Zhu Nao

"Press the stone slabs up after the soil is compacted. Otherwise, the land will sink after a long time." Yu Changming directed his men to work.

The soldiers picked up their hammers and hit the roadbed again and again until the soft soil became hard.

Some people tamped the roadbed, and some carried stone slabs, and people moved in an orderly division of labor.

At this moment, Zhou Dashu is also a member of the stone slab.

Earlier, he followed Changming Village to the city in a daze, thinking that he was about to witness a thrilling event, but who would have thought that there would be a good show of throwing himself into a trap, and he was speechless.The people in the state government gave him two plans for atonement, one was to be a field slave for five years and then become a self-cultivator as written in the surrender letter; the other was to become a soldier.

At that time, Zhou Dashu was very happy to hear that there was another option.He ran away from his hometown because he didn't want to farm.How majestic is it to be a box soldier?So he chose the latter without hesitation.

At that time, he didn't think about why the state government said that being a soldier was a way of atonement.It wasn't until Yu Changming asked them to carry mud and stones to build roads after he actually took office, that he realized that it was really labor atonement!

"Hurry up and move the stone slab to the tamped place over there." The companion beside him urged.

Zhou Dashu pursed his mouth, feeling 1 unhappy.If I knew it earlier, I might as well choose to be a farm slave. Even if I have to pay rent to the government, at least I have to grow the land myself.As it is now, with nothing to say, being called around to work, and being pointed at by the common people, he is not even as good as a slave.

He complained in his heart, but he was a little absent-minded.Suddenly, his feet slipped, his center of gravity swayed, his hands lost strength, and the slate fell out of his hands!The person opposite him paled in shock, and quickly let go.

There was only a loud "bang", and the stone slab was smashed to the ground, splashing a burst of debris!

Yu Changming, who was directing not far away, heard the sound, looked back at the scene, immediately frowned, and walked towards them quickly.

Zhou Dashu lowered his head nervously, thinking that this is a disaster.previously

When the state government registered them, his misbehavior had already been found out.Yu Changming knew that he was not from Changming Village, so he must be waiting to pick him.Now he must be scolded, or even beaten...

Yu Changming walked up to him quickly and looked him up and down: "Where did it hit? Are your feet okay?"

Zhou Dashu was taken aback for a while, and he came back to his senses after a while, and shook his head foolishly: "No, no."

Seeing that he was fine, Yu Changming let go of his frowning eyebrows, and said, "Be careful. If you are tired, go to the side and rest for a while, don't be brave."

After finishing speaking, he bent down and picked up the stone slab they threw on the ground.His physical strength was so strong that he could easily lift the stone slab carried by two people just now, and transport it to the place where the earth was rammed.

Zhou Dashu looked bewildered.He...he wasn't scolded?Still being cared about? !

After Yu Changming finished moving the stones, he looked back at Zhou Dashu again. Seeing that Zhou Dashu was thin, he thought for a while and said, "You should go and carry the soil. Let others do the moving of the stone slabs."

After speaking, he really transferred someone to replace him, so he directed others to go.

Zhou Dashu walked to the side of the mound as if sleepwalking, and carried a basket of soil on his back.He looked around and saw that everyone was very devoted to doing their own thing, as if no one except him thought there was anything wrong with Xiang Bing's road construction.Looking at Yu Changming in the distance, he was also carefully teaching his subordinates to do things hand in hand.

Zhou Dashu suddenly felt extremely ashamed.

Look at people!He is also the boss, how big a cottage has he built, and how many people have he supported?I can't even support more than [-] brothers, so I have the nerve to pick three or four here!

He realized his conscience, put aside distracting thoughts, and stepped up to work.

……

A group of side soldiers worked hard and filled the sunken road in a short time.Lay stone slabs and flatten the stone slabs, and the road becomes flat and smooth.

The common people were watching from a distance, and saw that they were serious about building roads, so they gradually let go of their guard and approached.

But before they got too close, the people from Changming Village stopped them.

The people backed away nervously, fearing that the bandits would lose their temper, but they heard the soldiers politely say, "Everyone, don't get too close, and be careful not to get your clothes splashed with muddy water."

When someone has to pass by the road under construction, Yu Changming will stop everyone first, so as not to hurt passersby on the road by splashing mud, water, stone chips and swinging hammers.

The people were simply stunned.The sun is coming out from the west!Is this still a ruthless bandit?Is this still an outrageous and unreasonable soldier? ?

So Changming Village was building roads there, and the people were talking beside them, and the rhetoric was completely different from before.

