Chapter 144: The Confused Shandong Gentry (Part 3)
Mathematics cannot reflect the complexity of reality, but it can show the content under certain fixed conditions.
Huo Chong listed the basic conditions of the 200,000 Eight Banners Army and the 400,000 Green Camp soldiers, and explained to the students the organizational model of the Eight Banners and the Green Camp. The two major sources of soldiers in the Qing Dynasty were inherited from father to son, and they specialized in this line.
The total number of soldiers from the Eight Banners and Green Camp who were able to fight, plus those among the Qing officials and people with meritorious service who were able to fight, was about three million.
After saying that, Huo Chong glanced at the students again. It was not easy to have a concept, and many of the people in front of him looked puzzled because they had no concept.
Of course, none of these people looked indifferent. As it was a matter of life and death, everyone was very serious about learning what Huo Chong taught them. This was why these people were selected to become students.
"We have killed 3,000 Qing soldiers before. Let's calculate, how many times do we need to kill 3 million Qing soldiers?"
Faced with this problem, Huo Chong, who had already done the mental calculation thousands and tens of thousands of times, easily came up with the answer. A thousand times.
However, none of the people in front of him had such experience, especially no experience in calculating to the millions and thousands. After some calculations, someone finally gave a number... but it was still wrong. But in the end, everyone basically calculated the correct number.
"A thousand times. A thousand times. It took us three months to kill these three thousand Qing soldiers . There are 12 months in a year. Let's do the math. How many years will it take to kill three million people?"
This math problem is a bit difficult for these young people who have not received a lot of training in elementary school. It’s not that the numbers are difficult, but the difficulty lies in sorting out the relationships.
Soon, someone came up with a number: 250.
After most people reluctantly calculated 250 years, everyone felt something was wrong, but they didn't dare to say anything. Finally, someone said in surprise: "250 years, doesn't that mean he's dead?"
As soon as this was said, there was a burst of laughter. Now everyone finally understood what was wrong.
Huo Chong smiled slightly, as long as everyone understood. After the laughter died down, Huo Chong began to give a new story based on the cold numerical results.
This case became a classic case in subsequent training courses.
In different classes, the Dahan training department explained to the students why they did this. "We cannot force people to change their self-perception. What we can do is give them the opportunity to choose. And this choice is based on a fact that has already happened and exists. To win the support of the people, we must first let the people know what we have done and what those people have done..."
The troops tied up these people and paraded them through their hometown, where they publicly admitted that they had attacked the Han army, were defeated and captured.
Some members of the Jinshi family said they would never surrender to the traitors. Soon, they understood that there were many ways to make life worse than death. After several rounds of torture, even if it was just to get rid of the pain, the group surrendered.
With a rebellious passion, the members of the Jinshi family who were paraded through the streets and the vassals who took part in the attack loudly recounted to their fellow villagers over and over again how they had taken the initiative to attack the Han soldiers.
"Who are our enemies? Those who follow the Qing Dynasty. Who are our friends? The working people. More importantly, our enemies know that we are their enemies. But our friends, the working people, don't know that we are their friends. We regard them as friends..."
Huo Chong asked the nine captured Jinshi families to each send two people to take the Jinshi's family's letter for help to Jinan City.
At this time, Shandong Governor Chen Shiguan was preparing for a bigger campaign of extermination. When he heard that the Jinshi family "trapped in the bandit area" had sent people, he knew something was wrong. What he was worried about finally happened.
The letter from the Nine Clan was very simple. Since these people attacked the Han army, the Han army would not tolerate them.
The Han army did not like to kill people indiscriminately, so they expelled these people from the territory controlled by the Han army. It would be best if Chen Shiguan was willing to send someone to pick them up. If no one was sent to pick them up, the Han army could only send these expelled people to a certain place within a certain time. During the escort process, the Han army could guarantee the safety of these people. When the Han army left on its own, those people would have to leave it to fate.
Shandong Governor Chen Shiguan was so angry that he cried. A dignified Jinshi, a dignified Jinshi, was actually chased away by a group of peasants like a dog. What is this! What is this!
But Chen Shiguan didn't dare pretend he didn't see it. If anything went wrong with the nine Jinshi families, Chen Shiguan wouldn't be able to explain to those people. The number alone was enough to make Chen Shiguan very upset.
When the Han army escorted these people away from their hometown, they cried. But the villagers did not show any special sadness. As villagers, they were forced to respond to the Han army's request and send some young men to escort these old men. This was already a gesture of friendship.
It was these people who took the initiative to attack the Han army. The Han army could have killed them all right away .
The escort went very smoothly, and the handover was also very smooth. Before leaving the Han army escort team signed their family's declaration documents, proving that in early February of the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, they voluntarily left the Han army escort and followed the official army in front of them.
"In the early stages of our work, we must not shock the people too much. In other words , without violating the previous principles, we must try our best to gain the understanding of the people. What we do must be within the people's understanding. However, when faced with those who harm the people and the people feel that they dare not, or even should not, take action, we must act on their behalf without mercy!"
In Linzi County, hundreds of people crowded in front of the stage for the public trial. In the back, there were even more people watching the excitement.
In fact, the public trial was originally planned to be held in the county government office, but the number of people who came was too large to accommodate the number of people in the county government office. For safety reasons and to allow everyone who wanted to watch to see it, the public trial was moved outside the county government office.
The crowd near the public trial platform was infuriated, while the big Han soldiers in charge of the trial tried their best to use the parts in the outline, which was originally sent by Huo Chong.
The Ai family intended to attack the Han army and destroy the Han army's organization in Linzi County. The Han army, which suppressed the counterattack, wanted to interrogate these people and ask them why they were so bold as to attack the Han army.
But Huo Chong's outline barely discussed this issue. The Ai family's method was to set fire in the city, first setting fire to the thatched houses of ordinary people, and then using the fire to spread and burn more houses to create greater chaos.
All the questions revolved around things that the people cared about. The purpose of collecting evidence and seeking verification was to find out whether the Ai family had taken the initiative and deliberately burned down the houses of the people in the city.
One guy even said that the Ai family even took into account that the Ai family's houses are made of bricks and tiles, which are more fire-resistant. Even if the whole city is on fire, the Ai family's house will still stand...
The people of Zibo County were not concerned about why the Ai family opposed the Han army. The Han army and the Qing dynasty were fighting each other, and the people were just watching the fun. What did this have to do with them?
But the burning of people's houses is closely related to the people, so closely that it involves the people's lives and property.
As the inquiries proved that the Ai family had deliberately burned down everyone's house, the people began to shout, "Kill him! Kill him!" The shouts grew louder and louder.
