A group of Zhu Jun soldiers surrounded Li Yan and Hong Niangzi, and the leader was Ma Xiaotian.
When the red lady saw Ma Xiaotian, she immediately panicked. The girl's thoughts are really weird. The Red Lady is a person who is not afraid of anything. Even when facing Zhu Yuanzhang, she has the courage to make nonsense and argue. She even said that she would turn against Zhu Jun for Zhang Yingxian. For a woman like this, even if you take a knife and cut her flesh one by one, for a total of three thousand cuts, she may not give in, or she may die cursing.
But when she faced a man who had confessed to her, she felt panicked. Her high head drooped as soon as it hit the ground. She covered her face with her hands and looked at her insteps, completely in a state of shrinking.
Li Yan next to him was a little confused. Didn¡¯t this red lady claim to be a leader of Zhu Jun? There were hundreds of opera troupe brothers under her, so why did she shrink back when she saw Zhu Jun's men coming? Could it be that she was not the leader of Zhu Jun at all, and now she was afraid of being exposed, so she acted like this?
Li Yan felt anxious for a while and said quickly: "Don't shrink back like this. Come out and say something and introduce me to Brother Zhu Ba."
??The red lady looks at her nose with her eyes, and her nose with her heart. If she doesn¡¯t speak, she doesn¡¯t speak, and she doesn¡¯t even raise her head.
Li Yan smiled bitterly, what's all this? Seeing that the red lady could not be counted on, he raised his head and bowed to the Zhu Jun soldiers around him. Finally, he faced Ma Xiaotian and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "I was born late, Li Yan from Qixian County, and he was elected in the year of Ding Mao of the Apocalypse." , I need to see Brother Baishui Zhuba if I have something to do."
Ma Xiaotian was slightly surprised when he heard that he called himself Li Yan. He quickly looked carefully and found that Ma Xiaotian and Li Yan had actually met each other at the foot of Agate Mountain. When he looked at him, he vaguely looked like Li Zicheng's military advisor. He couldn't help but be shocked: "You are Li Zicheng's military advisor. You don't want to pay for food." Did you make up the children's songs?"
Li Yan said: "She was born late."
Ma Xiaotian felt alarmed, raised the knife in his hand, and shouted: "What are you doing here? Are you spreading your silly children's song? This is not how you seek death!"
Li Yan smiled bitterly and said: "Wan Sheng I heard a lot about Brother Zhu B from this girl's mouth, and I am really curious about Brother Zhu B's political methods. I want to come and ask Brother Zhu B for advice."
Ma Xiaotian certainly didn¡¯t believe that he was here to ask for advice. But when he heard him talking about the woman next to him, he felt curious, so he looked at the woman seriously again. I saw the woman with her hair down, obviously not married yet. Wearing dirty clothes. It was covered in mud and dust. I can't even see the colors clearly. He lowered his head and said nothing. Unable to see his face clearly, but with a vague feeling of familiarity, he couldn't help but said: "Raise your head. Who are you?"
How could the red lady be willing to lift her up? She didn't know that there were many twists and turns happening behind her. Before, the Ma Xiaotian in front of her was still the Ma Xiaotian who had confessed to her and wanted to propose marriage to her. If she looked up and saw this, it would be so embarrassing and embarrassing. So ashamed. The red lady made up her mind: I will never raise my head until I die.
Her actions implicated Li Yan. Li Yan came to see Zhu Yuanzhang well, but because of a woman beside him who refused to raise her head, his identity became very strange.
A sharp light flashed in Ma Xiaotian's eyes: "Girl, if you don't raise your head and declare yourself, I will treat you as a spy."
When the red lady heard him drink like this, she felt anxious. What should she do? After thinking for a while, she reached into her arms, took out a handkerchief and covered her face, covering half of her face, only revealing a pair of shining eyes, and then she raised her head. She didn't dare to speak yet, for fear that Ma Xiaotian would hear her voice, so she used the "ventriloquism" technique she often used when traveling to sell answers, changed her voice and said to Ma Xiaotian: "You don't care who I am, I just bring it with you." This young master came to see Brother Zhu Ba. Since he has been brought here, I will leave now."
Ma Xiaotian snorted and said, "He looks suspicious, how can he get away so easily? Go to the left and right and capture the person for me."
