Luzhou was known as Jiangyang County in ancient times.

In Zhu Pingjin's previous life, even the locals of Luzhou did not know much about this ancient name. They are more fond of another nickname: "Wine City". The wine city XX, which once spread all over the country, has become a warm place for some special people to sell their gold accounts.

Luzhou in the Ming Dynasty is bordered by the Tuojiang River in the north and the Yangtze River in the south. Because of its proximity to the traditional territory of the Yi people, the city was built exceptionally strongly. The city wall of green sand strip stone, a city is sharp-shaped, surrounded by water on both sides, and the three corners are steep. To the west, the only road leading to the land, a towering Chung Shan (Note 1) blocked the way of the attackers; There is also a Longtou Pass perched high on the hillside, stuck in the narrowest isthmus between the Tuojiang River and the Yangtze River, covering Zhongshan and Luzhou City behind it. It is precisely because the city of Luzhou is solid that there has been a proverb that has been widely spread since ancient times:

"Chongqing was born, Luzhou was beaten with iron!"

It's a pity that this city, known as an iron fight, was also easily taken by Zhang Xianzhong. Except for Wang Wanchun, the commander of the Luzhou Wei who was in Tuntian outside the city, and the commander of the Luzhou Wei who successfully jumped into the river to escape, Ma Yingkao and others, there were almost no survivors. The region, which was recorded in official records as hundreds of thousands of people and the most populous of the five Zhili prefectures in Sichuan Province, was plunged into a devastating disaster.

The thieves abandoned the west of the city, led the remnants of the army to successfully recover the city of Luzhou, and then impeached the imperial court, commanding Wang Wanchun to abandon the city and flee. The new governor of Sichuan, Liao Daheng, did not have time to launch an investigation, and immediately instructed Ma Yingjiao to act as the Luzhou Guard. Where is Wang Wanchun? No one knew at the time. Later, it was learned that the young hereditary commander was deploying cantonment at the junction of Luzhou and Yongning at that time, and he happened to have escaped this catastrophe. It's a pity that he can dodge the thief's sword, but he can't dodge the hidden arrow of officialdom.

……

On the evening of July 10 in the autumn of the 14th year of Chongzhen, when the letter establishing the Nanxi Protectorate was still being reported, Tan Sigui took three platoons of the Fifth Company of the Caravan to the outside of Luzhou by boat. At this time, he did not know that the fifth company he led had been renumbered as the first company of the fourth battalion of the caravan in the reorganization of Songlin Mountain.

Tan Sigui chartered 10 official ships from Yazhou on this trip, all of which were large grain ships with a load of more than 500 stone (Note 2). Eight manned, two cargo. Before the boat could dock, they were surrounded by a dozen small boats and rows. These ships were planted with the flag of the Ming army, and there were also officers and soldiers wearing mandarin duck battle jackets on board.

A small boat of officers and soldiers approached silently, and dragged the leading boat with a bamboo pole with an iron hook to make it cross the front of the fleet. The rest of the boats and rowers leaned over and clamped on both sides of the grain boats to prevent the rest of the grain boats from slipping down the river. Seeing that the grain fleet had been restrained, a small soldier threw a rope with iron claws and pulled the two boats together. In addition, under the command of a young officer in the bow of the ship, the officers and soldiers showed their swords and guns and prepared to jump into the gang.

The ships of the officers and soldiers approached, and Tan Sigui, who was on the leading boat, had already seen it. It's just that he's not sure whether to fight or not.

When he first arrived in Luzhou, he directly went to war with the official army, which was not a trivial matter. Will it cause trouble for the prince's side?

The new Luzhou judge Gao Dengtai will have to wait a few days to arrive, what will he do when he arrives?

Lao Tan has to take all these things into consideration, because he is no longer a homeless person who asks for food on the street, but a general who represents the palace and the prince. However, the order of the General Staff to transfer troops was only for him to go to Luzhou to establish a team to protect the village, and to obey the orders of Gao Dengtai and Shu Guoxin. Now that the high judge is not there, Mr. Shu is on the last boat of the fleet, so no one can count on him, so he has to make his own decision.

Officials and soldiers jumping into the gang are equivalent to being cut off their arms. Lao Tan, who had been holding back, finally couldn't hold it back anymore and got out of the cabin.

"Hey! Feed! What are you doing? Want to rob, don't you? Any idea whose ship this is? Old Tan shouted to the young officer.

The young officer's typical water battle attire was neither armor nor a mandarin duck jacket, but a simple bun wrapped in a red cloth, and a red waist guard was tied around his abdomen, and a lion was embroidered on the waist.

