In the last few days of the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign, Macheng experienced a heavy snowfall, and the weather immediately became cold.
During this period of time, the rogues... no, the Chuang army seemed to have made up their mind to deal in jute for a long time. They posted many notices and were paying huge sums of money to recruit scribes who were proficient in pen and ink to help with official affairs.
Chen Kexin also took this opportunity to successfully break into the army. He changed his name to Chen Kexin and claimed to be a martial artist who wrote opera songs to make a living. He got a job helping some camp envoy to write land property documents.
The shops in Macheng recovered quickly and have now returned to normal operations. The internal strife between the Shen Zhuang Army and the official army, as well as the occupation by the Chuang Army, did not seem to affect the motivation of the small traders to do business.
It was almost late, and the cold air made Chen Kexin's fingers stiff. He bought new pen and ink from a shop in the city that sold the Four Treasures of the Study, turned on the lamp, and went to bake the frozen nib by the fire. I wrote a letter to my old friend Chen Xin who was working as a staff member under Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan.
The letter contained the inside story of Li Laiheng's invasion army that he saw when he went south. What this maverick army did in Suizhou and Huangma really opened Chen Kexin's eyes.
He was not yet sure that Li Laiheng was the man who would clean up the mess in the world, but he was also confident that he could persuade Chen Xin to come to Huguang to take a look in person.
Chen Kexin's thoughts changed quickly. On the way south, he saw more refugees, starvation and massacres as the army marched by. Will Li Chuang rule the world? Maybe we should look at which Li Chuang he is.
The Chuang army did not restrict local merchants from going out to sell goods, nor did they deliberately restrict the gentry from escaping. Perhaps they were still conniving, because after the gentry fled, Li Laiheng could easily confiscate all their properties.
Chen Kexin had already contacted a Huaiqing medicinal material dealer who was going back to Henan, and planned to ask him to send this letter to Chen Xin. He opened the door, and there was a biting cold, like a group of howling beasts rushing towards him. Come.
At this time, the sky was still dark, and only the large area of ice and snow illuminated the earth. Chen Kexin looked up and saw the moon shrinking into a thin arc-shaped line, resting alone and unstable on a big tree. The branches shook off a little snow, and the moon trembled accordingly. Relying on this lonely clue, he suddenly realized that New Year's Eve was coming soon.
"The journey was so difficult that I didn't even remember that I had to spend one New Year's Eve night in a den of thieves."
A few snowflakes fell on Chen Kexin's head and soon soaked the handkerchief. He listened carefully and vaguely heard the sounds of citizens walking around and congratulating each other on the coming New Year. He couldn't help but laugh at himself.
Strange to say, he was clearly in a den of thieves, but Chen Kexin suddenly felt like he was in a peaceful and clear world.
"Is it Peter Chan?"
Before he came back to his senses, he saw several indifferent soldiers blocking the courtyard gate. Chen Kexin's heart tightened and he replied in a low voice: "I am Chen Kexin. Do you have any errands for the military masters?" Shall I handle it?”
Chen Kexin is now considered one of the officials under the Macheng Yingtian Envoy. He also knows that Li Laiheng has always been strict with military discipline, so when he saw these sergeants blocking the door, he would not think that they were here to extort property, but immediately became suspicious. Quite a strong sense of uneasiness.
A man walked out from the middle of the several sergeants. He wore a thin velvet coat over a cloth armor, and he looked a bit taller than the others.
"You are a local teacher in Macheng, right?"
This man spoke with some Beizhili accent, which reminded Chen Kexin of his past when he was studying in the capital. The officer's question made him even more nervous, so he only nodded lightly and said nothing more.
The officer smiled at him and said: "My name is Li Polu, and I am a teacher at the Chuangjun Camp School. We have students there who have pointed out that you are not a teacher, but Chen Kexin, a scholar from Yiling Prefecture. If you have anything else
Let’s talk about it in the handsome man’s house.”
Li Polu was originally an officer of the Baoding Army under the command of Baoding Governor Yang Wenyue and General Hu Dawei. After the Baoding Army was annihilated by Chuang Cao's coalition forces, he surrendered to Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng felt that Li Laiheng's troops suffered heavy losses in the battle to annihilate the Baoding Army.
After the war, most of the surrendered Baoding soldiers were organized into Li Laiheng's command. Therefore, Li Polu was transferred to Li Laiheng's army, and then they came to Huguang to fight together.
The military quality of the officers of the Baoding Army was relatively high. When Li Laiheng built the Suiying School, he specially selected a group of more reliable and stable officers and veterans to serve as the instructors of the Suiying School.
Li Polu himself was a hereditary officer in the garrison. He had a high level of education and was considered one of the more prestigious teachers in the camp school. Since the insurgent army occupied Juma and started to implement the camp system, Li Laiheng, in order to stabilize the gentry, also
A special order was given to force all the children of the jute gentry between the ages of 12 and 16 to study in the military camp schools. This was not only to reform these young people, but also to serve as hostages to threaten the wealthy families.
