stubborn thief

Chapter 264
The main building of Danba Manor, the sun hall next to the bedroom.

This place is located in the very center of the third floor of the main building, with a large balcony connecting the corridor outside, and the sunlight can also shine into Master Danba's living room during the day.

Liu Chengzong frowned in his sleep, and stretched out his hands to grope on the bed, until he held the hand rope of the Yanling Saber, his brows slowly relaxed.

Not long after, he opened his eyes with a sigh, wrapped his blanket in a blanket and leaned against the window, opened the silk curtains, and it was still dark.

The Danba Manor has become a large military camp, with tents in the fields inside the walls, and the bonfires of the night sentries in twos and threes, with blurred and dim colors.

After putting on his clothes, Liu Chengzong opened the door and walked into the hall. He stood at the door and looked back at the comfortable bed with complicated eyes.

The oil lamps in the hall had been on for half the night, and the incense used by the soldiers on duty in the Lion Army had burned to the bottom. Fan Sanlang was sitting on the couch half covered with blankets, and the small table in front of him was full of muskets, short knives and other things.

There is also a matchlock bird gun on the side, like an arsenal.

When Liu Chengzong came out, Fan Sanlang was taking out a mold filled with liquid lead from the charcoal basin and putting it on the stone pot to cool it down. Seeing him waking up, he was obviously taken aback: "The commander got up so early? The water on the window sill hasn't cooled yet."

Liu Chengzong stared in confusion and nodded, sitting on the couch in the living room with warm water in his hand, looking at the dark balcony, he woke up and said: "The bed is too soft, I can't sleep well... what time is it?"

In fact, not only is he not used to sleeping, but he is under a lot of pressure.

The entire territory of Nangqian has been recovered, and the front line has been pushed to the border of Baili, but war has never been the goal.

He wants to win the hearts of the people, mobilize the rich population for his use, and at the same time further increase the soldiers' sense of honor, which is very difficult.

The Lions have a strong sense of honor.

In the war in Shaanxi, everyone was like a hero. They joined the Lion Army for a meal, but during the war, they distributed the surplus food to the people, traded with the people fairly, and judged the rebellious army as a protector. , will be loved and respected by the people.

This love and respect, in turn, further strengthens the soldier's sense of honor.

But there is no such link here.

This made him unable to stop thinking even in his sleep.

Fan Sanlang glanced more sweetly: "It's just past four o'clock, and it's still an hour before dawn."

What they were talking about was the beat of the night watchman beating the drums on the clappers.

Fan Sanlang cut the lead bullets in the mould, and said: "There are three things in the night, and the rumors sent by people have been narrowed down to two mountains. If the leader of the thief is still on the mountain, he can be caught today."

"Tang soldiers said that the opposite bank did not send troops to the valley, but hunters entered the mountain; the defenders stationed at Nangqian found three monks who could speak Chinese, and they were sending them to the front..." Fan Sanlang reported the situation at night: "A few letters were sent from home, but they were not marked red, so I didn't call you."

As she spoke, she raised her head to the sleepy Liu Chengzong: "Would you like to sleep again?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head, took the letters and picked out the oil lamp, and said, "Don't sleep, I'll read these letters."

The letter was very long, and it was sent by someone sent by Yang Dingrui. It summarized the recent situation in Haibei, and it was all about small things like how many guns and artillery were built and how many things were sold.

In addition, there was news from the east. Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er both wrote to him.

The more Liu Chengzong watched, the more silent he became. Fan Sanlang saw his complicated expression, and waited until he had finished reading before asking: "Marshal, what happened?"

He shook his head, put down the letter, leaned on the cushion and sighed, and said after a while: "The imperial court has provided disaster relief in Shaanxi, and it's a drop in the bucket... You should sleep for a while and catch up on sleep."

The letter stated that the emperor sent Yu Shi Wu Sheng to bring 10 taels to Shaanxi for disaster relief, and Shi Kefa, the promoted official of Xi'an Prefecture, was in charge of the disaster relief.

This news is nothing to Fan Sanlang from Shanxi.

She put the three loaded handguns aside as she said, facing the wall to prevent accidental touch, waited for the dawn to knock out the gunpowder, leaned on the cushion, wrapped the blanket tightly and closed her eyes.

It was quiet in the hall for a while.

Reading Yang Dingrui's letter made Liu Chengzong feel complicated.

But the personal letter between Yang Yanchang, the God of War in Yan'an, and Chief Ren made him feel very cordial.

He couldn't stop the smile on his face when he saw these letters.

It is very difficult for Yang Yanchang to report a job to Liu Chengzong. The purpose of writing this letter is to cry for poverty.

