Hangzhou Mansion, Lin'an County, Henglu Village.

From the north of Zhejiang to the area around Taihu Lake, it has been the land of fish and rice since ancient times, and Henglu Village is one of the very ordinary villages, with three or four hundred households, not too big, not too small, not too rich, and not the poorest.

After a violent typhoon, the summer becomes hotter, the sun is like fire all day long, the farmer is working in the field under the scorching sun, although the sweat is like rain, the heart is filled with the joy of harvest, on the ridge, two well-dressed foreign masters walk side by side, from time to time to the surroundings pointing and discussing something, several neatly dressed family members follow closely behind, the front two rickety bodies and try their best to stretch their arms, holding oilcloth umbrellas for the two old men to shade the sun.

This year is really good, the ripe early rice has just been harvested, the typhoon has brought plenty of rain, just in time for the late rice transplanting, the village rice warehouse is full of rice, after coping with the government's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, there should be wealth, this year's days will not be too bad.

While planting seedlings, the tenant Wang Er was thinking about his own livelihood, and while he had a little money in his hand, it was time to tell his own boy about his family's affairs, so as not to make the eighteen-nineteenth offspring feel at ease to do farm work, and cause trouble everywhere like a cat in the spring every day...... His main family, Hu Yuanwai, was very entangled at the moment, Chen Daguan from the same village made a fortune in the city, and he set his sights on his forty acres of fine paddy fields, and offered a high price of more than double the market price.

"Hu Yuanwai, you have also seen the world, why the older you get, the more you are a mother-in-law, so be it. Add three taels of silver per acre of land, and it depends on your words whether it will be successful or not. "Chen Daguan was a little impatient. Since becoming an official and businessman in the Manchu government, he has been making money every day. It's really shameless to go to great lengths for a piece of land of just forty acres!

Hu Yuanwai smiled and asked rhetorically: "Chen Yuanwai, have you heard any rumors, isn't it that the price of land is about to skyrocket?" ”

"it! Now that the military disasters are continuous, it is not clear which imperial court will pay the imperial grain, and the price of land will only fall and will not rise, I just want to return to my hometown to raise it for two years, and then I am thinking about buying land. If you miss this village, there will be no more such a shop...... "Chen Daguan is half-truthful, and he is going around in circles with Hu Yuanwai.

I heard that the Qing army fought a big defeat under the city of Nanjing, and all 200,000 Manchurian soldiers were killed, and the soldiers and horses of Wang Deren of the Ming army had been killed in Huzhou Mansion. Only then did he hide back in his hometown in the countryside, anyway, the money in his pocket was bulging out, and he bought land everywhere when he was idle, and he returned to his hometown.

For Hu Yuanwai, this hillbilly. He looked down on him from the bottom of his heart, but the other party gave birth to two good sons, both of whom were admitted to the Xiucai of the Manchu Qing government. Maybe he will become an official in the future, so he still saves some face.

Hu Yuanwai was cautious all his life. I always feel unsafe about the pie falling from the sky, and my eyes roll a few times. Still shook his head: "Alas, forget it, these few acres of thin land handed down by my ancestors, if they are sold by me, they will ...... in the future."

At this time, he suddenly felt that there was something strange around him, and he stopped halfway through a sentence, and looked at the rice field in front of him with surprised eyes.

The water surface in the rice field is trembling slightly, wave after wave of ripples spread outward, the water waves in each rice field are different from each other, there is a noisy and dull sound in the distance, Wang Er, who is bowing his head and planting seedlings, finally realized that something is wrong, straightened up and looked around blankly, and then, the thunderous sound of horses' hooves suddenly amplified the roaring thunder, and countless iron horses rushed straight from the horizon!

The war horses are galloping, the iron flow is rolling, a yellow dust dragon is rolled up on the avenue, far from the end, under the colorful banners, the cavalry on horseback stretches their bows and arrows, and constantly shoots the farmers in the fields, there are still four or five miles away from here, and they have already divided a group of soldiers and horses to rush down the avenue, and go straight to the Henglu Village on the side of the road to kill.

Hu Yuanwai and Chen Daguan glanced at each other, turned around and ran, and several family members and tenants also ran wildly behind.

"Whose soldier is this?" Hu Yuanwai ran as he turned around and shouted loudly, asking the well-informed Chen Daguan.

"The Tartar soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, I don't know which one is crazy!" Chen Daguan's legs and feet were slow, and he watched Hu Yuanwai rush down the ridge and run towards Henglu Village, and hurriedly shouted: "Come back!" You don't want to die! These Tartars are going crazy, and you go back to die! ”

Hu Yuan waved his hand in front of him, and ran to the village by himself, Chen Daguan hesitated, and also followed with his legs, seeing that another team of Qing troops rushed over in the oblique stab, he hurriedly waved his hand to his family, knelt on the side of the road together, and kowtowed.

