After being occupied by the Japanese pirate leader Heihachiro, Taiping County Government Office became the pirates' base camp in Taiping County. The Taiping County Government Office was able to avoid being destroyed. Also, because the Japanese pirates retreated in a hurry and had no time to set fire to it, Taiping County also escaped the fire. Except for being made dirty and messy by the Japanese pirates, the rest of the city was basically intact.
After Zhu Ping'an entered the Taiping County Government Office, he led people to clean the government office inside and out, using it as a temporary camp for the surviving people.
After more than an hour of patrol, each team found six Japanese pirates who had escaped. These six pirates had infected wounds, were dying, and could not even move. They were regarded as a burden and abandoned in a broken house to die. The patrol team followed Zhu Ping'an's previous order and beheaded them, pickled them with lime, and burned their bodies.
After more than an hour of search and rescue, the patrol teams also rescued many surviving civilians, a total of 1,091 people.
This is a heartbreaking number, because before the Japanese pirates broke into the city, the county had a permanent population of more than 20,000.
Now there are less than 1,100 people left! Only one in ten survives!
After witnessing the Taiping Massacre with their own eyes, the young and strong men had even more respect for Zhu Ping'an. If it were not for the magistrate who fought off the Japanese pirates outside Jingnan County, the people of Jingnan County would have been wiped out just like the people of Taiping County.
Settle the surviving people, clean up the county, arrange defenses... ... Because the Japanese pirates killed too many people in Taiping County and the city was almost full of corpses, Zhu Ping'an made plague prevention a top priority. He directed everyone to bury the murdered people, clean up the streets of the county, and prevent the plague from breeding. Protect drinking water sources, strictly prohibit drinking raw water, and boil it before drinking to prevent diseases from entering the body through the mouth. Order Artemisia annua, mugwort and other plague prevention herbs to be boiled in hot water, and order everyone to bathe with the boiled water and maintain personal hygiene.
Zhu Ping'an is like a spinning top, never having a moment of free time.
It was not until the sun was setting that Zhu Ping'an finally had time to eat lunch on the city wall.
After Zhu Ping'an arranged the defense of the city wall, he returned to the county government office. Liu Dadao came over with a county seal and reported to Zhu Ping'an, "Sir, when we were cleaning the county government office, Er Gouzi found the county seal in the toilet. It has been cleaned now."
After Liu Dadao finished his report, he showed the county government seal to Zhu Pingan.
The Taiping County seal was made of copper. It had oxidized over the years and was black, ugly and worthless. The Japanese pirates looked down on it and in order to humiliate the Ming government, they threw the county seal into the toilet.
"Yes, it is indeed the seal of Taiping County. Er Gouzi has done a great service in finding the seal of Taiping County. I will reward you with ten taels of silver."
Zhu Ping'an took a closer look and confirmed that it was undoubtedly the Taiping Immortal Seal. He nodded and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
With the Taiping County Seal, the last hidden danger of him stealing the credit was eliminated.
Not only did they recover the Taiping County Seal, a symbol of authority, but they also completed the procedures for Zhu Ping'an to rush to Taiping's aid.
The Ming Dynasty regulations stipulated that "local officials are prohibited from leaving their jurisdictions at will." During the Jiajing period, that is, ten years ago, the Censorate issued a special administrative document: "Officials in charge of the military and other local affairs have local responsibilities and are not allowed to cross the border to greet and see off officials. Violators will be subject to impeachment by the governors."
As the magistrate of Jingnan County, Zhu Ping'an, as the parent official of Jingnan County, has local responsibilities and cannot leave Jingnan at will. If he leaves Jingnan at will, Zhu Ping'an will be breaking the law and will be impeached, and he will be impeached.
For example.
In the Song Dynasty, there was an official named Chen Houshan, who was a local official in Xuzhou and a poet. He was a fanatical fan of the great writer Su Dongpo, and could be said to be a crazier star-chaser in ancient times. One day, Su Dongpo was demoted to Hangzhou as an official. When Chen Houshan, who was an official in Xuzhou, heard about it, he left Xuzhou and went to Nanjing, Jiangsu to wait for Su Dongpo, just to meet his idol Su Dongpo. In the end, he succeeded in meeting Su Dongpo. However, after too much joy, there was sorrow. When Chen Houshan's colleagues heard about it, they reported Chen Houshan to their superiors, and finally Chen Houshan was dismissed from his post.
Zhu Ping'an left Jingnan County under his jurisdiction to rush to Taiping County for assistance, which posed a risk of leaving the jurisdiction without permission.
However, the law does not prohibit leaving the jurisdiction in general. There are some special circumstances where one can leave the jurisdiction, such as hunting down a bandit. If the county magistrate is hunting down a bandit, he can temporarily leave the jurisdiction.
According to the principle of Ming Dynasty law "raise the heavy to illustrate the light, and raise the light to illustrate the heavy", the Japanese pirates are much more harmful than bandits. If those who are chasing and arresting bandits can temporarily leave the jurisdiction, then naturally those who are chasing and arresting the Japanese pirates can leave the jurisdiction even more.
This group of Japanese pirates invaded my Jingnan area, but I led my troops to repel them. They fled to Taiping County and committed crimes.
Therefore, I, Zhu Ping'an, have jurisdiction, so I led my people to Taiping County to fight the Japanese!
However, if someone is determined to stick to the wording of the law and does not interpret it according to the principle of "using the heavy to illustrate the light, and using the light to illustrate the heavy", there will be certain hidden dangers. When chasing a big bandit, you can temporarily leave the jurisdiction, but the Japanese pirates are not big bandits and cannot leave the jurisdiction without permission.
Now, with the Taiping County seal, Zhu Ping'an can eliminate this hidden danger.
In the hall of the county government, Zhu Ping'an spread out writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, and holding the brush in his left hand, he wrote a letter in the name and tone of the Taiping County Magistrate to the Jingnan County Magistrate, requesting him to send troops to rescue Taiping County.
After finishing writing, Zhu Ping'an blew dry the ink, put a piece of cloth on the Taiping County Seal, dipped it in the ink, and stamped the Taiping County Seal on the letter for help.
The reason why Zhu Ping'an used a cloth to pad the Taiping County Seal was because this county seal was fished out from the toilet. Although it had been cleaned several times, a faint smell of urine could still be faintly smelled, so Zhu Ping'an had to use a cloth to pad it.
After the ink dried, Zhu Ping'an kept the letter for help close to his body.
With this letter from Magistrate Wang requesting troops to rescue, it was justified for him to rush to Taiping County to provide assistance.
No one can impeach me anymore.
The great achievement of recovering Taiping County fell into his own hands without any future troubles.
"Big Gun, make the porridge thicker for dinner and steam more rice so that everyone can have enough to eat."
"Big Knife, Big Hammer, you guys should work harder and do a good job of patrolling at night. If you encounter scoundrels taking advantage of the chaos to commit crimes, they will be severely punished."
"My fellow villagers, the Japanese pirates have been driven away, and you can rest assured. Dafu, it's autumn now, and the nights are cold. You should bring some people to collect more quilts, and try to get one quilt for three or five people."
After Zhu Ping'an kept the letter for help close to his heart, he left the county government office and directed the arrangements for the resettlement of the people.
Zhu Ping'an was busy until the moon was bright and the sky was full of stars. Only then did he sit down among the people and take a rest.