Jishui County is on the east bank of the Ganjiang River, but its elite land is on the west bank.

Li Banghua sailed by boat from outside the county seat, and saw that there were many soldiers on the city tower, and it was obvious that Jishui Zhixian had recruited the township to defend the city.

"It's okay, it's okay, the thieves didn't attack the city." Zhixian Feng Zhang's face was full of horror, and he sat down paralyzed as he saw the thief ship leave.

A Confucian priest said, "The auspicious water is finished." ”

"You have to kill it back." Another Confucian clenched his fists.

These two are clan brothers, one is named Zhou Ruibao and the other is Zhou Ruixu.

Zhou Ruibao was still a magistrate in Sichuan last year, and due to the severe drought in the local area for many years, he led the people to build a pond weir and dig a well to get water to alleviate the drought. The grain was taken to disaster relief, so naturally he could not pay taxes, so he was dismissed and rolled back to his hometown.

Zhou Ruixu used to be a magistrate in Zhejiang, and because of his outstanding political achievements, he was praised by Chongzhen and promoted to the fourth level of Wenxuan Shilangzhong. Of course, his mentors and classmates helped a lot, otherwise this promotion would be too outrageous. It's a pity that the butt hasn't been hot yet, and suddenly received bad news, and hurriedly rushed back to his hometown to mourn.

When the brothers learned of the Luling thief, they came together to meet Jishui Zhixian and connected the gentry of the county to recruit Xiangyong.

At first, the gentry of Jishui County were still waiting. But in the summer harvest season, most of Luling County rioted, which frightened the gentry in Jishui County next door.

Today, they have recruited more than 1,000 villagers.

The squires who participated in the recruitment of soldiers all brought silver and food with their families and moved to live in the county seat, leaving only a few ethnic groups and domestic slaves in the village.

"Brother Chang, you have to contact the governor to suppress the thief!" The person who spoke was named Li Chun'an, the son of Li Rixuan of Dali Temple, and also the nephew of Li Banghua.

Zhou Ruixu said worriedly: "Governor Li is suppressing thieves in Duchang, and I am afraid that he will not be able to go south until the beginning of spring." ”

There is also a scholar named Li Musheng next to him, the son of Li Yuanding, the director of the Literature and Anthology Department of the Ministry of Officials, and also the nephew of Li Banghua.

There are a lot of scholars here, to the son of Luo Wanjue, the elder brother of the prefect Shi Fengyuan, and so on. There are also those who fled from Luling County, such as Hu Yilong's brother in the matter, etc., and those who have family members who are officials in the court will not compromise easily.

They took more than 1,000 villagers, raised them with their own grain, and defended Jishui County with the danger of the Ganjiang River.

Until the evening, before the thieves came to attack the city, the crowd finally dispersed, leaving some of the soldiers on guard.

The next day, news came that the thieves were sweeping the villages and towns, and the leader was none other than Li Banghua!

Everyone was silent, Li Banghua was actually a thief, it was too unimaginable, they all thought it was fake news.

In front of the Li brothers, many gentry were not easy to speak out, and they got together in private, but they scolded Li Banghua's ancestors for eighteen generations.

Li Musheng quietly found Li Chun'an: "Brother, my uncle has become an anti-thief official, or let's go to the thief too." ”

"Bastard!"

Li Chunan scolded: "Your father, my father, are all officials of the imperial court. If we are thieves, our father will be imprisoned, and you are going to be disloyal and unfilial! ”

Li Musheng said with a bitter face: "If we don't return to our hometown, all the land and property will be divided by the thieves." ”

"What about the division of fields?" Li Chunan sneered, "The money and grain have been brought out, as long as there are people in the court, are you afraid that there will be no land in the future?" ”

Li Musheng sighed and said: "The anti-thief is fierce, I am afraid that the governor will not be able to exterminate it, what will happen when the time comes?" ”

Li Chunan scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, can the Zhao thief still take the country?" ”

Li Musheng was silent, his family has the most land, which is tens of thousands of acres of land, which has been saved by several generations!

