"There must be about a dozen families from Luxi, Lunan, Qijunnan, Langya, etc. who have raised their own banners." Zhang Xing came to his senses and calmly asked from behind the candle. "How many of them do King Xiongtian think you can keep?"
Xiong Bonan was silent for a while, and then answered in a low voice: "Two families...probably."
Even though Zhang Xing had been mentally prepared, he was a little confused at this time. He paused for a long time before asking: "Which two? Where are the others?"
"The family belongs to a man named Zuo. The remnants of Zuo Xiaoyou, the former Prime Minister of Qi County, are now located in the southeast of Qi County, occupying two counties. There is also some power in Langya Mountain District." King Xiongtian began to tell the story seriously. "It may be that the friend Zuo Xiaoyou he followed before was the local magistrate of Qi County, and he made a special explanation; it may also be that he was frightened by Fan Hu who returned to his teacher before he had time to do anything; of course, it may also be that he is really a particular person, I haven’t heard of any evil deeds, and there are some rules and regulations for doing things, so it is basically a government that does not disturb the people.”
"It should be a few things. He has been an official before, and then the Deposed Dragon Gang Li Shan was victorious just after the incident. There was no room for trouble." Xie Minghe interjected from the side. "This is really rare in troubled times."
"Probably so." Xiong Bonan nodded perfunctorily and continued. "As for the remaining family, there are actually two 'half families'... One is the Guishan Army in southeastern Shandong. They have a bad reputation in Sishui County. They are very clean in the Langya Guishan area. They have just suffered from Liang. Father, no matter whether they are good or bad, it is not easy to blame them; as for the Haixu Gang, which has just emerged in the coastal area of Langya for half a year, everything is in order, but one of the gang members is suspected of taking people out to sea, but this year, especially It’s Langya’s confusion. Do you think selling yourself into slavery is a good thing or a bad thing? It’s hard to tell clearly.”
Zhang Xing's heart moved slightly, but he didn't say anything more. He just kept asking: "Then the others cannot be kept? Have they all slaughtered villages and towns?"
"That's not the case." Xiong Bonan took a deep breath and shook his head after a long while: "But after thinking about it, I can't think of a way to save it... The most common thing is to rob the whole village, the whole town, the whole town. The county is robbed, the cattle, sheep and livestock in the countryside, the gold, silver and silk in the city are all going to be robbed... I haven't counted the official treasury, because after all it is a rebellion, and there are indeed many people inside who have released things from the official treasury to the people. of."
Before Zhang Xing spoke, Liu Yunhe next to him probably understood some of the content, but he couldn't hold back at this time: "Won't the Deposed Dragon Gang plunder?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhang and Xiong both looked at him.
Xie Minghe immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, but he became even more curious: "Does the Deposed Dragon Gang not plunder?"
"I don't rob the people, I only rob the officials." Xiong Bonan replied with a loud voice. "Furthermore, during the first wave of uprisings, grain was distributed, debts were burned, and lawsuit jails were cleaned up. This time the Eastern Expedition did not distribute grain because of concerns about insufficient food, but more money and silk were released."
Xie Minghe was still curious: "But if that's the case, how did you get the rations and military resources later? I heard that in the First Battle of Lishan, you fought 50,000 against 20,000, and in the Second Eastern Expedition, you also had an army of 50,000!"
"It's not like letting them all go, leaving half in the treasury. The key is to replace the government immediately and prevent the uprising from ruining the people's affairs." Xiong Bonan tried his best to explain, but didn't bother to correct the troops. “Later, land taxes were also collected.”
"But I still don't understand." Of course Xie Minghe could see Xiong Bonan's dissatisfaction, but he couldn't suppress his own doubts. "How did you replace the government? And if you collected land taxes as usual, wouldn't the local people be resentful? What difference does it make if you can't make trouble?"
Xiong Bonan wanted to answer, but he was speechless, so he looked at Zhang Xing.
Xie Minghe understood and looked at Zhang Xing.
"Every place is different." Zhang Xing answered seriously. "The Eastern Border is the hometown of the Eastern Qi, but it is not the core of the Eastern Qi. The two capitals of the Eastern Qi are one in Hebei and the other in the Jin Dynasty. The Eastern Border is mostly occupied by military leaders, and there are not many noble families. So, The main force of the rebellion here are mostly local powerful people inherited from the Eastern Qi Dynasty. They were not only middle and low-ranking officials of the Wei Dynasty in the local area, but also heroes on the road. They are naturally good at common affairs. With their help, plus the ability to deal with demoted officials With some decency, we can naturally keep the order of the government during events."
