Chapter 5 Chapter 2 An isolated city, Wanren Mountain (1)

Nie Qinxuan absently put the silver hookah stick in his mouth, took a puff lightly, and took another puff, only to find that the shredded tobacco had already been burnt out, and even the fire kink pinched in his right hand had been extinguished for a long time.Nie Qinxuan didn't want to smoke any more, and slowly pushed the hookah and Huojian onto the table next to his elbow.Outside the corridor, with the rising twilight, the lights on both sides of the Silver Stream can already be seen flickering in the distance.The sound of whimpering conch came from far away from the upper and lower water passes, calling the soldiers who left the camp to return to the camp.After a while, after the sound of the first watch drum on the Drum Tower, the gates of the old city will be closed, and interconnected lights will be hung on the tower.As long as the city gate is closed, the old city becomes a strong fortress surrounded by stones.On the third day after the prefect was assassinated, the telegraph line connecting Yincheng and the provincial capital was also cut off, and the soldiers sent to repair the line lost contact in Tongling Mountain, and life and death were uncertain.Farmers in Sanxingzhai and Chenjia'ao Townships on Tongling Mountain suddenly killed Baojia and gathered a crowd to make trouble. It is said that a thousand or two thousand people have gathered and swept through villages and towns with a radius of dozens of miles. The situation is rapidly expanding.At the same time, there were rumors that the Revolutionary Party was going to stage a riot to seize Yincheng, and the Yincheng guarded by Nie Qinxuan fell into crisis in a blink of an eye and became an isolated city.

Nie Qinxuan has been stationed in Yincheng for ten years, and he has never fallen into the feeling of living in a guest house like this and cannot extricate himself.Nie Qinxuan knew a long time ago that he, a Green Battalion soldier who was born in martial arts, had already made it to the end of the rank six thousand.It doesn't matter whether you retire from old age or return to your hometown, or lay off redundant personnel, in short, there is no hope of promotion after the age of fifty, and you can already go home, you have received the order to cut down the army, and you are already handing over military affairs.I have lived as a guest in Yincheng for ten years, and I don't even need to be a guest again.Serving in the army for half his life in the Green Camp, he can finally be disarmed and return to the fields.Even without the order to eliminate the military, Nie Qinxuan had already seen his end.Over the years, the military and imperial examinations have been abolished, the green battalion has been eliminated, the armed forces school has been built, the army has been built, foreign guns and cannons have been introduced, foreign military uniforms have been introduced, the new official system and recruit system have been introduced, and even the government office of the Ministry of War has been renamed. the War Department.Myself, a martial artist who reads "The Seven Books of Martial Arts" and "Sun Tzu's Fu Jie", and practices bows, arrows, knives, stones, horseback riding and shooting, is like those useless spears and broadswords on the shelf, which have long been outdated.But the sudden incident in front of him dragged him into a life-and-death battle that he couldn't shirk.It's like a passer-by who is suddenly dragged onto the stage in full view.Among the crowds of people and the noise, no one believed it, and no one knew that it was a misunderstanding.They don't know that they are like the hookah at hand, which has long since died out.Listening to the sound of the drums in the deep twilight, Nie Qinxuan couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart—God knows whether this stone city has imprisoned himself or his enemies in it.

Since ancient times, whenever there is turmoil, Yincheng has always been a place of contention. The reason is simple: because Yincheng is a mountain of silver, and because Yincheng is the main source of edible salt in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.Silver City's fortunes and disasters are due to its salt.For this reason, the salt merchants in Yincheng proposed to the imperial court to donate money to build this stone city.During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the city wall, which cost 180,000 taels of silver and took nine years to rebuild, is undoubtedly a masterpiece.It is all made of chiseled bluestone.In the open space dug out of the mountain, the city wall made of huge stone strips is four feet high, two feet thick at the bottom, and one foot thick at the top.The whole city is three hundred and fifty feet wide from east to west, four hundred feet long from north to south, and ten miles in circumference. There is a tower on each of the four gates.In order to strengthen the defense, wengcheng was built on both sides of Yinxi in the east and Yuquan mountain in the west.There are 3,100 fort crenels built on the ten-mile-long city wall.There are four red cannons on each side of the city gate.The condescending terrain makes the whole castle stand against the sky, and it is magnificent.There are two large springs in the city connected with the water veins of Yuquan Mountain, which flow continuously all year round.A culvert was laid for this purpose, and two weir ponds were dug in the city, a clear pond for drinking and a muddy pond for washing.The water from the two ponds flows into Yinxi from the culvert.With stone walls like iron barrels, sufficient water sources, and grain hoarded in warehouses for many years, the old city naturally became the safest and most reliable place.In addition to the county government office and the military camp, all the rich merchants who donated funds, the general cabinets of all the eight major saltworks, and all the banks, ticket offices, shops, and warehouses naturally also concentrated in this stone city as much as possible.The people of Yincheng spent nine years and 180,000 taels of silver building this stone city, and then imprisoned their wealth and their dreams of wealth firmly in this stone city.Keep danger and turmoil out of Stone City again and again.

