The official road paved with gravel became blurry underfoot, almost difficult to recognize. The dawn wind blew from the wilderness, and even though he was wearing a windbreaker and hood, Zhao Yingong still felt chilly.
The journey from Hangzhou to Dengzhou is both difficult and dangerous. In Nanzhi, traveling north along the canal is a boat provided by the Xu Guangqi family. The Xu family members take care of you along the way. Not only is the journey comfortable, but it is also convenient to pass the customs and locks.
The diligence and thoughtfulness of the officials along the road and the power of recruiting civilians made Zhao Yingong fully realize the majesty of the Jin gentry again.
No wonder so many people want to be officials. People who make a fortune in business never forget to hire famous teachers for their children, bribe examiners, and do everything possible to make them "within the system." The difference between officials and civilians is really so-called "cloud"
The difference between mud".
However, his feeling about the difference between the government and the people disappeared as soon as he crossed the Yellow River.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River diverted the Huai River and entered the sea, and its mouth was near Xuzhou. After crossing the Yellow River near Xuzhou, it left South Zhili and entered Shandong.
The Grand Canal is also open to navigation in Shandong, but it does not reach Dengzhou. A group of people abandoned the boat and landed in Xuzhou and took the land route. Zhao Tong had previously walked the escort on the north road and reminded everyone to be careful along the way.
Although the area in Nanzhi seemed much more bleak and poor after crossing the Yangtze River, it was only after crossing the Yellow River and entering Shandong that Zhao Yingong truly felt the harshness of the environment.
Although it was already midsummer, there were no crops in the fields. Large areas of land were barren, and the trees along the way were dead in patches. When I walked in, I realized that they had all been stripped of their bark. Among the grass and trees,
From time to time you can see scattered dead bones.
The villages he passed by by chance were either overgrown with wormwood, with crumbling houses, or high walls and deep ditches, and the village warriors were heavily guarded. After Zhao Yingong asked, he found out that less than ten years ago, in 1622, the southern Shandong earthquake erupted.
The White Lotus Sect riot launched by Xu Hongru started with Jining as the center, and spread to Rizhao in the east, Heze in the west, and Xuzhou in the south. All along the road were places that had suffered from military disasters, and in recent years they had been hit by floods.
, the government's land tax increases day by day, bandits are everywhere, and the people are dying and fleeing, leaving only the devastated land. Even in broad daylight, small groups of bandits are openly operating, taking desperate risks everywhere
For this reason, Zhao Yingong and his party, in addition to bringing their own bodyguards, the Xu family also sent more than ten brave servants to protect them along the way.
In this way, he walked north without stopping, fearful of fear. When he got to Yizhou, he encountered a heavy rainstorm and the water was overflowing. The water was six or seven feet deep on the flat ground, so it was difficult to get a boat. Zhao Yingong looked at the refugees supporting the elderly and young all over the ground.
and the dead bodies along the way, I couldn't help but feel extremely distressed, and secretly shouted: "It's too late!"
But he was unable to take in refugees now - no matter what he did, it would be difficult to do anything in the Ming Dynasty without official support. He had no choice but to urge his entourage to leave as soon as possible and go to Dengzhou to meet Sun Yuanhua to gain his trust and support.
The group traveled through mountains and rivers, sleeping in the open air, and finally arrived in Dengzhou. The hardships and dangers of the journey are indescribable.
At this time, Dengzhou was already an important frontier town in the Ming Dynasty's war against Liaodong. It was also an important town where Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua and others organized and trained the new army. We haven't seen the Dengzhou city wall yet, but we can often see mobilized troops and camps along the way.
There are also patrolling cavalry, and people check from time to time.
Although the road seemed to be heavily guarded, they still heard news of bandits and salt gangsters' activities along the way. There was even a horrific incident in which an entire village was massacred. As if to confirm this news, they just entered the territory of Dengzhou, and on the official road
A fight and screams were heard nearby. A group of people immediately stopped their horses and showed off their horses. Zhao Tong, the bodyguard responsible for the security, ordered the dogs to be put down from the car to prepare for killing and biting, while turning the horses' heads.
Come to the middle of the line.
Zhao Yingong was surrounded by servants and walked over slowly. After listening to the previous report, he turned back and asked the local postman who was leading the way if he knew what had happened. The old postman said: "This must be the local salt owl's fire."
and."
"Aren't they bandits?"
"The bandits don't dare to go on the road in broad daylight. There are many troops here." The postman said, "Salt lords are mostly local military households. Although they are too poor to sell salt privately, many of them also have a small flag, the general flag, which ranks among hundreds of households.
As for the future of human beings, the government generally doesn’t care about them—it can’t control them.”
Zhao Yingong heard that it was just a fight between Yan Owl and Fire, so he asked the troops to continue moving forward. Zhao Tong dissuaded him and said: "Master, we can't see what the fight is like now. If they see it in the past, some people think they are here to help.
It's troublesome - it started a fight and ended badly."
Zhao Yingong thought the same thing. After all, he was in a guest place. If he got involved in a local conflict, the follow-up would be very troublesome. Although he was very "tough" in officialdom, Yan Xiao was a local snake after all.
