Chapter 130, "righteous men" who come and go in a hurry
On the other side, the old scholar who was on his second mission to the bandit camp was really frightened to death by the reckless impulsiveness of the young scholar Gao Xuan. On the way back to Hangzhou City, he could not stop complaining: "...Those Kuns The thief is rude and ill-tempered at first sight, so why would you bother provoking these damn bastards! If the thief becomes angry, wouldn’t I end up risking my life in vain?”< br>
"...Haha, as the saying goes, wealth can be found in danger! How can there be fame that falls from the sky in this world? Since we have obtained the fame recommended by the prefect, we naturally know how to repay our kindness and work bravely for you! What's more, senior, don't you? Can't see Come out, this thief and his men are obviously not of the same mind? He can't even restrain his subordinates. It can be seen that this thief was ostracized in the Song Dynasty and sent out to join the army! "< br>
The scholar-gong Gao Xuan smiled disapprovingly - Little did he know that the fame recommended by the magistrate would have been fought over in peacetime, but now the Ming Dynasty's fame is almost the same as a talisman. The city of Hangzhou is in ruins, but having a reputation may be more troublesome.
"...Hmph, then why can't you impress such ambitious people even if you offer the reward of becoming a king?" The old scholar snorted coldly.
"...Isn't it because I'm afraid that I can't control my subordinates? As long as the prefect is willing to pay huge profits to such thieves, why worry about not being able to make them switch sides?"
Gao Xuan, who felt very good about himself, sneered, stopped talking to the old scholar, and went to the brothel to report to the prefect.
It's just that Magistrate Liu's self-feeling is not as good as Gao Xuan's - although his intelligence channels are also not very good, he has found out that the leader of the group of thieves outside the city is named Sun instead of Li... so As soon as he heard Gao Xuan's report, Magistrate Liu understood: This idiot didn't find the right master at all, but randomly found a gangster leader, talked nonsense, and then happily Come to him to repay the favor!
As for the calligraphy he had just written and had the official seal on, it must have been wiped by some thief!
Looking at Gao Xuan, who was still proud and unaware of it, Magistrate Liu's expression changed for a moment, but in the end he rolled his eyes. Instead of scolding him, he comforted Gao Xuan with gentle words - worth it In this critical situation, loyal and courageous people are really rare, so it is better not to dampen his enthusiasm... It was not until Gao Xuan was sent away that Magistrate Liu told the truth to the righteous people present with a depressed expression.
In response to this, not only did the righteous men feel very discouraged, but even the singing prostitutes who accompanied the wine were worried and their faces turned pale.
However, at this moment, Gou Xunli, a Qiongzhou native who claimed to have an sworn hatred against the bandits, stood up and said loudly:
"...Everyone! Don't be discouraged! This traitor has always been cruel and immoral, greedy and lustful. Wherever he went, not even one of the gentry families survived. However, our Ming Dynasty has been supporting scholars for more than two hundred years, and all the scholars in the world have cherished them. How can the imperial court be just a thieves? Can it be easily suppressed by a temporary power? As long as the prefect can select one or two brave and loyal people who are familiar with the thieves' actions, sneak out of the city, and contact the volunteers from all over to join forces to fight against the enemy, it will be miraculous!"
After listening to Gou Xunli's impassioned words, Magistrate Liu seemed to have a glimmer of hope in his heart: "... So there should be quite a few volunteers available in the countryside outside the city? I wonder if you are willing to go outside the city? I will definitely recommend him as a person who can contact the righteous people from all walks of life!”
Before anyone else could react, Gou Xunli bowed to the magistrate again and calmly replied:
"... When thieves break into the bandits, life will be ruined. All the people in the world will suffer, and my husband will bear it! The student is not talented, but I am willing to share the worries for you!"
Gou Xunli's words were so powerful that they moved the prefect to tears in his eyes, "What a strong man! You should drink from this cup!"
The other righteous men's favorability towards Gou Xunli also increased greatly, and they all toasted to him and flattered him. After drinking several glasses of Huadiao wine with each other, Magistrate Liu took the opportunity to discuss leaving the city with Gou Xunli, "...I wonder when Gou Xunli will leave the city? What will he need to go out of the city?"
"... Prepare to leave the city tomorrow. Because the students are not local natives, they need to explore the geography and scenery of Hangzhou first. In addition, the students need to gain the trust of others when they go, so they boldly asked the prefect to lend them a set of tokens in case they leave the city at any time. The country gentleman proves his identity..."
Magistrate Liu fully agreed to this: "...Easy to say, everyone, we are here tonight to support Gou Yishi! I wish Gou Yiyi a good journey!"
So, in a warm atmosphere, the meal lasted until three o'clock in the moonlight. Everyone was so drunk that they staggered around and then left separately...
