Xiao Zhenlei and Xiaoma drank tea for a while, and then heard a few old men at a table next to him whispering about the army camped outside the town, and one of the old men asked, "Do you know what the army outside the town is here for?" ”

Another old man sitting opposite sneered and said, "Don't you need to say this, it's clear that you're here to suppress bandits!" ”

The thin old man on the left shook his head and said: "I can't say, old man, I have lived for so many years, and when I was young, I also traveled from south to north, but I have never seen officers and soldiers wearing such clothes, but then again, this army is completely different from the officers and soldiers who came to suppress bandits in the past!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei's heart moved, the opportunity came, and he hurriedly got up and leaned over with the bench and asked, "Uncle, what's the difference?" ”

The old man turned his head and glanced at Xiao Zhenlei, and saw that he didn't look like a gangster, so he smiled and said: "Young man, you are a foreigner, there may be a war here, I advise you to leave quickly, besides, those bandits often go down the mountain to catch strong men into the gang, in case you are caught and fall into the grass, it will be miserable!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei pointed to the west with his finger and said with a smile: "Uncle, aren't there soldiers coming to suppress bandits at the entrance of the town?" The bandits definitely didn't dare to go down the mountain at this time! ”

A fat old man on the right side said loudly: "That's not necessarily, a few years ago, the officers and soldiers did not come to suppress the bandits, and the bandits returned several times in vain, and on two occasions the bandits rushed down from the mountain in the middle of the night, and the officers and soldiers were completely defenseless. ”

Xiao Zhenlei's eyes widened, and he said in disbelief: "Is this still possible?" Didn't the government let this bandit run rampant and didn't send a large army to exterminate them? ”

Listening to Xiao Zhenlei's words, the four old men couldn't help but smile bitterly. ○ The old man who was the first to speak shook his head and said, "It's not easy to exterminate this bandit, it's not like that." It is called 'a family of officials and bandits since ancient times', and someone in the official mansion secretly colluded with the bandit leader Yang Fei. Whenever there is a caravan to hit the checkpoint set by the government, the bandits in Phoenix Mountain quickly got the news, of course, there are people in the government to report the news, the bandits get the news and send people down the mountain to loot, if there are officers and soldiers to attack the cottage, the bandits can also get the news in advance because there are people in the government to report the news, so the government has repeatedly come to suppress in vain! ”

It turned out that there was such a thing, Xiao Zhenlei suddenly realized when he heard it, no wonder this bandit could not be exterminated. Dare to love the boss of this bandit's den and the local government powerful figures secretly colluded to make a fortune, once the government sent troops to suppress, the internal should immediately ventilate the news, the officers and soldiers who entered the suppression were not defeated or lost, it is a strange thing!

Taking advantage of the fact that a few old men were drinking tea, Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked: "It stands to reason that even if the bandit leader has an internal response in the official mansion, it is impossible to beat the officers and soldiers away every time, right?" How many people can he have in a cottage? And how many officers and soldiers? Even if someone in the government gives him a message, in the face of absolute strength, no matter how cunning he Yang Fei is, it is useless, as long as the officers and soldiers surround Phoenix Mountain to death. Give him no water and food, and their bandits can stay in the mountains? ”

The old man on the opposite side said disappreciatively: "Surrounding the mountain? Even if it is ten or eight years, don't try to starve them to death of thirst and starvation! There is a clear spring in the Phoenix Mountain, although the water flow is not large, but the bandits specially dug a pool to store water. As long as it doesn't rain for three months, they won't die of thirst, and even if it doesn't rain in March. The springs on the mountain have been cut off, and the pools have dried up. That Phoenix Mountain is backed by too? Lake, can still be thirsty to death? Even if the officers and soldiers attack the mountain. The bandits can't beat them, can they still calmly too? Retreat on the lake, they have more than a dozen big boats, and there are artillery on board, how dare the few broken boats of the Taihu Lake Sailor Division provoke them? ”

Xiao Zhenlei gasped when he heard this, "Old man, you're not joking, are you?" There are artillery on the ships of the bandits? How many? How did it come about? ”

The old man saw that Xiao Zhenlei suspected him of bragging, of course he didn't do it, and immediately blew his beard and glared at him, "Don't believe it, you doll, I heard that when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping army fought several battles with the sailors of the government on Taihu Lake, and also built forts and arsenals on some islands in the lake, and there were secret arsenals on several islands, hiding a large number of weapons, muskets and Shenwu cannons, so many years have passed, and I don't know how a secret arsenal was discovered by the bandit leader Yang Fei, he got hundreds of guns and more than a dozen Shenwu cannons at once, I heard that when I took it out, it was still the same as new! ”

If what the old man said is true, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has been more than half a century now, and the guns and artillery must have been coated with anti-rust oil, plus the sealing effect is very good, so it can still be used until now, and the original batch of munitions should be brand new, maybe bought from foreigners, and has not been opened, only new guns and new cannons have anti-rust oil.

