Late Ming Dynasty: Special Forces in 1645

After finalizing the deployment of troops to Dexing County and Wuyuan County, Liang Zicheng went to the steel plant and found his subordinate Han Dong, handing over his work at the steel plant to him one by one.

Han Dong was from Jingmen County, Hubei Province. After the Xingfu Army captured Jingmen County, he was recruited into the Xingfu Army as a blacksmith.

Han Dong's parents died early, and when he was a teenager, his uncle sent him to work as an apprentice in a blacksmith's shop, where he remained for ten years.

Although Han Dong's skills were good enough to qualify him for apprenticeship long ago, he was still exploited by his master and uncle, with his uncle taking all of his meager monthly wages.

Penniless and struggling to find enough to eat every day, Han Dong had nowhere to go, so he had no choice but to stay at the blacksmith shop for ten years.

It wasn't until the arrival of the Restoration Army, when they were recruiting craftsmen, that Han Dong first harbored rebellious thoughts and secretly signed up with the Restoration Army without telling anyone else.

Although his master and uncle soon found out and tried to stop Han Dong, under the intimidation of the Restoration Army, Han Dong divided the resettlement allowance he received equally between his master and uncle, and then left Jingmen with the Restoration Army.

After arriving in Xinzhou, Han Dong caught Liang Zicheng's attention because of his honesty and eagerness to learn. Liang Zicheng took Han Dong under his wing, and after the steel plant was established, he had Han Dong learn the steps and processes of steelmaking.

Liang Zicheng knew he couldn't stay at the steel mill forever, so he intentionally started training a successor. Besides Han Dong, Liang Zicheng also selected several other young people to train, but Han Dong had the strongest learning ability among them.

Han Dong has a strong ability to learn and comprehend. He can quickly remember what Liang Zicheng teaches him. He learns steelmaking and reading at the same time. If he doesn't understand something, he can ask Liang Zicheng directly. He can study and make steel at the same time.

Over the past few months, Han Dong has become the person most familiar with steelmaking technology besides Liang Zicheng, and has begun to familiarize himself with the management of the steel plant.

At first, the other old blacksmiths were not convinced by Han Dong and dared not say anything because of Liang Zicheng's power. But gradually they were also convinced by Han Dong's integrity and strong learning ability, and one by one they were willing to listen to and cooperate with Han Dong's management work.

Liang Zicheng knew that he might not be able to return to the steel mill for a while after leaving. The manufacturing of cannons and muskets already had mature steps and processes, and with Han Dong overseeing it, there shouldn't be any major problems.

Liang Zicheng was also in charge of setting up the agricultural administration team, but the specific work was done by Wang Changjian, the captain of the first agricultural administration team.

Wang Changjian was quite talented in recognizing, employing, and training people. Liang Zicheng felt that Wang Changjian was a talented person and that he should not be allowed to remain the captain of the agricultural administration team forever. So he promoted him to the rank of company commander and sent him to each township to do recruitment work. After the agricultural administration team was established, he sent people from the Xingfu Army to serve as captains and train the agricultural administration team members.

Wang Changjian was more familiar with the details of forming agricultural administration teams than Liang Zicheng, so there was no problem in entrusting this work to Wang Changjian.

Three days later, Chen Qiliang, who had gone to Dexing County to scout out enemy positions, returned.

Li Chengming and Liang Zicheng listened to Chen Qiliang's report and learned everything about the route from Xinzhou City to Dexing County, including the size of Dexing County, its terrain, population, officials, and the support of the people.

In addition to inquiring about news in Dexing County, Chen Qiliang also brought back a lot of copper ore and described the distribution and mining situation of the copper mines.

Li Chengming nodded in satisfaction and said, "Well done. Next, you will go and investigate Wuyuan."

"Yes!" Chen Qiliang asked, "Like the reconnaissance of Dexing?"

That's the good thing about Chen Qiliang; he only follows orders and only asks questions about the mission.

Li Chengming looked at Liang Zicheng, meaning, "Go ahead and give the order, let Chen Qiliang go and find out the information."

Liang Zicheng nodded and began to explain the task to Chen Qiliang.

