Chapter 364: Son of the Dragon and Grandson of the Dragon
The general who escorted the convoy was handing over supplies to the Baigan Army, while the guard Zhao Zhiqi went to see the imperial envoy and invited Zhong Jinwei to have a meal in the city.
It was just after noon, and Zhong Jinwei actually had nothing to do in the military camp. He was interested in going to the city to see how the people's livelihood was, and he agreed when he saw the guard inviting him.
So, dozens of Jinyi guards, led by Qianhu Xie Dong, together with the guards led by Dongchang Stall Gu Baichuan and Li Laosi and other entourage, protected Zhong Jinwei and rode into the city in a mighty manner.
After Zhong Jinwei entered the city gate, he saw no people on the road, only soldiers and civilians standing guard on both sides of the road.
He saw that the uniforms of these soldiers and civilians were much more presentable than the peasant army he had seen before, but they were not as good as the soldiers and civilians in the capital, let alone the appearance of the army in Zhong Jinwei's impression.
The houses on both sides are also made of loess, and there are basically no brick houses.
Zhong Jinwei couldn't see the situation of the people, and he felt a little dissatisfied. But he knew that this should also be a protective measure taken by the local government when high-ranking officials traveled in ancient times.
So, he didn't make a sound, just slowed down the horse and let it canter forward.
Zhao Zhiqi accompanied him cautiously, not daring to be careless for fear of making Zhong Jinwei unhappy again.
But sometimes, things often don't go as expected. The more you fear something will happen, the more trouble will happen.
Just when Zhong Jinwei turned the last street and was about to reach his destination, Huang Juren's villa, a group of beggars rushed out from the alley on one side and poured into the street.
The soldiers on guard nearby became anxious and surrounded them, using their guns and poles to drive away the people.
But these people paid no attention to it, and while pushing and shoving the soldiers, they shouted for injustice.
They had someone watching and saw Zhong Jinwei coming, so they all came together, so the harassment happened in front of Zhong Jinwei.
The Jin Yiwei quickly moved forward to protect Zhong Jinwei, watching these people with eager eyes. However, they did not take further measures without the order of Zhongxing Hou.
When Zhao Zhiqi saw this, his face turned pale with fright. He recognized these people, but he made a mistake and forgot about these people. For a moment, he didn't know how to deal with it.
When Zhong Jinwei saw this situation, he naturally couldn't ignore it and ordered Xie Dong to bring them over.
So, Jin Yiwei passed by several people, stopped them by shouting, and then asked the soldiers to search them, and only released them after they were safe.
As soon as these people arrived in front of Zhong Jinwei, they all knelt down and shouted: "Master Imperial Envoy, make the decision for us."
Zhong Jinwei thought that he had been unjustly imprisoned and had no way to appeal, so he blocked the road and complained. In his mind, similar scenes in later movies and TV series immediately appeared.
He squinted at the guard Zhao Zhiqi and saw that his face was pale, thinking that this was indeed the case.
Therefore, Zhong Jinwei said in a gentle tone: "You can tell me one by one. If you have any grievances, just tell me and I will make the decision for you."
The leader, an older commoner, raised his hands, and those behind him shut up and looked at Zhong Jinwei expectantly, hoping to achieve their goals with Zhong Jinwei.
"Imperial envoy, we want to sue guard Zhao Zhiqi for defaulting on our salary, causing us to starve and freeze, and make us unable to survive." The old man pointed at Zhao Zhiqi next to Zhong Jinwei and said angrily.
Zhong Jinwei was stunned after hearing this. He heard it right, salary? Could it be that these people are still officials?
"You mean salary arrears?" Zhong Jinwei asked in surprise.
"Yes, we are all descendants of the Zhu family. Taizu from three hundred years ago is our common ancestor with the emperor."
When the old man said this, Zhong Jinwei felt that the expression on his face was strange, a bit proud and a bit helpless.
Zhong Jinwei turned to Zhao Zhiqi and asked, "Is what he said true?"
Zhao Zhiqi had calmed down at this time. Anyway, he had disturbed the imperial envoy. He nodded to Zhong Jinwei and said: "Yes. They are all the sons and grandsons of the last general."