Yang Yanchang said that he attached great importance to this batch of disaster relief money, but there were too many troops in Shaanxi who were eyeing this batch of disaster relief money, and the generals of the Yang family were busy fighting with the officers in Guanzhong and Yulin in official documents.

The letter introduced the so-called generals of the Yang family. Yang Yanchang used the word "my family". Liu Chengzong looked at the names mentioned and found that they were the mainstay of Yan'an Prefecture's resistance to the rogues.

No, it is the mainstay against Liu thief.

General Yang Yanchang, Commander Ren Quan'er, Shi Wanzhong Qianhu, Chen Ruji Qianhu, Lu Bin Qianhu... are all big figures in Yan'an Prefecture.

Speaking of which, no matter from his point of view or the court's point of view, this group of people was raised by him.

It's just that here, they are raised and raised; in the court, these people are military generals who made their fortunes by beating him.

After Liu Chengzong, a tycoon from Yan'an fled to Qinghai, the people in Yan'an Mansion were loyal to their duties, so that the law and order were stabilized, and they were rewarded and promoted one after another.

Yang Yanchang's goal was to withhold 5000 taels from the disaster relief bank and pay the arrears of the Yan'an camp.

After the Liu family moved westward, the life of the God of War was not easy, and the newly formed Yan'an camp began to owe wages again, and could only barely make ends meet by relying on the help of the farming king Gao Yingxiang in Shiziwan.

Yang Yanchang said in the letter that Liu Chengzong was of great help to the local government.

It is said that last year, the situation in Shaanxi deteriorated rapidly. Liu Chengzong had successors in the north, and a brother from the Ningsai camp came out of the Shen family.

However, the line of the brothers is to shave the entire army and change their clothes into captivity, dress up and lean against the Mongols, and freely enter and exit inside and outside the side wall as if entering a no-man's land.

After the imperial court started disaster relief, thieves from Shaanxi rushed into Jin Dynasty one after another, and the brothers from the Shen family went west, and the front of the soldiers once pointed directly at Pingliang.

However, since Liu Chengzong had already fought once in the west, the defense of each city had been strengthened, making it difficult for them to cross Qingyang and enter Yan'an Mansion.

Under the long-term control of the Liu family, Gao Yingxiang, Yang Yanchang, Ren Quan'er and others, Yan'an Mansion has become a strange place in the Ming Dynasty.

It is said that there will be no thieves, and it should be able to collect taxes.

However, Liu Chengyun presided over the merger of Zanli and Jia in several counties in the middle. The people were originally half people and half thieves, and they had no favorable impression of the officers and soldiers.

After Liu Chengzong left, the commander, Ren Quan'er, in the name of training the people, sent many leaders of the people to the local area, and every now and then, they held drills for the people to escape from the battle.

In name, it is an escape exercise, but in fact it is tax evasion, hiding soldiers, connecting various places, and there is a simple means of transmitting messages.

During the day when the army entered Qingjian, all the villages released monkeys in clusters. In two quarters of an hour, the people, livestock, chickens, ducks, and food within a radius of ten miles were all withdrawn into the mountains, and even chicken feathers were not given to the officers and soldiers. remain.

It is easier to join the army at night. An old man on a small hill whips his whip, and the sound can be heard in the next village.

This puts higher demands on the human resources of the villages in Yan'an Prefecture, but the common people have calculated that it is appropriate. Each village only needs to send a few young people to observe the situation all day, and the tax and food for the entire village can be exempted, which is very worthwhile.

Of course, this set of things is not just for the officers and soldiers, but also for thieves, the treatment is the same.

Ren Quan'er said in the letter that he practiced this for no other reason. Chief Liu said that no one should try to steal things from ordinary people.

Of course, Chief Ren couldn't help worrying in his letter.

He wrote the letter for three purposes.

First, in order to pass the good news to Chief Liu, he was promoted again because of his meritorious service in guarding the place, and now he is the commander of Yan'an Guard.

The second is to ask when Chief Liu will come back. The [-] loyal Yan'an Banner Guards under Chief Liu are always ready to hold high the banner of Liu.

Thirdly, ask yourself if it is right to do so.

The current situation is that even if Liu Chengzong comes back, it may be difficult to collect food in Yan'an Mansion.

Originally, Ren Quan'er could fill up the Yan'an Guard Banner Army, but later he found that he couldn't. After several years of famine and two years of war, there were no rich families in northern Shaanxi.

The chief executive lost the biggest means of generating income. He could not support [-] soldiers by relying on Juntian of the Weisuo and the Ansai Wangzhuang left by Chief Liu.

He wanted to find a solution from the common people, but after half a year of intensive exercises, when he looked back, Ren Quan'er found that he could not raise food in Yan'an Mansion.

As long as he doesn't ask the people for food or money, he can walk sideways in Yan'an Mansion, like a tree with deep roots, and he can't hide any disturbance in this land.

