Iron Age

The crowd stopped fighting and looked at the officers and soldiers suspiciously. A man with the appearance of a general rode on a horse and shouted loudly: "According to the order of the magistrate, arrest the villains who attempted to assassinate the officials. Hurry up and surrender."

The yamen servants quickly retreated outside the encirclement of officers and soldiers. More than 500 officers and soldiers plus more than 50 yamen servants, against more than 100 armed clerks of Lianfeng, the situation took a turn for the worse again.

The owner of Lianfeng with scars on his face shouted to the officers and soldiers, "Zhang Shoubei, don't you give Han Lianhu face and Liguo Iron Works face? If there is something wrong with the second lady here today, I'm afraid you and me You can’t afford to be guilty.”

Zhang Shoubei sneered immediately: "Shopkeeper Han, brother is no longer on the defensive. Besides, the second lady of the ** family injured Huang Zhifu's nephew today. There is no way to say, brother is not easy to deal with."

The other member immediately pointed at the shopkeeper Han Da: "Boldly making trouble for the people, in broad daylight, injuring officials and family members, beating government servants, and gathering crowds to fight against officers and soldiers, do you want to plot rebellion?"

Shopkeeper Han Da cupped his fists: "This general, I don't know how to address him, I'm being rude. What happened today must have been a misunderstanding. My lady has always been virtuous, and she doesn't know how to fight and kill. In the chaos just now, there was that yamen servant and local ruffian." I don’t know who accidentally injured the magistrate’s nephew. I was eager to save people for a while, and I fought a little with the big brothers of the yamen servants, and I will definitely come to the door to apologize in the future. I also worked hard for the officers and soldiers to dispatch, and tomorrow I will send a small gift to the camp .Please also give our Liguo Iron Works a face."

The general snorted and said: "This general is Gao Tai, the new guard of the Xuzhou Mansion, the shopkeeper Han, who is so brave to bribe the court officials in public. I only know the emperor and the nine thousand-year-old Eunuch Huang, and I don't know what benefits the country's iron factory." Come on, come, disarm these gangsters who gathered to make trouble, and take them all down."

The spears of the officers and soldiers approached step by step, shrinking the encirclement. Liu Ziguang was very depressed, what a great opportunity, he failed to escape, but was about to enter the government prison again. , free those slaves.

Shopkeeper Han Da was very angry. If the second lady made a mistake, the heads of the hundred and ten employees of Xuzhou Lianfeng might all be killed. And this newcomer Gao Defen, who doesn’t take soft and hard things, seems to be very smart , knowing that the misfortune caused by the second lady's poking must be very serious, and at the same time as she rushed over, she notified the factory guard...

The officers and soldiers were still pressing on, when they suddenly heard a piercing sound.A row of stubby iron arrows were neatly nailed to the feet of the officers and soldiers in the front row, and soldiers wearing chain mail suddenly appeared from the surrounding houses.Holding crossbows one by one, aiming at the officers and soldiers, there was a sound of horseshoes, and thousands of elite knights in black chain armor appeared on the opposite road, forming an arrow formation, three times longer than the spears of the officers and soldiers. Flattened, and made a charging posture.A black flag was fluttering in the wind, and the two big characters "铁卫" could be seen clearly.A murderous air spread in the air, and some bored spectators picked up small chairs and hurried home.The door slammed shut and locked.

Yamen servants and officers and soldiers have begun to be dumbfounded. The cavalry is charging, let alone more than 500 people, even if it is ten times more, it is not enough to fill the gaps between the crossbowmen and cavalry. It seems that this high defense today kicked the iron plate Yes, it is still a super hard iron plate produced by Liguo Iron Works.

The officers and soldiers were afraid, and the spears in their hands shook a little. They hurriedly watched the crossbow aimed at them and did not dare to move, for fear of causing unnecessary misunderstanding and being shot dead on the spot.

