"If you ask me, arrest these dog officers directly. If they dare to send troops to surround Hutou Village, just kill them. Let's see who dares to come to Hutou Village to suppress bandits in the future." Chen Xunping said loudly.
Li Shuheng beside him frowned and said, "It is a capital crime to murder an imperial official."
Chen Xunping said disapprovingly: "You have also seen the soldiers of the Lingqiu garrison camp. You are not afraid of one or two thousand such trash. I beat them until they cried for their father and mother, so that the government did not dare to send troops to Hutou Village."
Li Shuheng said: "Aren't you afraid of the soldiers from the Lingqiu garrison camp? What about the border troops in Datong Town? The imperial court has a million troops, and sending tens of thousands is enough to destroy these people on our Hutou Village mountain."
When Chen Xunping heard this, he snorted twice and did not answer.
Having served as a flag officer in the frontier army, he knew very well that the soldiers of the Lingqiu garrison camp could not compare with the frontier army.
For one artillery piece alone, the frontier army had two generals' cannons, as well as Folangji and Huzun cannons, which the Lingqiu garrison camp did not have.
As long as the officers and soldiers bring in a few second-level cannons, they can penetrate any bandit camp.
Guo Binchang and Li Huaixin were taken to the front of Hutou Village.
The door under the wall in front of them was opened, and the two people were taken to the stronghold, along with ten soldiers and servants.
Guo Binchang was carried forward by two servants, his face was pale and bloodless.
When they reached a temple in the village, the bandit who was leading the way stopped, turned around, and said, "Guys, please hand over your weapons. Don't worry, they will be returned to you when you leave."
People under the eaves have to bow their heads.
Li Huaixin was speechless. He reached out and took off his waist knife and handed it to the bandit standing aside.
The soldiers and servants who came together took out their weapons one after another and handed them all to the bandit from Hutou Village who was nearest to them.
Seeing that everyone had unloaded their weapons, the bandit raised his hand and made an invitation gesture towards the door of the mountain temple, saying: "My lords, please invite me!"
Li Huaixin took a few steps forward, raised his hand to lift the cotton curtain in front of the door, and stepped inside.
Two servants helped Guo Binchang to the door. Just as he was about to go in, he was stopped by the bandits on the side.
Just listen to the bandit say: "My lord, you can only go in alone, the others are waiting outside."
"I, my officer..." Guo Binchang moved his lips a few times, and finally broke free from the servant who was supporting him, and followed Li Huaixin in cautiously.
"Two adults, please take a seat."
As soon as Li Huaixin came in, he heard a young voice ringing in his ears.
He looked up and saw that the person speaking was a young man. It was the one he saw on the wall. When he saw the other person sitting in the middle, he immediately understood that this person should be Liu Heng, the head of Hutou Village.
In front of him was a weird long table. Liu Heng and several people who were supposed to be the leaders of Hutou Village were sitting across from the long table, and two seats were placed in the direction of the door.
Li Huaixin looked back at Guo Binchang who was following him, and asked Guo Binchang to sit down before he sat down.
"Two adults, let's get straight to the point. I think the two adults are not willing to stay on our mountain in Hutou Village." Liu Heng spoke first.
Li Huaixin glanced at Guo Binchang, who was sitting next to him, and saw that the other person was trembling and did not dare to speak at all, so he had to say: "Master Liu asked me to bring him to Hutou Village for the purpose of killing Mr. Guo." and me."
Liu Heng said with a smile: "My lord is joking. If possible, the common people don't want to get into trouble with these two lords."
Hearing this, Li Huaixin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the other party did not directly say that he would not kill them, he also expressed his unwillingness to kill them.
Guo Binchang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "Liu, if you are willing, I can report to the governor to recruit the people of Hutou Village..."
He didn't say the word "bandit" after that, for fear of offending the leader of Hutou Village in front of him.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "Master Guo wants to recruit bandits like us!"
Guo Binchang nodded.
"No need." Liu Heng said, "I came here to discuss a cooperation matter with you two adults."
When the conversation got to the point, Li Huaixin looked serious.
He knew that whether he and Guo Binchang could survive depended on the conditions offered by the other party.
Guo Binchang hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively: "How does Master Liu want to cooperate?"
As he said this, he had already decided in his heart that no matter what the bandits in front of him said, he would agree to it and put the matter at hand aside so that he could escape back to Lingqiu County.
No matter how powerful the Hutou Village bandits were, he believed that these bandits would not dare to attack the county.
"To be honest with you two adults, Cao Min owns an iron yard in Dongshan. It has a large output and the quality of refined iron is comparable to that of Fujian Iron. I wonder if you two adults are interested in cooperating?" Liu Heng looked at the two people opposite the long table with a playful look. .
When they heard that it was related to Dongshan Iron Station, Guo Binchang and Li Huaixin both felt their hearts tremble.
You must know that before coming to Hutou Village, they, the shopkeepers of the Xu family and the Fan family in Datong had just privately divided Hutou Village's share of Dongshan Iron Field.
After a long while, Li Huaixin said: "Master Liu is joking. I and Master Guo are both imperial officials. How can I know anything about the iron field?"
Liu Heng said with a smile: "As long as you two are willing to cooperate with the common people, the common people are willing to give you two adults a 10% share of the iron field, and it will not decrease with the expansion of the iron field."
Hearing this, Li Huaixin and Guo Binchang looked at each other.
The two of them had no idea that Liu Heng was willing to give up his interests in Dongshan Iron Field.
It is different from Li Weiming's previous division of shares. One is to seize other people's property and be generous to others, and the other is to divide his own interests.
Li Huaixin said: "I don't understand what Master Liu Da means?"
"You two adults, don't worry." Liu Heng said, "The common people just want to cooperate with the two adults in exchange for stability. As long as the adults are willing to sign the documents, the ordinary people will arrange for someone to send money to the house every month."
Zhao Yutu handed over a document at the right time and pushed it in front of Li Huaixin and Guo Binchang across the long table.
Li Huaixin was not the kind of crude general who could not read or write, otherwise he would not have wanted to take the scholar examination in the first place.
He and Guo Binchang read the contents of the document one after another, but no one spoke.
Regardless of whether it is Guo Binchang or Li Huaixin, both of them understand that as long as they sign this document, if something happens to Hutou Village in the future or the document is leaked, they will definitely be charged with banditry. Not to mention getting promoted and making a fortune, even the current It's hard to keep the position.
Seeing that the two people had no intention of signing the document, Zhao Yutu said: "My lords, don't underestimate this share. In the future, when the iron farm adds iron furnaces and expands its scale, this share can be a treasure trove of gold and silver."
Guo Binchang and Li Huaixin were speechless.
At this time, Chen Xunping stood up and said fiercely: "Since you are not willing to cooperate, what are you still doing with these two dog officers? Let's just kill them with one knife."
After saying that, he picked up the waist knife and slapped the scabbard on the long table.
Guo Binchang, who was sitting on the other side of the long table, was trembling with fear.
They are not in their own government office now, but in the bandit's stronghold in Hutou Village.
