Chapter 20: Unruly and Unmanageable

  Dew like pearls, cool breeze whispers.

  Early spring warmth still cold, the chill of deep winter has not completely retreated.

  County government back yard.

  Zhou Jian had just practiced his marksmanship for half an hour when a follower came in to report, "Young Master, someone from Anhui County has come to see you."

  Wan County?

  Zhou's expression turned solemn, his eyes darkening as he said in a low voice: "Bring him in."

  The servant went out with orders and soon brought a man in his thirties to the backyard.

  "The little man greets the young master."

  The man saw Zhou Jian and hastily stepped forward a few steps, bowing his head and falling to the ground.

  "Zhou Xing, how did you come?"

  Zhou Jian's face was full of shock, but in his heart, he had already guessed some of the outcome. Zhou Xing was a family general of the Zhou Mansion and had always served as a guard at the Anhui County Government Office. Now that he had come to their house, without thinking, he knew that his father must have found out about his own affairs.

  Zhou Xing held up a letter with both hands and said respectfully, "I have been ordered by the housekeeper to deliver this letter to the young master."

  Zhou Jian took the letter, scanned it briefly, and then put it away casually. His expression unchanged, he said, "You go back and tell Zhou Liang that Young Master has taken the letter. If he has time, Young Master will return to Wu County to see his father."

  "Yes, sir."

  Zhou Xing did not dare say more, respectfully accepted the order and immediately bid farewell and left.

  Zhou Jian's face was gloomy, standing in the courtyard like a gun barrel, silent for half a moment.

  Zhou Wu asked in a low voice: "Young Master, has Old Master already found out?"

  Zhou Jian nodded and asked, "How's Feng Xi? Has he handled the matter?"

  Feng Xi was the young man who tried to assassinate him a few nights ago. Zhou Jian heard that Feng Xi was on good terms with various heroes in the countryside, so he sent him to recruit heroic villagers and train them, recruiting many fugitives.

  Zhou Wudao said: "Fifty people have already been recruited, at Heyang Pavilion."

  Zhou Jian said with a smile: "This afternoon, you follow me to take a look. These fifty people will be handed over to you for training. Although the rural heroes are mostly unruly fugitives, if trained properly, they are much easier to train than refugees."

  Zhou Wu responded with a sound, and then said: "Within my territory, I'm afraid there aren't many refugees. I've already had someone spread the news that as long as they are people who have fled in distress, we will distribute land and seeds according to the number of people, settle their household registration, and it's estimated that before long, refugees from neighboring counties will hear the news and come."

  Zhou Jian nodded and asked, "How much food is there?"

  Zhou Wu replied, "In the past few days, we have purchased over 2,000 stones of grain, but to settle tens of thousands of refugees, 1,000 stones of grain is far from enough. Now that spring has just begun, we need to hold on until autumn harvest, and at least 20,000 stones of grain are needed to settle the refugees."

  Zhou Jian said: "Those landlords and wealthy households have grain piled up like mountains, it shouldn't be difficult to purchase 20,000 dan of grain?"

  Zhou Wudao said: "Most of the grain is in the hands of landlords and wealthy households, two million stones should be no problem."

  "Remember, when purchasing grain and military equipment, do it in the name of the government. Otherwise, if we spend money like this, it's hard to avoid attracting attention from people with ulterior motives. It would be best to find a way to get those wealthy households to donate some money, that way we won't arouse suspicion."

  "Rest assured, young master, I understand."

  Zhou Jian nodded, went back into the house to change out of his official uniform, put on a brocade robe and white cloak, and brought several attendants as he left the government office.

  Wang Quan was quite conscientious and there were some new changes in the county's public security. The number of loafers on the streets decreased significantly.

  Zhou Jian walked out of the city from the North Gate and didn't see a few rascals on the street.

  However, when passing through the market, I saw two tax officials overturning an old lady's basket of eggs, a full basket of eggs shattered all over the ground, red and yellow splattered everywhere. The old lady was heartbroken and tears came down, but she didn't dare say anything.

  Two tax collectors shouted loudly, as if they were going to take fifty cents from the old lady.

  A basket of eggs can be sold for a few dollars. One egg costs two cents, and thirty or forty eggs are worth only seventy or eighty cents.

  If she really paid fifty cents in taxes, the old lady would have to sell fifty eggs just to break even.

  Zhou Jian saw this scene, his eyebrows immediately furrowed. In this era, the common people were simple and honest, as long as they had food to eat, they would silently endure the oppression and exploitation of the ruling class without standing up to resist.

  When the common people rebel, it is because they have no other way out and are forced to rebel.

  To put it another way, if all the common people were to rise up in revolt, who would the ruling class be able to rule over?

  The people are the foundation of the ruler, and not giving them a way out is destroying one's own foundation.

  Zhou Jian understood this truth, what he hated the most was the landlord's bullying of the common people. He spurred his horse to rush over, pointing at the two tax collectors with his whip and asked in a deep voice: "Why did you knock over someone's basket of eggs?"

  The slightly older tax officer had a birthmark on his face, which was very ugly. He glanced at Zhou Jian with a careless expression and said with a fake smile: "I'm collecting taxes, this disobedient commoner dares to resist paying taxes, what if I smash all his eggs? It's none of your business, where did you come from, daring to interfere..."

  "Bang!"

  The tax collector hadn't finished speaking when he was slapped in the face with a horse whip, and his originally ugly face immediately broke out in a bloody gash. He stumbled backward several steps, covering his face and letting out a loud, mournful cry.

