At this time, it was seven or eight o'clock in the morning. Because the wind and snow had not completely stopped, there were no pedestrians on the road. Chang Yu looked around and saw a forest not far from the west side of the official road, so he asked Wu Mengming to hide in it with fifty guards in golden clothes and wait for orders.
, and then drove slowly toward Zhangyuan Village with Cheng Ming and more than 70 people.
As soon as they arrived at the village, they saw a few gray-faced people coming out. A Jinyiwei guard immediately greeted them and took them to Chang Yu. However, it was the Jinyiwei spy who had been watching here.
"Mr. Factory Supervisor, that is Fanjiapu." A spy said about the big castle in front of them. Actually, they didn't need to point it out. Although Zhangyuan Village is not small, the surrounding area is just ordinary houses. There is only this big castle, which is vaguely visible.
It could be seen that there were private soldiers walking around on the fort wall, and then they heard the sound of gongs, presumably they also discovered Chang Yu's group.
After seeing several spies shaking from the cold, their teeth chattering, Chang Yu felt compassion again, and after feeling around for a long time, he found more than ten pieces of loose silver: "Take it to buy some wine to warm yourself up."
The spy was overjoyed. His colleagues had previously informed him of Chang Yu's identity. At this moment, he immediately bowed his head and said, "Thank you for your humble position, Mr. Factory Supervisor."
Chang Yu waved him away and then drove his horse towards the village fort.
Fanjiacun Fort is 600 meters long from east to west and 550 meters wide from north to south. It is almost a square, but the semicircle extending 50 meters south at the southwest corner does look like the official hat shape as later generations said.
The fort wall is made of rammed earth, about seven meters high, with thirty-six crenels built on it, and the top is five meters wide, which can accommodate two carriages crossing each other. There are two gatehouses in the north and south of the village fort, each with two gatehouses.
At this time, Chang Yu immediately stood in front of the South Fort Gate. Looking at the panicked soldiers on the village fort in front of him, he couldn't help but shake his head. If he wanted to capture this village fort with more than a hundred people on his side, just dream!
"Who are you waiting for?" Chang Yu was about to speak when a man with a short beard holding a steel knife on top of the fortress started shouting. Beside him were fifty or sixty people holding bows and arrows, aiming at Chang Yu and others.
"Since you are worthy of my name as a general, hurry up and call your master to greet him. If you show any negligence and rush into the king's army, you will all be reduced to ashes." Chang Yu looked at the man on the wall with a livid face and shouted angrily!
The air suddenly became quiet! Everyone on the wall could only feel the roaring in their ears, and the words "Chuang King" were rolling back and forth! The men and horses of the robbers!
In these troubled times, everyone in a wealthy family has sharp eyes and ears. Li Zicheng came to retreat yesterday, and the officials in the city had already heard that they would surrender. Just when they were panicking about how to deal with it, they unexpectedly came to the door in person. They were really afraid of being famous.
Pigs are afraid of getting stronger.
The short-bearded man in the city turned around without saying a word, climbed down from the fortress wall and ran away.
Chang Yu was patient, and just rode his horse back and forth under the fort wall. The servants on the wall had already put down their bows and arrows, with fear on their faces, looking at the hundreds of people below, riding their horses around the village fort.
With a whoosh sound, Chang Yu seemed impatient and suddenly raised his crossbow to shoot at the plaque of Fan Mansion on the city gate.
Ding ding ding, dong dong dong, as soon as he made a move, everyone around him also followed suit. In an instant, the plaque was shot like a hedgehog, and finally fell with a clang. The servants on the wall looked even more frightened, but no one made a sound.
Not long after, the man with a dark face and short beard came back, followed by several people, including an old man who was nearly seventy years old. He was not very imposing, but he could not hide his fear at this time.
"What do you call this general, a subordinate of King Chuang?" The old man is Fan Ming, the current head of the Fan family, and the middle-aged man in his forties behind him is his eldest son Fan Yongkui.
"My general is Xiao Chuang Wang. My father is the general Bohou Li Guo, the son of King Chuang. I came here to discuss some matters with Mr. Fan on my father's orders. Should Mr. Fan open the door himself or let me attack in?" Chang Yu sneered.
