The moment there was an explosion on the sea, Wang Changsheng followed a large group of people to the city wall to watch the excitement. When he saw the blue and white giant ship on the sea in the distance, he was surprised and happy.
So he took advantage of the arrival of the Northern Navy and the chaos around the city gate and hid in a tea shop near the south gate. When the south gate tower was blown down, Wang Changsheng estimated that the Northern Navy was about to attack, so he took
Two men rushed to the south gate, shot and killed several soldiers guarding the gate, and then opened the city gate.
Thanks to Wang Changsheng's internal support, the Marine Corps of the Northern Navy captured Rongcheng. Under his leadership, one battalion and one company of Marines quickly captured the three gates in the west, north, and east, and defeated all those who tried to do so.
The fleeing Manchu officials and wealthy households blocked the city.
The local Magistrate Jiang did not commit suicide in the end. Because the city was lost so quickly, Magistrate Jiang had no time to throw himself into a well or hang himself. The Northern Navy had already attacked the county government office and killed him and several officials who had not had time to escape.
The gentleman was blocked in the second hall. Later, when the bruised Yu Shunsong was rescued from the county jail, Magistrate Jiang realized what a stupid thing he had done.
After the Northern Navy captured the county government office, they did not set up any large scales to divide gold and silver, nor did they open warehouses to release grain. They did not even open the county government office's warehouse. This surprised several county government clerks and they did not seize food.
He had never heard of pirates who stole money.
According to Deng Fei's order, the company commander who led the team left a peace notice on the screen wall outside the county government office, and then escorted the captured County Magistrate Jiang, General Pan Qian, Dian Shi, Shuiying garrison and those who were blocked in
A group of rich men from the county government returned to the Chengshan Flood Camp, which had been converted into Deng Fei's temporary headquarters.
Taking advantage of the Manchu government being caught off guard, Deng Fei made the most of his limited manpower. Two platoons from the Second Company and the Third Company followed Wang Changsheng and marched to Wendeng County overnight; another platoon from the Third Company came to find work somewhere.
Under the guidance of the old farmer Qian Qian, the fort at Longkou Cliff was captured before dark.
By noon the next day, no news from Wendeng had come back, but someone from Rongcheng County came.
Now Rongcheng County is leaderless. Whether it is the county magistrate or the official history, the subordinate officials have been "invited" to Shuiying by the Beihai Navy as a guest. Only the professor named Li escaped because he was hiding in the school next to the county government.
After a calamity. After the Beihai Navy withdrew the prisoners from the county town, Li Jiaoyu, who was still in shock, waited until dark before he had the courage to leave the academy. Unexpectedly, he was spotted by the crowd gathered in front of the county government office as soon as he left the gate.
The biggest wealthy families in the city were all taken prisoners together with Magistrate Wang. Now the family members were anxious and begged Li Jiaoyu to find a way. Mr. Li originally wanted to go to Wendeng to ask for help, but it didn't take long for the people sent to leave the city.
He ran back and said that the pirate troops had already moved towards Wen Deng and almost ran into him.
Li Jiaoyu had no choice but to order people to take a boat from Liugong Island to Dengzhou to ask for help after dawn. At the same time, he summoned the students and other gentry in the city overnight.
After discussion, when each family raised the remuneration to 20,000 yuan, a student named Liang Zhenyu volunteered and was willing to negotiate with the pirates on behalf of Rongcheng County. This student was an extension student whose family was not rich.
Thousands of dollars is really not a small amount to him.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the students of local government schools, prefectures, and counties were generally called "xiucai." Although donations were opened during the Kangxi period, ordinary people could pay to obtain the qualifications of students, but those without real talent and learning were dismissed.
They are called "regular students" or "paid students"; those who are truly knowledgeable are those who have entered the register of junior students and expanded students in the academy.
In the Qing Dynasty, students were divided into three classes: Lin students, Zengguang students and affiliated students, collectively referred to as "students". Except that Zengguang students did not receive rice, other benefits were the same as those of Lin students.
The people who came with Liang Xiucai were all stewards and servants from wealthy families. The gifts these people brought were nothing more than a few slaughtered pigs and sheep on wheelbarrows, a dozen jars of wine and dozens of stones of grain.
And so on, there is also a gift list and greeting card.
When the Northern Navy attacked the county town yesterday, they all hid at home and did not show their faces until the Northern Navy left. Therefore, they only saw the true appearance of these "pirates" when they were about a mile away from the water camp.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier from the Northern Navy walked out of the grass on the roadside, startling Liang Xiucai and his party.
When the man came up to them, everyone looked carefully and saw that he was wearing a semicircular helmet that reached up to his eyebrows. It was also covered with a fine net with many messy weeds and leaves stuck in it.
; The tops and trousers are all of the same style, with colorful and indescribable patterns, and the more you look at them, the more dizzy you become; there is a belt tied around the waist, and there are several small bags hanging, and I don’t know what is inside, they are all bulging.
On his feet, he wore a pair of khaki low-waisted short boots, the trousers seemed to be tucked into the boots, and he held a "gun" with a short sword in his hand.
