Laohe Village is more than 20 miles away from Nianping Village, not far from the villagers in the village is not very communicative, after all, the village has been exploited by the landlord, and there is naturally no trade between the village, only between the landlord and the landlord, and the things traded are exploited from the farmers in the village.

The landlord of Laohe Village is named Zhang Wangcai, and at the age of 50, he took over his father's property and became the landlord of Laohe Village, and continued to exploit the villagers of Laohe Village.

This time received the transaction of the landlord of Nianping Village, he also attached great importance to it, the price of a group of lambs and calves is not cheap, a hundred oceans are less, when the landlord of Nianping Village came over, the other party also proposed to buy old cattle, the old cattle are his tools to make money, naturally they will not sell, but calves and lambs can be sold.

The lambs and calves needed by the landlord of Nianping Village are not a small amount, in fact, he does not have so many lambs and calves in his own hands, but the villagers of Laohe Village have, the previous land tax has tripled, and many villagers of Laohe Village have not paid enough, so they let him have a grace period of a few days, and he agreed.

Who knew that the transaction in Nianping Village came, Zhang Wangcai agreed there, and here he led people to start robbing the lambs and calves of the farmers in Laohe Village, and several lambs and calves that had just been planted were robbed by Zhang Wangcai.

Today is the day of the transaction, the lamb is still one missing, I saw Zhou Jiwang's ewe belly before, it should have been pregnant for a long time, and now I see that the day of the transaction is in the afternoon, in order to complete the transaction, Zhang Wangcai led a group of ruffians with guns to rush into Zhou Jiwang's house.

The door was knocked open, and the old farmer Wang, who was feeding the ewes, was obviously stunned, and his son Zhou Jiwang ran out of the room, and saw that it was Zhang Wangcai, and hurriedly said: "Master Zhang, why are you here today, our family's grain has been paid." ”

Zhang Wangcai strode in and stretched out his hand: "Today is naturally not for food, I am for it!" ”

Zhou Jiwang hurriedly said: "Master Zhang, it has only been pregnant for three months, and it is not yet the time to give birth to a lamb, can you take it." ”

Zhang Wangcai didn't bother to talk nonsense with them, and said coldly: "My land feeds your family, what's wrong with a sheep?" Take it away for Lao Tzu! ”

Zhou Jiwang suddenly panicked, and hurriedly blocked in front of the ewe, but was smashed to the ground by Zhang Wangcai's hand with the butt of a gun, two ruffians punched and kicked Zhou Jiwang, and smashed his head with the butt of the gun, after two or three times, Zhou Jiwang's mouth and nose came out of blood, and he pleaded bitterly:

"Master Zhang, you can't take it away, it's our family's last hope, you can't take it away."

Zhou Jiwang's old father also went to stop it, and was dragged aside by a ruffian hooligan who grabbed his clothes and smashed it with the butt of a gun, screaming and crying came out of Zhou Jiwang's yard, in the room, Zhou Jiwang's old mother ran out with a dustpan, saw the picture in the yard, the dustpan in his hand fell to the ground, and ran out of the house in a hurry, and suddenly stumbled on the wooden plank in front of the hall, and his head hit the ground heavily, and the red blood soaked the sand on the ground.

"Take the sheep away!"

Zhang Wangcai ignored such a picture, ordered his subordinates to turn around and leave with a look of 'baa' and screaming, stopped his movements at the ruffian hooligans who punched and kicked Zhou Jiwang and his old father, smashed Zhou Jiwang with the butt of his gun, and said coldly:

"The lord can take a fancy to your sheep, it is a blessing for your family, maybe I will be happy in the coming year, reduce some taxes for your family, don't know what to do, the land you use is the lord's land, without the lord, do you think your family can still live?"

The screams of the ewe gradually drifted away, and the sight of the lake saw that the gate was closed heavily, as if it was pushed open again, it was the neighbor next door who ran in, Zhou Jiwang's eyes were closed, and his consciousness became the lake, and when he woke up again, the old father was injured by the landlord's men, lying on the bed, the old mother fell to the ground, her head was broken, and the only ewe in the family was robbed by the landlord.

