The bloody facts on the school field taught those veteran soldiers who had been in peace for a long time and who usually only bullied the people. Facing the sharp long knives and the fire that spewed out from time to time, they were afraid. First of all, it was the soldiers in ragged clothes. He was the first to throw down his weapons, raised his hands and knelt on the ground and begged loudly for mercy. Then came the servants. Although they were the king's private soldiers and were usually quite loyal to the king, but now they are serving as swordsmen and others as fish and meat, and these servants are not the same. They would do those stupid things that they were afraid of touching a rock. Faced with the black muzzle of the gun, they had no choice but to throw down the weapons in their hands.
After cleaning up the soldiers on the school grounds, Pang Gang sent 500 sergeants to push them back to the barracks together with Wang Zhong to take good care of them. Then Pang Gang led the troops immediately into the city and surrounded the commanding colleagues with lightning speed. Under the leadership of Pang Gang, a thousand wolf-like soldiers rushed into Wang Zhong's home and began a vigorous ransack, scaring the servants, maids, and other people in the inner courtyard like headless flies. Just bumping around everywhere.
Accompanied by Qi Wuming, Bin Shiqian and others, Pang Gang entered the inner courtyard of the Commander-in-Chief. He looked at the splendid inner courtyard and the various antiques, calligraphy and paintings by famous artists and other objects in the hall. He was used to living a hard life. Qi Wuming and others were stunned.
Qi Wuming stuck out his tongue and said, "My darling, how much money does it cost to build this house? I don't think it's even possible if it doesn't cost more than a hundred thousand taels." Shocked, Qi Wuming even asked the local people in Qingzhou. All dialects were spoken!
Even Bin Shiqian, who was cautious about his words and actions, sighed: "If we rely solely on the salary from the king, I'm afraid we won't be able to build such a luxurious house even if it takes a hundred years."
Pang Gang also said bitterly: "He actually took more than 2,000 free pay out of the original 3,000 troops. He was too courageous. People say that in three years, the Qing Prefecture spent 100,000 snowflakes of silver. I Seeing how Mr. Wang has scraped off more than 100,000 pieces of land over the years, I’m afraid it’s even more than 500,000!”
The three of them stood in the hall, watching the sergeants move out boxes of things from the house one by one. The military discipline officer accompanying the army visited the accountant and registered each item in a book. Pieces of gold, silver and jade are shining with dazzling golden light in the sun.
While the house was being searched, an angry voice sounded outside the yard, "You all get out of my way. I am the prefect of Dengzhou. Who dares to stop me!"
"I don't care what kind of prefect you are, we just know that no one is allowed to enter without the general's order!" The sergeant's voice also came from outside the courtyard at the same time.
"Oh, Lu Yingzhi is finally here." Pang Gang smiled without surprise and said to Qi Wuming: "Qi Baihu, go and invite our Magistrate Lu in. He should be worried after being out for so long."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
After a while, Qi Wuming led Lu Yingzhi and several officers into the inner courtyard. When Lu Yingzhi saw various antiques and gold and silver piled as high as a hill in the open space of the inner courtyard, he felt his body He staggered and almost fainted to the ground. He pointed at Pang Gang with his trembling right hand but could not speak. The government servant beside him saw this and quickly supported him.
Lu Yingzhi finally regained his breath. He pointed at Pang Gang and said angrily: "Well, Pang Gang, you don't have any official documents from the court, so you dare to inspect the government office of a third-rank commander who is also an informant. You should be punished." What crime?"
Pang Gang saw that the thick-soled official boots under his feet were covered with dust, and the official robe on his body was soaked with sweat. He felt a burst of joy in his heart, "Prefect Lu, Wang Tongzhi embezzled military pay and you will not take advantage of it."
Don’t you know? Now that the incident has happened, as the general in charge of the defense of the three states, why not seize his stolen goods first? "
"You are quibbling!"
Lu Yingzhi's hand was almost pointing to Pang Gang's nose, and his eyes were almost ready to spit fire. Over the past few years, he and Wang Zhong had cooperated quite happily in Dengzhou, and Wang Zhong used the troops in his hands.
With his support, he almost controlled the ports and trade in Dengzhou, while he used his power to suppress other traders in Dengzhou City. The two of them almost monopolized almost 60% of the business in Dengzhou City.
But now that Pang Gang arrived, he captured Wang Zhong with lightning speed and ransacked his home. This was tantamount to cutting off his roots as Lu Yingzhi. How could you not make him go crazy?
Pang Gang looked at the finger in front of him that was almost pointing to the tip of his nose, and a burst of anger surged up. He didn't understand why these people like to point at other people's noses with their hands. This was the case with Chen Xinjia in the Jinluan Palace in Chongzhen. This Lu
The same is true for Yingzhi. Do all literati like to do this action?
Pang Gang grabbed the finger in front of him and twisted it gently. He heard a crisp sound, and Lu Yingzhi's finger immediately folded upward, and then a shrill scream immediately rang out.
