Jiang Ming and his soldiers rushed towards Shen Zhou and others like an unstoppable tide from a high position.
Shen Zhou and others didn't even have the courage to look back, so they just ran for their lives.
The natives also discovered a scene that shocked them. Just now, these outsiders had easily cut off their weapons and people, and it was a complete one-sided massacre of them. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't do anything to these strangers. So far, so many of them had died, and none of the strangers had been hurt. They were as powerful as the legendary guards of the Sun God, making them feel that there was no hope of seizing the sacrifices.
But now they saw an even more shocking scene. After seeing a flag, those powerful outsiders were so frightened that they wanted to escape without hesitation. For this reason, they didn't even want to take the sacrifices they robbed. They are all still on the ground, just to escape faster.
It doesn't take much thinking to know that these outsiders must know these people who come after them, and they are definitely not as powerful as the people who come after them. Only in this way will they not even have the slightest idea of fighting, but just want to run away without hesitation when they see the flag.
The natives took back the gold and gathered together, neither advancing nor retreating. They did not dare to block the arrival of Jiang Ming and others. Although they haven't seen Jiang Ming and others take action yet, and they don't know why they were able to frighten the outsiders in front of them and run away, but no one is stupid. People like Jiang Ming must be more powerful than the outsiders in front of them, which is why this scene happened now.
These natives couldn't even stop Shen Zhou and others, and they didn't even dare to stop Jiang Ming and others.
Jiang Ming led the navy officers and soldiers to rush towards the indigenous people without any obstruction. Without even looking at the gathered indigenous people, he passed them directly and rushed towards Shen Zhou and others.
One side was as powerful as a dragon, and the other side was running like a wolf, and they began to chase each other on the plain.
After the distance between the two sides was close, the indigenous people watching on the side finally understood why those powerful outsiders ran away without hesitation.
I saw that the arrows that the outsiders had just been brave and sharp were now messy and scattered, and a few arrows were fired back and forth sparsely. After the arrow flew a certain distance in mid-air, it fell weakly, not even reaching the side of those who followed.
But then the man just raised the strange weapon in his hand, "Bang~Bang~Bang~" After a fierce sound, the outsider in front burst into blood flowers. He fell to the ground with screams, not knowing whether he was alive or dead.
The indigenous people were stunned by the scene in front of them, and some even knelt down directly, because this could easily kill people with invisible weapons, much like the weapons used by the Sun God's guards in their legends.
Could it be that these people who came later were the guards of the Sun God, and those strangers in front were demons?
It must be, it must be the Sun God who knew that the devil was coming to attack them, so he sent his guards to protect them. There were not a few indigenous people who had such thoughts in their hearts. Many people knelt down and worshiped Jiang Ming and others.
But the indigenous leaders did not think that these later people were the guards sent by the Sun God to protect them, because the things these people wore were almost the same as those in front of them. Although the colors look different, the styles are the same.
After shouting a few times, the indigenous leader stopped more and more tribesmen who were kneeling down to worship. And asked them to retreat, and he took the warriors of the tribe to guard here.
Facing Jiang Ming's charge, laymen like Shen Zhou and others in the battle formation instantly collapsed. Bows and arrows, iron armor, and fine steel swords are all useless. Facing the fierce firepower of the revolver, Shen Zhou and others must surrender or die!
A battle that was so shocking to the natives that they could not describe it was as boring to Han Du as a child's play. Shen Zhou and others did not put up any resistance at all. They surrendered to death after just one charge from Jiang Ming. From the beginning of the firefight to the end of all the battles, it was just a matter of time.
There is really nothing remarkable about this kind of battle.
Jiang Ming and his men captured Shen Zhou alive and stabbed the injured people directly. Anyway, these people were heinous and deserved death, so there was no problem in executing them directly.
Seeing that the overall situation had been decided, Han Du slowly came over from behind. When he passed by the gathering of indigenous people, he glanced sideways at them, which instantly made the indigenous people nervous.
However, no matter how nervous the indigenous people were, they did not dare to take action against Han Du after seeing the ferocity of Han Du and others.
Han Du ignored them and stepped forward.
Jiang Ming escorted a middle-aged man dressed as a scribe over. The middle-aged man walked tremblingly. Jiang Ming disliked him for walking too slowly, so he kicked him, causing the middle-aged man to roll twice on the ground. . No matter how much pain he felt, he didn't dare to lie down on the ground. He got up quickly and endured the pain by gritting his teeth and persisting.
"Kneel down!" When he came to Han Du, Jiang Ming kicked Shen Zhou to the ground.
