The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 365: Mo Zibu's Longzhong Strategy

Why do people perform extremely heroic feats at certain moments?

Mo Zibu thought a lot, and finally he came to a conclusion that even he found incredible.

Because he’s handsome!
Mo Zibu himself had fallen into that kind of emotion. Whenever he fought a bloody battle with a powerful enemy, he always felt a strong impulse in his heart that was about to burst out, driving him to rush to the front and defeat all enemies who dared to stand in his way regardless of danger.

Do you think that at that time, Mo Zibu thought about national justice and making great achievements?
With so little time, who could have thought of so much?

What supports his desire is that he feels that he is very handsome and invincible, and is the most beautiful peacock among all the peacocks.

Don't think that this emotion is low-level. In fact, it is very high-level. It is a genetic magic weapon evolved by humans in the cruel struggle with other carnivores and nature itself over millions of years.

Human beings, as creatures, need heroes to emerge at critical moments and sacrifice themselves for the public so that they can step by step reach the top of the food chain.

This gene, which enables people to become heroes at the most critical moments, is an important protection patch that humans have laid for themselves, so that humans will not be wiped out when faced with a little danger.

Therefore, the more progressive and noble the team, the greater the probability of this kind of foundation breaking out.

That 'Come on, show me!'

"I want my name to be recorded in history, so I'll publish a separate family tree."

The impulse of "Comrades, march over my dead body!" will turn ordinary people into bugs that are difficult for ordinary people to understand.

The ultimate goal of all military commanders is to make this atmosphere, which can give rise to great actions, become the mainstream of the army.

Therefore, Mo Zibu, who understood this, attached the greatest importance to shaping the army's sense of honor.

He directly demolished the temple of the Eight Kings, which was dedicated to the emperors of the Ly Dynasty, and moved the statues of Ly Cong Uan and others to Tokyo.

The statue of the eunuch general Li Changjie, who revealed the location of Emperor Henan's residence in the Southern Mountains, was smashed to pieces by Mo Zibu and thrown into the Fuliang River.

Here, Mo Zibu converted the Eight Kings Temple into a Martyrs' Shrine for his nephew Mo Gong and the sacrificed soldiers, and erected a tall statue for Mo Gong.

He also announced publicly that starting from Lord Mo, his descendants would be directly included in the royal genealogy and officially become members of the royal family.

The pensions of all officers and soldiers who died in this blocking battle with a five-to-one disparity in enemy strength will be increased by one level, and the surviving officers and soldiers will be promoted by one additional level in rank.

Mo Zibu then returned to Tokyo and promoted a large number of soldiers who performed outstandingly in the battle to grassroots officers. Almost all the soldiers who participated in the battle were promoted in rank.

Mo Zibu also built a temple to commemorate the soldiers who died outside Tokyo, and pensions were immediately distributed.

Li Bao was also injured. Two fingers on his right hand were cut off by the saber of the Qing cavalry, and he had no choice but to retire with disability.

"Your Majesty, Li Bao can no longer serve you!" As he said this, the fierce soldier who had killed countless people had red eyes and was about to cry.

He followed Huang Gongzhi to cause trouble at the age of thirteen, followed Mo Zibu at the age of seventeen, and returned to his hometown Beihe at the age of twenty-seven.

It can be said that his world view was almost formed in the army. Now he is suddenly facing retirement and becoming a disabled person, and the gap in his heart is quite large.

Mo Zibu helped Li Bao, who was about to kneel down, up. He knew very well that the soldiers who needed to be arranged most in the army were those who retired due to injuries.

Because those who died in battle only need to be compensated. To put it cruelly, except for a few fixed dates every year, they will soon disappear from people's daily lives.

However, most disabled soldiers will still live for several decades, and each of them will become a living example. If they are not taken care of properly, it will greatly affect their morale.

"It's okay if you're injured. You hold the rank of Senior Guard, so I'll promote you one level and retire at the rank of Major. According to the law, you can be promoted to an eighth-rank officer and return to your hometown, Jingmen County, Haiyang, to be a county lieutenant."

