Chapter 1104 The ownership of Zhifu Bay
Pu Xueguang had calculated everything, but he didn't expect that besides himself, there would be such a good friend who had already made plans to take over Wanmeng's industry. At the moment, he was a little confused about whether to laugh or cry. Gan Qiang has always been one of Wan Meng's capable men, but now it seems that he is no longer willing to rely on others. The strong appearance of the Haihan people finally gave Gan Qiang the opportunity to come forward, and since there were almost no other strong competitors at the moment, he naturally wanted to jump out and seize the opportunity.
Pu Xueguang originally planned to use Gan Qiang as a gunman to realize his intention of reintegrating the Wanjia Army, but he did not expect that the other party also had the intention of integrating him. Of course he could refuse Gan Qiang's proposal, but considering that the other party had already had murderous intentions towards his former owner Wan Meng's brother-in-law, he couldn't muster up the courage to say the word "no" at the moment.
Gan Qiang saw his hesitant expression and continued to persuade: "There are only two or three people who can block the road at the moment. You and I will issue orders in the name of the master. If someone doesn't obey, we will have an excuse to get rid of them." . What worries does the military advisor have? ”
Pu Xueguang said: "What if the leader returns safely in the future?"
Gan Qiang said: "Then it depends on how fast you and I act. If the situation has been sorted out, what will happen when the master comes back? If he is interested, we can arrange a place for him to live in the mountains for his retirement. If not, It’s interesting...”
Gan Qiang did not continue, but the sinister look on his face had already revealed his plan. It was obvious that regardless of whether Wanmeng could come back alive or not, he did not intend to serve him as his master anymore.
Seeing this, Pu Xueguang did not dare to test Gan Qiang's patience anymore. He also knew that Wanmeng was already in serious danger and the possibility of escaping safely was extremely slim. As long as the remaining troops of Wanjia Army were quickly integrated in a short period of time, Wanmeng would still be able to survive. There is no one available to come back, and it is unlikely that he will seize power from Gan Qiang again. If Pu Xueguang wants to rise to power, it's best to wait until Gan Qiang, the leader, has sorted out Wanjiajun's internal affairs, and then looks for an opportunity to get rid of him, and replace him in the name of Wanmeng's vindication.
"In that case, then Pu will be taken care of by his boss!" Pu Xueguang changed his tune quickly after making his decision, and immediately changed his title.
"Thank you, military advisor!" Gan Qiang grinned and seemed very satisfied with being able to convince Pu Xueguang.
The original base of the Wanjia Army was mainly located in the mountainous area covering an area of more than 1,000 square kilometers between the southwest of Fushan County and Qixia County. Both Pu Xueguang and Gan Qiang believed that this mountainous area was enough to hide themselves in it. Even if the Haihan people wanted to pursue the Wanjia Army, , and they do not have enough troops to encircle and suppress such a large mountainous area. Theoretically, they will be safe for a period of time in the future, as long as they do not go out of the mountains and actively provoke the Haihan people. At worst, I won't be active in Fushan County from now on. I can still make a living by going south to Qixia and Laiyang.
However, Haihan's desire to take advantage of the victory was not as strong as Pu Xueguang and others feared. After annihilating the main force of the Wanjia Army and capturing the bandit leader Wanmeng alive, Haihan returned his main energy to infrastructure construction and immigration recruitment in Zhifu Bay. , these two things are Haihan's main tasks in Shandong this year. As for the operation to annihilate local bandit armed forces, it is purely to remove stumbling blocks. The operation to suppress bandits in the mountains will inevitably involve a large investment of troops and materials, but the Zhifu Island headquarters is not so confused about priorities.
After reaching an agreement on peaceful coexistence with Qishan Qianhusuo and Fushan County Government, Haihan's actions in the area near Zhifu Island can finally be made public. The propaganda team of cavalry and civil affairs cadres went around to recruit immigrants in the coastal area with Zhifu Island as the center and a radius of about fifty miles. Although the number of refugees in this area is not large, under Haihan's targeted propaganda campaign, people can still be recruited voluntarily to seek refuge at a three-digit rate every day.
Currently, outside the island, Harugong and Chen Yixin are responsible for the command, management, publicity and recruitment work. Inside the island, Qian Tiandun is responsible for security and defense, Wang Tom is responsible for shipping and shipping, Hao Wanqing is responsible for civil affairs and intelligence work, and the infrastructure projects are overseen by Sun Changmi. . Everyone has a clear division of labor and performs their duties, so that the daily operations of Zhifu Island Base finally begin to get on track.
