The Japanese pirates retreated, and Zhu Ping'an became even busier.
From the morning when he discovered that the Japanese pirates were retreating until late at night, Zhu Ping'an did not rest for a moment.
During the day, Zhu Pingan visited villages hit by the Japanese pirates, counted the losses, visited and comforted the victims, and directed reconstruction. In addition, he also arranged defenses and restarted the six coastal beacon towers and the five border beacon towers to prevent the Japanese pirates from raiding Jingnan again. With the beacon towers, at least when the Japanese pirates raided, they could give an early warning, giving the coastal villages time to escape.
There were many villages affected by the disaster in Jingnan, and Zhu Ping'an visited them non-stop. He had no time to eat lunch or dinner. Liu Dadao bought a few pancakes for him to eat simply. He ate while visiting, comforting and deploying defenses.
After the Japanese pirates ravaged the coastal villages, the land of fish and rice, the paradise on earth, has now turned into a wilderness, a hell on earth: burned black houses, blood and corpses all over the village, women and children who were harmed, and rice fields that were about to mature but were destroyed... There was no crowing of chickens for ten miles, and crying was heard everywhere...
Zhu Ping'an had been feeling grief-stricken, heavy-hearted and angry all day, with a rage burning in his heart.
The Japanese pirates' actions were inhumane! Inhumane! Insane! Worse than beasts!
kill!
kill!
kill!
Kill all the Japanese pirates in the world! !
After visiting one village after another that had been turned into hell on earth by the Japanese pirates, seeing one innocent civilian after another being killed, and listening to one heart-wrenching cry after another, Zhu Ping'an's anger became increasingly difficult to contain. He silently made a very idiotic oath in his heart: I, Zhu Ping'an, will kill all the Japanese pirates in the world. I will make sure that there is no more Japanese pirates in the land of China!!! I will make the Japanese slaves of the island nation pay the price in blood!!! I will lead the army to lash the island nation! I will punish the Japanese chieftains of the island nation!
Zhu Pingan suppressed his anger and used a hundred times more energy to comfort and appease the victims, direct the reconstruction, and arrange defense. When it was dark, Zhu Pingan returned to Jingnan County Government from the village under the stars.
After returning to the county government office overnight, Zhu Ping'an did not rest. He lit the oil lamp with scissors, laid out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and began to write the official document.
The first official document was a battle report on the sniping of Japanese pirates in Jingnan. Zhu Ping'an truthfully described the invasion of Japanese pirates, including the number of Japanese pirates, the landing site, the burning, killing and looting, and the attack on Jingnan County. He focused on reporting the situation of Jingnan's fight against Japanese pirates. The military and civilians fought against the Japanese pirates with one heart, fearing no sacrifice, and finally repelled the Japanese pirates. In the battle report, Zhu Ping'an listed the outstanding achievements of Liu Dadao, Liu Mu, Liu Daqiang, Liu Dachui, Liu Dafu, and Liu Dagang. Of course, at the end of the battle report, Zhu Ping'an also spared no effort to impeach Li Da, the prefect of Jingnan, who fled the city without fighting, and Zhang Changru, the county magistrate, and Yao Wenyuan, the chief clerk, who retreated and disappeared before the battle.
After the war, when he had time, he would definitely settle accounts with them. Listing them after the battle report was a way to inform his superiors in advance. After all, the three of them were officials appointed by the court, and it would be complicated to deal with them. In the end, it would be decided by the Ministry of Personnel of the court. As for the six clerks in the county government, they were not officials appointed by the court, and Zhu Ping'an could handle them on his own.
In fact, before the Japanese pirates came, Zhu Ping'an had already started to prepare to deal with them. The trap had been set, and he was just waiting to close the net in a few days. However, after the Japanese pirates came, as officials appointed by the court, they abandoned the city and fled before the battle, retreating in the face of the enemy, involving several serious crimes such as dereliction of duty, ignoring the responsibility of defending the land and protecting the people, and betraying the trust of the court. This saved Zhu Ping'an a lot of trouble and he did not need to use the trap he had set for the time being.
After writing the battle report, Zhu Ping'an began to draft the second official document. This document was a document requesting the court to reduce or exempt Jingnan's taxes. Today he went to visit and comfort the villages that had been ravaged by the Japanese pirates. The tragic situation of the people in the disaster-stricken villages is still vivid in his mind. If he asked them to pay taxes again, it would be tantamount to a second murder of the survivors. Zhu Ping'an decided to apply to the court for tax reduction or exemption.
