There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 149 Trivial matters after the war
The main force of the Qing army in western Hunan had been defeated. Chenzhou City, with less than two thousand militiamen, certainly could not stop the attack of Yang Fang, the fierce general.

When the city was broken, Hunan Governor Jiang Sheng jumped off the city wall and committed suicide, while Huguang Governor Liu Junfu tried to stop Yang Fang but was hacked to death by Yang Fang's personal soldiers.

By the time Yang Fang led his troops into the Chenzhou government office, the Chenzhou prefect had already fled, and even the co-prefect and the magistrate were nowhere to be seen. Only the Yuanling County magistrate came to surrender, holding the civil register to be printed.

Under the city of Chenzhou, the Han army continued to move south along the river, and successively conquered Luxi, Chenxi and Xupu counties. The army pushed forward all the way to Yuanxi Mountain and Huaihua Town before stopping.

……

December, the sixty-first year of the Qianlong reign (the first year of the Jiaqing reign).

After the Han army left garrisons in Chenzhou and Changde, the main force finally returned to Yuezhou.

If he doesn’t go back, Nie Yu really won’t be able to hold on any longer!
This was the food and rations for tens of thousands of troops. The 100,000 Qing troops in western Hunan were barely supported by the people of Huguang and Hunan provinces. Nie Yu's army wasn't 100,000 strong, but it was at least 40,000 or 50,000 strong, many of them new recruits undergoing training. There were also firearms workshops manufacturing cannons and muskets, all of which required money and grain.

The military expenses and food supplies for so many troops, weapons, armor, and firearms all depended on this land that could not be saved, which almost drove the officials of the Ministry of Revenue under Nie Yu crazy.

Yes, compressed rations can be used as military rations, but they can only be used as temporary rations. Even modern armies fighting wars cannot eat only compressed rations every day. Soldiers are also human beings, and as humans, they need meat to supplement protein. Without meat, they cannot train to be elite. Similarly, without meat, soldiers will lack physical strength and energy to fight.

This is also why the Qing army could not defeat the Han soldiers. In addition to the gap in equipment, the physical fitness of ordinary Qing soldiers was much worse than that of Han soldiers.

The Han army really trained every day, and they had meat in their meals every day. If there was no meat, they would have to have a bowl of oily broth to supplement the protein.

All of these things cost a lot of money. This war alone took only a few months and almost wiped out the Han army's fiscal revenue for the second half of the year.

Lin Wenchang said wearily, "General, although our army was victorious in this battle, we also suffered heavy losses. The newly captured Chenzhou has been forcibly levied and exploited by the Qing Dynasty several times. I'm afraid that not only will it be difficult to contribute money and food, but we may even need to subsidize it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the officials from various Han army offices who came to the meeting looked at each other in bewilderment.

What is this war about?

The Qing army in western Hunan was destroyed, and the Han army also expanded its territory. It can be said to be a great victory that killed two birds with one stone!
The Han army, both civil and military, were delighted, but reality had to be faced. Chenzhou was impoverished, utterly impoverished. Repeated expropriations by the Qing had hollowed it out. Even with Han army subsidies, it was unlikely to contribute even a penny in the next year or two.

The territory has expanded, but it's the same as if it hadn't expanded. Instead, there are hundreds of thousands more mouths to feed.

Lin Wenchang, who was in charge of the Han army's purse, was of course worried. The pressure of this position was enormous, but he was reluctant to let go.

Power is like poison, once you have tasted it, you can’t let it go!

Nie Yu said, "Wenchang has worked hard! I have seen the efforts of the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance needs to take great care of the relief money and grain for the people of Chenzhou. Don't neglect it."

He also knew the difficulties of the Ministry of Revenue, but even so, he knew that the money had to be spent, the war had to be fought, and the soldiers had to be maintained. They were rebelling, and if they were even a step slower, they would be killed without a burial place.

Since the Ministry of Revenue cried poor and lacked money, he could only offer sympathy and then encouragement.

The topic of financial shortages was temporarily omitted. Wang Ruoyu stepped forward and asked, "General, our Han army won a great victory in this battle. The Miao people of Pinglong, Shi Liu and Deng, have also sent envoys to request submission. What should we do?"

This was a very insightful question. Calling the other party a Miao citizen of Pinglong was a sign of respect for the fact that he was a Miao citizen, and it also emphasized that the other party should be a Miao citizen, not the so-called "Miao King".

Nie Yudu is still just a general, but there is someone who claims to be the king in the territory under his command?

Even the word "King" like "Miao King", which has a special meaning and is not a universal concept of the Han people, is not acceptable!
Moreover, Shi Liudeng proposed to surrender through Pang Wencai, which is not exactly the same as the surrender mentioned by Wang Ruoyu in essence.

Wang Ruoyu's desired surrender should be that Shi Liudeng first give up his title of king and lead the Miao people to become Miao people under the rule of the Han army. Only then could the Han army distribute land to the Miao people and give them equal treatment with the Han people. But Shi Liudeng's surrender was different. He did not mention giving up his title of king, but it was not impossible to negotiate. It was just an empty title. After he reoccupied Xiangxi and drove away the Qing army, Shi Meimei led the Miao people to push him back to the throne, recognizing him as the leader of the Miao village. If the Han army really didn't like it, Shi Liudeng would certainly not be rude, but he also had a request, which was that the Han army could not station troops in Xiangxi.

