It's night, on the border of Xiaoshan Dongshan.
Niutou and Wei Kui were waiting in an inn at the intersection of Dongshan. They first went back to the village in Dongshan and ordered a few of their confidants to remind the minions to gather in the village and wait, and then returned to the village. The inn next to the intersection is waiting for He Nan's arrival.
A basin of cold well water poured down from head to toe, and Ma Mian, who was pretending to be dizzy, could no longer pretend to be dizzy. He opened his eyes and looked at the room full of evil spirits, and couldn't help but put on a smile. It's just that this smile is not pretty, no matter how you look at it, it looks like it was forced out.
"Master He... I know I was wrong!" Ma Mian's first reaction was to look for He Nan. As soon as he caught He Nan's gaze, he blurted out. He must have been thinking about it for a long time, "It was my fault before. , I stand on the side of Qing-faced Yama because I am blind and ignorant of praise. You, sir, have a lot of money... It’s better not to argue with the little ones!"
"Besides, I have long seen that this Blue Faced Yama is unlikely to achieve great things. Do you think the final result is still firmly in your hands?"
He Nan smiled contemptuously at the words and said to the second master sarcastically: "All the people in your Yama village learned their glib skills from you?"
The second master was a troubled person, so of course he knew that this was not acceptable at all, so he pretended to be embarrassed and cupped his hands towards He Nan, then shrank his body to the back of the crowd. If he still stood forward with a shy face, He Nan might have to hit him again at some point.
"Don't look at me..." He Nan turned to Ma Mian, who was kneeling on the ground, "To be fair, you really have nothing to be sorry for. Anyway, I never regarded you as one of my own from the beginning. Today you You fell into my hands because of your own incompetence."
"The person you are really sorry for is your sworn brother..." At this point, He Nan looked at Niutou. He Nan and Yu Ruyi were sitting in the center of the inn lobby, Wei Kui was leaning on the edge of the door frame, and Niu Tou sat across from He Nan. The remaining minions were all Niu Tou's confidants. The eldest brother glared at his eldest brother behind him - they also understood the whole story this afternoon.
Niutou frowned tightly, and his two thick eyebrows could be twisted into a black rope.
"Just after you and I agreed, your brother and I also made a bet. The bet was whether you would betray me...or whether you would abandon him. The bet was your future. He lost the bet, so he is now my subordinate."
"Although I am the boss now, things between you brothers still need to be resolved by yourselves. I will never interfere." He Nan stood up and stretched, pulling Yu Ruyi to sit elsewhere and taking the main seat. Let the cow head sit on it. "Today I will just watch the show."
Upon hearing this, Ma Mian immediately turned his head to his sworn brother - twenty years ago he was Niutou's sworn brother, but now he has changed. The younger brother became a guest, but the older brother became a prisoner. "Brother, I didn't mean to do it on purpose. It was just that the situation was so pressing that I had to make a desperate move... As a brother, you must also understand what I did, right? Please put in a good word for me in front of Mr. He. A few words..."
Niutou took a deep breath and said, "You said you wanted me to understand you..."
"Then why did you say those words? Is the more than ten years of brotherhood between you and me worthless in your eyes?" Niutou could risk his life to block Wei Kui's fatal blow in front of Ma, Ma In front of him, he betrayed his brother for his own life. How could he not be heartbroken?
"Brother... that's just a stopgap measure..." Ma Mian is not as shameless as the second master. He does feel guilty about Niu Tou in his heart, so this explanation does not seem convincing. Paler.
After all, he and Qing-faced Yama are still the same thing. Although he is bad enough, his mind is not smart enough, and his face is not that thick. If He Nan is kneeling here today - no matter whether it is useful or not, he can still keep his eyes open anyway. He uttered a very humiliating sentence to beg for mercy without changing his expression.
The lobby of the inn was so quiet that you could almost hear the pounding heartbeat of Ma Mian, while Niu Tou's face was so gloomy that it looked like it could squeeze out water. He looked at this sworn brother who smiled flatteringly at him, and suddenly recalled many past events. Ma Mian didn't miss the old feelings, but he still couldn't bear it.
Over the years, the two brothers have been through all kinds of storms, but now they end up in a situation where they are fighting each other - is it because the world is declining or because people's hearts are not ancient?
Niu Tou is an upright person, he doesn't have so many twists and turns in his mind, and he himself doesn't want to think about those things that are there or not.
"You are unkind, but I can't be unjust." After a while, Niutou finally spoke. As he spoke, he turned to look at He Nan - although He Nan said that he would only watch the theater today, Niutou knew that he had to let go. He Nan was satisfied with giving him an explanation. "You have betrayed Mr. He. Although it has not caused a big disaster, there is no place for you in Xiaoshan anymore, and I can't keep you."
"We are two brothers. I have no intention of killing you. You'd better leave, go far away, and never come back." Niutou is still an honest man. If it were anyone else, he would have let the horse-faced man's head fall to the ground.
