There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 35 Cutting the Braids

"Zhijiang County has been taken!?"

This was Nie Yu's reaction when he received the news. From his tone, it could be seen that he was also very surprised.

The reason why he agreed to let Feng Xiuyong go to deceive the city was just to give him a chance to prove his loyalty. Even if it failed, it didn't matter, because he was going to attack Zhijiang anyway.

If he didn't capture Zhijiang City, Nie Yu would not be able to get enough ships and would not be able to launch a surprise attack on Jingzhou City as quickly as possible.

But Nie Yu was still preparing his troops for battle, ready to attack the city at any time, and to test the actual combat effectiveness of the artillery.

then……

Zhijiang County was taken?

It should be said that the Zhijiang County Magistrate was really deceived into opening the city gate. It was obvious that their banner was made very carelessly, and there were only a dozen people. It was Feng Xiuyong who brought the Manchu soldiers to find people. No matter how you looked at it, there were loopholes.

Is the Zhijiang County Magistrate an idiot?
I can’t even tell... well, it seems I really can’t tell.

Nie Yu found that he had some preconceived ideas. This was because he knew about it in advance, and since he was a time traveler, of course he felt that there were many loopholes and it was impossible to succeed.

But if we replace it with these Tartar Qing officials, who are Han officials at that, without being enrolled in the banners and without the support of Manchu nobles, how could a mere Zhijiang County magistrate see it, and what qualifications did he have to see it?
For example, if you see the mayor on the street, would you first question whether he is someone else in disguise?

Then you must report the leader who is trying to make things difficult for you!
(Just kidding)
Zhijiang County was captured.

Nie Yu led his troops into the city that day, quickly took over the city defense, and then went straight to the government office.

Because Feng Xiuyong launched a surprise attack, the county government did not receive the news for a short time. None of the officials, big and small, ran away, and the bailiffs were still waiting in front of the yamen and chatting.

Suddenly, they saw a large group of people running towards them.

"Huh? Who are you? This is the government office, all outsiders please disperse..."

"Pfft!"

"Uh~ah!"

Before he could finish his words, a knife came down and cut the runner's head in half. Then he turned to another stunned runner.

"There's a thief! Ah~!"

The yamen runner screamed subconsciously, and then half of his head was chopped off at an angle by a knife, and he died on the spot.

People from the yamen soon rushed over after hearing the news, but it was of no use. All those who came were picked up by a few wolf guns and then stabbed with several long spears.

All the yamen runners who rushed forward were killed without exception, even those who begged for mercy were not spared.

About half a minute later, the county government office was completely cleared and controlled by the rebel army.

Nie Yu stepped into the lobby of the county government office, stepping on the bloodstains that had not been cleaned up in time, followed by He Shunan, General Bai Nan, and the bald legal advisor Feng Xiuyong.

Because the order had been issued in advance, not all the officials in the yamen died.

At this time, they were all brought to Nie Yu, with a look of panic on their faces. They could not even stand up straight and could only kneel on the ground.

Nie Yu asked, "Who among you holds the highest position in the county government?"

Immediately, a middle-aged man crawled forward, not even daring to raise his head, and said in a trembling voice, "Reply... reply to the general's question. This humble official, no, it's the guilty official, the guilty official. The guilty official is the Zhijiang Chief Clerk. Now that the master is dead, this county has no county magistrate, so the guilty official should be the highest-ranking official in the county government."

Nie Yu didn't care about the tone and said immediately: "Where is the county government's official warehouse and tax silver? Take me there immediately!"

The Zhijiang Chief Clerk had a bitter look on his face: "Ah, this..."

Nie Yu frowned, then waved his hand: "Drag him away and chop him off!" The Zhijiang chief clerk was instantly frightened and begged for mercy: "No, spare my life! Spare my life! General, I will take you there, I will take you there!"

But it was no use. Two soldiers came forward, held his arms, and dragged him away, leaving a trail of urine on the ground.

It was dragged for a long distance before a scream was heard and the begging for mercy stopped abruptly.

A soldier came back to report: "General, he has been chopped off!"

