On a rugged country dirt road, a convoy of three off-road vehicles moved slowly. Although the dirt road is not as potholed by tractors as in the 21st century rural roads, it is impossible to run at normal speeds.

Yi Genjian sat in the passenger seat of the lead car, his brain a little dizzy. The bumps of the car along with the undulations of the road, the turbid air in the enclosed space, and the smell of gasoline made him uncomfortable. As a 19th-century bun, he didn't know that this symptom was called motion sickness.

"How long is it left?" Lu Renjia, who was sitting in the back row, patted him on the shoulder and asked.

Holding back the feeling of wanting to vomit, Yi Genjian looked at the environment outside the car and replied: "Soon, turn over the slope in front of you and go to Yutangwei." ”

On both sides of the dirt road are large rice fields, and it is now the middle of the fourth lunar month, when the rice is beginning to tassel and flower, and some farmers are weeding and fertilizing the fields. Seeing these strange cars, which can move forward automatically without oxen and horses, they stopped their work one after another and stood in place and looked stupidly.

Over the hillside, a village appeared in front of it, and a fork in the road branched off from the left. Some thatched huts with earthen walls and firewood are scattered on both sides of the fork road, and at the end of the fork is a large walled village, Yutangwei refers to both this village and this walled house.

The convoy stopped at the fork in the road, which was just over three meters wide, and although the off-road vehicles could drive in, it was impossible to make a U-turn. So everyone got out of the car and prepared to walk into the village. Yi Genjian staggered out of the car and stood for a while holding on to the door before holding on to his stomach. Seeing that everyone was already lined up and waiting for him, he hurriedly ran to the front of the team to lead the way. He is a person from the nearby area, and he is a public servant in the yamen, and he is very familiar with the people of the three religions and nine streams here, so he was sent to be a guide this time.

The road was empty for some children, and the doors and windows of the houses along the street were closed, and all around were quiet, except for the occasional rooster or two. In addition to leaving three people to watch the car, the remaining dozen or so people walked towards the enclosure under the leadership of Yi Genjian. Yi Genjian introduced to Lu Renjia as he walked: "Chief, more than ninety percent of the people in this Yutangwei are surnamed Liang, and there are more than 800 dingkou in the whole clan, which is the largest clan in this area. Fifty percent of the land in the entire Futian area belongs to their family, almost more than 4,000 acres. Patriarch Liang Kairong is almost fifty years old this year, and he was a Xiucai when he was young, in addition to him, there are two other students in the Liang family who have learned in the county and also have the fame of Xiucai. Seeing that the chief was not interested in these, Yi Genjian changed the topic again. The Liang family is still a wealthy man, and they have business in the city, Dongguan, Tamsui, and Huizhou. Liang Kairong's old guy is fifty years old, and he married a fifteen-year-old girl as an aunt last year, and I don't know if his thing can still be used......" The intention of using eye medicine in the words is very obvious, presumably it is the idea of instigating Lu Renjia to blackmail the Liang family of three or five hundred taels of silver, and he will be able to share a few profits at that time. Zhao Zhiyuan just smiled when he heard his words, and didn't pay attention to it.

As they spoke, the team had reached the door of the enclosure. I saw that in front of the enclosure house was a large pond, and a canal surrounding the enclosure attracted living water into this pond, which was not only the place where the villagers washed and washed vegetables, but also played a role in fire prevention and theft. The wall in front of the enclosure is ten meters high, with some small holes at the top. The whole enclosure is square, one side is hundreds of meters long, there are watchtowers at the four corners, and the whole is a castle with southern characteristics.

At this time, the gate of the enclosure was closed, and some figures could be faintly seen shaking behind the shooting holes of the gatehouse, and from time to time there were flashes of metal reflections. Yi Genjian took two steps forward and shouted at the gatehouse: "The people in Yutangwei have heard clearly, we are the Chinese Liberation Army, you quickly open the gate to greet you!" ”

After a long while, I heard someone on the gatehouse answer: "Dare to ask which hero is below?" Why do you come to the village? ”

Being regarded as a robber who robbed the house made Yi Genjian angry, "Fat guy Liang, you are blind, and you don't even know your master?" ”

The people on the gatehouse hurriedly apologized, "Shu Xiao's eyes are not good, I didn't recognize your old man." Gen Ye is dressed in a foreign dress today, and he is full of spirit, so that the little ones can't recognize it. ”

At this time, it was already ten o'clock in the morning, and the sun had begun to exude its power, Yi Genjian was also impatient to grind his teeth with people under the sun, and shouted: "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and open the door to let your Genye in." ”

"Root and slow! The little one doesn't know what kind of business your old man is doing here, and if you make it clear, I will show that my master has prepared early! Although the words are respectful, the implication is that they will never open the door until they are clear.

Lu Renjia stopped Yi Genjian, who was about to be furious, took a megaphone from the soldier's hand, and said loudly to the gatehouse: "Listen to the people of Yutangwei, we are the Chinese Liberation Army, and we are the team that opposes the Qing Dynasty and the Han Dynasty and restores China. The county seat of Xin'an has been recovered by our army the day before yesterday, and from now on this place will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the Manchu Qing government, and you will no longer be subjects of the Great Qing Dynasty. "Lu Renjia is 35 years old this year, medium height and thin, and he used to be a panacea who knew a little bit about anything. Today, he volunteered to lead the team to the countryside, for which he specially wore a Type 87 summer army officer uniform, with the rank of captain, and a pistol on his belt, which looked majestic. These few words are deafening, and both the volume and the content frighten the people inside. The fat guy Liang said, "Please wait a moment!" Then there was no sound, and I guess I went to consult with someone who could make up my mind.

