Bandits and organizational structure? Let me show you a different kingdom of robbers.

Bandits, local armed gangs or their members who rob houses and houses for a living. Disturb public order.

In people's minds, bandit # is a mob. They make a living by robbery and extortion, lack political foresight and are destroyers of law and order. They are bohemian, do whatever they want, and don't want to be bound by anything, and so on. But in fact, any kind of organization in human society must abide by certain rules and be bound, and it is impossible to be absolutely free and unconstrained.

Bandit organizations are indeed the most dissolute, loose and unwilling to be bound among all kinds of organizations in human society. However, this means that they are not bound by the laws, morals and other public rules of normal society. Generally speaking, most bandits are bound internally, and some bandits are quite strict in discipline.

"Bandit" is a very general term. Bandits referred to by different classes and strata in different times or at the same time have different connotations. However, in the eyes of ordinary people, "bandits" are always compared with "thieves". Anyone who forcibly plunders or steals other people's property and does evil is called a bandit or thief according to the seriousness of the case. The word "soil" before the word bandit refers to local bandits or bandits who are active in the local area. In fact, bandits are not limited to local people, and their activities are often not limited to their hometown.

During the Republic of China, newspapers and magazines reported a lot about bandits almost every day. Judging from the content of the report, the name "bandit" includes all "criminals" from thieves to social revolutionaries. There are both unknown "gentlemen on the beam" and famous outlaws, both bourgeois revolutionaries and proletarian revolutionaries. It's really a mixture of good and evil, black and white, and the concept of bandits is confused.

Combined with the actual situation of bandit activities in modern China, we think that bandits are such a group of people:

(1) They come from the agricultural society and are the direct products of periodic famine, serious natural disasters and wars in rural society. In order not to starve to death, they ganged up to arm themselves and did whatever they wanted.

(2) National laws do not allow its existence and activities;

(3) Although their behavior is a protest against reality and objectively antisocial, they lack a clear political purpose;

(4) Out of production, violent robbery and ransom are the main sources of their lives. To sum up, bandits are people who go beyond the scope of the law and have no clear political purpose, and make a living by robbing and extorting ransom.

According to the above definition, it is not difficult to see that those social revolutionaries and activists in the Republic of China, whether Kuomintang or * * *, even anarchists and United parties, had nothing to do with bandits. Because their activities are positive and have a clear political purpose, what they seek is a major change in society. Warlords, landlords and bureaucrats all label these people as "bandits", which is a deliberate means to undermine their political reputation.

There are many kinds of bandits in China. According to the regional characteristics of bandit activities, there are mountain bandits, plain "horse thieves", "ringing horses", border bandits, pirates and lake bandits.

The so-called mountain bandits refer to bandits who live in mountainous areas all the year round, such as bandits in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. One refers to bandits who are based in shanzhai, but their activities are not limited to the shanzhai area. This kind of bandits was very common in the Republic of China, such as the Henan White Wolf, which established its base in Shan Hao. "There are 2,000 smokers in the mountains, and the situation is difficult to attack." "There can be two or three thousand people in the mountains, and they can gather food to get rich. The base of Shandong bandit Sun Meiyao is Baodugu, which is located at the junction of Yixian, Linyi and Tancheng counties. The surrounding mountains are arched like lotus petals, and the inside is flat land, which is the lair of bandits. The terrain is often extremely dangerous, so the officers and men went to fight for several years and abandoned their armor. " The famous Ministry and Yuan Department were developed based on Jinggangshan in Jiangxi Province, which is deep in the forest. Others, such as Hudou Mountain and Dougu Mountain in Xinhui, Xiangshan, Guangdong, were famous thieves' nests during the Republic of China.

