"Those common people don't understand what I'm saying? Come out! Otherwise, your house will be burned down!"
The magistrate was surrounded by dozens of officers and soldiers. He pointed at the low earthen wall and ordered the people gathered in the thatched hut.
"Sir," a thin man with a sallow complexion was pulled out by the army and kowtowed repeatedly in front of the magistrate's horse, "My family of five is living on the fields outside the door and cannot save any food. If I leave here again, , I can’t live without working for a few days and traveling continuously!”
"Many fields near the coast have not been cultivated. If you go there, you can cultivate them carefully and wait for the grain to be produced in the autumn. It will not be a problem to feed your whole family. It is really a lazy man's style. He will not be willing to endure a little hardship. At worst, he will be hungry for several days. , it’s not like he can’t live!” After saying that, the magistrate waved his hands urgently, and the officers and soldiers climbed over the earth wall, dragged his whole family out of the shed, and hit them on the back with the barrel of their guns, forcing them to go on their way. After a while, they all arrived at the street market. They looked up and saw that the broad thoroughfare was already crowded with people's teams. Being in it, they could not recognize the roads in all directions. They could only see people walking next to each other, endlessly moving towards a dark place. direction of travel.
This is a village close to the county seat. The old houses are neatly located on both sides of the road, but they are separated by scattered earth walls, backed by thousands of miles of fertile farmland. A few months ago, there would have been scattered farmers and old cattle plowing on the bare fields, and light smoke would rise from the roofs. But now, although the fields have become green, the cottages are still green. The doors were all open and deserted, without any human sound. A few cock crows could be heard occasionally, but there was no sign of life. Everywhere was desolate.
Seeing how the villages under his control had turned into this, the county magistrate also felt embarrassed. But when he thought of the superior's order, it was no longer necessary to reverse the situation. He might as well just keep doing nothing and gain some achievements for himself. He stroked his horse's bridle, turned around and ordered to the soldiers: "Have everyone arranged to go south? If they all leave, you will tear down all these houses, load the wood and thatch on the cart, and transport the border guards for war and defense!" "
The inspectors looked suspicious and held sabers in their hands, but they did not dare to take action immediately; one person even stepped forward, controlled his horse and knelt down to admonish: "Sir, these are people's residences. If they are all demolished, when they come back, they will How should we deal with it?”
The magistrate sighed: "The road is difficult and dangerous, the war is not over, and the artillery fire is raging. How many of them can come back safely? We will talk about these things later. First, it is important to transport these things to the front line, build garrison, and defend the sea for the country!" The inspector had no choice but to obey orders.
The soldiers pushed the carts into the village one by one, used hooks and other objects to lift up the thatched roofs, and then used knives and axes to cut down the beams. If they encountered rotten wood, they burned it cleanly, leaving no trace behind until it was completely destroyed. For flat ground. After working back and forth for an hour and a half, everyone finally loaded up several large carts of materials and slowly pushed them back to the county town.
When the county magistrate arrived at the government office, he was not in a happy mood. Instead, he kept looking sad, holding the report document in his hand, and feeling uncertain. One day later, he heard that people in neighboring counties were frequently causing trouble and that the implementation of policies was not going smoothly. He was overjoyed and reported the documents in hand to the government office.
"You bastard!" The Zhaoqing magistrate slapped the case angrily, and all the documents fell down, falling to the ground along the brim of the kneeling Magistrate Gao Ming's hat.
"Look at this," he casually picked up an official document, "I'm surprised that just you counties can't figure it out!"
"Calm down your anger," the magistrate said, looking up and advising, "This is all due to the subordinates' incompetence..."
"I've already remembered you, Gaoming, Guangning, Heshan... Why are the people there so uneasy for the imperial court!"
"Futai, we can't rush this matter. If we force the people to rebel, it will be a big crime. Please give the villain a few days of grace, and I'll be sure to persuade them to go south to farm." Magistrate Gaoming said tremblingly.
"Do you think I am willing to force you?" The prefect looked at him coldly, "It's not that Governor Mu pressed too hard. He even issued many reminders. If you ask for mercy, I will lose my black gauze hat!"
The magistrate's face turned pale: "In that case, please allocate some money to them..."
The magistrate stroked his mustache tightly and glared angrily: "Don't you understand? I have nothing here, and I have to leave the money to that Hong political officer to build coastal defenses! I didn't see the Prime Minister yesterday. Doesn’t the instruction say, ‘Nothing is allowed to be given to the people’?”
The county magistrate was so frightened that he cried bitterly and kowtowed loudly twice: "Sir! I also want to share your worries, but if I go too far and force the people to rebel, you don't have to take my head. But The governor will definitely hold you accountable, and it will affect you! Why not find a way to report the local situation to the court one by one. I believe that there will be many people in the court, not just Niu Yuan, who will oppose this ridiculous move. of!"
After hearing this, the prefect could not help but hide his face and sigh: "Since I became an official, I have been cautious every year and have never violated the imperial court. How come this happened to me in the end! Alas, I can write a memorial and ask someone to deliver it to me. I'm sorry, but the southward journey must not be delayed. If you are short of troops, I can transfer some to you to frighten and frighten the mob. If it still doesn't work, prepare for the worst plan."
"Thank you, Lord Futai, for your great kindness!" the magistrate slowly got up and said.
The prefect had planned to tell the truth to Shu, but he was afraid of bringing trouble to himself, so he hid his name and mixed it with the general documents and handed it over to the governor.
Governor Mu received hundreds of documents every day, which made him physically and mentally exhausted. The words on the official documents were blurred, and he was just too angry to deal with them. When I saw the document that day, I suddenly became more energetic. I calmly looked at it one by one, and I was overjoyed. I thought: "Niu Yuan is so powerful that I can't even breathe for a moment." It would be better to report this as revenge. Without saying a word, he asked someone to deliver it to the palace and showed it to Hong Lizhen.
Hong Lisan read the memorial and knew that local officials were not easy to deal with and would have to rely on them to do things in the future. He did not want to push them too hard to prevent them from antagonizing Niu Yuan. Instead of dismissing it, he came to comfort him with kind words, so that the memorial could reach Zhongshu Province.
"These are all the excuses of the people below, and Hong Shaobao actually believed them." Niu Yuan gently put down the memorial and said to his confidant Shu Ban with a smile, "I still want to help them hand over the memorial. Don't you know?" Destroy my own prestige? I'm too lazy to reply to him, so you can just say..." He stood up and walked over.