Several Zhu Jun soldiers gathered around and stretched out their hands to pull the red lady. But the red lady couldn't be held back so easily. She flipped up her two whip legs and cracked, causing several Zhu Jun soldiers to fall to the ground at the same time.
Ma Xiaotian exclaimed: "You know kung fu! You dare to come to our Zhu Jun's territory and act wild"
The red lady said in a low voice: "Stop talking nonsense and ask your men to come up."
Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers shouted: ¡°Let¡¯s go up together and kill this stinky bitch with random swords.¡±
Ma Xiaotian felt depressed. He always felt a mysterious and mysterious feeling. He couldn't explain what was going on, but he always felt that the woman in front of him was not the kind of heinous villain who insisted on hacking to death and let his men hack him. It seemed a little inappropriate to turn her over. So he waved his hand, suppressed all the objections, threw away the knife in his hand, and walked out of the field with empty hands: "I'm here for a moment."?. "
The Red Lady thought to herself: Ma Xiaotian is my defeated general, what¡¯s so good about this fight? Knock him down with two moves, and then take the opportunity to dodge him. There are a few big trees nearby. You can just climb onto the tree and use your strength to swing out.
She felt certain in her heart, so she also put up a posture to welcome Ma Xiaotian's fists and kicks.
Both of them had served in the military, and they didn't talk much. They started fighting each other, with fists and kicks. Ma Xiaotian immediately landed several punches, while the red lady easily dodged and responded with her legs and kicks. The two of them were tumbling over and over, passing dozens of moves at once, and the red lady was greatly surprised. In the past, when she and Ma Xiaotian fought, they could only defeat Ma Xiaotian in two or three moves, or beat him to the point of giving up. Surrender, how come you have fought dozens of moves today and there is still no winner?
She didn¡¯t know that Ma Xiaotian used to respect her as a heavenly being, so he would naturally give in to her when they were fisting and kicking, and it was normal for him to give in after only a few moves. Now Ma Xiaotian regards her as a female spy. No matter how merciless he is, how can she be defeated so easily?
There are many innocent little girls like this in the world. A man treats her well, but she thinks that the man is weak and has no ability. She has no idea how much pains the man has put into it. By the time the girls understand this, the man has already been taken over by her. Scared away, sleep and fly with another woman. Only then will the girl understand how to look forward to her and realize how naive she was back then.
The two exchanged a few more blows, fists and feet touching each other. The red lady felt that Ma Xiaotian's hands and feet were extremely powerful. Every collision made her arms and calves hurt. She screamed in her heart. She wanted to use her body's flexibility and agility to gain an advantage, but it was not easy because Ma Xiaotian did not He is not a big and reckless guy like Wang Er, and his flexibility of movements is considered among the top among Zhu Jun. In the last battle, Ma Xiaotian relied on the subtlety of his moves to put the infinitely powerful Hao Yaoqi at a disadvantage. The Red Lady wants to use her skills to defeat him. But it just highlights Ma Xiaotian's advantages.
The two of them quickly passed a few moves, but Ma Xiaotian felt something from the red lady's body and hands. At this time, the red lady happened to use a move that Ma Xiaotian was very familiar with. This move had been used by the two of them several times before. Ma Xiaotian is very familiar with this trick. He already knew what the red lady was going to do next. He spotted the flaw and took a sudden step forward, cutting in front of the red lady. One hand clasped the red lady's throat, tripped under her feet, and instantly pushed the red lady to the ground.
Using the momentum of pushing her down, the other free hand quickly pulled on her face and pulled off the masked handkerchief.
"Hong Miss Hong, it's you indeed!" Ma Xiaotian quickly released his hold on her throat and jumped back, giving Lady Hong room to stand up. A flash of joy flashed in his eyes: "Miss Hong, you are finally back. ¡±
The red lady was actually defeated by Ma Xiaotian, and she didn't know what it felt like. She lay on the ground and didn't get up. She just thought: It turns out that he can beat me, but he just gave up to me before Why didn't I notice it? Woolen cloth? Thinking of this, she suddenly felt that Ma Xiaotian's attitude towards her was different from before. The look in his eyes when he looked at him was no longer that of deep obsession and enthusiasm, and there was not necessarily much excitement in his tone. There was only a joy like meeting an old friend, but that was definitely not someone who loved someone else. displayed by people.