"The villain is doing things in the yamen of Hangzhou Mansion, and he is familiar with Tian Xiongdudu, may I ask ......" When the Qing army ran closer, he opened his mouth with a smiling face, and suddenly felt that the whole world began to rotate, the blue sky flashed in front of him, but there was a headless corpse kneeling on the ground, which looked very familiar, the Qing soldiers raised their steel knives high, and they were still dripping blood, and every bit of blood was so gorgeous and red......

With a click, Chen Daguan's head fell into the rice field, smashing a splash, and the whole world fell into darkness.

In the dark cellar, Hu Yuanwai's family held their breath and did not dare to make any sound.

There were constantly chaotic sounds overhead, the footsteps, the sound of talking, and the sound of moving things of the Qing soldiers were clearly audible, as if they were close at hand, and from time to time you could hear screams and women's cries, and the time seemed to have become particularly long and difficult...... After a period of confusion, the Qing army shouted a few words loudly, beckoned each other and went away, and then a choking smell came, and with the sound of crackling and peeling, an unbearable heat was felt in the cellar.

"The Tartars are burning the house." Hu Yuanwai whispered to everyone: "Just bear with it, don't make a sound, eldest daughter-in-law, don't cover the child to death, why hasn't there been any movement for a long time?" ”

The eldest daughter-in-law held her son in her arms, because her son kept crying, one hand was pressed on his mouth, and when she heard her father-in-law's command, she quickly let go of her hand to check, and couldn't help screaming: "Dead!" He's dead! The son is dead! ”

With a snap, Hu Yuanwai slapped her hard: "That's it." If you can't die, get out of the way. ”

A few adults went up and pinched people. Pat on the back, after some tossing. The frightened child finally cried out, and Hu Yuanwai breathed a sigh of relief, sat weakly on the ground, and did not speak for a long time.

Afraid that the Qing army did not go far, after staying up in the cellar for a day, Hu Yuanwai carefully opened the secret door and sent an old family member out to check. By the time everyone came out of the cellar, Henglu Village in front of them was already a ruined wall. There were corpses and blood stains everywhere.

……

Ningbo, Zhu Yihai was temporarily there.

This was originally the government of Ningbo Mansion, the hall was changed to the main hall, the entrance of the main hall, there are more than 100 heavily armed soldiers guarding, the originally spacious courtyard is stuffed to the full, there are groups of soldiers outside the courtyard to guard around, do not interact with each other, indifferent and vigilant.

This is a unique scene under the rule of Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu. Because Zhang Mingzhen has always been ruthless and always holds Hongmen banquets to assassinate political opponents, each warlord must bring enough guards to the court every time he meets, and he is more careful than when he fights with the Tartars. Of course, this is not a proper look. But everyone's lives matter, and after slowly forming a routine, it is not surprising that it will take a long time.

Cicadas chirped in the courtyard. The hall was also boiling, and nearly 100 civil and military officials were excited. It's arguing...... Zhang Kentang, a scholar of Dongge University, suddenly proposed at the court meeting to invite Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, to ascend the throne and become emperor. The pro-for-the-same and the opposition went toe-to-toe and almost got into a fight.

Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, called the head of the provisional government, and one step away from officially ascending the throne and becoming the emperor, but he took five years to take this step and still failed to take it.

Now all the things are different, taking advantage of the Longwu Imperial Court to launch an eastward crusade, Zhu Yihai's army also took the opportunity to counterattack, the old lady eats persimmons and picks soft pinch, has captured several state capitals in Zhejiang and eastern Fujian, there are nearly 20,000 armored soldiers under his command, known as 100,000 armor soldiers, Zhejiang, Fujian and Nanzhili's gentry and heroes have responded, hundreds of Jiangnan scholars have come to vote together, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, has never been so prosperous, and there are already conditions for being called emperor.

So what are you waiting for?! Everyone is holding their heads and following King Lu to resist the Qing Dynasty, isn't it just to one day make a contribution to the dragon's decision, and win a generation of princes and nobles? At the worst time when King Lu was mixed, these loyal subordinates did not surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the second did not defect to the Longwu court.

Most of the civil and military generals supported King Lu's claim to be emperor, while Zhang Mingzhen and other minorities objected, fearing that such a move would undermine the anti-Qing alliance and even risk war with the Longwu court.

