Ji's determination to pursue Li Ran is as strong as a rock. Just as Li Ran was about to enter the Kingdom of Zheng, the most powerful wave of warriors was about to launch a final attack on Li Ran!
This is a piece of woodland with no village or store in front of it. It suddenly rained heavily at night, and there was lightning and thunder.
Sun Wu had just set up a tent to take shelter from the rain, but he vaguely noticed that the black warriors of the Ji family were hiding in the heavy rain.
Because at night, he could only see during the flash of thunder and lightning, so Li Ran couldn't see clearly how many people were coming. He could only feel that there were Ji's pursuing warriors in all directions outside the tent, densely packed with deafening roars and shouts. The sound was endless, and even the vibrations of thunder could not drown it out.
"gentlemen!"
Li Ran huddled in the tent and did not dare to move. At this moment, he had no other way out. He could only watch Sun Wu and Chu Dang guarding in front of him, blocking the waves of warriors for him.
After the charge, the warriors in black clearly saw the strength of Sun Wu and Chu Dang, so they chose to outflank them, constantly draining their physical strength, instead of continuing to fight blindly.
Sun Wu knew the other party's plan and immediately asked Li Ran to prepare to rush out with him.
He knew that if he continued to be dragged here, he would be left to be slaughtered.
Li Ran also understood what he meant and immediately stood up, preparing to break out with him.
But at this moment, Chu Dang got a halberd from nowhere and placed it in front of the two of them:
"Two adults, you go first, then come and stop the rear!"
Li Ran and Sun Wu were stunned when they saw his arrogance and Qianyun. They were about to persuade him to join the sudden news, but unexpectedly, without saying a word, he rushed directly into the crowd of Ji warriors with his sword in hand.
At this time, even Li Ran was stunned.
I saw Chu Dang holding a halberd, sweeping and provoking him. After a wave of swipes, dozens of Ji's warriors were killed on the spot. The warriors who were originally skimming the formation wanted to get close, but before they could get close, they were swept away by Chu Dang's halberd. , his legs were broken, and he screamed repeatedly.
"Hahaha, come on! Is this all you can do?! You gangsters, use whatever skills you have!"
Then Chu Dan picked up a tree trunk as thick as an arm from the ground, and with a halberd in one hand and a tree trunk in the other, he beat the densely packed Ji family warriors until they ran away with their heads in their arms.
When Li Ran and Sun Wu saw this, they both marveled at the power of God's creation.
Although this Chu Dangnao Guazi doesn't look very smart, his brute strength is beyond praise.
As the saying goes, one force can defeat ten. In the face of absolute power, any skill pales in comparison.
So, the two of them took advantage of this precious opportunity that Chu Dang created for them and immediately drove towards the west. Along the way, Sun Wu left Chu Dang with unique marks of the Kingdom of Ju. Considering that Chu Dang was illiterate, it would not be difficult to find the direction if he had these marks.
But what they didn't know was that as soon as they escaped from the forest, many warriors appeared from the dark night to assist Chu Dang.
Just like inside and outside, they annihilated the last wave of dead soldiers who came to hunt Li Ran.
But this time it happened in the dark night. After Li Ran and Sun Wu ran out, when they looked back, they could only see a dark forest, so they didn't know those people who were secretly helping him.
So after running ten miles forward, the two finally found a farmhouse. As soon as the two sat down, Chu Dang rushed up from behind, but saw that the halberd in his hand had been broken into two sections.
"fierce!"
Li Ran saw it with his own eyes tonight, and immediately gave Chu Dang a thumbs up.
"hey-hey!"
Chu Tang touched the back of his head and said shyly:
"Mainly because others helped me, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to deal with them so easily..."
When Li Ran and Sun Wu heard this, they remembered the person who had been secretly helping them, and they both nodded slightly.
The heavy rain made it impossible to continue on the road, so the group asked to stay one night in the backyard of the farmer's house before leaving.
The farmers didn't know the situation. They just knew that these people must be someone they couldn't afford to offend, so they just followed their wishes.
