Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 45
East of Cixi County.

Minghechang Town is prosperous because of the salt field. There are two centuries-old families in the town, the Yu family and the Ye family. They are rich and powerful.

The night was dark, but tonight's Crane Field felt a bit jittery, and the grass and trees were in danger.

Even the two Yu and Ye families, who usually like to fight in secret, put aside their past differences today and joined forces.

On the top of the city, the patriarchs of the two major families and the main family members of each house gathered together with solemn expressions.

Bang bang was a few more gunshots, which were extraordinarily crisp in this silent night.

In the distance, a fire dragon lit up, meandering around, and the sound of gongs and drums was everywhere.

Many gentry in wide robes, long sleeves and long gowns in the city couldn't help but turn pale as paper, "What should I do?"

"Jiu'an, who are these people?" Ye Hetu, the head of the Ye family, said tremblingly while leaning on his crutches. Was alarmed.

The 70-year-old Yu Jiuan cupped his hands to Ye Hetu and called Uncle Shi, "It's not an ordinary thief, nor an ordinary rebellious soldier. Please take a look."

A silk letter was handed to Ye Hetu.

Ye Hetu was old and dim-sighted, and now Ye Danggui, the eldest grandson in charge of Ye's huge medicinal material industry, read it for him.

"Ningbo Minghe Salt Field and other officials, as well as the Yu family and the Ye family, etc. Listen, I am the General Dingyuan conferred by Emperor Chongzhen Lie, and the general officer of Jiaxing worshiped by Emperor Hongguang of Nanjing. Jian Guo, thanks to Zhen Dong Bo, still wears the seal of General Ding Yuan, and confers the crown prince Taibao, Zuo Dudu, and Governor of Zhejiang and Fujian Chen Wu is also. Now the country is in danger, the northern captives are invading the south, and the situation is in danger. According to the decree, the general sent troops to collect grain and pay from Minghe Farm. Within three days, you must hand over 10 liang of grain silver, [-] shi of rice, and [-] shi of salt. Thieves, you will break through towns, burn your houses, kill your people, and leave no one behind!"

Ye Danggui, who was in his early fifties, read to the back, his voice trembling.This old man who is in charge of Ye's Pharmaceutical Group and is well-known all over the country, usually in the pharmaceutical industry in Liangjing, everyone respectfully calls him Ye Gong.

Ye Hetu leaned on the ground with his crutches.

"Chen Wu, isn't he the Flying Tiger from Shangyu Chenxi, Shaoxing? He, the Shangyu Chen family, is trembling, with a few Qiuba in his hand, how dare he threaten our Ye Yu family like that?"

Ye Danggui quickly took the old ancestor's hand, "Master, the situation is not the same as it was in the early years. Now the world is in chaos, and Qiu Ba, who has soldiers, can't be messed with. I heard that Chen Wu has a lot of soldiers and horses in his hands. Even at dusk, he can see from a distance in the city." Seeing them pull the cannon, or else, let's shed some blood and donate some."

When Ye Hetu was young, he was also shrewd and capable. He opened the Ye family's medicinal material accounts all over the south of the Yangtze River, made it bigger and stronger, and even surpassed the Yu family in ability.

You must know that there was the Yu family first, then the Minghe, and then the saltworks.

The Yu family had Yu Fan, a famous scholar in the Three Kingdoms period, Yu Shiji, a treacherous minister in the Sui Dynasty, and Yu Shinan, one of the four great calligraphers in the Tang Dynasty, can be called a thousand-year-old family.

"I can't give it. These people are not officers and soldiers at all. They are obviously defeated soldiers. If you give them, you will never be able to feed them. Our town also has a city wall. Every family calls their servants and young adults over. They would rather take out the money. The rewards should not be given to those who defend the city, but they should not be given to those rebels, otherwise they will be as mad as cats when they see fishy cats."

The old man is old, but his heart is not old.

