Early the next morning, three hundred Liangshan troops went up the mountain under an apricot-yellow banner.
Dongma Village is located more than 60 miles southwest of Liangshan Shuibo. The land is fertile. It stands to reason that the people in the village should have enough food and clothing and live and work in peace and contentment. But the scene in the village is not like this. Except for a large house at the head of the village, the rest are mostly thatched huts and mud houses, and they all look very dilapidated.
The thousands of acres of fertile land in Dongma Village have been owned by the Li family, a big family in the village, for decades. Over the years, the Li family has accumulated countless money and food.
Li Huai was born in this wealthy family, but despite having enough food and clothing, he was even stingier than his parents, and he was not kind to the tenants in the village. Most of the women will become his slaves.
Li Huai, who is nearly fifty years old, looks at the tall houses around him with reluctance. This big house with three entrances and three exits took several generations of hard work to build. He has added a lot of furnishings over the years. It is also a rare good house.
If he had no other choice, he would not abandon this great house and move to the county. In recent years, the world has not been peaceful, and strongmen appear everywhere. In the past few years, there were hundreds of bandits in Liangshan, more than 60 miles away, plundering everywhere. In order to keep his home safe, he had to hire five martial arts masters and train twenty domestic slaves to protect the home. After making a huge promise to the tenants in the village, he could rest easy.
In the past, thousands of acres of fertile farmland in the village were harvested every year. Although it cost a lot to support many people, there was always more in and less out. A few months ago, after the public land office took away all the land, Li Huai started to feel pain after spending a few months. If this one can't get out, even if there is a fortune, it will eventually be spent.
After restless nights, he finally decided to leave a few slaves to guard the courtyard and move his family to Yuncheng County. Then he would no longer have to worry about Liangshan thieves, nor would he have to spend money to hire martial artists to guard the courtyard, which would save money. Go to a big expense. If you buy some shops in the city, you don't have to worry about leaving everything behind.
Having made up his mind, Li Huai said to the housekeeper behind him: "Li Er, send someone to tidy up the county house and settle the accounts. I will move to the county in a few days."
Li Er said: "Master, do you want to stay for a long time?"
Li Huai nodded and said: "Now that there are no fields in the countryside, the master lives here and has to support many people to be on guard against Liangshan thieves, so he simply moved to the county and bought some properties to make a living."
Li Er also grew up in Dongma Village. He was still a little afraid of the county town and asked, "What about this house?"
Li Huai reluctantly looked around the yard where he had spent a lot of effort, and said: "This is the ancestral house, so naturally it cannot be sold. Li Er, three generations of your family have served my family, and I feel most at ease with you in this yard. I'm going to I asked you to take a few slaves to stay and look after this yard. You have to keep an eye on me. After a few years, the government has wiped out the bandits in Liangshan, and I will come back."
Hearing this, Li Er also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry, sir. Even if I risk my life, I still take good care of the house."
With Li Huai gone, he, Li Er, has become the boss in this village. He was getting old and no longer wanted to work hard in the county. It would be best if he could stay and guard the yard. As long as the owner moves away all the money and food, the Liangshan thieves will no longer be interested in Dongma Village.
While the two were talking, a house slave ran in in a panic and said: "Master, what's wrong, a group of people came from the east. They seem to be Liangshan bandits, less than five miles away from the village entrance."
Li Huai didn¡¯t expect that just as he was about to move out, the Liangshan bandits arrived first. He quickly ordered people to summon the martial arts guards and domestic slaves to the entrance of the village to prepare against the bandits. At the same time, people were banging the clappers. The tenants in the village had just returned from the fields. When they heard the clappers, regardless of their fatigue, they all brought sticks to the entrance of the village to defend against the bandits.
Li Huai looked at the messy villagers behind him and felt guilty in his heart. If there are too many bandits from Liangshan, the dozens of domestic slaves armed with their own weapons and these village men with hoes and poles may not be able to defeat the enemy. However, with these hundreds of villagers, the Liangshan thieves did not dare to start a big fight. They would spend some money and food to send them away, and then move their families to the county seat without fear of them coming to harass them again.
When the villagers of Dongma Village were blocking the village entrance and panicking, a large apricot-yellow flag appeared in the distance.
Outside the entrance of the village where they arrived, a large apricot-yellow flag was posted, and three hundred minions were spread out. The first six people rode out into the battle, and the black horse in the middle was a rare horse. They were Chao Yong, Lin Chong, Liu Tang, Ruan Xiaoqi, Shi Qian, Du Qian.
Chao Yong never thought about hiding his whereabouts. This first battle was to establish Liangshan's reputation as "a man of justice for heaven". It was a big fanfare all the way. They were not surprised to see all the Dongma villagers blocking the entrance to the village. They came out to fight and shouted: "People of Dongma Village, listen, we Liangshan heroes are here just to do justice for heaven and eliminate harm for the people. Li Huai's family He is unkind and harms the people. The heroes of Liangshan are about to kill him to eliminate the harm to the villagers. As long as the villagers are not enemies of me, Liangshan people will not harass the villagers. "Hearing this, Li Huai hurriedly said: "Don't listen to the thieves. Once the thieves enter the village, they will definitely clean up the village. By then it will be too late to resist. I am the Baozheng of this village. Most of you are rural soldiers. Let the thieves enter the village." , Can you afford the crime of killing Baozheng?"
