When the army team returned to the county town with the prisoners captured by the bandits and the recaptured birthday card, although it was nearly the fourth watch, countless people still flocked to the city gate to welcome the returning soldiers. Even the county magistrate Liu Yaochen personally led the Yamen Others were waiting to go out of the city to meet him.
It was natural for Magistrate Liu to go out of the city to welcome him, and the reason why the people responded so enthusiastically was because everyone was bitter about the behavior of the bandits outside the city for a long time. Although the bandits in Hutou Village generally do not go down the mountain to rob local people, it is quite scary to have bandits snooping around you all the time. This time the army was able to completely wipe out Hutou Village in one fell swoop, which undoubtedly eliminated everyone. The biggest safety hazard.
So that night, the streets and alleys of Yuncheng County were brightly lit and full of joy. The people gathered around the victorious troops and cheered them straight to the county government office, and then continued to celebrate outside the government office.
Of course, many of them cried bitterly after learning that their husbands and sons had died while attacking the mountain stronghold, but this sadness was not so conspicuous when mixed with the joy of the people in the city.
After welcoming Suo Chao and others into the second hall, Liu Yaochen flushed with excitement and bowed to him repeatedly: "General Suo is really the great savior of our Yuncheng County. Without you to lead the troops, I really can't help you." Imagine that we can capture Hutou Village and wipe out these bandits who have caused trouble for many years."
Suo Chao accepted his thanks calmly, and then said: "I am also acting under orders, and Liu Zhixian does not have to do this. But if we really talk about it, I think there are people in Yuncheng County whose merits are not as good as those of you and other soldiers."
"Oh? There is such a hero, but I don't know who he is?" Liu Yaochen asked quickly.
"That's Sun Tu. If he hadn't come up with the method of using fire to attack this time, I'm afraid we would still be left at the foot of the mountain, not knowing what to do! Moreover, during the subsequent attack on the mountain, Sun Tu He also made a great contribution, killing the leader of the bandits with just one arrow, thus completely destroying the last resistance of the bandits. Magistrate Liu, you are really lucky to have such a young hero in your county." Suo Chaoman He said it with admiration.
When Liu Yaochen heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then nodded in agreement: "Yes, I have long seen that Sun Tu is not an idle person. I will definitely train him well in the future and let him serve the imperial court."
Seeing this, Song Jiang also praised: "You don't know something, County Yin. This time, Sun Sanlang has indeed shown his abilities far beyond others. Even for a humble position, he would be ashamed of himself. If he hadn't insisted on it and took out the The kerosene transported from overseas will cause huge losses to our officers and soldiers, and it is even more impossible to break through the thieves' nest and take back the birthday card so easily!"
Seeing this, Lei Heng, Zhu Tong and others also took the opportunity to praise Sun Tulai, praising him for his unparalleled bravery, as if the greatest contribution to the victory in this battle lay with him. When these words fell into Liu Yuan's ears, he felt even more uneasy. If Sun Tu had a chance to get ahead, his situation would not be good.
Magistrate Liu nodded frequently and said, "Such a meritorious official should be well praised. I wonder where Sun Tu is now?"
"He came to the county government office with us just now. He should be right outside the door. I'll go and invite him here." Huang Si reacted the fastest and hurriedly replied and walked out. He and Sun Tu didn't have a deep friendship. Since the other person was now valued by his boss, he naturally needed to make a good friendship.
After hurriedly going out, Huang Si searched for a while before he found Sun Tu talking to Ya'er in an inconspicuous corner. At this time, Ya'er's eyes were still a little red, but her mood was finally It calmed down a lot.
Sun Tu was called away early the morning before yesterday, and she didn't know why. It wasn't until I inquired later that I realized that the strong men had been dragged to attack Hutou Village outside the city. This scared the little girl quite a lot. Especially when news kept coming that many people had died in the bandit war, she was even more frightened and didn't know what to do.
