Because Cai Xiaozi was not like Zhang Mengjin and his gang to defend a fortress alone, he only brought 200 subordinates to take up his post. The rest of the men and horses did not accept the placement, but returned to the cottage in the name of returning to their hometowns to farm, and continued to stay at the top of the mugwort to consolidate their territory.

Although now he is honest and good, and no longer goes down the mountain to plunder everywhere. However, Artemisia will still be like before, from time to time to take in people who take refuge in the cottage for "hanging posts".

"Hanging pillars" is a black word, that is, bandits and bandits join the cottage. Generally, when the new Ding joins, there is a ritual of worshipping incense. In Zhang Mengcheng's view, the ceremonies of Artemisia Peak and Jinding Mountain are similar.

The total number of incense sticks is nineteen, of which eighteen represent the eighteen arhats, and the middle one represents the great master. The arrangement of the nineteen sticks of incense is also very particular, and it should be divided into five piles.

Specifically, eighteen incense sticks are inserted in the first three and four after four, five on the left and six on the right, and the last incense stick is inserted in the middle.

Zhang Mengcheng saw a yellow-faced man after the incense was inserted, and the leaders of the mugwort cottage sat down around him, and the man who hung the pillar then knelt down and swore by himself: "I will join the gang today, and I will have the same heart as my brothers." If I dare to have two hearts, I would rather the sky thunder and let the big boss intervene in me. I have come to join the gang now, and I will be of one mind with all my brothers. Don't leak the rumors, don't rebel, don't betray your friends and abide by the rules, if you rebel, you will be cut by a thousand knives, and the big boss will insert me! (Note 1)

At this time, Cai Zhongde, the second brother who was in charge of representing Cai Xiaozi, said on the side: "It's all a family, you get up." ”

After the man hanging the pillar got up, the yellow-faced man successively visited Cai Xiaozi's fourth brother Cai Zhongguang, fifth brother Cai Zhongquan, fifth uncle Cai Lixian and seventh uncle Cai Liyuan.

On the way to get to know each other, several other leaders will use their own matters in charge of the cottage to warn the yellow-faced man what he needs to pay attention to, and each leader will only officially introduce his identity in the cottage after saying his own black words.

After officially joining the house, the yellow-faced man will absolutely obey the words of the leaders in the stockade, and then formally "tribute" some hard-earned money to the leaders in the stockade. It doesn't take much, just a copper plate. It is to show his "filial piety" as a "cub".

Sometimes people who have new "hanging pillars" really don't have anything, and they can also borrow some money from the stockade before offering it. The yellow-faced man doesn't look like the kind of poor person who has nothing, and after completing various rituals after offering a dozen copper plates, he has officially joined the mugwort peak.

In the future, he can follow the leaders of the stockade down the mountain to rob, and after each operation, he can share some of the harvest of the operation. It's just that now that Artemisia has whitewashed his identity, he naturally won't do his previous livelihood again.

So now they are just taking the newcomers, eating the grain grown in the village, distributing the land to the newcomers, and keeping one side safe.

After the ceremony was completely over, Zhang Mengcheng found that many of the ceremonies in Jinding Mountain were similar to the top of Artemisia. It's just that the ceremony of mugwort peak is obviously more standardized, and the words spoken by several leaders in the ceremony are clear, fluent and concise. is worthy of being an old bandit with a family history.

The slight difference between the two sides is that Artemisia Ding will make an oath in front of Guan Gong immediately after the incense ceremony, while Jin Dingshan puts the ceremony of worshiping Guan Gong at the forefront.

After Cai Zhongde presided over the ceremony, he came to Zhang Mengcheng's side and asked with a smile: "Xiucai came to our mugwort peak this time, I don't know what is going on." It won't really be that you have listened to the gossip of those who chew their tongues, and come to our village to repent of their marriage. ”

"Second brother (Cai Zhongde) Where is this, Meng Cheng is not such a pedantic person. The three brothers of our Zhang family have always disbelieved in fate, and in the past, a miscellaneous hairer (Taoist priest) who deceived us at the door of the house was directly killed by my two elder brothers. We don't listen to such nonsense. In order to create a good atmosphere, Zhang Mengcheng directly told the glorious deeds of Zhang Mengjin and others.

