"Father, I'm back." Zheng Yan said softly.

"Hmm." Zheng Tang slowly turned his head and said, "What did your old classmate say?" ”

"Didn't say anything." Zheng Yan said in a low voice: "It's just a matter of reminiscing...... paused: "Father, I'm afraid this matter is difficult to get better." ”

"Yes." Zheng Tang turned his head and looked at the couplet and said: "My father has always kept this couplet of Mr. Zhengxue, even if we know the Tao, we may not be able to escape the same ending." ”

"It's just like this...... Zheng Yan said gloomily, "it's too unfair to the clansmen." ”

"Ugh." Zheng Tang sighed and said in a trembling voice: "Loyalty and filial piety have been in a dilemma since ancient times, and my father finally realized how difficult Mr. Zhengxue's choice was ten years ago. "On the one hand, loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness, on the other hand, the lives of the clansmen, when the two cannot be both, how to choose is a complete tragedy.

If you choose the former, you will become a cold-blooded loyal minister, although you will be famous in history, but behind every word, there is the blood of the fathers and elders of the whole clan; If you choose the latter, you are still a loving person, but you will betray your beliefs and become a disloyal minister. Not only did it sten thousand years old, but it also brought shame on the whole clan, which was a cruel punishment worse than death......

In the countless sleepless nights before, Mr. Zheng was repeatedly asking himself who he should be responsible for and who he should be loyal to. But the answer is without exception...... Emperor Taizu treated the Zheng family favorably, awarded the Zheng family the highest honor, Emperor Jianwen reduced taxes for Zhejiang, and chose to trust the Zheng family in times of crisis, the Zheng family had no other choice but to protect Jianwen to the end, even if the whole family was sacrificed, it was not at the expense of the whole family

Although he had already made a choice, when he came to this pass, Old Man Zheng's heart was still like a knife, and in the past few days, as long as he closed his eyes, his eyes were full of corpses and a sea of blood

Fortunately, there is no choice now, if he betrays the emperor at this time, not only will his reputation be tarnished, but the lives of the whole clan will be difficult to protect. How could a tyrant like Zhu Di tolerate the existence of the Zheng family, which took in Jianwen, in the world?

"Father, when will you tell them the truth?" Zheng Yan had no choice but to retreat and say: "The clansmen have the right to know the truth of the Dao. ”

"Of course, but not now." Zheng Tang said slowly: "Now, we haven't reached the point where the mountains and rivers are exhausted, and we still have a chance to protect the master and the clansmen" After a pause, his old gaze became fierce and said: "So boy, don't be desperate to cheer up."

"Do we have any hole cards?" Zheng Yan asked suspiciously.

"Yes" Zheng Tang said in a deep voice: "Those who care about the safety of the master are not only my Zheng family, but also the loyal people in the world." They'll do everything they can to save the driver."

"I hope it......" Seeing that his father pinned his hopes on foreign aid, Zheng Yan couldn't help but be disappointed, under the attention of Emperor Yongle and under the pressure of tens of thousands of officials and soldiers, no way of the gods could fish people from Pujiang.

But Zheng Tang is reluctant to elaborate on the reason why the hole card can become the hole card, it is first of all the highest secret.

"Father has one more thing," Zheng Yan changed his words and said a more realistic crisis: "The official army is digging deep trenches around the town, will they dig our secret passages?"

"......" Zheng Tang whispered when he heard this: "Zhou Xin is too cunning, I didn't expect to come to this hand as soon as I came up," this seems to be a stupid method, but it is the most fatal: "Fortunately, my grandfather considered the secret and opened the secret passage in the depths of the ground, and the court did not know the specific location of the passage, so it could only be used evenly, and it could not be dug in a short time." After a pause, he said: "It's really not good, I can only lead the water of Tanxi into the tunnel." ”

"Then the master has no way to escape at all." Zheng Yan said in a low voice: "Why didn't my father let the master leave from the secret passage, maybe there was a possibility of escape." ”

"Impossible, the eyes and ears of the imperial court have spread all over the county, as long as the master shows his head, he will not be discovered if he can't go far." Zheng Tang shook his head.

"Alas......" Zheng Yan said in deep frustration when he heard this: "Now I really regret it, I didn't listen to the sixth brother at the beginning, and cooperated with Mingjiao to raise the banner of righteousness, even if I die, it will be vigorous, how can it be like now...... I can only wait for the butcher's knife to fall. ”

"I think you're dizzy," Zheng Tang scolded: "Why did you say that the imperial court besieged my Zheng family and didn't attack it?" It's not because we have a share of righteousness. If we merge with the Ming Sect, it will be a betrayal of Emperor Taizu, and the imperial court will naturally raise the butcher's knife without scruples" said and grabbed his son's wrist, and his sharp nails stabbed him painfully and said: "We don't need to do anything, even if it is Emperor Yongle, we can't eliminate the Zheng family clearly, this is our vitality" After a pause, he said word by word: "Remember, although we put the lives of our clansmen second, it is still above everything except for the safety of the master"

"Yes......" Zheng Yan didn't care about the pain, chewed on this sentence repeatedly, and finally understood that his father still hadn't given up on protecting the clan......

