Chapter 119 The minister of the country, how can he die wildly
On this day,
"Sir, we want to gather the rebel army and go to Changbaidang to join the rebel army of brother Qian Zhan and Qian Zhan before we make plans."
Tu Xiangmei came under a big tree and said to Xu Shiqi.
Since the defeat in Jiaxing, only about 300 of the tens of thousands of rebels are left. The initially massive uprising has now been scattered, leaving only the most determined ones.
Xu Shiqi is already sixty-eight years old. During this period of time, he has been hiding from the Tibetan wind and drinking dew. He has become too thin. He is skinny and skinny, and his eye sockets are sunken.
Xu Shiqi, who was leaning on a cane, shook his head and said, "You are still young. If you continue to lead the rebels to fight, I will have my neck buried in the ground. Following you is just a drag. I won't leave. This place is nice, with beautiful scenery and mountains."
Water, I like this camphor tree, and I will die for my country by throwing myself into the ring here."
"Sir, it's my incompetence that's causing trouble, so please don't give up."
"I'm already at this age, and I have nothing to give up. Anyway, I was born as a member of the Ming Dynasty, and I will be a ghost of the Ming Dynasty when I die. Even if I die, I will not be a minister of the subjugation of the country."
The thin old man was leaning on a crutch, his eyes full of memories. He was born in the fifth year of Wanli, which was a relatively good year of the Ming Dynasty. He was a high school scholar in the second year of Tianqi, and was the head of the maintenance department of the Ministry of Engineering. He was young at that time.
He was vigorous and unafraid of power. He offended Wei Zhongxian by rescuing Huang Zunsu, the censor, and was falsely accused of accepting bribes, and was extorted and expropriated.
It was not until the third year of Chongzhen that he was reinstated as the chief priest of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites. He served as an official in Nanjing for more than ten years. He returned to Beijing as Zuo Tongzheng, and then moved to Guangluqing as Tongzheng envoy. In the thirteenth year, he was summoned to guard the border and rescue the people.
In the 15th year of his service, he was promoted to the Right Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and later to the Minister of Punishment. Because of his disobedience to the emperor, he was dismissed from his post and sat idle.
Hongguang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and was appointed as the censor of the deputy capital. Later, he was promoted to the censor of the left capital and was awarded the title of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Due to a disagreement with Ma Shiying and others, he returned to his hometown and started teaching.
This life was passing through his mind like a revolving door. He recalled that when Hongguang proclaimed himself emperor and summoned him to the court, he went there happily. He was full of willingness to save the country and hoped to restore the Ming Dynasty. But who knew that the Nanjing Party was fighting for Yu Lie, and in the end he could only
Reluctantly returned home.
When Tu Xiangmei and others raised volunteers, he was actually not optimistic at all. He felt that these scholars did not know the military skills and would not be able to accomplish anything. However, he still had loyalty in his heart. In the end, he destroyed his family to relieve the disaster. The almost seventy-year-old man still followed suit.
To this day, he has never regretted it, but he really can't run anymore.
"Let me use these seven feet of white silk to end my life here. When I die, you can collect my body and bury it. Just write on the tombstone Xu Shiqi, a minister who died for the Ming Dynasty."
Tu Xiangmei and Li Yuxin shed tears after hearing this.
"Go ahead. If you can't get a foothold in Changbaidang, don't go north anymore. Instead, go south."
As he spoke, Xu Shiqi drew the word "Lu" on the ground.
"Go and join Lu Jianguo."
Huang Zunsu's son Huang Zongxi had written to him before, saying that King Lu was supervising the country in eastern Zhejiang and how decisive and ambitious he was, and asked him to go south to Shaoxing to do things. Xu Shiqi refused, because he was old and didn't want to travel anymore, and
I don't have much hope for the king of Lu who oversees the country.
When King Fu was supported by the civil and military forces of Nanjing, the conditions were great and he had hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but he could not hold on for a year, so he already thought in his heart that the Ming Dynasty was really exhausted and there was no possibility of a revival.
But at this moment, he still wrote the word "Lu" to his two young descendants to guide them to retreat to eastern Zhejiang and join the King of Lu in times of crisis.
Let's just call it an old man's last fantasy.
