The mountain road was rugged, and the horses did not travel fast, Jiang Anyi secretly paid attention to the path into the mountain at first, and gave up after less than a pillar of incense. The mountain road is hidden in the barren grass from the forest, sometimes it seems that there is a road, but Chang Qing, who led the team, led them through a clump of weeds, sometimes stepped into the mountain stream and walked a section, sometimes in the old forest through the difficulty, even the sun overhead was also blocked by dense leaves.

Stretching out his hand to brush away the low-hanging rattan, leaning over the branches in the sky, from time to time you can hear the whistle and birdsong, and can't tell which is the real bird calling and which is the dark whistle is warning, Jiang Anyi is secretly frightened, such a deep mountain and old forest does not know the path, even if more than 10,000 officers and soldiers are sent to clean up, they can't find the bandits' nest, unless a fire burns the mountains and forests.

It was almost an hour before the horse entered the mountain, and he saw two tall sentry towers in front of him, and someone waved a flag on the sentry tower, and finally saw a figure. After passing through the dense forest, Jiang Anyi saw that behind the sentry tower was a mountain col, with more than ten wooden houses in it, and someone greeted him.

Everyone dismounted, someone took the reins, Chang Qing said: "There is a cottage not far ahead, the mountain road is not suitable for horses, everyone follow me into the mountain." ”

Entering the mountain from a path behind the wooden house, a narrow mountain crack about half a mile long can only allow one person to move sideways, Jiang Anyi carefully drilled out of the stone crack, looking back at the place behind him like a line of sky, such a dangerous place, as long as a few masters guard, no matter how many people can rush in.

After the stone crack, the eyes suddenly opened up, standing is a valley of more than ten acres, there are hundreds of families on the staggered ground, children are playing in front of the house, the sound of chickens and dogs is heard, the surrounding mountains are reclaimed into terraces, there are people working in the fields, occasionally a call echoes in the valley, the sound is long and ethereal, it is really like a paradise.

Jiang Anyi's eyes were sharp, and he found that there were flags fluttering on the top of the opposite mountain, and he could vaguely see houses, arrow towers, and checkpoints hidden in the mountains. Chang Qing led everyone to circle up the mountain along the stone steps, looked at the mountain and ran a dead horse, and waited until the flag at the top of the mountain for half an hour, and passed through three stone checkpoints along the way, and there were people with knives and guns along the way. The craftsman g is killed ψ and the eight peons are running and shaking? Stupid and clever? It is resistant to the > of the oppression

The top of the mountain has been leveled and paved with stones, and it looks neat and magnificent. In the middle of the platform the size of acres is the flag that Jiang Anyi saw at the foot of the mountain, and the apricot yellow flag of Zhang Xu is embroidered with black thread with the words "for the sky". In the square, dozens of minions were practicing with knives and guns, and the shouts were loud, and the morale was high.

The row of stone houses at the end of the square is probably the so-called Justice Hall, where a group of people greets you. Jiang Anyi listened to Ye Yanguang's cold noise, the middle-aged man who spoke was like a farmer was Chang Ruosong, the owner of the cottage, the scholar with a withered face on his left side was Guo De, the military advisor of the cottage, and the two on the right were strong and thin, the strong man was burly, the muscles were up, the hole dance was powerful, the thin man was like an ape, his eyes were spinning, and he was shining, the strong man was Rao Qiangfeng, the second owner of the cottage, and the thin monkey was Qi Zhitu, the master of the third village.

When he went to the Juyi Hall to sit down with the guests, Ye Yanguang asked Jiang Anyi to sit under him in order to show his closeness, and Gao Shuitian and several other cronies sat under Jiang Anyi.

