stubborn thief

Hanzhong Prefecture.

The situation in Hanzhong Prefecture was not as peaceful and harmonious as described in Jiang Yingchang's "Hanzhong Prefecture Gazetteer," where everything was in need of rebuilding.

This is actually a basin filled with despair.

The torrential rain brought flash floods that destroyed villages, and the rising Han River washed away bridges. More than 10,000 people, from Prefect Jiang Yingchang to soldiers of the Hanzhong Brigade, worked tirelessly for weeks on end to rescue people.

Under the scorching sun and amidst the floodwaters, soldiers' clothes were constantly getting wet and drying, causing rashes and skin ulcers to spread across their backs and waists. Hundreds, including Jiang Yingchang and Luo Rucai, fell ill. They also had to endure the dire situation of rotting food supplies, rusted armor, dead warhorses, destroyed barracks, and missing soldiers in the flood.

Jiang Yingchang's compilation of the "Hanzhong Prefecture Gazetteer" was actually the result of his long-term patrols along the riverbanks, directing flood control and drainage, which led to his back being soaked with sweat and becoming ulcerated. In the end, he was tied up by Luo Rucai and forced to rest at the Ruiwang Palace.

Luo Rucai's situation was not much better than Jiang Yingchang's. However, he was thick-skinned and concerned about his image. After being promoted to the position of commander of the Hanzhong Brigade, he often regarded himself as the official in charge of Hanzhong and was unwilling to fall behind others.

When he could no longer withstand the onslaught and was intimidated by Jiang Yingchang's relentless fighting style, he still refused to surrender. Only then did he resort to cheating, ordering his subordinates to forcibly bind his opponent and send him to rest.

He then led his men to patrol the dry bank for two more days before picking up a few pretty young widows from outside the city and bringing them back to the Prince Rui's Palace. Under the pretext of taking care of Jiang Yingchang, he handed over the disaster response to Zhang Shangxuan, the deputy commander of the Hanzhong Brigade.

Luo Rucai, who was in charge of feeding Jiang Yingchang soup and changing his medicine in the Ruiwang Palace, began to slack off.

It wasn't that Luo Rucai didn't take the flood in Hanzhong seriously; in fact, with their round-the-clock disaster relief efforts, the flood situation in Hanzhong had been greatly contained.

On the other hand, the Marshal's Office emphasized the power structure of the military, making the Hanzhong Brigade Commander the highest-ranking official in Hanzhong Prefecture, and the Hanzhong Prefect Jiang Yingchang his subordinate.

An assistant official in charge of documents, storage, labor service, and supervision in Xindi.

In times of war, a place may not necessarily need civil officials, but it must have garrison troops.

The same applies to the official structure of the Marshal's Office. If there is no Grand Commander above him, the Brigade Commander is a junior Marshal who establishes his own office and governs the people in his own territory.

When his subordinates fell ill, Luo Rucai would definitely offer them food and clothing, and show them concern and care.

As for the post-disaster work, Luo Rucai had always been skeptical of its legitimacy.

In his view, it was a great waste to give the army the strong troops and horses entrusted to him by the Grand Marshal, which were squandered like mud and sand on dangerous tasks such as rescuing disaster victims and tedious work such as dredging rivers and building fortifications.

As long as the people's hearts are united, the army will be invincible. If the army has no problems, everything else will be fine. Even if there is no food, no soldiers or armor, no money or manpower, they can rob... They can always get through the crisis safely.

But he also knew very well that Liu Chengzong was happy to do such things.

When Liu Chengzong was still a bandit leader, he liked to use his strength to uphold justice and help the weak and unrelated—Luo Rucai was also a weak person who was helped by Liu Chengzong.

If I hadn't rushed to Liu Chengzong back then, clutching my backside pierced by Aimu's arrow, I wouldn't have the prestigious position of brigade commander I have today.

What is good above will be replicated below.

It wasn't that Luo Rucai wanted to save people; for him, it was merely a political maneuver to win the favor of the warlord and cater to his preferences.

However, in reality, although Jiang Yingchang and Luo Rucai both suffered greatly during the disaster, their effectiveness in combating the flood was actually less than that of Zhang Shangxuan, who was recuperating and taking a break from work.

Jiang Yingchang, who was skilled in revitalizing education, spent his career in drought-stricken areas. In his entire life, he had never seen as much water as Hanzhong had in two days of rain.

