Now it is the ninth year of Datang Tianbao, and it has been a full nine years since the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty. Although the name of the year has changed, and the personality of the emperor who worked hard may have changed, there is still a bit of afterglow of prosperity in heaven and earth.

The Tang Dynasty's troops are still invincible, but the twilight has appeared, and there are no longer frequent reports of good news when conquering enemy countries, and occasionally I have heard of some defeats.

The victory or defeat of the army of the past dynasties to conquer the enemy country seems to be related to the degree of diligence of the Son of Heaven, the high-spirited Li Longji and Princess Taiping joined forces to annihilate the Weihou group, two years later ascended to the treasure, holding the national weapon, sitting in the north and facing the south and the king, after ascending the throne Li Longji worked hard, and tried to save the building, and personally created the famous Kaiyuan Dynasty, I have to say that Li Longji in the early years was a great emperor.

But then, the prosperity became less like the prosperity.

The hidden dangers laid by the policies of the early years are gradually showing signs. The Tang Dynasty frontier was divided into ten feudal towns, each town was monopolized by the festival, and the military, government, financial and civilian powers were concentrated, and the feudal towns gradually became one of the princes, and the central court's control over the feudal towns became weaker and weaker, and the feudal towns supported the army in order to expand their armaments, and the levy taxes on the people became heavier and heavier.

When the burden of the people at the bottom becomes more and more unbearable, the so-called "prosperous era" seems to be glamorous, but in fact, it is boiling oil with fire and danger. However, the Shengtianzi who sat firmly in the Dragon Court of Chang'an, but he was still immersed in the sense of achievement of creating the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty with his own hands, he was intoxicated by the gentleness of Yang Guifei, and he was no longer as diligent and attentive to the government and people's livelihood as before, and handed over the power to traitors like Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, but his mind has gradually shifted to Huaqing Pond and Liyuan Music Class.

The prosperous era still seems to be prosperous, and no one notices that the territory of the Tang Dynasty is gradually shrouded in a faint layer of twilight.

The small goal set by Gu Qing is as difficult as a sky for the farmers in Shiqiao Village.

In Shiqiao Village, most of the farmers in the prosperous era are unable to guarantee food and clothing, and if the wind and rain are good, if there is a disaster, the life of the farmers in the village will be sad. After paying the government taxes every year, the rest of the grain must be eaten in a planned way, only a little per day, and at the same time they hunt, catch fish, dig wild vegetables, and mix everything they can eat in the millet so that they can stumble and survive for a year.

Year after year, this is the current state of Shiqiao Village. No one thought about changing, because the peasants depended on the sky for food, and no one knew how to change.

Gu Qing doesn't want to be a farmer, he doesn't discriminate against farmers, he just doesn't know how to farm. From the point of view of personal interests, farming is undoubtedly a profession with a particularly low or even negative rate of return, and it also has to bear a lot of risks, farmers cannot change their fate, because they have no other ability except farming and hard work, but Gu Qing is different.

If you want to change the status quo, you must first make money.

But Gu Qing doesn't have many chips in his hand now, and the only thing he can use is the coal found today. Folk iron smelting is tantamount to death, Gu Qing doesn't have the courage to challenge the royal law at present, what can the rest of the coal do?

Gu Qing sat on the threshold, staring at the stars in the night sky in a daze.

I don't know how long it took, the cool breeze of the night blew on his shoulders, Gu Qing felt a little chilly, got up and sighed, and went back to the house to sleep.

My brain hurts so much, and I'm too tired to think about things. If the life of this life is a game, and fate is the one who manipulates the game, then he must be tuned to the hell-level mode, if you want to clear the level without losing your head, you must be hard enough.

Early the next morning, Gu Qing walked out of the house, he planned to wander around the village to find inspiration to make money.

This is the first time Gu Qing has appeared in the village since the crossing, and the effect is very touching.

The villagers gathered in groups of three or five, Gu Qing just showed a friendly and amiable smile, but the villagers scattered in panic, as if Gu Qing had turned into a fart and exploded in the crowd, smoking everyone away.

Gu Qing's smile froze on his face, and he stood still for a long time.

