The atmosphere in Shaoxing Mansion has been slightly relaxed recently, which makes Min Honggui breathe a sigh of relief and at the same time, he is also slightly satisfied, this is all the credit of his Min!

Of course, Lieutenant Colonel Sun Wu, the second director of military administration to succeed the departed naval lieutenant colonel Liu Fubo (who had temporarily managed this military district when he had just taken over the eastern half of Shaoxing Prefecture), naturally contributed the most. As the most effective member of his command, Min Honggui has also won the recognition of many upper-level officials of the Southern Pioneer Team through his efforts in the past year.

Min Honggui was transferred from the position of Xinchang county magistrate to the newly established East Shaoxing Military Administrative Region, where he was responsible for social propaganda and education. To put it nicely, it is actually to recruit rebels at the local level and establish a new order for the people on the east coast. To put it more bluntly, Min Honggui's main task is to establish stability maintenance committees in Yuyao County, Shangyu County, and Linshanwei to provide food, grass, and military salaries for the East Coast army stationed here to suppress it.

Today, Deputy Director Min Honggui Min followed Wang Erdian, president of the Shangyu County Stability Maintenance Association, to the countryside to collect grain. They brought three platoons of infantry, all from the Fifth Division of the Zhejiang New Army, the early rice outside the meeting had already been harvested, and the grain in the hands of the landlords was really not small, but because the people on the east coast had not yet established a stable and reliable tax system, they could only rely on these landlords to help collect grain and collect taxes.

Wang Erdian is the owner of a pawnshop in Shangyu County, it is said that his ancestors have passed down poems and books, and I don't know how his generation can't even mix up fame, so he can only rely on his father's relationship to run a pawnshop in the city. Xu is because Shangyu County is populated and the business is prosperous, and his pawn shop business is very good. Therefore, under the blessing of those who have no fame in his body, no people in the clan who have studied and entered the eunuchs, this money-making pawnshop has been taken by many powerful figures, and they want to find a reason to swallow it in one bite.

As the head snake in Shangyu County, Wang Erdian, who has been rooted here for I don't know how many generations, naturally felt the rumors, especially the county magistrate who was born in the Han military banner, and he was not a good bird at first glance. But he thought about it, and there was no good way to crack it, so he was so worried for a while that he seemed to have to wait for death.

It was also his life that should not be extinguished, just when the Han army Qizhi County could make a bad decision at any time and let his family die, the yellow-clothed thief - ah no, it was the East Coast Heavenly Soldier - suddenly came over, and the imperial army - uh, the wrong thing again, it was the Tatar Qing bandits - was defeated in successive battles and collapsed in a few months, Shengxian, Yuyao, Shangyu, and Linshan counties were all lost, and even the capital city west of the Cao'e River was looted, which shocked Wang Erdian inexplicably and was ecstatic at the same time, because he was saved!

After being saved, Wang Erdian did not hesitate, after the people on the east coast formally established the military administration area in September, and the upper-level officials were in place one after another, he took refuge in the past in early October, and took advantage of his familiarity to compete for the position of a member of the stability maintenance committee, and because he seemed to be able to speak well, and he also had a way in the countryside (their family has a lot of land in the countryside of Shangyu County), he was appointed by Deputy Director Min Honggui Min as the chairman of the stability maintenance committee, and since then he has been regarded as a supernumerary cadre on the east coast.

As the name suggests, the CSC is to do its best to maintain local stability, and at the same time, the cadres, technicians and soldiers sent from the east coast will provide food and salaries to maintain their digestion and transformation of the occupied areas. Wang Erdian is naturally very familiar with this kind of "business", no, a few months after taking office, he held several meetings of all members of the stability maintenance committee, and made a practical apportionment plan according to the money and food needs given by Min Honggui.

Subsequently, he commanded the third class of officials in Shangyu County, who was retained, and collected money and grain from house to house. Some of them are easier to collect, because they are members of the Stability Maintenance Association, or those wealthy businessmen know that the sky has changed and have to bleed, so they are more cooperative with the collection of grain and taxes. But some money and food are more difficult to collect, especially some die-hard elements (of course, there are also some who resist because they are not satisfied with the apportionment ratio), at this time Wang Erdian did not have stage fright, and directly asked the third class of officials - now called the police - to lock them up and take them to prison, and after cleaning up, they basically paid the fines and taxes in full.

