I

  Chapter 115 113【Encounter on a narrow road】

  The director of Yongxin County was cut off, just last month.

   I don't know who did it, anyway, it was a group of bandits, and there seemed to be women among them.

   There are also black servants, holding long sticks with infinite strength, and their bodies are scorched black like ink.

   This group of bandits came by boat, first robbed the county government office, and then took the government servants to work as coolies, swaggeringly removed the money and food from the government treasury. Then he went out of the city to seize several ships, and in broad daylight, the universe was clear, and he left.

  Li Banghua led more than 200 township braves, abandoned the boat and rushed here on foot. The first reaction of the county magistrate was to close the city gates.

  Back to everything, Li Banghua was finally allowed to enter the city, but Xiangyong was ordered to station outside the city.

   This can be regarded as abiding by the rules, guest soldiers are generally not allowed to enter the city.

  However, Li Banghua ordered the magistrate of Yongxin County to send food and collect ships quickly with the order of the governor, but he was dragged on without doing anything.

  There was no grain in the county, and as soon as some autumn grain was collected, it was robbed by bandits.

  The magistrate promised Li Banghua that he would help raise food and grass, but the gentry were all crying for poverty. Even the boats, only two small boats were recruited, and no one was willing to lend out the big boats.

   "It's too good to deceive our military discipline!"

  Li Banghua was left hanging for several days, and finally couldn't help but have an attack.

  More than two hundred village braves came all the way from Lushui, and it can be said that there was no crime along the way. Under Li Banghua's restraint, even the crops were not trampled, and the straw borrowed from the people to make beds would be returned.

  So quiet and kind that no one is afraid of them!

   "Clang!"

  The fifty-year-old former minister of the Ministry of War suddenly drew his sword: "Follow me to the pier to grab the boat, don't kill indiscriminately, one boat kills one person to gain power!"

  The township warriors had long held back their anger and rushed to the pier with Li Banghua.

  Li Banghua allocated the number of kills, only who can kill. The other Xiangyongs did not dare to disobey, but tried to vent their anger in different ways, punching and kicking as soon as they rushed onto the boat.

  After robbing the ship, some villager warriors were left to guard, and Li Banghua personally led troops to the outskirts of the county to grab food.

   The first one to be robbed was Qianhu from Yongxin Shouyu Qianhusuo!

   Then he robbed another landlord, and beheaded more than ten people one after another in order to establish his prestige.

  Li Banghua boarded the boat with food and grass, chose a large ship as the ship, stood at the bow and shouted: "Let's go!"

  In this absurd world, it is really impossible to follow the rules.

  The magistrate stood on the tower, his face pale with fright. He didn't just procrastinate, but he really had no food to collect, and he couldn't bear to pay for it himself.

  Go down the river and reach Tianhe Town in one day.

  The two banks here are full of mountains, with a river running through the middle, and most of the villages and towns are at the foot of the mountain along the river.

   As night fell, I dared not continue the boat, because the current in this section was turbulent and there were some hidden reefs in the river.

  In order not to disturb the local people, Li Banghua did not choose to stop in the town. Instead, a little downstream, the big ship was anchored, and the small boat was bound to the big ship, and twenty township braves were sent off the boat to watch, and the rest of the township braves stayed on board to rest.

  This gentleman has a very high prestige in Ji'an Mansion. With his own prestige and personal charm, more than two hundred villages have been subdued.

   This miscellaneous army does not lose much to Zhao Han in terms of military discipline.

  Outside the town, in the mountains.

  Inside a mansion.

   "Fourth Master, the officers and soldiers are here! Several big boats and more than twenty small boats!"

  Fei Yinggong stood up slowly, drew his sword and sneered: "You dare to come to die, call the brothers to attack at night."

  Fei Yinggong doesn't have much Datong thought, but his approach is very similar to Zhao Han.

   This guy first killed the landlord of the town, robbed the landlord's house to live in, and rewarded the landlord's family members as wives to his subordinates. Even the black buddy Tie Nu was assigned a widow.

   Then divide the land. He himself is a big landlord, and all his subordinates are small landlords. He also distributes the land to many poor people who become self-cultivators.

   Instantly gain a firm foothold in Tianhe Town!

