Qing Yao

Chapter 210 Unifying Understanding and Individual Preparations
"Don't worry about these details. What I'm about to say is very important for you two, because it will determine whether we can make a living in peace in the future!"

Zhao An casually picked up a calligraphy brush that Lao Ding hadn't used before, and with a sudden jerk, the brush transformed into a conductor's baton, landing precisely at the intersection of Hubei, Shaanxi, and Sichuan provinces.

"Please look, gentlemen. This is the junction of Sichuan, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces. More than a hundred years ago, the remnants of Li Zicheng's forces persisted in resisting the Qing Dynasty here until the reign of Emperor Kangxi."

Zhao An was convinced that the White Lotus Rebellion originated in this area where three provinces with a long history of resistance against the Qing Dynasty met. There was a sacred mountain called Maolu Mountain and a sacred stele called the "Holy Emperor's Palace Stele".

Old Song stared at it intently, then asked, "What does this have to do with the three stages the adults talked about?"

"Of course it's related, because the first stage I'm referring to is the preparatory stage before the uprising, cough cough, which is the stage before the White Lotus Rebellion."

Before the White Lotus Rebellion, the three had a mission: to spare no effort in taking out small loans to borrow the old master's money to buy official positions, use their official robes to cover up their military training, and at the same time use the old master's capital to do business and expand their wealth, because training and maintaining troops required money, and it was a huge sum of money.

It's just like working in a factory. The boss pays you three thousand yuan a month, and the worker just goes through the motions. Who cares about the quality of your products?

But if the boss pays out 10,000 yuan a month, then the employee will definitely care about the boss.

If they paid 30,000 a month, even the boss's farts would smell sweet.

If you want soldiers to work hard, you have to pay them enough, preferably high wages.

Otherwise, why would anyone risk their life for you for just a few hundred yuan a month?
There's a saying that goes, "The Ming army is invincible when its pay is not full, but when it is."

It sounds ridiculous, but it might not be entirely untrue.

Without the support of the Jiang-Zhe comprador tycoons in his previous life, how could the bald man have become the nominal overlord of the whole country?

No matter how you look at it, making money is the only right thing to do.

In addition, they tried to recruit every official they interacted with into the group. After all, the resources of the three were limited, and to make the matter airtight and watertight, they needed the support and cover of more officials.

Ideally, a system of collusion and mutual protection among officials within a prefecture or province would be formed, keeping the old man completely in the dark.

"Before the White Lotus Rebellion, we should use Jiangsu as our base as much as possible. Ideally, all three of us should be officials in Jiangsu, because Jiangsu is a wealthy place where it's easy to make money, and we won't be the first to be affected if the White Lotus uprising breaks out." What do you two think?

Zhao An put down his baton, wanting to hear Lao Ding and Lao Song's opinions.

"This humble official has no objection."

Old Song expressed his support for Lord Zhao's task assignment for the preparatory stage of the White Lotus Rebellion, because this task assignment was very targeted and feasible, and not the kind of project that was launched on a whim.

Old Ding then raised a more professional question: it's no problem to borrow money to buy an official position, since the imperial court has this system in place. At worst, you can just use money to buy it, since it's the emperor's money being spent anyway.

However, if it's just about training two or three thousand private soldiers, not only could he possibly be promoted to prefect next year, but he could also manage to resolve his current position as county magistrate.

It would simply involve setting up two more patrol stations, rotating the three shifts in the yamen, and spreading out the work under the guise of a joint guarantee by local militias. The canal gangs already had a regular military force called "transport soldiers," so training two or three thousand men would be no problem at all.

However, if Zhao An were to train no fewer than 10,000 elite soldiers within three years according to his plan, that would far exceed the authority of local officials.

No matter how many armed organizations are set up under the government offices to increase manpower, it is impossible to support so many soldiers.

Where did the weapons come from?

How could a private army of such a size and number possibly be hidden?

Unless one of the three becomes a military officer or holds a high-ranking military position such as general or deputy general, and the original garrison is disbanded and replaced with canal soldiers through a "restructuring" method.

There's no need to think about that.

All three were civil officials, two of them holding the seventh rank and one the eighth rank. Jiangsu was a peaceful region, so there was no chance for them to transition from civil to military positions, let alone rise to such a high rank.

Zhao An mentioned Wen Qing, the deputy commander of the Grand Canal Transport Office. If they could get this man involved, they could achieve their goal of hiding troops.

As for weapons, those could be handled by the grain transport office. "I think that's difficult,"

Old Ding shook his head. Wu, the councilor, had been tricked into a pig-slaughtering scheme by his grandson-in-law, but Vice General Wen was standing on the shore with his shoes not even wet. How could he go into the water?

How could they possibly follow them in doing such a heinous thing?

"Where there's a will, there's a way. I'll figure out a way to deal with Wen Qing next year. As long as Wen Qing is a decent human being, there's always a way to drag him down with me."

Zhao Andou's task of dragging military figures into the mess is simply to ensure that Lao Ding and Lao Song get promoted as scheduled next year.

Old Ding's side is likely to be recommended by the governor; all you need to do is prepare the money.

Old Song's side will have a small donation drive at the Ministry of Personnel next April. He'll see if there are any official seals for county magistrates in Jiangsu available for sale then, and if so, he'll buy one.

No, we'll see.

These were the main tasks of the three individuals during the preparatory stage of the White Lotus Rebellion. In summary, it consisted of five steps: borrowing money, buying official positions, making money, raising troops, and dragging others into the rebellion.

The White Lotus Rebellion marked the second phase.

"Suppressing the rebellion will surely bring merit, and merit will surely bring rewards!"

Zhao An's meaning was quite simple: during this period, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to quell the rebellion to vigorously recommend his own people to the court. He wanted them to report their military achievements truthfully and fabricate them if they didn't. He wanted to use the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War to openly and legitimately place his own people in various places as officials.

These people, once in charge, continued to operate until a strong and powerful local armed group was formed.

In short, they used the guise of quelling the unrest to engage in underhanded operations and resort to any means to expand and strengthen their microloan gang.

"Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Hunan are the key areas we need to focus on developing during this stage."

Zhao An pointed out that Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in particular, must use several years of fighting to bring the local civil and military officials under their control as much as possible, so that even if something happens in the future, they can use the economically important areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang as a place to protect themselves.

Old Song stared at the map, looking at it again and again: "What if the White Lotus Sect can't reach these places?"

Just as Zhao An was about to speak, Old Ding waved his hand and said, "With Lord Zhao here, how could we not defeat these cult bandits?"

"Uh?"

Old Song was intrigued. "To raise an enemy for personal gain?"

What is the third stage? Zhao An looked at Lao Ding and didn't speak. Lao Ding looked at Lao Song and didn't speak. Lao Song looked at Zhao An and didn't speak either.

They all seemed unwilling to enter the third stage, and it seemed that as long as they completed the first and second stages, they didn't need to know what the third stage was.

In short, the third stage is a mystery, and it's best not to reveal the answer.

Their thoughts were thus unified.

The tasks were clearly defined and assigned.

The goal is clearly visible.

We have to reach a consensus, no matter what, because the three of us are all in the same boat.

“I don’t know how far we can go, but I know that as long as you two are of one mind with me, even if we owe a huge debt of ten million taels, the creditor will not dare to raise his voice at us.”

Zhao An opened the window, and snowflakes the size of goose feathers were already falling outside.

(End of this chapter)