In a blink of an eye, it was time to start eating, Chen Zhe and Han Dake sorted out the materials in their hands and went to the canteen of the teaching team to eat together.

"The more you suffer from the anger of those generals' grandsons, the more you have to be a man with your tail between your legs, how can you not help but go to the break?" During the meal, Chen Zhe also commented: "I don't know if General Xu has anything to eat now." ”

"I suddenly got a little worried." Han Dake said suddenly: "General Xu is a real meritorious achievement, Lord He personally gave him a medal, Lord Yang is also very optimistic about him, I have been paying attention to him for most of the past six months, and I have also cheered for his promotion, because I always feel that General Xu's today is my tomorrow, now...... Jiangmen's grandchildren can even splash him with black water to force him to rebel, and the guards are straight, and the disciples of Jiangmen are gathered, and General Jin intends to harm friendly troops...... Will we not be subjected to such cold arrows in the future? Can Master Hou shelter us for the rest of our lives? If the Hou Ye doesn't protect General Xu, will he protect us? ”

……

At the same time, London

The three of them watched the letters from China all night as if they were hungry, and this time thanks to the blessing of a priest who had just returned to China, the letters were delivered to them in less than ten months.

"Haha," Huang Naiming laughed: "My brother Jin, that guy who is not afraid of the sky and the earth, you still remember, he actually has times when he is afraid." ”

Bao Yuanlang and Shi Tianyu both remembered Jin Shentong, he had also served in the Funing Army with Huang Naiming back then, although the time was very short, but both of them were very impressed with him, Bao Yuanlang didn't speak, Shi Tianyu couldn't help but shake his head: "Is that Jin brother with his nose facing the sky?" ”

"Others are not bad." Huang Naiming said with a smile: "It's the temperament of a young man, he is very good to his friends." ”

"He's not my friend anyway." Shi Tianyu snorted: "What trouble did he make this time?" "Not long after Jin Shentong arrived in Fujian, in front of Zheng Zhilong, he whipped a subordinate named Shi Lang, who was suspected of embezzling military salaries, and as a result, he couldn't stay in the Funing Army. Shi Tianyu's father was very dissatisfied with Jin Shentong's lack of face for the old man - at the same time, Shi Zongbing also felt embarrassed, because the same sect Shi Zongbing also persuaded Jin Shentong to make a big deal small, and Shi Tianyu didn't understand why Huang Naiming, who had an easy-going temperament, would have a good relationship with him.

"It wasn't him who caused the trouble, he said he thought he had found the bridge we've been looking for."

"Bridges? What bridges? ”

"A bridge between our protégés and up-and-comers." Huang Naiming read the letter in his hand again, which was written shortly after the Battle of Texas: "The problems in the Funing Army are becoming more and more serious in the New Army, and many of the brothers and sisters of our generals look down on the brothers who have just joined the army. ”

What Huang Naiming said, Bao and Shi both understand, and they are also very clear about Huang Naiming's position.

"And there are some of my father's oldest brothers in the direct guard, Brother Jin said that many people in this battle even regard friends as enemies, and in order to grab merit, they have to wait until the friendly army is exhausted before they are willing to make a move, and they don't treat new brothers as brothers at all, alas."

"Brother Jin, he really dares to say it, but this is a troublesome matter, I will be afraid of me, I don't know how to deal with it."

He was not afraid of this, he said that although he was reluctant to expose it for the sake of the dignity of the new army, he would punish him harshly in private, and once he knew about it, he would kick the perpetrator out of the direct guard for various reasons, but the new army was arrogant and lazy, even worse than the Funing army, and he was worried that there would be a big defeat. But this is not what he is afraid of, what he is afraid of is-" Huang Naiming briefly introduced Xu Ping's impostor to the two friends: "Brother Jin said that he was in a cold sweat when he first knew the truth, and he didn't know what to do. ”

"And in the end?" Shi Tianyu's interest came up.

