Fu Shanhe

Chapter 204 Internal Sorting
After hearing Shi Rongxian's question, there was silence below.

Abandon the Western Expedition and focus on the Northern Expedition.

To put it nicely, it was called a strategic adjustment, but in reality, they were unable to withstand the siege from all sides by the government troops and could only risk their lives.

"Holy Emperor, if we change our strategy, we will become bandits!"

Wu Zekai said in a heavy tone.

The Holy White Lotus Kingdom, which spans across many provinces, is considered a powerful force in the eyes of the people of the world, or at best a separatist regime.

Once we launch a full-scale Northern Expedition, we will inevitably have to abandon our current foundation.

It would be fine if they succeeded, but if the Northern Expedition failed, they would become real bandits and could only roam around.

"Good job, Bandits!
Wandering around, it's a good opportunity to see the vast mountains and rivers.

Since ancient times, true dragons have had to go through disasters to transform.

Since I started my great cause, I have received your help and everything has been smooth sailing.

The disaster we are facing now must be a test sent by God because we are doing too well.

My dear ministers, are you willing to go through hardships with me and create the eternal foundation of the Holy Kingdom?"

Shi Rongxian said generously.

At this moment, the White Lotus Sect Leader, who once had great ambitions, is back!

The monarch woke up from his decadent life, but his ministers underwent a qualitative change.

Only when you have gained something will you feel the pain of losing it.

The White Lotus Sect once had nothing, and the barefoot were not afraid of those wearing shoes, so they dared to fight and struggle.

Now the situation has changed and they have enjoyed wealth and glory.

Many of them are no longer able to adapt to the past and continue their wandering lives.

"We are willing to go!"

It doesn’t matter what you think in your heart, but when it comes to expressing your stance, everyone is surprisingly united.

There is nothing to blame. The situation has developed to this point since the beginning of the uprising.

If you take the lead in rebelling and causing chaos before the world is in chaos, you will naturally have to pay the corresponding price.

Judging from the rebellion history of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom, they did not make any major mistakes, nor did they engage in fierce internal strife.

The biggest strategic mistake is timing.

If it had been a few years later, when Dayu's national power had declined further, everything would have been different.

"With the help of all of you, my beloved ministers, there is no need to worry about not accomplishing our great cause!
Now that you have decided to leave, transfer the supplies quickly.

Take away everything that can be taken away. If you can’t take anything away, you’d rather burn it than leave it to the enemy.

The grain from the people should also be collected, leaving enough food for the people for two months.

I want to leave a mess for the enemy and consume as much financial and material resources as possible from the Pseudo-Dynasty!"

Shi Rongxian gave the order coldly.

The road to rebellion is destined to be full of blood and rain.

From the time he started his rebellion to now, his sword has been stained with too much blood.

At this moment, for strategic needs, I naturally don’t mind adding one more thing.

The reason why Shi Rongxian chose to leave two months' food rations for the people was not because he was kind, but because this number just hit the spot.

There was too much food left, so we could just hold on until the autumn harvest.

The pseudo-dynasty only needs symbolic disaster relief to overcome the food crisis.

If the food left behind is too little, even if the pseudo-dynasty wants to provide relief, it will not have time to transport the food over.

Faced with such a special situation beyond human power, the pseudo-dynastic officials and troops could naturally leave it alone with peace of mind and directly put the blame on themselves.

The time limit is two months, which is just enough for the Pseudo-Dynasty to transfer grain.

This is a conspiracy.

Vigorously carrying out disaster relief will inevitably consume a large amount of financial and material resources, further hitting Dayu's finances.

If we give up disaster relief, we will lose the support of the people.

“Holy Emperor, if you do this, it is very likely that Guangdong and Guangxi will be turned into a living hell.

If the Holy Nation wants to fight back in the future, I’m afraid…”

Before Wu Zekai could finish, Fu Haoxuan, the Prince of Pingnan, interrupted him.

“Prime Minister, if you want to accomplish great things, you must give up your womanly kindness.

If you are hesitant, then you might as well break up as soon as possible.

As for winning the hearts of the people, it won’t be too late to do so after you have conquered the world.

From ancient times to the present, he who wins the world wins the hearts of the people! "

……

The actions of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom immediately attracted the attention of various government troops, and the news was reported to Xu Wenyue along the way.

Seeing the tricky news, Xu Wenyue lost all interest in celebrating the New Year.

The rebels' methods were too vicious, and if he wasn't careful in dealing with them, he would be ruined.

