Ji Gang reminded Mu Chun not to disgrace his last name.
Shrouded in fear, Mu Chun blurted out: "Is it so great to have the last name Mu?"
Ji Gang said, "You are just a nobody, but the emperor appointed you as a guerrilla general and led us all the way to Jiangxi to suppress the bandits. Why? Isn't it just so that your resume will look better when Xiping Hou asks for you to be crowned as the crown prince in the future? This time, it's because your last name is Mu."
Mu Chun pouted, "I came here to suppress the bandits to avenge my sister Shanwei. My father is biased, he won't ask for me to be crowned as a prince just because I came here to suppress the bandits. He hopes that I will fail."
"The Hu-Mei rebels want to kidnap you as a hostage. They won't kill you, but we—" Ji Gang pointed at himself, and then at the bandits who were drinking and talking happily at the banquet, "We are all your subordinates. If you surrender, we will all die."
Ji Gang didn't want to die. He was fair-skinned, long-legged and clever. He didn't want to die in vain in a bandit's stronghold. His death would be worthless. If he had to die, he had to die for Lord Mao. Mu Chun was not worth his life.
Mu Chun pouted again, "Who wants to surrender? Now the tunnel has collapsed, there is no way to escape. We have one thousand people, they have ten thousand, one to ten. They are a well-trained army, not a mob of mountain bandits. A head-on confrontation is like an egg hitting a stone. I have to think of a way."
Ji Gang said, "Think quickly, the rebels are about to attack."
Mu Chun was rubbing his head in annoyance and said, "Don't rush me. I'm not Zhuge Liang!"
Suddenly, Mu Chun had an idea, and Ji Gang was overjoyed: "General Mu has a solution?"
Mu Chun said, "Call over the one hundred reinforcements sent by Duke Song."
The reinforcements were all former subordinates of the Feng brothers. Mu Chun got straight to the point and asked, "Back then, my grandfather and great-uncle followed the emperor to rise up and became kings in the mountain stronghold. The imperial court sent a large army to encircle and suppress the mountain stronghold. How did the emperor and his men escape... and how did they deal with the huge imperial army?"
The experience of the predecessors is worth learning from. Muchun easily took over the Guaishiling Stronghold thanks to the personal instruction of Emperor Hongwu. But now, he has become a weak "thief", and the rebels have turned around to encircle and suppress him.
The situation was urgent, and these veteran reinforcements no longer avoided the Feng family's "scandal" and said, "If we encounter a situation where we are outnumbered ten to one, the emperor will usually choose to send people to negotiate and discuss the terms of surrender."
"Of course, it's just a false surrender. The surrender agreement is just a piece of waste paper. Once the Yuan army leaves, we will do what we should do. If the Yuan army comes again, we will run away and fight guerrilla warfare with them."
Mu Chun asked: "Are the Yuan army so easy to fool? If they are deceived by you, won't they be angry and ashamed? Will they definitely destroy you?"
The old soldier laughed. "Young General Mu, it was a time of great chaos in the country, and almost everyone was a bandit. The Yuan army suppressed bandits here, but bandits rose up over there. The Yuan army was exhausted and had long lost control of Jiangnan, so they didn't bother to care about us."
In this case, the experience of our ancestors was of no use here - because the Hu Mei rebels were determined to kill the Jinyiwei for revenge, leaving no room for negotiation.
what to do
Mu Chun stood on the watchtower, looking at the dotted torches below the mountain. Hu Mei's ten thousand rebels were like stars in the Milky Way, surrounding the Guaishiling stronghold, waiting for daybreak to launch an attack.
What should I do if I can’t fight, can’t escape, and can’t negotiate
On a summer night in Guaishiling, mosquitoes were humming dirges in his ears. Mu Chun was upset and slapped himself on the mouth, killing a mosquito.
Mu Chun looked at the mosquito corpse that was crushed in his palm, and the pool of blood that merged with the insect corpse. The so-called noble bloodline of the Feng and Mu families could die in battle, but could not surrender.
If he became a hostage of the rebels, even if he managed to survive, he would never be able to hold his head up for the rest of his life. He would become a common shame for the Feng and Mu families and would be nailed to the pillar of shame forever.
