Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 93 Order and Execution

"Everyone."

"The issue of the dead must be resolved."

Lu Yao sat in the upper seat, looking at the core personnel of the county government in front of him, and spoke worriedly about the biggest problem at the moment.

The chief clerk conducted an investigation in the county town, but as he investigated, he found that what should be dealt with now was not the county magistrate and his minions, but these scary refugees inside and outside the city.

In Lu Yao's opinion, Gao Changgong's behavior was simply insane.

Lu Yao said, "In just the past few days, the city has already received more than 10,000 refugees, and there are still refugees coming from outside the city. With so many refugees gathered in Cheng'an, if any of them has ulterior motives, it will be bad."

Zhang Sun raised his head and said, "You don't have to be afraid, County Magistrate. I still have a group of elite cavalry under my command, fully armed. There are also many training grounds around Cheng'an. Not to mention tens of thousands of refugees, even if there are 100,000, they will never be able to break through Cheng'an."

"I'm not worried that they can break into the city. What I'm worried about is that they will gather together to cause chaos. If they cause chaos, no matter whether they can be suppressed or not, the court will hold them responsible. At that time, they can only apologize by dying. Does Changsun Wei understand this?"

Changsun Jiaye was stunned, then looked at Lu Qubing.

Lu Qubing said, "I know what you are worried about. The county magistrate also thought about this at the beginning, so we have always been concerned about it."

"Cheng'an currently has no shortage of food, and there is enough arable land available. As long as we don't delay, accepting 20,000 to 30,000 refugees won't be a big problem."

Lu Yao added: "That's right. Once people gather together, many problems will arise, such as disease, looting, and theft. There are so many refugees now, and more and more will gather in the future. There will always be limited arable land and food. If one day Cheng'an runs out of food and the public land is all distributed, what should we do?"

"The refugees at the moment are all from various places in Qingdu. Even if refugees from other places want to come here, they will be blocked and killed at checkpoints along the way and will not be able to come. The number of refugees from various places in Qingdu will not exceed 30,000. Your Excellency does not need to worry. We have calculated and verified it."

Lu Qubing replied.

Lu Yao pursed his lips and said, "Mr. Lu, the increase in the number of registered residents in the county is of course a good thing, but we shouldn't gamble so much. Even if we want to accept them, we should set a quota and accept them one thousand at a time over three years. This is the safest way. How can we accept so many refugees at once?"

"This is the imperial city, not some border area. There are many people coming and going from Yecheng. Are these dead people law-abiding? Some killed people and escaped punishment, some escaped corvée, and there may even be spies from the Zhou Dynasty. You didn't identify them and just placed them all over Cheng'an. Aren't you afraid at all?"

Lu Qubing's face was very solemn: "Mr. Lu, these people are wandering outside, without food, clothes, or shelter. If the temple does not accept them, they will either die or eat other people."

"As you said, this is Qingdu. If we accept them, will Qingdu be safe from now on?"

"If we delay and accept a certain number of people every day, how many of these 20,000 or 30,000 dead people will be left after three years?"

Lu Qubing's question left Lu Yao speechless.

Qian Zhubu said hurriedly: "Who can be blamed for this? If we had known this would happen, wouldn't we have not run or hidden? They killed people and tried to avoid punishment, so they deserved to die outside."

Lu Qubing looked at him and said, "Perhaps there are some who really killed people to avoid punishment, but as far as I know, most of them escaped because they could not bear the hardship of corvee labor."

"Evading corvée is also a serious crime!!"

"Do not!!"

"To impose frequent corvée labor, to force the people to endlessly build temples and pagodas, to transport stones to build palaces, to carve statues in the mountains, and to leave no way for the people to survive, is a serious crime!!!"

Lu Qubing's voice was extremely loud. Qian Zhubu turned pale. He pointed at Lu Qubing and said, "You, you, you, the county magistrate, you are so bold that you dare to talk about Your Majesty behind his back."

He was indeed frightened, and Lu Qubing's words were almost a curse directed at the emperor.