"From today on, the relationship between you and me has been severed. We are no longer brothers." After saying that, Niutou pulled out his sword and slashed towards the horse's face.
Ma Mian was already frightened - why did you say "you have no intention of killing me" in the previous sentence, and now you want to chop off my head? At this critical moment, he was too frightened to move. Niutou's knife was not aimed at Ma Mian's life, but cut off a lock of Ma Mian's hair, and then he cut off a piece of his own clothes.
The horse's head was cut off as the head, and the cow's head was cut off as sworn brother.
Ma Mian, who was kneeling on the ground, was trembling and kowtowed to his former sworn brother to thank him, but Niu Tou didn't even look at him and went straight to He Nan.
"Master He, I have only one merciless request - I hope you can consider the loyalty between the two of us and let him live - I know what I said is not true, so I ask you to be noble." Niu Touye. He knelt down on the ground and congratulated Nan, "From now on, Peng Niu will be a cow or a horse for you, and he will be at your disposal without any hesitation." He no longer calls himself Niutou, but resumes his real name. Apparently, he has It’s time to get rid of this past.
He Nan clapped his hands and praised: "Okay, I am indeed right about you. You are a man who values love, righteousness and promises. Since you are the new leader of the Yama Village that I have appointed, then this matter will be up to you. ”
Peng Niu Sheng bowed uprightly to He Nan a few times, then walked back to Ma Baocai... no, Ma Baocai, and kicked him, "Why don't you leave quickly?"
In fact, Ma Baocai felt very unhappy... He was wondering if he had not betrayed He Nan, would he be the new leader of the village now? In fact, He Nan had already told him that the two of them could become the new village leaders after the matter was completed. At that time, Ma Mian still chose to side with Qing Mian Yan Luo because of fear. Now it is too late to regret. In fact, he felt aggrieved - on the side of Qing-faced Yama, he would be liquidated if He Nan won; on the other hand, on the side of He Nan, he would have his skin peeled off by Qing-faced Yama on the spot, after spending so much money on him. However, after being a hostage for twenty days, Peng Niu Sheng rose to prominence and directly became the master of the cottage? This is actually what makes Ma Baocai feel aggrieved.
But - this was not a pie in the sky that fell into Peng Niusheng's mouth, but Peng Niusheng relied on his instinctive actions to win He Nan's favor. You know, Wei Kui's move could also kill someone. And if the person sent back as a spy was replaced by Peng Niu Sheng, then he would not betray Ma Baocai even if he died - this is the difference between the two.
Villains are often like this. When they see others harvesting, they will be jealous and bear grudges, but they often don’t remember that they have no intention at all during the season of sowing. They only see the results but ignore the causes and processes. They think about the harvest all day long but fail to do so. Not willing to put in physical effort and sweat for this... Peng Niu Sheng is not a gentleman, but at least he has a clear conscience in his friendship with Ma Baocai.
Everything has a cause and effect. People who only want to get benefits but are unwilling to pay the price will end up with nothing.
However, these illusory truths are not important for now. After Ma Baocai kowtowed to He Nan and Peng Niu Sheng, he rolled away from Xiaoshan and disappeared into the misty rain.
In fact, He Nan originally wanted to agree to Peng Niu Sheng first, and then secretly send Wei Kui to secretly kill Ma Baocai and bury him on the spot. This would not only protect Peng Niu Sheng's face and understand his long-cherished wish, but also eliminate the root cause and prevent future troubles... But under Yu Ruyi's suggestion, she gave up.
"Ma Mian is a poor man. If you can spare his life, let him live. Why bother to add so many more killings?" These were Yu Ruyi's exact words. Even the female murderer said so. He Nan had no reason to kill anyone, so he obeyed her words.
And He Nan's letting go of Ma Mian's hand did him a big favor a long time later. This can be regarded as a kind of cause and effect.
In this way, He Nan and the other three people settled in the East Mountain Village and spent more than half a month integrating the five mountain villages in the southeast, northwest and central areas. They were collectively known to the outside world as Green Faced Yama, a cruel, cruel and sadistic person, and the village owners could not bear the humiliation. So they joined forces to rebel against him. Now that Qing-faced Yama was crowned the leader, all the ghost servants died and fled, leaving only Peng Niu Sheng, who naturally took over the position of village leader.
The second in charge is still the same second in charge - the second in charge's surname is Yu and his nickname is Lao Taro. He Nan originally thought of using him for a while before killing him, but seeing Old Taro complaining with runny noses and tears, he felt helpless, so he kept Old Taro alive for the time being and observed his performance before talking about it later.
