Chapter 27: Winning Over the Army's Heart

  "Isn't this the land deed that Zhu Chunshen exchanged? How did it end up in your hands?" He Zhonghou asked in surprise.

  "Sixth Uncle, Zhu Chunchen wanted to hand the Crown Prince over to Li Kuang in exchange for wealth and glory. As a result, he was killed by the Crown Prince's guards. This thing naturally fell into my hands."

  He Zhonghou was stunned, and after a long while, he let out a sigh and shook his head, saying: "Alas, I really didn't expect it. A dignified Grand Duke would end up in such a state. Zhenhua, now that this land has fallen into your hands, have you thought about how to deal with it?"

  "May I ask what wisdom you have to share?"

  He Zhonghou smiled and said, "It's not a high opinion, but Sixth Uncle always feels that this land is the foundation of human beings. As long as there is land, there will be food, and a family won't go hungry. This is 10 million mu! Enough to make one a rich man! Zhenhua, you're not young anymore, with so much land, what kind of woman can't you marry? If you want to become an official, just use money to grease the wheels, it's all easy, and spend your life carefree, how great is that?"

  Listening to He Zhonghou's words, Gu Zhenhua couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Sixth Uncle, if it were in peaceful times, your words would be truly valuable, but can we do that now? Not to mention others, even a dignified Grand Duke cannot protect his own land, what can I, a humble commoner, do?"

  "Ah... " He Zhonghou also found it difficult: "Alas, it's all because of the state of the world. Who knows when we can have peace?"

  ……

  "Kui-zi, did you see where the treasure was placed? Was it in that house?"

  "That's right, Second Brother. I saw it clearly. There were dozens of wooden boxes inside. I even helped carry them in during the day. The small boxes weren't big, but they were extremely heavy. They must be filled with gold or silver."

  Second brother heard this, nodded and hastily said: "Kui Zi, go call Ma San and the others over, tell them not to pretend to be stupid, if they want to get rich, it's all up to this time!"

  Kui Zi hastily nodded, turned around and ran off. Before long, three more people arrived, all of whom went to the back of the haystack and gathered together. The second brother said: "Brothers, let's not say anything else. I've had enough of living by the knife's edge. There's silver in front of us now. As long as we can snatch a box, we'll be set for life. We can buy land, buy women, do whatever we want!"

  "Second brother, what you said is right, but we can only get out of the city alive thanks to Master Gu. Are we not betraying our conscience by doing this?"

  "Conscience? How much per kilogram? Give me two kilograms to see!" Second Brother sneered coldly: "We've been soldiers for many years, and the officers are all of the same kind, no one has a conscience. We can only take care of ourselves, just one sentence, are you doing it or not?"

  Ma San lowered his head, gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Do it! A man in his thirties, not even a daughter-in-law, my family can't be extinct!"

  After a few people consulted, Kui Zi continued to scout ahead. Under the cover of night, the five of them bypassed the haystack and quietly made their way towards the warehouse.

  What is called a treasury was originally a grain warehouse where gold, silver and treasures were stored, with personnel arranged outside to guard it.

  "Second brother, the patrol soldiers just passed by, it'll take another minute for them to come back, let's hurry up and get in!" Kui Zi said excitedly.

  The second brother waved his hand, and quietly picked up two stones from the ground, throwing them towards the warehouse. The stones fell to the ground without making any noise, and only then did he feel at ease.

  Second brother brought these people, ran to the back of the warehouse, took out a thin iron wire from his pocket, poked at the door lock several times. Click! The lock opened.

  Kui Zi couldn't help but stick out her thumb: "Second Brother, you still know this?"

  "Having many skills is not a burden!" Second Brother said with satisfaction, they gently pushed open the back door and rushed into the warehouse. It was dark and dimly lit, several people didn't dare to light the lamp, they could only grope around with their hands.

  Second brother touched a small wooden box, he used iron wire to poke open the lock head, and gently opened a slit. Suddenly, a burst of light flashed out.

  Pearl of the Night!

  Second brother hastily turned to the front of the trunk, blocking the light with his body, and then quietly opened a slit in the wooden box. Inside, it was full of treasures that shone brightly, red, green, yellow, and white, almost dazzling people's eyes!

  He had only taken a few glances when Second Brother felt his heart racing, blood pressure rising, and almost fainted to the ground. He hastily closed the lid again and continued searching, looking through over a dozen boxes. They didn't understand books, paintings, antiques, and other such things, so Second Brother focused on jewelry and gold and silver, finally selecting seven boxes.