"Finally, there was no danger, and the morale and morale of the army were maintained." Huang Nai was obviously very happy: "Brother Jin said, he thinks he has found what we have been looking for, the bridge connecting the disciples of Jiangmen and the rising stars, this Xu Brotherhood is a banner, become an example for those with lofty ideals, as long as he treats him well, all the up-and-comers will know that our new army will not treat them badly, and will unite around my father, and after this Brother Xu is famous, the contradiction between Jiangmen and Hanmen can be resolved...... Huang Naiming exclaimed: "It's good, this Brother Xu has already gone to Brother Jin." , He said that he would make friends with this Xu brother well, he said that this person is also worth befriending, he is smart and brave on the battlefield, but he still seems to lack ambition - but this is normal, I know that most of the people in the new army want to be promoted and make a fortune, and when he and my father meet him, he will change, thinking that my father established the immortal army back then, everyone has the desire to sacrifice for the people, my father once said that the immortal army should not only have the military rules he formulated, but also have this kind of enthusiasm to save the people, Only by having both can it be called a real immortal army, and the immortal army is invincible! Imagining the invincible legendary army in his father's mouth, Huang Naiming's reverence was overflowing: "Brother Jin said that I would definitely like this Brother Xu, and said that when I returned to China, he would introduce this Brother Xu to me." ”

……

"Lord Qiyu, we have searched everywhere, and they are all missing."

The guards withdrew from the tent, and Song Jianjun lowered his head and looked at the list of recently absent instructors in his hand, as if it had a thousand weights: "My dereliction of duty, I am ashamed of my trust in Hou Ye......" Song Jianjun, who had just presided over the graduation ceremony of the new graduates, and Song Jianjun, who had been unable to separate himself for a few days, realized that he had made a big mistake, and he said softly: "I am also ashamed of these juniors." ”

"Were they all transferred to the teaching team after the last time the Evergreen Camp made trouble?" Adjutant Dugu asked.

"Yes, almost all of them are meritorious personnel of the great victory in Texas, as well as the surviving officers of the Shandong Palace, and there are even loyal and diligent people who plan to award the medal in person." Song Jianjun let go of his fingers and let the list in his hand float to the table, and he immediately ordered to control the instructors who were still in sight and had participated in the mutiny incident in the Changqing Battalion first: "Send an urgent report to the Changqing Battalion and the General Staff Department." ”

……

The first time he and Hei Bao attacked the grain collection team, Xu Ping was still a little uneasy in his heart, but that was just that time - he found that nearly 100 soldiers of the Bianjun Army were scattered and fled in front of him and Hei Bao, and they had no fighting spirit. In the future, every time it was repeated, the officers and men would always scream "the thieves are coming" and flee in all directions.

Before a stick of incense worked, the battle was over. Xu Ping smiled at Hei Baoyi, who put the blood-stained knife across his chest, looked at it with intent, and then looked up to the sky and laughed: "These eagle minions are the most bullying good and afraid of evil. ”

A young man covered in blood rushed to Xu Ping and Hei Bao, Xu Ping recognized him as the first person to jump up and fight with the officers and soldiers, only to hear him shout excitedly: "Where is King Chuang?" ”

"King Chuang, Luoyang has been broken!" Hei Baoyi waved his hand fiercely, and shouted with full anger: "I will go east in the near future!" ”

There was a cheer among the villagers, and some of them shouted, "Don't lie to us, this king." ”

"Who would lie to you," Hei Baoyi and Xu Ping ambushed the messengers of the government yesterday in order to snatch the horses. At that time, Xu Ping saw the urgent seal on the letter at a glance, and after opening it, he saw that it was the emergency military information sent by the Tiger Prison Pass to Kaifeng, which said that it had been confirmed that Luoyang had been attacked by Li Zicheng, and the whereabouts of King Fu and the governor were unknown. Hei Baoyi smiled at the villagers and said: "Since King Chuang has broken through Luoyang, then Ming Sui will attack Kaifeng again, and you don't have to pay food to the dog official anymore!" ”

Although King Chuang has not yet arrived, the elated villagers seem to have seen King Chuang. The horse of the hundred households was wounded in the scuffle, and the villagers killed it and cooked it, entertained Xu Ping and Heibao for a full meal, and warmly took them in for a night's stay.

