"Bang"

The firewood in the small courtyard shook violently and hit the earthen wall, shaking off the dead branches all over the ground.

Zhang Zhongqi's figure hurriedly appeared at the door of the main house, and saw Niu Lu Zhang Jing leading a few white-armored soldiers in through the gate.

"The master is well!"

Zhang Zhongqi knelt down and saluted, Zhenyi did not kneel before, and met each other to hug and salute, but Zhang Zhongqi admitted that he did not have this qualification, and when he saw the master, he knelt like a coat.

Niu Lu Zhangjing is still the Lai Daku who came with a yellow flag, he didn't look at Zhang Zhongqi, waved his hand to the back, and the Cherge who was in charge of these dozens of families took two white armors directly into the house, one of which was Taktan, he paused a little when he passed by Zhang Zhongqi, and a few people opened the grain cabinet in the house, and saw that it was empty, and a few people went to the inner room again.

Zhang Zhongqi's grain is hidden under the bed, he is afraid that people will steal, this year's shortage of food in Liaodong is worse than last year, the village starved to death of clothing has not known how many, theft and murder have happened from time to time, so Zhang Zhongqi put the grain on the bed when he slept, and held a knife in his hand, and finally it was not stolen after half a year, but he did not expect to meet the robber.

Zhang Zhongqi moved to Lai Daku's side with his knees and kowtowed, "Master, master, what is this for?" The slave only has this food at home, and if the master takes it, the slave will have no way to live. ”

Lai Daku stood coldly, seemingly disdainful of saying a word to Zhang Zhongqi.

There was a dumb ah-ah sound in the house, followed by Cheerge's angry shouting, Zhang Zhongqi quickly got up and ran to the house, only to see that Cherg had already brought out the grain bag. The dumb man dragged the grain bag stubbornly, and another white-armored soldier was already ready to draw his knife.

"Dumb, let go! Let go! Zhang Zhongqi blocked the direction of the white-armored soldier with his body, and while pulling the dumb man's hand, the dumb hand grasped very firmly, looked up at Zhang Zhongqi, and there were a few tears on his cheeks.

"Loose, let go." Zhang Zhongqi said softly, shaking his head firmly in a dumb voice, his eyes mixed with despair and pleading. This year's grain prices were high, and in July they exceeded 20 taels per stone, and when they bought them, they were less than 20 taels of catties. Zhang Zhongqi's private collection of silver taels during the looting in previous years has basically been used up, and now with the drag of Dengzhou Town, they have no chance to go out to rob the Ming Dynasty, so they have to eat frugally every province, hoping to delay the harvest of spring wheat in September.

"Let go, or they will kill us, what will the baby do then."

The mute looked back, and a skinny barefoot child was at the door of the side room, leaning on the door frame and revealing half of his face to look at the scene in the main room, his big eyes were full of panic, and the dumb man's hand loosened slightly.

There was a "choking" sound behind him, it was the sound of the knife coming out of the sheath, Zhang Zhongqi eagerly leaned into the dumb ear and whispered: "I still have silver hidden, we can still buy it." ”

The dumb man turned his eyes to look at Zhang Zhongqi, taking advantage of this distraction, Zhang Zhongqi violently pulled away the dumb man's hand, and the grain bag was immediately dragged away by Cherg, the mute roared with exhaustion, Zhang Zhongqi stopped him stubbornly, and watched several people take the grain to the courtyard and put it in front of Lai Daku.

Lai Daku stretched out his foot and gently kicked the grain bag, "It's less, fifty catties per person, and if he can't make it up, he will take other people's heads." ”

Cherge turned his head to Zhang Zhongqi and said: "Your family of three will pay one hundred and fifty catties, and one less catty will kill one." ”

Zhang Zhongqi let go of the mute, kowtowed again and again in the house, and his forehead was pretending to be loud on the ground, "The slave only has these grains, the master is gracious, and when the autumn grain is harvested, the slave will double it." ”

"Autumn grain is autumn grain, this time it is harvested by the Great Khan, everyone has to pay it, and those who are not in order have to be beheaded."

"Only the slave is a Dingkou ......"

"As long as the grain is eaten, it is Dingkou, and these grains can only be eaten by Qiding, which is used to fight the town of Dengzhou." After Cherge finished speaking, he took out his waist knife and slowly walked towards the main house, Taktan wanted to speak and stopped, he peeked at Lai Daku, turned his head to Zhang Zhongqi and glared, signaling him not to disobey Lai Daku.

"Zhang Zhongqi, your family is missing thirty catties of grain, which one do you choose to stay?"

"Minion, minion......" Zhang Zhongqi's eyes widened, watching Cherge's footsteps slowly approach, his breathing became heavier and heavier, and the mute behind him crawled over and held his hand, crying on the ground.

Zhang Zhongqi suddenly shouted: "The slave still has silver, the slave pays the silver, beg the master to spare his life!" ”

Cherg stopped and sneered: "Call you dishonest, bring it." ”……

A small bag under the firewood stack was dug out, Cherge shook off the soil on it, and poured the contents on the ground, there were three pieces of jewelry and about ten taels of silver, all of which were stolen by Zhang Zhongqi in previous expeditions, three of which were stolen from the Zhenyi soldiers of Benniulu, and the shape was relatively rare and easy to identify, he did not dare to sell it after returning to Liaodong, for fear of being recognized by those armor soldiers.

