Twenty Seven Years

  The head of the village has thinning hair and a thin body. He looks about sixty years old.

  Verak exchanged a glance with him, and said "Hello" in Montrego.

   "Sorry, I misunderstood you, don't worry, we will take care of you until you recover." The village chief said.

  After listening to Murphy's translation, Verac immediately asked Connie to take some gold coupons and hand them over to the village chief as compensation for the villagers they also injured and the three of them' recuperation.

   Both Murphy and Connie were slightly dissatisfied with this.

  They believed that they were not hostile from the beginning to the end, and that what happened was entirely due to the misunderstanding of the villagers.

  In this case, it is inevitable to injure the villagers, and the follow-up recovery is also a matter of course.

   Giving money seems like they are at fault.

  Verak is much more thoughtful. It is true that the three of them are the biggest victims in this matter, but after all, they have to stay in other people's places to recuperate now, and they have injured several people in the other party during the conflict. If one is not handled properly, there will be some friction between the two sides, and it will not be good if a big problem arises.

  In addition, Verak observed that most of the people in the village were old and young, and most of them were yellow and thin. Coupled with the looting of bandits, life must be very difficult.

  It is already rare to be able to maintain precious humanity in this situation, be willing to apologize, and be willing to take care of the three of them unconditionally until they recover.

  Since my side is not short of money, it would be best to take out some gold coupons to ease the relationship.

  After receiving a few gold coupons from Connie, the village head, who had been expressionless all this time, was finally moved and expressed his thanks to Verac.

  Verak took advantage of the further easing of the relationship between the two parties, and asked about the situation of the gangsters: "Murphy, help me ask about the situation of the gangsters."

"Yes." After communicating with the village chief for a few minutes, Murphy summed up the information he had learned and told Verac and Connie, "The village chief Bernardino said that since the government lost control of Shalaba The actual control of the state. After Shalabah was ruled by the warlord Antonio, the bandits here became more and more rampant. During this period, they did not seek assistance from the Montrego government and Antonio, but the Montrego government officials more than a year ago The help promised here has not been fulfilled so far. Antonio is even more over the top, simply ignoring this place and ignoring it, directly pretending that such a place does not exist. "

   "According to this, the gangsters have been raging for quite some time. No one came to help, and it was difficult to resist on his own. Hasn't Mr. Bernardino considered leaving here?" Verac asked.

  He probably guessed the reason why the villagers did not leave here.

  In such an environment where everyone is in danger, even a larger city probably cannot accommodate a group of old and weak women and children like them.

  But I still have to ask the question, maybe there are other secrets in it.

"The village chief Bernardino said that those who could escape have already fled, and those left behind have nowhere to go." Murphy said, "There are more than 100 people in the village now, most of them are old people Half of the young and strong escaped with women, children, and more than half of the rest died in the fight against the bandits..."

  The situation was not much different from what Verak had expected. He sighed at the miserable situation of the village, and asked about the bandits: "How many bandits are active around here? How strong are they?"

  Village Chief Bernardino vaguely heard from this inquiry that Verac wanted to intervene and help, and the remaining coldness on his face quickly melted away.

  Even if the three people in front of them were not injured, joining their team to encircle the village would not be of much use.

   But he had only heard Murphy mention it not long ago, and this group of people came from an extremely large force called the 'International Equality League'. They can wrestle with the famous Bresci government army, establish branches all over the world, and one of their purposes is to help civilians, so as long as they can use a small part of their power to wipe out some bandits is not a problem at all .

"We have two bandits here, one with more than 30 people, the other with more than 20 people, and almost a dozen guns. They seem to have some grievances, so they didn't collude together, and because they were afraid of each other They dare not easily fight against each other with their own strength, so they maintain a balance, constantly searching and looting in this area..."

  The village chief said while Murphy was translating.

  Verak listened thoughtfully, interrupting from time to time to ask a few questions.

  After more than ten minutes, the detailed situation was constructed in Vilak's mind.

