"A few days ago, I solemnly asked all officials of Hailing Prefecture to report to Chongzhou before the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, but I am stuck here and can't leave. I wonder how many people are scolding me behind my back?"
Lin Fu picked up a porcelain chess piece, pulled it on the black dragon's head, and blocked Li Wei's chess position. Li Wei frowned and thought about chess, and seemed not to hear Lin Fu's self-deprecating words. Liang Wenzhan sat aside and said:
"The country is in a difficult situation, and the adults are running around non-stop. Which official in Hailing Prefecture does not feel this in their heart?"
"No need to comfort me, I still have some self-awareness," Lin Fu said with a smile, "Did Liu Tingzhou take a break today?"
"I haven't seen anyone else yet!" Liang Wenzhan said, "The 12th Battalion of the Huaidong Infantry Army and the Sibei Army were given to him. Is he still dissatisfied? Liu Yefei and Gao Yi are afraid that they are not satisfied with Liu Ting.
The states must have become suspicious! Besides, although the two cities of Suining and Suyu were lost, the situation did not collapse as expected after all. Chen Zhihu’s prohibitive policy in the west was originally unpopular, but Jiangning still supported it
he!"
What Liang Wenzhan said is also true. There has always been controversy between the government and the public about the policy against the migrant army, whether to suppress or to pacify.
Even the officials who were in charge of the suppression usually did not accept Chen Zhihu's brutal prohibition methods.
Not to mention the Huaidong people, Liu Tingzhou, Li Wei and others are essentially moderate officials who serve as monarchs and herdsmen, and they are more inclined to a policy of pacification as the main method and suppression as a supplement.
However, Chen Zhihu won all the battles and the situation in Henan seemed to be improving. With the support of Prince Ning's Mansion, Yue Lengqiu and others, the objections of Liu Tingzhou, Li Wei and others were suppressed.
Li Wei turned a deaf ear to the conversation between Lin Fu and Liang Wenzhan, and responded with concentration. Lin Fu took out another piece from the chess box, and asked Li Wei without being busy making moves: "Master Li, have you really made up your mind not to stop playing?"
Have you entered the official service?"
"No," Li Wei shook his head and said, "I lost Suining City twice. I don't have the shame to see my colleagues and old friends again!"
"I have a naughty boy in my family who is almost old enough to read. How about asking Mr. Li to condescend to be a teacher?" Lin Fu asked.
"Your Excellency is a master of miscellaneous knowledge. How can Li Wei, a mere pedantic, catch your attention?" Li Wei said nonchalantly, "I'm afraid it will delay the young master's studies."
"It's not too late for my boy to be happy for two or three years before he can go to school again. Mr. Li doesn't have to rush to reject me. It's not bad for you and me to be chess friends now..." Lin Fu agreed and asked again, "Won't we continue to work together?"
Even chess friends can’t do it, right?”
Li Wei did not say anything, but reached out to take the chess piece from the chess box, which was regarded as an answer to Lin Fu's question with practical actions. He held a chess piece in his hand for a long time without falling, and finally raised his head and asked Lin Fu: "The Huaidong cavalry also crossed the border."
As Huaibei is advanced, General Xiao also defends Shuyang. The rogue bandits cannot cross the Huaihe River for the time being, nor can they cross the Yishui River if they advance eastward. Chen Hansan blocks them in the north, but the two counties of Suining and Suyu have 8,000 households and 40,000 people.
After finally returning home and settling down, do you really want to watch them fall into disaster again?"
After the Huaisi War, no one wanted to go to Suyu. Suining was appointed as an official. Li Wei was responsible for both counties. He selected officials from the county residents and worked hard to appease the refugees. The two counties were extremely poor and lacked farm tools.
There was no animal power and the grain reserves were very limited. Even under such circumstances, Li Wei had successively recruited 40,000 people to return to their hometowns for resettlement during this period, which was extremely impressive.
Four to five million hungry people have poured into Suining and Suyu counties. Everyone knows what the consequences will be. The most likely outcome is that the number of hungry people will increase by another 40 to 50,000.
If there is no blockade between the southeast and northwest, the four to five million hungry people will be like swarms of locusts, raiding the territory. Even if it is blockaded, only two of these four to five million people will survive in the end.
become.
Lin Fu reached into the chess box to play with the chess pieces, but with a wry smile on his face he said, "I'm going to send someone to pacify you now. Chen Zhihu wants to eat me alive..."
"Could it be that your Excellency, when you let four to five million people in, you don't have any backup plans?" Li Wei asked.
Lin Fu was startled and put his hand into the chess box and forgot to pull it out for a while; Liang Wenzhan was also quite surprised. He didn't expect that Li Wei, a mere magistrate, could see clearly with his eyes. Maybe he could see more clearly after being in Suining for a long time.
.
