Chuyang is located in the Hanjiang River Plain, and to the west is Gangneung, which has a more complex terrain and a very important location.

A hurried dog barking came from the morning mist, breaking the quiet of the morning. On the other side of the river, dozens of figures on horseback appeared, galloping eastward, coming in a straight line in the direction of Hujia Village.

This Hujia Village is a big village at the junction of the west of Chuyang and Jiangling, because it is located in the rich Hanjiang River Plain, and there is a small river passing through, the grain here is high-yielding, and the river network is rich in fish and shrimp, which can be said to be the land of fish and rice.

Hu Wangfa is a big family in the village, because he has no fame, he can only be a rich man no matter how he says, so he desperately wants to provide for his son to study. It's a pity that his sons are not angry, they only know how to eat, drink and have fun all day long, and they have no intention of studying at all. I studied for several years under the coercion of my father, but I couldn't even pass the county exam.

The sound of horses' hooves was getting closer and closer, and those on horseback came to the river, probed that the river was not deep, and then rode across the river and galloped towards Hujia Village on the other side of the river.

Dozens of fast horses rushed into Hujia Village in a blink of an eye, and the people at the entrance of the village saw those knights wearing red battle jackets, most of them wearing white felt hats, and a few people wearing six-petal bright light helmets and red cloaks, and immediately someone exclaimed: "Thieves! The thieves have entered the village! ”

Wearing a white felt hat to break into the camp, plus the red jacket and red cloak of the Ming army, this is the standard dress of the loyal battalion after being recruited. In the propaganda of the Qing court, these loyal battalion Ming troops were a group of thieves. But today, the "thieves" appeared on the Han River Plain, how can people not be surprised!

"The thieves are coming!" The villagers were so frightened that they threw away their work and fled back to the village in embarrassment.

"Shhhh Don't be silent! You don't want to live anymore! In a dilapidated mud-brick hut, several pairs of eyes peered out through the crack in the door, and one of them, a young woman who looked like a peasant woman, tightly covered the child's mouth to prevent him from crying.

The man trembled like a sieve with fright: "Thief! It's a thief! ”

More than a decade ago, the fame of the Exile Army was too great. Wherever the rogue passed, it was as if it had been looted by a flood, and not even a grain of grain was left, all of which were swept away by the wandering army, and at the same time, all the local people, men, women, and children, were swept away.

It is precisely because the exile army is coercing the people everywhere to use them as cannon fodder that the speed of expansion is astonishing. Every time Li Zicheng was beaten to death by the imperial court, the result was that they were able to turn over quickly.

Now that the thieves are here again, how can it not be terrifying! The villagers didn't think much about it, from Yiling, where the thieves were entrenched, to Chuyang, where they were. How did the thieves escape the heavy surveillance of the imperial court officers and soldiers, break through Jiangling, and run to the plains of the Han River, where the water network is crisscrossed, the land is fertile, and the wealth is flowing oil?

"It's good that they don't seem to be targeting us!" The man in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

Dozens of "thieves" went straight to Hu Wang's house, and rushed to the gate of the Hu family's compound in a blink of an eye. The first person wearing a six-petal bright light helmet and the appearance of the leader pointed to the Hu family's compound: "Capture this courtyard for me!" ”

Subsequently, dozens of "thieves" launched an attack on the Hu family's compound. There are more than a dozen armed guards in Hu Wangfa's house. Among them were two archers, not weak. With the help of the defense of the high wall, it is still possible to withstand dozens or even hundreds of bandits for two or three hours. But these "camp thieves" are surprisingly good at archery, and they have just come up. Two archers in the Hu family's compound were shot dead by them.

"Knock the door open!" The leader-looking man yelled.

More than a dozen "thieves" carried large logs and slammed into the gate. The people in the compound blocked the gates, and some people climbed onto the roofs in an attempt to fight back with stones and bricks. However, those who climbed onto the roof were immediately shot through the body by the precise archery skills of the "thief".

The Hu family's nurses, tenants and long-term workers were no opponents at all, and in less than half a moment, the "thieves" rushed into the Hu family's compound.

"Help!" The Hu family's compound was on fire. Screams rang out again and again. The "thief" with a sharp blade was slashing and killing the men who were fleeing and running, and when the "thief" caught up, there was a knife from behind, and he was immediately beheaded in a different place.

killed all the tenants who guarded the courtyard and helped guard the compound, and the leader of the thieves asked everyone in the Hu family's compound to gather all the people in the courtyard and gather them in the center of the compound. Except for Hu Wangfa's two sons who were not caught studying in the county, the rest of the Hu family all fell into the hands of "thieves".

