I

  Chapter 136 134 [Gentlemen's group] (addition for the leader "Jiaojiaomingyuejianfeiyang")

  Jishui County is on the east bank of the Ganjiang River, but its essence is on the west bank.

  Li Banghua sailed past the county seat by boat, and saw that there were many soldiers on the gate tower. Obviously, the magistrate of Jishui County had recruited brave men to defend the city.

   "It's okay, it's okay, the rebels didn't attack the city." Feng Zhang, the county magistrate, was terrified, watched the thief boat leave, and sat down limply.

  A Confucian scholar said: "The auspicious water is over."

   "You have to fight back." Another Confucian scholar clenched his fist and said.

   These two are clan brothers, one is Zhou Ruibao and the other is Zhou Ruixu.

   Zhou Ruibao was also the county magistrate in Sichuan last year. Due to the severe drought in the area, he led the people to build ponds and weirs, and dug wells to get water to alleviate the drought. All the food was used for disaster relief, so naturally he couldn't pay taxes, so he was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown.

   Zhou Ruixu used to be a county magistrate in Zhejiang Province. Due to his outstanding political achievements, he was commended by Chongzhen, and he was promoted four times to be a doctor of Wenxuan Division. Of course, his teachers and classmates helped a lot, otherwise this promotion would be too outrageous. It's a pity that my buttocks are still hot, and I suddenly received bad news, and hurried back to my hometown for the funeral.

  The two brothers came to visit Jishui county magistrate together when they learned about Luling banditry, and joined forces with the gentry of the county to recruit bravery.

  At the beginning, the gentry in Jishui County were still watching. But when the summer harvest came, most of Luling County rioted, terrified the gentry in Jishui County next door.

  Now, they have recruited more than 1,000 village braves.

  The country gentry who participated in the recruitment of soldiers all brought their money and food, and moved their families to live in the county town, leaving only minorities and domestic slaves in the village.

   "Brother Chang, you have to contact the governor to suppress the bandits!" The person who spoke was named Li Chun'an, the son of Li Rixuan, the prime minister of Dali Temple, and also the grandnephew of Li Banghua.

  Zhou Ruixu said worriedly: "Governor Li is suppressing bandits in Duchang, and I'm afraid he won't be able to go south until the beginning of spring."

   Beside him was a scholar named Li Musheng, the son of Li Yuanding, head of the Department of Literature and Selection of the Ministry of Officials, and also Li Banghua's grandnephew.

   There are a lot of scholars here, for the son of Luo Wanjue, the elder brother of the prefect Shi Fengyuan, and so on. There are also those who escaped from Luling County, such as Hu Yilong's brother in the incident, etc. Those who have family members who are officials in the court will not easily compromise.

  They took more than a thousand village braves, supported them with their own food, and defended Jishui County by virtue of the danger of the Ganjiang River.

   Until the evening, the rebels had not come to attack the city, and the crowd finally dispersed, leaving some soldiers on duty to guard.

  The news came the next day that the rebels were sweeping the villages and towns, and the leader was Li Banghua!

  Everyone was silent, it was too unimaginable for Li Banghua to be a thief, they all thought it was fake news.

   In front of the Li family brothers, many gentry did not dare to speak out, but got together in private, but scolded the eighteen generations of Li Banghua's ancestors.

  Li Musheng quietly approached Li Chun'an: "Brother, my uncle has become a high-ranking anti-thief official, why don't we join the thieves too."

   "Bastard!"

  Li Chun'an cursed: "Your father, my father, are both officials of the imperial court. If we become thieves, father will go to prison. You are going to be an unfaithful and unfilial person!"

  Li Musheng said with a bitter face: "If we don't go back to our hometown, all the property will be divided among the rebels."

   "What about dividing the land?" Li Chun'an sneered, "The money and food have been brought out. As long as there are people in the court, are you afraid that there will be no land in the future?"

  Li Musheng sighed and said, "The rebels are fierce. I'm afraid the governor won't be able to wipe them out. So what shall we do then?"

