stubborn thief

Hancheng, the county government hall.

The night wind disturbed the candlelight in the study and flickered, and the warm candlelight hit Zuo Maodi's face.

There is a piece of paper on the table and a little finger in a wooden box.

The header of the letter is "Information of Hancheng County Affairs, Brother Zuo, and the signature is General Marshal's Mansion, Brother Chengzong, respectfully."

The handwriting is in the Guange style, but it is not smooth and restrained enough to be sharp.

Zuo Maodi's eyes were fixed on the letter, but his pupils were already out of focus, and his thoughts were far away.

He thought of his youth in Shandong, where his parents were both in beautiful clothes and angry horses, and he did not know the sufferings of the world.

Because his father Zuo Zhilong first served as the magistrate of Yan'an Prefecture and later as the magistrate of Luanzhou, he was provided with very good material conditions. There was also a Xishu Thatched Cottage in the western suburbs of Laiyang, which was specially used for studying.

His mother, Mrs. Chen, was the eldest daughter of Chen Zhi'an, the commander of Ninghai Guards, so during his boyhood, he traveled between towns and guard posts, studying and practicing martial arts.

He and his brothers and friends joined the Shanzuo Grand Society, a branch of Fushe, where they socialized and gathered, exchanged knowledge, commented on the current situation, and became famous for their writing.

On the other hand, he had been watched by the generals of the guard since he was a child. Bows, knives and guns were nothing more than toys when he was a child.

People say that when he was still a scholar, he had a great reputation in the country and was unparalleled in the world.

Until he was twenty-three years old, in the year of the rural examination, his father suddenly passed away. He did not take part in the rural examination. He buried his father in his hometown and lived in a thatched hut next to the grave. He observed filial piety for three years and missed the second rural examination.

Later, he became more filial and caring towards his mother. He would talk to her every night and go to bed after her mother went to bed. He would eat with his mother every morning and he would go out to study only after her mother had finished her meal.

At that time, people said that Zuo Maodi fell into despair after his father's death and became the most lazy person in the world. He did not get up until three o'clock in the morning and went out.

During the six most exciting years of a young man's life, he spent three years with his father in the cemetery and three years with his mother at home. He only fought once with the White Lotus cult when he was twenty-eight years old.

Other scholars used bows and arrows, but he only used cannons.

One shot blasts the barrel and hits oneself, and one shot hits the enemy's head.

It was not until the age of twenty-nine that he took the provincial examination and obtained the Yayuan. At the age of thirty, he passed the Jinshi examination and was awarded the title of Magistrate of Hancheng County.

The three years in Hancheng were the most severe test God gave him and the most meaningful three years in his life.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, as soon as he took office, bandits had been wreaking havoc in this land for three years. Giant bandits like Wang Er and Wang Zuogao came one after another, and countless small thieves troubled the county.

The bandits were just a minor problem that Zuo Maodi encountered as a county magistrate.

The real big problem is the lack of rain or snow.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, there was no snow in winter, late spring, and no wheat; little rain in summer, early autumn frost, killing millet.

For six years, there was no snow in the winter, and no wheat entered the ground; for seven years, there was no rain in the spring, and the fertile fields turned into scorched earth.

There was a general famine, and many people starved to death. The rich family could still support it, but the poor people progressed from eating grass roots and scraping tree bark, to selling their wives, and finally eating human flesh by scraping the dead.

In addition, Zuo Maodi, as the county magistrate selected by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and approved by the emperor, had the most basic and basic responsibility: collecting taxes.

Hancheng is a place with 7,293 registered households and 62,637 people.

The census conducted during the 40th year of Jiajing seventy years ago has not been done since.

Zuo Maodi knew how many people there actually were. He took a census when he came here, but he didn't report it.

After the chaos of the past few years, the population is still just over 110,000.

There is a large population here, but there is a problem with the land. The last time the land was cleared was seventy years ago.

Hancheng is close to the Yellow River. In the past seventy years, the Yellow River has washed away the fields on its banks many times. However, the fields were destroyed and taxes had to be paid according to the old rules.

