After finishing all the explanations, Zou Run looked at the sun and saw that it was about late in the morning. Feeling that it was not early, he said goodbye and walked down the wooden platform with Zou Yuan, planning to greet the others and return to the village.
But it might as well be that three white-haired old men suddenly walked out of the crowd, blocked the stage, and shouted to Zou Run, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please stay..."
Zou Run saw that the hair of the three old men was sparse and messy, and they were all wrapped in a torn kerchief. They were all wearing patched homespun vests with holes exposed, and they were holding crutches tremblingly in their hands. I thought that these three people must be the elders of the village. Such people have always been highly respected in the village and have the right to speak. They must not be neglected.
So he hurriedly stepped forward to greet me and asked, "Xiao Ke is not a great king. The old man can just call me Zou Run. I wonder if you have any advice?"
When the three old men saw that Zou Run was friendly and approachable, most of the fear in their hearts disappeared. At that moment, a person in charge came out and started talking.
"I don't dare to call the king by his name. The old men have the courage to call the king. They have something to ask of you. I hope the king will agree."
Seeing these white-haired old men with bitter faces and skinny bodies, as if they could be blown down by a gust of wind, Zou Run felt inexplicably sour in his heart and quickly responded, "Old men, please don't make small talk. If you have something to say, there's no harm in talking about it. Xiao Ke should do his best."
"Old man, if you have anything to say, feel free to say it. We uncles and nephews will support you and give you courage!" Zou Yuan, who was on the side, was also a filial piety and respect for his elders. He thought that these old people had some unsolved grievances, so he hurriedly patted his chest to express his position.
The old people waved their hands repeatedly, thanked Zou Yuan for his kindness, and then asked cautiously: "No, no, no, the king has misunderstood. We are not going to complain about our grievances, but we want to ask the king on behalf of the young people in the village. Are you still short of manpower?"
Zou Run and Zou Yuan were stunned when they heard the words. They looked at each other, as if they realized something. Zou Yuan was extremely excited and was about to open his mouth to speak, but Zou Run winked and signaled Zou Yuan to be calm. After thinking for a moment, Then he spoke.
"Old man, we naturally care about the young people in this village, but I have to speak openly with you. In our profession, to put it nicely, we are heroes who rob the rich and give to the poor, and to put it worse, we are just bandits who have fallen into the grass. Although There is no shortage of food and clothing, but what I do is to make a living by adding blood to the tip of a knife..."
Before Zou Run finished speaking, Zou Yuan became anxious beside him. The village was currently short of major generals. This time someone finally took the initiative to go up the mountain. Why did his eldest nephew forcefully push people away? He couldn't help but speak. He retorted, but was unexpectedly beaten to the punch by three old men.
"Your Majesty, the three of us have lived for a long time. It's amazing how we don't know. It's just that we are no longer as old as Emperor Renzong."
"Yes, yes, even the days of the Shenzong Dynasty can't keep up... Sigh..."
Three old men, you and I confessed our feelings in every word.
"We are close to the sea, and the soil is barren. We have to work hard to serve the few acres of thin fields. We can't produce a few kilograms of food in a year. It's a joke to live on crops. We have no choice but to rely on the sea to eat. The whole village is full of people. In addition to cooking salt, the villagers also fish. However, to cook salt, you have to pay the government for firewood, stove money and other exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. If it is just that, the salt cooked with hard work can only be sold to the government, and the government Not only was the price given low, but the price was always high and low. To be honest, even with the money we paid last winter, we still haven’t seen half of it!”
"That's right! The government doesn't give us any money, but they forcefully collect our salt. We're not allowed to sell the boiled salt privately, and we can't get enough of the food we grow... Oh, we, the common people, are so miserable, ugh... …”
Speaking of emotional moments, the three old men all burst into tears, covering their faces with their sleeves and crying bitterly. The scene here was in sharp contrast to the atmosphere of people coming and going on the threshing floor, carrying grain and smiling happily. Zou Run and Zou Yuan had no choice but to sigh with them and patiently persuade them. The old men stopped crying for a while and then continued to plead.
"Boiled salt has become a loss-making business. The whole village can only pool money to buy a boat and go fishing in the sea, hoping to get some fresh fish to sell to make a living. However, to fish, you have to go to the government to register as a fisherman. Being a fisherman not only has to pay taxes, but also We still have to do hard labor! Thinking about us going through wind and rain, and using human lives to catch the fish in the big waves, we have given up half of the tax money alone. If this is the case, although it is hard, we can still make a living. However, the government's labor service for fishermen is really too long. They have to work for less than half a year in a year. It takes only half a year for people and boats to travel, either running boats on canals or transporting goods in the sea. Once there is a high wind and waves, Urgent...the government doesn’t even offer a penny in pension!”
"Going to the sea to fish and transport goods is not like growing crops. It's to grab food from the Dragon King. Last year, we sank two ships, and many strong laborers lost their lives in the sea. All corpses are..."
"Oh, my lord, I really can't live any longer..."
After hearing the cause and effect clearly, Zou Run realized that it was so difficult for people in ancient times to survive. Zou Run could not imagine that this was still the days of Taiping, and people were living in such difficulty. Then if the Jingkang disaster comes, what will happen to the hardworking people in this land? What kind of tragic experience will there be?
Perhaps later generations of Confucian scholars casually added in the history books that "there is no rooster crow for a thousand miles, and the bones are exposed in the wild"...
Thinking of this, Zou Run let out a long sigh and took an old man's palm, which was like a chicken's claw with a dead branch. Feeling the roughness from the calluses on his palm, he choked and nodded.
Seeing their approval, the old men smiled with relief at first, but then they suddenly cried while holding their heads in their hands. Zou Run knew that they were laughing because some young people in the village could finally have enough to eat, but they were crying because they didn't know how long the food would last...
At about six o'clock, the team was all packed up, and there were thirty or forty large and small cars, full of grain, cloth and goods seized from the Huang family. In addition to the oxen, horses, donkeys and mules that were harnessed to pull the cart, other livestock of various sizes such as chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and sheep were locked up in boxes and cages, and those that could not be locked up were driven in groups by minions. The whole team was huge and bloated. , but everyone’s face is filled with happy smiles.
Thanks to the Huang family and his son, when they returned to the mountain, Zou Run and Zou Yuan finally rode on a tall horse. Looking back at the more than thirty young and strong men in the team, Zou Yuan had already smiled with wrinkles on his face, so big His mouth never closed from beginning to end.
Facing the crowds of people coming from the roadside and waving to other villagers, Zou Run made a solemn promise to them, "My fellow villagers, please trust me and entrust these young men to me. No one can guarantee that after they go up the mountain, I will take care of them myself." Treat them as brothers and sisters, and I will never let them drink anything that is watery! If I violate this oath, I, Zou Run, am willing to die from a thunderbolt!"
After saying that, he held his hands in a bow, then waved his riding whip, and a dozen minions fired rockets into the Huang family courtyard. Under the reflection of the sky-high firelight, the huge team reluctantly said goodbye to the people on the roadside, and began Set off for Dengyun Mountain, which is dozens of miles away.
