A.D. 1637 lunar month 30th

This day is the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve in China, and it is also the last day of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and it is the tenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty. Pang Gang got up early and personally sent Ma Gonggong outside Qingzhou City, accompanied by one million taels of silver and 3,000 soldiers who escorted Ma Gonggong into Beijing. Due to the huge amount of one million taels of silver, Pang Gang naturally sent heavy troops to escort him into Beijing. Pang Gang patted the shoulder of the officer who led the team, Cheng Kai, and said slightly apologetically: "President Cheng Qian, I still want you and your brothers to run for a trip in the Chinese New Year's Eve, I'm really embarrassed, this official promised you, after you return from the capital, this official will let you and your brothers take half a month off!" ”

Cheng Kai raised his head and said proudly: "Don't worry, as long as there is still a breath of humiliation, the silver will definitely be sent to the capital safely." ”

Pang Gang nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, let's go!" ”

"Yes!" Cheng Kai solemnly saluted Pang Gang, flicked the reins of his horse, and shouted loudly to his subordinates: "Go!" ”

With Cheng Kai's order, hundreds of carts loaded with silver taels slowly moved towards the north.

After sending off the father-in-law who was risking Ma, Pang Gang came to Lingshanwei non-stop, and Li Xian, who served as the warden of Lingshanwei, and Lingshanwei's newly appointed Qianhu Binshiqian stood in front of the guard to greet him.

In the Chinese New Year's Eve, Pang Gang specially ran over to distribute New Year gifts to everyone. Qianniuwei and Anton Wei Pang Gang had already been there the day before yesterday, and Lingshanwei was the last Weibao that did not distribute New Year's goods.

Today, the weather is very cold, Pang Gang estimates that it is at least minus seven or eight degrees, and as soon as the wind blows on his body, it is like a biting bone, and everyone uses scarves to wrap their heads and faces tightly. Although there was no snow in the sky at this time, the heavy snow that had fallen in the previous two days caused the ground to be covered with a thick layer of snow, and people stepped on it and made a creaking sound.

But on the school field, there is already a lot of people, the military households crowded the wide school field, the open-air field is full of tables and chairs, the table is full of steaming wine and food, everyone is sitting at the table, while eating, drinking, talking and laughing, while watching the wonderful program performed by the troupe invited by Lingshanwei in the middle of the venue, it is really lively.

Many old people in Lingshanwei secretly wiped their tears while eating wine and food, such a good day was something they had never dreamed of. Once upon a time, they were a group of dilapidated military families who couldn't even eat enough, and it was already very good to have two salted fish to eat during the Chinese New Year.

These people who can eat on the school field are all old military families of Lingshanwei, and they are all old people who have settled in Lingshanwei in the era. In addition, the military households who joined Lingshanwei last year met in other farms, factories and mines. In addition, the outside of the school yard was crowded with all kinds of people who were looking at everything inside with envious eyes, these people were the homeless people who had only joined Lingshanwei this year.

Originally, someone suggested to Pang Gang whether to let them have a full meal of the more than 30,000 displaced people who were admitted to Lingshanwei this year, but Pang Gang refused. Pang Gang scoffed at the phrase "the surname of the first man is Benshan", and he always believed that if everyone was to be disciplined, a strict and complete set of laws was indispensable. And these homeless people have just come to Lingshanwei, and they have not made any contributions, so why do they enjoy the same treatment as those military households who have worked hard for a year, and unknown rewards and punishments have always been taboo in the army, and the same is true for military households. If this is done, it will inevitably hit the positive surnames of those old military households, so Pang Gang, who has always hated eating big pot rice, not only explicitly rejected this suggestion, but also severely reprimanded Li Xian and others who made this suggestion.

Today, the annual award and commendation meeting is being held on the school grounds, and at this time, a platform has been set up in the center of the school field, and Pang Gang, Li Xian, Bin Shiqian, Qi Wuming, and more than 10 officers of Lingshanwei have been invited to attend today's meeting.