"The White Lotus Sect is trying to conduct a strategic retreat and is trying its best to plunder supplies. Guangxi is about to face big trouble.

Do you have any countermeasures?"

Xu Wenyue asked helplessly.

Before the rebels gave up Guangxi, documents demanding grain were sent over from Guangxi.

Compared with the past, the requirements of the Guangxi Governor this time were much lower.

No matter what kind of food it is, as long as it can be eaten, Guangxi will accept it.

The lower the requirements, the more it proves the seriousness of the problem.

Just collecting military rations made Dayu exhausted.

The food rations for millions of people, even if only one meal a day, would be a huge expense.

"Lord, according to the situation reported by Guangxi, I'm afraid no amount of food can fill that bottomless pit.

Unless we take the initiative and disrupt the rebels' grain collection operations, we will be overwhelmed by the disaster victims!"

Lu Jingxuan said with a frown.

The rebels are inhumane. They can cause chaos in Guangxi and they can do the same in Huguang.

Recovering lost territory brings trouble.

When he thought of the millions of people who needed money and food from the government for relief, he felt terrible.

Realizing the seriousness of the problem, he no longer cared about the New Year and only wanted to quickly get rid of the rebels.

"Governor, this is difficult!

The New Year's Day is when the soldiers' homesickness is the strongest.

If soldiers have no desire to fight and act rashly, problems can easily arise.

Our four-sided encirclement strategy has finally shown initial results, but we cannot allow the rebels to take advantage of the opportunity and escape from the encirclement.

Judging from the intelligence we have collected so far, the rebels seem to be willing to abandon Guangdong and Guangxi and force their way to Nanjing."

Yu Xiuwen said with a serious expression.

Judging from the rebels’ military adjustments, the enemy’s next offensive direction will be either Huguang or Jiangxi.

At this moment, everyone in Jiangxi was on high alert, fearing that the rebels would break through their defense line.

In order to deal with the rebel attacks, Huguang and Jiangxi regions also organized militia, but on a small scale.

Dayu is still very cautious in its supervision of civilian armed forces.

The largest militia today has less than a thousand members.

Such a team has not undergone systematic training, and no one knows how much combat effectiveness it has.

"The next areas under the greatest military pressure are Huguang and Jiangxi, so the troops in these two areas should not move rashly.

However, the troops in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Fujian provinces cannot be idle.

We must recover as much lost territory as possible before the rebels withdraw, and we must never let the enemy plunder all the local food and supplies.

Not to mention that the imperial court was facing financial difficulties and did not have that much disaster relief money.

If the worst case scenario really happens, even if the court allocates money, we will not be able to buy enough food.

The imperial court provides limited support to local areas, and everyone must learn to be self-reliant.”

Xu Wenyue said in a heavy tone.

As the elder cabinet member, he knew the situation in Dayu best.

With the continuous rapid increase in population, domestic food production is no longer abundant.

It can basically be used when the world is peaceful.

With the outbreak of the White Lotus Rebellion, grain production in many provinces declined, and a gap suddenly appeared.

If grain is transferred from other major grain-producing provinces to fill this huge gap, grain prices will skyrocket.

By then, I wonder how many people will starve to death.

Deep down in his heart, he hated Yin and Zuo for starting the rebellion.

The original intention of the civil servants' struggle was to stop here, but it was no longer effective. Now he just wanted to kill these two guys.

……

It was already the seventh day of the Lunar New Year when I received the Governor’s military order again.

The atmosphere inside the Liuzhou prefectural government office was extremely tense.

In order to solve the food crisis, the top leaders of Guangxi made great efforts and finally cleaned up the mess left by the rebels.

The good days don’t last long, and a new mess is about to come.

"The elder's meaning is very clear. The relief grain that the court can provide is limited. We have to find a way to raise some money and grain ourselves.

If you have any good suggestions, please speak up! "

Governor Zhang Sihan said with a headache.

The rebels' tactics were too despicable and hit Dayu's weak spot directly.

If effective measures are not taken, countless people will starve to death in the next year.

"The court is in trouble now. Can we organize the gentry and merchants to donate grain?"

As soon as the Liuzhou prefect finished speaking, he was met with a wave of eye rolls from the crowd.

I've seen unreliable people, but I've never encountered such an unreliable one.

The remaining gentry and merchants in Guangxi were all plundered by the rebels. They were so poor that they were lucky enough not to ask the imperial court for help.

