lady, please calm down

Chapter 278: 'The wise men' arrived, and the 'thieves' attacked at night

The first day of the twelfth lunar month.

It's the middle of winter, the coldest time of the year.

At the time of application that day, Lu Yuan's family in Lujiagang, Huaiyuan County was full of guests and friends, and all the "virtuous people" arrived.

Those sitting there were all prominent landowners in the county. Two people sat side by side, one was Cao Fenglai, the county magistrate, and the other was Lu Yuanwai, the east road official here.

Next, a middle-aged man named Du Yirong in brocade robes looked around and talked eloquently: "A few days ago, the people in Lu Yuan's village had a conflict with the officials of Lu'an County. It was for the sake of the gentry of the whole county and even the whole government. Du is not talented." , I am willing to advance and retreat together with Yuan Lu!"

Immediately, a gentry named Han Jun echoed: "That's right! It is natural to accept tenants for farming. It is a rule to pay rent four days in the morning and six days in the winter! The Caizhou people in Lu'an County next door to us only accept one or two percent of the land rent from tenants. Over time, Who is willing to farm for us Huaiyuan gentry?"

Han Jun immediately stated the key issue that everyone gathered here, but Lu Yuanju, who was in charge, showed a hint of displeasure and said: "Lu is not concerned about the [-]% of the land rent. It's just that Caizhou people do things like this. It is to cut off the future of scholars all over the world! In this matter, Lu is doing it for the public and for the sake of justice, not for selfishness or profit!"

Du Yirong glared at Han Jun who revealed everyone's thoughts, and quickly defended Lu Yuan and said: "What Mr. Lu said is absolutely true! This matter will harm the gentry of the world. All the gentlemen sitting here will be prosperous and harmed. We need to work hard in one place. "

After hearing Du Yirong's words, Lu Yuanju's face brightened a little, and he stroking his beard and looked at the magistrate Cao Fenglai beside him, "Magistrate Cao, this matter will inevitably require you to deal with Lu'an County."

Although they were parents from the same county, Cao Fenglai was more polite than Lu Yuanju. He hurriedly handed over his hands and replied: "I wish Mr. Lu knows that when Lu'an County came to negotiate, I already explained to the Xu County Lieutenant that on the 21st of last month, Mr. Lu's family would place a boundary marker." The fertile land covered by the move five miles west belongs to our Huaiyuan County. The reason for this is all because the thieves secretly moved the boundary markers a few months ago. Now, they just put the boundary markers back where they should be."

"Pfft~"

Someone below laughed secretly.

During the Huaibei Rebellion, the registers of Shouzhou Prefecture and Lu'an County Prefecture that recorded fields and population had long been burned and lost. Even though Lu'an County refused to accept it, it could not produce official documents to argue with Huaiyuan County.

In fact, Lu Yuanju, who owns thousands of hectares of fertile land, may not be able to see the little land he has invaded in Lu'an County.

He did this just to destroy Caizhou's plan to move farmers eastward.

The two counties of Lu'an and Huaiyuan are fighting each other. After the great chaos, the former has a population of only ten and is recruiting farmers vigorously.

If we just sit back and watch, all the tenants in Huaiyuan will go to Linxian in the future.

Therefore, he would occupy as much fertile land as was cultivated by households relocating to the east in Lu'an County, leaving farmers to draw water from bamboo baskets in vain.

If farmers like this are still unwilling to return to Caizhou, he will have other means to make these people live in peace.

After this incident, Lu Yuanju and others were waiting for Tang Jing'an, the magistrate of Lu'an County, to come and talk to them in person. Lu Yuanju had only one condition: to force Tang Jing'an to raise the land rent, the same as in Huaiyuan County.

However, Cao Fenglai, the magistrate of Huaiyuan County, was an official and had a more detailed understanding of the situation in Huaibei. He gave a little reminder, "In addition to Yuan Lu, it is said that Tang Jing'an, the magistrate of Lu'an County, came from the family of Chen Chu, the governor of Caizhou's left-behind sidu. Now Cai, Ying, Shou It’s all under his control, so it’s better not to make too much trouble.”

Lu Yuanju frowned, but before he could speak, Du Yirong, who was below, said first, "How can he control the capital of Caizhou and come to our Suzhou? Is it possible that he still dares to raise troops to invade?"

There is some truth to this. Caizhou is more than [-] miles away from Huaiyuan County.

It would be too domineering and unreasonable for Chen Chu to send troops just because a few Lu'an County officials were beaten.

Furthermore, everyone sitting here is a big family with at least thousands of acres of fertile land, and they have inextricable connections with officials at the prefecture and county levels. If Chen Chu is not right, Suzhou will naturally have to fight with him. .

