Chapter 127
After Governor Lei left, the Medical Department was in an uproar, especially the residents of the Yichun military settlement, who were particularly excited.
"No, this Lei Taishou is going too far. This isn't the way you pick fruit. Didn't you see how much effort the military village put in to keep Doctor Ba? Why does he want to snatch him away as soon as he arrives? Why?"
"That's right. Doctor Ba is doing well here. Why force him to move? Isn't he afraid that if he keeps forcing him, he'll be forced to leave?"
"Of course he's not afraid. He's alive and well, and doesn't need a miracle doctor. But if Miracle Doctor Ba is forced to leave, it will be ordinary people like us who suffer."
"People who eat grains are bound to get sick. Once he drives them away and gets sick himself, he'll regret it one day!"
"Hey, I don't understand what he's doing. What's the difference between Doctor Ba staying in our military settlement and staying in the prefectural government? Aren't they both in Yichun? They're both his achievements! He really doesn't know how to calculate."
These words were heard by Yao Chunnuan, Xu Chong and others who had not left yet.
Yao Chunnuan thought to herself, "Isn't Lei Taishou good at settling accounts? No, he's really good at it."
"I just hope that no matter whether Governor Lei can meet Divine Doctor Ba's requirements, the military leaders will not compromise and not give Divine Doctor Ba to Governor Lei!"
"Yes, if we let Governor Lei succeed, he will definitely become more aggressive. This time he came to rob Doctor Ba, will he rob the Yichun military settlement next time?" The villagers who said this did not know that his words hit the mark and the prophecy came true.
"He dares? If he really dares to do this, the military settlement leaders will not let him go." Yao Zhubo will not let him go and tell him to be careful of his secret vault!
"There's nothing he wouldn't dare do."
"Humph, if he seizes the military settlement, how can he manage it well? The huge Yichun is not enough for him to govern, and it's not like he hasn't been the master of the house before! In the past seven or eight years, when he came to Yichun, we ordinary people lived in such a bad way, and seven or eight years later, we are still living the same life. He still wants to seize the military settlement? Don't ruin such a good place!"
"Yes, we don't agree. We don't want to. It's not like we haven't been led by him before. I hope he has some self-awareness and won't come to harm our military settlement."
"That shouldn't be the case, right? Our generals, Chief Secretary Yao, and other high-ranking officials are not pushovers."
"I think so, but I'm still worried."
Most of the people speaking were residents of Yichun Military Village, while patients and their families from other places were watching helplessly.
Gu Bin listened with rapt interest. He found the inhabitants of the Yichun military settlement quite interesting. They were incredibly bold, seemingly taking their fatherly official, Lei Taishou, seriously. Perhaps they had suffered so much from their treatment? Furthermore, they spoke with considerable insight, unlike the honest and reserved people of other places.
All I can say is that Gu Bin didn't know what life was like for the settlers before and after they arrived at the military settlement. The contrast was stark. No wonder they didn't want Governor Lei to take the settlement away.
Yao Chunnuan, Xu Chong, and the others listened to this discussion in the dark. Unlike Xu Chong's surprise, she felt gratified. Her efforts to enlighten the people had paid off. Storytellers, opera troupes, and literacy classes were all regularly organized. The opera troupes and storytellers, in particular, would tell the villagers stories and current events, and the villagers loved to listen. As they absorbed more and gained more knowledge, their wisdom gradually broadened.
Yao Chunnuan had several people with outstanding speeches marked one by one. If these people did not have official positions, they would be assigned to other positions. Being an ordinary villager would be a waste of talent.
After this little episode, Yao Chunnuan and others entered another busy period.
What Yao Chunnuan didn't know was that this conversation somehow reached the ears of Governor Lei. It's said he was furious, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, and he was frightened and embarrassed. He believed in the doctrine of the mean and governing by inaction, but he never expected the people to have such strong opinions about him.
He thought he had no fresh meat in the village. As for his private treasury, it had taken seven or eight years to accumulate such a small amount of silver. How much? He had already taken very little, and Lei Taishou felt really wronged.
At this time, a guest official named Su, who served under the tutelage of Grand Administrator Lei, stood up and angrily criticized the residents of Yichun Military Settlement. "Those people in Yichun Military Settlement are really going too far! They have no respect or reverence for their superiors. They truly deserve to be killed!"
The guest official spoke up for him, and Prefect Lei felt comforted. He spent so much money every year to support these people, and the money was finally not wasted.
Su Keqing was still very emotional. "These people are so harsh and look down on me. The Yichun Military Settlement is rich and prosperous, with all its own well-established systems and functions. Even a pig could manage it well, right?! Is the prefect worse than a pig? Who are they looking down on? And if the Yichun Military Settlement really fell into the hands of the prefect, perhaps it would play an even greater role. If you then copy their example and govern Yichun like the military settlement, wouldn't you still be able to manage Yichun well?"
The speaker may not have intended it, but the listener may have taken it to heart. These words, like a seed, lodged in the heart of Prefect Lei, subconsciously bringing to mind a certain scenario. His breathing quickened, his heart pounding. All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people are his subjects. Is it okay for him to act on behalf of the crown prince and request the Yichun military garrison?
He couldn't wait to speak, "What do you think if I take the Yichun military settlement here?"
As soon as he said this, the scene fell into dead silence.
A hint of satisfaction flashed across Su Keqing's eyes, but he didn't say anything.
After a long time, someone from the prefectural governor's office spoke.
"Sir, this isn't a good idea, is it? The people in the Yichun military camp won't agree."
The subordinate's words were like a bucket of cold water, pouring coldly on the hot-headed Lei Taishou's head. Only then did he remember that the Yichun military garrison commander Feng Yao Chunnuan and others were not easy to deal with.