This time, Shen Zhou could only kneel down and did not dare to get up.
"Master Hou, this thing says he is the head of the Shen family. Master Hou will interrogate him carefully. If he dares to lie to Master Hou, the general will break all his bones into pieces piece by piece." Jiang Ming looked ferocious. , clasped his hands together and kept squeezing and grinding them, as if he wished Shen Zhou had the guts to trick Han Du so that he could get addicted to his hand.
Shen Zhou was like a little chicken in front of Jiang Ming. How could he dare to test the law with his own body? He quickly said to Han Du: "Han Du, you are also a scholar. Scholars can be killed but not humiliated. Why do you do this to me?"
"That's right. A scholar can be killed but not humiliated. I won't humiliate you either. I'll drag you down and kill you." Han Du said lightly.
Jiang Ming suddenly grinned at Shen Yiyi.
This smile made the hairs on Shen Zhou's body stand up, and he looked back at Han Du in horror. He didn't expect that Han Du would act so unreasonably and would kill him without even asking. Doesn't he know that he knows a lot of secret information? Is Han Du not interested in this news?
Originally, when Shen Zhou was caught, he thought of how to save his life. After thinking about it, Shen Zhou still felt that the secrets he had about major families were his most valuable, and they were also the basis for him to bargain with Han Du and save his life.
But he never dreamed that Han Du was completely different from what he imagined. He was not even interested in asking him questions and was going to kill him directly.
"Han Du, you can't kill me, you can't kill me... I know you have been pursuing the secrets of our family, but do you know those other people?" Shen Zhou didn't care about many things in order to survive. . Even if he betrays several others, as long as he can survive, he will not care.
They have already parted ways and fallen apart, and now there is nothing to regret about letting news from other families spread.
Han Du narrowed his eyes when he looked at Shen Zhou and asked in a deep voice, "What do you call me?"
"Han... Han Du?" Shen Zhou didn't understand what Han Du meant.
Han Du sneered twice and said: "You'd better drag him down and kill him if he doesn't know his dignity."
After saying that, he waved to Jiang Ming.
Shen Zhou was immediately frightened out of his mind and quickly begged: "Hou, Mr. Hou, I made a mistake. Please have a lot of money, Mr. Hou, and spare me this time."
Han Du waved his hand lightly this time to signal Jiang Ming to put him down, and said disdainfully: "You are not stupid enough. What is your identity, and what is my identity? How can I allow you to call me by my first name?"
"Yes, yes, I know I was wrong..." Shen Zhou lowered his head, his face full of frustration and nowhere to vent, thinking that he was once the head of a very powerful family. In the Shen family, it is also true that they turn their hands into clouds and rain. They have to swallow all the humiliation in order to survive.
Seeing that beating Shen Zhouchu was effective, Han Du let him go for the time being. Then he asked: "Tell me, besides you, who else are there among you?"
Shen Zhou was afraid that Han Du would really kill him, so he did not dare to neglect and said quickly: "Returning to Mr. Hou, we have six families in total. In addition to our Shen family, there are also five families: Gong, Wen, Yang, Fang, and Luo. Now it is the turn of the Gong family to make the decision, so we all jointly elect the head of the Gong family as the elder, and the other five families follow his orders."
When Han Du heard the word Fang, his eyes dropped and he asked casually: "What is the name of the head of the Fang family?"
"Fang Jing is a few years older than Xiao Chi. He is an old fox." Now that Shen Zhou has taken the first step, there is no longer any obstacle in his heart when it comes to betraying others.
This is just like a brothel girl. As long as she receives a customer once, then receiving customers will become a natural habit, just like eating and drinking.
"What about Fang Benzhai? Who is he from the Fang family?"
Although Fang Benzhai was already dead, as the mastermind of poisoning Zhu Xiongying, Han Du wanted to know who gave him the order. Zhu Xiongying was the emperor's direct grandson, and his death was destined to leave everyone involved in the matter without a burial place.
"Fang Benzhai is Fang Jing's nephew." Shen Zhou did not dare to deceive Han Du and said honestly.
Han Du's eyes narrowed slightly and he asked in a deep voice: "Then whose idea was it when Fang Benzhai murdered the emperor's grandson?"
Shen Zhou couldn't help but tremble when he saw the murderous intent in Han Du's eyes, and large patches of cold sweat broke out on his back. He quickly lowered his head, not daring to face Han Du's eyes, and replied: "This little one really doesn't know. It's impossible for the Fang family to tell me such a secret thing. However, since Fang Benzhai is involved, then it's probably It's the order given by Fang Jing. Because the people of the Fang family will only obey the family's orders. As for whether the elder asked Fang Jing to do this, I don't know."
