Chapter 9 One Arrow

Author: Hellcat God

Chapter 9 One Arrow

After Du Yu, Zhu Wu and others were relieved, the people in Shaohua Mountain began to prepare for battle.

When he returned to Shijiacun the next day, he ordered his people to bang their wooden clappers to gather the surrounding people. He could pay for it, but he also had to pay for his reputation.

Fifty guan is nothing to me, but it is not a small amount if it is added to the common people. Even a large village like Shijiacun has to pay hundreds of guans per household.

It may not seem like much, but don't forget that the ordinary taxes have not been reduced at all. This means that he is not short of money, and some of the local officials would not be able to take the opportunity to apportion it to the people to make a profit.

Soon, people from the surrounding villages gathered on the threshing floor of Shijin Manor.

"Fellow villagers, yesterday the official came to inform that the county magistrate Mr. Wang wanted to go to Shaohua Mountain to suppress the bandits, and asked our Shijia Village to pay fifty guan of money." Du Yu said.

After hearing this, everyone immediately started talking. Most of them were complaining about how long it had been since they harvested the wheat and paid the tax. After excluding the food and clothing expenses and then planting the winter wheat, they basically had no money left, so what should they use to pay.

But if you don't pay, how can you face those wolf-like government officials? Many people scolded the court on the spot for not giving them a way to survive.

Du Yu listened to their complaints for a while, and then he said: "Everyone, listen to me. My family has settled here for several generations and has never treated the villagers badly. This time, I, Shi Jin, will pay for everyone."

"Thank you, Dalang."

"Thank you, owner."

"……."

There were voices of thanks below.

Du Yu waved his hand to stop them and said: "Fellow folks, if you are in trouble today, I, Shi Jin, will lend my hand to help. If I need anything in the future, I hope the folks can help me too."

"That's natural. Dalang and I depend on you for our livelihood, so why shouldn't we listen to your orders?" said a clan elder.

"Nowadays, the world is not prosperous and corrupt officials are rampant. In the past few years, there have been countless people who have been forced to live in poverty. I want to protect my ancestral heritage without taking up swords and guns. You are living in Shijia Village and you are in the same boat as me. If one day

Bandits are everywhere, and I hope you will join me in fighting the enemy," Du Yu said.

The villagers started talking again, but it was not against his statement. They also knew that the current world was not good, and if something happened, the only one they could count on was Shi Jin, the owner of the village.

In fact, many young people in the village are envious of Zhuang Ding of the Shi family. If they follow him, they can at least have a good meal, so there are not many people who oppose it.

Listening to what Shi Jin said, it seemed that he wanted to set up a team to protect the bank, and they were even a little excited.

However, Du Yu only said this. After all, it is still unknown how things will develop. His purpose today is just to win the hearts of the villagers and make them mentally prepared.

This guy Biliba talked for a while, mainly bragging that he was generous and considerate of the villagers, etc., and then dismissed the villagers after a lot of lies.

In the afternoon, Du Yu took several villagers and rode a donkey to Huayin County to pay taxes. The reason why he did not ride a horse was because he was afraid that Mr. Wang or the county captain would take a fancy to his horse.

There was nothing to say on the way, and within an hour they arrived at the Huayin County Government Office.

As expected, Du Yu saw many people coming in and out. In Shi Jin's memory, they were all Baozheng and Lizheng around the county.

Huayin County has more than a hundred villages and towns under its jurisdiction. There are not many powerful people like Shi Jin, but there are twenty or thirty. Counting some small villages, Magistrate Wang can harvest three to four thousand guan from this "bandit tax suppression" alone.

It may not sound like much, but in fact it is quite a lot. You must know that the annual salary of officials at the county magistrate level in the Northern Song Dynasty was only more than 200 guan, including grain and various subsidies, it would not exceed 300 guan.

A "bandit campaign" can collect ten years' salary. Even if you can't put all of it in your pocket, you can still get 30% to 50%.

Du Yu sneered in his heart, it turned out that he was an official for thousands of miles just for money. In all likelihood, Mr. Wang thought it was too slow to earn a salary, so he came up with an excuse to seize the land.

Seeing him coming with money, the government officials went in to report with smiles on their faces.

After a while, Magistrate Wang asked him to come in and talk.

Du Yu saluted according to Shi Jin's memory. Fortunately, this was the Song Dynasty and it was not popular to kneel down, otherwise he would have been sick to death.

Perhaps today he was a money-delivery boy, and Magistrate Wang put on a face that was friendly to the people and exchanged a few words with him, but the guy never stopped talking about suppressing bandits and acted like he was thinking about the people.

