Shandong has a lot of fertile land, densely populated, and many mountains. When the times and the world are not good, the people are miserable, and some people often take risks, gather in the mountains and forests, and fall into the grass. The government of all dynasties has attacked many times, but it cannot be completely exterminated. The bandits with great momentum were able to occupy the county and seize the county and confront the government for a long time. When the imperial court was unable to exterminate it, it had to be changed to appeasement, allowing its official rank, and slowly dividing and disintegrating, or restraining it. There are many robbers and robbers with little power, and they are the most harmful to the township.

To the Yuan generation, because of frequent natural and man-made disasters, at this time in Shandong Zhulu, bandits and rogues are everywhere, one after another. Yu Hai's group is mainly composed of bankrupt farmers who have no livelihood, relatively speaking, the discipline is better, although it cannot put an end to things that endanger the people, but there are still fewer things to rape and kill, and there are still fewer things to do to rape and plunder, especially the scout team, after Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi joined, the internal constraints on the scout team are significantly stronger than those of other departments.

Yu Zhilong and the others chose a larger courtyard to enter, but the owner did not dare to say anything to stop him, so he only gathered his family together and shrank in the corner of the house, trembling to listen to the fate of these uninvited guests.

"Don't be afraid, old man! We just killed officials and rebelled, and we were bitter in the past, haha, we will not harm the people! Wu Side saw an old man with gray hair standing in front of the family trembling with fear, and first comforted him.

The old man protected his family behind him, and his legs couldn't help but tremble slightly. Wu Side's eyes were sharp, he saw it, although he smiled and comforted, but Wu Side's voice was loud, and his voice shook the old man even more, plus Wu Side was tall and big, and there were a lot of beards on his face, and his appearance was a little scary, Wu Side didn't speak, but this opening scared the old man and almost collapsed on the ground.

Yu Zhilong entered the house and looked around, this family is relatively well-off, the old man and the women and children behind him are relatively brightly dressed, most of them are wearing silk, and the furnishings at home are also quite valuable, not the kind of old goods that are recycled and sold in the bazaar, and the floor of the hall is all paved with green bricks. It doesn't look like a big family, but it's also a wealthy family.

Behind the old man, more than ten people were women and children, and there was no man in his prime, and there were two boys, who looked less than ten years old.

Yu Zhilong moved a high-backed chair and put it next to the old man, took the old man's hand, asked him to sit down, and he also set up a chair next to him, sat down together, and then asked with a pleasant face: "Dare to ask the old man Gao Shou?" ”

The old man was scared, so he didn't dare to sit, but Yu Zhilong's hands were strong, and when he saw that he couldn't resist Yu Zhilong, he barely sat down next to the chair with a slight tremble, listened to the question, and quickly stood up and replied: "Don't dare, spending another three years can be called ancient." ”

"Oh, my husband is really long-lived!" Yu Zhilong calculated in his heart that this old man was already sixty-seven years old, and he was considered a birthday star in this era. This old man crane has a childish face, and his spirit is still good, and from the appearance alone, he has just been in the year of the sixtieth year.

"Then may I ask my father-in-law's name?"

"Don't dare, don't dare, the little old man is expensive and expensive, and the word is Hairong."

Yu Zhilong looked at this family carefully, not like the people working in the fields, and the interior furnishings were also a bit bookish.

"Uncle, now in the twilight of the West Mountain, we are passing by your land, uninvited, disturbed. Today is just resting here, tomorrow will be gone, the old man does not need to be afraid. The family only needs to live in one house temporarily. If there are rice, vegetables, fruits, etc., at home, and we have some silver taels here, we are willing to buy some from you, and we will also borrow your pot and stove for use. Yu Zhilong said gently.

Since the leader of the team, Yu Zhilong began to pay attention to the military discipline and other aspects of the march, as much as possible not to disturb the people, requiring that the items of the house should be returned after the use, and no robbery and adultery were allowed along the way, but he was too poor and did not have much money, and now the silver taels of the whole team have been exhausted, and the yuan and silver taels that Yu Lan gave himself to spare were also taken out by Yu Zhilong and used, and now there are only some broken silver.

In fact, all roads in the world are full of smoke, thieves are born, these large and small rebel forces at the beginning because of the encirclement and suppression of the official army, wandering around to fight, and there is no foundation, along the way most of them are looking for big gentry to violently pursue, or looting the treasury of the government, and the common people are often affected by the pond fish. After the exile, there are many families who are bankrupt and their wives separated. Only after the development of the intellect began to pay attention to occupying the prefectures and counties, and restraining the subordinates, so as to serve as the basis for a foothold. But those small bandits, bandits and the like don't think about this at all.

Yu Zhilong chatted with Zhu Gui for a while, and asked his family to return to the wing room in the backyard, not allowed to go out, and to move around in the backyard at will. Zhu Gui gradually discovered that this young man was the leader of this team, and he had strict restraints on his subordinates, and there was no serious disturbance or harm to the people, so he let go of his worried heart. In the conversation with Yu Zhilong, Zhu Gui arranged for the old woman at home to bring out some dried fruits and invite Yu Zhilong, Zhao Shi, Wu Side and others to taste them.

After a while, the cooked meal was finally served, and Yu Zhilong ordered a portion to be served to Wu Side to the backyard, and Zhu Gui's family to eat together, leaving Zhu Gui to eat together in the main hall in front.

