Late at night, all the subordinates left one after another. Wang Wenzhen and Jia Hongyu were settled in an inn in Qianhusuo City and would leave on their own tomorrow.
But Liu Yan was not sleepy. He sat alone in the room, staring at a stove and thinking deeply.
"Except for the thousand-household residence in front of Xiahe Village, all the military land in Lingshan Guard has been divided up by the gentry..."
"Many gentry have strong financial resources and wide connections. Many officials in Lingshan Guard dare not provoke them, and they even have many contacts..."
"Military families are fleeing seriously everywhere, and all kinds of abuses abound..."
At this time, Liu Yan frowned. Originally, he did not want to conflict with the gentry group prematurely. When he was in charge of Wangjiazhuang and Xiahe Village, he reclaimed wasteland and did not provoke the gentry in these two places.
But if Wang Wenzhen's words are true, then after arriving at Lingshan Guard, Liu Yan can almost foresee that he will definitely confront the gentry in Lingshan Guard.
How many military households and civilians are there in the entire Lingshan Guard? Liu Yan himself wanted to expand his army and establish farmland. How much farmland would he need? If all the wasteland is reclaimed, not only will the money and food invested be unbearable, but the time cost will also be unacceptable!
In addition, the arable land in various parts of Lingshanwei is basically fully cultivated now, and most of it is occupied by the gentry. Even if Liu Yan has enough money and food in his hands, where can he go to cultivate it?
Thinking of this, Liu Yan let out a long breath and made up his mind: "In that case, let's try and see if it's the knife in my hand that's stronger, or the gentry's relationship that's stronger!"
Two days later, Liu Yan settled the affairs of the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village, appointed Chief Qianxun Chen Xun as the defense officer of the Qianhu Station in Xiahe Village, and led the soldiers of the front battalion to garrison the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village.
The rest of the battalions, including the artillery commander, Xun Jingyun, the town governor, and Baoxuezhen, all followed Liu Yan to Lingshan Acropolis to take up their posts.
Liu Yan led his troops to the outside of Lingshan Guard City, and commanded his colleague Wang Wenzhen to lead a group of Lingshan Guard officials to come out to greet him.
Lingshan Acropolis is still so majestic, but the people in the city are also equally poor. The streets in the city are still full of garbage and the stench is overwhelming.
Liu Yan was riding on his horse and saw the scenery inside and outside through the city gate, and couldn't help but frown slightly.
"My subordinates are waiting to greet you, Lord Conduct!"
Wang Wenzhen took the lead in saluting. Liu Yan did not dismount, but rode directly to the front of the crowd. He glanced at the crowd with a stern look and said, "Commander Wang Wenzhen will mount up and accompany him, and the rest will follow behind!"
"yes!"
At this time, all the officials of Lingshan Guard looked at Wang Wenzhen. They saw Wang Wenzhen riding a war horse led by Jia Hongyu with some pride, and then fell one horse's head behind and came to Liu Yan's side.
As for the rest of the officials, they were all arranged to the back. When everyone saw the thousands of armored troops led by Liu Yan, they all looked frightened. Even if the soldiers in these battalions were not full, it was enough to make everyone fear. .
Liu Yan did not give Wang Wenzhen a chance to introduce the officials, but directly led his troops into the city. This move made all the officials of Lingshan Guard think wildly: What does this new Master of Ethics mean? Could it be that I have offended Mr. Cheng by waiting there?
Just when all the officials were speculating, Liu Yan shouted: "Enter the city!"
Liu Yan gave the order, and the large group of troops marched into the city. On the way, Liu Yan said to Wang Wenzhen: "Are there any of the officials in Lingshan Guard who can be used?"
Wang Wenzhen could tell something from Liu Yan's attitude just now, and he shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, these officials are all senior officials, and they have many connections with the gentry and wealthy families in Lingshan Acropolis. If Your Excellency wants to drastically reform the shortcomings of Lingshan Acropolis, these people are unreliable!"
