stubborn thief

Chapter 405

Liu Chengzong never dreamed that the imperial governor of Gansu would come under his rule to observe the people's sentiments.

Bai Yiqing did not leave Wild Fox Castle, he assumed the name of Yuan Su, pretending to be a Juren from Liangzhou Wei, he was going to Lanzhou to teach students, and he was very interested in the Marshal's Mansion after hearing what the president of Wild Fox Castle said.

He said that he hoped to inquire more about the news, so that he could tell his friends in the future, so as not to cause misunderstanding and confrontation towards the Marshal's Mansion.

The simple and honest Baizong of the Marshal's Mansion was caught by these rhetoric, and in a daze led the imperial governor of Gansu to the winding riverside mountain road and brought him into his lair - Wild Fox Fort.

He was originally the Bai Zong of Hekou East Gate, so why did he come here to station sixty miles?Isn't that just to protect the reputation of the commander in chief, and prevent those scumbags from the officers and soldiers from ruining the reputation of the commander in chief.

Now there is a master who is studying and is curious about them and is willing to know them. In the future, he will go to Lanzhou to help the general spread his reputation. Isn't this a great thing for him?
The size of the Wild Fox Fort is small. It was built on the highlands in the mountains on the east bank of the Zhuanglang River. To go up the fort, you must first circle around twice within the range of the crossbow firearm.

Easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Bai Yiqing entered the castle, looked left and right, he felt that the castle was undamaged, it was just that the rammed earth in some parts of the city wall was of different colors, but that was obviously not a recent incident.

This couldn't help but he asked curiously: "General, from the look of this castle, it doesn't look like it has been in a war?"

In the past, Mr. Bai was very arrogant, that's because people are as tall as people who don't ask for others, but now that he has demand for Bai Yiqing, the arrogance doesn't exist in his expression, on the contrary, he has become very kind.

Throwing off the reins and handing them to Min Zhuang who was coming up inside the castle, Mr. Bai took off the red lacquered helmet with the word "Yong" on his head and hugged it under his ribs, raised his finger to point to Bai Yiqing, and said with a smile: "No hurry, you come up with me."

As he spoke, he led Bai Yiqing to the wall of the fort, stood on a high ground, had a panoramic view of the Zhuanglang River Valley, facing the mountain wind, Mr. Bai stretched his arms and pointed around and said, "Look at this place, it's so fucking beautiful! "

Twenty or thirty miles south of the castle is Kushuiyi. To the west of Kushuiyi, dark red gravel rises from the peculiar terrain. The steep and straight peaks complement the blue sky and white clouds, forming a magnificent and beautiful Dan Xia landform.

Mr. Bai pointed to the land between Kushuiyi and Yehubao, but the joy on his face gradually faded, and instead he said with melancholy: "From Kushuiyi to the north, this valley is three or four miles wide and thirty or forty miles long. They are all good lands for growing grain, and the harvest is much higher than that of my hometown!"

After finishing speaking, he turned his head to look at Bai Yiqing: "You are a knowledgeable Juren from Liangzhou. The Zhuanglangwei Banner Army has 10,000+ acres of such good military farmland, and you still need to intercept the passing merchants and people to deduct road tax for food?"

"This..." Bai Yiqing shook his head and said, "Perhaps there are bad people, and the banner officer has a wrong mind?"

"You're right."

Mr. Bai nodded and said: "There are indeed bad people, but not only the banner officials. Let me tell you, there are thousands of hectares of land, there are palaces, generals, and officials, but there is no army to farm the land, not even a mu of land." .”

"The Banner Army doesn't have any farmland in this acre, but they plant these lands. You are knowledgeable. Can you tell me why the Banner Army wants to fight to the death with me in this fort? They have 300 people including their families. There are many people, I only brought 55 folks, surrounded the mountain for half an hour, and they ran away."

Mr. Bai was very proud, and waved his hands in front of him lightly: "I didn't shoot an arrow, I didn't fire a gun, and they all ran away."

Bai Yiqing gasped and gritted his teeth. He knew that his complexion must be very ugly at this moment.

Things are not exactly what the commander-in-chief Baizong said, they are not that extreme.

He knew that there was the Zhuangzi of Su Fan here, and King Su had more than 300 hectares of fields, two waterwheels, and a boat mill here; he also knew that there were fields of generals, officials, and wealthy families here, but there should be [-] hectares here The army garrisoned the fields.

Zhuang Langwei never had a problem with every audit in the past.

He didn't know whether the officials under him knew or didn't tell him, or they were also kept in the dark, or the low-level officer in the marshal's mansion in front of him was deceiving him, or everyone was deceiving him.

In any case, Gansu's military problems are much more serious than he imagined.

In order to avoid losing his composure, Bai Yiqing changed the subject and asked Mr. Bai: "The general just mentioned his hometown, isn't the general from Hehuang?"

"Hehuang?"

Mr. Bai smiled: "Do you know Yanchuan, Yanchuan of Yan'an Mansion."

Bai Yiqing nodded, and immediately looked at Mr. Bai differently: "Are the general and Marshal Liu from the same hometown?"

