Zhu Nao

Yu Changming returned to the mountain with a few baskets of chicken and duck eggs, and was about to go back to rest when a few of his subordinates ran over: "Master Zhaizhu, an official went up the mountain today, and we arrested him and locked him in a hut halfway up the mountain!"

"What? Officials?" Yu Changming was taken aback, "What are the officials here for?"

The subordinate scratched his head and said, "He said he came to ask for safety."

Yu Changming: "... Huh?!"

……

Not long after, the thin little official was escorted to Yu Changming by four strong men with wooden sticks.

The little official was trembling, and took out a roll of silk from his arms tremblingly: "Yu, village master Yu, I'm here to recruit, to recruit."

He was about to open the letter of recruitment and read it to Yu Changming, when the bandit next to him snatched it away, checked it, made sure there was no mystery, and handed it to Yu Changming.

Yu Changming took it and began to read it with complicated emotions.After reading it, his mood became more complicated.

……

The next day, the letter of recruitment was sent to Zhu Nao.

Zhu Nao opened the recruitment letter and browsed slowly.

The proclamation states that Zhou Mu is generous and merciful, and is willing to pardon all the crimes committed by the bandits in Changming Village, and to restore the status of good people in the whole village.In addition, 100 liang of silver was rewarded to Yu Changming, the village owner, and he was recruited as a centurion.

After reading it, Zhu Nao put the recruitment letter aside and said, "You refused?"

Yu Changming said: "Yes, I told the officials to go back."

According to the recruitment letter, the government gave each of the hundreds of bandits in Changming Village six acres of fertile land and five taels of compensation money. This condition was only to allow the bandits to barely survive.If these bandits could get such treatment before falling into the grass, they might be willing to live a good life.But now they have fallen into bandits, and they are too stupid to want them to go back and continue to be exploited by the government just under such conditions.

Zhu Nao didn't speak, and lowered his head to fiddle with the tea leaves.

He has always shown his emotions and anger, and Yu Changming rarely saw his expression complicated, so he couldn't help asking: "What's wrong?"

Zhu Nao smiled helplessly: "The person who wrote the letter of recruitment is probably an idiot."

Yu Changming was taken aback.He had never heard Junao scold anyone.But right now he judges the person who wrote the call for peace as an idiot, which shows how serious the other party's mistakes are.However, Yu Changming had read this recruitment letter many times, but he didn't see anything wrong with it.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

Zhu Nao didn't bother to explain, just said: "In a few days, they will come to you again."

Yu Changming was slightly taken aback: "Why?"

"If they make up their minds to recruit security, they will naturally not give up easily."

Speaking of this, Yu Changming was also a little puzzled.It has been almost three years since the establishment of Changming Village. At the beginning, the government suppressed the bandits several times, but all of them returned without success.Later, I figured that because they didn't kill people or set fires, they just took care of collecting protection fees from passing merchants, which didn't pose too much of a threat, so the government didn't bother to take care of them.It was a little surprising that he suddenly recruited security after a long period of letting go.

Zhu Nao picked up the teacup, and used the lid to skim off the tea foam: "Besides, at this juncture, I'm afraid it has something to do with the incident in the wolf village a few days ago."

Hearing the word Tulangzhai, Yu Changming's expression changed immediately: "What?! What does it have to do with Tulangzhai?!"

Zhu Nao had already started to drink tea, and Jing Zhe on the side hurriedly took over the conversation: "I heard that hundreds of villagers in Yanjiao Village cried and petitioned outside the gate of the state capital the day before yesterday, asking the state capital to deal with the bandits. Very recently, now that Heishui Village has been slaughtered, they are likely to be the next ones. Not only them, but the people of this state are in danger, and the people are full of grievances. If the bandits are not dealt with properly, the people will rebel."

Following Jing Zhe's words, Yu Changming pondered: "Treat the bandits? With the strength of the state government, it's impossible for them to wipe out the bandits, so... came up with the idea of ​​recruiting?"

Speaking of this, he was stunned: "Could it be that the government is still planning to recruit the Tulang Village?!"

Zhu Nao slowly put down his teacup: "With the ability of the state government, I'm afraid it will indeed do this."

Yu Changming was furious immediately, and slapped the table again: "It's unreasonable! It's unreasonable!!" Originally, he only thought that he had recently taken in a group of people, which made the state government feel uneasy.Therefore, it is reasonable for the state government to recruit them.But if you add Tulang Village, it will be completely different.

The behavior of Tulangzhai was extremely cruel, and the notoriety spread throughout the entire Sichuan.Not to mention that the common people are in constant panic, even the bandits in other villages hate him deeply.If the government wants to recruit Tulang Village, it will definitely forgive him!But how can they be easily forgiven for their heinous crimes? !