"Fang Jing..." Han Du muttered in a low voice, remembering the name in his heart.
Later, Han Du raised his head and asked Shen Zhou, "You mean, all six of your families are doing their own thing? One family will only obey the orders of the family head, and can ignore the orders of other family heads?"
"What the Marquis said is true, that's exactly what it is." Shen Zhou nodded quickly.
"What about the so-called elder? He can't order your Shen family members?" Han Du asked with some disbelief.
After hearing this, Shen Zhou nodded quickly and explained: "That's right, even the elders are not qualified to order people from other families. Moreover, people from other families don't know who the elders are. Even if the elders give orders, they will not Will comply. Of course, if the elder wants to ask a certain family member to do something, he will contact the head of the family and then use the family to arrange specific affairs.
Elders will not give direct orders to people from other families. "
Han Du frowned when he heard this, and at the same time he understood why they had been able to hide in the dark for so long without being exposed at all. It turns out that these people all work on their own, even from different families, and they don't even know if the other person is with them. The people who knew the situation were of the same race and were related by blood. In this era that pays attention to kinship and clan laws, no one would betray his own clan. Because betraying one's own clan is equivalent to betraying oneself, which is something no one would do.
Coupled with the fact that there was an elder coordinating in the middle, the entire secret organization was formed. I am afraid that only the heads of the six families know the specific situation of the organization. The others are probably completely confused and are completely unfamiliar with the other five families.
Only then did Han Du realize why he had harvested so many people in the past under the torture of Yiluan Division. There was nothing valuable for a long time. Now I finally understand that it’s not that those people are really that tough, but that they really don’t know.
Han Du couldn't help but look up at Shen Zhou, who had a flattering expression on his face. It must be that the head of the family was such a greedy and fearful person, so he could pry into the secrets of these people.
"How come you six families are willing to work together?" Han Du didn't believe that these six families would trust each other for no reason. There must be a reason for this. It is impossible for people to trust each other after just one meeting, let alone a huge family?
"Well, it's a long story..." Shen Zhou's face turned pale. It was obvious that Han Du's words had touched his sore spot.
Han Du calmly sat on a stone moved by Jiang Ming and said to Shen Zhou: "Then speak slowly, don't be in a hurry, I have plenty of time."
Shen Zhou was used to being pampered, but he couldn't be as free and easy as Han Du. Looking at the mud all over the ground, there was not even a stone. After hesitating for a long time, he still did not go on. He just stood in front of Han Du and bowed and said: "What I saw is also the record of the clan. It is said that around the Southern Song Dynasty At the end of the year..."
Han Du didn't pay attention at first, but when he heard Shen Yiyi spoke about the late Southern Song Dynasty, Han Du couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Wait, what did you say? You two have been dating since the Southern Song Dynasty?"
Shen Zhou nodded and said: "The records say this, our six families have been friends for more than a hundred years."
Hearing that these six families had started to unite more than a hundred years ago, Han Du felt that some secrets were unfolding towards him.
"Go on, it's best to explain the ins and outs of your six families to me."
"Yes." Shen Zhou replied cautiously. Seeing that Han Du was interested in the news, Shen Zhou seemed to have finally found his value in front of Han Du, and he felt relieved.
"But what I know about it is only from the clan records." In order not to offend Han Du, Shen Zhou had to carefully remind him, lest Han Du's dissatisfaction would be vented on him.
Han Du nodded lightly and said: "Yes, but if I let this prince know that you have something to hide, then you can try to live."
"No, I definitely won't, I will definitely know everything and say everything..." Shen Zhou was startled, and he waved his hand to Han Du in an exaggerated tone to explain.
Seeing some impatience on Han Du's face, Shen Zhou quickly continued: "Well, according to the records of the clan, our six families were all merchants in the Jiangnan area during the Southern Song Dynasty. Due to the boom in maritime trade at that time, our six families were slow Slowly we became well-known wealthy businessmen in various places. After that, the exchanges between each other became more and more frequent. With the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, because each of our six families had hundreds of millions of wealth in their hands, At that time, the Meng Yuan Dynasty was about to dominate the world. In order to avoid being influenced by the former Yuan Dynasty court, the six families discussed and transferred most of their wealth from the Central Plains to overseas. Those who stayed in the Central Plains had to do so openly. Up, into the darkness."