This resulted in Hancheng's past taxes being paid in vain every year. That is to say, even if the county magistrate fully collected taxes in accordance with national laws, the people of Hancheng still owed the country more than two thousand dan in silver and grain.

Therefore, even if there is no drought, the villages along the river that have lost their fields still have to hand over this food.

The solution to the problem is simple to say, just equalize the food across the land.

But in fact, it can't be achieved. The county magistrate is a foreigner who is unfamiliar with the place and is powerless.

The people around, above, and below the magistrate are all locals with complicated interpersonal relationships, and they are not willing to acquire land again.

Only those unlucky villages along the river have tens of thousands of people who want to acquire land, but they don't even have enough to eat. How can they study, do business, and have a say in the county?

This is not a problem that can be solved by those old, young, sick and disabled people who don't even have a single intact piece of clothing. They just kneel down and kowtow when they see him along the Yellow River.

It was indeed a shocking and powerful force, but when the glorious magistrate returned to the county government, Zuo Maodi was still fighting alone, and no one was of the same mind as him.

Zuo Maodi was unable to measure the land, so the only thing he could do was to be a lair.

After taking office for three years, he made reports every year to ask the court to waive past tax arrears. Of course, it was impossible to waive this.

But it doesn't matter to Zuo Maodi. He is not a person who pursues what 'should' be done.

Just like in this era when observing filial piety is not so popular, he voluntarily missed two provincial examinations even though he was capable and qualified. He always only did what he thought was right.

He collects the taxes that the court wants to collect. If he has the ability to pay taxes but wants to owe them, he collects them. But if he can't pay taxes, he owes taxes... let's just say he owes them.

Others say that if you don't push for exams, the officials from the imperial court who will test your academic performance will come. If you have no merit, Hancheng will delay you.

Zuo Maodi said that those people really couldn't pay taxes. Even if I sent officials to punish and torture them for political achievements, I still couldn't collect taxes. On the contrary, it harmed the people's hearts and the vitality of the country.

Even if the officials in the imperial court do not forgive him, I am willing to do so.

Therefore, Zuo Maodi's little Hancheng owed the court fifteen thousand taels three years after he took office.

Not only did he owe the court, but he also owed his own salary to Han Cheng.

In the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, the whole county was hit by a disaster. He promulgated the law of donating salaries and urging relief, and he took the lead in donating a salary of fifty taels of silver, which was a year's work in vain.

Immediately, they visited 28 miles of the county for investigation and found 3,529 people who were dying of hunger. Eight relief points were set up in the county to survive the cold winter.

By the spring of last year, the number of hungry people was increasing, and it was no longer possible to rely on salary donations and persuasion to help the hungry people, so the local relief law was promulgated, requiring each of the 28 districts in the county to provide relief to the hungry neighbors in urgent need of relief, a total of 5,200 people.

There are also 311 homeless homeless people who are not accepted by the local government, and the county government sets up a porridge factory to help them.

At the same time, he divided the hungry people in the county into three levels: extremely poor, sub-poor, and sub-poor, a total of more than 14,000 people. He made a register and reported it, and asked for 1,437 taels from Shaanxi.

That year was the year of the rural examination, and Zuo Maodi was selected as the examiner of the Shaanxi rural examination. Only one person in Hancheng under his administration succeeded in the examination, which greatly touched him and made him feel deeply uneasy.

"I am so outstanding in governing Hancheng, but I don't have any respect for culture and education?"

After returning home, he established a religious society in the county town, selected scholars, and personally explained the scriptures to them twice a month, setting the precedent of attaching importance to education.

For poor students among the students, funds are allocated from the county government and each student is given one to two cents of silver to avoid dropping out of school due to poverty.

Due to the lack of food in Hancheng, the Changpingcang was already empty when Zuo Maodi took office. In order to avoid the sudden rise in food prices, he used his salary to buy 100 shi of grain. He also called on the wealthy gentry to donate 2,000 shi to re-establish the Changpingcang. .

This expenditure allowed him to work in vain for another two years.

No matter what, Zuo Maodi tried his best, and the people and the people were united, but Hancheng was still in a state of sitting on nothing. Despite their efforts and various measures, poor people in Hancheng rarely committed crimes.