At first, I thought it was a traitor who led a foreign soldier to rob, but after listening to the words of the soldier, I knew that this group of people was a thief. Although I heard the rumors yesterday that the county town was occupied by a group of foreign soldiers, I thought it was just the work of Yingyi, who knew that this disaster would come to the door today. Fat guy Liang is a fat man in his twenties, his real name is Liang Shao'an, and he is the nephew of the head of the Liang family. He descended the gatehouse and ran into the inner courtyard as fast as he could, not matching his size at all. In the hall sat an old man, a gray-haired old man on the main seat, with a rich face, and his hair, eyebrows, and beard were meticulously combed. Sitting around are the heads of each house, all waiting for the news of Fat Guy Liang to discuss countermeasures together. As a negotiator, Liang Shaoan ran in in a hurry, and he didn't care about asking the elders for peace, so he hurriedly reported the situation outside. Although there were only a dozen of them in this group, they were all neatly dressed, tall and tall, and the foreign guns in their hands were also very sophisticated. Not to mention those hungry thieves, even the green battalion soldiers and horses of the imperial court cannot be compared, but they are similar to those Western soldiers I have seen before, and their clothes are also very similar. ”

In fact, several bigwigs have secretly sent people to observe this group of people, and they all agree with Liang Shaoan's evaluation, and now what we want to discuss is whether to let this group of people enter the siege. "What are these thieves doing with him? But with only a dozen people, can you still turn the sky upside down? As soon as we close the gate, they can only stare outside, and if they don't know what to do, I will lead the group to destroy them. There were only a dozen foreign guns, and there were hundreds of us, and one person drowned them with a spit. A young man standing behind Liang Jinrong spoke first, this person is Liang Jin'an, the second son of the Liang patriarch, who likes to dance with guns and sticks on weekdays, has the fame of Wu Xiucai, and is also the head of the Liang family's group training.

"Presumptuous! How can you talk nonsense in front of your uncles?! Liang Jinrong patted the next few cases, and the tea cup on it jumped with it.

Being reprimanded by his father made Xiao Liang a little stunned, but he didn't dare to speak back, so he had to retreat to the side and sulk. The heads of several rooms looked at each other, and no one dared to come out to echo Xiao Liang, and they all didn't say a word. Patriarch Liang looked around, watching the uncles and brothers silent, and couldn't help lamenting in his heart: On weekdays, for a little profit, each room is red-faced and ugly. Now something really happened, but they were dumbfounded. It's really a lack of vertical and conspiracy! was secretly distressed, and suddenly saw his nephew Liang Shao'an looking like he wanted to speak and stopped, so he said, "Shao'an, what do you have in mind?" Just speak up! He added, "It's okay to be wrong!" The obvious favoritism made Xiao Liang very unhappy, but he didn't dare to express his dissatisfaction.

"Uncle has a life, how dare my nephew disobey. If there is anything wrong, please bear with me! Liang Shaoan humbly said a few words, and then directly threw out his own opinions, "According to the little nephew's humble opinion, it's not a way for us to guess and think here, it's better to let that group of people enter the siege and ask for clarity before making plans!" ”

This sentence is like pouring a scoop of cold water into an oil pot, which immediately caused a huge reaction. The people who refused to speak like puppets just now spoke out one after another, which was nothing more than the conclusion of "luring the wolf into the house" and "opening the door to thieves", in a word, this gang of anti-thieves could not be allowed to enter the siege. In their opinion, this gang of thieves must have come to "collect food". This salary will eventually be distributed to them, and these people all take their own interests very seriously, and they are not willing to bleed, so they naturally oppose the opinions of the fat boy.

"Shut up!" Liang Jinrong's shouting suppressed all the noise, and he said to Liang Shaoan, who was slightly embarrassed: "Tell me your reasons!" ”

Liang Shao'an looked at the elders who were glaring angrily around him, then looked at the encouraging gaze of the patriarch, gritted his teeth and said: "The surname Yi is a fast hand on the roster of the county government, and it should not be a blatant collusion with thieves to earn us Yutangwei." Thinking about it, the so-called Guangfu Army must have occupied the county. Although the nephew doesn't know where this Guangfu army came from, it is nothing more than a road with the anti-Qing and Mingming heaven and earth. Changmao occupied the south of the Yangtze River, the imperial army was already exhausted, and the soldiers and horses of Guangdong were newly defeated by Yangyi. It is precisely because the Liberation Army saw this clearly that it took the opportunity to raise troops, and the government was unable to come and eradicate it within a few months. No matter what happens in the future, within this year, everyone in Xinan County will have to listen to this Liberation Army. I heard that after the city of Guangzhou was breached, Yangyi also set up a new government in the city, this gang of thieves dressed in foreign clothes, maybe they were traitors bought by foreigners, and they occupied Xin'an County, maybe there were foreigners behind their backs. ”

Because they were wearing modern clothes, the traversers were once again regarded as traitors, but as the parties concerned, they didn't know anything about it. A cadre waited outside the door for half an hour, but they didn't see the people from the surrounding village come back to answer, even Lu Renjia was impatient, and was about to ask Yi Genjian to urge again, when he heard a sound behind the door of the walled house, and then saw the door with two doors knocking on copper nails slowly opening. A young fat man walked out, clasped his hands into fists, and confessed repeatedly. "The master is here, the villain is far away, and I hope the master will bear with me!" As he spoke, he stood on the side of the road and made a gesture of please. "The Liang family is waiting in the village, and I also ask you to move into the encirclement!"