Zhu Huabi, the king of Chu, has been in Wuchang Mansion for generations, and before Li Zicheng broke the city, he escaped from Wuchang with his family. They originally wanted to flee to Nanjing, but unexpectedly, in the same direction as Li Zicheng's march, they kept encountering chaotic soldiers to intercept them, and they were forced to run south again, just in time to run into hundreds of miners from Daye.

Daye, located in the south bank of the Yangtze River Huangzhou Prefecture boundary, since the Three Kingdoms period is a famous large-scale open-pit iron mine, Chongzhen in the early years after the withdrawal of the mine supervisor, Daye iron mine fell into the hands of the Chu king's mansion and local officials, the king of Chu is also half of the master of these miners, so he fled south with them.

Although it is the respect of the prince, this road has also suffered a lot, the king of Chu and his party easily arrived at the Chongyang territory, seeing that there is still a Ming army stationed here, they sent the eunuch Wang Zhou with a few miners to borrow grain, but Wang Zhou and others were hungry on the road, and they grabbed a bowl of porridge first.

Hearing that there were still hundreds of miners under the King of Chu, Wang Kefan's heart moved, the strength of the Gongyi battalion was still too small, but the miners were extremely strong. Under careful questioning, those miners were all on the other side of the Junshui River, and Wang Zhou only brought about a dozen people with him.

He immediately agreed to borrow food and invited Wang Zhou to enter the city to meet Xu Bingzhong, but an ugly man flashed out of his own soldiers, came to the thin young man, took out a piece of rice cake from his arms and handed it over.

"Here you go, eat." The black fish grinned, trying to make a friendly expression, but the boy was startled, but the smell of rice crackers was full of temptation, and he hesitated for a moment but took it, held it in both hands, and devoured it.

Everyone entered the city together and walked towards the county office, but the young man did not go with his companions, but followed the black fish, with a piece of rice cake in his stomach at the bottom, and his eyes also had a brightness, and his eyes were much more agile.

"Who is that master? Is the official big? "He is a teenager, and when he is not hungry, he is full of curiosity about Wang Kefan.

"He's a good guy." Blackfish answered the question. In his mind, there is no concept of big officials and small officials, Wang Kefan does not discriminate against him for being ugly, and he can avenge the grievances of the common people, so it is worth his life.

When Wang Kefan heard them talk, he turned his head and smiled at the young man: "What's your name?" Are they weishenme bullying you? ”

"I'm called a twister, no, no one bullied me?" The young man had a blue nose and swollen face, and there were blood stains on the corners of his mouth, but as if he didn't know the pain, it seemed that he was often beaten and bullied, and this little injury was not taken seriously.

After asking other miners, I found out that this twist was an orphan in Daye Mine, my father died in a mining accident a few years ago, so I had to go to the mine to do a child labor, because I was thin and could not do anything else, so I was specifically responsible for blasting the mine, and dealt with the gunpowder twist every day, so I got such a name.

Strange to say, Twist is naturally good at fiddling with gunpowder, others set off cannons, there is a squib in two or three, and accidents often occur after a long time, but he almost never misses the cannon, and he is never unharmed.

Wang Kefan's eyebrows raised slightly, a little surprised. In ancient times, gunpowder was often used in open-pit mining, but the related jishu was passed down by word of mouth by the miners, and the twist could be mastered by one's own exploration, which can only be explained by talent.

Such a person will definitely be used in the future!

Thinking of the other hundreds of miners, Wang Kefan's heart was even more eager, unlike the loose peasants, the miners had stronger discipline, endured hardships and stood hard work, were not afraid of danger, and with a little training, they could become an excellent army.

Speeding up, he led everyone all the way to the county office, and as soon as he entered the Yimen, he heard someone arguing in the lobby.

"I think that we should evacuate Chongyang as soon as possible, or at least retreat to Yuezhou Mansion." This is the voice of the county Cheng Lu Chuanying: "He Junmen now knows his life and death, Huguang Wenwu has no leader, Chongyang has become a lonely city, and it can't be defended." ”

"Yes! So many third-grade and fourth-grade officials have run away, and even Plug Yinxi has gone to Changde, why should we die here! Meng Bao's big voice was very loud.

Everyone is running south, except for the Yuezhou Mansion behind, there are no Ming troops in Chongyang, and they are already on the front line. In the face of Li Zicheng and Azig's hundreds of thousands of horses, guarding in such a lonely small county town, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a mantis arm as a car, and you can't do anything.