.......
The next day, the sky cleared after the rain.
Li Ran thanked the farmer, left some valuables as payment, and then led Sun Wu and others on their way.
After witnessing Chu Dang's bravery last night, Li Ran felt even more confident. With Sun Wu and Chu Dang guarding him, he could rest easy during his trip to Zheng.
But Li Ran was also very curious about the person who had been helping him secretly.
Logically speaking, the Shusun family does not seem to have such great ability and financial resources to deal with the Ji family here. After all, Li Ran knew very well the number of retainers that the Shusun family could support. Compared with those of the Ji family, they were much inferior.
What's more, this group of killers is definitely not limited to Ji's family. Therefore, Shu Sunbao was beyond his reach and could do nothing.
So it was definitely not someone sent by Shusun Bao.
Apart from Shusun Bao, the next thing Li Ran could think of was a sheep's tongue.
But Sheeptongue doesn't know his own itinerary, let alone his situation. How can he send someone to protect him every time he is attacked?
Furthermore, even if Yang Yangui intends to recruit him, there is no need to go to such trouble, right? Wouldn't it be enough to just ask the Han Chinese Army to send a scout escort? Why be so secretive?
"Could it be Dr. Zichan from the State of Zheng?"
Sun Wu asked.
Li Ran shook his head and said:
"Although I have a one-time relationship with Dr. Zichan, it is only a one-time relationship. Logically speaking, it is unnecessary."
"Who else could it be? Could it be... Miss Ji?"
When Sun Wu talked about the ritual music, he paused obviously, and two strange rays of light suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Li Ran was thinking about it and didn't pay attention. He was shocked when he heard him mention sacrificial music.
"Is it really her?"
If anyone could care about him so much, apart from Shusun Bao, the only one was Ji Le.
"It's just... but why is it so mysterious?"
This is something Li Ran has not yet been able to figure out.
…
While Li Ran was thinking, a burst of singing suddenly came to his ears.
He looked up and saw a dozen working farmers singing in unison in the paddy fields not far away.
"I have children, and Zi Chan works with them. I have fields, and Zi Chan takes them. Whoever kills Zi Chan, I will take them."
"Which one kills Zichan? I am the one who kills him...Doctor Zichan's reputation in Zheng is so bad?"
Sun Wu, who was awakened from his reverie about the sacrificial music, couldn't help frowning and thinking when he heard this song.
The lyrics of this song are easy to understand, and anyone can hear the dissatisfaction of these common people and savages with Zichan.
This is obviously very different from the description of Zichan that Sun Wu received from Li Ran. So, he said quite casually:
"In my opinion, there is probably someone behind this!"
The corners of Li Ran's mouth curled up slightly.
Sun Wu was even more confused.
Li Ran didn't say anything, and went straight into the field, pretending to ask the farmers for a bowl of water.
When the farmers saw how Li Ran and his entourage were dressed, even though they were stained with dust, they could not hide the nobility of their outfits.
"Okay, okay, my dear, please stay a little longer."
Not long after, the farmers brought them bowls of water.
Li Ran asked while drinking:
"Old man, I wonder who owns the fields here?"
"Oh, we all belong to the Feng family."
"Oh? Feng family?... Could it be Gongsun Duan, one of the six ministers of the Zheng Kingdom today?"
"Exactly, exactly."
Gongsun Duan, Feng family name, Duan, courtesy name Bo Shi. He and Zichan belong to the same "gongsun" generation, and are both grandsons of Zheng Mugong. They are currently one of the six ministers of Zheng.
"By the way, old man, we are new here, and we don't know how Zheng Guo is doing right now. But I just heard that old man seems to be quite dissatisfied with Dr. Zichan. I don't know what the reason is?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, according to our master, this is a property. A few days ago, we were asked to reclaim the wasteland! But how can the wasteland be so easy to reclaim? What's more, now our public fields are all If you don’t have time to plant, how can you have time to open up wasteland? Isn’t this nonsense?”
"Hey, it's true that the officials are always talking, but in the end it's not us common people who suffer!"
