In the end, Zhang Rui still followed his promise and did not kill this group of bandits.

The two masters and sixteen old bandits were all cut off by Zhang Rui, and the thumb of his right hand and the toe of his left foot. At the same time, Zhang Rui did not intend to let them go, but wanted to take them to disgust the Manchu government.

The ten new bandits were confirmed that they had indeed not done any great evil, although they were not cut off their fingers and toes, and they were ordered by Zhang Rui to work as coolies in the cottage for three years before they could go down the mountain.

In this regard, these ten new bandits are still grateful to Zhang Rui.

Of course, when they learned that Zhang Rui was asking them to go to the toilet to collect nitrate, they scolded Zhang Rui in their hearts.

Fortunately, the daily food is not bad, and the mask given by Zhang Rui does not feel much smelly. The most important thing is that Zhang Rui promised them that as long as they work hard, they will have a chance to reduce their sentence, and they will be paid. With so many benefits to take care of them, they are very relieved in their hearts, and they don't feel like they are doing coolies anymore.

In fact, there is no need for Zhang Rui to collect nitrate. Liu Muxiu told him that Zhilian Mountain belongs to the junction of Wuzhou and Hezhou in Guangxi, and at the same time it is not far from Hunan and Guangdong. There is abundant sulfur and saltpeter around here, if Zhang Rui wants to buy gunpowder directly, if he can fry gunpowder, he can also buy materials and get them himself, there are many materials.

Liu Muxiu's words, Zhang Rui was very pleased, and he didn't think that there were still such benefits in Guangxi. The emperor is far away, and the control is so lax. So, Zhang asked Liu Muxiu to buy a large number of them, as many as they wanted, and get more gunpowder before the Manchu Qing Dynasty reacted.

And these ten new bandits, Zhang Rui thought that raising them would be a waste of food, if he released them directly, he would continue to cause trouble. So I thought about how much I could collect.

……

Ten days have passed since I won Zhilian Mountain, and I have been so busy for half a month.

The green battalion soldiers who could sell weapons nearby sold all their weapons to Zhang Rui, and the armor that Zhang Rui wanted to buy couldn't be sold, because none of these green battalion soldiers had it. The blacksmiths in the blacksmith shop are also rushing to build weapons, and everything is going on in as secret as possible.

The sulfur and saltpeter purchased in the name of making firecrackers are tens of thousands of catties, and they have been transported to Zhilian Mountain one after another.

Li Si's family and Wu Lei's family have already gone up the Zhilian Mountain, and Li Niushi has also followed up the mountain. During this period, Zhang Rui also took turns to let the members of the bandit suppression team go home to rest for three days.

Although Zhang Rui told them to keep it secret, with the villagers' attention to Zhang Rui, the news that Zhilian Mountain was taken down by Zhang Rui could no longer be blocked.

Zhang Rui naturally didn't dare to think about it anymore, and once again ambushed the big boss Zhou Tongtie. As long as he's not a pig, he won't crash into it.

Since you can't ambush it, let's fight it with dignity! So Zhang Rui decided to recruit again. But before that, Zhang Rui decided to take those bandits to the county government to disgust it and see if he could change to an official position.

…

In the early morning of that day, Zhang Rui led twenty sword and shield soldiers to press eighteen bandits who were ganged in a row with ropes, and took the seven women rescued from the dungeon.

Along the way, there are green mountains and green waters, and even if there are a few villages, there are only about a dozen households.

There are not many fields around the village, and there are few fields that have been cleared.

After the great turmoil at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the massacre at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty. After three generations of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, the population has only recovered to the level of the late Ming Dynasty and the early years of Chongzhen.

At present, there are still large and small battles in the 20 years of Qianlong, and there are often cases of poor people being slaughtered because they cannot pay taxes and rebel against the government.

Was the Qing Dynasty tax-heavy? According to some, it is light. However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population cultivated land was the same as now, and the entire country had a tax revenue of 4 million taels of silver, and the annual tax revenue of Qianlong in the 20th year of Qianlong was more than 40 million taels of silver.

