the Northern Navy captured the county government office, they did not set up any large scales to divide gold and silver, nor did they open warehouses to release grain. They did not even open the county government warehouse. This surprised several county government clerks. He had never heard of pirates who stole money.
According to Deng Fei's order, the company commander who led the team left a peace notice on the screen wall outside the county government office, and then escorted the captured County Magistrate Jiang, Mr. Pan Qian, Dian Shi, Shuiying garrison and those who were blocked in A group of rich men from the county government returned to the Chengshan Flood Camp, which had been converted into Deng Fei's temporary headquarters.
Taking advantage of the Manchu government being caught off guard, Deng Fei made the most of his limited manpower. The two platoons of the second and third companies followed Wang Changsheng and marched to Wendeng County overnight; another platoon of the third company, under the guidance of an old farmer who came to look for work, captured the fort at Longkou Cliff before dark.
By noon the next day, the news from Wendeng had not come back, but someone from Rongcheng County came.
Rongcheng County is now leaderless. No matter the county magistrate, the official history, or the subordinate officials were "invited" to Shuiying by the Beihai Navy, only the professor named Li escaped because he was hiding in the school next to the county government. Pass a tribulation. After the Beihai Navy withdrew the prisoners from the county town, Li Jiaoyu, who was still in shock, waited until dark before he had the courage to leave the academy. Unexpectedly, he was spotted by the crowd gathered in front of the county government office as soon as he left the gate.
Several of the largest wealthy families in the city were taken prisoners together with Magistrate Wang. Now the family members were anxious and begged Li Jiaoyu to find a way. Mr. Li originally wanted to go to Wendeng to ask for help, but the man he sent ran back not long after leaving the city, saying that the pirates' large group of soldiers and horses had already charged towards Wendeng and almost ran into them.
Li Jiaoyu had no choice but to order people to take a boat from Liugong Island to Dengzhou to ask for help after dawn. At the same time, he summoned the students and other gentry in the city overnight.
After discussion, when each family raised the reward to 20,000 yuan, a student named Liang Zhenyu volunteered and was willing to negotiate with the pirates on behalf of Rongcheng County. This person is a member of the public education system and his family is not rich. Twenty thousand dollars is really not a small amount for him.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, students in local official schools, prefectures, and counties were generally referred to as "xiucai." Although donations were introduced during the Kangxi period, ordinary people could pay to obtain the qualifications of students, but such people without real talent and learning were called "regular students" or "students with salary"; those who were truly knowledgeable were all in the academy. Those who have been admitted to the list of junior students and expanded students.
Students in the Qing Dynasty were divided into three classes: Lin students, Zengguang students and affiliated students, collectively referred to as "students". Except for the fact that Zengguang students do not receive any salary, other benefits are the same as those of junior students.
The people who came with Liang Xiucai were all stewards and servants from wealthy families. The gifts these people brought were nothing more than a few slaughtered pigs and sheep on wheelbarrows, a dozen jars of wine and dozens of stones of grain. And so on, there is also a gift list and greeting card.
When the Northern Navy attacked the county town yesterday, they all hid at home and did not show their faces until the Northern Navy left. Therefore, they only saw the true appearance of these "pirates" when they were about a mile away from the water camp.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier from the Northern Navy walked out of the grass on the roadside, startling Liang Xiucai and his party.
When the man came up to them, everyone looked carefully and saw that he was wearing a semicircular helmet that reached up to his eyebrows. It was also covered with a fine net with many messy weeds and leaves stuck in it. ; The tops and trousers are both of the same style, with colorful and indescribable patterns, and the more you look at them, the more dizzy you become; there is a belt tied around the waist, and there are several small bags hanging, and I don’t know what is inside, they are all bulging. On his feet, he was wearing a pair of khaki low-waisted short boots, with his trousers seemingly tucked into the boots, and in his hand was a "gun" with a dagger attached.
Liang Xiucai quickly handed over the greeting card and gift list, explaining his intention. To the surprise of everyone present, the Northern Navy soldier took the gift list and greeting card, actually read them, and muttered unconsciously.
"Are you literate?" Liang Xiucai was a little surprised, but what the other person said next made him even more surprised.
"Haha, is literacy new? Everyone in our place is literate." The soldier put away the greeting card and gift list, and then said to Liang Xiucai and others: "You all wait here, be careful if you move around and get shot!"
Looking at the backs of the "thief soldiers" going away, Liang Xiucai was a little confused. Is everyone literate? What is that place? As far as he knows, Qufu has the highest literacy rate in Shandong.
