The caravan moved forward through the mountains and arrived near the mountain city called Zhenba on the second day, having truly entered Dai Mengwei's territory.
For Ning Ji, who will be number one in the world in the future, this is the first time in his life that he has left the territory of the Chinese army. During the journey, he has imagined many encounters, such as the rivers and lakes and fighting described in the novel.
Bandits, their identity was discovered, they fled in blood, etc., and there were all kinds of amazing beautiful rivers and mountains... But at least in the first few days of the journey, everything was incompatible with the imagined picture.
The rivers and mountains are not beautiful, and the difficult places to walk are no different from Liangshan and Jianshan in the southwest. Desolate mountain villages, dirty markets, inns full of the smell of horse manure, and unpalatable food are sparsely distributed among the people after leaving the Chinese army.
On the way - and I did not encounter horse bandits or mountain bandits. Even on the previously rugged and difficult mountain road, there were no bandits guarding them to stage murders or bribery. However, on the small road entering Zhenba, there were
Dai Mengwei's soldiers set up cards to collect fees and checked documents, but they did not make things difficult for Ning Ji, Lu Wenke, Fan Heng and other people who came from the southwest.
It was really different from the world he imagined.
"...Cao Silong deliberately rebelled and then came here as a middleman to transport supplies from the southwest. Therefore, the trail from Cao to Dai was protected by both families. Even if bandits set up a stronghold on the way, they would be there early.
Knocked out. In this world, the big fish eats the small fish, and the small fish eats the shrimp. How can there be any justice for heaven..."
Lu Wenke and others responded to Ning Ji's doubts [ www.sbiquge.me ].
Without the romance of being proud of the world, what surrounds you is mostly the reality of compromise. For example, the adjustment of the original food intake is a long-term problem that has troubled the younger brother of the Long family along the way - it is not that he cannot bear it. He eats every day
These things guarantee that there will be no problems in action, but the change of habits will make people greedy for a long time. In the future, such Jianghu experience can only be kept in the stomach and no one can tell it. Even if someone writes it into a novel in the future, I am afraid no one will love it.
watch.
In addition to being greedy, he had also been mentally alert to the fact that he had entered enemy territory, and was always ready to fight and flee in blood. Of course, it was also such preparations that made him feel more and more bored.
Especially when Dai Mengwei's janitor soldiers didn't pick any trouble or bully him, which made him feel resentful and full of skills but nowhere to vent.
The imagination of Jianghu initially failed, but in terms of reality, it was not without gain. For example, in the daily chatter of the "Five Confucian Group", Ning Ji roughly figured out the "bottom details" of Dai Mengwei's territory. According to these people
It is speculated that Dai Laogou is sanctimonious on the surface, but secretly sells the people under his rule to the southwest, and also cooperates with his rural sages and the army to make money from the difference. It is really abominable to say.
But this reality is actually much more complicated than the happy grudges between "jianghu". According to the rules of "jianghu" in the story, those who traffic people are naturally bad people, and those who are trafficked are of course innocent people.
And good people who act chivalrously and righteously kill the bad guys who traffic in human beings, and then they will be grateful to the innocent people. But in fact, according to Fan Heng and others, these innocent people were actually sold voluntarily, and they could not eat.
If someone voluntarily signs a twenty- to thirty-year contract and kills the trafficker, it will actually end the livelihood of these people who are being sold.
The people being sold are voluntary, and the traffickers are doing good things. They even claim that Southwest China is still buying people on a large scale - they are also doing good things. As for the possible big bad guy Dai Gong here...
"It is said that Dai Gong's subordinates have issued a proclamation that no one is allowed to sell the people under his rule to the southwest as slaves. Anyone who violates the order will be punished..."
In this way, in the first month after leaving the Chinese military territory, Ning Ji deeply felt the truth that "it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books".
The world in the storybook is simply not right. After all, you still have to go out and walk around to see these things clearly.
