Walking along the trail through a wheat field, a small river appeared in front of Song Ganlai's eyes. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

He hurried a few steps, came to the river, put down his farm tools, and washed his hands and feet comfortably, the river water is clear, and there is a lot of water, but this year is fine, there will not be a big drought like in previous years, so the crops are still growing well.

There are wheat fields along the bank of the river, one by one, and depending on the situation, it is estimated that in the middle of next month, the wheat between the fields will be fully harvested.

Among these wheat fields, there are also more than 20 acres of Song Ganlai's fields, but looking at his own fields, Song Ganlai is always unhappy, and even a trace of resentment flashes in his eyes.

"Why don't these bandits and thieves stop? Even those bandits in the village, even their own neighbors, are really unconscionable! ”

Song Ganlai is a native of Fengshan Village nearby, the river meanders under the Phoenix Mountain, and flows into the Bulao River in the southwest, and Fengshan Village is built along the mountain and river. A small village with only about 100 households.

Song Ganlai is a farmer in the village, and sometimes he will do some woodcutter work, chop some firewood and grass, and pick it up to sell it in the mouth market more than 20 miles away.

He is in his Chinese New Year's Eve, and he has been like this year after year, but recently he has always felt that he is becoming more and more unable to live.

Not to mention the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the imperial grain and national taxes must always be paid, and if they can't pay them, they will abandon the famine and flee, and there is always barely an excuse.

But what is the matter with bandits also coming to collect taxes?

There are just too many local bandits.

This piece of Huaibei, from Xuzhou to Pizhou, and then to Huai'an and other places, since the Yellow River "seized Si into Huai", there have been frequent floods, natural disasters and man-made disasters, and also developed the character of the local people to be brave and courageous, especially the thieves are as many as cattle hair, and bandits are all over the village.

How many bandits?

In almost every village and village, there are people who are bandits by profession or part-time bandits.

A missionary in the Ming and Qing dynasties said: "There are too many bandits in these places in Xuzhou, there are too many, there are very few villages without bandits, and being a bandit is like doing other livelihoods." In some families, the profession of banditry is passed down from generation to generation. Some people were born bandits, and the whole village knew about it, but no one talked about him. ”

There is a report in the Republic of China: "In the past few years, bandits in Xuzhou and other villages have been kidnapping tickets, and those who have a little material mostly live in the city." And every time there is a huge case, no one has been solved. ”

For hundreds of years, banditry has become a profession, kidnapping tickets for extortion, robbing villagers, and doing all kinds of evil.

People say that rabbits don't eat the grass by the nest, but the bandits on the Huaibei side have developed to the back and eat the grass on the edge of the nest.

Many village bandits colluded with foreign bandits to rob villagers and even clansmen. Anyone in the village who had a little wealth was stared at by a pair of wolf-like eyes. Ticket kidnapping and extortion are not bad, but they are generally directly destroyed, killed all people, robbed all the money, and then burned them all.

For the sake of profit, the bandits are becoming more and more disrespectful, and they are becoming more and more frustrated. Just on Chinese New Year's Eve this year, some village bandits seduced bandits and wiped out a rich family.

Song Ganlai had a neighbor, because he raised more than 30 sheep, and was thought by the bandits to be wealthy, so he entered the village in the middle of the night and killed him.

In March this year, a small household in the village was colluded with bandits by his brothers, and more than a dozen people were killed, so frightened that another family fled to the state capital and never dared to return.

While Song Ganlai and others were frightened, the village had no households, and they would have to face the wolf-like tax collectors themselves in the future, and they were terrified when they thought about it.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the tax was paid by the grain chiefs in various places, and after the "whip law", the tax grain was converted into silver. In order to avoid trouble and cope with tolerance, the people recommended more powerful people from all over the country to take care of the work on their behalf.

This is the contractor households in various places, most of them are gentry and small landlords, or some local strong green skins, as long as they can speak in the county and state, they can generally become contractors.

