Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

In the evening, Pei Lun went out carrying a bamboo basket and humming a little tune.

As a handyman in Liu Rushi's household, in addition to doing odd jobs, the cook in the kitchen would make a list of dishes needed for the next day every day.

Pei Lun is also responsible for buying groceries.

But he did not go directly to the vegetable market. Instead, he carried the bamboo basket and turned left and right, entering an alley with few people.

In a secluded corner of this alley, there is a teahouse. It is very simple and it is obvious that it is for the entertainment of ordinary people.

There were not many people in the teahouse, except for a few old men taking a break, but there was one table already full of guests.

Many of these guests were wearing the typical melon-shaped hats of the Ming Dynasty, and had a large bamboo basket beside them.

"Hey! Old Pei, you're the slowest!" One of them teased when he saw Pei Lun coming.

Pei Lun curled his lips upon seeing this and walked over to sit down.

"How are you, guys? How did you get in? Hey! Why are you all wearing melon-shaped hats?" One of the guys in a smart tights teased.

This corset was made to facilitate movement and was usually worn by guards of wealthy families.

The melon-shaped hat is a characteristic of ordinary servants, so they are naturally ordinary servants, and the treatment of guards is higher than that of servants.

"Come on, Old Xing, you feel superior just because you're a bodyguard. Your skills are not even as good as mine!" Another person was dissatisfied with Old Xing's boasting and spat.

Lao Xing didn't take it seriously. Seeing that Pei Lun didn't seem very happy, he asked:

"Mr. Pei, what happened? Was your young lady scolding you?"

Pei Lun tugged at the bamboo basket and said:

"That's not the case, but it seems that Hedong Jun is suspicious of me."

Pei Lun then informed his colleagues present about Liu Rushi's questioning today.

These guys were none other than the Jinyiwei who were ordered by Zhang Shikang to sneak into Jiangnan first.

The vast majority of these people are responsible for clarifying and spreading rumors.

To be more specific, it was to publicize the court's national policies to the lower classes of the people in the south of the Yangtze River and to clarify the rumors and slanders about the national policies by the gentry.

Then they spread rumors about the Donglin Party and the gentry, including but not limited to being rich and unkind, corrupt and lawless, and obstructing national policy, and even saying that the traitor Xu was going to be defeated, the Southern Army’s navy was completely wiped out, and the Donglin Confucian scholars had rebelled...

In Zhang Shikang's words, this is called giving someone a taste of their own medicine.

Would you, the Donglin Party, spread rumors?

But the eight people present were assigned special tasks, and they were assigned by Zhang Shikang himself.

The eight men in the Jinyiwei were not ordinary Tiqi, they all held the rank of small flag officers and were the elite of the Jinyiwei.

The mission they received was also very strange. The commander asked them to go to Nanjing City to find the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai.

Fortunately, the commander-in-chief took a long time to give the names, because after the eight people entered Nanjing City, they asked around and found that they had never heard of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai.

But even though the commander gave the names, the eight people tried their best and only found six.

In order to get close to these six women without revealing their identities, eight military officers from the seventh rank onwards became servants and guards for the six women.

Two of them were acting as guards while looking for the other two women.

To be precise, it should be one of them, because after investigating, they found out that the one named Ma Xianglan had already passed away.

If we go by age, she can be the commander-in-chief’s grandmother.

"Don't worry too much, Old Pei. I'm not really chasing you away, but this Hedong Jun is quite smart.

Unlike my son, who only loves to paint all day long." One of them said.

"It's okay even if we kick you out. Lao Chen and Lao Ba are both free. We can just ask them to replace you." said another person.

Pei Lun heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this:

"But after all, this is a task assigned by the commander himself. Don't you want to embarrass the commander?"

When the commander was mentioned, the other seven people also showed admiration.

"Hey? Guys, what do you think the commander means? He asked us to protect these six women. Does the commander have a crush on them?" one of them gossiped.

"Nonsense! Our commander-in-chief has never been to Jiangnan before. He has never even seen it. How can he go there?"

"Tsk! You think everyone is the same as you, a frog in a well.

Our master knows everything about astronomy and geography, and he beat up the Tartars and kicked Donglin. Is it too much for him to know a few beauties?"

"You're full of rhymes. Do you want to take the postgraduate entrance examination?" One of them smiled and repeated the commander's frequent jokes, although he did not understand what the postgraduate entrance examination was.

“That’s true, but my master is still unmarried, and now he has found a group of them, and they are all singers.

If the Lord knew, he wouldn't be angry, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. What's the status of our master? It's a bit inappropriate."

"But this is just our guess. Our master didn't say what he was going to do, he just told us to find someone.

Hey, you guys, don't tell them nonsense. If the adults don't mean it, you'll be in trouble." Pei Lun took over the conversation.

"No, we have to obey orders. As a small flag officer, how dare we talk nonsense?"

"But given our master's temperament, if he really wants to, I don't think the master can stop him."