The red lady was startled, a carp jumped up from the ground, raised her head, and looked at Ma Xiaotian with strange eyes.
There was no trace of the panic that was common when he faced her before on Ma Xiaotian's face. Instead, there was a kind of calmness and calmness, as if he had grown up a lot. The red lady always felt that Ma Xiaotian was like a child, incompetent and always doing stupid things, but now she felt that she was even more immature in front of him.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Ma Xiaotian whispered: "Miss Hong, those things in the past were caused by me being too immature. I have already reflected on them. You can just pretend that those things in the past never happened or have been revealed." , come back to Zhu Jun with peace of mind, and stop wandering around outside. It¡¯s not safe for you, a girl, to run around in such chaos."
The red lady was speechless, she really couldn¡¯t understand what was happening.
Seeing her strange expression, Ma Xiaotian didn't explain. He only had the little mute in his heart now, and his feelings for the red lady had already cooled down, so he turned his attention to Li Yan, thought for a while and said: "Master Li Yan, it seems Miss Hong brought you to our place. In that case, I will take you to see Brother Zhu Ba." He knew that there must be something going on when Miss Hong brought Li Yan. Although Miss Hong is a bit naive, she is kind-hearted. , will never do anything wrong to Zhu Jun. She must have a reason to attract this person. When Brother Zhu meets this person, he will naturally come to an agreement.
Li Yan has eyes and ears. After listening to the conversation between Ma Xiaotian and Red Lady, he was able to make a pretty good guess. At this time, he was convinced that Red Lady was indeed the leader of the Zhu Army and was not just playing tricks on him, so he had many doubts.All the questions were answered easily, and he immediately regained his scholarly demeanor and followed Ma Xiaotian towards Guangyuan City.
???????????????????????????????????????????: Guangyuan City is full of joy. It is more prosperous than the city governed by the imperial court. The streets are full of people, carrying large and small baskets of corn cobs on their backs to exchange shopping items. This is a must-have scene every year during the grain harvest season. The difference is that in other cities, this scene only occurs in the golden autumn of October, but in Zhu Jun's territory, this lively scene happens twice a year.
There were businessmen from Shaanxi on the street, shouting loudly, "Exchange potato for corn" and "Exchange delicious potato for corn." It turned out that the sensitive Shaanxi businessmen had already prepared and shipped the goods from Shaanxi in time for the corn harvest. I came here with a batch of potatoes and wanted to exchange them for corn here and then take them back to Shaanxi to resell them at a high price.
At this time, Shaanxi was a large potato producing area, but there were so many potatoes in Shaanxi that the people could not eat them all. As human beings, once the problem of food and clothing is solved, they will start to play tricks and enjoy themselves. People will want to change their taste. Isn't it harmful to eat potatoes all year round? Of course, businessmen had to seize this business opportunity and purchased many potatoes at low prices. Transport it to Guangyuan, exchange it for corn here and then dump it back. In this way, you can earn several times the profit by going back and forth.
In addition to those who exchange potatoes for corn, there are also merchants who exchange cloth, porcelain, brocade, salt, iron and other utensils for corn. The streets are full of people. Lively and bustling. Very prosperous. Li Yan didn't know how long it had been since he had seen such a bustling and lively scene, and he couldn't help but feel very surprised: "Zhu Jun's territory is indeed different from other territories Sigh"
You must know that the places occupied by the Thirty-sixth Battalion are lifeless without exception. There were no people on the street. There were only dry bones on the road. Although Li Zicheng has reorganized military discipline and stopped killing good people, he began to win people's hearts. But Li Zicheng couldn't conjure food out of thin air to feed the people. The people would still be hungry and cold. Can the city prosper under such circumstances?
?????????????????????????????Although order can barely be maintained in the city under the rule of the imperial court, a sense of desolation can still be seen in the city. The people are listless, the officials are panicked, and the merchants have closed their doors
Compared with Zhu Jun¡¯s territory, it¡¯s a judgment call!
Li Yan couldn't help but said to himself: "Is this also the power of productivity?"
Ma Xiaotian thought he was talking to him, but he didn't hear clearly, so he asked from the side: "What did Military Master Li say?"
Li Yan shook his head and said: "I didn't say anything By the way" Li Yan suddenly turned pale and asked Ma Xiaotian: "Have you started collecting taxes?"
