At the end of May, Liu Chengzong, Cheng Yun and others went to Fucheng to buy horses and mules with rice and grain. On the way, they met Yang Yanchang, a member of the Trial Hundreds.
I learned that Liu Guoneng’s current situation is not good.
Killing the officers and soldiers from the south did not cause any trouble. In this matter, local officials still protected the local people.
However, during the inspection, the official found that several villages in Nanjiashan had a lot of grain stored in them.
In the year of the great disaster, the Yan'an Prefecture also paid half of the wages of the police officers, who were all hungry.
Some officials had evil thoughts and wanted to accuse them of being traitors, arrest a few people and extort some food.
I never expected that they were really thieves, and they were thieves who were hiding something.
I don’t have a good psychological quality, so I can’t help but scare you like this.
Seven detectives who investigated the case all died in Nanjiashan.
Villagers from the entire village, with their families and families, carried food into the mountains overnight.
The government could not find anyone else, but it knew that there was a scholar named Liu Guoneng.
This time, he didn’t even use the name of Chuang Taotian. He directly used his real name to put on the wanted notice.
Fortunately, the government can't spare any time to deal with a small role like him.
Summer is here, and it’s time for the twice-annual tax resistance in northern Shaanxi.
Being a government official has become the number one high-risk occupation in Yan'an Prefecture, and you can't take care of anything.
Liu Chengzong was very relieved to know that Liu Guoneng was wanted and was still alive.
It’s not that he is evil. One person can never change another person, but reality can.
Cruel reality can shatter people's beautiful illusions.
Only by taking a step can one gain wisdom.
Before he met Zhang Qianhu, who asked for food but did nothing, Liu Chengzong also had beautiful fantasies about Shi Dao Bao.
If you know your mistakes and can correct them, there is no greater good.
But Yang Yanchang had more important things to tell him.
They walked eastward from the livestock market outside the south gate until they reached a deserted place before finding a sheltered spot on a hillside.
Yang Yanchang said: "Did you see that the Nancheng camp has been practicing all day long, and there is a rumor in the guards that a war is about to begin."
Yan'an Fucheng is bounded by the Yan River and consists of two cities, the big city in the north and the small city in the south. The school ground is also on the south bank of the river.
Liu Chengzong asked: "Yanchuan?"
"I'm afraid it's not the only one. Five days ago, a thousand commanders were transferred from Xi'an. The Self-Defense Station took out 700 banner troops to form camps for training. The north also allocated 200 elite cavalry to Li Bei.
There is also Governor Biao Camp in the south, and this battle is not a matter of Yanchuan."
Zhang Tianlin's prophecy came true, and the rebel armies from all walks of life gathered together, so that their size was no longer limited to the extent that the court could deceive itself.
This time the court is going to take serious action.
Liu Chengzong asked: "How is the situation of the guards? They are about to send out troops. They have no food. Will they... collect food?"
"Have you thought about it? I stopped you just to say this. You should be careful. The Wei Li Banner Army is going crazy. As far as I know, two people have hanged themselves in the past few days." p>
"Go, hang yourself?" Liu Chengzong couldn't believe it: "Are you so afraid of war?"
Yang Yanchang didn't like hearing this, and said with an ugly face: "No one is afraid of war. We are not afraid of being happy before it is too late, and we are not afraid even if we starve to death.
I'm afraid that they won't be allowed to die. That Qian Zong transferred from Xi'an is a thief who trains the flag army to death. His head is wet and he urinates blood at night. He only spends a few days holding this Buddha's feet!"
When he said this, Liu Chengzong understood.
The Guards Army had no military pay, so its rations depended entirely on the crops harvested from the army's fields. The meager rations not only supported the principal but also the minors.
In these famine years, the common people cannot afford to eat, let alone the Weisuo Banner Army.
If you ask them to go into battle, you will die, but if you are lucky enough to get a few heads chopped off, you can change your fate by becoming a guard officer, or else you will have to abandon your family and become a deserter.
But don't let them die, practice hard, you can't do anything without oil and water in your stomach.
In these days, for the poor, living is suffering anyway, but dying with a knife is really not that difficult.
Anyway, it’s fun.
Liu Chengzong asked: "Then what are your plans?"
"Me?"
