Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 648 Sweeping Through Jiangnan

“If you want to be rich, build roads first.”

"If you want to live a good life, you need green mountains and clear waters."

Chen Yucheng, who came from an orphanage, shouted loudly through a megaphone, "Work hard and you'll have enough to eat!"

His original name was Chen Picheng, and he lost both his parents at a young age.

He's done all sorts of jobs, from manual labor and herding cattle to cutting grass, carrying mud, and pounding walls. Joining the God Worshippers Society was just a way to earn a living.

It wasn't until they were selected for an orphanage and received a good education and care that they were able to grow up quickly and healthily.

Moreover, he was the leader of the association, who personally changed his name to Yucheng.

The orphans in the orphanage camp were arguably the most loyal members of the Taiping Army to their leader.

Nowadays, the forest road construction and tree planting are promoted, and Chen Yucheng, who has been assigned to the job, is working very hard.

Holding a megaphone, he enthusiastically encouraged workers in his assigned area.

Road construction is simple: provide money and food to recruit people, distribute tools, and assign tasks.

Just dig where you need to dig, fill where you need to fill, and compact where you need to compact.

Planting trees would be troublesome.

Because of a lack of saplings.

Saplings that travel through time and space will lose their vitality.

Planting trees requires saplings, so we have to go to the mountainous areas of southern Anhui to find them.

"May it be successful~"

My fellow villager and friend, Li Xiucheng, rode his old-fashioned bicycle along the bumpy road, calling out, "Yu Cheng~"

"Xiucheng, you're here?" Chen Yucheng greeted him joyfully. "Do you still have the provided bay leaves? Quickly, give me one!"

"You little rascal~" Li Xiucheng, having stopped the car, smiled and pulled out a pack of Liqun cigarettes. "Where's yours?"

"Hey, don't mention it."

Chen Yucheng, his face covered in the dust of travel, lit a fragrant leaf and took a deep breath.
"Hu~~"

"By pulling strings and spreading fragrant leaves, they're gone in an instant."

"Did you come to see me for something?"

"This is to deliver a notice to you." Li Xiucheng took out a file folder from his military green satchel.

After opening it, I pulled out a red-headed document and handed it over.

"Before the leader decides on the Northern Expedition, he will first launch an Eastern Expedition to pacify the Jiangnan region."

"If any of you from the orphanage want to go, you can sign up."

"Great!" Young Chen Yucheng laughed joyfully, clutching the documents tightly in his hand. "Finally, we can fight! I've been here all day repairing roads and planting trees, it's driving me crazy!"

“Sigh~” Li Xiucheng shook his head, his smile fading. “These are all tasks arranged by the leader, we can’t treat them so lightly.”

Li Xiucheng was not from the orphanage; his family was still alive. He was enrolled in the minor soldier camp.

His original name was Yiwen, but Lin Dao gave him the name Xiucheng.

Originally, the family was extremely poor. It was Lin Dao who eliminated the Qing demons, and his family was given land and exempted from exorbitant taxes.

Grateful for Lin Huishou's kindness, Li Xiucheng's family sent him to the junior military camp to fight for Lin Huishou.

Both the orphanage and the youth camp were deeply indebted to Lin Dao, and the purity of the young people made them extremely loyal to Lin Dao.

"Xiucheng is right, I misspoke."

Chen Yucheng sincerely apologized, quickly gave some instructions to his deputy, and then, amidst his deputy's envious gaze, sat on the back of the old bicycle and returned to Jinling City, chatting and laughing all the way.

Lin Dao was extremely familiar with Jinling City. After conquering the city, he quickly set up his camp in the Ming Imperial City.

Two hundred years ago, after Nanjing surrendered, the Qing dynasty changed the Ming imperial city into the Manchu city.

Over the years, the number of Eight Banner soldiers stationed here has reached more than 5,000, and the number of their accompanying family members is as high as tens of thousands.

The resistance during the siege even surpassed that of Jingzhou.

When the city was breached, they even set fires everywhere, burning down most of the city.

After more than a month of emergency repairs, things gradually started to look better.

Today's mobilization meeting is being held in the square that has now been turned into a wasteland.

"The Tartars are tyrannical!"

"Two hundred years of utter darkness~"

"Literary inquisition"

"National subjugation and racial extinction~"

"Righteous men of the world!"

"Let's launch our eastern expedition!"

"Expel the Tartars and restore China!"

Standing on the podium with a microphone in front of him, Lin Dao was already very familiar with giving these motivational speeches.

Looking at the thousands of figures sitting upright in neat rows before me, a thought popped into my head.

'It feels a bit like being a school principal~'

On both sides of the platform, there were many clerks who were busy writing down Lin Dao's words, which would then be copied and distributed to various places.

Only a small portion of these clerks were trained in military night schools.

After all, the time was too short, and even if one learned vernacular Chinese, it was impossible to become a master so quickly.

Most of them are still scholars from various places.

The scholars mentioned here are not those raised by landlords and gentry, but rather scholars from ordinary families.

The common people are not stupid; they know that if they want to change their family's fate, they must support scholars to take the imperial examinations and obtain official titles.

Indeed, there are quite a few families who would rather sell their land and houses than not support their children's education.

Of those, less than one in a hundred might succeed.

