The leader sneered after hearing the translation: "You ask me for my name, probably to report to the officials in the future, right? It's okay, I'm Song Gan from ASong Village. You can report to the officials by yourself. Anyway, even if you are a good person these days, you can't survive!" When the other bandits heard this, they gathered around and shouted in unison, waving the swords and guns in their hands, and immediately scared the translator to death. They quickly complained while translator: "Master, why are you doing this? It's not business, it's important to get out. Ask him what his name is, do you want to meet him again?"

Kong Zhang suppressed the fear in his heart and said, "I just said it casually. You go and explain it to him. This is just a custom of the country. When we meet for the first time, we greet each other with names, and there is no other intention. Besides, there are two kings in Burma now. I want to report to the official, and I don't know which one to report to?"

After hearing the translator's answer, Song Chan's face looked a little gentle. He waved his hand to stop the shouts of his companions and said, "You are talking about it. Now the government has captured all men to join the army, and only the village is left, and the food is rotten in the ground. The elders in the village want to ask for grace for a while. After harvesting the seeds, they will be treated as traitors and hanged on a big tree on the roadside, and their bodies are not allowed to be cleaned up by their families. This is simply the end of the world mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures! You Shunguo merchants are so greedy. In order to make money, you don't even want precious lives. They come so far away from their hometown and so dangerous. This time, the Buddha must have used my hand to punish you."

After hearing this, Kong Zhang replied carefully: "What the hero said is reasonable. But I am just a friend. The shopkeeper wants me to come here. What can I do? I have elderly parents and young children at home. Please forgive my life for their sake and let me go back to support my parents and raise my children. I am willing to pay some money to worship the Buddha to forgive my sins!"

Hearing this, Song Chan nodded and said, "Everyone should respect their parents, otherwise even beasts will be worse than those of them. You are a good person, and I can let you go, but how much money are you willing to pay?"

"Being able to save your life is the favor of a hero. How dare I fight for more and less? Please tell me the number of heroes. As long as I can take it out, I will never shirk responsibility!"

When Song Chan heard this, he looked embarrassed and obviously he had no experience in bargaining. He hesitated for a while and pointed at all his companions and said, "We have eighteen people in total, but only five guns. Now we still lack thirteen guns. In addition, the weather is about to get colder, and each of us also needs clothes and shoes. If you give each of us a piece of clothing, a pair of leather shoes, and fifteen guns, I will let you go!"

Kong Zhang couldn't help but sigh in relief when he heard this. He thought the other party would speak loudly, but now he could only nod and admit his account, but he didn't expect that the other party was a honest person. It seemed that these people should not be a habitual bandit, but should be a bankrupt farmer who escaped military service. He asked the middleman a few words and then said, "I just asked, the commonly used Thunderbolt guns in Myanmar are the thunderbolt guns, and bullets are also easy to match. The market price is about 25 taels of silver per piece, and fifteen guns are 375 taels, and it's enough to have a twenty tael of clothes and shoes. The villain gave the Buddha another fifty taels of spice and oil. It counts as 450 taels of silver. I wonder if the hero is satisfied?"

After hearing the translator's message, Song Chan's face showed a satisfied expression, and the other bandits next to him cheered happily. He turned around and smiled, "Okay, just this price. As long as you pay, you and your companions can leave immediately, and you can take those two elephants away too!" Anyway, the biggest use of these two elephants is to kill and eat meat. The reason is very simple - for a group of thieves, the goal is too big, so it is better to use it as a generous person.

"But I don't have that much money now!" Kong Zhang replied: "Even if there is it, it's your spoil. I have to go to Mandalay to get the money for you. I have a suggestion, you can send me to Mandalay! You can get more money, such as twice as much,? Nine hundred taels of silver, not only can you give you guns, clothes and shoes, but it's even enough for you to rebuild the village!"

"How do we know that this is not a trap for you, and we tricked us into Mandalay and killed us without giving us a penny? You must know that Mandalay is now in the hands of the ** team."

