Just when Chen Wen began to divide the land, the southwest, which is thousands of miles away from Zhejiang, started from the third year of Yongli when Yang Weizhi was ordered by Sun Kewang to invite the King of Qin, and after a series of events such as canonizing Jingguo Gong, changing the title of King Pingliao, Chen Bangfu Jiaozhi pseudo-sealing the King of Qin, and changing the title of King Yiwang again, the Yongli Imperial Court finally completed the merger with the Great Western Army in the annexation of Sichuan and Gui, the invasion of the army and the internal and external difficulties of Kong Youde to capture Guangxi.

And the result of these nearly three years of bickering is that the Yongli Emperor has moved or can be said to be under house arrest in Guizhou's Anlong Qianhu, and the government is completely controlled by Sun Kewang's Qin Palace, and the Yongli court monarchs and ministers have been completely powerless against the situation.

In fact, in April of the fifth year of Yongli, the vanguard of the Great Western Army, under the leadership of Sun Kewang's confidant Feng Shuangli, had already captured Yuanzhou, which was close to Guizhou, and began a year-long confrontation with the Qing army in Hunan when the attack on Chenzhou failed. At this moment, Sun Kewang, who had completed the unification of Yunnan, Guizhou, and southern Sichuan, decided to send Li Dingguo to join Feng Shuangli to continue the attack on Huguang, and the major counteroffensive on the southwest battlefield was about to begin and gradually kick off.

At the same time, Yu Shizhong's father and son, who had set off for Jinhua as early as the end of last year, were still trying to bypass the plains of Hangzhou Prefecture in the Tianmu Mountains in order to reach Jinhua safely.

After setting out from Taihu Lake at the end of last year, Yu Shizhong and his son quickly entered the Huzhou territory, but they did not rush south, but chose to go to Xixian Hall in the southeast of Huzhou to ask Wei Geng, a Huzhou scholar who had passed information to them.

Wei Geng, formerly known as Bi, also known as Shi Heng, is known as Chu Bai. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed as Geng, the word Yefu. Xuedou, also known as Baiyi Mountain, was originally from Cixi County, Ningbo Prefecture, and later moved to Huzhou.

After the Battle of Tiaoshang, Wei Geng, who was forced to live in seclusion after the defeat, Qian Zhangzeng, Shanyin Qili Sun, Qiban Sun, Zhu Shizhi, Zhang Zongguan and Suzhou Chen Sandao and others formed a poetry society to secretly carry out anti-Qing activities. He has repeatedly sent intelligence to the Ming army in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Zhejiang. After that, he was involved in the "Tonghai Case" because he gave advice to Zheng Chenggong during the Battle of Nanjing, and was executed by the Qing army, and almost his whole family died.

As a result of Chen Wenguang's military operation to recover Jinhua Mansion last year, the elite of the green battalion of the Qing army in Zhejiang suffered a serious blow, among which the Fubiao battalion was completely annihilated, and even the guerrilla attack of the right battalion of the Fubiao battalion, which was lucky enough to escape, was beheaded by the Qing court on the charge of "advancing alone and even defeating the army." If the battle of Zhoushan is added, the Qing army has another defense area in eastern Zhejiang that needs to be carefully deployed after losing Jinhua Mansion, and its troops are even more stretched.

Before setting out, Yu Shizhong decided to venture close to the Huzhou capital to meet Wei Geng, in order to try to obtain some military information about the Qing army in Huzhou. And after the Wei family waited for more than a month. He finally got his wish and got some facts about the recent deployment and mobilization of the Qing army in northern Zhejiang, so he hurriedly took his son to sneak west, trying to bypass the heavily fortified core area of Hangzhou from the Tianmu Mountains and go south to Jinhua.

The area of Tianmu Mountain originally had the anti-Qing forces of Renwu Bo Yao Zhizhuo, after the Qing army captured this place, they wantonly slaughtered the rebels and the people, it stands to reason that it should be sparsely populated, but after the father and son of the Yu family entered the Tianmu Mountain. What you see is a different scene entirely.

Yu Shizhong's wife is from Hangzhou, and he came all the way. The scattered thin fields in the mountains were all cultivated, but if they wanted to get close to beg for water, they could only touch no one, so they obviously hid. Even if they stay in a ruined temple or a thatched hut, the people who live with them rarely communicate, but just guard against each other and do their own things. There are a lot of pedestrians on the road, but most of them are families who are dragging their families to migrate. And the rest are mostly men with hidden blades, who don't look like any good people. The only thing that can be called a good thing is that there is no trace of the Qing army, obviously like the news that Wei Geng obtained.

Seeing this situation, Yu Shizhong had no choice but to take his son to try to speed up. to reduce the amount of time spent here. However, in order to prevent accidents at night, the father and son had to take turns to keep vigil, and the morning needed to hurry as soon as possible, and there was only a few days of rest in the day, and the father and son only felt that their bodies were getting more and more tired. And the most important thing is that the dry food is about to run out, not to mention that it is not enough to support Jinhua, that is, to save money and bypass Hangzhou, and then approach the Qiantang River and cross the river.

