Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 301 General Cleaning

River.

A cold wind blew, and the tents outside the city gate were empty.

Those busy craftsmen were nowhere to be seen at this moment. The gates were all open, and the laborers who transported the wood, the craftsmen who processed the wood, the corvées responsible for transporting the wood to the capital, and even the officials who were watching them were all nowhere to be seen.

The fallen leaves that had not been picked up in time were dancing back and forth in the empty tent with the wind.

The busy official road finally became quiet.

The city gates are open.

There were more than twenty poles standing outside, with heads stuck on them.

The bloody head was stuck outside the city gate, with eyes wide open and a distorted expression.

On the city wall, rows of heads were hung, like wind chimes. They swayed left and right with the wind, making a collision sound, but the sound was not crisp, but rather a bit dull.

There were six armored soldiers at the city gate, staring at the surroundings with indifferent expressions.

Soldiers came out of the city gate pushing carts filled with all kinds of corpses. A deep ditch had been dug inside the original craftsmen's camp, and the soldiers were seen throwing the corpses into the ditch with expressionless faces and then burying them.

There were several bloodstains on the roads in the city, which spread all the way to the deepest part of the city.

A group of people slowly appeared outside the city.

The leader rode a tall horse, with knights guarding on both sides. Behind him, there were more than a hundred scholars, some riding horses, some in carriages, all of different types, rushing towards the direction of the city.

Most of these scholars were young, but there were a few who were slightly older. The older ones basically rode in carriages, while the younger ones rode on horses.

Walking on the road, they were talking passionately about what they were going to face next.

The conversation never stopped.

When they approached the city gate, the soldiers who had already received orders quickly stepped out and led them into the city.

Lu Dan hurried to the city gate, with only six officials following him.

Including these seven people of Lu Dan, they are all the officials that Hejian has now!

Hejian is the seat of government offices at the prefecture, county and county levels, but the three-level government offices can only staff seven officials, which is really exaggerated.

The rest of the people, except for a few high-ranking officials who were taken away and the corrupt officials who were arrested, were the mediocre officials who were dismissed.

The government offices in Yingzhou have been paralyzed.

Lu Dan walked up quickly, looked at the young official riding a horse, and bowed to greet him.

"Yingzhou's deputy governor Lu Dan pays his respects to the governor!"

The man riding the horse was the new governor, Pan Zihuang.

Pan Zihuang is the son of the famous general Pan Le. Pan Le has fought against Houmochen Chong and Hou Jing. He is definitely one of the top generals in the Great Qi Dynasty. He was once ordered to govern Yingzhou and had some reputation in the local area.

Pan Zihuang was still very young and had married a princess. He was the imperial son-in-law of the Great Qi. When Gao Yu left Yecheng, he left with him.

When a temporary governor of Yingzhou was to be appointed, Gao Yin recommended him to Zu Ting. Pan Zihuang was a steady person, different from those domineering and arrogant nobles. He was simple in style and was an alternative among the nobles. He had not done anything absurd in the style of the Great Qi Dynasty. In addition, his father had served as the governor of Yingzhou in the past and had some reputation in the local area, which he could use. At the same time, this was also a way to win over those normal nobles.

The Northern Court did not attack all the nobles. Even the top nobles who were granted the title of king would be employed as long as they were normal.

Pan Zihuang was very low-key at the frontier. He didn't like making friends and spent his days quietly. It cannot be said that he had outstanding political achievements, but at least he didn't make mistakes. Moreover, his status was equal, so there was no problem of insufficient qualifications to be a governor.

Pan Zihuang looked at Lu Dan calmly and nodded.

Lu Dan stood up and introduced several people behind him, three of whom were from the county government office and two were from the county government office.

Pan Zihuang was a taciturn man, and he didn't say much to them. He just took them to the government office.

However, the scholars following behind were particularly excited at this moment.

The Law School became more and more mature under Gao Yin's governance. From the content of research, to the time, to the final assessment and selection, everything became more and more formal, and began to become infinitely close to the assessment of officials in the Southern Dynasty.

