"I heard that there are thugs in front of us, let's turn back!"
The sun was sinking between the mountains in the west. Seeing the surrounding mountains and trees gradually dimming, Liu Chengzu couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Zhang Dapeng said with a smile, "Did the thug scare you?"
However, Liu Chengzu did not become emboldened by being laughed at. He just kindly persuaded Zhang Peng, "You are not from Shu, so you don't know how powerful these thugs are. These people are more ferocious than tigers and leopards."
Liu Chengzu was a native of Shu and northern Sichuan. Although he left northern Sichuan a few years ago and took refuge in the Shizhu area to survive. After a few years of stable life, he later joined the white-armed soldiers under the command of Qin Liangyu, the chieftain of Shizhu. But this time
If his superiors had not ordered him to be a guide, he would never have wanted to come back.
Zhang Dapeng is from eastern Zhejiang, an orphan with no father or mother. He joined the imperial camp and followed the Northern Expedition. With his bravery and daring to fight, and good luck, he did well, and even married a gentle man who could manage the household.
The widow not only picked up several children for nothing, she even gave birth to a child of her own and bought land in her hometown.
However, as an officer in the imperial camp, now that the ZTE has been restored, he, as a soldier, must obey military orders. He was selected to go to the imperial camp in Sichuan and Shaanxi. This new camp was mainly based on the Ming army in central Sichuan. The emperor dispatched a group of soldiers.
A group of officers came over to enrich the situation.
A group of imperial battalion officers rushed to eastern Sichuan in batches and arrived in Chongqing. Zhang Dapeng became a battalion officer and commanded a battalion of 500 soldiers and 180 auxiliary soldiers. However, he had not yet adapted to becoming a battalion officer, so he got another
New mission, go to Hanzhong.
Instead of taking his battalion, he took only a few people to secretly go north, especially through the areas controlled by the Western Army.
The mission was very dangerous, but Zhang Dapeng gladly accepted it. The reason for choosing him was simple. He was not only an officer sent to Sichuan by the imperial camp, he was also a bodyguard of the emperor. Now he also has the title of imperial weapon, which is what he wears on his waist.
A thousand-ox knife.
Wen Anzhi and Qin Liangyu needed his identity to go to Hanzhong.
The Duke of Shu, Qin Liangyu, specially dispatched Liu Chengzu, a white soldier from his hometown in northern Sichuan, as his guide. After some disguise, they headed north.
The journey was cautious, going north along the Jialing River from Chongqing to Shunqing and then to Baoning. Zhang Dapeng, who came from eastern Zhejiang, was shocked by what he saw along the way.
He marched all the way from the southeast to the west. Jiangxi, Hunan and other places were devastated by war and were very desolate. But after entering Shu, he found that Shu, the land of abundance, was actually even worse.
Stone pillars are better.
An important town like Chongqing is actually very desolate.
After heading north to Sichuan, it becomes even more desolate.
He even saw tigers every day, and there were groups of tigers.
In this regard, Liu Chengzu, a native of northern Sichuan, told him, "At the time of peace, there were no tigers in Shu. However, in the three or four years since the Xian bandits set up camp, tigers were everywhere in Sichuan, either in groups of one or twenty, or in pairs of seven or eight.
Road, jumping over walls and climbing into houses, floating on water and climbing onto boats are all things that have never been heard of before, and even outsiders would not believe them."
Zhang Dapeng had never seen a tiger in eastern Zhejiang before. He had only heard about it but had never seen it with his own eyes. But after coming to Shu, he went north and saw tigers more than once. In Hezhou, north of Chongqing,
He saw four tigers passing by them on the other side of the river under the moonlight.
In Guang'an Prefecture, Shunqing Prefecture, while on a boat in the middle of the river, he also saw a group of tigers passing by like a herd of sheep. They were not only more numerous but also larger.
At Fenghuang Mountain in Pengzhou, I saw dozens of tigers on the mountain.
If you hadn't seen this with your own eyes, you would never believe it. After all, they say there is no room for two tigers in one mountain, and tigers are not animals that like to live in groups.
But in recent years, tigers have become a problem in central Sichuan, especially in Shunqing and Baoning Prefectures in northern Sichuan. It is said that tigers now appear in groups, numbering in the thousands.
Nanchong County, which was destroyed by the war, has become a tiger's den, the county school and even a place where tigers give birth to cubs.
There are reports of tigers eating people everywhere.
There are many leopards in southern Sichuan and many wolves in western Sichuan.
