Joy of Life: I am a Han Dynasty succubus, and I rebel from the beginning

Chapter 241: The bandit problem caused by the disaster victims in Jiangbei, and seeing Prime Minister Lin Ruofu again

Chang Kun, the admiral of the Jiaozhou Navy, was bowing and nodding on the boat at this time, as humble as a slave in front of Liu Hong.

Even though he was a second-rank admiral of one of the three major naval forces of Qing Kingdom and one of the Qin family's most proud students.

When he was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Chang Kun couldn't even be promoted to deputy admiral without Liu Hong's approval.

Not to mention that when the Shangshu was appointed as the admiral, he nominated Chang Kun as the admiral of the Jiaozhou navy.

"Grand Admiral, are you still used to staying on the ship?"

Chang Kun, who was in his fifties or sixties, personally served Liu Hong with a fruit plate.

His attitude was so flattering that even Versace couldn't help but look at him sideways.

"Not bad! How long will it take to get to Wuzhou?"

Liu Hong did not express any opinion on Chang Kun's attitude.

Fan Xian brought 300,000 taels of silver and was responsible for comforting the disaster victims in Jiangbei. In his capacity as the Director of the Supervisory Council, he ordered all major prefectures and counties to resettle the refugees.

It looks like things were handled well.

But Liu Hong has to intervene.

Fan Xian was busy recovering the three major districts of the Neiku. As for the county governors, he simply threatened them with the Supervisory Council. As for the handling measures, they were based on the previous practices of appeasing the refugees.

Officials of all dynasties have always provided relief by providing thin porridge to appease refugees. Those who are more capable have proposed work-for-relief.

Then what? Then there was nothing left. The money allocated by the court was almost gone, and the officials ate a lot of money and also increased their political achievements and reputation.

When the refugees are no longer refugees in the official documents reported.

While the refugees were confused and fearful, the aristocratic families would hypocritically step forward and take them in as tenants, and from then on, these refugees would no longer be included in the household registration of the Kingdom of Qing.

How good!

The imperial court had no pressure from refugees, officials made money and gained political achievements, and aristocratic families obtained cheap labor.

No one cares where the missing refugees have gone. As long as the local area is stable and the annual taxes are paid on time, it's fine.

Liu Hong's eyes moved around vaguely, with a hint of a smile.

After hearing Liu Hong's words, Chang Kun did not dare to be negligent and spoke quickly.

"Grand Commander, there are still two hours!"

Wuzhou is the hometown of Lin Ruofu, the last prime minister of Qing Kingdom.

He once secretly teamed up with Liu Hong and united major officials in Kyoto to win the sympathy of the neutral faction. A large ceremonial bell incident almost caused Emperor Qing to lose face.

Outside Wuzhou City, Lin Ruofu looked a little dazed. He didn't expect that only a few short years had passed.

Liu Hong has already climbed to the level of a provincial governor.

Lin Dabao was having a lot of fun playing with the rattle and stood obediently behind Lin Ruofu.

The Jiaozhou navy's tower ships, like a huge cloud covering the sky, approached the port outside Wuzhou city.

The prefect of Wuzhou and his subordinate officials saw the ship stop and hurriedly bowed down.

"This subordinate, along with the officials of Wuzhou, is here to see the general, the Grand Commander of Andong!"

"No need to be polite. I am here only to gather 50,000 troops from Jiangbei Road and inspect their armaments."

Liu Hong had a gentle attitude and personally helped the prefect of Wuzhou up.

The prefect of Wuzhou breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the rumors were true. The commander-in-chief focused more on military affairs than government affairs.

The officials of Jiangbei Road can now rest assured.

As for the Jiangbei army, the prefect of Wuzhou snorted coldly, with a trace of contempt in his eyes.

Most of the more than 200,000 disaster victims in Jiangbei fled to Jiangnan Road to beg for their lives. A small number of them were unable to move away from their hometowns and so stayed in Jiangbei to become bandits.

There were about 20,000 bandits, basically all of them were unarmed civilians. The largest bandit group, Bai Lang, consisted of only a mob of more than 3,000 people.

That's it! The 50,000 Jiangbei Road troops spent several years, wasting money and manpower, not only using up all the money that was originally intended for disaster relief, but also looking miserable and failing to eliminate the bandits.

It's a complete disgrace to the Qing army.

Thinking of this, the prefect of Wuzhou clasped his fists and saluted.

