I have a cornucopia

Chapter 335 I am a slave and I am honored

Wuying Palace.

“This loss is quite big!”

King Yang rested his head on the Queen's lap, reading the battle report that had just been delivered to him.

The Jingnan Army captured Hangzhou.

but……

More than 200 knights were killed, including Li Zhifang, the temporary Grand Master of the Confucius and Mencius Knights. They did rely on the help of an insider to easily capture Hangzhou, but after entering the city, they only focused on looting, after all, the wealth of the city was dazzling. As a result, the knights took their followers and divided into small teams, each seizing the mansions of the gentry to plunder gold and silver treasures, but they did not expect that Xu Du, the commander of the Zhejiang militia, quickly went out of the city to summon the garrisons of the forts along the river, and then entered the city from the unattacked Fengshan Gate to launch a counterattack.

As a result, the Confucian Knights were almost driven out of Hangzhou again.

In fact, it was just like popping champagne at halftime. The wealth of Hangzhou stimulated their minds and made them lose control, so they brought forward the looting that should have been carried out after a complete victory.

You can't blame these knights.

This is Hangzhou after all.

They really can't control their impulse.

Besides, this kind of low-level mistake is very common in history. For example, when Sun Chuanting pursued Li Zicheng, it was because his men were busy snatching the property discarded by Li Zicheng, and as a result, Li Zicheng took a breath and turned around to kill him.

Because the knights of Confucius and Mencius and their followers were scattered in various houses to loot gold, silver and jewelry, they were unable to gather to fight in a short period of time after Xu Du entered the city, and were quickly swept away by the latter's elite old Zhejiang militia. Many of those unfortunate knights and followers were blocked by Xu Du's subordinates in the mansions they were looting before they even had time to learn the news, and then fell on the way to rush out.

As for persuading Xudu's men to defect...

That was Xu Du. He had been the commander of the Zhejiang militia since its inception. Even when he was just a scholar, he could make nearly 10,000 people fight for him. He was a hero. Although his military talent was limited, he basically did not go to the battlefield and stayed at the headquarters. However, his cohesion in the Zhejiang militia was unmatched. The soldiers under him were truly willing to live and die with him. This could not be deceived at all.

However, Xu Du could not save Hangzhou. After all, there were not only the Knights of Confucius and Mencius in the city, but also tens of thousands of militiamen who had already defected and millions of unruly people.

After the initial confusion, they quickly identified themselves and joined the fight against these former friendly forces.

Xu Du was ultimately outnumbered and failed. After inflicting heavy damage on the Knights of Confucius and Mencius, he had to retreat while protecting the rescued elders including Yu Huang.

The Confucian Knights still occupied Hangzhou.

The loss is just a bit big.

As for Li Zhifang, he was not killed in the counterattack in Xudu. He was killed by the defenders of Zhenhai Tower with a cannon because of his reckless advance...

All broken.

All that could be found was a complete head.

This was also an important reason why the Confucius and Mencius Knights were in chaos after Xu Du’s counterattack.

The commander is gone.

"I still don't understand why he, as a commander, didn't lead from behind, but ran in the front, even advancing alone?"

Her Majesty the Queen said curiously.

She still had a good impression of Li Zhifang. After all, when she was in Shandong, she had met these Confucian knights, especially important ones like Li Zhifang. She even regarded these people as the pillars of her future court. For someone like Li Zhifang, it would not be excessive to give him the position of Minister of War in the future. He was young and promising, and could even be useful for decades. But she did not expect that he died like this.

The Ming Dynasty lost its pillar.

"He led a million soldiers to the West Lake and immediately reached the top of Mount Wu. He just wanted to show off like Wanyan Liang. Although Wanyan Liang failed, he was about to succeed, so of course he couldn't wait to reach Mount Wu. He was a man with aspirations."

Yang Feng said.

This result is perfect.

Chen Zhilin died, Li Zhifang died, Huang Ji died...

The famous ministers of our Qing Dynasty are gradually dying out in the internecine struggle.

This is the result he wants.

But the problem now is that the Confucius and Mencius Knights suffered too much loss and it should be difficult to continue fighting. The Shandong Tongshan Society had long wanted to stop fighting, but the hardliners like Li Zhifang were a little too excited. However, more than 200 people died in the Battle of Hangzhou, most of whom were hardliners. Besides, even the remaining hardliners, facing the reality that one third of the knights died in one battle, I am afraid they will start to wake up.

You should know that there are only a little over a thousand knights in the Knights of Confucius and Mencius, and there are only six hundred of them actually on the battlefield in Zhejiang.

Besides, now that they have Hangzhou, they should have made enough money.

