The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 646
Song Wangguo had just returned to the inn that day and found four policemen in the yard where they lived.

One of the arresters was actually missing a hand, but at a glance, the breath of these four arresters was very special, just like his guards, they all looked like elite fighters, and their eyes were even more sharp.

"Mr. Song, Mr. Song." The guards he stayed in the inn stepped forward one after another, saying that the police came to register.

He didn't understand what it meant, so he asked: "Brothers, I don't know what to order." Then he took out ten taels of silver ingots and stuffed them into the hands of the leader.

"Ba..." the broken-armed policeman quickly pushed away his silver ingot, and said coldly, "Don't use this, no one in Dengzhou City will take it."

"..." Song Wangguo looked in disbelief, this trick was tried and tested in other places in the Ming Dynasty.

"It's like this. The sign you came in can only stay for three days, but you may leave tomorrow, and there will be an extra day. Just take out your sign and register for you, otherwise tomorrow, you will not be able to leave the city."

Oh, so that's the case, Song Wangguo didn't expect the investigation to be so strict here.

He took out a sign with a number on it, and Song Wangguo watched the other party register it with a pen. The pen was a pen he had never seen before, like wood.

The registration is complete, and the police quickly return the sign to him.

"Dozens of you use the same brand, it's best not to go separately, if you find out that you don't have a license, it will be very troublesome."

"No, no, we stay at the inn when we have nothing to do, and we don't run around." Song Wangguo laughed.

The catcher hummed quickly, turned around and left.

After Song Wangguo waited for them to leave, he picked up the money in his hand. This was the fifth time he had been rejected since he came to Dengzhou.

The guards at the gate of Dengzhou City did not accept them, the policemen did not accept them, and the guards of shopkeeper Mao did not accept them. The merchants had to pay taxes when they came in, and the tax collectors did not accept them either.

Song Wangguo was a little unbelievable.

Is this still the Ming Dynasty he knew?
He came all the way from the west, and the officials and military officials in any state capital in Ming Dynasty did not charge money.

Sure enough, at this time someone beside him said in a deep voice: "Shopkeeper, this Dengzhou is a bit evil, it is different from the Mingren City Mansion we have seen."

"I think those arrests look like retired sergeants on the battlefield, and they are full of vigor."

"This Dengzhou evil door, we should leave early."

The crowd was chattering.

Song Wangguo thought for a while: "You rest in the inn, don't run around, and don't cause trouble, Xiao Wu, come out with me."

After Song Wangguo made arrangements, he took his confidant Xiaowu and took to the street with a sign issued by Dengzhou.

He was busy buying horses a few days ago, and he was not in the mood to observe. This time he observed carefully.

I found that Dengzhou Street is orderly and the buildings are simple and clear.

It is said that many important shops have moved to the commercial street.

The street where he is located is mainly populated by local people. The street is about eight meters wide, which is much wider than the average prefecture.

The street is east-west, with houses and residences on the south and various shops and warehouses on the north.

The biggest bright spot on the street is cleanliness.

Every hundred steps or so, he could see a large barrel on the corner of the street, and he began to wonder what this barrel was for.

Later, it was discovered that some people came out of their homes, took a pile of garbage, threw it into the bucket, and covered the bucket again.

Someone accidentally threw the garbage out of the bucket, looked around in shock, picked it up quickly, and threw it in again.

Song Wangguo quickly understood that there was a word written on the back of the bucket: "Trash can."

Hehe, it's interesting, but he saw that the people didn't dare to throw it around, and quickly picked it up after throwing it outside. He suddenly wanted to know what would happen if it was thrown outside.

Song Wangguo looked around and patted Xiao Wu: "Let's go, buy a roasted chicken leg to eat."

Xiao Wu is also a young man, less than 20 years old, and he is overjoyed when he hears this.

The two came to the stall selling roast chicken and found that the living conditions of the people in Dengzhou were very good, and they had to queue up to buy roast chicken legs.

Just queue up, the people are actually talking about the war that happened not long ago.

"I heard that Xu Zongbing, the commander of Denglai, made great contributions in this battle and severely injured 8000 Tartars."

"There is also the former Dengzhou guerrilla king Weizhong. They are all famous generals who went out of Dengzhou."

"The Tartars met my Dengzhou soldiers, and naturally fell into disrepair."

"I don't know how the court will reward them."

The common people were talking about military and state affairs, Song Wangguo and Xiao Wu were a little lost again, feeling that they were not in the Ming Dynasty again.

People in other parts of the Ming Dynasty just wanted to live a good life. If they stuttered, who would have the time to talk about such important military affairs, besides, they didn't know what happened.

The two bought roasted chicken legs, walked while eating, and walked to a trash can.

Xiao Wu understood what Song Wangguo meant, grabbed a lot of bones in his hand, and threw them into the trash can, but deliberately threw a few pieces outside.

