Chapter 154: There is a thief in the south mountain

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Henan not only did King Chuang Chuang fight back and forth the Eight Kings fight, but also caused droughts and locust plagues. The distance was so close that the age of Xiajin County was also extremely poor, and it was not an exaggeration to say that the people were living in poverty. The poor farmers had no livelihoods and could only go to various places to escape famines. Although other places were in chaos, there was always hope, although it was extremely slim.

Many poor farmers fled to famine, but some people did not even have the ability to famine. For example, many scholars with fame and honor depended on the money and rice paid by the court. However, in this bad year, traffic was cut off, and the money and rice that these scholars deserved could not be paid at all.

Zhang Chengye was a scholar in the third year of Tianqi. He was usually a scholar, so he could take advantage of it. After drinking, he could talk about shallow and ignorant world affairs. In the fourth year of Tianqi, he married his wife and had two children. Just like all scholars, he lived a little poor life, but he could still have enough food and clothing.

This kind of life gradually became unsustainable after Chongzhen ascended the throne. Xiajin County in Dongchang Prefecture became worse and worse. Vagrants and riots from Henan and northern Zhili often flew here, which made the already bad situation worse.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Henan suffered a major disaster. Most of the land in the western part of Dongchang Prefecture was completely harvested. It is said that the court had to allocate money and grain relief, but it was said that it never came down. In May, when the green and yellow people were not in charge, a large number of fugitives appeared. Zhang Chengye's wife was in poor health and had children last year. Her relatives were in Henan, so she had no choice at all.

Zhang Chengye looked at the waxy-faced woman at home and the child who was crying hungry, and was desperate and angry. Finally, he stomped his feet, grabbed a bag of rice at home, gritted his teeth and said with hatred:

"I don't want this scholar's gentleman today. I'll go to the grain store to borrow grain!"

The fields were affected by disasters and did not produce grain, but the grain shops and warehouses of wealthy families in Xiajin County were filled with grain, but they were either storing them themselves, or the price they sold was astonishingly high and could not afford it.

There were many hungry people in the city who wanted to borrow food. In front of the largest grain store, almost three or four hundred people gathered, confronting the staff of the grain store and the servants sent by the yamen.

At this time, the common people were afraid of officials after all. Seeing the tall and thin Zhang Chengye wearing a shabby blue gown and walking by with a rice bag in his hand, there was a whisper in the crowd, saying that it was "This is Zhang Xiucai". The famous literati are also very prestigious among the people. Seeing Zhang Chengye coming, everyone's courage suddenly became much stronger.

Zhang Chengye originally wanted to see the beauty behind the crowd and get some benefits. As a scholar, his brain is always flexible, and he still understands the principle of shooting the first bird.

As a result, he walked to the front for no reason and stood in the first row. When Zhang Chengye saw the yamen runners and servants holding sticks opposite him, he couldn't help but be very scared. He shrank backwards. As a result, he didn't know if he staggered or was pushed behind him, and he couldn't help but step forward...

It is said that this is a small step for him, but a big step for something. Zhang Chengye didn't know what happened next. He just knew that he took this step and was surrounded by hungry people behind him and robbed several grain shops and wealthy families. In the end, Zhang Chengye returned home with a slowly rice bag and had a full meal with his happy wife and children.

After robbing the rice and grain, these households went back to their own houses like Zhang Chengye to fill their stomachs, so how could the government give up?

The next morning, Zhang Chengye was caught by the magistrate and went to the yamen. The magistrate there slapped the gavel and shouted:

"Why are you gathering people to rob food and make trouble!!"

Looking at the torture instruments on both sides of the court and the yamen runners with a bruised face, Zhang Chengye, who was quite tall, suddenly his courage disappeared and trembled like a sieve. He didn't know where the blessing was in his heart, so he begged and said:

"The student's ancestor was once the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

Some people in the court are easy to be officials, and some people in the court are more convenient to make trouble. After the magistrate thought about it, this tall and thin scholar may have his old friends as an official in the court. The judgment that he had originally wanted to behead him was changed to imprisonment for three years.

Things change as usual. When hungry people in Xiajin County heard the news of Zhang Chengye being arrested, everyone was frightened. In the past, a idle man who had served as a soldier gathered to raise the corps and rebel, and thousands of hungry people broke through the county government and opened the prison to rescue Zhang Chengye. Scholars are always valued these days.

