"Luxi, Lunan, south of Qijun, Langya, there must be about a dozen families who are raising banners alone." Zhang Xing came back to his senses, and calmly asked from behind the candlelight. "King Xiongtian felt that inside
How many are available to stay?”
Xiong Bonan was silent for a while, and then answered in a low voice: "Two families...probably."
Even though Zhang Xing had been mentally prepared, he was a little confused at this time. He paused for a long time before asking: "Which two? Where are the others?"
"The family belongs to a family named Zuo. The remnants of Zuo Xiaoyou, the former Prime Minister of Qi County, are now located in the southeast of Qi County, occupying two counties. There is also some power in Langya Mountain District." King Xiongtian began to tell the story seriously. "Maybe it was him before.
The Zuo Xiaoyou who followed him was the local magistrate of Qi County, and he made a special explanation; it may be that he was frightened by Fan Hu who returned to his teacher before he had time to do anything; of course, it may also be that he is really a fastidious person, but I have never heard of him.
No matter what evil deeds, there are rules and regulations for doing things, basically it is a government that does not disturb the people."
"I should have a few things. I have been an official before, and then I encountered the deposed Dragon Gang Li Shan's victory just after the incident, and there was no room for trouble." Xie Minghe interjected from the side. "This is really rare in troubled times.
"
"Probably so." Xiong Bonan nodded perfunctorily and continued. "As for the remaining family, there are actually two 'half families'... One is the Guishan Army in southeastern Shandong. They have a very bad reputation in Sishui County.
, the Guishan area in Langya is very clean, and they have just eaten Father Liang recently. No matter whether they are good or bad, it is not easy to blame them; as for the Haixu Gang, which has just emerged in the coastal area of Langya for half a year, everything is in order, but
One of the gangsters is suspected of taking people to sea. But in this year, especially with Langya's confusion, do you think selling yourself as a slave is a good thing or a bad thing? It's hard to tell clearly."
Zhang Xing's heart moved slightly, but he didn't say anything more. He just kept asking: "Then all the others cannot be kept? Have they all slaughtered the villages and towns?"
"That's not the case." Xiong Bonan took a deep breath and shook his head after a long while: "But after thinking about it, I can't think of a way to save it... The most common thing is to rob, the whole village, the whole town, the whole town.
The county is robbed, the cattle, sheep and livestock in the township, the gold, silver and silk in the city are all going to be robbed... I haven't counted the official treasury, because after all it is a rebellion, and there are indeed many people inside who have released things from the official treasury to the people.
of."
Before Zhang Xing spoke, Liu Yunhe next to him probably understood some of the content, but he couldn't hold back at this time: "Won't the Deposed Dragon Gang plunder?"
As soon as he said this, Zhang and Xiong all looked at him.
Xie Minghe immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, but he became even more curious: "Does the Deposed Dragon Gang not plunder?"
"We don't rob the people, we only rob the officials." Xiong Bonan answered with a loud voice. "And during the first wave of uprisings, they also released food, burned debts, and cleaned up the lawsuits. In this Eastern Expedition, there was no food distribution because of concerns about insufficient food.
, but I put too much money and silk."
Xie Minghe was still curious: "But if that's the case, how did you get military rations and military resources later? I heard that in the First Battle of Lishan, you fought 50,000 against 20,000, and in the Second Eastern Expedition, you also had an army of 50,000!"
"It's not like letting them all go, leaving half in the treasury. The key is to immediately replace the government and prevent the uprising from ruining the people's affairs." Xiong Bonan tried his best to explain, but didn't bother to correct the troops. "We also collected land taxes later."
"But I still don't understand." Of course Xie Minghe could see Xiong Bonan's dissatisfaction, but he couldn't suppress his doubts. "How did you replace the government? And if you collected land taxes as usual, wouldn't the local people be resentful?
?What difference does it make if we don’t make trouble or not?”
Xiong Bonan wanted to answer, but he was speechless, so he looked at Zhang Xing.
Xie Minghe understood and looked at Zhang Xing.
"Every place is different." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "The Eastern Border is the hometown of the Eastern Qi, but it is not the core of the Eastern Qi. The two capitals of the Eastern Qi are one in Hebei and the other in Shanxi. There are many in the Eastern Border.
