On a withered yellow path, the wild grass beside the road had withered and was covered by a thin layer of snowflakes. Suddenly there was a sound of horse hooves from a distance. Experienced people can tell from the sound of horse hooves that at least
More than a hundred riders came from afar.
Pang Gang's brows were still furrowed while riding on the horse. After coming out of the magistrate's office, there was always a hint of worry on his face. People around him also saw it, but no one dared to ask unless Pang Gang told him.
Riding his horse on the trail, Pang Gang was still thinking about what Wei Tongnian said this morning. If a refugee riot breaks out in Qingzhou, it will inevitably cause large-scale riots, and Lingshan Guard, which is very close to Qingzhou, will definitely be affected. So,
Not to mention that I can develop with peace of mind in Lingshanwei, I am afraid that even self-protection will be a problem.
"I am still too weak now!"
Pang Gang sighed longly, if he had 10,000 elite soldiers... no... even if he had 5,000 elite soldiers, the chaos in Qingzhou would be nothing at all. Who dares to cause chaos once the army arrives?
He will be crushed to powder.
Pang Gang carefully calculated in his mind, and now he only has more than 400 soldiers in Wanghai Fort. Although it is more than enough to guard the sea fort, he can't afford to go to the huge Qingzhou City like this.
The Lingshan Guard's garrison troops numbered only a few hundred, and had not been trained for a long time. Even if they were used to suppress the refugee riots, Pang Gang was a little worried about whether they were competent. In this case, the attitude of Song Xinghe, the commander of the Qingzhou capital, became
The key is, if Song Xinghe is willing to mobilize troops from other garrison posts to station in Qingzhou, it will naturally deter those lawless refugees. If Song Xinghe is unwilling, it will be troublesome.
Pang Gang took a long breath and said to himself: "Forget it, just do your best and obey fate!"
At this time, Bin Shiqian, who was originally walking behind, rode up and asked: "Master Pang Pang, I'm sorry to see you coming all the way. Is there anything that's bothering you? If you don't mind, you can talk to me. Maybe I'll listen to you."
I can also share some of your worries."
Pang Gang glanced at Bin Shiqian, and then told Bin Shiqian about the Qingzhou refugees.
After hearing this, Bin Shiqian also frowned, and after a while he said: "Sir, I have heard about the Qingzhou refugees, but I didn't expect it to be so serious. If it is really as what the prefect Wei said in Qingzhou City,
If 50,000 refugees have gathered, once they are provoked by the gangsters, there is a 99% chance that it will turn into a riot. If it turns into a riot, Qingzhou City will be destroyed. As the saying goes, no egg is left unfinished when the nest is overturned. We, Lingshan Guards,
It will inevitably be affected, and the whole of Shandong will probably become another Shaanxi and Henan!"
"Yes!" Pang Gang said with a frown: "You know the situation of our Lingshan Guards best. We only have a few hundred soldiers at our disposal, and we can't even protect ourselves. How can we suppress the riot?"
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was interested. Hearing Pang Gang talk about this Bin Shiqian, his face turned red. Each of these hundreds of households nominally has two general banners and 112 soldiers, but in reality
It's good that each of them can gather fifty or sixty soldiers now. But looking at Pang Qianhu in front of him, he already had hundreds of soldiers when he became a hundred households. Compared with him, people like him are still small.
It's really far off.
Bin Shiqian asked hesitantly: "Sir, I think it is better to leave this matter to the commander. Are we going too far?"
Pang Gang sighed, "Bin Baihu, are you willing to take such leisure as me? It's not like you don't know the situation of the entire army in Qingzhou now. Among the three guard stations of Lingshan Guard, Andong Guard and Qianniu Guard, we are the only ones." The Lingshan Guard still has some troops, but which of the other guards can mobilize soldiers to support Qingzhou? They are already in ruins. Where do you ask Commander Song to find soldiers? In the end, we, the Lingshan Guard, will have to send troops."
Bin Shiqian was silent after hearing this. How could the officers and soldiers of the Ming Guard, who had once been so powerful in the world and defeated the arrogant Mongolian cavalry of the Yuan Dynasty, sink to the point where they could not even deal with a few mobs?
After a moment of silence, Pang just said fiercely: "The most important thing now is to disperse the refugees. They must not be allowed to gather together, otherwise it will cause a catastrophe sooner or later. Otherwise, we Lingshan Guards will have to play. It’s over, and the most important thing now is... food!"
