Fatty Wang, who was newly promoted from the garrison to the guerrilla, rushed to Daqiu on horseback and took the initiative to pay a visit to his brother Zhao Zhongyi.
"Brother, please accept a small gift from me!"
Fatty Wang was very fat, but he was still very strong. He jumped off his horse and hugged Zhao Zhongyi.
With a wave of his hand, the servant lifted a box in front of Zhao Zhongyi and opened it. The yellow and white items inside were dazzling. Zhao Zhongyi had a good eye and saw at a glance that the yellow items were gold bars and small yellow croakers, and the white items were silver ingots. Although this box was not
It's big, but this box of stuff is worth three thousand taels anyway.
"Brother, what do you mean?"
Zhao Zhongyi had given Fatty Wang a lot of money before. Some of them were sent by Fatty Wang to ask for it, and some were given by him on his own initiative. It was because of the name or other reasons. Anyway, he gave a lot of money, but adding it all up, it was definitely not enough.
Three thousand taels.
"Let's go in and talk."
Fatty Wang pulled Zhao Zhongyi into the room with great enthusiasm. As soon as he sat down, he took out a letter of appointment.
"Brother came to ask for a future for his younger brother. Look, the Yongcheng garrison is in the fifth rank, on the same level as the prefect."
Zhao Zhongyi was surprised when he saw the appointment, but he was very calm. The fifth-grade garrison was indeed on the same level as the prefect, but it would be nonsense to say that he was on the same level as the prefect.
In the peaceful years, military attachés of the fifth rank even had to listen to the orders of the county magistrate of the seventh rank. When they met the prefect, they could only stand guard in front of the prefect's door. They were not even qualified to show their faces in front of the governor.
Not to mention fifth-level defense.
Even the dignified commander-in-chief had to be honest in front of the governor who was far lower than him, and he did not dare to take advantage of the prefect. The same was true in the Qing Dynasty. The admiral who was the head of the military attache of a province was from the first rank, but
In front of the second-rank governor, he still has to call himself a subordinate, and even in front of the seventh-rank governor, he has to be honest.
"Brother, I'm just a white person, what's going on?" Zhao Zhongyi guessed a bit in his heart, but he pretended to be surprised, even excited.
Fatty Wang knew that Zhao Zhongyi, a boy who looked simple and honest, was actually a smart person. After all, anyone who dared to sell private salt these days or even open a secret society was not a real person.
This kid Zhao Zhongyi has done a lot of secret smuggling, and he even often takes advantage of the underworld. He has killed so many gangs of private salt traders, native villagers, bandits, Laotang, and thieves who dared to take advantage of him. This kid is so cruel and ruthless.
, I heard that he would never show mercy if he fell into his hands.
Being honest and honest is just something you pretend to show to outsiders.
Do you really think he is a common citizen of Daqiuji?
This guy is the senior brother of the Red Spear Club. Nowadays, the news of the Red Spear Club is spreading like a fire starting a prairie fire, and even many big villages have started talking about it.
Red Spear Clubs are springing up all over Henan. If he rebels and shouts from a high place, he can probably mobilize tens of thousands of people immediately.
So he didn't hide much from Zhao Zhongyi and quickly talked about the matter with a smile.
"My old boss is back. He was made a Duke by the imperial court and granted the title of Admiral of Henan. You must have heard of his name. Xu Dingguo, who beheaded Gao Jie here in Guide last year, later went to Beijing and is now in danger.
, returned to Henan to supervise military affairs.
I used to be Ma Bian for the Duke of Guo, and I was also a confidant. Although I am as fat as a ball now, in fact, I used to be as tall and strong as a bear, but now I am a little fatter.
In short, when the Duke came back, he still remembered me, an old subordinate, and specially promoted me to a guerrilla general, gave me three thousand soldiers, and took me to destroy the Tuzhai for meritorious service. We are so appreciated, so we can't be embarrassed.
stop?
