Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 361 Liang Xiucai's Water Camp Trip
At the moment when there was an explosion on the sea, Wang Changsheng followed a large group of people to the city wall to watch the excitement.When he saw the huge blue and white ship on the sea in the distance, he was both surprised and delighted.

So he took advantage of the arrival of the Northern Navy and the chaos of the crowd near the city gate, and hid in a tea shop near the south gate.When the south gate tower was bombed and collapsed, Wang Changsheng estimated that the North Navy was about to attack, so he rushed to the south gate with two of his men, shot and killed several soldiers guarding the gate, and then opened the city gate.

Thanks to Wang Changsheng's internal support, the Marine Corps of the Beihai Navy broke through Rongcheng in this way.Afterwards, under his leadership, the first battalion and one company of the Marine Corps quickly snatched the three gates of the west, north, and east, and blocked a group of Manchu officials and wealthy households who were trying to escape in the city.

The local county magistrate Jiang did not commit suicide in the end. Because the city was lost too quickly, the magistrate Jiang had no time to throw himself into a well or hang himself. Gentleman was blocked in the second hall.Later, when Yu Shuncong, who was covered in bruises, was rescued from the prison of the county government, magistrate Jiang realized what a stupid thing he had done.

After the Northern Navy captured the county government, they did not carry out any large scales to divide gold and silver, nor did they open warehouses to release grain, and even did not open the warehouses in the county government. This surprised several county government offices. He has never heard of the money-robbing pirate.

According to Deng Fei's order, the company commander who led the team left a safety notice on the screen wall outside the county government office, and then escorted the captured magistrate Jiang, Mr. A group of rich men from the county government returned to the Xunshui camp in Chengshan, which had been converted into Deng Fei's temporary headquarters.

Taking advantage of the Manchu government being caught off guard, Deng Fei used the limited manpower to the extreme.The two platoons of the second company and the third company followed Wang Changsheng to Wendeng County overnight; the other platoon of the third company, under the guidance of an old farmer who came to look for work, captured the fort of Longkouya before dark.

By noon the next day, the news from Wendeng hadn't come back, but someone from Rongcheng County had arrived.

Now the dragons in Rongcheng County have no leader, whether it is the county magistrate, Dian Shi, or subordinate officials, they have all been "invited" to Shuiying as guests by the Beihai Navy. Passed a catastrophe.After Bei Haijun and the prisoners withdrew from the county seat, Li Jiaoyu, still in shock, waited until dark before bravely leaving the academy. Unexpectedly, he was seen by the crowd gathered in front of the county government gate as soon as he stepped out of the gate.

The largest wealthy households in the city were all captured together with County Magistrate Wang. Now the family members were in a hurry and begged Li Jiaoyu to find a way.Master Li originally wanted to go to Wendeng to ask for help, but the people he sent ran back not long after they left the city, saying that the soldiers and horses of the pirate brigade had already killed Wendeng and almost ran into him.

Li Jiaoyu had no choice but to order people to take a boat from Liugong Island to Dengzhou to ask for help after dawn.At the same time, he summoned the students and other gentry in the city overnight.

After discussion, when each family increased the remuneration to [-] yuan, a student named Liang Zhenyu volunteered to represent Rongcheng County to negotiate with the pirates.This is an enlarging student, and his family is not rich. Twenty thousand dollars is really not a small amount to him.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, students from local government schools, prefectures, and counties were commonly called "scholars".Although donations were opened during the Kangxi period, ordinary people could pay for the qualifications of student members, but such people who have no real talent and learning are called "regular students" or "pay students"; those who are truly learned are all in the academy. Those who have been included in the roster of lin students and augmented students.

In the Qing Dynasty, students were divided into three classes, Lin students, Zengguang students and affiliated students, collectively referred to as "all students".Zengguang students are treated the same as granary students except that they don’t have any granary rice.

The people who came with Liang Xiucai were all the stewards and servants of those rich families. The gifts these people brought were nothing more than a few slaughtered pigs and sheep on a wheelbarrow, a dozen jars of wine, and dozens of stones of grain. And so on, there is also a gift list and greeting cards.

When Bei Haijun attacked the county yesterday, they all hid at home and didn't show their faces until Bei Hai Hai left, so they didn't see the true faces of these "pirates" until they were one mile away from Shuiying.

"Stop! What are you doing?"

As soon as the words were finished, a Beihai soldier walked out from the grass beside the road, startling Liang Xiucai and his party.

When the man came to the front, everyone looked at it carefully, and then they saw that the other party was wearing a semi-circular helmet with eyebrows on his head, covered with a fine net, with many messy weeds and leaves inserted ;The jacket and trousers are of the same style, the colorful decorations are hard to tell, the more you look at it, the more dizzy you are; there is a belt around the waist, and there are several small bags hanging, I don’t know what is inside, they are all bulging He was wearing a pair of khaki low-waist boots, the trousers seemed to be tucked into the boots, and he was holding a "bird gun" with a short sword in his hand.

