Hearing Liu Tiezhu's words, Wang Laosi and Zhang Dabing both felt the same way, and regretted that they did not take Wang Xi's suggestion at the beginning. Wang Xi looked at Wang Laosi and the others with a smile, and was very pleased that these rebels could rein in the precipice, change their minds, and said: "It's not too late for you to repent now, and I will still give you a righteous and bright birth when you arrive in Sichuan." ”

The few people who were rescued from falling into the water in Anqing Mansion before watched coldly, laughing from time to time, and heard Wang Xi say this, and the people who had been arguing with Liu Tiezhu said: "Do you think that everything will be fine if you surrender this Qin Cha at that time?" Those Manchurians with white flags want to kill you, does he dare to speak? I'm someone else's dog, and I can't think of anything to save people. Wang Xi was angry on the spot and said: "You bastard rebelled against the court by yourself and cut off your own way out, how can you let others learn from you, the world is so chaotic, and the people's poor livelihood is caused by traitors such as you, what face do you have to slander the court officials here." ”

The weak man said: "Which court is it?" We don't recognize the court of the Tartars, since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, killing people everywhere and setting fires, humiliating wives and daughters, and looting property, resulting in how many families were destroyed and displaced? Running horses in my Daming rivers and mountains, shaving hair and making it easy to wear, bad for my Han ancestral traditions. How can you not rise up and resist? These things were indeed done by the Manchurians, and Wang Xi could not find a way to refute them for a while. Then he said: "After the Manchurians entered the customs, they respected Confucius and Mencius, practiced Han law, used Han officials, and shaved their hair and were easy to obey were just folk customs, so why were they heinous?" If it weren't for your obsession and rebellion against the court, the world would have been ruled long ago and the people would have been stable. ”

Wang Laosi had just gone to ask the boatman to start the boat, and when he returned to the deck, he saw the two arguing, so he said to the weak man: "You are too, why are you so stubborn?" This Qincha is a great official of the imperial court, will he have less insight than you? He didn't say that the Manchurians were so bad, why didn't you listen to them? ”

A person next to the weak man said: "Hmph, big official, do big officials have knowledge?" Do you know who he is? As he spoke, he pointed to the weak man. Wang Xi was also unconvinced: "Then who is Your Excellency?" Let's get to know each other and discuss any problems. Although he said that he was asking for advice, his expression was quite arrogant. Of course, at the age of thirty-one, he is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and he is almost at the top of the Wenchen, which is indeed worthy of pride.

The man who just spoke didn't think so, and said with an even more arrogant expression: "You can listen well, this is Master Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of our Ming Dynasty's military department." After speaking, he still looked like he didn't hurry to see him. But what disappointed him was that Wang Laosi and the others didn't know what the military department was still about, so Wang Xi was a little puzzled and said: "This name is so familiar, it seems that I have heard it somewhere." As he spoke, he said to Zhang Huang: "I don't know why Lord Shangshu is not in Yunnan, but appears in Anqing?" ”

Saying that, Wang Xi suddenly screamed: "Anqing, Jiangning, Wuhu, you, you..." Wang Xi suddenly thought of Zheng Chenggong's attack on Jiangning that he heard in the Qianqing Palace, and Zhang Huangyan led his troops to attack the Wuhu area, only to think that in front of him was Zhang Huangyan, the secretary of the military department of the former Ming Dynasty, and he was speechless with excitement for a while.

It took a long time for Wang Xi to salute Zhang Huangyan and said: "It turned out to be Zhang Huangyan Master Zhang, I have also heard of your deeds in Jingshi, and it is indeed Wang Xi's rudeness." Wang Laosi and Liu Tiezhu were stunned when they watched from the sidelines, they never thought that there was a Ming official here.

Zhang Huang said: "What an adult is not a big person, in your opinion, he is just a thief." If you want to go to Sichuan, let me get off the boat when you get to the area of Padang. Wang Xi said: "Cangshui, you are a civil and military all-rounder, wouldn't it be a mistake to delay like this, why don't you go to Sichuan with me to do a great cause, and also seek a period of well-being for the people of the world." And I, the Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, also admire your talent. ”

Zhang Huangyan sneered: "I, Zhang Huangyan, was born as a person of the Ming Dynasty, and I should be a ghost of the Ming Dynasty when I die." Why do you need a good Tartar to appreciate my talent as a Han person, the Tartar is just a slave of my Ming family. Zhang Huangyan's Wang Xi was also flushed, and it was not easy to persuade Zhang Huangyan. With a sigh, he turned and went into the ship's room.