Then close the trash can and want to leave.

"Stop." Suddenly an old man selling vegetables stood up beside him.

The two were stunned.

"Would you like to leave after throwing the garbage outside? You will be fined." The old man grinned, took out a red cuff from the basket, and put it on his sleeve.

Co-authoring him to sell vegetables here is still a part-time job.

Song Wangguo was thinking, what would happen if the two of us ran away?This Dengzhou is really interesting.

But he still didn't choose to run away, so he asked with a smile, "Old man, how much is the fine?"

"Twenty Wen."

"So expensive?" Xiao Wu exclaimed, not even so many roasted chicken legs.

"You are not locals, are you?" The old man looked enigmatic.

"We're from out of town."

"Ten essays for outsiders."

Song Wangguo chuckled and happily fined the money.

But the old man asked them to pick it up and throw it into the trash can, and reminded them not to throw food on the street, and finally gave them a list.

Song Wangguo said, I don't want a list, what's the use of this list?

The old man said, you must take it away. If you don’t like it, find a place to throw it away. Don’t throw it here, otherwise the superiors will think that I have embezzled these ten coins.

He observed carefully, the list was originally a rectangular piece of yellow paper, the old man tore half of it for him, and kept the other half.

Presumably this is evidence of a fine.

Song Wangguo felt more interesting, and the two quickly walked back to the street. Xiao Wu secretly scolded: "Governor Denglai is crazy? Why are you so clean?"

Fines for littering are almost unheard of in ancient times.

"I think the Ming officials here are very interesting." Song Wangguo sighed.

Not long after he walked on the street, he already felt that the lives of the people here are better, and most of them are very happy, which is completely different from the indifferent and lifeless atmosphere in other Ming cities.

The people here are confident, enthusiastic, and happy.

This is the real life that the people should live. Song Wangguo was greatly touched.

At this point they walked in front of a restaurant.

Suddenly, I saw a young man coming out of the restaurant holding a jug of newly bought wine. At this time, two men came from the east, walking very fast.

One of the two men was dressed in brocade clothes, and he seemed to be either rich or expensive, and the other seemed to be a servant.

The one in front walked a little fast and just bumped into the boy.

Bang, the wine in the boy's hand fell directly to the ground.

There was a commotion on both sides of the street, and many people looked over.

"Dog, don't open your eyes." The man in the brocade suit was furious, and cursed: "You stained my clothes, can you afford it?"

The young man was scolded with a masked face and a terrified expression.

Seeing that Xiao Wu's face changed drastically, he stretched out his hand and pressed it on the knife at his waist.

"What are you doing?" Song Wangguo held him down.

"Kill this villain who bullies others." Xiao Wu sternly said.

"You're crazy, and you don't even know where this is." Song Wangguo gave him a hard look.

Only then did Xiao Wu save himself, and withdrew his hand unwillingly.

"Don't be afraid, little brother, hurry up and report to the police, you are still so fierce when you bump into someone's wine?" A passerby said coldly.

As soon as the man in the brocade suit heard the report, his expression changed.

"Hey, I have something to say, I have something to say, little brother, we will accompany this pot of wine, we will accompany you." The servant of the man in brocade suit hurried forward to say hello, and helped the young man up first.

Then he said softly, "How much is your wine? We will pay for it."

The man in the brocade suit didn't dare to snort, as if he was afraid of reporting to the officials.

The boy said that I don't need money, you can just help me buy something like a jug, and then pointed to the liquor store.

The two didn't say much, went in and bought a pot again, and paid it to the young man.

"These people, only Governor Liu can manage them."

"Of course, the officials of the Ming Dynasty are not as good as our Dengzhou officials."

The common people praised Liu Yuan, governor of Denglai, and officials of Dengzhou government.

Song Wangguo walked around Dengzhou that day, and what he saw was very shocking.

This is the prefecture he has seen with the strictest officials and the highest satisfaction of the people in the entire Ming Dynasty.

He couldn't imagine how the officials here did it.

He never thought before that the Ming Dynasty also had good officials.

But now, his three views have been shaken down.

Before, he thought that he would have the opportunity to lead troops to fight over in the future and teach those profiteers a lesson.

Now, he suddenly didn't want to destroy the beautiful environment here.

They didn't go there that night, but stayed in the inn, and went out of the city gate early the next morning, and were asked to return the sign at the gate of the city.

Not long after leaving the city, they saw a large number of horses on the road. They counted them, and they found that there were only fifteen horses between two thousand. The other party said that they were sick on the boat and could not get up today.

It was only a dozen or so horses away, so of course Song Wangguo forgot it, and the guards under him cursed one after another.

The other party smiled, and handed him another sign, telling them to go from the south, from Qixia to Laiyang, and take the official road of Laiyang, and not go to the west side of Huang County, where there are many military forts, so they can't be bribed.