Zhu Nao said: "Brother Yu, I will buy more weapons for you as soon as possible. You should step up your training and recruit more troops."

When Yu Changming heard him mentioning this suddenly, he couldn't catch up.

But seeing Zhu Nao's eyes drooping slightly, he didn't know whether he was happy or angry, and he said in a low voice, "I'm afraid there will be great chaos in Shuzhong."

=====

"What? They all refused?"

In the second hall of the government office, two officials who had just returned from Changming Village and Tulang Village were presenting their duties to Qian Qing.

Qian Qing asked: "Did they say that they have any demands that they hope the government will meet?"

The little official sent to Changming Village shook his head dejectedly: "Yu Changming read the call for security and only said one word - 'Get lost'. Then they escorted me down the mountain."

The little official sent to the Tulang village had red eyes, and said in grief and anger: "Zhao Tulang heard me finish reading the recruitment document, and sent someone to throw me into the cesspit!! I was trapped for two full hours before they rescued me come out!!"

Qian Qing was shocked.No wonder he kept feeling the smell of excrement all around, and it turned out to be coming from this little official.This little official must have taken a bath, but after being buried for two hours, it was already marinated, and he couldn't even wash it clean.

The little official trembled and said, "Zhao Tulang still said...and said..."

Resisting the urge to cover her nose, Qian Qing asked, "What else did he say?"

"He said - let me take a bucket of shit back home, and whoever writes the letter of recruitment will feed it!"

The second hall is the place where the civil servants of the state capital do business. As soon as this remark was made, there were several laughs in the hall that could not help but laugh.

Qian Qing turned her head abruptly, and the civil servants immediately buried their heads in their work, putting on a serious face.Only a pale man with yellowish beard raised his head and looked at Qian Qing with serious eyes.

Qian Qing frowned: "Dou Ziyi, what are you looking at? Don't you have any business to do?"

Dou Ziyi was the one who repeatedly opposed Qian Qing's strategy of recruiting security that day.In the past few days, Qian Qing wrote a call for security and ordered people to deliver the letter of recruitment. Dou Ziyi always stared at him with compassionate eyes, as if the sky was about to collapse.Qian Qing was very uncomfortable with his eyes.

His strategy of recruiting security is being implemented. As long as the two large villages can be successfully recruited first, it should be easy to conquer other small villages.Once the calamity of bandits is settled, the common people will be able to live and work in peace and contentment, and the vitality of the people will be restored.This is an ingenious strategy that will last for thousands of years!He really didn't understand where Dou Ziyi's compassion came from.Are you jealous of him?

Dou Ziyi took another deep look at him, took a sip from the flagon on the table, and lowered her head to look at the documents.

Qian Qing didn't bother to pay attention to him, so he turned his head to look at the two minor officials: "You wait, I'll draw up a new copy of the call for security, and you can send it over."

The little official who has been to Changming Village is fine.Although he was quite scared when he went up the mountain, the bandits in Changming Village didn't really care about him.But the little official who had been to Tulangzhai was terrified and backed away again and again: "No-no-!!!"

Qian Qing was dizzy from the smell of feces on his body, and couldn't bear it a little bit. He waved his hands and said, "Forget it, you go back and rest for half a day, and then take a good bath. Come back tomorrow."

The little official ran away like shit.

Before Qian Qing returned to the case, he called two staff members over to discuss how to write the new recruitment letter.

The bandit didn't agree to the first letter of recruitment he wrote, but he wasn't too surprised.He knew that the conditions he offered were not high, and if the bandit didn't agree, he wouldn't agree. Can the conditions be negotiated? He would just increase it slowly.You can't set the conditions too high from the beginning. If the other party doesn't agree, he doesn't even have room to increase.

Qian Qing complained: "That Yu Changming keeps taking people into the mountains. They don't steal or rob, and they rely on passing business travelers to pay some protection fees. I don't know how the little money he collects can support so many people. Maybe A large group of people starved to death in the mountains! I gave him six acres of land and gave him another 100 taels of silver. Why wouldn’t he accept such a good condition?”

An aide laughed and said: "Master Qian, everyone is greedy. I have always wondered what he wanted to build such a big cottage. He couldn't want to be the emperor himself, could he? Maybe he just waited for the government to pay for his safety. On this day, he is making a lot of money and earning fame."

Qian Qing pouted: "I think so."

Another staff member said: "Master Qian, since the people in Changming Village feel that six acres of land is not enough, why not give them eight acres per person? Also add 50 taels of silver to the village owner? As for Tu Wolf Village...doesn't it matter if they each have [-] acres of land?"

