A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 256 Zhu Shanhai

Zhang Wu returned to the foot of the mountain and limped to the village head's house.

"Old Five, where are the nobles who went hunting?"

"We went back. We had quite a harvest today. We killed quite a few bamboo chickens and bamboo rats, and also hunted two litters of wild boars. They were both large sows with seven or eight little wild boars. The nobles went back early, very satisfied."

"Didn't the noble man reward you with anything?"

"I gave them a bushel of rice. I thought they would stay in the mountains for several days, but they left in just one day."

"A bushel of rice is not bad," the headman invited him to have dinner, but Zhang Wu tactfully said goodbye.

The food at Zhang Lizheng's house is quite good. As a famous wealthy family here, he not only owns hundreds of acres of land, but also a bamboo workshop and a bamboo charcoal kiln.

Eat white flour once every two days, tofu once every three days, an egg once every seven days, and meat once every nine days.

This is the rule of Zhang Lizheng's family. No matter how rich they are, the living standard is like this, and no leftovers are allowed after meals.

In the eyes of Zhang Wu and other country folk, the food at Zhang Lizheng's house was incredibly tempting. Many people would work hard their entire lives just to one day live a life like this.

Zhang Wu limped back home and closed the wooden door.

"Mother, please cook some meat and more rice tonight."

"I just ate meat last night, and now I'm eating meat again. Even the village headman's family doesn't dare to eat like this. He only eats meat once every nine days." said the woman with patched clothes.

"From now on, you will eat meat every day," said Zhang Wu.

"We'd be thankful if you could let us mothers drink two bowls of porridge every day, and eat meat every day."

"You and your mother have suffered a lot these years, but it's time to enjoy your life from now on. One pound and two ounces of rice only costs a little over a hundred yuan."

"Over a hundred coins? You sound light, but even a few coins are hard to come by."

Zhang Wu came up to his wife and said, "I made a fortune today. Yesterday, I got two pounds of bacon and a bushel of rice for a piece of information. But today, I sent thirty-nine sheep and sold them for fifty taels of gold."

"Fifty taels, do you know how many copper coins you can exchange for that, and how much pork you can buy? You can even exchange it for over 400,000 imitation Kaihuang coins in the mountains!"

The woman was stunned with shock.

"Selling so much? Really? Where's the gold?"

"I'm hiding it close to my body. I'm showing it to you."

When she saw the gold bars, the hungry and skinny village woman's eyes lit up. She picked up one and stuffed it into her mouth, taking a hard bite. After seeing the teeth marks on it, she excitedly believed the fact before her eyes.

"Is it worth so much reward?"

"Originally, each one is worth one tael, but there's also a General of the Cavalry, a fourth-rank official from the Jingzhao Wei family, and an official of the Eastern Palace. He's worth ten taels alone."

"With such a powerful background, will it cause trouble? Will it find us?" When the woman heard about the powerful background, she panicked again.

"What are you afraid of? Who knows? If the General of the Cavalry went up the mountain and entered the Yishou Palace, could he come out alive? And those three third-rank officials before him were all beheaded.

The dead can't talk, so you can rest assured."

The woman happily took the meat and measured the rice. She had specially cut more meat and measured more rice today.

Zhang Wu looked at his wife's happy face, and sat there rubbing his lame leg, thinking, what a crap court, what a crap general, what a crap Jingzhao Wei family,
When this thief God doesn't let his family survive, even God is worse than shit.

He would not be so foolish as he was back then, breaking his own healthy leg just to avoid military service. He should have learned from Wang Bu, Zhai Rang, He Panren and others.

They rose up in rebellion, and with bows and swords in hand, they drank wine and ate meat to their heart's content, so that their wives and children could also enjoy the good life.

This lame man in his thirties thought it through and understood it.

This is a shitty world. Zhu Shanhai used to burn bamboo charcoal, and Zhang Zihui used to dig bamboo shoots and work as a blacksmith. They used to live the same hard life as me, but now they have learned how to live and become more carefree.

···
Li Yi led his army out of Chang'an, marched westward along the Wei River, passed Huxian County and arrived in Zhouzhi.

In recent years, Zhouzhi County was attacked by bandits once or twice almost every year. In the first year of Yining, Princess Pingyang led her troops to capture it.

