Straight man of steel

Chapter 129
Even if Zhang Yuan felt helpless in his heart, there was nothing he could do about Tang Meng.

"Use the roster to count the lives of the dead, and then ask if there are any corpses or clothes preserved. If there are none, put some soil on the bank of the Yangtze River into a wooden box, and engrave their names. "

After the matter was explained, more than a dozen officials in the mission became more busy. There was no way that among the thousand soldiers, ten could not be found who could read and write.

There is no need to hold out hope for those civilians. If they can read and have some culture, they will know how to take advantage of the loopholes in the law to avoid corvee labor, instead of being caught here after knowing that Yelang Kingdom has suffered a large number of casualties. Come.

Of the two batches of civil servants confiscated, nearly half of them were killed or injured in the first batch, and many fewer were killed or injured in the second batch. Tang Meng consciously let the civilian husbands open bridges and build roads as safely as possible.

Even so, Zhang Yuan was startled by the final statistics.

"Patriarch, in the past six months, 650 people have died in the road construction in Yelang country. The corpses and clothes can't be found. I heard from the peasants that as long as someone dies, no matter what the reason is, they will tie the corpse to a huge stone and throw it into the Among the Yangtze River."

Zhang Yuan looked at the wooden boxes piled up in Fuguan, and felt a sense of desolation in his heart.

Immediately afterwards, he picked up the talisman in his hand and walked towards Tang Meng's military tent.

Tang Meng was making plans to lead an army to Yelang Kingdom to put pressure on the other party to agree to enlist civilian husbands. Seeing Zhang Yuan appear with a talisman, he immediately knelt on the ground with other generals.

"I don't know what's important for the envoy to come here."

Zhang Yuan threw the letter recording the number of casualties in front of Tang Meng. Tang Meng picked it up and spread it out to read, and knew that Zhang Yuan was here to ask for a crime.

"Honorable envoy, I have already said in the memorial presented to His Majesty that there are more than a few thousand casualties. Now this number is not different from the number reported by the minister."

Zhang Yuan sneered, pointed at Tang Meng with the talisman, and forced him to bow his head.

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine is also thousands, and one thousand is also thousands. Do you like larger numbers, Doctor General?
But what is the reason for this sinking corpse at the bottom of the river?Didn't the news of wanting to destroy the corpses and traces reach His Majesty's ears now? "

Tang Meng lowered his head even lower, Zhang Yuan could no longer see the change in his expression, he could only hear him say word by word.

"Honorable envoy, didn't I show you all the heads of the Thorn Dao Order? This guy did all the things and has nothing to do with others. If your envoy wants to question the last general, you have to wait for His Majesty's order."

At this time, Zhang Yuan wondered why Liu Che hadn't divided the territory of the Han Dynasty into individual states. If each state had a state governor, why would Tang Meng be so arrogant.

The embroidered clothes messenger can definitely be found in the talisman now, but those running dogs of the emperor know that Tang Meng is working for Liu Che, no matter how much Tang Meng is too much, they will not say a word, and they will not report these bad things To Liu Che.

"General Lang, since you said that, what else can I say, anyway, the Thorny Dao Order is dead, right?

Send five hundred soldiers to help escort those wooden boxes back to Berkshire, you should agree. "

Tang Meng had to go with Zhang Yuan when he sent troops. Zhang Yuan's request was not too much, and it could even make the people of Berkshire feel that these soldiers are not so cold-blooded.

"The last general ordered five hundred soldiers to escort the envoy back to Berkshire."

Zhang Yuan nodded, and then withdrew from the military tent.

As soon as the front foot left, discussions started in the army tent on the back foot.

"Huang Changshi, I've said long ago that sinking corpses into the bottom of the river is not a good idea. When Zhang Yuan returns to Chang'an, you and I will inevitably be reprimanded again."

This Chang Shi named Huang happens to be a member of the Huang clan, and he is responsible for digging roads to dig iron ore and trade with many tribes in Yelang Kingdom.

There are a large number of Shu brocades in the Huang family, these Shu brocades are cheap products for them, and the price they buy pure-color silk from silkworm farmers is outrageously low.

And their Huang family has mastered the skill of dyeing, and the cost is so low that they can't tell outsiders clearly. Now they can exchange it with Yelang Kingdom for gold and various rare treasures. One can imagine the oil and water in it.

"Don't worry, general. The rare treasures that our Huang family gave to the queen mother and the prime minister are already on their way. They must arrive in Chang'an earlier than Zhang Yuan. The coral in the military tent is given to Princess Guantao at most. Just a few words of reprimand will not hurt the root of you and me."

Tang Meng's original idea was to open up a business path for the Great Han Kingdom, but everything changed when the members of the Huang clan arrived with Liu Che's sealed letter of appointment and a secret order.

The Huang clan must always be kept in the dark, and Tang Meng can only take the blame. If Liu Che feels that doing so is too harmful to Tianhe or the benefits are not so much, he, Tang Meng, is very likely to take the blame. will be a scapegoat.

"I just hope that Huang Changshi can really say a few words for me, instead of just thinking about taking credit for himself."

Huang Changshi smiled awkwardly, and answered Tang Meng.

"That's natural."

As soon as this perfunctory answer entered his ears, Tang Meng felt that he was in a panic.

Early the next morning, Zhang Yuan pulled up all the wooden boxes with names engraved on them in Fuguan, and naturally all the wooden carts were used.

The road was narrow and difficult to walk, Zhang Yuan walked for a whole day, and there were still thousands of civilians who did not pass through the Fu Pass.

One person pulls the cart, one pushes the cart, and two people stand by to protect them. This alone fills up the road.

I walked back even slower than when I came here, hauling not only wooden boxes but also rations for tens of thousands of civilians to eat on the way. It took me four days to see the outline of Jiangzhou City.

Zhang Lu, the prefect of Berkshire, had already received the news and was waiting here. Unlike Zhang Yuan and the others who came to Jiangzhou City for the first time, tens of thousands of people gathered behind Zhang Lu.

"My minister Zhang Lu and the people of Jiangzhou City thanked the distinguished envoy."

Tens of thousands of people bowed down, Zhang Yuan couldn't bear it, he quickly raised the Fu Jie in front of him, and then bent down to the Fu Jie himself and lowered his head.

It is easy to let a person die, just treat him with the gift of the Son of Heaven. Although Zhang Yuan is the envoy of the Son of Heaven, if he accepts everything with peace of mind every time, then the time of death is not far away.

"Prefect Zhang, behind me is the wooden box where the remains of the deceased in the accident are stored, and please contact the prefect Zhang to notify the prefect of Guanghan County and the prefect of Shu County to send people to take these wooden boxes away.

And I don't know if you have done the public sacrifice that I mentioned in the letter. "

Zhang Lu glanced at Zhang Yuan gratefully. He had never seen a person who had so many ideas about receiving people's hearts.

"Report to the envoy, the public altar has been built day and night in the north of Jiangzhou City, and it will be completed in three days."

(End of this chapter)