Liu Jun sent two generals, Zhang Shan and Cai Yuan, to lead the elite of Shandong and Huguang towns into Henan, but it was not just to exterminate the bandits.

Henan is the center of the world, and Liu Jun is bound to control Henan. The Chu army not only wanted to exterminate the bandits, but also took the opportunity to enter Henan in one fell swoop and control Henan.

The military is always in the service of politics.

Although Xiangcheng is only a small city, it is the first city occupied by the bandits recovered by the Chu army, so the Chu army has to make a good start and set up good rules.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the current affairs are difficult, the court and the local government need to work together, as the local people of Xiangcheng, you need your leadership more and more at this time." Zhang Shan flicked the cigarette ash, and then motioned to his adjutant to bring a document and distribute it to the invited gentlemen and businessmen one by one.

The most important thing after the war is to rebuild, restore order, and resume production.

"The immediate priority is to start spring planting immediately to ensure this year's harvest. However, the bandits occupied Xiangcheng for half a year, causing great harm to Xiangcheng, many people were displaced, their houses were destroyed, their cattle were taken away, and they did not even have food rations. Xiangcheng is an agricultural county, with many plains and a lot of arable land, as far as I know, there are 800,000 acres of farmland, which is very considerable. If spring ploughing can be resumed and this year's summer harvest can be guaranteed, it will not only solve the annual rations of the people of Xiangcheng, but also provide a lot of food for the imperial court. ”

It is now February, the day of the beginning of spring ploughing, but although there are many fields in Xiangcheng, there are still many difficulties in resuming production. First of all, many people were lost, many people were forcibly requisitioned by bandits, many fled the famine, and many were left with nothing in the war.

The houses in the villages and towns of Xiangcheng were damaged, the water conservancy was in disrepair, and the number of ploughing cattle was greatly reduced.

If Zhang Shan wants to restore the spring ploughing in Xiangcheng, he must first restore order. Then we have to let the people of Xiangcheng have food to eat and settle down first. The Chu army did not lack military rations, and it had its own reserves. But it is impossible for the Chu army to use the military food reserves to relieve the people, after all, it can help Xiangcheng, but what about other places?

The best way to do this is to requisition food from the rich on the spot. These wealthy men were forced to hand over a lot of grain during the occupation of the bandits. But they still have a lot of food in their homes.

Chen Guan even inquired clearly, and even knew how many stones each family had in stock. The papers that Zhang Shan asked the adjutant to send down just now were the grain stocks of each family.

According to the grain storage situation of each family, Zhang Shan then left enough rations for each family for half a year, and the rest of the grain was requisitioned.

"These grains were requisitioned by the government, and all of them were paid in silver dollar coupons, and they were requisitioned at the price of two silver dollars per stone of rice." After Zhang Shan finished speaking, there were already guards carrying a few large boxes.

The box opens. Inside was a wad of silver dollar coupons, all brand new. This was all ordered by Liu Jun to prepare for the army attacking Henan. Liu Jun asked Sihai Bank to prepare a full 20 million silver dollar coupons for the Chu army that had entered Henan to suppress bandits, which was used to restore Henan and control the situation.

"Zhao Gui, collect 3,000 stones of grain and pay 6,000 silver dollar coupons!" The adjutant was holding a booklet in his hand. shouted according to the name on it.

"Zhao Yuanwai, please come forward and receive the money."

Zhao Gui is in his fifties. Wearing a top hat and a satin shirt, he is a big family in Xiangcheng, and he has a reputation for making meritorious contributions, and his son is still a jinshi and an official outside. The Zhao family is a big family in Xiangcheng. It has thousands of acres of fertile land and many shops. When Wang Jie occupied Xiangcheng, he was forcibly requisitioned a lot of grain, but he didn't expect that now the official army is coming. and to levy grain again.

One stone of grain and two oceans, this price is actually not high. Now is the time when the green and yellow are not harvested, even if the grain price is extremely high in normal years, let alone in Henan, in such a time of war. Now a stone of rice bran in Xiangcheng can be sold for a silver dollar, let alone rice?

Besides, Zhao Gui is not short of money, what is the use of silver dollars these days, you can't eat when you're hungry, you can't warm up when you're cold. Besides, the officers and soldiers still paid for silver dollar coupons, which were pieces of paper. Although it is said that silver dollar coupons can be exchanged for silver dollars at any time in Kaifeng or the branches of banks in Luoyang and Xuzhou, Zhao Gui still feels that in this troubled world, the grain in the warehouse is more worthy of reliability.

The adjutant shouted twice, but Zhao Gui didn't move.

He walked to the side of the cash box and took out six bundles of silver dollar bills, which were silver dollar bills with a denomination of ten yuan, one hundred in each bundle, a bundle of one thousand dollars, and six bundles were six thousand dollars.

