Take the warehouse back to the end of the Ming Dynasty

Page 208

There is no need for the court to look far away, and I have not heard the order from the court to mobilize the frontier army. No matter how you look at it, something is wrong.

Zuo Tianshi frowned, and asked: "Did the imperial court mobilize the troops from Xuan Town? But why didn't the imperial court mobilize the troops from Datong Town and instead mobilize the troops from Xuan Town? Isn't this seeking far away?"

Zhao Wen laughed when he heard the words, "Who said it was the order of the imperial court? Although Shanxi is in chaos now, the imperial court did not send troops from other towns to suppress the bandits. I just led the troops here privately for certain things. "

As soon as Zhao Wen finished speaking, Zuo Tianshi was so frightened that he threw himself to the ground. He was sweating profusely. He pointed at Zhao Wen on the horse, with a panicked expression on his face, and tremblingly said: "Leading troops out without edict is treason. What do you want to do? Now the imperial court did not send your troops to suppress the bandits, but you led the troops to Shanxi privately, you are planning to rebel, you want to rebel, you want to rebel..."

Before Zuo Tian could finish speaking, a long knife was directly across his neck.

"My lord, please be more polite." A personal guard stood in front of Zuo Tianshi holding a long knife, the knife in his hand lay across Zuo Tianshi's neck, his face was full of coldness.

Zuo Tianshi felt the coldness under his neck, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said in a panic: "Do you want to kill people to silence them? Then you can come."

What Zuo Tianshi said was awe-inspiring, but his body was shaking non-stop.

Zhao Wen jumped off the horse and said with a smile: "Who said I want to rebel? If I want to rebel, wouldn't it be better if I kill you directly? Why should I tell you my identity?"

Zhao Wen squatted in front of Zuo Tianshi, and gently peeled off the knife lying under his neck.

"Lord Zuo, I want to ask you something, do you want to be the chief secretary of Shanxi, or the six ministers, or even the chief assistant of the cabinet? Don't you want to wear scarlet official robes all your life?" Zhao Wen When he looked at Zuo Tian, ​​his tone was full of temptation.

Zuo Tianshi's heart beat suddenly when he heard Zhao Wen's words.

Which of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty does not regard entering the cabinet as the pinnacle of life?However, there were so many civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, and there were only a few who were able to join the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister for more than 200 years.

"This general is joking, I'm just a recruiter, how can I enter the cabinet to pay homage to the Prime Minister?" Although Zuo Tianshi said so, there was still a look of longing on his face.

When Zhao Wen looked at Zuo Tian who looked yearning, he smiled and said, "Follow me, you will definitely have a place in the cabinet in the future."

"You are just a warrior, how can you guarantee that I will enter the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister?" Zuo Tianshi did not believe that Zhao Wen could guarantee that he would enter the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister.

You must know that the most basic requirement for entering the cabinet is Hanlin background, and the worst is Jinshi background.After Yingzong, I haven't heard of any juren who can enter the cabinet, and now Zuo Tianshi is just a juren, if Zuo Tianshi didn't spend a lot of money to move around, the magistrate of Puzhou might not be able to get into his hands .

Moreover, a chief soldier can control the candidates for the cabinet, and no one would believe this.

"You don't believe it? If you don't believe it, I can't help it. But, I think you should understand one thing. Do you think Puzhou city has been breached by thieves or not?" Zhao Wen stood in front of Zuo Tianshi , Said word by word.

Zuo Tianshi didn't understand Zhao Wen's meaning for a while, and looked at Zhao Wen with a confused face, "What do you mean by that?"

Zhao Wen didn't answer directly, but asked instead: "I was thinking, why have you been hung on the city wall by the thieves, why haven't you surrendered yet, is it really because you have justice in your heart, and are willing to die for the country?" heart?

I don’t think so. If you surrender, your relatives and family members in your hometown will be imprisoned by His Majesty because of you. At that time, your family members and relatives will also be cursed. Included in the biography of traitorous ministers, your descendants will not be able to take the imperial examination because of you.

I think this is the reason why you didn't surrender to the bandits. "Zhao Wen's eyes were like a sharp knife, directly piercing Zuo Tianshi's heart.

