More than 300,000 people who fled from all over the city have gathered outside the city of Fuzhou, and many of them have come late and have no way to enter the city, so they have to stay outside the city, and they are forced to be exploited by the high prices of the grain merchants in the city, but despite this, they also feel more comfortable staying here.

Fujian is really poor mountains and bad waters, the land is barren, the wind and rain are smooth, and you can only barely fill your stomach, if you want to live a good life, there is only one way to go to sea. However, after the Ming court banned the sea, even larger fishing boats were not allowed to go to sea.

Except for some scholars who had studied and dreamed of getting ahead by studying, ordinary people had no choice but to take risks to do maritime business, running away from Nanyang, Luzon, Ryukyu, and Yueben, but in doing so, they violated the laws of the imperial court, and there were more and more people who were good citizens and bandits.

The Japanese invaders swept through the Fujian realm, which was already terrifying, and then these local bandits took advantage of the paralysis of the government to loot and kidnap tickets everywhere, which frightened these rich gentry and wealthy businessmen into panic, and now they can only sleep peacefully by fleeing to the city of Fuzhou.

I didn't want the Fujian political envoy to not allow them to enter the city, but the tax collector was diligent, and every time he sent some tax collectors out of the city to collect "wartime taxes" from them, he didn't see his soldiers win a battle, and the people secretly scolded them.

At this time, the city of Fuzhou is still peaceful, with rows of green willows and low cicadas. Despite the unquiet of the jurisdiction, the rampant pirates, the swarms of thieves, and the displacement of the people, the misery is unbearable, but the street where the high-ranking officials and gentry gather is still a group of singing and dancing.

The powerful and wealthy who drove cars and horses or rode sedan chairs still shuttled through the flower streets and willow alleys, and the lazy soldiers held big guns and swayed back and forth around the yamen of the political envoys, and the people did not dare to come closer, otherwise they could hear the gentle singing and the sound of silk and bamboo coming from the powder wall.

Ruan Dawen sat behind the low table, holding a fine porcelain and gold-inlaid wine cup and sipping wine contentmently, and six delicate and richly dressed girls were dancing in the hall.

Zhai Qingshan, the imperial envoy of the patrol, was attracted by their beautiful dancing, and only came to his senses after watching it for a long time, and hurriedly raised his wine glass to Ruan Dawen from afar, and said with a smile: "Lord Ruan, please."

"Hehe, Lord Zhai, Lord Zhou, Lord Wang, come on, let's have a drink together", Ruan Dawen also happily raised his glass and persuaded a few people to drink. Ruan Dawen is in his early forties, with a slender posture, a face like a crown of jade, three strands of hair under his chin, and a handsome appearance.

A woman with a delicate face beside him was lying on his shoulder and whispering, Ruan Dawen drank half of the wine, and squirted out with a "poof", leaning forward and closing happily.

He twisted his buttocks under the woman's light shirt, and said with a smile: "Go, go, my lord has to accompany a few adults to have a good drink."

The beauty grinned, Ying Ying got up and saluted Zhai Qingshan and the others, and quietly retreated. Ruan Dawen waved his hand, and the six singers immediately stopped singing and dancing, and walked out of the hall with their big sleeves on the ground.

Ruan Dawen said: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have escaped the catastrophe of Fuzhou City, but the Japanese people are always in chaos in our Fujian border, you and I, as the highest military and political officials in Fujian, always have to give an explanation to Governor Yang, and we can't wait until they have enough to rob before leaving, right?" Does Lord Zhou have a clever plan? ”

Zhou Hong is the commander of the Fujian Navy and the leader of the Three Guards Army, and the Fujian military takes him as the commander, but this person is as afraid of the Japanese as a tiger, as soon as the Japanese enter the Fujian territory, he avoids the war everywhere, and allows the people to suffer, for fear that he will really face the Japanese Kou, Ruan Dawen's clever plan of 'sending a ship to send silver to buy a stable party' came from the hands of this Zhou Lang.

Seeing Ruan Dawen ask about this, Zhou Hong frowned, and said slowly: "My lord, now that the Japanese have moved to Guangdong and Guangxi, and they have always been difficult to gain a foothold from north to south, with the six warships we sent, they already have the intention of going to Yizhou or Manchu to gain a foothold, and I believe they will leave here soon."