  The terrain here is even more powerful. Both banks are surrounded by rivers and mountains, and the cultivated land is either in the mountains or along the river. If officers and soldiers come to kill, they can run into the mountains with their legs up, and the transition between offense and defense is easy.

   At midnight.

  Li Banghua was sleeping in the cabin when he was suddenly awakened by the sound of killing, and saw countless torches lit up on the shore.

  Several of the Xiangyong guards on the bank were hacked to death by bandits, a few jumped into the river to escape in fright, and a few quickly fled back to the boat.

  The brave men of the township were terrified, they pulled the anchor and cut the cable one after another, and sailed away from this place as soon as possible.

  In the darkness, a large ship unfortunately hit a rock, and several small boats capsized in the turbulent river.

  Li Banghua was filled with resentment, but there was nothing he could do. To row back, he had to use a tracker, but there was no tracker here.

  Why?

  Because the trackers are all Fei Yinggong’s people, and the land has been divided, they occasionally act as thieves and go to Yongxin County to rob.

   "Fourth Master, caught a live one!"

  A Xiangyong was brought in front of Fei Yinggong, already paralyzed from fright.

  Fei Yinggong interrogated himself and asked, "Who led the soldiers?"

   "Li Shangshu." Xiang Yong answered honestly.

   "What? Shangshu?"

  Fei Yinggong thought he heard it wrong. He just occupied a poor village and town. He just robbed the county government of money and food. Does Shang Shu personally lead troops to suppress it?

  Xiang Yong explained: "Jishui Master Li, Li Shangshu."

   Fei Yinggong has a strange complexion. He once traveled to Bailuzhou Academy to study. At that time, Li Banghua was dismissed from office and was invited to teach in the academy, and Fei Yinggong had listened to it for several months.

   That is to say, Li Banghua is Fei Yinggong's teacher.

  Fei Yinggong asked hastily, "How did Li Shangshu lead his troops here?"

  Xiang Yong replied: "There are thieves in Luling County... There are righteous men who killed the landlords and divided the fields. There was a lot of battle. The governor is leading troops to suppress them, and Li Shangshu led us to take a back route."

  Fei Yinggong couldn't believe it, and muttered to himself: "What did that kid do? He recruited Li Shangshu and the governor."

   After finishing speaking, Xiang Yong was killed with a sword.

  The morning of the next day, Fei Yinggong arranged for manpower to go to the upstream and downstream to watch around the clock. Once officers and soldiers were found, they immediately packed up and went into the mountain.

  As for Li Banghua, who was attacked for no reason, he counted the number of people at dawn, and was so angry that he wanted to go back and kill the bandits in Tianhe Town!

  There are more than 230 township braves, and there are only more than 190 left at this time!

  When he came to Huangjia Town and landed, Li Banghua immediately sent people to investigate the enemy's situation, and led his troops to rest on the river beach.

  The spies quickly returned to report, saying that there was no one inside or outside the town.

   Li Banghua frowned. He led his troops around in a big circle, and spent twenty days before and after, but he was still in vain?

  Li Banghua climbed up the stairs and came to the door of the inn, where there were billboards asking for corn and sweet potatoes.

  Leading troops to the outside of the town, Li Banghua was thoughtful when he passed a few houses.

  Those houses are made of earthen walls, with limewashed propaganda slogans: Everyone has land to cultivate.

   Came to a private house again: everyone has a room to live in.

  Next, there are many other slogans—

   Everyone has clothes to wear.

  Everyone has food to eat.

  The old man will die, and the children will be supported.

  Widows remarry quickly.

   If children are not allowed to study, they will be fined.

  Equal fields, equal to high and low.

  Li Banghua sat cross-legged on the ridge of the field, staring at the "equalization of the fields, waiting for the rich and the poor" in a daze.

  Although the Li family is a rich family, Li Banghua was born in a poor family.

   Both his father and son were admitted to Juren, and they spent too much money on education. The ten mu of land in the family was not enough for expenses, not even enough for the travel expenses to Beijing for the exam, so he had to walk from Jiangxi to Beijing with his father. No one came to offer land.

   Li Banghua is very clear about how miserable the bottom farmers are. He has also worked in the fields himself.

  Suddenly, Li Banghua really wanted to meet Zhao Han and chat with that traitor face to face. He wanted to persuade the rebels that the Great Harmony of the World is not done this way, and that they should work hard to become an official through the imperial examination, and then manage the family to govern the country and the world.

