On April 9, Quanzhou, which had always been peaceful, became lively again because of the birthday of maritime merchant Chen You. On this day, Tan Tie, the prefect of Quanzhou, personally led a group of officials and local celebrities at the East Gate to prepare for Chen You's death.
"We agreed to come here at this point, and it's been more than half an hour. Why hasn't this maritime merchant arrived yet? I don't understand. How can a mere maritime merchant, He De, allow all the officials in Quanzhou to pick him up personally?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the waiting staff who were silent for a moment felt like a pot exploding. It must be said that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. Liang Rui, the newly appointed colleague from Quanzhou, is still young after all. How can he speak so arrogantly.
Liang Rui had just been transferred to Quanzhou from another place. He had never heard of Chen You's name. The waiting time was a little longer, and he got angry before he opened his mouth to complain. Because the voice was louder, it reached the ears of Tan Tie, the prefect at the front. Tan Tie was surprised and rolled his eyes at Liang Rui. This boy really didn't understand the importance of what he said. He must be warned later to avoid offending Chen at the birthday banquet. The old man was unhappy and angered all the officials in Quanzhou.
After waiting for about half an hour, a few large ships came out of sight on the sea. Everyone exclaimed: "Here he comes, he comes, Mr. Chen is here!"
…
After Chen Yu passed, pirates from some places began to arrive, including Chen Fu and others. On weekdays, due to the siege and interception by the government, it would be good if some smaller pirates could protect themselves. How could they still have a chance to reach Quanzhou City? At this moment, everyone was so complacent that they didn't forget to tease the soldiers guarding the city when they entered the city. This move angered the officers and soldiers. If there weren't orders from above, how dare these pirates be so rampant?
Compared with the swaggering pirates in front of them, Chen Fu and others were much more low-key. When Chen Fu entered the city, he deliberately slowed down and carefully observed the defenses of Quanzhou City. When he entered the east city gate, the gatekeepers had already recognized Chen Fu. Everyone went up to say hello with a smile. Miao Gao, who was at the back, did not forget to give them some money before leaving, using people's money to do things for others.
"Brothers, our caravan depends on you to enter the city!"
The soldiers guarding the city gate took the silver sheepishly and stuffed it into their pockets with a smile and said: "I understand, I understand, don't worry!"
In order to deceive others in the past few days, Chen Fu's troops have entered Quanzhou City in batches disguised as caravans every day, and have taken their positions according to the pre-arranged location for the incident.
After the last batch of people entered the city today, a young soldier guarding the city asked the people next to him in confusion: "Brother Jun, why are there so many caravans entering the city these days? Every caravan is pulling There’s something wrong with dozens of ox carts, why don’t we really check it out?”
"Check, is there anything to check? It's normal for Mr. Chen to have many caravans coming to celebrate his birthday. Aren't those oxcarts pulling gifts for Mr. Chen's birthday! These are not things we can think of. You just do it every day Just stand guard well, your daily wages are indispensable."
Minjialou, known as the No. 1 restaurant in Quanzhou, is already crowded with people. On the top floor, there are the most beautiful singers and prostitutes from Fujian dancing and playing famous pianos, and hundreds of maids and servants running up and down to serve. .
These characters on the top floor of the pavilion can make the whole place tremble just by stamping their feet. Several characters are chatting with laughter and drinking wine.
At this time, Tan Tie, the prefect of Quanzhou, stood up and toasted:
"Come on, come on, today is Mr. Chen's 60th birthday. On behalf of all the officials in Quanzhou, I would like to propose a toast to you!"
Tan Tie did not dare to neglect Mr. Chen. When he first came to Quanzhou, it was because of Chen You's help that he was able to be promoted to the prefect of Quanzhou. After that, he received a lot of Chen You's money. If you want to take a further step in your official career in the future, you will need the protection of Chen You, a big tree. Mr. Chen has many connections and money, as long as he is willing to promote himself and take care of things. You can rise to the top by yourself!
Seeing Tan Tie, the prefect of Quanzhou, raising a toast, officials from other state governments and business leaders from all walks of life around Quanzhou were not far behind. They all stood up and toasted Mr. Chen. Representatives of the local government and businessmen like them have already formed an unshakable alliance. interest group.
The few people on the top floor are just a microcosm of the chaebol groups in Quanzhou and overseas.
None of these people have some shady things going on. One person may have trouble that cannot be settled, but as long as they work together in collusion, coupled with the power of Mr. Chen, how can they be like some petty officials and censors? Can you afford it?
Nowadays, officials are all trying to sweep away the trouble in front of their doorsteps. When aggrieved civilians submit their complaints to the yamen, they often end up with nothing and no news. If you pursue them more closely, you may be killed. Some senior provincial officials may have the right to deal with them, but they do not understand the principle of affecting the whole body. They have only been in office for a few years, and they can just turn a blind eye to some things. Why bother to really investigate and kill?
Even if I kill you, can I kill you cleanly? If they don't deal with those who were behind it, the death of the remaining scapegoats will be painless to them.
Although Tan Tie was helped up by himself, he is now the leader of a state after all. Seeing Tan Tie who knew what to do, Mr. Chen felt a lot happy in his heart. He stood up immediately, raised his glass with a smile and said:
"Since the prefect has said this, I would rather obey orders than be respectful. I will drink this glass of wine!"
The people below the Minjial Tower were all officials from Quanzhou and pirates off the coast of Fujian. These people who were not usually in the same circle were drinking and eating at the moment, and they actually hugged each other to drink and sing.
Chen Fu and others were sitting in an inconspicuous corner of Minjialou, secretly observing everything in Minjialou. At this time, Liu Tong ran in, and after sitting down, he said: "Brother, everything is in place. I will guarantee it in a few hours." Quanzhou City is in chaos."
