I couldn't understand it, but I couldn't understand it. It was difficult to disobey the holy order. No matter how dissatisfied Pei Shaokuan was, he did not dare to disobey the order. He obeyed the order and waited for the Liao army coming from the capital in Xianghe.
The military situation was urgent. After setting off from the capital, the Jinzhou Army passed through Tongzhou without stopping and drove straight towards Xianghe.
As we reach Xianghe, the population gradually becomes sparse, and all we see along the way are new graves that are no more than two years old.
It was the winter solstice, and people could be seen visiting the graves from time to time, but unlike usual, those who visited the graves were mostly lonely, old and weak, and few strong men were seen.
When seeing the officers and soldiers, some old men sneered and glared angrily. When the Jinzhou soldiers saw them, they were all heartbroken and did not dare to step forward and scold them.[
The five hundred Changping disciples were particularly distressed. The new graves everywhere were not caused by the invasion of the Eastern Han Dynasty two years ago.
At that time, there were very few people around the capital who had not suffered military disasters. How could this scene that happened in Xianghe not happen in other prefectural counties?
However, Xianghe was the hardest hit. The adult men were either slaughtered or taken away as slaves outside the customs. Only the old, weak, orphans and widows who could not move were left, wailing in front of this grave every year.
This is what I saw along the way. Everyone in Jinzhou was silent, and Shi Dayong sat on his horse, feeling very sad.
When we arrived in Xianghe County, it was already the afternoon of the 19th. Compared with Tongzhou, Xianghe County was very dilapidated.
Broken walls and ruins can be seen everywhere, the city does not look like a city, and the town does not look like a town. If it were not for the reminder of "Xianghe County" hanging on the dilapidated city gate, it would be difficult for Shi Dayong to imagine that this is a county near Gyeonggi.
The Gyeonggi region has always been the essence of the world. Normally, a county is the same as a prefecture elsewhere. But now, this county, which is only a few dozen miles away from the capital, cannot even compare to a town. It can be seen that two years ago, the Donglu invaded.
How much damage was caused to Ming Dynasty.
If this happens twice more, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be hollowed out by Donglu?
With a deep sigh, Shi Dayong became more determined to protect the Ming Dynasty and would never allow Manchuria to harm the Ming Dynasty again.
Zhao Qiwen, the magistrate of Xianghe County, was born in the imperial examination in the third year of Tianqi's reign. He had never been awarded a Jinshi. He was originally the head of Xianghe County.
When Xianghe fell in the second year of Chongzhen, he and three minor officials hid in a dry well and were not found by the Jin soldiers. Only then did they save their lives. After the Jin soldiers withdrew, they climbed out of the well. After coming out, they saw what they saw in front of them.
The prosperous Xianghe County has turned into a hell, with dead bodies everywhere, thick smoke rising everywhere, and the streets and alleys in a mess.
Zhao Qiwen, who was petrified by the horror before his eyes, crawled to the county government office and found that the county magistrate, Mr. Lin, had hanged himself in the back office. All his family members, old and young, also committed suicide. Even the old servants of the government office did not know where to find them.
He was hanged by a rope in the gatehouse.
Afterwards, it took six days to bury the bodies of the victims in Xianghe County alone. With the burial of the bodies, Xianghe County no longer had its former prosperity and vitality. Two years later, the city is still lifeless, with only two
The long banner outside the restaurant tells the outsiders who come here for the first time that there is still a trace of commerce and a drink of wine in the city.
With the common people gone and the county magistrate gone, Zhao Wenqi, a high-ranking official, became the new county magistrate of Xianghe County. This was something that was unthinkable in the past, because Xianghe County was a government official who paid 100,000 dan for food.
In such a large county as this, it is absolutely impossible for someone who is not a Jinshi to serve as the county magistrate.
However, today's Xianghe County no longer has such confidence, so that when the officials elected the new Xianghe County Magistrate, none of the candidates were willing. They are not stupid, and the county magistrate who has no luck at all has done something important
What do you mean? It's better to spend some money and ask the officials to send others, and you can wait for the next batch. In this way, the candidate for the county magistrate fell on Zhao Wenqi, who was born in Juren.