When Zhong Jinwei was in later generations, he had been on the forum, posted on it, and read a lot of time-travel novels. Therefore, he also had some understanding of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty.
Those with low titles cannot engage in many professions because their rights are restricted. Therefore, if there is a problem with their salary, their lives will be extremely unsatisfactory.
Zhong Jinwei didn't expect this to be true and let it happen to him.
He looked at these people kneeling in front of him, they were really no different from beggars. He couldn't help but think, if Zhu Yuanzhang had a soul in heaven and knew that his descendants lived like this in the Ming Dynasty he founded, he didn't know how he would feel.
.
"Imperial Envoy, you have to make the decision for us. We don't want all the salary. We can just give a little. The children at home can't bear to be hungry!" The old man cried loudly when he saw that Zhong Jinwei seemed to be in a daze.
When other people saw this situation, they also burst into tears.
When Zhong Jinwei came to his senses when they cried like this, he didn't care about Zhu Yuanzhang's feelings. He just treated them as ordinary people and had to solve their difficulties.
So, he turned to Zhao Zhiqi and asked, "Why don't you give them a salary?"
"If I return to the imperial envoy, I won't give it unless I'm a general. It's because the superiors haven't allocated their salaries, so there's nothing the general can do about it!" Zhao Zhiqi explained to Zhong Jinwei.
"After all, they are all sons and grandsons of dragons. You can't let them starve to death. How about some help." Based on his understanding of later generations, Zhong Jinwei felt that Zhao Zhiqi was not lying, so he said in a consultative tone.
"Yes." Zhao Zhiqi was also a discerning man and did not dare to contradict Zhong Jinwei, so he agreed to Zhong Jinwei. Then he said to Longzi Longsun who was kneeling there: "I will come to the garrison to collect it early tomorrow morning. The imperial envoy has other important matters.
, they’re about to disperse.”
These dragons and grandsons didn't have high hopes at first. They just thought that in this remote place, there would be a rare opportunity. An imperial envoy might come and help solve the problem for the emperor's sake. So they came to block the road and complain.
Unexpectedly, the hope came true, so I was immediately overjoyed, kowtowed and thanked him, and then left.
They didn't dare to ask for much, otherwise they would offend the guards and suffer a lot as soon as the imperial envoy left.
After such an incident on the road, there were no more accidents and we arrived at our destination, Huang Juren's Villa.
This villa is imitated in the style of a courtyard in the capital. Its architectural layout is "Bagua Fuluan". The bricks, tiles, wood, and stone carvings and paintings used are extremely skillful. It is completely different from the residential houses I just saw.
Zhong Jinwei had been training for so long, and he had become somewhat mature, and he did not become angry because of these differences.
After we were seated, food was being served and a song and dance performance was going on. Judging from the situation inside the courtyard, it was really peaceful with singing and dancing, but who knew there were disaster victims outside who even ate tree bark.
Zhong Jinwei's original intention was to enter the fort to see the public sentiment, but now he couldn't see it. After thinking about it, he had an idea.
He just kept silent and listened to them. He wanted to have a delicious meal by the way. It had already been served and it couldn't be wasted.
A person will talk too much as long as he drinks too much. At Zhong Jinwei's signal, Jinyiwei Qianhu Xie Dong and Dongchang Stall Gu Baichuan took turns toasting to them. The squire and officials present did not dare not drink the factory guard's wine and drank too much.
After that, he started talking about everything.
Zhong Jinwei just listened silently and heard a lot of news. For example, the guard Zhao Zhiqi and the Yulin Town Counselor were brothers-in-law, Huang Juren and the governor of Yansui were in the same year as the secretary office, etc.
In addition, Zhong Jinwei automatically filtered out any other topics that showed off properties, women, etc.
He felt that most of the officials here were rotten, and there were various connections between them. If in the future it was just remote control and letting official A control official B, it might not be so easy to achieve what he wanted.
Effect.
Zhong Jinwei was thinking while eating, and suddenly he had an idea, which was how to deal with the leaders of the peasant army.
So, he didn't want to stay here anymore, so he walked away and returned to the military camp outside the city.