But he was unwilling to die in battle like this. He was only seventeen years old and had not lived enough.
What's more, if he died, the jade hairpin that the jewelry shop craftsman repaired with gold would never be delivered to Sister Shanwei, and no one would tell her that her fiancé Wang Ning was still alive.
Sister Shanwei is also a person abandoned by the whole world. Apart from me, who cares about her
A gust of north wind blew by, dispersing the summer heat and bringing a hint of coolness to Muchun. The desire to survive forced him to clear his mind. He stood on the lookout tower on the top of the mountain, overlooking the earth, looking for a way to survive.
This mountain village is built on Strange Rock Ridge, and its name is true. There are many strange rocks here, which look like ferocious beasts from ancient times at night.
From Strange Rock Ridge to the north, there are cliffs that stretch as far as the eye can see. The watchtower is on the top of the cliff, so there is no need to defend the north side at all - unless the enemy grows wings and flies up from the cliff.
The southern slope of Guaishiling is covered with lush trees and other vegetation. This terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it the best location for building a mountain stronghold.
However, when the enemy's number of troops exceeds ten times that of the mountain stronghold and is an elite force, the advantage of terrain can only hold out for half an hour at most before being breached by the enemy.
Without the terrain as a barrier, Mu Chun would either die in battle or commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.
Mu Chun looked at the torches of the rebels that were like stars on the south slope. Layers of clouds rose from the south slope, like a giant dragon in the night, winding towards him with the temperament of devouring everything.
The wind is from the north, but the clouds are coming from the south, to the south is the Yangtze River and many large and small lakes...
Mu Chun suddenly remembered something. He flipped over and jumped directly from the fence of the watchtower.
Ji Gang was shocked, thinking that Mu Chun was going to jump off the cliff to commit suicide, "General Mu! Don't let your mind wander. You won't be at the end of your rope."
One hundred reinforcements from the Feng family and ten guards from the Mu family: Good death! You would rather die than surrender! At least you don’t disgrace your noble bloodline!
Muchun jumped from the fence to the wooden pillar of the tower, hugged the pillar, and slid down the pillar. Holding a torch, he ran to the muddy mountain to light it, as if looking for something.
"Found it!" Mu Chun held up an earthworm as if he had found gold. "The military book discusses the weather and says that clouds moving against the wind is a sign of changing weather and it is likely to rain. Now the wind is from the north, but the clouds from the south are moving against the wind. Also, you see, the earthworms in the soil have come out, which also indicates that there will be a heavy rain soon."
Ji Gang and the others were all puzzled, "What then? Does General Mu intend to drown the 10,000 rebels with rainwater?"
Mu Chun pointed at the rebels surrounding the mountain on the south slope and said, "The wind is blowing from the north now. We are in the upper wind and they are in the lower wind. We can use fire attack, throw fireballs and shoot rockets at the rebel camp, and turn defense into offense."
"The north wind here is not strong, and there are flammable pine trees everywhere. If we use fire to attack the enemy in normal times, the fire will eventually spread to the mountain stronghold and burn us all to death. But judging from the weather tonight, it will rain heavily. If the rain comes earlier than the fire, we will all survive."
The old soldier sent by the Feng family asked: "If the fire is halfway through and it starts to rain heavily, the enemy will also survive and will definitely launch a charge and attack the mountain stronghold before dawn. How will General Mu respond then?"
Mu Chun gently released the little earthworm in his hand, but his eyes turned cold, and he drew his sword and pointed it at the rebels on the south slope: "They had 10,000 people, half of them were burned, and only 5,000 were left. We are one against five, plus the terrain advantage, are we afraid that we can't defend the mountain stronghold? What's more, there is a Ming Dynasty garrison stationed in Nanchang. When the battle starts in Guaishiling, the garrison's army will definitely come to rescue. When the reinforcements arrive, we will rush down together to kill the rebels and cooperate with each other!"
Ji Gang praised: "General Mu, this is a great idea! I will prepare a fire attack right away."
Mu Chun urged, "Hurry up! In this weather, a rainstorm could come at any time. If it rains, we won't be able to use fire to attack."
