The situation in the city of Ruzhou gradually quieted down, and on the first day of the thieves' entry into the city, they posted a notice to calm the people, telling everyone that they had come to hang the people and fight crimes, not to rob. The next day, they struck the gong again and pulled a few people from every alley in the city to a "meeting", saying that it was to "convey the spirit" or something.

Although the thieves who came to pull people were smiling on their faces, everyone was still terribly afraid. But under other people's knives, can they still not listen to others? As a result, some people were hard-pulled away from each alley. At that time, many people guessed that these people were afraid that they would not be able to come back, but who knew that in the afternoon, these people would come back one by one, and they also came back with some things, and they all had puzzled looks on their faces.

The people next to him were naturally curious, and those who went told about their experiences:

"They called us to the prefect's yamen, where they set up a platform, like a stage for singing. When everyone arrived, a thief came to the stage. The thief will tell us not to be afraid, saying that they were also honest and honest people, but they were really forced to live by the taxes of the imperial court. The thief general also said that they knew about the disaster in Henan this year. According to the rules of Grandpa Taizu, the imperial court should be exempt from taxes and give relief. But...... Well, this thief will scold the emperor for being unfilial, and he can't come according to the orders of his grandfather, but he will have to raise taxes......"

Speaking of this, the listeners shook their heads together and said: "This thief will talk nonsense, of course Grandpa Taizu is good, and the emperor is not unfilial...... The thief will deceive people, and it is really sinister. Occasionally, one or two scholars in the audience will come up with something that everyone doesn't understand, but they think it's very powerful. However, as soon as this statement of position was finished, basically the next sentence became: "What else the thief will say, you tell everyone." ”

The face of the person who spoke next became more and more strange: "The thief general asked people to bring up the tax book, and I heard him say that because the officers and soldiers did not take care of the matter, they did not fight the city, so they took down the city at once, and when the officials ran away, they could not take care of anything, so they even threw the official seal and all kinds of account books to them." ”

"Do they want to tax that booklet?" A man asked nervously.

"Phew! It's just a group of thieves, and they dare to learn from the Son of Heaven to collect taxes! Others hurriedly showed a look of righteous indignation.

"No, no," said the sermon, "the thief will say that they have been forced to live by this tax bill, and that they cannot look at us and have no way to live, so he has them burn the tax book in front of everyone." ”

"Huh?" Those who heard exclaimed.

"The thief will say that according to the rules of Taizu, this disaster-stricken place should not have collected taxes in the first place, and without this tax bill, the court will come back in the future, and they will collect it again, and there will be no voucher. You can say that you have already handed it over. The imperial court should always have a face, and you can't let everyone pay it again, right? He also said that according to the rules of Grandpa Taizu's time, everyone should also have relief when they were affected by disasters. It's just that the court doesn't pay attention to the rules, so now they come to set a rule for the court......"

"Oh, how dare they say that, aren't they afraid of losing their heads?" Someone lamented.

"They all dare to be thieves, do you say you're afraid?" Someone else replied in the crowd.

"What else are they talking about?" Some people went on to ask.

Then he said, "The thief will say, 'They have opened the granaries of the city, and they are ready to open them for grain.'" It's just that in this granary, there is a lot of grain on the books, but there is not much grain in this warehouse, and I think it was taken by those corrupt officials to sell it for money. But there's still some left. So they gave each of us some to bring back, and said that we would all keep people at home tomorrow, and they also sent people to distribute food from house to house. ”

"Is there really food?" Someone asked.

"These thieves actually use the grain of the imperial court to buy people's hearts, it is really damnable!" There are also people who hastened to express their attitude.

"What else did the thieves say?" Someone else asked.

The thief also said that life is difficult now, and everyone must help each other to get by. Outside the city of Ruzhou, there are people in the wilderness, and they can't bear to watch these people starve to death. Therefore, we need to borrow some food from the rich people to help the victims......"

Someone at the bottom suddenly shouted: "Look, this horse's feet are still exposed, right?" And say that you are not a thief? Isn't this the same as robbing? ”

But immediately a voice said, "Whatever, it's not me who robbed him anyway." ”

"That's it, it's my business!"

……

However, Old Man Lin Shenhe couldn't maintain such an attitude of "it's none of his business, hang high". Because as the largest grain merchant in Ruzhou, he was naturally on the list of "borrowed grain" of the "revolutionary army". Early that morning, the members of the "revolutionary army" surrounded their family. Then a "thief" came and knocked on the door.

When the "thieves" surrounded the house, the Lin family had already noticed it, but where else could they run now? So the women first cried, and then Lin Shenhe's son also cried, and the whole family cried. Lin Shenhe's wife in her sixties, Li, was crying while looking for a rope, preparing to hang herself up so as to keep her white. Just running around, but I just didn't find the rope. And his daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and all the other big families, either running around looking for ropes, or running around looking for scissors, and running around looking for wells, looking for ashes at the bottom of pots. The whole room was in a mess.

"Master, master, it's not good, it's not good!" The servant Lin Zhixiao ran over and shouted, "Master, a thief will knock on the door outside, saying that he wants to visit the master." ”

"Huh?" The people next to him were taken aback again, and then all kinds of voices rang out:

"Who saw my scissors?"

