Last year, Niu Mantun's life was quite comfortable. The address he was assigned was not far from the Gandeleng family, and he could get there in half a day on horseback. And because it has the great merit of stepping first, the field assigned to him is also a ripe field, and he does not need to be in the wasteland. Under the hard work of Niu Mantun and the two ahas, the land was planted with wheat. Unfortunately, due to the severe drought this year, the harvest was not good. In addition to satisfying the needs of your Niu Mantun family, the remaining grain plus some bran and wild vegetables can barely make two aha eat until spring. But the spring famine may be a little sad.

However, at the time of this year's autumn harvest, Niu Mantun, who was born in a farmer's household, keenly felt that things seemed to have changed. Because he found that the price of food kept rising. And even after the autumn harvest, grain prices have not fallen, but have continued to rise. Niu Mantun often listened to his father say that he didn't panic when he had food in his hand. So in the face of this situation, Niu Mantun finally made up his mind to buy grain with all the silver.

Niu Mantun was inspired by his father's history of making a fortune. He has always done what his father did, and he was determined to get some benefits when he could. So every time he was the most active in the matter of collecting corpses, so he got a lot of loose silver and copper coins from the corpses, and finally he quietly changed them to silver ingots to carry with him.

When Niu Mantun was 18 taels of wheat per stone, he spent all the silver. But he didn't buy wheat, he bought all grains. It was cheaper, and a stone cost 15 taels of silver. After buying food and coming back, his Jurchen mother-in-law scolded him. As a result, within a few days, his Jurchen mother-in-law began to desperately praise Niu Mantun for his life. Because food prices have been climbing. Just before the Spring Festival, the price of grain has climbed to 25 taels and one stone.

In this way, Niu Mantun quietly became the richest man in the entire village. With this grain, Niu Mantun didn't even dare to go out of his home. He had to quietly dig a cellar with two aha at night and store most of the grain before he was reassured.

Not long after the Spring Festival, everyone was idle. So Niu Mantun got up early and prepared to go to the next few sets to see if he could put on some prey. But he didn't expect that as soon as he went out, he was blocked by Uha Aha sent by Gandeleng. Aha respectfully kowtowed to Niu Mantun, and after getting permission to get up, he said, "The master said that there is something important, let you go quickly." Say it the sooner the better. ”

Niu Mantun didn't know what Gan Delen was looking for him to do? However, this cheap uncle Niu Mantun still has to be taken seriously, because he is a real Jurchen, and his status is above him. So Niu Mantun said hello to his mother-in-law and rode away.

When he entered the courtyard of Gandeleng, Aha helped him lead the horses. When he entered the house, as soon as he saw Gan Delen, he asked, "How much grain do you have at home?" ”

Niu Mantun was stunned by Gan Deleng's question, but how could such a fatal question be easily answered! Niu Mantun asked rhetorically with peasant cunning: "Big brother, is your family short of food?" ”

Gan Delen said angrily: "Who has not lacked food in this year? Let me ask you, how much food do you have at home? Be honest with me! ”

Seeing that this question could not be avoided, Niu Mantun concealed half of it and said, "It's about less than two and a half stones." ”

Gandelen asked, "Are you sure?" It's real food, isn't it? ”

Niu Mantun nodded and said, "Yes, it's all miscellaneous grains." ”

Gandelen let out a sigh and said, "It's okay! OK! You're in luck! ”

Niu Mantun asked what happened to Gan Delen? When Gan Delen heard that Niu Mantun had food at home, he let down his vigilance. He whispered, "Don't tell anyone! Lao Khan gave several orders in a row, to search all the homes outside the Eight Banners, and if there were not enough five buckets of food at home, they would all be killed! ”

Niu Mantun was taken aback when he heard this! In this month, five buckets of grain is not a small amount! At least Niu Mantun knew that in the village where he lived, at least half of the families couldn't make up five buckets of grain. If this were the case, wouldn't half the village be killed!