This Niu Lu was not very lucky, he suffered heavy blows in many battles, and his vitality was greatly injured in the process of Haoge seizing the control of the Zhenglan Banner, many old armor soldiers were no longer there, but Zhang Zhongqi still didn't dare to take it out, and he had been hiding under the most secret firewood stacks, and even the dumb people didn't know, and he was ready to save his life in the most difficult time.

Zhang Zhongqi knelt on the ground, desperately watching the last fortune fall into the hands of his master, being robbed of grain and this wealth, it was difficult for his family of three to survive until the autumn harvest in September, and there was still a lot of physical work before and after the autumn harvest, how could he do it without food.

Taktan next to him nodded comfortingly to Zhang Zhongqi, Zhang Zhongqi had a glimmer of hope in his heart, Taktan may help him, this old master is now an old soldier, and it is also a rare old white armor in the village, Lai Daku now also appreciates Taktan, and may be able to rely on this old master to get through these two months.

"Spare you a dog's life for the time being." A cold voice came out of Lai Daku's mouth, and he looked at Zhang Zhongqi on the ground expressionlessly, "You are a Nikan who carries a flag, don't think that you can be the master, next time you dare to hide your belongings, and take your head directly." ”

"Minions understand." Zhang Zhongqi hurriedly lowered his head, he heard the soldiers in the village say that during the Mandate of Heaven, there may be hundreds of lives in the hands of this Lai Daku, and Zhang Zhongqi will be weak every time he sees this person, for fear of angering this master.

Lai Daku waved his hand, several people left the courtyard of the Zhang family, Zhang Zhongqi raised his head slightly, from the courtyard gate to see a few ox carts parked on the road outside, full of large and small grain bags, his own bag of grain was also thrown on the ox cart, Lai Daku took a few white armor soldiers, went to a Zhenyi house diagonally opposite the door, that family is really Yi, but the head of the family was disabled in the battle of Lushun, now the son is having a hard time, Zhang Zhongqi feels inferior to himself, only to see Lai Daku still kicked open the door and walked in, and there was a cry soon after.

Zhang Zhongqi's heart was still beating violently, and he quickly got up and went back to the house at this time, the mute man in the house was holding his young son and crying loudly, Zhang Zhongqi wanted to speak and stopped, and sat on the ground dejectedly.

I don't know how long it took, the voice of Tak Tan sounded in the courtyard, Zhang Zhongqi shook his whole body, and quickly got up, and Tak Tan's figure had come to the door of the main house.

"Lord, master......" Zhang Zhongqi's voice trembled, he only had two or three taels of silver left, and the hope of the whole family's life was on Taktan.

Taktan glanced inside, and said to Zhang Zhongqi: "Don't argue with the master of Laidaku, the family surnamed Yang in the east of the village said a few words, and the whole family was cut down by the master of Laidaku, and the grain still had to be taken away." When you come to my house, I will give you some food to eat. ”

Zhang Zhongqi breathed a sigh of relief, and he involuntarily pulled Taktan's sleeve, "The slave family has thanked the young master for saving his life." ”

"But it's not too much, this year is not good, my family doesn't have much food, and I still have two coats, you ...... Enough for you to eat. ”

Zhang Zhongqi said dumbfoundedly: "How much food can the master give to the slaves." ”

"I can't take it out if I have more, anyway, there are still more than ten catties."

Zhang Zhongqi calculated in his heart, he still had a few taels of silver in his hand, if he bought some miscellaneous grains, he might be able to survive more than ten catties.

Taktan looked at Zhang Zhongqi and said strangely: "You don't know that we are going to go on an expedition soon?" ”

"Huh? Where to hit? But if you go to Xuanfu or Jizhen, that's good, you can grab a lot of things......"

"You still have to go to Wuzhen Chaoha, let's go to Haizhou Fuzhou, prepare to fight with Nadengzhou Town, the master said that if this battle is won, we can still go to the west in the future, and the North Korean side can also rob it." Therefore, I left this grain for you on the road, and if you don't bring your own rations when you go out on the expedition, Lai Daku may kill you directly. ”

Zhang Zhongqi looked at Taktan blankly, he didn't want to fight that Dengzhou town, every time he went to fight the Dengzhou soldiers, the master in Niu Lu said that it was better after the fight, but the more he fought, the more sad he became.

He muttered, "But what do our wives and children eat......

Taktan interrupted indifferently: "A female wrapper, if you win, you will grab a lot of it, if you starve to death, but there will be nothing, let's go." ”

Taktan took the lead and walked out, Zhang Zhongqi turned his head, and saw that the dumb man was still sitting on the ground with a sluggish expression, and he instructed the dumb man: "You stay in the house, I will go to the young master's house to get food, and leave it to you when I go on the expedition." ”

The dumb eyes rolled over, looking at Zhang Zhongqi blankly, he couldn't tell what kind of love it was, Zhang Zhongqi didn't have time to distinguish it, and chased after Taktan.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Zhongqi returned to the courtyard with a bag of grain, quickly closed the tattered firewood, carefully carried the bag of life-saving grain, came to the door of the main house and shouted: "Dumb, we have food again......

He pushed open the hidden door, the young son crawled on the ground, but there was no dumb figure, he raised his eyes slightly, a pair of dangling feet appeared in front of him, Zhang Zhongqi raised his head in a daze, the smile on his face froze A hissing wail sounded in the quiet courtyard, and the grain bag fell in front of the door, raising a meager dust.