Chapter 26 Si Baochao sells his wife

It turned out that Zhou Guoyu was a big family at the foot of Baota Mountain in Liuyang, and his ancestor was Zhou Tianci, a personal bodyguard of Shi Kefa, a scholar of the Hongguang Dynasty in the Southern Ming Dynasty.After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Tianci lived in seclusion in Liuyang, Hunan, and took it as his mission to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.Due to the strict rule of the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Tianci's great wish could not be realized, but the descendants of the descendants abided by the precepts of their ancestors and never forgot the great cause of anti-Qing and restoring Ming Dynasty.Zhou Guoyu and his younger brothers Guocai and Guoxian studied martial arts since childhood, made friends from all over the world, and plotted great things.By chance, Zhou Guoyu met Luo Dagang, the leader of the Tiandihui, and Luo Dagang took the Zhou brothers to meet Hong Daquan, the leader of the Tiandihui.So the Zhou brothers joined the Tiandihui and established the Zhengyi Hall in Liuyang County. In the Ming Dynasty, they were benevolent and righteous, and they formed good relationships. They secretly developed the congregation and advocated anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty. The congregation quickly grew to thousands of people, and the momentum was huge. .Later, Jiang Zhongyuan led Chu Yong to suppress it, and Zhou Guoyu and the brothers from Zhengyitang retreated to Savage Mountain outside the city.After Luo Gang joined the Taiping Army, he sent people to invite him several times, but Zhou Guoyu was unwilling to participate because he did not agree with the goals of the Taiping Army.A few days ago, they went down the mountain to kill Zhang Yishan, the vice-president of the Liuyang County regiment training camp, who was domineering and forcibly married, but they failed to catch Zhang, so they set fire to the county regiment training center. .

After understanding these circumstances, Zeng Guofan formulated a strategy to steal Savage Mountain. Through the innkeeper, a small leader of Zhengyitang was bought, and the little leader led Li Xubin, Zeng Guobao, and Kang Fu into the deserted Savage Mountain.Li Xubin and others disguised themselves as the leaders of the triad society in Xiangxiang County, and deceived Zhou Guoyu's trust with the lie of bringing 100,000 taels of silver to join the partnership.At this time, Wang Chi was ordered to rush from Changsha to Liuyang with 800 regiments.Wang Qi and Li Xubin led Yong Ding and took Zhang Yishan hostage into Yeren Mountain.In front of Zhengyi's cousins, Wang Chi declared Zhang Yishan's crimes against the fish and meat people, and killed the vice president of the training regiment on the spot, and encouraged the people in Zhengyitang to lay down their weapons and go down the mountain to become good people.Zeng Guofan's combination of soft and hard methods has achieved results. Zhengyi Hall was defeated, and the Zhou Guoyu brothers had to evacuate Savage Mountain with a group of backbones.

This was the most proud event that the provincial capital group had done since its establishment. Wang Chi, Li Xubin and others wanted to be praised by the provincial yamen, but unexpectedly Changsha's response was very cold.Although Zeng Guofan was unhappy, he didn't talk about it with Luo Bingzhang, not even in front of Zuo Zongtang. He still handled bandit cases every day and turned his energy to training brave men. Zeng Guofan felt the lack of instructors.Although Wang Chi, Kang Fu, Li Xubin, Peng Yuju and others are excellent in martial arts, they all have heavy tasks and cannot devote all their energy to coaching the regiment.Zeng Guofan paid attention to identifying talents from among the regiment members at all times. When he found a regiment member with better martial arts skills and a solid personality, he rewarded them and promoted them to serve as chiefs and post chiefs.Every night, I review the military books of the past dynasties, especially Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Ji Xiao" and "Records of Military Training" in detail. Many places are done according to what Qi Jiguang said.Big group training days are picking up.

One afternoon, when Zeng Guofan and Kang Fu were having some free time, Jing Qijin said, "My lord, the Yang Zaifu whom I met on Yueyang Tower last year is here." "Invite him to come in!" Zeng Guofan was overjoyed, and while telling Kang Fu to put away the chess, he had already stepped out of the door. As soon as Yang Zaifu entered the door, he knelt down and kowtowed to salute: "Master Zeng, the villain has eyes but can't see Mount Tai. Last time there were a lot of offenses in Yueyang Tower, please forgive me." Zeng Guofan helped Yang Zaifu up with his own hands, and said cheerfully: "What is the offense, what are you talking about! I am very lucky to have met you by the Dongting Lake. How has your step been this year?"

