When everyone saw Li Hui arriving, they hurriedly came to salute.
"Xiao Lang, we are discussing about setting up a practice place in the corner of the yard. It is also a good place to show off our fists and practice." Zhao Dachun said.
Jiang Sheng said: "Yes, we need to get some stone locks, stone piers and so on. We also need to build weapon racks and get some things to place them."
Li Huidao: "It is indeed necessary to have a martial arts training venue, but not now. Everyone, please don't forget that this is a yamen. From today on, it will look like a yamen. The class system is not complete for the time being, so we can only support it by ourselves. Jiang Sheng
, from now on, you will be responsible for leading your nursing staff to arrange the yamen shifts. There are few people, and two people will rotate in shifts. You will be on duty in the morning and have a rest in the afternoon. Do you understand?"
Jiang Sheng heard this and said hurriedly: "I will obey my orders, little man."
Zhao Dachun said hurriedly: "Xiao Lang, what about me and Da Zhuang? What kind of official titles should we be given?"
Li Hui spat: "You two are my followers, just follow me to do things. Jiang Sheng, you stay and guard the Yamen, while Dachun Dazhuang and I go to the city for a walk."
Li Hui took Dachun and Dazhuang out of the Yamen compound and went to the street. The weather was gloomy today, and the temperature seemed to be even colder. The cold wind passed through the deserted streets, raising a cloud of dust and fallen leaves.
A few people stood at the crossroads, looking to their left and to their left as no one was there, and to their right they were empty, not knowing where to go.
Li Hui's purpose today is to visit the local people and find out some things so that he can further understand the situation in Juchao County and have a clear idea.
Li Hui thought for a moment and decided to visit the home of the old man who had given him directions when he first came to Juchao County that day. He made up his mind, so he walked straight to East Street. After walking less than a few hundred steps, he found
The dilapidated wooden building on the north side of the street.
Li Hui came to the door and knocked on the door knocker. The sound attracted many nearby people to poke their heads in. Li Hui was a little happy when he saw this situation. What he feared most was that the city was empty and all the local people were gone. Now it seems that the city is empty.
There are still many local people, but they are hiding at home and dare not show their faces.
Indeed, in a place like this, where gangsters have been rampant for several years and court officials are missing, the lives of the people are naturally very difficult. The only people left behind are ordinary people who have no choice but to hide at home. Not to mention that there are many people in the city.
Now we have the refugee commander and his troops.
The knock on the door alarmed the old man upstairs. He looked down from the window upstairs and saw three people knocking on the door knocker of his house. He was frightened and angry at the same time.
"Grandpas, didn't we pay for the food? You have moved away the rice jars, so why are you here? You can get my old bones," the old man shouted.
Li Hui was stunned for a moment, realizing that the old man had recognized the wrong person, so he raised his head and cupped his hands and said with a smile: "My father-in-law, we are not here to ask for food. I am the new county magistrate, my surname is Li. I want to come to visit my father-in-law."
"New county magistrate? Are you still alive?" the old man said in surprise.
Li Hui smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, aren't you still breathing?"
The old man realized that what he said was wrong and hurriedly said: "My lord, please wait a moment. The old man will come down and open the door."
The old man came down and opened the door, let Li Hui and others into the house, and then closed the door tightly.
In the dim light, Li Hui could clearly see the layout downstairs. It seemed to be a restaurant. There was a counter and a lobby. Several desks were stacked in the corner, and the ground was covered with dust. The old man brought some matzha to them.
When Li Hui and the others were sitting there, they only blew on the horses, and dust flew up on them, making people choke on their breath. It was not known how long it had been since they had been used.
"What's your surname? What's your surname?" Li Hui asked.
"Old man, my surname is Zheng. He is sixty this year. Haha, he will be buried soon." The old man replied.
Li Hui nodded and smiled: "It turns out to be Mr. Zheng. Seeing that you are in good health, I'm afraid you will live a long life."
Old man Zheng waved his hands and sighed: "Live a hundred years? This old man doesn't want to. In this world, living means suffering. What are you doing living for so long?"
Li Hui asked: "Zhang Zheng, looking at the structure of your family, it seems that it is originally a business."
The old man nodded and said: "I originally wanted to open a small restaurant, but it couldn't be opened. It couldn't be opened a few years ago."
Li Hui nodded and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Zheng, when we first entered the city a few days ago, you were asked to point us in the direction of the county government and get rid of the nuisance of the refugees. Today I am here to express my gratitude to you. I don't have any expensive gifts to give you. , I brought some noodles to express my gratitude. Dachun, please give the noodles to my father-in-law."
Zhao Dachun responded and took out a few noodle cakes from his arms and handed them over. Mr. Zheng's eyes suddenly lit up.
"How did this happen? That day, old man, I was just giving random advice, and I asked you to come here to thank me? How did this happen?"
Mr. Zheng said he couldn't help it, but he still took the noodle cake, put it under his nose in front of everyone, and smelled it a few times, showing a satisfied expression.
"It's been a long time since I've smelled the aroma of pancakes. Oh, I'm sorry." Mr. Zheng said with an apologetic smile.
Li Hui knew that he had given the right gift. At this time, food is a good gift. In other places, bread is just an ordinary food, but in Juchao County at this moment, it is the best gift.
With this cake as a gift and Li Hui speaking kindly, Li Hui began to chat with his father-in-law. This was exactly what Li Hui wanted. He needed to fully understand the current situation in Juchao County and the development of things. .He needs to talk to an older local aboriginal people so that he can know more comprehensively.
