Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 614 Let You Go

The Xinyang civil uprising came to an end in such a way, which caught people by surprise, but everyone is quite satisfied with the result. After all, if there is a choice, no one wants the whole of Xinyang to flow into rivers of blood, and eventually the entire Central Plains All caught in the vortex of blood and fire—a Huguang rebel army is annoying enough!

However, not everyone likes to see such an ending, such as Hou Xunhou Shangshu.This man was beaten by Hong Niangzi and fled in the battle of Zhengyang. A cavalry pursued him closely, and he was so scared that he even took off his official uniform and fled into the mountains with his buttocks naked. old life.The cavalry did not go into the mountain to search, but let him go. This was decided before the war started. The impact of capturing or killing a minister alive is too great, and it is easy to completely anger the entire court. If there is a stronger rebound, then the trouble will be big.Hou Shangshu fed the mosquitoes in the mountains for several days before being rescued by the Heluo New Army. Only then was he shocked to learn that the Xinyang civil uprising had been quelled by Yang Menglong without bloodshed!
For Hou Xun, this news was like a bolt from the blue.The old man led more than 1 elite troops to Xinyang with great momentum. They killed many people and robbed many things. However, the situation did not improve at all. The Xinyang civil uprising was not calmed down, but became more and more violent!Especially during the month when they besieged Zhengyang City, Zuo Liangyu and Liu Zeqing carried out large-scale plunder in order to raise enough food and grass. No one, whether they were poor people or wealthy businessmen, could escape, forcing some people who were originally hostile to the Red Army to flee. The landowners who hated the lady so much took the initiative to join the Red Lady's camp, and Jiewu Fort defended itself against the officers and soldiers. Chongzhen knew about this and was very angry about it.Now Liu Zeqing and Zuo Liangyu are dead, and all the more than 1 elite soldiers he brought are dead, but Yang Menglong put down the Xinyang Civil Uprising without any bloodshed. Isn't this a slap in his face?What made him most angry was Yang Menglong's attitude of treating him as a retarded person - even an idiot would know what was going on based on the conditions he had for recruiting Lady An Hong!
Hou Xun couldn't hold back the anger in his heart, after changing into a decent set of clothes, he rushed into the magistrate's yamen angrily, asking Yang Menglong for an explanation.

The magistrate's yamen was full of guests, Yang Menglong, Hong Niangzi, Chen Zhifu, Qian Tongpan, and several county magistrates were there, as well as a few red-haired and blue-eyed foreigners. Everyone was talking about business with great interest, when Hou Xun rushed in, Pointing to Yang Menglong's nose and drinking: "Champion!"

Yang Menglong jumped up, smiling like a pistachio: "Master Hou is here? Please sit down, please sit up, please sit up! Oh, Hou Shangshu worked tirelessly, defied swords, guns and arrows, and personally led the army to the south to put down the rebellion. Henan, Huguang The people are grateful to you from the bottom of their hearts..."

It's okay not to mention this. When I mentioned this, Hou Xun's fire suddenly shot up from the top of his head eighteen feet high, and he said angrily: "Champion Hou, you don't have to be sarcastic to Hou! Hou is not familiar with military affairs, and he will lose his troops and lose his generals." , there is no shirking the responsibility, and I will apologize to the Holy One, but you——" pointed at the red lady, "you allowed the thieves to invade the state and massacre the local people, what crime do you deserve!"

Yang Menglong was taken aback: "I condoned bandits rushing to the state? I said Lord Hou, don't scare me. It's really easy to scare people to death!"

Hou Xun's teeth were about to be gritted: "Are you still pretending!? If you hadn't supported the bandits and respected yourself, the Xinyang rioters would have grown to this point? If you hadn't been hostile to the imperial army and refused to support them, how could Zuo Liangyu and Liu Zeqing be alone and helpless? The whole army was wiped out? How sinister are your intentions!" Staring at Chen Zhifu, Qian Tongpan and others, bloodshot eyes were cast in their eyes, and they almost burst into flames. Well, you should work hard to plead for the people, but now you bow your knees to a warrior and a female traitor. It is a shame for scholars! If you still have a little bit of backbone, quickly capture this female traitor and take it to the capital. Lingchi execution may be atonement!"

All the officials were so embarrassed by his scolding that they couldn't speak, but they scolded in their hearts: "You said it lightly, people have put knives on our necks, what do you want us to do! Emperor's grace? Emperor's grace! Your sister, if it's really the emperor's grace, we shouldn't be thrown into this ghostly place where there are nothing but bandits and beasts and horses and thieves!"

At this time, the red lady stood up and looked at Hou Xun with a sneer: "Yo, now you know how to talk about integrity? Why didn't you see you with such integrity when Jiannu attacked Lushun last year? Who was the one who heard the news of Jiannu's attack last year?" Crying to give up Lushun, regardless of the life and death of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Lushun area?" She crossed her arms and sneered, "It turns out that Master Hou's integrity is only for these nine-rank sesame officials, the little girl really learned!"

After hearing what Hong Niangzi said, a look of contempt flashed across the faces of the prefects and county magistrates present.They may be quite greedy, but after all, they are scholars who have received traditional education, and their family and country feelings are still quite intense. Hou Xun and others were timid before fighting. As soon as they learned of Jiannu's attack, they yelled to give up Lushun , Throw Lushun together with tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to the ravages of Jiannu, how can they not despise it!The most important thing is that this guy who was as cowardly as a chicken in front of Jiannu now gesticulates and yells at them, which is really annoying!

