Baixing Mountain is located to the north of Lechang County, Shaozhou. It is the dividing ridge between Wei Shui and Wuxi Water. There is a mountain road here. After walking this distance of only dozens of miles, you can go north through Wei Shui and go north to Chenzhou and Hengzhou.
, Tanzhou, passes through Xiangyin, enters Yunze Lake, and goes straight to the Yangtze River; in the south, you can pass through the Wuxi River and turn to the Xingjiang River until you reach Panyu.
Su Dingbo was sitting in a teahouse in Huangkeng Town, Baixing Mountain, looking at the endless flow of people on the street. Some people were shouting back and forth in the middle.
"Going south to Lechang County, there are already 270 people from eleven families. We will set off at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. If you want to join us, please sign up quickly and share the cost of the escort agency."
"Going north to Guiyang County, there are already 356 people in 14 families. We will set off at 8:10 tomorrow morning. If you want to join, please sign up quickly..."
Su Dingbo sighed slightly and remained silent. After a while, a steward he brought came back.
"My boss, we have already submitted our names. There are fifteen of us, a total of seventy-five yuan."
"The next person needs a lot of money." An old man in his fifties sitting next to him couldn't help but speak. His name was Su Shishi, an old servant of the Su family, who had raised Su Dingbo since he was a child.
"Uncle Fifteen, this price is already very fair. In the past two years, when the bandits were at their most rampant, if you wanted to cross here safely, you couldn't afford it even with five guan of money." Su Dingbo replied.
"Qi Lang, everyone in Nanhai County knows that the bandits in Baixing Mountain are closely related to the Chen and Qu families of the Twelve Nanhai Families. You should tell the court why there are still such mountains in the peaceful and prosperous times.
Thief? Killing people and stealing goods, committing all kinds of evil, it's really too much."
Su Shishi's gray beard was curling up and down, and he looked very angry.
"Uncle Fifteen, this area was raided twice by the Shonan Reclamation Corps, and the White Star Mountain bandits were severely injured. The key is that there are people here in Nanhai County to protect them. If the situation is urgent, go to Nanhai County to hide.
To completely eliminate the banditry of trail-cutting, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yulin, and Nanhai counties must work together. As long as there is a loophole in one place, it will be like a weed, and it will resurge as soon as the limelight passes."
Everyone knows that the power of the Twelve Nanhai Families has penetrated into the officialdom of Nanhai. In the past, it even penetrated into the three prefectures and counties of Yulin, Jiangxi and Hunan. It was called rampant and arrogant.
In recent years, Hunan and Jiangxi County officials have been purged and the situation has improved. Then Yulin County also began to improve. Now there is only Nanhai County left.
"Uncle Xiao, isn't there a silver mine in Huangkeng? Is it still there now?" Su Dingbo asked the steward who had just returned from signing up.
"My boss, this silver mine is still there, ten miles northwest of the town. However, the ore veins there have dried up. The court gave up on it the year before last and sold it to a private family. I just heard that it changed hands several times and it seems to have fallen into the hands of the Qu family of the Twelve Nanhai Families.
.Everyone says that the White Star Bandits are hiding there. It is a closed place and densely packed with mines. I think the rumors are not groundless."
The scene fell into silence again.
Su Shishi couldn't help but speak again: "Those who have killed thousands of people. I heard that there have been thousands of innocent souls on this road in the past twenty years. In the ninth year of the Apocalypse, a county magistrate who went to take office and his whole family were also killed here.
, and there is no follow-up until now.”
Su Dingbo's heart moved, and he said: "Fifteenth uncle, the sky net is vast, sparse and not missing! The murder of a magistrate is not a trivial matter. On the surface, it seems fine, but there must be an explanation, otherwise the court and the officials will lose face.
He Cun? Those people in the Judicial Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Interior are all wolves, and they will not let go if they bite."
"Okay, we can't discuss it here. Let's pack up, get ready, and go to bed early. We'll set off on time tomorrow morning."
"good."
The next morning, Su Dingbo and his party mixed in the long queue and walked slowly forward along the narrow and winding mountain road. The road was only wide enough to pass an oxcart, so everyone put all their goods and luggage on the road.