Min Honggui, deputy director of the military administration, greatly praised Wang Erdian's ability, so he said a few kind words in front of Lieutenant Colonel Sun Wu, the director of military management, which allowed Wang Erdian to obtain the status of a formal cadre, and since then he has also received the salary of the country on the east coast, which is also beautiful. Today is the day when Min Honggui and he made an appointment to go to the countryside to collect grain, they borrowed three platoons of new troops from the city, and at the same time brought seven or eight policemen, and there were some coolies pulling large and small carriages behind, and the group walked towards the countryside in a mighty way.

The place where the grain was to be collected was not very close, and it was already afternoon when everyone arrived. The villagers of the nearest village seemed to be a little scared of them, but they quickly went to inform the village elders to come forward to receive them. Actually, that's pretty good! You must know that when the people on the east coast went to the countryside to collect grain for the first time, these villagers ran away when they saw the soldiers in yellow clothes, and all the villages ran away! At that time, one of the East Coast staff officers who led the team was very confused, and did not know why they were so afraid, knowing that the war had been over for a while!

Later, he found a villager who was in hiding and lost his soul, and used a pistol to force him to tell him why. The villager said with trepidation that the reason why everyone ran away was that during the previous war, a group of soldiers passing by on the east coast shot and killed several people because they did not get food and water. The staff officer was speechless for a long time after listening, he asked people to write down the words of the villagers, and planned to go back and ask the gendarmes to check which part of the soldiers' military discipline was so poor, although the hope was so slim, most of the people above would not seriously investigate, for fear of hurting the morale of the brave East Coast army, not to mention that they had always believed that the military discipline of the East Coast Army was already the best in this era and did not need to be improved.

Of course, the reason why the common people ran away when they saw the people on the east coast was not limited to some bad rumors or real disturbance incidents, but the bigger reason seemed to be that when the county town of Shangyu was besieged, the soldiers on the east coast scattered around the country carried out a sweeping arrest of the villagers in the vast rural areas, and then sent them to Dinghai Port as a reserve population for immigrants. This kind of arrest was undoubtedly extremely bad, because the soldiers on the east bank did not spare even the livestock, many houses were demolished, and materials were sent to build fortifications outside Shangyu City, which shows the tragic situation at that time.

Although the act of arresting the people of Shangyu County as a reserve for immigrants was stopped halfway - because the army commanded by Junio at that time broke the Qing army in the direction of Yuyao County, and then occupied the county seat of Shangyu, the situation east of the Cao'e River was settled, and Ma Wenqiang had a greater goal, so he urgently called a halt - but the bad impact has been caused, and the image is difficult to recover for a while, so that the local people are helpless to flee when they see the soldiers on the east bank.

As a last resort, Lieutenant Colonel Sun Wu, the director of military management, who took office, directly threw the heavy task of breaking the situation to the members of the "professional counterpart" of the stability maintenance committee. And they did have a relatively good way, through various channels and methods, it took more than half a year, and finally slowly reversed the situation, so that the rural villagers finally no longer resisted the rulers of the east bank. I'm still scared, but I finally don't run, that's progress, isn't it?

"Zhang Yuanwai, this way, hurry, come here, this way." One of Wang Erdian's nephews, Wang Xiaodao, who was from the Hui Party, shouted loudly at a middle-aged man. This guy is now a small leader of the county public security bureau, with seven or eight policemen under his hands, and most of them are former party accomplices (in fact, they are underworld elements...... This will be dressed in a very leather vigorously, carrying a knife and gun, the identity is not ordinary, and this voice is three points louder than usual.

Zhang Yuanwai had already seen Wang Erdian and Wang Xiaodao's uncle and nephew, but he had not pretended not to see it, and he would see people shouting about himself, intimidated by the majesty of the more than 60 East Coast soldiers carrying rifles, Zhang Yuanwai walked over almost step by step, and said with a bitter face: "President Wang, didn't you say that you will come over next month?" We haven't got all the money and food in our village, so I'm afraid you're going to have to run empty if you come now. ”

"Not next month! The reclamation of Xinchang and Shengxian is very urgent, and the people who repair the river defense line (on the east bank of the Cao'e River) also need a lot of money and grain. If not, not only will we have to eat and hang, but you are afraid that a catastrophe will also come. Wang Xiaodao's head shook like a rattle and shouted loudly. As he spoke, he also looked at Zhang Yuanwai with some pleasure, thinking to himself that he didn't dare to provoke such a local tyrant in the countryside, because they had money, horses, and connections in the county, and it was not difficult to pinch a gangster like himself to death, as long as he was willing to pay some price. But now, this decent person who was supposed to be shocked within a radius of several miles by stomping his feet, actually had a day to speak to himself in a low voice, what a pleasure!

