After Zhang Mengcheng listened to his eldest brother's words, he turned his head to a tall and thin man next to him. Zhou Shaoteng sat on the kang with his hands crossed in his sleeves, like a cropper in northern Shaanxi that can be seen everywhere. He is the cousin of Guan Zhiqing, who had a lifelong friendship with Zhang Mengjin, and Guan Zhiqing is also the second master of the cottage.

Zhou Shaoteng, like Guan Zhiqing, is a native of Ansai, and he once served in the army and went to Liaodong. However, after arriving in Liaodong, the grain and salary supplied by the imperial court were always in arrears. Hungry and constantly asked to participate in the battle, he was dissatisfied and simply chose to run away with others.

After fleeing, he did not dare to return home, nor did he dare to go to other relatives. He hid in Zhang Mengjin's villa through Guan Zhiqing's introduction, and followed the Zhang brothers to sell illicit salt, and then he also fell into the grass with the Zhang family.

Zhou Shaoteng turned to Zhang Mengcheng and said, "I took a few brothers to stare at the old nest of Jiuwu Mountain in Shaliroll, and found that a group of people were storming the stockade in Shaliroll. There were 300 people, but later they attacked the stockade, and it seemed that Shaliluan and the group of people who remained in the stockade were all slaughtered. Dozens of heads hung at the door of the stockade, and it seemed that several of them were gone. ”

After taking a sip of water, Zhou Shaoteng continued: "I looked carefully for a long time, but I didn't recognize what those people came from. However, there are many people in it who should be veterans, and there are a lot of armor equipment, and it looks like a return. There are also pimples in the security guards, but when they went back to make trouble a few years ago, they should have been scared by the officials and soldiers. The troublemakers died, the runners ran, and those who stayed back who had the courage to dare to directly attack the lair rolling in the sand. I really can't think of it, so I think this guy should have come from out of town. ”

When Zhang Mengcheng heard the word Huihui, he immediately remembered the situation of Huihui in Shaanxi. Shaanxi has been inhabited by the Uighurs and the Hu people of the Western Regions since the Tang Dynasty, and there were a large number of Semu people in the Yuan Dynasty. For a long time, various ethnic groups have lived together, so some of the Hui Hui in Shaanxi are no different from ordinary Han people, and some are obviously from the Western Regions. However, because they all believe in Islam, most of them are collectively referred to as Huihui.

Zhang Mengcheng did not have an incomplete memory of the documents of later generations, so after being urged by the Zhang family to start studying, he also relied on the scattered news in the county school and some copies of the newspapers to have some understanding of current affairs. For example, there have been many rebellions among the Hui people in Shaanxi since the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

In Shaanxi, the Hui Kou either responded to the peasant uprisings in various places, or simply went it alone, and there was a lot of commotion. For example, in the first month of the ninth year of Wanli, "Shaanxi returned to thieves to cross the Yellow River and robbed Pingyang in Shanxi." At that time, Xiao Li, the governor of Shaanxi, said that "the Hui Department in the territory often robbed the ears of wheat in groups, occasionally stealing grass, and Yaozhou changed his opinion." "The situation, take action" to soothe it, kill a few people, and change it; He ordered that he should not carry weapons for collecting wheat, and that there should be no more than ten couples. "It's a temporary calming situation.

But at that time, these Hui Kou who stayed in Shaanxi were only temporarily dormant, Wanli 14 years in Yanqing, Shaanxi between the Hui Yi five or six hundred people because of the famine again, they "according to the high mountains as a base, robbing the state and county, the violent children attached to it", at that time the capital of the imperial history Li Wen "supervised the army to suppress, razed away Yaozhou, and the desolate people, the general Gaojie chased the thief, fought to the death, the thief went to Hancheng, the general Du Cun broke it, the army forced it to the same official, captured more than 30, the Wenfu will be the trilateral governor Gao Guang first and suppressed. The edict should not be appeased, and he is willing to be a gangster, and he will be severely persuaded and punished by the law of Baojia", and finally in April of the fifteenth year of Wanli, the official army finally "beheaded back Yi Ma Mao and other." ”

