Author: Zero Romance

Fudong Town, located on the west bank of Taihu Lake, belongs to Yixing County, Changzhou Prefecture, but it is still 40 miles away from the county seat.

Not far to the south of Sudong Town is the boundary between Changzhou Prefecture and Huzhou Prefecture. To the south of the boundary is the area actually controlled by Haihan. From a certain perspective, this can be regarded as a small border town of the Ming Dynasty today.

Towned.

Although the location of Hudong Town is a bit remote, it is quite famous in the outside world for its local specialties. The raw material used for the famous Yixing Zisha teapot is purple sand ore, which is produced in Dingshan next to Hudong Town.

In the nearby villages and towns, almost all workshops, large and small, that make purple clay teapots come here to buy raw materials. Therefore, although the location of the town is a bit remote, it is not deserted. There are many merchants from the north and south who receive and deliver goods every day.

.

But at this moment, Sudong Town is no longer as lively as it used to be. It is obviously noon, but the streets are deserted. There are not a few pedestrians walking around, and there are no usually bustling caravans.

At the door of an inn in the town, the shopkeeper with a worried face stood at the door and looked around for a long time. Finally, he ordered the waiter beside him: "Close the door. It seems that there is no business today!"

While moving the door panel, the clerk asked: "Shopkeeper, everyone said that the Haihan Army is coming, and everyone in the town has almost run away. How about we go out and hide first?"

The shopkeeper cursed: "You're hiding! My little inn has no money and water. How can the Haihan people like it? If they really want to rob it, don't they know how to rob the big business in the county?"

The waiter was dissatisfied and said: "Then if they attack here and set a fire, it's hard to say it will affect us."

The shopkeeper repeatedly spat: "Bah, bah, bah! What you say is really bad luck! You go to my room later, take out the two-color flag from the cabinet and hang it at the door."

The shopkeeper wanted to pretend to be dead and not open the door, but the people outside were already shouting: "No one is there, right? Mark this place and burn it down later!"

The shopkeeper's heart sank when he heard this. The other party's answer confirmed his suspicion. These Ming soldiers had traveled forty miles to come to Sudong Town, but they were not here to fight.

His inn was a family property he had saved little by little in the first half of his life. He couldn't cash it out and take it away in a hurry. It was even more impossible to ask him to abandon the inn and flee. Although this method of hanging the Haihan double-color flag

I don’t know if it will work, but in this situation there is no room for pickiness. I can only treat a dead horse as a living horse.

However, news came from the south a few days ago that the two countries might go to war again. The shopkeeper remembered this rumor and quickly went to the cloth shop in the town to pull out several feet of red and blue cloth. He took it back and asked his wife to sew a two-color flag in preparation.

Unexpected needs.

There are usually no Ming troops stationed in Fudong Town, and the nearest Ming army garrison is in the county town forty miles away. The sudden appearance of these Ming troops in Fudong Town is not necessarily a good thing.

The shopkeeper didn't dare to hide anymore. He quickly opened the door and kept saying: "You can't burn it, you can't burn it!"

Even Mr. Qi, who retired from the county seat and returned to Fudong Town for retirement, usually talks about benevolence, justice, morality, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, but when things came to a close, he went to the cloth store and bought several bolts of red and blue cotton. Judging from his appearance, he planned to use these two-color cloth to cover the entire house.

Wrapped in a circle.

The shopkeeper heard this method of hanging red and blue flags from a regular customer who often went to Hangzhou for business. It is said that when the Haihan Army attacked a town, as long as they saw a place with these two-color flags, they would generally not take the initiative.

attack.

Before the shopkeeper had time to take back the two-color flag outside the door, there was already a knock on the door.

Seeing that he was in a bad mood, the waiter asked curiously: "Shopkeeper, the reinforcements are here, why are you panicking?"

The clerk was the first to spot the Ming army's flag, and hurriedly ran to tell the shopkeeper the good news: "Shopkeeper, reinforcements, reinforcements are here!"

The shopkeeper said anxiously: "You know nothing! Those outside are not reinforcements, they are here to fight against the autumn wind!"

Just after noon, an army marched into Sudong Town. But it was not the Haihan army, but the Ming army.

The shopkeeper is actually not sure whether this statement is reliable or not. After all, it is just a rumor and there is no evidence.

The shopkeeper said with a sad face: "Master Jun, since the news of the war came at the beginning of the month, my inn has been out of business. How can I get so much cash now! Please do me a favor. I still have thirty or forty kilograms of food in the kitchen.

, can you donate it all?”

There were seven or eight Ming troops standing outside the door. The leading officer glanced at the innkeeper and said coldly: "In order to guard Yixing County, our department is now collecting money and food from the people for military supplies. Your inn looks quite big.

Just take two hundred taels of silver and donate five hundred catties of grain!"

The officer scolded: "There is so much nonsense, hurry up and get the money and food! There is no danger in Fudong Town to defend, so why fight with the Haihan people? Of course we have to defend the county town!"

The shopkeeper hurriedly said: "The villain has no intention of colluding with the enemy. Please tell me, the military master, and I will take it out now!"

When the shopkeeper heard this, he quickly ran to the window to look, and sure enough he saw the Ming army, knocking on doors from door to door.

The shopkeeper's cry failed to fool the other party. The officer glared and said, "Shopkeeper, if you don't eat the toast, you will have to drink wine as a fine! What is that hanging outside your door? Collaboration with the enemy and the country is a capital crime. Do you understand?"

"

The waiter said: "Hang the Haihan double-color flag? What if someone from the government sees it?"

Although the shopkeeper was a bit harsh, he had actually already considered the risks mentioned by the waiter.

The clerk asked blankly: "Master Jun, are you planning to fight the Haihan people in Fudong Town?"

The shopkeeper scolded: "This is urgent. You are still worried about what the government people think. The most important thing now is to save the inn. It is hard to say who will take charge of Fudong Town in the future!"

The source of these information is the old Zhang of the publishing house. The shopkeeper has been friends with him for many years, and he will definitely not make up stories to deceive himself. During the war, in order to save the family business and life, who can care so much. No one else can hang the double-color flag, but I

Of course it can also be hung.

As far as he knew, he was not the only one in the town who had secretly prepared two-color flags. Old Liu's rice shop, Song Laizi's pawnshop, and the rich man Wang's house in the east of the town had all secretly prepared two-color flags.

"What a ghost!" The shopkeeper saw this Ming army appearing from the window on the second floor of the inn, and immediately felt something bad.

The officer stopped him with his hand and said coldly: "I'll give you two options. One is to quickly hand over the money and food to prove your loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. The other is to take you back and punish you, and by the way, burn this shabby inn.

Don’t leave it to the enemy!”

The shopkeeper cried out that he was wronged, but at this juncture, who could care about a little person like him?

Seeing the old Liu family of the rice store across the street being thrown out by the vicious soldiers, and the whole family lying in the middle of the street crying, the shopkeeper couldn't help but shuddered, and quickly agreed to the other party's request.

It's just that he really didn't have so much money and food on hand, so he could only let these Ming troops move away the valuable things in the inn.

When these Ming troops were entering the inn to move things, a crackling sound suddenly came from the south of the town. The leader's expression changed, and he quickly called his men to evacuate, not even taking away the few bags of food that had been moved to the door of the inn.
Chapter completed!