  "Brothers, let's go!"

  These few people followed Second Brother, carrying the boxes and running out of the back door again. They first quietly arrived at the back of the haystack, and all seven boxes were placed on the ground.

  "Second brother, how should we divide these?" Kui Zi asked, rubbing his hands and drooling.

  "One box for each of you, and the remaining three boxes are mine." Second brother was blunt, saying this as he reached out to grab the three largest wooden boxes towards himself.

  At this time, Ma San suddenly stepped on the box and said with a cold smile: "Second brother, brothers work together, should share equally, whoever wants to eat more is not allowed!"

  The other two people also showed a greedy look, staring at the treasure. The second brother's mind turned quickly, and he hurriedly smiled: "Brothers, it's not safe here either, why don't we take the treasure away first, find a safe place, and discuss it carefully."

  A few people nodded reluctantly, then went to pick up the boxes and prepare to escape. At this time, someone suddenly laughed: "Why bother, you can go get a few more boxes, isn't that enough to share? If you can't move them, there's still a horse cart, what do you think?"

  As soon as they heard this, the few people were so frightened that they almost fell to the ground, each one flustered and looking around in all directions. At this time, more than a dozen people came out from the haystack next door, all holding knives and guns, with Gu Zhenhua at the forefront.

  Gu Zhenhua's injury was not light, and he should have taken good care of it. However, after discussing the land property with He Zhonghou, Gu Zhenhua became somewhat vigilant.

  There are many things that absolutely cannot be viewed with the perspective of later generations. When Li Zicheng occupied Beijing, for most people, it was just a change of dynasty, they wouldn't think that the Qing would come in, let alone know what "keep hair not keep head, keep head not keep hair" means!

  It was precisely for this reason that He Zhonghou suggested that Gu Zhenhua become a landlord, and to others, the farm had countless gold and silver, as long as they could get some, they could buy houses and land, and become rich...

  At the thought of this, Gu Zhenhua's body broke out in a cold sweat. He suddenly realized that this temporarily assembled team was at risk of collapse at any moment and action had to be taken immediately.

  Thinking of this, Gu Zhenhua couldn't lie down anymore. He hastily called over Tang Zhankui and Luan Hu to strengthen patrols and vigilance.

  As expected by Gu Zhenhua, the situation emerged on the first night! When Tang Zhankang brought all five people to the threshing ground, all the soldiers were startled. Anyone who could move rushed over, and even the wounded were not spared, all being carried over. More than 350 people stood in a dense crowd.

  Gu Zhenhua looked around at the crowd and suddenly smiled: "Brothers, I've called everyone over to ask you all, what kind of life do you really want?"

  This... one sentence stunned everyone, most of the people present were ordinary soldiers and civilians at the bottom, who had no right to decide their own fate, and they had never thought about this question before. But since Gu Zhenhua asked, they couldn't not answer.

  "Master Gu, I've been thinking that it would be great to ride a horse and sit in a sedan chair carried by others, just like those high-ranking officials."

  Gu Zhenhua smiled slightly: "This requirement is too high, wanting to be an official requires passing the imperial examination, I think brother still needs to work hard himself."

  The soldier chuckled and scratched his head: "I don't even know how to write my own name, let's take the imperial exam in the next life!"

  One sentence made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere relaxed a lot. Suddenly, Huan Hu said on the side: "My mother always says that 30 mu of land and one cow are enough for a wife and children to live a good life. I think this kind of day is not bad."

  "Not bad, of course not bad!" A guard beside him burst out laughing: "Dumb kid, do you know what a wife is?"

  "What's the big deal? It's just women, and they can still have babies!"

  The crowd burst into laughter again, and after everyone calmed down, Gu Zhenhua said: "Huzi's idea is not bad, I can help you all achieve it, and it's not 30 mu of land, but 500 mu per person, enough to be a small landlord. What do you think?"

  As soon as Gu Zhenhua said this, the voices of the people present were all gone, as if they had all solidified in an instant. After a while, someone asked in surprise: "Master Gu, are you telling the truth? Are you really giving us 500 mu of land?"

  "Of course, I have a deed for 10 million mu of land. Is that enough to divide among you?"

  "That's enough! That's enough!" Several people got up from the ground and rushed to Gu Zhenhua, kneeling down with a thud.

  "Master Gu, if you can give me 500 mu of land, I'll owe my life to you!" As they spoke, the three men knocked their heads against the ground.