Volume 1 Battle in the Sand Garden Chapter 5 Rat Thieves in South City
Shayuan Prison, south of Tucheng City.
The Tucheng where the Muma Xiang Army lives is divided into north and south by a small river. The north is prosperous, with neat streets and numerous shops. The Shayuan supervises the Yamen, horse breeding, sick horse affairs, breeding affairs, Jiaojun Camp, and a number of offices.
They are all set up in the North City. The South City is dirty and messy, and the lower-class Xiangjun and their families all live here.
What Qin Xiao was talking about happened in Nancheng. The family name of the family who had the accident was Cui, but they were not Xiang soldiers, but wandered from other places. With their skills in treating horses, they settled down in Shayuan Prison. The four Cui family members
The couple has a son and a daughter. Although they live a simple life, they still have enough food and clothing.
Cui Jiazi was seventeen years old. He was supposed to participate in the Autumn Festival this year, but he died unexpectedly.
Although Qin Chong interacted with the Cui family's children, he knew nothing about them. In fact, he didn't even say a word to them.
He saved people that day out of pure indignation, and he was struck by lightning right after he came out of Kuixing Tower.
Today, Qin Zhong went out early in the morning. He had an indescribable feeling in his heart that he wanted to visit Cui's house. It was supposed that a few days had passed and there might be no traces there, but he just wanted to visit. Anyway.
He felt that after the encounter in Kuixing Tower, he had already formed a bond with the Cui family and could not stay out of it.
He walked very slowly. Going any faster would hurt his wounds. Seeing that it was almost noon, he walked from the north of the city to the "boundary river". A small river that was neither wide nor deep separated the two worlds. Heading south.
Looking around, one could see a series of low wooden houses and shacks in dilapidated condition, and the streets were also muddy.
There was a heavy rain a few days ago, and most of Nancheng was flooded, and almost every home was affected. Now, although the water has receded, the dilapidated scene left behind made Qin Chong sigh deeply. There are ruined houses everywhere, clothes hanging to dry, household items,
The children were running around without worrying about the quilt, and the faces of the adults were helpless and numb.
"Little Huzi." Someone called from behind Qin Chong. Huzi is Qin Chong's baby name. He has not yet reached the crown, so naturally he has not been given a nickname. Everyone who is familiar with him in Shayuan Prison calls him this. But he has to add it.
The word "little" made Qin Zhong very unhappy, but he had no choice. Because those who called him that were all elders.
Qin Zhong turned around and saw a person standing under the eaves behind him with his hands behind his back. He was not tall, with broad shoulders and long arms, and legs in a circle. Although his clothes were old, he was clean, and his chin was slightly tucked, giving him quite an imposing figure. After a moment,
Concentrating, Qin Zhong had already remembered this person, the deputy commander of the Dingguo Army's Zuoxiang Jiaojun Camp, Li Yuanzhou.
The Dingguo Army is the military name of the Xiang Army here. As for the Jiaojun Camp, it is responsible for training war horses.
Li Yuanzhou's riding skills are outstanding, and Sha Yuanjian has no equal. In Qin Yutian's words, any war horse trained by Li Yuanzhou can be taken home as a wife. When the border troops came here to choose horses, all horses trained by Li Yuanzhou were designated to be snatched.
For this reason, the Yuan Supervisor had several armed fights, and several troops refused to give in to each other and fought fiercely.
"Uncle Li." Qin Zhong bowed and saluted, saying hello.
Although Li Yuanzhou was a member of the Xiang army, he was full of skills and had a close relationship with Qin Yutian.
"Are you okay?" Li Yuanzhou had a joking smile in his eyes.
"Ah? It's not serious." Qin Zhong groaned in his heart. No one knew about his feat.
"Before your father left for Yanzhou, he made a special trip to pay homage to Kuixing." Li Yuanzhou's smile grew even stronger.
"Huh??" What do you mean? Qin Zhong's intuition is not a good thing. "Why does my father worship Kuixing?"