Of course, the contractors will collude up and down to obtain their own benefits, but the people can also negotiate the price with them, such as the county lord or the county master Shi believes that this year's "private expenses" are less, and the proportion of rice consumption should be increased.

Or the tax collectors think that there is less oil and water, and if they want to add more names, the contractors can also bargain with them.

Then the people bargained with the contractors.

There is always someone who can speak, after all, the people in the countryside, how can they know the doorway in the county and state?

But now that one of the households is dead, and the other is scared to run away, they are responsible for paying taxes in the village, although they can get some benefits, but they have to have a life to enjoy, right? As soon as they ran, they asked the people to face the wolf-like old men in the city.

This is not only the general situation in Fengshan Village, but also in the surrounding villages.

The able-bodied and wealthy fled into the city, and the remnants of the countryside were mostly old, weak, poor and sick. Or they have formed villages to protect themselves, and the big families have built earthen fences, high walls and deep villages, and many times the force is stronger than the general county town and state city.

Then the bandits could not snatch the big landlords and the big and powerful villages, so they intensified their attacks on some poor and weak small villages, and even snatched away the chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep of the common people, or a little miscellaneous grain kept for the New Year.

Now it's time to collect the tax on the bladder fee.

It's a nice way to put it, but the truth is that it's blackmail, or it's house-to-house extortion.

In March, the remnants of the Qingshan thieves and horses went south, and after looting, they issued notices to most of the villages in Pizhou, asking them to help with food and wages, and even down to the details of how much silver and two grains of rice a certain household had, and how many silver taels of grain and rice a certain household had. And settle it before July, otherwise you will kill a chicken and dog.

Song Ganlai's family was also apportioned a large amount.

According to such extortion fees, he paid the tax fee and paid the state's field service silver, and I am afraid that the family will not be able to eat another full meal.

- Without the contractor, I don't know how much more the additional cost will be when paying taxes.

If you have money, you will be targeted, and no one wants to come forward to be this contractor, and you don't have the ability. Those two households are the only gentry in Fengshan Village, and their ancestors have shown off their talents. They died and fled, and there was no longer anyone in Fengshan Village who could talk to the state.

Looking at the wheat field in front of him, Song Ganlai hated it in his heart, he couldn't eat enough and didn't have enough clothes in the disaster year, could it be that he would gnaw the bark and eat grass roots in the harvest year?

A few boys in the family hope to eat a meal of white rice and a few white flour steamed buns.

Song Ganlai hates the brutes who are bandits in the village even more, people say that the grass is sometimes helpless, they are not, their ancestors have been doing this for generations, for hundreds of years, the men and women in the family are all thief embryos, and giving birth to children is also a little thief embryo.

Not to mention the cruelty of the villagers and neighbors on weekdays, without these people acting as tigers and colluding inside and outside, how could the thieves in Qingshan know so much about the situation of each village and household?

With resentment and dazed thoughts, Song Ganlai packed up the farm tools and walked back to his field, but the more he looked at it, the more bitter it became, no matter how well the crops grew, there was not a bucket of rice in it that would be his own.

He walked by the river and met some villagers, who also had sad faces, and said to each other with heartfelt emotion: "As long as I can live a stable life these years, I am willing to eat one meal a day!" ”

This is an extravagant hope, the situation on the north bank, the big streams are few, but the thieves are like hair, the poles are like clouds, all kinds of floods and droughts are as frequent, and the people's lives are also extremely difficult.

Now there is the oppression of the remnants of the green mountains.

"I heard that some gentry went to the state city to complain and tell the state lord about the bandits, I wonder if the officers and soldiers will come to suppress them?"

There are villagers who are hopeful.

Last year, after the Pizhou Wei commander "encountered bandits," the officers and men attacked him once, which made the situation in various localities much better, although he soon reverted to his old ways.