Generally, girls in northern Shaanxi become mothers-in-law and aunts of nursing children at the age of fifteen, and many of them have been married since childhood. Cai Xiaozi's seventh uncle's daughter is indeed a little bad for her birthday, so Cai Xiaozi's seventh uncle has not been able to find a good in-law for his daughter. It wasn't until his daughter was thirteen years old that his nephew, who was in charge of the village, was brought to Jindingshan.

Cai Zhongde naturally knew that the other party would not do such a shameless thing, he was just joking. After entering the topic, Cai Er asked Zhang Xiucai: "Don't laugh, what's the matter with Xiucai?" ”

"A while ago, there was a stir among the soldiers in the military fort in the north, and I guess Second Brother Cai has also heard about it. Even Wu Hongqi, Ningsai's general, was beaten. Although Shen Yikui rectified it later, there was no food or silver in the military fort. If you can't go on, you will inevitably have another incident. A few days ago, I found out that Shen Yikui's henchmen were secretly passing by our Jinding Mountain. It seems to have come back from Yang He, the governor of the three sides, sneaky. We, Jin Dingshan, are worried that Shen Yikui intends to use the hand of Governor Yang He to eradicate dissidents. So come and consult with all of you at the top of Artemisia. Zhang Mengcheng directly said his intentions.

"Shen Yikui is now a guard, does he really have that much ability? Moreover, the power of our two families is not small, and they have not done anything to disobey orders. Didn't you just make a meritorious service a while ago, and the imperial court really planned to eradicate us? Cai Zhongquan, the fifth brother of Cai Xiaozi and the younger brother of Cai Xiaozi's mother, did not believe Zhang Mengcheng's worries.

Zhang Mengcheng immediately explained: "Our two families are outnumbered, and there is plenty of food. Naturally, we are not afraid of God's hard work. But if God Yikui secretly consults with the governors of the three sides and gives us a soft knife, it will be difficult for us to continue. For example, the leaders of our two families were transferred to another place, but their soldiers were transferred to another place. What should we do? At that time, the soldiers in our two military forts will be gone, and our family business in such a big security guard will be meat in other people's bowls. ”

After a slight pause, Zhang Mengcheng continued: "Now the thieves all over Shaanxi have not stopped, and even the central county town was attacked a while ago. I heard that the internal response at that time was the surrender of the previous surrender. The thieves in these other places are not like us, and many of them are rebelling. I think the imperial court will also have a lot of worries about the area around Ningsai, and I heard that Governor Yang He has a list of people on the list that he plans to clean up in the future. ”

After listening to Zhang Mengcheng's explanation, several leaders of Artemisia Peak also began to worry. For the possible moves of the imperial court, they had to guard against it. The army in the military fort in the north is a talisman for their own family business, and it is also their name for the imperial court. If the court really meant anything to them. They're really going to have to figure out how to deal with it.

Cai Zhongde, who felt that the matter was very important, discussed it with several leaders of Artemisia Peak, and felt more and more that Zhang Mengcheng's words made sense. In the end, it was decided to report to the big boss of the Jingbian camp first, and let him be on guard in case of accidents.

At the same time, he is also waiting for his order, after all, the big boss of Artemisia is Cai Xiaozi, and the general policy of the cottage has to be decided by Cai Xiaozi. And Zhang Mengcheng also stayed, planning to stay at the top of Artemisia for a few days, waiting for Cai Xiaozi's reply.

PS: Note 1: It is also the period of the Republic of China, and the incense ceremony here is in the "Northeast Bandit Investigation Notes", and I have only made slight changes, which are generally the same. The original book also says, "The form is similar to the horse thief initiation ceremony in the Central Plains, Southwest, and Northwest." ”