stubborn thief

Chapter 110

On Dawang Mountain in the northeast of Yan'an, Liu Chengyun walked forward with a bookcase on his shoulders.

Passing through the barren hills and dry forests, after going deep into the ravines, the eyes finally suddenly opened up. There are gurgling streams in the valleys, and several newly opened cave dwellings are lined up along the loess mountain wall.

Chengyun finally put down the bookcase, wiped off his sweat, raised his smiling face and straightened his arms, pointing around: "Brother Lion, how is this place?"

The small valley is not bad, if there is a highland there is a highland, if there is a valley there is a valley bottom, several mountain roads lead in all directions, Liu Chengzong nodded and said: "It's very good, how did you find such a place?"

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and waved to Cao Yao, Yang Yao and the others, and the five sentry chiefs each led a team to pull the mules and horses, and each occupied the territory.

Liu Chengzong came back two days earlier than the team. He met with his family on Zhuantianmao, where his family was temporarily sheltered, to learn about the situation, and then led the team into Fushi County.

Liu Chengyun sat on the box and said, "I didn't find it. My second uncle used to be a tax collector. He knows where the people escaped. We will hide in these places after you leave."

He turned his head and pointed to the cave not far away: "It was originally a grain cellar. After the second uncle explored the terrain, someone dug it through. There was a stove inside, and the flue was a hundred steps long, leading to the cliff on the other side of the mountain. Come on, cook food and water here, and all the smoke goes out there."

Liu Chengzong got off his horse, handed the reins to Guo Zhashi who followed him, looked around, and nodded secretly.

Father found this place very well, farming is not enough, but as a temporary camp for winter, it is perfect.

He asked, "Is there any food in the mountains?"

Liu Chengyun nodded and said: "Ever since I received the news of your return, Second Uncle has been transporting food, and you haven't stopped when you go home. Now there are more than a hundred stones, but if you have more, you have to find a way, and there is no food at home."

With that said, Liu Chengyun got up and opened the bookcase, rummaged through it and said, "Actually, you should stay at home for a few more days. During your absence, my second uncle, aunt, and elder brother are all worried about you. Don't watch you go home and stay here." The second uncle and elder brother didn't say anything on the surface for two days, so they might be very happy in their hearts."

Hearing this, Liu Chengzong pursed his lips and looked up at the sky, and sighed softly: "Why don't I want to stay at home for a while, and I can't even go back to Heilong Mountain...Didn't you tell me, Chengyun, that Fucheng Zuojin has not been able to be our enemy right now. Why don't you go back to live in Black Dragon Mountain?"

Right now, Dawang Mountain is more than ten miles south of Heilong Mountain, while Liu Xiangyu and the others are more than ten miles to the east at Zhuantianmao.

Nowhere is their home.

Chengyun paused when he flipped through the book, and muffledly said, "Where are you, that's our home. Don't go back to Heilongshan."

After finishing speaking, he rummaged through the bookcase again, and after a while, he took out four thick books and handed them to Liu Chengzong: "Brother, the family has been waiting for you to come back these days. These three books, one is Compiled by Ershu and Mr. Yang, there are topographical maps of Yan'an Prefecture, information on big families, Wang Zhuang, pastures, mines, financial resources of various ethnic groups, clans, officials, and backers, especially in Fushi, Ansai, and Ganquan. "

A thick book was handed over to Liu Chengzong.

Later, Liu Chengyun took out the second book: "This is edited by the second uncle and the elder brother together. I turned over a few pages, and there are excerpts from military books, war wound healing, training soldiers, daily calculations and other things. I don’t quite understand it, so you can see for yourself later.”

Another thick book was handed over to Liu Chengzong.

Finally, Chengyun took out two big books, raised his face and clicked his tongue, and said with a smile: "Finally it's my turn, this book is my idea, and together with my father-in-law, I will put all the sons and daughters who have been working in various places over the years together with my father-in-law. Anyone who knows, record a book."

He handed it over and said: "Father-in-law also wants to understand, anyway, with my good son-in-law, we make a big fuss outside, and he is safe in the city. When we are arrested and killed by the government, his family will also be implicated... ...This book may not be useful, but it can still be useful for smuggling and scouting, and maybe it will come in handy sometime.”

Liu Chengyun turned to the last book with emotion, with a serious expression on his face, and said: "This is after you left, and Song Shouzhen and I registered all the people in the Lion Camp, Monk Wang, Zhang Tianlin, and Chuangtatian. Now, apart from Zuantianmao and Yan'anwei, there are also strong men from various townships who help people fight against taxes, and big households who are willing to pay grain, a total of more than [-] people, all of them are on it."

Holding the four booklets in Liu Chengzong's hands made him feel heavy.

These are not four books, but the key to hold Yan'an Mansion in your hands.