  Li Chun'an scolded: "Don't talk nonsense again, can bandits Zhao still take over the country?"

  Li Musheng remained silent. His family had the most property, which was tens of thousands of acres of land, which was saved by several generations!

  …

  Gu Village, Li Family.

   "Kneel down!"

   Li Tingjian trembled with anger, pointing at his son with a cane and yelling.

  Li Banghua knelt down obediently, and said to his subordinates: "When you go to work, first divide my field, and if anyone blocks it, tie it up."

  Li Tingjian was dumbfounded, and said in shock: "You rebel, have you been given ecstasy soup? You are nothing more than a thief, and you even brought a rebel to divide your own land!"

  Li Banghua sighed and said, "Father, do you still remember how grandma was buried?"

"At that time, my family was poor, and everything was kept simple," Li Tingjian sighed. "The children and grandchildren were incompetent, so the elders could only be buried in straw wrapped in straw, hiding from the neighbors in the village. But after you became rich, you chose a place with a good geomantic omen to make your elders look good. Relocating and burying once can be regarded as worthy of the ancestors."

  Li Banghua asked again: "Father, do you still remember how many acres of land were left in the family back then? Now there are more than a thousand acres."

  Li Tingjian said: "You are a senior official, and your family only has a thousand acres of land, which is already extremely clean."

Li Banghua knelt straight and asked: "Father, can you know how many scholars there are in the world, how many people in the world, and the elders can only be buried carelessly after passing away, working hard all day but not enough to eat? Father, can you know how many people died in the northern provinces?" Not only can she not be buried, but she will be divided up and eaten as meat!"

   "It's none of my business!" Li Tingjian roared angrily.

  Li Banghua's tone slowed down: "Father, the articles in the child's belly were all taught by you back then. What is benevolence? What is righteousness?"

   Li Tingjian scolded angrily: "What is loyalty, what is filial piety!"

Li Banghua said with a wry smile: "Have you ever been unfaithful? But what's the use of loyalty! Hai'er was the governor of Tianjin. At that time, the Tianjin New Army had only been formed for a few years, but it was already in a mess. Hai'er offended countless powerful people, and rectified the Tianjin New Army. It is a model for all the towns in Beizhi. However, in the first year of Chongzhen’s recovery, he passed Tianjin on his way back to Beijing. In just a few years, the new army in Tianjin had no combat power, and only 30% to 40% of the soldiers fled.”

"Boy rectified the Beijing camp, put all his energy into it, and laid out layers of defense. Not to mention defeating the Tartars, at least it would make it difficult for the Tartars to plunder. But just after the Tartars broke through and were still hundreds of miles away from the capital, the imperial court withdrew the entire Beijing camp. , the several lines of defense leaked like a sieve. The boy is a dignified minister of the Ministry of War, but he can only catch spies in the city! The guards, the boy can't command a single one, and the artillery on the city accidentally injured the friendly army. It is also the boy's fault. Township!"

   "This court, this emperor, how can people be loyal!"

  Li Tingjian was so angry that he slammed his crutches wildly: "Then you can't follow the thief!"

  Li Banghua laughed suddenly: "Father thinks that the child is a person who easily follows the thief? If he encounters an ordinary traitor, he will be captured, and at worst he will die."

  Li Tingjian finally calmed down a bit, and asked in confusion: "Then what is so special about Bandit Zhao that he has mesmerized you so much?"

   "It's just helping the world and saving the people." Li Banghua also doesn't believe in the unity of the world, and he knows that it is impossible.

   Li Tingjian was so angry that he laughed: "A rebel, you say he is helping the world and saving the people?"

Li Banghua said with emotion: "The princes of the court, the corpse is a vegetarian meal, and the people of the world are ignored. Let a rebel come to save the world and save the people. This world is turned upside down. If it is reversed, it will be reversed. It would be better to rebuild the world one day. My father has lived in Jiangxi for a long time. Understand what the north is like. Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong have suffered disasters year after year, and the people's lives are difficult. The imperial court only knows how to suppress and appease, but has no ability to recuperate. The northern rebels will only suppress more and more. This is the end of the Ming dynasty .”

