Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 38 The Beggar Empire
The sun gradually set, and the beggars that covered half of Xi'an city also dragged their tired bodies back to the Town God's Temple in the depression in the south city in twos and threes. There were no less than 300 beggars together, and that's not all.

The extremely uneven means of production in the Ming Dynasty caused astonishing abject poverty, and after Zhang Juzheng's whipping method was implemented, the silver barren area in the northwest was severely affected. The basic rule of the Baojia law established by Ming Taizu has almost collapsed, and countless people have lost their money. Farmers flocked into the city to live by begging, and even more people flocked into the mountains to become robbers. These people became the source of turmoil in the Ming Dynasty.

These people have also become a stage for careerists.

Zhu Cunbiao is one, don't look at him as a beggar, General Fengguo has a wild heart.

"All beggars, all beggars!" Two young and strong beggars in tatters held a basin arrogantly and squeezed back and forth in the pile of beggars. A group of beggars tremblingly groped from their arms. , The hard-won copper coins filled half the basin.

A beggar in his forties with long hair like a lion's head and a bad smell just put five copper coins into the basin in great pain, but who knew that the arrogant beggar holding the basin suddenly grabbed him The wrist, the lion-headed beggar immediately trembled all over, but immediately raised his head with a puzzled expression, Barbarai nodded to the arrogant beggar who grabbed his wrist with a set smile on his face.

"Well, General Dahan, little one, did you do something wrong?"

Without speaking, the arrogant beggar grabbed his collar and pressed his head down. While the lion-headed beggar was shaking violently, he pulled out a small piece of smelly and dirty hair from his messy hair. Lead gray broken silver.

"what is this?"

Seeing the brutal beggar's eyes full of viciousness, the lion-headed beggar was already trembling like chaff, his legs were limp and kneeling on the ground, his mouth was trembling for a long time and he couldn't speak a word fluently.

"This... this..., I got my heart covered by lard for a while, this..., please, please forgive me..." Under the numb eyes of other beggars, the lion-headed beggar took a long time to finish speaking A word of begging for mercy, but the impatient and overbearing beggar who had already waited for him didn't allow him to say more. He had already slapped him hard, with blood spurting from the corner of his mouth, and the lion-headed beggar was slapped hard on the ground.

Pointing a finger at the lion-headed beggar, the big Han general yelled fiercely at the beggars around: "There will be no next time! Who dares to hide the tribute dedicated to the ancestors! You know the rules of the ancestors!"

The frightened group of beggars trembled, and the fierce beggar known as the Great Han General pointed at the lion's head shivering on the ground and wished he could find a crack in the ground and shouted: "Er Gouzi! You bastard! Take this dog!" Procrastinate on, since you can't do a good job for the ancestor outside, then stay by the ancestor's side and serve!"

Hearing this, the lion's head immediately turned pale, and jumped up like a shrimp, turned around and wanted to flee, but Zhu Cunbiao's minions were already waiting for him among the beggars, and the stick with thick arms hit him violently. On his knee, the lion head screamed and fell to the ground. Immediately, the two beggars named by the big man dragged the lion head by the elbow. The head was still screaming terribly.

"The little lard is blinded, please forgive the little one!"

But the two minions of Zhu Cunbiao didn't care how he yelled. Under the watchful eyes of the beggars, they dragged the lion's head to the wall. One pulled off his tattered trousers, and the other pulled out his tattered trousers from his sleeve. A pair of half scissors, fingers rubbing the sharpened scissors blade, a perverted smile appeared on his face.

Zhu Cunbiao regards this ruined temple as his imperial palace, comparing himself to the emperor Taizu, who is serving the emperor's side, eunuchs!
There was only a scream, and the lion's head was silent again. Watching the cow egg wipe the red scissor handles intoxicatedly, all the beggars trembled again.

No longer daring to hide it privately, all the beggars tremblingly handed over all the money they had so hard to beg for.

After collecting for almost half an hour, the two arrogant beggars who collected a pot of silver and copper satisfactorily took it in. Looking at their backs, the group of beggars looked eagerly at the ruined temple. It was a few beggars who came out carrying heavy buckets, and fell to the ground with a bang, and a large group of beggars immediately surrounded them like ducks in a farm.

If there is no benefit at all, even if Zhu Cunbiao is the old son of the emperor, the beggars would have rebelled long ago. The only advantage of following Zhu Cunbiao is that he can have a full meal at night. On the one hand, if you don’t join Zhu Cunbiao, you will be beaten to death by the villains among the beggars all day long, and you can’t beg at all. No matter how cruel Zhu Cunbiao was, in order to survive, the beggars endured.

However, Zhu Cunbiao did not run a philanthropic hall either. A rather skinny little beggar managed to squeeze in through the crowd. He had just grabbed a steamed bun when the beggar who had just castrated him with a cow egg snatched her steamed bun, and immediately picked it up. Like a chicken, he picked her out of the crowd and threw her out.

"Why!" Full of grievances, the little beggar yelled angrily: "Don't tell me you can have enough to eat with your ancestors? Why don't you let me eat!"

"Hmph, the old ancestors don't raise waste. It's been three days and they haven't returned a single coin! You deserve to starve to death!" Full of ruthlessness, Niudan even slapped his clothes as if he disliked the bad luck, and didn't even look back. Back to the Temple of the City God.