You also know, brother, my Yongcheng defense has been abandoned for a long time, and I don’t have many soldiers under my command. When I have good things to do, I naturally remember my family. I think of you, brother, who has many brothers, so I specially ask for you.
We are on a garrison duty, we are brothers fighting tigers, let’s do it together.”
"Now I will give you a garrison rank. Then when you get to the camp, I will appoint you to the central army and give you a registered commander rank. Then you will be my lieutenant general. We brothers will enjoy the good life and drink together. We will be blessed together.
Enjoy."
"The eldest brother thinks so highly of me, the younger brother. I am very grateful to the younger brother. I already know what to say."
"Brother, what are you doing outside like this?"
"Then whatever big brother says is whatever, and I will listen to big brother."
Fatty Wang couldn't help but feel proud when he saw how knowledgeable Zhao Zhongyi was. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "You won't suffer if you follow my elder brother. In these troubled times, you have to follow the right person."
"You accept these three thousand taels of silver first."
"How can this be done? My eldest brother gave me an official position and gave me back money. Isn't it counter-intuitive?"
"Listen to me, the Duke of Guo has given me a very tight mission, and I will soon go on an expedition with him. These three thousand soldiers are indispensable. I am also counting on my younger brother. Can you help my brother raise the three thousand soldiers?"
"
"These three thousand taels of silver are considered as settlement expenses. Each person will be given one tael first, and the remaining four taels will be paid when the battle is won. Of course, my brother's share will not be less. I will make up for it when I return to Yongcheng.
I have prepared two thousand taels for you."
"I don't dare to take this seriously..."
"Don't refuse. Listen to me. Not all of this money came from me. The Duke of Guo also paid some of it. Anyway, you believe me. You will definitely enjoy the blessings of following me. I guarantee you will be popular."
Damn it, these three to five thousand taels of silver are just a matter of football, there will be more in the future."
Fatty Wang's request was simple. He immediately summoned three thousand members of the Red Spear Club to join his Yongcheng guerrilla camp and follow him to Yanzhou, Shandong to suppress the native village.
Gu Ye
Zhao Zhongyi agreed wholeheartedly.
He asked someone to treat Fatty Wang to tea, and went to find the old master himself.
"This is not a bad thing." The old master thought about it for a while and felt that this was an opportunity. "This Xu Dingguo is a big traitor. He is following the orders of the Qing captives to maintain stability in Henan. But he has no soldiers at hand, so naturally he can only rely on Fatty Wang and other people like him.
But Fatty Wang is very good at drinking soldiers' blood on empty wages. He only has a few soldiers and most of them are in vain. Now that I'm in a hurry, I can only ask you for help."
"Fat Wang said he was going to Yanzhou to encircle and suppress the Tuzhai. He also said that Liu Zeqing had also been ordered to go south to supervise the Shandong soldiers and coordinate the suppression."
"Yanzhou is a canal hub and has always been an important place for water transportation. It suffered from military disasters and famines before, so there were many local villages in the area, and they were all very strong. After the water transportation was blocked, those who carried Ding and Cao gangs also lost their livelihood.
, even more people threw themselves into these earthen strongholds to survive. In addition, when His Majesty entered Shandong last year, the officials of the Yanzhou local government fled to death, and the local government was almost paralyzed. As a result, the gentry and the common people all fled to the earthen strongholds to survive. "
This year the Tatar tax has been heavy, especially the lack of grain from Huguang, taxes from Jiangnan, and salt queen from Huaiyang. Shandong, which was originally only responsible for part of the beans in Cao grain, was taken over by the Qing court, local officials in Shandong, and the Qing army.
They don't care whether the local people can bear the mission or not.
The result was naturally bald, which not only drove away the ordinary people, but also forced the gentry to form a stronghold to resist the officials. Even the local officials were forced to abandon their offices and flee or commit suicide.
Qianli became an official just for money, but in the end, he had to pay taxes and pay money. The compensation was not even a cent, and he couldn't afford it. No one dares to be an official in Shandong now.