When the people of Yincheng fell into the panic of rumors, as a soldier, Nie Qinxuan saw through the chaos and blindness of the opponent in the menacing crisis.After the assassination of the prefect and the cutting of the telegraph lines, the revolutionaries did not launch a general insurrection immediately.Nie Qinxuan had already spread the news of the magistrate's assassination to the provincial capital ahead of his opponents, and now the troops of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Infantry Association of the 17th Town of the Army are on their way to reinforce.It takes five days to reach the provincial capital by walking on a fast-footed sliding pole and carried by four people on foot from Yincheng, passing Jiming Town, and passing Tongling Pass.It would take six or seven days for the reinforcements to cross Tongling with two mountain cannons at the earliest.Nie Qinxuan predicted that the mob in Sanxingzhai would not be able to stop the foreign guns and cannons that came to reinforce them.In other words, the rioters had only six or seven days to win, and they either occupied Yincheng within six or seven days, or they had to wait for defeat.Nie Qinxuan chose to stand by and wait for help without hesitation.He can completely rely on and trust this stone city now.Nie Qinxuan wondered about his opponent and couldn't figure it out. He really couldn't figure out why the commander-in-chief exposed himself in such a hurry before the battle started.And why did the assassination of the magistrate and the cutting of the telegraph line be reversed for no reason?After calculating the advantage of time, Nie Qinxuan was determined to meet this foolhardy and confused commander-in-chief.He ordered eighteen cages to be produced within two days, and the eighteen suspects he had captured from Huixian Tea House passed through and entered the cages, and lined up in front of the gate of the barracks.Then post a notice all over the city: the murderer who assassinated the magistrate and the commander-in-chief of the rebel party must surrender immediately, otherwise, at noon every day, three people will be executed in a cage until they are all killed.Before each execution, a gong should be played to show the public, and the announcement should be read out loudly.Thus, in front of the heavily guarded barracks, eighteen suspects wearing shackles were nailed to death in eighteen white wooden cages.The head and hands caught by the shackles were exposed on the top of the cage, and several layers of bricks were placed under each prisoner's feet.As long as the bricks under your feet are removed, the yoke that clamps your neck will strangle you to death like a noose.The length of the execution time depends entirely on the height of the bricks.If the bricks are gradually removed layer by layer, the prisoner can only stand on tiptoe to support his body for a long time until he is exhausted, and the torture process will be very long.At this time, the struggling, screaming, crying, cursing, and begging of the victims will be squeezed out in the cage together with their tears, snot, sweat, blood, and feces.The horror of the cage is not the death it brings, but the process of death it intentionally and cruelly forces.In that crucified cage, you'll see before your eyes how a man is stripped of all self-esteem and turned into a beast to be slaughtered at will.In order to show his determination, Nie Qinxuan has ordered the execution of three people first.He ordered the three corpses to remain in their wooden cages, among the fifteen remaining living.In order to ensure that the remaining 15 people were tortured alive, each person was fed two bowls of porridge every day.At the same time, Nie Qinxuan secretly sent two spies in disguise to monitor all changes in the Yuren School day and night and report to him at any time.Nie Qinxuan believed in his own judgment. Like all soldiers, he was dealing with the matter in front of him step by step, patiently waiting for the natural result.

It's just that when Nie Qinxuan was doing all this, it was boring, and there was always a sense of loss and sadness that had been experienced by others.Someone killed the magistrate in broad daylight to rebel, but it happened that Ding You, the county magistrate, was vacant.In this stone city full of well salt and silver, but also full of panic and rumors, only myself, a green battalion veteran who has been eliminated and returned to his hometown, is left to support the situation.The title of commander of the patrol battalion no longer appealed to Nie Qinxuan.Now, even if he becomes a first-rank official, he still cannot escape the fate of being a minister of the last days.Thinking about it this way, the bomb of the rebellious party actually made Mr. Yuan Xuemen.Although Master Yuan was smashed into pieces by the bombs of the rebellious party, Master Yuan was still a loyal soldier of the Qing Dynasty... It is a pity that people throughout the ages, no one knows how many of the loyalists of the past and present have in their hearts. Bitter and bleak.

