Chapter 117 Gentry Power
The Third Division of Huguang received Guan Shengyun's sincere "heartfelt wishes" from Xiangyang Prefecture. Prince Xiang and the King of Chu of Wuchang Prefecture also greeted the Capital and the Third Division of Huguang respectively. Of course, the most convincing ones are those floating corpses that have drifted all the way to Chengtian Mansion - the Xingdu Left-behind Department has jurisdiction over Xianling and Chengtian Erwei, and is theoretically a powerful military command organization. But adults all know that these "mighty masters" are actually the security guards who watch the tombs. They extort small vendors passing by and harm the people around them. Naturally, they are all self-taught experts, but when they encounter Guan Shengyun like this It would be the most ideal situation to break up the quarrel. It’s hard to predict if all the thieves were surrendered without saying a word... If these guys set fire to Xianling, all the officials would have nothing to do with it. Live!
As a result, the officials of the entire Huguang Third Division put aside all the grudges, differences and squabbles as never before, united as an unprecedented team, and showed off their talents at full power. The big bosses in the government also gave up the intrigues of the past, and here With everyone working together on this matter, Guan Shengyun's army established a foothold in Gucheng without any suspense.
No matter how confused Zhu Yunji, the Emperor of the Holy Emperor, was confused, he understood in his heart at this moment: I dare to admire the "great victory" of Yulin Prefecture earlier, the vigorous "Qin Army Exercise" of the Third Division of Shaanxi Province, the "great victory" of Luofu Prefecture, and the "great victory" of the Third Division of Henan Province "...It was the same group of guys who were "annihilated" time and time again! What the court sees here is one victory after another, but in fact, this gang of rebels is getting stronger and stronger - not only are locals setting ambush for them, but now even the big guys in the court are covering for them. !
Not only angry, but simply out of anger! But there was nothing that could be done - for every great victory, real heads were sent to the capital, and the inspections by the Ministry of War were impeccable. Every time, I had sincerely and sincerely praised myself with joy, but in the end, it was me, I was kept in the dark like a fool from beginning to end!
Fortunately, it's hard to get off the tiger - this giant bandit is just a stone's throw away from the Xianling Mausoleum. If something unexpected happens, it will definitely endanger the ancestral mausoleum. Even if you take the huge risk of destroying the ancestral mausoleum, you will be saddled with eternal infamy... You can't put Shaanxi Should all the local officials in the province, Henan Province, and Huguang be dismissed at once and investigated? In that way, within a few years, there is no need to expect trouble in these provinces. What if a few bandits emerge from these places again? Even if we ruthlessly deal with these guys, what should happen to those behind them in the DPRK? There is no point in dealing with them if we don't hold the people behind them accountable. If we hold them all accountable, wouldn't the empire's administration be completely paralyzed all of a sudden? To put it another way, at all costs, we should bring all these people to justice. Who will take their place? Whether at the local level or at the center of the imperial court, are all the remaining people sure to be good people? Daozong knew in his heart that whether it was the capital or the local area, there were many factions, entangled with each other and restricting each other. The order of the empire was maintained under this delicate balance. If one party suddenly became too big, he would be completely ignored, and the building would be completely empty. The collapse of the city is just around the corner - as for trivial matters such as "Whose heads are those reported in the previous major victory reports?", the Holy Emperor has never thought about it at all.
It is not that there are no good people in the DPRK. For example, Zhao Dongzhu, the censor of Youdu, burst into tears and complained about the tragedy of the Tang king being killed by thieves. But immediately, a large number of people proved plausibly that the Tang Dynasty king had slipped and died. Wei Shixun, the imperial censor of Zuodu, even took out a private letter from Yu Tairan, the Minister of Criminal Affairs of Nanzhili. When he lost his footing, all the thieves fell to the ground with great regret when they first saw him. They wailed and said, "I don't dare to do anything wrong if I want to see the king and beg for his life." They were afraid that the king's body would be violated by the thieves, so they burned it with fire..." These words Only a ghost can believe it! Well, the Tang Palace in Nuo Da was accidentally burned down. Even if there is a slight possibility... not counting the palace guards, there are hundreds of people, and only one person is left. What's the matter with Tang Wang Shisun still alive? Moreover, Tang Wangsun also had a handwritten account of his experience sent to him! But Prince Jin from Zuo Zongzheng of the Zongren Mansion, together with the memorial from the Ministry of Rites, said that the child was dull and taciturn, and that there seemed to be some mental problem, so what he said could not be believed... It depends on the intentions of the Zongren Mansion and the Ministry of Rites, let him Assault the king and build a new palace for the Tang Dynasty, then this matter is over! The King of Jin put it more directly: "Under the ancestral system, vassal kings are not allowed to enter the capital." Daozong knew that King Jin was doing this for his own good—if Tang Wangsun cried in the court, he would really not be able to get off the stage!