Just as the three were discussing matters, a guard came in to report that Huang Daozhou was requesting an audience.

Li Chengming was slightly taken aback. He had been so busy these past two days that he had forgotten about this old gentleman. What could he possibly want from him at this time?

Seeing that his own matters had been discussed to a sufficient degree, Li Chengming said to Chen Qiliang, "Go ahead and get busy, take a rest, and we'll set off tomorrow."

Chen Qiliang: "Yes!" and then quietly withdrew.

Then Li Chengming instructed the guards to bring Huang Daozhou in.

Huang Daozhou stormed in, no longer as polite as before, and directly said to Li Chengming, "General Li, are you trying to force all scholars to their deaths?"

Li Chengming smiled and asked good-naturedly, "What has made Scholar Huang so angry?"

Huang Daozhou wanted to raise his finger and point it at Li Chengming to curse, but reason told him that it was inappropriate. So he raised his right hand halfway and then lowered it, saying, "General, don't you know that your army's new policies are chaotic policies that will bring ruin to the world?"

Li Chengming remained calm and said, "No way, it can't be that serious. Don't exaggerate."

Huang Daozhou was taken aback by Li Chengming's calm demeanor, wondering if he had made a mistake. But recalling his own investigation, he said, "General Li, I went down there and saw for myself. Is your army's so-called new policy simply killing people to seize land, and then distributing the blood-stained fields to the poor? How is this any different from the actions of bandits!"

Li Chengming glanced at the agitated Huang Daozhou, then slowly picked up a teacup, poured some tea, and handed it to Huang Daozhou, saying, "Scholar Huang, please don't be agitated. Have some tea first."

Huang Daozhou didn't even glance at the teacup Li Chengming offered him, and said, "Throughout history, scholars have always been treated with respect. This is the will of Heaven and the people. How can you... how can you treat them like dirt!"

Li Chengming was surprised and said, "Really? Have I looked down on scholars? The ones who are implementing the new policies are Zhang Xiyan and Yang Xuedong. Aren't they scholars? There are also many students and scholars in the new policy work team. Aren't they scholars too?"

Scholars came to join the Restoration Army, and I gave them important positions based on their talents. How can you say that I treated scholars like dirt?

Huang Daozhou was speechless for a moment. Based on what he knew, it was indeed the case. There were quite a few scholars working for the Restoration Army. Although most of them were Xiucai and Tongsheng, he couldn't just say there weren't any.

After thinking about it again, Huang Daozhou realized that he had been led astray. The mention of Zhang Xiyan and Yang Xuedong made him furious.

Huang Daozhou angrily said, "Zhang Xiyan and Yang Xuedong are already traitors who have defied heaven and their ancestors! If this continues, they will surely be punished by heaven!"

Huang Daozhou felt it was inappropriate to scold Li Chengming to his face, so he used the opportunity to scold Zhang Xiyan and Yang Xuedong to criticize the new policies of the Restoration Army!

"...Throughout history, all dynasties have reduced or exempted taxes for scholars as a sign of preferential treatment. Scholars are the heart of heaven and earth; this is how they establish the heart of heaven and earth and secure the destiny of the people!"

Li Chengming listened quietly to Huang Daozhou finish speaking, and only spoke when Huang Daozhou's mouth was dry:

"I don't know what you scholars mean by 'establishing a heart for heaven and earth, and establishing a destiny for the people'."

But I know that "those adorned in silk robes are not the silkworm raisers," and I know what life is like for ordinary people and tenant farmers.

Some people work in the fields all year round, but they can't even get enough to eat. They cultivate and harvest tens of thousands of kilograms of grain a year, but that grain doesn't belong to them. It belongs to the local gentry and landlords!

......

I just want to make the world fair. The new policies of the Restoration Army do not discriminate against anyone. Whether they are poor people with no place to stand or wealthy people with vast lands, they all face the same new policies.

What's wrong with scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants all paying taxes together?

As for your claim that many landlords and gentry were killed, that was simply a matter of blood for blood. There are witnesses, physical evidence, and a public trial—all the necessary documents are available. The Restoration Army would not kill indiscriminately!