Old Tan got out of the cabin, and the young officer paid attention to him. Gray tunic robe and trousers, with a black eight-petal helmet on his head, and a cluster of red cherry blossoms growing in the heart of the helmet. He looks old, as if he is forty or fifty years old, and his face is full of ravines of time. He is not tall, his skin is dark, and his rough hands are covered with calluses, like an old farmer in the field.

Seeing Lao Tan's appearance, the corner of the officer's mouth pulled out a relaxed smile. He didn't ask Lao Tan's identity, but just held his head high and announced loudly:

"This officer has an official military order: all passing ships will be stopped for inspection! Anything that is forbidden will be confiscated! ”

"What's forbidden?" Lao Tan squinted his eyes and asked.

"It's a sword, a gun, and a weapon!" The officer squinted at Qingtian, as if he couldn't see the waist knife hanging from Lao Tan's body.

Lao Tan's brain turned and he understood that he had encountered a slanderous officer and army.

They're not searching for contraband, they're looking for a reason to rob.

Lao Tan has a bottom in his heart, so he is not in a hurry. He first asked for the identity of the other party.

"Luzhou Wei's? Dare to ask your surname? ”

"Don't have your surname Ma!"

"It turned out to be Master Ma! The surname of the contemptible person is Tan. Fortunately! The adults are from Luzhou Wei, and we happened to get off the boat in Luzhou. The river is turbulent here, why don't we let Master Ma escort it, and let the big ship dock first? ”

The officer surnamed Ma looked at the knife on Lao Tan's waist and did not speak.

Lao Tan looked at the other party's wary look and smiled. He slowly unsheathed his waist knife and threw it onto the other party's boat with a "snap".

"Master Ma, can you let me go in this way?"

The young officer was completely relieved. His finger tapped at the door of Old Tan's head.

"You! Come to my ship! Take the official's boat away! ”

……

The small boats of the officers and soldiers were much lighter than the large grain ships.

The boat docked at the pier, and the barge (DUN) boat on the shore had already boarded the gangplank. The officer surnamed Ma thought that the people on the barge were slow, carried Lao Tan's knife, put his foot on the pedal, jumped twice, and stepped onto the barge like a spring swallow skimming the water.

Lao Tan doesn't have this ability. The gangplank between the two ships is a thin plank, less than half a foot wide. When a person steps on it, the springboard immediately swayes. Lao Tan is an authentic landlubber, and the endless river water under his feet makes him dizzy. Seeing Lao Tan trembling and shaking like a bear, the officer surnamed Ma laughed. Lao Tan moved on the springboard step by step under his laughter, and finally stepped on the solid ground.

Lao Tan made a fool of himself in public, and his dark cheeks were already blushing.

"Laugh! Laugh! The contemptible person is dizzy and wants to vomit, how about going ashore first? ”

The officer didn't stop laughing, and when he heard Lao Tan say it miserably, he waved his hand and let Lao Tan go ashore first. The barge is also connected by a gangplank to the dock land, so Lao Tan is ugly again.

Stepping on the solid ground, Lao Tan finally came back to his senses. He took out the fire sickle and fire fold from his waist bag, and prepared to light a cigarette to suppress his shock.

With a few crackles, the fire burst into flames. Lao Tan took out a cigarette roll from his arms, put it horizontally under his nose and sniffed it, then took it in his mouth and put it on the flame. But the cigarette didn't light it, but it suddenly flew away by itself.

Lao Tan turned his head and saw that the cigarette roll had already reached the hands of the officer surnamed Ma. The officer had clearly not sucked it, and was holding the tip and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Do adults smoke or eat?" Old Tan asked.

Seeing that Lao Tan still dared to speak, the officer hurriedly puffed out his eyes: "Contraband, confiscate!" ”

"Good, confiscate! Adults have the final say! Old Tan grinned, quickly took out a cigarette roll, and lit it on the fire. He took two puffs, exhaled smoke rings, and enjoyed it very much, and then said, "Master Ma, this cigarette is for smoking." Smell the fragrance, just hold it, and you don't need to bite it with your teeth. ”

The officer nodded silently, took the cigarette out of his mouth, wiped the saliva on it, spit out the dirt in his mouth, and followed the example of Lao Tan, lit the cigarette, and took a puff carefully.