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The next day, while Mr. Zhang Dai, who had drunk too much last night, was lying in the Zhang family courtyard in Hangzhou, rubbing his head that was stinging due to hangover, Gou Xunli, the Qiongzhou righteous man, did not leave the city. Instead of contacting Jin Shen, he hurried to Zhang Mansion and persuaded Zhang Dai to escape quickly!
"...What? I just ventured into the city yesterday, and I haven't opened the suitcase cage yet. Today you want me to pack up my belongings and run away?"
Zhang Dai stared at Gou Xunli in disbelief, "...didn't you say at the banquet yesterday that the thieves were cruel and immoral, greedy and lustful, and unpopular with the people. They would definitely be attacked by rebels from all directions. Even if they gained power for a while, nor Will it last, and will you just run away in panic? Moreover, it seems that you stepped out to contact the volunteers outside Hangzhou yesterday, and worked together to rescue Hangzhou? Why did you change your mind in just one day?"
"...Oh, Mr. Zhang, those are just words of comfort to persuade Magistrate Liu to make him feel at ease. How can you take it seriously?"
Gou Xunli smiled bitterly and waved his hands repeatedly, "...the Kun thieves had sharp soldiers, brave soldiers, and powerful firearms. The Zheng family and Liu Xiang who roamed the Fujian Sea in the past were also destroyed in one battle in front of the Kun thieves. Those in Jiangnan can only suppress them. Landlords whose tenants resist rent , let alone the opponent of the Kun Thief... The villain has the token given by the magistrate, and he can open the city gate at any time, so please make a quick decision! If the Kun Thief is surrounded from all sides, he will not be able to leave! ”
——According to Gou Xunli, who has rich "anti-Kun experience", first of all, Jiangnan has been at peace for a long time, and the rural villages and towns have not been in war for many years. Unlike the northwest and southwest provinces, where there are many forts and towering towers, the so-called The leader of the militia is just an ordinary big landowner who can mobilize hundreds of farmers to fight on his neighbor's land during slack periods. As for the real bad war, it has not been fought for generations.
What's more, the land south of the Yangtze River has always been a peaceful world, and it is also a first-class wealthy, prosperous, and culturally popular place. Therefore, the Jin gentry basically spent their money on squandering enjoyment or making friends with officials. No one thought of raising a group of capable people. The village protection team. So now when facing the Kun thief's front, they almost collapse at the first touch! According to the information he found in Hangzhou city, no Jin gentry could withstand the attack of the Kun thieves. Even if they gathered more than ten times the number of strong men, they were still defeated by a small group of thieves with only a few dozen people, and they couldn't even defend their own village!
It can be seen from this that even if there are so-called "righteous people" in the countryside outside the city, they themselves are in danger. How can they have any spare power to support Hangzhou?
Secondly, even if he really brought in rebels from the surrounding countryside, the city of Hangzhou would definitely not be able to be defended. Before he finished the dinner of flower wine yesterday, Gou Xunli left the meeting midway with the magistrate’s tokens and official documents, and went to I inquired about the city defense situation in Hangzhou, and found out There is not even a single Hongyi cannon in the whole city of Hangzhou, only some squatting tiger cannons with a very short range (each squatting tiger cannon weighs thirty-six kilograms, which is 18 kilograms. You can imagine the size of this thing. and power), and improvised wooden cannons. Facing the Kun thieves' bombardment, they basically had no choice but to hold their heads while being beaten.
But the Kun thieves gathered huge ships on the Qiantang River, equipped with hundreds or even thousands of heavy artillery. Before, it was just a small test of skills at Houchao Gate. Without even sending anyone to land, the city tower was easily blown down from the ship and the city wall was riddled with holes. Nowadays, the number of thieves setting off rockets outside Wulin Gate is no more than one or two thousand at most. But the defenders didn't even dare to go up to the city wall to defend themselves against the enemy! Because anyone who dared to climb the city wall was killed by the thieves' guns!
What's even more terrible is that even though the offensive and defensive battle has been going on for several days, there are still very few defenders organized by the prefect's Yamen. Even including the temporarily recruited Minzhuang, the entire city's defenders are only more than 4,000 people. Half of them were newly recruited men who didn't even have weapons and could only huddle on the city wall and throw stones; the remaining half were military households like beggars and government officials who only bullied good-hearted tax collectors. Not even a hair of the recruiting troops with real combat effectiveness was seen - it is said that they were all taken to Wenzhou by the governor of Zhejiang to guard the provincial border. It is not known whether they have been killed or are on their way back. Although Magistrate Liu collected a large amount of "donations for thieves", he hardly used the money to recruit soldiers. He probably stuffed it into his own pocket...
