Liu Ergou is sixteen years old this year, a native of Pingyang Mansion, after the Liukou captured Pingyang Mansion last month, they burned Pingyang Mansion to a ruin, and the homeless Liu Ergou had to take his elderly mother and young sister to join the Liukou, well, they call themselves the Rebels.

After joining the rebel army, Liu Ergou's family could each receive two bowls of gruel mixed with miscellaneous grains every day, which was naturally not enough, and could only barely let the family starve to death.

Liu Ergou's biggest wish is to be able to join the armored soldiers and even the old camp, I heard that the food there can be eaten openly, no one will say you even if you eat it, and the old camp has meat to eat from time to time.

In Liu Ergou's opinion, this kind of life can only be in a dream, Liu Ergou can't remember how long ago he last ate meat, his management team told him yesterday that it is very simple to join the armored soldiers, then just kill two officers and soldiers, carry their heads to ask for credit from the management team, and you can immediately transfer to the armored battalion, and you can also take your family members there.

As soon as he thought that the whole family would be able to eat a full meal after joining the armor battalion, and his eleven-year-old sister would not have to be hungry and thin, Liu Ergou felt a burst of heat coming from his body.

He rushed into the center of the line with a sharpened stick, watching as black objects continued to fall into the charge, and then there were bursts of violent explosions.

Many in the team were frightened by the sound of the explosion, they thought that it was the heavens who were angry, and the heavens were punishing them, and many of them stopped and did not dare to charge, but then their commander Gao Ye soon arrived, and only began to charge again under the threat of horsewhips and bows and arrows.

It's just that the cannon sound at the head of the city is getting denser and denser, and there are constantly that kind of explosive projectiles falling, Liu Ergou doesn't know when he will be killed like the previous person, Liu Ergou is a little clever person.

He took a closer look, and found that the projectiles shot from the head of the city always fell to crowded places, and he observed as he ran, always in a place where the crowd was sparse, and never squeezed into the crowd.

When they ran to a distance of three hundred steps from the city wall, a dull burst of gunfire began to be heard on the city wall, and a fist-sized hole suddenly appeared behind a hungry soldier running in front of Liu Ergou, and his hungry soldier fell to the ground with convulsions, and the terrible scream from his mouth almost burst Liu Ergou's eardrums.

In this way, Liu Ergou ran all the way to the foot of the city wall without danger.

Looking at the four-battle high ladder, Liu Ergou was frightened, and the seemingly towering city wall seemed to be like a monster with a long mouth, waiting for them to enter and fill their stomachs.

"You stupid people, climb up for Lao Tzu, as long as you kill those officers and soldiers, you can eat as much food as you want in Luoyang City!"

Under the city walls, many pipes were punching and kicking the hungry soldiers standing under the city walls, cursing and cursing incessantly.

"You fools who only deserve to waste food, don't you go up quickly!"

A whip of the management team was whipped on Liu Ergou's body, a hot feeling came from behind him, Liu Ergou felt a burst of resentment in his heart, and wanted to stab it with the spear in his hand on the spot, but he looked at his wooden stick that was just sharpened head, and then looked at the leather armor on the management team, or endured it, and finally Liu Ergou still held the spear in one hand and slowly climbed up the ladder with the other.

In the process of climbing the ladder, the stones and rolling logs on the city fell like rain, Liu Ergou saw that people were constantly being hit and fell from above, these people who fell from the sky never got up again, and their only destination was to become a bloody corpse.

Fortunately, Liu Ergou's luck was good, his cloud ladder seemed to have been forgotten, until he was about to climb to the city wall, there was nothing to throw down, Liu Ergou, who was secretly happy in his heart, sped up, "As long as you work harder, you can go up the city wall." This is Liu Ergou's only thought at this time.

It's just that when Liu Ergou climbed a few more steps, a black thing fell down from the city wall, and the thing smashed down the ladder hit Liu Ergou's head impartially

"Hey, hit another thief."

