Everyone trembled and came to the earth barrier. They were surprised to see that although the gate of the village was closed, there was no suspension bridge on the trench, but the road surface was left unexcavated. [No pop-up novel website] In fact, it is because the suspension bridge does not have such a large load-bearing capacity, and the heavy machinery in the camp has to come in and out, so building a suspension bridge will be troublesome.
Within a stone's throw, the visitors stopped and sent someone to call the door. The village gate seemed to know that they were coming, and someone agreed to talk to them as soon as they shouted. Because Zhang Youfu often dealt with pirates from all walks of life, he could speak some Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hokkien. The pirate on the village gate spoke a strange mandarin that was neither a donkey nor a horse. Fortunately, we can still communicate with each other. Zhang Youfu explained the purpose of his visit. After a while, there was a commotion at the village gate and the door opened. More than ten people came out.
Zhang Youfu knew that kings on mountains and seas often like to put on some show of force to frighten those who talk about voting and extort more property. He had seen this set of things many times, but when he saw that this group of pirates was not very grand, only a dozen or so people came out, all of them were ordinary men in green and short clothes, carrying blunderbuss with short swords on their backs. When I saw the person in the middle, I was simply surprised: this person was wearing the same dark green shorts and trousers as the other minions, a pair of gray short boots, and a belt tied around his waist. There is no difference between the minions. Judging from his appearance, demeanor, speech and behavior, he is also very gentle and elegant, without any appearance of a reckless hero.
I didn’t expect that the leader of the bandits was so simple! Zhang Youfu couldn't help shouting in his stomach.
The visitor was very polite to them. He called them Xi Yazhou, but he did not invite them into the village. He ordered people to bring out many chairs and benches and put them on the river beach in front of the village gate for them to sit. Some people also took out many wooden bowls and barrels from the village to invite the villagers to drink water.
The things that were brought to Zhang Youfu and the others made the rich men's eyes widen: they were all glass cups! Although they are on Hainan Island, they still understand the value of glass: with only two or three taels of white money, they can only buy a colored glass bowl, let alone such a crystal clear glass.
The contents in the cup were mediocre: it was a small white paper bag, floating in the water, slowly dyeing the water a light green color. If you smell it, it seems to have a slight taste of tea, but it is very inferior.
What a grand occasion! Zhang Youfu was happy and worried at the same time. He was happy that the thieves brought such high-end things to entertain them, and they must be very sincere. But he was worried because their ostentation was so grand, and when the price was negotiated, they might not be able to settle with a small number.
Xi Yazhou could speak some Cantonese and exchanged a few polite words with each other. Then there was another roar from inside the village gate, and a four-wheeled car bumped over, causing a commotion among the people on the river beach - the thieves had cars that could move without oxen and horses, and this strange thing had long been spread. Throughout the city, some people said that there was magic in the car and it was driven by the power of ghosts and gods. Others said that the thieves had obtained the magic of heaven and earth. Various theories emerged one after another.
Zhang Youfu learned from spies and Xiangyong that the people riding in such a car with a shed were all big leaders among the thieves. He knew that the people in the car were of high rank, so he stood up hurriedly and tremblingly.
The few people who got out of the car were dressed in the same clothes as the leader just now, nothing special about them. I saw a few more people coming in Luxu. Although one of them had a shaved head, he was wearing local homespun clothes. He was probably a local captured thief.
The Lingao dialect spoken by Xiong Buyou, who served as the translator, sounded a bit strange to Zhang Youfu, but the meaning was very clear. Xi Yazhou explained that they were not pirates, but Chinese businessmen living overseas. They were engaged in industry and commerce. This time they returned to China to start a business. Xiao Zishan secretly laughed in his heart: When did we become "turtles". After arriving in Lingao, he never harassed the people or resisted the government. Then his tone became stern again, accusing the local "evil gentry" of organizing regiments of rural warriors to attack for no reason and causing losses to them. They were forced to defend themselves and retained the freedom to take the next step.
Zhang Youfu was just obedient and praised them for not disturbing the people. He immediately handed over the gift list, which listed one hundred taels of silver, eight pieces of bright red satin, twenty pieces of variegated silk, twenty pieces of Songjiang cotton, and a total of grains of both thickness and thickness. Ten stones, two pigs, four suckling pigs, one soup deer, and two hundred catties of wine. Xi Yazhou took the gift list and read it, then passed it to the other people sitting behind to read it again. Feeling that everything was very useful, he smiled and said:
"We are building a city in this area and have caused a lot of harassment to the local area. How dare we accept such a generous gift? But if we don't accept it, we will be dissatisfied with the noble gentleman's elegance. In this case, we have to accept it all. It is really disrespectful and I feel ashamed of it."
