"Half of the bandits."
"Whether it's a copper or a mountain of gold, we'll only grab half of it."
"Give room to others and give yourself room."
"Isn't it very meaningful?"
Zhou Jianlai's eyes were bright and his expression was excited. He explained the profound meaning of the name "Half of the Bandits" to Zhang Xiaozu and others, and then looked at them eagerly, hoping to get their approval and praise.
"Good name. Good name." The smooth-minded Lu Kaixue immediately clapped his hands and praised.
He has seen Zhou Jianlai's strength before. He has won five consecutive bets and is even more powerful than Zhang Xiaopeng. In these troubled times, no matter whether he is a bandit or a robber, there is nothing wrong with following such a strong man.
"Okay, okay." Old Man Wu hurriedly echoed.
"Not bad." Zhang Xiaozu was made uncomfortable by Zhou Jianlai's eager gaze and gave a thumbs up against his will. He really didn't want Zhou Jianlai's pirate ship to do bandits and robbers. This went against the village chief's grandfather's wish to be kind to others.
Teach earnestly.
What's more, Zhou Jianlai also gave him a position as second-in-command. If the village chief found out, Zhang Xiaozu would become a bandit, and he was also a bandit leader. He would have to beat his ass with a willow cane.
"Grandpa, aren't bandits and robbers all bad people? Why should we be bad people?" Only the innocent little girl dared to question.
When Zhang Xiaozhu heard this, he nodded immediately. The little girl expressed his feelings.
Old man Wu hurriedly tugged on the little girl's arm, signaling her with his eyes not to talk nonsense, and apologized to Zhou Jianlai for fear of angering Zhou Jianlai, "Children are ignorant and talking nonsense. There are many young masters, so don't behave like a child."
.”
Zhou Jianlai was not angry at all. Instead, he knelt down in front of the little girl and explained in a kind tone: "We are not bad bandits and robbers, we are good bandits and robbers."
The little girl had big eyes and was very confused, and asked: "How can it be good for bandits and robbers to rob people of their money?"
"Do you think these people on the road are pitiful?" Zhou Jianlai asked the little girl, pointing to the refugees on the road.
"They are all poor homeless people." The little girl said sadly, because she and her grandfather were just like these people.
"Look there again." Zhou Jianlai pointed to Yancheng in the distance. Under the sunset, Yancheng was even more majestic and majestic with its rays of light, and asked: "There are many rich and unkind rich people living in that city. They have endless money to spend."
, there are endless steamed buns to eat, endless meat bones to chew, and endless water and wine to drink, but they would rather feed the leftovers to dogs or pour them into swill buckets to stink and rot, than give them a bite to eat.
For poor people like us, do you think their consciences are very bad?"
Guru
The little girl was so greedy for the steamed buns, meat bones and water that Zhou Jianlai described that she swallowed involuntarily. She nodded vigorously and looked at Yancheng with a pair of big eyes, showing an angry look, as if she had imagined what Zhou Jianlai had described.
A picture of being unkind for the sake of wealth.
Zhou Jianlai chuckled and said seductively: "Then you say we rob them of half of their money, half of their steamed buns, meat bones, and clear water and fine wine, and then distribute these things to these poor people so that they can live. What do you say?
Are we good guys or bad guys?”
"Good man." The little girl replied without thinking.
Zhou Jianlai suddenly showed a look of relief and said: "So we are good bandits."
"Yes." The little girl nodded vigorously, and all the grudges in her heart were immediately swept away.
Zhang Xiaozu shook his head and smiled. He knew that although Zhou Jianlai was trying to get rid of the little girl, he was mainly talking to him. It had to be said that it worked, and he was no longer so repelled by Zhou Jianlai's pirate ship.
"Let's stop talking. The top priority is to treat our third master." Zhou Jianlai stood up, and at the same time, he held up the little girl with one hand, dragged her thin body onto his shoulders, walked towards Yancheng, and said: "Enter the city!"
"But we have no money." Zhang Xiaozu said with a bitter face.
"Ah. I have money. I have money." Lu Kaixue shouted quickly and took out four banknotes from his pocket. His tone was so excited that he said, "This was left by the old man who drove the car. Each one is five hundred taels.
Four in total, two thousand taels. We are rich!"