"Please ask the Grand Commander to thoroughly investigate all the troops in Jiangbei Road. The generals are corrupt and incompetent, and the soldiers are afraid of death! This is why the bandits cannot be dealt with."

"Not only that! Our Jiangbei Road treasury has been completely depleted and we are no longer able to provide relief to the victims."

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist!
The prefect sold the troops in Jiangbei Road without hesitation.

By the way, he also cried about the poverty of Jiangbei Road's finances, so that the commander-in-chief would not use half of the treasury silver to build Danzhou.

Liu Hong just glanced at the prefect of Wuzhou, smiled and said nothing.

Leading the officers of the Grand Commander, he headed towards Wuzhou City. Interesting! I wonder if this Wuzhou governor is a man of Wubei King Li Hongcheng or Jiangbei Road Pacification Envoy.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

Lin Ruofu served as prime minister for decades. Just like Qianlong Bay, the actual controller of Wuzhou was this retired prime minister.

The prefect of Wuzhou saw that Liu Hong did not say anything.

There was cold sweat on his forehead. Could it be that he guessed wrong?

Liu Hong did not come here to settle scores with the Jiangbei Army.

Lin Ruofu was the last prime minister of Qing State. Naturally, it was impossible for him to run to the port to welcome Liu Hong like the officials of Wuzhou.

Do you still have any shame?
Being able to wait for Liu Hong at the city gate is already a great show of goodwill.

The Grand Commander's Guard took the lead in taking over the defense of Wuzhou city. Under the leadership of Er Gouzi, small groups of troops guarded various key places.

When Lin Ruofu saw the guards go ahead, he stroked his beard and nodded slightly.

He is so cautious and prudent, without any trace of arrogance that comes from being young and successful.

No wonder Liu Hong has been able to grow to this day.

Thinking of this, Lin Ruofu was vaguely looking forward to meeting Liu Hong again.

Although they had only spent a short time together, Lin Ruofu and Liu Hong felt like close friends.

He was also born into a poor family. At that time, Ye Qingmei was still alive. He passed the imperial examination once in a rare opportunity and won the title of top scholar.

Then he had an affair with the eldest princess but was irresponsible.

After several ups and downs, he slowly climbed to the position of prime minister.

Liu Hong's figure soon came into view.

"Meet the Grand Commander."

Lin Ruofu saluted slowly and pretended to kneel on the ground.

Now he only has the title of Super First-Rank Grand Tutor, so his power is naturally not as great as Liu Hong's.

Liu Hong hurriedly helped Lin Ruofu up, looking extremely terrified.

"Prime Minister, you are really too kind to me. I am just a junior and half of your family. How dare I accept such a great gift from you?"

"The Grand Commander is so kind."

Although Lin Ruofu said this, he just went with the flow.

I didn't even think about kneeling down.

Liu Hong smiled and looked behind Lin Ruofu, looking a little scared at his Dabao.

"This time, I brought a playmate for Dabao."

After saying that, he waved to the back.

"Liu Fei, come and meet your Uncle Dabao."

Liu Fei, wearing a small helmet, reluctantly stepped out from among his personal guards and saluted.

"Meet Uncle Dabao, meet Grandpa Lin."

When Lin Ruofu saw Liu Fei, who was about five or six years old, his eyes warmed slightly.

"You are thoughtful. Dabao likes to play with children."

In fact, it’s not that Lin Dabao likes to play with children, it’s just that he simply doesn’t understand the thinking of adults.

"Let's go to the city, Uncle. There's a lot of wind and sand outside the city, which is not good for you and Dabao's health."

Liu Hong smiled and tried to establish a relationship again.

If the Danzhou banquet was a representative of Liu Hong, the moment he took power as the Grand Commander of Andong.

Only with Lin Ruofu's support can we accurately understand the situation in Jiangbei Road.

After all, the 50,000 Jiangbei Road troops were unable to deal with the scattered bandits.

What about the fact that Liu Hong and his two hundred bandits were beaten and fled by dozens of red-armored cavalrymen?
Lin Ruofu certainly understood what Liu Hong meant.

Otherwise, would Liu Hong, the Grand Commander of Andong, have tried to establish a relationship with me again and again?
But this matter is also good for Lin Ruofu.

After he resigned and returned home, the prefect of Wuzhou was transferred and replaced.

Lin Ruofu's influence has always been firmly restricted to Wuzhou and has never spread to Jiangbei Road.

Now is a good situation!
(End of this chapter)