Chapter 124: The Strategy for Smoothing the Hair (I)

In the midst of the heavy snowfall, the city of Hangzhou is covered in silver. However, the city gates that were closed all day long made it impossible for Hangzhou citizens to enjoy the snow scenery of the West Lake as in the past, and the increasingly urgent atmosphere of war made everyone completely lose interest in visiting the mountains and rivers.

Since the thieves entered the city from the sea, Liu Mengqian, the prefect of Hangzhou, has been using the tactics of shrinking the head of the turtle, closing the city gate and never attacking.

Although this practice allowed him to avoid the danger of risking arrows and stones, it also led to the fact that the equally densely populated vast countryside outside Hangzhou became a hunting ground for thieves to kill at will, and it was ravaged enough in the past days. So in the past few days, the life of Liu Zhifu is not good, after the thieves ended the siege of the city, the counties flew like snowflakes to the pond newspaper documents piled up on his table, and a bunch of broken people Xiucai raised people, into the city to cry to his parents and officials to ask for revenge: at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the literary style of the Jiangnan water town was quite prosperous, even if it was the landlord in the countryside, most of them also had the merit of lifting people or showing talents, according to the system of the Ming Dynasty, it has a certain political status, and should be admired and respected.

It's just that this gang of thieves doesn't know what crazy they have, and they are so-so and polite to the lowly grass people, but they are tyrannical to the gentlemen, and they will raid their homes and destroy them at every turn, and they don't put those famous families of "poetry heirlooms" in their eyes at all, and none of the gentry and big families in the places they have passed have been spared, and even the retired old Shangshu has killed a stupid and ignorant thief like you, don't you understand the truth of "can't punish the doctor"?

In short, Liu Mengqian's prefect knows very well that after the death of so many famous gentry with the fame of the imperial court at once, as the parent official of Hangzhou and the first person responsible for this war, his situation is already very dangerous...... However, Liu Zhifu, who didn't want to treat the shrunken turtle as a dead turtle, thought for a long time, but still couldn't think of a good countermeasure, and finally decided to brainstorm, borrow the wisdom of everyone, and invite the whole city to come and offer advice, hoping to keep Hangzhou City at the same time, but also to teach the thief a hard lesson!

Well? Why are only scholars invited? Of course, it's because the scholars are knowledgeable, and the dignified court officials are in the company, how can they be in the company of the peddlers' pawns?

As a result, the lobby of the prefect's yamen was full of people for a while, and all kinds of poor and talented people and down-to-earth literati appeared at this flat meeting, and those scholars from rich and noble families appeared at this flat meeting, seeing that the thieves were so vast and invincible, and now they are taking advantage of the gap when the thieves stopped besieging the city, dragging their children out of the city under the heavy snow, and fleeing to Huzhou and Jiaxing in the north. Only poor scholars who are not entangled come to the yamen to join in the excitement.

Although the situation was urgent, Liu Mengqian's prefect still did not forget to put on a score, and Shi Shiran did not appear until most of the participants had finished drinking the second cup of tea. A group of prisoners, talents, lifters, and old children who were waiting to see through them hurriedly stepped forward to salute and waited until everyone sat down after the ceremony. Lord Liu first wiped his hands and face with a hot towel unhurriedly, and then smacked the Longjing tea sent by his subordinates, and then opened his mouth leisurely:

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, you should have heard of the deeds of this overseas thief who pretended to be a descendant of the Song family, colluded with traitors and brutalized Zhongliang in the land of Fujian and Guangdong. To this day, this group of beam-jumping clowns are actually mad and have invaded this best place in the south of the Yangtze River! Since ancient times, the Han and the thieves have not stood together, but it is a pity that outside the city of Hangzhou, I don't know how many loyal ministers and righteous men of the Ming Dynasty have been ruined because of the evil thieves. If it weren't for the safety of the people in Hangzhou, this official would have personally led the troops out of the city to meet this group of thieves for a while! But at the moment, defending the city of Hangzhou is the first priority. In order to avoid the misery of this city, please also give your advice. If you can really repel the thief, this official should protect everyone here. ”

