my days with tyrants

Chapter 35 This is no ordinary troublemaker, he has to strike hard
"This is the air of freedom!"

Yang Feng was dressed in the original Zhang Xianzong's design, with a very sweet and happy air, and then walked towards an old farmer driving an ox cart in the autumn rice field.

"Old man, where can I find the ferry?"

He cupped his hands and said.

The old farmer looked at him suspiciously.

Yang Feng put on a sincere smile to make himself look like a good citizen, and even took out a piece of real candy and handed it to the children in the cart.

"Sugar, it's delicious."

He said.

The old farmer said something in a dialect he didn't understand at all, and then slammed his whip.

The cow mooed excitedly, and ran forward with all four hooves.

"Don't go, I'm just asking for directions, do you need to run?"

Yang Feng held the candy and shouted in amazement.

Then they went away without looking back...

"It should be in Suzhou dialect, but I can't understand what it's saying, wait a minute, I'll find you an interpreter, but how can Xuyi have Suzhou dialect."

said the squad leader.

"It's still guesswork, the Suzhou family who was captured by Zhu Yuanzhang to fill Fengyang, he stuffed hundreds of thousands of Wuyue aristocratic families into Fengyang in one go, tied them up to open up wasteland, and then turned their hometown land cadastre into official land , and set a special land tax of more than ten percent for the original tenants. He collected more taxes, and the tenants did not have to pay rent. More than half of the fertile land in the mansion has already been acquired by him in this way.

The grain handed over by Guangzhou Prefecture in a year is almost one-tenth of his annual income.

He made a lot of money, and he also won the support of the mud legs.

Of course, after his death, these aristocratic families all ran back in various ways, and then wrote articles scolding him for hundreds of years, which is another story. "

Yang Feng said.

At this time, except for the military households of the guard, there were basically not many aborigines in Fengyang area.

The aborigines who did not die in the war were all in Nanjing and other guards. They were happy to be their Huaixi Xungui Group. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, this area was the cruelest tug-of-war battlefield...

Not only at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, this area has been constantly tugging.

In fact, in all the times when the North and the South were at war, this area was a seesaw battlefield. The worst was the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Except for a few fortresses in the entire Huaihe River Basin, other places were basically uninhabited and scouts. Virtue is abundant, after all, any weakness has long been turned into bone scum.Carrying the big bag like this, Yang Feng continued to move forward along the country road, and soon a small village appeared, and then an old man in green robes appeared with a dozen strong men holding sticks.

"Where did the vagrants come from, can there be a guide?"

The old man shouted sharply.

The strong man behind him rushed towards Yang Feng quickly.

Silently, Yang Feng took out his big gun, pointed a shuttle at their feet, and then killed an innocent sheep on the side of the road.

"no!"

He said confidently.

The mud splatter caused by the bullet stunned the green-robed old man for a moment...

Mainly the sheep that died tragically.

"Uh, it turned out to be a nobleman, and the old man is also confused. Those blushing people like the nobleman are those vagrants. Please calm down, nobleman. Ergou, quickly take this sheep back and roast it for the nobleman, both of you Go back and bring tables and chairs to prepare tea, nobleman, please wait a moment, we are full of rough people from the countryside, and the roads in the village are muddy and difficult to walk after the rain, it is really not good to dirty your expensive boots."

He then said humbly.

Then the young men who were scolded by him hurried to the village behind.

And the old man hurried forward, took off his green robe, spread it on a stone by the side of the road for Yang Feng, and bowed his knees like the hotel manager in Xihong City to ask the nobleman to rest, Yang Feng sat down unceremoniously, he knew This old guy was dragging him, and he was also afraid that he would enter the village and start a killing spree, but this is a trivial matter, so he didn't plan to continue sneaking around...

"You are quite sensible!"

Yang Feng said with satisfaction.

Immediately afterwards, he put down his rucksack, and took out the imperial decree from the side pocket.

"You don't need to be afraid. I am the envoy of the Great Xia Kingdom 600 years later. I am traveling around Daming under the imperial decree of your emperor. You seem to be literate. See for yourself what is written in the imperial decree?"

Then he handed it to the old man.

The old man was so frightened that he knelt down without hesitation, then took the imperial decree with both hands, opened it tremblingly and looked at the contents above.

"It turned out to be Ambassador Yang. The little old man is the head of the village. Fortunately, he was not rude."

Then he gave it to Yang Feng tremblingly.

"Go and prepare a boat for me. I want to cross the Huai River. This is for you!"

Yang Feng took out a handful of treasure banknotes, and handed him a few consistent banknotes. This was the largest amount. Even if the value had been depreciated, the consistent banknotes could almost buy half a stone of rice.

The old man took it quickly.

Then he turned his head and yelled at those young and strong in dialect, then glanced at Yang Feng inadvertently, then got up with a smiling face and walked towards those young and strong...

"Is there anything you can't say in front of me?"

Yang Feng said.

"Nothing, nothing!"

The old man said quickly.

Then he quickly scolded those young men in dialect.