Along the way, Hei Baoyi explained to Xu Ping the suffering of the people of Henan: "You Han dog officials are extremely vicious to us young people, and you Han people are also treated like pigs and dogs. ”

Henan is located in the Central Plains, the people here only have one way to farm, unlike Shandong and other coastal areas can also fish, boil salt to make a living, so, since Wanli in the north year after year of drought, the people of Henan are also the most difficult. Before Chongzhen ascended the throne, there was no rain, the people used well water and river water to irrigate, the Central Plains was so big, even if the imperial court did not give relief, there were always a few counties in a house that barely had some surplus grain, and the people were frugal to survive.

However, after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, not only did he not exempt the affected provinces in the north, but even the grain exempted by the Wanli and Tianqi dynasties had to be recovered, resulting in the people's misery.

The initial cause of this incident was that whenever the northern provinces reported a drought, the Donglin Party, who was born in Jiangnan, had to follow to report the disaster for Jiangnan. In order to stop the mouth of the Donglin Party, Emperor Chongzhen was not exempted from even the real disaster area. In the emperor's mind, it was clear that the ability to prevail in a quarrel with his ministers was more important than the lives of a million peasants. Around ten years after Chongzhen, Henan Buzheng once again begged the emperor to pardon Henan and exempt Henan, because at this time Henan had been cannibalistic, and many parents could not eat their children ruthlessly, so they exchanged with neighbors, and even sold their own flesh and blood as "vegetable people". And Emperor Chongzhen's reply was: "I know, but the grain still has to be levied." ”

After receiving the emperor's holy decree, the political secretary of Henan once again described vividly how the people of Henan filled their hunger with soil and grassroots, and the hungry people on the edge of the town burned people's bone broth to satisfy their hunger. At that time, Emperor Chongzhen's trusted Yang Sichang Yang Inspector reminded the emperor that if he did not levy grain and could not support the officers and soldiers, then the military campaign to exterminate the rogue in the interior might fall short. ”

Since entering Henan, Xu Ping has seen countless similar scenes, in which people who feed on tree bark, grass roots, and dirt are still forced to pay for food. Last year, tens of thousands of people starved to death in Kaifeng Prefecture, but in addition to the use of the officers and soldiers of the province, the imperial court also sent 300,000 stone of grain to Beijing.

After entering Henan from Shandong, Xu Ping could see peasants buried alive, beaten or hanged alive, and women stripped naked and thrown in ditches on both sides of the road. Hei Baoyi commented: "In order to save their life food, the small people can endure the killing of their families and the humiliation of their wives and daughters, and they would rather be beaten to death than confess where their food is." Because everyone knows that even if they are killed, it will only be one death, and if the grain is handed over, then the whole family will die, and they can still settle this account. ”

There are many chaotic people who have formed a village to protect themselves on the border of Henan, and they are inextricably linked with the camp, and some of them are the old departments left by King Chuang when he failed to attack Kaifeng twice before. Relying on the tokens of King Chuang, Hei Baoyi and Xu Ping can be regarded as marching on friendly territory, as long as they bypass the county towns and other places that the officers and soldiers focus on guarding, they don't even have to worry about encountering the checkpoints of the government on the avenue.

On the eighth day of November, Xu Ping and Hei Baoyi crossed the Great Zhou Mountain and entered the boundary of Dengfeng County, Henan Prefecture, which was the vacuum boundary between the Ming army and the area controlled by the camp. Xu Ping saw one wooden cart after another on the road, an adult man struggling to pull the cart west on the snowy road, behind which his mother-in-law was pushing vigorously, and there were often several scrawny children in the cart, and perhaps an old man who looked like a skeleton.

The men who pulled the cart all looked exhausted, but they still managed to move forward with the last of their strength. King Chuang had already opened a warehouse in Luoyang to release grain, and many hungry people in Henan rushed there after hearing the news. When Xu Ping and Hei Bao passed by them, some people would greet them loudly:

"Is it a good man who broke into the camp?"

"Hey, look, it's a good man who broke into the camp."

