Legend of the Knight

Chapter 272 Windfall
In the early morning, in the large courtyard of Shennong Baicaomen.

Looking at the wreckage all over the floor, Huang San felt like crying.

It's over, it's over, it's over!

How could he be struck by lightning after making a pill so well? This is 1000 taels of silver, 1000 taels of silver!
Of course, money is still a small matter, the key is that the pill is gone.

Huang San already knew what was going on in the east, and now if he wanted to survive, he had to flee back to the capital as soon as possible.

The others are fine, the banner played by this one is to eradicate the eunuchs on the side of the Qing emperor.

Taking a seat on the check mark, Huang San felt that if he was caught, the cheapest would be to sacrifice the flag.

The safest place is the capital city.After all, the capital is at the foot of the emperor, if the capital cannot be kept, then the world will be over.

It has been several months since Huang San left the capital this time, and his KPI is much behind his colleagues, and he may not be able to catch up this year.

Wanting not to be eliminated by the last place in the Gu-raising style, Huang San put everything on this magic pill.

What Huang San can be sure of is that the magic pill is real, and Huang Xiaoshi is a person with great ability.

As long as Huang San can bring back the elixir to Beijing, not only will this year's KPI be exceeded, but also high-ranking officials and high salary, prosperity and wealth, it won't come just by reaching out.

Many people like to attack the eunuchs, but they don't know that father-in-laws never owe any money to their capable people, they are appointed officials and make wishes, and they are rewarded with huge sums of money.

It's not like those who study seriously and become officials, who talk about the world and the world, and you only have a chicken feather in your hand.

Seeing that things are about to happen soon, how do you know, how do you know.

God, why don't you send another thunderbolt to kill me together!
……

Just when Huang San's soul was scattered and his heart was ashamed, Huang Xiaoshi came to clean up the scene.

Under the crowd watching, Huang Xiaoshi rolled up his sleeves and carefully cleaned up the wreckage.

With his bare hands, he first grabbed the pill stove fragments weighing several tens of kilograms and moved them aside, and then picked up the smaller fragments one by one. Now there was only a thick pile of charcoal ash and debris mixed in it left on the ground.

Afterwards, Huang Xiaoshi squatted on the ground with a small brush handle, patiently and slowly spread out the white ash, to see if he could find something from it.

Unexpectedly, after brushing for a long time, Huang Xiaoshi took out a round thing from the ashes in front of everyone. He picked up the pellet with his index finger and thumb, and held it in front of his eyes for a long time.

"It's done..., it's done." Huang Xiaoshi said excitedly: "The pill is done!"

……

After receiving the report from the caravan of Shennong Baicaomen, Huang Xiaoshi immediately found out that something bad had happened. King Cheng couldn't help being angry, and turned back before the emperor died.

Originally, Huang Xiaoshi thought that King Cheng might wait patiently until the emperor died, and then immediately set off for Beijing to try to see if he could sit on the Dragon Throne with a legal identity.

As long as King Cheng dared to enter the capital, it would be like a tortoise getting into the jar, and there was no way to get out.

What King Cheng relied on was that no one dared to kill him, but there was no need to kill him, as long as King Cheng could be put under house arrest, and then his power would be disintegrated bit by bit.

As a result, King Cheng didn't play his cards according to Huang Xiaoshi's expected routine.

Of course, it doesn't matter much, because according to Huang Xiaoshi's estimation, King Cheng has no soldiers at all, and his riot at this time is equivalent to the old birthday star hanging himself, and he is tired of work.

But there were two things that exceeded Huang Xiaoshi's expectations.

One is that the tens of thousands of unpaid sergeants sent home from the Northwest are all concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River.

The imperial court broke the hearts of these soldiers again and again. When they returned to their hometown, they saw the children who were waiting to be fed, the family members with pale faces, and the IOU in their hands that could never be cashed. The anger can be imagined.

King Cheng had been preparing for this rebellion for many years. He had a lot of gold and silver in his hands, as well as a large amount of stored grain.

Don't think how ridiculous it is for people to sacrifice their lives for money. It is not them who are ridiculous, but the world that forces them to take money for their lives.

Almost effortlessly, Cheng Wangcheng organized tens of thousands of veterans.

The second is that Huang Xiaoshi's understanding of rebellion is biased.

Huang Xiaoshi's only cognition of rebellion comes from later generations of film and television works or foreign news, and he has no feeling for this kind of thing at all.

Some people describe the rebellion as a prairie fire, which is a metaphor for its speed and power.

From Huang Xiaoshi's understanding, where the fire broke out, people from all directions must have come to put out the fire.

You, King Cheng, raised the flag to rebel, and the officers, soldiers, and guards in royal clothes around you were not vegetarians, they stomped you out as soon as they swarmed up.

If it were really that simple, there would be no such thing as Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their arms and the world responded.

Counterinsurgency internally is actually more difficult than resisting foreign enemies.

First, this dynasty implements the division of civil and military rule, and has not determined the transfer and unification of command power in emergencies. Officials in various prefectures, prefectures, and counties have no right to mobilize, command, or organize the army.