Spread into acres. Flag people are exempt from taxes, and each person can also have 8 taels of silver. Other ethnic groups collect taxes, and sometimes in order to avoid trouble, Qianlong also announced that Miao Jiang will be exempted forever. So who's the big deal with taxes?

If some people really say so well that the land will never be endowed, then where will Qianlong fill the hole of 80 million taels of silver in Jinchuan and 30 million silver in Zhunping? And every year the silver of its treasury only increases.

The Qing Dynasty paid the grain to the imperial court, paid it every year, violated the order to resist the grain, and severely punished the loan. One tael of each land is levied to apportion one tael of silver, which is still a field endowment. If it is Hunan's "grain", one stone of rice will be levied, and three stones will have to be paid if other miscellaneous taxes are included.

Therefore, Qianlong will find out that he has been exempting millions and tens of millions of taels of taxes.

Anyway, it is inevitable that you can't collect it, and those poor people still can't pay it if they sell their sons and daughters and wives, and you can take it at any time if you want a cheap life. In this way, it is better to avoid having a good reputation.

More than 80 percent of the poor people in the country had to support him in the major battles of great joy, and he had to support the huge expenses he spent on going down to the south of the Yangtze River, and he had to support the construction of the Old Summer Palace, and most importantly, he had to support a group of "iron crop" bannermen.

Is the entire Qing Dynasty really so good, will there be people who have been resisting? Have been shouting against the Qing Dynasty and restoring sight? Resistance is death, and writing a poem to complain is also death. If you can't explode in silence, then you will die in silence.

This is why opium smoking has slowly become popular since Qianlong. Maybe they can get a moment of spiritual satisfaction in their hearts, and they can die for it!

"This year has been so dry and the harvest has been so low. As soon as the summer harvest is over, the summer tax is coming. This year, I don't know how many people will have to sell their children, daughters, and wives to spend their lives. But how many "Wu Lei" can you save? ”

Looking at the fields passing by and the villagers who were busy farming, Zhang Rui couldn't help but sigh.

There were dozens of people, and some people were tied up with ropes. Naturally, it attracted the attention of those villagers, but looking at the swords and shields in their hands, they were only watching from a distance, and they didn't dare to watch. There are even faint people who run away.

The food and water were prepared all the way, and Zhang Rui did not think about entering the village.

……

After three hours of walking and stopping, Zhang Rui and others arrived at the Wuzhou Mansion.

Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty established the first governor's palace in Chinese history in Wuzhou, with jurisdiction over Guangdong and Guangxi. During the Ming Dynasty, Wuzhou became the political, economic, cultural and military center of Guangzhou. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Wuzhou belonged to Guangxi Chengxuan political envoy Si Guiping Wuyu Dao Wuzhou Mansion, Wuzhou Mansion of Guangxi Province, for the government, county governance, Wuzhou jurisdiction Cangwu, Teng County, Cenxi, Rong County, Huaiji, Beiliu, Bobai, Xingye, Luchuan nine counties, Yulin a state. In the third year of the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, Wuzhou changed its jurisdiction to five counties: Cangwu, Tengxian, Cenxi, Rong and Huaiji.

When Zhang Rui and others entered the city, they almost didn't guard the soldiers at the city gate and were scared to death. hurriedly ran away, thinking that the bandits were going to attack the county seat, only to find out that they were tied up with a group of people. didn't hurt others, so he came back, and he didn't even dare to accept the money from Zhang Rui and others to enter the city.

When Zhang Rui arrived at the mansion, he was followed by a group of people watching the excitement. One by one, they shook their braids on their heads, as if waiting for something to boast about.

"Knock, knock, knock"

The big drum at the entrance of the government was beaten by Zhang Rui.

Originally, the big drum in front of the government was not allowed to be beaten casually, and those who beat it would be beaten with sticks.

However, the two officials at the door, who were only holding two sticks, looked at how dare this group of strongmen stop them, and looked at the way they were flashing in the sun with the cold steel knives in their hands, and their feet and stomachs couldn't help but tremble, and they were afraid that they would give themselves a knife if they didn't like it.

So, they muttered, and hurriedly went back to the yamen alone to find the master in charge.