Zhao Zhongyi got up early, picked up three loads of water, filled the large water tank, boiled another pot of water, and brewed a pot of high-breakfast tea for the old master.
The old master didn't get up until he smelled the fragrance of tea.
"Today is a good day. During the Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer, the Canglong Qisu ascends to the center of due south, and is in the center of the year. The fifth line of the Eight Diagrams in the Book of Changes: The flying dragon is in the sky, which is an auspicious day."
Zhao Zhongyi didn't understand the Book of Changes, but he liked the words "flying dragon in the sky" when he heard it. He thought dragon was mysterious, auspicious and even supremely majestic.
"It's a pity that there is no dragon boat racing here. I miss my hometown in Jiangyin." Zhao Zhongyi said.
When the old master gets up, he first rinses his mouth with tea, then washes his face and changes clothes.
"My hometown is doing well now. The Tartars have been driven out, the traitors have been dealt with, and the bandits have been suppressed. Now peace has been restored and the people are working happily. I heard that there is no wasteland left in Jiangyin. Even the Huangtian Port pier is crowded with merchant ships and is very prosperous."
"The dragon boat race in my hometown will definitely be lively this year, but it's a pity that we can't watch it."
The Dragon Boat Festival is a big national festival. This day integrates worshiping gods and ancestors, praying for blessings and warding off evil spirits, celebrating entertainment and eating. In Jiangnan, the Dragon Boat Festival also retains many Baiyue customs, such as rowing dragon boats and eating rice dumplings.
No matter you have money or not, you will be very lively and happy every day.
Unfortunately, they are now in Yongcheng, southeastern Henan.
Yongcheng is affiliated to Guide Prefecture in Henan Province. It is a battleground for military strategists. If you occupy Yongcheng, you can threaten Xuzhou to the northeast and Shangqiu to the northwest. It serves as the guard of the two important towns.
Since the Sui Dynasty, Yongcheng has been the only place where the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal must pass. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty considered this place to be strategically important, so he established a county. Yongcheng became the hub of north-south transportation.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River migrated erratically from north to south along the old route of the Bianhe River. In the late Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River took water from Bianhe River and entered the Huaihe River. The old route of the Bianhe River was completely silted up in the north of Yongcheng. The Yellow River passed through Xuzhou from the north of Guide through Dangshan Mountain, although it no longer passed through Yongcheng.
, but Yongcheng’s geographical location is still important.
"Today is an auspicious day. The altar will be opened in the evening. Please go and notify us." The old master said.
Zhao Zhongyi nodded, "Old Master, we have been here for so long. When will there be a mission from above? I heard that there is another Northern Expedition. Long live the troops and horses. We can't just stay here all the time. We have to get moving.
ah."
"It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes a while to use it. Don't be hasty, you have to be patient." The old master was very calm.
"Wait a minute, when did this happen? If I had known, I shouldn't have left Jiangyin."
However, the old master still said, "There will always be a time to play, don't worry, just be your senior brother and recruit more loyal Red Spear members. Don't finish the mission only to have your hips stretched."
"Don't worry, our Yongcheng Red Spear Club has been secretly developing for more than half a year, and now we have many members."
"What's the use of having many people, we have to work together."
The old master comforted Zhao Zhongyi, "Since we chose this road and came here voluntarily, we must be patient and not be impatient or half-hearted in doing things!"
Zhao San went back, washed his face, and cooked some noodle soup in the kitchen. After the two of them finished drinking, he put down the bowls and chopsticks and went out.
Yongcheng is located in the southernmost part of Guide Prefecture.
During the Chongzhen period, Henan was a place torn by four wars and suffered from military disasters. After Hongguang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing, he established four towns in Jiangbei. Gao Jie was granted the title of Xingpingbo and was stationed in Xuzhou.
Gao Jie was originally a general under Li Zicheng. He later committed adultery with Li Zicheng's wife, Xing, and eloped to join the Ming army. Finally, he became one of the Four Towns by supporting him. He had an old enmity with Huang Degong, another general of the Four Towns, and Huang Degong led three
Baiqin soldiers went to Gaoyou to pick up Denglai general Huang Fei. When Gao Jie found out, he led his troops to ambush Huang Fei, but Huang Degong only escaped with his life.
