There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 46 One Prefecture and Three Counties

The people of Jingzhou have made up their minds.

Songzi County to the east had also almost heard the news of the fall of Jingzhou City.

Because all officials including the county magistrate and the chief clerk have been beheaded, the county is currently governed jointly by the wealthy families.

"Jingzhou City is gone. Does that mean the Governor and the Prefect are also gone?"

"More than gone, now the rebels have taken over Jingzhou City. At least in this area of ​​Jingzhou Prefecture, the rebels have no rivals. What should we do?"

"..."

A group of wealthy people in the county were completely at a loss. Their original plan was to delay the matter as much as possible, or at worst just stand by and watch.

It depends on how the rebels and the Qing army fight. It would be best if both sides fought back and forth, so that they could profit from it, and at the same time, get the best of both worlds and make merit to avoid punishment.

But the current situation is completely beyond their expectations. The Qing army was defeated too quickly, and the rebels won too easily. They were not given any time to react, and Jingzhou had already fallen into the hands of the rebels.

How can they delay this? The Qing army has been defeated and will not be able to fight back for at least a few months. So, should the rebels deal with these fence-sitters next?

Just as the wealthy families of Songzi County fell silent, someone suddenly shouted, "What are you talking about? What rebels? Those are the Han army!"

"..."

"That's right, Brother Liu is right. It's the Han army. Talk about rebels! That's pure nonsense!"

"The Han army conquered Jingzhou and defeated the Qing army for the people of Jingzhou. This is a great thing!"

"You are right. We, the gentry of Songzi, should prepare food and drink to welcome the royal army. That is the right thing to do!"

This group of wealthy people in Songzi County reacted quickly. In just a few words, the rebels who were originally cursing turned into Han soldiers pleading for the people.

This group of weak gentry and wealthy families, who were like fence-sitters, had even made plans to prepare food and drink to welcome the royal army.

Despite this, some still harbored doubts: "But we've already missed the opportunity to volunteer. Now we're prepared for battle, but what if... the Han general refuses to accept our offer?"

The wealthy Liu, who had first warned everyone, shook his head. "No, they previously attacked Jingzhou along the Yangtze River and passed through Songzi County, but they didn't kill anyone or rob merchants. At most, they killed the county magistrate, the chief clerk, and other officials, and shaved off our braids. Have you ever seen or heard of such behavior in other rebels?"

shit!

They have only encountered this kind of traitor once so far.

However, on second thought, these rebels were indeed somewhat different from the rumored rebels. They did not burn, kill, or loot, nor did they indiscriminately kill wealthy people. They only killed officials in charge and emptied the silver in the county government warehouse, without taking any food.

Killing officials sounds like a big deal, but since they are rebelling, which rebel wouldn’t kill officials?
It can be said that apart from the normal killing of officials and rebellion, the military discipline of this group of rebels who called themselves the Han Army was better than that of the officers and soldiers.

Mr. Liu continued, "The Han army's military discipline couldn't have been achieved overnight, and it certainly couldn't have been achieved just for a few bucks. In my opinion, this Han general has big ambitions, perhaps even the ambition to unify the world!"

"Ouch!"

Everyone was shocked.

Someone else whispered, "But I heard that this traitorous general also divided up the land of the wealthy families in the city and gave it to the refugees..."

Mr. Liu scoffed, "In troubled times, those who strive for supremacy must face harsh punishments to establish themselves. A few small plots of land, divided up, are nothing compared to the rest of the world. Didn't even the first few generations of the Qing dynasty engage in land grabbing and plundering the land of the Han gentry?"

"Then according to Brother Liu, what should we do now?"

"It's simple. We will all write a letter and send someone to deliver it to Jingzhou Prefecture, inviting the Han army to come and divide the land, and to send a county magistrate to govern our Songzi County."

"Retreat to advance, Brother Liu, that's a good idea!"

"Brother Liu, your opinion is great!"

...Similar to Songzi County, Zhijiang County is sliding down, and even faster.

There is no way, Zhijiang County is too far from Jingzhou, but too close to Yidu.

