I

  Chapter 137 135【Sounding filial piety】

   In front of the eyes, five flowers are tied up, and six prisoners are kneeling.

  Zhao Han ignored Xiangyong, looked at the gentry, and said with a sneer, "That's right, he was attacking at night wearing silk clothes."

   "Your Majesty, please forgive me!" Zhong Xingpu kowtowed in fright.

  Historically, this guy was a Jinshi in the 16th year of Chongzhen. In the 17th year of Chongzhen, he first surrendered to Li Chuang, then to the Qing Dynasty, and finally became the governor of Shandong in the Qing Dynasty.

  The bones are not very hard.

  Zhao Han seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to be talking to Zhong Xingpu: "What's the use of killing the peasants? Even if you want to attack at night, you should kill the soldiers I sent."

   There was no torture or even interrogation at all. Zhong Xingpu began to confess by himself: "Your Majesty's rebels have strict military discipline, and they are not easy to mess with at first glance. They also sent sentries. We are afraid that we will not be able to attack at night, and we will be surrounded by soldiers instead..."

   "So, you attack the villages along the river, kill a few farmers and run away?" Zhao Han was extremely angry.

  Zhong Xingpu said: "It was Hu Zhengsong's idea. He said to kill more peasant households. Killing the peasants would make the peasants afraid, and those who were alive would not dare to divide the land."

  Zhao Han asked: "Who is Hu Zhengsong?"

Zhong Xingpu has no psychological burden for betraying his teammates: "Hu Zhengsong's hometown is in Baishui Village, Luling County, and his family's land has also been divided. He also wants to lead troops to attack the villages and towns in Luling County at night, but the distance is too far, and others are afraid that they will not be able to return. Come on, just cross the river and kill a few."

   "Does Hu Zhengsong still have family members in Luling County?" Zhao Han asked.

   "Yes," Zhong Xingpu replied, "His father, his mother, and his two nephews all stayed in Luling County, and each left 20 acres of land."

"This is the landlord who volunteered to donate the land," Zhao Han said to the people around him. "Immediately send an order to Baishui Village to send all the males of the Hu family over twelve years old to burn lime in the mountains. The female relatives are in the town. Go to reform through labor, and the children will be brought up in nursing homes!"

  Zhong Xingpu became more and more frightened when he heard this, trembling all over his body, and kowtowed frantically: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

  Zhao Han asked: "How many soldiers are there in Jishui County?"

  Zhong Xingpu said: "There are more than a thousand brave people in the village, all of whom are slaves and sons of good families."

   "How long have you practiced?" Zhao Han asked again.

   "Thousands of brave men were recruited one after another," Zhong Xingpu replied, "some of them practiced for two months, and some only practiced for a few days."

  Zhao Han asked again: "Who is the leader?"

  Zhong Xingpu said: "Zhou Ruixu, last year he was the doctor of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' anthology department, and this spring Ding You went home to observe the funeral."

   "Who is Zhou Mengyang?" Zhao Han asked.

  Zhong Xingpu replied: "It's his patriarchal uncle who died of illness last year."

  Li Banghua recommended several talents to Zhao Han, among them was Zhou Mengyang. This person is an expert in water conservancy. In view of the mess of water conservancy across the country, he specially compiled a book called "Preparation for the Ministry of Water", which has become a must-have book for water conservancy officials in Ming Dynasty.

  Unfortunately, Zhou Mengyang died of illness, and his grandnephew took the lead in fighting against Zhao Han.

  Zhao Han waved his hand: "Bring these people back to Jishui for trial."

   "My lord, spare my life, my lord, spare my life!" Zhong Xingpu was dragged outside, already frightened, tears and snot bursting out.

  Zhao Han smiled and said, "Leave this person behind."

  Zhong Xingpu lay limp on the ground, his crotch was already wet, lying there like a dog, looking at Zhao Han.

  Zhao Han smelled urine, frowned and said, "Take it out and watch!"

   Only one of us is left in the house.

  Huang Yao knelt down and said, "Mr. Zhen, I have neglected my duty. I request punishment."

  Zhao Han asked: "Where did you neglect your duty?"

  Huang Yao replied: "Send more people to guard the river."

