The butler's smile suddenly became dull, and he said, "This... I don't know much about this... I'm just exchanging mountain products for salt..."
You Ciren knew what Sun Dabiao had done, and couldn't find anything out even after thinking about it, so he stopped asking.
After lunch, You Ciren promised to pay according to the price, but the housekeeper refused to accept it. The two parties gave in again, and finally the other party reluctantly accepted some symbolically. Not only that, but also filled the bamboo kettles that everyone brought with them.
I ordered herbal tea. I was very attentive.
"Hurry up and get on your way," You Ciren urged.
The group of people got out of the hut, pushed the car and headed out of the fair. Dawangwei was not very big, with a main street only half a mile long. They left the entrance of the town in a short while. You Ciren had been tense all the time.
My heart is finally letting go.
Seeing him let out a sigh of relief, the corporal said with a smile: "Sir, don't worry. This area is Sun Dabiao's sphere of influence. No ordinary thieves dare to cause trouble on his territory. It's very safe." As he said this,
He handed over his own rifle, "In fact, it's unnecessary to carry this."
You Ciren saw that it was not just him, but the entire class had a lazy attitude, and he couldn't help but shook his head and said: "These rich people are suspicious and fickle, don't be too gullible..."
While talking, they pushed the cart, walked out for more than half a mile, turned around the hill, and suddenly saw another checkpoint in front of them. Not only were there horses, but there were wooden towers, and a dozen strong men holding swords and guns.
A heavily guarded look.
Between the two roads, there is only a single intersection, and a dozen vendors or people dressed as Yao people are lining up to pass one by one. There is a lot of noise at the intersection.
"This is a trap set up by Sun Dabiao," said the corporal. "After here, we reach Yao District."
"What are they searching for?" You Ciren saw that everyone's belongings were searched when they passed the card, and even their clothes had to be opened.
"Salt," said the corporal, "Sun Dabiao's biggest source of income is selling salt to Yao District. Whether it's Yao people or merchants, if you want to bring salt to Yao District, you have to buy it at his salt shop. After buying it,
Put it in a pocket and put a fire seal on it. Only when the fire seal is intact can you pass through the card. Otherwise, even if you are smuggling salt, if you are caught, you will be confiscated and beaten, or in the worst case, you will be locked up in his private cell and your family will be asked to pay
To redeem..."
"What a great majesty! Even more powerful than the government." You Ciren is a naturalized citizen. He has seen many things where local powerful people are domineering and the government is in name only. This is not as strange as the elders. However, he realized that this phenomenon still exists today.
It is the direct cause of the unrest in the Yao District that Yonghua Yao people are increasingly dissatisfied with the county government.
This time, County Magistrate Wang had to bring hundreds of kilograms of salt into the motorcade himself, just to appease the Yao people.
However, Sun Dabiao and his group still have to solve the problem as soon as possible. If it continues, it will have a negative impact on the prestige of the Senate and the stability of Yangshan...
"Who says otherwise," the corporal spat, "Every time we go back to Yonghua, the Yao people talk about this. They all say: 'When you came here, you agreed to sell the salt to the Yao people at the same price as the Han people. Now it's still the same price.
Sell high!'"
"I don't know what County Magistrate Wang has in mind," a soldier said. "If this continues, the Yao people in Yonghua will rebel again."
…
As he spoke and came to the bayonet, the corporal suddenly frowned and whispered: "Something is wrong."
"What?" You Ciren was surprised.
"I don't recognize the person on the card."
When the car arrived at the checkpoint, no one was seen moving the horse away. Only a thin black man came up and shouted loudly: "Stop! Tmd, stop the car quickly!"
The convoy suddenly stopped, and the corporal frowned and said, "Lieutenant, I'll go up and take a look." He winked at the soldiers behind him.
The corporal came forward and said: "We are sending supplies to Yonghua, please move the horse away quickly!"
"I don't care what kind of logistics team you are. Anyone who wants to pass must be inspected!" The thin black man had a completely arrogant and domineering attitude in contrast to the strong man's attitude when they entered Dalangwei.
"Listen clearly! We are the National Army from the county! We are delivering supplies to Yonghua. If you talk more, I will shoot you!" The corporal had passed by here many times. He had never been so angry before and couldn't help but said angrily.
"Kill me? I'm sorry you don't have the guts!" The thin black man looked disdainful, "This is Master Sun's territory, and everything must be done according to Master Sun's rules! Anyone who wants to pass through the Yao District must check whether they have it.
You can’t live without your private salt!”
The corporal was so angry that his face turned red. He dropped the gun from his shoulder and said loudly: "Who's going to live longer?"
At this time, the entire bayonet became commotion. The soldiers accompanying the team took off their guns. The strong men on the bayonet were also fighting each other with swords and guns. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. The civilians in the convoy were so frightened that they did not dare to move. Their calves were straight.
trembling.
You Ciren was shocked: What is going on?!
Judging from the situation they just walked along, Sun Dabiao's attitude towards his side has not changed. Even if he gets into trouble, the best opportunity to deal with their small team was when they were eating in the tea shed just now - all the guns were unloaded.