Luo Rucai, who had overseen large-scale projects such as the destruction of the Han King's Palace and the looting of the Rui King's Palace and had extensive experience in destruction, was even more unpredictable when it came to construction—he had never heard of such a thing before.

They know absolutely nothing about floods.

Even if the two of them were tied together, they would still be far inferior to Zhang Shangxuan.

Although Zhang Shangxuan was a military general, and was originally the deputy general of the Zhenguan Army in Huguang, his family lived in a mountainous area in the Yangtze River basin that was prone to flash floods.

Zhang Shangxuan took over the post-disaster work, and within a few days, he built a pontoon bridge across the Han River as the floodwaters receded. He then began repairing the bridges and roads that had been washed away and damaged on various tributaries, restoring transportation between the north and south banks of the Han River. Subsequently, he recruited refugees, set up shelters and distributed porridge, and carried out the post-disaster reconstruction in an orderly manner.

However, despite doing his job very well, Zhang Shangxuan did not receive any praise from his superiors.

Because the messenger sent by Grand Marshal Liu Chengzong has arrived. He is Wang Yongji, a member of the Imperial Guard, and the only son of Wang Xingshan, the former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Gansu.

Wang Yongji was originally stuck on the east bank of the Tangshui River, a tributary of the Han River, and was worried about how to accomplish his mission.

As soon as the pontoon bridge was built, he arrived with orders for Luo Rucai and Zu Chengyong to whip each other.

The letter was delivered all the way to the Hanzhong Prefectural Government Office. Upon hearing about this outrageous punishment, Jiang Yingchang's muscle memory was instantly activated, and he felt as if he had returned to the day Liu Chengzong captured Heshui County.

He was so frightened that his hands and feet turned cold, and he tried his best to suppress his instinct to escape from Nanzheng City.

Luo Rucai was a very arrogant and domineering person. He knew very well that this punishment of having his subordinates whip him would easily incite a mutiny.

as predicted.

Upon receiving the letter, Luo Rucai's eyes immediately filled with disgust and resentment. He cursed and complained, "Damn it, that bastard Zhang Shangxuan did a great job, but it made things even worse for my back!"

Jiang Yingchang didn't react for a moment, and only after a moment did he realize that Luo Rucai wasn't cursing Liu Chengzong, but complaining that Zhang Shangxuan had built the bridge too quickly.

Luo Rucai's loathing for Zhang Shangxuan was even greater than the poop he was stepping on.

Wang Yongji, however, didn't care at all. He still clasped his hands in a playful manner and said, "Marshal Luo, the Grand Marshal also said that if you dare to act impulsively again and rush into his office with a knife, he will smash your head into his stomach and then kick you to work in the Taimeng Guard."

Luo Rucai didn't take it seriously and winked at Wang Yongji, saying, "I dare not do it again. Go back and tell the commander that I know I was wrong."

As he spoke, he took off his four-colored light silk robe and bared his back for Wang Yongji to see: "Look at this, it's been soaked in water and sun. Once it's whipped, there won't be an inch of good flesh left!"

After Wang Yongji had looked at it, Luo Rucai put on his clothes and clapped his hands in relief: "Fortunately, it's not like we have to go to Xi'an Prefecture to have the commander-in-chief personally beat him up. Zu Chengyong is in Hannan. I'll trouble you to rest for two days, envoy. When he comes over, I'll give him a good beating."

Compared to whipping each other in Hanzhong Prefecture, Luo Rucai was more afraid of going to the drill ground during the New Year, where he would be publicly beaten by Liu Chengzong and humiliated.

As for exchanging whippings with Zu Chengyong, it wasn't a big deal for him.

It's nothing more than suffering some pain; he's not afraid of being slashed by swords or shot by arrows on the battlefield.

Afterwards, Luo Rucai and Jiang Yingchang pulled Wang Yongji aside to ask about the details of the Eastern Expedition and inquire about the participation of familiar officers and soldiers.

Upon hearing that Liu Chengzong had achieved a great victory in Lingdong, Luo Rucai couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh loudly, "Haha, I knew the commander-in-chief was invincible. We also benefited from this great victory, otherwise we would definitely have been beaten!"

"For the next two days, you should follow Prefect Jiang and hear about the situation in Hanzhong. That way you can report back to the Commander-in-Chief. Hanzhong is a terrible place. All the ponds and reservoirs have been destroyed. The only two hundred or so that were left are completely ignored..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yingchang couldn't help but glance at him sideways, thinking to himself, "How dare you say that? Don't you know why no one cares?"