Seeing the gifts from his men, Zhang Youfu took the opportunity to mention several requests of the gentry: first, the autumn harvest was coming, and he hoped that they would not rob the working farmers; second, to ransom those who had been captured; third, to bring back the people who had been captured during the last war. The bodies of those who died in battle were returned to each family for burial.
Then he promised that if he agreed, the gentry in the county would be willing to "help with food and salary", and he would not let them suffer in any case. As for the specific number, we can discuss it later.
Xi Yazhou just nodded politely and did not answer. It was a serious matter. He looked at Wen Desi and the others behind him inquiringly. They winked and got up together to discuss it in the duty room under the tower. Everyone believes that this matter involves the future policy direction, and the decision made by a few people is not appropriate. However, since the other party has the intention of easing, he must respond positively.
Therefore, when Xi Yazhou came back, he directly agreed that each village could send out people and vehicles to dig up corpses. They will send someone to directly point out the place where the body is buried. In order to show their sincerity, they would also release a few disabled prisoners. As for the other two points, he said that they would have to discuss it again and asked Zhang Youfu to come back the next day.
Zhang Youfu didn't intend to settle the matter in one go. Seeing that the other party was very happy, he agreed to exhume the corpse and released a few prisoners. Seeing that it was a great honor for him, the rest of the matter was probably not difficult, it was just a matter of price. He doesn't worry about this. Anyway, it's all the gentlemen's responsibility. After this negotiation, his reward will not be less. Moreover, he could also establish a relationship with this group of pirates - he had already vaguely felt that this group of pirates was different from the heroes he had seen on the road to the mountains and the sea.
Before leaving, Xi Yazhou followed Wen Desi's instructions and gave Zhang Youfu a freshwater pearl necklace originally priced at 25 yuan, and gave each porter a reward of 50 yuan. Everyone from top to bottom was concerned about this group of strange people. Satisfied.
Magistrate Wu and the officials and gentry of Hecheng were all anxiously waiting for Zhang Youfu's reply. In the afternoon, I saw him returning with everyone, and spread the word that the bandits were willing to return the bodies and let a few prisoners back. I also heard Zhang Youfu say that the leaders seemed to be calm and simple people, with no gangster habits at all. It was beyond everyone's expectation.
In the past, even if the bandits were kidnapped and killed, their relatives had to pay a large ransom to retrieve the body for burial. This time, he agreed so happily, so the villages hurriedly recruited people to make thin-skinned coffins, preparing to collect the corpses together tomorrow. Magistrate Wu, because many people died in various villages, he also asked the county charity to collect the corpses together. If there was no one to collect the corpses, they would be collected together.
The next day, villagers from each village set up carts, carrying coffins, reed mats and many lime bags and went there together. Someone was arranged to lead the way, pointed out the cemetery, and quickly withdrew. Only people use high-powered telescopes to monitor from a distance. The health team measured the wind direction and believed that the smell would not be blown over, but everyone still wore masks in unison.
Xi Yazhou led several people to monitor on the sentry tower. Through the telescope, he could see the peasants with their faces and hands wrapped in cloth digging, moving soil-stained objects aside one by one from time to time. Every time a corpse was brought out, some women, children and the elderly rushed to examine and identify the body. Some screamed and screamed, and some fainted on the ground. After watching for a while, he felt that he couldn't stand it any longer. He had never thought it was anything special to kill people in a war. But the tragedy after the war is really disturbing.
"They were all cremated back then. Why bury them in the ground? They look so miserable." Xi Yazhou knew that the corpses had been buried for more than ten days. When they were dug out, apart from looking at their clothes, they were basically rotten and had no appearance. .
"You only get resentment if you burn the body." Xiao Zishan refused to put his eyes on the telescope to see. "Isn't this just like turning the body into ashes? Now the family can collect the body and bury it in peace." It makes you feel better. This can be considered as winning people's hearts."
Originally, regarding how to collect the corpses after the war, the health team suggested that for the sake of health and epidemic prevention, they should either set up a fire in the wild and cremate them, or transport them all to Bopu and throw them into the sea. Most people agreed with this opinion, but Yu Eshui objected. He pointed out: The ancients valued the corpses of the deceased very much. "Gathering the bones" has always been a manifestation of benevolence and righteousness throughout history. If the body is destroyed like this, it will greatly damage the image of the travelers - after all, this will be their base in the future.
Therefore, in the end, the body was buried far away from the camp. I thought that was all. Unexpectedly, the county negotiators put forward three conditions. The third one was to bury the body. Originally, many people were skeptical about the boastful talk of E River. , the remarks about why a person who likes to make shocking remarks should occupy a seat on the executive committee have all disappeared since then.
After a day's work, each village collected the corpses and transported them away. Some of the deceased were beaten to death because they were "trash" in the village. Naturally, no one was there to collect them. In the end, they were buried and transported by the county shrine. Go and be buried in the grave.