The Miao people could tolerate the Han army sending officials to Xiangxi to govern and divide the land, but they could not tolerate sending troops to station there. If the Han army insisted on stationing troops, they would drive the Han army out just like they drove out the Qing army.

After careful consideration, Nie Yu made a decision: "Write back to Shi Liudeng! Tell him that I'm very happy that the Miao people have surrendered to me, and that everything I promised you will be done for them. The Han army will not station any troops in western Hunan, and even the temporary officials can be appointed by the Miao people themselves. As long as they choose their own candidates and report to the Chenzhou government, I will approve them."

Wang Ruoyu was a little surprised and was about to dissuade him when Nie Yu added, "However, the administrative team in Xiangxi must be the same as under Han army rule. They can choose the mayor and the farmers and workers themselves, but they must have one. If there is any insider selection, the Miao people in Xiangxi can go to Chenzhou to file a complaint, and the Han army will make the decision on their behalf."

After a few words, Wang Ruoyu understood instantly.

This ostensibly represents the maximum empowerment of the Miao people in western Hunan, but in reality, it's a game of nibbling and assimilating them. Allowing separatist autonomy in western Hunan is a definite no-go. It's not that Nie Yu doesn't trust the Miao people. Rather, given the current situation, if Shiliudeng were truly allowed to govern themselves, they would inevitably become the new chieftain of western Hunan within a year or two.

Don't blame Nie Yu for playing dirty. He did this for the good of the Miao people. Letting the Miao people choose their own officials means there won't be any language or customs barriers, and it will definitely be more effective than the Han army.

Wang Ruoyu clapped his hands and praised, "General, this strategy is brilliant. Not only does it eliminate the resistance of the Miao people in western Hunan, but it also allows Miao officials to govern the Miao people. If the Miao officials do a good job, we can continue to use them. If they don't, we can replace them with Han officials. Even the Miao people will have nothing to say. Moreover, even if the Miao officials are all good, it doesn't matter. We can make them learn Chinese characters and Chinese. We don't need to force them to learn. We can just build community schools for them, but teach them only Chinese characters and Chinese. Then they will take the initiative to learn."

Wow, scholars really think carefully!
Nie Yu just had an idea, and others filled in all the details of the idea. With just a few minor adjustments, it could be used directly.

Liu Jun added, "These are all matters for later discussion. First, we should allow Shi Liudeng to relinquish his title as Miao King. The General should also write a letter to pardon his crime of usurping the title of King!"

To put it bluntly, it is still a question of orthodoxy of etiquette and law. Although the other party is the Miao King, the Miao King is also a king. If you don't fight for orthodoxy, then in the eyes of the civil and military officials who are fighting against you, don't you think you have no intention of competing for the throne at all?
Nie Yu naturally had no reason to object and handed the matter over to Wang Ruoyu to handle the contact. Then he asked, "Well, is there anything else important? If so, let's discuss it together!"

Liu Jun said, "General, we have too many grassroots officials. The Civil Affairs Office has compiled the work reports of all the counties and towns under its jurisdiction and found that at least one-third of the town mayors and officials have nothing to do. Their work reports only cover this year's fiscal and tax returns, as well as the progress of local farming and rainwater canal repairs. These are things the mayors don't actually need to do personally, or even their involvement. Our bureaucracy is already bloated, including at the local county and town levels. We must reduce them."

As he spoke, he handed over a detailed written report.

Nie Yu flipped through a few pages and quickly realized the seriousness of the problem.

This has to do with the local administrative divisions of the Han army. Because in addition to the two-level administrative divisions of "village head-county magistrate" in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Han army, there is also a team of town mayors at the middle level.

Nie Yu's original intention was to strengthen centralization at the grassroots level and eradicate the phenomenon of imperial power not reaching the countryside in his own territory, while also weakening the influence of gentry on the local area.

The idea was good, but when it was put into practice, it turned out to be completely different. In the early days of the Han army's land distribution and slave release, all the newly added town officials were so busy that there was even a shortage of grassroots officials.

The officials of the General's Mansion were worried about this and thought of a lot of ways to recruit talents.

But no matter how busy you are with dividing the land, you don’t have to do it every day, and the land will eventually be divided up.

The Han army had been in service for over a year. The lands of the first few prefectures that were brought under its rule had already been divided up. The lands of the newly occupied Changsha, Changde, Hengzhou, and Guiyang had also been almost divided up. Only Chenzhou had just been taken, and the land distribution had not yet begun, and even the grassroots officials were not yet in place.

After the land was distributed, the town mayor, who was part of the newly added team, and many other officials in charge of distributing the land suddenly had nothing to do.

Because there are village heads and a variety of lower-level officials in the countryside, and in addition to the town mayor and land distribution officials, the Han army also set up village party, farmers and workers' associations.

This is a semi-administrative system that Nie Yu created by referring to the rural policies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and a certain red regime. It does not require the consumption of government money and grain.

The rural party, farmers and workers associations are essentially elected by the villagers themselves to resolve conflicts and disputes among the villagers, so there is no need for the Han army government to bear the financial burden.

This seems to be a good thing, and it is indeed a good thing. It can also help the Han army strengthen its control over the grassroots.

But the problem is, if they cooperate with the village chief to solve the village governance problems, what does the town mayor do?
(End of this chapter)