If it weren't for a coincidence, Gu Dashou, the brigade commander of the 4th Wild Wolf Brigade of Shanwei Guards, was returning from studying in Longyuan and wanted to go to the military warehouse to see what he could bring.
Not just a little bit of stuff, but the entire warehouse will be wiped out.
You know, what is stored in this warehouse is a full two-month supply of materials for the more than 200,000 troops stationed in Qingzhou by the Chinese Army. The value alone is nearly 10 million taels.
Although this ten million is nothing to China, and it is a heavy loss. But once the supplies are gone, if you want to refocus, you don't know how much time and manpower it will take.
After such a big thing happened, Zeng Tong could no longer turn a blind eye. He went to the warehouse first and saw that the fire was extinguished by Brigadier Gu Dashou and the others, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he returned home and told Tang Ao
He sent a letter of apology and then called Yang Guozhong, asking him to immediately send someone to investigate the matter in detail to find out who set the fire and what his motives were. He must be arrested and severely interrogated.
Yang Guozhong also looked very angry. He also apologized first, saying that as the magistrate of Suzhou, he was responsible. Then he took people to investigate.
This investigation took another two days. When there was no news from him, Tang Ao's reply arrived first.
Zeng Tong could be said to have turned pale after reading Tang Ao's reply, with big beads of sweat falling from his face. From this letter, he felt that he had underestimated this matter.
According to what Tang Ao said in his reply, there are people blocking the state government office, why don't they take it seriously? What should be done is to immediately send someone to investigate and handle this matter. Have a conversation with the relevant personnel, and then everyone can sit together and think about it.
How to solve the problem instead of just ignoring it.
If officials don't care about something, what else should they do?
Officials are here to solve things. If you don't have this ability, then just do whatever you should do. In short, don't be an official.
Also, the arms warehouse was burned, which is not a small matter. Even if the people have some complaints and dissatisfaction, they will not burn the arms warehouse. It is definitely a serious crime of beheading, and they will not know the reason.
There can only be one, there has always been a black hand behind this matter, and if this black hand cannot be caught, the problem cannot be solved.
At the end of the letter, Tang Ao said that he had rushed to Lancheng, but the matter still needed to be kept secret. At the same time, he also hoped that the matter could be resolved before he arrived.
...
Xingcheng.
Tang Ao has indeed made preparations to return to Lancheng.
Just the day before yesterday, Shangdu City was also captured by the combined efforts of the First Firearms Brigade and the Fourth Field Army.
After it was confirmed that there were no reinforcements, the will of resistance in the city was greatly reduced. When the soldiers of the Fourth Army boarded the tower under the cover of artillery and entered the city, Lu Jiangling, the former Qingzhou commander-in-chief, committed suicide at home.
The black dragon flag of the Great Chinese Army was finally planted on the city tower of Shangdu City. At this point, except for the plateau area bordering Zangzhou in the west of Qingzhou, other large and small counties, prefectures, cities, counties and villages and towns are under the actual control of the Great Chinese Army.
middle.
Even Cui Ke, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of Qingzhou who had been staying in Guizhou, left Qingzhou and returned to Daliang City after seeing that the situation was not good. Then the next thing for the Dahua Army is to stabilize the situation here, consolidate and digest it.
Fruit. At this time, Tang Ao's stay here has no effect, so it is better to return to Suzhou to settle the matters in the rear. Then, mobilize supplies and troops to enter Qingzhou, preparing to continue going south.
Tang Ao was leaving because there was no combat mission this time. He only took five hundred Han generals with him, and the other generals naturally came to see him off.
Among the people seeing off, the division commander Zhou Qian and chief of staff Li You of the First Field Army, as well as several regiment and battalion commanders under their command, obviously had worried faces. They already knew what was happening in the rear, and as expected, some people were interested. They talked about the Battle of the City and threatened that they were the executioners who killed people indiscriminately, and they must be severely punished to calm the people.
After receiving the news, Zhou Qian and others felt a little uneasy. They were also worried about whether His Majesty would be able to withstand the pressure if it was too great.
"Haha, don't feel any psychological pressure. I told you that you just have to fight and leave other matters to me." Tang Ao reached out and patted the worried Zhou Qian on the shoulder, and then he got on the snow. Jade Bailong waved goodbye to the generals.
Tang Ao turned around and walked away, the smile on his face gradually disappearing. He knew that this matter must be handled well, otherwise, the army would not be able to let go when fighting in the future. In that case, he would face some Aren't the aliens who threaten the common people all timid and even helpless?
"Shi Lei, have Longya and Anya been notified? Is there any news?" As he walked forward, Tang Ao asked Shi Lei at the side.