Chao Yong shouted: "Now the leader of Liangshan has been replaced by the Tota King of Dongxi Village, and the people of Liangshan are no longer plundering bandits, but heroes who do justice for heaven and eliminate harm for the people. This is the Tokyo Eighty Lin Chong, the leader of the Ten Thousand Forbidden Army, can hit all over Tokyo with just one shot. No one among you can stop him. Folks, listen to me and step aside to avoid being accidentally injured. Chao Yong, my little overlord, promises that as long as you all. If we don't resist, we Liangshan people will definitely not harm the people. Now that the court is unclear and the traitors are in power, the people are in dire straits. If you are afraid of the court's persecution, you can follow me up the mountain to drink a big bowl and eat a big piece of meat. Wouldn't it be happy."
Dongma Village is only a few dozen miles away from Dongxi Village, and Chao Gai, the King of Pagodas, still has a very good reputation in this countryside. In addition, the little bully Chao Yong won the sumo wrestling competition in Tai'an Prefecture and distributed all the spoils to the poor people in the city. The reputation of father and son became even better.
"I trust the words of King Chao Tian and his son. Last year, we also heard about the 800,000-strong Forbidden Army instructor Lin Chong in Liangshan. Who dares to go against him? Now we farm for the imperial court. No matter whether the year is good or bad, we will be There are so many rents, and there is no way to make a living, why not go up the mountain and follow King Chao Tian to be a good man?" A village man said to his companions, while retreating to the roadside.
The people of Dongma Village were a little frightened when they saw the Liangshan people with strong horses and dazzling swords and guns. When they heard that the 800,000 forbidden army instructors from Tokyo were coming, they lost all their courage. When they saw someone taking the lead in retreating, they also They were all shaken.
Li Huai knew that if he asked the villagers to retreat, his life would be in danger today, and he did not care about falsifying his official prestige. He hurriedly said: "Folks, you can't believe what the Liangshan thieves say. If you can help me stop the Liangshan thieves, wait until the thieves retreat. I¡¯ll give each person one stone, no, two stones.¡±
Chao Yong smiled and said: "Your family's food was originally extracted from the villagers, but now you use their food to make them sell their lives. Folks, listen, after our Liangshan troops defeated the Li family, we will give half of the money and food to everyone."
When the villagers heard what Chao Yong said, who would be willing to work for Li Huai? The title of the instructor of the 800,000 Forbidden Army was really scary. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of villagers retreated to the roadside.
"Martial Master Wang, you took my monthly salary, how could you escape from the battle?"
But it was a martial arts master who saw that there were so many people in Liangshan and all the local soldiers had left, so he wanted to escape among the villagers.
"This is this month's money, I won't do this errand anymore."
When the martial artist saw Li Huai, he took out a piece of silver from his arms and threw it to the ground, turned around and ran away.
Seeing that there was no resistance left, Chao Yong said: "I'd like to trouble Leader Du to lead people to capture Li Huai alive."
When Du Qian saw that Chao Yong made the Dongma village soldiers switch sides with just a few words, he was greatly impressed and waved his hand: "Children, follow me to capture Li Huai."
During the Xining period of the previous dynasty, Wang Anshi implemented the Baojia law in the countryside. Five families were elected as one Bao, and one person from the powerful head household was selected as the chief Bao. Fifty families were selected as one big Bao, and one person was selected as the chief Bao. The ten largest Bao were chosen as one capital. Bao, choose the person who is obeyed by everyone to protect the integrity of the whole, and use one person as the deputy. If there are more than two children in a family, one person will be the guardian. During the off-season, the guards are gathered for military training; at night, patrols are carried out to maintain law and order. Later, it was gradually abolished, leaving only the form of Baojia. On weekdays, it only helped the court transport grain and grass and repair the city.
The Liangshan gangsters usually only rob some passing merchants. They dare not offend a village with a large number of Baoding. At this time, when they saw an opportunity for prestige, they rushed forward with a roar.
Seeing that someone was running away, the remaining four martial arts masters turned around and fled when the Liangshan troops came again.
When Li Huai saw this, he quickly asked several domestic slaves to protect him and fled back.
Although a few foolish and loyal slaves risked their lives to protect each other, they couldn't stand up to the large number of minions in Liangshan. After running not many steps, they all fell in a pool of blood. Li Huai was also captured alive by Du Qian.
"Fellows, please don't leave yet. Now that Li Huai has been arrested, let's break down the Li family's house and capture the Li family alive, regardless of age or sex, regardless of age or sex. If there are any charges, we, Liangshan, will definitely eliminate harm for the people. Also, please fellow villagers. Come with us to Li's house, and then open the granary, and half of it will be returned to you."
When all the villagers heard about this good thing and were afraid that Liangshan's minions would kill people if they didn't comply, they all followed him to the Li family's house.
Before the young and old of the Li family had time to escape, they were all caught in the trap.
After that, Chao Yong asked the people in the village and the slaves of the Li family to identify the crimes committed by the Li family. Once verified, he acted for justice on the spot. At the beginning, no one dared to speak out, until someone started to follow Chao Yong up the mountain, they got out of hand. The Li family's crimes were too numerous to describe, and Chao Yong was executed on the spot.The remaining women and children of the evildoers in the Li family were only given some money to allow them to seek refuge with their relatives and friends.
After doing justice for the sky, the Li family¡¯s money and food were distributed to the people, and the rest was loaded into trucks and moved up the mountain. Because the people in Dongma Village were afraid of being arrested by the government, more than half of them followed the Liangshan people to Liangshan at the instigation of Chao Yong.