The man who was brought to Li Dingguo was a young man of about twenty years old. He was quite strong. When he saw Li Dingguo, he immediately fell to his knees and timidly said: "Old... chief... chief."
Li Dingguo helped him up and said harmoniously: "What's your name?"
The man said: "To tell you what the leader said, my name is Ma Liang."
Li Dingguo nodded and said, "Ma Liang, you don't have to be afraid. If you have any grievances, speak slowly."
Probably seeing Li Dingguo's kind attitude, Ma Liang lost a lot of his timidity and felt that there was hope, so he cried: "Chief, you have to make the decision for me!"
Li Dingguo patted him on the shoulder and said: "Ma Liang, there's no need to cry. If you have anything to say, please say it. If you are wronged, I will make the decision for you. Even if I can't make the decision, there is also Mr. Shang, so just say it."
, is it related to the Ma family?"
Ma Liang wiped away his tears and said, "Yes, the Ma family not only robbed our fields and forced my mother to death, but their scoundrel Ma Mian also... also robbed my wife."
It turns out that more than half of the residents in Majia Village have the surname Ma, and they are all related to each other to some extent. Ma Liang's family has lived here for several generations and has always made a living by farming. Ma Liang is 21 years old this year and married a year ago.
He married Han Xiuyun, a girl from Dongxi Village. Now he has his parents and two younger brothers, one named Ma Ji and the other named Ma Li, but they are not yet adults. They live in a family of six.
Because the Ma family has been farming for generations, Ma Liang’s father, Ma Laosi, is very good at farming, and the whole family is hardworking and willing to work. Therefore, from the same acre of land, if others can harvest two stones of grain from planting, their family can harvest
Two stones, five buckets, or even three stones,
Therefore, my life is pretty good, more than above, more than below. Now my family has fifteen acres of paddy fields and twenty-five acres of dry fields. If we divide it according to the composition in another time and space, we can at least be considered middle peasants, and we can still relax a lot.
Still considered a rich farmer.
But precisely because their family's fields yielded much more harvests than others, it also attracted the attention of the Ma family. Naturally, the Ma family did not think that it was the result of their hard work and proper methods, and thought it was because their family was
After occupying a piece of geomantic treasure land, they wanted the Ma Liang family's land. And they didn't give any compensation. It was a total occupation. They also wanted Ma Liang and his son to become tenant farmers of their family.
Ma Liang's family naturally disagreed when his family's fields were usurped by others, but their family was no match for the power of the Ma family, so just a month ago, Ma Heqiang ordered his evil slave Ma Mian to lead a group of thugs to their home.
, they fought hard and not only robbed the fields, but also took away all the people in Ma Liang’s family.
After being beaten violently, Ma Mian finally saw that Ma Liang's wife Han Xiuyun was still pretty, so she snatched her away and gave her to Ma Yong. However, Ma Liang's mother was injured and angry, and died within a few days.
Ma Liang wanted to go to the Ma family several times to fight for his life, but Ma Laosi stopped him every time and advised him to endure it.
Today, the merchant army invaded Majiazhai. Ma Liang also heard about it. Because the hatred was still lingering, he paid special attention. Later, he also heard that Ma Meng was killed by the merchant army, Ma Yong was also captured, and the Ma family
The mansion was also surrounded, and Ma Liang finally couldn't bear it anymore, so he ignored his father's dissuasion and came to the Ma family mansion to complain to the merchant army.
After hearing this, Li Dingguo felt quite angry. The Ma family did all kinds of evil in this area. Moreover, this phenomenon was not a special case. He had seen it a lot when he followed Zhang Xianzhong. But at this time, Li Dingguo
Remembering what Shang Yi repeatedly emphasized to them before setting off, this time he sent troops to capture Haiyan County and break the
The victory over Majiazhai cannot be regarded as a complete success. The people of Majiazhai and the surrounding villages must be mobilized, let them stand up and expose the crimes of the Ma family father and son, launch mass struggles, and call for criticism meetings. At the same time, they must also be given
A pamphlet told them some methods on how to mobilize the masses and how to expose criticism and struggle.
Although Li Dingguo doesn't understand Shang Yi's approach, in his opinion, is it necessary to make it so complicated? Is it necessary to expose any crime? Killing the whole family with one knife is simple and straightforward. Anyway, that's how it used to be with Zhang Xianzhong.
Of course, many unrelated people may have been involved. No.
But now Li Dingguo also admires Shang Yi very much. Since he wants to do this, he must have his reason. Anyway, Li Dingguo has never seen Shang Yi do anything meaningless, so he just does it. And now this
Ma Liang is exactly the right person to realize Shang Yi's intention.
So Li Dingguo said: "Ma Liang, don't worry. We will definitely make up your mind for your injustice. However, our team has an order that we are not allowed to search the house tonight and must wait until after dawn. So you go back first and come back tomorrow morning."
I will take you to find your wife. I will also return your family’s fields in the future, so don’t worry.”
Ma Liang couldn't help but was so excited that he burst into tears again and said: "Chief, I can't repay you for your great kindness even if I work for you. I won't go back. I will just wait here and follow you as soon as dawn."
You go in and find someone."
