Fu Shanhe

Chapter 260 Big Trouble

As the relocation work was completed, Li Mu became busier and busier.

The migration of tens of thousands of people was a considerable challenge in the feudal era.

Some of the weak and sick died on the way. It was supposed to be a family reunion, but it turned out to be a happy event.

When faced with such a tragic incident, as a good boss, Li Mu naturally had to step forward to appease them.

Although this kind of appeasement is more of a show, it is definitely better than nothing.

As the land was distributed, joy soon dissipated the sadness. It can be seen that everyone's obsession with land is not comparable to money.

Unlike the guards outside, Li Mu made subtle adjustments to the original system.

Military land is still military land, it has just been converted to a household contract system, but it is not a pure household contract system.

The garrisons advanced the initial living expenses and provided means of production such as oxen and mules. The military households that participated in farming paid 40% of the output as agreed.

In years of disaster, military households can borrow grain from the garrisons, and no interest will be charged within the scope of basic rations.

All expenses of the serving soldiers were covered by the garrison.

An additional two cents of silver subsidy was given every month, and a number of benefits such as rice, flour, grain, oil, cloth, etc. were distributed during festivals.

During wartime, there are combat subsidies.

Compared with traditional military households, the military households in Guangxi were more like free people who paid taxes to the imperial court.

Soldiers no longer mainly engaged in farming, but instead became part-time workers.

Except for the busy farming season when he would go home to help with farming, he spent the rest of his time in the military camp receiving training.

The support of soldiers is no longer a burden on military households.

The only difference is that the management of the garrisons is more strict, and the original subject of taxation and corvee labor service has changed from the imperial court to the local garrisons.

The most intuitive feeling is that the burden on military households has been lightened, and there is someone to cover the risks.

Once a plan is made, it must be implemented.

Not only do the migrated military households need to be properly resettled, but the original management of the military households also needs to be reformed.

In addition to the soldiers, the interests of the generals must also be considered.

In the past, the income of the garrison commanders mainly came from profits from military settlements.

Now that the collection standards have been clarified, everyone’s autonomy is gone, and an explanation must be given.

Theoretically, the money can be paid directly according to the salary of the general who recruited the soldiers.

In practice, this is impossible.

The salaries paid by the court were filled with banknotes that were almost like waste paper, and they changed every year.

If nothing unexpected happens, the cash content will only get higher and higher, and defaults will become more frequent.

Li Mu wouldn't dare to do the same thing.

The salaries are getting less and less, and the people are still being fooled by the banknotes. The people below are bound to rebel.

Dayu suppressed military commanders politically, but was quite lenient in terms of rank.

The inconspicuous flag-gathering officer in the army was at the same level as the county magistrate in rank, and both were of the seventh rank.

If all the money and grain were to be distributed in full, the finances would go bankrupt.

It is true that the salary is low, but that is only the official salary. The real income of officials has never been low.

Fortunately, there are generals who can recruit soldiers and we can use them as benchmarks.

While enjoying military land, the actual average income of recruiting generals was calculated at half the rate for those of the same rank.

I'm not afraid of everyone's objections. It's normal to halve the salary. When transferred from a garrison to a conscripted soldier, even a demotion by one level is considered a promotion.

Those who can be directly transferred into the conscription army, or even promoted, are all people with connections.

If an ordinary garrison commander wants to serve in the conscription army, he will inevitably be demoted.

Li Mu was busy sorting out internal issues, and it was not until the appointment of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi arrived that he was able to get away from internal affairs.

Now is a good time to grab land. Due to the influence of the war, Guangdong also has a large amount of unowned land.

It is a pity that the appointment came too late. The officials in Guangdong region have basically been fully staffed, otherwise there would be more room for maneuver.

Even with restrictions, there is still a lot of room for maneuver.

The military land has long been a mess, and the worst that can happen is a matter of dispute.

Without the leadership of the gentry in this kind of matter, local officials will not put in any effort once the facts are established.

What the Guangdong gentry need most now is self-protection rather than external expansion.

The power of the clan was severely damaged, and the influence of those lucky ones who survived by chance is no longer as great as before.

The most important thing is that the deterrence of force is gone.

In the past, the clan could easily pull out a few thousand young and strong men, and the local officials had to look at their faces.

Now these people have been slaughtered by the rebels, and their original local connections have also been shattered.

