Chapter 152: Bronze Beam (I)

The mountains are steep, and the road is long.

At the foot of the hill there was a small dilapidated inn by the brook, behind which a moss-covered waterwheel stood and "creaked" under the impact of a mountain stream, leading the clear water up a wooden canal to irrigate the terraces on the mountainside, and the water from the waterwheel continued to run towards the stream.

An open-air winery sits on the rocky beach where the mountain stream joins the creek, and as an ancillary to the small inn, this winery is responsible for supplying a variety of spirits to merchants from the north and south.

This is the border of Tongliang County in central Sichuan, which is under the jurisdiction of Chóngqìng Prefecture, and to the north is Tongchuan Prefecture, to the east is Hechuan, to the west is Dazu, and to the south is Bishan County.

Due to the geographical location, this Tongliang County is the land transportation artery of Tongchuan Mansion and Zizhou Mansion to Chóngqìng Mansion since ancient times, although Chóngqìng is convenient for waterway transportation, but for people in the mountains, if you want to exchange the accumulated mountain goods for copper coins and silver oceans, the best traders are the ubiquitous and everywhere caravans, and the caravans are naturally taken by land, and this Tongliang County is an important transit station and supply point for the Sichuan Caravan, and it is through this ancient mode of transportation, Nowadays, even the big families in the mountains have used foreign horse lanterns, and the lamps are not filled with tung oil, but foreign oil, and the light is much brighter than the tung oil lamp.

It is by virtue of these caravans that the mountains know that the Son of Heaven seems to have changed now, and the crumbling Qing Dynasty has died of the country, and now the new Son of Heaven is the famous Beiyang Leader Yuan Xiangcheng, and now the new Son of Heaven is not called "Emperor", it is called "President", not only in charge of the people of the world, but also in charge of the soldiers and horses of the world.

It's just that because the governor of Sichuan is not convinced by Wang Hua, this Sichuan has become a thorn in the side of the new emperor, so the kings from all walks of life have entered Sichuan from all directions, seeing that the war in Sichuan is tight, the horse gang that has always been well-informed has also put away the heart of collecting money, and the horse gang on this road is extremely few, and now the horse gang that dares to walk on the road is not a time-honored brand run by Brother Pao, or a big horse gang that has received a foreign gun officer to rely on the foreign gun guard, and the ordinary pony gang has basically disappeared.

A few days ago, there was news from chóngqìng, the new emperor sent to build ** has conquered chóngqìng, and is now sweeping north, the Qing country's various rout armies are also rushing to the north and west, in the past two days, there are not 10,000 but 8,000 teams from this small hotel, most of them are ordered to reinforce chóngqìng's regimental training, fortunately they walked slowly, and they learned the news of the fall of the city before they arrived at chóngqìng, so they walked back without blinking their heads, This way also all the way to lead the sheep, even this small inn also suffered, the chickens and ducks raised behind the store were snatched away by the hungry rout, fortunately the shopkeeper was prepared, the donkey and the pig that raised the plan for the New Year were driven to the back mountain to graze, and the grain was hidden in the mountain, otherwise, this small inn could not even open a gang.

Because the situation is too turbulent, two days ago and caught a few spies who built **, people are panicked, Tongliang County is now closed and grounded, and people from outside the city are not allowed to enter the city again, so that some of the caravans who originally planned to go to the city to escape the war had to stay outside the city, so the small inn at the foot of the mountain ushered in an opportunity for a prosperous business, not only those few Chase shops are now full of people, even the firewood room in the backyard has become a guest room, although the room price has risen several times, but the caravan who have come to stay in the city is still endless, and the store really can't live, so the shopkeeper set up a few bamboo sheds nearby to house these characters.

The number of people living in the hotel made it much more courageous, and some of the caravans were equipped with guns, so the sporadic routs that fell behind the troops did not dare to make trouble again, and this inn became a refuge for the caravans outside the city.

The war is in chaos. The caravan did not dare to move anymore. The whole rì has nothing to do. The crowd sat in the shop. Drinking and burning knives. Eating oily dried tofu. Talking about the rumors heard on the road.

Said the people who came from the west and from the north. The governor of Sichuan, Zhao Erxun, is gathering troops and horses. The levy of land was used as military salary. and threatened to live and die with Chengdu City. However, it is difficult to judge whether this is true or false. It is said that some court officials in Chengdu have abandoned their official positions. Obviously, I don't have the same heart as the Governor. I don't want to accompany the governor to be a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty. Jian ** has not yet reached Chengdu Mansion. And the spirit of the ruler was scattered. Can Chengdu hold on? Tian Fu levy. It makes the small people panic. The landlord immediately raised the rent for the year. After the small farmer thinks about it. I thought it was better to work in the city than to farm. So they abandoned the wasteland one after another. Seeing that chūn ploughing is about to begin. But in Chengdu, it is a barren field.

The news brought by the landers from the south and the east was completely different. After Jian** occupied Chóngqìng, he immediately posted a notice. It was announced that from the day of liberation. Chóngqìng Mansion has been in arrears for the past years and has been exempted from all the grain and field endowments of the emperor. The "Small Farmland Endowment + Exemption Law" promulgated by the Hubei Army began to be implemented at the same time. According to this law. If the farmer owns no more than five acres of land. then the entire field tax will be exempted. In the future, these small farmers will no longer have to pay a copper land tax.

Since ancient times, I have never heard of a court that did not expropriate land. Even during the prosperous years, the Qing Dynasty court. can only shout a beautiful sentence of "never add to it". Then all kinds of fire consumption and donations came out of the cage one after another. The grass people are still being squeezed to the ground. But you can't say that what the court says doesn't count. After all. That levy is not "endowment". It's about "donating".