Alas, King Jin can be considered a good person - but good people are useless! What we need now are capable people, capable people who can lead the heavenly troops to defeat the bandits and annihilate them all at once!
The problem is that there is no one - well, I can’t say there is no one, it’s just that for the time being - the Sun family, which has been a general for generations, is very good at fighting and is absolutely loyal. Sun Jie, who has only been leading the army for a few years, seems to still be brave and brave. above. However, at this time, he was fighting fiercely with the giant bandit Zhang Hu in the Sichuan-Shaanxi area. Facing hundreds of thousands of Zhang Hu, and Sun Jie, who had only 20 to 30,000 local guardsmen at best, he still fought vigorously. At this moment, it was really Can't be transferred to Huguang. Alas, thinking of the Sun family, Daozong couldn't help but sigh secretly: Grandpa Taizu killed the capable ministers too cleanly, otherwise... When he thought of this, Daozong shook his head and smiled bitterly - otherwise, it would be his turn. Why don't you sit on this dragon chair yourself? If Taizu hadn't killed all his capable ministers, how would Chengzu have had the chance to succeed to the throne? After all, when it comes to Grandpa Cheng, am I still not on this branch?
Since suppression fails, the only option is to caress. Alas, after all, whether it is the Guan thieves, the Huguang officialdom, or even the court ministers, they have saved enough face for the Holy Emperor, so they can just be patient for a while...
Guan Shengyun doesn't care about the title of deputy general, let alone a corner of Gucheng: the Han River in the northeast (the section from Yunyang to Gucheng is called Canglang River) flows to Guanghua (today's Laohekou City, Hubei) The diversion direction to the south and southwest is the Zhushui River coming from Fang County. The two rivers flow together in Gucheng and then merge into the Han River to flow to Xiangyang Prefecture in the southeast (the section from Gucheng to Yicheng is called Xiangjiang River). The three rivers flow through the valley. The city forms a "human" shape as the intersection point.
This area is rich in natural resources, so it is indeed a good base area, but from a strategic point of view, it can also be regarded as a place of four battles. There are no natural dangers in any direction that are enough to resist the enemy. Therefore, it is impossible for Guan Shengyun to really stay here honestly. On the contrary, on the grounds that Luo Shifan had already agreed on the clause that "our army will establish guard posts at suitable locations", he expanded his power westward to Yunyang Prefecture and eastward to De'an Prefecture - Gao Tengdou stationed Yunyang and Gong Derun. He and Zhang Ding were stationed at De'an and Poxiao Camp, and Gu Baihua's Gangfeng Battalion was stationed at Gucheng. You Futian's two Shuizi battalions were stationed at Fanchengguan, Xiangyang Prefecture, responsible for the exchanges. At this point, most of northern Hubei was Guan Shengyun Lao Keep control in hand. Judging from the overall situation, Yunyang, Xiangyang, and De'an are located above Chengtian Palace (to the north). If there is any trouble, the three armies can either advance together, or they can gather in Xiangyang and then send their troops south to threaten the dynasty at any time. One of the four capitals, the "Xingdu" - Chengtian Mansion!
Whether it was Yunyang Mansion, where Gao Tengdou was in charge, or De'an Mansion, where Generals Gong and Zhang headed, each ministry inevitably had a series of "small misunderstandings and frictions" with the local garrison. However, the matter was forcibly suppressed by the Huguang Third Division - Luo Yonghao also minimized the major issue. After achieving an undoubted overwhelming victory, in addition to asking the generals to send a team to Fucheng to monitor the Fucheng, the main force was stationed in the city. Apart from that, he did not really occupy the capital city. The Gucheng headquarters here all entered the city, but no further action was taken. The only difference is that the magistrate Jiang Zhonggang and other local officials have an extra emperor: in addition to reporting to Xiangyang Prefecture or Huguang Third Division, all major and minor matters must also be reported to The tasks assigned to the court by Guan Shengyun and Shangfeng can be done or postponed, but the tasks assigned by Deputy Commander Guan must be completed immediately without any nonsense, and no discounts can be given!
