Chapter 38: Killing the Chicken to Frighten the Monkey
The army entered the city, and Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao walked in front with a stern face.
Dongzhou City is larger than Xuzhou City. Along the way, there are shops lined up on both sides of the road. The clothes worn by the people on the street are clean and tidy, and they look like they live and work in peace and contentment.
For the ragged refugees outside the city, it was like a paradise and a hell.
Prefect Qian followed behind Song Yuzhu and whispered flatteringly: "Oh, I didn't know that Master Zhu was so young and capable, but he could easily defeat Yang Yuanzhen's army! It's amazing, amazing!"
"I heard that the Chengtian Army never kills innocent people, never disturbs the people, and is humble and kind. This is truly the fortune of the people of Xuzhou..."
He didn't know what Song Yuzhu's temper was like, so he could only say something nice. As a result, he talked all the way until his throat was dry, but Mr. Zhu didn't say a word in response.
Qian Mingan wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling a little unsure.
Gongyang Qing, however, was not as flattering as him and followed the other officials at the end.
The reason is that although he is the Grand Marshal of Dongzhou, it is just a title. He has neither military power nor money. He has been suppressed by Yang Yuanzhen in recent years. His life is even worse than that of ordinary merchants.
A few days ago, he heard that Yang Yuanzhen was captured. To be honest, he was happier than Song Yuzhu. He asked his servants to kill two cows to celebrate that day.
Therefore, whether Dongzhou changes people or not, it makes no difference to him, since they are all Grand Sima in name only anyway.
Qian Mingan continued with a big smile on his face, "I have prepared a banquet for you and the general at home. Please do me the honor of coming and have a drink."
Although Qian Ming'an flattered him, he felt in his heart that although the Chengtian Army defeated Yang Yuanzhen, they were essentially a group of rabble that were not up to standard, and one day the imperial court would come to quell the rebellion.
For now, I will treat them with good wine and food, and then confront them when the court sends people, so as to avoid suffering the consequences.
After a while, seeing that Song Yuzhu didn't say anything, he leaned over and whispered, "I have prepared a few skinny horses from the south of the Yangtze River for you. They are proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and they are also very good looking... Hey... Hey?"
Zhao Xiao pulled him by the collar and threw him aside: "Since you have so much free time, why not settle the refugees outside the city?"
Song Yuzhu stopped and looked at him: "What's your name?"
"Your humble servant Qian Ming'an."
Song Yuzhu looked him up and down. He was fat and had big ears. Although he was wearing an official uniform, he was wearing a pair of Jiangnan brocade cotton shoes. The shoes were embroidered with eight treasures in gold and silver threads. This pair of shoes alone was worth a hundred taels. The governor of Dongzhou was really generous.
"I won't eat, but I still want to borrow your house for a while." He waved his hand, and Zhao Xiao led more than thirty officers and soldiers to run towards his house.
"Sir, what are you doing?!" Qian Ming'an was so frightened that his face changed: "You, you can't do this, didn't you say you wouldn't hurt the people?!"
Song Yuzhu spread his hands: "Did I hurt the people?"
"You can't send anyone to break into my mansion!"
Qian Mingan grabbed Song Yuzhu's sleeve. "Sir, let's talk it over. Whether you want a beauty or money, I can give you whatever I have. Just don't hurt my family!"
The guards behind him stepped forward to pull him away. Song Yuzhu patted the dust off his sleeves and said, "Don't worry, I won't hurt your wife and children."
Soon, Zhao Xiao and his team cleared out the entire prefecture, and all of Qian Mingan's wives and relatives were driven out. These women were wearing luxurious clothes, with gold and jade jewelry on their heads, and looked at the soldiers with panic on their faces.
"Everyone has been cleared out, not counting the slaves, there are sixteen people in total."
Qian Ming'an had seven wives and concubines, and the remaining eight were his closest relatives. The eldest son was 22 years old, the youngest daughter was nine years old, and he had a grandson who was just learning to speak.
Song Yuzhu said, "Send them and Lord Qian out of the city."
"No, no!" Qian Mingan knelt down in fear. He was really scared this time. He heard that the people outside the city had been starving for more than a month. If he went out, wouldn't they eat him alive? !
I thought this kid was easy to fool since he was young, but I didn't expect him to be so cruel.
