stubborn thief

Chapter 143
On the third day of March, Huojiazhuang, west of Yonghe County.

This place is located at the junction of two provinces, far away from the city, and there are no more than a hundred households. Only when the spring is bright and beautiful, the ancient cypresses in the mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, and the scenery is so beautiful.

The land here is barren. Earlier, it was just barren mountains and wild mountains. A scholar named Huo bought the land and led his servants to cultivate and build pavilions.

Later, the scholar passed the exam and served as an official in the south for more than ten years. He returned to his hometown and settled here, and reproduced from generation to generation.

Up to now, there have been six generations in the village, and there have been two Juren and seven scholars. The tallest, Mr. Huo, has achieved the sixth-rank general judge of Yangzhou, and the year before last, he was promoted to the fifth-rank Tongzhi of Ganzhou. The miners were making trouble, so they didn't take office.

What's more, this promotion is really meaningless, just like being demoted.

The official rank has been raised by two levels, but in fact, the general judgment in Yangzhou is the same as that of Ganzhou Tongzhi?

Mr. Huo is a clean and honest man. In the four years in Yangzhou, he has never done anything criminal for the rich and powerful. Except for the regular silver sent by the subordinates, he will not take any other money.

During his four years in Yangzhou, Mr. Huo did not allow anyone in his family to buy land and land, and transported 400 taels of regular silver and 65 taels of silver from his salary back to his hometown every year.

The number of routines is scary, but in Yangzhou, it cannot be avoided.

This money is reserved by subordinate officials in various counties when collecting all kinds of money.

The following are all classic histories from magistrates to non-influential.

As for the magistrates of the fourth rank, the co-prefects of the fifth rank, and the officials of the seventh rank, there are even unqualified prison managers in the magistrate's yamen.

They have all of them, why don't they send another copy to the capital?

Everyone has it, you don't want it?

Why don't you come to Yangzhou?

What's more, if you don't want it, the common people will still receive one tael from the court and two taels from the government.

Do you like it or not.

That's not Shanxi and Shaanxi. No one can do official positions. A county with a master book of classics and history counts as an official.

Yangzhou Prefecture has a complete bureaucratic system, and even small subordinates can be overthrown by others.

Thinking of the years when he was an official in Yangzhou, Mr. Huo watched too many things about repairing gardens, visiting brothels, and buying skinny horses, eating, drinking, and having fun.

Some people spend tens of thousands of taels to make gold leaf, and spread it on the golden mountain with the wind, and let the people in the city scramble for it, just wanting to laugh.

His age is not considered a fortune in Yangzhou.

Master Huo, who returned to Xiaoshan Village in Shanxi, didn't want to meet people very much. His family said they wanted to buy a big courtyard in Fenzhou Prefecture, but he didn't agree, so he stubbornly lived in the mountains of Yonghe County.

Look at the mountains and trees every day, eat, urinate, drink and sleep.

Wealth, other people's wealth.

Sometimes when I see other people earning 500 taels, I think it’s really amazing, and I have to work hard.

Sometimes when I see others earning three to five million taels, I doubt the world.

If you get used to those things, you will have nothing to do in your life.

Even if you are materialistic, you will never earn that much money in your life regardless of what you do.

If you are worried about your family and country, no matter what you do, there is nothing a sixth-rank official can do about these things.

Suddenly, Jiashengzi ran up to the pavilion in the mountain, and the heavy footsteps interrupted Mr. Huo's reverie: "I panicked, I threw you again, what happened?"

The son of the family supported his knees, lifted the arrow sleeves made of Lu silk and tied them to his hem, wiped off his sweat and said, "Father, many people came from the mountain, raising flags, drums, knives and guns, and many of them wore the uniforms of the western frontier army." Cotton armor."

"Western frontier army?"

Master Huo was a little panicked, but he couldn't see anyone when he looked down the mountain. After taking a deep breath and calming down, he asked, "Is Fu Renxi in Yonghe Pass hungry? A note, a bastard, dare to bring a knife and gun to the house, and don't want to live."

"No, no, it's not Mr. Fu, the leader of the Shaanxi frontier army."

The family servant couldn't tell, so he turned his arm and pointed to the back and said, "Dad, go down and have a look."

The law of the Ming Dynasty had regulations on the number of servants, so if there were more servants than servants, they were adopted sons and daughters.

"Walk."

Master Huo didn't ask any more questions, he took two steps back to the gazebo, took the wine pot, and followed his servants all the way down the mountain.

When you walk halfway up the mountain and turn a corner, you can see the appearance of Huojiazhuang.

Huojiazhuang has a castle on the mountain.

Three months after Wang Er in Shaanxi rebelled the year before last, he began to build the fort here. At most, it was delayed by the time when the letter was sent to Yangzhou and returned.

The two Zhuangzi, where hundreds of households live scatteredly, are located on two hills outside Tuwei.

The dry terraced fields on the mountain are lush and green, and the corn that has just grown to a height of one foot is planted. When it is almost time to topdress, there are piles of compost all over the field.

Master Huo didn't see anyone at first, but even if the servant didn't tell him, he could tell a little about the situation from the panicked appearance of the Zhuangzhong clan's children.

