Just when Chen Wen began to share the land, the southwest, thousands of miles away from Zhejiang, began with the third year of Yongli, Yang Weizhi was ordered by Sun Kewang to request the King of Qin, and after a series of events such as the enthronement of Duke of Jingguo, re-entering the King of Pingliao, Chen Bangfu ordered the false title of King of Qin, and re-entering the title of King of Yi, the Yongli court finally completed the merger with the Daxi Army in the internal and external difficulties of the Daxi Army annexation of Sichuan, Gui, the army was sent to fend for the capitulation of the Duke of Jingguo, and the capture of Guangxi by Kong Youde.

The result of the dispute over the past three years was that the Emperor Yongli moved or could be said to be under house arrest in Anlong Qianhu District, Guizhou, and the government was completely controlled by Sun Kewang's Qin Palace. The monarchs and ministers of the Yongli court were completely powerless to do anything about the situation.

At the same time, Yu Shizhong and his son, who set out south to Jinhua as early as the end of last year, tried to bypass the plains of Hangzhou Prefecture in the Tianmu Mountains to arrive in Jinhua safely.

After leaving Taihu Lake at the end of last year, Yu Shizhong and his son quickly entered the Huzhou territory. However, they did not rush to go south, but chose to go to Xixiantang, on the southeast of the Biexian Mountains, to seek a meeting with Wei Geng, a scholar in Huzhou who had conveyed information to them.

Wei Geng, whose original name was Bi, was also known as Shi Heng, and his courtesy name was Chubai. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he changed his name to Geng, whose courtesy name was Yefu. His nickname was Xuedou and also called Baiyishanren. He was originally from Cixi County, Ningbo Prefecture, and later moved to Huzhou.

After the Battle of Tiao Shang, Wei Geng, who was forced to live in seclusion after the defeat, was forced to live in seclusion in Gui'an, Qian Zhangzeng, Shanyin's grandson, Zhu Shizhi, Zhang Zongguan, and Chen Sandao, Suzhou and others formed a poetry club to conduct secret anti-Qing activities. They sent intelligence to the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang many times. Later, they were even more involved in the "Tonghai case" and were executed by the Qing army in Lingchi, and almost their whole family was killed.

Due to Chen Wen's military operation to restore Jinhua Prefecture last year, the elite green camp of the Qing army in Zhejiang suffered a serious blow, and the Fubiao Battalion was wiped out. Even the guerrillas of the Fubiao Battalion who escaped by chance were beheaded and even defeated by the Qing court. If the Battle of Zhoushan was added, the Qing army had added another defense zone in eastern Zhejiang that needed to be carefully deployed, and its military strength was even more difficult.

Before leaving, Yu Shizhong decided to take a risk to approach Huzhou Prefecture and seek to meet Wei Geng in order to find some military intelligence from the Qing army in Huhang. After waiting for more than a month for the Wei family, he finally got some truth about the recent deployment and mobilization of the Qing army in northern Zhejiang. So he hurriedly took his son to sneak westward, trying to bypass the core area of ​​Hangzhou Prefecture where heavy troops were deployed from the Tianmu Mountains and head south to Jinhua.

The Tianmu Mountain area originally had the anti-Qing army of the Renwu Bo Yao Zhizhuo. After the Qing army captured this place, it massacred the rebels and the people. It should be sparsely populated, but after the Yu family and his son entered the Tianmu Mountain area, they saw another scene.

Yu Shizhong's wife is from Hangzhou. Throughout the journey, all the thin fields scattered in the mountains were cultivated, but if they wanted to get close to ask for water, they could only meet anyone, and they obviously hid. Even if they stayed in dilapidated temples and thatched houses, they rarely communicated, but they were just guarding against each other to do their own things. There were many pedestrians on the road, but most of them were families who were migrating with their families. The rest were mostly men with sharp blades, looking like some good people. The only thing that could be called a good thing was that they could not see the traces of the Qing army, which was obviously like the news obtained by Wei Geng.

Seeing this situation, Yu Shizhong had to take his son to speed up to reduce the time he stayed here. However, in order to prevent accidents, the father and son had to take turns to watch the night, and at dawn, they needed to travel as soon as possible. There were only a few time in the day to rest, and the father and son felt more and more tired. And the most important thing was that the dry food was about to be finished. Not to mention being able to survive in Jinhua, even if they were frugal, they would definitely not be enough to get close to Qiantang River and cross the river after passing through Hangzhou.

He still had two twenty taels of silver ingots on his body, but he was in a chaotic world and his wealth should not be revealed. Seeing this, Yu Shizhong had to grit his teeth and give a ring given by a familiar maritime merchant in his early years, saying that it was a family treasure and exchanged it with a Confucian scholar on the roadside for some dry food and scattered silver.

