The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 77: These rebels are unusual

The Red Lady has destroyed nearly ten villages, how could she not guess what Gao Dequan was thinking at this time?
She smiled coldly and said, "No IOU? Did Gao Yuanwai regard our rebels as bandits?"

"I never meant this!" Gao Dequan quickly explained, "I just want to admire the rebels and donate food."

The red lady said: "If you want to donate food, you can donate another one. We must borrow these thousand stones of food, and you must pay the IOU."

If you don't cooperate, don't blame us. We will send your whole family to the stage tomorrow for a public trial to see if anyone in your family has done anything evil! "

Hearing this, Gao Dequan felt like crying.

Not to mention that it is impossible for everyone in his family to be clean, even if they are really kind to others, they will easily be slandered by villains after coming to power.

Therefore, I would never dare to go to the stage for a public trial.

Thinking of this, Gao Dequan could only sign the IOU in duplicate and press his fingerprints with tears in his eyes.

When the rebels left the next day, Gao Dequan went to the backyard in person to release his son.

Gao Xiucheng, who was admitted as a scholar two years ago, is now a junior student in a government school and is very hopeful that he will pass the examination in the next few years.

The Red Lady led troops to attack. Gao Xiu originally wanted to lead Xiang Yong and Qing Zhuang to resist resolutely. Unexpectedly, Gao Dequan was so cowardly that he surrendered without even fighting.

Not only that, because he was worried that Gao Xiucheng would be impulsive and do bad things, Gao Dequan locked Gao Xiucheng in the house before surrendering.

Gao Dequan opened the door and entered the room, but Gao Xiucheng sat at the table without moving, not even calling him father.

"Still angry with dad?"

Gao Xiucheng shouted angrily: "If you surrender to the rebels and let the government know, we, Gao Laozhuang, will be finished!"

"Don't you know that you are a father?" Gao Dequan sat down and sighed, "But if I didn't open the door and obey the bandits, the Gao family would have been gone last night. How could we, father and son, sit here and talk?"

"If you can't beat us, we can run away. Why do you have to surrender the thieves?"

"Why do you say surrender to thieves so harshly? Your father is calling it falsehood and subjugation. Besides, we were only robbed of some food by the thieves, and no one committed the crime, so how can we call it surrender to thieves?"

Gao Xiucheng was still angry after hearing this and said nothing for a while.

Gao Dequan put his hand on his son's shoulder and said: "My good son, don't be angry with dad, there is something important you need to do.

You go to Fucheng and let the prefect know through your classmates and other connections that there is a serious rebellion in Tianmu Mountain.

These rebel thieves not only destroyed the houses of the gentry and landlords, but also distributed the land to the poor. The thieves were well-trained and wore armor in large numbers, which was very unusual.

You have to tell the truth, but you also have to make it serious, do you understand? "

Gao Xiucheng was not stupid. After hearing this, he suddenly understood and said, "Dad, do you want the prefect to send officers and soldiers to suppress the thieves?"

Gao Dequan sighed again and said: "Speaking of which, these days officers and soldiers are more terrifying than thieves and bandits. If I don't have to, I don't want the officers and soldiers to come.

But these rebel thieves in Tianmu Mountain are so scary - not only have they allocated some land to some large households, but they have also borrowed grain from us, and even forced us to leave IOUs. I don't know what they will do in the future.

Before they become stronger, letting officers and soldiers come to suppress them can make people feel at ease.By the way, after the prefect hears this, he will definitely ask you for questions.

When the time comes, you have to explain to the magistrate that my family was forced to lend food to those rebels.Understand? "

Gao Xiucheng nodded, "I understand that my father wants to make meritorious deeds."

Seeing that his son was so savvy, Gao Dequan showed a look of relief and said, "If it weren't for your promising career, dad wouldn't bother with this matter. After all, some officers and soldiers are more terrifying than bandits. But for you, dad can only take a gamble. .”

Gao Xiucheng stood up and said, "Don't worry, dad. If the prefect sends troops, my son will definitely try to join the army. No matter what, he will keep Gao Laozhuang peaceful."

"Don't think too much, let's go, go out for a good meal, then pack up and get ready to go to Fucheng."

···
Ruyang City.

As a prefectural city in Runing, it is located on the east and north banks of Ru River. To the north are Shiyang River and Shah River flowing into Ru River, while to the south are Huangxi River and Zhen River flowing into Ru River.

The Ru River flows to the southeast and merges into the Huaihe River, communicating with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and the Yangtze River by water.

And because it is located in the center of the Huaibei Plain, it has become an important water and land transportation hub in southern Henan.

Although the drought in Henan has lasted for more than half a year (not no rain at all, but little rain, and the amount of rain is far less than what is needed to maintain agriculture), there was also a locust plague in April and May, and many places will not be able to harvest anything, but Runing City can see It is still very prosperous.

However, the cluster of refugee shacks four doors away made this prosperity look deformed.

in the city.

A young scholar hurriedly entered the courtyard of an ordinary gentleman's home, where a middle-aged man was drinking. "Uncle, my nephew has heard some important news. Magistrate Fu is finally going to send troops to Tianmu Mountain to suppress the bandits!"

The middle-aged man was drunk, but when he heard this, he suddenly woke up. He excitedly grabbed the young man's arm and asked, "Really?"

