Everyone tremblingly came to the earth barrier and saw that although the gate of the camp was closed, there was no suspension bridge on the trench. Instead, the road surface was left unexcavated. They were all surprised. In fact, it was because the suspension bridge did not have such a large load-bearing capacity, and the heavy equipment in the camp was
Machinery has to go in and out, so it would be troublesome to build a suspension bridge.
A stone's throw away, all the visitors stopped and sent someone to call the door. The village gate seemed to know that they were coming, and as soon as they called, someone agreed to talk. Because Zhang Youfu often dealt with pirates from all walks of life, his Mandarin, Cantonese,
They both spoke some Minnan dialect. But the pirate at the village gate spoke a weird Mandarin dialect that was neither a donkey nor a horse. Fortunately, they could still communicate with each other. Zhang Youfu explained his purpose. After a while, there was a commotion at the gate of the village, and the door was closed.
It was opened. More than ten people came out.
Zhang Youfu knew that the kings on the mountain and on the sea often like to put on some show to scare the people who talk about voting and extort more property. He has seen this thing many times, but seeing that this group of pirates has no ostentation, they just come out.
There were more than ten people, all ordinary men in green short clothes, carrying blunderbuss with short swords on their backs. When they saw the leader in the middle, they were simply surprised: this man was wearing the same dark green short clothes and long clothes as the other minions.
He wears trousers, a pair of gray short boots on his feet, and a belt tied around his waist. In appearance, he is no different from the minions around him. Judging from his appearance, expression, speech, and behavior, he is also very gentle and elegant.
He doesn't look like a reckless hero at all.
I didn't expect that the leader of the bandits was so simple! Zhang Youfu couldn't help but scream in his stomach.
The visitor was very polite to them. He called them Xi Yazhou by name, but did not invite them into the village. He ordered people to bring out many chairs and benches and put them on the river beach in front of the village gate for them to sit. Another person came from the village.
Li Yong took out many wooden bowls and barrels and invited the peasants to drink water.
The things brought to Zhang Youfu and the others made these wealthy locals widen their eyes: they were all glasses! Even though they were on Hainan Island, they still understood the value of glasses: only two or three taels of white money were worth it.
I can buy a colored glass bowl, let alone such a crystal clear glass.
The contents in the cup were mediocre: it was a small white paper bag, floating in the water, slowly dyeing the water a light green color. If you smell it, it seems to have a slight taste of tea, but it is very inferior.
The ostentation is so big! Zhang Youfu was happy and worried at the same time. He was happy that the thieves brought such high-end things to entertain them, and they must be very sincere. But he was worried that their ostentation was so big. When the price was negotiated, it might not be a small number.
Can be negotiated.
Xi Yazhou could speak some Cantonese, and they exchanged a few polite words. Then there was another roar inside the village gate, and a four-wheeled car jolted over, causing a commotion among the people on the river beach - Kun Thief
They have a cart that can move without oxen and horses. This strange thing has long been spread throughout the city. Some people say that there is magic in the cart and it is driven by the power of ghosts and gods. Others say that the thieves have obtained the art of creation of heaven and earth.
Various opinions emerge one after another.
Zhang Youfu learned from the spies and Xiang Yong that the people riding in such a car with a shed were all big bosses among the thieves. He knew that the people in the car were of high rank, so he stood up tremblingly.
The few people who got off the car were dressed in the same clothes as the leader just now, and there was nothing special about them. I saw a few more people coming one after another. Although one of them had a shaved head, he was wearing local homespun clothes. He was probably a local prisoner.
A person who is a thief.
The Lingao dialect spoken by Xiong Buyou, who served as the translator, sounded a bit strange to Zhang Youfu, but the meaning was very clear. Xi Yazhou explained that they were not pirates, but Chinese businessmen living overseas. They were engaged in industry and commerce, and this time they returned to China to start a business.
——Xiao Zishan secretly laughed in his heart: When did we become "turtles"? Since arriving in Lingao, he has never harassed the people or resisted the government. Then his tone became harsh again, accusing the local "evil gentry" of organizing group training for no reason.
The brave men came to attack and inflicted losses on them. They were forced to defend themselves and retained the freedom to take the next step.
Zhang Youfu just obeyed and praised them for not disturbing the people. He immediately handed over the gift list, which listed one hundred taels of silver, eight pieces of bright red satin, twenty pieces of variegated silk, twenty pieces of Songjiang cotton, and a total of grains of both thickness and thickness.
Ten stones, two pigs, four suckling pigs, one soup deer, and two hundred catties of wine. Xi Yazhou took the gift list and read it, and then passed it to several other people sitting behind to read it again. He felt that everything was very useful.
He smiled and said:
"We are building a city in this area and have caused a lot of harassment to the local area. How dare we accept such a generous gift? But if we don't accept it, we will be dissatisfied with the elegance of the noble gentleman. In this case, we have to accept it all. It is really disrespectful and I am worthy of it."
