Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 410 Ignorant People

The speed of sailing along the water is really fast. In less than a day, the three official ships have arrived at the Dongting Lake area. It is very difficult to find their traces without mobilizing the grass.

Fortunately, the samurai Xun had already sent someone to contact them some time ago. After resting on the shore for the night, early the next morning, a small fishing boat from the lake area approached them. Zhang Ke followed the agreement Incision, after communicating with the boatman, the three official boats followed the small fishing boat and started sailing in Dongting Lake.

After walking for more than half a day, they arrived at the place. The place where the dock was located was a relatively hidden lake col. Even if Zhang Ke had a telescope in his hand, without the guidance of this small boat, it would be difficult to find this place.

There are many fishing boats parked on the shore of the lake, but they are not big, and may not be able to withstand the wind and waves in the Yangtze River. It can be seen that these water bandits who intend to accept the recruitment are not very professional.

"Captain, we're here."

It was cold and windy outside, and Sun Xiangfu would not run out to blow the air if he had nothing to do. After Zhang Ke came to pass the news, he put on his padded jacket and led Wu Meiniang out of the cabin together.

In the woods on the shore, two dark-skinned men, one tall and one short, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the people on the official ship did not appear to be acting evil. The short man said, "Brother, this The official came to discuss the matter of recruiting security, and he brought a little girl with him, so it can be seen that he has no intention of fighting with us, the brothers who are ambushing in the forest can almost withdraw, so as not to cause any misunderstanding."

Sun Xiangfu never thought that Wu Meiniang's appearance had special effects, and instantly lowered the vigilance of the water bandits. He hugged the little girl, followed Zhang Ke and others to land on the diving board, and followed the guides to Walking on the yellow mud road on the hillside, after a while, everyone saw some temporary shacks. At the same time, the two dark-skinned men, one tall and one short, also led one or two hundred village men to welcome them out.

"You, are you living in such a shack?"

Sun Xiangfu didn't even ask the names of those who came up, he pointed to the sheds made of mud and platycodon stalks.

"You officials, who live in mansions carved with dragons and painted phoenixes, naturally look down on our miserable shacks."

Seeing Sun Xiangfu's appearance, the tall man in the lead spoke with a slightly sour tone.

"Hehe, big brother, I think you have misunderstood. A few years ago, when I was not an official, the house I lived in might not be better than yours. I said that you lived in a poor house. I didn't dislike you, but I said , why would you rather live such a hard life here than let the imperial court help you find a way to improve your life!"

The sentence just now was the key to Sun Xiangfu's deception mode. This water bandit leader is very good, so Sun Xiangfu opened up the topic without any difficulty.

"The imperial court, can the imperial court manage common people like us?"

Hearing Sun Xiangfu's words, the big man's face became a little more friendly, but he had already had a prejudice against the government people in his heart, except that the government would find them when collecting taxes, and at other times, he was too lazy to care about them.

"Maybe I didn't take much care of it before, but now, I definitely do. No, His Majesty sent me to solve your problem."

"You, are you sent by the emperor?"

Although the big man has not read any books, he also knows that the majesty mentioned by these officials refers to the emperor. However, given their lack of information, it is obviously impossible to know about the imperial court sending imperial envoys to Jingzhou.

"Exactly, my official Anbei Metropolitan Governor, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Sun Zhengming, in addition to being able to manage all the affairs of the Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate, he also manages the farming affairs of the common people in the world."

For the series of official titles reported by Sun Xiangfu, the big man has obviously heard a lot. After all, the newspaper has already come out, and Sun Xiangfu has spread some news about Anbei Dadu Protectorate across the country many times. At that time, they hadn't fallen grass here, so they must have heard some rumors.

"Chao, the imperial court sent you such a big official to deal with us people's affairs?" The big man was very disturbed and even stammered.

Even though he didn't know how to read, he used to hear the story of Sun Zhengming, the most skilled farmer in the world, in the market town. In summer, many melons and fruits from Guanzhong were sold to Shannan Road. It is said that Sun Zhengming led the It was planted by the common people. At that time, they, local boatmen, were hired by the stewards on those big ships to help unload and transport them. They never expected to meet him here.

"People's livelihood is no small matter. In the past, the imperial court had troubles in the north, and now it is about to start a national war with Goguryeo in the east. It is impossible to take care of the local area for a while.

However, Your Majesty has not forgotten you. In his busy schedule, he specifically asked me to come and make a proper arrangement for you. Next, the new development policy will be implemented in Shannan Road, and you will be able to live a good life like the people in Guanzhong. up. "Sun Xiangfu spoke kindly to the big man with a smile on his face.

From these people, the big man didn't feel any aggressiveness. Even the heavily armed guards like Zhang Ke didn't seem to have that kind of domineering posture, and they didn't defend them firmly.

