Chapter 45: Rewards for meritorious deeds (Part 2)
As the voices of the people in front of the hall fell, Baishui County's merit-based reward ceremony for the annihilation of the bandits in Heifeng Village in the east of the city officially began. The master continued to speak loudly:
"The banditry in Heifengzhai has been plaguing this county for several years. All merchants, business travelers and pedestrians in this county have been harmed by it, which has caused great obstacles to the production and operation of this county. However, the bandits are extremely cunning, and the government has arrested them several times.
They only treated the symptoms but not the root cause, and could not find the location of the bandits. For this reason, Mr. Liu worked hard and strategized, and finally found the location of the bandits in Heifeng Village a few days ago. It was also three days ago that the government launched troops to suppress
It took half a day to finally catch all the bandits. Now, I am here to announce to you that all the bandits have been put to death, and the banditry in Heifeng Village has been completely eradicated! ".
As soon as the master finished speaking, the people of Baishui County who came to watch the ceremony burst into enthusiastic cheers and applause. Then the master also stroked his beard with one hand and looked at everyone with a smile on his face, without interrupting the enthusiastic mood of everyone for a moment.
After another while, the Master raised his hand slightly to signal everyone to calm down their emotions, and slowly his voice dropped, and then he said again:
"Please Mr. Liu to give a speech for today's events.", then turned to Liu Zhiming who was sitting behind him and bowed his hands. Liu Zhiming nodded slightly, adjusted his still extremely upright official hat, stood up and walked to the front of the hall to face everyone.
After standing still, he said slowly for a long time:
"Liu has been an official here for three years. He suffered from this banditry but waited until today to eliminate it. It is really a waste of time to read the book of a saint, and it is even more unworthy of the people of Baishui County."
As soon as these words were spoken, the master standing next to him quickly said: "My lord, you don't have to be like this..."
But as soon as he started speaking, Magistrate Liu raised his hand and interrupted him, making it difficult for him to continue. Then Magistrate Liu continued:
"Although the banditry has been eliminated today, the government has also suffered damage in the suppression of bandits. Among them, six good men from Baishui County generously volunteered for charity in Heifengzhai. In their good years, they devoted their blood to the battle of suppressing bandits. I Liu
Zhi Ming must remember them, and Baishui County must remember their efforts today. Here, on behalf of Baishui County, I pay tribute to the six heroes to comfort their souls in heaven."
After finishing his sonorous and powerful words, Magistrate Liu gave a solemn look to the front of the lobby and hugged his fist deeply. There was a solemn atmosphere in the lobby, but Chen Fan saw the sad look on the face of the old woman sitting on the row of chairs opposite.
It was even heavier, and there were even some soft sobs coming out.
"So these are the families of martyrs, no wonder..." Chen Fan suddenly realized.
After County Magistrate Liu stood up, he glanced seriously at the family members on his right who looked in pain, then turned to the master beside him and nodded, then turned back to the hall and sat down again.
The master no longer waited for this sad atmosphere to continue to ferment, and said loudly again:
"We will always remember these good men and women who sacrificed their lives for Baishui County. Then we will start the process of rewarding based on merit. The government will roughly divide the rewards into three levels based on the specific contribution to the suppression of bandits. I will read it below.
List." Master cleared his throat and continued:
"The first-class merit recipients are Meng Tiezhu and Sun Jinyuan. Among them, Meng Tiezhu and Sun Jinyuan each received a reward of 30 yuan. Meng Tiezhu joined the government as the deputy chief of the Yamen Command, and Sun Jinyuan received a vajra pestle. Do you have any objections?"
Chen Fan's eyes widened when he heard that he could be given 30 silver coins for first-class merit. However, he was still a little disappointed when he didn't hear his name. He murmured in his heart, "Who is this Sun Jinyuan? Could it be Sun Tiejiang?"
Just when Chen Fan was thinking wildly, he heard the master's last question and looked at the crowd. After a while, a voice came out from the crowd, "Sir, can you tell me the specific basis?"
The master stood under the lobby and replied with a smile: "Of course. Although Meng Tiezhu did not make much contribution to the specific suppression of bandits, the government was able to find the specific location of Heifeng Village only because of Brother Tiezhu, who
Breaking into Heifeng stronghold alone and leaving information for us was the key to the operation three days ago. It was also he who opened the stone gate of Heifeng stronghold to avoid greater casualties for us. He deserves first-class merit. And Sun
The blacksmith made great efforts in the battle against the bandits. He not only killed dozens of enemies, but also dragged out the bandit leader with one person's power, allowing Mr. Liu to take down the three leaders one by one. He deserves first-class merit. "
After hearing the master's explanation, everyone suddenly realized that Chen Fan finally understood that this injured young man had played the role of Infernal Affairs in Heifeng Village, and also learned that the real name of the owner of the blacksmith shop was Sun Jinyuan.
Seeing that everyone had no objections for the time being, he continued: "Since there are no objections, let's invite you two to come to the hall to receive the award."
I saw both the young man and Sun Tiejiang stood up from their chairs, came to the middle of the lobby, gave Magistrate Liu a respectful fist-cup, and then stood still. Magistrate Liu nodded slightly as a reply, and then two government officials parted with the silver reward.
It was handed to the two first-class merit winners.
The master above interjected: "Tiejiang Sun, I will find someone to send that vajra to your blacksmith shop along with your previous weapons later, can you?"
Tiejiang Sun, who was originally smiling, suddenly became frowning, and then said:
"I said, Master, why do you still have the weapon I had before? Isn't my ax broken? It has been taken back."
