The Spring Festival of 1795 was relatively depressed for Yongzhou City.

After all, the city had just experienced an eighty-day siege to the death, and the casualties and economic losses in the city were not small.

But it was only relatively depressed, because after the imperial cabinet learned of the whole process of the battle of Yongzhou, it immediately ordered the exemption of all agricultural taxes for the next three years of the Yongzhou, Qinzhou, and Lianzhou generations, and also transported a large number of New Year's goods to distribute to the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Meat, rice, flour are plentiful, and several banks have promised interest-free loans for the rest of the city's redevelopment work.

Su Mian didn't quite understand what these money banks were trying to do when they lent such a large sum of money but didn't charge a penny of interest.

However, with the guarantee of the empire, he is not worried that these money strings will dig a hole for Yongzhou.

It's just that the cabinet has changed the situation for Yongzhou's relief.

Because Su Mian was more or less in governing Yongzhou in the previous years, coupled with the achievements of sticking to the isolated city for 80 days, the imperial cabinet allowed Su Mian and the local officials of Yongzhou to stay in office for the time being, but they needed to wait for the working group to be stationed and carry out unified transformation.

The cabinet also said that there would be promotions and rewards for those who defended the city, and Su Zizheng, the eldest son of Su Mian, was asked to arrive in Quancheng by March 1796 to attend the Taishan Sealing Ceremony held in the same month as one of the representatives of southern officials.

For traditional Confucian scholars, this is definitely enough to glorify their ancestors.

Su Mian also learned that after the end of the Zen Ceremony, Su Zizheng was going to the Empire's special training class to participate in retraining - a sign that the Empire was about to reuse him.

Thinking of the faint parting of life and death between father and son at the last moment of the siege of the thief soldiers, it became the appearance of cooking oil in the current fire in an instant, and the life experience is really unpredictable.

In addition to the eldest son Su Zizheng, Su Mian's other children also have to go to schools and training classes in various places to participate in learning, only he himself is old and does not need to continue to travel, but it is estimated that he will also be promoted in official positions.

Su Mian realized that the emperor and the cabinet were really generous to him, the Great Zhou official.

Why is that?

He prides himself on being a very good magistrate, but he is only a very good magistrate, Da Zhou is the same as himself or an official who governs the place better, if there is not a thousand, there must be eight hundred, right?

In addition, the greatest achievement is naturally to stick to the lonely city and live 60,000 people.

Therefore, it is not so much that the empire attaches importance to itself, but that the empire attaches importance to the 60,000 ordinary people in Yongzhou.

Especially when Su Mian learned that in order to rescue Yongzhou, Feng Sanhu's 3,000 cavalry ran away with 10,000 horses, he confirmed that the empire paid special attention to the lives of the Han people.

Anyway, Da Zhou would definitely not throw 10,000 war horses first just for a chance to save 60,000 people, after all, when Feng Sanhu set off, he didn't know if Yongzhou had fallen.

Thinking of this, Su Mian also figured out the reason why the bank gave Yongzhou interest-free loans, at least one of them - does the empire value the common people.

In keeping with the empire, the money skewers naturally have the opportunity to make a fortune.

Of course, for the appreciation and promotion of the cabinet, Su Mian could not help but make any expressions, no, just after the New Year, a group of officials from the Propaganda Department under the Ministry of Rites came to discuss with Su Mian how to publicize the deeds of the Battle of Yongzhou.

According to the Propaganda Department, before Taishan was sealed in March, official newspapers, non-governmental publications, and various official and unofficial opera troupes would ask for the promotion of the Battle of Yongzhou in conspicuous pages or key repertoire.

The focus of the propaganda work in the early stage was Su Mian's own half of the poem "Eighty days to stick to the lonely city, 100,000 people die with one heart", in order to highlight the sense of tragedy and magnificence, and shape Su Mian into a character like Zhang Suiyang.

In the second half, it is necessary to focus on the promotion of Feng Sanhu's ten days and two thousand miles (in fact, it is not that far) rushing to rescue, highlighting the importance that the empire attaches to every Han people.

The Propaganda Department wanted Su Mian himself to write an article expressing his gratitude to the Imperial Army, the Cabinet, the Emperor, and the Empire itself.

Those young people also gave Su Mian an outline of the manuscript, and secretly poked and asked his article not to "exceed the outline".

Su Mian took a closer look, and the overall writing of the article was very straightforward, in general, it was "the empire is good to come to the empire and the first croaking of the empire".

Su Mian felt a burst of shame in his heart, not that he didn't want to sing the praises of the empire, but that such a straightforward patter was really a bit unacceptable.

If this article is really written, I will probably become the laughing stock of Shilin - you Su Mian have also been in the Jinshi, as for writing this kind of thing to shoot the new dynasty's sycophants?

The answer is: as for.

The people of the Propaganda Department also know that this kind of article may have the opposite effect on people with literary talents, but the focus of the Propaganda Department's work this time is not to read people, they want to root in the hearts of the common people in Jiangnan the concept that the empire attaches great importance to the common people, if the rhetoric of the articles used in propaganda is too ornate and obscure, and the common people cannot understand it, it will become putting the cart before the horse.

To this end, the officers of the Propaganda Department also traveled all over the city of Yongzhou, selected representatives from all strata of society, interviewed and publicized them, and explained from their perspectives the hardships of the siege for 80 days and the excitement after seeing the imperial flag.

Of course, it's also a sycophant, and it's also very straightforward.

It's just that these people bluntly praise the life-saving benefactor, I'm afraid it comes from the heart.

However, then again, isn't he Su Mian grateful to the empire from the bottom of his heart?

Moreover, "the words need to be popular, and the words must be moving", and it seems that there is no harm in expressing feelings straightforwardly.

So Su Mian finally agreed to the request of the Propaganda Department and prepared to write this article before the end of January.

In addition to this incident, Feng Sanhu, the chief general of the rescue of Yongzhou, clearly told Su Mian that this year he would begin preparations to attack Jiaozhi and nearby Dongman, in order to retaliate for the tragedy of Qinzhou and Lianzhou.

There were also logistical preparations for the southern expedition, the empire needed to persuade the people in Qinzhou and Lianzhou who were hiding in the mountains to come back, and build some garrison forts along the route of the Jiaozhi thieves to stock up on the materials needed for the expedition.

If there are not enough survivors of Qin and Lian, some people from Yongzhou will have to be recruited to participate in this work.

"Yongzhou will not give up this matter." Su Mian agreed to this job very happily.

Revenge on the Jiaozhi thief is already considered correct in Yongzhou, even if the people who work in vain will be happy to agree, not to mention that the empire is willing to pay wages to the strong men who work - this salary is not small, in Su Mian's view, it is a bit like work for relief.

"Also, please find some guides from the city who are familiar with the caves." Feng Sanhu said: "The cave barbarians are helping the Jiaozhi thieves, and there is no less killing, I have been ordered to clean up the cave barbarian thieves before attacking the Jiaozhi." ”