Chapter 73 Rumors create chaos

The news that King Lu's army was crossing the river on a large scale made Yu Huai stay temporarily.But he didn't know that his two friends who had lost contact - Shen Shizhu and Liu Jingting had actually arrived in Haining, and with them was Zha Jizuo, the head of the Lu Wang regime.Currently, they are living in the Cha family's mansion in the east of the city.In addition, Yu Huai certainly didn't know that the so-called news that King Lu's army had crossed the river last night, which caused panic in the whole city, was actually nothing but a rumor deliberately spread by his friends in order to create confusion. That's all.

Shen Shizhu and the other three were commissioned by Huang Zongxi to sneak into the city secretly three days ago.In the eastern part of Zhejiang, across the river from Haining, not only the local militia, but also Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren's regular troops have been officially put into preparation since the regime of King Lu finally decided to go west.After the active promotion of supervisor Zhang Guowei, all matters have been basically completed.In addition, King Lu himself finally realized that the local rebel army is also a force that cannot be ignored. Recently, Sun Jiaji and Xiong Rulin, the two veterans who were the first to fight against the Qing Dynasty, were promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War and Dongge University Bachelor. This is even bigger. Inspired the morale of the rebel soldiers.As a result, after the imperial court formally approved the military strategy of the Yuyao army, three more groups of volunteers voluntarily joined Huang Zongxi's command.Although these people did not have many soldiers, they still further enhanced Huang Zongxi's strength and momentum.Facing the increasingly high morale, Sun Jiaji instructed Huang Zongxi to send troops across the river as soon as possible, striving to start the first battle of the Western Expedition.According to the original plan, the Yuyao army would first seize Tanshan, a small town on the other side of the Qiantang River, then attack Haining and Haiyan eastward, and then turn to Taihu Lake to join the local rebels, and then expand their territory northward.Huang Zongxi analyzed the information he had and estimated that there would be no difficulty in occupying Tanshan.But in the city of Haining, the Qing Dynasty recently sent a man named Zhang Yaoyang to serve as the county magistrate.This person has a thousand soldiers from the countryside and keeps in touch with the Hangzhou side. If the situation is urgent, Qing soldiers will be invited to come to the rescue.So I'm afraid it will take a little effort.In order to ensure that the city can be broken down smoothly, Huang Zongxi and his deputy Wang Zhengzhong repeatedly discussed and decided to secretly send Zha Jizuo, who was born in a prominent family in Haining, to sneak back into the city first. With his local connections and influence, he tried to contact people with lofty ideals and act as internal support. Time to cooperate with the rebels to attack the city.In addition, Huang Zongxi also thought that Shen Shizhu and Liu Jingting had always wanted to go to Haining to find out the whereabouts of Yu Huai and Mao Xiang, and they had the Qing army number plates they got in Nanjing, so it should not be a problem to enter and leave Haining, so he invited the two to go together , to assist Zha Jizuo from the side.

Now, with the support and help of Zha Jikun, Zha Jizuo's older brother, the three of them not only successfully lurked in the Zha family mansion, but also got a general idea of ​​the situation in the city.It turned out that the county seat located at the mouth of the Qiantang River experienced two uprisings in June and August last year, and failed twice. Afterwards, after some rectification, some systems have been restored, and lawless behavior has been curbed. The township braves who once took advantage of the chaos and organized themselves have also been reorganized according to the method of sub-insurance group training.In addition, Zhang Yaoyang also received support from the Qing army in Hangzhou, and brought in a batch of knives, guns and firearms to equip his men and horses.For the defense of each city gate, in addition to assigning special personnel to be responsible, each gate has recently been equipped with archers, long gunners, short gunners, card guards, gunners, and a group of young and strong civilians to jointly defend.As for the strategy before the battle, Zhang Yaoyang also made arrangements, stipulating that except for the south, east and north gates and the large and small north gates of the six city gates, only half of the west gate and small east gate should be opened, so as to observe the enemy's situation.Once the enemy arrives, if the opponent is powerful, he will close the door; if there are not many people coming from the opponent, he will open the city gate wide and wave his troops to take the initiative to attack, in order to control the enemy before the opportunity.and so on.