Xie Minghe nodded repeatedly after hearing half of it. When it came to history, he knew more than Zhang Xing, so he quickly realized that in a word, the grassroots political power was originally in the hands of the rebels here.
"As for resentment." Zhang Xing said with a smile. "Unlike the land tax of three acres for one acre of land in Jiangdong, one acre of land here in the East has always only required double the land tax. After we deposed the Dragon Gang, we only granted the land and collected the land tax according to the actual situation, and burned the high-interest debt. It’s strange that the people actually let go of their grievances after cutting off those special products for worship.”
Xie Minghe smiled.
"Anyway." Seeing this, Xiong Bonan finally took it back. "Looting is the biggest and most common incident, and then there is excessive expropriation, but there is no action to maintain the place..."
"This is what most rebels are capable of." Xie Minghe immediately shook his head in response. "Everything was good when they started to take action. Who can say that they were not forced to take action by the Wei Dynasty court? Therefore, when the rebels all over the world are swarming, they must be blamed on the Wei Dynasty court. But once the action is completed, who can be like you? The Deposed Dragon Gang knows how to govern the place and maintain order, and it only takes a month or two to clean up the treasury... But after gathering together, they still need to raise an army and expand their territory, so they will inevitably ask for excessive things from below. The bottom is squeezed dry, so you can only rob it openly, and once the door is opened, you will be willing to degenerate, and everything will come to you."
Xiong Bonan became more and more frustrated, but could not argue. He just continued speaking in a low voice:
"Thank you, what you said is right. These are pretty general, but specifically these leaders are what bothers me the most... There were many good men in the past who were all familiar heroes, and they all had a lot of loyalty. I have never seen them lose their loyalty and duty in poverty. As a result, it has only been a year and they have become worse than the previous day... They used to be clean and self-sufficient, but after the uprising, they took in a woman. This is okay, but also It can be said that you are rich and get married, but one woman is followed by another, and you marry ten, eight, or twenty in six months. What on earth is that? There are some who are greedy for money, I won’t talk about it. Who is not greedy for money? ? Xiao Guo in our gang is also greedy for money, but what does it matter if one person has to eat dozens of plates for one meal? "
Xie Minghe seemed to want to interrupt again, but did not speak.
Zhang Xing, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh when he had a little understanding: "These are really nothing in front of the Southern Tang and Nanchen families in the past. In those days, many Jiangdong families had a meal with hundreds of maids and thousands of plates. In order to There are many people who show off their wealth and kill people randomly with vindictiveness, but because of this, those noble families were completely defeated, and they were trampled under the feet of those bumpkins from Guanlong until they lost all their skin."
Xie Minghe's expression remained unchanged, but the flame of the straight candle in front of him visibly swayed.
"So, after all, it is recognized as a bad thing, and there is a clear lesson." Xiong Bonan sighed. "Actually, for me, when it comes to slaughtering cities and villages, killing without restraint, and committing crimes, it's not that extreme. In other words, there are still only a few that can be found. The key is that most people think of robbery, taking women, and luxury. Wudu treated it as a normal thing. I went to see them and looked for them. They knew how to cover up random killings, and even covered up things like wars between rebels, but no one covered up such things. This is true for one family, and this is true for two families. Everyone is like this, and in the end I became the wrong person, so that I also wondered, was it because I thought the rules were too harsh at the beginning? But when I turned back and looked at us, and thought about it again, weren't we all quite right? Okay?"
"Is King Xiongtian wondering whether this is right or wrong, or wondering why they became like this?" Zhang Xing thought for a while and asked with a smile from the opposite side.
"It's not enough to distinguish right from wrong. I still wonder why they became like this." Xiong Bonan said sincerely.
Xie Minghe stopped talking.
