Wang Rengong woke up, and the old servant led Li Po in.`
Wang Rengong's cloudy eyes stayed on Li Po for a long time, and it seemed that he finally became clear.
Li Po didn't know what to say to a dying person. All his words seemed to have lost their weight as life gradually passed away.
Wang Rengong raised his arm with difficulty, and the old servant immediately picked up a letter from the table next to him and handed it to Li Po.
Obviously, Wang Rengong had already prepared. Perhaps the letter contained his last words.
Li Po didn't know what the significance of him standing here now, and he also didn't know what Wang Rengong would ask him.
But judging from the relationship between the two, it should not be him, Li Po, who is standing here. He is neither Wang Rengong’s nephew nor his friend, and to a certain extent, his status is even
Slightly higher than Wang Rengong.
Thinking about it more deeply, I still feel that this matter seems to be somewhat logical.
Feeling strange, Li Po silently took the letter and opened it to take a look.
As expected, it is filled with some broad language, and every line is filled with worries about the chaos in the world, and contradictions can be seen everywhere.
He wanted to persuade Li Po to obey orders in Dongdu, but he was also disappointed with the people in Dongdu. He wanted Li Po to help the Sui family, but he felt deeply that the building was about to collapse and there was no way to save it.
Seeing all these things gave Li Po a headache.
The letter was very long, and the handwriting was quite sloppy. It took Li Po a lot of effort to read it. In short, the first half was almost Old Man Wang's autobiography.
It can be seen that his own ambitions and values, like his and today's Sui Dynasty, are collapsing, and his own will to survive is completely extinguished here.
He was a martyr of the Great Sui Dynasty. Like him, the backbone of the Great Sui Dynasty also withered away in these years of continuous wars. Wang Rengong was just one of them.
The only thing he was luckier than others was that when he died, he could still leave something behind.`
The second half of the letter became more coherent. He no longer used general words to express how the chaotic world had impacted him.
His helpless eyes finally turned back to Mayi County.
He gave a detailed description of the attack and defense of Mayi City. He was full of determination and will to surrender to the city, showing his tenacity and unyieldingness.
There are also lamentations over the devastation of this place after the war.
At the end of the letter, he confessed that he could not live up to the common people in this place. In his words, he had done nothing and deserved death.
He just wanted Li Po to treat those people in the city who had survived the war well, and he even came up with the idea of moving the whole city to Yunnei.
Of course, a more practical approach is that he has already sent a letter to Chen Xiaoyi in Yanmen, because Ma Yi will eventually rely on Yanmen for its existence. He wants Chen Xiaoyi to obey Li Po's orders.
He believes that the Heng'an Town Army is the most solid barrier for border counties in Shanxi.
He even suggested at the end of the letter that Li Po bring Yanmen and Loufan counties under his control and link them together to fight against the Turks.
The saying goes that when birds are about to die, their cries are mournful, and when people are about to die, their words are also kind. Perhaps Wang Rengong knew that his time was short, so he put aside those unnecessary persistence and worked for the border people in the north of Shanxi.
They considered it.
Otherwise, with his human nature, he would never say such a thing. To annex the county would be an act of rebellion.
After Li Po read the letter, he handed the letter to the old servant. He didn't know if one day when he was lying on the hospital bed, he would only think about the overall situation of the world and the common people who had nothing to do with him. This kind of
Noble feelings are the most missing part of his humanity.
He always thinks that he can make everyone live a better life within his ability, but in fact, he has never cared about the life or death of those who have nothing to do with him.
Thinking about it, if one day, he is lying on the bed dying, if he misses him, it will definitely be the future of his wife, children and grandchildren.`
He will not be like Wang Rengong, who only considers the situation of many people who have nothing to do with him, and does not mention his own situation at all.
Of course, in terms of his ambition, he does not think that he is inferior to Wang Rengong in unconditionally agreeing with this concept of the world being for the common good.
Because he knows very well that human nature is difficult to describe. No one can escape the whirlpool of selfish desires, and the same is true for people with faith.
What Old Man Wang did before was often driven by selfish desires. The current situation in Mayi City is inseparable from him.
But having said that, there is no need to be more serious at this time. No matter how many mistakes Old Man Wang has, he is still much better than Liu Wuzhou and his like.
Many complimentary words came to Li Po's lips, but he did not say them out. He just nodded silently and said softly, "Don't worry, Sheriff, with me, Li Po, in Mayi, I will not let the Turks show off their power...
In the future... the reputation of the county governor will definitely be spread in the land here."
Wang Rengong tried his best to move the corners of his mouth and smiled. His eyes were full of relief, but he could not hide his regret. Maybe he already understood that Li Po was definitely not Wang Rengong's lover.
