Pengshan County, to which Meizhou belongs, is named after Pengzu Mountain in the east of Jiangdong, the county seat. Legend has it that Peng Zu lived in the ancient days of Yao Shun, mastered the art of the room, and lived a total of 800 years. He is the longest-lived person in China and the prototype of the old man of the birthday star.

Pengshan County is bounded by the Longquan Mountains to the east and the Zonggang Mountains to the west. The Jinjiang, Nanhe and Minjiang rivers (Waijiang) converge at Jiangkou Town (Note 1) to the north of the county seat, and run through the county from north to south. Pengshan County is located between two mountains, on the bank of the Min River. A long and narrow flat dam with a width of 20 to 40 miles makes Pengshan County a large amount of cultivated land and rich in fertility.

Since Peng County started to get rid of the beetle, Pengshan was the first batch of states and counties to respond to the incident, and the time was only more than a day late. In addition to the yabeetle, which soon developed into the removal of the five beetles, the situation inside and outside the county town also quickly got out of control, and countless officials, gentry, scholars, and local ruffians and hooligans who were known for their evil deeds were killed, burned, drowned, fell, hammered to death, hacked to death. Surrounded by layers of angry crowds inside and outside the city, few revolutionary objects were able to escape. It was only because of the inclusion of bandits in the ranks of the revolutionary ranks that this vigorous mass movement changed its flavor.

Zhang Guangzu was lucky.

The Heilongtan ambush grain transport team failed, and the bandits of Niujiaozhai immediately fell into a desperate situation of running out of food. Zhang Guangzu was forced to survive, so he had to spread his eyes and ears widely and inquire everywhere about places where there was grain storage. Peng Shan was in turmoil, and his spies ran back as soon as possible to report the news. Zhang Guangzu, who was in a hurry, had a brief meeting with Chen Huainian, the second master, and quickly made the correct decision to march to Pengshan and take advantage of the fire to rob.

Five or six thousand desperate bandits marched day and night, plundering all the villages they came across. Although they were delayed for half a day by the Minjiang River, they still completed the road that they could not walk in five or six days in two or three days, and caught the last train of the feast of the Pengshan civil rebellion.

When Zhu Pingjin was gnawing on the duck's skull with relish in Yongxing Field, Zhang Guangzu had already led his troops to cross the outer river of the Min River.

He rode on a flowered horse and looked around his men with great ambition. They are a pile in the east and a lump in the west, and they can't see the edge before and after.

Most of these people are from Renshou and Pengshan, and ninety out of five people have been in the house for less than three months. In Pengshan, due to the large number of people asking to join the house, Zhang Guangzu, who has always refused to recruit people, also made an exception to make a selection. Even so, there are more than 8,000 newcomers joining Pengshan, and the number of bandits in Niujiaozhai has swelled rapidly from a few hundred years ago to an astonishing 15,000 in Renshou County more than a month ago. If you add the dependents of the army, the number will increase by nearly 10,000!

How do you bring these huge numbers of new minions?

Even living in the heavenly Pengshan County Ya, Zhang Guangzu did not forget to take a break in his busy time and think seriously. He reviewed the successful experience of the three generations of his ancestors, and also summed up the lessons and lessons of his own experience, and finally came to a truth about leading soldiers:

Let these minions be afraid of themselves!

What can be done to make them afraid of themselves?

His solution is to kill! Not only to kill, but also to kill on a large scale, and the more scary the killing, the better! Chen Huainian, the second master, once said that this is called "killing people".

That's right, it's going to kill people! Thinking of this, Zhang Guangzu rode on the flower horse, took out a vicious gaze, and glanced at the surrounding bandits, so frightened that they quietly opened the distance between them and Zhang Guangzu one by one.

Hahaha! Zhang Guangzu laughed in his heart. Killing, it seems that this trick is very useful! Shaanxi's own family can be killed, why can't Lao Tzu be killed! Lao Tzu's current capital may be stronger than that of Shaanxi's own family! Wait for Lao Tzu to win another battle one day, maybe he can still enter Chengdu Mansion, go to the palace to sit in the Golden Palace, and play with the delicate princess!

The big boss Zhang Guangzu was complacent, but the second boss Chen Huainian fell into anxiety.

The team of more than 20,000 people has set off from Pengshan County for a day and a half, and the team at the rear has not yet crossed the Minjiang River. The north gate of Pengshan County is only less than ten miles away from the Guanyin Temple Ferry and Zhenjiang Temple Ferry on the Minjiang River!