In addition, the biggest source of confidence for the gentry is the more than [-] people organized by various families in the county!

Since the thieves caused trouble in Shouzhou in May, every family in Huaiyuan County, fearing that Chi Yu would be affected, organized a large number of villagers to protect the village.

Fortunately, the thieves went west after gaining momentum, and Huaiyuan County was not affected.

Now these people have been eating and drinking for free for several months. If the Caizhou people dare to come, wouldn't it come in handy?
Du Yirong's words were what Lu Yuanju meant. The latter pondered for a moment and then concluded, "After all, Chen Dutong is an official of Daqi. Since he is an official, he must abide by the rules of an official! Lu doesn't believe that he would do this. "Reckless, but..." Du Yirong looked around the room full of virtuous people, and his voice became lowered, "But if he dares to risk the disapproval of the world, we can't let him do anything he wants!"

With one sentence, the hall immediately became lively, "What Mr. Lu said is absolutely true!"

"Yes! We have been born in Huaiyuan for generations. If foreigners dare to invade, let them see how powerful we are!"

"Only Mr. Lu is following his lead!"

In the excitement of the crowd, only Cao Fenglai had a tangled look on his face. Seeing this, Lu Yuanju clapped his hands, and two maids immediately came out of the back hall with trays.

But he saw that there was an ingot of yellow gold on the tray, which made people dizzy.

"Since taking office as magistrate of Cao County, he has been diligent in political affairs and kept food and clothing at night. After discussing with the village sages, Lu specially collected some small gifts to express his feelings."

Lu Yuanju said calmly.

Cao Fenglai's eyes widened, and he forced himself to look away, saying, "Thank you for your love, sir, it can't be like this, it can't be like this."

After taking office for more than a year, Cao Fenglai wanted to do something important, but it still depends on the faces of these gentry and whether they have received any gifts.

"Master Cao, please don't give in. This is everyone's wish. The government and the people are united. It is also a beautiful story."

Lu Yuanju urged again. Cao Fenglai naturally knew the reason for this dazzling gold, so he quickly calmed down and expressed his attitude, "In that case, I am ashamed to receive it! Don't worry, gentlemen, I will work together with you! Never mind him. Whether it is the Governor of the capital or the Marquis of Lu An, I will only advance and retreat with you!"

"Hahaha, good!"

Lu Yuanju smiled heartily, and then ordered: "Serve the wine and food, and let the banquet begin."

At the end of Youshi.

It was dark, and in a temporary shack outside Lujiagang Village, the sound of drinking and fist-fighting could be heard all the time.

The man in black robe sitting in the middle with the golden sword of Da Ma is named Lu Xiaoqi. He has been a servant of the Lu family since his grandfather's generation.

Three generations of families gave birth to children. Lu Xiaoqi's generation was given the master's surname by the master's family, and was trained in martial arts by the master's family since childhood.

Nowadays, in the entire Lujiagang, apart from the dozens of members of his master's family, Lu Xiaoqi is already the most well-known figure.

While we were drinking and chatting, our ears were filled with Zhuang Ding's compliments.

"It's no wonder that Seventh Brother is able to win the trust of his employer! A few days ago, the young county lieutenant in Linxian County, Seventh Brother, beat him whenever he asked! County Lieutenant, what a big official that is! Let me tell you, sooner or later there will be Seventh Brother in Huaiyuan County Give me a name!"

Zhang San, who was sitting there, finished chewing a pig's trotter, wiped his greasy and dirty hands on his body, picked up the wine bowl and toasted Lu Xiaoqi.

Lu Xiaoqi glanced at Zhang San with a smile on his face, took a sip and said: "Follow me and work hard, eat meat and drink wine, and enjoy endless blessings! Just like you Zhang San Lazy son, if the master hadn't given it to you, would you have been able to eat this meat? Can you drink this good wine?"

"I can't eat, I can't eat, hey, it's all because of the kindness of my boss."

Zhang San smiled so blindly that he didn't even notice. He did think what Seventh Brother said was reasonable. The only thing he didn't agree with was that he was called a 'lazy kind'.

He didn't think he was lazy, and his father was famous for being a diligent person. But more than ten years ago, Zhang San's mother fell ill and the family had no money for medicine, so they had to borrow loan money from Mr. Lu.

Later, my mother's life was not saved, and the family's three acres of paddy field were also transferred to Mr. Lu, but he still could not pay back the debt, so he could only work as a tenant farmer for the Lu family to continue paying off the debt.

For more than ten years, even though Zhang San never dared to take a break, the balance he owed Master Lu had increased from three taels of silver to 30 taels despite paying interest every year.

