After seeing Li Huan's report, Tan Ximin, the prefect of Huzhou, was so angry that his nose was crooked, and he was furious in the yamen on the spot, slapping the table and shouting: "The soldiers and horses of a county were actually annihilated by a village owner!" How did all this waste come together? ”

The Ming Shi case did not happen during Tan Ximin's tenure, and he is not to blame for the delay of half a year, but his boss in Hangzhou threatened that if he could not handle things well, then he would also be guilty of negligence. Tan Ximin knows very well that this is Hangzhou warning himself not to bend the law for personal gain, this case is clear, no one can press it down, and the magistrate who doesn't want to live will continue to take the banker's money.

As early as when he ordered Li Huan to go and get people, he told him that he didn't even have to go back to Huzhou, and directly escorted the prisoners to Hangzhou, so as not to let himself get into trouble -- in the past two years, there have been many officials in the yamen of the Huzhou prefect who have taken the banker's money, and what Tan Ximin wants to do most now is to clear himself, in case Zhuang Yuncheng dies in prison after being escorted back to Huzhou, then Tan Ximin will be considered to be in trouble.

didn't expect things to turn out like this, the more Tan Ximin spoke, the more angry he became, and even suspected that the county order wanted to protect Zhuang Yuncheng.

"If the governor knew about this, he would definitely think that I was trying to shield the dealer, exaggerate the difficulties, and let the governor know the difficulties and retreat." After thinking about it carefully, Tan Ximin felt that Gui'an County did not have the guts. And Li Huan also needs to be guilty of meritorious service, he killed Zhuang Yuncheng, which is more likely than falsely claiming to be defeated: "It's just a bunch of fools." This old thief of Zhuang Yuncheng is also bold, and he dares to resist arrest. ”

Tan Ximin summoned his staff and subordinates to discuss the dispatch of troops. When they first heard that the prefect was going to send the government army, the staff members were shocked and asked what was going on.

"This official will send two battalions of soldiers to take Zhuang Yuncheng." Tan Ximin said with a straight face.

After hearing this, the staff were stunned together, and a guy with a not very good brain couldn't turn around for a while, and actually laughed. The laughter woke up the rest of the people, and everyone suddenly realized that it was the prefect who was telling a joke. Although I don't know why Tan Ximin is so interested, how dare everyone not laugh when Shangguan tells jokes, and suddenly there is a lot of joy in the yamen. Only the subordinate official who sent the report to Tan Ximin's desk did not follow the coaxing, and looked at the purple-skinned Huzhou prefect worriedly.

"What's so funny!" Tan Ximin slapped the table hard: "When will the army be dispatched?" How much food and reward should I give? ”

Only then did everyone realize that the prefect really wanted to do this, and one of the staff members reacted and immediately jumped up to persuade the owner to take back his fate.

"It's Zhuang Yuncheng who wrote an anti-book? The lord asked Gui'an County to send a team of officials to take him. The staff member was still wondering as he spoke: "Didn't you discuss this matter with us a few days ago?" The official document to Gui'an County was drafted by a villain. ”

"Are you an idiot to be an official? Don't remember what happened four days ago? Tan Ximin scolded: "The official was defeated by Zhuang Yuncheng......"

"This guy is so daring, he actually rebelled!" The staff were in an uproar, and before Tan Ximin finished speaking, the people present shouted: "Why didn't Gui'an County send a green camp to suppress it?" ”

"It's sent, and the garrison green battalion was also defeated by Zhuang Yuncheng. Now even Zhu Youming is reversed! Tan Ximin said angrily.

There was silence in the yamen for a moment, this time no one dared to laugh, but everyone felt incredible. Tan Ximin waved his hand and handed Li Huan's report to his staff and subordinates for circulation. The staff rubbed their eyes and read the report several times, and had to admit that it was indeed necessary for Fucheng to send troops to suppress the resistance of the two rich men.

But the army in Fucheng can not be used lightly, first send troops to the provincial capital to report the reason and purpose, if the real reason is reported, the boss of the provincial city will probably not believe it first, and then be furious, then this year's Huzhou performance appraisal will not be wanted. However, it was impossible to conceal it, and the movement of the three battalions of the green battalion was too great, and it was also necessary to take out the silver taels from the treasury, prepare for the reward after the war, and also need to distribute double portions of grain and straw during the expedition -- Hangzhou would definitely be alarmed.

"My lord, send soldiers for the sake of the two owners...... This...... Can the Governor agree? Opening, consumption, and rewards will definitely not be recorded in the account, this is all a deficit. One of the staff members said anxiously.

"Don't you know that you're the official?" Tan Ximin asked rhetorically: "Do you have any good ideas?" ”

The staff looked at each other, and Tan Ximin was even more angry when he saw this: "Do you want the official to pay out of his own pocket to make up for this shortfall?" What is the use of raising you? ”

"Your Excellency is angry." Finally, a staff member stood up and proposed a solution that was not a solution: "We can only let Gui'an County fill this shortfall." But there are too many soldiers in the three battalions, it's better to go to a battalion, a farmer, isn't it still handy? ”

"What a fool, if you can catch it, do you still need to come to this official to move the rescuers?" What this staff member said is a way, no matter what, this year's performance appraisal will definitely be poor, Tan Ximin will not bear this financial loss no matter what: "Send a document to Gui'an County, the cost of this military dispatch is theirs, the government can give it first, and the difference will be calculated on a monthly basis, and it must be repaid after the autumn harvest." ”

"The cost of the three battalions is too big, I'm afraid it won't be available this year." A few of the staff members were sad.