……

Tanimura, Lee's house.

"Get on your knees!"

Li Tingji was so angry that he trembled all over, and pointed at his son with a cane and yelled.

Li Banghua honestly knelt on the ground and said to his subordinates: "You go to do things, first divide my family's field, and if anyone obstructs it, tie it up." ”

Li Tingzhi was dumbfounded, and said with a shocked face: "You traitor, have you been poured ecstasy soup?" It's just a thief, and he even brought a thief to divide his own land! ”

Li Banghua sighed and said, "Father, do you remember how my grandmother was buried? ”

"At that time, the family was poor, and everything was simple," Li Tingji sighed, "The children and grandchildren were incompetent, so they could only let the elders be wrapped in straw and hide from the neighbors of the village to be buried secretly." But after you became rich, you chose a feng shui treasure place and buried your elders in a beautiful way, which is worthy of your ancestors. ”

Li Banghua asked again: "Father, do you remember that there were only a few acres of land left in the family back then?" Now there are more than 1,000 acres. ”

Li Tingzhi said: "As a big official, you only have 1,000 acres of land at home, and you are already extremely clean. ”

Li Banghua knelt down and asked: "Father, do you know how many scholars there are in the world, how many people in the world, the elders can only be scribbled when they pass away, and they work hard all day but can't eat?" Father knows how many people in the northern provinces not only can't be buried when they die, but they also have to be shared with meat to eat! ”

"What's the matter with me!" Li Tingji roared.

Li Banghua's tone slowed down: "Father, the articles in the child's belly were all taught by you back then." What is benevolence? What is righteousness? ”

Li Tingji angrily reprimanded: "What is loyalty, what is filial piety!" ”

Li Banghua smiled bitterly: "How can the child ever be unfaithful? But what a good use is this loyalty! The child patrolled Tianjin, and the Tianjin New Army had only been formed for a few years, but it was already a mess. The child offended countless magnates, and the Tianjin New Army was rectified to make it a model for the towns of Beizhi. But the child Chongzhen came back and forth in the first year, and passed through Tianjin on the way back to Beijing, and in just a few years, the new army in Tianjin was completely empty, and the soldiers fled to only three or four percent. ”

"The children reorganized the Beijing camp, worked hard, and arranged layers of defense lines. Not to mention defeating the Tartars, at least it will make it difficult for the Tartars to plunder. But as soon as the Tartars broke through the pass, and there were still hundreds of miles away from the Beijing division, the imperial court withdrew all the Beijing camps, and several lines of defense leaked like a sieve. The child is a dignified soldier in the army, but he can only catch spies in the city! The soldiers guarding the city, none of the children could command them, and the artillery on the city accidentally injured the friendly soldiers, which was also the responsibility of the children, so they dismissed the officials and returned home! ”

"This court, this emperor, how can people be loyal!"

Li Tingzhi was so angry that he frantically clubbed his cane: "Then you can't be a thief!" ”

Li Banghua suddenly laughed: "Father thinks that the child is an easy thief? If you encounter an ordinary thief, you will be captured, and you will die. ”

Li Tingji finally calmed down a little, and wondered: "Then what is so good about the Zhao thief that he actually fascinated you?" ”

"It's just to help the world and save the people." Li Banghua also does not believe in the great harmony of the world, he knows that it is impossible.

Li Tingji was so angry that he laughed: "A thief, you say he helps the world and saves the people?" ”

Li Banghua said with emotion: "The princes of the court, the corpse is vegetarian, ignoring the people of the world. actually let a thief come to help the world and save the people, and this situation is reversed. If it is upside down, it will be upside down, and it is better to recreate the world one day sooner. My father had lived in Jiangxi for a long time and didn't understand what the north was like. Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong have suffered disasters year after year, and people's livelihood is becoming increasingly difficult. The imperial court only knows how to suppress and appease, but it has no ability to recuperate, and the northern rebels will only suppress more and more. This Ming Dynasty is already the end of the dynasty. ”

Suddenly, Li Banghua kowtowed respectfully: "Father, the Li family's land property must be divided, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public, please forgive my father!" ”

Li Tingji sat back in his chair and was speechless for a long time.

