2

Grain, needless to say.

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty can be described as internal and external troubles, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued, Henan was swept by the righteous army led by King Gao Yingshen, so that the entire Henan has a food shortage.

However, the imperial court not only did not distribute grain for disaster relief, but increased taxes, and all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes were added to the people, which made the people complain and boil.

And one by one, the Ming people who were forced to have no way out and no way to live, especially those Ming farmers who lived at the bottom of the society and lacked food and clothing.

In order to survive, he had to go up the mountains and fall into the grass and become bandits, making the whole Henan now rampant.

At present, there are thousands of bandits of all sizes in Henan, but these bandits are small-scale and unorganized, and they are far less threatening than large groups of rebels like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen temporarily focused on exterminating these large groups of rebels, and did not have time or spare troops to clear out the small bandits scattered all over the place.

This allowed a small group of bandits like Li Zixiao to survive by chance.

Now it is winter, Li Zixiao and others are still wearing thin single clothes, straw sandals on their feet, shivering in the cold wind, it is easy to get frostbite if they go on like this, so in addition to food, there is a shortage of cotton clothes.

After listening to Zhou Dazhu's words, Li Zixiao finally had a general understanding of his current situation.

Li Zixiao is the leader of this gang of bandits, and the nest of this gang of bandits is hidden in Mangdang Mountain at the junction of Guide Mansion and Fengyang Mansion, which is the place where Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, beheaded the White Snake Uprising, and the real land of Longxing.

But this gang of bandits is about to run out of food, and today Li Zixiao was originally going to take more than 100 of his subordinates to prepare to fight a Zhuangzi called Liujiabao near Wenjiaji in Defu.

Unexpectedly, they were so unlucky, they happened to meet a Ming official army cavalry on a business trip to Guide Mansion on the way, how could Li Zixiao's group of peasants who had just put down their hoes and picked up their knives and guns be able to resist the cavalry's charge.

A single charge broke up their formation, and a tragic massacre began, leaving Li Zixiao and these two dozen young adults to survive.

The reason why Li Zixiao wanted to leave Mangdang Mountain hundreds of kilometers away to fight a small Zhuangzi in the Wenjiaji of Defu was mainly because they had an internal response in the fort, and the success of capturing Zhuangzi was greatly increased.

In these years, the tall Zhuangzi built by those rich landlords with high walls and deep courtyards are not so easy to conquer, and with this little power in Li Zixiao's hands, even a small Zhuangzi is difficult to fight.

And with Neiying, as long as the door of Zhuangzi is opened and let them rush into Zhuangzi, then it is not impossible to capture a small Zhuangzi, so of course Li Zixiao was moved, so there was this operation.

Li Zixiao rubbed his eyebrows, he had to admit that the previous 'master' of his body was not wrong at all, but there was one point, he was too unlucky.

It's good now, before they get to Zhuangzi, who is going to fight, there are only about 20 people left under them, but as Li Zixiao crosses over and occupies this body and is reborn, everything adds variables again.

"Big boss, what should we do now? Are you still going to beat the Zhuangzi surnamed Liu? ”

Zhou Dazhu saw Li Zixiao's gloomy face, sat there without saying a word, and asked cautiously.

"Dazhu, tell you the truth, is the food we have stored in the cottage in Mangdangyun really not enough for us to cope with for a while?"

What Li Zixiao hopes now is that the food in the hands of these bandits can last for a while, so that he can have more time to adapt to the end of the Ming Dynasty, and then slowly try to develop.

"Big boss, if there is food in our cottage, you don't have to take your brothers out to adventure, we have more than a dozen people in the cottage, including Old Master Wei, Li Lang and others.

And we don't have much food left, if we can't get food back as soon as possible, I'm afraid that the remaining dozen or so brothers will starve to death! ”

Zhou Dazhu said to Li Zixiao with a wry smile, the current situation is really forcing them to a dead end.

"Damn, a large group of our living people can still starve to death, and it seems that this adventure will continue! Then let me lead these brothers to live for you. ”

Li Zixiao stood up, moved his body twice, adapted to his new body, and muttered in a low voice.

"Go, call all the brothers, I have something to announce. You'll do that later," Li Zixiao whispered a few words in Zhou Dazhu's ear.

"Yes, boss."

Zhou Dazhu answered, turned around and ran out to call someone.

At this time, Li Zixiao knew that this attack on Liu Laocai Zhuangzi had to be carried out, but now he had to personally lead the team.

Moreover, after experiencing the impact of the cavalry of the official army just now, the morale of the subordinates fell sharply, and they were asked to continue to attack Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi at this time, I was afraid that these people would be afraid to retreat.

