Everyone chatted for a long time, because they couldn't stay in the barracks, Lei Qinghuang rented a small courtyard outside for Lou Qin to live in.

After a day off, because Hua Duxiu claimed to have important tasks and it was inconvenient to live for a long time, they were ready to leave the city early in the morning on the third day they came to Qingjin City.

The sky in Snake Valley is blue, with white clouds fluttering and a refreshing breeze.

This is not like Mobei, where there will be wind and sand blowing in the sky at both ends in three days, and if you go out, your hair will be full of loess and fine sand for half a day at most.

The wind here is soft and gentle, and even when you pinch and rub your fingers, there is a faint feeling of wetness.

If you don't know that this is the Valley of the Snakes, anyone will think that this climate would be a paradise for human habitation.

But once you get out of the city, away from the big city, you will find that this is not heaven, but a hell full of dangers.

Lei Qinghuang sent a centurion to lead a group of warriors to escort them south. Of course, the centurion was also responsible for delivering military reports to the Governor's Mansion of Anlin City, and Hua Duxiu and the other three could be said to have gone on the road with them on the way.

Lei Qinghuang and Lou Qin sent everyone out of the city, Lei Qinghuang said: "Don't worry, you will walk along the official road on this trip south, and all the soldiers accompanying you will be from the government, and they will not escort any valuable materials, even if they encounter robbers, they will not risk attacking you." ”

Hua Duxiu said: "Thank you brother-in-law for taking care of you! Sister Lou, I wish you a happy life." ”

Lou Qin smiled: "You kid, take care of yourself, don't make trouble!"

Hua Duxiu was speechless: "I know the general situation, I talk about principles, and I respect a harmonious society the most, how can I cause trouble?"

Lou Qin's smile is very kind, just like the spring breeze in March, which makes people feel intoxicated.

Hua Duxiu suddenly had a heart-pounding feeling for this kind of smile, and he felt that only when a woman had love in her heart and the mature love of a woman who had become a woman, could she make such a warm smile.

Like Yaoyao girl, like Nian Ze girl, no matter how happy they laughed, Young Master Hua didn't feel this way.

Alas, Sister Lou, I wish you a stable and happy life, and don't go back if you don't go back to Golden Horn.

Let's live well with my brother-in-law, husband and wife are only complete if they are one.

Lou Qin said: "Silly boy, take care of Wan San, be careful not to let him be bitten by snakes again." ”

Shen Lijia blushed and said: "No, no, this time my entire pants are made of cowhide, even if a snake wants to bite my buttocks, it can't bite through!"

Lou Qin was speechless: "Then aren't you hot?"

Shen Lijia said: "Hot spots are good, hot spots are good, anyway, it's better than being bitten by a snake." ”

Lei Qinghuang said to Lei Mingwen again: "Brother Jiong, go back to the sect and practice martial arts well, and when you come back to join the army with me after you leave the school, we will serve the empire together." ”

Lei Mingwei smiled: "I know." ”

Lei Qinghuang said: "We must strengthen our confidence and believe that as long as we work hard, the tomorrow of Snake Valley will be better." Also, take care of the two guests. ”

Lei Mingji didn't seem to want to say more on the topic of joining the army, so he just nodded: "I know." ”

Hua Duxiu's ears and eyes were smart, and he immediately heard a hint of special taste.

After a simple farewell, the centurion saluted Lei Qinghuang, and the team set off.

This is a team composed of pure samurai, there are more than 100 people, the centurion is the leader, and Hua Duxiu and the other three are all dressed as samurai in the army and mixed in the team.

And they took nothing but ten wagons loaded with dry rations, drinking water and snake repellents.

As Lei Qinghuang said, even if they encounter a gang of robbers, they will not rob this kind of team.

Because they can't grab any valuable supplies, they will lose their manpower because of the big fight, and even if they catch these samurai, they can't sell them for money through slave owners.

No matter how crazy the slave owners were, they did not dare to openly buy and sell captured samurai in their armies.