Liu Yan nodded and said: "I know, Wang Tongzhi needs to be more careful and work hard not to make mistakes in the future."
Wang Wenzhen hurriedly expressed his position: "Don't worry, sir, my subordinates will definitely follow you without any hesitation!"
While they were talking, Liu Yan and his entourage came to the commander's yamen. This yamen was very dilapidated. At first glance, it seemed that it had adhered to the Ming Dynasty's official rule of not repairing government yamen. But Liu Yan sneered at this rule. After all, although officials in the Ming Dynasty generally did not repair government offices at this time, they had a lot of money to spare, and the people under his rule were not very wealthy. It was all superficial. article.
"Wang Tongzhi, when spring comes, repair this yamen and let me know the money and food needed."
Wang Wenzhen was stunned for a moment, then clasped his fists and said, "I understand."
Liu Yan ordered Wang Bo and several other generals to take over the defense of Lingshan Acropolis, and settled the soldiers in the school field in the city.
Then Liu Yan took Xun Jingyun, the governor of the town, Bao Xuezhen of the Baihu Medical Clinic, Wang Wenzhen, the commander and commander, Jia Hongyu of the Qianhu, and a group of officials from the Lingshan Guards into the command and envoy's office.
In the main hall, Liu Yan was sitting firmly in the hall wearing a third-grade official uniform of a commander, and all his subordinates stood respectfully in the hall.
"Everyone, please sit down."
"Thank you, Master Chengshou!"
Liu Yan then said: "I just arrived at Lingshan Acropolis today. How will the specific handover of government affairs be handled?"
Commander Wang Wenzhen stood up, clasped his fists and said: "Your Majesty, Hu Zongming, the new conduct officer, went to Jimo Yingcheng to take office three days ago. Before leaving, he handed over some government affairs to his subordinates and will wait until it is convenient for you. You can hand over government affairs to your subordinates at any time."
"very good."
Liu Yan said: "Another thing: From today on, no one in the city, including people, officials, soldiers and horses, is allowed to throw away garbage at will, and is not allowed to defecate anywhere. All garbage generated by the people must be collected at fixed locations in the city."
Speaking of this, Liu Yan said to Bao Xuezhen, the medical officer of Baihu: "Bao Baihu is temporarily responsible for this health matter. He hires special people to clean up the garbage and transport it out of the city. After the whole city is cleaned up, this matter will be handed over again. Give the commander the daily management of the Yamen."
Bao Xuezhen took the order.
Liu Yan then said to Qianhu Jia Hongyu: "This matter still requires the assistance of Jia Qianhu and his troops. Anyone who does not cooperate and secretly causes trouble, whether they are gentry, common people, or officials, will be arrested and imprisoned by my officers if they are found!"
Jia Hongyu took the order loudly.
The other officials were all surprised when they saw this. They didn't expect that Liu Yan would light a fire as soon as he arrived at Lingshan Guard City, and it was obviously for the officials of Lingshan Guard, but there was nothing they could do. After all, Liu Yan also Nothing was said clearly.
"I have already said two things, now let's talk about the third."
After Liu Yan finished speaking, he looked at everyone present. The officials of the Lingshan Guard were so frightened that they didn't know what Liu Yan was going to do, so they lowered their heads for a while.
"The third thing is to ask you to do me a favor."
"Haha, sir, you are joking. If you have anything to do, just give me your instructions. Why do you ask for words?"
"We are all your lord's subordinates. We should obey your orders. Please give your orders directly. We should do our best."
Liu Yan looked at the officials who stood up to express their opinions one after another, and said with a smile: "Since you are so sensible, I will say so."
"The favor I am asking you to do is to invite you to invite the gentry from all over Lingshan Guard. Two days later, I will hold a banquet at the Commander's Yamen to entertain the gentry from all over."
Having said this, Liu Yan looked at everyone coldly, and saw expressions of surprise written all over their faces, and many people were whispering to each other.
Liu Yan knocked on the table with his hand, and then continued: "What? Is this matter of mine difficult to handle?"