On the city wall, the two defenders of Luoyang City were each pulling a hemp rope and pulling it up, and after a while, a large wooden board five feet long, four feet five inches wide, and three inches thick was pulled up, and the two sides of this wooden board were nailed with sharp iron nails, some of these iron nails had been rusted, and some were stained with bloody blood, which was daunting at a glance.

An officer and soldier guarding the city said with a smile while pulling the rope: "Sanwa, this wolf tooth is really good, as soon as it goes down, it will be a big piece, and the thief is like a dumpling, but it's really happy, it's a pity that I can't go down and cut off the head, otherwise it will be even more happy." ”

The companion next to him called Sanwa snorted with his nostrils, "You pull it, cut the head, you didn't reward the silver after cutting the head, you forgot, the day before yesterday, when the guard gave us a reward of silver, each person gave five dollars of silver, and the iron rooster didn't pick it so much." ”

The officer and soldier said mysteriously: "You have wronged the garrison, but I heard my cousin who was on an errand beside the governor say, it's not that the lord doesn't send it, but the official warehouse really has no money, and the governor has personally run to the Fu Wang's Mansion several times for this matter, but the Fu King is stunned, so yesterday everyone didn't have the heart to defend the city, otherwise you think that with our high city wall can be beaten so embarrassed by thieves?" ”

Sanwa shook her head and said sadly, "Hmph, I heard that the silver in the silver treasury of King Nafu is about to overflow, and the grain is about to become moldy, but he is still reluctant to take some out to help us haha, sometimes Lao Tzu really wants to give up." ”

"Shh The companions on the side were taken aback when they heard this, and quickly put down the rope in their hands, stretched out their hands to cover Sanwa's mouth, and whispered: "You don't want to die, if people hear it, we will all suffer." ”

Sanwa struggled a few times before breaking free from her companion's hand, and looked left and right twice before saying disdainfully: "What are you afraid of, there is no one around, even if there is, it is only those Qingzhou soldiers, I don't believe that they will tell me the secret." ”

"Be careful to make the Ten Thousand Year Ship, do you know?" The companion rarely dragged a sentence of crepe, and then said in an envious tone: "Yes, those Qingzhou soldiers are really fucking generous, and the armor they wear can't even compare to our hundred generals. ”

"Really!" Sanwa's eyes turned red when she heard this, "Damn, if it's really so good, I will also join the Qingzhou Army." ”

"Shhh, it's good if you know, I'll call you to Qingzhou when the time comes!"

Not to mention the two guards of the city whispering on the side, at this time, the entire city wall of Luoyang City fell into a frenzied atmosphere, four thousand Qingzhou riflemen loaded ammunition as fast as possible, and then fired at the dense people outside the city wall, and then began to reload, then fired again, and so on.

The whole of Luoyang seems to have fallen into a strange atmosphere and rhythm, a group of people with yellow faces and thin muscles, ragged clothes and simple weapons are driven by the leader behind them to rush desperately towards the front, and on the city wall is a cloud of white gunpowder smoke constantly rising, one after another roaring, shouting and screaming to form a cruel picture.

Under the counterattack of artillery, Mini rifles and endless weapons to defend the city, the hungry soldiers fell in pieces, and each life was harvested arbitrarily like weeds that no one cared about, all of which was watched by Li Zicheng, who was watching the battle on the hillside.

"Report!" A herald on the hillside quickly ran over and knelt on one knee and reported loudly to Li Zicheng, who was watching the battle: "King Chuang, Hao Ye came to report, they were fiercely resisted by the defenders when attacking the south gate, and suffered heavy losses, please send reinforcements to King Chuang." ”

"Report, Liu Ye came to report, they were bombarded by the defenders when they attacked the West Gate, and the loss of men and horses has reached thirty percent, and they are now unable to attack the city, please send reinforcements from King Chuang."

"Newspaper"

Li Zicheng stood on the high slope, his wise eyes became dull, he could see the attack situation just now, his soldiers and horses had neither artillery nor perfect siege equipment, and he could only say that he was talking in a fool's dream if he wanted to capture such a well-defended city.

