After noon, the scorching sun scorched the earth. The cicadas in the middle of the day were noisy and thunderous.

Next to the Li Mansion is a lychee tree that is more than 30 years old, and the slightest ray of sunlight shines through the heavy leaves to the tumbling dusty light. In this hot weather, the shade of the trees is often much cooler than the eaves.

I saw a group of people gathered under the thick shade of the tree. When I got closer, it was Zhang Rui who gathered here with everyone who had had lunch to chat about things. After all, the Li Mansion is not Zhang Rui's own mansion, and it is not easy to use it too much.

At this time, Zhang Rui was leaning against the trunk of the lychee tree, surrounded by mostly young people from his own village, and some young people from neighboring villages. The women of the village took the children to play and chat in the shade of the nearby trees.

This morning, when the rice was distributed, people from the neighboring villages came to watch. Later, when lunch was made, some people who had come from a neighboring village also got some leftovers. I heard that Zhang Rui had something to say, so they all stayed and watched, maybe there would be something good.

"Thank you very much for coming. Everyone knows that there has been no rain in recent months, and the weather is dry, and cracks are bursting in the fields. It is estimated that there will not be much harvest in the fields. Zhang Rui said to everyone

"Who's to say it isn't?"

"The rice in my field has bowed its head, and it has not produced a few plump grains..."

"Yes! I don't know how to survive the next season. I don't know how long the drought will be on this day..."

…………

Zhang Rui's words sparked a topic of conversation among everyone...

"Please be quiet and listen to me!" Looking at the people who were talking about each other, Zhang Rui could only stop talking.

"Everyone knows that in more than a month, the people from the Yamen will come to collect the summer tax. I don't know how much grain everyone can have this year in addition to the field rent and summer tax, and whether anyone wants to sell their sons and daughters? However, due to the impact of this year's drought, even the bandits in the mountains have come down to collect food more frequently. Zhang Rui looked at everyone and swallowed his saliva and continued

"Everyone should have heard that not long ago, the bandits from Zhilian Mountain went to Dagou Village to grab food, and they killed several people in a row and only robbed less than eight stones of grain. But it's only been a few days, and I haven't been able to wait for everyone to harvest the rice. They came to our village again to grab grain, but they still robbed it in a different way. ”

"I want to ask you, what will we do when they come down and rob us of our grain again, and we have no food to pay taxes and rent? What should I do when the people of the yamen come to lock people, do they want to sell their sons and daughters to pay taxes? Or do we just have to wait in prison to die? ”

After listening to Zhang Rui's words, the villagers looked panicked. Sometimes they don't think much about what to do in the future, and many times they don't dare to think about what to do in the future, afraid that they won't find the motivation to live.

Worry can always be like a contagious plague, instantly transmitted through the crowd. The problem that Zhang Rui said was exactly the one they had to face.

……

"Listening to what the sixth brother said, I don't know what the sixth brother thinks?" I saw the old man Zhou Bing looking at Zhang Rui and said

"It's very simple, since the bandits are coming to steal our food, we will fight them. Let's keep the grain first, and then pay the summer tax when you have the money. Zhang Rui said with a look of righteous indignation

"If you don't pay the summer tax, how can you save people if the yamen is locked? Then there will be only rebellion. I'm sure there aren't many here willing to rebel! Therefore, only the most basic summer tax is kept, and the rest can be in arrears. ”

"Sixth brother, what you said is good, but bandits are not easy to mess with! They've got guys in their hands. We don't have your skills, and it's not enough for others to fight bandits. After listening to Zhang Rui's words, a villager hurriedly expressed his opinion. His idea was immediately echoed by the majority.

"It's true that if we all go and fight the bandits one by one, it's useless to add one or two times as many people, so we have to organize and train and fight them again, so that we can have a chance of winning." Zhang Rui said confidently

"So I want to find everyone to set up a bandit team, I don't know if everyone has any opinions."

There was silence for a while, and some people from the neighboring villages scoffed and even turned away silently.

"Sixth brother, I'm willing to follow you." A faint voice came, and I saw that it was Li Niushi who said with a red face

Zhang Rui nodded at him.

"Is there anyone else?"

Li Sigou also wanted to say that he wanted to follow Zhang Rui, but before he could move, his father Li Liu stopped him. There are young people of the same age as Zhang Rui who are eager to try, but they are all stopped by the family members around them.

"Sixth brother, it's not that we don't want to fight bandits with you, we are all croppers, and we don't know much. It's the labor force in the family, if one of them is disabled, how can the family live? Looking at the silent surrounding people, Zhou Bing said what everyone thought in their hearts.

Zhang Rui didn't understand what was going on when he heard it. If there is no benefit, it is false to say anything about the commonality. Not leaving immediately is already a lot of face.

"Everyone's thoughts and concerns are not unreasonable." Zhang Rui took Zhou Bing's words and said

"That's why I want to say that the bandit squad I set up is not without guarantees. If you join my bandit team, you can get one or two or eight dollars a month and three buckets of rice a month. ”

As soon as Zhang Rui's words came out, the people in the neighboring villages who had turned around to leave immediately turned around with eager eyes. You must know that the monthly salary of a soldier in the Qing Dynasty was only one or two or five dollars, and Milu was only three buckets. Zhang Rui can give an extra three dollars a month, which is more than 300 yuan, and he can buy five catties of pork.

"Not only that, everyone who can enter my bandit team can get 20 taels of silver, as long as you work in my bandit team for three years, this silver is yours."

After hearing Zhang Rui's words, everyone was in an uproar. This is a great thing, and 20 taels of silver is a huge amount of money! If you can leave so much money to your family, it will be worth it even if you die.

"If the team that followed me is injured and disabled, you can receive 50 taels of silver. If you are really unlucky and die, you can get 100 taels of silver! ”

When Zhang Rui's voice fell, not to mention the young men, even the young uncles who thought they were full of experience in handling things were short of breath.

With this money, let him die immediately with a smile!

"I'm willing to join the bandits..."

"I'd too..."

"Sixth brother, count me in..."

"Sixth brother, I watched you grow up, and you can't remove me..."

…………

The villagers immediately became enthusiastic and crowded to Zhang Rui's side, and the neighboring villages had just left and wanted to squeeze in again only to find that they couldn't squeeze in at all, so they were in a hurry there.