Hong Dashou owed Li Chao eighty-four taels of silver. I don’t deny it. This is true. There is written evidence and fingerprints.

But Hong Dashou didn’t owe Li Chao his life!

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep! What kind of bullshit court is this?

There were officers and soldiers standing all around the wild store. No matter which direction you climbed over the wall, it was impossible not to attract attention. On the contrary, the villagers in the village were not cared about at all. After the officers and soldiers set the fire, they left the remaining villagers where they were, only to

It's just a warning at the intersection.

Of course the villagers can run away, but they are different from the merchants. None of these villagers can run away, absolutely.

Farmers of this era naturally know the directions of east, west, north and south, and probably know the left and right villages. So how big is it? What about the whole village and the whole cave? What about the county seat and the county government? I am afraid that no one in the whole village knows Pingshan County.

How to get to the city?

Instead of taking the main road, you can go over mountains and ridges. You don’t know the distance, and you don’t know the road. In the mountains of northern Korea in winter, the temperature is about minus 20 degrees. The wind blows all night, and the body of a farmer who can’t even eat enough food,

I'll have popsicles when I wake up tomorrow.

Even if he was lucky, he found the Shanwozi cave, escaped the north wind all night, burned firewood (not to mention whether there was dry firewood) to keep warm, and he still had food to eat.

There was a snowfall the next day, my clothes were soaked, and I suffered from hypothermia. It didn't take more than ten hours. Well, it was another popsicle.

Even if the lucky one went out and walked to the next village, oh! It was still an epidemic area!

Therefore, ancient maps are basically extremely precious things. Those who can own maps are either scholar-bureaucrats, noble families, or big merchants. Ordinary people will never see them in their lifetime, and they will never even have the chance to see them.

This is also one of the reasons why many ancient peasant uprisings were quickly suppressed. The leaders of the peasant uprising army attacked prefectures and counties, seemingly with brilliant results and rich seizures.

But in reality, cities are often built on rivers, waterways, plains, fertile soil, or business hubs. They need to be able to provide enough food for the non-agricultural population in the city, so their distribution is traceable.

This makes the general movement route of the rebel army predictable. He needs to break through the city, build momentum, coerce the population, and obtain supplies and supplies.

The government army has the advantage of having geographical atlases to predict where there are steep mountains, difficult passes, rapid waterways, and tidal flats and swamps. The government troops can know these things, while the rebel army

Without a local guide, it would be a black eye.

In the end, under the continuous attacks and weakening of the official army, the uprising often collapses completely and declares the failure of the uprising.

This is the result of the peasant class and other lower class people due to their natural lack of knowledge, and it is almost impossible to change it.

The businessmen are different. They know how many miles away they are from which city, and how long it will take to travel from north to south. They basically know these things in their minds. It can even be said that the geographical figures are all in their minds.

Think about the major uprisings in history. What were the origins of the leaders? Private salt dealers (there are too many to list here), grassroots officials (Li Moucheng, etc.), landlords, squires, and scholars (Shi Moukai, etc.), etc.

There is one kind of XX religion. Members of this sect and that sect go around deceiving stupid men and women, and they can be considered well-informed people.

Hong Dashou happens to belong to the second class of scholar-bureaucrats who know the way, and he is also a businessman. He is one of the "floating people" that the government hates and dislikes the most!

Therefore, the officials did not take care of the village with hundreds of people, but instead assigned several people to keep an eye on the wild shop.

If it is to prevent the spread of the plague, this naturally makes sense, but it does not make sense. Normally, even if the officials do not do anything, if they rob and burn everything, they will leave the victims to fend for themselves. They will never cut off drinking water like this.

Fuel, obviously leaving the people in the store to die.

Hong Dashou forced himself to calm down. He could not be impatient or angry. The more impatient he became, the angrier he became. Nothing would be gained.

Most of the officers and soldiers outside had already gone to the next village to commit crimes, and only some of them were staring at the store.

