Chapter 46 Suppressing Bandits
Officials of the Ming Dynasty must of course have a dignified appearance in front of the people.
The ships all docked again, and Master Yan, surrounded by his men, swaggered towards the fleeing crowd. At the same time, Lord Mo Hantao's boat also sailed towards the direction of Yanchang again - just now the two Lords had coincidentally docked at the south bank: If a bandit comes, Lord Mo cannot go there lightly even though he is a valuable person. The tiger's mouth!
When the common people saw the banner of the imperial master Qingtian, they ran over and knelt on the ground, wailing loudly. Although Mr. Yan is dressed in a green robe and a small hat, his calm and self-confident demeanor cannot be imitated by ordinary people. Putting on the airs of a court official, he gave a few simple instructions, sat in a sedan chair, and led a hundred mighty troops to Shi Shiran again in the direction of Yanchuan. Behind them are thousands of people who have rekindled their hope in life.
Mr. Yan is extremely confident. Because he knew very well that according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, military generals did not count their merits in recovering a city - the military commanders' merits were not recognized by anyone around the court, only the merits of beheadings. You said that your victory in the field eliminated the enemy threat? OK, give me some verbal praise. What, a bonus? Get the head! You said that you guarded the isolated city and the thieves were not allowed to cross the border to ensure the safety of the rear? OK, come on, keep working hard! bonus? Haha, bring me the head! You will be rewarded with as much silver as you pay for your head (theoretically), and the price is clearly marked. As for the rest, stop talking nonsense, the court will not recognize it at all! roll!
As for the civil servants, the imperial court only recognized the responsibility of guarding the land. Suppose you are the county magistrate and you only have one hundred government officials at your disposal. Five thousand thieves come. Excuse me, what should you do?
Going into the mountains to fight guerrillas? Humph, cut it off! You are clearly afraid of the enemy, so you run away from the enemy! If people like you are so scheming, the thieves will come straight in! Are you worthy of your father's kindness? Do you deserve the trust of the court?
So what should we do?
Go to hell!
It would be best to die on the steps of the county government office with your hair disheveled and sword in hand, or you could hang yourself on a southeastern branch. Don’t worry, the imperial court will protect your nephew and enter the system without taking the exam!
It can be said that Taizu Grandfather designed this system with good intentions: no military generals could even think of falsely reporting their military exploits to defraud me of my money. Aren’t the civil servants well-informed and sensible? Very good, just make me consumables - and at the same time consume the thieves. I have plenty of consumables. Can you afford it, thief? !
If you are a county magistrate and there is no reasonable reason (Chang Wenping's reason is more reasonable, at least it makes sense) you lose the county seat and later regain it, that's fine. You don’t have to worry about capital crimes, but you still have to be punished: a verbal warning, a demotion and retention in office, a few levels of reduction and retention in office, dismissal from office, or banishment... You have to trust the court.
Well, of course, you can defend yourself. Do you know what the imperial court’s favorite sound is? It's not your broken voice, but the crisp impact of silver! You don’t need me to tell you this, right?
Therefore, Master Yan is not worried at all that Yulin's soldiers will share his efforts to restore the land. This is a dish on the table of civil servants, and it is not the turn of the illiterate warriors to hold out their chopsticks! As for the question of whether there will be civil servants coming over there, Mr. Yan is also very sure: everyone is in the officialdom. In the final analysis, this trouble was caused by Yulin Mansion. They are both prefectural cities and have the same level. They will have a sense of proportion in each other's hearts. This is the rule.
The person who led the troops to Yanchuan to assist in the "suppression of bandits" was Yulin Prefecture General Li Changfa.
First of all, Yulin Prefecture has a formal troop deployment order from Shaanxi Dusi Prefecture, and the divisions are famous.
Secondly, Xiao Changhua knew very well in his heart that this disaster was caused by him. Although the shit basin was already placed on Yu Shengliang's head, it would be good to wipe it a few more times to prepare a back-up plan in case there were any hidden dangers in the future.
Thirdly, Guan Shengyun squeezed out a lot of money and food a while ago, so the city is a little short of money and needs to find a way to subsidize it. The best way to subsidize is, of course, to find a way from next door.
Finally, Li Changfa worked with Gu Baihua, a gangster leader under Guan Shengyun, and he was also nominally looking after Luo Yonghao in Shenmu County, so even if he was unlucky, it would just be a matter of drinking and talking. , there is no way to explain to the court without being killed and annihilated.
No wonder Master Yuan from the capital has a favorable view of this disciple. Magistrate Xiao considers the issue comprehensively.
Li Changfa was very angry when he entered Yanchuan: Gong Derun's thieves were very dirty. Although it was a county town, he didn't leave anything decent! Suppressing bandits always requires some heads, but you can't do this in the city. Most residents in the city have household registration records, and many are literate. The risk of killing a good person and taking credit is not as high as usual. Hearing that Thief Gong did not go to the countryside, but many villagers in the surrounding areas carried grain home from the county. General Li Shen waved his hand, and several battalions rushed towards the outskirts of Yanchuan.
