Arriving at Moling
I'll send off Taishi Ci and his mother, then set off for Moling with the six outstanding guards…
Three days later, I stood below the east gate of Moling City. The largest city in Wuyue that I am in charge of, although it is not as majestic as Luoyang and has been baptized by the flames of war. However, it is still much larger than my Jian An City and Kuaiji City.
The six of us entered the east gate, but when we passed the gate, there were no sentries. I thought to myself, What the hell is this Lu Dai doing? Moling is the only city under my jurisdiction that can vigorously develop business. I walked along the east street and circled around the city.
On the way, I looked around for a long time, but there was not a single soldier patrolling the streets. When I returned to the east gate, I was already confused. I brought the six of us directly to the prefect's manor. There were guards at the entrance. Both of them were sword-shield soldiers that I had personally trained in the past, so they recognized me at a glance.
He immediately knelt down and said,"Welcome, Military Advisor!"”"Mian, you guys can get up. Where is General Lu?" I frowned and asked the guard. "The general is currently discussing something with a group of merchants in the market. The military counselor should rest in the residence first.”The guard raised his head and said to me.
"Why is there no one patrolling the streets in the city, nor are there any sentries guarding the city gates?”I asked the sentry. "I don't know. This is General Lu's order.”The guard shook his head.
"Mm, that's all. I'm going to the market to find General Lu. If he comes back now, tell him to wait for me in the residence. Wang Sheng, wait here. Inform me when General Lu returns.”"Yes, sir!" Wang Sheng replied.
The other five and I will go to the market. I want to see what he is busy with. When we arrived at the market, we saw many people gathered around. I went up and asked what had happened. A passerby told me that merchants were collectively raising prices, and Governor Lu was talking to them.
I pushed my way through the crowd and came to the front of the crowd. I saw about fifty merchants surrounding Lu Dai, and there were more than ten guards protecting him. I watched for a long time and only saw those people talking to Lu Dai non-stop, but Lu Dai didn't answer.
I walked over to the merchants and wanted to hear what they were talking about. "Milord, what's wrong with us buying things? Why don't you let us buy it?" "Yeah, tell me, what's wrong with us buying things?”……The merchants kept telling Lu Dai.
I saw that this couldn't go on, so I shouted from behind the crowd,""All of you shut up. If you make any more noise, arrest all of you.”
As expected, the merchants all quieted down. I pushed through the crowd that was driving me back and walked to Lu Dai's side. "Military advisor, this junior is incompetent. Please punish him!”Lu Dai half-knelt beside me and bowed.
I ignored Lu Dai and glared viciously at every merchant below. When the merchants saw Lu Dai kneeling beside me and heard him call me Military Advisor, they immediately knew that I was He Qi. Just as they were about to speak, they saw me staring at them fiercely. For a moment, no one spoke.
Seeing that the situation was under control, I said to the merchants,"From now on, all of you kneel down and raise your hands if you want to speak. Did you hear me? Kneel down!"
A group of people knelt on the ground. I turned to Lu Dai and said,"Tell me what happened."”
"Reporting to the military counselor, this general has been following your orders to post a notice since he took office. The tax rate in the city was reduced to 20%. After these merchants learned about it, they joined forces to buy all the rice and salt in the city. The commoners could hardly buy food and salt. I led some people over to ask the merchants to sell some of their things to the people. I didn't expect them to refuse. That's why we quarreled with them." Lu Dai lowered his head and said to me.
I asked the merchants,"Is what General Lu said true?"”The fat merchant kneeling at the front raised his hand. I nodded and said to him,"Tell me."”
"Lord He, this is the truth. However, whether we want to buy or not is our freedom. You're not going to force me to buy and sell, are you?" The fat merchant said to me proudly.
"Of course not. So you mean you're determined not to sell the food and salt in your hands?”I sneered at them.
"For now, we won't sell it for the time being. When we want to sell it, we will naturally sell it.”The fat merchant said proudly.
"Lu Dai, I order you to organize a few soldiers to choose a shop in the city today and start selling grain and salt. The grain was temporarily sold to the army, and a portion of the salt was sold from the army. However, you are only allowed to sell it to the commoners. Any commoners who come to buy it must bring their household registration to buy it. Each person would be limited to a limited number every month, and the price would be sold at the normal price. Send someone to Jian 'an to transfer 100,000 catties of grain and ask my father to transfer 10,000 catties of salt.”I turned to Lu Dai.
Then, I turned to the soldier beside me and said,"Put up a notice for me now. All goods and materials will be subject to a 70% tax rate. In addition, seal the four city gates. All supplies are allowed to enter and not leave. The goods that had to leave the city would be charged 70% of the turnover tax.”
After I finished speaking, I faced the surrounding commoners and said loudly,"I originally lowered the tax rate so that the people could live and work in peace. "I didn't expect these people to want to hoard resources when they saw the tax rate drop and then sell them at a high price, harming the interests of all your citizens. I can only order the officers and soldiers in the city to sell the goods to the people at the normal price. However, in order to prevent the merchants below from continuing to hoard the goods, please tell all the people in the suburbs of Moling that in the future, when you buy things, come to the official's shop. I will do my best to satisfy the needs of all the people. Did you all hear that?"
"I heard it! Lord He is really a good official." "Military Advisor He, you're really a good person!" "Military Advisor He, don't worry. We will definitely help you pass on the message.”" Long live General He!" Praise and praise could be heard.
