Liu Ergou is sixteen years old this year and is from Pingyang Mansion. After the bandits captured Pingyang Mansion last month, they burned Pingyang Mansion into ruins. The homeless Liu Ergou had to take his elderly mother and young son with him.

My sister joined the bandits, well, they called themselves rebels.

After joining the rebel army, each member of Liu Ergou's family could receive two bowls of porridge mixed with miscellaneous grains every day. Such food was naturally not enough to eat, and could only barely keep the family from starving to death.

Liu Ergou's biggest wish is to join the armored soldiers or even the old camp. I heard that the food there can be eaten freely. No one will tell you even if you are full. There is also meat in the old camp from time to time.

eat.

In Liu Ergou's opinion, such a life can only be found in dreams. Liu Ergou can no longer remember how long ago he last ate meat. His management team told him yesterday that he wanted to join

Being an armored soldier is very simple. You only need to kill two officers and soldiers, take their heads to the management team to ask for merit, and you can be transferred to the armored battalion immediately, and you can also take your family members with you.

When he thought that after joining the Armor Camp, his whole family would have enough to eat, and his eleven-year-old sister would not have to become emaciated from hunger, Liu Ergou felt a wave of heat coming from his body.

He held a wooden stick with one end sharpened and rushed into the center of the team. He watched as black objects continued to fall into the charging team, followed by violent explosions.

Many people in the team were frightened by the explosion. They thought it was God being angry and punishing them. Many people stopped and did not dare to charge, but their coach Gao Ye soon arrived.

, under the threat of riding whips and bows and arrows, they reluctantly began to charge again.

But the sound of artillery fire at the top of the city became more and more intense, and explosive projectiles kept falling. Liu Ergou didn't know when he would be killed like the previous people. Liu Ergou was a somewhat clever person.

He observed carefully and found that the projectiles fired from the city always landed in crowded places. He observed while running and found that they always landed in sparsely populated areas. They never pushed into crowds.

When they ran 300 steps away from the city wall, bursts of dull gunfire began to be heard from the city wall. A hole the size of a fist suddenly appeared behind a hungry soldier running in front of Liu Ergou.

Bing fell to the ground in convulsions, and the shrill screams from his mouth almost shattered Liu Ergou's eardrums.

In this way, Liu Ergou ran to the foot of the city wall without any danger.

Looking at the four-step tall ladder, Liu Ergou was horrified. The towering city wall seemed like a monster with a big mouth, waiting for people like them to enter and fill their stomachs.

"You idiots, climb up here for me. As long as you kill those officers and soldiers, you can eat as much food as you want in Luoyang City!"

Under the city wall, many guards were punching and kicking the frightened hungry soldiers standing under the city wall, and they kept swearing.

"You idiots who are only worthy of wasting food, hurry up!"

A guard's whip struck Liu Ergou's body, and a hot feeling came from behind. Liu Ergou felt resentful in his heart. He wanted to stab him with the spear in his hand, but he looked at his own weapon which was just

After looking at the sharpened wooden stick and the leather armor on the guard's body, he still endured it. In the end, Liu Ergou slowly climbed up with a spear in one hand and the ladder in the other.

In the process of climbing up the ladder, the rocks and rolling wood from the top of the city fell like rain. Liu Ergou saw people falling from the top after being hit. These people falling from the sky were likely to happen again and again.

They didn't get up, and their only destination was to become bloody corpses.

Fortunately, Liu Ergou was lucky. His ladder seemed to have been forgotten. Nothing was thrown down until he almost climbed to the city wall. Liu Ergou, who was secretly happy in his heart, speeded up and said, "As long as we add more

If you work harder, you can climb the city wall." This was Liu Ergou's only thought at this time.

But when Liu Ergou climbed a few more steps, a black object smashed down from the city wall. The object that went down the ladder hit Liu Ergou's head without any bias, and he was still happy.

When Liu Ergou came back to his senses, his vision went dark. Then he didn't know anything at all, and his whole body fell like a heavy linen bag...

"Hey...hit another bandit."

On the city wall, two Luoyang City defenders were each pulling a hemp rope upwards. After a while, a large wooden board five feet long, four feet five inches wide and three inches thick was pulled up.