If you want to ask the people for money or food, you can always get it the first time.

But when he led troops through those villages again, the villages were empty and there was nothing.

Afterwards, I sent someone to ask, and the surrounding villages said they didn't know. They saw a lonely tree fell on the hill in the middle.
It took Ren Quan'er a long time to understand that his intentions for Chief Liu had been carried through to the end, and the people's escape training was very successful.

No one can collect money and food in this free land, including himself.

This letter made Liu Chengzong dumbfounded. He really didn't expect that a sentence he said casually at some point would make Ren Quan'er achieve this level.

Wang Ziyong's reply was much simpler. Wang Bazong felt uncomfortable as an official in the court. The court believed that Cao Wenzhao's Guan Ning army took over the cold, and Wang Ziyong's grain escort team had some responsibility for not keeping up.

But the current situation in Yan'an Mansion is that it is difficult for Wang Ziyong to attract people to Liu Chengzong, so he plans to bring some people over by himself instead of doing it for the court.

After putting down the letter, Liu Chengzong cheered up.

These forces from northern Shaanxi encouraged him to continue thinking about what people want and how he can get what they want.

In fact, it is very difficult in northern Shaanxi. There are natural disasters and man-made disasters there, and people's living standards are rapidly and seriously declining. Everyone realizes that something is wrong. Dissatisfaction is like a boiling pot.

They have no choice, countless people are tearing each other apart, vying for the hope of survival, and the old order has already collapsed.

Some people think that something is wrong with their life and they need to find a way to change it.

Some people think that something is wrong with their country and they must find ways to protect it.

In the establishment of the new order, he was just one of them, he chose one side, and he was never alone.

Although the strength of the empire was within his expectations, after all, there were many of them and few enemies. The biggest difficulty for people was rations, which made it much easier for people to make any decision.

The hungry people in Shanshan and Shaanxi are like desperate ants in a hot pot, scurrying around but unable to climb out of the pot.

People can no longer imagine how bad life can be. Everyone wants to cross the thunder pool, but dare not.

Therefore, it is necessary for someone like him to bear the guilt of being wanted and offered a reward, and lead the crowd to find a way out on the hot pot. As long as he says there is a way, someone is willing to follow him.

In difficult times, there is always hope.

Here, however, the situation is much more difficult.

At first Liu Chengzong wanted to put himself in the position of the savior, but after seeing what happened to the slaves, he even felt a little bit like the savior, looking down on this place.

But after marching all the way, he is trying to understand and analyze here.

The opponent's military strength is not strong, but the old order is extremely strong. The biggest difference from northern Shaanxi is that people's living standards have not declined before he came.

The nobles had the standard of living of the nobles, the slaves had the standard of living of the slaves, and it has been so for hundreds of years, people are good at living under this order.

Even if they are slaves, obeying the rules of slaves and completing the work of slaves makes them handy, so that they feel relaxed in suffering.

In other words, people don't need him.

Even Chaba and Duicong, who are still around the nobles, have seen their living standards drop because of his arrival.

In order to fight against him, the nobles had to send food and troops to every household of the people, which made the already poor life worse.

The people in Shaanxi hate Houjin for raising taxes, and the people here will also hate him for sending troops to pay food.

He can't look down on others from a high position, as if what he gives is good, and others don't appreciate it because they don't know what is good or bad.

When the sheep are put on the bed, and the people push them into the pen, the people are uncomfortable, and the sheep are also uncomfortable.

Just like this bed with a thick mattress in the Danba Manor, it is more comfortable than the simple bed in the Chinese army commander's tent, but he doesn't need it.

Based on this kind of thinking, Liu Chengzong gradually found the trick to construct his next strategy in his mind.

The general direction of the outside world is naturally to win all the land that can be conquered, but in the war, different local nobles need to have priorities.

For the nobles who belong to themselves, they can be given appropriate power, or use a knife to cut their flesh, so as to give them the hope of sleeping overnight.

But for the enemy who is preparing for war on the one hand and hopes to negotiate peace on the other hand, his entire family must be uprooted as soon as possible.

The longer the delay, the heavier the burden and pressure on the nobles' lords, the more obvious the decline in living standards, and the more they hate themselves.

In the end, even those who want to free slaves will fall into the dilemma of being opposed by slaves.

But if the action is fast enough, the nobles will not have enough burdens on the common people, and when the war is over and the private property and lives of the slaves are protected, the resistance to change will be much smaller.

Liu Chengzong got up silently, took off the blanket and covered Fan Sanlang, turned around and walked towards the balcony facing the darkness.

It's about to dawn.

　Good night!I'm really sorry, I thought I could finish writing yesterday, but it was delayed until midnight. I wish you all the best in 2022.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)