The long procession went all the way south, and because there were not enough horses, the procession hurried on foot. Soon, they made their way through layers of farmland and into the wilderness.

Because there are professional snake repellents in the farmland, there are not many poisonous snakes in the field, and the people who farm are all good at catching snakes, and the lack of snakes is not the opponent of farmers at all.

Once out of the farmland and into the wild, there are poisonous snakes crawling everywhere you look, and your ears are completely filled with snake chirping.

The samurai drove away snakes while moving forward, and the speed was not very fast. Hua Duxiu and the three of them hid in the center of the team, chatting aimlessly.

Hua Duxiu was very interested in the attitude between Lei Mingzhi and Lei Qinghuang, and he asked in a low voice:

"Brother, Brother Ling seems to be looking forward to your future military service?"

Lei Mingji said: "Yes, our father is a samurai in the army, my brother inherited this profession, and he also hopes that I can join the army in the future." ”

Hua Duxiu said: "But I see what you mean, it seems that you don't really want to join the army?"

Lei Mingji's little face is whirring, but he is different from Shen Lijia, Shen Lijia has a lot of ghost eyes, but there is no big picture. Lei Mingwei is the opposite of him, his chubby face seems to have no scheming at first glance, a little cute, but on closer inspection, there are some deep things in it.

Especially his eyes, there is a faint taste of unruliness.

Lei Mingji glanced at Hua Duxiu: "Oh, Brother Hua, how do you see it?"

Hua Duxiu pointed to his eyes and said, "I have a pair of discerning eyes, and there are few things in this world that can blind me." ”

Lei Mingwei said: "You are a military attache subordinate to the Mobei Governor's Palace, and you are a relative and friend of the old governor, so I have some opinions that are inconvenient to say. ”

Hua Duxiu said: "Brother, I'm very pleased that you can say that. To tell you the truth, my military attache is a false position, and you can even treat it as a position that I bought with money. Moreover, Governor Peng is in the Trapped Demon Valley, my family and Governor Peng are in a cooperative relationship, and it is not a subordinate relationship between superiors and subordinates, you can say what you have in your heart, you don't need to treat me as a person in the government. ”

Lei Mingwei smiled and said: "I have long seen how you are not serious as a military attaché." ”

Hua Duxiu also smiled: "I'm not very serious as a military attaché, but I'm still quite serious." ”

Lei Mingwei nodded, lowered his voice and said: "My brother grew up in front of his father since he was a child, grew up with him in the army, grew up in the war, and has a strong sense of honor. ”

"But I'm different, I was sent by my father to the Black Forest to practice martial arts when I was a child, and I only took two or three months a year to come back to visit my family. ”

"Because of this, every time I come back to visit my relatives for more than ten years, I feel sad about the changes in Snake Valley. In the past ten years, our hometown was occupied by bandits, and my grandfather and grandmother were all killed. Then my father's unit was ambushed, the city was lost, and my mother was taken and sold as a slave, and nothing was heard from. Then there was the rebellion of the Shogun's Palace, and my father's unit was annihilated by the rebel samurai, and my father died. ”

"Now, it's my brother and sister-in-law's turn again. Although what my sister-in-law said was an understatement, I can understand how you feel when you are chased and killed by gangsters this time, the guards and guides are all killed, and if my sister-in-law is captured by them, the consequences are unimaginable. ”

Hua Duxiu sighed: "I didn't expect you to have such a heavy past." ”

Lei Mingwei said: "No, it's not just me, but how many ordinary people in Snake Valley have not experienced the pain of breaking their families and dying in their homes? Who dares to say that they can live to old age as free?"

Hua Duxiu said: "In this case, shouldn't you appreciate Brother Ling's ambition and serve the country in the army?"

Lei Mingqi laughed a few times, shook his head and said, "In the army/serving the country?"

"The army/team, it's rotten! This empire is rotten!"

Hua Duxiu: "......"

