The reason why these men look at Zhou Shixiang so much admiration is because they have all suffered a big loss from Yunlong.

Last year, Li Dingguo of the Southern Ming Dynasty sent troops from Liuzhou, Guangxi Province to attack Guangdong, Guo Zhiqi, who was a scholar of the Yongli Dynasty at the time, and Lian Chengbi, the governor of Liangguang, actively contacted the anti-Qing righteous divisions scattered throughout Guangdong and the Southern Ming army to cooperate with the main battle of the Li Ministry.

There are indeed many people in this group of men who have been in the Ming army, but the Ming and Qing dynasties have been fighting for Guangdong for six or seven years, and their men and horses have either been defeated and destroyed by the Qing army, or forced to retreat to a remote corner of the coastal area of Guangdong, or follow the Yongli Emperor to hide in the rear, or descend to the Qing Dynasty and turn into a green camp. In short, after the officials ran away, most of these men became stragglers, and falling into the grass became their only choice, after all, they were unwilling to cut their hair and become Manchu obedient people, and they would not do anything except kill people with knives.

After falling into the grass, these men also bullied the people on weekdays, but when they learned that the Ming army in Guangxi was going to attack Guangdong, and saw the recruitment announcement of the Nanming University scholars and governors, these men came out of the mountains one after another to participate in the righteous division in line with the idea that the Han family's sons still want to fight with the Tartars to the end. At that time, the volunteer teachers they participated in were a group of soldiers and horses organized by Zhang Xiaoqi, the governor of the four prefectures of Nanming, Gao, Lian, Lei, and Qiong.

Later, Li Dingguo's army entered Guangdong and won victories, so that the Qing army in Guangdong retreated around Guangzhou and did not dare to move, Zhang Xiaoqi led his soldiers and horses to Xinhui to participate in the siege. Unexpectedly, on the second day of arriving in Xinhui, the Qing army guard in the city attacked the Ming army with 400 elite cavalry, and the first to bear the brunt was Zhang Xiaoqi's troops. Almost instantly, Zhang Xiaoqi's improvised patchwork of soldiers and horses was defeated by the Qing army, and there were really countless dead and homeless

Zhou Shixiang in front of this group of people escaped death in this battle, they all saw with their own eyes how tens of thousands of horses were defeated by hundreds of Qing troops, and also saw how the new guard general You Yunlong was one to ten, bravely rushing to the front, the scene at that time, now I think about it is very scared. Therefore, when they learned that You Yunlong was actually killed by Zhou Xiucai in front of them, how could they not be surprised, and how could they not admire!

"It turned out to be a good man who killed Tartars, Brother Zhou, please get up quickly!"

The man at the head was already excited, and stepped forward to personally help Zhou Shixiang up. When Zhou Shixiang got up, he noticed that this person's left arm was half short.

After Zhou Shixiang got up, the man took a few steps back, and then bowed to Zhou Shixiang together with the rest of the men, and said in unison: "Please accept my wait, Brother Zhou!" ”

"I can't do it, I can't help it!" Zhou Shixiang subconsciously shook his hand.

Mr. Song on the side smiled and said, "Why can't you!" Brother Zhou can know that they almost died under the hands of Yunlong last year, if you hadn't killed that thief, they would not be able to repay this revenge in their lives, so it is natural for you to be worshiped by them, and there is no need to shirk it. ”

Mr. Song said, the men over there had already bowed down unrelentingly, and Zhou Shixiang had no choice but to accept their gift.

After everyone worshipped, the atmosphere was different from before, looking at Zhou Shixiang's gaze was as hot as looking at a handsome daughter-in-law, and the beard returned An'er's longevity lock to Zhou Shixiang for the first time.

Zhou Shixiang was still confused in his heart, he didn't know who these people were, and he had the intention to take advantage of the situation to get close to them, get close, and inquire about something, but he didn't know how to speak, so he could only look at Mr. Song embarrassedly, and said embarrassedly: "I haven't asked Mr. for his name?" ”

Mr. Song was stunned for a moment, then patted his head, laughed, and said, "Look at me, I patronized and introduced you to the brothers, but I forgot to introduce you for you." Then he introduced himself: "The contemptible person's surname is Song Xianggong, because he knows some medical skills and knows some words, so they all call me Mr. Song, if you don't dislike it, you can also call me Mr. Song as they do." ”

Song Xianggong?