"This person dares to forge the imperial decree. This is no ordinary troublemaker. You have to hurry to invite officers and soldiers. You two go back and ride your horses and go to the county to report. You two go to He Baihu and let him come here quickly. This is a forged imperial decree. I will drag him first, you two go back and gather all the young men, take out bows and arrows to guard the entrance of the village, don't let him run in, women and children go into the cellar."

The interpreter found by the squad leader spoke in Yang Feng's earphone.

Yang Feng stretched his arms forward as much as possible, with a smile on his face that obviously didn't understand what they said.

"We rarely see outsiders here, and most of them don't understand official Chinese."

After finishing speaking, the old man quickly explained.

Yang Feng nodded.

In the village not far away, the young man who ran back came over with tables, chairs and kettles, and put them on the side of the road.

And the few who got the order quickly ran back to call for people separately.

"The ambassador drank tea first, and the sheep was already roasting. The boat arrived at the fisherman's house downstream, and the little old man had already sent people to look for it."

The old man poured tea for Yang Feng and said.

"What do you do here?"

Yang Feng asked.

"He's just a man running errands for the government. Under the national dynasty system, 110 households make up a mile, and at most ten households are the head of the village. The ten first households take turns to be the head of the village. This mile collects money and food, delivers it to the county, and brings the food to the county. Corvettes, these belong to the little old man. If the rations are not enough, the little old man and Jiashou have to add them. It is a hard job. Your Majesty is afraid that officials will go to the countryside to disturb the people, and the officials of the Yamen are strictly prohibited from going to the countryside. Therefore, all affairs in the Lijia , It’s all done by the little old man and the leaders, even if there are homeless people, the little old man will lead people to arrest, otherwise they will be convicted.

Therefore, when I heard that the ambassador came here, the little old man didn't know the identity of the ambassador, so he came here in a hurry. Please don't blame the ambassador. "

said the old man.

"It doesn't matter, then you are also a landlord."

Yang Feng said while drinking tea.

Although the tea is rough, but fortunately it is pure natural and pollution-free, so it is not bad.

"The little old man has dozens of acres of land, how can he be regarded as a landlord? The little old man was originally from Suzhou. Ten years ago, because of his clan's involvement, he was deprived of his family property. He was escorted here to open up wasteland. Most of the villages were like this. If ten years ago , there are hundreds of acres of paddy fields, and the ancestors also served as officials in the previous dynasty."

"Uh, then do you resent the current emperor?"

Yang Feng said.

The old man was so frightened that he sat down on the ground, and then got up tremblingly...

"Ambassador, don't talk nonsense, it's all the people of that tribe's own fault. The little old man was implicated by him to save the life of his family. It's His Majesty's grace, and this old man goes to the capital every day to bow to God's grace."

"Naughty, I don't believe you don't hate him. In fact, at that time, your Suzhou was also a prosperous place in the world."

Yang Feng said with a smile.

"Suzhou is naturally stronger than here. One mu of land can harvest four or five stones. At that time, the little old man went to the field and could harvest seven stones of grain a year. Here, there are droughts and floods. Nine years of disasters in ten years, barely make ends meet. That's all, now the little old man is counting on his children and grandchildren, His Majesty's grace is great, he opened the imperial examination, the little old man is also a family tradition of knowledge, now that a man has won the exam, in the future, he is counted on to return to his hometown, so that the little old man will not continue to suffer in this generation."

The old man wiped his cold sweat and sighed.

Then you can write articles scolding Zhu Yuanzhang from generation to generation.

"Actually, when you think about it, the little old man is so blessed by God. After all, Fengyang is a paddy field in Huainan, and he can still grow rice. Many of the little old man's hometown have been relocated to the north or even northwest. That is really a hard life."

The old man sighed with emotion.

The two were drinking tea and chatting like this, not far from the roof of the village, the figure of the archer could be seen faintly.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help civilian cold weapons. In fact, he even encouraged folk cold weapons. Bows and arrows and even crossbows were banned, that is, firearms were controlled. However, firearms had the right to manufacture firearms in various places, so they were flooded in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.Yang Feng didn't reveal it, and continued to drink tea. In order to hold him back, the old man brought food and wine, but it took time to roast the sheep. Yang Feng drank the wine calmly. This kind of place should not prepare any messy things. The medicine poisoned him.

After more than an hour, dozens of cavalry appeared in the distance, and the old man hurriedly found an excuse to leave, and then those cavalry rushed straight...

"Take it!"

The leading officer shook the spear in his hand and shouted imposingly.

Yang Feng drank his tea and looked at this guy calmly...

"Do you dare to come here and fight alone?"

He said.

The latter couldn't help laughing...

"I beheaded dozens of people on the battlefield, you are really courting death!"

He said.

Immediately afterwards, he urged the horse forward and stabbed Yang Feng with the spear in his hand.

Yang Feng got up abruptly, and lifted the table at the same time. The spear with the charging force pierced through the table in an instant, and was pushed aside by him. The moment it fell, Yang Feng had a shiny golden thing in his hand, which stood in front of him like a shield...

The officer screamed in horror.

The next moment he tried his best to turn the iron mace aside, and then the thing in Yang Feng's hand slapped him on the back violently.

(Thanks to book friend Beichen Delta for the reward)
(End of this chapter)