After noon, the scorching sun scorched the earth, and the cicadas chirped at noon as noisy as thunder.
There is a lychee tree that is more than 30 years old planted next to Li's house. A ray of sunlight shines through the heavy leaves and shines through the dusty light. In this hot weather, the shade of trees is often much cooler than the eaves.
I saw a group of people gathering under the thick shade of the tree. When I got closer, I saw that it was Zhang Rui who gathered here with everyone who had had lunch to chat under the shade. After all, Li Mansion is not Zhang Rui's own residence, and it is not easy to use it too much.
At this time, Zhang Rui was leaning against the main trunk of the lychee tree, and most of the people around him were young people from his own village, and some were young people from neighboring villages. The women in the village took their children to play and chat in the shade of the trees nearby.
When rice was being distributed this morning, people from neighboring villages came to watch. Later, when we were making lunch, some people who came from neighboring villages also shared some leftovers. Hearing that Zhang Rui had something to say, they all stayed and watched to see if there might be something good to do.
"I'm very grateful to the folks for coming. As we all know, it hasn't rained in recent months. The weather has been dry and cracks have burst out in the fields. The yield in the fields has been reduced, and it is estimated that there will not be much harvest." Zhang Rui told everyone. He gave a salute and said
"Who says it's not?..."
"The rice fields in my family's fields have all bowed their heads, and not a few full grains of millet have been produced..."
"Yes! I don't know how I will survive until the next harvest, and I don't know how long the drought will last..."
…………
Zhang Rui's words triggered a lot of talk...
"Please be quiet and listen to what I have to say first!" Looking at everyone talking, Zhang Rui could only stop.
"Everyone knows that in more than a month, the people from the yamen will come to collect the summer tax. I don't know how much harvest we can have this year, and how much food we will have after excluding the field rent and summer tax. Will anyone ask for it again this year? Are you going to sell your sons and daughters? And due to the drought this year, the bandits on the mountain have gone down to collect food much more frequently." Zhang Rui looked at the crowd and swallowed, and continued.
"Everyone must have heard that not long ago, the bandits from Zhilian Mountain came to Dagou Village to steal food. They killed several people in a row but only stole less than eight shi of food. But it has only been a few days and they haven't been able to do anything. Wait until everyone harvests rice. They came to our village to steal grain again, and they still robbed it in different ways."
"I want to ask everyone, if they continue like this and rob us of all our food, what will we do when we have no food to pay taxes and rent? What will we do when the people from the yamen come to lock people up and sell their sons and daughters again? Taxes? Or can we just wait in jail to die?"
After listening to Zhang Rui's words, the villagers looked panicked. Many times they just live one day at a time. Sometimes they don't think much about what to do in the future. Many times they don't dare to think about the future, for fear of not finding the motivation to live on.
Worry can spread among people instantly like a contagious plague. The problems Zhang Rui mentioned were exactly the ones they had to face.
…
"I heard Brother Six say this. I wonder what Brother Six thinks?" Mr. Zhou Bing looked at Zhang Rui and said.
"It's very simple. Since the bandits are coming to steal our grain, we have to fight with them. Let's save the grain first, and then we can pay the summer tax if we have grain." Zhang Rui said with a look of indignation.
"If you don't pay the summer tax, how can you save people who have no money or food after being locked up by the Yamen? Then the only option is to rebel except waiting for death. I believe there are not many people here who are willing to rebel! So I can only keep the most basic summer You can default on taxes and everything else."
"Brother Six, what you said is true, but bandits are not easy to deal with! They all have guys in their hands. We don't have your skills. If we fight the bandits, we won't be able to kill them one by one." A villager listened. After Zhang Rui finished speaking, he quickly expressed his opinion. His idea was immediately echoed by most people.
"Indeed, if we all fight the bandits one by one, it will be useless even if we have twice or twice as many people. Therefore, we need to organize ourselves and train well before fighting them. Only then will we have a chance of winning." Zhang Rui said confidently to the worried villager.
"So I want to ask everyone to set up a bandit suppression team. I wonder if you have any opinions? Is there anyone willing to follow me to suppress bandits?"
a moment of silence
Some people from neighboring villages sneered and even turned away silently.
"Brother Six, I am willing to follow you." A weak voice came over, and it was Li Niushi saying with a blushing face.
Zhang Rui nodded towards him.
"Is there anyone else?"
Quiet……
Except cicadas are chirping
Li Sigou also wanted to say that he would follow Zhang Rui, but before he could move, his father Li Liu stopped him. There are young people similar to Zhang Rui who are eager to try, but their family members around them stop them.
"Brother Six, it's not that we don't want to fight bandits with you. We are all farmers and don't know much. They are also the labor force of the family. If one of them is disabled, how can the whole family survive?" Looking at the silent man Zhou Bing told the people around him what they were thinking.
Zhang Rui didn't understand what was going on. If there is no benefit, it is false to say that we are for the Communist Party or for ourselves. Not coaxing them to leave immediately would have given themselves a lot of face.
"Everyone's thoughts and concerns are not unreasonable." Zhang Rui heard what Zhou Bing said.
"That's why I want to say that the anti-bandit team I established is not without guarantees. If you join my anti-bandit team, you can get one to two or eight dollars of silver per month and three dou of rice per month."
As soon as Zhang Rui said this, the people in the neighboring villages who had turned around to leave immediately turned around with eager eyes on their faces. You must know that the monthly salary of a soldier in the Qing Dynasty was only one or two or five yuan, or three dou of rice. Zhang Rui was given three extra cents per month, which was more than three hundred cents. Normally, he could buy nearly five kilograms of pork.
"Not only that, everyone who can join our bandit suppression team can get 20 taels of settling money. As long as you work in our bandit suppression team for three years, this money will be yours."
After hearing what Zhang Rui said, everyone was in an uproar. This is a great thing. 20 taels of silver is such a huge sum of money! I only have one life, but if I can leave so much money to my family, it would be worth it even if I died.
"If the team that pays with me is injured or disabled, you can receive 50 taels of silver. If you are really unlucky and are killed, your family can receive 100 taels of silver!" Note 1
When Zhang Rui's voice fell, not to mention the young and vigorous young men, even the young uncles who considered themselves to be experienced in dealing with things began to breathe quickly.
With this money, they can die with a smile and no regrets.
"I am willing to join the bandit suppression team..."
"I would also like to..."
"Brother Six, count me in..."
"Brother Six, I've watched you grow up, you can't let me go..."
…………
The villagers suddenly became enthusiastic and crowded towards Zhang Rui. People from the neighboring village who were just about to leave wanted to squeeze in again, only to find that they couldn't squeeze in at all, so they were anxious.
Note 1: For other book friends who are not reading this book, if you have any questions, please go to Qidian PC customer service or Qidian mobile app to comment and reply. Currently, the writer's account is banned from commenting and cannot reply. Do not accept any unwarranted abuse, which will affect my mood in writing a book. If you have any comments, you can raise them. This question has been answered by my starting point app and I will not answer it one by one. I haven't received a penny from you now, and you haven't lost anything by reading the book. If you feel you can't stand it, please feel free to force yourself. Please let me go and let yourself go, thank you!
