Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty Six

In the blink of an eye, the summer harvest came, and the Guanzhong Plain entered the busiest season. The first to ripen is the smoke.The mature opium has produced fruit, bulging into a green bag the size of a fist, and standing on the tip of a branch two or three feet high. At first glance, it looks like a juggler playing a bowl. This is a quiet time.If there is a wind blowing, they will change immediately and become countless drumsticks rising and falling, beating the sky and the earth violently.They are beating the drums. The pass for the dragon's mouth to snatch food has arrived. They are beating the drums for the peasants to go out, urging the peasants to go to the fields with sickles and knives.

Collecting opium is called cutting tobacco, and cutting tobacco is a delicate job.The tobacco cutter cuts a cross on the tobacco fruit with a knife and cuts through the shell. The white juice in the shell will slowly ooze out. After a few hours, the juice gradually turns black and condenses into a black clay.The smoker uses his fingers to sip the clay into the porcelain bowl he carries with him, which is the raw smoke paste.There is no rush to do this job, and the tobacco cutter must be careful and patient. But the maturity period of opium tobacco is short. The tobacco fruit is ripe as soon as it is ripe. Once it is ripe, it must be harvested immediately. If it is slow, it will burst by itself, and the tobacco juice will be lost.There is a lot of time for cutting tobacco, which is called Longkou snatching food!

It is not only opium that Longkou eats, but also wheat.After harvesting the opium, the wheat is ripe, and the peasants put down their knives and picked up the sickles, unable to catch their breath.There is a good farming proverb, when the silkworms are old and the wheat is ripe for a while, harvesting the wheat is even more urgent. After a little delay, the wheat grains will fall off the ears of wheat, and only the bare stalks will be harvested. After harvesting what should be harvested, the cattle had to go down to the fields to sow autumn crops.One day earlier in May, one stone more in August, the season waits for no one, planting too late will not catch up with the rainy days in May, and seedlings will not emerge without moisture.

For more than 20 days, the people on Guanzhong Road were so busy that they lost their human shapes. They all had black and thin faces, disheveled hair, sunken eye sockets, long pointed nails, scorched lips, and erratic voices, as if they were running from the underworld. Come out of the devil!But at the Dragon Boat Festival in May, they all passed birth.After harvesting what should be harvested and planting what should be planted, they let out a long sigh of relief and finally survived the hellish gate of the year. The Dragon Boat Festival in May is the most festive festival of the year. Farmers celebrate not only their own liberation, but also the harvest of the year.They ate and drank, played and danced, and were too happy.

But in the Taibai county government, there are a few people who are restless.They were having a meeting, presided over by Pan Yunpeng, the county magistrate, and attended the meeting by the director of the tax bureau, the chief of the police, and the deputy commander of the garrison battalion.The topic of the meeting was how to complete the taxation tasks assigned by the provincial government. Taibai County was just restored in April this year. County magistrate Pan is a caring person. He knew that when summer came, the provincial government would inevitably collect taxes, so he sent a report in advance, saying that Taibai County had been ravaged by bandits for many years, and the people were extremely poor. The provincial government waived taxes for one year, allowing Taibai County to recuperate and resume production.Unexpectedly, not only was his application not approved, but the provincial government refused to reduce taxes. Instead, it increased taxes in a similar way to plain cities and counties.

