Chapter 51: The Qi of Righteous Indignation Emerges from Ji Guan

  New swallows carry mud, tender willows spit green. The spring of Guangxu's sixth year (1883) passed hastily in the diligent farming of farmers. In early summer, the Taihang Mountains were dotted with lush flowers, grasses and trees, revealing a charming face.

  Zhao Yun leaned against a towering pine tree at the top of the mountain, gazing out at the distant landscape for a long time, lost in thought.

  It has been more than three months since entering the mountain. When receiving the "Flying Tiger Camp" at the beginning, there were only about 400 people in the two teams of heavy armor and long spear team and light armor bow and feather team. This is already the scale formed after Guan Yu's New Year's Eve battle loss, constantly attacking nearby mountain strongholds, expanding by nearly 200 people.

  Guan Yu's selection criteria for the "Flying Tiger Troop" members were very strict. Those who could last ten moves under Guo Changzi or Hu Che'er would be retained, and those who could last ten moves under Guan Yu would become leaders.

  After Zhao Yun took over, the principle of "making up for deficiencies and avoiding extravagance" was more thoroughly implemented. When he entered the mountain, his senior brother told him that this "Flying Tiger Camp" was a seed, and one day in the future, the "Five Tigers of Shangdang" would lead tens of thousands of people to gallop on the vast grasslands outside Yanmen Pass, and the "Flying Tiger Camp" was the backbone force for the iron cavalry of the future.

  Zhoa Yun and Zhao Xing share the same surname, born in the same year, with Zhao Xing being older by a few months. Although they didn't spend much time together, Zhoa Yun has great respect for his senior fellow apprentice, now known as "Third Brother".

  It's not for anything else, but for Zhao Xing to spare no effort in resettling the refugees who came to flee to Wohu Village, letting those displaced and helpless people see the hope of living again; it's because Zhao Xing never put on a high-and-mighty air, often laughing and joking with Guan Yu, Xu Huang and himself, even if he lost, he wouldn't get angry; it's because Zhao Xing could be teased by Xu Wenyin, Zhao Yu and a few little girls without getting angry.

  He thought that San Ge was a man of perseverance but not stubborn, and being with him was like basking in the warm sunshine of early summer, warm but not overbearing. Because he remembered San Ge's entrustment, Zhao Yun further developed the "Flying Tiger Camp"'s bandit-suppressing career after entering the mountain!

  Zhao Yun, who had been following his master in the mountains to learn his skills, entered the big mountain and was like a fish entering a big river, able to splash out waves. Zhao Yun fully adopted tactics such as "surprising and tiring the enemy, showing weakness to lure the enemy, dividing and annihilating the enemy, splitting and capturing the enemy, and launching a night raid to defeat the enemy". He combed through the mountain bandits within a radius of 300 miles in Changzi County, and even the horse bandits active on the plains were not spared by Zhao Yun.

  After three months of clearing, Zhao Yun's team has now broken through the thousand-man mark. These people are not just random recruits, but have all been tested and tempered in battle, and can be sent out to devour like fierce tigers. The "rabble" in the Taihang Mountains within Shangdang County have already been cleaned up, and next, Zhao Yun plans to head north and clear all the way to Leiping County.

  Zhao Yun's eyes gazed into the distance, but he was actually thinking about how Zhao Xing would be taking his family to Luoyang in a few days to open a branch of "Drunken Immortal Pavilion", and the restless Zhao Yu would also be going along. Following Third Brother's style of doing things, this time going to Luoyang to open a store selling wine was just a cover-up, and "human trafficking" was the real purpose.

  Thinking back, apart from himself who took the initiative to join, all the others were actually gathered together by Zhao Xing's deception and cheating, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Yun's mouth.

  It is said that "new officials take office and fire three times". Looking at a large group of mobs, the newly appointed governor, General Guan Yu's heart was on fire, so he naturally added a few more fires.

  The first fire, the weak and inferior were eliminated. The Shangdang County with a quota of 5,000 people was actually less than 3,000 due to the previous commander Zhang Biyun's corruption, where he used his family members to impersonate soldiers to receive salaries. A group of old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers were either forced to resign or expelled under the torture of Guan Yu and Xu Huang, leaving only 1,000 people behind.

  The second fire, replace the leader. Still the old way, only those who can walk ten moves under Guan Yu's hand can be the head, after a comparison of fighting, they were really discovered by Guan Yu to have several usable men.