To put it simply, the Hanzhong Basin has abundant rainfall, which is a unique geographical feature formed between the Qinling Mountains, Bashan Mountains, and the Han River.

This terrain and rainfall pattern made the agricultural environment extremely dependent on water conservancy facilities. However, the neglect of governance during the Wanli era, the wars during the Tianqi era, and the displacement during the Chongzhen era all caused great damage to the water conservancy facilities in Hanzhong Prefecture.

Hanzhong Prefecture originally had thousands of ponds, pools, and supporting irrigation canals, but now almost all of them that could be destroyed have been destroyed.

The reason why these two hundred or so buildings survived, apart from some large facilities that were not easily damaged, is only one: they were located under the jurisdiction of the Rui vassal state, maintained by the peasants, and protected by the Hanzhong Guard.

After Luo Rucai arrived, the Rui Fan Kingdom was gone, and the Hanzhong Guard was also gone.

The remaining water conservancy facilities were naturally left unattended.

However, Jiang Yingchang couldn't say anything else; Luo Rucai's words were indeed trying to help him find a solution.

The biggest problem facing Hanzhong Prefecture right now is its fragile agriculture and economy, which have been almost completely destroyed by the war.

Hanzhong has no shortage of land and more than 100,000 men, but to restore production, it is necessary to rebuild water conservancy, and to rebuild water conservancy... Jiang Yingchang needs Liu Chengzong's support.

But Wang Yongji spread his hands and said, "The commander-in-chief asked Prefect Jiang to find a way to solve the water conservancy problem. We can't let the floodwaters inundate the fields again. The Hanzhong Brigade must cooperate fully."

Jiang Yingchang and Luo Rucai exchanged a glance, then both looked at Wang Yongji again: Is that all?
They need practical support, not empty promises. The current situation in Hanzhong Prefecture is such that, if it weren't for the surplus from the looting of Ruifan, the full amount of taxes alone wouldn't even be enough to supply Luo Rucai's army brigade. Reconstruction requires industrial support.

"The commander-in-chief's idea is that since the food and fodder supply is insufficient, two battalions will be transferred to serve as garrison troops in Xi'an Prefecture and eat there."

Before setting off, Wang Yongji received instructions from Liu Chengzong, who explained: "The road from Xi'an to Hanzhong is difficult to travel, and supplies are being depleted along the way. There are many problems. The Marshal's Office has no way to deal with the supplies and livestock. A batch of silver should be able to be transported over this year, but not much."

Luo Rucai didn't feel much after hearing this, but Jiang Yingchang knew what was going on.

Hanzhong Prefecture is such a good place with so much labor force; it has great potential.

The ability to coordinate and allocate resources effectively, and then leverage strengths to compensate for weaknesses, is a fundamental quality of a local official.

The biggest problem facing Jiang Yingchang was not Hanzhong Prefecture, but the Hanzhong Brigade—those ten thousand or so men were simply too big for their stomachs.

Although the Hanzhong Brigade was not Liu Chengzong's elite force, its organization, personnel, and even livestock and equipment were all configured according to the war machine that Liu Chengzong had carefully built.

This army of 12,000 men would require 300,000 men to support solely through taxation.

Now, although Liu Chengzong did not provide anything substantial to Hanzhong Prefecture, he gave Jiang Yingchang the power to transfer two battalions to work in Xi'an Prefecture, which means that Hanzhong Prefecture's military expenditure has decreased by nearly 40%.

The extra money and grain can be used for the restoration of the dikes and ponds.

Currently, there are nearly 800 ponds and reservoirs in Hanzhong Prefecture that need to be repaired. While carrying out this work, Jiang Yingchang also plans to observe the construction of river weirs and ponds by his predecessors, and make rubbings of the inscriptions, in order to learn from their wisdom and use it for his own purposes, and to build more ponds and reservoirs for water storage, drainage and irrigation.

As an official in this region, he aimed to ensure that Hanzhong would no longer suffer from floods.

However, it was very awkward.

Just as Jiang Yingchang had breathed a sigh of relief because Liu Chengzong's Second Battalion was to eat in Xi'an Prefecture, the news from various places, which came with the completion of many tributaries of the Han River and the increasingly busy local communications, left him dumbfounded.

