The four people who followed Zuo Maodi were also local scholars from Laiyang.
One is named Shen Xun and the other is named Zhang Yunlun. There are two other brothers, Jiang Cai and Jiang Gai.
Zuo Mengeng just treated him as an ordinary scholar and treated him with courtesy.
But little did they know that these four people were all famous and loyal men in history.
Shen Xun, Jiang Cai and Zuo Maodi were Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen, and they were like-minded and were called the Three Gentlemen of Laiyang.
In the 16th year of Chongzhen, after the Qing army captured Laiyang, they divided their forces to attack Sun Shou. Shen Xun and his younger brother Shen Gao led their troops to resist the enemy in the stronghold. They fought fiercely for three days and nights, killing and wounding countless Qing soldiers, and the Qing soldiers retreated.
In the first year of Shunzhi, the Qing government issued an order to shave off his hair. Shen Xun took control of the village and vowed not to surrender. The prefect reported to the capital that Shen Xun was stationing troops to gather food and intended to rebel.
At that time, Wang Wanxiang had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. He had been impeached by Shen Xun, and he also focused on attacking Shen Xun.
The feud between Shen Xun and Wang Wanxiang starts from the Chongzhen period.
At that time, the governor of Denglai was vacant, and Wang Wanxiang recommended Zheng Eryang to the army. So Shen Xun impeached Wang Wanxiang for controlling the government, which led to Wang Wanxiang's dismissal from office.
The Qing court ordered the governor Zhu Guozhu to lead 300 Qing soldiers, and 3,000 Qing Han soldiers besieged Sun Shou's stronghold. After Shen Xun occupied the stronghold and fought fiercely with the Qing soldiers for three days, they ran out of arrows and ammunition.
Seeing that the situation was over, Shen Xun couldn't help but look up to the sky and sigh.
His mother and other women in the family committed suicide by hanging from a beam. After Shen Xun burned the bodies of his relatives, he dressed in formal attire and worshiped north before setting himself on fire. Twenty-seven members of his family died for the country.
The Jiang brothers were even worse.
In the last years of Chongzhen's reign, Jiang Cai, who was in charge of the Ministry of Rites at that time, was beaten with a hundred sticks and sent to guard Xuancheng for resisting Chongzhen's unreasonable memorials.
At that time, Jiang Cai's father, Jiang Xieli, was fighting against the Qing Dynasty in Laiyang, but the city was destroyed and he was killed.
In order to allow Jiang Cai to come back to attend his father's funeral, Jiang Gai petitioned the court to take his brother's place.
Chongzhen... no!
Later, the Jiang brothers lived in the southeast. After Ruan Dacheng succeeded, he wanted to kill Jiang Gai.
Jiang Gai had no choice but to hide in Ningbo anonymously.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the brothers refused to surrender and stayed behind closed doors.
Even after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Yunhuan lived in seclusion in Laoshan and did not serve in the Qing Dynasty.
However, Zuo Mengeng's detailed historical knowledge was not up to par, so he only knew a few things about Zuo Maodi.
However, these scholars admired Zuo Menggeng extremely and were not proud of his status as a warrior.
The reason is that the Ming Dynasty faced Hou Jin in recent years and suffered repeated defeats. People at that time were sad, angry, useless, and depressed.
Finally, a man was born who could defeat Hou Jin in a fair and upright battle, and he immediately won numerous praises.
Zuo Maodi and others didn't know that because of Zuo Mengeng, their status as a candidate for the imperial examination was lost this year.
The Chief Envoy of Shandong has reported to the court that due to the chaos in Shandong, the provincial examination originally held in August has been cancelled.
On the contrary, because he defended the city arduously and understood the dangers of the battle, he admired famous generals like Zuo Mengeng even more.
He pulled over the general who had just spoken rudely to Zuo Mengeng and apologized on his behalf.
"This is the grandson Chengzu, the father-in-law of the student member. I don't know General Zuo's name. Please forgive me."
Zuo Maodi's uncle Zuo Zhiwu was the governor of Dengzhou Guard, and his brother-in-law Sun Chengzu was the guerrilla general of Dengzhou Guard.
The Zuo family is a wealthy family in Laiyang, otherwise Zuo Maodi would not have become famous at such a young age.
Sun Chengzu looked at Zuo Mengeng with admiration and caution.
Did this young general really kill five thousand Tatars?
"Take a seat on the left, I will be rude, please forgive me."
Of course, Zuo Mengeng didn't have ordinary knowledge, but said: "Sun Gueryi is also responsible, and it should be taken for granted."
Seeing the harmonious atmosphere, Sun Yuanhua let out a sigh of relief.
"Zhongheng, this battle has been decided. What should we do with so many prisoners?"
To be honest, Sun Yuanhua had a headache when he saw that the New Army captured so many thieves.
With so many people, it would be better to kill them all.
If you kill them all on the battlefield, it can still be considered as a battle achievement. But now that they are all captured, they need food to feed them.
Does the government have food?
Obviously, it is impossible to have Laiyang right in front of you.
And judging from the anger of the people in Laiyang, although they can no longer kill these prisoners for revenge, they can't even think about providing food for the prisoners.
Huang Zongxi came forward and said: "Most of these are local people in Denglai, and they will naturally be handed over to Master Zhongcheng."
With so many people, of course Zuo Mengeng wanted them. But in full view of the public, he had no legitimate reason.
