Chapter Thirty-Five: The Wind Rises and Clouds Gather

  Lin Chunhong nodded in approval, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. He thought to himself: "These Nie Xinzhe and Cheng Shu are indeed not bad, they didn't get bogged down by the rules I set out, hmm, there are also open-minded scholars among the gentry, this Dong Mintai is someone worth uniting with."

  Lin Chunhong was not blinded by the smoothness of Dongjiawan, after all, Dongjiawan was a representative carefully selected by Lin Chunhong. The village life is stable and the conditions are relatively good. Lin Chunhong's gaze involuntarily turned to Shuangmiaoshan Village, which was the most difficult village for him to enter.

  Shuangmiao Mountain is located near Shitaozi, the farthest place from Zhijiang County, and Shitaozi is adjacent to the Yangtze River, bordering Jiangling County. The ruling power of the government has always been weak in this area. However, this place is all flat plain, with no ups and downs, fertile land, very suitable for planting cotton and wheat. Since King Hui's division, the land of Shitaozi belonged to King Hui, and all the land rent belonged to King Hui. When Lin Chunhong chose ten experimental villages at first, because the land of Shuangmiao Mountain Village all belonged to King Hui, the whole village was basically King Hui's tenants, with high representativeness. Gu Xiangxing and Dou Shiwen were sent to Shuangmiao Mountain Village to establish a small warehouse and an archer team respectively.

  Gu Xing and Dong Shiwen arrived at Shuangmiao Mountain, not only did they establish a warehouse, but also built a simple dock on the Yangtze River. In their spare time, they organized the tenants of King Hui to fish in the Yangtze River, greatly improving the lives of the villagers and gaining their recognition. On this basis, Dong Shiwen successfully organized a team of ten archers, who not only practiced combat skills but also took charge of rural security. Within less than a year, the security situation at Shuangmiao Mountain improved significantly, and no one starved to death.

  Chen Kesin was appointed by the Duke of Hui's government as the manager of Shuangmiao Mountain, responsible for collecting land rent. Due to the frequent natural disasters in recent years, some tenants on Shuangmiao Mountain were unable to pay their rent on time, making Chen Kesin extremely busy. He took in some rascals and scoundrels who specialized in extorting rent, and the villagers secretly called him Chen Bopi.

  Gu Xiu-xing and Dou Shi-wen built a warehouse, Chen Bo-pi clapped his hands in approval, and even organized some tenant farmers to help out for free. After all, they wouldn't have to run all the way to Jiangling County twenty miles away to buy daily necessities anymore. But after the warehouse was completed, Gu Xiu-xing was on the verge of tears - the main customers of the warehouse were Chen Bo-pi and his gang of rascals. The ordinary villagers lived a hard life, they couldn't even afford a new set of clothes every three years, let alone have any purchasing power?

  Moreover, with the New Year approaching, Gu Xiu-xing and Dong Shi-wen are facing a great challenge: Chen Bo-pi is leading a group of rascals and scoundrels to extort rent everywhere, it's really "shouting east and west, rushing south and north; The noise is startling, even chickens and dogs can't rest". In previous years, villagers were also used to it, if they couldn't pay the land rent, they would sell their children or flee. But this year is different, Gu Xiu-xing and Dong Shi-wen have gained a certain reputation in the village, and some villagers involuntarily cast their eyes on the two.

  "Gu Xiucai, we can't just ignore this matter. The villagers have finally accepted us, if we don't do anything about it, how will things go in the future?" Duan Shiwen was young and hot-blooded, and couldn't bear to see people being forced to sell their children, he had long been resentful of Chen Bapi and others' actions.

  He let out a deep sigh and said, "What can we do? You want to see that this is King Hui collecting rent, Chen Pao-p'i is just a dog, how can we stop King Hui?"

  Dumbfounded and speechless, a mouthful of indignation was stuck in his chest, unable to be vented. He clenched his fist and slammed it heavily on the door.