Last year, Lu Baosheng led 7,000 people to capture it.

Then this year, Zhu Shanhai proclaimed himself the Protector of the Township and defeated the government troops twice in a row. Everyone thought that Zhu Shanhai would come and capture Zhouzhi at any time.
Therefore, when Li Yi led his army to Zhouzhi County, it was almost an empty city.

All the wealthy families and merchants in the city fled.

Li Yi sent troops to post notices to reassure the people, announcing that the imperial army was stationed there and would definitely protect the people.

"Wei Ting is missing."

Qiu Shenyan came to report.

Li Yi was not surprised at all, "The fish took the bait?"

"Well, just as the county magistrate expected, Wei Ting swaggered to Sizhu Garden with his men and women, saying they were going hunting. Even a fool could see that there was something wrong with going hunting at this time." Qiu Shenyan mocked Wei Ting.

What's with the claim that he's good at riding and shooting and knows military tactics? This empty-headed guy is really stupid.

Almost all the people in Zhouzhi County had fled, but he still swaggered into the mountains.

"This Wei Huqi is so careless. How can he be so careless?" Li Yi pretended, but he couldn't suppress the smile at all.

"County lord, it was Wei Huqi who underestimated the enemy. This is not someone else's fault. Not only can he not blame others, he was ordered to conduct reconnaissance, but ended up being captured and exposing our army. This is a serious dereliction of duty and he must be held accountable." Qiu Shenyan added.

"Now is not the time to blame, let's find a way to save people."

Li Yi asked the secretary to report to the Eastern Palace that Wei Ting had been captured during the investigation, while he summoned all the generals to discuss the matter.

"Wei Huqi went to investigate but was captured. Fortunately, we quickly found the enemy's spies at the foot of the mountain. What do you generals think we should do next?"

Cheng Yaojin was impatient. "Just capture that hunter named Zhang Wu. He must know the details of Zhu Shanhai and the bandit suppression. Let's launch a surprise attack."

Chang Heze suggested that they could keep Zhang Wu for now and use him to pass on some false information.

"Li Changshi, what do you think?"

Li Jing stroked his beard and said, "One force can defeat ten skills. There are only a thousand or so bandits. There's no need to worry so much. As long as we are cautious and take every step carefully, we can completely defeat the bandit camp." Luo Shixin thought it would be quick, "I'm just worried that the bandits will escape into the deep mountains and forests, and then it will be difficult to hunt them down."

After some discussion,
In the end, they decided to control Zhang Wu first, and then recruit a group of hunters from the local area to act as guides.

The ninth day of the second month of the intercalary year,
A hawk flew over the bamboo forest, and Li Yi stopped his horse.
Taniguchi,

Zhang Wu and his family were tied up and taken to the army.

There were dark red blood stains on his coarse linen collar, and he had been severely tortured before being brought in.

"Are you Zhang Wu?" Li Yi asked.

"I am Zhang Wu. My ancestors have lived here for generations and have been hunters." He had just eaten two meals of meat when he was caught.

After torture and threats,

Zhang Wu was completely timid, and no longer had the idea that his life was in his own hands. "I know I deserve the death penalty, but I beg you to spare the lives of my wife and children."

Li Yi jumped off his horse, took out a few Hu cakes from his dry food bag, gave one to each of his family of six, and handed him a bag of water.

"You must be hungry. Eat something and drink something first."

"I've read your case file and I feel quite sympathetic towards you. You once traveled to Liaodong, fought for your country, and made great contributions. But now you can't even support your wife and children. You were tricked by bandits into providing information, and you had no choice."

Zhang Wu held the cake in his hand, feeling somewhat regretful.

"Zhang Wu, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. Are you willing?"

Zhang Wu knelt in thanks: "Thank you for not killing me, sir. I am willing to do so."

The mountain breeze blows, and the bamboo waves rustle.

Li Yi jumped onto his horse and swung his right arm forward.

The fully armed soldiers marched towards the endless sea of bamboo.

The soldiers advanced on rotten bamboo leaves.

In the afternoon,

The entire army went deep into the bamboo sea and arrived at the entrance of Heishui Valley, where there was a summer resort for nobles, which has now been converted into an outpost camp for bandits.

Facing the sudden appearance of government troops,
The thieves in the manor blew their horns and stood on the high walls for defense.

