In the yamen of Nongdong Mansion, Shen Ruiguang was sitting on the throne. Although his expression was pretending to be calm, his slightly trembling hands when stroking his beard still showed that he was uneasy in his heart at this time.
A middle-aged man dressed like a merchant in the hall bowed slightly to Shen Ruiguang and said in a low voice:
"As long as Master Shen nods, ten thousand taels of gold will be given to you immediately!"
Yun Guo's annual fiscal revenue is only a few million taels of silver and ten thousand taels of gold, which is obviously a big deal.
Shen Ruiguang's lips were slightly open and he was speechless for a long time.
It can be seen from his expression that he really wants to refuse sternly.
However, the other party gave too much!
Shen Ruiguang was previously the governor of Xiushan County. At first, the government of Yun State was in turmoil, and the border troops seemed to be in turmoil. When the Li army attacked again, it was he who fortified the walls and cleared the fields and defended the county. Finally, he waited until Xiao Chengyujia arrived in person. , and defended Xiushan County.
Such meritorious service will be rewarded by the court.
Today, Shen Ruiguang has been promoted to the rank of Taizhong doctor with a rank of 2,000 shi. After the northern border was recovered, he also served as the governor of the northern counties.
Although the governor, according to the current rank of the Yun State, was only an official with six hundred stones. However, the governor was ordered to inspect the state and was responsible for supervising the officials in the county, so he had great power.
Therefore, Shen Ruiguang was actually the first civil servant in the counties in the northern border of Yun State.
Shen Ruiguang did not come from a noble and wealthy family. He had ten thousand taels of gold. With his current salary, even if he served as an official until his death, he would never be able to save one tenth of this gold and silver.
At this time, Shen Ruiguang suddenly trembled all over and gritted his teeth and said:
"How dare you! Dongchang Fanzi's informants are all over the country, even me..."
Having said this, Shen Ruiguang paused, quickly came to his senses, lowered his voice and said:
"Even around me, there are Dongchang's spies. Let's do it first, and His Majesty in the capital will know!"
Seeing Shen Ruiguang's worries and fears, the middle-aged man dressed as a businessman was well prepared. He chuckled and continued:
"Among the counties in the north, the government offices have just been rebuilt, and they have to face the plague sweeping across the north. They are running up and down without rest, and it is extremely hard. The master is willing to give out another 50,000 gold carts to reward the officials. In terms of management... Inside and outside the government office, most of them are people who work as errands to make a living!"
Fifty thousand taels of gold, according to the private exchange ratio, is equivalent to more than 500,000 taels of silver. Such a large amount of silver is definitely more than enough to manage key officials and servants!
Even if there are rare officials with clean and upright temperament, as long as Shen Ruiguang, who is in charge of supervision and has the power to impeach officials, covers it up, it will have no impact at all.
The middle-aged businessman paused and continued:
"And as long as the northern counties can prevent the spread of the plague this time, how many people will starve to death. Will the adults in the DPRK pay attention to those Xia Kingdom refugees?"
As soon as these words came out, Shen Ruiguang fell silent.
After all, they were just some refugees from the Xia Kingdom, and they were still the main culprits in bringing the plague. If they were able to save their lives from starving to death, they would already be grateful for the kindness of the current Majesty, Dayun Chaotang.
As a human being, you can't be too greedy, right?
Many promises finally made Shen Ruiguang excited.
He asked hoarsely:
“How many people can we really guarantee that they won’t starve to death?”
"That's natural! You can see what my master is capable of!"
"...I won't get involved. I'll just treat everything as if I haven't seen it. The rest is up to your master's ability!"
The middle-aged businessman smiled proudly, bowed and said:
"Thank you, Master Shen!"
In fact, in the past few days, when Shen Ruiguang did not refuse him to send a test car, a BMW, or a beautiful mansion, he knew that the matter was mostly done.
-----------------------
In Changning County, above the closed city gate, the soldiers on duty covered their faces with cloth, and they were all dejected, with a gloomy look in their eyes.
It has been almost two months since the city gates were closed.
During the past two months, Monk Daoyan was appointed to take charge of the affairs of the city. He made prompt decisions and used thunderous and ruthless methods to govern. Thousands of soldiers from the border of Yun State assisted in the suppression, so order in the city remained orderly.
