Just looking at Xiangxi, it is really no wonder that the county magistrates are too cowardly, because the county magistrates who are not cowardly are either dead or forced to be transferred. Because of this, Xiangxi is actually a county magistrate who is already in trouble, a stronghold of bandits.
In this case, the only thing that really played a role in suppressing bandits was the training of regiments in various prefectures and states under the direct control of the Governor-General of Hunan Province.
For the people in western Hunan, they are faced with the choice of training as a regiment or becoming a bandit. The one they want to choose must be a bandit!
In this era, being a bandit has more benefits than being a regiment training soldier. Every time after robbing wealthy customers, the bandits would hold a banquet in the village, eating meat and drinking wine. Then, under the assignment of the bandit leader, they would receive rewards according to their merit and strength. When there were more bandits than soldiers, there were already problems in western Hunan. In order to solve the bandit problem as soon as possible, the governor of Hunan Province decided to use the ultimate trick: recruit peace!
This move has been an effective method since ancient times, but it also has advantages and disadvantages.
Once the bandits in Xiangxi are recruited, they will train in regiments on the spot. The bandit leader will often be assigned as a deputy to train in the regiment. From then on, the court will support them with good wine and meat, and they no longer need to rob homes and homes.
But if you don't accept the recruitment, then there will be good things to eat. The imperial court will send the bandit villages recruited to attack the bandit villages that stubbornly resist. No matter whether they lose or win, the ones who die will not be the regular regiment training soldiers, but the bandits recruited.
Faced with the conditions proposed by Huayuan County, Heixiaozhai also wanted to accept the recruitment. As the second head of the family, Ren Wude had a keener sense of smell than ordinary people. He briefly smelled the conspiracy of large-scale recruitment in Hunan Province and immediately understood it. Very powerful.
The imperial court needs money to raise troops. If there is no need for troops, why would there be a need to recruit large-scale bandit camps?
Sure enough, after that, the Boxer Rebellion broke out. The imperial court first severely suppressed the Boxers, and then used their slogan of "destroying foreigners" to require the Boxers to go to Beijing to kill foreigners. At the same time, the former government declared war on the eleven countries. Putting aside the farce here, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked the capital, the previous dynasty had actually failed, and even the capital could not be saved. The old queen mother had no choice but to flee westward with the puppet emperor, and ordered the Qing troops from all over the country to clear out the Boxers.
Long before the Boxers entered the capital, the southeast had different considerations and did not respond to the call of the capital. Instead of helping the Boxers, the feudal officials in the southeast and the southeast reached a tacit local understanding with foreign countries, calling themselves Southeast Mutual Protection. They announced that the old The Queen Mother and the Emperor had been coerced by the Boxer Rebellion. This edict to kill foreigners was a false edict, and they disobeyed orders to support the Boxer Rebellion in the southeastern provinces.
This decision was undoubtedly correct. The southeastern and southeastern regions had already seen through that the previous dynasty’s capital force was a paper tiger that could be destroyed in a single strike. However, within half a year, the previous dynasty was indeed forced by the foreign forces and ordered various places to clear out the Boxer forces and the bandit villages in Hunan Province. The regiment training also took on the task of clearing up the Boxers.
At this time, these bandits realized that they were treated to good wine and meat in order to use them as cannon fodder. The bandits were disrupting the people, and the more people died, the better.
Back to half a year ago, after Ren Wude smelled the conspiracy, he had already mentioned this consideration to the big boss. However, the big boss wanted to defect to the government and turned a deaf ear to his words. In fact, the big boss was afraid that Ren Wude would do something. Destruction, murderous intention towards him.
In name, he was asked to pull the incense leader, but secretly he had prepared bows, arrows, swords and guns. As soon as Ren Wude came down from the mountain, he would be hacked to death to prevent the situation on the mountain from being revealed.
Fortunately, Ren Wude was usually quite loyal. Several brothers revealed the plan to him in advance. In order to save his life, Ren Wude led hundreds of bandits who did not want to be recruited down the mountain. Along the way, he and the people led by Heixiazi were on the mountain. The fierce fighting in the bay has reached this point. It is no longer a game of house but a life and death. No one wants to let it go, so they use all their strength to kill people.
In the end, the blind man was blinded in the other eye, and Ren Wude was also hit in the calf. He fell off the cliff with the blind man. He thought he would die, but fate made him fall to pieces. However, his body was caught by a tree branch, and he fell onto a haystack after losing his strength, thus saving his life.
It was also here that he met a corpse exorcist named You Tianchen. At this time, a group of mandrills surrounded him and released the miasma. The Taoist priest became so confused that he didn't even know that he was being licked off. He thought it was a good thing. He was ordered to fire several shots at the group of mandrills, which not only drove away the mandrills, but also completely awakened the Taoist priest.
After regaining consciousness, the Taoist noticed that half of his face was stinging, and then he realized that the mandrill had licked his face. When he went to the small stream on the cliff, he saw that a layer of skin had been peeled off, and there were blood-red granules that had been turned out. It looked like Horrible.
Despite this, the corpse exorcist still managed to go back with his life. He saw that Ren Wude had only a gunshot wound and was not seriously injured. He dug out the bullet head with a hot dagger and applied gold sore medicine. This was able to save his legs and feet. .
Although the two did not know each other, they were both saved because of each other. After feeling that they were destined, they were both golden orchids under the cliff. m.
The old Taoist priest said bluntly that he was from Maoshan and was a Taoist who traveled to the southwest to collect corpses. When he was passing here, he was blocked by a group of mandrills. If Ren Wude hadn't happened upon him by chance, he would have definitely died in the belly of the mandrill. In order to repay Ren Wude's kindness, he said that he was from Maoshan. , the corpse exorcist took him to the thatched house he built to recuperate from his injuries. It was not until half a year later that the leg injury healed, and the two of them parted ways and went their separate ways.
Before leaving, Ren Wude told the old Taoist priest that he owed the old Taoist a leg. If he needed help in the future, he could come to him in Tudong. He planned to wash his hands in the golden basin of Tudong.
When he returned to Tudong, he learned from the villagers that it was a lie that these bandits were mobilized to deal with the Boxers, but it was true that they walked into an ambush. They were sent to the west by regiment training soldiers before they arrived in other provinces. How lucky is that? Those who arrived outside the province were used as living targets to resist the Boxers, and their lives would only become worse.
Somehow, Ren Wude saved his life by falling off the cliff. The bandits in Heixiuzhai experienced changes and had been killed by the army long ago. If he hadn't stayed on the cliff, there must have been some among the corpses of the bandits. After thinking about his head, he felt lucky and became even more convinced that the corpse exorcist was his savior.
He originally thought he would never see the corpse exorcist again, but unexpectedly, as fate would have it, too many dead people died in the bandit village near Tudong, and a serious epidemic broke out. The Taoist heard about it and came to cure the epidemic, and the two of them were in Tudong again. meet.
At this time, the old Taoist was holding a baby in his arms. This baby was Ren Peacock, who was still in his infancy.
At that time, although the old Taoist priest was very capable, it was inconvenient to bring a baby girl. Ren Wude had just gotten married and was engaged in medicine business, so she entrusted the baby girl to Ren Wude and his wife. They named the baby girl Ren Peacock lied to the outside world that he was supporting his first daughter.
After that, in order to repay his kindness, the old Taoist priest built a Phoenix Temple in Fengtou Mountain to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters for the nearby people. It gradually grew up under the care of others.
Some people died, but not completely...
