Han’s Son is Not a Slave

Chapter 32: Extermination

Zhou Shixiang had no idea whether he could beat the Qing army in Deqing, but he couldn’t show any hesitation or self-confidence. Instead, he made a lot of rhetoric to strengthen Song Xianggong’s determination and confidence. . As for whether his words and phrasing were in line with his status as a scholar, he didn’t know. He knew that his words were too rude and he didn’t look like a scholar. I’m afraid Zhou Shixiang didn’t bother to cover up.

Ge Wu and the others were patrolling the city with young men, and Zhao Sihai led people to search for the captured fish of the Qing army. Zhou Shixiang was unable to summon them for a while, so he put aside the matter of money and took Song Xianggong to count the captured fish. Qing army weapons.

On the way, Duke Xiang of Song once asked Zhou Shixiang what his name was. Zhou Shixiang squeaked, and then he remembered that the ancients usually had aliases related to the meaning of their real names that their parents or teachers took for themselves in addition to their names. In the beginning, the ancients had written characters, but it has evolved to the present, but it is mostly the privilege of scholars. Ordinary merchants and pawns and poor people do not have the privilege of taking the characters. “Da Niu”, “Er Egg” and so on.

The original owner of the body was a scholar, and naturally had a character. After Zhou Shixiang fell in love with a scholar, his father asked Xinhui’s teaching to give him a character, which was called “public industry”. But today’s Zhou Shixiang doesn’t want to use the word Gongye anymore, after searching for a while in his mind, he said to Song Xianggong: “I used to use the word for the word, but now Zhou has hatred for the family and the country, and from now on he will use it to destroy it. Hu Weizi!”

“Destroy Hu?”

Song Xianggong was stunned, and immediately connected Zhou Shixiang’s use of the word “destroying Hu” with Huo Qubing’s “Huns have not been destroyed, so why should they be home?” He admired and praised them.

……..

Kong Guoliang’s troops were the green battalion soldiers of the Qing army, and they belonged to the Manchurian forces of the Qing army. Even food and grass need to be raised by them.

None of the more than 400 Jiangxi soldiers under Kong Guoliang was equipped with armor, and Kong Guoliang’s thousand commanders also did not have uniforms. , It is similar to the soldiers of the Qing army in later film and television dramas. The only difference is that these Jiangxi soldiers do not have long braids that can be wrapped around their necks.

Zhou Shixiang originally thought that these Jiangxi Green Battalion soldiers should have some firearms, but the weapons found in the city were all cold weapons such as knives, spears and hook knives, and there were no firearms. After inquiring about the prisoners, we learned that the Qing court had already banned the Green Battalion soldiers from equipping them with fire cannons. Except for the original “Sanshun King”, the current Pingnan King Shang Kexi, Jingnan King Geng Jimao, and Dingnan King Kong Youde (already Death), except that his subordinates are equipped with firearms, the rest of the soldiers and horses are not equipped with firearms.

The purpose of this move is probably related to the practice of riding and archery in the Eight Banners. Since the Song Dynasty, the Han people who have been farming for their jobs are not good at riding and archery, while the Manchu and Mongolian nomads, riding and archery are their basic means of survival, so out of concern for the Han people. Considering military advantages and population advantages, the Qing court has banned the green battalion from equipping firearms since the sixth year of Shunzhi, so as to maintain the military advantage of the Manchu, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners over the Han green battalion, forcing the green battalion formed by the Han to fight for them in the south and north. cannon fodder.

The number of knives, swords, spears, and spears counted was the same as that of the Qing army. In addition, more than 30 shields were surrendered, but there were no long-range weapons such as bows and arrows. Seven horses were also handed over. Except for Kong Guoliang’s inferior Mongolian horse, the other six were all horses that were used to pull carts and could not be used much. There are also more than a dozen donkey carts and mule carts, but a few donkeys were also burned to death last night, which would have been robbed by the people for meat long ago.

After ordering Qingzhuang to send the weapons to Zhizhou Yamen, Zhou Shixiang accompanied Song Xianggong to inspect the resettlement of the victims.

With the help of a few officials from the Zhizhou Yamen, the two former Lizheng families in Dongcheng, and a few large households, most of the victims have been resettled. Those who have relatives in the city live with relatives, and those who do not have relatives stay temporarily in settlements under the east city wall. They were placed in some vacant houses in the city that were originally unoccupied, which was generally quite appropriate.

Regarding the food, Lu Changyuan and the others thought that the victims were all the villagers in the village, and they did not skimp on it. They successively raised some food and grass from the big families to send them, but for the time being, they can only supply two gruels a day, and they can barely survive. It is difficult to eat well, but to eat well. Even so, this is good. Before the fire, most of the people in Luoding City lived like this, and they may not be able to eat meat even during the New Year.

Relying on large households alone can only be an expedient measure. This Luoding City has a population of more than 3,000 people. How many large households can there be? If you really want to sit and eat the mountains, no amount of big households can stand it. If you want these disaster victims to settle down completely, they must have the power to feed themselves, otherwise it will be a dead knot that cannot be solved.

Ignoring nature is the best way, but Zhou Shixiang couldn’t let it go. He still thought about relying on these 3,000 people to create a new situation of fighting against the Qing Dynasty and abandoning everyone. Who would dare to believe him in the future? Who else is willing to follow him.

