Lu Ming

Page 226

Chapter 516 Rooted

The result of the fight between traditional bandits and industrial "security guards" armed to the teeth is extremely clear: the bandits are crushed.

It's not the bandits' fault.Whether it's morale, training, tactics, and the most important equipment, how can we fight?

Therefore, the final outcome of Lao Qi, the head of Guitouwada, was happily lifted onto the boat by Wu Sanye and his gang, and then grabbed a handful of reeds to wipe off the blood on his face--I will check it later when I go back. Straightforward.

In the evening of the same day, the teams sent to various places returned to the landing camp one after another.Most of the teams were more or less rewarding, with some holding captives and some carrying corpses.Of course, it is unavoidable that there are people among the corpses. After all, this is a war involving cold weapons. Even if it wins, it is impossible to survive like a battle with hot weapons.

It was getting late, and in the empty field where the bonfire was burning, the bodies of Lao Qi and the head of Lao had been placed together with the body of the second head, right in the middle of the field.

Laying neatly around the two masters are some loyal and brave subordinates of the Lao master... Those who were disloyal and blind surrendered in time, and now they are all wearing cast iron shackles for slaves and criminals mass-produced in the kiln area , was thrown aside trembling.

The most dazzling one in the camp at the moment is naturally Wu Sanye's team.

On the long table made of field canvas folding tables, there are wine bowls and various canned military food that have been opened. Lambs and fish are roasting on the surrounding fires. At this moment, Mr. Wu is He was excitedly introducing his "advanced experience" to the generals.

Originally, the third master didn't intend to be so public. Who would have thought that when he led the team back, he would be put under the spotlight immediately and become a hero who wisely captured the leader of the bandit.And the several time-traversing people at the scene, for some publicity purposes, naturally praised the third master and the others.

In this way, someone will be put on the wall, and it is impossible to keep a low profile, and they can only enjoy the highlight moments of life.

So, under the projection of many envious and jealous eyes, the third master and his team were invited to drink at the main table, and the third master also had the opportunity to personally tell the general about the process of capturing Lao Qi.

After everyone returned to the team, a lively bonfire party began.During the banquet, Wang Bo, the leader of the Pioneer Army, not only delivered a passionate speech, but also distributed bonuses to the top three teams with the most harvest in public. .

In the case of information, organizational capabilities and armed forces leading the way, a sneak attack like a lion against a rabbit ended in ten days.The Nth generation bandits in Guitouwa, who had been entrenched outside Zengcheng County for hundreds of years, were defeated without taking advantage of their traditional information and terrain.

In the early morning of the second day, the troops were re-mobilized: some people went to the bandit base in the center of Guitouwa to clean up the battlefield, and some people went back to Huangpu for repairs.The last remaining ones were sent to Zengcheng County upstream by boat to deliver their heads according to the plan that had already been arranged.

So, Mr. Gu from Zengcheng County sat at home, and joy came from the sky: the heads of Lao Qi and other gangsters were actually sent to the county government by "righteous bravery"!

After hearing the news, Mr. Gu and Mr. Gu finally figured out the whole story: it turned out that Wang Guerrilla was not trying to shirk responsibility, but told the truth. He really wanted to pay out of his own pocket to suppress the bandits!

So, that official document might not be the same thing as eye drops?

In any case, Mr. Gu, who had never met Lei Feng in officialdom, was really moved.So Gu's parents quickly changed into a full set of official robes, and ordered someone to open the gate of the county government to greet them in person. Not long after, he saw the head-offering procession coming from afar.

For Zengcheng, a calm and slow county town, today’s scene is a rare event for many years, so the team has not yet reached the gate of the county government office, and both sides of the road are already full of families and children. Lively melon-eating crowd.

What follows is a happy occasion.

"Minyong" from the four townships gave the heads of Lao Qiyi and others to Gu's parents with drums and gongs.After ordering someone to verify the authenticity of the head, Gu's parents immediately accepted the gifts and rewarded the warriors.