Gao Shoubei was furious. The Xuzhou Mansion, where Emperor Gao was far away, was so chaotic. The merchants' armed forces dared to challenge the government. In their eyes, did they still have the law of the king, and whether they were nine thousand years old!Is there an emperor!But now the situation is stronger than others, and being a tough guy can only suffer immediate losses.Hurry up and find a step to come down by yourself, and then slowly settle accounts with these people in the future.

Guard Gao coughed twice, and was about to speak softly, when horseshoes roared from the road behind him, banners were unfurled, drums were beating, helmets were shining brightly, swords and guns were dazzling, they were the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Army stationed outside the city , it seems that there are 3000 people.It is slowly pressing over.

Gao Defen’s eyes are moist, it’s a coincidence that he came earlier, the forbidden army is a field army, and the garrison is under the jurisdiction of the city defense army. Although they have no jurisdiction over each other, they are still a system. Guys in armor aren't all the way.Now that he has enough confidence, the high defense voice becomes even louder.

"You rebels, don't put down your weapons and surrender quickly, hand over the witch and her slaves who injured Mr. Huang, and let you live." Mr. Huang suddenly appeared from nowhere, standing behind Gao Shoubing, With a gauze wrapped around her head, she pointed at the second young lady in the crowd and shouted: "Yes, hand over that demon girl to me and take her back to the mansion for interrogation, and you, you, and you, dead girl." Liu Ziguang, Xiao Mao, Qiu Xiang.A school of dog-fighting momentum.

The brigade of the imperial army stopped, with archers on both sides guarding the flanks, the cavalry in the center also set up a charging position, and the heavy armored infantry in the back line connected their shields to form an iron curtain, and set up their spears.Leaning towards the sky.

For a while, the entire Hubu Mountain was shrouded in murderous aura. The tense feeling before the battle gripped everyone's heart, and there was no sound, only the big flag was stabbed by the wind in the cold wind, chirping crookedly. Mr. Huang also felt that the atmosphere was not right, so he closed his mouth.

A few cavalry rushed out from the Forbidden Army Brigade, the leader was a black-faced general, wearing a fish-scale armor inside, a brocade robe outside, and a beard growing out of his flesh.This person galloped up to the front, looked at the complex situation of encirclement, re-encirclement, and re-encirclement, and saw the second young lady who was surrounded, and seemed to understand something.

Knocking on the spurs, he came to Gao Bing, and before the smiling Gao Bing could speak, the black-faced general's whip whipped across his head and face.Gao Defen was knocked off the horse.

"I'm fucked, I'm tired of work, dare to bully my niece, fuck! Who else? Who else? Look! Whatever you look at, there must be you!"

With another blow of the whip, Mr. Huang was also knocked down to the ground, rolling on the ground in pain, making the fox fur robe covered with snow and mud.

"I've been wronged by the lower officials." Gao Shoubei finally came to his senses. It turned out that the forbidden army of this brigade came to help the opponent. It was a mistake. There was also the original Zhang Shoubei who didn't help when he saw that he was being beaten. Smirking gloatingly, he must have hated himself for squeezing his defensive position.

The black-faced general froze with his whip, and the garrison officers and soldiers were frightened into silence. No one dared to persuade this famously hot-tempered Forbidden Army General to join him.

A big green sedan chair was carried over from a distance, the main hall of Xuzhou Mansion was quiet and quiet, the avoidance sign was placed in front, and the magistrate had arrived.

Huang Zhifu is a new magistrate with unstable foundations, but his family is a wealthy salt merchant in Haizhou, and there is also a godfather who was changed from a distant cousin in the Nanjing court, and it is unfortunate that this godfather is powerful. The [-]-year-old Eunuch Huang, with such a strong background, what else can he pay attention to?

Yesterday Haizhou's nephew, that is, my eldest brother, the son of Haizhou's deputy envoy, came to Xuzhou to deliver New Year's goods. I didn't expect that just now when my family came to report that my nephew was beaten by a local bully while shopping, I was furious at the time. Said that the nephew took his family to take revenge, the magistrate was worried, and arranged a team of yamen servants to come to help. Unexpectedly, the other party resisted arrest with a sword in hand, so he immediately sent his cronies Gao Tai, the newly appointed guard, to lead the army to come However, the matter became more and more complicated. The opponent had a group of well-equipped private soldiers, and this Forbidden Army General, who actually helped the opponent get ahead.The situation is complicated.