Just in time, Guo Zhashi tied up the mules and horses and told them that the house had been tidied up.

Liu Chengzong put the book back into the bookcase, carried the box and took the carrier to the cave dwelling, and said as he walked, "How do you resist the tax around?"

"There are mainly two aspects. The local grain chief relies on intimidation to pull the villagers to resist the tax. When we need manpower, we go out and sit at the grain chief's house. We don't let the people pay taxes to the grain chief, and we don't let the grain chief pay taxes to the county government. The government has to rely on running."

Chengyun said in detail: "The three gates of Yan'an Fucheng and the Xiaoxi Gate are all equipped with eyeliner and yamen servants. After the last incident, all the yamen servants of the government and county yamen died cleanly, and many of the new recruits are our people. , Sometimes the news just reaches the county government office from the government office, and our people have already brought the news on the road, so they can only rush to the place.”

He laughed and concluded: "Many villages along the river have lost their households in the county government. In fact, the common people are still living there. The eldest brother led people to destroy the big households. Every family has surplus food. This year, Fushi County For the autumn grain and apportionment, I should only receive more than 70 taels."

After entering the house, Liu Chengzong looked at the furnishing of the cave. There were kangs and tables and chairs, which were not bad. He pulled up a stool and sat down, and asked, "This is not enough for the yamen servants and subordinate officials. What can they do?"

"They don't have money, but we have it! Yang Yanchang alone gave us 500 taels. After you left, Brother Chengzu led people to fight against the tax. He beat up nine grain chiefs, landlords, and squires who insisted on collecting grain, and took all the gold and silver away every time. Leave half of the food for the people."

Speaking of this, Chengyun said mysteriously: "Brother Lion, if we enter Fucheng again, we can't rob the grain store again."

Liu Chengzong frowned and said, "Why are you talking about grain shops all of a sudden?"

"Because our family has opened a grain store." Liu Chengyun couldn't hold back when he said this, and laughed, "It's still my father-in-law who has a son, and I don't know why he has so many sons. After discussing with the second uncle, he took 300 taels to collect the grain along the banks of the river, as well as a little grain from us."

Liu Chengzong frowned even tighter: "You don't have enough food for yourself, so you still sell it outside?"

Chengyun quickly shook his head: "The grain we deliver is not for sale, but for gifting, like Zhang Shuban and Meng Xiancheng in the county government house, brother, you know, there are several book offices, and they go to the grain shop to get a stone of millet every month The same is true for some government and county officials who work for us, they receive our food and handle our affairs, and some gentry go to file a complaint and are directly beaten out of the city by the officials."

Liu Chengzong's brows stretched, co-authoring the book office and yamen servants in the county seat, are they all receiving the Liu family's salary?

What is this, early infiltration?
Anyway, according to this situation, the Yan'an Mansion of the imperial court is just a city, and it will soon be unable to play a ruling role.

He asked, "Is this all my big idea?"

"Yes, after you left, Second Uncle and Mr. Yang discussed these matters and arranged for us to do them."

Chengyun nodded and said, "Brother, let me ask you something... how to ask, let me think about it."

He scratched his head and organized his words, and finally asked carefully and expectantly: "Can we really cause the court to rebel? I don't mean to fight with the officers and soldiers like now, I want to ask, can we really win?"

"The officials are also killed, and the opposite is reversed. The only way is to completely overthrow Daming." Liu Chengzong looked directly at Chengyun and asked, "Why do you ask that?"

Chengyun shook his head first, then sat upright and said: "I don't know, I have done a lot of things recently, and I have traveled a lot in Fucheng and various villages. The more I see, the more I think... Let me tell you This matter, don't worry, the second uncle said that you are impulsive and irritable, knowing this matter will definitely kill someone."

"Tch, am I still impulsive and irritable?"

Liu Chengzong pointed to the door, and said with a casual smile: "Who doesn't know that I, Liu Shizi, have always been elegant and easy-going, just say it."

Liu Chengyun nodded. He also felt that Brother Lion had a good personality, so he said, "The old house in Heilongshan is really bullying."

Liu Chengzong didn't speak, his face disappeared easily, his breath became heavy, he sat on the stool and leaned back, with his thumbs inserted into the leather belt around his waist, he smoothed his clothes.

Chengyun didn't speak for a long time, carefully observed his face, and didn't dare to say anything, finally felt that it was inappropriate to say a few words, so he said: "There is an elder brother in the concubine's room of the prefect Zhang Nian, who moved into Heilongshan University...Brother, you Why go!"

Before he finished speaking, Liu Chengzong got up, but instead of going out to greet Cao Yao to join the artillery team as Chengyun thought, he went around behind Chengyun and patted him on the shoulder.

