Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 253 The Accident at the City Gate
I saw forty or fifty young and strong men walking towards the city gate with anxiety.

They pretended to be merchants and drove a group of old cattle with heavy loads. It seemed that they contained goods, but in fact they were all weapons.

Although they had sharp blades, they were too short, and they would be at a disadvantage in a fight, so Abnai thoughtfully filled the boxes and bags carried by the old cow with swords for these young men pretending to be merchants to use.

At the same time, the veteran guarding the gate saw a caravan approaching in the distance, and was instantly excited, and even his fatigue subsided.

Because the caravan came, it meant that there was oil and water to squeeze.

The veteran hurriedly called a Baqi Niu Lu Ezhen who was in charge of guarding the city gate here, and said to him, "My lord, a caravan is coming, and we have something to fish for."

Hearing the old soldier's words, Niu Lu's eyes lit up instantly, and the excited saliva almost flowed from his mouth.

Although he is a barbarian outside the Great Wall, a Jurchen in the white mountains and black waters, it doesn't mean that he doesn't love money.

On the contrary, because of Hu Lu's greedy nature, he even liked to exploit money from those who passed by the city gate more than the Han soldiers who guarded the city gate.

It's just that the population of the capital has decreased significantly recently, and there are very few people entering and leaving. Naturally, his chances of making money are also reduced.

But this is not a big deal, after all, ordinary people don't have a lot of money, even if he squeezes to death, how much money can he squeeze.

The key is those merchants who come to do business. They must have a lot of valuable goods or working capital in order to do business.

Extracting money from them is much easier, and much more, than extracting money from ordinary people.

"Quick, take me there." Niu Luer really jumped up from the recliner excitedly.

When they came to the city gate, they saw that the group of young and strong merchants sent by Abna had been stopped.

"Stand still, don't move. Now you have to inspect your goods and pay the city tax." Some city guards surrounded the caravan, as if they were afraid that the ducks in their mouths would fly away.

It's a pity that the caravan didn't have any money for them, except knives.

"Master, how much tax do I have to pay?" A commoner man walked into the city from outside the city, and was about to pay the city tax, but found that no one came to ask him for money.

Although this is different from the old city guards who searched for money like starving ghosts one by one, the commoner men did not dare to move around, for fear of being mistaken by these big-headed soldiers for not wanting to pay taxes.

When the time comes to be hacked to death by these people, he won't even have a place to reason.

After all, now that the Qing Dynasty is in power and ruling the capital, it is far less orderly than when the Ming Dynasty ruled.

"Go away, just those two copper coins of yours, I don't even bother to pick them up when they fall on the ground." Niu Luerzhen saw the clothed man and roughly pushed him to the ground.

Most of the people wearing common clothes are commoners with better family backgrounds. This kind of people's annual income is only a few taels, which is more than a dozen taels of silver, which is not enough for him to be happy for a night.

How much money can be squeezed from him, so naturally this amount of money is really too lazy to collect city taxes from him.

Although he was roughly pushed to the ground, this commoner man did not have any resentment because these soldiers who defended the city did not collect his taxes.

Is there anything luckier than this in the world?The commoner man was in a very happy mood at the moment.

"Master Jun, we are merchants from the Daming Mansion, selling some things into the capital." The leading man in the caravan saw a Niu Luerzhen coming, and said flatteringly.

"Stop talking nonsense, let me see what your goods are." Niu Lu Ezhen said impatiently.

He said it depends on what the goods are, but in fact, he is a drunkard who cares not about wine, but about gold and silver.

"Um..." The caravan leader was just a young man in a village before, but he was helpless when he came to a big city before.

He didn't dare to let the cow really see what the box on the cow's back was, it was full of swords, if someone saw it, the fool would know their purpose.

But if you don't let them see, with Jurchen's violent temper, she might dare to mention cutting her own neck in the next second.

Just when he was at a loss, he saw a man beside him who was wrapped in heavy clothes suddenly walked over and stopped Niu Luerzhen to say.

It turned out that this person was Battelle who had been ordered by Abney to train the young and strong Han people. Abney was worried about the caravan, so he sent him over.

But he was afraid that others would see his Mongolian province, so Battelle wrapped himself in heavy clothes and put on a wide felt hat to cover his face.

"We are all a small business. Master Jun, please don't embarrass us. This is a little filial piety. Please keep it." Battelle placed a silver ingot weighing about 50 taels in Niu Lu'ezhen's hand.

In the past, Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty traded each other, and they were often blackmailed by Ming officials in various names.

Battelle, who was blackmailed out of experience, saw Niu Lu'e's real intention at a glance, didn't he just want money, just give it.

He thought, anyway, if they enter the city today, they will own all the wealth of hundreds of thousands of Han people and the wealth of the aristocrats in Mizhou.

Sure enough, after feeling the heavy weight of the silver in his hand, Niu Luzhen's tense face suddenly beamed with joy.

I saw him say to Battelle with a smile on his face, "You are very good."

Then, he waved his hand and said loudly to the defenders behind him, "Okay, there is no problem with these goods, let them go."

After hearing the order to let go, Battelle showed a joyful smile on his face. He thought to himself, as long as he walked a few steps forward, he would be able to fully enter the city.

At that time, I will personally lead some people to the top of the city gate to destroy the city gate, and then Abnai's army can drive straight in.

It's a pity that at this moment, something happened that made him fall short, and his face was really clearly seen by the Niu Lue.

Niu Luer really saw Battelle's face, combined with the fact that this caravan did not have a unified flag, and even the way the goods were transported was not like the northern Han people who used carts to pull them.

He immediately understood the identity and purpose of the caravan in front of him. It was a Mongolian caravan, but it was deliberately dressed as a Han Chinese. There must be something strange in it.

Just when he was about to order the soldiers to surround and catch these people, Battelle saw a terrified expression on his face.

Although he didn't know whether his identity had been leaked, Battelle didn't dare to bet. He pulled out a dagger from his leather boots and inserted it into the real throat of this cow with lightning speed.

"Everyone, take out the tips of the knives and kill them for me."

Because the space was too narrow, and Battelle suddenly exploded, this Niu Luerzhen was killed without even having a chance to draw his sword.

Seeing that Niu Luerzhen, who was responsible for guarding the city gate here, was killed, the Manchu and Han officers and soldiers near the city gate were in chaos for a while, not knowing what to do.

(End of this chapter)