Chapter 391: Changes in Xi'an (IX)
The Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty, Lan Gui, glanced at the kneeling rioters, and then turned his gaze back to the Prime Minister Liu Tongxun. Liu Tongxun was startled, and felt that there was no "human touch" in Lan Gui's eyes. It was so cold that Liu Tongxun felt that something big was going to happen.
At this time, Lan Gui said, "Liu Zhongtang, if there were local Han people who signed their names to guarantee it, they would not have come out to cause trouble."
"Ah?" Liu Tongxun was stunned. After a moment, he suddenly understood what Lan Gui meant. While he admired her, he also felt that Lan Gui's method was really cruel.
The Han people in Xi'an were slaughtered so brutally, and the government troops now had complete control of the city. If the surviving Han people believed that some of the rioters did not participate in the rebellion, they would be right.
But how many of the rioters can identify with the people whose relatives have been killed?
But such things can only be thought about. Liu Tongxun knew that he could not oppose Lan Gui. One of the reasons was that he did not want to offend the Han people who participated in suppressing the rebellion. If the Han people could not take revenge at this time, the court would have to bear the rage of the Han people.
The more important reason is that Lan Gui is a Manchu. The Manchu system is six ministries. According to common sense, there should be six ministers in each ministry. However, the Manchu system is very interesting. There are twelve ministers in name.
The Six Ministries. Many people may subconsciously think that the highest official of the Six Ministries is the Shangshu, so there must be only six Shangshu.
This was not the case in the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the official system was strict. Except for local agencies, all central agencies, except for some special official positions, were restored. In other words, if there was a Han official, there must be a Manchu official.
This was naturally to better win over the Han forces, so the reinstatement was set up to win them over and balance the court.
Although the names are the same, they are actually different. In each of the six ministries, the seal was held by a Manchu official, while the draft was made by a Han official. In other words, the real power was in the hands of the Manchu official, while the Han official was in charge of the work. To put it more simply, the Manchu official could decide things and had the decision-making power, while the Han official just had to do things according to the instructions.
Although Liu Tongxun was the prime minister, the one who really held the military power in Xi'an was the Manchu Minister of War Lan Gui. When Emperor Hong Zhou led the army in person, Lan Gui was the Minister of War and the governor of the Nine Gates.
Lan Gui looked polite, but he was just a good person. If Liu Tongxun really wanted to mobilize Lan Gui according to the hierarchy of management, then Liu Tongxun himself was too naive.
At this time, Liu Tongxun was of course dissatisfied with the Qing Dynasty's policy of separation. However, Liu Tongxun, who confirmed the facts again, laughed dryly and said, "Haha, what the Shangshu said is right."
Here, Lan Gui obtained the approval of the nominal Prime Minister Liu Tongxun, who immediately ordered the rioters to be divided into small groups and brought out.
The rioters were very united, and when they saw the Qing army pulling them in, they begged for mercy. The Qing army had just fought a bloody battle with the rioters, so how could they be friendly to them? After a while, some rioters jumped up to resist.
Before the Qing army could kill them, some white-bearded and grey-bearded people who were better dressed stood up and cursed at those people to kneel down. After these people cursed for a while, those who tried to resist knelt down again.
The Qing army wanted to kill people, but when they saw these people kneeling down again, they went up to those who wanted to rebel and beat them up. Although the people around them knelt down and cried for mercy, no one dared to come up again.
Liu Tongxun was a little puzzled, "What did those people say?"
Lan Gui sneered, but ordered his attendant beside him, "Write down those who speak out."
After his personal attendants left to do the work, Lan Gui answered Liu Tongxun's question, "Those people used scriptures. It basically means that when you are powerless to resist, you have to pretend to obey in order to survive."
"Oh." Liu Tongxun nodded, thinking that this was also a way of living.
Unexpectedly, Lan Gui continued, "The last two sentences mean that the banner of the true God will surely conquer the pagans in the land where the true God's people live. Humph, don't their scriptures teach them that it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge?"
Liu Tongxun was stunned. This scripture did not teach believers to obey the court and live an honest life. Although these rioters seemed to be submissive, they buried their hatred in their hearts. They did not riot at this time just to save their lives and then take the opportunity to riot later.