Of course, what he doesn't know is that if Sun Xiangfu's guards want to deal with them guys with hoes and bamboo sticks, they don't need to act as if they are facing a big enemy. Wielding the saber, he could chop melons and vegetables and clean them all up.

"You, what are you saying is true?"

The big man hadn't reacted yet, and the short man who had persuaded him to withdraw from the ambush in the forest earlier stepped forward.

"Is it necessary for me to lie to you? I heard that there is a group of water bandits on your side who robbed some Miao people who were relocated from the mountains by the court. Do you know what the court relocated those Miao people for? Allocate houses for them to live in, allocate Give them good fields to cultivate, the imperial court can do this for these ethnic minorities who live in wild mountains and forests, let alone you waiting for the Han people?"

Hearing what Sun Xiangfu said, the two water bandit leaders, one tall and one short, were stunned. Although those Miao people were not robbed by them, they were actually related to that water bandit. In other words, the entire Dongting Lake area The water bandits are more or less connected. Once the imperial court sends a large army to suppress them, they are bound to form a group to resist. But this time, the imperial court did not send an army, but a young official who is said to be the best farmer in the world. .

Then, they immediately thought that this matter might have a deep meaning, because they knew that the water bandits who robbed the Miao people decided to do it because they took the benefits of Huang Cai and others, otherwise However, with their guts, at most they could just extort some money, rice noodles and other things on the small merchant ships they were going to, and they didn't dare to attack the official ships, because that would inevitably lead to the suppression of the official army.

"I was desperate at the beginning, so I thought of falling grass on this lake. I can only blame the flood for destroying the fields in the village. Those big families refused to lend us food..."

What big things can the little people who take the village as the unit do?Sun Xiangfu didn't even need to listen to them to finish the story. It must be some clichéd stories about disasters, no help, local officials, tyrants, united again, not helping them, and even deliberately forcing them to go to the bottom of the road.

Thinking about it, the original fields of these water bandits have now fallen into the hands of local officials or those tyrants. Natural disasters ruined the lives of ordinary people, but enriched them.

However, through what they said, Sun Xiangfu can be sure that the free warehouse set up by the imperial court has not played its due role in the local area. After the free warehouse is under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture, this situation should be difficult to happen.

After Sun Xiangfu waited for the short man to fully explain why he fell into the grass, he said, "I haven't asked the two names yet."

"Your Excellency can call me Zhang Mu, or Zhang Dalang. This is my second brother, called Zhang Chong. Your Excellency can call him Erlang."

Sun Xiangfu is already used to the address of Da Lang Erlang like Datang, nodded and said, "Since your brothers are willing to accept the imperial court's offer of peace, then report the number of villagers who you led to Luocao to me. Officer, in addition, if you can help me contact other water bandits and tell them the imperial court's recruitment policy, then I will give you a fortune."

"Wealthy? Sir, you don't want us brothers to lure them out and catch them all at once! You can't do this, the folks in the ten miles and eight villages are all poor people, and they were all forced by natural disasters. "Zhang Chong was already a bit smarter than his elder brother Zhang Muchong, so he took the lead in begging with a bitter face.

Sun Xiangfu smiled as kindly as possible and said, "Don't worry, if you want to catch all of you, it won't be my official who came. Compared with exterminating you, recruiting you is more beneficial to the court, and it will really harm you to the point where you become bandits." Yes, it is actually those corrupt officials and local tyrants, they hate you for not dying, so they use all kinds of tricks to kill you."

Hearing this, both Zhang Mu and Zhang Chong looked at Sun Xiangfu with puzzled expressions.

It seems that if you don't explain it clearly to them, they will not understand the truth here at all, so Sun Xiangfu said, "The imperial court has set up free warehouses in various states and counties. However, the actual situation is that you should only know that you have to pay for the righteous granary grain, but no one has ever told you that you can use the righteous granary grain.

Then, you borrow grain from those big households in those places. It stands to reason that you have a lot of land and produce a lot every year. If you lend some to you, they can earn a lot of interest, but they don’t lend it to you. I know why ? "

The biggest shortcoming of the people is ignorance. The government, especially the government controlled by local tyrants, will not tell them what kind of social security they can enjoy except telling them how much tax they have to pay. At the time, they didn't know it at all.

So, the two of them just shook their heads in a daze, and at this moment, Wu Meiniang, who had been put on the ground by Sun Xiangfu and watched their entire conversation, giggled and said, "You guys are so stupid."

Sun Xiangfu touched her head with interest and said, "Little Mei Niang, tell me, why are they so stupid?"

Wu Meiniang smiled cutely, "If those people don't lend them food, they will naturally force them to become bandits. In this way, their original fields will belong to those tyrants."

(End of this chapter)