Qi Zhitu's gaze fell on Jiang Anyi, and he laughed sharply: "I have admired Brother Feng's name for a long time, and it is rumored in the rivers and lakes that Brother Feng is proficient in the art of disguise, and his face is ever-changing, I wonder if I can let Qi see it?" ”

When Jiang Anyi was introduced just now, he learned that this person was the famous "shadowless hand" Feng Guoan on the rivers and lakes, and the literati were no exception, and Qi Zhitu was also a lone thief before returning to the cottage, and Feng Guoan was a peer, and there was a bandit called "gibbon", four years ago, he hid in Zhongshanzhai to avoid trouble, and became the master of the three villages on the mountain.

Jiang An said in his heart: This really won't, and said perfunctorily: "The carving insect trick is insignificant, and Qi is a fool of it." ”

The corners of Rao Qiangfeng's mouth showed a hint of a smile, he laughed at Feng Guoan for being too modest and laughing at Qi Zhitu's small heart, Qi Zhitu is the master of the three villages on the mountain, and often disguises himself to go down the mountain to listen to the news and inquire about information in the village. Ye Yanguang revealed the intention of going up the mountain to settle down, this person has money under him, and he has been doing business with the cottage for many years, according to common sense, he will be given the position of the second village master or the third village master, and Qi Zhitu's position of the third village master is bound to move down.

Feng Guoan followed Ye Yanguang's side, his reputation in the rivers and lakes was greater than Qi Zhitu's, both of them were good at finding out the news, compared to Qi Zhitu, the two fell behind, the position of the four village owners may not be able to be kept, no wonder he was anxious, Feng Guoan's ass just landed, and he jumped out impatiently to provoke.

After Chang Ruosong and Ye Yanguang exchanged a few words, they asked, "Ye Ye, I asked Chang Qing to go down the mountain and ask you to help raise food, but I don't know if it will be settled." ”

As a big boss, the entire cottage eats, drinks, and Lazar is pressed on Chang Ruosong. This year's flood, there are people fleeing everywhere, Guo Junshi ordered people to go down the mountain to collect the victims, the population of the cottage suddenly exceeded 1,000, the grain appeared to be tight, the grain stored in the village in previous years is seeing that it is getting smaller and smaller day by day, this year's new rice has just been planted, and it is estimated that the grain storage will not be able to support the new grain when calculated for a while. The people sent out to buy grain returned empty-handed, and the government tightened its control over grain and did not allow private trafficking, so Chang Ruosong had nothing to do, so he sent Chang Qing to raise grain from Ye Yanguang.

Of course, Ye Yanguang would not tell Chang Ruosong that he was now a lost dog, and said: "The Yuanhua River burst its embankment, and the government came to my house to ask for food, and the more than 200 stone grain in my house was pulled by the government for 200 stone, and there was no extra grain." Now the four gates of Linhua County are surrounded by disaster victims, and even if there is food, I am afraid that they will not be able to leave the city. ”

Chang Ruosong sighed and said, "Natural disaster**, the world is uneven." ”

"The owner of Changzhai is unpredictable, and it is not a good thing for the cottage to flood the Yuanhua River."

Guo De, who was standing behind Chang Ruosong, twitched, and his eyes fell on Ye Yanguang with deep meaning.

Ye Yanguang said eloquently: "There is a shortage of food in the mountains, and those victims are even more short of food, when Ye went out of the city from Linhua County, nearly 200,000 victims outside Linhua County were hungry and on the verge of starvation. In order to survive, these people can take risks, and they will not hesitate to kill officials and rebel. Changzhai master, can you be interested? ”

The four of them were shocked, Jiang Anyi also gasped, he didn't expect that this Ye Yanguang's "ambition" was not small, and he actually hit the idea on the victims, and was ready to use food to tempt the victims to rebel.

Ye Yanguang looked at Chang Ruosong with an excited face, Chang Ruosong smiled faintly: "Ye Ye has come from afar to work hard, Chang has already prepared wine and food, let's eat first, and talk about it after dinner." ”

Obviously, Chang Ruosong didn't agree with Ye Yanguang's ambition, but he didn't see the military advisor Guo De behind him have a light in his eyes, and his fists hidden in his sleeves were clenched tightly. And Rao Qiangfeng, the second village master, and Qi Zhitu, the third village owner, who were sitting on the left side, collided their eyes when they got up, each thinking about it.