In the words of the prefect Liu Mengqian, there is both righteousness and self-interest, which successfully stimulated the utilitarian heart of the down-and-out literati. So immediately, a trembling old voice sounded: "...... Your Excellency! Ahem! The thieves came from afar, nothing more than to plunder the property and population, and the students thought that as long as dozens of brave men were selected and mixed into the villagers, they would have the opportunity to assassinate and kill the thief chieftain, cough cough! The thief is bound to retreat! ”

An old man with a white beard and a slender body was the first to stand up tremblingly, his face flushed with excitement, and the few strands of white beard on his chin trembled...... It seems that as long as Governor Liu gives an order, this old sour man in his seventies will personally carry a sharp blade and retreat from the enemy.

Inspired by this old-timer, all the scholars present also opened their mouths to give advice, you and I came up with a lot of ideas, but unfortunately most of them were inspired by "Water Margin" and "Three Kingdoms", although there are all kinds of assassinations, discord, deception and beauty schemes, but they are basically taken for granted, and there is a serious lack of operability...... Therefore, Liu Mengqian's prefect listened with great interest at first, but soon the more he listened, the more he frowned.

Open the city gate and surrender? Do you want your own prefect to go to the enemy camp as a hostage? Regardless of whether or not we can retreat from the enemy in the end, doesn't this send us to death?

Empty city plan? But everyone knows that the thief is vulgar and unliterate, and he doesn't know poetry and books, what if he rushes directly into the city?

Assassination of the Thief Chief? How can it be so easy to slay the head of a thief among hosts? Can you find such a powerful assassin in the city of Hangzhou?

Discrete meter? At the moment, everyone doesn't know anything about the inside story of this group of thieves and soldiers outside the city, and they can't start if they want to engage in a divisive scheme!

Straw boat borrowing arrows? Hey, where did the thieves get their bows and arrows? It's all birds and cannons! How to catch a mere grass boat?

Just when Liu Mengqian's prefect became more and more suspicious of whether it was necessary to hold this "Pingqi Conference", there was finally a person's statement that made his eyes light up:

“…… Lord Fuzun, seniors, as for what strategy to use to crusade against the thieves outside the city, this can be considered in the long run. But there is a cloud in the art of war: know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles. Before we can fight with the thieves, we must find out the details of these overseas giants, so that we can take measures and target them...... In recent years, students are also interested in national affairs, and have been paying attention to the inside story of the thief, collecting and copying the thief's books, which lasted more than a year, and compiled into a volume of "Pingji Minutes", which is hereby presented today, and invites the Lord of the Mansion to take a look......"

This Xiucai named Gao Xuan, who is only in his twenties, is wearing a half-worn straight shirt that has been washed white, it can be seen that his family is not very wealthy, but his expression is unusually calm, I saw him smile faintly, took out a booklet from his arms at the moment, and respectfully handed it to Governor Liu.

This move can be described as a surprising victory, and it immediately attracted the attention of everyone around Although there were many people who came up with ideas just now, and there were also many people who had read the "Records of Troubles", but those who could systematically organize the flat strategy in their hearts into a manuscript were really unique except for Gao Xuan, a poor and sour talent. And Governor Liu was not ambiguous, he took this "Plain Summary" immediately, shook his head and read it, and when he read something unclear, he would ask Gao Xuan a few words politely, as if he appreciated this person very much...... At this moment, Gao Xuan, who was originally not good-looking, instantly became the focus of everyone's attention, and the blazing eyes full of envy, jealousy and hatred were almost about to set him on fire!

And Gao Xuan, who has attracted much attention, after listening to a few words of flattery, also has a fluttering and proud look, thinking that he has embarked on the road to success and is about to rise to prominence...... So the whole person entered a state of soul wandering, as if he saw that his father-in-law, who had always looked down on him before, finally looked down on him, and the brother-in-law who had been full of disgust for him knelt in front of him in front of him and greeted him well......