Liu Chengzong's tone was calm: "My eldest brother and I didn't live in the mansion built by the clan's joint efforts. A few days ago, I regretted not killing Zhang Nian. You see, the damned person will die sooner or later. Then he said, why did your eldest brother Don't kill him."

Chengyun felt that the second brother went east and came back more stable, but also more scary.

He said: "Second Uncle and Mr. Yang mean not to move the chariot, and don't want to recruit officers and soldiers for a short time... That's it. My head is all messed up. I don't know how to describe it to you. Second Uncle's plan is very clear. Sooner or later, the governor will send a large army to the east, so he cut off the connection between Yan'an Fucheng and the outside world, trying to delay this time as much as possible."

Chengyun was very distressed, and sighed with his head in his hands: "I want to wait for the officers and soldiers to come from Fuzhou, and the city will be peaceful, and when we go east to fight against the rebels, all the people around the city will rise up all at once, cutting off the retreat of the officers and soldiers... But I think It doesn't work."

Liu Chengzong sat back on the bench, his anger gradually dissipated.

If there is a longer-term plan, it is not impossible to let the dog-like thing live in the old house for a few days.

He asked, "Why doesn't it work, let's hear it."

Liu Chengyun suddenly said bitterly: "They are all fools, everyone is fools!"

"What do you mean everyone is a fool?"

"Those villagers said they wanted to resist the tax. Only two or three out of a hundred people stood up. When our people passed by, they all resisted the tax. When we left, some remained silent, and some ran to the county government to complain. .”

"Those yamen servants are leading our food, but their hearts are not with us. If we don't threaten them, they will not do their job well. If we threaten them, we are no different from thieves."

"There is also Yang Yanchang from Yan'an Guard, he is just a tester, and he became a high-ranking official by us. The news of your return from Shanxi scared him to death. He was afraid that we would be caught and shake him out. He only thought about himself. !"

"Even Second Uncle, Second Uncle, Mr. Yang and Big Brother..."

The little man, Cheng Yun, scolded everyone viciously, and when it came to his family members, his tone finally softened a little, and he took a deep breath and said, "They all have the talents of the world, but I know they don't believe that we can overthrow the imperial court."

"I want to persuade them to believe, but no one listens to me when scholars and scholars sit together; when rebel leaders sit together, no one listens to me; people only let Chengyun do this and let Chengyun do that. I don’t know what it’s like down here, and I want to get up when the officers and soldiers arrive, but I can’t get up! It’s all foolishness!”

Liu Chengzong didn't know what kind of ideological changes the team that stayed at home had undergone these days, but he knew that Chengyun must have been greatly stimulated.

But he could more or less guess that it was nothing more than people finding out that the officers and soldiers did not arrive as expected, and life became stable again, and the rebellion was discouraged.

Desperadoes are those who have nowhere to go.

This is normal, otherwise the world would be one where barefoot people are afraid of wearing shoes, and those who wear shoes are afraid of hats.

But in fact, porcelain is afraid of stones, and no one wants to live a stable life.

Living is safer than rebelling, and rebelling to control a place is safer than attracting officers and soldiers with greater actions.

He got up and patted Chengyun: "Chengyun, you did a good job. My eldest brother, my eldest brother, and Mr. Yang also did a good job, even better than I imagined. You are right, people are fools. As long as the Guyuan General Mansion can send a large number of officers and soldiers...the hearts of the people will be on the side of the imperial court, and they will not get up."

Chengyun raised his head: "Then what should we do? You said that we can win by destroying the rule of the court."

"If you can't get up, you can get up slowly. The people's hearts are because the officers and soldiers are on the side of the court. This is easy to solve."

Liu Chengzong explained this matter as simply as going out to urinate: "What the family members do will not be in vain. These are very important things, but there is one thing. All of these are useless.”

He nodded his head: "Government grows out of the barrel of a gun."

The meaning of this action is: I didn’t say this, it was him who said it in my mind.

Chengyun paused and thought for a while, then asked, "Government comes out of the barrel of a gun, what do you mean?"

"I wasn't sure before whether we could win or not, but this time when you come back, you tell me these things, and the family has done these things, I know we will definitely win in the end."

Liu Chengzong said: "I have met many leaders in the east, some are powerful, some take the lead, and some will bury every dead subordinate... This is too extravagant, you know that people die when they walk The lost team, he'll dig a hole and bury everyone."

"I admire each of them very much. Everyone has guns, but in them, it is difficult for me to find the confidence to defeat the imperial court, because they only have guns. What do you mean by political power coming out of the gun? To say this, there must be political power. But no gun barrel."

As Liu Chengzong said, he raised his arms to embrace Liu Chengyun: "Our family is building a political power from scratch. It will be very difficult, so it will be slow, but don't worry. Weeds on the wall... Well, it's good to be weeds on the wall , as long as my gun barrel sweeps away the officers and soldiers, you can see where they fall!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)