During the banquet, Ye Yanguang wanted to turn the topic to the victims several times, but Chang Ruosong used a toast to block them, and after trying three times in a row, Ye Yanguang was a little frustrated, and he had already understood Chang Ruosong's position, so he didn't say more.

After the meal, Chang Ruosong let Ye Yanguang and others rest in the guest room on the right side of the Juyi Hall, and he convened the leaders of the cottage to discuss the matter, and the content of the discussion was what Ye Yanguang said about taking advantage of the disaster to rebel.

said that it was a discussion, but in fact, Chang Ruosong made the final word: "...... Ye Yanguang's painting is a big piece of cake, it looks really attractive, don't forget, Zhong Shanzhai is just a small village of hundreds of people, relying on the deep mountains and dense forests to survive, if according to Ye Yanguang's plan to go down the mountain to rob grain, kill officials and seize the city, how many people are in our cottage, I estimate that the cake has not been eaten, the bowl in our hands was broken first, and it is difficult to say whether we can save our lives. ”

Chang Qing is his nephew, and he took advantage of Chang Ruosong's drinking water and said: "I went down the mountain this time, and the assassin surnamed Ai happened to come to Linhua County, brought some food, and accompanied by two hundred government soldiers. There are 150,000 or 60,000 victims in Linhua County, and the county order surnamed Yuan in Linhua County has some means to barely maintain disaster relief, although some people are secretly instigating, and even Yuan County's order almost let people be slaughtered in broad daylight, but unfortunately Long Wei's dog claws came and suppressed the matter, and there was no chaos. ”

Guo De thoughtfully tapped his palm with a folding fan and asked, "Do you know who moved the hand?" ”

Chang Qing shook his head and said, "I have been in Linhua County for less than half a day, and most of the news I heard from Ye Yanguang's mouth. ”

"Chang set up Zhong Shanzhai just to not be exploited by the government, to accept some people who have no way out, and he has no intention of confronting the court and planting a flag to rebel." Chang Ruosong said: "Ye Yanguang wants to dream of being an emperor and roast us on the fire, he doesn't want to think about it, even if he can provoke more than 100,000 people to rebel and take three or two county seats, more than 100,000 troops from Andong Protectorate are stationed in Weizhou, and it will take a few days to cross the river to quell the chaos, and then the army will be one to more than a hundred thousand people without knives, guns and horses, and they have not been trained, just some cattle and sheep to make people cut off their heads and make meritorious contributions, even if we can escape and escape back to the mountains, the government will inevitably send a large army to clean up, where can we flee to?" ”

Qi Zhitu said with a dry smile: "Why should the big boss destroy his own prestige, entering this mountain is our world, this small Zhongshan stretches for more than a thousand miles, spanning two states and six counties, even if the government sends an army of 350,000 into the mountain, it will not want to find us." ”

"Qi Dangjia thinks too highly of our Zhongshanzhai, the government really wants to send a large army to encircle and suppress, as long as the mountains are blocked on all sides, we are ants on a hot pot, and we will be burned to death if we are not caught."

Rao Qiangfeng said in a deep voice: "What Chang Da said is reasonable, back then, Rao gathered more than 2,000 people in Yinling Mountain, Pingzhou, and dozens of strong generals under him, and the scale was stronger than Zhong Shanzhai. It's not that Rao is boasting, Yinling Mountain is even more vast and steep than Xiaozhong Mountain, and the combined forces of Pingzhou, Fangzhou, and Dengzhou were all defeated by Rao, and Rao was a little carried away. In the fifteenth year of Fengle, the Fangzhou Prefecture Government escorted the silver into Beijing, and Rao led people to rob it, and obtained nearly two million taels of silver. ”

Everyone here heard Rao Qiangfeng talk about this past, but every time they heard it, everyone still felt excited, two million taels of silver, can spread the square outside the meeting hall, and it is a real silver mountain when piled up.