The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 247: Changing the Mindset of Bandits
Jiang Han squinted at the group of trembling gentry representatives before him, a cold smile creeping across his face.

These old geezers, don't let their current frail appearance fool you, they're probably secretly taking on countless young and beautiful concubines to bring good luck.

Jiang Han stared coldly at Liang Tingsi, who was in the lead.

"Old man, didn't you send someone to inquire about it?"

"Back in Long'an Prefecture, how did I deal with the Wang, Li, and Xue families?"

Jiang Han's tone was icy, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent.

The lobby was deathly silent; even Li Liyuan, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but tremble.

But Liang Tingsi in front of him seemed oblivious, as if he couldn't see the coldness in Jiang Han's eyes at all.

He stroked his beard, nodded slowly, and said with a look of agreement:

"The King's deeds are so famous that even we, a group of gentry from out of town, have heard of them."

“Those chieftains in Long’an Prefecture are indeed out of touch with reality.”

"In my humble opinion, Your Majesty has done well!"

"When Your Majesty led your troops into Long'an Prefecture, the Wang and Li families not only failed to welcome you with open arms, but also secretly instigated the local people to make things difficult for you."

"Furthermore, the Xue family, who control the trade routes, have repeatedly refused the king's invitations, wanting to monopolize the profits from trade. These people are truly unwise."

"In my opinion, these ignorant fools should have been dealt with long ago!"

Then, Liang Tingsi changed the subject and started playing the role of a compliant citizen again:

"But Your Majesty is wise. Since you took control of Baoning Prefecture, we have never offered the slightest resistance."

“The dozen or so gentry from all over Baoning Prefecture are wholeheartedly cooperating with Your Majesty’s new policies.”

"You asked us to hand over the excess land, and we did so without hesitation."

“When you said you wanted to unify the tax collection, we didn’t utter a single complaint.”

“We neither secretly instigated local people to cause trouble like the Wang and Li families, nor did we, like the Xue family, hoard our good things and refuse to let go.”

"Having gone this far, does Your Majesty still intend to continue to harass us law-abiding citizens?"

Jiang Han was so angry at the old man's sophistry that he laughed.

"You guys surnamed Liang, have you forgotten that I rose to power through rebellion?"

"Aren't you afraid that in a fit of rage I'll send troops to slaughter your entire Liang family?"

"Go and find out how many gentry families in the Hanzhong and Guanzhong areas were wiped out by bandits."

"You should be grateful that I can still sit here and talk to you so kindly."

"And how dare you put on airs in front of me?"

Upon hearing this undisguised threat, Liang Tingsi simply shook his head, his face still bearing that calm and collected expression.

"Your Majesty is joking."

"In my humble opinion, Your Majesty's reforms in rectifying officialdom, redistributing land, and other new policies are all aimed at changing the world."

"How can those bandits who only know how to burn, kill, and plunder compare to Your Majesty?"

As the saying goes, it is easy to gain the world, but difficult to govern it.

"Although we are old and of little use, we still have some reputation among the scholars of Baoning Prefecture and even the entire Sichuan province."

“We have done nothing rebellious. If Your Majesty insists on doing what you want and slaughters us obedient subjects, I'm afraid your reputation will not be well-known.”

"At that time, all the scholars and students in Sichuan will take you as their enemy and fight to the death."

Liang Tingsi stated the facts calmly.

"The number of people in central Sichuan is in the millions."

"Without us scholars to govern this region for you, Your Majesty, it will probably be quite difficult for you to integrate this vast Sichuan."

After saying this, Liang Tingsi coughed violently a few times, then bowed tremblingly to Jiang Han:

"Your Majesty, we are frail and sickly, so we will not disturb you any longer today. We will take our leave now."

"If Your Majesty has any other instructions, please send someone to our residence, and we will certainly comply!"

After saying this, Liang Tingsi, along with the group of gentry representatives behind him, turned and left the government office.

Jiang Han watched the group of old foxes supporting each other as they slowly walked away, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

He beckoned Li Liyuan to his side and asked sternly:
"Have you checked if these people have any criminal records?"

"Can't you find a way to ruin these people's reputations first, and then slaughter them?"

Li Liyuan looked at the file in his hand and shook his head helplessly:
"Your Majesty, I have thoroughly investigated before I came."

“I have already organized public trials for any gentry with bad records, and dealt with them in advance by clearly punishing them according to the law.”

"The companies that came today are a bit different."

“They are extremely cautious in their daily lives, and apart from hoarding a large amount of land, they have almost no leverage over others.”

"Many people even frequently contribute money to repair bridges and roads and provide disaster relief, earning them a very good reputation among their neighbors."

"Ever since your new policy of equal land distribution was announced, they have voluntarily handed over most of their land in order to save their lives."

Jiang Han frowned:
"I see. No wonder these families were so confident."

"Old man, you're so slippery."

A ruthless glint flashed in Li Liyuan's eyes:
"General, why bother arguing with them? I'll just lead my men to their homes and slaughter them all!"

"Using the pretext of non-cooperation with the conscription, we can squeeze all the property out of these gentry to fund the army."

But Jiang Han shook his head.

"Don't rush, that's the worst approach."

"Although that old man had ill intentions, what he said wasn't entirely wrong. We're no longer bandits."

"The bandit mentality is unacceptable and must be changed."

Li Liyuan was somewhat puzzled after hearing this. What was this "bandit mentality"? Weren't our troops mainly composed of rebels from the Northwest?
How could those bandits who charged into battle with farm tools be compared to the veteran border soldiers under the commander-in-chief?

In fact, whether someone is a bandit or not is not determined by the composition of their army. The bandit mentality, however, refers to a strategic approach.

