Start with the humble bridegroom

Chapter 348 Heavy Rain in May
Outside the south gate of Zhaoyang County, a new camp was built.

The flag belonging to the King of Zhaoyang was flying over the camp, where the newly formed [-] Zhaoyang sergeants were being trained.

After Zhaoyang County was captured by Zheng Jun, the local powerful families rose up to resist, but they were all wiped out by Zheng Jun.After a thorough inventory of the county and the six counties, it was discovered that these powerful families had concealed a large amount of farmland and slaves.

In Zhaoyang County after Zhang Zhe took over, there were as many as 7000 servants and servants registered in the county, and most of them were young and strong. There are only more than [-] registered civilians in Yang County.

This time to provide soldiers for Xu Qian and Han Danian, Zhang Zhe selected three thousand young men from the official slaves.

Xu Qian and Han Danian were extremely against these servant soldiers at first, thinking that these bloodless people were not suitable to be soldiers at all.

But after training for a period of time, they actually found that these young men who were born as servants trained extremely hard, and they were very obedient, and even eager to try the battles they might face.

There are three reasons to stimulate the slaves to train desperately.

Zhang Zhe has money in his hands, some belonging to the palace and some belonging to the government.By exchanging his left hand for his right hand, he transferred all these young men to the name of the king's mansion in the name of "purchase by the king's mansion", and then "released" them in the name of the county king.But if someone fails to meet the training standards and is sent back from the army, they will return to being government servants again.

The sergeants of the palace had food and pay, and their status was just like that of ordinary people. Facing the hard-won chance of redemption, when selecting 3000 people, these tens of thousands of servants and servants all broke their heads.In order not to be sent back, the selected people trained desperately!

Secondly, Zhang Zhe gathered these young and strong family members to work in some separate farms.The family members of these sergeants are treated much better than ordinary servants.They are franchised to own their own properties, such as the fields they are responsible for farming, and they can keep [-]% of the food they produce. If the family members of the soldiers make meritorious service, this percentage can be increased.

This last one is what makes soldiers eager to fight.Zhang Zhe also announced in the name of the palace: the family members of the soldiers who have made military exploits and died in battle will be redeemed by the palace as a whole and serve as the tenants of the palace.

"These people want to go to the battlefield as soon as possible every day," Geng Liang received his patriarch Zhang Zhe in his tent, "the morale is frighteningly high, especially if the parents in the family are old, they are afraid that their parents will still be slaves when they die body, even a piece of land and a stele are not worthy of death.”

Zhang Zhe didn't want these people to go to the battlefield so early, and in his judgment, Zhaoyang County would not have the opportunity to expand to the south within a few years.He had planned a long time ago that when Yang Zongchao came to the feudal domain, these officials and servants would all belong to the palace.At that time, it only needs a warrant from the king of Zhaoyang County to change the families of the soldiers into the royal residence, and these 3000 people will become loyal to the royal residence.

"How are you three doing in camp?"

When Geng Liang saw the head of the family asking questions, he was not humble, and was a little triumphant: "Old Gao is strict, General Xu made him a military judge, and Lao Xie was born as an archer. Now he is leading a team (50 people) of archers to fight in the water. Well, all three hundred sailors are here to serve me. We are from the Zhang family, and the commander and deputy generals in the battalion have given face, so we live as we please."

Zhang Zhe came here this time to send military salaries to the army. It is said that he, a fellow acquaintance, cannot control the affairs of the Zhaoyang Army. The logistics of Qian Zhaoyang Army.

It was raining heavily outside the tent, Zhang Zhe was wearing a raincoat and led a dozen government servants to patrol the camps one by one, and he had to hand out the general's salary to each sergeant.This made the army reporter who followed all the way turn blue. If every month is like this, what's the matter with him?He spent so much effort to get this job, wouldn't he get no benefit at all?
"Do you know who paid you the salary?" A sergeant had just pressed his fingerprint on the book and took three liang of silver from Zhang Zhe, when he heard Mr. Tongzhi ask kindly.

"Responding to my lord's words, it is the salary rewarded by the prince~!"

"Hmm~! Not bad." Zhang Zhe asked impatiently one by one with a smile, and got the same answer before going to the next tent.

"What does he mean by Zhang Xinzhi?" Han Danian was getting angry in the middle of the army, "You and I are the chief generals in the army, and you can't even interfere with the payment of sergeants?! Which army do you think will have such a thing?"

Xu Qian was also rubbing his brows, he did not expect that the first time the Zhaoyang Army paid his salary was an opportunity for him to get closer to the soldiers as the chief general, but he was disrupted by Zhang Xinzhi.