The most depressing person was Jian Jingneng (also known as Shang Yong), the governor of Yunyang. Huguang itself has a governor. Yunyang, located in northwest Hubei, is not a big place. Why did the imperial court set up a governor here? In fact, the reason lies in geography. Northwest Hubei is adjacent to the three provinces of Henan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan. The refugee problem in the Qinba region has always been very serious, and it has often turned into civil unrest. Every time there was trouble, officials from several provinces would send people to neighboring provinces to get rid of the trouble, only to resurface soon after. We have said before that the Ming Dynasty's court was always patched up: if the governor's envoy could not be in charge, he would be replaced by a governor; if the governor could not be in charge, he would be replaced by a governor; if the "army" of the guard station could not fight, he would be replaced by those who could. People"... The Qinba area at the junction of the four provinces was always in trouble and was called "Jingxiang Fuzhi": a governor was established to manage the three prefectures of Jingzhou, Xiangyang and Nanyang provinces. However, the effect was not good, and the refugee problem was still serious - Shaanxi and Sichuan (Daning, Wushan and other places are now part of Chongqing City) were beyond our reach! So patches were piled on top of patches. In the twelfth year of Chenghua, the Yunyang Prefecture was established, the Huguangxing Command and Envoy Office and the Guard Office were established. Jingxiang Fuzhi was changed to Yunyang Fuzhi, and the jurisdiction was expanded to the eight provinces at the junction of Hubei, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. Prefectures (Yunyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Jingzhou Prefecture, Anlu Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture, Xi'an Prefecture, Hanzhong Prefecture, Kuizhou Prefecture). Jiang Zhonggang was a seventh-grade county magistrate, so it didn't matter if there was an emperor who was a bandit and a huge bandit. Anyway, he was an official bigger than his magistrate. Meng Chao (also known as Yueteng), the magistrate of De'an Prefecture, could barely bear it. After all, he was just a magistrate. He has a fourth-grade title, and the person he reports to is the Third Division of Huguang. He just needs to write one more report. However, Jian Jingneng was born in a constitutional position in the Supervisory Council. When he took office as governor of Yunyang, he was given the title of deputy chief censor and was given a third-grade title. The person he reports to is the center of the imperial court. And the Holy Emperor himself! Now it is exactly the same as the Qipin County Magistrate. They all have to listen to Guan Shengyun. Who wouldn't be depressed? However, what can Jian Jing do if the Holy Emperor has already acquiesced? No matter how angry you are, you have to swallow it down.
At first, under the instigation of the generals, Guan Shengyun really had the idea to occupy three mansions at once, but Luo Yonghao stopped him flatly. In order to take precautions, Luo Yonghao specially held a formal military meeting in Gucheng, and even invited Jiang Zhonggang, the magistrate of Gucheng, to attend.
Although the disheartened Jiang Zhonggang had already accepted his fate, he was so frightened that he almost peed his pants on the spot without a few words from the audience member: You are all already considered the imperial officials, how come you still kill the dog-killing officials and take over the city at every turn?
Fortunately, Luo Yonghao stopped the conversation in time: "Generals, please stop this topic. Now that we are colleagues with Mr. Jiang, we should no longer speak out like before." Seeing the disapproving looks of the generals, he also noticed the lingering fear of Jiang. The magistrate was still trembling, and Military Advisor Luo comforted him: "Please don't worry, Mr. Jiang. I specially invited you here today. Luo is sincere. Please just listen to what I say below. Just know it in your heart. If there is any, please don't spread it outside." .”
"Generals, we have discussed before why our army has been so strong all the way, but encountered unprecedented dangers in Nanyang."
"Ahem." It was Luo Shifan who coughed.
"It doesn't matter. Luo said at the time that this kind of thing will be difficult to encounter again in the future." Luo Yonghao chuckled and then said, "Master Jiang will make his own decision after hearing this, so there is no need to worry."
"The Holy Emperors of all dynasties will face a problem: How to govern the world? China is so big that it is impossible to manage it on its own. There must be someone to help. So there are court leaders, civil servants and generals. Every place , it also needs to be managed at all levels, so there are various levels of official positions such as governor, third division, prefect, prefecture, and county magistrate. Taizu's great talent had a rough plan. In order to have an overview of the court, he deposed the prime minister and dismissed the five military governors. This was to grasp all the power in In my own hands," he said, glancing at Jiang Zhonggang who was sweating profusely, "Master Jiang, don't be afraid, you won't be able to tell the truth if you don't speak clearly. Luo's words do sound a bit rebellious, but that's the truth. Wait until Luo speaks. After that, you will know that Luo has absolutely no ill intentions."
"What Taizu did was actually to expand the imperial power and limit the central power. By the way, the central power is the power of the civil and military ministers in the court. Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty is a great lesson for the decline of imperial power. When it comes to the local level, the court can only control At the level of Jiang Zhixian, and further down, we relied on Lord Chiang to manage it through the Jin gentry. Why is this so? Why didn't the imperial court set up several management levels such as townships and villages at the county level? Because of the cost : The imperial court cannot afford this money. If we set up these two levels again, we will definitely not be able to afford the salaries of personnel and the expenses of carriages and horses - don’t forget, the land tax, salt tax and tax are only so much, how can we afford them?"