Anyway, today's Shu is no longer a land of abundance and wealth. It has almost become a purgatory.
Carrying muskets, bows and arrows, and swords and spears, Zhang Dapeng and others were attacked by tigers several times. If it were not for these firearms waiting with them, they would probably have become one of the countless people in Sichuan who have been eaten by tigers today.
He originally thought that the tigers and leopards in Sichuan were scary enough, but in the eyes of Liu Chengzu from northern Sichuan, the most terrifying thing was not these tigers and leopards that appeared in groups, but the local bullies.
Tubozi are not local leopards, nor are they country bumpkin, but a more terrifying existence than tigers and leopards, and they also eat humans.
"Are the thugs really more vicious than tigers and leopards? Are they also cannibals?"
Liu Chengzu sighed.
"It's getting dark soon, let's find a place to take shelter quickly. We have to guard against tigers, but also against local bullies."
Liu Chengzu did not dare to take things lightly and asked Zhang Dapeng to quickly follow him.
Before dark, they found a shelter.
A mountain temple, a small temple that has been destroyed, but there are still a few half-remaining earth walls. Even if there is no roof, it can at least be safer if you cut some branches to plug the gaps in the walls.
But they're not the only ones here.
When they arrived, a group of people had gathered here, and their appearance even caused the other party to panic. Later, Liu Chengzu came forward and finally calmed everyone down with a Sichuan accent.
The collapsed temple wall has been blocked up with branches and stones with the joint efforts of everyone. We even worked together to build a temporary simple roof.
This dilapidated little temple can withstand the coldness of early spring nights.
They dug a hole, put some dry firewood on the pile, and lit a fire. They could feel warm and safe in this cold wilderness.
Zhang Dapeng looked at the group of people beside the fire and always felt a little scared.
None of the people I met on the way looked normal.
The dozen or so people huddled there, as if they were from the underworld.
An old man with no nose, which made his face look scary.
There is also an old man who is missing his left arm, and a woman next to him is missing her right arm. There are also people who are missing ears and eyes. Anyway, none of these people are normal.
Zhang Dapeng took out some fried noodles, set up a small pot on the fire, boiled water, added the fried noodles and stirred until it turned into a small dry dough.
He distributed it generously to everyone.
A group of people had their throats trembled. They reluctantly refused politely, then quickly took it and wolfed it down.
Some people even choked and rolled their eyes. Zhang Dapeng quickly handed over the water to save the situation.
After finishing a very simple meal of fried noodles, everyone became much closer.
At this time everyone started to introduce themselves.
Those people with no noses, ears, and one eye said that they had been robbed by yellow thieves before, and they were lucky. After all, they were just missing something, at least they were still alive. Speaking of yellow thieves
, and their faces were full of fear.
This is an unavoidable panic that will always be with them.
The yellow thief is one of the local bullies.
The so-called waving the yellow flag originally refers to some peasant armies headed by Shaking Tiandong and Huang Long. Most of these people themselves came from Shaanxi. During the Chongzhen period, the northern Shaanxi bandits Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and other troops entered Sichuan several times, each time taking a large number of people with them.
The young people in Guanzhong, Hanzhong, Huguang and other places.
Those who entered Sichuan soon left Sichuan during the Ming army's encirclement and suppression, but every time many young and strong people who were threatened were stranded in the mountainous areas on the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi.
These people failed to escape the encirclement with the main force. After being forced to stay, they still had to be surrounded and suppressed by the Ming army, local chieftains, landlords, etc.
These people were originally ordinary people who were suffering, but under the oppression of the chaos, they eventually had no choice but to continue to turn into bandits, or join forces with local bandits, thus forming the Yellow Bandits headed by Shake Tiandong and Huang Long.
Although both Yaotiandong and Huanglong later died in battles in Huguang, Shaanxi and other places, the Yellow Flag thieves in Sichuan still survived, and many people who were desperate due to war, famine, etc. even joined the Yellow Flag Shaker.
They continued to use the banner of waving yellow thieves, mainly plundering in central Sichuan, occupying mountain dangers, plundering villages, rarely attacking cities, mainly wandering around to plunder villages.
There are thirteen gangs of yellow flag wavers, called the Thirteen Yellow Flag Shakers, which means there are thirteen relatively large forces. During this period, some yellow flag wavers were wiped out, but soon new people will continue to hold the flag.
Therefore, although the Thirteen Yellow Yao Families have changed many leaders and forces, these thieves and bandits under the banner of Yao Huang Thieves have always existed.