"You can grab me in your hands and get to the vicinity of Mandalay, and let my entourage raise money. After you get the money, you leave Mandalay and wait until you feel safe before letting me go. I am at least as dangerous as you do in this process!"

"Wait until we are safe before letting you go? What if we don't let you go if we take the money, or even kill you?"

"That's better than being killed by you now. At least I've lived a lot more days. Here I have only one way out. Even if you don't kill me, I'll let me go, who knows if I'll be killed by another group of robbers? If you send me to Mandalay, you should be paid. Since you have earned money, why kill me? I don't remember when I offended you?"

Song Chan nodded, but he did not answer immediately, but instead he turned around and discussed with several companions. Judging from the sound, there was a big dispute between them, and the people did not seem to agree with Song Chan's decision. Finally, Song Chan ended the dispute with a series of cannons. Several other bandits lowered their heads silently to express their obedience. Song Chan turned around and said, "Okay! We will send you to Mandalay for nine hundred taels of silver, but you can't continue to sit on the elephant. The goal is too big, and there are robbers everywhere along the way." Speaking of this, Song Chan smiled and said, "No matter what, you are such a brave person!"

Kong Zhang smiled bitterly and said, "I would rather never have the chance to be such a warrior in my life!"

Eight days later, Kong Zhang sat on the ground panting. At this time, he was black and thin. The silk robe with a delicate texture had become a pile of fragments that could not be seen clearly. In order to avoid encountering thieves and pseudo-king soldiers who were even more vicious than thieves, Songzan and his group walked on a path that only wild beasts and local people knew. As for the filling of the belly, there were a small amount of food and various plant tuber, wild fruits, and wild vegetables. If they could get a fish or some small beast, it would be a holiday. Fortunately, Songzan no longer regarded Kong Zhang and the other three as prisoners, but treated them like a companion. Kong Zhang gritted his teeth and persevered. When Kong Zhang learned that he was only eighteen kilometers away from Mandalay and would arrive tomorrow, he was already numb by all this and almost forgot how to show excitement.

"Kong, eat!" Song Gan called Kong Zhang clumsyly and handed over a piece of roasted cassava. After several days of getting along, he could already speak some of the simplest Chinese. Kong Zhang quickly took the cassava and squeezed a smile on his face to express his gratitude. Kong Zhang took a bite of cassava. The cassava smelled okay after being roasted, but it became bitter and astringent as soon as it was eaten. Kong Zhang's mouth immediately became numb, and his face was like a deformed doll, immediately squeezed into a ball.

"Is it bitter?" Song Chan sighed and whispered: "The people in our village rely on this to fill their stomachs for more than half a year, and even this one may not be full."

"It's not bad, it's not bad!" After listening to the translation of the translation, Kong Zhang was afraid of getting angry and Song Gan hurriedly smiled: "I'm just hungry. Look, it's very delicious, it's very delicious!" Kong Zhang took two bites of cassava and pretended to be very happy, but looking at his weird face, everyone knew that he was pretending.

"Oh! Stop pretending, I know you, Shun people, will definitely not eat this kind of thing!" Song Chan smiled, his face full of bitterness: "The nobles in the government and the monks in the temple also only eat white rice, not this, they call this inferior people to eat. Kong, I heard that the general translation said that you are the descendants of an ancient great saint who was sinful and knowledgeable in the Dashun country. I would like to ask you a question: The Buddhist scriptures say that all living beings are equal, and even the ants on the ground are the same, but why do those monks and men eat white rice when they are born and eat as much as they want; and we farmers work hard all year round to plant white rice in the ground, but even cassava cannot be full?"