Nie Qinxuan left the grand teacher's chair and wandered slowly in the corridor, thinking over and over again about his plan.Each of Shangshuiguan and Xiashuiguan sent 100 people to guard, which can not only prevent the opponent from sneaking attack from the waterway, but also support each other with the main force in the city.Three hundred people were sent on the city wall to patrol in shifts day and night.All the soldiers who stayed in the barracks were also divided into two groups. When half of them were resting, the other half were on standby with guns, ready to go into battle at any time.All intersections, bridgeheads, and docks set up checkpoints to check all pedestrians, and prohibit anyone from leaving Yincheng before the assassin is arrested.Order the post office to seize all letters received for inspection.In addition, sufficient water and food were prepared in the barracks.The dozen or so boxes of bullets and shells that Mr. Yuan left before his departure were enough for many days.Even if the reinforcements were delayed for a few days, it would be enough.The city wall of the old city was built along the mountain, and the topography of the city was also high and low. The highest places were the barracks and the county government.Even if the city is breached, the barracks and county government can still have the last ground to defend.With elite and powerful reinforcements, foreign guns and cannons, and an impregnable stone city, Nie Qinxuan can be said to have a good chance of winning.But all of this couldn't make him get rid of the lingering sadness of the last days in his heart.The ones I planned so carefully and tried my best to deal with were nothing but mobs, ordinary people who usually kept their voices low.But these low-pitched people who are as humble as ants are now swarming from all directions.Even if he won this battle completely, even if he was smashed to pieces for the imperial court like Master Yuan, he still couldn't stop the ants swarming from all directions.The old and sick lean horse of the Qing Dynasty would die on the road sooner or later, and would be gnawed to the bone by the ants swarming everywhere.When the Qing Dynasty is wiped out and eaten clean, these ants that are everywhere will be gone, no one knows where they came from, no one knows their names... After thinking about it over and over again, the sky has completely disappeared. It's dark, and the stars haven't risen yet.The dull darkness is like the walls of a dungeon, suffocating people in the surrounding.But Nie Qinxuan felt that the dark night in front of him was far inferior to the boundless darkness in his heart.In the darkness, the stone city with four closed gates seemed to be sinking into a bottomless abyss.A shrill scream came through the dark night, followed by another burst of scolding from soldiers.Nie Qinxuan stopped and looked at this ghostly stone city in the dark, feeling nostalgic for a while.

Yue Tianyi stood on the grand teacher's chair wrapped with red cloth strips, looked east and then west from the crenel of the remnant wall of Tongling Pass.The weather was fine, there was not even a trace of cloud, it was a sunny day with blue sky and white sun.Then, Yue Tianyi looked to the east and then to the west.No matter the east or west, there is no one, it is empty.There were not even half of the officers and soldiers on this official road connecting the provincial capital and Yincheng.This made Yue Tianyi feel disappointed and discouraged—how could there be such a strange thing in the world?You killed the Chief Security Officer and Chief Jia, cut off the government's "shunfeng ear", occupied the main road pass, and set up a big banner to rebel, but no one came to speak up.How can there be such a reason in the world?If I had known that I was so free and the weather was so good, I might as well have stayed at my home in Sanxingzhai for two more days.

There was no wind, and the black corner flag erected on the wall stack hung motionless on the top of the wall.The flag could not be blown, and no one could see the big golden characters embroidered on the flag: Generalissimo Jinpeng.Although those words were embroidered hastily with thick stitches and big feet, they were written by a scholar, and they were upright.Unfortunately there was no wind and nothing could be seen.The midday sun made the empty official road white and long, and made the brothers guarding the pass soft and sleepy.Yue Tianyi regretted picking the wrong flag.If you listen to the leader of the class, choose a handsome flag and hang it up, it will stretch without the wind blowing.Went to Banqiao Town yesterday, met the theater troupe who sang the hall.Yue Tianyi detained the troupe and told them to sing "The Straw Boat Borrowing Arrows".After singing, Yue Tianyi said that he wanted to borrow some things from the troupe.The troupe leader Wang kowtowed and bowed, saying that he had long hated those Manchus to