Under the leadership of Hao Yaoqi, 3,000 elite cavalrymen of the Shun army rushed towards Qufu, Shandong.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Yellow River did not flow through Shandong.

At that time, after passing Kaifeng, the river first turned southwest, passed through Shangqiu, Huaibei, Suqian, and Huai'an, then turned northeast again and entered the sea from Binhai County, Yancheng, Jiangsu.

Since there was no need to cross the river, Hao Yaoqi's cavalry marched very quickly.

They hid during the day and moved out at night. When they were hungry, they ate march rations; when they were thirsty, they drank cold water; when they were tired, they slept on the ground.

Although they encountered civilians during the period, they did not disturb them and had no flags, so they were mistaken for passing Ming troops.

After all, no one could have imagined that an enemy army would appear in the heart of the Ming Dynasty.

After five days of forced march, the group arrived at the Si River, ten miles north of Qufu City.

Hao Yaoqi ordered his troops to hide in the dense forest to rest, while he and several generals took out the information they had just collected and read it carefully.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qufu County was located in the east of Gulu City and was named Xianyuan County.

In October of the fifth year of the Zhengde reign, Liu Liu and Liu Qi from northern Zhili launched an uprising, and thousands of people responded.

In the sixth year of the Zhengde reign, the rebel army entered Shandong from northern Zhili. On February 27, they captured Qufu, burned down hundreds of government offices, temples and houses, and moved their camp to Queli that night, feeding their horses in the courtyard and desecrating books in the pond.

The rebel army not only destroyed the Confucius Mansion and Confucius Temple, but also killed many members of the Kong family.

In order to protect the Confucius Temple and Confucius Mansion, the Ming Dynasty government built a city around the Confucius Mansion according to the suggestion of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Pan Junzhen, and moved Xianyuan County, six miles to the east, here to become Qufu County.

This is the origin of “Moving the city to defend the temple”!

The construction of Qufu County began in the eighth year of Zhengde and was completed in the first year of Jiajing.

The city wall is 27 feet high, 24 feet wide at the bottom, and has a circumference of about nine miles.

There is a moat outside the city, which is ten feet wide and about ten feet deep. The distance between the city wall and the moat varies from two to three feet.

The city has five gates, each with a deep and wide barbican built inside.

The standard of this city's defense is even higher than that of the nine important cities in the Ming Dynasty!

It’s definitely the type that’s easy to defend but difficult to attack!

After reading the information, Hao Yaoqi began to sweat on his forehead.

He never expected that a small county town would be more difficult to attack than a state capital!

"General Hao, Qufu County is easy to defend but difficult to attack. With just our small number of people and no siege equipment, how can we capture Qufu? It's difficult!" said a general.

"Yes," another general shook his head, "Cavalry is not good at attacking cities, but it is almost impossible to capture Qufu by force."

"Of course I know!" Hao Yaoqi stroked his beard, "Don't worry, let me think about it."

According to the agreement, he would capture Qufu in the early morning two days later.

Time is running out!

Even if siege equipment is manufactured immediately, it will be difficult to produce it within two days.

We have to use our wits to take Qufu.

"It's getting late today, everyone should get some rest. Tomorrow morning, we will split into two groups. I will take some people into the city to gather information, and the rest of you will stay here to make clamps and prepare for torture."

Hao Yaoqi did not intend to kill anyone, but he also did not want to let those people in the Kong Mansion go.

Moreover, based on his experience of torture over the years, the people in the Confucius Mansion basically won't cry until they see the coffin.

Only by making them suffer will they honestly hand over the money.

"General Hao, what should we do if civilians break into the dense forest?" asked a Shun army general.

They are the elite among the elite, their military discipline is much better than other soldiers, and they will not easily massacre civilians.

"What should we do?" Hao Yaoqi asked with his eyes wide open, "What else can we do? Of course we should kill him! This matter must not be leaked."

The three thousand cavalrymen were divided into several groups and scattered in the nearby dense forests to rest and sleep.

After a night of torment, Hao Yaoqi led three hundred personal soldiers across the river to the south.

About four miles away from Qufu, Hao Yaoqi asked his personal soldiers to hide in the woods. He himself took five or six people, changed into civilian clothes, and went to Qufu County.

The summer mornings were very cool. As the sky grew brighter, more and more people appeared on the streets.

These are farmers who carry shoulder poles and baskets on their backs and go into the city to sell grain and vegetables.

I save part of the money from selling things for household expenses, and use the rest to buy some daily necessities.

Hao Yaoqi walked towards the nearest seven or eight farmers and asked, "Fellow villagers, what's in the basket?"

Seeing that Hao Yaoqi and his men were so impressive and armed, the farmers did not dare to offend them and could only answer honestly, "Beans, eggplants, and cucumbers."

"How do you sell it?"

"Selling beans by a pound..." An old farmer lifted the wet cloth on the basket, pointed inside and started talking about the price.

"Let me ask you how much these things cost in total?" Hao Yaoqi said impatiently.

"Add...add up?" The old farmer was a little confused.

Hao Yaoqi nodded and said, "Yes, how much do these vegetables, the basket, and the shoulder pole cost in total?"

The old farmer was stunned at first, then he quickly calculated in his mind.

After a moment, he tremblingly extended his right index finger.

"One tael of silver is not expensive, give me the money!" Hao Yaoqi ordered the soldiers around him.

"No, no, no, it's one penny!" the old farmer explained.

Hao Yaoqi glared at him and said, "I don't have any change, so I'll give you one tael of silver. Do you dare not sell it to me?"

"Sell, sell, sell!" The old farmer was terrified.

After paying the money, Hao Yaoqi and others took the carrying pole and continued walking towards Qufu.

After Hao Yaoqi and others walked away, the farmers realized that they had made a fortune.

"This is the first time in my life that I've encountered such forced buying!" said a young man.

Another old farmer chuckled and said, "Don't blame you, young man. I've lived for more than 60 years, and this is the first time I've encountered such a situation."

"It seems that there are still more good people! You must get up early when you go to the city in the future. You can make a lot of money if you get up early."

Hao Yaoqi and his group walked very fast, and when they arrived outside Qufu City, the east was just beginning to turn white.

"Fellow villagers, please go back. The city gates will not be opened today!" the defenders on the city wall shouted to the people below.

It would have been better if Hao Yaoqi didn't listen. After he heard it clearly, his dark face turned pale.

It's going to be bad!

The prerequisite for a clever capture is to be able to enter the city. Now that we can’t even enter the city gate, how can we talk about a clever capture?

Just when Hao Yaoqi was extremely anxious, the people outside the city burst into enthusiastic shouts: "We want to enter the city!"

"We're going into town!"

At the same time, people in the city also gathered outside the Qufu County Government Office.

"Your Excellency the County Magistrate, there are people gathering outside the county government office."

In the county hall, the magistrate Kong Hongyi raised his sleepy eyes and said impatiently: "How many people are there? What's going on?"