-Liu Gongfu returned to the team and reported the situation in Jinping County to Zhu Renxia, and the team continued westward.
The road from Jinping County to Liping Prefecture is a post road, which is compacted with lime mixed with sand. Although it is not as good as the cement road, it is flat and spacious.
This section of the road is about a hundred miles long. The team is going all out, and it is estimated that they will arrive at Liping City in less than two hours.
As the team walked on the road, Zhu Renxia was filled with emotion and whispered to Jin Zhu: "We were bandits last time, but we didn't expect that now we have become gentry who come to collect money for the government. This is really a trick of fate."
Jin Zhu pursed his lips and smiled and said: "Whether we are good guys or bad guys is decided by the government. If Tian Zongren does not attack us in Chang'an Town, then their Sizhou Tian family will not be removed from the world."
"I wonder what this Magistrate Li is like? Isn't he also a mediocre official in name only, or even a corrupt official?" Someone in the crowd sighed with emotion.
Liu Gongfu immediately raised his voice and said: "Don't worry, Magistrate Li is a gentleman. He is charitable and loves the people. He has a breeze on his sleeves and a clear conscience. He is definitely an upright and good official."
"Brother Gongfu admires Magistrate Li so much, I can't wait to get to know him."
Zhu Renxia whipped up his horse and sped up, "Famous is not as good as meeting. The answer will be revealed today."
"drive!"
Horse hooves galloped on the post road, kicking up a burst of dust. More than thirty horses surrounded two carriages, galloping towards Liping.
In Liping City, there is the prefect’s Yamen.
Li Yao, the prefect who has been in office for a month, is discussing matters with his subordinates with a frown on his face.
It turned out that Liping City was in ruins after being looted. Not only was the prefect's office burned down, the warehouses were looted, and even the militia in the city was dispersed. It can be said that this prefect Li has no money and no people. people.
The militia in Liping City was originally composed of members of the Tian family in Sizhou. Now that Tian Zongren has died and a new prefect has been replaced, how can these veteran oilmen sacrifice their lives for the new prefect?
They want money but not money, they want food but not food. What do these selfish Tusi people want? Does it mean you have many wrinkles on your face, or does it mean you sleep without taking a shower?
The prefect's yamen was burned down, and the city walls and gates were severely damaged. These teeth could be overcome.
Without the yamen, you can rent the landlord's house to work, and if the city walls and gates are broken, you can make do with repairs.
But it’s not okay to leave the granary empty!
You, the prefect, may skip meals, but the servants and civilians under you cannot skip meals.
Therefore, the attitude of the guards in Liping City has been negative for a month. When the monks hit the clock every day and their stomachs are not full, who will work for you?
Li Yao had no choice but to write to Guizhou Governor Jiangdong for help.
As the governor of Guizhou, Jiang Dongzhi also faced a lot of difficulties, but after all, he promoted Li Yao himself. Although Guiyang was also short of money and soldiers, he still bit the bullet and allocated Li Yao two hundred militiamen and one thousand taels of silver. Solve an urgent need.
In the huge Liping City, two hundred people are not enough to fill the gap between teeth.
But Guiyang is less than three hundred miles away from Bozhou, and Yang Yinglong's troops will point at Guiyang at any time. Li Yao is too embarrassed to continue asking for people from the prefect, so he has to find a way to solve the problem by himself.
Li Yao wrote letters to various county magistrates under his jurisdiction, asking them for money and people. He requested that each county must send fifty people, one thousand taels of silver, and one thousand stones of corn to the capital to supplement Liping's military strength and food. .
Liping City has eight counties under its jurisdiction. If all localities can respond positively, Li Yao can gather a strong people's team of 400 people and 8,000 taels of silver for daily expenses.
Li Yao was originally full of confidence in the counties under his jurisdiction. He didn't want much, just fifty people, one thousand taels of silver, and one thousand stones of corn. Can you still give me some thin noodles as the new prefect?
But what disappointed him was that few people gave him face.
Of the eight counties under Liping's jurisdiction, the magistrate of Xinhua County sent fifty people and eight hundred taels of silver. Other counties either sent twenty or thirty people, or only three or four hundred taels of silver, or three or four. A hundred stones of coarse rice.
Since there was no county magistrate in Jinping County, not even a single person was sent, nor was a single tael of silver sent.
This made Li Yao very angry. As a prefect, he felt aggrieved!
