It wasn't until the beginning of May that Zhao Guozuo and Song Kui interrogated a few groups of defeated envoys from Huzhou, and the two felt that this matter was strange, and when a farmer saw the regular army, not only did he not tremble in his legs and stomach with fright, but the guns and cannons rang out, and even came out to pursue them viciously - Zhuang Yuncheng actually came out to pursue the officers and soldiers, and the soldiers who fled back said that the enemy was still in complete armor, and there were more guns and cannons.

"The first time was when Gui'an County sent a government officer," Zhao Guozuo read Jia Zhennan's confession several times, even the county didn't take this confession seriously before, but now the governor of Zhejiang didn't dare to take it lightly but analyzed it seriously: "The official messenger politely knocked on the door, and shouted in front of the door to ask Master Zhuang to go to the county to explain clearly, but Zhuang Li fired all the guns without saying a word, and killed almost forty officials - such a fierce old man." ”

Zhao Guozuo and Song Kui both felt that this was too abnormal, and suspected that someone behind them was supporting Zhuang Yuncheng, and the firearms described by the green camp were too powerful, and it sounded like a military firearm, and the most important thing was that there was actually a tiger squat cannon, which seemed to be the standard equipment of the Han Eight Banners - it seemed that the Han Eight Banners participated in the war in Huaiyang at the end of last year, so the Daming Baoguo Gong of Sichuan seemed to have a chance to capture a batch.

"And Chongqing seems to have the Han Eight Banners garrisoned." Song Kui flipped through the Tang newspapers about Deng Ming in the imperial court over the years, and found some reports about Deng Ming, and at this time he and Zhao Guozuo's faces turned pale.

"There is a messenger who asks for the protection of the country." Zhao Guozuo hurriedly instructed a confidant.

Because of the agreement reached with the governor of Sichuan and the governor of the Yangtze River and the commander of the Ming army of the Qing Dynasty, half of the property confiscated by the Zhejiang government in the Ming history case belonged to Baoguo Gong, so Zhao Guozuo agreed to Deng Ming's people to consult the file. Deng Ming gladly sent an envoy, and asked the envoy to bring a letter from him, in which he suggested that Zhao Guozuo make this envoy permanent -- Deng Ming said that he thought consul was a good title to be granted to these envoys sent to the provincial capitals, and he also warmly invited Zhao Guozuo to send a consul to Chengdu to facilitate communication between Sichuan and Zhejiang.

However, Zhao Guozuo did not take Deng Ming's suggestion seriously, and after the "consul" sent by Sichuan arrived in Hangzhou, Zhao Guozuo did not wish to meet with him, although the envoy not only asked for communication, but Zhao Guozuo felt that the Ming history case had not yet begun, and there was no need to meet at all, so he sent his henchmen to provide the people who came with good food and drink in a secret place, and ordered not to interfere with the communication between the envoy and the Ming army in order to show Deng Ming the sincerity of the Zhejiang side.

Soon Deng Ming's envoy Zhang Tao was brought to the governor's yamen, and Zhao Guozuo tried to find out whether there was Deng Ming's shadow behind the dealer. Although Zhao Guozuo was vague, Zhang Tao generously admitted: "Baoguo Gong has long ordered me to explain to Governor Zhao that there are arms merchants in Sichuan who are selling armor, swords, bows, crossbows, rifles, and cannons to Zhuang Yuncheng and other gentry suspected of the Ming history case......

After hearing Zhang Tao's product categories, Song Kui jumped up: "Didn't Baoguo Gong promise not to interfere in the Ming History Case?" Why backtracking? ”

"Of course, the Duke of Baoguo did not interfere, and he ordered me to explain the situation to Governor Zhao, also to show his sincerity, and I asked to see Governor Zhao several times, but was refused."

Zhao Guozuo and Song Kui looked at each other, Song Kui's identity is similar to Guan Zhongzhong, not enough for him to be much more shrewd than Guan Zhongzhong, last time he came forward to hand over the ransom fee to Li Xinghan and others; No matter what difficulties they encountered later, Songkui and Zhao Guozuo worked closely together, so Zhejiang officialdom can be called monolithic and very united.

"With so many weapons and armor, Bao Guogong said that he would not interfere, is this self-deception?" Zhao Guozuo shouted violently.

"These weapons and armor were sold by the Baoguo Gong to the merchants, and then the merchants resold them to the dealer, not the Baoguo Gong directly sold them to the dealer, and if the Baoguo Gong did not have a clear conscience, how could he order me to inform Governor Zhao of this matter as soon as possible?" Zhang Tao spoke eloquently, without the slightest shame on his face, nor did he show anger because of Zhao Guozuo's shouting: "Baoguo Gong strictly adheres to neutrality in the war between Governor Zhao and Mr. Zhuang, and will definitely not send troops to help in the war. ”

"The merchant who sells weapons to the dealer, if the official gets it, will the Baoguo Gong ignore it?" Zhao Guozuo asked.

"Of course not, they are all subjects of the Ming Dynasty, and they are not suitable for the trial of the Governor of Zhao - although the Ming and the Qing are now at war, the Governor of Zhao and Lieutenant Colonel Li Xinghan have a secret truce, and the Governor of Zhao does not intend to break it, right?" Deng Ming's instructions to Zhang Tao were very clear: "In addition, Bao Guogong also asked me to inform Governor Zhao that the arms dealer also invited a few Ming soldiers to go to the dealer to help him train Zhuang Ding, because the dealer paid the arms dealer a reward, so Bao Guogong was not easy to obstruct; However, Bao Guogong kept in mind the cease-fire agreement with Governor Zhao, and strictly ordered them not to step out of the Zhuang compound, and if Governor Zhao found that they had left the Zhuang compound to participate in the attack on the capital and county seat of Zhejiang, then Bao Guogong would no longer ask Governor Zhao to return them to us but let you dispose of them. However, if such a thing happens, I hope to be able to read the evidence and observe the interrogation of these soldiers, so as to convey the truth to the Baoguo Gong. ”

As for the tiger squat cannon owned by the Zhuang family, Zhang Tao also admitted that it was sold to Zhuang Yuncheng by the Ming army.

