Gou Dan was delighted to hear Ning Yirong say that he thought the same thing. "Father, then let's send someone to bring them over."
“Father has already transferred them over.”
"..." He is still far inferior to his father.
Ning Yirong nodded to Lao Hei, and Lao Hei turned and left.
After Lao Hei left, Ning Yirong called out all the elderly people and children in the crowd.
Each child was given a bag of candy, and each elderly person was given a bag of snacks.
After giving them the benches, Ning Yirong asked Magistrate Jiang to find some.
After Magistrate Jiang brought over the benches, Ning Yirong had the elderly people sit down.
After the elderly people sat down, Ning Yirong began to chat with them about everyday things.
"Grandpa, how old are you?"
"Grandpa, how are you feeling?"
"Grandpa, how many people are in your family?"
"Grandpa, are your children filial?"
...
Dog Egg glanced at the children beside him and finally decided not to play with them. Firstly, he wanted to see how his father interacted with the people. Secondly, the children were indiscreet in their speech.
If some children say something they shouldn't, should they be punished or not?
His father is currently trying to appease the people, and he mustn't cause trouble for his father.
Master Shi felt that no matter how much sugar Ning Yirong gave to the people or how much he talked to them, it would be useless.
Master Shi Er tugged at Master Shi's sleeve and whispered, "Brother, let's apologize to His Highness. I don't think His Highness is a heartless person. If we apologize to His Highness, he might spare our lives."
Master Shi glared at his second brother. "We did nothing wrong. Donghua County was saved by our family."
"Brother, a wise man submits to circumstances."
"roll!"
"Big brother?"
"roll!"
Seeing that he had no regrets, Master Shi could only go to find his sons.
His sons weren't as stubborn as him.
Ning Yirong had just chatted with the elders for a while when Master Shi Er arrived with his sons, grandsons, nephews, and great-nephews.
They immediately knelt down before Ning Yirong. "Your Highness, we were wrong, please forgive us, we will never dare to do it again."
Ning Yirong glanced at Master Shi, said, "We'll talk about your business later," and then ignored them.
Master Shi rushed over and kicked Master Shi and his brothers several times. "You spineless bastards! Get up! Get up!"
Master Shi sighed inwardly. "Brother, don't be so stubborn. Just apologize to His Highness."
"Shut up! I don't have a brother like you!"
Master Shi wanted to argue further, but Ning Yirong glanced at the guard, who then silenced him with a gag.
About half an hour later, a sudden shout of battle came from outside.
Anyone who has experienced war knows that this means someone is coming to attack the city.
The people were terrified.
Magistrate Jiang was also terrified. "Your Highness, Grandson of the Emperor, you should quickly hide inside. This humble official... this humble official will go to meet the enemy immediately."
Master Shi was overjoyed to hear that someone was coming to attack the city. "Waaah...waaah..." You surnamed Ning, Donghua County is not a place for you.
Ning Yirong stood up from his chair. "My troops are all outside. Don't you think you can protect Donghua County on your own? I'll take you there now and see how many troops you can withstand. Let's go."
Master Shi: Fine, let's go!
The common people didn't think it was a big deal either?
But when they actually saw the troops outside the city...
The people were scared.
Mr. Shi's legs were also a little weak.
Ning Yirong looked at them and said, "How are you? Can you handle it?"
No one spoke.
Ning Yirong continued, "This is only a mere 30,000 troops. Do you know how many troops the barbarians have? With your strength, you couldn't even hold them off with 10,000 barbarian soldiers."
"Your only advantage is your location. The barbarian soldiers can't reach you, and the various warlords don't even want to bother with you. Otherwise... you could only fight against bandits and remnants of the army."
"The real army is right in front of you, yet you don't even dare to leave the city gate."
"If you're not satisfied, I'll give you some weapons. If you can withstand it, Donghua County will be yours from now on."
After saying that, Ning Yirong ordered twenty carts of weapons to be brought over. "Take them."
Nobody dared to take it. Not even Master Shi.
Seeing that none of them dared to take it, Ning Yirong ordered the city gates to be opened and the soldiers outside to come in.
Now, the people understood the difference between them and the regular army even better.
Once the people have recognized the facts, the next step is to deal with the historian's affairs.
Ning Yirong looked at Master Shi and the others and said, "Considering that you protected the people and that you know you were wrong, I will spare your lives. However, you cannot go unpunished for inciting the people and kidnapping officials' families."
"If I don't punish you, other meritorious officials will follow your example, and wouldn't the world fall into chaos again? Wouldn't the people suffer again?"
"Your family will keep two hundred acres of land, and the rest will be distributed to those who fought alongside you during the war. We'll discuss the specifics of the distribution with Magistrate Jiang later."
The people were delighted to hear this. They had all fought alongside the Shi family.
Master Shi and the others breathed a sigh of relief. So what if the land is gone? As long as their heads are still on their necks.
Master Shi and the other people knelt down and kowtowed to Ning Yirong.
"Get up. Also, I have approved the construction of the irrigation canals. Once those dry lands are ready for planting, I will decide, based on the situation in your county, whether to sell them to you at a low price or have the government manage them for unforeseen circumstances. In short, if those dry lands can produce grain, you will all benefit."
Upon hearing this, the people knelt down and kowtowed to Ning Yirong.
In the end, only Master Shi was left.
Master Shi was the ringleader, yet he refused to admit his mistake.
Ning Yirong executed him that very day.
Ning Yirong stayed in Donghua County for more than a month, and only left after he had settled the land allocation and irrigation canal repair matters.
When he left, people from all over the county came to see Ning Yirong off.
From this point on, Donghua County truly became the Donghua County of the imperial court.
Even after Ning Yirong and his entourage had disappeared without a trace, Jiang Ruojun, the daughter of Magistrate Jiang, was still reluctant to return.
Madam Jiang sighed inwardly. "Let's go, stop looking." Looking is pointless. The Crown Prince only has the Crown Princess in his heart.
More than half a month later, Ning Yirong and his party were on their way when a man suddenly rushed out from the side. The man had a woman in his arms, and an arrow was stuck in the woman's body.
Ning Yirong: "..." Has he been obsessed with injured women lately? But this time, he doesn't need to test her memory of anyone's writing. "What a coincidence, we were just about to look for you. Did you know we were coming and come to greet us?"
Greeting my foot! "Your Highness, did you bring any imperial physicians?"
Old Hei gave him a packet of medicine, asked where the people who attacked them were, and then led a group of men out.
Dog Egg rubbed his eyes. "Uncle Niu San?! What happened to you? And is that your wife you're holding?"
(End of this chapter)
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