Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 57 Picking up babies and orphans, arresting those who spread rumors

"The wise does not buy rumours."

"Although talents are needed to achieve great things, this land has no shortage of talents, let alone wise talents."

Zhang Cheng had no intention of compromising, so he just replied to Qi Xiang with these two words, and said with a cold look in his eyes: "Send people in plainclothes to the shops, and arrest those who spread rumors to slander the rebels. After arrest, they will be interrogated and the results will be announced. Just report it to me and know that if you can't be found out, show your head to the public in the city, and let the soldiers and common people know why these people were killed."

After Zhang Cheng said this, he stamped the order he had prepared to capture the remnants of Hu Yuan's reaction and handed it to Qi Xiang.

Qi Xiang was greatly surprised when he saw this: "So Mr. Zhang had already guessed that they would slander the rebels?"

"To be precise, I have never been afraid to speculate on them with the greatest malice."

"What's more, when I select officials this time, I don't expect to rely mainly on them, the sons of prominent officials and wealthy families. I just give them an opportunity to do things for the rebels and the world, so that the people of the world know that our rebels welcome the world's prominent officials. The disciples will change their ways and abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side instead of being beaten to death with a stick."

After Zhang Cheng said this, he waved to Qi Xiang and said, "Go and do it, and call Wen Zheng by the way."

Qi Xiang raised his hand and said yes.

Not long after, Zhu Wenzheng came to Zhang Cheng: "Mr."

"Wen Zheng, take the guards assigned to you by your superiors and a few carts of rice, and go find the down-and-out scribes in the city to write down the recruitment notice for you guys."

"I have already written the contents of the recruitment notice. You must find someone to copy out thousands of copies, and then post them everywhere in the streets and intersections inside and outside the city. Let the down-and-out scribes read the notices in the city, and find children to distribute the notices in the city. "

"Instruct them to give three buckets of rice for every fifty copies they copy. After reading it out, as long as they bring ten poor people to sign up for reference, they will also be given three buckets of rice. As for the children who hand out the notice, tell them that as long as they send it out, they will be in charge of their food. Every day You can also take a bucket of rice home."

Zhang Cheng said to Zhu Wenzheng.

Zhu Wenzheng was quite surprised after hearing this: "Sir, I just asked the poor man to copy and read the notice. Do you really want to give him so much rice?"

"I remember I told you the story of buying a horse bone for a thousand gold."

"If someone wants to spread rumors to smear our rebel army, then we should use generous food to invite poor people to work for us, so that the rumors will be self-defeating."

"Besides, this is also a respect for their labor, which is better than forcing them in the name of the world."

After Zhang Cheng said this, he said to Zhu Wenzheng: "Go ahead and call Hua Yun."

Zhu Wenzheng raised his hand and said yes.

Not a moment later.

Hua Yun came to Zhang Cheng: "What do you want Mr. Zhang to do with me?"

"When are you going to give me back your clairvoyance?"

Zhang Cheng asked, staring at Hua Yun.

Hua Yun's eyes dodged after hearing this: "What kind of clairvoyance?"

"Are you playing tricks on me?"

"Is this the way you, Hua Yun, secretly take other people's things and not return them?"

Zhang Cheng asked, pointing at Huayun.

Hua Yun laughed playfully after hearing this: "My Mr. Zhang, what are you talking about? We are brothers. How can we say that a brother takes his brother's things secretly? It is clearly just for his brother's use. , It’s also my fault that we were afraid of poverty since we were young, so we couldn’t bear to part with good things when we saw them, so we didn’t return them.”

As Hua Yun said that, he put his hand into his clothes, took out the clairvoyant eye and gave it to Zhang Cheng, saying: "How about Mr. Zhang give it to us directly? If you ask for anything from us in the future, we will never have any problem and will find a way to give it to you." Get it."

"I have to think about this."

Zhang Cheng replied.

Hua Yun smiled and said, "Don't be so petty."

"It depends on how you perform."

Zhang Cheng said.

After hearing this, Hua Yun asked in shock and some vigilance: "What does Mr. Zhang mean by this?"

Zhang Cheng took out the Jun order that Zhu Yuanzhang had asked for when issuing military pay to establish the Gongwei Department to protect the internal order and security of Chuzhou and said: "The superiors have decided to establish the Gongwei Department. The troops and horses of the Gongwei Department will be controlled by the magistrate, that is, Tell me to follow my orders, and I have asked your superiors to agree to let you be the commander of the Arch Guard Department."

"So, from now on, you and the one hundred brothers you directly lead will become the official school of the Arch Guard Department."

"The task I want to give you now to the Guard Department is to set up a baby-picking team to pick up babies and orphans inside and outside the city."

"The world is in chaos now, with abandoned babies and orphans everywhere."

"You need to pick them up and bring them back to the Zhizhou Yamen for rescue, so that they will not be exposed to the wilderness or eaten."

"Tell the brothers to pick up as many as they can. In the future, these abandoned babies and orphans and those we rescued from the Hu Yuan government will be used as the successors of the brothers who died in battle. The incense will never end after his body was wrapped in horse leather!"

Zhang Cheng glanced at Hua Yun and said.