Facing the looming threat from outside, he was very tough, "I don't think this Chen family boy has many soldiers, otherwise he wouldn't have to cover it up like this, just come to attack the city directly, if he really needs guns , It’s been a long time ago. They’re deceiving us, if they really want to open the door, it’s all over, the rioters are worse than the robbers.”

Robbers and thieves usually have nests nearby, and they still want to stay on the front line when they do things, and they even have the intention of keeping them on purpose, but these rebellious soldiers don't care about these, and if they catch the opportunity, they will grab it to the end.

Ye Danggui looked at Yu Jiuan.

Yu Jiu'an just came back from Hangzhou some time ago. After the Lujian Kingdom surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he, like many Zhejiang officials and gentry, believed that the Ming Dynasty was dead, so he went to pay homage to the new commander-in-chief, and also hoped for a stable future.

Went to Hangzhou, stuffed money everywhere, finally met a general under Boluo's command, accepted the gift, wrote him a note, and gave him a flag of obedience, which means he accepted the Yu family's attachment.

I had just returned home, and before I had time to catch my breath, I heard that something happened to Ningbo. A Lu Jianguo came from Taizhou, and killed Xie Sanbin, who led Ningbo to join the new dynasty. When he went to Hangzhou, Yu Jiuan still followed Xie Sanbin on the same boat. of it.

Before Yu Jiu'an could figure out what to do, some gentry in Cixi and other counties in Ningbo acted righteously, expelled the false officials, recaptured the government office, took over the city defense, and even went to Ningbo to have an audience with Lu Jianguo.

Unexpectedly, Chen Wu, the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian under the command of King Yiyang, the supervisor of the country, came out now.

He knew and knew Shangyu Chen Wu. After all, Yuyao and their Cixi were separated by tens of miles, and several of them were local famous families. Even counting them, they must be related.

"What do you say is going on in this world?"

Yu Jiu'an stood in a mess in the evening wind, completely unable to understand the situation.

Chuang Wang Li Zicheng entered Beijing City. At that time, he thought that the world was the Dashun Dynasty, and he planned to support Dashun to belong to the new dynasty.

Unexpectedly, the Jurchens outside the pass entered Shanhaiguan and Beijing City, and the young Shunzhi Emperor sat on the Beijing Dragon Chair.Fu Wang established his name in Nanjing, Gaofan four towns, thinking that maybe the north and the south will be divided in the future?
But in less than a year, Emperor Hongguang was captured, and the money and food he paid as tribute at the beginning were considered dog feed.

Immediately another so-called King Lu Jianguo came out, but before he was ready to go to Hangzhou to pay homage, Lu Jianguo fell to the Qing Dynasty.

Seeing that the Qing Dynasty still ruled the world, he made up his mind to go to Hangzhou to pay homage to the commander-in-chief of the Qing Dynasty, and paid a large sum of money. How could he have expected that now there would be two more supervisors of the Ming Dynasty.

He had heard of the name of the King of Lu, and he was also a young clan who was lucky enough to inherit the title because both his father and brother died, but he had never heard of the King of Yiyang, Zhou Fan's?
Chongming Supervisor?

Ke Weiyang, Suzhou and Hangzhou were all occupied by the Qing army. Is this Yiyang king supervising the country on the Chongming sandbar? It is not as good as Lu Jianguo, who has recently gained momentum in Ningshaotai.

"I can't care about it. Our two families take the lead in taking the silver. The big households and shops in the city will share the money. The rich will contribute the money, and the rest of the people will send out strong men. They will all go to the city to guard the head. A rebel will be rewarded with ten taels of silver." Ye Jiutu was so old that he was about to see the coffin, and he was still extremely tough at this moment.

Yu Jiu'an nodded to Ye Danggui, "This world belongs to the Qing Dynasty after all. No matter what Lu Jianguo or Jianguo Yiyang King, they can't play for a few days. We can't mess up at this time. It's hard for me. I got the Shunmin Banner from Hangzhou Boluo, if you get through with the bandits, you will be in trouble at that time."