On the third day after the war, the Fushan County Government got the bandit leader Wanmeng handed over by Haihan as he wished. Because of his leg injury, Haihan's army specially used a stretcher to carry him to the east gate of the county and handed over to the government. Zhang Pucheng personally came forward and confirmed that the person on the stretcher was Wan Meng, the bandit leader of the Wanjia Army, and then ordered someone to receive him and carry him onto a covered carriage prepared in advance.
Zhang Pucheng's report of meritorious deeds had actually been written two days earlier. Now he was waiting for the prisoners to arrive and then personally escort them to Dengzhou Prefecture. In order to prevent the news from leaking out, apart from Zhang Pucheng, only a few county police officers and the boss Huang Qu knew the inside story. After the stretcher with Wanmeng tied on it entered the county town from the east gate, it passed through the city without stopping at all, exited the city from the west gate, and headed northwest to Dengzhou.
Dengzhou City is a little over a hundred miles away from Fushan County. Zhang Pucheng specially brought more than 20 escort teams composed of government officials and garrison troops to prevent Wanjia's army from coming out to rob people on the way. However, this worry was a little unnecessary. When he was escorting Wanmeng to Dengzhou City, the Wanjia army was fighting for power in the mountains dozens of miles away. They had no idea that their former leader was being sent to Dengzhou.
Of course, even if Pu Xueguang and Gan Qiang learned the news, they would probably pretend not to know and would not really send troops to take him back. For them, Wan Meng is better off now than alive. The government is willing to do the work for them, and they are happy to save trouble.
Zhang Pucheng didn't know about the internal strife in the Wanjia Army. He walked on the road in fear for a day and a half, and finally arrived at Dengzhou City safely. The troops stationed in various areas inside and outside Dengzhou City were all transferred from other places and belonged to different capital guards. Although Zhang Pucheng was an official, it took a lot of effort to enter the city and enter the prefect's Yamen to ask for an audience with the prefect Chen Zhongsheng.
Chen Zhongsheng was also very surprised when he heard that the magistrate of Fushan County personally escorted the bandit leader Wan Meng to Dengzhou. This Wanjia army was no stranger to him. During the Denglai Rebellion, they had already caused chaos among the people. Later, although the government successfully quelled the rebellion, they drove them away. The rebels were defeated, but they were very troubled by these bandit armed forces operating in the Dengzhou Mountains, and they could not find an effective way to solve this problem.
For more than a year after the war, the security situation in Fushan County not only did not improve, but worsened than before the Denglai Rebellion. Due to the presence of Wanjiajun, the local government was unable to organize post-disaster reconstruction and production self-rescue, let alone collect taxes. , but every year a large amount of relief grain is organized to be transported to the local area. However, the size of the army retained by Fushan County and nearby garrison after the war was very limited, and it was difficult to effectively prevent and attack the Wanjia Army, so they could only allow it to grow bigger step by step.
As for mobilizing the garrison in Dengzhou City to suppress bandits, Chen Zhongsheng thought about it, but did not put it into practice. The reason for this is also very simple. The troops currently stationed in Dengzhou are all troops transferred from other places during the war. The command of these troops is not in Dengzhou Prefecture but in Shandong Dusi. If Chen Zhongsheng wants to mobilize these troops, he must spend enough The benefits will do.
Dengzhou Prefecture has been unable to make ends meet since the war. Naturally, Chen Zhongsheng cannot provide any practical benefits to the military leaders below. If these troops are allowed to go to Fushan County, the local area will be wiped out. Maybe the original plot of the Denglai Rebellion would happen again, and Chen Zhongsheng didn't want to take such a risk for a group of bandits. No matter how much trouble Wan Jiajun made in the local area, at least they would not come to Dengzhou City to cause trouble, and they would just turn a blind eye and turn a blind eye. Although Fushan County inevitably complained a lot about this, Chen Zhongsheng really had no other way to help except reducing taxes. Chen Zhongsheng's idea is just to delay. Either wait until this group of people becomes irrational and raise troops to attack Dengzhou City, or wait until he transfers to another place in the future and dumps the blame. Served as the prefect of Dengzhou. But he never thought that Fushan County could solve Wanjiajun's chronic problem with its own strength. But Wanmeng is one of the prisoners for whom Dengzhou Prefecture has offered a reward. Fushan County would not be stupid enough to find an imposter and take him to Dengzhou to ask for credit.
"Perhaps it was just a coincidence that I caught this guy!" Chen Zhongsheng could only understand the news he heard in this way. He could even imagine that Wansheng had an excessive ego and infiltrated into Fushan County in disguise. However, he accidentally exposed his identity and was captured. section, this probably still has good credibility. But now that the county magistrate Zhang Pu CD is here, he will naturally come out to meet him.
Zhang Pucheng's attitude was very upright, and he had Wanmeng, who had broken his leg, carried on a stretcher into the magistrate's office, and he and his men waited in the courtyard for their boss to show up. He knew very well the impact of this matter and the prefect would definitely show up to deal with it, so he was not in a hurry.