Hou Xun was suffocated, stared at the red lady and said loudly: "At the beginning, the establishment of slaves was very powerful, and even if the isolated city of Lushun could be defended, it would lose troops and lose generals. For the future, there is nothing wrong with suggesting to temporarily abandon Lushun! It is a matter of military affairs. What do girls know!?"

The red lady's face was full of ridicule: "I, a female prostitute, really don't know anything about military affairs, but if Mr. Hou's brain is not broken, he should still remember that seven days ago, it was I, a prostitute, who transferred your ten thousand 3000 men and horses were killed!"

Hou Xun jumped up like a cat being doused in boiling water, and pointed at the tip of the red lady's nose for a long time, but didn't say anything.In the end, he turned his anger on Yang Menglong, and said sharply: "Champion Marquis, if you still have the slightest bit of loyalty, please take this woman down and hand it over to me, otherwise I will punish you severely in front of the Holy One." Refer to your book, and impeach you for the crime of supporting the bandits!"

Yang Menglong poked out his ears and asked, "Have you finished your sentence?"

Hou Xun said, "It's over!"

Yang Menglong said: "That's it, why are you so lazy here? Get lost, we still have things to talk about!" After that, he pulled the red lady to sit down and said to everyone: "Ignore him, let's continue talking. That , Mr. Wallace, you have tasted Xinyang green tea and are full of praise for it, shouldn’t it be time to ask for a good price?”

A foreigner who was holding a cup of green tea and was deaf to the fierce quarrel reluctantly put down his cup and said, "Dear Marquis, your appetite for gold and silver is too scary, right? We have already opened two The price is ten pesos per pound, don’t you still feel satisfied?”

Yang Menglong gestured and said: "No, Your Excellency, this Xinyang Maojian is different from the black tea we sold to you before. It has been a famous Chinese tea since ancient times. It is not easy for us rich people in China to drink a cup. Its output It is so rare, but there are so many people who like it, how can a mere twenty pesos be worthy of its worth?"

Chen Zhifu was very cooperative and said: "That's right, the output of Xinyang Maojian is really pitifully small, and the inventory is even less. The price is really not worth it!"

Wallace said: "We also suffer losses during transportation. If the purchase price is too high, we will lose a lot of money!"

Yang Menglong said: "But we can provide you with fully enclosed packaging, even if you throw the tea into sea water and soak it for a year, it will not be broken, so the loss will be greatly reduced! And I can ask someone to design a package for this tea." The high-end and high-grade packaging guarantees that it will be popular among the upper class as soon as it arrives in Europe, and bring you double profits, isn't this worth your higher price?"

Wallace said helplessly: "I really can't do anything about you... Tell me, what price do you plan to offer?"

Yang Menglong showed four fingers: "At least forty pesos."

Chen Zhifu secretly gave Yang Menglong a thumbs up.Forty pesos are equivalent to 20 taels of silver, and a catty of tea is sold for 20 taels of silver, which is too black-hearted!Of course, he would not ask for trouble to expose Yang Menglong. On the contrary, he cooperated with several local officials in Xinyang to praise the excellence of Xinyang green tea, and worked hard to make these foreigners think that forty pesos a catty It is worth the money!

Hou Xun saw these guys talk to each other, discussing with enthusiasm about making money, and didn't take himself seriously at all, his face turned green and pale, and he wanted to curse but couldn't. Looking at him with a provocative look, he waited for him to swear, and then everyone had a fierce quarrel!Most of the women have their own attributes of talking guns. If they quarrel with them, it is self-inflicted humiliation.He looked at these people sitting with almost hatred eyes, and said bitterly: "Let's wait and see!" With a flick of his sleeves, he walked out angrily, without stopping, directly commandeered a carriage, and went back to the capital up.

Seeing Hou Xun leaving in anger, Chen Zhifu was somewhat frightened, and asked Yang Menglong cautiously: "Master Hou will definitely retaliate after being humiliated, what should I do?"

Yang Menglong said: "You just need to do your own thing well, you don't need to worry about these things."

Qian Tongpan began to worry about Yang Menglong: "Master Hou, Lord Hou's position in the court is extraordinary, if he is annihilated by Lord Hou and advances some slander on the holy, Lord Hou's situation will be dangerous. Be careful!"

————Now these Xinyang civil servants are starting to worry about Yang Menglong, because now everyone is a grasshopper on a rope. If Yang Menglong falls, they will not be better off. Losing an official is a trivial matter. Losing their heads is all Not impossible.Those members of the cabinet are quite small-minded, and after such a big somersault in Xinyang, the probability that Hou Xun will not vent his anger on them is infinitely close to zero, and everyone would be in a cold sweat.

The red lady clung to Yang Menglong's ear and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to send someone to do him?"

Yang Menglong was startled and shouted: "Are you crazy? This is the Minister of the Household Department, a first-rank official in the imperial court. If you do him, the world will be in chaos!"

The matchmaker shrugged and said, "I don't care whether he is a first-grade or a ninth-grade, but he pissed me off anyway, so I killed him without any discussion!" Seeing that Yang Menglong firmly disagreed, she sighed helplessly: "In the end, you are still too merciful... Forget it, for your sake, I will let him return to the capital alive and let us continue to discuss business!"

Thanks to Hong Niangzi's generosity, Hou Xun was able to leave Xinyang safely without being killed halfway.It's just because of Zuo Liangyu and Liu Zeqing that he now has a very bad reputation - those two killed innocent people indiscriminately and burned, killed, looted and looted more ruthlessly than the Japanese. As his boss, if he didn't stop them, how could anyone do that? Don’t hate?Along the way, the people of Xinyang used filth to send off the minister of the Ministry of Rites, so don't mention Hou Xun's embarrassment!
(End of this chapter)