Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The county seat, Zhuzhai.

Master Zhu, who was a rebel, not only changed his name to Zhu Zongdao, but also learned various elegant things.

He was ordering tea at the moment, wearing a wide robe and long sleeves, holding a tea spoon, and wearing a Dongpo scarf on his head. Unfortunately, he was used to holding a knife, and the tea spoon was not suitable for him. When he was whisking the tea soup, he always used too much force and too fast.

Looking horizontally and vertically, it looks like Li Kui is embroidering.

The young man sat next to him and flattered him wildly: "My Lord Zhu's tea-ordering skills are getting better and better. I will go to Bianliang in Tokyo and be praised by the great Lords."

"Haha, I can't do it, I'm far worse than the county magistrate." Zhu Zongdao was very pleased and started to lift up his sleeves to share the tea.

After the tea was served, Bai Zongmin finally couldn't help but ask: "Ms. Zhu called me here, what are your instructions?"

Zhu Zongdao handed over the tea and said: "You are one of my people. The county magistrate asked each village to share the taxes. The tax you promised is too small. I am very embarrassed by the county magistrate."

"There is really no money left at home, so I have tried my best." Bai Zongmin complained repeatedly.

Try your best!

Due to his unlimited plunder and secretly selling private tea and salt, Bai Zongmin's financial resources far exceeded those of Lao Yuanwai.

But this guy can only get in and out, and the taxes allocated this time are less than half of what Lao Bai Yuanwai promised.

Bai Zongmin knew very well that he had to pay for whatever he had to pay, and it was impossible to get it back from the villagers, because the villagers around his home could no longer squeeze out money.

Zhu Zongdao spat: "You thief, don't cry poor in front of me! How much money you make from selling private tea, no one else knows, don't I know?"

Of course he knew that Zhu Zongdao was also one of the partners of Xiaobai Yuanwai, who was smuggling tea.

Even Xiang Zhixian had heard about this matter, but he was too lazy to ask.

Just because the tea tax and tea tax had to be handed over to the Tea Horse Bureau, the local officials could not get any profit. Even if the whole county is smuggling tea, why does he have nothing to do with the magistrate?

Bai Zongmin felt a lot of pain in his body and asked, "How about another 30% increase?"

"It needs to be increased by 50%." Zhu Zongdao said.

"I will give you as much as Mr. Zhu said." Bai Zongmin quickly expressed his loyalty.

Zhu Zongdao picked up the tea cup and blew on it. He took a sip and felt it was too hot. He put it down and said, "I won't let you spend your money in vain. I will give you some tips to make a fortune."

Bai Zongmin became energetic instantly: "Please give me some advice, Mr. Xianggong."

Zhu Zongdao said: "I don't want Yao Fang from Black Wind Village to be alive anymore."

"This person is indeed disobedient." Bai Zongmin agreed.

Yao Fang is the second in charge of Heifeng Village and was once a rebel partner of Zhu Zongdao.

In order to express his feelings to the government, Zhu Zongdao tricked Yao Fang when he was recruiting troops, and combined officers and soldiers to besiege Yao Fang's troops.

Therefore, Zhu Zongdao became the chief registrar due to his meritorious service, and Yao Fang led his men to join Heifeng Village.

Zhu Zongdao instructed: "If you go to instigate internal strife in Heifeng Village, you must kill Yao Fang."

Bai Zongmin said: "The leader of Black Wind Village, Yang Jun, is a shrewd man. I'm afraid it's not easy to provoke him unless he can be given full benefits."

Zhu Zongdao said: "Tell Yang Jun that as long as Yao Fang is killed, I will allow him to plunder Shangbai Village. The government will not get to the bottom of it when investigating."

"Really?" Bai Zongmin looked happy.

Except for the two white members, they had long disliked each other.

If the bandits rob Shangbai Village and kill Lao Bai's family, Bai Zongmin can just annex the land and expand his power by more than half.

Even if Bai Erlang and Bai Sanlang were able to escape this calamity while away from home, as long as they robbed all their belongings and burned down the house, the family of Lao Bai's wife would have declined.

Zhu Zongdao was afraid that the other party would not believe him, so he explained his intention: "Many of the old officials under me are Bai Zongwang (Old Bai Yuan), and they are always ineffective at critical times. And Bai Chongwu (Bai Erlang), is The top official in the county, Magistrate Xiang, doesn’t like him either. Only by destroying the prestige of Lao Bai, Magistrate Xiang and I can let go.”

"I can save it!" Bai Zongmin completely believed this and no longer worried about the government settling accounts later.

Half an hour later, Bai Zongmin left the mansion with brisk steps.

Zhu Zongdao threw away the tea spoon and called for his sword.

He was standing in the yard, wearing only a single piece of clothing, dancing with his sharp weapon in a flowing motion.

Perhaps because his reputation as a rebel was too great, many people seemed to have forgotten that he, Zhu Er, was also a landlord and had read books when he was a child. It's just that the ban on tea has gradually declined since my great-grandfather's generation, so he simply became a private salt dealer.