After being stunned for a long time, he gritted his teeth and said to Tian Jianxiu and the other four generals behind him: "A few of you go up and replace a few, the attack must not stop, you must continue to attack, and the artillery fire of the officers and soldiers is very powerful, and the distance must be widened." ”

"Yes!"

Tian Jianxiu and several other generals began to take the order, looking at the roaring Luoyang City in the distance, Li Zicheng's face kept changing, and no one knew what he was thinking.

The attack of the intrusive army continued until the evening and finally stopped helplessly, when the intruding army retreated, the walls of Luoyang City resounded with bursts of cheers, and today the rogues found nothing but corpses all over the city walls.

Looking at the dense corpses outside the city wall, Pang Gang did not cheer with the soldiers on the city wall, but had a calm face, looking unhappy.

Everyone around was a little puzzled when they saw this, and Cheng Kai on the side asked puzzledly: "My lord, the last general saw that your brows were tightly locked, and he didn't seem to be very happy, so what was the reason for being able to tell the last general?" ”

Pang Gang shook his head and sighed: "What's so happy, the people who fought and died were all my Ming people, and besides, they were all forced to besiege the city by the rogues, do you feel very happy to fight with these people?" ”

The generals were silent

At this time, Lu Weiqi, who was beaming with joy, personally took a few soldiers to the city, and hurriedly came to Pang Gang and said to Pang Gang: "Huge man, King Fu heard that the adults were defeated by thieves today, and let the old man come to inform the adults that King Fu will hold a banquet in the palace tonight to entertain the adults. ”

"Oh? King Fu wants to feast on this official? When Pang Gang heard this, a hint of an intriguing smile appeared on his face, and he clearly remembered that this Fu King was famous in history as a "Zhu Sanduo" with a lot of grain, silver, and fat.

Just after the evening war, Pang Gang, who had finished washing and bathing, took Shi Bowen and other personal soldiers to the yamen of the governor's mansion to meet Liu Yuliang and others, and then the group walked towards the Fuwang Mansion.

They came to the North Street, and a majestic tower made of square bluestone appeared in front of Pang Gang, which was the Wenfeng Tower of Luoyang Youming.

This dense eaves type brick and stone tower, square, about 30 meters high, a total of nine floors, the ancients built this tower also have "pray for blessings and blessings", "benefit the country and the people", hope for the prosperity of Luoyang culture, more talents.

Wenfeng Tower is located in the east end of the east and lane in the southeast corner of Luoyang today, was built in the Song Dynasty, was destroyed at the end of the Ming Dynasty in history, but now it is still intact standing here, there is a lake and a temple near the tower, look at the past from the vicinity, the tower, the lake, the temple reflect each other, the scenery is charming.

Fuwang's Mansion is less than a mile northeast from Wenfeng Tower, and after a while, Pang Gang came to Fuwang's Mansion with Liu Yuliang and other high-ranking officials in Luoyang.

As soon as he walked to the periphery of the Fuwang Mansion, Pang Gang was stunned by the magnificence of the Fuwang Mansion, where is this palace, this is simply a city within a city.

All the walls made of rectangular bluestone weighing hundreds of catties are as high as three zhang, there are two stone lions as tall as a hill outside the main gate, and the two gates made of iron and wood are also wrapped with thick iron sheets.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty had a complete set of specialized institutions, and the palace not only had ministers, but also military ministers served by the ministers. The royal officials can also participate in the politics of the province and be the head of the local administration, and can also be the commander of the capital and hold the local military power. In the feudal country, the vassal king has considerable judicial and personnel powers, and his officials and subordinates are selected within the territory of the feudal state or within the military positions of the department, except for the long history and the commander of the town guard and the commander of the guard, and the vassal king has the right to kill them.

Of course, this is just the scene of Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, because the power of the vassal king is too great, not only economically, but even has an army, so after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, his son Zhu Di killed the grandson designated by Lao Zhu and became the emperor himself.