It is simply impossible to expect these people to come up with money and food to solve the mess created by the rebels.

"Any other suggestions?"

Zhang Sihan asked with a frown.

The proposal was so bad that he was too lazy to comment on it and simply chose to skip it.

Deep down in his heart, he has decided to find an opportunity to get rid of the Liuzhou prefect, otherwise this guy will definitely cause big trouble in the future.

"The garrison has planted a batch of military farms, covering more than one million mu. They should be able to provide some grain, right?"

Censor Zhou Zhenbang asked.

At present, the most active departments in resuming production in Guangxi are the local health guards.

Li Mu, who had a large amount of free labor, would enclose and reclaim wasteland whenever he recovered a place.

With a large amount of labor at hand, the area of ​​land cultivated last winter reached 3 million acres.

“Don’t count on it. The output of the military farms in the garrisons is more than enough to feed the army.

There were also nearly 300,000 exiled criminals who depended on the output of military farms for their survival.

As the war continues, the number of prisoners will continue to increase.

Guangxi’s grain production is too low, making it difficult for the garrisons to be self-sufficient.

Unless the governor's office can guarantee that no more criminals will be exiled in the future, the food shortage in the garrisons this year will exceed 500,000 shi.

If the garrison troops were to participate in the war to suppress the rebellion, the gap would continue to increase. "

Li Mu deliberately exaggerated.

With a large number of young and strong laborers, it was not difficult for the Wei to be self-sufficient in food.

But being self-sufficient doesn't mean he can tolerate being remembered by others.

Anyway, the outside world has no idea how much land the garrison has reclaimed, so they can just cry poor.

“Military rations must be given priority. The elder has ordered that anyone who dares to take advantage of military rations will be treated as a traitor.

Commander Li does not need to worry about the shortage of military food, as the imperial court will make up for it.

This year, the imperial court allocated military funds to the Guangxi Front Army, including 1 million taels of silver, 800,000 dan of rice, and salt...

Among them, the Yangzhou camp and the Yangzhou navy took 30% in total, the Huai'an camp took 20%, the Guangxi recruits took 15%, and the garrison troops took 35%. "

Jia Bo immediately comforted him.

During wartime, it is necessary to ensure the supply of military rations.

The Guangxi Front Army, which was highly valued by Lord Xu, was top-notch in terms of logistical supplies.

Basically 80% of the food and wages allocated by the imperial court could be used.

The Ministry of Revenue would not use treasure notes to deal with it, and the officials in charge of execution did not dare to lose too much money.

Relatively speaking, the treatment of garrison soldiers is still the lowest.

It seems that they got the largest share, but due to the large number of soldiers in the garrison, these grants were of a subsidy nature.

According to the rules, Dayu’s garrison troops had to provide their own food and fodder when going to the battlefield, and the imperial court would only be responsible if their service period exceeded.

In addition to considering the special circumstances in Guangxi, Jia Bo also made great efforts to get this money.

After hearing the specific figures, the eyes of many officials present lit up, but soon fell silent again.

Now is not a good time to try to make money. If you get caught, you will really lose your head.

After entering Wuchang Prefecture, Lord Xu had already killed many officials as sacrifices.

The stabilization of various fronts was, to a certain extent, due to the efforts of Xu Wenyue.

Whoever caused the trouble will be punished.

No matter who is behind this, they will be killed without mercy.

Only by relying on high-pressure policies can the internal tendency of dragging one's feet be curbed.

"If the money and food can be guaranteed, it won't be a problem to recover the entire Guangxi region within this year.

However, there is nothing I can do about the food shortage.

If it really doesn't work, you gentlemen can share the burden and each find a way to solve part of the gap.

Given the connections you all have in the court, it shouldn't be impossible for you to get back 10,000 or 20,000 shi of grain each, right?"

Li Mu said with a smile.

This is the most common method used by bureaucrats in later generations when they encounter troubles that must be solved.

Anyway, there are no quality requirements for disaster relief food, as long as it can save lives.

All the officials present started from the fourth rank, so it is impossible for them to have no connections behind them.

If you really can't get food, you can solve the problem by paying for it yourself.

Although paying for work is not popular in Dayu, sometimes it is acceptable to bleed a little in order to keep the official hat.

To complete it according to the minimum standards, two thousand taels of silver will be sufficient.

"If you don't have a better idea, then let's follow Commander Li's suggestion!

I know that everyone is in a difficult situation and may not be able to save face, but for the sake of people in the world, I hope everyone can do their best.