Lu Yingzhi's left hand clenched his right wrist so hard that he even broke out in cold sweat. His eyes were filled with hatred as he waited for Pang Gang, "You... you Tuoba Qiu Ba, you dare to hit me with your weapon, you will die."
It’s decided! I will definitely intervene with you and let you die without a burial place!”
Faced with such a huge change, Lu Yingzhi could hardly believe what was happening in front of him. Not only did Pang Gang dare to raid Wang Zhong's home, he also dared to break his own fingers. You must know that since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the status of military attachés has been very high.
Low, although it rebounded in the Chongzhen period due to the needs of the war, generally speaking, military attachés were still in a vulnerable group. It was almost unheard of in the past hundred years for people like Pang Gang to dare to twist off the fingers of a prefect.
Faced with Lu Yingzhi's unbelievable look, Pang Gang ignored him and just said lightly: "Master Lu, don't think too highly of yourself. In my opinion, you, the prefect, are just a fourth-level magistrate.
Pinguan, if you make me anxious, I don't mind leading troops to raid your magistrate's office. I guess there are only a lot more valuable things in your house than here."
Lu Yingzhi finally understood what it was like for a scholar to encounter soldiers, but this time, although he was shaking with anger, he no longer dared to point his finger at Pang Gang, "Okay...Okay, you just
Just wait to be punished by the emperor's decree!"
"Okay, now that you've finished talking nonsense, get out of here." Pang Gang waved his hand impatiently, and immediately several sergeants came over and dragged Lu Yingzhi away like a dead dog.
He was hiding aside, not daring to make a sound, and now he quickly slipped out.
Looking at Lu Yingzhi being dragged away, Qi Wuming couldn't help but narrowed his eyes and glanced sideways at the embarrassed Lu Yingzhi, and said to Pang Gang: "Sir, if this person stays, I'm afraid he will have endless troubles. These civil servants are the most frivolous."
of."
Pang Gang shook his head and said with a smile: "Brother Qi, do you know why people often say that "it takes ten years for scholars to rebel"? It means that they can only talk about it. If the world is peaceful, I will give him three points.
, but in this world now, whoever holds military power in his hands has a hard fist, and he can't touch a hair of ours."
Pang Gang had already seen clearly the situation at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Now the imperial court had lost more and more control over the generals who held heavy troops. Some generals who guarded the local areas dared to obey the imperial court's orders. This was ten years ago.
That is almost unimaginable, but as the situation in the Ming Dynasty further deteriorated, the power of local military commanders became more and more powerful, and their resentment towards the civil servant group that had been pressing on them for hundreds of years seemed to burst out all of a sudden.
So much so that there were civil-military confrontations in many places.
However, Pang Gang is not surprised by this phenomenon. No matter which dynasty it is, the use of civilians to control military forces can only happen in peaceful and prosperous times. Whether you are willing or not, in troubled times, the rights of military generals will definitely overwhelm civilian officials. This
It is an objective law that is not subject to anyone's will.
The reason why Pang Gang worked so hard to develop his own power is because he knew very well that the stronger he was, the safer he would be, and the more the court would be wary of him. It is precisely because he has six thousand elite soldiers that Pang Gang now has.
With it in hand, he has the confidence to take down Wang Zhong without worrying about the court's backlash. Of course, there must be a certain degree of caution here, that is, he cannot go too far. If Pang Gang really took down Lu Yingzhi just now, then Chongzhen
No matter how much I endure it, I can't stand it.
The house raid continued into the evening, and the final report was that 300,000 taels of silver, 30,000 taels of gold, and antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and other items that had not yet been counted were confiscated from Wang Zhong’s mansion. This result surprised everyone.
Unexpected.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... This Wang Zhong is really rich. I don't know how much he has scraped off the people's wealth and eaten up many vacancies over the years!" Pang Gang shook his head. Wang Zhongcai is just a commander and a colleague, so he can
With so much money gathered, no wonder later Li Zicheng entered Beijing and found more than 10 million taels of silver from the mansions of the royal family, nobles and officials who complained about poverty every day. It can be seen that in this era, the Ming Dynasty was not without money;
All the money fell into the hands of the officials, merchants and gentry. They would rather die with the jars of silver buried in the cellar than give even a penny of the money to the country. In the end, they all got an advantage from Li Zicheng and Li Zicheng.
His gangsters.
"Pack all these things, and we will transport them all away tomorrow." After Pang Gang finished speaking, he said to Qi Wuming: "Qi Baihu, I will temporarily appoint you as the defense officer of Dengzhou and lead 500 soldiers to garrison Dengzhou.
Waiting for the arrival of the next batch of defenders. Bin Baihu, you also stay. I also want to give you a task. You have to recruit five thousand recruits and then send them all to Qingzhou for unified training. Can you do it?
"
"Yes, I will obey my orders!" Qi Wuming and Bin Shiqian agreed in unison with joyful faces. They knew very well that the more troops Pang Gang had, the faster their officials would be promoted.