He also felt aggrieved, but all the money of the palace was in the government office, Zhang Xinzhi didn't nod, unless he raised his troops to grab it, he wouldn't get a single copper coin.Dazheng's military family leads troops, and the chief general in the army has always said what he says.The reason why Han Danian had such a reaction to Zhang Xinzhi's actions was that he was worried that he would lose his influence on this army.

If the prince is not satisfied in the future, he can replace the two of them at any time.

"Forget it," Xu Qian shook his head. "Our time with the prince and his son is still short. If Zhang Xinzhi wants to pretend to be a villain, he may be testing our reaction. If we really quarrel with him, it will appear as We are all unpredictable."

Han Danian suddenly restrained his anger, and asked Xu Qian in a low voice.

"I think this Zhang Xinzhi is a talkative person on weekdays. He didn't even ask a damn about how many benefits we lost when we copied Fang's house. But he became uncharacteristically when it came to the army's rations. Is this really him? What do you mean by yourself, or what does Chang'an mean?"

Xu Qian was also startled when he heard this.

He knows the prince and his son, although they are extremely kind people, but since the owner became the prince, he has been sent here, what kind of temper he is now, it is hard to say.Taking a few steps back, even if Yang Zongchao still had the same temperament as before, the guy from Lanxiu Palace is not easy to get along with.So whether Zhang Xinzhi did this matter according to the prince's wishes or Lanxiu Palace's wishes, it is really a little uncertain.

"Be patient, if it's Lanxiu Palace's intention, you and I dare say no, you don't need to think about what will happen."

Although Han Danian had some connections in his family, he didn't dare to offend the imperial concubine, so he could only keep his mouth shut so that no one would listen to those complaints.

The daily salary of ordinary soldiers is one and a half times a month.If the general has a conscience, the soldiers can still get a consistent amount. The general army can get about [-] to [-] coins at most.The money can buy about [-] to [-] catties of coarse grains, which is enough for poor families to feed their wives and children.

Shichang’s standard salary is 15 taels, team leader’s salary is 30 taels, and at the first level of school lieutenant, it starts at 50 taels, plus the following filial piety, you can earn [-] taels a month.

If it comes to wartime, everyone's salary has always been doubled.

The salary Zhang Zhe set for the Zhaoyang Army was very high, and the salary of ordinary soldiers in their spare time was also a sufficient amount of three taels, ten taels for a long man, and thirty taels for a team leader.The school lieutenant directly gave 30 taels, which was almost twice as much as their blood.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, Xu Qian and Han Danian could receive 120 taels and 100 taels of salary from the army in addition to the salaries given by the palace.What Zhang Zhe sent to the two of them was actually 400 taels and 350 taels.

Such extravagant handwriting also made the two people who were full of resentment speechless for a while.It's just raising an army of 3000 people, and the monthly fee is [-] yuan. If you say it, you can scare a group of people to death!

After entering May, heavy rain came one after another. The originally dry riverbed was quickly filled with turbid water, and many plants in the field were soaked.

Under the rain eaves, Zhang Zhe sighed as he watched the heavy rain that had been falling for several days outside the window.

"Luck is really unreliable. This year's famine is coming." He turned his head and looked at Wu Huai who was standing behind him, the chill in his voice almost penetrated the eaves, "Why are you still standing there? The name certificate is still there, and the national law must not be a joke! There are 73 townships in the six counties of the county, but Xiyu Township has its dam broken. The county has issued funds for repairs three times, and only Xiyu Township has been repaired. The Yuan family doesn't know how much they ate? There are also scribes sent to Lianyang County to supervise the handling, let's deal with it together!"

Seeing that Zhang Zhe couldn't be persuaded, Wu Huai had no choice but to retreat.

He has exhausted the friendship of fellow villagers, but now only the national law remains.

There is no county magistrate in Lianyang County. The original county magistrate belonged to the party of the Fang family. After being taken down, this position has been vacant.It's not that Zhang Zhe has no manpower, but that the situation in Lianyang County is quite complicated.

As the county government with the richest land in Zhaoyang County, after His Majesty allowed the high-ranking officials to buy the land, more than half of the land in Lianyang County was bought by the wealthy Xungui from the north.

After the original county magistrate was taken down, the heads of each family in Lianyang found Zhang Zhe's subordinates, hoping that before the county king became a vassal, the affairs of the county would be managed by the county magistrate.

Zhang Zhe agreed to this request.

When repairing the dikes and ditches, the stewards of each family were also very attentive, after all, it was related to the safety of their own family's property.Under the urging of various families, the head of the county reinforced the main body of the ditches and dams, while those relatively remote tributaries were handled very roughly.

Xiyu Township is a typical example. The township is colluding with household clerks and bribed inspectors from the middle and lower levels of the county. The 500-meter-long earth-rock dam was repaired with mud and straw!