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Gao Xuan Gao Xiucai, who was in the limelight at the "Pingqi Conference", is not yet thirty years old this year, and he has already gained the fame of a Xiucai, which can be regarded as young and promising, but his family is so poor that like many scholars who have kept up with this year, Gao Xuan has no job and lives on his ancestral property. In the early years, the family still had some small production, and the days were still coming, he studied hard and made friends with teachers, in order to be able to go to school, but there were unforeseen circumstances, Gao Xuan's parents died suddenly, but before his parents died, he married his wife again...... The continuous red and white events have consumed the last of the Gao family. In the end, there was only a dilapidated house handed down from the ancestors and some dilapidated household belongings, which can be called the four walls of the family.

By last year, most of Gao Xuan's family's firewood, rice, oil and salt had to rely on his father-in-law to help Gao Xuan's Xiucai lady was the daughter of a small civilian family, and Lao Tzu was selling wine along the street. I don't want Gao Xuan, a talented son-in-law, to be filial to his parents, so he can't take the exam for a long time, and even if he takes the exam, he may not be able to win the examination at one time, but the couple has to rely on his father-in-law to support him...... So in front of his father-in-law's white eyes and his brother-in-law's cold words, Gao Xuan always couldn't raise his head very aggrieved.

In this depressing atmosphere where everything is sad, the Wanbi Bookstore opened by Zhao Yinggong, the "Lingnan gentleman", in Hangzhou, has become a good place for Gao Xuan to kill time and escape from reality. Without the protection of the government and the gentry, it is very difficult to do anything...... As a result, a well-known cultural salon was soon formed in Hangzhou, especially for those poor scholars.

So, Gao Xuan, a talented man who was depressed and idle, plunged into the vast mountains and seas of exquisite books in the Wanbi Bookstore under the introduction of several equally down-to-earth scholar friends...... I don't want to just last summer, Mr. Zhao Yinggong, who was originally praised by Hangzhou scholars, suddenly became a "thief and spy", and the Wanbi bookstore he opened was also seized by the government!

When this earth-shattering news came, Gao Xuan was reading a book in Wanbi Bookstore as usual...... After hearing the news, the other customers in the store and the guys in the bookstore were all frightened and fled as quickly as possible, lest they would be arrested indiscriminately by the officials. Only Gao Xuan was calm, and after the others had escaped, he picked up the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone they left behind, plus a money bag that someone had left behind, and also scavenged dozens of books from the bookstore in one go, and then happily returned with a bag of hemp.

In the next few months, in order to make ends meet, these windfalls from Wanbi Bookstore were pawned by Gao Xuan one after another to exchange money to buy rice. But in the pile of books that he rolled back, he found a hand-copied pamphlet that recorded many "secrets of thieves" and "clever tricks for flat hair", which immediately made Gao Xuan look at it with relishLike most of the Confucian scholars of the late Ming Dynasty who had the world in mind, Gao Xuan also had a strong interest in "Gewu", "Firearms" and "Military Science", which was related to the social and historical background at that time. The continuous defeats on all fronts made the Ming court look forward to reversing the crisis through the development and introduction of several new weapons and new tactics. As a result, at that time, there was a wave of "talking about war on paper", and many scholars who had no basic understanding and concept of war also read military books one after another in order to catch up with the fashion......

When he was in Wanbi Bookstore, Gao Xuan once wanted to find some Australian books on the art of war to win by surprise. But I didn't find this kind of book, and now I have this "Pingji Secret Book", which is naturally like a treasure, and I study it day and night, trying to learn some "dragon slaying skills" from it.

What he didn't know was that this hand-copied booklet that recorded the "Secret Story of the Thief" and "The Secret Plan of the Flat Horse" was actually a self-entertaining work written by a certain Lingao Group traveler when he was bored, collecting rumors about them in the city of Hainan Island, combined with his own brain-opening evil taste imagination, and its nature was probably similar to all kinds of nonsense on the Internet in later generations...... But when he came to Hangzhou on a business trip, he somehow left the pamphlet in Wanbi Bookstore, and then let Gao Xuan, a "thief", steal it......