Ten thousand rebels surrounded the mountain stronghold, and spies had been keeping an eye on them since the Jinyiwei landed in Jiujiang.
The Imperial Guards attacked the stronghold, and they attacked the Imperial Guards. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Tomorrow, they will be able to avenge their lord Hu Mei.
At three o'clock in the morning, Mu Chun led a ragtag army made up of three hundred Jinyiwei, one hundred Feng family soldiers, ten Mu family bodyguards and about five hundred recruited bandits, and launched a fire attack.
The grease-soaked beddings were rolled into balls, put into round baskets, tied into balls with rattan, and then placed on the slingshots used by the stronghold for self-defense and ignited into fireballs. The beddings were light and easily catapulted into the rebel camp.
Fireballs fell from the sky and ignited the rebel camp. The north wind fanned the fire, which spread rapidly.
The rebel leader shouted: "Everyone calm down! Don't retreat! The wind is blowing from the north now, and the fire behind us will only get bigger. Let's charge forward!"
Indeed, charging forward was the only way out. Ten thousand rebels braved the fire and launched a desperate charge towards the top of the mountain.
On the watchtower, Mu Chun held up the Western monocular telescope given to him by Emperor Hongwu and saw the rebels, like a group of ants, breaking through the flames on the hillside.
When he was about to step into a certain area, Mu Chun picked up his grandfather's longbow, put a rocket with a burning arrow on the longbow, pulled the bow to its full length, and released the arrow.
The rocket was like a flash of lightning, lighting up the night sky and illuminating Muchun's face.
The young man's appearance has not yet fully grown. His chin is green and a stubble of beard is about to grow out. However, his eyes shine brighter than rockets, and his blazing gaze seems to be able to melt stubborn stones.
Don’t despise a young man because he is poor, because he will give you all kinds of “surprises”. When he really grows up, everyone will look up to him. Yesterday he was just a weed under your feet, but today he has grown into a towering tree.
The rocket shot from the strong bow flew two hundred meters, igniting the jungle that had been doused with oil in advance, and also igniting the rebels who set foot here.
The rebels were engulfed in flames.
There was fire in front and behind. The rebels were surrounded by the fire and had nowhere to escape.
Mu Chun deliberately used a slingshot to launch the fireball farther, making the rebels think that they could escape danger by rushing upwards. In fact, the second fire trap was on the mountain, waiting for the rebels to rush into the "fire pit" and then catch them all in one fell swoop.
The last thoughts of these trapped rebels before they died were: Mu Chun's reputation as a devil is indeed well-deserved! When he goes crazy, he even burns himself!
The south slope is covered with dense vegetation. It is less than 200 meters away from the mountain village. The mountain village will be burned sooner or later!
On the watchtower, Mu Chun was carrying his grandfather's longbow on his back, with a half-worn military flag beside him. It was the flag that his grandfather, Feng Guoyong, the Duke of Ying, had used when he was marching and fighting, and it was also the flag flown by the 100 Feng Family Army.
Feng's army looked at the young man standing under the flag and vaguely saw the outline of their former master.
Feng Guoyong was only 36 years old when he died in battle. As the heavens were jealous of his talent, he was the first of the ten founding generals to die under the command of Emperor Hongwu.
When he died, he had two children, Feng and Feng Cheng, who were not yet adults. His daughter Feng later married Mu Ying and gave birth to Mu Chun, but died within a month, even younger than her father.
Because of Feng's death, the Feng and Mu families are still relatives on the surface, but in fact they have already had a feud.
Muchun's existence always reminds his father Mu Ying how bad his marriage was.
He also always reminded the Feng family how bad Mu Ying was as a son-in-law and that he was primarily responsible for Feng's death.
Mu Chun, who was caught in the middle, grew up to be a devil who was not loved by his father and uncle...
At this time, the north wind, which was not very strong, stopped.
After the wind stopped, the fire no longer burned to the north, but attacked indiscriminately, spreading to both the south and the north.
In this way, it would take about a quarter of an hour for the mountain village to be burned! At this time, the thick smoke from the wildfire had already overflowed into the mountain village. The miscellaneous soldiers used towels to wet their mouths and noses, and coughs and choking sounds came one after another.