Qian Mingan cried with snot and tears: "Master Zhu, I was wrong, please have mercy! My grandson is only one year old and can't even walk. How will he survive if he leaves the city?!"
His wife and daughter also began to sob quietly when they heard the sound. The family huddled together and looked at the passers-by anxiously.
Song Yuzhu angrily shouted, "Your grandson is life, but other people's children are not life!"
Thinking of the little baby on the road who was frozen and covered with sores, Song Yuzhu's eyes were red: "Do you know how many people died outside the city? Do you know why they came to Dongzhou!"
Qian Ming'an choked up and shook his head: "I...I don't know."
"Because they regard you as their father and mother, their life-saving father and mother! But you simply shut them out. Do you still have a conscience?"
Qian Mingan didn't dare to refute, he could only kowtow and admit his mistake and said: "It's all my fault, I'm letting them in now!"
In fact, there were not many refugees outside the city. Even if the city could not accommodate them all, it would not cost him much money to provide them with porridge, clothes and other supplies.
"It's not too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost. You have until tomorrow to properly settle the refugees outside the city. If you still can't do it well, you can lose your official hat."
"Yes!" Qian Ming'an gritted his teeth and accepted the task. All the contempt he had in his heart disappeared, and he only hated himself for letting a wolf into the house.
The officials behind him all shrank their necks and pretended to be cowards. They were frightened by Song Yuzhu's move of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.
They thought they had welcomed a Buddha, but they had invited a killer god. Even a slippery man like Prefect Qian was completely subdued by him, so how could they dare to act rashly?
After dealing with Qian Ming'an, Zhao Xiao led the army to the former Dongzhou Guard Army camp to settle the soldiers. Song Yuzhu took Song Quan, Li Jichen and several guards to live in an inn.
*
"This is outrageous, really outrageous!" Qian Ming'an returned to his mansion and was shaking with anger.
Mrs. Qian ordered someone to bring ginseng tea quickly.
Qian Ming'an pushed the tea bowl away and smashed a Ru kiln oil-drip cup worth a thousand strings of cash into pieces.
Mrs. Qian didn't even blink, she patted Qian Ming'an's chest and said, "Master, calm down."
Qian Mingan said angrily: "This bunch of lowly people actually bullied me! Yang Yuanzhen even gave me some face in Dongzhou, what are they!"
"A bunch of low-class hooligans and robbers! They are so arrogant just because they have gained some momentum!"
Madam Qian said, "These people are really abominable. They actually broke into our house and frightened us."
But now they came with so many soldiers and Qian Mingan had no way to deal with them and could only swallow his anger.
*
At night, Gong Yangqing sent someone to secretly deliver a letter to the inn.
The letter included all the arrangements Yang Yuanzhen had made previously, as well as Qian Ming'an's corruption and abuse of power over the years.
The letter ended with: "I know I am useless, but I still hope that Dongzhou City can be better. Please treat the people of Dongzhou well."
Gongyang Qing's surrender was beyond Song Yuzhu's expectations. He called Li Jichen to ask what the intentions of the Grand Marshal of Dongzhou were.
After Li Jichen entered the room, he stood aside respectfully and said, "Your Excellency may not know that Gong Yangqing and Qian Mingan have some grievances."
"What is it?"
"When Yang Yuanzhen first came to Dongzhou, the Grand Marshal did not want to hand over his military power. Later, Qian Mingan used some tricks to help Yang Yuanzhen seize the power."
At that time, Li Jichen was only a small lieutenant and did not know the details. He only heard from the soldiers that Qian Ming'an sent people to secretly kidnap Gong Yangqing's daughter and forced Gong Yangqing to hand over his military power.
Afterwards, Yang Yuanzhen suppressed the Grand Marshal in every way, so Gongyang Qing has been feeling angry over the years.
After listening to this, Song Yuzhu was thoughtful. This Dongzhou was far more interesting than he had imagined.
"Okay, go down and rest."
After everyone left, he quickly opened the map in his mind to check. As he expected, the Dongzhou map was also fully open!
Dongzhou has a large geographical area, with a coastal area in the east, a plain in the middle, and mountains in the northwest bordering Xuzhou and Jizhou.
Dongzhou produces salt. In ancient times, salt, iron and tea were the three most valuable things. Logically, Yang Yuanzhen should not be so poor.