There were sharp iron nails nailed on both sides of the board. Some of these iron nails were rusty, and some were stained with bloody blood. The sight of them was daunting.

One of the city guarding officers and soldiers pulled the rope and said with a smile: "Sanwa, this wolf fang shot is really good. Once you take a shot, it will cover a large area. The thieves will be like dumplings. It is really fun. It's a pity that you can't go down and chop."

The first level, otherwise it would be even more painful."

The companion named Sanwa next to him snorted with his nostrils, "Go ahead and chop off the head. Even if you chop off the head, you won't be rewarded with silver. You forgot, the day before yesterday, when the garrison master distributed the reward to us, everyone was rewarded with silver.

Even if you pay five cents of silver, even an iron rooster can dig it like this."

But this officer said mysteriously: "You have wronged the guard. I heard from my cousin who works beside the governor. It's not that you don't pay, but that the official warehouse is really out of money. The governor wants to

I personally went to Prince Fu's Mansion several times to do this, but Prince Fu was so dumbfounded that no one had any intention of defending the city yesterday. Otherwise, you think we could be defeated by bandits with such a high wall.

So embarrassed?"

Sanwa shook his head and said angrily, "Hmph, I heard that the money in King Fu's bank is almost overflowing and the food is almost moldy, but he is still reluctant to use some to help us who are suffering. Haha, sometimes I really

I want to quit."

"Shh!" The companions on the side were shocked when they heard this. They quickly put down the rope in their hands, reached out and covered Sanwa's mouth and shouted in a low voice: "You don't want your life. If anyone hears it, we will all suffer."

Sanwa struggled a few times before breaking free from his companion's hand. He looked around twice before saying disdainfully: "What are you afraid of? There's no one around. Even if there are, it's just those Qingzhou soldiers. I don't believe they will tell me."

The secret.”

"Be careful with the Ten Thousand Years Ship, do you know that?" The companion rarely said something polite, and then said in an envious tone: "Yeah, those Qingzhou soldiers are so damn rich, the armor they wear can't even touch us.

I heard that although their salary is not high, the bounty for their beheadings is large, and everyone has been given land, so their life is not to mention how comfortable it is."

"Really!" Sanwa's eyes turned red when he heard this, "Damn it. If it were so easy, I would join the Qingzhou Army soon."

"Shh, it's good that you know. I'll ask you to go to Qingzhou with me when the time comes!"

Not to mention the two soldiers guarding the city whispering on the side, the entire city wall of Luoyang City was plunged into a fanatical atmosphere at this time. Four thousand Qingzhou riflemen loaded ammunition as quickly as possible, and then faced the city wall

A dense crowd of people fired out, then started loading again, and then fired again. The cycle started over and over again.

The whole of Luoyang seemed to be caught in a strange atmosphere and rhythm. Groups of people with sallow faces, ragged clothes and crude weapons rushed forward driven by the leaders behind them, while white clouds of gunpowder smoke continued to appear on the city walls.

The sky rose up, and the roars, shouts of death, and screams formed a cruel picture.

Under the counterattack of artillery, Mini rifles and an endless stream of defensive weapons, the hungry soldiers fell in pieces. Every life was harvested at will like weeds that no one cares about, all of which were harvested on the hillside.

Li Zicheng, who was watching the battle, saw it in his eyes.

"Report!" A messenger on the hillside quickly ran over and knelt on the ground to report loudly to Li Zicheng who was watching the battle: "Report to King Chuang, Master Hao came to report that they were violently attacked by the defenders when they attacked the South Gate.

We resisted and suffered heavy losses. Please send King Chuang to send reinforcements."

"Report. Mr. Liu came to report that they were bombarded by the defenders' artillery when attacking the west gate. The loss of troops and horses has reached 30%. Now they are unable to attack the city. Please send troops to reinforce the city."

"Report..."

Li Zicheng stood on a high slope, his usually wise eyes became dull. He could clearly see the attack just now. His troops had neither artillery nor complete siege equipment. He wanted to capture such a well-defended city.

The city can only be described as an idiot talking in his sleep.

