Daming wolf ride

The young emperor in Chengqian Palace rejoiced at the good news from Shaanxi, but Hong Chengchou, who had reported the victory, was not at all happy in his Yansui governor's yamen in Yulin at this time.

Last year, Yang He was sent by the imperial court to interrogate Yang He because of Shen Yikui's rebellion. Hong Chengchou was promoted to the governor of the three sides as the governor of Yansui. He lost the position of governor of the three sides due to the crime and still served as governor of Yansui.However, Yang Sichang, the son of his old boss Yang He and the former governor of Shanhaiguan, was promoted to the right servant of the Ministry of War and the censor of Youqian capital. Not letting Hong Chengchou is quite depressed.What made him feel even more frustrated was the new governor of the five provinces, Chen Qiyu. When he was promoted to the governor of the three sides, it was this Chen Qiyu who took his place as governor of Yansui.

Now, not only the son of the old boss has become his boss, but also the old subordinates have become his boss, which can't help but make Hong Chengchou feel anxious.He knows his shame and forges ahead. In the past ten months, he has quelled [-] bandits, big and small. He even beheaded the bandit leader Wang Jiayin ten days ago, bringing order to most of Shaanxi province. This is not a great achievement.

Hong Chengchou should be happy after making a great contribution to cleanse himself of his previous shame, but he was not at all happy, instead, the people below were cheering and encouraging.

"Congratulations to Mr. Futai. The good news comes to Beijing. The Holy Majesty will be delighted. At that time, you will be rewarded for your merits." The person who entered the room was Yang Xian, the military recorder. When Hong participated in politics for Shaanxi, he was only a county A Confucian student in the middle, he learned from his predecessor Ban Zhongsheng to abandon literature and pursue martial arts, and he has learned through experience in the past few years.He is very wise, and he is quite popular among Hong Chengchou among the bureaucrats. [

"I'm just doing my duty as a minister, but if I can share the worries of my father, my wish is enough. I don't care about any rewards from the court." Hong Chengchou said a few words, calmly, and raised his hand to signal Qin Xian sat down and spoke.

After Qin Xian sat down, he praised from the bottom of his heart: "Your Excellency, you are ashamed of yourself." After a pause, he said: "But not everyone is as tolerant as Your Excellency. That's good, I'm not willing to meet an adult."

There was something in Qin Xian's words, why didn't Hong Chengchou know about it, but he didn't want to say anything more, he just asked: "How is Yang Junmen now?"

"Why do you need to ask him, my lord?" Qin Xian was stunned for a moment, and said with hatred: "Yang He's raising bandits has become a disaster, and he has lost his life. It is his retribution for the court to punish him for his crimes. Who is to blame?"

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Shen Yikui rebelled, and Yang Junmen did his best..." He raised his eyes to Qin Xian, "Is there any news from Mr. Du?"

Du Zongbing refers to Du Wenhuan, the commander-in-chief of Guyuan, who often fought against the northern captives in Hetao, and achieved many gains.After the civil unrest in the Northwest, he also led his troops to conquer the east and west, and as the right governor, Guyuan's commander-in-chief controlled the affairs of Yanzhen. He was one of the generals under Hong Chengchou's command.

"There is not much food in Ningsai City, so besiege the city and cut off the internal and external communication. When the food and grass are gone, you don't have to worry about capturing the leader without letting go. Du Zongbing is also a veteran in the battlefield, and his soldiers and horses have won many thieves, so there is no need. Worry."

"Over there in Guyuan, I still have to go there, and I can feel at ease when I see the thieves conferring heads with my own eyes."

Although Qin Xian said that he was extremely confident, Hong Chengchou was still a little uneasy. He also rested in Yulin for a few days, and it was time to leave for Guyuan.

Hearing that Hong Chengchou was going to Ningsai, Qin Xian hurriedly reminded: "If my lord goes to Guyuan, where is Chen Qiyu?"

Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, sent an official document a few days ago to transfer troops to Yulin, and the governor of Yansui should be under the jurisdiction of the governors of the five provinces. Naturally, Hong Chengchou could not leave lightly.

Hong Chengchou smiled indifferently, and told Qin Xian: "Just tell Wang Chengen to take his troops to station in Yulin. If Mr. Chen comes, just listen to his orders."

This Wang Cheng'en is not the big crotch next to the emperor, but Wang Cheng'en, the commander-in-chief of Yulin, with the same name and surname but different people.

"Your subordinate will make arrangements now." Qin Xian saw that Hong Chengchou had made up his mind, so he went out to make arrangements immediately.

