Anti-Qing: Starting from the Reincarnation of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 60 Braid Tax (12)

Although Fang Kunzheng wanted to hold Li County's Prime Minister responsible for the defeat of the bandits, the County Prime Minister was an official of the imperial court. He was a second-in-command official who was registered in the Ministry of Personnel, not a subordinate official in the county. The appointment, removal, promotion and promotion needed to be handled by the court. Can.

If Fang Kunzheng rashly ordered the punishment of Li Xian Cheng, things would inevitably become a big deal.

When the time comes, if the court investigates him, he may lose his official title.

There was no need for him, Fang Kunzheng, to risk his official title in order to punish Li County Cheng.

So what if Li Xian Cheng can be severely punished?

What good is it to him?

not worth it!

After everyone left, Fang Kunzheng rubbed his eyebrows and asked Master Luo who was standing respectfully beside him.

"Master, if I remember correctly, that bandit army was fighting against the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and even went so far as to establish itself as a king. Such thieves are not ordinary thieves."

"If it grows because of the county's appeasement, how should the county respond to the imperial court's accusations?"

Master Luo stroked the beard on his chin and said.

"Sir, there is no need to worry."

"The situation in Guangxi this year is not good. There are refugees making troubles everywhere, as well as thieves resisting grain and taxes. Many of them are campaigning against the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty."

"That's just a flag."

"No one will really take a flag seriously!"

"If someone really raises the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court will intervene, and the emperor will die from exhaustion!"

"Besides, the boss will probably change his position next year. As long as we can get through this winter, that's all."

Although the Manchus' anti-Han psychology was rooted in their bones, the banner of anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming Dynasties was regarded as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of the Manchu rulers.

However, when the Manchu and Qing Dynasties dealt with this kind of thing, their methods were typical of "the people do not raise officials and do not correct them."

The less trouble, the better.

In our Qing Dynasty, how could there be no year where there were not more than [-] rebellions and uprisings?
Most of these rebellions and uprisings carried the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty.

If the Manchu emperor really cared about everything, he wouldn't have to do anything else.

Just think about how to suppress the rebellion from morning till night!
Generally speaking, this kind of thing is solved by the people below.

Only when things get too big and the people below can't handle it, will they be reported to the court.

Fang Kunzheng nodded when he heard the words.

"What Master said makes sense."

Obviously, he understood the meaning of Master Luo's words.

To put it bluntly, as long as things don't get too big, just keep the lid on.

Besides, Fang Kunzheng will be transferred soon. He will work in Wuxuan County for up to half a year. As long as the Ming army does not make things worse during this half year.

When he was transferred half a year later, the affairs of Wuxuan County had nothing to do with him.

Just let the successor have the headache.

This is the unspoken rule of my Qing Dynasty officialdom.

……

Jintian Town!
After the Battle of Pangwoling, Zhu Jing'an led his troops back to Jintian Town.

Not long after he returned to Jintian Town, Zhu Jiazhuo also led people out of Zijing Mountain and returned to Jintian Town.

Everyone in the Ming army began to celebrate the victory at Pangwoling and reward them for their merits.

At the celebration banquet, Zhu Jianzhuo announced the rewards to the generals and awarded them official positions and titles.

Zhu Jing'an, on the other hand, was personally responsible for granting land and marriages to the Ming army.

As the rewards continued to be implemented, for a while, everyone in the Ming army was excited about it.

Supervise the royal palace and study room!

Zhu Jianzhuo was sitting behind his desk, wearing a black gauze winged crown and a decent cross-collar dragon robe.

Although the workmanship and materials of the dragon robe he was wearing were not very good, the shape was at least correct.

Zhu Jing'an, Wang Shun, Li Mu, Han Sigu, Zhang Hu and others sat down in their own seats.

Zhu Jianzhuo looked around and said.

"Today, King Gu has called all of you to come here because he has something to discuss with you."

Hearing this, everyone spoke one after another.

"Supervisor, please speak!"

"I'm all ears!"

"..."

Zhu Jianzhuo nodded and said.

"After the Battle of Panwoling, our Ming Dynasty has established a firm foothold in Wuxuan County. The Wuxuan County government is temporarily unable to encircle and suppress our Ming Dynasty."