Han Du nodded secretly after hearing this. Having too much personal wealth will certainly attract the attention of interested people. Not to mention the court of the former Yuan Dynasty, in the turbulent era of the late Southern Song Dynasty, even a thousand captains of the former Yuan Dynasty were able to massacre these six families and plunder all their wealth.
In order to preserve their family wealth, it is wise for them to choose to hide overseas. Because as long as this wealth is within the territory of the former Yuan Dynasty, it may be looted by the former Yuan Dynasty court or officials at any time.
Don’t think that no one will know which cave you buried your gold, silver, and jewelry in. As long as these people are caught, they can dig out the treasure even if they are tortured.
Only by moving their wealth overseas and hiding it, like these six families, and hiding the people within the country so that no one can find it, can they truly preserve their wealth.
Seeing that Han Du didn't speak, Shen Zhou continued: "In the BC Yuan Dynasty, the emperor and the court did not know how to manage business. They could not even calculate the taxes clearly. They often made mistakes and omissions without telling them, and often collected them. After the first tax, a second tax was collected. This made the people miserable, and conflicts between the people and officials often broke out. Finally, this matter was brought before the emperor of the former Yuan Dynasty, but the emperor did not know how to deal with it. later......"
"Wait a minute." Han Du suddenly thought of something and quickly raised his hand to stop Shen Zhou's words and said, "I know this matter. Later, Qian Yuan invited Semu people who were good at doing business to come out to handle business for them. And tax collection. Don't tell me that you have any hand in this matter?"
Shen Zhou nodded proudly and continued: "Several family heads at that time saw this opportunity, so they used their connections and suggested that the business and tax collection be handed over to Semu people. We have been doing sea trade for many years. , knew countless Semu people, so they secretly recommended the Semu people controlled by several families to the former Yuan emperor."
"Hiss~" Han Du couldn't help but look horrified when he heard this. He didn't expect that these people would dare to do such a bold thing in Qianyuan. Moreover, the key is that they actually made it happen.
Controlling a country's trade and taxation would bring such incredible wealth, Han Du could not even imagine. A comparison can tell. People have been scolding the Manchus for more than a hundred years for ceding territory to pay indemnity and handing over customs duties to foreigners, and they are still scolding them.
It is conceivable that a cunning operation like the former Yuan emperor actually handed over the entire country's commerce and taxes to others to collect. This is simply seeking death. Is the emperor so relieved?
"Since you have received such great benefits in the First Yuan Dynasty, why did you do nothing for the destruction of the First Yuan Dynasty?" Han Du felt that if he could be like these families and collect all the country's trade and tax revenues, In the bag, he must be reluctant to part with this hen that lays golden eggs. This is no longer laying golden eggs, it is just laying... Well, Han Du feels that words cannot describe this kind of wealth. Feel.
Shen Zhou smiled awkwardly when he heard this and remained silent.
Han Du suddenly understood something when he saw it, "Yes, after all, they are businessmen. Businessmen pursue profit and only care about whether they can make money. How can they care about the rise and fall of the world and the life and death of the people?"
However, Han Du was a little confused and said: "Since you people have mastered the business and taxation of Qian Yuan, you should see that this is a unique source of wealth. Why would you give it up so easily? Don't you know, if Qian Yuan If the yuan is gone, and someone else is in charge, how can we hand over trade and taxation to you again? Even if we hand it over to you, what difference will it make from before?"
Shen Zhou smiled awkwardly and didn't know what to say.
Han Du's face suddenly darkened when he saw it. The matter might be worse than he imagined. Taking a deep breath, he asked in a deep voice: "Why?"
When Shen Zhou faced Han Du's gaze, he felt a little scared. But he had to answer Han Du's words. After a few breaths, he could only say: "I don't know much about it. I only saw it from the records of the clan. It is said that it was because of the poor sea trade in the former Yuan Dynasty. , you can't make much money just by digging in the soil. Therefore, when the people's resentment boiled, not only did they not help the former Yuan Dynasty, but, on the contrary, they added insult to injury..."
Shen Zhouyue said that he felt more and more embarrassed. He didn't know what the ancestors were thinking, that they would kick Qian Yuan away, a huge source of wealth, and even take the opportunity to step forward.
Han Du let out a long breath, "What are these people thinking?" Yes, collecting taxes from land is indeed not as fast as sea trade. After all, sea trade claims that a shipload of porcelain, tea, and silk can be exchanged for half a shipload of silver.
But this is only relatively speaking, it is easier and faster to make money in sea trade. This does not mean that domestic trade and land taxation alone are not profitable. In Han Du's opinion, such profits were huge and cruel, but they were still looked down upon by these people. So how big should their appetite be? '
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