Chapter 31 The Great Stage of History
Yang Yuanqing walked to the door tremblingly, and saw through the torn window paper a hunchbacked old man standing outside.
"Who... who are you?"
"Your Majesty, I am Old Hu who feeds the bears. Do you remember me?"
Yang Yuanqing took a closer look and found that it was the old man who usually took care of the bear!
He grabbed the window frame excitedly and said, "Uncle Hu... Hu, please let me out. When I return to Xizhou, I will make you a high-ranking official! A very high-ranking official!"
"Your Majesty, please keep your voice down. Don't alarm the guards!"
Yang Yuanqing was so frightened that he immediately covered his mouth and said in a low voice: "Let me out!"
Old Hu agreed with a grunt and took out the copper hairpin he had prepared in advance to pry open the door lock.
"Your Majesty, there are soldiers everywhere outside. You must follow me closely."
"Hmm!" Yang Yuanqing's heart was in his throat. He walked on tiptoe and dared not make a sound. He followed Old Hu and walked close to the wall. He trembled all over when he heard the slightest movement, for fear of being discovered.
As they were walking, Old Hu suddenly stopped. Yang Yuanqing urged him from behind in a low voice: "Why don't you walk anymore?"
"Your Highness, there is no road ahead, but there is a dog hole below, we have to crawl through it."
When Yang Yuanqing heard this, he immediately pulled him away and went through first. In this situation, as long as he could escape alive, he would not frown even if he went through a manure pit, let alone a dog hole! When he returned to Xizhou, he would gather people and trample Xuzhou again, catch the traitor Zhao Xiao, and turn him into a human pig!
Yang Yuanqing crawled through the dog hole and waited for a long time before he saw Old Man Hu coming over reluctantly.
He urged impatiently: "Hurry up!"
"Hey, hey... I'm old, and my legs and feet don't obey me anymore." Old Hu got up from the ground and continued walking with him.
The two walked in the dark for a long time. Although Yang Yuanqing had seized the palace of the four kings, he did not know much about the palace because he had fun every day. He also did not know where the old man was going to take him. At the moment, he had no other choice but to follow him and keep going forward.
"Are we almost there?"
"It's almost there, almost there. Just go through this door and it's right in front."
Yang Yuanqing quickened his pace and walked forward. Just as he passed through the gate, he suddenly heard a "click" sound of a door closing behind him. The old man surnamed Hu did not follow him, but locked the door from the outside.
"Uncle Huber, what are you doing?!"
The old man laughed in a low voice, his hoarse laughter was creepy in the dark night. He laughed louder and louder, and accidentally choked and coughed: "Ahem, my lord, look back."
Yang Yuanqing turned his head suddenly and found two balls of night light floating in the air not far behind him. As the light got closer, he could see clearly that it was not night light, but the bear he raised! Soon the light turned into two pairs, and both bears woke up...
"Hu, Uncle Hu...you, why did you bring me here?! Let me out now!" Yang Yuanqing didn't dare to yell loudly. He pressed himself against the door, his crotch felt hot and a fishy smell came out.
Old Hu wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "The girls haven't had enough food for a long time, so let's give them a big meal today."
Yang Yuanqing shook his head in horror: "No, we can't do this. I am King Qing, you can't kill me! Zhao Xiao will not let you go!" Seeing the bear getting closer and closer, he could even smell the bloody stench on the bear.
"Please let me out..."
"I've lived for this day. After I send you away, I will die without regrets." Old Hu took out a pair of silver locks from his arms and rubbed them in his hands.
Yang Yuanqing was chased back and forth by the bears. He had not eaten anything in the past few days and felt weak all over. The two bears were in the same situation as him. They had also been hungry for seven or eight days. When they saw him, their eyes glowed red.
"You... why are you doing this to me! I have no grudge against you, ah!" Yang Yuanqing fell down and was instantly pounced on by the bear. He kicked the bear with all his strength, shouting, "Tuantuan, it's me, I'm the prince! I'm Yang Yuanqing!"
A beast is a beast. When it is full, it recognizes its master. When it is extremely hungry, everyone is food in its eyes!
"Ah!!!" Yang Yuanqing's arm was torn off, and the pain made him black out. But he also took the opportunity to get rid of the bear. He shouted with bloodshot eyes: "Help! Come and save me!"
"Stop shouting. I've locked the door we came in through. They can't get in for a while."
Yang Yuanqing yelled: "Why are you trying to kill me!"
"Why? Your Highness, you have probably long forgotten my two daughters who died tragically in your hands."
Yang Yuanqing has ruined countless women over the years, so he has no idea when he had sex with Old Hu's daughter.
"They were so lovely and beautiful, my precious daughters. You kidnapped them! And you dragged them to death with horses!"
When Yang Yuanqing heard about the girl being dragged to death by the horse, he instantly remembered that when he first arrived in Xizhou, he saw a pair of twin girls selling wine on the street. He got off the carriage to buy a pot of wine, and the two girls smiled and bowed to him. The beautiful appearance of the foreign girls was deeply imprinted in his heart.
He immediately sent people to bring the girls into the palace, intending to make them beauties. However, the two foreign girls did not appreciate him and even cursed him! This was the first time Yang Yuanqing had been cursed in his life. He was both curious and furious, so he had one of the girls held down and forced himself on her.
Unexpectedly, the other girl took advantage of his inattention and rushed up with a porcelain jar and smashed it on his head! Furious, Yang Yuanqing directly ordered the guards to strip the two girls naked, tie them to the back of horses and drag them back and forth in the city...
The two bears were obviously not full after eating the arm, so they turned around and continued to attack Yang Yuanqing.
Shenren's screams rang out in the room. Lao Hu covered his face and cried and laughed: "Good girl, eat, and when you're full, we can go together."