Liu Tongxun originally had some complaints about Lan Gui's cruelty, but now he felt that Lan Gui was not only brave and capable of commanding troops, but also a responsible person. If he had not understood the sutras of the rioters, he would have felt pity for them just by looking at their obedience. After that, he felt that Lan Gui was too cruel. However, when he really saw the reaction of the rioters at the critical moment of life and death, he realized that it was only a matter of time before they would riot. They would definitely riot.
The rioters were led out in groups, and after being screened by the Han people, more than half of them were released. However, when those rioters who were not pardoned were executed, the rioters cried loudly. But under the scolding of the white-bearded and gray-bearded men, the rioters just cried with their heads on the ground, not even raising their heads.
Seeing the rioters who even hid their hatred, Liu Tongxun couldn't help but feel great fear in his heart. His murderous intent grew uncontrollably, and he just wanted to order the killing of all the rioters.
Seeing Lan Gui's calm expression, Liu Tongxun knew he couldn't say anything. He could only suppress his fear and murderous intent and watch the execution proceed step by step.
The pain in his heart was indescribable, but an idea suddenly popped up in Liu Tongxun's mind, which answered Liu Tongxun's doubts about why he could let the rioters go but not the people under Huo Chong's rule.
The rioters were a group of rioters. The only question was when they would riot, not whether they would riot. They were probably barbarians who feared power but not virtue. Liu Tongxun believed that as long as the imperial court was strong, the barbarians would not be a problem.
But the people under Huo Chong's rule were truly a group of rebels. Their rebellion had nothing to do with whether the imperial court was strong or not. Although the imperial court was lax and corrupt officials were rampant in the late Kangxi period, the imperial court's military strength had not weakened. But those who followed Huo Chong did not hesitate to raise the banner of rebellion against the imperial court. They beat the imperial court from several counties and forced it to flee to the northwest.
Liu Tongxun certainly couldn't let such a group of people go. If he let these people under Huo Chong go, it would be tantamount to denying and betraying the court. Those people must be killed.
Thinking of this, Liu Tongxun suddenly became enlightened, but felt extremely painful in his heart. At this time, Huo Chong had become powerful and even ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. If Huo Chong's Chinese court could not be divided, the Qing Dynasty would not be able to revive and could only go to destruction step by step.
Then, sending assassins to assassinate Huo Chong, or bribing Huo Chong's subordinates to assassinate Huo Chong, is the most effective method.
Lost in his own thoughts, Liu Tongxun no longer paid attention to other things. There were only 50,000 or 60,000 rioters left in Xi'an. After this cleanup, there were only 30,000 left. The rebellion in Xi'an was completely resolved.
Afterwards, the Minister of War Lan Gui divided the confiscated property among the government troops, and after two days of rest, he led his troops to seek advice from the nearby rioters who had previously come to Xi'an to participate in the rebellion.
With the large amount of spoils, the morale of the Qing army was greatly boosted. In just over a month, they killed all the rioters nearby.
It was already the end of the year, and when Lan Gui led his army back, Liu Tongxun went outside the city to greet them in person. Seeing that the army was freezing, he arranged for the troops to enter the city to rest.
The officials who stayed behind in the court attended the celebratory banquet. Speaking of the hardships along the way, Lan Gui smiled bitterly and said, "Although we suffer a little in the winter, those rioters have nowhere to run. If they stay in the wild, they will freeze to death. They can only stay at home during the winter. If they don't run around, I would also like to send troops when the weather is good."
Hearing this, all the officials praised him again, praising Lan Gui for his knowledge and ability in commanding troops.
After dinner, Lan Gui held a small meeting with Liu Tongxun and other military ministers. They discussed how to put the extra Qing troops in those ownerless villages. At this time, Liu Tongxun knew that Lan Gui would definitely please Hong Zhou, so he said nothing more. Because Liu Tongxun himself did not jump out, he found that the other military ministers who stayed behind were even more shameless than Liu Tongxun. At least verbally agreed with Lan Gui's proposal, and let Lan Gui make the decision.
Looking at these people's fence-sitter behavior, Liu Tongxun felt very disapproving.
After the Spring Festival, it was the fifth year of Kunlong in the Qing Dynasty. And the Western calendar was already 1734. The Huaxia Dynasty was chasing the retreating Qing Jiangning General Fu Qing and had already chased him into Hubei.
