Xiaoyao Nongjiazi

"Captain Zhou, have you ever had contact with people from other countries?" Zhong Qingran put the telescope back into Jian Mingyu's hands and looked at Zhou Ming expectantly.Most of the villagers in Fu Village are ordinary people with little experience, and it is the first time they have contacted with foreigners. Even he has no such experience, so he must be caught blind?

Zhou Ming shook his head solemnly. Before, he was only in charge of the soldiers of a ship and received envoys or businessmen from other countries. How could he send him with a low official position to come forward?

"Except for the village guard on the watchtower who doesn't move, everyone else follows me to the gate. Let's meet the local residents of Hanhai Prefecture." Zhong Qingran stepped down the watchtower and went straight to the gate of Fucun, followed by the rest.

"Quxi, this..." Zhao Cheng reined in his horse, shocked by the green brick walls.

To put it bluntly, the aborigines of Hanhai Prefecture are the descendants of fugitives or refugees who had to risk their lives to cross the mountains and live together in groups for various reasons.A lot of gold and silver may be brought in, but there are not many craftsmen, and the materials brought from the Great Zhou Dynasty and Beisha are even less. Where have they seen such a spectacular sight?A whole blue wall is enough to dazzle the eyes of both of them.

"Didn't the patriarch ask us to find out the truth? No matter how rich or unfriendly this village is, we have to go there. There is no other choice." Clans should not be too overbearing.

Compared with the Great Zhou Dynasty, Hanhai Prefecture had relatively poor resources. If that was the case, the aborigines would not live in hardship with a small population and a large land, but this is not the case.

The biggest enemy of the village is the bandits who don't do production and live by looting. No, it should be said that they are the patron saints of the village who claim to collect protection fees. As long as they hand in the offerings on time every year, all villages will be spared.Only in this way, their originally relatively affluent life suddenly became somewhat stretched. Wanting to develop the population to fight against these "protector gods" became vain like fishing for moons in water.

The number of people is insufficient, so we can only obediently hand in the offerings. After handing in the offerings, we will not be able to develop the population. Many villages are caught in such a vicious circle. If we want to untie this knot, we can only hope that someday a few powerful tribes Join together and wipe out this banditry.

Walin Village is neither big nor small. It is more than enough than the top and the bottom is more than enough. The life is barely enough, but no one wants to hand over the fruits of their hard work to others. The most important thing is that the protection fees they charge are too high. It has reached the critical point that the villages can bear. After that, they will probably resist desperately.

This is where the bandits are clever, and the protection fees they collect just hit the bottom line of each village.As long as life is still going on, the resistance of the villagers is very weak, and because of this, the protection fee system has existed in Hanhai Prefecture for many years.

"You said this just came in from outside, or is it a branch of some big tribe?" Zhao Cheng looked forward, with complicated eyes, yearning and fear.

"I've never heard of such a style. It looks like it came from the outside world, but is it possible?" Qu Xi said that even he didn't believe it. To build such a village, the number of people must be indispensable. He has lived such a big life. I have never heard of anyone who has such a great ability to enter so many people in Hanhai Prefecture at once.If it were really that easy, Hanhai Prefecture wouldn't be sparsely populated by now.

While the two were talking, they soon came to the vicinity of Fu Village, which was just outside the range of bows and arrows. They didn't want to provoke a battle between the two villages, so they could only send one person to unload his weapon, get off his horse and walk to the wall with his hands raised high.

"Who are you, where are you from, what do you do in Laifu Village?" Zhou Ming stood on the watchtower by the gate, looking warily at the aborigines in linen clothes.

Even though he didn't have a weapon on him, he didn't look like he was here to cause trouble, but Zhou Ming and others didn't relax their minds.Fucun is their root and must be kept intact. Once Fucun is destroyed, it will be almost impossible for them to make a comeback.People who understand this point can't be too cautious.

"Speak slowly, I can't hear you clearly." There was a language difference between the two parties. Zhou Ming spoke too fast, and Qu Xi could barely understand it. He couldn't, so he had to slow down and asked Zhou Ming to say it again.

Zhou Ming listened to the man below speaking slowly, and his tone sounded quite awkward. Fortunately, the two languages ​​have the same origin, but due to long-term non-communication, the language developed in two directions.After the speech slowed down, Zhou Ming understood it, and he repeated the previous question word by word.

This time, Qu Xi heard clearly that he came here to find out the reality of this new village, and he didn't hide anything from his village of Walin, as long as it didn't involve clan secrets, anyone in this village could say anything else. If you ask, he will tell you everything.

"My name is Quxi, and I'm from Walin Village. I came here to get salt. We came here last autumn. At that time, there was no village here. When I see you this time, come and have a look." Quxi spoke very well. Sincerely, Valin Village is being exploited by bandits and cannot withstand other blows. Being able to make good friends with neighboring villages will be of great benefit to them. After their strength increases, they will be eligible to negotiate with bandits, which may reduce the protection fee. Pay the amount.