Liang Xiucai hurriedly handed over the greeting card and gift list, explaining his intentions.To the surprise of everyone present, the Beihai soldier took the gift list and greeting card, and actually looked at it, murmuring unconsciously.

"Are you literate?" Liang Xiucai was a little surprised, but what the other party said next surprised him even more.

"Hehe, is literacy very new? Everyone of us is literate." The soldier put away the greeting cards and gift slips, and said to Liang Xiucai and the others: "Everyone is waiting here, be careful of getting shot if you move around!"

Looking at the back of the "thief soldier" in the distance, Liang Xiucai was a little confused.Everyone can read?what is that placeAs far as he knows, Qufu has the highest literacy rate in Shandong.

After a meal, a few more "bandit soldiers" dressed exactly the same as before came from Shuiying, and led Liang Xiucai and his party towards Shuiying.When they came outside the gate of Shuying, the two huge boats moored in Yangyuchi Bay startled these people again.Yesterday it was all from a distance, but today when it got close, Liang Zhenyu realized how big it was, and it was completely different from any other ship type he had ever seen.

The two boats are of ordinary shape, with a length of more than 20 feet and a width of several feet. The height from the sea surface to the ship's side is probably more than two feet high.There are three masts standing on the deck, the middle one is tens of feet high, and a huge red flag is floating on the top, with a white gear-shaped ring drawn in the middle, and a white five-star inside.

At this time, the sails on the deck have all been rolled up, exposing the densely intertwined ropes like spider webs; there are several wide windows on the hull, and the covers on them are all open, so the dark holes inside can't be seen clearly; The bow of the ship and a slanted mast above it, Liang Zhenyu had no idea what it was for.

A group of people from Rongcheng County saw this scene, and their jaws dropped in shock. This is something that ordinary pirates and thieves can have, and the previous contempt is no longer there.

When they followed the two soldiers into the gate of the water camp, they found that there was neither drums beating nor flags waving, which was completely different from the bandit village they knew.Among the people who followed Liang Xiucai, a guy who had been to the water camp suddenly let out a "huh", and everyone asked him what was going on, and that person said why the water camp is so clean!
As soon as these words came out, everyone noticed that the ground in the water camp was filled with loess extremely flat, not even a single mud puddle was seen; the ground was even more clean without even a single weed.

At this moment, Liang Xiucai looked back at the two guards standing guard at the gate. They all held their chests up and straight as pine. The words "military mighty" immediately came to mind.

"The famous generals in ancient times are nothing more than this." Liang Xiucai became more and more curious, and even more eager to see what the generals who led the army were like.

However, when he saw Deng Fei in the signing room of the water camp, he became stunned. He didn't expect that the other party was dressed in the same clothes as those soldiers before, except that he didn't wear a hat, and his short hair was a few inches long.

"Your Excellency is Liang Shengyuan? My surname is Deng, and I have a single name, Fei. Please sit down." Deng Fei smiled and nodded to say hello, motioning for the other party to sit down and talk, but Liang Xiucai's face suddenly changed.

Hearing Deng Fei's clear Mandarin with Zhili accent, looking at the short hair of the other party, and recalling what he saw just now, Liang Xiucai suddenly realized that these people are not pirates at all, but proper Rebel!
As a scholar, Liang Zhenyu didn't want to be submissive in front of the other party, but he was really afraid in his heart, for fear that he would be accused of a personal affair and treason in the future.

"I'm here. I'm entrusted by the elders of this county. I want to ask General Deng, who are you?"

Deng Fei chuckled and said, "I'm not a general, just a captain. Since Mr. Liang is a scholar, have you ever read the mansions of the Qing court?"

Liang Zhenyu clasped his hands and said, "Rongcheng is located in a remote place, even if the Beijing News copied it, it was only a month or two ago."

This kind of thing is copied and printed by the bulletin room set up by the provinces in Titang, Beijing, and then distributed to the prefectures and counties.After the county magistrate has finished reading it, it will be the turn of the squires below to read it.As a student, Liang Xiucai had only one source for reading the Beijing News, the county school.So it is not surprising that there is a delay.

"It doesn't matter, has Beihai Town heard of it?"

Liang Zhenyu recalled it for a while, but he had no impression at all. At this time, he heard Deng Fei say: "The Fukang'an army was defeated outside the pass the year before last. You must have heard about the emperor's sin against himself?"

"What! Are you all?"

Deng Fei nodded slightly and said: "That's right, we are the group of rebels who defeated the imperial army's invasion several times, not to mention a county magistrate of Rongcheng, we have even arrested Fukang'an."

Now, Liang Xiucai was really frightened.
That afternoon, when Li Jiaoyu and the anxious gentry saw Liang Zhenyu who had come back, the first thing he said was to ask how much money and food he wanted, but Liang Xiucai said in a daze that he didn't want money or food. It is important.

"What? Who do they want? Don't they want the head of the county lord?" The gentry thought that the county lord just came from Guizhou, and the head was not worth much.

But when Liang Xiucai talked about the Beihai Town and conveyed Deng Fei's intentions, Li Jiaoyu and the other gentry were stunned.