This school yard is large enough to accommodate four or five thousand people, but there are so many people who came today that tens of thousands of people poured into the school yard, and the school yard was crowded.

Qingzhou three guards, Lingshanwei, Qianniuwei and Anton Wei, Lingshanwei is the largest and richest of the three guards, he is mainly responsible for breeding and planting food Qianniuwei and Anton Wei are different, Lingshanwei is mainly responsible for factories and mines, salt and cement and other industrial workshops, so if you talk about wealth, Lingshanwei is the richest of the three guards, therefore, Lingshanwei is also very rich in welfare.

Pang Gang instructed Li Xian to select a group of people who worked the hardest and most capable in the factories and mines, and called them work experts. The work experts are divided into three classes, with 80 first-class experts, 188 second-class experts, and 288 third-class experts, and these people can also be called the model of tens of thousands of military households in Lingshanwei.

At this time, tens of thousands of new and old military households inside and outside the school field all looked at the rostrum, which was full of livestock, cloth and silver, and the vast majority of military households had a mixture of envy, jealousy, and envy in their eyes. And the eyes of those military households who estimated that they might be rated as good at work also flashed with joy and excitement, and many of them were thinking about what they would buy if they could receive the award.

Soon, Li Xian went to the rostrum, still holding a big iron horn in his hand, and said to the loudspeaker: "Folks, old and young masters, now everyone is quiet, listen to what my Lao Li has to say." ”

The loudspeaker in Li Xian's hand was very loud, and the sound was also very loud, and soon the voice on the school field slowly became quieter, and countless pairs of eyes looked at Li Xian on the stage, Li Xian held the loudspeaker, and the voice came out from the thin piece of iron: "Ladies and gentlemen, how have you been doing this year?" ”

"Good!" There was a thunderous sound from the school grounds, although the sound was very messy and not very neat, but it came from the surroundings one after another, very loudly.

"Well, it seems that everyone is very satisfied with this year's day." Li Xian nodded and continued: "But do you know where today's good words came from?" ”

"You know, it's a huge person!" This time the sound is much neater.

"It's good that everyone knows!" Li Xian nodded, "I don't know how to say it, but there is one thing I hope everyone understands, drink water and don't forget the well digger, we are doing well now, but I hope everyone will not forget the kindness of the huge man, if anyone does something sorry for the huge man, my old Li will never spare him." ”

"That is, if anyone does something that is sorry for the huge man, without you doing it, we can't spare him first." The people on the school field were full of emotion. Although they don't know any big truths, they still understand the most basic principles of life, and they also know that if they don't have a huge number of people, their good life will be like the rootless duckweed, maybe it will be gone at some point.

Looking at the excited emotions of the heavy military households on the school field, Pang Gang nodded secretly, he didn't expect that this Li Xian had only been a small official for more than a year, and his level of continuous speaking had improved a lot, and he could even do something difficult as mobilizing people's emotions.

"Okay, now I won't say much, I would like to ask a huge person to read out the list of our work experts this year!"

"Boom, la, la......" A thunderous cheer accompanied by applause.

Pang Gang walked to the front desk with a smile, he took out a blank piece of paper full of names from his sleeve, and announced loudly: "Now, this official has come to read out the list of work experts for this year, and the work experts are divided into three classes, and there are a total of eighty-eight first-class work experts. ”

Pang Gang cleared his throat and read: "Zhao Siming, Li Tiezhu, Lu Zhengyi, Cheng Xuanwa, Hu Gouzi......"

"Eh, dog, you can't go up yet, the adults are going to give you an award."

"Little Lizi, hurry up and go up."

With the reading of the private capital by Pang Gang, everyone on the field "kicked out" the people next to them with a look of joy and jealousy, and the families of the military families whose names were read all had proud looks on their faces, and their hearts were both nervous and excited when they saw their men or children on stage.