After Zhang Chengye was rescued, he had nowhere to go, so he simply joined these rioters and rebelled, and became a tent with these thieves. At least compared to the past, he had a full stomach and a much higher status.

The soldiers of the garrison near Xiajin were unable to fight and went to encircle and suppress the unexpectedly defeated by the desperate rioters. After several similar experiences, the reputation of these rioters in Xiajin was greatly shocked, and even the hungry rioters in Henan and northern Zhili came to join.

Originally, the prefect of Dongchang Prefecture had reported this situation. The troops stationed in Yanzhou and Jinan were already preparing to go to encircle and suppress the enemy. As a result, the 100,000 troops of the Donghu Jurchen invaded from Xifengkou at this time, and the troops in Shandong were all deployed in Dezhou and Jinan Prefecture.

Xiajin County was ignored in the past. This kind of rebellion of the rioters often has a characteristic, that is, it is easy to be blinded by the small smooth and the province. The hungry people in Xiajin County have only 3,000 soldiers and horses, and they only occupy a county. However, both the leader of the rioters and Zhang Chengye have already forgotten them.

The leader didn't say that he called himself the king, but Zhang Chengye called himself Nanshan and taught others to call him Mr. Nanshan, and often compared himself to Zhuge and Liu Ji. What he liked was that he heard that someone had valuable antiques and calligraphy and paintings, so he came to visit him, saying that he wanted to "appreciate". Although there were no valuable things in this small place, no one's good things would be appreciated like this, which was so distressing.

As a result, some wealthy families have not yet broken their families, so they arrange for people to look around at the door. If they see Zhang Chengye coming, they will shout, "Nanshan is here again!" They will hurry back and hide the good things. So although Zhang Chengye calls himself Nanshan, the people of Xiajin call him privately, they will all call him a name, but they add a word at the back, and everyone calls him "Nanshan bandit".

This bandit in the Southern Mountains Zhang Chengye also has a habit of pretending to be weak and unable to resist. The so-called demeanor of famous scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasties is also the same. Every time he goes out, he likes to carry someone to use a bamboo bed to show his command and his expression is elegant.

Manager Zheng once gave Li Meng a telescope. At this time, his name was Qianlijing. I don’t know whether it was a merchant ship from Flang (collectively known as Spain and Portugal) or a Dutch merchant ship. It was a price like a treasure, but it was an amazing thing.

However, in Li Meng's opinion, it is not as good as modern children's toys, but in this era, it is already a very useful utensil and cannot find any alternatives.

Looking from a distance, in the other party's messy formation, a Piaotianyi Network in a brocade robe received news. Li Meng was becoming more and more confident. He was not ready to hide any traces and pressed over with a swagger.

Jiaozhou Camp is sure that the rioters in Xiajin County are also extremely arrogant. They are actually waiting for Li Meng to come to fight, without any preparation, and are really confused.

What is really different is what happened along the way. Li Meng once said during a dinner chat that he was going to convert the military pay paid to the soldiers into fields. This conversation was "accidentally" spread to the military camp. All soldiers who heard this news were extremely excited. As poor military households, or even soldiers from landlords and rich peasants, they had land or more land in their hands.

As a modern person, Li Meng really doesn't understand the fanaticism of people in this era about land, especially their own land.

Since this news was circulating "very accidental", as the cavalry messenger between the team and Jiaozhou City, the news spread everywhere in the Li Meng system. The soldiers were talking about this matter, and everyone was a little restless and excited. Relatively speaking, this battle was not taken seriously by people.

It seems that there is no need to be too focused. The army led by Li Meng entered Dongchang Prefecture from Jinan Prefecture. After passing En County, after walking thirty miles, they encountered the riots in Xiajin County.

The formation of Jiaozhou Camp is close, and the chaotic soldiers and civilians are extremely scattered. On both sides, the chaotic people are more than ten times more troops from Jiaozhou Camp, but at most they are twice as many people. It can be seen how chaos is.

Li Meng saw the "Mr. Nanshan" lying on the bamboo bed in the telescope. He couldn't help but smile and said to Ma Gang beside him:

"For a few months, let me see the results of your military training. Salt is in front and veterans are behind, go!"
Chapter completed!