stubborn thief

Chapter 165

Liu Chengzong's most urgent task is to figure out the ins and outs of this matter.

Just in time for He Yong, who had obtained He Renlong's approval, to deliver the Tangbao and Dibao, Liu Chengzong immediately asked He Yong to send all the previous two months, and gave money every month.

He Yong handled this matter extremely neatly, and directly drove the horse-drawn carriage to Crouching Tiger Mountain, and Mei Zizi took away 25 taels of silver from the Lion Camp.

Liu Chengzong read the Dibaotang newspaper carefully, and he felt that this Chongzhen Lord seemed... seemed crazy.

Before Hou Jin entered the bandits, what he said and did was really like an emperor, with grace and bearing.

Then after Jin entered the bandits, his temperament changed drastically.

It's not about swearing, it's about quarreling with whomever is caught, and complaining about what is caught, and Huang Taiji is directly sent into menopause.

As for the money, it is simple. To put it bluntly, the capital is out of money.

So find a way to search for silver and transport it to Beijing. Zhu Luqin's army gathered in the capital. The tide of mutiny has passed, and all those left are starving loyal soldiers. From the reinforcements from the nine borders to Guan Ning, at least five months are owed. military pay.

Let others work hard, and you have to give money.

Therefore, the imperial court had to find a way to search for money. The old taxes owed by the local governments could not be paid, and more and more people could not pay the new taxes. Last year's taxes were only collected one-third of the rated amount.

That can only find another way. The original Chu’s salary was 80 taels, which was renamed Qian’s salary on the spot after the She’an Rebellion.

There is also the retention fee of the Ministry of Industry of each province, and the total is 130 taels.

This money is not easy to collect, as long as the officials with a normal mind, the whole province will not be willing to hand over the money.

Getting this money to the capital means that the local government has no ability to prevent, prevent, or organize subsequent disasters.

The imperial court also knew that the money was not easy to collect, so they sent young Beijing officials down to get the money to the capital, that is, imperial envoys.

The money that the monkey said was transported to Yulin Town via Hexi Road was the money from Shaanxi.

It is important to understand the ins and outs of this matter.

But after he figured it out, the chief sentinels were less concerned about the money.

At the beginning, Shangtian Monkey screamed the most vigorously. After a few days, it seemed that he had entered the time of a sage, and shook his head with his chin propped up: "Forget it, after thinking about it, I have no place to spend the money... gold, silver and jewelry are of no use to me." ?”

Liu Chengzong raised his hand and laughed, it seems that his education of monkeys has been very effective.

In fact, what Shang Tianhou said was also the most embarrassing place for the uprising in northern Shaanxi in the late Ming Dynasty.

The economy of most regions has been tossed and messed up by the drought, and the use of the white money in this area is really limited.

The temptation is indeed not great.

But Liu Chengzong still waved his hand: "You can't say that, gold and silver, the Lion Camp can only say that there is no shortage, and we don't pay wages, so I plan to go back and give some pocket money to the brothers every now and then."

"Small flowers."

The Heavenly Monkey pondered the word, raised his hand and scratched his disheveled head: "Where do the flowers go?"

"You can spend it anywhere. I think the money must be robbed. It doesn't matter why we are robbed. The important thing is not to let the money fall into the hands of the emperor."

Liu Chengzong was very serious when he said this, and pointed to the north in the tent of the Chinese army: "If the emperor has money, he can pay the frontier army. After paying the salary, these people will come to clean us up."

In fact, Liu Chengzong felt that it was true that Lion Camp did not really need this money, but Chongzhen did not need it even more.

Huang Taiji, the tour guide of the Jianzhou tour group, has returned to Shenyang, so what money should he give Chongzhen?
Zhong Hu, who was standing aside, said worriedly: "This amount of money sounds like a lot, and if we rob it, I'm afraid it will lead to conquest by the frontier army."

"That's right."

Liu Chengzong pointed at Zhong Hu: "Then tell me, should the frontier soldiers get enough food and drink to deal with us, or should the brothers take the money and fight them again?"

Zhong Hu was stunned, and resentfully said: "Then you must be starving!"

"That's it, but I think it's also possible...forget it."

Halfway through Liu Chengzong's speech, he felt that things in his head needed to be carefully planned, so he didn't continue, but said to the Monkey King: "Jiusi, you have acquaintances in Yichuan, so you can ask about Yinzi." It's up to you."

After Shang Tianhou nodded in response, he continued to instruct: "Ask me how much it is, have an approximate amount, and how many people are in the escort team."