Tears were streaming down, and the little beggar watched other people snatching food. Not only did no one of the more than 300 beggars sympathize, but they laughed and booed beside him.

"Little beggar, why don't you take off one piece, and grandpa will give you a steamed bun, haha!"

"If you really can't get any money, sell it! Go steal it! Aren't you a woman!"

Beggars are most subject to people's superstitious eyes, people's disgust and rejection, which also makes these beggars become perverted and cruel in their hearts. Even in Song Qingshu's era, incidents caused by scavengers often occurred, such as the night-running teacher case, and even Song Qingshu's university There have also been stories of girls being killed by scavengers at night, and many abducting children to become disabled and begging, not to mention this desolate end of the world.

After being ridiculed and stared at a lot, the crying little beggar finally couldn't bear it anymore, and ran out like flying, covering his face.

As soon as she ran down the small hill where the Town God's Temple is located, the little beggar almost knocked over an old beggar man, her tears were blurred, and she continued to run down without even looking, but there were a few important figures from the "Beggar Empire" who hurriedly greeted her on the hill. When they got down, they chattered and asked for warmth.

"Prime Minister Zuo, are you alright?"

"Prime Minister Zuo, whoever beat you, I will avenge you!"

Surrounded by a group of people, the blue-haired fox with a bruised nose and swollen face couldn't help shivering, and hastily waved his hands weakly: "I'm fine! I have to see the boss quickly! Get out of the way!"

Hearing what the green-haired fox said, the beggar leaders hurried away, but they still followed behind in a friendly manner.

It was still the ruined City God Temple, Zhu Cunbiao sat cross-legged under the statue like a Buddha, and several other ministers and generals he appointed were also sitting around. Seeing the green-legged fox come in, Zhu Fengguo raised his eyelids slightly, and then asked slowly: "Why?" Come back late? You know the rules!"

His face immediately turned pale, and the blue-haired fox didn't even dare to distinguish a word, so he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, then he took out an awl from his sleeve and stabbed it hard on his thigh.

The pain was so painful that it screamed like a fox. The green-faced fox's lowered eyes became extremely vicious for a moment, but then he raised his head, and he returned to his respectful appearance, clutching his bleeding thigh and weakly turned to Zhu Cunbiao Kowtowing: "Master, look, are you satisfied?"

"Okay, let's get up? How did you get this injury?" Zhu Cunbiao said in a strange way.Heaved a sigh of relief, but the blue-haired fox immediately changed his embarrassing face: "I went back to the head of the house, and I couldn't hold back at one o'clock in the afternoon. I went to Dice Street and had a little conflict with the snakehead Ma San'er there. At once……"

His forehead was covered with cold sweat, and the blue-haired fox pointed to the bruise on the corner of his mouth, and smiled embarrassingly, Zhu Cunbiao immediately snorted dissatisfiedly: "Brothers Ma, Er, and Ma have become more and more arrogant recently. Capturing the head is great! As long as I succeed in the big deal, it will be as easy to crush him as to kill an ant, sooner or later I will deal with them!"

He kowtowed again in gratitude, but the green-haired fox did not sit back, but took out a cloth bundle from his bosom and opened it, revealing a delicate food box inside, and respectfully handed the food box in front of Zhu Cunbiao.

"Master, when you come back, that group of performers begging you to bring you snacks and filial money, I beg you to show your respect!"

As soon as the box was opened, the aroma of butter inside made Zhu Cunbiao, an old man, unable to bear the emotion. He grabbed a halberd with his dirty hands and put it in his mouth. If a fool wants to open a shop, this skill is really extraordinary."

"Boss, that theatrical troupe surnamed Xing, will you let them go?" The green-haired fox asked inquiringly, stuffing Song Qingshu's broken silver into his bosom with one hand, and continuing to grab the soda to whip up muffin wrappers with the other hand Filling his mouth with creamy snacks, he snorted vaguely.

"Let them go? No way! Recently, I heard that the old man is still selling something called roasted sweet potatoes everywhere, telling the lowly beggars to smash me if they see it! Dare to sweep my prestige in my court? I want to let them I can’t get along in the city of Xi’an! Stop them halfway! I don’t understand the hatred in my heart if I don’t sell that woman to Mongolia as a slave!”

A ball of cream at the corner of his mouth was squeezed out too hard, Zhu Cunbiao's triangular eyes were full of ferocious intent, the blue-haired fox shivered again, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead without leaving any trace.

He was almost finished eating, and then Zhu Cunbiao remembered that he still had his subordinates. Under the watchful eyes of those beggar heads who were smelling the aroma and drooling, he pretended to throw the last two halberds out, and said boldly at the same time.

"Look at how promising you are! When I sit in the Dragon Court like my great-grandfather back then, I will reward you with white noodles, steamed buns and mutton noodles every day! Let that idiot who makes dim sum be the chief eunuch and make it for you every day!"

But before Zhu Cunbiao's voice fell, a sneer from outside came in from afar.

"Like the great grandfather? Do you want to be a dragon court? Zhu Toad, you are so proud!"

(End of this chapter)