This batch of officials was different from the previous ones. They had received the latest teaching, each of them had stayed in the school for a full four months, and passed the examination with high scores.

Lu Dan and others followed behind Pan Zihuang, and looked back at those people from time to time.

From the outside, they really don't look like officials at all.

There are only two types of officials in the Great Qi Dynasty.

The first type is extremely cruel and the most murderous. As a sharp knife in the hands of an official, he is merciless to the people, and his eyes reveal a sense of cruelty. He usually brings two soldiers with him and transforms into a deadly bloody official, a ghost-fearing person.

The second type is extremely humble. They have no backing and cannot guarantee their own situation. They do things in a muddle-headed manner and have no energy at all. They are in a state of complete decadence.

But the people Lu Dan saw now were in high spirits, giving orders about state affairs, and they looked like officials.

Lu Dan didn't look at them for too long. He followed Pan Zihuang on foot and introduced the current situation to him.

"At present, Yingzhou only has two counties, Hejian and Zhangwu, with three counties."

This was the result of the indiscriminate establishment of prefectures and counties. Three counties became two counties, which were then divided into one prefecture. This was also one of the reasons why Zu Ting wanted to redivide the area.

Walking along the road, the houses on both sides are particularly quiet.

There were several piles of ruins in the distance, some of which were still smoking, and soldiers were still pulling out corpses from them.

Lu Dan wiped the sweat from his forehead and couldn't speak clearly.

Yesterday, Hu Changcan and Kou Liu arrived and killed the officials first. Then they started to attack the notorious wealthy families in the three counties. A total of five families were wiped out, and many others were captured and taken away.

Hejian is a relatively wealthy place in the north, with fertile land, high forest and grain output. But over the years, the Yingzhou government has always needed food aid from Jizhou and Dingzhou to survive and maintain the many expenses of the government office. To date, no one knows how much it owes Jizhou. However, the officials don't care, as they don't think about paying it back anyway.

As for why originally wealthy places became unable to survive and grain tributes had to be shared by the common people?

According to local authorities, the people of Hejian were too lazy. Even though they were granted so much arable land, they were unwilling to cultivate it diligently, resulting in insufficient grain production.

In the past, there were officials who wanted to solve this problem. The predecessor Xu Dun was one of them. He wanted to send people to thoroughly investigate the distribution of arable land. He investigated several times and changed people three times, but he did not find any problems. There were thousands of miles of fertile land outside, and it was found that the land was distributed properly. However, in the autumn, there was insufficient grain harvest. There was no place to start.

Until now, the bandits have plowed this place directly, turning it into a barren land.

Lu Dan had never seen such brutal and cruel behavior. This was completely the style of a barbarian. He relied on the strength of his own soldiers, ignored the rules, and started killing directly.

It was brutal, bloody, and one-size-fits-all, and it paralyzed the entire place, but Lu Dan actually thought it was good.

The inactive chief officers left, the officials who were jumping around left, their henchmen left, and the few big bugs who were sucking blood in the local area were directly exterminated.

Tear down and rebuild?
Lu Dan thought about it and looked at the bloody road in the distance.

Everyone returned to the equally empty office.

Pan Zihuang did not rest either. He immediately gathered everyone in the lobby and began to discuss what to do next.

He took out the appointment letters and first appointed two new prefects and three new county magistrates, and then went down one level at a time. After the list of officials was finalized, he asked Lu Dan to read out the list of officials.

Before arriving, the officials had already been assigned their tasks.

Lu Dan had never seen anyone do things this way in his life.

He watched as Pan Zihuang made arrangements for officials at all levels in less than half an hour.

The county magistrate standing next to him was stunned at this moment.

The two looked at each other and didn't dare to speak.

Pan Zihuang asked them to re-investigate the population, farmland and other issues in the three counties, and then let them go.