Luo Rucai's troops cannot be transferred to Xi'an Prefecture in a short period of time.

The supply of provisions for the Hanzhong Brigade is no longer a problem; the bigger issue now is the rampant tiger threat in the Qinling Mountains.

Tigers are accustomed to being solitary and rarely travel in packs, let alone hunt together during the day. To regard humans as prey is an extremely unusual behavior.

Meanwhile, in Hanzhong Prefecture, this abnormality intensified with the outbreak of war, widespread floods, and displacement of people, eventually becoming the norm.

Reports from various places indicate that tigers suddenly appeared in large numbers, sometimes in groups of five or six, sometimes in pairs, and even scaling walls and roofs, floating on water and climbing buildings, hiding in the shadows of main roads to attack passersby.

Jiang Yingchang didn't even know where these tigers came from.

There shouldn't be so many tigers in Hanzhong.

They are tigers living on the northern slopes of the Qinling Mountains. In order to escape Cheng Zong, they crossed mountains and valleys to enter Sichuan, just like Gao Yingxiang.

As early as when he first took control of the entire Shaanxi province, Liu Chengzong discovered the huge tiger problem caused by the retreat of humans and the advance of wild animals. He then ordered the prefectural and county officials under his jurisdiction to recruit tiger hunters and tiger killers to Xi'an Prefecture, in order to train tiger hunting teams in various places in the future.

Used to eliminate the tiger threat.

However, the Marshal's Office has only been in control of Shaanxi for a short time. At present, not to mention the counties, even the prefecture-level tiger hunting teams have not been established. The tiger hunters are only active in the Guanzhong Plain where Xi'an and Fengxiang prefectures are located.

However, these veteran hunters, who came from various counties to Xi'an to receive their rewards, were indeed highly skilled and experienced, bringing utter destruction to the tigers that came down from the mountains of Guanzhong.

As a result, the tiger cubs that managed to escape from human hands gathered together on the northern slopes but ran away at the sight of people. In order to find food, they had no choice but to cross the Qinling Mountains and enter Hanzhong to pick on the easy targets.

The displaced people of Hanzhong Prefecture were indeed helpless against them and could only rely on the Marshal's Army under Luo Rucai's command.

Luo Rucai was naturally pleased to see it happen.

For the Hanzhong Brigade, this was a way out: to divide their forces for joint defense, with each county contributing some money and grain to support some of the soldiers.

Most importantly, Luo Cao Cao remembered that the Grand Marshal lived a simple life, but he had a tiger-skin rug given to him by Zhang Renquan, which he kept in his tent for several years. The tiger fur was worn down from sitting on it, but he never took it off.

A specialty product from Hanzhong, plus a pleasant surprise.

But the bigger surprise actually came from their neighbor.

Luo Rucai and Zu Chengyong had only been whipping each other for a few days, and were still lying on their beds, when Jiang Yingchang, who was in charge of changing their soup and feeding them medicine, rushed into the Prince Rui's Palace with a letter.

"A plea for help! A letter from Jin Zhichun, the prefect of Xing'an Prefecture in the east, requests assistance. The prefecture is besieged by bandits. Please, the Hanzhong Brigade under the Grand Marshal, lift the siege!"

Luo Rucai pondered the place name and wondered, "Xing'an Prefecture, why is he asking me for help instead of Zhao Zhirui, who defends Wuguan?"

Zhao Zhirui, the deputy commander of the Guanzhong Brigade, was clearly much closer to the Hanzhong Brigade in Nanzheng than the Guanzhong Brigade.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yingchang, who was beaming with joy, quickly shook his head: "Xing'an Prefecture has not yet submitted to the Grand Marshal. Jin Zhichun is an official of the imperial court!"

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Rucai struggled to get up from the bed, wincing in pain, and snatched the letter away: "How many people are there in Xing'an Prefecture?"

Jiang Yingchang didn't know either, but he said with certainty, "Many people from Hanzhong have gone there. The population and land in Zhili Prefecture are not too small. Although it is a mountainous area, it is enough for the Hanzhong Brigade to be stationed there."

"Help! Help is needed!"

Luo Rucai didn't even bother to read the letter. He patted the bed and said to his attendant officer, "Quickly summon Deputy Commander Zhang, Guerrilla General Zu, and Lieutenant General Li to come and discuss matters. Once we capture Xing'an Prefecture, the provisions for the four garrison troops will be secured!" (End of Chapter)