Rebels?And the squirrel-faced traitor who beat up the imperial army? !Want to lure people to farm outside the pass?Pay back every time a young man is taken away?Release people when the ship is full?

After listening to it, everyone felt as if struck by lightning, scorched inside and out.

Li Jiaoyu lamented: "How can this be done? When the court finds out, we will lose our lives!"

After a while, Liang Zhenyu said to Li Jiaoyu and Mr. Bi present: "The rebel leader said that the short gun that was confiscated in the yamen before must be returned. Also, there is the one in the noble house... that widowed woman People have to take it away."

Master Bi exploded as soon as he heard it, why are these rebels even robbing a widow?Isn't this bad for my Bi family's reputation?He slapped the table angrily and said angrily: "Everyone is dead, I can't hand it over!"

Liang Xiucai glanced at the other party and said, "That's what I said before I came down, but the rebel surnamed Deng said that if he doesn't hand over the man, he will send people to attack the Bi family's house."

"I..." Master Bi almost yelled "I fought them", but in the end he held back, he really didn't dare.

Li Jiaoyu lost his mind for a while, and it was getting late at this time, everyone present left one after another and fled, and finally only Li Jiaoyu stayed.He lamented for a while, and was about to get up and go home, but saw Liang Xiucai crept in again.

"Why did you come back?"

Liang Zhenyu looked at the door furtively for a long time, and then walked to the surprised Li Jiaoyu and said in a low voice: "Teacher, the student has an idea, please correct me, teacher."

"Oh? Let's talk about it." Li Jiaoyu seemed to have grasped at a life-saving straw. He took Liang Xiucai's hand and said, "If I can survive this disaster, I will definitely recommend this year's scientific examination questions to Mr. Xuezheng." Put it on the old man."

The reason why Li Jiaoyu said this is because scholars in the Qing Dynasty had to pass the "scientific examination" if they wanted to participate in the provincial examination.Before each township examination, the examinations are held by the prefectures and counties of the province's education and political tour.This year is the year of Wushen, which is the year of the scientific examination.

Hearing Master Jiaoyu's assurance, Liang Xiucai said: "Students' suggestion is worth every word, it is better to remain silent."

"Hiss~" Li Jiaoyu twirled his beard, turned his mind, and said after a while, "You mean to pretend not to know?"

"Teacher, think about it. The rebels in Beihai Town are not even afraid of the Eight Banners army. The tens of thousands of troops of the imperial court were defeated. In the end, they held their noses and paid a ransom in exchange for Marshal Fu. Rongcheng is only an inch of land, how can they be against such an enemy?" The gangsters? Presumably the governor will not blame him at that time."

Liang Xiucai's mouth was dry, he picked up the herbal tea on the table and drank it, and continued: "From what the students saw, since those people are going to take people to take a boat to go outside the customs, the rich families and common people in the city must be unreasonable." Those who are willing to go, they can only go to the four villages to pull those penniless people. Instead of this, it is better to let the students go and say hello to the bandit leader surnamed Deng. At that time, the teacher only needs to close the four doors and survive for a few days. One day, when they have pulled enough people, they will naturally leave. At that time, the gentry in the city will see the credit for defending the city and resisting the enemy."

The more Li Jiaoyu listened, the brighter his eyes became. He never thought that this student, who he dislikes the most and often writes pleadings for others, would have such thoughts.And Liang Xiucai couldn't help nodding when he saw Master Jiaoyu, knowing that the method Deng Fei taught him had been accomplished.

Early the next morning, as soon as the city gate was unlocked, Liang Zhenyu hurried to Shuiying, told Deng Fei about the situation, and then hurried back to the city.Afterwards, the four gates of Rongcheng County were tightly closed again, and those vendors who entered the city to sell vegetables and firewood were thrown out of the city by Li Jiaoyu's orders.Of course, Rongcheng County will still open the north gate at night, otherwise the people in the whole county would not even have firewood to burn.

Afterwards, Wang Changsheng and Yu Shun, who had his head wrapped in gauze, led a platoon of Bei Haijun to wander around the villages again, and those middle-aged people who had made connections before were also found out one after another.Wang Changsheng didn't talk nonsense this time, and each middleman gave ten taels of silver to let them continue the previous great business of attracting people.

After he and Yu Shun had been busy for a day, news came back that Wendeng County had been conquered by the Northern Navy.So Wang Changsheng stayed with Yushun and took his people to Wendeng.

Relying on their sharp tongues, the middle-class people who had paid enough money tried their best to do their best, and then began to lobby around the village.

Two or three days later, from Wendeng County to Rongcheng, and from Rongcheng County to Naval Camp, poor peasants appeared in twos and threes on the official roads, and then more and more, forming streams of people.Some of these people have families, and some are single. In addition, there is a little widow who is so hungry that she can hardly walk, and a shopkeeper with a bruised nose and a swollen face on crutches.

At the same time, Ding Guofeng, who had arrived in South Kyushu to unload supplies and was about to return to Beihai Town, received a telegram from Jinglei.

"There are too many people to fit in, come to Shandong quickly!"

(End of this chapter)