The sun shines through the shade of the trees and shines on the blackened earth walls, leaving mottled tree shadows swaying in the wind.
"Third brother, third brother." Behind Qin Zhong, two teenagers ran up, shouting as they ran.
Qin Zhong often comes here in Nancheng and has a few friends. The two young men's surnames are He, one is Dahu and the other is Xiaohu. They are brothers, but they look nothing alike. Dahu is fourteen and has a round face.
Big eyes; Little Tiger Twelve has a melon-seed face, like a pretty little girl.
The two brothers grew up on horses, and despite their young age, their riding skills are very good. They hide in stirrups, ride horses to pick up money, and even do somersaults on galloping horses, just like playing. Moreover, the two brothers each have their own unique skills.
Unique skill.
Dahu followed his father and learned the skill of tracking. Based on the animal's hoofprints, feces, and traces left by passing through grass, leaves, and branches, he can track the prey accurately. Dahu is very patient, and sometimes
In order to catch a prey, he can lie down in the grass all night.
Xiaohu has an out-of-touch personality and is impatient to learn these things, but he has a smart mind and is full of clever ideas. There are many children around his age or older than him who are willing to listen to his arrangements. They steal chickens, steal sheep, etc.
The biggest one was when they stole more than 20 tons of grain from a granary, but no one noticed.
It wasn't until a month later that the Shayuan Supervisor made a routine monthly check of the warehouse and found that there was less food.
It was also that time when the Xiaoqi camp was tracking down lost food, and Qin Zhong met the two brothers.
The reason why nothing happened in the end was thanks to the director of the granary. As the saying goes, you can rely on the mountain to rely on the mountain, and you can rely on the water to get water. How can you not rely on a granary? It was originally a confused account, how could anyone dare to investigate it in detail? It didn't take two days.
, there was an inexplicable extra twenty stones in the granary, the clerk took inventory again, and this time the number was accurate.
The loss of food in the granary was ignored by everyone, and no one mentioned it again.
In fact, Xiaohu and the others are not very clever in their stealing techniques. The back wall of the granary is next to a low barren mountain with thick bushes, long weeds, and dense underground potholes, all of which were made by weasels. Xiaohu and the others just borrowed
Following these holes and digging a little, we dug directly into the granary.
Normally there is no human presence here, so the soldiers guarding the warehouse were lazy and never patrolled this barren mountain, giving Xiaohu and the others the opportunity to steal. In three or four days in a row, more than 20 shi of grain were shipped out.
At that time, the Xiaoqi battalion sent out a team to search for the lost food. The leader of the team was Shi Yong, the master who taught Qin Zhong martial arts. Shi Yong was Qin Yutian's right-hand man. He was not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also meticulous. As expected, Shi Yong
It only took Yong half a day to find the cave where the food was stored.
More than twenty stones of grain were hidden in the cave. Apparently, the grain thieves had not yet had time to transport it away. Shi Yong did not rush to move the grain, but ordered people to clean up the traces and restore the disguise at the entrance of the cave to its original state. Then, he pretended
He didn't seem to find anything, so he went to search elsewhere. But he secretly ambushed someone and set up a net to wait.
The soldiers waited in ambush for a day and night, thinking that no one would come. But at dawn the next day, a small figure appeared in front of the cave. It was Xiaohu who was worried about the food, so he came secretly to check, and specially selected one
It was dawn when there were the least people. Unexpectedly, the soldiers who were ambushing me caught him by surprise.
Seeing that a child was caught, Shi Yong already understood about it and sighed in his heart.
The salary of the Xiang army is not high, and the superior officials exploit and exploit them, so they get very little money in a year. The family, old and young, all rely on this little money to survive. We can save on clothes all year round, but we have to eat. Every family can live a good life.
He was so anxious that he ran out of food from time to time, so he could only make ends meet by digging wild vegetables.
When questioned, Xiaohu burst into tears and said he was hungry and there was no food at home.
