On July 10th, the city of Jinan was as peaceful as ever. Pedestrians on the road went their own way, busy with their ordinary lives. Although it was a troubled time, there had been no major chaos in Shandong in recent years. The provincial capital Jinan was attacked by Li Zhi's troops.
It never fell after entering the city once. However, Li Zhi only entered the city to kill the governor for cotton supply and did not do any harm to the people. Jinan's towns have not been destroyed for decades, and merchants are still prosperous in the city.
The streets were naturally noisy with people coming and going, but the voices of some scholars shouting on the streets were particularly harsh. These scholars took the "Three Kings Daily" and read it loudly in the crowd. The newspaper was full of slanderous remarks about Li Zhi.
content.
"Li Zhi has colluded with Huang Taiji and agreed to attack north from Tianjin when the time is right, and attack the Guan Ning defenders together with the Tatars. As long as the Guan Ning army relaxes a little, Li Zhi will send troops to Shanhaiguan to destroy our Ming Dynasty customs.
Ning line of defense."
The people listening to the newspaper were stunned for a while, and their emotions kept rising and falling with the tone of the newspaper reader.
"The emperor is already furious at Li Zhi's ambition to rebel. He is only suffering from the fact that there are slaves outside who are looking at him, and warlords inside who are not obeying orders, so there are no soldiers available. The emperor has secretly prepared tens of millions of military resources and gathered 150,000 loyal troops, ready to attack with one blow.
Let me destroy Li Zhi."
When the people listening to the newspaper heard this, they became more and more confused. Someone asked weakly: "Is the Duke of Jin so bad?"
The scholar who read the newspaper put down the newspaper, waved his fist and said, "Everyone knows that Li Zhi is ambitious. He dares to openly rebel and besiege the capital. Is there anything else that he dare not do?"
"Three Kings Daily" spread the rumor for more than ten days, but the effect was not particularly good. The onlookers stared at each other for a while, some not believing it.
A handsome young man in the crowd with a sword on his waist snorted coldly, and suddenly walked away. This young man wore a scarf and armor, and he looked like someone who had studied and practiced martial arts. The young man's behavior made
The people who gathered around to listen to the newspaper were even more confused about Three Kings Daily.
The scholar who was reading the newspaper pursed his lips and raised the newspaper again, ready to continue reading. But before he could utter a single word, he saw a group of Confucian scholars in front of him running over from the north in panic. A scholar dressed as
The middle-aged man ran so hard that his turban fell off. He rushed to the newspaper reader and shouted:
"Run! There is a mountain. Hide quickly. Li Zhi's soldiers have entered the city! They might kill the newspaper readers. Run!"
The scholar reading the newspaper stared and shouted: "Impossible, Li Zhi, a traitor, is about to be punished by the emperor! It is impossible for him to dare to go against the princes!"
The middle-aged man who ran over stamped his feet, pulled the newspaper reader and ran away, but the newspaper reader froze there and refused to leave.
"Are you stupid by reading the newspaper? The things in the newspaper are fake!"
The middle-aged man was anxious, so he went up and slapped the newspaper reader three times with his bow left and right. The middle-aged man was so stunned that stars appeared in his eyes. Only then was the middle-aged man able to move the newspaper reader and drag him to escape into the city.
go.
Seeing this scene, the people listening to the newspaper looked at each other for a while and burst into laughter.
This is the second time that the Huben Division has invaded Jinan City. The soldiers of Lord Jin have always been benevolent and righteous. This time they entered the city to deal with the "Three Kings Daily" and were not expected to harass the people's houses. The people were not afraid of Li Zhi's troops.
, slowly walked back home one by one.
A quarter of an hour later, only the sound of neat footsteps was heard from the north of the city. Five thousand soldiers of the Huben Division wearing plate armor and holding steel knives entered Jinan City from the north gate.
Jinan City had previously been stationed with a hundred soldiers of the Huben Division. Although there were few people, they were enough to open the city gate. It is not that the defenders of Jinan could not defeat a hundred soldiers of the Huben Division, but the 5,000 Huben Division soldiers outside the city were too scary.
