Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 329 0324 [Scramble into Tokyo and take the bird position! 】

"How many vacancies are there?" Zhizhou Han Zhao asked.

The general judge He Zhengqing said: "There is a lack of money of [-] min and a shortage of food of [-] shi. All counties have reported that the wealthy households have forced donations, but it is still not enough."

"Where is it that the amount is not enough? The county government officials took too much," Han Zhao sighed, "Oh, let's start shipping at the beginning of next month. Regardless of whether the amount is made up, the money and food will be transported to Xiangyang first."

He Zhengqing said: "The imperial court is too urgent to collect, I'm afraid all parties have not paid enough, it's not like my family in Jinzhou."

"Perhaps." Han Zhao could only think so.

After Wang Fu became the prime minister, it was the first time to collect money nationwide, and the search experience was still somewhat lacking.Only the overall task was issued, not how much husbands should be recruited along the way, how much each husband should pay, and no one was sent to supervise.

For the second time in history, he has experience.

At that time, the land of Yanyun had already been taken, and blood was drawn for support in Hebei, Hedong, and Shandong. It took a year for him to be overwhelmed.

Therefore, husband's money was levied and exempted from all walks of life in the country, and the detailed husband's quota for each road was stipulated, and each husband paid [-] guan.Cao Chen was also sent to supervise, and those who violated the military law were punished.It is also stipulated that the clan, foreign relatives, Zaizhi, palaces, temples... don't even try to escape, and all of them have to pay their husband's money.

To put it bluntly, knowing that Xiaomin has no more oil and water, he asked local officials to select fat sheep to slaughter, and Wang Fu confiscated 2000 million guan.

Han Zhao and He Zhengqing, as the first and second in command of Jinzhou, get along relatively harmoniously.

Fishing for money is not too ruthless, each fishes its own way, without interfering with each other.

It's a pity that the general environment is not good, and the tasks assigned by the court are too heavy.They don't have a good reputation for making money by themselves, but they are more stinky than Li Daochong, and the counties in Jinzhou have already suffered from public grievances.

"I heard that Zhu Chenggong is back?" Han Zhao said.

He Zhengqing said: "For those who return to Yangzhou to visit relatives, the solar eclipse amnesties the world, and the surname Zhu is also downgraded from administrative management to resettlement. After reporting, he can return to his hometown temporarily. The common people are ignorant, and it is said that he returned to Jinzhou to be the prefect."

Han Zhao thought about it carefully: "There are frequent thieves in various counties. I heard that Zhu Chenggong is quite famous in Jinzhou. Can you invite him to recruit the thieves? It's okay to organize those thieves into the gang army, or send them home with travel expenses. It is a waste of money to send troops to conquer."

"It's a good idea, but is he willing to help?" He Zhengqing asked.

Han Zhao said, "You can try it."

These two tried to save trouble, but they actually ran to find Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Let me appease the thieves? Prefect Han, I'm wearing a crime."

Han Zhao said: "It's not a big crime for the editor to pardon me for resettlement. Now that thieves are causing harm to the local area, I have successfully become a parent in Jinzhou, and my reputation spreads in the five counties. It will definitely have a miraculous effect."

Zhu Ming showed hesitation, thought over and over again and said: "Please give me some money and food, and then transfer some Yaqian officials to serve me."

"Yes," Han Zhao said, "the money is six hundred guan, the food is one thousand shi, and there are fifty officials in the Yamen."

Such a bizarre incident really made Zhu Ming come across it.

When he called Wang Jia and told the specific situation, Wang Jia's expression was extremely exciting.

Zhu Ming ordered: "You are the head of the Yaqian officials in Jinzhou. Send people to send this notice to the counties. Each county sends ten Yaqian officials, with the archers from each county, to the mountains to appease the thieves in my name. .”

Wang Jia really wanted to ask, are you really going to rebel?

But he felt that it was wrong, maybe he was thinking too much, Zhu Xianggong didn't plan to raise troops.