Going from being the boss to the county magistrate almost overnight was a pie in the sky, but Zhao Wenqi had never been excited or happy about it. What lingered in his mind was the nightmare he had two years ago.
, late at night, he would always be awakened by the corpses all over the street.
The heavy responsibility of post-disaster reconstruction rested on Zhao Wenqi's shoulders, but apart from asking the court for tax exemptions and grain relief, Mr. Zhao no longer had the ability to restore Xianghe County to the high-class county it once was.
The people were really frightened by the Donglu. The rich people who survived moved their families south or to the capital. How could the poor people without money have the ability to participate in the reconstruction of the county? [
It is a great kindness for the imperial court to exempt Xianghe County from taxes, so how can it allocate money to help Zhao Wenqi rebuild Xianghe County? Today's imperial court is probably not much better than Xianghe County, and the money is so eager to use one piece of money as two pieces of money.
Wherever there is extra money, please give it to Xianghe County.
Magistrate Zhao, who has no money and no one, can only follow Huang Laowei's rule. He can no longer pay taxes to the surviving poor people. In that case, there is no difference between forcing the people to die. He cannot be so cruel. If he cannot rebuild the county, he will
He had no political achievements. Fortunately, the officials knew about the situation in Xianghe County and did not replace Zhao Wenqi.
He has been the county magistrate for two years, and his life has been ordinary. The pain in Mr. Zhao's heart has not been erased by time. He hates Donglu more than anyone else, and what he cares about most every day is whether there are any reports in the imperial court.
Come on, is there any war outside the country in the newspaper?
There were reports about the war in Liaodong, but there was nothing that Magistrate Zhao wanted to see. The Daling River was besieged, the imperial reinforcements were wiped out, and Zu Dashou paid gold.
One defeat after another made Magistrate Zhao numb, until the news of Jinzhou's great victory suddenly appeared in the newspaper. When he was convinced that he had read it correctly, the excited Magistrate Zhao drank it alone and could not bear to drink it for several years.
A jar of good wine. I was drunk and vomiting, but I couldn't hide my joy.
Therefore, when the news that the imperial court transferred the Liao army from outside the customs to go south to Shandong to suppress Kong Youde's rebellion was passed on by Tangbao, Zhao Wenqi thought that if the Liao army was going to Shandong to quell the rebellion, it must pass through Xianghe, so he thought about it.
The army severely inflicted heavy losses on the Eastern captives outside the pass, avenging the deaths of the people in Xianghe. This time he entered the pass to quell the rebels. As the magistrate of Xianghe County, no matter how tight he was, he would still do his best for the soldiers of the Liao army.
As he thought, the Liao army did pass by Xianghe when going south, but another troop also moved to Xianghe. This was the thousand Beijing troops led by Pei Shaokuan, the hereditary commander who was supposed to be transferred to Tianjin Guard.
The arrival of the soldiers from the Beijing camp made Zhao Wenqi immediately grimace, because these young soldiers from the Beijing camp were not good at fighting, but they were very good at drinking, eating, and finding women. As soon as they entered the county, they came into groups.
Wandering around in the city, the only two restaurants in the city were instantly occupied by the soldiers from the Beijing camp, who started punching and guessing about the wine. If that was all, it would be fine, but what is hateful is that most of the soldiers from the Beijing camp were full of enthusiasm.
The people in the city were looking for the kiln sister. If they couldn't find it, they smashed the door of Liang's house, which shocked the people and came to the Yamen to complain.
I thought that the soldiers were bastards, and the general who led the troops would always be the governor. Who would have thought that the commander, Mr. Pei, was even more ungrateful than his subordinates? He openly asked Xianghe County to recruit a hundred prostitutes to work for the army, but when they couldn't find them, he was the only one in Xianghe County.
It's a question.
