"The reward is easy to say. [No pop-up novel website]" Magistrate Wu smiled bitterly. Compared with the fifty taels of silver sent, these thirty kilograms of rice are really nothing. "Thank you for your hard work, Mansion."
"It is related to the safety of the whole city, and An Gan said it was hard work. It's just that Li Qianhu was very careful, and he said all the good things about his humble position before he was willing to allocate 30 people. Those gunpowder lead can be used only if it is used. Pay him back double." Wu Yan is nearly forty years old, a fat man, well-kept, and looks much younger than the county magistrate. He was from a Zazuo background, and he didn't have as many ideas as those on the right path, so he lived a leisurely life.
"It's no wonder he is," Wu Ling lowered his head and sighed. "Everyone in the imperial court knows about the guard station. Does he have any available soldiers? Even if he does, they are just old, weak, sick and disabled people who cannot escape. That’s all.”
"That's what the Ming government said." Wu Ya nodded. As he was talking, the disciples came to report, and the county's chief registrar and instructors came. Dian Shi was leading a patrol and was unable to come for a while, while Jiaoyu went to invite the gentry. . The power of the gentry in the Ming Dynasty was very strong, and local gentry could often interfere in local administration. Therefore, whenever there was a major issue in the county, it was always a good idea to invite the gentry to discuss it.
The so-called gentry is a complex class, ranging from court ministers and feudal officials to family members of officials and powerful landowners, as well as officials who have returned to their place of origin due to various reasons such as Dingyou, dismissal, or resignation; those who have academic titles but have not become officials Promoting people to become scholars. All can be included. Due to various relationships, they have very close ties with provincial feudal officials and the imperial court. Some of them have direct access to the inner court of the imperial palace. Officials of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades in the prefecture and county yamen can pretend to be lords in front of the common people, but they will be greatly compromised in front of these country gentry.
Because Lingao is a small border county, there are not many gentry members. Some places are remote and cannot be reached by pirates. Some people set up their own villages to recruit local warriors. At this time, they have to sit and guard, so it is naturally inconvenient to come. That is to say, there are several gentlemen who are interested in the county and surrounding areas. Their interests are related, so they will naturally come.
Seeing that everyone had almost arrived, Wu Mingjin asked the master next to him in a low voice: "Isn't Mr. Liu here yet?"
"Go back to me, sir. Feng Jiaoyu went to pick him up in person. He will be there in a moment."
He nodded and looked at all the gentry in the flower hall. Although there were already more than ten people sitting in the flower hall, some were arrogant, some were submissive, and some were pretending to be deep and silent.
"Dear elders," Wu Mingjin directly turned the conversation to the main topic without being polite, "the current situation: the pirates are entrenched in Bopu and cannot be removed. Huge ships and fast ships are full of the harbor, and they will surely go up the river tomorrow to plunder all the way. The situation It’s dangerous! The Wu Zan Mansion risked their lives to go out of the city today to ask for help. Tomorrow they can go to the guard station with thirty soldiers. However, the soldiers at the guard station are just for strength and cannot be relied on!"
These words were spoken in such a stern voice that everyone who heard them couldn't help but get into a commotion. Wu Ya knew that this was just a common attack on the mountain to scare the tiger. He exaggerated the situation to a level of danger of 120,000, with the purpose of forcing these gentry to donate food and money. As an old county magistrate in this county, he knew that the finances of the imperial court were extremely corrupt. Lingao was hit by typhoon and floods last year, and most of the autumn grain was lost. However, the three wages collected by the court were not exempted. The county was already in a dilemma. Even Minzhuang and Archer were in arrears for food and wages for several months. Now we have to prevent pirates from attacking the city, recruit reinforcements, and recruit people, all of which cost money.
Seeing that this group of people were all uneasy, Wu Daling said slowly: "I am here because I have no responsibility, and I have the responsibility to protect the land. The city survives and survives, and the city perishes. You may have been favored by the country in this life, or you may be the gentry of this city. , or for the sake of the right path, it is the duty to defend the city. Please work together with me to defend the city, repel the pirate attacks, and keep the city's officials, gentry and people safe and sound. I wonder if you have any ideas?"
Everyone hurriedly stood up and said, "I am a great man!"
