Wuqing County, Huangzhou, Zhangzhuang.

Li Mingfeng, who is known as Zhang Tiansheng, ordered a little anxiously: "Why haven't you prepared the car yet, you won't be able to catch up with Pingshan Town on the road for 28 days, Zhang Fu, you go and urge them again, let them hurry up." ”

The housekeeper Zhang Fu responded with a "yes", turned around and went to Zhuangzi's backyard, laughing secretly in his heart, the master was afraid of being scolded by his wife. Mrs. came to a letter on the 20th asking the lord to go to Pingshan Town for the New Year as soon as possible, but the lord has been grinding until now, and he is in a hurry when he sees that he can't catch up. Alas, the lord didn't really want to go to his wife's mother's house, no wonder, who would have thought that the lady would actually be Jiang Zhuangyuan's sister-in-law, the Jiang family is rich and well-known all over the world, and the lord is a little weak in the stall with such a powerful uncle.

Footsteps sounded, and Li Mingfeng saw Sanhei walking in. Li Mingfeng saw that the Jiang family had trained many orphans and taught them to learn literary and martial arts, and in more than ten years, thousands of usable materials had been created. Li Mingfeng also adopted a lot of displaced refugees in Zhangzhuang, these people were arranged by him to farm around Zhuangzi, Li Mingfeng invited several masters from the Jiang family to come over to teach them to practice martial arts, although not as good as the Jiang family, but Li Mingfeng also has hundreds of available people. Li Mingfeng selected thirty-six people as his personal entourage, and these thirty-six people were jokingly called Thirty-six Tiangang by the Zhuang Shangren, and Sanhei was the captain of these people.

"Big brother, someone has come down from Panling." Sanhei lowered his voice. Li Mingfeng did not let his relatives call him master, but let them call him eldest brother, which is a complex hidden deep in his heart. Panling is the mountain range that Jiang Anyi and Yang Siqi passed through from Pingshan Town to Wuqing County, with a radius of hundreds of miles, deep mountains and dense forests, and few people.

Three years ago, Shu Yongjie, a native of Changyuan County, Huangzhou, fell into the grass in the mountains, and there were more than 70 people under him. It happened that Li Mingfeng was at home, and there were more than 100 men at any time, Shu Yongjie was dumbfounded and kicked to the iron plate. used words to trap Li Mingfeng, and wanted to fight alone, but his head was broken and bleeding, and he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. Li Mingfeng did not embarrass Shu Yongjie, but gave him 400 catties of grain for 1,000 stones, Shu Yongjie was deeply moved, worshiped Li Mingfeng as the eldest brother, and the Fuhu Village in Panling actually became a place where Li Mingfeng secretly recruited troops and horses.

Yang Siqi had secretly sent someone to get in touch with Li Mingfeng and handed him Liu Ziwei's dying suicide note. Liu Ziwei blessed his disciple in the letter, regretted that he did not see his wife and children, and asked him to live in peace and not worry about Yuantianjiao anymore. The master's tolerance made Li Mingfeng feel guilty, although he didn't say it explicitly, he was secretly accumulating strength, and Shu Yongjie was his secret hand.

"What did the people from the stockade say?" Li Mingfeng asked, he probably came to ask for money and food. With his support and instructions, Fuhu Village expanded rapidly, and there were more than 200 people in three years. There are more people and the consumption is naturally large, and Fuhu Village occasionally goes out of the mountains to rob the traders, but with the preparation of the government to train the group, the blow to the bandits is getting tighter, and the Huangzhou Prefecture Government has organized the government army to enter the mountains to clear and suppress twice.

The court was strong, and Li Mingfeng was afraid that the forces he supported would be wiped out, so he told Shu Yongjie to lurk, in addition to subsidizing grain and grass, let them hunt and maintain it in the mountains. Raising more than 200 people consumes a lot, but fortunately, Yan'er lives in Pingshan Town most of the time, and Zhangzhuang's money and food are dispatched by him, so there are no loopholes.

Sanhei is his confidant, and he takes care of the contact between Fuhu Village. Sanhei said: "Brother Shu said that more than 30 people have been collected in the village recently, and the stored grain can only last until January next year, so let the eldest brother send some more grain into the mountain." ”

Li Mingfeng thought for a while and said: "The Zhuangzi under the mountain still has a thousand stones of grain, let Shu Yongjie send someone to get half of it." In order to facilitate the funding of Fuhu Village, Li Mingfeng sent people to buy 500 acres of mountain land at the foot of Panling Mountain, built a village there, and arranged more than 100 people to make wine in another village, and a lot of grain was stored in the village.

