scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 311

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After resting in Jiapu Town for a day, Fatty Lu used the excuse of cleaning up the battlefield and clearing up the remnants of the Qing army, leaving behind the Guangxi general Huang Ming, who was married to Yuer as a dowry, and led an army of more than [-] people to guard Yixing to protect the army's food roads and rear. On the way, Guo Yingfu, the former general of Yixing, was appointed as the general of Huzhou, and Guo Yingfu was ordered to follow the army. He dispatched [-] troops, including surrendered troops, and marched southward along the official road. The blade pointed directly at the remnants of the Qing army in Zhejiang. The capital city of Huzhou is entrenched.

——By the way, of course, Fatty Lu promoted Old Man Wu Jun because of his rich experience and great responsibilities, but he took the opportunity to free up his position and focus on promoting the confidantes brought by the mistress's dowry, which also prompted Fatty Lu to make this personnel adjustment important reason.As for the deeper reason, I believe everyone knows it without explaining it.

On the night of the first day, because Changxing County was less than ten miles away from Jiapu Town, the Zhejiang Qing army, led by Laita, had already abandoned Changxing County, which had little food in the city, and retreated overnight under the cover of night. Went to Huzhou Fucheng.And the Fatty Army has just experienced a big battle after days of rushing, and they are very tired up and down. There are still some remnants of the Qing army in the Tianmu Mountains that have not been completely wiped out, and all the supplies, food and grass have not yet been transported through the Tianmu Mountains. Fatty Lu They had no choice but to give up their plan to pursue the whole army, and only sent Wang Xu as the vanguard to lead an army of [-] to follow and chase the remnants of the Qing army. Only then did he personally lead the army south to pursue it.

After sharpening the knife and chopping firewood by mistake, Fatty Lu defied all opinions and let the main force rest for a day. After regaining their physical strength, the main force of the Fatty Army marched at a much faster speed. It took only one day to complete the journey from Jiapu Town to Huzhou Fucheng. Sixty miles of road, the soldiers approached the city of Huzhou.He also arrogantly set up the camp near Lashan Mountain, which is less than five miles away from the west city wall of Huzhou, and lived directly within the range of the red cannons of the defenders of Huzhou City. Zhong has already lost all the artillery, and the artillery battle can only be beaten, and there is no way to fight back.

Before the Fatty Army arrived in Huzhou, Wang Xu, the vanguard of the Fatty Army, was not idle. Although he did not launch a large-scale attack on the way to chase the defeated Qing army, he followed the Qing army behind like a jackal chasing a flock of sheep. Xi bit his tongue and kept attacking the small groups of the Qing army that were lagging behind due to exhaustion, encircling and annihilating them all, accumulating small amounts and continuously expanding the results, so that the defeated Qing army had no chance to breathe. As a result, it was more than 50 miles from Changxing to Huzhou After the pursuit, Wang Xuling killed more than 2000 Qing troops, leaving Laita with less than [-] remnants of the defeated generals to flee back to Huzhou Fucheng. He didn't even have the guts to organize the Huzhou people around the city to join the battle. Wang Xu's troops, which were not as strong as his own army, yelled and cursed outside the city, but just closed the city and defended it.

"Lu Yifeng, you dog thief! You're so fucking arrogant!" Seeing Fatty Lu set up his camp in the area of ​​Lashan on the city wall, Laita was so angry that he wanted to strangle Fatty Lu to death. "If Lao Tzu's Hongyi Cannon is still there, I will kill you, you bastard!"

"General, Wu Gou pitched the camp so close, I'm afraid he wanted to capture Huzhou City as soon as possible, and didn't want to give us a chance to ask for help from the rear." Xifu asked tremblingly: "What should our army do next? , I hope the general will make up his mind as soon as possible."

"Do you still need to make up your mind? Of course you are defending!" Laita roared angrily, "Huzhou is an important town in northern Zhejiang and an important granary. Is it possible to abandon it? I have sent messengers to Hangzhou and Jiaxing Call for help, as long as you hold on for seven or eight days, our reinforcements will arrive!"