Now Li Zixiao can only find a way to mobilize the morale of the remaining twenty or so young men under his command, so that they are willing to attack Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi.

Li Zixiao carefully looked at his new body and found that although his body was not burly, it was also tall, with a delicate face, giving people a gentle and elegant temperament.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, a man who was generally five or six meters tall was definitely considered tall, and in this era when people starved to death every day, it was strange that the children of severely malnourished peasants could grow taller.

Soon, Zhou Dazhu, who went out to call someone, came back, followed by Wei Hong, Zhang Ergouzi and more than 20 people, all of whom wanted to know Li Zixiao's next move.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Li Zixiao said in a sad tone: "Brothers, we have suffered heavy losses from the official cavalry this time, and we have lost many brothers, all of whom are incompetent as me!" ”

Speaking of Li Zixiao, he looked even more heartbroken, and even a few tears flowed out, which made Li Zixiao discuss in his heart, he didn't expect that he still had acting talent!

"It's not to blame the big boss, if you want to blame it, you don't give people a way to live in this world, the lives of our people were saved by the big boss, if it wasn't for the big boss who took us in, we would have starved to death by now.

Those brothers died tragically, this account must be recorded on the official army, to the bullshit emperor Lao'er, we should turn our grief into strength, live well, and follow the orders of the great boss to avenge the dead brothers. ”

As soon as Li Zixiao's words fell, Wei Hong stood up and roared passionately, for Li Zixiao's grievances, Wei Hong's words were like a spark collapsing into an oil barrel, instantly detonating everyone's emotions.

"Follow the orders of the great boss and avenge the dead brothers!" The two dozen or so young men who survived raised their fists angrily one by one and shouted loudly.

Li Zixiao looked up at this handsome young man, and couldn't help but praise in his heart: He is a guy who knows the times, and he also knows that at this time, he buys people's hearts for me, a big boss, and arouses the hatred of the government in everyone's hearts.

Li Zixiao secretly looked at Wei Hong, and knew in his memory that this person was also one of his most trusted henchmen, and he was also loyal to Li Zixiao, and he had learned good martial arts.

Immediately, Li Zixiao continued: "There is not much food left in our cottage, if we can't get back the food this time, we will have to wander around begging for food, have you ever endured this kind of life." ”

"Enough is enough." More than twenty people shouted in unison.

"Therefore, we were originally more than 100 people going to fight the Zhuangzi of the landlord surnamed Liu, but now we have lost most of the brothers, but we still have to fight this Zhuangzi, just so that the rest of our brothers can live. Are you willing to take this risk with me? ”

Hearing Li Zixiao say this, the twenty or so young men all looked at each other hesitantly, and they were also very hesitant in their hearts at this time, after all, those landlords and old rich Zhuangzi are not so easy to fight, and if they don't get it, they will die.

At this time, Zhou Dazhu couldn't stand it anymore, and came out and scolded these people: "What are you guys still hesitating about, where can we go if we don't follow the big boss, do you still go out to ask for food, and finally be starved to death!"

Have you not seen the faces of those landlords and old riches, who not only refused to reduce our land rent in the year of great calamity, but also increased it.

They would rather put the grain in the granary of Zhuangzi to be moldy and smelly than take it out to help us poor.

Which of you people is not, watching your former relatives starve to death one by one, our bitter lives are worthless these years.

The big boss treats us as human beings and brothers as brothers, so we should listen to the big bosses, share the same hatred and hatred, break the Zhuangzi of those landlords and old wealth, eat his mother's food, and drink his mother's food. ”

Zhou Dazhu's words said that these young and middle-aged men are in their hearts, their lives are not worth much in these years, their relatives have already died one by one, and they are lucky to survive until the end of the big boss, so that they can survive until now.

"We will follow the orders of the big boss, break Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi, eat his mother's food, and drink his mother's food." Finally, the two dozen or so young men shouted in unison.

At this moment, Li Zixiao finally showed a relieved smile on his face, and the heart hanging in his heart was also relaxed, at least although he was short of food and clothing, and was in a difficult situation, at least he still had such a group of loyal brothers, and the military heart was available!

"Brothers, don't worry, I won't take everyone to death in vain, since I dare to fight Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi, I already have a plan in my heart.

Let's be honest, we have our own brothers in Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi, and when we arrive, they will open the door to Zhuangzi for us, and then we can take advantage of the situation to kill them. ”

Li Zixiao actually didn't have much confidence in this risky action at this time, he was just forced to beat Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi, but he had to pretend to be confident to reassure this group of subordinates.

