There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 151 Martyrs' Shrine

The twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.

After more than half a year, Nie Yu finally returned to Jingzhou Prefecture. Returning with him were the Han army's civil and military officers, including the entire administrative team that was previously stationed in Yuezhou Prefecture.

All these officials returned to Jingzhou Prefecture because Yuezhou Prefecture was too crowded and not suitable to be the capital of the Han army, allowing central civil and military officials to reside there for a long time. At the same time, it also announced to the inside that the Han army's next strategic goal would be to focus on Hubei.

As for Hunan, Changsha, Hengzhou, Changde, Chenzhou, these strategic points, and important cities with a large population and financial resources have all been controlled by the Han army. The Qing army in western Hunan has also been basically wiped out. Now it is only necessary to leave behind a small force to fight slowly.

Shi Liudeng of Xiangxi was not the only one who came to submit to the Han army. Others who requested submission included the Yao people's rebel army in Baoqing and Yongzhou prefectures, Shajin Wang of Chaling, and the rebel army in Guiyang. These people either sent envoys to the Han army to request submission, or simply changed their flags and made it clear to the outside world that they had submitted.

Of course, everyone was rebelling, so no one should play tricks on anyone else. These people's surrender was called surrender, but in reality they just changed their flag to the Han army's. The Han army neither sent any officials nor could they station troops to control the territories of these rebel forces.

To put it bluntly, it was almost the same as a vassal territories, or even worse than a vassal territories. The Han army only gained their allegiance in name, but in reality, they still did their own things, and even the dispatch of troops to them was a stretch.

Nie Yu was not angry about this. It was a good thing that so many volunteers came to join him!

The Han army was financially short of money and had no money to continue expanding. These guys were eager to come and submit. Although they did not actually submit to the Han army, just in name was enough.

As the old saying goes, only tools and reputation cannot be entrusted to others!

With the name, they are under the jurisdiction of the Han army. If the Han army wants to attack them in the future, they don’t even need to find an excuse.

Moreover, these rebel armies have submitted to the Han army, so in the next one or two years, these surrendered rebel armies will not pose any threat to the Han army.

Because they had all surrendered, they could not expand into the Han army's territory. If they could not expand into the Han army's territory, they would either fight each other and encroach on each other's territory, or turn their spearheads towards other provinces.

"Let's go!"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

The Han army's buglers blew the bugle repeatedly. Nie Yu put on his half-body armor of a general, and was followed by the Han army's civil and military officers.

Chen Xinghuai, the prefect of Jingzhou, led the way, and the Han soldiers followed, carrying the ancestral tablets of the fallen soldiers.

The team set out from the General's Mansion in the west of Jingzhou City and walked all the way to the Martyrs' Shrine in the east of Jingzhou City.

The main halls and pavilions of the Martyrs' Shrine originated from the Chengtian Temple built in the city in the past.

This is not Nie Yu's malicious targeting, but there are basically no clean temples in ancient times.

The Han army only needed to take a closer look at the Chengtian Temple in Jingzhou to find out that it was filled with filth and dirt that was simply unbearable to look at.

They were involved in almost every kind of business, including money lending, human trafficking, gambling, assault, and land annexation. One-third of the monks in the temple were not clean, and another third did not even have a certificate of ordination.

When Nie Yu saw his officials find evidence of a crime, he was shocked even though he was mentally prepared.

The monks who committed evil deeds in the temple had already been packed up and sent to mine and open up wasteland. The minimum sentence was twenty years, and it was basically impossible for them to come out alive.

The remaining monks, those with ordination certificates, were moved to other temples and assigned to them, allowing them to practice vegetarianism and chant Buddhist scriptures. Nie Yu was not a cruel traitor. Monks, after all, must practice vegetarianism and cultivate asceticism to be considered high-ranking monks.

As for those fake monks who did not have certificates of ordination, they were ordered by the Han army to return to secular life and then sent in batches to serve as apprentices to craftsmen in firearms workshops and military doctors.

There was no way. Although Nie Yu issued an order to release slaves and Yongzheng helped to abolish the status of slaves decades ago, the social status of doctors and craftsmen was still not very high.

Doctors were fine, curing illnesses and saving lives, and there were also special professions like imperial physicians, so they didn't do too badly. But craftsmen were miserable, their social status was almost the same as before the abolition of slavery.

Nowadays, using these useless and unproductive monks to supplement the shortage of military doctors and craftsmen can be considered as a waste utilization.