Of course he knew about Yanchuan. He had participated in Shaanxi politics since the first year of Chongzhen, and he often saw Liu Chengzong in the newspapers.

The newspaper is the residence newspaper, and the appearance of Liu Chengzong's name is often accompanied by huge damage. Either the post station is demolished, or the army is wiped out. Sometimes they haunt the west, and sometimes cause trouble in the east. It is difficult to sleep peacefully.

"I'm not from the same town. It's a little farther away in Yan'an Mansion." Mr. Bai shook his head, and then said with a smile: "Don't always call me a general, I'm not a general. Sichuan miners."

"My name is Jing Xiaoliu. I'm the commander-in-chief of Dongguan Town. I live in Jingjiagou, Yanchuan. It's okay to let you know. Anyway, the family members are dead. It's the good deeds of those generals you said."

Bai Yiqing's expression was not so much surprised as expected, and said: "The officers and soldiers killed the good and pretended to be meritorious, Du Wenhuan?"

He remembered very clearly that in the fourth year of Chongzhen, Du Wenhuan was imprisoned and dismissed because his subordinate Li Chongrong killed 190 nine good people in Yanchuan and pretended to be thieves.

Unexpectedly, Jing Xiaoliu sneered, shook his head and said, "What you're talking about is all about Chongzhen's three-year winter, and we didn't last three years at all."

As he said that, Jing Xiaoliu's eyes lost focus, and with a look of reminiscence on his face, he said, "My hometown, Jingjiagou, is a poor place with few fields. Shangguan Road, but there are coal mountains and iron mountains, as well as grass and medicinal materials."

Speaking of the situation in his hometown, Jing Xiaoliu had a regretful smile on his face: "In the second year of Chongzhen, probably a little earlier than this time, there was an incident called Monk Wang in our place, which caused quite a commotion, but our little The mountain valley is poor and remote, and I just feel that there is a severe drought and the days are sad."

"Afterwards it rained and the moisture was kept in cultivation. People worked hard to dig coal and iron, and dug out the seeds that did not germinate last year. They said that the price of grain would definitely come down in the coming year. But the handsome man attacked Yan'an Mansion and demolished the post station all the way to Yan'an. Sichuan."

Even now, Jing Xiaoliu still has a look of unrequited love when he mentions this matter: "The handsome man is here, he helped us fight the tax, drove away the servants sent by the government, and helped us open the house of the head of the grain. It was a good day for a few days, but when the handsome man came, the officers and soldiers also came... I will remember that day for the rest of my life."

Bai Yiqing looked at the little leader of the thieves in his memory in front of him, and he just felt incredible when he said these things.

When the thieves arrived at Jingjiagou, Jing Xiaoliu thought it was a good few days; when the officers and soldiers arrived at Jingjiagou, Jing Xiaoliu was extremely depressed.

Jing Xiaoliu raised two fingers: "At that time, Hou Guanjun was not considered bad, indeed, they were not too bad. The imperial court ordered them to suppress the bandits, but they didn't have much military food, and even the county town couldn't afford to pay for the bandits, so they had to go to the villages. To raise food, two hundred officers and soldiers, they only need food."

Jing Xiaoliu clapped his hands, with a relaxed and complicated smile on his face, and raised his chin slightly: "I ran a long way up the mountain road, reported to the handsome man, and wiped out the two hundred officers and soldiers. Later, their guerrilla general was also killed. The handsome master suppressed it."

Listening to the old events in northern Shaanxi, Bai Yiqing was at a loss for words to laugh or cry for a moment. Before that, he thought that Jing Xiaoliu was an officer who came from the army, but he didn't expect... this whole thing is a troublemaker.

"Why, how much food did the officers and soldiers confiscate from you, do you hate them so much?"

"I don't hate them. They didn't grab much food, maybe a thousand catties? And a few horses."

Jing Xiaoliu spoke calmly, but Bai Yiqing involuntarily took half a step back, even looking at Jing Xiaoliu with wrong eyes.

Bai Yiqing didn't understand that he was a Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli. His career as an official was not so much a civil official, but a civilian official in the army.

He first performed his duties in the Ministry of War. In the second year of the Apocalypse, Emperor Xizong also specially ordered him to create a new payment for Shanhaiguan and other departments. More than half of his political career has been related to the military.

Only he worked as the magistrate of Zhangde Prefecture for a period of time in Anyang, Henan. At that time, he had contact with the people of Henan.

The times at that time were not good. The imperial court needed money to fight in all directions. Lord Wanli levied an additional [-]% of silver in places other than Guizhou, and it was not until his death that he exempted the rioting mine supervisors in the form of a will.

But the people were not like this at the time.

It is a matter of course to pay taxes and food to the imperial court; where the officers and soldiers near the front line go, there is no need to apportion, and the gentry will bring one or two meals on behalf of the people, which is also what people want.

Later, he went to Shaanxi to be an official, and he first served as the military preparation road in Xining, and then took charge of the Guannei Road. The thieves who came down from the north beat the crap out of them.

How did you get to your Jingjiagou, Jing Xiaoliu, and it became like this, it seems that the thieves are much more friendly than the officers and soldiers.