Horse thieves are gangs active in Northeast China, so they are called horse thieves. Because they are all riding horses, there is a folk saying that "one man, one horse, one gun, is lazy to help." Horse riding and marksmanship are two unique skills. They ride horses without saddles, and they can sleep soundly on horseback and gallop long distances without falling to the ground; You can put two guns together, without missing a shot. Horse thieves are also called bandits. It is said that when they go out to rob, whether they have beards or not, they paint their mouths red as beards, so they are also called red beards. Xiangma, originally a gang active in Zhili and Shandong in North China Plain, is called Xiangma because it can ride horses when going out like horse thief. After the Republic of China, these bandits tried their best to combine with Hu bandits. The rise and fall of banditry is often controlled by the climate change of the four seasons. Generally speaking, the turn of summer and autumn is dense and Tian He is prosperous, which is a period of rampant bandits. At this time, they are in small groups, with hundreds of gangs, galloping on the vast plains, looting houses everywhere, attacking the city and plundering the land. In winter, all the trees wither, the wind is biting, and there is no place to hide in the forests of Yuan Ye. It was the period when bandits were dormant. At this time, they either can't get out of the nest, or pretend to be businessmen and farmers to sneak into the city and take shelter in the kitchen inn. At this time, the detective police took the opportunity to investigate the inn and caught the bandits.

The so-called border bandits are bandits living in the border between provinces or counties. During the Republic of China, many famous gangs were active in the border areas. For example, in the mid-1920s, dozens of bandits with a population of about 200,000 ~ 300,000 gathered in the border of Jiangsu and Anhui in Lu Yu, including dozens of famous bandits such as Gu, Pang Zizhou, Fan Mingxin and Yu Sanhei. This kind of border area has particularly favorable conditions for bandit activities. First, geographically, the terrain in many border areas is extremely dangerous, or mountains are chaotic, or lakes and ports are divided, which is conducive to the emergence of bandits. In addition, the atmosphere in these areas is blocked, the folk customs are tough and aggressive, and they are thieves' nests. Second, politically, the local governments in these areas are relatively weak, especially in the era of warlord melee, which has become a "three noes" or "four noes" zone and a "paradise" for bandits.

Pirates are gangs that rob at sea. They are based on coastal islands and have fleets and weapons. From time to time, they go out to sea to rob merchant ships passing by, and sometimes rob land residents. There are many gangs among pirates, such as Cai Qian Gang and Huang Kui Gang in Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty. There are also gangs divided by various flags, such as the black flag gang, the white flag gang and the red flag gang. Pirates in the Republic of China mainly appeared in Fujian and Guangdong coastal areas.

Lake bandits are mainly gangs engaged in looting activities in tributaries of inland rivers and lakes. During the Republic of China, bandits ran rampant in Taihu Lake, Chaohu Lake, Hongze Lake, Weishan Lake and Dongting Lake. During the Republic of China, Xu Laowozi, Song Laowozi and Guan were mostly famous bandits on Taihu Lake.

According to the nature of bandits, we can divide them into thieves who rob the rich to help the poor and seek justice (that is, social bandits as hobsbawm said), accumulated bandits who specialize in robbery, burning and redemption, and soldiers, social bandits, teaching bandits, owls and cigarette bandits.

The so-called social bandits are the heroes and outlaws in Liangshan. They are some peasant gangsters regarded by the government as criminals, but they exist in the peasant society, regarded as heroes, victors, avengers, soldiers fighting for justice, and may even be regarded as liberators, who will always be admired, helped and supported. "During the Republic of China, Blanc in Henan and Lu Guofan in Sichuan were such figures.

The so-called accumulated bandits are habitual bandits who specialize in robbery, murder, arson, kidnapping and ransom. Wherever they went, they plundered the people indiscriminately, leaving them in a miserable situation. This kind of bandits was more common in the Republic of China.

The so-called soldiers bandits are mostly abandoned or defeated soldiers, or soldiers who mutiny and flee, and become bandits because they have no livelihood. They often look like troops, but they are actually bandits, or they are troops during the day and bandits at night. This kind of bandits appeared in large numbers in the early years of the Republic of China, especially during the rule of Beiyang warlords.

Guild bandits and religious bandits are gang members and organizations engaged in bandit activities; The bandits are gangs specializing in smuggling salt; Tobacco bandits are gangs specializing in smuggling opium and drugs.

According to relevant data, the organizational leadership and organizational forms of bandits are basically divided into three categories.

