Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 490

Yongseong, Daegu.

The cowhide drum sounded again, and the assembly horn sounded.

The two brothers, Ah Fu and Ah Gui, dropped the reed stalks in their hands when they heard the sound. The two brothers, one fifteen and one twelve, just cut two large bundles of reed stalks from the river today and were about to weave reed mats. Once compiled, it can be sold for some money on the Daqiu Ji. Although the brothers are not skillful enough, they can always be worth two yuan if they are done well.

"It's assembled again, let's go, take a look."

Since Twelfth Uncle became an official Red Gun team, the family's conditions have improved. Half a stone of grain per month can make everyone's porridge on the dining table of this big family change from sparse to a porridge. He can stand upright with chopsticks, and Uncle Twelfth even bought some chickens to raise. Although the eggs laid by my grandmother always have to be saved to go to the market to exchange for money.

But when Uncle Twelfth was at home, he would always cook one for each of the children in the family, even if they could only eat it once every three or five days, it still made them feel full of happiness.

Even Ah Fu and the others looked a lot better.

on the drying yard.

Ah Fu saw Uncle Twelve from a distance, and waved happily.

"Uncle Twelve, you're back."

"Well, I just came back from Suizhou with my senior brother," Chen Twelve said, taking out a dried lotus leaf bag from his pocket, and opening it, it turned out that there was beef in sauce, which had already dried up. "In Suizhou, Admiral Xu rewarded you. I ate some and saved some for you."

Ah Gui happily took it, and then gave some to his brother first, and he only shared a little to eat, and he wrapped most of the rest to give to his sister.

"This is beef, it's delicious,"

After eating the little sauced beef, the two brothers couldn't help but lick their fingers.

"Uncle, the assembly call is blowing again, is this another mission coming?"

"Well, big task."

Ah Fu, who has always been quiet, asked Chen Twelve, "Uncle, can you take me with you on missions? I've grown up."

"You're only fifteen, so skinny."

"I have strength. I have grown a lot recently. I want to do missions and earn food."

Agui laughed beside him, "Uncle Twelve, you don't know, my brother has a girlfriend."

"Oh?" Chen Twelve was surprised.

Afu was a little embarrassed.

Ah Gui said it out of nowhere. It turned out that there were a lot of refugees who came here recently. Under the arrangement of the old master, Daqiu also took in a lot of refugees, and set up several refugee settlements. Under the leadership of the old master, It was also given to the bachelors in the Red Gun Club to ask for wives in the refugee camp.

At this time, many refugees were desperate, and faced with the old master's promise of marriage, they could only wish for it.

There is no requirement for dowry gifts or no dowry gifts, three to six buckets of food are enough.

The members of the Red Spear Club, although some of them are old bachelors, are all strong and strong after all, and have food supplements. Daqiu has been stable for a while, and this year they just harvested, so they still have some food at home, and they have not suffered from bandits and officials. Looting, life is okay.

These days, it is very good to have enough food and clothing.

The old master came forward, and this matter was done beautifully. Recently, in Daqiu, in the refugee camp, women are married to members of the Red Gun every day, and there is no wedding. Serve a basket of cakes, offer tea, and take the bride home.

It's so simple and unpretentious, there is no banquet, because no one is rich, they all come to see the bride, say a few congratulations and auspicious words, and then drink saliva, it will be fine.

No one would think about going to someone else's house for a meal at this time, and they couldn't afford it.

Right now, the official members of the Red Gun Club are the most popular among the girls in the refugee camp, because they are young and strong, and they have good conditions. They don’t have to go hungry when they marry, and even their own family can get a few buckets of food, which can save lives at least temporarily. , I can still have something to rely on here, and I can put my feet down.

Girls with good looks, tall, strong body, especially girls with double feet are the most popular among the Red Spears, and those girls who have bound feet, even if they are not bound badly, will not be the first choice .

It is even more difficult for those who are petite or even sick.

Of course, there are more and more refugees, and many people are counting on marrying off the girl in exchange for three or five buckets of food to save their lives.