Everyone in the world regards him as a dog of Xiangzhi County.

But in Zhu Er's heart, he regarded the magistrate as a flag, a tiger-skin flag that could bluff people.

What I just said was half true and half false.

He was coaxing the young member, because from the beginning to the end, Xiang Zhixian didn't know about the plan, and it was even less possible for him to turn against the old member.

That was just Zhu Zongdao's personal idea. He wanted to kill the second master of Heifeng Village first and eliminate his most feared enemy. Then kill Lao Bai and his family, and take advantage of the situation to control the county officials. The obedient officials will be accepted, and the disobedient ones will be slowly replaced.

When Xiang Zhixian leaves office, he wishes Zongdao to be the emperor of Xixiang County!

Clang!

Zhu Zongdao sheathed his sword, threw the sword to the servant, and went to the corner of the courtyard to lift the stone lock to practice his strength.

…

But he said goodbye to Ju Ming, and that afternoon, Bai Sheng went to help deliver money.

"Brother Tian, ​​this is what Brother Zhu asked me to send." Bai Sheng took out fifty copper coins and said.

Tian Er asked doubtfully: "Which Brother Zhu?"

Bai Sheng explained: "You brothers, you once stayed with two strangers for dinner, that is Brother Zhu and his son."

"There's another horse?" Tian Er confirmed.

"Exactly," Bai Sheng said, "Brother Zhu and his son have settled in Shangbai Village. They were also appreciated by Mr. Bai and bought dozens of acres of land. He sent me here specially to send money."

Tian Er put the money in his arms and praised: "He is also a good man. He remembers both meals. No wonder Brother Zhang thinks highly of them."

Bai Sheng hesitated for a while, and couldn't help but ask: "I want to join the village, can Brother Tian help introduce me?"

"It's a small matter, I'll take care of it." Tian Er happily agreed.

The next morning, Tian Er took Bai Sheng into the mountains and worked under the name of a bandit. He actually became neighbors and colleagues with the five Bai brothers.

Baiford said: "Bai Erhu, why are you here too?"

Bai Sheng replied: "I couldn't stand Bai Zongmin's bullying, so I simply joined the cottage."

Baiford felt the same and sighed: "I couldn't stand the bullying of Bai Zongwang (Old Member Bai), so my whole family fled to the village. They are all surnamed Bai, and they are all such hard-working people. From now on, we must help each other. Where can we wait? God, brothers, if you want to do something big, kill both the old member and the young member!"

"That's good, I'll just wait for that day." Bai Sheng thought that the old member Bai was okay, but he just wanted to kill the young member for revenge.

The two of them spoke so arrogantly, but in fact they worked hard every day and were at the bottom of the bandits.

This Black Wind Village is both a bandit den and a village.

Except for some full-time bandits, the rest are all part-timers and have to work hard at farming.

When Bai Sheng came to the village, he failed to learn the gun and club, and was instead assigned to cultivate wasteland.

Not only to clear the wasteland for himself, but also to clear the wasteland for the five brothers of the Bai family. The reclaimed wasteland was given to the new bandits, and the village owners had to pay taxes on the grain they grew.

Similarly, the village owner will also arrange manpower to help them cultivate the land as soon as possible, and will also lend them seeds and cattle.

This is a village that owns land, has basic production capacity, and has the function of collecting taxes!

Bai Sheng only worked for two days before feeling a little regretful.

In his imagination, as long as he entered the village, he could drink a lot of wine, eat a lot of meat, share money on a big scale, and be free and happy without being bullied by anyone.

Unexpectedly, he came to be a farmer, and he had to cultivate wasteland by himself. After two days of work, he was almost exhausted to death.

A few days later, Bai Sheng saw an acquaintance who was a close confidant of member Xiao Bai.

It was this person who set up the scheme to defraud his father in gambling.

Bai Sheng was only eight years old at the time, and he clearly remembered this man who often came to his father for drinks. He also encouraged his father to gamble and won dozens of coins, which made his father sing little songs at home.

Until one day, his father came home with a sad face. From then on, it was like he was a different person, going out to gamble all day long, trying to win back what he lost.

Bai Sheng buried his head to prevent the man from seeing him, and went to reclaim the wasteland with a hoe.

Taking advantage of the break, Bai Sheng ran to ask his little boss: "I saw Huang Chunhe this morning. He is the second housekeeper outside the little white member. Why did he come to our village?"

The little leader warned: "Don't call me by name, call me Mr. Huang. He is the God of Wealth in Heifeng Village. All the tea grown in the village will be sold to the novice members. Otherwise, why would we grow tea? Serious tea." The merchant dare not come to collect it. Every time we discuss business, Mr. Huang comes here, and this time he is probably here to collect the tea."

Bai Sheng was stunned when he heard this.

The bandit and Xiaobai are in the same group, so how can I take revenge?