Chapter 540 "This general will treat the people as the sea and drown the Japanese pirates!"
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"Aren't the Japanese pirates relying on their fast ships?"
Don't you think we can't catch up with them?
Then this general will turn this thousand-mile stretch of coastal land in Jian'an into their graveyard!
I want to turn every fisherman, every farmer, and every ordinary citizen into hunters who are watching them!
I want to make it impossible for them to move an inch once they set foot on land!
I want to make Jian'an no longer their hunting ground, but their burial ground!
Li Shiyue looked at Chen Yong, her eyes flashing with an unprecedented light—a resolute determination to completely break the rules and utilize the most primal driving force of human nature.
"Isn't the garrison commander refusing to contribute?"
Cai Hua, isn't he just trying to make a fool of me?
I'll use this pile of silver to carve out a bloody path!
With this reward money, I can raise an omnipresent and all-encompassing 'army'!
I will turn Jian'an into a killing field that will strike fear into the hearts of Japanese pirates!
This general will treat the people like the sea, and drown the Japanese pirates!
Chen Yong was now stunned by Li Shiyue's insane ideas.
He stared wide-eyed at Li Shiyue, standing there motionless.
Regardless, Li Shiyue's "Order to Kill the Bandits" was copied and posted at the fastest speed.
All the clerks in Jian'an Prefecture were mobilized. When there weren't enough servants, the Xuanjia Army stepped in. They rode fast horses, carrying "Orders to Kill the Bandits" stamped with Li Shiyue's bright red seal, and headed towards every village and port along the coast.
The news of the "Order to Kill the Bandits" was like cold water thrown into boiling oil, instantly causing an uproar among everyone in Jian'an.
At first, the people of Jian'an found it hard to believe.
They simply didn't believe that killing a Japanese pirate, even just by giving him a head, could be worth twenty taels of silver.
"Twenty taels? For a head?"
"When did these officials become so generous?"
"The seal of Jian'an Prefecture... it's a genuine official seal! Is this new female general serious?"
"Is it a scam?"
But who is Li Shiyue?
Li Shiyue has always been the type to act on her words. How could a mere garrison commander expect her to swallow this humiliation?
That's impossible!
The day after the "Order to Kill the Bandits" was issued, a row of long tables was set up at the entrance of the government office.
Two soldiers from the Xuanjia Army worked together and carried out a whole ten boxes from behind the government office.
When the box was opened, piles of gleaming silver were inside.
There are boat-shaped official ingots that weigh fifty taels each, and there are also ingots that weigh ten taels each; these are all official silver.
But the other boxes also contained horseshoe-shaped, silver bars, and silver ingots, and there were several boxes of broken silver as well, which were placed one after another at the entrance of the government office.
The impact of this scene was quite significant for the people of Jian'an.
Some commoners who had never seen so much silver would travel a long way to the gate of the government office just to catch a glimpse of it.
Li Shiyue stood at the window on the second floor of the government office, coldly watching the crowd of onlookers below.
Chen Yong stood behind her and whispered, "General, the silver has been laid out."
But... in that case, wouldn't someone kill innocent people and claim credit for it...?
"I know."
Li Shiyue's voice was very calm, "Chen Yong, write this down!"
This general hereby orders: From this moment forward, a verification platform shall be set up in front of the government office!
Wang, the clerk, was ordered to lead a team to guard the area. Detailed rules were issued, stipulating that the verification of heads required corroborating evidence or items unique to Japanese pirates seized, and that verification must be strengthened.
All transactions involving the exchange of silver must be registered and recorded. The silver must be paid on the spot, and there must be no delays!
This general intends to make the first person to deliver a head an instant living symbol of the "Order to Kill the Bandits"!
Furthermore, tell everyone that anyone who dares to kill innocent people to claim credit or harm Han Chinese to become a Japanese pirate will be executed without mercy once discovered, and their head will be displayed at the city gate!
As a result, taxes on his and his neighbors will be doubled!
What this general wants is the heads of the Japanese pirates, not the blood of our own people!
In times of crisis, severe measures are necessary!
But the reward money must be paid out in full and on time. Once the credibility is established, it cannot be lost!
