Bring the whole war back to Nanming

Chapter 25 Gaoyou Official Attitude
In the next few days, Fang Xiaobai was either busy working in the fields or inspecting the city defense situation, leaving early and returning late, even his female friend Lin Xuerou couldn't see anyone else all day long.

Outside the towering city walls of Altdorf, countless refugees are eagerly hoping to enter the town, but very few achieve it.

In order to prevent the refugees from leaving too disappointed, three porridge sheds were set up outside the city to provide the refugees with three meals a day.

Imperial swordsmen patrolled near the porridge shed, and a high elf archer carried a quiver on his back. His eagle-like eyesight allowed them to quickly spot uneasy and well-intentioned refugees so that they could shoot arrows to warn them.

Don't worry about whether the elf archers will accidentally injure them. For a high elf who has practiced bows and arrows for more than a hundred years, bows and arrows are as common as eating and sleeping.

The refugees who stayed near Altdorf invariably borrowed tools for felling trees from the people who went in and out of the town. In just one month, a large-scale village gradually formed outside the east gate.

With Fang Xiaobai's acquiescence, part of the fertile land outside the city was distributed to the refugees living here for farming. The rent was a little different from that of the people in the city. three thirds.

The reason for the distinction is largely to encourage the refugees to yearn for life in the city and work hard. For this reason, Lei Ze, Fang Xiaobai, Lou Zhangyou, and Boris decided after discussion that if the refugees outside the city could live in the city, they would If they live in a residence outside the city for half a year and engage in labor, they can be accepted and become Altdorf's new residents.

Once the policy was posted, the refugees knelt outside the east gate and shouted for Fang Dashan, which made the high elves on the city wall very nervous, thinking that these refugees were going to attack the city.

The sudden emergence of a new city in Gaoyou County has attracted the attention of Chen Zhan, the magistrate of Gaoyou County. As the parent official of Gaoyou County, like most of the Donglin party members who are officials in the court, he has no other skills. Self-taught without a teacher, I have read sage books for more than ten years in vain.

In the backyard of the government office, Chen Zhan leaned on the recliner, closed his eyes and meditated, and behind him stood respectfully a master dressed as a scribe: "Xu Fei, I heard that there are more cities outside the county seat out of thin air. This matter?"

The master's name was Xu Xufei, who was from the same hometown of Shaoxing as County Magistrate Chen Zhan. He had studied in a private school for several years and had a sharp mind. He made suggestions for Chen Zhan's corruption and bribery, and was highly regarded by Chen Zhan.

Upon hearing Chen Zhan's question, Master Xu immediately replied confidently: "My lord, there is indeed such a thing. I sent people to infiltrate the refugees to check it out, and I have reported back yesterday."

"Oh?" Chen Zhan opened his closed eyes slightly: "Xu Fei, you didn't disappoint me, tell me about the situation over there."

"Yes, my lord, according to the report from the people below, a large number of refugees stayed in our Gaoyou territory. At first, I thought that those mud-legged people would not be able to walk. I never thought that near Zhangjiazhuang, someone opened a porridge shed for those mud-legged people. Eat."

"Huh? In this world, there are still people who do such careless things, hehe, it's strange."

"Who says it's not the case? We can't ignore the refugees staying in Gaoyou. It's time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there's no benefit to be gained. Isn't this purely embarrassing to you, sir?" Mr. Xu shook his feather fan and fanned Chen Zhan away from the heat. He was busy smearing Altdorf.

"Well, what you said makes sense, Xu Fei, what is the origin of this group of people?"

"My lord, according to the news from Yangzhou Mansion, they are likely to be the remnants of thieves who escaped from the north."

Master Xu said it lightly, and Chen Zhan fell off the chair in fright: "What! They are intruders!"

"Chuang Thief" is the name given by the Ming court to Li Zicheng of Dashun, because Li Zicheng claimed to be the King of Chuang, so there is such a saying.

"Master, be careful!" Master Xu hurriedly ran to his side and helped Chen Zhan up: "Master, I haven't finished yet."

Chen Zhan, who was still in shock, sat back on the chair, trembling uncontrollably. The name of the thief was too loud, and his reputation spread all over the country. A few years ago, he had not been an official. He traveled in Shandong, Hebei and other places, and personally experienced The horror of the thieves attacking the city, the sky is blood red in memory, there are ruins everywhere, injured officers and soldiers, the people are lying on the street and crying, and the sound of killing on the city wall goes straight to the sky.

He didn't know how he made it through, he only knew that when he walked out of the residence, the war was over, and the officers and soldiers of the Ming army on the street were gone, replaced by bright red turbans wearing red turbans. The houses of various big families in the city were ransacked, and hundreds of men, women and children knelt outside the courtyard and cried shrilly.

Chen Zhan took a breath, brought his thoughts back to the present, and regained his eyesight.Master Xu took a deep look at Chen Zhan: "My lord remembered..."

Chen Zhan nodded: "Don't bring up the past, just keep talking."

"Yes, my lord, Xiao Butou in the yamen said that the group of thieves was very different from the thieves in the north. Their hair was generally not long, and they didn't have the fiery red headscarves of the thieves. Their armor and jackets were much better than those of the thieves." , than the Tartars do not show off."

Master Xu felt his mouth was a little dry, so he stuck out his tongue and licked his dry lips: "Master, after many inquiries, I found out that those guys actually subcontracted the fields to those mud-legged people outside the city, and the rent is only one yuan per year. There is enough food, sir. I see that there are not three thousand but two thousand garrison at the top of the city. I can’t figure out how they rely on to maintain such a large army!”

"Are the thieves crazy? They are playing with fire! According to this momentum, there is not enough food for the army. What are we going to fight with?"

Chen Zhan was stunned. The intruder's method of winning people's hearts was brilliant, but couldn't the intruder see the shortcomings of this idea of ​​harming others and not benefiting himself? .

"Xu Fei, keep staring at them, don't take the initiative to provoke, this is beyond the control of our small county government, as long as we maintain the current form, we don't want to be meritorious, but we want to be innocent."

"Yes, sir!"

Master Xu made a slight bow, put away his feather fan, exited the backyard of the government office, and came to the front hall to assign tasks.

Chen Zhan, County Magistrate Chen sat slumped on the armchair.A few years ago, the reason why I was able to escape a catastrophe was largely because I had no official status, only fame, and was not a big threat to intruders.

He saw with his own eyes that the magistrate of LY at that time was dragged out of the county government office like a dead dog by intruders, taken to Caishikou, chopped up in front of the whole county, and his head was hung at the gate of the city, deterring the people passing by.

Since that time, his temperament has changed drastically. After becoming an official, he frantically amassed money and searched for people's fat and people's anointing. He didn't want to step into the footsteps of the magistrate of LY. As long as there was a change in the thieves in the south, he immediately dropped his official seal and official uniform, and brought his cronies to clean up these things. Slipping back to his hometown in Shaoxing to become a reclusive rich man.

"I hope everything will be safe and sound, and let me spend these few years in office. All the gods bless you."

(End of this chapter)