Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

The fleet sailed for more than ten days, getting closer and closer to Jining Prefecture.This night, the night is as dark as paint.In the darkness, Wu Shigong hugged Qiongniang after the passion from his back, felt the boat under him rocking gently, and felt very peaceful in his heart.

But Wu Shigong suddenly noticed that Qiongniang's body was trembling slightly, Wu Shigong touched Qiongniang's face and found that his hands were full of tears.Wu Shigong asked softly, "What's the matter?"

When Qiongniang heard Wu Shigong's concern, she couldn't help but turned over and leaned on Wu Shigong's chest and said, "Master, I'm afraid. I'm afraid I'll go back to De Mansion."

Wu Shigong understood Qiongniang's worry.After all, Qiongniang used to be the wife of County Magistrate Qi.In Guide Mansion, there are always some officials and family members coming and going, and there will be some acquaintances.Qiongniang was afraid that these acquaintances in Guide Mansion would recognize her.

Wu Shigong had no choice but to stroke Qiongniang's smooth back, comforting her: "It's okay, we will stay in Guide Mansion for a few days, as long as you stay in the inner house, no one will know your identity. In a few days In a few months, we will move to Runing Mansion, and by that time, no one will know you."

Although Wu Shigong's comfort could not completely dispel Qiongniang's worries, Qiongniang still felt very warm in her heart.She said: "The slave family knows that the master is good to the slave family. The slave family has known the master's good temper before."

"Oh? How did you know before?" Qiongniang's words immediately aroused Wu Shigong's interest.

"It's old...it's what my husband said to my slave family during the chat."

What Qiongniang said made Wu Shigong more interested.He hurriedly said, "What did the magistrate of Qi say about me? Tell me quickly." Everyone is interested in what others say about themselves behind their backs, and Wu Shigong is no exception.

"Don't be angry if the slave family told you, master."

Wu Shigong patted Qiongniang's pink buttocks with a smile, and said, "I'm definitely not angry."

"The late husband said: The master looks like a martial artist, and he is brave and powerful in battle, but in the officialdom, he is just... just..."

Wu Shigong patted Qiongniang's pink butt again, and said, "Hurry up."

"It looks like a strong man, and its heart is like a woman and a child."

Wu Shigong was taken aback by Qi County Magistrate's comments about him before.I was really annoyed.According to magistrate Qi's comments, didn't he become a sissy?

But Wu Shigong calmed down and thought about it, but found that Qi County Magistrate's comment still made some sense.In the past, Wu Shigong always intentionally or unintentionally avoided any conflicts in order to keep his official position of acting as Qianhu, and he never used his powerful force to seek any benefits for himself.Up to now, it's just a "protection fee" of several hundred taels of silver collected every year in the small town under the fortress of Qianhusuo.

But Wu Shigong's style of doing things is not in line with his official position.In the era of the complete official system in the Ming Dynasty, Wu Shigong's behavior can be said to be the performance of an otaku.

And this time Wu Shigong came back to expand the army, and it was completely desperate and desperate.Wu Shigong decided, since the world is about to be in chaos, after returning this time, Wu Shigong will completely tear off the mask of hypocrisy on his face, and reveal the arrogant nature of his previous life.

Seeing that Wu Shigong remained silent, Qiongniang carefully rubbed her body against Wu Shigong and said, "Master, are you angry at what I said?"

Unexpectedly, Wu Shigong turned over, pressed Qiongniang under him, and said with a smile: "Little lady, let you take a good look now, master, what kind of man am I?"

"Master, don't want it! I can't take it anymore."

……

When the fleet finally arrived at the dock of Jining Prefecture, Wu Shigong was surprised to find that Zhang Xuebin, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen all arrived and greeted Wu Shigong on the dock.

Noticing the worry on the faces of the three of them, Wu Shigong knew that there must be some trouble in the fortress of Qianhusuo.He first arranged for the officers to let the soldiers disembark, and then took the three of them to his own cabin and asked about what happened in Qianhusuo Fortress.

After the three of them sat down, they immediately reported to Wu Shigong: Ever since Wu Shigong took the army to serve the king, the news about the Tartars raging in the capital has been spreading in Guide Mansion.

And because Wu Shigong didn't go with Henan Qinwang's army, and didn't meet up with Henan Qinwang's army in Tongzhou in the end, so there were many rumors about Wu Shigong's army.The most exaggerated rumor is that Wu Shigong's army met the Tazi army and was wiped out.

Therefore, the relatively peaceful situation suppressed by Wu Shigong's powerful force became somewhat chaotic.Coupled with the severe drought that occurred in Henan this year, the number of refugees suddenly increased, and the situation in the entire Guide Mansion and Runing Mansion can be said to be chaotic.

Under the influence of this situation, Wu Shigong's industry has also been greatly affected.The income of those workshops has dropped sharply, and has fallen to about half of what it was last year.

But this is not the most important thing.First of all, those who surrendered to Wu Shigong last year and the year before last, the bandits who were sorted out by Wu Shigong became chaotic.At the beginning, those bandits were still afraid of Wu Shigong's prestige, so they didn't dare to tear their faces openly, and the orders issued to the fortress of Qianhusuo were at best obedient.

But as the rumors that Wu Shigong would not come back spread more and more widely, and with the addition of those refugees, the bandits became more and more powerful, and these bandits were eager to move.But because there are not many soldiers left in the fortress of Qianhusuo, Xue Yongli did not dare to send a large force to exterminate those disobedient bandits out of concern.