Ruan Dawen didn't know anything about military affairs, and when he heard this, he was relieved, and he sighed: "That's good, the six warships that just left the factory were sent to the Japanese with guns, and the official document I submitted to the governor's palace said that our army suffered huge casualties and six warships were destroyed, but our army and the Japanese invaders fought to the death and swore not to retreat, every inch of land was contested, and the Japanese also suffered heavy losses. If the Japanese don't leave, the war reports will continue to be sent to Suzhou, but they will be exposed."

Zhou Hong originally knew that the Japanese were indeed fighting Yizhou and Manchu Jia's idea, intending to find a stable territory, but after hearing Ruan Dawen say it so solemnly, his heart was not steady.

Zhou Hongqiang said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, Fujian is poor and bad, I think they have nothing to rob, they can't stand in the north, and it is inevitable to continue to go south."

As soon as he said this, a shout came out of the hall: "Report! My lord, Ruan San'er is back! ”

Zhou Hong suddenly stopped, and looked at the door with Ruan Dawen and others, only to see two soldiers coming in with a person dressed as an ordinary person, the person was covered in dust, his face was red, and his sideburns were dripping with sweat, both of which were a little stiff.

Ruan Dawen saw that it was his henchman Ruan San'er, and hurriedly stood up and said, "Ruan San'er, why do you look like this?" Did you meet the Japanese or Suzhou?"

Ruan San'er stood still, got rid of the support of the two guards, waved them back, and waited until they left the hall before taking a step forward, and said anxiously: "My lord, according to the small one, the situation is a little bad, when the little one arrived in Suzhou City nine days ago, I heard that the governor was going to come to Fujian to inspect the military situation."

Zhai Qingshan couldn't hold his breath and said, "How come? He supervised the military affairs of the six provinces, and at this time he was not in the middle of the command, but he left Suzhou to inspect southern Fujian, wouldn't it be more troublesome for the news of the war in the north to be transmitted to him? If you want to say that there is no place in the six provinces that has not lost a battle, why is he so nervous about the war in southern Fujian? ”

Ruan San'er swallowed his saliva and said bitterly: "My lord, at that time, our military situation had not yet been reported to the governor's yamen."

Ruan Dawen's face changed greatly when he heard this, and Zhou Hong was also scared, so Yang Ling actually had another news channel? Even though he got the news that Fujian was defeated, the telegram sent by the Fujian military repeatedly explained that after the stubborn resistance of the Fujian army and civilians, the Japanese invaders suffered heavy losses, and now most of the Japanese have retreated to the sea and continue to flee south.

At this time, there are still many widows in the northern provinces who have fallen behind, and it is a good opportunity to take the opportunity to annihilate them, so Yang Ling hurriedly rushed here to do it? Could it be".

Zhou Hong thought of this, and his heart "chuckled", he waved his hand and said, "My lord knows, you go down to rest first." Watching Ruan San'er withdraw from the hall coldly, Zhou Hong immediately got up and walked to Ruan Dawen, and said anxiously: "My lord, Yang Ling is in charge of the inner factory, and he has a close relationship with the other two factories and one guard, and the people of the factory guard are everywhere. ”

Ruan Dawen's face turned pale when he heard this, he reached out and grabbed Zhou Hong's collar, and said in a trembling voice: "How come?" How can it be? Didn't you say it was foolproof? If you, you, and we really defend the city, the Japanese may not be able to defeat Fuzhou, but now once the matter of our capital is known by Governor Yang, this is a big crime to kill the head! ”

Zhou Hong saw that he looked like a nest with regret, and he felt a little contempt in his heart, but now everyone is a grasshopper on a rope, and they can't turn their faces against each other, he suppressed his anger and explained: "My lord, you have just been transferred from Guangxi for only half a year, how do you know the situation of our Fujian guards, they are simply half-officials and half-bandits, where is the material for war?" If we really want to start a war, within half a day, Fuzhou will be captured by the Japanese people, and we will also take great pains to do this, for the sake of the 300,000 people in the city."