Since he found out that Haining's bone is not so easy to chew, Zha Jizuo has been trying to find out the details of the city in the past two days. Can act as an internal force.He learned that: In Yuanhua Town not far to the east, there is currently an anti-Qing armed force active, the leader is Ling Junfu, and there are hundreds of troops under him.As long as they send someone to contact, they will probably be happy to obey.Zha Jizuo told Shen and Liu about this situation, and everyone felt that things would be much easier with the help of this group of people.But how to get this team into the city without arousing Zhang Yaoyang's vigilance is a difficult problem.Later, it was Shen Shizhu who proposed to spread rumors that King Bru's army was crossing the river in a large scale in the city to cause confusion, and then asked Ling Junfu and his men to pretend to be people from the four villages and sneak into the city in batches under the pretext of asking for refuge.He was afraid that everyone would have doubts, so he specifically quoted the words in the book of war that "it is ridiculous to ask for something that might happen, to scare it and lure it" to prove it.The Cha brothers felt that this was a good idea, so they arranged for their confidants to dispatch separately last night to follow the plan.Sure enough, once the rumor was released, it quickly spread to ten, ten to hundreds, and the whole Haining City panicked and commotion... The news spread back to the Cha family's mansion, and everyone was naturally very happy.Among them, Shen Shizhu was the most excited.In fact, although he has been obsessively studying the art of war for many years and can recite many famous articles fluently, this is the first time that he has actually put it into practice, and he did not expect that it will be effective immediately.In the afternoon of the second day, he finally couldn't hold back, and excitedly dragged Liu Jingting to look for the Cha brothers, asking to go out to have a look at the situation.The Cha brothers are naturally also very concerned about the development of the situation, especially though the city is already in chaos, but next, can Ling Junfu and his men take advantage of this chaos to sneak into the city smoothly?And these rebellious and strong people, even though they have promised to come to help, will they change their minds temporarily?These are all uncertain.However, they have been sending their servants to visit outside, and they have also made arrangements to contact Ling Junfu.Therefore, when he heard that Shen Shizhu planned to go out in person, Zha Jizuo stroked his beard instead, and murmured:

"Brother Kuntong wants to go out and have a look. It's okay, but the city is no bigger than Liudu. It's a place the size of a palm, and there are only seven or eight thousand residents in it. Most of the faces, even if you can't call them, you can recognize them." What's more, it's the time of the war, and the strangers who are waiting for the public are the most careful. Even the younger brother, because he has been away for the first time, he dare not show his face easily. What's more, the two brothers are originally from other places. I'm afraid it's not very stable!"

Shen Shizhu shook his head, and said proudly: "It doesn't matter, my younger brother has already become a monk, and he has all the family records on him, and he has the number plate of a Tartar. I don't think those who are public will dare to do anything to me!" "Then will Father Liu go too?" "Dad, he also has a number plate, so he can get it naturally!" "But Dad Liu's face is the easiest to remember, just in case..." "Then," Shen Shizhu immediately changed his words, "Father will stay in the house and let my younger brother go alone for a while!"

"Oh," Liu Jingting said with a smile, "Shen Xianggong wants to betray the old man, but this is impossible! The old man and Shen Xianggong came to the south together, asking themselves to move forward in everything, and dare not be lazy. This time, we will definitely not lag behind! " Seeing that both Shen and Liu insisted on going, Zha Jizuo lost his mind for a moment.He turned to Zha Jikun who was standing beside him, and asked inquiringly, "Brother, look at this..." Zha Jikun nodded and said, "Well, since the two of you are going, the student will send a few strong men to follow the guards secretly around the left and right. If something happens, there will be a support."