"According to the prince's words, our Ming Dynasty has gained a valuable period of strategic development."

"This precious strategic development period is extremely important to our Ming Dynasty and must not be wasted. If you have any suggestions on how our Ming Dynasty should develop next, you can speak freely."

After Zhu Jianzhuo finished speaking, everyone looked at Zhu Jing'an.

The thing is obvious, they all want to wait for Zhu Jing'an to express his position before making a statement.

Zhu Jing'an didn't hesitate and spoke directly.

"Reporting to my father, in my opinion, there are three main things that Ming should do next."

"The first is to expand the army, the second is to open up borders, and the third is to increase annual income."

"Among these, military expansion is the most important."

"Our Ming army currently has no more than [-] troops. It is absolutely impossible to complete the anti-Qing restoration and restore the Ming Dynasty with such a small number of troops, and to recreate the great cause of Emperor Taizu Gao who "driving out the Tartars and restoring China"."

"Even whether it can withstand the Qing army's next attack is still unknown."

"Army expansion is imminent!"

"At least, our army will expand to 3000 troops in a short period of time."

After saying the first point, Zhu Jing'an paused, gave everyone time to digest, and then continued randomly.

"Secondly, it is to open up borders, which to put it simply means to expand the sphere of influence."

"Because only by expanding our territory can we have more people and more money and food to support our Ming Dynasty in completing its military expansion plan."

"My plan is that I, the Ming Dynasty, will not attack the Qing government's state capitals and counties, but rather expand our influence in the countryside."

"Complete actual control over Wuxuan County and even the villages and towns in surrounding counties, and collect their manpower and material resources for my use..."

"To put it simply, it means taking the road of surrounding the cities from the countryside."

"As long as we, the Ming Dynasty, do not take the initiative to attack the county, the enemies we have to face are at most the soldiers in the state capital and the government officials and regiments in the county. The threat to our Ming Dynasty from these enemies is limited."

"But once our Ming Dynasty captures any state capital or county, what we will face next is the full suppression and counterattack by the Manchu Qing court, which mobilizes troops from the entire province and even several provinces."

"The gap between the two is huge."

"Although I don't want to admit it, the current Ming Dynasty does not have enough strength to face the full counterattack of the Qing Dynasty."

"Therefore, while we are opening up and expanding our territory, we must also try our best to avoid this situation from happening."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

After saying the second point, Zhu Jing'an paused again, and then continued.

"The third point is to find ways to increase our annual income."

"Now, my Ming Dynasty, whether it is to expand the army or to govern the local area, is spending money like water. Judging from the current rate of spending, it may not take long before my Ming Dynasty's treasury will bottom out."

“And without money, nothing can be done.”

"Therefore, our Ming Dynasty must find ways to expand the revenue of the treasury."

"I don't have any good solutions for this at the moment, so I'd better ask everyone to speak freely."

When Zhu Jianzhuo heard this, he nodded.

"What the prince said makes sense. Do you have anything else you would like to say?"

After hearing this, everyone began to exchange glances. After a while, Wang Shun stood up and said.

"To your Highness the Supervisor, I still have something to say."

Zhu Jianzhuo nodded.

"First assistant, please speak!"

Wang Shun cleared his throat and spoke.

"Reporting to the Supervisor, I have something to say about what the Crown Prince said about increasing the revenue of the treasury."

"The old minister believes that after the Ming Dynasty takes control of the area, it can implement the policy of cutting off braids and restoring the Ming Dynasty's clothes."

"But there is no need to use such cruel means as slaying those who don't follow. Instead, we should impose a braid tax on those who insist on growing braids."

"In this case, firstly, we can ensure that our Ming Dynasty braid-cutting policy will not encounter strong local opposition and can be implemented smoothly."

"Secondly, the income from the braid tax can greatly fill the treasury of our Ming Dynasty and meet our current financial needs. It is really a good thing that kills two birds with one stone."

When Zhu Jing'an heard this, he nodded in approval. He did not expect that Wang Shun could come up with such a practical method.

Wang Shun impressed him today.

After Zhu Jiazhuo pondered for a while, he nodded and said.