The servant Zu Min and Li Sheng knelt on the ground and said, "Why do you say this, sir? I am willing to escort the boss south to Shaoxing. I heard that Zhang Guowei, Liu Zongzhou, Qi Biaojia and many other bosses gathered together. There is hope for the Ming Dynasty to be revived. Boss
A man is a minister of the country, how can he die in the wild outside the city?"
"Yes, Sir, I am the Taibao of the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty. Once the rule of the Ming Dynasty is renewed, Sir, Sir, you should return to the court to discuss government affairs and protect the Ming Dynasty together."
Xu Shiqi was a little touched by the sentence "How can the minister of the country be outside the city?"
But I really can't walk anymore.
suddenly.
Student Ye Shuzhan came on horseback. He tied a red scarf on his head to cover his bald head. He ran in front of everyone and got off the horse.
"Teacher, Tu Gong, Li Gong, I was patrolling in front. I encountered some suspicious riders. I stopped them and questioned them. They said they came from the south."
"Claims to be the envoy of the Ming Dynasty's Jiangnan Admiral."
"Where are the people?"
"Could it be a Tatar spy?"
"There is a person who claims to know the teacher."
"Oh? Can you identify yourself?"
"He claims to be Huang Zongyan, the second son of the former censor Huang Zunsu and a disciple of Liu Zongzhou. He also said that he once sought advice from his teacher and is now a censor of Lu Jianguo. This time he came to Jiaxing to meet his teacher and contact Jiaxing righteous men."
When Xu Shiqi heard Huang Zongyan's name, he nodded immediately.
"It turns out it's him, please come quickly."
Ye Shuzhan rode away, and after a while he brought some more horses.
Xu Shiqi was leaning on a crutch with an expectant look on his face, and he recognized this young man from a distance. He had indeed studied under him, and he had a good relationship with the Huang family. When he first entered the official career, he tried his best to rescue Huang Zunsu, which offended Wei Zhongxian.
He was framed for accepting bribes, and was also extorted from the government.
It was precisely because of this that he had contacts with the Huang Zongxi brothers.
"The students pay homage to the teacher. Is the teacher okay?"
As soon as Huang Zongyan saw him, he immediately knelt down and worshiped.
Xu Shiqi stepped forward and helped him up, "I didn't expect to see you again, Hui Mu, why are you here?"
Under the shade of trees.
Huang Zongyan met with everyone, and then told the purpose of his trip, which was to go north to contact the loyal ministers of Sanwu on the orders of Lu Jianguo. The eldest brother wrote several letters to the teacher, inviting him to go south, but the teacher didn't reply.
So I came to take a trip myself.
Xu Shiqi sighed, "The rebel army was defeated and went south without a face. It is even more embarrassing to see the lords."
"Teacher, don't be discouraged. Let me tell you the good news. Your Highness has sent his troops to the Northern Expedition, crossed the sea in person, and won several great victories. He has annihilated nearly ten thousand Tartar troops. He is now marching towards Jiaxing."
This news greatly excited Tu Xiangmei and everyone else.
"Tell me more carefully, I am waiting here with my eyes and ears blocked, like a frog at the bottom of a well."
After a long time.
Everyone looked shocked.
"Li Yuchun was defeated at Zhujiazhuang in Haiyan and was captured?"
"Later he was rescued by the Tonglu squire?"
"Jiangnan Admiral Zhu Wu is His Royal Highness the Supervisor of the Kingdom?"
All kinds of news are unbelievable, but Huang Zongyan is already in front of him, and the news he said personally will never be false.
Because Yan Wogong's identity was a top secret, it was a little regretful that Zhujiazhuang was victorious in public announcements, and in the end the traitor Yan Wagong led his men to rescue Li Yuchun.
During the subsequent siege of Zhujiazhuang, Li Yuchun personally led 500 elite servants to attack Zhuwu's camp at night. After missing a single hit, he abandoned most of the village and escaped by cutting off his tail.
Lu Jianguo personally led the Wang division to pursue them all the way.
The uprising in Jiaxing was not planned by Zhu Yihai. He had previously sent people to actively contact people from all walks of life in Wudi, but he failed to contact Jiaxing. What was even more unexpected was that two young scholars, Tu Xiangmei and Li Yuxin, could actually carry out the uprising.
