Chapter 177: Shandong Tax Bank Robbery (Part 3)
On the first day of December, Huo Chong received a piece of intelligence sent by Mr. Ding. After reading it for a while , Huo Chong put down the not-so-small thing and said, "Brother Ding, what kind of reward do you want?"
"Brother Huo, do you think I am risking my life to do this for the sake of fame and fortune?"
"Of course not." Huo Chong shook his head, "But if Brother Ding gets what he wants one day, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some wealth and glory to add to his happiness."
"Brother Huo, I don't want to think about these things now. If possible, I wonder if Huo Chong can rescue the Eighth Master. The Emperor has already killed the Eighth Master's wife, and is about to take action against the Eighth Master. If Brother Huo can rescue the Eighth Master, we will support the Eighth Master as the master in Shandong. Kill the tyrant and restore the clear and bright world. Then Brother Huo will be rich and prosperous, and will be a noble for generations."
Huo Chong sneered at this. However, seeing Mr. Ding's ugly face due to such a reaction, Huo Chong thought it was better not to disappoint Mr. Ding. Without changing his expression, Huo Chong asked with a slightly mocking tone: "Brother Ding, if we raise the banner of supporting the Eighth Master at this time, do you think the Eighth Master can live for a few days after the news spreads to the capital?"
Mr. Ding immediately understood what Huo Chong meant and waved his hands quickly, "I have absolutely no such intention. I am just a little anxious! Alas..."
With a long sigh, Mr. Ding told Huo Chong how Yongzheng had killed the eighth master's wife.
Recently, he was expelled back to his mother's home. He showed no fear and left in anger. This is extremely despicable and cannot be tolerated in this prosperous age... He ordered the commoner Yunsi's wife to commit suicide and scatter her bones to atone for his guilt.
Huo Chong was a little shocked after hearing this. As far as Huo Chong knew, Yongzheng's methods of purging officials were extremely cruel. However, at that time, New China was also trapped in a somewhat similar situation, and this was also derived from literary works, so "all history is contemporary history."
However, living in the era of Yongzheng, Huo Chong finally understood why the literati hated Yongzheng so much. If it was just killing corrupt officials, it would be fine. Some things are completely dominated by personal emotions and become "I just want to kill people." It is understandable that everyone cannot accept it.
Shaking his head, Huo Chong sighed, "It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be like this. And Master Ba's wife is really a heroine. I admire her! I admire her!"
Judging from the news brought by Mr. Ding, the wife of the eighth prince was really a tough guy. After being forced to "divorce" by Yongzheng, the wife of the eighth prince did not cry or make a fuss, but left with her head held high. Most people really can't do that.
Huo Chong also killed the enemy, but he still had to give the enemy a fair evaluation after killing him. The reason was simple, since the enemy had already pointed his sword at him, Huo Chong certainly could not just sit there and wait for death.
By killing enemies and spreading propaganda, Huo Chong wanted to tell his enemies that if they didn't want to die, they shouldn't try to be a hero.
Killing a woman and scattering her ashes. What does this mean? Is it cool to bully the weak?
Apart from proving that Yongzheng was furious, it would only deepen the hostility of his opponents.
As a result, even though Lao Ba was arrested, those who opposed Yongzheng continued to operate the intelligence network set up by Lao Ba.
Seeing Huo Chong like this, Mr. Ding sighed again, "Brother Huo, I still want to rescue the Eighth Master."
"That depends on whether Yongzheng will punish the Eighth Master. If Yongzheng dares to list the crimes and publicly kill the Eighth Master, we should be prepared."
"Yes. I will pay attention to it. If it is true, I hope Brother Huo can help. Brother Huo is the only one in the world who can save Master Ba."
After sending Mr. Ding away, Huo Chong quickly called someone to copy the document and convened a meeting of key personnel.
On the third day, all the key members arrived. They gathered together to look at the outline and listen to the Intelligence Department's report on Yongzheng's latest plan to eliminate the rebellion.
This was the plan drawn up by the Qing Dynasty's Ministry of War. Including the previous two times, this was the third time to encircle and suppress Huo Chong.
The Qing military department decided to mobilize troops from Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Northern Zhili. A total of 100,000 people were mobilized, including 90,000 Green Camp and 10,000 Eight Banners. There were 96,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. The attack was launched in two directions.
Just hearing this number, the backbones were all shocked. Even Qian Qing's face turned very ugly. Huo Chong looked around his subordinates and found that less than 20% of them were in deep thought, thinking about the current situation they were facing.
Without giving fear a chance to ferment, the Qing army was ready to launch an attack next year, in April of the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign. One of the main reasons for the delay was that this time the expeditionary army would no longer be led by the generals of each town. Yongzheng appointed a general named Yue Zhongqi to lead the entire army.
Huo Chongxian joked with everyone, "Someone should remember that last time we talked about the three million Qing soldiers who could fight. According to the speed of annihilation last year, we have to fight for 250 years. So far, we have defeated 30,000 enemies. This time, we have 100,000 enemies, even if we can defeat 90,000. Two years and 120,000, one year and 60,000. In 50 years, we can defeat 3 million people. It's only 50 years, and we can all see that day."
Only a few people with higher emotional intelligence responded to this joke with a few irresponsible dry laughs just to add to the fun. Huo Chong didn't care and continued, "Everyone has participated in several battles. Our army has a huge advantage over the Qing army. What is this advantage?"
"With equal military strength, the Qing army will undoubtedly be defeated." Lei Hu replied immediately.
"That's right." Huo Chong expressed his agreement. "I'm not against you, Lei Hu. I'll just add a little bit. We have an equal number of infantry. We haven't fought against cavalry yet, so we don't know what the situation is."
Lei Hu grinned, indicating that he understood.
"If the 100,000 Qing troops come to attack us now, we will only have 4,000 who can fight. One against 25, the gap is too big. However, we still have more than four months. If we exclude the two to three months of training, we still have two months. If we can mobilize 30,000 people, we can defeat the 100,000 Qing troops."
The backbones were all excited. Even though the future was unclear, at least Huo Chong pointed out a direction. Although the road to this direction was still vague and they still couldn't see how to do it specifically, it was always better to have a direction than no direction.
Intelligence Director Wan Qian asked, "Sir, where do we find these 30,000 people?"
"Good question!" Huo Chong was very happy. "We need to find good people to serve as soldiers. So how can we make good people trust us? This is what we are going to talk about next, who are our enemies and who are our friends. Now I would like to invite a tenant to tell us how much it costs to be a tenant. Everyone is welcome."
Soon, a skinny middle-aged man was invited in. Looking at his tanned purple skin, wrinkles and rough skin, it was clear that he was suffering.
The tenant said uneasily: "I don't know anything. Mr. Huo asked me to come and tell everyone how to rent land from the landlord. I will tell everyone. I don't know what it's like in other places, but in my place, if you want to rent land, you have to pay the landlord a rent first. If you don't have money, you have to borrow from the landlord..."