There are only so many official members of the Red Gun Society, so many refugees are not so picky. Ordinary villagers are willing to marry as long as they can afford a few buckets of food.

Later, after hearing the news, there were still a large number of refugees who brought their daughters to the door.

The old master couldn't stand it anymore, so he finally thought of a way to take it with six buckets of grain for a girl, and sent the red gun team to the south, in fact, to the imperial camp in the south.

Since last year, the emperor has been marrying wives for the soldiers of the imperial camp. As long as certain conditions are met, the soldiers of the imperial camp can wait in line to get their wives.

The emperor gave them a betrothal gift, and even bought a simple dowry for the girl, which was a good benefit for the soldiers of the imperial camp.

This benefit also added a lot of expenditure burden to the imperial camp, so the imperial camp also tried to find girls from poor mountainous areas to marry, or find girls from refugees.

There are more refugees in Huaibei now, and a girl can be exchanged for a few buckets of food. Even though food is quite expensive now, it is still far cheaper than that in Jiangnan.

The old master contacted the imperial camp in Huainan, and after talking about this, he immediately received strong support from there. The generals also knew that the soldiers under their command would be more stable after they married their wives.

Send someone to quietly send salt, money, cloth, etc. to the old master, and ask him to send more girls to the south.

Old Master, the matchmaker's business grew bigger and bigger, not only marrying the members of the local Red Spear Club, but also marrying the soldiers of the imperial camp.

To the outside world, the old master said that he was proposing marriage to the Red Gun Team in other places, directly giving six buckets of wheat, and even a piece of cloth. This extra condition made the refugees very excited, although some people wondered if the old master tricked the girl to sell it in other places , But now Huaibei is full of refugees from Huainan, and people starve to death every day.

At this time, many human traffickers come directly to buy people. It is very straightforward to sell them to brothels and other places. Some big families even buy them directly to be slaves, concubines, etc., but what choice do refugees have?

It's all to the point of changing children and eating.

On the way to escape famine, those who died of starvation often did not survive for a day. Even if they were buried by their relatives, they would soon be dug up and eaten secretly by others.

Hunger can drive people crazy.

However, Chen Fu's situation is somewhat exceptional.

He doesn't have six buckets of food to talk about, and his family is too big, so it's not his turn yet.

When Chen Fu was cutting reeds by the river, he rescued a girl who was hungry and passed out, and gave her half a piece of pancake. The girl survived. The girl was probably a little older than Chen Fu, sixteen.

A family of six came out to flee famine, living on the embankment of the river.

Ever since Chen Fu rescued the girl that day, he has visited her often, and every time he would bring some food, which was specially left over from his meal.

Even under his guarantee, the girl's family was able to live in a refugee camp.

It's just that there are too many refugees, even if they can settle down, it is still difficult to survive.

Even if the porridge is given out in the refugee camp, they can barely hang their lives.

Over time, it is easy to die from lack of nutrition.

He and Ms. Li can be regarded as seeing the truth in adversity. The girl regards him as a savior, which also arouses his desire to protect. After the girl's parents knew about this, they also supported it, but they hoped that he could give him six buckets of wheat as a gift .

The girl also has three younger brothers and sisters, and the hungry ones have become big-headed dolls.

If Ah Fu can't afford six buckets of grain, then the Li family can only send their daughter to the old master to marry in another place, in exchange for six buckets of grain, and an extra piece of cloth.

Ah Fu is in a hurry.

But the family disagreed.

Because there are a lot of people in the family, they can barely make ends meet now, and to get married, they have to be Ah Fu’s uncles and brothers, and it’s not his turn. After all, he is only fifteen, and his 25 uncles are still single. You have to come one by one.

But Ms. Li's family can't wait any longer. After all, the opportunity to exchange six buckets of food and one piece of cloth will not always be there, and the children in the family are even more hungry.

Chen Twelve was a little surprised when he heard that his nephew Ah Fu, who was usually muffled, turned out to be so precocious.He also knew that the family didn't like Ah Fu very much, after all, he was not the real Chen family.