"How can this county not know that this is dangerous, but if you want to go now, can you go? Let's not talk about the sin of losing the city and land, even Wang Kefan will not let us go. Xu Bingzhong's voice was hoarse and anxious, and you can imagine his anxious expression at the moment: "Besides, if we escape from Chongyang, how different is it from a lost dog?" In the future, send people under the fence, begging for food but can't, why bother to clear your name and ruin it in one fell swoop! ”

Literati doctors attach the most importance to honor, the most important personal ethics, and abandon the city and flee before seeing the shadow of the enemy, not only will it leave an indelible stain on his career, but Xu Bingzhong himself will not be able to pass this hurdle psychologically.

(Although there were many soft bones of surrender and renegade among the officials at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were also many loyal ministers who regarded death as their home and sacrificed their lives for righteousness.) According to the "Records of the Martyrdom of the Victorious Dynasty" compiled by the Qianlong Dynasty, from the 46th year of Wanli to the third year of Kangxi, there were 136 "second ministers" who had names and surnames that betrayed the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, but as many as 3,787 loyal ministers and filial sons died in the martyrdom of the Qing Dynasty.

This figure may not be accurate, but after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the process of seizing the world was by no means smooth sailing, but after one brutal war after another, bloody massacres, killing the backbone of the Han people, leaving mostly obedient minions, and barbaric castration and interception of Han culture, the Chinese civilization was forcibly dragged into the darkness of more than 200 years. ）

As soon as Xu Bingzhong raised his head, he happened to see Wang Kefan coming to the gate, and suddenly felt a little more confident in his heart, and persuaded everyone: "The thieves are uncertain, and they may not come to Chongyang. ……”

After all, the enemy has not yet come, and he may not take the little Chongyang in his eyes, take the risk of staying in Chongyang, and there is still the possibility of getting lucky, and the high risk will be exchanged for high returns, and he will earn a real great credit. If you run away now, in case Li Chuang and the Qing army don't come to Chongyang, they will be in vain.

But others don't think so.

"That's wrong!" The county Cheng Lu Chuanying shook his head again and again, but he didn't see that Wang Kefan had already walked in: "If the hall is generous to death, although it can achieve the name of loyalty and martyrdom, what can it do in state affairs?" It's better to endure humiliation and bear the burden, and leave a useful body......"

He is just a county man, and his identity is different from Xu Bingzhong, there is a tall man on top of the sky when the sky falls, and he has to rank behind Xu Bingzhong to earn credit, so he can't work hard.

Meng Bao faced Xu Bingzhong, and he didn't see the group of people who walked in, let alone Wang Kefan, who stretched out his hand and untied the waist knife from Brother Hua's waist.

"That's right! Stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood to burn......"

He was just halfway through speaking, only to see a figure flash in front of him, a loud "snap", and a single knife with a sheath slammed on the big case.

"Whoever fights the idea of escaping again, taste the power of my knife first!"

Wang Kefan suddenly went berserk and shouted, and the eunuch Wang Zhou was so bluffed that his feet were weak and he almost sat on the ground.

"This is the prince from the provincial capital, leading hundreds of athletes to fight the enemy side by side with us, with the help of this tiger army, Chongyang will definitely be impregnable, if anyone dares to disturb the morale of the army, they will be sent to the trial bureau for military law disposal......"

In Wang Kefan's fierce intimidation, Wang Zhou's mouth opened wide in surprise, his face was inexplicable, and he wanted to say something but couldn't make a sound.

Since he led his troops to Chongyang half a year ago, Wang Kefan has always been calm and polite, everyone has never seen him angry, but at this moment, he suddenly turned his face, full of momentum, and the appearance of the six relatives did not recognize, and immediately calmed everyone. Lu Chuanying and the others thought of his past methods, and their hearts were terrified, so they obediently closed their mouths and didn't say a word.

Xu Bingzhong was overjoyed: "The prince is the prince of Chu's mansion?" If the prince arrives, I should wait to meet him......"

Wang Zhou nodded, and quickly shook his head: "I'm from the Chu Palace, ah, but I don't plan to ......"

"The prince said that since he came to Chongyang, he has no intention of leaving again, and swears to die - to fight the thief to the end!" Wang Kefan suddenly interjected loudly, interrupting Wang Zhou, he bit the dead word heavily, lifted the single knife on the big case, and stared at Wang Zhou coldly, Wang Zhou was shocked and frightened, and he didn't dare to deny it for a while.