In the afternoon, although it is almost late autumn, the weather in Guangdong is still similar to summer.
Hot is just one word!
However, even so, there was a large group of people rushing on the official road.
There were about 20 people on horseback, more than 40 people on foot, and seven or eight carriages, of which only two had hoods and the others were flatbeds.
You can see at a glance that the flatbed is full of people.
These people wear all kinds of clothes and have everything. Ordinary clothes, government servants, etc. mixed in. It is estimated that there are almost hundreds of people in this group.
But one thing they have in common is that they are young, and they all carry weapons such as knives, guns, and sticks.
Thanks to Xiangshan County's proximity to the sea, the sea breeze blows from time to time. Although the sun is strong, there is still some wind.
But even so, they were all sweating profusely. From the looks of it, although they didn't complain, their morale was not high.
"Drive, drive, drive..."
In front of them, a horse on a fast horse ran quickly. After catching up with them, he stopped in front of the luxurious covered carriage and loudly announced: "Master, the county magistrate and the princess are still in Tangjia Village, setting up the flowing water mat." Woolen cloth!"
After he finished speaking, Ma Ruhai's voice rang out from inside the car: "Hurry up, hurry up and get there!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the butler got out of the hood of the car and shouted to the group of people behind him: "Master said, no matter how fast you hurry up, if today's matter is solved, you will be rewarded heavily. If anything happens, Cha Zi, all of you are bound to die!"
The people Ma Ruhai brought were all he could mobilize in the county and guarantee their loyalty.
As for the others, though there are more. But he was worried that those people would be unreliable when facing the Princess Consort. After all, if the negotiation fails, he is prepared to threaten and kidnap the consort and the princess.
Once a conflict breaks out, if the princess consort promises huge profits, he will definitely not be able to compete with her. She is not loyal enough and is tied to him. He really doesn't dare to use her at this critical moment.
However, he believed that he had brought about a hundred people, and the princess and her consort, including all men and women, were only about ten, which was enough.
In order to show his strength, he also sent people to inform the people on the mountain that at least a thousand people could come down there.
It's a pity that we just passed through a hurricane and can't contact the other side of the sea yet. Otherwise, even those from the sea would be able to make the prince consort fully realize his strength.
In this Xiangshan County, the prince-in-law can't do anything without his support, Ma Ruhai.
At this time, under the urging of housekeeper Ma Ruhai, the group speeded up and finally arrived at Tangjiacun less than half an hour later.
There is no shortage of big trees in Guangdong. Even after the typhoon, there are still many big trees that have not fallen.
These bastards, all panting like cows, hurriedly hid under the trees to rest, and each one exposed his breasts and poured water on himself.
In this weather, I should have been hiding in the county town!
In the car hood, even if the housekeeper tried to fan Ma Ruhai, the heat was too much for the fat man to bear.
So, a deck chair was brought down and placed under the tree. Ma Ruhai wiped his sweat while looking at Tangjiacun, which was not very far away.
At this time, there is no smoke anymore, but you can still hear that there seems to be a lot of excitement there.
"Master, what should we do next?" The housekeeper leaned next to Ma Ruhai and asked for instructions.
Ma Ruhai frowned, pointed at the village with his hand and said, "Two waves of brothers have already entered, but haven't they come out yet?"
"Yes, two waves of brothers came, but there was no return."
After Ma Ruhai confirmed, he stared at Tangjiacun for a while, his expression obviously a little ugly. He immediately ordered: "Send two more brothers over to have a look. No matter what, they must report back within a quarter of an hour."
"Yes, sir!" After hearing this, the housekeeper immediately agreed, then named two people and sent them to the village.
Watching the two people walking towards the village, Ma Ruhai said to his housekeeper: "Look at it, this prince-in-law and princess can actually get along with these untouchables, maybe it will give courage to the untouchables here, I guess the prince-in-law is afraid that he knows ”
"What should we do?" When the housekeeper heard this, he immediately panicked. This was the worst case scenario.
Ma Ruhai's face was gloomy. He wiped his sweat with his fat hand and asked, "If the princess consort wants to leave the village, can she only take this road?"
"Yes, sir, other roads are not suitable for riding horses." After hearing this, the housekeeper quickly ordered someone to come over, and the person immediately replied.
