"The one who rides the iron green and black mule is the traitor Liu Shouchang. Whoever then rides a horse and leads a white horse shall be his companion. ”

On Guozijian Street, several young men in cyan robes sat in a wine shop facing the street, pointing to the characters passing below.

Wude Palace and Guozijian are separated by a street, perhaps the imperial court deliberately caused this kind of confrontation, and there are often fights between the two sides, and they don't like each other.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the trend of association was flourishing, and before the resumption of the society, there were twenty or thirty societies such as Xiangshan Society, Zhejiang West Wen Society, Jiangbei South Society, Jiangxi Ze Society, Liting Xi Society, Yunqi Society, Wumen Yupeng Society, Wumen Kuang Society, Wulin Reading Society, and Shanzuo Peng Society.

After the founding of the Great Shun, at the beginning, the eight stocks were abolished and the strategy was used, coupled with the reflection on the tragedy of the late Ming Dynasty and the criticism of Cheng Zhu Lixue, which led to the growing trend of association and political discussion.

The capital is no exception.

or a prisoner, or a shadow, or a study tour, living in the capital, forming associations and poems, discussing current affairs, and acupuncture the disadvantages of the times.

Emperor Taizong had a testament to encourage the formation of associations and political discussions, thinking that this could make the people wise. In recent years, there have even been prototypes of newspapers among various societies, of course, most people are illiterate at this time, and the prototypes of these newspapers are also for the members of various societies.

These people who observed the street situation in the wine shop were all members of the "Changhong Society" in the capital, taking the meaning of Zhuangzi's "Changhong died, and the blood was hidden for three years and turned into blue".

The first person in the green shirt is surnamed Chen, whose name is Zhen.

The ancestor is named Chen Yongji, in the first year of Yongchang, he went north with Zuo Maodi, and when he left, he wore white clothes and white crowns, saying that he saw off his relatives and friends: This time he went north, and he wanted to die in the country!

In the end, the peace talks failed, and he refused to shave his hair and died unyieldingly.

The rebellion at the end of the Ming Dynasty was painful and unthinkable, and there were many people who shaved their hair and lowered their hair, and even Yan Shenggong shaved his hair. Later, Dashun's merciless ridicule of those who surrendered to the scholars and the self-reflection of the scholars all prompted the indomitable spirit of some societies.

The Changhong Society in the capital is one of the best.

A few days ago, the dynasty defeated the Rakshasa, and His Majesty the Emperor personally commanded the army to fight, and even broke the Rakshasa Castle, and even the righteous son of the Rakshasa King was captured.

When the news came, everyone in Changhong Society sang and indulged in wine, and celebrated with poems, singing the wind of the Han Dynasty and the border of the Tang Dynasty one by one. However, after all, it was only after drinking, and after sobering, no one really put pen to paper.

However, this exuberance and excitement did not last long, and soon, someone in the tabloids of Chang Hongshe wrote an article that made people gnash their teeth.

It is said that the imperial court was defeated without defeat, and the rakshasa was victorious without victory. The imperial court not only compensated Rakshasa 300,000 taels of silver, but also recognized the throne of Rakshasa as emperor, which was a great humiliation for the Celestial Empire. Soon after, the Rakshasa delegation will enter Beijing, and the dynasty will receive the Rakshasa delegation with non-tributary gifts.

The newspaper even said that there were traitors in the negotiations who misled the country.

In particular, Liu Yu and Liu Shouchang, the son of Yiguo Gong, have learned Western knowledge since he was a child, and he is not familiar with the subset of scripture and history, and he is self-respecting by foreigners, and the imperial court uses him as a deputy envoy because he understands Western languages. His Majesty personally returned to the south, with Liu Shouchang as the general, but in order to seek the merit of expanding the land, in the negotiations, he respected the Rakshasa as the emperor, and promised 300,000 gold and silver, which is really the Qin Hui of the world.

Although the people of Changhong Society have blue blood and blood in their hearts, they read more scriptures and books, and they don't know where the rakshasa is, let alone the things in the north.

As soon as the anonymous tabloid came out, everyone in Changhong Club was immediately angry, depressed, and hated to be a national thief.

The contradiction between the Wude Palace and the imperial examination and the Guozijian is deep, and many people think that the Wude Palace has learned too few scriptures and too many Western knowledge.

Confucianism is the foundation, and the rest are the end.

