"this……"
Qi Liang hesitated and said, "Jiu Guan Xu, it's getting dark already. How about we have a meal first?"
"Have a meal and rest for a day. Let's talk about suppressing bandits tomorrow?"
"Bandits are rampant in the countryside. Do you think I am interested in eating?"
Xu Tianhua said coldly: "Gather soldiers immediately and send troops to suppress the bandits."
"Guan Xu, you are just a wine tasting officer. The suppression of bandits is not your responsibility, right?"
Qi Liang asked rhetorically.
"snort!"
Xu Tianhua snorted coldly and took out his transfer document.
"I am not only a wine tasting officer, but also the magistrate of Yun'an County personally appointed by His Majesty the Emperor."
"It's just that I have been observing the public sentiment recently and have not taken up my post."
"Right now, the bandits are forcibly requisitioning grain, and the people are complaining. If this continues, there may be a civil uprising, so I have to reveal my identity in advance."
"Qi Liang, I order you to summon troops and horses immediately to suppress the bandits."
Qi Liang glanced at the document.
It not only contains the appointment description, but also the signature of His Majesty the Emperor.
This is almost like an imperial edict.
Hearing Xu Tianhua's instructions again, he was frightened and hurriedly knelt down on the ground, tremblingly saying: "I want to suppress the bandits, but I am powerless."
"What's the meaning?"
Xu Tianhua said calmly.
"There is no food and grass."
Qi Liang said: "The suppression of bandits cannot be completed in one or two days. At the very least, we need to prepare food and grass for ten and a half days."
"Food and grass are not a problem."
Xu Tianhua breathed a sigh of relief, "I will call on the villagers in Yun'an County to donate part of the food from each household to use it as food and fodder for us to suppress the bandits. It is enough."
"I……"
Qi Liang was dumbfounded.
It seems that the future county magistrate is determined to suppress the bandits.
Some things cannot be concealed at all and can only be reported truthfully.
"Back to Shangguan, the most important thing is not the issue of food and grass, but the fact that our county officials have no soldiers at all."
"No soldiers?"
Xu Tianhua stepped forward and grabbed Qi Liang's collar and lifted him up.
He said coldly: "How come there are no soldiers?"
"Donghai County borders Youzhou to the north and is an important military base. The imperial court allows each county to raise its own troops."
"I checked the situation in Yun'an County before I came here. You, Qi Liang, have 1,500 soldiers under your command."
"There are three garrison stations scattered throughout Yun'an County, guarding the entire Yun'an County."
"Just a few days ago, you took away rations for 1,500 people from the county guard, but now you tell me that there are no soldiers."
"Could it be that you want to deceive me?"
"I, I, the subordinate don't dare."
Qi Liang said submissively: "It's just that we really don't have any soldiers."
"The three garrison stations combined can't even gather a hundred people."
"And most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, so they are simply unable to suppress bandits."
"What?"
Xu Tianhua was shocked, "Where are the soldiers?"
"Bing, Bing..."
bass!
Xu Tianhua took out the saber from his waist, placed it on Qi Liang's neck, and said with red eyes: "Tell the truth."
"Otherwise, I will chop off your head right now."
"The soldiers have been requisitioned by the county government."
Qi Liang said aggrievedly: "Although I am a county official, I am only an eighth-rank official. I am nothing in front of a seventh-rank county magistrate."
"Every time a county magistrate takes office, he must allocate part of his troops."
"If the bandits are not suppressed and there is no civil uprising, what is the purpose of the county magistrate deploying troops?"
Xu Tianhua said dullly.
"Of course it's for themselves."
Qi Liang said: "Basically all the government servants, slaves, etc. in the county are served by officers and soldiers."
"The officers and soldiers are paid monthly by the county governor. It is equivalent to saying that the county government is using people for free and does not pay monthly payments to those officers and soldiers at all."
"Huang Fengnian did the most. He not only transferred more than a hundred officers and soldiers, but even dismissed a large number of them."
