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Volume 1: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 30: Accepting Donations from the Yacang

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    In the evening of that day, when the cool breeze of early autumn was swaying the shadows of the trees in the afterglow of dusk, on the granite-paved streets in Changsha City, between the slanting shadows of the trees, horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts loaded with rice grains were going to the city.  Going to the government office in the south of the city, hundreds of carts were connected end to end, which was a spectacular sight.

    The people in Changsha City rushed to the streets to watch. The story of King Changmao asking the wealthy businessmen in the city to fill in the chessboard with rice grains also spread. The curious people gathered in the open space in front of the government office in the south of the city to watch how to fill in the chessboard.  Law.

    Ordinary people can only see so much food when they pay for rice and grain. Whenever they pay taxes and grain, there are yamen subordinates with abacus in their hands, frowning and typing down the abacus.  Divide by two, and ordinary people will be so embarrassed that they dare not say anything. You will pay as much as you need, and you have no need to argue.  The only thing people can remember is how much they paid this year, so they can have a comparison next year.

    And the government exploited the people in various ways, such as big fights and small fights, dripping and kicking, and every time they paid a lot more.  But as Xiao Yungui said, these people will not rise up in rebellion as long as they have a mouthful of food to eat.  Therefore, every time there is a disaster, the Qing court will open a porridge shop. This porridge is actually a life-threatening porridge, so that you will not starve to death, so that you will not think of rising up and rebelling.  It's like taking a tube of your blood and feeding you a sip of soup. Anyway, you're hanging there alive and dead.

    The open space in front of the small government office in the south of the city was filled to the brim, with shaggy buglers stationed around it.  These miscellaneous soldiers only had braids and red turbans. They were very different from the old long-haired soldiers who wore yellow uniforms. By hearing the shouts, the people knew that they were natives of Hunan, and there was a bit of nostalgia in them.  The common people became a little more courageous.  They squeezed forward and saw the arrival of grain trucks bearing the surnames of various wealthy families. The common people stretched their necks.

    Under the straw mat pergola in front of the government office, several long-haired officials stood there and pointed. After the heads of the big families followed the grain truck, they all went to the pergola to nod and bow to the long-haired officials.  They brought accounting clerks, some even brought three.

    At this time, the crowd of onlookers suddenly made way. It turned out that it was Zhu Changlin from Zhugan who arrived with a rice and grain convoy. The people in the crowd greeted Zhu Changlin one after another. Zhu Changlin returned the greetings one by one with a smile. It can be seen that Zhu Changlin is indeed  He did a lot of good deeds and was respected by the people.

    After a while, Wei Helin from Deyu Company, Tang Yinong, a wealthy businessman in the city, and He Yuanlun from Baoqing Chamber of Commerce and others all arrived. The people were all stunned. It is extremely difficult for these wealthy men to see one of them on weekdays. Now,  They all gathered here, there has never been such a grand event in Changsha City.

    A long-haired official under the pergola saw everyone gathered, walked up and spoke in Guangxi Hakka. Many people didn't understand, and some people who were behind didn't hear at all. Fortunately, there were some people in the crowd.  Those who knew Hakka changed their minds and passed it on to ten people, then they all understood it.  The long-haired official claimed to be the long-haired official in charge of money and food. His name was Zeng Shuiyuan. He introduced the method of filling the chessboard with rice grains to collect donations. All the wealthy merchants in Changsha voluntarily accepted donations according to this method.  Rice grain, and also explained the rules for using rice grain to fill the chess grid. The rice grain filled will be used as money to donate to Changmao.

    When the people heard this rule, they burst into laughter. They all said that King Changmao was stupid. He put one grain on the first chess square, two grains on the second square, four grains on the third square, and there were only sixty-four squares.  It doesn't take much rice to fill it up.

    A burst of laughter attracted scoldings from the long-haired buglers, and the people were slightly quiet. The long-haired official ordered the accountants of each big family to start counting. More than thirty accountants lined up in a row, each with one hand.  The abacus began to play as if facing a formidable enemy.  Everyone calculates the amount of rice needed for one grid and then reports it loudly.  From the beginning of two, four, and eight, it was extremely easy to count all the way. But after reaching the twenty-first place, the accountant's counting slowed down, because it was already one hundred thousand, and by the twenty-sixth place, it had reached tens of millions.  , all the accounting gentlemen were sweating profusely and looked nervous.

    Listening to the report, a group of wealthy families wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and the muscles on their faces kept twitching. The laughter among the people gradually disappeared, replaced by waves of exclamations. They didn't expect it.  There are so many grains of rice in more than twenty squares, and if converted into the number of liters, I'm afraid it's no longer a handful.