"The gentry class can fully shoulder the corresponding obligations, and the court does not need to worry too much about big troubles. Take Mr. Jiang as an example. The court needs Huguang to send a certain amount of grain and silver, and each government will divide the requirements into counties. Mr. Chiang It will be broken down to the Jin gentry in each township and village. On the one hand, the Jin gentry needs the recognition and protection of the court. For example, if they encounter bandits, the county will send troops to suppress them. If they fail to suppress them, they will report to the magistrate and prefect... On the other hand, On the other hand, the Jin gentry are all local prominent families. It is very simple for them to do these things. You send some government servants or soldiers to each village to collect food, not to mention that you may catch up with someone who is working in the fields and you can't meet anyone. , maybe the levy was not enough for them to eat! And the Jin gentry just said a word, and everyone automatically handed over the silver and grain when the time came. Not only that, the Jin gentry could also help Mr. Jiang to restrain his men. For example, the rural gentry The people were illiterate, and the imperial court only needed one stone of rice, but when the government officials collected grain, they might add three stones! With the Jin gentry, on the one hand, they would help Mr. Chiang complete his task, and on the other hand, they would also protect their countryside. Neighbors - don't forget, the reason why they themselves have this status also depends on the recognition and support of their neighbors. These people are a buffer between the government and the people. As long as they are there, the local government often does not There will be some big trouble. They are all wealthy people. Unless they have to, they themselves will never risk annihilation to cause any trouble."
"But Qian Yuchuan is not the case. He wiped out all the gentry! Of course, he and his men have become fat. Our capture is proof. He can also make the common people fight against us without fear of death. Only a few seconds later. Tens of thousands of people were killed by us in the course of the day? This is only one side of the matter. What about the other side? Everyone has seen with their own eyes what Nanyang has become. Which of the common people are not naked and dove-shaped? This is because He used local scoundrels. Unlike the clan gentry, these scoundrels themselves were worthless. Suddenly one day they had great power. In order to ensure that they would not return to live in a ruined temple, to ensure that they would no longer beg for scraps, etc. Can't get things done? They know that they are where they are today just because they are useful to Qian Yuchuan! Do they care about which common people are ruined? That's weird! The common people are deceived by Qian Yuchuan and his men and fight us desperately , this is because we happened to meet each other when we came here. Otherwise, if we wait another two or three years, we will see how many living people there are in Nanyang? In other words, Qian Yuchuan got a lot, but the price he paid Bigger! So I said, we are unlikely to encounter this kind of thing in the future - Qian Yuchuan racked his brains, destroyed Nanyang for hundreds of miles, and barely managed to get the imperial emissary from the imperial court. He will wait another year or two. Let's see again, when the people of Nanyang eat each other, what will they give in exchange? In other words, Mr. Jiang, if the Xiangyang Prefecture gives you a hard-to-achieve amount, and someone gives you an idea: set up a 'farmer's bureau', What do you think about sending them to the countryside to find villagers to collect them?"
Jiang Zhonggang, who had forgotten his fear and nodded frequently, was startled when he heard this: "How can this happen? The humble job in the first year will definitely be overfulfilled. As long as they are given iron ruler chains and some soldiers are sent to control them, no matter how many they are, they can be collected. , Maybe it can be completed in the second year, but I don’t know if there will be trouble. The military advisor just said - they will definitely charge more, which will definitely make the world angry and resentful. In the third year... there should be a civil uprising. ? I’m afraid I can’t save my head. However, no one would do such a thing, right? How can it be different from drinking poison to quench thirst? "
Luo Yonghao smiled while stroking his hands: "Master Jiang is so right! Generals, the imperial court already has an effective collection system. Our needs can be maintained by this ready-made system. Any other needs , Mr. Jiang can help us deal with it for the young one, and for the big one, we can just discuss it with the adults of the Huguang Third Division. So, there are some things that we should not say in the future..."
Jiang Zhonggang was completely relieved when he left. He bowed deeply to Luo Yonghao and said, "Master Military Advisor, I am sincerely convinced. There are seniors and juniors in Beizhong's family. From now on, I will ask for your mercy, Master Military Advisor."
Luo Yonghao returned the salute: "Don't worry, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Zhonggang took a few steps and then turned around: "Master Military Advisor, what kind of peasant servants did you just talk about? Is it possible that someone really does that?"
Luo Yonghao laughed: "Luo just gave an extreme example. Then Qian Yuchuan didn't do it, how could anyone use such a brain?"