The world is in troubled times right now, so the phenomenon of abandoned babies is indeed particularly serious.

There are also many orphans.

Although the tragic phenomenon of cannibalism occurs from time to time, most parents still choose to starve themselves to death rather than give up their children for food. This has resulted in many people fighting to starve the whole family to death and leave their babies alone.

In addition, because plagues often occur in troubled times, many old people will die in large numbers first, leaving only many half-grown children.

In short.

A major phenomenon in troubled times is the high number of abandoned babies and orphans.

Historically, many heroes during this period would adopt orphans as adopted sons.

Zhu Yuanzhang also adopted many orphans in history, and many of them achieved remarkable results. Now Zhang Cheng naturally has to start adopting infant orphans.

Because adopting these people is not only a good deed but also a talent accumulation. After all, these people have no original clan blood relationship and are like a blank sheet of paper. Once they become talents, they will do things without any worries.

Hua Yun heard that Zhang Cheng said that he would use the orphaned babies as the heirs of his brothers who died in the battle in the future. He felt that this matter was both benevolent and valuable, so he hurriedly said: "Okay!"

"As long as you do this well, this clairvoyance will be yours, and you can even look for lost babies now."

Zhang Cheng said with a smile and handed the clairvoyance to Hua Yun.

"Really?"

Hua Yun was overjoyed and asked in disbelief.

Zhang Cheng nodded.

Hua Yun hurriedly received the clairvoyance, and bowed solemnly to Zhang Cheng: "Mr. Zhang, don't worry, Hua Yun will definitely bring back all the abandoned babies within a hundred miles. In fact, even if you don't give us this clairvoyance, We are also willing to do this, it is rare that Mr. Zhang cares so much about babies and the likes of us."

Hua Yun smiled with tears in his eyes as he spoke.

Zhang Cheng also smiled and said: "Go!"

"Hey!"

"and many more!"

Zhang Cheng then called out to Hua Yun.

Hua Yun quickly turned around and asked respectfully: "Mr. Zhang, do you have any other instructions?"

"This should be done in a high-profile manner. It's best to make people in the city know about it by making a big banner with the order to pick up babies, with the purpose of picking up babies written on it."

Zhang Cheng instructed.

Hua Yun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, he raised his hands and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhang!"

Afterwards, Hua Yun walked out quickly, and soon there was the sound of horse hooves.

……

The clatter of horse hooves was also constantly appearing in the downtown area of ​​Chuzhou City.

Qi Xiangzheng led eight horsemen on horseback and galloped through the busy city, scaring many people from poor families along the street to flee and hide.

"The thieves are coming!"

"The thieves are here to kill the soldiers!"

Because someone was shouting that the rebels were going to kill the scholars, they were so frightened that the poor soldiers hid frantically.

And at that time, in front of their arrival.

In a teahouse.

A man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks named Lin Cheng was talking to a few humble men who set up a stall to collect money to write family letters for others, and said: "My old uncle is now working as a cook in the house of the general manager of the thieves. According to the news he heard, He said that the bandits are going to massacre all the scholars next, so you should run away quickly, why are you still here writing letters home to others?"

The Yuan Dynasty has now stopped the imperial examinations and discriminated against Han people. In addition, Mongolian aristocrats and semu aristocrats occupied a large number of official positions. Therefore, many scholars from poor families in the world, that is, scholars from small and medium-sized landowners, basically have no chance to become officials. If you have the opportunity to become an official, you will not be able to have power, and naturally you will not be able to maintain your family fortune.

Many literati from poor families are now even more miserable than their ancestors. Many are reduced to setting up stalls to tell fortunes and write letters to people, and some even write folk operas or market stories as a profession.

It is precisely for this reason that Yuan opera has a special status in ancient literature, and many classic folk slang songs have also been produced.

Back to the topic.

For this reason, there are still many down-and-out literati in Chuzhou City.

After the man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks said this, the poor men setting up the stall showed horror and resentment in their eyes.

"what?!"

"Why are these thieves so hateful? We humble soldiers are already so miserable and they still want to kill us!"

Shu Anguo, a humble scholar who was writing a letter home to a bearded man in front of him, turned pale with fright and almost started crying.

Lin Cheng continued to pretend to frown and said: "It is said that the current Manager Zhu is jealous of you scholars calling him a thief."

"Oh my god, how can we who have had one meal and no one dare to scold us? We are only scolding those high-ranking officials who eat the salary of the imperial court."

Shu Anguo said feeling aggrieved.

Lin Cheng's eyes flashed with a glint of pride that was not easily noticed, but as soon as he finished speaking, Qi Xiang and other rebel cavalry troops appeared, along with various panicked shouts.

"The thieves are coming!"

"The thieves are coming to kill the scribes!"

Shu Anguo's legs weakened and he sat down on the ground, then crawled desperately into an alley.

Lin Chengze laughed even more proudly.

But this time.

The bearded man in front of Lin Cheng and Shu Anguo suddenly pointed at Lin Cheng: "That's him, he's slandering the rebels!"

Qi Xiang pointed his whip at Lin Cheng and shouted, "Take it!"

(End of this chapter)