The Hu family's treasury was opened, and soldiers wearing the clothes of the Ming army's loyal battalion went in and out, and out of the warehouse, baskets of grain, bags of rice and flour, boxes of cloth and tea, rolls of silk, baskets of raw silk and other belongings came out. After counting, although there were a lot of confiscated grain, cloth, tea, silk silk, and livestock, there were more than 200 stone of grain, more than 1,000 pieces of cloth, more than 300 loads of tea, and more than 200 horses of silk. But the gold and silver treasures that were copied out were pitiful, and only six hundred and twenty-three taels of silver, five hundred and thirty-six copper coins, and forty-eight taels of gold, and although there were still jade, antiques, and ceramics, all of them were worth less than two thousand taels of silver.

After that, the "thief leader" walked up to Hu Wangfa, who was trembling and kneeling on the ground, trembling like a sieve, and grabbed his money pigtail: "Master Hu, you are also a smart person, if you don't want to die, then hand over all the honest gold and silver treasures, our loyal battalion will definitely guarantee your safety!" ”

Hu Wangfa, who was trembling just now, suddenly thought that he had changed as a different person, and he didn't know where he got the courage, and yelled at the "thief": "Traitor! I want the old man to bow to you traitors, don't think about it! ”

The ringleader ordered Hu Wang to be tortured in an attempt to force him to confess. But it's strange to say, Hu Wangfa, who has always been weak, doesn't know what medicine he has taken today, and no matter how the "thieves" torture him, he just keeps his mouth shut and refuses to reveal a word.

Hu Wangfa knew that even if he said it, he wouldn't be able to live, so it was better not to say it. When the thief is gone, the son can come and take out the property that he has carefully hidden.

Just as the leader was about to inflict a harsher punishment and make Hu Wangfa speak, the spies who stayed outside came to report: "My lord, the Tartars of the county town and the capital city have been dispatched!" We need to get out of here as soon as possible! ”

The soldiers around him also persuaded each other: "My lord, if we leave late, we won't be able to take this food with us!" ”

The little leader swung his knife and cut off Hu Wangfa's head with a knife in his hand. waved his hand and said stupidly: "Let's go!" Leave with food and belongings! The food that can't be taken away is distributed to the people here! ”

Hu Wangfa's family of more than 30 people was brutally killed, and only two sons, who were studying in the county seat, escaped because they were not at home. The bad news reached the county seat, and the two sons rushed home. When they saw a family in a pool of blood, the brothers hugged their heads and wept, vowing to seek revenge on the thief.

"We're going to join the army! Kill the thief and avenge his parents and family! The two brothers walked into the barracks of Zhao Liangdong in Fucheng.

Zhao Liangdong looked up and down at this pair of weak brothers, looked at it for a long time, shook his head, and said disappointedly: "You can't do it, you two brothers are too weak!" What General Ben wants here are elite soldiers! ”

The two brothers knelt on the ground and begged, "My lord." Our family was killed by thieves, and I beg the general to take in our two brothers! We will definitely kill the thieves to serve the country! We have to avenge our families! ”

But no matter how the brothers pleaded and said good things, the hard-hearted Zhao Liangdong just refused to agree. Zhou Peigong, who was standing on the side, saw that Zhao Liangdong secretly gave him a look, so he pretended to be really unbearable, and walked up to help the two brothers: "Two, what General Zhao wants to collect are swordsmen and archers, and they need to be strong." But he won't accept you over there, and this official will accept you! This officer is a firearms recruiter, you can enlist! ”

"Thank you for your kindness! Thank you for your success! The brothers knelt on the ground and bowed repeatedly. Thanksgiving.

"Wait!" A staff member beside Zhou Peigong suddenly shouted, "You two don't rush to thank Lord Zhou, although Lord Zhou created a new army of firearms, your body is too weak. Even the new army of firearms is overwhelmed. ”

Seeing that the glimmer of hope that had ignited was about to be dashed again, the two brothers hurriedly kowtowed to Zhou Peigong again and again, saying all the good things. At this time. Only then did the staff member beside Zhou Peigong speak: "We, Lord Zhou, need a lot of silver to form a new army of firearms. If you are willing to give money to collect donations, the ruler can make an exception. ”

"We have the silver!" The brothers couldn't wait to reply.