Sanhei nodded and said with a smile: "When I came, I saw that the housekeeper was urging everyone to hurry up and load the car, and the eldest brother was ready to go to Pingshan Town for the New Year." I saw Shuyi and Shuhui bring it to me, and I had it for more than half a year

I haven't seen them anymore. I sent some game from the mountains, did my eldest brother bring some with me? ”

A quarter of an hour later, Li Mingfeng rode his horse and set off for Pingshan Town with a long convoy behind him. Along the way, people greeted him from time to time, Li Mingfeng has a good reputation in this area, and he has done a lot of good deeds in helping the poor and repairing bridges and roads, and he is a well-known Zhang Dashan person.

Tao Ximao braved the cold wind and returned to his residence, and several of his thatched huts were leaking everywhere, and the inside of the house was not much warmer than the outside. There was a coughing sound in the room on the west side, and my father coughed in winter, and the family had no money to hire a doctor, so he had to do it.

One day I can't stand it, and I don't have to suffer, Tao Ximao entered the house, touched the clay pot on the table, it was still warm, poured a bowl of water and handed it to his father. After drinking the water, Tao Dahu's cough stopped, and he asked his son with a wheez, "Do you have a job today?" ”

In winter, Tao Ximao will rush to Wuqing County, 20 miles away, to carry the work, and if there is a job, he can earn thirty or forty Wen to subsidize the family. Tao Ximao splashed the residual water in the bowl, poured a bowl himself, wiped his mouth and said in a muffled voice: "No." ”

Tao Dahu sighed, his son didn't find a job for three days, and it was difficult to bear this winter. This year, the government collects 30% more taxes than last year, and the food at home cannot last until the beginning of spring.

"I saw Uncle Zhang just now." Tao Ximao said in a muffled voice.

Tao Dahu knew that Uncle Zhang went to Texas for the New Year, this is a blessed man, the family has thousands of acres of fertile land, the wine is not worried about selling, and he is kind to people, and he is urging the grain payment in June, or Uncle Zhang asked them to sell the grain to Zhuangshang, if it is transported to the county seat, it will be less than 100 Wen, and the hearts of those who open grain shops in the city are eaten by dogs, I heard that they are all shops opened by the family members of the officials, and the price is lowered when the grain is collected, and the price is increased when the grain is sold, and the two ends make money, which is clearly not for the poor to live.

Tao Ximao continued: "I told Uncle Zhang on the road that I wanted to work in his wine shop after the New Year, and Uncle Zhang agreed. ”

Tao Dahu's wrinkled black face let go, showed a hint of a smile, recited the Buddha, and said: "That dare is good, it can support until the beginning of spring next year, and the dog can eat a few full meals." ”

Tao Ximao was silent for a moment, and then plucked up the courage to say: "When I first came from the village, I saw Aunt Xu borrowing food everywhere, as if she had broken out of cooking. ”

Without waiting for Tao Ximao to continue, Tao Dahu hurriedly said: "She is a woman's family, with two underage babies, and there are old people on it, how can she survive." You go to our warehouse to send the bagged grain, even if you drink porridge, you have to help them survive this winter, and it will be good if they are old in a few years. ”

Tao Ximao happily agreed, when he was a child, Brother Xu didn't take himself to play, and after marrying Aunt Xu, he often asked himself to drink, but unfortunately he was swept away by the water when he repaired the embankment a few years ago, and he relied on Aunt Xu to plant ten acres of thin fields to survive. Living in the same village, the people in the village often take a hand, and if there is anything delicious, Aunt Xu will be strong, and take the time to sew clothes for others to subsidize the family, and the family can barely make ends meet.

This year, the government has to pay taxes with silver, one or two silver for 1,300 yuan, where does the poor get the silver, what kind of fire consumption do they have to collect when they change the silver, they toss inside and out, and the family has to pay the old capital in addition to leaving some food, Aunt Xu's family has no man in charge, how can it be supported, and can only sell the land to survive.

To the county to carry the work, Tao Ximao heard a lot of Zhuang family selling land and selling land, or that gang of black-hearted people took the opportunity to lower the price, the best field is clearly six to eight taels of one acre, now it can only be sold three or a half, I heard that the younger brother of Miao County Ling has harvested more than 200 hectares of land this winter, or in a few years, the land in Wuqing County will be surnamed Miao.

took a big bag, Tao Ximao filled a bag full of grain, said hello to his father, and walked to Aunt Xu's house.

More than 100 catties of food on the shoulders are not heavy, but the bottom of Tao Ximao's heart is so heavy that he panics, a few years ago, the days were better, the old emperor died, and the new emperor sat in the dragon court

, how the days have become harder. A few days ago, Genzi and the dog got together to complain, and Genzi said that he couldn't live anymore, so he simply went to the heroes in the mountains and went into the city to rob the black-hearted dogs.