As he spoke, Mo Zibu had two young women brought in, who were obviously a master and servant.

"From now on, your daily life will be taken care of by them. Give birth to a few more big fat boys, and then come back to serve as guards for me in eighteen years."

Li Bao took a look at the young lady and actually recognized her. She was the daughter of the Ruan family, a wealthy family in Jingmen County.

More than ten years ago, when Li Bao, who was eight or nine years old, followed his father to carry firewood to the Ruan family, he had seen Miss Ruan, who was six or seven years old, several times.

At that time, they were only a few years old and could still be friends secretly, but as they grew up, the gap between them began to become obvious.

Li Bao's face flushed rarely. Although Miss Ruan had been married and had a six-year-old daughter, Li Bao did not despise her at all. He was very willing to marry the lady who had been so high and mighty in the past.

"Let me kowtow to the king once more. I was a weed in the wilds of my youth, a fish in the river. It is because of the king that I am where I am today, marrying a beautiful woman and becoming an eighth-rank official."

After saying that, Li Bao knelt down with a plop, tears already streaming down his face. "In my next life, I will still follow the king!"

When he knelt, many officers and soldiers who had retired due to injuries also knelt on the ground, and the scene was filled with tears.

Mo Zibu's eyes also turned red, and then he awarded a piece of clothing to each of the retired officers and soldiers.

This was the lowest level of clothing bestowed upon the Xing Tang Dynasty. It was a blue silk garment embroidered with a flying tiger pattern, which served as a symbol. One did not have to kneel before an official, and had the right to report illegal acts of local officials to the court.

After dealing with the issues of officer promotion and soldier retirement, the issue of how to deal with more than 15,000 captured Qing soldiers was put on the agenda.

Zheng Jinshui came over. The General Staff Office had already produced the screened list. Mo Zibu took it and looked at it. Wow, there were quite a few big fish.

Among the more than 15,000 prisoners, there were more than 8,000 Bannermen, accounting for more than half.

Among them, there are eight yellow belts from the Aisin-Gioro family and more than twenty red belts from the Gioro family.

It seems that Qianlong really values himself and wants to get rid of him in one fell swoop!

Mo Zibu looked at the yellow belt and red belt being brought over and snorted coldly.

"There's nothing much to say. Back then, the Third Prince was over seventy years old, yet Kang Mazi still had him executed by slow slicing. So be it. If you want to blame someone, blame Kang Mazi. I learned this from him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud cry. Some people wet their pants on the spot. Of course, there were also some who were tough enough to curse at Mo Zibu, and then they were covered in the mouths by the angry soldiers and beaten up.

However, Mo Zibu was not going to watch. The Xing Tang Army did not have any executioners at all. How could they perform Ling Chi? They would probably just cut the person dozens of times in a bloody mess and the person would die.

As for the others, Mo Zibu thought for a moment and said to Zheng Jinshui, "Let's trace back to their origins. All those whose ancestors were generals of the Qing Dynasty and participated in the massacre will have their heads chopped off.

Keep the rest. We need to build coal and iron mines, and we can't do without slave miners. It would be a shame to kill them."

Zheng Jinshui smiled and said to Mo Zibu, "Your Majesty, there is another big fish that you will definitely be interested in. This person is called Shang Weisheng. He is a member of the Bordered Blue Banner of the Han Army and a descendant of Shang Kexi."

"Hahahaha!" Mo Zibu laughed. During the Three Feudatories Rebellion, the old villain Shang Kexi insisted on opposing it. So after the Three Feudatories were suppressed, many people in the Shang family were not only innocent, but also merited. Shang Weisheng's ancestors were one of them.

"A Shui, you go there yourself and take good care of him. You must keep him alive. When we return to Guangzhou in the future, we must hire the best executioner to skin him alive in front of all the people in Guangzhou.

