Me and countless me.

Chapter 335 Liang Zhongshu has no horse

But what disappointed Li Ke was that the people who contacted the major families in Daming Prefecture were sent back. The reason was very simple: Liang Zhongshu had talked to them.

As for Li Ke...

No one cared about him at this time.

Not only that, Liang Zhongshu also summoned him once specifically.

"Erlang, how do you think we should fight the bandits?"

Li Ke was well prepared, so he spoke directly.

"We should start from Zhujiazhuang. It is close to Shandong and has many mountains and hills, which is very suitable for bandits to occupy the mountains and rule the country. So I think it is most appropriate to go there to suppress the bandits."

He recently did some research and found that although the excuses and people for attacking Zhujiazhuang in Water Margin were not very good, Zhujiazhuang was also well-known for its degree of anthropomorphism. Bullying men and women, running rampant in the village, lending at high interest rates, human trafficking and land annexation were all commonplace.

In the past few years, there have even been cases of people believing in cults and performing human sacrifices in order to resurrect their loved ones.

So Li Ke felt that they had deserved their death!

"Zhujiazhuang is very powerful, and it is indeed possible that they robbed the treasury, but Zhujiazhuang also has many connections, and the three villages are mutually protected, so there are also many channels for selling stolen goods. What are you going to do?"

Liang Zhongshu put the teacup on the table, looked at Li Ke and asked, but this time there was no beautiful wife and concubines, no singing and dancing, Li Ke even saw blisters on Liang Zhongshu's mouth.

Of course he knew why. The basement of his hotel was now filled with gold, silver and jewelry, so he certainly knew what was going on.

But Liang Zhongshu couldn't do that. He was very angry and irritable these days. He didn't even want to talk to anyone, but he had to talk to other people. So without waiting for Li Ke to speak, he took out the map and pointed to several manors.

"Moreover, I have met with local gentry these days, and some of them are quite rude. They have quite a few complaints about your majesty's flower and stone project, and even bluntly said that the court's decree interfered with their own family's land. Humph, what a joke! Which inch of land in the Song Dynasty is not owned by the government? It's really... Humph!"

As soon as he said this, Li Ke was sure that his people were indeed ignored because Liang Zhongshu went out to negotiate alone. But to be honest, Liang Zhongshu was too anxious. This matter itself should have been done by him, Li Ke.

Although Liang Zhongshu's ability to judge people was a little strange, he was definitely not stupid, so Li Ke pretended to ask carefully.

"Sir, what is the damage in the warehouse?"

Liang Zhongshu waved his hands, sighed helplessly, and made a desperate expression.

"All of it was destroyed. Three hundred thousand dan of grain was burned overnight. Thirty-four million strings of cash disappeared. Six hundred and thirty thousand rolls of fine silk and dozens of government offices were also burned down. If you can't find the robbers, then you and I will lose our official positions."

Damn it!
I only robbed you of 500,000, okay? And it's all your private property! How did all this money disappear?
Are you using me to settle the account?!

Li Ke almost cursed out loud, but Liang Zhongshu spoke immediately afterwards.

"But you don't have to worry. As long as you catch enough bandits, the court won't care. So you don't have to lead the army this time. Let Yang Zhi go. He has a lot of experience and connections. He can bring another group of people with him. You don't have to worry about the others. Just focus on suppressing the bandits. Even if you don't catch them in the end, as long as you work hard enough, it won't be a big deal."

Li Ke couldn't help but remain silent, then asked.

"So, where do you think the bandits are?"

Liang Zhongshu smiled without saying anything and pointed at the map casually.

"It is your job to lead the troops to fight. If you work hard enough, you can visit more villagers along the way to attack Zhujiazhuang. Naturally, you will be able to find clues from the merchants and common people."

Got it. I'll go find the owner of your shop.

Li Ke nodded, but the idea of ​​helping Liang Zhongshu clear the thorns on the road to rebellion became stronger and stronger in his heart!
After all, Liang Zhongshu had helped him!
But it is also obvious that Liang Zhongshu, who was negotiating with the local tycoons, was not at all satisfied with the results of the negotiations with these families.

Therefore, Li Ke quickly organized his troops and took orders from Yang Zhi, who was later promoted rapidly. He watched him command the local generals in a domineering manner, and used his own strict rules to punish and regulate those soldiers who could not even afford to eat.

It goes without saying what the effect would be if a soldier who earned two cents a day was asked to do the work of an imperial guard who earned fifty cents a day!

Naturally, there were complaints, but after Yang Zhi executed several soldiers and captains who were late by military law, they naturally did not dare to express their dissatisfaction in front of Yang Zhi.