"That's okay!" Although the Ming Dynasty has been restored, the country is still weak after all, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties still occupy [-]% of the world's share.

Most local people still have doubts about whether the Ming Dynasty can really successfully fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

If Zhu Jianzhuo issued an order to cut his braids at this time, there would probably be some trouble in the place.

By then, I believe there will definitely be many people who will fight to the death with Daming in order to protect their braids.

This is not good for Ming Dynasty's strategy of actually controlling local areas and completing the rural encirclement of cities.

But if the Ming Dynasty could turn a blind eye to the matter of braid cutting, let them spend some money to avoid cutting their braids.

When the Ming Dynasty controlled the place, there might still be people who resisted, but the intensity of their resistance was definitely not the same as the intensity of resistance when they were forced to cut their braids.

More importantly, this move can also increase Ming's annual income, which is simply killing two birds with one stone.

Zhu Jing'an stood up and said.

"Reporting to the king, father, I agree with what the chief minister said!"

After everyone heard the words, they also stood up and seconded their opinions.

Seeing this, Wang Shun stroked his beard proudly.

Guo Dashan, who had always been silent on the side, stood up and spoke.

"To report to the Supervisor, the weapons workshop in Bauhinia Mountain has almost been set up, but Wei Chen and his apprentices alone will not be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of making weapons and equipment for the army for fear of death."

"I also ask His Highness the Supervisor to allocate some craftsmen who are good at making guns and cannons to the Ministry of Industry to meet the manpower needs of the weapons workshops..."

Even though Guo Dashan has been putting all his efforts into teaching apprentices recently, he only has a dozen or so people under him now.

Moreover, these ten or so people are still the kind of people who are sloshing around with half a bucket of water.

It is undoubtedly impossible to expect such a small number of manpower to support Ming Dynasty's ordnance production and manufacturing.

Zhu Jiazhuo took a deep breath, frowned and asked.

“Where should I find this manpower?”

Zhu Jing'an stood up and said.

"My father, my son's opinion is that we, the Ming Dynasty, can find ways to obtain craftsmen from the towns and villages under the jurisdiction of Wuxuan County and surrounding prefectures and counties."

"For example, if our Ming Dynasty attacks Wuxuan County and various towns and villages with large numbers of soldiers, and only wants a few craftsmen from them, I guess they won't refuse."

Hearing this, Zhu Jianzhuo nodded approvingly.

"What my son said is true!"

"Then let me leave this matter to my son."

Hearing this, Zhu Jing'an nodded.

"My son obeys the order!"

Li Mu stood up and said.

"To report to His Majesty the Supervisor, I think we can also spend a lot of money to hire craftsmen from Foshan Town, Guangzhou, to come and work for our Ming Dynasty."

If Zhu Jing'an's opinion is to directly rob people, Li Mu's opinion is to spend money to solve the problem.

In fact, there is no shortage of local craftsmen in Guangdong and Guangxi who can make guns and cannons.

The conflicts between the natives and tourists in Guangdong and Guangxi are sharp, and large-scale armed fights often break out.

During the armed fight, both the natives and the foreigners had a considerable number of native guns and cannons.

Where did these guns and cannons come from?
You can't buy it from my Qing government, right?
That only requires the Qing government to be willing to sell it!
How could our Qing government ban firearms while selling guns and cannons to the gentry and wealthy households? !

To put it bluntly, most of the firearms used in fighting were actually made by themselves.

Although not every village may have craftsmen who can make guns and cannons, there will definitely be many in a county.

Especially those under the control of wealthy families.

Not to mention Foshan Town in Guangdong, it is one of the four famous towns in the world and is the center of handicraft industry in the entire south.

The most indispensable thing is skilled craftsmen!

As early as the pre-Ming Dynasty, firearms produced in Foshan, Guangdong were sold as far away as Europe, and their craftsmanship was much better than that of Westerners at the same time.

Even now, the firearms from Foshan, Guangdong are known to be of the highest quality throughout East Asia.

Wuxuan County is close to the current Ming Dynasty ruling area, so it is easiest to use force to directly rob people.

As for Foshan, Guangdong, which is far away, it would be best to spend some money to invite people over.

