stubborn thief

Chapter 200 Jiang Yingchang's Great Adventure

On the night when Zhixian disappeared, the people in Heshui City closed their doors and closed their doors.

People hid in the cracks of the door and heard hoofs trampling on the ground, and saw horsemen with fire horses galloping up and down the street, and screams came from the west and east of the city from time to time.

People thought that only their own family was the lucky one in this war.

The next day was bright and the sun had not yet risen. The city filled with humidity was a little calm. Some bold people went out, and they could still see clues of last night's chaos on the street.

Some dirty cloth and scattered grain, and even a wooden cart with a broken wheel was parked crookedly under the eaves beside the road.

Then the people who went out first discovered that the doggy neighbor who built the courtyard wall an extra foot was still alive.

Every family is still alive.

After the catastrophe, relatives and neighbors visited each other and rushed to tell each other, but they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts: Who died?

After the panic, the county students were the first to organize. Under the leadership of the teaching instruction, they each led their servants and friends to form several teams of seven or eight people.

Then you know who died.

The maid who was released last night from Yuan's mansion in the west of the city said that Yuan Yuan's family entered the army last night.

Except for Mrs. Liu, who had just bought home the day before yesterday, was taken away, Yuan Yuan, his family members and helpers were killed to the point of bloodshed.

The things in the house were also completely removed, and hundreds of two-wheeled mule carts brought in from outside the city.

In addition, Master Feng in the east of the city and the family of the Nie County Prime Minister were all ruined soldiers. The students rushed after hearing the news, and saw that the dead bodies of the family died in different ways.

The methods of this group of frontier soldiers were extremely cruel, and there were hardly a few corpses that were properly killed.

However, later onlookers said that those who were hanged had hanged others a few years ago, and those who were put into sacks and beaten to death with sticks had also used such methods to harm others.

It's as if they're here for revenge.

Knowing that it was these people who died, the onlookers clapped their hands and applauded.

A life member said: "In any case, hundreds of people died last night. The corpses can't just be left here. They should smell bad tomorrow. Let's go to the same village and make some coffins for them?"

The people who were clapping just now turned their faces away and left.

The student hurriedly shouted: "Don't go, don't go, if you don't make up the coffin, just make a straw mat, don't go, take it out of the city to the head office?"

After finally organizing a team, they collected the corpses and carried them outside the city, but when they were halfway there, they heard that the frontier soldiers hadn't left, so they set up two battalions outside Xiguan.

There is still black smoke rising in the distance to the west, and it should be Dingjiabao, a large grain merchant in the county.

The people who carried the corpse in the funeral procession said: "This is to eliminate harm for the people!"

"It's just a pity that Jiang's parents have only been in the small county for two years. Although they haven't done anything big, they haven't done anything to harm the local area. I don't know how long it will take for the court to send another official, and I don't know what will be sent."

"Yeah yeah!"

Especially for the county middle school students, Jiang Yingchang paid great attention to Confucianism education, and even went to Confucianism to teach them when there was nothing to do in the county. In addition to their parents and officials, they also had the identity of their teachers.

At this time, thinking that the county magistrate was trapped in the hands of thieves, he did not know whether he was alive or dead, and several students in the county were all worried.

The city was still feeling emotional, and suddenly someone shouted from the city: "I saw the county magistrate!"

The common people immediately threw the corpses on the ground, and rushed up the city wall along the stone slope of the horse road. Someone pointed to the distance and said, "The magistrate is there!"

Outside the Xicheng moat, there were more than a dozen frontier soldiers and horsemen. Some were holding flags, some were raising whips, and there were people driving mule carts and donkey carts behind them.

Beyond the smoke and dust, Jiang Yingchang, the parent officer of Heshui County, walked eastward, accompanied by a young man in frontier armor, and the two walked slowly to the moat.

Liu Chengzong looked up at the top of the city, reckoning that the distance was about the same, and if he got closer, he would be able to hit him with a blunderbuss set up on the city.

He said, "Call me."

Jiang Yingchang knew what he meant, but still shook his head: "You have done good deeds for Heshui, and the food and property you left behind can save many people. Jiang believes that those who clean up will clean up themselves."

Liu Chengzong raised his eyes and said, "But you didn't stop me."

"If I were the magistrate of Qingyang, I would lead an army to stop you."

Jiang Yingchang raised his chin toward the county seat: "Heshui is a small county, there are no soldiers and no food, even the death of the whole county can't stop you. I am a parent of the same place by the emperor's grace, and it is beyond my ability to tarnish my reputation and keep one side safe." .”

Liu Chengzong nodded: "All right."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and walked away, took two steps and then turned around and said: "Jiangzhi County, the world is unpredictable, there is only one Liu Chengzong, but there are many thieves in the world, maybe I will hear your name again next time."

