…… Dividing line ――――――

The world is vast, the four fields are sparse, and you can see the boundless wilderness from afar.

The late autumn sky in the northeast is exceptionally high and wide.

The sky dome is a clear blue color, and at the very high point of the dome, there are wisps of white clouds floating, lazily wandering.

Today's sun is exceptionally good, and the warm sunlight spreads down, covering the earth with a golden yellow.

It was late autumn at this time, and the four fields were already a withered yellow, and when I looked at it, there was a desolation.

This is a northeast-southwest road, the quality of the road is quite good, the bottom of the loess pad is compacted, the top is paved with fine stones, the avenue is more than 50 steps wide, both sides of the road are planted with tall trees, now the dark green lush has long been gone, the leaves have gradually turned yellow, and then withered. When a gust of wind blew, the leaves were rolled up, swirled in the wind, and fell to the ground, paving the road a golden color.

On the left side of the road is a withered yellow field, on which no crops are grown, and in the distance, you can faintly hear the sound of waves, which is the sound of the waves of the Songhua River. On the right side of the road, in the field, countless corn stalks that have turned dark green come with a gust of wind, and there is a gentle wave, like a sea of green.

This is excellent weather, the most suitable for travel, but outside the pass, in the Mongolian steppe, those nomadic national warriors, have begun to harvest pasture, into the mountains to hunt. Strive to stock up on enough supplies for their livestock to survive the cold winter in the last season before the onset of winter.

And at this time, on this path. A procession was heading northeast -- a very large procession, numbering hundreds of thousands of men, and stretching for hundreds of miles. The whole is a big team. But it is divided into a piece, about more than 10,000 people gathered together, more than 100 meters apart, Rao is so, but also the whole road is crowded, countless heads on the road to move, from a distance, like a group of dense insects and ants.

These people were in rags. Needless to say, they are naturally those untouchables who migrated from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the northeast pass.

It's just that although their clothes are still tattered, their mental complexion is still quite good, and their faces are no longer the yellow muscles and thin faces they used to be, which are quite vegetable, but their faces are generally oily, and their mental state is also much better. It's obviously been a good time.

There was a lot less blankness in his face, and he looked curiously at everything around him—everything here was so new to them.

They originally thought that the Northeast was a bitter cold place that could not be compared with Kannai, so when they learned that their people had been moved to the Northeast, they were actually extremely reluctant in their hearts. In their opinion. In the warm and humid Jiangnan with a pleasant climate, even if there is no arable land and the status is low, but if you go down to the river to catch some fish, touch some shrimp, or even beg all the way, you will not starve to death. But in the Northeast, can people live in such a poor and broken land as Nima?

But whether they are happy or not, the government doesn't care what they think, so they just come obediently.

But I didn't expect, hey, come and see, it's not like that at all!

This northeast ground, compared to Kannai, is not bad at all.

Such a wide official road, even in the Guannei is not rare, they walked all the way, walking on the loess road, but I didn't expect that here is paved with stones!

In fact, since they passed through the big city of Zhubang, they found that it was very rich and peaceful, and they could see villages one by one not far from the roadside, and the fields were planted with crops, and they could not see the edge at a glance. …,

They were very curious about corn, they had never seen these things before, and when they first saw these things that looked like small trees, they didn't know what they were, and they thought they were woods......

Later I found out that it was called corn, and that it was also a crop, and that it was extremely yielding, and very tasty—of course, the last conclusion came after they had stolen a few corn cobs and eaten them.

And what makes them most happy is not these, but the wealth of the Northeast.

The riches of the Northeast, when they stayed in the big city of Zhubang, they had already experienced it, they didn't need to farm at all, just relying on the beasts in the mountains and forests, the fish and shrimp in the rivers and lakes, these prey and wild things seemed to be at their fingertips, and the food was much better than in the Guannei.

This gave them a glimmer of hope that they could survive here.

The natural spirit is much better, they are untouchables, and in the more than 100 years of painful inheritance, they have already worn away the edges and corners that they don't have, as long as they can give them some hope, they will be honest.

