Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 392
"I heard that there are mobsters in front of us, let's turn around!"

The sun sank between the mountains in the west, Liu Chengzu couldn't help being uneasy seeing the surrounding mountains and trees gradually dimming.

Zhang Dapeng smiled and said, "Did the bully scare you?"

Liu Chengzu didn't get emboldened by being ridiculed, but he kindly persuaded Zhang Peng, "You are not from Shu, so you don't know how powerful these local thugs are. These people are more ferocious than tigers and leopards."

Liu Chengzu is a native of Sichuan and northern Sichuan. Although he left northern Sichuan a few years ago and went to seek refuge in the Shizhu area to survive, he lived a stable life for a few years, and later joined the white-armed soldiers under the command of Shizhu Chieftain Qin Liangyu, but this time If he hadn't been ordered by his superiors to be a guide, he would never have come back.

Zhang Dapeng is from eastern Zhejiang, an orphan without father and mother. He joined the imperial camp and followed the Northern Expedition. With his bravery and good luck, he did well. The widow not only picked up a few children for nothing, but even gave birth to a child of her own now, and bought a field in her hometown.

However, as an officer of the Imperial Battalion, now that ZTE has recovered, as a soldier, he has to obey military orders.He was selected and sent to the imperial camp in Sichuan and Shaanxi. This new camp was dominated by the Ming army in central Sichuan, and the emperor dispatched a group of officers to enrich it.

A group of imperial battalion officers rushed to eastern Sichuan in batches and arrived in Chongqing.Zhang Dapeng became a battalion officer and commanded a battalion of [-] soldiers plus [-] auxiliary soldiers. However, he hadn't adapted to being a battalion officer yet, so he got a new mission and went to Hanzhong.

Instead of taking his battalion, he took only a few people secretly northward, especially to cross the area controlled by the Western Army.

The mission was very dangerous, but Zhang Dapeng accepted it gladly. The reason for choosing him was simple. He was not only an officer dispatched to Sichuan from the imperial camp, he was also a bodyguard of the emperor. Take a knife.

Wen Anzhi and Qin Liangyu needed his identity to go to Hanzhong.

Qin Liangyu, Duke of Shu, specially dispatched Liu Chengzu, a white soldier from his hometown in northern Sichuan, as his guide. After a few people disguised themselves, they went north.

This journey was cautious, from Chongqing to the north along the Jialing River, into Shunqing and then into Baoning. Zhang Dapeng, who came from the east of Zhejiang, was shocked by what he saw along the way.

He traveled from the southeast all the way to the west, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places were devastated by the war and were very desolate, but after entering Shu, he found that the land of Shu, the land of abundance, was actually even worse.

Stone pillars are better.

An important town like Chongqing is actually very bleak.

After going north to northern Sichuan, it became even more desolate.

He even sees tigers every day, in packs.

In this regard, Liu Chengzu, a native of northern Sichuan, told him, "At the time of peace, there were no tigers in Sichuan, but in the three or four years since the thief set up camp, there were already tigers everywhere in Sichuan, or there were groups of one or twenty, or seven or eight pairs of tigers. Roads, jumping over walls and houses, floating water and climbing boats are all things that have never been heard of before, and outsiders will not believe it."

Zhang Dapeng had never seen a tiger in eastern Zhejiang before. He had only heard about it, but he had never seen it with his own eyes. However, after coming to Sichuan, he has seen tigers more than once on the way north. In Hezhou, north of Chongqing, He saw four tigers passing by the other side of the river under the moon.

In Guang'an Prefecture, Shunqing Prefecture, on a boat in the middle of the river, he also saw a group of tigers passing by like a flock of sheep, not only many but also big.

On Phoenix Mountain in Pengzhou, I saw dozens of tigers on the mountain.

If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I would never have believed it. After all, it is said that one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, and tigers are not animals that like to live in groups.

But in the past few years, tigers have become a problem in central Sichuan, especially in Shunqing and Baoning prefectures in northern Sichuan. It is said that tigers are now appearing in groups of about a thousand.

Nanchong County, which was destroyed by the war, has become a tiger's den, a county school palace, and even a place where tigers give birth.

There are stories of tigers eating people everywhere.

There are many leopards in southern Sichuan, and many wolves in western Sichuan.

Anyway, the land of Shu today is no longer a land of abundance and wealth, it has almost become a purgatory.