death, and that he wholeheartedly supported Yue Fei's reincarnated Marshal Yue.He opened the suitcase and asked Yue Tianyi to pick out whatever he wanted.The crowd clamored that they needed the dragon robe and dragon crown worn by the emperor first, and that if they wanted to rebel and take over the world, this set of things was absolutely indispensable.After taking the dragon robe and dragon crown, Yue Tianyi said that he would also choose a handsome flag for the Tianyi Army.General Yue Xinshou of the left said that the emperor Lao Tzu always used yellow color and wanted a yellow flag.The right general, Yue Xinnian, said that people all over the world use red for weddings and marriages. If our Tianyi army flag wins, it is still a red flag to celebrate.When his two sons finished speaking, Yue Tianyi stood up and made up his mind: "Xin Shou, New Year, you brothers don't have to quarrel. Chen Daochang of Qingyun Temple said that Xuanwu, the god of the north, is black, and when offering sacrifices to Xuanwu, he should wear hair, black clothes, and hold a sword. The followers hold the black flag. Our Tongling Mountain and Sanxingzhai are both in the north of Yincheng, so we should use the black flag." Hearing what Yue Tianyi said, all the people cheered: "Right! Right! It's the Generalissimo who knows the truth! "Squad leader Wang said worriedly: "But I don't have a black handsome flag. The black flag is only larger than this corner flag." Everyone rushed forward and raised the black corner flag with a flame-shaped red border, There was another burst of shouting: "I want it, I want it, this flag is big and black, and it's very comfortable!" The dragon robe, the dragon crown, and the handsome flag are also there.Yue Tianyi smiled and said that he still wanted to borrow something.Leader Wang nodded again and again, yes, yes.Yue Tianyi said: "Squad Leader Wang, then I will not be polite. I think you can read and write, and you are also shrewd. I want to lend you to serve as a military advisor for our Tianyi Army." Squad Leader Wang was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and cried loudly, "Yue Tianyi Generalissimo, I have a seventy-year-old mother and a pair of children... You can take things, and someone can lend you... I am an opera singer, how can I know how to be a soldier and fight?" Yue Tianyi was very upset, "I want to borrow your people, not your head. You are singing on the stage that Zhuge Liang calls the wind and the rain to be a military advisor, why can't you be a military advisor for me?" The brothers shouted from the side: "The generalissimo If you want to do it, do it, don't be ungrateful!" But Team Leader Wang was so frightened that he became a puddle of mud, and a large area of ​​his body was wet with urine.Everyone laughed and cursed at the side, saying that you, an idiot who can only pee your pants, are not worthy of being the military advisor of our Tianyi Army.Yue Tianyi had no choice but to smile wryly and let Team Leader Wang go home to honor his old mother.

Now, the black flag was hanging on the top of the wall, as if it had also been tanned listlessly by the sun.The red soil exposed from the mountains on all sides is like beef roasted by a mother-in-law, sticking to the hillside hot.On the night when he vowed to rebel, after drinking blood wine, Yue Tianyi said to the Pao brothers standing under the torch: "Everyone knows that the magistrate of Tongjiang was killed in Yincheng the day before yesterday. The rebellion of the Manchus. Our Gelaohui was originally established to oppose the Manchus. The rebellion was to seize the Manchus. The Manchus won the Manchus. We also won the Manchus. Besides, the Manchus took over the Manchus. What we took away from our hands, we just want to take it back now. If we want to rebel, we must be famous. My surname is Yue, and Yue Fei, the great anti-gold hero in the Song Dynasty, is also surnamed Yue. I, Yue Tianyi, is the reincarnation of Yue Fei. Yue Fei is the Great Peng Garuda is reincarnated, and I am the 'Golden Peng Grand Marshal'! All these things I, Yue Tianyi, are doing are in accordance with 'God's will', all of you follow me, and Yue Tianyi's name is 'Tianyi Army'!" Pao brothers held up sharp With big swords and spears, holding a flaming torch, he shouted, "Long live Marshal Jinpeng, long live!" At that time, he rushed out to kill the chief Jia of Sanxing village, robbed rich man Zhang's granary, and burned the Catholic Church in the village.Some people say that the telephone poles on the official road near the village are the government's "wind ears", which can spread the news of thousands of miles away to the government.So, the crowd was in a hurry and cut down a dozen telegraph poles standing on the side of the official road.The next day, the Tianyi Army took advantage of the victory and attacked, killing Chenjia'ao and Banqiao towns all the way.Along the way, Baojia was killed, Laocai was killed, food