Zhao Jin nodded, waved his hand and greeted a few partners not far away, Shi Manqiang had already returned to Hejiazhuang first, two regiments, there must always be a regiment sitting over there, Zhao Jin opened his mouth and said: "Let's go over together, this strangeness of Qi San should be related to the Feng family's stewardship." ”

On the side of the main hall of the freight yard, Zhao Jinyi sat down first, Liu Yong greeted outside, and the three brothers of the Qi family rushed in, and greeted respectfully when they entered the hall, their weapons had been dropped, and they were specially searched.

The three brothers of the Qi family are older than most of the people in Zhao Ziying, although they are only twenty or thirty years old, they seem to be much more mature, at this time they all have sad and angry looks on their faces, as if they are desperately suppressing something, Zhao Jin carefully observed, and even saw several hidden fears of this brother.

"Yesterday, the steward of the Feng family came, Qi San was wrong, what the hell is going on, let's talk about it" Liu Yong said straight to the point.

The three brothers looked at each other, and this time it was the boss Qi Da who spoke first: "Master, yesterday's steward was surnamed Tao, and the three of us brothers had seen him once, but this steward Tao may not be able to recognize us......"

Huai'an Mansion is the production area of Huai salt, the coast is all salt farms, salt tax is the main source of the world's fiscal and tax, here is the lifeblood of the imperial court, everything here is to ensure the production of Huai salt.

Cooking salt requires fuel, and withered grass is the easiest way to control firepower, which is very suitable for boiling salt, so most of Huai'an Province is barren beach wasteland, which is not allowed to be cultivated by the people, but only left long grass for harvesting as fuel.

The Yellow River in Huai'an Prefecture is on one side, the border between Shandong and Nanzhili is on one side, and the sea is on the other.

The people who fled the famine, the people who fled into Huai'an Mansion for various reasons, these people constituted the main force of private reclamation, they burned out the vacant land in the barren grass beach, sowed seeds and reclaimed the famine, because the land here is vast and sparsely populated, and the government cannot manage it, so naturally there is no tax, and it is quite a paradise.

But poverty is poverty after all, and it is difficult to leave the homeland, if it is not for the occurrence of something that has to leave, who would want to leave the hometown and enter this ghostly barren grass beach, besides, there is no government here, no gentry, there is no royal law and order, it is a lawless world.

The barren grass beach of Huai'an Province has become a place where the weak and the strong eat, and the horse bandits gather, and those refugees who come here have to offer their production to these powerful people even if they have reclaimed the land, and they have to endure the bullying and exploitation of these powerful people.

Outside, these ringing horse bandits also have a name, Zhao Jin has heard of it a few times, and even dealt with it a few times, this group of people is the so-called "grass nest thieves".

After being bullied and oppressed for a long time, the refugee people have also begun to gather to protect themselves, some of these people have stayed in the official army, some have been trained by the township brave regiment, and some have practiced martial arts, and these people have become the core of the force.

These villages that gather people to protect themselves also have a name, called "Eighteen Villages of Grass Nest", which is actually composed of more than 30 large and small settlement villages.

If there are many people, they are bold and courageous, and they have enough strength, and they have been beaten and retreated in the past, and they no longer dare to come easily, and even the people in the salt works who have never dealt with them will mean it when they cross the border with private salt.

Some people have money, the leaders of the eighteen villages of the grass nest have ambitions, and began to think about their own trafficking in illicit salt, they are close to the salt works along the coast of Haizhou, and often have close contacts with the stove households who come to collect grass, and they are also familiar with the routes, and after getting the illegal salt, it will be transported to Xuzhou and Fengyang Mansion There are a lot of profits.

Suddenly, one day, the officers and soldiers of Yangzhou Mansion and Huai'an Mansion made a big move to sweep the interior of Huai'an Mansion, saying that officials and thieves are not mutually exclusive, but this time, those grass nest thieves also acted with the officers and soldiers, acting as eyeliner, and even as the main force of the sweep.

At this critical moment, even people in Caowo Eighteen Villages colluded with officials and soldiers, and the people in Caowo Eighteen Villages knew nothing about this in advance.

The result was doomed, and the villages and settlements were swept away, because the people in the barren grass beach were fleeing from everywhere, not above the household registration, and legally belonged to non-existent hidden households, so no matter the officials and thieves, they could let go.

Burning, killing, looting, and doing all kinds of evil, the eighteen villages of the grass nest were destroyed, and many scattered villages in the barren grass beach and grass nest were also swept away, and more than 100 small places were often killed to the point that no one was left, and only women over the age of 20 were given no chance to live, and only boys and girls in their teens and younger were left behind, bought everywhere to be slaves and prostitutes.

The three brothers of the Qi family are the people of the eighteen villages of the grass nest, and the eighteen villages of the grass nest also have a small horse team, a total of dozens of horses, when the officers and soldiers are cleared in a big way, there are a few lucky people in the horse team who escaped from the village, but the wives and children are all killed.