Then, like December of the 36th year of Wanli, "hundreds of thieves plundered Hejin, Jishan and other four counties, and Yushun entered Shanxi from Tongguan to plunder Ruicheng County." In the thirty-seventh year of Wanli, Yang Yigui, the governor at that time, once sighed to the imperial court: "When the minister went to Pingyang, he heard that there were hundreds of thieves in Shaanxi, stepped on the ice dragon gate, and plundered the four counties of Hejin, Taiping, Jishan, and Xiangning, and were killed three times in two years. The minister went to Anyi, and heard that the thief returned from Tongguan, plundered Ruicheng, Pinglu, and Xia County, and was also killed three times. Zhenning County reported the change of the Red Mountain Ridge in the past year, and the thieves wantonly plundered Jing, Kuo, Ling, Taiwan, Central, and Yijun, to more than 800 people. In recent days, the new house was obtained in Zhenning, Li Yuner robbed in Hexian, and Tian Xin haunted in Zhouzhi, inquired about his reason, and avoided pursuit. Fathers and elders are all recruiting every day, and they are also mistaken. ”

In July of the 42nd year of Wanli, the Hui people of Yijun County robbed the prison of Gaoshang Qianyue City, although more than half of them were captured, and the thief leader Gao Shangqian dared to lead the rest of the party from Hannan along the mountains into northern Sichuan, and then was captured by Yan'an officers and soldiers in August 43, and those who did not get it were Gao Ju and other eight people, who escaped into Yan'an Mountain.

The Hui people who rebelled took to fight on the move, mostly in the deep mountains, and almost the entire Shaanxi Province had the shadow of Hui thieves to a greater or lesser extent. The officials and soldiers rushed to the outside of Shaanxi Province, and Shanxi, Henan, and Sichuan had their footprints, which was simply a rehearsal of the rebellion of the Liukou at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

An uncle of the Zhang brothers also hunted them down as a soldier, and captured the famous thief Gao Shangqian in August of the 43rd year of Wanli, but at that time the uncle wisely betrayed his chief official and gave up the credit.

The chief officer was finally kind, gave the clan uncle a few dozen taels of silver in return, and agreed to the clan uncle's request to go home. The clan uncle relied on several years of hard work in the army and the chief officer's reward to go home to live a solid life, and the Zhang brothers were also taken care of by him.

Zhang Mengcheng quickly recalled that he was not too impressed by the more famous Hui Kou in Baoan County, so he asked his eldest brother Zhang Mengjin: "I searched through some official documents collected a while ago, but I didn't receive any news of Hui Kou, my eldest brother is well-informed, can you guess the origin of this guy's return." ”

Zhang Mengjin heard that the official document of the official government did not have any news of the security guard's return, so he lowered his head and thought for a long time and said: "If you can't live a life, and you have only recently come out to grab food, it is not difficult to quickly pull up a team of hundreds of people in this year." It's just that there are a lot of veterans among them, and there are a lot of armor, so they must have eaten this bowl of rice for some years. ”

Since it is not new, it should be an old bandit from other places who slipped into the security guard. Zhang Mengjin began to recall whether he had received any news recently, and then said: "Cai Xiaozi of Artemisia Peak (also known as Meridian Peak) said that Ansai has been in chaos during this time, but if someone from Ansai comes, he should be able to say hello." Santai Mountain, Shilou Taishan and Matou Mountain don't deal with each other, and the relationship with us is not much better, so if there is a hard stubble from Yanzhou or Qingyang Mansion, most of us don't know. Speaking of Qingyang Mansion, a few years ago I heard that there was a gang of horse thieves in the Pingrong River. But they've never been to our Yan'an Mansion, and we've never dealt with them, so I don't know who they are. ”

After listening to Zhang Mengjin's words, Zhang Mengcheng said with a little question: "Could it really be from other places, our Yan'an Mansion was the hardest hit, and the hungry people ran out, and the outsiders would come over?" ”

Zhang Mengjin replied with a slight frown: "The life of other states and counties is not good, they can't survive locally, and they will only go to other places to collect food, and the roads are blocked by the officials and soldiers and other leaders. Since there is no way to know the origin of this group of people, let's hold it steady for two days and see what they mean. Now the old nest is gone, and the family has been killed. But there are still hundreds of people in our hands, we just grabbed their goods, and they should not even have food now, what do you think we should do, let's talk about it. ”

"Sha Li Luo must be crazy right now, should we contact him, if this gang of newcomers doesn't have long eyes, let's do them with Sha Li Luo, and then find a chance to eat Sha Li Luo's people and horses." A man with a lighter complexion and slightly thin eyebrows sitting next to him said. He was Ma Xiangbo, a wealthy landowner in Baoan County. But because he was framed, his wife and family business were occupied, so he simply chose to fall into the grass with Zhang Mengjin.