"Walin Village?" Zhong Qingran raised his ears to listen carefully, thinking, Minglei had seen people before, could it be them?The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the possibility was very high.

"Can you make decisions on behalf of your village?" Zhou Ming asked according to Zhong Qingran's intention.

"I can't." Qu Xi responded very simply and neatly.

"Then you go back and discuss with your leader. If you want to communicate with us in Fucun, you should find someone who can take care of it." Zhou Ming didn't want to waste his time talking, and talking to Qu Xi was useless. matter person.

Seeing Zhou Ming put on a posture to see off the guests, Qu Xi tactfully resigned.

"How's the situation over there?" Zhao Cheng asked anxiously when he saw Qu Xi who had returned safely.

"Let's go, let's talk on the way." Qu Xi stepped on his horse and galloped towards the direction of the tribe.

"Okay, here is far enough from that village, so we don't have to worry about someone suddenly going up and hurting people." Zhao Cheng slowed down his horse and stared sideways at Qu Xi.

"The people I deal with wear neither linen clothes nor leather clothes. In my opinion, ninety-nine out of ten of them come from the outside world." There was a touch of melancholy in Qu Xi's tone.

With so many outsiders, who knows what they think?There are too many variables, it is not as reliable as the sudden rise of a tribe among the local residents of Hanhai Prefecture, at least they will abide by the rules here.It's hard to say for outsiders, what kind of ideas they hold, they don't even have a basis for guessing, which makes people very disturbed.

"Are you sure?" Zhao Cheng looked serious.

"Ah."

"We came here last autumn. At that time, there was nothing here except weeds. In winter, they couldn't break ground, and they worked hard. It took only two or three months for this village to be completed." Zhao Cheng looked back. , pointing to a large field behind him and said, "In addition to these, there are not one or two hundred young and strong, so it is estimated that it will not be completed."

"Let's go, the leaders have to decide this matter, and we can't make the decision, so it's useless to think so much." Qu Xi raised his whip, and the horses under his seat galloped away.

Zhao Cheng followed closely.

After finding the tribe who picked up the natural crystallized sea salt on the beach, Qu Xi narrated to Fang Lu verbatim the conversation between him and Zhou Ming.

"You mean, they are not too aggressive for the time being, but they intend to associate with our village?" Fang Lu sat up straight, looked at Qu Xi, and asked cautiously.

"Yes, leader, that's how I feel about that person, I hope my understanding is correct." Qu Xi replied affirmatively again.

Fang Lu rested his fingertips on the table lightly, his slightly lowered eyes pondered for a while: "I've already made it clear, you go down and call Wan Fei and the others in."

The visitor had gone away, but Zhong Qingran did not cancel the alert order.Anyway, it's the slack season now, so it doesn't matter if you don't do a day's work in the field.Right now, they don't know anything about Valin Village, so it's not a bad thing to be cautious.

On that day, the people of Walin Village did not turn back.

It is impossible for Fucun Village to be like this forever. The next day, the life of the villagers went on as usual, but the number of people who went to the ground decreased significantly, the number of village guards on patrol increased, and the second and third teams also suspended fishing. In addition, Dianbai and Minglei Alternately guarding in the air.

This situation continued for several days, and no one from Walin Village was seen to contact Fu Village.Zhong Qingran was not surprised, just as they were afraid of the people of Walin Village, the reverse was also true.

"Wow!"

Just when the villagers were about to forget the people of Walin Village, the alarm sounded by Dianbai lifted everyone's minds that had just relaxed.

This time, Fukumura did not face the enemy as he did last time.

After receiving a signal from Dianbai, Jian Mingyu took the village guards to escort the villagers back to the village, and then stood on the arrow tower next to the gate of Fucun to look down.

Not long after, figures of several horsemen and horses appeared in the binoculars.Seeing that there was no threat to Fucun, Jian Mingyu's slightly frowned brows relaxed.

This time, Zhou Ming also came forward to deal with it. After a slow exchange between the two sides, the group from Walin Village was introduced to Fu Village.

Wan Fei looked at the blue-brick houses one after another, and his shock was beyond words.He had never heard of such a village before. Even in the Great Zhou Dynasty, which was rich in land and resources, it was impossible for every family to have such financial resources.What's more, not only that, the ground is also covered with blue bricks, this is not the Great Zhou Dynasty, people from Fucun came here, it is impossible to bring bricks and tiles into Hanhai Prefecture, right?

Not only Wan Fei was inexplicably surprised, but the accompanying people also stared wide-eyed, staring intently at the houses on both sides of the street, for fear that if they made a wrong eye, the scene in front of them would disappear like a passing cloud.

