The commander of the Pingyi Guards in Yunnan was named Li Xi, a native of Shandong who was transferred here ten years ago. Mi Lu, a thief woman, caused a rebellion. The officers in the border area of Yunnan and Guizhou were either killed immediately, questioned by the court, or garrisoned in Hainan.
Pingyi Weishi City was also rebuilt. The original city was destroyed by the thief Milu, and even the guard sergeants were transferred from Qujing Guards to fill it.
Even without free pay, the number of soldiers is less than five thousand.
After all, the Qujing Guards themselves had to keep their own men, and it was impossible to mobilize them all. The Pingyi Guards had two thousand soldiers. Half of them were still stationed in the enclave. The full number of garrison troops in the city was less than a thousand, leaving behind only the old, weak, sick and disabled at most.
Three to five hundred soldiers.
This is also the reason why those bandits are so arrogant. The number of bandits in the mountains is more than the soldiers of Pingyi Weishi City and Pingyi Qianhusuo combined! The bandits who robbed Wang Yuan came from one of the bandit hills, and they were not from that hilltop.
Of all, there are still one or two hundred left in the village.
After Li Xi was transferred from Shandong to Yunnan, although he also frantically occupied military fields, he did not do much harm to military households. Because there were fewer people and more land, all the military households before died and fled, and now every military household has land to cultivate.
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Military households even recruited refugees as tenant farmers, and each of them became a small landowner.
"What? Zhang Ermazi was killed!" Li Xi stood up suddenly and started laughing.
The bandits were divided into three groups, occupying three hills respectively.
Among them, "Zhensanshan" was promoted as the co-owner. Not long ago, he went to the city to try out the brothels, but was reported and arrested by his subordinates. There were already women in this cottage. Who knows why they came to the city to have fun? Anyway, reality
It's such nonsense.
Zhang Ermazi is the second in charge of another cottage, and he also has countless lives on his hands.
For caravans like Qin Baotou who frequently travel back and forth, the bandits choose to let them go in a small way and only charge some tolls. However, if they encounter scattered traders, or unfamiliar faces, they will directly kill people and steal goods.
A few years ago, Zhang Ermazi even beheaded a man who was appointed as a county magistrate. The superiors blamed him, and Li Xi had to lead troops to suppress the bandits. After several months of suppression, there was no harvest, and Li Xi suffered a death penalty.
Li Xi really doesn't need to raise bandits to respect himself. He has plenty of land at home and a lot of money from past merchants. If he can kill the bandits, he can collect more money, and the profits will be diluted by those bandits!
Wang Yuan and others were brought into the city, and Li Xi came out to receive them in person.
Seeing the heads hanging on the horse's body, Li Xi burst into laughter, held his head in his fist and said to Qin, "He is indeed a strong man!"
Commander Qin felt a little embarrassed and explained: "Commander Li, the bandit leader was killed by this Wang Xianggong."
Wang Yuan stepped forward, cupped his hands, and introduced himself: "Commander Li, I am Wang Yuan, a student member of the Guizhou Xuanwei Department."
Scholars kill bandits?
Li Xi used to live in Shandong, and the scholars in his impression were all weaklings. Even though he had been in Yunnan for ten years, he had not had much contact with Guizhou scholars. He only heard that Guizhou scholars were relatively strong.
After careful inspection, I saw that Wang Yuan's clothes were covered with blood, and the blood spatter on his face was not wiped off. His shoulder was bandaged and seemed to be injured. Wang Yuan had a standard bow on his back, two bags of arrows, and a bag of arrows on his waist.
There is a long sword hanging on it. If it were not for the scarf on his head, he would look more like a warrior at first glance.
Even if he is a scholar, it is worth saying a few more words. Li Xi took Wang Yuan's hand and said: "He is both civil and military, and he is indeed extraordinary. I wonder how he killed Zhang Ermazi?"
Commander Qin smiled and said: "Command. At that time, we were walking on the valley road and were ambushed by sixty or seventy bandits. The front and rear roads were blocked. There were bandits on the hillside with bows and arrows and throwing rocks. Wang Xianggong galloped on the steep slope.
He killed the bandit leader with an arrow, and then rode his horse to kill three bandits who were blocking his way. He then rode his horse up to the top of the slope under the rain of arrows, and killed most of the bandits.
The bandits knelt down and begged for mercy."
Li Xi was stunned when he heard this. He was very familiar with the terrain there and could replay the entire battle in his mind.
Is this motherfucker a scholar?
It must be Mr. Guan Er’s reincarnation!
