Chen Qingshan, who is only over 40 years old this year, is not confused, on the contrary, he is now in the prime of life, and he has a clear view of the current situation.

Because of this, he has understood that there are only two roads in front of Chen Jiazhai now.

Either they accept the demands of the imperial court in their entirety, and give up their autonomy in exchange for the lives of the whole clan; Otherwise, it will resist to the end, and the end will be the destruction of the village.

Sometimes it's as simple as that, life or death, there's no third way!

Chen Qingshan knew that if they chose to refuse, then the government would definitely take Chen Jiazhai next.

Hundreds of lives in this village have to pay the price of their lives for this decision, which is absolutely unacceptable to Chen Qingshan, as the patriarch.

The people of the Chen clan have multiplied here for hundreds of years before they have today's scale, and they must not be cut off in his hands.

And judging from everyone's performance just now, the choice everyone made is actually obvious.

Chen Qingshan's hands tightly grasped the armrests on the chair, the green tendons on the back of his hands burst out, and his knuckles turned white, so that he could keep himself calm as much as possible.

He seemed to be more than ten years old all of a sudden, and said in a trembling tone: "Now, tell your conditions!"

As soon as Chen Qingshan's words came out, the meaning he represented was self-evident.

The younger generation in the hall changed color one after another, although they knew that the patriarch was forced to do this to protect the village, but they still couldn't understand why Chen Qingshan made such a decision. Could it be that the owner of the village, who has always been wise and martial, really wants to lead everyone to succumb to the obscenity of the government?

"Owner, you can't do this! The people of the government can't believe it! It's a big deal to fight with them, it's better than suffocating to death like this! They persuaded one after another.

These young people did not stand in Chen Qingshan's position, so naturally they did not have to bear his pressure.

Some of them are really straight, unwilling to compromise with the government, and do not hesitate to fight to the death for this; And some people just want to highlight their existence, show their position, and make a fierce appearance of not afraid of death.

The second kind of people are that if this decision really causes dissatisfaction among the clansmen in the future, they will boast of their bravery and fear of death in front of people, and by the way, they will despise these old guys who are greedy for life and afraid of death. It doesn't necessarily mean that you really want to fight the government to the end from the bottom of your heart, and you will never back down.

After all, it doesn't hurt to stand and talk, it's easy to shout two slogans below, and they don't have to take responsibility anyway.

Like those of them who are watching from the sidelines, the pressure is not on their shoulders, and it is difficult to understand the difficulties of Chen Qingshan, a specific family member.

As the saying goes, knowing the son is better than the father, and for the careful thoughts of their own sons and nephews, these clan elders who watched them grow up naturally do not know.

These juniors are still young and don't understand things, but they all understand how difficult it is for Chen Qingshan to make this determination.

This will not only make Chen Jiazhai's efforts for many years in vain, but also equivalent to handing over the lives of the entire clan to the butcher's knife of the government and allowing others to slaughter, which will be broken by the clansmen.

Not to mention anything else, just the money and grain taxes that must be paid to the imperial court every year are enough to make the clansmen hate him deeply. Even in the future, as long as the clansmen are slightly unsatisfactory, they will be blamed on Chen Qingshan, the patriarch, and they will inevitably be scolded openly and secretly.

But what can you do if you don't accept it, do you really have to fight the government to the end?

Let's not talk about whether the village can resist the hundreds of soldiers and horses that are menacing down the mountain, even if this battle is won, what can it do?

Next time, the government can easily transfer ten times or a hundred times the number of troops this time, how many times can Chen Jiazhai win?

After fighting one battle after another, how many of these clansmen in front of him can survive?

When Chenjiazhai built a village to protect itself, these juniors were still young and did not understand Chen Qingshan's hardships, but they watched Chenjiazhai go from an inconspicuous small village to the present step by step.

In those years, natural disasters continued, the grain harvest failed, and the government's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes became more and more serious, and there was even a phenomenon of starvation in the village, and there were also bandits in the mountains who fell into the grass and made a living by plundering the people, and chaos gradually arose.

In the face of the oppression of the government and the threat of bandits, it was Chen Qingshan who persuaded everyone to form a village to protect themselves from door to door, and in order to dispel everyone's concerns, he even killed a tax collector sent by the government to force taxes, forcing everyone to give it a go, which created what Chen Jiazhai is today.

Over the years, Chen Jiazhai has lived and worked in peace and contentment under the leadership of Chen Qingshan, and no one dares to underestimate it within a radius of 100 miles.

At the same time, everyone also saw the tragic situation of those villages under the mountain that were no different from Chenjiazhai.

After the ravages of the government and bandits, I don't know how many villages have been ruined, and the few remaining villagers are also living in dire straits.

This made them extremely glad that the choice they made back then could save Chen Jiazhai from disasters and live a peaceful life for more than ten years.

Besides, they never thought that Chen Qingshan would do anything to be sorry for the village, since the stability of Chenjiazhai today was brought by the patriarch, what reason did they have to stop believing in the patriarch's choice?

"Shut up, y'all of you!" The clan elders each scolded their own juniors.

