Chapter 289 The Only Path to Choose (V)
When he returned to the shack, he felt a little warmer. Chen Huaidong quickly got into bed and wrapped himself up in the tattered quilt. Just as he felt that his body was no longer as cold as before and his hands and feet were a little numb, he heard his brother in the same shack let out a long, loud fart.
Chen Huaidong rolled his eyes at the guy, but he acted as if nothing had happened. Everyone was crowded in a shack, with drafts everywhere, so no one said anything. Not long after, the brother raised his head, puffed out his chest, and posed. A moment later, another long sound came.
Another brother jokingly said: "This is the nth time today. Can't you hold it in? At least it will warm your stomach."
The brother who had finished singing said angrily, "If I could hold it in, I would. But this one can't! Besides, loud farts don't stink, so don't worry."
After saying this, the brothers who were curled up in their own ragged quilts became a little more energetic. Someone sighed, "Don't say that loud farts don't stink. What do we eat every day? Don't say that loud farts don't stink. Our poops sound like sheep shit. There's not even a stinky smell!"
Although it was inappropriate to associate defecation with eating, no one cared about it. Everyone's anger was directed at the food at that time. When I was in Henan, I didn't eat enough, but I didn't starve all day.
When they arrived in the capital, they lived in a temporary camp in the south of the city. The officers lived in houses, and the soldiers lived in temporary shacks. It was snowing outside, and everyone was cold and hungry . They really didn't want to move. If they were not forced to patrol and eat, they really didn't want to leave their quilts.
The complaints didn't last long. Not only did everyone lack the energy to complain, they also didn't know who to complain to.
When they were in Henan, they could still curse Huo Chong and hate Shandong people. Now that the Green Camp was far away from Shandong, it would be too strange to curse Huo Chong. But it would be equally strange not to curse Huo Chong.
If Huo Chong is not the culprit of all the blame, then who is it?
The situation was similar throughout the military camp, with everyone struggling to survive in the winter snow. Soldiers huddled there numbly, while officers hoped that winter would pass as soon as possible and that warm spring would arrive soon. At least that way they could get the soldiers out to do something.
The camp was shrouded in a hibernation-like atmosphere, quiet and lifeless, until a group of Eight Banners soldiers arrived at the gate.
Upon hearing that the Eight Banners Army was coming, the Green Camp officer hurried over to greet them and asked, "Sir, when will the court send food?"
When the Eight Banners officers heard this, they smiled. This smile warmed the hearts of the Green Camp officers, who always received cold shoulder, and especially gave them hope.
Then the Eight Banners officer pointed to the back and said, "We are here to bring you food in compliance with the Emperor's order."
"Ah?" The battalion officer was shocked. "Sir, shouldn't it be the Nine Gates Admiral? How could it be the Emperor?"
The Eight Banners officer lowered his voice and said, "Brother, the Nine Gates Admiral has given all the food to us Eight Banners. This is because the emperor knows the hardships of the Green Camp brothers and privately sent us to deliver food. You must not make it public."
The battalion officer had never seen the emperor before, and when he heard that such a small battalion officer could ask the emperor to send people to deliver food, he was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes. He bowed to the Eight Banners officer and said sincerely: "Master, I thank you on behalf of my brothers! If there is no more food, we will all starve to death."
"Don't thank me, thank the emperor. The emperor ordered us to come here." The Eight Banners officer said. He pointed to the sleds behind him and said, "The things are all on them. Lead the way, we will carry the things in."
The Green Camp did not set up any serious defenses, just some horses and roadblocks. Rather than a defense, it was more of a sign to indicate to the people around that there were troops stationed here.
Seeing the sleds being pulled by horses and pushed by people entering the camp, the Han army, who had never seen sleds before, felt curious and enlightened.
This team of Eight Banners troops entered the camp, and the shivering soldiers were called over and led by the camp officers to prepare to listen to the Eight Banners officers talk about the emperor's grace.
Then I heard the Eight Banners officers shouting, "The Emperor has issued an order. If the Green Army rebels, kill them all!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the guards beside the Eight Banners officer had already drawn their knives and stabbed the nearby battalion officer in the abdomen. The other Eight Banners soldiers had already brandished their weapons and started to kill the unarmed Green Camp soldiers who had gathered.
The cloth covering the sleds was opened, and many Eight Banner soldiers jumped out to join the fight. It turned out that there was no food on the sleds at all, and those bags that looked like food were just disguises to prevent people from seeing the ambushing troops inside.