After hearing this, Ma Ruhai said with a ruthless face: "Okay, block this place. If they don't come back after a quarter of an hour, attack them. Anyone who dares to resist can be killed. But the princess and the consort cannot touch him." My subordinates, try not to kill anyone!"
He really didn't want to offend the consort and the princess, but wanted to hug the consort and the princess' lap. But the situation was like this, so he could only give "military advice". If the consort and the princess could approve of him, that would be the best. If we still want to punish him, we have no choice but to escape to Nanyang.
After hearing this, the housekeeper immediately agreed, then turned around and ordered his men to go.
In Guangdong, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were also various rebellions.
There are those who cannot survive, there are the gentry who rebel, there are those who are recruited by the Yuan Dynasty, and there are those who occupy the mountain and become kings. In short, the world is in chaos, and Guangdong is not immune.
In the end, He Zhen, the rebel gentry, was recruited and led the troops to pacify most of Guangzhou, and then chose to surrender when the Ming army moved south. The entire Guangdong belonged to the Ming Dynasty.
In this process, ambitious people in some places, or those with some ability, naturally emerged one after another. For example, this Ma Ruhai got into the position of the Dianshi of Xiangshan County and was able to dominate the place.
A remote place is better than a remote place. If Ma Ruhai had behaved like this on the edge of Nanjing, he would have been skinned and stuffed with grass. But here, if the consort is not the county magistrate, but just an ordinary county magistrate, there is basically nothing you can do against him.
But there are also disadvantages in remote places. Even if Ma Ruhai is ambitious and wants to continue to climb up, and is not satisfied with Xiangshan County, he must have someone above him.
A prefect of Guangzhou Prefecture is not a big supporter. This kind of local official doesn't know where he will be transferred when his term is over. However, if he could hug the prince consort and the princess's thighs, it would be a new starting point for Ma Ruhai's journey.
Therefore, at this time, Ma Ruhai, even though he knew in his heart that he might not be able to hug his thigh, he still wanted to try, what if?
Many of the founding fathers of the Ming Dynasty were kings of mountains in the past. Why can't they be as powerful as Ma Ruhai?
However, Ma Ruhai himself has never thought about a problem. In such a chaotic era as the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, if someone else could be regarded as the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, and he was just a classic historian, is he also a person with high ambitions and low abilities?
A quarter of an hour passed quickly, and the two men sent in still never returned.
Ma Ruhai's expression became very ugly.
The plump body left the recliner, his face was a little ferocious, and he shouted sternly to his men: "Cheer up, let this prince-in-law from the capital see our strength, come on!"
His men listened, although they were reluctant, there was nothing they could do. Because they know that they are indeed tied to Master Dianshi.
So, they all left under the big tree, gripped the swords, guns and sticks in their hands, and prepared to enter the village.
……………………
It was in the afternoon when Daotong, the magistrate of Panyu County, received the letter asking for help. He was not at the county government office at that time, and was still out doing disaster relief.
However, since Minzhuang was released, the labor force has been greatly supplemented, and the disaster relief has come to an end.
He has been the magistrate of Panyu County for more than five years, and of course he has heard something about the situation in the neighboring county.
However, after all, it was not a place under his jurisdiction, and the careless squires in his own territory also affected his energy, and he was powerless to deal with the situation in the neighboring county.
But things were different now. If nothing else, just because the prince consort and the princess might be in danger, he absolutely couldn't sit idly by and ignore it.
So Daotong immediately arranged manpower to reinforce the consort and the princess.
He had no soldiers under his command, so he could only mobilize county government officials and some strong people to form a reinforcement team.
As a result, what he didn't expect was that as soon as he heard that he was going to the next county to have a conflict with Dian Shima Ruhai, more people asked for leave.
"Your Majesty, my wife is going to have a baby and she can't go."
"Your Majesty, my sister is going to have a baby, please take a leave!"
"Your Majesty, my wife is his sister, and his sister is my wife!"
"Your Majesty, my stomach hurts..."
"..."
The 500 people Dao Tong finally gathered together turned out to be more than 400 people, all of whom were clamoring for leave.