Hearing this name, Zhou Shixiang looked a little weird. Mr. Song knew why, and he didn't mind, and laughed at himself: "Even if there is something wrong with the name given by the parents, there is nothing to be done about being a son." But this Xianggong is good, it seems that I am benevolent and righteous, hehe. ”

"Yes, yes, benevolence is good, benevolence is good." Zhou Shixiang didn't know what to say to people's names, so he could only nod and echo a few words casually.

The man in charge smiled on the side: "Brother Zhou, Mr. Song is not only benevolent and righteous, but also knows some medical skills and literacy, do you know that our Mr. Song has been a county magistrate and has great skills." ”

"Oh?"

The dream of the former owner of the body with the fame of Xiucai is to be able to take the imperial examination and his younger brother in the future, and to be a county parent official, but unfortunately this person can't be examined, and being a county magistrate can only be a dream. As soon as he heard that Song Xianggong in front of him had actually been a magistrate, Zhou Shixiang couldn't help but be in awe and was impressed.

How do you know that the man didn't say it's okay, as soon as he said that he would do the county magistrate, Mr. Song's face became red, and he rubbed his hands there and said: "What is the county magistrate, Brother Zhou don't listen to Hu Da shouting, I haven't done it before, I haven't done it."

"Hey, no, why haven't you done it?" The man who was the leader listened to Song Xianggong's words, but he didn't follow it, "You have obviously been a county master, why don't you admit it in front of Brother Zhou." ”

"Boss Hu, let's talk about this another day, let's talk about it another day, let's go back to the village for now."

Mr. Song's face was flushed, and he hurriedly wanted to get away with it, but Boss Hu didn't realize that he really didn't want to mention it, and regardless of Mr. Song's frequent gestures, he told Zhou Shixiang how Mr. Song did it back then.

It's okay if he doesn't say it, but when he says it, Zhou Shixiang is also dumbfounded

It turned out that this Song Xianggong was originally a native of Nanyang Mansion, Henan, and the Xiucai during the Chongzhen period, only because of the four walls of the family and the frequent wars, so that he could not study hard with peace of mind, so he stopped at Xiucai. (This encounter is quite similar to Zhou Shixiang.) ）

That year, Song Xianggong saw that there was no hope for Zhongju, and the crossing thief was powerful, so in order to gain a future, he took a risk and joined the thief. It was the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, and Song Xianggong was thirty-one years old at the age of Chinese New Year's Eve.

After throwing in the thief, although Song Xianggong was just a poor talent who had not been selected, he was not a literati at all, and he had no reputation, but after all, he was a talent, he knew how to write and write, and he stood out among the gang of big bosses and coarse people in the thief camp, and the thieves who threw in him would be very pleased with him, and he would be mentioned as the military Chinese secretary office, and he would be treated very well.

Death for a confidant. The thief will treat Song Xianggong deeply, Song Xianggong feels it in his heart, and he is dedicated to serving him, and he has been in the army for more than two years.

Song Xianggong thought that the thieves would fall into Beijing, and the new dynasty would be determined, and the thieves would treat the literati well, such as the Niu Venus Er has now become a great shun minister, so as long as he does things steadfastly and works hard, he will be of great use in the new dynasty, although he is not as lucky as Niu Venus can rank above the court, but at least he can find a county in the new dynasty to do, if he is lucky, the prefect is not impossible. In this way, it can be regarded as the glory of the ancestors, and it is enough to repay the kindness of the parents.

Things are indeed as Song Xianggong thought, seeing that the army captured the capital, Dashun replaced the Ming Dynasty is a sure thing, the thief will be happy and said to Song Xianggong that when Emperor Yongchang officially ascended the throne in Beijing, he will go to the table to protect him as a county parent.