But another villager shook his head again: "Now that the bandits are shrewd and no longer harass the river, the officers and soldiers who protect the river will no longer pay attention to them." Local matters are only state affairs. Moreover, the guard is still transporting grain, and those people go to the countryside to be strong, and it would be good not to be counter-suppressed by bandits. ”

Another villager said: "Otherwise, let's go to the nearby big village, even if the field is hung up, we will admit it." ”

But his words were refuted by another villager: "They are too lazy to care about these things, now is not a peaceful and prosperous time, and the fields are not valuable." You see abandoned fields everywhere, and no one asks for them. Even if there are many large villages, the fields are a little farther away, and they are abandoned and not cultivated, for fear of being kidnapped by bandits. ”

Everyone is silent, and now in this world, the rich are afraid of robbery, the poor are afraid of starvation and robbery, and the rich and poor are all terrified.

Song Ganlai was also silent with a bitter face, and the wrinkles on his face were squeezed together.

He is Chinese New Year's Eve, as old as fifty.

He listens to the people, and it seems that there is no way to go, and the only way is to die, to be abandoned, to be forgotten.

"But ......," said one of the villagers, "there is a way, we can abandon the wasteland and go to Xin'anzhuang, where the battle will be peaceful, and I heard that many villagers from Bayiji have fled there." ”

Everyone's spirits were lifted, and the reputation of Lord Yang He, even if it was far away in the remote Fengshan Village, everyone had heard of it.

He has successively exterminated the Jiaoshan bandits, exterminated the Tongshan bandits, and won two victories against the Liukou, even in many remote villages in Pizhou, it is like thunder.

Moreover, Fengshan Village is not very far from Xin'anzhuang.

Everyone heard about it, even if when Lord Yang crossed the Yellow River to fight, there were bandits who kidnapped the villagers under his rule. However, although he is not there, the archers who maintain law and order are there. Only fifty people were dispatched, and the entire bandit village where the bandits gathered was killed.

The human heads hung around and finally stinked into skulls, and no bandits would dare to attack them in the future.

It is true that Xin'anzhuang is a decisive security, and no bandits dare to exist.

But then many people's eyes darkened, not everyone wants to leave their hometowns and fields, especially when the crops are about to be harvested.

Song Ganlai is also a member of the inner group, he has been in Fengshan Village for half his life, and he is really reluctant to abandon the fields and leave.

However, the words of the last villager caught Song Ganlai's attention.

"Did you hear that? Lord Yang will soon be appointed as the general manager of Pizhou. I heard that his old man hates bandits and rogues the most, and every time he goes to a place, he will kill all the local bandits and thieves, and it would be good if he came to Pizhou. ”

His words aroused the excitement of the villagers, and everyone spoke what they had heard.

"I also heard that Lord Yang seems to have been killed by bandits on the way to escape, so he hates bandits very much, and kills all bandits everywhere he goes."

"Yes, it seems that he went to Suining, and even the green skins in the city, as well as half of the tolerance, were killed by him."

"I hope Lord Yang will come to Pizhou soon, and kill all the bandits in our places."

"Yes, there have been some bandits gathered in our village recently, and our village has become a den of thieves, these ...... who kill a thousand knives"

Song Ganlai listened to the villagers talking excitedly, his eyes couldn't help but show a look, and hope surged in his heart.

……

The sound of hooves was chaotic, and a group of people and horses walked along the winding road.

Xin'anzhuang went north, along the way there are Baishan Society, Jiaoshan Village, Huangshan Society and other places, now these places are busy, farming, ploughing, building roads, there are teams of workers.

Now the gravel road has been built to the edge of the Baima River, there is a post here, and after crossing the Baima River, it will go out of the Suining territory and enter the rule of Pizhou.

Or not far to the west, is the boundary of Xuzhou.

As you can see along the way, it is very busy, and the farming and cultivation of Yanghe River has entered an intensive stage.