Zhou Jiwang propped up his body angrily: "I'll go to the landlord!" ”

The old mother burst into tears, her voice was sad and desperate: "What to take, the situation of several families in the village is the same as ours, they were just robbed of the lambs, and our family even snatched the ewes, and your father was also broken." ”

The neighbor peasant woman hugged Zhou Jiwang's old mother, sympathizing but there was no way to do it, the landlord had the power, money, land, people, and guns, and there was no good end to going against the landlord.

Zhou Jiwang lay on the bed in despair, looking at the dilapidated house with blank eyes, the only ewe with financial resources this year was snatched away, and all the food in the family was paid the land tax, for their family, it was undoubtedly the sky falling.

The old mother cried out in despair: "How can you live this day?" ”

Zhang Wangcai took his men and led the ewe home, and brought the lambs and calves he had gotten before, and explained to the housekeeper when he left: "Bring guns and ammunition to make sure this transaction is foolproof!" ”

The housekeeper understood and called a group of people back to the room to prepare weapons and ammunition, while Zhang Wangcai sat in a sedan chair and followed a few farmers who were herding sheep towards the outside of the village.

On the other side, Li Qingming took a squad of soldiers, carrying a huge amount of money, and after a long journey, he finally saw Laohe Village, which is located between the mountains and forests, and Laohe Village was named after a river flowing down from the mountains passing through the village, and this river was called Laohe.

"There is also a lot less water in the old river." Li Qingming walked across a wooden bridge across the old river, looked down at the trickling water in the old river, and couldn't help but say.

"Deputy company commander, I heard that the weather is changeable this year, the weather in some places is severe, and the crop harvest has decreased a lot, although our side has not been affected, but this rainy season is obviously much less."

The Red Army soldiers were basically peasants, and they were very concerned about the harvest of their crops, and they could also hear some news about other regions when they went to the county town on weekdays, so they naturally learned a lot about other areas.

"Drought is a big problem." Li Qingming's current identity is no longer just the eldest son of the Li family, his identity is a Red Army cadre, not only for the people, but also for the Red Army soldiers.

"Deputy company commander, are you wondering if the drought will affect our village, no, it is in the east of us, even if there is a drought, it will not affect our side, and although the rain is less this year, it is not nothing."

"No, as long as we continue to maintain this rainfall, not too much, not too little, not to mention that there is a river at the mouth of our village, even if there is a real drought, we can still go there to get water."

Several fighters gasped and chatted, and one soldier looked up and saw the low houses in Laohe Village appearing in front of him, and said, "Deputy company commander, we have arrived." ”

Li Qingming raised his head, looked at Laohe Village, and said, "Be careful, the local lord is not a good stubble, this transaction must be foolproof!" ”

"Yes!"

Several fighters stopped chatting, and their eyes became wary.

At the entrance of the village, Zhang Wangcai and a group of his subordinates are waiting, the villagers here have been driven away by them, no one will come here again, and the transaction can be carried out smoothly.

One of his men ran over and said, "Sir, they're coming." ”

When the words fell, more than a dozen people appeared at the entrance of the village, Zhang Wangcai squinted, and a smile appeared on his face: "If you miss the distance, what do you call Mr." ”

"Li Qingming."

"Mr. Li, I don't know if the money is ready?" Zhang Wangcai adhered to the principle of trading first and eating later, and his eyes swept over the few people behind Li Qingming.

"Naturally, it's ready, I don't know if Mr. Zhang's goods are ready." Li Qingming asked.

"Trading, pay attention to integrity, we Zhang Wangcai do business, has always been the most honest." He asked his men to open the wooden cage beside him, and the lambs and calves were locked in it, and in the other cage was a ewe, and the sun shone in, and the originally calm ewe bleated.

When the ewes were heard, so did the lambs in other cages.

Li Qingming asked the soldiers to count the number of lambs and calves, and he asked Zhang Wangcai: "What's the matter with this ewe?" ”

Zhang Wangcai smiled and said: "The number of lambs is not very enough, but this ewe is pregnant with cubs, let's find someone to see it, a litter of four, I don't know if Mr. Li wants to take down this ewe." ”

Li Qingming thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, it's okay. ”

He waved his hand and asked the soldiers around him to open a box he carried, and under the sunlight, silver dollars appeared in front of everyone, Zhang Wangcai's eyes straightened, and he couldn't help but smile and said: "Okay, okay, Mr. Li, we have prepared a sumptuous lunch for everyone, and we must be hungry after a morning of travel." ”

Li Qingming intended to investigate the situation in the village, including asking about the old scalper, so he agreed.

