New Shun 1730

Early the next morning, the whistle blew, and the army began to pack up tents and have breakfast. It was quickly assembled. Although it was not as good as the Qingzhou soldiers trained at the beginning, judging from the speed of troop assembly, it was not bad, and it was comparable to that of Western European countries at this time. There is nothing wrong with military field materials.

Places surrounded by troops are the safest.

In this safe place, Liu Yu met several death row prisoners for the last time before leaving.

These death row inmates are the "key criminals in the coarse-grain-for-fine-grain case."

There has to be someone who takes the blame, someone who provides this batch of coarse grains, and there has to be a full set of performances.

Although it is full of loopholes, it is simply a fool acting for fools.

But the important thing is not that the details are flawless, but that the appearance is passable.

Otherwise, it doesn’t look good.

Fools watch and fools act. Even those who are not fools have to pretend to be fools at this time. But even if you are a fool, this story must have a beginning and an end.

At this time, the confidants around Liu Yu were holding several receipts. After showing them, they also showed the paintings and stamps of the neighbors on the receipts to the death row prisoners.

"I do things based on credibility. You are responsible for this, and your wives and children will not talk about it when they get the money. There is no need to worry about your wife remarrying or your children changing their surnames. I will be your guarantee for your children and send them to the army to seek employment. An official and a half-job.”

"There are still a few of you who are pirates. Since you are in this profession, you have nothing to fear from death. I hope you admit defeat and get caught, and there will be no nonsense between us."

"Anyway, if you trust me, just tell me where your wife and children are. I will take care of your wife and don't worry about it. If you don't believe me, don't tell me more. Beheading or shooting is better than hanging, right?"

"You also see those pirates who were hanged, and how painful they were before they died. Right?"

"You also know that there are two ways to die by hanging."

"One way is to break the spine directly after a pause. It would be an easy death."

"But you all know the kind of hanging at sea. It's not a sudden sudden break of the spine, but a slow death by suffocation."

"Before you die, you wet your crotch, become incontinent, and have a long tongue hanging out. How ugly is that?"

"No matter how good a guy is, he will still have snot and tears when the time comes. You can't control your snot and tears before you hang yourself. Even if you are a tough guy like Wu Song, you can't withstand the natural reaction of the human body, right. You have seen too many It’s clear that there are many perverts in the navy.”

There are indeed many perverts in the navy, and Liu Yu understands it very well. Six out of ten people squatting in that small cabin all day long have mild mental illness, and all kinds of perverts gather here. Hanging pirates is a very fancy thing for the navy.

Several captured pirates heard this and said: "Who doesn't know the reputation of the Duke of Guo, who is working at sea? But, our wives and children have all been arranged by ourselves, so we don't bother the Duke of Guo. Anyway, we robbed him before It’s enough for them.”

"The stolen goods are all frosted, and they are all silver. Which one is clean and which one is dirty? This silver is from China, Sulu, Holland, and Spain. We also have missionaries to help, Luzon , There is also property in Mexico, and we will take it according to the Duke’s wishes.”

"The Duke is right, you are willing to accept defeat. The Duke has written an open letter to us before. If we don't accept it, isn't it because we have lost the gamble? Then we will die."

Speaking of this, Liu Yu burst into laughter and asked: "Hey, I asked someone to write to you before, saying that the situation has changed and asking you to recognize the situation clearly. Why don't you believe it?"

A pirate also smiled bitterly and said: "I have received the letter. I didn't understand it at the time, but it is too late to understand it now. The official letter said that when the Dutch were powerful in Nanyang, we might still be recruited. But now, the situation in Nanyang has changed. Change, the court doesn’t want pirates at all, because what the court needs now is free trade.”

"And even at the beginning, the imperial court did not want pirates at all. Because unlike those Westerners, their countries' trade is competition with each other, while ours is a buying and selling relationship. Therefore, pirates must die, and the Chinese Empire does not want privateers, because no one is there Privateers in the inland sea."

"It's just that even if you know this situation, it's useless. Isn't it easy to make money by being a pirate? Who knows that the imperial navy is really not what it used to be these years."

"I fucking read it too, I should change my career as soon as possible."

