folk legend

Chapter 70 The Bandit in the Paddock

While talking, Xu Peng let Jiang Liu and Dougen into the house.There is no stool in the room, please go directly to the kang.Seeing the two of them sitting on the edge of the kang, Xu Peng hurriedly served tea and water.

Old Mrs. Xu heard her son say that these two children are Mr. Yin and Yang, and she didn't know whether she was a little slow to react because of her age, or she didn't pay much attention to it, but she muttered in her mouth, "There is no cross talk about Zhong Kui catching ghosts in the box. "

While talking, Old Mrs. Xu followed into the room.Although the voice was not loud, everyone in the room could hear it clearly, and immediately everyone in the room burst into laughter.

After a laugh.Jiang Liu picked up the water cup and took a sip. Feeling that the water was still a bit hot, he casually put the cup on the kang.

Then he asked Xu Peng who was on the ground: "Well, Uncle Xu, there is a two-meter-high mound over there in your village. What kind of place is that?"

Before Xu Peng could speak, the old Mrs. Xu, who was sitting on the top of the kang after entering the house, took Jiang Liu's words and said, "You mean that mound? It's useless for you to ask him about it. There are not many people as old as him in the village." I know. I also just found out when my mother-in-law told me about it."

After all, Mrs. Xu is old, and she can't keep up with her speech and thinking. She talked intermittently for more than half an hour before she explained the matter back and forth.

During the period, Jiang Liu, Dougen, and Xu Peng didn't interrupt, and listened quietly.After Mrs. Xu finished speaking, Jiang Liu and Dougen couldn't help sighing in their hearts. They didn't expect so many things to happen to such an insignificant small mound.

Speaking of this, it is a bit far away, and it has to start with the bandits in the paddock.

Weichang County was opened for reclamation in the second year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1862), when a large number of outsiders poured in.However, the local land to be reclaimed is very limited, and there are too many people and too little land, so many people become refugees, which provides quite convenient conditions for the breeding of bandits in Weichang County.

Another reason is the special geographical environment of the paddock, with many mountains and deep forests, which makes the bandits here always very active.During the War of Liberation, banditry activities in Weichang County were rampant and reached the highest peak in history.

Speaking of which, at that time there were not only bandits in the paddock, but also in all parts of the country?In modern times, an author named Zhou Gucheng wrote a book called "On Chinese Social History".

There is a saying in the book: "Modern China can almost be said to be a world of bandits. There is no province in the whole country without bandits, and there is no county in a province without bandits, and there is no township in a county." There are no robbers."

This is also a true portrayal of that era.This is true of the general environment, and Weichang County is no exception.

According to incomplete statistics in the early days of liberation, there were 132 bandits in Weichang County at that time, of which 100 bandits had more than 26 people, and the total number of bandits was 10750, accounting for 5% of the total population of the county.There are several well-known big bandit leaders, Bai Jinhui, Zhang Tongxuan, Ren Hai, Yi Xiangchen, etc. These are all registered with the government.Among them, Bai Jinhui's bandit gang is the largest, with more than 900 bandits alone, and everyone has a real guy.Just their gang of bandits is almost catching up with the establishment of a regiment.

There are also Guan Shuqin and Yang Wansen on the dam, and Sun Hanzhang, Niu Gang, Tao Hanxuan, Liu Jinsheng and others on the dam.These few are not as famous as those, but each has at least one or two hundred people under his command.

The remaining small group of bandits ranging from a few to dozens of people will go to sea.Each of these guys occupies a mountain top, all of them are kings on their own, and they are also connected with each other, and they are colluding together.The paddock at that time was made into a mess, and the people were in dire straits.

According to this area, Weichang County ranks first in Hebei Province.There are both mountains, water and fields, and it stands to reason that the lives of ordinary people should be good.But the problem is that it can't stand the scourge of so many bandits.

Not to mention anything else, just say that these bandits eat horse chews, and the daily expenses are not a small amount.There is no money in the sky, and there is no money in the ground, so what should I do?It can only play the ideas of the common people.As a result, various methods such as smashing kilns, robbing roads, and kidnapping tickets came into being, and they became the main means for these bandits to make money.

Smashing the kiln is a slang word for bandits. To put it bluntly, it means smashing the place.For example, looking at this business is very good.In the middle of the night, I took a group of people to this house.If you talk about morality, you will also give a name, and when you see someone, you will politely say: "Shopkeeper, what are we going to do, let me borrow a way!"

"Borrowing a way" is also jargon, which means smashing your kiln!You said that if you don't know what's going on, you thought it was a distant relative who came to visit.

If there is someone who is sensible, he will quickly take out a lot of food, meat, ocean and so on.Say good things with a smiling face, and send the bandits away happily, and the matter will be over, and you will save money and avoid disaster.

