Ten days later, the autumn wind gradually rose, Song Xiaofei arranged the military affairs of the Beiyang Naval Division and the New Army in Tianjin, and let Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang be responsible for driving the New Army to the Shandong garrison, and he took Xu Shichang, Wang Shizhen, Xi Muqing and others, escorted by the pro-army, and marched to Shandong.

It was overcast and it was about to rain, and the wind shook the trees by the roadside, and the leaves fluttered on the ground as the wind passed. Song Xiaofei and his entourage were preparing to leave on the official road, Tan Sitong had not yet arrived, and sent someone to the official inn where he lived, but there was no one, he was in a hurry, Tan Sitong and a middle-aged man arrived on a tall horse, and the sound of "Dada" was getting closer and closer.

The middle-aged man was wearing a black horse coat, with a slender figure, a cold complexion, his legs clamped the horse's belly, and he looked closer, with a beard, heavy eyes, clear and bright, the years left deep wrinkles on his forehead, and he carried a green dragon long knife, the knife was more than ten feet long, and the blade was inlaid with the pattern of two dragons swallowing the moon, and the domineering appearance was exposed.

Tan Sitong apologized and said that he was late, and then introduced Song Xiaofei to the middle-aged man who came with him: "This person is my brother who is righteous, skilled in swordsmanship, noble in morality and righteousness, known as 'Big Knife King Five'. This time, I heard that I was going to Shandong with the governor, and the boxers in Shandong are now very fierce, so he rushed to help. ”

Wang Wu gave Song Xiao a fist salute, the heavy double dragon moon swallowing knife on his body is said to weigh more than 100 catties, more than 20 catties heavier than Guan Yu's Qinglong Yanyue knife, swallowing mountains and rivers, ordinary people who are mixed in the rivers and lakes, when they see this long knife, they know who is on the scene.

Song Xiaofei said: "Wang Wuxia has been walking the rivers and lakes for many years, and when he goes to Shandong, we need such talents, and we can't ask for them." In this way, in our line, Miss Xi is a woman, and her safety will be handed over to Wang Wuxia, and I will pay according to the price of the Shunyuan Dart Bureau. ”

Song Xiaofei listened to the big sword king five dart game, afraid that he would delay the business, originally kindly said that he would give some silver two compensation, but he didn't expect the big sword king to hear it, his face suddenly darkened, and said: "The adult looks down on me Wang Wu so much? Am I a money-grubber? Zhuang Fei (Tan Sitong's number) is my brother, and I came to help the adults voluntarily, if I accept the adult's money, what will I face in the future? ”

Song Xiaofei knew that Wang Wu had misunderstood, and was about to open his mouth to explain, Xi Muqing smiled slightly, and said: "Also, I am such a priceless treasure, and the governor can't afford to pay the dart silver even if he is bankrupt." ”

The group was amused by Xi Muqing's words, relieved their suspicions, and went on the road.

The carriage and horses walked on the road for two days before entering the territory of Shandong, Song Senyin, the governor of Dezhou, led the officers and soldiers to the border to greet him, and the group went to Dezhou for dinner, Song Xiaofei asked Song Senyin, "This official heard that the boxers and bandits in Shandong are troublesome, and they kill the people, and even the ordinary people are robbed and killed, but is there such a thing?" ”

Song Senyin said: "This is indeed the case, since the beginning of the summer, the boxers have mostly caused disturbances in Caozhou and Jining, and now they have spread to Tai'an, Dongchang, and Jinan. There are dozens of people, hundreds of people, a thousand people. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he was very surprised and said, "Why are boxers so rampant? ”

Song Senyin said: "In recent years, Shandong has suffered serious floods and droughts, and the people have suffered serious disasters. Foreigners took the opportunity to provide disaster relief, and more than 20 churches were erected, and thousands of victims became Christians. At present, the people who have not joined the church and the parishioners fight lawsuits, and often lose, and the commoners feel that the foreigners are behind the parishioners, and the government is afraid of the foreigners, so they hate the foreigners and the parishioners. In addition, in the southwest of Shandong, it has always been 'strong', and the boxers attacked the church under the slogan of helping the Qing Dynasty and destroying the foreign, and many squires also participated. These boxers took advantage of the opportunity to rob property, kidnap and extort money, and kill people, not only the parishioners suffered, but also some non-believers were also attacked, and their families were ruined. ”

Tan Sitong said: "This is what the governor said, putting his own ignorance and cruelty on the banner of doing the right thing for heaven is really a nightmare and disaster for the people." ”

Song Xiaofei praised Tan Sitong and said: "Zhuang Feiwu's surname is good, I didn't expect that our new policy has not yet been implemented, first of all, we have to face the chaos of the boxers, or not, the chaos is often the beginning of the great governance." ”

Tan Sitong asked Song Senyin: "The boxers are so lawless, does the government care?" ”

Song Senyin said: "Don't hide it from your lords, the former governor of Shandong hated the sect and connived at the boxers, and there is no way for us to wait." ”

Song Xiaofei thought to himself, in history, when Li Hongzhang was dying, he also scolded Yuxian for conniving at the boxing bandits to mislead the country, and he must extinguish the boxing and bandit disaster in the bud this time, and he couldn't let the boxing disaster spread, so he immediately turned his head and told Xu Shichang that he quickly telegraphed Duan Qirui, asking him and Feng Guozhang to lead the new army to block the passes in Shandong, and not let go of a boxing bandit, and then he wanted to "capture the thief and capture the king first", so he asked Song Senyin: "How do the boxers develop boxers?" Is there a boss? ”