  Gu Xing continued, "In the past, Dian Shi said that the imperial clan was a poisonous tumor of the Ming dynasty. This statement is not wrong at all. The case of Shuangmiao Mountain is like this, and the fiefs of other royal families are no exception? No wonder there are so many bandits in Shaanxi and Shanxi, all of whom were forced out by these people."

  Mentioning the bandits, Duan Shiwen was even more enraged. His father had lost his life to the bandits, and he hated them to the bone. He gritted his teeth and said: "I'd rather die than watch the villagers of Shuangmiao Mountain become bandits."

  "Otherwise, let's gather the archers and discuss it? They are familiar with this place, and more people means more ideas."

  Dòu Shí Wēn nodded heavily and left.

  After hearing Gu Xiu Xin finish speaking, some were angry, some were helpless, and some were fearful... All kinds of expressions were present. Seeing that the archers were all silent, Duan Shi Wen couldn't help but scold: "You've all followed me for half a year now, your fists and kicks are barely passable, but when it comes to serious matters, not one of you can be relied upon. Look at yourselves, are you still afraid of Chen Pi?"

  Dòu Shíwēn's words made some of the archers feel ashamed, and they buried their heads deep in their chests. Chén Bópí was notorious for his evil deeds in the village, and he had a gang of henchmen at his disposal - who would dare to provoke him? Some of the archers secretly grumbled: "You two don't even live here, no wonder you're not afraid of Chén Bópí. We've offended him, how are we going to make a living in the future?" Only one archer named Shí Wāzi opened and closed his mouth, wanting to speak but not daring to. Shí Wāzi was an orphan who had previously helped others with odd jobs to get by, and he had a relatively good character, which is why Dòu Shíwēn had recruited him into the archer team.

  Gu Xing saw Shi Wa Zi and said, "Everyone knows that we are not on the same path as Chen Bo Pi. What's there to say? Are you afraid that we will collude with Chen Bo Pi? Shi Wa Zi, speak up."

  Being called out, Shi Wa Zi was startled and hastily waved her hand: "I haven't thought of any way..."

  Shi Wa Zi's bear-like thorough infuriation of Duan Shi Wen, he took a step forward, grabbed Shi Wa Zi's collar and lifted him up from the bench, roaring: "Are you kidding me? You're learning martial arts with me just for physical exercise? I've wasted my time teaching you!"

  Shi Wa's face turned pale and she hastily said: "Captain, I'm saying it, I'm saying it, isn't that enough? Ahh, it hurts!"

  Doushi Wen put down the stone doll and ordered: "Speak!"

  "Chen Bapi made a lot of profit from the land rent. If someone else were to collect the rent, the villagers would not be struggling to make ends meet."

  Gu Xing and Dong Shiwen looked at each other in doubt, "Everyone knows this, no matter how hard he tries, how much can one person accomplish? This method is probably useless."

  Shi Wa Zi saw her opinion being vetoed, and hastily said: "The benefits that Chen Bo Pi gets are not just this much. According to the rules, we pay five tenths of the land rent to King Hui, but Chen Bo Pi will receive seven tenths!"

  Gu Xing was shocked and said: "Chen Pao Pi is actually so ruthless? I thought he just wanted to take a small advantage."

  "Last year, Chen Pi took us to Jingzhou for the annual rent, and the things we took away were far fewer than what we received!" Shi Wa Zi had already started talking, her courage grew, and she argued with a red face and thick neck.

  Gu Xing looked at Duan Shiwen and nodded slightly, then turned to the archers and said: "Well, Stone Waizi did a good job today. Reward him with a pot of wine. From now on, everyone should speak their minds and not keep things bottled up like Stone Waizi just did. Got it?"

  The archer gazed at Shi Wa with envious eyes, and Shi Wa's face turned even redder as she said, "Let's all drink from this jug of wine together!"

  Dòu Shí Wēn patted the shoulder of Shí Wá Zǐ, laughing and scolding: "You're so pleased with yourself! As soon as you got your reward, you used it to curry favor. This wine is yours, do what you want with it! Everyone can disperse now, if I need anything else, I'll call on you all."

  The archers got a pot of wine and excitedly went out.