Just for seven or eight stones of grain, just this little grain, the tip-off has killed hundreds of officers and soldiers?

What a cruel heart!

"It was the third year of the severe drought in northern Shaanxi, and we had no food for a long time."

Jing Xiaoliu said softly: "There was no harvest in the mountains for two years. I borrowed everything that could be borrowed, and sold everything that could be sold. My aunt went to be a beggar outside the mountain, and my uncle went to eat bark in the mountain. It was time to escape the crisis. But it's raining in Yanchuan, and I want to fight with the seeds...they steam the nests and cook the noodles, shouldn't they die?"

Bai Yiqing was speechless.

In fact, before that, he always thought that the root of the problem was the decline of Daming's morality and etiquette.

Morality and etiquette are not invisible and intangible fantasy things. To put it bluntly, they are axioms, which exist in the hearts of everyone in the entire society.

There is no axiom in Ming Dynasty now, only everyone’s reason, different people with different identities have their own difficulties and reasons, go against the axiom and go their own way.

But now it seems that the decline of morality and etiquette is not the underlying reason but the appearance.

What is the underlying reason, what Bai Yiqing wants to do, but he can't find out from everything he is used to.

Even as a governor, he couldn't reverse the decline in Gansu by himself. To put it bluntly, he couldn't even do such a simple thing as the Qing army.

On the surface, the Qing army should be supported by the army, but in fact, the people in power in the army are the targets of the Qing army.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help asking Jing Xiaoliu: "General Jing, how does the Marshal's Mansion deal with the military rations? I think you don't collect road taxes, and only rely on attacking Lanzhou?"

Jing Xiaoliu glanced at him, thinking that this old man was still very concerned about the affairs of the Marshal's Mansion, he sneered and said: "Everyone can expect to move things from Lanzhou, the Marshal's Mansion is poorer, but the government of officials and gentry is better than that of the imperial court. too much."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Bai Yiqing, and said: "Master Yuan, is it possible that he wants to find a job in the Shuai's Mansion? The Shuai's Mansion is currently employing people, and you are a member of the imperial court. You will definitely be able to show your talents here. "

Bai Yiqing suppressed a smile when he heard the words, this matter is too funny, it is understandable for the general army to surrender and surrender, the imperial court gave him the responsibility of the chief official of the border, even if he died, he would have to die in office, how could he go to the marshal's mansion.

However, these words opened a window for him. Since the Marshal's Mansion is employing people, and now there is a small leader like Jing Xiaoliu, why doesn't he follow the trend and recruit a few students to use the Marshal's Mansion?

He laughed and said: "The villain is already very old. I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to serve for a few years if he goes to the commander-in-chief's mansion. However, there are some students who can't make up for the real shortage in the court. If the marshal's mansion is really like what the general said, the officials are clean and bright. The talented people show their skills, I want them to try."

When Jing Xiaoliu heard this, his eyes lit up, and he said happily, "That's really great, let them find me when they come, and I'll introduce them."

"but……"

"But what?"

Bai Yiqing pretended to be troubled, and asked with concern: "The villain heard that the marshal's mansion drove out all the wealthy gentry, will they go and benefit?"

"Whoever killed them all? The wealthy gentry in Hehuang all ran away before the war started." Jing Xiaoliu laughed and stared, "Is that how the court said the Marshal's Mansion? The Marshal's Mansion did punish some rich and unkind Killed some gentry, but those people deserve to die, I won’t tell you what bad things they have done, they killed hundreds of people, we just killed one, is it wrong?”

"Those big households occupying tens of thousands of acres of land, a dozen or so members of his family live well, and hundreds of other people can't eat enough. The commander's mansion took their fields and spared their lives, so what? "

Jing Xiaoliu opened his hands and said: "Hehuang also has some big households left behind. They have farmed and studied for generations, and treated tenants well. Even if the commander took over their land, they still make suggestions and design channels in the village and in the town. People are very respectful."

"Some people are just lying on the ground, sucking human blood and cannibalizing women's wives and daughters. The tenants would get up and beat him to death without the command of the commander-in-chief. He didn't care even if he sued the king of hell!"

Needless to say, Bai Yiqing, the governor of Gansu, was excited when he heard this, his heart was on fire, and he wished he could go back to Gansu to incite the tenants to kill such bastards.

Not only was he fascinated by the sound, he even had a plan in his heart. He had to use extraordinary methods in extraordinary times, and he had no way to deal with those who occupied the military settlements in Gansu by conventional means.

He has already seen that the Marshal's Mansion has not actually solved any problems, but a war with enough intensity has almost solved the problem.

This made him make up his mind to get a few students from Lanzhou and Gansu and stuff them into the Marshal's Mansion.

If you go in, you can inquire about the news of the Marshal's Mansion; if you go back, you can do some further study to attract some talents to come back, and you can solve the problems in Gansu with some success in your studies... Gansu is bad because there are no rebels, and there is no army that obeys his orders.

But he can create, but he still doesn't know at this time whether he will create a standard battalion that obeys his orders, or create a rebel army.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)