Song Wangguo was dubious and wanted to bribe himself before sending someone to leave, but he followed with a large number of horses.

Not long after, a cavalryman came back from the front and told him that the front was impassable, and he could not go without a sign.

There was no way for them to do so. They could only walk from the south, which was a little farther away, but they were able to pass all the way without hindrance.

When passing by each fort, Song Wangguo secretly looked at it, and suddenly realized that if he wanted to lead troops to fight over in the future, it would not be easy, and why would he destroy such a place?

At the same time that Song Wangguo left Dengzhou, Ding Yi and his subordinate Wenwu were sitting around a certain yamen in Dengzhou.

Song Zhe, Lu Chao, Du Ruhai, Yan Xiong, Yang Duan, Fang Duotai, Zhou Yougen, Liu Yuan and others were all there.

Liu Yuan is in a bad mood recently.

When the Qing soldiers entered the pass, the imperial court suddenly issued an order to transfer him to Shandong as governor.

At that time, Shandong governor Yan Jizu was transferred to Dezhou, but the court actually asked him to go to Jinan to defend the city.

Liu Yuan used the Qing army's plunder and his inability to take office as an excuse to evade.

This is of the same nature as the imperial court transferred Zu Kuan to Jinan, but Zu Kuan refused to go forward.

It didn't take long for Chongzhen to behead Zu Kuan with this excuse.

Now Liu Yuan is also afraid that the court will settle accounts after autumn.

Of course, the court hadn't beheaded Zu Kuan at this time, Liu Yuan was afraid of losing his official position, and he didn't expect the court to kill people.

Speaking of which, Liu Yuan has been the governor of Denglai for several years, counting at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it is already considered a record-breaking existence.

In the provinces at the end of the Ming Dynasty, those who could serve as governors for more than two years were considered good brothers of Chongzhen.

And Liu Yuan's ability to be so long depends on two points, one is that he pays more taxes, and the other is that he has more fields to collect taxes.

He measures other people's fields like Zhang Juzheng, and now the cabinet chiefs, who dares to send him to other provinces.

In addition, he pays tens of thousands of taels of tax silver every year, neither Chongzhen nor the cabinet ministers want to lose this big piece of fat.

So he, the governor of Denglai, has broken records for many years.

Zhang Yuan is naturally afraid that he is going to be transferred suddenly now.

Ding Yi saw that he was in a bad mood and knew the reason, so he comforted him: "If the imperial court transfers you to another place, you will resign and become a governor."

"..." Liu Yuan.

Of course he didn't want to go to the land of barbarians.

"If you are transferred to Jinan, you can stay for a while longer." Ding Yi smiled and said, "You are in Shandong, and I will definitely keep you safe."

"If you want to save your life, you can only go to Dayuan, or Jeju, or Dongjiang Town." Lu Chao said: "You are the longest governor of Denglai. If you really want to lose your official position, you think the court can let you go." you?"

Not to mention the governor of Denglai at this time, the governor of the entire Ming Dynasty, Liu Yuan has been working for the longest time, since the Dengzhou Rebellion, he has been working until now.

This time when the Qing army entered the customs, a group of officials would definitely be killed. Naturally, there would be vacancies at that time, and now that Chongzhen knew that he was with Ding Yi, he probably wanted to split the two.

Although Liu Yuan didn't want to live a hard life, it was still important to think about it.

"If Zongbing Ding doesn't dislike him, the low-ranking officials can only spend their old age in the big officials. The high-ranking officials don't dare to be the governor, and the low-level officials are getting old." Liu Yuan smiled wryly.

"Master Liu, don't say that. The brothers are all here. Could it be that I am the generation who kills donkeys? That's it. If you become a governor, the conditions there are no worse than here. You will know when you go. "

Liu Yuan was overjoyed, he was also pretending, but he didn't expect Ding Yi to be willing to use him.

Of course, he hoped to go to Jinan, so he didn't need to go to Dayuan.

He used to be a bit greedy, but after working with Ding Yi for a few years, firstly, his wealth continued to grow, and secondly, he also knew that Ding Yi was a man, so he gradually restrained himself and became much more secure. It would be no problem to be the governor for a few more years.

"Then what is Song Wangguo's background? He is really rich to buy so many horses all at once. Can he get away with it?" Lu Chao asked Ding Yi at this time.

"If I guessed correctly, it should be Li Dingguo, Zhang Xianzhong's subordinate." Ding Yi laughed when he heard Song Wangguo's name.

Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, it must be one of the two. Li Dingguo is young, so it should be him.

Zhang Xianzhong, who was beaten last time, is currently recuperating near Gucheng. He is making weapons, recruiting troops and buying horses, and collecting food. He will rebel again in a few months.

Ding Yi can't remember when he rebelled, but Zhang came to buy horses to prepare for another rebellion.

(End of this chapter)