  After the archer left, Duan Shiwen asked: "Is Xiaocai really going to operate on Chen Pi?"

  He nodded and said, "It's got to be this way. We should have taken care of these dog slaves a long time ago. Chen Pi used to cooperate with us, but now he's become an obstacle, so we don't need to be polite anymore!"

  Dòu Shí Wēn came down from the battlefield, his face always full of murderous aura, now with a gloomy look in his eyes, even more frightening. His palm formed a knife, slashing diagonally downwards, saying: "Doing it is like killing a dog, this is my specialty!"

  Unexpectedly, Gu Xiu shook his head and said: "Not good, not good. You forgot the words of Dian Shi? Unless absolutely necessary, don't offend the Da Ming law. We haven't reached that point yet. It's easy to get rid of Chen Pi, but if we make it difficult for Dian Shi, it won't be good. Don't forget, Chen Pi has Prince Hui behind him."

  Doushi Wen couldn't help but feel disappointed and sat down on the wooden frame of the stone mill with a thud: "Then what do we do?"

  "Or we could..."

  Chen Kesin was still unaware that he had been targeted by Gu Xiu and Dou Shiwen, and continued to bask in the sun on his recliner. Now, it wasn't necessary for him to take action himself, as there were already a group of thugs working for him. The winter sun felt very comfortable, and he was enjoying his current life, but in a few days, things wouldn't be so comfortable. He would have to personally lead the transportation team to Jingzhou to pay the annual rent to the Huiwang Fu. There, he had to be careful enough, and humbly beg the Long Shi gentleman to reduce part of the rent for Shuangmiao Mountain. Chen Kesin often did this, not for the villagers of Shuangmiao Mountain, but the reduced amount all went into his own pocket. It was also true that after begging, he would get a large amount of material wealth and money, which everyone was willing to do.

  Relying on being appointed by the Huaiwang Fu, Chen Kesin made his greatest efforts to collect taxes from Shuangmiao Mountain. He looked down upon those poor people and whenever he saw them, they would scatter like mice seeing a cat. The support of the Huaiwang Fu and his own arrogance almost made him an emperor in Shuangmiao Mountain.

  "Hehe, this year's harvest is pretty good, I should be able to get over a thousand taels of silver." Chen Kesin couldn't help but reveal a smile as he thought about the pleasant prospect.

  "Master, master, something's gone wrong! Li Dazi was beaten by the muddy-legged one when he went to collect rent!" The servant hastily came in and said, still panting.

  Chen Kesin was shocked: "When did those scoundrels have such skills? Come on, let's go take a look!"

  Chen Kesin took his servants and left, but unfortunately, he was caught on the way, his head was covered with a sack, and his leg was broken. Fortunately, he was found early and carried back to the house, otherwise, his life would have been lost in the wilderness. Chen Kesin was furious and ordered his men to capture the mud-legged Li Zai and torture him to confess who had broken his leg. The mud-legged man happened to be an archer, and naturally, he did not allow himself to be caught, which made Chen Kesin so angry that he almost vomited blood. He finally realized that the mastermind behind the scenes was Gu Xing and Duan Shiwen!

  What made him even angrier was that Gu Xing and Dou Shiwen took the initiative to take over the task of delivering annual rent to the Duke's mansion, Chen Kesin lay in bed and ordered the rascals to stop, but those rascals were experts at bullying ordinary people, how dare they touch Gu Xing and Dou Shiwen? Dou Shiwen immediately set off with Shi Wa Zi, who was familiar with the Duke's mansion, and more than a dozen tenant farmers to Jingzhou, as for the number, it followed the regulations, neither more nor less.

  After arriving in Jingzhou, the long historian heard that Chen Kesin had broken his leg and didn't suspect anything. The long historian also knew why he was begging for a reduction in daily affairs, but the silver coins stuffed into his mouth by the smashed mouth were blocked. This year, Shuangmiao Mountain did not ask for a reduction, nor did it send him a New Year's gift like last year, making Chen Kesin resentful: Damn it, next year I'll replace you!