It's just that now, a small border county has a population of nearly one million people. The daily consumption of supplies and food is unimaginable to ordinary people.
Jianchang Prefecture, including the entire northern counties, actually understood the seriousness of the matter and had tried their best to raise several waves of food and supplies to send over.
But as I said before, the government offices in the northern counties have just resumed operations, and the northern border has just been hit by war. The supplies that they have tried to raise are just a drop in the bucket for the nearly one million refugees.
At first, it was only the food and fodder supplied to the refugees, but later, even the supply of army sergeants was cut by more than half.
Under such a situation, there is still a giant plague beast locked in the city that can take away everyone's lives. No matter how sophisticated Dao Yan's methods are, it is difficult to stop the depression and despair from spreading in the hearts of the officials, soldiers and people in the city.
Come on.
A soldier looked pale and felt the hunger in his belly. He slumped under the wall and leaned his head on the city wall. His eyes were blank and he said:
"The doctors from the official pharmacy in the capital have been here for almost a month. I don't know if they have found a way to cure the plague. In our army, there are also hundreds of brothers who have been infected. I don't know if they have.
Save him..."
Immediately, someone sighed helplessly and said:
"If it can be cured, it can't be hidden."
"I heard that the imperial doctor, who treats Your Majesty today, is the most powerful doctor in the world. But there is nothing they can do..."
Another soldier couldn't help but cursed:
"Damn it, no matter how good the medical skills are, how can people be saved without medicine? Over in Fucheng, the food, grass and herbs sent every time are getting less and less. If this continues, even if the imperial doctors have methods, there is no medicine that can save people.
Ah! Those high-ranking officials are hiding in the rear and domineering themselves, how could they ever treat us..."
Just as he was about to speak out his words of resentment, he heard someone say feebly:
"Okay, stop talking! Save your energy, we don't know when the next meal will be!"
The soldiers who uttered resentful words saw that the atmosphere among their colleagues around them was even lower. They knew that they were talking too much, so they immediately shut up.
At this time, everyone was silent again.
After a long time, the soldier who spoke first said in a low voice:
"There are some brothers in the camp next door. They tried to escape from the battle last night, but they were discovered by the captain and executed by his own hands."
The soldier next to him sighed softly, sat down next to him with some difficulty, and replied:
"The military orders are strict and they want to escape before the battle...There is no other way."
Military law is never merciful, let alone such a move that shakes the morale of the military. If Captain Shi did not use military law to intimidate him, but instead took into account Pao Ze's feelings and let him leave, and then the soldiers thought about escaping, the situation would only be more serious.
But even though this was the case, all the soldiers couldn't bear to sympathize with him when they talked about it.
Trapped in the city, guarding this group of refugees who don't know if they will revolt. Food and grass are exhausted, and the northern counties have not sent large quantities of supplies for a long time. Under such circumstances, no one can see
Hope. It is natural for soldiers to want to escape.
Hearing the death of their comrades, all the soldiers felt sad and slumped on the ground disheartened, either saying meaningless words or looking at the sky dreamily, not knowing what they were thinking.
This is human nature and is understandable. In fact, being able to withstand the huge pressure of facing the plague and persist until now is a testament to the elite of these troops stationed on the border of Yun Kingdom.
At this moment, the few soldiers standing on the city wall suddenly raised their heads and stared blankly into the distance.
Then I saw a motorcade slowly approaching with no end in sight on the official road in the distance.
The soldiers were a little stunned, rubbed their eyes, and then looked at each other.
After confirming that he had read correctly, one of them used a trembling voice, pulled the colleague sitting next to him, and said excitedly:
"Du, Uncle Du, you, you, you, come and see, what is that?"
Dub, who was shouted at, threw away the hands of his soldiers impatiently and frowned:
"You are so hungry, what the hell are you looking at..."
Halfway through his words, Uncle Dub saw that several of his soldiers were extremely excited. His heart suddenly suddenly stood up and he stood up and looked into the distance.
But I saw a huge convoy, loaded with supplies, slowly coming towards the county seat of Changning County.
Under the current situation, there is still such a large-scale convoy coming to Changning County, so it is obvious that the identity of the other party does not need to be said.
The relief supplies allocated by the court have finally arrived!
The dejected look on Dub's face completely dissipated and was replaced by a look of excitement and excitement.