The first category is gangsters. Generally, one or two leaders pull up poles in the local area, gather dozens of people, become sworn gangs and carry out robbery activities in a relatively small geographical area. The internal organizational structure of a handful of bandits is relatively simple. Every gang has one or two bandit leaders, who become the leader or leader of the gang, and below the leader are brothers. At the beginning of gathering into a gang, small bandits usually hold an oath ceremony, which is called "lonely village" in Henan, similar to the oath ceremony of the gang. According to relevant records, Guan Yunchang was worshipped by bandits in their "lonely village". In addition to the display of candles, Browning and uninvited pistols were placed on the table, and several people stood in turn and behaved solemnly.

When they burn incense and kowtow, the mantra they read is: the official is above, and the disciple XXX is below. One of my brothers will be "lonely" tonight. From then on, we supported each other and treated all our brothers well. We don't allow half-heartedness. If you are half-hearted, you will go to the front line and shoot through the heart. Five dogs will be dismembered and their brains will be everywhere. When you kowtow, burn a wick first, then a watch, and kneel before Master Guan. After reading this mantra, I kowtowed to Master Guan for three times and still stood in the original position (see No.24 Yao Daodong Site in Henan Literature and History Collection). Finally, the bandit leader vowed to add a few spells to show sincerity and frankness. This kind of bandits, composed of sworn brothers, mainly rely on the relationship between leaders and members to live and die together, but most of them are skilled in martial arts, brave and good at fighting, and can protect the masses; Bandits serve their leaders with loyalty and are familiar with them, so they have strong cohesion. During the Republic of China, a few bandits spread all over the country. According to Tan, there were more than 30 bandits in Baofeng and Wuyang counties of Henan Province in 19 12 (see Du: White Wolf Uprising). According to incomplete statistics at that time, before the "September 18th Incident", there were more than1000 horse thieves and bandits only distributed in a few local areas in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces. The names of small bandits vary from place to place. They are called Zi in the northeast of China, Gang in the north of China and Tang or Gu in the south of China. According to Lu Rongting, in the early years of the Republic of China, bandits were rampant in Guangxi, and there were eight pavilions in Guanyang, Gongcheng. There are Born, Longsheng, Luda, Ming Sheng and Daosheng. Every museum has hundreds to hundreds of people, armed with quick guns and knives, robbing villages and villages, arresting people for ransom and hiding in villages.

The second category is big bandits. A group consists of several or dozens of small bandits, and the most powerful and courageous one is promoted to be the big leader, also known as the head of the club, also known as the master and shopkeeper. The big leader has the right to give orders, kill, arrest and contact everything on behalf of his department. The bandit is called the uncle of the big leader, and the leaders below are called Sir Zhong, Sir Zhong and Young Master in turn. Big bandits, ranging from hundreds to thousands or even tens of thousands, plundered a wide area. The headquarters and branches of this bandit are different from each other, and the number of shares of the joint bandit depends on the needs of the situation and strategy.

It is reported that when the White Wolf Uprising reached its climax in August, 19 13 had formed an alliance with 34 bandits with hundreds of people each, totaling 20,000 to 30,000 people (it was reported that there were 50,000 people). Bai Lang is the head of the big pole (the head of the main pole), and 34 people, including Bai Blind, Song Laonian,,, and Li Hong, are the heads of the auxiliary poles. "Others are hard to count" (see Du: Bai Lang Uprising). In addition to the clear organizational system between the main pole and the auxiliary pole, the bandits generally have a core leadership organization at the headquarters, and the White Wave Department consists of White Wave and Song Laonian. Sun Meiyao Group in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province has set up a six-member committee, and its division of labor usually has different names such as stockade leader, second stockade leader and strategist. Some bandits have positions in the core, such as Xiang, viceroy, pioneer, chief official, minister of household affairs, patrol envoy and so on. (See "North Eleven" in the archives of the War Department. In addition, within the bandit team, there are official documents, accountants in charge of financial banks, and detectives who spy on information. In this detailed division of responsibilities, josiah, an expert on bandits in 1925, wrote in the book "A Study of Bandits in China": Bandits "There are several staff officers besides the leaders of the shanzhai, who are called military divisions, also known as teachers; Several secretaries, nicknamed Bai Fan, also called Niu Yi; Several accountants, in charge of the whole mountain bank and cashier affairs, are called account racks, also called water tanks; Command a few people, command bandits to advance, retreat, defend the war, nickname spear head ... it is so tightly organized that it is really speechless. "