There are still two silver ingots of twenty taels on his body, but in troubled times, his wealth cannot be exposed. Seeing this, Yu Shizhong had to grit his teeth and put a wrench given by a familiar maritime merchant in the early years, saying that it was a family heirloom, and exchanged it with a Confucian student on the side of the road for some dry food and scattered silver.

When he was taking him to bargain with the Confucian student, Yu Shizhong's son Yu Youming watched from a distance and walked into the distance, quite familiar, but after thinking about it for a while, he was suddenly startled, and hurriedly shouted to his father, "I see my uncle" and chased after him. Fearing that his son would be lost, Yu Shizhong didn't care about taking the dry food and scattered silver, so he hurried to chase his son.

The father and son chased after each other, and the man hurriedly ran into the distance when he saw someone chasing him, as if he was afraid of being overtaken. It's just that this person's physical fitness is obviously not as good as the father and son of the Yu family who have been fighting against the Qing Dynasty on Taihu Lake all these years, and they chased after him after a while, who knew that he was really the eldest brother of Yu Youming's mother.

The three of them stood in the middle of the road for a moment, but when they reacted, they hugged each other and wept bitterly. Yu Shizhong's wife died of illness on the way to serve Wu Yi in their family, and Yu Shizhong sent someone to send a letter to the Yue family.

Just before asking why they were here, Yu Shizhong suddenly remembered something, he had just exchanged with the Confucian student, the wrench had been given to the man, and when he was about to receive the dry food and scattered silver, his son chased him out, he chased him out for fear that his son would run away, but he didn't take the things exchanged.

Although there are not many things, but for the Yu family father and son, it is used to go south to Jinhua to save their lives, and without waiting for greetings, the three of them hurriedly followed the original path to return, although there is little hope, but they can only hope that the Confucian conscience is still clear. Walking forward at a brisk pace is really tiring for the three of them who have just gone through a race, but if they can't get it back, the way south will only be more difficult, so they have to do so.

Fortunately, when he walked a hundred and ten meters away, he looked at the Confucian from afar but was still waiting in place, Yu Shizhong hurriedly ran over, and he explained with a thousand thanks before he could even breathe. And the Confucian was a little impatient on his face. But he didn't say much, just left a sentence "A gentleman loves money, takes it in a proper way, sees it in moderation, and uses it sparingly, so you don't have to be like this." Then he hurried away.

watched the figure of Confucius go away. The father and son of the Yu family followed their eldest brother to the residence. Yu Shizhong is a hereditary thousand households of Jinshanwei, Jinshanwei is located on the coast, it is a guard station, and it is also involved in maritime trade. And Yu Shizhong's Yue family is a businessman in Hangzhou, and sea trade is the pillar industry of the family.

On the way to his residence, Yu Shizhong learned that the Yue family's original Ding Xingwang family was now scattered all over the world. And only his wife's eldest brother and third brother father and daughter are left, and the others are gone.

After the Qing army went south, King Lu raised the city to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, although the behavior of this "Lu Buddha" was to avoid the suffering of the people of Hangzhou, but he could not bear the Qing army in this "paradise on earth" to expropriate and brutalize the people. Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou are the richest places in Zhejiang, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty naturally taxed far more than other prefectures and counties, almost comparable to Susongchang Town, which is "100 times more than other places".

If only that were it.

The first year of Hongguang. The Qing army occupied Hangzhou and soon encircled the houses in the west of the city from Qiantang Gate to Yongjin Gate as camps. The original residents were forced to support the old and the young and move out of the city. After that, the banner people broke into local houses, looted property, destroyed ancestral graves, and demanded women from the magistrate. Insulting scholars and plundering merchants made the merchants sluggish, seriously affecting Hangzhou's commercial activities and tax revenue.

Because of this, Xiao Qiyuan, the governor of Zhejiang in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, wrote to build the city. In order to isolate the soldiers and the people, and reduce the tax pressure of the Eight Banners Army to plunder the people. In the fourth year of Yongli when Chen Wen came to this era, Hangzhou began to build enclosures, and it was not until 19 years later that it was forbidden to continue enclosures.

Nearly half of the Yue family's land and mansion were within the scope of the enclosure, and his wife's second brother was beaten to death by the Qing army in order to protect the family property, and he didn't even bother to give An's charge, while the second and third sisters-in-law were robbed by the Eight Banners Army after that, and there was no news again. Yu Shizhong's father-in-law was not in good health, and he died of illness not long after, while his mother-in-law soon left with her husband, leaving the family alone.

When they came to their family's residence, they saw only a few dilapidated thatched houses, and I really didn't know how these children of the once well-dressed maritime merchant family persevered. When he saw the third uncle who was tired and tired with a wooden hoe in tatters, he hugged his head and cried.

Soon it was evening, and the family who told the past continued to reminisce about the past while using coarse food on a broken table with three legs long and one leg short, and Yu Shizhong, after noticing the sister-in-law's painful look, also took out the dry food he had just exchanged to share with them, which barely relieved some of his sorrow.

It's just that although there is no wine at the banquet, when it comes to the events of these years, his third uncle and brother gush endlessly as if they have drunk too much wine.