  This village is called Shuangnaga Village, and Bernardino has been the village head here for almost 30 years. In the first two decades of his tenure, the place was fairly stable. No matter how violent the government is, no matter how high the waves are, it seems that it will have no impact on such a small village located on the border.

Until two or three years ago, the situation in the government took a turn for the worse, and various ambitious people came out, either leading the army independently, or serving as a vegetarian under the government, which completely messed up Meng Lege and lost his deterrent to these corners. .

   As a result, many desperadoes emerged in this area, making a living by plundering.

At first they were small and weak, and the threat they could pose was relatively limited. Later, more and more people couldn't survive, and they chose to join them when they had no other way out. This made them grow rapidly and became an invincible armed force in the eyes of villagers in every village. strength.

  Shuangnajia Village originally had a population of four to five hundred. Because the living conditions became more and more difficult and the gangsters became stronger and stronger, many people chose to leave their hometowns and go to big cities to make a living.

  The remaining ones who are unwilling to leave, and those who want to leave but are unable to leave, can only start a long defensive battle with the bandits.

   Margarita's husband, who was in charge of taking care of the three of them, was brutally killed by bandits during such a defense battle, leaving only her monk and young child.

  Nowadays, there are only a handful of young and strong people in the village. If this continues, it may take less than a year. The old people who stick here will be killed, the women will be taken away, and Shuangnajia Village will disappear.

  Verak and the others did not appear in time, but fortunately, they were not too late.

  Under the circumstances that neither the Montrego government nor the warlord Antonio intends to split their minds to help such a village that does not benefit them much to suppress the bandits, the safety of hundreds of lives is placed in front of Verac who happened to pass by.

"Most of the villages are now children and women. It's hard to get even ten of them who can really fight against the bandits. We don't even know if we can resist the bandits' attack this time and protect everything in the village..." Village head Bernard Dino said with a begging tone.

He could see that Veraker and his party were good people, and even more so, that they wanted to help the village, so as long as the village could be saved, even if he had to get down on his knees and pray now, he would not hesitate at all. .

   "Hmm..." Verak pondered for a while, and didn't express his opinion prematurely.

  Bernardino guessed well, Verac had the idea of ​​helping them. As comrades of the International Equality League, it is contrary to their lofty ideals to see civilians living in dire straits and turn a blind eye.

   It's just that the situation is a little tricky, and he has no good countermeasures for the time being.

   "Comrade Verac." Murphy heard what Bernardino meant, and also knew Verac's plan, "What do you think?"

"It's very troublesome." Verak said, "It is very difficult for us to mobilize the support of the sub-station, even if we can, the support of the sub-station will be very limited. It is enough for the gangsters to visit twice after passing the news to the support. But relying on us alone, not to mention being injured, even if we are alive and well, we can't play a decisive role in such a battle."

"I think the most important point is that the rampant banditry reveals the great disease of the whole country of Montrego. If this group of bandits is wiped out, will there be no new ones? The huge Montrego, only Is this village facing a desperate situation?" Connie also saw it accurately.

  The problem of Shuangnaga Village reflects the problem of Menglege.

  If you want to change this place completely, you have to change Montrego completely.

The problem is that Verac and the others help this place to fend off the bandits once. This trip is mainly for taking a trip, understanding the situation comprehensively, and trying to establish a sub-station. It would be too imprudent to talk about changing Montrego just after coming here. practical.

  Bernardino couldn't understand the Bressi conversation between the three, and waited patiently for a reply.

"Let's not think so far ahead. We must rest here for a period of time in this situation. There is a high probability that bandits will come during this period. Let's find a way to deal with the current crisis before we talk about other things." Rucker was the first to mention the trouble they couldn't avoid.