Afterwards, Gao Jie also sent troops to attack Huang Degong's station in Yizheng. The Jianghuai River was chaotic and turned into a pot of porridge, which made the place even worse.
Later, Shi Kefa mediated the two feudal clans of Huang and Gao.
Afterwards, Gao Jie led his troops northward to Guide, Henan, and planned to restore the Central Plains. Xu Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of Henan, stationed himself in Suizhou, Guide, and secretly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
When Gao Jie was still under Li Zicheng, he once led his troops to plunder a place, which was the hometown of Xu Dingguo. At that time, his whole family was killed by Gao Jie's troops.
Because of this old enmity, after Gao Jie led his army into Guide, Xu Dingguo invited Gao Jie into Suizhou City. Gao Jie ignored the dissuasion of Chen Qianfu and others and went into the city for a banquet.
As a result, Xu Dingguo ambushed everyone in the middle of the night and killed Gao Jie and all his soldiers who entered the city.
At dawn, Gao Jie's nephew Li Benshen and others outside the city sent troops to attack the city. Li Dingguo abandoned the city and broke out and crossed the Yellow River to join the Qing army. Gao Jie's troops entered the city and massacred Suizhou City.
Gao Jie died, and Li Dingguo fled to the north.
Gao Jie's men even looted Guide Mansion wantonly, and the entire Guide Mansion was looted.
Soon after, Xu Dingguo was the vanguard of the Qing army and led the troops to fight back. After recapturing Hui Germany, he again went on a killing spree and looted.
Xu Dingguo originally joined the army in Liaodong. After Liaodong fell, Xu Dingguo abandoned his land and fled, crossed the sea to Denglai, and was retained by the governor. After Mao Wenlong regained Dongjiang, Xu Dingguo was sent to lead a thousand troops to respond.
In the early years of the Apocalypse, Yuan Ke was appointed governor of Denglai, and Xu Dingguo was appointed by him to defend the sea route. Later, he served the White Lotus Sect for his meritorious service, and took charge of the Denglai governor's military affairs with the title of guerrilla, and was promoted to the rank of general. He was later impeached.
Dismissed from office and returned home. In the battle of Ningjin, he sent a letter to ask for help. Accordingly, Ningjin won a great victory. After describing his merits, he was restored to his post.
From Taichang to Tianqi, Xu Dingguo had been in Liaodong, serving as general Denglai. His performance was acceptable, but his military discipline was not good and he was impeached many times.
In the Chongzhen Dynasty, Xu Dingguo was promoted from the deputy commander-in-chief of Jiliao to the commander-in-chief of Henan. However, when the peasant army invaded Henan, Xu Dingguo was too timid to fight, so he was dismissed.
Gu Qi
Later, he added the deputy commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province. After the defeat of Songjin, Xu Dingguo replaced Li Fuming, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province who had been dismissed due to the defeat. In the fifteenth year, Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng, and Xu Dingguo led his troops to Henan again.
They mutinied halfway through the march, and became even more domineering after entering Henan.
After the fall of Kaifeng, Xu Dingguo was imprisoned. Ding's troops were defeated and looted, and other crimes were punishable by death.
But not long after, Sun Chuanting died in the battle in Guanzhong. The imperial court was shocked and had to use a large number of military officers. Xu Dingguo was among them, and he was appointed as the chief military officer to assist and suppress Henan.
But Xu Dingguo, who resurrected again, became even more arrogant. He stationed himself in Suizhou, neither south nor north, just waiting and watching, plundering everywhere in Guide, and the people suffered greatly.
The local gentry and common people had to form strongholds to defend themselves against Xu Dingguo's rebellion.
When the Hongguang Dynasty came to power, Chen Qianfu's best policy was to first pretend to appease him with a title, and then to follow him. However, Nanjing did not listen to Chen Qianfu's suggestion. Instead, he said that he would sincerely restore it, and gave it a seal.
Seal of General Zhenbei.