…………

Yinling Mountain, Pingzhou, the cottage that was destroyed by the officers and soldiers was re-established, the flagpole was planted in front of the Juyi Hall, the apricot yellow flag fluttered fiercely in the cold wind, and the three black characters of "Yinling Village" appeared and disappeared in the wind. Rao Qiangfeng stood on the high platform with a solemn face, looking at the hundreds of children in the square practicing, although it was the cold winter of the lunar month, the children were shirtless, steaming hot on their bodies, and they were all in the spirit of dragon and tiger.

Rao Qiangfeng saw that he was moved, jumped off the high platform, and shouted: "Come at me." As soon as the words fell, more than a dozen men immediately pounced up, Rao Qiangfeng's body shook, raised his hands and kicked his legs, his body was as strong as a young man, and the ground next to him was full of people in a moment.

After the failure of the attack on Linhua County, Rao Qiangfeng fled, and the government searched for him all over the Wenbang and the pictures, and Long Wei also sent many good hands to chase him. Rao Qiangfeng is good, he escaped several times in distress several times, chased and escaped and returned to Pingzhou. Returning to the familiar place, Rao Qiangfeng simply went to Yinling Mountain to raise the flag, gathered 2,000 people and horses in a few years, and recreated the scenery of the year.

After successive defeats, Rao Qiangfeng felt that he could not be too arrogant, and attracting the attention of the court was a dead end. After careful consideration, Rao Qiangfeng sent people to befriend the officials and officials in the government as eyes and ears, and knew every move of the government well; Taking advantage of the characteristics of Yinling Mountain stretching over several states of Pingzhou, Dengzhou, Fangzhou, and Louzhou, the gods did not loot everywhere and tried not to hurt people's lives; Never rob the surrounding people, as long as the hunters and woodcutters in the mountains do not go deep into the cottage to let them come and go, often go down the mountain to exchange food with the people, buy and sell fairly, and help the people when they encounter difficulties, and play the name of the way of heaven, the surrounding people are full of good feelings for the cottage, and even ventilate for them when they encounter the government to inquire about the news.

Returning to the Juyi Hall, the spies who went to the bottom of the mountain to inquire about the news came back to report that this year, the common people had a hard time, the government was very exploited, and the people began to spread rumors that "Changqing is difficult to be peaceful, and every family is clean".

Rao Qiangfeng smiled at Dong Haoyun, a military advisor dressed as a scribe on the side, and said, "Mr. Dong can write these eight words, which is better than 80,000 male soldiers. ”

Dong Haoyun is a child born in Yuan County, Louzhou Town, who has been trying for a long time and likes to talk about it, laughing at the villagers, and has not yet married in his thirties. Two years ago, Rao Qiangfeng led his troops to Zhenyuan to get grain, Dong Haoyun heard the news and came to join the gang, after Rao Qiangfeng talked with him, he found that this boastful Mr. Dong was indeed talented.

Rao Qiangfeng immediately worshiped Dong Haoyun as a copycat military advisor and called him by Mr. Dong Haoyun set the policy of "buying and selling, accumulating grain and grass, and waiting for the opportunity" for Rao Qiangfeng, and the cottage gradually flourished, and it was well-informed, and the government and the people all had internal responses.

After Shi Chongwei ascended the throne, a lot of construction, the neighboring government drove the people to the Yinling Mountain to get wood, was ambushed by Rao Qiangfeng, Rao Qiangfeng did not force the people into the village, but let them return home, so that Yinling Village through the people's reputation is greatly enhanced. Fangzhou, Pingzhou, and Louzhou gathered 10,000 soldiers to clear it, but they were ambushed as soon as they entered the mountain, and they gave Yinling Zhai Wanshi grain in vain.

According to Dong Haoyun's instructions, Rao Qiangfeng did not kill the prisoners, put the captured Pingzhou Sima back, and expressed in a low voice that he was willing to return to the government, so that the government had a step down, so the officials of these states turned a blind eye to the existence of Yinling Village.

Rao Qiangfeng thinks that it is an opportunity to strengthen the cottage, but Dong Haoyun thinks that the cottage should not be too big, raise soldiers for the people, and wait for the world to turmoil, and those poor people are all cottage soldiers. Rao Qiangfeng sent people to secretly spread the rumor that "Changqing is difficult to peace, and every house is clean", and gathered the people who had lost their land to reclaim fields and plant mountains near Yinling Mountain, and as many as 1,000 people came to rely on them in a few months.

Sitting in the lobby of the Juyi Hall, the open door was facing the flag, Rao Qiangfeng's heart was also flying like a flag, this day is going to change.