I'm afraid I won't be able to pay it back in this life.

But Zhang San didn’t realize there was anything wrong. It’s only natural to pay back debts.

How expensive is the interest?After so many years, haven’t they all been [-] points of profit? I still don’t understand that it must be because I didn’t work hard enough.
If you want to blame, you can only blame yourself for your bad luck.

In the past few months, Huaibei was in turmoil, and Zhang San was recruited into the Zhuang Ding team. Because he could eat semen and beat his teeth once a month, Zhang San became even more grateful to Master Lu.

"Here, I'll reward you." On the side, Lu Xiaoqi threw the finished pig's trotters to Zhang San.

Each person has one pig's trotter. Compared to Zhang San and others who gnawed the pig's trotters to every last bit, Lu Xiaoqi can often see the meaty smell, and there are still some tendons between the bones that are not easy to eat.

Zhang San hurriedly took it, smiling happily, and said while chewing hard: "Brother Qi, are the Caizhou people really as you said?"

"That's natural!" Lu Xiaoqi stretched out her hand to wipe her hands on Zhang San's tattered short coat, broke off a branch at random, and said while picking her teeth: "The Caizhou people are going around grabbing people's fields and dividing their property! When they saw a man, they killed them for cooking, and when they saw a woman, they captured her and held her in the camp for sexual pleasure! The daughter of the magistrate of Shouzhou was captured by Caizhou soldiers, raped and humiliated to death."

"Even worse than the thieves!" Zhang San was speechless.

But Li Jingchun, another Zhuangding who fled here from Shouzhou, wondered: "Seventh brother, how did I hear that the Shouzhou magistrate's family was killed by thieves, and his daughter seemed to have been rescued by Caizhou soldiers. In October After the thief was beheaded, the magistrate's daughter threw herself into the river and died."

"You know what an ass!"

Lu Xiaoqi glared at Li Jingchun and said, "This is Cai Zhoubing's dirty deeds he has done to the thief! Anyway, the thief is dead and there is no way to defend himself!"

"Oh" Li Jingchun shrank his neck and responded timidly, not daring to say anything anymore.

Zhang San, who believed deeply in Brother Qi's words, sighed: "Caizhou soldiers are so cruel, we can't let them enter Huaiyuan County!"

"That's right!" The more Lu Xiaoqi looked at Zhang San, the more he liked him. He patted the other person's shoulder encouragingly. Just because of this action, Zhang San's face flushed with excitement.

"And the leader of the Caizhou soldiers named Chen is a hungry ghost in lust!"

Lu Xiaoqi picked out a piece of meat from between his teeth, smashed it and tasted it before swallowing it, and then said in a dark voice: "Everywhere he goes, he goes from house to house to collect virgins under fourteen." Happy! If anyone doesn't obey, they will kill their parents. We in Huaiyuan County are lucky to have such a kind and righteous gentleman as the master, who can guarantee our peace. Otherwise, we would have become lambs to be slaughtered long ago."

Zhang San's daughter, who happened to be famous and had not yet had hairpins, couldn't help being furious after hearing this, and shouted: "It's all the evil officials like these that make our people poor! If that person named Chen dares to come to Huaiyuan, I will definitely follow my employer and fight with him." He fought hard!"

On the side, Li Jingchun couldn't help it anymore, because the news he heard and what Lu Xiaoqi said were not slightly different, at least they were completely different.

"Brother Qi. I heard from the folks who returned to my hometown that as long as they settle in Lu'an County again, each family will be allocated fifty acres of land, and the land rent is only [-]%. If someone in the family joins the army, it will be as low as [-]%. And there is still money. There are reform-through-labor prisoners who help with heavy work, but I have never heard of people in Caizhou doing harm to the people."

Li Jingchun carefully told the news he had heard, but somehow he annoyed Lu Xiaoqi. The latter suddenly raised his palm, slapped Li Jingchun firmly on the face, and cursed:

"Fuck your mother's stinky shit! Do you think they are Bodhisattvas? You only charge [-]% of the rent, so you have someone to do the heavy work for you! You are all over the world, how can you do such a good thing! You idiot, you are eating my master Yes, you are drinking my master’s drink, and you are still talking to outsiders! You are eating inside and outside, so get out!”

"."

Li Jingchun was stunned by the slap, covering his face and feeling at a loss. He didn't feel that he was speaking for outsiders, he just told the news he heard, why is the seventh brother so angry?

Zhang San next to him also looked sideways and said sarcastically: "Li Jingchun, if you believe that there is such a good thing in the world, why do you rely on me, Zhuangzi, to do it? Why don't you go back to Shouzhou? No one is stopping you."