Is this the loneliness of life? Is this a sword drawn and looking around?

I'm just an ordinary village tyrant. I'm violent, I'm beating, I'm digging holes, but I know I'm a good village bully.

Standing under the old locust tree in the middle of the village, Gu Qing's expression was a little embarrassed.

Probably the sequelae of beating the Ding brothers the day before yesterday, the little sheep suddenly turned into a big tiger, presumably the villagers are not very adaptable, especially the Ding brothers both feet were almost abolished, this kind of means makes everyone a little afraid.

The cold scene at this moment is different from what Gu Qing imagined, in Gu Qing's cognition, he defeated the old version of the village tyrant and saved the villagers from fire and water, it stands to reason that he should be embraced by the stars and the moon, why do the villagers see him like a ghost?

Feeling a little depressed, Gu Qing turned around and walked back with a cold face, and when he walked to the door, Song Gensheng was pacing back and forth in front of his firewood, looking restless.

Seeing Gu Qing coming back, Song Gensheng stepped forward and dragged Gu Qing's arm into the door.

"Brother Ding wants to harm you, ...... you Let's go out and hide. Song Gensheng said anxiously.

Gu Qing frowned: "I just wasted their feet, what a big deal, why do you want to harm me?" ”

Song Gensheng was dumbfounded: "............"

I vaguely heard the sound of the three views shattering in my head, is it an illusion?

It's not a problem to scrap someone's feet?

"Why do you know they want to harm me?"

Song Gensheng came back to his senses and sighed: "Today I went out, I saw a few people gathered under the big locust tree whispering, pointing at your house from time to time, I glanced at them, they are not from this village, I heard that the Ding brothers have been recuperating at home in the past two days, and asked someone to go to the neighboring village to carry a message, it is estimated that they have found a helper to treat you, and the few people from other villages I met this morning were called by the Ding brothers." ”

Seeing that Gu Qing was expressionless and didn't say a word, Song Gensheng sighed: "I told you the day before yesterday that the Ding family brothers will definitely not be good, the two of them have always been narrow-minded, and if there is revenge, they will take revenge, you almost took half their lives, how can you not be hated by them." ”

Gu Qing pondered for a moment and said, "I have forgotten to ask, how bad are the Ding family brothers?" ”

Song Gensheng was surprised: "Don't you know? ”

After a pause, Song Gensheng was relieved again: "I forgot that you have a brain disease, and I forgot a lot of things......"

The corners of Gu Qing's mouth twitched, he always felt that "brain disease" and "brain damage" meant the same thing, and he couldn't produce evidence, so it was inconvenient to kill him......

"The Ding brothers are also orphans, A-Niang died of illness when they were very young, my father joined the army five years ago, and died on the battlefield when he fought in Tibet, leaving the two Ding brothers, the two brothers were not disciplined, at the beginning they fought with others for a bite of food, and then slowly got used to using their fists to get everything, and now they no longer farm the land themselves, and rely on some partial wealth to make a living, and their lives are better than ordinary villagers......"

Gu Qing asked with interest, "What kind of wealth do they make?" ”

Song Gensheng sighed and said: "There are many poor families in the village, and those who can't support their children will sell their daughters, and let them marry at the age of eleven or twelve, or sell them into big families as concubines and maids, and the Ding brothers will pull the strings in the middle, and many daughters in the village are taken out of the village by them, sign the deed, press the handprint, and the daughter will be taken away by them, and when they come back, they throw dozens of dollars, and I don't know how much they deducted in the middle." ”

Gu Qing frowned: "This is a human trafficker's trick, and it is unconscionable." ”

Song Gensheng said helplessly: "What can I do?" The family really can't support them, if they don't find a good family, the family will starve to death, but there is a way to live if they are sold, in fact, this is a business that you and I are willing to buy, you can't say that the Ding brothers are wrong, the villagers hate them because they are too domineering in the village, hate them for bullying the villagers and neighbors, and there is nothing to be jealous of them selling their daughters. ”

Gu Qing took a deep breath.

Is this the heyday? The people have to sell their daughters in order to survive, where is the slightest prosperity?