was distributed, and floating wealth was distributed.Pao brothers and farmers from various villages responded one after another, and the Tianyi Army gathered one or two thousand people in the blink of an eye.When there are more people, there are more things to do.It was only then that Yue Tianyi discovered that as long as you can't provide a meal, someone will drag a spear and carry a burden and go home.Yue Tianyi still couldn't figure out how many people he had because of the trouble.When there are too many people, ideas and orders become chaotic.My brothers will fight with swords and guns at every turn.A team of one or two thousand people must have a place to set up camp, enough food and vegetables, someone to inform and send orders, and someone to manage swords, spears, shotguns, and earthen cannons.Even the iron pots used for cooking have become a big problem. Some people have injured their brothers in fighting for the iron pots for cooking.Really overwhelmed and overwhelmed.Yue Tianyi, who was born as a blacksmith, had only been the leader of Paoge in Sanxingzhai, and had never been a soldier for a day. Now he knows that it is not easy to be a generalissimo.I wanted to ask a military adviser who could read and write to help me, but I couldn't.In desperation, Yue Tianyi had no choice but to use his two sons first. The elder brother Xinshou was named General Zuo, and the younger brother was named General Right in New Year.A letter from the left and right generals, and things really got better.The two generals said that the march was hard, and they never walked with the generalissimo again.But Yue Tianyi didn't know how to ride a horse.So he ordered people to wrap a Taishi chair with red cloth strips, two bamboo poles and one frame, and four bearers lifted it up. From then on, Marshal Jinpeng had his own mount.Yue Tianyi, who was sitting on the grand teacher's chair, knew very well in his heart that after killing Lao Cai in Sanxingzhai, Chenjia'ao, and Banqiao Town, he must have new things for his brothers to do.If there is nothing to do for a day, the hearts of these two thousand people cannot be won.If there is nothing to do for a day, no one can tell where the water that he stirred up will go to.And he understands better that until now, this team has not fought a real battle.Not to mention fighting tough battles and fighting bad ones.Yue Tianyi really didn't know whether his team could fight or not.That's why he decided to come to Tongling Pass, which is not guarded by a single soldier.Yue Tianyi has not yet made up his mind whether to attack Tongjiang Mansion or Yincheng first.Before making up their minds, this team of thousands of people must have a place to live and a place to cook.

In fact, Tongling Pass is an abandoned pass.The pass built as early as the early Ming Dynasty was abandoned in the Qing Dynasty.The original barracks and watchtowers inside the pass had long since collapsed into rubble and rubble. The available bricks, tiles and wood were all removed by the nearby villagers, and were either used to build houses or used to build cowsheds and horse pens.Except for the rough outline of the east gate's city wall, only a pile of mutilated bones remained in this grand pass.Hundreds of years of time, hundreds of years of right and wrong, under the sun, turned into wild vines and weeds crawling all over the ruined wall.

When Yue Tianyi was feeling depressed, someone suddenly came to report that there was a group of more than 20 officers and soldiers five miles to the west, walking towards Tongling Pass from the direction of Yincheng. It seemed that they didn't know that the pass had been occupied. .Yue Tianyi couldn't help being overjoyed, and immediately ordered the left general Yue Xinshou to lead a team of strong and strong brothers to lie in ambush by the roadside. They must capture all the officers and soldiers alive. One must not be killed and the other must not be injured.General Zuo made a small plan, first ambushing the people and horses by the side of the road, and then he and a dozen other brothers pretended to be porters to wait on the road.Sure enough, the soldiers were bloodless, and all the officers and soldiers were taken down in one fell swoop.In less than an hour, the captured officers and soldiers were brought before Yue Tianyi.It turned out that these two dozen officers and soldiers were sent by Nie Qinxuan, the commander of the Yincheng Patrol Battalion.The leader was a postmaster, who led two sheds of soldiers and four porters, and came out to inspect and repair the telegraph lines.General Yue Xinshou of the left tied up twenty-five captives, brought them before the Generalissimo, and ordered the captives to kneel down to hear the trial. Yue Tianyi dragged his voice majestically: "Tell me, is it true that Tongjiang prefect was killed in Yincheng?" The porters hurriedly replied: "Really, really, Mr. Yuan ordered the bomb to blow up into a