Afterwards, after a secret conversation with the visitor, a notice was hung outside the Zengcheng County Yamen: urging the bandits and thieves in the county to come forward and surrender within a time limit. Suppress bandits, and return the people to a bright and peaceful world, a peaceful and prosperous age.

From this moment on, the work of suppressing bandits all over the province has officially kicked off - since the fighting has already started, there is no need to keep it secret, it is better to start the propaganda work.

……

Since the time-traversing people want to build a new world in the future, what they need to do now is to eliminate all opposing forces one by one.

Among them, the bandits are the opposing force, the scholar-bureaucrats are the opposing force, and the old army is also the opposing force.

And the grassroots people at the bottom are the objects accepted by the time-traveling people.

The people at the bottom are the most realistic.For these grassroots people who would go hungry without working for a day, the court and the government are really far away, and whoever has the most power around them has to bow their heads. This is the basic logic of life, and it is the local tyrants and evil gentry everywhere. The reason for the regime.

How to say that sentence: When they came to attack the bandits, I did not stand up against them, and when they attacked the scholar-bureaucrats, I did not object either. After that, the world was peaceful and a new dynasty was established.

This is what it takes to travel through the crowd.

In short, let's start with the weakest bottom layer of Ming Dynasty's power distribution... It seems that this is also the best choice for all powers to grow.

The time-traveling people who have been in this world for several years now have a deep understanding of Daming society, and have figured out a set of effective behaviors that "take root" in Daming.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to suppress the bandits, the Cao family's private army, dressed in official clothes, showed their muscles to all potential opponents and acted as a deterrent. While the bandits who couldn't be solved were eradicated, all the other opposing forces would naturally put armed resistance as the last option when they confronted Marshal Cao in the future.

For the time-travelers who want to swallow Daming's pot of raw food, this is the best ending: as long as there is no war, as long as the forces of all parties wait and see, then the time-travelers who have obtained the most precious time will use the minimum The cost of establishing a new social order, the most to preserve the vitality of the nation.

Chapter 517 Show and Shock

The news that Guitouwa Laoqi was wiped out and Zengcheng County Government's bandits' announcement caused an uproar in the bandit circles in the surrounding areas.

At this time, all kinds of life are reflected.

The first to respond were some small groups of gangsters.Just like the people who went to new stores in later generations, the ancients also understood this truth: the first to eat crabs, there is a high probability that it will be beneficial.

As a result, a few scattered bandits with small numbers and small boats who could easily turn around ran to the county government immediately, openly correcting their evil ways and begging to be taken in.For those with a little literacy, the brothers even played performance art with their bare upper bodies and thorns on their backs.

Magistrate Gu of course happily forgave them.

Master Gu must be happy: He doesn't have to worry about the resettlement of the Jiangren, and he can show his political achievements in front of the elders in the county. Even the reward money for the Jiangren has been paid out, so why is he unhappy?

Then, seeing that the limelight was not right, the rogues in the vicinity began to run away one after another.

Banditry is also divided into nature, there are thieves, bandits, and bandits.For the rogues, since the current situation in Zengcheng is chaotic, it is better to go first and wait and see.

In the end, after these two waves of screening + extrusion, the tide receded, and the remaining companies began to sit on the wax.These groups of bandits, like Guitouwalaoqi, occupy a favorable terrain, inherit N generations, have a reputation in the local area, and sit on the ground to share the spoils.

However, at this time, the disadvantages of a large company are revealed: slow decision-making, two-headed and two-headed, a few groups of people don't want to run away like bandits, and they can't do so many people to smear their faces and run to the county town to surrender.

Just sit back and watch.

Not wanting to wait and see, Beishan Fotou Village was once again besieged by pioneering troops.