Seeing the gifts from his men, Zhang Youfu took the opportunity to mention several requests of the gentry: first, the autumn harvest was coming, and he hoped that they would not rob the working farmers; second, to ransom those who had been captured; third, to bring back the people who had been captured during the last war.
The bodies of those who died in battle were returned to each family for burial.
Then he promised that if he agreed, the gentry in the county would be willing to "help with food and salary", and in short, they would not suffer any loss. As for the specific number, everyone can discuss it later.
Xi Yazhou just nodded politely and did not answer. It was a serious matter. He looked at Wen Desi and the others behind him inquiringly. They winked and got up together to discuss it in the duty room under the tower.
Everyone believes that this matter involves the future policy direction, and the decision made by a few people is not appropriate. However, since the other party has the intention of easing, it must give a positive response.
Therefore, when Xi Yazhou came back, he directly agreed that each village could send out people and vehicles to dig up the corpses. They would send people to directly point out the places where the corpses were buried. In order to show their sincerity, they would also release a few disabled prisoners. As for the other two points
, he said that we had to discuss it further and asked Zhang Youfu to come back the next day.
Zhang Youfu didn't intend to settle the matter in one go. Seeing that the other party was very happy, he agreed to exhume the bodies and released a few prisoners. Seeing that this was a great honor to him, the rest of the matter was probably not difficult at all.
It's a matter of price. He doesn't worry about this. It's all the gentlemen of each family who bear the burden. After this negotiation, his remuneration will not be less. And he can also build a relationship with this group of thieves - he
He had already vaguely felt that this group of pirates was different from the heroes he had seen on the road to the mountains and the sea.
Before leaving, Xi Yazhou followed Wen Desi's instructions and gave Zhang Youfu a freshwater pearl necklace originally worth twenty-five yuan, and gave each porter a reward of fifty yuan. Everyone from top to bottom was interested in this strange group of people.
People feel satisfied.
Magistrate Wu and the officials and gentry of Hecheng were all anxiously waiting for Zhang Youfu's reply. In the afternoon, they saw that he had returned with all his people and sent word that the thieves were willing to return the bodies and let a few prisoners back. They heard from Zhang Youfu again.
Fortunately, the leaders seemed to be calm and down-to-earth people with no gangster habits at all. This was beyond everyone's expectation.
In the past, even if the bandits were kidnapped and died, their relatives had to pay a large ransom to retrieve the body for burial. This time they agreed so readily, so the villages hurriedly recruited civilians to make thin-skinned coffins in preparation for tomorrow.
Let's collect the corpses together. Because many people died in various villages, Magistrate Wu also asked the county charity to collect the corpses together. If there was no one to collect the corpses, they would be collected together.
The next day, the villagers from each village set up carts, carrying coffins, reed mats and many lime bags, and went there together. They arranged for people to lead the way, pointed out the cemetery, and hurriedly withdrew. Only people were asked to use high-power telescopes to see from a distance.
Monitoring from a distance. The health team measured the wind direction and believed that the smell would not be blown over, but everyone still wore masks in unison.
Xi Yazhou led a few people to monitor the sentry tower. Through the telescope, he could see the peasants with their faces and hands wrapped in cloth digging, moving soil-stained objects aside from time to time. Every time a body was taken out,
Some women, children and old people rushed over to examine and identify the corpses. Some screamed and screamed, while others fainted on the ground. After watching for a while, he felt that he couldn't stand it anymore. He had never thought it was anything special to kill people in a war, but the tragedy after the war
The image is really disturbing.
"They were all cremated back then. Why bury them in the ground? They look so miserable." Xi Yazhou knew that the corpses had been buried for more than ten days. When they were dug out, apart from looking at their clothes, they were basically rotten and had no appearance.
.
"You only get resentment if you burn the body." Xiao Zishan refused to put his eyes on the telescope to see. "Isn't this just like turning the body into ashes? Now the family can collect the body and bury it in peace."
It makes you feel better. This can be considered as winning people's hearts."
Originally, regarding how to collect the corpses after the war, the health team, for the sake of health and epidemic prevention, suggested either setting up a fire in the wild and cremating them, or transporting them all to Bopu and throwing them into the sea. Most people agreed with this opinion, but Yu Eshui opposed it.
, he pointed out: The ancients valued the corpses of the deceased. "Collecting the bones" has always been a manifestation of benevolence and righteousness in history. If the corpses are destroyed like this, the image of the traveler will be greatly damaged - after all, from here on
will be their base.
Therefore, in the end, the body was buried far away from the camp. I thought that was all, but I didn’t expect that the people who came to negotiate from the county put forward three conditions. The third one was to bury the body. Originally, many people were skeptical about the boastful talk about E River.
, the remarks about why a person who likes to make shocking statements should occupy a seat on the executive committee have all disappeared since then.
After a day's work, each village collected the corpses and transported them away. Some of the deceased were sent to die because they were "trash" in the village. Naturally, no one was there to collect them after they died. In the end, they were all buried and transported by the county shrine.