After a meal, several more "thief soldiers" dressed exactly like before came from Shuiying, and led Liang Xiucai and his party towards Shuiying. When they arrived outside the gate of Shuiying, these people were surprised again by the two giant boats anchored in the fish pond bay. Yesterday, I only looked at it from a distance. Today, when I got closer, Liang Zhenyu realized how big it was, and it was completely different from any other ship type he had ever seen.
Both boats are of general style, visually estimated to be more than twenty feet long and several feet wide. The height from the sea to the side of the ship is probably more than two feet high. There are three masts standing on the deck, the middle one is dozens of feet high, and a huge red flag floats on the top, with a white gear-shaped ring painted in the middle, and a white five-star inside.
At this time, the sails on the deck had been rolled up, revealing ropes that were densely intertwined like spider webs; there were several large windows on the hull, and the upper covers were open, making it dark and unclear; as for the sharp points, The bow of the ship and a tilted mast on it, Liang Zhenyu had no idea what they were for.
The group of people from Rongcheng County were shocked when they saw this scene. This was something that ordinary pirates and thieves could not have, and the contempt they had before was gone.
When they followed the two soldiers into the water camp gate, they found that there were no gongs and drums beating, and no flags waving. It was completely different from the bandit camp they knew. Among the people who followed Liang Xiucai, a guy who had been to Shuiying suddenly said "Hey". Everyone asked him what was going on, and the man said why was Shuiying so clean!
As soon as he said this, everyone noticed that the ground in the water camp was filled with loess and was extremely smooth, with not even a mud puddle to be seen; the ground was even more clean without even a single weed.
At this time, Liang Xiucai looked back at the two guards standing guard at the gate. They both held their chests and heads high, as straight as a pine tree. The words "military majesty" suddenly came to his mind.
"Famous generals in ancient times are just like this." Liang Xiucai became more and more curious and eager to see what the generals who led the troops were like.
However, when he saw Deng Fei in the detention room of Shuiying, he became shocked. Unexpectedly, he was dressed the same as the previous soldiers, except that he did not wear a hat, revealing short hair that was almost an inch long.
"Your Excellency, you are Mr. Liang? My surname is Deng, and I am named Fei. Please sit down." Deng Fei smiled and nodded his greetings, indicating that the other party should sit down and talk, but Liang Xiucai's expression suddenly changed.
Hearing Deng Fei's Zhili accent and clear pronunciation of Mandarin, looking at the other party's short hair, and recalling what he had just seen, Liang Xiucai suddenly realized that these people were not pirate giants at all, but proper Rebel!
As a scholar, Liang Zhenyu didn't want to act submissive in front of the other party, but he was really afraid in his heart, for fear that he would be accused of being a personal friend and turning against a thief in the future.
"I...I am here at the request of the elders of this county. I would like to ask General Deng, who are you?"
Deng Fei chuckled and said, "I'm not a general, just a captain. Since Mr. Liang is a scholar, has he ever read the imperial manuscripts of the Manchu Qing Dynasty?"
Liang Zhenyu cupped his hands and said: "Rongcheng is located in a remote place. Even if you copy the Beijing News, the news will be from a month or two ago."
This kind of thing is copied and printed by the gazette room set up by each province in Titang, Beijing, and then distributed to prefectures, prefectures and counties. After the county magistrate has finished reading, it will be the turn of the squire below to read it. As a student, Liang Xiucai had only one source for reading Beijing newspapers and transcripts, which was the county school. So it’s not surprising that there is a delay.
"It doesn't matter. Have you ever heard of it in Beihai Town?"
Liang Zhenyu recalled it, but he had no impression at all. Then he heard Deng Fei say: "The year before last, Fukang'an was defeated outside the pass, and the emperor issued an edict to punish himself, right?"
"What! Are you the ones?"
Deng Fei nodded slightly and said: "Yes, we are the group of rebels who defeated the imperial army several times. Not to mention the Rongcheng County Magistrate, we even captured Fukangan."
Now, Liang Xiucai was really frightened...
That afternoon, when Li Jiaoyu and the anxious gentry saw Liang Zhenyu coming back, their first words were to ask him how much money and food he wanted, but Liang Xiucai said in despair that he didn't want money or food, and It's important people.
"What? Who do they want? They don't want the county magistrate's head, right?" The gentry said to themselves that the county magistrate just came from Guizhou, and his head is not valuable.
However, when Liang Xiucai talked about what happened in Beihai Town and conveyed Deng Fei's intention, Li Jiaoyu and all the gentry were stunned.
Rebellious? And he's a rebel who beat the imperial army into a gray-headed rat's face? ! Want to lure people to farm outside the customs? Will you give me money for every young man you take away? Let people wait until the boat is full?
After everyone heard this, they felt as if they had been struck by lightning, and were burned inside and out.
Li Jiaoyu lamented: "How can this be done? When the court investigates it, we will all lose our lives!"