  Looking around, the winter wheat seedlings are lush and lush, and Li Banghua likes it for a while.

  Looking at it, Li Banghua stood up suddenly, and shouted loudly: "Don't trample on the wheat seedlings!"

  A Xiangyong said: "Sir, these are the wheat seedlings of the rebels. They should destroy them all."

"fart!"

   Li Banghua said angrily: "A traitor is a traitor, and crops are crops. How can the crops that are planted be destroyed? Whoever destroys the wheat seedlings will be dealt with by military law!"

  The township warriors looked at each other, and they all felt that Mr. Li was too pedantic.

  But no one dared to disobey the order, and each ran to the private house, trying to search for the property that was not taken away.

   Just when Li Banghua was about to withdraw his troops, a spy came to report: "Sir, the rebels have come down the mountain!"

  Li Banghua was stunned, and then he drew his sword and shouted: "Masters, follow me to kill the thief!"

  …

  Pang Chunlai has brought people into the mountain for more than 20 days, and the villagers are clamoring to go back to weed and top-dress the winter wheat planted before entering the mountain.

   Don’t go back to work again, but the harvest will be delayed!

  And the weather is getting colder and colder, if it is delayed, it may snow, and people and animals will definitely be frozen to death and frostbite.

  Because the officers and soldiers had retreated for many days, Zuo Xiaoliang had brought the villagers back to Huangba Village, which was slightly downstream on the opposite bank. After making some arrangements, he crossed the river and entered the mountains, and ran to look for Pang Chunlai.

  The two of them thought together that the officers and soldiers would not come again, so all the villagers in Wuxing Town also began to descend the mountain.

  The spies sent by Li Banghua into the mountains happened to collide with the spies sent down by Pang Chunlai.

  The spies on both sides were separated by more than ten steps, their eyes wide and small, and they were so frightened that they went back to report the enemy's situation.

   "Don't panic!"

  Although Pang Chunlai has bad eyesight, he knows the outline of the terrain.

He immediately ordered: "We will drag our families and our food and livestock. We will definitely not be able to outrun the officers and soldiers. Withdraw from the mountain ridge behind and block the food and supplies together as a barrier. Quickly collect stones. Go ahead, women go too, protect the old, the weak and the livestock!"

  Li Banghua hurried to the mountain with more than 190 brave men, and he was greeted by simple fortifications.

  The sacks and baskets were filled with food, as well as wheelbarrows and other supplies, all lined up as barriers against the enemy. Regardless of men and women, as long as they are strong, they all picked up hoes and poles, and moved many stones to smash down.

  Each family was transferred a young man to serve as a soldier, and Chen Maosheng's missionary team also took some away. There are very few young men left, and most of them belong to the elderly, weak, women and children.

  Pang Chunlai widened his eyes, trying to see the enemy's situation clearly, but only saw some shadows shaking.

  Zuo Xiaoliang held up his **** and shouted to boost morale: "Folks, the dog officer has brought troops here and wants to take away our land and food. Will you agree?"

   "No promise, no promise!"

  The old and the weak, women and children shouted in unison. Although they were afraid in their hearts, they were even more afraid of losing their land and food.

   Moreover, the terrain is also in their favor, and the officers and soldiers can only attack from the front.

  Zuo Xiaoliang shouted again: "Kill the dog officer!"

   "Kill the dog officer, kill the dog officer!"

  The villagers roared louder and louder, and even children of a few years old shouted together, as if this was a very interesting thing.

  Li Banghua's complexion was extremely complicated. He was loyal to the emperor and served the country, diligent in government and loving the people, but in the end he was dismissed by the emperor and returned to his hometown.

   "Uncle, they are all old and weak women and children, young and strong at most three or four hundred. They don't have any serious weapons. As long as we soldiers use our lives, we should be able to win a battle." Li Banghua's nephew suggested.

  Li Banghua remained silent.

  First, the opponent has a good location and high morale. Can they really win in a single battle?

  Second, the opponents are mostly old and weak, women and children, so it is glorious to kill them all?

  After thinking for a long time, Li Banghua said to his nephew: "Go to persuade them to surrender, and say that as long as they surrender to the government, the past crimes will be forgotten."

  The nephew immediately climbed up the slope, and before he could speak, several head-sized stones rolled down.

  (end of this chapter)