"Either you were taken away by the court and imprisoned, or you lived and died with the city. If you go to the city, bring your family and follow me. I will protect you from worrying about food and clothing."

Jiang Yingchang was stunned for a moment, then paused for a moment, clasped his fists silently, and said: "The reward of eating the king, the matter of loyalty to the king, I will die if the city is broken, and I will die well."

Liu Chengzong had already rolled onto the back of the red flag, and he nodded again, saying that he had thought of this kind of result before, and he only spoke out of a routine idea, and said: "Everyone has his own ambitions, don't blame me for not reminding you when the time comes."

"The governor is using tactics. If you want, I can pass the message on your behalf." Jiang Yingchang said: "If you immediately submit your soldiers, the general will still be rich and honored for the rest of his life."

It's easy to be rich for a lifetime, but who can say how long it will be?
What's more, what the imperial court did was to teach him that the better he played and the later he dropped, the more benefits he would get.

Now his price is basically on the part of the general. If he wipes out the two generals, he will probably be promoted to the deputy general. It is not impossible to spend money as the general.

But isn't that just asking for guilt? Now that he has no soldiers and food, he can find a way from others, and the resentment of the soldiers without soldiers and food will all accumulate on him.

Being rich and honored for two days will be slaughtered, and it will be considered a lifetime of wealth and honor, so who can you ask for reasoning.

It is impossible for a general to lose his wealth and honor for a lifetime, at least he must still maintain his position as the chieftain, and he will stay in the soil forever, so that Liu Shizi can consider it.

Liu Chengzong smiled and reined in the reins: "I appreciate it with good intentions, but I'm afraid I'm not rich enough for one lifetime, so I'm leaving."

After finishing speaking, he threw something from his waist and turned the horse's head, and the horse soldiers who were wandering left and right led the donkeys and mules to gallop west, leaving behind carts full of grain and goods.

Jiang Yingchang accepted his official seal, he couldn't think of the position of chieftain, he felt that this young man's thinking was very dangerous, his life is not rich enough, what do you want to do?

Do you plan to live in the Taimiao after death?

Jiang Yingchang heaved a sigh of relief as the horse team stepped across the barren fields and rubbed his swollen bags under his eyes. He hadn't stayed up all night for a long time.

Fastening the official seal back around his waist, he turned his head, the rising sun shone on his face, and being up all night made him very weak, and he felt dizzy against the sun.

But Heshui County is still there.

When the suspension bridge fell, a large number of county residents rushed out, with their wives and children running at the forefront, and the always virtuous and shy woman jumped on her, her face haggard and rainy.

Jiang Yingchang only responded with a silly smile: "Ma'am, come back, hug me when you get home, there are so many people watching."

When the woman backed away in embarrassment, the magistrate picked up his five-year-old son and asked with a smile, then he was surrounded by the students in the crowd.

People chattered and asked: "Sir, did the bandit soldiers hurt you?"

Jiang Yingchang laughed silently for a long time before he breathed a sigh of relief: "No hair was hurt."

"What did the gentleman say to that bandit soldier just now?"

"That's not a bandit soldier, it's Liu Chengzong, a giant in Yan'an Prefecture." Jiang Yingchang's face was both helpless and arrogant, and finally said with a smile: "I persuaded him, but he won't surrender."

After all, before everyone finished laughing and flattering him, he hugged his son in one hand, pointed at the vehicles outside the city with the other, nodded to a county student and said, "Hurry up, call the folks to transport the money and food into the official treasury in the city, and close the city gate to count the money." The loss in the county this time."

Everyone was very curious about the money and food. Several county student members went to gather the people, and some people still gathered around and asked curiously: "My lord, why did the bandits leave the money and food?"

"I want to come. I said that the small county is particularly poor. Even if they robbed the money and food, they can't let them take it away. They are not bad. They are all underpaid soldiers. They still have a conscience. They really left some for the county."

The people happily brought Jiangzhi County into the city. Before reaching the gate of the city, Jiang Yingchang saw the corpses lying on the ground in front of him, and then turned his head to look outside the west city, which had gone far away.

Back at the county yamen, the students were still counting outside the yamen. Jiang Yingchang had already issued several orders for the money and food that Jiang Zhixian went deep into the enemy.

He appointed nine surviving students in the county, six of them rotated to assist in guarding the city gate, and the remaining three organized the people to repair the defense equipment and weapons.

"Liu Chengzong will not be the last to enter Qingyang, and the luck of Heshui City will not always be so good. Recruiting troops to prepare for war, there will be more thieves in the future."

The money and food will be counted out quickly.

Liu Chengzong definitely left a lot of things for him, and more than 100 vehicles took two trips back and forth to transport them back to the city.

There are more than [-] stones of grains and grains. There are old grains, rotten grains, and grains with worms, but there is no new grain with a strong smell of clean grains.