"This—" After listening to the translation of the translation, Kong Zhang didn't know how to answer the question of Songguan for a while. Such questions almost appeared simultaneously when humans entered civilization. For thousands of years, countless people of lofty ideals were distressed, thought about it, and gave answers one or another. However, no answer could perfectly answer the question of Songguan. At least at this time, Kong Zhang didn't know how to answer the ordinary-looking and bright-eyed young Burmese man in front of him. Suddenly, more than a dozen Burmese thieves around the bonfire seemed to say something happy and burst into laughter. Kong Zhang hurriedly changed the topic and pointed at the bandits and asked, "What's wrong?"

Song Chan looked back and smiled and said, "Oh, my companions are joking. A young man has a favorite love affair. In the village next door, if he can get that money and buy a gun this time, he can pick up his love and pass it together. His companions are making a fuss and asking him to buy wine to celebrate! I will make their voices smaller so as not to attract others." At this point, Song Chan shouted to the other side a few times, and the voices there immediately became much smaller.

"So that's it, very good, very good!" Kong Zhang looked at the young thief who looked full of happiness under the firelight opposite, and suddenly he felt no longer resentful of these robbers who had just robbed him not long ago. These poor people who were motivated by their unfortunate fate were rejoicing for their little bit of happiness. Maybe they would die tomorrow morning. Thinking of this, Kong Zhang suddenly said: "Since that's the case, I have a fate with the groom. I will add fifty taels of silver to fill some houses for them, which is my gift!"

"Ah?" Song Chan was stunned when he heard this, and then smiled: "Fifty taels are too much. Besides, now that the war is in chaos, you may not be able to buy a living place if you give him money. If the sir is interested, give him ten pieces of good cotton, which is a good gift!"

"Okay!" Song Chan turned around and called the young man, but it was a shy young man. He pointed at Kong Zhang and smiled at the young man: "This guest wants to give you ten good cotton cloths as your wedding gift, and I won't thank him yet!"

The young man was stunned and hurriedly saluted Kong Zhang to thank him. For a moment, the atmosphere in the field was very harmonious, giving people the illusion that it seemed that Kong Zhang was not among a group of bandits, but among a group of bodyguards who protected him. Just now, a gunshot suddenly came from all around, and then a Burmese shout came: "Kneel down! Don't move around!"

The sudden gunfire immediately broke the situation in the field. Kong Zhang instinctively threw himself to the ground, trembling all over his body. Song Gan and most of the bandits vaguely saw several torches rising in the darkness around him. Under the firelight, the shadows were all figures holding guns. They knelt down and raised their hands as they called for. Only the shy young man stood among the crowd, looking around blankly. Someone shouted loudly under the torch, "Kneel down, or shoot!" The young man raised his hand, and just as he was about to say something, he heard two gunshots, his whole body trembled sharply, and he fell to the ground.

"We are the provocateurs of the Dashun Guardian Malay Crown Office. If we dare to move around again, we will end up like this!" With the rustling footsteps, the ambushers around us surrounded him. They all wore big-brimmed hats, khaki uniforms, and "Hanyang" rifles with bright bayonets, which were the costumes of Shun's officers and soldiers. The bandits squeezed into a ball under the coercion of the bayonets. Kong Zhang trembled and got up, and a body came into his eyes. The young man who was shyly smiling and thanking him a few minutes ago was lying on the ground, with half of his head missing, and blood and brain were flowing out of the wound. Kong Zhang suddenly felt a nausea that he had never felt before, and he threw himself to the ground and vomited violently.

Seeing this, the Shun Army soldier next to him came forward and kicked Kong Zhang like a shrimp, curled up and shouted sternly: "Get up, get up, get out of here, are you going to die?" Kong Zhang's entourage rushed forward when he saw this, hugged Kong Zhang, and shouted loudly: "Mr. Please observe clearly! We are not bandits! We are merchants of Shunguo!"

The Shunguo soldier was stunned. His familiar accent made him not continue to beat him. He turned his head and shouted twice. After a moment, a Shunguo officer came over and shone the pale face of Kong Zhang who stood up with the help of his followers, and asked, "Are you really a Shunguo businessman? Here are the chaos, what are you doing here?"
Chapter completed!