When Li Ran heard this, he felt confident. Although he still doesn't know who Gongsun Duan is. But the resistance to industrial reform is now clear.
Immediately, after chatting with the farmers for a few more words, he said goodbye to them and continued on his way.
Along the way, Sun Wu became curious again. Seeing that Li Ran had some free time, he couldn't help but ask:
"Sir, he has been silent since he came out of the farm. I wonder if he has any ideas?"
Li Ran smiled slightly and then said:
"Chang Qing, do you know that these fields are owned by the nobles of Zheng Guo, and these common people are just their tenants?"
Sun Wu naturally knew this.
Nowadays, the princes enfeoff the nobles, and the land belongs to the nobles. Gradually, the common people have become tenants of the nobles.
"But what does this mean?"
Sun Wu continued to ask.
Li Ran smiled faintly when he heard the sound, pointed at the fields with a radius of several miles and said:
"Look at these fields. They are close to the mountains and forests. They are winding and stretching. There are no rules at all. There are no farmers working in the fields. They are probably newly cultivated fields that have not had time to be fertilized."
"When I was in the Jin State, I once heard my uncle talk to the doctor about Zichan. I heard that he was carrying out land reform in the Zheng State, encouraging farmers to reclaim wasteland and wasteland, but only levying a small amount of tax per acre. Such a measure that benefits the common people is naturally necessary. It offended the nobles of Zheng Guo a lot."
"You think that the land of the nobles is completely dependent on the cultivation of tenants. Now that the New Deal is being implemented in Zichan, the tenants go to cultivate wasteland in order to implement the New Deal. Naturally, there are fewer tenants in the noble fiefs, and the income of the nobles is naturally less. That's it. So, how can they have a good look towards Zichan?"
After hearing this, Sun Wu couldn't help but nodded, and then asked:
"Could it be that these tenant farmers were bewitched by their masters and sang such songs?"
Zichan's land reform has done nothing but good for the common people. Logically speaking, they should be grateful to Zichan. How could they still sing such songs that curse Zichan?
If it weren't for the nobles who were offended by the property to secretly spread rumors, ridicule and slander the property, why would these tenant farmers be like this?
Hearing this, Li Ran nodded and said:
"Throughout the ages, those in power are most likely to have conflicts with the powerful. Since Zichan wants to safeguard the interests of the office, he must limit the privileges of the powerful. Therefore, Zichan and those powerful people must not be in the same league.
Moreover, such reforms are obvious and seriously damage the interests of the powerful. Although the dignitaries did not dare to do anything to Zichan on the surface, it was not impossible to secretly instigate some rumors and slander to weaken Zichan's prestige. "
As he said that, Li Ran couldn't help but frown slightly.
When he was in the State of Lu, he had clearly seen the main theme of the contradiction between the rulers and the powerful in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Whether it is the former Crown Prince Ji Ye or the current Marquis of Lu, if they want to take power and safeguard the interests of the office, a series of frictions with the powerful are almost inevitable.
In the final analysis, Shusun Bao's righteousness was his willingness to tie his own interests to those of the public office in order to unite the monarchy and check and balance the Ji family. As a minister in power, Zichan still upholds such righteousness, which is really commendable.
But what about the other ministers of Zheng State? It is naturally impossible to act like this. Therefore, as a powerful person against a powerful person, such behavior requires a very strong belief.
Looking at the rumors of these farmers, it is just like the Ji family wanted to worship heaven on behalf of the emperor, and wanted Luhou to become their puppet. How similar are their actions of spreading rumors and hurting Zisan to that of the Ji family? It's exactly the same.
It can be seen that in the country of Zheng today, the government and the public are also in a turbulent situation.
"Haha, it seems that our trip to Zheng Guo may not be so easy."
"Let's go. You have to be careful in the future and don't let anyone take advantage of you."
As the saying goes, "You know when the ice is coming when you walk on frost."
Li Ran couldn't help but become cautious after hearing these malicious slanderous remarks about Zichan.