As Pang Gang read the name, everyone stepped forward one by one, stood in front of Pang Gang, and after Pang Gang read the name, he personally took out the big red flowers from the entourage standing behind him with a tray and pinned them to them. Looking at the faces in front of him that had been blown open by the wind and frost, Pang Gang smiled and held their rough big hands, encouraging them to do things one by one.

The reward for the first-class expert is ten taels of silver, one fat pig, five chickens and ducks, seven taels of silver, one sheep, five chickens and ducks for the second-class expert, and four taels of silver and six chickens and ducks for the third-class expert.

As the people who read the names stepped forward one by one to receive the awards, and then rushed to drive the fat pigs and the chickens and ducks down, all of them had smiles on their faces. After getting off the stage, their respective families hurriedly greeted them, the children of each family took over the chickens and ducks in their fathers' hands, and the mothers-in-law took over the silver taels in their husbands' hands, all of them with a look of honor.

Immediately afterwards, Pang Gang read out the rewards for each hundred households and officials, the original Lingshanwei hundred households Pang Gang did not incorporate them all into the regular soldiers, after all, they had touched the hoe for most of their lives, and they had long been familiar with the life of facing the loess with their backs to the sky, and Pang Gang simply let them manage various farms and factories and mines. This year, the wasteland of Lingshanwei has received a good harvest, and the factories and mines have also harvested a lot, and Pang Gang naturally rewarded them.

The most rewarded was Li Xian, the great butler of Lingshanwei, Pang Gang rewarded him with 1,000 taels of silver, and the other lilies were 500 taels of silver per person. What surprised Pang Gang was that one thousand taels of silver was less than one hundred catties in total, but it was not light, Pang Gang didn't expect Li Xian, an old man in his fifties, to put the silver into the bag and put it on his shoulders and walk off the rostrum without even taking a breath, which made Pang Gang amazed.

For those displaced people who have just fled, Pang Gang also gave them some rice noodles to each family, so that they will not celebrate the New Year on an empty stomach.

In the past year, the changes in various health centers in Qingzhou are obvious, whether it is Lingshanwei or Qianniuwei and Anton Wei, there have been profound changes compared with before.

The three guards were either farms or farms, or they were full of workshops and factories, where both the military families who came earlier and the displaced people who came later could live a stable life, and people were full of hope for the future......

When the sky began to darken, goose feathers began to snow in the sky again, and Pang Gang walked into the Dingguo General's Mansion with heavy steps. As soon as he stepped into the inner courtyard, he was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a red light floating everywhere in the inner courtyard, and countless people were happily shuttling around.

As soon as Pang Gang pushed open the door of the hall, everything in front of him surprised him, the hall was noisy, not only Pang Gang's six wives and concubines were in the hall, but even his two fathers-in-law Wei Tongnian, Rou Niang, Kong Wen, Kong Lin and others all gathered together, plus Kong Lin's wives and concubines and several children, there were nearly twenty people in total, and Xuan Xuan shouted and crowded the entire hall.

"The master is back." When Pang Gang walked into the hall, a warm current came to his face, Ling'er, the concubine and Qiao'er, hurriedly greeted him, one helped Pang Gang take off his coat and hat, and the other helped Pang Gang take off his thick official boots and put on light cloth boots.

Seeing Pang Gang's recovery, everyone greeted him one after another, even Wei Tongnian and Kong Wen's two fathers-in-law were no exception. Pang Gang walked to the middle and said to everyone with a smile: "What are you all talking about?" So lively? ”

Kong Wen, who was sitting next to Pang Gang, said with a smile: "It's nothing, everyone is congratulating Lord Wei on his promotion, but I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, Lord Wei was promoted to the governor of Shandong, which can really be described as a prosperous official fortune!" There was a hint of envy and stuttering in his tone.

It's no wonder that Kong Wen is cheesy, although he and Wei belong to Pang Gang Lao Taishan in the same year, and Kong Wen doesn't know how much more he has in the same year, but Wei was born as a scholar in the same year, and now he is an official to the governor, and his status is incomparable to Kong Wen's patting, so it is not surprising that Kong Wen's words are full of envy.

