The rise of the poor

Chapter 1971: Morale rises sharply
Tongxiang County is located in the southwest of Jiaxing Prefecture and is adjacent to Hangzhou Prefecture.

At this time, a high platform was built outside the city gate, and under the platform there were two or three thousand soldiers and horses standing densely, forming three distinct camps.

One camp was composed of garrison soldiers, with about a thousand people, less than 30% of whom were young and strong, and the rest were old, weak, sick and disabled. They were from Hangzhou Garrison; one camp was composed of young and strong civilians, with about a thousand people; and there was another camp with only about five hundred people, all dressed like servants, but one hundred of them were extremely strong and exuded murderous aura, while the rest were lazy like stragglers.

There was a high platform in front of them, on which Zhao Chong, the prefect of Jiaxing, was looking at them with great confidence.

"I know there are many rumors about me, saying that I, Zhao Chong, am an incompetent idiot who caused the fall of Jiaxing."

"Of course, there are also rumors that I am the second Zhao Mingcheng, who abandoned the city and fled when the Japanese pirates attacked the city."

"There are even incredible rumors that I, Zhao Chong, surrendered to the Japanese pirates and am a traitor who gave Jiaxing to the Japanese pirates."

"Hahahaha, nonsense, pure nonsense. These rumors will collapse in the face of the truth!"

The prefect of Jiaxing stood on a high platform and listed several "rumors" about him that had been circulating for a long time with great anguish. He cursed that these were nonsense rumors, and his saliva was flying everywhere like rain.

There was a buzz of emotion among the people below the stage. The person on the stage was the prefect. They did not dare to slander or refute him to his face, but they still had a scale in their hearts. Forty thousand Japanese pirates attacked Suzhou, but were almost wiped out by the Suzhou Zhu Ping. In the end, only more than 400 remaining Japanese pirates escaped. These more than 400 remaining Japanese pirates attacked your Jiaxing and captured the city of Jiaxing in one fell swoop. Jiaxing fell, but you did not live and die with Jiaxing, but escaped from the city by rope.

In this comparison, if you, the prefect of Jiaxing, are not stupid, then who is stupid? ! You did not abandon the city and flee, so who did? !
Of course, they didn't dare to say these words to Prefect Zhao's face, and could only mutter a few words in a low voice.

Zhao Chong naturally noticed the reactions of the people in the audience, and continued to lie with his eyes open in order to save face.

"Those pirates were not ordinary pirates. Of the more than 40,000 pirates who attacked Suzhou, why were they the only ones who were able to escape? Because they were the elite among the elite pirates. Each of them is a brave general."

"Do you know that half a year ago, dozens of Japanese pirates landed in Shaoxing, burned, killed, looted, attacked cities and strongholds, fought for more than a thousand miles, defeated the government troops, and finally arrived at Yingtian City to show off their power?!"

"Each of these more than 400 Japanese pirates is on par with the dozens of Japanese pirates who are showing off their might under the Yingtian City! Each of them is able to fight one against a hundred, catch arrows with bare hands, be invulnerable to swords and spears, charge into battle, and are invincible!"

"Why did Suzhou Prefecture and Lord Zhu Ping'an kill more than 40,000 Japanese pirates but could not do anything to these 400 pirates? They could only watch them walk away. It is because these pirates are so powerful that Suzhou Prefecture and Lord Zhu Ping'an are no match for them and can do nothing to them!"

"Dozens of pirates of this level can travel thousands of miles and break through several cities. On that day, more than 400 pirates of this level raided Jiaxing! It's so annoying and hateful. I didn't know this information in advance, and Suzhou didn't inform us of this information, or even inform us that there were pirates in Jiaxing. This is why we were caught off guard and attacked by the pirates. We lost the initiative. One wrong step led to another. Although we fought bravely without fear of sacrifice, Jiaxing City still fell."

"After Jiaxing fell, I personally led my personal guards and killed more than ten Japanese pirates in a row. I broke out of the encirclement and asked Governor Li Tianchong for help. I wanted to take advantage of the Japanese pirates' unstable foothold and lead reinforcements to strike back. Unfortunately, not only did I not get reinforcements, I was also thrown into prison and missed the opportunity to retake Jiaxing."

The prefect of Jiaxing was on the high platform, spitting everywhere to make excuses for the fall of Jiaxing, saying how powerful the Japanese pirates were and how bravely he resisted. It was all Suzhou's fault for not notifying them and that Governor Li Tianchong not only did not send him reinforcements but also put him in jail. His words were so sincere and heartfelt.
He almost believed it himself.

But lies are lies after all, and they are at least a million miles away from the truth.

"Why didn't they notify us? That night, Suzhou sent people to shout, "Be careful of the Japanese pirates!" We all heard it in our village.

"It seems that Magistrate Zhao was arrested in his private residence in Hangzhou. When did he go to Governor Li for help?"

"This is not an explanation, it's clearly a cover-up."

The people in the audience did not buy into Prefect Zhao's explanation at all. They murmured and sneered.

"Okay, I know a lot of people still don't believe me. It doesn't matter. I will convince you with my actions."

When Magistrate Zhao saw that his explanation did not convince anyone, he gritted his teeth and used his ultimate move, waving his hand in one direction.

Soon, two servants came out from the direction where Magistrate Zhao waved his hand, carrying a heavy wooden box.

"Open!"

Prefect Zhao gave them orders.

The two servants responded and opened the wooden box, only to see a dazzling silver light inside the box, which almost blinded everyone's eyes.

"There are three thousand taels of silver in this box. This money was not paid by the court, but by me, Zhao Chong. My hometown is in Hangzhou. I have a house that has been passed down from my ancestors for more than a hundred years. Yesterday, I quickly sold it at a price that was fifty taels of silver lower than the market price, and got eight hundred taels of silver. The one hundred acres of paddy fields in Hangzhou that my ancestors passed down were also sold at a low price by me with great reluctance. Originally, each acre was worth 10 taels of silver, but in order to sell it quickly, I sold it at a low price of eight taels of silver per acre. Yesterday, I risked my reputation and privately borrowed more than a thousand taels of silver from friends and some gentry to make up the three thousand taels of silver."

"Some of you are reinforcements I borrowed from Hangzhou Guards, some are young and strong civilians I recruited, some are servants in my house and servants borrowed from other houses. Regardless of your status, each of you can receive one or two taels of silver. This is today's reward! From now on, you can receive one or two taels of silver every day. Don't worry about me defaulting on your debts. There are still many valuable things passed down from my ancestors in my hometown. I would rather sell everything I have than owe you one or two taels of silver. If I owe you a debt, let me be struck by lightning and die a miserable death."

Prefect Zhao kicked the silver box and made a promise to everyone.

Everyone was immediately excited.

One tael of silver a day.

They can only earn a few taels of silver in the whole year.

One tael of silver a day is a sky-high price now.

Morale suddenly boosted.

(End of this chapter)