  Suddenly, Li Banghua kowtowed respectfully: "Father, the property of the Li family must be divided, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public, please forgive me!"

   Li Tingjian sat back on the chair, speechless for a long time.

   Li Banghua kowtowed again, got up and walked out of the main room, and went to preside over the division of the fields in person, starting with his own field.

  …

  Night.

   Zhou Ruibao, Zhou Ruixu and other gentry children took hundreds of Xiangyong to row across the river in small boats.

  When they arrived at the West Bank, due to the black lights and blind fire, these village braves had been scattered into several groups. But there are also many scholars who take the lead, twenty or thirty people, each of them led their troops into the villages along the river in the dark.

"kill!"

   "Kill those mobs!"

  The sounds of successive killings sounded one after another, and the gentry, with the courage of the country, rushed in to kill the houses when they saw them.

   Zhou Ruibao, a good official who loves the people like a son, threw away his black hat in order to help the people. But at this time, he turned into an executioner and wiped out the two tenant farmers with his own hands, just to retaliate against the tenant farmers for dividing up the landlord's property.

  Military officers such as Huang Yao, Huang Shun, etc., came to Jishui County with Li Banghua this time, and every fifty soldiers were stationed in a village, responsible for protecting the field officials and missionaries.

  Hearing the shout of killing, Huang Yao immediately started up, and shouted loudly: "Luo Chun, your people are here to guard, the others follow me to kill the thieves!"

   Propaganda and instructor Xiao He rushed over quickly: "General Manager Huang, we don't need protection, we will go kill thieves with you."

  Since the situation is urgent, Huang Yao didn't bother to say any more, but only told him: "Follow closely, and don't run away."

  The crowd held torches, the soldiers carried weapons, and the civil servants held all kinds of weapons.

  The soldiers scattered in various villages all rushed towards the nearby enemies. Xiangyong not only killed people, but also set fire to the house. The fire was so bright that it was easy to identify the direction.

   "Kill the thief!"

   "The bandits are coming, run!"

  Both sides call each other thieves, and they don't know who is the thief.

  But one thing is very clear, the countrymen recruited by the gentry are very timid before the battle. Seeing the peasant army approaching, he immediately turned around and ran, ran back to the shore and escaped by boat.

   There are also many village braves who panic in the dark and can't find where their boat is.

  Huang Yao ran into a group of enemies and fled frantically along the bank. He didn't care about the soldiers under his command, so he sped up with his long legs and rushed to the enemy's back alone.

"kill!"

   Huang Yao yelled to embolden himself, and shot the enemy in the back.

  The township warriors were frightened out of their wits, and they didn't know how many pursuers were behind them. They all ran forward in the dark with their heads covered.

   "The boat is over there!"

  By the moonlight, Xiang Yong shouted.

"kill!"

   Huang Yao caught up and stabbed another one.

  The villagers panicked and climbed into the boat, only to see that Huang Yao was alone. But they didn't dare to fight back, because there were more pursuers in the distance.

"kill!"

   Huang Yao poked the third one.

   "Pull me up!"

   "I haven't boarded yet, don't sail."

   "Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, it's about to fall over."

   "..."

  There were six small boats here, and in the panic, only two managed to escape back to the other side.

  Many Xiangyong jumped into the water to escape, but Huang Yao stood on the bank and stabbed two more to death.

  The next morning, Li Banghua came in a hurry and saw the burnt houses and the corpses of the tenants, and stood there silently for a long time.

   "Can the dead be counted?" Li Banghua asked.

Huang Yao replied: "The thieves raided six villages at night. They did not rob money and food, but murdered and set fire. None of the people we brought were injured or injured. But the farmers in Jishui County, including children, a total of 358 people were killed. Kill. The thieves ran fast, we only killed 21 and captured 6 alive."

  Li Banghua sighed: "Oh, this kind of thing will happen sooner or later."

  (end of this chapter)