The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 359 Ants (Li Dingguo appears)

"Heiwa, after you pass this valley, walk twenty miles west and you will reach Hequ County. Once you get there, I'll buy you some candied haws."

"Okay, Master."

Five-year-old Heiwa was lying on a cart full of millet. The cart followed a group of ragged refugees, rolling over the weeds on the post road, squeaking as it moved forward.

Two skinny mules snorted and were reluctant to move forward. An old man with gray hair and beard behind them waved his whip and hit the lazy donkey on its butt.

"drive!"

The two skinny donkeys trotted forward reluctantly for a while, and then began to dawdle again.

"Master, stop smoking it."

Because he had been driving a horse-drawn carriage for his employer before joining the gang and was very familiar with the road conditions around Pianguan County, Heiwa's grandfather, Lao Heizi, became the coachman for the Chang family in the rebel army.

The old groom skillfully wielded his whip. Whether he worked for Chuang Jun or his previous employer, as long as he had something to eat, he was happy. Besides, he was not eating alone now. His grandson Heiwa had lost his parents and needed him to support him.

If you follow the rebel army, you will have food to eat. Of course, you may become the food in the end, but this kind of thing rarely happens now. After the bandits broke through Pianguan County, they robbed around in northwest Shanxi. Now their cloth bags are full of food, and no one wants to eat people anymore.

Heiwa lay on the donkey cart and followed the refugees everywhere, crossing the Yellow River from Shaanxi to Shanxi, and then returning to Shaanxi from Shanxi.

Children like Heiwa followed their parents to hike in the mountains on the Loess Plateau for ten days or half a month in the middle of winter. They either died of exhaustion or illness, and were finally thrown into ravines without even a straw mat.

By the way, didn’t I say before that we have been together for a long time and there is no shortage of food, so cannibalism is no longer a trend.

Heiwa is still alive thanks to his grandfather Lao Heizi.

"Grandpa, where are my parents buried?"

The whip in Lao Heizi's hand trembled for a moment, and he blurted out, "This is a Feng Shui treasure land. The Yin-Yang master said that our Li family will produce a great marshal."

Heiwa's butt was shaking up and down with the donkey cart, shaking him so much that he almost vomited the dumpling soup in his stomach.

Heiwa didn't listen to his grandfather's nonsense, but just shot his eyes like knife blades at the two dried corpses on the side of the road.

The body was naked, its clothes and shoes had been stripped away by the refugees in front. It had no stomach, its face was sunken, and its two eyeballs had been taken away by crows. Fortunately, this group of refugees today were not hungry enough to eat people.

Heiwa thought of the sheepskin raft his grandfather had used to ferry people across the Yellow River last year. It had deflated, and that too. Heiwa thought of his dead parents. He wondered if they had died like that, abandoned by the roadside, to be gnawed by wild beasts and crows, and finally reduced to bones.

"I buried it myself."

Old Heizi raised his whip, hit the mule twice more, then turned around and said to his grandson.

Heiwa's parents died in the 47th year of Wanli's reign. There was a severe drought in Yulin that year. The general of Yulin led troops to aid Liao and followed the Duke of Protectorate to fight against the Jiannu. As soon as the Yulin soldiers left, the soldiers at the post stations began to demand pay, looting everywhere and forcing the Yulin government to pay. The leader was Li Xianzhong, the King of Rebellion. At that time, he was still a post station chief and had no shortage of food and drink.

However, around the 47th year of the Wanli reign, there were many heroes in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty who believed that they had the opportunity to dominate the world and replace the Zhu family.

Chieftains can rebel, the Flying Tiger General can rebel, the White Lotus Sect can rebel, so why can’t the postmaster?
This may be the reason why Li Xianzhong rebelled. After all, the King of Rebellion was well-informed at the time and knew more about the situation of the Ming Dynasty where there were many unruly people than the Wanli Emperor who lived deep in the palace.

Heiwa's family lived near the Yulin Post Station and was considered a well-off family. On the day the postman demanded pay, his parents were inexplicably killed.

Heiwa was only one year old that year.

At this time, a group of horsemen passed by the roadside. Lao Heizi hurriedly winked at the riders passing by to express his goodwill. The wrinkles on the old man's face were squeezed together, and his smile was uglier than crying.

These cavalrymen whizzing past were the elite troops of the old camp in the rebel army.

The Laoying was an existence that ordinary refugees looked up to because they were well-equipped, with each person having three or even five horses, and they had their own special servants, both male and female.

When fighting, the old camp is very fierce. It is the most elite force in the Chuang army. On weekdays, it only guards General Li and rarely appears. It only shows up when attacking the Ming army's fortified cities.

Half a month ago, the rebel army attacked Pianguan County. The county magistrate, whose surname was Niu, refused to give up his title and sent strong men to place many rolling logs, lime bottles and gold juice on the top of the city. The 60,000 rebel army attacked for a whole day but failed to take the city. Thousands of them died. In the end, it was thanks to this group of old soldiers that they captured the city. Regardless of their lives, they climbed up the city wall with burning ladders holding daggers and killed the county magistrate in one fell swoop.

Heiwa and his grandfather both lowered their heads and didn't look at the old camp as they passed by.

A cavalry soldier glanced at the grandfather and grandson and angrily said to Old Blackie:

"Damn it, you bastard, you know how to enjoy yourself. This cart is for transporting food and fodder to the army, not for you to play with. Get off!"