After a long time, Zhu Gui's horror was basically relieved, but there was still a worry between his eyebrows, Yu Zhilong saw that he was still not at ease, and felt that there seemed to be a hidden feeling, and asked, "Does the old man have something on his mind?" Can you tell us, maybe we can help one or two. ”

Zhu Gui looked at Zhao Shi and the others who were eating at the same table, and stopped talking, not daring to speak.

Zhao Shi saw Yu Zhilong asking, Zhu Gui's face was worried, as if he was afraid, and he also said: "Big brother don't need to worry, although we can't tolerate the government, we are not mountain thieves and bandits, and we have not harmed the people after the incident, if there is anything that can help, just speak!" ”

Although Zhao Shi doesn't like to talk much, he is righteous and uneven, and his face naturally has a sense of righteousness, and what he says is even more reassuring. Zhu Gui heard Zhao Shi's words, and finally said slowly.

After some chatting just now, Zhao Shi and others all learned that Zhu Gui's family is relatively wealthy in Shiyu Village, with more mountains and forests and fertile fields in their homes, although they are not wealthy gentlemen, they are also scholars, and they have been scholars for generations, and there is only one young son under their knees, who is less than 20 years old this year, and their name is Zhu Delu, which is considered to be an old man. Zhu Gui has a lot of expectations for his love, fortunately in the education law, never doted, Zhu Delu is respectful as an adult, honest and good, read through poetry and books, the old man sees the child growing up day by day, and he is happy to follow someone, and is about to find a favorite family for his son, but disaster fell from the sky, since three years ago Yidu Road Weizhou rose a number of bandits, a bandit recently occupied a mountain at the northern foot of Yangtian Mountain, known as Liu Tianwang, also learned from Liangshan heroes, the tree for the banner of the Tianxingdao, but in fact it is a bandit, its subordinates from time to time down the mountain to plunder around, robbed grain and cattle and sheep, and even forcibly plundered women up the mountain, and the surrounding hundreds of miles of countryside suffered.

Zhu Delu went out to visit relatives in the previous month, and was taken away by Liu Tianwang's subordinates on the way during the plunder, and later someone found that Zhu Delu was literate and flexible, and informed Liu Tianwang. It happened that there was a lack of a bookkeeper in the cottage, and Liu Tianwang was happy to see it, so he stayed in the cottage to specialize in bookkeeping and writing documents. Zhu Delu didn't dare to shirk, so he had to live in the cottage, and then persuaded Liu Tianwang to bring a letter to his family, explaining the reason, and telling Zhu Gui not to read it.

Zhu Gui knows that his beloved son has no worries about his life for the time being, but it is not always a way to be detained among the thieves, firstly, when the official army encircles and suppresses him in the future, his son's life and death are unpredictable, and secondly, the Zhu family is kind in this generation, and they pass on the family with poetry and rites. I won't be able to enter the ancestral grave in the future!

Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi heard what happened to Zhu Gui's family, and they had nothing to do for a while, they were just passing by, and there were few people, so it was impossible to rescue Zhu Delu. Speaking of which, his party is also a thief, and in the eyes of the Yuan Court, it is even worse than a thief, because everyone is doing a rebellious act.

In this year, everyone killed the officials and the old men in the county government, and they don't know how many, on the official government's bounty list, Yu Hai, Zhao Shi's name is directly marked with a clear price, Yu Hai's reward is 6,000 taels of silver, Zhao Shi's is 1,000 taels, Yu Zhilong is not famous because he used to be a small station flag, but he does not have this honor.

Zhao Shi asked Liu Tianwang's cottage in Niutou Mountain, more than 20 miles north of Shiyu Village, where the terrain is relatively steep, and there is only one mountain road up the mountain. It is only thirty miles away from Linqu County.

In the early stage, Yu Zhilong knew by consulting the seized Yuan court residence newspapers and correspondence documents that since Liu Futong, Zhang Shicheng, Guo Zixing and others successively started the uprising, the armies of the northern Yuan court had been gradually transferred to Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei and other places to fight, and there were no large rebel forces in Shandong. However, the small group of anti-thieves and robbers in Lu Jing are like sparks everywhere, they have just been exterminated here, and they have happened elsewhere, and what annoys the Shandong East and West Dao Xuanwei Division is that there are too many rogues, and the mobility is large, such as Yu Hai, a group of anti-thieves, once they are encircled and suppressed, they often quickly flow to other regions. However, the imperial garrisons in various places were insufficient, so they could only chase after them, and it was difficult to completely encircle them.

Finally, in the face of the countless anti-thief forces in the vast area of Huanghuai and the Yangtze River, the Yuan court adopted the method of encouraging the local gentry to recruit volunteers, during which the local rebel armies such as Chakhan Timur, Li Siqi and Zhang Liangbi in the north gradually rose up, and in the battle against the local anti-thieves, they became stronger and stronger, and often the regular Yuan army could not defeat the anti-thieves. Liu Futong was beaten by the rebels of Chakhan Timur, a fearful of the Vultures, and Li Siqi, the warden of Luoshan County, and now Liu Futong's area of activity has been greatly reduced.

The wealthy gentry in Shandong also organized rebel armies, especially the Meng, Zhang, and Tian families in northern Lubei who were the most powerful. Yu Hai and they have been fighting with them for more than a year, and they have won and lost each other, and on the whole, they have won less and lost more.