I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 22 The Intent to Suppress Bandits, The White Water Uprising

In the county government office of Weiyuan County, Magistrate Li Wenshu was leisurely enjoying tea.

"Da da da"

A series of hurried footsteps sounded outside, and a constable approached, bowing and speaking in a low voice:
"My lord, Registrar Wu requests an audience!"

"Hmm? Why is he here?"

Li Wenshu paused in his tea-drinking motion, then said slowly and deliberately:
"Hmm~, bring him in!"

"Yes!"

The person responded and then quickly left.

A moment later, another series of footsteps could be heard.

"Da da da"

Immediately afterwards, Wu Duoyun, with a sorrowful expression, quickly stepped in.

"Pfft!"

When he was a little over a meter away from Li Wenshu, Wu Duoyun suddenly knelt down and said in a choked voice:
"My lord, please, do me justice!"

"Eh? What does Registrar Wu mean by this? Please rise, please rise!"

It's not just this! Why has it come to this?

Upon seeing Wu Duoyun in such a state, Magistrate Li Wenshu was startled. He immediately stood up, quickly went to Wu Duoyun's side, and gently helped him up.

Although he was the magistrate, the highest official in Weiyuan County, Wu Duoyun was merely a registrar.

However, as a local strongman, he still deserves some respect.

Otherwise, he might not be good at handling things, but if he wanted to do something bad, he would be absolutely top-notch.

"My lord, my family of fifty or sixty people has all been killed by the thieves."

Three thousand bushels of grain and ten thousand taels of silver were all stolen by the thieves.

Upon hearing the inquiry from Magistrate Li Wenshu, Wu Duoyun burst into tears and began to recount his story.

If the Wang family found out, they would definitely spit in his face; he's got a lot of nerve.

Even if you include all the pigs and dogs in his household, there aren't fifty or sixty people.

In fact, even including the Wu family's guards, they only killed about twenty people this time.

But in Wu Duoyun's mouth, it was more than doubled.

Moreover, there was also grain, which, even including what was distributed, amounted to only about 1,500 shi (a unit of dry measure). As for gold and silver, the total was only a little over 1,000 taels, less than 2,000 taels. This was more than five times the original amount.

On the other side, when Magistrate Li Wenshu heard about the three thousand shi of grain and ten thousand taels of silver, his eyes lit up, and he slammed his teacup down on the table.

"Snapped!"

"How dare you, you thief! How dare you commit such a heinous crime of wiping out an entire family and committing robbery under my jurisdiction!"

“Registrar Wu, please rise quickly. I will certainly investigate thoroughly and bring that thief to justice as soon as possible.”

Li Wenshu was furious, constantly calculating in his mind how much gold and silver he could obtain if he wiped out this gang of bandits.

Since Wu, the registrar, had his entire family wiped out, leaving him all alone, he probably wouldn't have the ability to compete with him for the property.
However, it is still necessary to ask the necessary questions.

"Hmm, Clerk Wu, do you know the origins of that thief?"

"Sir, those are a group of starving, lowly people from our area. Their leader is called Wang Chao, and there are probably more than two hundred of them."
My poor parents, who used to do good deeds and often helped their neighbors.
Unexpectedly, those lowly people were ungrateful and instead caused the deaths of dozens of members of my subordinate's family, robbing them of the wealth accumulated by my ancestors over generations.
My lord, my lord, you must do justice for your subordinate!

More than two hundred people.

Li Wenshu frowned slightly.

As for what Wu Duoyun said afterward, Li Wenshu didn't take it to heart at all.

As for those stories about doing good deeds and helping neighbors, just listen to them and let them go.

If one truly wanted to accumulate virtue and do good deeds, helping one's neighbors, one would not have possessed thousands of bushels of grain, yet still caused the people under one's jurisdiction to starve to the point of desperation, turning into rioters and looting.

What he cared about was the number of thieves and how much wealth they had left.

However, he didn't take it too seriously. They were just starving refugees. Once the imperial troops arrived, they would all flee at the first sign of trouble.
After thinking for a moment, Li Wenshu frowned and gave the instructions:
"Go and summon County Magistrate Wu Chang and Commander Wu Ping."

In the Ming Dynasty, bandit suppression was generally not carried out by regular troops, let alone by constables or police officers.

The head constables and constables belonged to the patrol and inspection department and were mainly responsible for apprehending thieves.

In fact, in most inland cities, the militia recruited were the main personnel responsible for defending the city and suppressing rebels.

In the first year of the Tianshun reign, the recruitment of militia was formally incorporated into the regulations for the first time.

Order the recruitment of able-bodied men, and provide them with saddles, horses, and weapons.
From then on, the recruitment of militia gradually became more standardized and rigorous.

They train during their free time and farm during their busy season.

The training basically follows the schedule of two exercises per month in spring, summer and autumn, and three exercises and three rests in winter, in order to avoid violating the agricultural season. In addition, paper armor and waist knives are provided.

Their main role was to assist the regular army in defending cities, suppressing rebels, maintaining order, and repairing cities.

This shows that the militia initially recruited were quite strong in combat.