In addition, here is another message: if anyone has any news about the Japanese pirates, no matter how small or useful, they will be given two taels of silver for each piece of information!
The remaining five hundred men in our camp should be mobilized; this general won't keep them around for nothing!
She turned around, a slight smile appearing on her lips: "Cai Hua wants to see me make a fool of myself?"
Chen Yong, have our spies spread this message throughout the garrison!
I refuse to believe that Cai Hua can really control everything in the Zhenjun Army!
"I want to see if Cai Hua can still sit still in the garrison after those soldiers find out that this poem can be exchanged for twenty taels of silver!"
"Yes, Your subordinate obeys!"
Chen Yong felt a chill run down his spine, knowing the ruthlessness and determination behind Li Shiyue's orders. He turned and strode away to put Li Shiyue's words into practice.
Just as Li Shiyue had predicted, the impact of the order to kill the enemy far exceeded everyone's expectations.
Inside the garrison, Cai Hua could no longer drink tea in peace.
What made Cai Hua even more uneasy was that the morale of the garrison troops was beginning to waver.
Twenty taels of silver!
This is an unimaginable sum of money for an ordinary soldier!
They could remain in the garrison with meager military pay and meager porridge every day, only because as long as they were still registered as soldiers, their families were exempt from rent, labor service, taxes, and corvée labor.
And if someone deserts, they'll be beheaded!
However, hearing the news that Li Shiyue had arranged to spread in the town's military camp always caused discontent among some people.
"Damn it! We're soldiers, we get paid, and fighting the Japanese pirates is our duty. But now, we're just watching others make a fortune!"
"Exactly! If we go out on a sea patrol and run into a group of Japanese pirates, wouldn't we be able to pick up silver ingots with just a wave of our hand?"
"Why won't the magistrate let us attack? It's torture to watch ourselves get the credit and the silver without even trying!"
"Hey, I heard that the silver piled up in front of the government office is almost a mountain. That female general is very rich!"
Whispers in small groups spread like a plague among the soldiers.
Cai Hua told Song Fang to quickly find lower-level officers to control the situation, but these messages were impossible to suppress, and some officers themselves even had the idea of going out to kill the enemy.
This put Cai Hua under unprecedented pressure.
Li Shiyue's move was too ruthless!
She used silver not only to tempt the people, but also to undermine the backbone of his garrison!
If the soldiers in the garrison have no heart to guard the camp and only think about going out to kill bandits and make money, how can he be the garrison commander?
If the people were to actually kill the bandits because of the money, while the garrison troops remained inactive, how would General Liu Tan view him if this news reached Jinzhou?
All of Cai Hua's previous excuses—lax military equipment, insufficient warships, and difficulty in finding Japanese pirates—became pale and powerless jokes in the face of the unarmed people who were willing to risk their lives to kill the pirates!
"Li Shiyue...you're trying to kill me!"
Cai Hua paced back and forth in the room, his face turning ashen.
He could no longer remain indifferent; he had to do something, otherwise the morale of the army would collapse, and his position as the garrison commander would be in jeopardy!
Meanwhile, some wealthy merchants in Jian'an City also began to feel uneasy.
Li Shiyue's actions are completely illogical. With such a generous reward, where will Jian'an's situation go?
At this moment, these wealthy merchants all thought of Huang Wanchang, whose family had been raided and whose property had been confiscated and who had been exterminated. Many of them became increasingly uneasy.
The entire Jian'an seemed to be a deep pool thrown into the boulder called "Order to Kill the Bandits" by Li Shiyue. The surface appeared to be undulating, but the undercurrents beneath the surface were even more turbulent.
The desires, fears, and power of everyone were stirred up by the bounty of "twenty taels for a head," and this force was surging wildly in an unknown direction.
Li Shiyue stood in the eye of the storm, just watching.
She knew this was just the beginning.
The issues of money, the garrison's reaction, guiding and controlling civilians in their fight against bandits... countless challenges lie ahead.
But Li Shiyue had no regrets whatsoever.
Her fingers tapped unconsciously on the window frame as she murmured to herself, "It's moving now. Let's see how many big fish we can catch."
Cai Hua, how much longer can you hide?
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