The Qing military ship was moored on the shore, and two sentries guarded the ship. Two of Zhang Wei's personal soldiers stepped forward, and one of them took out a pack of Nanyang Red Double Happiness from his arms and handed it over: "Two brothers, let's have one!" ”

The two Qing soldiers reached out to catch the cigarettes, but the two personal soldiers moved like lightning, and the two sharp daggers were suddenly pulled out and slashed through the throats of the Qing sentry. The two soldiers were cut off along with the trachea and neck artery, and they couldn't shout at all, and after a few struggles, they collapsed on the deck.

There were also a few Zhang Wei's soldiers on the ship, and when they saw the soldiers outside, they also did it at the same time. At this time, the Qing soldiers who remained on the ship were asleep. The Ming army was naturally unceremonious, raised their swords in their hands, and sent these Qing soldiers to meet the king of Hades in their sleep.

The two sentries standing at the gate of the Qing army camp were also silently consummated by Zhang Wei's personal soldiers.

Zhang Wei first tied a strip of red cloth on his arm, and his own soldiers also tied a strip of red cloth on their arms to avoid being accidentally injured by the Ming army who came in from outside. Then he took the men and lit the torches with a bonfire. More than 30 pro-soldiers, each with a torch in their hands, were blazing. With Zhang Wei's order, the soldiers ran back and forth in the Qing army barracks, throwing torches to the tents. Soon the tents were blazing with fire.

The sleeping Qing soldiers inside were scorched by the flames, woke up, rushed out of the tent, and collided with the Ming soldiers waiting outside, only to be beheaded.

"The Tartar camp is on fire! Kill! Liu Zhen, who was waiting in the woods outside, roared.

"Kill!" Countless figures emerged from the woods, wielding various weapons in their hands, shouting and slaughtering into the flaming Qing army camp. Many Qing soldiers who were on fire let out heart-rending screams and rushed out of the tents, but they were ruthlessly cut down in a pool of blood by the Ming troops who rushed in from outside.

Smoke and fire were billowing everywhere in the Qing army camp, and some people were crying. Some people shouted "fire fighting", and some people were about to lift buckets to go to the river to fetch water, but when they saw the Ming army rushing in unexpectedly, they immediately threw away the buckets and surrendered on the ground.

"Kill!" In the chaotic barracks, the shouts of killing shook the sky, and the flames soared into the sky, and thick smoke billowed to the sky. In the chaos, the Qing soldiers scurried around. The Ming army slashed and killed the Qing soldiers one by one.

Some of the Qing soldiers who did not die on the riverside boat woke up, and just rushed out of the cabin to see what was going on, standing beside them, the Ming soldiers who were also wearing Qing soldiers' clothes and wearing red cloth strips on their arms were cut down with a knife.

"Surrender or die!" Zhang Wei shouted.

"We surrender! Spare your life! The Qing soldiers knelt on the ground.

Zhang Wei took a group of people and escorted the captured Qing soldiers aside. Let them kneel on the ground, leave a group of people around to guard, and then lead people to extinguish the fire, so that the smoke will not be found in the Qing army beacon tower in the distance after dawn.

From the beginning of Zhang Wei's move to the end of the battle, in less than half an hour, more than 200 of the more than 600 Qing soldiers were killed, and the remaining 400 or so were taken prisoner, and none of them escaped. More than 50 large and small ships of the Qing army. also all became Zhang Wei's trophies.

The captives were interrogated, and the results of the interrogation did not deviate much from the information obtained by the scout spies from Guangyuan. The Qing army garrison in the Guangyuan area was less than 3,000 people, of which there were only more than 1,000 soldiers in armor, and the rest were auxiliaries.

Zhang Wei asked some Ming soldiers to escort the Qing prisoners and hide them in the cabin, and he himself took the soldiers disguised as Qing soldiers and set sail on the ship. Strive against the stream. Originally, the Qing army was going up empty-handed, but now there are so many more people, and the northwest wind is blowing in winter, and the speed of the boats going up the current is very slow, so Zhang Wei had to choose some places where the river beach is relatively gentle. The Qing prisoners were used as slender men, and the boat was pulled up slowly.

The topography of the upper reaches of the Jialing River is very complicated, although it is the dry season in winter, but not every section of the river has a gentle river beach, meet the cliff and go straight to the river, there is no river beach on both sides, so people have to use bamboo poles to support the boat, slowly through the valley. Along the way, there were several small beacons of the Qing army on the top of the mountain, but the Qing troops on it did not suspect it.

The fleet sailed with difficulty for more than ten days before arriving at Zhaohua City in the lower reaches of Guangyuan.

The ancient city of Zhaohua in this era is basically an empty city, after Zhang Xianzhong's disaster in Sichuan, the suppression of the Ming army, the Qing army into Sichuan, the resistance of Xiying and many other wars, Sichuan people were captured to be strong men, killed, fled, starved to death and died, so that the population of Sichuan fell to the point that it was almost uninhabited for thousands of miles.

