Today is the birthday of the third uncle of the Zhang brothers, and all the clansmen of the Zhang family in Jinding Mountain gathered together to celebrate. For the event of so many people, the venue for the event was naturally chosen Zhang Mengjin's residence with the largest space.

When the time came, the Zhang family ate flat food in Zhang Mengjin's main house. Among the three Zhang brothers, the eldest brother Zhang Mengjin is the big boss of the cottage, and the other two younger brothers are also one of the leaders of the cottage, so this flat meal is still paid by the three brothers to invite everyone to eat. This is not only to honor the third uncle, but also to show the status of the three Zhang brothers to the clansmen.

When relatives eat together, the atmosphere will naturally be lively and time will pass quickly. After the banquet, Zhang Zhaoen, who was on a small backup, held a jar of wine and sat in the corner with several brothers of the same clan bragging and farting. And the three brothers Zhang Mengjin were pulled aside by the third uncle and several other clan elders to discuss the affairs of the Zhang clan.

The eldest third uncle took the lead in speaking: "Balang, Jiulang, and you are fifteen, you three are considered to be the third uncle, I watched grow up, so I may not like to listen to some of what I said today, but you still have to listen." ”

As the big boss, Zhang Mengjin is full of majesty in the ordinary cottage, and no one in the village dares not to listen to him. But today, in front of the third uncle, Zhang Mengjin can only be obedient. After all, in this era, the patriarchal relationship cannot be severed and ignored, not to mention that the three Zhang brothers do not want to cut off this relationship.

At this time, Zhang Mengjin respectfully said to the third uncle: "The third uncle is the elder of our three brothers, and when our family was down, it was thanks to the care of the third uncle that we got through the difficulties. Not to mention that our three brothers are today, let's just say that if Meng Cheng hadn't been relieved by the third uncle at the beginning, he would have died of illness a long time ago. How dare we not listen to the words of the third uncle, if the third uncle has anything to say, you might as well say it directly. ”

The second brother Zhang Mengguang also hurriedly said that the third uncle can just say it directly. As for Zhang Mengcheng, he didn't dare to be disrespectful, he did get sick once when he was a child and almost died, the family had no money at that time, and it was the help of the third uncle that Zhang Mengcheng, the traverser, did not die prematurely.

Seeing the attitude of the three brothers Zhang Mengjin, the third uncle nodded with satisfaction and said: "Balang, you have been in the grass for almost two years now, although it was a last resort at first, it is a pity that Xiao Fifteen's reputation has been removed. But how long are you going to do this murderous and arson business? You must know that many people in the clan are afraid of being affected by you, so they secretly come to me to cry. ”

Regarding the worries in the hearts of other clansmen, the three Zhang brothers naturally know a lot. If other relatives are affected because of their own affairs, the three Zhang brothers will not feel good in their hearts. So they have been thinking about Zhao'an, but there is no suitable opportunity to clear their identity as thieves at the moment.

Zhang Mengjin, who had nothing to do, could only honestly confess: "The three of us brothers have always wanted to get the court's recruitment, but there is no suitable opportunity at the moment, and we are helpless." ”

The second brother Zhang Mengguang followed the words of the eldest brother and said respectfully: "Third uncle, now northern Shaanxi has been suffering from disasters for many years, and the bandits and thieves in various places are making great trouble. We occupy this Jinding Mountain, and no one dares to provoke it, which can be regarded as being able to protect the clansmen here, and will not let the relatives be bullied by outsiders. You see, if it weren't for our three brothers going around to collect food and help this year, I am afraid that many people in the clan would have sold their sons and daughters, and even the whole family would have starved to death. ”

The third uncle is not pedantic, and he has always seen these things. Naturally, I understand that in this year, having a relative who is a bandit is often more effective than having a relative who is an official. But even so, the third uncle still has something to say.

"I also understand these truths, and I also see what you do. At present, there are many villages in this world that have started to do similar business as yours, but don't the government also care. When you used to go out to collect food, most of you went out with a dozen or dozens of people. And if you never fight the idea of the government, the government will not look down on you. Now that there are more of you, you can't even get the attention of the government. In fact, around Jinding Mountain, it would have been good to talk about An's birthday. However, many relatives in this village are clamoring to return to their hometowns at the beginning of spring next year, aren't they afraid that the official army will attack you? There is a lonely mountain in Jinding Mountain, and there are no other deep mountains around to hide, so you haven't cared about anything else. ”

Finding that there was something in the third uncle's words, Zhang Mengcheng said to the third uncle: "If the third uncle has something to say, just say it, our three brothers are not people who can't listen to the elders." ”

The third uncle, who had some scruples hidden in his speech, looked at Zhang Mengjin and Zhang Mengguang in front of him after hearing Zhang Mengcheng's words.

At this time, the two also understood that the third uncle had something to say in his heart, probably because the content was not very good, so he had some scruples. Zhang Mengjin and Zhang Mengguang are not people who can't listen to words, and they all said that the third uncle can speak directly.