Du Yu beat the snake and put it on the stick, and he said a few words of praise, which made the Huayin County Lord laugh heartily.

Of course, there are many people like him who come to give money, and the county magistrate will not catch him talking endlessly.

After paying the money, registration was done, but Magistrate Wang didn't even prepare a bowl of water for them.

Du Yu wisely saluted and left the county office after saying goodbye. However, he did not go home directly. Instead, he went to Li Ji Jade Shop and Dong Ji Pharmacy to have a look.

The shopkeeper of the jade shop still didn't get him a good product, but he got another thirty-year-old wild ginseng from Dongji's drug store, which was a worthwhile trip.

Back in Shijiacun, Du Yu began to wait for news about the bandit suppression in Huayin County, but he didn't expect that he would have to wait for half a month.

It turns out that the county lieutenant also had the same virtue as County Magistrate Wang. They just used the excuse to suppress bandits to collect money, and the money was divided up as soon as they got it.

But seeing that the people's emotions were aroused, they had no choice but to show off and planned to take the county soldiers to the foot of Shaohua Mountain.

Even so, they took their time until three days ago before opening the treasury, taking out the armor and honor guard, and practicing a formation before heading towards Shaohua Mountain.

Du Yu couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing the news. It seemed that Shi Jin was indeed unlucky to be reported in the Water Margin, so he was caught off guard.

Knowing that the government was launching an operation, Shi Jin asked his old servant Shi Huai to inform the villagers to prepare.

Of course he didn't want to help the government, nor did he lead people to help Shaohua Mountain. He was afraid that the government troops would be dispersed and then rush into Shijiacun.

After the villagers were ready, the guy secretly rode on horseback and took a shortcut to the Shaohua Mountain village.

When Du Yu arrived, Chen Da, Yang Chun, and Han Bolong had already put on their helmets and armor and were ready for battle. Even Zhu Wu, who was not good at fighting, was fully armed and took this battle seriously.

After Du Yu went up the mountain, just as planned, he disguised himself and mingled with the minions.

When it was almost over, they saw the army's troops in the distance.

Du Yu took out a high-power telescope and observed it, and found that the county captain led three or four times more people than when he captured Shi Jin in the novel, at least 1,300 or 400 people.

It seems that not only all the county defenders have been brought along, but also the government officials and local Xiang troops have been deceived.

It was just that despite the large number of people, Du Yu didn't see anything like a regular army. The marching team was so loose that it didn't look like a march and a battle, but more like a Hong Kong comprehensive society showing off its horses.

All the way to the foot of Shaohua Mountain, the county captain waved his entire army to a stop and set up a military formation there.

Du Yu shook his head and said to himself, brother, you are just playing games while you are playing house. Who will wait for you to form the formation for a serious battle? He immediately asked someone to inform Zhu Wu of the news.

Zhu Wu is nicknamed the Shenji strategist. He is proficient in formations and has strategies. In the novel, he has always been the strategist of Lu Junyi's side, assisting him in defeating the enemy many times. He is one of the fifteen surviving generals in Liangshanbo.

In the end, he was named Wu Yilang and the commander of all the roads. Of course, he did not go but went with Fan Rui to Gongsun Sheng to learn Taoism.

Although Zhu Wu did not see the situation at the bottom of the mountain, he believed in Shi Jin's words and led the followers of the mountain stronghold to rush down.

After a while, the distance between the two armies was less than 200 meters.

The officers and soldiers originally planned to set up their battle formation under the command of the county captain and then return to the city. When they thought that the thieves from Shaohua Mountain actually came down to fight, they suddenly panicked.

The county captain shouted anxiously and finally managed to stabilize his position.

Little did he know that in the crowd opposite, Du Yu had already taken out the compound bow from the system space, put a hunting arrow on it and aimed it at his throat.

"Buzz!"

The bowstring vibrated, and the arrow instantly hit the county captain's throat.

The poor man was killed by Du Yu with an arrow without even leaving his name, becoming the first person he killed in the Water Margin world.

As soon as the county captain died, the newly stable military formation of the army became chaotic.

Two men in Dutou official uniforms also tried to save the situation, yelling at the soldiers to stabilize themselves.

At this time, Han Bolong and Chen Da could no longer hold back any longer. They rushed over on horseback and shot each one, killing both of them.

Then the minions shouted and charged towards them. The officers and soldiers still had the courage to fight again, so they turned around and ran away one by one. They only regretted that their parents had lost two legs.

The minions from Shaohua Mountain chased for three to five miles until they completely killed the officers and soldiers, and then they returned in triumph with six to seven hundred prisoners.
Chapter completed!