Farmers were driving their carts, sheep, cattle and horses to the fort, and chickens were crowing and dogs were barking everywhere.

The younger students who studied ethnology also took bows, crossbows, knives and guns, and were led by the master to climb the fort wall.

Master Huo also hurried to the fort, and then he saw someone coming.

First, more than a dozen scattered people came from the mountain road, all of them dressed as pond riders, wearing light armor with foam nails, iron helmets with the word "Yong" on their heads, and small flags of various colors on their backs, and walked along the mountain road.

Each of them formed a team of three, or blocked the mountain road, or occupied Tianmao, or bypassed the Zhuangbao, and climbed up at an important place. Some people stood with bows, and some raised flags to signal.

After a while, suddenly or a dozen riders on the slopes carried spears and bows, or more than a dozen people came out of the forest carrying blunderbuss on their shoulders, or official horse-drawn men pushed cannons.

When Mr. Huo boarded the castle, there were already hundreds of guns in all directions, and he was terrified when he saw it.

The nephews in the clan are used to being arrogant, and they stepped forward with noses and faces, and said: "These Qiu Ba, uncle, I'll go and ask them what they want to do!"

"Forget it soon, they are confident that they are not soldiers, have you seen that flag?"

If it's the officers and soldiers who come, if Mr. Huo is half afraid, tell him to stand on his head and walk to Zhangjiakou.

But it was obvious that these people were not soldiers, so my nephew looked along, and there was a red flag among the helmets and guns all over the mountains and plains, with the word "Liu" in a simple golden thread on it.

"The ones who came are probably bandits from the Qin land."

"Thieves in the Qin land, drought and hunger?" The eldest nephew seemed to have seen a ghost: "Drought and hunger can't grow like this?"

"Of course the people suffering from drought and starvation don't look like this, but there is only one Liu in Qin, Liu Chengzong of Yan'an, who killed the guerrillas first and then the generals. It's a pity that the donated Hongyi cannon is not here."

Master Huo's face did not change color, he took a sip from the flagon, and patted his eldest nephew on the shoulder: "Don't leave the castle, go to my room and get the pipe."

Take a pipe?
The eldest nephew looked reluctant, turned around and sent a servant, and then he came back and asked, "Uncle, this, if this is not a soldier or a thief, what should we do?"

"If you're told to go down, go down. What can you do? Let them surround you. If you have water and food, you won't die from starvation. Go stop hanging around me and light up the smoke."

The eldest nephew responded and ran down.

Master Huo was holding on to the battlements of the fort wall, his arms were exerting all his strength but his legs were trembling. This man really couldn't control himself when he was afraid.

He thought to himself that he was unwilling to build this fort back then, but now it seems that he might have to rely on this fort to save his life.

He really didn't want to fix it.

When he received the letter, Mr. Huo drank too much and was enjoying the snow in the Slender West Lake.

I didn't even read the letter carefully, but the servant who delivered the letter said that the family needed to build a castle, and it was estimated that it would cost 600 taels.

600 taels, I can't bear it.

People like them who are officials in Yangzhou can't find their place at all.

Every day, there are children of salt merchants who eat, drink and have fun, and they don’t need to spend money wherever they go. They enjoy the best and spend money like dirt.

But on the other hand, these are all castles in the air. Who doesn't know that this illusion comes with power, and it will naturally go with power.

Who can take it in his heart to take the money out of his pocket, weigh the salary, and throw out the ten-year salary all at once.

But there is nothing I can do if I can't stand it. There are people around, and I can't lose face, so I agreed to this matter and built a castle in my hometown.

At that time, Mr. Huo never thought that this castle would come in handy one day.

But if you insist on saying that he is stingy, it is not true.

It may be that he was ashamed. Last year when he heard that Donglu invaded Jizhou, he threw 600 taels of silver on the spot and entrusted Zezhou craftsmen to donate a thousand-jin copper red cannon and a thousand-five-hundred-jin iron red cannon. , intending to donate to the imperial court to equip Shanxi's reinforcements.

The same is 600 taels, and he threw out the 600 taels without even blinking.

Guns are actually not that expensive.

The wages and materials plus a little benefit fee for the commander of the large Qiuba is the cost of a red cannon donated by Mr. Huo.

There is no added value of craftsmanship.

But it is very ironic that as long as the commander's benefits are enough, the enthusiasm of the craftsmen can be guaranteed, and there will be no problems with the craftsmanship.

Since the year of Tianqi, it is popular to donate red cannons to the imperial court.

This cannon has been cast and is being transported here from Zezhou.

There is no other way if you don’t transport them to your home. The fucking Zhang Honggong and Geng Ruqi are both imprisoned. He is just donating to whom. He can’t push the cannon to Beijing by himself.

Master Huo thought to himself, why didn't Jin join the bandits sooner after this?The sooner Hou Jin entered the bandits, the sooner he cast cannons, the sooner the emperor sent Zhang Honggong Geng Ruqi to prison, and the sooner Hongyi Pao could enter the house.