Zeng Guofan looked Yang Zaifu up and down, and saw that he was wearing a set of uniforms for a green battalion officer, so he asked again: "Which battalion do you work in? Why haven't I seen you?" Yang Zaifu replied respectfully: "Last year, Master Meng pointed out the way out for me. The next day, I made arrangements for the platoon, took the letter of recommendation written by the Master, and went to Changsha to join Luo Futai. Luo Futai asked me: "Who are you, Mr. Zeng?" I said, "Mr. Zeng and I are neither relatives nor relatives. I didn't know him at all before I got the recommendation." Luo Futai asked me how I got the recommendation, and I described the situation at that time. After talking for a while, Luo Futai said, "You brat, do you know who Mr. Zeng is?" I was lucky enough to meet you." I was taken aback at the time, remembering what my lord had said about going home to my mother's funeral.

Luo Futai left me in Fubiao Youying.Seeing that my martial arts skills are not bad, at the beginning of this year, I was promoted to be the head of the foreign committee, and sent me to the Chenzhou Association to train recruits.I just returned to Changsha a few days ago for a business trip.I saw the notice issued by the adults on the street yesterday, so I knew that the adults were holding group training in the province.I specially asked for leave today to visit my lord. " Zeng Guofan was very happy to see Yang Zaifu's recommendation, and said: "Your step has grown a lot this year, and you have experience in training recruits. I would like to invite you to come to the big regiment to train Yong Ding. Will you agree?"

Yang Zaifu said: "Your Excellency is my benefactor. Don't tell me to come to Datuan as an instructor, but tell me to go to the wolf's den and tiger's den immediately. How dare you refuse!" Zeng Guofan was very happy, and immediately wrote a letter to Luo Bingzhang, asking him to let Yang Zaifu come to the group to obey.Luo Bingzhang naturally agreed.The next day, Yang Zaifu reported to Zeng Guofan's Yamen.After breakfast, Zeng Guofan took Yang Zaifu to the playground outside the south gate, and was assigned to Luo Zenan No. 1 battalion as a sentry officer, and also in charge of teaching and learning for the whole battalion.In the afternoon, Zeng Guofan walked back to Yutangkou from the playground at the South Gate, and when he passed Yandao Street, he saw a few guards from the Procuratorate who were carrying out punishments lock up a man and walked forward.Suddenly, a woman ran stumblingly from behind.The woman hugged the man's thigh and cried, "Chun Ting, let me go with you!" The woman cried so sadly that all the passers-by stopped to watch.

I also saw two or three men running from behind, grabbing the woman's hand and dragging her back, but the woman refused desperately.The man's face was full of tears, and he said: "Juying, take care, I'll pick you up again in a few years." The guards shouted and rushed the man away. Zeng Guofan looked at the man intently. He was about twenty-six or seven years old. He was tall, taller than ordinary people by a head, with broad shoulders and a round waist. Dark and dense.Zeng Guofan thought to himself: what a man, what did he do?Seeing that it was Zeng Guofan, the officer of the Procuratorate Division who brought up the sentence quickly nodded and bowed his head and said hello: "Master Zeng, are you always going back to the mansion?"

When the man heard the guard call him "Master Zeng", he quickly shouted: "You are always Master Zeng? I, Bao Chao, have suffered and humiliated today. Please help me." Zeng Guofan was surprised and asked, "You want me to save you?" "Master Zeng, haven't you always been training with the regiment? Bao Chao is willing to join your old account. Now I am like Xue Rengui who was in trouble back then. In the future, I will help you to conquer the east and the north." Zeng Guofan thought: This person is quite arrogant, and now is the time to employ people, so you might as well bring this person to the trial bureau for detailed questioning.He said to the guard: "Take him to the case bureau, and I will interrogate him."

The guard looked embarrassed, and said: "Master Tao wants the young ones to be taken away. If they are sent to the trial bureau, Master Tao will blame them, and the young ones will not be able to eat." "It doesn't matter, I will send someone to tell Mr. Tao, and send it to him after interrogation." Bao Chao said again: "Master Zeng, this woman is a villain's woman, please be merciful and let her stay in the hotel for a few more days. After the villain meets her, she will be taken away by the Ma family. .” Zeng Guofan asked Wang Jingqi to send the woman to the hotel, and then went to the Taiwanese Yamen to tell Tao Enpei, and asked those men to go back first, and talk about it in a few days.The guard had no choice but to follow him to the case bureau.