There has been no flesh and blood business in Xianghe County in the past two years. The only ones in the city are some village girls who have lost their husbands in the countryside and secretly do flesh and blood business in the alleys to support their parents and young children in the countryside. In this regard, Zhao Wenqi
They just turn a blind eye, they are all poor people, so why should the yamen bother them?
However, Zhao Wenqi had long heard about the virtues of the soldiers in the Beijing camp. Not to mention that the number of village girls was too small to accept the guests from the Beijing camp. As the magistrate of Xianghe County, he openly pimped the soldiers of the imperial court.
If you are shameless, how can you face the elders of Xianghe, let alone those dead people of Xianghe!
But no matter how he begged for mercy, no matter how he explained, Commander Pei ignored him and gave an ultimatum. If Xianghe County didn't send the prostitute by night, what bad things could the soldiers do in Xianghe County under the sudden change?
When something happened, it was not his fault, Pei Shaokuan.
"Bandits, shame! What kind of official army are these? They are clearly thieves!"
Zhao Wen got angry and stamped his feet in the yamen and cursed angrily. After he finished cursing, he squatted on the ground in pain with his head in front of all the yamen officials, without caring about the dignity of the county magistrate.
The office clerks also lamented, wondering how they didn't know the county magistrate's pain. However, if this matter was not resolved and those soldiers from the Beijing camp really caused trouble in the city, it would not be the people of Xianghe who would be harmed.
Master Deng Tai thought about it and couldn't think of a better way, so he could only step forward and suggest in a low voice: "Sir, if it really doesn't work, why don't you ask them to recruit some women from nearby villages to come and save the emergency?"
Hearing this, Zhao Wenqi jumped up in anger, slapped Deng Tai with his hand, and cursed angrily: "What a bastard idea! This county is an official of the imperial court, how can we do such nonsense!"
"Sir," Deng Tai covered half of his face. He was so frightened by the angry look of the magistrate that he didn't dare to speak anymore. The servants and minor officials were also too frightened to move.
After he finished scolding, Zhao Wenqi seemed to have aged ten years as he sat down on the ground with a sigh and a sigh on his face.
The nearest county is more than thirty miles away, and nearly sixty miles away. Even if you have money to go to the neighboring county to find prostitutes, you won't have enough time. The capital camp has sent word that there will be no women at night.
Xianghe County will be responsible for the consequences. No one in the hall dared to think about what those soldiers could do.
How can this be done? How can this be done?
Zhao Wenqi furrowed his brows in anxiety, and simply thought that if he took off his official uniform, he would no longer be the magistrate of Xianghe County. But he could pick up the pieces, but what would the people in the city do? How about I kowtow to Commander Pei and plead for mercy?
[
Just as he was thinking about it, a police officer rushed in in a panic and shouted: "Sir, the Liao army has arrived in our Xianghe River!"
"Ah?!" Zhao Wenqi was startled, and then waved his hands to his subordinates with some excitement, "Hurry and follow the county to welcome him!"
Seeing that the county magistrate was about to meet the Liao army, Deng Tai became anxious and stepped forward to stop him: "Sir, what should we do here in the capital camp?"
This question made Zhao Wenqi stunned for a moment, hesitated for a moment, and then sighed: "Let's go to meet the Liao army soldiers first. I will figure this out later."
"Sir, can you help me?" Deng Tai didn't believe it.
Zhao Wenqi said angrily: "If the county says there is a way, there will be a way. If you say anything else, just follow the county to the city gate!"
Seeing that the county magistrate was angry again, Deng Tai did not dare to say anything more, so he could only nod his head and said: "Yes, sir."
At that moment, a group of people from Xianghe County, led by the county magistrate Zhao Wenqi, went to the city gate to meet the Liao troops outside the pass who were going south to suppress the thieves. Outside the Yamen, there were soldiers from the Beijing camp who saw the county magistrate leading a group of people to the city gate. They thought something was going on.
It's a big deal, so I hurriedly reported it to the commander Pei Shaokuan.