They are military leaders who are in charge, and there are not many noble families. Therefore, the main force of the rebellion here are mostly local powerful people inherited from the Eastern Qi Dynasty. They were not only the local middle and low-ranking officials of the Wei Dynasty, but also heroes on the road.
He is naturally good at common affairs. With their help and some respect for demoted officials, he can naturally keep the government in order during the affairs."
Xie Minghe nodded repeatedly after hearing half of it. When it came to history, he knew more than Zhang Xing, so he quickly realized that in a word, the grassroots political power was originally in the hands of the rebels here.
"As for the grievances," Zhang Xing said with a smile. "Unlike the land tax of three acres for one acre of land in Jiangdong, one acre of land here in the East has always only required double the land tax. After we deposed the Dragon Gang, we only followed the actual situation.
Granting land and collecting land tax, while burning usurious debts, and cutting off those special products for worship, the people actually relieved their grievances for this, which is strange."
Xie Minghe smiled.
"Anyway." Xiong Bonan saw this and finally took it back. "Looting is the biggest and most common incident, and then there is excessive expropriation, but there is no action to maintain the place..."
"This is what most of the rebels are capable of." Xie Minghe immediately shook his head again. "Everything is good when they take action. Who can say that they were not forced to take action by the Wei Dynasty? Therefore, when rebels all over the world are swarming, they must settle the matter.
It was brought to the attention of the Wei court. But once the matter was accomplished, who knew how to govern the place and maintain order like you, the Deposed Dragon Gang, who could clean up the treasury in a month or two... But after the crowd gathered,
If you still need to raise an army and expand your territory, you will inevitably ask for excessive amounts from below, and the subordinates will be squeezed dry, so you can only openly rob them, and once the opening is opened, you will be willing to degenerate, and you will be unbearable.
.”
Xiong Bonan became increasingly frustrated, but could not argue. He just continued speaking in a low voice:
"Thank you, what you said is right. These are pretty general. It's these leaders that bother me the most... There were many good men in the past who were all familiar heroes and had a lot of loyalty.
I have never seen them lose their loyalty and duty in poverty. As a result, after only one year, they are getting worse every day... They were clean and self-sufficient before, but after the uprising, they took in a woman. This is okay.
It can be said that when you are rich, you get married, but one woman is followed by another, and you marry ten, eight, or twenty in six months. What on earth is that? There are some who are greedy for money, I won’t talk about it. Who is not greedy for money?
?Xiao Guo in our gang is also greedy for money, but what does it mean if one person has to eat dozens of plates for one meal?"
Xie Minghe seemed to want to interrupt again, but did not speak.
Zhang Xing, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh when he had a little understanding: "These are really nothing in front of the Southern Tang and Nanchen families in the past. In those days, many Jiangdong families had a meal with hundreds of maids and thousands of plates. In order to
There are many people who show off their wealth and kill people randomly with vindictiveness, but because of this, those noble families were completely defeated, and they were trampled under the feet of those bumpkins from Guanlong and rubbed against them repeatedly until they lost all their skin."
Xie Minghe's expression remained unchanged, but the flame of the straight candle in front of him visibly swayed.
"So, after all, it is recognized as a bad thing, and there is a clear lesson." Xiong Bonan sighed. "Actually, if you want me to really care about massacres of cities and villages, unlimited killings, and full of evil, it is not that excessive, or
Speaking of which, there are still only a few that can be found. The key is that most people regard robbery, taking women, and extravagance as normal things. I went to see them and found them. They knew how to cover up random killings, and even the rebels
I also tried to cover up the incident, but no one covered it up. One family did it, two families did it, and every family did it. In the end, it was me who became the wrong person, so that I also wondered if it was me who started with it.
You think the rules are too harsh? You can go back, look at us, and think about it again, isn't it all good?"
"Is King Xiongtian wondering whether this is right or wrong, or wondering why they became like this?" Zhang Xing thought about it and asked with a smile from the opposite side.
"It's not like I can tell right from wrong. I still wonder why they became like this." Xiong Bonan said sincerely.
Xie Minghe was about to speak but stopped.
