Chapter 163: God helps those who help themselves
In Yang Xiong's eyes, there is no point in continuing to live like a mandrill.
Now, the person in front of him - dark, thin, dirty, fierce, desperate, worse than a mandrill.
The woman still had some pieces of cloth covering her body, but the man... it was hard to explain.
Some big-headed kids with bare buttocks put their hands in their mouths and stared at Yang Xiong with a pair of huge eyes.
They said they were not bandits. They were indeed robbing merchants and passers-by at the foot of the mountain.
They are said to be bandits. During the robbery, they have to pay several times the cost of human life to rob something.
Under the gaze of these people, Yang Xiong came to the edge of the stream, washed his handkerchief and began to wipe the blood stains left by the leech bites on his arms.
If these people don’t speak, he won’t be prepared to speak.
Lest these people whose nerves are more fragile than wild pandas think that he has other intentions.
For countless years, this area has been a place where bandits are rampant.
It wasn’t bandits like Li Hongji, Zhang Bingzhong, and Yun Zhao who brought disaster to this place. They all had great ambitions and looked down upon these extremely poor people.
It is the result of the local powerful people fighting each other.
A powerful man is a grass-headed king. The speed at which the king's flag changes at the top of the city here almost changes every day, causing the people here to always live in war and fear.
In addition, this place is not only barren, but also a remote place of culture.
For so many years, there has not been a strong figure to unify the place and bring some order and limited peace to the area.
Strongman rule is not terrible, the most terrible thing is fragmentation and separatism.
These days, people from the mountains often come to the plains in groups to rob. After Yang Xiong surrounded and suppressed several groups of savage bandits, he found that these people did not need to be surrounded and suppressed. He found that the officers and soldiers were chasing them and they could not run a few steps. He fell to the ground exhausted.
After learning from the mouths of several survivors that people were starving to death in the mountains every day, the incident of Yang Xiong alone in Lijiaping came to light.
Hanzhong was originally a prosperous place, but the population was sparse. If it wanted to develop quickly, it had to have a population. Otherwise, even if Guanzhong had cattle and allocated seeds and materials, there would not be enough manpower. To manage.
"Why do officials come here? There is nothing here, no food, no goods, and no beautiful women."
A man with tall bones but not a few ounces of meat on his body The man hunched over and slowly approached Yang Xiong and asked cautiously.
"Come down with me. If you want to survive, come down with me."
Yang Xiong began to wipe the mud from his leather boots.
"What do the officials want us to do? We have nothing."
The man reiterated to Yang Xiong over and over again that they had nothing.
“There is still a little strength,Farm! "
"The officials also saw it. We have nothing, how can we cultivate the land?
Yang Xiong frowned and said irritably: "I told you, you still have some strength!" "
The man sighed, looked back at the group of ghost-like people, and said to a young man: "Bring the leather. "
The young man gritted his teeth stubbornly and remained silent.
The skinny man was a little anxious, raised his hand and slapped the young man on the head and said: "Bring it here! "
The young man said with tears in his eyes: "Mom will freeze to death. "
The skinny man said angrily: "Bring it here! ”
The young man let out a sharp howl like a wolf, turned around and ran towards the woods.
After a while, he held a rolled leather piece in his hand. He threw it into the hands of the skinny man, but the look in Yang Xiong's eyes became more and more hateful.
The skinny man shook off the skin, and it was a wild panda skin, very complete, and clear in black and white.
Yang Xiong glanced at the wild panda skin and shook his head: "Give me your son! "
After hearing Yang Xiong's words, the skinny man who was originally submissive immediately straightened up and said in the coldest tone: "Officials are too greedy. "
Yang Xiong turned a blind eye to the skinny man's threat, looked at the young man and said, "The reason I want you is not other than that among such a large group of people, you are the only one."
The rest are just zombies.
I will only ask you once, do you have the courage to follow me?
Whether it is good or bad, come with me out of the mountains to see if the world has become better. "
"Licheng, you are not allowed to go! "
The skinny man had a stern voice.
Seeing the young man's hesitation, Yang Xiong raised his five fingers and said: "Fifty kilograms of rice! "
The young man Licheng's eyes lit up and he took a step forward: "White rice?
Yang Xiong said: "Last year's new rice, fifty kilograms, is a good thing!" You come with me, and I'll ask my attendant to bring the rice. "
The skinny man held down his son's shoulders and said to Yang Xiong: "I won't change! "
Yang Xiong smiled and said nothing. Licheng looked up at his father and begged: "Dad, my mother is seriously ill and my sister is about to starve to death. Just let the child go. With fifty kilograms of rice, you can At least I can cook some rice porridge for my mother and sister.
The skinny man shook his head and said: "Even if your mother dies, she will not drink the white porridge that was exchanged for your life. A family lives together and dies in the same place." "
While their father and son were arguing, a few dark savages pushed a few thin teenagers to Yang Xiong and said, "Official, one baby for fifty kilograms of white rice? "
Yang Xiong smiled and said: "Of course, but Licheng must be there. If he is here, I will have as many children as possible. If Licheng is not there, I will not want any of them." "
A dark old man's lips trembled for a long time before he said to the skinny man:"Li Xiong, if you don't want to live, why don't you give us some way to live?"