Zhou Jianlai had been talking about bandits and robbers just now, but he couldn't get a word in, and he didn't find a chance to pick up the banknotes.
Zhou Jianlai glanced at the bank note in Lu Kaixue's hand, raised the corner of his mouth and said with a smile: "The donkey-faced old man is loyal and trustworthy. Next time we meet, I will give him two more tricks."
Zhang Xiaozu's eyelids twitched twice, and he thought to himself that it was better not to be arrogant, or he would be slapped into pieces.
Zhou Jianlai carried Xi'er on his shoulders, and Zhang Xiaozu held Niu Dawa. A group of six people went to the checkpoint and handed over 240 taels of silver. Each person received a wooden identity token three inches wide and five inches long, and was
He was told that identity tokens must be kept properly and no replacement will be given if lost or damaged. The city patrol army will randomly check identity tokens from time to time. Those without identity tokens will be punished with twenty canes and expelled from the city.
After passing the checkpoint, it was still ten miles away from the city gate, and it was getting dark. Zhou Jianlai spent ten taels of silver to hire a carriage on the side of the road.
Lu Kaixue said it was too expensive and asked the carriage driver to make dirty money.
The carriage driver's name is Zhao Daqiang. He is about forty years old, dark-skinned, broad-faced, and honest-looking. He is a native of Yancheng.
While driving, Zhao Daqiang complained to Lu Kaixue and said: "I'm afraid this uncle doesn't know the current prices. White rice has almost risen to one tael of silver per catty, a bucket of water costs five taels of silver, and a pound of meat costs eight taels."
Silver. Horse feed is the most outrageous. It used to cost two cents per pick, but now it has increased to ten taels of silver per pick, and it is still expensive but not marketable. Most of the money I made from your business went to the horses.
Hey, when will these miserable days end?"
"This, this," Lu Kaixue was dumbfounded. He was frightened by the prices that Zhao Daqiang said. He couldn't help but shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "The common people have no way to survive."
"That's right." Zhao Daqiang also smiled bitterly.
Zhou Jianlai sighed and said: "With the skyrocketing prices, I'm afraid there will be a war. The Daya people used the dry underground rivers to invade the Black Forest without anyone noticing, and then came out of the Black Forest and directly bypassed Yancheng's strong defense line.
, penetrated directly into the hinterland of the southern border. Now the southern border must be under a crazy attack by the Daya Army. If the Black Armored Army cannot withstand the attack of the Daya Army and the border defense line is lost, the Daya Army will definitely march straight in, capture the city, and kill Yancheng City in the blink of an eye. By then.
In conjunction with the Daya Army invading from the Black Forest, the north and south attacked the city at the same time. Yancheng may not be able to hold on. And once Yancheng is lost, the Daya Army can act recklessly throughout the southern border. The tragedy of sixty-eight years ago will definitely happen again.
Therefore, it is said that Yancheng must not be lost. If Yancheng is not lost, the southern territory will not be destroyed."
"With the war, we ordinary people will have no way to survive." Zhao Daqiang, the coachman, lamented.
"It's useless to think too much. Just live one day at a time." Lu Kaixue forced a smile on his face.
Old man Wu held Xi'er tightly in his arms and murmured a prayer: "May the gods and Buddhas in the sky bless and protect my Xi'er from this disaster and grow up safely."
"Brother Zhou, you know so much." Zhang Xiaozu looked at Zhou Jianlai with admiration, scratched his head, and said shyly: "I don't even know where our Baiyun City is. Brother Zhou, can you give me a general introduction?
"
"Okay. Stretch your hand over." Zhou Jianlai nodded and asked Zhang Xiaopou to spread his palm. Then he put his left index finger on Zhang Xiaopou's palm and said: "For example, this is Yancheng where we are now. To the north of Yancheng
It is Jincheng, and further north is Haoyue City. To the north of Haoyue City is our Baiyun City. It is about 1,200 kilometers away from Baiyun City. Our Baiyun City is just an ordinary first-class main city. Compared with the vast and majestic Yanyan City
The city is much different."
"What?! One thousand two hundred kilometers?!" Zhang Xiaozhu exclaimed, looked at Niu Dawa, and said in disbelief: "How could he travel such a long distance to Yancheng in just one month? He is
How did you do it?"
Zhou Jianlai's eyes followed Niu Dawa and he didn't find it strange at all. He said: "His fighting skills are fully open. It is normal to travel such a distance in a month."