lump, and filled a basket..." "The reason you came out is to repair the government's Shunfeng ears?" Seeing that no one answered, Yue Tianyi corrected again: "Is that what you call the wire newspaper?" A soldier raised his head and replied: "Yes, yes." Yue Tianyi emphasized his tone, "Our Tianyi Army came to rebel. Do you know that your heads should be chopped off if you fall into my hands today?" General Zuo immediately responded with an order: "Serve with swords and axes!" Following the order, a bright ghost knife was placed on the heads of the prisoners.The kneeling captives yelled in fright: "I know, I know, I beg the Generalissimo to spare me..." But Yue Tianyi didn't really want to chop off the heads of these people, he just wanted to make them understand who could save their lives now.Yue Tianyi remembered how Song Jiang in "Water Margin" and Liu Bei in "Water Margin" subdued the generals, and he believed that he could do the same.Yue Tianyi turned to the man who looked like an officer: "Are you their leader? Are you the chief of the post?" The whistle chief nodded. "Do you want to save your brothers, or do you want to cut off their heads together?" The whistle chief bowed his head and remained silent.But there was already a cry of pleading around him: "Chief Yue, you are desperate to die, you must have a conscience..." Hearing that the officer was also surnamed Yue, Yue Tianyi couldn't help being elated, and hurriedly asked, "What's your name?" "My surname is Yue, and my name is Shaowu." Yue Tianyi could no longer care about his majesty, and hurriedly imitated Song Gongming and Uncle Liu Huang, stepped forward to help the whistle chief who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Good! Good! Good! Another brother from the same family has come, you are not too early!" Can you explain it more clearly? You and I can’t write two characters of Yue in one stroke. This is God’s help!” Then he turned his face and ordered his subordinates to say: “Hurry up and untie the leader of Yue! Move a piece quickly. Come and sit on a stone for him!" When both of them sat down, Yue Tianyi laughed heartily, "Although I am not as good as Yu Songjiang in time, I still know a little bit about loyalty. We are all Han Chinese, and what we Han want to kill are the Manchus, and what we want to take away are the Manchus." As long as you are willing to vote to rebel under the banner of our Tianyi Army, you are all your brothers. Chief Yue, you have already become the chief of the post, so you naturally know more about training and fighting than I do. You do it! These brothers of yours are also brothers of the Tianyi Army from now on. I was worrying about how to train and fight with these mud poles I received, and God sent you to my door! This is what Tianyi people wish for ! Very comfortable!" Seeing that he had changed from a death row prisoner to a "military adviser" in the blink of an eye, Captain Yue couldn't help being confused, unable to turn around, and sat on the rock like a mud tire. Yue Tianyi urged from the side: "Chief Yue, if you are asked to be our Tianyi army's military advisor, it would not be an insult to you, would it? Do you have anything else to say? As long as you agree to be my military advisor, you and your brothers You are all brothers of our Tianyi Army! We are all one family!" Seeing that the Generalissimo was spared the crime of beheading, the saved soldiers all bowed down to the Generalissimo gratefully.At the same time, he urged his own officer: "Chief Yue, don't shirk any more, the lives of the brothers are in your hands! Just promise to be this military adviser!" Seeing that there was no way out for him, Chief Yue had no choice but to cup his fists at Yue Tianyi and said, "Marshal Meng can appreciate it, so I have no choice but to suffer the wrong love." Satisfied, Yue Tianyi ordered everyone to be untied, and at the same time he laughed and mentioned "Timely Rain": "Although I, Yue Tianyi, can't compare to Timely Rain Song Gongming, I have been the leader of Paoge for a few years, and I know some loyalty!" Between talking and laughing, the sun has already set in the western mountains.As dusk gradually rises, there is an evening wind blowing over the mountains.The black corner flag at Tongling Pass was blown by the mountain wind and stretched gently. The red flame-shaped door was surrounded by five golden characters on the black flag: Marshal Jinpeng.The brethren of the Tianyi Army have already lit the bonfire in the camp.Blue smoke slowly rose into the bottomless twilight.The desolate and lonely Tongling Pass woke up from hundreds of years of desertion, and looked at these familiar scenery in the evening wind. The brothers of the Tianyi Army did not know that at this very moment, there was an elite army, armed with more than 500 Mausers and two mountain cannons, coming along the official road from the provincial capital towards Tongling Pass.The brothers of