Nie County, Heiquan Town, Wangcun
The Wang family courtyard has a deep courtyard. There is a 4-meter-high wall built around the courtyard with high-quality blue bricks. In each direction of the courtyard, there is a dock made of strips of stone, which is close to the wall and is 6 meters high. ;
There are several shooting holes on each fort. There are more than a dozen servants guarding the fort for a long time. There are a lot of fast guns. There is a Czech light machine gun in the main entrance and the north gate. The guards are so tight that even the Japanese are said to The Wang family is quite thin, and it is easy not to come to Wang Village to cause harm. Of course, the food and annual payment that should be handed over cannot be less.
Wangcun is a large village, with the towering Taihang Mountains to the east and plains suitable for farming on other sides. The Crescent River, a tributary of the Fen River, flows through the village head and irrigates more than 5,000 acres of fertile farmland in Wangcun.
There are two major surnames in Wangcun, one is Wang and the other is Zhang. One lives in the east end of the village and the other lives in the west end of the village. There are many intermarriages between the two surnames from generation to generation. Wang Xiangxiang and Zhang Fugui are a couple.
"Sir, it's not good, the Eighth Route Army is here again, and it was Wang Laoqi's daughter who brought them here."
"Wang Zheng, how many times have I told you that you should stay calm when encountering trouble? What's the etiquette of yelling? Speak slowly, the sky will not fall!"
Mr. Wang scolded the butler Wang Zheng. The high-ranking Wang family could not afford to disgrace this man.
Only then did Wang Zheng remember his master's taboo. The Wang family relied on farming and studying, and the most important thing was the word "qi". Even if the sky collapsed in front of you, you should be calm and calm as a mountain.
Wang Zheng quickly regained his composure and returned home calmly to speak:
"Sir, a group of Eighth Route Army soldiers came to the village, about 60 of them. They were equipped with fast rifles, no fewer than three machine guns, and cannons. The leader was said to be a battalion commander. As soon as he arrived, he got into the group of mud-legged soldiers. , seems to say that he will stay to fight the Japanese and will not leave."
"Who allowed them to come in and fight the Japanese? It's not the turn of those mud-legged people to take charge of Wangcun yet!"
Mr. Wang couldn't calm down anymore. Wang Village has been owned by the Wang family for generations. The Zhang family came here hundreds of years ago, and it has made Wang Village a mess. The two surnames have been fighting for hundreds of years, but they did not drive out the Zhang family in the end. go out;
But in Wangcun, the Wang family has the final say, and the head of the Zhang family has no say in front of Mr. Wang.
Of course, the head of the Zhang family would not agree with this statement. In Zhang Shijie’s words:
"It's been hundreds of years, when have my Zhang family ever been afraid?"
"Wang Zheng, what's the attitude of Zhang?"
Although Wang Bodao never took Zhang Shijie seriously, he still wanted to see the attitude of the Zhang family when it came to the invasion of foreign forces.
"Back to Master, Master Zhang didn't seem to object. He also sent two jars of good wine and half a fan of pork to the Eighth Route Army, saying it was a reward for the benevolent and righteous soldiers who fought the Japanese."
After hearing this, Wang Bodao couldn't help but cursed:
"Old fox!"
Wang Zheng asked puzzledly:
"Sir, didn't Mr. Zhang object to the Eighth Route Army entering Wangcun before? Why does he seem to be a different person all of a sudden?"
Zhang Bodao said disdainfully:
"This time, that time, before there were only a dozen or so Eight Route Army soldiers, and just a dozen guns, what kind of waves could they make?
It's different now. More than 60 people have arrived, including a battalion commander, armed with guns and cannons. There's no telling how many more people are behind him. He, surnamed Zhang, knows he can't afford to offend, so he wants to divert trouble to the east;
He is planning to put our Wang family in front, so that he can sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers and wait to see our Wang family's jokes! "
When Wang Zheng was a child, he was Wang Bodao's school boy, and he also went to many schools. He understood the battles between these big families as soon as he heard them, and the one named Zhang was still sinister.
"Master, we can't take advantage of Zhang. Do you want to send a message to the second master?
I heard that the Eighth Route Army is also under the control of Chief Yan of the Guiguo Mansion. The second master’s face must be given to him, a small battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army. "
"Wang Zheng, please don't worry about it. The only one with a gun in this era is the Caotou King. Chief Yan can't even control Taiyuan and has retreated to Guanzhong. How can he control Wangcun, which is hundreds of miles away?
"Remember, no one can help us with Wangcun, not even the second child, we have to rely on ourselves!
Let's get to know the Eighth Route Army first, and send a message to the battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army in my name, telling him that I will invite him to the humble house for a drink at noon tomorrow. "
Wang Zheng couldn't help but flatter him:
"Sir, this move is the same as Mr. Zhang's sending out wine and meat. It shows the demeanor of the head of Wangcun!"
Wang Bodao stroked his beard out of habit and said proudly:
"Hmph, Zhang wants to play dirty tricks on me, but you are still a bit immature!
Although our Wang family is not afraid of a small Eighth Route Army battalion commander, we cannot let you watch the show because of your surname Zhang! "
On the road to Gaofeng, Xiang Xiang had already inquired about the situation in Wangjia Village, and had some understanding of the affairs of the Wang family and Zhang family;
After all, Vanilla is just an ordinary farm girl. She has only scratched the surface of the fights between big families, but this information is enough for him.
Some work can be done on the conflict between the Wang and Zhang families, but it is not decisive. He wants to open up the situation as soon as possible in Heiquan, and there will not be much time left for him;
Now the main force of the Japanese is fighting a big battle with the Eighth Route Army, and they will not care about their backyard for a while. This is the best opportunity for development. Before the Japanese can free their hands, he will set the Japanese backyard on fire. When the Independence Brigade comes, they will Won't leave!
So as soon as he came to Wangcun, he directly joined the group of fellow villagers. Although many fellow villagers did not know much about the Eighth Route Army and were afraid of Japanese revenge, they would not chase the Eighth Route Army away, but they just did not want to get close.
Gao Feng followed Li Qing to open a base outside Liu Town and had rich practical experience. He should not rush into establishing a good relationship between the military and civilians with the fellow villagers. He had to do real things for the people first.
After two days of visiting and communicating with fellow villagers, he found that although Wang Village is located in a plain area with fertile land, their lives are not much better than those in Majia Village in Liu Town. They work hard for a year and have good harvests. They can still live half full, and every household can survive on wild vegetables during disaster years.
Since the Japanese came, the amount of food they had to pay has increased by almost 30%. The wealthy landlords have passed on this 30% to land rent, making life for the fellow villagers even more miserable!
Now in the good years, they can only survive on wild vegetables. In the famine years, they can only famine the landlords, borrow money at usury, and finally sell their children, daughters, and themselves.
There are less than 1,500 people in Wangjia Village, but the Wang family has more than a hundred servants and hundreds of servants;
The Zhang family is in the official salt business, but of course private salt is also sold secretly. There are no less than a hundred salt workers in their family, and there are only a few homesteaders in the huge Wangjia Village;
Either they farmed the land and worked as slaves for the Wang family, or they sold themselves to the Zhang family as saltmen. The Wang family and the Zhang family accounted for more than 95% of the wealth of Wang Village!
This must change, starting with rent reduction and interest rate reduction!
It depends on how the Wang family and Zhang family deal with it.
"Battal Commander, someone from the Wang family sent an invitation to come over and have a drink. It won't be the Hongmen Banquet. I don't think you should go!"
A meaningful smile appeared on Gao Feng's lips, and sure enough, it came...