"The thing is very simple. One is that I have bad examples in my heart; the other is that no one restrains me." Zhang Xingze nodded with satisfaction, and then slowly said. "There are many bad examples, because the world before was bad. The nobles of Dong Qi
, the military leaders of Guanlong and the aristocratic families of Jiangdong have gone through hundreds of years of changes, and everything has been in a terrible state. Now that these rebel heroes have gained power, they naturally have the mentality that they are the masters of their own country and have become masters, and they can do the same.
.”
Xie Minghe said nothing, while Xiong Bonan nodded immediately.
"But the worse example is none other than the Wei Dynasty." Zhang Xing continued to talk.
"How do you say this?" Xiong Bonan was surprised for a moment. "The Wei Dynasty...the imperial court was bad, but it didn't openly rob it?"
"If you think about it again, is there really no open robbery?" Zhang Xing asked back.
Xiong Bonan was at a loss and confused.
"King Xiongtian." Xie Minghe couldn't hold back again and again. "A harsh government is robbery... Open robbery, but they have an emperor and the Guanlong Army that has conquered the world. They can amend the law, issue documents, and control the robbery."
Looting has become a legal decree. Otherwise, think about it, hundreds of thousands or millions of people are forced to do corvee at every turn, and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people are killed and injured. It is no more cruel than massacres? A double land tax was imposed on the hometown of Eastern Qi, and a double share of land tax was imposed on the hometown of Nanchen.
Conscripting three shares of land does not mean plundering the whole world? If not, why do the people of the world rebel? Why do they keep rebelling even though they know that this is a court that has just unified eighty-nine points of the world, has countless soldiers, and has many masters? Yes.
Yeah, and that... we usually collect a lot of taxes, but once there is a disaster, we surround it and don't save people, and we don't allow people to run away. I don't know what that means."
Xiong Bonan remained silent, and his face turned purple under the candlelight. It could be seen that he accepted this statement very easily, but after the window paper was pierced, he had some more clear doubts.
feel.
"You two are really interesting." Zhang Xing couldn't help laughing at this moment. "There are some things that King Xiongtian thinks should be taken for granted, but Brother Xie is at a loss. There are some things that Brother Xie understands clearly, but King Xiongtian keeps thinking about them... Today
It’s a rare meeting.”
Xie Minghe also laughed and wanted to say more.
But Xiong Bonan finally couldn't restrain the new doubts that arose in his heart: "If this is true, if one day our deposed Dragon Gang re-establishes stability in the world and becomes a new court, can we control ourselves and not plunder the world?
?”
Zhang Xing wanted to answer, but when he glanced at Xie Minghe, he smiled at the latter: "Brother Xie, what do you think?"
Xie Minghe also twisted his beard and laughed: "I dare not say."
"What is there that you dare not say?" Zhang Xing said disapprovingly. "I have ridiculed the Jiangdong family several times. You should have been holding your breath in your heart. You can just say whatever you want."
"Then I'll say it." Xie Minghe glanced at Xiong Bonan and responded seriously. "Although your Deposed Dragon Gang is temporarily in the lead, there is a high probability that you will not be able to conquer the world!"
Xiong Bonan was furious for a moment, but Zhang Xing waved his hand to stop him.
Seeing this, Xie Minghe continued to twist his beard and continued: "Actually, what I just wanted to say... There is another important reason why those rebels surrendered to themselves, that is, they also knew in their hearts that they could not conquer the world, because they could not conquer the world.
, then relax and be unscrupulous.”
"This is the truth." Zhang Xing nodded, but he insisted. "But it is not the main reason. The main reason is the lack of restraint. It is human nature to have a sharp knife and a murderous intention... Otherwise, according to what you said, we
Even if the Dragon Gang is deposed, they can't conquer the world, so why don't they just plunder places? Treat places like cattle and sheep?"
Xiong Bonan was slightly refreshed, which was his original intention of coming here.
"I'm surprised too." Xie Minghe said frankly. "You keep saying restraint, but who restrained your Dragon Gang? You and Li Shu? If that's the case, wouldn't it be you and Li Shu, two great heroes?
The meaning of the world, cherishing feathers, has come down to it layer by layer?"
"That's not the case. Whether you believe it or not, we established an organization and used the power of the organization to restrain each other." Zhang Xing answered sincerely. "If it is really me who restrained the Deposed Dragon Gang, it can only be said that it was me.