The third category is bandit troops. That is, militarized bandits and bandit troops. They are all organized according to the military establishment, including troops, divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies and platoons, as well as staff officers, military supplies, military law and detectives. Its desertion, exercise, martial law password, etc. It is also designed after the army. For example, Mao Sizhong, a bandit from Shandong Province, "although his subordinates have accumulated more than 10,000 people, they are organized according to the army, and they are called Dingguo Army, which includes departments of staff, ordnance, law enforcement, secretary and reconnaissance" (see Times 19 17 10.02). This is a militarized bandit. It is also reported that in the early years of the Republic of China, many defeated troops in Sichuan Province were stationed in various places and acted as bandits. They are "orderly, uniformed, coached, restrained, well-equipped, well-equipped, just like the arrangement of the army" (see North 11, the document of the War Department). This is an army like bandits.

The discipline of bandits in different regions is different, but some bandits generally follow it. The punishment for violating discipline is severe. Hobsbawm, a British scholar, defined "social bandits" and paid special attention to enforcing discipline.

According to the investigation of Josiah, a bandit expert, most bandits are required to observe the following disciplines: four covenants, eight rewards and eight rules, and eight beheadings.

Four contracts

The four covenants are as follows: ① Keep secrets strictly; 2 observe discipline; 3 share weal and woe; (4) share the same interest with the mountain.

The origin of the four covenants is the "four covenants" of bandit organizations. According to experts, it originally came from a secret society, and later bandits promised to help each other. For example, during the reign of Daoguang Xianfeng, the secret association Heaven and Earth Society began to popularize Hong Men's Thirty-six Oaths. There are many similarities between the Bandits' Four Covenants and Hong Men's Thirty-six Oaths. It is obvious that the bandit organization absorbed some internal norms of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Bandits and secret societies are both lower-level organizations, and some of their activities are consistent. Besides, bandits have various relationships with secret societies. They have something in common in restraining and coordinating the pace of members' actions, effectively confronting and avoiding government pursuit, and ensuring their own survival and development. So it is not surprising that some rules of bandits and secret societies are similar.

Eight reward rules

The eight reward rules are as follows: ① those who are loyal to mountain affairs will be rewarded; (2) Those who refuse enemy soldiers are rewarded; (3) those who get the most horses will be rewarded; (4) those who expand the mountain will be rewarded; (5) Those who spy on the enemy are rewarded; 6. The person who leads the most people will be rewarded; ⑦ Those who strive for the first place will be rewarded; Today, people who work together will be rewarded.

Eight spareribs

These eight regulations are: ① Those who reveal secrets will be beheaded; (2) Those who refuse to obey orders will be beheaded; (3) Those who run away from the battle will be beheaded; 4 adultery spies beheaded; (5) Line cutting and water diversion; 6. Those who engulf the water head will be beheaded; 7 bullying people of the same kind; Today, I molested women and beheaded them.

In modern China, gangs, large and small, flooded the whole country and committed many evils. Most of them don't work, farm or engage in legitimate business activities, but they often have delicious food and gorgeous clothes. Some gangsters even have a lot of money and live a luxurious life. So, where did their property come from?

There are many ways for bandits to collect money: attacking rich households and looting towns are the main means; Kidnapping, extortion, hard apportionment and drug trafficking are their specialties.

(1) robbery

Violent robbery is a long-standing bandit action mode. In the secluded place of the road, a big man with thick arms and round waist suddenly flashed out and shouted, "I opened this mountain and planted this tree." If you want to cross from now on, stay and buy money. " The timid businessman had to unload the goods and throw the money out.

(2) Kidnapping and extortion

The act of kidnapping a hostage is called kidnapping. "Ticket" means money, so it is called "meat ticket", and it is also called "God of Wealth" because it is tied to people. In Sichuan, it is called "fat pig"; In Xiangxi, kidnapping is called "leading the sheep". Kidnapping is one of the main channels for bandits to rob property. Bandits, big or small, good or evil, all engage in kidnapping.

