In Luoyang City, groups of soldiers from the Chaoyuan Army wearing turbans or felt hats were patrolling on Chayuan Street to maintain the peace in the city. The person at the front of the team beat the gong and shouted out the military orders of King Chuang.
"King Chuang has an order prohibiting arson and looting, but anyone who violates this rule, regardless of whether he is a soldier or a civilian, will be beheaded in public display!"
From time to time, there was the sound of horse hooves, patrolling the wide streets everywhere. Some of the horses still had bloody human heads hanging on their saddles, which must have just been chopped off from the rebels.
Gradually, people on the street went out to watch what was going on. At first, they were still cautiously walking slowly around the corner of the wall, but gradually they became bolder.
At this time, a large number of people crowded together in front of the screen wall at the entrance of the Procuratorate Office, looking at the newly posted notices on peace of the people. Not only here, these newly posted "Nine Questions" were everywhere in Luoyang City. "Nine Persuasion" announcement.
Wherever the "Nine Questions and Nine Admonitions" are posted, groups of people gather to watch. Of course, most of them cannot understand it. After all, in the last days of the Ming Dynasty, they have not yet reached the level of Everyone is literate.
But there are always some literate people who can't help but mutter aloud when they read it, and among them are those slightly amplified sounds, as if they have the intention to be heard by others.
In each crowd, there are many poor people who are illiterate or have very little literacy. The purpose of squeezing into the crowd is not to read the notice, but to listen. After listening, they can go back and tell their neighbors and family members what it says. Carelessly, act as the big understanding in the small circle!
Nowadays, there is a little old man named Jiang Laosan, and people call him Mr. Jiang.
He was originally a small landowner in Xiao Mengjin in the north of Luoyang. Later, most of his family's land was occupied by Prince Fu's Mansion. His life was miserable, but he didn't know how to make a living. He spent most of his time sitting in a teahouse every day. , spent many years like this.
In fact, he is not very literate, but whenever a new notice is posted at the government or county government office, he always squeezes into the crowd immediately and pretends to read the notice, but in fact he is secretly listening to others After reading the notice, he secretly remembered it in his heart, and then returned to the teahouse to talk about it.
In fact, most of the young people in this neighborhood know how he reads. Whenever they see him squeeze into a crowd, he would look up and then lower his head, pretending to follow the lines on the notice. When the text moves up and down, he will always ask him deliberately: "Mr. Jiang, what is written on this notice?"
Jiang Laosan always replied without hesitation: "Awesome! Awesome!"
In fact, Jiang Laosan was not wrong, because nine out of ten announcements posted by the government were either urging food donations, announcing martial law and various bans, or beheading criminals.
There is a popular saying in the inner city of Luoyang, which Henan people call "Jianzi". Its content is: "Master Jiang, read the notice - awesome!"
Now Jiang Laosan has the word "Shun" stuck on his hat. He is crowded among the crowd with an anxious mood, watching the newly posted notices and listening carefully.
A strange young man wrapped in a worn-out cotton-padded jacket asked behind him: "Old sir, what does King Li Chuang say on this notice?"
Jiang Laosan replied casually without having time to think: "Awesome! Awesome!"
After a while, he had listened carefully to the content of the "Nine Questions and Nine Admonitions" twice. The questions in it that exposed the tyrants of the royal officials and the gentry who occupied the land were particularly to his liking.
It was the strange young man wrapped in a torn cotton-padded jacket who asked him from behind: "Old man, what is this notice talking about?"
He actually blurted out the reply: "It's so happy! It's so happy!"
But he immediately realized that he had made a mistake. In his heart, he was afraid that once the Chuangwang troops left Luoyang, he himself would cause trouble because of this sentence.
Gu hurriedly changed his words and said, "I can't say it, I can't say it!"
In a slightly excited mood, Jiang Laosan squeezed his way out of the crowd, turned around and strolled towards a tea stall not far away.
The young man who just asked Jiang Lao San three questions twice in a row raised his hand to support the bald cotton hat on his head, shrugged his slightly slumped shoulders, and put his hands in the sleeves of the torn cotton-padded jacket with deep-fried twists. He also swayed out of the crowd.
Everyone was looking at the newly posted "Nine Questions and Nine Advices" notice, and no one paid attention to the young man wrapped in a torn cotton-padded jacket. He squeezed out of the crowd and turned into a small alley next to Chayuan Street. There was not much going on. Yuan then ducked into the side door of a house.
"Creak..." With a sound, the wooden side door closed tightly again.
"What's the situation outside? Have the intruders entered the city?" A slightly rough voice asked in a low and urgent tone.
The young man wrapped in a torn cotton-padded jacket stretched out his hands from the sleeves of the cotton-padded jacket, hugged him in front of his chest and worshiped: "Go back to Mr. Tong, the bandits haven't entered the city yet, but now the city is full of bandit soldiers, patrolling everywhere. Burning and looting of houses is prohibited.
However, all the government offices and warehouses in the city have been controlled by thieves. They are searching for Prince Fu and other officials, gentry, and wealthy families all over the city. There are also thieves and horse soldiers guarding the crossroads. "
That Mr. Tong seemed to be about thirty years old. He was dark and strong and looked quite fierce and capable. He stretched out his hand to greet the young man and said: "Qiangzi, come on, let's go into the house and talk."
He turned around and ordered the other people: "Be smart, keep an eye on the door. If there is an interrogation, deal with it carefully. Don't panic."
"Yes, don't worry, Mr. Tong, this isn't our first time!"
This group of people all dressed like poor people, but Master Tong was dressed like a run-down small landowner.
They are the soldiers of the Ranger Department under Zhang Cheng's cavalry battalion. The leader is Tong Shoushan, the deputy commander of the Ranger Department and the commander of the left sentry post. The young man called Qiangzi is his captain Bao Ji. powerful.
Tong Shoushan led the sentry cavalry of the left sentry to patrol near Luoyang City. In the early morning, he found that Luoyang City had been breached by the rebels, so he summoned his brothers who were sent out to take advantage of the chaos and sneak into Luoyang City.
They were equipped with armor and weapons according to their own preferences. Although they looked a bit messy, everyone used them smoothly. Except for the two handguns on each of them, which were a little more conspicuous, it can be said that they looked like It looks like an official army, but also like a bandit breaking into the army.
In this way, they clashed in the city, pretending to be thieves and killing soldiers, and then pretending to be soldiers and killing traitors. Not far after entering Chayuan Street, they heard bursts of miserable wailing in a house.
They quietly climbed over the wall and entered the house, and saw bright red all over the ground. Bodies were scattered in the yard, and bursts of wailing and screaming came from the main room.
Tong Shoushan led his men to break down the door and found that more than a dozen rogues were bullying several women, some of whom had been tortured to the point of dying. He rushed forward and slashed them to death without saying a word.
Those scoundrels were killed on the spot, and while they were killing the scoundrels, the disheveled woman on the couch actually found a short blade in her hand, and that's how she got to know herself.
When she was dying, she shouted: "Even if I die, I won't let you bully me!"