Liu Tong poured a glass of wine and drank it in one gulp. He smacked his lips and sighed: "Good wine, really good wine!"
Chen Fu frowned and said coldly: "Drink less, drinking will cause trouble. How are the officers and soldiers of the ninth battalion stationed in the city doing?"
"Miao Gao and his men have already distributed all the wine in the name of Tan Tie. As long as one person drinks it, the others will not be able to bear it. The effect of the medicine will be almost gone by night."
At this time, a smile appeared on Chen Fu's lips and he murmured: "People all over the city are immersed in celebrating Mr. Chen's birthday. With such a strong security force, we will take action at night!"
…
After a few more hours, the sky gradually darkened, and a fire broke out in the densely populated areas of Quanzhou City.
"Hahaha, it's finally on fire. Brothers, please take action and make the fire brighter!" Several people pretended to shout with "buckets" to put out the fire. Unexpectedly, the fire got bigger and bigger, burning more than a dozen houses in the blink of an eye. , there was chaos in the city for a while.
At this time, everyone in Minjialou was still drunk and had no idea about the fire outside. A few big guys on the rooftop were still drinking and talking.
Suddenly a petty official rushed up and shouted: "What's wrong, sir, something big has happened, the city is on fire!"
The drunk Mr. Chen waved his hands and shouted: "There are really no rules. Do you need to report such a trivial matter?"
When Tan Tie saw Mr. Chen getting angry, he also got angry and shouted: "It's on fire, just put it out, get down quickly!"
Seeing this, the junior official did not dare to go further for fear of angering the prefect Tan Tie, so he had to hang his head and hurried downstairs to call other officials.
Taking advantage of the chaos in the city, Chen Fu and others rose up. All the caravans that had entered the city now changed their clothes, picked up weapons, and followed Chen Fu and others straight to the official office.
At first, some officers and soldiers thought it was the unruly people in the city causing trouble and didn't take it seriously. Quanzhou guerrilla Huo Xiu led the few hundred officers and soldiers left in the government office and went straight to Chen Fu. In his opinion, these unruly people who took advantage of the situation to rebel were just a mob. As long as the first few leaders were killed, the rest would naturally make noises. will disperse.
"I will suppress the unruly people!"
When Chen Fu sent troops to rebel, some criminals who had just been released from prison in Quanzhou saw the chaos in the city and gathered people to burn, kill, loot and commit all kinds of evil.
Soon, the two teams met on Quanzhou East Street. As soon as the two sides fought, guerrilla Huo Xiu was shocked. How could these be the unruly people in the city?
They are well-equipped, and some of them are equipped with muskets. Although the Quanzhou officers and soldiers are usually majestic, they have been out of battle for a long time. They can bully the people. At this moment, the suppression of the rebels has stopped one by one. Chen Fu will be equipped with Hundreds of musketeers were placed at the front.
After a row of "bang bang bang" gunshots, several officers and soldiers fell to the ground. Upon seeing this, the others disobeyed Huo Xiu's orders and retreated in succession.
After a while, the East Street was filled with the corpses of the officers and soldiers. The guerrilla Huo Xiu, who had just shouted to suppress the unruly people, was beheaded by Chen Fu and hung on a bamboo pole to scare the officers and soldiers.
Chen Fu led his troops to quickly occupy the Quanzhou government office. During this period, anyone who dared to resist would be killed.
"Hahaha, brother, we have captured the Quanzhou government office and the rebellion has succeeded! Liu Tong raised his arms and shouted happily.
Chen Fu shook his head and said: "To capture the thief, capture the king first. Although the Quanzhou government office has been captured, the prefect Tan Tie and some important officials in Quanzhou are still alive. If they cannot be controlled, they will inevitably be counterattacked soon. Let's divide our armies. Two ways, I will go to Minjialou to find this bastard Tan Tie, and you will control the imperial court's Dongchang and the Jinyiwei branch in Quanzhou. No one can be released without my order!"
At this time, there was chaos outside the city. In order to celebrate Mr. Chen's sixtieth birthday and avoid what happened just now, Tan Tie ordered all Minjial Towers to be closed and sent some officers and soldiers to guard the door without his orders. No one can enter.
Chen Fu led more than 2,000 people to Minjialou and quickly rushed to Minjialou. The officials, businessmen, and pirates who had been drinking and chatting just now were all frightened and ran away. However, they never thought that every door of Minjialou had been occupied by rebels. Take control.
…
On the pavilion of Minjia Pavilion, a group of people suddenly heard the constant noise downstairs, and the sound of fierce footsteps kept coming from the stairs, and the noise was getting closer and closer.
Magistrate Tan Tie frowned, stood up and was about to go downstairs to take a look when he saw a group of people rushing in and surrounding the top floor pavilion. The leader was Chen Fu who was holding a knife.
One of the Quanzhou officials had drunk too much wine and yelled with his eyes: "Where are you from? Didn't you see that the officials are having a banquet here?" Before this man could finish speaking, he had already been cut in half by Chen Fu.
"Originals, the city is already in chaos, but you still have the heart to sing, dance and have a party here! Today's court officials are like you, I think the Ming Dynasty should also die!"
The remaining celebrities and businessmen had already seen such a scene, their legs were weak, and they all began to kowtow to spare their lives.
Tan Tie wanted to stand up, but when he saw Quanzhou Tongzhi being hacked to death at his feet, his legs felt a little weak and he couldn't take a step forward.
After all, Chen You was someone who had seen big scenes. He immediately understood what happened. He looked at Chen Fu and others and wondered what his purpose was. He smiled and raised his glass and said: "Chen Fu, you accepted my invitation. You came to Quanzhou City to wish me a happy birthday. You just wish me happy birthday, and you brought so many people with you. Do you know that there are many guards who came with me!"
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