In addition, all the heads of the fallen bannermen should be chopped off and pickled. The Jingguan will not be built in Beihe. It would be meaningless if no one saw it. When the heads are empty, the navy will transport them to Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and other places and build them for the locals to see.

I, King Mo, am very good at publicity. It is useless for you to build the Jingguan in Beihe!

There are no bannermen here, and they will not come here. It is better to pull them to Guangzhou, Fuzhou and other places, build them quietly, and then the news of the Xing Tang army's victory can be spread everywhere immediately.

. . . .

"Plop!" The patriarch of the He family in Sanyuanli knelt before Li Xianwen, holding a thick, thorny bramble in his hand.

"My Lord, I have been blind and have offended you many times before. I regret it now and have come to you to apologize."

Li Xianwen laughed and looked at the He family's patriarch in front of him jokingly, "Master He, what are you doing? I'm just a poor guy from overseas, how can I kneel before you? It's really embarrassing. Get up quickly."

Hearing that Li Xianwen was in the underworld, Mr. He dared not get up anymore and kept begging for mercy. Behind him, the clan leaders of several other major families in Sanyuanli also pretended to raise their whips and shouted, "Please punish me, my son-in-law!"

Well, Sanyuanli in the northwest of Guangzhou is a good place. Although Sanyuanli's reputation for resisting the British was almost overshadowed by the "joke" that it was an authentic Cantonese settlement area in later generations, at this time, this place was unusual.

How to say it, Guangzhou at this time is the only super first-tier city in the country.

In a place that would be considered a large city in later generations, even the consumption of vegetables and fruits is extremely astonishing.

Sanyuanli happened to have land suitable for growing these things, so it became one of the main suppliers of vegetables and fruits for Guangzhou City.

It can be said that one mu of lower farmland in Sanyuanli is more valuable than ten mu of upper farmland in remote places like Shaozhou and Zhaoqing.

Gradually, relying on the land in their hands, the big families in Sanyuanli began to monopolize part of the material supply in Guangzhou City. The big families with surnames such as He, Chen, and Lin accounted for more than 60% of the vegetable supply.

He Yucheng, one of the leaders of the Sanyuanli anti-British movement in the future, was a member of the He family, but he was not a direct descendant of the He family. Wei Shaoguang and others were tenants of the He family.

From this we can see that in order to hold such great benefits in a place like Guangzhou where every inch of land is valuable, there must be support from local big families.

There is no large family that can mobilize hundreds or thousands of people at any time, as they would have been wiped out long ago.

The He family is the leader in Sanyuanli. When Li Xianwen first arrived, he wanted to pull the He family into a blood oath.

But the He family ignored Li Xianwen. Even after Fukang'an arrived, the He family wanted to capture Li Xianwen and hand him over to the government.

However, when the Xingtang fleet headed north to Guangzhou Bay, the He family immediately panicked when news came from the front line that the Qing army had been completely annihilated by King Xingtang in Annan.

Therefore, facing Li Xianwen's complaints, the head of the He family was quite ruthless and claimed that even if Li Xianwen beat him to death, he would not frown.

"Mr. He, are you going to throw me into the prison of the Governor's Mansion?" Li Xianwen vented the anger he had felt overwhelmed by the local bullies of the He family a few days ago.

The head of the He family couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Your brother-in-law, King Xingtang, sent out large warships to destroy all the artillery batteries in Humen. Who would dare to go against you now?

"As long as the prince consort can calm down, we will do whatever you say!" the head of the He family said loudly.

"Then you three families, go and kill the Tartar Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Yonggui!" Li Xianwen waved his hand.

The He family head gritted his teeth, then bowed to Li Xianwen and said, "The prince consort has said so, and the tens of thousands of villagers in Sanyuanli will definitely do as he is told.

We are just peasants in the countryside, not as brave as the heroes of Kunlun Mountain. We may not be able to kill Yonggui, but we definitely have the courage to risk our lives to kill the Tartars!"