This arrangement can naturally make people feel more at ease.So Zha Jizuo dismissed the servants around him, and explained to them in detail, telling them that according to the agreement, Ling Junfu's men and horses would enter from the small east gate, and they would mark their arms with straw ropes; He told them to be careful in everything, and then asked Zha Jikun to lead the way, avoiding the eyes and ears of everyone, and sent them out through a small door on the west side. The Cha family, located in the northeast of the city, is not too far from Xiaodongmen.When Shen and Liu walked along the long and narrow streets, they found that the sun had turned to the west.The high and low courtyard walls on both sides of the street, the doors of different sizes, and the black tile roofs on top of the doors all reflect the bright light.Along the way, people kept coming in and out to move things from their homes. Judging by the nervous and hasty expressions on their faces, no need to ask, they must have been frightened by Ye Lai's rumor and planned to leave the city to seek refuge.This time, although the two friends came out together as usual, as far as Liu Jingting was concerned, it was not so much that he was eager to see the situation outside, but that he was mainly worried about Shen Shizhu.To be honest, he was no longer particularly curious about the matter in front of him, given his extensive travels and experience over the years.If he really wanted to make up his mind, he agreed that it would be better not to show up as much as possible at this time.However, seeing Shen Shizhu scratching his head and fidgeting with excitement, he knew that even if he insisted on stopping him from coming out, Shen Shizhu might sneak out.In case something happened and there was no one to take care of it, he decided to accompany him for a walk.But right now, I saw Shen Shizhu's eyes sparkling as if he had lost his soul, turning his bald head, looking around, and muttering incessantly: "Ah, it's really moving, it's all moving!" That's good, that's good!" Liu Jingting couldn't help shaking his head secretly, stretched out his hand and pulled the other party, and warned in a low voice: "Brother, you have to pay attention to what you say, and let the boss listen carefully!"

"Ah, that's right!" Shen Shizhu, who suddenly came to his senses, nodded his head quickly, and said obediently, "Be careful! Be careful!" Follow the main road leading to Xiaodongmen. The official name of Xiaodongmen is Xuandemen.Not far from the door is the school field for military drills.A road paved with mud stretches from there to the city.Due to years of galloping and trampling by soldiers and horses, the road surface is dilapidated and full of potholes.Although Liu Jingting heard the noise coming from a long distance outside when he was still in the alley, but when he walked out of the alley and took a look, he still couldn't help being startled.I saw that the main road was crowded with countless fleeing people, some were carrying burdens, some were driving wheelbarrows, some were driving donkeys and horses, but many more were carrying all kinds of burdens and were dragging Men and women, the elderly and the young came from all directions, rushing towards the city gate.The expressions on their faces were so panic-stricken, miserable, and completely terrified.Obviously, like the residents in the alley just now, they didn't know the news about Ye Lai at all, it was just a rumor deliberately spread by someone, and they were very afraid that if King Lu's army came over, they would treat them "obedient people of the Qing Dynasty" "Retaliated mercilessly; however, they didn't seem to believe that the Qing government could really protect them, and as a result, they were like a flock of frightened birds without a master, scrambling for their lives whenever there was a turmoil.As they staggered, the road raised dust all over the sky, and it was so gray that the sun was dimmed...

"Well, brother's plan really worked, and it made a commotion in the whole city of Haining!" Finding that the situation was as expected, even more chaotic than expected, Liu Jingting couldn't help but turned around and praised in a low voice. "But, but how could it be like this? So many people, such a mess..." Shen Shizhu asked with his eyes wide open, at a loss.It seemed that the menacing and terrified scene in front of him took him by surprise. Liu Jingting glanced at him sideways: "Hey, the more people there are, the more chaotic it is, the better! If it's not chaotic, how can outsiders get in?"