"The thing is very simple. One is that I have a bad example in my heart; the other is that there is no one to restrain me." Zhang Xingze nodded with satisfaction, and then spoke slowly. "There are many bad examples, because the world was bad in the past. The nobles of Dong Qi, the military leaders of Guan Long, and the aristocratic families of Jiangdong have gone through hundreds of years of changes, and they have all gone bad. Now that these rebel heroes have gained power, naturally There is a mentality of feeling that you are the master of your own country and you are the master, and you can do the same."
Xie Minghe said nothing, while Xiong Bonan nodded immediately.
"But the worse example is none other than the Wei Dynasty." Zhang Xing continued to talk.
"How do you say this?" Xiong Bonan was surprised for a moment. "The Wei court...the court was bad, but it didn't openly plunder, right?"
"If you think about it again, is there really no open robbery?" Zhang Xing asked back.
Xiong Bonan was confused.
"King Xiongtian." Xie Minghe couldn't hold back again and again. "Harsh government is robbery... open robbery, but they have an emperor and a Guanlong army that has conquered the world. They can amend the law, issue documents, and turn the robbery into a legal decree. Otherwise, you want to Think about it, the corvee of hundreds of thousands or millions of people at every turn, with tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of casualties, is no more brutal than massacres? Expropriating double land taxes from the hometown of Eastern Qi and three taxes from the hometown of Nanchen is not plundering the entire world? If not, why do the people of the world rebel? Why do they keep rebelling even though they know that this is a court that has just unified eight or nine points of the world, has countless soldiers, and has many masters? By the way, there is also that... collecting taxes on weekdays It's a lot of money, but once there's a disaster, we surround them and don't save them, and we don't allow anyone to run away. I don't know what that means."
Xiong Bonan remained silent, and his face turned purple under the candlelight. It could be seen that he accepted this statement very easily, but after the window paper was pierced, he had some more clear doubts. feel.
Yawenba
"You two are really interesting." Zhang Xing couldn't help laughing at this time. "There are some things that King Xiongtian thinks should be taken for granted, but Brother Xie is at a loss. There are some things that Brother Xie understands clearly, but King Xiongtian keeps thinking about them... Today is a rare meeting."
Xie Minghe also laughed and wanted to say more.
But Xiong Bonan finally couldn't restrain the new doubts that arose in his heart: "If this is true, if one day our deposed Dragon Gang re-establishes stability in the world and becomes a new court, can we control ourselves and not plunder the world?" ?”
Zhang Xing wanted to answer, but when he glanced at Xie Minghe, he smiled at the latter: "Brother Xie, what do you think?"
Xie Minghe also twisted his beard and laughed: "I dare not say."
"Is there anything you dare not say?" Zhang Xing said disapprovingly. "I have ridiculed the Jiangdong family several times. You should have been holding your breath and just say whatever you wanted."
"Then I'll say it." Xie Minghe glanced at Xiong Bonan and looked at him seriously. "Although you, the Deposed Dragon Gang, are temporarily in the lead, you will most likely not be able to conquer the world!"
Xiong Bonan was furious for a moment, but Zhang Xing waved his hand to stop him.
Seeing this, Xie Minghe continued to twist his beard and continued: "Actually, what I just wanted to say... There is another important reason why those rebels surrendered to themselves. They also knew in their hearts that they could not conquer the world, because they could not conquer the world. , then relax and be unscrupulous.”
"This is the truth." Zhang Xing nodded, but he insisted. "But it's not the main reason. The main reason is the lack of restraint. It's human nature to be armed with a sharp knife and have a murderous intention... Otherwise, according to what you said, our Deposed Dragon Gang can't conquer the world. Why don't we plunder places wantonly? See? Place for cattle and sheep?”
Xiong Bonan was slightly refreshed, which was his original intention of coming here.
"I'm surprised too." Xie Minghe answered frankly. "You keep talking about restraint, but who restrained your Dragon Gang? You and Li Shu? If that's the case, it's you and Li Shu who are two great heroes who want to take over the world and cherish their feathers. This is the first level. Did you come downstairs?"
"That's not the case. Believe it or not, we established an organization and used the power of the organization to restrain each other." Zhang Xing replied sincerely. "If it is true that I restrained the Deposed Dragon Gang, it can only be said that I knew from the beginning that people cannot rely on their own virtues. The four Supreme Beings are all virtuous people, but it does not delay their ability to do so. When we lose control and do evil, what about us mortals? So I worked hard early on to develop an organizational force in the gang and try to restrain each other. To put it bluntly, without this restraint, before the Lishan War, the Dragon Gang might have been deposed. So we broke up, and after the Lishan War, I couldn’t help but become the gang leader who sticks to his word.”
