Ping An Biography

There is light rain in the sky, even in the south, it is chilly when it rains in this season. .. The flat ground outside the southwest gate was repeatedly trampled into mud by a large group of people. Those who lined up and walked around in the mud were Hou Mao's people. People from Dashengzhai moved to Shimen County one after another. Among them, No. 150 recruits composed of young and strong recruits were selected, and they are currently in the cao training queue.The houses in the city are densely populated, and there is no large open space; most of the places outside the city are uneven hills, and it is difficult to find flat land within a radius of one mile. Military school grounds.

There is a grass shed next to the school grounds, just like a roadside tea stand; of course it is not a tea stand, and there is no business for the tea stand in this weather.There were two people sitting in the thatched shed, one was Hou Mao and the other was Zhang Chengzong.

Hou Mao, who was originally the head of the sub-altar of the Demon Repelling Sect, has transformed into a new identity: the hundred households officer of the second brigade of the Left Whistle of Yongding Camp.And Zhang Chengzong was transferred from the first brigade to serve as the deputy hundred household officer. After he left office, the chief banner officer was replaced by a team leader named Huang Yong.Although Zhang Chengzong is the deputy, he is basically in charge of the training of the new army, so he can apply the military discipline training of Fengxia Mountain to the new army.

Zhang Ning chose Chengzong to be in charge of this matter, mainly because he was a prudent and literate person.Chengzong lived up to expectations, first selected a group of low-level officers in the new army, taught them how to form, and then let the general banner team go to train soldiers separately.

In fact, the content of the queue training is not much, it is nothing more than routine content such as standing at attention, looking to the right, walking in unison, and walking forward.But Zhang Chengzong found that it was not easy to train this group of people. The aptitude of the mob from Dashengzhai was far worse than that of the warriors of the first brigade.

The team of the first brigade used to be the armed force of Fengxia Mountain. All of them practiced knives, guns and sticks. They practiced martial arts all the year round.Most of the people from Dashengzhai came from farmers, and they did some tricks in their spare time to fool the common people. Some of them were skilled in fighting with Hou Mao, but they lacked awareness of military discipline.Moreover, the villagers in the hilly and mountainous areas of the south are generally scattered and poorly organized.

So the current scene appeared, the yelling and whipping on the school field were endless, and the new low-level officers were very difficult, and they were rough people at first, so it was inevitable that they would keep beating and scolding.Some of the new soldiers scratched their heads and ears when they lined up, some couldn't tell right from left when they walked in unison, some didn't understand the absolute obedience rules in the army, and they scolded the officers. In short, it took a long time to train them.But overall it’s pretty good, and everyone knows that if you don’t get armed, you can only be persecuted by the government; moreover, clothes, armaments and rations are all distributed, and there is also a soldier’s salary. The recruits only have five coins a month, but it’s good to have a net income treatment.

Hou Mao looked at the light rain outside and saw that the ground was full of mud, so he couldn't help but said, "It's a bad day, why don't you stop practicing today?"

Zhang Chengzong said indifferently: "What is this little rain? When we were training in Fengxia Mountain, we were practicing marching once. Each of us carried fifty catties on our backs and walked for twenty miles on the mountain road in the rainstorm without stopping."

After hearing this, Hou Mao forced a smile, and had no choice but to agree: "Then listen to my brother, you have the final say on the matter of training soldiers."

After a while, Zhang Chengzong patted the county chronicle in his hand and said: "It turns out that Shimen County has been known as the mining capital since the Song Dynasty. It has a complete range of mineral products. If I hadn't heard about it from Wang Dianshi in the county government today, I would have paid attention to it." to this."

Hou Maodao: "There is no shortage of salt and iron mines in Shimen County, and most of the salt and iron mines in Changde Mansion are shipped here."

"Could it be that Your Highness knew..." Zhang Chengzong said thoughtfully, and after a moment of pondering, he said to Hou Mao, "The main reason is that there are sulfur mines. Our weapon advantage is mainly firearms. It is very troublesome to make gunpowder without anything, but here Coming to Shimen County is not a problem."

After hearing this, Hou Mao quickly asked: "The soldiers and horses of the Jiuxi Guards were sent to the north, but His Highness still ordered your first brigade to prepare to attack Cili County westward. He is not afraid that the soldiers and horses of the Jiuxi Guards will attack our Shimen County Come? When the time comes, the first battalion that can fight will attack the city, how can people like this on the school field resist it?"

"That's the case, everyone is a little worried." Zhang Chengzong said, "However, according to Wei Baihu, His Highness judged that the troops of Jiuxiwei are going to Lizhou and will not endanger Shimen County for the time being."

Hou Mao asked in a low voice: "Why is Your Highness so sure? According to common sense, we have captured the city, and the officers and soldiers are supposed to recover the lost land, but they have to go around to Lizhou?"

Zhang Chengzong said quietly: "Brother Hou should have heard about it. Your Highness was an official in the puppet dynasty before, and he knows a lot about the officialdom. He thinks that the current situation is more complicated. If the officers and soldiers want to deal with us, they will probably go through the Ministry of War first; but Li The state is a special place, and the Huayang Prince's Mansion is the place where officials must save. So a while ago, His Royal Highness ordered ships to be requisitioned along the east of the Lishui River, pretending to attack Lizhou... This is not unexpected for Jiuxiwei If you move quickly, His Highness will think that you are going to Lizhou."

