Chapter 728

Bai Lang suppressed the entire Datong Town. History records that he acted recklessly and no one dared to speak. Local military families were killed by him using military law, and he even forced local regional commanders to hand over most of the military land they had encroached upon for many years to be distributed to poor military households. As for those landlords who bought military land, it was their bad luck—the best luck was to be forced to distribute land, slightly worse was to be exiled for three thousand miles, and the worst was to be beheaded.

"Don't force me to go crazy." Bai Lang often said this. Now that he was a Surveillance Commissioner, he naturally had the right to start rectifying the logistics and supply matters of the Datong military town—his ability to train troops was average, and he could only teach some cultivation methods and urge the soldiers to practice every day, but Bai Lang had learned the ability to grasp logistics.

He only needed to force the Datong Prefect and Datong Magistrate...

Anyway, Bai Lang forcibly distributed land and fined and raided homes everywhere. He had silver to force the prefect and magistrate to find ways to mobilize grain and supplies from the inland to sell in Datong—he paid the full amount, and things like embezzlement were also considered bad habits, which were forcibly stopped by Bai Lang. He only allowed a 10% deviation in the warehouse and account books. If the supplies were insufficient, he would behead them.

When the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue allocated funds, some people embezzled. He dared to shout to the Capital, and even once, a line of officials responsible for the allocation—mainly the officials who took the goods out of the warehouse—were all killed by unidentified people. Since then, the supplies allocated to Datong had never been embezzled again. Local trade circulation had also improved a lot. Bai Lang prohibited road checkpoints from collecting taxes. In Datong, he only allowed the collection of sitting taxes, just to let as many supplies as possible flow into Datong. Money must circulate to be called money.

Otherwise, just giving money to military households would be useless. After that, he would select soldiers and feed them well. If Datong could select and train 10,000 soldiers, what would there be to fear from the Mongol cavalry?

Bai Lang organized a "sweep" against the Mongols, and also took the opportunity to behead quite a few martial generals on charges of "not arriving on time," "being timid and afraid to fight when encountering the enemy," etc. —why not try to defect to the Mongol Altan Khan? If Bai Lang didn't chase them on horseback and kill them on the grasslands, and incidentally kill their whole families, his surname wouldn't be Bai. This person had already been rumored to be a descendant of Bai Qi—speaking of which, he was from Huayin, which seemed to be the land of the Three Qin...

This person's murderous nature was about the same as Bai Qi's. He loved to pile up Beijing views with heads, which was no less than Bai Qi's pit killing. The "gentlemen" in Datong Prefecture had also suffered from Bai Lang for a long time and wished he would leave immediately. "Back in Zhejiang, no one dared to set up any broken shoe formation for me. In Datong, who dares to face me with a naked blade? Is there anyone? Hahahaha!"

Bai Lang sat upright in the Surveillance Commissioner's hall, his half-arm exposing his mail armor, and his official robe was also only half-worn, but the peacock patch was very clear. He didn't wear a black gauze cap or an eight-faced silver helmet on his head, but quite casually wore a Tang square scarf. No one dared to laugh at this neither-civil-nor-martial attire. Entering this hall was like going to the execution ground.

This world, this world so far had been made into a mess—the original Jianghu and court were completely finished. The hypocrite Yue Buqun did not exist. That was the real Juren Master Yue, a gentry master who had a significant influence in Huayin County, and now he was even happier to have a son in his middle age. There was still a Huashan Sword Sect on Mount Hua, but the population was not prosperous, and they even shamelessly attached themselves to the path of Huayin Academy...

Huashan Academy had a very big official figure covering it, the current Datong Surveillance Commissioner, the third-rank Bai Lang, the White Jade Pillar. Looking at his age and means, I'm afraid he would serve as the Governor of the Nine Borders, and it was estimated that he would be the number one big shot in the outer court in the future.

