Chapter 43: Turbulence

"Damn dog, scared you to death? Rest easy, anyone who can bring this is definitely one of us!" Wu Wu Zhuge glared at Liu Liu Jianchen.

Liu Liu Jianchen chuckled, said no more, and led the way forward.

In a short while, they reached the exact center of the brick-and-stone house, where a crowd was pressing down on several hostages to squeeze out water.

Upon approaching, the few people being processed here were clearly thin tickets from whom no oil could be squeezed.

One old man, reeking with filth, had his trousers filled with excrement and urine; half his hair had been ripped out, his scalp was red and swollen, covered in a patch of blood scabs, and now he lay on the ground, unknown whether alive or dead.

More than a dozen bandits were busy snapping down the tops of two oak trees, thick as a bowl, tying one leg of the old man to each tree top; laughing wildly, they let go, the oaks snapped back violently, instantly tearing the old man into two pieces, splashing blood like rain onto Li You, who had never expected it, causing Li You to shiver uncontrollably.

Yet these dozen mountain bandits laughed wildly, marveled, and chattered gaily.

Now only two women remained; one was in her early twenties, the other around thirty; both had been abandoned by their own husbands after their sons were ransomed.

Again, these dozen mountain bandits surged forward, stripping the women's clothes right there, dragging and hauling them into a nearby thatched hut.

Some bandits nearby spoke loudly and sporadically: "I just like kids, the meat is tender!"

"Tch, I like women, both edible and playable, but these *** goods, their crystal curtains are dry from hunger, not satisfying; those noble ladies and young misses, their bodies... tsk tsk..."

Such words truly made Li You's anger surge to the heavens.

A bowl of water, clear on top, turbid below with sediment; these people are the sediment.

They did not appear in the late Ming; they have always existed in this world.

When the world is good, they at most become street ruffians; when the world is bad, they rise straight from the bottom of the bowl, stirring up wind and rain.

Since ancient times, phrases like "Born a bandit, even as a ghost one bears no grievance," and "In the next life, the life after, ten thousand lives, let each life be a bandit," are all evidence of guilt.

Liu Liu Jianbao had already prepared two large tables of wine and dishes here; the pungent, spicy smell of the wine made Li You rub his nose, looking dazedly at the clay wine jars on the table; wasn't it said that ancient times only had trash yellow wine, the kind that simply couldn't get you drunk...

Actually, what Li You did not know was that alcohol before the Ming Dynasty was mostly brewed wine, that is, fermented wine, such as the yellow wine and green wine of the Tang Dynasty, roughly three degrees, no wonder there was the saying "Li Bai drinks a dou of wine and writes a hundred poems"; if Li Bai had drunk fifty-two-degree Erguotou, he would most likely have gone to see a Physician, and written what kind of poem?

Even by the Song and Yuan periods, alcohol content could reach six to eight degrees, but by the Ming Dynasty, distilled spirits already existed.

Of course, these high-strength wines were not favored by officials and nobles; mostly only common laborers liked to drink them; after all, when people of the upper class drank, they mostly played elegant games like threading needles, breaking tiles and reciting characters, or drinking commands.

If one directly served fifty-plus degree Erguotou, they probably couldn't even finish one round; not recognized by the upper class, this distilled wine was labeled as something only rough men, chicken diviners, and lowly servants drank.

In short, throughout the entire Ming Dynasty, the status of distilled wine was always inferior to brewed wine; only when the Qing Dynasty established its rule in the Central Plains, and those deep in the bitter cold lands pursued alcohol strength with enthusiasm, did distilled wine, relying on political correctness, fight its way back to the top.

While Li You was lost in thought, he thought of his Baijiu stocks, wondering if his 33.8 yuan, hanging at the mountain peak, had finally been unlocked from his Lao Bai Gan position.

Wu Wu Zhuge, Wang Qiong, and others had already taken their seats; Wang Qiong ran over to pull him, and only then did he come to his senses, following Wang Qiong to sit beside him.

Two long tables were set up in total; the back table had more people, all from Mao'er Ba, about twenty-five or twenty-six; this table mainly seated Wu Wu Zhuge and other gang leaders, along with a few trusted aides from Liu Liu Jianbao's side.

Watching Wu Wu Zhuge and the sly-eyed Liu Liu Jianbao talk in low voices as they sat down, Li You regretted why he had been staring blankly at the wine just now! Sitting so far away, he couldn't hear anything at all!

Li You couldn't help but feel a bit regretful; Wu Wu Zhuge and Zhu Laoda had always been outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds, and sooner or later a fierce battle would erupt.