"The Ye family is willing to offer 5000 taels of silver." Ye Danggui gritted his teeth.

Ye Hetu hit him with a stick, "Bastard, what are you planning to do at this time, if the city is broken, these rebels won't give us any way to survive, first go get 1 taels of silver, and then, put the granary Open it, bring food to the top of the city to cook, there must be people guarding the top of the city in turn for twelve hours, there can be no slack!"

Yu Jiuan nodded heartbroken, "The Yu family is also willing to pay 1 taels."

"It's already this time, don't think about this little yellow and white thing, first think about how to defend Minghechang Town, under the overturned nest, there will be no eggs?"

"Do you want to find someone to go out and talk about love, give them some money, and let them go to another place to collect food?"

"Don't go!" Ye Hetu cursed, and sealed all the gates. The soldiers outside were not a large army. They were only intimidating for a while at most. If there is no chance, they won't stay for long.No one is allowed to go out. Anyone who dares to go out will be a traitor from the inside and will be killed if caught. "

With this powerful old guy in charge, Minghechang Town has gradually stabilized some people's hearts. The two families took the lead in contributing money, and the wealthy merchants in the city can only pay together at this time whether they like it or not.

Then every household in the whole city sent strong men to work in shifts and sections.

Fortunately, the rice and noodles have been transported to the upper and lower parts of the city, and they have started to cook. There are even slaughtered pigs and ducks. one hundred dollars.

He also promised to reward ten taels of silver for cutting off the head of a thief, and there were also those who assisted.

Very tempting.

Under the heavy reward, the fear was gradually replaced by strange excitement.

outside the city.

Qianzong Chen Jun was sitting in a small yard by the roadside. The owner of the small farm yard had been killed, and the body was thrown in a corner outside the yard. A few rebels were busily disemboweling pigs in the pigsty with torches. There is a fire in the earthen stove in the kitchen, and there is water in the pot, which is preparing to stew pork.

"Is there still no movement in the town?" Chen Jun asked impatiently.

"Our team of brothers has been watching from several doors in the town. No one came out, and the door has been guarded."

"Damn it, the Yuye family really got the guts to resist and refuse to pay?"

"Mr. Qian, is it because we asked for too much and frightened them, why don't we shoot another letter in and ask for less?"

"You fucking know what a fart. This is asking for prices. If you ask for 800 taels, then we won't be beggars? What are we? We are under the command of Zhen Dongbo, and our uncle is here this time." The one who came to rob is to serve as the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, and from now on, the entire Zhejiang and Fujian provinces will be guarded by our uncle, these bastards, let them pay some money and food to show respect, shouldn’t it?”

The guy who was beaten smiled respectfully, "Yes, yes, our boss Qian is uncle's nephew, and we will definitely be promoted soon, at least we have to assist the generals all the way. Ning Shao, these fucking people have to play tricks on us."

A fat guy from a family came over with a pig head that had just been unloaded, "Mr. Qian, is this pig head stewed or roasted?"

"Such a big fat pig, a pig's head that eats a fart, throw this pig's head to the town for me, and then attach a letter, saying that before the moon is in the sky, I will never see the first 1 taels of silver again. Then I went to the city to have lunch, and when the time comes, the Yu family or the Ye family will be in charge of his mother, one counts as the other, and they will all end up like this pig!"

Several people laughed, very arrogant and complacent.

"It's a pity it's a big pig's head." The strong man shook his head.

Another person said, "Mr. Qian, why do you think there is a prison country in Ningbo? He took Ningbo one step ahead of us. What do you think we will do next? Do we want to fight?"

Chen Jun twirled his beard, "You have to listen to my uncle. If my uncle says to fight, let's fight. Whatever the fuck, King Lu is still Jian Guo."

"Yes, we only listen to my uncle's orders!" A group of people shouted.

"Come on, hurry up and stew the pork, the fuck didn't you hear your stomach growling?" Chen Jun scolded with a smile.

(End of this chapter)