Li Banghua kowtowed again, got up and walked out of the hall, and personally went to preside over the division of the field, first dividing his own field.

……

Night.

Zhou Ruibao, Zhou Ruixu and other gentry children took hundreds of villagers to row boats across the river.

By the time they arrived at the West Bank, they had dispersed into several groups due to the black lights. However, there were also many scholars who took the lead, there were twenty or thirty people, and each of them led his troops into the villages along the river in the dark.

"Kill!"

"Kill those mobs!"

The sound of killing sounded one after another, and the gentry with the village brave, rushed in to slash and kill when they saw the houses.

Zhou Ruibao, a good official who loves the people like a son, threw away his black gauze hat in order to help the people. But at this time, he turned into an executioner and personally wiped out two tenant farmers, just to retaliate against the tenant farmers for dividing up the landlord's land.

Huang Mi, Huang Shun and other military attachés came to Jishui County with Li Banghua this time, and every 50 soldiers were stationed in one village, responsible for protecting the field officials and missionary personnel.

Hearing the shouting of killing, Huang Qi immediately got startled and shouted loudly: "Luo Chun, your people are guarding here, and the others will follow me to kill the thief!" ”

Xiao He, the missionary, hurriedly came: "Mr. Huang, we don't need to protect, let's go with you to kill the thief." ”

The situation was urgent, Huang Mi didn't bother to say more, and only advised: "Keep up, don't run away." ”

Torches were raised, soldiers were armed, and civilians were in a variety of hands.

The soldiers scattered in the villages went to kill the enemy in the vicinity. Xiang Yong not only killed people, but also set fire to the house, and the flames were so bright that it was easy to identify the direction.

"Kill the thief!"

"The thieves are coming, run!"

Both sides call each other a thief, and they don't know who is the thief.

But one thing is clear, the village warriors recruited by the gentry are very timid in battle. When he saw the peasant army coming, he immediately turned around and ran, ran back to the shore and fled by boat.

There are also many villagers, who are panicked in the dark, and they can't find where their ship is.

Huang Mi encountered a group of enemies and fled frantically along the shore. He didn't care about his subordinates, and he accelerated with a pair of long legs, and rushed behind the enemy alone.

"Kill!"

Huang Qi shouted to give himself courage, and stabbed the enemy in the back with a shot.

The villagers were so frightened that they scattered, and they didn't know how many pursuers there were behind them, and they all ran forward in the dark with their heads covered.

"The boat is over there!"

By the moonlight, some villagers shouted.

"Kill!"

Huang Qi chased after him and stabbed another one.

The villagers climbed onto the boat in panic, only to see that Huang Mi was alone. But they didn't dare to fight back, because there were more pursuers in the distance.

"Kill!"

Huang Qi flipped the third.

"Pull me up!"

"I haven't gotten on yet, don't sail."

"Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, it's going to flip."

“……”

There were six small boats here, and in the panic, only two managed to escape back to the other side.

Many villagers simply jumped into the water to escape, and Huang Mi stood on the shore and stabbed two more to death.

Early the next morning, Li Banghua hurried over, saw the burned houses and the corpses of the tenants, and stood in silence for a long time.

"Can the dead be counted?" Li Banghua asked.

Huang Qi replied: "The thieves attacked six villages at night, and they did not rob money and food, but only killed people and set them on fire. None of the people we brought with us were casual. But 358 peasants, including children, were killed in Jishui County. The thieves ran fast, we only killed 21 and captured 6 alive. ”

Li Banghua sighed: "Alas, sooner or later, this kind of thing will happen." ”