The master's expression remained unchanged and he said: "You are such a noble person and forgetful about things. Didn't the government even rent you a few weapons?"
Tiejiang Sun was a little anxious, "Didn't we agree to buy it? Why did we rent it? Master."
"Oh, it seems that you have really forgotten. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. Xiao Li, go to the back hall and bring the note written by Sun Tiejiang to show him." The master is still lukewarm.
"Ahem, cough, cough, no, no, no, I seem to have remembered." Tiejiang Sun quickly stopped him.
"It's okay, just remember it. How about you go back to your seats first? There are still procedures to go through.", the master said calmly.
But Tiejiang Sun shouted directly to Magistrate Liu:
"Sir, didn't you promise me a condition for me to join this bandit suppression?"
The people in the hall replied: "Yes, tell me, what are your conditions?"
Tiejiang Sun looked happy and said quickly:
"Aren't we, the Baishui County Government, always purchasing weapons from outside? Selecting, purchasing, and transporting them actually costs a lot of time and money, which is really not in line with the adults' policy of increasing revenue and reducing expenditures. So, the villain wants to be able to do this in Baishui."
If the county finds a stable weapons supplier, it will reduce a lot of expenditures at once. And I have been working in Baishui County for many years, so I have some experience. I am willing to contribute to you and the brothers of Baishui County.
!"
"Well, what you said makes sense." After hearing what Tiejiang Sun said, Magistrate Liu said slowly.
The smile on Sun Tiejiang's face became even stronger. When he continued to say something, Magistrate Liu continued:
"Of course, this matter is of great concern and needs to be discussed in a long-term manner and the head is high!"
"Yes, my lord.", the stocky yamen servant replied.
"It's your responsibility to discuss this matter with Tiejiang Sun. Don't be careless, especially don't let Tiejiang Sun suffer a loss." County Magistrate Liu said seriously.
"Yes, sir!" After Gao Yamen finished speaking, he gave Sun Tiejiang a meaningful look.
"No, my lord, what is this??" Sun Tiejiang wanted to say more. Magistrate Liu interrupted him again:
"Let's see, Master, let's just buy the weapons that we rented from Blacksmith Sun last time to show the government's sincerity. Of course, the vajra pestle must be sent to Blacksmith Sun. I saw it was of high quality.
If it can interrupt something made by Blacksmith Sun, it must be something extraordinary, and it is perfect for being used as a handy weapon."
"Yes, sir!", the master replied with his hands raised.
After what he said, Sun Tiejiang blushed and said nothing for a while. Seeing Sun Tiejiang's face change as unpredictable as flipping through a book, coupled with this skit-like dialogue, Chen Fan felt so happy, if he hadn't still been in the lobby
Above, I couldn't help but laugh.
"You are so poor in the quality of weapons that you still want to be a long-term supplier to the government, hahahaha... This County Magistrate Liu is a wonderful man, nothing can be compared with a procrastination!"
When the young man and Sun Tiejiang returned to their seats, the master spoke again:
"The second-class merit recipients are Fan Ye, Li Tie, Wang Lei... the six officers and soldiers who sacrificed their lives for this bandit suppression. Fan Ye will be rewarded with 20 silver coins. Since he is not from Baishui County, he will be given to Baishui County.
A letter of recommendation. As for the six martyrs, they were rewarded with 50 silver coins. If there were old people, wives and children, the government would issue another 2 silver coins every month. Fan Ye injured dozens of enemies in this bandit suppression and killed Heifeng Village.
The second leader should be remembered for second-class merit, do you have any objections?"
A passerby from Baishui County said: "He was the one who killed the second master of Heifeng Village."
Passerby B from Baishui County said: "Sure enough, a hero comes from a young age. It's not easy."
"..."
Listening to everyone talking, Chen Fan secretly thought that something was wrong. As expected, a cold snort came from Tiejiang Sun beside him, and Chen Fan did not dare to express his anger.
His "achievements" were outstanding. Of course, the onlookers did not know the reality. The government officials who participated in the battle also saw that Chen Fan was harvesting ordinary thieves like a god descending from the earth. Naturally, they had no objections. After everyone had no objections, Chen Fan
Fan and the six representatives of the martyrs' families received the awards and followed the example of the two first-class merit recipients, clasping their fists and saluting.
After putting the silver coins into his backpack, he opened the letter. The content was nothing more than an official description of his help in suppressing bandits in Baishui County, and then thanks. The final signature had an official seal and nothing else. Chen Fan also muttered in his heart,
I got a letter in Chaoyang Village, and now I have another one. I don't know what it can be used for. However, the letter in Chaoyang Village has no seal, it is just a handwritten letter from Old Man Huang.
While he was studying the use of the letter, the master announced the recipients of the third-class merit. There were many third-class merit recipients. Basically, those who participated in the suppression of bandits were among them, including those who worked outside to suppress the bandits. One person
The reward is 10 silver coins. Although there are no other prizes, it is still very generous compared to the 8 silver coins I received as a high-level warrior in the beginning.
"Thank you all for your hard work. I hope that Baishui County will have good weather from now on, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, so that Baishui County will get better and better tomorrow..." Master finally delivered a long concluding speech, and County Magistrate Liu waited until the end.
He didn't speak again, but before leaving, he called the young man Meng Tiezhu and the master to follow him into the back hall.
Baishui County's merit-based reward meeting has come to an end, and Chen Fan followed everyone in Baishui County and walked out of the county government office.