There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 41 What a dirty heart!

The Mancheng of Jingzhou is very large, occupying almost half of the city. Even the Jingzhou Prefecture School is located inside the Mancheng because there is no other place to move it. It is also convenient for the children of the bannermen to study in the prefectural school.

The Han soldiers blocked all the gates of Mancheng. Although the city was not small, the Manchus inside had no place to escape and could only wait for the Han soldiers to search them one by one.

By nightfall, the remaining Han soldiers who had captured the government office and the county government office came to Mancheng to provide support, and they finally cleared the entire city.

The city looks quite large, but there are very few residential buildings inside. Most of them are the offices of the governor, the generals, the provincial schools, etc. There are also a lot of Confucius Temples, Erlang Temples, Yaowang Temples, City God Temples and Buddhist temples. There is even a shaman hall found inside.

Jingzhou government office.

Feng Xiuyong, with a smug look on his face, was directing the surrendered officials, including Jingzhou Tongzhi Wang Shuxun and Jiangling County Magistrate Wei Yao, to sort through the government documents. "Sort out all the documents from the past few years and file them by category. I'll keep a collection of them and submit them to the general for his review."

Jingzhou officials including Wang Shuxun and Wei Yao did not dare to refuse. They had barely managed to save their lives at the hands of the rebels and could not die in such an unclear manner.

It is said that Qing Dynasty officials had the responsibility to defend the territory, but that depends on the individual. There is great terror between life and death, and when you die, you will lose everything.

After arranging the tasks and leaving a few Han soldiers and deputies to watch over them, Feng Xiuyong came out to greet Nie Yu: "General, the government documents are already being sorted and should be filed away in a few days."

"Well," Nie Yu nodded slightly and encouraged with a smile, "Mr. Feng, you have worked hard. I will need you to continue to do your best to check the filing of documents!"

The other party had helped him seize Zhijiang, Jingzhou, a county and a prefecture, and was the first scholar to surrender voluntarily so far, so Nie Yu was still willing to give him some courtesy.

Of course, the main reason was that he didn't have many trusted scholars on hand who could help with major matters, not counting the sons of wealthy families in Yidu County who were forcibly ordered to do things. At most, Nie Yu dared to let these people handle some paperwork. Important matters still needed to be cleared by his father, Nie Jieren, and his cousin, Nie Lin, and other family members.

As they were talking, He Shunan, Bai Nan and Xu Sanlang came over to report.

He Shunan spoke first, "General, the government and county offices have been seized. The money and grain in the government treasury are indeed as Mr. Feng said. There are even more than those found in Zhijiang and Yidu counties. There are dozens of large boxes of silver alone, and even gold and a lot of armor and weapons."

Xu Sanlang added, "But I tried their weapons, and they weren't as good as ours. I used our swords against them, and they were fine. On the contrary, the swords in the treasury had big gaping holes in them, and some were even broken. Perhaps the Qing officials embezzled the money for the weapons."

On the side, Feng Xiuyong also frowned when he heard it. He did not doubt the truth of what Xu Sanlang said, but he thought to himself that the officials of Jingzhou Prefecture were really bold and even dared to embezzle the money of the court to suppress the Miao Rebellion. He even suspected that the prefect Cui Longjian was involved in this matter.

Well, it is very likely. He thought that the other party was compassionate to the people and loyal to the emperor and the country, but he didn't expect that he was also a hidden corrupt official who was seeking fame and embezzling military funds.

Good thing Cui Longjian was already dead. If he were still alive, he would have fought Feng Xiuyong to the death. He had worked so hard to build up his reputation as an "upright official," and just like that, he had destroyed it with a single word, and even falsely accused him of embezzling military funds.

Nie Yu knew what was going on. He coughed lightly and said, "Although these weapons are not as good as ours, they are not completely unusable. Count the number of weapons and armor among them. They will be of great use to me later!"

"As ordered."

He Shunan and Xu Sanlang quickly bowed in response.

