The sky was overcast, and a few crows were heard from the woods on the edge of the Wusong River.

Five men quietly carried the bodies of a merchant and a servant into the woods, took tools from the boat, and dug a pit for the two bodies and buried them.

Several people were not their own brothers, but now they are sorted by age, and they are all called brothers. A few men buried the two bodies and returned to the boat.

When the boss saw the fifth child's suspicious look, he said with relief: "Fifth brother, you are not familiar with it now, and if you do more of this kind of thing in the future, you will get used to it!" ”

"Yes, this kind of thing is actually no different from killing pigs and sheep, and you don't feel anything if you do it a few times!" The second child got into the cabin and brought out the burden of the merchant just now, and said.

The fourth child's eyes lit up slightly, and he seemed anxious to reach out and grab the burden, but when he opened it, he said disappointedly: "Lao Tzu saw this pig dressed like this, and thought it would be a big fish, and he didn't want to just a few taels of broken silver!" ”

The third and fifth children only looked at a few taels of silver, although they felt that it was not too little, but they were inevitably a little disappointed.

"You know what, good goods should be hidden here!" The second child patted the inconspicuous thick bamboo pole on his hand, and showed his teeth quite confidently.

The boss gave the fourth child a look, and the fourth picked up the axe that still had blood stains and split the bamboo tube.

The bamboo tube was split in half, but I saw that there were several pieces of gold lying quietly inside, which made the eyes of several people light up immediately, which is already a relatively rare big fat pig.

Several people excitedly shared the spoils at the bow of the boat, and then worked together to wash off the blood stains on the boat, and parted ways at the grass dam in front, while the second child returned to the small pier in front of him to continue to solicit customers for a living.

River thieves have become a stubborn disease in the current Ming Dynasty.

Whether it is the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, or the Pearl River, the third largest river, there will be river thieves in some remote rivers, sometimes harvesting the belongings of passing merchants.

Some of the most vicious river thieves often have a legitimate profession, usually appear to be honest, and are very good at disguising themselves. As long as they are given the opportunity, they will show their ugly face and do murderous deeds.

Pudong Salt Farm, a small and medium-sized salt farm, has a permanent population of tens of thousands.

The salt farm is the most basic unit of salt production, with an ambassador and a deputy envoy who are responsible for managing the production of salt and the collection of salt taxes in the whole salt farm. About 21 households are one community, and the second and third communities are one group.

Following the Ming Dynasty's internal relocation policy for ordinary people, these tens of thousands of stove households often live by the sea, and even their children and grandchildren have multiplied, forming villages one after another.

The eldest is named Chen Er, and he is also the second in the family, and after separating from the brothers, he walked towards his residence. As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the village, I saw Mr. Li talking to everyone in the barn field.

Each regiment will have a chief urge, roughly equivalent to the chief, mainly to manage the stove, supervise the salt class, measure the land, etc., with great authority, is the wealthy class in the stove household group.

Chen Er stepped forward and heard Mr. Li shouting to everyone: "You bunches of free cubs, be honest with Lao Tzu!" Now there is news from Songjiang Mansion City, Lord Qincha personally led troops to Wusongjiang to suppress bandits, I don't care what you do outside, I will stop all this month! ”

A group of men in the threshing floor listened to this, some of them said that they were innocent, some of them directly agreed, but more people still sat there and talked about things.

With the change of salt to silver, they gradually freed their stove households from the work of salt production, after all, as long as there is enough silver, they can also pay to the salt farm.

It is precisely because of this that in order to get more silver, some people have done the act of killing people and stealing goods, some people have cultivated in the sea, and some people have gone to sea for smuggling.

Even if Mr. Li urges this kind of person, he may not be very clean, he will encroach on the land of some low-level stove households by usury, etc., and then reclaim it into a farm to gain benefits.

All in all, the stove households in this era also have the phenomenon of "people's hearts are not ancient", and many stove households are not willing to be poor, and they resolutely embark on an underworld.

Chen Er's heart moved slightly, and he took the initiative to step forward and talk: "Mr. Li, which Lord Qincha is going to come to suppress Kou?" While speaking, he opened the spring rolls he had just bought and urged Mr. Li to deliver one with a smile.

Mr. Li glanced at Chen Er with satisfaction, and responded while eating spring rolls: "Who else can there be, naturally it is the left deputy capital of the two Huai Patrol Salt Chincha, Yushi Lin Haoran!" ”

"Isn't he just in charge of salt? What did we do in Zhejiang? Chen Er naturally knew about such a person, but he frowned slightly and asked suspiciously.

"It's not like a person who robbed Lord Qincha Ru's goods, so that Lord Qincha wants to stand up for her Ru Lady!" Mr. Li urged the men on the threshing floor and scolded angrily.

The man on the barn floor is still doing his own thing, but he doesn't know whether he is not afraid of Mr. Li's urging, or he has already formed a grudge against the greedy Mr. Li, and directly deaf ears to these words.

In fact, they robbed a lot of goods, and who knows which batch is the goods of the Lord Qincha Ru Lady, this matter is not clear at all, and it is impossible for them to take the initiative to admit it.

Chen Er didn't expect it to be caused by this matter, but he still asked in confusion: "Lin Haoran is obviously in charge of salt affairs, how can the officers and soldiers in Songjiang City mess around with him?"

"People have ...... The right to act cheaply! In short, people can manage it, and you can all settle down and go out as little as possible! Mr. Li urged him to finish the spring rolls and admonished him seriously.

It's not that he cares about these people, but that he is afraid that if these people are really arrested, then he may be implicated. Now that I am saying it publicly, I hope that this group of people can stop for a while.

"We've done a couple of good jobs! Since Mr. Li urged you to say so, we won't go out this month! Chen Erdang said even if he agreed.

It has always been the case, local bandits inevitably have various relationships with the government, and once there is any big move from above, they can always get information from the eyes of the government.

Once the officers and men came to clean up, they took the initiative to stop it, and once the officers and men left, they continued to "make a living." This kind of thing has already formed a tacit understanding between the two sides.

As for the Lord Qincha who was angry with Mrs. Ru, at most, he would catch a few little thieves who had no information, and then collect his troops back to Songjiang City with "big thunder and small raindrops".