But there are also people who agree with Tan Ximin: "The dealer has already defeated the county soldiers, so let's send more soldiers, at least two battalions." If you send fewer troops to save money, you may fight very hard, and more people will die, so wouldn't you have to pay more pensions? ”

When it comes to casualties, those who opposed it just now are silent. The local finances have never been rich, and the balance of each year is very limited, and the regular money of the boss and the monthly money of the staff must also be taken out of it. In the Battle of Hangzhou the year before last, the Huzhou Green Battalion, which participated in the battle, lost a large number of officers and men and equipment, and only barely made up the difference in personnel after six months.

If we lose hundreds of officers and men of the Green Battalion this time, just the pension, we can make everyone not celebrate the New Year this year -- don't expect Gui'an County to bear all these expenses, not to mention that this year, even next year, the county will not be able to pay off the advance payments from the government, unless we ignore the wanton expropriation and extortion that provoked the people's uprising.

"Dispatch three battalions of soldiers, 1,500 armor, and move quickly. Solve the problem in three days and come back quickly. After fighting this battle, it can be regarded as training with battle, and the training in the second half of the year has stopped for some reason. The suspension of the exercise may cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers, so it is still necessary to give some rewards to appease, but the Huzhou Mansion really can't hold on: "Although the action must be fast, casualties should also be avoided as much as possible, and it must be controlled within twenty people, and it is better to do it within ten." It's just two owners, it should be fine, right? ”

Everyone thought it was okay. Although Zhuang Yuncheng was very rich, the staff present knew that Zhuang Yuncheng would be able to mobilize 400 strong men if he was full of money. Seeing that Fucheng sent more than 1,000 armor guards (empty salaries were inevitable, in fact, the 1,500 places in Huzhou Mansion were not enough, and the number of armor soldiers was almost 1,200), even if Zhuang Yuncheng wanted to resist to the end, most of his Zhuang Ding would surrender in fear. Even if there were thirty diehards left, the loss of a few armors would have taken them down - until now, the staff still couldn't figure out why the garrison in Gui'an County couldn't even defeat a single owner. It must be that Gui'an County eats too empty salaries, and the normal exercises on weekdays have also stopped. Well, it must be the case, wait until you take Zhuang Yuncheng and then settle accounts with them, and use the property of those stolen officials to fill the gap in the treasury.

If it is just to send officials to raid the house, even if the people below are corrupt and robbed, the yamen of the prefecture can obtain some property to some extent. If the army is dispatched, then Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming's family property will not be counted on. The more Tan Ximin and his staff thought about it, the more hated they became, and when they calculated the amount of food and salaries that the government treasury needed to advance, they scolded in unison that the officials in Gui'an County could be killed.

Although there is a consensus in the government, it will take time for the army to be officially dispatched. Since there was no large-scale rebellion, there was no reason to rush to do so, and this military operation still had to be reported to Hangzhou in advance, lest the governor Yamen feel that the Huzhou prefect did not take Shangguan seriously.

In the report to the governor, Tan Ximin scolded himself at the beginning, took the initiative to admit that he was derelict in his duties, and did not take good care of those dog officials in Gui'an County, so he first admitted his mistake in front of the governor, so he had a good attitude; Then Tan Ximin accepted part of Gui'an County's arguments, saying that Zhuang Yuncheng's dog jumped over the wall in a hurry and bribed thousands of thieves to resist stubbornly - of course, this is still Gui'an County's fault, they actually leaked the news, so that Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming were determined to break the net - under normal circumstances, even if the news is leaked, it is not a problem, but who let the officials fail to deal with the two owners; Now the situation tends to get out of control, in order to complete the tasks assigned by the imperial court, Tan Ximin has to constantly order the Fucheng Green Camp to attack, in order to arrest Zhuang Yuncheng as soon as possible.

At the same time as sending envoys to the provincial capital with a letter of petition and an official document requesting the Green Battalion to attack, Huzhou also began a military mobilization, informing the officers below of the military mission and the identity of the enemy.

When they learned that they were going to send soldiers to deal with the two owners, the generals and officers of the Green Battalion were laughed, but no one would push this opportunity to make a fortune in the countryside. In the past year, the prefect's yamen has felt tight, and the same is true for the green camp.

Soon, the news that the Huzhou government had mobilized the whole army to attack Zhuang Yuncheng spread throughout the city. The gentry in Huzhou have more or less heard the rumors of the "Ming History Case" recently, and some people are worried that they or their relatives and friends will also be implicated, so as soon as the news spread, it has received great attention.

That night, almost every scholar closed the door to discuss with their families the extraordinary courage of Zhuang Yuncheng and Zhu Youming, and incidentally mentioned the astonishing incompetence of the Gui'an County Yamen. It was obviously a matter that could be solved by the officials, but they still had to run to the mansion to ask for help - but no one thought that Zhuang and Zhu could survive Tan Ximin's anger, and the more people who knew Zhuang Yuncheng, the less they believed that there would be any miracle.