The reason for going up to the peak is that Taibai County is half-mountain and half-plain, and has the advantages of two kinds of terrain. It can harvest millet and mountain products. How can plain cities and counties be expected to come close?Moreover, Taibai County was recently liberated and relied on the strength of the government, so it should be grateful in return. Tax reduction and exemption will dampen the enthusiasm of the people to support the government, and it will violate the state's taxation regulations according to law. Shangfeng is Song Zheyuan, chairman of the provincial government.He just came back from Taibai County, how could he not know the real situation in this county?But he cannot set this precedent.The battlefield on the eastern front was costly, and the military salary allocated by the Wuhan Nationalist Government was limited. Feng Yuxiang could only raise funds locally in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, and Shaanxi was richer than Gansu, so it should bear the bulk.The higher-ups ordered Song Zheyuan to double the tax in Shaanxi this year, so they can only pay more, and must not default!At this juncture, if Song Zheyuan was exempted from taxes in Taibai County, then other counties could entangle him with various names. Taibai was hit by bandits, but Taibai County was far from the only one suffering from bandits!Although the large groups of bandits have been wiped out in Shaanxi, there are still as many small groups of bandits as they harass and make trouble almost every day. Wouldn't it be possible to request tax exemption for the places they ravaged?Besides, banditry is just one disaster, and there are also floods, droughts, pests, hail, fires, plagues, etc. Should these be avoided?If this is avoided, what will Song Zheyuan use to fill Feng Yuxiang's big hole?If he fails to complete the task of tax collection, it is a trivial matter that he cannot be the chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Government, and there is a possibility of going to a military court!Feng Yuxiang was known for his strict military discipline. As his old subordinate, Song Zheyuan knew the commander-in-chief's temper very well.

Since Feng Yuxiang won't let him, Song Zheyuan can't let Pan Yunpeng.Chairman Song severely reprimanded the county magistrate Pan in his official document, saying that he would not only be dismissed on the spot if he failed to pay taxes, but would also be detained and imprisoned for malfeasance!In the current war, all front-line affairs must be prioritized, and the chairman will never forgive anyone who neglects or delays! Under the strict order of Shangfeng, County Magistrate Pan could only bite the bullet and do it.But he knew that even if he dug the ground three feet, he would not be able to extract much profit from ordinary people. To raise such a huge sum of money, he had to find another way.He thought hard at home, and finally found a helpless plan.This strategy requires the cooperation of all parties to implement, so he called everyone to a meeting today.

As soon as the county magistrate Pan mentioned the topic of the meeting, the two leaders of the garrison battalion wondered, this collection of grain and money is a local matter, so what has it to do with the army?The county magistrate Pan saw the doubts of the two. He complained about the pain of tax collection and asked the garrison battalion for help because of his helplessness. Moreover, most of the taxes collected were used on the Eastern Front, which was closely related to the army. Seeing that what he said was both pitiful and reasonable, the two asked him how he could help the law, and then county magistrate Pan explained his strategy.

County magistrate Pan said, I was also forced to come up with this helpless method, let's call it robbing the rich and helping the poor for the time being.Every year around the Dragon Boat Festival is the time when tobacco and food are put into the warehouse, and it is also the gateway for bandits to make a fortune. They specialize in robbing everyone's wealthy households, and they have enough food and drink for a year.This year we want to be ahead of them and make a fortune.You have all seen the amount of taxes this year. It is simply not enough for ordinary people to pay. There is also a limit for rich households to pay more.So how do we pay taxes?We still have to rely on everyone's wealthy households!The bandits went to rob them, why can't we rob them?Whoever robs is robbing, anyway they are doomed.Of course, we are members of the government, and we cannot openly rob, so we will pretend to be bandits and rob them, and let the bandits take the blame!

Zhou Lide was dumbfounded when he heard that, County Magistrate Pan could come up with such a plan!Is he still an official of the national government?Is it still the parents of the people? County Magistrate Pan saw Zhou Lide's stunned expression, and said that I had already stated that this was a helpless move, but this was indeed a feasible way to reduce the burden on the common people, so that the poor could live on. Zhou Lide originally wanted to ask, are rich households ordinary people?But when he thought about it, the county magistrate was also forced to go out of his way, otherwise he wouldn't have asked people from the government to become bandits.Thinking about it more carefully, although this is a bad idea, there is still a bit of human touch in it, so I acquiesced.