The reason is that private salt is rampant here, and the common people would rather spend dozens of coins to buy bitter and astringent private salt than spend hundreds of coins to buy official salt.
The official salt in the salt field has been piled up as high as a hill!
Song Yuzhu exclaimed, Yang Yuanzhen is a fool, he has mountains of gold and silver but doesn't know how to use them. It's such a waste to give Dongzhou to him!
Since the official salt price can't be sold, send someone to sell it at the private salt price! Anyway, this thing is in the sea. It can't be said to be inexhaustible, but at least it's enough for hundreds of years!
In fact, he didn't know that there were many tricks involved.
The private salt business was Qian Ming'an's, so how could he bear to give it up? So when Yang Yuanzhen sent his subordinates to sell the private salt, Qian Ming'an secretly bribed the subordinates with a large sum of money, making it impossible for him to sell the salt.
After several attempts, Yang Yuanzhen really thought that salt was difficult to sell, so he simply gave up the idea.
Dongzhou also produces silk, but the heavy snow this year may have frozen many silkworms to death, and the amount of silk will definitely be greatly reduced next year.
In fact, this temperature is very abnormal. Song Yuzhu had read the history of the Sheng Dynasty before. The book said that in September, snow began to fall outside Yanmen Pass, frost formed at Pingtou Pass in October, winter arrived in Shangjing in November, and ice would not form in the central and southern regions until the twelfth month.
Dongzhou is an eastern coastal city, affected by the ocean monsoon. In previous years, the temperature rarely dropped below zero in winter. However, today, it has snowed for half a month in a row.
Song Yuzhu suspected that the world had entered a small ice age. When I was studying history, I remembered that the Song Dynasty also entered a small ice age.
If the temperature continues to drop, rice in the south will no longer be able to be grown for two to three seasons. The only crops left in the north are millet and rice, and the yields are shockingly low. I don't know how many people will starve to death in the future.
The cold-resistant corn that he was familiar with in his previous life had not yet been introduced, and the only root food was radish. He looked out the window worriedly, and he had to speed up his pace. Only by overthrowing the court as soon as possible could he find a way to change the current situation.
In the evening, Zhao Xiao came back from the military camp. He directly incorporated the 1,000 soldiers left by Yang Yuanzhen. These people did not resist. The seven kings were all captured. What was the point of their resistance?
Song Yuzhu handed him the letter sent by Gong Yangqing. "This man is quite interesting. I plan to replace Qian Mingan in a few days and let him govern Dongzhou."
Zhao Xiao took a look at the contents of the letter and said, "It's up to you to decide. I don't like that Prefect Qian either." He actually dared to send a skinny horse to Yuzhu. I really want to kill him with one stroke!
"Qian Mingan cannot be killed right now. We just arrived in Dongzhou and are not familiar with this place. I scared him today, and he should be able to properly settle the refugees. We can kill him after a while."
"Yeah." Zhao Xiao poured a cup of tea and drank it all in one gulp. He took off his armor and stretched his muscles. He didn't feel tired when he was on the road, but he felt sore all over after taking a rest.
Song Yuzhu reached out and massaged his shoulders. His firm muscles were like iron lumps that could not be moved even by massage. "Thank you for your hard work during this period."
"It's not hard, in fact, I'm very happy." In the past, Zhao Xiao lived just to have enough food and not be looked down upon. Since meeting Song Yuzhu, he suddenly felt that his life had a goal and he had someone he wanted to protect.
He muttered about what happened today: "I just went to the Dongzhou barracks and took a look around. The tents inside have been broken into pieces by rats because they have not been used for a long time. The weapons in the armory are rusty and can't be used. It's a waste to give them to them..."
"Take a good rest these few days. I'm afraid there will be several tough battles to fight in the near future." The court cannot just leave them alone. There are too many people rising up all over the country. From near to far, it is estimated that they will reach here after the new year.
That will be the real test, they must seize this opportunity to develop quickly!
"Yeah." Zhao Xiao tilted his head and rubbed the back of his hand, like a large dog seeking comfort.
Song Yuzhu touched his cheek, and the rough stubble made his fingers itch slightly. His heart seemed to be like a lake with ripples in the breeze.
Snoring could be heard. Zhao Xiao was so tired that he fell asleep while sitting...
(End of this chapter)
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