Yanzhou began to build strongholds during the Chongzhen period. It has been almost twenty years since there were numerous small and large villages. Even now, there are native villages all over the place.
They formed strongholds to protect themselves, not only to guard against bandits, but also to resist the government. They did not serve or pay taxes.
"We, the Red Spear Association, went to suppress the Yanzhou Tuzhai on behalf of the traitor Xu Dingguo. Isn't this a conspiracy against the tiger?"
"You can still use idioms. Of course we can't help others, but we can use this opportunity to break into the Tatars. That Fatty Wang, I may have been observing this person for a long time. This guy is a greedy guy who is afraid of death and loves money.
You can think of ways to do the opposite."
"You can even make good use of his identity to do a lot of things."
"Old Master, please explain clearly?"
The old master pulled Zhao Zhongyi to analyze it in detail. He was just taking the opportunity to put on the skin of the Yongcheng guerrilla camp for the Red Spear Society. It would be more convenient for the Red Spear Society to develop, and through the relationship between Fatty Wang and Xu Dingguo, it could also be used from
The Qing court bought weapons and equipment, etc.
"Then we really want to destroy the stronghold for the Tatars?"
"Actually, there are many native villages all over Henan and Shandong, and most of them are hard to distinguish between good and bad..." The old master made it clear that few of the native villages that could survive in such troubled times are actually good.
.
In order to survive, the villages also attacked each other and snatched resources.
So just think of it as military training.
After the two men had reached an agreement, Zhao Zhongyi had someone ring the big bell in the market.
The villagers heard the bell and came to gather.
Everyone asked each other about what happened. Some people said that they saw Fatty, the Yongcheng garrison king, bringing a team of servants to the gathering. Everyone was speculating and talking.
It's almost time for people to arrive.
Zhao Zhongyi directly moved the gold and silver sent by Fatty Wang to the stage in front of the drying area, which was also the review stage for daily practice.
"Those who are willing to follow me into the guerrilla camp will be given one tael of Anjia silver first, and an additional four taels of silver later. In addition, one tael of silver per month will be added to each person, plus three measures of food."
"Reward for meritorious service!"
Zhao Zhongyi explained the matter simply. Looking at the light reflected by the gold and silver in the sun, the discussion below became even louder.
Because Zhao Zhongyi had already stated that he would personally enter the guerrilla camp, and that the escort team would also go, there were a large number of people who responded.
It only took less than a day.
Zhao Zhongyi recruited 3,000 men in Daqiu, including two battalions of 1,000 regular members of the Red Spear Association, and 2,000 recruited from outside members.
Fatty Wang looked at these young and strong young men and was overjoyed.
He knew that Zhao Zhongyi had a lot of people here, but he didn't expect that one day would be enough.
"Brother, many of these people practice spears and martial arts with me. They are all very strong, but we only have one red-tasseled spear. Although we have soldiers, we don't have any armor or equipment."
Fatty Wang smiled happily and patted Zhao Zhongyi on the shoulder, "Zhao Zhongjun doesn't have to worry about the ordnance. I still have some there. In addition, I will report to Xu Junmen for the transfer of ordnance."
Zhao Zhongyi also took the opportunity to say, "In war, you have to fight with your head high. The more advantageous things you can do, the better. I am willing to ask the villagers to raise some money. Brother, is there any way for us to buy some easy things? If we can buy them,
Some armor would be best."
Hearing that Zhao Zhongyi actually had such a pattern and was willing to raise money to buy equipment by himself, Fatty Wang was very moved. He also understood this brother Zhao in his heart.
I'm already thinking about getting armor to strengthen my weapons. This guy is very ambitious.
But Fatty Wang likes it very much. It is a good thing for him to have such a motivated and ambitious younger brother. If the younger brother can fight, his older brother will naturally have more weight in front of his old boss, Admiral Xu.
As for saying that he cannot control things in the future, Fatty Wang doesn't think that far ahead. He should take care of the present moment. Who can care about such far-off things? Just be a monk and hit the clock.