the Tianyi Army have never seen any foreign guns or cannons, nor have they even heard the sound of foreign guns and cannons.They have never seen the tragic lethality of foreign guns and cannons.The brothers of the Tianyi Army had never thought about how they would use swords and spears to deal with such an army with completely different equipment.The dark night gradually engulfed the mountains, and the golden bonfires reflected the rough black faces of peasants, and reflected the cold swords and spears, which turned them into as deep and resolute as iron cast stone sculptures. The mountain where Niushipo is located is called Xieyu Peak.There is a hole in the half waist of Xieyu Peak.Yincheng people call it Fairy Cave.It is said that in the early years, Taoist priests lived in the fairy cave.How early this "early years" was is no longer possible to test.Some say it is the Eastern Han Dynasty, while others say it is the Yuan Dynasty.Later, for some reason, the incense in Xianren Cave declined, and the Taoist priests gradually dispersed, leaving only a teenage Taoist boy.One day, the Taoist finally couldn't bear the loneliness of cultivation, and even bid farewell to the world by hanging himself in the cave.Since then, the fairy cave has been completely cut off, and the gate has been dilapidated.There is only one horrible legend left, which is that there is a monster with boundless magic living in the cave. It does not suck blood, and does not eat meat. It only feeds on human souls.Hundreds and decades later, apart from a few boulders, only the stone walls blackened by incense remained in the cave.Later, the Fairy Cave was full of dark bats, and there was a foot or two of bat droppings on the ground.When night falls, on the dark sky, thousands of black bats squeak and scream from their holes into the air in the darkness of the evening, scattering the torn night all over the valley .It wasn't until Wangcai, the bullshit guest, came in that the Immortal Cave became alive again. Wangcai discovered the fairy cave by accident when he was cutting bamboo on the mountain.When Wangcai took the machete and pushed the wild vines away to walk into the cave, he was suddenly knocked down by a group of flying bats on the entrance of the cave.Not reconciled, Wangcai simply picked up a handful of dry firewood, lit a torch, held it on his head, and drilled into the hole.There was only a "boom" in the cave, and this time Wangcai was pushed to the ground by thousands of bats together with him and the torch.The soft fleshy wings of the bats flapped wildly on Wangcai's face, head, body, hands, and legs.The moment he fell to the ground, Wangcai suddenly remembered the little Taoist priest who had hanged himself, and couldn't help shouting desperately.After shouting for a while, I realized that my voice was empty and loud.Wangcai stood up and lit the torch again and looked inside. There were no little Taoist priests or monsters in the dark cave, only thick bat droppings all over the floor.The few big stones covered with bat guano are covered with "dung hats" and "dung mattresses" one or two feet thick.After carefully checking the inside and outside of the cave, Wangcai became happy. This is the house that God specially left for me, Wangcai, a bullshit man!It turns out that above the entrance of this fairy cave, there is a natural stone eaves two or three feet wide and four or five feet deep. The cave is just below the stone eaves.The entrance of the Immortal Cave is as high as a person and three or four feet wide, and the inside is the size of two or three rooms.I laughed when I saw the wide and deep stone eaves, where can I find such a comfortable place to dry my cow dung!Before that, Wangcai slept with others in the Fire God Temple all year round.I have been struggling to find a safe place to dry the cow dung cakes.Now that there is this hole, Wangcai can't help but thank God and applaud again and again.As long as this hole is cleaned up, it will be a good house that is warm in winter and cool in summer.It's no wonder that even the gods have taken a fancy to this treasure cave.The bird droppings in the cave are nothing to Wangcai.Cow dung people deal with cow dung every day, so they just need a little extra effort.It took Wangcai three days to remove the bird droppings, cut down the wild vines and weeds at the entrance of the cave, and lit several bonfires in the cave to dry the moisture.Then, bamboo was cut down on the mountain to make bamboo beds, bamboo doors, bamboo bowls, bamboo chopsticks, bamboo spoons, and bamboo shovels.Then use three stones to support an iron pot.Since then, he has become the new owner of the fairy cave.Knowing that Wangcai lived in the fairy cave, someone dissuaded him: "Wangcai, aren't you afraid that the monster in the cave will come out to look for you?" Wangcai laughed back: "If a person is reincarnated in this life as a bullshit hacker, why should he be afraid of his