Liang Xiucai hurriedly handed over the greeting card and gift card and explained his intention. To the surprise of everyone present, the soldier of the Northern Navy took the gift card and gift card, actually read them, and muttered unconsciously.
"Are you literate?" Liang Xiucai was a little surprised, but what the other person said next made him even more surprised.
"Haha, is literacy new? Everyone in our place is literate." The soldier put away the greeting card and gift list, and then said to Liang Xiucai and others: "You are all waiting here, be careful if you move around and get shot!"
Looking at the backs of the "thief soldiers" going away, Liang Xiucai was a little confused. Everyone was literate? Where was that place? As far as he knew, Qufu had the highest literacy rate in Shandong.
After a meal, several more "thief soldiers" dressed exactly the same as before came from Shuiying. They led Liang Xiucai and his party towards Shuiying. When they arrived at the gate of Shuiying, the fish farmer
The two giant boats moored in the bay startled these people again. Yesterday they were all seen from a distance, but today when they got closer, Liang Zhenyu realized how big they were, and they were completely different from any other ship type he had ever seen.
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This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Both boats are of a general style. Visually, they are more than twenty feet long and several feet wide. The height from the sea to the side of the ship is probably about
More than two feet high. There are three masts standing on the deck, the middle one is dozens of feet high. There is a huge red flag flying at the top, with a white gear-shaped ring painted in the middle, and a white five-star inside.
.
At this time, the sails on the deck had been rolled up, revealing ropes that were densely intertwined like spider webs; there were several large windows on the hull, and the upper covers were open, making it dark and unclear; as for the sharp points,
The bow of the ship and a tilted mast on it, Liang Zhenyu had no idea what they were for.
The group of people from Rongcheng County were shocked when they saw this scene. This was something that ordinary pirates and thieves could not have, and the contempt they had before was gone.
When they followed the two soldiers into the gate of Shuiying, they found that there were no gongs and drums, and no flags were waving. It was completely different from the bandits they knew. Among those who followed Liang Xiucai, none of them had been to Shuiying.
The guy suddenly said "Hey", and everyone asked him what was going on. The guy said why is Shuiying so clean?
As soon as he said this, everyone noticed that the ground in the water camp was filled with loess and was extremely smooth, with not even a mud puddle to be seen; the ground was even more clean without even a single weed.
At this time, Liang Xiucai looked back at the two guards standing guard at the gate. They both held their chests high and their heads upright, as straight as a pine tree. The four words "military majesty" suddenly came to his mind.
"Famous generals in ancient times are just like this." Liang Xiucai became more and more curious and eager to see what the generals who led the troops were like.
However, when he saw Deng Fei in the detention room of Shuiying, he became shocked. He did not expect that the other party was dressed the same as the previous soldiers, except that he did not wear a hat, revealing short hair that was almost an inch long.
"Your Excellency, you are Mr. Liang? My surname is Deng, and my only name is Fei. Please take a seat." Deng Fei smiled and nodded his greetings, indicating that the other party should sit down and talk, but Liang Xiucai's expression suddenly changed.
Hearing Deng Fei's Zhili accent and clear pronunciation of Mandarin, looking at the other party's short hair, and recalling what he had just seen, Liang Xiucai suddenly realized that these people were not pirate giants at all, but full-fledged pirates.
Rebel!
As a scholar, Liang Zhenyu didn't want to act submissive in front of the other party, but he was really afraid in his heart, for fear that he would be accused of being a personal friend and turning against a thief in the future.
"I...I have been asked by the elders of this county to come here. I would like to ask General Deng, who are you?"
Deng Fei chuckled and said: "I am not a general, just a captain. Since Mr. Liang is a scholar, has he ever read the manuscripts of the Manchu Qing court?"
Liang Zhenyu cupped his hands and said: "Rongcheng is located in a remote place. Even if you copy the Beijing News, the news will be from a month or two ago."
This kind of thing is copied and printed by the gazette room set up by the provinces in Titang, Beijing, and then distributed to prefectures and counties. After the county magistrate has read it, it is the turn of the squires below to read it. As a student, Liang Xiucai read it
There is only one source for copying the Beijing News, the county school. So it is not surprising that there is a delay.
"It doesn't matter. Have you ever heard of Beihai Town?"
Liang Zhenyu recalled it, but he had no impression at all. Then he heard Deng Fei say: "The year before last, Fukang'an was defeated outside the pass, and you have heard of the emperor issuing an imperial edict to sin against himself, right?"
"What! Are you the one?"
Deng Fei nodded slightly and said: "Yes, we are the group of rebels who defeated the imperial army several times. Not to mention a Rongcheng County magistrate, we even captured Fukangan."
Now, Liang Xiucai was really frightened...
That afternoon, when Li Jiaoyu and the anxious gentry saw Liang Zhenyu coming back, their first words were to ask him how much money and food he wanted, but Liang Xiucai said in despair that he didn't want money or food, and
It's important people.
"What? Who do they want? They don't want the county magistrate's head, right?" The gentry said to themselves that the magistrate had just come from Guizhou, and his head was not worth much.
However, when Liang Xiucai talked about the incident in Beihai Town and conveyed Deng Fei's intention, Li Jiaoyu and all the gentry were stunned.
