The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 287 Border Forces
The leader was actually a little out of it, and he started muttering to himself, saying everything he knew.

"Wanyan Hongsheng is the local tyrant of this area. He doesn't care if we burn, kill, or plunder, or what we do. As long as we pay him tribute regularly, he will ignore us. But if we don't pay tribute, his cavalry will immediately set out and wipe out all the disobedient people."

The entire Ziwu Ridge became increasingly chaotic under his rule. Countless villages were wiped out by us. Those who could escape fled, while those who couldn't were either killed, became food for the dead, or hid in the deep mountains to live one day at a time.

With officials like those in the Jin state, how could ordinary people possibly survive? However, it is precisely because of him that we are able to thrive here.

Wu Chengyu remained silent. The area around Chang'an was alright, but the closer to the border, the more brutal and corrupt the local officials became. This was the current situation of the Han people under the rule of the Jin Dynasty. In the early days, the Han people were treated as slaves, but later the Jin Dynasty abolished the slave trade.

However, in private, Han Chinese were still treated as slaves, especially in border areas like the Ziwu Ridge, where the emperor was far away and the Jin officials became increasingly lawless.

As a person from a later generation, Wu Chengyu could not accept the Han people being in such a situation, both because of the education he received from childhood and his values.

This was not even the darkest period under the Jin dynasty. When the Northern Song dynasty had just fallen, the two puppet regimes that were established and controlled by former Northern Song officials who had surrendered committed countless atrocities against the people.

But Wu Chengyu felt powerless; this was no longer something a chivalrous knight-errant could handle, just like when he killed Shi Miyuan.

Afterwards, the peace faction came to power, and the peace treaty that was supposed to be signed and the annual tribute that was supposed to be paid were not reduced at all. The Jiading Peace Treaty was exactly the same as in history.

So even if Wu Chengyu were to kill Wanyan Hongsheng now, what difference would it make? He has already killed quite a few people with the surname Wanyan, but there will still be plenty of people with the surname Wanyan waiting to take Wanyan Hongsheng's place. They might even want to kowtow to Wu Chengyu and thank him for giving them the opportunity.

Then, these people might become even more ruthless, turning the Ziwu Ridge area into a ghost town where even cannibalism becomes impossible.

Wu Chengyu transmigrated to the present day, but due to the factory settings, he suffered a bit in the first month. Although he was once in danger of losing his life, he quickly turned the situation around.

There were some minor setbacks on his way home, but he later became the young master of the Wu family. Thanks to his good fourth uncle, he inherited ten thousand taels of silver from the Murong family left by his mother as soon as he returned home. After that, he had no worries about food and clothing and could focus on practicing martial arts. Later, he became the manager of a restaurant.

If Wu Chengyu had not left the family, he would have inevitably become the head of the third branch, and at least before the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, he would have lived a life of luxury.

The Suzhou area has been prosperous since ancient times. Although there were many powerful clans and there was certainly exploitation, the common people were able to make a living. Their lives were much better than those of the Han people in the Jin Dynasty. Even if some were struggling, Wu Chengyu, in his position at the time, could not have seen it.

This shows a lack of understanding of the hardships faced by ordinary people. Only after Wu Chengyu was released did he realize the true extent of the suffering of the people, and that their lives were not only difficult but also precarious.

It was the late Jin Dynasty and the late Southern Song Dynasty, a period of extreme corruption. No wonder the Mongol Yuan Dynasty rose to power later, while the Jin and Song Dynasties were powerless to resist.

But most importantly, the next ruler, the Mongol Yuan dynasty, was even more tyrannical and dark than the Jin dynasty. In the Jin dynasty, Han Chinese were third-class citizens, but during the Mongol Yuan period, Han Chinese in the south were simply fifth-class citizens. Once the Mongol Yuan dynasty unified the entire territory of China, for more than a hundred years, Han Chinese would still not see any light.

The Han people only regained their status as masters of China after Zhu Yuanzhang rose to power. Who could have imagined how the story, which started with a bowl, would unfold?

Wu Chengyu suddenly remembered that he seemed to have started out in this world with a bowl, except that he also had a broken leg. In terms of spirit and will, he was just like Zhu Hongwu, both of whom came from a part-time beggar background. However, in terms of spirit and will, he was far inferior to Zhu Hongwu.

Thinking of this, Wu Chengyu suddenly felt that practicing martial arts was meaningless. Even if he successfully went to Xixia and Lingjiu Palace to obtain the inheritance of the Xiaoyao Sect, what difference would it make? He would be of no help to this world at all. With his mind filled with countless thoughts, the leader recounted all the information about Wanyan Hongsheng in one breath.

He essentially worked as a spy for the Western Xia, paying particular attention to intelligence about Wanyan Hongsheng. Wu Chengyu even knew that Wanyan Hongsheng had just taken a thirty-fourth concubine and had killed the concubine's entire family.

"Tell me all the other forces that are still around Ziwu Ridge."

"There are also two powerful families, both of which are Jurchen families. Later, as the Jurchens moved south, they divided up the land here and became dependent on Wanyan Hongsheng. One is the Tangkuo clan, which controls the iron and coal mines in Tongguan County, and the other is the Wulinda clan, which controls tens of thousands of acres of fertile land in Qingyang."

Both of these families had private armies, and with Wanyan Hongsheng's tacit approval, each had a cavalry unit, their influence spreading throughout Qingyang Prefecture, with many bandits also attached to them.

When bandits go out to plunder, they must hand over at least 70% of the treasure they obtain.

Even though we were nominally under the command of Tang Kuo, we handed over most of the money we robbed to them in order to settle down here.

Below them were landlords of all ranks, both Jurchen and Han, all colluding and conspiring together.

"Anything else? I've heard there's a Meng Family Fortress near the Gates of Hell, you must know it."

"Meng... Mengjiabao, this is a group of guys who are dedicated to opposing the Jin Dynasty. They claim to be descendants of Meng Tian, ​​a general of the Qin Dynasty, and have never submitted to the rule of the Jin Dynasty."

Some people say they are rebels from Shaanxi, but according to my intelligence, they at most have contact with rebels, but are not members of those rebels.

These people from Mengjiabao are quite capable fighters, and it's clear they've received formal military training. They are particularly skilled in mountain and jungle warfare. In previous years, they stood up for the Han people here and fought a major battle against the bandits, quickly routing them.

Later, the Tangkuo clan and the Wulinda clan joined forces and mobilized their cavalry, while Wanyan Hongsheng also mobilized two thousand Eagle Shooting Battalion soldiers.

They also used a lot of gold and silver to bribe the people of Mengjiabao. As a result, the parties worked together to set up an ambush. The people of Mengjiabao were indeed brave and fierce. Even after being ambushed, they still dared to fight bravely. In the end, although only one in ten survived, several of their leaders still managed to escape.

Later, I heard that they were hiding somewhere, gathering strength. For the past two years, the two powerful gentry families hadn't let them go. Anyone who reported their whereabouts would immediately receive a thousand taels of silver and a hundred acres of fertile land. Unfortunately, these people were very well hidden, and no trace of them could be found.

"Anything else? Tell me everything, what other forces are there?"

"Then there are some idle bandits, who are not a threat, and some refugee camps, where people are so poor that they only have their lives left. Those bandits simply came from the refugee camps."

We usually don't bother with them; they're poor and stubborn, and there's nothing good about it.

There were also some refugees who hid deep in the Ziwu Ridge mountains. Sometimes we could catch some when we went up the mountain and bring them back as food.

(End of this chapter)