Today is destined to be a day that the people of Jingnan will never forget, and today is destined to be a day that will be recorded in the history of Jingnan.
Outside the west gate of Jingnan County.
Half a month ago, this was the main battlefield where the Japanese pirates attacked Jingnan. More than 3,000 Japanese pirates attacked the city, and tens of millions of civilians defended the city. They fought to the death and blood flowed like a river. Traces of the bloody battle are still left on the city gates and wall bricks.
At this moment, the place was packed with people, and most of the people from Jingnan County came one after another, gathering in the open space outside the city gate. There were nearly 10,000 people. People gathered in front of the city gate in three layers, surrounding the stage that the county government officials had just built. They were so excited that they could not express their feelings. It was more lively than watching a play.
"Does the county magistrate really want to give us a reward? Is this the place where the money is given?!"
"Of course it's true! When has our county magistrate ever lied to us? If he says he will give out money, then he will definitely give it out!"
"Hahaha, when I went up to the city wall to help the county magistrate fight the Japanese pirates, my wife was throwing a tantrum and trying to stop me. A few days ago, the county government gave her a five-liang silver reward, and her attitude changed. She became very obedient to me. Today, when I get the reward and go back, I will make her flatter me..."
"What about the county magistrate? Our county magistrate has been promoted to the fifth rank assistant to the Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court. Fortunately, the court cares about the people of Jingnan. Since the candidate for the Jingnan County Magistrate has not been decided yet, and a county cannot be without a county magistrate for a day, our county magistrate was allowed to serve as the temporary magistrate of Jingnan as the fifth rank assistant to the Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court. When the Ministry of Personnel selects the candidate for the Jingnan County Magistrate and the new County Magistrate takes office, our county magistrate will go to the Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court to serve as the assistant to the Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court."
"I really don't want our county magistrate to leave. It's hard to find such a good county magistrate. Otherwise, let's write a petition together, asking the court not to bother to choose a successor, and just keep the county magistrate for us."
"You are so selfish, Old Wang. If you really want to do good for our county magistrate, you should not hinder his future. If you dare to do something behind the scenes, I, Zhu Lao San, will be the first to deal with you."
People started talking excitedly, and bursts of laughter could be heard from time to time. Everyone was as happy as if it was New Year’s Day.
From the excitement on the faces of the people of Jingnan, it can be seen that Zhu Ping'an has a high credibility in the eyes of the people of Jingnan. The people believe in Zhu Ping'an, and most of them believe that Zhu Ping'an will give them reward money as stated in the notice.
After people waited for a while, they saw many yamen runners walking out of the city gate. Liu Dachui commanded thirty yamen runners to come in front of the crowd, stand in dispersed positions, and form a human cordon to maintain order.
Then, twenty fully armed yamen runners, in groups of two, carried a wooden box, a total of ten wooden boxes, and came to the stage. The boxes were very heavy, and when they were placed on the stage, they made a heavy "bang" sound.
"What's in the box?"
"Could it be silver?!"
When people saw the ten large boxes, they couldn't help but start speculating excitedly.
"Look, the magistrate is here."
Someone shouted, shifting everyone's attention from the wooden box to the city gate.
Sure enough, when he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw Zhu Ping'an, wearing the official uniform of the county magistrate, leading the new county clerks and clerks of the Jingnan County Government coming from the city gate. He walked up to the stage and bowed to the common people gathered in front of the stage.
"Good morning, fellow villagers."
Zhu Ping'an bowed to the common people, and in order to let everyone hear him, Zhu Ping'an amplified his voice.
Because there were so many people, Liu Dachui and more than 30 other yamen runners who were maintaining order repeated loudly what Zhu Ping'an said.
This can be considered as ancient wisdom, a human trumpet.
"Half a month ago, more than 3,000 desperate Japanese pirates invaded Jingnan and besieged Jingnan County. It was because you were not afraid of sacrifice and fought to defend the city that we were able to defend Jingnan. You are all heroes of Jingnan. Without you, there would be no Jingnan today. Before defending the city, I promised you: no matter whether it is military or civilian, anyone who dares to defend the city will be rewarded with ten taels of silver, the wounded will be rewarded with an additional ten taels of silver, and the killed will be compensated with an additional fifty taels of silver. I am ashamed, but due to the financial shortage of my Jingnan County Government, I have only fulfilled less than 30% of the rewards in the past half month." Zhu Ping'an first reviewed the heroic feat of the military and civilians defending the city half a month ago, praised the people, and then bowed to everyone in shame, expressing his shame for not being able to pay the rewards in time.
"Master Magistrate, we don't blame you. We have all heard that in order to give us the reward, you not only exchanged the grain in the county government's granary for ours, but you also emptied your own family assets to give us the reward..."
"Master Magistrate, you have done well enough. If you had not seen through the Japanese pirates' trick of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, if you had not sworn to defend the city to the death, if you had not led us to defend the city, we would have been killed by the Japanese pirates long ago..."
People were moved by Zhu Ping'an and shouted excitedly.
After people quieted down, Zhu Ping'an then clasped his fists and pointed to the north of the capital, saying loudly, "Fortunately, the emperor is wise, the emperor is gracious, and he loves the people like his own children. He is in the capital, but his heart is with the thousands of people in Jingnan. At the beginning of the year, the emperor issued a special reward, setting the reward for the head of the fake Japanese at 30 taels of silver and the head of the real Japanese at 50 taels of silver. Today, the emperor has doubled the reward for killing Japanese in Jingnan, 60 taels of silver for each fake Japanese head, and 100 taels of silver for the real Japanese head. This time, Jingnan captured a total of 824 Japanese heads, including 363 real Japanese heads and 461 fake Japanese heads. This time, with the emperor's grace, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel and other officials jointly issued a reward of 63,960 taels of silver to Jingnan, and the reward was fully distributed to my yamen yesterday."
"How many?!"
"Sixty-three thousand nine hundred and sixty taels of silver?! Oh my god, I have never seen so much silver in my life. This must be a mountain of gold and silver."
After hearing this, people burst into excitement.
"Open the box!"
Zhu Ping'an turned around and spoke to the fully armed yamen runners guarding the wooden box.
"Duang"
"Duang"
... ...
The yamen runner took out the key, unlocked the iron chain of the box, and opened the box towards the crowd. The white silver in the box suddenly appeared in front of everyone. The ten boxes were like ten small silver mountains. In addition, the sunlight was very strong today, and the silver reflected rays of light, which were connected into a piece, like a silver ocean, which almost blinded everyone's eyes.
"Wow!"
"Oh my god! My eyes are almost blinded by the light!"
"That's a lot of silver! I can't take it anymore. I can't breathe. I've never seen so much silver in my life."
"Oh my god, I'll have something to brag about from now on! That's nearly 70,000 taels of silver! Who has seen that?! I've seen it!"
These ten boxes of silver immediately pushed the scene to a climax. People were so excited that they pinched their philtrum and could hardly control themselves.