Jinan City, South Gate, when it is dark, four gatekeepers are slowly pushing the heavy city gate. Jinan is not as prosperous as Jiangnan. At night, it is closed and locked to prohibit entry and exit. The army responsible for Jinan City Defense is no longer what it used to be.
It was the Xuzhou Army, but a new army composed of Shandong natives.
The army composed of the sons of Shandong naturally has a deep affection for the Duke of Zhen. Especially in Jinan, there are more shrines to Liu Ziguang than to temples in the land. Which of these young men who eat food and serve as soldiers does not know that Liu Ziguang is the great savior of the people of Jinan?
Without his three thousand lone troops to turn the tide, the city of Jinan would have been bloodbathed by Dorgon's 100,000 defeated soldiers. Moreover, Liu Ziguang bought a lot of industries in Jinan and hired a large number of local people. The treatment was very generous. It can be said that 50% of Jinan's
People make a living by relying on the property of the Zhenguo Gong.
But after Liu Ziguang's accident, these properties were taken over by the eunuchs who came quickly. These eunuchs were not in charge of production. They all just stuffed money into their own pockets. Within a few days, the good properties were turned into a mess.
The people of Jinan are full of complaints. Fortunately, it did not last long, so the conflicts have not yet accumulated to the critical point of eruption.
The city gate creaked and creaked, and suddenly there was a rush of horse hoofbeats, and a horse galloped in the distance. The gatekeeper Baihu quickly asked his men to stop temporarily. Official documents from the capital have been arriving very frequently these days.
Sometimes there are seven or eight portions in a day. This horse is driving so hard, I am afraid it is a fast horse with a speed of 600 miles.
"Perhaps the capital city is making nonsense about the crimes of the prince who went abroad again." A soldier said softly. In the past two days, there were five or six notices posted near the city gate. They were all about Liu Ziguang's crimes of causing harm to the country and the people. One after another, there was no one.
The only thing that can convince the people is that every night there are notices that are secretly torn down, and the government can't find them if they investigate. Think about it, even the people in the government don't believe the contents of the notices, so how can they make the effort to investigate.
After a while, the cavalry had already rushed within a hundred paces. When the officers and soldiers saw that he was not in a hurry to get ready, they closed the door and shouted: "Let's enter the city again tomorrow, it's locked."
The knight reined in his horse and stopped, shouting to the officer on the wall: "Open the door, I want to see Mr. Shi."
The gatekeeper asked: "Who are you? What is your official business?"
The visitor said loudly: "I am Liu Ziguang!"
There was an uproar on the city tower. Isn't the Duke of Zhen Guo dead? Why did a living Liu Ziguang come out again? It was already the time to light the lamp. The lights on the city wall were bright, but it was dark below the city. No one could see clearly the appearance of the visitor. The officers and soldiers
There was a lot of discussion, and no one was sure that the person below was the real Lord Zhen Guo, but no one dared to say that he was not the real Duke Zhen Guo. Marshal Liu was superb in martial arts, and it was Erlang Zhenjun who came to earth, and he escaped with the blessing of God.
There was no doubt that the traitor had been assassinated by the traitor. Moreover, the Duke of Zhen was now an imperial conspirator, so there was nothing good to be gained by pretending to be him. Although everyone believed him, they did not dare to make the decision, so they had no choice but to inform Zhang Daniu of the city defense department.
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Zhang Da Niu was originally an iron guard Xiaoqi of the Liguo Iron Works. Later, he followed Liu Ziguang to attack Jinan and participated in the tragic Jinan defense battle. He lost one of his arms and quit the Red Shirt Army because of his disability.
He married a wife and had children and settled down in Jinan. Later, the army recruited people. Although he only had one arm, he was specially recruited into the army and was given an official position in Qianhu. For no other reason than that he had been a member of the Red Shirt Army.
Liu Ziguang's subordinates.
Zhang Daniu had met Liu Ziguang, and only he could tell the difference between the real and fake Zhenguo Duke. However, Zhang Qianhu had already gone home for dinner, so the officers and soldiers rushed to the city and shouted: "Master, we dare not open the door without permission."
, we have to wait for the order from Zhang Qianhu, the old subordinate of the Duke of Guo. We have already sent someone to invite Mr. Zhang, please wait a moment."
This was said politely, but it also contained a threat. Since he was said to be an old subordinate of Duke Zhen, he must have known him. If he was an impostor, there would be no good fruits to be gained. Of course, the knight could hear the taste and said with a smile:
"Okay, let Zhang Daniu come to see me."
Seeing him say Zhang Daniu's name, the officers and soldiers believed him for another four or five minutes, and started whispering together, their faces full of excitement.
Jinan is no longer the hotly contested battlefield of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is now an inland city without the threat of war. Zhang Daniu is a city defense officer with thousands of households, and he is in charge of thousands of food eaters. He can be regarded as a county and regiment-level cadre. Every day
Apart from basking in the sun on the city wall, he also went home to amuse his children. The death of his old superior Liu Ziguang touched him greatly. He used his remaining left arm to tear up those few notices that slandered the Duke of Zhen.