I knew from the beginning that people cannot rely on their own virtues. The four Supreme Beings are all virtuous people, but there are times when they lose control and do evil. What about us mortals? So I worked hard to help them early in the morning.
Develop an organizational force here and try to restrain each other. To put it bluntly, without this restraint, the Deposed Dragon Gang might have disbanded before the Lishan War. After the Lishan War, I can’t say that I would have become the gang leader who sticks to his word.
Already."
"Believe it or not... I can probably understand what you are talking about. Isn't it just relying on morality, rules and the presence of many people? But this is not necessarily a good thing. If you are driven by something, you will easily be unable to turn around."
Xie Minghe thought for a while and continued to shake his head. "On the contrary, it will restrict you from taking over the world. It would be easier to choose the biggest hero to take charge of the country, and you will be more accurate in doing things."
"Maybe so." Zhang Xing thought for a while and became more sincere. "And to be honest, even the current situation may not be able to persist. Maybe one day there will be more people in the gang who are dissatisfied, and there will be trouble.
It's a big deal...but I still feel that if a so-called hero can't even accept this restriction and can't abide by these rules, what kind of hero is he? As for choosing the leader, I have nothing to say, but how to choose?
Does it depend on family background, cultivation, or who can do the right thing well, obey the rules, and do justice?"
Xiong Bonan nodded repeatedly, but Xie Minghe sneered, as if he didn't think so.
Zhang Xing immediately said again: "I know what Brother Xie means, and I never expected to build a pure world that burned everything like the madmen of the True Fire Cult. But since I was forced to rebel and want to restore peace to the world, I have to
Better than the Wei Dynasty, right? It has to be better than Dong Qi, right? It has to be better than Dong Yi, right? It has to be better than your Nan Tang Nan Chen in Jiangdong, right? If you bid higher, you will win, and if you bid lower, you will win. You may not set a similar goal.
How can I make some progress by setting a cleaner target?"
Xiong Bonan nodded heavily, then stood up, walked outside the pavilion, and walked around, as if he was losing weight after eating too much wine.
Xie Minghe also sighed when he heard this: "I believe you have good intentions, but again, this is equivalent to walking with a heavy burden. To win the world, the winner is the king, not the benevolent. If the benevolent loses, he will only be a loser.
It’s a joke...but I also understand what you mean. If the benevolent cannot be king, then there is no point. But if that is the case, why can’t the victor be king first, win the world, and then be benevolent?"
"The so-called benevolent people don't always take everything for granted. When we are completely defeated on the battlefield and struggling to survive, I don't think drinking human blood and eating human flesh will do." Zhang Xing is still sincere. "As for whether you can control the world, I'm not afraid of jokes.
, the current situation in the Deposed Dragon Gang has just arisen, and I myself feel a little unscrupulous...how can I conquer the world?"
"So, if we win the world..." At this moment, Xiong Bonan suddenly strode back to the pavilion, causing the sound of wind and candlelight to sway. "If we win the world, how can we continue to maintain morality and not become the world's biggest thief?"
"Of course we will expand the Deposed Dragon Gang to the whole world." Zhang Xing looked up and saw the other party's bright eyes, and couldn't help but feel a little moved in his heart. "Let the organization of this gang go deep into every place in the world...
...It's like, just like brothers becoming sworn brothers, they will have loyalty to each other, and if the whole world becomes sworn together, it means the whole world will have loyalty together. People from Guanlong, Jiangdong, and even Dongyi people and Beidi people,
We are all one family, so people inside are not allowed to bully and rob others at will. Moreover, if we treat everyone in the world as brothers, what does it mean to deal with a few bastards who can't control themselves?"
Xie Minghe couldn't help but laugh again. Of course he thought it was ridiculous.
However, Xiong Bonan breathed heavily, then nodded, and then looked at Xie Minghe: "Thank you for not believing it. I also know that this is probably just an idea, but I want to give it a try... because the world has become such a mess.
It’s fine if you understand the truth, but if you understand it but don’t give it a try, wouldn’t your life be in vain?”
Xie Minghe immediately became solemn.
Zhang Xing also looked at this sworn brother: "Brother Xie, you should also feel it. I have been indifferent to you from the beginning, not because I don't look down on your ability and the power of the Eight Families now, nor because I have a grudge against you back then.