Bai Lang's current opponent was the garrison eunuch stationed in Datong by the inner court. Now he was in the garrison eunuch's mansion talking to this eunuch, "Withdraw from the occupied military land, and do not embezzle or take bribes. If not, I will kill your whole family." Bai Lang opened his mouth with the style of a common soldier. The eunuch Liu opposite was also one of the inner court experts, but unfortunately, not being an Innate Expert made him worse than a dog in front of Bai Lang.

This Eunuch Liu's face turned green and white, and he couldn't say anything—he was afraid of being beaten to death by Bai Lang. The Datong Surveillance Commissioner sitting in front of him was simply a man-eating tiger, and there was no reason to talk. "How can you openly say you want to attack an inner court eunuch? Where does the Surveillance Commissioner put the Emperor?" Finally, the eunuch could only grit his teeth and say this sentence.

"It's very simple. Either I beat you and your 'children' to death and report that you died in battle while following me, or I really pull you to go outside the pass with me and then beat you to death and report that you died in battle. You choose one of the two, Eunuch." Bai Lang was calm and even picked up a teacup and took a sip of tea. Eunuch Liu heard his hands shaking wildly—not out of fear, but out of anger.

This person's arrogance had reached an incredible level. The Ming Dynasty had raised scholars for 150 years, and there had never been such an arrogant scholar. Even if he was angry to death, he had to solve the problem. Bai Lang sitting there was looking at Eunuch Liu with completely malicious intent. Eunuch Liu shivered. He couldn't continue to delay. He would really die.

So he quickly nodded, "Okay, okay, okay. I won't care about the shops you occupy and the bribes you take in the city. You can take as much as you want. You can take whatever you want from brothels and gambling dens—you are not allowed to take from grain shops and salt shops. The land outside the city will all belong to me. I will kill two-thirds of your disciples and adopted sons. As for the rest, you tell them to be careful themselves. Alright, that's it for today. Cooperation is a win-win, Eunuch Liu. Goodbye."

Before Bai Lang left, "I'll give you one-third of the head merit." He was a kind Surveillance Commissioner after all.

Datong Prefecture was Bai Lang's one-man show. His patrol camp in Datong Prefecture was ordered to go everywhere with the Datong county yamen runners to catch people. Quite a few of the rascals who were originally wandering in the prefecture were caught—contrary to what was said, Bai Lang didn't directly behead them, but sent them all to the front of the army to be laborers. If they didn't do well, he would behead them.

Bai Lang had been in Datong for more than a year, and now it was another spring plowing time, "Beat the drums! Gather the troops!" Bai Lang sat on the high platform of the drill ground and ordered—at this time, he had standing, non-productive soldiers, and several commanders together had more than 4,000 people, which was the confidence of Datong to resist the Mongol iron cavalry. If one day Bai Lang left office, this army could at least protect Datong for ten years of peace. Of course, it was more likely to be incorporated by Qi Jiguang as the elite of Xuan-Da.

Amidst the grand drum sounds, teams of soldiers began to line up on the drill ground, and the various guerrilla commanders also took their places. This was the spring hunt, an activity stipulated by Bai Lang to hunt Mongols and their livestock outside the pass. After a few repetitions, in Bai Lang's view, "There will be no royal court in the south of the desert." He didn't intend to plunder Bansheng City. Leaving this place was simply the best target to lure Altan Khan.

The Mongols would absolutely not be willing to give up this city. And Bai Lang would at least not fight Altan Khan under Bansheng City for the time being. This time he prepared to bypass Bansheng City and go further north.

【729-1】 The Mongols of this era are strong when they are strong, and weak when they are weak. They are strong because after the Yuan Dynasty, they possessed hundreds of thousands of iron cavalry—of course, this is a virtual reference; Altan Khan still had tens of thousands of cavalry equipped with iron armor. They are weak because of their economic ability and organizational ability, and they can no longer launch strikes with mobility of thousands of miles like in the era of Genghis Khan. Bai Lang led 4,000 Datong troops outside the pass for a spring hunt, just to challenge the Mongol's ability to mobilize and gather.