They seem to have been given a death order not to let anyone who knows about the epidemic and disaster leave. At the same time, they refuse to accept any bribes. This is an almost extinct "virtue" in officialdom in this era. Some businessmen have a lot of capital, and they have several

Even ten taels could not buy the officials outside the door.

You must know that in such a disaster year, five liters of white rice can buy a 16- or 17-year-old girl to take home. A few dozen taels is enough to buy a wife of 17 or 18 years old. Maybe you can still find one [Note 1].

Could it be that the officials outside the door were sure that the people in the courtyard could not leave? Whether they accepted bribes or not, all the money and goods belonged to them?

The more Hong Dashou thought about it, the more something was wrong. The more he thought about it, the more he realized this. He quickly took the Han brothers back to the house. When he told them his thoughts, the first thought of the two brothers was to "kill people and silence them"!

But little people like them were just passing through a disaster area. How could they provoke the government to kill them?

Besides, what's the good of hiding the disaster? It's not in the interests of the officials.

If you report a disaster, you can ask not to pay tribute in money and food, but in fact local officials can still collect it from the people as usual. If the disaster information is more serious, you can also ask for disaster relief money and food from Hanyang, no matter how much, and you can line your own pockets.

Pen.

Considering the interests, why did the unknown Pingshan County Sheriff cover up the drought and epidemic situation and did not want the outside world to know at all?

He just pushed away the party where he made a lot of money. Could it be that the conscience of Pingshan County Magistrate found out? Bah! The conscience found out that he could still do such a thing!

Hong Dashou really doesn’t understand, what could be more important than making money?

The three of them sat there for a moment, and suddenly the collective reaction came to their heads. The relief envoy from Hanyang has arrived! The imperial envoy has arrived!

The only possibility is that the imperial minister who came is an upright, honest and selfless good official. Pingshan County Governor is afraid, fearing that he will be found to have ruled the country and lose his crown.

This is definitely not a county-by-county operation. Luo Capitan said that just one county in Pingshan reported more than a thousand people died of the epidemic. Then the scope of the plague is definitely not limited to one county, and may even be sweeping across the Yellow Sea.

road.

The Yellow Sea Observer Kim Dal-soon, who was eager to get closer to Queen Jeongsoon, had previously worked hard to arrest Christians in order to gain access to the Hanyang Center and gain authority.

If he faced a selfless imperial envoy, all the bad things about Huang Haidao would definitely be exposed! Not to mention entering the central government, it would not be impossible for him to lose his official position or even behead his head and confiscate his property.

Compared with the thousands and thousands of hungry and cold victims, Jin Dachun's own head and black gauze, which one is more important? He must have made his own decision.

Such a man who is worse than a beast actually serves as a chief, what is the crime for the people!

"I'm afraid the officers and soldiers outside are just under orders to monitor. They probably haven't received the final order from the superior officer yet, but I'm afraid they've figured out the vague meaning."

Hong Dashou thought about it and calmed down completely. Maybe the official outside the door was just waiting for it to get dark, or he simply didn't want to take action yet.

The number 30 people in the courtyard, except for a few who are slightly older, are basically strong adult men. They have been busy doing business all year round, and they all have a lot of strength in their hands. [Note 2]

There are even a few people who are armed with short knives for self-defense. It is not easy to deal with those without weapons as long as they have a stick. Nowadays, ordinary robbers will not attack strong young men. The risk is too high and they can easily be killed.

.

"According to your words, little brother, isn't that..." Han Sanshi stretched out his hand and made a gesture of wiping his neck.

Hong DaShou nodded, climbed out of the house, and brought two axes for splitting firewood from the courtyard wall into the house. These were the most reliable weapons that Hong DaShou had just taken a look at.

The two Han brothers each carried one. The axes were stained with rust and the blades were chipped in several places, but this did not prevent them from becoming sharp weapons for killing people.

Han Wushi was just frightened by his brother's action of wiping his neck. After all, this man is a good citizen. He must have killed dogs, chickens, etc. He was a little frightened when his weapon stabbed people. But he still held it.

The ax handle, breathing heavily.

"Brother, why don't you do something?" Han Sanshi leaned against the door frame and looked out.