Wang Jia personally took people to carry out the task, went to the counties to gather archers and then went to work in the village, and asked Bao Jiachang to pass the news to the thieves: the former Jinzhou prefect Zhu Ming was entrusted by the current magistrate to appease the thieves with a guarantee of credibility.Those who are not heinous people can go to Jinzhou City to surrender, and they will be resettled for their crimes, and they can also receive money and food to go home.

Ju Ming's signboard was really loud. Just a few days later, a group of thieves from Xicheng County came.

There were only a dozen or so thieves in this group, and the leader of the thieves knelt down when they saw each other: "The second king of Pantuogou, kowtow to Taishou Zhu!"

Zhu Ming said kindly, "Get up and talk, why are you a thief?"

Wang Er stood up and said, "Our village is poor. A few years ago, we were hit by disasters, and half of the village came to Zhoucheng to beg for food. My mother died of starvation at that time. Thanks to my husband's food relief, my brother and sister survived. When I returned to my hometown, Xianggong returned the rations, and I will remember his kindness for the rest of my life. After Xianggong left Jinzhou, those officials became bad, and I really had no choice but to become a thief."

Zhu Ming nodded and said, "Since you are willing to surrender, you can trust me and you won't suffer. Stay in the camp and make arrangements when there are more thieves who surrender. Take your brothers and go to get rations."

"Yes!" Wang Er stepped back respectfully.

One after another, more than 200 thieves came to the city.

The rest of those who didn't come were either too far away or didn't trust the government.

Liu Shiren, Yang Zhi, Sun Li, Zhang Qing, Tu Shen, Zhang Jin and others, together with the village braves from Tiemao Village, sneaked into the city to live in batches.

Village head Liu Shiren often went to the city to make friends with officials at the prefecture and county levels, and even got close to some scholars.In the name of transporting ironware, he transported many armors to the city, but no one noticed them, and the guards didn't even bother to search them.

On this day, Zhizhou Han Zhao was working in the yamen, but he heard that Zhu Ming's personal escort came to see him.

"Bring him in." Han Zhao didn't think much about it.

Bai Sheng entered anxiously: "Prefect Han, my family has important matters to discuss, please go to Qingfeng Building for a while."

"What's the matter? When will we be there?" Han Zhao asked.

Bai Sheng said: "I don't know what it is, I just said that there is a banquet in Qingfenglou at noon."

Han Zhao said, "I will go when the time comes."

Bai Sheng resigned and continued to invite other officials.

It was almost noon, and Han Zhao left the state government office with his entourage. As soon as he left the government office, he ran into his secretary-general, "Where is Bourne going?"

The observation envoy Xu Hou said: "Zhu Chenggong hosted a banquet in Qingfeng Tower."

"You also invited Bourne?" Han Zhao was a little confused.

Xu Hou asked, "Did you also invite the prefect?"

The two chatted and walked, but they couldn't figure out what was going on, so they got into the carriage full of suspicion.

When Han Zhao entered the Qingfeng Building, he found that the entire restaurant had been booked by Zhu Ming, and many officials from the State Court and the General Judgment Office had come.

The officials greeted each other, and then inquired about the situation, but the more they asked, the more confused they became.

Not long after, the judge He Zhengqing also came.

Han Zhao asked, "Does He Daping know what is important to discuss today?"

He Zhengqing shook his head and said, "Does the eunuch not know?"

The two looked at each other in blank dismay, neither of them could figure out what kind of medicine was sold in Zhu Ming's gourd.

After waiting for a while, officials at the prefecture and county levels had almost arrived.

"Where did that soldier come from?" Someone's entourage exclaimed outside the door.

The rest of the relatives went out to watch the excitement.

I saw about 100 people, all in armor, armed with swords and guns, trotting forward.

Look at his momentum, he is an elite soldier!

Up to this point, no one has realized what is going to happen.