Huang Zhifu got off the sedan chair, calm and composed, Niu Ginseng would not beat his subordinates and nephews in front of the prefect, and put away his whip resentfully.Huang Zhifu said: "General Niu Shen, I don't want to say much. Today's matter must be reported to the Holy Majesty and Nine Thousand Years, and the family members of the family should be treated fairly. I will not accompany you. Let's go."

A group of golden-armored knights rushed over through the camp of the imperial army, and the imperial army did not stop them. The young general at the head was wearing a golden armor, wearing a purple gold crown with hair tied on his head, and dragged a Qinglong Yanyue knife in his hand.When I was far away, I yelled, "Whoever dares to bully my sister, watch me take his head." When I ran to the front, I found that everyone was already packing up and preparing to go home.

"The fight was over so soon, and I was late again." Jin Jia was very regretful.

General Niu Shen, Huang Zhifu, and Gao Shoubei saluted together, "See your son."

***************************************************** ************* All walks of life called gold to withdraw troops, nearly [-] soldiers and horses gathered at the foot of Hubu Mountain and tossed for half an hour. The ground after the snow was trampled to muddy ground. The imperial army brigade and iron guard cavalry Withdrew in an orderly manner, and the garrison officers, soldiers and yamen servants also lifted up the wounded in desperation and followed Huang Zhifu's green woolen sedan chair.The fellows of the Lianfeng escorted the second lady back to the store, and the sons of the prince's mansion and the Imperial Army General Niu also went with them.Only a group of disabled hooligans and colleagues who were about to be dismantled were left, and the fat shopkeeper who was already dumbfounded sat on the side watching the mess everywhere and burst into tears.

Lying at the gate of Tongrenju with a broken leg, Zhennanguan Zhenye witnessed all this until he was in his 80s and still bragged to his younger generation about the group fight he had seen back then. Cloudy tears rolled in the eye sockets.

"The group of fights... was quite spectacular..."

***************************************************** *************** When everyone returned to Lianfeng, shopkeeper Han Da arranged a few tables of wine and dinner for everyone.The shopkeeper Han Lianhu, the second lady and the sons of the princes, Niu Yong, the general of the forbidden army, Zhang Zhen, the captain of the iron guard, and others sat down separately, and a group of army leaders also sat down one after another.Liu Ziguang is also sitting among the generals of the ironworks system.

A big bowl of wine, a big piece of meat, a big feast, after drinking for three rounds, everyone commented on the group fight just now, Liu Ziguang also heard the general clue, it turned out that when Mr. The private room of the name shop took care of the two husky servants, and secretly ran back to the Lianfeng with the dog to pull reinforcements. The shopkeeper, Han Da, was afraid that the people brought by the second lady would suffer less, so he immediately ordered all the strong men, and put all the armor that could be dug out. After putting it on, he ran to support the second lady, and at the same time notified the road guard stationed near Xuzhou Station.Keep them ready to come and support you.I thought that a hundred or ten guys would be able to handle it, but I didn't expect that the other party had a lot of background, and the scene became bigger and bigger, even the city defense army and the imperial army were alarmed.

The Imperial Army is controlled by the northern frontier army. The civil service system and the general system of the imperial court do not buy into each other. The participating general had received a lot of favors from the factory owner, and when he heard that the city defense army was mobilizing to embarrass his little niece, he immediately ordered 3000 troops to drive over.

Prefect Huang is the nephew of the [-]-year-old Eunuch Huang. It's no secret that Eunuch Huang has placed cronies everywhere. It's urgent, if it wasn't for the imperial guards guarding the border, maybe the soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty in the north would have drank their horses along the Yangtze River. As the so-called arrogant soldiers and brave generals, it would not be a big deal to use the military talisman privately.

