Liu Jing stood outside the county temple, watching Chu Fang's retreating figure, and fell into deep thought.
Pingyang and Zhongshui townships have many famous surnames. They build forts, hide their household registrations, support their own troops, and refuse to obey the orders of the county. As the king of Lingxian County, he absolutely cannot tolerate such strong clans and traitors.
In fact, there has been a long-standing conflict between county “chief officials” and local surnames.
Because the Han Dynasty implemented the "Three Mutual Laws", that is, the principle of "officials in different places", most of the officials in counties and counties were outsiders, and they naturally disliked each other with local powerful people and big surnames.
If the two sides can maintain a balance, they may be able to live in peace with each other. However, once the balance is broken, a fierce conflict will immediately break out.
If a local clan is strong, it can be as simple as "killing and pursuing officials and taking control of the counties", or as serious as "attacking and plundering counties and killing chief officials".
On the other hand, if the county magistrates are too strong and kill people to exterminate their clans, it will naturally be easy for them to do so.
Liu Jing was ready to seize the opportunity of the Gong family's rebellion and attack the Erxiang family.
In his plan, not only the three families helped the Gong family, but also other big families, those who were interested could be spared, and those who were not interested would be wiped out, in order to once and for all solve the problem of Pingyang and Zhongshui townships not being ordered by the county.
Liu Jing did not reveal his plan to Chu Fang. After all, it involved hundreds or thousands of lives. Once it was leaked in advance, some people who knew they would die would definitely fight him to the death regardless of everything.
For the sake of his own life, let alone Chu Fang, he would never reveal even a word to his closest confidants.
At this time, the sky was getting brighter. Although Liu Jing was very sleepy, he did not return to the dormitory to rest. He first went to the serious office, and was surprised to find that the latter was covered with fur quilts and sleeping at his desk. He was obviously I was so busy that I stayed here overnight.
Seeing that he was working so hard, Liu Jing was filled with emotion and couldn't bear to disturb his rest. He was about to leave the room, but Zheng Zhen woke up at this moment.
"Ming Ting..."
Liu Jing looked at his thin and clumsy face, and said slightly reproachfully: "Bomu, why don't you go back to the Prime Minister's house to rest? The weather in the first month is wet and cold. I am lying on the bed, covered with quilts, and I feel cold. How dare you? Are you going to sleep here with your clothes on?"
He stood up solemnly and replied: "When I was dealing with official documents last night, I felt sleepy for a moment. I planned to take a nap for a while, but unexpectedly I fell asleep."
He had no intention of sleeping at all. Liu Jing sighed and said, "Bomu, you have a heavy responsibility now. You should know how to take care of your body. What should you do if you fall ill?"
"That's what Mingting taught you." He admitted his mistake seriously and honestly.
Seeing this, Liu Jing couldn't say anything more, "By the way, have the prisoners been placed?" Since more than a thousand prisoners were captured in yesterday's battle, the county and temple prisons could not accommodate them, so some prisoners had to be transferred to the prison. City jail, etc.
He nodded solemnly and said: "They have all been placed. However, the Ming court, with so many prisoners, is definitely a big burden on the county and temple. We cannot keep them in prison all the time. We should find a solution as soon as possible."
Liu Jingdao: "This matter is not urgent for the time being. I have a case against me. I will wait until I solve the problems in Pingyang and Zhongshui Township first.
He asked seriously: "When will the Ming Dynasty prepare to go south?"
"Tomorrow," Liu Jing replied. "After I leave, Ling County will be handed over to you."
"No." He replied solemnly.
The two then chatted for a while and then went about their own business. Since it was already dark when the fighting ended last night, many things could only be put aside temporarily or hastily, so there were a lot of things today. This is why Liu Jing The important reason for delaying one day before heading south.
The first thing Liu Jing did was to hand over twenty death notices, together with pensions, to the families of the deceased.
There was no room for error in this matter. Liu Jing sent all his subordinates to go there in person with the letter, and he must read the letter out in front of the family of the deceased. He also asked his confidants Liu Liang, Ma Zhou, Yu Zheng, Wang Qiang and others to do so. Go with us and supervise from the side to ensure nothing goes wrong.
In ancient times, there was no such thing as a "death notice", so when a servant carried Liu Jing's autographed letter and read it out in public, it immediately aroused great discussion among the neighbors.
"Wang Zhong was a wanderer when he was young, did not manage crops, acted recklessly, and repeatedly caused trouble. In the past, not only our neighbors, but also his parents and brothers were disgusted by him and drove him out of the house. I didn't expect that he could change his past and become a new man. When Ling County was in crisis, he resolutely joined the army, regardless of his life, and killed the thieves..."
"I really underestimated him."
"How magnificent! Wang Zhong!"
"Su Wen County Jun's calligraphy was never easily shown to others. Outsiders wanted it but couldn't get it. Now after Wang Zhong's death, he has the county Jun's handwriting. It can be regarded as a very honorable death."
"I have often heard about the benevolence of the county ruler, and now I believe it... Wang Zhong is a small soldier, like a piece of grass, but the county ruler is so important..."
With these more than twenty autographed letters, Liu Jing's reputation among the people of Lingxian County has been greatly improved. Although some people think that he is making a fuss out of a molehill, that's all.
The work of salvaging the body from the moat started in the early morning and continued until nightfall. During this period, someone successfully salvaged Gong Fei's body.
Liu Jing didn't really care about Gong Fei's life or death. The entire Gong family was about to be destroyed. Even if Gong Fei escaped with his life this time, it would not pose much of a threat to him, but a dead Gong Fei was better than a living one. Good.
On the other side, Shan Rixi's recruitment and surrender work has made some progress. Under his repeated threats and inducements, more than 30 people surrendered to him.
Although the number of people is not very large, as the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning, this is only the first day. I believe that as time goes by, more and more people will join the surrender team.
Liu Jing had a good night's rest, and early the next morning, he led more than 200 people on foot and cavalry and took a boat to go south. Accompanying him were Liu Liang, Ma Zhou, Yu Zheng, Wang Qiang, Zhen Zhen, and Shan Rixi stayed in Ling County.
Chu Fang had taken away 500 people before, and Liu Jing had taken away more than 200 people. Now Lingxian County has become an "empty city". Zhen Zhen has basically no available soldiers, and there are more than a thousand prisoners in prison. , once a riot occurs, the consequences will be disastrous.
For this reason, Zheng Zheng deliberately transferred some rural officials from Linzheng Township, Duxiang and other places, and added officials from the county and temples, and could barely maintain the situation.
Before Liu Jing left, he patted his serious shoulder and said, "Bomu, I've worked hard on you during this time."
He said solemnly: "The Ming Dynasty just need to rest assured. With me here, there will be no chaos in Ling County."