He came down, but to vent his anger, he couldn't do anything rebellious. After all, people are dead, and the living still have to live. Besides, the child is still so young, Zhang Daniu is no longer the passionate man he used to be.
It got dark early today. Zhang Qianhu returned to his house on Chaoshan Street near the south gate early. He picked up the child and gave it a good kiss. The maids and servants brought the food, heated up the old wine, and waited for the master to play with the boy.
It's time to finish the meal.
Suddenly, there was a rapid knock on the door, and a young officer in uniform ran in. He boldly broke into the adult's study and said a few words in Zhang Daniu's ear.
"What!" Zhang Daniu's face changed color, and he threw the child on the couch. He even had time to buy boots and put them on, and walked out barefoot. The child was thrown and cried loudly, but he didn't care.
Zhang Daniu ran out of the gate barefoot, jumped on his horse, shouted: "Drive!" and ran towards the city gate. After a while, they arrived at the city gate. When the officers and soldiers saw Lord Qianhu coming, they quickly pushed aside the heavy weight.
He took the door latch and pushed open the city gate. As soon as the door was opened a crack, Zhang Daniu rushed out on horseback.
The soldiers on the city wall only saw their Zhang Qianhu running in front of the man and horse. After just one glance, they got off the horse and cried before the horse. The cry of the middle-aged man who had gone through vicissitudes of life was so contagious.
It made every soldier on the wall cry, because they knew that the person who came was exactly the man who escaped from the tiger's mouth, Marshal Liu, the Duke of the country!
Zhang Daniu cried a few times, wiped away his tears with one arm, and shouted at the city wall: "Damn it! Open the door quickly, you guys don't understand any rules, come down and line up to welcome the commander!" Then he held him with one arm.
Liu Ziguang took the reins of his horse and strode toward the city with bare feet.
There were not many soldiers on duty on the city wall, only thirty or forty people. At this moment, they rushed down in a swarm, opened the city gate wide, and lined up on both sides. When the horse of the Duke of Zhen came over, the leading Baihu drew his sword and let it go.
In front of his nose, he shouted in a long voice: "Salute!" More than thirty soldiers raised their red tassel guns to their chests together. Although the movements were not neat and concise enough, the enthusiasm and emotion revealed by pairs of eyes were indeed hot and calming.
After the death of the Duke, the first thing he thought of was to come to Jinan to look for them, the Shandong elders. This made everyone present feel excited and proud!
Zhang Daniu pulled the horse forward and asked Liu Ziguang: "Commander, your mansion in Baotuquan has been occupied by a dead eunuch. My subordinates will send troops to drive him out. You can stay there for the time being. Let's
I summoned my old brothers overnight, and I only need a word from you to tell me what to do."
Liu Ziguang said: "Don't panic, Daniel, you go put on your shoes first and take me to see Governor Shi. We'll talk about other things later."
Only then did Zhang Daniu realize that his feet were bare, and he quickly found an officer to take off the boots from his feet and put them on himself, and said to everyone with a fierce look: "No one is allowed to reveal the matter of the Duke's visit to Jinan.
You guys have tightened the city gates, and no one is allowed to go out tonight, especially those eunuchs from the south."
The hundreds of households on duty understood and said together: "Don't worry, sir. We are here at the city gate, and not a fly can fly out. That man, go and take out all the firecrackers in the warehouse. The door is locked, sir."
Just feel free to do your business in the city."
These soldiers were all Zhang Daniu's confidants. He nodded with relief, then took the horse and led Liu Ziguang to the governor's Yamen.
Shi Kefa was still sorting out official documents in the study, putting a simple dinner aside, but he didn't move a single chopstick, not because of his busy schedule, but because of the dangerous situation in the world. The Qingdao Prefecture had publicly raised a white flag to honor Liu Ziguang, and other
The prefectures and counties were also unstable. Even the city defense forces in Jinan Prefecture had vague intentions of mutiny. In addition, the eunuchs from the capital were bold and unscrupulous. In just a few days, they killed seven or eight people and occupied a property worth more than ten dollars.
With thousands of liang of land and shops, I really don’t know what the people in the court were thinking. After dealing with Liu Ziguang, they should adopt a gentle policy to calm the people’s grievances. Instead, they took the initiative to stir up trouble. Did they want to force the people to rebel?
Shi Kefa frowned and tapped gently and rhythmically with one finger on the table. The water in the tea cup next to him was already cold, but he didn't care. He took it and drank it in one gulp, as if he could use this herbal tea to drown the cold.
As if he was burning with depression, suddenly there was a knock on the study door, and Shi Jun from Baihu, a member of the governor's pacesetter team, came in and reported: "There is a person outside the Yamen who wants to see you."
The governor is in charge of the military, political and civil affairs of the province, and there are many people who come to visit on weekdays. However, Shi Kefa never meets people he does not know outside office hours, in order to prevent anyone from offering bribes or gifts. It is already dinner time, and it is not a good time to visit others at this time.
Honest, do you want to come to the governor's office to make a living? Shi Kefa felt a little funny at his own thoughts and asked casually: "Who is he?"
Shi Jundao: "I don't know, but I know the person who led his horse and put it on the pedal is Zhang Daniu and Zhang Qianhu from the Jinan City Defense Camp."