Pang Gang nodded and said, "That is, my father-in-law is honest and capable, so it is naturally not surprising that he can be promoted." ”

Wei Tongnian was blushing, he naturally knew how he came to be the governor, not to mention how much effort Pang Gang had exerted in it, how much silver he had used, if he could climb up by himself, not to mention, even if he could climb to this position, he didn't know how many years it would take.

Wei Tongnian waved his hand to change the topic and said, "Okay, since Chaodong is here, let's start." ”

With an order, the people who had been waiting for a long time brought up the wine and food, and after a while, two large tables were filled, and the men and women were divided into one table, and everyone began to eat lively.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Pang Gang stood up and said to Wei Tongnian: "Father-in-law, you are going to Jinan to take office after the New Year, and my son-in-law wishes you a prosperous journey and great ambitions!" ”

Wei Tongnian hurriedly stood up, and said with a guilty face: "Chaodong, speaking of which, the old man's position as governor is thanks to your maneuvering, otherwise even if it is another ten years, the old man will not know if he can sit in this position, if he is grateful, the old man will not say much, everything is in the wine, dry it!" ”

"Cheers!"

Everyone raised their glasses and drank all the wine in the glass, and as the wine went down, the atmosphere in the hall became more and more enthusiastic, and the hall was filled with bursts of laughter.

With the upsurge of wine, everyone also let go of the chatter, Pang Gang said to Wei Tongtong who was sitting on the left: "Father-in-law, you are ordered to go to Jinan to take office, it seems to be beautiful, but there are too many Bodhisattvas in Jinan, especially there is a big Buddha in it, you have to be careful!" ”

Wei Tongnian also nodded: "Why don't you know this old man, the most difficult thing to do in Jinan Mansion is probably King Lu, this big Buddha can't be scolded, don't even think about it, the old man is having a headache about this matter, if you can settle King Lu, Shandong's affairs will be much easier, does the virtuous son-in-law have any good ideas?" ”

Pang Gang shook his head, "King Lu's Mansion is a tyrant in Shandong, and the successive governors of Shandong have a headache for this, they have no choice, what can the son-in-law do." However, the son-in-law thinks that the two days of Jinan Mansion have been fifty percent under the name of King Lu's Mansion, although Jinan is the capital of Shandong, but the people there are the most bitter, you must be careful when you go, otherwise a bad one will cause a civil uprising, and then ......"

Speaking of this, everyone's faces couldn't help but show a sad color, because of Pang Gang's relationship, everyone here can be said to have become a family, and they have also formed a relationship of prosperity and vulnerability, so they are not afraid to say some words.

Kong Lin stuck out his tongue and said: "Originally, I just envied the prestige of being an official, but I didn't expect that being an official would also have so much trouble." ”

"That is, every family has a scripture that is difficult to read." Pang Gang shook his head and ignored Kong Lin, and said to Wei Tongnian: "Father-in-law, you have taken office this time, and your son-in-law has sent you two thousand soldiers to be responsible for your safety and listen to your dispatch. ”

Wei Tongnian said with a smile: "I didn't expect the old man's position as governor to be obtained by the virtuous son-in-law, and even the virtuous son-in-law also helped the old man arrange the things after taking office, the old man is really ashamed!" ”

Pang Gang smiled, "Father-in-law is polite, we are all a family, why do you bother to see outside?" Besides, you can gain a firm foothold in Jinan as soon as possible, and your son-in-law will have a backer! ”

Wei Tongnian pointed at Pang Gang and smiled helplessly, "Hehe, Chao Dong, you can really say this mouth." Wei Tongnian is indeed very grateful to Pang Gang, he understands that this is Pang Gang comforting himself, his son-in-law is now fledgling, and even the court has given him three points, where do you need your own backer. But if he can gain a firm foothold in Jinan, I think it can also help him in the future.

Thinking of this, Wei Tongnian also secretly made up his mind that he must take Jinan Mansion under control as soon as possible, at least not to drag his son-in-law back.

(To be continued)