Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 446: The military contest ends, and the political contest begins~
Break the city, clean up the battlefield,
The 5th Corps gradually took control of various government offices and warehouses.

There were too many Green Camp soldiers who surrendered to count them all at once. The prisoner camp was overcrowded.

Miao Youlin sighed:
"With so many mouths to feed, the porridge they drink every month could fill up Jinji Lake, right? By the way, how many big fish did we catch?"

"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, Guangzhou General Fu Min died in battle, and the Guangzhou prefect committed suicide. The governor-general and governor-general~ were not captured."

"Reward, city-wide search."

"As ordered."

……

quickly,

A local clerk who was eager to surrender pointed out that Tianzi Wharf was a loophole. He saw many people running south.
Miao Youlin was furious when he heard this.

He personally led his troops to Tianzi Wharf, located in the south of Guangzhou and on the banks of the Pearl River.

One mile away from the river bank, I saw a group of people running into the river in panic.

"Quick, intercept them."

Two companies of infantry immediately charged with flintlock rifles.

There is little resistance~
Except for some people who jumped into the Pearl River to swim for survival, the rest knelt down and surrendered.

More than 300 people were captured on the spot.

Most of them were local officials and gentry.

far away,

Several fast crab boats in Nan'ao Town watched all this silently.

A soldier asked:
"Sir, should we move over and bombard the Wu army?"

"How can Wu's army be so easy to mess with? Do you believe that if we get close, they will roll out their cannons? Retreat!"

……

Miao Youlin personally interrogated the prisoners and learned some regrettable news.

When the city was broken, some prisoners witnessed the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yilhang, boarding a small boat and running away surrounded by his guards.

The Pearl River water system is well connected.

There is no direction, no way to trace.

……

Li Yu was very calm about this.

Jiangning and Guangzhou are both big cities.

It is easy to break into a city, but it is impossible to catch all the big fish in one net.

Not to mention that the Wu army's combat soldiers and auxiliary soldiers totaled less than 3, even if they had 10 soldiers, they would not be able to surround the enemy.

This is a very simple math problem, even an art student who failed the entrance exam can calculate the result.

If Li Yu remembered correctly,
in history,
The massive Hunan Army captured Tianjing, but even such an important figure as the Young Heavenly King managed to escape.

Therefore,
If the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi wanted to escape, he would be able to do so.

"Issue the entire city to offer a reward for the capture of former Qing officials and officers, as well as the Green Camp soldiers hiding among the people."

……

There are so many things to do after entering the city.

Treat the wounded, record military achievements, count losses, seal the treasury, arrest important criminals, identify prisoners, repair city walls, and issue proclamations throughout the province.

All the officers of the 5th Corps were very busy.

All the work will be finally summarized and submitted to the Secretariat.

It will be summarized by the Secretariat and then sent to Your Majesty.

Li Yu was responsible for eating, drinking and patrolling every day.

I collected 4 folk Cantonese chefs and planned to bring them back to Suzhou to enrich the imperial kitchen team. But I didn't collect folk women~
……

Guangdong Governor Zhao Shisheng was arrested.

When the city was broken, he was stabbed by a fleeing soldier and his legs were disabled, so he could not escape.

Later, he hid in the home of a gentleman with whom he had a good relationship to recuperate.

The whistleblower,
She was a maid in a gentleman's family.

He successfully got the reward of 200 taels of silver, and lived a happy life with his childhood sweetheart, the tall and strong bodyguard.

……

The empty library in Guangzhou is annoying.

After Li Yu calmly pondered,
A slightly controversial decree was issued:

"When the army enters Guangdong, whenever they encounter a city that resists, after they have conquered the city, as a punishment, they will execute all the officials and gentry in the city, make their women slaves, and confiscate their property, but they will not kill the common people."

"All officials and gentry in any city that voluntarily opens its gates and surrenders will be protected and will not be held accountable."

"This order will be implemented starting from Guangzhou."

"Send the message to the whole province."

……

The Qing government provoked conflicts between the natives and the Hakkas, which disgusted Li Yu.

Li Yu made a backhand move.
This prevented the officials and gentry of various states and counties from standing in the same trench and being wary of each other.

The gentry and the government were of one mind. When the city was captured, the Wu army had every reason to kill the dissidents and seize the military funds.

The gentry and the government fought, the gentry surrendered the city, and the Wu army won. The government killed the gentry, and then the city was broken into by the Wu army, and the Wu army still won.

Anyway,

This is an open conspiracy. Whether the other party sees through it or not, Li Yu wins.

……

With the approval of Li Yu,

Three clerks and seven yamen runners who were imprisoned in the Qing prison for "involvement in smuggling" were re-employed.

These 10 people burst into tears of gratitude.

He cut off his braid on the spot and vowed to be irreconcilable with the Qing government.

With their assistance,
The work of confiscating property has reached a new level. The number of fields and houses that were found to be "not in the name of the person involved" is astonishing.

can only say,
My Qing Dynasty gave too much.

It is understandable that local gentry actively supported the Qing government.

……

After tasting the sweetness,
Li Yu suddenly realized that confiscating a house was a delicate job.

