Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 626 Distributing Land and Winning Hearts and Minds
"Where exactly is Xiang Rong?!"

The roar of the Xianfeng Emperor was so loud it made people's eardrums hurt.

The Grand Councilors looked at each other, unsure of Xiang Rong's whereabouts.

"An army of fifty thousand!"

An enraged Emperor Xianfeng, brandishing the military report in his hand, roared, "A full 50,000 garrison troops, enough to feed the entire city for half a year, and they tell me they're impregnable, waiting for reinforcements, launching a coordinated attack from within and without, to wipe out the rebels!"

'Boom! '

He slammed his hand on the table. "That's all bullshit!"

"Guilin City fell in just one day!"

"The entire Guangxi region has fallen into the hands of bandits!"

That's an exaggeration.

At this time, Lin Dao mainly controlled the three prefectures of Wuzhou, Pingluo, and Guilin.

Even so, there are still many remote counties, villages, and towns that haven't been taken over yet.

Compared to the entire Guangxi region, the area it actually controls is less than a quarter of the total area.

This is the strong impact of the loss of the provincial government.

In many cases, the loss of the provincial capital almost meant the fall of the entire province.

The provincial government holds extremely strong symbolic significance in politics.

The more Emperor Xianfeng spoke, the angrier he became, even limping and roaring in front of the Grand Councilors.

Now that he has officially ascended the throne, he no longer cares about hiding his leg ailment, which he had previously tried to conceal.

For two hundred years, he was the first Qing emperor to have a physical disability.

Uh, I don't know if having a pockmarked face counts.

"Where is Lin Yuanfu?" Emperor Xianfeng, his face glistening with oil, took a breath and asked, "Where is he?"

As the squadron leader, Mu Zhang'a had no choice but to step forward and salute in response.

"emperor."

"The imperial edict appointing Lin Yuanfu as Imperial Commissioner and Governor of Guangxi must have already been delivered."

"However, according to the rules, Lin Yuanfu will still have to decline a bit."

"He returned to his hometown to recuperate due to illness, and it is estimated that he has just arrived home and has not yet had time to rest."

"And I heard that there are English people causing trouble in Fuzhou."

"Back when Lin Yuanfu destroyed opium at Humen, he had a very unpleasant falling out with the English—I'm afraid..."

"Enough!" Emperor Xianfeng had reached his limit when Mu Zhang'a was still stammering and repeating nonsense.

"You are all Grand Councilors, yet you cannot share the burdens of the Emperor and Father; you are all useless!"

This statement had a wide-ranging impact, affecting a number of Grand Councilors.

Although it sounds awful, I still have to bear it.

There was nothing they could do; the emperor was the master, while they were merely servants.

The act of everyone bowing and apologizing has long become a standardized procedure.

Looking at the rows of half-shaved heads and queues before him, the Emperor Xianfeng, filled with helplessness, closed his eyes and sighed.

They, the Aisin Gioro clan, truly held power firmly in their hands.

But what followed was everyone's slackness.

Anyway, the world belongs to you Aisin Gioro clan, so why should we, as slaves, risk our lives?

Just like now, none of these Grand Councilors are of any use and can offer any advice.

Especially this chief Grand Councilor.

When we were fighting the English, he was so servile and surrendered in every way. This person should not be allowed to live!

After venting his anger, the young Emperor Xianfeng, limping, angrily returned to his concubines to soothe his emotions.

Yes, he has already started working on the draft.

After all, no matter how busy the affairs of state are, the selection of beauties cannot be delayed to expand the royal bloodline.
Even in remote Guangxi, the forest roads are bustling with activity.

"It is easy to conquer a city, but difficult to defend it."

Looking at the densely packed documents and books in front of him, Lin Dao scratched his head.

Conquering cities and seizing territory is easy; just fight.

After capturing a place, the bandits could plunder and leave with people and supplies, but Lin Dao could not do that.

He needed to establish a base there to appease the people.

The Taiping army is now launching attacks in all directions, capturing prefectures and counties in Guangxi one by one, while at the same time constantly fighting off government troops that are coming from Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong and other places.

In this regard, Shi Dakai, Xiao Chaogui, and others were mainly in charge of command.

More important energy was devoted to land redistribution, resolving conflicts, and winning people's hearts.

The imperial estates of the Imperial Household Department, the lands of princes, nobles and powerful figures, official lands, school lands, and even the lands of local landlords, gentry and gentry, etc.

All the fields were confiscated and redistributed.

The only ones who could be preserved were the people who owned less than fifty acres of land.

The distribution of land equally was not done arbitrarily.

Detailed data support and analysis are required.

How should the land be divided, to whom should it be divided, how should clan power be broken up during the land distribution, how should arrangements be made to alleviate the conflict between the local people and the Hakka people to the greatest extent, how should the families of the regular soldiers be given priority, how should land taxes be formulated, and so on.

This isn't something to be decided on a whim.

Every decision affects countless families and could even lead to fierce private feuds.

That's why Lin Dao said, "It's easy to conquer the world, but difficult to maintain it."

This also fully demonstrates the role that scholars can play.

At the very least, without offering any suggestions, simply collecting and measuring various data is not something that soldiers who have only attended night school for a short time and learned to read by reading large print during marches can do.

