The rise of the poor

Chapter 2038 Learned of the Conspiracy

Liu Mu searched the two civilians and confirmed that they were not carrying any weapons. Then, at Zhu Ping'an's signal, he stood guard and left the two civilians with Zhu Ping'an.

After getting the chance to be alone with Zhu Ping'an, the two old men couldn't wait to inform Zhu Ping'an of the emergency.

"Mr. Governor, I am the head of the seventh group in our Dongshan Village. There is a young man in our village, the nephew of the fourth brother, who betrayed his teacher and ancestors and joined the Japanese pirates. He sent us a message late last night, saying that the Japanese pirate king Xu Hai was very angry after Zhejiang implemented the Ten-Household Baojia System. He said that the governor is trying to cut off their roots and eyes, and Xu Hai will start a move tomorrow against the villages and towns that have implemented the Ten-Household Baojia System, saying that he wants to kill us all!"

A thin old man said anxiously.

"Master, our Dongshan Village is also a model village. My nephew said that our village was one of the targets of the Japanese pirates. If I hadn't taken good care of this nephew in the past, he wouldn't have the heart to see our family die in the revenge of the Japanese pirates, so he came to tell me secretly at night and asked me to take my family out of the village and hide. My clan relatives and aunts and uncles are all in the village. How can I survive alone? He told our Jiazhang about this, and our Jiazhang told the village chief about this. The village chief asked us to report to the governor as soon as possible."

Another citizen then said.

"The Japanese pirates are trying to destroy the ten-household baojia system." After listening to the two old men's stories, Zhu Ping'an immediately understood that Xu Hai was trying to make an example of someone to scare the monkeys and threaten the people in Zhejiang in an attempt to destroy the ten-household baojia system.

"I beg you, Governor, you must save our village. The Japanese pirates will come to kill us tomorrow."

The two common people knelt down and prayed hurriedly.

"Please stand up quickly. Protecting the people in the territory is my job. I will protect your village."

Zhu Ping'an quickly helped them up and assured them.

"Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor." After hearing Zhu Ping'an's assurance, the two old men thanked him repeatedly.

"Do you know which villages and towns the Japanese pirates will attack next?" Zhu Ping'an asked slowly after calming the two men down.

"Our neighboring village, Shangpo Village, was also their target. As for other villages and towns, we don't know. My nephew didn't say anything either. He only said that they slaughtered all the villages and towns that implemented the Ten-Household Baojia System in an exemplary manner, leaving no one alive."

The two people scratched their heads. They only knew that there was another village called Shangpo, but they didn't know anything else.

Villages and towns that exemplarily abide by the Ten-Household Baojia Law

This clue was enough. Zhu Ping'an, who was a model in abiding by the ten-household baojia system in the village, knew it better than anyone else.

"Thank you for coming to report this important news, my two fellow villagers. I won't give you any honors to prevent the Japanese pirates from taking revenge. Brother Mu, you lead the two fellow villagers to the civilian house to collect the reward of 20 taels of silver. Each of you will be rewarded 10 taels of silver."

Zhu Ping'an waved to Liu Mu in the distance and asked him to take the two common people to the house to collect the reward.

"No, no, Governor. We are not here for the reward, we just want to protect our village."

The two ordinary people waved their hands repeatedly.

"Only by clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments can we enforce discipline. If meritorious service is not rewarded, and faults are not punished, then wouldn't I be a corrupt official?"

Zhu Pingan insisted with a smile.

"Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor." The two common people did not expect to receive a reward, and they thanked him happily again and again.

"My two fellow villagers, you can go home without worry after receiving the reward. I will make arrangements right away to ensure the safety of your village. At the same time, I will give the Japanese pirates a surprise and make sure they never return!" Zhu Ping'an said to the two old men.

Liu Mu came over and took the two common people to the household office to collect the reward money, while Zhu Pingan returned to the study to study the map.

Xu Hai's attempt to undermine the Ten-Household Baojia System shows that the Ten-Household Baojia System hit their weak spot.

The Ten-Household Baojia System was an important part of Zhu Ping'an's strategy to eliminate the Japanese pirates. Zhu Ping'an would never allow Xu Hai to violate the Ten-Household Baojia System. If Xu Hai was allowed to carry out a bloody massacre in the model villages and towns, causing white terror, then other villages and towns would not dare to abide by the Ten-Household Baojia System in order to avoid being massacred by the Japanese pirates.

Dongshan Village is located in Jiashan County of Jiaxing Prefecture. Jiashan County is adjacent to Songjiang Prefecture, so it is not surprising that the Japanese pirates chose this place to attack.

Although the two common people did not know which other villages and towns the Japanese pirates wanted to attack as a warning to others, the clues they provided were enough for Zhu Ping'an to guess that the Japanese pirates wanted to attack the villages and towns that modeled the ten-household baojia system.

The Ten-Household Baojia System was one of the two things that Zhu Ping'an devoted the most energy to during this period.

Another thing is the training of new recruits of the Zhejiang Army.

Since northern Zhejiang suffered the most severe attacks and looting by Japanese pirates during this period, Zhu Ping'an paid the most attention to the implementation of the ten-household baojia system in northern Zhejiang. He also issued the most documents to government offices in northern Zhejiang and sent the most manpower for inspections.

Due to the real threat of Japanese pirates and Zhu Ping'an's attention, the implementation of the ten-household baojia system in northern Zhejiang was the best in Zhejiang.

The best implementation areas in northern Zhejiang are Jiashan County, Pinghu County and Haiyan County.

The best county is Jiashan County.

Dongshan Village and Shangpo Village, where these two people come from, are the villages in Jiashan County that are model for abiding by the Ten-Household Baojia System. In addition to these two villages, Hechi Village and Xitang Ancient Town are also outstanding examples.

The number of reports from these villages and towns was the highest in Jiashan, and nearly a hundred suspected Japanese collusion suspects were arrested based on the reports.

In addition to Jiashan County, Zhaojia Village and Wangjiazhai in Pinghu County are also model villages that exemplarily abide by the ten-household house number baojia system.

Qingfeng Town in Haiyan County was also a model town that strictly abided by the Ten-Household Baojia Law. The people of this town reported that two local gentry were in collusion with the Japanese pirates. Zhu Ping'an ordered Liu Dadao to lead a hundred Zhejiang troops to Haiyan County to assist the Haiyan County Magistrate in the investigation. After investigation, it was confirmed that the two gentry were in collusion with the Japanese pirates. The two gentry raised more than a hundred Japanese pirates in the name of caravans. These Japanese pirates traveled back and forth in the name of business, and often disappeared for a while. When someone asked, they said they were going to purchase goods, and came back after a while with a wide variety of goods.

In fact, what they called purchasing goods was that they received a call from the Japanese pirates outside, joined them, and followed the Japanese pirates outside to burn, kill, and loot. The things they looted were what they called purchased goods.

There is no wall that is impenetrable. These Japanese pirates were causing trouble in the town. Some of them boasted about how many people they had killed, some got carried away and let the cat out of the bag, and some got drunk and spilled the beans.

In addition, their cargo was not fixed and was always mixed, and some of the cargo had blood stains on it.

Many people know the fact.

After the implementation of the ten-household baojia system, people in the same group and local people reported it.

After verifying the facts, Liu Dadao led a hundred Zhejiang soldiers to raid the homes of two gentry at night and caught more than a hundred drunk Japanese pirates. They seized more than ten thousand taels of silver, as well as fifty bows, more than two hundred Japanese swords, axes, scimitars, long swords and other weapons, and more than thirty sets of armor from the two gentry's homes.

Caught red-handed! (End of this chapter)