A rebel? And a rebel who beat the imperial army into a gray-headed rat's face?! Are you going to take people to farm outside the customs? Will you pay for every young man you take away? Will you release them when the ship is full?
After everyone heard this, they felt as if they had been struck by lightning, and were burned inside and out.
Li Jiaoyu lamented: "How can this happen? When the court investigates it, we will all lose our lives!"
After a while, Liang Zhenyu said to Li Jiaoyu and Mr. Bi who were present: "The rebel leader said that the short gun confiscated in the Yamen must be returned. Also, the one from the noble house...
.The widowed woman is to be taken away.”
Master Bi was furious when he heard this. Why do these rebels want to rob a widow? Isn't this ruining the reputation of my Bi family? He slammed the table angrily and said angrily: "Everyone is dead, I can't hand it over!"
Liang Xiucai glanced at the other party and muttered: "I said the same thing before I went down, but the rebel surnamed Deng said that if he doesn't hand over the people, he will send people to attack the Bi family's house."
"I..." Mr. Bi almost shouted, "I'll fight them", but in the end he held it back because he really didn't dare.
Li Jiaoyu had no idea for a while. It was already getting late, so everyone here said their goodbyes and left. In the end, only Li Jiaoyu stayed. He lamented for a long time, and was about to get up and go home, but saw Liang Xiucai sneaking in again.
Already.
"Why are you back?"
Liang Zhenyu looked furtively at the door for a long time, then walked to the surprised Li Jiaoyu and whispered: "Teacher, the student has an idea, please correct me."
"Oh? You might as well tell me." Li Jiaoyu seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw. He took Liang Xiucai's hand and said: "If you can survive this disaster, I will definitely recommend this year's scientific examination questions to the academic master.
Leave it to me."
The reason why Li Jiaoyu said this is because in the Qing Dynasty, if the scholars wanted to participate in the provincial examination, they had to pass the "scientific examination" first. Before each township examination, the examinations were held by the states and counties under the academic tour of the province. This year is Wushen
The year is exactly the year of the scientific examination.
After hearing Master Jiaoyu's assurance, Liang Xiucai said: "The student's advice is worth a thousand words, and it is better to remain silent."
"Hey~" Li Jiaoyu twirled his beard, his mind was spinning, and he said after a while: "You mean to pretend not to know?"
"Teacher, think about it, these rebels in Beihai Town are not even afraid of the Eight Banners Army. The tens of thousands of imperial troops were defeated. In the end, they pinched their noses and paid the ransom to get Marshal Fu back. Rongcheng is only a small area, how can they defeat such an enemy?
A ruthless bandit? I’m sure the governor won’t blame him at that time.”
Liang Xiucai said that his mouth was dry. He picked up the herbal tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp. He continued: "According to what the students have seen, since those people want to take people to the outside of the pass by boat, the wealthy households and common people in the city must not
If they are willing to go, they can only go to the four villages to recruit those who have no body. Instead of doing this, it is better to let the students go and say hello to the bandit leader named Deng. Then the teacher will only have to close the door tightly and survive for a few days.
On the 1st, when they have pulled enough people, they will naturally leave. At that time, the merit of defending the city and resisting the enemy will be seen by all the gentry in the city."
The more Li Jiaoyu listened, the brighter his eyes became. He did not expect that the student he usually disliked the most and often helped others write petitions would have such thoughts. And Liang Xiucai saw that Master Jiaoyu kept nodding, knowing the method Deng Fei taught him.
It’s already done.
Early the next morning, as soon as the city gate was unlocked, Liang Zhenyu hurried to Shuiying, told Deng Fei about the situation, and then hurried back to the city. Then the four gates of Rongcheng County were tightly closed again, and those
Vendors who came into the city to sell vegetables and firewood were all kicked out of the city by Li Jiaoyu's orders. Of course, Rongcheng County would still open the north gate at night, otherwise the people in the county would not even be able to burn firewood.
Then Wang Changsheng and Yu Shun, whose heads were wrapped in gauze, and a platoon of Bei Haijun began to wander around the villages again, and the middlemen with whom they had a relationship in the past were also found one after another. Wang Changsheng didn't talk nonsense this time, and every middleman
He gave them ten taels of silver and allowed them to continue their previous great work of attracting people.
After he and Yu Shun had been busy for a day, news came back that Wendeng County had been captured by the Northern Navy. So Wang Changsheng left Yu Shun behind and took his people to Wendeng.
After getting enough money, the middlemen relied on their sharp tongues and tried their best to persuade people from village to village and shop to shop.
Two or three days later, from Wendeng County to Rongcheng, and from Rongcheng County to the Navy Camp, poor farmers appeared in twos and threes on the official road, and then more and more, forming a stream of people. Some of these people brought their families with them.
Some of them were single, and in addition, there was a young widow who was so hungry that she could hardly walk, and a peddler with a crooked nose and a bruised face.
At the same time, Ding Guofeng, who had arrived in Southern Kyushu to unload supplies and was about to return to Beihai Town, received a telegram from the Thunder.
"There are too many people to accommodate, come to Shandong quickly!"