After saying this, the He family leader put away the bramble and was about to go out to make arrangements. "Wait, there's no rush today!" When they were about to leave, Li Xianwen stopped them.

Some people don't have the vision to help others in times of need, and it would be a bit unreasonable to ask them to take risks with thousands of members of their entire family.

But these people can still be used to add icing on the cake.

Li Xianwen also needed the cooperation of big families like the He family so that he could control most of the grassroots power in Guangzhou through them before the Xingtang Army entered Guangdong and Guangxi.

The He family and others were overjoyed and immediately came back to express their loyalty to Li Xianwen.

The great Hakka scholar Yin Chengfang saw this from behind the screen and said to Lin Qiaoyin, "With the Prince Consort here, Guangdong and Guangxi are safe. Let's head south quickly to see the king!"

. . . .

Three days later, Mo Zibu met Lin Qiaoyin and Yin Chengfang in Tokyo City.

I, King Mo, am extremely happy. Lin Qiaoyin is the first mainland intellectual he has managed to influence. He is his greatest hope and future hero for taking over Fujian.

However, Lin Qiaoyin did not take credit for it. Instead, he let Yin Chengfang walk in front and said to Mo Zibu, "I, Lin Qiaoyin, am just an upright scholar. Only Mr. Kezhai is the emperor's teacher!"

Hearing Lin Qiaoyin's words, Mo Zibu smiled and looked at the short Yin Chengfang. "I've heard of Mr. Kezhai's great name for a long time. I wonder what he has to teach me?"

Yin Chengfang knew it was time to show his abilities and establish his position for the future. He cupped his hands and said, "Yin Chengfang, I have come to advise the king to delay the conquest of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian."

Mo Zibu smiled faintly and asked the two to sit down in the imperial study. "Everyone in the world is urging me to immediately launch a northern expedition to seize Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian as a base, taking advantage of the Qing Dynasty's defeat to lay the foundation for the restoration of the Tang Dynasty. Why is Mr. Kezhai advising me to delay?"

Yin Chengfang twirled his goatee and asked, "Your Majesty, who do you think is Xing Tang's biggest rival in conquering Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian?"

Mo Zibu asked in surprise, "Mr. Kezhai, do you think it's not the Donglu and their lackeys?"

Yin Chengfang shook his head firmly, "Of course not. The main force of the Eastern Tartars has been annihilated. Every household in Guangzhou will be in mourning. They can't stop the king even a little bit. It's the Guangzhou people who are stopping the king!"

Mo Zibu seemed to understand something. He cupped his hands and said to Yin Chengfang seriously, "Please teach me, sir."

Yin Chengfang didn't mince words and said in a deep voice, "Since the Thirteen Hongs were established, all foreign trading houses in the world have been in Guangzhou. This is a huge business worth more than 20 million taels of silver every year.

For decades, there were millions of Cantonese people who relied on trade with foreign countries for their livelihood. Their lives, food, clothing, housing and transportation all depended on the trade with foreign countries through the Thirteen Hongs. Without this, they would starve to death.

However, Guangdong, with its small territory and large population, is actually unable to produce most of the foreign trade goods.

Their porcelain comes from Jiangxi, their cloth and silk come from Jiangnan, their brocade and silk come from Sichuan, and their tea is best from Jiangnan and Fujian.

As for the rest of the products, such as raw silk, rhubarb, pig bristles, lacquerware, etc., Guangdong can only produce two or three tenths of them.

In other words, Guangdong became rich and could support millions of people around Guangzhou because it exported goods from all over the world.

May I ask, Your Majesty, now that you are entering Guangzhou, are you ready to arrange the livelihoods of these millions of people?

If not, when the king entered Guangzhou, the Qing Dynasty took the opportunity to open the Thirteen Hongs in Ningbo and Songjiang. Who would these people whose livelihoods were cut off hate?
A large number of these people are rich and powerful, and have reputations in various places.