Everyone looked at each other, then one person stood up, clasped his fists and said, "My lord, I wonder why your lord suddenly wants to entertain gentry from all over the country? I'll go and invite all parties, so I can have an excuse."
Liu Yan glanced at Wang Wenzhen, and Wang Wenzhen said hurriedly: "Sir, this is Hu Youxiang, the officer in charge of the Lingshan Guards and the Thousand Households."
Liu Yan immediately laughed and said, "Are you in charge of the garrison? Just right!"
"Hu Qianhu sits down first. Everyone, please listen to what I say: you go and invite all parties, just say one thing: I want to build a large military garrison in various parts of Lingshan Guard, but I am short of money, so I need to borrow money from all the gentry. .”
Everyone was dumbfounded. If you use such a reason to invite someone, who will come?
Hu Youxiang thought more deeply and said tentatively: "My lord, as far as I know, there is not much wasteland left around our Lingshan Guard. All the places that can be cultivated have been reclaimed. I don't know where your lord plans to implement military settlements." ?”
Liu Yan pretended to be surprised and said, "Oh? Really?"
"If this is the case, then I really need to visit and verify it. However, I still have to invite you to the banquet two days later. You will send the news today. At the banquet two days later, I will invite you. When you see all the gentry and wealthy families in Lingshan Guard, you must make no mistakes!"
That night, Hu Youxiang from Qianhu changed into casual clothes and took a carriage to a house in the streets north of Lingshan Acropolis.
"Haha, Mr. Shen, how are you?"
As a dignified Qianhu official, Hu Youxiang was groveling at this time, smiling and greeting a man in his fifties in rich clothes.
That man was the largest gentry in Lingshan Guard, named Shen Jiuwei. He had many children in his family. The Shen family not only occupied more than 10,000 acres of fertile land in Lingshan Guard, but also colluded with officials in Lingshan Guard and occupied more than 30,000 acres of fertile land in military camps. Mu, there are many shops and industries all over Lingshanwei, it can be said that the family is big and the business is big.
At the same time, Shen Jiuwei was also well versed in the ways of the world. He did not hoard the money and food saved by his family in the house, nor did he support his family lavishly. After all, his family had been farming and studying for generations, so the things of beating and killing would not be contaminated.
Nowadays, Shen Jiuwei is dispersing his family wealth, and almost half of the officials of Lingshan Guard are using it for their own benefit. There are also many generals in the Jimo camp who are willing to be driven by Shen Jiuwei. For no other reason than because Shen Jiuwei gave him too much money!
"Haha, it turns out that Mr. Qianhu is here, and he is a little disappointed."
Hu Youxiang hurriedly laughed and said: "Mr. Shen is a villain. I am just helping Mr. Shen run errands."
"Haha, Hu Qianhu is so funny."
Shen Jiuwei motioned Hu Youxiang to sit down, and then asked: "This late at night, Hu Qianhu was not in the commander's office to pay respect to the new commander and conduct officer Liu Yan, but he came here to see me. Why?"
Hu Youxiang then told about Liu Yan's plan to entertain a group of gentry, and then said with a smile: "I don't know how to deal with this matter, so I came here to ask Mr. Shen for instructions."
"interesting!"
Shen Jiuwei sneered and said: "I just heard that Liu Yan has outstanding military exploits. With the new army in his hands, he did not give in to the Tatars. He is a good person! But I didn't expect that this person is also so greedy for money. He will do it as soon as he takes office. To make money?"
"Then Liu Yan is talking about borrowing money, and he is also talking about building a large army."
Shen Jiuwei glared at Hu Youxiang and said, "Do you believe this? In today's court, where are the officials who work seriously? These words are just Liu Yan's rhetoric to make money."
"Yes Yes."
Hu Youxiang asked: "Then what should we do?"
"Since Master Cheng has invited me, I must go. Greet everyone and they will all go to the banquet. I also want to see what kind of person this Master Cheng is, who has made many military exploits!"
Some people died, but not completely...