That is to say, civil servants can only guard their own one-third of an acre of land. At the last moment, they either ask to surrender or refuse to thank the emperor for his kindness.

To quell the rebellion, civilian officials can't do it, so what about military officers?

Also failed.

Whether it is a hundred households or a thousand households guarding the city, their duty is to guard the city, and they are not allowed to leave the city without a military order.

The only ones who are qualified to organize troops to counter the rebellion are the guards in various places.

It's just that the guards' armaments have been slack for a hundred years, and the hereditary sergeants have become serfs in the hands of the commanders, so there is no fighting power.

What's more unfortunate is that because the emperor was extremely dissatisfied with the guards, he directly drew the weapons allocated to the guards to the frontier soldiers. Sickle, how to fight this battle?
Therefore, no matter whether it is a civil servant or a military officer, they can only stick to their own land, and then watch King Cheng conquer and defeat them one by one.

Speaking of despair, these court officials are the most desperate people.

What is disappointing is not only the military system of this dynasty, but the most frustrating thing is the local people's grievances that are difficult to suppress after hearing that King Cheng raised his troops.

For many years of military aggression, although the imperial court has won a series of victories with foreign troops, for the common people, prosperity is suffering.

During this period, the local tyrants and local gentry took the opportunity to acquire land from bankrupt farmers at extremely low prices.

This is a process in which bad money drives out good money. During this process, all conscientious landlords went bankrupt, and all unscrupulous local tyrants and evil gentry became rich.

This is the world of cannibalism. If you don't eat people, you will be eaten.

When the land is merged on a large scale, the exploitation of land will be further aggravated.

The emperor issued a decree that allocating people into the fields, reducing exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and cracking down on some landlords who concealed their land properties, but everyone came back to their senses later.

Since the gods are hard to bully, but the people are easy to abuse, and the emperor increases the land tax, then I will turn around and increase the rent.

As more and more farmers lost their land and went bankrupt, in order to have a bite to eat, everyone turned their heads to ask for land rent and planting. In this pure renter's market, the soaring land rent quickly got out of control.

The land rent for fertile fields can be as high as [-]% and as low as [-]% (real historical data from Sichuan during the Republic of China).

The tenant rented the landlord's land to plant, and after a year, the tenant would still owe the landlord the money.

As a result, the tenants fell into the dilemma that the more they cultivated the land, the more debt they owed, and if they could not grow the land, they would starve to death immediately.

The poorer and poorer tenants first sold their daughters and then their wives, and when they could no longer survive, they had no choice but to flee famine.

This world has become a world controlled by wicked people, that's why Xiao Yao is willing to be a stray dog, abandoning his reputation and life, but also pushing him into this desperate world.

The current imperial court is like sitting on a powder keg that is about to explode. Local officials everywhere are unable to protect themselves, and there is no spare power to counter the rebellion and put out the fire.

From this comparison, we can see why Shennong Baicaomen has such a high reputation among the people. It not only rewards everyone with a bite of food, but also smashes everyone's bowls.

Although Shennong Baicaomen has acquired a lot of land, these lands are all voluntary shares. As long as Shennong Baicaomen buys the harvest on this land and buys it with money, they don't even think about eating up this land.

This is partly because Gong Guangjie was born poor after all. When he was poor, the folks in the village trusted him and helped him. When he became rich, out of gratitude, he would also help the villagers.

On the other hand, Huang Xiaoshi emphasized many times when he was still a muddy boy: Farming does not make money.

Don't stare at the three-acre land every day.

Everyone is staring at the limited land, once they start to involve, something big will happen.

With all these factors superimposed, King Cheng raised the flag, and it really responded to everyone, far exceeding Huang Xiaoshi's judgment and prediction.

……

Well, there is a saying "Join if you can't beat it", can Huang Xiaoshi backhand join King Cheng's army and kill the emperor?

Unfortunately, it can't.

It's not that Huang Xiaoshi can't let go of his status as the crown prince, he was the one who cheated him, so there's nothing he can't let go of.

The point is that King Cheng's uprising has a fatal weakness, his army cannot cross the Yangtze River.

Since ancient times, if you fight from south to north, you will lose nine out of ten. If you fight from north to south, as long as you can cross the Yangtze River, you will be able to go all the way.

The key reason is not strategy, pawns, climate and other factors, but involves one of the most important war resources, horses.

Only the north can raise horses in large quantities, and in this era, only cavalry can fight against cavalry.

No matter how many troops King Cheng had, they were all infantry.In the south of the Yangtze River where the waterways are criss-crossed, riding a horse is not as convenient as sailing a boat, and pawns may have a certain flexibility advantage.

But once they crossed the Yangtze River and entered the plains, King Cheng's army would face a critical attack from roaring cavalry. Whatever strategy King Cheng used, whatever commander King Cheng changed, the outcome was basically the same.

If you win a hundred times, the enemy will not hurt the fur, and if you lose once, you will be completely defeated.

Therefore, no matter how powerful King Cheng is, he will not be able to defeat the capital in a short period of time. It will inevitably form a tug-of-war, and will gradually smash the world into pieces in repeated tug-of-war.

