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There has never been a county magistrate like Qin Mu, who was suppressing bandits on his way to take office and had achieved remarkable political achievements before he even took office, although these achievements were suspected of being a case of the dog trying to catch the rat.
If it was a peaceful time, you would definitely be impeached, and the court probably wouldn't want you to take up your post. If it was during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, it wouldn't be surprising if you were sent directly to the King of Hell to take up your post.
But the world is not going well now. Even an eighty-year-old toothless woman has become a rebel king, and a three-year-old kid dares to stand in the upper hand and urinate on his superior official. Who still cares whether what County Magistrate Qin did is in line with the system
Furthermore, considering that County Magistrate Qin's territory was now occupied by bandits, his shocking move was understandable.
When Qin Mu arrived in Ganzhou, the Huichang rebels were already approaching, only fifty miles away from the city. The Ganzhou city was under martial law and the four gates were closed.
The arrival of Qin Mu with more than a hundred men made the defenders on the city wall nervous for a while. After carefully checking his official seal, they were still not reassured and asked the prefect Yang Tinglin for permission before they dared to open the gate and let him enter the city.
Ganzhou City, as an important town in southern Jiangxi, is located on the mountain and faces the river. The city wall is more than two meters high and is quite majestic and impressive.
As the Huichang banditry spread, a large number of refugees with their families poured into the city. They were everywhere under the eaves on the streets. Children were crying, women were shedding tears, and men were sad. Many people had tattered clothes stained with blood, and their hair was disheveled and their faces were dirty. The scene was bleak.
When Qin Mu and his party passed by, refugees on the street came to them for begging, looking very pitiful.
After finally reaching the government office, I saw that government officials had already set up porridge shops along the street to provide porridge to the refugees. Some of the gentry and wealthy families in the city had also set up porridge shops in front of their homes, but for the refugees all over the streets, these porridge shops were far from enough.
The porridge shop next to the government office was crowded with people. Although there were soldiers maintaining order, the scene was still chaotic. Countless refugees were fighting for food, and the noise, scolding, and crying were like surging waves.
Qin Mu saw a porridge shop with a flag with the word "Yang" on it. There was a young girl and her servants distributing porridge. She was wearing a light green silk palace dress with double nests of cloud geese and a white floor-length skirt with plum blossoms and water drops. She had a graceful figure. Although her face was covered with a veil, her facial features were faintly visible, and her jade nose and cherry lips aroused endless reverie.
"Everyone, come one by one, don't push, don't push, there is porridge, everyone can get some..." There were so many people crowding in front of the porridge shop that even the porridge pot was almost overturned. The young woman kept comforting them, her voice as gentle and pleasant as a yellow warbler.
Qin Mu noticed this woman. It was not difficult to tell from her clothes that she was a lady from a noble family. Due to the prevalence of Zhu Xi's and Cheng Yi's Neo-Confucianism, women in the Ming Dynasty usually stayed at home. It was extremely rare to see a lady from a noble family like this come out to distribute porridge, so Qin Mu couldn't help but take a few more glances at her.
When Qin Mu arrived at the government office, the gatekeeper checked his official seal and was about to lead him in when there was a sudden commotion at the porridge shop. Someone rushed out from the crowded refugees, overturned the cauldron, and someone else was shouting in the crowd.
"Fellow villagers, the officials are greedy and have been robbing us of our wealth. Now we can't even survive, but they won't open their warehouses to give us food relief. This is so unfair!"
"That's right. They set up these porridge shops for show. They can only save a few people. Sooner or later, we will all starve to death."
"Fellow villagers, there is plenty of food in the government warehouse. Let's rush in and grab it!"
"If you don't rob, you'll starve to death. So rob the bastards!"
“… ... ... ... ... ”
Among the chaotic crowd of refugees, people kept shouting and trying to stir up the refugees' emotions, and all the porridge shops were overturned in an instant.
Qin Mu was shocked when he saw this. He didn't think much about it and immediately ordered his more than 100 men: "Kill them all. Anyone who spreads rumors or causes trouble will be killed without mercy!"
Meng Ke and others didn't think much about it and immediately formed a formation and rushed forward!
Qin Mu knew that these were most likely rebel spies who had sneaked into the city, hoping to incite civil unrest in order to seize Ganzhou City.
At this moment, there are at least five or six thousand people in front of the government office. Once chaos breaks out, it will quickly affect tens of thousands of refugees in the city, and the consequences will be disastrous.