As the team moved forward, everyone had their own goals. By this time, Ning Ji had already understood that if the Confucian scholars who identified Dai Mengwei from the beginning would mostly take the most convenient road in Hanzhong after coming out of the southwest, follow the
Hanshui went to Ankang and other big cities to seek officials, and Dai was now a leading figure among Confucian scholars in the world. Confucian scholars who were famous and capable were mostly treated with great courtesy and arranged for official positions.
As for Fan Heng, Lu Wenke, Chen Junsheng and other "corrupt Confucian five", although they respected Dai Mengwei, they still had doubts in their hearts. After discussions with Southwest, they decided to go to the back of Dai Mengwei's territory to find out. After such experience,
From then on, I gained more knowledge about the world than others. The caravan might be going to Dai Gong's territory to buy people. On the surface, they didn't say much, but in fact they were secretly concerned about this matter.
Zhenba County is still a mountain city, and there are not many people living here. However, compared with the mountain roads passed before, we can already see several newly built villages. These villages are located in the gaps between the mountains, and there are many newly built villages around them.
Walls and fences, some dull-eyed people from the villages over there cast their gazes at the pedestrians on the road.
"Look at those newly built fences." Lu Wenke pointed to the scene over there and explained the reasoning to Ning Ji, "This shows that despite the famine, the officials assigned here, Mr. Su, still did things when they commanded the villagers.
In fact, this is not easy. This proves that even if there is a shortage of supplies, this area is still in order."
"So what if the top and bottom are in order?" Ning Ji asked.
"This is the essence of governing." Fan Heng came from the side and said, "After the Jurchens came, all the order in this area was disrupted. The Zhenba area was originally inhabited by mountain people with fierce personalities. The West Route Army came and killed them.
He commanded the Han troops to come over and fight for a while. Many people died and the city was burned. After Dai Gong took over, he redistributed the population, divided the regions one by one, and selected officials, including the highly respected old man Su. Xiaolong.
, at this time, what is the biggest problem in front of them? In fact, it is not enough to eat, and if there is not enough to eat, what will happen? "
Fan Heng looked at Ning Ji, who thought for a while: "Rebellion?"
"Yes, everyone knows that not enough food will force people to rebel." Fan Heng smiled, "But how exactly does this rebellion occur? Think about it, if too many people starve to death in a place or a village,
If the officials do not have dignity and have no choice, the village will collapse, and the remaining people will become hungry people wandering around. If more and more villages are in this situation, then large-scale refugees will appear, and order will be lost.
Absolutely gone. But looking back, if only a few people died in each village, would it have gotten out of hand like this?"
"..." Ning Ji stared.
"Dai Gong saved millions of people from the Jurchens. He still had majesty in the early stage. He used this majesty to divide the people under his rule into layers and divide them into hundreds and thousands of areas. After these village areas were divided,
People inside are not allowed to move at will. In every village, there must be a village elder who is in charge. There are officials in several villages, and there are troops on top of the officials. The responsibilities are distributed layer by layer in an orderly manner. Therefore, from last year to this year,
"Although there is famine here, there will be no great chaos."
Fan Heng was quite intoxicated when he discussed this matter. Lu Wenke on the side added:
"Brother Long, this kind of distribution at different levels sounds simple. It seems that the government in the past also did this. However, officials at all levels are often mixed in quality, and when something goes wrong, it will be out of control. But this time, the distribution at different levels under Dai Gong's rule is quite remarkable.
To govern a big country is like cooking a small fish, everything is orderly, each has its own place, and each performs its duties. It is also for this reason that scholars in the Southwest recently said that Dai Gong resembles an ancient saint. He used "ancient methods" to fight against the evil in the Southwest.
The deviant 'modern law' is somewhat interesting."
Ning Ji frowned: "Everyone is in his own place and performs his duties, so the position of those ordinary people is to die peacefully without causing trouble?" The human rights thinking within the Southwest China Army has begun to awaken.
Although I am a bit sluggish in my studies, I can finally find some key points regarding these things.
Lu Wenke waved his hand: "Brother Long, please don't be so extreme. I just want to say that there is such a truth in it. When Dai Gong took over these people, it was already quite difficult. Being able to use this method to stabilize the situation is also part of his ability. Let's change it to someone else.