"It's not your fault," Zhao Han said, shaking his head. "In Jishui, the riverside line is very long. How can your people defend against it? Go back and tell Chen Maosheng and Xiao Huan to form the Jishui Farmers Association as soon as possible. Mobilize Jishui The local farmers, every family and every household have people watching by the river. Whether it is day or night, even children can watch the river. We have to rely on the people, and the people are the foundation."

   "The subordinates will remember." Huang Yao said.

  Zhao Han frowned and said: "Stand up, don't just kneel at every turn. If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. Why do you kneel? By the way, leave five hundred people in Jishui, and the rest will follow me to attack the city."

   "Siege?" Huang Yao asked doubtfully.

  Zhao Han stood up abruptly: "Has killed hundreds of farmers, is this the case?"

  Two days later, Zhao Han personally led more than 2,000 soldiers, and took a boat to the outside of Jishui County on the opposite bank. The navy of Gujianshan also completely blocked the pier.

  Feng Zhang, the county magistrate, was so frightened that he almost surrendered in fright.

  But this guy can’t be in charge. Now those who are in charge of affairs are those gentry with country courage.

  As soon as Zhao Han landed, a large group of people rushed over.

   "Mr. Zhao, you have to decide for us!" Countless people knelt in front of Zhao Han, and more and more people came to kneel.

  Zhao Han turned his head and asked Zhong Xingpu: "What's going on?"

  Zhong Xingpu bent down and replied: "Dozens of gentry fled to Jishui County with their whole families, money, food and valuables. It is not safe outside the city. They must live in the city. There must not be enough houses in the city..."

  There are not enough houses in the city, so ordinary people will be driven out of the city, and they will temporarily borrow their houses for a few months!

  These in front of them are all ordinary residents in the city. They were living a good life, but suddenly they became homeless.

  Zhao Han said to Huang Yao: "In the houses that are far away from the city, knock on the door from door to door, and let the refugees share a room with them. The rent is sufficient, and we will rent the house with the money. Anyone who makes trouble will be arrested."

  Huang Yao immediately led the troops into action. In fact, it was the mission officers accompanying the army who actually did the work.

  Above the city tower, the gentry and the brave are observing the enemy's situation.

  Zhou Ruixu wondered, "What are the bandits doing?"

  Li Chun'an looked at it for a while, then sighed and said, "We are resettling the people."

  Everyone was speechless, and those with a bit of conscience felt ashamed and flustered on their faces.

  The people these rebels are resettling are the ones who were driven out of the city by them. There are dozens of gentry, all big landlords, a large family, and countless money, grain and goods.

  If the people are not driven out of the city, where should they live?

  Many gentry still feel aggrieved. They used to live in luxurious mansions, but now they can only live in ordinary houses. And in order to store the brought food, many houses were piled up, two or three people had to live in one house, what a miserable day.

  Zhou Ruibao was at a loss at the moment. He is really a good official. In order to help the victims in Sichuan, he threw away his black hat.

   It was not his idea to attack and slaughter tenants at night. Under the excitement of the crowd, Zhou Ruibao could only follow the crowd, but when he really killed people, he completely lost his mind and killed many farmers with his own hands.

  After killing and returning to the city, Zhou Ruibao calmed down again, and couldn't sleep well for several nights in a row.

  He suffered so much that he was haggard, and his whole body lost weight. Now that the thieves are actually resettling the common people, Zhou Ruibao's three views suddenly burst, he doesn't know what's wrong with this world.

  Hu Zhengsong's face was ferocious, and he held the hilt of his sword and said, "Brother Zhou, the bandits dared to divide their troops and scattered into the streets and alleys, why don't they take the opportunity to go out of the city to make a surprise attack?"

  Zhou Ruixu shook his head and said, "Defending the city is paramount. We have enough money and food to last until the governor leads troops to rescue us."

  Although there was some confusion outside the city, it was quickly suppressed by soldiers.

  With the persuasion of the mission officer, the rent was paid enough, and the residents outside the city were willing to vacate their houses and let the refugees in the city live with them.

  Everything turned out to be orderly. Many of the refugees who had houses to live in spontaneously defected to Zhao Han and planned to help attack the city with simple weapons. They didn't want anything else, just to rush into the city, take back their own houses, and kill those bastards!

   Seeing the people volunteering to join the army, Zhou Ruibao was completely disheartened. He had no idea what he was doing these days.