After the third uncle looked at the three brothers, he turned his head and looked at the other clan elders beside him, and when he saw them, he also nodded to indicate that it was time to speak out. The third uncle made up his mind and said directly: "I see that this Jinding Mountain can no longer accommodate your body, if it is Artemisia Peak, it is better to say." Since you are friendly with the Cai family, you might as well pick a place in them to set up a village and re-erect the banner, and the foundation of Jinding Mountain will simply be given to our old Zhang family. ”

Unexpectedly, the third uncle actually wanted to say that the three brothers of the Zhang family would get out of the way directly, and then give away the foundation they had worked so hard to lay away. No matter how much they respected their elders, after hearing this, the faces of the three Zhang brothers still became extremely ugly.

The second brother Zhang Mengguang was the first to get angry and said: "What is the truth of the third uncle's words, our three brothers are dedicated to taking care of the clansmen, but there has been the slightest neglect. Now the third uncle wants us to give up the foundation and let others occupy the territory we have worked so hard to build. What do you eat and where do you live for the brothers in our cottage, are we really easy to bully our brothers? ”

After listening to Zhang Mengguang's questioning, the third uncle did not show anything abnormal. Instead, he comforted the three brothers for a while, and continued to say on the side: "Don't worry, and listen to what I have to say." Now the world is too chaotic for the government to manage, and I know in my heart that there are some things that cannot be managed. There are some big clans in many places in northern Shaanxi, and everyone knows that their hands are not clean. You, Jinding Mountain, are isolated between Luoshui, and there is really nowhere to run when the officials and soldiers come, but you are reluctant to lose the family business that you have managed with great difficulty. So it's better to just make a scene, and just treat it as if you were chased away and run away by yourself. It's just that the name is not in this Jinding Mountain, and the bandit village in Jinding Mountain has become a village for the good people of the Zhang family in Jinding Mountain. The people of Jinding Mountain are still the same group as before, but you are nominally gone. ”

Listening to the third uncle's thick local accent and some of the words he said in circles, the three brothers felt a little dizzy. But after thinking about it carefully, I still understand, which means that they played a show with the government, and the bandits of the Zhang family changed their base camp. The original Jindingshan cottage has become a village or village where a big clan lives and protects itself.

This is used as a disguise so that the officers and soldiers will not regard this place as a bandit den, and they may not know when they will enter and suppress it. But in fact, the people inside are still those people, but some people have to brush their presence outside from time to time, proving that the three brothers of the Zhang family are indeed elsewhere.

This plan sounds a bit naïve, and generally speaking, where is the government so easy to deceive. However, if it is placed in the general environment of Yan'an Mansion at this time, this matter is indeed operable. Because it is no exaggeration to say that the people of the entire Yan'an Mansion can be described as half thieves and half people. The government is really more serious, and not many people in Yan'an Mansion can say that they are good citizens.

Moreover, the people in the government still adhere to the old concept of "this hungry people will also be plundered until next spring" for those acts of robbing each other on the ground, and they turn a blind eye in many places. Since this matter is not clean in the first place, the government does not have the heart to clean it up. So as long as Zhang Mengjin and his gang operate well, the disguised plan may not be successful.

The three brothers, who understood the actual meaning of the third uncle, fell into silence together. In fact, they also understand that Jinding Mountain, as a nest of thieves, has huge shortcomings in geographical conditions. One is that it is too close to the military fort to the north, and the other is another lonely mountain, which is really not safe.

It's just that they didn't have a choice when they fell into the grass, and there weren't many people under them at that time. Moreover, Jinding Mountain is surrounded by Luoshui, and the surrounding agricultural conditions are not bad. As a temporary place to settle down, Jinding Mountain can also make do with it.

But now there are more than 1,700 people in several settlements around the cottage. It is impossible for the officers and soldiers to pretend to be invisible to this figure all the time. When the imperial court made up its mind to exterminate the bandits in Shaanxi, Jin Dingshan would sooner or later face the purging of the imperial army.

The leaders of Jinding Mountain were actually gambling, and they were gambling on waiting for the messengers of the imperial court to recruit before the imperial army's army arrived. If they can't, they will have to go from being bandits living in a stable place to being rogue thieves.

Although the words of the third uncle sound good, there are still many shortcomings. For example, is the government really so easy to deceive, if you say that you are not a bandit's den, you are not a bandit's den, what about the evidence. Moreover, the officials and soldiers have done a lot of things to kill good people and take risks, in case they really treat this place as an ordinary village to borrow people's heads. At that time, Jindingshan will be really unlucky.

Besides, the brothers in the cottage are looking forward to the imperial court recruiting peace, and they can get an official position. But there is no big force, so why should the government recruit everyone. Now if you disguise your strength as a good citizen, then when the government wants to recruit An, who will take care of Zhang Mengjin and a few other thieves, let alone take out the official position of the imperial court.

So after Zhang Mengjin listened to the words of the third uncle, he didn't say more, but said slowly: "I understand the thoughts of the third uncle, why don't I think about it with the other brothers in the cottage." ”

The third uncle also knew that this kind of thing was not so simple to make a decision, and after the other elders of the Zhang family persuaded the three brothers a few more words, they didn't say much about the disguise.