It is very difficult to achieve this level. If Dai Gong had not used such a method and started a riot, more people would have died here, just like the Hungry Ghost Rebellion back then, which was out of control."
"But people are still starving to death."
"In troubled times, people will naturally die. It is cruel to say that Duke Dai decided who to die, but even the southwest had experienced such famines at the time. Since he has the ability to reduce the number of deaths in troubled times, he can naturally do the same in troubled times.
Let everyone live a better life, scholars, farmers, industry and merchants all perform their duties, and widows, widowers and lonely people all have their own support... This is the philosophy of the ancient sages..."
"The Chinese army fought against golden dogs in the northwest, and then they starved when they moved to the southwest. Did the man named Dai ever fight against golden dogs? How can we say they are the same? Golden dogs died more than us in the northwest back then!"
Ning Ji retorted unhappily, while Fan Heng next to him smiled and waved his hand.
"Hey, hey, well, well, Xiaolong is from the southwest after all. It's normal for him to look down upon Dai Mengwei's situation. There's nothing to argue with. Xiaolong just remembers this matter, Dai Mengwei
Although there are problems, when doing things, he also has his own skills. Many people view his skills this way. Some people agree, and many people don't. We are all here to see what happens, so there is no need for us to make too much noise.
, come, eat sweets, eat sweets..."
Fan Heng talked to Xi Ni, and Lu Wenke smiled and said nothing more. As a traveling companion, Ning Ji was not very old after all. In addition, he had a pleasant face, was well-educated and literate, and most of the five corrupt Confucians were
If you treat him as a nephew, you will naturally not be angry about it.
Ning Ji took the candy, considering that he was behind enemy lines and could not overly show his "pro-Chinese" tendencies, so he suppressed his temper. Anyway, as long as Dai Mengwei is not regarded as a good person, and he is interpreted as a "capable person"
"Bad guy", everything is still very smooth.
On this day, the team entered Zhenba and discovered that the originally remote mountain town was actually crowded with merchants. There were also several newly built inns in the county town. It was already evening when they stayed in an inn.
At this time, everyone in the team has their own thoughts. For example, members of the caravan may contact the contact person of the "big business" here. Several Confucian scholars want to find out the situation of human trafficking here, and talk to the people in the caravan.
The members also quietly inquired. When eating in the inn at night, Fan Heng and others chatted with members of another group of travelers, and they got a lot of news from the outside world. One of them made Ning Ji, who had been bored for more than a month, suddenly become energetic.
stand up.
"...It is said that in September this year, the Fair Party will invite all the world's heroes to Jiangning to hold a hero meeting to elect the leader of the martial arts alliance. These hero invitations have already been sent out all over the world!"
During the inquiring at the inn, one of the passengers mentioned this matter, which immediately aroused the noise and shock of the people around him. Lu Wenke, Fan Heng and others who came out of Chengdu looked at each other, chewing on the meaning of the news. Ning Ji Zhang Da
After a moment of excitement, someone said: "Isn't that the same event as the Southwest Martial Arts Tournament?"
Someone hesitated and answered: "...the Fair Party and the Chinese Army are essentially one."
Only two words flashed through Ning Ji's mind: despicable.
Last year, as the Chinese army defeated the Jurchens in the southwest, in the east of the world, the Fairness Party has also rapidly expanded its influence at an indescribable speed. It has already overwhelmed Tie Yan and Wu Qimei in Lin'an.
In the midst of such expansion, neither party involved has publicly explained or stated the relationship between the Chinese Army and the Fair Party. However, for the "corrupt Confucian people" who have been to the Southwest, they have seen a large number of
Newspapers naturally have a certain understanding of it.
As for Ning Ji, who is in the core family circle of the Huaxia Army, of course he understands better that He Wen and the Huaxia Army may not be good friends in the future, and there is currently no collusion in any channel between the two parties.
"Last year, the Chinese Army held the world's largest martial arts competition, which attracted many people. They then paraded, killed people, and held a meeting to establish the People's Government, gathering the world's popularity." Chen Junsheng, with a calm face, talked while picking up food.
