The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 348 Old River Village

Laohe Village is more than 20 miles away from Nianping Village, not far away. The villagers in the village do not have much communication. After all, the villages are exploited by the landlords, and there is naturally no trade between the villages. Only landlords traded with each other, and what was traded was exploited from the peasants of the village.

The landlord of Laohe Village is named Zhang Wangcai. In his 50s, he took over his father's property and became the landlord of Laohe Village, continuing to exploit the villagers of Laohe Village.

This time he received the transaction from the landlord of Nianping Village, and he also attached great importance to it. The price of a herd of lambs and calves is not cheap, and a hundred oceans are rare. Scalpers, old scalpers are his tool for making money, so naturally they won't sell them, but calves and lambs can be sold.

The lambs and calves needed by the landlord in Nianping Village are not a small number. In fact, he does not have so many lambs and calves in his own hands, but the villagers in Laohe Village have them. The previous land tax has tripled, and many villagers in Laohe Village Even if he didn't pay enough, he was asked to give him a few days' grace, and he agreed. When the time came, if he didn't pay enough, he would just sweep the house.

Unexpectedly, the deal in Nianping Village came. Zhang Wangcai agreed there, and then led people to start snatching lambs and calves from farmers in Laohe Village. .

Today is the day of the transaction, and one lamb is missing. I saw that Zhou Jiwang’s ewe’s belly was big, and it must have been pregnant for a long time. Now, the day of the transaction is coming in the afternoon. Leading a group of gun-toting hooligans into Zhou Jiwang's house.

The door was knocked open, and the old farmer Wang who was feeding the ewes was obviously taken aback. His son Zhou Jiwang ran out of the room in search of the sound, saw that it was Zhang Wangcai, and hurriedly said, "Master Zhang, why are you here today? Our family The grain has already been paid."

Zhang Wangcai strode in and pointed out, "Of course it's not about the food today, I'm doing it!"

Zhou Jiwang hurriedly said: "Master Zhang, it's only been pregnant for three months, and it's not yet ready for lambing, so you can't take it away."

Zhang Wangcai was too lazy to talk nonsense with them, and said coldly: "My land feeds your family, what's the matter with a sheep? Take it away for me!"

Zhou Jiwang panicked and stood in front of the ewe, but was knocked to the ground by Zhang Wangcai's gun butt. Two hooligans punched and kicked Zhou Jiwang, and smashed his head with the gun butt. After two or three strokes, blood came out from Zhou Jiwang's mouth and nose, and he begged bitterly:

"Master Zhang, you can't take it away, it is the last hope of our family, you can't take it away."

Zhou Jiwang's old father also went to stop him, but was dragged aside by a hooligan who grabbed his clothes and beat him with the butt of a gun. The screams and cries came from Zhou Jiwang's yard. Mother ran out with a dustpan in her hand, saw the scene in the yard, dropped the dustpan in her hand to the ground, ran out of the house in a hurry, stumbled over the wooden board in front of the hall, and hit her head heavily on the ground. Dark red blood soaked the sand on the ground.

"Take the sheep away!"

For such a picture, Zhang Wangcai ignored it, and ordered his subordinates to turn around and leave while yelling "咩咩". He stopped his movements against the hooligans who were punching and kicking Zhou Jiwang and his old father, and smashed them hard with the butt of their guns. On Zhou Jiwang's body, he said coldly:

"It is your family's blessing that the master can see your sheep. Maybe you will be happy in the coming year. I will reduce some taxes for your family. Don't be ignorant. The land you use is the master's land. Without the master, you think you are so Can the family survive?"

The screams of the ewes gradually faded away, and in the blurred vision, I saw that the door was closed heavily, as if it was pushed open again, and the neighbor next door ran in. Zhou Jiwang closed his eyes, his consciousness became blurred, and when he woke up again Later, the old father was wounded by the landlord's men and lay on the bed. The old mother fell to the ground and broke her head.

Zhou Jiwang braced himself angrily: "I'm going to find the landlord!"

The old mother cried out in tears, her voice was shrill and desperate: "What are you going to do? Several families in the village are in the same situation as us. They just got their lambs taken away. Our family even took their ewes away. Your father was also taken away. broke the hand."