Lei Mingwei said in a deep voice: "When Governor Peng was here, he only subdued the six major generals on the surface, and also replaced him with his own henchmen and generals, as if the world had changed color, and the peaceful and prosperous era was coming. But as soon as he walked on the front foot, all the six generals who were loyal to him turned against him, do you know why?"

Hua Duxiu said: "Brother, you say." ”

Lei Mingwei said: "Because slavery has not been eradicated, the big slave owners and chaebols still control the people's livelihood in the Snake Valley, and the generals who have the army in their hands cannot get the support of the big slave owners and chaebols, and they can't even pay the army's salaries, unless they exterminate these slave owners, become slave owners themselves, make money themselves, and raise soldiers." ”

Hua Duxiu asked, "Isn't there a tax in Snake Valley?"

Lei Mingwei asked rhetorically: "Who will pay the taxes? If the chaebol does not cooperate, who will collect taxes? The people only have a few dollars in their hands? The Snake Valley is full of robbers, and the war is almost non-stop, and it is not enough for them to fight the war by looting the people to death!"

Hua Duxiu understood.

If you want to stand on your feet, you must have samurai and an army in your hands.

In order for the samurai to fight, there must be financial resources.

In order to have financial resources, it is not enough to rely on the people alone, it is necessary to have the support of the chaebol.

And why do the chaebols support the town guard generals?

Because the town guards could use force to secure their lucrative trade, including the slave trade.

So what if the empire approves the funds and the governor's palace pays the money?

I'm sorry, in this place of Snake Valley, how many samurai guards do you need to escort a batch of silver?

How many robbers will be staring along the way?

The general environment means that the local garrison can only raise military funds locally, can only take root locally, and cannot fight on the move.

Warlords and chaebols will inevitably be combined, and separatism will inevitably take shape.

How can the Governor's Mansion control me when I want people, money, and territory, and there are endless bandits around me to fight?

As soon as I moved, there was chaos in the area, and as soon as I returned, the situation was immediately brought under control.

This created a vicious circle, in which the governor's palace, the six generals' palaces, and the autonomous cities with independent armed forces were organized into systems, the peasants grew grain to feed them, the merchants gave them money for profiteering industries, and they used force to give shelter to the people on the territory.

So the question is, how do businessmen do profiteering industries?

Who do they make money from?

It's certainly impossible to get from your own people, and it's not that profitable.

You can only make money by trading slaves and plundering each other.

In this way, there must be a war.

If you don't fight, how can you catch slaves, how can you plunder?

The Snake Valley is too large and the total population is very large. Restricted by the topography and ecological environment, Snake Valley has always been in a situation where the Governor's Mansion is in the center, the Six Generals' Palaces are surrounded by all directions, and many autonomous cities and robber cities are dotted around, fighting each other openly and secretly.

Hua Duxiu thought of his brother again.

Bohu.

The Bohu family was engaged in the slave trade, and the scale was very huge, it is said that tens of thousands of slaves could enter and exit every year, and the profits were outrageously high.

In all fairness, Bohu is still quite good, and he is also obedient to Hua Duxiu, and Hua Duxiu likes him very much.

But from a higher dimension, Bohu's family can be said to have bloody hands and many sins, and even Bohu himself does not feel that there is anything wrong with doing slave trade, and he will probably be engaged in this business when he returns to Snake Valley in the future.

was thinking, Lei Mingwei spoke again: "Brother Hua, have you figured it out?"

Hua Duxiu sneered: "What if you want to understand? This chain is too stable, Mo said that the six generals turned against the water after Uncle Peng left, even if he didn't leave, after these six people saw their own plate clearly, they would have to make the same choice as the previous generation of town guard generals, betray the governor's mansion, and become a half-divided warlord." ”

Lei Mingji nodded: "You're right." So I said, there is no point in serving in the army, serving the country? This empire can no longer protect and represent the interests of the people, why should I serve the country?"

Hua Duxiu: "Then what do you think?"

There was a faint anger in Lei Mingji's eyes, and he said in a deep voice:

"When I learn the skills, I will naturally return to the Snake Valley, and I will change the Snake Valley in my own way!"