The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 112 Rebels come out and corrupt officials use methods

Liu Sheng spent three days planning the task of resettling more than [-] new immigrants.

The plan is to establish a new camp three or four miles west of Huachu Camp, called "Huaxi Camp" (Huazuo Camp is north of Huachu Camp).

Because the rainy season is about to come, the terrain in the west is higher and the possibility of encountering floods is less, and there are even some natural slopes.

In terms of numbers, only 7000 people are retained in the West China Camp, and more than 3000 people are arranged in the other four camps.

As a result, each camp has more than 7000 people.

Including the Longshouwan Salt Factory, the number of Chinese immigrants in North America has reached nearly 4!

After doing this well, Liu Sheng left Tianmu Mountain with his already prepared personal guards and standing army.

In order to capture the cities of Ruyang and Suiping, Liu Sheng could be said to have brought out all the troops and horses he could bring.

After confirming the plan to attack Ruyang and other places with Hong Niangzi and Li Changwen, Liu Sheng asked his guards to select and train the seventh battalion of the standing army, with Zhang Guying as the battalion commander.

However, the seventh battalion was divided into many parts.

The two posts were at the Longshouwan Salt Factory, and the two posts were stationed at Hebian Camp and Huachu Camp respectively. The remaining two posts followed Zhang Guying and were stationed at Dashui Pingzhai.

Hexi Camp, Huazuo Camp, and Huaxi Camp are guarded by hunting teams and minyong.

As for Liujiazhai, it is garrisoned by two sentries from the third battalion and two small teams of guards from the Huben battalion.

In addition, 40 guards from Huben Camp were left at Huachu Camp.

The Huben camp originally had a temporary staff of 300 people, but this time only 200 people followed Liu Sheng out of the mountain.

All 402 people from the Shengjie Battalion and 200 people from the Xiaoqi Battalion accompanied them.

Then came the fourth, fifth and sixth battalions of the standing army.

As early as the morning after receiving the urgent report from the Red Lady, Liu Sheng sent people to the Tongshan Iron Mine and asked Yang Heqing to take everyone back to Tianmu Mountain so that he could mobilize the fourth battalion.

As for the remaining four posts of the Red Lady's Third Battalion, she had already been asked to take them to Queshan County first.

Therefore, when Liu Sheng left Tianmu Mountain this time, he brought a total of 802 guards and 2000 standing troops.

Then 1000 civilian warriors were recruited from the original four major battalions to serve as military escorts, mainly responsible for escorting ordnance supplies.

As for grain and grass, very little was brought out from Tianmu Mountain, because there were still more than 2 stones of grain stored in Queshan Mountain.

···
Because the volunteers and civilians had been training for at least half a month, their marching speed was not slow after coming out of the mountains.

In addition, the baggage carried was not much - among all the baggage, the heaviest were the five Type 120 army cannons built by Liu Sheng's iron workshop.

In fact, it was a cannon, or a Hongyi cannon, but Liu Sheng didn't want to use these two names.

This army gun was modified from Liu Shengtun's steel pipe with an inner diameter of 120 mm and an outer diameter of 135 mm.

Each gun is about 3.3 meters long and weighs more than 500 kilograms (mainly due to the modification and adding a bronze gun tail). Even with the two-wheeled gun carriage, it only weighs more than 600 kilograms.

A mule can pull him along the official road.

In addition, cannonballs, gunpowder, arrows, armor, tiger squatting cannon, etc. are also pulled by horse-drawn carriages.

Therefore, after leaving Tianmu Mountain, we could travel nearly seventy miles in one day and arrive at Queshan County in the afternoon of the next day.

Seeing thousands more refugees outside the city, Liu Sheng couldn't help laughing after meeting the Red Lady: "Fucheng is still sending people here. It seems that they have made up their mind to use the refugees to defeat us."

The red lady reminded: "In just a few days, another three to four thousand refugees arrived. If left unchecked, these refugees will really eat us up."

Liu Sheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, we are about to take action now."

Subsequently, Liu Sheng summoned Wen You, Peng Youyi and other battalion commanders, battalion deputy officers, and military and political officers to hold a secret military meeting in the county government hall.

After the meeting, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth battalions of the rebel army and the Guards entered from the east gate of Queshan County.

After walking around the main streets of the city, two to three thousand rebels left through the south gate and set up several barracks outside the city.