head? When a monster comes looking for him, I'll trade him. You can't get this good luck!" Wangcai ignored the dissuasion of others.I still sleep in the cave every day and wait for the monster.Seeing that the monsters are not coming, winter is coming.Several north winds blew, but I still couldn't survive just relying on burning firewood in the cave.After waking up from the cold for several nights, Wangcai came up with a good idea.Every night, he put the pile of firewood for heating on the widest stone and burned it. When the firewood was burned out, he swept the ashes away, and then spread the straw mattress tied with straw on the stone.The hot stone was like a warm bed, and it was warm most of the night.In his sleep, the warm and stretched Wangcai had a happy smile all over his face.Wangcai thought again, no wonder this cave is called Immortal Cave. One morning, when Wangcai woke up from his warm bed, he saw another person at the foot of the bed.Looking at the curled body wrapped in rags, Wangcai knew it was a beggar.Hearing the noise, the beggar hurriedly knelt down, and stretched out his face full of debt from the pile of rags: "God Immortal, I'm here to take advantage of you. It's so cold outside... You've always done good deeds, my lord!" I will repay you by turning into a horse..." Wangcai hurriedly waved his hand to stop his mantra, "I'm not some kind of god, so I don't need you to turn into a cow and a horse. If your second generation comes to look for it again, I'm afraid I will still be a bullshit." The two hardworking people laughed happily.From then on, Wangcai gained a reputation as a good man among the beggars in Yincheng.In Yincheng, the beggars are divided into gangs and each has a gang leader.Those who live in the Fire God Temple are called the Dragon Gang, and those who live in the Niuwang Temple are called the Tiger Gang.The Dragon and Tiger gangs are all locals.Anyone who comes from outside must report to the gang leader to receive a "reward", and the gang leader will write down the name and issue a bamboo card.Only those who received the reward and were allowed to beg in the specified lot.The money and goods obtained from begging must be handed over to the leader every day.Then the leader will give everyone an average "reward".Those who do not receive rewards are not allowed to beg in Yincheng, secondly, there is no place to stay and stand, and thirdly, they can be beaten and scolded by others.Therefore, every winter, the fairy cave becomes a shelter for the beggars from outside to save their lives.At most, there were forty or fifty beggars crowded into the cave.When the weather gets warmer, they leave the fairy cave and wander around.Unintentionally, Wangcai gradually became their leader.As long as beggars from other places can't find a place to live, they will come to the fairy cave admiringly.So in the beggar business in Yincheng, besides the Dragon Gang and the Tiger Gang, there is also the "Immortal Gang" in the Immortal Cave.It's just that the head of the Immortal Gang doesn't want other people's tribute money.Nor did he lead his gang of beggars to "catch wine" and "applause".Apart from the usual begging, drinking and applause is the biggest income of the Yincheng Beggars' Gang.On the birthdays of grandpas of rich salt merchants in the old and new cities, mother’s birthdays, full moons of children and grandchildren, weddings and funerals, opening of shops, and digging of salt wells, the leader of the beggar gang will lead his whole team to “help” , dozens of hundreds of ragged and dirty beggars gathered around the gate, shouting in unison, or wishing birthday, or congratulating, or helping to cry, or helping to sing, making the host family dumbfounded, so they had to send someone out to get money. A copper coin for each person, and the helper will give silver dime money for wine.Sometimes it is even necessary to invite the leader of the gang to the table for a feast, so that nothing will happen.Dozens of hundreds of unkempt, lice-covered, and stinky beggars gathered on the street and shouted loudly, which is a unique scene in Yincheng.银城人已经见多不怪，倘若遇见了，只有苦笑着绕开，知道这是主家还没有出来打发。但是银城人也都知道，住在仙人洞里的神仙帮从来不去赶酒收钱。神仙帮的叫化子们大都留在新城地面上行乞。他们受了旺财的好处，常常会帮旺财拾拾牛粪，搬搬粪饼，或是捡些柴草。在挨门乞讨时，他们会仔细留心哪家灶房里的牛粪饼快烧完了，告诉旺财赶紧送货。神仙帮只有一条铁定的规矩，就是仙人洞里的一草一线都不可以拿。凡是破了规矩的永远不许再回洞里来住，也永远不许再回到银城乞讨。所以这条规矩从来没有谁敢违反过。因为从来不恶乞，不敲竹杠，神仙帮这三个字，就有了一种称赞的意思。遇见某人做事没有信誉，或是贪钱太狠，银城人会说“你还不如神仙帮的叫化子”。 因为要整日走街串巷见缝插针地乞讨，银城所有的酒肆茶寮、店铺货摊，大街小巷和集市庙会都少不了叫化子们的身影。所以银城任何的风吹草动，蛛丝马迹也都逃不出叫化子们的眼睛。后来被别人写到书里的那些“事件”，原本是叫化子们眼睛里讨饭吃的窍门，和避死求生的机会。知府大人在会贤茶楼下面被炸死的当天晚上，旺财在仙人洞里的龙门阵上，从许多双眼睛、耳朵和嘴巴里得到一段充满了细节、色彩和声音的现场综述：“嗨呦——天爷，轰隆一声，震都震聋了，我在街上趴起，啥子也听不到，满街的人都在跑、都在叫，哪里还有知府大人？啥子都没得了！肉都在墙高头一坨一坨粑起。官老爷的轿子也炸得来东一块西一片的。那个龟儿子抄起枪托就打，我就跑，龟儿子就追起打，格老子亏得跑得快些，才留下这个吃饭的脑壳……那两个替死鬼话都没得喊得两声，咔喳！咔喳！一刀一个脑壳，龟儿子些刀法硬是好得很哩！大家都伸起脑壳，巴起眼睛盯到看。格老子该得发财，一脚下去踩到根指头儿，低头一看，哎哟，明晃晃地一闪，金戒指呦！做梦都没得见过的东西。我就蹲下身去提鞋，顺便把那根指头儿抓起装到怀里。啷个不怕嘛，手心头麻酥酥地打抖。脑壳些都还在伸起看。一刀一个脑壳，一刀一个脑壳，血喷起多高！街都红起多大一摊！龟儿子些的刀法硬是好得很！”