But when the war reached this point, the financial resources of the wealthy businessmen were basically cut off, and the fields and food of the poor families were once again destroyed by thieves.

If the war in Shaanxi continues, Hancheng's future will be dark.

The night breeze is cold.

Zuo Maodi came back to his senses, rubbed his swollen eyebrows, and focused on the paragraph in the letter, "Hancheng is exempt from taxes for one year."

A smile appeared on the face that looked like Iron Guan Gong, and he couldn't help but think about the idea that the people of Hancheng would be able to recuperate and recuperate after the tax exemption.

At least in the future, the Marshal's Mansion seems to have no intention of invading Hancheng. They will have a rare opportunity to restore life to the land.

He even wanted to use the marshal's army to complete the work of clearing Hancheng's land.

This matter is very difficult for local people to do, but it is very simple for outsiders in the Marshal's Mansion.

If this long-standing malpractice that has been accumulating on the people of Hancheng for decades can be cleared away once and for all, Hancheng will surely explode with powerful vitality.

It's just that... thinking of Chen Qiyu's messenger during the day, the smile on Zuo Maodi's face gradually cooled down.

This situation has happened countless times in his short three-year official career.

Whenever he naively thought that the situation would get better next, the current situation would cruelly slap him with a big mouth and ravage the peach blossom garden he had worked so hard to build into a mess.

Zuo Maodi is used to it.

But it really doesn't work this time.

Despite his status and emotions, Zuo Maodi was very willing to follow Chen Qiyu's instructions to send troops. Even his mother, Chen, told him that his family had been favored by the country for generations and could not betray the emperor's trust.

But Hancheng has no troops to send out. The eleven people here are all militiamen. They are only responsible for defending the land and have no intention of going to war.

The problem of recruiting soldiers is more complicated. Hancheng Yamen does not have so much money to recruit soldiers.

Their fundraiser was not Zuo Maodi, but thirty-six wealthy households with four surnames in the city and Hu, Dang, Ding, and Yang in the suburbs.

All the food, grass, weapons, armor, wages, and even daily necessities of clothing for the recruited soldiers were all provided by thirty-six families. They were doing the work of protecting the country and the people, and they had no responsibility to risk their lives abroad.

The most important thing is that after so many years of hard work throughout Hancheng, the rogue bandits invaded Hancheng three times and were repelled three times by the soldiers and civilians. Isn't it just for the safety of the four villages and a chance to recuperate?

Now this opportunity is at your fingertips, as long as you don't mess with the Marshal's Army.

How easy is it to get them to send troops?

However, Xi'an Fucheng was in danger, and the envoy who narrowly escaped death and penetrated the siege camp to deliver the message was ridiculed by the gentry in the Yamen lobby during the day. In a rage, he drew a knife and cut off his tail finger, turned around and ran back to Xi'an Fucheng.

Looking at that little finger, Zuo Maodi's conscience was condemned.

The bigger doubt is that he doesn't know when helping the imperial court to send troops and bring peace to the people has actually become a contradictory choice.

That night, Zuo Maodi wrote the letter vigorously and ordered the government officials to leave the city overnight and send them to Heyang, Pucheng, Weinan and other places.

He thought that although Hancheng could not send troops, he should convey Chen Qiyu's instructions to other places while he was trapped in the besieged city. Maybe others would have the conditions to send troops.

But just when Zuo Maodi was still thinking about how useful his letter could be, several surrounding counties and cities had already raised troops.

The first to raise troops was Heyang County in the southwest.

The magistrate of Heyang County is called Fan Zhimao, who was born in Juren, Yucheng, Henan, and is a descendant of Fan Zhongyan.

The situation there is different from that in Hancheng. There is no tax compensation bank near the Yellow River, but the additional expenses are higher than in Hancheng.

Because there was a battalion of troops stationed in Heyang County, called Han He Camp, and all the military supplies of the battalion depended on Heyang County, which was very laborious and costly. The county magistrate Fan Zhimao always wanted to disband Han He Camp.

Although a battalion of troops can drive away bandits, the situation in Shaanxi in recent years is obviously not a problem that the army can solve.