Peng Shanhu walked in the crowd, his face was sallow, he still looked sickly, and he looked very depressed. It was late autumn, and it wasn't very cold, but he was already wearing a tattered padded jacket with a hole in his back.

If you don't know, if you look down like this, you still think that this man is going to die of illness, but if you look closely, you will find that his eyes are shining, sharp as electricity, where is there a sick look? Moreover, he walks without hesitation, is as dignified as a mountain, and his instep is slightly arched, and he can break out at any time, all of which show that his external skills are extremely solid and practiced. His temples bulged slightly, and the hall was bright, if there was a practitioner of internal kung fu here, it could be seen at a glance that this person's internal strength was also very foundational.

Both inside and outside, this is an out-and-out master.

Peng Shanhu followed the crowd and moved slowly forward.

A figure squeezed in from the crowd in front of him, his body was very flexible, although he was in such a crowded line, and he was swimming against the current, but he was moving very fast, and the soles of his feet were as if they were smeared with oil.

It was a young man in his twenties with slippery eyes. Very smart, he walked quickly to Peng Shanhu's side and pretended to hit him inadvertently. He lowered his voice and said, "Brother Hu, I have asked clearly, and I have already left the border of the big city of Zhubang." Further north, there is the Wood Guard, which was originally called the Wood Guard. Later, Uncle Wu Yi changed the establishment and abolished the ground level, and we are now about to get to Futiwei. There are still more than 500 miles away from Xishenwei. ”

"Got it all asked?" Peng Shanhu looked to the side with his eyes and said quietly: "What's the way for the people here?" Is the government heavy on taxes? Are there many corrupt officials? Have you heard all of this? ”

"Asked!" The young man said: "Those ordinary people have said that the Jurchen invaded the south two years ago. The days were old and hard, and then the Jurchens left, and the military leaders of all sizes were divided, claiming to be the king and hegemonic, and the life was even more miserable, but then Wu Yijun came and had a better time. Brother Hu, those Wu Yijun are really as rumored. Qiu didn't commit any crimes, and after he came, he killed all those military leaders and redistributed the land. Each strong male was given 70 acres of land, and each able-bodied woman was given 50 acres of land, and each family with a ploughing ox was given another 50 mu of land. ”

Speaking of this, the young man was very excited, and said: "Brother Hu, there is so much land here, come here, can we also share a piece?" ”

"Dreaming!" Before Peng Shanhu could speak, a tall and strong man next to him already snorted coldly: "No matter how much land there is, it belongs to the government, not ours!" People or what? What are we? We are untouchables, the golden edict made by the dog emperor who founded the country in the puppet Ming Dynasty, we can only engage in cheap business, farming, you can dream! ”…,

As he spoke, he struck the young man on the head, causing the young man to glare at him angrily.

"Fang Laosan, don't say a word! Are you afraid that others don't know how to be identified? If people hear it, it's a catastrophe! Peng Shanhu coughed and said coldly in a low voice, the third man was obviously extremely afraid of him, and immediately shut up and stopped talking.

Peng Shanhu said to the young man again: "Xiao Qi, you go on." ”

That Xiao Qi glared at Fang Laosan and continued: "Those local officials were all newly appointed by Wu Yijun, and most of them were local rich gentry, and their reputations were not bad. However, the tax collected by this Wu Yijun is extremely high, a full thirty percent! It's a lot more than our Daming Pass, but Brother Hu, it's not strange that you say it, with such a high tax, those ordinary people don't say a bad word! All praise the good of Wu Yijun! I don't know what's going on? ”

Peng Shanhu was silent for a moment, sighed softly, and said, "This Uncle Wu Yi is not an ordinary person!" ”

The little seven was surprised and said, "Brother Tiger, what do you say?" ”

Peng Shanhu glanced at Xiao Qi, this young man is an heir he focuses on cultivating, he is extremely well-behaved, very sensible, and has a good relationship between the upper and lower levels, and he is also very dedicated to himself, so he explained to him in detail: "The taxes collected by Wu Yijun are extremely high, enough for thirty percent, but you have to take a look, Wu Yijun's officials have just been raised, the politics are very clear, and Wu Yijun has such a big territory, Wu Yijun can stare at it carefully, if anyone is corrupt, he will definitely be able to find out." As a result, the rule set by Wu Yijun is to collect thirty percent of the tax, and the last one that falls on the common people is thirty and a half, but what about our customs? Along the way, you have also seen it, and it is falsely said that it is thirty taxes and one. But in the end, six or seven percent of what fell on the people were handed over! Look at it, isn't this the reason? ”

Xiao Qi suddenly said: "I see, Brother Hu, you are really clever and have seen it so thoroughly." ”

Peng Shanhu smiled slightly, but he didn't say anything, and let out a long sigh in his heart.

