Only after Huang Chao entered the county seat did he realize that the so-called intelligence that Yangshan County had not fallen was discounted. To be precise, the Yao people's armed forces had broken through the city. The officials, soldiers and some people in the city withdrew to the city of Baihusuo and continued to resist. Although the population was The damage was not great, but the goods in the city were basically completely lost. After the Yao people's armed forces stormed into the county town, they snatched away not even a single basket.
Jin Shen, an official in the county, no longer had the shame of being a "thief" when he was forced to surrender. He just hugged Huang Chao's thigh and called him "benefactor". Especially the newly appointed county magistrate Zhou Liangchen was filled with tears - finally his speculation did not fail!
There is not a single naturalized citizen in Yangshan County. Although the area has surrendered to the "Great Song Dynasty", Wen Desi has not actually had time to send cadres here. The envoy who came to recruit the surrender only sent a few temporary letters of appointment. Officials are deemed to have taken up their posts when they fill in their names.
Although the name has been changed, everything in the county is still the same. Cases are heard in court, grain collection is urged. The county magistrate and officials don't know the specific uniforms of the Song Dynasty. They only know that Australians wear short hair and short clothes. ―But no one in the county has this skill. He still wears the round-necked gauze hat as before, but in order to show the difference between the old and the new, the patches on the front and back of the official robe are removed.
Huang Chao looked at the county magistrate who had removed the tonic and felt quite ridiculous. However, seeing that his robe was covered with scorch marks and dust, and even torn in several places, it seemed that he was going through a difficult period.
Regardless of his official status and person, at least he was able to defend Yangshan County and contain the power of the Yao people, which was still a great achievement for the Senate. At that moment, he warmly comforted and praised a lot of people.
"The chief has been overrated, and the subordinates are just doing their jobs loyally." Zhou Liangchen's bent head almost touched the bricks, "The Song Dynasty's heavenly soldiers were quick and thunderous, sweeping away the ugly people. This way the people of the city were saved. …”
He said these words of gratitude sincerely, because if the Australians don't come, he, Zhou Liangchen, will probably become loyal to the Song Dynasty who doesn't know where he came from.
"There is no need to say more polite words," Huang Chao said, "How is the situation in the city now?"
Zhou Liangchen did not dare to neglect and quickly introduced the current situation in the city. There are currently about a thousand people in the city including officials, soldiers, gentry and common people, many of whom have fled from neighboring villages. There are about 400 people in Qingdao.
"Where's the food?"
"There is not much money and food left. They were all looted by the Yao barbarians. Only a small amount of food is left in the city..." As he spoke, he glared at a middle-aged man next to him and said in his heart: "I'm taking advantage of you!"
Huang Chao was secretly puzzled, wondering which one was this?
Except for a few people who fled before the outbreak of the Yao Rebellion, almost every official in the county was demoted. Most of the officials in the county were locals and had nowhere to escape; officials were blocked in their journey and did not dare to flee. Therefore, the team in Yangshan County is particularly neat, including the former county magistrate Peng Shouan.
After his introduction, Huang Chao realized that the middle-aged scholar he glared at was Peng Shouan. I thought to myself that it was no wonder that he looked so disgraced - he had landed safely, but now he was "a thief". He looked like he was unwilling to do so.
Finally, there are several officers from the local guard station. Although the guard station is depleted, there is a "Yao sentiment" in the local area, so the officers in the guard station are relatively decent, and there are also more than a dozen soldiers who can fight. In fact, Yangshan's ability to persist depends entirely on the core of a few officers and dozens of their own soldiers.
"You all have worked hard at guarding. Please go back to your homes and rest for the next few days - if you have anything to explain, just tell the cadres under me. If you have difficulties, don't be afraid of anything. Just say it and it can be solved. I will definitely help." He glanced at the officials below and said, "I also have a few ugly words here. At present, the city is full of chaos and people live together in the same city. We can only think of helping each other in the same boat and don't have other thoughts. I, the Song Dynasty, have always Everything is done voluntarily. If you are not willing to serve as officials and people under the rule of the Song Dynasty, when the Yao chaos subsides and the roads are clear, I will naturally send you out of the country with courtesy. But if anyone is secretly causing trouble in the middle, don't blame me for being rude. "
At that moment, a group of people quickly expressed their loyalty and said that they would never do anything cheating.
In order to show his "special loyalty", Zhou Liangchen came out and said: "Since the lower officials have submitted to the Song Dynasty, I also asked the superior officials to give me robes so that we can shave our heads and change our clothes."
The atmosphere in the lobby suddenly became awkward. Everyone secretly cursed Zhou Liangchen as "shameless", but no one dared to say anything under the eaves.
Huang Chao said: "This matter is not urgent. Firstly, I came in a hurry and did not have so many uniforms; secondly, Yao's situation is urgent now, so it is not the time to do these things. You can just wear casual clothes for now - you don't need to wear this black gauze round collar." ”
"Yes, yes, thank you for your understanding." Zhou Liangchen originally just wanted to express his sincerity, and it didn't matter to him whether the elder agreed or not - after all, with his hair in a bun, there was still some room for change in times of crisis.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Huang Chao then announced personnel orders. He called the few men and women in short clothes and short hair who were nearby. When Zhou Liangchen saw this appearance, he knew that it was the "fake Kun" - a rebel who had previously taken refuge with the Kun thieves.
