These people were kicked out from Guishan Island by the government and forced to settle in the villages and towns around Hongze Lake. But because they were all bandits, and more or less someone in their family had been or was a bandit, they
In fact, they were tightly supervised by officers and soldiers, and the people around them did not dare to interact with them. In fact, these people were guarded like prisoners. They had no land to farm and no livelihood, so they could only make a living by selling the heaviest hard labor.
They didn't want to be harassed even if they were alive. Under such circumstances, when they heard the news that the leader of the village had regained a foothold in Funiu Mountain, they fled desperately.
Of course, Gao Muqing and a group of Guishan Island brothers would not refuse to come here, because these are all old friends on Guishan Island. For Gao Muqing, he still feels guilty towards them. After all, it is because of his own fault, or rather
It was because they were deceived by the government that they were in their current situation, so it was obligatory to take them in. However, this also caused a big problem.
Funiu Mountain has thousands of mountains and ravines, and the terrain is steep. Dozens of mountain villages are located here, which may seem majestic, but in fact the situation inside is complicated. On the one hand, it is precisely because of Funiu Mountain’s long tradition of resistance that the imperial court launched a defense campaign near Funiu Mountain.
We attach great importance to it. It is okay to say that the imperial court does not dare to enter the mountain to encircle and suppress it, but it must be viewed from both sides. Although there is no danger of being encircled and suppressed, the large and small cottages in Funiu Mountain are actually not very famous. After all, they are surrounded by heavy troops.
Waiting, Nanyang County in the south, Xiangcheng in Ye County in the east, and Zhongzhou County in the west and north all hoarded a large number of soldiers and horses to take strict precautions. It can also be said that the imperial court actually implemented an extremely tight blockade of the Green Forest Village in Funiu Mountain.
As a result, many practical problems inevitably arise in the large and small cottages in the deep mountains. No matter how many people there are, they always have to eat and clothe themselves. Although there are also many mountain people living in the mountains, they can forcibly rob some materials.
Food, but that is too little after all. Moreover, the indigenous mountain people here are all tough, and robbing them involves great risks, and people often suffer losses, so it is actually not worth the gain.
Of course, large and small cottages often come out of their respective territories to harass prefectures, counties and villages to rob supplies and grain, but the risk is greater. Moreover, the looted grain may not be able to be transported in. In order to block the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers, the mountain passages are basically
It is absolutely impossible to repair some steep mountain roads. Therefore, the supply of basic living supplies is a huge problem.
Under this situation, for more than a hundred years, the large and small villages in the mountains have only been able to supplement their resources by hunting and gathering in the mountains or simply growing food in the valleys. However, the resources in the mountains are very limited, and the valleys are suitable for farming.
The place is extremely precious. Moreover, the wild beasts and meat in the mountains are not automatically delivered to the door. Some cottages only occupy one or two small hills, and almost everything that can move and fly on the mountain has been beaten, so it will
Secretly going to other people's territory to hunt. All kinds of situations will eventually lead to constant friction and endless fighting between them.
To a certain extent, it is precisely because of these limitations that the green forest cottages in the mountains cannot grow. The lack of resources is destined to be unable to support too many people. The largest cottages only have one or two thousand people, which is already
The scale is staggering.
Of course, there are many other factors that prevent the cottage from growing, but the lack of food supplies is definitely one of the important reasons.
The Shirenshan Dazhai that Gao Muqing brought his people to is one of the larger villages here. The site location is also very good. Zuo Zongdao is very discerning. He occupies the Huxiao Gorge Pheasant Ridge and even the Shirenshan Dazhai.
Seven or eight hills, large and small, are located to the east of Funiu Mountain. You can leave Funiu Mountain by heading east from Shiren Mountain, and outside is the territory of Ye County. Zuo Zongdao has more than a thousand soldiers and horses under his command. In order to snatch food and supplies, he can use
All the manpower was used to raid the large and small markets in Ye County. A few years ago, he led his troops to attack the county seat of Ye County and looted hundreds of carts of supplies back to the mountain. Moreover, his territory was north of Huxiao Gorge and Pheasant
There is a large flat area between the ridges where wheat and other crops can be grown. Therefore, Zuo Zongdao's Dazhai is still not short of food and drink, but it is not rich either.
Gao Muqing brought more than 400 people with him when he came. Because of the hard journey, he had nothing. When he entered the mountains, Zuo Zongdao provided all the food, drink and accommodation. Zuo Zongdao could afford to support more than a few hundred people, but Zuo Zongdao could not afford it.
With the remnants of Guishan Island and the people coming in one after another, the number of people in Gao Muqing's village on Pheasant Ridge has reached more than 2,000. More than 2,000 people are two thousand mouths, and these two thousand mouths all require Zuo Zongdao to provide food.
As a result, Zuo Zongdao would obviously be very dissatisfied.
Gao Muqing soon realized these problems, but she had no good solution. She couldn't bear to allow Zuo Zongdao to provide food and supplies for free, so she took out all the gold, silver and other valuable things she brought with her in exchange for more from Zuo Zongdao.
of food. But these things are limited and simply not enough to offset consumption.