Unfortunately, as time went by, this part gradually fell into disuse. Not to mention training for three days and resting for three days, they probably couldn't train even twice a year.

As for weapons, having even a rusty knife is already considered an achievement for the commander.

After all, even most of the regular army was poorly trained and almost in disarray, let alone the militia who served as an auxiliary force to the army.

The number of militia recruited was basically a thousand in large counties, six or seven hundred in medium-sized counties, and five hundred in smaller counties.

Weiyuan County, while not a large county, is not a small one either.

Normally, there should be nearly six hundred people.

Unfortunately, they would be incredibly lucky if they could recruit even two hundred people. The truth is, Weiyuan County only has about one hundred and fifty or sixty militiamen, and none of them have received much formal training.

They were more like ordinary farmers than soldiers.

So when they heard that a bandit suppression operation was to be carried out, and that there were more than two hundred bandits, the people of Wuping were stunned, their faces turning pale and then red.

As the younger brother of Wu Chang, the county magistrate, Wu Ping relied on Wu Chang's connections to become the leader of the militia, and in the past he was very powerful.

However, he was tasked with leading those so-called militia to suppress bandits.

Damn it, is this going to kill me?

Even if it is just composed of some lowly people.

However, his subordinates weren't much better off.

Don't let the bandits turn out to be the ones who cut off your head instead of helping you suppress them.

Seeing the change in Wu Ping's expression, Li Wenshu already understood.

However, he remained expressionless, only speaking with a smile on his face.

"I believe Commander Wuping will achieve a resounding victory, crushing the rebels and capturing their leader, Wang Chao."

"Aha, yes, yes, yes!"

Wu Ping's smile seemed somewhat forced.

Although he was well aware of the situation of the Minzhuang people, he couldn't say it directly here and could only vaguely gloss over it.

"Haha, that's good, that's good. I'll be right here, waiting for Commander Wuping's good news of a resounding victory."

After leaving the county government office, Wu Ping looked dejected.

"Brother, big brother, what should we do now?"

"Then continue recruiting militia."

Wu Chang glanced at him sideways and said dismissively.

"But...but..."

Gathering these militia members will require provisions and pay.

Most importantly, what role can these temporarily assembled militia members play?
"Then let them bring their own rations, and the rest can be obtained from the county government."

"Is this really possible?"

Upon hearing that he needed to bring his own dry rations, Wu Ping's eyes lit up.

"Why not? They're just some rioters anyway. Once the government troops arrive, how much fighting spirit will they have?"

You just need to gather those militia members together, tidy them up a bit, and make them look somewhat presentable.
"Do those rioters really dare to fight the government troops?"

"Yes, yes, I'll do whatever you say, big brother."

In the following days, Wu Ping began to gather militia and conduct some drill training.

After more than ten days, it started to look quite decent.

Just then, a momentous event occurred that shook the entire Shaanxi province and went down in history, causing their bandit suppression operation to be suspended.

The Baishui Uprising.

Shortly after Wang Chao and his men arrived at Bird Mouse Mountain, on July 15th, Wang Er and others gathered a group of people, stormed into the county town under cover of night, killed the county magistrate Zhang Douyao, and opened the granaries to distribute grain.

After more than ten days, the news finally spread throughout Shaanxi, startling Li Wenshu.

Fortunately, this dynasty did not attack the county town like Wang Er did.

if not
Thinking of this, Li Wenshu felt a chill run down his neck and secretly rejoiced.

Similarly, Wu Ping was also startled. It seemed that these rioters were not so easy to deal with.

This led him to repeatedly postpone his mission to suppress the bandits in the mountains, hoping to have more time for training and, ideally, to recruit more militia.

When Wang Chao learned of this news at Bird Mouse Mountain, he was stunned for a moment.

The massive peasant uprisings at the end of the Ming Dynasty were finally about to begin.

However, Wang Er, who was the first to rise up, did not seem to hold out for very long.

Uprisings and rebellions crossed the court's bottom line, so naturally they had to be suppressed with great force.

This is why the dynasty had never considered attacking the county town before.

At best, they are just bandits and outlaws, not attracting much attention from the officials, which gives them more time and space to develop.

My mind entered the space of consciousness, and above me, a spiritual power rippled, like an ocean of spiritual power.

On the other side, apart from a few remnant souls belonging to their side, all the other remnant souls had been completely obliterated by the dynasty, turning into pure spiritual power. The divine power and eerie energy below had also grown several times stronger.

In the blink of an eye, the ocean of spiritual power above began to cascade down wisps of spiritual energy, gradually merging into the dynasty's soul.

Instantly, Wang Chao felt a cool sensation in his soul, which began to grow slowly, increasing in height by three inches. However, he felt that his soul was not as refined as before.

The dynasty then stopped absorbing spiritual power and began to refine its soul.

After his soul shrank by an inch, Wang Chao felt that his soul had regained its previous condensation.

Wang Chao lowered his gaze to the consciousness label that floated and sank amidst the divine power and eerie energy.

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The young author expresses sincere gratitude! ∩_∩

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(End of this chapter)