"This is Wang Chuyi. The Senate has appointed him as the county magistrate of Xinde Yangshan County." He introduced.
Wang Chuyi bowed slightly and introduced himself in not-so-standard Mandarin: "My name is Wang Chuyi. Thanks to the trust of the Senate, I am serving as the local county magistrate. I hope to have a pleasant cooperation with you in my future work." !”
The people below were all flattering. Zhou Liangchen was quite disappointed. He originally thought that he had taken the initiative to surrender to Kun and had contributed to maintaining the county seat. He should be the county magistrate under the Song Dynasty, but he didn't expect that he would be robbed by a mud-legged man - listen You know the name. However, there was no expression on his face and he was extremely complimentary.
Peng Shouan secretly thought - he was able to escape early, but he was entangled by Zhou's good ministers. He was trapped here and became a thief!
Wang Chuyi then read a letter of appointment in extremely non-standard Mandarin. Zhou Liangchen had just arrived in Yangshan and was not familiar with county affairs. However, he was appointed director of the county office of Yangshan County because of his contribution to protecting the city. Zhou Liangchen was very unhappy. Although he didn't know what this office meant, he vaguely knew that the official meant to assist the county magistrate, so he was suddenly demoted from the position of county magistrate to county magistrate.
The remaining officials who surrendered also had their own positions, and anyway, they were all official positions with names I had never heard of. In theory, local officials in Guangdong who surrendered must be sent to Guangzhou for screening and "re-education" instead of being assigned to serve locally. But the current situation is special, so Yangshan is dealing with special matters.
Finally, it was Peng Shouan's turn - he was appointed as the "chief consultant" of Yangshan County Government.
Peng Shou'an didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had already left office. If it weren't for Zhou Liangchen, he might have been on his way back to his hometown. It's better now, since he's stuck in a situation where he can't move forward or retreat. It's absolutely impossible not to accept this "fake position" - he has no intention of dying in the line of duty; accept it, this "surrender" is a serious crime. After thinking about it, it was more important to save my life first and keep the green hills. Even if there was no firewood, I said that "respect is worse than obeying orders." Fortunately, he had already handed in the seal, and he had not received any documents from the Ministry of Personnel. In theory, he was no longer an official. The biggest crime of "an official guarding the land and surrendering the enemy" was that he no longer had to wear it.
Even though Wang Chuyi was a "mud-legged man" who was looked down upon by the demoted officials, he was very methodical in his work. On the one hand, he arranged for people to take charge of the warehouse city defense, and on the other hand, he recruited young men to repair the city wall. He also asked the Jin gentry and people who had fled to the city to go around and tell them: The heavenly soldiers of the Song Dynasty have arrived in the county and will soon subdue the Yao rebellion. All villages are asked to "be careful". At the same time, "reasonable burdens" were levied on the wealthy gentry... The demoted officials were surprised and secretly disappointed. How can I let this mud-legged person learn this method of governance! However, everyone did not dare to show this emotion, so they had to cheer up and go about their errands - regardless of the heresy of the Song Dynasty, it was first important to suppress the Yao Chaos and save their own lives and property.
In comparison, Peng Shou'an has much more free time. He was very depressed. He originally thought that he could finish this term safely, and then return to his hometown of Putian County, Fujian Province with the gold and silver he collected over the years, and live a peaceful and stable life as a gentry in the countryside. Yangshan is a poor county with not many flat and fertile fields and is surrounded by mountains. Peng Shouan worked hard to save money and could only save less than two thousand taels of silver in a few years. Peng Shou'an has a principle: he asks for money but does not risk his life. As long as no human life is involved, those local tyrants and evil gentry who ask him to do things will certainly respond to their requests, as long as they pay filial piety and come over.
Moreover, Peng Shou'an believed that he was more conscientious, and he also donated money to repair the city wall that had been collapsed by floods and donated money to the county's league training. Claiming to be a "good official", he originally had the intention to work under the camp to see if he could find a good position. However, the situation in recent years has not been good, and even Guangdong, which has always been calm, is no exception.
A few years ago, the Kun bandits occupied Qiongzhou as a bandit. Wang Zunde, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, launched a crusade, but the entire army was wiped out. The Kun bandits' warships sailed directly to the city of Guangzhou. Later, the news from his hometown shocked him even more. Zheng Zhilong, the all-powerful sea lord along the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, was defeated by these thieves overnight, and Zheng Zhilong also ended up with his body and head missing.
The bandits not only occupied Qiongzhou, but also invaded Guangzhou many times. They must have plans for Guangdong in the future. This made him much less enthusiastic about being an official. It is impossible for him to choose a comfortable place like Jiangnan. It is impossible for him to choose other places, whether it is Lianghu, Jiangxi, Shandong, Guanzhong, Heluo...the roads are full of wandering bandits, and there are constant natural and man-made disasters. When you become a county magistrate, the two tasks of food collection and appeasement are extremely difficult to handle. Then he thought of resigning and returning to his hometown. Anyway, after more than ten years of official travel, I have accumulated tens of thousands of taels of silver, so I can go back and become a rich man.
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Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 395