Since he had a deep conversation with Xu Hongru that day, he knew his shortcomings in this regard, that is, the overall situation is not enough, and his vision is too narrow, so these days are focused on cultivating this, and now he really feels that he sees the problem differently than before.

But in this way, it is even more difficult! Wu Yijun's rule is so clear, and the people's lives are good, how can they pull people to rebel?

The people of the world, but if they can eat a full meal, how many will rebel?

"For today's plan, I can only hope that Wu Yijun will be ruthless and ruthless to these untouchables, in this way, he can always stir up trouble from the untouchables!"

After learning about the situation, Peng Shanhu and the others continued to walk forward, but as they moved forward, people continued to join in and gather around Peng Shanhu. Soon, a small circle was formed.

Peng Shanhu glanced at everyone and frowned: "Why hasn't Qi Laosi come back yet?" ”

The voice did not fall. A short, thin, thirty-something man squeezed through the crowd, and his face was rather obscene. Wearing a tattered black jacket, he still carries a small burden in his hand.

"Qi Laosi, what's going on? Didn't you say that you would gather at noon, why did you come here so late? Let everyone wait for you? Peng Shanhu scolded in a low voice.

"Hehe, Brother Tiger, don't worry! I'm back with good stuff for my brothers! Qi Laosi knew that this tiger brother was cold-faced and hot-hearted, and he valued brotherly feelings the most, so how could he be angry and punished for this little thing?

He said with a hippie smile on his face. While untying the burden, only a few of them could see it because the people around them were blocked, but they saw that there were more than a dozen corn cobs in the baggage, all of which were fresh and fresh, still wrapped in green skin, and the veins of fluffy whiskers were exposed on their heads. …,

"Corn on the cob?" More than a dozen people were surprised and delighted. Peng Shanhu's face sank.

These untouchables are all cautious, and when they were in their hometown, what they were most afraid of was the government, with a group like them that has no human rights, they can still let the government shackle to clean up if they don't commit a crime, let alone commit a crime. So even when they walk in between. Because they couldn't stop and often starved, even if the roadside was an endless field of corn, they didn't dare to take a step beyond the thunder pond, for fear that they would make a mistake and let the soldiers in charge of it clean up for a while.

And Peng Shanhu is even more cautious, which can be seen from his demeanor, for fear of revealing a little horse foot to ruin the big thing, because not only the preaching is carried out in secret, but also other things, but also to tell his subordinates not to act rashly and act recklessly.

Unexpectedly, this Qi Lao Si turned out to be a blatant violation, and he was about to attack immediately.

Before he could speak, Qi Laosi knew his thoughts, but his face did not change, and he smiled: "Brother Tiger, don't worry, this corn cob is not stolen - the origin is innocent!" ”

Peng Shanhu knew Qi Laosi's character, although he was frivolous and cunning, he didn't lie, and his face was a little softer: "What kind of innocent method?" Not stolen? I can fall from the sky. ”

"It didn't fall from the sky, it fell from the car." Qi Laosi pointed to the distance in front and said, "Just ahead, there are officials of Wu Yijun collecting taxes!" Drink, that big car, I don't know hundreds of thousands, full of corn cobs, all the way to the east, I heard that it was in the direction of Xuanchengwei. Hehe, the corn cob fell a lot, and people grabbed it, and the soldiers of the escorted Wu Yijun didn't manage their money, so I had the courage to grab a few. ”

After listening to him explain the reason, Peng Shanhu's face returned to normal, he patted Qi Laosi's shoulder, and said, "It's Brother Hu who blames you." ”

Qi Laosi hurriedly said: "Brother Hu, where are you talking about?" ”

The people divided the corn cob, peeled off the blue skin on the outside, and revealed the tender and lovely pale yellow corn particles, which seemed to pinch out the water with a single squeeze. Everyone hurried all morning, and the escort officials were also harsh, not allowing them to stop, because the water and rice had not entered at all, and they were busy with missionary work, and they were already smoking in their throats.