"In his words, there is no war now and we cannot support so many troops."
"But every time we report, the troops are getting smaller and smaller."
"All the military supplies allocated by the county governor went into his pocket."
"Will the officers and soldiers be willing?"
Xu Tianhua's frown deepened and his tone became colder.
He had always known that the place was in chaos, and officials often did things that deceived superiors and concealed things from subordinates.
But I didn't expect it to be so serious.
Even the reserved troops dare to be used easily.
How is this different from rebellion?
If the enemy attacks us and cannot mobilize soldiers, wouldn't it be easy to lose the city?
The more Xu Tianhua thought about it, the angrier he became. He wished he could chop off Huang Fengnian's head with a knife right now.
But he also knows.
Nowadays, banditry is rampant. If something happens to the county magistrate, it is easy for the bandits to have other ideas.
I can only endure it.
After dealing with the bandits, it was the day Huang Fengnian died.
"How could you disagree?"
Qi Liang explained: "How many of our Dawei Dynasty soldiers really want to be soldiers?"
"Aren't they all forced to be recruited by force?"
"Huang Fengnian dismissed them and asked them to go back wherever they came from. It was too late for them to be happy, so how could they refuse."
"Where's the Sheriff?"
Xu Tianhua asked again, "Don't he go to each county to inspect?"
"Peng Yue has stayed in Donghai County for ten years. Could it be that he has never been to Yun'an County once? How could he not find any clues?"
"I definitely can't find it."
Qi Liang said matter-of-factly: "Huang Fengnian also has his own connections in the county governor's office. Whenever the county governor comes to Yun'an County, he can get the news in advance."
"Then he gathered nearby villagers to act as soldiers."
"At least the number of people doesn't make sense."
"As for the soldiers' majesty, combat skills, etc., Huang Fengnian said that because there was no war, the soldiers were not practicing, which led to this result."
"Then he will give various assurances to the county governor that military discipline must be rectified, etc."
"After the county guard left, he drove away the conscripted people."
"Damn Huang Fengnian!"
After hearing this, Xu Tianhua swung his knife viciously and struck the pillar next to him.
Click!
The pillar broke with the sound.
The straw shed supported on it also collapsed.
Qi Liang was so frightened that he shivered.
He hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, "Xu Jiuguan, all this was done by the county magistrate, and it really has nothing to do with me."
"Even if I have eight heads, I would not dare to confront the dignified seventh-grade county magistrate in this small county where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away."
"Please, Mr. Xu, please spare my life for the sake of truthfully reporting the matter."
"It is impossible to spare you unless you can redeem yourself and serve."
Xu Tianhua said coldly.
"How can you get away with your crime and make meritorious service?"
When Qi Liang heard that he could be saved, he asked hopefully, "As long as I can do it, I will never refuse."
"Help me suppress the bandits."
Xu Tianhua said: "As long as the banditry problem can be solved, I will report to the court and spare your life."
"this……"
Qi Liang hesitated.
"how?"
Xu Tianhua's face darkened and he said, "Don't you agree?"
"Believe it or not, I will kill you right now?"
"Agree, agree, I agree."
Qi Liang hurriedly expressed his position, "We just don't have the troops, how can we suppress the bandits?"
"We have three waves of bandits in Yun'an County, with Heifeng Village being the largest, with a total of 150 people."
"Although the number of people in the other two cottages is smaller, there are still nearly a hundred people."
"There are hundreds of people in total, and the hills they occupy are often easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack areas. What's the difference between letting the dozens of old, weak, sick and disabled people from our garrison station suppress bandits, and risking their lives?"
"Don't you know how to move reinforcements?"
Xu Tianhua said angrily: "Come with me to the county seat now."
"Go to County Governor Peng Yue. Tell him exactly what you just told me and ask him to send troops to wipe out the bandits in Yun'an County."
Zhao Ping didn't know all this, so he brought Xia Quan and Li Hu to Tuoling Peak.