The experience felt very new. The officer surnamed Ma took a sip, and then said to Lao Tan in a loud voice: "Hey! Dude, this thing smells good to smoke! ”

"That's it! A specialty of the Yazhou Tobacco Bureau. This thing dispelled the cold (Note 3), which was previously only issued by the Liao army and the official army of the northern land. This time, Miss Luo asked us to bring a few boxes and take them to Luzhou to sell. I never thought that when I arrived in Jiading Prefecture, I was robbed by local merchants! ”

Lao Tan didn't tell the truth, in fact, most of his cigarettes were sold in Nanxi County, Xuzhou Prefecture. Zhu Youyuan, the magistrate of Nanxi County, and the local gentry could agree to any conditions in order to stay armed to save their lives.

"This thing is good!" The officer surnamed Ma approached Lao Tan and asked, "How much silver?" Pretty expensive, right? ”

"It's not expensive! One tael of silver for a hundred sticks, enough to suck for a month. A box of 2,000 sticks sells for only twenty taels. ”

"And how many boxes did you sell?" The officer leaned in again, a smile on his face.

Old Tan didn't seem to be alert.

"Not much! When we went out, we took a total of 500 boxes and loaded two boats. Now there are only eighty boxes left! I have to leave two boxes to suck slowly, and there are ...... left."

"Seventy-eight boxes. Four hundred and twenty chests were sold, and eight thousand four hundred taels of silver were obtained. The officer immediately helped Lao Tan calculate the number.

He was going to immediately shout confiscation. But since Lao Tan can afford to smoke a penny of silver, he is by no means an ordinary old farmer. Besides, Lao Tan still revealed some news in his words just now, so he decided to ask again in line with the principle of prudence.

"Miss Naro...... It must be the eldest lady of your family, right? ”

"It's not!" Lao Tan shook his head and denied the guess of the officer surnamed Ma, "That's the daughter-in-law of the Zhu family's long house!" ”

"The daughter-in-law of your lord's house? That's your future master! Tell me, what's your lord's name? What do you do? Yazhou Tobacco Bureau? It's not a small business! ”

"I said it. It's the Zhu family! Lao Tan was surprised. It was as if the officer's IQ was far lower than he imagined.

It turned out that he was being teased by this old farmer! His officer suddenly became angry, and immediately sank his face. He pulled out the knife, patted Lao Tan's chest with a slender blade, and roared: "Give you face, you are still shameless!" Make it clear to the official who your master's family is! What's on board! And how much silver! ”

"My lord! I've already said it twice, it's the Zhu family! Lao Tan hurriedly argued: "In addition to cigarettes on this ship, there are Zhu family's households and grain. Some of the food was brought by themselves, and some were sent by the magistrates of Nanxi County. Silver, just now the lord has already helped the contemptible people figure it out, there are eight thousand ......"

Lao Tan was distinguishing, but a loud roar came from the high steps above the dock: "Little Wuzi, what the fuck are you still grinding?" Don't hurry up and unload the cargo ship on the shore! ”

"Yes! Father! The young officer quickly looked up in agreement.

"You're fucking playing tricks on Lao Tzu!"

He threw down Lao Tan, scolded and ran to the dock waving and shouting, and asked the officers and soldiers to row the big grain boat directly to the shore. The height of the big ship is about the same as the height of the pier, so there is no need to adjust the height difference of the barge to make the transition.

As soon as several large ships docked, many soldiers armed with knives and guns immediately jumped out of them. These soldiers were in black helmets and red armor, and they all carried large backpacks made of gray cloth. When Lao Tan saw the soldiers coming ashore, he immediately shouted the order to assemble. In a short time, a three-row queue of more than 100 people appeared neatly on the dock, and the spear tips above their heads were polished.

"! Who the fuck are you? The young officer's face was full of horror and he shouted. He was twisted by two soldiers, one left and one right, followed by a laughing bearded man Wang Sanniu.

"Sanniu, let go of General Pony!" Tan Sigui walked over and said to the young officer who was rubbing his shoulders:

"I'll tell Master Ma again: We are the Zhuang family of the Zhu family, and we came to guard the Zhu family's nursing home. How many Zhu families are there in this world? How many Zhu families do we have in Sichuan? You are a smart man, why are you confused for a while! Looking at the dress of the adult, he must also be a hereditary officer. Your old Ma family has been a messenger for the Zhu family for three hundred years, you still have to ask who the Zhu family is and what they do!

You're just taking off your pants and farting - that's more! ”

Note 1: Now there is a Luzhou Medical College built on Zhongshan, which can be seen when you cross the Tuojiang Bridge.

Note 2: About 30 deadweight tons.

Note 3: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that tobacco has the effect of dispelling cold and dampness, so tobacco was first popularized from the border army in eastern Liaodong.