"Believe it or not... I can probably understand what you are talking about. Isn't it just relying on morality, rules and the number of people to hold it together? But this thing is not necessarily a good thing. If you are driven by anything, it is easy to be unable to turn around." Xie Minghe thought for a moment and continued to shake his head. "On the contrary, it restricts your ability to take over the world. It is easier to choose the biggest hero to take charge of the country, and it is more accurate to do things."
"Maybe so." Zhang Xing thought for a while and became more sincere. "And to be honest, even the current situation may not be able to persist. Maybe one day there will be more dissatisfied people in the gang, and big trouble will occur... But I still feel that the so-called heroes, if they even have this little If you can't accept any restrictions or abide by these rules, what kind of hero can you be? As for choosing the leader, I have nothing to say, but how to choose? Depend on family background, cultivation, or who can do it right. Is it good, can you abide by the rules and do justice?"
Xiong Bonan nodded repeatedly, but Xie Minghe sneered, as if he didn't think so.
Zhang Xing immediately said again: "I know what Brother Xie means, and I never expected to build a pure world that burned everything like the madmen of the True Fire Cult. But since I was forced to rebel and want to restore peace to the world, I have to Better than the Wei Dynasty, right? It has to be better than Dong Qi, right? It has to be better than Dong Yi, right? It has to be better than your Nan Tang Nan Chen in Jiangdong, right? If you bid high, you will win, and if you bid high, you will win. You may not set a similar goal, no How can we make some progress by setting a cleaner target?"
Xiong Bonan nodded heavily, then stood up, walked outside the pavilion, and walked around, as if he was losing weight after eating too much wine.
Xie Minghe also sighed after hearing this: "I believe you have good intentions, but again, this is equivalent to walking with a heavy burden. To win the world, the winner is the king, not the benevolent. If the benevolent loses, he will only be a loser. It’s a joke...but I also understand what you mean. If the benevolent cannot be king, then there is no point in it. But if that is the case, why can’t the victor be the king first, conquer the world, and then be benevolent?"
"The so-called benevolent people don't take everything for granted. When we are completely defeated on the battlefield and struggling to survive, I don't think it's okay to drink human blood and eat human flesh." Zhang Xing was still sincere. "As for whether you can win the world, I'm not afraid of jokes. The current situation in the Deposed Dragon Gang has just risen, and I feel a little unscrupulous... How can I win the world?"
"So, if you win the world..." At this moment, Xiong Bonan suddenly strode back into the pavilion, causing the sound of wind and candlelight to sway. "If you win the world, how can you continue to maintain morality and not become the world's biggest thief?"
"Of course we will expand the Deposed Dragon Gang to the whole world." Zhang Xing raised his head to face him, and when he saw the other party's bright eyes, he couldn't help but feel a little moved in his heart. "Let the gang's organization go deep into every place in the world... It's like, like brothers becoming sworn brothers, there will be loyalty between each other, and if the whole world becomes sworn together, then the whole world will have loyalty together. , Guanlong people, Jiangdong people, even Dongyi people, and Beidi people are all one family. Naturally, people inside are not allowed to bully and rob others at will. Moreover, if you regard the people of the world as brothers, you will not be able to deal with those who cannot control yourself. What’s the point of being a bastard?”
Xie Minghe couldn't help but laugh again, of course he thought it was ridiculous.
Xiong Bonan breathed heavily, then nodded, and then looked at Xie Minghe: "Thank you for not believing it. I also know that this is probably just an idea, but I want to give it a try... because the world has become such a mess. It’s okay if you understand the truth, but if you understand it but don’t give it a try, wouldn’t your life be in vain?”
Xie Minghe was immediately solemn.
Zhang Xing also looked at this sworn brother: "Brother Xie, you should have felt it. I have been indifferent to you from the beginning, not because I don't look down on your ability and the power of the Eight Families now, nor because I have a grudge against you back then. It's embarrassing for you to carry me around, but I feel that with your background, I'm afraid you can't accept the world's righteousness of our Deposed Dragon Gang... King Xiongtian was born in a rough place, I am a farmer in the north, but you are one of the eight famous people in the world. The head of the Xie family!"