Compared with simple robbery, kidnapping for ransom has three obvious advantages:

First of all, this method is basically accepted by the victims, so the risk is small;

Secondly, kidnapped families generally redeem the victims;

Finally, kidnapping can be transferred and easily taken away when the gang migrates.

Kidnapping must first find the target. Before deciding to kidnap, gangsters should find out whether the victim has enough money to take risks. Before kidnapping, bandits sometimes emphasize "courtesy before soldiers". Before "hanging sheep", bandits in Xiangxi wrote to ask for money, either opium or food, or going abroad according to each other's situation. If the victim delivers it on time and according to the number, the bandits will also issue a receipt. If the victim invites officers and men to surround him, bandits will take advantage of the victim's surprise to kill and rob things. If the victim is lucky enough to delay the payment, the bandits will officially order "hanging sheep" and extort money. Under normal circumstances, bandits in the northeast always give priority to those rich families who have oil and water to squeeze, but such kidnapping takes great risks. Many small and medium-sized families will also become the main targets of bandits' kidnapping, because although their families have some property, they still can't reach the level of hiring bodyguards.

The gangsters probably kidnapped the householder. The kidnapped person should occupy a very important position in the family. For example, the only child, in order to ensure the continuation of blood, the family will be forced to hand over the ransom immediately. As the object of kidnapping, it may also be a child (known as "holding a boy" in slang) or a girl who is going to get married (demanding redemption on the same day and not wanting it after the night, so slang is called "quick ticket"). If the master is a dutiful son, bandits kidnap old people or old ladies. Bandits will also kidnap the main figures in the village, such as the village head, and the whole village will raise money to pay the ransom.

In a word, bandits would never risk their lives to tie a worthless meat ticket.

(3) Foreign tickets

Modern bandits also kidnapped foreigners in China, known as "foreign tickets". During the Republic of China, it was common for foreigners to be kidnapped and redeemed. Bandits kidnap foreigners not out of national hatred, nor for ransom. Instead, it took advantage of the government's fear of foreign countries and regarded foreign votes as a "trump card" against the authorities. Bandits take "foreign tickets" as hostages, and use them as bargaining chips with the authorities when negotiating the conditions for being reorganized into an army and demanding high ransom.

It was the old foreigner gang that successfully used the magic weapon of "foreign tickets". From the second half of 1922, old foreigners kidnapped 14 foreign hostages. When attacked by government forces, the old foreigners not only used meat stamps as a shield. He also used "killing tickets" to threaten loyalists not to pursue them excessively. Faced with the diplomatic pressure of imperialism, the Beiyang warlord government was terrified and did not dare to destroy it, so it had to send people to win it over.

Bands all over the country were greatly inspired and joined forces to follow suit. 1923 In May, another carjacking case occurred in Lincheng, which shocked China and foreign countries. More than 20 foreigners were taken hostage. At the same time, the "foreign ticket" kidnapping case spread to the whole country, especially in the Yangtze River basin. 1923, 4 1 American, 23 British and 14 Japanese were kidnapped.

(4) sharing

Apportioning donations is another way for bandits to gather wealth. In order to enrich themselves, many bandits make excuses in the name of protecting occupied land, collect food and send money on the spot, and plunder people's wealth.

(5) Drug trafficking

In the early years of the Republic of China, the price of tobacco soil in many areas was close to gold on the black market, which was full of great temptation for bandits. High-priced opium smoke is a cash cow for bandits. In order to get opium, bandits forced farmers to grow cigarettes, and in addition to collecting tobacco taxes, they also trafficked opium. In addition, bandits also used opium to buy off the government and the army.

As long as you become a bandit, you must learn to speak slang. Slang is an important symbol for bandits to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, unite the team, keep in touch and exclude outsiders. According to statistics, there were 134 groups of bandit slang in the Republic of China, with five forms of expression.