A bunch of old men were touched by Xiaohu's cries and words. They all had tears in their eyes, lowered their heads and sighed, feeling so aggrieved that they wanted to curse. The life of the Forbidden Army was much better than that of the Xiang Army. However, every family
There are sutras that are difficult to recite. Everyone has a large family to support, and life is stretched thin.
The Xiaoqi Battalion is stationed at Shayuanjian, so all military pay, food and grass are supplied by Shayuanjian.
Shayuan Supervisor raises horses for the imperial court and is directly under the Qunhu Division. It is a fat water yamen. The imperial court allocates millions of dollars in horse breeding expenses every year, but only 20 to 30 percent is actually used to raise horses. During this period,
, peeling off the skin layer by layer under various names, from top to bottom, plucking the hair, fattening countless corrupt officials.
When they arrived at the Shayuan Supervisory Office, they intensified their efforts. Depriving soldiers of food and pay was just the simplest operation.
What's worse, they resell horse feed, grain, cattle and sheep to line their own pockets.
The soldiers of the Xiaoqi Camp have not received their military pay for three months. The conflict between Qin Yutian and the chief secretary Yao Pingyuan is because Shayuan Supervisor withheld military pay and defaulted on payment. However, in the fight between the two, Qin Yutian was obviously at a disadvantage.
Wu's Song Dynasty was suppressed by Yao Pingyuan, and there was nothing he could do.
Putting himself in Shi Yong's shoes, he sympathized with the Xiang army and couldn't bear to deal with Xiao Hu. The crime of stealing military rations was not a small one. Once he was convicted, he would be exiled or beheaded. Even if Xiao Hu was still young and could survive, he would not be able to escape severe punishment.
, and it will even affect the family. It is impossible to say that dozens of families were destroyed just like this.
"Master, why don't we let him go?" Qin Chong was present at the time and couldn't bear it.
Shi Yong remained silent. He slowly turned his head and looked into the distance quietly. He was ordered to catch thieves. If he released a food thief privately, it would be a crime, and he might be dismissed from his post and investigated. Moreover, there were many people in the military camp.
It's so complicated that it's inevitable that no one will reveal the news in the future. Shi Yong was torn between left and right for a while, and it was really difficult to make a decision.
Seeing the sun getting higher, Shi Yong waved his hand and summoned his troops to join together.
"Release or capture? What do you say?" Shi Yong stared at several people with gleaming eyes and said.
There were three people who carried out the ambush mission, plus Shi Yong and Qin Zhong, a total of five people. If this matter was to be concealed, the five people needed to be unified and share the responsibility. No one could stay out of the matter.
"Let it go, I'm so sick of it," someone said.
"What to do with the food?" Some people were worried about the food.
"It's divided." Shi Yong said in a muffled voice.
Shi Yong knew human nature and sympathized with him. If they were allowed to take the risk and let him go, no one would do it.
Only by sharing the benefits can the matter be concealed.
After some discussion, a total of twenty-three stones of grain were divided into six parts. Shi Yong, Qin Chong and three soldiers received four stones each, and the remaining three stones went to Xiaohu. Xiaohu did not say a word and silently accepted the result.
In other words, committing such a big thing, being caught red-handed, and escaping unharmed is already a blessing.
At noon, a piece of news came, which made Shi Yong and others particularly excited. The grain was found in the granary. It was not lost before, but the clerk made a mistake in counting. After counting again, the number was correct. This time, everyone was happy.
Afterwards, Qin Zhong did not ask for the four stones of grain, but quietly gave it to Xiaohu. Although Xiaohu was bold and dared to attack the granary of Shayuan Supervisor, he was really hungry and that's why he took this step. The granary was piled with grain, and they
What the fuck is this about a family that has more soldiers and is going hungry?
One stone is one hundred and fifty kilograms, and four stones is six hundred kilograms. This is life-saving food. Xiaohu's family is extremely grateful to Qin Zhong. Therefore, the big tiger and the little tiger regard Qin Zhong as their benefactor.