Just as he was taking him to bargain with the Confucian scholar, Yu Shizhong's son Yu Youming watched someone walk away from a distance, quite familiar. After thinking about it for a moment, he was suddenly shocked. He quickly shouted to his father, "I saw my uncle" and chased him. For fear that his son would be lost, Yu Shizhong didn't care about taking the dry food and scattered silver, so he hurried to chase his son.

The father and son chased after him one after another. When the man saw someone chasing him, he hurriedly ran away, as if he was afraid that he would be caught up. However, this person's physical fitness was obviously not as good as that of the Yu family, who had been fighting against the Qing Dynasty on Taihu Lake for many years. After a while, he chased after him. Who knew that when he grabbed the man and looked closely, he was actually Yu Youming's mother's elder brother.

The three of them stood in the middle of the road for a moment, but when they realized that they hugged each other and cried bitterly. Yu Shizhong's wife died of illness on the way to join Wu Yi. Yu Shizhong once sent someone to send a letter to the Yue family. When the uncle met his nephew and his sister-in-law met his elder brother-in-law, he thought of the relative who had been dead for many years, which was naturally particularly sad.

But before they could ask why they were here, Yu Shizhong suddenly remembered something. He had just exchanged with the Confucian scholar and had given the finger to the man. When his son was about to receive dry food and scattered silver, his son chased him out. He was afraid that his son would run away and lost, but he didn't take the exchanged things.

Although there were not many things, for the Yu father and son, they used the money and food to save their lives to Jinhua. Before we could greet each other, the three of them hurriedly followed the same path. Although their hope was slim, they could only hope that the Confucian scholar had not lost his conscience. They walked forward quickly, which was indeed very exhausted for the three who had just passed a race, but if they could not get it back, the way south would only be more difficult, so they had to do so.

Fortunately, when he walked a hundred meters away, he was still waiting in the place. Yu Shizhong hurriedly ran over and explained with great gratitude before he was breathing well. Although the Confucian scholar was a little impatient, he didn't say much, but just left the sentence "A gentleman loves money, takes it well, treats it well, and uses it well, so he doesn't have to do this." Then he hurriedly left.

Watching the Confucian scholars leave, the Yu family and his son followed their elder brother to their residence. Yu Shizhong is a hereditary family of Jinshanwei. Jinshanwei is located on the coast and is a Japanese garrison. Yu Haimao is also involved. Yu Shizhong's Yue family is a merchant in Hangzhou City, and Haimao is the pillar industry of the family. After a while, the elders of the two families became familiar with each other, and the Yu family couples were in trouble.

On the way to his residence, Yu Shizhong realized that a big family that was originally a prosperous family in Yue’s family was now scattered everywhere. And their group was left with only his wife’s eldest brother’s family and his third brother’s father and daughter, and the others were no longer there.

After the Qing army advanced south, Lu Wang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Although the behavior of this "Lu Fozi" saved the people of Hangzhou from massacre, he could not stand the Qing army levies and harmed the people in this "world paradise". Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou are the richest places in Zhejiang, and the Qing Dynasty's taxes here are naturally far greater than other prefectures and counties, and are almost comparable to Susongchang Town, which is "a hundred times more than other places".

If that's all.

In the first year of Hongguang, the Qing army occupied Hangzhou and soon occupied the houses in the west of the city from Qiantangmen to Yongkinmen as camps. The original residents were forced to help the elderly and children and moved outside the city. After that, the bannermen broke into the houses in the local area, robbed property, destroyed people's ancestral graves, and asked local officials for women. Insulted scholars and looted merchants, causing business travelers to stand still, seriously affecting Hangzhou's commercial activities and tax revenue.

Because of this, Xiao Qiyuan, the governor of Zhejiang in the Qing Dynasty, wrote a letter to build the city in order to isolate the soldiers and civilians and reduce the tax pressure caused by the Eight Banners Army to loot the people. In the fourth year of Yongli when Chen Wen came to this era, the city of Hangzhou began to be enclosed and built, and it was not until nineteen years later that the land was prohibited.

Nearly half of the Yue family's land houses were within the area of ​​enclosure. His wife's second brother was beaten to death by the Qing army to protect the family property. He was too lazy to even give him a crime. The second and third sister-in-law were later stolen by the Eight Banners Army and there was no news. Yu Shizhong's father-in-law was in poor health and died of angrily illness soon, while his mother-in-law quickly left with her husband, leaving only them in the family.

When I came to their family's residence, I saw that there were only a few dilapidated thatched huts. I really don't know how these once rich and well-dressed families of sea merchants persevered. When I saw my third brother-in-law who was tired of returning with a wooden hoe, I even hugged my head and cried.

It was soon evening, and the past family continued to reminisce about the past while using thick food on a broken table with three long legs and one short legs. After Yu Shizhong noticed his sister-in-law's painful expression, he also took out the dry food he had just exchanged to share with them, and then he barely relieved some of his sorrow.

But although there was no wine on the table, when talking about the past few years, his third brother-in-law started to talk as if he had drunk too much wine.