"More than 3,000 Japanese pirates ravaged Jingnan. Although the whole government was united in fighting and repelling them, the pirates still burned, killed and looted as they crossed the border. The affected villages and towns in the area suffered serious damage, houses were burned down, farmland was destroyed, and people were in mourning...Jingnan County Magistrate Zhu Ping'an earnestly requested that Jingnan's rent and taxes be reduced this year to show relief and help the people live."
Zhu Pingan listed the villages that were harmed by the Japanese pirates and the disaster situation at the end of the official document requesting tax reduction. The purpose was to ask for tax reduction for the affected villages at least, even if it was not possible to get tax reduction for the whole Jingnan.
After checking and polishing it, Zhu Ping'an formally copied the second document.
After finishing the second official document, Zhu Ping'an drank a cup of strong tea to refresh himself, and then began to write the third official document.
This is an official document requesting a silver reward for first merit.
This time, 795 heads of Japanese pirates were captured. Zhu Ping'an wrote an official document requesting the court to issue rewards such as silver according to the reward standards.
The military merits of the Ming Dynasty were divided into two categories: "first merit" and "war merit". "First merit" does not mean "first" or "first" merit. First merit means the literal meaning - merit for the first head. In simple terms, it is calculated by the number of heads, that is, the reward is based on the number of heads. It can be said that this is a method of calculating merit that has been passed down from the Iron-blooded Qin Dynasty. It is simple, crude, bloody and effective. Although this has led to the phenomenon of killing innocent people and claiming credit, which harms the people, its role is undeniable.
The "war merit" of the Ming Dynasty was divided into three categories: "extraordinary merit", "first merit" and "second merit". Unlike the first merit, the merit of war was mainly determined based on the performance of the soldiers on the battlefield. The performance of the soldiers was determined by the chief officer, who had a large degree of autonomy and was more watered down. There were many drawbacks in its implementation, and the phenomenon of false merit emerged in an endless stream. After a war, the officers and soldiers fought bravely, but in the end, the commander-in-chief who led the army to fight, the eunuchs in charge of supervising the war, and the censors who accompanied the merit record, all discussed and decided that you should write the name of your cousin who was farming in your hometown, and I should write the name of my servant who swept the floor and fed the horses. It was just a matter of a word.
Later, the imperial court also noticed this problem and became more cautious about "military merits" that had greater autonomy and more water. Currently, the most popular and popular one is the "first merit" whose standards are easy to review and grasp.
The Ming Dynasty's first merit reward standard is generally divided into four levels according to the meritorious regions and the objects captured: the north (Mongolia), the northeast (Jurchen), the western Miao and Man (Tibetans and southern ethnic minorities), and the inland rebels (Han uprisings). The court gives different rewards for each level. The rewards are mainly money and promotions. At present, the rewards are mainly money, and promotions are less.
According to the rewards awarded by Emperor Jiajing last year, the north (Mongolia) would receive 50 taels of silver for each head, the northeast (Jurchen) would receive 30 taels of silver for each head, the western Miao and Man (Tibetans and southern ethnic minorities) would receive 10 taels of silver for each head, and the inland rebels (civil uprisings in Han areas) would receive the cheapest reward, with 5 taels of silver for each head.
However, the reward amount is not fixed.
During the Gengxu Rebellion last year, Emperor Jiajing issued a special bounty of 100 taels of silver for each enemy head. In addition, if more heads were captured, the bounty would drop in value. For example, the head of a rebel in the interior (Han people's uprising) was worth 5 taels of silver. The year before last, there was a rebellion of rebels, and more were killed, so the bounty dropped to 1 tael of silver per head.
However, the heads of Japanese pirates are still very valuable now.
As a new threat, the Japanese pirates have existed since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, but on a small scale, not enough to threaten the rule of the empire. During the Jiajing period, the Japanese pirates rose up in large numbers and had already threatened the rule of the empire. Emperor Jiajing issued a special reward this year, setting the reward for the head of the Japanese pirates at 30 taels of silver, and even stipulated that in extraordinary times, a Japanese pirate's head would be worth 100 taels of silver.
This time, 795 heads of Japanese pirates were captured. According to the reward issued by Emperor Jiajing, the reward for each head was 30 taels of silver, totaling 23,850 taels of silver. Even with a discount, the reward would be at least 20,000 taels of silver.
Zhu Ping'an would not take even a tael of this reward money, and would distribute it to the yamen runners who participated in the battle, the soldiers guarding the city, and the young and strong civilians.