The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 177 Who in the World Doesn’t Know Liu (I)

Ping Liaohou wore an iron helmet, fish-scale armor, and iron arm guards, and entered Qufu City surrounded by guards.

After exiting the south gate corridor, on the north-south street opposite, the unique drum and bamboo whistle sounds of Kaiyuan soldiers filled the air. Standing at the exit of the corridor, Liu Zhaosun could still see the tail end of the spearmen team of the first flag captain of the 2000th headquarters in front of him.

In the distance, one could hear the shouts of spearmen charging and killing, followed by the roar of a volley of flintlock muskets.

"The Zhanbing and the Wenxiang Sect are fighting. Let's go over there quickly."

The battle on the North and South Streets of Qufu was still going on. The Wenxiang Sect piled up sandbags and stones on the streets, hiding behind them and fighting back against the Kaiyuan army with bows and arrows.

These stubborn thugs who fought to the bitter end were all old thieves who had followed Xu Hongru for many years and were close friends of the big cabinet. They were all wearing armor and holding sharp swords and spears in their hands. Their fighting power was not comparable to that of ordinary believers in the church.

Of course, the more important reason is that these people have the blood of innocent civilians on their hands, and they know very well that even if they surrender to the Kaiyuan Army, they will not end up well.

So everyone risked their lives to fight to the end with Xu Hongru.

Fires erupted throughout Qufu, with some houses and shops set ablaze by the rioters. As usual, the Wenxiang Sect would set fires everywhere before the city was breached. This had become their signature ritual, setting fire wherever they went.

Black smoke rose into the sky, and the strong stench of corpses hit the face.

"God damn Xu Hongru, he wanted so many people to be buried with him before he died!"

Ping Liaohou walked forward, dragging his goose-feather knife. A bloody battle had just taken place at the crossroads ahead, and the bodies of the Kaiyuan army and the Wenxiang believers were lying all over the ground.

An injured but not dead member of the Wenxiang sect hid under a corpse. Seeing the pursuers go away, he carefully crawled out and was about to escape when he ran into Ping Liaohou and others coming towards him.

Liu Zhaosun glanced at him, as if he were looking at a dead man, "Where is your big cabinet?"

The White Lotus member had a red scarf tied on his hand, and he had lost all the ferocious aura he had when he entered the city. He answered timidly in a low voice.

"The cabinet ran away."

As he spoke, he used his body to protect a sack next to him.

Liu Zhaosun gave a wink, and the guard stepped forward and snatched it away.

The sack contained dozens of taels of silver and several pieces of gold and silver jewelry stained with human blood, all of which were looted from Dengzhou and other places.

"You've killed a lot of people these days."

Ping Liaohou had a stern expression.

Most of the corpses lying around had red scarves on their right arms, and some even had red scarves tied on their heads, as if they were afraid that others would not know that they were part of the Red Turban Army.

This is the late Ming version of the Red Turban Army.

"Where's the big cabinet? Tell me!"

The injured Red Turban Army soldier stared at the cold goose-feather knife pressed against his neck, trembling with fear.

"I, the big gui, went to the east to find Confucius. We asked him for some money to give to Marquis Ping Liao so that he would stop chasing us and beating us."

Liu Zhaosun raised his sword and ended the sinful life of this Wenxiang Sect thug.

After two four-pound field guns joined the street fighting, the sturdy barricade opposite was quickly destroyed by artillery, leaving behind debris.

The black mass of soldiers formed a tight formation, with spears and halberds in front and musketeers in the back. They crossed the barricades and marched towards the Wenxiang Sect rioters.

The Wenxiang thugs lacked strict formation training, and their weapons and equipment were all kinds of things. Some held clubs, some held long guns, and some held maces.
After connecting with the Kaiyuan battle formation, these brave men were quickly killed by the soldiers. The believers behind them continued to fill in, rushing and killing towards the dense spear formation, but were killed by the rushing musketeers.

After several failed counterattacks, the Wenxiang Cultists, unable to bear the relentless pressure of death, abandoned their weapons and fled north. Ping Liaohou ordered the three thousand commanders to continue the pursuit without pause, driving the Wenxiang Cult thugs towards the Confucius Mansion.

"I believe these thugs will leave a deep impression on the Duke of Yansheng."

After Ping Liaohou finished speaking, he took Kang Yingqian and others and followed the soldiers to move in that direction.

Kang Yingqian said calmly, "Marquis Ping Liao, how should we deal with this Duke Yansheng?"