Even because of the frequent wars and famine in Sichuan in recent years, the yellow thieves' actions have become more and more brutal. They not only rob money and food, but even directly rob people for food.
In addition to the Thirteen Families of Yellow Raiders, there are many thieves who are not under the banner of Yellow Raiders, who also rob and even cannibalize everywhere.
Therefore, these cannibals are called thugs by Sichuan people.
Today, among the thirteen robber families, the most powerful one is Yuan Tao, who calls himself the King of Fighting for Heaven or the King of Fighting for Food. This man is from Mianxian County, Shaanxi Province. He defected to the thieves because of the incident of raping his aunt, and finally joined Zhang Xianzhong's army.
, after Zhang Xianzhong left Sichuan, he stayed in northern Sichuan.
The Thirteen Families claim to have a crowd of more than 100,000, but they behave very despicably. They not only rob the people, but also like to eat people.
They have a stronghold in the mountains in northern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan. They often move around and plunder. They not only rob money and food, but also like to rob people. After taking people back to their stronghold in the mountains, they first farm the fields and collect salt, etc., and even have the king of heaven tattooed on their face.
, Dawang and other words.
The people they plundered served as their labor slaves or cannon fodder for the strongholds, and they recruited some of the young and strong people as soldiers. Sometimes they also released some of the captive people after one or two years of service.
Because they have the words "Heavenly King" tattooed on their faces, they will be arrested and questioned by the government when they go back. So even if these people let them go, they have nowhere to go and can only continue to be attached to the yellow thief.
Of course, this is a relatively good time for the yellow thieves, when they are gaining power smoothly. If they are severely encircled and suppressed by the government troops, or if they encounter resistance from local landlords and common people, they will retaliate very brutally.
For example, they once conquered the villages in northern Sichuan where the resistance was extremely fierce, and they did whatever they wanted to the local people who resisted them. They cut off the eyes and ears, cut off the noses and tongues, cut off the hands and shins, peeled off the skin and sucked out the intestines, and even stabbed the children with spears.
Above, throw living people into the fire and water, regard them as stumbling around, and use them as a show. They are vicious and cruel, and there is a pen that cannot be used to write... The nursery rhyme of the time goes: "Thieves flow, thieves flow, the upper world is different."
He beheads people. If there is one person who cannot be beheaded, the plague messenger will be behind.
These people were originally part of the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty, but later they merged with bandits and bandits and became an extremely evil force.
They no longer only said they wanted to resist the tyranny of the government or survive in famine, but they also committed all kinds of evil, including robbery, murder, adultery, and even cannibalism.
They kill people not just to survive, but to intimidate the people. They are no different from cannibals like Zhu Can in the late Sui Dynasty and Qin Zongliang in the late Tang Dynasty. They rely on looting and even cannibalism to cause killing and destruction everywhere.
.
They are completely a group of anti-human beings.
After Zhang Xianzhong entered Shu again, most of the Thirteen Yaohuang families surrendered to Zhang Xianzhong. They relied on Zhang Xianzhong, but they continued to occupy some dangerous mountainous areas in northern and eastern Sichuan and continued to do evil.
It is said that over the past ten years or so, the yellow thieves have killed and eaten hundreds of thousands of people in central Sichuan.
Tigers appeared in Sichuan. Thousands of people were eaten by tigers every year, but tens of thousands were killed and eaten by the thirteen thieves.
In the ruined temple.
The old couple, the man who lost his left hand and the woman who lost her right arm, said that their hands were chopped off by Zhang Xianzhong in Chongqing.
Zhang Xianzhong's reputation for cruelty is well-deserved. When he captured Lu'an, he cut off the arms of all the captives, including men on the left and women on the right. When he entered Sichuan for the third time, he used gunpowder to blast Chongqing and captured this gateway.
Not only did they cut the governor's body into pieces on five horses, but he also cut off one arm of each of the more than 30,000 prisoners.
The two old men each had an arm broken, which was cut off when Chongqing was captured by the Western Army.
"Where are you going?" Zhang Dapeng asked.
"I heard that Zhang Xianzhong led his troops north from Chengdu. We plan to flee to Hanzhong. He Zhenma Ke and others in Hanzhong have now joined the Emperor of Heaven. We are planning to flee to Hanzhong first, and then we will see whether we can go to Yunyang to escape along the Han River.
.”
"Why not go to Chongqing and Kuizhou?"
"I heard that the Western bandits are going to send troops to attack Shunqing and Chongqing. How can we dare to go south?"
