There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 170 Xiangyang Moves
Smoke of war rose everywhere in Hanyang and Wuchang (southwest), with tenant farmers and gentry rebelling all over the place.

Too many counties have surrendered and submitted to the Han army, leaving the Han forces stretched thin.

Nie Yu had no choice but to make a temporary adjustment, first sending a telegram back to Jingzhou, asking Jingzhou to send troops to take over the territory.

There aren't enough officials for the time being, so leave them vacant for now. The Civil Affairs Bureau, the Personnel Bureau, and the Finance Bureau should hurry up and make preparations to promote and appoint some new officials. The budget for money and grain should also keep up.

Jingzhou, the general's residence.

Holding a translated telegram from Hanyang, Liu Jun said with a face full of joy: "The General has captured Hanyang and Wuchang. The governor and provincial governor of the puppet Qing have fled in defeat, and tens of thousands of Qing soldiers have been taken prisoner. They are currently being escorted to Jingzhou by our navy."

Lu Zhihong, the official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, clenched his fist and said, "Excellent! The two prefectures of Hanyang and Wuchang control the Yangtze River, and Wuchang is the capital of Hubei Province. With Wuchang completely occupied by our Han Dynasty, dominating Huguang is just around the corner. With Huguang taken over, the balance of power will shift, and the Great General's path to kingship will be within reach!"

These words were already somewhat blunt, but no one dared to correct them at this point. Although they were civil officials, they might have risked their entire families to join the Han army in rebellion; it was certainly not solely for the lofty ideals of expelling the Tartars and advocating for the people, nor for the merit of following the emperor, becoming founding heroes, rising to high office, and leaving their mark on history…

Lin Wenchang suddenly sighed, "Once Hanyang and Wuchang fall, all the counties in those two prefectures will surrender without a second thought. Even if we exclude those with impure intentions, the remaining counties and towns that are willing to submit will still incur huge costs in terms of money and provisions... sigh!"

It wasn't that Lin Wenchang was deliberately being a spoilsport; it was just that this rebellion had cost too much money.

Liu Jun and Lü Zhihong were happy because they only needed to manage civil affairs and send officials to the newly occupied territories. Although they were tired, at least they didn't have to worry about money and food, and they could watch the Han army grow stronger step by step and get closer and closer to that position.

But Lin Wenchang was not capable; he didn't know the cost of living when he wasn't in charge.

He was the head of the Department of Revenue and was privately referred to as the "Minor Minister of Revenue" by Han army officials. He was responsible for managing and calculating every penny of the Han army's finances and provisions.

War is already incredibly expensive, and now they've expanded their territory so drastically. Almost the entire Hanyang prefecture has been swallowed up, and the southwestern part of Wuchang has also submitted to them.

With so many newly acquired territories, officials had to be assigned to each one, and counties and towns had to be re-established. The Han army also had to help the tenant farmers and common people to divide up land and register households, dig canals and build roads, and even provide disaster relief to some of the more severely exploited people, and find ways to restore the land abandoned by the people to cultivation.

Liu Jun's smile faded, and he said, "Commander Lin, there's no need to worry too much. Our Han army has long since passed its most difficult period since it rose up. Now that Hunan and Hubei are pacified, in just one or two years, we can provide a steady stream of grain to Hubei. Although Hanyang and Wuchang have suffered greatly from the war, both prefectures are the most fertile and prosperous areas along the Yangtze River. As long as we can restore production and reclaim the abandoned land, it is not impossible for them to be transformed back into the foundation of an imperial dynasty."

Yao Hongyi, the usually quiet official in charge of the Industry and Commerce Bureau, stood up and said, "Officer Liu is right. Hanyang and Wuchang have already been opened up by our army, and it's only a matter of time before Huangzhou is reached further east. With the advantage of the Yangtze River waterway, our business with the Huizhou merchants on salt and crystal cups will be much easier."

Within the Han army's internal affairs management system, the Bureau of Industry and Commerce had virtually no say.

Because the Bureau of Industry and Commerce was in charge of both industry and commerce, it could be regarded as the Ministry of Works of the Han Army, but it was fundamentally different from the proper Ministry of Works.

The Han army's Bureau of Industry and Commerce was truly responsible for managing private trade activities, and they even had to personally participate in the salt trade with Huizhou merchants on behalf of the General's Mansion.

The sale and market management of salt within the Han army have been monopolized by the Bureau of Industry and Commerce.

Don't say that this interferes with the normal development of the market economy. We have no choice but to intervene. Ancient merchants, including Nie Yu's father-in-law Chen family, were all cunning and dishonest.

The dynasty's emphasis on agriculture and suppression of commerce was not entirely without reason. Proper commerce should be a transaction of buying and selling, but in reality, ancient commerce was practically no different from robbery.

If something can be monopolized, then monopolize it to the fullest extent. Without government control, merchants would have gone mad long ago.

For a specific example, one can refer to the Dutch at that time. Just last year, the Netherlands, which had been completely ruined by the Dutch (merchants), was finally destroyed by the French army.

The rise, decline, and eventual demise of the Netherlands were all due to Dutch merchants.

Dutch merchants sought to make money, which led to the Dutch independence movement.

Dutch merchants, driven by greed, expelled the royal family and formed the East India Company.

Dutch merchants fought the British to make money, then lent money to the British to fight the war, selling their warships to the British for profit. Finally, fearing that the British would be unable to repay the loans after their defeat, they voluntarily backed down, leading to the defeat of the Dutch navy.

Abstraction is truly, truly abstract!

This is a national internal affairs system completely controlled by businessmen, with absolutely no behavioral logic whatsoever.

They'll sell anything for money, even their country!