Lu Qubing scolded him, "How dare you criticize His Majesty? I was talking about those villains who deceived His Majesty into doing this. How dare you say that His Majesty did not value the people's strength and imposed excessive corvée labor?"

"I, I, I I didn't!!"

In an instant, Qian Zhubu was frightened like a prince.

"All right."

Lu Yao interrupted the two of them, his face solemn. After Gao Changgong left, he finally put away his smile and slightly showed the attitude of a county lord.

He hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "Although what County Magistrate Lu said makes some sense, it is too risky. I think it is not appropriate. Since we have already accepted 10,000 people, I will give you another 5,000 places. As for the rest of the refugees, send people away and do not let them gather outside the city."

Lu Qubing wanted to say something, but Lu Yao added, "This is my order."

"You may proceed now."

Qian Zhubu sneered, "Everyone, please don't just stand there. It's time to thank me and take the order." Lu Qubing's face was very ugly, but he still lowered his head helplessly.

"only."

The county magistrate waved his hand and asked them to leave.

Everyone walked out of the county government office with different expressions on their faces. Lu Qubing was the most angry. "There is enough food in the city, and there is plenty of arable land. We can obviously accommodate everyone. Why do we have to do this?"

The recording room historian whispered, "Mr. Lu, speak more quietly. He can hear you."

"I heard it, there are more than 10,000 people outside the city. We will only accept half of them. What about the other half? Drive them away. Where should they be driven to? To Yecheng?!"

The Recorder tried to persuade him again, "Mr. Lu, you may not know that in the past, we would have sent out guerrillas to attack and kill these refugees. This county magistrate was kind enough to just drive them away and not kill them."

"After all, these people are sinners in the temple. Lord Lu, please calm down."

"Lu Cheng~~~"

Qian Zhubu actually chased out. He walked in front of Lu Qubing and others with a swagger, and then said, "Don't be willful anymore. You are the chancellor of Cheng'an. You should consider the county more when doing things."

"We all understand what you said. The victims are very pitiful. This is all caused by some bad policies in recent years. But just because they are pitiful, does that mean the people of Cheng'an have to bear the consequences?"

"With so many criminals being deployed in and around the city, who can guarantee that they will mend their ways?"

"Can the people of Cheng'an still feel at ease in the future? There are criminals everywhere, stealing and killing people, causing chaos in Cheng'an. Is this what you want to see?"

"How can you be so selfish?"

Lu Qubing smiled and said, "The people of Cheng'an are not afraid of the dead. These dead are their relatives, their loved ones."

"It was not these dead people who killed people, burned, looted, and caused Cheng'an to be in chaos."

"There was no such thing as an incurable disease in the past. I have looked through many documents of Cheng'an. Before you took office, there had been no reports of injustice to the authorities in Cheng'an for several years. It was a very safe city."

Hearing the chief clerk's words, Lu Qubing laughed, turned around and left.

Everyone followed him and left together.

Only one clerk was left, staring at their backs with narrowed eyes.

They all came to the County Magistrate's Courtyard. Lu Qubing led them into his lobby. Everyone sat down. Changsun sat aside awkwardly, scratching his head. He actually didn't care that much about the refugees. He didn't pay much attention to these things. He got involved now, probably just because he got along well with Lu Qubing and others.

Lu Qubing looked at the officials around him and asked, "What should we do next?"

No one spoke, but everyone looked at Taozi.

Lu Qubing also followed their gaze and looked at Taozi, "Brother Taozi, what should we do?"

Liu Taozi spoke slowly.

"He gave the order."

“But we did it.”

"If he wants 5,000 refugees, then report him 5,000 refugees. Even if he recruits 50,000, that's still 5,000."

He looked at the officials on his left and right, "You should compare the documents with each other and send them to the county magistrate. Let him revise and edit them, and then send them to the county magistrate. If he sends someone to ask in person, you will all know what to say."

Everyone nodded, "We understand."

Lu Qubing was a little hesitant, "What if he finds out about this?"

"Then let him give the order to arrest people."

“He was the one who gave the order to arrest people.”

"We are the ones who are arresting people."

(End of this chapter)