Nowadays, the gentry and people in Queshan County are no longer so afraid of the rebels. Therefore, even if the city is under martial law, people still see thousands of rebels parading through the gaps in doors and windows, and on roofs and walls.

While they were shocked by the orderliness of the rebel team, most people were confused and didn't know why thousands of rebels came to the city for a walk.

But there are also a few smart people who have some understanding.

Li family.

After Li Gongzhang heard from his servant that thousands of rebels marched into the city, he climbed to the roof to watch.

When he saw the last group of rebels disappear from sight, he couldn't help but said with a complicated expression: "They are showing off their military power to scare those with evil intentions in the city."

Li Gongzhang knew very well that the previous method of Liu Sheng, the leader of the thieves, asking the big households to donate money and food first and then write a reply could only control some gentry and big households.

The vast majority of the gentry and wealthy households are still loyal to the imperial court, and some people will definitely take the risk to tip off the capital, and even cooperate with the inside and outside when the officers and soldiers take over the county seat in the future.

No matter how capable the bandit leader is, after all, he is just a bandit who just walked out of Tianmu Mountain. He has no more than a thousand soldiers. How can he easily win over the gentry and big families?
However, now that Liu Sheng has led thousands of seemingly elite rebel troops through the city, some gentry and wealthy households may not dare to be careful.

After thinking about this, Li Gongzhang had new doubts.

'Why did Liu Sheng bring thousands of soldiers and horses from the mountains? '

'Did Fucheng send troops to recapture Queshan?Or are they going to attack elsewhere? '

···
Sui Ping.

The county seat is located at the junction of Shiyang River and Shahe River.

The Shiyang River is probably the later Liuyan River, and the Shahe River is a section of the later Kuiwang River.The name was changed because the river channel was taken over by the Han River and renovated.

Half of the land in Suiping County is mountainous and sloping, and only half is plain land suitable for farming. Therefore, it is not as wealthy as Queshan, and the county town looks smaller.

But there are also thousands of refugees gathered outside the city.

Originally, Zhao Guangping, the magistrate of Suiping County, had been worried about how to deal with these refugees.

Relief is definitely not possible, the county government cannot provide so much food.As for the big households in the county, those who are willing to be extremely kind and virtuous will distribute some thin porridge outside the city every few days to help the hungry people.

There are also those who are unscrupulous and take the opportunity to select exquisite-looking boys and girls among the hungry people, exchange them for a little grain, or take them into their own households as slaves, or simply sell them to human traffickers to make huge profits.

But speaking of it, being able to be bought by someone these days is also a blessing.

It's better than starving to death and ending up with no bones left.

However, a few days ago, Zhao Guangping no longer worried about the hungry people, because Fucheng gave him a clever trick.

Let him spread rumors among the refugees that the rebels occupying Queshan County have hundreds of thousands of dans of food, and induce the refugees to go to Queshan to beg for food to survive.

The only problem now is that many hungry people outside Queshan County are too hungry to walk.

Even if they want to go to Queshan, they have to eat for two days to gain some strength.

Zhao Guangping is currently arguing with the big households in the county over this matter, hoping that the big households can donate some money and food so that he can implement the strategy guided by the government.

However, after a few days, the largest family among the major households only donated 300 shi of food and [-] taels of silver.

Everyone complained to him about poverty, saying that the disaster had lasted for several years and the landlords had no food left.

Zhao Guangping also wanted to cry about poverty: The small amount of money and food each person paid was not enough for him and all the officials in the county to live between their teeth. How could there be enough to help the hungry people outside the city?
So at noon that day, in the name of holding a banquet to express his gratitude, he invited all the big families in the county to the county government office for dinner.

After the banquet started, all the heads of wealthy families looked at the food on the table, and almost no one moved their chopsticks.

There were only three dishes on each table, pickled radish, boiled soybeans, boiled cabbage, a bowl of multigrain porridge, and a stack of steamed buns with a lot of bran.

Seeing this ridiculously simple meal, a smarter person would know why Zhao Guangping did what he did.

Cry poor.

I want them to donate more money and food.

"Why don't you use your chopsticks?" Zhao Guangping asked with a smile as he sat at the same table with the heads of the three most wealthy and powerful households in the county.

After saying that, he picked up a steamed bun and gnawed on it.