This pirate leader is quite talkative. They are all going to die anyway, so they have nothing to fear.

Liu Yuqi asked: "Change career? Do business?"

Unexpectedly, this pirate was a man who had read books. He shook his head and said: "The Duke's words are wrong. Those who steal hooks will be punished, and those who steal the country will be princes. In fact, from the moment we received the letter from the Duke, we should have understood that the situation has changed. , you shouldn’t continue to be a pirate.”

"We should take the brothers directly to the shore, follow the story of "Water Margin", and win a king's pawn. Then pay tribute to the court and submit to the court."

"It is no longer possible to be recruited as a pirate. If you can be the leader of a small country in Nanyang, you still have the possibility of being recruited. I regret that I didn't understand it at the beginning, otherwise I am not a prisoner now, but a guest. Yes. The imperial court changed its name a few days ago. If I had figured it out earlier, I would have gone to the capital to join the imperial court, and I might not have received a reward from the imperial court."

"Look at the group of people in Borneo, haven't they been recruited one by one now? They were also traveling together before, but later they went to dig for gold and landed there. In these days, if you can no longer be a pirate, you have to go ashore to become a bandit. , The only way out is to seize territory overseas and become king. If you do well, you can directly become a vassal. "

Liu Yu clapped his hands and praised: "Yes, so you just don't understand the general trend."

The pirate sighed again and said: "However, being a pirate is better than happiness. The prince is inferior to one person and is superior to ten thousand people. But when it comes to doing things, his hands are tied."

"To deal with the squire, we have to do this and that, and we have to make up lies. If we...of course we don't have such thoughts for the people, I mean if we have such thoughts, we will cut them down directly. Why bother?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, we understand everything you need to say."

"A beheading will only leave a scar the size of a bowl."

"What you want to say about doing it for the common people is nonsense. To be honest, if we really wanted to do this, we wouldn't be pirates. Instead, we would just go up to the mountain to rally and pull out the apricot-yellow flag to do justice for heaven."

"But when I think about it, when we die, hundreds of gentry from northern Jiangsu will be buried for us. This treatment is comparable to that of princes, which is quite satisfying."

Liu Yu also laughed and said: "There is some truth. Okay, if you have any other requests, tell me. I will do everything for you. In addition to avoiding death, you must die."

These death row inmates looked at each other, shook their heads and said, "There is nothing more to do."

"That's good."

After saying that, Liu Yu asked his confidants to pour wine, touched the prisoners on death row and said, "Then let's say goodbye. Let's drink this guillotine wine now."

Several people clinked their bowls with each other, and Liu Yu nodded at the death row prisoners and went out.

The officers outside had already assembled their troops, and when they finally waited for the order to set off, they headed south.

One day later.

But April 28th of the first year of the New Year is an auspicious day.

A rather large venue has been set up near the mouth of the newly dug section of the Huaihe River.

The excavated soil has been piled up to form a high river embankment. There is currently no water released upstream, only moist loess.

The squires, students, etc. who participated in the contract organization to repair the Huaihe River gathered here, waiting for the court's commendation.

They understand the scene and the significance of repairing the Huaihe River this time to the country.

At the very least, the floods in Anhui will be much less severe than before. Hongze Lake no longer needs to be so high, the water level held upstream will not be that high, and floods will not occur in various parts of Anhui just because of a rain.

In addition, what they are most concerned about is when the court plans to start the second phase of the project.

An irrigation project will be built along this new Huaihe River.

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, the imperial court rarely built such large-scale irrigation and water conservancy projects.

The familiar Dujiangyan, Zhengguo Canal, Liufu Canal, Bai Canal, Jianhu, etc. all happened a long time ago.

Dashun abandoned the Grand Canal, and now these projects are naturally either for disaster relief or irrigation.

Now that the new river has been built, a new irrigation area will be built based on it, which will be a huge profit for these squires.

I heard that the imperial court will approve a sum of money next year, and I feel that when Fan Gongdi is being built, the Yellow River has not yet changed its course. Now that the Yellow River has changed its course for such a long time and has rushed out for a hundred or two hundred miles, the Fanggong Embankment is a bit far back, and it is necessary to continue to build the embankment closer to the sea.