……

Fotouzhai is located in Gaoling, north of the county seat, with a dangerous location.This place is just adjacent to the land road from Zengcheng to Yingde, Qingyuan and other places. It is a good place to open a toll station, and a large number of bandits gather all year round.

Then when this group of people woke up early in the morning, they suddenly found that the mountain had been surrounded by a large number of gray-clothed men with the "Cao" banner, and none of the previously arranged sentries had returned.

Although the bandit village in the valley in eastern Guangdong didn't know what the character Cao represented, the current posture was enough to cause chaos in the village.

The strange thing is that the men in gray didn't take advantage of the situation to attack. Instead, they assigned people to cut off all the roads down the mountain, and put on a posture of long-term siege.

This action inadvertently gave the bandits in Fotouzhai time to unify their thinking and strengthen their confidence.

The boss of Fotouzhai immediately judged that the civilians under his feet were the same as the previous officers and soldiers.

Unlike Guitouwa, which has no natural dangers, Fotouzhai has to be well-stocked in a dangerous terrain. As long as everyone guards the village firmly, the people below will naturally disperse... Sending troops outside is burning money. The government really needs to be so rich , Fotouzhai has already been surrounded.

So the two sides confronted each other like this.During the period, the gangsters also sent people to rush out to test it out, but after being shot back by random guns, the gangsters completely sealed the gate of the village with stones and could not hold on.

In the next two or three days, both sides seemed to accept this situation.The people at the bottom of the mountain did not attack the stronghold, but kept clearing the road and building a camp, assuming a long-term siege posture.

And because the people on the mountain don't know the strength of their opponents, they also think that this is a normal situation.

At noon on the fourth day, the situation changed slightly: Zhengtang Gutai of Zengcheng County went out in person, and brought a support team sent by the gentry of the county to work in the army!

In fact, as early as three days ago when Fotouzhai was besieged, Zengcheng County Yali sent a large number of Yamen servants as messengers to convey the order of the county magistrate to all parts of the four townships.

The content of the order is very simple: each large household must send a team led by someone at the management level to provide material support to the team that is suppressing the bandits ahead—each household only needs to provide a load of rice.

The big households who received the order expressed their emotional stability: Since ancient times, whenever the government has something to do, it has always distributed food and errands in this way, and I have seen it a lot.Although there is an extra steward leading the order this time, the minimum material limit is only one load of rice, so it is not a burden.

So three days later, the food delivery team assembled in the county town was led by County Magistrate Gu to Fotouzhai.

After these people arrived at the scene, they realized that it didn't seem to be the case.

Dressed in gray clothes, it is said that the magistrate of Gu County borrowed private soldiers from Cao Zongbing in Guangdong. It didn't look like they were short of food and grass at all.In fact, all the labor materials brought this time were actually bought by people with white silver pancakes.

If it weren't for the large number of pioneer soldiers, everyone would have thought this was Cao Zongbing's servant.The people who reacted after that saw the legendary side of Cao Zongbing, a local tyrant.

Then the food delivery team saw more extravagant acts.The expensive military tin cans and white rice on the market are open for supply here. In addition, the equipment and various weapons worn by this group of private soldiers also made the stewards secretly dumbfounded: it is no loss that they are the private soldiers under the commander-in-chief, officers and soldiers If it is all spent like this, I am afraid that even Jinshan will be defeated!

Demonstrating financial power is the first step in overcoming the subtle influence/deterrence of the indigenous people.For many thoughtful landlords, they would rather face a vicious gangster than a rich man—money is a resource, and a rich man has inexhaustible resources.Although there was no concept of capitalists in the Ming Dynasty, many people still understand this truth.

After demonstrating financial strength and conveying enough information, the next step is to demonstrate force.

Then these indigenous propagandists from the whole county, who brought their own dry food, saw a clean military operation to destroy the village.

First of all, it is still a row of guns to hold down the position.

On a specially selected afternoon with the right wind direction, gunshots from the Pioneering Army exploded, overwhelming the people on the wall of the village.