, it is obviously not a good idea to use mantis arms as chariots. So the hundred tiger warriors in the city attacked the north gate, and the defenders on the gate dispersed like birds and beasts.
The defenders abandoned their armor and weapons and hid in civilian houses.
The soldiers of the Huben Division entered the city, walked on the main road with neat steps, and shouted in unison: "Three Kings Daily spread rumors to attack the Duke of Jin and incited the people, which is a heinous crime. The literati who run the Three Kings Daily must all
Ask and kill! Anyone who dares to hide the reporter will be treated as a criminal and will be killed without mercy!"
The common people hid behind the door panels and peeked at the Huben Division who was not afraid of Qiu. Some of the brave ones opened the door and stood at the door to watch the Huben Division's march.
Five thousand Huben troops walked to the Drum Tower, dispersed in squad units, and began to capture people throughout the city under the leadership of the secret guards in the city.
Zhong Feng stood on top of the Drum Tower and watched the San Wangs Daily newspaper staff being arrested one after another and tied to kneeling for a large area under the Drum Tower. He was in a good mood. These literati fled to private houses. How could they withstand five thousand people?
A city-wide search by soldiers? It’s only a matter of time before they’re all captured.
When the literati heard that Li Zhi was going to kill them, their faces turned pale with fear. The captured newspaper workers knelt under the Drum Tower, with tears streaming down their faces, shouting and kowtowing desperately, trying to find a way out. Beside these people were other people.
Some gentry who were hiding literati were also captured and tied up.
But no matter how these bottomless newspaper handlers begged for mercy, they were doomed this time if they fell into Zhong Feng's hands.
What Zhong Feng was worried about before was that all these scholars were hiding in Prince De's palace. Although the palace was not guarded, it was the home of the prince of the Ming Dynasty after all. If Prince De hid these scholars, the Huben Division would not be able to attack by force and could only surround De.
The palace gradually threatened and forced King De.
But King Deok was obviously not prepared to have a fight with Li Zhi. Hearing that the Huben Division was attacking the city, he immediately closed the gate of the royal city. None of the newspaper staff who wanted to hide in King Deok's palace failed. In fact, although the three princes were in the "Three Kings Daily"
A name was attached, but the specific affairs of running the newspaper were all handled by the literati. The Three Kings Daily slandered Li Zhi and stirred up trouble first. At this time, King De heard that Li Zhi was seriously ill and came to the city to take revenge, so of course he would not get angry.
Zhong Feng watched in the Drum Tower for a while, then mounted his horse and rode with his bodyguard to the office of "Three Kings Daily".
The newspaper office of Sanwang Daily is on Yamen Street outside the governor's office, crowded together with several of the best restaurants in the city. Zhong Feng walked to the door of the newspaper office and saw that it was a large courtyard. There was a hanging hanging on the main door of the courtyard.
There is a red-lettered plaque with the four characters "Three Kings Daily Guild Hall" written in official script on it.
Zhong Feng went in and took a look around, and found hundreds of sets of movable type printing equipment in the yard. However, the rooms in the yard that were actually used for printing and typesetting were limited, and there were many gorgeously decorated reception rooms. Apparently the gentry in the city had regarded this newspaper office as
It is a place to exchange opinions and denounce Li Zhi.
These gentry were unprofessional in running newspapers and had almost no reporter network. They were still used to gathering people to denounce things. After this newspaper was closed down, the arrogance of the urban gentry against Li Zhi was probably much weaker.
The leader of the newspaper office, a middle-aged man in his forties, was hiding in the hut of the newspaper office. Master Huben caught him seriously and took him out.
When the common people saw that the Three Kings Daily newspaper office was occupied by soldiers from Huben Division, they rushed to watch the excitement. They did not dare to get close, and hundreds of people crowded in fifty steps away.
Zhong Feng walked out of the door of the newspaper office, snorted coldly, and said, "Burn it!"