"If the ruler does not support the people, the people will support themselves. The world is vast and the earth is vast, and the greatest living person - even if there are no bandits to plunder, and when hungry, they exchange children for food, who cares about etiquette and integrity, loyalty to the emperor and filial piety to the teacher?" Li Wei continued
said.
Li Wei's words made Liang Wenzhan secretly moved. Although he was determined to follow Huaidong, he couldn't say such rebellious words as having no king or father, so he secretly said: This old man has been in Huaisi in the past few years.
It was quite a stimulation.
Last time the city of Suining was destroyed, Li Wei couldn't bear to kill his daughter and wanted to hang himself. After the war, he stayed in Suining for so long. It would be strange if he didn't change his mind! Lin Fu came to his senses and started to
He took out his hand from the chess box, calmed his expression, and said, "Master Li, I will pretend that you have not said it in front of me..."
Li Wei was not moved by Lin Fu's words and continued: "If you want to please me, Li Wei will use this old bone to make a trip to Suining for you..."
Lin Fu shook his head and said, "Leave aside Chen Zhihu, Jiang Ning will never be able to pass that test!"
Song Jia said from the side: "Zhang Gou and Chen Zhi seem to have been kneeling outside for a long time!"
"Let them continue kneeling!" Lin Fu said impatiently, "Who here wants to see them?"
Li Wei said: "The past has passed, sir, there is no need to avoid anything for me!"
Lin Fu raised his head and opened his eyes to look at Li Wei, and said with a joking smile: "Grandpa can do it too?"
Li Wei couldn't wipe his face, and his face turned red with embarrassment at Lin Fu's words. Even Song Jia, who was standing by, couldn't hear it, and secretly kicked Lin Fu, telling him to stop as soon as he was good.
Li Wei can say these words here, and from now on he will be on the pirate ship in Huaidong and will never be able to jump off again.
Li Wei was always honest and capable when he was an official. He was very popular in Huaisi, so after the refugee army broke through the cities in Huaisi, they wanted to recruit him. Li Wei insisted not to be a thief. After Suining recovered, he was released from prison.
He had to leave, and insisted on staying in Suining to do the work of relieving the refugees, and his reputation became even greater. Among the scholars, Li Wei also had a good reputation. He was determined to join Huaidong, and he was a good person for Huaidong.
Wedge machine.
Only then did Liang Wenzhan confirm that the rumor that Chen Zhi took Li Wei's daughter as his wife and gave birth to a son was true.
Lin Fu then sat up straight and ordered the guards outside the pavilion: "For Duke Li's sake, bring those two people in!"
After a while, Li Wei's expression returned to normal, and he watched the guards bring Zhang Gou and Chen Zhi in.
Zhang Gou and Chen Zhi walked into the yard and knelt down outside the pavilion. Chen Zhi saw that Li Wei was also in the pavilion. He was slightly startled and kept his head buried in silence. Zhang Gou saw Lin Fu and Li Wei playing chess and said: "The last general
I have something to report..."
"If you have anything to say, please tell me. If you have nothing to do, don't disturb our chess game." Lin Fu said impatiently.
Song Jia explained from the side: "Mr. Li is not an outsider. If Zhang Canjun has anything to say, just say it!"
Zhang Gou hesitated, wondering when Li Wei, the magistrate of Suining, was no longer an outsider? What is the relationship between the magistrate of Shanyang and Huaidong?
Although Zhang Gou had been in the army for some time as the commander of the Jinjun Intelligence Department, and he usually had access to Huaidong's most confidential military information, it was limited to this. Zhang Gou had no knowledge of Huaidong's overall strategy for the Huaisi area.
Even within Huaidong, there are only a limited number of people who really know about this matter.
Zhang Gou gritted his teeth and said: "General, I will discuss with Chen Zhi. Liu Miaozhen, Malan and other thieves may have the possibility of being appeased by Huaidong. Please allow me to make a trip to Suining!"
Lin Fu threw the chess pieces he was playing with into the chess box, turned sideways and looked at Zhang Gou who was kneeling on the ground: "Do you think this can save Sun Zhuang's life and fulfill your brotherhood?"
"The general only thinks about Huaidong and has no other thoughts!" Zhang Gou kowtowed and said.
"You have all learned to speak nice words," Lin Fu said sarcastically, "Liu Miaozhen and Malantou are willing to accept Huaidong's recruitment, so let me ask you, is it possible for Huaidong to recruit them? Yue Lengqiu, Chen Zhihu, Chen Hansan
After spending so much effort to encircle and suppress them, Sun Zhuang lost two cities and opened an opening to let them breathe a sigh of relief. Now they accept Huaidong's recruitment. How do outsiders view Huaidong?"
"...I don't know the end of the general." Zhang Gou answered bravely.