Zhang Dapeng and the others, who were carrying muskets, bows, arrows, knives and guns, were attacked by tigers several times. If they hadn't had these firearms waiting for them, they would probably have become one of the countless people in Sichuan who have been eaten by tigers today.

He originally thought that the plague of tigers and leopards in central Sichuan was scary enough, but in Liu Chengzu's eyes, the most terrifying thing was not these tigers and leopards that haunted in groups, but the local tyrants.

A dirt boy is not a dirt leopard, nor is it a dirt bun, but a more terrifying existence than a tiger or leopard, and they also eat people.

"Is it true that bullies are more vicious than tigers and leopards? Are they also cannibals?"

Liu Chengzu sighed.

"It's getting dark, let's hurry up and find a shelter. We have to guard against tigers, but also against rioters."

Liu Chengzu didn't dare to take it lightly, and asked Zhang Dapeng to quickly follow his footsteps.

Before dark, they found a shelter.

A mountain temple, a small temple that has been destroyed, but there are still a few half-earth walls left. Even if there is no roof, it is at least safer to cut some branches to plug the gap in the wall.

But they weren't the only ones here.

When they came, a group of people had already gathered here, and they even made the other party flustered for a while because of their appearance. Later, Liu Chengzu came forward and finally calmed everyone down with a Sichuan accent.

The collapsed temple wall has been blocked with branches and stones with everyone's joint efforts, and everyone even worked together to build a temporary simple roof.

This dilapidated small temple also resisted the cold of the early spring night.

Dig a hole, put the dry firewood picked up on the shelf, and everyone light a fire. In this cold wilderness, you can also feel warm and safe.

Looking at the group of people by the fire, Zhang Dapeng always felt a little panicked.

None of the people I met on the way looked normal.

A dozen or so people huddled there, as if they came from the underworld.

An old man, but without a nose, made that face look scary.

There is also an old man who is missing a left arm, and a woman next to him who is missing a right arm.There are also those who lack ears and eyes. Anyway, none of these people are normal.

Zhang Dapeng brought out some fried noodles, set up a small pot on the fire, boiled water, added fried noodles and stirred, and finally it became a small dry dough.

He generously distributed to everyone.

A group of people had their throats twitching, and they reluctantly refused politely, and then quickly took it, gobbling it up.

Several people even rolled their eyes in choking, Zhang Dapeng quickly handed over water to relieve the siege.

After a very simple meal of fried noodles, everyone has gotten a lot closer.

At this point, everyone introduces themselves.

Those who had no nose, no ears, no eyes, said that they had been robbed by yellow thieves before, and they were lucky. After all, they were just missing something, at least their lives were still alive.When it comes to shaking yellow thieves, they are still full of horror.

This is the inescapable horror that will always be with them.

The yellow thief is a member of the local rioters.

The so-called waving the yellow flag originally refers to some peasant armies headed by Yao Tiandong and Huang Long. Most of these people themselves came from Shaanxi. The young and strong in Guanzhong, Hanzhong and Huguang.

And these people who entered Sichuan soon left Sichuan during the encirclement and suppression by the Ming army, but every time, many young and strong people who were threatened would stay in the mountainous area on the border between Sichuan and Shaanxi.

These people failed to escape the encirclement with the main force, and after they were forced to stay, they would still be surrounded and suppressed by the Ming government army and local chieftains and landlords.

These people were originally suffering people, but under the oppression of the chaos, they had no choice but to continue to become bandits, or to join forces with local bandits, thus forming the Yellow Bandits headed by Yao Tiandong and Huang Long.

Although Yaotiandong and Huanglong both died in battle in Huguang, Shaanxi and other places, the Yellow Bandit in Sichuan still survived, and even many people who had nowhere to go due to war, famine, etc. joined the Yellow Flag.

They continued to play the banner of yellow bandits, mainly looting in central Sichuan, occupying the dangerous mountains, looting villages, and rarely attacking cities, mainly wandering and looting villages.

There are thirteen groups with the greatest power in the Yellow Bandits, called the Thirteen Yellow Bandits, that is, there are thirteen relatively large forces. During this period, some yellow flags were wiped out, but soon there will be new people who will continue to hold the banner. Therefore, although the Yellow Thirteen Family has changed many leaders and forces, these thieves under the banner of the Yellow Bandit have always existed.

