New Trickster

  Along the way, Zhao Dahai gave Lv Shi a detailed account of Zhou Tianxing's character and how he had unintentionally saved him.

  This mountain in Shaanxi, Shanxi suffered a great drought, and also affected the Mongols outside the Pass. The Mongols were affected by the disaster, and the solution was to plunder the interior. Not to mention that the Great Ming is now weak, even when the Great Ming was strong, both Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia belonged to the Great Ming, but plundering the interior was a habit.

  Last winter, the Mongolian tribes north of Gansu attacked Heishui River and clashed with Ming Deputy General Chen Hongfan and Gong Weixian. The Mongolian tribes in the Hetao region repeatedly launched a southern attack on Yan'an Town, causing chaos throughout the entire Hetao region. Fortunately, that deputy general was still a capable military commander, and now it can be said that he has managed to hold off the Tartars at the border with Mongolia without allowing them to penetrate deep into the interior.

  At that time, this area was a place where soldiers came and went, and the war fires were continuous. Zhao Dahai, as the stationmaster of the post station, had just received the Ming army's general who was going to fight against the Mongols. In the post station, the general said: The border soldiers have not been paid for several months, and the soldiers are starving and collapsing. Normally, military discipline is strict, and no movement is allowed outside the camp gate. Even if you want to catch a cold wind, you can't do it. You can only endure hunger and starvation in the military camp. This time, going out to fight against the Tatars is one thing, but more importantly, it's to plunder and collect some money and grain for emergency use. If not, there may be a risk of a soldier rebellion.

  Local grain has almost all arrived at the granary of the wealthy households, and it is absolutely impossible to move the gentry landlords. Those are all big families that have been for hundreds of years, with power intertwined, do you know which family is a relative of the Grand Councilor? Which family has several prefects and county magistrates?

  The common people have lost their livelihood, and it's not to mention that this severe drought has resulted in a poor harvest. Even if there is a harvest, the powerful and wealthy will first take a share, and then the government officials will plunder what's left, leaving families with no food for the next day.

  Besides, the current Ming army has not yet degenerated to the point of completely relying on plundering to survive. If they indulge in plundering and are reported by officials, the court can immediately behead these military generals to appease public anger.

  The Ming Dynasty valued literature over martial arts. Officials of the same rank would look down on military generals, treating them like pigs and dogs. It was common for them to be killed or beaten at will, and even if they were reported to the Emperor, as long as there was a somewhat reasonable excuse, it would be covered up by the literary group. Sometimes, the literary officials would even condone the oppression of military personnel, believing in their absurd theories that only literary officials were loyal to the emperor and the country, while all military personnel had rebellious bones and were potential threats to the stability of the dynasty. However, they did not realize that the downfall of many Chinese dynasties often began with the mistakes of literary officials.

  After careful consideration, he focused his attention on those poles, and it was a righteous act to eradicate the poles. At the same time, some heads could be chopped off and some merits could be gained. Most importantly, those poles had accumulated some wealth through kidnapping, robbery and other means, which could make up for the heavy losses of the army. This move was well worth making.

  The county magistrate of Nami Zhi also agreed, after all, this can calm the local area and gain some political achievements. So, the county magistrate took out a portion of grain and fodder to support them in an unprecedented move.

  In the morning, there is a mature method for supplying the army, from the mid-Ming dynasty when the status of military officials greatly declined. The civil official group felt that they must strengthen control over the movement of troops, and the Wei-Suo system resulted in very limited logistical capabilities for individual generals. Not to mention ordinary garrisons. Therefore, the civil officials believed that as long as they could control the food supply along the way, they could further strengthen their control over the military generals.

  The local government of the Ming dynasty generally did not directly hand over food to the commanding generals, but instead had them prepare the food and then dispatched local soldiers and officials to distribute it according to population. The civil officials claimed that this way the generals would have no opportunity to embezzle, however, this way the civil officials could more easily embezzle.

  The governor of Mizi County was providing for the large army according to regulations, and now it is said that the large army is willing to help the local government eliminate the bandits, so more grain and fodder were given.

  It was settled that the matter would be so, and the pole of Wocuishan became the first choice. And coincidentally, Guotianxing was a friend of Zhao Dahi, and the two were in harmony with each other, constantly coming and going. Upon hearing this news, he immediately made an excuse to leave, sending Zhang Lao's third son up the mountain to report the message, and upon receiving the news, Guotianxing took his men and belongings and left overnight, avoiding the disaster of the flood. From then on, Guotianxing was grateful to Zhao Dahi, calling him a benefactor.

  Heavenly Star, a native of Mizi, has been brave and fierce since childhood, with a strong sense of chivalry. His family originally had some land, but they were framed by the corrupt local tyrant who colluded with the authorities to extort taxes, and coveted their land, accusing them of being thieves, resulting in the entire family being killed.

  The prodigal son of a wealthy family returned home to find his family ruined and his loved ones dead. In a fit of rage, he took the villagers who had been oppressed by the cruel landlord and killed him, then fled to this mountain to become an outlaw, giving himself a nickname and engaging in activities that robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.

