Dragon Soul in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 32 A Wider World

The officers and soldiers quickly entered the city, like a wild horse that had run loose, with corrupt discipline, burning, killing and looting everywhere, comparable to robbers.

The upper-level generals who commanded all the officers and troops were all silent and allowed the officers and soldiers to plunder. For a whole night, the entire city of Tongzhou was reduced to hell.

In the governor's yamen of Cangchang, Zhang Yan's face was as deep as water, and her voice was cold: "Cao Huachun, how many generals were involved?"

Cao Huachun was so frightened that he was covered in cold sweat, knelt on the ground with a bruised face, kept kowtowing, and stammered, "Slave... I don't know!"

"Okay, you Cao Huachun, come here! I'll pull you down for the Ai family, and you'll be punished with a stick for thirty, no matter if you kill me!" Apparently Zhang Yan was really angry this time, and Cao Huachun didn't know what he said. A bucket of boiling oil ignited the killing intent in her heart.

Thirty sticks, it sounds very common, but the last sentence, beating him to death, almost fixed his death sentence. Seeing the guards rushing up like wolves like tigers, Cao Huachun felt hard, and howled loudly: "Empress, please forgive me!" , I ask myself that I don’t dare to be greedy for life, but the real thief is still alive, and I don’t regret dying, I just ask the empress to spare her life, and I am willing to kill the thief for the empress.”

Cao Huachun's pig-killing howls kept echoing in Zhang Yan's ears, and she felt extremely disgusted, but she still waved her hand to let the guards leave, looking at Cao Huachun who was so frightened that his shit was pouring out, she said coldly: " Dog slave, you better know what you should do next, to what extent you can do it, go on! Aijia doesn’t want to see you until it’s done.”

Cao Huachun kowtowed like a kowtowing bug, and staggered away.

Only Fang Zhenghua and Zhang Yan were left. Fang Zhenghua looked at Zhang Yan with some fear, and her heart seemed more and more difficult to guess.

He whispered: "Empress, how should these generals who committed crimes be dealt with!"

Zhang Yan did not answer, but sat quietly, already immersed in her own memories: "Is that person really Zhu Yousong, the son of Prince Fu? Why have I never heard of this person... The Red Army can't rise In ten days, how can you defeat [-] officers and soldiers with [-] cavalry? It is because the soldiers have enough food, or because of the ambition of the army."

"Why are the officers and soldiers corrupted so far, and how should the Ai family rectify the officers and soldiers..." Questions kept lingering in Zhang Yan's mind. It was the first time to taste the taste of commanding the army. The scene where countless people charged and moved at the command of this order made her heart deeply attracted, as if taking drugs, making people unable to extricate themselves.

After sitting blankly for a long time, he came back to his senses, glanced at Fang Zhenghua, said calmly, "Fang Zhenghua, are you guilty?"

Fang Zhenghua quickly knelt down to plead guilty, Cao Huachun's example was in front of him, he didn't even dare to breathe out, and quietly waited for the next sentence.

Seeing that Fang Zhenghua was speechless, Zhang Yan sneered and said, "Don't think Aijia doesn't know what you're thinking. Is this huge city of Tongzhou really taken away by the thieves in red? I can't see it all! All the officials in the city had their heads beheaded, although it was a moment of joy, but there is no one to preside over this Tongzhou City, and there will be chaos in the capital if there is no food!"

"The Ai family has figured it out. Sometimes the dead are not necessarily a bad thing. The chaos in Tongzhou City is chaotic! At least the Ai family has the power to clean up the mess." Zhang Yan was so frightened that Fang Zhenghua's whole body turned cold. Knows everything, just deliberately pretending to be confused.

Unable to calm down any longer, he kowtowed like pounding garlic, and begged for mercy: "Empress Empress, this slave is willing to be this sinner, this slave is willing to bear all the blame for the crime, and this slave is also for the sake of Daming!"

Zhang Yan waved her hand and said, "That's all! You have a sense of slavery, but the people are suffering enough. The red-clothed thieves, good or bad, have never touched the people's things. Instead, they sold the grain in the official warehouse at a low price. Giving it to the people is to buy people's hearts and embarrass the government. The Ai family knows that you are a slave for Daming. You go and arrest all the criminals who committed crimes and kill the owls in front of the people. You can be regarded as a common people. An explanation."

Walking out of the governor's office in the warehouse with slightly frivolous footsteps, Fang Zhenghua let out a long breath. It was really scary when the woman calmed down. After mastering Tongzhou, she seemed to lose once at Baliqiao, but actually won a lot.

Thinking of Zhang Yan's gentle but hidden murderous calculations, there was no sign in advance, and everything broke out suddenly, and she got the best result for her, and only then did she know her horror. This is definitely not a temporary idea successful.

What's more, it's hard for anyone except herself to know what she did in it, completely hiding her behind the scenes.

For such a master who kills with gentleness, for eunuchs like them, maybe the situation will not be as comfortable as before, but for Daming, this is a great thing, for those literati who only know the same party and fight against differences, Maybe it's disaster.

A fleet of dozens of Fuchuan and Guangzhou Ships, loaded with gold, silver and jewels, and more than 1 soldiers and horses headed south quickly. All the boats were taken away, and after more than ten hours of traveling, they had already passed Tianjin Wei, not far from Cangzhou.