Although this small group of people looked small, only about a hundred, there were actually more than five or six hundred of them. The Green Camp soldiers were killed and their bodies were scattered all over the ground. Those who were not killed or injured were also scared and fled the camp.
The Eight Banners Army searched the shack and then set it on fire.
When the fire started here, fireworks also appeared in the camps of other Green Camp soldiers. The already dark sky and earth became even darker.
The Green Camp did not camp in a joint camp, but in more open areas. This division may have a purpose, or it may be adapted to local conditions so that everyone can live in a place that is sheltered from the wind.
Regardless of their purpose, the Green Camp soldiers who escaped from the camp did not gather into a chaotic army. The camp commander was killed, and the people below heard that the emperor sent the Eight Banners soldiers to kill the Green Camp. The reason was "the Green Camp rebelled." This scared the Green Camp soldiers, because rebellion was a capital crime. If the killed camp commander rebelled, would they be implicated?
The Green Camp soldiers did not dare to go back and could only flee around like headless flies.
When the Eight Banners of the capital discovered that many fires were starting in the Green Camp camp, they sent soldiers to check. What they saw was that about one-third of the camp was destroyed. Even in the camps that were not destroyed, many camp officers had fled. The only ones left in the camp were the Green Camp soldiers who had nowhere to go.
It was already the next day that Hong Zhou received a relatively clear report. Although many things were still unclear, the general situation had been sorted out. The Shengjing rebels used sleds to march in the thick snow, bypassing the Qing army's negligent defense in the snow, and went around to the south of the capital. They disguised themselves as Beijing Qing troops and attacked the Green Camp in the name of delivering food, killing and hacking. After that, they went all the way south and returned along the way they came. The Eight Banners Army that went to pursue them did not see any trace of the Shengjing rebels except for the sled marks.
Although the rebels had fled, the Green Camp soldiers had suffered a heavy blow. A dozen of the thirty or so temporary camps of the 90,000 Green Camp soldiers were burned down. At least half of the Green Camp soldiers had fled. Thousands of people had been found frozen to death in the snow.
The fleeing Green Camp soldiers turned into defeated soldiers just like in history. They looted nearby farms and villages, killed many people, and robbed a lot of things. Judging from the overall movement of the defeated soldiers, these defeated soldiers were fleeing to the south, which was their hometown.
As for the Green Camp officers, about one third were killed, one third were nowhere to be found, and one third huddled in the camp in fear.
The 90,000 Green Camp soldiers, who were once regarded by Hong Zhou as capable of annihilating the Shengjing rebels by the beginning of spring at the latest, were now neither soldiers nor officers. Not only had they lost their combat effectiveness, but they also faced great difficulties in reorganizing.
Hong Zhou was so angry that he was fuming. His rage was mixed with despair and fear. Hong Zhou himself couldn't tell whether he was more angry or more fearful.
A strange thought suddenly popped up in the mind of the young man who was feeling the torment. Lao Ba was so capable, why did he do nothing when facing Huo Chong?
Lao Ba had already learned that the attacking troops had succeeded, and he finally put at ease. Recently, he secretly sent people to contact the famous Manchu families in the capital. As the food supply in the capital became worse and worse, the attitude of the famous families became more and more shaken.
Everyone was Manchu, and they had something to say to each other. The Green Camp was Han, and even though Lao Ba thought that the Green Camp might be bribed, doing so would certainly cause dissatisfaction among the Manchus in Shengjing.
After all, the Han people were nothing more than conquered slaves in the eyes of the Shengjing Manchus. How could they be compared with the Manchus?
After waiting for a long time, the news came. The people who went to Shandong brought back a batch of supplies, especially liquor. One hundred thousand kilograms were brought back at a time. Lao Ba sighed in his heart and said to the Manchu officials around him: "When we regain the throne for the emperor, we will definitely crush Huo Chong to pieces. Bring back all our money."
The Manchus in Shengjing agreed with this statement. However, Lao Ba knew what they were thinking and ordered all the troops to go and get the supplies they should get.
Let's not talk about the fact that the Han people were born to serve the Manchus and sell their livers and kidneys to pay tribute. Just talking about the price, Shandong's liquor is too cheap. Not only is it cheaper than the liquor outside the Great Wall, it is also much cheaper than the inferior liquor in the cheapest liquor workshop in Zhili.