"I heard that Changming Village never killed innocent people indiscriminately, and often helped farmers in Yilong. I didn't believe it before. Now that I see real people, I believe they can do it. I didn't expect there to be such a good mountain in the world. Bandits!" Then he sighed, "Poor world, such a person is forced to become a bandit..."

"That's what happened in the past. Isn't it coming back now? Fortunately, Zhuzhou Mu came. I heard that in order to make up for the property robbed by Tulangzhai, Zhu Zhoumu took a few thousand taels out of his own pocket and put his business They’re all sold!” One person said with emotion, “He didn’t even bother to search for people’s fat, and he kept cutting taxes for everyone, which is completely different from the previous dog officials. It’s because of him that Yu Changming is willing to bring people to surrender! "

"That's right. Think about how much money Song Rentou spent to recruit Changming Village before and refused to come. Everyone knows who is a good official and who is a dog official."

"By the way, have you guys heard that our Zhu Zhoumu seems to be a member of the royal family..."

Back then when the government incorporated Tulangzhai, the common people were full of resentment, but now it is a completely different situation.

……

The road has almost been repaired. Zhou Dashu squatted on the ground, using a shovel to shovel the overflowing soil between the stone slabs, doing the final finishing work.After working for a long time, he was tired and thirsty, so he wiped off his sweat and continued to work.

Suddenly, a sheepskin water bag appeared in front of him.

Zhou Dashu was startled, turned his head and saw that it was a boy of seven or eight years old who handed him the water bag.The boy said in a milky voice, "Brother, you've worked hard, drink some water."

Zhou Dashu pointed to his nose in disbelief: "Give me a drink?"

The boy nodded and saw the mud sticking to his face when he wiped his sweat, so he gently wiped it off with his small hands: "My mother said, you are good people, let me thank you."

Zhou Dashu: "..."

In the past, in the village, he led a group of brothers to play ghosts and monkeys all day long. The old people in the village called them naughty, so he was very proud.Later, he led a group of brothers to become bandits, and his life was a little bit hard, but he also felt that he was very majestic.

Now he was actually called a good person by a child... It was the first time someone said he was a good person in such a big age!

Zhou Dashu originally wanted to laugh at the child for not being able to see people, but before he could say anything, his nose turned sore.

It must be too much work, making people stupid...

……

When all the soldiers in the box had finished their work, and when they gathered their team back, there were already many people on both sides of the road who heard the news and came to watch.

The common people haven't seen Xiangbing working for everyone for many years.That is an excitement.Many people still carried things in their hands, some carried a basket of baked eggs, and some carried a basket of steaming biscuits, and stuffed them into the hands of the soldiers one after another.

Yu Changming refused to let everyone accept it at first, but later he refused, so he accepted it.

Zhou Dashu was also stuffed by the common people, with an egg in his left hand and a piece of cake in his right hand, he was so happy.He only felt that he was full of energy and had nowhere to vent, so he quickly caught up with Yu Changming.

"Master Yu!"

Yu Changming glanced at him, he came back to his senses, and quickly changed his words: "Commander Yu."

Yu Changming said, "What's the matter?"

Zhou Dashu straightened his chest: "Is there still a road to repair? Such a trivial matter is too easy!"

Yu Changming looked at him inexplicably.This guy looked half-dead just now, but after repairing the road, he suddenly regained his energy and became addicted to it?

"There are plenty of roads. The state capital needs to be repaired, the city gate needs to be repaired, and our new residence also needs to be repaired."

Zhou Dashu's smile froze on his face: "Huh?"

Yu Changming smiled faintly and said, "Since you are capable, I will arrange more work for you."

Zhou Dashu: "..." Why on earth is he so mean?

=====

After the letter of surrender was issued, Yu Changming led the entire Changming village to surrender, which caused quite a stir in Sichuan.

Undoubtedly, Changming Village is very appealing. Within a few days, several small cottages came to surrender one after another.However, the cottage with a slightly larger scale has remained silent.

Most of those cottages were raised by the government's recruitment order, and many of them still fantasized about high officials and generous salary, so how could they be willing to be subdued by a recruitment order?

Junao had expected this.After studying the map for a few days, he brought Dou Ziyi and Yu Changming to discuss.

Zhu Nao said, "I have to make an example to the monkeys."

Yu Changming understood what he meant, frowned and said, "Slaughter Wolf Village?"

Zhu Nao shook his head: "This chicken is too big, I will kill it later."

Yu Changming breathed a sigh of relief.