"Ah?!" Zhang Xiaozu was a little confused, wondering if his ears had heard it wrong. He pointed his finger at Niu Dawa, looked at Zhou Jianlai, and asked word by word: "You said he is fully open to war?"
"Yes, the war gate is fully open. Is there any problem?" Zhou Jianlai nodded with certainty.
"This..." Zhang Xiaopou's mouth was half-opened, his eyes widened. He was puzzled by this for a long time, and finally spread his hands towards Zhou Jianlai and said: "He didn't even know what Zhanmen was a month ago. It shouldn't be..."
Do you know?"
Zhang Xiaozhu was suddenly a little unsure, because Niu Yao was Niu Dawa's father, and maybe he secretly taught Niu Dawa how to practice war.
"Impossible!" Zhou Jianlai denied it without thinking, and said: "He opened three battle gates in a month. Do you think he is a peerless wizard who has not been seen for the first five hundred years and will not be seen for the next five hundred years? Even Su Mou, the century-old wizard of Baiyun City,
, it also took a full five years to penetrate the three war gates."
"Hmph. A hundred-year-old wizard is not that good." Zhang Xiaozu curled his lips with a look of disdain. He did not despise Su Mou's strength, but despised Su Mou's character.
"Why, do you have a grudge against Su Mou?" Zhou Jianlai heard Zhang Xiaozhu's evaluation of Su Mou, and immediately became interested and asked curiously.
Zhang Xiaopou said: "I dare not hide it from Brother Zhou, but Su Mou and I have a grudge. I almost died in his hands."
"Oh, did you have a fight with him? How many blows did you take from him?" Zhou Jianlai asked with urgent eyes.
Zhang Xiaozu smiled bitterly and said: "I was still very weak at that time, and I was no match for him. I could only let him control me."
"It's strange. He has always been arrogant and conceited, with his eyes above his head. Why would he be in trouble for you?" Zhou Jianlai asked in confusion.
"It's okay not to say it." Thinking of the relationship between Zhou Jianlai and Qin Xinru, Zhang Xiaopou waved his hand and refused to say more, not wanting to create a rift with Zhou Jianlai because of this matter.
Zhou Jianlai thought it was something he was embarrassed to talk about, so he didn't ask further questions. He patted Zhang Xiaozu's shoulder and said, "When I return to Baiyun City, I will fight him and avenge you."
"Brother Zhou has a grudge against him?" Zhang Xiaozhu asked in surprise.
"No." Zhou Jianlai said, "He is the number one prodigy in Baiyun City. He practices kendo. I also practice kendo. I have lived in his shadow since I was a child. I am eager to fight him and defeat him, otherwise it will be difficult.
I’m relieved. But I’m still far behind now, and I’m far from his opponent.”
"I'm also eager to fight him." Zhang Xiaozu clenched his fists and said. Thinking of Su Mou's despicable behavior in the dark forest, he couldn't help but feel angry and felt that he couldn't calm down in his heart.
When the carriage drove to the North City Gate, it was completely dark.
The towering city gate is closed, leaving only a foot-wide corridor on the right. In another hour and a half, this corridor will also be closed.
A handful of burning torches were hung on the mottled stone walls on both sides of the city gate, illuminating the city gate as brightly as day.
Two teams of fully armed soldiers stood on both sides of the city gate, exuding a cold and murderous aura, making people involuntarily fearful. Those sharp eyes like knives scrutinized everyone who entered the city, but there was suspicion
, he had to be stopped for detailed interrogation.
There is another group of soldiers guarding the door at the entrance of the corridor. Everyone is carefully inspected and interrogated. Carriages, trucks, large boxes, barrels, and any place where people may be hiding are strictly inspected. The main reason is to strictly prevent big teeth.
People have the opportunity to sneak into the city.
Zhang Xiaozu and his party successfully passed the inspection, passed through the long corridor, and finally entered Yancheng.
Zhang Xiaozu originally thought that the scene in the city would be much better than outside, but what he saw was still a desolate and silent scene of disaster.
Both sides of the road were filled with refugees fleeing the city, and they were wailing everywhere. It was no different from the scene outside the city.
"Go to the largest medical clinic!" Zhou Jianlai told the driver.
This chapter has been completed!