From the very beginning, the recruitment conditions they offered to the two cottages were different.The conditions they offered to Tulangzhai were almost double that of Changmingzhai.The reason is very simple: firstly, Changming Village is not ferocious and does little harm to the people, so governance is not so urgent.Secondly, they think that Changming Village must be very short of money if they don't steal or rob, and their appetite should be smaller.

Qian Qing showed a heartbroken expression: "It's nothing to give each person eight mu of land in Changming Village, but the money can't be increased too much. If he still doesn't agree, will it be increased to 200 taels next time? Give him a little less Add 20 taels."

After discussing with everyone, the second recruitment letter was quickly finalized.It should have been submitted to Song Rentou for a decision, but Song Rentou was too lazy to take care of it, and Qian Qing was fully responsible.So after Qian Qing settled the document, he sent someone to deliver the letter of recruitment again.

=====

Sure enough, just as Zhu Nao expected, within a few days, the second letter of recruitment was sent to Changming Village.

After returning to the state capital this time, the little official who delivered the letter reported to Qian Qing: "Master Qian, Yu Changming said one more word than last time."

Qian Qing asked, "What word?"

The little official said: "Last time he said, get out. This time he said, get out——"

Qian Qing: "..."

In the days that followed, the third, fourth, and fifth recruitment letters were sent to Changming Village one after another.

The reason for choosing to recruit security is because the government has nothing to do except recruit security.The matter of recruiting security is inevitable, if the bandits don't agree, they can only keep raising the conditions until they negotiate a condition that the bandits can accept.

Therefore, Yu Changming was puzzled when he saw the conditions added little by little in every recruitment letter: "Are the people in the state capital sick?"

The little official opposite him was trembling: "Master Yu, tell me what conditions you have. If you don't say anything, that's the only way we can do it."

Yu Changming directly threw back the recruitment letter.

This time the little official returned to the state capital and reported to Qian Qing, "This time, Village Master Yu has finally put forward conditions."

Qian Qing suddenly became excited: "What condition did he put forward? Tell me quickly."

The little official said with a sad face: "Master Yu said, let the dog official come to see him."

Qian Qing: "..."

Qian Qing was so depressed.It is impossible for the government to agree to the condition of the dog official raising his head, and Yu Changming must know it.So he could only understand this as a means for Yu Changming to raise the price.He is not afraid of delaying it for a while, but are all the people in Changming Village gods?Survived by drinking the breeze and fairy dew?Why he has already set the conditions very high, but the other party is not tempted...

=====

Jing Zhe accompanied Zhu Nao from the farm back to Langzhou City, and traveled hard all the way. After entering the city, they entered a teahouse to drink tea and rest.

As soon as I entered the teahouse, I heard the voices of people in the teahouse, and the people were excited, and they were all discussing the same thing.

"Have you heard? The Wolf Slaughter Village has been recruited by the government!"

"What? Wolf Slaughter Village?! That Wolf Slaughter Village?!"

"Yes! It's the wolf-slaughter village! Do you know what conditions the government uses to recruit them?"

"What conditions?"

"Each bandit gets 20 acres of fertile land and 300 taels of pension! The head of the village, Zhao Tulang, was commanded by Feng Xiangdu and received [-] taels of reward. All the bandits under him were organized into the Xiang army, and he still command!"

The listener gasped: "Commander Xiangdu?? Sealed the official?? Give him back 500 taels of silver??? Are you sure it's true???"

"Really! Did you forget that my brother is working in the state capital? He has seen the letter of recruitment with his own eyes!"

"...Damn it! I worked hard for a year, and I only earned 20 taels of silver. Those bandits killed people and set fire everywhere. In the end, they were white-collar workers with dozens of taels of silver, and they got twenty acres of fertile land! I also Go be a bandit!"

"What are you talking about earning 20 taels of silver? Those farmers are really pitiful..."

Jing Zhe was shocked to hear the conversation.The government's recruiting has been going on for a while, and Changming Village neither agrees nor discusses it, and it is as rigid as an iron plate.The Wolf Slaughter Village has never heard of the news, and he thought that the Wolf Slaughter Village would refuse to accept it like the Changming Village.Unexpectedly, the notorious Tulangzhai accepted the recruitment, even reorganized into soldiers, and took official positions!

He immediately felt righteous indignation, and hurriedly looked at Junao.Zhu Nao poured the tea calmly, as if he had expected this day.

Jing Zhe's mood is complicated: "My lord..."

Zhu Nao put down the teapot, shook his head and said, "One wrong step, one wrong step."