County Magistrate Pan bowed his hands to the two military chiefs and said that the brethren in the garrison battalion would have to work too hard. what!After all, it turned out that the garrison battalion was called to be a bandit!Before the battalion commander could speak, Zhou Lide spoke first.He said, doesn't your county government have a police station?Just ask them to go, they are more familiar with local conditions than we are. The relationship between the garrison battalion and the county government is delicate.Nominally, the garrison is under the control of the local government. In fact, they have no command and can only negotiate with the garrison. On the contrary, the garrison has the power to supervise the local government and is the eyes and ears extended from the chairman of the provincial government.Because of this relationship, Zhou Lide had the confidence to raise objections to the county magistrate.He thought, hmph, put your own guns aside and use our garrison to discredit us. County Magistrate Pan smiled and said, Battalion Commander Zhou, don't be overwhelmed, because the people in the police station are too familiar with the place, so they can't be asked to pretend to be bandits, so that people can easily recognize them.What's more, when those wealthy households are robbed, they will definitely call the police. The police station pretends to send people to solve the case and suppress the bandits. If they all pretend to be bandits, no one will pretend to be the police. What about suing them for malfeasance? Zhou Lide made sense when he thought about it. County Magistrate Pan continued, "I know that both of you are able-bodied subordinates of Chairman Song, and we all work for him, so please help me.In fact, these words are mainly for battalion commander Liu Fenglin, this is your uncle's business, you can figure it out! Battalion Commander Liu was awakened, and he said, no problem, the garrison battalion is willing to contribute! Back at the camp, Liu Fenglin said to Zhou Lide, thanks to me stopping you in front, if all the bandits are wiped out, how can we pretend to be bandits this time?Zhou Lide laughed when he heard that, he didn't expect that leaving the bandits behind would be of such a use. After the recovery of Taibai, there were still many small groups of bandits in the county. They hid in the deep mountains, dangerous valleys and high cliffs, but they dared not go to the county town to harass them openly.Zhou Lide hated the bandits deeply, and advocated sending troops immediately to wipe out all the bandits in the territory.But Liu Fenglin disagreed. He said that there was no rush to suppress the bandits. We just came here, so we have a firm footing. The rest are small thieves, and we will deal with them sooner or later.In fact, Liu Fenglin's true intentions would not be told to Zhou Lide: If there were no bandits, what would we do?What reason do we have to stay in Taibai County?Go to the Henan front to fight! Zhou Lide is a smart person, he understood Liu Fenglin's intentions as soon as he figured it out.But he thought, you can shirk it for a while, but it is impossible to shirk it for a long time. You must have some achievements in stationing here, otherwise it will be difficult to explain to Shangfeng. The achievements of the garrison battalion are bandit suppression.Therefore, he took advantage of his spare time to collect information from many sources. He knew all about the bandits in the county, where their lairs were, and how their weapons and equipment were. He just waited for the day when Battalion Commander Liu spoke. Fine sweep clean. What makes Zhou Lide dumbfounded now is that not only can he not fight bandits, but he has to pretend to be a bandit. Not only can he not hate bandits, but he has to thank them.What is this called!Now that Liu Fenglin had already agreed to County Magistrate Pan, he couldn't say anything more, and the idea was somewhat reasonable, but he was always tired of it, as if he had eaten a fly. Zhou Lide was feeling bored when a thought suddenly came to his mind.He remembered an idiom: the mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole follows.We don't need to rob everyone's wealthy households at all, just attack the bandits directly.The bandits are very rich, and they are all ill-gotten gains. Wouldn't it be better to force them to donate their treasures?This does not need to take the risk of being exposed by the people, but it can also attack the arrogance of the bandits, killing two birds with one stone, why not do it? He told Liu Fenglin this idea, and Liu Fenglin said dubiously, can you be sure that the bandits are willing to spit out what they eat? Zhou Lide said, of course they don't want to, but if we threaten him, he dare not obey! Liu Fenglin said, don't you want to beat them? Zhou Lide said with a smile, scaring is always necessary. Liu Fenglin agreed.Anyway, he didn't feel comfortable letting the officers and soldiers pretend to be bandits. Liu Fenglin and Zhou Lide told County Magistrate Pan their idea.Pan Yunpeng thinks this idea is not bad, besides, it depends