Shen Shizhu shook his head, and murmured: "No, it's not like this, it shouldn't be like this..." "Shouldn't it be like this?" Liu Jingting was puzzled, "What should it be like?" Shen Shizhu didn't answer, but was just in a daze as if under some invisible restraint.Standing like this for a while, when a large group of people rushed over in a chaotic manner, he walked forward with the flow of people in a daze.Liu Jingting saw it, so he hurried a few steps and followed behind. The two walked non-stop for a while.At this moment, as more and more people flocked, the situation became more chaotic.Some quarreled because of rushing to the road, some cried and yelled because they lost their loved ones, some fainted on the ground because of a sudden illness, some property was stolen, luggage fell apart, and important things were left at home I want to go back to get it... Two men got into an argument for some reason. One of them was suddenly pushed by the other, and he thumped back six or seven steps, bumped a wheelbarrow, and even turned over The burden, threw those pots and pans to the ground, causing crying and cursing everywhere, and the people around were in a mess.There was also a lame old man with loose braids, panting after a duck that had escaped from the bondage, suddenly tripped over something, fell down, and when he struggled, his face was already covered with blood, but Regardless of the pain, he still stared wide-eyed anxiously, looking for the missing duck among the crowd.However, the most pitiful ones are those women from wealthy families. Even in normal times, their little feet are difficult to walk on.Along the way, he stumbled a few steps, scrambled and climbed, making him cry for his father and mother, and he was extremely embarrassed... Liu Jingting naturally noticed such situations, but a few years ago, he followed Zuo Liangyu's army The action was ten times more chaotic and ten times more cruel than this scene, so although I sighed in my heart, I didn't feel any more frightening.Shen Shizhu, on the other hand, shrank his body as if he couldn't bear it and was afraid of the cold, his face became paler and paler, and his steps became slower and slower.Liu Jingting couldn't help feeling strange, thinking, "A while ago, wasn't he afraid that there would be no chaos in the city! Why did it turn out like this when something happened?" So he walked closer and asked in a low voice: "Well, why are you gone?" Shen Shizhu shook his head, said with a mournful face: "Nothing. However, I will only do this kind of thing once, and I will never do it again!" Liu Jingting was slightly taken aback: "Never do it again? What's going on?" "No reason, anyway, I refuse to be an undercover agent again!" Shen Shizhu insisted.After a pause, he probably saw that his companion was still frowning with a puzzled look on his face, so he glanced around again, and explained awkwardly, "I didn't expect to implicate them like this..." Liu Jingting blinked his eyes and finally understood.Indeed, the panic and panic of the people in front of them, the miserable and pitiful appearance, was something they had never imagined when they made the rumors.However, in order to regain the city as soon as possible, so that they will no longer suffer the humiliation of subjugation, this is probably a last resort.He pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Today's matter, actually..." "Someone has to do this today, right?" Shen Shizhu stopped abruptly and interrupted angrily, "Then let someone who is willing to do it do it! Anyway, I won't do it again!" , He gritted his teeth and added: "This--this is not my long-cherished ambition in Shen's life!" "Life long-cherished ambition?" Liu Jingting felt a little confused. "That's right!" Shen Shizhu straightened his neck and said loudly as if arguing.However, at this moment, the refugees swarming past him seemed to make him realize something, so the challenging edge in his eyes trembled and disappeared.For a moment he bit his lip, bowed his head, and turned away silently; at last, with a wave of his hand, he said in a dejected, almost crying voice: "Oh, you won't understand! No one will ever understand." Will understand! No one can understand! Oh, let's go!" Liu Jingting watched suspiciously.However, he soon realized that the "long-cherished ambition" mentioned by the other party seemed to be nothing more than the strange idea of ​​"talking about soldiers in the barracks, and leaping horses to kill thieves". "However, you can't stand the miserable scene right now, and you are talking about fighting the enemy with swords and guns!" Liu Jingting thought with a wry smile.Seeing that Shen Shizhu had already walked forward.He just shook his head and followed behind.