It turned out to be Li Laiheng, the king of Xiaochuang. Fan Ming was shocked. Li Zicheng had been a thief for more than ten years. His generals were well-known. Everyone in the court and the public knew that he had several righteous sons. Among them, Li Guo was the most famous.
There was an adopted son, Li Laiheng. Although he was young, he was extremely brave in fighting and was known as the Little Chuang King.
Fan Ming was shocked, and carefully looked at the group of people below. They were all uniformed in black. They were obviously not just a bunch of thieves. He also saw that young Chang Yu was holding a long sword in his majestic hand, just like the legend. He was already convinced.
In addition, it was known that the army of thieves was in Jiexiu, so I believed them all.
The fact was so similar that he couldn't believe it. The intruder was actually only forty at this time. His adopted son (nephew) Li Guo was only six years younger than him (some say he was the same age or six years older than Li Zicheng) and his adopted son Li Laiheng was only ten years old.
Qi Ba and Chang Yu were about the same age at this time.
The army pressed on the border and the whole city surrendered. Fan Ming did not have the courage to resist with a village fortress. If it were an ordinary gangster, he could resist it, but he would not dare to intrude. Moreover, according to rumors, intruders are not an exaggeration for ordinary gentry.
You only need to spend some money to avoid the disaster. It is not like targeting those officials or royal family members to kill them all. In addition, the person in front of you has room for words, so it seems that spending money can avoid the disaster.
So Fan Ming immediately went down to the wall and opened the gate of the castle. He knelt down with his eldest son and some servants to welcome Chang Yu inside.
As soon as Chang Yu's men and horses entered the fort, they immediately handed over the weapons in the hands of the servants, climbed up the fort wall to occupy a favorable position, and then greeted him from a distance. Wu Mengming immediately rushed over with his men and horses.
In a short period of time, Cheng Ming had taken control of the south gate tower and its wall. At this time, Chang Yu was still riding a horse and walking towards the north with a proud look on his face. Fan Ming followed him with the support of Fan Yongkui and his servants.
There is a main street in the middle of the village fort from south to north, an east street on the east side, and three streets running side by side from north to south on the west side, called West Street, Fan Street and Longwang Street.
There is more than one surname of the Fan family in Zhangyuan Village, but all the people living in the fort have the surname Fan. However, even though they have the same surname, there are differences. For example, the east streets are all distant branches, while the three streets to the west are all close relatives. For example, there are more than 20 people on Fan Street.
This large courtyard is full of side houses for the relatives of Fan Ming's clan, and the building in the middle, which looks like a small golden palace, is the real Fan family courtyard.
While walking along the way, panicked crowds appeared on the street from time to time, some even armed with weapons. They thought they had heard the news about bandits and came in a hurry, but they were frightened by the sight in front of them. The thieves came in arrogantly, and the owner of the house was beside them.
And scolded them to put down their weapons.
"Master Fan knows the current affairs," Chang Yu couldn't help but sneered when he saw Fan Ming scolding the tribesmen.
Fan Ming smiled bitterly and clasped his fists at Chang Yu in silence, but he was begging in his heart, take the money and leave quickly, but don't cause any harm. He was frightened when he thought about the female relatives in the fort. It was rumored that the thieves raped and raped women and did all kinds of evil.
, but looking at Chang Yu's subordinates, they only took strict precautions against those servants but did not do anything excessive. I felt a little relieved, thinking that after all, they were the main force of the bandit army and focused on influence.
In the Fan family courtyard, above the main hall, Chang Yu sat upright, looking at the cup of hot tea in front of him but did not drink it. He just sneered. Fan Ming and his son, who were standing side by side, were heart-pounding. Don't they think the tea is not good?
Of course not, Chang Yu was waiting for the opportunity.
Soon the opportunity came. Wu Mengming walked out of the lobby and came to Chang Yu's side and whispered: "Both the north and south gates are under control. More than a hundred servants in the fort have disarmed. Damn, there are so many people! There are all kinds of guys.
There are even muskets.”