Niu Mantun hurriedly asked, "How can the Great Khan give such an order?" ”

Gan Delen sneered and said, "You still don't understand? Speaking of it, it's all old Khan who is wise! In the past few years, the drought has been severe, and nothing grows in the ground. In addition, there are wars every year, and everyone has no heart to farm, so the harvest is even worse! Moreover, after fighting and winning the war, and getting so many Aha and Nikan (meaning Han Chinese), this food is even more insufficient. Now that there are so many Nikans, what if they don't have enough food to eat and rebel? It's better to kill them first while they are honest, and you can get some food to subsidize the poor families in the banner! ”

Niu Mantun listened, and his whole body was as cold as falling into an ice cave! As for what Gandeleng said later, he couldn't hear it, but he only vaguely knew that he was talking. He was already completely frightened by Nurhachi's ferocity! At the same time, I feel extremely lucky! If it hadn't been for Gandeleng training him, and if he risked his life to fight, maybe he would have been one of the people who died this time.

Niu Mantun hurriedly said goodbye to Gan Delen and rushed home, and only after carefully counting the food at home did he breathe a sigh of relief. But when he thought of the other Han people in the village, he didn't know what to do. The village is basically full of Han Chinese, and there are a few Jurchens. He didn't know the situation of those people in the Han Army Banner, but he knew that most ordinary Han people would definitely not have five buckets of grain at home. In other words, most of the Han people in the village will be killed. Niu Mantun, who knew the news, did not dare to say it, because after all, it was an order from Nurhachi.

Niu Mantun sat in the cellar and thought about what to do. He didn't dare to divulge the news, in that case, I was afraid that his head would be lost, and Gandeleng would be involved. The military law of the post-Jin army is no joke! But you can't die without help! This made Niu Mantun very difficult!

After thinking about it for a long time, Niu Mantun finally made up his mind. He decided to move a batch of grain to his home first, so as not to be cut down and killed before he had time to carry it during the search, which is called wronging! And there are two Aha at home, and their rations must also be counted on themselves, and they must be prepared in advance.

The rest of the grain is to remain hidden in the cellar so that no one will find it. Then Niu Mantun thought about how many families he could help. His neighbors on the left and right are all from the Han Army, and they are from Niu Lu. They were very helpful when they first arrived. And Niu Mantun knew that he would definitely go into battle again in the future, and he hoped that there would be a few people who could be trusted to take care of each other. One more reliable partner on the battlefield is one more life! So these two are a must-go. But the rest of the food is only enough to help the family, and Niu Mantun doesn't know who to help.

Thinking about it, Niu Mantun thought of the father and son who were close to the back of his room. There are only two fathers and sons in his family. The father is a showman, and the son is also a scholar. It was originally a gentleman of Mengxue. When the city of Shenyang was broken, it was captured by the Houjin army, and it turned out that both of them were scholars, who could not farm or work. So no one wants them to be Ahab, so they leave them here to fend for themselves. Their family's land was still planted for them by a few neighbors in Niumantun.

So Niu Mantun decided to help them with the last grain. But that's fine. It just happened to be three neighbors in Niumantun, and they knew each other on weekdays. Even if you help them, the news will not leak out.

Niu Mantun made up his mind and decided to go to Zhang Liang's house on the left first. Zhang Liang's family has a large population, with five people, and the rations are definitely not enough. Out of the door, Niu Mantun didn't go out of the door, and when he saw that there was no one around, he jumped directly over the wall to Zhang Liang's house. He walked to the door and knocked on the door and shouted in a low voice: "Lao Zhang! Zhang Liang, are you at home? ”

I heard the room say, "Is it Brother Niu?" Open the door and come in by yourself, move quickly, don't blow the cold air in. ”

Niu Mantun said: "I won't go in, you come out, I have something important to look for you!" ”

After a while, the door opened, Zhang Liang quickly got out and closed the door, and said, "What's wrong?" ”