Even though he knew there was no one else around, Yang Yanchang still looked around, and then whispered: "When I came out today, I got a batch of old weapons from the guard station and took them to the blacksmith for repair.
If these things are repaired and not transported back, my people will not survive this battle, so I will take them to escape."
"Escape to where?"
"Let's go to Guoneng. He has enough food to last until autumn. We can wait until the officers and soldiers are gone before thinking about the rest."
Yang Yanchang was telling Liu Chengzong, but also seemed to be emboldening himself: "I have thought that this time the officers and soldiers will mainly attack the big thieves who show up. We are hiding in the mountains and we will not be beaten by the officers and soldiers if we don't cause trouble." Seeing that Yang Yanchang had an idea, Liu Chengzong didn't say much more and just offered a few words of comfort.
Unexpectedly, Yang Yanchang was quite optimistic. He suddenly changed his mind and asked: "That is, do you want to marry a wife, or do you follow the tribe, or do you want a daughter or a son?"
The words were so convoluted that Liu Chengzong couldn't catch them, and looked puzzled: "No, Brother Yang, why did you suddenly talk about buying a mother-in-law?"
"It's not just those three families. One of them took the aunt and hanged him together. The remaining two families left two aunts, two boys, three girls, and five children without anyone to take care of them.
They all come from Weishuo farmers, their mother-in-law is young and hard-working, their children are sensible and obedient, if you want to buy one, I will help you. The price is cheap, you can buy one for twenty or thirty kilograms of millet. When the future is settled, they will have to be sold to Shanxi.
”
Liu Chengzong glared and said, "Why do we have to sell them? If our husband's son dies, we have to pawn them off?"
"Where is my husband's family? The debt has not been settled after the death, and the food owed must be repaid. Every household in the military surplus is starving to death. They are just waiting for food to save their lives. No mercy.
You see, if you want to buy a horse with one stone of grain, you have to buy three more buckets of food. Our guard will directly give you seven people with one stone of grain. Isn’t it much easier than a horse to do anything?”
When Liu Chengzong heard this, he waved his hands quickly: "Don't bring this trouble to others. Do you really think that following me would be better than being sold to Shanxi?"
"Okay, forget it if you don't mean it. I just feel that I won't be offended if I get my head chopped off if I follow you. I don't want them to die and their family members to be insulted."
Yang Yanchang also thought about it and told him in turn: "But you have to be careful about Zhang Xiong. He has more than 300 soldiers per thousand households. He was severely beaten by Mr. Fei Qian a few days ago. He just got more than 20 soldiers from outside yesterday."
A head."
"Zhang Xiong, you mean Zhang Qianhu?"
"Well, that's him."
Yang Yanchang nodded, came closer and said, "Fei Qian always wants him to guard Yan'an. When the army goes out for an expedition, no one will be able to stop him. If he can't protect everything, what will he do for money and food?"
Liu Chengzong took a deep breath and raised his hand to pinch his forehead.
Damn it, I bought land earlier and caused hungry people.
When buying horses now, don’t let thousands of households know about it.
According to this Qianhu's behavior in dealing with thieves, once he found out that Heilongshan was using grain to buy horses, he would definitely come to the door through blackmail.
How long are you going to suffer from this irritation?
Liu Chengzong didn't speak for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and asked: "Where is Zhang Qianhu's home, the guard station outside the city?"
This question startled Yang Yanchang: "What do you want to do?"
"That man led his troops to my house before and asked for food. He took the food but did nothing. He made a private agreement with the thieves who massacred the village and used the heads of the people to take credit for his crime."
Liu Chengzong's face was full of amiability: "I'll just ask."
"Tiger General, don't be stupid. His house is in the city next to the Gulou Dudu Courtyard. If there is too much noise, you won't be able to run away."
Yang Yanchang pointed in the direction of Fucheng and said: "What's more, now that Fucheng is under martial law, all entry and exit must be registered."
Martial law is difficult to deal with, so we can only do it outside.
"Hey, you have to run anyway. Can you think of a way to get me a door cannon? A smaller cannon that can be pulled by two donkeys would be best."
Before Yang Yanchang could refuse, Liu Chengzong raised three fingers and added: "Three stones of grain, buy the person yourself, and I will shoot him."