Mr. Zheng is indeed a local aboriginal. His ancestors have lived in Juchao County for generations, and he is quite talkative. From his words, the situation in Juchao County gradually became clear.
Juchao County is actually a place with a long history. Mr. Zheng was very proud when he talked about Juchao County. He said that in ancient times, there was a Chao family who lived here and was the first ancestor of China. Together with the Shennong family and the Suiren family, , the Xuanyuan family and the Fuxi family are collectively the Five Chinese Clan.
Later, a subsidence occurred here, and the large lake outside the city was caused by the subsidence. It is said that there are many houses and villages at the bottom of the lake, where the Nest tribe lived in ancient times.
Juchao County is a strategic location. It is located between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. It is a buffer between the north and the south. It has well-developed waterways. Therefore, when the world is in chaos, it is often a place of war and chaos.
In the past few decades, the refugees here have moved south and caused trouble, which is not peaceful. However, at that time, the refugee commander Xi Jian stationed troops in Hefei County and gathered a large number of refugees. After some governance, Juchao County became a lot more peaceful. In addition, The local area has large lakes and rivers, smooth transportation, and fertile land. It can also be regarded as a land of fish and rice on the north-south thoroughfare. People rely on the large lakes to fish and grow rice. Although they are not as wealthy as in the south, they can still have food and clothing and live here.
However, because the local area is close to a large lake, which leads to the Yangtze River, during the flood season, the river water often flows back and the lake embankments collapse, causing floods. Often, years of hard work are wasted once floods occur, and the people can never live a better life. A life of complete abundance.
The first priority of local officials and people in office is to build embankments every year to prevent floods. As long as there are no floods this year, the people's lives will be easier that year.
But even so, the people of Juchao County could barely survive. It wasn't until a few years ago that Feng Heizi and his gang killed the county magistrate, county prime minister and other officials and dozens of their family members, and then gathered on Laoshan Island in the middle of the lake, and they lived in Chaoshan ever since.
The county fell into chaos.
Mr. Zheng said that he had met Feng Heizi before. In his early years, he was a fisherman in a fishing village called Fengjiazui, which is located dozens of miles west of Juchao County and faces the lake. When he was fishing, he would often call him a fisherman.
He sent his fish to the market for sale. Mr. Zheng’s small restaurant also received his fish.
But this man was not honest. In order to make money, he stuffed some lake sand, aquatic plants and other things into the belly of the fish. As soon as he came and went, the neighbors all knew about it and stopped buying his fish. Moreover, this guy had a bad character and liked to stare at him on the street.
He would watch the women on the street and sometimes gossip about him. Once he was taken to the county government office and whipped, and he was fined some money before he was released.
That summer, Feng Heizi sold fish as fresh fish to the Zhang family's tavern in Dongcheng. When the shopkeeper of the Zhang family found out, he argued with him and verbally cursed him. As a result, Feng Heizi killed him with a boat hook in the street.
The shopkeeper of the Zhang family was beaten to death. After that, he got out of control and took a dozen guys with the same virtues as him to Laoshan Island in the center of the lake to become lake bandits. Huangxian ordered the county lieutenant to take more than three people with him.
They went to exterminate them, but the boat capsized halfway and they all drowned in the lake.
The next day, Feng Heizi sneaked into the city at night, led people into the county government office, and killed dozens of people including the county magistrate's family, the county magistrate's family, and government servants. All the bodies were dragged out and placed on the street.
They also kidnapped many female relatives. This time, the situation changed drastically.
The idle street gangsters, lazy people, and local gangsters all ran to seek refuge. Feng Heizi and his gang soon gathered nearly a hundred people. The imperial court sent troops to encircle and suppress them several times, but they were all beaten to pieces. After all, they occupied the position of the island in the middle of the lake.
, to exterminate them, they need to approach by boat. Feng Heizi and others are fishermen on the water. They have good water skills and are familiar with the terrain. The soldiers and horses of the imperial court are no match at all.
After several encirclement and suppression campaigns, not only did they fail to succeed, but they made Feng Heizi even more arrogant and arrogant. The court simply stopped engaging in encirclement and suppression campaigns and simply abandoned Juchao County, out of sight and out of mind.
In the past few years, Feng Heizi and his group have become the local overlords. They require fishermen to hand over fish, grain growers to hand over grain, and businessmen to give money. Anyone who resists will be killed, without caring about the friendship between fellow villagers.
.
This gang often kidnapped women to the island and tortured them. There were often corpses of women floating by the lake. They were all women who could not bear the humiliation and threw themselves into the lake or those who were tortured to death by them.
Some family members fled one after another. Although the surrounding area was blocked, the rich could pass through by bribing the government soldiers. Ordinary people could not leave and had to live here hard. Feng Heizi and others also intercepted them on the official road.
They killed those who escaped when they encountered them. As time went by, no one dared to escape.
For several years, the people of Juchao County have lived a life of darkness and misery.
This year has been even more difficult. When there was a severe drought in the Sanwu land in the south, Juchao County was hit by floods. While the seedlings elsewhere were so dry that a fire could burn them all, the seedlings here were submerged and rotted by the floods that broke the embankments.
Feng Heizi and his group naturally had to have enough money and food, and in October, when the refugees came from the north, another group of refugee militia and horses came. This time, it was even worse. After the refugee commander Wang Zuguang and others entered the city, the first thing they did was
Searching for food. Most of the food that people had in their homes was taken away. All the rice jars from Mr. Zheng’s house were moved away.
Now Mr. Zheng can only survive by cooking some of the grain he secretly hid and mixing it with brown rice bran.