"Please lower the knife." Zhong Lin led the village guards to stop him, and let him go after making sure that he was not carrying any dangerous items.

Wan Fei has no objection to this, this is the rule.Would it be okay if outsiders were allowed to bring weapons to meet the leader?What he never expected was that the leader of Fucun Village was so young. No, young is not enough to describe it. It should be said that he is young. The person in front of him is probably not even 15 years old, right?

Wan Fei forcibly parted the corners of his mouth and squeezed out a few smiles, trying not to make his expression look distorted.He couldn't imagine how such a half-grown child led the villagers to build Fucun into a paradise?And how to get them to listen to him without any objection?

It's a pity that Wan Fei wouldn't ask these questions without understanding, so he couldn't get an answer.

Both parties announced their names, and after a while of pleasantries, they began to get down to business.

Wan Fei waved his hand and said, "Qu Xi, present the gift to Village Chief Zhong."

Qu Xi stepped forward.

Zhong Lin took the box in his hand, opened it to check, and only handed it to Zhong Qingran after confirming that there was no problem.

Zhong Qingran lifted the lid of the box, and what came into view was a beautifully crafted carpet.He couldn't help but think that there are mostly grasslands in Hanhai Prefecture, and he didn't expect that after living here for a long time, the customs of the aborigines are also getting closer to the herdsmen.

The Great Zhou Dynasty also produced sheep, but they did not have the habit of weaving felt blankets.The ancestors of Wan Fei and others were all from the Great Zhou Dynasty. Now it seems that their physical conditions are obviously different from those of the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They are taller and burlier.This is not to say that the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty lived in hardship. On the contrary, the weather conditions in Hanhai Prefecture are harsh. The temperature here is extremely low for almost half a year, and it is windy and cold all the year round. High stool is easy to understand.

Zhong Qingran accepted it happily, and asked people to put away the gift and put it away: "I don't know why a distinguished guest came to the door, so why?"

"Isn't this just finding out that a new neighbor has settled down here? How can I not come to visit in Walin Village?" After all, Wan Fei is a person who has experienced the incident, and he quickly recovered from the shock, and his words were not false people.He is now representing Valin Village, so he can't lose his momentum.

After calming down, Wan Fei looked at everyone present calmly.He found that most of the people here didn't seem to be people who had been in high positions for a long time.This is strange, without enough power, they can't bring so many people into Hanhai Prefecture, but power can not be developed overnight, and he is confident that he will not be wrong about this.Personal strength does not match the energy displayed by Fukumura, why is this?Now is not the time to think about these things, Wan Fei cheers up and concentrates on the next thing.

"If you have a lot of guests, you are welcome." Zhong Qingran waved his hand back, and soon the delicious food and wine were served on the dining table.

Wan Fei was startled suddenly, there were many dishes he had never seen before, and there was wine brewed from grain on the table.These wines are extremely precious in Hanhai Prefecture, and even he can't drink them all the time. People in Valin Village drink all kinds of milk wine more often.For those who have never been in contact with the outside world, drinking milk wine is commonplace and delicious, but for those who have just entered Hanhai Prefecture, they are very uncomfortable.

In all fairness, Wan Fei felt that the milk wine tasted good, but the taste of grain wine was no worse than milk wine.He who was born and bred thinks so, and it is conceivable how people from the outside world think.

"You can try these seafood. If you are not used to eating them, just ignore them." Zhong Qingran raised his glass, took a sip, and signaled Wan Fei to feel free, "We are new here and don't know anything about the situation here. I wonder if you can help us. Explain."

These are trivial matters, as long as you stay in Hanhai Prefecture for a while, you will know sooner or later. Wan Fei briefly talked about the current situation in Hanhai Prefecture.

"Someone collects protection fees? Has it been collected for many years?" Zhong Qingran raised his eyebrows. This is not good news.

"It's been more than a hundred years." After Wan Fei counted carefully, he felt resentment in his heart. He didn't know that he didn't know, but he was shocked that Walin Village had been looted for so long. How many people can be fed by using the confiscated property to develop Valin Village?

Zhong Qingran frowned tightly. He originally planned to take a trip to the border town before winter this year, but it seems that this will not happen. With such a threat, how can he take someone away with peace of mind?

"After such a long time, no one can touch them?" Zhong Qingran's doubts gradually grew. Since this group of people are so arrogant, why didn't anyone unite to kill them?

"In the beginning, some villages resisted, and several villages even united to resist, but the effect was not very good. They come and go like the wind, they will be beaten if they can't be beaten, and they will run away if they can't be beaten. It is difficult for us to keep them all. Excuse me. They are also obedient, they don’t move in the big tribes, they only catch the small and medium tribes.” Wan Fei looked indignant, “We once asked the big tribes for help, and the result is that now we have paid protection fees for more than a hundred years. Got it. That’s right, there’s no loss for the big clan, so why would they take such a big risk to stand up for us?”