  The third fire, adjust the team. Although there were only a thousand people, Guan Yu still divided the team into five parts, namely "front, middle, back, left, and right" five camps, each with 200 people. The front camp was led by Xu Huan, the military commander, and was equipped with long spear soldiers; the rear camp was led by Zhou Cang, and was equipped with knife shield soldiers; the left camp was led by Pei Yuanshao, and was equipped with bow and arrow soldiers; the right camp was led by Wang Lu (word Wen Shu), who had just been elected, and was equipped with long halberd soldiers; the middle camp was led by Guan Yu himself, and was equipped with cavalry.

  The fourth fire, devil training. Zhao Xing has been demonstrating the so-called "Zhao's Forged Body Fist" (actually just three sets of military body fist) to Guan Yu since last year, which is used to train ordinary soldiers. At Zhao Xing's suggestion, every day the soldiers have to undergo load-bearing cross-country training, not too far away, from Changzi County town to Wohu Village and back, about 40-50 miles (over 20 kilometers), taking up half a day.

  The fifth fire, recruit soldiers and buy horses. Although the county soldiers are not Zhao Xing's own troops, Zhao Xing is not stingy when it comes to spending money. Anyway, no matter how much he spends, Jia Yu will return it to him from the county's tax revenue. Weapons, armor, warhorses, as long as they can be bought with money, Zhao Xing supports them strongly. After all, guarding the Drunken Immortal Pavilion and the Xu family wine workshop, these two golden egg-laying hens, for the time being, Zhao Xing doesn't need to worry about wasting his mind on spending money.

  The recruitment notice posted by Guan Yu contained a sentence: "All those who pass the assessment and are recruited will enjoy an 80% discount on expenses at the Drunken Immortal Building from now on, and if they become leaders, it will be 70% off!" After seeing this recruitment notice, many people who had heard of the Long River's great melody and were used to drooling rushed to the military camp to sign up. In less than a month, Guan Yu had already filled the first expansion plan's quota of 2,000 men. Looking at the neat and tidy army of 3,000 men (in Guan Yu's view, 3,000 people were enough to do many things, except for rushing into Luoyang to seize the imperial palace), the fire in his heart finally subsided a little.

  Zhang Liao ranked last among the "Five Tigers of Shangdang", which made him very uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is not a solution, who let himself be the youngest and have the weakest martial arts? No, it should be the weakest strength, my martial arts are not worse than "Third Brother" Zhao Xing's.

  After the initial oath, the five brothers fought each other on the arena, and Zhang Liao saw Guan Yu's strength and Zhao Yun's agility, knowing he was no match for them, so he challenged Zhao Xing, whom he thought he could defeat.

  Unexpectedly, in just a few days, under Zhao Yun's guidance, Zhao Xing's spear skills became both offensive and defensive, with a hint of dominance, forcing himself to retreat in disarray, ultimately losing the battle.

  Although defeated, it further ignited Zhang Liao's fighting spirit. He took some spare time to return to Maiyi, telling his father about the original intention of the Zhang family to invade Wohu Village and Li Jia Zhuang, and found the eldest sister of the Zhang family for a face-to-face confrontation. After a round of questioning, the eldest sister of the Zhang family was already speechless and ashamed. When he told the eldest sister of the Zhang family that her brother was still alive, the Zhang family covered their faces and wept, shouting to heaven for blessings.

  According to Zhao Xing's hint, Zhang Liao let his father transfer all the property of Mai Yun to the descendants of Zhang Biao without compensation. At first, Zhang Liao's father refused, but after hearing that Zhao Xing could give Zhang Liao more fields and houses in Changzi County, he agreed with great enthusiasm. To be honest, who would want to stay outside the Yanmen Pass, which was invaded by the Xianbei people year after year?

  Zhang Liao, who had moved his family, settled down after settling his family and plunged into the Wohu Villa, where he spent every day with the brothers of the "Wohu Camp", having a great time. Zhang Liao even managed to get Zhao Xing's records of telling stories to the "Little Tiger Team" from Jia Mu by hook or by crook, and studied the "Thirty-six Stratagems of Zhao" seriously. It is said that Zhao Xing has now told the children the stories of "Guerrilla Warfare" and "Sparrow War".

  Although he was worried about the lack of capable people under him, Jia Yu's days were obviously getting better. When Zhao Xing handed him a list at first, he also handed him a thick stack of land deeds. Needless to say, these land deeds were the things that went missing from the Zhang family's treasury.

