Jin Feng picked up his telescope and pointed it at the shore, and found that the two groups were chasing each other and escaping.
The one being chased was wearing silk and satin, and there were some old, weak, women and children among them, while the one being chased was all sallow and skinny, and their clothes were full of patches and holes. They looked very shabby, and they looked like poor people at first glance.
The party being chased had a guard. The guard was not only strong and tall, but also had a bright long knife in his hand. However, there were too many poor people. The guard could not fight with four hands, so he had to fight and retreat.
The party being chased was now surrounded by the water, and the situation was very critical.
Seeing a boat passing by on the river, the party being chased immediately waved their arms toward Zhenyuan No. 2 and shouted for help.
Upon seeing this, Jin Feng quickly walked to the deck and happened to meet the escort company commander in charge of security.
"Sir, why did you come out?"
The company commander looked at Jin Feng and said quickly: "There are bows and arrows among the people on the shore. Go in quickly and don't get accidentally hurt!"
Jin Feng took a closer look and found that there were indeed several poor people carrying bows and arrows on their backs.
Although they are all made of earthen longbows, Zhenyuan No. 2 is not very far from the shore at this time, so it is still possible to shoot onto the ship.
Regarding his own safety, Jin Feng was not stubborn and followed the company commander to the corridor, and then asked: "What happened on the shore?"
"I don't know either. It looks like they were robbing someone on the road or attacking local tycoons."
The escort company commander replied.
It's understandable to block the road and rob Jin Feng, but the answer of robbing the local tyrants made Jin Feng very surprised.
It was he who proposed the idea of targeting local tyrants, and it was also the basis for the rapid expansion of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
However, due to limited manpower, Jin Feng temporarily slowed down the expansion of the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau. He only sent escorts to the south of the Yangtze River to rob and guard the granaries, and did not arrange escorts and Zhongming teams to raid local tyrants and divide their fields.
The company commander saw Jin Feng's confusion and explained: "Sir, the current raids on local tyrants in Jiangnan to allocate land are not led by us, but are organized voluntarily by the people."
"Organized voluntarily by the common people?" Jin Feng frowned slightly.
"Jiangnan has been so chaotic recently. Thieves are everywhere and bandits are rampant. After each group of bandits is established, in order to establish their prestige and to collect money and grain, they have to plunder the people. The people can no longer survive and have no choice but to resist."
The company commander said: "Bandits usually occupy dangerous terrain as their bases, making it difficult for ordinary people to attack them. In addition to the guidance of the leaflets we sent out before, they vented their anger on the landlords and squires, organized each other, and attacked the landlords and squires.
Steal their food to protect yourself."
Hearing this, Jin Feng sighed softly.
Landlords and squires are often local cowards, and they generally have good relations with local officials. With the help of the government and the support of a few thugs, the landlords can suppress a large number of people.
Even if the common people are really forced to take action, they can be suppressed quickly with the help of the government.
But now all the four princes in the capital have run away, the Central Plains court has become ineffective, and all the vassal kings in the south of the Yangtze River have been killed by the nine princesses in one go, and the government has also fallen into chaos.
As the saying goes, the law does not punish the public, there were too many common people making troubles, and the government could not control them even if they wanted to. In the end, they simply gave up. In many places, the government soldiers and police chiefs worked together to extort merchants and people, becoming even more brutal than bandits.
Without government suppression, the landlords would be nothing but fat sheep in front of the huge masses of people.
Coupled with the leaflet propaganda of Zhenyuan Escort Bureau, more and more people spontaneously organized and rushed into the houses of landlords and squires.
The Zhenyuan Escort Bureau will divide the land among local tyrants and hold trials to try the landlords and squires who have persecuted the common people. However, their families will generally not be punished in addition, and they will even be allocated some land according to the normal common people's shares.
But the fight against local tyrants organized voluntarily by the common people is different.
The tenants have been exploited by the landlords for so many years, and their hatred has long been accumulated in their hearts. Without the restraint of the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau, the common people rushed into the landlord's house, leaving basically no chickens or dogs behind.
As for the landowners' female relatives, their fate was also very miserable.
At first, the people's targets were focused on the landlords and gentry, but gradually, all the wealthy people became the targets of the people's crusade.
Regardless of whether you are a cloth merchant, a salt merchant or a businessman, as long as you look like a wealthy person, you will be slapped by the common people as soon as you go out.
It's not safe to stay at home. People might gather together and break into your home at any time.
In short, Jiangnan is now in complete chaos, with murders and robberies occurring every day.
This is also the reason why more and more wealthy people from Jiangnan have fled to Sichuan and Shu recently.
In fact, they also knew that if they fled to Sichuan and Shu, they would probably be liquidated by the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau, but they had no choice but to do so.
Although the gentry all hated Jin Feng and the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, they had to admit that the Zhenyuan Escort Agency was at least reasonable. Even if it was liquidated, it would hardly affect the women and children at home.
After arriving in Sichuan and Shu, there was at least a glimmer of hope. If we continued to stay in Jiangnan, we would have no chance of survival at all.
Jin Feng sighed and closed his eyes slightly.
Before he proposed attacking local tyrants to divide their land, Jin Feng knew that this was a double-edged sword, and if used properly, it could quickly open up the situation.
This is also true. By attacking local tyrants to divide their fields, the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau was welcomed by the people wherever they went. In just a few months, the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau occupied half of Qin's territory.
There are people who organize and restrain the local tyrants and divide their land, which is a sharp sword to expand territory. But if there is no one to organize and restrain, the current situation in Jiangnan will occur.
And once the sword is drawn out, it can never be closed again.
That's why Jin Feng was so cautious at the beginning. It wasn't until the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau and the Zhenyuan Army were established, and he had enough self-protection power, that he dared to propose the concept of attacking local tyrants to divide their land.
According to Jin Feng's plan, after taking over Sichuan, Shu and Qin, he would quickly train manpower, expand the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau and the Zhongming Group, and then expand outward state by state.
With the territory, there will be more people, so there will be more talents to choose from, and the speed of expansion will be like a snowball, getting faster and faster.
Unfortunately, things went against expectations. The expansion had just begun when the Haidongqing incident occurred, and the expansion had to be suspended.
What Jin Feng was most worried about happened.
Generally speaking, when encountering such a thing, the escort will not care about it and cannot handle it. If not, he will get involved in it.
But there were still so many old, weak, women and children in the crowd, especially those with children still in their arms. They were innocent.
While Jin Feng was still hesitating whether to send someone to rescue him, he suddenly heard someone on the shore shouting: "Mr. Jin, Mrs. Xiaobei, help!"
When Jin Feng heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
The people on the shore actually knew him and Tang Xiaobei?
But Tang Xiaobei was still sleeping in the cabin, and he didn't come out just now. How did the other party know that he was on the boat?