If we continue to act recklessly, the matter may not be covered up.

Before completing the infiltration of the local government, everyone must keep a low profile.

Those poor Koreans whom they looked down upon in the past must now be taken seriously.

Especially those with a large number of males should not be provoked.

If you provoke him, he will get so angry that blood will flow for five steps.

Even the centuries-old armed conflicts between the natives and the Hakkas have been reduced a lot.

The conflict still exists, but the way of fighting has changed from fighting with guns to verbal abuse.

On the one hand, as the population decreases, resources are not so tight.

On the other hand, everyone lost a large number of young and strong people in the war, and now their number is seriously insufficient. If they continue to fight, the whole race will be wiped out.

Under such circumstances, it cannot be said that there were no gentry who dared to take the lead in opposing the military, but their number would definitely not be large.

After all, the remnants of the rebels have not yet been completely wiped out, so it is normal for a few rebels to escape.

……

"Mr. Lan, the imperial court has already appointed me, and I will be going to Guangzhou to take up my post in a few days.

The two books, "Weisuo Management System" and "Cash Crop Planting Manual", should be printed as soon as possible and then distributed to every garrison officer.

For the next period of time, this was the textbook that the garrison officers studied.

Let everyone memorize it for me. Ben will be back from Guangzhou to organize an assessment.

Those who fail the assessment will regret it!"

Li Mu said seriously.

He was also very helpless facing a group of semi-illiterate generals.

In fact, the literacy rate of the Dayu Dynasty was the highest among the feudal dynasties.

In the early years of the founding of the country, the imperial court even tried to popularize education for all the people and established a multi-level education system consisting of community schools, county schools, and prefecture (state) schools.

Among them, community schools are the most basic educational institutions established in rural areas.

In order to encourage children from the public to go to school, the imperial court also made a mandatory regulation: "If children from the public do not go to school at the age of eight, their fathers and brothers will be punished."

There is no need for entrance examination and there is no quota for enrollment. Anyone who is willing to enroll under the age of 15 can study.

Those with excellent academic performance can enter the county school.

Theoretically, everyone has the opportunity to receive education and enter the officialdom through the imperial examination.

Not surprisingly, this policy was implemented in the early years of the founding of the country.

In the subsequent implementation process, it gradually changed and deviated from the original intention of universal education.

At the beginning, students could learn with a sand table, but gradually they were required to buy teaching materials, pens, ink, paper and inkstone, and the tuition fees increased accordingly.

The textbooks have also changed from simple and easy-to-understand children's enlightenment books such as "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic" to the high-end "The Great Learning", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius" and "The Doctrine of the Mean".

Social school teachers are also of varying quality.

Some were serious and responsible, but most were perfunctory and busy with their own imperial examinations. They read the book several times verbatim, and considered it completed the task. If they wanted to explain it, they had to pay extra.

Cheap education soon became a luxury that was beyond the reach of the people.

The community school system gradually became a mere formality, and was replaced by the rise of private schools.

In this process, the gentry group played an ignominious role.

After all, universal education is just too scary.

The cake is only so big, and with everyone joining the competition, how can we ensure that our own children can stand out?

In order to protect their own interests, they must find ways to raise the threshold for education and keep more people out.

These alone are not enough insurance. In order to ensure that future generations gain greater advantages, the Academy Interest Alliance came into being.

Those families of scholars whose legacy has been passed down for many generations and whose scholars have produced many successful candidates are the beneficiaries of the new rules.

If we analyze the origins of the Jinshi in each subject, we will find that the proportion of Jinshi coming from literati families has been rising continuously.

Of course, the number of Jinshi places is limited, so it is not easy to take this shortcut.

It's not enough to just be in the circle, your own knowledge must also be at an average level and cannot be seen as a fake at first glance.

If you meet these conditions, you will get some consideration from the examiners.

If your parents are high-ranking officials in the court and meet the above conditions, then you are basically set.

Even though it was a failed attempt, it still created the highest literacy rate in the feudal dynasty.

Many semi-illiterate people learned to read a few characters through word of mouth from their parents.

The knowledge of grassroots generals in the army is not passed on by their parents, but mainly comes from previous literacy education.

However, since I missed the best age, my learning speed is indeed slow.

Even with the temptation of promotion and salary increase, everyone's knowledge level is limited to recognizing some common characters.

"Sir, do you have to recite everything?