Nie Yu specially left about 500 troops in Yidu to protect the firearms workshop here and assist the old general's mansion in Yidu to suppress riots and rebellions in the county.

Nie Jieren took a boat to Jingzhou, leaving Liu Guanjia as the governor of Yidu. Even if nothing was said, this was a terrifying political signal.

Jingzhou City was lost, the Qing army was defeated, and the entire Jingzhou Prefecture was finished!

Then how can we resist this?

When Jingzhou was still around, Zhijiang was too close to Yidu and could not be escaped from its control. Now that Jingzhou is gone, Jingzhou Prefecture has become the world of the Nie family's Han army. So what reason do these wealthy Zhijiang people who can't even be considered officials have to go and die with them?

Most of the gentry and landlords are weak. If they were not weak, they would not be able to grow rich and powerful, nor would they be able to survive so many changes of dynasties.

They will follow whoever is more powerful. As long as your fist is big enough, they will not dare to resist even if you divide the land of the gentry and landlords. At most, they will call you cruel in private.

Alternatively, you can record your unofficial history in your family biography, county annals, or local annals.

Under the city of Jingzhou, the people of Songzi, Zhijiang and Yidu counties have made up their minds.

At least before the next wave of Qing troops arrives, there will be no major moves in these three counties.

While Nie Yu was busy recruiting soldiers to expand the army, he was also working on sorting out the archives of Jingzhou City, taking inventory of the money, grain, weapons and armor in the Jingzhou treasury, and arranging the talents that the wealthy families had voluntarily contributed.

These new talents were first placed in the Jingzhou government office to work and learn from those demoted officials.

He was promoted to the Secretariat with outstanding performance and became the direct secretary of the general.

The magistrate of Jiangling was temporarily retained in his original position because of his meritorious report and continued to serve as the magistrate of Jiangling.

The main reason is that Nie Yu’s territory is not big now, just one prefecture and three counties, and there are not many vacancies for official positions.

Nie Yu did not call back Liu, the housekeeper who stayed in Yidu County, but directly appointed him as the magistrate of Yidu County with a piece of paper. It might be difficult for him to manage Yidu County, but he could be trusted to do so.

As the base where he started his business, Yidu County cannot be handed over to outsiders casually.

My cousin Nie Lin was dismissed from his post as regent of the General's Mansion and was transferred to Songzi County to serve as the magistrate of Songzi County. Five hundred soldiers were also transferred to garrison there.

Songzi County is located in the center of Yidu, Zhijiang and Jingzhou, and is adjacent to Bailizhou, the largest sandbar reclamation land on the Yangtze River. It has an important strategic position, so for the time being, we have to use our own people.

The magistrate of Zhijiang County is temporarily being acted by the official who took Nie Yu to raid the county magistrate's house. The main reason is that there is no one else available, and that guy is the only one who is familiar with the Zhijiang County government office.

However, he was only an acting county magistrate. Nie Yu also sent a secretary, granted him the title of county magistrate, and took a hundred soldiers to Zhijiang County to take office.

When the time is right, he can be officially promoted to the position of Zhijiang County Magistrate.

The Secretariat, headed by Feng Xiuyong, took over the duties of the regent of the General's Office.

Nie Yu had not yet moved the firearms workshop in Yidu County, but he had already ordered the Secretariat to take charge and first recruit craftsmen and apprentices in Jingzhou Prefecture to set up a new firearms workshop.

It is already the end of the eighteenth century, and the West is engaged in wars using firearms. Cold weapons will not last long.

Nie Yu was about to officially start making large-caliber cast cannons. He already had the drawings of the cannons. The most difficult part was the barrel, which was also easy to solve. He could just use the seamless steel pipe bought from the mall as a replacement.

I didn't buy too many steel pipes because I still needed to experiment, so I only bought ten. Once the firearms workshop was built, I would try to cast cannons.

Nie Yu looked at his series of plans. Even though all the big families in the city had contributed some talents, he still felt eager to recruit talents.

There are not enough talents!

(End of this chapter)