After this incident, Nancheng got another name: Nancheng Pirate Rat. I don’t know who named it, and I don’t know where it came from. Anyway, this name became more and more famous, and eventually everyone knew it.
"Let me tell you what? Third brother is so powerful, how could he die?" Xiaohu grabbed Qin Zhong's arm, very excited.
The two brothers heard someone say that Qin Chong had come to Cui's house, and they chased him angrily. In the past few days, news about Qin Chong was also flying all over the sky, saying everything. What made Xiaohu the most angry was that someone said
, Qin Chong was punished by heaven and was struck to death by lightning. They could not enter Qin's house to find Qin Chong, so they could only wait.
"Third brother is here to see Xiao Nizi?" Dahu was much calmer and guessed Qin Zhong's purpose of coming here.
"I know, I know." Upon hearing this, Xiaohu immediately rushed to speak.
"Oh? You know?" Qin Chong was quite surprised.
"Third brother, look at this." Dahu said, took out a cloth bag from his arms, untied the laces, and poured out a piece of white jade, about the size of half a palm. It was crystal clear in the sun, and you could tell it was something good at a glance.
"Where did this jade come from?" Qin Zhong looked at the jade pendant and had some guesses in his mind.
"I picked it up." Xiaohu spoke quickly and rushed to speak.
Three days ago, on the sixth day of May, it was already dark. Yao Gang took the two of them to Nancheng. When passing by Xiaohu's house, Xiaohu happened to be peeing outside the door. With the faint light in the room, Xiaohu recognized
The one person who came out was Yao Gang. Yao Gang always showed off his skills, and all the children in Nancheng recognized him.
Several people from Yao Gang passed by in a hurry, and no one paid attention to Xiao Hu. But Xiao Hu became curious. Yao Gang had always been dressed in elegant clothes and dressed elegantly. How could he be like now, dressed in black, with his head hidden and his tail exposed? He simply followed Yao Gang.
They wanted to see what was going on. Not long after, they arrived at Cui's house.
The little tiger hid behind a tree and couldn't hear anything even though he was far away. Soon after, the three Yao Gang returned, and one of them was carrying a person on his shoulders. He looked thin and small, like a child. This child was not
Unable to cry, he drooped his arms and swung them as he walked. He probably fainted.
Xiaohu followed him all the time. The strange thing was that Yao Gang did not go to Beicheng. In the alleys of Nancheng, he turned left and right for a long time, and finally entered a dilapidated house. There was no place in Nancheng that Xiaohu didn't know. But this place
The house, Xiaohu really doesn’t know whose house it belongs to. I vaguely remember that this house has been empty for a long time.
When we returned, Cui's house was already on fire, and the red color was particularly conspicuous.
At that time, Xiaohu didn't know who was kidnapped, but now he knows that it was Xiao Nizi from the Cui family.
"He is still in Nancheng?" Qin Zhong was slightly surprised. Didn't he say he wanted to sell it?
"Here." Xiaohu said loudly, "My soldiers are watching."
Qin Chong smiled and knew that the soldiers Xiaohu was talking about were a group of half-grown children. Because of their feat of stealing food, they were regarded as the leader by their companions and were known as the rat thieves in the south of the city. They should not be underestimated. Xiaohu's men, at least
There are also more than thirty people, most of whom are in their teens, who imitate the Imperial Guard and are assigned duties.
"Where is this jade pendant? Where did you pick it up?" Qin Chong asked again.
Speaking of jade pendants, it happened on the fourth day of May, the day before Qin Chong was struck by lightning.
That afternoon, Yao Gang led a group of servants and walked through the streets to find the Cui family. Such a big movement naturally attracted the attention of everyone in the neighborhood. Yao Gang was notorious in Shayuan Prison, and no one dared to interfere with his affairs.
Looking from afar, Yao Gang and others came out of Cui's house in a menacing manner carrying two sacks.
