Xiang Zhong, the treasurer with a loyal face, held a thick account book, came to the handsome case and bowed to me, then turned to face the crowd and read aloud: "After a detailed investigation by the personnel of the division for several days, the traitor Sun Decheng and his comrades embezzled a huge amount of treasury assets, and the detailed list of assets is as follows:"

"1. Gold and gold articles fifty-six thousand three hundred and twelve taels. of these, fifty taels of gold ingots, one hundred and eighty-six pieces, totaling fourteen thousand three hundred taels; 25 taels of gold ingots, 210 pieces, 5,250 taels in total; There are 869 gold ingots of various colors, totaling 17,953 taels. ”

"2. Silver, silver ornaments, and utensils, totalling one hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred and thirty taels. Among them, 81,160 taels of fine ingot silver; Other variegated silver and silver utensils were worth ninety-one thousand three hundred and seventy taels. ”

"One million and three thousand dollars, of which five hundred and seventy thousand were copper coins, and one hundred and sixteen thousand were iron and lead coins."

"A total of 7,165 curiosities of all kinds, all of which are listed in detail."

"There are also 16 complete tiger skins, 58 mink skins, 63 fox skins, more than 1,300 pieces of satin fabrics and clothes of various colors, 785 silk cloths, and ......"

"Okay, don't read the rest." I interrupted him, cleared my throat, and said, "From this point of view, Sun Thief is indeed insatiable! In the case of such an empty treasury, he actually amassed such an astonishing amount of wealth, no wonder the people's hearts turned away and brought about his own destruction. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are short of money now, and we cannot afford to sit on these huge sums of money and do nothing. The commander has decided to take out a part of the money from the counterfeit property obtained by the Sun thief in advance, and use it for the bereavement of the wounded and wounded soldiers and the reward for the counterinsurgency officers and soldiers. This is the most important task at the moment, and we must not delay for a moment.

Moreover, the standards and rewards for bereavement pensions should be preferential and generous, and no one should withhold, embezzle, or privately lower the standards. This matter was drawn up in detail by Master Lin and the officials of Liucao, and reported to the commander for approval. ”

"Ben Shuai knows that everyone is worried that this will violate the taboo of tampering with counterfeit property. In fact, I think that as long as we use the money properly and let it come in handy, we can give full play to its maximum effect, so why don't we do such good things that benefit the country and the people? As the saying goes, 'the heart is selfless and the world is wide'! ”

"Also, regarding the matter of submitting the chapter to the imperial court, Master Lin and Yousi should speed up the process, and strive to report to the imperial court together the day after tomorrow when these Qin prisoners are escorted to the capital."

"Of course, when drafting the chapter, Master Lin must pay attention to the fact that while playing the entire counterinsurgency process in detail, he must also write down the specific deeds of the meritorious officers and soldiers and the township party in a vigorous and conspicuous manner, so that the blood of the soldiers cannot be shed in vain and the merits cannot be erased, so that you can win the generous rewards of the imperial court as much as possible, and you should be able to understand what I mean."

"In addition, we should make a detailed list of the counterfeit property of Sun Thief and others, and attach it to the chapter, and we should also explain the reasons for the counterfeit property that we used without authorization, and attach a detailed list. I think that when Your Majesty understands the current situation in Yunnan, he will also understand our good intentions. Master Lin, the first draft of the cantata will be drawn up by tomorrow evening at the latest, and we will consider it in detail together at that time. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, the day after tomorrow, we will escort Sun Thief and his party into Beijing. The stakes are too high for us to make mistakes, and we have the right people to take on this important task. What I want to explain is that this person must not only have both civil and military skills, but also be witty, flexible and eloquent, these conditions are indispensable, I don't know if you have the candidate in mind! After saying this, my eager eyes scanned the crowd.

"Marshal Qiqi, there is a suitable candidate for the lower officials, I don't know if it's available." As soon as I finished speaking, He Shoujie stood up and said.

"Oh! Which one did General He recommend? ”

"Marshal, the lower official recommended the last general's fellow countryman, now Zhong Xu, who is now a judicial member of the army, he once fought the battlefield with Zaixia, and made many military exploits, and he was also full of wisdom and eloquence, which is indeed a rare talent. It's just that because of the close relationship with Zaixia, he has never been able to get the importance of Sun Thief. Xia Guan is willing to use his life to guarantee that Zhong Xu can take on this important responsibility. ”

As he spoke, he pointed to a junior official in his thirties who was sitting at the bottom of the table with his hand, and when the man heard this, he quickly stood up, and Shi Shiran saluted me.