Ruan Dawen was about to cry in a hurry, he let go of Zhou Hong's collar, and said with a sad face: "But how can Governor Yang understand my painstaking efforts to protect the place? Didn't you say that he would reprimand at most when he saw the military intelligence? What did he come to do? How would he have known what was going on here? ”

Zhai Qingshan said with a gloomy face: "We originally thought that Fujian was full of pirates, and the factory guards were hidden from the people, and it was unpredictable to live and die alone, and such a dangerous environment would inevitably evacuate this place as soon as possible, but now it seems."

He took a long breath and said: "The embezzlement of 60,000 taels of silver, the secrecy done at this time, is also easy to hide from the ears and eyes of others, but the six giant ships, without a trace, if there are still people hiding in the city, how can they not show a trace of horses' feet?" ”

He slammed his feet and exclaimed miserably: "Lord Ruan, Lord Zhou, Lord Wang, the six battleships are not palm-sized gadgets, how can they hide from everyone's ears and eyes?" Originally, the people below couldn't turn the sky over if they all knew, but if someone above wanted to track it down, a confession from a captain could ask for the heads of the four of us."

Wang Feiling is the prefect of Fuzhou, and he was originally in collusion with Ruan Dawen, Zhai Qingshan and others, exploiting the people, and when he heard this, he was immediately frightened into a cold sweat, with beads of sweat on his forehead, and his face was as gray as the ground: "What should I do?" What to do? Ladies and gentlemen, you should find a way."

Zhou Hong's eyes rolled, and he pondered: "Maybe Yang Ling saw that the war in the provinces had improved before he was relieved to go south?" This thing is done secretly enough, are we making a big fuss? Hehehe, don't scare yourself, right? ”

Zhai Qingshan sneered and said, "I also hope so, but what if Yang Ling really gets the news?" As soon as the governor and minister of Qincha entered Fuzhou City, we wanted people, heads, land, and land! ”

Ruan Dawen sat down and muttered: "It's a blessing or a curse, it's a disaster that can't be avoided, now let's resign ourselves to fate!" ”

Wang Feiling heard Zhai Qingshan's voice, and immediately asked: "Lord Zhai, you said that if Lord Qin Cha enters Fuzhou City, we will be killed, could it be that Lord Zhai has a way to let him not enter Fuzhou City?" ”

Zhai Qingshan glanced at Ruan Dawen and Zhou Hong, and said: "I'm just a patrol envoy, I want soldiers without soldiers, I have no power, Qin sent the governor to patrol, and I have at least 3,000 iron horsemen to call and back, how can I stop him?" Zhou Hong looked at the treacherous faces of Zhai Qingshan and Wang Feiling, and laughed miserably: "I am a soldier, but so what? I let them go to assassinate Chincha? Who will say yes? ”

Zhai Qingshan said insidiously: "Who said that you were going to kill Qincha?" The Japanese invaded Quanzhou pretending to be a people, and now we have received news that another group of Japanese who have been defeated from the south of the Yangtze River pretended to be our Ming army and tried to attack Fuzhou, so we set up an ambush to ambush the Japanese invaders halfway."

Zhou Hong's body was shocked, and he said in surprise: "Is this plan feasible?" As soon as the two sides started fighting, they immediately slipped out."

Wang Feiling couldn't help but be angry at this time, and said fiercely: "The terrain in the north of the city is dangerous, and one man should be closed, if you make a strange soldier set up an ambush there, set up a few cannons, and pile up rolling logs and stones, once the ambush is successful, the other party will be able to break half of the men and horses first."

Hehe, at that time, it will be like riding on the back of a tiger, no matter if the officers and soldiers of the colonel find out the truth, they will only be wrong, who will dare to hesitate? Will you be able to be exonerated then? ”

Zhai Qingshan also came to the spirit, and stepped forward to agitate: "There is a big river not far above the mountain valley, as soon as the cannon sounds here, you can send people to break the embankment and release the water, they want to avoid the big water and only flee to the peaks on both sides, and the ambush soldiers are just on the peaks, maybe they don't have to go down the mountain and contact them at all, they can be wiped out!" ”

Zhou Hong trembled when he heard the horizontal flesh on his face, he thought about it and slapped his thigh suddenly, gritted his teeth and said: "Stretch out your head and slash your head, shrinking your head is also a knife, maybe there will be a chance to fight it, my lord, let's do it!" ”

Ruan Dawen slowly raised his head, looked at them with blank eyes, and said sneeringly: "Kill Qincha? That's a great sin for the Nine Clans! ”

The muscles on Zhou Hong's face tensed, and he smiled fiercely and said: "My lord, it is already a big crime to punish the Nine Clans by dredging the Japanese with the Treasury Silver Warship, can people die twice?" But if it succeeds, it is a narrow escape. Those who knew about it did not dare to divulge the news.