Suddenly rushing to Mao'er Ba for a meeting early this morning must mean something important had happened; regretfully, he could not participate, missing an opportunity, leaving him slightly disappointed.

"Could it be they plan to join forces to take down Zhu Laoda? Or has something major happened? By the way, what major events occurred in the twelfth year of Chongzhen?"

Li You pretended to think for a moment with his head down, then covered his forehead with one hand; his historical knowledge was just what was in the textbooks, forgotten completely once he entered society; let alone Chongzhen down to a specific year, he didn't even know how many years Chongzhen reigned in total.

As for leisure time, the period dramas he often encountered on TV programs were mostly "Kangxi's Secret Travels," "The Mischievous Qianlong," "The Iron-Toothed Bronze-Teeth Ji Xiaolan," "The Prime Minister Liu Luoguo," "Kangxi Dynasty," "My Fair Princess," "Empresses in the Palace," "Scarlet Heart," "Palace"...

Shouting things like "Zha," "Master," "Slave," "Young Master," "Ama," "Gege," and other playful phrases, sporting handsome hairstyles, once made Li You think all ancient people had that hairstyle; after all, had he ever seen a depiction of Confucius on the internet? They all had the money-rat tail.

Li You secretly resolved that in the days to come, he must read more books; forgetting the wheel of history in vain, losing the opportunity for a God's-eye view, was already regrettable enough; he could not become an ignorant and unlearned person.

But the question was, where were the books?

Suddenly, a clamor rose at the banquet; many people raised their wine bowls high; only then did Li You realize the drinking party had begun.

Zhang Zhang Zhuanggen, Wu Nai, and others chatted intermittently; Li You wanted to listen to the movements between Wu Wu Zhuge and Zhu Laoda, but it was simply too noisy; he had to give up, kept his head down, and picked up a few chopsticks of pickled vegetables to suppress the wine fumes.

Meanwhile, the two people on Wu Wu Zhuge's side were chatting unpleasantly, their voices gradually growing louder...

"Damn it, my stronghold is almost out of food; today I've treated you well with good food and drink, yet you won't even introduce me to the Cao family?"

Liu Liu Jianbao glared boldly at Wu Wu Zhuge and said, "Moreover, such an urgent letter came from Qingyang Station, and I came to inform you immediately."

"I truly cannot help with this matter; the salt and iron trade has always been managed by my second son; if you really want to come in and get a share, you must see if those meat-eating lords in Mian County agree! Besides, the news from Qingyang Station, even if you didn't say it, we would have found out sooner or later; did you forget that Xing Xing Youdao is actually my third son's father-in-law?"

Zhang Zhang Zhuanggen married Xing Xing Youdao's daughter.

Wu Wu Zhuge continued calmly, "Or join our stronghold, and give you a fifth-chair position?"

Hearing this, Liu Liu Jianbao couldn't help but sneer.

"Hey, what? Do you look down on me?" Wu Wu Zhuge frowned.

"I truly look down on you; your bunch of brothers, except for Shi Shi Dayong and those bastards who still have some gear, the rest, calling themselves mountain bandits, are a disgrace!"

Liu Liu Jianchen said proudly and loudly.

Hearing this, Wu Wu Zhuge laughed heartily; he was not angry; he knew Liu Liu Jianchen's men often attacked strongholds and clashed with government forces, so their combat power was indeed strong, but not strong enough to challenge him; the most formidable were actually the horse bandits from Qigang Mountain, those were truly a gang of desperadoes.

But Wu Nai could not sit still; he "Zeng" stood up and said, "Liu Zhangpan, are you bullying us because Longmen Stronghold has no one?"

Li You looked at the hot-tempered Wu Nai, blinking his eyes.

"What? Is what Grandpa said not the truth?"

Liu Liu Jianbao said with a smile, "Little Nai, you probably forgot... isn't this the incident from last time when we went together to attack Xianghuaping? You shot three arrows, all missed, and then a local militia man hiding behind the battlements shot an arrow right into your butt? Hey, tell me, how did that militia man shoot?" 【Note】

"Haha..."

"Hehehe..."

For a moment, people at both tables laughed until they fell over; this was from the Lantern Festival this year, and most people were present.

Wu Nai, filled with both anger and shame, looked like he was about to explode on the spot; Miao Miao Xianzu on his left tried to pull Wu Nai back, but Wu Nai, in a fit of temper, shook his hand off violently and said, "Then draw up a challenge today, let us fight it out; damn it, whoever refuses today is a dog's son."