"So that's the reason." Hou Mao nodded slightly and said, "It just seems to be a little risky."

At this moment, I saw a sedan chair going around the school yard to the thatched shed, approached, and an old man in a green robe stepped out of the sedan chair. Hou Mao Zhang Chengzong saw that the person was Wang Dianshi from the county government.

When Wang Dianshi entered the hut, he was busy making a deep obeisance, with a very respectful attitude.These officials are usually very cruel to Hou Mao's "cult and rebellious party", but now they are flattering.Hou Mao didn't like Wang Dianshi too much, so he sat still with arrogance, but he didn't say anything unpleasant in his words.Zhang Chengzong stood up and replied: "Wang Dianshi came here in such a hurry, why?"

"That's what happened..." Wang Dianshi glanced flatteringly at Hou Mao who didn't speak.

"Master Zhang ordered the officials of our county government to do business. We need minerals such as iron and sulfur, and we also need to make weapons and paper armor. A lot of manpower is needed to do the work, and many mines are run by the government. After you came, many young men ran away. Supplementary labor is also needed. Let's make a total in the hall and prepare to draw people from all over the country to serve. The county has a total population of more than 900 households, of which more than [-] are quasi-military (prepared) households; we plan to draw every five households One Ding needs craftsmen and strong men, so that more than [-] people can be obtained. The method of drawing one out of five households is already very light, but it has not made much progress after a few days, and the official dispatch will not help. Just like the Shuangxi There are hundreds of households in the village, but none of them were drawn. We had no choice but to report to Mr. Zhang. Later, Mr. Xu (Old Xu) asked me to find Hou Baihu and Zhang Baihu, saying that he wanted you to try to go manage."

Seeing that the two were puzzled, Wang Dianshi hurriedly bowed again: "I have no choice but to trouble you two adults."

Hou Mao finally said: "Aren't we in charge of the soldiers? Why are we in charge of this matter... Your Highness means that sending troops is to suppress?"

Zhang Chengzong pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid that's the case."

"Zhang Baihu wants to train sergeants here, and I'm not very helpful. I'll take care of this kind of thing, and I can't help it." Hou Mao said bluntly.

Zhang Chengzong nodded, and reminded: "As soon as your highness enters the county, he will order the generals to restrain his subordinates. We should understand his unwillingness to impose tyranny. Your subordinates dare to speak up to Lord Baihu, try to appease the people and avoid slaughter."

"I have my own measure." After Hou Mao said something, he left the hut.

He ordered two teams of people on the school field, and asked them to take long and short weapons and take them out of the city to do business.Accompanying him were Wang Dianshi, a scribe, and five or six yamen servants.Wang Dianshi couldn't sit in the sedan chair, and the road was rough and the horses were not easy to ride when it rained, so they all walked to Shuangxili.

After walking for more than ten miles, the yamen servant first went to inform Lizheng.When Hou Mao and his group arrived in Shuangxili, they saw Lizheng and a group of people who came to welcome them at the entrance of a village.The nearby farmers saw the officials, servants, soldiers and horses, and some stood on the hillside from a distance to watch.

I saw that there was a middle-aged man there, and regardless of the wet mud on the road, he immediately knelt down on the road to salute.Wang Dianshi saw that his attitude was very good, so he stood up and scolded: "The yamen clearly issued a decree to ask you five households in Shuangxili to smoke a ding to come to the county. Why have you not seen a single person for three days?"

Li Zheng said: "Forgive me, my lord. I have already notified the villagers everywhere, but no one wants to come. There is nothing I can do!"

Hou Mao raised his hand to stop Wang Dianshi, and said, "The common people are determined not to defy the government privately, and this matter is mostly your problem."

Li Zheng hurriedly said: "Your Excellency, even if you lend me a hundred courage, I would not dare to instigate the people to defy the government! It is true that the people are not willing to serve corvee when they hear that the county is broken and the owner has changed."

"You are dereliction of duty, you are ineffective!" Wang Dianshi scolded.

On the contrary, Hou Mao said calmly: "Get up, go and invite someone who has a high reputation in Shuangxi."

"Yes, I'll invite you here. The adults will come to my house to drink some tea and have a rest." Li Zheng said.

The crowd followed Lizheng into the village, Hou Mao and others sat down and waited in the main room, Lizheng hurried into the village to call someone.After a long time, he came out with an old man with a painted cane and several young men.

The old man approached and made a gesture to kneel down, but the juniors hurriedly helped him to slow down.Hou Mao strode forward, supported the old man, and said kindly: "Forget it, there is no need to perform such a big gift. Dare I ask the old man's name?"

The old man answered the questions more cooperatively.Hou Mao nodded: "From now on, you are Lizheng in Shuangxili."

"This..." The old man was a little surprised.The original Rizheng also raised his head in surprise, but he didn't speak.

At this time, Hou Mao turned his head and said: "This village is instigating the villagers to fight against the government, committing a great crime of treason, an unforgivable crime! Feeling the government's love for the people, let's forgive the lives of his family for the time being. Someone, drag him out and chop him up No, no family assets will be confiscated!"

"My lord, have mercy! The villain has been wronged!" Li Zheng's complexion suddenly turned pale, and he fell to his knees with a thump.Soon several soldiers rushed up, pushed him to the ground, tied his limbs with ropes, and dragged him towards the door without any explanation.