After drinking away the cowardly Xifu who wanted to flee, Laita turned his gaze to Wu Qi, the prefect of Huzhou, and Cheng Long, the guard, and shouted: "How many troops are there in Huzhou city now? How many people can you organize to go to the city to help?"

"General, there are nearly [-] defenders in Huzhou City." Cheng Long peeked at Laita's face, and replied carefully: "But there are only more than [-] green battalion soldiers, and the rest are the prefect Wu. My lord recruited and organized the village braves before."

"It's not bad, even if the combat power is not good, at least you can fight on the city wall." Laita sighed secretly, and turned his gaze to the prefect Wu Qi.Wu Qi understood, bowed quickly and said: "Back to the general, there are more than [-] residents in the city, and they should be able to recruit more than [-] civilians to help in the battle. However, because the autumn grain has just entered the warehouse, the grain and grass in the city are enough for more than a year. General, please don't worry."

"Very good, then quickly take your yamen servants to recruit civilian husbands, the more the better." Laita waved his hand and said: "Their rations will be paid from the Huzhou government treasury for the time being, and I will give them to you after the Wu dogs are defeated." Also, tell the people in the city that after Wu Gou broke the city, he likes to kill people, rob money, rape and plunder. They didn't want to die, and they didn't want their wives and daughters to be abused by Wu Gou, so they all went to the city to defend the city and saved Huzhou City. It also saved their wives, children, family and lives."

"I will follow orders." Wu Qi agreed, but she was muttering in her heart, "General, you can probably deceive others, but it may be difficult to deceive the people of Huzhou. Huzhou borders the territory controlled by Wu Rebel Army, and Wu Rebels Can the people of Huzhou not know about the situation in the land controlled by the army?"

When Wu Qi and other civil officials hurried down to the city to organize the people, a soldier quickly ran up the city wall, clasped his fists at the Lai Tower and said, "Report to the general, Wen Chudao, please see Yao Qisheng."

"Yao Qisheng? He's not dead yet?" Laita was taken aback. Laita handpicked this army staff officer and was separated from Laita in the Tianmu Mountains. After that, Laita never saw Yao Qisheng again, and said that he had already died in the Tianmu Mountains. In the midst of the chaotic army, he just didn't expect to get out again suddenly.After a little calculation, Laita finally nodded and said, "Let him come."

The soldiers led away, and after a while, Yao Qisheng was brought before Laita and the others. However, unlike the exhausted generals of the Qing army, although Yao Qisheng was dressed in casual clothes at this moment, he was obviously in good spirits. Clean up and down and carefully cleaned, it looks energetic and calm.Seeing Yao Qisheng's appearance, Laita, whose eyes were bloodshot, was even more resentful, and couldn't help shouting: "Yao Qisheng, where have you been hiding these two days? Why haven't I seen you?"

"Back to the general, after the slave was separated from the general in the Tianmu Mountains the night before yesterday, he went into the dense forest in the mountains to escape, and used the stars to identify the direction, and walked out of the Tianmu Mountains before dawn." Yao Qisheng explained: "Then the slaves led Yao Yi, the little dog, changed into civilian clothes and rushed to Changxing County to join the general. Unexpectedly, Wu Gou's soldiers approached Changxing City, and Changxing County dared not open the gate. The servant had no choice but to lead the dog to Huzhou. The dog did not send troops to intercept the road, so the servant arrived at the capital of Huzhou smoothly, one day earlier than the general."

"Really?" Lai Ta was a little skeptical, and asked again: "You are on the road, and you have not been stopped by Wu Dog once?"