  Seven hundred thousand mu of land, Zhao Xing gave Jia Yu 500,000 mu, and the remaining 200,000 mu were used to settle the families of civil and military officials who came to rely on them in the future. For example, this time Zhang Liao moved his family to the interior, and Zhao Xing allocated three thousand mu of good land.

  The whole Shangdang County knows where Zhao Xing's land came from, but no one dares to say a word. The people who were bullied by Zhang Biao's family at the beginning even clapped their hands in celebration. This really confirms a proverb "A thief steals and is beaten by a strongman", it's always reasonable for those with powerful fists.

  Jia Xian and Sima Zhi discussed and decided to designate 500,000 mu of good land as official fields. The refugees who had gathered in Shangdang were allocated the land according to their families and surnames, with a rent of "two out of ten", which was not low but not extremely high either. When paying rent, only grain was accepted.

  At that time, Jia Xian asked Zhao Xing about this matter. Zhao Xing said a sentence: "Enough for the government, enough for the village, and the rest is their own!" Jia Xian shouted "Wonderful" and then posted another notice, requiring refugees to form a village with more than 100 households, elect a village elder, build a granary, and set the proportion of grain storage by themselves as a reserve for disaster relief and difficult villages.

  Many readers must have noticed that Jia's approach is very similar to the "big collective" of later generations. That's right, this is a prototype of the people's commune improved by some unscrupulous guy. What was the original saying? "Hand over enough to the country, leave enough for the collective, and whatever is left is yours!"

  According to Jia Xian's calculations, 500,000 mu of good land can at least support a population of 100,000. The original tenant farmers of the Zhang family changed from being tenant farmers and household slaves to ordinary people who paid taxes directly to the government. The situation of land abandonment due to population loss and abnormal deaths was thoroughly rectified in Shangdang. "Contracting production to households" is a great magic weapon for mobilizing peasants' enthusiasm, as long as they are willing to work hard and sweat more, the more grain they harvest, the more they can keep for themselves. The enthusiasm of the villagers has reached an unprecedented level.

  While encouraging land reclamation and grain storage, Jia Xiang also followed Zhao Xing's suggestion to greatly improve the treatment of merchants, encourage farmers to participate in workshop production, and encourage merchant teams from southern provinces such as Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou to transport grain back, and from Western Liang, Xianbei, and Qianghu to transport horses and cattle back. These merchant teams were specially protected by government troops. The grain and livestock transported back were purchased by the government at a fixed price, while the only two things exported from Shangdang were furniture and spirits. In the eyes of Zhao Xing and Jia Xiang, piles of grain were wealth, and herds of horses and cattle were real power.

  Zhao Xing's wish was simple - to have food to eat, people to come and horses to ride!

  In the midst of everyone's busy lives, with their feet in the air and their heads spinning, a certain idle young man couldn't bear the noise of several thousand ducks in the backyard (some say one woman can make as much racket as 500 ducks), and he really wanted to go to the capital city to broaden his horizons. Under the pretext of opening the third branch of "Drunken Immortal Pavilion" in Luoyang, he brought along Li Jinsi, Hu Xiang'er, Xu Wanlin, Zhao Yu, and the sycophant Li Tiezhu, among others, with a hundred servants as their escort, and they made their way south to Mianyang Pass.

  Jiguan Pass, located in the south of Shangdang County, looks out to the Yellow River in the south, with the Taihang Mountains to the east and Mount Shouyang to the west. It is a must-pass place for Bianzhou to enter and exit Luoyang, playing a very important role in military affairs. Although there is the Sili River and the inner county of Gongyi guarding the north of Luoyang City, the two defense lines that truly block the Xianbei people's iron cavalry from advancing south are the Yiguan Pass and the Jiguan Pass. If Jiguan Pass is not secure, the capital will be in danger!

  All the way, Zhao Xing compared to two years ago when he fled to Li Jia Zhuang in a flurry, has undergone great changes. Now he is dressed in fine clothes and riding a high-spirited horse, with swallows chirping and people calling out to him from front and back, a perfect picture of a triumphant return.

  Zhao Xing said, "This time we're going to the capital, we're going to make money from the officials and nobles. We can't lose our momentum first. We want to stir up a wave in Luoyang City and attract countless scholars, poets, officials, and nobles to bow down!" For this, a certain scoundrel even improvised a poem: "The madman leads the way, with yellow flags and blue banners. The new rain and clear spring water wash away sleep. If you're a young man, don't idle around, let your spirit burst forth like a whirlwind at Jianguan!"

  New volume has started, Chapter 1 of Southern Road is presented with 3700 words, welcome everyone to continue watching!