"Zhao Yuanwai, you order, six thousand silver dollar coupons."

Zhao Gui looked at the silver dollar coupon in front of him, and his face was ugly. 6,000 silver dollar coupons, at the current price of land in Xiangcheng, can buy 300 acres of good land. But he didn't want to take this money at all, and if he took it, the family's 3,000 stone grain would be gone.

"I can't take this money." Zhao Gui finally spoke, but as soon as he spoke, he refused.

Zhang Shan took a sharp puff of cigarette, then puffed out a puff of smoke, and said slowly, "Zhao Yuanwai, you mean that you don't plan to sell us the grain?" ”

"Please forgive me, our family simply doesn't have so much surplus food."

"Huh."

Zhang Shan smiled, waved his hand, and asked the adjutant to step back.

Since Zhao Yuanwai said no, then Ben Shuai believes that there is none. Well, it seems that Ben Shuai understands it wrongly, but it doesn't matter, everyone will be fine if they make it clear. ”

Zhao Gui was surprised, he was ready to have some blood, but he didn't expect that there would be thunder and rain.

Next, other families naturally followed suit, saying that their families had no surplus food. Zhang Shan was very polite to these people, saying no, then no.

Finally, let everyone go.

"Dashuai, just let them go?" Chen Guan was surprised, "The information provided by the subordinates is absolutely accurate, and I even know where their respective families have stored their grain. ”

"Xiao Chen, Ben Shuai is not suspicious of your intelligence. Well, there's no hurry. These people always think that we are easy to deal with, let's salute first and then soldiers, since they toast and don't eat, then we can only invite them to eat and drink first. ”

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Shan's face had already changed to a murderous face, "When the bandits occupied, didn't they all pay grain very enthusiastically, since these people would rather pay grain to the bandits than buy grain for the imperial court, what kind of behavior is that?" That's a bandit, that's a big crime, and since we've committed a crime, we'll do it according to the law. ”

Chen Guan took a breath of cold air, and then he felt the fierceness in Zhang Shan's words.

But when I think about it, I feel very relieved. Since these gentlemen and businessmen are shameless, there is no need to be polite to them anymore.

"Whoever is a bandit, take it all."

At the sound of an order, the Chu army immediately set out.

Not long after Zhao Guigang returned home, he asked his family to serve tea.

"Dad, we don't give any food. I'm afraid it's not right. When the bandits requisitioned grain, our family gave us a thousand stones. Zhao Gui's second son is also a lifter, and his heart is full of worries when he comes back.

"An official is an official, and a bandit is a bandit. Those bandits don't talk about the king's law, and we can only give grain if they want to collect it, and if they don't give it, they will be robbed and killed. But the officials and the army are different, the officials and the army can't mess around, they are under the control of the king's law. What's more, this is still the Chu army. The Chu army is the most discipline-oriented, and has never allowed to mess around, let alone oppress the people and forcibly seize property. As long as we don't sell, they can't force them to buy. Zhao Gui said with a smug face, this can be regarded as a deception.

It's just that as soon as his words fell, there was a noise outside, and then the butler ran in in a panic with his head covered.

"Master, it's not good. Officers and soldiers came in. ”

"What?" Zhao Gui was shocked.

As footsteps sounded, a team of Chu troops broke in.

"Zhao Yuanwai. We meet again. ”

"Adjutant Wang, what do you mean by that?"

Adjutant Wang took out a piece of paper, "Zhao Yuanwai, now it is found out that you colluded with bandits and committed the crime of gangsters." The facts have been ascertained, the evidence is conclusive, and Wang was specially ordered to come to get people. Someone came, took Zhao Yuanwai's father and son away, and sealed the Zhao family. ”

"Adjutant Wang. This is a false accusation, and I, Zhao, have no bandits. ”

It's a pity that Adjutant Wang didn't have time to pay attention to him anymore, and a team of Chu troops came up, pressed Zhao Gui and his son to the ground in three or two blows, tied them up and took them away.

The Zhao family's house was seized, and then the Zhao family's shops and warehouses were seized. The Zhao family's thousands of stone grain were also confiscated as soon as possible.

When the news came out, the entire Xiangcheng was shocked.

Those Xiangcheng gentlemen who had previously thought that Zhang Shan was easy to talk and that the Chu army was easy to deal with were all frightened. Without waiting for the Chu army to come to the door, they all hurried to Zhangshan again.

"My family is willing to sell 1,000 stone of grain to the officers and soldiers, and is willing to help pay 3,000 silver dollars."

"I am also willing to sell a thousand stone of grain to the officers and soldiers."

The gentry and merchants in Xiangcheng were enthusiastic about selling grain and helping them with their salaries.

Zhang Shan just smiled at the panicked guys in the hall.

