Qing Yao

Chapter 208 If all else fails, then overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming.

The world is about to descend into chaos, and the first to suffer when chaos breaks out will be the officials. To ensure their heads are not taken, they must have the ability to protect themselves.

How can one protect oneself? Of course, it's by taking out small loans, taking out loans non-stop, taking out as many as possible, because the more you take out loans, the more money you have to buy an official position, a high-ranking official position!
Only then can they have enough money to do business and make money.

There was no way around it, because given the rank and actual position of Zhao An, Lao Ding, and Lao Song, it was simply impossible for them to develop successfully in just four years.

If things proceed step by step, four years from now, the county magistrate will probably still be a county magistrate, and the professor will still be a professor.

Only by using money to pave the way, exploiting loopholes in the old man's policies to strengthen themselves, and finally bringing the old man down.

It's like exploiting bugs in a video game.

The higher one's official rank, the more resources one can integrate and utilize, and these resources can be readily converted into "weapons of mass destruction."

With a knife handle, many problems can be easily solved.

What does it matter if you owe a little debt?

If pushed too far, just take the creditor's life, let the company go bankrupt and reorganize, it's no big deal.

What if resources are scarce?
Let's get more people to play together!
Unity is strength.

Zhao An's program and strategy were always closely linked, one link after another, complementing each other.

It's just that it's different from the traditional anti-Qing model, which is all about being great, glorious, and righteous, filled with bitter hatred and impassioned slogans.

This can be considered a bold innovation by Zhao An in the anti-Qing struggle.

No matter the method, any method that can overthrow the Qing Dynasty is a good method.

Old Ding wavered, he really wavered.

But Lao Ding's wavering wasn't because he wanted to participate in his grandson-in-law's microloan revolution, but simply because he was moved by the phrase "the power to protect oneself."

The current situation of the Qing Dynasty is quite distressing, and it really looks like the end of a dynasty. Although Lao Ding doesn't know much about what's going on in the court, as a grassroots official, he knows all kinds of malpractices and that the bureaucracy is already rotten to the core, because he himself is a corrupt official.

If Ganquan hadn't been an attached county of Yangzhou, the world's largest city, who knows how much the people would have been exploited by him.

The situation in other places is far more serious than in Ganquan, and the situation of migrants has become increasingly serious in recent years.

However, the emperor was immersed in the joy of his eightieth birthday and was unwilling to face the fact that his empire was already too heavy to function properly.

Therefore, it's hard to say that the major chaos predicted by the grandson-in-law won't happen.

If they don't prepare in advance, and if this chaos really does spread like wildfire across the country, the fate of these court officials will be precarious.

During the late Ming Dynasty, how many officials were beheaded by rebellious peasants?

How many more gentry and wealthy families have been wiped out by peasants!

Does he really have to follow the example of his predecessors and die for his country?

Unable to make up his mind for a moment, he remained silent.

Zhao An didn't urge him. Among the three, Lao Ding had the highest academic qualifications. He needed to let this orthodox intellectual think things through. Once Lao Ding understood, his energy and influence would increase exponentially.

Haven't you seen how peasant uprisings, once old bureaucrats join in, immediately transform from bandits into legitimate dynasties, making great strides forward?

Furthermore, Zhao An's approach was rather radical, and the rebellious ideas he expressed did not conform to the traditional thinking habits of scholar-officials.

Especially the intellectuals who had been colonized and indoctrinated by the Manchus for over a century. Old Song, on the other hand, was much more proactive, or rather, much more enlightened than Old Ding.

He stroked his chin, somewhat puzzled, and said, "Lord Zhao, even if all of what you said happens, our official positions are too low right now, and there hasn't been any unrest yet. The court won't allow us to recruit local militias in private. If the unrest really breaks out, won't we still be powerless to protect ourselves?"

It means he wanted to prepare in advance, but how could he prepare in advance? Could a county instructor really dare to privately recruit local militia?

If he dares to do this today, his whole family will be playing Candy Crush tomorrow.

Without soldiers, all talk is meaningless and even less reliable than armchair strategizing.

Zhao An glanced at Lao Song, silently dipped his finger in the tea, and wrote a character on Lao Ding's desk.

"canal?!"

Old Song looked puzzled, not understanding what this meant.

Old Ding's brow furrowed: "You mean the Grand Canal Gang?"

Zhao An shook his head: "They are canal workers."

There is a big difference between the canal gangs and the canal workers. The former were a social organization, a motley crew of all sorts of people, while the latter were organized, hardworking people.

Zhao Anmen knew exactly who the most suitable recruits were.

"I am the young leader of the Yangzhou branch. Next year, I plan to start training canal workers, starting with 3,000 men, and then expanding the training based on these 3,000 men. When the White Lotus Rebellion breaks out, we must ensure that we have at least 10,000 elite canal workers at our disposal!"

Zhao An explained his plan: through his struggle with the Grand Canal Administration, he had established absolute prestige in the Yangzhou branch. He had also secured a salt transport route to Hubei for the Yangzhou branch through his struggle with the Jiao family, a merchant family. In addition, he had taken care of the transportation fees and the construction of houses for the canal workers. It could be said that he had the Yangzhou branch firmly under his control. With his current prestige, it would be no problem for him to select and train three thousand canal workers from tens of thousands of his followers.

For the time being, they can train separately, secretly under various seemingly plausible pretexts.

Once the corrupt officials in the Grand Canal Transport Office are completely implicated, the trained soldiers will be deployed to various locations under different pretexts, like scattering beans to create soldiers, so that a force of elite troops can be immediately mobilized and deployed to the battlefield whenever needed.

He himself tried every means to get promoted, while making money to support his private army. When the White Lotus Rebellion broke out and Hubei was in chaos, and no one dared to take office there, he would recommend himself again. In this way, he could obtain official authorization for the militia "closely". This would not only give him the legal right to train troops, but also make his image in the Qing court more impressive, thus qualifying him for promotion.

Of course, Zhao An did not mention that he would also secretly manipulate the White Lotus Rebellion to ensure control over a portion of the rebel army.

I'm afraid this whole thing will fall apart if I tell anyone.

"Grandfather, with this army of grain transport soldiers, we can advance to help the court quell the rebellion, or retreat to ensure the peace of this region. It is not impossible for us to be ennobled and appointed as prime ministers."

Zhao An continued to deceive Lao Ding, because he first needed Lao Ding to hand over the Ganquan County Patrol Station for him to train troops. However, he noticed that Lao Song's expression was a bit off, and couldn't help but wonder: "What is Lord Song thinking? Does he think what I said is wrong?"

"No, no, I..."

Old Song hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'm thinking that it might not be a good thing for us Han officials to have military power."

"Why?"

Zhao An and Lao Ding both raised their eyebrows at the same time.

"Our Great Qing is, after all, the Qing of the Manchus. If we Han officials train troops and help the court quell the rebellion, the court will surely discard us after we've served our purpose."

Old Song's feelings were also quite complicated. Zhao An felt that having soldiers at his disposal would allow him to discuss the debt issue with the emperor, but what if the emperor refused to discuss it with him?

It was a major taboo for Han officials to possess military power. They had no choice but to use you while the unrest was still ongoing, but what if the unrest was quelled?
"Then let's fight a war. We might just be able to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming."

It was Old Ding who spoke.

(End of this chapter)