But it is also very peaceful, women and children can walk boldly on the road with confidence.

There are also some villagers who are busy in the fields, watching the growth of wheat seedlings in various places, and they can be harvested next month.

The scene of peace and stability is always pleasing to the eye, and Qian Sanniang and his party couldn't help but smile on their faces.

At this time, they were a group of twelve people, she, Li Ruwan, Uncle Wan, Tan Ge'er, "Starling" and other cavalry members of the cavalry team of ten people, as well as Pei Pochuan and Ling Zhanyun of the sentry team, a total of twelve people.

And all the people rode on their horses, for it was not a day or two to go out at the outpost, and in addition to their horses, there were also some horses and mules carrying heavy loads, twelve men, twenty horses in all.

At this time they were all on horses, all of them with gray felt cloaks, inlaid with iron cotton armor, and horse coats, and all kinds of weapons. For example, Qian Sanniang in addition to the strong bow and heavy sword side card, the front of the saddle left and right leather holsters, but also inserted two poles of riding winged tiger guns, and at the same time the right front of the saddle is juxtaposed with a rocket used in one bag.

Then she had two three-eyed flintlock handcuffs around her waist, which could be described as armed to the teeth.

Looking at Li Ruwan and others, there are rockets, handguns, riding winged tiger guns, and some people's horse jackets, and even a lot of heavy 10,000 enemies.

However, everyone has canceled the horse bow, not to mention the difficulty of riding and shooting, there is no need for horse bows with horse rockets.

Moreover, the horse bow, which had an effective range of only one or twenty paces and had little lethality, had long been replaced by each man's handcuff.

However, a bow is still needed, and in many cases it is necessary to shoot arrows under the horse, and everyone is a bow and arrow, carrying it behind them.

The twelve elite cavalry went north, mainly led by Qian Sanniang, but many things also had to be discussed with Pei Pochuan and Ling Zhanyun, after all, these two were also the deputy captains of the sentry team.

Soon everyone crossed the White Horse River from the pontoon bridge, went out of Suining, and entered the border of Pizhou.

This is no longer the territory of the Yang River, and then what you see is very different from before, and feelings of desolation and insecurity come to your mind. The extreme eyes are desolate, and the population is scarce. There is a lot of fertile land, but no one dares to plant it. The grass was several feet deep, flooding the path under the hoof.

The villages, large and small, all exude a taste of decay.

In particular, the common people are like frightened birds, and only cultivate some fields near the edge of the village.

Seeing that they were all very cautious, looking around, it seemed that as soon as there was any movement, they planned to rush back to the village.

The surroundings were blank and silent, and there were no people most of the time, Qian Sanniang and others went northeast, but they planned to ask about the bandits in the village near Lukouji.

In March, the remnants of the mountain green had harassed the village and the nearby places, and if you ask around there, you should be able to know some news about the remnants of the green mountains.

Qian Sanniang and the others also had a difficult task on this trip, but they wanted to find the nest of those remnants, and they might even enter the Shandong boundary sentinel to investigate.

To exterminate the bandits, the most important thing is to find their nest.

At noon, Qian Sanniang and the others rested a little, used some dry food, and then continued north.

Before the group crossed the Bulao River, they saw a small river coming in front of them, and some wheat fields along the river.

Then there was a small village not far from the river, with a low wall, and a hill to the north of the village.

Qian Sanniang stayed in the horse, looked at this small village for a while, she planned to ask some villagers, after all, it was only more than 20 miles east of this place to Lukouji. The local residents, more or less, should know some news about the remnants of the green hills.

She looked over and saw that some villagers in the wheat field were busy, and when she saw their group, they all looked like they were ready to run at any time.

But there was also a man standing by the river, looking at them with a hesitant expression.

She called to him, "Come here, that man." ”

Seeing that he was still a little hesitant, Qian Sanniang's hand reached into the horse coat, took out an object, and threw it over.

but it was a tael of silver.