For an ordinary time traveler, this would mean making peace with the gentry, represented by scholars. Because there's no other choice, a time traveler can't possibly handle everything alone.

"This kind of thing."

Lin Dao instructed that all these thick documents and books should be packed up, "It's still best to leave it to professionals."

The professionals he was referring to certainly couldn't be the clerks and scholars.

Instead, they were brought back to the modern world and handed over to real professionals to handle.

They will input all the data into the computer, then build a model to perform calculations, and finally come up with various solutions for the forest road to choose from.

They even thoughtfully provide specific operating procedures and guidelines.

This is the benefit of having a time portal.

Lindao offers convenient and quick access to advanced technology and a wealth of brilliant minds.

With the help of his friends, his data analysis and processing proceeded very quickly.

In just a few days, they returned with various plans.

“Form a working group.”

Lin Dao selected a mixed plan: "Soldiers to guard the area, staff to distribute land, propagandists to expel the Tartars and restore China, and those who would play the bad cop in the division of the Hakka and Tujia clans - forming a work team to go to various places to do things."

"By the way, inform Shi Dakai and the others that while clearing out the demons, they should also intensify their crackdown on bandits and mountain thieves in various places."

"These security risks must be eliminated."

In the modern world, bandits are naturally nowhere to be seen.

They usually only appear in movies and TV shows, and are even embellished.

But in reality, mountain bandits and outlaws were pure villains.

To understand these people, just look at Li Kui.

There's not much to say about bandits and outlaws; the best solution is to simply eliminate them.

The Taiping Army dispatched numerous work teams.

They rushed to various prefectures, counties, towns, and villages in Guangxi, following the army led by Shi Dakai and Xiao Chaogui.

The soldiers conquered cities and territories, cleared the areas, and the work teams followed up by settling in various locations to carry out their work.

The normal procedure was to first confiscate all the land belonging to the Manchu bannermen and the government.

Whether it was official land or school land, it was all confiscated.

Then came the lands of the local gentry and gentry.

A family that owned more than 50 acres of land would be considered a landlord, and their land would be confiscated.

In Guangxi, where the average person owns less than one mu (0.067 hectares) of land, owning fifty mu (0.33 hectares) of farmland is basically the highest level an ordinary family can achieve.

Then came the familiar public trial.

The Taiping army set up a stage for a theatrical performance, and finally handed over the people wearing hats and placards to them so that they could vent their anger.

After venting their anger, the local people had no choice but to board the boat.

After all, the returning-home groups are not something that will only appear in the future.

These gentry families, or their clans, usually cultivated scholars, or even sponsored scholars to become officials.

If these people return with their militia, then things will be terrible.

The people had no choice but to support the Taiping Army, hoping that it would achieve final victory and then they would no longer have to fear retaliation.

Moreover, the Taiping army also distributed land to them and abolished all the exorbitant taxes, leaving only the land tax.

Among these, the most popular was that the Taiping Army truly implemented the policy of exempting people from corvée labor.

Whether it was repairing roads, maintaining or constructing water conservancy facilities, or any other project, the work was all done by recruiting laborers.

The wages were meager, but meals were provided.

In this era of widespread famine, jobs that provide meals are few and far between.

Undoubtedly, the public trial vented anger, distributed land and benefits, and relieved the burden by abolishing exorbitant taxes.

These three methods were groundbreaking innovations during the dark era of mite eradication.

The will of the people is beyond doubt.

After receiving tremendous benefits, the people in various places were very cooperative and accommodating in matters such as the dismantling and relocation of people, the resolution of conflicts between the local and Hakka peoples, and the dismantling of clan power.

To put it bluntly, both the conflict between the Hakka and the indigenous people and the power struggles among clans are things that are forced upon them by the realities of life.

With improved living conditions and hope for the future, past conflicts are no longer a problem.

The next thing to consider is how to protect the enormous benefits we've gained.

"If you join the Taiping Army and someone in your family is a regular soldier in the Taiping Army, you will be exempt from paying land tax!"

The announcement of tax exemption for military service sparked a massive surge in applications from all over the country.

It wasn't just about getting tax exemptions; it was also about protecting the newly allocated land to their family.

Don't think the people are stupid. They may be illiterate, but they are not stupid.

They knew very well that if the Taiping army failed and the Qing dynasty launched a counterattack, they would not only lose everything they had gained, but they would even lose their lives!
Therefore, sending the boys in the family to join the Taiping Army became the choice for most people.

After all, these days, which family doesn't have a few sons?
I didn't really care that much about giving away one or two.

Moreover, if they managed to rise to prominence, and even if the Taiping Rebellion established a new dynasty, then...
The response from various regions has been overwhelming, with an excessive number of applicants.

When the news reached Lin Dao, he made a cleanup without hesitation.

"We can't have it all, we don't need that much."

"Volumes are allocated in various regions to select the best young men."

"And they can only serve as auxiliary soldiers; their performance will determine whether they can be promoted to regular soldiers."

While Lin Dao was leading the Taiping Army, busy consolidating the rear and preparing for the Northern Expedition.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Guangdong, Feng Yunshan and Hong Xiuquan, after a long period of preparation, also began their operation.

After changing their name to the God Worshipping Father Society, their uprising began.

(End of this chapter)