"Of course not once." Yao Qisheng hurriedly replied: "When the servant and his son arrived near Changxing County, they were stopped by Wugou soldiers for interrogation. Fortunately, the servant and his son are both from Zhejiang, and they gave up their horses and walked in advance so as not to provoke Wugou. Pay attention, this is just pretending to be a local farmer to trick Wu Gou into interrogation and escape from death.” —— Yao Qisheng did not dare to finish his sentence, the main reason why he was able to escape the interrogation of the fat sergeant was his smart son Yao Yi took two hoes from the baggage abandoned by the Qing army ahead of time, and pretended to be a farm father and son working in the fields, only then did he escape the eyes of the fat soldiers.

"So, you and your son fled to Huzhou on foot?" Laita was even more puzzled, thinking that the two of you hadn't slept all night, and you could still walk for more than 50 miles in one day without eating or drinking. To this Huzhou city?

"The general clearly checked that although the slave is a civil servant, he has practiced martial arts since childhood and has a strong physique. It is more than 50 miles from Changxing to Huzhou, and it is not difficult for the slave." Yao Qisheng also understood that Laita had grown suspicious, and explained carefully: "There is also the slave's son, Yao Yi, who also practiced martial arts with the slave since he was a child, and is young and strong. This journey is even more difficult for him."

Looking at Yao Qisheng's tall figure and his lumpy body, Laita nodded slightly, and said in a slow tone, "It turns out that's the case. It's good to come back alive. I'll go get a set of armor later. Wu Gou should attack the city tomorrow, and we have another big battle to fight."

"General, this slave came here just for this." Yao Qisheng said hastily: "General, this slave thinks that we can't defend Huzhou City, so we can only give up quickly and keep our remaining strength and retreat to Hangzhou. Failed miserably."

"Fart!" Laita said angrily, "Huzhou is an important town in Zhejiang Province, with sufficient food and wages, yet you want this general to give up? What are you worried about?"

"Don't blame the general, please listen to the servant carefully." Yao Qisheng said respectfully: "The general is right. Huzhou is indeed an important town in Zhejiang with sufficient food and wages. It is a pity to give up here, but can we still hold it now? Now our army The morale of the newly defeated is low, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, and all the weapons and supplies have been lost, so it is difficult to defend the city."

"Besides, the slave has carefully observed that the city wall of Huzhou is built of bricks and rammed earth, which is not very strong, and Wugou's artillery is so sharp, there is no need to go up to the city to fight melee, just line up the artillery and concentrate the firepower Bombard a section of the city wall, and within a day, the city wall will inevitably collapse. At that time, when Wu Dog enters the city, the casualties of our army will inevitably be even greater. "

"Fart! Fart! Fart!" Laita became more and more annoyed the more he heard it, and shouted: "Now tell me to give up Huzhou City, then when the Wu Gou soldiers come to the city of Hangzhou, will you tell me to give up Hangzhou again? "

"Regarding this point, I would like to ask the general to rest assured." Yao Qisheng said quickly: "After Lu Yifeng's dog thief took Huzhou, it is absolutely impossible to go south to attack Hangzhou. The slave has already analyzed Lu Yifeng's dog thief for the general before. His purpose is that he came here to weaken the strength of our Zhejiang army, and he has no intention of annexing Zhejiang at all, so once he takes Huzhou, at most he will go east to attack Jiaxing, and will never attack Hangzhou in the south. Otherwise, he will not only be difficult Go back to the teacher in time to save Jiangning's old lair, if one is not careful, Geng Jingzhong's thief may take the opportunity to go northward, and get in touch with him by land, then his troubles will be..."

"Fart!" Laita slapped Yao Qisheng's face unbearably, and roared: "You dog slave, if you say another word to shake the morale of the army, I will kill you now! Get out! Go back and wait for the ginseng, you Zhejiang Wen You don't need to be fooled when you're dealing with moral affairs!"

Yao Qisheng, who was spitting, was taken aback by Laita. After realizing it, Yao Qisheng didn't speak, but just bowed deeply to Laita, then turned around, strode down the city with his head held high, and left Laita behind. Ta cursed angrily on the city.And when Yao Qisheng got down to the city wall, Yao Yi, the eldest son of Yao Qisheng who had been waiting for a long time, immediately came up to meet him, and asked with concern: "Father, how is it? Did the general listen to your advice?"