Zhang Mengcheng looked at a man standing straight beside him, this person's name was Ma Xiangzhong. He is very good at martial arts, and he is Ma Xiangbo's younger brother.

"I'm afraid it's difficult, when we grabbed the goods this time, his brother was killed by our arrows. As far as the temperament of rolling in the sand is concerned, he shouldn't let us go. A man sitting next to Zhang Mengcheng said.

This person is Wei Heyong, the original archer of Baoan County, who has a very close personal relationship with his second brother Zhang Mengguang, and has done a lot of illegal things for the Zhang family. When Yushi Li was tracking down the Zhang family, he investigated a group of people in the county government who were related to the Zhang family, and Wei Heyong keenly found that something was wrong, and resolutely escaped and fell into the grass with the Zhang family.

"Roll in the sand, will they go to the top of Artemisia to seek refuge with Cai Shorty?" The second brother Zhang Mengguang, who had not spoken, broke his silence at this time. The second brother is much taller than the eldest brother Zhang Mengjin, the calluses on his hands are very obvious, and the armor on his body is supported by tendons, making the second brother look quite mighty. And the second brother's riding skills are the best in the cottage, he is quite powerful with a line pistol, and several fugitives who fled from Liaodong in the village can't beat the second brother on horseback.

"Cai Xiaozi won't accept them, Artemisia Peak accepted a lot of people a while ago, and this suddenly added a hundred numbers, not to mention whether the food is enough. Cai Xiaozi can't let go of this heart. Regarding the second brother's worries, Zhao Wankui, the sworn brother of the eldest brother Zhang Mengjin, replied quite confidently.

Zhao Wankui is a sturdy man, and he is the tallest in the village. Like Guan Zhiqing, who was not present, he is also the sworn brother of his eldest brother Zhang Mengjin. They were the first two people to follow his eldest brother Zhang Mengjin to start selling smuggled salt, and he knew a little about the characters on the security tunnel. For Cai Xiaozi's personality, he has full confidence.

Zhang Mengjin smiled, agreeing with Zhao Wankui's statement.

"Big boss, do you think Shali Roll will go to the official army?" Li Yang, a short man standing in front of the kang, said that he was born in a military family, and everyone in his family died. Because he had not been paid for a long time, he secretly sold his weapons to Zhang Mengjin to run a business. After the imperial history Li Yingzhi investigated the illegal affairs of the Zhang family, there was news that the general in the barracks was going to arrest him and dedicate him to the imperial history to invite merit, and Li Yang defected to Zhang Mengjin for fear of disaster.

"Sha Li Roll turned out to be from the official army, don't you know what the official army is like, as soon as Sha Li Roll enters, he will be taken off by the official army to receive merit. Will he probably go? He Zongwei, who was half a head taller than him next to Li Yang, smiled at Li Yang.

Hearing this, all the leaders present laughed. Many of the people here have been soldiers, and some of you have done similar things when they were soldiers. If Sha Liluo goes to join the official army now, he will most likely be killed by the official army, disguised as his own military exploits in exchange for rewards.

Not to mention that the nearby officers and soldiers have not been paid salaries for two or three years, and they have long been poor and crazy. Like He Zongwei, because of long-term arrears, he simply fell into the grass with Li Yang.

Zhang Mengcheng also looked at the remaining two leaders on He Zongwei's right, Che Jibao and Fan Shunjiang. Che Jibao, who has slightly darker skin, is a native of Jingbian and a fugitive from Liaodong. fled with Zhou Shaoteng, and after returning to his hometown, he found that his family had fled and did not know where to go, so he and Zhou Shaoteng hid in Zhang Mengjin's villa to sell smuggled salt, and later fell into the grass together.

There is a leopard head tattoo on the back of his left hand is Fan Shunjiang, whose hometown is in Xin'an Border Camp. After escaping from Liaodong with Zhou Shaoteng and Che Jibao, he ventured home and felt that life was too sad. Later, he also found a bite to eat in Zhang Mengjin's villa, and later followed Zhang Mengjin to the grass.

They and Zhou Shaoteng had done night inspections before, and the three of them had a lot of experience in patrolling the sentry, so the three of them were responsible for every scout investigation in the village.