However, more and more soldiers were jealous of the treatment of Li Ke's soldiers, and many of them wanted to pretend to be Li Ke's soldiers in order to get a meal.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Yang Zhi made them train every day, but the military pay remained the same, and they were not allowed to go out to work to earn money to supplement their family income. Even a strong man could not stand this, so Li Ke turned a blind eye during this period of time and let those soldiers who could not survive get away with it. As long as it was not too excessive or their families were really in difficulty, it was not a big deal to take the food back.

As for wasting food, it is useless. After all, you have become a soldier. If you continue to waste food, it means you really don't want to live.

But Li Ke was also a little worried, after all, his apparent income could not support such a big business! And because he could make a living, more and more people came to the business, and the momentum was getting bigger and bigger.

Fortunately, Liang Zhongshu had little patience and let Yang Zhi take charge of the troops and within less than a week he started to suppress the bandits.

So on the training grounds—

"Since I ascended the throne of the Song Dynasty, I have been spreading the grace of the emperor! I have been blessing the world! But there are still lawless people who are rampant in the countryside, plundering everywhere! They don't understand the truth that thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor! They are rampant and tyrannical, occupying the mountains and becoming kings! They are parasites, scum, parasites, and bastards!"

After a pause, Liang Zhongshu, who was extremely sad and angry, roared at the local tyrants and gentry who were looking at him coldly in the audience.

"But we, the officials of the Song Dynasty, are not parasites, scum, bastards, or parasites! We are the saviors of the common people! So these bandits come to steal! To deceive us, the loyal and brave people who serve the people wholeheartedly!"

After a pause, Liang Zhongshu continued speaking.

"The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying. How can I find brave warriors to roam the four directions? Bandits! They must be wiped out at all times! They must be wiped out! Not without them!"

Liang Zhongshu, wearing a cloak, stood on the parade ground, looking at the local tyrants and gentry, shouting angrily, and could not help but waving his fists, causing his robe to shake constantly, looking extremely funny!
Li Ke, who was fully armed, couldn't help but speak in a low voice.

"My Lord, manners, manners."

But Liang Zhongshu ignored Li Ke's meaning, but took a deep breath to adjust his mood. Then when he said the second half of the sentence, he shouted at the top of his lungs, full of deep affection and loyalty!

"Think about it, everyone! You were sitting peacefully at home, playing chess with your concubine, and suddenly you were robbed by bandits! So the days without bandits are good days!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Ke suddenly had a sense of déjà vu, so when Yang Zhi, who didn't even recognize his own mother, stood up, the sense of déjà vu became even more severe.

However, Liang Zhongshu's sincere expression also made Li Ke realize one thing - Liang Zhongshu's settling of accounts and suppressing of bandits this time were not just his job, but the birthday gift and the things in the warehouse were truly his things!

"set off!"

Yang Zhi didn't want to waste time, he just wanted to avenge his previous defeat and was very grateful to Liang Zhongshu for giving him this chance again. After all, he had failed twice, and Liang Zhongshu was still willing to give him a chance and let him lead the army to suppress the bandits. This was simply great!
This must be a more powerful version of the Song Dynasty with harmony between generals and ministers!

He, Yang Zhi, will definitely bring honor to the family!
Yang Zhizhi thought so proudly, while Li Ke touched the note he had received from a businessman named Mu Zaifang last night. The note detailed the number of soldiers and horses of each landlord, as well as the land and gold, silver, silk, grain and treasures to be seized from these people, and whether there were officials in the court at home.

"This is simply a violation of the law and a crime against humanity."

Li Ke couldn't help but think like this, because he was now a black glove. Although Yang Zhi was the one taking the blame, he, Li Ke, naturally could not be seen in the light. He was a tool for the literati of the Song Dynasty to oppress each other and exploit the people.

But they are different from other black gloves and white gloves.

He really wanted to rebel.

He is a traitor who really wants to gather people to rebel and occupy the mountains and forests!

24k pure anti-thief!
So Li Ke didn't feel any burden in his heart, and sent Gongsun Sheng, Chen Liqing and others to investigate the situation.

As the troops continued to leave the city, Li Ke also moved towards the route planned by Liang Zhongshu. Just after he left the city, dozens of horses generously given by Liang Zhongshu quickly approached Li Ke's troops and quickly merged into them.

"How's it going?"

Li Ke looked at Chen Liqing and asked, but Chen Liqing spoke with a cold expression.

"This Liang Zhongshu is really good at finding people, and the people he found are all scum who are not worthy of being human! It's really a dog-eat-dog situation!"

Gongsun Sheng also nodded, but he was not as hateful of evil as Chen Liqing. However, he was also shocked by what he saw.