Yao Qisheng smiled wryly, and led his son to a secluded place before replying: "Not only did you not listen, we both have to prepare to go back to our hometown in Shaoxing to farm. For my father, who has finally gained Wen Chudao by exterminating the local bandits in Zishan The matter has already been excused by him."

"He also dismissed his father as commander?" Yao Yi was stunned, and said in surprise: "Father, is this impossible? He gave you the permission to serve as a military officer. Even if he doesn't like to listen to the wrong words, he doesn't need them." Are you dismissed from office?"

"He has been suspicious of his father for a long time, and now he just took the opportunity to attack." Yao Qisheng sighed, and said helplessly: "This time in the Yixing war, he listened to his father's suggestion and sent troops to attack Yixing. By accident, he ran into the main force of Lu Yifeng's dog thieves, suffered a big loss, and almost wiped out the entire army. The defeat was inexplicable and confused. He could not suspect that his father was in collusion with Wugou and Lu Yifeng, and deliberately lied to him Sneak attack on Yixing, deliberately let him enter the dead end and throw himself into the trap?"

"Fucking shit!" Yao Yi gritted her teeth and scolded in a low voice: "Father, if you collude with Wu Gou, will you spend all your family resources to recruit Xiangyong to serve the country? Will our village be wiped out in this battle in Yixing?" All the soldiers? Those soldiers are all our fellow countrymen, our hometown elders!"

"We can't completely blame him. It's such a coincidence. Anyone else would have such suspicions." Yao Qisheng continued to smile wryly, and murmured: "I didn't expect Lu Yifeng's dog thief to also attack the west. It seems Before becoming a father, I still underestimated Lu Yifeng's dog thief. This dog thief can become famous all over the world in just a few years. "

Yao Yi was silent, and asked after a while: "Father, what should we do next?"

"What should I do? Cold salad!" Yao Qisheng smiled even more bitterly, "I lost my official position and lost all my money. I'm going to go home and farm the fields, put on common people's clothes and become a great Zhou Liangmin. Oh, no, not necessarily Great Zhou Liangmin, Lu Yifeng, a dog thief with both courage and strategy, good governance, and good at buying people's hearts, will not be willing to be under the old thief Wu Sangui for a long time, I am afraid that sooner or later, the old thief Wu Sangui will turn back and become king on his own. Maybe someone with the surname Lu may be changed." Yao Yi was speechless, so she had to honestly accompany the traitor father back to the rented inn and rest for the night.

After the traitor father and son returned to the inn, Yao Yi quickly fell asleep, but Yao Qisheng tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep, so he just got up and sat under the window, staring at the waning moon outside the window in a daze, recalling the ups and downs in his heart There are all kinds of flavors, and the mood is ups and downs, which is difficult to calm down for a long time.

Just before the third watch, Yao Qisheng finally felt a little drowsy, and when he was about to go to bed, he suddenly heard soft footsteps outside the door, and finally stopped in front of his room door, Yao Qisheng knew something was wrong, Quickly took out the dagger and shook his son to wake him up, put the dagger into his hand, and pointed to the door, Yao Yi understood, got up barefoot, and quickly hid behind the door in a low voice, Yao Qisheng also hid behind the other door.

At this time, an accident happened, a thin knife was quietly inserted into the crack of the door, and the door bolt was slightly raised. When the door bolt was fully raised, the door was pushed open immediately, and a man in black rushed in. Before the man in black stood still, Yao Yi went up and strangled his neck, and grabbed his wrist holding the knife.The man in black was taken aback and struggled quickly. Yao Qisheng put the knife on his throat and said with a low grinning grin: "Bold little thief, what do you want to do when you enter the door late at night?"

"I don't want to do anything." The man in black's answer surprised Yao Qisheng and his son, and asked in a low voice: "I just want to ask you, is there one of you who is Wen Chudao, Yao Qisheng, Master Yao?"