With Zhang Huangyan was the local rebel army in Anqing Prefecture, who was originally going to send Zhang Huangyan to Jiande, and then let Zhang Huangyan take a detour back to Zhejiang. Now that he followed the boat to the Jingzhou Mansion in Huguang, he saw that he was about to enter Sichuan, and said to Zhang Huang worriedly: "Zhang Shangshu, now that we have arrived in Sichuan, what will we do in the future?" Zhang Huangyan looked at the several strong men who escorted him all the way and said: "You are all righteous men of the Ming Dynasty, this place is thousands of miles away from your hometown, if you go back rashly, I am afraid that there will be a difference halfway." I was also going to go to Zhejiang, but now that I'm here, it's also providential. Since we can't go back, let's go to Kui, where my Ming king's master is located. As long as I don't die, I will fight to the end in the Manchu Tartars. ”

The four men also said in unison: "Lord Shangshu has an order, we will naturally obey it, as long as I don't die, I will definitely fight with the Tartars to the end." "Wang Laosi and the others now have Wang Xi to arrange for them, so they don't want to rebel anymore, and they look at Zhang Huangyan and the others who swear that they will not stop or participate.

Seeing that the boat was about to enter Xiling Gorge and the waterway was becoming more and more difficult to walk, everyone on the boat gave up their opposition and worked together to make the boat. Entering Xiling Gorge is entering the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges waterway is rugged and difficult to travel, and the water flow is still very turbulent. The two official boats were large, and the shore was pulled by slender men, and everyone on the boat worked hard to paddle hard, not daring to slack off in the slightest. Even so, the boat was still moving slowly.

Zhang Huangyan and Wang Xi, two literati who have a non-stop position, don't quarrel now, standing at the bow of the boat, looking at the cliffs on both sides of the strait, and sighing at the creation of heaven and earth. The boats going up are all on the left, and from time to time I see boats speeding down the river on the right, and the faces of the two cannot even be seen clearly, and the opposite side is already drifting away from the river.

Zhang Huangyan sighed: "Li Taibai's light boat has passed the Wanzhong Mountain, but fortunately it is going downstream, if it is against the current, it will not be easy." Wang Xi said with a smile: "Take advantage of the trend along the river, of course, you can go thousands of miles, morning and evening." This is done against the trend, even if Zhuge Kongming can only work in vain. In the end, there is only regret. ”

Zhang Huangyan knew that Wang Xi was alluding to his resistance to the Qing Dynasty, and he didn't defend him, and said: "I know that there is a sixteen-year-old boy in Songjiang Mansion, he is a little talented, and he once wrote a poem, I don't know if Lord Wang has enjoyed it together." Wang Xi was a little surprised when he saw that Zhang Huangyan ignored his persuasion, but instead studied the poem, but still said to Zhang Huang: "Oh, such a talented young man, Cangshui come and listen." Zhang Huangyan glanced at Wang Xi and said, "Three years of detention of tourists, today is the southern crown." Infinite rivers and mountains tears, who says that the world is wide? It is known that the spring road is near, and it is difficult to say goodbye to his hometown. On the day of the return of perseverance, the spirit flag looks in the sky. As soon as Zhang Huangyan chanted the first sentence, Wang Xi knew that this was Zhang Huangyan's sarcasm about himself, and it is not an exaggeration to say that this poem is a desperate poem of Songjiang Xia Wanchun.

This Xia Wanchun was only sixteen years old but participated in the resistance to the Qing Dynasty, and was finally arrested, at that time it was Hong Chengchou who was ordered to supervise Jiangnan, Hong Chengchou cherished Xia Wanchun's talent, and wanted to persuade this sixteen-year-old boy to surrender, but Xia Wanchun did not pay attention to Hong Chengchou's persuasion, but said to Hong Chengchou: "I have a great loyal minister in the Ming Dynasty, his name is Hong Hengjiu, when he fought with the Manchurian Tartars outside the Guan, killed countless enemies, and later he was ambushed by the Tartars, unfortunately martyred, the first emperor Chongzhen also wrote a poem for him to remember, praised his loyalty and unyielding. "This Hong Hengjiu is Hong Chengchou, Hengjiu is Hong Chengchou's word, Xia Wanchun praised Hong Chengchou's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty in front of Hong Chengchou, who had surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty, so that Hong Chengchou, who had surrendered, was suddenly ashamed. Hong Chengchou saw that Xia Wanchun did not accept his surrender, and he humiliated himself, so he was so angry that he had to kill Xia Wanchun.

Of course, Wang Xi knew about Xia Wanchun, he had just persuaded Zhang Huangyan to surrender, Zhang Huangyan responded with Xia Wanchun's poems, Wang Xi also knew that it was impossible for Zhang Huangyan to surrender, so he no longer said words of persuasion, and the two only talked about some scenery on both sides of the strait, strange rocks and strange appearances.