In fact, the reason why Zuo Tianshi didn't surrender to the bandits, and showed a generous attitude to die in front of the bandits, was what Zhao Wen said.

Of these officials in the late Ming Dynasty, there were very few who truly died generously for the country and the people.

Zuo Tianshi seemed to be stripped naked in front of Zhao Wen, and Zhao Wen knew all the secrets.

He looked at Zhao Wen blankly, and he really wanted to know how Zhao Wen knew what was going on in his heart.

"Actually, I think people like you are quite sad. You have been doing things conscientiously all your life, and you are afraid of making a mistake.

Especially in this situation, if you run, you will die, if you don’t run, you will die. This is death anyway. Do you think people like you are sad? "Zhao Wenwen said in a calm tone.

"What exactly do you want? What do you want me to do?" Zuo Tianshi's momentum was gradually suppressed by Zhao Wen. He looked at Zhao Wen with a trace of uneasiness on his face.

Zhao Wen chuckled, "I really don't want to do anything, I think, you can continue to be a magistrate, and you can also treat today's incident as if it never happened.

And you can cut off the heads of the thieves who died in battle in this city, and ask the court for credit.You can say that under your leadership, Puzhou City was not only guarded by you, but also defeated countless thieves.

I think that such a memorial will definitely be rewarded by His Majesty. "

"Why are you doing this? What is your purpose for doing this? It seems that you are doing this to no avail, right? I really don't understand your purpose for doing this," Zuo Tianshi frowned tightly. He looked at Zhao Wen suspiciously.

"The purpose of my doing this is very simple, that is, from now on, you have to listen to me, you have to do what I tell you to do, and you can't do what I don't let you do. Of course, follow me and do me Who won't let you lose money.

As long as you do well, money is not a problem.I think, you ran so far to become an official, maybe it's not to help the world and save the people, right?Of course, if you don't agree, I don't think you need to live anymore.

At that time, I will not only let people report the fall of Puzhou City to His Majesty, but I will also let people say that the reason why Puzhou City fell was because you colluded with the thieves. When you say that, will your family be well? Zhao Wen narrowed his eyes and looked at Zuo Tianshi.

When Zuo Tianshi listened to Zhao Wen's words, the expression on his face kept changing. After a while, Zuo Tianshi said helplessly: "I realized that I have no choice."

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Chapter 259 Turning to Daning City

When Zhao Wen looked at Zuo Tian who had surrendered, a smile gradually appeared on his face.

"I don't worry about being empty-mouthed. How about it, you go to the Yamen to write me a letter of guarantee later. Only in this way can I feel relieved." Zhao Wen rode his horse and walked slowly towards the Yamen.

Zuo Tianshi followed behind Zhao Wen, heading towards the Yamen.

When Zhao Wen came to the Yamen, Zhao Daniu rushed back with the men who had gone to pursue him.

"My lord, the bandit who attacked Puzhou City is a man named Zhang Xianzhong. This guy is not good at fighting, but he runs very fast. I didn't catch up, but I just caught up with some fleeing bandits."

Zhao Wen nodded at Zhao Daniu, and said: "If you don't catch up, you don't catch up. One day, you will catch up with him. Now put up the Ann Min notice in the city, and let the people in the city settle down first.

Let's just say that the thieves have been cleared, let Zuo Tianshi write the notice, and by the way, let's see how many people are still in the city. "

When Zhao Wen walked into the Yamen, Zuo Tianshi took out his pen and ink, and first wrote a letter of guarantee for Zhao Wen to submit.

Zhao Wen looked at Zuo Tianshi's name on the document, held the letter of guarantee, and said to Zuo Tianshi: "If you dare to betray me in the future, this letter of guarantee will kill you and your family."

Zuo Tianshi said with a look of fear: "Since I surrender to the general, it means that I will not betray the general, so please rest assured, the general."

"Okay, don't talk about anything else, you hurry up and write out the refugee notice, and first put the hearts of the people in the city at ease, this is the business." Zhao Wen waved at Zuo Tianshi, and then stuffed the document into his arms.

Zuo Tianshi cupped his hands at Zhao Wengong, and then hurriedly began to write the Anmin Notice.

Because there was only Zuo Tianshi alone, the speed of An Min's announcement was relatively slow.

After Zuo Tianshi wrote seven or eight copies, the sun had already begun to gradually set in the west.