Coming down - why did you suddenly change your face when you arrived at the gate of Yao District?
While he was still thinking nervously, suddenly there was a roar from the mountain on the side of the road. Before he could react, a row of iron sand and gravels were sprayed out from the side of the mountain, like a large watering can, towards the entire convoy indiscriminately.
Scanned it!
"So, Sun Dabiao doesn't know who attacked the supply convoy?"
"Yes! Yes, Sun Dabiao swears to God, it was not the convoy he attacked." Zhang Tianbo's body almost doubled and his head was covered with sweat. "This is framed by someone!"
Wang Chuyi received the news of the attack on the supply convoy the next morning. A group of people came from Dawangwei, led by Sun Dabiao's housekeeper. Not only did they return the convoy, they also brought the wounded and injured in the attack
The bodies of the dead soldiers and civilian husbands were brought back.
You Ciren also came back, not only disgraced but also injured.
As soon as the housekeeper saw Wang Chuyi, he knelt on the ground and screamed injustice. With great difficulty, he and the wounded who came back got the details of the attack that day.
It turned out that when the corporal was negotiating with the strong man guarding the blockade, a litchi cannon suddenly fired from the roadside, killing the corporal and a soldier on the spot. The strong man guarding the block also took advantage of the chaos to attack the team.
The civilians were caught off guard and suffered many casualties. The soldiers fought hard to repel the enemy. In the end, a total of two soldiers died, seven civilians, and more than ten people were injured. The supplies carried by the convoy were not damaged, but the civilians suffered heavy casualties and the convoy could not move forward.
, had to return to Dawangwei.
After Sun Dabiao got the news, he hurried to You Ciren and swore and swore, making it clear that he was definitely not responsible for this and that none of the people on the checkpoint belonged to him - all the people he sent to guard the checkpoint were gone.
You Ciren didn't want to argue with him. The civilians had suffered too much, and the bodies of the civilians and soldiers had to be sent back quickly. The weather was hot and they couldn't wait for long. So he asked him to send the civilians to take all the convoy back to Yangshan County.
Sun Dabiao immediately complied, and kept nagging repeatedly that he was "unjustly accused". He asked You Ciren to "defend himself" in front of County Magistrate Wang, and finally gave him 500 taels of silver, saying that it was "settlement money" for the dead and injured brothers.
”.
The convoy was attacked in Dawangwei, which was completely beyond Wang Chuyi's expectation. Of course he knew that Sun Dabiao was "dishonest", but he never thought that he would dare to attack the supply convoy.
"Do you think Sun Dabiao is telling the truth or a lie?" Wang Chuyi asked You Ciren.
"I'm not sure, but the probability of telling the truth is relatively high." Although You Ciren didn't like Wang Chuyi's solution, he thought it was better to tell the truth, "I can't think of why Sun Dabiao did this - this is
Put a shit basin on your head."
"I think so too. If he does this, he is openly hostile to us. What good will it do to him?"
"In addition, before he was attacked..." You Ciren said what the corporal said at that time, "...he came and went often. The people at the checkpoint were more or less familiar, but they all looked unfamiliar to each other. It is indeed strange."
"You're saying that someone secretly changed all the original card keepers."
"That's true." You Ciren agreed with this inference, "but we can't believe it easily. Sun Dabiao is a typical local tyrant and evil gentry, a member of the fish and meat village. In addition to exploiting the people of Yao District, he also has a lot of blood debts on his hands."
"What does this have to do with his blood debt? I only care about whether he did it or not!" Wang Chuyi said impatiently.
You Ciren felt very uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything. He just said: "Now we have to rush to Yonghua for supplies. There is not much food stored there. This time I will lead the team!"
So we decided to send a supply convoy to Yonghua the next day. This time, the convoy arrived safely at Yonghua Township. Not only did it transport food, it also transported a thousand kilograms of salt to the local area and sold it to the local people at a low price.
You Ciren came back and reported that Sun Dabiao had been diligent and attentive along the way. Although he did not dare to enter Yao District, he sent people more than ten miles away to meet the escort convoy.
Shortly after the convoy returned, Zhang Tianbo arrived.
"But the convoy was attacked on his territory - or on the bayonet leading to Yonghua." Wang Chuyi had already discussed with Peng Shouan that no matter what the truth of this incident was, Sun Dabiao should be "squeezed" to the maximum extent.
, forcing him to show greater "sincerity" in order to achieve the intention of "conquering the enemy without fighting".
"Yes, yes, it's all Sun Dabiao who is incompetent!" Zhang Tianbo said, "He was also heartbroken and specially invited the villain to ask the county magistrate to clarify: Although he is not a gentleman, he still knows what is good and what is wrong. County Magistrate Wang treated him like this
He, how could he not know? Please ask the county magistrate to be magnanimous and give him a way to survive - whatever the county magistrate wants him to do, he will do it without any hesitation!"
"Oh? He really said that?"
"How dare a villain lie about such a big matter?" Zhang Tianbo almost swore. ——
Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 419