If you are a veteran of the battlefield, I am afraid that you can see the absurdity and ridiculousness of these contents in the booklet at a glance. The problem is that Gao Xuan, a poor talent, is also like all similar Ming "military enthusiasts", with low eyes and masters, without any professional military experience, and will only be purely empty talk.

After being fascinated, Gao Xuan also copied out the paragraphs in the booklet, combined with his own secondary processing and artistic imagination, as well as some "deeds of the people" found in other books, and painstakingly wrote a book of "Minutes of Pingji", thinking that he was already a "master of affairs".

It's a pity that although the "Minutes of Pingji" is completed, how can the thief be thousands of miles away, Gao Xuan, who is in Hangzhou, has no way to take this strange book to recommend himself for fame, and there are also not many people who are interested in this kind of idle matter, and the high-level backbone of the Donglin Party and the Fushe is not accessible to a small person like him, and in the end he just lives in a humble house and eats nothing...... However, just as the so-called emperor lives up to his wishes, just when Gao Xuan lamented the uselessness of his skills all day long, the fierce thieves of the big ticket fell from the sky and suddenly poured into the Qiantang River a few miles away!

In this regard, the others were frightened and worried all day long, but Gao Xuan was as excited as if he had met a pillow in sleep, so he first turned out the "Minutes of Pingji" and carefully transcribed it, so as to present it to the nobles when he recommended himself, and then found all the books about thieves at hand and studied them repeatedly, and also talked to those who fled into the city for refuge to find out about the thieves...... In the end, there was a blockbuster at this "flat conference".

At this moment, as a professional "master of affairs", he gave advice to the current prefect Liu Mengqian, who was confused.

“…… It is rumored that most of the thieves can't bend their legs, so they use firearms, as long as they select a few brave people and throw them to the ground with bamboo poles, they can't get back, and can only be captured. Even if the yellow-mouthed child and the old man can also count the thieves with their hands, adults may wish to give it a try, and it can be effective......"

After listening to Gao Xuan's "high opinion", Governor Liu decided to recruit young people in the city and organize a bamboo pole team. Although it would be impossible to let them go out of the city to attack the thief camp of Phoenix Villa, if they were just behind the city wall and used for street fighting, they should still be able to make do.

“…… Among the thieves, there are quite a lot of Western-foreign Yi, who feed on dried beef and mutton since childhood, and do not eat it, so they need tea rhubarb to facilitate consumption. If the outside is not allowed to do this, the stomach and intestines will be blocked, and there is no way to live. This is the power of my Huaxia to control and ......"

After hearing this, Governor Liu ordered the tea shops and pharmacies in the city to be quickly sealed, and never let one or two tea leaves and rhubarb fall into the hands of thieves again.

Next, Gao Xuan analyzed to Governor Liu that the Qiongzhou thieves came from thousands of miles away in the south across the sea, and their plans were very big, and they were bent on seeking our great future, but these vulgar warriors who went into battle shirtless in person belonged to the "sins" who were exiled after the failure of the party struggle, so they could be lured by high-ranking officials and Houlu to use them to control the clouds...... These words are alluded to the social reality of today's Ming Dynasty's "noble and lowly", so Governor Liu couldn't help but nod.

In the end, as the end of this high-level theory, Gao Xuan Xiucai, whose brain hole is getting bigger and bigger, even shook out the secret of why the thief's firearms are sharp"...... The thief artillery is cast by the method of cutting out the heart, so it is the most vicious, and it is invincible to the hearts and lungs, and only the things from yang to yin to filth can be broken"...... I don't know how this product came out of the book I don't know how to forge the cannon method, and further extended it into a heart-splitting method, and also drew inferences from one another to come to the strange conclusion that "the things that are the most yang to the yin and the filthy can break the firearm". It's a shame that such a good talent doesn't write fantasy novels.