Becoming talented doesn't guarantee official rank; one still needs to pass a series of examinations, at least reaching the level of a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations) to truly stand out. Each breakthrough essentially eliminates over 90% of the candidates.

Those who were eliminated faced extremely difficult lives.

Hong Xiuquan was essentially a failed scholar who hadn't even passed the imperial examinations.

These people could join the Taiping Army as long as they did not own more than 50 mu of land and had no connection with the Taiping government, such as having a female relative who was a concubine or maidservant of an official.

As for the prerequisite, it is to abandon Confucianism and embrace new learning.

The so-called new learning is based on vernacular Chinese and mathematics, and pursues the improvement of the strange and ingenious skills that were previously despised and rejected by Confucianism. Lin Dao calls it science.

For these scholars from impoverished backgrounds, abandoning the Confucianism they had studied so hard for years but could not attain was a matter of no psychological burden.

Because for many years they have only invested, even to the point of ruin and death, but they have never seen any return.

After turning to science, they turned around and attacked Confucianism the most.

At first, Lin Dao assigned them to teaching positions, in charge of night schools within the army.

Those who performed exceptionally well were selected and gradually began to take charge of some clerical work.

Some were even assigned to local areas to establish administrative agencies at various levels.

Those who see hope in reading work hard as if in a competition.

Unfortunately, they all have a ceiling.

The truly limitless ones are the young people in front of Lin Dao, most of whom come from orphanages and small military camps.

These people are the foundation of the future.

They were more pure, received a comprehensive education, and far surpassed the literati of the old era in terms of ability, loyalty, and even integrity.

The rapid increase in Lin Dao's attack speed is due to the fact that these core members, whom he has been nurturing, are beginning to graduate on a large scale.

The Taiping Army launched another expedition.

They traveled downstream along the great river, using both land and water routes.

They conquered cities and territories, clearing out local areas, and promoted tax-free farming.

Local thugs and ruffians who volunteered to join the Taiping Army were not only rejected, but were also publicly tried, accused of crimes, and even shot.

Those who were truly qualified to join the Taiping Army were the sons of good families who had been allocated land, as well as orphans gathered from various places.

Orphans also need to be selected.

We don't want the wild ones; send them to a reformatory.

The correctional facility will correct their behavior and, after confirming that they will not cause harm, will either allocate land to them or assign them work.

Those with disabilities or serious illnesses will be sent to resettlement facilities.

After treatment, they will be given lighter jobs so that they have a chance to survive.

As for the city, it's simple.

Whether it was a county town, a prefectural town, or a provincial capital, military control was implemented after the city was captured.

While searching for fleeing soldiers, officials, and yamen runners, they also arrested beggars and members of all sorts of shady gangs, brothel madams, and even latrine bullies, and even itinerant wanderers.

What followed was a rigorous interrogation.

Those with lesser offenses would be punished with hard labor, and the mines, mainly coal mines, would become their final destination.

Those convicted of serious crimes will be assigned to mine special ores, the kind that produce radioactive material.

More often, however, a public trial was held, and the matter was left to the local people to handle.

The only exception is the beggar.

Crimes such as mutilation, rape, and other heinous acts, once confirmed, would result in the perpetrators being immediately dragged to the execution ground and subjected to a lottery.

The lottery included many punishments such as skinning someone alive, slow slicing, burning someone alive, flying a kite, and planting lotus flowers.

Give them the opportunity to choose which one to accept.

In Lin Dao's words, 'The fate of how they atone for their sins is in their own hands.'

The sins and crimes committed must be punished accordingly!

This is not justice delayed, but the true will of the people!
The Taiping army's marching speed was not fast, but it was like Mount Tai pressing down, ruthlessly crushing all resistance.

Moreover, the Taiping army was expanding rapidly.

After the land was distributed and the public trial took place, the local people enthusiastically joined the Taiping Army and formed local militia forces.

Each work team and propaganda team continuously worked with the people who had been allocated land.

They were repeatedly told that only if the Taiping Army won and the leader drove away the Qing dynasty could the land and property they received truly belong to them.

Otherwise, once the Qing demons return, all the property you have been allocated will be taken away, and you and your families will lose your lives under their butcher's knife!

The people of the Middle Kingdom are never fools.

They can tell the difference between what's beneficial and what's not.

After receiving the benefits, they didn't hesitate and sent their sons to join the Taiping Army.

It's not only to protect the fruits of their own labor, but also to avoid taxes.

If our sons make something of themselves outside, they might even have to create a separate genealogy for the family!

The Taiping Army fought battles, distributed land equally, eliminated evil and wicked people, and expanded its territory continuously.

When they reached the shore of Taihu Lake and split up to circle around both sides of the lake, the rough estimate was that the number of troops had reached hundreds of thousands.

These are all on the register.

Lin Daoming ordered Yang Xiuqing to lead a group of men to Hangzhou via the southern bank of Taihu Lake.

Before leaving, I earnestly instructed them to remember to keep the entire city along the West Lake clean.

As for himself, he headed straight for Shanghai.

After passing Jiangyin and approaching Suzhou Prefecture, a fleet appeared on the river.

They charged recklessly towards the Taiping Army's fleet.

The English have dispatched a fleet from Hong Kong Island to 'teach' the ignorant and foolish natives of the East a lesson.
(End of this chapter)