When he ate it, he found that not only did the bran make his teeth show, but there were also stones, which almost chipped his teeth.

So I couldn't help but secretly curse: What are the people below doing?Even if you are making bran steamed buns, you are not allowed to add pebbles!
Feeling that the bran buns were hard to swallow, Zhao Guangping quickly picked up a chopstick of Chinese cabbage and took a sip of the multigrain porridge.

I just feel extremely painful.

I think the worst he can eat on weekdays is two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup. What he eats is either white flour steamed buns, refined rice, or fine millet porridge.

Today, in order to benefit the county officials and help the hungry people, he worked really hard.

I just hope that these big households in the county can wise up and spend more money and food.

Otherwise he would have suffered in vain.

Thinking of this, Zhao Guangping deliberately made an expression of enjoyment and urged again: "Everyone, please eat quickly?"

Seeing that no one was using their chopsticks, he stood up, glanced at the heads of large households, and said: "This county knows that the food is simple and it is difficult for you to eat it.

But have you ever thought about it, even such a simple meal is a luxury for the hungry people outside the city, and it is something that can keep them alive.

The county previously asked everyone to donate money and food, firstly to keep the hungry people alive, and secondly to drive them to Queshan so that the county could relieve the hungry people.

Why don’t people understand the good intentions of this county?I invite you all to have this meal today because I hope you can sympathize with the hungry people and this county. "

After saying that, he picked up a glass of water, made a toast to all the dignitaries, and drank it.

At this stage of the play, Zhao Guangping was quite satisfied. He felt that the acting skills of the famous actors on the stage were no more than this.

Most of the heads of wealthy families looked like they were about to give in, but suddenly one person said: "Zhixian County Zhao, although the money and food we donated before were not much, it should be enough to help thousands of hungry people outside the city, right?"

Zhao Guangping followed the sound and saw a young man sitting at a table in the corner.

Then Zhao Guangping became angry and shouted: "Nanning Feng! Don't toast me and you will be punished with wine!"

Zhao Guangping was angry for a reason. This Nanningfeng was just a scholar and a low-ranking wealthy person in the county. Ever since he came back from studying abroad and took over the Nan family, he had always been against him and had ruined many of his good deeds.

He had already made up his mind. If Nanning Feng dared to do bad things again today, he would try to put her in jail and ransack her home, killing the chicken and scaring the monkey!
Nanning Feng was still sitting in her seat, drinking multigrain porridge and boiled soybeans calmly.

Hearing this, he said calmly: "I have calculated that there are only more than [-] hungry people outside the city. If each person eats two kilograms of food per day, they only need fifty shi of food per day.

In the past, the food donated by each of our families to the county government totaled several hundred dan, right?There are also more than 1000 taels of silver.No matter how you calculate it, it should be enough to help the hungry people outside the city for ten and a half months, right?
The magistrate is still saying that there is insufficient money and food. I'm afraid it's not that it's not enough to help the hungry people, but it's not enough to satisfy the appetites of corrupt officials like you, right? "

"you!"

Zhao Guangping couldn't help but blush with anger when he saw that Nan Ningfeng actually revealed the matter in public and exposed the county government's corruption scandal.

Then he shouted angrily: "Come here! Nanning Feng is in cahoots with the rebels and plans to attack the county. Put him in jail immediately!"

Because Zhao Guangping knew how to make money and was willing to distribute it to the officials and government servants below, the county government officials and servants all listened to him.

Hearing this, several sturdy government officials immediately rushed in and captured Nanning Feng.

Nanning Feng was stunned for a moment, then struggled and shouted angrily, "Corrupt official, under the bright sky, you actually framed me. Aren't you afraid that the superior officer and the imperial envoy will know about it?!"

Zhao Guangping sneered, "How did I frame you? If you say that you colluded with the rebels, there is evidence. Just wait, this time you will be ordered to confiscate your home and exterminate your clan!"

Hearing this, many big investors were shocked and confused.

For a moment, it was unclear whether Zhao Guangping framed Nanning Feng or whether he really had some evidence.

At this moment, a policeman ran in sweating profusely and shouted: "The county magistrate is in trouble! The thieves have invaded the city!"

　First more.

　　Something delayed me, so the update is late.

　　Thanks to [Mai Yongsheng] for the 1000 starting point reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)