stubborn thief

Chapter 14

The black smoke in the village became thicker, and the carbonized beams and pillars of the marginal houses finally could not support the heavy roof, and the bricks and tiles collapsed with a clatter.

The smoke from the cooking has been extinguished.

In groups of three or five idle men who had had enough to eat, outside the perimeter, holding their stomachs, they patrolled the courtyards with corpses scattered everywhere.

People are leisurely and content, knocking and beating, trying to squeeze the last bit of wealth from the village that has long lost its vitality, so that they can return with a full reward.

Seventeen wooden carts were placed at the entrance of Tuwei. In the past, they were ox carts, horse carts, and donkey carts. Now, there are no traces of cattle, horses, donkeys and mules, and they are all human carts.

The sacks that were carried on the car were heavy and full, and the wheels rutted deeply on the loess.

The head of the thief named Bai Yingzi walked out of the earthen siege, frowned and looked at the sky light, his loose skin wrinkled deep ravines on the dark face: "The smoke burned for an hour, put the corpse to the side of the road to clean up, go. already."

He clapped his hands, limped out two steps with his trousers in his hand, raised his legs and stepped over the unshoes corpse, turned around and recognized it, squatted down and grabbed the face that belonged to the deserter's dying face, rubbing his chin carefully. Looking at it, he pushed to the side and grinned.

Bai Yingzi didn't know if this was his fifth or sixth year of falling grass, just like he didn't know how many people he had killed, he couldn't remember.

I only know that in the past two years, things have gotten better and better.

In the past, he was a part-time laborer who was not even a farmer in Suide County.

However, when Bai Yingzi was young, he was a well-known and powerful descendant in the surrounding villages, and anyone who wanted to make an effort would ask him to help.

Later, Mizhi married a good mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law was handsome and diligent, and even life was not so hard.

The family situation is getting better little by little. The first year of their marriage, they bought cattle and rented [-] acres of land for others. The young couple is willing to work hard in the land, and the landlord is happy to see it.

In the third year of their marriage, the two had their own land, added a pair of children, and finally a new kiln was built in the family. Pigs and sheep were put into the pen, chickens and rabbits were in the same cage. stand up.

On the day he moved into the new kiln, Bai Yingzi tossed and turned. For the first time in his life, he slept in bed, and it was awkward to lie down.

When I opened my eyes until dawn, all I could think about was that my mother-in-law said that they were going to save money, and that they would send the baby to study in social studies and take the Xiucai exam.

In his heart, he was unwilling. It was difficult to have two money left at the end of the year, and he was finally willing to eat two bites of meat during the festivals, and he would save for the doll to be repaired by his husband in the future?

What's more, his grandmother's, who knows if the little ancestor is a candidate for studying and testing talents. He also drove horses for the landlord for half a year when he was a child. What's the use, he's not a horse owner.

He is a dog-like person, can he give birth to a scholar?
I want to think so.

When she wanted to eat meat, she secretly spanked her ass twice while the baby didn't remember anything. Bai Yingzi still saved money according to her mother-in-law's wishes.

So many years have passed, just as the days are getting better and better, there is a drought in northern Shaanxi.

The drought will not cause trouble on its own, but the people who do not have enough to eat under the drought cause trouble. There are clubs all over the Yan'an prefecture. The White Lotus Sect and the Luo Sect all appear under the guise of loyalty and bravery, loyalty and friendship, and common hatred. , killing people everywhere.

Bai Yingzi did not dare to take the official road when he went out, the wheat seedlings died of drought in large areas in the fields, the cloth woven by his mother-in-law could not be sold, and the royal court did not dare to owe the taxes.

The grain chief was vicious outside the door, and the couple hugged and cried inside the door. After crying, they sold the old cow, and the grain tax had to be paid.

Later, he heard that it was not that taxes could not be owed, but that there were two types of taxes. One was that the local government had collected it and had to hand it over to the emperor.

The other is the local apportionment. The salary of the yamen is here, and he is the first to refuse to accept the tax owed.

Bai Yingzi regrets it. If he knew this earlier, he would not have sold the old cow. If there is no cow, he will not be able to rent the land.

After gaining experience the following year, he did not hand over the share to the emperor's grandfather, but even if it was the rest, he had to sell the land at home to hand over the share.

In the third year, God's eyes are not dry.

But Bai Yingzi has no land, no matter whether it is his own land or the land from the tenant, it is gone.

When it was time to pay the oral tax, there was nothing to sell at home, so I finally used the money I saved for the dolls.

He told his mother-in-law and aunt not to feel uncomfortable, saying that our family did not have the life of the talented man, he admitted.

Even if he accepts his fate, his fate will not let him go.

Life seems to be a cycle. He starts working as a part-time worker again, saves money to make ends meet, buys a cow, rents [-] acres of land, buys [-] acre of land, and then buys another acre of land. .