Wu Mingjin saw that the atmosphere was good, so he revealed his plan: "Although this county is a small city, the perimeter is more than 600 feet. Now there are only more than a hundred soldiers and civilians in the city. We have to guard three gates, and there are many people in the city. Many people have flooded in, and there is no guarantee that there will be no internal support from the pirates. I am afraid that relying solely on Zaoli to suppress them will not be enough. I would like to recruit 200 more people to help defend the city."
(Note: Lingao County originally had four gates in the Ming Dynasty, but the north gate was blocked for a long time. This is a characteristic of the Ming Dynasty cities in Hainan. There is a saying here to defend against pirates, and it also has a Feng Shui meaning.
A gentleman said: "The Ming government is so loyal, which is really a blessing to the officials, gentlemen and people of the whole city. But now the pirates are only in Bopu and have not gone deep into the county. Is it shocking to recruit more people?"
Another one also hurriedly said: "It is a good strategy to recruit more people to strengthen the defense. However, after the typhoon and flood last year, people's livelihood was in decline. Unless it is a critical moment, this strategy should not be used to disturb the soldiers and the people!"
All of these slippery gentlemen looked embarrassed. They all complained about their grievances. It was just because the imperial court had increased its workload, and last year there was another disaster. Many tenants died of starvation and fled...
Some people also say that General Qiongya's patrol boat will arrive at Bopu in three days. Once the officers and soldiers arrive, even if the pirates do not escape, General Tang has the responsibility to defend the land and will definitely raise troops from Baisha Water Village to attack them.
Wu Mingjin's face became more and more ugly, and suddenly he heard someone outside the door saying: "The city is in danger, and you are still stingy with your money!" As he spoke, Feng Jiaoyu brought two of his followers and used a wicker chair to hold one of them. The young man carried him in. Everyone stood up in a hurry to greet him, and they were very respectful. Even Wu Ling stepped forward and called him "Mr."
This middle-aged man who has been paralyzed for many years is Liu Dalin, also known as Meng Liang, who is famous in the history of Lingao. In the 47th year of Wanli, he became the first Jinshi since Lingao was established as a county in the Tang Dynasty. However, he became paralyzed after passing the imperial examination, so he did not become an official.
He was only in his early forties and in his prime. Although he was paralyzed and unable to walk, he was still quite enthusiastic about the place. His home was just inside the west gate of the county. As soon as he heard Wu Ling's invitation, he came without hesitation.
Wu Mingjin asked: "What good advice does the old gentleman have for this?"
Liu Dalin said: "Minzhuang must be recruited. If the thieves are not moving now, will they not move tomorrow? How can the thieves move out in large numbers just to occupy a shop? The shop is only thirty miles away from here, and the thieves will arrive at noon. , when the army comes to the city and everything is destroyed, will your wealth be saved?"
He tilted his body, and the servant next to him helped him move: "Now that the army is decadent, how can we still count on General Tang Shen's troops?! Didn't you hear the spies' report? Pirates all ride in big iron boats and don't use sails or oars. Can you come and go freely? People are coming to Baisha Water Village, so what?"
When everyone heard this, their faces turned gray again. A gentleman whispered: "Officers and soldiers are useless, what can we do if we recruit some strong people?"
"Since ancient times, officers and soldiers have not been as brave as the villagers and the people have been strong! The former only seek food and salary to make a living, but the latter are to protect the hometown. How can they be compared?" Liu Jinshi said eloquently, "Today's plan, it is better to seek for others than for yourself. " He cupped his hands to Wu Mingjin and said, "In the Ming Dynasty, Dalin thought that it was just a matter of recruiting the villagers to defend the country bravely." As he said this, he stated several countermeasures that he had thought hard about during the day:
1. Send people to every village, map, and capital to instruct the local gentry to recruit local warriors and build earthen fences for self-defense.
2. To keep the country strong and clear, all the people, property, rice, chickens, ducks and livestock will be moved into the county in villages where the market is small and cannot be defended, or where large numbers of pirates may pass by.
3. Check household registrations and impose strict curfews to prevent thieves and spies from sneaking into the city.
4. Send spies to monitor the movements of the Bopu pirates day and night.
5. Send a man who dares to fight and lead dozens of village warriors to the main roads outside the city. If there are thieves who loot and stand alone, they can be captured and killed. The thieves have been without food for a long time and will naturally retreat.