Zhang Kentang, the leader of the pro-favor faction, immediately pointed out that Zhang Mingzhen's idea was too cowardly and short-sighted, and it was precisely because of the aggressiveness of the Longwu court that Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, had to be proclaimed emperor, level the political status of both sides, and seize a favorable position in the negotiations and negotiations between the two sides.

"Let's take a step back, Zhu Yujian will take a step forward, we go further, Zhu Yujian has to take a step back, and he can't give in lightly at a step. Zhang Kentang said sincerely: "Although the Chu army won a great victory, the war in Jiangnan has not yet been pacified, most of the state capitals of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces are still occupied by the Qing army, and the prison country is called the emperor at this time, Zhu Yujian will definitely not dare to risk the world's disapproval to start a war with our army, if it is until the Jiangnan provinces are pacified, Zhu Yujian with 200,000 elite armor Chen soldiers in eastern Zhejiang, and then sent an edict ordering the prison country to abdicate and return to the domain, we are no longer able to resist, we can only let the imperial court fall into the Tang domain, become a sinner through the ages!" ”

The military general Ru Yingyuan responded loudly: "What the elder said is not bad at all! The imperial court is the foundation of the country, Zhu Yujian is the descendant of the Taizu, but he is actually a thief who steals the country, if he wins the world, the country's etiquette collapses, the law does not exist, and the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years will be destroyed in one fell swoop! ”

Ru Yingyuan is Zhang Kentang's protégé, and he is also a warlord under Zhu Yihai, King of Lu, although his strength is much worse than Zhang Mingzhen, but he also has thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, and his words carry a lot of weight, and he has been in unison with the approval faction.

"Everyone, how did you say that......" Zhang Mingzhen's face became more and more ugly.

Ru Yingyuan is clearly arguing with strong words, to talk about the bloodline of the various Zhu family vassal kings, Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, and Zhu Yujian, the king of Tang, are basically half a catty and eight taels, both are the collateral descendants of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yujian said that the emperor is a thief, and Zhu Yihai is the emperor is the destiny of heaven? But in front of Zhu Yihai and the Manchu Dynasty, he couldn't slap everyone's face, Zhang Mingzhen couldn't say anything, his heart was angry, and he stared at Ru Yingyuan with cold eyes, full of murderous anger in his eyes.

Zhang Mingzhen was born in Nanjing Jinyiwei, has been a military general for a lifetime, encounters difficult to solve the political opponent, and likes to use assassination to get rid of the other party, but with the continuous rise of status, he has realized that the political problem cannot be solved by conspiracy assassination alone, and has been reined in a lot in the past year, but these guys who bully the soft and are afraid of the hard have kicked their noses and faces, and they are against him everywhere in the court, and today they launched a surprise attack at the court meeting, which made Zhang Mingzhen murderous.

The civil and military generals who agreed with Zhu Yihai to be the emperor had already done a tandem in advance, and when they saw Zhang Mingzhen's appearance of having a seizure, they were all fearless, and they each stepped forward to make a generous statement, and then knelt down together to ask Zhu Yihai for his life, as long as Zhu Yihai nodded, this matter was half done...... Of course, Zhu Yihai is the emperor of such a big matter, it is impossible to bypass Zhang Mingzhen, the biggest warlord, today is just the first time to show the confrontation between chariots and horses, there is still a lot of work to be done in the future, Zhang Kentang took one step at a time and looked at three steps, and had already thought of a way to persuade Zhang Mingzhen.

Zhu Yihai looked at Zhang Mingzhen in embarrassment.

Zhang Mingzhen is not good at words, he has never been able to quarrel with these civil officials, but at this moment he is angry in his heart, and he is even more clumsy, and he can't say anything powerful against it.

At this time, Zhang Huangyan took two steps forward and saluted Zhu Yihai and said: "The matter of being the emperor is very important, and it should be considered in the long run, but at the moment there is an important matter that needs to be decided by the prison country, and Zhu Yulu of the Tang Dynasty and Wang Kefan, the head of the Chu army, sent a letter, asking the prison to go to Nanjing Xiaoling to worship Emperor Taizu Gao, I don't know if the prison country will go or not?" ”

……

Zhang Huangyan is Zhang Mingzhen's subordinate general, and he is also a Confucian general, who is as famous as Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong in history, and is a famous national hero of the anti-Qing Dynasty.

"Among the many figures in the Southern Ming Dynasty, Zhang Huangyan's status is not prominent, but in the twenty-year struggle against the Qing Dynasty, he has gone through hardships and obstacles, focusing on the overall situation everywhere, and is almost an impeccable perfect person" - Gu Cheng. (To be continued......)