When the few belongings are used up, things become a little tricky and embarrassing.
Zuo Zongdao's brothers had long been dissatisfied. If the village leader hadn't said that she was the daughter of his old friend and he was repaying his kindness by taking them in, they would have scolded them from the beginning. After all, this was the food, grass and supplies they had desperately robbed.
It makes no sense to support these idle people. As the number of people arriving increases, this dissatisfaction also accumulates and amplifies.
A few days ago, when several people from Guishan Island who had defected passed by the Huxiao Gorge Pass, the bandits from Shirenshan Dazhai who were guarding the pass shot and killed them. The news spread to Gao Muqing's Dazhai in the north, and Gao Muqing naturally
Unable to just sit back and watch, he came to negotiate with Zuo Zongdao himself and wanted to ask what was going on.
Zuo Zongdao told Gao Muqing that he took them in here because of the old friendship and the kindness of the old village master. But this is not a nursing home. He keeps a group of wastes that only consume food and grass. Gao Muqing's move to take in a large number of people, this
It is unwise and inappropriate.
Gao Muqing told Zuo Zongdao that these people were common people in the village and thought they had no way out. He must take them in. Gao Muqing asked Zuo Zongdao to help these people, and he would double the amount in return in the future.
Of course, Zuo Zongdao was not interested in such a promise that had no practical benefits. He clearly told Gao Muqing that he must either dismiss these people or he would no longer supply food and grass supplies. He could not allow these people to consume food and grass, as these were important for the existence of the village.
supplies. Or agree to his conditions.
Gao Muqing asked about his conditions, and Zuo Zongdao made two points without shame. First, Gao Muqing would take the remaining members of Guishan Island and merge them into Shirenshan Dazhai, allowing Gao Muqing to serve as the deputy village leader. These people would be subject to Shiren.
Shan Dazhai was commanded, and the name Guishan Island Dazhai no longer existed. In this case, these people could live in the mountains and let them cultivate land to support themselves.
This article completely exposed Zuo Zongdao's true thoughts and exposed his fox's tail. It turns out that Zuo Zongdao took in the people on Guishan Island precisely because he wanted these people to submit to him. These people are absolutely different from ordinary people who join the gang.
The four to five hundred men who followed Gao Muqing were all tough bandits. They were much more powerful than Zuo Zongdao's own men. Zuo Zongdao knew this very well, so he used this method to slowly force everyone to submit.
This was immediately opposed by Liang Qi and other people in Guishan Island Village. Guishan Island Village was already their home in their hearts. The reason why they followed Gao Muqing here was to rebuild the village and pay tribute to their dead brothers and fellow villagers.
They wanted to take revenge. If Zuo Zongdao had not made it clear from the beginning that he would not ask them to submit to his village, they would not have come here at all.
What is even more aggravating is that Zuo Zongdao is taking advantage of others' danger and using the current difficult situation of the people on Guishan Island as a coercion. This is really unreasonable. Everyone's gratitude to Zuo Zongdao also faded rapidly because of this. Objectively speaking, Zuo Zongdao
He did help himself and others, but his motives were unscrupulous and this was definitely not a legitimate act.
After discussing with everyone, Gao Muqing rejected this condition. Zuo Zongdao was very angry, but he immediately put forward a second condition.
If Gao Muqing doesn't want to accept his adaptation conditions, he won't force it. He can even continue to supply food and supplies to everyone on Guishan Island. But everyone on Guishan Island must work for Shirenshan Dazhai in exchange for the support of these food and supplies.
Zuo Zongdao told Gao Muqing and others clearly that if the Guishan Island Village could help him destroy the three mountain villages north of Pheasant Ridge and bring the seven or eight mountains there into his sphere of influence, he would give him a reward in return.
Their continued support with food, grass and supplies.
After hearing this second condition, Gao Mu Qingliang Qi and others were furious. This second condition was even more shameless and despicable. It was to use the lives of the Guishan Island copycat brothers to expand his territory and fight for him. And he
He only wanted to reap profits at the expense of food and supplies. Zuo Zongdao was really cunning and despicable to the extreme.
Moreover, the most sinister thing about this is that although the large and small cottages in Funiu Mountain are all eyeing each other, no one dares to openly annex other cottages. Because once anyone breaks this rule, he will be blamed and become the target of public criticism. In that way, he will be targeted by others.
If I beat you, you will no longer be restrained. Zuo Zongdao did not want to bear the moral censure, so he asked Gao Muqing's people to do it, so that he would not be censured. However, for Gao Muqing and others, this was a violation of public anger and great violence.
Taboo. They have been here not long ago, their footing is unstable, and they don't have many manpower. They are afraid they will fall into endless troubles from now on.
Zuo Zongdao is worthy of being able to get around in the Funiu Mountains. As expected, he is definitely an expert at killing people with a borrowed knife and eating steamed buns with human blood. It can even be concluded that what he actually hopes is that Gao Muqing and the others will not join his copycat, or that he would have already
Knowing that Gao Muqing and the others would not agree to the first condition, this second condition was his ultimate goal.