Half a month of torrential rain fell, and only this section of the dam in the county collapsed.It's just that luckily the embankment broke during the day, and there were not many casualties.The county chief knew how powerful he was, so he went to the official hat and rushed to Xiyu Township with hundreds of people.

The river that rushed out flooded half of Xiyu Township. It is early summer, and the continuous heavy rain has brought a sharp drop in temperature.After Zhang Zhe got the news, he immediately ordered the blockade of all sides of Xiyu Township. He was afraid of a plague.

As for the leaders of the Yuan family who were corrupt and evil, Zhang Zhe mercilessly issued an order to impose capital punishment.The magistrates of counties and counties automatically have the power of life and death authorized by the imperial court in times of war or disaster.

Zhang Zhe allowed them to get some benefits for himself while completing the tasks with quality and quantity, but he was greedy when they failed to get things done, and didn't want them to live longer.

The heavy rain rested for a while, and on the section where the embankment broke in Xiyu Township, thousands of villagers were fighting against the flood.As the last sack was put down, the out-of-control river finally stopped its invasion of the land outside the embankment, and there were cheers one after another.But there are also some villagers who lost their wealth and houses, knelt in the muddy water and howled loudly.

Lianyang chief secretary Kang Yongxian sat on a big log covered in water.Although the breach was blocked, he couldn't feel happy at all.The dam break in Xiyu Township completely ruined the post of county magistrate that he had been planning for several months.

He cast his eyes on the few men kneeling on the embankment, and his killing intent could hardly be suppressed.In his opinion, the Yuan family is too greedy!They even secretly sold the three thousand sacks allocated by the county.The next moment, Kang Yongxian also began to worry about himself, the more than 100 filial piety of the Yuan family was also a great trouble.

Wu Huai, the judge in charge of a county prison, jumped out of the bullock cart and walked straight up the embankment, with four executioners following behind him.

Seeing the distinctive black and red clothes of the executioner, the common people backed away in awe.

The few Yuan family members who were kneeling in the mud suddenly collapsed.

The team leader who came with Wu Huai was the first to take the three people forward and took the three of them, and tied them up without any explanation. Just when the Yuan family was about to ask Kang Yongxian for help, a few cloth balls that had been prepared earlier into their mouths.

Kang Yongxian shook his head, and bowed deeply to Wu Huai.

The yamen servants put the three members of the Yuan family on the embankment without touching the ground, and they knelt on the edge of the river.The turbid and turbulent river flowed past the noses of the Yuan family.The people around all roared loudly: "Behead them! Behead them~!"

"Your Majesty Tongzhi is in charge of this county, and he practiced extreme methods in times of disaster. Mr. Zheng Yuan of Xiyu Township, Mr. Yuan of Linhe Village, and Mr. Yuan of Guba Village committed corruption and acted recklessly, causing flooding of the four villages. Thousands of households in the land are in disorder, dozens of people are killed, and hundreds of sick and injured are ordered to be beheaded immediately!"

The red and white fire and water cards were thrown into the muddy water by Wu Huai. The three executioners raised the ghost-head knives high and dropped them suddenly amidst the cheers of the crowd.

Several rivers suddenly turned red and were washed away immediately.

As soon as the members of the Yuan family died, a ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and landed on the embankment.Such a coincidence, even Wu Huai was secretly surprised, while the surrounding people cheered and knelt down, shouting "Qingtian".

Kang Yongxian sent Wu Huai into the car, and Wu Huai gave him a nod before leaving.

"Lianyang must not make mistakes again. The military law in times of disaster is the master of a county, and Mr. Zhang is also able to kill it!"

"The next official knows, and dare not neglect any more."

"Master Kang, although there are more honorable farms and houses in Lianyang, Zhaoyang is still the place of the county king. The day when the county king will be a vassal is not far away, so don't continue to be confused about some things, huh?"

Kang Yongxian was extremely bitter when he heard the words, but he turned his head and thought that as long as this kind of thing doesn't happen again in the future, it shouldn't be difficult to keep him as the master book with the face of the Lianyang family.

Seeing that this person hadn't come to his senses, Wu Huai sneered.

"The day when the king of the county came to the vassal, it was the time when Mr. Zhang left his post. Based on the relationship between Mr. Tongzhi and the palace, do you think he would let the king of the county be a villain himself? May is not over yet, and the summer harvest in June is coming. How much harvest can there be, and how many villagers can be kept? If the county people starve to death by then, Mr. Kang will wait for Wu to come to the door again!"

The food supply after the summer harvest became the last straw that overwhelmed Kang Yongxian.He, who was of the same grade as Wu Huai, had to kneel down in the muddy water.

"Congratulations to Kang for the county king~."

(End of this chapter)