So. This is a poster on the first place. People in the city and people in the countryside are half-believed. No one can believe that the small farmland Tian Fu will be all + exempted by the army. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, King Chuang also said things like "three-year exemption". can

It also didn't materialize. Without Tianfu, there would be no military pay. There is no army without salaries. This is also clear to the people. No land levy. Where does the military zhèngfǔ funding come from? Smallholder farmers are exempt. How could the landlord be willing? Since ancient times. Playing with the government has always been a good trick for the gentry.

Although people speculated about the sincerity of the army, their concerns did not affect the determination of the army, and on the day the notice was posted, the first "hoe society" in the chóngqìng province was established, and the agricultural reclamation regiment that followed the army into Sichuan was also quickly sent to the countryside to help the villagers tidy up the fields and prepare for chūn ploughing.

What kind of atmosphere is it to implement the new policy with such fanfare when the war in Sichuan has not yet completely ended?

"This is the weather that sits in the world!"

A man who was sitting in the corner and drinking suddenly raised his head, and shouted a few words while he was drinking, covering everyone's voices.

"Man, drink high, drink high." Another man, who was sitting at the same table, hurriedly stretched out his hand to cover the drunken man's mouth, and then beckoned to a companion, and the two of them lifted the man up and walked towards the backyard.

"Wait! Put him down, and tell him to tell him well, who has the atmosphere to sit in the world? ”

Someone stood at the door of the store and shouted a few times, and the drinkers turned their heads to look, but saw that although the person was dressed in black, he was wearing a yamen warm hat with tassels on his head, a pair of fast boots on his feet, and a coarse cloth jacket on his shoulders.

At the moment, everyone is silent, some people lower their heads and continue to drink, and some people touch their hands to the guy pinned to their waists, no way, people who go to the rivers and lakes are three and nine streams, and they really can't find a few who haven't offended people, who knows if this official is coming for himself? It's not just for yourself, but if it's for yourself, you have no choice but to copy the guy.

The official had sharp eyes, looked at the few wine guests who were not right, and hurriedly shouted: "Don't move honestly!" This has nothing to do with you, I'm just looking for the person who said, 'sit on the weather of the world', and don't meddle with the others. ”

As he spoke, he reached into the blanket and took out a six-shot revolver from it, and lit it up in his hand.

"See? The American Colt six-shot gun is not much stronger than the earthen gun in your pocket? Be honest, don't be unhappy. ”

"Ouch, isn't this the king catching the head? What is the wind that blows you? You don't sit in the city, arrest the rebels, why did you wander around the city? Without you in charge, Tongliang County will not be able to turn the sky upside down? The shopkeeper hurriedly greeted him, and he took out two pieces of eagle ocean from his sleeve and quietly stuffed them into the palm of the official's hand.

"What wind? Isn't it a bandit yet? ”

The official took the two silver dollars into the blanket with great skill, and finally moved his gaze to the other side of the unobtrusive drinker, and the drinker carried the drunk into the backyard.

"Since the construction of ** into Sichuan, the bandits in this place have begun to jump up and down again, this is not, yesterday the county master sent me to get the bandits, to the place to see, thousands of bandits shouted to rebel, as a result of Lao Tzu's foreign guns, the gang of bandits fled with their heads in their hands, Lao Tzu followed the trail to chase, as a result, those few provocative party leaders were taken by me, escorted back to the county office, passing by your broken shop, and by the way to see if there is a fish that has slipped through the net."

"No, there is no chaos. Wang Zhutou laughed, the villain has always hated bandits, where would they be called to drink? The shopkeeper hurriedly shook his head and glanced at the fellow, who came with a jar of wine.

"Wang Zhutou, this is the 'champion red' that was just taken out of the cellar yesterday, and I didn't even shoot the mud. Ping rì take care of you, the small shop has only lasted until now, this jar of wine is a villain's filial piety, don't shirk it. ”

The shopkeeper nodded, took the wine jar, and handed it to the king.

But Wang Zhutou pushed the wine jar, glanced at the corner with a pair of triangular eyes, shouted, and four officials with "Mauser singles one" walked in outside the store.

"You go to the store and search carefully, to see if there is any chaos in the party, now the ground is not very peaceful, but you have to show the trick to see clearly, catch the chaos and go back, the lord is indispensable to your benefits."

The king shouted twice, and the four servants walked to the backyard with their guns, and although the shopkeeper was reluctant, he did not dare to stop him, so he had to make a look at the man and let the man follow.

The four servants searched in the backyard, and Wang Zhutou was not idle, carrying a revolver in this wine shop, walked to a table, lifted a drinker up, and then sat down on the bench, cocked Erlang's legs, slapped the revolver on the table, and said: "The shopkeeper, go and invite all the officials outside, you are tired of walking on the way, so I bother you to serve a few hot dishes, warm up some good wine, how to say, we are also for you to press the ground, without our protection, your store would have been demolished." ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard a soft "click", and then my head was blocked by a hard guy.

Squinted, the drinker who was picked up by him just now was holding a revolver, the muzzle of which was against his head, and then he glanced at it, and his revolver was still on the table.

Before Wang Zhutou came back to his senses, he heard someone shouting from behind: "You don't need to panic, if you can't fight, the official mission outside has also been taken." ”

Wang Zhutou glanced out of the corner of his eye, but saw several men standing up, all brandishing revolvers in their hands.

These days, there are not many caravans equipped with foreign short guns.

Wang Zhutou was confused.