    By the time the calculation reached more than thirty squares, it had already reached one billion. It was extremely difficult for the accounting gentlemen to continue the calculation. The long-haired official laughed and said, "Even if you move all the rice grains in Changsha, you will never be able to fill these sixty-four squares."  !¡±

    A few die-hard big investors still didn¡¯t believe it, and they clamored to order the accountants to calculate separately. More than thirty accountants worked separately to calculate, and after counting a few more squares, it was already a huge number of hundreds of billions.

    The long-haired official smiled and said loudly: "Do you still want to count it down? Even if your bag of rice contains hundreds of?? grains, based on the current number, we also need 100,000 bags of rice. If we move one more square, it will be 200,000 bags. There are still more than 20 squares to go. Can you get so much rice?  "

    The faces of all the wealthy people were ashen, and many people were so frightened that they sat on the ground.  The people even started whispering, "Two hundred thousand bags of rice, how much rice is that?" "My mother, it turns out there is so much, but it seemed less at first."

    Among the crowd of common people, a middle-aged man in his forties frowned deeply. This man was dressed like a teacher. His clothes were very ordinary, but his eyes were dark and bright, with piercing eyes, and his eyebrows were thick and black, like swords.  Like a brush, he has a strong expression, a full and glossy tone, a strong nose, a pair of big and thick ears with round ear beads, and a sense of arrogance between his eyebrows.

    Then the long-haired official laughed and ordered his soldiers to transport all the rice grains from each family into the government warehouse for storage. The rice grains brought by each big family definitely did not amount to 100,000 bags. The long-haired official shouted loudly  I said, let the people of Changsha City witness that every big family in Changsha owes a huge debt, but if they need it, they will go to every big family to ask for it, and let every big family go back first to count the rice and grain, and wait for payment.

    Every big family left with a grimace, and no one dared to count any more. Now every one left had a huge debt of hundreds of thousands of bags of rice. Who dared to count any more?

    When the teacher heard this, he frowned slightly and said to himself: "I didn't expect that a bandit leader could be so wise. If you think about it this way, even the rice grains in the whole world, let alone Changsha, wouldn't be able to fill this small area.  The chessboard." In a blink of an eye, he saw Zhu Changlin and others bowing to the long-haired official and then leaving as if nothing had happened. The teacher let out a light sigh, scratched Zheng Liang's forehead, smiled and said to himself:  "There is something strange. It seems that I need to be introduced to him. I have to go see the long-haired Western King tomorrow."

    After Zeng Shuiyuan, Zhu Changlin and others exchanged a few words, they hurriedly ordered people to calculate some money and food. In total, they received 80,000 shi of rice and more than 50,000 shi of wheat and other miscellaneous grains.  Zeng Shuiyuan was overjoyed and ordered people to go door-to-door to collect rice. Those who did not have rice and grain used silver coins to offset it. In just one night, he received 870,000 taels of silver and 1.1 million taels of copper coins.  After counting, Zeng Shuiyuan happily went to report to Xiao Yungui.

    But he said that after Zhu Changlin said goodbye, he turned to the corner of the street, where he was waiting in a blue-topped warm sedan, and then prepared to take the sedan back home. He felt relieved. This time he learned his lesson and brought several months of rice and grain.  He accepted the amount donated to the government and did not dare to give less. Sure enough, Zeng Shuiyuan looked at the account book, said a few words of satisfaction and told the four of them to go home peacefully. No one would come to make noise tonight.

    After walking a few steps, someone suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. A voice laughed and said from behind: "Well, Zhu Yutian, you actually secretly communicated with Changmao. When the army comes back, don't you think I'm going to go?"  Report you!"

    Zhu Changlin was startled. When she looked back, she saw that it was the teacher just now. When he saw this person, he felt relieved. He pulled the teacher and said happily: "Brother Ji Gao, how did you end up in Changsha?"

    Brother Ji Gao said with a smile: "I originally heard that Changmao was approaching the provincial capital, so I came to see how the army defeated Changmao. I didn't expect Changsha to be occupied so easily. Now I am trapped in the city by mistake and can't leave."

    Zhu Changlin said anxiously: "Brother Ji Gao wants to leave the city? This little brother can arrange it."

    Brother Ji Gao smiled and waved his hand and said: "I'm not busy now. I've seen the Changsha market these days. It's more peaceful than when the army was there, and there's no danger. Why am I in a hurry to leave the city? Brother Yutian, on the other hand,  You have to do me a favor."

    Zhu Changlin cupped her hands and said, "Brother Ji Gao, please speak."

    Brother Na Jigao whispered: "I want you to help me introduce him. I want to meet the long-haired Western King."

    Hearing this, Zhu Changlin was stunned and looked at him in a daze, speechless.

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