Useless resentment.
Everyone waited on the road for a while, and when they heard the killing sound in front of them gradually stopped, Zhao Tong asked everyone to wait on the road for a while, and he went to the front to investigate first. He got off the horse, walked slowly along the shoulder of the road, and came to have a meal.
At that time, he came back again. He ran to Zhao Yingong's horse and reported: "Go back to the master, the front has dispersed. But there are many corpses and weapons on the road. Please be careful when passing by."
Everyone walked over cautiously under the guidance of Zhao Tong, and saw that thirty or forty corpses were scattered along the official road in the distance, dripping with blood, and there were many broken weapons on the ground. Zhao Yingong noticed that they were scattered on the ground.
It was full of sharpened bamboo spears and more than a dozen damaged bows and arrows. There were also cattail bags scattered on the ground, and a lot of sea salt scattered on the ground.
"This is robbing private salt." The postman said, "This is something that happens all the time on this official road. Look, the chariot wheel has gone down the official road - someone has succeeded in robbing it." He looked at it and murmured again.
: "That's not right..." After saying this, he seemed to regret his gaffe, and quickly shut up again.
"What's wrong?"
Zhao Yingong asked again and again, and the postman hesitated and said that there were many marks of horse hoofs on the post road, and the feather arrows left on the corpse were not weapons used by ordinary bandit salt owl.
"Are they from the imperial court?"
The postman said nothing, but his expression already acquiesced to this matter.
"Doesn't Sun Futai care?" Zhao Yingong originally had doubts about Sun Yuanhua's ability to run the army, but now he feels more and more that his opinion is accurate.
The postman whispered: "How can Sun Futai be controlled? Nowadays, soldiers are owed wages for one or two years, and most of the troops in Dengzhou are guest troops - the most lawless. There is no one in the local area.
Openly robbing merchants and massacring villages to raise wages is already Sun Futai and Zhang Zhentai's suppression."
In other words, it is nothing to do something secretly and illegally. Zhao Yingong also knew a little bit about what officers and soldiers could do without limits. But judging from the abandoned corpses and the wheel marks, Yan Xiao
The amount of private salt they transported was equivalent to the carrying capacity of about twenty wheelbarrows, and the total amount of silver was only a few dozen taels. It led to a killing spree on both sides, and one can only imagine what kind of chaos the world would become.
"Come on, this is a place of right and wrong." The postman urged a group of people to get on the road quickly.
Just as he was about to go on the road, he suddenly heard someone shouting "Help" from among the corpses. Zhao Yingong asked people to search for him, and after a few words, he pulled out a young man from under the corpse. His body was covered with blood, and the extent of his injuries could not be seen.
"Is there any hope?" Zhao Yingong asked.
Zhao Tong nodded: "He suffered flesh wounds, and with some gold sore medicine, he should be able to recover."
"Then take it with you and put it in the car. Whether he can survive depends on his luck." Zhao Yingong said.
The group finally arrived at Dengzhou City without incident. Dengzhou City is now a military city. Outside the city, there are soldiers with various accents everywhere. Zhao Yingong noticed that many people spoke with Liaodong accents - obviously these people were
The original Dongjiang Town troops were the main force in the Dengzhou Rebellion that was about to break out.
Relying on the posts from Xu Guangqi and others, Zhao Yingong entered the city unimpeded - because this was the frontier of the Liaodong campaign and a heavy military base, the interrogation at the city gate was very strict.
After entering the city, Zhao Tong saw that the big inns were full and the small inns could not satisfy the owners, so he took the initiative to find a large local temple, donated six taels of silver, and moved into the temple under the attentive greetings of the host.
Zhao Yingong asked everyone to rest for three days, bathe and change clothes, and then go to the dusty road. He also ordered people to unpack their luggage and count the gifts prepared for Sun Yuanhua and others - the gifts were carefully selected, many of them were
Specially shipped from Macau and Lingao.
This time when he went to see Sun Yuanhua, in addition to letters from the Xu family and the Hangzhou church, he also brought the missionary Jin Lige to fully prove that he was a "catechumen."
To get the greatest help from Sun Yuanhua, the only way is to dress yourself up as a devout quasi-believer, so that Sun Yuanhua will treat his request from the perspective of a believer instead of an ordinary camper.
He knew very little about Sun Yuanhua. The information given to him by the big library only had his basic life and some political opinions. They had no way of guessing what kind of person Sun Yuanhua was. However, Xu Guangqi wanted his son to form a relationship with him.
As a relative of children, I think this person's character is not bad; but he became a governor in his early fifties, which shows that he is also very capable as an official. He is also a Catholic and is keen on "Western France" to improve the military of the Ming Dynasty.
Technology and system. Taken together, Sun Yuanhua should be a person with good personal character, capable of serving as an official, and willing to accept new ideas. Such a person should not be too difficult to deal with - the person who is unwilling to do things that Zhao Yingong fears most -
- Then nothing can be done.
Zhao Yingong asked his servant to inquire about the news first and confirmed that Sun Yuanhua was in the Yamen recently. He spent a day looking for him and formally went to the Yamen to see him.