"Why are you looking for me?" Yao Qisheng asked suspiciously.

"That's great, Master Yao, you really live here." The man in black was overjoyed, and hurriedly said in a low voice: "Master Yao, I'm here to save you, follow me quickly, the people who arrested you will come soon .”

"You came to save me?" Yao Qisheng was even more puzzled, "Who are you? Why are you saving me? Who is going to arrest me?"

"Master Yao, I can't say anything now." The man in black said in a low voice: "Just please follow me immediately. I will take you to meet someone. When you meet him, he will naturally explain to you. Please believe me Me, your captors are really coming soon, General Laita’s people are searching the inns all over the city, my master just happened to see you entering this inn on the road, so he sent me to rescue you.”

"Who are you? Who is your master?" Yao Qisheng asked.

"My lord, the little one must not say anything now." The man in black said anxiously in a low voice: "And the little one swore in front of the master that he would rather die than reveal his identity! My lord, please, please Believe me, I really have no malice, listen, there are already noisy sounds outside, if you don't leave, it will be too late."

Yao Qisheng and his son listened carefully, and they heard a loud voice in the distance. It really seemed that something happened. Immediately, Yao Qisheng made a decisive decision, relying on his martial arts skills, he hurriedly shouted to his son: "Yi'er, let him go and let him lead the way."

"Father, do you trust him?" Yao Yi asked.

"Let's take a gamble." Yao Qisheng answered ambiguously.Yao Yi had always been in awe of her father, so she hurriedly let go, the man in black heaved a sigh of relief, and quickly thanked him: "Thank you, Master Yao, sir, please leave the inn through the back door, and I will show you the way, otherwise it will be too late."

Yao Qisheng nodded in agreement, hurriedly took the meager luggage with Yao Yi, followed the man in black out of the room, and then out of the inn through the back door, into a dark alley, and Yao Qisheng and his son hadn't gone far. Sure enough, a group of soldiers from the Qing army rushed into the inn with torches, and someone vaguely yelled, "Yao Qisheng, does he live here?"

"Someone really came to arrest us?" Yao Qisheng and his son were taken aback, and they were finally completely relieved of the man in black, and hurried to the remote alleys under his guidance, gradually away from the inn.

The man in black is obviously a local, and he knows all the roads and roads in Huzhou city like the palm of his hand. In the dark, he led Yao Qisheng and his son to avoid the Qing army's patrol post, and gradually came to the side of a huge house, and opened a small door that was concealed. , led Yao Qisheng and his son into the courtyard, and led them to a room with an oil lamp, pushed open the door and led Yao Qisheng and his son into the room, closed the door again, and then knelt down on one knee to a middle-aged man with his back to the oil lamp , clasped his fists and said in a low voice: "Grandfather, Liu Hailang fulfilled his mission, and brought Mr. Yao and his son here for you before the man is full of dogs."

"Liu Zhuangshi, thank you very much." The middle-aged man thanked in a low voice, and when he slowly turned around, Yao Qisheng was taken aback and blurted out, "Master Wu, why is it you?" , it was Wu Qi, the magistrate of this Huzhou city!
"Master Yao, you know me too?" Wu Qi was also a little surprised.

"Today on the city wall, I had a chance meeting with Your Excellency." Yao Qisheng replied: "Although I couldn't talk to Your Excellency at that time, Your Excellency was wearing an official uniform at that time, so the lower officials know your identity."

"It turned out to be like this." Wu Qi came to her senses and hurriedly greeted: "Master Yao, please sit down, this must be Mr. Ling, please sit down too. Mr. Liu Zhuang, please guard the door for us, don't let others approach .”