Zeng Guofan sat on the grand teacher's chair in the lobby, and Bao Chao knelt in the hall.After he was dismissed from the guard, he said to Bao Chao: "Why did you get locked up, tell me the truth." Bao Chao kowtowed and replied: "Yes." Then he slowly explained the whole story. It turned out that Bao Chao, whose alias was Chunting, was from Fengjie, Sichuan. Both his parents died since he was a child, and he helped people pick up dung and herd cattle for a living.When he was fifteen years old, someone introduced him to the Qingxu Temple in Emei Mountain, where he collected firewood and water for the Taoists in the temple, and mixed a mouthful of fast food for him.Bao Chao is strong, diligent and diligent, and although violent, he is straightforward, and he is very popular with Taoist Master Qing'an.Daoist Qing'an taught him some martial arts in his spare time.Bao Chao is illiterate, but has a good understanding.All kinds of martial arts, as soon as they are taught, they are memorized by heart, and they are willing to work hard to practice. After three or four years, Bao Chao became the number one master in Qingxu Temple.Taoist Master Qing'an wanted to keep him in the temple, but Bao Chao couldn't get used to the deserted life on Mount Emei. He wanted to use his martial arts skills to do something spectacular and earn a bright future.After Taoist Master Qing'an learned of his ambition, he felt deeply regretful, regretting that he had misjudged the wrong person at the beginning.When he was 20 years old, Bao Chao got into a quarrel with another Taoist in the temple over a trivial matter. He swung his iron fist and beat the Taoist until he vomited blood and passed out.Daoist Qing'an was furious, tied him up, and beat him with fifty water and fire sticks.How could Bao Chao swallow this breath, and early the next morning, he packed his bags and went down the mountain.Walking to the middle of the mountain, I remembered the kindness of my master's teaching in the past five years, and thought to myself that I would feel sorry for my master if I left without saying goodbye, so I turned around and went up the mountain to bid farewell to Taoist Qing'an.The Taoist priest didn't keep him, but only told him: "No matter how much contribution you make in the future, no matter how high your official title is, don't mention Qingxu Guan's past few years to others, let alone your teacher's name." Bao Chao went down the mountain and came to Chengdu to join the army.Over the past few years, I have worked hard and worked hard, but I haven't got an official job.Bao Chao was discouraged. It just so happened that the Guangxi Hongyang incident happened that year, and the imperial court wanted to send troops to the front line in Guangxi.Bao Chao saw that the opportunity to make meritorious deeds had come, so he volunteered to come to Guangxi.As soon as he arrived, he was favored by Xiang Rong and was chosen as his own soldier.Seeing that Bao Chao is about to make a fortune.Unexpectedly, bad luck, Bao Chao was seriously injured in the battle of Yong'an.Xiang Rong gave him a few taels of silver and left him to recuperate at a common man's home in Guangxi.Soon, Xiang Rong led his troops to chase the Taiping army and left Guangxi for Hunan. The family that Bao Chao lives in is Wei.Ju Ying, a girl from the Wei family, devoted herself to recruiting and helping Bao Chao.Ju Ying loves Bao Chao, who is dignified, and Bao Chao loves Ju Ying, who is delicate and graceful, and has a good heart.The two fell in love with each other and secretly got together.Juying's parents also felt that Bao Chao was manly, so they agreed with their daughter's choice and held a wedding ceremony for the young couple.A few months later, Bao Chao recovered from his injury, and he discussed with Ju Ying that he would go to Hunan to find the admiral.Ju Ying was reluctant to part with him, so she came to Hunan with him.After arriving in Changsha, Fang knew that Admiral Xiang had already gone to Jiangning, and Bao Chao and his wife were not discouraged.The money was about to run out, and the shop owner was pressing for the rent every day. Bao Chao was so angry that he drank two catties of white Gan in a hotel, and was so drunk that he suddenly had an idea.He yelled in the hotel: "Whoever wants a wife, I will sell him two hundred taels of silver." Everyone thought it was funny, so they encouraged the hotel owner Ma to buy it.Boss Ma is in his forties, his wife just died last year, and he is about to get married. Seeing that Bao Chao is only in his twenties, he guesses that his wife must be young, so he asks, "Man, are you really selling your wife?" "Really." Bao Chao squinted at the hotel owner with his bloodshot eyes. "No regrets?" "Manly man, what he says means what he says." "Hmm." Boss