After entering the stronghold, Nie Chen saw two soldiers running towards him quickly.
"Sir, while we were searching, we found some women. What do you think we should do with them?"
"Huh? How many? How is your health?"
The soldier thought for a while and said,
"Still alive."
Hearing this, Nie Chen's heart skipped a beat and he hurriedly walked over.
After arriving at a smelly room, Nie Chen saw more than thirty women inside, all naked and skinny from hunger. They were lying on the ground and breathless. When he saw someone coming in, he even got up. My strength is almost gone.
Only a few women screamed,
"Don't be afraid. We are officers and soldiers here to rescue you. All the bandits in Jinshan Village have been killed. You are safe."
Nie Chen turned around and said to the guards behind him,
"They are sick from hunger. Go and find some clothes, put them on, and then bury the pot to make rice. We will have lunch on the mountain. Let the Huotou Army cook some vegetable porridge with some meat cubes in it. They are now In dire need of nourishment.”
"As you command!"
The guards immediately turned around to deliver the order.
Yue Dongwen looked through the window and saw the miserable state of the women inside. He was so angry that his teeth itched and he cursed,
"This group of ungrateful bandits are really not human beings. They are so cruel to their own compatriots. It is really cheap to kill them. They should be cut into pieces by a thousand swords!"
Hearing this, the bandits behind him all lowered their heads in shame, because they had done all these things.
Nie Chen turned around and said to them,
"I don't care what you have done before, but after joining the army, you become soldiers. The people behind you are your brothers and sisters, and they are the people you want to protect and not harm them.
Control your bandit temper. Military discipline must be strict and the law will not be merciful. Do you understand? "
"knew."
"I'll understand later!"
"When we went down the mountain, we asked the women to go home and made sure not to kill them."
"There are no women in my village."
Everyone nodded.
Soon, the guards brought clothes, and the active women inside put on their clothes one after another, helped other women put them on, and came out of the room one by one.
The medical team headed by Li Yuanjun was still in the camp and had not brought them with them, so naturally they could not check their bodies.
Nie Chen said to Zhao Dezhu,
"Mr. Zhao, take these women back to the county town in the afternoon, give them medical treatment and feed them well. After they recover, ask them where their homes are and send them back home.
But they must keep a low profile and don't publicize it, which will be detrimental to their reputation and delay their future marriage. "
"I understand. Your Excellency really loves the people like a son and is as caring as silk. I admire you."
Soon, the soldiers who went to search came out carrying large and small boxes of silver, copper coins and valuables.
Everyone turned to Nie Chenhui to report.
"Sir, we found gold, silver and copper coins in our village, about thirty thousand taels, and some iron ore, all of which were stored in an iron smelting room."
"This bandit is quite rich. He is indeed a private iron dealer."
Nie Chen smiled.
Zhao Dezhu stepped forward and asked,
"Sir, do you want to kill this village with fire? It will save someone from coming back to occupy the mountain and become king in the future."
"Why burn it? What a great place this is. There are ready-made houses and it is surrounded by iron ores. I want to build it here.
Mr. Zhao, during this time, you can recruit more civilian men, build houses, dig iron ore, forge iron to make weapons, and build an arsenal.
I will ask the craftsmen from Qingfeng Village to transfer a batch here.
After this place is built, we can produce weapons together with the Qingfengzhai Arsenal. We can make a lot of money by selling weapons and arming the army.
When we make money, we can tax less people and support more troops. "
"Okay, I know this, and I will definitely handle it well."
Looking at Zhao Dezhu's troubled expression, Nie Chen smiled and said,
"Old Zhao, you misunderstood me. I asked you to recruit civilian husbands, not to make them serve as corvees, but to recruit workers, just like the employer recruits workers. Those who need to be paid must be paid, and they must take care of the food for free.
We are doing business, and you have to pay other people to work. It’s a state-owned enterprise, do you understand? "
"Ah? You want to give money? Is there such a good thing? This move by your Excellency can greatly solve the people's employment problem.
We are recruiting workers and soldiers at the same time. The idle men in each village will have something to do, and the people will be able to eat. In this way, public security will be greatly improved.
Mr. Nie, you are truly the great master of Qingtian! "
"Okay, okay, stop talking nonsense. The factory will be built here. Keep an eye on this matter. I will send my cronies to take care of the accounts. You will supervise each other and make sure no corruption or bribery occurs.
We must not deduct wages from the common people. "
"Don't worry, Xiaguan will definitely get it done. As long as he is doing practical things for the people, Xiaguan will be full of energy!"
"Hahaha, if people like Mr. Zhao are good officials in the world, why worry about the world not being peaceful?"
After having lunch at Jinshan Village, Nie Chen led the army back to the camp outside the county.
Master Zhao took the women back to the county government office to give them medical treatment. At the same time, he also prepared a notice to tell the people that the county governor wanted to build an arsenal, recruit workers, and improve people's livelihood.
After Nie Chen returned to the camp, he arranged for the bandits who had been recruited and the new recruits to go to Guiling Pass together to teach Liang Peng to train.
As for whether these people were unruly or not, Nie Chen believed that Liang Peng's selfless character would definitely not make it easy for them.
At the same time, he also told Zhao Dezhu that as long as the recruits were recruited from Qingping County, they did not need to be sent to the county government, but directly to Guiling Pass to fill the force there.
After waiting for another day, in the evening, spies from outside came to report that the seven thousand troops at Hukou Pass were less than ten miles away from them.
After hearing this, Nie Chen asked Weng Qiuchan to stay in the camp, while he took Lin Guang, Yue Dongwen, Zhou Long, Zhou Hu, and Wang Chang to greet those people.
Weng Qiuchan pulled Nie Chen and said,
"Those people came here fully armed. What if they pretended to surrender, but actually wanted to assassinate you? If you just brought these people over, wouldn't it be a sheep falling into a tiger's mouth?"
Nie Chen smiled and patted her hand and said,
"Don't worry, as long as they are not fools, they will not do such a thing. They have never fought with us, and they left the dangerous pass and came to our side purely out of trust in us.
If people trust us, we should trust them. I don't bring an army and go to greet them in person. This can also show our attitude and let them know that we sincerely regard them as one of our own. "
"But, I always feel that you are just too adventurous."