The taste of corn on the cob is very special when eaten raw, with a hint of sweetness in the fragrance, and the moisture content is not low, which is very delicious to eat.

While eating Peng Shanhu, he asked, "Let's talk about this morning's harvest!" ”

Qi Laosi looked around, swallowed the food in his mouth with great effort, and said, "I'll come first!" This morning, I walked through four teams and developed ninety-seven believers, and I saw that twenty-one of them were devout, and after some years, I made them put their handprints. And out of them came a perfumer. ”

As he spoke, he took out a blood-stained cloth from his arms, this cloth was dirty and could not see its original color, Qi Laosi shook it, and it was a stream of blood mixed with a foul smell, and after a closer look, it was full of bloody handprints, and next to each bloody handprint, there were a few small words written on it.

This word is the name of the owner of this bloody handprint, the handwriting is not very beautiful, but it is very neat, and what is unexpected is that it is from the hand of this obscene Qi Laosi. In fact, Peng Shanhu's selection of henchmen has a requirement, that is, they must be literate, otherwise, it will really be bad in the process of preaching.

Qi Laosi pointed to some relatively new blood handprints on it and said, "Brother Tiger, look. Counting these, I have a total of thirteen incense masters and 1,867 believers. There were two hundred and forty backbones with bloody handprints. ”

Peng Shanhu nodded and praised: "Fourth, you did a good job this time." ”…,

Not to be outdone, the others brought out their own cloths. said how many believers have been developed.

After everyone finished speaking, Peng Shanhu made a brief count, and now he has a total of fifteen backbone cronies under his hands, and each backbone cronies have mastered more than twenty-nine, as few as ten incense masters, and the most believers under his hands are Fang Laosan, with more than 3,000 people, and Xiao Qi, who has few believers. It's also in his early 1,000s.

In total, there are 30,000 believers!

This made Peng Shanhu very relieved and excited, and his slightly depressed mood after hearing about Wu Yijun's Qingming rule here also calmed down, and his ambition was rekindled in his heart. You know, this team is only 300,000, and 30,000. That's 10% of the total! That's already a remarkable number.

However, Peng Shanhu naturally did not dare to preach unscrupulously, and they also kept an eye on it, only saying that it was to make people believe in Buddhism, but they did not dare to mention the word white lotus at all.

Peng Shanhu naturally said something encouraging, such as everyone doing a good job and making persistent efforts. At this time, the speed of the team suddenly slowed down, and a soldier shouted from the front: "Lord Qi, let you pariahs rest for a while!" ”

Peng Shanhu's cold eyes glanced in the direction where the voice came from, clenched his fist slightly, and then let go.

He let out a long breath, glanced at everyone, and saw that they were all quite indignant, but said softly: "If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan!" Bear with it! ”

The crowd responded.

After taking a few steps forward, I sat down to rest, and at this time, the front of me suddenly opened up and opened up!

Peng Shanhu happened to be at the right rear of the team, but his line of sight was just right.

From his point of view, he could see that the cornfield on the right suddenly seemed to have disappeared, but in fact it was not gone, but a large area of cornfield on the right side of the road had been cut down, revealing a large clearing, and the clearing, full of felled corn. A wide road, also dozens of paces wide, went straight to the east, dividing the endless stretches of cornfields, the cornfields on the north side of the avenue were cut down, but the south side of the avenue remained untouched.

As soon as he heard the order to rest in place, most of the untouchables rushed to the open space on the left side of the road to sit down and rest, Peng Shanhu's heart moved, he made a look, and led everyone to follow the large army to the left, and then followed a group of people who watched the excitement to the edge of the cornfield, and also pretended to watch the excitement and looked carefully.

Getting closer and seeing more clearly, some people among the untouchables exclaimed from time to time, that is, Peng Shanhu's gang is well-informed, and they also gasped!