"The village has been able to withstand it for so long, you should have some experience, right? Can you tell me?" Murphy asked Bernardino for information by himself, and after the village chief finished speaking, he relayed the information to Verac, "The village chief said Well, these two groups of gangsters come quite regularly, about once a month or two in turn. The group with more people just robs food and money, and the group with fewer people just wants to rob and slaughter everyone .The one who is going to come this time is the group with few people, so the whole village is very vigilant."

  The two groups of gangsters have different ideas.

  The former regards the village and villagers as livestock in captivity, and only grabs a little thing every time to ensure that the village can continue to survive. When there are more things, they come again, and this cycle repeats, and there will always be food to eat.

  The latter may be eager to expand manpower, or may not think so much, and act more directly and viciously.

   "None of them are good things. I really want to call comrades to come and wipe them out!" Connie hated this kind of bullying and oppressing the people the most.

   It's bad enough.

  Verak thought to himself.

  The latter came rushing to get rid of them and kill them. The village has so few people now that even children who couldn't even reach his chest have joined the battle, which shows that the situation is too critical.

  If the three of them do nothing, if there is an accident in the village, everyone will die.

"There is no need to say help now. We and the villagers are grasshoppers on the same rope. To protect the village is to protect our own lives." Verak looked at Murphy, "Are all our guns still there? Six of them No matter how the pistol can help the villagers increase their strength."

   "The village chief asked me to borrow it when you were in a coma. I gave him three at that time. Do you want to give the rest to them?"

"Let them use it first. The gangsters definitely didn't expect the villagers to suddenly have so many guns. As long as the village chief uses them properly, he might be able to catch the gangsters by surprise and resolve this crisis." Verak knew Murphy insisted on keeping the three guns, but he still agreed to give them the guns first.

  Murphy was nothing more than afraid that he would be able to defend himself in case of any emergency, or he was worried that he would give it to the village chief, and the village chief would not return it.

   But they were **** a few hours ago. Instead of confiscating the gun arbitrarily, the village chief handed it back to them for advice, which is enough to show that the other party is not that kind of person, otherwise there is no need to make such a big detour.

   It was precisely because of the various performances of the village chief that Verak was willing to find a way to help them.

   "...Yes." After Verak ordered, Murphy took out the other three guns and some bullets and handed them to the village chief.

  The village chief thanked him again and again, and then hurried out of the house with a gun.

  They basically use earthen guns, which are far worse than the new pistols carried by Verac and the others on the whole. The village chief Bernardino wants to distribute the guns earlier to strengthen the defense of the village and reduce casualties that may occur at any time.

   "He said to go and distribute the guns to the villagers first." Murphy said as he watched the village chief leave.

   "I'll get you some water to drink." Margarita, who was holding the baby, was a little uncomfortable in the house, and she found some work on her own and left for a while.

   Soon, only Verac, Connie, and Murphy were left in the room.

   "How's your leg?" Verak asked.

  The arrow shot in his shoulder basically did not affect his walking. The only thing that really decided whether the three of them could continue to go to Montrego City was Murphy's leg injury.

   "It's nothing." Murphy pretended to be relaxed because he was afraid that Veraker would have some important arrangements and be dragged down by his leg injury.

   "Speak well!" Verak was not so easily fooled, and said a little harshly.

   "...I almost hurt my bone, and I can't walk for a while." Murphy was discouraged and confessed the situation.

   "Do you want to leave here?" Connie re-soaked the cloth in cold water and applied it to her head.

"Only by us, it is impossible to completely solve the problems of the villagers. If we insist on staying for them, the end result will be that nothing can be done, and the mission of this trip will be delayed." Verak's eyes were full of determination , "When Murphy's leg heals, we have to leave anyway."

   Murphy lowered his head halfway: "I don't know how long it will take to recover."

"You have to wait patiently for how long." Verak touched his pocket and found that the cigarette case was still there. He pulled out the cigarette with his safe hand and lit it. It may make your leg worse and cause serious problems."

   "Let's not talk about this for now..." Murphy was very unwilling to be a burden, so he changed the subject, "Let's think about what we can do to help the villagers."