"Don't look back and transport four big boxes in two carriages, thinking there are 3 to 200 taels, and open it for 30 taels. The next day, the mansion reported that Liu Chengzong, the giant thief in Yan'an, killed [-] officials and robbed [-] taels of silver. That's interesting."

Everyone laughed, and the Heavenly Monkey didn't delay much, and went out to do things after receiving the mission.

Seeing Chengyun smiling happily, Liu Chengzong said, "Chengyun, I also found something for you."

"What's the matter, bro?"

"Now there are book offices in every outpost. Shangtianhou went to the south, He Yong was in the north, and many leaders in northern Shaanxi have also entered Shanxi. I need you to go around the villages, starting from Yanchuan, and register the household registration of each village. Register the land."

"Deng, register?"

Chengyun was taken aback for a moment, and asked, "There are only a few villages left, what else can be registered?"

"Even if there is only one left, it must be registered. I guess there are no big households for the population, land, hydrology, and property of the people."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "If the whole village is willing, if the whole village is willing, if you encounter other thieves in the future, you can report me Liu Shizi's name. There will be no more dead people in northern Shaanxi."

Chengyun was stunned for a moment, nodded and said: "Okay, I understand."

He was in a daze not because Liu Chengzong started to claim territory, but because northern Shaanxi could no longer kill people.

This is Liu Xiangyu's self-help plan.

At that time, Liu Chengzong had just returned home, and his second uncle said that he wanted to save himself, predicting that there would be no food in northern Shaanxi to support soldiers, and that thieves would enter Jin Dynasty in large numbers.

But Liu Xiangyu's prediction was only accurate to this point. He also said at that time that when the bandits entered Jin, the court should have recovered.

It is said that the emperor's sage will exempt the Qin land from taxes, and he will issue disaster relief.

When the thieves return and have a physical place, there will be no more chaos.

The latter one is all right, the court has not recovered, the emperor has not exempted from taxes, gentry... there are no gentry left in northern Shaanxi.

Chengyun was in a daze, because he heard Liu Chengzong's meaning, and wanted to break back what the second uncle didn't predict.

But Cao Yao didn't know about this, he asked: "What's the use of registering the common people? ?”

"Of course not."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "I'm not planning territory, but I want to understand this land, find out all the living people, try to have a good relationship with them, and find a way...to keep them alive."

"The money we want to rob is supposed to be used for water conservancy construction. Large water conservancy facilities will not be repaired for a while, but we can do some small ones."

But he knew in his heart that it would be difficult to change this thing through small efforts under the conditions of the drought that has become a trend.

So he just wanted to save the lives of the remaining people. After all, they stayed here for a while, and they probably didn't plan to leave in their lifetime.

Liu Chengzong couldn't do more things, he could only try his best to protect them from man-made disasters and bear natural disasters.

"The government can't get out of the city gate. Besides, there are only county government offices in many places in the north of Yanzhou, and there are no county magistrates. We will act as a middleman. If the river stops flowing in the future, we will move them to other places and save them. .”

"If I'm here, they don't have to pay the court. If I leave, they will delay as long as they can. Maybe I will come back after delaying."

Cao Yao understood, nodded and raised his hands one after another, "Anyway, I still won't pay the imperial court."

"By the way, if you don't pay the court, anyone, the officials and the people, can live. As long as you don't work for the court, I won't harm them."

Wang Wenxiu brushed his beard and asked: "Where are those leaders coming back, not sticking to the mud, Gao Chuang Wang?"

"They have all entered Shanxi, which one will not be fat when they come back. If they come back from Shanxi naked, they will come back and snatch the common people's melons and dates..."

Liu Chengzong thought about it, and there might be this possibility. He said: "The little chieftains are so hungry that we can help them survive. If there are any who like to kill for fun, we will help them reincarnate."

"As for the big leader who can be named, King Chuang won't do such a thing, and I don't think he's so confused if he doesn't get muddled. King Huntian and Zuo Guangzi may recruit for security. It's okay if they don't. I think we can talk about it."

"Lion, I still don't understand, why?"

The Heavenly Monkey wondered, "Just do something good?"

"It's not just about doing good deeds. Think about it. We robbed food so we could eat it ourselves. Why did we rob money? There's nowhere to spend it. To put it bluntly, I just want my brothers to drink some wine. I can't find it anywhere." There's so much wine."

Liu Chengzong explained: "My head is also a little messy. How can I put together the villages along the river and the water? This village has sheep, and that village has grain. If there is no surplus, forget it."