After calming down, Governor Lei quickly put down his hand and said, "Forget it, I was just joking. Let's think about how to invite Doctor Ba to the Governor's Mansion." However, the idea of seizing the Yichun military settlement did not dissipate, but kept lingering in his mind.
His words diverted the attention of the people in the prefectural office.
"Sir Prefect, we haven't completed what the Crown Prince asked us to do. What should we do next? Do we need to ask the Crown Prince again?" The Second Yin of the Prefect's Mansion asked carefully.
The reason this project didn't go through wasn't the obstruction of the Yichun military settlement, but rather the conditions Dr. Ba had set, leaving them hesitant. However, if they truly wanted to build such a site, they would have to use up half of the prefectural treasury. Honestly, Prefect Lei couldn't bear to part with it. He had always considered the treasury his own, and he couldn't bear to spend so much money all at once.
They can't do it, so it's normal that Dr. Ba doesn't want to go with them, right?
"Let me think about it," said the governor. "Don't ask the Crown Prince for his opinion yet." Asking the Crown Prince would either make him think he was incompetent or order him to fulfill Ba Yuan's demands. He couldn't accept either outcome. It would be better to wait and see. There was still time, wasn't there?
This conversation between Governor Lei and his subordinates, especially the words about him wanting to take over the Yichun military settlement, was taken seriously by some people, even though Governor Lei later explained that it was a joke.
Governor Lei probably didn't expect that his governor's mansion had already become a sieve, with spies from several forces lurking inside, and even his own team was not clean.
What Prefect Lei said in the afternoon was sorted out and summarized by Han Chaosheng in the evening and presented to Yao Chunnuan's desk.
The Lei family wanted to seize their military settlement? Yao Chunnuan had never expected that the Lei family had mediocre abilities but great ambitions.
Yao Chunnuan speculated that this was likely the Lei family's own decision, not the Crown Prince's. The Crown Prince was currently preoccupied with repairing the Daliang Empire and was too busy to spare any time. He had deliberately transferred Wang Lang away because he didn't want the situation in Yichun to escalate and eventually explode. He wanted a smooth transition, or rather, to let the situation in Yichun cool down so that he could slowly deal with them once he had some free time.
But he never expected that Prefect Lei did not understand his intention of transferring Wang Lang away, or rather, Prefect Lei deliberately forgot about it for some selfish reasons and actually wanted to give him a big trick directly.
Yao Chunnuan knew that if she passed this information to the Crown Prince's men, he would undoubtedly punish Lei Taishou. However, she had to be wary of Lei Taishou becoming disoriented and attacking her master with a flurry of punches. This possibility wasn't impossible; it was actually quite high. Lei Taishou wasn't a decisive person, and he didn't have a clear understanding of his own abilities.
Now that the general was away from the settlement, they had an obligation to protect it. Yao Chunnuan didn't dare act rashly when it came to matters concerning the settlement. Just because the three of them were in charge of everything didn't mean she or any of them had the final say.
So, she decided to call a meeting of senior executives to take precautions.
This is truly a turbulent time. I wonder if the general and his men have arrived in the northern border yet? Is everything going smoothly?
As mentioned before, this year's drought is particularly severe in the northwest. Half a month ago, the Xirong attacked Daliang, claiming Daliang had high-quality salt but refused to sell it to them, deliberately offering them inferior salt and refusing to lower the price.
When they heard the reason for the Xirong troops' dispatch, General Yao Chunnuan and others said:
They never expected that their private salt business would eventually backfire on their own in-laws. But everyone knew this was just an excuse, a pretext for the Western Rong people to invade and plunder Daliang. If it wasn't this, there would be other reasons. Anyway, they were determined to launch an attack.
Even Yao Chunnuan and the others were speechless at this excuse, let alone the Crown Prince, who nearly vomited blood upon hearing the excuse for the Western Rong's uprising. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to trade them good salt, but he himself hadn't found a private salt dealer who sold high-quality iodized salt, so how could he get good salt for them? Even worse, the Western Rong were calling the official salt inferior! He even wanted to beat them up.
Because Beijing and Xirong had gone to war, the main force against the Xirong was General Huo, the God of War, and his Huo Family Army. The army previously supported by the Third Prince had fought poorly, suffering a series of defeats, unable to effectively eliminate the enemy they were supposed to destroy. Instead, they had to rely on the Huo Family Army to rescue them, resulting in the Huo Family Army being attacked from both sides and struggling to cope.
After receiving the news from the northern border, the general decided to use the excuse of welcoming a bride as an excuse to lead his troops to the northwest to provide some support. The same night he received the news, he set out with 4,000 cavalry and 6,000 brave soldiers, a total of 10,000 troops.
At present, the combined forces of new and old soldiers in the military settlement still amount to 20,000 armed forces.
To be honest, they currently have 140,000 or 150,000 soldiers stationed in the military settlement, and they have 30,000 soldiers, each of whom is carefully selected. This ratio is normal. If necessary, they can also pull out another 30,000. If there are more, they really can't squeeze in.
Moreover, their military settlements currently have 1.1 million mu of cultivated land, and there are about 30,000 to 40,000 mu of new land reclaimed by prisoners such as Beidi. It is still a bit difficult to support more than 100,000 people, not to mention that they have to pay Marshal Zhu nearly one stone of output per mu.
If it weren't for Yao Chunnuan's business acumen, and the subsequent assistance of Qi Yingshan, who established a sea salt field and a patent medicine factory, and used the high-quality iodized salt and patent medicines to obtain a large amount of supplies and gold and silver, the military settlement would have long been stretched to the limit. Although sweet potatoes are a high-yielding food, the seeds were initially too scarce, requiring three or four rounds of continuous breeding to solve the food problem. This means that they won't have to worry about food until next summer at the earliest.
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