Liu Zhaosun already had an idea in his mind. He pointed to the rolling hills in the distance. At the end of the hills was Liujia Village, which he had passed in the morning.

"That is the Konglin, and the mountains and forests controlled by the Konglin. The Kong family is all around. I think we should first transport all the things back to Dengzhou and empty the Kong Mansion for Duke Yansheng." He paused for a moment and said loudly:
"As for how to deal with Duke Yansheng, I haven't made up my mind yet. I hope he's lucky and can escape from Xu Hongru's clutches."

He thought for a moment and summoned the messenger: "Once the Wenxiang Sect enters the Kong Mansion, have the First Thousand Headquarters launch an attack, kill the Wenxiang Sect thugs, and occupy the Kong Mansion. Oh, and bring Kong Yanzhi alive. I want to talk to him."

Ping Liaohou, Kang Yingqian, Jin Feng, and others arrived at the Qufu County Government Office. Pei Dahu and Lin Yu and Wu Xiao had gone to the capital, and there was no news yet. Currently, the person in charge of protecting Liu Zhaosun was Sergeant Jin Feng, who had five guards under him.

Jin Feng was an old soldier who had followed General Liu since Hunjiang. He was already a captain at the 1,000th headquarters and had been promoted from the combat battalion a few days ago to protect the Marquis of Ping Liao. Like Pei Dahu, he was deeply loyal to Liu Zhaosun.

"Marquis Ping Liao, the Wenxiang Cult has imprisoned the magistrate in the dungeon."

In order to better protect the Qufu County Magistrate, Liu Zhaosun ordered the County Magistrate, whose surname was Jiang, to be brought to the lobby.

Kang Yingqian whispered a few words to Jin Feng, and the captain of the central army guard randomly selected several captured Wenxiang sect members, made them kneel at the gate of the county government office, and beheaded them one by one.

The selected Wenxiang Sect thugs were like fish at the mercy of the soldiers. They were pinned to the ground motionless and completely gave up resistance.

Dozens of human heads were thrown in front of County Magistrate Jiang and neatly arranged in a row. County Magistrate Jiang actually knew some of the heads.

Kang Yingqian said coldly, "Marquis Ping Liao is not a bloodthirsty person. It's just that these rioters have killed so many people and have no remorse. They even dared to set their sights on Duke Yansheng. County Magistrate Jiang, do you think they should be killed?"

County Magistrate Jiang had just been rescued from prison. He had been tortured to death by the Wenxiang Sect in the past few days and was half dead.

Suddenly seeing the human heads placed in front of him, he was frightened and his body trembled uncontrollably.

"County Magistrate Jiang, the Wenxiang Cult is currently attacking the Kong Mansion. As far as I know, if the Kong Mansion is lost, your career will be over. You might even lose your head. The Duke of Yansheng has considerable influence in the court. He could file a memorial to impeach you for dereliction of duty."

Seeing Magistrate Jiang's pale face, Lao Kang added, "I heard that you and this Duke Yansheng have a long-standing grudge, and the Wenxiang Sect fled from your jurisdiction to the Confucius Mansion. Based on this alone, the court will never let you go."

"With so many people from Qufu dead, County Magistrate Jiang will probably be executed by slow slicing, and your children will be sent to the Jiaofang Bureau."

County Magistrate Jiang looked excited. He did not have a figure of Fang Congzhe's caliber to support him in the court. He had to rely on himself. If he took a wrong step, he would die without a burial place.

"Don't be afraid, Magistrate Jiang. The Kaiyuan army came to Qufu to save the people and you, my lord. The Marquis of Ping Liao has a great gift for Magistrate Jiang."

Kang Yingqian smiled and clapped his hands. Two pacification soldiers brought up a huge wooden box filled with gold, silver and jewelry that had just been seized.

"Inspector Kang, what does this mean?"

Kang Yingqian put away his smile, waved his hand to let the pacification soldiers go, and whispered to County Magistrate Jiang:

"If Magistrate Jiang is willing to make friends with Marquis Ping Liao, I, along with my colleagues in Dengzhou and Military Supervisor Qiao, will jointly submit a letter to the capital, stating that the fall of the Confucius Mansion was caused by the Wenxiang Sect. To defend Qufu, Magistrate Jiang personally went to the north gate of the city wall and suffered 108 wounds..."

Ping Liaohou needs County Magistrate Jiang to continue to be alive and needs the help of these local tyrants. If County Magistrate Jiang dies, it will be very troublesome to deal with the subsequent matters.

"Okay, I'm willing!"

(End of this chapter)