The neighbor peasant woman hugged Zhou Jiwang's old mother, sympathized with her but had no choice but to do anything. The landlord has power, money, land, people, and guns. Going against the landlord will not end well.

Zhou Jiwang lay on the bed in despair, staring blankly at the dilapidated house. The ewe, the only source of income this year, was taken away, and the land tax was paid for all the food in the family. For their family, the sky is undoubtedly falling up.

The old mother cried in despair: "How can I live this day?"

Zhang Wangcai led his men back home with the ewe, and brought the lamb and calf that he got earlier. Before leaving, Zhang Wangcai told the housekeeper, "Bring the gun and ammunition to make sure this transaction is safe!"

The housekeeper understood, and called a group of people back to the room to prepare weapons and ammunition, while Zhang Wangcai got into the sedan chair and walked out of the village with a few farmers herding sheep.

On the other side, Li Qingming took a squad of soldiers and carried a huge sum of money. After a long journey, he finally saw Laohe Village, which is located among the mountains and forests. Laohe Village was named after a river flowing down from the mountain. old river.

"The water in the old river is also much less." Li Qingming walked across a wooden bridge across the old river, looked down at the trickling water in the old river, and couldn't help but said.

"Deputy company commander, I heard that the weather this year is changeable. The weather in some places is severely dry, and the harvest of crops has decreased a lot. Although our side has not been affected, the rainy season is obviously much less this time."

The soldiers of the Red Army were basically farmers, and they cared about the harvest of the crops. In addition, they could hear some news about other regions when they went to the county town on weekdays, so they naturally learned a lot about other regions.

"Drought is a big problem." Li Qingming's identity is no longer just the eldest son of the Li family. He is a Red Army cadre, not only for the common people, but also for the Red Army soldiers. , Li Qingmin was worried whether the drought would affect Nianping Village.

"Deputy company commander, are you wondering if the drought will affect our village? No, it is to the east of us. Even if there is a drought, it will not affect our side, and although there is little rain this year, it will not affect our village." Not without."

"No, as long as we continue to maintain this rainfall, neither too much nor too little will do. Besides, there is a river at the entrance of our village. Even if it is really dry, we can go there to get water."

Several soldiers were gasping for breath and chatting. One soldier looked up and saw the low house in Old Hecun appeared in front of him, and said, "Deputy company commander, we are here."

Li Qingming raised his head, looked at Lao Hecun, and said, "Be careful, the landlord is not a good person, this transaction must be foolproof!"

"Yes!"

Several soldiers stopped chatting and their eyes became vigilant.

At the entrance of the village, Zhang Wangcai and a group of his men are waiting. The villagers here have already been driven away by them. No one will come here again. The transaction can go smoothly.

A subordinate ran over and said, "Master, they are here."

As soon as the words fell, a dozen people appeared at the entrance of the village. Zhang Wangcai squinted his eyes and smiled on his face: "You are far away, what's your name, sir?"

"Li Qingming."

"Mr. Li, do you know if the money is ready?" Zhang Wangcai followed the principle of trading first and eating later, and his eyes swept over the people behind Li Qingming.

"Of course it's ready. I don't know if Mr. Zhang's goods are ready." Li Qingming asked.

"Business is about honesty. Zhang Wangcai has always been the most honest when doing business." He asked his men to open the wooden cage next to him, and the lambs and calves were kept in it, alive and well. Another cage Inside was a ewe, and when the sun came in, the originally calm ewe began to bleat.

Hearing the cry of the ewe, the lambs in other cages also cried.

Li Qingming asked the soldiers to count the number of lambs and calves, and he asked Zhang Wangcai, "What's the matter with this ewe?"

Zhang Wangcai smiled and said: "The number of lambs is not very enough, but this ewe is pregnant with cubs. We have found someone to look at it. There are four in a litter. I don't know if Mr. Li wants to take this ewe the meaning of."

Li Qingming thought for a while and said, "If that's the case, it's okay."