Unable to solve it for the time being, Zhou Shixiang put it on hold for the first time, and after the evening, he ordered a group of core figures such as Ge Wu and Zhao Sihai to be called to the Zhizhou Yamen.

………

“What, take money to recruit troops?!”

As soon as they heard that Zhou Shixiang was going to use the money to recruit troops, Ge Wu and the others were not happy.

“This silver was exchanged by the brothers for their heads, so why take it out!”

“Recruiting troops is a good thing, we are not against it, but you can’t use our money to recruit troops!”

“You said that being an official can make a lot of money, the brothers believed it, and they tried their best to help maintain it during the day, just waiting to settle down and make a big fortune, but this is just a lot of effort, and your words don’t count, just like this. Go down, the brothers can’t listen to you anymore.”

“Just this amount of money is too little for everyone, that money must not be taken out!”

“Brother Zhou, do you think that our group of people can really do something big?”

“…”

Zhou Shixiang listened calmly, Song Xianggong looked worried, and Boss Hu frowned. When Zhou Shixiang told him beforehand that he wanted to use the money, he knew that there would be trouble. As expected, none of the men in his hands Agree.

After the clamor was over, Zhou Shixiang walked up to Ge Wu, whose face was flushed with anger, and asked him, “If we don’t use this money to recruit troops, what will Brother Ge do?”

“Of course it’s divided, what else can I do?” Ge Wu’s face was taken for granted, and Ge Liu couldn’t help nodding his head.

“It’s a good thing to be divided, everyone can get a good deal, it’s worthwhile to come to Luoding City with your head up, more than 4,000 taels, um, everyone can get a few dozen taels, if you extort more in the city, no matter what. It’s a huge fortune.” Speaking of this, Zhou Shixiang changed his words, but said: “But we broke Luo Dingcheng, this movement can be big enough, do you think the Qing army can let us go?”

“What do you mean?”

“In the past, when we played small things in the mountains, the Qing army naturally did not take us seriously, but now we are playing under the banner of the Yongli court, which is very different from the bandits who robbed their homes. In the eyes of the Qing army, we are no longer The grass bandits, but the Ming army! Just ask, the Qing army can watch us clean Luo Dingcheng, and then swagger back to the stockade to continue to be the king of the mountain!”

“this…”

Ge Wu’s complexion changed greatly, and the rest of the people’s expressions didn’t look good either. Yes, patronizing and making a fortune, but I didn’t expect how to deal with the aftermath. Luo Dingcheng was destroyed. Can the Tartar let us go?

Zhou Shixiang threatened again: “The Qing army is really determined to suppress us, I’m afraid that when the time comes, everyone will not be able to save not only their money, but also their lives!”

“According to what you said, not only can we not take this money, but we have to leave honestly?” Ge Wu thought of the consequences, a little scared, but also a little unwilling.

Zhou Shixiang shook his head slightly: “I don’t mean to take out all, I mean to take only half of it. When we recruit troops, we will naturally not be afraid of the Qing army to fight. What is this called…”

“The power of self-preservation.” Song Xianggong next to him cooperated in a timely manner.

“Yes, the power of self-protection!” Zhou Shixiang said loudly, “With the power of self-protection, we will not only have money, but also soldiers and horses to protect themselves, so that the Qing army will not dare to attack us easily. It’s not that we are afraid that the Qing army will come to attack us, but we are going to attack the Qing army! If we can take Luoding, we can take Deqing, Miaoqing, and even Guangzhou City, and it is not impossible to attack Beijing City in the future!”

“Brother Zhou, are you too good at talking like this?”

The prospect described by Zhou Shixiang made Ge Wu and the others stunned. Which one could believe it, even Boss Hu opened his mouth wide and couldn’t believe it. Duke Xiang of Song has bright eyes and a spirit.

Zhou Shixiang waved his hand: “It’s a matter of human effort! As long as we all work together, there is nothing in this world that can’t be done! When you said that you were going to fight Luo Ding, you didn’t believe it? But what about now?”

Ge Wu didn’t know if he was frightened by Zhou Shixiang’s big words, or if he was really moved, and hesitantly said: “That’s what you said, but what you said is too suspenseful, let alone Guangzhou, we can’t even fight Deqing. down.”

Zhou Shixiang threw his raised hand down, drew a long arc, and said, “You haven’t tried it, how do you know you can’t beat it?”

“I…” Ge Wu stammered, unable to say a word.

“In the future, every time we break down a place, we will use some of the stolen money to recruit troops and horses, and the rest will be distributed to everyone. The more troops and horses we have and the stronger we are, the more places we can conquer and the more places we occupy, everyone. Naturally, the more money you get! It’s not just a matter of rushing for votes and making a fortune, but a real prosperous, wealthy, wife and son! This is called sustainable development! So everyone, don’t just look at this For some money, you have to look back, what you get is less now, but more and more in the future!”

Everyone was speechless when they heard it. After a while, Zhao Sihai said: “Xiuscai, when will we be truly prosperous and rich, not afraid of the Tartars?”

“When?” Zhou Shixiang looked confident, “When all the Tartars in the world are feared by us, everyone will naturally be at ease and enjoy the glory and wealth!”