"You really like that girl?"

"Well, I promise to marry her." Ah Fu said.

Twelve Sickles patted this nephew, "This is a good thing. Liu Douliang marrying a girl is worth it no matter what. People in troubled times are worthless, but in this troubled world, for us grassroots people, the most valuable thing is people."

"I will pay for this food."

"Uncle, you haven't married yourself yet, and grandma will definitely not agree. Grandma still wants to send my sister to the old master to exchange for six buckets of grain and a piece of cloth." Agui said.

The niece is only a little over 13 years old, a thin yellow-haired little girl, who is usually very sensible and hardworking, and because she is not of the Chen family, she is not treated well. His mother even made an idea before that she wanted the girl to come back again. When I grow up, I will marry Twelve directly, but Twelve can't accept this.

Now hearing that my mother still wants to marry off her niece in exchange for food and cloth, she feels even more helpless.

"I'll tell your grandma about this, Lianxiu is still so young, how can she be willing to marry out of town."

While talking, the assembly call sounded again, and Chen Twelve patted the two brothers, "You don't have to worry about these things, I'll take care of them, I'll go to line up first, and let's talk at home after the dissolution."

Chen Twelve went to assemble and line up, and the Ah Fu brothers also relaxed a lot.

When Twelfth Uncle came back, they felt like they had a backbone.

After assembling and queuing up, big brother Zhao Zhongyi came.

At this time, he was riding a big horse, and the armor on his body was even more powerful. He stood on the reviewing platform and spoke to everyone. Heilou Village.

This action was discussed by Zhao Zhongyi and Xu Dingguo in Suizhou. After he and Fatty Wang returned to Yongcheng, they gathered people and horses to level the Mangdang Mountain in the northeast of Yongcheng first, sweep away several stockades inside, and then went north to the Yellow River. They joined forces, crossed the Yellow River and entered Yanzhou Mansion, and raided the half of Yanzhou Mansion east of the Yellow River and west of the canal.

Allied with Liu Zeqing from Shandong to attack the Tuzhai forces in Yutai, Chengwu, Juye, Jiaxiang, Caoxian and other areas.

Xu Dingguo asked Zhao Zhongyi and Fatty Wang to attack Heilouzhai in Mangdang Mountain first, not necessarily because he wanted to test their combat effectiveness.

Although Mangdang Mountain is not high, it is very famous. It is said that it used to be the quarry of the Yellow Emperor in ancient times. The Yellow Emperor once visited this place, and Chiyou was active here.

Liu Bang once led his army to fight the Qin army for three days here. Chen Sheng was killed after the uprising, but he was also buried in Mangdang Mountain.

At the beginning of Liu Bang's army, he was also granted the title of Dang County Chief by King Huai of Chu, and he was granted the title of Marquis of Wu'an, and he was the general of Dang County.

At this time, Heilou Village, the largest earthen village in Mangdang Mountain, was occupied by a group of thieves and thieves.

In addition to Heilou Village, there are dozens of large and small earthen villages in Mangdang Mountain.

What Zhao Zhongyi told Xu Dingguo in Suizhou was that the Red Spear Club was very strong, but not really strong. Xu Dingguo still had to see their real combat performance.

Standing on the stage, Zhao Zhongyi was also very direct, saying that he was going to destroy Heilouzhai, and all members of the Red Spears were mobilized, and the common people and hungry people followed to grab food and belongings.

It is not mandatory, it is voluntary, and those who go there will have a share at that time.

After the common people heard about it, they were still moved. In troubled times, there is a custom of robbing big households. What is lacking is the leader who calls. As long as someone calls, everyone will follow. After all, survival is necessary.

Zhao Zhongyi would take the lead if he was willing to bring a red gun, so why would the people not want to.

All of a sudden, they shouted their willingness, and after the meeting was over, word of mouth spread the news, and soon the news spread like wind all over the country, and countless people and hungry people began to gather in Daqiu. Gathered over ten thousand.

(End of this chapter)