Li Xi looked at the horse behind Wang Yuan again and recognized it at a glance. It was a water horse. It was a top-grade water horse. Ordinary water horses could not grow that tall and were probably worth thousands of taels of silver.
Qin pointed his head at Zhou Chong again and said: "Commander Li doesn't seem to believe it. This young man is also a bandit. He had already escaped, but because he respected Wang Xiucai for his bravery, he voluntarily surrendered and became a slave. Commander Li can ask him and he will know that I
Is it a lie?"
Zhou Chong immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Everything Uncle Qin said is true!"
Li Xi didn't bother to care about the bandit's surrender to the scholar. Originally he just wanted to talk nonsense with Wang Yuan and get the bandit's head, but now he changed his mind and planned to make friends with Wang Yuan.
How could it be possible to own a top-notch water horse without some background? This alone is worth making friends with.
Even the title changed, Li Xi said enthusiastically: "If Mr. Wang doesn't study, he will become a fierce general! But he is a child of the Guizhou Guards?"
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "I am not from the Guards. But my companion Li Ying and Li Liangchen are the third son of General Li's military family in Guizhou. He also killed three bandits."
"I've met Commander Li." Li Ying stepped forward and said.
When he heard that he was the son of the General Soldier of Guizhou, Li Xi's attitude became even more enthusiastic. He took Li Ying's hand and said, "A tiger father has no dog son. Mr. Li is indeed a brave man. You and I are both surnamed Li, and we were the same family five hundred years ago."
"
After the two sides exchanged a few words, Wang Yuan suddenly said: "Commander Li, we still have a few wounded. I wonder if we can ask the city's traditional Chinese medicine doctors to treat them first."
"It should, it should," Li Xi laughed and said, "The injury on Mr. Wang's shoulder also needs to be bandaged again."
While the wounded were being treated, the bandit heads and the captured living bandits were all handed over to the Pingyi Guards.
In the Ming Dynasty, the calculation of military merit was divided into "first merit" and "war merit". The "first merit" was the number of people captured alive or beheaded. The first merit was divided into four levels, namely north, northeast, southwest and inland rebels. In addition,
There are also secondary skills such as Japanese pirates and bandits.
Military merit cannot be calculated on the heads of bandits, unless these bandits attack the city and rebel, or grow to the point of alarming the court - this is how to raise bandits. If the bandits are not raised, there will be no military merit in suppressing the bandits. However, the small bandits will be captured.
Gang, at most, can add a few more lines to the resume, which can only be considered as auxiliary material for military officer promotion.
In comparison, civil servants prefer to suppress bandits and achieve real political achievements.
However, Zhang Ermazi once killed a gangster who was wanted by the court when he was appointed as a county magistrate. Li Xi was also punished for his failure to suppress the bandits. Zhang Ermazi and the bandit heads could be used to deal with errands and make up for Li Xi's past mistakes.
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Li Xi sent his men to hand over the bandit leaders to the government. The surviving bandits were all laborers, and they were all left to farm and work as tenant farmers for the military households.
Li Xi personally took out one hundred taels of silver and handed it to Wang Yuan and said: "Ms. Wang, this two-marked piece is from the giant bandit who went to sea to capture the official document. I will advance the silver reward to you first to save you from going to the government again."
trip."
The Ming Dynasty officials were very fond of offering rewards, especially for treason and treason. If the target of the reward could be caught, the civilians would directly serve as civilian officials, and the privates would directly become officers, and they could obtain all the property of the reward target.
"It's easy to say. Thank you Commander Li." Wang Yuan took out a piece of silver (five taels) by himself and gave the rest to Qin Hao. "Qin Hao gave the head and fifty taels to the dead or injured brothers, and kept the remaining forty-five taels."
Everyone shares it equally.”
Qin put his head in his fist and said, "I would like to thank Xianggong Wang on behalf of everyone."
"You value righteousness over wealth, you are a good man, haha!" Li Xi laughed and felt that Wang Yuan was extraordinary and would definitely be a big shot in the future.
That night, Li Xi invited Wang Yuan, Qin Botou and the students to have a drink and dinner, while the porters and book boys stayed in the inn.
When the reward money was scattered, everyone could get more than one tael, and those who were injured got more money. Wang Yuan's might had already impressed people, and now he was generous with his wealth. Whether he was a student, a book boy or a porter, everyone was right.
Wang Yuan didn't say anything and gave a thumbs up when he mentioned it.
At night, the porters stayed in Datongbu, and dozens of people slept on the floor bunks in one room.