on the garrison to raise funds, since it is someone else's idea, he'd better go along with them. Dozens of small hairy bandits in Taibai County have received red posts from the Taibai County garrison camp one after another in those few days, and Handilong is no exception.The dry land dragon is happy, he thinks that in the past we were the ones who posted posts for others, but now it is our turn to post posts for us, so you are asked to do the first day of junior high school, and others will do the fifteenth day.Posting posts is a custom in Guanzhong. Whenever there is a happy event in the family, it is necessary to send invitations to relatives and friends, and invite people to come to the house for a wedding. Later, the bandits used it as a bargaining chip for extortion. They would post posts to whichever they liked. It means that your family is happy, and there is a limit on how much money to pay in a certain place on a certain day of the month.People who received the red post would usually bleed obediently. They knew that the bandits were courteous before soldiers. Hey!Handilong said, there are really tigers who pull out their teeth, and he said to the horse monkey, read it to me, and see who doesn't want to live!Handilong is illiterate, and among his minions only Mahouzi has attended a private school for a few days. Ma Houzi is not very literate, and he half understands the words on the post about participating in the Northern Expedition, assisting in the great cause of the Eastern Expedition, sweeping up the Beiyang evildoers, and unifying the whole of China, but he knows the figure of donating 10,000 yuan to Oceania.He read out the number, Han Dilong scolded, what a bitch, you have a big appetite.He told Ma Houzi to see which bold post it was from.Ma Houzi looked at the inscription, and it said Pan Yunpeng, the magistrate of Taibai County, Liu Fenglin, the commander of the Taibai County Garrison Battalion, and Zhou Lide, the deputy battalion commander. Handilong was amused when he heard it. The government has also become a bandit, posting posts to people?No wonder people often say that soldiers and bandits are a family! Monkey Horse said, sent the post back? Replying to a post is to return this post to the person who posted it, expressing that he does not want to associate with the other party, which is a slap in the face of the other party.When the bandit also encountered this, he posted a post to others, but if they had a background or added a housekeeper, they would return the post to you if they were not afraid of you.At this time, you will be in trouble.Go head-to-head to grab it once, or you may win it, then the other party will be unlucky, and he will have to double your reward.But if you can't grab it and the other party beats you down, you have to pay them back the amount requested on the post, which is called losing your wife and losing your army.Then your face will be lost, and you won't be fooling around in the rivers and lakes from now on.Generally, those who dare to withdraw the post are sure to win you. If you are sensible, don’t touch it. If you accept the post obediently, you have no such thing. It's better than having someone call you back. Handilong said slowly, he didn't know whether it was only his family who received the post or whether there were people on all hills.There was a person whose name was familiar to him on this post, and that was Zhou Lide.Is he the eldest son of Zhoujiazhai Xiucai brother?Rumor has it that he was Feng Yuxiang's adjutant, who was so frightened that no one dared to rob Zhou's village all these years, so why was he demoted to Taibai County as deputy battalion commander?If it's really him, then he's avenging his personal revenge, and he's here to punish me!But he thought about it again, and felt that it was unlikely. They robbed Mingdetang twice in disguise, and no one could recognize it. How did he know that I, Handilong, did it? Handilong sent people to other hills to inquire, and it turned out that all the comrades received red posts.This time he was not in a hurry, he will not withdraw the post, you have to weigh your own strength to withdraw the post, these dozens of them are not the opponents of the county defense battalion at all.But he also didn't want to shed his own blood for no reason, and it was a huge sum.He knew that he was definitely not the only one who was unwilling to pay, and there would always be someone who would go head-to-head, right?Let's look at the situation first. Sure enough, there was such a daze.Zhou Biedan from Wudaoliang thought that there were too many people, so he returned the red post with his mouth curled up.Three days later, Zhou Biedan's head was hung on the city wall of Taibai County, and the entire garrison battalion was mobilized to take down Wudaoliang in just one day.Zhou Lide knew that someone would be the rafter, so he had to kill a chicken for the monkeys to see, beat down a bunch of bandits, and make a show for those who watched the wind. As soon as the ten-day deadline came, all the bandits paid their donations according to their numbers.