Previously, Tulangzhai had been a soldier for several months, and then robbed the state capital.Now they have sufficient military supplies, everyone is armed with knives and weapons, and their strength is extraordinary.Since you want to kill chickens to scare monkeys, you must be sure that you can kill chickens, otherwise it will only increase the jokes, and people will turn against each other.Yu Changming was not sure of winning, and Zhu Nao knew this too, so he couldn't move the Tulang Village rashly.

Zhu Nao spread out the map drawn by Dou Ziyi, and pointed to a certain place on the map with a branch: "I want to start here first."

Several people took a closer look, and it turned out to be Heishanzhai.

That black cottage is a new cottage that emerged in the second half of last year, and it has grown rapidly, and now there are more than two hundred people.The village owner's name is Liu Heishan.Liu Heishan was obviously envious of the treatment received by Tulangzhai, so he imitated the brutal behavior of Tulangzhai and killed many innocent people in the past six months.

This black cottage is not a chicken either, so it is not easy to deal with.Most of the people in the village are brutal speculators, and the number of 200 people is not too small.If Heishanzhai can be successfully taken down, it will definitely be a deterrent to many bandits in Langzhong—a cruel and huge village like Heishanzhai has been taken down by the state government, which is enough to show the state government's determination and control over bandits. bandit's ability.The illusions of those who are lucky will be shattered.

So Yu Changming bent down and looked at the map carefully.Heishanzhai is on Baita Mountain, which is relatively steep and easy to defend but difficult to attack.Although the clues provided by the folks contained information about Liu Heishan and others' ancestral home, but Liu Heishan was ruthless and his relatives had already severed ties, so these clues could not be used for a while.

Yu Changming looked solemn: "The mountains are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the bandits are familiar with the terrain of the mountains, so they may set traps in the mountains. If we want to be sure of victory, at least three or five times as many troops are needed."

Zhu Nao said: "I don't intend to take it by force. I came to you just to see if there is any clever way to get it."

Yu Changming thought for a while, and said, "One of the biggest drawbacks of the mountain is that the mountain's production is limited. If we can cut off its supplies, it would be a good idea. But surrounding the mountain will also consume a lot of our manpower and material resources."

"En." Zhu Nao nodded, "If there is no better way, then consider surrounding the mountains."

That black village had just robbed a village, and they didn't know how much food was stored on the mountain.Surrounding the mountains requires a lot of manpower, and the officers and soldiers surrounding the mountains need to consume a lot of food.With the current state of the state capital, it is still a bit reluctant to do such a thing.In case the black mountain village is full of food and grass, it will be a great loss to the state capital to carry him for March and May.Moreover, the situation in central Sichuan is chaotic, the sooner it is calmed down the better, the longer it is delayed, the greater the hidden danger.

However, surrounding mountains is not without benefits.If the method of encircling and not fighting is really adopted, at least the Xiang soldiers will not have to lose their lives in vain.Not to mention that Yu Changming couldn't bear it, Zhu Nao couldn't bear it either.Therefore, if there is no better choice, this method may not be impossible to try.

Dou Ziyi kept silent, Zhu Nao asked, "Director Dou, what do you think?"

Dou Ziyi then said slowly: "Zhou Mu, I don't understand military affairs, so I dare not interrupt rashly. But I did think of something just now, I wonder if it can be used."

Zhu Nao said, "Let's listen."

Dou Ziyi said solemnly: "In the past few years before Zhao'an, the state capital has also suppressed bandits several times, but every time they returned in a big defeat. The state capital lost troops and generals, and suffered heavy losses. Of course, there are reasons for the terrain that the village master Yu just mentioned , but I asked the soldiers who suppressed the bandits in the past, and according to what they said, before they went up the mountain, the bandits would have made preparations and set up multiple ambushes on the mountain, so that they would not be careful. So I thought, In the state capital, perhaps there should be eyeliners in each village—or at least, there should be people who can tip off the news."

Zhu Nao and Yu Changming were slightly taken aback by what they said.

Indeed, there are many people in the state capital, and if there is any news, it will often leak out very quickly.When Zhu Nao was doing business, he could always inquire about the state capital's movements in advance, and Changming Village also had secret contacts with officials from the Yilong area of ​​the state capital.By analogy, it is not difficult for a cottage with a little influence to get on line with people in the state capital.

Thinking of this, Junao narrowed his eyes and smiled with interest.

"As expected of Master Dou." He smiled and said, "I will leave this matter to you. You go to sort out the ancestral homes, residences, and in-laws of the officials in the state capital, and sort out the list as soon as possible for those who may be connected to the black village. Give it to me, and I'll try to find out."