In the canal, seeing such a huge fleet, many small boats avoided it one after another. Afterwards, there were ugly scolding sounds, and more than a hundred large ships passed by. Only then did the fishermen realize that the fleet did not have any flags at all. , but also recognized some of the ships, including official ships and many private ships of large trading houses.

Immediately, a possibility came to mind, that the people on this boat were red-clothed thieves who were making a fuss around the capital a few days ago, and the news that Zhu Gan beheaded all the officials in the city was quickly spread along the canal. Those red-clothed thieves who killed people without batting an eye on the boat all shut up and dared not scold anymore, for fear of offending them.

After all, the red-clothed army's trekking did not hide, and quickly spread along the river. Wherever the news arrived, officials from all over the place were terrified and prepared for battle, but not long after receiving the news, they saw this huge fleet moving quickly. Driving past, there was no intention of staying ashore at all.

And the local garrison didn't think about chasing them at all, they could only watch the red-clothed army disappear and leave!

The river was surging, and against the blue sky, a group of wild geese passed by lightly.On both sides of the river, the scorching sun scorched the earth, and the distorted light made the distant scenery become distant and distorted.In such a hot summer, no one can be seen on the road, and everyone hides at home and takes a nap, or takes a nap under the shade of a tree.

The breeze on the river was gently rippling, and the waves like white scales appeared. The silence was suddenly broken by a few children. They were playing and playing in the river naked, but after a while, they all hid by the river, waiting for that moment. A fast boat departs.

The Grand Canal reaches the capital in the north and Hangzhou in the south. However, because the rivers along the way flow indefinitely, this Grand Canal does not run straight from north to south, but a navigational water system that connects rivers in various places.

A fast sloop with a hull painted red was going upstream at an extremely fast speed.This is a post boat, which can carry about [-] people, and has a cargo compartment for carrying important items.This kind of post boat uses sails with the wind and paddles with the wind. There are eight to twelve long oars on board, and it is commonly known as centipede speedboat among the people.

All fishing boats and merchant boats on the water hurriedly avoided the side when they saw the red speedboat.According to the rules of the government, when sailing on the river, any ship must avoid the express boat and give way to the channel.

After the centipede speedboat sailed out of the Dezhouwei Wharf, it went on a rampage and was extremely barbaric. Suddenly, someone on the shore shouted loudly: "Master Yi Cheng, there are dozens of large ships ahead, and they are probably red-clothed thieves. Turn around and let us know!" Commander Ma, the commander of the guards, the thief in red is here."

Liu Ning, the Prime Minister of the Heyun Station in Dezhou, Shandong, grew up by the river since he was a child. Although he is from Shandong, he is not tall, but a little thin. Looking at the shouting people on the bank, he laughed and scolded: "Wang Mazi, it's so hot! My God, if you don’t rest at home, you’ll run out to do something shady.”

The postmen on the boat realized something was wrong, and shouted loudly: "Master Yicheng, look quickly, we'd better run away!"

Liu Ning set up the awning with his hands and looked into the distance, feeling cold all over his body. He saw a huge fleet of ships on the wide river, especially the first five ships. They were all four-masted giant ships, each with twenty sails. , the bottom of the boat broke through the waves of the river, and the waves churned and came in a cone shape.

And the bow of the first huge ship was running with two red clothes on it, and the black muzzle was facing him. The centipede speedboat looked like an ant in front of them.

Liu Ning screamed in shock: "Hurry up and tell Cangdi to go back, the thief in red has arrived in Texas."

The largest ship in the fleet was five times larger than the centipede speedboat. When it passed a slow beach, the waves almost overturned the centipede speedboat into the river. Seeing the distressed appearance of the speedboat, everyone There was bursts of laughter on the boat, but they ignored them, and went straight to Dezhou.

Liu Ning, the postman of the river transportation station, also saw the layout of the ship clearly. This is an official ship with gorgeous decorations, and dozens of small doors with oar racks are densely opened on the high bulwarks on both sides.Three tall flagpoles were erected on the bow of the ship, with a blood-colored flag in the middle, embroidered with a dark long sword, while the other two flagpoles were empty, nothing was hung, but this was enough.

After confirming that it was the fleet of the Red Clothes Thief, Liu Ning was taken aback. He didn't expect the Red Clothes Thieves to run so fast. I'm afraid Dezhou hadn't gotten the news at all, and he didn't have any preparations. Dezhou is in danger!And his family members, old and young, were still in Dezhou City, so Liu Ning didn't dare to think about it at this time.

Urging to the bottom of the cabin, he said, "Go straight to Dezhou Wei Wharf. Will the red-clothed thief attack the city without taking a rest? This is too unbelievable. Let's go, let's go back quickly..."

On the first big ship, the cabin curtain was lifted, and a scholar in a white gown with disheveled hair came out. He had a pair of straight sword eyebrows, his eyes were bright like stars, his face was like a crown of jade, and there was nothing superfluous about him. Although she is taller and thinner, she is as tall and straight as a pine, like a sharp sword, and her whole body exudes a strong confidence.

He is Zhu Gan, the anti-thief leader who has already gained fame, but there are red-clothed soldiers in this world, and not many people know his real name, so he has always maintained a sense of mystery. Looking at the bustling Tongzhouwei Wharf in the distance, he took a photo He patted the cannon in red on the bow of the ship, felt the unique coldness of metal, and said with a soft smile, "How many hours will it take to win Texas!"