"If there is a surplus, we can send some pocket money to the Zhan Fubing. The sentries will camp around, and occasionally take a vacation. Go to the village to eat mutton, drink a few small wines, and settle a family. The local people will also have money. , and then there will be a market again.”

Liu Chengzong said with a sigh: "The people who follow me are all honest people, we can't always surround them like this and let them suffer."

Liu Chengzong didn't think about harvesting grain at all, and at most he was looking forward to the insignificant agricultural surplus.

But he also knows that these villages are not enough to support themselves, let alone support them.

Moreover, the drought will continue. Even if the savings are merged, there will probably be nothing to merge in the future. At that time, he will have to take these people elsewhere.

"The teenagers and youths in these peasant households are also our reserve soldiers. They stay here and can eat. Even by this time next year, their bodies will be almost the same, at least better than the current auxiliary soldiers."

Speaking of the physique of the auxiliary soldiers, Liu Chengzong became angry.

Why did he ignore this when recruiting troops?
It never occurred to me that someone couldn't wear armor.

The young and strong body of the self-cultivator is much stronger than that of the homeless and hungry people who ran around begging for a year or two.

Liu Chengzong looked at Cheng Yun: "After registering these, we will do as we discussed in Shanxi before. Let a wounded soldier be released in a village. Those who are willing to practice martial arts will teach them."

"In terms of household registration, start with the village first. If there are villagers who are familiar with the county government's book office, they will use the old style of Yan'an Fucheng."

Cao Yao shook his head and said nothing. Seeing that Liu Chengzong looked at it suspiciously, he quickly shook his head and said, "It's okay, it's fine, I just find it troublesome."

He was too familiar with this feeling, and it was still Liu Chengzong's usual restraint.

Old Bandit Cao frowned and said, "What's the matter with trying so hard to let the common people know the thieves?"

"It's easy for the people to get through the thieves, just get closer, but when the officers and soldiers arrive, we run away, and the people will die if they can't leave, not to mention it's good for us."

Liu Chengzong said: "We don't occupy this place, we only provide temporary protection, there is no expectation, the people will not be angry when the army comes, let alone you."

He raised his hand and tapped on his temple: "There is nothing in the world that can restrain me except my heart. Will I kill someone when I am angry?"

"I don't have the ability to protect them for a lifetime, so I can't expect the people to be determined to follow me. Moreover, in northern Shaanxi, it is difficult to separate from the Great Wall to the north. If Yulin Town is not destroyed, there will always be a knife hanging over their heads."

The Great Wall is like a highway, and the frontier troops of Shanxi Xuanda can reach Yulin quickly by crossing the Yellow River whenever they need it.

There is such a thing in the north, not to mention the current climate, I just want to cut it off.

We can only take this opportunity to temporarily establish a safe passage from Xizhou in Shanxi to Xingzi River in Yan'an Prefecture under the cover of Ansai Qianhu Ren Quan'er and Yuhebao He Yong pulling out the first northern line of defense.

Cao Yao squeezed his eyes, did not speak, paused and laughed to himself.

According to his thinking, people in this day and age are going to die no matter what, and there is no need to think so much about others.

"It's strange to say, I know that you always want to be a human being, and I also know that you just want to be a human being, but this situation..."

Cao Yao shook his head, there was no sarcasm on his face, but he said with little admiration: "I can tell you that I can be a human being in this situation. If I were outside by myself, I might have already eaten someone."

He made a prophecy: "In the future, someone will build a temple for you and make a fucking golden body for you."

"Yes, it's not easy to be a person. It's even more difficult to be an individual with more than 4000 people."

Liu Chengzong nodded, smiled easily after saying a word, looked at the people sitting cross-legged in the tent and said: "But fortunately, there are everyone to help, this person, what we have done so far is not bad."

After that, Liu Chengzong thought of another happy thing. He got up and groped beside the couch in the military tent, finally took out a pond newspaper, and said to everyone, "Guess, who did I see on here today?"

Before anyone else could speak, Chengyun said first, "Brother, is there any news about Yang Yanchang?"

"It's a good guess."

Liu Chengzong raised his finger to point at him, and said with a smile: "Commander Yang did not bad in Beizhili. He didn't follow Wu Zimian, but he was sent to recruit militiamen. He did not bad."

Chengyun applauded: "This is Monk Wang's old profession!"

"Yes, so he was promoted again because of this, and got a job as a civil servant, tsk tsk."

The more Liu Chengzong thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh, and said: "I think if the two of them can come back alive this time, there will be high-ranking officials among the thieves in northern Shaanxi."

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)