Ma thought to himself, a person who sells his wife has the face to call him a man.He said to Bao Chao with contemptuous eyes, "Man, go and see how your wife looks, I don't want a pockmarked and blind one." There were a few good people on the spot, happily following to watch the fun.Boss Ma was overjoyed when he saw that Juying was young and beautiful, so he pulled out Bao Chao and said, "Man, it's settled like this. Tomorrow, I will pay the money with one hand and the wife with the other hand. Please help me to testify, and you are not allowed to go back on your word!" Immediately, someone wrote a note, and Bao Chao printed the hand model. That night, Bao Chao woke up, regretting the absurdity of selling his wife during the day.But the deal is done, he had to tell Ju Ying.When Juying heard this, she fainted immediately, and it took her a long time to wake up, she hated Bao Chao's heartlessness.Bao Chao comforted his wife.To be honest, it is really a last resort. Instead of both of them dying here, it is better to go to Jiangning in exchange for money, find the admiral Xiang, and after a year or two, he has made military achievements and became an official. He must return to Changsha to redeem it.The couple hugged each other and cried all night.The next day, Boss Ma came with two hundred taels of silver and wanted to take Juying away.The wife sold it by himself, and he couldn't regret it for a while, but he was a bloody man after all, and when he saw that he had come to carry his wife, he became angry again, and became angry for no reason, and beat Boss Ma severely.Boss Ma was beaten innocently, no matter how angry he was, he went to the Taiwanese yamen to sue Bao Chao.There was also a hand model contract and more than a dozen personal witnesses. Tao Enpei, a native of Taiwan, ordered Bao Chao to be arrested, and Wei Juying was awarded to Boss Ma. Zeng Guofan listened carefully to Bao Chao's narration, and thought: This reckless lady's character is indeed not very good, and she may be ungrateful in the future, selling her friends for glory, and then thinking: Bao Chao is also pitiful. The hero short-circuited, no wonder he did such heartless things, didn't Wu Qi also kill his wife to ask for a general?Now we are looking for a few people with real skills to teach the group members, regardless of his character, let's see what his skills are. Zeng Guofan summoned his guards, unlocked the chains on Bao Chao's hands, rewarded him with wine and dinner, and asked him to perform a few sets of boxing knives and guns in person. Bao Chao was very happy, he wished he could use all his strength in front of Master Zeng. At that time, when I came to Shepu, I took off my clothes and performed a set of Changquan first.This set packs a punch!Combining Shaolin boxing and Emei boxing together, after a few whistling sounds, I could hear the sound of the wind and people running around.Suddenly there was a roar, and he rushed out with a punch, and with a "crash", a hole was punched out of the arrow target made of three layers of cowhide.Zeng Guofan blurted out his praise: "What a miracle!" After punching all the way, Bao Chao's heart didn't beat and his face didn't turn red.Zeng Guofan himself does not know martial arts, but he is well-informed, and he can tell at a glance that he is extraordinary. He thought that there are more than 1,000 brave men in the group, and I am afraid that few can surpass him. As he thought, he stood up and patted He leaned over his shoulder and said: "You have such abilities, why worry that there is no use for them! What a man wants is to seal his wife and shade, how can he do the stupid thing of selling his wife. You don't have to go to Jiangning to find the admiral, The headquarters appointed you as a sentry officer, and also manage a hundred or so people, would you like to?" Bao Chao was overwhelmed by the flattery, quickly knelt down and kowtowed, and said excitedly: "Thank you sir! Your master is like Bao Chao's reborn parents. In this life, Bao Chao and Ding sir will do your best for you." Zeng Guofan helped Bao Chao up, and said: "From now on, you must teach Yongding all your skills, and don't keep them. Take fifty taels of silver from me and go back, and give twenty taels to the hotel owner as a recovery fee; No, take back the paperwork; give the other thirty taels to your wife, and settle the house down. You will come to me to take up the post the day after tomorrow. Master Tao, I will ask someone to go to Jie." Bao Chaoxi fell from the sky, thank you so much, and went back to the hotel.Here Zeng Guofan revised a letter, explaining that Bao Chao is a talent, if you want to keep him to teach the troupe, you don't have to pursue Yunyun any more, and hand it over to the guards to return to their orders.