Naturally, there are also those who are not convinced. I have worked so hard, dropped a bead of sweat on the ground, and saved this family fortune. Why should I give it to you?When encountering such a situation, the bandits will naturally not be convinced.Smashing a kiln is such a serious matter, how can anyone tolerate it.

At this point, the only option is to fight.So smashing the kiln is still a head-to-head job.Ordinary people call smashing kilns and smashing weapons, and the meanings are similar.

There is no need to talk about the robbery. The heroes of the green forest from ancient times to the present have often done this.They all lay in ambush on the side of the road first, and when they see passers-by, they jump out quickly, and then shout, I drove this mountain, I planted this tree, I want to pass here, save money to buy roads, and return What kind of tooth is half broken, no matter whether it is killed or buried.

To put it bluntly, it is to scare people away and get the money to finish the calculation.Of course, according to the current situation, there is also that cute one.What I said before is the same, but what I said later changed the flavor. I won’t tell you why it has a nickname, it’s called Tiedan.Of course, such a cute person has always been the number one big old Cheng from ancient times to the present.

In the end, I have to say that this kidnapper is also the most wicked among the bandits.Kidnapping refers to binding the important figures of rich people, such as the head of the family, shopkeepers, family members and children.The purpose of kidnapping is to use the ticket as a hostage to force the family to redeem the person with money and goods, and the bandits can get a large amount of income from it.

There are various methods of kidnapping by bandits, some are directly caught by smashing kilns, or half-way robbery, and some bandits design traps, but in the final analysis, they are all for one purpose-money.

Then let’s talk about why kidnapping is the most wicked thing. To be honest, in that era, there were so many rich families, and most of them were ordinary people.That is to plant a few acres of land, and save a little family property from the early morning to the middle of the night. The family's life is a little better but it is limited.

But it happened that such a serious farmer's family loved to recruit bandits.why?Because such people, in the final analysis, are ordinary peasants with little ability to resist.

And it is such a ticket that is often in danger of being torn up.Bandits want so much money at once, go there and collect it!

At that time, there was a jingle in the paddock that said: "The rich are afraid of being kidnapped, the girls are afraid of being robbed, the walking are afraid of being robbed, and the going out are afraid of being smashed."In those days, when people went out, what they were most afraid of was running into bandits.

Back to the head, let's talk about the mound at the west end of Yangcaogou.In the earliest days, this place was a large flat land, and there was no mound like it is now, and even the village now did not exist at that time.

Then why was this place with no village in front and no shop in the back then used?It turned out that most of the bandits at that time would choose this place when they exchanged hostages with the families of the kidnapped people after they kidnapped their tickets.

Why did you choose this place?This is directly related to the terrain of this place.For one thing, the mountains around here are not high, but the forest is very dense.It is too easy to hide a hundred or so people inside, that is, it is convenient for bandits to hide.

Secondly, the front and back of this place are open flat land.Whether it's big or small, you can see it with just one glance.As far as the second point is concerned, it is simply too good for the bandits.

Why do you say that?Let's use an analogy, for example, this company was kidnapped.But people in this family think that the government is like my backyard. If you dare to tie up my ticket, I will report to the government to suppress you.

Now that you have reported to the official, you must bring someone with you when you go to redeem the ticket.As long as the person who redeemed the ticket showed his face, the bandits on the other side could see it clearly.Before the officers and soldiers were ready for battle, the bandits on the other side had already opened their guns and aimed.

Just such a battle can be won by just sending a stupid bandit.You said that such a good place is placed, so the bandits can't make good use of it? !

Once you come and go, this place becomes famous.But also in response to the old saying, how can you not get your shoes wet when you often walk by the river.It is said that once, a group of bandits tied up the concubine of a high official.The ticket was redeemed here that day, but the security team in black coats came to No. [-] that day, let alone the regular puppet army, and the two sides fought for a whole day and a half night.In the end, there were not many bandits left, relying on their familiarity with the terrain, they escaped.

This incident became famous after such a commotion, and the report was directly placed on the desk of the mayor of Rehe City.The mayor of the pseudo-government at the time saw that this was not bad.Under my diligent administration, love for the people, and clean governance, how could such a place be tolerated.So on the same day, a death order was issued, and all the bandits in the paddock must be wiped out at all costs.

From then on, in this place, the battle between the bandits and the officers and soldiers started.Later, this group of officers and soldiers simply built a barracks here, which is the predecessor of the current village.

At that time, the officers and soldiers did this, and there was a posture of vowing not to return the bandits, so the two sides were exhausted.After a long time, these bandits can't afford it.Fighting every day, there is no income, what do the men eat and drink?You can't even eat enough, who will kill you?
(End of this chapter)