For those older generals, why not relax the conditions?

This "Cash Crop Planting Manual" will be more efficient if we take them directly to the fields to learn."

Lan Linjie persuaded tactfully.

It is naturally not difficult for a scholar like him to study.

After all, although the two books look thick, they actually don’t have many words.

From a practical point of view, as long as you can remember the general meaning, you don't need to recite it verbatim.

“Military discipline must be memorized, and the Manual of Cash Crop Planting can be used for flexibility.

The content is all in plain language and is not difficult to learn.

There is no need to relax the conditions. The oldest people in the camp are only in their thirties and are not yet old enough to go home and hug their grandchildren.

If one wants to increase the income of the garrison, promoting cash crops is inevitable, and they are the specific executors.

If you don’t know anything, it’s easy to cause trouble.”

Li Mu thought for a while and said.

When a layman leads professionals, it is easy to come up with strange orders.

Even if an experienced farmer with planting experience is arranged to provide technical guidance, the generals under him must also know the basic common sense.

Learning now is just the beginning.

If nothing unexpected happens, they will have to learn more about agriculture and animal husbandry in the future.

It is not only for the purpose of developing the economy of the garrison, but also for the outside world to see.

Promoting agricultural technology is in line with the mainstream of the times and no one will find it strange.

If the soldiers of the garrison were completely laid off, it would clearly tell the outside world that he had his own troops.

The garrisons in Guangxi alone have more than 80,000 soldiers on the payroll. If the garrisons in Guangdong are also fully staffed, the army will be more than 100,000 strong.

With so many troops, they must actively farm to reassure everyone.

On the basis of farming, if he starts a side business and develops other industries, people will just think that he is good at management.

If we can recruit soldiers from the two towns and put them in the open to attract outside attention, the plan will be perfect.

……

Chengdu Prefecture.

"Governor, something terrible has happened!"

"Urgent news came from the front line that a civil uprising broke out in Chongqing ten days ago.

The rioters killed the prefect of Chongqing and surrendered the city to the rebels.

Caught off guard, the troops sent to reinforce Chongqing suffered heavy losses. Commander Wang and dozens of other generals died for their country. Chongqing fell!"

Upon receiving this news, Lu Junliang's face suddenly turned dark.

Although he was mentally prepared for the fall of Chongqing after the fall of Qutang Pass, it all happened too quickly.

In order to reinforce Chongqing Prefecture, he sent out 30,000 troops, but all of them were defeated by the enemy.

"Why is the news from ten days ago only coming back now?"

No one could answer Lu Junliang's question.

The soldier in charge of delivering the letter was just following orders.

The contents of the report were all what the superiors ordered, and the messenger had no idea about the actual combat process.

No one can tell how much the battle reports have been embellished.

The only thing that is certain is that Chongqing Prefecture was indeed lost.

“Governor, please don’t embarrass the people below.

These things are not something that a few soldiers can know.

Chongqing fell and the eastern Sichuan region fell into war.

It is almost impossible to wipe out this rebel force with just the army in the province.

The most urgent task is to report to the court and ask His Majesty to send reinforcements."

The governor Li Yongliang spoke up and broke the deadlock.

As the land of abundance, Sichuan's finances are relatively good, but the pressure it bears is also great.

In addition to meeting its own expenses, it also had to provide financial and food support to Yunnan and Guizhou, U-Tsang Xingdu Commandery, Dogan Xingdu Commandery, Hami Wei and other places.

The role she played in the Dayu Dynasty was that of a wet nurse.

If an accident occurs in Sichuan, the entire southwestern region will be out of control.

Even the northwest region will suffer a considerable impact.

In terms of influence on the empire, it certainly cannot catch up with the Jiangnan region.

But in terms of the degree of trouble, it is even worse than Jiangnan.

After all, although the rebels in the Jiangnan region were causing a lot of trouble, they could recover quickly as long as the rebellion was put down.

Once Sichuan falls, problems will arise in Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet and the Western Regions.

Judging from the territory alone, the map of Dayu was instantly reduced by half.

The most troublesome thing is that these places are difficult to deal with. Once troops are deployed, it will be a protracted process and cannot be resolved in a short period of time.

Given Dayu’s current situation, it would be completely unable to cope if the worst situation occurred.

In future history books, they will be listed as negative examples that led to the fall of the empire.

"That's all it can do now!"

……

(End of this chapter)