At first glance, the sack was filled with people. It kept twisting and whining. A son and a daughter from the Cui family chased them out of the yard, calling for their parents incessantly, trying to stop these people.
He left. Several servants turned around and punched the Cui family. The Cui brothers and sisters threw themselves to the ground and watched Yao Gang walk away.
When Yao Gang arrested people, Dahu was nearby, but did not come close. The Cui family were not Xiang soldiers, but refugees from outside. Because old Cui knew how to treat horses, he got a job in Shayuan Supervisor. Cui Jiazi was a scholar.
, rarely interacts with the supervisors of Shayuan, and has no friends among his peers.
Dahu noticed that beside Yao Gang, there was also a stranger, around 20 years old, with a dignified appearance and luxurious clothes. At first glance, he looked like a noble man with a good status. His face was calm and he never said a word.
Seeing that the Cui family had suffered a disaster, many people came to comfort and help clean up. Dahu also came forward, wanting to find out the cause and effect. Unexpectedly, the Cui family just cried and didn't say a word. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly felt
He stepped on something under his feet, rubbed his toes, and found a jade pendant in the wet mud.
Dahu bent down and picked it up, without making any noise, and put it in his arms.
"On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Yao Gang arrested the Cui family's parents?" Qin Zhong asked, feeling that the matter was complicated.
"Yes." Dahu nodded.
It turned out that Yao Gang and Mr. Jinyi had arrested the parents of the Cui family a long time ago. No wonder Qin Chong saw a scholar kneeling in front of Yao Gang that day, kowtowing and begging. It seems that the Cui family came to Yao Gang specifically.
, praying for him to let his parents go. But what does Yao Gang want to do by arresting an old couple?
Qin Zhong frowned and thought, sorting out the whole process bit by bit. First he arrested an old couple, and then a little girl. At that time, he showed up to intervene and blocked Yao Gang's actions.
Later, Yao Gang secretly went to the Cui family, captured the little girl, and killed the Cui family.
It seems that the little girl is the key, the one Yao Gang must get.
But why did you kill Cui Jiazi?
"What can the Yamen say?" Qin Chong didn't understand and simply stopped thinking about it.
"There is no explanation." Dahu said bitterly.
A big man was burned alive; a little girl was forcibly abducted; and an old couple were also put in sacks and kidnapped. A good family was destroyed in Yao Gang's hands.
So, he actually pretended to be deaf and mute, and did nothing for three days, as if he didn't even see it.
With just one Yao Gang, Supervisor Sha Yuan couldn't possibly be like this. There must be someone stronger behind the scenes who interfered with Supervisor Sha Yuan's actions. What is such a big deal that deserves such a big fight?
In Qin Chong's mind, he slowly focused on the young master in Jin Yi. He could almost conclude that the affairs of the Cui family were closely related to the young master in Jin Yi. Or, he himself was the instigator.
It was this young man in gilded clothes who set himself up in Kuixing Tower to urinate on Kuixing in front of countless people, offending scholars all over the world. Qin Chong at the time could not see through this trick, and he fell for it in a confused way, thinking that he had saved people.
Little did he know that Xiao Nizi was kidnapped in a blink of an eye. From the beginning to the end, he was playing tricks on Qin Chong.
Moreover, Qin Zhong was struck by lightning and died. This revenge must of course be avenged.
"Third brother, let's fight in and rescue the people." Xiaohu loved fighting with Qin Zhong the most, it was so enjoyable.
"No, let's outsmart him this time." Qin Chong said gloomily.
"Ah?" Xiaohu opened his mouth wide and forgot to close it. Qin Zhong, who had always been so aggressive, actually said he wanted to outwit him? This is incredible. For a moment, the big tiger and the little tiger felt that this person was not Qin Zhong. Because, the former Qin Zhong
Zhong disdains tactics the most. His mantra is, if you can't knock him down with one punch, use two punches.