Although there are no skilled gunners, Mr. Huo does not have the dream of killing Liu Chengzong with one cannon, but at least two heavy cannons are placed on the wall, which can scare the bandits on the outside and boost morale on the inside.

He knew Liu Chengzong. Throughout the winter of last year, the gentry visited relatives and friends to enjoy the snow and mountains.

When one person knows, he will laugh secretly in his heart, when two people know that they can exchange views, when three people sit together, they can talk about things clearly.

Oh, it turns out that the guerrilla general Lu Cheng also died in the hands of Liu Chengzong.

This proves Liu Chengzong's strength from the side, but it does not prevent the scholars from sitting together and mocking Qiu Ba, with a patriotic expression of hatred for iron.

Of course, the eloquent talk in winter does not prevent Master Huo from trembling his legs and urinating.

Bragging, who hasn't had this problem.

Master Huo was counting heads on the wall, and just after counting to two hundred, someone walked down to the fort under the protection of several shields and loudly persuaded them to surrender.

Master Huo cursed with a trembling voice: "Fuck you, wait for the thief, once the imperial army arrives, this is where you will be buried!"

Stubbornness is toughness, he sniffed the pungent smell in his nose, looked back at the black smoke rising into the sky in the fort, and knew very well in his heart that the fate of their whole family was no longer in their own hands.

It depends on when Fenzhou Wei, Pingyang Wei, and Fu Renxi, the general manager of Yonghe Guan, will come first.

Fu Renxi came first.

In fact, to be precise, Fu Renxi came a little earlier than Master Huo if the one-mile radius of this solid earthen castle was used as the boundary.

It is on the hill facing the bunker.

Liu Chengzong put the wolf fur bowl on his head, put down the binoculars and turned to ask: "Brother Fu, is this the castle you are talking about?"

Fu Renxi was standing next to him, wearing a military uniform that was not as good as the servants of the Huo family, with a black scarf covering his face, bowed his head, raised a finger to his mouth, and whispered: "General, don't Call me by my last name!"

He scolded his mother in his heart, he was scared to death the first time he did this, and Liu Chengzong still called him by his last name!

Looking back, the gang of thieves were ordered to be suppressed by the officers and soldiers. When a prisoner was caught and asked, wouldn't he be finished?

Seeing how careful he was, Liu Chengzong laughed out loud, "Then what should I call you?"

"Call me...call me a box of gold."

This nickname is good, rich and noble.

Liu Chengzong came here entirely because of Fu Renxi.

He always thought that Chengyun was timid, but this kid was not timid at all, but he had never killed anyone.

He arranged the transportation post and work post on Yatou Mountain, and I was in charge of repairing the fort, and the carrier was responsible for helping out, and observed the movements of the troops stationed at Yongheguan. If possible, we would contact each other and talk about transporting materials from Shanxi to Shaanxi in the future. thing.

Who would have thought that Liu Chengzong had just left the day before, and that night Chengyun entered Yonghe Pass by himself, and went to find Fu Renxi for dinner.

One meal a night, eat a Huojiabao.

Liu Chengzong was going to be furious when he knew about this, so he scolded Chengyun severely, but he didn't know that this kid actually talked back, saying that it would be no good for Fu Renxi to kill him, so what would he do.

But compare your heart with your heart, Chengyun entered Yongheguan alone, in exchange for Fu Renxi dared to meet Liu Chengzong alone.

"It's this bunker. Master Huo used to be a judge in Yangzhou, and he shipped 3 to [-] taels of silver to his family every year. His bunker is definitely rich!"

"Two or thirty thousand taels, is it 3 taels a year, or 2 taels a year, did you see that?"

Liu Chengzong couldn't trust other people's estimates. When he first bought the land in Liujiazhuang, Song Shouzhen and his gang asked for information, and some people said that there were tens of thousands of taels in Heilongshan.

I didn't see it with my own eyes, but spread rumors, who knows if I have money or not?

"I didn't see it, but it must be rich. Last year he donated two red cannons to Shanxi. Those cannons were probably just finished in February."

Fu Renxi said: "What is the general planning, just surround him like this? Shoot him with cannons!"

"What you said is very good, but don't worry about beating him yet, stay with him for two days."

"General, if you want to surround me, I won't be here to accompany you." Fu Renxi was still worried, so he said, "The agreed money?"

"Don't worry, what I promised you won't change. Are you sure this castle has 1 taels?"

"Sure, there are definitely 1 taels. If you don't break this castle, you will bombard me later!"

"Well, I'll ask the carrier to deliver 1000 taels later, 500 taels to a box of gold, and 500 taels to help me buy medicine. After the matter is completed, there will be 880 taels to distribute to all the brothers in the Guan."

After finishing speaking, Liu Chengzong nodded to Fu Renxi, sent a team of people to escort him back, turned his head to look at Baozi again and smiled.

If you don't occupy Yonghe County and advance eastward, the Northern Fenzhou Weiqi Army will cross the border and will cut off his retreat.

This castle is very suitable, the official family, and a huge amount of money.

Let's see now, which one will come from Fenzhou Wei and Pingyang Wei.

Liu Chengzong took a deep breath and thought, it doesn't matter if they are all cowards.

Then I'll wait for those two cannons.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)