"Liu Miaozhen is still guarding Huaiyang. Four to five million hungry people are flocking to the west of Bianhe River like a swarm of locusts. You can just say something about appeasing them. How are you going to appease these four to five million hungry people?" Lin Fu asked again.
Zhang Gou was stunned again. He still couldn't answer this question.
After the Huaisi War, Huaidong accepted about 160,000 surrendered prisoners and their families. In order to feed these people, Huaidong's labor camp expanded to 70,000 people, and they went to repair and defend the seawall, and they had to support so many people.
Come down.
Not to mention the huge investment in repairing and defending the seawall, the largest investment was made in the four villages set up in Hecheng and Jiangmen to resettle the families of workers and soldiers. As of today, the scale of land reclamation is only over 200,000 acres. These people have to
To achieve self-sufficiency, the scale of land reclamation must be increased to at least 400,000 acres.
To feed four to five million hungry people, even if there is enough reclaimed land, how much rice and grain will be invested in it in two or three years?
If appeasement was an easy matter, how could Jiangning allow Chen Zhihu to adopt a tyranny of prohibition and killing in Henan?
"Get up," Lin Fu waved his hand and said, "Escort Li Gong to the north and tell Liu Miaozhen and Malantou that Huaidong will lend them 40,000 stone grain every month. You must make it clear to them.
, 40,000 stone grains are lent to them every month. One day, I will ask them for it back. Still, they are not allowed to set up defenses on the north of Siyang and on the west bank of Yishui River - Huaidong will not allow anything else.
Pay attention!" Seeing that Chen Zhi wanted to stand up after Zhang Gou, he said with a straight face, "Kowtow to Mr. Li three times before you get up..."
Chen Zhi knelt for a whole day and his mind was confused. Hearing what Lin Fu said, he didn't ask any questions and kowtowed three times to Li Wei. Li Wei's body was stiff and turned sideways, and he didn't say anything about receiving the courtesy.
Not to mention being rude, he couldn't lose face for a while. Even though he guessed that Lin Fu had a back-up plan, he was still shocked when he heard that Lin Fu opened his mouth to secretly borrow 40,000 shi of food from the Red Coat Army every month: one month
Forty thousand shi of grain is equivalent to 500,000 shi per year. The eleven counties in Huaidong Prefecture only paid this amount of tax and grain to the county officials last year.
Huaidong has this ability, so it's no wonder he no longer takes Jiang Ning seriously. If he doesn't appease him directly at this time, maybe he doesn't want to tear off the last layer of his face, or maybe he wants to use Liu Miaozhen's power to attack Chen Hansan - after all
Once Liu Miaozhen accepted the recruitment, there was no need to fight in the name of Chen Hansan.
"As for Sun Zhuang, as a general of the Huaidong Army, he had an affair with bandits and could not be punished. The eleven members of the tribe who came with him to prison were all stripped of their general positions and incorporated into the first battalion of the Chongzhou Infantry Battalion.
If you have less than ten soldiers and less than a hundred ranks, these people will not be promoted!" Lin Fu stared at Chen Zhi, "If you dare to commit suicide behind my back, be careful as I peel off your armor!"
"I don't dare!" Chen Zhi just wanted to save the lives of Sun Zhuang and others, and hurriedly thanked Sun Zhuang for his kindness.
"Go to Suining and bring their families to Huaidong," Lin Fu ordered Zhang Gou again. "Go and tell Sun Zhuang that his kindness to Liu An'er has been repaid from today on.
Don’t play the trick with me again of being in Cao’s camp but in Han’s heart…”
Zhang Gou and Chen Zhi both knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude: "Your Excellency has shown you a great kindness to him. No matter how ungrateful he is, we will never spare him!"
Lin Fu secretly sighed. In this world, killing people is commonplace, but kindness, loyalty, and filial piety cannot be lost. From Cao Zi'ang, Qin Chengzu, to Zhou Pu, Ning Zechen, all of them have to protect Sun Zhuang from death, and even more to protect his follower Sun.
The eleven members of the tribe who came to be imprisoned survived.
In the eyes of the world at that time, Sun Zhuang abandoned two cities and trapped the people of the two cities in fire and water. This was a loss of small details but the righteousness of the past. He was loyal and filial to his old master and kept the old righteousness. Just like Guan Yu let Cao Cao go on Huarong Road, no one
You will feel that there is something wrong; only Chen Hansan’s behavior of selling out his old owner completely and committing crimes to death will be despised by the world for thousands of years - this is the moral concept of this world!
Think about it, people like Fu Qinghe, Qin Chengzu, Cao Ziang and others would rather rebel against the court than betray the Su clan, why not insist on loyalty?
Lin Fu took the blank letter that Song Jia handed him, signed the order, and threw it to Chen Zhi: "Go down and get the people, don't be an eyesore here anymore."