One is to infiltrate the meaning of bandits' special needs on the basis of dialects; The second is to learn from the ready-made secret community argot; The third is to derive argot from concrete things; The fourth is to find a substitute word to form a code word because of taboo; The fifth is to separate a code word from the behavior hobby of bandits.

Code words cover all aspects of daily life, and there are corresponding words in various languages of people's life and social interaction, which are divided into food and clothing, greetings, making friends, contact, surnames, human organs, objects, animals, common terms, fighting and so on.

Bandit organization system

The mountain is called "shelf" and the mountain is called "climbing shelf". The bandits in stock are called "shoulder poles" and gangs are called "shoulder poles", "shoulder poles" and "shoulder poles". Ordinary bandits are called "ringing horses" and "swordsmen". Gang leaders are called "general racer", "racer", "trip commander" and "master". The deputy under the bandit leader is called "shoulder pole head" and "two poles". The bandit party is called "touching the pole" and the merger is called "uniting the pole". The bandit soldiers are called "children", and the secretaries are called "Niu Yi" and "White Sail". Staff officers are called "divisions", cashiers are called "account racks" and scouts are called "patrols".

In Touma.

"Business trip" means going out to rob, "personal business trip" is a private action, "military errand" is a big robbery, "catching the wind" is to meet the enemy head-on, "showing off" is to open fire on officers and soldiers, and "handing over shells" is a fierce battle. "Falling into the water" means being caught or killed by officers and soldiers, "being colored" means being injured, "being hit by a gold card" means being shot, "Watanabe" means being killed and "sleeping" means being killed. "Winning the wind" means winning the battle, "losing the wind" means losing the battle, "retreating with the water" means returning to the mountain. Stolen goods are called "Shuitou" and the place where stolen goods are traded is called "Shelf Building". "blossoming" and "splitting the bully" refer to dividing the spoils, "setting the table" refers to gambling, "signing tickets" refers to blocking roads and robbing villages. The pike is called "arm" and the machine gun is called "nozzle" and "water duck". Pistols are called "abductors" and "waist pushers", and bullets are called "white rice", "then", "ocean" and "nails". Knife is called "sharp mouth", beheading is called "city circle", spanking is called "patting tofu", killing is called "beam" and shooting is called "knocking" and "collapse".

Other code words

"Water" is wealth, "big water" is great wealth, and "small water" is small wealth. Yaotang is a house, Red Kiln is a burning house, Dumb Kiln is a temple, Jumping Kiln is a brothel, Running Water Kiln is a hotel, Bitter Water Kiln is a drugstore, Bitter Water Kiln is a restaurant, Mixed Kiln is a bathhouse, Wutu Kiln is an opium museum, and Art Kiln is a theater. Wheels are cars, crazy people are horses, tall people are mules, long-necked people are donkeys, blowers are cows, humps are sheep, humps are pigs, skins are dogs, people with sharp mouths are chickens, and people with flat mouths are ducks.

These bandits' code words used to be systematic and rich, but now it is difficult to collect them. Many people can't remember that much. These codes are collected in Luoning, and some of them are provided by Ruzhou people who work in Luoyang. According to experts' research, the "mother tongue" of bandits' argot in the Central Plains is in Ruzhou, which is based on Ruzhou dialect. After the appearance of bandit argot, it gradually developed, coupled with import commands and secret gestures, forming a special "language family".

Because there are too many bandits, sometimes bandits are too lazy to say hello in argot, so they say hello in plain language. If these seem normal, there are actually special "routines". If the answer is confusing, it proves that you are not in the Jianghu.

The following are the common slang among bandits in Ruzhou, Jiaxian and Baofeng:

Q: Where are you from?

I come from where I come from.

Q: Where are you going?

I want to go where I want to go.

Q: What did you bring?

I have three sticks of incense and 500 yuan cash. Friend, I may have come to see you, but I have already left (when I said the last sentence, the newcomer pointed his finger behind the questioner).

The first few words, asking and answering, seem clear, but they are actually strange. Especially the last sentence, if you don't know, you can't answer, which means that you are no longer a gangster, and the other party may find you trouble.

Before Yang Zirong went to Hu Weishan, he had carefully studied the bandit argot. In the Peking Opera "Taking Tiger Mountain Outward", Yang Zirong hits the tiger up the mountain, enters the bandit cave, and talks with a mountain sculpture.