Lu Dan walked out of the hall in a daze. The other officials were talking heatedly at this moment, and the county magistrate also walked out.

The two stood at the lobby door, looking at the noisy scene inside.

The county magistrate's surname was Shitu, and just from the surname, one could tell that he was an old Xianbei. However, this county magistrate did not look like an old Xianbei at all. Like Lu Yao, he already looked like a northern scholar.

He was one of the few who survived the Yingzhou cleanup. He had never committed any crime and had even written several letters to oppose the spring corvee, so he was suppressed but not troubled.

He said slowly: "Mr. Lu, I have lived for half a century and have never seen anyone do things this way."

"Yesterday, they came and killed everyone without reason, using weapons to commit violence. Today, they directly arranged for the officials to be punished. How can this be regarded as a child's play?"

Lu Dan curled his lips, "Child's play? A child's play wouldn't cause so many casualties."

"But this is too chaotic. How can you govern like this? Leading the army, killing people as you please, and then assigning new officials. Even the Rouran people wouldn't do this, right?"

"The Rouran people really do this. If a tribe disobeys, they will be killed today and replaced with a new leader tomorrow."

Shi Tu pulled his beard, his eyes full of anxiety.

"I really don't understand. King Pengcheng is a wise king. Logically, he shouldn't do such a thing. If an official in a county makes a mistake, he should be investigated and investigated one by one. The same goes for the big families who make mistakes. They should be detained and interrogated. How can they do this?"

"Maybe they think there are too many weeds."

Lu Dan has served in many states and has considerable experience. Although he is not as old as Shi Tu, he has been exposed to much more things than Shi Tu.

He said slowly, "When Mr. Xu first came, he had the same idea as you. He wanted to first investigate the officials and confront them one by one, and then deal with the problems of the powerful and thoroughly investigate the cultivated land and so on."

"But the obstacles are too great. It's very difficult to move forward even if everyone works together to resist."

"Although General Kou's actions were a bit cruel, at least he got started."

Shi Tu sighed, "Perhaps, but doing things so cruelly is probably not the right way."

They stood outside the lobby, looking at the excited people inside and were unable to fit in at all.

The talents of the newly appointed officials were not yet apparent, but they were all very eager to end the meeting in the lobby and quickly led their subordinates to their own offices.

To start doing things.

Elderly people like Lu Dan were caught up in this group of people, and the first thing they had to do was to conduct a thorough investigation.

The government's original documents on cultivated land and population were completely different from the actual situation today and were directly invalidated.

Lu Dan had never been so busy. In the next few days, he worked day and night. As a deputy driver, he needed to travel back and forth between the two counties to report the latest situation to the governor.

Several counties have begun large-scale thorough investigations. The new officials are completely different from those in the past. They work quickly and methodically.

This thorough investigation has always been the most difficult thing to figure out, but at this moment, there were no difficulties. After all, the problems had already been hung on the city wall.

The officials of the entire state and county were recruited at one time, and officials of the counties and townships were recruited from the public, and corresponding assessments were set up.

The paralyzed Yingzhou started to operate again, and its speed was faster than ever before, with a rumbling sound.

Cangzhou, Fuyang County.

The city gates were closed, but one could vaguely see soldiers running back and forth on the city walls.

On the plain directly opposite the city, Hu Changcan had a stern face and stared at the city in the distance.

The soldiers set up a temporary camp here, and some were making siege equipment. Kou Liu stood beside Hu Changcan, staring into the distance with a smile.

"Are they really unwilling to open the door?"

Hu Changcan asked angrily: "Isn't this a rebellion?"

Kou Liu laughed loudly, "Mr. Hu, they have seen what we did in Yingzhou, and they know what will happen if we are allowed to enter the city, so they will naturally do their best to stop us from entering the city. What is there to be angry about?"

Hu Changcan said nothing, but the anger in his eyes became more and more obvious.

Kou Liu advised again: "Don't be angry, isn't the reason why brother asked me to follow you here to deal with things like this?"