The copy I made before was too rough~
I don’t know how much hidden property has been missed.

These unowned properties,
Ordinary people dare not touch it, nor covet it, and gradually, no one knows who will get it.

Confiscate the house,

You must use a local guide and a local guide.

In order to perform well and strive for progress, these 10 "cannon fodders abandoned by their accomplices" repeatedly pulled the net.

Many big fish that had escaped the net were pulled out.

E.g,

The Imperial Household Department’s assets included 5 manors, 12 cloth shops, and 2 forests around Guangzhou.

Princes, dukes, military officials, and officials in the capital also have their own industries, but the scale varies.

……

Lu Zhou, the recently promoted head guard of the Secretariat, handed over the booklet and said:
"Your Majesty, the reverse production data has been updated again."

recent,
The scale of counter-production is increasing day by day.

If all the money was converted into silver, the initial seizure would have yielded only 410 million taels of silver, but now the figure has risen to 1444 million taels of silver.

Li Yu couldn't help but ask:
“Will there be any accidental injuries?”

Lu Zhou shook his head:
"Your Majesty, manors, hilltops, docks, mines, mansions, beauties, and opera troupes are not something that ordinary people can own. Even if the people below want to accidentally hurt them, they have no chance."

"But there may be defects among the 35 mu of good farmland and 11 mu of mulberry fields. I want to post a notice. If there is any accidental damage, the people can go to the prefectural government office and take it back with the land deed."

"That's right."

……

Li Yu leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to think.

The seizure of property from officials and gentry alone amounted to 1444 million taels.

More than 100 years ago,
The Qing soldiers massacred Guangzhou and robbed both gentry and civilians, taking everyone, big or small, showing their barbaric faces.

In comparison,

I am indeed very civilized.

……

Li Yu is more inclined to focus on the big and let go of the small.

Given the national conditions of the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century, how many taels of silver could the common people have?

Confiscating the wealth of 100 officials and gentry could equal the wealth of 50 or 100 ordinary people.

I want to bring it here.

On a whim, he dug out his long-forgotten diary.
Write down solemnly:

"From the perspective of the initiator, war is essentially a business, and it meets all the elements of a business!"

"A failed war is doomed to lose nothing. A successful war is bound to make a huge profit."

Finish writing and close it.

……

Guangzhou is the most important city in South China, with countless officials, gentry, merchants and clerks.

Li Yu established a "Working Group to Investigate Counter-Profit Assets" and appointed himself as the team leader.

Miao Youlin, Lu Zhou, Xue Chen and others are deputy team leaders. They belong to different systems and check and balance each other.

The house-raiding work began to sink.

All the clerks in the city were killed together.

The clerks have seen the world, are not easy to win over, and have big appetites.

Taking advantage of the fact that the teacher has a good reputation,

Clean up the city of Guangzhou in one breath.

The Wu State was now growing stronger and stronger, and was no longer too lenient towards those who "did not know the times".

The old official and gentry class could either be defeated by issuing an edict, thus guaranteeing their property and lives, or be uprooted without mercy.

Anyway,

Time is running out for the southern officials and gentry.

hurry up.

Choose a side.

……

As the stalls grew bigger,

Li Yu gradually began to worry that the proportion of people related to the former Qing court in the Wu Kingdom court was too large and their influence was too heavy.

This is a force worth examining.
It’s not that I’m worried that they would dare to jump out and oppose me.

But Li Yu was determined,

Deep down, these people do not approve of Wu's current course.

just because of,

They fear themselves and dare not be disloyal, so they conscientiously carry out their own will (even if they do not agree with it in their hearts).

……

For now,

In fact, it is enough for these people to be able to achieve this level.

However, Li Yu often reminds himself to be careful.

crucial moment,

Be careful of backlash~
Don't underestimate these smart people.

With the huge number of "breeding jars" in the Qing Dynasty, it was not easy for ordinary people to make a name for themselves.

……

recent,
There are occasional suggestions among the public that the civil service examination should be revised, at least to allow Confucianism and new learning to be on par with each other.

Wu Ting remained silent on this.

Cold treatment~
Li Yu judged that

Although many important officials did not speak out, they may have agreed in their hearts, because they were all heavy participants and obvious beneficiaries of the imperial examination.

people,
How could I easily deny my past?

As his power grew, Li Yu and his subordinates gradually drifted apart.

It was no longer likely that he would share too much of his inner thoughts with a trusted minister.

king,

It must be kept hidden.

"The imperial power is only ten steps away and within a thousand miles" - the distance in this sentence can be physical or psychological.

……

Some people may say,
It would be better not to use them in the first place.

Or it’s not too late for you to repent now, drive them out of the court, and replace them with a more reliable group.

Good idea, but unrealistic.
Politics cannot be black and white, and it will not indulge in idealism.

Feudal era,

If we exclude all these educated people, where can we find people who can read and write?

You can't
Civil service schools start teaching literacy, right?

and,

If you are not a subject, you are an enemy.

Today, the State of Wu dares to expel these people.

Tomorrow, the Qing court will vigorously use this group of people.

Don't count on benevolence, wisdom, courtesy, righteousness, and trustworthiness.