Mountain carving: the king of heaven covers the land!

Yang Zirong: River Demon in Baota Town!

Bandit: Huh? Huh?

Yang Zirong: At noon, no one has a home!

This is slang, which translates as: Mountain Carving: How dare you! How dare you be angry with your ancestors? Yang Zirong: In that case, let me fall from the mountain and die! Fall into the river and drown! Bandit: Why did you do it alone before? Yang Zirong: Speaking at noon, Xu Da came from the mountains!

Next, the mountain carving used Ming language, and suddenly came: What are you blushing for? Yang Zirong replied: brand-new-why yellow again? Yang Zirong unhurriedly replied: cold wax!

Code words and simple language were asked and answered, and Yang Zirong was not stumped, without any flaws. Shandiao was relieved and recognized Yang Zirong as the bandit Hu Biao. It can be seen that all bandits in China use argot to distinguish between camps and true and false. Code words are really the soft environment for their survival, and they can't live without them for a moment. New bandits join, learn code words first. After learning the secret code, you can go down the mountain to do some simple robbery business.

Robber kingdom

Western Henan, with Luoyang as the center, is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. It has long been the first place in the center of civilization, but it has also become one of the most powerful places for bandits in China.

From the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, western Henan became a bandit kingdom. According to historical records, in 19 1 1 year, Luoyang officials complained that western Henan had become a "bandit zone". Seeing that there is hardly a village without bandits, they are at a loss. In the past, swordsmen only went out at night and only started work in remote villages; Now the towns are robbed in broad daylight. At four or five o'clock in the afternoon, the roads in urban and rural fields are sparsely populated, and the gates and stockades are closed one after another.

What kind of scene is that? The scenery in Qiu Lai in western Henan is different, and there is no news of the wild geese in Luoyang. The bandits began to make noises in all directions. Thousands of miles away, the long smoke closes! In this situation, villages and towns in western Henan have been built to prevent bandits. Whenever bandits cross the border and gongs ring at the head of the village, people will help the old and the young, take valuable things and hide in the village one by one. The older generation said it was called "running bandits". So the confrontation between people and bandits in western Henan became a typical picture of the small-scale war in old China ...

There are two famous bandit areas in western Henan, one of which includes Linru, Baofeng, Lushan and Jiaxian. During the Republic of China, once famous bandit leaders Bai Lang, old foreigner, Fan Zhongxiu and widow Zhang all came from here. In the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng used to recruit soldiers here. At the end of Qing Dynasty, bandits in this area were quite active. In the early years of the Republic of China, the White Wave Uprising swept through Zhongzhou and shocked the whole country. 1922 Feng Yuxiang said that there were six or seven thousand bandits here.

Another bandit area in western Henan is the northern foot of Funiu Mountain Range and Xiong 'er Mountain Range, including Songxian, Luoning and Lushi areas, where Wang Yaozong, the "hero of Zhongzhou" and Ding Laoba, the famous grand theft auto, all came from. In the 1920s, it was estimated that there were 6,700 bandits in Luoning County alone, accounting for 3% of the county population and 1/3 of the total number of bandits in western Henan.

During the Republic of China, bandits in western Henan were famous all over the country for their large number and scale. Causes: the natural environment such as topography and climate provides external conditions for the emergence of bandits; Agricultural overpopulation provides sufficient sources for bandits in western Henan; The exploitation of feudal landlords is the root cause of bandits in western Henan; Corruption in official administration has intensified the emergence of bandits in western Henan; The warlord melee stimulated the growth of bandits in western Henan. According to estimates, bandits accounted for about 0.5% of the total population at that time, and bandits in Henan accounted for about 1% of the total population, while western Henan was the place with the strongest bandits and the highest proportion, making it difficult to distinguish between the people and bandits.

Bandits in western Henan not only gathered, kidnapped and robbed in the mountains, but also attacked Jizhai. They not only conquered the county town several times, but also looted it and left. They even ran thousands of miles to plunder in eastern Henan, Anhui and Hubei.