Xie Minghe opened his mouth to speak, but Zhang Xing reached out to stop him:
"We are rebelling. We want to seize the world, and we also want to stabilize the world. To stabilize the world, we want to make the world less thieves openly plundering, or to rob less, so that everyone can enjoy this sense of loyalty. And I boldly guess I guess you want the Eight Great Jiangdong Families to replace the Guanlong gang and become the world's great thieves! I can still have some hope against those powerful and reckless people, but against people like you who have done all the great things in the world. He is a thief, but I have no hope."
Xie Minghe fell silent, and after a moment, he slowly shook his head:
"I don't agree with your fancy things, but I really never thought about asking the Eight Jiangdong Family to become the world's biggest thieves... It's not that I don't want to, but I have traveled around over the years, and I have gained some experience and know that they are basically It's just that the mud can't hold up the wall, there's no such possibility! In this world, the strong are respected, and the ones who can succeed in the end are either Guan Long's gang, Dong Qi's gang, or you, Zhang Xingxuan, who started his career here, isn't it? Because this is the hometown of Dong Qi, are there any powerful people who have mastered the fundamentals of this place?"
"Indeed." Zhang Xing admitted without hesitation. "We have been debating for a long time whether the winner is king or the benevolent is king, as if the two are in conflict... In fact, this is not necessarily the case, these are two different things."
"If that's the case." Xie Minghe ignored the other party's argument and spoke fiercely. "I don't want to say anything about going on a trip with you or giving it a try, nonsense that I don't believe myself, but I just want to say that the world is in chaos now, and the violent Wei is unbearable. Even I have the idea of resisting, at least for a long time. We are traveling together... right or wrong?"
"Yes." Zhang Xing hesitated and nodded.
"Then why don't we go for a walk together first?" Xie Minghe couldn't follow up. "Let's make a gentleman's agreement... let's go together for a while first. At least we have the same idea of overthrowing the Guanlong people. If we accomplish this, you have done a pretty good job. I will go with you again, or I think you If I don’t do well, I will leave like a wild crane, so what?”
Zhang Xing burst out laughing on the spot.
"Why are you laughing, dear brother?" Xie Minghe asked in surprise.
"I'm sorry, brother, for thinking too much." Zhang Xing responded with a smile. "The reason why I'm cold is because I know that Brother Xian is a sensible person. I'm worried that you will immediately see clearly the problems between us when you come in, and then leave in a moment, resulting in wasted joy, so I want to make it clear to you first. Things... Actually, as you said before, according to the current situation, the Deposed Dragon Gang will most likely not be able to win the world, so it is too late to even grow stronger at this time? How can you think about those things? Today's words, I I didn’t expect to say so much, but it really feels like a brotherly heart-to-heart talk.”
"Not bad." Xiong Bonan came to his senses and spoke quickly. "We, the Deposed Dragon Gang, are not even prepared to kill all those rebels who are plundering without restraint, so how can we reject a world-renowned master? What we just said is what we hide from the bottom of our hearts."
Xie Minghe also laughed on the spot, but then looked around: "The starry night is bright, it is rare to have a heart-to-heart relationship... It is really rare to have a heart-to-heart relationship... But it is also happy. There should be poetry."
"No." Zhang Xing shook his head repeatedly. "These pieces of paper I have are all nonsense. They are just talking about the current chaos in the world, and Bao Wei is the main person responsible."
"You want to talk about this too?" Xiong Bonan was surprised for a moment.
"There should also be wine." Xie Minghe immediately added, explaining to Xiong Bonan at the same time. "There must be people who don't understand, and there are quite a few of them, but let's not talk about this now... Do you have any wine?"
"Yes, the wine is also good." Xiong Bonan also cheered up a little.
"No wine either." Zhang Xing responded sincerely. "There is only a bucket of ice-cold sour plum soup in the back room."
"Then sour plum soup." Xie Minghe didn't care at all.
Xiong Bonan turned around and went in. After a moment, he brought out a bucket of still chilly sour plum soup and several bowls. He then broke open the thin layer of ice and poured a bowl each.
The three of them were in the pavilion, each raising a bowl and drinking it all in one gulp. Then they sat down again and continued talking.
PS: Good night everyone (starting again...shame).
