Lu Donkey listened to the story made up by Chen Xin, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Chen Xin with a little admiration: "Brother Chen, you said that I can fight three or four Tartars, so can I really have a future when I go to Liaodong with Brother Dai to serve as soldiers?" ”

Dai Zhenggang glanced at him and scolded: "If you can really run for a future, Brother Chen still needs to come to Tianjin?" Surrendered to the army as early as Shanhaiguan. ”

Chen Xin laughed, gave Dai Zhenggang a thumbs up, and still boasted nonsense in his mouth: "Brother Dai said well, even the so-called nine-sided elite, it is also a lazy soldier and rampant corruption, and the soldiers will be regarded as slaves, and the soldiers will be regarded as enemies. Although Jiannu is not invincible, the Jiannu army is strictly disciplined, the armor is strong, the rewards and punishments are clear, and the soldiers use their lives. On top of the battle array, no matter how powerful Brother Lu is, you can't beat thousands of troops, and if you want to rely on the Liao army to defeat Jiannu, it is almost impossible, and it is very likely that you lose your life. I advised Brother Lu to keep his life and find a better way out. ”

Dai Zhenggang was impressed when he heard this, and patted his leg and said: "It's rare that Brother Chen can make it clear in a few words, I always feel that it is not suitable to join the army, and I can't tell what the reason is, otherwise how would I come to be a slender man and suffer from this Luo Zujiao." ”

Chen Xin asked a little strangely: "What kind of sect is this Luo Zu Sect, why is the Cao Gang still afraid of it?" ”

Dai Zhenggang smiled: "Brother Chen is from Liaodong, so it is reasonable not to know Luojiao." At the moment, he told Chen Xinfen about the Luo Sect and the Cao Gang that he knew.

It turns out that Luo Zujiao was created by Luo Menghong in the Chenghua years, also known as Wuwei Teaching, Luojiao, with the purpose of quiet and inaction, the doctrine is simple and clear, the five and six volumes of the scriptures are written in the vernacular, so it is widely spread among the people, and the later Qinggang was born from Luojiao, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the southern section of the canal was strong, and there were many people who joined the religion among the Cao Gong, known as "100,000 Tibetan soldiers in the canal". During the Wanli period, it was designated as a cult by the Nanjing Criminal Department, and its scriptures and books were burned.

At this time, the Cao Gang was not a unified organization, in short, it was composed of people who ate by the canal, gangs and gangs, in order to confront officials and local snakes, there were Cao Gangs in various places, and the gang members participated in the White Lotus Sect, the Wenxiang Sect, and the Luo Sect.

To form a unified Cao Gang was to the Yongzheng era of 'My Great Qing Dynasty', when the Cao Gang was already a big tail, and the Qing court could only be officially recognized to envelop it. Later, Qianlong Ye Zheng Shaoqiu flicked the pig's tail in a chic manner, and Zhao Yazhi, the leader of the Cao Gang, came up and held his hand with a nymphomaniac look and shouted: "Fourth master!" Then Cai Xingjuan sang in a whisper: "The mountains and rivers can't carry too much sorrow ......", that is, during the Qianlong period, it developed into a real giant. Folklore once said that Qianlong joined the gang, and it can be seen how powerful it is. But for now, it's just a mess of sand.

After Dai Zhenggang finished talking about the situation, he continued: "We have offended Luojiao, and now we can't eat canal rice, as Brother Chen said, joining the army is not a good place, I really don't know what to do." ”

Liu Minyou couldn't help asking: "You must have land at home or something, didn't Brother Qi also let you go back to farming?" ”

A slender man next to him said a little sadly: "We used to dig in the soil, and we never dared to rest for a few days a year, and when we finally collected the grain, we had to find a grain merchant to exchange it for silver and pay taxes. After paying the regular tax and salary, and then repay the loan, and the rest will have to pay the levy fee, except for me, my father is more than 60 years old, and he has to pay a stone of grain every year to be exempted from service. After a year of busy work, there was not much left after paying these, and when the grain ran out, I had to borrow money again, and borrowed money to buy grain at the grain store. Except for the New Year, I can't eat a full meal. ”

Ertun, who was lying down, also interjected: "We are all okay, Huang Yuan's family is still a tenant, harvest grain today, cut off grain tomorrow, forced to sell the youngest sister last year, and only changed a few stone grains, there is still a household the year before last, the grain collected is not enough to repay the loan shark, a family of seven, all hanged at night, grinding like this every year, Brother Chen, how do you say this land can be planted?" ”

Chen Xin and Liu Minyou listened gloomily, the weight of the oppression of these peasants was unheard of, in Chen Xin's opinion, the life experience he made up was pitiful enough, but the lives of these people were more of an unspeakable gloom and helplessness, just wandering back and forth between survival and non-survival.

Dai Zhenggang continued: "Otherwise, who wants to leave his hometown and come out to be the slender man of this Laoshizi, the North Canal will arrive in four days, and the shipowner will not shout to stop, and he will not dare to stop when he pulls the blood on his shoulder, just like that, there are still people who don't let you do it, the world is so big, is there no place that can accommodate our poor?" ”

There was a deep sense of loss in the words, all the slender men lowered their heads, and the one called Huang Yuan sobbed softly, Liu Minyou's eyes were moist, his parents were also farmers, he loved these simple people, Chinese farmers are the most industrious and tolerant people in the world, as long as there is a little hope, a little way to live, they can endure the harshest exploitation without dignity, they are endless, cultivating and multiplying on this land, providing a steady stream of nutrition for Chinese civilization.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the land annexation was strict, the vassal kings, squires, civil officials and military attachés, all of them were able to encroach on the official fields and military fields, and it was common for them to take advantage of private land, and they basically did not pay the land taxes, most of the land taxes were borne by the homesteaders, and the local government cleverly set up a project to collect miscellaneous taxes indiscriminately, colluded with grain merchants and usury merchants, and forced a large number of homesteaders to take refuge or go bankrupt, and the peasants in many places in the north fled because they could not bear it, and the large fields were barren, and the local government in order to complete the performance appraisal, They had no choice but to distribute the land tax they should pay to the rest of the people, and the remaining people could not bear it, forming a vicious circle, and even some people had 100 acres of cultivated land, and after paying the land tax, they still had to pay debts, so that there were countless people who wanted to sell the land later, but the buyers were pitiful, and the lowest land price was 221 mu.