Fortunately, Huo Chong was greedy and was willing to sell liquor at this price. Otherwise, in this winter, without liquor to drink and spicy rabbit legs to eat, we really couldn't go out to fight in this icy and snowy place. The Manchus could only survive by eating frozen buns that were as hard as iron.
Compared with the huge amount of money spent by the Shengjing regime on purchasing supplies, Huo Chong also spent too much money on purchasing the grain transport that was previously to be sent to the capital.
As Gong Yu said, the price of grain transported by the canal itself is very low locally.
The deadline for collecting and redeeming the grain from each province was November of each year. At that time, the redemption officials had to stay at the dock, check the color of rice, redeem the rice for each ship, and hand it over to the escort officer. The departure date of the grain ship was different in each province, depending on the distance of the journey. The grain from the six southern provinces was called "Southern Grain", and there was a time limit for the southern grain to be transported through Huai'an, which was called the "limit of crossing the Huai River".
From the collection to the transportation to Tongzhou, the procedures were complicated and the transportation costs were huge. It is said that "the southern grain was 300 to 400 million dan, and more than 5,000 ships were loaded with masts. Huang Dawei was transported along the canal. He had to open the gates layer by layer, pull the ships, build embankments, appoint officials, and build ships. Every dan of grain that arrived in the capital was often two or three times the market price in the southeast. Although the exact number is unknown, the annual cost was tens of millions!"
Various taxes and fees were collected together with the grain tax and borne by the grain tax payers, but the actual burden of the payers exceeded the quota. When the prefectures and counties collected the grain tax, they exploited the payers by means of pouring the tip of the measure, kicking the measure, cutting the bottom of the measure, changing the measure surface, sampling the rice, taking the surplus rice on the measure surface, and taking advantage of the change in rice prices.
Corrupt officials took advantage of excessive taxes and embezzled money to enrich themselves. After the Daoguang reign, "excessive taxes and embezzlement have been a long-standing practice, and officials and civilians have become accustomed to it. Therefore, every time a grain transport tax was collected, the amount would reach the county officials, who could instantly become rich with hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Although Huo Chong does not have to pay too much, it does not mean that Huo Chong can be stingy.
When Huo Chong's troops arrived in Zhenjiang, Gao Pang went to see his teacher Chen Mingtai again. He thought the teacher would refuse to see him, but unexpectedly, as soon as he informed him, the teacher sent someone to call Gao Pang in.
After meeting the teacher and sitting down, Chen Mingtai asked, "Gao Pang, I heard that the general received the grain transported by the canal and paid for it according to the amount."
Gao Pang didn't expect the teacher to care so much, and couldn't help showing off, "Teacher, do you know that when the Han army recruits soldiers, those who join the army must first learn the Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention song. In the song, we sing..."
Singing the song of the Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention with a Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent was inevitably a bit strange, but Gao Pang sang it anyway. Halfway through the song, he suddenly heard someone smiling and bringing in tea. It was the teacher's daughter, Miss Chen.
She held the tray in one hand and covered her mouth with the other, almost laughing. Gao Pang had just finished singing the song, and Miss Chen couldn't help asking, "Senior Brother Gao, don't you blush when you sing this song?"
Gao Pang smiled bitterly and said, "I blushed at first, but those soldiers didn't. After all, every word in this song concerns everyone's life, and even the life and death of the people. Most of them are from Shandong. If the military discipline is corrupted, Shandong will suffer first."
Miss Chen was stunned. After thinking for a moment, she quickly apologized: "Don't blame me, Senior Brother Gao. I am ignorant and just talking casually."
Chen Mingtai didn't smile from beginning to end. He closed his eyes slightly, and only then opened them and said, "What General Huo did is just as the song says. Trade must be fair, and no looting is allowed. Right?"
Gao Pang quickly replied, "That's right."
Chen Mingtai then asked: "Since General Huo wants to use this method to calm people's hearts, he can't turn stone into gold. I wonder if he will send someone to do the salt business?"
Gao Pang had been trying hard to maintain a smile on his face, but after hearing what his teacher said, he could no longer maintain his composure. After calming down, Gao Pang said, "Teacher, the governor asked me if I would like to work in the salt business. I would like to, but there is no one suitable. Although I have never worked in the salt business, at least I have heard about the various aspects of it, and it is indeed very complicated."
Chen Mingtai snorted, "With your ability, I'm not afraid of the water being too deep, but I'm worried that you can't control your greed."
