Chapter 97 Conscription Order

Of course, the attitude of the county magistrates in Yuzhou towards Zhao Mingyue becoming the governor of Yuzhou was more against than in favor.

Unfortunately, the imperial decree has been issued, and it is useless for them to object.

What they are most worried about now is whether Zhao Mingyue will take the opportunity to settle accounts with them. After all, they were once Zhao Zhuo's people.

The county magistrates who ran away resigned because they were afraid that Zhao Mingyue invited them to Yuzhou City to close the door and beat the dog.

As for those who stayed behind, of course they were reluctant to give up their official positions and wanted to get a chance to be reused by Zhao Mingyue.

After all, when two countries are at war, they won’t kill the surrendered generals. They can also surrender to Zhao Mingyue!

Among them, Liu Gou, the magistrate of Sanyang County, had this idea.

He didn't care who sat in the position above him, as long as that person allowed him to continue to be the county magistrate and continue to make money.

For this purpose, he specially prepared a generous gift and planned to give it to Zhao Mingyue as a token of his sincerity.

When these county magistrates met in front of the governor's office, they saw that they had nothing in their hands, while Liu Gou was holding a brocade box, which showed that he came prepared. They immediately regretted it.

How come they were so scared that they didn’t think of this?

Princess Fuguang is so young, could she really want to govern Yuzhou City properly? She must be just greedy for the tax money from Yuzhou!

I believe that as long as they pay the money, Princess Fuguang will spare their lives.

Thinking of this, everyone felt relieved. At this moment, the guard who had gone in to deliver the message came back.

"My Lords, the princess invites you."

Everyone immediately stood up and followed. On the way, they saw that most of the officials, constables, and guards coming and going in the government office were women, which made them feel a little strange.

Looking at them again, none of them avoided people, with their heads held high and chests puffed out, I didn't know why, but I felt a little uncomfortable.

Liu Gou couldn't help but mutter, "How can I show myself in public? How can I be so shameless?"

After he finished speaking, the guard leading the way stopped and looked back at him.

Her eyes were heavy and hinted at anger, which scared Liu Gou. Then he looked at the sword at her waist, and his heart suddenly started beating fast. Could this person want to kill them?

However, the next moment, the guard's eyes turned normal. He smiled gently and pushed open the door, "Come in."

Liu Gou breathed a sigh of relief, hugged the brocade box tightly in his hand, and walked into the house.

Suddenly, he was tripped by something, and Liu Gou's body swayed, and he fell face down on the ground with a bang. The brocade box in his hand fell out, and several stacks of silver bills flew out and scattered on the ground.

Ah! My money!

Liu Gou was in so much pain that he saw stars and couldn't stand up for a while. He hurriedly crawled over on his knees and picked up the scattered banknotes.

Behind him, the guard withdrew his foot without leaving a trace.

When the other county magistrates saw this, their eyes widened and they covered their mouths, wanting to laugh but not daring to. However, a few laughs still slipped out from between their teeth.

Liu Gou's face suddenly turned red with anger. She turned around and looked at the guard angrily, but she looked as if it was none of her business.

Just as he was about to question, a clear voice came from in front of him, "Get up, you don't have to kneel to me."

Liu Gou looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young woman in a black robe sitting on an armchair in the middle of the room. She had sharp eyebrows and a calm demeanor, and her whole body exuded a meticulous seriousness, confidence, and a subtle murderous aura.

This makes people dare not look down on her just because of her age.

Liu Gou naturally did not dare to look any further and quickly withdrew his gaze. However, he caught a glimpse of the room filled with weapons and several guards with knives and guns standing on both sides.

This frightened Liu Gou even more. He subconsciously lowered his movements and carefully knelt on the ground. "I am Liu Gou, the Magistrate of Sanyang County. I pay my respects to Princess Fuguang."

The other county magistrates also kowtowed quickly.

Zhao Mingyue asked them to stand up and offer them a seat. Then everyone stood up and took their seats.

But as soon as he sat down, the door was closed by the guard.

Everyone was shocked and felt even more uneasy, but they couldn't back out at this point, so they could only deal with it more carefully.

At this time, the maid brought tea. They picked up the teacups and drank a sip of tea, hoping to calm their nerves. However, they could not taste anything, and they became even more frightened.

Zhao Mingyue actually liked Yuzhou's purple bamboo tea. As she drank it, she asked slowly, "Did you know about the Yue King's rebellion in advance?"

Everyone was startled and said hurriedly, "I don't know!"

Zhao Mingyue smiled brightly, "I think so. If you had attached yourself to the King of Yue and committed the crime of treason, you wouldn't dare to come to see me now."

Everyone swallowed softly. Princess Fuguang said this, probably showing mercy to them.

The bright smile on Zhao Mingyue's face suddenly turned cold, and she said in a cold voice: "Unlike those county magistrates who resigned from their posts, they were obviously ashamed and afraid of punishment, so they didn't dare to come to see me!"

"This, this..." The county magistrates lowered their heads, cold sweat already on their foreheads.

Zhao Mingyue sneered, "Come here, pass on my order. Have Mei Junrong lead his troops to arrest those seven people and bring them to justice. Imprison all their clansmen as well. Don't let any of them escape!"

"Yes!" The guard took the order and left.

The county magistrates shuddered all over and dared not look directly at Zhao Mingyue. They felt that they had never expected that Princess Fuguang, who was so young, was actually such a ruthless character. They were secretly glad that they did not choose to escape.

