Late Qing Dynasty Executioner

Chapter 179 Wealth and Power

Half an hour later, the obstacle came out and said that all the resistance forces in the city had been eliminated. After the Tang and Jiang families retreated to the government office, they resisted for only a cup of tea before the government office was captured.

Chen Gu looked at Xie Guangfeng beside him and asked, "Are you familiar with the people from the Tang and Jiang families?"

"I do know a few of them, but I'm far from familiar with them!" Xie Guangfeng laughed at himself, "Who am I? They are a big family in Zizhou, with tens of thousands of members and over 100,000 tenants. I am a captain with only a few hundred old, weak and disabled people under my command, so I can't get close to such a big family."

"It would be good to get to know some people at least. If I give you a thousand young men, how big an area can you help me manage?" Chen Gu asked.

Xie Guangfeng couldn't help but feel moved, and then said: "A county town should be no problem!"

"Very good, then you are the county magistrate now, you can choose a county town at random!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

Xie Guangfeng thought for a moment and said, "Then I choose Zizhong County."

Zizhong County is located between Neijiang and Zizhou, which is on the way Chen Gu and his men came. Originally, Xie Guangfeng appeared in front of Chen Gu near Zizhong. It seems that Zizhong should be the base camp of Xie Guangfeng and his men.

Chen Gu nodded and said, "Okay, then I will hand over the full power of Zizhong to you. For the time being, you can decide how to govern Zizhong.

But you have to help me recruit all the young and strong men in the city before you can leave!"

"Okay!" Xie Guangfeng nodded and agreed.

The reason why Chen Gu handed over full power of Zizhou to Xie Guangfeng was mainly to see how the natives of this era would manage a county town, whether it had a certain reference value, and at the same time to see what Xie Guangfeng's ability was.

"First, let's go and notify Bai Wencheng and others to go into the city to issue a notice to reassure the people, and then set up administrative offices at all levels as soon as possible!" Chen the Executioner said to the obstacle.

Bai Wencheng and his men naturally followed the army. After all, Chengdu was their ultimate goal. However, those guys were very afraid of death, and would hide far away whenever a war broke out. They would not come out until the dust settled.

Chen Gu didn't care about these things. After all, they were all the eldest sons of the big families in Jiangjin County. The battlefield was ruthless, and it would not be worth it if one or two of them died casually.

In fact, Bai Wencheng had been waiting to enter the city. They got a telescope from somewhere, and although they hid far away, they found a hilltop and kept an eye on the situation on the battlefield.

When they saw the city gate tower explode, they knew that Zizhou was already in Chen Gu's pocket. Thinking that the two big families, Tang and Jiang, had actually concentrated all the supplies and population in Zizhou, Bai Wencheng and others felt a surge of excitement in their hearts.

Unlike the Qi family in Luzhou who evacuated after surrendering, the Zizhou City was taken by Chen the Judge with real force. Given Chen the Judge's temper and his attitude towards the wealthy families and officials, the Tang and Jiang families and all the officials in the Zizhou City must have been doomed.

Although their entire clan may not be exterminated, they will definitely not have a good life. It is very likely that they will be arrested by Chen the Executor and sent to labor reform just like the Eight Banners Army in Jiangjin County and the Green Camp Army in Luzhou City.

All their supplies, people, houses, silver, etc. will be confiscated.

"How much wealth can be collected from Zizhou City?" Bai Wencheng asked cheerfully. Bian Shichun frowned and said, "It's none of our business how much wealth there is. I advise you not to covet those floating wealth. Various positions are our goal."

Bai Wencheng nodded and said with a smile: "I didn't intend to take the money, I just said it for fun."

Money is indeed a good thing, but no matter how much money you have, it needs power to endorse it. Without the corresponding power, no matter how much money you have, you are just a fat sheep.

Once you have power, it will become a very simple thing to acquire wealth. You don't even need to be greedy. As long as you place your people in some key positions, even if you just handle things impartially, wealth will come to you.

In fact, no matter how much wealth you have, how much can you enjoy?

Instead of enjoying wealth, it is better to enjoy power. Power can not only mobilize wealth, but also mobilize people.

Seeing that the obstacle had reported to Chen Gu, he at least came towards them. Bai Wencheng put down the telescope and said with a smile: "Let's go, it's time for us to enter the city. Although this is not Chengdu, Zizhou is also a big city, enough for you to show your skills."

Chen Gu had already entered the city. The first thing he did was to recruit the surrendered young and strong men. Chen Gu needed to use these people to stabilize the entire Zizhou.

As for how to make these people obedient, it is actually very simple. Just gather their families together and live together as hostages, and then promise them all kinds of generous treatment. They are just tenants of the Tang and Jiang families, and were originally just the objects of exploitation by the two families. It should not be difficult to subdue them.

Of course, the servants and guards need to be eliminated in advance.

Therefore, the first thing is to register the identities of these people, and then let them identify each other and guarantee each other, select the management among them, and let Feng Yuanqiao go to clean up the ruins at the city gate. The remaining 7,000 young and strong people are all available.

Chen Gu rode his horse among the captives, and after walking back and forth twice, he raised his voice and shouted, "My name is Chen Gu, and I will be the one you need to be loyal to in the future.

The Tang and Jiang families are finished, but you will be fine. I will divide the land among you for farming and provide you with food to eat. Your families will also have food to eat, and you need to obey my instructions.

You have to understand that you were originally just tenants of the Tang and Jiang families. It was not their efforts that made you survive, nor did you have to rely on them. As long as you were obedient, you would live a better life than before.

Now, each of you will carry a generation of food and take your families to live in the Tang and Jiang estates outside the city respectively, and then come back to report. I will arrange for someone to cook meals for you and wait for you to come back.

If you come back, you will have food to eat, and your family will have food to eat too. If you don’t come back, you and your family will die together!”

The estates of the Tang and Jiang families outside the city are not much smaller than Qijiazhuang, and can accommodate the 100,000 young and strong family members, but the living conditions may be a little more compact.

But no matter how compact the living space was, it was still better than their original thatched house with fences. After hearing what Chen Gu said, many people simply didn't dare to think about it. How could such a good thing happen?
Then what was the meaning of their fighting so hard before?

It was not until Chen Gu urged again that the people standing in the first row were pulled out by Sanlang and brought to the front of the grain pile, where they left one by one, carrying a bag of grain.

(End of this chapter)