Even because of the frequent wars and famines in Sichuan in recent years, the behavior of the yellow thieves has become more and more brutal. They not only rob money and food, but even directly plunder people for food.

In addition to the Thirteen Houses of the Yellow Thieves, there are also many thieves who did not use the banner of the Yellow Thieves, and they also looted and even cannibalized everywhere.

Therefore, these cannibal bandits are called local thugs by Sichuan people.

Among the Thirteen Families of Shaking Huang, the most powerful one is Yuan Tao, who calls himself King of Heaven, or King of Food. This person is from Mian County, Shaanxi Province. Because of the incident of stealing and raping his aunt, he defected to the thieves and finally joined Zhang Xianzhong's army. After Zhang Xianzhong left Sichuan, he stayed in the northern Sichuan area.

The Yellow Thirteen Family claims to have more than [-] people, and they act very despicably. They not only plunder the people, but also like cannibalism.

They are based in the mountains of northern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan. They often plunder and loot. They not only rob money and food, but also like to plunder people. , King and other words.

These people who were plundered by them served as their labor slaves or cannon fodder for the stockade, and some of them absorbed some of the young and strong as soldiers, and sometimes some of the captured people were released after serving for one or two years. Because the words "Tianwang Dawang" were tattooed on their faces, they would be arrested and questioned by the government when they went back, so even if these people let them go, they would have nowhere to go and could only continue to cling to the yellow bandits.

Of course, it was a relatively good time for the yellow thieves, when they gained power, if they were severely surrounded by the government and army, or encountered resistance from the local landlords, powerful people, etc., they would retaliate very brutally.

For example, they once broke through the strongholds in northern Sichuan where the resistance was extremely fierce, and they did whatever they wanted to the local people who resisted them, plucking their eyes and ears, cutting their noses and tongues, cutting off their hands and shins, peeling their skin and guts, and even piercing children with spears. Above, throw a living person into the soup and fire, regard it as a dance, and use it as a play.He is vicious and vicious, and he can't finish the book with a pen... The nursery rhyme of the time goes: "Liu Liu Liu Liu, the thief Liu Liu, the upper world sent him to behead."If there is one person who can't cut it off, the plague messenger will be behind.

These people were originally part of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty, but after joining forces with bandits and bandits, they became an extremely evil force.

They are no longer just talking about resisting the tyranny of the government, or surviving in a famine, but doing all kinds of evil, including plundering, killing, adultery, and even cannibalism.

They kill people no longer just to survive, but to intimidate the people. They are no different from cannibals like Zhu Can in the late Sui Dynasty and Qin Zongliang in the late Tang Dynasty. They rely on looting and even cannibalism to create killings and destroy everywhere. .

It's a group of anti-human beings.

After Zhang Xianzhong entered Shu again, most of the Thirteen Yaohuang families surrendered to Zhang Xianzhong. They attached themselves to Zhang Xianzhong, but continued to occupy some dangerous mountainous areas in northern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan, and continued to do evil.

It is said that during the past ten years of chaos caused by the yellow thieves, hundreds of thousands of people in central Sichuan have been killed and eaten by them.

There was a tiger infestation in the middle of Sichuan, thousands of people were eaten by tigers a year, but tens of thousands were killed and eaten by the thirteen families of yellow thieves.

In the broken temple.

The old couple whose left hand was lost by the man and the right arm by the woman said that they were cut off by Zhang Xianzhong in Chongqing.

Zhang Xianzhong's reputation for brutality is well-deserved. When he captured Lu'an, he cut off the arms of the captured people in the prefecture, with men left and women right.And when he entered Shu for the third time, he blasted Chongqing with gunpowder and captured the gate. Not only did he divide the governor into five horses, but he also chopped off the arms of more than [-] prisoners.

The two old men each had a broken arm, which was chopped off when Chongqing was captured by the Western Army.

"Where are you going?" Zhang Dapeng asked.

"I heard that Zhang Xianzhong led soldiers from Chengdu to the north, and we plan to flee to Hanzhong. He Zhen Make and others in Hanzhong are now attached to Da Tianzi. We are going to flee to Hanzhong first, and then we will see if we can go to Yunyang along the Han River to escape. .”

"Why don't you go to Chongqing and Kuizhou?"

"I heard that the western thieves are going to send troops to attack Shunqing and Chongqing. How dare we go south."

(End of this chapter)