Zhao Wen asked Zhao Daniu to take Zuo Tianshi to the city to post Anmin notices and check the number of people in the city.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was riding on a war horse, galloping towards Daning City.

Behind him now there are only more than 300 old battalion soldiers and horses left. As for the other soldiers and horses, either they did not escape, or they fled halfway, or Zhao Wen's soldiers and horses were killed.

His four adoptive sons were led by several personal guards on the horses, and followed closely behind Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong looked back and saw that there were no more pursuers behind him, he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief.

"Where are these soldiers and horses? Why are they so powerful? The weapons in their hands are really weird." Zhang Xianzhong's face was full of bitterness.

In just two or three rounds, my soldiers and horses were beaten badly by those weird soldiers and horses. I didn't even touch the corners of their clothes, so I was defeated like this.

This situation is even more shocking than when he himself first started rebelling.At least when the rebellion just started, even if you encounter the imperial army, although you can't beat them, you can at least fight the official army for one or two rounds.

Now, let alone a fight, they just used that weird firearm to blow it up once, and the defenders on their side have been defeated.

If he hadn't ordered him to run early, he might have been captured by this group of people by then.

Zhang Xianzhong leaned his body tightly on the horse's back, and followed the ups and downs of the horse without listening to him.The wind blew past my ears, whistling.

After about an hour, Zhang Xianzhong stopped.

He turned around, looked at the soldiers and horses of the old battalion parked behind him, and shouted: "Brothers, we can't look for Li Zicheng in such a despicable way.

Li Zicheng looked honest and honest, but he had great ambitions in his heart.

If we go to Li Zicheng like this, there is a high chance that we will be annexed by Li Zicheng. I think we might as well go to other places to search for some people and expand our strength.Then go to Li Zicheng again, what do you think? "

"We all listen to the leader, and we will do whatever the leader tells us to do." The old battalion behind Zhang Xianzhong shouted at Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong nodded, then turned around and headed in another direction.

.......

"My lord, the people in the city have suffered little loss, but the gentry in the city have suffered a lot. Almost all the gentry in the city have been harmed by these thieves.

In addition to the common people in the city, there were also refugees who were coerced by Zhang Xianzhong from various places.There are also about [-] to [-] refugees in this group.

And we also found the gold and silver that Zhang Xianzhong didn't have time to take away. We roughly estimated that the gold and silver were about 200 million taels.

We have pulled these gold and silver outside the yamen. "Zhao Daniu looked at Zhao Wen standing in the hall of the yamen, his face was full of excitement.

The reason why the people in the city did not receive Zhang Xianzhong's harm was because Zhang Xianzhong originally wanted to coerce these people and serve as the vanguard of his attack on the city, but before they got all these people in their hands, Zhao Wen took the entire Puzhou The city was again attacked.

Another is that these people basically have no money, and they can't find any oil or water, so the losses of the people in the city will be very small.

Zhao Wen stood up with a smile on his face, "Hahaha, this Zhang Xianzhong has a lot of money, but now it's ours.

You get all the gold and silver into the yamen, first count them, and calculate the accurate figures first. "

Zhao Wen looked at Zuo Tianshi again, "Master Zuo, now is the time to look at you, you are now recruiting some people in the city, the number does not need to be large, about two to three hundred people will do.

After these people are recruited, they will first maintain order in the city.You tell them it's not like they're free coolies, everyone gets paid. "

"My lord, in fact, we don't need to pay at all. Although the thieves have breached Puzhou City, the yamen servants in the yamen have not suffered any losses, so I think it is up to these yamen servants to maintain law and order." Zuo Tianshi He cupped his hands at Zhao Wengong and said.

For Zhang Xianzhong, these yamen servants played the same role as the common people, so the yamen servants did not suffer any losses.

Zhao Wen nodded and said: "Anyway, I will leave this matter to you. By the way, you can't just focus on the city. You should also pay attention to gathering the refugees outside the city, as well as the refugees who were coerced by Zhang Xianzhong. Make proper arrangements, and all the refugees gathered will be sent to Pingyang Mansion."

Although Zuo Tianshi didn't understand why Zhao Wen sent the people to Pingyang Mansion, he didn't ask any questions.