The foreign bandits have been beaten away, but Heyang County alone cannot provide food, clothing, and clothing for a camp, let alone the current drought. Even if there is no drought, Heyang County alone cannot provide it.

Zuo Maodi must also be mentioned in this matter. This battalion is called Han He Camp, which should be provided by Hancheng and Heyang together. However, Zuo Maodi has governed Hancheng for three years and owes the court fifteen thousand taels. It is financially impossible to provide military pay. .

Objectively speaking, all the rebel soldiers who came to Hancheng were beaten away by the troops led by Zuo Maodi, the magistrate. They fought and exterminated them when they ran into the mountains, and chased the enemies in boats when they ran to the river. They chased them and beat them. .

They didn't bother Han Heying at all.

So much so that he couldn't even ask Han Cheng for food or money.

The soldiers in Han He camp are also very aggrieved. We are stationed here. The military discipline is very good, but we don’t have enough food and clothing. We don’t have warm clothes. If thieves come, we will attack first. Even a guerrilla general has died. There is still so much resentment in your place. , they will disband us at every turn.

Who cares?

Fan Zhimao, the county magistrate, was originally arguing with Li Guozheng, the commander of Han He's camp, over military expenses. As soon as Zuo Maodi conveyed Chen Qiyu's instructions, the two hit it off immediately.

Heyang County sent out camp expenses, and Han Heying sent troops to support Xi'an Fucheng.

In the blink of an eye, following Zuo Maodi's letters, he contacted various counties in Weibei, and soon took advantage of the opportunity when the Marshal's Mansion was busy transporting supplies to organize a decent army on the north bank of the Weihe River.

Their generals were Li Guozheng from the Han He camp, Sun Shoufa from Pucheng, Liu Jinjue from Hancheng, Zhang Jizai from the capital, and six thousand soldiers and horses.

This army marched all the way across Pucheng, passed by the merchants in Xiaotong Town to replenish supplies, and camped in Guanshan for half a day. That night, they went south across the Wei River and entered Weinan.

They went south to Weinan in order to join the armed forces of the landlords who had raised troops in Weinan.

Because there is a big family in Weinan County, the Nan family has nine Jinshi and three ministers.

At present, Nan Qizhong, the elder of the clan, was once the Minister of the Ministry of Rites in Nanjing. His son Nan Juye was the head of the Ministry of Rites at this time. There was also Nan Juyi, who was the governor of Fujian and was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry who was deprived of his status and returned home.

This family had vast fields and many servants. As early as Liu Chengzong revealed that he wanted to redeem the land for one tael of silver per acre and sent people to Weinan to clear out the land, he was already thinking about starting a rebellion.

Now when he saw troops gathering in Weibei, he immediately responded and raised money to recruit troops in Weinan, hoping to unite with Li Guozheng and others to relieve the siege of Xi'an.

In fact, despite the huge momentum, these generals all know that the stakes are high.

In order to give a sudden blow to the camp outside the city, their communications were relatively secretive, and the soldiers and horses marched day and night. Therefore, when 6,000 soldiers and horses were assembled in Weibei, Liu Chengzong knew nothing about it.

Until this army went out day and night and entered Weinan.

Two hours after they entered Weinan, Liu Chengzong, who was one hundred and fifty miles away on the Xianyang plateau, received the news.

This Ming army never dreamed that their actions were equivalent to trying to steal a piece of grass from someone else's pocket, but they stepped on the owner's life.

The Marshal's army's intelligence about their entry into Weinan was reported by the Mongolian soldiers escorting the baggage.

Xie Erhu changed horses four times and traveled 150 miles in two hours. When he reached Xianyang, his trousers were frayed and he rushed to report to Liu Chengzong.

He said: "Commander! I know why Zhang Tianlin didn't reply. A Ming army came from Weibei and attacked our army's food road and blocked Weinan!"

Liu Shishi immediately flew into a rage, and the nameless evil fire that had been suppressed in his heart for several days finally found an outlet: "My soldiers will help you stop the plague in Tongguan, are you fucking cutting off my supply line?" (End of Chapter)