"Hehe, I also think that even our Majesty may not be able to stop it."

"Our adults are awesome!"

"That is required."

"But... our master does have good vision.

My wife is called Kou Baimen. Although she is only 28 years old, her skin is as white as cream and as tender as white onion. She is also a very kind person and she even stood up for the servants!"

"My Dong Xiaowan is an excellent cook. I was lucky enough to eat her leftovers once. They were absolutely amazing!"

"My Gu Hengbo is good at music, and is proficient in stringed instruments, bamboo instruments, and pipa!"

"My name is Bian Yujing. She doesn't like to talk much, but she is said to be good at calligraphy and well-versed in literature and history."

"Your achievements are nothing. My Liu Rushi, also known as Lord Hedong, has a high level of poetry and verses, and even the great scholars of Donglin praise him.

That old man named Qian Qianyi has been on my mind for a long time, I want to beat him up! "

"Tsk, I heard that your Hedong Jun is already 22 years old, old and ugly, so what's the use of knowing poetry?

Our family has been investigated, and none of them have been exposed to human touch!"

Upon hearing this, Pei Lun became unhappy and said immediately:

"What do you mean by your home, my home, or our home? They all belong to our commander-in-chief!"

"Ah, yes, yes!"

"No more chatting, time to go shopping."

……

On the eighth day of the seventh month in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, at the Huangshiji mudflat in Chizhou Prefecture.

Outside the temporary military camp, Song Laosan, wearing armor and holding a piece of coarse-grain cake in his hand, stared blankly at the vast river.

"Uncle, why hasn't the boat arrived yet?" Song Wanli rubbed his hands anxiously.

"Keep calm. The more critical the moment, the more you need to stay calm." Song Wanli took a bite of the whole grain biscuit and reminded his nephew.

Before Song Wanli could say anything, he saw a group of people coming from a distance. They were the patrol team assigned by Xu Hongji.

There were hundreds of cavalry troops like this along the river, all of which were there to prevent the Northern Army from crossing the river.

Nearly half of the Southern Army's 300,000 troops were stationed on the south bank of the river in a place suitable for crossing the river. The two military camps were twenty miles apart, with cavalry scouts serving as surveillance.

Once the enemy was discovered crossing the river, these scouts would immediately notify the armies on both sides and attack the sudden landing enemy.

"Commander Song, is there anything unusual here?" the cavalry leader asked with a bit of arrogance.

Song Laosan joined the Southern Army as the leader of the Jiangbei refugees and was appointed as the commander of the guard by Xu Hongji, stationed at the Huangshiji mudflats.

The commander of the guards was already a high official position. Logically speaking, the cavalry scout leader was only a temporary minor official and should not even dismount from his warhorse and perform the salute.

However, since Song Laosan was born a refugee and was always humble in front of other generals of the Southern Army, and the 4,000 soldiers he led were all lowly peasants more than four months ago, it was inevitable that he was considered easy to bully.

However, Song Lao San did not show any anger on his face. Instead, he said to the cavalry leader:

"General Sun, you've worked hard. There's nothing unusual here."

Upon hearing this, the cavalry leader ran towards the other side of the camp with his subordinates without even saying hello.

Half an hour later, a large number of ships suddenly appeared on the river. Song Wanli immediately showed his joy and said:

"Uncle, the Marshal is here!"

Song Laosan's face showed a rare hint of joy and he nodded softly.

"Hurry up and inform the brothers to prepare to welcome the Marshal across the river!"

Just as Song Laosan finished speaking, there were bursts of horse hoof sounds coming from the west. It turned out that the cavalry scout leader had returned with his men for patrol for some reason. Song Laosan felt something was wrong.

"Commander Song! The enemy is attacking! Get ready to meet them!"

……

PS: Some book friends reminded me that it’s time for the heroine to appear. I have always known this, but are you sure you want to read a girl written by a straight man? The first attempt has failed, so I will try my best to write it this time.

Fortunately, these girls in Qinhuai River have their own characteristics. For example, Liu Rushi is good at poetry and has a sense of justice, Dong Xiaowan is good at cooking and is ranked among the top ten famous chefs in ancient China, Gu Hengbo is good at painting, Li Xiangjun is good at music, and so on...

Anyway, I plan to write the characters of these girls according to historical records, and I hope it will be successful.

The time point of the time travel is well chosen. Among the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, except Ma Xianglan who can be Zhang Shikang's grandmother, the oldest Liu Rushi is only 22 years old, and the rest are around 28 years old. I hereby declare that in this book, everyone who is written as 18 years old is not actually 18 years old. Those who understand will understand that there is no other way. All those who are not 18 years old and who existed in historical facts are written according to the historical ages. Book lovers just need to understand this.

In addition, you can't run away if you fail. After all, the main plot of this book is about hegemony, not stud. Writing about women is just a change of pace.

If it fails, the heroine will become a supporting actress. Hehe, actually I have a better arrangement, such as the foreshadowing of the two girls buried before, but I am still working on it.