After dark, Hei Baoyi and Xu Ping sat around a bonfire with several hungry families, and these people gathered the carts together and burned snow water for the elderly and children to drink. Those men were talking about how they would be able to get to Luoyang in two days, and they would be able to get a few big bags of grain. The women, on the other hand, took out the black and slimy dry food from their bags, soaked it in water, and delivered it to the elderly in the family, and then gave it to each child.

One by one, the children stared at the little soup in their mother's hand, and when they got it, they scrambled to swallow it, and then looked at the remnants of their mother's hand. A young woman ate a little, divided the rest of the bowl into portions, and handed it to her children, who eagerly ate to eat them, and the mother sat beside them, gently stroking their heads.

Hei Baoyi watched silently, then untied his burden and took out all his surplus food and threw it to the women: "Nuo, you will arrive in Luoyang, if you are hungry, the whole family should not plan to go any further." ”

For Xu Ping and Hei Baoyi, there was only one day to go from Luoyang, and during the day, they had already sent all the extra dry food to the hungry people they met on the road. Now Heibao gave the last ration to several women, which means that he will starve tomorrow. Hei Bao faced Xu Ping's gaze and said with a big grin: "This is a test!" Betraying Allah's place in heaven for me for a piece of dry food? I'm not that stupid! ”

Xu Ping nodded, untied his pocket, took out his rations for tomorrow, and handed them to a few young mothers who were so grateful. Xu Ping turned his head and smiled at Hei Bao, "I also want to accumulate some yin virtue." ”

There was a ragged old man who was also sitting around the campfire, with an empty wrapper on his back, and he was going to Luoyang to beg for food. Xu Ping pinched the last corner of his rations, walked to the old man who was curled up, squatted down and handed it to the other party.

Lao Dao didn't say a word of thanks after taking the dry food, but asked slowly: "This gentleman, do you want to count it as a bad luck?" ”

Xu Ping, who was about to leave, hesitated for a moment when he heard this, then squatted down again and asked, "Master, are you accurate?" ”

"Poor Dao No. Qingzhi." Lao Dao coughed and sat up straight, took out a small cloth bag from his arms, and asked, "Is Mr. going to count the bad luck, or the future?" ”

"Count the future." Xu Ping replied without thinking.

At this time, Hei Baoyi also walked behind Xu Ping and said lazily: "What's the point of this kind of trick?" ”

Qingzhi Daoist turned a deaf ear to Hei Baoyi's words, he twisted the small cloth bag in his hand, and asked, "What is the eight characters of Mr.'s birthday?" ”

Xu Ping hesitated and said, "Master, can you use other methods?" ”

Qingzhi raised his head and looked at Xu Ping carefully, and then put the cloth bag back in his arms: "Then let's measure the words." ”

Xu Ping groaned and wrote the word "tiger" on the snow with his fingers.

Seiji raised his head for the second time and stared into Xu Ping's eyes, as if he wanted to imprint every texture on his face in his mind. After a while, Qingzhi lowered his head and said: "This gentleman's face is a little strange, and the poor road is a little confused, can you write another word." ”

The black guard behind him sneered and walked away with heavy steps, while Xu Ping wrote the word "wolf" on the ground.

"The tiger is in the mountain, the wolf is in the forest...... Qingzhi babbled and said, looking down at Xu Ping's words: "But there is neither a mountain nor a forest here, and Mr.'s future is not good." ”

"Thank you, Master." Xu Pingdao was about to get up.

"Hero, things are man-made, just go to the mountains and forests, but ......" The old man stopped him, and said: "But sir, do you know whether this word is fierce or auspicious?" ”

"Please ask the master for advice."

"It's fierce, it's fierce." Qingzhi shook his head again and again, and sighed: "God has the virtue of a good life, but Mr.'s words are written in a murderous manner, and the strokes are full of anger. Poor Dao saw the hungry tiger coming down the mountain, the hungry wolf came out of the forest, circling around the hunter's bonfire, the tiger wolf and the hunter looked at each other in the night, both wanted to fill the hunger with each other's flesh and blood, and finally blood flowed all over the ground. ”

"Dare to ask the master." Xu Ping listened patiently to what he said, and then asked, "Is the blood shed on the ground the last one from the tiger wolf or the hunter?" ”

Qingzhi raised his head for the third time, looked at Xu Ping, and said in an old-fashioned manner: "Both." ”

Xu Ping took a deep breath and said the last question: "Then dare to ask the master, am I a tiger wolf or a hunter?" ”

"Both."