The eldest son of the kings of Pengcheng, named Zhu Yao, the kings of the group and the owner of the earth and iron factory had a good relationship, Zhu Yao and the second lady opened Meng together since childhood, and they were like brothers and sisters. After hearing the report from the family, the second sister was in a colleague When the house fights, immediately put on all the clothes, and come to join in the fun with the generals.Zhu Shizi is only 12 years old, and the one he admires the most is Guan Yu, the second master of Guan Yu.Right now, the two are sitting together, pushing glasses and changing glasses, drinking in a serious manner.

The table of the shopkeeper Han Da was next to the second lady, and while everyone was talking and drinking, he took the opportunity of toasting and said to the second lady: "Second lady, a merchant from the north came to the store just now and sent 10 taels of silver bills, saying yes. I didn't know that it was the second lady of our Liguo Iron Works who bought the dog, and I didn't dare to take advantage of the second lady, so the bank notes were returned, and the two dogs were given to the second lady, and the subordinates gave him 300 taels Silver, send him away. The 10 taels of silver note is the remittance of Jiangnan Lianfeng's sub-colons since the second half of the year. Next time, please be careful with the second lady. It is a small punishment by the factory owner, which delayed the factory's payment The flow is great."

The second lady grinned: "That businessman knows the times when he arrives, and he might be dead if he doesn't bring the money. Uncle Han, don't worry, I will definitely hand over the money to my sister."

After speaking, the second lady got up and clapped her hands, shouting "Quiet".The hall gradually fell silent, and everyone looked up to see the second lady speak.

"Today, I thank all the brothers who worked here. All the brothers present will be rewarded with one tael of silver. Those who do the work will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. Those who are injured will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver. Uncles and brothers of the team, there is another big thank you."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and blinked at the shopkeeper Han Da, "It's all my private money, don't worry, Uncle Han."

There were voices of thanks in the hall, it is good to fight with the second lady, prestige and money can be earned, even those who run for nothing will get money, and the people from the iron factory are generous.These rough men had a smile on their faces after drinking, and when they had money, they could go to Datong Street to play the new Jiangnan casino.

The second lady pressed down with her two small hands, and said: "In addition, the heroic general in red who followed this lady to fight, has worked hard and made great achievements, and is outnumbered. If it weren't for him, this lady might be killed, so, Today I will take off his slave status and make an exception to promote him to the guard of the inner house, so I don’t have to fight in the arena anymore, just hang out with this lady. By the way, do you have a name?”

Liu Ziguang got up and cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Second Miss, my name is Liu Ziguang."

It was upgraded all of a sudden, and it seems to be a regular iron factory worker.I used to be a slave, but now I am a thug of the exploiting class. It seems that the escape plan needs to be considered in a long-term way. On the one hand, the iron factory is very powerful, and I am afraid that if I escape, I will be caught soon. There are too many unknowns, and it is not easy to survive if you run away rashly.

The night of winter is getting dark early, the hustle and bustle of the day is quiet, and the smoke is everywhere.The people of Xuzhou Prefecture entered the dinner time called "drinking soup".

The back house of the magistrate’s yamen is brightly lit. The magistrate is sitting on the grand master’s chair drinking tea after dinner, and his wife is sitting beside him. , hid in the guest room and threw things and beat people, even Butler Wang dared not go in to persuade him."

The magistrate waved his hand to let the little girl back down, sighed and said to his wife: "This town is as dead-headed and straight-tempered as big brother. I have never suffered from anyone since I grew up in Haizhou. It cut face, and also damaged a few salt catchers brought over from Haizhou. Even the Fusang samurai hired by a lot of money was chopped into serious injuries. It is not good to provoke anyone. They are all wealthy businessmen with private soldiers, all kinds of relationships are intertwined, and the court can't easily move them, let alone me, a new magistrate."

The madam snorted and said, "Our Huang family also has tens of thousands of mu of salt fields near Haizhou. Uncle is still in the salt field.