When Zhao Guozuo and Song Kui convened their staff to discuss countermeasures overnight, several more batches of arms were transported from Jiangnan to Huzhou. Now the situation in the entire Huzhou Mansion has gotten out of control, and there is no shadow of the Qing army on the official road; And those road ragers who set up cards to charge fees will respectfully let them go after seeing the banker's banner, so the arms purchased by Zhuang Yuncheng are unimpeded all the way.

With the success of the dealer, a large number of gentry suspected of participating in the Ming history case defected to his banner, and a large number of magistrates took the opportunity to extort money during this time, making people panic; Many scholars are obviously not on the blacklist, but they are also very bitter by the local officials, mistakenly thinking that most of them will not be able to get rid of the crime of great rebellion. Before, these desperate scholars could only hope for the government's grace because they had no way out, but Huzhou Mansion Green Camp couldn't even beat the two landlords, resulting in the disgrace of Zhejiang Green Camp.

Soon someone in Jiaxing secretly came to visit Zhuang Yuncheng, and through the latter's matchmaking, he ordered twenty rifles from the shopkeeper of An Le Si at a high price of one hundred and eighty taels of silver. Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming, who were invincible all over Huzhou, also sent support to Jiaxing Mansion because the pressure was relieved -- 20 riflemen and more than 100 Zhuang Ding in armor. The gentry of Huzhou knew very well that the soldiers of the provincial capital were unlikely to be easily used, and now they not only had to support the Jiaxing uprising, but it was also best to burn the flames of war to Ningbo Mansion and Shaoxing Mansion to form an encirclement of Hangzhou, so that the soldiers and horses of the provincial capital would not dare to be easily sent to Huzhou.

At the end of April and the beginning of May, there was also a great chaos in Jiaxing Prefecture, and after the gentry had the courage to unite because of the victory of Huzhou Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming, the green camp completely turned into a paper tiger. As in Shandong, as in Shandong, as soon as most of the local gentry formed an alliance, the green battalion of the prefecture and county began to break away from the grasp of the prefect and the county order, and when two skirmishes broke out in Jiaxing, the reinforcements sent by Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming and the purchased rifles were once again exerted great power. Jiaxing Prefecture, which was unfavorable to suppression, learned the lesson of Huzhou Prefecture and did not dare to dispatch government soldiers to run around, but concentrated on defending the periphery of the prefecture.

And the gentry of Huzhou and Jiaxing also came to the same conclusion as Zhuang Yuncheng and them, that is, they should buy rifles from the An's arms dealer in large quantities, and this weapon will give them the ability to protect themselves - all their bribes still do not get a guarantee of the peace of the clan, so it is better to take out the silver to buy rifles, and the situation is becoming more and more obvious, as long as the gentry are united, at least the government has no way to deal with them.

The shopkeeper said that a hundred rifles could be delivered in May, and these goods were looted, and all the gentry were eager to have a few, which made the gentry feel that the fly in the ointment was that the An's arms dealer had no more cannons to sell, and its eight tiger squat cannons had been sold out.

On 5 May, a report from the Jiaxing government was sent to Hangzhou, and the Ningbo government also reported that the wealthy households under its rule were acting abnormally, as if they were engaged in a tandem with the imperial court--the defeat of the green camp in Huzhou and Jiaxing not only gave more confidence to the gentry in eastern Zhejiang, but also caused the government in Ningbo and Shaoxing to have no confidence in the use of force to suppress it, and they suffered greater losses in the previous battle with the Sichuan army, and they were also seriously infiltrated by Zhoushan. The biggest problem is the Ningbo government, because the ban on the sea has caused the Ningbo government to lose half of its taxes, and it is barely surviving with the support of the provincial capital. Now that the Zhoushan army was more active, the attitude of the gentry was becoming more and more unreliable, and the Ningbo government wailed that if the provincial capital did not send troops to station, it would be completely unable to support it.

"Ask the court for help." Zhao Guozuo, who was at a loss, could only ask Beijing for guilt, hoping that Beijing would reduce some of Zhejiang's taxes and agree to amnesty for the people involved in the Ming history case - many of the gentry who are now making trouble will actually have nothing to do at all, and blame the local officials for their insatiable greed, which led them to go to Qingjun with Zhuang Yuncheng.

At the same time, Zhao Guozuo also hoped that Beijing would send some Han Eight Banners to Zhejiang, or lift the restrictions on firearms in the Green Battalion - even if Zhao Guozuo wanted to buy some rifles from Deng Ming to form a balance of force with the gentry, he would not be able to distribute these equipment to his troops.

"But everything should be seen in a good place," seeing the low morale of the staff, the governor of Zhejiang encouraged them: "The only rebellious party in Huzhou and Jiaxing is the tiger squat cannon, which is guaranteed to the official by the consul of Baoguogong, this kind of firearm is no problem to defend and defend their house, but it cannot be used to attack the county seat." When the imperial court understands the situation in Zhejiang, it will at least give us some tiger squat artillery, and when the time comes, the officers and soldiers will fight with these village owners, and the equipment will not be too bad, and they will still have the ability to protect themselves. ”