Li Dingguo nodded and said, "That's fine. I have something else to ask you, so let's talk and wait."
Ma Liang also nodded and said: "Chief, you can ask. As long as I know something, I will tell you."
Of course what Li Dingguo asked about was the usual evil deeds of the Ma family. Ma Liang was from Majiazhai and had seen a lot of them, so he went inside and outside the village and told them everything he had seen and heard one by one.
He came out. He kept talking for more than an hour, and even though the sky was still white, he still hadn't finished speaking.
Li Dingguo had no choice but to interrupt him and said: "Ma Liang, after we find your wife, we will conduct a public trial on the Ma family, because someone needs to testify against the Ma family's crimes before we can convict them. If no one dares to testify against them,
, can only be punished as innocent, so do you dare to tell the truth about your family being oppressed by the Ma family in front of everyone."
Ma Liang immediately said: "Dare, as long as you are willing to support us, chief, I dare to say it. Even if I go to the Golden Palace of the Imperial Palace and meet the Emperor Long Live the Emperor, I will still dare to say it."
After hearing this, Li Dingguo couldn't help laughing and said: "Okay, you have the courage. You have to think about what you want to say these days, and don't be timid when the time comes."
At this time, the sky was getting brighter, and the soldiers of the Merchant Army were waking up one after another. Liu Botao then ordered the entire army to line up and prepare to start inspecting the Ma family mansion. Li Dingguo also reported Ma Liang's affairs to Liu Botao.
After Liu Botao heard this, he was also very happy, because he was also an ordinary citizen and knew the timid character of farmers. They would definitely be happy that the merchant army defeated the Ma family, but asking them to stand up and expose the Ma family's crimes would be a rare occasion.
I found a few. What’s that word? It’s called low consciousness. It’s rare that a farmer with high consciousness comes out now.
It's great to be willing to take the initiative to expose the Ma family's crimes. Moreover, Liu Botao also knows that farmers follow the crowd. As long as there is a leader, others will immediately follow. Therefore, he quickly ordered Li Dingguo to take Ma Liang
To find his wife, he must keep his enthusiasm. I have learned a new word "positivity".
The soldiers of the Merchant Army cleaned each house one by one, drove all men, women, old and children out of the house, gathered on the street outside, divided them into two groups, men and women, and registered their names and identities. While the crowd gathered around to watch the excitement
, and gradually increased.
Li Dingguo and Ma Liang stood at the door and looked at the men and women who came out. Suddenly Ma Liang rushed towards the door and shouted: "Xiuyun, I have found you." As he said this, he grabbed a woman's hand.
.
The woman was startled at first, but immediately saw the person coming and shouted, "Brother Aliang, it's you! I thought I would never see you again." After saying that, the two immediately hugged each other and started crying.
At this time, Li Dingguo also came to the two of them and said, "Ma Liang, is this your wife?"
Only then did Ma Liang come to his senses, stopped crying, and said, "Yes, Chief, this is my wife." He turned to the woman and said, "Xiuyun, please kneel down and kowtow to the Chief. We are all Chiefs."
Thanks to your great kindness, we can meet again." After saying that, both of them knelt down to Li Dingguo.
Li Dingguo hurriedly supported them and said: "Ma Liang, didn't I tell you that our merchant army is not in the mood to kowtow? Get up quickly and go outside to tell the folks."
After hearing this, Ma Liang took Han Xiuyun to the street and said, "Fellows, look, the Ma family occupied our land, beat my mother to death, and robbed my daughter-in-law. Thanks to
The leaders of the Merchant Army came and rescued my wife. You have all seen it. They still want to avenge my mother and return our land! You have all seen it."
At this time, someone in the crowd said: "My son! My daughter-in-law! Is it really you?" I saw a middle-aged man with two children in their teens squeezed out of the crowd. It turned out that Ma Liang had not been here all night yesterday.
After returning home, his father, Ma Laosi, was also worried all night. After dawn, he heard that the Zhuan merchant army was raiding Ma's house, so he hurriedly brought his two young sons to look for his son.
Ma Liang shouted: "Dad." Han Xiuyun shouted: "Eunuch." They immediately rushed over, and several people hugged each other and started crying. Most of the onlookers knew what happened to their family, so they were all quite moved at this time.
At the same time, many people shouted: "Chief, my wife was also snatched away by the Ma family."
"Sir, my daughter was also taken away by the Ma family."
"Master Jun, my father was forced to death by the Ma family."
"Master, you have to make the decision for us."
Li Dingguo and Liu Botao looked at each other and smiled knowingly. It seemed that the effect was pretty good.
But at this moment, one of the men from the Ma family shouted: "What are you shouting? What are you calling? What are you proud of? Don't think you are shaking now. When our eldest brother comes back, we will see how to deal with you... Oops
.”
It turned out that before he had finished speaking, several soldiers had already carried him out of the crowd. Then they picked up the butts of their rifles and beat him violently, causing the guy to roll around on the ground and howl.
At this time, Ma Liang also stopped crying, stood up and said: "Chief, he is Ma Mian, and it was he who led his men to beat my mother to death. Chief, you must avenge my mother. Folks, you all don't want to