Therefore, even if he could recruit men from all over the country with his sharp tongue, where would the military pay and weapons come from? Do we still need those martyrs who risked their lives to fight against the thieves to pay out of their own pockets? Based on Gou Xunli's experience, even if such a rebel army, which has to take care of everything on its own, can be formed reluctantly, everyone will be full of resentment, and may even defect to the enemy as soon as they go into battle! Because it is much easier to rob a big businessman in Hangzhou than to rob a thief!
Hearing this, Zhang Dai's mood suddenly cooled down, but thinking about his clan relatives who were still in his hometown in Shaoxing, he couldn't help but hesitate. And Gou Xunli then gave him another dose of strong medicine - according to the information he gathered, the thieves coming from the Qiantang River to ravage the provincial capital of Hangzhou were just a few thousand people. . On the other hand, the Kun thieves' other group of tens of thousands of elite soldiers and horses, led by the rebel general Huang Shi, landed from Ningbo and swept all the way westward. Faced with such a powerful two-sided attack, Shaoxing, Shangyu and other places on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay were originally Wen Tian Wu Xi, weak soldiers and few generals, but now it is even harder for gods to save them!
In addition, although the bandits outside Hangzhou City had limited strength, they were unable to completely cut off the traffic between Hangzhou City and the outside world. But it completely blocked shipping on the Qiantang River, and all fishing boats and ferries would be destroyed. Even if Zhang Dai insisted on staying in Hangzhou, he would not be able to find a way to continue going south. Of course, if you don't mind the trouble, you can also go west to Chun'an and other mountainous areas in western Zhejiang to make a large circle... But this mountain road was originally difficult to walk, and now it is snowing and the mountains are closed. Due to the invasion of the Kun bandits, the countryside Bandits and bandits are also rampant in the country, and it is really unknown whether they can reach Shaoxing alive. Even if we really make it to Shaoxing, I'm afraid it will be more than a month later, and even the day lilies may be cold by then...
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At this point, Zhang Dai's mind was finally shaken - he had naturally heard of General Huangshi's reputation for sweeping across Liaodong in the past, and he also knew very well how the defense of Shaoxing City was weakened. Some of the fortresses and village warriors that fought against Japanese pirates in the past have completely collapsed and cannot be restored in a hurry. If Huangshi really brings tens of thousands of people, or even sends thousands of people to attack, Shaoxing will definitely not be able to defend it.
If the thieves were not coming so fast and he could have a few months of buffer time to plan and respond, he might still be able to sneak back to his hometown and rely on his family's connections and power, as well as the money and food he had accumulated, to pull together a group of people. Detachment training to defend Sangzi...
But now half of Zhejiang is about to fall, leaving little time to deal with it calmly. Even if he successfully crosses the Qiantang River and rushes back to his hometown, what use will it be? Not to mention recruitment and training, it was already too late to even temporarily build weapons!
If the worst happens, maybe the city of Shaoxing has been captured by thieves at this time! Faced with such a situation, what should Zhang Dai do? Do you want to destroy your reputation and turn yourself into a thief to protect your clan? Or will you die by scolding a thief generously? He doesn't want to be embarrassed at all, let alone die!
Then, although he had lived in the provincial capital Hangzhou for many years because he liked the prosperity, Zhang Dai was still a Shaoxing native, and his feelings for the city of Hangzhou were relatively limited. Since his hometown in Shaoxing, where his ancestral home and clan are located in the south, is now It is completely hopeless. He, Zhang Zongzi, was not an official of the imperial court and had no responsibility for guarding the land. Why did he die in Hangzhou with Magistrate Liu?
Therefore, under Gou Xunli's repeated persuasion, Zhang Dai finally half-heartedly accepted his statement that "there is nothing you can do, you have to save your useful life for the future" and ordered the housekeeper to pack his luggage and look for carriages, horses and ships... …
When Gou Xunli saw this, he breathed a sigh of relief - after finding out the details of the officers and soldiers and the bandits in Hangzhou, he was already so frightened that he wanted to run away. But if Zhang Dai, a noble man, is trapped in Hangzhou and he escapes, then even if Gou Xunli can successfully escape back to Nanjing, he will not be spared from Donglin to Fushe... Now that Zhang Dai can be escorted back alive, at least No need to worry about your own survival!
But on the other hand... Hey, I don't know how long it will take for my sad wish to avenge the Kun thief for destroying my family and destroying my family!
Looking at the servants and maids running back and forth in front of them, busy tidying up their belongings, and the beautiful concubine who was sobbing softly, listening to the sharp whistling of the thief's rocket in the air, Gou Xunli, who had fled all over southern China in these years, Finally he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. ——Well, who makes this world so difficult? I really can’t care about that much for the time being, let’s just keep myself alive first!