“…… The little one once went back, and everything in the shack was burned, and my family didn't even have a whole corpse, and my two children were gnawed by wolves to the point that only their brains remained......" Qi Da cried as he spoke.

After escaping, the few surviving people turned back again, and saw the corpses of the family members who had become ruins, and the grass nest thieves were still wandering around, although these people and refugees could not be killed casually in the household registration, but such a heavy killing could not be passed on after all, especially the adults could not be left with the intention of revenge, so the Feng family's family Ding family slaves led the grass nest thieves to search for remnants everywhere in Huai'an Mansion, and there was even a high reward.

The three of them escaped again, but this time only the three of them were left, and the potter was in the ranks today.

“…… Our brother inquired for a long time, only to learn that the Feng family instigated this incident, and the Feng family itself used more than 300 horses, and even the deputy chief soldier of Wolf Mountain lent his own family or something...... "Qi San gritted his teeth and said.

“…… Our brother wanted to go to Yangzhou to take revenge, but when he went, he realized how big the Feng family was and how well guarded it was, and the officers and soldiers in the city all listened to the orders of their Feng family, and for a few days in Yangzhou, the opportunity was not found, and they were almost targeted......"

Hearing this, Zhao Jin raised his hand, motioned for them to pause, and asked with some confusion: "You have touched the bottom line of the Feng family by trafficking in illicit salt, I understand what they are doing for Lu, but I can teach you a lesson丨Wouldn't it be better to even let you be used by him, why do you want to kill so much, there are too many dead people, and it is too reckless for such a big family to do things."

Eighteen villages in Caowo, to kill to such an extent, there are always tens of thousands of lives, and the Feng family not only used their own force, but even drove the officers and soldiers to spend so much money on the green forests, rivers and lakes, it is inevitable that it is a bit of a fuss.

"Master, some small things also learned afterwards that the Feng family itself also had to hide people in the grass nest, and most of the private salt on the salt field had to go to the grass nest, and he occupied this place not only for his own convenience, but also for other people's ......."

Hearing this explanation, Zhao Jin nodded slowly, if the Feng family is for this, it is worth it.

However, Zhao Jin did not continue to talk to the three brothers of the Qi family, but turned to Wang Zhaojing and said with a smile: "Taiping Shidao, can you think that there is such a killing in Taiping Shidao?" ”

Wang Zhaojing shook his head and said with a strange face: "Maybe everything I see is in the city, and there is no place for kings outside the city." ”

Zhao Jin turned to the three brothers of the Qi family, groaned and said: "The steward of the Feng family should not recognize you, even if you do, you are the people of my Zhao Ziying, I will protect you Don't worry about anything, busy with you."

Hearing Zhao Jin's words, the three brothers of the Qi family did not move, exchanged glances with each other, they all knelt down and kowtowed, and said eagerly: "Master, please uphold justice for the little ones, please ask the master to avenge the little ones and repay this blood debt"

After finishing speaking, the three of them slammed the blue brick floor, and their foreheads soon turned blue and bloody, which showed that they were full of force.

"Get up" Zhao Jin said in a loud voice, his tone was a little cold, the three brothers of the Qi family did not dare to insist, and hurriedly stood up.

Zhao Jin stared at the three brothers of the Qi family and said: "I said that I would protect you, this is a reward for your work for Zhao Ziying, but I have no grievances with the Feng family, and there is no conflict between Zhao Ziying and the Feng family, if you go to fight with the Feng family for the blood feud of the three of you, then I am sorry for the brothers below, you can stay if you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out, stay for yourself."

The three brothers of the Qi family knelt down and kowtowed to look sincere, but Zhao Jin felt a trace of coercion, which made him very uncomfortable.

Having said this, the three brothers of the Qi family didn't dare to mess around, looked at each other, and said in a sullen voice: "The little ones were also confused just now, the master can take in the little ones, so that we can have today's day"

Speaking of this, Qi Er, who had been silent, interjected and said: "The master protects the three younger brothers, such a great kindness, the little ones will not forget." ”

Zhao Jin waved his hand, Liu Yong stood up and let the three Qi family go down, as soon as the three brothers of the Qi family left, Chen Huang sneered and said: "The three of them are frightened, they have been hiding, and the Feng family steward is scared like this, but it is ridiculous and wants to be careful, and encourage us to go and fight with the Feng family." ”

"Xiao Yong, these three people still use it as usual, but don't give any important errands, and keep an eye on it, Bingfeng, you have to order the horse team to go down, this Qi San is still a team, and he is so confused." Zhao Jin instructed a few words.

Everyone nodded in agreement, Wang Zhaojing shook his head here, sighed and said: "That group of people is really pitiful, they finally escaped to the barren grass beach, they wanted to survive hard, but they were killed like this, it's miserable."