What's more, I can also transfer them to the battlefield to borrow the hands of the Japanese to remove the hidden dangers, as for the Qin Cha, hehehe, he met the Japanese on the road, died in the country, and he can also be named a wife and a son, and we are worthy of him."

Ruan Dawen ran out of ideas again, his gaze swept over the faces of the three of them, Zhai Qingshan's eyes flashed with fierce light, with a murderous look, Ruan Dawen finally lowered his eyes and asked softly: "Then who will ambush Qin ambush the 'widows' who are attacking in disguise?" Lord Zhou, you".

Really let him face the army of Qincha, how could Zhou Hong, who has always been afraid of war and death, have the guts? He hurriedly said: "My lord, I am the Admiral of the Navy, although I am in charge of the soldiers and horses on the land of the Three Guards, but if I, the Admiral of the Navy, go out in person, it will be difficult for others not to be suspicious."

Ruan Dawen hesitated: "Then who else is available?" ”

Zhou Hong's eyes flashed, and he said coldly: "Guerrilla General He Bingwen, what do you think?" ”

"Him?" Ruan Dawen was stunned.

Zhou Hong said: "Yes! He Bingwen led the troops well, and his combat power was the strongest among the defenders of Fuzhou. I heard that he was originally a general of the Northern Border Army, and he carried the black disaster for others in the first battle of Jimingyi, and was demoted to Guangxi to make a small hundred households. ”

"Well, this person has always been silent and cautious in his words, and the official found out that he was a general, so he took him with him," Ruan Dawen said as he stroked his beard.

In fact, Ruan Dawen naturally does not have that vision, He Shen will be demoted to Guangxi, in Nandan Prefecture to do a small hundred households, once Ruan Dawen patrolled here, the rich horse that stepped down was frightened by a hunter's dog, broke free from the horse and pulled him to run wildly, it was He Shen who would stop the horse and save him, Ruan Dawen promoted him to the political envoy Yamen, and made a garrison.

Later, Ruan Dawen saw that he led the troops well, was steady, but was a talent that could be used, so he was gradually promoted, and when he arrived in Fujian, because there was no commander here, he was also responsible for military affairs, and there was a lack of military talents around him, so he brought He Bingwen, who is now a guerrilla general in Fuzhou.

Zhai Qingshan said: "I have also heard about him, it seems that after being arrested and entering Beijing, the officials of various ministries shirked their responsibilities and everyone wanted to put him to death, and then the first emperor was gracious and pardoned his capital crimes and degraded to Guangxi, if this is the case, he must not have a good impression of the officials in Beijing, and he is a person brought out by adults, and he should also be a reliable person, and after the big thing is a foregone conclusion, it is impossible for him to quit our ship." ”

"His 5,000 soldiers and horses are the most elite troops in Fuzhou at the moment, and only by sending him can we be sure, if the adults are not worried about his character, I can send a few henchmen to watch over him, and kill him immediately if there is any change!"

"Good!" Ruan Dawen finally made up his mind, slapped his thigh and stood up, and said with a cold gaze: "You are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust!" Lord Yang, I was forced by you! ”

He took a few breaths and shouted: "Come on, immediately upload the guerrilla general He Bingwen to see me!" ”

The mighty Qincha procession winds southward along the rugged and difficult mountain road, and the flags are shaving. In front of 1,000 officers and soldiers wearing armor and holding red tasseled lacquer guns led the way, and in the middle 1,000 Pu Dao round shields, bows and arrows, and fire guns surrounded the honor guard of the Qincha, and the officers and soldiers behind the palace were also like swords and guns, and the banners were displayed.

It's just that this army of officers and soldiers has a white silk wrapped around their heads, and even Yang Ling, who rode a horse and drove with the Chinese army, and the generals Xiao Hengjiang and Dusi Luo Yi were no exception. When the army arrived in Lishui, Yang Ling received accurate information on the battlefield in Fujian, and a team of 1,000 men he sent encountered a large group of Japanese pirates, who were Miyamoto Hiroshi's men, holding three artillery pieces captured from the Ming army, and their combat power was extraordinary.