Li Xiong shouted: "My son will not be sold!"
Yang Xiong heard this With a sneer, he stood up and prepared to leave.
Li Cheng said loudly: "I'll go with you!"
As he spoke, he broke away from his father's increasingly weak hand and came to Yang Xiong's side. Li Xiong called his son sadly from behind. The city just pretended not to hear it.
Yang Xiong shouted from a distance, and after a while, three southern Yunnan ponies carrying food sacks came up from the muddy mountain road. One horse carried two hundred kilograms on its back. Rice.
A total of six hundred pounds!
Yang Xiong followed the tradition of his county's ancestors buying children with forty pounds of millet, and he didn't pick and choose, as long as they were delivered to him, he wanted them. After buying twelve boys and girls, he decided decisively. Leading three ponies, eleven crying people and one guy without a drop of tears in his eyes, he set foot on the return journey.
There were men and women shouting at the top of their lungs from behind, but Yang Xiong walked very quickly with a smile on his face.
After turning the mountain bend, Yang Xiong said to Licheng, who was always looking here and there along the way: "If you want to run, you just missed three opportunities. One was when we were crossing the wooden bridge. You You can escape by jumping into the water.
You can jump on the big tree once when we pass the crooked neck tree, and then enter the woods.
The most recent time is when we turn the corner. Use the stone in your hand to slit my neck... It's too late now, my companion is in front, you have no chance." Li Cheng said: "I'm not sure!"
Yang Xiong laughed, patted Licheng on the head and said, "Your choice is right. None of the three opportunities I mentioned just now are true."
As he spoke, he took out a double-barreled musket and fired a shot into the river next to him. After the roar, two dead fish, messily beaten by shotguns, floated in the river.
Another shot was fired into the tree. When the smoke cleared, a monkey fell from the tree and fell to the ground dead.
He put away the short blunderbuss, pulled out the long knife from his waist with a loud cry, and shouted. The long knife flashed a cold light, and saw that a section of tree trunk as thick as the mouth of a bowl was broken from it. He took the knife back, The big tree that was broken into two pieces suddenly fell to the ground.
"If you dare to escape, I will kill all of your clan."
Yang Xiong still had a smile on his face when he said this, but the smile in his eyes His eyes made Licheng feel cold all over.
He originally had the idea of defrauding Yang Xiong of his rice first, and then finding an opportunity to escape.
Now, after seeing Yang Xiong's ability, he could no longer hold back the fear in his heart, and tears finally flowed down. He really didn't want to leave his father and sick mother, as well as the thin and weak Lu Chai. Awesome girl.
Like a zombie, he followed Yang Xiong to an open space. Seven or eight tents had been set up here. Someone lit a big fire in the middle of the tent and they were barbeque....
Twelve children huddled together, with Licheng on the outside. The smell of barbecue stimulated his taste buds, and he wiped his saliva over and over again, but it couldn't be wiped clean.
A kind-hearted young man with a red birthmark on his left cheek came to the group of children with a pot, filled each of them with a large bowl of porridge and placed it in front of them.
Seeing Licheng watching the barbecue, he shook his head and said: "You have been hungry for too long. Your stomach can't stand eating meat at this time. Drink some porridge to nourish your stomach, and you can eat meat in a few days." "
Licheng didn't believe this man's nonsense, but it was good to have porridge. He picked up the big bowl and took a sip, then stopped suddenly. He didn't know why. , he always felt that when he was drinking porridge, the girl's eyes were looking at him with envy.
At this time, no matter how delicious the porridge is, it is impossible to drink it at this time.
He brought the bowl of porridge to Yang Xiong who was eating barbecue and said, "I want to give this bowl of porridge to my sister. I'll be back as soon as I go."
Yang Xiong said with a smile: "Then go quickly, you only have half an hour."
Licheng looked at the long knife Yang Xiong placed beside him and said seriously: "I will definitely come back."
Yang Xiong smiled and said: "I know!"
Li Cheng took a long breath and ran up the mountain quickly with the porridge bowl in his arms. The speed was very fast, but the porridge bowl in his hand was very stable.
The young man with the birthmark on his face smiled and said: "Why do you torture people like this? Is it difficult to tell them to go down to the mountains to farm together and live a peaceful life?"
Yang Xiong shook his head. Huang Guidao said: "Birthmark Huang, have you forgotten human nature?"
Huang Guidao: "I always feel that people's kindness can resolve all misunderstandings."
Yang Xiong shook his head again and said: "For free No one will cherish it. If you do this, our support will appear too cheap. Birthmark Huang, don’t think that our relief is for everyone.
Only those who are unwilling to accept the current predicament. , is worthy of our relief, because by helping them now, we can receive greater rewards in the future.
And our relief is not long-term, it is only a temporary solution. Next year, they will still have to rely on it. Find food from the earth with your own hands
God helps those who help themselves!