"I have more than 5,000 elite soldiers under my command. It is wishful thinking for you to block me outside the city gate with just such a small city. Lord Hu, you should rest in the camp first and have a good sleep. When you wake up, I will set up a seat for you in the government office."

After hearing this, Hu Changcan did not say anything more to Kou Liu and turned away.

Kou Liu sneered and stared at the city in the distance.

Previously, he was guarding Shuozhou, and he felt indescribable helplessness when he saw his brothers making achievements in various places.

Finally, it’s my turn to show my skills.

He hurriedly asked the soldiers to bring his warhorse and went to check on the military craftsmen who were making catapults in front.

The army is now making full preparations for the siege.

On the wall of Fuyang, officials and local nobles were in chaos.

The governor of Cangzhou was Gao Yun, King of Xiucheng.

Gao Yun was born into a royal family and was adopted by Gao Yongle as his son when he was young.

As for Gao Yongle, he was the god-like man who was rewarded for not opening the city gate for Gao Aocao.

Gao Yun was actually okay. He was not a traditional member of the pseudo-Qi royal family, and his behavior was relatively normal. However, that was all.

When they learned that Kou Liu and others had invaded Yingzhou and killed countless people there, the nobles and officials of Cangzhou quickly gathered around this royal prince, wanting to use him to fight against Liu Taozi.

After all, this is a member of the royal family, and is somewhat different from an ordinary governor.

Gao Yun is now being roasted on the fire.

He looked at the army in the distance that was concentrating on building catapults, then turned to look at the local troops around him. The county soldiers who couldn't even get their food and wages had trembling legs, and some couldn't even lift their bows and crossbows. They relied entirely on the private soldiers and slaves of the nobles to hold on.

Gao Yun couldn't help swallowing and looked at several confidants around him.

"Everyone, I still think that the city gates should be opened. Several officials in Yingzhou were only taken away for questioning, but not dealt with. If they really fought against the bandits, it would be a rebellion."

"My Lord! They are the traitors!"

"The Northern Circuit Inspector only has the power to manage a few counties on the border. Could it be that Cangzhou is also under his jurisdiction?"

"The general sent his soldiers to attack the city without consulting the court. They are the ones who are trying to rebel! We have already asked the court for help. As long as we can stop them for a while, the general will have to withdraw his troops once this matter becomes a big deal."

These confidants spoke with great confidence.

Gao Yun knew in his heart why they said that. Some of them were from local wealthy families. The officials from Yingzhou were sent to Pingcheng, but almost all the wealthy families were killed. They knew that their families were not clean either, so they refused to open the city. The other few had been colluding with local nobles for a long time and had done a lot of evil things. Gao Yun basically tolerated them as much as he could.

Of course they didn't dare to let Kou Liu and others enter the city.

Gao Yun took a few steps back and said, "The main thing is that the soldiers under the general have experienced many battles. They are elite and there are many of them. How can our men stop them?"

"Before the government could send troops, we were captured first."

They seemed to have noticed Gao Yun's hesitation, and several of them put their hands on the hilt of the sword and surrounded Gao Yun directly.

"My king, the enemy is just outside the city. How can you say something that will shake the morale of the army?"

"I've heard that benevolent people are invincible. Now we are protecting the city with righteousness and serving Your Majesty. The rebels outside the city want to break into the city and establish their own regime. Even though our military strength is weaker, we have the righteous cause to support us. How can we lose?"

Gao Yun has stopped talking.

He realized that it was useless for him to say anything, and if he continued to speak, he might be "killed in battle" at the hands of the enemy.

He decided to remain silent.

But the next moment, war drums sounded outside the city and huge catapults roared.

"Bang~~~"

The city wall suffered the first round of bombardment, and it was only the first round that the county soldiers on the city wall dropped their weapons and fled screaming. The defense line was in chaos. Some slaves and private soldiers even fought with their own people in order to stop them, while the peach soldiers outside the city had already sounded the horn of attack.

(End of this chapter)