"Now in Hangzhou City, every city gate is guarded by those Eight Banner soldiers, they unscrupulously snatch the things on the people's burdens, and ask for tolls from pedestrians with backpacks and sedan chairs, and even block the funeral and family procession at the city gate, asking for bribes to allow them to pass, although I heard that they are actually Han people, but there is no difference from those barbarians."

"That's not bad, have you heard of business debts?" Seeing that Yu Shizhong shook his head in a daze, his third uncle shook out the burden with tears: "The so-called camp debt is that those Eight Banners soldiers forcibly put usury mortgaged by their homestead acres to others, and the interest rate is rising rapidly, our family's house and land outside the city were seized by those beasts in this way, even your third sister-in-law ......"

Seeing that his younger brother couldn't cry anymore, Yu Shizhong's eldest brother continued to speak: "Those taken away the land and houses, but the Tartar government still asked me to continue to pay taxes and bear the conscription, and I was really angry, so I fled here with this family. The third brother is now working as a tenant for others and earning some food, while the foolish brother is working as a bookkeeper in the town, barely making ends meet. ”

After talking about his own affairs, Yu Shizhong's eldest brother turned to ask him about his current situation. Yu Shizhong did not doubt him, so he mentioned that he had followed Wu Yi to fight against the Qing Dynasty in Taihu Lake before, as well as what happened after Wu Yi's death, but he only skipped the matter of scholars such as Wei Geng.

Seeing that this family had fallen into such a field, Yu Shizhong hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Last year, Chen Wenchen, the general under the command of the first king Jingluo, had recovered Jinhua Mansion and defeated the Tartar Governor, Fubiao and the surrounding garrison green battalion. As far as the younger brother knows, this Chen Dashuai's background is related to the Penglai Qi family, and the younger brother's ancestor followed Qi Shaobao to kill the Japanese invaders, this time the younger brother is planning to go south to Jinhua to serve Chen Dashuai's army, continue to kill the Tartars, so as to recover the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible. ”

Hearing these bold words, Yu Shizhong's Yue's family was stunned on the spot, looking at their father and son in horror, even more frightened than when they heard that Yu Shizhong had been a general under Wu Yi. And when Yu Shizhong tried to invite them to come along, the family was even more unwilling, as if Yu Shizhong's father and son were black and white impermanence and wanted to lure them to hell.

Seeing this, Yu Shizhong knew very well that the family had been shocked by the terrifying atmosphere woven by the Eight Banners of the Hangzhou garrison, and they didn't dare to rebel at all.

For a while, the two sides were speechless until after dinner, Yu Youming, who had been tired for a long time, went to bed early, and Yu Shizhong, who was even more tired, lay on the bed and opened his eyes strongly, not daring to have the slightest sleep.

Until the dead of night, there was a creaking sound of the door opening in the direction of the opposite room, Yu Shizhong quickly closed his eyes, let out a faint snoring sound, and his two ears were pricked up, lest he hear something less.

After a while, a person seemed to come out of the direction of the main room under the low urging of others, and the two people crept to the window of the room of the Yu family father and son to listen for a while, and then quietly walked out of the small courtyard.

The footsteps began to fade away, Yu Shizhong turned over and sat up, then rushed out of the door, and then jumped up and climbed over the low and broken courtyard wall, far behind the two of them, until they stopped, hid behind a big rock and listened.

"Big brother, you listened to me. This Yu Shizhong is clearly a thief, if we send their father and son to the government, the government will not treat our family badly. ”

Hearing this, Yu Shizhong clenched his fists, but before he could have the idea of the next step, he only heard a "pop", and an angry voice sounded.

"You brute, we're a family. Even if you don't mention your brother-in-law, Youming is Xiaomei's only son, and he is also your and my own nephew, can you bear to fall into their desperate situation of death?! ”

"I ......"

"What are you, I know, you obviously want to exchange the lives of your brother-in-law and nephew for your daughter-in-law! But you don't want to think about it, it's been more than a year since she was taken captive by the Tartars, but there is any news? Maybe he was killed by the Tartars! Besides, even if you don't die, do you think you can get it back? Even if you can get it back, are you worthy of your little sister by doing this? You tell me! ”

Hearing this, the first voice to speak was stunned for a moment and then burst into tears, accompanied by the sound of "I am not human" and the sound of slapping the head. The other was silently weeping tears and looking at each other without saying a word.

In the middle of the night crying in the mountains, Yu Shizhong let go of his fist, turned around and sneaked back into the room, hugged his son and silently closed his eyes, and fell into the sleep of remembering his deceased wife. It was not until the next morning that the father and son set out on their way south after saying goodbye as if nothing had happened, and in the room, they left a silver ingot of twenty taels......

………………

A few days later, outside the gate of the Jinhua Mansion City Mansion, a middle-aged man in coarse linen clothes and a hat to cover his face stepped on the steps and walked in the direction of the gate. Before the servant who had stepped forward to stop him could speak, he heard the man speak.

"Briefing, Yuyao Huang Taichong asks to see, go." (To be continued.) )