Someone may ask? The Ding family has established such a big situation in Hukou for several generations, why would they still engage in robbing families and homes?
It's because the Ding family discovered in troubled times that if they want their family to prosper, it's not enough to have money. It's better to have guns, connections, and connections.
Whether it is establishing a team training or establishing a relationship with the government, a lot of money is needed.
Of course, you can make money by doing business, but in troubled times, where can you find any stable and long-lasting good business? It is still the most cost-effective to buy without capital.
What's more, Pingbotang doesn't lead a group of desperate minions. When they have money, they live happily with large pieces of meat and bowls of wine. When they don't have money, they are just homeless bandits who sleep in the open and starve. After all, the Ding family is also a well-known large family in Hukou County. To maintain a decent and elegant life for a large family, it also requires a lot of money.
Also, Pingbo Hall is known as a local team training place with about 200 people, and it does not receive government funding. The eating, drinking, and defecation of these people costs a lot of money in a year. How can we not rob it? Don't you want to take advantage of the Ding family's wealth?
Therefore, regardless of whether the Ding family's hands and feet were clean when killing people and stealing goods, those caring people in Hukou County already knew that this Pingbotang was not a good bird.
Because the victims of many unsolved cases were quite large, seven or eight boats that were traveling together were wiped out. It is said that the fishermen living by the river have seen the flames soaring into the sky in the center of the river. Smoke and shrill screams and cries.
Being able to wrap up a fleet without missing a single one shows that the scale of the water bandits is definitely not small. There are at least dozens of clippers. In addition, the fact that the victims can be killed every time without any leakage shows that the water bandits are not only numerous, but also well-organized and well-organized, and are not ordinary stragglers.
So, the armed groups that meet these two conditions in the Hukou area are the Yihu Gang and the Pingbotang. Even the security team in Hukou County does not have this ability.
However, the Ding family has a deep relationship with the government, and they usually manage a lot of money. Some people even suspect that the government disclosed information about cargo ships to the Ding family. It can be said to be a collusion between officials and gangsters. For ordinary people, even if you want to report it, you can't. A complaint.
But Zhou Wen is not an imperial envoy who investigates the case in disguise. He doesn't care about any evidence at all. As long as you are a roadblock or stumbling block to Yangtze River shipping, I will just go up and destroy you.
His purpose in taking out this list was just to ask the Independent Brigade to introduce the location and defense conditions of these water bandits' lairs, and to help find a few guides who were familiar with the roads. As long as they could lead the small team to the water bandits' lairs, Near the lair, there will be nothing for them to do later.
After seeing the list, Zhao Huaiyi smiled and said to Zhou Jinbao: "Jinbao, you know the local situation better than I do. Please introduce the situation of these two families to the scholar."
When Zhou Wen heard this, he knew that the introduction mentioned by Zhao Huaiyi had a deeper meaning. He was afraid that it was not just as simple as introducing the geographical location. Could it be that he had also received benefits from the Ding family and wanted to help build relationships?
"Scholar, our Logistics Department has to purchase daily supplies for the army, and we have to deal with the local government a lot. Over time, we have obtained some information from various sources that is different from the rumors..."
After Zhou Jinbao explained the situation in detail, Zhou Wen realized that the gap between the rumors and reality was actually so big. If he hadn't gone on an independent trip, he would have almost killed a good person by mistake.
The good people mentioned here are not Pingbotang, but the Yihu Gang.
It turns out that this Yihu Gang is really not some heinous bandits and robbers, but a group of good fishermen who were forced to go to Liangshan by the government.
The leader of the Yihu Gang is called Zhao Qinghu. It is said that his ancestors once served as guards in the imperial palace in Beijing, but for unknown reasons, he later settled down in a small remote fishing village called Panjiaao in Poyang Lake. He usually made a living by fishing and hunting. Although the days are peaceful, we can barely survive.
In the late Qing Dynasty, troubled times came. Hukou County is located at the junction of three provinces and at the intersection of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake. Its geographical location is very important, and it has naturally become an important place for military strategists to compete for. Decades of military disasters and banditry coupled with government corruption and oppression have made the lives of ordinary people increasingly bleak.
The general situation is such that the Zhao family is naturally not immune. Poverty, illness, and natural and man-made disasters have caused the Zhao family's population to dwindle day by day. In Zhao Qinghu's generation, the eldest brother died of illness when he was three years old, and the younger sister contracted smallpox as soon as she was born, and naturally she did not survive. The only descendant of the entire Zhao family is Zhao Qinghu, who is favored by his elders.
Therefore, Zhao Qinghu's parents and elders in the family lived frugally and did their best to cultivate Zhao Qinghu. Moreover, they know that in troubled times, reading is useless, and only martial arts can keep the family safe. The ancestors of the Zhao family once served as palace guards, so their martial arts skills are naturally good.
Zhao Qinghu, on the other hand, has shown talent in martial arts since he was a child. He has mastered the ancestral martial arts well before he was twelve years old. In addition, his parents skipped meals and did not dare to deprive him of nutrition even if he starved himself. Zhao Qinghu also became extremely strong, earning him the nickname "Tiger Head".
It is commendable that Zhao Qinghu has known how to respect his parents and elders since he was a child. He is helpful to others, makes friends easily, is honest and steady, and is quite prestigious among the younger generation in the village.
But unfortunately, a great epidemic more than ten years ago took away the lives of his parents and family members. Only Zhao Qinghu in the Zhao family survived due to his strong body and strong resistance.
As the saying goes, misfortune never comes singly. Before Zhao Qinghu, who had just turned 12, could recover from the grief of his parents' death, the Yangtze River flooded again. The entire Poyang Lake was poured into the raging river, submerging countless people around the lake. Villages and towns, Panjiaao was also swallowed up by the lake overnight.
By the time the flood receded, not a single house in the village remained, and the Zhao family's ancestral home had become a ruined eaves and broken walls.
Good Zhao Qinghu, although he is young, the epidemic and natural disasters have not diminished his belief in living tenaciously. He knows the seriousness of the situation.
At this time, almost every family in the village was affected by the disaster. Even if others sympathized with his situation and wanted to help, they were powerless. But he, who was lucky enough to escape the flood, was already hungry and growling.
He thought of his parents' earnest instructions before they passed away, and knew that he shouldered the important responsibility of inheriting the Zhao family's incense and could not sit still and wait for death. So he dug out the ancestral hunting bow and hatchet from the mud, and while his strength was still there, he went up to the mist-filled Wushan Mountain alone.
He wants to survive and find a way out in the muddy and steep mountains.