When the thick gun fog drifted towards the gate of the village with the mountain wind, covering everything in mist, the blaster with three explosive packs rushed out with the gun on his head.

A few minutes later, with an earth-shattering loud noise, all the melon eaters sat down on the ground.In their horrified eyes, the gate of the Fotou village in the distance, as well as many bandits and parts, were all blown up into the sky at this moment, and they took an earthen plane.

Next, on the mountain road where only three people can walk side by side, soldiers wearing shiny heavy steel armor and holding large shields began to charge, and behind them were musketeers who followed in line.

The battle ended here: before the remnants of the bandits bleeding from the ear holes recovered from the loud noise, they were slashed and killed by the soldiers rushing in on the slope in front of the door, and they had no strength to fight back.

Afterwards, the teams that came to deliver food received free battle souvenirs: the pickled heads of the leaders of Fotouzhai.

Not long after that, the gangsters in Zengcheng County surrendered and fled far away. Overnight, the law and order was improved, meeting the initial requirements of the crossing crowd.

Chapter 518

After the Battle of Fotouzhai in Beishan, the Pioneer Army split up and attacked again. For a while, the bandits, big and small, fled, killed, and surrendered. The banditry in Zengcheng area was quickly cleared up. Known by the locals at night.

Regarding the suppression of bandits, the landlords who had collected first-hand information were especially shocked when they sent people to observe the scene.In their memory, it has been a long time since there has been such a strong army with sufficient military expenditure, high morale, and the courage to fight at the grassroots level of the Ming Dynasty.

And the most troublesome thing is that the army, which consumes so much money and food, is not used in frontier fortresses to defend against foreign enemies, but bows down and runs to the countryside to do a loss-making business of suppressing bandits.

Yes, anyone can see that this bandit suppression is a real loss-making business.As far as the income of the bandit den is concerned, even if the dead and the living are counted, it is not enough for the expenses.

Then, the commander-in-chief surnamed Cao sent his own private soldiers to suppress the bandits, probably because he had other intentions... Isn't it because the magistrate of Gu County loves the people like his son?How old is such a scumbag like him?Can you invite such a strong soldier to fight back?

After making rational judgments, some knowledgeable and discerning figures among the local gentry could not help but have some subtle feelings about the sudden appearance of the bandit suppression.

Soon, the premonition of the wise man was verified—within one month after Fotouzhai, several landlords who had colluded with bandits were uprooted.

Some of these powerful gangsters have always colluded with the bandits, and some are simply the black background of the bandits. They are not good things to do evil and sell stolen goods on weekdays.

In fact, these bullies have long been notorious in the local area, but the government has always been weak and powerful, so that no one in this generation can rule them.

Then this time, Kangxi...Cao Zongbing came.

After the captured bandits confessed, these bullies were immediately put on the blacklist, and when the Pioneering Army was free, they immediately sent troops to surround the village and break down the door to arrest people.

The servants and villains raised by the local tyrants and bullies have the same combat effectiveness as the bandits, so they are naturally not the opponents of the pioneering army.As for the dealers, after seeing the government flag and the large number of officials on the opposite side, they will not be interested in rebelling: honest people naturally have accounts in their hearts.

After the village was broken, everyone inside was charged with "bandit gangsterism".Among them, the main characters were arrested and sent to the county government prison for trial, and the servants were arrested and sent to Huangpu to board the immigration boat.

Since Cao Neigui has now climbed to the top of the Ming Empire, the bureaucratic system in Guangdong has no restrictions on him.In this matter, the gentry allies of the bully and local tyrants wanted to use the traditional network and political shield at first, but found that they couldn't use it—once all the bright and dark actions involved the chief soldier, they were completely lost. utility.

With an extra powerful force "suppressing luck" behind it, the judicial procedures of the Ming Dynasty began to run at an unprecedented high speed this time.

