In the Second Hall of the Tongcheng County Government Office, the county magistrate, who was not yet fifteen years old, was pacing back and forth, his brows furrowed, and occasionally he subconsciously scratched the back of his head.
A voice outside the hall said, "Sir."
Yang Erming looked up and saw Pang Yu coming in. Without waiting for him to salute, he hurriedly took a few steps towards him and said, "Pang Bantou is back."
"My lord, do you have something to give me?"
Yang Erming walked around in a circle and said with some anxiety, "Old people in the city have jointly proposed that the county government should let the Westerners leave as soon as possible."
Pang Yu was slightly surprised and said, "Your Excellency has already issued a notice asking those Westerners to leave on their own, so why is Mr. Li still entangled in this matter?"
"In the past two days, Westerners have been beaten again. People often gather near the residences of Westerners living in various places. Yesterday, a few green men actually robbed a Westerner family during the day, and no one from the surrounding neighbors came to help.
If this continues, something big will happen sooner or later.
The local elders are also forced by the public sentiment to ask the county government to forcibly expel Westerners from the county. What should we do?"
Pang Yu advised, "Your Excellency, you can persuade Mr. Li that Westerners are not bad people. Some Westerners in the city have been here for more than ten years and have property and families here. This time, among the more than 20 Western households in the city, not a single one
To those who surrendered to thieves, each family also helped transport bricks and stones. Seven families donated tung oil, quilts, and silver. Their wealth was in Tongcheng. Could it be that they catered to the bandits and broke into the city, and then the whole family followed the bandits to escape?
If we really want to force them to leave, these people must be resentful, or they may eventually turn into traitors."
Yang Erming looked at Pang Yu in surprise, "Pang Bantou even has statistics on this?"
"To tell you what the adults are saying, as long as you have enough time, you must make these statistics, including the number of dead and injured bandits under the city wall, how many were killed by stones, how many were killed by fire and thunder, how many were killed by bows and arrows, how many were killed by short spears on the wall,
The villain has statistics on how many people died from javelins and how many times they were shot on average.
The descriptions are often biased, but the data will not deceive people. Only later will we know how to improve the way we defend the city."
Yang Erming looked at Pang Yu strangely. He couldn't understand it for a moment, so he gave up trying to understand. He just sighed and said, "Of course I understand the principles of Westerners. I wanted to wait until the bandits have passed. After the people's emotions calm down, there will be nothing."
As a matter of fact, only one announcement was issued, but in fact it was just to reassure the people.
But now there are people in the city who are instigating, and the people are raging, and I can no longer help myself. If we force those Westerners to stay, they will most likely die at the hands of the soldiers in the city, which will also harm them."
Pang Yu was silent for a moment and then said, "If your Excellency has no other choice, set a time limit for them to leave on their own, and make it clear that if they don't leave, Team Three will be mobilized to expel them. However, social soldiers must not be used, otherwise those Westerners may not be able to leave."
Get out of the city gate."
"That's all. Then the Zhou family...Pang Bantou still needs to vouch for her?"
Pang Yu buried her head in silence for a moment, then shook her head and said, "No need, the city is full of hostility. It may not be a good thing to stay. My subordinates will arrange her whereabouts."
"That's it...that's all."
Yang Erming let out a long sigh, "When are you going to donate students to the prison?"
Pang Yu raised his eyes slightly and glanced at Yang Erming. He only told Yang Erming about donating students to the prison, because the matter required a letter from the county government and could not be concealed. However, the possibility of entering the civil and military official career would not be confirmed until it was completed.
It was inconvenient to tell Yang Erming. After all, Yang Erming was the direct leader. If he failed to do what he said, it would be difficult to get along with him in the future.
"My subordinate plans to leave after arranging two shifts tomorrow."
"After you enter the prison system, you can become an official after completing your academic qualifications. It is always a good background. Pang Bantou has such talent, so he is the right one to go.