The fleet passed through Huangniu Gorge, Horse Liver Gorge, and White Dog Man, and arrived at Niukou five days later, and immediately entered Wuxia. On this day, the fleet was replenishing food at the cow's mouth, and the boatmen also took the opportunity to rest. At this moment, there was chaos in the streets, and people kept shouting: "The thieves are coming, the thieves are coming." ”

Everyone in the fleet was panicked, because Liu Tiezhu, who went to replenish food, had not come back, and everyone couldn't leave for a while, Wang Xi couldn't just call the boat to go away at this time, and when everyone was in a panic, a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out from the other end of the street, these soldiers had no military uniforms, all kinds of clothing, and weapons were also varied, none of which were the same.

Although the image of this group of soldiers looks chaotic and disorganized, like a rabble, they are quite orderly in their movements, and they do not disturb the people, but only reprimanded the people not to run around. Niukou is a small port, and it is only because Badong is occupied by Li Laiheng and other troops that Niukou gradually rises. There were only a battalion of more than 300 Qing soldiers stationed here. Seeing that there were more than 500 thieves rushing over, the Qing soldiers were timid before the battle, and the guards wanted to repel the thieves who came over, but the soldiers did not dare to step forward. After a while, the thieves who rushed to the street confronted the Qing soldiers stationed there. Before the Qing soldiers and guards asked, there was a burst of orders on the opposite side, and they all killed together, and the Qing soldiers, who were still barely lined up, were rushed over by the thieves on the opposite side and slashed and killed.

Standing on the boat and seeing the whole process of the Qing army's defeat and retreat, Wang Xi trembled with anger and said, "This is the Qing garrison officers and soldiers?" This is not as good as a rabble," Wang Laosi and others have never seen such a scene, and they look at themselves like in a dream. Zhang Huangyan sighed: "This is not the case for the local garrison soldiers in any dynasty and generation. ”

Wang Xi didn't believe it, stood on the boat and shouted: "You are the Qing Dynasty official army, you can't sacrifice your life to kill thieves, you can't maintain local peace, what is the use of the imperial court asking you?" Go up and kill the thief. Wang Xi's shout, the fleeing Qing soldiers didn't hear it, and they didn't dare to turn back when they heard it, so they just tried their best to escape. The team that was chasing the Qing soldiers heard it, and the leader of the thief soldiers who had gathered the surrendered troops over there glanced at this side, and hurriedly pointed some people to the side of the official ship, there were originally a hundred thief soldiers guarding the surrendered Qing soldiers, but now there are more than 70 people coming here.

Everyone on the boat first saw that these thieves did not harass the people, and they thought that they would not take care of themselves, but they forgot that they were on the official ship of the Qincha, and the thieves did not notice these at first, but they were clearly seen by Wang Xi's shout. Seeing that the thieves were coming, it was too late to go and start the boat now, everyone was in a panic, and Wang Laosi and others kept complaining that Wang Xi was nosy.

Wang Xi still said vigorously: "As an officer and soldier stationed in the imperial court, it is wrong not to kill the thief, and it is simply a shame for the Qing Dynasty to let the thief disperse as soon as he rushes away." Then the leader of the thieves came up to the boat, and he was followed by forty or fifty men, and the thieves ran about, and searched all the parts of the ship, and brought all the people on board to the deck. The leader of the thieves heard Wang Xi's words and said: "This seems to be a Beijing official, but unfortunately there are no Tartars, and the heads of the Han people do not remember merit" The people on the ship were relieved when they heard that the Han people did not need to cut off their heads, as long as they did not kill people, they would give them money.

One of his subordinates said: "Wu Shoubei, you said that our grandfather, why did you listen to him as a marquis, if we cut him directly, can we still give us credit?" And now the generals are not allowed to raise their own soldiers. Wu Shoubei reprimanded: "Do your job well, although you are not allowed to adopt a pro-soldier, but your treatment is still the same, aren't you still a pro-soldier now?" The soldier said, "Can this be the same?" It used to be the meat of the heart in the hands of the main general, hmph, which main general still looks at us now? If it hadn't been for Guogong's death order, I wouldn't have wanted to do it a long time ago. ”

Wu Houbei glanced at the pro-soldier, and said earnestly: "Don't think like that, didn't you say that this Pingyu Hou said, our family members went to Boryeong to be the best land, and we, the registered soldiers, our family members can pay less than half of the tax, and we have made meritorious service and the reward is also very rich. Ping Yuhou also said that if anyone who is unwilling to become a soldier can go back by himself and settle the land locally, but it is the same as ordinary people. ”

The dialogue between the two people that Zhang Huangyan listened to is simply a fantasy, there is such a method of remembering merits, Han people don't remember merits, and those who don't want to be soldiers can still go, so are there still people in the army? I don't know where this Pinghou came from.