This thousand-man squad was outnumbered and struggled to support itself, but the Fujian naval division and the guards who were in charge of the interception from behind did not rush to the encirclement site for a long time on the grounds that a flash flood after the rain had hindered the journey, so that Yang Ling's thousand-man squad fought alone, and all 1,125 people died on the battlefield, and none of them survived.

When Yang Ling heard the news, there was no anger at all, he held the secret report sent by the inner factory and wept for a long time, gritted his teeth and tore off a corner of his shirt and tied it on his forehead, and ordered the army to set off immediately and speed up to Fuzhou.

The bad news quietly spread in the army, and I don't know when, the soldiers all learned from the governor, all of them were tied with white silk, and they were already the whole army's vegetarians, marching with filial piety.

Taishun County ordered Wang He to come to greet Qincha, seeing this cold and solemn atmosphere, he didn't know what was going on in the army, so he was so busy that the Chinese army saw Yang Ling, so he led the army to Taishun County.

Taishun is a small county, located on the border of Zhejiang and Fujian, where officers and soldiers often pass by, but they have never seen such a big person, Wang He is only a role to be sent in front of Yang Ling, so he does not dare to publicize the news that Qin sent here. Therefore, the people in the market continued to come and go as usual, and no one was surprised to watch.

Yang Ling was very satisfied when he saw it, when he passed through Qingtian, the county commander made a big move, and all the three classes of officials were dispatched, and the people of ten miles and eight townships were mobilized, and the team was discharged for three miles, and the main streets of the county were all under martial law.

In fact, although the Qin mission was on patrol on behalf of the Son of Heaven, there was still a difference in etiquette, and the Qingtian County Commander's greeting pomp was already a little excessive, so that Yang Ling was furious and scolded him on the spot. Now this Wang County Commander is sympathetic to the people's feelings and does not flatter him, which makes him feel a little good.

Yang Ling didn't expect that in order to leave a good impression on Qincha, this Wang County Commander actually sent people to the counties along the way early, and inquired about Yang Ling's surname and temperament, so he arranged it like this, and in these details, he tried his best to figure out the boss's intentions.

The guard of honor turned the intersection, and the army in front had passed through the county office, at this moment, Yang Ling saw a ragged woman in an alley leading a child to run wildly, but after all, he couldn't run a few chasing men behind, and the fastest one who was chased kicked to the ground, and then several people stepped forward to punch and kick, the woman was lying on the ground with her head in her arms, and the child next to her was crying, but she was slapped and fell to the ground.

Yang Ling was already in a bad mood, but when he saw this, he couldn't help frowning in disgust, and immediately grabbed the reins. His personal guards understood what the lord meant, and immediately rushed over to the four soldiers, and in a short time brought them all over.

Fang Cai was far away from hearing the content of the child's crying, and although he still couldn't understand what he said when he came closer, Yang Ling had already heard that it was not the local dialect, but the Japanese language, he couldn't help but be surprised, and asked, "Who are you, why are you beating them?" ”

When the villagers saw that it was a general riding on a tall horse, and there were so many soldiers around, their frightened faces changed a little, and one of the villagers said with food: "General, this woman and this woman pretended to be dumb to beg for food, and we saw that she was pitiful and gave her some food."

Later, I heard her talking to a child, damn uh, she turned out to be a widow, these wolf-hearted things, and they have plagued so many people, so we."

When he said this, his face was so angry that his face turned red, Yang Ling looked at the woman and the child, their faces were vegetable, thin and weak, and they looked very good, but their faces were covered with mud, and they were beaten and swollen, and they stood there looking at him with a pair of frightened eyes.

There was a general officer in Yang Ling's army, and he summoned a woman to ask the woman, and although the woman was afraid, she was bolder when she heard that the general was speaking her own Chinese, so she trembled and said her situation.