After being stunned for a long time, he gritted his teeth and said to Tian Jianxiu and other four generals behind him: "You guys go up and replace the ones who are doing the best. The attack must not stop. The attack must be continuous, and the officers and soldiers must do it continuously."

The artillery fire is very powerful, so we need to keep our distance."

"yes!"

Tian Jianxiu and other generals began to follow the orders and left. Looking at the roaring top of Luoyang City in the distance, Li Zicheng's expression kept changing. No one knew what he was thinking.

The attack of the intruders continued until the evening and finally stopped helplessly. When the intruders retreated, bursts of cheers rang out from the walls of Luoyang City. Today, the rogue bandits left nothing but corpses everywhere outside the city walls.

.

Looking at the densely packed corpses outside the city wall, Pang Gang did not cheer together with the sergeants on the city wall. Instead, he had a sullen face and seemed unhappy.

Everyone around was a little puzzled when they saw this. Cheng Kai on the side asked puzzledly: "Sir, I see you frowning and you seem unhappy. Can you tell me the reason?"

Pang Gang shook his head and sighed: "What's so exciting? Those who were beaten and killed were all my people of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, they were all forced to attack the city by the bandits. Do you feel happy fighting these people?"

"

All the generals were silent...

At this time, Lu Weiqi, who was looking happy, personally led several soldiers to the top of the city. He hurriedly came to Pang Gang and said to Pang Gang: "Master Pangda, King Fu heard that your Excellency defeated the bandits today, and asked me to tell you.

Tonight, King Fu will host a banquet in the palace to entertain you."

"Oh? King Fu wants to entertain me?" After hearing this, Pang Gang had an intriguing smile on his face. He clearly remembered that King Fu was famous for having a lot of food, money, and fat in history.

"Zhu Sanduo".

Just after the garrison in the evening, Pang Gang, who had finished washing and bathing, took Shi Bowen and other soldiers to the Yamen of the Governor's Mansion to meet Liu Yuliang and others, and then the group walked toward Prince Fu's Mansion in a mighty manner.

They came to North Street, and a majestic tower made of square bluestone appeared in front of Pang Gang. This was the Wenfeng Tower of Luoyang Youming.

This masonry tower with dense eaves is square in shape, about 30 meters high, and has nine floors. The ancients also built this tower to "pray for blessings and bestow favors" and "benefit the country and the people" in the hope that Luoyang's culture will flourish and more talents will be produced.

Wenfeng Pagoda is located at the east end of Donghe Lane in the southeast corner of Luoyang today. It was built in the Song Dynasty and was historically destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty. However, it is still standing here intact. There is a lake and a temple near the tower. Viewed from nearby

In the past, pagodas, lakes and temples complement each other and the scenery is charming.

Prince Fu's Mansion is less than one mile northeast of Wenfeng Pagoda. After a while, Pang Gang followed Liu Yuliang and other senior officials from Luoyang to Prince Fu's Mansion.

As soon as he reached the outskirts of Prince Fu's Mansion, Pang Gang was overwhelmed by the magnificence of Prince Fu's Mansion. This was not a royal palace, it was simply a city within a city.

The city walls are all made of rectangular bluestones weighing hundreds of kilograms and are three feet high. Outside the main entrance are two stone lions as tall as hills. The two gates made of ironwood are also wrapped with thick iron sheets.

Pang Gang estimated that if someone attacked Prince Fu's Mansion, these two doors alone would be enough for them to chew through.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty had a complete set of specialized agencies. The royal palace not only had prime ministers, but also military ministers were served by honorable ministers, who became generals when they left and prime ministers when they entered. Officials in the royal palace can also participate in provincial affairs. They are the heads of local administrations and also

They can also serve as commanders of the capital and have local military power. In the feudal country, the vassal king has considerable judicial and personnel power. Except for the chief historian and garrison commander, and the escort commander is dispatched, the rest of his officials are within the territory of the feudal country or under their command.

They were selected within military positions. The feudal king had the power of life and death over them.

Of course, this was only the situation when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power. Because the power of the vassal king was too great. Not only did he dominate the economy, he even owned an army. Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang died, his son Zhu Di killed the grandson designated by Lao Zhu.

Became the emperor himself.
To be continued...