After getting the promise of the thief, Song Xianggong was overjoyed, and he was even more grateful to the thief. How do you think, the wish is about to be fulfilled, that Ping Xibo Wu Sangui actually led the Manchurian soldiers into the customs, and the thieves were defeated in a battle, and the speed of defeat made Song Xianggong dumbfounded, and he never imagined it!

After the death of the thief, the thieves camp will have no leader, panic all day, seeing that the general trend has gone, Song Xianggong will have a different heart, heard that Ping Xibo Wu Sangui is borrowing Pingkou, and there is Zhu Mingfu King in Nanjing enthroned as the emperor, for a while, the ghost is confused, thinking that the world is still Ming after all, in the future by the Ming army to clear the guillotine, if not to betray the thief camp and rejoin the Ming.

Song Xianggong thought about himself in the thief camp but a clerk, this to the Ming and can't pull people together, a lonely family, how the Ming Dynasty will pay attention to him, so he put his heart sideways, and actually stole the thief who was as kind to him as a mountain overnight and fled south, wanting to take the thief to the south to try his luck.

I never thought that before I arrived in Nandu, I was arrested in Jiangbei halfway, and it was the soldiers under Li Chengdong, the general soldier of Xinfeng Xingping Bo Gaojie of the Southern Ming Dynasty, who arrested Song Xianggong.

This Li Chengdong is nicknamed "Li Hezi", and like Gao Jie, he was also a member of the thief, and later betrayed the thief with Gao Jie. Because of the great strength of the thieves, Gao Jie was defeated, so he led a cadre of Chengdong to flee to the south and temporarily settled in Xuzhou, Jiangbei.

After the sudden change of Jiashen Fengyun, Gao Jie, who was originally a lost dog, also followed the times, and there were soldiers under his command to support King Lifu to ascend the throne and even had to grant Xingping Bo, and then he was relied on by Shi Kefa, the important minister of the Hongguang Dynasty, as one of the four towns in Jiangbei.

Gao Jie was awarded the title of Xingpingbo, and Li Chengdong was also awarded the chief military officer of Xuzhou. After his soldiers captured Song Xianggong, who fled south, he searched for the official seal of the thief general from his body, and mistakenly thought that Song Xianggong was a big official who broke into the camp.

Song Xianggong shouted injustice in every possible way, tried his best to justify, but Xiucai met a soldier, it was unreasonable, Chengdong's subordinates did not pay attention to him, but Chengdong was not confused, when he saw that Song Xianggong was dressed as a literati, he became suspicious at the moment, looked at his hand, and found that there was no calloon on his hand, obviously he had never held a knife or a gun, and immediately interrogated him carefully.

In order to save his life, Song Xianggong also explained his experience clearly like pouring beans into a bamboo tube, and cried after speaking, please spare his life. Cheng Dong smiled and said nothing, and someone loosened the tie for Song Xianggong, and said to him, what can you do when you go to Nandu from a thief Xiucai, there are so many people who want to be an official, you have no merit, no qualifications, no money, and no connections, and you want to get an official just by virtue of a thief's seal? It's really ridiculous, just like you, it's strange that the officials and soldiers of Nandu don't treat you as a thief and tie you up. It's better to stay in our army and serve, if you have merit, he will sponsor the court for you one day.

Song Xianggong didn't want Chengdong to recruit himself, he was also very happy, thinking about being able to be tied up by Chengdong's subordinates as thieves today, how could he not be tied up by the officials and soldiers of the Southern Capital tomorrow to ask for merit, the left and right are all pitching, which is not to vote, and he agreed to it at the moment, and stayed in the Chengdong army.

Although Cheng Dong is a rough man, he also loves talent, although Song Xianggong has no earth-shattering ability, but he has been doing paperwork in the thief camp for more than two years, and he is very familiar with the regulations in the army. Song Xianggong is also familiar with this kind of affairs, and the master and servant get along well.