Several of the officials kneeling on the ground were frightened to faint on the spot.

Nie Yu didn't even glance at him and continued, "Who is the highest-ranking official now?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man with a small mustache almost rolled over and said, "General, it's me, it's me. I'm the assistant to the Dianshi (the Dianshi) in the Dianshi Office. I know where the tax silver is stored in the government warehouse. I also know where the money embezzled by the Grand Master, the Chief Clerk, and the Dianshi is stored."

Nie Yu was satisfied now. He took his men to search the government warehouse and asked the clerks to organize the official documents of the yamen.

After a while, Bai Nan quickly came to Nie Yu's side and whispered, "General, we've already searched the government warehouses. The warehouses are full of grain, but no silver was found. However, several large boxes of silver were dug out from the private residences of the county magistrate, the chief clerk, and the registrar. Roughly speaking, there are nearly 30,000 taels of silver."

Nie Yu shook his head and said, "Tsk tsk, our Qing Emperor Qianlong is truly a wise and benevolent ruler! Each of his officials is as honest as water, yet the three of them combined only found 30,000 taels of silver."

Three years as a clean magistrate, 100,000 silver coins.

This sentence is not only saying that the money Emperor Qianlong gave to officials to maintain their integrity was a good welfare benefit, it is also a satire on the officialdom of the Qianlong Dynasty. A county magistrate embezzled 100,000 taels of silver in three years, which was really considered relatively "clean".

The now deceased County Magistrate Li Huiguang could only be called "honest", as the amount of silver he embezzled was only 30,000 taels.

Nie Yu quickly loaded the silver onto the ship. He attacked Zhijiang County for no other reason than the silver in Zhijiang County.

With money, many things that I didn’t dare to do before can finally be done.

Seeing Nie Yu happy, Feng Xiuyong, with his bald head and no hat, hurried over to offer advice: "General, although Zhijiang County has been taken, our rebel army is short of troops. If we want to divide our forces to control Zhijiang, we won't be able to attack the prefectural capital. If we want to attack the prefectural capital, we won't be able to divide our forces to Zhijiang..."

Nie Yu asked with great interest, "Do you have any good ideas?"

"Cut off the braids! Not only here, but also in Yidu County." Feng Xiuyong said.

Nie Yu continued to ask: "What's the reason?"

Feng Xiuyong said, "General, the reason why queues weren't allowed in Yidu County before was because our rebel army was new and hadn't won a major victory to solidify people's hearts, so we didn't rush into it. But now it's different. The governor's army personally led an expedition to suppress the bandits, but they were defeated in one battle by our rebel army. Their entire army was annihilated, and even the governor was taken prisoner."

"With such a great victory ahead of us, the people of Yidu County are determined. The general cannot just order everyone to cut their braids now; he must order everyone to cut their braids. Now, with the power of this great victory, ordering the entire county to cut their braids and grow their hair is officially establishing the great cause of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Han Dynasty, and it will establish the reputation of the righteous army!"

This guy is really something. No wonder he was recruited by a provincial governor to be his aide and became the head of his aide group.

To put it bluntly, the reason why queues were not cut off before was because they were afraid that the common people and the wealthy would rebel. Now queues are cut off because they are also afraid that the common people and the wealthy would rebel.

Nie Yu asked again, "If the people of Zhijiang County cut their braids, will they join us?"

Feng Xiuyong shook his head: "No, cutting off the queue only cuts off their retreat. It doesn't mean they will follow us, but cutting off their retreat is enough. We just need to make sure they won't help the pseudo-Qing again, and the rest will be left to the world's trend!"

"it is good!"

Nie Yu nodded and accepted his plan.

In order to save time, Nie Yu directly picked out the officials of the county government and the wealthy families in the city, and forcibly cut off their braids.

The rest of the matters will be left to the county government and the wealthy families to resolve, thus eliminating any worries.

Nie Yu left a battalion of soldiers in Yidu County, and the remaining 3,000 troops all set off for Jingzhou Prefecture by boat.

(End of this chapter)