I listened to Yan Shiyi finish talking about these past events, and sighed deeply, "Brother Yan, I didn't expect you to be so wronged......"

Yan Shiyi looked at Bai Ling'er beside him and sighed: "It's all in the past, don't mention it." ”

I nodded and asked Bai Ling'er, "Sister Bai, presumably the one who served Brother Yan the wine is you, sister, right?" ”

Bai Ling'er bowed slightly at me, "Back to Young Master Fusheng, that woman is a slave." ”

"You and Brother Yan just met in Pingshui," I looked at her and asked in surprise, "But why do you want to serve him a bowl of Linxing wine?" ”

Bai Ling'er said: "Actually, on the day of Brother Yan's execution, it was the first time I met him, but ......"

Bai Ling'er was silent for a long time, looked at Yan Shiyi, and finally said a word.

"Brother Yan is as kind to my family as a mountain, and it is difficult for the slave family to repay even if he accompanies his life!"

As soon as this sentence was uttered, it surprised all of us!

Grace as a mountain?

This person who has never met is as gracious as a mountain, which is really unheard of.

I hurriedly asked, "Please also ask Sister Bai to solve my doubts for us, what is the matter with this grace like a mountain?" ”

Bai Ling'er paced a few steps, her eyes fell on the calm and dark surface of the Wuyu Sea, and seemed to fall into a distant memory, "Then it has to start from half a year before the siege of Wushuo......"

Half a year before the siege of Wusuo, it was March of the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty, which was the time of spring.

In this season, when the ice and snow melt and everything recovers, Nambu is the time when spring ploughing begins.

Bai Ling'er lost his mother at an early age, his father's name was Bai Ruowen, who was the lord of Nanwu County at that time, it was the most difficult year for the Qing court to encircle and suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, many men in the township were recruited by the Hunan army, and the men became more and more scarce, and the lack of manpower was even worse.

The so-called spring ploughing and summer flooding, Nanwu is located in the lower reaches of the Ting River, in previous years, there were often floods, now the cultivation is insufficient, once the summer flood is encountered, I am afraid that in the autumn even the grain of the previous year can not be harvested, then not only the tax will drop sharply, and even the famine that has not been encountered for decades is very likely.

After thinking about it, Bai Ruowen still reported the relevant facts to the county magistrate Shen Yutian, Shen Yutian heard Bai Ruowen mention the expectation of a sharp reduction in government taxes, and he was also frowning, and he was worried about his bleak future, but he was afraid that there would be no chance of promotion and fortune in the future.

At this time, a person next to him said a word, which surprised everyone present.

I only heard this person say: "Your Excellency does not need to worry, the subordinate has a clever plan to solve the current problem." ”

Bai Ruowen took a closer look, and saw that this person was Zhang Shilang, the canonical history of Nanwu County, who was in charge of the criminal prison in Nanwu County, and it stands to reason that he had nothing to do with matters such as grain collection and taxation, so his exit made Bai Ruowen very surprised.

At this time, I heard Shen Yutian hurriedly ask, "Oh? Zhang Dianshi, you have a clever plan, so let's listen to it. ”

Zhang Shilang said with a smile: "What adults are worried about is nothing more than the lack of people, there is no difficulty, I can immediately conjure up five hundred men for adults." ”

Shen Yutian was surprised when he heard this, and asked, "Could it be that you have learned the spell of sprinkling beans into soldiers, and you want to conjure these five hundred men for this official." ”

When Zhang Shilang heard this, he hurriedly said: "My lord is really joking, how can the lower official have such a strange spell, the lower official is talking about the five hundred strong men imprisoned in our Nanwu prison!" ”

Shen Yutian was still a little confused when he heard this, but Bai Ruowen understood.

In recent years, the Taiping army has become more and more declining, and there are many people who have been scattered during several defeats, and there are many defeated soldiers who followed back then, because they did not dare to make a noise because they cut their braids, and they had to shave their heads and return to their hometowns for fear of being questioned by the government.

When Nanwu County cleared the township last year, many unidentified men with bare heads were arrested one after another, and some mountain people who crossed the border were arrested as long as they were bareheaded, and more and more were arrested, and now I heard that nearly 500 people have been detained in the Nanwu County prison, and some people are really overcrowded.

The meaning of this Zhang Shilang couldn't be clearer, he wanted to temporarily borrow the five hundred strong men imprisoned in this prison, which could be regarded as increasing the number of people.

Shen Yutian thought for a while and figured it out, but his face sank, and he waved his hand and said: "This matter must not be allowed, now Shangfeng has already ordered that these suspicious people should be re-investigated and dealt with, and they should not be released without authorization." ”

Zhang Shilang's eyes purred, and he said with a smile: "Actually, most of these suspects are out-of-town refugees, how can they have so many long hairs......

He approached Shen Yutian and whispered in his ear for a long time.

"So ......"

Bai Ruowen saw this Shen Yutian glancing at himself, his eyes were a little strange, he couldn't understand it for a while, and he was a little puzzled in his heart, but he could only stand aside without saying a word.

After a while, Shen Yutian paced down the hall, took Bai Ruowen's hand and said, "Master Bai, you just mentioned the shortage of manpower for spring ploughing, and this official is also anxious!" ”

Bai Ruowen said: "It is a blessing for the people that adults can understand the people's feelings!" ”

"That's it," Shen Yutian said very earnestly, "This official handed over these five hundred suspects to you to arrange farming, do you think it's okay?" ”

"It's good that the arrangement of the adults is good," Bai Ruowen nodded and said, "But these people are all suspects after all, how should this care be arranged?" ”

Zhang Shilang on the side spoke at this time, "Hey, Bai Zhubo, you are too worried, I will immediately arrange ten township soldiers to help you, won't this matter be solved?" ”

Bai Ruowen was about to open his mouth to ask again, but Zhang Shilang preemptively said: "These five hundred people will be arranged by you during the day, you only need to bear the duty of supervision, and then you will escort these people back to the prison and hand them over to me at night, wouldn't it be good!" ”

Bai Ruowen thought about it and felt that there was some truth, but he felt a little uneasy, he didn't know what was wrong, he just felt a little weird, and he was silent for a while.

When Shen Yutian saw his appearance, he hurriedly said: "Bai Zhubo, you see that this person has a lot of hands, and the current spring ploughing will be much faster!" You have done a great job for the people! ”

Zhang Shilang also echoed: "That's it! At that time, adults should also report to the peak to commend it! ”

Bai Ruowen listened to these beautiful words, and it was difficult to postpone it, so he had to accept it first.

On the second day, Zhang Shilang really allocated ten township soldiers to Bai Ruowen, and Bai Ruowen took the 500 people detained in the prison to work in the fields, and these township soldiers were guarding everywhere, so they were also stable.

These 500 strong men have been imprisoned in the prison for more than half a year, and now they are also very happy to be able to come out for activities, and they are also working hard in the fields, and the progress of spring plowing has been accelerated a lot for a while.

In less than two months, the spring ploughing was about to end, and at this time a problem emerged.

This problem is not big or small, but Bai Ruowen never thought that this problem would arise before.

The question is, how will the wages of these 500 suspects be paid?

In this world, how can there be a worker who does not pay for work?

If you don't give money, I'm afraid that there will be a mess!