Panic spread like a raging fire among the ragtag army of the mountain stronghold.
The ragtag army knelt on the ground and prayed to God for the first time with great piety: Rain, rain quickly! If it doesn't rain, we will be burned to death!
There was fire behind them and a cliff in front of them. There was no way to retreat and they were about to die together with the rebels.
On the watchtower, Mu Chun could no longer endure it. He did not kneel down and pray for rain like the ragtag army, but instead raised his fist and shouted at the night sky:
"Damn God! How dare you lie to me! The clouds are moving against the wind, and the earthworms are moving out of their holes. This is clearly a sign of heavy rain!"
"Make it rain for me! If you don't-"
Mu Chun bent the bow and shot the arrow, pulled the bow to the extreme, and then shot it towards the night sky!
The arrow shot from the strong bow disappeared into the thick black clouds.
Finally, there was a loud thunder, the earth shook and the mountains shook. Strange Rock Ridge was like an immortal undergoing a tribulation, with lightning and thunder everywhere.
A drop of something cool fell on Muchun's green stubble...
The Demon King's judgment was correct. That night, heavy rain fell from the sky. It stopped at dawn and turned into a drizzle, which extinguished the last bit of the bonfire.
The first beam of light at dawn fell on the flag with the Chinese character "Feng" on the mountain stronghold watchtower - why didn't the miscellaneous army have a flag with the Chinese character "Mu"? The guerrilla general's surname was obviously Mu.
This was because Xiping Hou Mu Ying despised his eldest son for going on his first expedition only to suppress bandits in a mountain village, and he felt it was shameful and unworthy of using the name of the "Mu" family.
However, in the battle of Strange Rock Ridge, with a one on ten ratio, Mu Chun unexpectedly won the battle with a smaller force.
Yes, this was a serious campaign to quell a rebellion, not just an ordinary campaign to suppress bandits.
The Feng family soldiers immediately felt proud, thinking that the Feng family had a successor, and that the grandson was worthy of being the master's own grandson. They immediately cheered and shouted: "Heroes have always emerged from youth!"
The rest of the ragtag army also followed suit and shouted, "Young hero! Young hero!"
Mu Chun on the watchtower did not sleep all night. It was the first time in his life that the devil was praised by someone. He appeared calm on the surface, but he felt embarrassed and a little nervous on the inside.
Ji Gang was cheering from below, "General, please say a few words!"
Mu Chunfei glanced at Dao and pretended to be mature and calm, "What the hell! Hurry up and cook a meal. After you're full, you can go back to the capital to ask for rewards!"
Ji Gang continued to flatter him, "General, look, your beard has grown. From today on, you are a man."
Mu Chun drew his sword and used the back of the sword as a mirror. He saw a black patch on his chin. He touched it and it felt like sandpaper. Ji Gang had not lied to him. Others said that people with no beard on their lips were not reliable. He decided to keep the beard to look more mature so that he could suppress this group of ragtag troops.
Before returning to Beijing, the miscellaneous troops stayed in Nanchang for a while. They had to clean up the battlefield (fire scene) and bury the charred corpses. When the 5,000 officers and soldiers stationed in Nanchang saw the flames all over the sky and rushed over after hearing the news, the war was already over. The charred corpses all over the mountains and plains looked like the fire scene of the eighteen levels of hell, which was very terrifying.
Guerrilla General Mu Chun fought ten to one and became famous. The military sighed that a good father will have a good son.
After dealing with the aftermath, the miscellaneous army returned to the capital. All the way from Jiangxi to Nanjing, Mu Chun did not shave and never let go of his bow - this was an old item of his grandfather, Duke of Ying, Feng Guoyong, which his uncle Feng Cheng had someone give him before he left.
Mu Chun felt that this bow was spiritual and brought him luck. He cursed the heavens and shot an arrow into the sky. In an instant, it began to rain heavily. It was much more effective than praying to the Buddha.
It can be seen that if the problem can be solved by force, don't kneel down and beg for mercy. Even God and the so-called will of heaven are not invincible.
The day the miscellaneous troops returned to Beijing was the little princess's one-month full moon birthday, and the palace held a hair-cutting and naming ceremony.