Once the new seawall is built, the previously untouched barren land will be worth reclaiming.

When the time comes, isn’t it the case that those who are closest to the water will get the moon first?

When the seawalls and irrigation canals are built next year, they will be contracted and responsible for them in sections, just like the Huaihe River this time, and they will be able to make another fortune.

While each of them was waiting for Liu Yu to take the throne to commend them with a beautiful yearning for their future life, some people gradually felt that something was not right.

The venue chosen was a bit depressing.

It was in a depression, surrounded by piles of dirt.

This is very inconsistent with the Feng Shui at this time. This kind of happy thing focuses on the unity of heaven and man. How can it be in such a low place?

Moreover, as soon as Liu Yu arrived, the surrounding area was surrounded by soldiers with guns, spread out in detail. The muskets were all equipped with bayonets, and what made them feel a little uneasy was that the bayonets were all pointing inwards.

But I don’t know what’s going on, so I can only wait.

I don't know what time it was until two trumpets sounded, and Liu Yu and his men appeared.

After boarding the high platform in front of him, the squire who expected Liu Yu to say a few festive words and words of praise, saw instead that he turned his back on him and dumped him as soon as he was done.

When Liu Yu went to that station, the first words he spoke made many squires tremble in fear.

"I heard that during the process of building the river, some people exchanged coarse grains for the fine grains rationed by the court? I also heard that some people used money exchange to deduct the people's labor money? Also, those tools such as shovels, I clearly knew before As I said, the court provides money, and if it is used up, the people do not need to repay it. Why do I still hear that some people even deduct this money? "

"There is also the earth basket used to carry the soil. I already told you that you need to pay for it. How come this is still all about apportionment and no money is given?"

"Now, I'll give you a chance. Is this true or false?"

"If this is true, you might as well turn yourself in quickly and get a lighter punishment."

After saying that, he asked someone to bring out a self-ringing clock, looked at the time and said: "It's a quarter past nine now, I'll wait until ten. Don't wait until it's expired."

Putting the chiming bell in front of him, Liu Yu sat on the chair with his legs crossed. The orderly soldier next to him carried a kettle and poured him tea.

The county magistrate of Funing County, who was standing not far away from Liu Yu, couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he saw Liu Yu's posture.

The Funing County Magistrate did not have much involvement in this matter, because this time Liu Yu insisted on engaging in rural gentry contracting, and the Funing County Magistrate could not get involved at all.

The county magistrate of Funing County is not deaf or blind, and he knows some things.

But the grassroots are like this at this time, and they can stay out of it. It is rare to not be involved in corruption.

Those who can do this kind of business must have people behind them. Anyway, it has nothing to do with me if something goes wrong, so why should I care about it?

He thought that someone was fighting with the Duke of Xingguo behind the scenes, or that the Duke of Xingguo was involved in the business.

Whether it was the Duke of Xingguo who was involved, or someone was fighting with the Duke of Xingguo behind the scenes, could he, a small county magistrate, manage it?

Even if the gods fight, even if they form gangs and factions to fight in the court, the local officials must start with the prefecture and the fifth rank of the Beijing official to be eligible to enter. But let alone being a local county magistrate, even if he is a Beijing official, this rank is not enough for an admission ticket.

Looking at the terrain he chose, he thought Liu Yu was making a fuss at first. How could he choose a depression for such a festive event?

Now look, the depression is full of soldiers, these are field troops, not local garrisons.

Judging from the flags, it seems that they are still garrisons from the East.

The county magistrate thought, this time it is really lively, I am going to watch a big show.

Looking at Liu Yu drinking tea slowly, the county magistrate was relieved, and thought that the Duke did not let me intervene at the beginning, and he took over with people. Fortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to start, otherwise I really don't know if I can control myself.

The several gentry in front were looking at him at this time, and the Funing County Magistrate was suddenly panicked, thinking, don't look at me, what are you looking at me for? Looking at me at this time, isn't it hurting me?

I dare not move now. If I move a little, the people on the Duke's side will see it and think it is a nod or a shake of the head, and it is sending you some news, which will be a big trouble in the future.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, the Funing County Magistrate took out twelve points of spirit, stiffened his neck, and dared not move.