Bai Nan also stepped forward to report, "General, I was ordered to suppress the unrest in Jingzhou. It has now been largely quelled! Most of it was caused by the cattle and horses in the city taking advantage of the chaos. I dispatched troops and killed a number, and captured a number, before finally stopping the unrest!"

"What did you just say? Cows and horses?"

Nie Yu was surprised to hear this vaguely familiar term. Feng Xiuyong, knowing Nie Yu didn't understand, explained, "General, oxen and horses don't refer to actual cattle or horses. They refer to the lower-class vagrants who perform menial labor. They're mostly found in the outer cities, and they often mingle with the thugs, acting as thugs to extort money. Furthermore, many of these thugs are backed by wealthy gentry."

After hearing this, Nie Yu understood that it was an ancient society, and a society with a boss.

Pu Songling, who has been dead for who knows how many years, even mentioned this in his Liaozhai: "If we are not from the same lane, I would rather serve you like an ox or a horse than be rewarded with a hundred gold coins."

Three of his generals reported on military affairs.

Feng Xiuyong then reminded him, "General, now that our Han Dynasty has taken control of one prefecture and three counties in Jingzhou (Yidu, Zhijiang, and Songzi), it's time to consider our next move!"

"Or cut your braids?" Nie Yu asked.

Feng Xiuyong shook his head: "No, this is secondary. The first thing to do right now is to release him!"

"Are you talking about the Mongolian governor Hui Ling?" Nie Yu asked again.

Feng Xiuyong said: "It's not just Huiling, the Mongolian governor, but also all the Manchus and bannermen's families in the city."

Nie Yu became interested: "How do you say that?"

Feng Xiuyong asked seriously, "I heard that the general has captured Chengde, the Right Commander-in-Chief of Jingzhou. He shouldn't have been killed yet, right?"

"Not yet. What do you want to do?" Nie Yu asked with a smile.

Feng Xiuyong heard the answer and replied with a smile: "General, I don't want to do anything. I just want to help you get out of trouble."

"I believe that although the general has conquered Jingzhou, Jingzhou is located on the north bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, occupying the most important and core area of ​​the Jianghan Plain. If Bi Yuan, the pseudo-Qing Huguang Governor, knew about this, he would definitely lead a large army to attack."

"I'm not saying that the Han Chinese can't stop the Qing army, but I have a way to help the general and prevent that Qing governor from sending troops. All the general needs to do is release Cheng De and Hui Ling together, and then let them take away some of the Manchus in the city. Then we can say that they fought bloody battles and led the Manchus in Jingzhou to break through the siege."

"With these living Manchus, Huiling and Chengde will surely be emboldened. To shift the blame for the 300 Manchu soldiers killed in battle and the loss of Jingzhou City, they will surely join forces to impeach the deceased Jingzhou prefect, the Huguang Governor, and the Jingzhou General. It was they who transferred the Manchu garrison's Eight Banners, who nurtured the enemy on the Hunan battlefield, and delayed the opportunity to fight, allowing our Han Dynasty to seize Jingzhou and resulting in the deaths of countless Manchus."

Nie Yu was surprised when he heard this. He thought that he had deliberately deceived Hui Ling before, but it turned out that Feng Xiuyong really wanted to do so.

"Can you really do this?"

Feng Xiuyong said calmly, "It would definitely not work if we did it normally, but with Chengde, the Right Commander of the Manchu City, and the countless Manchus who survived in the city, it will naturally work."

After saying this, he added, "General, although the pseudo-Qing Dynasty preaches that the Manchus and the Han are one family, in reality, everyone in the government and the public knows what is going on. The death of a Manchu is different from the death of a Han. So many Manchu soldiers died in battle, and the city was captured. Someone must bear this blood debt."

"The one who bears this blood debt certainly can't be Hui Ling, nor can it be Cheng De, so who else could it be?"

Oh my god, no wonder he can be a staff advisor, this guy has a really dirty heart!
(End of this chapter)