The smell of sweat mixed with smelly feet made Tian Qiu feel nauseous, but in order to continue on the road tomorrow, he had to hold his nose and sleep here.
Tian Qiu is the one who successfully led Guizhou to launch its own provincial examination in history. Although he was born in Sinan Prefecture, he is not a descendant of the Tian family chieftain in Sizhou, but moved from Ji'an, Jiangxi in the early Ming Dynasty. He was forcibly married in "The Peach Blossom Fan"
Tian Yang, Li Xiangjun's powerful official in the Southern Ming Dynasty, was Tian Qiu's descendant for who knows how many generations.
Tian Qiu's second brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all worked as teachers in various places. His eldest brother was a Juren, and worked as a magistrate in Qujing Mansion, which can be reached in two or three days' walk.
Two days ago, Tian Qiu also encountered bandits, but the leader at that time was the chief, not the second chief Zhang Ermazi.
The bandits wanted to kidnap Tian Qiu and go up the mountain. Tian Qiu struggled hard and angered the bandits. His book boy was hacked to death on the spot. On the way to the mountain village, Tian Qiu jumped from the top of the mountain and rolled all the way to the bottom of the mountain. He was injured and fainted for a whole day.
The genius wakes up.
His bookboy is gone, his mount is gone, and his exam box is gone.
Of course, the money is gone. He exchanged his belt for dozens of pennies at a pawn shop, and can only live in Datongpu in Pingyi Shicheng. Tian Qiu plans to go to Qujing to find help from his elder brother.
"I saw it with my own eyes. Wang Xianggong slashed at the bandit with his sword. The bandit's head flew off and blood spurted out from his neck. He still stood there and still didn't fall down."
"Yeah, what a fast swordsmanship!"
"Not only is the sword fast, but the horse is also fast. It is difficult for people to climb that kind of steep slope. Wang Xianggong rode the horse as if he was flying. He flew seven or eight feet high, and before he landed, he shot Zhang Ermazi to death with one arrow.
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"Just brag. That horse doesn't have wings, and it can fly seven to eight feet high. If it falls, it will die."
"Don't believe it yet. Wang Xianggong rides a Shuixi dragon horse. Each horse costs several thousand taels of silver. It can fly several feet!"
"real?"
"It's fake, haha. Don't listen to Liu San's nonsense. At that time, Wang Xianggong's horse only jumped one foot high."
"It's not even a foot long."
"That's jumping down on big rocks, which is not unusual. What's really good about Wang Xianggong is that there are many bandits with bows on the mountain. Shooting arrows is like rain. Wang Xianggong alone dares to rush up the slope from below, dancing
The knife chopped away all the arrows that were shot..."
"Not all of them were chopped off. Wang Xianggong was hit by an arrow in the shoulder."
"Yes, I was hit by an arrow in the shoulder. Wang Xianggong was still injured. He rode straight to the slope and cut down twenty or thirty bandits by himself. This was not over yet. I heard Wang Xianggong shout loudly: 'The second king of Montenegro is here.
Then, he rode his horse and rushed to the official road, slashing one by one, killing corpses all over the place, and scaring the remaining bandits to the point where they knelt down and begged for mercy."
"Xianggong Wang is not only powerful, but also very righteous. He offered a reward of one hundred taels of silver, but he only took five taels for himself, and divided the rest. I even got one tael of silver!"
"You are so lucky to have met Wang Xianggong, he is a good man."
"..."
The caravan porters didn't have much entertainment. They just lied in Datong and boasted all kinds of things, to the amazement of other passengers.
These businessmen traveled north and south. It is estimated that in two or three months, Wang Xianggong's name will spread far and wide. Even bandits from all over the country will know that there is a god of death named Heishan Wang Er.
Not only the merchants, but also the officers and soldiers of the Pingyi Guard were also talking about it. The main reason was that Wang Yuan was too awesome in killing the enemy.
Tian Qiu was also fascinated and couldn't help but ask: "What is the name of Mr. Wang?"
A porter said proudly: "Wang Yuan, our Guizhou prodigy, the chief envoy even composed a prodigy poem for him!"
"But Wang Yuan who wrote "Linjiang Immortal"?" Tian Qiu said in surprise.
The porter didn't understand: "What is "Linjiang Fairy"?"
Tian Qiu was too lazy to pay attention to this person and said to himself: "I must go and see such a fairy-like person!"
(I made a mistake when checking the information before. The Pingyi Guards were changed to the Pingyue Guards, so the commander was given the surname Wang. This has been corrected.)