He waved his hand and asked the soldiers around him to open a carry-on box. Under the sunlight, silver dollars appeared in front of everyone. Zhang Wangcai looked straight at him, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Okay, okay, Mr. Li, what are we doing for you?" Everyone has prepared a hearty lunch and must be hungry after driving all morning."

Li Qingming wanted to investigate the situation in the village, including asking about the old scalper, so he agreed.

The sumptuous lunch was indeed sumptuous. The table was filled with all kinds of meat and vegetables, which Li Qingming had never eaten in his life. He was surprised and extremely angry in his heart. Can be exchanged for.

"Brother, I am older than you, so I will call you brother, sit down, and if there is such a deal in the future, keep in touch at any time, we have everything here in Old Hecun, and I can give you everything you want "Seeing the money, Zhang Wangcai was in a good mood and warmly invited Li Qingming to sit down.

He didn't have the idea of ​​wanting to be black and black, after all, it still depends on his own strength, and the other party has a lot of people, more than a dozen guns, and if they really want to fight, he really might not be able to get the advantage. So I gave up the idea of ​​black eating black.

It's better to have a good relationship and have a network, which will make it easier to trade in the future.

Li Qingming took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. Knowing that it was important to do business, he asked: "Brother, besides calves and lambs, I also want an old scalper. The old scalper is good, and can cultivate land. The land at home Too many, it’s not good to hire those farmers, you know, they don’t have enough food and clothing, they are as thin as sticks, and they have no strength to plow the land. It takes a few days to hire one person, which wastes time. Hire too many people, right? Another waste of money."

Zhang Wangcai showed a troubled expression on his face: "Brother, it's not that my brother won't help you. The old scalper is indeed difficult to deal with. Our village only has one head. There are no other villages. We have to go to the county seat."

He rolled his eyes and said, "Well, my brother knows a few big farmers in the county, so I will ask someone to help you ask, how about it?"

Li Qingming's eyes moved slightly, pretending to be happy, and said: "Brother, it would be nice if you could say that, please ask me to ask."

"It's a trivial matter, but" Zhang Wangcai showed a troubled look on his face.

"Brother, if you have any embarrassing questions, just say it directly."

"It's just that the trustee needs an intermediate fee. You know, it's hard to find a relationship now, especially when it comes to helping with things."

"It doesn't matter if you have more money or less money, brother, as long as you can buy old scalpers, you will be fine."

"Okay, my brother is bright, what time is it today?"

"Here, brother, besides buying the old scalper, I have other things to do, so I can't drink here."

Li Qingming said again: "However, drinking less is not a problem."

In addition to covering the execution of the mission of the first squad, the soldiers of the second squad also have their own mission, which is to carry out the research mission in Laohe Village. It takes time, and I must buy enough time for them.

Li Qingming suffered from this banquet, thinking that his soldiers were still standing guard outside, and he was feasting on fish and meat inside. This feeling of suffering was delicious, and even the rare meat that he had eaten could not dispel it. It is unbearable to pretend to be an old landlord and practice with Zhang Wangcai in front of him.

Knowing that the mission was in hand, Li Qingming had no choice but to endure this suffering and play tricks with Zhang Wangcai to buy time for the comrades operating outside to complete the mission.

Faced with the wine offered by Zhang Wangcai, Li Qingming found an excuse to refuse to accept it. He did not drink too much and ate a small amount of food.

"Brother, how is the situation in your village? Is it stable?" Zhang Wangcai asked when he saw that the food was about the same. They were both landlords, so there must be a lot of common language. He felt bitter, but he didn't know. Who to talk to, Li Qingming's arrival today is a good opportunity, anyway, he has given up cheating.

In this era, the only people who can rely on are brothers of the same class. Zhang Wangcai also saw that Li Qingming was still young, and his father died early. His own father died late, and it took a long time to become a landlord. His father was almost screwed, if it wasn't for the officers who came down from the county to stop him, his father would have died long ago.

Later, the people of the Bai army arrested and killed people everywhere. Many people in their village were killed. The farmers became a mess again. Their family became landlords by virtue of their connections. Not only did they take back the fields, but they also robbed a lot. grain.

It's just that the good days haven't passed long, and he heard that there seems to be trouble again recently.

(End of this chapter)