"Whoa...... Long live the big boss! ”

Sure enough, as soon as Li Zixiao finished saying this, the twenty or so young men all shouted excitedly.

"Zhang Ergouzi, you were in charge of this matter before, you came out to tell everyone about the situation of Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi that we are going to rob."

Li Zixiao looked at a thin and obscene-looking man below and said.

"Yes, boss." Zhang Ergouzi heard Li Zixiao call his name, stood up with a chest up, and answered loudly.

"Some time ago, this small Zhuangzi of Liu Laocai was attacked by several rebel armies, although his Zhuangzi was not captured by the rebels, but Liu Laocai was also frightened.

Within a few days, Liu Laocai took most of his family and family members, and transferred most of his family wealth to the new house in Guide Mansion.

At present, there are not many people left in his old mansion near Wenjiaji, most of them are his tenants, and an old housekeeper surnamed Han left by him helps take care of the old mansion!

This old housekeeper surnamed Han is not a thing, and after Liu Laocai left, this old thing began to be powerful.

A few tenants who had inadvertently rushed into him were hung up and beaten by him, and finally they took back the land they had given them to cultivate, and expelled their entire family from Zhuangzi.

With no food and being expelled from Zhuangzi these years, how could the whole family of those tenants survive this cold winter!

Soon, the tenants watched their wives and children die one by one, and even they themselves had only one breath left.

A month ago, I was ordered by the big boss to go to Wenjiaji to inquire about intelligence, and I happened to save these dying tenants, and these tenants also joined our cottage.

These brothers told me that they had managed to open the door of Liu Laocai's old house for us, and now we will ask those brothers to come and talk about it. ”

As soon as Zhang Ergouzi beckoned, three men walked out behind him, about thirty or forty years old, all dressed in tatters, and their bodies were quite strong, otherwise they would not have survived the pursuit of the cavalry of the official army.

One of the men took the initiative to come out and bow to Li Zixiao, Li Zixiao nodded, and he turned his face to the surroundings, brothers: "I was expelled by Liu Laocai's housekeeper surnamed Han, and I was originally a tenant of Liu Laocai's family."

After we were expelled from Zhuangzi by the old man surnamed Han, our wives and children starved to death one after another, and finally we were rescued by the cottage and survived.

Before, we happened to know that the cottage was going out to loot grain, so the three of us dared to attack Liu Laocai's old mansion with the big boss.

Because our three families have been tenants of Liu Laocai for generations, there are still a few brothers in life and death in that old mansion.

Although the old thing surnamed Han expelled the three of us, he couldn't expel everyone from Zhuangzi, I have a brother who is still in Zhuangzi, and my brother's life was saved by me, and he is closer than his own brother.

The three of us had been instructed by the big boss to secretly contact him, and we got his reply, and he was willing to be the internal response of our cottage, and when we arrived, he would open the door of Zhuangzi for us and let us in. ”

After hearing this person say these words in person, all the people around them had excited expressions on their faces.

This made them feel a lot less afraid of attacking the landlord's Zhuangzi, after all, there should be an open door inside, and there is no need to storm it.

Li Zixiao clearly saw the changes in the emotions on the faces of the group of subordinates around him, and knew that at this time, these people should not object to this plan to continue to attack Liu Laocai Zhuangzi.

"You're good, what's the name of the three of you? After the success of this attack on Liu Laocai's old house, the three of you should take the first credit. ”

Li Zixiao asked the three of them happily.

"Back to the big boss, the small Dong."

"Little Qian Rui."

"Little Korean style."

The three of them stepped forward in turn to bow to Li Zixiao, and then said respectfully.

Li Zixiao also had to admire in his heart that his former boss had been planning for a long time in attacking Liu Laocai's old house.

And the planning and arrangement are very thorough, if it weren't for the unexpected encounter with the official cavalry halfway this time, this attack on Liu Laocai's old house would have been successful.

"Okay, in that case, rest for a quarter of an hour, and we will continue to advance towards the Zhuangzi where the Wen family gathers Liu Laocai, and strive to arrive in the afternoon, break through the Zhuangzi, and rob a batch of grain."

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison, and the morale of the army, which had just been dispersed by the impact of the official cavalry, reunited Li Zixiao.

As long as these people are willing to continue to attack Liu Laocai's Zhuangzi, Li Zixiao feels that the possibility of success in this operation is still quite high.

Although the number of people attacking was much smaller, the remaining 20 or so people were all young and strong men, none of them were old, weak, sick or disabled, and they were well commanded, condensing them into a rope, and the strength they exerted would not be stronger than the more than 100 people who were like scattered sand before.