Song Senyin said: "There are two leaders of the boxers, and the specific names are unknown, only that they are nicknamed Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother, and they set up altars in various villages to recruit young and middle-aged boxers. When they ask the gods, they generally kowtow and recite incantations, and then lie down on their backs, and after a while, they get up and dance, panting like a cow, claiming that they are possessed by gods and invulnerable. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he said: "This is the same as Taiping Long Hair, what god did they invite?" ”

The fifth king of the big sword said: "When I walked the dart, I saw the boxers and bandits please God, the Jade Emperor, Zhang Tianshi, Master Guan, Sun Wukong, Sha Monk, and Zhu Bajie also please." Sometimes even Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Fei have them. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "What a mess this is. ”

Song Senyin said: "That's it, what gods do the people know and what gods they recognize, they claim to be able to invite them, and then claim that they are possessed by immortals and are invulnerable." ”

The fifth king of the big sword said: "What is invulnerable? I think it's just some juggling. Sometimes the fist will breathe fire in his mouth, and that is also because he drank soju beforehand. ”

Song Senyin said: "I once led the officers and soldiers to arrest some boxers, they relied on the large number of people, killed three officers and soldiers, and led people to counterattack, and killed 27 bandits.

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he knew it in his heart, and he also had a countermeasure in his chest, they rested in Texas for one night, and rushed to Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, the next day. When they arrived at the famous "Spring City", the main civil and military officials of Jinan and some local squires with heads and faces went out of the city to greet them.

After the civil and military officials saw it, Song Xiaofei said some scenes, leaving only Zhang Renjun, the political envoy of Shandong, to inquire about the situation of boxers in Jinan, Tai'an and other places, Zhang Renjun said: "In the past six months, there have been 146 cases of boxing and bandits in Jinan, Dongchang, and Tai'an alone, 127 religious people died, 46 non-religious people died, and more than 200 houses were burned down. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The name of the boxers to help Qing Qing to destroy the foreign country is actually to gather the people to rob money, and invulnerability is to fool the people and deceive the good people." You immediately go and issue a notice, ban boxing in the whole territory of Shandong, violators will be severely punished, and the scourge of boxing and bandits must be nipped in the bud, otherwise the people will suffer even greater disasters. In addition, we sent officers and men to cooperate with our new army to strictly guard the passes of each province and not allow a single bandit to escape to other provinces. ”

Zhang Renjun received the order and asked what the content of the proclamation was specifically written, Song Xiaofei, Xu Shichang and Tan Si discussed with several people, and decided to issue the first prohibiting boxing in the name of the new governor of Shandong: "The state has signed a contract with the countries of Taixi, and has the responsibility of protecting the church, if the civilians have grievances, they can appeal to the local governor, the civilians and the parishioners are my compatriots, and they will all treat each other equally, and major grievances can be directly reported to the governor's office, do not retaliate privately, and counter violence with violence, otherwise the crime will be punished according to law, and no leniency will be given!" If the squire supports the bandits, once it is verified, the property will be confiscated. ”

The notice was posted, the city of Jinan was boiling, and the people in the streets and alleys exchanged their heads, some appreciating it, and some cursing.

On the morning of the third day, Song Xiaofei just got up and came to the backyard of the governor's yamen, the sky was very blue that day, like half a blue crystal, a few wisps of white clouds floated leisurely over the courtyard, the golden sunlight poured down from an old locust tree, two fledgling birds poked out of the nest of the branch, opened their big mouths, and chirped non-stop, the red hooked tongue was clearly visible, as if greeting Song Xiaofei.

Song Xiaofei just arrived in Jinan, didn't sleep well at night, yawned, stretched his waist, Tan Sitong hurriedly walked in and reported: "Lord Governor, the guard at the front door of the palace has just come to report, more than a dozen squire-like people and more than 100 people with red cloth and head are going to the mansion, saying that I have to see adults today, I see that they have a red belt around their waists, and a big knife is inserted in their waists, I am afraid that they are not good, so I let the five people of the big knife king stop them, what do you think?" ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The red cloth wraps the head, the red belt ties the waist, and the big knife, it must be a boxer." Who is leading the trouble? ”

Tan Sitong said: "It seems that the senior brother and second senior brother of the boxers are here!" ”

Song Xiaofei: "Oh, with the support of the squire, so arrogant? I was about to go to them, but they actually sent them to the door and ran to the governor's mansion to make trouble, so I asked Wang Shizhen to bring fifty personal soldiers and go with me to meet them. ”

When Song Xiaofei, Tan Sitong, and Wang Shizhen came to the front door of the mansion, the big sword king Wuzheng stood still with a horizontal knife, not moving at all, and staring at the senior brother and the second senior brother who came to make trouble with his sharp eyes.

Two of the boxers were bold enough to break through, the five knives of the big knife king were thrust into the ground, and the flying body kicked over, one of the boxers' body flew out five or six meters away, and the other boxer saw that the bricks where the big knife king five had just inserted the knife were cracked, and he was dumbfounded, and the knife fell to the ground with a clatter, and his hands were spread, as if he was following to see the excitement.

The second senior brother saw that the momentum of the fifth king of the big sword was like Guan Yu, and urged the senior brother to hurry up and make a move, invite Lu Xun to possess the body, and kill the fifth king of the big sword, and the boxers behind also asked the senior brother to do the work, the senior brother grabbed his head and said: "It's important for us to find the governor first, and then come back to teach him a lesson!" (To be continued.) )