"This time, it seems that the Fair Party wants to follow the same example, and then the popularity of the Chinese Army has surged. Moreover, the Chinese Army's martial arts competition is scheduled for August and September, and it will obviously still be held this year, and the Fair Party will also
Deliberately setting the time in September, and allowing all parties to think that the two are one, this is to undermine the Chinese Army and use the reputation of the Chinese Army to achieve success. When the time comes, the people from the west will go to the southwest, and the heroes from the east will go
Jiang Ning, He Wen is so courageous, he is not afraid of really offending Mr. Ning from Southwest."
Fan Heng was eating his meal and calmly pointed out Jiang Shandao: "After all, the world is so big that heroes are not limited to the southwest. Now that the world is in chaos, such influential figures will emerge in endlessly."
Lu Wenke said: "Speaking of which, the younger brother of the Long family is going to Jiangning this time. It's a good time to catch up with this grand event."
"Yes, I have to go." Ning Ji replied angrily, then looked unhappy and buried himself in eating.
A kind of Confucian scholar talked about the topic of "heroes of the world", and then started to talk about other parties, such as the upcoming war between Dai Mengwei, Liu Guangshi, and Zou Xu, and the possible actions of the little emperor on the farthest southeast coast.
Some things are new, and many are commonplace.
Ning Ji listened quietly. That night, he was tossing and turning.
After so many years of listening to Jianghu stories in the Chinese Army, and watching too many scenes such as the Heroes Conference, after leaving the Southwest, I had some expectations for these things. Who knew that this news suddenly appeared, but what it contained was like this
Disgusting thought, the traitor He Wen, while learning from his father's experience, is actually deliberately trying to undermine the Chinese army and steal their popularity!
If we say that the previous Fairness Party just acted on its own under the helplessness of the situation, and did not listen to the orders from the Southwest and did not come to cause trouble here, it can be regarded as you walking on your Yangguan Road, and I will cross my single-plank bridge. But
At this time, it is really disgusting to hold this kind of hero conference in September. He Wen had stayed in the southwest for so long, and had been in love with Sister Jingmei, and even let him go well after that.
Leave, this backhand knife is simply more hateful than Zou Xu!
It’s really annoying!
And this so-called hero conference is actually held in Jiangning! He clearly knows that Jiangning is his father’s hometown, and he just wants to hint to others that the Fair Party has a relationship with the Chinese Army and get more benefits. Shameful!
After arriving in Jiangning, I simply didn’t care about Sister Jingmei’s face and just killed him with one knife!
He was thinking about He Wen that night, and his face became angry. He didn't care so much about Dai Mengwei selling a few people here. He just went to bed to rest in the early hours of the morning, and not long after sleeping, he heard the news from the inn
There was movement outside, and then he went inside the inn. When he got up, it was dark. He opened the window and saw that the army was surrounding the inn from all directions.
After running away from home for more than a month, the danger finally came. Although he had no idea what was going on, Ning Ji picked up the baggage, took advantage of the cover of night to rush to the roof, and then left before the army encirclement was completed.
Jumped onto another nearby rooftop.
The army entered the inn, and then knocked on the doors one by one and arrested people. Under such a situation, there was no resistance at all. Ning Ji watched the caravan members being taken out of the inn one by one, including Lu from the caravan.
The leader, followed by Lu Wenke, Fan Heng and other "corrupt Confucian Five", including Wang Jiang, Wang Xiuniang and his daughter, seemed to have been arrested according to the heads listed on the check-in list. They were indeed the group of businessmen who had followed him all the way.
Team.
Ning Ji looked confused on the roof of a nearby building. Why? Was he exposed? But after they caught the other people, they didn't seem to investigate too much about the fact that a young man was missing. But the business where he was caught was
What is the team doing? The "Five Confucian Group" were all arrested, and they didn't do anything bad...
After the sun rose that day, he stood in the morning light and was puzzled.
The caravan members who were traveling with them were arrested for unknown reasons. Their identities are important and they must be cautious. In theory, finding a way to disguise themselves and leave the city and leave far away is the safest response. But after thinking about it, the atmosphere on Dai Mengwei's side was serious.