So big.
It was actually carried out with great vigor, and tens of thousands of rebels were mobilized. Although this method of sending one soldier from each family seemed to Zhu Yihai to be a bit nonsense, this is not how to fight a war, especially with so many rebels, it would cost a lot to eat horses and chew them.
Since there is no normal source of money or food, we can only solicit donations from rich families and distribute them to the common people. This actually puts a lot of burden on the common people.
Coupled with the sudden appearance of the fake commander-in-chief Chen Wu and the bandits who came to surrender, the rebel army became even more chaotic.
Yan Wogong was suddenly summoned to Hangzhou, and Li Yuchun became a part of Zhu Yihai that was beyond Zhu Yihai's control. This led to the Jiaxing Uprising, and then Li Yuchun defeated the Jiaxing rebels and captured the city of Jiaxing.
All this happened so fast that Zhu Yihai, who was marching while integrating his troops and horses, killing bandits and thieves along the way, suppressing traitors and bullies, training his troops in actual combat, and raising food and wages, was caught off guard.
It was too late to save him.
Zhu Yihai mainly focused on the uprisings in Songjiang and Kunshan, and even sent many troops there, but he temporarily ignored the Jiaxing Prefecture around him.
After all, no one expected that a Hanlin criticizing a military department could have such courage and quickly recruit tens of thousands of troops.
"Where is His Highness? We will go to greet you."
"On the outskirts of Pinghu County."
"Then Pinghu County will be recovered soon. Previously, we rebelled, captured Pinghu and killed the fake county magistrate, but the thief Li quickly led his troops to capture Pinghu." Speaking of this, Tu Xiangmei was very sad.
They had taken three counties in a row before, but who knew they were completely defeated in an instant.
Although Huang Zongyan came from Shaoxing later, he also knew something about the current situation in Jiaxing after meeting with the supervisor.
"I also ask teachers and everyone to quickly lead the troops and follow me south to Pinghu to pay homage to His Highness Jian Guo."
Xu Shiqi, who had originally chosen this camphor tree and wanted to hang himself under the tree, no longer wanted to die. No matter he was sixty-eight years old, he could still fight for the Ming Dynasty for a few more years.
He felt that his waist was no longer sore, his legs were aching, and he no longer felt the need for crutches, and he had no problem riding a horse.
"We came here specially and the teacher prepared a Wupeng oil tanker."
"I can ride a horse, too." Xu Shiqi grew stronger and more heroic.
Huang Zongyan smiled and tried to help him, but he pushed him away and said, "I can do that."
A few days later.
On the outskirts of Pinghu City, Xu Shiqi disembarked from the boat and landed on the beach. He saw a large group of companies. The high-flying red flags, especially the sun and moon flag, made him cry with excitement.
Although I feel that these flags are a bit thin, the Qingdao flag, the Golden Drum Flag, the Five Directions Flag, the Five Directions Divine Flag, the Twenty-Eight Constellations Flag, the Three Armies Command Flag, the Twenty-Eight Constellations True Shape Flag, and the Twelve Zodiac Flags,
The flags of Liuding and Liujia are all in disarray.
There is no Big Dipper or the flag flying high.
Flying dragons, flying tigers, flying tigers, flying leopard flags, sitting flags, etc. are all in disarray.
But just those bright flags were enough to make this old man burst into tears.
"How many royal masters is this?"
"Returning to the old man, the Eighth Battalion of the Cavalry Battalion has four thousand, the Twelfth Battalion of the Navy has six thousand, the Thirty-two Battalion of the Infantry Battalion has sixteen thousand, a total of fifty-two battalions, twenty-six thousand combat soldiers, and nine auxiliary soldiers.
One thousand three hundred and six, the whole army is thirty-five thousand three hundred and six, and there are also a number of people from the camp office, grain station office, procurement and compilation office, supervision office, etc...."
Xu Shiqi looked at these continuous military camps and listened to these numbers, and he was a little dazed, "Are these the Sixth Northern Expedition Division proposed by the Supervisor?"
"Exactly."
Xu Shiqi slapped his thigh angrily, "There is hope for the Ming Dynasty and ZTE!"