At the invitation of Concubine Li Xian, Cui Shanggong from the Palace Bureau wore auspicious clothes and cut the little princess' hair. Concubine Li Xian dressed up according to her instructions, hid the baby's hair, and then arranged Concubine Li's ceremonial guards and went to the Qianqing Palace.
Emperor Hongwu and Empress Ma were already wearing their wedding attire and waiting in the main hall. Concubine Li handed the infant to the nanny, who carefully held the baby in her arms and brought it to Emperor Hongwu. Empress Ma smiled and carried the little princess to him.
Emperor Hongwu smiled and held the little princess's plump right hand, saying, "Yuhua, just call her Zhu Yuhua."
"Yes, that's a really nice name." Empress Ma obeyed the order and gave the little princess to the nanny and named her Li Fangcheng.
The Ministry of Rites wrote the content of Emperor Hongwu's naming into an imperial edict, and the eunuch took the imperial edict to the harem to find the Sibao of the Shangfu Bureau - the seals of the emperor and empress were all managed by the Sibao of the harem.
Female historian Jiang Quan had been waiting here early. After Hu Shanwei's encouragement and careful treatment such as sending her supplements, Jiang Quan's injuries healed and she has resumed her job as female historian of the Imperial Treasures.
Jiang Quan opened the imperial edict and read what was written on it, "My daughter, your precious daughter is called Zhu Yuhua, what a beautiful name."
Jiang Quan held back the tears that were about to burst out and stamped the seal of Emperor Hongwu on the imperial edict.
Only in this way could the imperial edict take effect. The eunuch took the imperial edict to the Ministry of Rites, which sent it to the Imperial Clan House, which was responsible for handling matters concerning the royal family.
At this time, the head of the clan affairs office was the crown prince Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao registered the little princess's name on the jade book and wrote it under Concubine Li's name, indicating that the little princess officially became a member of the royal family.
On that day, a grand banquet was held in the palace to celebrate the little princess's full-month hair-cutting and naming ceremony.
On the same day, Fan Gongzheng presented the "Admonitions of the Virtuous Concubines of Zhao and Song" to Empress Ma.
Empress Ma read it and was very satisfied. She said, "Send this book to be printed on woodblocks. Print 500 copies first. All concubines, regardless of their rank, will be given one copy. In addition, all the ladies in the royal family, the princesses of the princes, the princesses of the counties, and the ladies of the princes' families, will be given one copy each. The families of the concubines, as well as the families of the princesses of the princes and the princesses of the counties, will also be given books to teach these royal relatives to always remain humble and self-reflective, attach importance to family traditions and rules, and not to have the same chaos as Hu Mei's chaos in the palace again."
"I obey your command." Fan Gongzheng received the Empress Ma's order.
Cao Shanggong, who was standing by, thought: Now Fan Gongzheng has another chance to show off his power.
The little princess was one month old, healthy, and cute. Empress Ma was very happy and said, "You have all worked hard on this revision. All the female officials who participated in the revision will be rewarded - Cao Shang Gong."
Cao Shang Gong hurriedly said, "I am here."
Empress Ma said, "You and Consort Fan will decide what the specific reward is. The matter of editing the book is of great importance, so the reward must not be too light."
Seeing that Empress Ma was in a good mood, Fan Gongzheng took the opportunity to speak up, "Your Majesty, the treasury is newly built and does not belong to any of the six bureaus and one department. Since the treasury is of vital importance in repairing the system, I suggest that the treasury be handed over to the Gongzheng Department for management. What do you think, Your Majesty?"
Empress Ma thought there was nothing wrong with it and said, "The six bureaus and one department each have their own duties. If Zang Zong wants to find a place to belong, then he should be included in the Palace Administration Department."
Fan Gongzheng was overjoyed. From then on, Zang and Hu Shanwei were both members of the Gongzheng Division. Hu Shanwei was capable, had a firm and calm character, and was able to control others. She was responsible for giving letters to the maternal relatives and teaching the ladies of the family to rectify the family traditions and rules. Such tasks that were easy to offend people were now left to her!
The author has something to say: I said I would update twice a week, and I will update twice even if I have to stay up until midnight. I beg for your praise! ! ! !
100 red envelopes tonight.