Zhao Mingyue looked at the people in the room, her expression softening again. "Alright, let's not waste time on these rebels. Let's get down to business."

Everyone quickly responded, "Yes, yes!"

Zhao Mingyue said, "We have already killed Heihan, the general under the King of Xiqi. Upon learning that the plot has been exposed, the King of Xiqi will undoubtedly be enraged and rekindle the war. Now that Tangzhou has fallen, Yuzhou, adjacent to Tangzhou, is in a very dangerous situation. I plan to reorganize Yuzhou's military and recruit soldiers to prevent an invasion from Xiqi!"

When everyone heard about the conscription, they immediately frowned. Zhao Zhuo had just increased taxes a few years ago, and now Princess Fuguang has come to power, and she wants to conscript soldiers right away. I'm afraid the people will make a fuss.

The problem is that the world is becoming more and more chaotic.

If we don't recruit soldiers, and leave those young and strong men at home with nothing to do, they might even start robbing and causing trouble.

Liu Gou asked first, "I wonder how the princess plans to recruit soldiers? In the past, they would draw one out of every five men..."

Zhao Mingyue changed her sitting position, leaning half of her body on the armrest, her palm supporting her cheek, and said slowly: "I think you have all seen that there are no male soldiers in my army. Therefore, I will not only recruit male soldiers, but also female soldiers."

Ding refers to adult men, and the so-called Ding conscription system obviously does not meet Zhao Mingyue's requirements.

In order to successfully recruit soldiers, she discussed with Xue Qi and put forward a new conscription order.

Households with adult males and females were required to draft one for every two adults, but if the head of the household was a female, one for every four adults. Households without adult males or those who wished to be exempt from conscription were required to pay an additional 20% tax.

After hearing this, the county magistrates fell silent.

Was this conscription order intended to induce people to change their household registration to female-headed households? Moreover, if both men and women could apply for conscription, there was no guarantee that poor families would not send their women to conscription in order to keep the labor force at home.

Liu Gou spoke carefully, "Princess, we can recruit soldiers, but isn't it absurd that female-headed households can pay less tax and be conscripted less often? In my county, there are no female-headed households except for widows!"

Zhao Mingyue squinted her eyes and looked at him. "No, it can be changed. Just like you, County Magistrate Liu, you can also lead by example. After all, I am a woman and not good at dealing with men. Of course, I hope that under my rule, women can lead the external affairs and men can lead the internal affairs."

Everyone's faces suddenly turned ashen, as if they had eaten bitter herbs and were unable to express their pain. Even if they wanted to say a few words, they dared not speak when they saw the knives in the guards' hands.

If we just let them implement this policy, it would be like cutting off our own retreat with a hoe, which is unacceptable.

Zhao Mingyue stood up and said, "I don't want to force you. You can take your time to think about it and answer me when you've made up your mind. However, I don't like to hear answers I don't want to hear."

"Serve these gentlemen well." After saying that, she turned and left the room without even glancing at them.

Everyone in the room looked at each other, looking at the guards on duty on both sides, not daring to make a sound.

Princess Fuguang did this obviously to force them to agree!

————

The former Prince of Yue's Palace has now been converted into a princess's palace.

Liu Ruqian, who was assisting the household registration officer in taking the household register, walked out of the mansion gate with a stack of files in her arms, her steps brisk.

Two clerks followed her.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound of carriages and horses at the door.

Liu Ruqian frowned slightly. This place has always been strictly guarded. The princess's personal guards are on guard at the door. Ordinary people dare not get close. Who dares to break in here?

Looking up, the first thing I saw was a carriage, and the person getting out of the carriage was Qiushi, the princess's maid.

After that, two more people got off the carriage. Both of them had scarves covering their faces and flowered cloth wrapped around their heads, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.

Others couldn't tell who they were, but Liu Ruqian only looked at their eyes and recognized them as Gu Yunmei and Zhao Hong.

Weren't these two people sent to the mine? Why were they brought back?

Liu Ruqian went up to him and asked, "Sister Qiushi, what's going on with these two?"

Qiu Shi saw that it was her and smiled, "The princess asked me to bring back the Crown Prince of Yue, dress him up nicely, and send him to Xiqi for marriage. Madam Gu is the Crown Prince's mother, so of course she has to accompany him."

Liu Ruqian was stunned for a moment, thinking she was joking. When she realized she was serious, she burst out laughing, "Hahahaha, a marriage alliance? That's fantastic!"

Zhao Hong and Gu Yunmei were so angry that their faces turned green when they heard her laughing so brazenly.

"You--!" Zhao Hong strode forward and raised her hand to slap Liu Ruqian in the face.

Unexpectedly, the official behind her was quicker, grabbing his hand and violently shaking it off, "This is Lord Liu, the Minister of Revenue, don't be so rude!"

Liu Ruqian looked at the astonishment in Zhao Hong's eyes and was very proud. She raised her head and said, "Oh, some people are so shameless! How dare a mere hostage be so arrogant? If you have time for this, you'd better think about how to grovel and beg the King of Xiqi!"

After saying that, he walked away without even looking at their ugly faces.

Zhao Hong was so angry that she vomited blood, and Gu Yunmei felt even darker in her heart when she saw herself being suppressed by her former concubine of low status.

Was it really her fault? No, she was not wrong!

It's simply these women who are behaving recklessly. They will be punished sooner or later!