"As for the Mingjiao gang, it is simply foolish to choose Zhejiang to cause trouble, don't pull us to the end of your own life" Zheng Tang scoffed at Mingjiao, in his opinion, the people of Zhejiang have a heavy burden, and the gentry have a good heart, but it is impossible to think of success.

Because in the past ten years, there are too many scholars in Zhejiang who have come out of the Yongle Dynasty, which has divided the gentry into two factions, one of which is the old man Jianwen who was tragically killed, this faction is very prestigious among the people, but unfortunately after the bloody slaughter of the Yongle Emperor, it has withered and is difficult to compete with the upstarts rising in the Yongle Dynasty. Not to mention, facing the mighty Emperor Yongle and his wolf-like General Jingnan

As for the homeless people that Mingjiao relied on, Old Man Zheng looked down on him from the bottom of his heart, in this world, what can be done by relying on mud legs?

But the truth made his jaw drop and he couldn't regret it......

At the head of Pujiang City, the Mingjiao mud legs that Old Man Zheng looked down on gave the general Jingnan he feared a head-on blow

Qin Zhongyuan, the commander of the Mingjiao Red Turban Army, although he was a big old man, grew up from the battlefield at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and helped the Annan people to resist the imperial army in Jiaozhi for many years, and his war experience was better than Tang Yun's. And there is a Mizhi County by his side, when Lao Mi doesn't drink, he is also a well-known ruthless character, when the 20,000 troops of the Zhejiang Dusi suddenly arrived at the city of Pujiang, although the people of the Ming Sect are not afraid of death, they have no intention of taking the initiative to attack, and they all want to defend the city. Mi Zhi County said to them: "The officers and soldiers who came to attack this time are the elite divisions led by Tang Yun, and they have been chasing the Japanese to the north all the year round, and they are very arrogant, and they must have a heart to despise me." If we take advantage of this and launch a surprise attack, we will certainly be able to greatly defeat the enemy's front and boost our morale."

When the generals heard this, the tiger king Qin Zhongyuan smiled and said: "It's exactly what I want" and asked Mizhi County to lead the crowd to defend the city, and he personally led two thousand elites, and suddenly came out of the city and went straight to the official camp.

At that time, Tang Yun really underestimated the enemy, and he didn't expect these mud legs to dare to kill them, so that the whole army was busy building engineering equipment, but he didn't bother to fortify. As a result, the officers and soldiers were caught off guard and were slashed and killed, so they had to retreat temporarily...... However, the battle-hardened division was indeed good, and at the same time as the front army was attacked, the rear army established a defensive line, stabilized its position, and did not form a major rout, and the casualties were not too large.

But what is terrible is that the accessories for building siege equipment were burned clean by the mud legs with red scarves on their heads...... It took at least half a month to mobilize new equipment, which greatly affected the strength of the official army's siege.

In the following days, Uncle Tang, who was embarrassed and angry, couldn't wait for new equipment, so he ordered his subordinates to forcibly attack the city. It's just that although he besieged Pujiang City and no longer gave the Red Turban Army any chance, he was never able to capture it, but suffered serious casualties.

The reason for this situation. In addition to the disadvantage of the equipment, the main reason is that the Red Turban Army is not afraid of death. When the narrow road meets, the brave wins, not to mention the side defending the city. They sniped the officers and soldiers with rolling stones and arrows, but the low walls could not give them enough protection, and the officers and soldiers could always climb to the top of the city after paying a heavy price. At this time, the soldiers of the Red Turban Army would always kill them fiercely, they slashed with knives, kicked with their feet, bit with their teeth, and even jumped out of the city with the officers and soldiers......

In just a few days, countless corpses have been piled up under Pujiang City, including officials and soldiers and red turban soldiers, no matter which side they are, they have all turned into dust permanently, and even their names will not be remembered......

This scene was unexpected by Tang Yun, he was completely stunned, looking at the low but unconquerable city in Pujiang County, Uncle Tang was red-eyed and angry, but after all, he was an experienced general, and he knew that his own troops had been defeated, and it would be difficult to continue to attack effectively, and it would only increase sacrifices. had to endure the monstrous anger, ordered a truce and repairs, and waited for reinforcements to arrive with siege equipment, and then attacked the city.

The head of Pujiang City, which had been fighting fiercely for several days, suddenly quieted down, and the Red Turban Army also took advantage of this rare opportunity to quickly lick their wounds. Most of them had not been on the battlefield for a day, and although they occupied a favorable position and regarded death as home, there were more casualties than the officers and soldiers, and it has to be said that the situation was extremely bad.

But Qin Zhongyuan could not see the slightest anxiety on his face, and with a proud smile on his face, he patrolled around the city, encouraging his heroic men, comforting the wounded soldiers, and attending the funerals of the victims...... Mingjiao people are cremated. They set up a pyre due west, placed the bodies, and then doused them with vegetable oil and lit them, and the raging fire consumed the bodies in an instant......

Qin Zhongyuan stood at the front, behind him were thousands of believers attending the funeral, and they whispered together, reciting the mantra of Mingjiao: 'Blazing holy fire, burn my body, what joy in life, and no pain in death......

Mi Zhixian stood aside, the firelight reflecting his old face, and also showing the despair in those old eyes, because he was tied to a wooden shelf, and was about to be thrown into the fire.