The white porridge and pickled mustard is enough, why am I wearing a royal robe?

Chapter 147 Yang He is anxious

On New Year's Eve, snowflakes finally began to fall on the land of northern Shaanxi.

Liu Zhenhua was woken up by Zhang Liang early in the morning, saying that the statue of the Stove King had been built.

This made Liu Zhenhua a little surprised that the statue was erected so quickly.

Only seven days have passed.

He almost didn't interfere in the whole process. According to the people's request, he only needed to nod.

Under the leadership of Zhang Liang and others, Liu Zhenhua came to the city. It was a large open space surrounded by shops, and it still looked like a business district.

And in this open space, there stood a statue, with a base that was two inches high and three feet high. It looked like he was enlarged more than three times. It was covered with gold and silver paint, and looked like shining spots under the sun.

Liu Zhenhua was a little stunned. The people in Yanchuan were not that rich. What was going on with this gold-flecked and silver-painted statue?

Although the heart may be made of stone, the silver paint and gold spots on the surface alone are valuable.

Groups of common people stood around the statue, guarding the statue like a crescent moon.

There were soldiers and civilians mingling in the shops on the streets in the distance, watching this way.

Liu Zhenhua waved to them, which immediately aroused cheers from everyone.

An old man saw Liu Zhenhua coming and immediately came forward, holding a brochure in his hand.

"Kitchen King, this is your statue. The villagers have pieced it together here and there. Every family's income is here. Are you satisfied with this statue?"

The old man seemed to be asking Liu Zhenhua for money, but Liu Zhenhua knew that his emphasis was on the last sentence.

"Satisfied, you have worked hard," Liu Zhenhua said sincerely. Being able to complete this huge and lifelike statue in seven days is enough to show that the people attach great importance to this matter.

He stepped forward and took the book from the old man's hand.

He looked around, and then Liu Zhenhua held up the brochure and said, "Thank you, folks."

"Long live the Kitchen King!"

After hearing Liu Zhenhua's words, the people raised their hands and cheered.

"Come here," Liu Zhenhua shouted with a smile, and everyone immediately fell silent.

"Slaughter the pig, let's celebrate the New Year together here today and eat pork stew!"

Liu Zhenhua shouted that there were pigs and ducks raised in captivity in the city, which belonged to the old wealthy landlords.

Confiscated.

Now Liu Zhenhua was happy and took out the pork to reward the people.

Snowflakes from the sky fell on the heads of the people, but they were quickly melted by the heat, and they burst into loud cheers.

Although they lived well during the days when King Zao was king, they were not luxurious enough to eat meat.

Now the Kitchen King actually invited them to eat pork.

The whole square suddenly became busy.

Some soldiers carried the pigs, some set up the pots, and some started picking sweet potato leaves.

They didn't have Chinese cabbage, so the vegetarian vegetables in the pork meal had to be replaced with cabbage.

The faces of the common people were filled with smiles, and even the fat landlord stood cheerfully in his coat looking at the busy people.

These landlords were very open-minded, but those who were not open-minded were already slaughtered when Liu Zhenhua entered the city.

Yanchuan and even Yanchang, Qingjian and Yonghe are all happy and ready to celebrate the new year.

But Yang He didn't feel so good. He looked at the patrolman Wu Yan in front of him with a headache.

"Governor Yang, you are so brave to deceive the superiors and subordinates. The thieves plundered everywhere, and the Stove King even conquered four towns. Look at the memorial you wrote. You also said that you will capture the Stove in the near future. King, the Kitchen King is living a good life now."

Wu Di had an angry look on his face. He held a memorandum handed to him by the emperor in his hand, asking him to see if the situation in Shaanxi was the same as what was reported by the governors of the three sides.

"We have indeed besieged the Zao King, and many of the bandits in northern Shaanxi have been recruited. If you don't believe it, Wu Xunjian can go and visit it himself," Yang He said confidently, because what he said was correct, the Zao King was indeed besieged in the first place. Wang, except for the Kitchen King, basically all the other bandits in Shaanxi have been recruited, and his food is being distributed every day.

It can take at least half a year.

"Hmph, those thieves were indeed recruited, but I'm talking about the Kitchen King, and the fact that your memorial is inconsistent with the facts," Wu Di was still angry.

Along the way he visited, bandits were plundering everywhere in northern Shaanxi.

Yang He's recruitment policy has only recently come into effect, but what he said in his memorial is obviously inconsistent with the facts.

"Wu Xunjing didn't know that recruiting troops takes time. In fact, when the memorial was written, the bandit leaders already wanted to surrender."

