There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 21 The general is eager to seek talents!

Everything is difficult at the beginning!
This is absolutely true.

Nie Yuguang spent a lot of effort to trick his father into handing over the family's land so that the General's Mansion could distribute land and settle the refugees in the shantytowns.

Moreover, this was a case of executing first and reporting later, because although Nie Jieren was the head of the Nie family, he distributed all the family land and property to the refugees, but did not inform his brothers and nephews of such a major event.

If it were in the past, no matter how far away Nie Yu's uncles lived, they would come back to talk to the father and son.

After all, in ancient times, people paid great attention to clan blood ties, and the more mountainous and forested the area was in the south, the closer the clan blood ties were.

In fact, Nie Yu originally planned to split up these large clans, but considering the actual situation, he thought about it and decided not to implement it.

The current semi-land reform and land distribution is already the limit. As for splitting up the clans, he is not afraid of resistance from the landlords and gentry. If anyone dares to resist, he will draw his butcher knife, and these weak gentry will be obedient.

Back when the Mongols changed northern farming to nomadic pastures, the Manchus entered the Central Plains to seize land, and King Chuang came to Beijing to demand payment, did the landlords and gentry even fart?

The key point is that Nie Yu has no one under his command. It’s not that he has no soldiers, but that he does not have enough talents.

This move of distributing land to the landlords meant that he was destined to be at odds with the landlords and gentry in the early stages. In addition, his current foundation was unstable and he urgently needed a big victory to stabilize the situation. So he could only find a way from his own brothers and uncles.

Fortunately, the laws of our Qing Dynasty are similar to those of the Ming Dynasty. Rebellion will result in the execution of nine generations of the clan. Now that I have rebelled, those brothers and uncles cannot escape either.

This is why Nie Yu was so confident that he could divide his own land and property among the refugees for their settlement.

However, the family's land was easy to divide. Because of the threat from the Qing Dynasty, those uncles had to endure it no matter how dissatisfied they were. Not only did they have to endure it, but they also needed help. Dad had already written a letter to notify them as soon as possible, and they should be here soon.

But the rest of the landlords, gentry, and wealthy families in the county were not so easy to deal with. In the eyes of these people, Nie Yu was now a big traitor, almost as bad as Li Zicheng after he went to Beijing to demand payment.

Because they have the army to suppress them, these people don't dare to rebel on the surface, but that doesn't mean we don't need to be on guard. I've read too many conspiracy theories about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". No one can explain clearly how the Battle of Red Cliffs was lost in the novel...

The General's Office was responsible for distributing land to refugees, organizing townships and towns, handling various trivial matters, and trying its best to restore production order in the county.

Time flies, and half a month has passed.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

"You guys go to this one, and the rest of you come with me to this one!"

There were runners from the General's Mansion, each holding a document in their hands, and followed by several volunteers.

They divided into several groups and each went to knock on the doors of the wealthy families in the county.

"Dong dong~!"

"Who?"

A doorman opened the door doubtfully.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw a man in officer's clothes standing at the door, followed by two rebel soldiers with swords.

Without giving the doorman time to respond, the officer picked up the document in his hand and said tersely, "There's a new order from the General's Mansion. Your master must come out immediately to receive it. No more waiting!"

The officer's tone was calm, and no emotion could be heard, but in the eyes of the doorman, it was more terrifying than any evil spirit.

"Yes, yes, please wait a moment, sir. I will go and inform my master right away!"

With that, the doorman tumbled back and called for help. Not long after...

The official who delivered the order from the General's Mansion was led into the house by the owner of the house, Mr. Huang, with an apologetic smile, and then the whole family (excluding the women) stood there and bowed to receive the order.

The messenger enjoyed this treatment very much. In the past, he had to fawn over these wealthy people, but now he had to smile cautiously to a small official like him.

No wonder there are people rebelling every year in this world!
The messenger sighed, then, not forgetting his business, unfolded the simple document in his hand and read, "Order from the General's Mansion! The General who is fighting against the Qing and restoring the Han has just taken over Yidu County. Everything is new. To protect the country and the people, the General is eager to recruit talented people. He has granted permission to all the prominent families in the county to send one of their descendants to serve in the General's Mansion as a civil servant!"

After the document was read, Mr. Huang, who had been trying to apologize with a smile, was completely stunned.

The eldest son of the Huang family, who also bowed beside him, collapsed to the ground and fainted.

The messenger observed this but remained unmoved. He simply added, "Master Huang, the order from the General's Mansion has been read. You'd better accept it quickly! When the General sent me here, he was already impressed by Master Huang's family and specifically instructed that if the Huang family could send someone to the General's Mansion, the General would definitely welcome them."

"Master Huang, please don't be too late. You'll ruin the general's appreciation and respect for you!"

My goodness, this is a blatant threat!
It's not just the Huang family that's like this. The other big families are basically in a similar situation. The General's Mansion is now "eager to recruit talented people" and requires each family to send one person to work in the General's Mansion.

Nie Yu had no choice. He didn't dare to take the risk and bet on these people's loyalty, and then bet like Boss Cao whether these people would hold him back at the critical moment.

Dividing the land and settling the people there is a matter of dividing the land and settling the people there. The more land is divided, the more the gentry and landlords will hate him.

Since he couldn't get the favor of the gentry and landlords anyway, he might as well go all out and tie all the landlords and gentry to his chariot.

Just like his uncles and aunts, half a month has passed and several of them have come to help him with his work.

Let’s live together, and die together.

Including Mr. Huang, all the wealthy families in Yidu County were angry and afraid at this moment. They were angry that General Nie Yu did not follow the rules and forced them to "follow the bandits", and they were also afraid that Nie Yu did not follow the rules.

Mr. Huang was so frightened that he wanted to overturn the table and fight with Nie Yu's General's Mansion.

but……

After calming down a little, he still didn't dare to do it, because if he didn't overturn the table, he could still survive, but if he overturned the table, he would really die.

There were people who were so angry that they wanted to fight to the death with this general.

And then... nothing happened.

Now that guy's house has become the new office of the General's Mansion. No one is dead, but all the men have been drafted into labor service and it is estimated that they will never be able to get out in this lifetime. The women have also been drafted into the rebel army to be their wives.

Don't think that this is disrespectful to women, because this was the 60th year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty. Even for women from wealthy families to remarry was not uncommon. For women from ordinary families to become widows, it was basically the same as waiting to die.

By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this situation had even reached a pathological level, such as polyandry (literally, buying and selling wives)...

Mr. Huang was angry for a moment, but when he thought of the previous incident, he lost all interest.

Just three days after the General's Mansion sent out its "Want Talents" order, the wealthy families in the county sent their family members to report to the General's Mansion.

These wealthy families didn't even dare to send brothers from distant relatives, for fear that General Nie Yu, who had a bad temper, would confiscate their property in a fit of rage.

The talents "supported" by the big families may not be that useful, but together with Nie Yu's own uncles, they can at least alleviate his urgent needs.

(End of this chapter)