I thought that I had returned to the Ming Dynasty, and the thief died, and the Ming Dynasty was hopeful, and his future would eventually be settled, but no one thought that the Qing Dynasty actually had the intention of annexing the world, and Shi Kefa, the cabinet minister of the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was a mediocre person, neither the intention of restoring the Central Plains, nor the policy of partiality, and the ability of the imperial general, Ma Shiying and the Donglin Fushe in the court and a group of people continued to fight the party, as a result, a year later, the Manchurian army went south, and the Shi Pavilion Department had no way to deal with it, and the four towns in Jiangbei died except for Huang Degong. The remaining three towns were all cleared, and the cabinet himself, together with more than 800,000 people in Yangzhou City, became the ghosts of the Manchurian soldiers, and the Hongguang Dynasty was finished.

Before the Qing army went south, Gao Jie was secretly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty Henan military officer Xu Dingguo set up a banquet to kill, after his death, the department by the commander Li Benshen, the general soldier Li Chengdong temporarily commanded, and so on until the Qing army went south, after the death of Yangzhou in the Shi Pavilion Department, Chengdong and Ben Shen were honored with Gao Jie's wife Xing and the son of the family happy Yuan shaved his hair and descended to the Qing, changed the Yuan banner.

Song Xianggong was able to surrender to the thief back then, so he went to the integrity of the scholar early, and since the benefactor Chengdong had been cleared, he naturally shaved his hair. So far, what can he do if he doesn't remove his hair, the Hongguang regime has collapsed, and the Dashun army has fallen apart, and the world is looking at the Qing Dynasty.

The Ming army turned into a Qing army, Cheng Dong and his subordinate generals also adapted, and then the Manchu Qing Rui Prince ordered Cheng Dong to go south to attack Su Song, Cheng Dong was a new Qing minister, and he was eager to make meritorious contributions, and hurriedly ordered 5,000 elite soldiers to cross the river to the south.

Before leaving, Cheng Dong came to ask Song Xianggong if he wanted to follow a piece to the south, Song Xianggong thought to himself, although I followed you to the Qing Dynasty, but after all, it is a Han person, this Manchurian soldier is too cruel, Yangzhou City has created a great evil, this time you go south Su Song does not know how many Han people to kill, I still don't go with you, so as not to stain the blood of those Han people in the south, and my conscience is disturbed.

Seeing Song Xianggong spitting and spitting, Cheng Dong also understood, knowing what he thought, and did not break it, but asked Prince Yu for grace and guaranteed him to go to Huai'an Mansion to be the magistrate of Yancheng.

Unexpectedly, in the fifth year of Shunzhi, Li Chengdong suddenly returned to Ming in Guangdong anyway, and the news came, so scared that Song Xianggong didn't even want the gold and silver that he had collected in recent years, and he went south to Li Chengdong in a panic overnight.

If you don't run, you can't do it! Song Xianggong understands very well that he is the county governor of Li Chengdong, and the whole Huai'an Mansion knows about this relationship, so he is not embarrassed by Li Chengdong's face. But now that Li Chengdong has returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway, where can he continue to do this county, I am afraid that the colleagues in Huai'an Mansion have already begun to ponder whether to tie him up and hand him in as an "anti-party" to ask for credit.

On the way south, Song Xianggong also went through ups and downs, but there was no danger, and he finally met the benefactor of the year, and now Li Chengdong, who is now the Duke of Huiguo of Nanming.

The arrival of Song Xianggong also surprised Li Chengdong, and he wanted to reuse it for his sake, but at that time, Chengdong was leading the army to attack Ganzhou, Jiangxi, and the military situation was urgent, so he didn't care about it for a while.

Song Xianggong couldn't wait any longer, and when he wanted to ask the benefactor for a favor again, Cheng Dong was killed in battle. Then the Qing army entered Guangdong, and as a last resort, Song Xianggong followed Hu Laoda, who was a member of Chengdong's own soldiers, to fall into the grass for Kou. After several years of ups and downs, one would be a bandit, one would be a Ming army, and another would be a righteous teacher, it was really a toss-up, but in the end he was still a bandit in the mountains

Author's note: Nandu is Nanjing.

Jiangnan Province, originally the Ming Dynasty South Zhili region, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, changed Nanjing to Jiangning, in the second year of Shunzhi along the Ming system set up Jiangnan Chengxuan Political Envoy Division, the governor Yamen is located in Jiangning Mansion. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, Jiangnan was divided into Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.