  Zhou Wu put away his whip, jumped off his horse and strode forward, grabbing the tax officer by the scruff of the neck. His face twisted in anger, he cursed: "You blind dog, you even dare to scold the county magistrate, your guts are really big."

  "What is it, County Magistrate?"

  The two tax officials were startled, and another young tax official who was about to step forward shouted in surprise. The other tax officials also forgot to cry out in pain, their mouths agape, unable to speak for a moment.

  The onlookers around also buzzed in shock, but in this era, ordinary people feared officials and no one dared to get close.

  However, seeing the tyrannical tax officials being taken away, the onlookers cheered in their hearts.

  Not far away, two patrolling soldiers heard the noise and ran over quickly.

  Zhou Jian glanced over and said, "Give the old lady some money, hand these two dogs over to the constables for punishment, can't let them off lightly, have the judicial officer heavily sentence them according to the law, severely deter this group of unscrupulous villains."

  Zhou Wu responded with a sound and went forward to help up the old lady who was sitting on the ground wiping away tears.

  The old lady was given a small piece of silver, and the young lady immediately thanked her profusely and wanted to kowtow to Zhou Wu.

  Zhou Wu comforted him with a few words, then called over several soldiers who had rushed forward and gave them some instructions. The five soldiers immediately nodded and bowed, escorting the two tax officials, who were now pale-faced, back to the government office.

  Zhou Jian didn't stay for long and immediately left with Zhou Wu and two other attendants through the North City Gate.

  After galloping for a whole and a half hours, Zhou Jian and his three companions arrived at an abandoned villa west of Heyang Pavilion.

  The village is not big, occupying just over two mu of land. The wooden gate has already rotted and the entrance is wide open. All around are withered yellow weeds, and even on the road directly in front of the village gate many weeds have grown, clearly showing that it has been abandoned for a long time.

  Zhou Jian urged his horse on without stopping, riding straight into the Zhuangzi and reining in his horse in a spacious courtyard.

  In the courtyard with withered grass, fifty young men were sparsely seated on the ground chatting idly. When they saw someone coming in, they didn't get up and instead looked him over with slanted eyes.

  Only Feng Xi's face tightened, and he hastily stood up to greet him.

  "The little one pays respects to the elder."

  Feng Xi executed the ritual with great reverence, but his heart was somewhat apprehensive.

  The rest of the Hanzi saw Tou Er's appearance and immediately knew who had come, they all stood up in a hurry. Feng Xi stabbed three county heads to death, they all knew, but this time he failed.

  Not only did he lose his hand, but he was also captured on the spot. To save his life, he had to rely on the newly arrived county magistrate.

  These young men can appear here, naturally all of them are with Feng Xi Ma as their leader.

  However, these fugitives were all fearless and lawless masters. Although they followed Feng Xi to rely on the new county magistrate, one by one, their eyes were fierce and untamed, obviously not taking the newly arrived county magistrate seriously.

  He glanced at the fifty or so men standing crookedly in front of him and asked, "Are these the brave warriors you've recruited?"

  Feng Xi didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, so he simply replied: "That's right."

  Fifty Han men all looked askance with a nonchalant air, as if trying their best to show their disdain.

  Zhou Jian's face was cold and stern. These fugitives thought they had some bloodlust, thinking that everyone in the world was like this. But he had a way to deal with these people, and didn't say much more. He flipped over and jumped off his horse, clenched his fists, and said: "Before training begins, let's warm up first. Those who think they have superior martial arts skills can come out and play with me. If you can withstand one of my moves, I'll reward you with ten taels of silver."

  "What?"

  "This is also too arrogant."

  "I don't believe it, can't even get a single hit."

  Fifty Han men immediately became outraged and felt belittled.

  Feng Xi was taken aback for a moment and hastily gave everyone a signal, but no one had ever experienced Zhou Jian's ferocity before, so who would dare to retreat?

  "I'm coming."

  A sturdy man emerged from the crowd and threw a punch straight at him without saying a word.

  Feng Xi let out a wry smile and took several steps back, no need to look, he had already anticipated the outcome.

  Zhou Jian's lips curled up into a cold smile, and with a casual grab, he caught the punch from the burly man. A whip-like kick sent the man flying, and he let out a miserable cry as he soared five zhang away, unable to get back up for a long time.

  "Next."

  Zhou Jian was calm and composed, as if he had kicked a small cat instead of a person, and it didn't seem like he used any force at all.

  "This..."

  Fifty Han men were all stunned, some of them didn't dare to believe their eyes.

  However, there are still many people in this world who are reckless and unscrupulous.

  "I'm coming."

  Another Chinese man jumped out and shouted loudly, waving his fist and hitting him.

  Zhou Jian kicked it flying again, as if he was playing football.

  Two people in a row were kicked flying without any resistance, and everyone's eyes changed.

  The worldview of the fugitives is very simple, that is, to obey those who are stronger than themselves. Feng Xi is a hero and a good man in ten miles and eight villages, with the strongest martial arts, so they naturally look up to Feng Xi as their leader.

  Zhou Jian was much stronger than Feng Xi, and these fugitives immediately identified with him.

  Zhou clenched his fist and cracked his knuckles, asking: "Is anyone else coming up?"

  The remaining Han people all shied away with their eyes, no one dared to look straight at his sharp gaze like a knife edge, and no one dared to come out.

  Zhou Jian sneered: "How is it? You've just come up with two of them and you're all useless?"

  Everyone's face turned bright red immediately, hanging their heads in shame, wishing they could bury their heads in their crotch.

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