It's just Emperor Taizong's last words, and these people can't directly say that it's wrong, but there must be dissatisfaction.

This is like there were originally a hundred official vacancies a year, but because of the existence of Wude Palace, there were directly forty less.

If you don't become an official, how can you display your ambitions? Turn this blue blood into immortality of meritorious service?

Chen Zhen is the youngest in the society, and he is also the most angry. The ancestor died because he refused to shave his hair, and he was even more ashamed of this kind of thing that insulted the national dignity of the Celestial Empire.

As soon as the tabloid came out, he was the first to jump out and say that he would punish the national thieves. It is necessary to take the lead in going to the Imperial History Platform of the Inspectorate to write a book.

However, although this idea was approved by some young people, the real bigwigs in the community did not agree.

Chen Zhen took a step back, thinking that he should at least follow the story of Ma Shun, the commander of the traitorous party Jinyi Guard, who killed the traitor and the commander of the Jinyi Guard in the court after the Tumubao Incident in the previous dynasty.

Not to mention beating him to death, he should also beat up this traitor, Liu Yu, so that the DPRK and China know what the people want.

Someone fanned the flames with a strange yin and yang and said: "People are dukes and princes, the dynasty doesn't believe in us and other literati, and the court is full of martial arts, how can we reach it?" Or don't provoke it. ”

Under the ignition, Chen Zhen was furious, bit his finger and said, "But the second son of the duke, what is the way?" Ming death and life are great, and the weight of the husband is more important than the society! The tombstone of the five people in the previous dynasty remembers, the white-bodied people still dare to beat the eunuchs, we are all sons of the country and prisoners, why are we afraid of the second son of a duke? ”

Everyone was ambitious, and those with ulterior motives pushed him to the front of the stage, and some young people were inspired by Chen Zhen's courage and were willing to follow Chen Zhen to beat the national thief.

In the wine shop, Chen Zhen, who was staring at Liu Yu, wrote down the location of Liu Yu's house outside the Wude Palace and returned to his seat again.

On the seat, several people shook their heads and said, "It's a pity." Before the news came, it was said that this person was a Rakshasa Fort, and the slave of the Ming Dynasty was the guard, and I still thought this person was a hero. Who would have thought that it turned out to be such a traitor? ”

Chen Zhen sneered: "In the past, when Wang Mang was not usurped, he was still humble; When Zhao Jiu made gold for King Kang, how did he know that he would later storm the pavilion; Hong Chengchou fought Songjin to the death, who would have thought that he would shave his hair and raise troops in the future? ”

Everyone felt reasonable, someone quietly took out a package, and there were no outsiders around, and opened the package, revealing a black iron lump with a lead on it.

"It's a thunderbolt. After beating the thieves, I am afraid that there will still be traitors in the court, insulting the dignity of the Celestial Empire. As the saying goes, the lord humiliates the ministers to death, and the country humiliates the husband, if the Rakshasa mission really enters Beijing and does the old things of Song and Liao, then use this thing to throw the Rakshasa mission and force the country to be decent. ”

Chen Zhen took it with both hands and said proudly: "Don't worry! I have the will to die in the country, if it is really a humiliation in the country, why should I be afraid of death? is not dead, and this matter is also done by me Chen Zhen alone. Although I am not talented, I still have three catties of iron bones. I am willing to follow the example of Yang Zhongchou in the previous dynasty, and bear the pain of scraping the bones! ”

After putting away the earth-shattering thunder, Chen Zhen stood up, looked out the window, and wrote a poem.

"The spirit is still too empty, and Dan's heart is eternal. If you don't have anything to do before your death, you will leave it to future generations to make up for it. The king of heaven is from the Shengming, and the production is high through the ages. I haven't repaid the favor in my life, so I will keep it as a loyal soul! ”

"Great!"

Everyone present was solemn, got up to toast, and said, "I can do whatever I want!" Righteous I do what I want! Sacrifice your life for righteousness! ”

In the respect of everyone, Chen Zhen only felt that the blood in his body was boiling, and his whole body was very hot, and he suddenly didn't realize that he was being used as a gun.

I just thought that if 80 years ago, all the scholars of the country had such ambitions, why would they be so shameful? What a shame!

…………

In front of Wude Palace, Liu Yu assigned the topic to be learned today to Mantou, and led the horse into the gate of Wude Palace.

When I arrived at the school grounds, I couldn't wait to show off my loot.