Ma Xiaotian nodded and said: "The list has been published, and the summer tax collection will begin soon. Our Zhu Jun, like the imperial court, collects two taxes a year, one in summer and one in autumn, which happens to be when the food in the two seasons is mature."
Li Yan was moved in his heart and asked again: "I heard from the Red Lady that your Zhu Jun's tax collection is only 30%. Thenwill you be like the imperial court and cleverly create various names to collect a few percent more?" Woolen cloth?"
Ma Xiaotian smiled and said: "Why do we do these dirty things? Even if we only collect 30% of the tax properly, we will not be able to use up so much, hahaha."
Li Yan nodded and said: "I understand this! What I mean isare there any corrupt people in your army who pervert the law? They reported to Brother Zhu Ba that they collected 30% of the tax, but they collected 40% or 50% from the people." If you succeed, you can pocket one or two percent of it and put it into your own pocket. This is the most common trick used by court officials."
The light in Ma Xiaotian's eyes disappeared, and he chuckled: "Of course this kind of thing will happen. A few days ago, there was a petty official who relied on his official power to seize the corn that a commoner's family had just harvested, and even tried to get his hands on it. The daughter of a farmer Brother Zhu Bagh said that even if it takes another five hundred years, it will be impossible to completely eliminate this kind of thing, and of course we, Zhu Jun, cannot completely eliminate it."
Li Yan¡¯s heart tightened, and he asked in a deep voice: ¡°Then what Zhu Bago means is that we can¡¯t handle this kind of thing, and there¡¯s nothing we can do about it?¡±
They just arrived in front of the Guangyuan County Government Square at this time. Ma Xiaotian stretched out his hand and pointed at the Pichang Temple at the entrance of the government office and said, "See for yourself"
Li Yan turned around and saw a bloody corpse hanging in front of the yamen. All the skin on the corpse had been peeled off. The skin was stuffed with grass and stood next to his corpse It was obviously very vicious, which shocked Li Yan.
Ma Xiaotian smiled and said: "This is the little official who is trying to dominate and bring happiness."
"Silk!" Li Yan gasped: "This is the punishment handed down from the Taizu of this dynasty, the punishment of skinning and stuffing grass."
Ma Xiaotian nodded.
Li Yan shook his head and said: "If you use violence to force each other, officials may not be obedient. The Taizu of this dynasty peeled off skins and stuffed grass, killing people like hemp, but officials should still be greedy.If you want to be greedy, you still have to take what you should take. The Ming Dynasty has been strong for more than two hundred years, and bad guys have emerged in an endless stream. They cannot be stopped by peeling off skins and stuffing grass with them. "
Ma Xiaotian smiled and said: "Yes, so Zhu Bage also issued two notices at the same time. If you can read, you can read them yourself and post them in front of the Yamen."
Li Yan turned around and saw two notices posted in front of the yamen. He looked at them carefully. The title of one of the notices was "High salary to support integrity", which basically meant to increase the salary of Zhu Junzhong's officials so that they could live a prosperous life. Another notice said that from now on, all income of officials would be recorded, and if an official suddenly had a large amount of money from unknown sources, he would be subject to trial.
Ma Xiaotian said: "Brother Zhu Bagh said that increasing the salary of officials can reduce the occurrence of corruption. Of course, this cannot completely eliminate corrupt officials. We still have to monitor the wealth of all officials. Someone suddenly appeared inexplicably. If a sum of money comes out, it must be corruption"
When Li Yan heard this, he was stunned: "Is this okay? Isn't Zhu Ba afraid that his leaders will betray him?"
Ma Xiaotian laughed loudly: "Rebellion? You have never met Zhu Bage, so you don't know what kind of person he is, right? Who among us in the Zhu army doesn't respect him as a heavenly being? How dare you rebel against him? What's more Zhu Bage has promoted us from ordinary people to our current status, and everyone's life will definitely get better and better in the future. Why would you ruin your bright future just to embezzle a few small coins?"
Li Yan tasted Ma Xiaotian's words carefully, and couldn't help but feel a little relaxed, thinking to himself: So that's it, in the final analysis, Zhu Ba gave them a lot of wealth, which was so much that they had no interest in playing tricks to get it from the common people. Squeezing it, even if it takes one thousand to say ten thousand, it is still a productivity issue!