*
"Yang Yuanqing was killed?!" Song Yuzhu suddenly received the news from the palace in the middle of the night. She immediately put on her clothes and hurried to the palace in a carriage.
When they arrived at the palace, Zhao Xiao was already waiting at the door. After Song Yuzhu got out of the car, he stepped forward to help pull up her cloak, and the two of them entered the palace together.
Song Yuzhu asked: "How did the person die?"
"The old man who fed the bear led him to the bear house, and the bear bit him to death."
Song Yuzhu paused and said, "Good deeds will be rewarded in the end. He loves to feed people to bears, but he never thought that he would be killed by a bear in the end."
“Why did the old man who fed the bear kill him?”
Zhao Xiao said: "After asking for a long time, he said nothing and just asked me to bury him with the two bears."
Song Yuzhu followed him to the bear house in the backyard. It had been cleaned up and both bears had been killed by the soldiers. Yang Yuanqing's head was placed next to the bears. His body had been almost completely eaten by the bears, with only a few bloody bones left.
It is not a pity that Yang Yuanqing died, but Xizhou has not yet made arrangements. Now that he has died suddenly, it may cause some trouble.
Song Yuzhu stood up and said, "For the time being, we must keep the news of Yang Yuanqing's death a secret, seize the time to control Yang Yuanqing's relatives, and also be on guard against Xizhou."
Zhao Xiao nodded: "Yes."
Twenty thousand soldiers are still too few. If they are just defending Xuzhou, it is enough. But if they want to control both Xizhou and Jinzhou, this number of people will be a bit insufficient.
There was no shortage of silver. The gold and silver left by Yang Yuanqi, plus the money Yang Yuanqing had looted before, were enough for them to feed another 50,000 soldiers.
It’s just that because of the sins Yang Yuanqing committed when he attacked the city, it would definitely be difficult to recruit soldiers now!
Song Yuzhu put his hands in his pockets and said, "It's time for us to recruit soldiers..."
*
The snowstorm is still raging in the south, and the winter rain has started to fall in the north again!
In November in Shangjing, there were thunder and lightning all night long.
Thunder in winter has been a bad omen since ancient times. There is a saying among the people: "When thunder strikes in winter, nine out of ten cattle pens are empty." The common people believed that thunder in winter was caused by the court's indiscriminate killing of lives and its cruelty in governance. Rumors spread all over the country, saying that the Yang family was committing atrocities and abusing torture, and even God could not stand it!
Song Yuzhu knew his chance had come! He ordered escort agencies in various places to spread the proverb "If spring thunder doesn't break out and winter thunder doesn't hide, a country will fall if war breaks out!" all over the country!
Soon, a group of insurgents of varying sizes began to take action in the Jiangnan region. The leader was Xu Siping, who led several hundred people to capture the local government office on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. This was known in history as the First Uprising of Yong'an.
Soon after, a group of civilian uprising forces in Zhongzhou also started, with the slogan "When the time comes, we will die together", which triggered a small uprising. The uprising force of more than 300 people grew into an uprising army of more than 3,000 people in less than a month.
Many forces are also rising in the south, which can be said to be a big stage of history. Come if you have the courage.
During the reign of Emperor Longwu, he did not do any good things. He indulged in pleasure and built dozens of palaces. He increased taxes and exploited the people, which led to deep resentment. In addition, corrupt officials were rampant, like ants that ate away at the country and turned it into a sieve. Therefore, the uprisings continued.
What is unexpected is that the imperial court did not even order their mobilization, as if it did not take them seriously at all.
In fact, Yang Yuanli was ill, very ill! He was frightened by the winter thunder that day, and had a high fever for three consecutive days. More than a dozen doctors in the Imperial Medical Garden in Shangjing were helpless.
Song Yuzhu finally fired his first shot - "I am sick of the inequality between the rich and the poor, and now I will make it equal for you!"① The original Qing Army was changed to Chengtian Army, which means: obey the will of heaven and kill the evil.
He was a king bomb as soon as he appeared on the scene! Other uprising armies were mainly composed of ordinary peasants. Although they were numerous, their combat capabilities were average and they had no actual combat experience. It was estimated that the court could suppress them by sending a few thousand troops.
The Chengtian Army is different. They are all veterans with actual combat experience and are good at fighting on horseback. Even if they confront the imperial court head-on, they are not inferior to them!
The Qingzi Army not only changed its original flag, but also made a new set of uniforms. The color was changed from dark black to navy blue, and the style was slightly changed to incorporate the advantages of modern clothing. Many pockets were added to the clothes, and the sun, moon and stars flag of Chengtian were printed on the front and back.
Then he announced the news of the killing of King Qing to the whole city and ordered people to parade King Qing's corpse through the streets for public display. Of course, the corpse was fake, the real one had been eaten clean by the bear long ago.
On the day of the parade, people took to the streets, holding the dirtiest things in their hands and smashing them on the body of "Yang Yuanqing", crying as they smashed, venting all the hatred and anger that had been suppressed in their hearts, wishing they could smash a hole in the carriage! When the parade came back, the corpse made of a dead pig was almost flattened.
Everyone watched and shook their heads with emotion. Yang Yuanqing got away with it by being killed by the bear. If he were still alive, he would probably be smashed into meat paste by the angry people.
The next thing is the matter of recruiting soldiers. These 20,000 men are definitely not enough to conquer the world. After Song Yuzhu discussed with Zhao Xiao, Xu Bing, Chang Ming and others, they decided to split the troops into two groups.
Xu Bing followed Zhao Xiao and led 10,000 soldiers to capture Jinzhou, while Song Yuzhu led the others to stay in Xuzhou to recruit soldiers.
(End of this chapter)
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