Xiao Zhenlei thought for a while and asked, "Uncle, listening to what you said, there must be a lot of people under Yang Fei's hands, right?" Otherwise, no matter how powerful he is, no matter how many muskets he has, no matter how powerful the cannons are, he won't be able to beat the officers and soldiers if no one uses them! ”

The old man took a puff of dry tobacco and said, "That's not it, then there are 1,800 people under Yang Fei's hands!" ”

"Thousand, thousand, eight hundred?" Xiao Zhenlei was extremely shocked, "Why does he have so many people?" ”

The old man on the left said: "Hey, there are more people who can't survive these years, the government has added harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes one after another, and the people can't afford to pay and can only sell their sons and daughters and land. ”

This is true, Xiao Zhenlei has traveled over for more than half a year, except for those rich and dignitaries, almost none of the other ordinary people he has seen look healthy, almost all of them are malnourished, there are countless children and daughters sold on the streets of every city, even those prosperous places in Shanghai are no exception, many people who are about to starve to death before dying are not blind to death because they have not eaten a mouthful of white rice in their lives.

Phoenix Mountain, halfway up the mountain.

More than a dozen people walked down the mountain path, one of the first two was tall, majestic, vulgar and heroic, with a box cannon stuck in his waist, this person was Yang Fei, the leader of the Phoenix Mountain bandits rampant in the surrounding area of Taihu Lake, and the other man was handsome, slender, in his twenties, with a sword hanging from his waist on the left and a revolver on the right.

Yang Fei said to the young man next to him as he walked: "I said, Brother Zeng, why are you in such a hurry to go down the mountain." There are officers and soldiers blocking the way down the mountain, and it is dangerous for you to go down the mountain. I said you can stay with me for a few days, and I promise to find a way to send you out. Isn't that okay? ”

It turned out that this young man was Zeng Qinglin, but the son of the giant Zeng Guozhang, after Zeng Guozhang was killed by Xu Baoshan, Zeng Qinglin fled with the remnants of the horses, and he had been running around to commit crimes in the past few years, he smiled and said: "Thank you Brother Yang for your kindness, it's not that the younger brother doesn't know what to do, it's really that the younger brother's brothers are still waiting for me at the bottom of the mountain, since the officers and soldiers have arrived here." I'm afraid that I also have officers and soldiers there, I'm worried that I'm not there, and my brothers can't cope with the encirclement and interception of officers and soldiers. ”

Yang Fei saw that Zeng Qinglin was so stubborn, and he could only let him go, and sighed: "Hey, since you said so, brother, then the brother will not keep you!" ”

After that, he turned around and took a cloth bag from the hand of a minion behind him, and then said to Zeng Qinglin beside him: "There are two thousand rounds of various guns and bullets in here." I think you should be able to use it, take it! ”

These are the most expensive bullets, because the number of arsenals in China is very small, and the output itself is also small. Even the army that supplied the Qing court itself was not enough, there was no possibility of takeout, and foreigners sold guns and bullets. When the bullets run out, the empty guns can't be fired, so they can only buy them again. And where do these bandits and thieves dare to buy guns and ammunition in the open? Therefore, in the eyes of these bandits and Jiangyang thieves, bullets are more expensive than gold, and it is more polite to send bullets than gold.

Zeng Qinglin hurriedly took it and said, "Oops." Brother Yang, you are too precious, how can I be embarrassed? ”

"Take it, I'll let you take it!" Yang Fei couldn't help but say that he stuffed the cloth bag in his hand, "What is polite between our brothers, brothers must be careful when they go down the mountain, those officers and soldiers are not vegetarians, if they really can't do it, they will return, let's find a way!" ”

Zeng Qinglin handed the cloth bag to his little brother behind him, and he didn't care about pulling out the revolver on his waist and said: "I'm afraid that he is a bird, just with my brother's ability to have no bullets in this revolver in my hand, who can stop me?" Brother Yang can relax, you can stay! The little brother will go, and there will be a period later! ”

Yang Fei arched his hand and said loudly: "Brother, walk slowly all the way, be careful!" ”

"Save, save!" Zeng Qinglin said and led the four of them to walk briskly down the mountain road.