The sumptuous lunch was indeed sumptuous, and all kinds of meat and vegetables were placed on the table, all of which Li Qingming had never eaten much in his life, and he was surprised and extremely angry in his heart, this had to be exchanged for how many peasants' grain had been exploited.

"Brother, I am older than you, just call you brother, sit down, there will be such a transaction in the future, keep in touch at any time, we have everything here in Laohe Village, whatever you want, my brother can give you the whole thing," Seeing the money, Zhang Wangcai was in a good mood and warmly invited Li Qingming to sit down.

He didn't want the idea of black eating black, after all, black eating black still depends on his own strength, and the other party brought a lot of people, more than a dozen guns, if he really wants to fight, he may not be able to get cheap, so he gave up the idea of black eating black.

It's better to have a good relationship and have a network that will make it easier to trade in the future.

Li Qingming took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and knew that it was important to do business, so he asked: "Brother, in addition to calves and lambs, I also want an old ox. There is a lot of land at home, and it is not possible to hire those peasants, as you know, they are not well fed and clothed, they are as thin as a stick, they have no strength to plow the land, and they have to plow for several days to hire a person, which delays time, hires many people, and wastes money. ”

Zhang Wangcai showed an embarrassed expression on his face: "Brother, it's not that the old brother doesn't help you, the old scalper is really difficult, our village is just one end, there are no other villages, you have to go to the county seat." ”

He rolled his eyes and said, "In this way, my brother knows a few big farmers in the county, so I will ask someone to help you ask, how about it?" ”

Li Qingming's eyes moved slightly, pretending to be happy, and said, "Brother, it's good to have you say so, just ask my brother to help me ask." ”

"It's a trivial matter, it's just ......" Zhang Wangcai showed a look of embarrassment on his face again.

"Brother, if you have any difficult questions, just say it."

"It's just that you need to pay for it, and you know, it's not easy to find relationships these days, especially when it comes to helping with things."

"It doesn't matter how much money you have, brother, as long as you can buy an old scalper, it's no problem."

"Okay, brother Changliang, let's be on the hour today?"

"This, brother, in addition to buying an old scalper, I have other things to do, brother, and I can't drink here."

Li Qingming said again: "But it's okay to drink less." ”

In addition to being responsible for covering the first squad to carry out the task, the soldiers of the second squad also have their own tasks, that is, they are responsible for carrying out research tasks in Laohe Village, which takes time, and they must buy them enough time.

Li Qingming was extremely tormented at this banquet, thinking that his soldiers were still standing guard outside, he was in a big fish and meat, this feeling of torment was delicious, and even the meat that he had rarely eaten could not be dispelled, and he had to pretend to be a landlord and an old fortune to practice with Zhang Wangcai in front of him, this kind of pain was unbearable.

Knowing that the task was on his own, Li Qingming had no choice but to endure this kind of ordeal and play with Zhang Wangcai on the spot, so as to buy time for the comrades who were operating outside to complete the task.

Faced with Zhang Wangcai's wine, Li Qingming found an excuse to refuse, drank without greedy drinks, and ate a small amount of dishes.

"Brother, how is the situation in your village, is it quite stable?" Zhang Wangcai saw that the food was almost the same, so he asked, both of them are landlords, there must be a lot of common language, he has bitterness in his heart, and he doesn't know who to talk to, today's arrival of Li Qingming is a good opportunity, anyway, he has given up black and black.

In this era, the only thing to rely on is the brothers of the same class, Zhang Wangcai also saw that Li Qingming was still young, it turned out that his father died early, his father died late, and he stayed up for a long time before he became a landlord.

Later, the White Army arrested and killed people everywhere, many people in their village were killed, the peasants became a plate of loose sand again, and their family became landlords by virtue of their connections, not only taking back the land, but also robbing a lot of grain.

It's just that this good day hasn't been long before he hears that it seems to have been making trouble again recently.