"The governor will report this good news to His Majesty as soon as he gets it," he said, making a gesture of cupping his hands and facing north, "I want to share this great news with His Majesty."

"Who knew that these bandits would go back on their word? I had no choice but to send out troops and force them to surrender again under coercion and inducement. I wasted some time by going back and forth."

"Therefore, what Wu Xunjian saw is slightly different from what I wrote in the memorial."

Yang He stood with his hands behind his hands. This person didn't have a good look on him, and there was no need for him to be nice to him.

After saying these words, there must be nothing the other party can do.

As expected, Wu Zong listened to what Yang He said so well that it could indeed be explained by this sentence. He pointed at Yang He angrily, but he had nothing to say, so the matter was brushed aside by him.

Suddenly, the anger on Wu Yan's face disappeared. He sneered and took out something from his arms.

Yang He's eyes moved slightly, and after he saw clearly, a chill came down his back.

"Preach the imperial edict."

"Yang He, the governor of the three sides, I order you to capture the Kitchen King within one month, and after the first month, escort the Kitchen King to the capital! If not, you will tie your hands and go to the capital and be imprisoned."

"Your Majesty Yang He accepts the order!"

Yang He sighed in his heart, knelt on the ground, and held up the imperial edict in his hands.

After receiving the imperial edict, Yang He stood up slowly. He seemed to be a few years older. As the opponent of the Kitchen King, he naturally knew that the Kitchen King was difficult to deal with.

It took more than a month to capture the Stove King. It was not easy. He did not expect that Wu Di, the patrol commander, came with the emperor's imperial edict. He could not understand why the emperor suddenly wanted to give him a time limit, even though the original memorial It has been submitted, so the emperor should not speculate too much.

Hong Chengchou and Du Wenhuan in the hall watched this scene quietly. Only Hong Chengchou guessed something, which may have something to do with the son of the governor of Shanxi bringing back the bottle and the Overlord Gun.

Those two things are not ordinary things. The emperor will definitely attach great importance to the Kitchen King after seeing them. It is not surprising that someone was sent to supervise Yang He.

"Huh, Governor Yang, get ready. I will personally supervise you." Wu Zong stared at Yang He. He was naturally not afraid that Yang He would not attack the Stove King and attack him. If he died here, Apart from anything else, no one in this circle could survive.

All will die in the emperor's wrath.

"Secretary Wu Xun, this governor knows," Yang He looked a little stooped. It was supposed to be a good day for the Chinese New Year, but he heard such news, but he quickly calmed down. After all, this was not a fatal situation.

Whether it is to recruit people or to suppress bandits, the money and food brought back are now put to use. "Pass this order from the governor to stop giving out porridge and providing disaster relief."

Yang He said slowly. At this time, his body slowly straightened up, and he regained the momentum of the governor of the three sides.

"Huh? Governor Yang, what are you going to do?"

"Haha, Press Secretary Wu, I won't bother you anymore," Yang He smiled slightly. This Press Secretary was not qualified to take care of him.

If this person forcefully stumbling upon him, he would even be happy to see it like this, after all, it would give him an excuse if he failed.

Wu Di obviously knew this. He looked at Yang He and snorted coldly, "Okay, I hope Governor Yang will not disappoint His Majesty."

He cupped his hands and said to the north.

"Of course you can rest assured about this," Yang He turned around, "pass the order, use the money and food to recruit righteous local warriors, let the surrendered Zhang Shusheng, Ji San'er and others besiege the Stove King, and give them gold, silver and food rewards. , use some silver to buy armor, bows and crossbows.”

"After seven days, the advance will be extended." No relief will be given to the people, and no rogue bandits will be recruited. If the Stove King cannot be captured, Yang He will go to Beijing and be imprisoned.

All other things can be put aside for later.

Hong Chengchou took a deep look at Yang He. This was the only time when he recognized Yang He the most. He should have concentrated all his efforts to take down the Kitchen King. The Kitchen King was too weird.

When surrounded from all sides, two thousand cavalry can be summoned out of thin air.

If the Kitchen King is given some more time, there is no telling what shocking troops and horses will come out.

Du Wenhuan seemed to be choked. He was suffering from Stove King's phobia. Strangely, he was always defeated by the Stove King's troops. No matter how fancy the analysis before the war was and what advantage I had, it all turned out to be They returned defeated.

The Stove King soldiers and horses were not afraid of death. On the other hand, his men basically began to collapse after a few charges on the opposite side and killed hundreds of people.

Compared with Kitchen King's team, they are more like bandits.