Naturally, many people were dissatisfied with Peng Niu Sheng's unexplained taking over the position of village leader. These people were all direct subordinates and loyal fans of Qing Mian Yan Luo. Even if Lao Yao spoke for Peng Niu Sheng, they could not dispel their suspicions. , Peng Niu Sheng also showed his thunderous methods - he promoted some old members of the Green Faced Yama who were willing to submit to him, and selected some thorny ones who were difficult to manage and wanted to avenge the Lord to scare the monkeys. Soon those who expressed The voices of dissatisfaction gradually became much quieter - after all, those who come out to fool around are looking for a fortune, and following someone behind is not a fool.
After clearing up the internal conflicts in the village, a new problem came to He Nan - we can't let these people be bandits all the time, right?
Originally, He Nan and the others despised the bandits' bad behavior of bullying men and women, so they couldn't let Peng Niu Sheng become the next Blue Faced Yama, but he also suffered from the fact that there was no way to make these bandits Transformation - after all, those who can become bandits are either reckless men with nothing but strength, or idlers.
The turn of events can be regarded as a coincidence. One day, He Nan went down the mountain and passed by the village where Qing-faced Yama was besieged and killed. He wanted to visit the villagers to see if they needed more silver to repair the fighting between the Jianghu people. Affected house equipment.
Unexpectedly, He Nan found out after arriving at the village that not much of his 200 taels of silver fell into the hands of the villagers. Each household received less than 5 taels of silver, and the remaining 60% was given to the village chief. One person has enriched his own pocket - no wonder the village chief lives in the only brick house in the village. It seems that he also pocketed a lot of money from the court's disaster relief work. It's not the first time.
He Nan naturally became angry when he thought about this, and immediately gathered Wei Kui, Peng Niu Sheng, Lao Yutou and others with a vote of strong men to block the door of the village chief's house. The village chief immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy. He returned the money he had siphoned off to each family in full, and also took out extra private money from his own pocket to repair the houses and buy furniture for the villagers - this amount of money was spent quite a lot. It seems that this old guy is still good at it. I've done a lot of things like this.
Unexpectedly, these villagers not only have to deal with bandits in the mountains, but also with bandits in their own village, but this also gave He Nan some inspiration - since there are always such injustices in the world, he must take care of them.
Other places are still out of his reach, but the surroundings of Xiaoshan are always within reach. He Nan then explained his ideas to the current senior officials of Yanluo Village such as Peng Niu Sheng and Lao Yutou - from now on, they will not only be bandits, but also become a second official government, specifically to provide these people with a A place where you can redress your grievances and solve problems - of course, you have to pay for redressing your grievances, but it's much better than some places that just charge money and don't do anything.
First of all, the name needs to be changed. It can no longer be called "Yam Luo Village". It can be renamed "Yiyongwu". In terms of personnel, those who are idle, just eat and do nothing, and have bad conduct should also be streamlined and replaced with selected ones. Some young and middle-aged men with acceptable virtues join and are called "Volunteers"; the Volunteer Corps collects "protection fees" from surrounding villages, townships and counties on a quarterly basis, and every household that pays money and food is recorded in the register. If there are any matters that cannot be solved by oneself, such as disputes between neighbors, the need for labor to help farm or build houses, attacks by thieves and other complicated matters, the "volunteers" will help; and the volunteers will naturally have to have a good relationship with the local government. , "donating" some silver to the government from time to time - even if it cannot be officially certified, at least it must be done without trespassing.
Of course, these bandits may not adapt to this change for a while, and it is unrealistic to suddenly abolish road robbery, but strict restrictions must be set up - a certain amount of "tolls" can be charged from tourists passing through Xiaoshan , and after collecting tolls, they will be escorted by volunteers to prevent customers from being attacked by other predators and wild beasts; and things like robbing women and burning and killing them indiscriminately, which are obviously against human ethics and the law, must say goodbye to them for sure. Anyone who kills people randomly, sets fires, or robs property and women will be killed without mercy according to the rules.
Originally, He Nan thought that Peng Niusheng, Lao Yutou and others would object, but unexpectedly, most of these people agreed - thinking about it carefully, there was really nothing to object to.
Although this idea only has a preliminary prototype, the money collected is much less than the previous robberies, and it is not as unscrupulous as the bandit career - but at least it is safe. Is Green Faced Yama strong and ruthless enough? He was originally regarded as a god by the bandits, but he was beaten as much as the third grandson by the knights of the Jinghong Sect, let alone a group of stragglers in the village. The fate of Qing-faced Yama and all the ghosts also made Peng Niu-sheng and Lao Yatou realize that there are people outside the world, and it is not that the righteous people and the government can't control them, but they are too lazy to control them at all - the life of bandits is not that bad. Better yet, if you don't get enough protection, you'll have to lose your head someday. If you transform yourself into a local volunteer, at least your life will be guaranteed - again, if you can make a living honestly, there are a few people who are really willing to use their heads to become bandits. ah?
He Nan was busier than Peng Niu Sheng, Lao Yutou and the others these days, and it took nearly half a month for a preliminary reform of the bandit gang to be officially implemented.