Zhong Ayi is from Songjiang Prefecture. Both his parents died in a plague, and his 12-year-old child went to live with his uncle in Kunshan County. Kunshan is a famous land of plenty, and my uncle is an honest and ordinary person. He fishes in the lake and plows the fields. The two nephews live a very comfortable life.
There is a puppet lake nearby, and there is also a very special profession - lake pirates: they usually fish and transport goods, but when they encounter a lone merchant in the middle of the night, they chop him up and kick him into the lake to feed crabs.
Puppet Lake is named after the puppet show. Legend has it that Huang Banchuo, a famous court actor during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, lived here to avoid the Anshi Rebellion and to make a living. He bought a small boat and made a living by acting in the lake. To perform an opera, you pretend to be someone else, sometimes with makeup, sometimes with a mask, and sometimes with puppets, hence the name puppet show. The place was prosperous, and the literary style was also prosperous. People on the surrounding water rowed boats to listen to the opera. Later, this custom was passed down. Puppet play has gradually evolved into the ancestor of all operas: Kun Opera.
Once, a group of lake thieves raided the theater audience. Unexpectedly, there was a minister who had become an official among them. They were so frightened that they suffered a heart attack and died.
The family members quit.
If the family members of the minister go crazy, is that okay?
The government cracked down vigorously.
The leader of the lake pirates was the catcher's younger brother, but of course none of the main members were captured. But the county magistrate had to do some work, so he arrested many people. During the robbery, the thieves were in complete darkness and covered their faces. The family members of the victims could not recognize who they were, so the number of them was almost the same. If I'm caught, you'd better admit it readily - no move? It's easy to handle, let's fight. Hit you to recruit, or let others identify you after killing you. The county magistrate thought that the procedure of reporting to the Ministry of Punishments was too troublesome, and in order to vent his anger on the victim's family, he sentenced all the "chief criminals" to stand in a cage and sunbathe for more than ten days. They all died alive, including Zhong Ayi's uncle. Zhong Ayi was too young to be sentenced to death and was exiled to Yulin Mansion.
The family members of the deceased expressed satisfaction.
Zhong Ayi was only fourteen or fifteen when he entered the camp. The soldiers are also very satisfied with the new Jiangnan chicken with thin skin and tender meat.
The only one who was dissatisfied was Zhong Ayi.
No need to wait until he was older, he quickly understood that there is only one truth in this world: the weak eat the strong.
The young man Zhong Ayi changed and became evil-minded and ruthless. Zhong Ayi was afraid of nothing except the superior's whip and military stick.
By the time he was in his twenties, Zhong Ayi had become a junior flag officer in the team. The flag officer is the most junior official at the lowest level. After passing through the hands of generals at all levels, there is nothing left to deduct from him, and the same goes for grain and beans. However, he has priority when it comes to eating: when he is full and stands up, the others in Xiaoqi can start eating.
Life in the army is already hard, but it has been even harder a while ago: I heard that a group of powerful bandits severely robbed the Lord and the deputy commander of the palace. There is no need to count on the military pay of a few copper coins, and the food is even worse. If he continues to eat as much as he did before, his men will almost starve to death. Zhong Ayi had no choice but to endure it and threw a lot of wild vegetables into the porridge, which was clear and watery.
Finally, we received the great news: we were about to set out to suppress the bandits!
There is a rule in the army: you must be paid double pay before setting off. This means that some scattered silver slag can be left behind. More importantly - you can make a fortune!
Make a fortune greatly.
Gold, silver, and jewelry are generally not available for grabs, and if you do grab them, they are probably not yours. But jet-black loose silver (minimalist silver contains high sulfur content and is easily oxidized and turns black), yellow copper plates, fine clothes and fabrics, pots, bowls, vases and other objects are all treasures! What's more... there are women!
Ha ha ha ha!
The team surrounded a village. Because it was noon, the villagers were all hiding from the sun at home and did not see the team approaching. Many people were circled, which was great!
He took a few brothers and broke into a house. A dead old man kept bowing and begging. Haha, when it comes to injustice, would you and his mother be more unfair than me? It's miserable, can it be worse than me? Big fish eat small fish, adults bully small people, this is the way of the world, accept your fate!
The baby in the woman's arms kicked off, revealing a white breast. Tsk tsk, I didn’t notice it just now! Zhong Ayi felt a heat spread rapidly in his lower abdomen. Signal the two brothers to drag the old guy out, and when the elders vent their anger, we can get something else, and it won't be too difficult for you. Oh, maybe.
I didn’t expect the old thing to bite people!
Sure enough, Huang San had a bad temper and refused to accept anyone except himself, so he killed the old man with one knife.
Deserve it! This is what will happen if you don't accept your fate!