The magistrate of Gu County, who has always been mediocre, was very busy with hearing cases again and again in the next few days.During this period, Mr. Gu changed from normal, became just, strict and resolute, hated evil as much as hated and defied the powerful. In the courtroom, three woods and sticks were flying together, boards and fingers were shared, and the screams were endless.Several families of bullies and local tyrants were interrogated to collect statements like grassroots people, completely powerless to resist.

After that, the official documents at the prefecture and county levels were forwarded, and along with the numerous crimes collected, soon, the official document of Qiu Hou Wen's execution was submitted to the Beijing Ministry of Criminal Justice for review.

To a certain extent, the deep-seated shock caused by the removal of these bullies, at least in the Zengcheng area, surpassed the suppression of bandits.

The local gentry suddenly discovered a huge force in this matter.The frightening thing is that this power seems to belong to Daming, but it is completely out of their control, and it can smash the old men to pieces at any time, which makes some people worry.

In fact, the gentlemen are right to be worried.

For this earth-shaking social transformation initiated by the time-travelers, suppressing bandits can only be regarded as a warm-up.After the first stage of bandit suppression, by the way, knocking the mountains and shaking the tigers, tidying up the gentry, and letting the other party know the benefits, this is what the title should mean.

When all potential opposition forces have been attacked or deterred, the next step is the highlight of social transformation: population migration.

……

Throughout history, people have come across a phrase at some point in time: ten rooms and nine empty rooms.

Yes, whenever there are natural disasters and man-made disasters, when there is a change of dynasty on the land of China, the word ten rooms and nine empty spaces will always appear in the foreplay.

In fact, this is not a natural or man-made disaster, but a natural law, because the real population carrying capacity of the Central Plains is only one-tenth of that at the end of the dynasty.

Before modern three-dimensional reinforced concrete cities, the entire human society was flat for thousands of years.People live in flat houses, and only emperors and lords can live in palaces and castles.

The land carrying capacity of the entire ancient society was very low.In urban areas, the population level of one million is already considered a super city.Even so, population erasure killers like plague and dysentery still occurred frequently, which objectively hindered the ancients from expanding the city.

The same goes for rural areas.Thanks to low productivity, the ancient land carrying capacity was very low.In rural areas, if the arable land area of ​​a family of three is less than 10 mu, they are actually malnourished and belong to poor households.

However, in the later period of the dynasty, when the population exploded, tenants with five or six people often did not even have three acres of land—this is already considered abject poverty. The living conditions of these people are extremely bad. Rebel or die.

Then, conflicts caused by insufficient resources broke out, and society began to reshuffle.Whether it was Li Zicheng, the Tartars, the killing of each other, or the invasion of foreign enemies... In short, social conflicts will not be resolved until the population of the entire land is reduced to one-tenth of what it was before.

So what about after dropping to one-tenth?Ten rooms are empty, a new dynasty is established, "people's minds are settled", Mingjun is born, and everyone begins to cycle happily again.

This is actually the essence of dynastic change: In ancient times, the population of the entire Central Plains dynasty could not exceed 2000 million people. Once it exceeded, resources were insufficient, as in the late Ming Dynasty when the population exceeded 1 million people, they would definitely kill each other until Once the population is below 2000 million again, the contradiction will disappear.

When this situation of the end of the world is condensed to the land of Zengcheng County, it is reflected that bandits are everywhere, all industries are withered, and the people are in dire straits.

Therefore, the people who travel through the world know one thing very well: without resolving the fundamental contradictions in society, it is useless to rely on the so-called suppression of bandits, because there will always be extremely poor landless peasants who will turn into bandits.And this kind of person can't be killed enough, they will starve to death, do they still care about bullets?

Therefore, after the first round of deterrence, Ding Liqiu, the mayor of the Guangzhou Special Zone, made a special trip to Zengcheng County at the end of 1630 to preside over and promote a far-reaching social experiment under the rule of the Ming Dynasty: corvee.