Under the scorching sun.
Six headless corpses lay scattered on the ground.
The strong smell of blood attracts countless flies, making buzzing sounds as they fly up and down. Coupled with the scorching sun above our heads, it makes people feel restless.
Sun Zhi held the tax collector's head in his hand, took off the jiaojiaofu head, and asked aloud: "Green kite, are there any notorious wealthy landlords in Linzi County?"
"Hu Yuanwai from Shangdong Village, Ge Yuanwai from Mei Village, Chen Yuanwai from Shikou Village..."
The green kite is full of treasures, and blurts out a series of names like the name of a dish.
Sun Zhi immediately became happy and joked: "Isn't there anyone in Linzi County with a better reputation?"
"When Mr. Xu was here, all the pheasants passing by would lose their feathers. Those with a conscience would have their families destroyed, and the rest would be evil-minded."
The Green Kite's words made everyone laugh.
After laughing, one of the bandits asked: "Third brother, what are we going to do?"
"Not urgent!"
Sun Zhi waved his hand and said confidently: "If this person is not forced into a desperate situation and feels that there is still a glimmer of hope to survive, he will be lucky. He always thinks that if he endures it and endures it, he will be fine. day."
"That's the truth!"
The other bandits nodded in agreement.
"So, you have to make them anxious. Rabbits will bite when they are anxious!"
Sun Zhi suppressed his smile and threw the horned bird's head in his hand: "Green kite, took off the tax collector's clothes. In the past few days and nights, he went to various villages wearing clothes and said that his money would be doubled. The rest of the people cooperated and fanned the flames. stand up."
"Got the order!"
Everyone responded in unison.
…
…
Xiaowang Village.
Four streaks of black smoke shot straight into the sky.
Now the whole village is filled with a vague smell of coal.
There is nothing you can do, burning earthen kilns will cause some environmental pollution.
There is currently no solution but to move the kiln into the mountains in the future, farther away from Xiaowang Village.
To be honest, the development speed of Xiaowang Village far exceeded Han Zhen's expectations.
The defection of the villagers of Xiaodong Village seems to have opened a floodgate.
In the next few days, refugees and villagers from other villages continued to come to seek refuge.
Unknowingly, the population of Xiaowang Village has reached close to 2,000.
The originally empty mountainside was now filled with simple huts.
The wasteland in the village has long been divided, and each household is only given a bushel of rice.
Fortunately, these villagers who came to seek refuge didn't care, because there were many ways to make money in Xiaowang Village.
Reclaim wasteland, recruit workers, join the army, or do odd jobs.
The first group of soldiers were finally willing to spend money, and one by one they built new houses, all of which were made of bricks.
In the past, if anyone in the village built a house, their neighbors would help.
No money is required, and if the host takes care of a meal, he will praise the host for his righteousness.
After all, everyone was poor at that time and couldn’t really afford wages.
But it’s different now. If you don’t pay wages, who the hell will help you build a house?
Everyone’s time is precious and we are all busy making money!
In addition, you can also take on some military tasks, such as making bamboo armor.
Anyway, as long as you are not a lazy person and are willing to work hard, you will never starve to death in Xiaowang Village.
To say that the most lively place in Xiaowang Village now is the market at the entrance of the village.
However, what surprised Han Zhen was that after he opened three shops, a fourth shop soon appeared in the market.
The owner of the shop is Carpenter Chen, who sells furniture.
It can only be said that business development is an inevitable product of human society.
Just provide a platform, without even guidance, and smart people will naturally flock in.
…
That night.
On the military camp grounds, Han Zhen gave lessons to the soldiers as usual.
In just five days, the number of soldiers had expanded to 340.
This is because Han Zhen deliberately controlled the number and only picked those young and strong people who were courageous and in relatively good physical condition, otherwise the number would be even greater.
The reason is simple: soldiers are treated very well.
Three dry meals a day and one meat meal every three days.
In order to eat meat, they almost killed all the wild animals in the three nearby mountains.
"This character is pronounced '文', which means one penny and two pence for wen..."
While the class was being taught, a shout came from the village: "Open the door quickly, I have something important to report!"
Han Zhen's eyes narrowed and the chalk in his hand broke into two pieces.
The next moment, the village door was opened, and a young man ran in panting.
This person is none other than Qiu Niu. Han Zhen summoned someone to pick him up from Songshan Ridge a few days ago. He is currently serving as a military spy, responsible for inquiring about information about the county and surrounding villages and towns.
Ever since he learned that Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty was collecting Ding's money from all over the country, he knew that there would be no peace in the near future, so he made preparations in advance.
All the way to Han Zhen, Qiu Niu gasped: "Village chief, the villagers of Mei Village have rebelled. They killed Ge Yuanwai and called themselves the Turban Army."
Wow!
The soldiers suddenly burst into an uproar.
Although Han Zhen also killed officials and occupied Xiaowang Village, he did not raise a rebellion flag and blatantly said that he would rebel.
There is an essential difference between the two.
If he is not raising a flag of rebellion, he is at best a bandit. Even if he is caught by the government, he will still be punished with death.
But the problem is that local officials generally ignore the bandits. Even if they suppress the bandits, they only recruit some archers and patrols.
Take Song Jiang for example. The government initially positioned him as a rogue.
Therefore, even though Song Jiang led thousands of people across several states, no troops were sent out. When Zhang Shu suppressed Song Jiang at night, he only led rural soldiers and archers.
But rebellion is different. The state capital will dispatch troops to suppress it as soon as possible.
Han Zhen asked: "Who is the leader?"