Hu Wangfa hid the silver. The two brothers knew where to hide. Before, when my father was there, they didn't dare to move. Now that everyone in the family is dead, the two brothers climbed under their father's couch and pulled a hidden mechanism, so a hidden hole appeared, which contained the gold and silver that the Hu family had accumulated over the years.

"There were more than 4,000 taels of silver, more than 300 taels of gold, and other jewels and antiques, all of which were added up to more than 10,000 taels of silver. Also, the land of our two brothers was sold, and the pawnshop and rice shop in the city were also sold, and we could get another five thousand taels of silver. We will donate all this money to Lord Zhou! The two brothers revealed to Zhou Peigong.

"Good! Then go and do it! The funeral of parents should not be too simple! Filial piety comes first! Zhou Peigong nodded and said.

When the two brothers left and went to sell land for the funeral, Zhou Peigong turned his head and asked Zhao Liangdong with a somewhat angry face: "General Zhao, didn't I say that you can just let your soldiers pretend to be thieves?" Why do you want to kill people? That's not right! Both of these brothers and their parents died, and the daughters of the family were ruined by your soldiers! They are my obedient people! ”

Zhao Liangdong said coldly: "Those who want to become great must not have the kindness of a woman!" If it weren't for the two brothers' back road, they would honestly take out the silver? Anyway, the charges are all on the thieves! General Ben didn't slaughter the whole village, he already has a good conscience! ”

Zhou Peigong didn't say anything anymore, he knew that Zhao Liangdong was fierce and murderous by nature, and he killed many people in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, and because of the arrest of Ding, many people were killed. When Zhao Liangdong arrested Ding, he not only looted the strong man, but even the sturdy woman could be used as a people's husband! And those auxiliary soldiers and people can't eat enough, so Yun Guichuan doesn't know how many ordinary people were poisoned by Zhao Liangdong.

In the following period of time, Zhao Liangdong's horse team disguised as the loyal battalion Ming army attacked everywhere, plundered many gentry and wealthy people, and many heads rolled to the ground. For a time, the gentry and wealthy people in the Yiling area of Weiyang were all in danger, some went to Wuhan City, and some people prayed everywhere for the Qing army to send troops to exterminate the thieves.

Wuchang Governor Yamen, Zhang Changgeng angrily yelled at Zhao Liangdong: "Thieves are harming the people, how did you become a chief military officer?" How can't even a handful of thieves stop them! ”

"Back to my lord! The last general Padang was defeated, suffered heavy losses, and could only defend the city by himself, and the thieves attacked with cavalry, and our army was difficult to deal with! Only by letting the squires organize group training can they stop the thieves from attacking and harassing! Zhao Liangdong replied.

Zhou Peigong was also active over there, and the "consequences" of the so-called "thieves and robbers" were magnified several times by Zhou Peigong and a group of gentry who had people in the imperial court, which made some gentry on the Hanjiang Plain panic. Then Zhou Peigong struck while the iron was hot, and asked a group of people with meritorious achievements to take the opportunity to mobilize in various counties, towns and villages, collect donations, and recruit village warriors.

These people are all meritorious people, and the fame of lifting people is much more effective than showmanship, and all dynasties have only heard of poor showmanship, who has ever heard of poor people? As long as they are lifted, they are masters, and they enjoy the benefits brought by the court, and they are naturally willing to serve the court.

There are famous gentry who personally "went to the countryside" to form a regiment to practice the village bravery, and they themselves took out the white flowers and silver to show up to attract those squires who have no merit to invest.

This kind of investment is obviously a loss of money, and the cost of investing in the formation of a new type of green camp will of course be wasted in the end, and it is impossible to recover a single copper plate. But "thieves are rampant", if even their lives are gone, what do you need money for?

In this case, persuaded by the gentry and threatened, the squires agreed to spend their money to form a new type of green camp for the efficiency of the country.

There are two ways to form a new green battalion, one is the Huguang new green battalion army under the direct jurisdiction of Zhang Changgeng and Zhou Peigong, which directly provides weapons for training, which is created by the squires from all over the country to raise donations and recruit people from the people; Another new type of green camp is a regiment formed by the local gentry and local officials themselves to train the villagers.

Due to the "rampant thieves", the squires were in a panic, but most of the squires had no merit, and they were not qualified to create group training without authorization, so they could only take out money to form group training for those gentry with merit and fame.

Lifting people is qualified to be officials, but there are many people who are really lacking, so many people can only grasp the power to control the people in the people, and there is no way to obtain official positions. Now Aobai allows people who have made meritorious contributions to organize group exercises by themselves, which makes many people see the opportunity to be promoted. (To be continued.) )