  However, this passing star is indeed not a material for a dry leader. As for managing the mountain stronghold, it's completely clueless and has no long-term ideas. So the mountain stronghold is struggling to survive in poverty and hardship, several times unbearable under such torture, thinking of leaving alone and continuing the carefree wandering life. But couldn't bear the slow mountain stronghold's elderly and children's bitter pleas, so had to continue being this difficult leader.

  It's pitiful for a rod head to end up like this.

  This day, Tian Xing was in the assembly hall, frowning and thinking about the remaining grain storage, planning to take advantage of the autumn harvest to go to a village to plunder some food supplies for the elderly and children who followed him to spend the winter. However, he did not expect that the government would be faster than himself, having already swept clean the surrounding villages, leaving no money or goods behind, but instead filling the outside of the mountain stronghold with refugees who had been forced out by the government's taxation and had nowhere else to go.

  The mountain stronghold was originally hard to defend, and the intention was to resolutely reject these helpless people outside the stronghold. However, seeing the continuous collapse of the countryside and looking at those common people still shivering in the autumn wind, it was truly unbearable. The heroic spirit was stirred, and the gate of the stronghold was opened to let the common people in.

  This move was unstoppable from the start, and hundreds of thousands of refugees poured into the camp one after another. This is good, originally not a big mountain stronghold, its strength has increased several times at once, now in terms of population, it has already exceeded 4,000 people.

  However, the increase in strength did not bring joy to the Heavenly King, as there were more than 4,000 people, but most of them were old, weak, women and children, and only less than 1,500 able-bodied men could fight.

  These remaining two thousand or so are all idle mouths to feed, the stronghold has no output, and can only rely on plundering to survive. Where is there enough grain for them? Even if it's just two bowls of thin porridge a day, in less than ten days, the original grain stored in the stronghold will be depleted. If they don't take down the granary soon, they'll all starve to death together.

  Zheng and Er were in the hall with worried expressions, but then a servant hastily came to report that there were two people visiting at the foot of the mountain, saying they wanted Master Zheng to personally go and receive them.

  He furrowed his brow and irritably said, "At this time, who else wants to make a scene in front of me? Get a few people to use clubs to drive him out."

  That rascal was about to take orders and leave, but the second master was a careful and steady person. He hurriedly stopped the departing rascal and smiled at the eldest master, saying: "Brother, don't bother, since the visitor dares to come here and make a scene, he must have the capital to do so. It's no harm for brother to see him, if brother doesn't want to, I'll go instead."

  Guo Tianxing impatiently asked Naluo: "Has the newcomer reported his name? What else did he say?"

  "Ah, the master didn't ask me and I almost forgot." Nao Rao smiled and replied: "That person said his name was Zhao Da Hai, he's here to deliver a big gift to the mountain stronghold."

  As soon as the bandit heard that it was Zhao Da Hai, he jumped up and kicked him with one foot. He cursed and scolded: "You useless thing, you almost delayed me from meeting my benefactor, and now you're still lying there? Why don't you gather your men and open the gate to welcome my brother Zhao Da Hai?"

  He got up with a humiliated look on his face and ran out quickly to call for help.

  "Come on, we brothers will go outside to welcome Zhao's benefactor."

  "That's exactly what I mean." The second master said with a smile. "You're still too rash, aren't you? Almost delayed showing hospitality to our benefactor."

  Guo Tianxing's face turned red and he said: "It's still because of the current situation that I'm worried, but when you go out, don't mention it, or else it won't be called helping a friend in need."

  While speaking, she hastily walked out and beckoned a woman over; "You go to the kitchen in the back and tell the cook to stew that yellow sheep I hit the day before yesterday, and find some other things to entertain the guests."

  The old woman received the order and hurried away in a flurry.

  Zhao Dahai and Lü Shi had been to Tianxing's mountain stronghold before, and Lü Shi couldn't help but frown slightly as he looked around.

  Is this a slum? Or maybe I've watched too many movies with majestic mountain scenery, but compared to those, this is like heaven and earth. What kind of slum is this? It's basically a doghouse refugee camp.

  The bandit's lair was built between the two mountains of Woxiu Mountain, and it wasn't very big. The base of the wall was made of piled-up rocks, and on top of that were huge wooden logs forming a large fence. There were gaps between the wood planks for long guns and arrows to pass through, and the gate was also made in this way, now tightly closed. On top of the wall hung a tattered flag with an "over" character written on it, swaying listlessly in the morning breeze.

  When they arrived at the gate, there was no one guarding it, let alone any patrols or scouts on the way. The two of them rushed over with anxious expressions and were only stopped by a shout from behind the wall when they reached the entrance. After they reported their identities, a reluctant guard hurried to the main hall to report, while the others who had been pointing and whispering about the newcomers earlier lost interest and went back to their own business, ignoring the two men except for a few curious children staring at Lyu Shi and Zhao Da Hai with wide eyes.

  The entire village exudes a sense of slovenliness and decadence from inside out.

  It seems that it will take some effort to reform them in order to get their help. That's what Lü Shiren thought.