But conversely, a court with sufficient cavalry has the ability to decide the battle of King Cheng.

Not to mention much, although half of the [-] frontier troops have been demobilized, their horses and equipment are still there, and they only need to reorganize the people.

Since he was holding the idea of ​​quickly ending the war, Huang Xiaoshi didn't look at who had a reason to help whom, but who was strong to help whom, and he wanted to beat the weaker side to death as quickly as possible.

This is called long pain rather than short pain.

It is said that the person who tied the bell needs to be untied, and the only way Huang Xiaoshi can think of now is to pull the crazy emperor up and let him clean up this mess.

At this time, Huang Xiaoshi suddenly discovered a big problem.

Oops, I just don't have 【Shengsheng Creation Pill】in my hand.

……

Because Huang Xiaoshi didn't expect to succeed this time, so he didn't prepare for the [Sheng Sheng Hua Dan] at all.

Now although Huang Xiaoshi has mastered the refining method of [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill], but in such a hurry, he couldn't get it out even if he rubbed it hastily.

Huang Xiaoshi slapped his head, and he thought of someone.

Huang Xiaoshi once left two [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pills] to the main gate of Chengdu. These two [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pills] were used by Gong Guangjie to treat seriously injured subordinates. Empty.

Next, Shen Xiangyun made a few more, except for one she used to feed the dog, Huang Xiaoshi kept one for himself and one for Shen Xiangyun, and he patted the others into powder, and finally "invented" "Give Qianjin Wan and Wanjin Wan.

Huang Xiaoshi had warned Shen Xiangyun not to refine [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill] anymore, this stuff could easily lead to death, Shen Xiangyun is a very persuasive girl, so she didn't fiddle with [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill] any more.

Huang Xiaoshi gave Jiang Tianxiong that [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill] to buy his loyalty, so now the only [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill] in this world is the one in Shen Xiangyun's hand.

Therefore, "Second Senior Brother" Huang Xiaoshi found Shen Xiangyun, and brazenly asked her for the [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill].

"Junior Sister, Senior Brother is out of medicine, waiting for an emergency. I want to borrow your [Shengsheng Creation Pill] to save a very important person." Huang Xiaoshi said to Shen Xiangyun, "Don't worry, I have really refined it. , pay you back immediately."

"Ah?" Shen Xiangyun said in surprise, "What do you really mean?"

"Oh, don't worry about this." After Huang Xiaoshi got the medicine, he said to Shen Xiangyun: "Don't go out of Luoyang City if you have nothing to do during this time. If you are in danger or someone comes to notify you, you must take it with you. Parents will immediately live in Shennong Baicaomen."

Shen Xiangyun is not confused about this matter, the only place safer than the Luoyang government office is Shennong Baicaomen.

On the night after he got the [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill], Huang Xiaoshi carried out his evil plan. Huang Xiaoshi lit a bamboo tube firecracker that he quietly made and threw it into the pill furnace.

In the middle of the night, a loud noise woke up the people of Shennong Baicaomen. Huang Xiaoshi first persuaded Ji Wushuang beside him to lie down and sleep, then he changed his clothes and returned to the scene.

The courtyard was already full of people, and there were still people rushing over one after another. At the scene, Huang Xiaoshi was also stunned.

Originally, Huang Xiaoshi just wanted to have an implosion, but the black gunpowder he added egg white seemed to be too powerful, or there was too much gunpowder in the bamboo tube. The medicine stoves exploded.

As soon as they saw Huang Xiaoshi coming, the crowd surrounded them with candles, and Huang Xiaoshi knelt down on the ground with his hands on the ground and howled loudly: "Heaven is ruthless! My Dan has already been completed, why did I lose my temper?" Thunder split the furnace!"

When everyone heard it, they understood.

Shennong Baicaomen's alchemy this time was both a success and a failure.

The moment the divine elixir took shape, a thunderstorm fell and destroyed the elixir furnace.

After everyone talked about it, someone immediately said that when he was lying on the bed, he seemed to see a flame falling from the sky outside the window.

Others said that when he was sleeping on the bed, he felt the ground tremble. This thunder was at least as thick as a water tank.

Uh, Huang Xiaoshi didn't participate in the topic after this, he turned around a few times to tell everyone not to get close to the wreckage, and then went back to sleep.

Humans are very strange creatures. When something happens beyond their cognition, as long as someone draws an outline, human imagination will unconsciously fill in their own cognition according to the outline.

This is the so-called group brainwashing.

……

In the morning, after Huang Xiaoshi woke up, he pretended to go to the bombed pill furnace.

After walking around the pill furnace for a few times, Huang Xiaoshi suddenly slapped his head and said, "Oh, let me give you a break. I'll take a look. It's good to find a few broken pills."

So, everyone backed off.

Such an important matter can only be done by Huang Xiaoshi himself.

Taking advantage of the time when he was bending over to carry things, Huang Xiaoshi dropped the [Sheng Sheng Hao Hua Pill] hidden in his hand into the ruins, and after a while, he pretended to sweep it out again.

"It's done, it's done." Huang San held the [Shengsheng Creation Pill], crying with excitement.

(End of this chapter)