Republic of China: My great warlord, many children, many blessings.

Holy crap, that's terrifying.

The next day, Li Yunlong arrived in Qing City without incident.

79. The county magistrates lined up to offer sacrifices.

Li Yunlong pointed his gun at Guo Changshun and said, "Tell your men to come out and surrender, or I'll shoot you dead and start the attack."

Upon hearing this, Guo Changshun was so frightened that his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

The regiment he was stationed in was full of ragtag soldiers, lacking everything they needed.

Only one battalion had guns; the rest had broadswords.

That thing and guarding the home.

If he really doesn't surrender, he'll be the first to die.

Thinking of this, Guo Changshun hurriedly shouted, "Put down your guns! This is a special envoy sent by Governor Liu!"

The city's garrison, seeing the enemy's weapons and equipment, believed them somewhat, but they didn't dare to actually fight.

All the soldiers chose to surrender.

Everyone's just trying to make a living, who's going to risk their life? What difference does it make whose soldier you're in?

Soon, everyone came out one by one, and they all dropped their guns.

Li Yunlong ordered his men to search the city.

Within about an hour, the entire city of Qing was taken over.

Guo Changshun's property and troops were all taken over.

At this point, Guo Changshun was of no use to anyone.

Li Yunlong said, "They were taken directly to the vegetable market and publicly sentenced."

Guo Changshun said with a mournful face, "Shen Hao promised to let me go, but you broke your promise."

Li Yunlong said expressionlessly, "Yes, our superiors said they would let you go, but I didn't say I would execute you."

"I just want you to be put on a public trial."

Guo Changshun shook his head desperately, saying, "No, let me go!"

Li Yunlong ignored Guo Changshun and directly ordered his men to take him to the vegetable market.

Public trial.

There wasn't even time to read out his charges.

Countless people flocked to it.

Now that Guo Changshun has lost his power, those people he used to bully are no longer afraid of him and have all come to his aid.

Having taken over Guo Changshun's forces, Li Yunlong began to count the number of people.

All former officials were dismissed, and those in the ranks who smoked opium were kicked out.

As for the counties under Qing City's jurisdiction, the county magistrates all came to Goose City one by one with silver dollars, waiting for Shen Hao's audience.

These people are well-informed; they received news of Shen Hao's appointment even before it was officially announced.

Although they were appointed by Yuan Shikai, in those days, when the emperor was far away and the mountains were high, the warlords were the ones who really had the final say.

Their tax revenue is used to support warlords like Shen Hao; otherwise, they would be unable to move an inch.

As dawn broke, the county magistrates from various places waited patiently.

However, he dared not knock on the door, for fear of angering Shen Hao.

The seven or eight county magistrates, bored out of their minds, also started chatting.

"Sigh, these days, it's really not easy to become a county magistrate, and it's even harder to hold onto that position."

"Now Brigade Commander Guo is gone again, and Brigade Commander Shen has arrived, bringing in another large sum of money. When will this ever end?"

"Exactly. There's nothing we can do about it."

In these times, no one is spared when the nest is overturned. These past few years have been filled with frequent wars, causing great suffering to the people, and it has been difficult for us county magistrates as well.

The primary reason for this was the presence of warlords and bandits roaming the various regions.

These thugs and warlords don't take us county magistrates seriously.

If you don't pay them, they'll extort or kill you without any mercy.

These days, the death of a person in the countryside is really no different from the death of an ant.

Even someone like us, holding a minor official position like a county magistrate, is no different from the death of a slightly larger ant; it doesn't make much difference.

So, no matter what, let's show our respect first.

"The right one"

"All our energy must be devoted to dealing with the poor soil;"

Thirty percent was allocated to dealing with the officers of the garrison; twenty percent was used for handling other matters (an old-fashioned official document term, used to describe routine procedures and bureaucratic formalities).

The remaining 20% ​​must be addressed through efforts in local politics.

Yangcheng County Magistrate Wei Yunzhi nodded to the crowd: "I spent six thousand silver dollars to buy this position."

The magistrate of Lianzhou County said, "My county is rather poor, so it only cost five thousand silver dollars."

"My place is even poorer, four thousand silver dollars."

"Did you make your money back?"

"How could that be? My county is dirt poor."

These days, the appointment of county magistrates is a mixed bag, and the reality is that grassroots governance is becoming increasingly corrupt.

The buying and selling of official positions occurred blatantly.

County magistrates are divided into three classes, with quotations of 6000 yuan, 5000 yuan, and 4000 yuan respectively.

The same is true for them.

Wei Yunzhi, the magistrate of Yangcheng County, sighed and said, "This money is not so easy to earn back."

We're all in the same boat. The local people suffer greatly. A heavy rain can break up several families, and a drought can create more dancers.

There's nothing we can do; even if we have a sense of righteousness in our hearts, there's nothing we can do.

If you don't exploit the people, where will you get the money to keep the government running?

You can't afford to offend those local gentry, and you still have to support these soldiers.

I was devoted to serving my country, but I discovered that the easiest path was exploiting the people, and it was difficult not to go astray.

"The world is going to the dogs; the only way to survive is to climb up."

Let alone you and me, even if a jackal or tiger were to become an official, and found that the money extracted from their bones and marrow wasn't enough to allow them to successfully resign, their feelings would be extremely complicated.

"This county magistrate position is not one that a soft-hearted person can hold."

"Then tell me, our Brigade Commander Shen is also a county magistrate, how come he can keep these local gentry so obedient?"

"Nonsense, they have men and guns. Look, even Brigade Commander Guo was wiped out. What kind of strength is that?"

"Killing a few local gentry is a piece of cake."

"What if we asked Brigade Commander Shen to help us wipe out those local gentry?" Wei Yunzhi, the magistrate of Yangcheng County, asked with a smile.

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent and began to ponder the solution.

The more I think about it, the more I realize it makes perfect sense.

If these local gentry are eliminated, then they will have the money to pay tribute to Shen Hao and support his army.

He was able to manage the entire county better, and no one dared to interfere.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that this was something I could do.

In any case, the bad reputation will definitely be Shen Hao's doing.

They were just adding fuel to the fire.

I believe Shen Hao would also be willing to support him.

After all, these gentry controlled a great deal of wealth.

An hour later, the sun rose.

The county magistrates waiting outside (for Wang De) were all feeling their legs go weak.

At this time, the door opened.

The two soldiers said, "Brigade Commander Shen instructed you to wait in the living room."

"Thank you so much, sir!"

As he spoke, he gave each of the two soldiers two silver dollars.

At this moment, Shen Hao, with his left arm around Hua Jie and his right arm around Daiyu and Qingwenzi, had just woken up.