Even the porters carrying bags at Huangpu Wharf were strong and healthy, knew the rules, and were ready to kill people in battle if given a sword or a gun.

If you offend them, even if the king enters Guangzhou, how can you sleep well with tens of thousands of people like you?"

What the hell!

Mo Zibu wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. If he really offended these millions of people, they would wipe him out without the Qing Dynasty having to do anything.

In this situation where livelihoods were cut off, neither the revival of the Tang Dynasty nor the restoration of the Han Dynasty nor the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty would work. There were hundreds of thousands of workers at the Huangpu docks alone, and if they were organized, they would be Mo Zibu's nightmare.

I, King Mo, tried my best to calm myself and said to Yin Chengfang, "Even if I don't enter Guangzhou, the Qing Dynasty can still open Thirteen Hongs in Ningbo and Songjiang and disrupt Guangzhou's import and export business!"

"That's great!" Yin Chengfang shouted, "Then it won't be the king who cuts off the lives of these millions of people, but the Qing Dynasty.

The king only needs to wave his hand, and these millions of people will use their hands and feet to carry the king to the Daming Palace in Jiangning City."

Ah yes! It seems to be true.

But Yin Chengfang continued, "But I think Qianlong would never be so unwise. He would never make such a foolish move."

Mo Zibu paced back and forth for a few minutes, then nodded in agreement, "Qianlong is not a fool, that's for sure.

Mr. Nakzhai, what should I do? I can't defeat the main force of the Qing Dynasty but not return home in glory, right?

Yin Chengfang laughed, "I think Your Majesty can proceed in three steps. The first step is to focus on substance rather than appearance."

Mo Zibu personally poured a cup of tea for Yin Chengfang and Lin Qiaoyin, and put on an attitude of humbly seeking advice, "Mr. Kezhai, please tell me, what is the inner meaning and what is the outer meaning?"

"When I went south, I went to see the Prince Consort, Lord Li, the Marquis of Yinchuan.

Today, in Fujian and Guangdong, especially around Guangzhou, Kunlun Mountain has already seized a large amount of grassroots power by relying on the power of Xing Tang's elite troops.

Even in the province of Guangdong today, the king's prestige and the deterrent power of Kunlun Mountain are far more effective than those of the Qing court.

It can even be said that the king can already mobilize considerable civilian power in Guangdong and Guangxi, and this is the real reason.

What the Qing Dynasty controlled were just a few officials in the officialdom, and that was face.

Therefore, I suggest that Your Majesty should not be in a hurry to take over Guangdong and Guangxi, but should maintain his influence on the people so that the Qing Dynasty's ruling power will be ineffective outside the government.

The initiative is in the hands of the king. The king can mobilize most of the civilian forces through Kunlun Mountain. However, the Qing Dynasty dares not take any action. If Qianlong and others dare to disrupt this balance, they will lose face. "

"Yes, that's right!" Mo Zibu laughed. He could completely control Guangdong through Kunlun Mountain and basically paralyze the Qing Dynasty's governance in Guangdong.

In this way, even if Qianlong took advantage of the privileges of the Thirteen Hongs, it was not caused by Mo Zibu, and the blame could be immediately put on Qianlong, which was a complete win-win situation.

"Secondly, I'll skin him alive and pull out his tendons!" Yin Chengfang continued, apparently coming prepared.

"The way the Qing Dynasty extracted profits from the annual trade of more than 20 million taels was to control the head merchants of the Thirteen Hongs.

These general merchants had to hand over 70% of their annual income to the Manchu nobles headed by Emperor Qianlong, and they must have been very reluctant to do so.

Your Majesty can easily incite them and make them work for you. At most, the commission you take will be lower than that of the Qing Dynasty.

The head merchants of the Thirteen Hongs control the lifeline of Guangzhou. With their support, Your Majesty can completely strengthen himself with the flesh and blood of the Qing Dynasty and then deal with the Qing Dynasty."