Chang Yu smiled, waved Wu Mengming away, stood up and walked to Fan Ming: "To make a long story short, five hundred thousand, one less, or one less, I, the general, will make your Fan family not grow a blade of grass."
"This..." Fan Ming just wanted to say something, but suddenly he fell down and fainted out of anger.
"Dad" Fan Yongkui quickly stretched out his hand to support Fan Ming and looked up at Chang Yu with a look of sorrow and anger: "General..."
"Let's think about it before we talk." Chang Yu immediately interrupted him: "If you say no, I will slaughter all your Fan family."
"I..." Fan Yongkui then sighed heavily: "The general wants five hundred thousand. I'm not sure if there are any villains in the Fan family at this time. I can only say that I will give everything I have. If I really can't get enough, I have to give it up."
You cut it"
"Don't give me a hard time. For every stick of incense, I want money to load the car. If you use it, you will kill someone every other moment." He said, sitting down and taking a sip of tea. The tea was pretty good.
Fan Yongkui had no choice but to take a long breath, and then asked someone to carry Fan Ming in. He turned around and went to get the bank key and help people load the car.
In ancient times, wealthy families, especially those doing business, all had private banks, which were vaults hidden in the cellar. They contained plates of coded silver, making it easy to count and move.
"Sir, do you think you can raise half a million?" Fan Ming was busy over there, and Wu Mengming approached Chang Yu and asked in a low voice.
Chang Yu sneered slightly: "You can't leave ten. The Fan family has been established for generations and is worth tens of millions. You can still get this little money."
Hehe, Wu Mengming rubbed his hands: "Well, how much can I smoke this time?"
"Five thousand taels," Chang Yu smiled faintly: "Old Wu, you must be satisfied. Although this time it is five hundred thousand, most of it is for salary. The other brothers only get a hundred taels. Even our family is equal to you.
Also, this is not just a one-time deal, it will happen in the future."
"No, no, no, a humble position is never too small." Wu Mengming hurriedly waved his hands: "You can take as many humble positions as you want, and I will follow you to live a good life." After saying that, he couldn't help but sigh: "I heard that there are many wealthy businessmen in Shanxi.
Especially in Qi County, if every family takes... hehe."
"There is a right way to take it." Chang Yu stared at Wu Mengming with a serious face: "Fan Yongdou collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country. He should have confiscated his family and exterminated his family. Our family has its own reasons whether it is taken overtly or covertly. As for other families, they cannot mess around unless they have evidence."
.
"Yes, yes," Wu Mengming responded quickly: "The humble position is just a word."
Chang Yu remained silent, recalling in his mind, as if he remembered that there was another large family in Jiexiu, that is, the Hou Baiwan family, who later ranked among the eight merchants of Shanxi merchants in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, with a net worth of seven to eight million, but this person lived in Jiexiu City.
What's more important is that his family didn't get rich until the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, and now it's probably still a ruin!
But the number one Kang family had already made a fortune and was a big salt merchant. Unfortunately, he must have been plucked by Li Zicheng in Pingyang Mansion (Linfen). Even if Chang Yu hadn't been plucked, it would have been impossible for him to pass because the bandit army was blocking the way.
Woolen cloth.
"General...general" Just when Chang Yu and Wu Mengming were chatting in the hall, Chunxiang hurried in and saw that there were slaves from the Fan family in the courtyard who quickly changed their words.
Chang Yu suddenly felt bad, thinking that it was the Fan family who was trying to cause trouble.
It's just unimaginable that it's more serious than this.
"The Jin Yiwei spies came to report that a group of people came from the official road in the north. They were from the rebel army, about three hundred people and half a hundred cavalry. It seems that the momentum is heading here."
Chunxiang whispered.
Chang Yu and Wu Mengming were shocked.
"How far is it from here?"
"More than ten miles, I'm afraid it's only ten miles at most at this time."
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Because it is not an imaginary history, coding is very hard. In addition to struggling to think of the plot, I also have to look up information. Sometimes I even have to read a lot just to look up the name of a place or a person. It takes half an hour. I hope you can give me some encouragement.