Without anyone taking the lead to raise their arms and shout, the villagers would at best run to the mountains and would never dare to kill the landlords and wealthy households in rebellion.
Qiu Niu replied: "I don't recognize him. I only heard that he is called Sun Dasheng."
Sun Dasheng?
Han Zhen looked a little strange, and then asked: "Where did they go when you came back?"
"It seems to be heading towards Shikou Village!"
Qiu Niu wasn't too sure. It was too dark and he didn't dare to get close.
Patting him on the shoulder, Han Zhen ordered: "Hurry to the county seat now. If there is anything unusual, come back and report it immediately."
"Got the order!"
Qiu Niu nodded and quickly left the village.
Others may not know it, but Han Zhen knows very well how quickly the snowball can roll once an uprising breaks out.
Once a village rebels, it only needs to find a few more villages and kill a few landlords, and thousands of farmers can be coerced immediately.
If more fleeing households are recruited, there will be tens of thousands of people, enough to attack the county.
When is the best time to attack the county?
Of course it is now.
Take advantage of the darkness and catch them unawares.
Is it possible that we have to wait until dawn tomorrow before going to attack the city in a big way?
Watching him leave, Han Zhen shouted loudly: "Nie Dong!"
"The humble position is here!"
Nie Dong took a step forward, cupped his fists and raised his hands in a standard military salute.
Now that Wei Da has not recovered from his injury, Nie Dong temporarily acts as the military battalion commander, and is responsible for three heads of the capital, namely Zhang He, Hu Zhong and Xiao Wu.
Zhang and three others each commanded ten captains.
Each captain is in charge of twelve soldiers.
Han Zhen ordered: "Organize the army, be on alert, and be ready to meet the enemy at any time!"
"Got the order!"
After a period of training by Nie Dong and other Western troops, the soldiers were already in shape and no longer rushed in a swarm with simple knives like before.
Shield soldiers, sword soldiers, spearmen, and archers each perform their duties and advance and retreat in a controlled manner.
The only drawback is that the equipment is not up to par.
There was really no choice. There was only one blacksmith in Xiaowang Village who could make weapons. Even if he didn't eat or drink, he couldn't supply more than 300 people with weapons in such a short period of time.
The shield is relatively easy to make. A carpenter can make it. Just find a few thick boards of hardwood and splice them together, and add a layer of iron on the front. It's done!
It can block ordinary swords and arrows, which is enough for the time being.
There was nothing he could do about the long spears. Blacksmith Yuan worked day and night, and so far he had only made a dozen long spears. The rest can only be replaced by bamboo poles. A bamboo pole more than one foot long with the front end sharpened can be used.
At first, Han Zhen was still confused. Could this bamboo pole hurt someone?
After Nie Dong's explanation, he understood that the role of spearmen in the battle formation was not mainly to kill, but to interfere mainly, supplemented by last-ditch attacks.
The main force that really kills the enemy is the swordsman in the formation holding a long sword!
No wonder the branches at the front of the bamboo pole are specially left open.
As for the archer's bow and arrow, it was easier to get, so Han Zhen directly paid Zhu Ji to help purchase it.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the officials did not prohibit bows and arrows, but they prohibited crossbows, especially powerful crossbows.
Crossbows, armor, and guns are expressly prohibited.
Because the spears of the Northern Song Dynasty had armor-piercing edges, they were also banned.
As for other weapons, the government basically turned a blind eye. If the subordinates were short of money, they would use this excuse to extort some money.
As for large ordnance such as ballistae and catapults, private blacksmiths cannot make them.
Soon, more than three hundred soldiers were fully armed.
There are currently only more than a hundred sets of bamboo armor, and they are given priority to swordsmen. After all, they are the main force in killing enemies and have the highest casualties in the military formation.
We are likely to face the enemy tonight, but none of the soldiers are afraid. Instead, they are all extremely excited.
Only by fighting can you get military merit, and only by having military merit can you get rewards!
As for the new recruits, listening to Zhang He and others bragging about dozens of guan rewards every day, their eyes have turned red with envy.
Now that the opportunity has finally come, how can we not be excited?
…
…
Upper East Village.
Sun Zhi stood on the high platform built up by the tables and chopped off Hu Yuanwai's head with a knife.
Dark red blood suddenly spurted out from the broken neck and splashed onto the faces of the villagers below.
At this moment, instead of being frightened, these villagers with their heads wrapped in cloth scarves roared like wild beasts.
This group of honest people who were usually bullied to the limit showed an extremely crazy side after they broke out completely.
Sun Zhi raised his head high, raised his arms and shouted: "Open the warehouse, put out the grain, and distribute the money!"
Needless to say, under the stimulation of money and food, the originally cowardly villagers turned into beasts one by one.
Taking advantage of the time when grain and money were distributed, Sun Zhi waved to Green Kites and lowered his voice: "How many people are there now?"
"There are more than 6,000 people!"
Green Harrier answered and asked, "Third Master, are you still going to the next village?"
After thinking about it for a while, Sun Zhi shook his head and said: "No, more than 6,000 people are enough."
There are more than 6,000 people. Excluding the old, weak, women and children, there are about 3,000 young and strong.
He called one of his men and ordered: "Later, you will take ten brothers and a thousand young men to Xiaowang Village to kill Han Er."
"yes!"
The subordinate responded.
After all the money and food were distributed, Sun Zhi waved his hand: "Folks, follow me to the county seat and kill the dog official!"
"Kill the dog officer!"
"Kill the dog officer!"
Who do these villagers hate the most?
He must be a subordinate official of the county government!
(End of chapter)