"I have met the prefect in my humble position!" Zhang Pucheng didn't wait long before he saw Chen Zhongsheng hurriedly arrived, and immediately bowed to greet him.
"Master Zhang, no courtesy!" Chen Zhongsheng smiled, stretched out his hand to help Zhang Pucheng, but looked at Wan Meng on the ground and said, "Is this person Wan Meng, the bandit leader of the Wanjia Army?"
"It's this beast!" Zhang Pucheng made a gesture, and a subordinate immediately handed over a wanted order stamped with the seal of the Dengzhou Prefecture's Yamen. Although the picture on it was a bit abstract, the specific descriptions were all accurate.
Zhang Pucheng added: "The humble position has been certified by relevant personnel, and it is indeed absolutely correct."
Chen Zhongsheng continued to ask: "Then why is he locked on this stretcher? What is the meaning of putting a small ball in his mouth?"
Zhang Pucheng quickly explained: "This animal broke his right leg when he was captured, so he could only be moved on a stretcher. Locking him was to prevent him from trying to escape during the escort. As for the small ball in his mouth, it was to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide. .”
The gag balls attached to the belt at both ends were provided by the Haihan people. Zhang Pucheng didn't know the bad taste in them, so he just followed the explanation given by the Haihan people and told Chen Zhongsheng.
Chen Zhongsheng's eyes did not stay on Wan Meng's face for too long. Because this guy was biting the ball in his mouth, the corners of his mouth were covered with saliva and foam, and he looked very disgusting. As for the matter of verifying one's identity, the people below will do it, and there is no need for him, the prefect, to do it himself. Since Zhang Pucheng had already boasted that his identity had been verified, and since it was a living person and not a dead body, there were many ways to verify his identity, so there shouldn't be any big mistakes.
However, Chen Zhongsheng still wanted to hear Zhang Pucheng's side of the story about how this guy was arrested, so he immediately invited Zhang Pucheng to the study at the back of the court to talk. The purpose of Zhang Pucheng's coming to Dengzhou City was to repay his merits. Naturally, he would not refuse at the moment and followed Chen Zhongsheng to the study room.
The two of them entered the room and sat down. The servants served hot tea. Zhang Pucheng then took out the document he had written and presented it: "Your Excellency, the story of the bandit leader Wan Meng's subjugation has been recorded in the record. Please take a look at it."
Chen Zhongsheng took it, opened it and read it carefully, with a look of surprise on his face: "According to your document, it was this business group from the south that helped the government capture Wanmeng?"
"That's true!" It's not that Zhang Pucheng doesn't want to take credit, it's just that the actual situation in Fushan County is here. If he insists on defeating the Wanjiajun on his own, he can't deceive his boss at all. Moreover, Haihan people were outside Fushan County twice In the battle with Wanjiajun, the county did not even dare to open the city gate. There are too many people who know about this matter. The bullshit that is being blown out now will be exposed sooner or later. Even if the boss does not pursue it, he will still be in the heart of the boss. It has a bad impression of being overjoyed at success, talking freely, and deceiving superiors and deceiving subordinates. Rather than striving for credit like this, it would be better to tie the reasons why the Haihan people are willing to contribute to the government to themselves and gain a share of credit for themselves from the side.
Zhang Pucheng made it very clear in his written report that the reason why the Haihan business group from the south was willing to spend money and manpower to assist the government in dealing with Wanjiajun was because there was an old acquaintance of his named Ha in the business group, who was inspired by righteousness. There will be this action. Of course, everyone carried the sedan chair, and Zhang Pucheng did not forget to mention that the county garrison fought without risking his own life during the operation, causing huge casualties to the Wanjia Army.
Chen Zhongsheng still had a basic idea of how many troops were stationed in Fushan County. Chen Zhongsheng didn't quite believe that the county garrison could cause enough trouble for the Wanjia Army. If this were to be the case, how could this Wanjia army survive in Dengzhou for several years? Not only was it not wiped out, but it also grew in size. Thinking about it from this, I am afraid that the foreign Haihan merchant group will be the main force in suppressing the bandits.
This is not the only time Chen Zhongsheng has heard news related to Haihan recently. In fact, before this, Qishan Qianhusuo, located on the east side of Fushan County, sent news that a Haihan business group from the south had settled on Zhifu Island. And built a port, its fleet is quite large, with thousands of people. The Haihan business group assisting the government in Fushan County this time should obviously be the same group of people as those on Zhifu Island.
In order to confirm this, Chen Zhongsheng asked Zhang Pucheng again: "Are they the ones occupying Zhifu Bay to build the port now?"
(End of chapter)