Zhang Meng lay down and continued to think: "This bastard Cao Mengde, forget it about sleeping once secretly, but it's addicted to sleep, and the military camp and battlefield don't care about it, throw it aside, and concentrate on sleeping with other people's aunts······ I, Zhang Meng, traveled to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to come over, the purpose is to do a great career, things have just started, you must be cautious, Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, these bastard mistakes, must not be made! ”

Zhang Meng thought about it for a night, and after breakfast the next day, he came to the yamen to deal with the surrender.

Nan'an County has eight subordinate counties, and the management ground is quite large, but the population within the jurisdiction is not large, which is more than 100,000 people when you count them together.

There were more than 5,000 defenders and civilian management personnel in Anding City, including 4,500 soldiers and more than 500 civilian personnel at all levels.

When Zhang Meng saw it, he felt that there were too many soldiers, so he said to Cui Liang: "Anding County has a total population of more than 100,000 people, and there are more than 5,000 soldier managers, and there is basically one soldier in twenty people.

Now there is basically no war here, and in peacetime, there is no need for so many soldiers.

Raising so many soldiers excessively increases the burden on the people, not counting the garrison soldiers in each county, I'm afraid that each county also has two or three hundred garrison soldiers and civilian personnel, right?

No, no, this can't work, the burden on the people is too heavy, and in the long run, the people will be miserable. There is no way, we must streamline the government. ”

Cui Meng listened, nodded again and again, and asked again: "Commander, what is the elite army and simple administration?" How to understand? ”

Zhang Meng explained to him, Cui Meng listened, nodded yes again and again, and asked how to proceed.

Zhang Meng replied: "How to proceed is handled at the discretion of your yamen, and I will not participate in specific matters."

One thing is that I can solve the problem of streamlining the army for you myself.

So let's leave an adjutant general here to preside over the military and law and order. The army is to be arranged with flowers—the soldiers I brought with me, leave 500 men, and mix with your original 1,500 soldiers here to form a garrison of 2,000 men.

The remaining 3,000 garrison soldiers were streamlined, and 2,000 were taken by me to the old camp to join the field troops. ”

As soon as Zhang Meng said this, the matter was decided, and after staying for five days, after everything was dealt with, Zhang Meng instructed Cui to forgive, and then he had to lead the troops to leave Anding City and prepare to go back to the old camp.

At this time, Zhang Meng was standing in the hall of the yamen, and when he had already packed up and was about to go out to march, Cui Liang came over and grabbed Zhang Meng and whispered: "General, you are going back to the old camp, and your subordinates are really reluctant to let you leave." I have a few more important words to say to you, please move over here. Cui Liang said and stretched out his hand to invite Zhang Meng to the secret room next to the yamen.

After entering the door, Cui Liang led Zhang Meng to a case.

When Zhang Meng looked at it, he saw a large wooden plate on the top of the case, and I don't know what was piled up in the plate, bulging high, like a small mountain bag, and the mountain bag was covered with a layer of yellow cloth.

Seeing Zhang Meng standing still, Cui Liang took a step over, stretched out his two hands, and lifted the cover, only to see that the plate was full of dozens of yellow and shiny gold ingots.

This was the first time Zhang Meng had seen so much gold, and he immediately stared at this gold mountain with wide eyes and admired it.

Cui Liang saw it, and hurriedly spoke: "Lord General, it is not easy for you to come to Anding City once, and now you have to go back, I think about it, there is nothing to honor your old man, fortunately, in the past few years, the entire yamen has accumulated these thousands of taels of gold, so let's do it, your old man is not too polite, just give his subordinates face, accept it, this is to honor you personally." As for the grain and straw tasks assigned to us in Anding County, our county will definitely complete it on time. ”

After listening to this, Zhang Meng didn't squeak, he was still carefully admiring this pile of gold ingots, and he had seen enough of it, and then he replied: "Cui Taishou, to be honest, you are stable and thin, and the annual imperial grain and national tax task is not light, where did you loot so much gold and silver." Hehehehehe. ”

"Hey, Lord, it's hard to put into words. This bit of gold and silver, in addition to the filial piety of the lower-level officials, is also the gifts from foreign merchants from the city.

As for looting the people, alas, that's no such thing, the people here are poor, they can't have enough food and clothing, how to loot?

Of course, there are also bribes received by some wealthy and local ruffians and bullies in lawsuits. As for the looting of the people, the lower officials assured that there was basically no such thing. ”

Zhang Meng listened, smiled slightly, and stopped speaking. After a pause, he asked, "Are these thousands of taels of gold for me?" ”

"yes? It is all the people of Anding County who respect your old man's home. ”

Hearing the words "Filial piety to your old man", Zhang Meng was happy and funny, so he laughed a few times and said, "Cui Taishou, to be honest, thank you for your loyalty and kindness." However, I am a military person, and on the battlefield, it is inconvenient to carry so much gold and silver. ”

When Cui Liang heard this, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Lord General, this is easy to do, this is easy to do." Where are your dependents from? Is it in the south of Hanzhong, isn't it? You can go back to the old camp with confidence. It's okay, after you leave, I'll send someone to deliver this gift to your hometown. ”

Cui Liang said this, paused slightly, and said: "However, I have to ask you to tell Ling Zun's name and number below, so that I can deliver it in time." ”

Zhang Meng listened, and said with a smile: "That's not necessary." In this way, I will accept half of these ingots, and you will hand them over to my accompanying deputy general Cao Wang, and ask him to bring them back to the old camp of our army and hand them over to the public for later use. Half of it was left in the Yamen of Anding County for later use. Well, that's it. You can arrange it. ”

After Zhang Meng finished speaking, he raised his legs and went out, turned around and told Cui Liang: "Hurry up and deal with it, I want to be in a hurry to get on the road!"

At this time, Cui Liang was the only one left in the room, looking at the pile of gold ingots stupidly, looking at it for a while, and doing as Zhang Meng instructed.

Zhang Meng took Ma San'er and his entourage of guards out of the Yamen of Anding County, and came to the school field in front, only to see that more than 60 carts loaded with grain and grass had been lined up, and 2,000 soldiers had been lined up on both sides of the carts, and the whole team was very majestic.

At this time, the sun is rising, and the mountains outside the city are reflected in the morning sun in a golden color, which sets off the deep blue of the sky, and the more you discover, the more you find the world and the more magnificent.

In the early autumn morning on the plateau, the sky was high and crisp, Zhang Meng took a deep breath of fresh air after watching his team, turned his face and ordered: "Scout come!" ”

A few scouts who were waiting in the distance listened, ran over and bowed down and asked, "What does the general command?" ”