What a magnificent and majestic sight!

The cornfields in front of them had been cut down, revealing the vast wilderness below, stretching eastward and northward, for I don't know how many miles, but I could even see the blue-black mountains in the distance at the end.

In this endless field, the stubble of corn after being cut has lost its moisture and turned into a withered yellow, in this yellow seemingly endless land, the cut corn is piled up into a hoard that is two zhang high and two zhang thick, such a hoard, in this land, I don't know how many, thousands? Tens of thousands? I can't even count them.

Peng Shanhu heard a loud voice, which was the sound of many people swallowing saliva together.

Everyone thought of a question, how much food does this have to have, and how many years can it be eaten?

At this time, there are many big carts parked on the side of the road against the corn field, and they can't see their heads, these carts are also Peng Shanhu and others have never seen them, they are much larger than ordinary ox carts, and the capacity can be seen to be huge, and Peng Shanhu noticed that the wheels of these carts are holding a circle of black things, and I don't know what they are. …,

At this time, there were many people in the corn field, busy, while Qi Laosi said in a low voice: "These carts belong to Wu Yijun, and Wu Yijun's officials are collecting grain in the field, and after collecting them, they will go directly to that road and go east!" ”

Peng Shanhu and the others came over to watch the excitement.

There were about a dozen people in the cornfield next to me, among them was a young man dressed as a green-robed official, a stout man in military uniform, about thirty-one or twelve years old, and behind this stout man, there were four or five soldiers, all dressed in big red fat jackets, with waist knives hanging from their waists.

Peng Shanhu knew that these soldiers were Wu Yijun, so he hurriedly looked at them, and after reading them, he couldn't help but be secretly frightened.

He found that these Wu Yi soldiers were all strong men in their twenties and thirties, and their expressions were very strong, although they were not on a mission at this time, their waists were still straight, and their bodies were not bad, like a javelin.

Just these few people are already much stronger than the guards soldiers that Peng Shanhu met on the way from Jiangnan, and they are very elite. But he thought about it, if it was an elite, how could it be sent to carry out such a task of overseeing the collection of taxes? Presumably, these are also very weak in the Wu Yi Army!

There was even more turmoil in his heart, how strong was this Wu Yi Army? A few very weak soldiers are also at the level of the elite of other guards, so how strong should the elite of the Wuyi Army be?

Fang Laosan came to his side and whispered, "Brother Tiger, these soldiers are quite arrogant!" ”‘

Peng Shanhu nodded with a gloomy face: "I know." ”

In addition to the green-robed officer and a few military officers, there were also a few men dressed as yamen miscellaneous servants and a few Zhuang family members who could be seen at a glance.

It was easy to guess that there was a man in his forties, two young men in his twenties, two teenagers of about fifteen or sixteen years old, one male and one female, and a peasant woman in her forties. They stood respectfully in front of the green-robed official, bowing their waists slightly, and the look on their faces was very respectful.

The green-robed official was not as arrogant as ordinary bureaucrats, he glanced at it, pointed to a corn stack and said, "Wang Laoshi, is this the grain that your family has beaten down from this acre of land?" ”

The middle-aged man's weather-beaten honest old face was wrinkled like a ravine, his body was a little more bent, and he said respectfully: "If you go back to the old man, it's all here, and Xiaomin definitely doesn't dare to cheat." ”

"I don't think so." The official smiled slightly: "After turning around, these hoards are almost the same size, and they don't seem to be cheating." ”

Wang smiled honestly, but did not dare to answer. His son, daughter and mother-in-law have never seen the world, and when they saw the officials and soldiers at this time, they were all trembling with fright, hiding behind him and lowering their heads and not even daring to say a word.

The official smiled, pointed to the corn stack and said, "Liu San, go and weigh how much corn there is." ”

"Come on, Lord Zhang!" One of the leaders of the handymen answered, and as soon as he pulled his waist, he led a few people over, and they took out the large scale and put it aside, and then pulled down the corn and put it on the scale one by one. The big scale is just half a zhang long, and the scale rod is engraved with the words "satisfactory", which can weigh a hundred catties. (To be continued) RQ