The servants brought the dinner, and after Hong Chengchou ate hastily, he wrote a long pleading memorial for Yang He overnight. After the transcription was finished, he checked it carefully and read it silently when he saw the end: "Since Yang He took office, be careful, Plan for the local area every day, and start everything from closing the frontier. There are one or two recruits, and they are also used in combination. The situation is inevitable. But poverty is more beneficial, and thieves are more numerous. .The change of Shen Yikui is really unexpected and unexpected. Yang He is in the department, and I feel very uneasy. I implore Your Majesty to be lenient."

See if there are any omissions and violations of the rules, please send them together.After all, Yang He is his old boss, and his son Yang Sichang is now the governor of the three sides, both public and private, Hong Chengchou felt that he should plead for Yang He.Even if he can't beg for mercy, then Yang Sichang will always sell his affection in the future, and there will be no embarrassment when meeting and doing things in the future.

At four o'clock, Hong Chengchou brought his bodyguards Cai Tong, Jin Qiude and others, and also summoned Qin Xian's staff, and led three thousand Hong soldiers to the city of Ningsai, Guyuan.

Du Wenhuan, the commander-in-chief of Guyuan who was under the city of Ningsai, had a grudge against the leader of the thieves in the city, Shen Yikui, who killed his brother. After the siege of Ningsai City, he couldn't bear the thought of his brother's family dying at the hands of the thieves in the city. Live and storm the city.He was so anxious that he injured many soldiers. When Hong Chengchou came with his own Hong soldiers, he hurried out of the camp to meet them.After meeting, he pleaded guilty.

Hong Chengchou didn't mean to blame him, instead he helped him up, and he said in relief: "These thieves had better outsmart them, otherwise they will be forced to go into a corner, and they will have to fight to the death, which will be tricky. The battle of trapped beasts is not It's a good deal, and there are no casualties, so it's a call to hell. Come, and lead the way, I will meet the god for a while. "[

Du Wenhuan was moved and hurriedly led the way and led Hong Chengchou to a high place. He saw the leader of the thieves, Shen Yikui, standing guard at the top of the city, followed by Huang Youcai, Zhang Mengjin, Liu Jin, Xu Hongru and others.

Hong Chengchou looked at it for a while, then suddenly asked from a distance: "Shen Yikui, when you planned to kill Ru to become famous, you swore to submit to the court, why did you turn back in a blink of an eye? Now that the soldiers have arrived, which brother do you want to kill? Seems like You are a loyal rat, there are still people following you, how dare you!"

Being exposed to his scandal in public, Shen Yikui was immediately embarrassed and frightened, and forced himself to refute: "We are all brothers who have drunk blood wine, we cannot be born on the same day, I hope..."

Hong Chengchou didn't wait for him to finish, he laughed loudly: "Brother? Who would listen to your nonsense! When you have a retreat, have you ever thought about brotherly love? If so, how could Ru Chengming die at your hands? Now you are trapped Gucheng, disaster is imminent again, do you still want to exchange your brother's life for wealth?" The words were aggressive, and Shen Yikui didn't even have a chance to refute.

"You, you are talking nonsense!" Shen Yikui was furious, but he didn't know how to explain, his face turned pale with anxiety, and he didn't even dare to turn his head to look at the people behind him.

Huang Youcai and Zhang Mengjin became suspicious, and they secretly glanced at each other.Huang Youcai tentatively said: "Brother in charge, there are many officials and soldiers, and he will fight the aliens to find his own death. Why don't you send him down again?"

Shen Yikui groaned silently, but his confidant Liu Jin shouted sharply: "Brother, don't let him bewitch you! Hong Chengchou is ruthless, far better than Yang He. We have already surrendered the rebellion. If we surrender again this time, how can Hong be relieved? If we don’t light the sky lanterns, we will be buried alive. Brother, don’t take the wrong idea!”

Shen Yikui's expression was gloomy, he was already in a state of disarray, the government army outside the city had reinforcements coming, and the murderous Hong Laojiu also came, this Ningsai City might be difficult to hold, his family This life is also afraid that many lives will be lost sooner or later, so I still have to find a way to escape as soon as possible.

Shen Yikui was quick-witted and capable of commanding troops, but Hong Chengchou would directly expose his background, he didn't know how to stabilize the morale of the army first, but instead thought about how to escape.He said powerfully there: "A good man doesn't suffer from immediate losses, it's only a matter of time if he can hide for a while! Brothers, let's make arrangements separately, and follow me to break through after dark."

Before the words fell, Huang Youcai sneered, and then drew his knife and slashed at Shen Yikui. Shen Yikui was caught off guard, and with a scream of "ah", he was chopped into two pieces!

Seeing this, Liu Jin and Xu Hongru hurriedly swung their sabers over, but Zhang Mengjin and the others went forward to block them. The four of them fought together, and their respective subordinates also fought together. In the blink of an eye, the bandit army on the top of the city It all got messed up.