Originally, there were only more than 100 Qing soldiers stationed in the ancient city of Zhaohua, and Wang Jinzhong's old trick was repeated, and he deceived the city gate in the name of Wu Sangui Pingxi Wangfu Transport Team and captured the ancient city of Zhaohua. The Qing soldiers in the city didn't even have time to send a beacon smoke signal, and they were all annihilated. At this time, Wang Jinzhong had been waiting here for eight days.

"Why did it take so long to get there? We've been waiting here for days! Wang Jinzhong asked as soon as he saw Zhang Wei.

"Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the sky, you don't know it." Zhang Wei replied.

"Is it still difficult to walk by water?" Wang Jinzhong snorted.

"So many of us are on the boat, plus the prisoners, it's too slow to swim upstream!"

"It's too slow! If it's a few days later, the Tartars on Guangyuan's side will be suspicious! If they send a small boat down to take a look, we are exposed! Fortunately, the Tartars didn't send a boat downstream, nor did they send anyone to the Sword Pavilion to check! It was also very risky to say, and Wang Jinzhong felt very uneasy. If the Qing army sent people to the Sword Pavilion to check, or came to Zhaohua, or sent a small boat downstream, then the actions of the Ming army would be all exposed, not to mention the plan of the surprise attack on Guangyuan, which attracted Li Guoying's attention and sent heavy troops to encircle and suppress, and even the Western Expeditionary Army was in danger! And this is not the worst case, the Qing court will even strengthen the monitoring of the Pingxi Royal Mansion transport team, not only will it become impossible to sneak attack the Qing army in the name of the Pingxi Royal Mansion transport team in the future, but even Wang Xinyu's plan to find a way to counter Wu Sangui's department will all come to naught!

After the two armies met, without further ado, Wang Jinzhong left 200 people to garrison Zhaohua City, and Liu Zhen, the king of Shu, guarded the city. The Qing prisoners captured along the way were also temporarily imprisoned in the city. After that, the Western Expeditionary Army was divided into two routes, one was led by Wang Jinzhong, and went to Guangyuan by land; The other way was led by Zhang Wei and rushed to Guangyuan on a captured Qing army transport ship.

Although Wang Jinzhong took the land route, the water flow in the upper reaches of the Jialing River was too fast, and the speed of the fleet upriver was not as fast as the speed of the land plank road, so Wang Jinzhong arrived in Guangyuan one day earlier than Zhang Wei.

"We are the Pingxi Royal Mansion Transport Team! I want to escort the goods to Shaanxi! Hurry up and open the door and let us in! When he arrived at Guangyuan City, Wang Jinzhong asked people to go to the city to shout.

Shouted for a long time. Only then did someone slowly poke his head out of the city tower, glanced down, and replied slowly: "Is it the Pingxi Royal Mansion Transport Team?" Please wait outside! Humble duty to report to the lord again! ”

After a long time, someone went up to the city, and after looking at it for a long time, he saw that there were many mules and horses in the vehicles of this convoy, and he thought that it was a big fat sheep that could be slaughtered with a knife. So the man asked, "How much goods did you bring through the customs this time?" Sign up! We can only open the door after paying the customs duties first! ”

Wang Jinzhong under the city secretly scolded in his heart: I really treat us as the big fat sheep of Pingxi Palace! Wu Sangui, the old turtle, seems to have made a lot of money! Catch a handful of tartars along the way!

Wang Jinzhong's man replied: "My lord, it's getting dark! In this wilderness, wild beasts are rampant, you open the door first and let us in, and then slowly calculate the customs duties when we enter the city. ”

The Qing general at the head of the city sneered: "Who doesn't know that the Pingxi Royal Mansion has made a lot of money in the past year?" The first few times, we also opened the door to let you over, but you actually underreported the goods! We caught up with you to collect the money, and you even wounded our people! If you don't pay the money today, don't even think about it! ”

Wang Jinzhong secretly said in his heart: I can't imagine that the relationship between Pingxi Wangfujun and Li Guoying is so bad! But since they want to blend into the city. Then give them the money first! Kill them in a while, and you won't get the money back? Thinking of this, he said to his soldiers: "Send the list of goods to the adults to see!" ”

The pro-soldier received the order, and walked to the city alone with the list: "My lord, here is the list of goods, please be aware of it!" ”

At the head of the city, a Qing soldier came down with a hanging basket, took the list from his own soldiers, and sat on the hanging basket, and handed the list to the Qing general.

Look at the list of goods. The Qing general smiled: "There are five hundred transparent glass vases and one thousand transparent glass teacups." 300 transparent glass mirrors, 2,000 catties of special offerings for the Eight Banners, 1,000 boxes of Nanyang cigarettes, 300 ivory, and 500 pieces of jade...... Master Zhang, take the abacus to calculate the accounts. How much tax is paid for this! ”

The master picked up the abacus and "crackled" and knocked it: "My lord, it has been calculated, this batch of goods is worth 3,576,000 taels of silver, according to our old rule of 20 draws, we should collect taxes of 178,880,800 taels of silver!" ”

The Qing general laughed at the city: "The people of the Pingxi Wangfu under the city listen well. The customs duty is 178,800 taels of silver! Ben will give you a discount, as long as you receive 170,000 taels! Prepare the money first, and send two men into the city, and we will open the door and let it go." ”

"That's too expensive, isn't it?" Hearing the figure of 170,000 taels of silver, Wang Jinzhong gasped. All of them combined, they don't have that much silver on them! Most of the goods on the car are fake, but in fact, they are all sandbags and straw, and there are only a small amount of real goods. Originally, their western expeditionary army set out from Burma, and it was very difficult to walk the mountain roads, so it was impossible to carry so many valuable things with them, and the so-called transportation of goods was all a cover to deceive the Qing soldiers to open the door.