"Sleep, sleep." I don't know when Hei Baoyi went around behind Xu Ping again, he said angrily: "What is there to hear about this kind of trick of the rivers and lakes covered by clouds and mountains and fog?" ”

The next day, the two of them ran for another whole day. After nightfall, the hungry Hei Baoyi asked, "I will see King Chuang tomorrow, what does Brother Xu think?" ”

Xu Ping wrapped the cotton clothes on his body, closed his eyes and replied, "I can't wait." ”

……

When he arrived outside Luoyang City, Xu Ping saw many peasants clamoring to sign up for the army. He stopped in front of a notice board that said that Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, had appointed Shao Shichang, the former secretary of Luoyang, as the city defense officer, and the hanging list here was his recruitment notice. Shao Shichang offered a price of five taels of silver per month, recruited soldiers to defend Luoyang, and promised to provide rations, clothing and ordnance.

"King Chuang opened Luoyang this time, it seems that he has made a fortune." Hei Baoyi was illiterate, and after listening to Xu Ping relay the words on the notice, he laughed. The monthly silver of five taels is far higher than the general level of the Ming army, that is, in the new army where Xu Ping was before, the monthly silver is less than two taels of silver.

In the past, most of the soldiers who broke into the camp were hungry people. Hei Baoyi told Xu Ping that the most elite troops in the camp were actually only five battalions, with a total of 10,000 or 20,000 people, and the soldiers of these five battalions. Luo Rucai, nicknamed "Cao Cao", who co-camped with King Chuang, had 2,000 horse bandits under his command, and the elite of the two thousand men and horses and the elite of the five battalions in the camp had no armor and relatively rudimentary weapons.

"King Chuang once promised me that he would let me be a camp owner when I had money." Hei Baoyi said happily: "It seems that I can get what I want this time." ”

"Oh, congratulations to Brother Hei first." Xu Ping was a little uneasy in his heart, and he didn't know what kind of treatment he could get under King Chuang. In terms of qualifications, don't say that compared with the veterans who have been in the camp for many years, even the black baoyi in front of him, Xu Ping is also very inferior. If it comes to meritorious service, Xu Ping is a solo voter, and even Liu Jianyi and other generals of the Bianjun army who defected to the battlefield cannot be compared. He thought about his own thoughts, and asked, "Brother Hei, have you thought about the name of your battalion?" ”

"I thought about it many years ago." Without hesitation, Kurohoichi replied loudly, "My battalion will be called the Armored Battalion. ”

"Armored battalion?"

"Yes, I've thought about it for a long time, the soldiers are not expensive, and a thousand people in my battalion are enough, but the armor must not be less." Hei Baoyi looked forward to the fact that he was about to lead a battalion of troops, and told Xu Ping his plan: "When I have soldiers, I will go to fight the eagle minions, grab their armor, and be sure to put armor on every son of my men." ”

While speaking, the two of them had already walked to the camp outside Luoyang City, Hei Baoyi called a sentry to the camp, showed him the token, and ordered: "Quickly go and inform the military advisor, saying that I have something important to ask to see." ”

After the soldier rushed to find Niu Jinxing, as soon as Hei Bao saw Xu Ping rushing into the camp in a daze, he asked, "Brother Xu, what are you looking at?" ”

"I'm looking at the flag that broke into the camp." Xu Ping muttered.

On the big flag with a white background in front of him, a big black character "Chuang" is written in the center, and there are four slightly smaller official letters on the side: "Asking for soldiers and reassuring the people".

On both sides of this flag, there are two long horizontal flags, on which is written a couplet written by Li Zicheng himself:

"Killing one is like killing my father,

Adultery is like adultery with my mother. ”

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