"It looks like I'm going to change places, but we can't be careless. Lao Che, Lao Fan, you continue to stare at him, if Sha Li Roll wants to find a new mountain to stay here, let's let him move his ass. Lao Zhou stared at the gang back, the food in the sand should not be enough for the guy to eat back, they won't be idle for long. Wan Kui paid attention to Guan Er's news, the world is in chaos like this, he hasn't come back yet, I really don't worry. The second child will arrange the new group of people who have entered the cottage according to the old rules, let's not move for a while, and wait until the situation is clear. Zhang Mengjin saw that he didn't have any other opinions, so he made up his mind and planned to respond to all changes with no change.

Then the big boss and everyone discussed the success of the attack and the experience of not spilling it, distributed the harvested materials, and carefully explained some affairs of the cottage, and Zhang Mengjin and others ended the meeting.

After everyone dispersed the meeting, they went to work on their own work, and Zhang Mengcheng took a bow and knife and led the horses to a tidyed open space outside the cottage to start his daily routine martial arts practice. In this day of cannibalism, one's own martial arts are the best guarantee for survival.

After some warm-up exercises, he first practiced Taizu Changquan for a while. Then there was the practice of bows and arrows, Zhang Mengcheng originally wanted to find a bird gun as his weapon, but unfortunately there were more three-eyed or fast guns in the north. I want to find someone to make it myself, and there is no craftsman who knows how to do it. So he could only pick up the bow and arrow and practice.

The two elder brothers of the Zhang family already know some martial arts in the army, although they don't want their younger brother to waste time on this, but they can't stand the entanglement of their younger brother, and they also teach some skills. After the Zhang family fell into the grass, Zhang Mengcheng was not restricted from practicing martial arts. At present, Zhang Mengcheng is practicing a target 50 steps away, in fact, Zhang Mengcheng's current foot shooting skills can shoot a farther target, 80 steps away from the target 7 feet high and 2 feet wide, Zhang Mengcheng can generally achieve nine shots and five hits, which is very good.

However, in the actual battle, Zhang Mengcheng never achieved a single kill record at this distance. Most of Zhang Mengcheng's enemies on the battlefield were the targets of movement, and in addition, he was easily affected by the tense atmosphere on the battlefield, so it was difficult for Zhang Mengcheng to give full play to the results of his usual practice and achieve results.

In the previous ambush battle against Sha Liluan's subordinates, he also shot and killed a robber who was driving a car at a distance of fifty paces. Although he still practices the target 80 steps away, considering the practicality, Zhang Mengcheng is currently mainly practicing the target 50 steps away.

Foot shooting was followed by mounted archery, and Zhang Mengcheng began to practice along a track about 200 meters long, on which three targets were placed, about 90 meters apart. BOTH ARE SIX FEET AWAY FROM THE RUNWAY, AND THEY ARE TWO TARGETS, ONE TALL AND ONE SHORT, ON THE GROUND, AND A CORTICAL EARTH WITH A DIAMETER OF ABOUT 60 CM SET ON THE EARTH PLATFORM.

After Zhang Mengcheng rode and arched, the final result was according to the Jiangnan Wuju in the eleventh year of Guangxu in the later generations: six arrows in the horse arrow, and no arrow on the earth. Zhang Mengcheng can also open a bow of one hundred and twenty catties, and the results of this bow and arrow can also rank at the bottom of the martial artists in the Jiangnan Wuju Township Test in later generations. Because there is no such equipment in the cottage, it is impossible to fully display Zhang Mengcheng's overall results. Then Zhang Mengcheng began to practice the saber, chopping the wooden pillar over and over again.

The time for practicing martial arts continued to pass, and everyone in the cottage finally waited for the much-anticipated mule meat dinner. For people who live a life of licking blood all day long in such a famine year, a meal of food is the most practical reward for the people in the village. In the evening, a meal of mule meat is put into the pot. The whole village had a good meal. After dinner, most people choose to get a good night's sleep.

Zhang Mengcheng was responsible for the night patrol of the village, and after patrolling Huzi and a few people for two hours, he waited until someone finally came to change the shift, and went back to the room to sleep on the handover matter, and found that the eldest brother's house was still lit on the way. He hesitated to talk to Zhang Mengcheng, who was talking to his eldest brother, but he still couldn't stand the sleepiness that hit his brain, and finally chose to go back to his room to sleep.

And Zhang Mengjin, as the eldest brother, was wiping the knife in his hand in the room at this time, wondering whether to send a few more people to Ansai to find out what the situation was with the second child.