Get on the wheelbarrow and be pushed by the hired porter, creaking forward.
"I heard that the officials and the court had already decided to build a straight road here to connect the Wei River and the Wu River. If that were the case, it would save a lot of trouble, but let the bandits mess it up."
"Alas, our Song Dynasty horse infantry army is invincible in the world, but it is helpless here. It is really annoying!"
"Some people don't want this place to be unblocked. Once it is unblocked, they won't be able to control the supply of goods in Hunan and Jiangxi..."
Everyone was discussing in twos and threes, and it seemed that everyone was aware of the shady story and mystery inside. Su Dingbo's brows jumped, and it seemed that the publicity department had done a lot of work.
As a member of the "New Deal Group" close to the core circle, Su Dingbo is very clear about the current style of doing things in the court. The propaganda department goes first to gather people's hearts. This is called building momentum. When the time is right, it will be like a rolling torrent, unstoppable.
"The speed of the rushing water is the force that causes the rocks to drift away; the speed of the birds of prey is the integrity that destroys them."
While Su Dingbo was thinking about the joints inside, there was a sudden noise in front of him.
"There are bandits!" Someone shouted heartbreakingly, and the voice floated in the valley, which was particularly scary.
"Don't panic, don't panic! Don't run around! Hide behind the car and don't run out of the mountain road."
"We are protected by the bodyguards from the bodyguard bureau. Once we leave the mountain road, they won't be able to take care of us!"
"Don't run around, or you'll be caught by bandits hiding in the mountains and forests!"
After several twists and turns, the panic of the team finally subsided. Everyone hid behind the wheelbarrow, observing the surroundings vigilantly, and whispering about the situation ahead.
"There were three to four hundred bandits setting up an ambush in front of them, but the sharp-eyed bodyguard noticed them and took action."
"The other side had crossbows, and so did we. The bodyguard and the escort were shot four or five times, and we don't know whether they are alive or dead, but they finally managed to hold down the position."
"There are three to four hundred of us, and the bandits don't dare to attack us rashly. I heard that we are negotiating so that we can spend money to buy peace."
Su Dingbo listened and observed carefully. He noticed that some porters had evil eyes and were sneaky. He was startled and quickly gathered his confidants together.
"Be careful porters, there must be bandits' spies among them. Maybe there are bandits' spies among the guys in these caravans."
Yes, this is entirely possible. The mastermind behind the bandits is the Twelve Families of the South China Sea. According to their strength, it should not be too simple to insert spies into the porters and caravan crews.
"Internal response? Why didn't you take action just now?"
"Maybe they didn't have time to react. The most dangerous moment now is when the negotiations are finalized and the bandits let us pass."
Su Shishi, Xiaoshu and others suddenly understood. At that time, everyone thought they had escaped and completely let down their guard. Some porters suddenly took action and cooperated with the bandits. Then everything was really over.
How vicious!
Soon, news came from the front that the bodyguard had reached an agreement with the bandit leader - if he paid one thousand silver yuan, he would be released.
One thousand yuan was not much when divided, so it was treated as buying a few more bottles of good wine. The leaders of each team agreed to the negotiated terms, and everyone stood up one after another, showing their joy after the disaster.
Swords and guns have no eyesight. If there is a fight, death and injury are inevitable. Who can guarantee that he will be lucky and not the unlucky guy?
A quarter of an hour later, after paying the fare, the team began to move forward again.
Walking to a spacious mountain col, you can vaguely see hundreds of people hiding in the woods and grass on the hillside, looking eagerly down.
Everyone is no longer as nervous as they were just now. They believe in the integrity of the bandits - if they take the money to buy the way and still kill them, no one will dare to believe them next time, and they will have to fight to the end in the future. Presumably the bandits will not be so stupid.
Bar.
Suddenly, a bamboo whistle sounded in the valley, and dozens of porters and men mixed in the caravan attacked almost at the same time. They either held crossbows and aimed at the escort leader, or held blades and hijacked the members of each caravan.
Team leader.
"What are you going to do?" someone asked screaming, but no one answered. This chapter has been completed!