The value of the goods is difficult to estimate, for there were no gold, silver, leather goods, fabrics, spices, or even copper coins.

It is full of things that are not easy to throw away, rare foreign goods, jade, porcelain, precious paper, wine pot decorations, famous wood furniture and so on.

Jiang Yingchang knew what Liu Chengzong would leave last night, so it didn't matter if he heard the report from the students. He just waved his hand and said, "Let's write a notice, and post it not only in the city, but also in every place outside the city. If it's sold, it's all paid for." Seventy percent of the market price is sold, and it can be bought with money or grain.”

"If you really can't sell it, it will be temporarily stored in the official treasury, and it will be counted when it is sold."

He calculated that these things looked scattered, but in fact, if they could all be sold at the market price, they could be sold for at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

It has paid more tax than his county in ten years.

Just for those two Qiangong Babu beds, if you sell them for less than a thousand taels of silver, you will lose money.

It's just that no one in the county can afford it now, and [-]% of the market price can't afford it.

Jiang Yingchang felt that Liu Chengzong's soldiers were genuine. Those soldiers did have a way of looting. They were very organized. They didn't demolish, set fire to, or smash up. They tore down five walls just to move the two beds.

After spending so much effort, he finally left it.

The most important order Jiang Yingchang issued was to recruit the hungry people, select the strong people from the hungry people, and form a strong army.

This night's experience touched him a lot.

Not to mention escape from the tiger's mouth, but enough for the rest of his life, not to mention Liu Chengzong's lion camp is restrained and shrewd.

During the whole robbery process, Liu Chengzong stripped off his official robe, changed him into commoner clothes, and took him with him, so that he could see it from beginning to end.

The wealth of the three big tyrants, relatives and corrupt officials shocked him even more.

He had been a parent officer in Heshui for two years, and he never thought that there would be so much wealth in this county.

Babu beds, Western clocks, hundreds of pieces of silk and satin, and even a dozen pieces of fabric for official uniforms.

There are many things that Jiang Yingchang, an old hat, has never seen in his life. It was a big adventure for him to open his eyes overnight.

He was almost scared to death. Can the common people who eat dirt not rebel?
Yuan Yuan dug seven or eight grain cellars underground in the courtyard. It is unknown when the cellars were dug.

But Yuan Yuanwai took this problem into consideration when he was repairing the cellar. They neatly piled Jiajing Tongbao one foot thick under the cellar. If it rotted, the running water would seep into the ground through the money eyes, so as not to pollute the food.

Jiang Yingchang used to know that there was a lot of money to open a casino, but he didn't expect that those who opened a casino had so much money that they didn't regard money as money.

There is also that Yuan Sanmo, taking advantage of yesterday's chaos in the county, led gangs to rob two big households, murdered and looted, brought four gangs, robbed a woman, and left the city at night from the north of the city.

Almost let him run away.

He was caught by the cavalry soldiers left outside by the lion camp. He didn't have a tael of silver on him, and he rolled up eight catties of gold bars by himself.

Jiang Yingchang has never seen so much gold in his life, counting his visits to jewelry stores in Qingyang Fucheng. It would be 500 taels in silver.

The gold is not important, what is important is the family that was robbed.

The old man lived for more than 40 years and did not do any bad things. He neither merged fields, bought shops, nor opened casinos. He just ate, drank and had fun in his life.

I haven't done any bad things. The county always donates 20 taels and [-] taels to repair bridges and roads.

The amount of money is not small, and he is a very charitable person.

Jiang Yingchang always knew that the old man had some money in his family, he was generous, and he also knew how the money came from.

The old man had an uncle who was a eunuch. When the court sent a tax supervisor, he went to Xi'an Mansion to point out where to demolish and where to occupy, so the whole family lived comfortably for decades.

But Jiang Yingchang never knew that he was so rich.

He ruled not only this small city on Wednesday, but more than a hundred miles under his rule, and the people in more than a hundred miles were fleeing, begging for work, gnawing bark, and starving to death.

It's all like this, can the people not rebel?
Sitting in the county government office, Jiang Yingchang crumpled up the half-written letter to Yang He, threw it aside, re-sharpened the ink, and picked up the pen to write the letter.

He still wanted Yang He to transfer troops to Heshui County, and he still wanted to warn Yan'an Mansion against the bandits who migrated westward to escape the Guanning Army, but more importantly, he wanted Yang He to know these things and write a letter. long letter.

Know what Liu Chengzong's troops are.

Knowing the great wealth of those who are rich, knowing that the poor are extremely poor, it is not simply that the rich have no place for the poor to stand.

No matter what, from this moment on, Jiang Yingchang knew that he was the Zhenzhi County with great power in Heshui County.

He also knew that this time, there was no constraint or hindrance, and the poor and hungry people of Heshui, whose families were destroyed, felt the pain of their own skin... There was no room for shirking responsibility.

　good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)