"I'm weak and I'm afraid I won't be able to use the ax well." As he said this, Hong Dashou walked into the kitchen and took out a sharp knife for deboning.

The knife was sharply polished, but the handle was a little greasy, making it hard to hold. Hong Dashou simply asked Han Sanshi to help him knock off the wooden handle, and the sharp and long iron handle was exposed.

I found a wooden stick more than one meter long in the yard, knocked a hole in the tip of the stick, aligned the handle of the knife, struck it with an axe, and the handle of the knife was inserted in. It was the simplest short gun.

, Hong Dashou weighed it and used it smoothly.

After sweeping around the room, I simply tore the quilt into strips and wrapped them around the wooden stick to increase the friction on the surface of the wooden stick and prevent it from being slippery when used.

The Han brothers also followed suit and tied the ax handle with strips of cloth and tied it tightly.

"What's the next step?" Han Sanshi also calmed down and asked Hong Dashou what his plan was.

"Brother Han, do you think we should take advantage of them and kill them, or should we attack now?" Hong Dashou was not sure and didn't know when it would be more appropriate to take action.

"Just the three of us?" Han Wushi asked the most realistic question. No matter how bad the officers and soldiers are, there are at least a dozen of them, and they can never be opponents.

"I've been off for the past two days, so I don't know the details of the people in the store."

"Huh?" Han Sanshi saw Hong Dashou looking at him, touched his chin, and began to calculate his impression of the dozens of people in the store.

The three of them are weak on their own. If they can recruit three or five more accomplices, they still have a chance to break out. Anyway, this is a wild store, and there is no registered household registration or anything like that. As long as you run out, you can find a way to escape.

"Brother, why don't I go under the wall and listen to the sound first?" Han Wushi suggested.

"Okay, very good!" Han Sanshi and Hong Dashou nodded together.

After Han Wushi quietly squatted at the base of the wall, Hong Dashou and Han Sanshi closed the door again.

"I really can't think of anyone in this store that I can trust." Han Sanshi has been in business for more than ten years and has met thousands of people. He is not sure about distinguishing them, and Hong Dashou dare not boast.

"But those leather traders from Hamgyeong Province seem to be very skilled, and they all carry short knives."

"I also saw it. Seeing that bribery was not enough, they seemed to have gone back to the house. There was no movement at all. Could it be...?"

Hong Dashou stretched out his finger and pointed at himself and Han Sanshi, feeling that the group of leather traders seemed to be discussing self-protection just like them.

"Hey, it's possible! How about I go find out what they're talking about?" Han Sanshi thought about it for a while and felt it was possible.

The people who hunt animals and obtain furs in Hamgyong Province and even in the deep mountains and old forests of Northeast China must be smart and ferocious, and they are definitely not weaklings.

At the most exaggerated time these days, North Korea exported hundreds of Siberian tiger and Siberian leopard skins to China a year. Thinking about the risks in the forest, the fur business is not that delicious.

"Don't worry, let's take another look. The rafters at the front will rot first, so there's no need for us to go up first."

[Note 1]: I made reference to two places, but neither of them are from North Korea. I admit my mistake and I am very sorry.

One is that in the movie 1942, the so-called Luoyang Clothing Factory outside Luoyang City is actually a chicken yard that buys young girls, which are worth five liters of millet each. Shuanzhu sells his wife, and blind deer sells his daughter. The prices generally fluctuate around this level.

Another reference is from a diary that the author has read, "Li Nian Ji", which is just a private note. The main time period is the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the location is Songjiang and its surroundings. There are two mentions of selling sons and daughters after the flood.

A pair of girls costs only five taels, which is not worth a stone meter of content.

[Note 2]: It’s funny to say that after suppressing the rebellion in the two wests, who do you think were the main forces in Ping An Road in the early days?

Hahahahaha, due to the powerlessness of the government, before the arrival of the Hanyang governor's battalion, the main forces involved in defense and combat were merchants such as the security merchants of Ping'an Road. After they were roughly armed, they actually used it with Jinshi
Chapter completed!