"Also, who knows where the rope is!"

"Isn't the water in the well cold?"

……

"Shut up!" Lin Shenhe shouted. Then there was silence all at once, and all the people—those looking for ropes, those looking for scissors, those who stood on the railing of the well looking for a well—all looked at him with blank eyes, and all of them had a face written that I don't want to die.

"Get to the back of me!" Lin Shenhe shouted. Then he said to Lin Zhixiao: "Go open the door, I'll go to meet them." ”

The door slowly opened in front of Liu Jiexuan, and an old man wearing a green jacket appeared in front of Liu Jiexuan. As soon as he saw Liu Jiexuan, he knelt down and kowtowed, "Little old man Lin Shenhe greets the king." ”

Liu Jiexuan walked into the gate with a few people, looked left and right, and said, "Get up, this general is a revolutionary army general, not a king!" ”

"Yes, yes, yes......" Lin Shenhe hurriedly kowtowed, and then slowly got up and said, "Big-the general came to Xiao Lao'er, I don't know what - what is there to use Xiao Lao'er?" ”

"Old man." Liu Jiexuan said with a pleasant face, "When General Ben came to you, he really had something to ask for......

Seeing the smile on the face of this "thief general", Lin Shenhe's heart shrank suddenly, with his experience, the more amiable the guy looks like this, once he bites someone, his teeth always bite the deepest.

"Old sir, Ben Jiang and Huang Shuai have all heard of your name from others." Liu Jiexuan said, "People say that the old gentleman has always been a good person. Now there is a catastrophe in Henan, and the displaced people are everywhere. These homeless people were also born to their parents and raised by their parents, and they can't watch them starve to death. The Buddha said, 'Saving a person's life is better than building a seventh-level floating slaughter.' Now that Huang Shuai is ready to distribute food, relieve them, and make a great merit, he will come to ask the old gentleman for the sake of those displaced people on the orders of Marshal Huang. I hope that the old gentleman will be merciful and borrow some food for us. ”

Lin Shenhe's heart shrank suddenly, and he said in a trembling voice: "I don't know how much the general wants?" ”

"We also know that the old gentleman is the largest grain merchant in Ruzhou, don't tell the old gentleman, you don't have grain here." Liu Jiexuan said with a smile again.

"Oh, General, they're all talking nonsense, where is the villain's business?" Lin Shenhe hurriedly began to cry poorly.

"So, Mr. Lin can't trust the credibility of our revolutionary army and doesn't want to lend us food?" Liu Jiexuan suddenly lowered his face and stared at Lin Shenhe.

Lin Shenhe suddenly felt as if he was being targeted by a fierce beast, only to feel that the hairs on his body were standing up one by one, and he hurriedly knelt down again and said, "The villain has no such intention!" General, the villain is just worried that his own food is too small and not enough for the military. ”

"Really? I don't read much, don't lie to me! Liu Jiexuan stared at Lin Shenhe's eyes and said.

"How dare the little old man deceive the general, this is absolutely true."

When Liu Jiexuan heard this, he opened his mouth, revealing a mouthful of white Sensen's teeth, and laughed hahaha: "Not bad." The old gentleman is an understanding person, your family's grain emperor is not enough, but this good thing of 'winning the seventh-level floating slaughter' can't make your family round, right? Hahahaha, and our revolutionary army, which is to ask for the people's lives and hang the people's crimes, is to relieve the people from hanging, and it can't really be that your family's food is empty, so that your family will be hungry. Well, old man, how much grain do you have in your family, lend us seventy percent. ”

Lin Shenhe thought about it, he knew that food was not like gold or silver, it was of high value and small size, so he could find a place at random, dig a big pit, and bury it inside. There's nowhere to hide food or something, if you talk about it less......

"The old gentleman imagines that if we forget which granary, then the grain in that granary, we will not give the old gentleman an IOU." Liu Jiexuan added another sentence.

"How dare you, how dare you! So he did everything as the general said. Lin Shenhe hurriedly said. This is also a person under the eaves and has to bow his head. If you obey, you will only lose food, and if you don't obey at this time, these thieves will really kill!

"That's good." Liu Jiexuan smiled again, "The old gentleman knows that our army has just entered the city, and the security in this city has not yet been completely stabilized. Thefts and robberies still happen from time to time. The old gentleman's grain depot is also one of the targets of these thieves. That's why our army has now protected all these warehouses. Now that he has received his consent, General Ben is very grateful. Actually, old sir, you also know that our army will not stay here for long, and maybe it will not be long before the army of those traitors will return here. What kind of virtues those officers and soldiers are, the old gentleman also knows that when they enter the city, the old gentleman is afraid that he will not even be able to get an IOU. General Ben still has a lot of affairs, so he won't stay with Mr. for a long time. Someone will send an IOU to the old gentleman in a moment. In the future, on the day of the success of our army, the old gentleman asked his family to come over with this IOU, so that they could get back the grain. Wouldn't it be better than letting those officers and soldiers take it for nothing? ”