Nie Yu treated the monks in this way as well. He also treated the Taoist temples equally. Taoist priests who committed crimes were sent to mine and open up wasteland, while those without certificates of ordination were sent to be apprentices to craftsmen and military doctors. They couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

(Image of the Certificate of Ordination of Monks and Taoists from the Ming Dynasty)

Even those monks and Taoists with ordination certificates who were sent to live as vegetarians had their tax exemption privileges revoked by Nie Yu's order. Monks and Taoists were already unproductive, so if they were still exempted from land tax, wouldn't that just mean they were just being used as manure-making machines?
When we entered the Martyrs' Shrine, people quickly came out to greet us. They all had disabilities. They were all disabled veterans of the Han army who had fought in past wars.

Antibiotics, however miraculous, can only save lives, not restore the seriously injured. Most of these disabled veterans have returned home, while some have become instructors, responsible for training new recruits.

Nie Yu picked a few people and asked them to come to the Martyrs' Shrine to serve as cleaners (the Martyrs' Shrine does not need temple priests). On weekdays, they only need to clean and offer sacrifices to continue the incense offerings to the heroic spirits of the Martyrs' Shrine. The General's Mansion will pay them salaries every month.

"The soul has returned, the loyal hero has returned to his position!"

As a temporary sacrifice, Chen Xinghuai sang and shouted loudly.

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

The bugler who arrived next blew the bugle even harder. The Han soldiers holding the tablets of loyal martyrs behind them looked nervous and solemn. As they had rehearsed in advance, they stepped forward and placed the tablets at the Martyrs' Shrine.

There are many tablets placed there. They are the tablets of Han soldiers who died in battle since the Han army started its uprising. All of them have been moved to this Martyrs' Shrine.

"Pay tribute to the loyal souls!"

Nie Yu stepped forward, said nothing, stood and watched for a moment, then knelt down and kowtowed.

The Han army did not follow the Manchus' kneeling ceremony, but that did not mean they could not kneel at all. The Manchus' kneeling ceremony was disgusting. When officials and civilians met the Manchu emperor, they had to kneel to attend court, kneel to receive imperial edicts, kneel to speak and discuss politics. This even led to a situation where subordinates would follow suit. In order to curry favor with their superiors, subordinates would kneel when they saw them, and students would kneel to curry favor with their teachers.

This is truly disgusting!
Nie Yu now brings civil and military officers to kneel down and worship at the Martyrs' Shrine, just like kneeling down to worship heaven and earth, ancestors, and parents. This is not to flatter or fawn on people, but to respect and commemorate the loyal and heroic souls who died in battle.

The generals and soldiers of the Han army were very moved by this. Although it was rare to build temples for military generals in ancient times, it did exist. However, the general was truly the first person in history to build a temple to worship ordinary soldiers.

When the Han army's civil servants saw this, their expressions were quite complicated. Even though they knew that the general was trying to buy the soldiers' hearts, they still found it quite strange and awkward.

The emphasis on civil officials over military officials during the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties had already fostered a natural disdain among civil officials for military officials. This disdain was difficult to eradicate in a short period of time, and there was no way to do it. Civil officials despised not only the status of military officials but also their actions. It was the military officials of the Tang Dynasty who set a bad precedent, leading to the century of unrest in the middle and late Tang Dynasty and the subsequent collapse of ritual and music during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms lasted shorter than the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but the degree of collapse of rituals and music was even worse. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the people had nothing to eat and resorted to cannibalism, but it was different during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. They had food to eat and wanted to taste the deliciousness of two-legged sheep.

"Pay tribute to the loyal souls!"

After Nie Yu finished the worship, civil and military officers went to worship.

"It's done!"

After the civil and military officials finished their worship, Nie Yu stood up and led the officials to leave the Martyrs' Shrine and return.

After Nie Yu left, dozens of civilians immediately came in with a pile of incense and sacrificial offerings they had already bought, and a special military badge in their hands, and entered the Martyrs' Shrine with the badge.

There was an old woman, followed by a newlywed couple, who carefully compared their names on the military badges and found a place in front of the ancestral tablet.

"Dalang! Mother is here to see you. You died in battle this time, and the land and money for the compensation have been distributed. The village chief came to our house in person and exempted us from taxes for three years. Erlang has already married with the money from your compensation."

"Mother has discussed with Erlang and the others that when they have a son, they will adopt him to you. As a son, I will definitely not let you, Dalang, end the family line!"

"Erlang, come here quickly and pay your respects to your brother. This will seal the adoption agreement!"

After the old woman finished speaking, she pulled Erlang and his wife behind her. Erlang, the husband, was straightforward. He took the incense, lit it, and then offered silent worship.

This situation happened in more than one place. Either parents came to pay tribute to their son, or brothers came to pay tribute to their brother.

Outside, people came in from time to time carrying things with badges. After they came in, retired veterans would come up to act as temporary guides to lead people to find the ancestral tablets.

Throughout the entire day, the entire Martyrs' Shrine was filled with curling smoke and the incense from the sacrificial offerings continued without interruption, so there was no need for these retired soldiers to go up and add more incense.

(End of this chapter)