Huang San stabbed the old man to death, and after a long time of trying to deal with it, he still couldn't deal with this little girl and that unlucky boy. How can he get along in the future? He knocked the woman over with a slap, grabbed the unlucky child's leg and threw him on the kang...
The woman screamed and collapsed on the ground.
He pulled her up and pushed her onto the kang... The woman stopped resisting and was at the mercy of others like a dead dog.
Wouldn’t it be over if this were the case?
Deserve it!
He lifted up his pants and kicked the old man: "Don't you, his mother, stare at me!" I don’t know when and where I will die!
This is fate, you know?
You have your life, and I have my life. The general bullies the general, the general bullies the small soldiers, and the small soldiers bully you. You must have bullied someone else too - you have always killed chickens and sheep, right? Are they wronged?
So, this is fate!
This house is so damn poor that after searching for a long time, there was nothing. Hey, why are there so many straw piles beside the kang? The kitchen is in the yard!
You two, give me a look!
Haha, I guessed it right, a pocket full of food!
Zhang Mazi, put the food on my back! Huang San, you and his mother, don’t just grab the woman with nothing, take her away, and find someone to sell her to Yanchang! Wait a minute, I might be able to get some reward money for this old devil's head, so I can cut it off and take it with me.
The dead cubs on the edge of the kang are a bit of an eyesore, well, there are so many ready-made straw...
The sparks from the fire sickle ignited the moxa, and the moxa ignited the straw, and a raging fire broke out in Liang Laosi's house. Soon, more fires broke out in the southeast, northwest and northwest of the village, announcing that the local bandit suppression mission had been successfully completed.
The soldiers who had just been thoroughly searched by the team officers were still smiling. They gathered in small piles with small flags as units, gesturing to the side and saying something. The crowd burst into weird laughter from time to time - they were pointing at them. It was a group of disheveled women, ranging in age from teenagers to thirty or forty, some crying and some indifferent, but all tied together by ropes.
The young and old who didn't run away were squatting not far away, surrounded by guards carrying bright swords and guns. The blood dripping from the knives and guns gave them no idea of escaping.
The grain bags were piled together into a huge pile. Next to the grain pile is a pile of debris, including pots, pans, farm tools, boxes, cages, bedding and everything. Two cows and more than twenty sheep were tied to the trees beside the village road. Some occasionally lowered their heads to nibble on the grass on the ground, while others stared silently at several large iron pots lined up along the road. The heat in the pot was steaming, rolling over the pieces of meat that had been transformed into the same kind as they had just been in the same group with them. A cow knelt down in front of the iron pot, with two big tears falling from its eyes. This scene immediately attracted the attention of most of the soldiers, and everyone pointed, laughed and sighed. However, just for a moment, they all turned to look at the women again.
…
The team officer, Li Changfa's personal soldiers and the two flag officers came out of the largest house in the village with great satisfaction. The deputy of the team climbed up to the roof with hands and feet, set up a pergola and looked around. There was still a village three or four miles away that was not smoking.
All the villagers should have fled, but the villages that have not been attacked by soldiers can stay here tonight. I'll dig through it tomorrow and I'll find something. The officers and soldiers, who had chosen a direction, had enough to eat and drink, and had had enough of venting for the time being, stood up one after another under the command of the team officer, leading the cattle, sheep and women, and set off towards the destination. Many people had bloody heads tied around their waists with grinning teeth.
Walking in the middle of the team were the surviving villagers who were pushing carts and carrying burdens. They were helping the officers and soldiers transport the food, belongings, and wives, daughters, and sisters that once belonged to them to the next village that was about to be ravaged.
Originally, Li Changfa only had two battalions in hand. In order to achieve maximum results from this "bandit suppression", Deputy Commander Wu Duogui temporarily allocated two more battalions to him. Li Shen stationed himself in Yanchuan County. The four battalions were organized into teams and all sent personal soldiers to keep an eye on them. It had been three days since they were all dispersed to the surrounding countryside. Each team began to return to the city one after another to rebuild.
The harvest this time was good. The loot was all put in Yanchuan first. I had to find a battalion to keep it in order to prevent it from being robbed by bandits. I would take three more battalions to extend the tour and complete the mission successfully. This trip back, in addition to making a lot of money, it was another great victory, and with dozens of decent heads, it was a certainty that he would be given the rank of deputy general.
Li Changfa was thinking about which battalion to leave behind when Yan Wenlong and his party arrived.
Knowledge points in this article:
Silver needle tests poison.
Theoretically speaking, it is impossible to test for poison with silver needles. But in actual operation, this kind of thing not only happened in ancient times, but it was often very effective.
The most widely used poison in ancient times was arsenic, which is cyanide. However, due to poor purification technology, it will contain a large amount of sulfur residue. The silver needle used to test the poison is rich in silver and is polished to a shiny finish. When it encounters sulfur, it turns into silver sulfide - the color of silver sulfide is jet black.