In short, at this moment, Gao Xuan can be said to be complacent, thinking that with his understanding of the thief, he must be promoted to become rich in the near future! At present, the world is in turmoil, the heroes are everywhere, and everywhere is the appearance of walking around and making smoke in all directions, and this chaos may not be finished for a while, although Li Min is devastated, but it is an excellent stage for him to make contributions and make a name for himself, just like Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang in the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms......

However, since ancient times, literati have been light, and seeing that Gao Xuan has won the favor of Lord Fuzun with a little bit of triviality, where can the other scholars present still sit still? Although they knew little about foreign affairs, it did not prevent them from drawing wisdom from the stories of their ancestors, and they immediately had a lot of clever tricks:

“…… I don't know if Liu's parents can hear about the battle of Jingjing in the past, and Tie Xuan Xianggong guarded Jinan and retired to the ancestral emperor's wisdom? This generation of thieves came from overseas and pretended to be descendants of the Great Song Dynasty. If you invite the tablets of the emperors of the Great Song Dynasty, list them on the city wall, and then make a heroic article to rebuke the enemy's courage, if you want to come to the thief, you will retreat! ”

Although this teenager is a little presumptuous, he at least learns the history of this dynasty well.

“…… I don't know if Lord Liu knows about the Battle of Chibi in the Three Kingdoms, and the Dongwu Navy took advantage of the east wind to break the Cao Army's serial ships with fireships? Now that the giant ships of thieves are all moored in the Qiantang River, isn't it similar to the momentum of Cao Ying's sailors back then? Now that it is a cold winter, the northwest wind is strong, if the officers and troops in Fuyang County, in the upper reaches of the Qianjiang River, set fire boats to attack the enemy, just smooth sailing, they will be able to repeat the Chibi battle at the foot of Phoenix Mountain! Then the adults will select elite soldiers to go out of the city, and take advantage of the chaos by land to attack the thief camp of Phoenix Villa, even if they can't break the thieves in one fell swoop, they can also make their positions chaotic, and there will be no time to attack the city for many days......"

Although this man's statement is still a bit vague, it is already the "most professional" idea at this conference......

All in all, the "Pingfu Conference" of the Hangzhou Mansion ended successfully in Gao Xuan's fame and the heated discussion of everyone. After the meeting, the whole city of Hangzhou was in an uproar under the repeated urgent orders of the prefect, and set up lists to recruit strong men, collect bamboo poles to stab thieves in the knees, seize tea shops and pharmacies, and collect black dog blood, clean buckets, children's urine, women's "riding cloths" (ancient version of sanitary napkins) and other "things that are to yang to yin and filthy", consult historical materials to engrave the tablets of the emperors of the Great Song Dynasty, and quote scriptures to write eloquent essays to scold thieves...... There are really a lot of things, and there are no surprises. The idlers in the city all rushed out to see this rare Western scene, and finally made up a ridiculous offensive and defensive battle in Hangzhou......

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However, in this ridiculous offensive and defensive battle in Hangzhou, at the beginning, the actions of both sides were barely normal.

On the night of the first stop of this heavy snowfall, before the thieves who had been resting in the Phoenix Villa for many days, as the weather improved, they launched a new offensive against Hangzhou City, and the Ming officials and troops in the city had already taken the lead and launched a comprehensive counterattack from both land and water!

Under Hangzhou's repeated strict orders, Fuyang County, in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River, stubbornly recruited a fire attack fleet, forcibly seized more than 50 civilian boats, piled them with firewood and grass, poured clear oil, and added many poisonous Chinese medicinal materials that were said to produce poisonous smoke and burned them. At the same time, he also recruited a group of brave people with good water nature, most of whom were heroes on the rivers and lakes, and were ready to let them drive these arson boats to ram the big ships of the thieves.