  He returned home in a daze. It was an ordinary small courtyard, which was now occupied by Zhou Ruibao.

  The several rooms in the east wing are all piled with money, food and goods, which are the savings of several generations of the Zhou family. There are also a few confidant house slaves who did not go out to guard the city, and are all guarding the house at the moment.

   "Leopard, are the bandits really going to attack the city?" Mother Zhou came to the courtyard with a face full of horror, supported by her maid.

   Zhou Ruibao comforted: "Mother, don't panic, thieves can't break in."

   After talking for a while, Zhou Ruibao returned to the bedroom, retreated from the servant girl, and sat alone in a daze.

  Zhou Ruibao murmured to himself: "Confucius said to be benevolent, Meng said to take righteousness, only when righteousness is exhausted, so benevolence is the best. Reading the books of sages and sages, what have you learned? From now on, the common people have little shame."

   This is Wen Tianxiang's "Desperate Words".

  Zhou Ruibao smiled wretchedly: "Do you have any shame? Do you have any shame?"

  Zhou Ruibao felt that mobs were wrong and should not rob landlords of their properties. At the same time, I also feel that the gentry are wrong and should not occupy the houses of the residents. I even regretted the night raids and massacres of farmers, and I was red-eyed myself, and I have been in torment all the time since then.

   Nothing is right, but what is right?

   Zhou Ruibao suddenly studied ink and picked up a pen, and wrote a suicide note, mainly telling his younger brother to take care of his family.

   Then, he took off his belt and hanged himself.

  Since the collapse of the Three Views, Zhou Ruibao has long since died, and what was alive before was nothing but walking dead.

  The next day, outside the city.

  Zhao Han used semi-coercive methods to persuade the residents who were closer to the city wall to pay them money and food, and then asked the residents to move out before demolishing their houses.

  Seeing that the rebels were demolishing the houses, they were obviously preparing to attack the city, and the gentry and village braves in the city were even more frightened.

  However, they still did not dare to go out of the city to attack and kill. They only threw rolling stones and logs to delay the demolition of houses by the rebels.

  The gentry quarreled, some said to stick to it, some said to attack at night, and some said to kill directly. There were too many people leading them, no one could hold the scene, and they even argued endlessly over which section of the city wall to defend—Zhao Hanwei wanted to defend the missing section of the city wall.

  Night.

Li Musheng tried hard to persuade: "Brother, this county can't be defended anymore. When the rebels finish demolishing the houses in the city, they will build siege equipment. Governor Li's reinforcements may not come until next year. What's the matter with our Xiangyong?" Let’s open the door and offer the city. Uncle is a high-ranking official of the rebels, and the rebels seem to be able to accomplish things. We all go to serve the rebels, and we will be rich and prosperous in the future.”

   "Your father is the head of the Department of Literature and Selection of the Ministry of Officials," Li Chun'an sneered, "How dare you follow a thief for such an important position?"

Li Musheng said in a low voice: "This is the life of the whole family. I can only... I can only be sorry for my father." Suddenly, Li Musheng became excited again, "I sent my slaves to the capital last year, and I also wrote a letter to ask Jiangxi to inspect the censor. But the imperial court didn’t take Zhao thief seriously. If the imperial court paid attention to it early, how could Zhao thief become so big?”

   Li Chun'an sarcastically said: "You don't want a father, but I want a father. My father is the prime minister of Dali Temple!"

Li Musheng sarcastically said: "In your eyes, you only have father, and you don't have mother and grandmother? Once the rebels break through the city, the whole family will die, and the whole family will perish! Can these village braves defend the city? I was scared to death. Besides, when the villages were attacked that night, our boats scattered and were swept downstream by the river, and none of the farmers were killed. We didn’t have blood on our hands, and we made great contributions to the city, and our uncle was a traitor. The thief official will definitely be reused by the Zhao thief in the future!"

   "I'll think about it again." Li Chun'an was also torn between whether he should want his father, or his mother and grandmother. Of course, there is also his own life.

   "What else are you thinking about?" Li Musheng asked anxiously, "If this continues, the rebels will attack the city, and the entire family will be wiped out!"

   Li Chun'an's head hurt from being told, he hesitated for a long time and stomped his feet: "That's it, that's it!"

  For the sake of the tribe, father, you go to die.

  (end of this chapter)