Qian Qing originally thought that Lei Hu should be able to conquer Huguang in one go, and the biggest difficulty might be how to break through Jiujiangkou. However, to Qian Qing's surprise, Jiujiang did not stump Lei Hu. However, after passing Jiujiangkou and entering Hubei, the Huaxia Army encountered stubborn resistance from the Hubei locals.
The landlords formed small teams and attacked the Huaxia army like moths to a flame. Although the combat effectiveness of these landlords' armed forces was far inferior to that of the Qing army, they had more numbers, which annoyed the Huaxia army advancing westward. Moreover, the Huaxia army always paid attention to the peace of the people. When attacked like this, the Ministry of Rites in the army was also worried that the casualties were too severe.
After seeing this report, Qian Qing was so angry that he couldn't help but go to Huo Chong and asked, "Sir, is the Military Rites Department trying to cause trouble for our people?"
Huo Chong glanced at the content and knew what Qian Qing was angry about. Helping Qian Qing, who was now a pregnant woman, to sit down, Huo Chong sighed, "We can't always blame them for everything. If they hadn't encountered such a thing, how would they know what they would encounter? Can we expect them to be able to predict the future?"
This made Qian Qing even angrier. "I don't care whether they know it or not. They actually dared to talk about one of our own people. I'm so angry! They shouldn't do this!"
Huo Chong was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't help but look Qian Qing up and down. Qian Qing was already furious, so he turned his face away and didn't let Huo Chong look at him.
The two of them remained silent for a long time, and Qian Qing suddenly burst into laughter, "What's wrong with me? I wasn't like this before."
Huo Chong didn't expect Qian Qing to figure it out on his own, and he was really impressed. People say that a clear mind is probably about being able to know oneself.
Then Qian Qing's smile suddenly disappeared. She suddenly grabbed Huo Chong's arm like she did when she was a little girl, "Sir, ever since I got pregnant, I feel like I'm not myself anymore. Every day I feel like crying or laughing for some reason. I'm always stubborn in doing things. Even if I know I shouldn't get angry, I still get stuck in a dead end without realizing it. How did I become like this!"
As she spoke, Qian Qing's eyes were filled with tears, which made Huo Chong feel pity.
Qian Qing's family suffered a great change when he was a child, and he had lost all his childishness when he met Huo Chong. At this time, Qian Qing showed fear and anxiety that even Huo Chong had never seen before. Is he a child at all?
He quickly took out a handkerchief and tried to wipe Qian Qing's tears, but Qian Qing wiped his tears himself and his expression quickly returned to his usual firmness. "I cried, but I feel better. Sir, should we send more troops or what? Anyway, we can't let those guys from the Ministry of Rites mess around."
Seeing Qian Qing finally able to speak, Huo Chong put down his handkerchief, sat down and sighed: "Well. These people just don't understand that this world is so bad. You think in your heart, but you protect me, so you don't say it. But the old brothers are now saying that if I dared to do this and that back then, I would do this and that now. I just laugh at them. With their abilities, they may be able to follow me to fight, but they are far from being able to conquer the world. If they had encountered such a thing a few years earlier, they would definitely have suffered a great loss."
Qian Qing was puzzled, "But is the Qing army so strong in Huguang?"
Huo Chong reminded him, "What did Ortai, who didn't die in your hands, do in Huguang?"
Qian Qing took some time to find the information related to the name from her memory. She smiled and said, "I had long forgotten that there was such a person. E'ertai and Yue Zhongqi. Haha, if it were now, I would have killed them long ago."
"That's because the troops have been built now. They will no longer be led by the enemy by the nose when they encounter a situation they have never seen before. Instead, they will fully utilize the combat methods they have mastered to defeat the enemy. This is the construction of the troops. So if you use the current troops to replace the troops at that time, of course you will think that the Qing army is vulnerable. But at that time, those old brothers you led almost messed things up many times. You know it yourself."
"Hmm...ah!! Let's not talk about that. It makes me sick just thinking about it." Qian Qing used all his self-control to pull himself out of his emotions and quickly asked Huo Chong, "What did Ortai do in Huguang?"
Huo Chong did not want to look for more information, so he just told the story based on his memory. It turned out that Ortai was most famous for the reform of the local government in Yunnan and Guizhou, but the affected areas were not limited to Yunnan and Guizhou. The Huguang region also began to implement it when the reform of the local government in Yunnan and Guizhou was progressing.