When Du Wenhuan and the others met in the city, they all fell in admiration of Hong Chengchou, and hurriedly sent orders to take advantage of the chaos of the bandit army to attack the city.The leader of the god died, the leader of the group of dragons, and the leaders below also killed them randomly. The more than [-] bandit troops in the city resisted again. As a result, within half an hour, Du Wenhuan's Guyuan army took back Ningsai.

At dusk, after the bandits in the city were completely wiped out, Hong Chengchou led his staff into the city under the protection of his personal guards and Hong Bing.As far as the eye can see, there are broken walls everywhere, bricks, tiles, wood and other sundries piled up on the street, and there is little smoke from the roofs on both sides. When I entered a house along the street, a skinny old man was holding two five-six-year-olds. The [-]-year-old, unkempt, knelt in terror and begged for mercy.Hong Chengchou went to look under the stove, there was a small half pot of leaves boiled, and there was a grain of grain. He visited several houses in a row, and almost every house was like this.

In this situation, even if Hong Chengchou killed people like hemp, he also had a gloomy face all the way, and finally stopped in front of a dilapidated house, and ordered: "Call the food officer to come over."

Not long after, a thin grain official came in and saluted with his hands tied.Hong Chengchou looked him up and down, and said with a smile: "Look at your appearance, you look like a man in charge of food and wages, you are obviously a starving ghost who was reincarnated."

The food officer laughed and said: "The humble students are thin and small, even after a meal, they won't gain a pound."

Hong Chengchou asked him, "How much food and grass are there in the army?"

The grain official replied: "It can be used for ten days."

Hong Chengchou told him: "You take out three days' army rations and set up a few porridge sheds, alas! Otherwise, how many people in Ningsai will starve to death!"

The food officer heard this, but he wondered: "I don't know when the next time the food will be paid. Once the army is short of food, how can we fight?" Hong Chengchou waved his hand and said, "This official knows that I am not Cao Mengde. I only know that something happened. Take the food officer to question, you go down and deal with it without delay! If the soldiers have any complaints, I will bear it all, and I will never blame you. I can't just watch so many people starve to death!"

Not long after the food officer retreated, Du Wenhuan hurried over and said, "My lord, sheds and porridge are being set up in the city. I heard that it was ordered by my lord to help the hungry people, but is it true?"

Hong Chengchou nodded and said, "Not bad."

Du Wenhuan stomped his feet and said, "It's absolutely impossible! My lord, needless to say, our army doesn't have enough food and salaries. Even if we can't run out of food, we can't give it to them!"

Hearing Du Wenhuan's words, Hong Chengchou was surprised: "Wu, I remember that your home is in Ningsai, why do you have the slightest feeling of fellow countryman?"

Du Wenhuan smiled wryly and said: "My lord, it is precisely because the last general's family is in Ningsai that he knows the customs of this place. Ningsai has been full of troublesome people since ancient times. They forget righteousness when they see small profits, are fierce and aggressive, and do not keep faith. Today, my lord gave They eat food, and tomorrow they will grab the food."

"Wu, I understand what you mean. I have been in Shaanxi for many years, and I have heard a little about the customs of various places. To deal with the civil uprising in Shaanxi, either suppress or appease. From a selfish point of view, I agree with appeasement. The suppression is only a temporary strategy. In the end, it is for the sake of peace of the people, but can it continue to be suppressed year after year, from generation to generation? Suppression is to build prestige, to be entrusted with kindness, and now we have to give both kindness and power. I only know the word "suppression" and the number of people killed, so how are we different from grassroots bandits? The army cannot protect the people, so what hope do the people have for living and working in peace and contentment? Rebellion is a death, and staying at home is also a death. Naturally, the more you suppress the bandits, the more you will be suppressed." Hong Chengchou said in a soft voice with deep eyes: "Mencius said, the weather It’s not as good as the land, the land is not as good as the harmony of people. We don’t care whether the people appreciate it or not, we just give them a hope, thinking that the more people who live in peace, the easier things will be. It’s like it’s impossible to save a mountain fire. Stop, but the fire will never go out.”

After hearing these words, Du Wenhuan hesitated and said, "Your Excellency, you want to set an example for the people everywhere to see?"

Hong Chengchou nodded and said: "The people have more hearts towards the imperial court, and naturally less hearts for thieves. Right now it is more difficult, and after a few more days, when the new wheat is harvested, the difficulty is almost over. This is what I drafted Please take a look at it!" After speaking, he took out a watch stamp from his pocket and handed it to Du Wenhuan.

Du Wenhuan took it with both hands and began to read it. After reading it, he immediately admired: "Your Excellency, you are really bold. You reached out and asked the court for 100 million taels of salary, and you also want to withhold 60 tax silver from Shaanxi next year. Yuan Chonghuan also had such a tone back then. Tell me, there are many governors in this world, but who is as courageous as you?" He hesitated for a while, but couldn't help but said: "This emperor can approve?"