After a while, Liang Zhenyu said to Li Jiaoyu and Mr. Bi who were present: "The rebel leader said that the short gun confiscated in the Yamen must be returned. Also, there is the one from your house... .The widowed woman is to be taken away.”
Master Bi exploded when he heard this. Why did these rebels want to rob even a widow? Doesn’t this ruin the reputation of our Bi family? He slammed the table angrily and said angrily: "Everyone is dead, I can't hand it over!"
Liang Xiucai glanced at the other party and muttered: "I said the same thing before I went down, but the rebel surnamed Deng said that if he doesn't hand over the people, he will send people to attack the Bi family's house."
"I..." Mr. Bi almost shouted, "I'll fight them", but in the end he held it back because he really didn't dare.
Li Jiaoyu ran out of ideas for a moment. It was already getting late, so everyone present left and fled. In the end, only Li Jiaoyu stayed. He lamented for a long time and was about to get up and go home when he saw Liang Xiucai sneaking in again.
"Why are you back?"
Liang Zhenyu looked furtively at the door for a long time, then walked to the surprised Li Jiaoyu and whispered: "Teacher, the student has an idea, please correct me."
"Oh? You might as well tell me." Li Jiaoyu seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw. He took Liang Xiucai's hand and said: "If you can survive this disaster, I will definitely recommend to the academic master, this year's scientific examination questions Leave it to me."
The reason why Li Jiaoyu said this is because in the Qing Dynasty, if the scholars wanted to participate in the provincial examination, they had to pass the "scientific examination" first. Before each township examination, the province's academic administration circuit will hold examinations in the states and counties. This year is the year of Wushen, which is the year of the scientific examination.
After hearing Master Jiaoyu's assurance, Liang Xiucai said: "The student's advice is worth a thousand words, it is better to remain silent."
"Hey~" Li Jiaoyu twirled his beard, his mind was spinning, and he said after a while: "You mean to pretend not to know?"
"Teacher, think about it, these rebels in Beihai Town are not even afraid of the Eight Banners Army. The imperial court's tens of thousands of troops were defeated. In the end, they pinched their noses and paid the ransom to get Marshal Fu back. Rongcheng is only a small area, how can they defeat such an enemy? A ruthless gangster? I’m sure the governor won’t blame him at that time.”
Liang Xiucai's mouth went dry as he spoke. He picked up the herbal tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp. He continued: "According to what the students have seen, since those people want to take people to the outside of the pass by boat, the wealthy households and common people in the city must not If they are willing to go, they can only go to the four villages to recruit those who have no body. Instead of doing this, it is better to let the students go and say hello to the bandit leader named Deng. Then the teacher only needs to close the door tightly and survive for a few days. On the 1st, when they have pulled enough people, they will naturally leave. At that time, the merit of defending the city and resisting the enemy will be seen by all the gentry in the city. "
The more Li Jiaoyu listened, the brighter his eyes became. He did not expect that this student, whom he usually disliked the most and often helped others write petitions, would have such thoughts. When Liang Xiucai saw Master Jiayu couldn't help but nod, he knew that the method Deng Fei taught him had come true.
Early the next morning, as soon as the city gate was unlocked, Liang Zhenyu hurried to Shuiying, told Deng Fei about the situation, and then hurried back to the city. Then the four gates of Rongcheng County were tightly closed again, and the vendors who came into the city to sell vegetables and firewood were kicked out of the city by Li Jiaoyu's orders. Of course, Rongcheng County will still open the north gate at night, otherwise the people in the county will not even have firewood to burn.
Then Wang Changsheng and Yu Shun, whose heads were wrapped in gauze, and a platoon of Bei Haijun began to wander around the villages again, and the people they had formed a relationship with before were also found one after another. Wang Changsheng didn't waste any words this time, and gave each of the middlemen ten taels of silver, allowing them to continue their previous great work of attracting people.
After he and Yu Shun had been busy for a day, news came back that Wendeng County had been captured by the Northern Navy. So Wang Changsheng stayed in Yu Shun and took his people to Wendeng.
After getting enough money, the middlemen relied on their sharp tongue and tried their best to lobby again from village to village.
Two or three days later, from Wendeng County to Rongcheng, and from Rongcheng County to the Navy Camp, poor farmers appeared in twos and threes on the official road, and then more and more, forming a stream of people. Some of these people had families, and some were single. In addition, there was a young widow who was so hungry that she could hardly walk, and a salesman with a crutched nose and a bruised face.
At the same time, Ding Guofeng, who had arrived in Southern Kyushu to unload supplies and was about to return to Beihai Town, received a telegram from the Thunder.
"There are too many people to accommodate, come to Shandong quickly!"
