"Let me tell you, this second group of bandits is even more powerful. I heard that they are led by three brothers. It seems that the boss was also an official before, surnamed Liu. Later, his family fell into trouble, so he made a living by selling straw sandals.
The two brothers were fed a lot of shit and piss."
"From then on, I led my two brothers to start a business of robbing homes and houses, but that is not the most important thing. The most powerful thing about this group of bandits is that I heard that there is a military advisor among them."
"This military advisor is amazing!"
"I heard that I was a private school teacher before, but I think I swollen the hand of a kid from a rich family, and then the kid's father and a group of people beat him up, and he stopped working."
"On the hillside in Longgu, we built a thatched house to tell people's fortunes. The fee is very high."
"But it seemed that he was unwilling to become a bandit at first, but the leader surnamed Liu went to him three times before he was able to get him out of the thatched house."
The restaurant manager said that his mouth was dry, so he stood up and poured a glass of water to drink.
Lao He happily gnawed chicken bones and listened to the story.
Zhang Bao covered his face with his hands.
The Water Margin has just passed, and the Three Kingdoms are coming again...
Could it be said that when Lao Shi and Lao Wu wrote their books, they all referred to these folk stories?
"Come on, come on, keep going. Let me tell you, this is the first time for the three Liu brothers to go. I heard that they gave a lot of money as gifts, but the military advisor accepted the money and did not agree to come out. He said he would consider it."
"The second time I went to send more than a dozen beauties away. After we finished, the beauties stayed, but they still didn't agree to come out. They said they would think about it again."
"On the third time, the third son of the Liu family burned down the thatched house, and the fact that he took money to have sex with beautiful women every night was widely publicized in Longgu, and the military advisor couldn't stay any longer.
So he went down the mountain to join the Liu brothers."
"In a short period of time, it has developed into another large bandit force that can rival Shuibo Taihang."
"Isn't it awesome?"
The shopkeeper took a sip of tea with satisfaction.
Zhang Bao:......
Lao He:......
Zhang Bao was speechless, this seems a bit confusing...
The next time I meet Fan Hanzhong, I must ask him "The king of heaven covers the tiger of the earth".
Lao He who was on the side became interested. He used his chopsticks to find a piece of chicken gizzards, stuffed it into his mouth, and asked vaguely to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, what do you think of these two bandits?
Which one is more powerful?"
"Is He Yunlong's Shuibo Taixing more powerful?"
Lao He asked excitedly.
"It's hard to say this. He Yunlong has a lot of men and horses, and he has the advantage of Shuibo Taihang, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack."
"But the Liu family brothers are not bad, and they have the guidance of military advisors. I heard that they can use troops like gods, and they can compete with General Fan."
"I heard that General Fan couldn't do anything to them in the end. That's what I'm telling you. If it weren't for the fact that you guys fell in love with each other, I wouldn't say so much to most people!"
Just as the shopkeeper was about to take the chopsticks and greet Zhang Bao and the others to eat the Fried Chicken from the Dream Mountain, he found that the entire basin in front of him was empty, and there was a pile of bones beside Lao He.
"this……"
The shopkeeper was dumbfounded.
"Shopkeeper, please bring me another pot. The amount of your dish is a little small..."
Lao He picked his teeth with a chicken bone.
"Forehead……"
"Then I'll go to the kitchen and ask someone to make a pot of it."
The shopkeeper swallowed his saliva, took the basin and left. Before leaving, he didn't forget to take a look at Lao He.
This old thing looks so lean and lean, and he eats so fast and plentifully that even the old sow in our backyard can't keep up.
"Master, the owner of this restaurant is also a talkative person. He knows so many things."
Lao He said to Zhang Bao.
"This Linyi County is bordered by our Hezhou. There should be a lot of salt merchants and various business travelers. In addition, the restaurant itself has many contacts, so they naturally know a lot."
"But there are indispensable embellishing things in it. You can't believe it, but you can't believe it entirely."
"It just so happens that the shopkeeper is a talkative person, so he gives us an advantage. We can take the opportunity to find out some information."
Zhang Bao smiled.
After a while, the shopkeeper came out with several plates of side dishes.
"Shopkeeper, stop working so hard. These are enough to eat. Come, sit down and chat."
"I'm still very interested in the huge mansion of Yangzhou Mu that you mentioned. I will definitely go and see it later."
"But this Yangzhou Mu is really bold. Wouldn't it be very troublesome if he was targeted by the bandits in Hezhou?"
Zhang Bao asked the shopkeeper to sit down.
"impossible!"
"I'm telling you, that big courtyard is amazing. The walls are as high as the city walls. Even if the bandits come, they can't get in at all."
"Not to mention, there is a general stationed nearby with more than 10,000 troops, which is quite powerful."
The shopkeeper waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Ten thousand troops?"
"So powerful?"
Zhang Bao and Lao He looked at each other, but they didn't know about this before.
"That's right. This general is specifically to protect the safety of the state capital. Otherwise, there is so much money in the state capital, which would be in danger."
"In our Dongzhou state, all the troops are in the hands of a few generals, and even the county governor doesn't have many men."
"These generals have been fed by our Master Zhou Mu with money, and they obey Master Zhou Mu's words. I heard that soldiers are paid a lot of money!"
"I even thought that if the restaurant business is not good in the future, I might as well try to be a soldier..."
The restaurant owner looked envious.
Zhang Bao nodded.
In Zhang Bao's previous understanding, he thought that Dongzhou and Hezhou were the same.
I didn't expect the differences between states to be so big.
When I went to Liaozhou, I didn't have much impression because of the war. Now when I came to Dongzhou, I realized that the structure of the entire state capital was different.
From this perspective, the rights of the state pastoralists are not insignificant.
No wonder the imperial power now has less and less constraints on each state. It is difficult to take back the power that was delegated when the rebel army was wiped out from the beginning.
Dongzhou, relying on the sea salt, could collect taxes at a high price, keep the bulk of it, and give the remaining small portion to the court.
No wonder he is so rich.
Zhang Bao was astonished. Compared with Dongzhou, Hezhou was simply poor. It couldn't survive without some pillar industries.
If Dongzhou is captured from now on and there are Hezhou guards outside, life will be much easier.
Both war and development are inseparable from money.
That night.
Zhang Bao and the others chatted with the shopkeeper for half the night, until they learned everything about the situation in Dongzhou, and then they each took a rest.
The next few days.
Monsters of all kinds came one after another.
There are beggars begging for food, people fleeing for their lives, opera troupes singing big plays, acrobats performing with broken chests, and people selling excrement...
The soldiers guarding the city were a little confused.
"What happened in the past two days?"
"Why are so many people coming?"
A soldier held his nose and opened the door for a team of people pulling swill, and said to the people next to him.