He slapped the city wall, laughed loudly, and said:
"Hahahaha, it's the food and grass supplies from the imperial court! It must be the food and grass supplies sent by the imperial court!"
Upon hearing this, the soldiers on the city wall quickly helped each other to stand up, looked at the approaching motorcade, looked at each other, and couldn't help laughing loudly.
The soldiers were all laughing, even a little crazy, as if they wanted to pour out all the confusion, depression, helplessness and despair they had experienced during this period.
Dub stopped his smile, the excitement on his face did not diminish, he slapped the soldier next to him on the head and said with a smile:
"Hurry and report to Captain Shi and Master Daoyan!"
"yes!"
In the county government office, Dao Yan, who heard the news of the arrival of supplies from the imperial court, looked around at the officials in the county government office who were excited and excited. He finally let go of the worries buried deep in his heart and breathed a long sigh of relief.
The situation was so critical before that Daoyan had to spend his time handling government affairs and maintaining a stable situation in the city. He also had to boost the morale of the officials and soldiers so that the government agencies in the city could barely operate.
Under such heavy pressure, if you are not careful, it will have irreversible consequences. Dao Yan's pressure is the greatest.
Fortunately, everything is over!
The arrival of the imperial relief not only replenished the city's scarce supplies, but also boosted the morale of the city.
Dao Yan stood up and told the officials in front of him:
"The materials sent by the imperial court should not be piled directly in the warehouse. Let the convoy go around the city in a circle first!"
All the officials excitedly raised their hands in response.
Due to the shortage of food and grass, the daily food distributed to the refugees resettled in various cities became increasingly scarce. Many refugees were already dissatisfied, and there were many rumors in the city that even killings could not be contained.
Dao Yan's actions at this time were naturally to appease the refugees. After all, there were nearly a million refugees in the city. If they were instigated by others, even if they were weak, thousands of soldiers would not be able to suppress them.
A moment later, Colonel Shi, who was wearing armor, led a man dressed as a businessman into the county government office.
After seeing the black-robed monk sitting on top of the county government office, a look of astonishment clearly flashed across the merchant's face.
In a county government office in a city, a monk sat on the main seat. This was a very surprising and astonishing thing even for the country of Yun, where the status of monks was quite high.
Upon seeing this, Lieutenant Shi quickly explained:
"Magistrate Jiang is old and has been ill before. During this period, thanks to Master Dao Yan taking charge of affairs, the affairs in the city were in order."
After saying that, he quickly faced Dao Yan and said:
"Officials from the capital and the capital are counting and handing over various supplies. Shopkeeper Ge is a big businessman who helps the court coordinate the delivery of goods. I came here to express my condolences to the county officials in person."
Upon hearing this, Dao Yan took a look at Shopkeeper Ge, squeezed out a smile, clasped his hands together, shouted the Buddha's name, and said:
"Amitabha, poor monk Daoyan, have met Shopkeeper Ge!"
Shopkeeper Ge smiled and waved his hands repeatedly, saying:
"Don't dare! Master Dao Yan stepped forward in times of crisis to maintain order in the city and protect our northern border. Such great merits can be said to be a great monk!"
He paused, then looked at the officials in the county government and said:
"My lords, you are still able to abide by your duties in the face of the plague. This alone makes me and other merchants admire you! This time, I came here with the heart of our boss to comfort you. A meal and wine, all
It has been shipped, I just invite all your lords and generals to come to the banquet later!"
The city has never been rich in supplies before. These officials can only barely ensure that they are not hungry, and there is no need to think about other things.
Now, after first hearing the arrival of supplies from the court and preparing a banquet of wine and meat, all the officials present were overjoyed and looked at Dao Yan expectantly.
Dao Yan was in charge of the city's government affairs during this period, and with his sharp and superb methods, he had obviously impressed all the officials. Although he did not hold an official position at this time, but based on the prestige he had established during this period, the officials had also
Automatically regard it as the backbone.
Obviously, Dao Yan would not sweep away the elegance of all the officials at this time, so he immediately nodded and said:
"In that case, I'd like to thank Shopkeeper Ge and your boss!"
Shopkeeper Ge had a panoramic view of everything just now, his eyes turned slightly, the light flashed away, and he held his hands in a smile and said:
"It should, it should!"
It seems that this monk named Daoyan has a high prestige!
In this case, we should still get rid of him first before we can use our methods.