The remaining ones are obviously depending on the situation, with the head and the rat at both ends.
Seeing this, Daotong didn't know that they were all afraid of Ma Ruhai, the official of Xiangshan County.
Daotong got angry and said to them: "The consort and the princess are in trouble, and I have sent a letter asking for help. If we don't go, there will be something wrong with the consort and the princess afterwards, and we will not be able to escape the death penalty!"
Having said this, he glanced at the people in front of him and said sharply again: "I don't know how the court will deal with you later, but I must go."
After he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to straighten his official hat, quickly got on his horse, and left on his own!
His old servant saw him and followed him with a stick.
When the five hundred people and government officials saw him, they couldn't help but look at each other.
what to do?
That's right, they have definitely heard of the evil reputation of Ma Ruhai, the Dianshi next door, and they must be afraid!
However, Daotong has been the magistrate of Panyu County for more than five years. It is obvious to all what kind of official he is.
Now, the county magistrate is taking an old servant to rescue the consort and the princess. If there is really any conflict, they probably won't have such a good magistrate in the future.
Looking at Daotong's lonely back, someone finally took a step forward and followed him.
"Let's go, no matter what, at least we can't let anything happen to the county magistrate!" someone shouted, and they followed.
Seeing that more and more people were following, some people said: "We are just protecting the county lord. Is it possible that Dian Shi will rush to our Panyu County? Let's go, let's go!"
"Just now, the county magistrate said that if there really is a conflict between the princess and the consort, we might also be blamed by the court. Let's go, let's go!"
Amidst the shouting, perhaps relying on the large number of people, a team of 500 government officials and minzhuang finally followed their county magistrate and headed for Xiangshan County.
Led by Zhang San's brother-in-law, they took a shortcut and rushed to Tangjiacun.
Although Minzhuang and the Yamen officials did not want to conflict with the Dianshi people, Daotong was anxious and kept urging, so that the team moved at a very fast pace.
About half an hour later, as they were walking, they suddenly met someone on the next branch of the road. Immediately, Minzhuang exclaimed.
"No, these are bandits. The bandits have come down the mountain!"
"Yes, these are bandits from Wugui Mountain. Look at the flag, they are bandits from Wugui Mountain."
"There are so many of them. There are at least a thousand of them. Run!"
"There are too many of them, why don't you run away?"
"..."
Amid the commotion and shouting, a crowd of people waited, like frightened rabbits, ready to run away at any moment.
We can't blame them, after all, they are just ordinary people. A large number of people can bully a small number of people, but when a small number of people see a large number of people, morale will be lost first.
The Taoist priest, dressed in official robes, rode in front. When I saw him on the other side, he was also flustered. But soon, they stopped panicking.
"Brothers, they don't have as many people as us, don't be afraid!"
"You know better, leave quickly, or you will risk your life!"
"I drove this road and planted this tree. If you want to pass through here, leave money to buy the road!"
"Grandpa is not free today. Run for your life quickly, or you will be killed without mercy!"
"..."
These bandits are indeed bandits on Wugui Mountain. They usually don't go down the mountain very often, but they do come down to rob, and they still have a certain reputation.
But more often than not, they are actually tax evaders, hiding in the mountains and farming without paying taxes.
Similar to this, there were places where communication and transportation were underdeveloped in ancient times, but they were just different in size.
In the Xiangshan area, it is natural to worship Shima Ruhai's dock, to be protected by him, and to do some dirty work for him.
This time, after receiving Ma Ruhai's order from Wugui Mountain, about 1,500 people came down. Except for women and children, they all came down to support Ma Ruhai.
Daotong was a county magistrate and a civil servant, but he was born as a Mongolian and was not just a civil servant. When he saw the chaos of the bandits on the opposite side, he was not afraid and wanted to order a fight.
As a result, he raised his horse to charge, but when he looked back, his five hundred men and horses were charging back. A few people were there, shouting at him to retreat quickly, but no one followed him.
This time, he was dumbfounded.
The prince consort and the princess are still waiting for him to rescue them. Is he going to die here?
When he was in a dilemma and didn't know what to do, suddenly, he showed a trace of doubt, feeling that it was impossible here, right?
However, after a while, he became more certain and immediately got off his horse in surprise.