"Benefactor, please don't worry." The man in black Liu Hailang agreed, hurried out to guard, and closed the door again.Wu Qi carefully introduced to Yao Qisheng: "Master Yao, please don't worry, this Liu Hailang is a native of Huzhou, a very loyal and strong man. Two years ago, a bully's son bullied a commoner girl, and he caught him punching and kicking twice. He was beaten to death, the bully sued the county, bribed the government to kill him, the case was passed to me, I found out the situation, resisted the pressure and rescued him, he was very grateful to me and would never betray us , so you can rest assured that Master Yao has something to say."

Yao Qisheng nodded in confusion, and couldn't help asking: "Prefect Wu, why did you let him bring our father and son here? Why did General Laita want to arrest our father and son?"

"Master Yao, your identities have been exposed." Wu Qiyu was startled, and said in a low voice: "When Lu Yifeng sent you a reply letter from General Lu, when you asked your former soldiers to bring you back to Huzhou City, I didn't expect that your soldiers betrayed you." , Dedicated the reply letter from General Lu to you to Laita. The fact that you lured the main force of Mangou to Yixing to throw yourself into the trap was also known by Laita Mangou. Now Laita Mangou is furious and is hunting around. You, fortunately I was there at the time, and I happened to see you entering that inn this evening, so I quickly sent Liu Hailang to pick you up here."

"What?!" Yao Qisheng and his son jumped up together, and were dumbfounded again, thinking about Lu Yifeng's reply to me from the thief?Betrayed to Laita by my former soldiers?Here and there?
"Master Yao, please don't worry, you are safe." Wu Qi obviously misunderstood the reaction of Yao Qisheng and his son, but she just smiled and said: "I'm afraid Lai Ta Man Gou would never have imagined that now you will be in the yamen of the prefect of Huzhou, and you will still be with me." The prefect of Huzhou is sitting together. And how to get out of the city, Master Yao, please rest assured, you have been an official in Huzhou for many years, and you are more or less half a local snake. Naturally, there is a way for you to leave the city without anyone noticing."

"Master Wu, why did you help our father and son?" Yao Qisheng finally came to his senses and hurriedly asked, "You and I have never met before, why did you take such a big risk to save our father and son?"

"Master Yao, have you ever heard of giving Wu Weiye the name?" Wu Qi asked calmly.

"Wu Weiye?" Yao Qisheng was taken aback, and asked quickly, "Could it be that Wu Jungong who would rather die than eat rice? Wumei Village?"

"He is my uncle." Wu Qi said lightly: "Uncle, the thing that the old man regrets most in his life is that when Man Gou Shunzhi was ten years old, he couldn't stand Man Gou's threat and his family's begging, so he served Man Gou for several years. Official, I have been a running dog for several years, and lost the evening festival. My unworthy nephew is even more useless. I became a tribute student of Man Gou in the second year of Shunzhi. It's regrettable."

Speaking of this, Wu Qi's tone suddenly became agitated, and she gritted her teeth and said: "But, although I am a dog for Man Gou, but like my uncle, my greatest wish in life is to expel the Tartars and reshape our country. Save the Han people from the fire and water! I only hope that among my Chinese men, there will be a true hero, a good man, who will lead our Han people to prosper the Han and destroy the Manchus, fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty. The power! Now, my chance has finally come!"

As she said that, Wu Qi suddenly knelt down to Yao Qisheng, took out a letter from her arms, raised her hands above her head, and said in a deep voice: "Master Yao, I know you are from General Lu Yifeng Lu, please send me a letter." Give this letter to General Lu, and then please tell General Lu that Wu Qi, the sinner of China, is willing to make atonement for his crimes, and act as an internal agent for him, helping him break through Huzhou and save the people of Huzhou from suffering! Wu Qi's heart can be proved by the world, the sun and the moon It can be learned!"

Yao Qisheng was tongue-tied, staring at Wu Qi's thin face full of enthusiasm and sincerity, Yao Qisheng suddenly had a thought in his heart, "That's great, if I dedicate my traitor and his letter to General Laita, my grievances will definitely be cleared up." Qing, General Laita and the Qing court will definitely trust and use me again!"

(End of this chapter)