After saying that, Pang Gang clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and the fiery red horse galloped forward...
After hurrying and hurrying, Pang Gang and his party finally arrived at Wanghai Fort in the afternoon. After entering Wanghai Fort, Pang Gang first found Kong Wen, the cheap father-in-law who was preparing to go to Qingzhou to continue looking at houses.
"Father-in-law, how much food do you have on hand now?" Pang Gang was not polite and asked directly as soon as he entered the door.
Seeing Pang Gang's anxious look, although Kong Wen was a little puzzled, he said happily: "Last time we bought food in Yangzhou, our family also bought some for emergencies. Now I'm thinking about it." There are still more than 2,500 stones left, what? Do you need food now?"
Pang Gang took a long breath and said: "Yes, I need as much food as possible. Now Qingzhou City is almost in chaos..."
Pang Gang told Kong Wen in detail about the increasing number of refugees in Qingzhou City, which would trigger riots at any time, and finally said: "The only way to solve the problem now is to separate the refugees and gather them into the guardhouse. Becoming a military household is currently the most feasible way, but to gather the refugees requires a large amount of food, so my son-in-law wants to borrow food from you, the more the better."
After hearing this, Kong Wen said without hesitation: "Okay, I will immediately ask someone to allocate 2,300 shi of grain to you. If it is not enough, I will send someone to Yangzhou to buy grain."
After listening to Kong Wen's words, Pang Gang decided in his heart: "That's enough. With more than two thousand stones of food, we can last for more than a month. Moreover, this is a government matter, and we can't just let you contribute alone." It’s time for those wealthy households in Qingzhou to shed some blood. I will send troops to Qingzhou Mansion immediately. There must be no chaos in Qingzhou!”
Two days later, Qingzhou commanded the government office
The atmosphere in the study room with red bricks and green tiles was a bit dull. Wei Tongnian and Song Xinghe were sitting at the desk, relatively speechless.
Wei Tongnian asked: "Sir Song, tell me the truth, how many soldiers can the commander's Yamen send out to help the magistrate's Yamen maintain order?"
Song Xinghe smiled bitterly and said: "I have told you a long time ago that the entire command yamen, including my servants, can only spare less than a thousand people."
"What about the guards in various places? Can't they send out people? According to regulations, the Andong Guard, Qianniu Guard, and Lingshan Guard have more than 3,600 troops. Can't they send out thousands of people?
Qingzhou?"
Song Xinghe gave a bitter smile: "Master Wei, I, Old Song, will not tell lies in front of real people. Our Ming Dynasty Guard has long been corrupted. This is the case everywhere. Our three guards in Qingzhou are better than the Lingshan Guard led by Pang Qianhu.
The other two guards can have 500 soldiers, which is good. How can you expect them to send troops to Qingzhou Mansion?"
Wei Tongnian gritted his teeth and shouted in a low voice, somewhat rudely: "Sir Song, as the commander of the capital of Qingzhou Prefecture, you will be the one to blame if there is a rebellion. But as the commander of the capital, can you run away?
?”
When Song Xinghe saw Wei Tongnian losing his composure, he knew that Wei Tongnian was furious. He was not angry but glared at him and said, "Don't you know that you are an old man? It's just that the current situation is corrupt. What can I do for the present?"
Only by diverting the refugees according to what Pang Qianhu said, only in this way can the hidden dangers be eliminated."
Wei Tongnian said impatiently: "But I have already gone to those wealthy households, and they always refused to provide food. They said that disaster relief is the government's business. As gentry, it is already good for them to give out porridge."
.But they didn’t even think about whether the things they gave out could also be called porridge. I also went to see the porridge and found that the porridge was so thin that people could be seen in it!”
When he mentioned this, Wei Tongnian became very angry. When he went to the rich households to raise food, they were all very stingy. Don't they know that if there is a riot in Qingzhou, they will all be destroyed?
?
Song Xinghe let out a long sigh when he heard that there was no fight here. Each of these rich families had great powers. Although they did not hold any official positions, they had people supporting them in the court. If he moved them, they would say
Maybe someone will file a complaint to the capital the next day.
Just when the two of them were at a loss what to do, someone came to report from outside the door: "Sir, Pang Gang from Qianhu, Lingshan Guard, is outside the house asking for an audience!"
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