Although the Chinese in this era have a strong sense of rural sentiment and are reluctant to leave their hometown easily.

But that’s actually because the wages are not in place. As long as the wages are in place, anywhere can be my hometown.

……

In Hejiacun, He Shou gets up before dawn.

He put on his clothes and braved the cold wind of late autumn to the threshing floor in the center of the village.

Early on, the young people of the Hejia Village gathered on the threshing floor. Many of them were waving stone chains to beat their bodies.

The iron workshop in the village was making tinkling noises, and the blacksmiths in the village were busy making swords and spears day and night.

Along with the bursts of shouting, white gas came out of the heads of many people.

He Shou watched the tribesmen working hard, the expression on his face was still quite solemn.

The reason is simple, because the final outcome of the battle at Pangwo Ridge has spread.

The Ming army defeated the Qing government's rebel troops and almost wiped them all out. The Ming army was at its peak.

Then, the Qing government retracted its power back to Wuxuan County.

The Ming army began to actually control the villages and towns in Wuxuan County.

Not to mention the villages under the jurisdiction of Jintian Town like Hejiacun, even the villages around the county were completely abandoned by the government and given to the Ming army.

The Ming army did not know when they would come to Hejiacun and ask Hejiacun to cut off his braids and surrender.

But what if the Qing Dynasty comes back again in the future?
By then, they will not even have pigtails. Can the Qing soldiers forgive them for their crime of being a thief?

By then, the He family will probably be exterminated, right?

How can He Shou not worry about this?

Thinking about these messy things, He Shou couldn't help but sigh.

His face was full of sorrow.

At this moment, his son He Jin strode over, came to He Shou, and spoke with an anxious face.

"Father, something happened!"

"The soldiers and horses of the Ming thieves came outside my Hejia Village and asked me, Hejia Village, to disarm and surrender to them."

"The thief general who led the army also said that he would give my He family half an hour to think about it. After half an hour, if my He family's village does not surrender, then when the village is destroyed, they will kill every member of my He family's family."

The Ming army has recently been using troops abroad to break up villages and expand its sphere of influence.

During this process, Zhu Jing'an did not order the massacre of those villages that resisted to the end, but only killed all the clan leaders, Zong Lao and others in the village.

The reason why he did this was that there was an urgent shortage of labor everywhere in Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, he does not want to kill people randomly.

The second is to act as a deterrent, lest anyone dare to fight against the Ming army in the future.

When facing the Ming army, those villages that chose to resist to the end were really the choices made by the villagers themselves?
I'm afraid not at all?
The ones who really made the decision were actually the wealthy gentry and clan leaders in the village.

Most ordinary people are just being blinded.

No matter in which era, ordinary people with the largest number of people actually have the least say...

Killing a wealthy gentry and clan leader can have a greater deterrent effect on the rest of the village than killing a hundred ordinary people can.

When He Shou heard this, his old face was filled with complex expressions.

After pondering for a long time and being silent for a long time, He Shou spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Shall we call together the elders of the village to discuss how to deal with it?"

……

Zhu Jing'an was riding on horseback, looking at the enclosure in front of him, and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"If I remember correctly, the head of the He family should be the Hakka talker in Jintian Town, right?"

After Zhu Jing'an finished speaking, Tian Wenchang on the side spoke.

"What the Governor said is true. The He family is indeed the talker among the Hakka people."

"If our Ming Dynasty can capture the He family, most of the Hakka people in Jintian Town can be used by our Ming Dynasty."

When Zhu Jing'an heard this, he touched his chin and said.

"I hope so!"

"If the He family is willing to surrender to our Ming Dynasty, I will certainly reward you generously."

Zhu Jing'an has now thought about how to win over the Hakka people.

There are two main groups of forces in the Ming Dynasty.

One is the Yuancong faction that has followed Zhu Jianzhuo and Zhu Jing'an since the beginning of the army.

The other faction was captured by the Ming army in the battle of Jintian Town and then promoted, Tujia people like Tian Wenchang.

　It’s a big chapter of [-] words. Let’s update one chapter first, and there will be another chapter later in the evening.

　　The author strives for tens of thousands of days...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)