I can't fight anymore.

Therefore, he had to find other ways to continue to make more famous officials of the Qing Dynasty die.

"Hurry up and issue another decree, saying that after you learned about this, you deeply felt that the war was a disaster that was a loss to the country and the people. Although you cannot interfere in the war due to your status, you can accept their surrender, that is, allow local gentry to surrender as bondservants of the Imperial Household Department to provide them with protection.

Those who surrender to the Imperial Household Department as bondservants will be registered as slaves under your name and protected by you. "

Yang Feng said.

"Why should I protect them? They were the ones who killed my father. Not torturing them is already a mercy."

Her Majesty the Queen said dissatisfiedly.

Yang Feng patted her speechlessly...

"They are all your slaves now. You have the power of life and death. Their people are yours, their property is yours, their land is yours. If you want someone to die, you only need to say one word. You don't even need an imperial decree. They are like eunuchs. Even if they are nine thousand years old, they must die if you want them to. When the time comes, you can just execute those you want to kill. If you want silver, just let them take it. They are all your slaves, not to mention the silver. Their land is also yours. You can just announce that their tenants will not have to pay taxes in the future, but only pay 10% rent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And this is a permanent system that cannot be changed in the future. Wouldn't the people be grateful to you?"

The Queen was stunned for a moment...

"What if they don't want to?"

She said with shining eyes.

She already understood.

It's a lie.

The gentry were tricked into surrendering as slaves. After surrendering, they no longer had to worry about being robbed or even killed by the Jingnan Army. They were protected by the Empress, but they also became her ATMs. In the past, it was difficult for the emperor to collect taxes from them. After all, once taxes were collected, they would shout that they were competing with the people for profits, and even create civil unrest to resist. The court was full of their people, so it was almost impossible to get through the court to deal with them.

But after they surrendered, they all became slaves of Her Majesty the Queen, and the Queen could kill them if she wanted.

In the past, if you wanted to kill them, you needed the cabinet to approve it, the six departments to review it, the Censorate to supervise it, the Ministry of Justice to execute it, and local officials to cooperate. Any link could get stuck. For example, Ge Cheng, the leader of the tax resistance in Suzhou, was executed by imperial decree in the 30th year of Wanli's reign. He was dead by the time Wanli died, his son died, and even when Wanli's grandson became emperor, he was still alive and well.

The local officials don’t enforce it!
Local officials can always find reasons to delay.

But after becoming the Queen's slaves, the Queen only needed to give an oral order to kill them.

No one has the right to interfere.

They are the Queen's servants.

They are not civilians and are not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

Similarly, let alone collecting taxes, even if the Queen was short of money, she would only need a verbal order to ask them to hand over all their property.

"If they don't agree, we'll kill them until they agree. Gao Jie and Gao Yigong have their swords raised."

Yang Feng sneered. Since they can be slaves in the Qing Dynasty, let them be slaves in the Ming Dynasty. To deal with these gentry, we must destroy their personality and make them kneel at the feet of the Queen and call themselves slaves, just like the literati in the Southern Han Dynasty who had to purify themselves before becoming officials. In this way, it will be difficult for them to have any dignity in the future.

No one will respect them anymore.

The common people will not respect a group of slaves. They are just a group of eunuchs in the past, except that they do not have to purify themselves now.

Who would respect a group of eunuchs!

As for whether they will accept...

There are also Gao Jie and Gao Yigong. The Confucian Knights can no longer fight, but what about them? If they don't accept it, they will continue to fight. If they are defeated, their families will be confiscated and their properties will be exterminated, just like what my Qing Dynasty did. Since they can be slaves under the butcher knife of my Qing Dynasty, of course they will also succumb to the butcher knife of Her Majesty the Queen.

You have to believe in their integrity, make them your slaves first and then kill them.

Jiaxing.

Elders meeting place.

The Zhejiang Elderly Association has moved here.

However, only two-thirds of the elders were rescued from Hangzhou by Xu Du, so the number of people dropped sharply.

Yu Huang is still the leader.

As for the war situation, there has not been much change for the time being. Although the Jingnan Army captured Hangzhou, the losses of the Confucius and Mencius Knights were too great and they had to rest. However, because Haining and Hangzhou were captured, the Jingnan Army's ships could reach Hangzhou directly. In addition, with the canal, Zhejiang was actually finished. In fact, this war had already failed. After all, it was originally only because of the strict defense of the Zhejiang battlefield that Jiaxing, Huzhou, Suzhou and Songjiang were protected. Now that Hangzhou has fallen, the southern line is open, and the enemy troops going north along the canal can directly attack Suzhou.