"In Hangzhou City, every city gate is guarded by the Eight Banners soldiers. They unscrupulously snatch things from the people's burdens, ask for tolls from pedestrians carrying bags and sedan chairs, and even block the funeral and wedding gangs at the city gate. Only after asking for bribes were allowed to pass. Although they heard that they were actually Han people, they were no different from those barbarians."

"This is pretty good, have you heard of the debt in the camp?" Seeing Yu Shizhong shook his head blankly, his third brother-in-law shook his burden in tears: "The so-called debt in the camp is the loan sharks that were mortgaged to others with the land of the house and the acres of the house, and the interest rate has risen rapidly. Our house and fields outside the city were captured by those beasts, even your third sister-in-law..."

Seeing that his younger brother was already crying, Yu Shizhong's elder brother-in-law continued: "The Tartar government asked us to continue to pay taxes and bear corvee labor. We were so angry that we fled here with this family. The third brother is now a tenant and earning some food, while the foolish brother is a occupant in the town and can barely make a living."

After talking about his own affairs, Yu Shizhong's brother-in-law turned to ask about his current situation. Yu Shizhong did not doubt that he had him, and mentioned the previous incidents of following Wu Yi in Taihu to fight against the Qing Dynasty and Wu Yi's death, but just skipped the affairs of scholars such as Wei Geng.

Seeing that the family had already ended up in such a land, Yu Shizhong hesitated for a moment and said, "Last year, General Chen Wen, under the command of the former king, had recovered Jinhua Prefecture and defeated the Tartars' Supervisor, Fubiao and the surrounding green camps. As far as I know, the background of this Chen Dada was related to the Qi family in Penglai, and his ancestors followed Qi Shaobao to kill Japanese pirates. This time, my brother planned to go south to Jinhua to follow Chen Dada's army and continue to kill the Tartars, so as to restore the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible."

After hearing these bold words, Yu Shizhong's family was stunned on the spot, looking at their father and son in horror, even more fearful than when they heard that Yu Shizhong had been a general under Wu Yi. When Yu Shizhong tried to invite them to walk with him, the family was even more unwilling, as if Yu Shizhong and his son were black and white impermanent and wanted to seduce them to hell.

Seeing this, Yu Shizhong knew very well that this family had been shocked by the terrifying atmosphere woven by the Eight Banners in Hangzhou, and he did not dare to rebel at all. It was the limit to hide here and endure silently. As for the uprising and fighting against the Qing Dynasty, he could not imagine it.

For a moment, the two sides were speechless until after dinner, Yu Youming, who had been tired for a long time, went to bed early, while Yu Shizhong, who was even more tired, lay on the bed with his eyes open, and did not dare to feel sleepy at all.

Until late at night, the sound of opening the door lightly in the opposite room was creaking. Yu Shizhong quickly closed his eyes and made a faint snoring sound, and his ears stood up, for fear of hearing less.

After a while, a person seemed to be coming out of the direction of the main room under the urging of others. The two men tiptoed to the window of the Yu family's father and son's room and listened for a while before quietly leaving the courtyard.

The footsteps began to go away. Yu Shizhong turned over and sat up, then rushed out of the door, then jumped up and over the low and broken courtyard wall, and stood behind the two of them. They did not hide behind a big rock until they stopped and listened.

"Brother, please listen to me. Yu Shizhong is clearly a thief. If we send their father and son to the government, the government will not treat our family badly."

Hearing this, Yu Shizhong clenched his fists, but before he could have the idea of ​​the next step, he only heard a "pop" sound, and an angry voice sounded.

"You beast, we are a family. Even if you don't mention your brother-in-law, Youming is the only son of your sister and your nephew. Do you just have the heart to put them in a desperate situation that will surely die?!"

"I……"

"You, I know, you clearly want to exchange your brother-in-law and nephew's lives for your wife! But you don't think about it. She has been kidnapped by the Tartars for more than a year, but a message has come. Maybe she had been killed by the Tartars long ago! Besides, even if she is not dead, do you think she can still be exchanged? Even if she can be exchanged, will you be worthy of your younger sister? Tell me!"

Hearing this, the first voice was stunned for a moment and burst into tears. During this period, it was accompanied by the curse of "I am not a human" and the sound of slapping the head. The other person was silently crying, looking at each other speechlessly.

Amid the crying in the mountains late at night, Yu Shizhong let go of his fists, turned around and sneaked back into the room, hugged his son, silently closed his eyes, and fell into a dream of memorizing his deceased wife. Until the next morning, the father and son, after saying goodbye as if nothing had happened, they embarked on the way to continue the south, and a ingot of twenty taels of silver was left in the room...

……………………

A few days later, outside the gate of the Chengfu Office of Jinhua Prefecture, a middle-aged man in a coarse cloth linen and covered his face with a hat stepped onto the steps and walked towards the gate. The yamen runner who had not yet stood up to stop him from speaking, and only heard the man speak.
Chapter completed!