Of course, Wang Xiaodao is not a bad person, he knows very well who gave all this now! If the governor of the east coast can make himself so majestic in the county, he can naturally be swept away, so in terms of doing things for the governor of the east coast, Wang Xiaodao has always been very conscientious, even if he does it by any means. At this point, it is quite like his uncle Wang Erdian, it is really not a family that does not enter the family! For example, at this moment, even if Min Honggui is not by his side, he will do everything possible to collect the money and food from this outsider, he believes that he has this ability, and the three platoons of East Coast infantry behind him are his greatest confidence.

"President Wang, I'm really in a hurry to collect grain and money this month." Zhang Yuanwai ignored Wang Xiaodao, and said directly to Wang Erdian, who was standing behind him: "Early rice is only harvested in mid-July, and it is less than a month yet. At this time, you come to collect grain, naturally there is no problem, but if you even have to collect taxes together, it will be difficult, everyone has no money to spare, you have to wait for the rice, or wait for the next month, right? I will definitely collect all the money and food, and I look forward to your visit, President Wang. ”

"What are you talking about?" Wang Erdian looked at this local tyrant who was still a little confused, sighed, and said: "Zhang Yuanwai, if it was the Qing Dynasty before this year, maybe this matter could be forgiven by one or two, but now it is the world of the Eastern Dynasty, if you still act in that old way, I am afraid that you will be a little outdated." Let's put it this way, Zhang Yuanwai, your village has to pay it today, and if you don't pay it, you have to pay it, not only the rice must be in full, but the silver money must not be less, otherwise I won't be able to pay the difference. ”

Seeing that Zhang Yuanwai was going to say something more, Wang Erdian suddenly stepped forward, lowered his voice and said: "Today, Director Min of the Military Administration District personally went to the countryside to collect the collection, even if you are unlucky Lao Zhang, you can't escape this catastrophe." Don't look at me with that kind of look, I know that you still have some old foundations at home, and the shops in the city are also doing very well, Lao Zhang, I can say okay, the tax money in this village will be covered by you, you must be able to carry it. Okay, okay, don't look like a dead person, what's the matter, follow the adults of the Eastern Dynasty, and the days after this will definitely get better day by day. The Tartars were so strong back then, weren't they also beaten away? You should have heard more or less about the situation in Ningbo in the east over the years, the officials of the Eastern Dynasty are not as greedy as the Taqing Dynasty, and their level is much stronger than those Tatar Qing officials who don't understand bullshit, at least I haven't heard of many tricks and robberies happening. We live a peaceful life under the rule of the East Coast, and we are also a rich man, if we want to make trouble, I am afraid that there will be no good end. Moreover, Lao Zhang, don't worry about that Raushzi Taqing will fight back, phew, it's impossible! I won't play dumb riddles with you at this time, a few days ago, Taqing Hangzhou quietly sent someone over, saying that he wanted to negotiate peace with our Dadong'an. Hehe, what kind of peace negotiation is this, it's just nice to say, it's obviously defeated and suing for peace, begging us to let them go on the east coast, don't go over! So, Lao Zhang, some of your careful thoughts can also be put away, there is no hope, live a good life in the future, I don't lie to you. ”

Wang Erdian's words were truthful and sincere, and Zhang Yuanwai couldn't help but be a little moved. In fact, as Wang Erdian said just now, although almost a year has passed, the disgust for the East Coast in his heart has never been eliminated, and he has never given up the hope that "my Daqing" will fight back again. But will I listen to Wang Erdian say this, Hangzhou Daying actually wants to admit the fact of inheritance and negotiate peace with the thief in yellow clothes? This shattered the last illusion in his heart, and he had to seriously consider how to live in the future, compared to it, a little money or something, it was a trivial matter!