Xishan Town is located in the key chong, from here to the southwest along the Juma River valley through Puyin to the south can enter Shanxi, to the north can go straight to Datong. Due to the unique geographical location, a village market town was gradually formed here, and the people in the town were as many as four or five thousand people when the population was at its largest. However, a few years ago, the Qing soldiers entered the pass and plundered, and Xishan Town was captured by the Qing soldiers, and most of the population was either slaughtered or plundered to slavery outside the pass.

After the Qing soldiers left, some of the people who fled to the mountains returned, and people from other places continued to come here, and gradually recovered some vitality, and now the number of people in the town has reached more than 2,000.

There is only one main street in the whole town that is one mile long from east to west, and there are more than ten shops on the main street, rice cloth shops, grocery stores, mountain goods shops, and all kinds of shops here, among which there is a butcher shop that belongs to the chief Zhao Li.

The mountain people within a radius of 20 miles are accustomed to coming here to buy and sell, sell mountain goods and prey, and purchase daily necessities such as oil and salt, which also makes the town relatively prosperous.

However, the shadow of the Qing soldiers always hung over the town, and the rich families who survived the catastrophe moved out of the city, either into Fangshan County, or simply into Beijing. Those who remain here are just ordinary people who have nowhere to go, and they will not be able to survive without the land they cultivate.

As elsewhere, most of the land near the town was owned by the gentry, and the largest landlord in Xishan Town was Hou Juren, who was arrested by the Mantars during the turmoil a few years ago, and his relatives sold their land and fled into the city. Most of the fields were bought by Zhao Li, a butcher who had made a fortune somehow, making Zhao Li the richest man in Xishan Town.

However, overnight, Zhao Li was killed, and all the property, including the manor, fell into the hands of the newly appointed Xishan Inspector, and now the new inspector asked each of their families to send someone to gather outside the town, which made all the people in the town uneasy.

The people who have been close to Zhao Li are afraid of being implicated by Zhao Li, who knows if the new inspector will take them under the knife. The people who had been bullied and humiliated by Zhao Li felt very happy, but they didn't know what this newcomer wanted to do.

With a variety of moods, the people in the town went out of the town and came to a vacant land in the east of the town, which is located between the town and Zhao Li's manor, there was originally a mountain temple, which has always been the place where the town holds various deliberations, and on the fourth day of April every year, there are temple fairs in Xishan Town, and the people of seven miles and eight towns will come here to gather.

During the catastrophe a few years ago, the mountain temple was burned down by the Tartars, and for various reasons it could not be rebuilt, making it even more dilapidated.

The overnight snow made the earth covered in snow, and the snowflakes were still falling from time to time, but not too cold. The townsfolk gathered in front of the mountain temple and talked to each other.

"Old Li Tou, what do you say this new inspector is doing here?" A thin man asked an old man with a goatee.

"Maybe it's the three fires that the new officials have taken office, and they have brought everyone to play prestige." Goatee said in a deep voice.

"Playing prestige? He destroyed the Zhao family and was not prestigious, could he still kill people again? The thin man said in horror, because he was a distant relative of Zhao Li, he was appointed by Zhao Li as the butcher shopkeeper and ran the butcher shop instead of Zhao Li, for fear that this inspection would implicate him.

"Maybe, maybe he didn't think he killed enough, who knows!" Looking at the thin man's frightened little face, the goatee stroked his beard with satisfaction and smiled.

Each family sent a representative to the dilapidated mountain temple, and after waiting for a while, they saw the gate of Zhao Li's manor open, and a group of people walked out of it. At the front is a young man riding a jujube red war horse, dressed in a green official robe, wearing a black black gauze hat on his head, and his face is full of cold and solemn official authority. Behind him was a white war horse, on which was a knight in silver helmet and white armor, heroic and like Zhao Zilong of Changshan.

Behind the two war horses, followed by thirty or forty officers and soldiers, armed with spears and guns, neatly arrayed, and spears like a forest, at first glance they were long-trained sharp soldiers, but the faces of these sharp soldiers were too immature.

The group came to the front of the mountain temple, and the first official and his entourage jumped off their horses, stood on the steps in front of the mountain temple, turned around, and swept into the crowd with their eyes like lightning.

Swept away by his eyes, all the townspeople involuntarily closed their mouths, and for a while the snowflakes could be heard quietly in front of the mountain temple.

"Folks, Chen Yue in the lower capital is the new inspector of the Xishan Inspection Division. When I first arrived, I shouldn't have bothered the folks. However, there is the chief Zhao Li, who colluded with the black mountain village bandit Wu Boss, tried to kill the official and rebel, and robbed the horses and money and food in the hands of the official. Now, Boss Wu and Zhao Li have been ambushed, and the rebellious bandits have also been punished.

However, the official has something to say, so I invite all the villagers to gather outside this mountain temple.

”

Chen Yue's words came out loud, clearly floating in everyone's ears, and everyone listened calmly and attentively.

"Over the years, natural disasters and man-made disasters, turbulence in mountains and rivers, there are rogue thieves inside, and there are strong enemies outside the Koubian, and my people are in dire straits. Take Zhao Li, the mayor here, as an example, on the surface, he is the mayor of a town, and he should assist the government to appease the place, but who knows that this person actually harbors evil intentions, secretly hides weapons and traps minions, and actually has the intention of killing officials and rebelling.

Chen Yue is not talented, since he is the inspector of the Xishan Inspection Division, he must protect the people and ensure the safety of the party. Now there are Mantars entering the Kou Pass and plundering in the south of Gyeonggi, maybe when they will come to my Xishan Town. With only the officers and soldiers under his own command, it is too difficult to protect the whole town.

In ancient times, if you want to save yourself, you must first save yourself, and if you want to avoid being slaughtered by the Mantars, you need the people of the town to work together. ”

Yes! The people of the whole town looked at each other, and they all had the same idea in their hearts, this new inspection is not a good thing, not to mention the Zhao family, and hit the idea on the people of the town, he said this clearly to let everyone donate silver and military salary!

Although Xishan Town is more prosperous, there are more shops than other villages, but most of those shops are owned by large families, most of the people in the town are living by farming, most of them are tenant farmers of large families, they can't even afford to eat three meals a day on weekdays, and they live hard by eating bran in winter, and where can they afford the money for the salary!

"Lord Inspector, the fathers and elders in the town can't even eat, and they are dying of hunger, where can they afford the money for the salary!" A voice suddenly sounded in the crowd, interrupting Chen Yue's speech.