Han’s Son is Not a Slave

In two meetings attended by generals above the town, Zhou Shixiang mentioned the new term "general mobilization". Zhou Shixiang attributed the current situation of the Taiping Army to two reasons. One is that the soldiers sacrificed their lives and fought bravely; the other is the effective mobilization of human and material resources.

"There is no distinction between the north and the south of the land, and the people, regardless of the age, have the responsibility to protect the family and the country! As the old saying goes, if you have money, someone will make money. This general mobilization is to ask our people to contribute to the country. The construction of villages in Guangdong In the township, not only let the people be the masters of the family, have their own fields, and have their own business, but more importantly, let the people know that we are Taiping Army and listen to our Taiping Army.

In the past, the landowners and gentry had the final say in the countryside. When the government asked for grain, they gave a share. The magistrate sat in the yamen and waited for the landlords and gentry to hand over the money and grain. This approach is definitely not acceptable. The world's affairs, but it involves money and wealth, once you pass it, no matter how much you stare at it, there will always be less. A little less here, a little less there, and a little becomes a lot, often ending up in less than half of the state treasury, or even less.

This situation is definitely not acceptable, so we must build villages into townships, and we must deprive the landlords and gentry of their privileges. If they don't want to, we must eliminate them. Village chiefs and township chiefs must use our people. Of course, we still have to trust those gentry who are willing to help us. Compared with those stubborn and tyrannical landlords in fish and meat villages, these gentry are enlightened and know the righteousness of the family and the country. They were killed. There are also some gentry who insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty before we came, and we should also treat them kindly, but before we treat them kindly, we need to settle accounts with them. If you didn't owe taxes before, it would be best, if you owe it, you still have to let him make it up. But after making up for it, we have to give them back some, in the form of court awards, and even to some meritorious gentlemen, we have to give more, even more than what he handed in. Those who are willing to go to work will be placed according to their talents, and those who cannot manage affairs will be given honorary care, so that they can be respected in the countryside and identify with us. "

"As long as we can mobilize all the people, neither the Manchu Qing nor Wu Sangui can resist us. War is not only about bravery, not only about weapons, but also about whoever fights. More, who has more money and food!"

The biggest obstacle to the "general mobilization" policy proposed by Zhou Shixiang was undoubtedly the entanglement of the landlords and gentry in the countryside. The two thousand-year-old clan system and the fact that imperial power did not go to the countryside made these landlords and gentry become local spokespersons. In the Ming Dynasty, the tyrants did not appear, but the landlords, gentry and their spokespersons, scholars, controlled the court, public opinion, and the country's economic lifeline. In times of national crisis, some of them chose to stand up and fight, but under the butcher knife of the Qing Dynasty, more gentry shrank their necks, probably because of the idea of ​​​​destroying their country and not their family. In order to whitewash themselves, they regarded Manchu's entry into the customs as obeying the heavens, changing the dynasty, and using various theories to justify their cowardly behavior.

Zhou Shixiang was determined to exterminate the Qing Dynasty, and naturally he would not allow any internal friction and hindrance under his rule, so he wanted to clear his debts. Debt settlement is an end as well as a means. The ultimate purpose of clearing the debt is to attack the gentry in Jiangnan and weaken their influence. The clearing of the debt itself is a means to promote the construction of villages and townships in the south of the Yangtze River. Only when the sweeping down weakens the gentry group, can the construction of villages and townships be promoted without resistance, so that human resources, money, and food resources can be fully mobilized.

The debt settlement is still going on. In the first few months, it can be said that the gentry treats them equally, regardless of whether they have fought against Qing or not, they will all be regarded as the object of debt. This move is naturally a bit arrogant and domineering, and it is also the most criticized. Many people think that Zhou Shixiang's clearing of debts is simply because of the accumulation of private wealth. However, Zhou Shixiang knew the truth of giving a carrot after hitting a stick. To a large extent, the so-called gentry who were active in fighting the Qing Dynasty only secretly supported the anti-Qing cause that Qian Qianyi and others were engaged in. In essence, they still hoped to enjoy the benefits of not paying taxes in the Ming Dynasty. And this is obviously something that Zhou Shixiang can't give. Like the Man Qing, he will not agree that these landlords and gentry do not pay taxes. After more than 30 years of war and bad weather, the money and food resources in the hands of the surviving civilians are pitiful. Even in some parts of the area currently occupied by the Taiping Army, the people were unable to preserve fruit because of the disaster.

Not long ago, Li Yicui, the governor of Jiangxi Province, made a memorial, saying that the Ji'an government has been reducing production year after year, and many villagers and towns have fled their families to beg for food.

Naturally, this memorial was not sent to the General Secretary of the Southern Capital and then presented to the emperor's imperial case, but was sent directly to Zhenjiang.

Zhou Shixiang was very sad when he saw this memorial. He raised an army against the Qing Dynasty, not only to avenge his parents, wives and children, but also to allow his compatriots to live without food and clothing. But now that the southern capital has been restored, Jiangxi still has such a tragic incident, which makes him feel sad and blame himself and blame himself for mishandling the government.

Ordered to quickly transfer a batch of military rations to Ji'an, Jiangxi, and asked Li Zhicui to do everything possible to resettle the victims. After the resumption of production, Zhou Shi's determination to clear his debts became more and more firm, because he needed a lot of money and grain to relieve disasters and restore local production. Even if the people cannot be adequately clothed and fed in the short term, they must at least not starve to death. Otherwise, everyone is dead, what else is there to talk about.

It's just that while the determination is firm~www.wuxiamtl.com~ Zhou Shixiang also asked Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Changgeng to start screening the gentry. If they are really active in fighting the Qing Dynasty, or have a good reputation in the countryside, they can give back awards to win over unity. Some gentlemen. The advantage of post-screening compared to pre-screening is that the gentry's resistance and gratitude are very different.

If these meritorious gentlemen were given privileges at the beginning of the settlement, reduced or exempted, they would take it for granted, and they would not be grateful to the Taiping Army, but would be dissatisfied. After all, this was something they had never encountered before. Even the Manchus never did this. But once they were cleared and they were about to cry without tears, the government suddenly returned the money they had been confiscated and rewarded them. This mentality changed immediately. The fate of the gentry, how did they not appreciate the "admiration" of the Taiping Army for them. With this lesson, they will also become more interesting, and if the government has any measures in the future, they will only cooperate, not target. This is like a person who was suddenly arrested by the government and sentenced to prison after a severe beating. When he was desperate, the government suddenly corrected his previous actions and made up for him greatly. In his heart, there is only the blue sky. ideas without any hatred to complain.

As for those stubborn people, Zhou Shixiang gave Jiang and Zhang cheap power. In other words, kill when you should, and catch when you need to. In this context, since the beginning of the year, a large number of "escapers" began to appear in Jiangnan folk.

These "fugitives" are different from those who escaped from the Qing court's enclosure and became slaves. Most of the people who escaped were landlords and gentry. For these gentry who fled to the north because of dissatisfaction with the policies of the Taiping Army, Zhou Shixiang did not ask for strict arrests in various places. It's just that once the gentry fled north, all the estates and houses under their names were confiscated and distributed to the local poor.

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