The team that had crossed the river yesterday waited by the river for a whole day. Today, as the rear troops crossed the river one after another, they finally began to move forward slowly under the leadership of Chen Huaigui, the third leader of the forward. Just now, Chen Huaigui sent someone to report it, but no officers and soldiers have been found so far. His team has already arrived in Wuyangli, which is only more than ten miles away from Yongxing Field, and it is no problem to arrive tonight.

Chen Huaigui's peace only soothed Chen Huainian's nervous mood slightly. The fact that no officers and soldiers have been found now does not mean that they will always be at ease. The procession dragged for more than ten miles in front and back, with a large river on the right flank and in the rear. If the officers and soldiers hit the waist with a blow, then the rebels will simply die by themselves!

The anxious second-in-command Chen Huainian was in a hurry. He rushed to the dock and shouted at a small ferry boat that had just docked, telling the people on board to get out of here and let the ferry return to the other side to pick up people.

"It turned out to be the second brother, I thought it was someone shouting outside!" The Seven Masters lazily came out of the canopy, wiping their eyes.

"Old Seven, let people come out. The boat is rushing back to pick up people! Chen Huainian was already a little unkind.

"Second brother, what's the hurry?" Lao Qi didn't care, and pulled out four or five young women from the cabin in a row. A woman was dissatisfied that Lao Qi's hand was too strong, so she broke free of her wrist, and the flower handkerchief in her hand danced in front of Chen Huainian by the way, leaving an unpleasant commotion.

The woman sprinkled, but the seventh didn't care. Chen Huainian's face was ugly, and Lao Qi understood the reason in his heart. He gave himself a reason: "There are too many things, and it is so easy to get through!" Big brother's heart hurts, we can't just lose it! Most of the teams on the other side of the river have come, and there are less than a thousand people left. If they run away, they will starve to death. Now I wish they were running away, and I can raise a few less! ”

For this boss's little brother, Chen Huainian really lost his temper.

In the county town, this guy spends every day drinking and not talking, and he also specializes in things that are inferior to beasts. One day, he caused the daughter of a petty official in the city to collapse her lower body. The official was so angry that he led more than a dozen members of his family to set themselves on fire. As a result, the fire spread and burned down a large part of the city. Zhang Guangzu not only did not condemn Lao Qi, but tied up more than 40 officials and family members detained in the city at the entrance of the yamen, disemboweling their stomachs one by one, and digging out their hearts and lungs to put them in the oil pot. After this incident, Lao Qi acted more arrogantly, and he was even more ignorant of him, the second master.

"Old Seven, these people are all easy for us to wrap in, don't you die of heartache if you lose your eldest brother?" Chen Huainian had no choice but to use the boss Zhang Guangzu to scare the seventh.

"Your sixth brother is still in a hurry for us to go back, waiting for the rice to go to the pot." Chen Huainian moved out of Zhang Guangpei again.

"When the sixth man memorized it himself (Note 2), he couldn't write or martial arts!" Lao Qi didn't have the slightest respect for his second brother, and there was only contempt in his tone, "He only has the life of guarding the cottage to watch his mother-in-law!" ”

Watching Lao Qi and the women pull and pull away, Chen Huainian sighed in his heart.

He was a poor scholar in the mountains. When I was young, I went to the provincial city to take the exam, and I drank a few words rashly, and somehow offended the examiner. The examiner took revenge for personal gain, so he rushed out of the examination room in the name of his ancestor singing a play. It was also too bad luck, he returned to his hometown for the first time, and caught up with the Extravagant Rebellion, and was held hostage by the rebels for more than ten days. After the rebellion was put down, he went to the official arrest list. Fortunately, he met Zhang Guangzu's father and took him in when he was desperate, so he fell into the grass in Niujiaozhai.

In order to repay Mr. Zhang's life-saving grace and his status in the cottage, he brought many people from Chen Village into the cottage after he fell into the cottage. Today, the Chen family has become the second largest force after the Zhang family. The third Chen Huaigui and the fourth Chen Huaijin are all his brothers.

entered Pengshan County, according to his idea, he wanted to take advantage of the chaos in the world to train an elite army. In the future, whether it is recruiting security or cooperating with other bandits, with this elite army, you will have the capital to survive in troubled times.