In the 46th year of Wanli, when the imperial court went to war, the tax was increased by 47% per mu; in the 48th year of Wanli, the tax was increased by another [-]%;

In fact, compared with the grain production per mu, the payment of nine cents of silver is not much, really not much at all.

Most of them are in northern Shaanxi, which has suffered severe droughts year after year.

Then the drought came again in the Year of Apocalypse.

Everyone gritted their teeth to live, and there were fewer and fewer military households in Suidewei, and more and more thieves in the mountains.

First, families ran out of food, and then hungry people rushed across the road in groups of [-] or [-] and ate the big households. Soon the big households outside the city could not eat.

People mixed the wild grass on the mountain, the bark of the roadside and the white stones into cakes and steamed them, but it didn't last long.

There are no thieves at this time, everyone may be a thief.

This year, Bai Yingzi was out of recruits. He owed taxes to the government for several years before and after, plus a year of apportionment, and he was born strong and strong. I don’t know if it was out of fear or bullying. the chicken.

The tax collector brother who was good at talking in previous years disappeared, and the officers took him to the government and broke his left leg with a killing stick in front of hundreds of people who owed taxes. To save his right leg, he gritted his teeth and borrowed a high loan.

Bai Yingzi was crippled, her mother-in-law had no land and no cattle, she couldn't afford the house, and the law and order was deteriorating. The eldest daughter ran away and disappeared. The son also became a beggar.

Later, his good mother-in-law, his good mother-in-law, was found by beggars together, lying in the dry trench of the moat outside the city, naked and did not even pay Zhang Xi.

The mad Bai Yingzi went to ask for an explanation, but he was a beggar, and his servants wouldn't even let him in.

After inquiring, I found out that the mother-in-law stole the bun from the owner's house and wanted to take it outside for the baby to eat, but was found tortured to death.

The remaining child of the two of them did not starve to death, but Bai Yingzi strangled to death himself, saying that he would suffer in life.

Later, the yamen who broke his leg was strangled to death in a thatched hut when he was relieved; the young master who bought his wife was thrown to death on a rockery, the head of the chef was stuffed into the stove, and the old man was tied and thrown into a heap of dead people outside the city. scared to death.

The lame Bai Ying Zi Luo Cao became a bandit, robbing merchants and killing travelers. He had no martial arts skills and no military background. He was beaten by the government from Suide to Qingjian, and from Qingjian to the mountainous area. , do not leave alive.

He does not preach morality, nor does he rob the rich to help the poor. He will kill the rich and the poor. He has stumbled and stumbled for several years, and he has good men to help him.

Today, Bai Yingzi's den of thieves is much more formalized, although he still doesn't know how many people he has under his subordinates. Sometimes there are more and sometimes fewer, depending on the age.

When the year is good, the thieves on the mountain go back to their hometown to farm; when the year is bad, the people go up the mountain and go to the cottage, and they also cultivate land on the mountain to grow and order vegetables, and they are no different from the common people.

Just when the people down the mountain came to report the news, the cottage farmers put down their farming tools, picked up their swords and sticks, and went down the mountain to plunder.

In the past, this kind of loosely organized den of thieves could not survive in the past, but now the imperial court is collapsing day by day, and the people leave their hometowns in groups and become refugees.

At this time, only the bandits have the leisure to provoke bandits.

In fact, Cao Yao guessed right. Bai Yingzi did go south with the army that Wang Zuohang had gathered earlier. It wasn't because he wanted to join the rebels. It was because Wang Zuohang didn't speak the truth, and the brigade came here, just like him. The little thief had no chance to refuse at all.

Bai Yingzi issued an order to prepare for the transfer, and several trusted management teams came forward: "The shopkeeper, are we going to the south, or... back to the north?"

"Going to the south of his mother, Zuo Hangzi's army has been killed, go to the south to find death? Then the broken wood is not banned, we don't owe him anything." Bai Yingzi waved: "Pull the grain cart and return to Suide. "

Hearing this, the left and right management teams all looked happy and worried, and someone asked, "What if Zuo Hangzi calls back?"

"Come back?" Bai Yingzi shrugged his shoulders and sneered: "The court is near Xi'an, where can the court let him make a fuss, most of his children won't come back... Someone!"

Following his gaze, the west entrance of the village is still among the burning houses. A group of people wearing red armor, helmets and flags on their heads, holding swords, shields, bows and spears, came in two columns, two dragons and water, before the people arrived. More than a dozen sharp arrows came from the strong and shot the thieves who turned around and tried to flee.

"Official army! The official army is here!"

The red flag showing half of it on the mountain swayed, and even the thief's head, Bai Yingzi, couldn't resist.

(End of this chapter)