Spring and Autumn Confucian Heroes

Chapter 40 Where is the road
On the rugged path, a white figure was riding fast on a black donkey.

"How could this be?"

Huan Chang's eyes were a little confused, and he felt that the belief in his heart seemed to collapse in an instant.

"How could this be!"

Huan Chang's face was a little pale, and his brows were tightly wrinkled.

It's no wonder that Huan Chang is like this, after talking with the old man, what the old man said caused Huan Chang to suffer a great shock to his heart.

According to what the old man said, it's not that they don't want to take shelter from the government, but they have other secrets.

Perhaps most of the common people don't know the difference between the cities under the jurisdiction of the princes and the cities under the jurisdiction of the sects, but the old man knows a thing or two.

The old man told Huan Chang that they were originally people in the official territory of the State of Lu.

However, as a commoner in the government, they not only have to pay taxes to the government, but also perform various corvees.

The most important thing is that the government often has no way to protect the people in the territory. This is also the most important reason why the old man and the others fled.

Generally speaking, the common people can indeed be protected if they take shelter from the government.

However, this is a very chaotic world, an era of knights and bandits.

The people living in the interior of the Lu Kingdom lived a relatively stable life, but some people living in the cracks were miserable.

The so-called gap refers to the territory between the princes and the princes, or between the princes and the sect's sphere of influence.

Unfortunately, the old man and the others lived in the city of Lu State at the beginning, and they happened to be in the gap between the city under the jurisdiction of the Juye Gang.

This kind of crack is often a three-way zone, where bandits, rogues, and wanted criminals gather.

Even if it is the government and the Juye Gang, in order not to touch the other party's nerves, they will not interfere too much, let alone send troops to suppress the bandits.

If things go on like this, these bandits who don't care about the area will become more and more arrogant.

Some powerful bandit groups even openly plundered the territories of princes and sects.

Due to the fact that the princes' territories are too large and the troops stationed are very scattered, the princes' territories have been looted more often.

In terms of overall strength, a third-rate sect like the Juye Gang would certainly not be stronger than the State of Lu.

It's just that the few cities occupied by the Juye Gang are their lifelines, so they will naturally send martial art masters to station here.

Therefore, bandits generally do not dare to plunder the sect's sphere of influence on a large scale.

There used to be a master in the realm of metamorphosis, and he gathered together in the three-way zone, and his power became stronger and stronger, and finally he actually looted the people under the jurisdiction of the Juye Gang on a large scale.

At that time, the interests of the Juye Gang were endangered, and all the masters of the sect came out, first destroying that powerful bandit force, and chasing and killing the bandit in the realm of transformation to the territory of Qi State.

In the end, even the warrior in the metamorphosis realm could not escape the fate of death.

After that incident, although the bandits in the three-way zone were rampant, they did not dare to offend the sect's interests too much.

On the contrary, the government of the State of Lu treated these bandits much more gently.

As long as these bandits don't attack the city or plunder the people in the hinterland of the Lu State, the Lu State government will not send troops to suppress them.

In this way, the tragic fate of those people living on the border of Lu State can be imagined.

These people, they are not qualified to live in the city at all, not only have to pay the government land rent, but also face never-ending looting.

Fortunately, the vast majority of bandits have their own rules even if they plunder.

Generally speaking, the bandits will not do things absolutely, so as not to kill the chicken to get the eggs, they usually only ask the common people for protection money.

However, excluding the land rent handed over to the government, the people had very little food and money left in their homes.

If there is a good harvest, they can still pay the protection fee to the bandits, but if the harvest is not good, they can't afford it at all.

And the end that the common people can't afford is that they will bear the wrath of the bandits.

The old man and his people couldn't bear it and had no way to resist. They wanted to move to the sphere of influence of the Juye Gang, but they would not be allocated land.

After all, there is no shortage of people in the territory of the Juye Gang, what is lacking is land.

There was no other way, the old man and others had no choice but to leave their homes and come to poor mountains and rivers to live a difficult life.

For these people, they would rather face the beasts and poisonous snakes in the mountains, and endure hunger and cold than continue their previous life.

People like the old man may be just a special case, but they are not the epitome of a group of people.

When the old man said these words, there was no anger, no resentment, no emotion, only helplessness.

But after Huan Chang finished listening, he couldn't calm down for a long time.

When Huan Chang was studying, although he knew some general things, it was impossible to know the details without personal experience.

As the descendant of Shujian Pavilion, he knows that 300 years ago, the seniors of Shujian Pavilion once assisted the princes to fight against the major sects in the mainland of Kyushu.

Huan Chang has always firmly believed that the displacement of the people, the endless wars, and the rampant banditry are all due to the fault of the sect.

However, today, Huan Chang had a subversive understanding of the princes and sects from the mouth of the old man.

From the old man's words, Huan Chang could hear that he was deeply disappointed with the government of the State of Lu, and yearned for the lives of the people under the jurisdiction of the Juye Gang.

The people in the territory of the Juye Gang pay the same taxes as the people in the state of Lu.

However, they seldom perform military service and corvee service, but they can also get the protection of the Juye Gang. Compared with the old men, their life is much better.

Even though the border was occasionally robbed by bandits, the bandits did not dare to be too rampant for fear of angering the Juye Gang.

This kind of life may not be considered good, but it is better than the life of the old man and the others.

Moreover, the people under the jurisdiction of the Juye Gang are generally more wealthy and stable than the people in the Lu Kingdom.

This is also the reason why many people have poured into the sphere of influence of the Juye Gang, wanting to become the people under the jurisdiction of the Juye Gang.

They may not know that these cities are the sphere of influence of the Juye Gang, but they want to be able to live in them.

However, the Juye Gang's sphere of influence is limited, and its land is also very limited, so it is impossible to accommodate too many people.

The vast majority of the people came here in good spirits and returned in disappointment.

Over time, living within the sphere of influence of the Juye Gang has become the ideal of many poor people.

"If sects are more conscientious than vassal states, and the lives of the people in their territory are better, then is it true that the ancestors and the others helped the vassal states to launch wars with the sects?"

At this moment, Huan Chang was at a loss.

He didn't know where his path was going, and he didn't know whether he wanted to inherit the career of his master.

All he knew was that the lives of the people in the Juye Gang were far higher than those in the Lu Kingdom.

"Perhaps, what the old man said is one-sided. After I understand the matter of the Black Sand Gang, I must go around and find out what the facts are."

A look of determination flashed in Huan Chang's eyes.

He will not blindly follow what the old man says, nor will he think that what he does as a teacher must be correct.

Huan Chang will know the truth only if he has personally experienced all the things.

(End of this chapter)