Amidst the curses of a group of people, Li Jingchun was driven out of the shack.

It was the twelfth lunar month of winter, it was freezing outside, but my face was so painful after being slapped.

Li Mingchun squatted outside the shack dejectedly, frustrated and confused.

As a foreigner who has fled here, it is inevitable to be ostracized. Who wouldn't want to go home if there is a way?
However, when the thieves committed evil crimes in Shouzhou, Li Mingchun was still frightened.

Furthermore, the news from the folks who have returned home is that they will be allocated land upon return and only receive [-]% of the land rent.
Such a good thing, Li Jingchun, who is used to being timid and cautious, always feels that it is too unreal, fearing that there is fraud in it.

Now that things are going well, I have offended Brother Seventh again for no reason. I wonder if I can still keep my job as a farmer who can make a living.

Li Jingchun sighed silently and looked blankly at the lonely surroundings.

In a daze, I heard a faint sound.

"It's midnight, who's playing the drums?"

Li Jingchun stood up in confusion. After a while, the 'drum sound' became increasingly dense and clear.

In the vast darkness of the night, a giant beast seemed to be lurking, approaching rapidly.

Li Jingchun was nervous for no reason. Just when he was about to call someone, he saw a nerve-wracking scene.

In the pitch black night, a group of knights emerged from a diagonal stab. Their horses were muzzled and their hooves were wrapped in cloth.

The knight on the horse had a stern look on his face, no one said a word, and the leader was holding a big flag.

The frightened Li Jingchun stood by the roadside and wanted to escape, but couldn't move.

The team of knights ignored him, only glanced at him, and then continued to rush towards Lujiagang under the cover of night.
The frantic horse hooves finally alerted everyone in the shack.

After Lu Xiaoqi stepped forward quickly, he couldn't help being shocked. He immediately turned around and ran back to the shack and shouted: "Thief! Thief! Come on, follow me! It's time to serve the master!"

After that, he rushed out with a pair of plain knives.

However, he was still five or six feet away from the cavalry that was rolling forward, but he saw a knight in the team casually glance at him and lightly raise a small hand crossbow.

However, he heard a "ding" sound from the machine, and in the next breath, the featherless short arrow easily penetrated the unarmored Lu Xiaoqi's chest, bringing out a pool of blood. The force was still intact, and it penetrated directly into the chest a few feet behind. on the ground.

The knight took the shot and sheathed the crossbow skillfully. From the beginning to the end, the horse's speed did not decrease by one point and continued to move forward with the team.

The moment Lu Xiaoqi fell, he looked back with difficulty. However, he saw that Zhuang Ding, who had just promised to follow his master and the strangers to death, were all so frightened that they huddled in the shack, not daring to show their heads.
At three o'clock.

In the Lu family's mansion in the middle of the Lujiagang, while changing cups and talking and laughing, I suddenly heard a commotion in the village.

Lu Yuanju, who was sitting in the main seat, couldn't help but frown. Just as he was about to call his servants to ask questions, he saw a Zhuang Ding dressed in shorts staggering into the hall.

The atmosphere in the hall was harmonious and warm.

"All the talents have gathered." Lu Yuanju felt deeply that his servant was being reckless and embarrassing. He was about to reprimand him when he heard the villager shouting in fear: "It's over, it's over! The thief has entered the village, it's over."

'Boom~'

Lu Yuan angrily slammed the table and scolded: "Three or two thieves scared you into this? Idiot, are the more than two hundred villagers in Zhuangzi just living for a living!"

"Master, Master is not"

The village man stuttered and stumbled, and finally managed to say a complete sentence, "It's not a small group of thieves! Master, there are hundreds of thieves, under the banner of 'Open Sky Pioneer General Jin', yes. "Zhuang Ding's teeth were chattering, and he still couldn't say those words. He was obviously very afraid.

The county magistrate Cao Fenglai, who was already nervous and nervous, blurted out in great fear: "Could it be that they belong to the bandit leader Jin Taiping!"

"Exactly!"

In the hall, there was a jingling and chaotic sound.

Some people turned over tables and chairs and rushed out quickly; others ran towards the back house of Lu's house, trying to find a hiding place; some even got under the table.

The panic scene is like the end of the world.

The enthusiasm of the "group of sages" to denounce Cai Zhoubing together is not traceable.

After all, they know that 'officials' have to follow the rules, but 'bandits' don't care about that much.
"It's over, it's over"

Du Yirong, who had danced the most happily just now, looked ashen and sat down on the chair. A stream of warm and smelly liquid gurgled down his legs.

(End of this chapter)