As a fifteen-year-old young man walking on the road, I am afraid that I am more eye-catching, and I have to admit that after walking along the road, I finally have some feelings for the fools such as Lu Wenke in the corrupt five-man group, thinking of what they will suffer after being imprisoned.
The torture was a bit unbearable.
The defense of this mountain city does not seem to be very strict. How about sneaking into the prison at night to take a look? He has done a lot of training in espionage and infiltration in the Chinese army. In theory, he will not be able to face these bumpkin.
Too difficult.
After thinking about this for a long time, and after confirming that there was no special large-scale manhunt in the city, he bought a bag of pancakes and steamed buns, and while eating them, he explored the way around the city's Yamen. By mid-afternoon, he was sitting on the roadside.
While I was eating steamed buns carefreely, a group of people suddenly walked out of the county government gate not far away from the road.
These people were exactly those who were arrested in the morning. Among them were Wang Jiang, Wang Xiuniang, the "Five Confucian Group", and other travelers who came with the caravan. At this time, they seemed to have been released by people from the Yamen.
A young official who was shaking his head came out from behind. After talking to them, he said goodbye. It seemed that the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
Ning Ji ran all the way and waited at the corner of the street for a while. When the group of people were close, he leaned over and heard Fan Heng and others sighing to themselves: "The sky is really blue..."
"The origin of Dai Gong's family..."
He ran a few steps: "What's going on? Why were you arrested? What happened?"
Fan Heng and others were greatly surprised when they saw him: "Xiaolong! You're okay!"
"Great, we thought something happened to you..."
People gathered around chattering. They were the entire caravan who had been arrested together. Seeing that Ning Ji was not there, they thought something special had happened to one of his children. When they came out, they specifically asked the county magistrate. Ning Ji explained to them that it was
In the middle of the night, he went to the toilet, and there was a lot of noise. After he hid, he saw that everyone was taken away. At this time, everyone was fine, and everyone was happy.
"...What happened? Why are we being arrested?"
Ning Ji asked, Fan Heng and others looked at each other, then sighed and shook their heads: "Chief Lu and the rest of the caravan are going to be in trouble this time."
Lu Wenke said: "Chief Lu is so obsessed with money that he secretly made an agreement with others to come here to buy and sell a large number of people. He thought that these things were all tacitly approved by Duke Dai, and since he had connections, he would be able to make things happen. Who knew... this little Dai
The county magistrate is Zhen Qingtian. After the matter was found out, all the people were arrested. Leader Lu was betrayed and executed, and everyone else was punished."
"Ah? Really arrest him..." Ning Ji was a little surprised.
"Look at this battle, it's natural. Dai Gong has been cracking down on the evil of selling people recently. Chief Lu is serious about the crime and says he will be executed in public tomorrow. Let's stay here for one more day and you will know.
Oh...Oh, now I realize that the theory that Dai Gong betrayed people is really framed by others and is nonsense. Even if there are unscrupulous traders who actually do this evil, it has nothing to do with Dai Gong."
"Oh, it's true that we were arbitrary and the random words in our mouths tarnished the names of saints and sages. We should take this as a warning..."
Everyone stayed in the county town for another night. The weather was gloomy the next day and it looked like it was going to rain. Everyone gathered at the food market in the county town and saw the young Magistrate Dai escorting Chief Lu and others out yesterday.
The leader was kneeling in front of the stone platform, and Magistrate Dai was loudly criticizing these people for their evil of human trafficking, and Duke Dai's determination and will to attack it.
The name of Xiao Dai County Magistrate was Dai Zhen, a nephew of Dai Mengwei. When Fan Heng and others talked about it, they praised Dai Mengwei for his good management of the family and his good teaching.
Under the hazy sky, with everyone watching, the executioner raised his sword and beheaded the crying leader Lu. The rescued people were also watching, and they had received the promise of "proper resettlement" from Magistrate Dai.
At this time, he knelt on the ground, shouted to the sky, and kept kowtowing.
Ning Ji looked at this scene, stretched out his fingers and scratched his head in confusion.
After leaving home for more than a month, he suddenly felt that he could not understand anything.