"Damn it, I'm a dignified fourth-grade prefect, and he behaves like a beggar. It's really ridiculous!"
Liu Yangang, a fellow prefect, was from Shiqian Prefecture in Guizhou. He was originally determined to win the prefect, thinking that it would be his turn to be the prefect after Tian Zongren died. Unexpectedly, Li Yao airborne.
This made him feel resentful and resentful. Not only did he secretly make some small moves to restrict Li Yao's various policies, he even openly interceded for county magistrates from various places.
"Mr. Prefect, Liping has been experiencing severe drought for three consecutive years. The counties cannot collect taxes at all. Not to mention the extra food and salary, even the county's sergeants cannot pay their salaries. I think you still have to find a way to ask for it from the governor. "
Doesn’t Governor Jiang value you, Li Yao? Then you ask him for money and people, and you want the local county magistrate in Liping to donate money to you. Do you think you are Tian Zongren?
Tian Zongren has been the local emperor in Liping for more than 20 years, and the Tian family in Sizhou has a history of hundreds of years. How dare you, a Han Chinese, serve as the prefect in Liping?
As the ancients said, don't do the porcelain work without diamonds. You, Li Yao, are also forty years old. You still don't know how much you weigh?
In Liu Yangang's view, even if he didn't write letters to county magistrates, there was no guarantee that anyone would honestly send money, food and people, but he still had to interfere in order to squeeze Li Yao out of Liping.
This is also the reason why the government has never paid attention to Chang'an Town.
There are only more than 300 officers in the entire Liping City, and they are all cobbled together from various places. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are a ragtag group of people. The granaries and treasury were even more empty, and there were even rats having a meeting in broad daylight. How could they have time to pay attention to the town of Chang'an, which was two hundred miles away?
This made Li Yao frown and not think about food and tea.
Since he can't solve the problem he's facing, and he's too embarrassed to speak to Jiangdong again, it's hard for him, the governor, too!
It is said that the imperial court was quite dissatisfied with Yang Yinglong's rapid growth, and was very likely to accuse Jiangdong of lax inspections, which might lead to him losing his official title as governor!
In desperation, Li Yao's master Lou Dongfang gave him an idea, asking him to raise donations or borrow money from the wealthy gentry in Liping City.
Li Yao knew that the possibility of raising money and food was almost zero.
After all, Liping City had just been plundered by the rebels, and many landlords and gentry had lost their money and suffered considerable losses. Under such circumstances, the possibility of asking them to donate money and food was extremely slim.
"Borrowing money, maybe."
Li Yao gently stroked his beautiful beard and paced back and forth in the small study room.
He spent five taels of silver to rent this prefect's yamen. It has more than forty houses for him, the prefect, and his assistant officials and servants to live and work temporarily and handle official business.
Mr. Lou added: "You can promise some interest to the wealthy gentry, so you don't have to worry about not being able to borrow money."
"Interest?"
Li Yao was worried, "What the county magistrates from various places said in their letters are not completely groundless. There has been severe drought in Liping for many years, and the counties have difficulty in paying taxes. Where can we get interest for these landlords and gentry?"
Mr. Lou spread his hands and said: "My lord, if you don't give some benefits to the landlords and gentry, who will lend you money? In these troubled times, it is difficult to borrow money!"
"But once the interest is promised and the hole cannot be filled in the future, what should we do?"
Li Yao walked around the study with his hands behind his back, like an ant on a hot pot.
He understood what Mr. Lou said, but it was good to be able to repay the capital of the landlords and gentry. If the finances could not improve, where would they repay the interest?
"My lord, can you please stop being so serious?"
Mr. Lou shrugged anxiously, "The current situation can last for one day. We will talk about the future in the future. I don't know how long you can hold the post of prefect! It is Liping City prefect's office that owes interest to the landlords and gentry, not you. When the time comes, whoever becomes the prefect will return the favor!"
At this moment, the officer guarding the city gate came to report: "To inform the magistrate, a group of people came outside the east city gate, about thirty or forty people. The man leading it called himself Liu Gongfu. He said he had been promoted by the magistrate and asked to be released. He comes to the city to meet you."
"Liu Gongfu?"
Li Yao was immediately overjoyed and couldn't help but clapped his hands and applauded, "Haha... God is really helping me. The lord is here. Master, please go to the city gate to greet him."