In the end, it was the clan elder with the highest prestige, who was called the second uncle by Chen Qingshan, and spoke: "Qingshan, I know that you are for the good of the clansmen, so do what you want, don't care about these little rabbits." ”

"If any of these little ones dare to do any, let me clean them up! Although our old bones are a little old, it's still okay to clean up a few unsuccessful little bastards. ”

"Second uncle, you!" Chen Qingshan was a little moved, and was about to speak, but was interrupted by the clan elder.

The patriarch let out a hearty laugh that was not commensurate with his weak stature: "Haha! Qingshan, don't say anything, you have worked hard to maintain it all these years, it really hurts you, now you can do it boldly! All you need to know is that your people will always stand with you! ”

Although the other clan elders did not speak, the eyes they looked at him revealed comfort and trust, which undoubtedly showed their attitude.

Just as they chose to believe him more than a decade ago, they still do today.

Chen Qingshan was a little moved, these clan elders are their elders, and they only ask about clan affairs on weekdays, but they didn't expect that after so many years, they still trust themselves so much today.

Looking at everyone's eyes, Chen Qingshan hummed lightly and nodded, with a faint flash of crystal in his eyes.

By the time he looked up again, all the tangles were gone, and an air of confidence had returned to him.

He looked at Lin Fan below, and asked loudly: "Lord Lin, you haven't said it yet, if you want us to make Chen Jiazhai surrender, what are the conditions given by the imperial court?"

The attitude of the people in Chenjiazhai made Lin Fan a little surprised, he didn't expect them to make up their minds so quickly, and he didn't expect these people to believe in Chen Qingshan unconditionally.

It can be seen that Chen Qingshan has accumulated a lot of popularity over the years, and he is worthy of being a strong man who can manage a party's forces.

Lin Fan also secretly admired Chen Qingshan, thinking that he really couldn't underestimate the heroes in the world, maybe someone would bring him a different surprise when he could.

He laughed softly: "Village master, clan elders, the requirements of the government are very simple, there are only two!" First: Starting from this year, Chenjiazhai will ensure that the taxes paid to the imperial court normally, and the government will exempt the taxes owed by Chenjiazhai from the previous and will not pursue them. ”

Hearing this condition proposed by Lin Fan, Chen Qingshan and the others all nodded, this condition can be said to be very generous, even more generous than the best situation they thought, there is no reason to refuse.

Chen Qingshan secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and wrote off the old accounts before, so that although the pressure was still not light, at least it would not affect the next rations of the clansmen.

However, Chen Qingshan would not be too happy too early, and asked, "What else?"

"Don't worry, let me go down slowly!" Lin Fan said with a smile.

"Next, the second article: Chenjiazhai disbanded the people by itself, and all the people returned to the people, and all the weapons and weapons in the village must be counted clearly, handed over to the government, and not privately hidden. In addition, the imperial court will send special personnel to be stationed in the village to supervise the management of the affairs in the village. ”

"This must not be! If we disband the people and surrender the ordnance, how should we respond if there are thieves attacking? A clan elder said.

In fact, he also wanted to say what to do if the government turned its back on itself and didn't recognize people, but he looked at Lin Fan and opened his mouth, but he still didn't say anything after all.

Chen Qingshan also said: "What Uncle Sixth said is right, if we do what you say, the village will completely lose its power to protect itself, which is too risky." And to be honest, I still can't trust you, we must not only guard against other bandits, but also beware of the government's reneminion. ”

As he spoke, he glanced up at Lin Fan, and then said, "As for the matter of the special person you said about stationing, it is also up for discussion. As far as I know, in the past dynasties, the government has never interfered in the affairs of the clans, and the affairs of the clans are handled by the respective ancestral halls themselves. The government has only been asking about things outside the county seat for a long time, but I don't know why it is breaking today? ”

Lin Fan had to admit that Chen Qingshan saw the problem very accurately, and the dissolution of Minyong was actually secondary, mainly because it was indeed unreasonable and contrary to tradition for the government to send people to directly interfere in clan affairs.

This is also the soil why the clan can exist, because these native-born behemoths, big trees with deep roots, have a lot of influence on the local government than the imperial court and local government.

He smiled and gradually explained: "After the disbandment of the Minyong, the imperial court will organize nearby villages to assist in the defense, and the villages will unite to form patrols, which will be more numerous and more flexible."

"And after I finish destroying Shuanglong Ridge, I don't think there will be large-scale bandits in this mountain in the future, so don't worry about safety."

"You said you can't trust me, I can understand this, but I want to tell you one thing, I won't ruin my reputation for a small Chenjiazhai!"

"That's all I say, believe it or not. In fact, whether you believe it or not, if you want to protect Chenjiazhai, you have no choice! ”

"There is also the problem of sending people to station in the unreasonable place you said, there is really no precedent for this before, but Chenjiazhai is different from ordinary villages, if no one is watching, the court will not be at ease. But you don't have to worry too much, the people sent by the government are just for supervision, and they won't interfere too much in your clan's affairs. ”