Although there were Tusi in Huguang, the indigenous people lived together with Han people, and Tusi were also familiar with the system of floating officials. The general trend of "changing Tusi to floating officials" frightened many Tusi in the two lakes and took the initiative to ask for the change, but there were also a few who resisted. Tian Ru, Tusi of Rongmei, Hubei, refused to change to floating officials, so Emperor Yongzheng ordered Ortai to send troops to suppress him. Tian was deserted by his relatives and friends, and he was so scared that he hanged himself, and the area he belonged to was changed to floating official system.
The reform of the local government was not only about changing the official positions, but more importantly, it was about adjusting the land. In the Huguang region, through the adjustment of land management, it was said that a million mu of land had been developed. However, the newspapers were vague, ranging from a million mu to a million hectares.
Regardless of which unit of measurement is used, the result is that the land development in Huguang was very successful. At least under the influence of Ortai, it was promoted.
In the Song Dynasty, the land in Jiangsu and Zhejiang was used to grow a lot of grain, and grain was sold as a commodity, becoming China's largest supplier of commercial grain. However, in the Qing Dynasty, it became a situation where "when Huguang is well-fed, the rest of the country is well-fed." Huguang became the world's largest supplier of commercial grain.
After saying this, Huo Chong asked Qian Qing, "From the perspective of economic interests, do you understand why Jiujiang is fine, but it was from Hubei that so many landlords were willing to become desperate people?"
After listening to this, Qian Qing only thought for a few seconds and then sighed: "If I wasn't pregnant, I would think about it. But don't make it difficult for me now. Tell me why?"
Huo Chong did not dare to let Qian Qing, who was full of hormones, think at this time. People say that pregnancy makes women stupid for three years. This is not a mockery. It is a description of the facts. The human body is just this kind of existence, which has nothing to do with what the brain thinks.
"I'm ready to let Zeng Jing talk about what the Huguang landlords heard from the Qing Dynasty a few years ago. But if the Qing Dynasty really made our program clear to the Huguang landlords, this war would not be a simple war between us and the Qing army. It would be a war between us and the gentry and landlord class of the entire Huguang. As long as the Huguang landlords and gentry believe that we want to carry out land reform and nationalize land, they will fight us to the end no matter what for their own sake."
Qian Qing frowned and said angrily, "It's all about land! Have these people ever been educated? A thousand years of land changing eight hundred owners, this is what the South says!"
Huo Chong could only sigh and say, "If reasoning is useful, why do we need the army? If apologies are useful, why do we need the police? It doesn't really matter where your land comes from. What matters is that once you get something in your hands, you will feel that it is yours forever. This idea is not good or bad, it is human nature."
Qian Qing wanted to say something when he heard this, but he shook his head, "Sir, I will feel unhappy if I say anything now. So I won't say anything. If anyone says something about this matter, you will definitely not make things difficult for the Western Expedition Army. Then I will be relieved."
"Yeah." Huo Chong nodded. But in his heart, he remembered what those bastards had secretly said about Lei Hu and Qian Qing.
Perhaps because of his age, Huo Chong had never thought about growing old with Qian Qing. As long as nothing unusual happened, he would definitely die earlier than Qian Qing and Lei Hu. If it weren't for Qian Qing's firm attitude, Huo Chong would not have considered living with Qian Qing.
Huo Chong had never objected to the possibility of Qian Qing and Lei Hu getting married, nor did he feel unhappy about it.
Thinking this way, at least Qian Qing's instincts were clear and he knew that he must not tell anyone about this. Even if they were in the same trench, a bastard was still a bastard, and he would be happy as long as he could see people's jokes. He would even stir up trouble.
Since this matter involved the Ministry of Rites, of course the Minister of Rites Luo Yiren had to be called. Unexpectedly, after Luo Yiren arrived at Huo Chong's place, he made a request, "Your Majesty, could you condescend to have a meal with me?"
"It's okay to have a meal. But why should we go to your house?" Huo Chong was a little confused.
"It's for my wife. If Your Majesty can eat at the same table, I won't have to listen to so many unpleasant words."
Huo Chong understood after hearing this. Luo Yiren's wife was from a poor family, so of course some people would talk nonsense. Luo Yiren couldn't just stop those people and beat them up, so he could only think of other ways.
"Well, you have to come up with a solution. There will definitely be people with bad backgrounds causing trouble. If I help you, and someone else uses the tiger's skin as a banner, what should I do? Or what should the Ministry of Rites do?"
