Zhu Qing said a word softly, and the monkey woke up. The monkey pulled out his short gun and said, "Sister, is there a situation?" ”

Zhuqing said: "Someone is coming towards the village. ”

The monkey bit his lip and rejoiced in his heart, saying, "Did you really make us wait?" Will it be the old devil from Kawashima? ”

Zhuqing shook his head and said, "It may not be Kawashima, because these people have heavy feet and short breathing, and they don't look like people who know martial arts." ”

The monkey said, "These people? You mean to say, they have a lot of them? ”

Zhu Qing said: "Not a lot. You see, here they are. ”

In the darkness of the night, three men crept into the village. As they walked, they spied around and saw that they were engaged in a top-secret business. The three people who came first came to inspect the situation. They walked around the village, found nothing out of the ordinary, and left the village the same way again.

Zhu Qing said: "Brother, who are these people?" ”

The monkey said, "I can't tell." But based on the smell of sweat, tobacco, alcohol, and other messy smells emanating from their bodies, it can be inferred that they are not from Kawashima's gang. ”

Zhu Qing said: "It's not from the Eighth Route Army. ”

The monkey said, "They don't look like soldiers, they look like people who do hard work." ”

Zhu Qing said: "They will all come in." ”

This time there were more people coming in, twenty or thirty people. Each of them carried something behind them, which seemed to be a shelf made of wood, and they held their breath and walked slowly into the village with light steps.

They came to the village, stood down, and seemed to be discussing something in a whisper. Then they dispersed and crept to the doors of each house. Some are one family, some are two families. Then there was a soft knock on the door.

The doors of each house were opened almost simultaneously. The men did not speak, and entered the door in a flash. The door closed softly again.

Then, tranquility returned to the village.

Looking at this mysterious scene, the monkey only scratched his head: "Sister, you have been praising my head for being good, but my head can't turn around today." I can't think of what these people are. ”

Zhuqing said: "I can't think of it either. But it is certain that they are not from Kawashima's gang, and it is even certain that they are not military personnel at all. They have nothing to do with our mission. ”

The monkey said, "I agree with your analysis. But what do they do? My curiosity stifled me very badly. Let's take a look. ”

Zhuqing said: "If it's none of our business, let's not alarm them. ”

The monkey said, "Of course. ”

The two of them stood up, came to the outside of the courtyard wall, jumped lightly on the wall, and hid by the gatehouse.

Oil lamps are lit in the hall of this house. A few people were busy under the lamp. Everyone only worked, not spoke.

The wooden shelf was now on the ground, and in the shelf was a bag of oilcloth of illegible color, and a woman was filling the bag with salt in a basin.

The monkey said, "Sister, I see, at this time a gang of people selling illicit salt." ”

Zhuqing said: "Is it what everyone often calls 'salt pack'? ”

The monkey said, "Yes, they are salt packers." ”

The monkey gestured, and the two of them went down the wall and went to look at the other houses, and the situation was similar.

Pack the salt. Meals are ready for each family.

Those who carry salt are also welcome, and sit down and eat. Some of them even went hungry all day while waiting for this meal.

Even if this meal is also the rule of the industry, it means that when you are full and your legs are strong, you can quickly leave the place of right and wrong with salt on your back. After all, it is illegal to sell illicit salt.

For thousands of years, China's salt industry was a state monopoly. This is not only because the salt industry is a huge source of taxes, but also because salt is related to thousands of households, and the orderly operation of the salt industry is also an important guarantee for the stability of the country.

This has given rise to the sale of illicit salt. Strictly speaking, these salt packs are not smuggled salt sellers. The real sale of illicit salt is trucks and ships. Those who are caught will be punished, and those who are serious will be killed.

As for these people who rely on manpower to secretly carry a little salt to sell, they are the lowest and poorest people in society. It belongs to the kind of people who don't steal and thieves don't rob.

The price of salt in the market has always been a low price, generally one catty of salt is equivalent to half a catty of slightly more grain. In order to get a quick shot, the salt they carry is usually sold to retailers at a lower wholesale price.

In addition, they have to pay the salt workers when they come to carry the salt. Coupled with the expenses on the way, carrying 100 catties of salt, and going back and forth for several days, I can only earn 10 catties and 20 catties of food. A family of five, relying on one person to carry salt, can't even live half-starved and half-fed.

In order to earn a little more, he carried more miles, and some people could carry up to 200 catties at a time, or even more.

That's appallingly heavy labor!

As long as the salt pack is carried on its back, no matter how far it goes, it cannot be put down again, because the physical strength is consumed a lot, and once it is put down, it is difficult to carry it again.

When they rested, they had a stick of just the right length, which was propped under the salt pack, and stood against the wall or against the tree to rest for a while before walking.

They all traveled at night, because it was illegal, and the government here didn't care about them, and the government in another place didn't necessarily care. As soon as the government is in charge, a pack of salt is confiscated, and the family is a dead end.

Therefore, everyone has only heard of salt packs, but very few people have seen the true faces of these people.

The government also turns a blind eye to these people, these people will not disturb the order of the market, if the official's eyes are fixed on the salt pack, colleagues laugh, the common people will also scold their mother. In fact, you can't get any money from them.

When the salt packers had eaten well and paid the bill, some of them carried the packs out of the gate, and several men worked together to carry the packs onto one man's back and put the harness in order. After carrying them one by one, everyone walked out of the village with heavy steps. The night swallowed them at once.

Every house in the village closed its door. The whole village fell silent again in the night.

The monkey and the bamboo green hid in the shadows, silently watching all this. Wait until the footsteps of those people are completely inaudible, and the people of the village fall asleep again. The monkey said in an astringent voice: "Sister, I can't imagine that there are still people in the world who live so hard!" ”

Zhu Qing said: "Brother, in the past few years when we left home to participate in the anti-Japanese war, we have seen too much suffering. I remembered what Master said to us when we left home on the edge of the Shu River: "Think of the people in the world!" ”

The monkey said sadly, "We are just ants like them." We can't help them. ”

The monkey's emotions infected Zhuqing, and she hugged the monkey's folded arm and said, "Let's do our best, and do as much as we can." Don't be lazy. ”

The monkey said, "There's only so much we can do, so let's just have peace of mind." It seems that I can't wait for this old devil Kawashima. Let's go. ”

The two of them slowly walked towards the outside of the village.

Suddenly, Zhu Qing said, "Brother, someone has surrounded us!" ”

The monkey said, "I heard it, they don't know martial arts." It's okay. ”

I saw more than a dozen black shadows suddenly appear around the monkey and Zhuqing, the bolt of the gun was pulled "boom", and a voice shouted: "Don't move, if you move, I will shoot you to death!" ”