He was speechless at this time, and next he just pointed at the old servant with his eyes.
The old servant then picked up a package of things from the table in the room and handed it to Li Po.
Li Po looked at the shape and knew that this must be the seal of the prefect. It was against the rules to grant the imperial seal privately, but at this time, it gave Li Po an extra layer of legitimacy in governing Mayi.
Wang Rengong slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
Li Po nodded to the old servant and left the inner room.
In the hall, Chen Da, Wang Lu and other Mayi officials and generals all arrived at the same time and were waiting here.
When Li Po came out, they saw what Li Po was carrying, with different expressions. Wang Lu and others immediately handed over their hands, while Chen Da and others bowed and beat their chests.
Li Po felt like a prince who had been passed on to the throne, which made his already unhappy mood even darker.
"What are you doing here? The war has just ended, and there are many things to do in the aftermath. Please cheer me up. What went wrong? I am the only one asking you. By the way, Wang Juncheng, find me a place to stay..."
"Also, how are the casualties in the city and what about the food and fodder? I will sort it out later and report it to me. You can take care of other things as well. Don't bother me with trivial matters."
Although the tone was very bad, with the backbone, many people were instantly refreshed. Even Chen Da, who was dissatisfied with Li Po, felt relaxed.
There is no way, the city of Mayi, which is full of mourners, needs someone to take charge of the overall situation. I am not afraid of how harsh you are, but I am afraid that you will ignore it and go back to Yunnei...
Soon, Li Po was invited into a house in the back house of the county government. Li Po clearly remembered that this seemed to be the place where a steward of Li Jing's family lived.
Everything around him seemed a little familiar, but also a lot strange. Over the past few years, things had changed, and Li Po lacked the mood to revisit his old place.
He had already anticipated the current situation of Mayi County City. Sure enough, everything sent to him made people feel that he could not live here anymore.
The only thing that is gratifying, but also feels very ridiculous, is that the food may still be able to support the people in the city for a few months.
This does not mean that there is much food and grass, but that the casualties are too great.
At first, Mayi City was a large border city inhabited by nearly 100,000 people. Later, it continued to recruit refugees and once had a population of more than 100,000 people.
Of course, this peak did not last long before it was broken. When the Turks went south in the eleventh year of Daye, they besieged Mayi.
Now, in the thirteenth year of Daye, the population of Mayi is probably less than 50,000.
Yes, the statistics after the war are still very rough, and it seems that the household registration in Mayi needs to be reorganized.
Mayi Border County, which originally had a population of about 300,000 to 400,000 people, has seen its population halve after years of war. It is probably a more realistic situation.
This is still under the condition that the cloud is completely preserved, otherwise, it will only be worse.
But here in Mayi City, with the population declining drastically, Wang Rengong became rich with the grain he borrowed from wealthy families. This must be said to be quite ironic.
Before Li Po could enter the state of chief officer, things happened again.
Perhaps because his wish was fulfilled, Wang Rengong died of illness in Mayi County Mansion that night.
Others would have felt that this was adding insult to injury and that Old Man Wang died at the wrong time, but as soon as Li Po rolled his eyes, he had another idea.
He immediately ordered Wang Lu and others to attend the funeral, and sent a message to Luo Shixin, asking him to take people from every household to inform them. Anyone who wanted to attend the funeral should come with Wang Taishou.
Later, he personally led people to clean up the mass graves outside the city. He didn't care about Feng Shui. People who left the chaos wouldn't care about it.
So, he opened a simple cemetery outside the city, and at the same time informed all the people in Mayi that the people buried here would be recorded with monuments, so that future generations would remember that there was such a group of people who fought to the death with the prefect.
Turks, save the people of a city from being massacred by Turks...
Such inflammatory words made Mayi City, which was full of grief, boiling again.
In the end, 36,000 people were buried here, and most of them were cenotaphs, which were not so elaborate. All they erected were wooden plaques, and only Wang Rengong was able to use a stone tablet.
Those who were from wealthy families had to make elaborate repairs, while those who had no one left at home just piled up graves.
This cemetery occupies a very large area and is filled with densely packed graves.
On the day of the burial, there were loud cries from inside the city to outside the city, and people all over the city gathered outside the West City to pay their respects to the deceased.
The people of Mayi City couldn't even afford to burn rough paper money, so they could only use countless tears and ring their heads to see off their departed relatives and friends.
Li Po found a good opportunity for the people of Mayi City to vent their sorrow, and lifted up people's spirits. By the way, he completely turned this city into his own territory.
He did not miss his words. A few months later, a huge stone tablet with densely packed names was erected in front of the cemetery...