After learning that the army had triumphantly returned today, Ya'er hurriedly ran to the city gate, but there were so many people at night, and she, a little girl, couldn't find her third brother. At that time, she was almost desperate. Only a little hope left in her heart allowed her to follow the team to the county government office. After many twists and turns, she finally met Sun Tu who was waiting in front of the county government office.
When she saw Sun Tu, Ya'er couldn't control her emotions at all. She burst into tears. Sun Tu quickly stepped forward, half-hugged his only relative in the world, and said a lot of comforting words before finally letting go. She held back her tears and then said, "Ya'er, please stop crying. Look, my body is soaked with your tears."
"How can there be so many..." Ya'er slapped Sun Tu lightly in shame, then carefully looked at the person in front of her, and said nervously: "Third brother, you are not injured, are you? Nothing can happen to you. ah… "
"Don't worry, your third brother, I have the blessing of the gods, how could I be injured easily? Didn't I come back well, and I also made some achievements."
"Seriously?" Ya'er asked with surprise on her face. Before Sun Tu could answer, Huang Si, who happened to find them, came over with a smile: "Of course it's true. No, the county Yin is looking for Sun Sanlang and asked me to lure him to get the reward."
Sun Tu glanced at Huang Si, then turned to Ya'er and said: "It's late at night, don't wait here, go home and rest first. I will go home after receiving the reward."
In front of outsiders, Ya'er was still very well-behaved and obedient. She nodded her head, then looked at Sun Tu with some reluctance, and then left slowly and hesitantly. Then Sun Tu and Huang Si walked to the county government office. After walking a few steps, he suddenly asked: "Team leader Huang, was it Liu Yasi's idea to order me this time?"
"Ah, how come you..." Huang Si was obviously surprised. As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that he had been tricked by this young man, and he immediately stopped talking. But this was enough to explain the problem. Sun Tu glanced at him with a half-smile, then strode inside, heading towards the still noisy Second Hall, but left Huang Si where he was. After a while, Huang Si hurriedly caught up with him, his expression showing something else.
After Liu Yaochen saw Sun Tu, he praised him a few words, but they were just clichés and didn't have much new ideas. Then another servant said: "You take two ingots of silver from the bank."
When others got two ingots of official silver cast into the shape of ingots, he solemnly handed them to Sun Tu: "Sun Tu, I am deeply gratified that you have contributed to the suppression of bandits in this county. I will reward you twenty taels of silver first. As for other rewards, we will wait until I report to the Jeju government."
Sun Tu didn't refuse and quickly took the two heavy silver ingots. To be honest, this was the first time he saw Yinzi after coming to Song Dynasty.
Different from those random movies and TV dramas of later generations, in real history, at least before the Ming Dynasty, there was actually very little silver circulating among the people, and the common people were mostly exposed to copper coins. Because China has always been short of silver, although the government regards silver as an important currency, it does not promote circulation. Many people may not be able to see real silver throughout their lives.
Only local officials would reserve some silver in order to facilitate the transfer of taxes to the court, and it was not broken pieces of silver. Most of them would be recast, and then made into horseshoe-shaped silver ingots of five or ten taels each, that is, Commonly known as Yuanbao. Now that Magistrate Liu has rewarded Sun Tu with gold ingots, he has shown his attitude.
However, this was not too convenient for Sun Tu, because most people did not accept money, and he had to find a bank to exchange it for money if he wanted to spend the twenty taels of silver. Of course, the value of twenty taels of silver is not low. The official price is one tael of silver, but among the people, it is very likely that one tael of silver can be exchanged for two or three taels of silver. Fifty taels of silver can be purchased in this way.
Later, Liu Yaochen asked people to hold a banquet in the post office next to the county government office to celebrate this victory. As for Sun Tu, who had made considerable contributions in this war, he was naturally invited to the table.
This is really a great honor, because those who can attend the celebration today are all county officials or prominent people in the county. From this alone, it can be seen that Sun Tu's status in this county has been greatly improved.