Sun Yuanhua frowned, not wanting to take this hot potato.
He looked at Zhang Keda.
"General Zhang, can these prisoners be properly disposed of if they are handed over to you?"
Zhang Ke is more numb.
Of course he knew that killing prisoners was unlucky, and he was unwilling to do so. But all the soldiers below are eager for military glory in exchange for money and food. If they can't guarantee it, who will do it behind his back?
If the prisoners could not bear the cruelty and broke out again, there would be another chaos.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but complain to Zuo Mengeng again.
Okay, just wipe them all out just now, why bother with so much trouble.
Seeing the dilemma between the two sides, Zhang Yunhuan was still furious and snorted: "Zhongcheng, General Zuo, why don't you leave these prisoners to me and wait."
During the past few days of guarding the city, Zhang Yunluan's uncle and younger brother all died at the hands of the White Lotus Sect. It was a blood feud, and it seemed that he was not ready to give up.
Although the others did not speak, the bloody aura in their eyes could not be concealed.
When Zuo Mengeng saw this, he was angry in his heart and asked in a deep voice: "Do you have a perfect plan? Now that Denglai has experienced this chaos, everything is waiting to be done. Once these prisoners are dealt with, they will be the best labor. I'm afraid If you can’t treat me kindly, you’ll cause trouble again.”
After Jiang Gai heard this, he couldn't help but said angrily: "The general keeps excusing these beasts, do we, Laiyang fathers, deserve to die? General, do you know what kind of tragedy will happen to me, Laiyang fathers, once these beasts break through the county? Now, we, Laiyang people It’s ten to five or six, and my vitality is severely damaged. If we don’t avenge this revenge, how will we face our fathers and fellow villagers who died unjustly?”
Huang Zongxi was waiting quietly, but after hearing this, he immediately became furious.
"Revenge, revenge. Even if you kill these people, what will it do? It's ridiculous that you have read poetry and books, but you don't know how to trace back to the source, and you only cling to hatred."
His group ridicule immediately made Zuo Maodi and others angry.
When everyone saw him standing behind Zuo Mengeng, looking inconspicuous, they thought he was a general from the left.
Although they respected Zuo Menggeng very much, these scholars didn't have a good look towards Qiu Ba in general.
Jiang Cai stepped forward with a stern face and sarcastic words.
"What kind of truth do you, a warrior, know? These thieves are like locusts crossing the border, destroying villages and towns, killing people in the fields, and causing countless people to lose their families and wipe out their families. Isn't it time for us to protect the country and the people?"
After Zuo Maodi and others heard what he said, they all agreed. For a moment, they shared the same hatred and were ready to teach this one-armed young warrior a lesson.
Unfortunately, they were barking up the wrong tree.
Huang Zongxi sneered again and again, pointing at the ragged thieves.
"Why do they want to rebel? They were not good people before the rebellion? Who made them take risks? You guys wearing long gowns are just human beings, but the real people are worse than pigs and dogs?"
The destructive power of these words was so great that Zuo Maodi and others suddenly changed their colors. They wanted to refute, but for a while they couldn't find a place to start.
Huang Zongxi didn't give up and waved to the distance, asking the soldiers to pick up a prisoner at random.
The prisoner was as skinny as a stick, with only a piece of rag that could not cover his body, and his trousers were worn with holes everywhere.
They did have shoes on their feet, but they were obviously not a pair. I guess I snatched it from somewhere and put it on haphazardly.
When he was carried to a group of high-ranking officials, the prisoner was so frightened that he fell to his knees, trembling, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.
Huang Zongxi asked him: "What is your name? Where are you from?"
The man trembled and said: "The younger one's name is Gu Erzhong, from Chenjiazhuang, Laixi County."
Everyone was stunned, not expecting that this prisoner was actually a local.
Huang Zongxi was unmoved and continued to ask: "Why do you become a thief?"
The man didn't know what he thought of, and his expression suddenly became sad and angry.
"My family used to live a good life. Although my father died early, our family had more than ten acres of land. My sister and I took care of my mother, so we had no worries about food and clothing. Later, my sister got sick, and I took her to see a doctor. . But the prescription given by the doctor was too expensive, so I had no choice but to sell the land to Mr. Zuo..."
Everyone couldn't help but look at Zuo Maodi.
The Zuo family is a wealthy family in the Laiyang and Laixi areas. Anyone with the surname Zuo is basically a relative of Zuo Maodi.
However, it is normal for poor families to sell their land to survive when disaster strikes.
Everyone doesn't think there's anything wrong with this.
Gu Erzhong's voice became angry.
"Master Zuo knew that I was in a hurry for money, so he kept the price low and gave me one tael of silver per acre of land."
Everyone's expressions suddenly became strange.
Everyone knows the price of land. Even if it's Botian, one acre of land costs one, two or five taels of silver.
Giving one tael of silver per acre of land is obviously an opportunity to rob.
Gu Erzhong started to cry loudly as he spoke.
"I didn't want to sell the land, but my sister's illness made it impossible for her to survive, so I had no choice but to agree to it. Who knew that the master of the Zuo family had changed his mind again and was only willing to give eight cents of silver per acre of land."
"Asshole!"
This time it was none other than Sun Yuanhua who was angry.
I have witnessed the exploitation and oppression of ordinary farmers by landlords, but no one with a conscience can accept it.