This best Persian horse, selected from the trophies, was white and about ten centimeters higher than the rest of the horses, and was extremely majestic.

went up and rode two laps, and the classmates who watched next to me or the elementary school students who went down to the house applauded. After walking to the north for more than a year, Liu Yu's equestrian skills have improved greatly.

After a few laps, he took out the reed wheel gun that he had been given when he was awarded the Commander of the Light Vehicle. Tian Ping hid far away with a black face, and set up a few targets in the distance.

Liu Yu did not have the ability to ride a bow horse, and if he wanted to enter the upper house, he could only use a musket instead of a bow and arrow.

If you use a bow to ride and shoot, there are a total of ten targets, and you need to be six out of ten to get into the upper round. If you use a musket, the same is true, take two muskets and put them around your waist.

It's just that there is a time limit, and the musket is too slow to load, so many military generals still choose to bow and ride.

However, it is also difficult to choose between the pros and cons. Horse shooting was followed by foot shooting, and in the case of foot shooting, it was much easier to shoot with a musket than with a bow and arrow.

After a few laps around the school field and a warm up, the horse has already run out of feeling.

"Brother Shouchang, there is still a month to go before the summer exam. It seems that Brother Shouchang is determined to win. I see that your riding skills have improved again, and I am glad to congratulate you. ”

After a little pause, Liu Yu is also in a good mood, this kind of exam relies on real skills, and it is not a subjective question, as long as he plays as usual, there is no problem.

Listening to the congratulations of his classmates, Liu Yu came to Tian Ping, who was hiding aside, and said with a smile: "Brother Tian, do me a favor and pinch time." Anyway, if you're far away, the gunshots are small. The day before yesterday, you just showed off a Western pocket watch, didn't you just show off a Western pocket watch? I use it just right. ”

Tian Ping scolded twice, knowing that it was far away and not loud, so he had to take out his pocket watch.

It looked like a crystal ball, a ball rather than the flat circle of pocket watches of later generations.

It may have been a luxury item in its first place, so through the transparent glass, you can directly see the I-wheel escapement that had just been invented inside.

The front dial is enlarged by the glass ball, so you can clearly see the watch hands and Roman numerals inside, but there is no second hand.

It can be seen that Westerners have now taken a step forward in the study of optics, and the theory of refraction can already be used in this luxury pocket watch, which can be seen very clearly, and the feeling of magnification is also natural and undistorted.

After pinching the time, Tian Ping nodded at Liu Yu and signaled to start.

Liu Yu quickly jumped on the horse, took out the spring wheel gun on his waist, and took out the gunpowder pot from the back with his right hand and poured it into the muzzle. He took out a small piece of semi-carbonized cloth, placed it at the muzzle of the gun, shoved the lead bullet the cloth, and knocked it on a piece of iron on the saddle with his backhand.

I don't know how many times I've practiced, but I've already formed muscle memory, and I don't need to look at the position of the iron piece on the saddle, just on the buckshot on the muzzle.

The lead bullet was stuck in the chamber of the gun, and the strip was drawn and inserted a few times.

The reed wheel gun is not a flintlock pistol, it relies on the charging of the mainspring, and it needs to use a winder to extend the winding arm, similar to a wrench. Otherwise, you will definitely not be able to complete the winding by relying on your fingers.

The half-foot-long winder got stuck on the bolt of the winding, and after turning it hard, I heard a click. Then take out the gunpowder and pour it into the ignition door, and cover it with an iron cover, which is considered to be a complete reload.

He put the other one in his saddle pocket, kicked the horse, and galloped forward with the white horse in his crotch, and after making a small circle, he approached the railing where the target was.

After a slight slowdown, the loaded reed wheel gun was drawn, and in the bumps on horseback, the left hand was used as a frame, and the right hand was raised horizontally, stimulating the mechanical energy accumulated in the clockwork.

Bang......

As soon as the gun rang out, the smoke and dust filled the air, and he didn't care to see if he was shot, so he quickly turned the horse's head and galloped towards the next target.

He put the reed wheel gun in his right hand into the saddlebag, held the gun in his left hand and the rack in his right hand, fired another shot, kicked the horse in the belly twice, and retreated to the back with the outdated gyrotron tactics of the Thirty Years' War, and reloaded.

Back and forth, using muskets, each shot needs to be rounded within three minutes. Time is still tight.