The young scholar was also very excited and nodded: "The news is absolutely reliable! I went to Fuzhou today to study. I heard that a few days ago, several gentry from around Tianmu Mountain sent people to Fucheng to report the treason.

Governor Fu learned that the rebels were rampant and dared to judge the squires and divide their property. Worried that the rebels would become bigger, he decided to send troops to exterminate them.

They also recruited students from the prefecture and people from the surrounding areas of Tianmu Mountain as guides to lead the way for the officers and soldiers.

My nephew has already made up his mind. He will go to the government office later to inquire about whether he can become a guide for the officers and soldiers, so that he can avenge the destruction of his family along with the officers and soldiers! "

"Great! Great!"

The middle-aged people cheered excitedly and cried bitterly.

It turns out that the middle-aged people are Pan Hongwen, the Juren, and his nephew and second brother's eldest son Pan Zhuoer.

A month ago, Pan Hongwen learned that his home was invaded by bandits and almost wiped out his family. He first went to Biyang County to ask the county magistrate to send troops to suppress the bandits.

The magistrate of Biyang did not have many soldiers under his command, and because the hungry people in the territory were so distressed, it was naturally impossible for him to send troops to the mountains to help Pan Juren suppress the bandits.

However, the magistrate of Biyang heard that the bandits came from Tianmu Mountain, so he reminded Pan Hongwen that it was useless to go to Nanyang Fucheng, because Tianmu Mountain was under the jurisdiction of Runing Prefecture.

Pan Hongwen then brought his nephew to Ruyang City.

It's a pity that he is the governor of Nanyang, and his status is not so easy to use in Runing.The most important thing is that Ruyang Tongjuan Zhu Guobao had some grudges with him in his early years, leaving him with no way to appeal.

It was difficult to avenge the family's destruction, so Pan Hongwen took advantage of drinking to drown his sorrows.

After being depressed for more than half a month, I finally heard the news that the government was going to send troops, and I was so happy that I lost control of my emotions.

After regaining consciousness, Pan Hongwen went to wash his face, drank half a pot of herbal tea, and completely sobered up.

Thinking about the suppression of thieves again, he said: "Those bandits in Tianmu Mountain are not acting like ordinary rebels, so I'm afraid they won't be easy to wipe out. Do you know how many troops Magistrate Fu plans to send, and who will lead them?"

Pan Zhuoer also hated thieves. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "I should be able to find out when I go to the government office to report and become a guide for the army."

"Okay then, go now."

···
Runing magistrate's office.

The prefect Fu Ruwei, the judge Zhu Guobao and the general Wang Yingtai are discussing the matter of sending troops to exterminate the rebels in Tianmu Mountain.

Fu Ruwei is a very mediocre official. He is greedy when he should be, and does what he should do, but he is also very good at shirk and prevarication.

As early as June, Xinyang Zhizhou sent someone to deliver an official document, saying that the bandit Kou Hong Niang had looted Minggang and other market towns, killed Liu Xicai, the chief guard of Changtaiguan, and took thousands of refugees to hide in Tianmu Mountain. He asked him to send troops to destroy her as soon as possible.

Although Fu Ruwei was not a good soldier, he also knew how difficult it was to go to the mountains to suppress bandits on a hot day, not to mention that he still lacked money and food.

If the thieves hadn't kidnapped the refugees, he would have been more careful in the future.Because he heard that bandits robbed the Zhang family of thousands of dans of food in Minggang. If they could be eliminated as soon as possible, they might be able to capture three to two thousand dans.

But since the thieves held thousands of refugees hostage, even if they had thousands of dan of food, they would be consumed quickly.

The most important thing is that when the bandits are pushed into a hurry, they will distribute all the food to the refugees. If the refugees flee in all directions, it will be difficult for the officers and soldiers to capture them.

Therefore, he pretended that he had not seen the official document from Xinyang Zhizhou.

Who would have thought that with the autumn harvest just around the corner, the Tianmu Mountain bandits would start making trouble again and escalate into rebels.

Moreover, this group of rebels is unusual - they divide the land and the poor, judge the gentry and landlords, and there are many soldiers wearing armor. Is this something that ordinary rebels can do?

Based on Fu Ruwei's experience as a local official in the past few years, the number of refugees in famine-stricken areas will not only not decrease after the autumn harvest, but will actually increase - because there is no harvest, the only way to survive is by fleeing elsewhere.

Therefore, in autumn and winter in famine-stricken areas, especially in winter, when the government collects taxes, rebel thieves are most likely to be born and thieves are most likely to grow.

If there is another large-scale rebellion in Runing Mansion, he, the prefect, may not only lose his job, but may also be imprisoned.

Therefore, even if he did not consider that many squires from the Tianmu Mountain area had come to appeal in recent days, he still had to prevent this group of rebels from getting bigger after the autumn harvest and send troops to exterminate them in advance.

"Tell me, how many troops must be sent to wipe out the rebels in Tianmu Mountain?"

Zhu Guobao, the general judge, coughed and said: "According to the sons of the squire whose families were destroyed by the rebels, although the rebel soldiers were well-armed and well-trained, they only sent out one or two hundred people at a time. I don't think there were many of them." .

Considering that the terrain of Tianmu Mountain is complex and not suitable for large groups of soldiers and horses to march and fight, my subordinates thought that there was no need to send too many soldiers and horses. "

(End of this chapter)