Everyone is just talking, you don't really think that all the officials in the court are corrupt scholars, right?
……

Take steps back,
Even if we bring out a group of "righteous butchers" to replace the "unscrupulous scholars", can the country be peaceful and prosperous?
Scholars are unreliable!

Even butchers are unreliable!

To put it bluntly, human nature is unreliable.

……

The Royal Navy’s “bonus for sinking an enemy ship” system can be used as a reference.

For each enemy ship sunk, the Admiralty took one-eighth of the cost, the captain took one-quarter, the senior crew members took three-eighths, and the ordinary crew members took one-quarter.

Court = Navy Department.

Li Yu was in charge of the Navy Department. The ministers were captains, the directors were senior crew members, the powerful people were ordinary sailors, and the ordinary people were workers in the shipyards.

After boarding the ship,
Everyone has the same interests and goals.

Put aside conflicts, we will all prosper together and suffer together.

Victory ahead,

Ordinary people in the rear also cheered, and the shipyard's business was booming. They built new ships, repaired old ships, and dismantled captured enemy ships.

If business is good, the wages will be higher.

……

Let everyone voluntarily support the current rules so that everyone can benefit from them.

The rules are clear and the motivation is sufficient.

Only when Li Yu entered old age could he leisurely turn the globe.
Instructed the 16-year-old female adjutant in uniform:

"Inform Jiangnan Shipyard that my 5000-ton Royal Steam Yacht be plated with gold above the waterline. Especially the main guns, which must be shining with gold~"

"Only when I am respectable can the empire be respectable, and only then can the 3 million people be respectable."

……

The vision is beautiful, but far away.

Checks and balances are eternal.

Li Yu would not easily touch the old officials who served in the central government of Wu State.

but,

From now on,

They would try their best to ignore the old officials from the newly occupied areas and try not to give them the opportunity to deeply participate in the Wu government.

The neglect should not be too obvious, otherwise it will cause big trouble.

The driver Li Yu could only adjust the direction of the chariot at a small angle without causing any noise, trying his best to avoid being noticed by the savvy passengers.

……

Outside Guangzhou,

A road construction site.
Faced with many newly appointed young civil servants,

Li Yu was passionate:
"Once the war started, the number of homeless people increased dramatically. You should adhere to the principle of work-for-relief and don't be afraid to spend money."

"Guangzhou is an important city in southern China and a trade distribution center. We must restore order as soon as possible. We must eliminate war, banditry, and disease as soon as possible."

suddenly,

He stopped.

Staring at the pitiful children, he asked:
"these are?"

"Your Majesty, they are all orphans, doing light work on the construction site to earn a living."

……

Suddenly, Li Yu came up with a long-term plan.

Whispered:

"Gather all the orphans under the age of 6 in the vicinity of Guangzhou, raise them until they are 12 years old, and place them in various factories to work. I will pay for this."

"Your Majesty is kind."

Everyone present showed admiration on their faces, thinking that Your Majesty wanted to do good deeds.

in fact,

Li Yu didn't believe it at all.

The idea that good is rewarded with good and evil is punished with evil does not stand up to careful scrutiny.

If good and evil are really related to life span, then many people should have died the moment they were formed as embryos.

The process of worldly affairs,
We cannot fathom it, so we call it “fate” or “God’s will” in awe.

but,
This program has absolutely nothing to do with good or evil.

……

After a few days,
A secretariat guard came.

The heads of the orphanage camps are required to complete the screening within March and select 3 orphans with good health and good looks.

Among them, there should be no less than 80 boys.

The person in charge was in a dilemma:

"Your Excellency, some of the children are too young to know anything. The young ones cannot be included in the list~"

"Who asked you to make the list? You just need to screen out the people."

"Yes Yes."

……

These orphans, aged between 3 and 6, drifted like fallen leaves and eventually disappeared from sight.

Your Majesty's three adopted daughters quietly built a large school in the mountains adjacent to Taihu Lake in Changxing County, Huzhou Prefecture.

The imperial plaque hangs high at the door:

Yizhuang!

From then on, he became unknown and seemed to be living in seclusion.

A new group of children join the charity cemetery every six months, coming from all over the world.

The only thing they have in common is that they are young and barely remember anything.

All their names were given later, and their native places were all stated to be Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture, and their parents died early.

The charity cemetery has almost no contact with the outside world.

apart from,

Teachers will rotate, some are fixed and some are not.

……

5 miles away from Yizhuang,
A fence half a person's height was built, and a warning sign was hung: "Royal hunting ground, no approaching."

50 injured and disabled soldiers served as guards in the outer circle.

They were given houses and wives, received 7% of their original monthly salary, and were told that this was a lifelong career.

……

All the funds here come from the royal family.

The teaching materials here were selected by Li Yu himself.

The houses, roads, facilities, clothing and accessories here were designed by Li Yu himself.

only,
For a long time after it was built, Li Yu never set foot in this school in person.

Only His Majesty's half-length portrait in military uniform is hung in the most conspicuous position in each classroom, smiling at the children whose memories are being reshaped.

……

(End of this chapter)