Be careful on the road and go back quickly, things are very complicated in Tongcheng."
Pang Yu heard some reluctance in Yang Erming's words, and Yang Erming didn't seem to know much about direct donations of prison students to official posts. He thought that the Imperial College had to wait for a full year as before, so it was still relatively simple.
He knew that it was indeed difficult for the young magistrate to face the mess after the rogue bandits alone. The young man's mature and steady look was no longer an act, but was forced by the situation.
I sighed in my heart and didn't say anything at the moment. After bowing, I left the second hall and followed the corridor to the bridge in front of the hall. When I was about to cross the bridge, I suddenly heard someone mention Zhou Yongtian's name.
Pang Yu stopped and saw several Zaoli standing around the Tong River, with Zhang Daiwen in the middle.
"Let me tell you, when Zhou Yongtian came out that day, I could tell at a glance that something was wrong with him.
You tell me something is wrong, and his behavior becomes so sneaky that he doesn't know where to set fire to.
With me, Zhang Daiwen, how could I let him, a Westerner, destroy our Tongcheng city? Without saying a word, I went up and defeated him with three moves and two moves."
A Zaoli said, "Since we have captured them all, how come they were beaten to death again?"
"Don't be impatient. Listen to what I'm telling you. Zhou Yongtian refused to accept it and wanted to fight me. How could I be afraid of him, so I let him go and beat him again? He reached out and wanted to take the knife.
I just had to use my bare hands to prevent him from hurting others. I didn't want to hurt his life.
How can I arouse public anger? How can I hold down so many people by myself?"
Several Zaoli all flattered him, "Brother Zhang is mighty."
Another servant asked curiously, "What happened to the Zhou family's daughter? She worked as a helper for Pang Bantou. Aren't you afraid of Pang Bantou's anger?"
"So what if I help you?"
Zhang Daiwen raised his head and said, "She disappeared when the bandits besieged the city. She came back as soon as the bandits left. What a coincidence. She can deceive others, but she cannot deceive me, Zhang Daiwen."
This time it’s for Pang Ban’s sake, otherwise our neighbors would have kicked her out early in the morning.”
The Zaoli said mysteriously, "I heard that your neighbors didn't dare to chase people away for fear of alarming the Stick God."
Zhang Daiwen said angrily, "The Stick God is our Tongcheng Stick God. She couldn't have been brought from Shaanxi. There is no reason to protect her as a Western woman.
When she leaves, she wants to keep Stick God behind. Our neighbors are not afraid of alarming Stick God at all, we just see that she is a pitiful woman and let her stay a little longer."
"Brother Zhang, how are you going to drive her away?"
Zhang Daiwen crossed his arms proudly and said, "Her shop is for rent. We neighbors went to find the landlord. The landlord knew that his family was from the West and he no longer rented it. How could she stay here? Why did she go there on this pretext?"
People, even the God of Sticks, can't blame me.
If she doesn't do it, I will kick her door down...ah!"
But it was Pang Yu who strode up behind Zhang Daiwen and kicked him hard on the butt. Zhang Daiwen was unprepared and threw himself into the Tong River water under the bridge in front of the hall with a scream.
The current in the river was not fast, and Zhang Daiwen kept splashing in the water, choking on a few mouthfuls of water.
"Help!"
People around the lobby heard the screams and ran over to see. Tongxi water passed through the county government lobby. People often fell into the water in the past. The water flow here was not fast, so everyone just fished it out together. But the few people surrounding the prison saw that
When they arrived at Pang Yu, they didn't even dare to save them. When the others saw that these people didn't save them, they stopped by the river. The whole hall stared blankly at Pang Yu, letting Zhang Daiwen flop in the river.
"Your grandma's."
After Pang Yu cursed, he didn't even look at Zhang Daiwen in the water, and walked across the bridge with his hands behind his back.
..."Master, most of these newly arrived young men are from Tongcheng. Only 20% come from Lujiang and Qianshan, which are also close to the county boundary. However, they all have one thing in common. They are all along the official road.