It's embarrassing for you to carry me around, but I feel that with your background, you will naturally not be able to accept the world's righteousness of our Deposed Dragon Gang... King Xiongtian was born in a rough place, I am a farmer in the north, but you are one of the eight famous people in the world.
The head of the Xie family!"
Xie Minghe opened his mouth to speak, but Zhang Xing reached out to stop him:
"We are rebelling. We want to seize the world, and we also want to stabilize the world. To stabilize the world, we want to reduce the number of thieves who openly rob the world, or to rob less, so that everyone can enjoy this sense of loyalty. And I boldly guess.
At first guess, you want the Eight Families of Jiangdong to replace Guanlong and his gang and become the world's great thieves! I can still have some hope against those powerful and reckless people, but against people like you who have done all the great things in the world.
He is a thief, but I have no hope."
Xie Minghe fell silent. After a moment, he slowly shook his head:
"I don't agree with your fancy things, but I really never thought about asking the Eighth Jiangdong Family to become the world's biggest thieves... It's not that I don't want to, but I've traveled around over the years and gained some experience, and I know that they are basically
It's just that the mud can't hold up the wall, there's no such possibility! In this world, the strong are respected, and the ones who can succeed in the end are either Guan Long's gang, Dong Qi's gang, or you, Zhang Xingxuan, who started his career here, isn't it?
Because this is the hometown of Dong Qi, are there any powerful people who have mastered the fundamentals of this place?"
"That's true." Zhang Xing admitted without hesitation. "We have been debating for a long time whether the winner is king or the benevolent is king, as if the two are in conflict... In fact, this is not necessarily the case, these are two different things."
"If that's the case." Xie Minghe ignored the other party's argument, but spoke emphatically. "I don't want to say that I will accompany you for a while, try this nonsense. I don't believe it myself, but I just say that the world is in chaos now.
The violent behavior is unbearable, and even I have thoughts of resisting. At least we are fellow travelers for quite a while... right?"
"Yes." Zhang Xing hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"Then why don't we go away together first?"
If you are doing quite well, I will go with you again, or if I feel that you are not doing well, I will leave like a wild crane, so what?"
Zhang Xing burst out laughing on the spot.
"Why are you laughing, dear brother?" Xie Minghe asked in surprise.
"I laughed and thanked you for thinking too much." Zhang Xinghan responded with a smile. "The reason why I am cold is because I know that Brother Xian is a sensible person. I am worried that when you come in, you will immediately see the problem between us and leave in a moment.
So happy that it’s all in vain, so I want to tell you something clearly first... In fact, as you said before, according to the current situation, the Deposed Dragon Gang will most likely not be able to win the world, so it can’t even grow stronger at this time.
It's too late? How could you think about those things? I didn't expect to say so much today, but it really seemed like a heart-to-heart talk between brothers."
"That's right." Xiong Bonan came to his senses and hurriedly spoke. "We, the Deposed Dragon Gang, were not prepared to kill all the rebels who looted without restraint, so how could we reject a world-famous master? We just said
What I say is what I hide deep in my heart.”
Xie Minghe also laughed on the spot, but then looked around: "The starry night is bright, it is rare to have a heart-to-heart relationship... It is really rare to have a heart-to-heart relationship... But it is also happy. There should be poetry."
"No." Zhang Xing shook his head repeatedly. "These pieces of paper I have are all nonsense. They are just saying that the world is in chaos now, and Bao Wei is the main person responsible."
"Is this necessary?" Xiong Bonan was surprised for a moment.
"Then there should be wine." Xie Minghe immediately added, explaining to Xiong Bonan at the same time. "There must be people who don't understand, and there are quite a few of them, but let's not talk about this now... Is there wine?"
"Yes, the wine is also good." Xiong Bonan also cheered up a little.
"There's no wine either," Zhang Xing replied sincerely. "There's only a bucket of ice-cold sour plum soup in the back room."
"Then sour plum soup." Xie Minghe didn't care at all.
Xiong Bonan turned around and went in. After a moment, he brought out a bucket of still cold sour plum soup and several bowls. He then broke open the thin layer of ice and poured a bowl each.
The three of them were in the pavilion, each raising a bowl and drinking it all in one gulp. Then they sat down again and continued talking.
PS: Good night everyone (it started again...shameful).