The government troops surrounded the manor and tried to persuade them to surrender.

A dark-faced man at the manor gate shouted, "Do you think we'll fall for your tricks again? Back then, He Panren committed a crime himself, had nowhere to escape, and so he came to incite us to join him in rebellion, promising to share our future happiness."

Later, he brought us to join Li Sanniang, but soon he despised us for our incompetence in cutting wood, burning charcoal, and farming, and sent us back home.

Later, when life became unbearable, we followed Brother Lu in rising up again. Last year, we captured Zhouzhi City and killed the corrupt official who refused to open the granaries to provide relief and instead resold the government grain at exorbitant prices. We then opened the granaries to distribute grain to the people.
Zhao Qin is here.

That bastard had originally joined He Panren in raising an army. Last year, he became a General of Cavalry and was ordered to attack his former brother.

He couldn't defeat us, so he said he wanted to recruit us, saying that as long as we surrendered, we would become government troops, and his past deeds would be forgiven. He would grant us official positions and distribute land and food. We believed him.

That dog slave lured us to a banquet, and then when we were halfway through drinking, the axemen in ambush rushed out and killed hundreds of our leading brothers.

We have been deceived once and there is no way we will be deceived a second time."

"He Panren, Zhao Qin, and Wang Shaluo are all dog slaves who betrayed our brothers. Now we have chopped off their heads. We will not believe a single word you dog officials say anymore."

"If you want to fight, then fight!"

Li Jing ordered, "Attack the city!"

On the Heishui Valley Road, Zhang Wu dragged his lame leg through the valley and came to Yishou Palace.

"I'm Cripple Zhang Wu, and I have important news to report to the Protector of the Township!"

Zhang Wu was taken to a hall in the Yishou Palace.

"Lord Huxiang, something terrible has happened. The government troops have suddenly stormed into the mountains. They have surrounded the manor at the entrance of the valley and are engaged in a fierce battle. The government troops number in the thousands and are well-equipped. The manor is in danger."

Zhu Shanhai, the Protector of the Township, was a sturdy man, eight feet tall, with shoulders as broad as door panels, a square face, a broad nose, and prominent brow bones.

There is a long scar on his left cheek, shaped like a centipede, which was left when he participated in the Liaodong Campaign. His left ear is missing, which was left when he attacked Zhouzhi City last year.

This former charcoal burner was once drafted into the Liaodong battlefield, where he and Zhang Wu experienced life and death together. Later, during the second call-up, Zhang Wu broke his leg, and Zhu Shanhai fled directly to Nanshan.

"It came so quickly,"

Zhu Shanhai's voice was like a broken gong; years of burning charcoal kilns had injured his throat. "It seems this Li Yi isn't as useless as Wei Ting says. He's quite capable of showing up in front of the first village so quickly. He must have found many local guides and taken smaller paths to avoid our spies in the bamboo forest."

Zhang Wu said, "When I came here, I discovered the government army's baggage camp. If the Protector of the Township attacks the government army's baggage camp tonight and burns their food and fodder, the government army will have no food and fodder and will naturally retreat.

The siege of the front camp was lifted."

"Hahaha," Zhu Shanhai laughed, the sound like a blunt knife scraping a tortoise shell, with burrs on every cut. "Old Five, you are still so quick-witted. If it were me, I would just go up the mountain. I have always reserved a place for you here.

We brothers have waded through the mountains of corpses and seas of blood in Liaodong in the past, and now we should live a carefree life. Life is at most 30,000 days long, why should we work like slaves for the rest of our lives?

What kind of prince will Xiangning?

Why can't I be a prince? I'll make myself a Duke of Huxiang, and I'll make you a Duke too."

Zhang Wu stared at the laughing Zhu Shanhai for a while, his eyes were a little complicated, and finally he gritted his teeth and uttered the word "OK".

Zhu Shanhai didn't notice it. He called his men and discussed going down the mountain tonight, attacking the government army's baggage camp at night, and burning their food and grass.

"If we have the chance, we will attack the government troops from both sides and chop off the head of this old emperor, the Duke of Qianshui County, and kick it like a ball.
Hahaha, then the Dukedom of Qianshui County will be yours, Old Five."

"Hahaha!"

(End of this chapter)