Chapter 1 Fireworks in March down to Yangzhou

In March 1909, that is, the first year of Xuantong, the entire Jiangnan region of the Great Qing Dynasty was still groggy and everything had not changed, the imperial court was still the imperial court, and the world was still the same world, as if a heavy shackle was pressed on the neck. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoPeople live with their heads bowed and panting, and although the Gengzi Incident in the north eight years ago and the Russo-Japanese War four years ago have aroused a strong sense of nationality throughout the country, life is still the same for ordinary people.

Robes, horse coats, dark colors, gray, and the braids at the back of the head are coiled around the neck, blocking the coolness of the people in early spring. Three or two porters carried their burdens and luggage, and occasionally chatted a few words of "Nong was cut down yesterday" and laughed. One or two horses and ox carts drove slowly through the street, spitting on the feces and urine, and the others hurried to hide far away.

On the canal, a fishing song full of Jiangnan charm came out.

"The tide of the spring river is even with the sea, and the bright moon on the sea is born together. Thousands of miles with the waves, where there is no moon in the spring river......"

This is Jiangnan, which is a rare peaceful place in the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou.

The great poet Li Bai of the Tang Dynasty has a poem: the old man left the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, and the fireworks went down to Yangzhou in March. This fireworks in Yangzhou in March was originally a poem to say goodbye to friends, but somehow it became a slang phrase for enjoying flowers and moon-by-month romance, if Li Bai knew that his poems were so ruined, he would definitely crawl out of the grave to settle accounts with contemporary people.

But it is no wonder that others will be so misunderstood, since the Song Dynasty came to Suzhou, Yangzhou Jinling has become more and more prosperous, and there are many beautiful women in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in Suzhou and Yangzhou, so these cities next to the Grand Canal are also called fireworks holy land. This Yangzhou is one of the three major fireworks holy places, but unfortunately, now Yangzhou is also lonely, most of the businessmen have rushed to the latest rise of the city of S Hai County, the former fireworks holy land only left seven or eight courtyards, tenaciously maintain their thousands of years of legendary fat powder, but this place is already tomorrow's yellow flowers, gradually declining.

On this day, with the drizzle, the most famous Fengyue place in Yangzhou City, Tianyue Lou, came to a young guest who seemed to have returned from abroad, this person had a short hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses, a suit and tie, and black leather shoes. This person is more than 1.70 meters tall, which is considered a tall figure in this era, and his slender eyes often squint when he looks at people because of myopia, which makes him look a little Sven, and makes people feel uncomfortable, as if they are squinting when looking at others.

In the eyes of Sister Ying, this young man must be a small open, full of chicks, maybe what kind of general or rich businessman his ancestors are, he will definitely be able to make a lot of money from him, and the sharp-eyed turtle slave and Sister Ying suddenly made a judgment in their hearts.

After the young man stepped into Tianyue Tower, he looked around vigilantly, as if he was afraid of something and what he was looking forward to, and the Ying sisters were well-informed, and immediately understood that this Xiaokai was not only a chick, but also very timid and afraid of being caught by his family. It's just that Yangzhou City is such a big place, whose family is this young master...... Or is it the illegitimate child of whose family?

Quite possibly!

Of course, what interests them even more is that this small open hair is short hair.

Those who have stayed in the ocean must have stayed in the ocean and come back, I don't know the severity, I think it's okay to keep short hair in Songhu City, and it's okay to go to Yangzhou.

Nasven Xiaokai continued to look around, and when he saw the two Qing guards with guns upstairs, Xiao Kai's eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth showed a subtle smile, as if these two Ma Ben were more interested in him.

Isn't it a revolutionary party? A few older Ying sisters were a little worried in their hearts, if the revolutionary party came to assassinate Lord Wang, we Tianyuelou would not be able to eat and walk around.

However, there were still a few young warblers Yanyan who didn't have the eyesight to see, only to see that this young man was full of aura, and he was overjoyed to have a big fish in his heart, so he ran over and rubbed it off.

"This uncle is so exquisite."

"Uncle, I want to die in the slave family."

"I don't know which family's son, born so handsome, likes the dead."

……

"Go, go, go, a bunch of prodigal hooves!"

The young Ying sisters were immediately stopped by a charming young woman, and the Ying sisters spit out their fragrant tongues, and hurriedly retreated to the side to watch the excitement, because this person was Sister Cao, the old bustard's mother in Tianyue Building.

"I don't know where this young master came from?" Sister Cao, the old bustard who still has the charm of a half-old, greeted her in an impure official dialect and asked, flicking her handkerchief, exuding bursts of aroma, but this aroma is not an ordinary fat powder, this is a high-grade spice Danlin Fenglu bought from India.

In the big S Sea, the price of a box of Danlin Fenglu will cost ten taels of silver, and ten taels of silver is enough for a poor family to live for a year. No one knows Sister Cao's real name, she was bought to Tianyue Tower at the age of ten, and then picked up the first guest at the age of fifteen, which is now the garrison in Yangzhou and the entire Yangzhou City has to tremble Wang Yongtai, the 24th Mixed Association of the Beiyang Army, and now Sister Cao has such a strong backer, who dares to say half a word to Tianyuelou, who dares to provoke Sister Cao half a point, black and white, but anyone who knows nothing dares to provoke Sister Cao Such a powerful character.