The result was just as Chen Qianfu said, Xu Dingguo secretly sent his son to the Qing Dynasty, then sent troops to attack and plunder everywhere, and finally trapped and killed Gao Jie, cutting off Nanming's arm.
Later, he led the Qing army to attack Guide again and fought all the way to Yangzhou, where he participated in the Yangzhou Massacre.
In the past few years, Guide Mansion has been repeatedly attacked and plundered by the Chuang army, the Qing army and even the Ming army.
Among them, Yongcheng is more serious.
Last year, the Ming Army's Northern Expedition penetrated deep into Changping, Shandong Province. One of their troops also entered Guide Mansion, east of Xuzhou.
Soon after, the Ming army returned to Jiangnan.
But some people stayed.
Old Master Zhao and Zhao Zhongyi were left behind at that time. Their mission was to develop anti-Qing forces in Yongcheng and actively organize troops, not only to collect and deliver intelligence for the court, but also to penetrate into the heart of the enemy.
There were many people sent out at that time and they were scattered in various places.
Yongcheng is dominated by the two of them. After almost a year of development, the Loyalty Red Spear Association established by the two in Yongcheng has now become a huge force in Yongcheng.
It can be found in almost every remaining village in Yongcheng.
It is precisely because Guide Yongcheng has been plagued by wars in recent years and the people have been displaced. No one is reliable, whether it is the Chuang army, the Qing army, or the Ming army, so the people can only save themselves.
In the countryside, the people are originally uninformed and backward, so there have always been secret societies and various incense-burning gatherings among the people.
During the war, the people were destitute and had no money. Not only were soldiers robbing them, but all kinds of bandits were also everywhere.
For example, there are swordsmen in Luoyang, generals in western Henan, Nianzi in Guide, and thieves in Shandong. In fact, no matter what their names are, they are all bandits, but the bandits after these names also have their own characteristics.
For example, the Danjiangs in western Henan, also known as Laotang, were actually a group of casual workers in the past. During the slack season in winter, they would team up to repair and maintain farmland canals, etc. They were called Danjiangs. These people are young and poor.
In times of famine, when no one hires them, they can easily turn into bandits to survive.
Bandits such as Guanzhong Swordsmen and Luoyang Guanke got their names because most of them used Guanshan knives as weapons.
As for the name "Nuanzi" in Huaibei, it also has an origin. "Nuanzi" is the Huaibei dialect, which means a group.
In Huaibei, especially around Guide Prefecture, there have always been vagrants who knead paper, ignite grease, burn oil and twist paper to perform rituals, and gather people to perform during festivals to ward off diseases and disasters for profit.
They would collect donations of sesame oil money from the villagers, but in times of trouble, there were many people who directly threatened and extorted money from them.
The more severe the famine, the more people enter the area. It is said that those who live in the area are the people, and those who leave the area are called the area. Officially, they are called bandits.
Whether it's the swordsmen in northern Henan, the Lao Tang in western Henan, the thieves in eastern Henan, or the nuanzi in southern Henan, anyway, the more chaotic the world is, the more thieves and bandits will be.
It is even difficult to distinguish between official bandits and civilian bandits.
It is too difficult for ordinary people to survive in this world, so they can only rely on their clans and unite to protect themselves.
It was under this environment that the old man and his wife came to Yongcheng to take root.
At first, the old master rented a yard in Daqiuji in the countryside of Yongcheng, then established the name of a school and recruited students to take classes.
It is very simple for the old master to recruit students. Anyone, young or old, male or female, can come to class. There is no tuition fee. It is all voluntary. Those who have food will give some food, and those who have money will give some money. He will not refuse those who have nothing. .
With this move, Old Master's school suddenly became popular among the local villagers. Although the world was in trouble, who wouldn't want to be able to read a few words, especially for the boys at home to study?
There are hundreds of people attending lectures in Old Master's school every day.
Zhao Zhongyi claimed to be the son of the old master. During the day, the old master taught calligraphy in class. At night, Zhao Zhongyi would find some young men in the village to teach them marksmanship.
He taught everyone how to practice guns and Hongying guns.