However, the first level of officialdom is overwhelming. Now Yang He is obviously going to fight to the death with the Kitchen King. No matter how afraid he is of the Kitchen King, he has to bite the bullet.

Everyone took action. This time Yang He was really cruel and put all his wealth on the line. The food, gold and silver that the emperor had raised could have supported him for half a year to 'recruit people', but now they were all taken away. He sprinkled it on dealing with the Stove King.

Recruiting troops, even rogue bandits, he sent men to the territory where Zhang Shusheng and Ji Saner were settled, as well as Wang Jiayin.

He did not let go of the bandits he recruited in northern Shaanxi, promising huge profits. Not only that, he also sent people to forge weapons, and even purchased weapons and armor, bows and arrows and horses from the border troops - you know, in the late Ming Dynasty, how many soldiers were killed because of Selling armor and weapons without military pay, and selling weapons and armor are almost always allowed by default.

The officers above also turned a blind eye, and even resold weapons and armor to line their own pockets, so that their subordinates could make a living by selling them. In the late Ming Dynasty, many soldiers mutinied because they could not survive. Now there is Yang He. The people above are full of food, and they can also make a living by selling weapons, so as not to mutiny and become bandits.

The entire land of northern Shaanxi, after being calm for more than half a month, became undercurrent again because of an imperial edict from the emperor.

If grain and gold and silver are used to deal with the Kitchen King, the people in Yan'an City will suffer. Previously, Yang He was giving porridge outside Yan'an City, but now he has disappeared.

The people had to live in poverty and hunger again.

"King Stove, recently in Yan'an, there are always horses leaving the city, from north to south, and they are all wearing official uniforms."

Zhang Heizi cupped his hands and said to Liu Zhenhua. He had been a scout for a long time and had a keener intuition about these things. He noticed something was wrong.

In the past, Yan'an City always gave out porridge, and there was almost no abnormality, but now there are frequent changes in troops and horses.

"Is the other party coming back again?"

Liu Zhenhua was sitting in the county office, frowning and looking at the map. Yang He had been living in peace for a while, but what conspiracy was brewing now.

"What else?"

"Recently, Yan'an has stopped giving porridge."

Zhang Heizi said hurriedly.

"No more porridge."

Liu Zhenhua muttered how long he had been giving porridge to the other party. It was definitely not possible because he had no food, gold and silver, and he was not giving porridge. In addition, he had been sending officials out. "They would not use the food and property to prepare porridge to fight against Me?"

Liu Zhenhua had such an idea in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

After all, two things put together ultimately lead to only this one.

The other party wants to use the money from the soup kitchen to recruit troops and horses to deal with him.

In fact, if Liu Zhenhua didn't analyze it, he wouldn't be able to hide such a big move from the other party.

Liu Zhenhua looked at the map and asked, "How are the people in Yan'an?"

"Something is wrong. Originally, Yan'an still provided porridge, and people lined up in long lines to receive porridge every day. Now that there are no porridge shacks, some people have even begun to starve to death in Yan'an City."

Yang He's porridge was not intended for the people in Yan'an City, and the hungry people did not receive much porridge every day.

Almost all are clear soups with little water, barely enough to prevent people from starving to death.

Now that the porridge shed is broken, people immediately start to starve to death.

Liu Zhenhua turned around and said, "Some people are starting to starve to death."

His eyes moved slightly, and the people in Yan'an City almost turned into dry firewood piled together. Yang He focused his attention on him, on recruiting soldiers and horses, and it was very likely that he would turn these dry firewood into the stove king. fuel.

"Go for a walk in the city to find out the news. The Kitchen King has sweet potatoes with a yield of fifteen shi per acre. As long as you join the Kitchen King, you will not only be divided into fields and grains, but also seedlings."

Liu Zhenhua said that the people in Yan'an had probably heard about the sweet potatoes a long time ago, but because Yan'an was giving porridge at that time, there was no need for the people in the city to come here to seek refuge.

However, now that Yan'an City has stopped giving porridge, if Yang He was smart, he would use part of the money and grain to fight for the town, turning the victims of Yan'an into cannon fodder against his Stove King.

However, Liu Zhenhua's current move, letting the news out, can be regarded as draining the bottom of the fire.

If you ask us to defeat the Kitchen King, we will get money and food. The Kitchen King will not only give us money and food, but also sweet potato seedlings that can produce fifteen shi per mu. It is better to teach people to fish than to teach people to fish. The Kitchen King will directly give us fish.

Then why should I follow you, Yang He, and fight the Kitchen King?

(End of this chapter)