"Haha. Teacher, I will be tempted by tens of thousands of taels of silver in front of me. I can't wash my hands clean just because I took the money. The governor is a very smart man. If I follow him, I will become a general and a prime minister. How can the glory and prosperity in the future be compared with tens of thousands of taels of silver? Besides, when I mentioned this matter before, I felt that it must be eradicated. It is not my intention to let me go along with them."
Chen Mingtai stared at Gao Pang when he heard this. Gao Pang felt a lot of pressure and asked, "Teacher, if possible, I would like to ask you to come out and work with me on the salt administration. If you are here, I will take this job with confidence."
I thought the teacher would be scolded when he heard that his apprentice wanted to recruit him. Gao Pang was also prepared for this. Unexpectedly, Chen Mingtai said coldly: "If Huo Chong is really as capable as you said, he can conquer the world and rule the world immediately. He will not use you to monopolize the salt business. If he uses you to monopolize the salt business, you will only be the second Qing Dynasty. What is there to follow?"
Gao Pang was unhappy. It was not a big deal whether the teacher's words were right or wrong, but the teacher's words were really derogatory to Huo Chong, and even made fun of Gao Pang.
Perhaps Gao Pang's expression was too ugly, so Chen Mingtai laughed and said, "Haha, are you unconvinced, or are you at a loss?"
Gao Pang was also a little angry and asked, "Since the teacher looks down on us so much, why do we still need to take the imperial examination?"
Chen Mingtai was obviously hit by this, and his face immediately became extremely ugly. However, he did not chase Gao Pang away, nor did he get angry immediately. Instead, he stood up angrily and walked to the window.
Gao Pang felt bad, but just as he opened his mouth, he heard the teacher yell, "Shut up and sit still!"
Gao Pang didn't dare to sit down, so he stood up. He saw Miss Chen staring at him angrily, probably because she was dissatisfied with her father being insulted.
After a while, Chen Mingtai turned his head and said, "Ah, Gao Pang, you are right. I look down on the Qing Dynasty, but I still went to the Qing Dynasty to seek fame. Huo Chong started from the grassroots and was unknown. Seeing that a man like him suddenly has the status he has today, and has conquered Jiangning and worshipped Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb, becoming the orthodoxy of anti-Qing. I was indeed indignant and mean. If I hadn't encountered such a thing, I wouldn't know that my mind is just like this."
Miss Chen angrily said loudly: "Dad! You are right! It was Senior Brother Gao who was talking nonsense! He is wrong! I have never seen anyone talk back to a teacher in person!"
Seeing his daughter standing by him, Chen Mingtai couldn't help but smile, "Well said, you should scold Gao Pang. Go outside and find a stick, come back and beat him up!"
Gao Pang was embarrassed for a moment, but then he saw Miss Chen bow to her father and said, "Dad, Senior Brother Gao, I'll take my leave first."
After Miss Chen left, Chen Mingtai sat back down and said, "Gao Pang, although I was a little harsh, what I said was true. For hundreds of years in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the salt administration has supported countless corrupt officials for hundreds of years. Even Zhu Hongwu, who skinned the daylilies and killed them, could not control the situation. The salt administration continues to be corrupt, and the people continue to suffer. If the General Huo you follow is really as wise as you said before. No, you mean he is wise. If he is really as wise as you said, this matter can definitely be solved. When there is a solution, I will serve under General Huo without your persuasion."
After the teacher said this, Gao Pang was no longer in the mood to ask the teacher to come out and help him. After saying goodbye and on the way back, Gao Pang thought about it and sorted out the salt administration affairs he knew in his mind. But he could not find a way to manage it.
Just as the teacher said, the salt administration has nurtured countless corrupt officials over the past few hundred years. If it could be solved, countless smart and virtuous people would have solved it long ago. How come it is still the same as before?
Even peeling the daylily only has a short-term effect. How can we solve this problem?
Unable to find any ideas, Gao Pang simply went to see Huo Chong and expressed his doubts.
Huo Chong laughed out loud after hearing this: "I didn't expect Mr. Chen to be such a famous scholar. He actually asked such a tricky question."
Gao Pang laughed dryly twice, "Does the governor have a solution?"
"Yes." Huo Chong answered decisively: "Since the problem caused by salt is the excessive profits, and people all over the world need salt, then we should increase the production of salt and lower the sales price. Without excessive profits, corruption will be within controllable range."
Gao Pang blinked a few times. He felt that he could understand each sentence individually, but when they were put together, he could no longer understand them at all.