Although there is Jiaxing in the middle, it is actually useless. Even if Jiaxing still holds on, it cannot stop the cavalry of the Jingnan Army from going to Suzhou, Songjiang, and Huzhou. They will spread it like a plague, causing the unruly people east of Taihu Lake to rise up. It won't be long before these cities become isolated cities.

It has actually already begun.

Chongde has fallen.

Civil unrest.

Upon learning that Hangzhou had fallen, the unruly people of Chongde rose up in rebellion.

The Chongde local celebrities will either die or flee.

More and more people will do this. They have wanted to do this for a long time, but the Jingnan Army is still blocked on the coast. Now that the Jingnan Army has occupied Hangzhou, they only need to control the city and send people to invite the Jingnan Army. Even the people in the countryside under the banner of the Jingnan Army have appeared. They are dragging the local sages out of their houses and beating them to death with sticks and then dividing their property. The fall of Hangzhou represents the beginning of collapse, and collapse represents complete chaos, which means that no egg will be left intact under the overturned nest. Those people who have risen up will not care who is protected by King Yang. In fact, King Yang's list is not public. At most, the families of the Zhejiang New Army are public. The Jingnan Army must abide by King Yang's restrictions when it captures the city, but the rebellious people will not consider so much, so no one should have any illusions.

It is inevitable that both sides will perish.

Give up?

Or are you waiting for everything to go to waste?

At this moment, the surviving elders and local sages of Jiaxing all looked at Cha Baoyi who came to convey the imperial edict with heavy expressions.

Even though everyone wanted to kill him.

But now he is the Queen's servant and can only look at his smug face.

"What's wrong with being a slave? Even if I am a slave, I am still the slave of Her Majesty the Queen. I am willing to be the slave of Her Majesty the Queen, and I want my descendants to be the slaves of Her Majesty the Queen from generation to generation.

It's really no big deal.

It's not like I can't take the imperial examination, or have children. Nothing has changed. The land is still mine, the money is still mine, I'm still a juren, and I can still take the imperial examination. What's more, I'm a servant of Her Majesty the Empress. Her Majesty will definitely look at me with higher regard during the palace examination. In the end, I will definitely become a jinshi, and I will definitely become an official. I will still be a descendant of the family. You say that being a servant is shameful, but I think it's an honor, and it brings honor to my family. Being a servant of Her Majesty the Empress is bringing honor to my family.

You guys lost!
Her Majesty is giving you one last chance to live."

Cha Baoyi said with some pride.

He was very happy recently, and even very proud of himself. Not only did he avoid being confiscated and divided because he was a traitor, but he also took the opportunity to make a fortune in Hangzhou. After all, in the chaos at that time, everyone was scrambling for it, and he would be sorry if he didn't. Especially since Chen Zhilin died in Hangzhou, he even replaced him as the highest-ranking servant of the Empress in Zhejiang, and in fact began to take over the governance of Hangzhou.

He himself estimated that governors would be indispensable in the future.

After all, he was a juren, and even if he didn't pass the jinshi exam, he could still become a provincial governor with the favor of Her Majesty the Queen.

traitor?

As long as I can be rich and glorious, what does it matter if I’m a traitor?
slave?

I am a slave and I am glorious!
And now he came as the envoy of Her Majesty the Queen to announce the decree to the Zhejiang Elders Association.

The meteoric rise has begun!

"You are also a scholar, aren't you ashamed to keep calling me a slave?"

Yu Huang said angrily.

"No shame, I am the slave of Her Majesty the Queen, and I am proud to be a slave.

As for you all, I hope you can still have the same pride as you do now when your heads are hanging high above the city gates."

Cha Baoyi said calmly.

Then he turned around and walked out arrogantly.

The group of elders and local sages behind them looked at each other in bewilderment...

This scene made Yu Huang sigh.

"Everyone, here is a list. Yang Feng sent someone to deliver it. The people on the list are protected by him. The others can do whatever they want. I am on the list, but since I am the head of the Zhejiang Elders Association, I will give you an explanation. We have lost, and there is no point in fighting any further."

He pulled out a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to the person next to him. The latter opened it and began to read the names on it. The elders and sages were in confusion...

"Why is he protected by Yang Feng?"

"Why am I not here?"

……

The venue suddenly seemed like a market, and the elders and local sages seemed like collapsed shrews.

No one noticed that Yu Huang had already taken out a very small pistol and pointed it at his temple...

"boom!"

The sudden sound of gunfire brought temporary silence to the venue.

The elders and local sages looked in astonishment at the leader who had slumped over on the armchair.

then……

"I want to see Her Majesty the Queen, why am I not here?"

"This is fake, fake!"

……