After Zeng Qinglin and the four people he brought walked away, a young bandit leader behind Yang Fei came over and asked, "Big boss, now that the bullets are so expensive, we can't use them too much, why did you send two thousand to the one surnamed Zeng?" I don't know if they will be able to break through the checkpoint of the officers and soldiers this time, if they can't get through, wouldn't the 2,000 rounds of ammunition be cheaper for the officers and soldiers? ”

Another middle-aged bandit leader in the back said leisurely: "It's a pity that he took away a hundred taels of gold."

This time Zeng Qinglin came over to bring a batch of stolen goods to sell to Yang Fei, because Zeng Qinglin was a wandering crime, there was no fixed cottage, so every time he grabbed the goods, there was no place to sell the stolen goods, but Yang Fei had a channel to sell the stolen goods, so Zeng Qinglin would take someone to sell the goods he had grabbed several times to Yang Fei every once in a while.

They arrived yesterday afternoon, but they didn't expect that Xiao Zhenlei arrived at the entrance of the town at the foot of the mountain with a large group of men and horses in the evening, and after camping, they arranged for people and horses to set up checkpoints at several intersections leading to the outside world, and all those who came from the other side of the mountain must be strictly inspected to prevent the bandits from escaping disguised as ordinary people, Zeng Qinglin was not calm when he found out, and he was in a hurry to rush back early this morning, even if he wanted to break into the checkpoint.

A trace of viciousness flashed in Yang Fei's eyes, and he said coldly: "That kid brought more than a dozen people this time, everyone has guns, and the checkpoints set up by the government are only a dozen people each, in terms of numbers, the two sides are about the same, I gave him so many bullets just to let him take his men and horses to try the strength of this army of officers and soldiers, if the sentry cards of the officers and soldiers are vulnerable, it means that this army of officers and soldiers is also a group of wrecks, we don't need to be afraid of them at all!" ”

When the young bandit leader heard this, he immediately gave a thumbs up and slapped his ass: "The master is smart, as long as the other party breaks through the checkpoint, the two sides will definitely fight, and the victory or defeat will be immediately clear, as long as we stand here, we can see the battle situation!" ”

"Hmm!" Yang Fei took an old-fashioned monocular telescope from the young man behind him and looked up and down, not knowing that this thing was hundreds of years old.

But after Zeng Qinglin and his four younger brothers walked away, one of his strong men asked, "Leader, do we really want to break through the checkpoint?" This is not a joke, once the fire is fired, it will definitely attract a large number of people at the entrance of the town, in case of a long delay, we will probably never be able to leave! ”

Zeng Qinglin's face was gloomy just after leaving Yang Fei, and at this time, he listened to the words of the strong man behind him and said coldly: "Do you think I am really so stupid to break into the sentry post of the officers and soldiers? I know exactly what the surnamed Yang has in mind, Lao Tzu didn't give him a gunman, and if he wanted to test the strength of the officers and soldiers, let him try it himself, and Lao Tzu would not accompany him! ”

The strong man was relieved when he heard this, but he began to worry again, he wondered: "Leader, then how can we pass the checkpoint, just go past with such a swagger, the officers and soldiers will definitely arrest us!" ”

Zeng Qinglin glanced back at the strong man, "Did I say I want to swagger over?" Are you stupid or am I stupid? Didn't we have some dry goods sold to us by the surname Yang on a few carriages down the mountain? Let's pretend to be a caravan, fortunately, before I came, Lao Tzu sent someone to get a road guide, otherwise I really don't know how to pass a few days, and I will let everyone put away the guys and hide them, don't be discovered by the officers and soldiers, if anyone gives Lao Tzu a dilute at a critical moment, Lao Tzu will definitely not be able to spare him, do you understand? ”

"Yes, Chief!"

Zeng Qinglin stopped and turned around and said angrily: "When is it all now, I don't know how to change my words, call the owner, Lao Tzu is now your owner!" ”

"Yes, owner!" The four of them were scolded bloody, and this time they finally remembered.

After descending the mountain, Zeng Qinglin and his four younger brothers came to a forest, and there were four carriages and a dozen people hidden in the woods.

"Boss!"

"Overhead, what's going on? Has the goods been sold? ”

Zeng Qinglin nodded and said: "Well, it's sold, the money is on the iron egg, it's all for me, and when we dress up as a caravan to pass the sentry post, you guys have dressed me neatly, don't expose your chest, put away the gun and bullet belt, armed belt, and holster for Lao Tzu, remember that I am your owner, and from now on you will call me the owner, don't let him show the stuffing, do you understand?" ”

"Understood!" (To be continued......) R527