The main role of the regular closing in various parts of the Ming Dynasty is 'Pingguang', which is the so-called spring buying and autumn selling, and mediating grain prices. There is also 'lending', when the countryside is not in abundance, the people are lent seeds and rations, and the spring loan is repaid in the autumn, of course, additional interest must be charged. It can also 'give relief' in disaster years, and when there is a large-scale flood and drought locust plague, it will open a warehouse to help the people.

Although this measure is a great good governance, every year, the officials of the local government and households will collude with the local gentry and large households to replace the new grain with old grain and moldy grain, and even dare to report the loss in a big way, seeking amazing profits every year.

In fact, such things abound everywhere in the Ming Dynasty, but ordinary people don't know about it, and the people involved in this deed are also tacit. After all, it's a head-killing business, so outsiders rarely know about such things. Some grain merchants also colluded with the yamen in various places, and even the boats that transported grain to the north every year dared to make up their minds.

The headquarters of the first detachment of the Yangtze River Fleet attached great importance to Sun Zhou's telegram, and specially sent troops, led by the local head snake in Huguang, to search for private warehouses in various places, and also swept more than a dozen dens of water thieves by the way, and the harvest was extremely huge.

In the next few days, the battalion led by Sun Zhou was also sent out by the headquarters to find private warehouses in various places. Under the guidance of Liu Tong's dedication, he found more than a dozen private warehouses where large households stored grain, and also brought a few dens of water thieves, and seized more than 300,000 stones of rice, and a considerable part of it was new rice of the year.

Liu Tong felt that in the past few days, the attitude of the surrounding Far Eastern Army towards him was obviously much better, even Sun Zhou regarded him as his own. On weekdays, he sits and eats with Sun Zhou, which makes him feel flattered.

After getting along with the officers and soldiers of the Far East for a while, Liu Tong also found that this army was completely different from the Ming army. Let's take food as an example, from the general Sun Zhou to the private who has just joined the army, the food standard is actually the same. As a general of this army, he also served food in a cauldron with ordinary soldiers.

If there were not enough locals hired for a while, and the troops needed to load and unload food, Sun Zhou actually worked with ordinary soldiers, sometimes carrying food bags for half a day.

The soldiers could rest after finishing their work, but Sun Zhou was exhausted and had to be responsible for managing all the affairs of the troops. At night, the generals of the troops often go to bed last, because it is already the middle of the night when they finish checking posts and inspecting defense areas.

In addition, the discipline of the troops is extremely strict, and Liu Tong followed the Far Eastern Army to many places in the Huguang area, whether it was a large city or a small village or town, and he had never seen a single incident of bullying and harassing the people by officers and soldiers of the Far East.

Liu Tong and the Far Eastern Army camped outside various cities and towns several times, and even in heavy rain, the troops never set foot in the houses. They were all camped outside the town, and the soldiers standing guard on duty were also stunned and wore raincoats and stood in the heavy rain for the night.

Even if he was a prisoner of the Ming Dynasty officials and soldiers, although he had a fierce attitude, he never hurt the prisoners and did not encroach on their personal belongings. Just let them work as laborers, and also take care of three meals, and even help treat those who are sick.

But if you say that the Far Eastern Army is so foolish, then you are wrong, these people look kind, but they can't rub a little sand in their eyes. In some places, the ruffians felt that the Far Eastern Army was easy to bully, and they secretly hid materials when they were helping to work, and after being discovered, they were arrogant and scoundrels, inciting the local people who did not know the truth to make trouble.

But the Far Eastern Army was really not used to it, so they dragged them away directly, picked them to death on the street with bayonets, and then hung them at the city gate, frightening the families of these ruffians until the Far Eastern Army walked for many days, and did not dare to collect the corpses.

Moreover, the Far Eastern Army often did nothing wrong with ordinary people, but it never showed mercy to the gentry, bureaucrats and businessmen in various places. Although it will not hurt people's lives, their assets, especially the food and other materials in their shops in the city, will be scavenged.

Sun Zhou originally wanted to continue to advance to the south of Huguang with his troops, but unfortunately his troops had only one battalion, and before the war, one company of armed police units and two grassroots musket companies were strengthened.

He had only more than 600 people at his disposal, but he had successively occupied more than a dozen private warehouses and dens of water thieves, and in each place he had to leave some troops to garrison and wait for the fleet of the First Detachment to come and transport food.

After coming and going, he is now almost the commander of the light pole. Now he only has his correspondent and Liu Tong, a prisoner of the Ming army. There was also a river engine sailing boat, and more than a dozen officers and men of the Admiralty on board, such a force could not allow him to continue to advance into the depths of Huguang, and could only be stationed with a platoon of troops

Yueyang Mansion leans on Mufu Mountain in the east, Dongting Lake in the west, and the Yangtze River in the north. Since ancient times, it has been the land of fish and rice, and it is also an important grain-producing area in Huguang.

Because of the lack of troops in his hands, Sun Zhou led two platoons of Far Eastern officers and soldiers, but only controlled the dock and ignored Yueyang Fucheng, which was not far away.

Yueyang Mansion once sent a force of officers and soldiers and Minzhuang to attack the docks, but was beaten by two platoons under Sun Zhou's command, supported by three ships and an airship, and threw dozens of corpses and hundreds of prisoners.

Since seeing the powerful firepower of the Far Eastern Army, especially the huge airships floating in the air, Yueyang Mansion City has never sent troops to attack again. Instead, the city gates were closed, and a large number of young men were mobilized to make a stubborn posture.

Sun Zhou was also happy to do so, he led the troops to set up several machine gun positions near the dock, several sailing ships were responsible for controlling the river, and the airships were always on alert and cruising in the air, observing the situation in Yueyang Mansion and the surrounding areas at any time, nervously waiting for the arrival of the large army.

The surprise attack of the Far Eastern Army on the docks of Yueyangfu also caused large-scale chaos. Many porters, boatmen, and merchants on the docks took advantage of the chaos to flee into Yueyang Fucheng, so there are not many people requisitioned by the Far Eastern Army at present.

The Yueyangfu Wharf has been a key traffic point since ancient times, and most of the ships coming from the south to the north choose to anchor here. Moreover, there are many shops and warehouses on the wharf, which is very prosperous. After the Far Eastern Army took control of the wharf, it began to forcibly requisition a large number of young and strong people in the vicinity to help the Far Eastern Army collect grain and other materials on a large scale.

Because of the lack of troops, Sun Zhou had the officers and men of the Admiralty on several ships transferred over. The materials collected everywhere cannot be counted at all, and can only be stacked here at the dock. The officers and soldiers of the Far East were mainly responsible for maintaining order at the wharves outside the city of Yueyangfu and guarding a large amount of booty.

The big families of Yueyang Mansion City stood at the head of the city and watched the Far Eastern Army collect supplies on the dock. The shops and warehouses of the big families of Yueyang Mansion are all located at the wharf, and now the things that belong to them have been taken away by the Far Eastern Army.

(To be continued.) )