Chapter 3588
Chapter 3588
Chapter 3588
With the experience of taking over Yingtian Prefecture last year, Shi Chengwu was able to handle the small Liuhe County with ease.
He knew that the top priority after the war was to stabilize the situation in the newly occupied areas and ensure that there would be no chaos. The two most important factors were maintaining public order and ensuring material support.
In addition to setting up checkpoints at the entrances and exits of the city and important places within the city and issuing a curfew, another very important measure is to make full use of personnel who are very familiar with the local situation and have them assist the Hai Han army in maintaining local public order.
This was the purpose of letting Wang Bingzhong organize people to assist in the duty. However, there were still tens of thousands of people in and out of the county town, and it was definitely not enough to rely on Wang Bingzhong alone, and Shi Chengwu would not put all his hopes on him.
After confirming that all the documents and materials in the county government were intact, Shi Chengwu summoned the officials of the county government to a meeting.
The magistrate was gone, and only the county magistrate, the chief clerk, the registrar, and the head of the three shifts of yamen runners were present. These people had obviously heard the news that Zhou Sen was imprisoned, and they were all trembling with fear, standing in the hall and not daring to speak.
Shi Chengwu said in a deep voice: "I have just read your resumes. You are all old people who have worked in this county for many years. I believe you are very familiar with the situation in the county. Now that the power of Liuhe County has changed, it is inevitable that the people will be uneasy. It is time for you to come forward to appease and maintain order."
“If you are willing to contribute, you can temporarily retain your previous position, double your salary, and be given priority for retention after the county establishes a new management agency.”
"If you don't want to work for our Hai Han country, then I won't force you. As long as you haven't done anything that is detrimental to our country's interests, you can leave Liuhe County on your own."
After saying this, Shi Chengwu looked around at everyone, waiting for them to express their attitude.
Those who were willing to serve Hai Han would continue to work in the county government, and there would be corresponding arrangements for promotion and salary increase in the future. As for those who were unwilling to cooperate, although Shi Chengwu said that they could leave the county on their own, his words clearly meant to drive them away.
A few people looked at each other, and finally the leader of the third shift, who had no rank, took the lead in expressing his willingness to stay and serve.
Although they have the status of official runners, they are not appointed by the court. To put it bluntly, they are just ordinary people who work for the government and have a little privilege. Naturally, the pressure of cross-border job-hopping will not be as great as that of formal officials.
Shi Chengwu immediately agreed and asked them to resume work as soon as possible and assist the Hai Han army in maintaining order in the county.
Seeing that someone had taken the lead, the Dianshi, who also had no rank, followed closely. His attitude was the same as that of the third shift leader, willing to change sides and join Hai Han. The Dianshi's duties were to be in charge of arrests, inspections, prisons, public security, and other matters within the county. He was the immediate superior of the third shift runners and was one of the people who were truly responsible for the work in the county government.
At this time, there were only the chief clerk and the county magistrate left. Seeing this, the chief clerk was relieved and bowed to express that he had been in charge of the household registration and land registration work in the county since he took office, and perhaps he could help a little.
The oldest county magistrate probably had other concerns. He said that he was old and in poor health, and asked Shi Chengwu to be magnanimous and let him retire and return home.
In front of everyone, Shi Chengwu did not force him, but ordered him to leave the country within three days and not to return to Liuhe County without permission within the next three years.
After hearing this, the county magistrate's face changed slightly. He might have thought that he would be driven away, but he didn't expect that Shi Chengwu would only give him three days. As a county magistrate, he must have some real estate and land in the county, and he might also be involved in the most profitable quartz sand mine business in Liuhe County. However, he had to deal with all these properties within three days, so he had to sell them at a low price, which would inevitably result in a huge loss.
But the words had already been spoken, and it was hard to take them back. Moreover, Shi Chengwu did not give him a chance to regret, and immediately announced the end of the meeting. After everyone left, a man was escorted out from the back of the hall. It was the detained county magistrate Zhou Sen.
It turned out that Shi Chengwu had intentionally arranged for him to sit in on the meeting from behind the hall in order to put pressure on him with the opinions expressed by these people in the yamen.
Shi Chengwu asked slowly, "How is it? Have you changed your mind? After today, there will be no regrets!"
Zhou Sen just snorted but did not answer Shi Chengwu's question.
Shi Chengwu lost his patience immediately after seeing this, and waved his hand to signal his men to take him away. With so many things on hand, he didn't have much time to fight with a small county magistrate.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Sen immediately shouted, "General, I am willing to surrender!"
Zhou Sen wanted to hold back and see if there was any chance of bargaining, but he almost lost his last chance. Seeing that he was about to be taken away, he didn't dare to gamble on how Shi Chengwu would deal with him next, so he had to put down his airs and express his attitude.
Shi Chengwu then called for a halt and asked his men to bring a chair for Zhou Sen to sit down and talk. However, the shackles on Zhou Sen's hands were still not removed.
"Zhou Sen, since you are the magistrate of Liuhe County, please tell us about the financial and grain reserves of this county first!"
Shi Chengwu didn't want Zhou Sen to play tricks, so he got straight to the point. Although the income and expenditure of Liuhe County were recorded in documents in the county government, Shi Chengwu's experience showed that these local officials must have some resources other than paper records. It depended on whether Zhou Sen would tell the truth.
Zhou Sen hesitated for a moment and then began to tell Shi Chengwu about the county's financial and grain situation.
Liuhe County is rich in water resources, has a flat terrain, and fertile soil, so agriculture has been the mainstay of the local industry for a long time. However, in recent years, due to Hai Han's demand for quartz sand mines, most of Liuhe County's young and strong laborers have gradually moved from farmland to mines, and crop yields have inevitably declined.
There are still about 200,000 kilograms of grain in the government warehouse in the county, and there are still some grain taxes that have not yet been collected in several nearby farms, which should amount to 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms. As long as the transportation and distribution channels are unobstructed, there should be no food shortage in Liuhe County in the short term.
As for silver and money, Zhou Sen claimed that the silver vault of the county government contained all the local financial reserves, but Shi Chengwu did not quite believe it.
He had previously visited the treasury, and had confiscated only three gold ingots weighing one pound each, about two thousand taels of silver, and more than three thousand Chongzhen Tongbao copper coins of various versions.
In addition, there are a lot of IOUs, which are probably taxes that were not collected in time by the county. The parties wrote IOUs and delayed payment.
Shi Chengwu knew that Liuhe County had made a lot of money from the quartz sand mine business, and its finances should be very abundant. It was unlikely that there was only this little surplus in the treasury. He immediately reminded Zhou Sen not to hide the truth and to tell the truth about the whereabouts of the money.