"It's good if you have this heart, let's go according to the previous requisitioned amount, and keep the excess for yourself. In addition, the matter of helping, there is labor to worry about, we do not accept donations for the time being, but Xiangcheng after the war, it also requires a lot of expenses, if you have a heart, you may wish to donate some silver dollars to the county. ”

In the end, the Chu army requisitioned tens of thousands of stone grain from Xiangcheng, and the grain in Xiangcheng basically went to the Chu army, and each household only kept rations. In addition, those seized from the thief army, those confiscated from the Zhao family, and tens of thousands of stones.

Those captured and confiscated, were finally included in the Chu army. But of the tens of thousands of stones requisitioned, Zhang Shan did not embezzle a stone, and all of them were reserved for Xiangcheng.

Zhang Shan appointed Chen Guan as the acting magistrate of Xiangcheng, the head of the county security regiment and the head of the militia, and the grain requisitioned by tens of thousands of stones was stored in the granary, and Chen Guan was in charge.

With this food, Chen Guan, the temporary magistrate of the county, first selected some young and strong people in the county, organized a security regiment, and then let the urban and rural areas implement the armor protection system, and let the people establish militia teams to strengthen local law and order.

For the displaced people in Xiangcheng County, people were sent to start cleaning up and registering, and at the same time, those fields were cleaned up, and those who had owners were naturally thrown back to their original owners, and those who fled to other places or died, were registered by the county and distributed to those displaced people from outside to cultivate.

"Because of the lack of ploughing cattle and farm tools, I plan to organize the people to cultivate in a unified manner, assist each other, and repair water conservancy facilities together, and strive to do as well as possible in spring ploughing, without abandoning an acre of land."

"Everyone farms together, and before the summer harvest, the county warehouse borrows grain from the people, and provides them with rented cattle, farm tools, seeds, etc., and after the summer harvest, when there is a harvest, the people will repay the cost of these loaned grains and seeds."

Chen Guan reported his plan to Zhang Shan.

"It's a very good plan, and it will be very easy to do it with food, but you can think of this kind of plan for unified spring ploughing, and even unified repair of water conservancy facilities, which is very good. The people have to be organized with the help of the government, otherwise it will be difficult to be efficient. I would also like to put forward a few opinions, one of which is that we must do a good job in clearing and registering the fields and acres, and we must not allow the local gentry to take the opportunity to annex the fields. Second, don't let the fields where the owners have fled to the outside be wasted, let the displaced people plant them first, and if they come back, then return the fields to the original owners after the harvest of the season. Third, the grain requisitioned this time cost tens of thousands of silver dollars, which must be recorded in the county account, and now we pay the grain money on our behalf, and the county will have to return this grain money to us in the future. There is another one, now that there is food, it cannot be simply distributed to the people, it is necessary to organize them to repair the city and water conservancy facilities, let them repair spring ploughing, and the grain can be given once a day, or once every two or three days, and cannot be distributed all at once, understand? ”

"There are still many months left until the summer harvest, and this grain is the grain stored in the entire Xiangcheng County, so you have to keep it. Make good use of this grain, stabilize the order of Xiangcheng, and restore production. ”

"My subordinates understand." Chen Guan nodded seriously.

"And remember to tell the people that this grain is not given to them for free, it is a temporary loan, and it will have to be returned after the summer harvest and autumn harvest."

"Those displaced people from other places, depending on the situation, can also be resettled in this county."

On the same day, later on, Chen Guan officially took office as the acting magistrate. Most of the chief bookkeepers, county officials, and wardens of Xiangcheng County were the original county officials, and some were temporarily recruited by the county's talents, plus some young people recruited, and a new Xiangcheng County government official team was formed.

The new county team, with tens of thousands of stone grain and 3,000 silver dollar coupons donated by the squires, was full of confidence. The first thing Chen Guan did when he took office was to recruit a security corps of 200 people, and recruit all three classes of officials, and then give them a month's salary in advance.

Then the population and fields began to be registered, and the restoration of water conservancy began to be organized, and collective spring ploughing began. Those rich landlords also began to be busy with spring ploughing.

Before leaving, Zhang Shan finally convened the new team in the county and the representatives of the gentry and the common people to hold a meeting together.

At the meeting, Zhang Shan announced an order from the imperial court.

"The latest decree of the imperial court, rent reduction and interest reduction are implemented in all parts of the world!"

"According to the latest order of the imperial court, starting from the first year of Longwu, the tenant rent of all fields shall not exceed thirty and a half of the excess of the land. If the debtor has paid more than twice the original interest, the principal and interest will be stopped, and the original loan relationship will be deemed to be cleared. This year, all private loans shall not exceed one and a half cents, that is, an annual interest rate of 18 percent. (To be continued.) )