I said to the merchants below,"From today onwards, I will make sure that none of the things in your hands can be sold or shipped out. I'll make you black-hearted, and you'll wait for the things in your hands to rot. However, don't worry, I won't hit you or confiscate your property. However, I'll send someone to keep a close eye on you. Don't even think about leaving Moling. If any one of you or your family leaves Moling City, I will consider you as accomplices of Yan Baihu of Kuaiji and kill you without mercy!”
"Sir, you can't treat me like this. I'm a good citizen!”"I will send someone to tell Eunuch Zhao and Eunuch Cao in the palace that you will be demoted!”"Be careful of yourself. We're not easy to bully.”……All kinds of complaints, viciousness, and begging for mercy came out of the mouths of these merchants.
Ignoring the merchants 'complaints, I immediately said to Lu Dai,""Why aren't you ordering the soldiers to guard the four city gates and keep an eye on these merchants? I'll wait for you at the prefect's manor after you're done.”After saying that, he prepared to return to the prefect's residence amidst the cheers of the surrounding people.
At this moment, a merchant jumped up and pulled out a short knife from his boot and rushed towards me. Then, I heard a crackling sound. When I turned around, I saw the three Fan brothers holding the merchant and saying to me,"Advisor Jun, he wants to assassinate you."
I raised my head and said to the surrounding commoners,"You all saw it, he wanted to kill me. You all have to testify for me in the future.”"Milord, don't worry. We all saw it. I'll definitely testify for you." The people said in unison.
I turned around and said to the Fan brothers,"Take him back to the prefect's mansion. I want to ask him properly."”With that, we began to return to the prefect's residence.
In the main hall of the prefect's manor, I sat in the middle and looked at the merchant below. "Fan Da, pull out all his teeth so that he won't bite his tongue and commit suicide.”I said to Fan Da. "Yes, sir!" The Fan brothers dragged him out.
After a while, Fan Er came in and said,"Reporting to the military counselor. His teeth have been pulled out, but he has fainted."”"Yes, there's no hurry. Keep an eye on him. Don't kill him. Just drag him into the hall. I'll ask him when he wakes up.”I said to Fan Er. After a while, the Fan brothers dragged the merchant in and threw him on the ground. The two of them guarded him one after the other.
After a cup of tea, Lu Dai came back and knelt in front of me."Please punish me, Military Advisor!" "Tell me, what crime have you committed?”I said to Lu Dai, who was kneeling.
"He didn't handle things properly and gave people the opportunity to assassinate the military counselor. There are two major crimes, please let the military counselor deal with them.”Lu Dai told me. "You're wrong about these two things. First, you are guilty but not serious; The second thing has nothing to do with you. Your biggest crime is why you didn't send people to guard the four city gates!”I said angrily to Lu Dai.
"I originally thought that the military counselor would say that we would vigorously develop the internal affairs in the future, so I opened the city gates wide in the hope that merchants and commoners from all over the world could enter the city in large numbers to do business and reclaim farmland.”Lu Dai lowered his head and said to me.
"Are you Mister Dongguo? Haven't you heard that there are no rules? Let me tell you, I want to develop internal affairs, and I also want the people to live and work in peace and contentment. But I've told you before that only with good public security can the people live and work in peace and contentment. Without public security, it's nothing. Do you understand?" I scolded Lu Dai loudly.
"This junior knows his crime, please punish him heavily!”Lu Dai kept kowtowing as he spoke to me. "Get up! I originally had high expectations for you, so I didn't let Huang Hansheng guard Moling. I know that Moling is the most important city under my jurisdiction and the only city that can vigorously develop commerce. I want a general who is skilled in both literature and martial arts to guard this place. That's why I want you to guard this place because I believe you can do what you want.”I sighed and said to Lu Dai.
"I have disappointed you, military counselor. Please dismiss me.”Lu Dai said to me while still kneeling. I walked over to Lu Dai and helped him up. Then, I said to him,"What's so important about a temporary failure? However, you must remember this lesson. I still believe in your ability. Now, let's hear what this so-called merchant has to say.”
I said to Fan Er,"Get some water and wake him up."”Fan Er found a basin of water and splashed it on the merchant's face. The merchant coughed twice and woke up.
I lowered my head and said to him,"Tell me, why do you want to kill me?”"If you don't give us merchants a way out, of course I'll kill you.”the man said vaguely to me.
"Bullshit! How did you know that I would come today and bring a knife with me? You are the one who ordered all the merchants to hoard supplies and then sell them at a high price, disrupting the economy of my city. You'd better tell me who sent you!”I said loudly to the merchant.
"You can think whatever you want. Anyway, I don't want to live anymore.”the merchant said vaguely.
"Advisor Jun, if you didn't say it, even I would have thought that he came to assassinate you out of anger. Now that I think about it, it's really strange. Even I didn't know that Advisor Jun was coming, so he couldn't have known that Advisor Jun was coming. But he carried a knife with him. On the day I posted the notice, people in the city started to purchase large quantities of supplies. It seems that they already knew about it.”Lu Dai said to me from the side.
"Well, we only have two ways now. One is to dig out a confession from his mouth; The second was to do nothing and respond to all changes without changing.”I told Lu Dai. "Then I'll ask him for his statement." Lu Dai nodded.
"There's no need. Even if we ask, he won't know anything. He was just a small pawn.”I shook my head and said to Lu Dai. "Let me think about it first." I said to someone. I supported my head with one hand on the coffee table and placed the other on the armrest of the chair. I slowly closed my eyes and recalled everything that had happened since I came to this world.
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