Mo Zibu understood, but he thought further than Yin Chengfang. Mo Zibu would definitely not continue to use the model of the Thirteen Hongs in the future, but he would definitely use the money and people of the Thirteen Hongs.

It can even be said that the merchants of all sizes in the Thirteen Hongs were more suitable for opening their eyes to the world than most of the sour scholars at that time.

Mo Zibu, who already lacks civil servants, can even support a large political force from among them to balance the civil servants in the future.

"The third move is called Li Dai Tao Jiang." Yin Chengfang said, pointing at himself.

"I, Yue Ting, and General Chen have already formed a team in the Hakka territories of southern Jiangxi, northern Guangdong, and northern Fujian. As long as Your Majesty can provide us with some weapons, we can start causing trouble immediately.

Your Majesty has always been known as the King of Hakkas. With swords, guns and muskets, we can raise the flag for your Majesty in this area where the Hakkas live, where the people are so tough, and contain the Qing Dynasty.

Let the people of Jiangxi and Huguang know about the king’s great achievements, and let them know that we Han people have begun to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

"It would be extremely difficult for the Qing Dynasty to deal with us, so how could they focus on the king? By the time Qianlong has allocated all his resources here, the king will be unstoppable!"

Lin Qiaoyin also came out and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I have discussed this with Mr. Kezhai.

If the king wants to establish the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, he must first take Hunan and Jiangxi, otherwise there will not be enough rice to feed the people in the Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian provinces.

But Your Majesty, you have enough food from Siam, Jiading and Beihe in Southeast Asia. If you want to take Guangdong and Guangxi, you must take Jiangnan together.

Only in this way can we gain the support of the most people, so that they will not be dragged over by the Qing Dynasty and the Eastern Tartars will not use the trick of using Han people to kill Han people.

As long as we prepare properly, if we can capture Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Jiangnan in the future, the Qing Dynasty will be doomed, and the restoration of the Tang Dynasty and the Han Dynasty will not be far away.

Makes sense!
Mo Zibu rubbed his hands twice. Although these two were scholars, they were indeed very accurate in their judgment.

Of course, this action plan still has many imperfections, and Mo Zibu cannot make a decision based on just one side of the story.

This is not just playing house, but a strategy to rule the world.

However, Mo Zibu vaguely felt that the general direction was correct.

Should we take Guangdong and Guangxi now and raise the flag first, or continue to wait for another year, and then take over Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangnan together to completely establish the victory?
Of course, Yin Chengfang was still a little naive. This man, who was known as a great scholar in history, had lived in poverty all his life. Now that he had the opportunity to realize his ambitions, he could no longer hide his true intentions.

He was afraid that Mo Zibu would hesitate, so he further suggested: "Your Majesty can also take this opportunity to capture Zhoushan. In the past, Zhang Cangshui fought against the Eastern Tartars here, and it is the most sensitive place in the hearts of the Jiangnan scholars.

Your Majesty's navy is invincible in the world. You can easily occupy Zhoushan and raise the flag of the Ming Dynasty. This will surely shake the south of the Yangtze River, and those with lofty ideals will be inspired by it. Then, your Majesty's name can spread deep into the south of the Yangtze River.

I believe that the key for Your Majesty right now is not the amount of territory you occupy, but rather to let the world know who the true hero is, so that those who are determined to drive out the Tartars will know who to turn to."

Lin Qiaoyin also advised: "A wise man sees the opportunity, and a gentleman acts at the right time. Your Majesty's current strength is only enough to take Guangdong and Guangxi. Rather than alert the enemy, it is better not to take it.

When the time is right, we will conquer the other half and accomplish the great cause of restoring the Tang Dynasty and succeeding the Han Dynasty. Everything will be a piece of cake.”

Mo Zibu was silent for a moment. This was quite different from his previous plan of marching north to Guangzhou in three months, but it seemed that other people's strategy was correct.

"Mr. Kezhai, Brother Yueting, please give me three days. I need to think carefully."

　The keyboard is smoking. This was yesterday. I wrote it again this morning.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)