But those bandits, seeing that their disobedient behavior did not arouse the reaction of Qianhusuo Fortress, those bandits immediately became emboldened, and they all returned to their original nature as bandits, and began to plunder everywhere.

The situation is even more serious for the bandits in the mountainous area north of Runing Prefecture.Knowing Wu Shigong's departure, that Li Yaozi somehow came back again. He recruited some cottages that were close to him before, and recruited some refugees, and his power quickly grew.

Li Yaozi's actions will definitely arouse the reaction of Lei Ying, the current bandit boss in the northern mountainous area of ​​Runing Mansion.Lei Ying gathered more than 600 people of his own, and notified Qian Qi who was stationed at Li Yaozi's cottage, and asked Qian Qi to lead some soldiers to join Lei Ying to destroy Li Yaozi together.

But the news of Lei Ying's dispatch was betrayed to Li Yaozi by one of Lei Ying's insiders.Li Yaozi took advantage of the situation and set up an ambush on the road where Lei Ying and Qian Qi met, catching Lei Ying by surprise.Most of Lei Ying's manpower was lost, and Lei Ying was also seriously injured.If it wasn't for Qian Qi who realized that the situation was wrong, if he had accelerated and arrived in time, Lei Ying would have died in this ambush.

However, after receiving this blow, Li Yaozi's momentum suddenly became stronger, and more and more bandits took refuge in him.Therefore, in the northern mountainous area of ​​Runing Mansion, only the area close to the fortress of Wu Shigong's Qianhu is still under the control of Qian Qi and Lei Ying, and the rest of the area is controlled by Li Yaozi.

Due to the rampant banditry, and because those bandits have already refused to buy the Qianhu Fortress, and even bandits like Li Yaozi have a blood feud with Wu Shigong, during the process of escorting the caravan, the escorting soldiers and the bandits have exchanged fire for three or three times. Four games.Fortunately, Wu Shigong still left a bit of prestige after all.So those bandits didn't dare to do anything wrong. Therefore, the soldiers escorted by Wu Shigong only suffered seven or eight casualties before and after the firefight.

But even if only such an insignificant manpower was lost, it was unacceptable for the Qianhusuo Fortress at that time.In the end, in desperation, Xue Yongli could only give up the business route to Runing Mansion, and only kept the escort work on the business route from Guide Mansion to Jining Prefecture. <Afterwards, the salt business of Lu Jianchen and Wu Shigong has ceased.

In fact, at the end of last year, Lu Jianchen sent someone to the fortress of Qianhusuo to notify: their Lu family has lost the qualification to do salt business, and starting this year, the Lu family will no longer be able to supply salt to Wu Shigong. <Later, one of the Yangzhou salt merchants, Qijia, sent a steward to Qianhusuo Fortress and Lu Yunhuan respectively, and told them that starting this year, Qijia would provide salt.However, the price of salt goods supplied to Wu Shigong will be increased from one tael to two taels of silver per stone.

After getting the news, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen, who were in charge of business, visited Lu Yunhuan, who had a close relationship with the Lu family, and asked him what happened.

But from Lu Yunhuan, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen did not find out anything, and they found out afterwards that the price of salt supplied by Qijia to Lu Yunhuan had not increased.Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen analyzed it, and believed that the price increase should also be related to the rumor that Wu Shigong would not come back.

In addition, now in the northern mountainous area of ​​Runing Prefecture, a large part of the area has been controlled by Li Yaozi, so starting from this year, Wu Shigong's salt business can be said to have paralyzed a large part, and his income is only last year's Two or three percent.

In addition, although Henan suffered severe drought, because Wu Shigong organized people to clear the river and overhaul water conservancy in previous years, so this year, Wu Shigong and Yao Yuanwai's fields not only did not suffer from the disaster, but also obtained a relatively good harvest.This is also the only good news that the three of them reported to Wu Shigong today.

But because of the good harvest, it also brought troubles.Some gentry in the vicinity coveted the [-] mu of land bought by Wu Shigong to supply money and food for the militia. They took out some old title deeds from which they did not know where they came from, insisted that some of the land belonged to their family, and brought the lawsuit to court. Yu Zilian, the county magistrate.

Under Yu Zilian's bias, the prospect of that lawsuit is not good.If it hadn't been for the definite news of Wu Shigong's defeat, Yu Zilian might have awarded those lands to those gentry long ago.

And so many unfavorable things, but because of what Wu Shigong had confessed before departure—under the principle of maintaining the status quo and avoiding conflicts as much as possible, the people left behind in the Qianhu Fortress did not dare to take drastic actions at will, so that Now the income of Qianhusuo Fortress has shrunk to less than half of what it was last year.

After reporting all this, Zhang Xuebin looked at Wu Shigong's face, and asked cautiously: "My lord, it's good if you come back. We finally have a backbone. But look, my lord, what should we do in the future?"

Wu Shigong has been listening to those bad news, although frowning, but his expression has been very calm.Hearing Zhang Xuebin's words, Wu Shigong replied slowly: "There is nothing to do. Now I don't have time. I don't have the time to talk about it."

When Wu Shigong was talking, his eyes kept looking out of the window of the cabin. Zhang Xuebin, Yuan Xingshan and Zheng Zhen followed Wu Shigong's gaze and saw that a group of soldiers were pushing a cannon from the boat to the shore.