Rise From the Humble

Tongxiang County is located southwest of Jiaxing Prefecture and adjacent to Hangzhou Prefecture.

At this time, a high platform was raised outside the city gate. Under the high platform, two to three thousand people stood densely, forming three distinct camps.

One camp is for the guards, with about a thousand people, less than 30% of them are young and strong, and the rest are old, weak, sick and disabled. They are from Hangzhou Guard; the other camp is for the common people, with about a thousand people; and there are There were only about five hundred people in each camp, and they were all dressed like servants. However, one hundred of them were extremely tough and exuded murderous aura, while the remaining servants were as lazy as stragglers.

There was a high platform in front of them, and on the high platform Zhao Chong, the prefect of Jiaxing, was looking at them with complacency.

"I know there are many rumors about me, saying that I, Zhao Chong, am an incompetent fool who caused the fall of Jiaxing."

"Of course, there are also rumors that I am Zhao Mingcheng's second best. When the Japanese pirates attacked the city, I abandoned the city and fled."

"There are even unbelievable rumors that I, Zhao Chong, surrendered to the Japanese pirates, I am a traitor and a thief, and I gave Jiaxing to the Japanese pirates."

"Hahahaha, nonsense, pure nonsense, these rumors will be self-defeating in the face of the truth!"

The prefect of Jiaxing stood on the high platform and sadly listed several "rumors" about him that had been circulating for a long time. He cursed these rumors as nonsense. For a while, spittle flew everywhere like rain.

Everyone in the audience was buzzing. The person on the stage was the prefect. They did not dare to slander and refute in person, but they still had a strong feeling in their hearts. Forty thousand Japanese pirates attacked Suzhou, but they were almost wiped out by Zhu Ping of Suzhou. In the end, only more than four hundred people escaped. Japanese, and these more than 400 remnant Japanese attacked Jiaxing, but they captured Jiaxing City in one fell swoop. However, Jiaxing fell, but you did not live or die with Jiaxing, and escaped from the city with Lu Sheng.

In this comparison, if you, the prefect of Jiaxing, are not stupid, who is? ! You didn't abandon the city and flee. Who abandoned the city and fled? !

Of course, they did not dare to say these words to Magistrate Zhao’s face, and they only dared to mutter a few words in a low voice below.

Zhao Chong naturally noticed the reaction of the people in the audience, and in order to save his respect, he continued to tell lies.

"Those Japanese pirates are not ordinary Japanese pirates. Of the more than 40,000 Japanese pirates who attacked Suzhou, why were they the only ones able to escape? It's because they are the elite among the elite Japanese pirates. All of them are at the level of warriors when picked out individually."

"Do you know that dozens of Japanese pirates landed in Shaoxing half a year ago, burned, killed and looted all the way, attacked cities and villages, fought for more than a thousand miles, defeated officers and soldiers, and finally reached Yingtian City to show off their power?!"

"Each of these more than 400 Japanese pirates is at the same level as the dozens of Japanese pirates who show off their power under Yingtian City! Each of them is one to a hundred, catching arrows with their bare hands, invulnerable to weapons and weapons, charging into battle, and invincible!"

"Suzhou Prefecture and Mr. Zhu Ping'an, why did they destroy more than 40,000 Japanese pirates, but they couldn't do anything to these more than 400 Japanese pirates and could only watch them walk away? It's because these Japanese pirates are so powerful that Suzhou Prefecture still can't do anything to them. Even Master Zhu Ping'an and Zhu are no match for them and can't do anything to them!"

"Dozens of Japanese pirates of this level can fight thousands of miles and break into several cities. On that day, more than 400 Japanese pirates of this level raided Jiaxing! It's annoying and hateful. I didn't know this information in advance. Suzhou They did not inform us of this information, nor did they even inform us that Japanese pirates had fled to Jiaxing. This caused us in Jiaxing to be caught off guard, and we were attacked by the Japanese pirates. We missed the first move, making one wrong step and one wrong step. Although we were not afraid of sacrifice, They resisted bravely, but Jiaxing City still fell."

"After the fall of Jiaxing, I personally led my personal guards and killed more than ten Japanese pirates. I broke out of the siege and asked Governor Li Tianchong for help. I wanted to take advantage of the Japanese pirates' unstable foothold and lead the reinforcements to kill one of the Japanese pirates. But, no, not only Reinforcements were not requested, and I was imprisoned, missing the opportunity to recapture Jiaxing."

The prefect of Jiaxing was on the high platform, spitting excuses for the fall of Jiaxing, saying how powerful the Japanese pirates were and how brave he resisted. It was all his fault that Suzhou did not inform them, and it was all his fault that the governor Li Tianchong not only failed to send him reinforcements, but also had him executed. Dalao, what you are talking about is a sincere relationship.

He almost believed it himself.

However, lies are lies after all, and lies are at least a thousand miles away from the truth.

"Why was there no notice? That night, people from Suzhou sent people to shout that there were Japanese pirates escaping, and our village heard it."

"It seems that Governor Zhao was arrested at his private residence in Hangzhou. When did he go to Governor Li for help?"

"What's his explanation? It's clearly a cover-up."

Everyone in the audience didn't buy Magistrate Zhao's explanation at all. They murmured and sneered in the audience.

"Okay, I know many people still don't believe me, it doesn't matter, I will convince you with actions."

Seeing that his explanation did not convince everyone, Magistrate Zhao had no choice but to grit his teeth and resort to a trick, waving his hand in one direction.

Soon, two servants walked out from the direction where Magistrate Zhao waved, carrying a heavy wooden box.

"Open!"

Magistrate Zhao gave them orders.

The two servants opened the wooden box in response, and saw a bright silver light inside the wooden box, which almost blinded everyone's eyes.

"There are three thousand taels of silver in this box. This silver was not paid by the court, but by me, Zhao Chong. My hometown is in Hangzhou. There is a house in Hangzhou that has been passed down from my ancestors for more than a hundred years. Yesterday I paid for it with less than The market price was 50 taels of silver, so I quickly sold it and got 800 taels of silver. I also reluctantly sold the 100 acres of paddy fields in Hangzhou that had been passed down by my ancestors at a low price. Each mu was originally worth 10 taels of silver. In order to quickly I sold it at a low price of 8 taels of silver per mu; yesterday, I showed my shame and privately borrowed more than a thousand taels of silver from friends and some squires to collect the three thousand taels of silver."

"Some of you are reinforcements I borrowed from Hangzhou Guards, some are young and strong people I recruited, some are servants of my house and servants borrowed from other houses. No matter what your status is, each of you can receive a Two taels of silver, this is today's reward! From now on, you can get one or two taels of silver every day, and you don't have to worry about me defaulting on the debt. There are still many valuable things passed down from my ancestors in my hometown. Even if I sell iron, I won't owe you a tael of silver. , if I owe the debt, I will be struck by five thunderbolts from the sky and die."

Magistrate Zhao kicked the silver box and made a promise to everyone.

Everyone suddenly became excited,

One tael of silver a day.

How much money can they earn throughout the year?

Now one tael of silver a day is a sky-high price.

Immediately morale soared. (End of chapter)