Old Blackie said with a smile on his face, "Sir, I am the groom of Liu Chang's family, specializing in driving carriages. This child is my grandson. He is too young to walk."

As Lao Heizi spoke, he took out a string of beads from his pocket and handed it to the old battalion captain. The horse soldier weighed it in his hand, recognized it as Dongzhu, nodded slightly, and rode forward while cursing.

"Master, what's going on up ahead?"

Ma Bing turned around suddenly, his face grim and he said:

"A bunch of dog-like government troops are here to die."

Lao Heizi was still smiling apologetically, but the cavalry had already left in a cloud of dust, galloping towards the mountain pass.

"Master, why are they walking so fast?"

Lao Heizi coughed, and on the other side of the mountain pass, cavalrymen from several battalions were running around randomly. Then, explosions and screams of horses and men were heard all around.

~~~~~
The raging fire ignited the trees beside the road. In the black smoke, the bandits fled like ants, but Heiwa stood still. "Where are your parents?"

"died."

"you alone?"

Heiwa pointed to a rotten corpse on the side of the road, lying on its back, its face no longer visible.

"There's another one. He was just trampled to death by the horses of the old camp. They also killed my parents."

Wei Zhao looked at the child who was calm and composed in the blood and fire. He saw that he had sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, and thick bones, which was different from that of ordinary people.

A trace of pity rose in his heart.

The head servant of Yang Hao pointed to the three men standing behind him - more than twenty of his men had died in the battle guarding the mountain pass just now, leaving only these three.

"I am the best swordsman in Tianjin, captain of the 12th Imperial Guards, Wei Zhao. I am leading the army to Shaanxi to quell the rebellion. I see that you have a fine figure and a handsome face, a rare talent once found in a century. You will surely become a great man in the future. How about this: you join the Kaiyuan Army and serve with me. Here, this is the first weapon I give you."

Wei Zhao took out a candied haws from his bosom, ate one himself, wiped the blood on his hand on the chain mail, and took the candied haws off one by one with his dirty big hands. He only held the bamboo stick in his hand and made a spearman's thrusting motion.

The child didn't move at all.

He then smiled and handed the candied haws to the child.

Heiwa took the candied haws and put it in his arms.

"What's your name? Do you have a name?"

"Hei Wa."

"No, I'm asking for your name."

"Li Dingguo."

After a night of killing, a hint of dawn appeared in the eastern sky and a red sun rose.

The soldiers guarding the mountain pass suffered heavy casualties, with only a hundred left out of the nine hundred.

Wei Zhao and Cheng Liang looked at each other:
"I survived again this time. It was a close call."

No near misses.

The two men walked out of the mountain pass while talking, with corpses piled up densely behind them.

Wang Zengbin shouted:
"Carry the injured onto the carriage and leave first. The rest of you will follow and retreat back to Hequ County!"

Wei Zhao and Cheng Liang looked at each other and the battle continued.

~~~
"What? A bear was ambushed by government troops, and the entire old camp was wiped out?"

Li Xianzhong slammed the table and stood up, his eyes wide open, looking in disbelief at the scout who came to report. The people around him were also filled with surprise.

"General Li was also killed, and his troops fled into the mountains and are difficult to gather."

Li Xianzhong wiped his mouth, looked at the people around him, and asked the sentry:

"Wasn't Zhang Jinxiao traveling with a bear? Why didn't he go to the rescue and just watched the government troops kill them?"

The scout hurriedly said, "General Li ignored Chief Zhang's advice and insisted on advancing recklessly. Chief Zhang led his troops to rescue them, but they were blocked at the mountain pass. Their firearms were sharp, and they also had rockets that whizzed like thunder. Many of our brothers were killed or wounded. Later, when the government troops fled, Chief Zhang led the old battalion in pursuit, capturing dozens of heads."

Li Xianzhong frowned and waved his hand to let the scout horse retreat. A group of generals and officers of the rebel army in the big tent looked at each other in confusion, and the atmosphere around them seemed quite awkward.

Ma Jinxing, the first strategist under Li Xianzhong, kept waving the goose feather fan in his hand, as if the weather in this winter month was not cold enough.

"How dare you fight a chariot with an egg? Who are these troops? All the government troops in the north of Shanxi have fled, and yet someone dares to seek his own death!"

Li Xianzhong looked at Liu Zongmin next to him. Liu Zongmin was a cavalryman from Yansui Town, and he knew all the troops of the Ming army.

Without waiting for the King of Rebellion to ask him, Liu Zongmin said casually:
"Except for the Kaiyuan Army, which government army has so many firearms?"

"Kaiyuan Army?"

The tent suddenly exploded in an uproar, with everyone whispering to each other.

"Don't the Kaiyuan army have only a few thousand men and are they trapped in Hequ?"

"A few thousand people dare to confront us head-on. They really have guts."

"There were five or six hundred people in the old bear camp, and they were all killed by them?"

Li Xianzhong waved his hand to interrupt the argument, slammed his fist on the table, and the surroundings suddenly fell silent:

"Inform Zhang Zicheng that he will join me in besieging Hequ tomorrow. We will capture the city and kill all the Kaiyuan troops, leaving no one alive."

(End of this chapter)