He never expected that after so many years, there are still places that retain the customs of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms! Not to mention the fierce folk customs, cannibalism is even commonplace!
Some wealthy families even had stores of Cheng Yu’s dried meat hidden in their homes!

"Everything the madam said is true. These local tyrants and evil gentry simply do not treat people as human beings. As long as the general does not harm the people, he will be acting in the name of justice!"

Gongsun Sheng bowed and Li Ke took a deep breath. He thought he had seen the darkness of the Song Dynasty, but he didn't expect that the darkness of the Song Dynasty was more than he thought.

After all, their family were self-employed peasants, and although they were a little poor, they were much better off than the tenant farmers. If there were not so many children in the family and his eldest brother got married early, he would not even have to join the army.

It is even said that if the people in their family had not been so unlucky and all fell sick, their family would not have been ruined.

Moreover, the exploitation of the county magistrates of Yanggu County was indeed not as ruthless as that of a great talent like Liang Zhongshu, although the county magistrates of Yanggu County were not good people either, and they accepted bribes openly.

But it hasn’t come to this.

"Understood, mobilize the troops and suppress the bandits!"

Li Ke took a deep breath and suppressed the disgust in his heart. He knew that he was still aiding and abetting the evil, but if he didn't do so, he wouldn't have enough capital to develop his own territory!
Is it like Liangshan, where they even attack the civilians passing by, and have no real industry or base of their own, so they can only rob?

The people were as fast as dragons and horses. Li Ke took the lead and rushed into the house of the rich man they had chosen at the beginning to start arresting people. Later, he was labeled as a bandit and was beheaded for resisting stubbornly.

However, Li Ke's blood pressure was high throughout the whole process, because it was really as Ru Yunlong said, the three-year-old children here all had heart and liver soup to nourish their bodies! And the ingredients used were also consistent with his age!
Compared with these people, Liang Zhongshu looks more like a human being!
So Li Ke felt at ease when killing people, without any psychological pressure at all! However, because Li Ke's military pay was very sufficient, the soldiers who followed the army were able to avoid harassing other civilians, and even fetched water for themselves to drink.

But when Mr. Mu Zaifang, who was accompanying the army, suggested to Li Ke that he should kill all the villagers here to prevent the people here from leaking the news——

He was accidentally killed by a bandit who chopped off his armor and cut off his head with a sword!
Liang Zhongshu was very sad when he received the news, but when he looked at the money, food, cloth and treasures that Li Ke had searched out, the sadness on the corners of his mouth couldn't help but change into an arc.

But he still put his hands behind his back, came to Li Ke, and spoke in a puzzled tone.

"But why did you only have 200 beheadings? It's not a good thing to give you credit for that. There should have been thousands of bandits there."

Of course it’s because there are only two hundred people who deserve to die!
Li Ke looked at Liang Zhongshu and knew that the thousands of bandits he was talking about were actually ordinary people.

But Li Ke couldn't say it clearly, so he just pointed to the mountains on the map and spoke to Liang Zhongshu.

"The bandits have all fled into the mountains."

Liang Zhongshu's eyes lit up, he coughed lightly, and then spoke.

"Then how many bandits are there? How many soldiers, horses, armor, food and military supplies do they have?"

Li Ke was silent for a while before speaking.

"There are 5,000 soldiers, 1,000 armors, 2,000 bows and crossbows, 2,000 horses, 500 cattle, 1,000 donkeys, 20,000 arrows, 500 craftsmen, 2,000 firearms and 30 cannons. They have occupied five mountain ranges and can disappear without a trace in a flash, making them difficult to track!"

Liang Zhongshu nodded, knowing that Li Ke was indeed knowledgeable, and then he spoke directly according to the rules.

"You want too many of my horses, and I have no horses."

Li Ke immediately bowed and asked.

"How many horses does Zhongshu have?"

Liang Zhongshu gave an awkward yet polite smile.

"I really don't have a horse!"

Li Ke didn't believe it, but Liang Zhongshu still gave him the other things, but -

"You mean, because of the attacks by the Jin and Liao tribes, more than 10,000 sets of armor in the warehouse have to be scrapped? Tens of thousands of weapons have been lost? And 10,000 bows and crossbows have been scrapped? Countless cattle, sheep, and donkeys have been killed or injured? Even the firearms and cannons have been lost?"

Looking at the gossip that Zhang Yinglei had found out for him, Li Ke, who was sitting in the mountain stronghold and acting as Chen Liqing's husband, looked for a long time but still did not see any news about horses in the envelope. Finally, he chose to believe what Liang Zhongshu said.

"Liang Zhongshu really has no horse!"

(End of this chapter)