Everyone who came this time had their homes damaged."
"Come full of anger."
Pang Yu nodded, "This kind of soldier is good. You know it is good to count the place of origin. You can continue to classify it in the future, such as occupation before enlistment, farmer, citizen, domestic slave, miner, Jiang disciple, etc., as well as age and so on.
, based on their performance later, we will know which person is most suitable to recruit. We have done a good job recruiting soldiers. The young master will go out tomorrow, so you can stay and continue to recruit people."
"It's almost 130, and it will be full soon if we recruit more."
"Don't worry about it. I think it's too little. I'll just use it as a helper for the time being. Don't directly put it into the strong class.
Did you get a reply from Jiang Guoyong who asked you to ask last time?"
"He said he would only come to the strong class, and he would never go to the fast class."
Pang Yu shook his head and smiled, "I was originally talking about the strong class. If he goes to the fast class with his temper, he will be kicked out in the end, so let him stay in the strong class."
Pang Ding observed Pang Yu's expression and said, "Young master, you went to recruit him specifically. Do you want to appoint a captain or something?"
"Don't worry about anything. Let him train with other strong men. Anyone who comes in is no exception. His position will depend on his performance in training. I will wait until I come back to see it."
Pang Ding also wanted to try to go to Nanjing, but seeing Pang Yu's cold expression, he swallowed his words.
"Go and call Wang Ren in."
Pang Ding turned around and went out. After a while, Wang Ren came in.
Pang Yu leaned on the back of his chair and looked at Wang Ren, a man of immortality, "Master Wang, what have you been doing recently?"
"Baishuntang has been out of business recently. I... I went to tell people's fortunes again, but I didn't make much money.
The villain also helped Miss Zhou block some attacks."
"How did you do it?"
"The villain performed a ritual at the door and told the neighbors that if the stick god was disturbed, the neighbors living in that area would suffer disaster."
Pang Yu smiled and said, "It's also a method. Master Wang has taken the trouble."
A flattering smile appeared on Wang Ren's face, and his moral integrity disappeared immediately, "The one I admire the most is my boss. I know that my boss can't bear the misfortune of Miss Zhou. As subordinates, we always have to do things that our boss can't take care of."
Something to come.”
"I'm going out tomorrow. I'll arrange something for you during these days."
"My boss told me."
"Take the deeds of our squad leader who led the common people into chaos and defeated the bandits, and make it into a short story. Go around several counties in Anqing and tell it to the people. You must tell it in every village and town, and tell them about the great strength of Tongcheng.
The class is hiring."
Wang Ren said without thinking, "You must have said it well, but I have something to think about. Fighting the bandits is just one of them. Being brave means being brave. The people will forget after hearing this."
But the people will never forget the story of the master's magic stick that brought the drowning girl back to life."
Pang Yu frowned and thought about it, then smiled and said, "You should know this better than me, so you can say whatever you think is appropriate.
Bring a few people you think are qualified and follow you to handle this matter. I don't care what story you make up. My request is that people all over Anqing should know that there is a great person in Tongcheng. Follow this person to beat Kou Neng.
Win, there are benefits to working with this person."
Wang Ren didn't know that Pang Yu wanted a military position in Anqing, but he knew that Pang Yu was going to donate prison, and that he might be a civil servant.
He asked tentatively, "If Dongjia becomes an official in the future, he cannot be an official in Anqing. Even if everyone in Anqing knows about Dongjia, it will be of little use. Then..." He looked at Pang Yu and saw that Pang Yu's face was calm.
He continued, "It's not difficult to make up a story, but the profit is not much, and the benefits are not very valuable."
Pang Yu looked at Wang Ren for a long time, then suddenly laughed and said, "The advantage is not necessarily that you can collect money right away. This is just the beginning. You can see it later. Sometimes money is not worth anything, and making up stories is the most valuable thing."