Chapter 1384
You must hand over 3% of your family fortune
Chapter 1384 You must hand over 30% of your family fortune
Ah yes, yes, yes, Li Liushi regrets it so much, she regrets not coming out of the city with you to suffer the hardship of sleeping in the wilderness.
The next day, the third day of the ninth lunar month, before dawn, the sound of gongs rang out loudly, waking the villagers on night duty.
"The clan elders of all the major clans have given orders to set off immediately and join up with Chief Escort Guan and his men as soon as possible so that they can receive armed protection! Those who delay will not be spared, and the group will abandon their families!"
Li Wenhu was really exhausted and wanted to call a servant back to help with the chores, but Elder Li Wu said, "The servant is your family's military force to the clan. If you want to take a servant back, your family will have to pay one tael of silver to the clan every day."
"One tael of silver a day!" Li Wenhu was stunned. This was even more ruthless than bandits.
The elder of the Li clan nodded: "That's right, don't think it's too much, this is already a low amount. After all, guarding and patrolling is a dangerous job where your life is at stake, and the rules cannot be broken. If you want to break the rules, you have to pay a lot of money, otherwise everyone will follow your example, and the clan's martial arts team will have to disband."
Li Hui clung to the money bag and wouldn't let go, but Li Wenhu didn't have that much private money to supplement it, so he had to give up and go back to work as a laborer for his parents.
His mother was a little better and could cook again, but Li Wenhu also fell ill... In short, going out of the city to find a way to make a living was too hard, and Li Wenhu regretted it so much that he lived on the promises his father made every day.
Those families who dared to leave the city to make a living were all well-off, so they hadn't suffered much hardship. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, many of them started to fall ill.
People were suffering from colds and fevers, body aches and pains, and sprains from falling off vehicles while traveling... In short, there were many different situations, and people were complaining bitterly. Many of them were crying at night.
The scouts who came to investigate were terrified by what they heard.
As dawn approached and the search party set off, the scouts turned back to report to Commander Zhen and his men.
After hearing this, Commander Zhen was speechless.
"What kind of trash are they? They dare to take their women out of the city? Luckily, those women are sober enough to decide to stay in the city, otherwise some terrible things would have happened in the next two days!"
The scout added, "This morning when they set off, there was a commotion. Some people caught a cold and became ill. Li Gui was afraid it was a rat plague and wanted to abandon them in the wild. They almost got into a fight, but the second and fourth elders of the Li clan rejected his suggestion and led everyone on their way. That's how the matter was resolved."
Zhen Qianhu scoffed: "Heh, if we really abandoned the patients, that would be better. The team would fall apart, and at least several thousand people could save their lives."
"You all go and rest. We'll set off again around noon after the other scout teams return," Commander Zhen ordered.
"Yes." The scouts retreated to eat and sleep.
Elder Li and his group were moving too slowly, and Commander Zhen and his men could catch up in a little over an hour on horseback, so they didn't need to set off at the same time as Elder Li and his group.
Furthermore, Commander Zhen and his men had another mission: to scatter their soldiers in all directions at each location to scout out any traces of enemy troops.
The reconnaissance is going well so far; no enemy activity has been detected yet.
Before nightfall on the fourth day of the ninth lunar month, the Li Er clan elders and their large group finally arrived outside Dongshui County.
The county town was already empty. It was too close to the capital city and was afraid of being swept away by the enemy. Half of the Wei people went to the capital city to avoid the war, and the other half fled towards Beixiong Prefecture.
Some people from Dongshui County were so homesick that they followed the Li clan elders out of the city to find a way to make a living.
"Let's go, let's go into the county town and stay at my Fang family's inn!" Master Fang called out to everyone, but no one dared to move.
Chief Weng said, "No, it's too dangerous to go into the county town at night when it's dark. Who knows if it's Chief Escort Guan and his gang or a group of thugs hiding inside?"
Chief Weng said to the other clan leaders and elders of the major clans, "Let's camp out in the suburbs for now, and we'll send our local militia to the county town tomorrow morning to check on the situation."
