The ship lock gate was closed, the waterproof gate was closed, and the water upstream was injected into the ship lock, and the ship slowly rose to the same level as the water surface of Hongze Lake. Then the ship lock opened, and the fleet entered Hongze Lake. After sailing for a distance, we arrived at the Tawau Village where Wang Quan was located.

What caught Shi Fu's eyes was a huge castle, with a circle of blue-gray walls on the outside. It looked very solid at first glance. Moreover, the wall was not a Chinese-style city wall, but it was somewhat similar to the Red and Yi castles that Shi Fu had seen. Every hundred steps above the city wall, there was a hollow castle that raised to the outside. The city was octagonal, about one mile in radius. There were eighteen castles on the city wall, and there were also turrets above the city. It looked majestic and was absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In addition, the water gate, ship lock, and this castle controls the Gaojiayan embankment. If the Qing army goes south along the canal, if the war is unfavorable, Li Guodong can let the Qing army flood the Qing army. At that time, the Qing army will be flooded with a flood of seven armies.

"This military fort is also yours?" Shi Fu was frightened.

"The chief here is Wang Quan, who is the commander-in-chief of Huai'an. Although he is a military household, he is a good brother of someone." Li Guodong replied with a smile.

When the fleet sailed outside the water gate, Shi Fu raised his head and saw that the water gate was a large gate set up in the water. There was a raised composite prism on both sides. On the top was a hollow prism, with shooting holes densely packed on it. There was a circle of marches at the same height as the city wall. There was a turret on it, which sealed the water gate. External ships could not enter at all.

When the defenders at the city wall saw that it was Li Guodong's banner, they opened the water gate and put the fleet into the city.

The boat entered the city through the Watergate and stopped at the dock inside the city.

"What a spectacular castle!" Shi Fu sighed. He still didn't believe what Li Guodong said. How could the Ming Dynasty be beaten here by the Qing army?

Get off the boat and walk on a road with blue-gray ground. The ground is very flat and looks the same as the material of the building wall. Shi Fu asked: "What is the paved road? It seems to be of the same material as the wall."

"It is a new type of building material. The paved road surface will not be muddy and difficult to walk on rainy days. Building the city walls will save a lot of costs." Li Guodong replied.

“Where can I buy this kind of material?”

"There is nothing to be sold, we only produce it ourselves. The cost is not low and the output is not high." Li Guodong did not intend to sell cement.

Shi Fu visited the city and found that the city was not only solid, but also well-decorated. There are residential areas, shops, public bathrooms, warehouses, canteens, and all kinds of facilities. The tallest building in the city is a five-story building, standing on the top, you can see the entire city from a bird's eye view. There are four turrets outside the building, and twenty-four pounds of red cannons are placed in the turret, which can block the lake and the river channel entering the city.

"How much money did Master Bo spend in such a magnificent city?" Shi Fu kept praising.

"In fact, there are not many materials. The materials are our own, and the labor costs are also our own. They are all made of bricks and tiles by brothers themselves." Wang Quan replied.

In fact, this is all due to cement. With the new building material of cement, the castle for building a city has dropped significantly. Originally, the construction of a city required glutinous rice to be boiled into soup and added to the soil. The cost of glutinous rice alone was unbearable to Li Guodong and Wang Quan. With cement, the cost was much lower, and the castle built was more solid.

Li Guodong stayed Shi Fu in the city for a night.

After enjoying a delicious dinner, Li Guodong invited Shi Fu to the show: "General Shi, it's better to come early than to come by. Our art troupe just came back today. They are performing outside on weekdays. If you come to us today, you will naturally have to watch a good performance."

The curtain was pulled on the stage, and the square in front of the stage was already crowded with people. Bonfires were lit around, torches were inserted on all four walls, and the entire square was brightly lit. Li Guodong and Shi Fu and others would definitely not sit on the stone bench in the square to watch the play, but sit in the theater behind to watch the play.

The opening time of the drama is here. With a gong, the curtain slowly opened. As soon as the heroine appeared, she attracted the attention of the audience. The drama started with a warm love scene. The man was handsome and talented, and was admitted to the juren at a young age, with a bright future. The woman was not only beautiful, but also elegant and talented. She was a natural pair, a pair on the ground. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long, and the Qing army soon entered the pass and robbed.

The scene of the Ming army fighting with the Qing army was very spectacular. More than a hundred actors participated in the performance on the stage, and there was also a city wall made of wood and cloth on the stage. The Ming army defended the city, and the Qing army attacked fiercely. The two sides fought fiercely, and people screamed and fell down from time to time.

Seeing the Ming army falling one after another, the county magistrate was also shot and died heroically. Shi Fu, who was completely addicted to the play, couldn't help clenching his fists, his whole face turned red, and he wanted to jump out of the field and wield his sword to kill all the Qing soldiers.

In the end, the drama ended with a tragedy, and the heroine could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide; the hero was captured, forced to shave money and rat-tailed, and was sent outside the pass by the Qing army. The scene slowly fell, and the voice-over sounded: "Zhao Hao was abducted by the Qing army and became a slave, suffered all the torture, and soon after, he died outside the pass."

After the end of this drama, another drama was staged with the Wuqiao mutiny as the background. At the beginning of the drama, King Sanshun was still a positive character. They used Pi Island as the base to raid the Jin villages outside the pass, achieving brilliant results. But then, Mao Wenlong was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, and the Ming army in Dongjiang Town became an orphan without parents. Kong Youde and others came to Jiaodong, but a mutiny occurred because of a chicken.

Seeing that the soldiers fighting for the country were not respected and the domineering appearance of the gentry, the audience in the audience clenched their fists.

This drama is just the first drama when Li Guodong began to vilify the gentry. There are also the drama where gentry in wealthy areas encouraged the people to resist taxes, but the Chinese officials in the court added taxes to the poor northwest.

There is another drama, which is said to have been copied by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. It is also a popular drama in the thief army. It is called "White-Haired Girl". It tells the story of the juren Huang Shiren who took a fancy to the daughter of Yang Bailao, the boss of the tofu shop, and wanted to take her as a concubine, but Yang Bailao was unwilling to let her fall into the fire pit, so he refused. Who knew that Huang Shiren had put a trap for Yang Bailao and found a few thugs to trick him into gambling. Yang Bailao lost the tofu shop and had to go to Huang Shiren's house to be a tenant.

As a result, it was Huang Shiren's pit. The next year, the year of disaster was in the year of disaster, and the harvest was not good. Huang Shiren asked Yang Bailao to owe the rent first in the form of usury. It was a loan shark that was rolling on donkeys, and Yang Bailao could not afford it. So Huang Shiren came to the door to force the debt. Yang Bailao was unwilling to fall into the fire pit, so he committed suicide by drinking brine. Xier was snatched away by Huang Shiren. Later, Xier found an opportunity to escape into the mountains, her hair turned white, and she was called a white-haired girl.

Xier's lover Dachun joined the Jinyang army and escaped Huang Shiren's evil hands.

Later, the Qing army invaded, and Huang Shiren and the gentry surrendered to the Qing army. The Jinyang army came to fight, defeated the Qing army, captured Huang Shiren, and sentenced him to death. The happy ones who were revenge returned to the village, and their hair gradually turned black, and they married Dachun, and their lovers finally got married.

It is said that this drama, called "White-Haired Girl", was also copied by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. It was performed hotly every day, but the Qing army invaded, and Dachun participated in the rebel army or offered the army. Finally, Dachun followed the army back to his hometown, killed Huang Shiren, and distributed the farmland to the farmers.
Chapter completed!