When he entered the city, he once told Zhang Guangzu that the ranks were uneven, and there were very few people who could fight, so he should reduce the troops and drive everyone else out of the city. took advantage of the occupation of the county's grain stockpile, and trained the team to reorganize.

Who knew that after entering the city, the bad roots of the bandits were completely exposed, burning, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil. Zhang Guangzu himself took the lead in eating, drinking, and engaging in women, and the troops also scattered into a pile of sand, and he also engaged in fart training. Only the third and fourth subordinates practiced according to his wishes for a few days. Later, the chaotic people ate all the food, and they all found Zhang Guangzu and asked to join the gang, Zhang Guangzu's stupid person did not refuse, and thought that his prestige spread far and wide, and he started a big dream of spring and autumn, and had the idea of being the king and hegemon!

Thinking of this, Chen Huainian suddenly felt an itchy throat and couldn't help coughing violently. He stroked his heaving chest, unable to speak. The attendants gathered around with concern, but he waved his hand in exhaustion to tell them to leave quickly.

After driving away the entourage, Chen Huainian suddenly felt more comfortable. He leaned on the water and faced the river, looked at the ferries going back and forth on the Minjiang River, and calculated the time it would take to finish all the crossings.

The outer river is not wide during the dry season. Depending on the size of the boat, a boat can carry anywhere from a few to 30 people. There are more than a dozen ferries on the river, and you can make at least five trips back and forth in an hour. Since Lao Qi said that there are less than 1,000 people left, then they can all be completed in half an hour at the latest. It's just that because of the deep silt on the river beach, the large ferries are crowded up and down on the edge of a narrow plank road, and they can't give full play to the advantages of carrying more people and goods.

"As long as these people are brought back to Niujiaozhai safely, they can unload their burdens and propose to Zhang Guangzu to split up." Chen Huainian thought silently, "I have already repaid the kindness of the old village owner, and if I mess with these fools like Brother Zhang Guangzu, sooner or later I will end up in a different place!" ”

At this moment, a fast horse galloped in from the north. Chen Huainian saw from a distance that it was Zhang Guangzu's personal soldiers, and knew that Zhang Guangzu must have something to decide about, so he asked him to go back and discuss. He sighed secretly, got into his horse with difficulty, and shook the reins to meet him north.

Chen Huainian rushed to the old camp and saw Zhang Guangzu standing in front of a half-collapsed land temple, whipping a kneeling young man on the ground fiercely. Except for the third and seventh, the fourth and fifth children all arrived, standing aside with gloomy faces and not speaking.

"Big brother, what's worth your temper like this?" Chen Huainian climbed off the horse and asked.

When the young man saw Chen Huainian, he seemed to have seen a big savior, crawled over on his knees, hugged Chen Huainian's thigh, and kept shouting for help.

Chen Huainian held up the man's chin, and immediately felt shocked in his heart, isn't this the little seventeen in Zhang Village under Niujiaozhai? Little Seventeen is embarrassed to this point, there must be something wrong with the cottage!

He helped Zhang Qiqi up and carefully interrogated the situation. That Zhang Seventeen committed adultery between the sixth master and the mother-in-law of the big boss, and was broken by Li Fugui and Li Facai's brothers. As a result, the six masters rebelled, killed Li Fugui and Li Facai's brothers, and the official army took the opportunity to break through the cottage, and the news that all the family members were captured was repeated.

Chen Huainian's only son is still in the mountains. If the cottage is lost, then Chen Village must be finished. His heart was like a knife, and he asked viciously, "Why do you know so much?" ”

The second master, who has always been kind, also became so scary, Zhang Qiqi was stunned. He was speechless for a while, and Chen Huainian drew his knife, looking like he was going to kill. At this time, the fourth child came over to speak. He called the second brother and said that they had already asked about these things, and what Zhang Qiqi said would not be false. The top priority is to quickly come up with a way to recapture the cottage and rescue the family.

Chen Huainian suddenly lost control of his emotions. He roared, "Quick! Lao Tzu also wants to be fast! But Lao Qi fell by the river, and he was still slowly playing with women! Why do you get up quickly? ”

Note 1: Recently, a large number of silver ingots engraved with the name of the Onishi era have been excavated at the bottom of the river in Eguchi Town, which shows that the official records and folklore are very accurate.

Note 2: The curse words in the Sichuan dialect mean that they deserve it.