6. Recruit more people to strengthen the defense, and do not abandon the defense outside the city. It is advisable to set up a stronghold outside the three city gates to facilitate defense.
After that, he added: "Da Lin is willing to donate thirty dan of grain!"
The only Jinshi in the county expressed his position like this, and the others had to express their opinions, so they all expressed their opinions for ten stones and five taels. After a while, three hundred shi of grain and one hundred taels of silver were collected. When Wu Mingjin saw that Liu Jinshi was so eager for justice, offering advice and donating food, he hurriedly said countless compliments and asked him to stay in the Yamen as a staff officer. Liu Dalin did not refuse and stayed in the Yamen. Here, the gentlemen went to collect silver rice themselves.
Wu Ya arranged all the men from the villagers who came into the city from sixteen to sixty, and assigned four men to repair the city walls and transport bricks, stones, and wood for every ten men. The students of the county school are responsible for the defense of sections of the city wall. They are all young and strong people. Their youthful temperament has not faded. They are still loyal and patriotic and have the ambition to defend their hometown. The situation is critical at this moment. , all wearing old armor taken from the county arsenal, embroidered iron helmets, carrying rusty swords and shouting orders on the city, all of them majestic. It's just that the swords, spears and spears taken out of the county arsenal were all rotten, so blacksmiths and carpenters were temporarily called in to repair them.
Each of the four Shangyuan gates in the city has two tiger cannons. They were all built during the Zhengde period. Fortunately, they were fired during the Wanli period and the cannons can still fire. Even a civil servant like Wu Mingjin knows that this thing is just for courage and cannot be counted on.
The officials discussed that there were many people taking refuge in the city at this time, and if they were not careful, they would lead to a rebellion. Then he ordered the master of Bohe County to set up a porridge shed in front of the Confucian Temple and boil dry grass tea for drinking. Dian Shi took the officials and officials of each house to patrol the streets and suppress the people. Originally, Wu Daling wanted to kill someone to establish his authority, but Liu Jinshi dissuaded him, saying that it was not appropriate to kill someone at this time, lest the failure to establish authority would trigger a popular uprising. However, the beating became more frequent, and the crackling of bamboo on flesh could be heard all over the street. The sound and screams of the unfortunate egg begged for mercy. The common people remained silent in the cold wind of autumn night.
At this time, in a narrow alley behind the county government office in the north of the city, a house was dimly lit. There was silence in the courtyard. There was a lantern placed at the mouth of the well, and beside the lantern were several iron boxes. A man and a woman were sitting on the bluestone of the well platform, staring blankly at a tall kapok plant beside the well platform, silent for a long time. The autumn night was already freezing, and everyone was wearing felts.
The man tied the boxes with a rope and lowered them into the well one by one. When the boxes were submerged in the water, he shook the rope clasps open again, only to hear a gurgle in the well, and then disappeared.
The woman standing aside stood up, shook her long skirt, and finally spoke: "Is it safe here? I feel scared when I think about it - this is what our family has saved for generations..."
The middle-aged man sneered, bent down and moved the lantern, and said in a low voice: "The thieves are destroying the city, and it won't be a matter of time to drain this well. It's very deep down there, and there is no such thing as a catch, unless you are a god." Only then can we fish it out.”
He thought for a while, removed the iron parts of the catch, hid it under the kapok tree, and rolled up the rope. He said to the woman, "You can take your family back to your parents' house early tomorrow morning. Chengxuan and I will stay in the city."
"and you?"
"Are you afraid? With brothers protecting us, it will not be difficult to escape even if the city is destroyed. Chengxuan is a student of the county school and cannot leave. Mr. Wu has long disliked our family. If Chengxuan ran away, I will definitely find this reason to remove him from his fame."
He stood up and clapped his hands: "Just now I asked the Lai brothers to send money to Wu Ling. I also donated twenty taels, and personally donated another ten taels..."
"Thirty taels?!" the woman screamed, her heartache clearly visible.
"Haha, Madam, don't worry." The man said with a determined look on his face, "If the city is not destroyed, looking at the face of these thirty taels, this year's county Guodu's autumn grain can fall into my hands again, and the future will be great. If The city is broken..." He chuckled, "I have dozens of brothers in my hands, it's not difficult to get out after just one vote."
He looked at the starless night sky: "Hmph, how can I, a wealthy man, be that ordinary person who is panicking?"