The more Zhong Qingran listened, the more strange he felt in his heart.He trusted his instincts, and there was something strange about it.With no one in charge, how could this system of collecting protection fees last for more than a hundred years?You know, a country may not be able to survive 100 years. Such a loose bandit organization, how can their deterrent power be so great?

"The village is small and there are few people, so it can't resist bandits. Why don't several villages get together, so they have the ability to resist?" Zhong Qingran was puzzled.

Wan Fei sighed and said: "Of course we have tried this too. Except for the first few big tribes, once any tribe shows signs of merging a village, the bandits will concentrate their efforts on dealing with them, and the merged village will not live a peaceful life at all. There was already a estrangement between the tribes in the first village, and the bandits were so targeted, life was more difficult than that of the village, and after a while, they broke up."

Zhong Qingran's doubts gradually deepened, but he did not continue to ask about this matter.He could imagine the helplessness of Wan Fei and the others. Just looking at their bodies and their aura, he could tell that they were not cowardly people to be bullied. It was precisely this that highlighted the strength of the bandits.Otherwise, how could there be so many villages, allowing bandits to run rampant in their villages?

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Zhong Qingran took out a brochure and handed it to Wan Fei: "It contains the supplies that our village can sell to the outside world, as well as some goods that we need. If you are willing, you can trade them."

Wan Fei could read a few words, but it was impossible for him to read the book. He was about to explain the matter, but when he opened it, he found that most of the items were accompanied by lifelike drawings. He swallowed it back.

"I'll accept this. I think the leader will be very happy to communicate with your village." Wan Fei paused for a moment and kindly reminded, "Your village has the best life among the nearby villages. The bandits didn't come. They didn't expect that they would suddenly appear here. A village, once they get the news, they will definitely exploit it wantonly, and they will probably rob you all for the first time, so you have to know it."

Zhong Qingran sincerely thanked him, and before Wan Fei left, he even gave some gifts in return.

After Wan Fei and his party disappeared from sight, Zhong Qingran summoned several village guard captains to discuss the banditry.

"What do you think about this matter? Feel free to tell me what you think." Zhong Qingran explained the matter to those who were not present in detail, and began to ask for their opinions...

"The best way is to take the initiative. It's just that I don't know where they are hiding, nor how many of them are there. It's difficult." Among the people present, Zhou Ming is the oldest. If he doesn't say anything, the other two captains are probably embarrassed. As soon as he opened his mouth, he threw bricks to attract jade.He is also quite helpless, the village guard team has been established for too short a time, and the previous concepts have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. I am afraid that they will not be able to reverse it for a while, so he can only take a good lead.

"I agree with Captain Zhou's idea, but the defense of the village must not be left behind. It is best to organize all the men of the right age. Unlike the previous training, this time it is mandatory." Zhong Lin did not shirk, and followed Zhou Ming Express opinion.

"Village chief, with the drug you provided, as long as you can find their lair and be careful, they should be easily brought down." Wang Dacheng was not worried at all, but was eager to try.

Jian Mingyu concluded: "Since everyone agrees to take the initiative to attack, let's think about how to knock down a large number of people silently. Using arrows will definitely not work."

Zhong Qingran didn't interrupt, and listened quietly on the sidelines, trying to get more ideas from Mingyu and the others.He already had a preliminary plan in his mind, but one person's power was limited after all, and there might be things he didn't expect.

Everyone was gathering firewood, and after some discussion, there were many feasible plans on how to cast the drug.Zhong Qingran didn't make a decision on the spot, it depends on the situation, he had to go back and confirm carefully before considering the specific implementation method.

As soon as he got home, Zhong Qingran buried himself in the study.He didn't expect that Hanhai Prefecture would be controlled by others, and it was fine before. After all, the general environment was such that even if he felt uncomfortable, he couldn't get out of this restraint.Hanhai Prefecture is different. The land here is vast and sparsely populated. Not to mention a small corner, it is not impossible to unify the entire Hanhai Prefecture.If you still have to live in aggrieved life here, it's better to stuff him back into his mother's womb and start a new life.

Jian Mingyu took out a semi-finished hand crossbow, his eyes were fiery, he wanted to try it slowly, but now time does not allow, he can only speed up the action.The materials are all ready-made, and they have been prepared well before, but the production process is extremely cumbersome, and if one is not handled carefully, the accuracy will be deviated. Several planes have been scrapped because of this before, and I hope this time it will be successful.

Jian Mingyu gently slid his fingertips over the design drawings of the hand crossbow, and a smile blurred from the corners of his eyes and brows. Soon, his entire face was filled with a pleasant smile.This picture was finally drawn after Qingran referred to his opinion, and it was the result of the cooperation between the two.