At the same time, he also knew that killing people was not enough. As he charged, he had more than a hundred people shout in unison: "Fellow villagers, these are the rebels who sneaked into the city and spread rumors. Their purpose is to stir up chaos so that they can attack Ganzhou City from the inside and outside. Folks, you must not be fooled by the rebel spies. Once the rebels enter the city, they will kill you and rape your wives and daughters. Folks, don't be fooled."
"Now, folks, please don't make a scene. Everyone, squat down! Hurry up and squat down. Anyone who doesn't obey orders will be treated as a spy and shot. Hurry up and squat down! Squat down!"
Qin Mu's more than 100 men formed a heavy battle array, with swords unsheathed and arrows on strings, advancing step by step. The people in front were overwhelmed by the heavy momentum, looking at the cold arrows, and squatted down in fear according to their shouts. Thousands of refugees were like wheat waves blown by the wind, shrinking one after another;
The remaining spies were still foaming at the mouth and instigating, but Meng Ke and his companions showed no mercy and immediately shot them with their bows. Blood splattered everywhere and the people nearby screamed in fear. Some could not bear the shock and fell to the ground; others got up and dodged, running around in panic. It seemed that the scene was about to become chaotic again.
Qin Mu immediately ordered his men to shout, "Don't move! Get down! Get down! Anyone who runs around will be killed! Get down! Get down!"
At this critical moment, several strong men rushed into the porridge shop. They did not choose the clerks in charge of distributing porridge, but the young girl with a veil and several maids beside her. They put daggers on the necks of the women and shouted at Qin Mu: "If you come over again, I will kill this girl. She is the daughter of the prefect! Don't come over! Don't come over!"
These people probably didn't expect that the situation would be controlled by Qin Mu so quickly. Their identities had been exposed when they loudly incited the people just now, and they had no choice but to take hostages in order to escape.
"The prefect's daughter? The prefect's daughter means nothing!" Qin Mu sneered as he led his men forward. The squatting people crawled away to make way.
At this time, government troops rushed over from all directions, pointing swords and guns at the refugees, and the situation was truly under control.
“Don’t come over here! If you come over again, I’ll really kill her!” The big man who held the girl hostage had a ferocious look on his face. Seeing Qin Mu, wearing a seventh-rank official uniform and approaching with a group of sturdy subordinates, he roared and retreated into the crowd while holding the girl hostage.
"Do you know who I am? I am the newly appointed magistrate of Huichang. I came all the way from Nanchang Prefecture to suppress bandits. I have never compromised with bandits. Isn't she just the daughter of a prefect? Compared with millions of ordinary people, a daughter of a prefect is nothing. If you have the guts, go ahead and kill me. If you want to leave, no way!"
"I really killed her. If you come over here again, I will really kill her!" the thief roared fiercely.
"Kill him! Go ahead and kill him!" Unexpectedly, Qin Mu roared even louder, his voice like thunder!
Qin Mu has gone through two months of hard training and bandit suppression, which is even more difficult than the physical training of new recruits in later generations before joining the army in three months. Now he is no longer the weak scholar in Nanjing City, and has a bit of arrogance.
The spy was forced to step back, his hands trembling slightly, perhaps because of nervousness or difficulty. The shiny dagger cut the girl's neck, and blood dripped down bit by bit. The girl screamed in fear.
The spy was unable to take care of his feet when he was retreating, and he stepped on a round wooden stick, causing him to stumble. Qin Mu seized this fleeting opportunity and rushed forward, stabbing out with his long sword.
With a "Puff!" sound, the blade pierced deeply into the thin man's chest. The thin man's eyes widened, and he would never believe that Qin Mu would really ignore the safety of the hostages and brazenly go forward to kill people;
He fell to the ground with his eyes open, and the young girl was so frightened that her legs were weak and she was about to fall down as well. Qin Mu grabbed her with his left hand, hugged her slender waist and carried her to him.
Seeing that holding the hostages was futile, several spies nearby abandoned the hostages and ran away. With a few buzzing sounds of bowstrings, they were all killed by arrows.
A group of officials who rushed out of the government office were all stunned when they looked at the scene. Probably no one had expected that spies would dare to sneak into the government office and incite the people to cause chaos.
In fact, it was not Jian Xi who was stupid. On the contrary, it was the officials of Ganzhou Prefecture who were too stupid to distribute porridge in the open space in front of the government office.
If you distribute porridge here, it will surely attract a large number of refugees to gather here. Once the spies succeed in inciting them, they can directly attack the government office and wipe out the chief officials of Ganzhou. By then, Ganzhou will be leaderless and will surely be in chaos. A mighty city will fall without a fight.
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