It is very common to sell children and daughters, and selling a woman is only enough to buy grain and one stone at the worst time, so although Lu Donkey and others don't know the reason, they feel that farming is getting more and more difficult, no matter how hard they work, they can't let the family have enough to eat. When all kinds of power and violence take away their dignity, their relatives, their property or their lives, hatred is rapidly brewing and fermenting.

By the time of the Apocalypse, the entire north had reached a tipping point. The last shred of hope is still supporting the remainder, maintaining a dangerous balance just to see when that last straw falls.

Chen Xin saw that the atmosphere was heavy, and he hurriedly diverted the topic and persuaded: "Brother Dai doesn't need to worry too much, Brother Liu and I used to be unable to even afford to wear pants, and more difficult days have come, and the living will never be suffocated to death by urine." I heard what you and Brother Lu said about the cost of injury medicine, although I am not rich, brother, I can help a little. ”

After that, Chen Xin took out two silver ingots weighing five taels each from his arms and handed them to Dai Zhenggang.

Dai Zhenggang hurriedly pushed back and said: "Brother Chen can't be like this, you have already helped us, and now you are giving such a heavy gift, I don't know when I can pay it back, although I am familiar with you at first sight, I can't accept your favor again." ”

Chen Xin turned his face and said angrily: "Since you are familiar at first sight, what are you doing as a child, let you take it, can it be that you see your brother crippled?" If you want to make me a friend, don't say it anymore, it's serious to accept it and hurry up to the doctor. ”

Dai Zhenggang's eyes were red when he heard this, and he simply accepted the money, solemnly waved it to the two, and said: "Dai Tiezi has thanked the two benevolent fathers here, and in the future, I will never frown on behalf of Tiezi." The other slender men also thanked one after another, ten taels of silver in this era is not a small number.

Chen Xin smiled again and said, "That's right, I still have to stay in Tianjin for a few days, and I will come to see you again when I have time." Don't delay any longer, hurry up and ask a doctor to treat your injuries, especially if you have a broken hand, you won't be able to pick it up after a long time. ”

At that moment, someone went to ask for a doctor, and Liu Minyou specifically instructed Dai Zhenggang to bandage the wound with a cloth boiled in boiling water, and after speaking, he said goodbye with Chen Xin, and left with four followers.

When Chen Xin and the others walked away, Lu Donkey sighed to Dai Zhenggang: "This Chen Gongzi is amazing, not to mention the boldness, there is still money, it is ten taels when he makes a move, it is rare or a show, you say that I will follow Chen Gongzi, will he accept me?" ”

Dai Zhenggang grabbed his head and replied: "This Chen Gongzi is enthusiastic, and he is also temperamental, but we don't know what he does." Why didn't you ask? ”

Lu Zizi shook his head and patted his head: "Yes, why didn't we even ask him what he was doing?" ”……

The two walked for a while, and Liu Minyou asked Chen Xindao: "Do you want to accept the little brother again?" Can you afford to spend so much money? ”

"It can be used, the boatmen and slender men on the canal have to cooperate in the division of labor, they naturally have a collective spirit, and they exercise every day, bear hardships and stand hard work, have a strong physique, and are relatively brave, they should be one of the best soldiers in this era, and in addition, these Yanggu people have not been working for long, and they have not yet entered those messy teachings."

Liu Minyou looked at Chen Xin in surprise: "Do you really want to dominate the world?" Don't you want to go to Jiangnan to mess around? ”

Chen Xin smiled and said, "Don't you think that the two of us homeless people are too unreliable to say that they are fighting for domination of the world?" Shouldn't you be a landlord and protect the village, force is more reliable than gold in troubled times. Now with such a condition, it is not enough to recruit them as junior brothers, so let's leave a friendship first. Let's take it one step at a time. ”

Liu Minyou also knew that it was to talk about fighting for hegemony now, and the sadness in his heart just now had not dissipated, so he couldn't help but say: "The people are suffering like this, what is good about the Ming Dynasty?" He deserves to be overthrown. ”

Chen Xin smiled and continued: "Then you shouldn't let a group of slave owners sit in the world." There really will be a day, I won't be a slave anyway, so we can't buy a boat and go to a small island in the Pacific. ”

"I won't be a slave, freedom is more important than life in my heart, but when I go to the island, I can only be a savage."

Chen Xin blinked and said: "We drift island by island, frog jump tactics, jump and jump to the United States, look, ah, there is no coast guard, there is no customs, let's come over without a visa, and then I am too lazy to leave, just on the west coast of a circle of land, I will circle Los Angeles, you will circle San Francisco, haven't you always wanted to go to the United States, God, we have finally become Americans, I also gave you an American name, Liu Shengton, the first president of the United States, Amen." ”

Liu Min was silent for a while, and suddenly said to Chen Xin: "I should really bring a pair of stockings when I cross." ”

"What are you doing with stockings? Sell? ”

"It's easy to use next time you hang yourself, save yourself and use pants, you can't hang yourself."

"Big brother, you are so ruthless, but these stockings are so thin that they must still break."

"No, I'll buy the brand used by Sanmao."

Chen Xin: "......"