Chen Kexin was originally from Juren in Yiling Prefecture, Huguang. Juren was not a scholar, and his social status was quite high. Suiying School now accepts many young sons of the jute gentry as students. Some of the students taught by Li Polu recognized Chen Kexin.
, he probably never imagined that his identity would be exposed so easily.
Several sergeants did not let him argue, so they surrounded Chen Kexin from both sides. They held up Chen Kexin's hands and tried to drag him away. They shouted in panic: "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious! I want to see Mr. Li, I want to see him."
To see Mr. Li, I want to see Mr. Li Jieshuai! I am an old friend with Mr. Li. Don’t hurt me. We are all our own people. I want to see Mr. Li!"
These wolf-like sergeants finally aroused Chen Kexin's sense of crisis. Although from his observations during this period, the military discipline of the rebel army was quite good, he also knew that once this gang of bandits was tortured, they would be ruthless.
!
If Li Polu wanted to drag him to be tortured, he definitely wouldn't be able to stand it. So Chen Kexin didn't care about anything and hurriedly dug up his old friendship with Li Laiheng when he was in Yiling. He added some jealousy and said
When he was in Yiling, he led a militia to assist Li Laiheng in defending the city.
Li Polu only joined the Chuang Army in Henan, so he naturally didn't know about this part of his past. However, after Li Polu discovered Chen Kexin's identity, he had already notified the red team, and specialized personnel would come to deal with it immediately.
He smiled, asked the sergeant to let go of Chen Kexin first, patted his shoulders and said, "Mr. Chen, let's wait until the people from the red team arrive."
Chen Kexin was still panicking in his heart. He was afraid that the mysterious red team would directly serve him with a stick. How could he, a weak-handed scholar, withstand the force of the intruders?
When the time comes, let’s just say whatever we say!
Therefore, he persisted and demanded to go to the Marshal's residence to see Li Laiheng immediately. Chen Kexin also exaggerated his friendship with Li Laiheng, emphasizing that he had the title of Juren, and that he was the great military advisor of the Chuang Army and the Grand Prime Minister Niu Jinxing.
Show some respect.
"This...?" Li Polu and several of his subordinates looked at each other. These Baoding soldiers were not considered direct descendants of Li Laiheng, and their status could not be said to be high.
He was worried, but seeing Chen Kexin's determined look on his face, he finally shrugged his shoulders and asked a sergeant to inform the red team that he had sent Chen Juren, who had hidden his identity, to the commander's residence.
The headquarters of the Marshal's Mansion was the former Mei Mansion. Because the children of the Mei family joined the army earlier, most of them of the right age have been selected to study in Suiying School. Except for the atrium where Li Laiheng currently lives, other houses and houses have also been returned to Mei.
Home.
Chen Kexin was escorted to the camp by several Baoding soldiers. Among the guards were people who had fought in Yiling. He vaguely remembered that Marshal Shaohu had indeed used many local militia groups to help transport bricks, stones and wood, so he hurriedly
Go to the government and report.
Fortunately, although it was getting late, Li Laiheng had not yet fallen asleep. He was having a drink with Gao Yigong, Guo Junzhen and others who had just returned from the front line of Luotian County, while talking about the new camp system recently implemented by the army.
After the news of Chen Kexin's arrest was reported, Li Laiheng frowned and thought for a while before he remembered that there was indeed such a person in Yiling at that time.
However, he remembered that this Chen Kexin did not cooperate with the Chuang Army and was a die-hard member. Later, it seemed that Zuo Liangyu had him punished for being a thief.
Although Gao Yigong was not in Yiling City at that time, he had heard Liu Zongmin's deputy general Gu Kecheng tell him many times about the specific situation of the Yiling Battle. He had a deep understanding of the situation, so he said with suspicion: "Could this Chen Juren be a member of the army?"
Spy? But Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang, is dead, and the inspector Ding Qirui has not yet returned to Huguang. How could the army be deployed so quickly?"
"Yigong, don't you think too highly of the officers and soldiers?" Guo Junzhen laughed at Gao Yigong's over-cautiousness. After the Battle of Huangma, he, Gao Yigong and Hao Yaoqi worked together to sweep away the remnants of the enemy, and took advantage of the situation to conquer again.
In Qishui, Luotian and other counties under the jurisdiction of Huangzhou Prefecture, the military power is even better than before, and the words are even more rude.
After Li Laiheng thought for a while, he finally said: "Let's go meet this Chen Juren. By the way... well, Pi Fu, you go and notify the red team and let Yan Zhongsheng investigate Chen Kexin's background."
After all, this is a civil servant, and his fame is higher than that of Fang Yiren. For the Chuang Army, which is currently short of manpower, if he can really take it under his command, it can still play a big role.
I don’t know how many people can be brought in just by having a local social connection. Figures like Niu Jinxing, who were imprisoned before joining Chuang, can also be recommended to intelligence experts like Song Xiance, who have extremely wide connections in the world.