Zhu Di himself became the emperor from the rebellion of the vassal king, the so-called teacher of the past does not forget the future, he became the emperor and naturally had to be ruthless to the rest of the vassal kings, Zhu Di personally stipulated: The vassal king must not leave the fief without permission, even if he goes out of the city to sweep the tomb, he must apply, and he can only go out of the city after getting permission. Except for the rebirth, the vassal king is not allowed to gather in a crowd to drink; When the royal palace distributes all the affairs, the magistrate must immediately report it, and he must wait for the permission of the emperor before he is allowed to carry it out, otherwise he will be punished with a serious crime.

Due to the many regulations of the clan and the punishment at every turn, it is true that many feudal kings have been deposed as concubines. After many times of multi-faceted seizures, the power of the vassal king can no longer confront the imperial power, and the possible surname of the imperial family to seize the throne by force has disappeared after Zhengde. Those feudal kings who liked to drink and worked women and only worked hard to create people were called "virtuous kings" because they were not a threat to the imperial court and were rewarded. Under the suppression of the emperor and the civil official group, the clan completely became a typical parasitic class that did not farm, ate people's fat cream, and was placed under house arrest in the fiefdom, and King Fu in Luoyang City was one of the typical representatives.

After entering the Fuwang Mansion, seeing the continuous and majestic glazed tiles in the Luoyang Palace, as well as the majestic official offices and gorgeous buildings and beautiful palace maids and eunuchs walking everywhere, Pang Gang couldn't help but gasp. Judging from the situation along the way, there are at least more than 3,000 palace maids and eunuchs in this Fuwang Mansion, and the annual expenses alone are an astronomical amount, no wonder Li Zicheng relied on a group of peasants with only hoes and wooden sticks in history to capture the majestic and strong Luoyang City.

After Pang Gang followed Liu Yuliang to Zhenghua Gate, he saw a middle-aged man in a yellow robe and a young man in a yellow robe standing outside the door waiting.

When Pang Gang saw these two men for the first time, his first reaction was not to bow down, but to hold back a smile, for no other reason, but these two men looked really strange.

The middle-aged man is estimated to be the current Fuwang Zhu Changxun, and his height is actually not too short, according to Pang Gang's visual measurement, it is about one meter seven, but what makes Pang Gang feel funny is that his waist circumference is estimated to be about to catch up with his height, even if he is not four hundred pounds, but the weight of more than three hundred pounds is estimated to be not running, Pang Gang is amazed at the same time wondering why this guy did not die because of high blood pressure and heart disease.

And the young man standing next to the big fat man is still a little fat man, this little fat man is Zhu Changxun's son Zhu Yousong, although Zhu Yousong is not as fat as his old man, but there are still one hundred and seventy or eighty pounds, looking at the big and small fat men standing in front, Pang just managed to suppress the smile in his heart.

However, Liu Yuliang, who was walking in front of Pang Gang, saw King Fu's father and son coming to greet him in person, and he was a little excited, and quickly stepped forward to bow to the ground and shouted: "Xiaguan Wenyuan Pavilion Scholar, Henan Governor Liu Yuliang greets His Royal Highness King Fu, His Royal Highness Chitose Chitose Chitose Chitose!" ”

Liu Yuliang swung like this, and everyone behind him, including Pang Gang, naturally bowed down and made a uniform sound.

"Your Highness!"

The big fat man at the head, Fu Wang Zhu Changxun raised his hand with a smile and said: "Everyone, hurry up, this king has been waiting for you for a long time, please come in." ”

"Your Royal Highness!"

When everyone got up and came to Zhu Changxun, Liu Yuliang stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, which meant to ask King Fu to go first, but Zhu Changxun did not take a step, but glanced at the crowd and asked, "Who among you is Pang Gang?" ”

When Pang Gang saw his name, he immediately stood up and hugged his fists and said, "The last general is Pang Gang!" ”

King Fu looked at Pang Gang, squinted his eyes and smiled: "Well, good, it is really mighty and extraordinary, worthy of being the pillar of my Ming Dynasty!" ”

Pang Gang said without humility or arrogance: "Thank you for your praise!" ”

Zhu Changxun nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, let's go in and talk!" ”

With that, he walked in first

(To be continued)