This governor will take the lead and be responsible for solving the gap of 50,000 stones.

The rest will have their share reduced by 20% for every half-level drop in rank."

Zhang Sihan deliberately omitted Li Mu and Jing Yifeng in his decision.

Most of the governors of Dayu were of the second or first rank. Zhang Sihan, who was demoted, is now treated as a second rank official.

The Guangxi Commander-in-Chief and the Guangxi General are titles of the second rank.

They were forced to do so. To impose money and food on military generals was to force them to engage in looting.

Not only will it fail to solve the problem, it will make the situation worse.

The military discipline of Dayu is hard to describe in words, and if it is further stimulated, it will be even more unbearable to watch.

Maybe the soldiers below might get so desperate that they would rob even the officials.

There are historical lessons to be learned from this.

Almost every three to five years, there would be officials who refused to believe in the evil and tried it, and then a mutiny would ensue.

At the very least, he would be dismissed from his post, and at worst, he would have to see his great-grandmother on the spot.

"Governor, you said it was from the Ministry of Revenue, a few tens of thousands of shi of grain is nothing.

But those of us who came from the Qingshui Yamen are different.

Let alone tens of thousands of stones, even if it’s just a few hundred stones, I can’t handle it!”

Zhou Zhenbang immediately yelled angrily.

He could see that today's meeting was aimed at them.

The mission was accomplished, thanks to the governor's good leadership.

If you fail to complete the task, you will be branded as incompetent.

If you want to get involved in government affairs in the future, you will not have the confidence to speak up.

Under such circumstances, he naturally had to fight hard.

“I think it’s not that Lord Zhou can’t solve the problem, but that he doesn’t want to solve it.

The White Lotus Rebellion was able to progress so smoothly because there were White Lotus spies infiltrating the court.

Your Majesty is very observant and has thrown the treacherous officials into jail, but there are still some who have escaped.

Sir Zhou, you have not done any real work since you took office. You have only done things that hinder the suppression of the rebellion.

Don’t I need to explain this to everyone?”

Zhang Sihan immediately said.

He was demoted from the Ministry of Revenue to Guangxi, and Yin and Zuo helped him a lot.

If he had not reacted quickly enough and found a new backer in time, he would have been taken down when Zuo Guangen fell.

Even though he escaped the first round of purges, the radical Qingliu Party led by Yin Zuo and others still held on to him and wouldn't let him go.

Now that the two have been imprisoned and the radical Qingliu faction has suffered a setback, he will naturally seek to fight back.

When Zhou Zhenbang was in the capital, he had a good relationship with Yin Zuo and was a member of the radical Qingliu faction.

After entering Guangxi, Zhou Zhenbang caused him a lot of trouble.

In order to solve this problem, Zhang Sihan started planning early and deliberately lured Zhou Zhenbang into offending someone.

The result was obvious. This provincial governor, who was a big troll, was no match at all.

After he talked nonsense a few times out of assumption, he offended the military. Even the governor Jia Bo was unhappy with him.

“Stop talking nonsense!

"I am upright and honest, how can I allow you, a remnant of the eunuch party, to attack me!"

Now that the relationship had been exposed, Zhou Zhenbang did not hesitate to reveal the truth.

No matter how he tries to wash it off, his previous dark history of following the eunuch party is still Zhang Sihan’s biggest stain.

"Lord Zhou has passed away. These are all pillars of our Dayu. There will be no remnants of the eunuch party."

Li Mu scolded unhappily.

He didn't want to get involved in the conflict between the two.

However, Zhou Zhenbang was too ignorant and caused trouble for him again and again.

Although it is the duty of the Censor to supervise foreign officials, he cannot always keep an eye on him!

Even if there was some overstepping, the military supervisor and the governor didn't say anything, so there was no right for the Censor to interfere.

Since this guy is ignorant, let's teach him to be sensible.

It seems that he is just refuting the viewpoint, but in fact he is telling everyone that the anti-castration campaign is over and he opposes continuing the collective punishment.

In other places, his opinion means nothing, but this is Guangxi.

"Commander Li is right. We are loyal subjects of Dayu and will not associate with the eunuch party.

I am afraid that someone may harbor evil intentions and deliberately stir up civil unrest to undermine the great cause of suppressing the rebellion."

Jing Yifeng followed up with the conversation.

"you……"

For a moment, Zhou Zhenbang was so angry that he couldn't speak.

(End of this chapter)