"Your Majesty, we have informed them that Tie Long has gone to Lan City in person. He should arrive earlier than us, and he must be able to find out something." Shi Lei answered respectfully. Since Tang Ao ascended the throne as Emperor After the founding of the Kingdom of China, Shi Lei's title also changed. He no longer called him "Master" and called him "Your Majesty" like everyone else.
"Yeah." Tang Ao felt a lot relieved after hearing this. Since Tielong, the leader of Longya, went to Lancheng in person, news will surely come soon.
...
Lancheng.
After Zeng Tong received the letter, he did not tell anyone about Tang Ao's return to Lancheng according to what it said. Instead, he called the governor Yang Guozhong and gave him a good scolding. "What's going on? It's been two days. Oh, don’t you have any clues at all?”
Yang Guozhong lowered his head and said hesitantly, "We have found some people, but there are no clues. But we don't dare to arrest people in large numbers. The matter is just stuck here. Otherwise, please ask Mr. Zeng for permission." If we arrest people, things should be much easier to handle."
"Do we have to arrest people? Will there be too much noise?" Zeng Tong hesitated after hearing this.
"Master Zeng, they even set fire to the arms warehouse. If they don't arrest people, there's no telling what they can do next time." Yang Guozhong reminded, and then spread his hands, indicating that if they are not arrested, As a human being, this matter is really difficult to investigate.
"Then... okay, just try to be as quiet and controlled as possible." After Zeng Tong thought about it, he finally agreed.
"No." Yang Guozhong said excitedly, and then he strode away. It didn't take long for the entire Lan City to become lively, and the city's government officials and newly recruited soldiers began to fill the city. Arresting people has caused a lot of confusion and complaints about people's livelihood.
Two days later, many prominent people in the city began to come to Zeng Tong to complain. This was all caused by arrests. According to what these complainants said, the government officials in the city rushed into their homes without any explanation. It is said that they participated in the arson of the arms warehouse and they should be taken back for investigation. If you want to avoid being taken away, then pay money per person, one hundred taels of silver per person. If you pay one share, you can save one person.
These respectable people also have some wealth, and many of them are even rich. In order to protect themselves, they have to use money to redeem people. And each family plus servants and servants has more than a hundred people, so every family has
They all handed over tens of thousands of taels of silver.
A family has ten thousand taels, and small families like this in the city have only eighty if they don't have one hundred. This is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver paid.
Thinking of losing money and avoiding disaster, they accepted it, but they didn't expect that they came once the day before yesterday. Just one day later, these government officials came again, with the same number, otherwise they would have to arrest people. Now everyone will suffer
No more.
It's not that they didn't want to pay the ten thousand taels of silver, it was because they were afraid that the matter would be endless. If they came here every two days, their property wouldn't be enough.
"Is there such a thing?" Zeng Tong's eyes widened after hearing this, as if he couldn't believe it.
"Yes. In fact, not only us, but also ordinary people's families have also been extorted. It's just that the money they asked for is less, one tael of silver per person. And it happened once the day before yesterday, and it's coming again today.
The second time, I don’t know how many people cursed in their hearts because of this matter. Mr. Zeng, we all trust you. The previous Great Chinese Army did a good job, but if the trouble continues like this, we will have no way to survive.
It also forces the people to rebel." An old man in his late seventies said with a trembling hand on a crutch, obviously very angry.
He even said the usually obscure word "rebellion", which is enough to prove that he was really angry.
Zeng Tong was also angry. While he comforted the visitors and asked them to sit down and calm down, he said to the people around him: "Go, find Yang Zhizhou immediately, and say there is an emergency."
Yang Guozhong did ask Zeng Tong for instructions on arresting people, but he didn't ask him to arrest people all over the city. Isn't the current situation one wave after another?
Soon, Yang Guozhong arrived at Zeng Tong's office. When he saw the people sitting in the main hall, there was no trace of surprise on his face. It seemed that everything was as he expected.
"What's going on with the arrest?" Zeng Tong asked sharply as soon as they met.
"Master Zeng, could you please take a moment to speak?" Yang Guozhong said without fear at all.
"Hmph, let's go to the side hall over there." Zeng Tong also wanted to hear what Yang Guozhong had to say, so he pointed to a room on the side and said.
The two walked over quickly. Zeng Tong, who was still angry, didn't even ask for tea. He just stared at Yang Guozhong, obviously waiting for an explanation.
Yang Guozhong was not in a hurry. He laughed at first, and then said slowly: "Master Zeng, I am doing this to solve the problem."
"Solve the problem? Solve what problem? Now the problem is getting bigger, you know?" Zeng Tong said angrily, even his voice was a little louder.