Nie Yu's side wasn't as exaggerated. It wasn't that the merchants under the Han army's rule were benevolent, but rather that he nipped any potential problems in the bud.

Those whose homes should be confiscated should have their homes confiscated, and those who should be sent to mines or do hard labor should all be sent to do hard labor.

The salt trade was also initially placed under the government control of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, and all retail salt prices were regulated by the Bureau according to market conditions.

Not only salt, but also grain prices in the market are subject to macro-control by the Industry and Commerce Bureau. As for whether such excessive interference in the private market, placing salt and grain under state control, will cause problems?

That would definitely cause problems, because both of these are extremely profitable. Salt, in particular, was a sure thing in ancient times. Take the Huizhou merchants who are now cooperating with the Han army to sell salt, for example. They made their fortune by controlling the price of salt through the government.

The Huizhou merchants were essentially middlemen and exclusive agents. They squeezed out other agents and rose to become the richest people in the country.

Even the eight major imperial merchants (traitors) couldn't beat these Huizhou merchants, which shows just how profitable salt was. If the people were given the right to sell salt on their own, what would happen?
"Food is the most important thing for the people, and salt is the most important food. In order to prevent merchants from being greedy for profit and disturbing the local area, the general banned private salt production and changed it to government-run salt production."

As Yao Hongyi spoke, he took out a copy of the salt accounts from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau, which detailed the profits from salt and crystal cups obtained after cooperating with Huizhou merchants.

"So many?" Liu Jun was immediately surprised.

"Salt profits are indeed exorbitant!"

"No wonder the Hui merchants were able to build such a large business; salt was such a lucrative commodity."

"The salt merchants of Yangzhou are indeed the wealthiest in the world, and it seems that their reputation is well-deserved!"

"..."

Everyone took the ledger and looked through it, exclaiming in astonishment and swallowing hard.

After reading it, Lin Wenchang's expression also improved considerably. He couldn't help but sigh, "The ancestors were right. Salt is indeed a worthwhile commodity with no cost and huge profits. Fortunately, the General had the foresight to keep the salt in our own hands and not hand it over to those merchants."

In reality, although the profits from salt in this ledger look substantial, they are still somewhat insufficient compared to the financial expenditures of the Han army.

But that's alright, this is only the first year's profit sharing, and the sales channels with the Huizhou merchants have just begun to open up. With the inherent advantages of Han salt's taste and price, the profits will only increase in the future.

Moreover, the Han army's sale of Han salt was not solely for profit. The key was to establish sales channels for Han salt and export it to various provinces under the puppet Qing regime.

At that time, the salt used under the rule of the puppet Qing dynasty will be all from Han salt. Once the Han salt supply is cut off by the Han army, the puppet Qing region will definitely be in chaos!
Food is the most important thing for people, and salt is the most important thing for food.

Without food, people will starve to death; without salt, people will be too weak to get sick.

Just as everyone was discussing the governance strategy for the newly occupied territory, the Commerce and Industry Bureau chimed in with a few points about the prices of salt and grain in the new territory. Suddenly, an urgent report came from the Postal and Communications Bureau (post station): Yuan'an County is in danger!
Yuan'an County is a county seat in the northwest of Jingmen Prefecture, and it was also the territory controlled by the Jingmen White Lotus Rebel Army.

The magistrate of Yuan'an County, Xi Yunfeng, was granted his title by a decree issued by Nie Yu.

Although the Jingmen rebels had been forced by circumstances to change their allegiance and submit to the central government, people don't give up until they see the coffin.

Xiangyang had tens of thousands of Qing troops stationed there, and they had just defeated a White Lotus army of 200,000. Even a heroine like Wang Cong'er had fled to Yunyang Prefecture.

If the Qing army in Xiangyang doesn't move south, the Jingmen rebels can keep the Han army occupied for another day. Changing their flags and allies is no problem, but they can take the initiative to move south and surrender to Jingzhou. It's not that they want to guard against the Qing army in Xiangyang moving south, but that they can't leave their own side. They just send messengers back and forth to communicate.

Jingzhou did not appoint officials, nor did they proactively seek instructions.

Jingzhou ordered them to gather troops and cause a disturbance, so they obeyed and gathered troops and caused a disturbance.

In summary, they listened to orders but not official pronouncements, and tried to delay as long as possible.

Unfortunately, the Qing army in Xiangyang still marched south. It would have been strange if they hadn't. Even if the Han army couldn't capture Hanyang and Wuchang, the Qing army couldn't have just stood by and watched.

E Hui was the Governor-General of Huguang, and Mingliang was the Commander-in-Chief of Huguang. They sat idly by and watched the rebels attack the provincial capital. If this were reported to the capital, Emperor Qianlong would have to punish and hold them accountable, considering they were both Manchus.

He may escape the death penalty, but he cannot escape punishment.

When E Hui and Ming Liang set out to fight, they had carefully timed it, making sure that they had almost finished mobilizing the grain and laborers before sending out their troops.

Their idea wasn't wrong. Hanyang and Wuchang were both large cities, each with tens of thousands of troops. Even if they couldn't defeat the rebels in open battle, they should be able to hold out for a month or two by defending the cities. As long as the two prefectures could hold, E Hui and Ming Liang could take the opportunity to march south and send troops. Even if they couldn't wipe out the rebels, they could at least keep them busy, wasting their food and supplies, and putting the rebels in a financial crisis.

Even if it doesn't succeed, just drag it out until the rebels run out of strength and the imperial court mobilizes troops from several provinces to suppress them.

So what if the rebels are good at fighting?
With the combined forces of several provinces encircling and suppressing them, even the most powerful rebels will be annihilated.

(End of this chapter)