After Zhao Wen arranged everything properly, he asked Zhao Daniu to transport all the money to the backyard of the yamen.

Zhao Wen looked at the money piled up in the backyard of the yamen, with a smile on his face.

"Let's put the money here first. Tomorrow we will go to Daning City and Yang City. When we leave, arrange some people to stay in the yamen. Give me the money to watch over it, and at the same time, keep Zuo Tianshi under surveillance.

Although this person has taken refuge with us, he must be guarded against others. Zhao Wen looked at Zhao Daniu standing beside him, frowned and said, "The number of people doesn't need to be too many, twenty or so is enough." "

Zhao Daniu cupped his hands at Zhao Wengong, and said loudly, "My lord, don't worry."

Zhao Wen nodded, then turned and left.

At this time in Daning City, Li Zicheng was sitting in the county office of Daning City, holding a glass of wine in his hand, looking at his subordinates sitting in the hall with drunken eyes.

"Brothers, come and drink." Li Zicheng held the wine glass, shouted, and then drank the wine in his hand.

"Haha, to be a general is to be bold." Li Zicheng's number one general Liu Zongmin roared, and then drank the wine in his hand.

At this time, Li Zicheng was following his uncle Gao Yingxiang, and his uncle Gao Yingxiang's current title was King Chuang, so Li Zicheng called himself Chuang General.

Li Zicheng said that the time when King Chuang was Gao Yingxiang died. At that time, Li Zicheng would take over Gao Yingxiang's manpower, and his strength would skyrocket.

Holding a big bowl, Li Guo stood up staggeringly, "Uncle, now we have captured Daning City, and it was our family that captured it. I see who in the 36th Battalion will dare to underestimate it in the future." we?"

Li Zicheng laughed loudly, "Haha, you're right, whoever dares to underestimate us in the future, even Huang Huhuang Chuangzi will have to obey us."

Huang Huhuang Chuangzi is Zhang Xianzhong's nickname. Although Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong know each other, they have always disagreed and neither agrees with the other.

Although these thieves seem to be kind on the surface, they do not obey anyone in private.

"Hahaha, what I'm talking about is, let's see what Huang Chuangzi has to say in the future." Li Guo laughed loudly.

"Okay, let's not talk about this. The gentry in the city must be cleaned up as soon as possible. These people are worth a lot, so we can't just let them go so easily.

Although we are rebels, we can't do without money.We must squeeze these gentry dry. "

Liu Zongmin said loudly: "General Chuang, you can leave this matter to me, Lao Liu. I am best at this kind of matter."

Liu Zongmin patted his chest, and said vowedly.

"Okay, then I will leave this matter to you." Li Zicheng put down the big bowl in his hand, pointed at Liu Zongmin and said.

Liu Zongmin cupped his hands at Li Zicheng, and then walked outside.

......

When the sun rose the next day, Zhao Wen headed towards Daning City with his soldiers and horses.

Daning City was neither close nor far from Puzhou City. Zhao Wen led his soldiers and horses to a place about three miles outside Daning City in about two or three hours.

Zhao Wen looked at Daning City in front of him with a binoculars, and a smile gradually appeared on the corner of his mouth, "This group of thieves are not even as good as Zhang Xianzhong's generation, at least Zhang Xianzhong will leave guards on the city wall, but now this Daning There is not even a ghost on the walls of the city."

"My lord, the thieves who attacked Daning City were soldiers led by a bandit leader known as a general." Zhao Daniu stood beside Zhao Wen, and also held up a binoculars to look at Daning City in front of him.

"Crossing General Li Zicheng, you are the one who pushed Daming into the abyss. I want to see what you can do today." Zhao Wen murmured in a voice he could only hear while looking at the city wall ahead.

After a while, Zhao Wen put down the binoculars in his hand, turned around, and said to Zhao Daniu beside him, "Let the soldiers have some food, replenish their strength, and launch an attack in a quarter of an hour."

At the same time, Liu Zongmin led his troops to interrogate the gentry who had already been arrested in the Yamen prison.

Liu Zongmin held a horsewhip. He stood in a cell and beat a gentry who was hung on the wall.

"Do you want to say it? Do you want to say it? Do you want to say it?" Every time Liu Zongmin asked, he whipped the horsewhip in his hand severely on the gentry.