"Seconded." The clan elders of the major surnames, such as Li, Tan, Chang, Yun, Bai, and Chen, agreed... They were afraid too. Once the decision was made, the gongs rang out, and the village militia from each surname shouted out the order.
Families of different surnames began setting up tents and making fires to cook.
The scouts following them in the distance, seeing this, were speechless.
"They're clever, knowing they can't just rush into an empty county town; yet they lit a fire within a hundred meters of the town gate. If there were bad guys in the county, wouldn't that be a sure sign to the villains, 'Come quick, a hostage has arrived from outside the town?'"
"Alright, enough nonsense, let's get to work. Divide into groups of three, one group stays behind, and the other three groups go to the left, right and rear of the county town to conduct reconnaissance... Don't light any fires, be careful not to reveal your location; if you encounter any situations, don't investigate, come back and report immediately."
"Yes, sir." Upon receiving the order, the scouts immediately split up and set off.
Fortunately, the people in Dongshui County were Guan, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort).
Upon seeing the firelight, Guan, the head镖师 (bodyguard), and his men were startled, thinking that the enemy had attacked. Terrified, they hid in a secret room until midnight before daring to send someone out of the county to investigate the firelight.
Only after learning that it was Wei Min, whom they had been waiting for, did they feel relieved and return to the city to continue sleeping.
The following day, after the local militia members from various clans came to the small security escort agency in the county town and knocked on the door, the head escort, Guan, finally came out to see them.
The villagers were overjoyed and hurried back to tell the elders of the Li clan the good news: "Guan, the head镖师 (bodyguard), wants us to go to the county town to discuss matters, and we can set off after we reach an agreement."
The elders of the Li clan, the Weng clan, and other clan leaders of various surnames dared not neglect their duties and hurriedly went to the city to attend the meeting.
Members of the various families also came, worried: "Won't they raise the price? Won't they mistreat our women?"
Families with female members began to worry.
The elders of the Li clan were also worried that Guan, the镖头 (bodyguard), and his men would bully others with their strength, but they stubbornly insisted: "We have a trump card to lead you out of the city. Just wait for our good news."
The two elders of the Li clan did indeed have a trump card, which was the token given by Master Zheng... Master Zheng gave tokens to the clan heads or elders of 90% of the major clans in the city, or clan members with the ability to rise to power.
They said that as long as they carried the token, they would be protected by bodyguards along the way, and upon arrival at their destination, they would be received by someone, so that they would not abandon their homes and businesses in vain.
By doing this, Master Zheng was still using the war to create chaos in the homeland of Wei and to sow discord between the people of Wei and the imperial court.
People are a resource. If the people of Wei submit to the court, the court gains power; if the people of Wei submit to powerful families, the powerful families can win the hearts of the people. If the court wants to take action against the powerful families, it will be accused of harming loyal and virtuous people.
Guan, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), was originally a half-slave sent out by the Zheng family to work for powerful and influential families. Therefore, he did not make things difficult for the clan elders such as Li Weng, Yun Bai, and Chang. After seeing the token they handed over and confirming its authenticity, he said, "That's right, it's the person our master sent us to wait for."
"Let's pack up and set off."
"Remember, the road is dangerous. You must obey our orders, or you will bear the consequences!"
"Once you reach a safe place and survive, you must tell your people who your benefactor is... When you return to your ancestral home in the Northeast and expand your family business through your household registration, you must hand over 30% of your family's wealth."
What?!
This was the first time Li Gui had heard such a statement, and she became agitated: "The family business is ours, why should we hand it over? And it's 30% of it, this is even worse than a landlord taking rent!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Hundreds of bodyguards drew their swords at Li Gui, who was so frightened that he fell to the ground: "...Father, Father, save me!"
Guan, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), sneered and said bluntly, "Gentlemen, this is wartime, and there's a no-movement order in place. Yet our master has gone to great lengths, using all his resources and connections, to help you clear the way to escape south. You don't think you can just give us a little escort fee, do you?"