"You're too black-hearted, aren't you? If you collect taxes like this at every level, what money will we make in Pingxi Palace? We've got all the money we've worked so hard to deliver! Wang Jinzhong's personal soldiers were so angry that they scolded the city.

"Humph!" The head of the city snorted coldly, "If you don't pay the silver, don't think about it!" ”

Wang Jinzhong stopped his own soldiers and whispered in his ear: "Let's all get together and see if we can make up so much silver." ”

"My lord, where are we going to get so much silver!" The soldiers smiled bitterly and said softly, "The Chengdu we captured doesn't even have people in it, let alone silver." All the way over, it is all deserted, not to mention silver, and there are few copper plates! ”

"It's really not possible, brothers, let's get together, put together the cigarettes, the special offerings of the Eight Banners, the gold and jade on our bodies, and let's go to the city first." Wang Jinzhong said helplessly.

The Ming army under the city scraped together 20,000 taels of silver, more than 1,000 taels of gold, 100 catties of special offerings for the Eight Banners, more than 100 pieces of jade, more than 20 sets of glassware and more than 200 cigarettes. When some people were reluctant to take out their silver and belongings, Wang Jinzhong comforted them and said, "When we enter the city, kill the Tartars, and we will get these silver and things back!" In this way, those soldiers were reluctant to hand over their money and possessions.

Wang Jinzhong asked people to put the silver and goods under the city, and shouted to the city: "My lord above, we don't have much silver on us, let's take some of the goods to offset taxes!" I hope you open the door and let a way! ”

The Qing general at the head of the city saw that it was almost over, and with these silver and goods, he also made a windfall, so he shouted: "Open the door, and move the silver and goods in first!" ”

The Qing army first sent a few people to push the carts loaded with silver and goods into the city, and then put Wang Jinzhong and them into the city.

Entering the city, Wang Jinzhong and the Qing generals guarding the city reported their names to each other, of course, Wang Jinzhong appeared in Wang Shirong's name, and handed over the waist card to show his identity. After that, Wang Jinzhong complained again: "Lord Chen, the tax you draw here is too high!" The brothers were not prepared, and they did not have enough money on them. As soon as the tax was paid, the brothers had no money to pay for their journey! ”

"Hahaha!" The guerrilla surnamed Chen laughed, "Lord Wang is exaggerating!" Your truckloads of goods are priceless! Guarding the mountains of gold and silver and saying that there is no money? If Lord Wang really has no money, he can sell a batch of goods to the general! ”

Wang Jinzhong scolded in his heart: It's so dark! After pumping such a high tax, you have to buy goods cheaply! This time it changed hands, and this guy could make a lot of money again! But he said on his mouth: "Lord Chen, there is still some food in the hands of this official, and it is still enough to stick to Dao Hanzhong." When we arrive in Hanzhong, there are our people over there, and there will be no shortage of silver! ”

"Hahaha!" Chen Guerrilla laughed, "Lord Wang will stay here for a night tonight, come on!" Good wine and good food come up! General Ben wants to treat Lord Wang well! ”

At the banquet, Chen Guerrilla inquired about the situation of the Pingxi Palace, and then asked about the situation in Jianchang, Pengshan, Chengdu and other places along the way. Wang Jinzhong replied fluently, replying that Chengdu had been attacked and captured by thieves, but fortunately, the governor (Li Guoying) took it back. The transport team of Pingxi Wangfu also encountered thieves on the road, but the thieves saw that the transport team was strong, and at the same time did not dare to offend Pingxi Wangfu, the two sides confronted each other for a while, and the transport team gave the thief a little food and grass, and the thief retreated by himself.

"Where did the thief come from?" Chen Guerrilla asked again.

Wang Jinzhong replied: "Most of the thieves are some local natives who do not obey Wanghua, and they rebel as soon as they are instigated by the western thieves and the thieves. It seems that many toasts in western Sichuan have rebelled. ”

Chen Guerrilla laughed and said, "Little thief, why be afraid? When the Governor leads the army to defeat the Kuidong thieves, he will come back to clean up these little thieves in western Sichuan! Now that the Governor has compressed the thieves in the areas of Bagui, Xingshan, and Maolu Mountain, the imperial court has mobilized more than 100,000 troops to encircle and suppress them, and the thieves have not been able to stumble for a few days! ”

Hearing this, Wang Jinzhong was very worried in his heart, Li Laiheng and them were indeed very dangerous, and they could be destroyed at any time! If Li Laiheng's force is wiped out by the Qing army, then the Qing army will be able to free up their hands to attack Jiangnan with all their might! (To be continued.) )