In the late Ming Dynasty, many rebel armies' military operations typically exhibited a strategic pattern of lacking a sense of base, having no constructive goals, and relying purely on predatory survival.

Its core lies in: using violence as the sole means, plunder as the basis for survival, and mobility as the mode of existence, while refusing to assume any long-term governance responsibility.

Admittedly, the rebel armies at the end of the Ming Dynasty often had no choice but to adopt this model.

Dynasties like the Ming Dynasty, which could still muster hundreds of thousands of troops even in its later years when it was severely in arrears with its military pay, are extremely rare.

The Ming Dynasty's efforts in suppressing bandits were so great that they would be unimaginable in other dynasties.

Many rebel groups, after capturing towns, engaged in indiscriminate looting regardless of social class. When they won, they became arrogant and reckless, and when they lost, they collapsed completely.

More importantly, these leaders are inherently hostile to cultural elites.

Zhang Xianzhong was the leader of this group, and he showed no mercy when killing scholars.

Jiang Han looked at Li Liyuan and explained for a long time:
"We conquered Baoning Prefecture, and even the whole of Sichuan, not just to grab a quick loot and leave, but to use it as a foundation to grow and expand."

“Killing all these local gentry is easy, but the trouble that follows will be much bigger.”

"The 300,000 people of Baoning Prefecture need to eat; taxes need to be collected, household registration needs to be managed, documents need to be written, water conservancy needs to be repaired, and lawsuits need to be adjudicated."

“These things are too much for just our small group to handle.”

"If we kill them all, who will do our jobs?"

"Are we going to rely on those illiterate farmers to do this? By the time they learn how to govern a place, Baoning Prefecture will probably be in complete chaos."

To put it bluntly, Jiang Han is now facing a situation similar to that of Zhang Xianzhong when he first entered Sichuan.

In the early stages of his rule in Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong adopted a relatively moderate policy, aiming to win support from all sides.

The targets of the crackdown were limited to those officials and gentry who resolutely resisted.

According to local chronicles and records of Jesuit missionaries in Sichuan at the time, social order was stable in the early stages of its rule, and even a large number of Ming Dynasty officials switched their allegiance to the Da Xi regime.

However, later, due to a shortage of food and pay, the Daxi Army implemented a "grain confiscation" policy. In addition, its over-reliance on confiscating property and its severe suppression of local rebellions affected a large number of civilians.

This led to widespread rebellions throughout Sichuan.

Many local officials sent out by the Great Western Army were repeatedly attacked by local resistance forces, resulting in heavy casualties.

(Some prefectural, state, and county officials were killed within two or three days of taking office; in one county, more than ten county officials were killed within three or four months.)
In retaliation, after capturing Chengdu, Zhang Xianzhong summoned scholars from all over Sichuan to take the imperial examination.

Subsequently, they gathered them at Dabeisi Temple and killed them all, resulting in thousands of deaths.

(Xianzhong was suspicious by nature and feared that the scholars would collude with the enemy, so he used the pretext of "forming a faction to plot rebellion" to massacre the candidates. After the Dabeisi Incident, the number of scholars in Sichuan almost disappeared.)
In ancient times, when imperial power did not extend to the countryside, massacring students and gentry was essentially tantamount to destroying the grassroots governance network.

At this point, under Zhang Xianzhong's rule, taxation, household registration, water conservancy, and other systems were completely paralyzed.

Government orders could not even leave Chengdu Prefecture, and tax revenue was cut off.

Thus, he was forced to continue the path of looting and slaughter, ultimately losing all popular support.

The lessons learned from Zhang Xianzhong are still fresh in our minds.

Therefore, Jiang Han must avoid repeating the same mistake.

With 300,000 people in Baoning Prefecture and 3 million people in Sichuan, he alone could not govern them all.

The reason why these gentry of Baoning Prefecture dared to so brazenly use this kind of soft approach to confront Jiang Han was because...

It was because they recognized that Jiang Han wanted to dominate the world and had grand ambitions.

The struggle for supremacy was inseparable from these scholars.

This group has monopolized knowledge and administrative skills, and that is their biggest trump card.

Jiang Han also needs to utilize this group of people to govern his territory and ensure that his rear is secure.

But the prerequisite is that these people must obey; otherwise, it would be like raising a tiger to cause trouble.

Murder was merely a means to an end; what Jiang Han needed now was to divide and weaken this group of local gentry.

Jiang Han sat silently in the government office for a long time before slowly raising his head.

Seeing this, Li Liyuan quickly went over to them:
"Has the commander-in-chief come up with a plan?"

Jiang Han nodded and instructed him:

"Take this warrant and go find Zhao Zanhua immediately."

"Make him stop all the land redistribution work in the townships and counties where these gentry families live."

Li Liyuan was stunned: "All stopped?"

"That's right, everything has stopped."

Jiang Han sneered.

"We'll find some excuse to tell outsiders that there are still many things that haven't been explained clearly regarding these families' land deeds, household registrations, and other matters."

“Tell the people who are waiting to receive their land that the land distribution will only begin once the village elders have explained things clearly.”

"Otherwise, you all just wait and see who can outlast whom!"

"Didn't you say that this group of people are well-known in the countryside?"

"I want to force the people to block their doorsteps and ask them what's going on."

"That's called shifting the blame!"

After hearing this, Li Liyuan suddenly understood.

What nonsense about popular support! When faced with absolute self-interest, the common people will only think that these local gentry are in the way and deliberately preventing them from dividing the land.

Jiang Han then added:
"Furthermore, I will immediately draft the documents to hold the imperial examinations!"

"I refuse to believe that these few families can really control everything."

"In such a large prefecture as Baoning, are there not even a few impoverished students who aspire to make something of themselves?"

　Here's one chapter, more to come later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)