It turned out that she belonged to the family members of Nami Masachi's group of Japanese pirates, and this time the Japanese invaders brought out their families because they couldn't stand in Yumoto, and the number of family members living on the island was twice as many as the total number of Japanese pirates. After the annihilation of Nami Masachi and his gang of Japanese pirates, these old and weak women and children tried to take refuge in other Japanese pirates, but now the war situation is unfavorable for the Japanese pirates, and the food stock is limited, unless they can go into battle, they are not allowed, and they have always been lustful, and even those women who have a bit of beauty have driven away from the island, which shows the shortage of food.

From this woman's mouth, Yang Ling learned that the pirate family members who could not cross east to Yuben by small boats and simple rafts had to drift down the river to the mainland in order not to starve to death, and some of them drowned in the sea.

Nowadays, there are more and more pirates who have been completely wiped out, such as Nomi Masachi and Donghua Shikanosuke, and there are more and more pirate dependents who are forced to go ashore to beg for food.

Yang Ling's factory guards obviously didn't pay much attention to these characters, and if Yang Ling hadn't accidentally seen this scene, he wouldn't have known about this situation. Yang Ling looked at the thin young woman and her child, remembered the trilogy of his own death in battle, and remembered the crime of exterminating people's surnames committed by the Japanese Kou that he had heard along the way, and he couldn't tell whether it was hatred or other emotions.

He glanced at the woman who was holding the child and had a black blue on her wrist, and sighed: "The Japanese people are cruel and sinful, and although it is difficult to redeem a hundred deaths, but listening to her narration, I am afraid that there are not tens of thousands of widowed families wandering along the coast of our six provinces.

After all, our Han people are not Tartars, not Japanese Bandits, and they cannot resort to the slaughter of people's surnames. But these old and weak women and children will not be allowed to wander like this, and once the people kill someone, the people's morals will be in danger from now on."

The horse's hooves were "trampling" on the ground, Yang Ling pondered for a long time and then focused on the mother and son, they also seemed to feel that Yang Ling was a person who could decide their life and death, when Yang Ling's eyes looked at them again, the young woman suddenly pulled the child and knelt down, kowtowing to Yang Ling.

She couldn't speak Chinese, but the begging and pity in her eyes were clear after all, Yang Ling shook his head and said: "Clerk, in the name of the Governor's Palace, I will order the political envoys of the six provinces to quickly order all the prefectures and counties, as well as the rural Baojia Dizheng, from now on, if anyone finds the relatives of the Japanese Invaders, they will be sent to the officials immediately."

The government must register and keep a register of them, manage them in a unified manner, and must not let them wander. These will be driven into idleness, and they will not be able to read for ever. Women and children were sold as slaves of wealthy gentry and sold for military salaries, and adult men were all distributed to the northwest to raise horses and herd sheep. ”

"Yes!" The clerk immediately took out pen and ink, hurriedly wrote it down, handed it over to Yang Ling to read, and then sent it back to the governor's palace with a seal order. The mother and son were immediately sent to the county government by Wang He, who saw the wind and steered the rudder, and were first contained.

Yang Ling looked at their backs and was suddenly a little confused: "As soon as this opening is opened, will the slave trade be popular from now on?" But otherwise, what is the acceptable way to deal with the matter? ”

He remembered that there had been pirates on the southeast coast who had robbed and sold the Han people to Yuben and Nanyang as slaves, and the wealthy families of the Ming Dynasty had already privately bought and sold slaves from foreign traders, such as the Adney in his house, presumably many Jiangnan Shi clans had similar foreign beauties in their houses, how could he be the initiator?

Yang Ling tried his best to persuade himself, dispelling the faint guilt in his heart, but he clearly knew in his heart that in the past, it was a transaction in the shadows and an act of the underground kingdom, and now he said that in one move, although he saved the lives of many people, he also allowed a kind of behavior to occur.

Sometimes, it is difficult to simply define whether a thought or an action is good or evil, and the consequences it brings are often intertwined.

He shook his head and asked Wang He, "Wang County Order, how many days will the army reach Fuzhou?" ”

Wang He hurriedly said: "My lord, after passing through the ancient road, you can reach the boundary of Fuzhou in about six days."

Yang Ling nodded, Le Ma looked in the direction Wang He pointed, and said secretly: "I don't think about it so much, how can there be so much truth to talk about?" I'm going to Fuzhou to kill people now, but if I don't kill people, heaven and earth will not tolerate it, who can say clearly? ”

(To be continued)