Even the residents of the city took to the streets to watch the excitement, pointing at the soldiers, guessing that they might be officers and soldiers from other places.

There was too much movement, Han Zhao and He Zhengqing took all the officials out to check.

He Zhengqing speculated: "Could it be that Xiangyang sent to urge money and food?"

"Mostly so."

Han Zhao nodded and took two steps forward.

When these soldiers approached, Han Zhao noticed the tattoo on the leader's face, and instantly understood that it was a bandit army, and immediately asked, "Are you the Xiang army from Xiangyang? Jinzhou money and food are already being loaded on the ship, and it will take two days." It will be shipped out."

Yang Zhi said: "Masters, please return to the Qingfeng Tower, my husband will come later."

"Who is the master of your family?" Han Zhao asked.

Yang Zhi grinned and replied, "But we are old acquaintances with Prefect Han."

Han Zhao really couldn't remember which old friend it was, so he returned to the restaurant in a daze, drinking some wine and waiting for his old friend.

Zhu Ming went to the school grounds, with nearly a hundred soldiers by his side.

The barracks near the school grounds are now full of surrendered thieves, and Zhu Ming asked them to come to the school grounds to collect money and food.

Zhu Ming distributed money and food first, although everyone didn't give much, but it still made the thieves happy.

Zhu Ming asked, "You can trust me?"

"We surrender ourselves, of course we can trust our husband." Wang Er said.

Zhu Ming also said: "It is true to ask you to surrender, but it is false to recruit security. It is nothing more than sending some money and food to send you back to your hometown. I don't want to treat you badly, so I tell the truth. Even if you become a Xiang army, you won't have enough to eat. Would you like to live that kind of life?"

"No!" More than 200 thieves shouted.

Zhu Ming said: "The emperor in Tokyo only knows how to enjoy himself. He demoted all the good officials, and only used traitors as officials, and let the traitors search for the people. Drink your blood and eat your flesh, can you bear it?"

Another thief leader named Dong Daliang said: "What can we do if we can't bear it? We don't want to be thieves, but the government doesn't let us have a peaceful life. I surrendered this time, thinking that my husband is a good official and can give Let's arrange a life-saving errand."

Zhu Ming said: "Now there are thieves everywhere, and the officials are forcing the people to rebel. The emperor doesn't care about the lives of the people. If you go back to the countryside, you can survive this year, but you won't survive the next year. The taxes next year will be even heavier, because the imperial court is at war with the Liao Kingdom. I persuaded the emperor to treat the people better, and the emperor took off my official hat. I really can't see the suffering of the people, and I plan to rebel. Those who have no eggs will go back to the countryside to farm, and the officials will impose heavy taxes next year. Sons sell daughters to beg for a meal. Those who have eggs, follow me into Tokyo and take the bird position!"

As soon as this remark came out, all the thieves were shocked, and then became inexplicably excited.

They are all more courageous, after all, they are not timid enough to be thieves.

Now someone is taking the lead in the rebellion, and it is still the trustworthy Governor Zhu, who seems to have found the backbone in an instant.

"Scramble into Tokyo and take the bird position!"

"Scramble into Tokyo and take the bird position!"

"..."

Zhu Ming drew his sword and shouted: "Follow me!"

On the other side of the pier, the infantry of the Xiang Army and the miscellaneous servants of the Xiang Army were all organized as the gang for escorting money and food.

They were currently moving money and food onto the ship, more than half of which had already been loaded on the ship, and they would depart for Xiangyang in two days.

Zhu Ming led two teams of brave men and more than 200 thieves to the North City Gate to control the guards, and then rode to the pier: "All the soldiers, put down their work and gather to count the number of people!"

There were nearly a thousand of those gang troops, half of them belonged to Xiang army conscripts who had no combat effectiveness, and the other half were Xiang army infantry trained by Zhang Gen.

Although Zhu Ming has been dismissed from office, even though he can't produce official documents, these Xiang troops still get together honestly.

(End of this chapter)