Speaking of which Wang Yongtai is also a legend, his grandfather was one of the supporters of the Wuxu Change, Yangzhou Mingshi Wangjia'an, this monarch was once a Jinshi during the Tongzhi period, once served as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, the Guangxu Emperor's attendant, Jingzhao Mansion Yin, Hangzhou prefect, Zhili Patrol, Criminal Department Shilang, Qincha Minister and other positions, is the head of the Yangzhou gentry. Although Wang Jia'an is a disciple of Confucius, he is not conservative, and during his tenure as a servant of the Criminal Department, he joined the reform faction to support the reform of the law and self-improvement, but the last thing Wang Jia'an should do is to get involved in the dispute between the emperor and the queen, and support the Guangxu Emperor to seize power from Cixi.

Speaking of which, this Wuxu change is called a change, but it is actually a struggle for power between the imperial party and the later party, but there are many ****** in the imperial party and few loyalists in the party. In the year of Wuxu, because of Yuan Shikai's betrayal, the struggle of the imperial party failed, the six gentlemen of Wuxu were killed, a kind of restoration officials were punished, and the imperial party such as Kang Youwei and other imperial party elements fled to the East, but Wang Yongtai's grandfather Wang Jia'an was implicated and was thrown into prison, and the twenty-one-year-old Wang Yongtai, the second young master of the Wang family, suddenly became a flower child from a disciple.

Two years after fleeing, Wang Yongtai fled to Jinmen Station, changed his name and surname to join Yuan Shikai's new army, but he didn't expect to be prosperous all the way, first sent to the TJ Military Academy, and then went to the East for a year of study, and after coming back, he was assigned to the fifth town of the Beiyang Army, and served as a staff officer under Wu Changchun. Later, Wang Yongtai repeatedly participated in the bandits and uprisings of the rebel army with Wu Changchun, and when Wang Yongtai was the overseer, he killed the famous twelve thieves of northern Lu in Taizhou, Lu Province, and got the nickname of Wang Yanwang.

Wang Yongtai was reused by Wu Changchun, Wang Yongtai worshiped Wu Changchun as his godfather, and with his godfather, it was natural that someone in the court was good to talk to, so Wang Yongtai was quickly recommended for the post of the third battalion of the 19th standard of the 10th Infantry Association of the Fifth Town of the Army, and the commander of the 10th Association was Wang Yongtai's fellow countryman and classmate He Zhifang from Suzhou Province. (Beiyang New Military System: Town, Association, Standard, Battalion, Team, Platoon, Shed, 1912 Restructuring Corresponds to Division, Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, Company, Platoon, Squad)

However, it was unfortunate for He Zhifang, and fortunately for Wang Yongtai, not long after He Zhifang became the co-commander (equivalent to the brigade commander), he was shot in the arm by a bandit in Lu Province during a crackdown on bandits, and the arrow cluster was smeared with poison, and He Zhifang lay down for ten days and finally died. Yuan Shikai was promoted to Ye Changsheng, the sixth standard commander, to serve as the tenth assistant commander, and Wang Yongtai was promoted to the nineteenth standard commander (equivalent to the head of the regiment) by his godfather Wu Changchun.

After Wang Yongtai also godfather's care, the next road was smooth, last year the Empress Dowager Cixi and Guangxu died of illness successively (one said that the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned), Yuan Shikai knew that he must be afraid of Manchu officials, so he brought up the officers, the army dispersed and stationed. Wang Yongtai's 19th Standard of the 10th Association of the Fifth Town of the Beiyang New Army was expanded into the 24th Mixed Association of the Beiyang Army, and Wang Yongtai was promoted to the commander of the 24th Mixed Association and concurrently served as the commander of Yangzhou City Defense, leading 2,000 Beiyang Army to garrison Yangzhou.

When Wang Yongtai returned to his hometown in Yangzhou, the Yangzhou he saw was still the Yangzhou in his memory, and the eleven years of the situation had not changed anything in Yangzhou, but the Wang family was not the Wang family anymore, and he was the only one in the Wang family.

Once, Wang Yongtai took his brothers to Tianyue Tower to have fun, and happened to meet Sister Cao, Wang Yongtai suddenly felt like the light of day, because this Sister Cao was the kiln sister who broke her body when she was young, and Sister Cao was only fifteen years old at the time, and she was only fourteen years old that year.

The two sat down and complained to each other about the past, and heard that Wang Yongtai was thirty-two years old and had not yet married.

It just so happened that Wang Yongtai came to Tianyue Tower to drink and chat with Sister Cao today, and a confidant said that a young guest came below, who seemed to be a student who came back from studying in the East, and his braids were cut.

Got braids? This is not a trivial matter, but today is the first year of Xuantong (1909), or the Qing Dynasty, someone actually openly cut his braids and walked on the street, and was arrested and cut off his head on the charge of a revolutionary party.

"Don't be angry, look at my means." Sister Cao grinned and said, this Tianyuelou's sisters naturally don't want to be soldiers to arrest and cut people in their own places, what will they do in the future, so they shook and twisted downstairs, and she negotiated with this foreign student.