Seeing that everyone nodded frequently, it seems that this person's popularity is good. And although this person is a little ordinary in appearance, he is different in temperament, and he should be a well-informed and capable person.

I happily bowed my head and said, "Since there is no recommendation from any general, and you have no objections, then Zhong Xu will be the chief envoy of this trip." Then arrange Lin Tong to serve as a deputy envoy to assist Lord Zhong to ensure the smooth and safe trip. ”

Of course, I have my purpose in arranging Lin Tong to serve as the deputy envoy, which is nothing more than to let him take this opportunity to experience experience, gain a long insight, and do a good job of making a shadow or something, and it is not in vain that I will repay the Lin family.

"That's all for today's meeting, you all go back to perform your duties, and in a while I will go with General Jian to visit the families of the wounded soldiers and fallen soldiers, and also talk about the court's gratitude to them."

Everyone was relieved when they heard this, and as soon as they sat down in Ningzhou, they first went to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers, they had never seen such a sympathetic commander, and they must have been deeply impressed by what I did.

In fact, this counterinsurgency was not very turbulent, and Sun Decheng's palace was easily occupied, with almost no casualties. However, when he fought with Wang Chuan's subordinates next, more than 100 officers and soldiers were killed and more than 300 were wounded, almost all of which were caused in the Battle of Dongchuan.

Jian Zheng and I took Lian Jun, Zhuang Qian, Yue Chang, Ling Feng and others to visit the relatives of the fallen soldiers one by one, brought them cordial condolences from the imperial court, and promised to give them generous rewards and compensations, and their children would also make proper arrangements, so that they could continue to live with peace of mind.

Then Jian Zheng and I went to the temple in the city, which is now used as a medical facility for the treatment of the wounded. I walked into the room where the wounded were staying, carefully checked their injuries and medical treatment, and expressed my heartfelt gratitude to them.

My sympathetic and pro-people style of work has had a very good exemplary effect, and many of the wounded soldiers who were moved wept bitterly on the spot, but the wounded soldiers who had never received this kind of treatment before.

After pacifying the many wounded soldiers, it was already afternoon, and we met with Xiao Hui, the guardian of the Four Gates City, and came to the city wall facing the direction of Dayi Ningguo in the west. Although the scale of Ningzhou does not belong to the big state, but the area is relatively large, the circumference is more than ten miles, the city is high and the wall is thick, and the moat is also very wide, this is the largest base of the Han Dynasty in Yunnan, so the construction standard is still relatively high.

The biggest feature of this Ningzhou city is that it is built on three sides surrounded by rivers, and the geographical location is also unique, even if I am not a soldier, I can already see that the terrain here is extremely dangerous, and I can't help but admire.

Xiao next to me showed an appreciative look when he saw me, and also stepped forward and said: "Boss, please look, our Ningzhou is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and its geographical location is very unique, if it is only in the southeast direction, it should be enough to block the enemy's 100,000 troops." It's just that despite this, there is still an unavoidable defect, Ningzhou City is invulnerable elsewhere, but the west is a vast plain area, although there are countless fertile fields, raising more than 100,000 Yunnan people, but there is no danger in Pingchuan, in the face of the great righteousness of Ningguo, it is currently the weakest place. ”

"Xia Guan thinks that if a Xiongguan can be built in the Songyang area in the west to block the threat from the southwest, coupled with the vast depth of nearly 100 miles, he will no longer be afraid of any great righteousness and Ningguo."

"Oh! Your idea is very insightful, but since you just said that the plains to the west are all flat rivers, if there is no precipitous place, this pass will not be of much use. Where do you think it's best to build it? ”

I was very interested in this and hurriedly asked.

"Qiyu Dashuai, Xia Guan has visited and checked earlier, because although the road between Ningzhou and Shanxian Mansion in Ningguo is smooth in most places, there is an excellent natural barrier in Songyang County in Ningguo and my Yunnan border. Sandwiched between two mountains, surrounded by endless hills and mountains, or inaccessible wild forests and swamps, the mountain roads are extremely difficult to walk, ordinary people and others cannot climb, it is definitely a natural barrier. ”

"Dashuai, there are no people within 30 miles from Songyang County to our Yunnan direction, only there is a road at the mountain pass to connect the two sides of the pass, as long as the card is stuck in this position to build a pass, it can be said that a husband is a pass, and ten thousand people are not opened."