Chapter 546 This is totally worth it!
(Thanks to Xue Yanran for casting 2 monthly votes.)
In just over half a month, the Japanese pirates who had disembarked from the large ships joined forces and killed dozens of fishermen.
but!
The number of Han Chinese who ambushed them was not small!
There have even become more!
Is it worth risking death for twenty taels of silver?
It's definitely worth it!
As mentioned earlier, Niu Sangeng, as a jailer in Jian'an Prison, only received a monthly salary of one thousand copper coins.
If Niu Sangeng wanted to save up twenty taels of silver, he would need to work for more than three years without eating or drinking, or he would need to work for more than ten or even twenty years!
In years of famine, selling one's children would only yield a few taels of silver;
Right now, you can get twenty taels of silver for killing a Japanese pirate!
What is the average life expectancy of ordinary people today?
He's only in his thirties or forties!
So, that's twenty taels of silver!
Kill the Japanese pirates, cut off their heads, and you'll get twenty taels of silver!
Twenty taels of silver can buy grain, a house, and can also be used for family weddings and funerals, medical treatment for sick relatives, and to buy some meat to nourish the body!
How could this not be a worthwhile thing?
This is totally worth it!
The Japanese pirates on these large ships finally learned what Li Shiyue meant when he said, "Treat the people as the sea, and drown the Japanese pirates!"
Long queues began to form in front of the Jian'an City government office.
At first, it was just one or two people, then it grew to three or five.
Later, there was even a time when more than twenty dirty men came, carrying seven or eight loads full of the heads of Japanese pirates!
The pile of heads emitted a strong smell of blood and decay, while the heads that had been identified were picked up by Niu Sangeng and his men who were waiting nearby, taken back, and pickled with lime.
The silver in the silver chests, arranged in a row, was distributed out in taels at a time, and soon one chest was empty.
The names recorded in Wang Shuli's ledgers increased, from Wang Er and Li Wu to later, even a girl's name like Zhao Jinhua appeared!
Meanwhile, the five hundred new recruits sent out by Li Shiyue kept sending back fresh news: another Japanese pirate squad had been completely wiped out.
Fishermen in coastal fishing villages now not only do not run away when they see small groups of Japanese pirates, but instead take the initiative to attack them;
Fishermen have even started spontaneously monitoring the sea from their small boats, lighting fires to alert authorities when they spot suspicious vessels.
It's already late April, and May will be here in a few days.
The crowd exchanging reward silver in front of the government office was still noisy, and the sound carried far and wide on the spring breeze.
Beneath this clamor, a new, iron-blooded force is emerging on the land of Jian'an.
Li Shiyue walked to the window and looked at the bustling crowd at the government office. She smiled and said, "The Japanese pirates plundered a village and gained far more than a thousand taels of gold."
The people they killed were Jian'an's greatest loss!
Now, I can buy one of those Japanese pirates' lives for twenty taels of silver, wiping out their entire lineage. What a bargain!
Turning back, Li Shiyue looked at Chen Yong: "How is Cai Hua doing?"
Upon hearing Li Shiyue ask about the town's military affairs, Chen Yong quickly shared the news he had just received with Li Shiyue.
"General! He really can't sit still anymore!"
Cai Hua was embezzling a large sum of money without working. If those people in the garrison hadn't been afraid of implicating their families by deserting, they probably would have deserted long ago!
The brothers we sent in said that in the garrison, they only had two bowls of thin porridge every day, and they never saw meat once every ten days. As for military uniforms, they only received one set when they first arrived, and then they never received one again.
Previously, they had kept to their posts in Jian'an, not only because the winters were cold, but also because they didn't wear thick clothes when they went out, and they didn't have much charcoal for heating.
Even more remarkably, soldiers in the garrison froze to death every year!
Li Shiyue nodded. She had already guessed about these news from the garrison, so she wasn't surprised at all when she heard them now.
"I issued the order to kill the bandits, but what did Cai Hua do?"
Upon hearing Li Shiyue mention this, Chen Yong smiled, a rare occurrence for him.
You should know that Chen Yong has always been a serious person. Even if Li Shiyue makes a joke, Chen Yong's icy face will not move.
At this moment, Chen Yong actually smiled on his own?
Before Li Shiyue could ask anything, Chen Yong stopped laughing, walked to the window, and pointed to the long line of men at the back of the government office.
"General, do you see those people? Aren't they slightly different from the people queuing up?"
Li Shiyue had exceptional eyesight. She looked up at the place Chen Yong was pointing to, and in just one glance, she noticed the difference.
These five people were much more vigilant than ordinary citizens;
They appeared relaxed, but in reality, each of them had their hands on their waists, and the machetes tucked into their waistbands looked quite intimidating.
However, what's truly impressive is the skill these people possess with their hands.
So, Li Shiyue took a few more glances at him leisurely, and then looked back at Chen Yong with a hint of surprise on her face.
"Is it the garrison commander?"
"General, our men noticed something was wrong when these people were at the city gate."
However, they didn't have any problems with their household registration certificates for entering the city.
Our men followed them into the city, and they saw them heading straight for the government office.
They've got quite a few heads in their baskets; this time they'll easily get at least a hundred taels of silver!
"Could it be that they secretly went to sea to kill pirates without Cai Hua's knowledge?"
That should be the case.
Li Shiyue laughed; she not only laughed, she laughed out loud.
Haha, very good!
There are still some men with some backbone in the garrison!
"The Japanese pirates have come to our doorstep; if we can still tolerate this, we're worse than dogs!"
"General? We..."
Li Shiyue smiled and said to Chen Yong, "Make sure the brothers guarding the city gate are alert. As long as they obediently follow the order and queue up, we don't need to worry about them. Just keep an eye on them."
I don't care where they got their Japanese pirate heads, as long as they are confirmed to be Japanese pirates, then I'll give them silver!
This garrison commander, I'll have to have a good meeting with him someday.
After discussing the matter of Zhenjun, Li Shiyue said to Chen Yong, "The Golden Eagle sent word that Xiao Liu said the General gave me another 500 new soldiers this time, but he didn't ask for much grain."
However, it doesn't matter. I wrote to Dongmu, and Jiuniang should reply to me in the next few days.
Oh, by the way, how did it go with my investigation of the Li family?
The Li family that Li Shiyue mentioned was none other than the Li family of Li Yu, the salt merchant who was the first to send silver to the government office for Li Shiyue.
Chen Yong was a meticulous person. He turned around from the window, rummaged through the table next to him, found a secret report, and handed it to Li Shiyue.
"General, all the information I've gathered is included here."
After glancing at it briefly, Li Shiyue said to Chen Yong, "Hmm!"
On the fifth day of the fifth month, this general will host a banquet at the Mirage Pavilion to thank all the wealthy merchants for their generous donations.
Oh, you only need to personally deliver the message to the Li family. For the other families, including those who donated several hundred taels of silver, just send someone.
As for Feng Biejia, Du Sima, Wan Changshi, and the four military advisors, we can ignore them for now.
Let them wait a few days, then we'll talk about it later!
"Yes, General!"
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