The fire-attacking fleet raised its sails from the Fuyang Wharf at dusk and sailed down the river with the wind expected to arrive at the foot of Phoenix Mountain at night, and the gentry of the entire Hangzhou government hoped that these arsonist ships would repeat the miracle of the Battle of Chibi...... Unfortunately, under the pervasive satellite aerial photography, this fire attack fleet was noticed by the traverser as soon as it left the Fuyang wharf, and then it was monitored in real time all the way.

In addition, sailing in the dark is originally a very difficult technical job, if you drive a sailboat instead of a motor boat, it will be even more difficult These warriors who were lured by the government bounty to drive the arson boat, in terms of courage and water nature are good, but the ability to drive a boat is not necessarily very clever, and at the same time, not everyone is familiar with the Qiantang River channel. If it is during the day, it can go from boat to boat, but the fire attack must be at night to have a miraculous effect...... As a result, in the dark night when they couldn't see their fingers, these arsonist ships kept running aground and falling behind along the way, and in the end only more than 30 of them came to the foot of Phoenix Mountain, and the "thief fleet" at the foot of Phoenix Mountain was already impatiently waiting.

The next moment, along with the red signal flare rising from the pier, which represented the attack, a sharp siren sounded throughout Captain Li Huamei's Hangzhou, because the berth of this ship was the closest upstream. Captain Li Huamei, who had been in battle for a long time, immediately adopted the standard counter-fire attack tactics: the snowy searchlight swept across the river, allowing these small boats that thought they were lurking well at a glance; A cannon loaded with flowering or shrapnel opened fire, and a hail of bullets swept across the river, leaving the thin fishing boats full of holes!

Seeing the bright searchlight beam before, the warriors on the fire attack fleet were already in a panic, and several ships immediately collided and capsized one after another in the collision. And the rain of bullets that swept away from their heads and brains immediately further intensified their panic...... In the midst of the rumbling of cannons and heart-rending wails. These daredevils, who were actually quite afraid of death, immediately set fire to the arsonist boat, and then drank a small pot of soju to keep out the cold, and hurriedly jumped into the water to escape. Some of them had even had time to jump out of the boat before their clothes were burned by the flames lit by their companions......

At the stern of the Hangzhou, Li Huamei held a pair of binoculars with night vision effects that had just arrived, and looked at all the farce happening in front of her with a contemptuous expression. There are those who drift to the wrong course and don't know where to go, and there are those who flee to the river in an attempt to escape by the shore...... Only one of the luckiest arsonists floated to the vicinity of the Hangzhou, but it was immediately extinguished by the crew with a high-pressure water cannon.

“…… It's boring, it's just a bunch of bad breeds, far worse than the fire attack of the Malay pirates. ”

Seeing that there seemed to be no more excitement to see on the river, she pursed her lips disdainfully, put down her binoculars, and turned back to the cabin to sleep.

On the other side, just when the officers and soldiers of the army in the Phoenix Mountain Villa were all looking at the flames on the river with great interest, Captain Zhenhuan from Lizhai in Qiongzhou was ordered to gather all the people of the mountain infantry company and listen to the lecture of a chief wearing a snow camouflage uniform:

“…… As we all know, a good hunter doesn't just make a trap. Although I think that most of these enemies in Hangzhou are not good hunters, but we should be on guard when it is time to be on guard, according to reliable information, an elite unit of the enemy left the city of Hangzhou this afternoon and quietly approached our side. And your job is to find all these damn rats and get rid of them all......"

After solemnly accepting the mission, Captain Jinhuan, with black lines painted on his face, took his Li warriors out separately, and soon disappeared into the vast night around the villa, what he didn't know was that this group of enemies had also been discovered by the traverser through satellites, and had been following and observing them since they left the city. It was only when the other party entered the densely forested mountains west of the city that he lost it because of the darkness of the night and the shade of the trees.

In addition, what Captain Jinhuan didn't know was that when they cautiously braved the cold wind and stepped on the snow, searching the mountains for this unknown enemy, the other party was actually still slowly grinding on the way to Phoenix Mountain Villa, and a considerable number of them would never arrive here......