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Yang Tinglin, the prefect of Ganzhou, was probably in his forties, with a gaunt face and elegant looks. He, Huang Daozhou, and Ni Hongbao were all famous for their literary talents and integrity, and were known as the "Three Hanlin".
He made great achievements in governance, but was weak in military affairs. When he was in Lu Xiangsheng's army, he was only responsible for raising logistics and food, and he had never had a say in combat matters.
Now he is the prefect of Ganzhou, and the Huichang bandits are growing stronger day by day. Apart from urging Zhu Teng, the commander of Ganzhou Guard, to do his best to suppress the bandits, he can't come up with any brilliant ideas.
Also sitting in the hall were Ganzhou Tongzhi Chen Shaoping, Judge Gao Dingfang, and Ganzhou Wei Command Tongzhi Ma Sizhong.
The next one is Wang Gong, the military governor.
Wang Gong's identity was rather special. The Bingbei Dao was an authority between the province and the prefecture, similar to the regional administrative office in later generations.
During the Hongzhi reign, military governors were stationed at strategic points in each province to oversee military operations and directly participate in combat.
This official was held by the Censor or Censor, and was a type of Xundao. He was also called the Deputy Military Commissioner and the Military Commissioner.
The Bingbeidao office is a bit complicated to explain. To explain it clearly, it is necessary to talk about the political structure of the Ming Dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang mainly divided the state power structure into three systems, namely, political, military, and supervisory systems.
In the provincial power structure, the three systems mentioned above correspond to the Provincial Administration, the Military Commandery, and the Censorate respectively.
The Bingbei Dao was originally just a temporary agency like the governor.
It belongs to the supervisory system, but it performs the tasks of the administrative and military systems.
It was originally a branch of the Censorate, but its establishment and abolition were both the responsibility of the Ministry of War.
You say it belongs to the supervisory system, it does the work of the administrative system. You say it is an administrative system, its establishment or removal is decided by the military system. You say it is a military system, its officials are all from the supervisory system... ... ... ... ...
This is even more complicated than making a nuclear bomb. I don't know which genius came up with the Military Preparations Department. With such a brilliant mind, if he used it to make nuclear bombs, would the Ming Dynasty still perish
Moreover, although the Bingbeidao has now become a permanent local government office, the embarrassing thing is that it is not like the prefectural and county officials, which have powers that have been passed down from generation to generation and confirmed through the "responsibilities of various departments."
All its power comes from an imperial edict. If the edict stipulates that you have administrative, financial, supervisory, and military powers, you will be above all officials such as the prefect and commander-in-chief under the jurisdiction of this province.
If the imperial edict stipulates that you only have military power, then I'm sorry, the prefect and the county magistrate will ignore you. Wang Gong's authority is just to manage the military preparations. Now that chaos has broken out in Ganzhou, Wang Gong's authority should be highlighted and everyone should follow his lead. But don't be in a hurry.
We have to first figure out where the Ganzhou Military Preparation Office is located. It is located in the damn Huichang. Huichang is located at the junction of Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, and its geographical location is very important, so the Military Preparation Office was originally set up in Huichang instead of in Ganzhou.
You see, Wang Gong is now nothing more than a "stray dog". His office has been lost for two years, but he has not been dismissed yet. This is definitely a miracle. It was the joint efforts of countless influential figures such as Li Zicheng, Huang Taiji, and Zhang Xianzhong that created this miracle for Wang Gong.
Although Wang Gong had not been dismissed from his post, he could not control Yang Tinglin, the prefect, and now he was a "stray dog" waiting for punishment, so the officials present all followed Yang Tinglin and left him aside.
Yang Tinglin and other officials were worried and looked solemn. If Qin Mu had not responded appropriately today and stopped the spies from inciting civil unrest in time, the consequences would have been disastrous if tens of thousands of refugees in the city were incited.
We were lucky enough to escape today, but everyone knows that if this continues, the tens of thousands of refugees in the city will sooner or later be instigated by people with ulterior motives.
How to accommodate these tens of thousands of refugees has become a thorny issue that all officials in the conference room must solve as soon as possible.
Chen Shaoping, the Tongzhi of Ganzhou, said with a worried look on his face: "Now is the time when there is a shortage of food. Although there is still some rice in the government warehouse, we must first ensure the rations for the officers and soldiers who are fighting against bandits in the front. There is not much left to be used to help the people. What should we do?"
Wang Gong, the assistant military commissioner of Ganzhou, said, "Whenever bandits start a rebellion, they always try to recruit refugees to bolster their power. This time, the bandit leader Ma Yongzhen did something very different. In my opinion, he clearly planned to drive the refugees to Ganzhou to make things difficult for us. Among these tens of thousands of refugees, we don't know how many spies have sneaked in. There are definitely more than the dozen or so we captured today. We have to be on guard."
"Mr. Wang is right. In my opinion, since the government treasury cannot provide enough food to relieve the refugees, leaving these refugees in the city will sooner or later lead to major changes." Ma Sizhong, the commander of Ganzhou Guard, added.
Yang Tinglin, who was sitting at the head, frowned and asked, "How should we deal with it according to Master Ma's opinion?"
"Immediately gather the refugees and relocate them outside the city."
Qin Mu, who was sitting at the bottom, had been silent the whole time. After hearing this, he finally couldn't stand it anymore and said in a defiant voice: "If you can drive tens of thousands of refugees out of the city today, they will be able to break into the city tomorrow."
Ma Sizhong glanced at Qin Mu coldly. Before he could say anything, Yang Tinglin said, "Yes, Ma Yongzhen's rebels are approaching the city. If we drive the people out of the city at this time, the people will definitely be dissatisfied. This is tantamount to pushing them to the rebels. We must not do this."
Ma Sizhong looked a little unswerving. In terms of rank, the commander of the garrison was a third-rank official, higher than Yang Tinglin, the fourth-rank prefect. However, because he was a military officer, he had to lower his rank in front of Yang Tinglin. Seeing that Yang Tinglin supported a small magistrate and rejected his face, he asked impatiently, "Since Lord Yang said so, how to resettle these tens of thousands of refugees is entirely up to Lord Yang."
It was obvious that Ma Sizhong quit out of spite. Yang Tinglin couldn't say anything for the sake of the overall situation. Now the civil unrest in Ganzhou was spreading like wildfire and even the provincial capital was in danger. It was normal for military officers to be unwilling to be suppressed and come out to fight for the right to speak.
He hesitated for a moment and asked Qin Mu, "Does County Magistrate Qin have any good ideas?"
Qin Mu did not hesitate and immediately stood up and answered, "Now we can only find an empty space in the city to settle the refugees entering the city, send soldiers to strengthen defense, and at the same time, organize the refugees into households and select the chief and the deputy chief to work together to maintain public order. In each household, if anyone spreads rumors and incites rebellion, the chief and deputy chief will be responsible for sending them to the government to be punished. If the chief and deputy chief fail to do their job and cause rumors to spread within the household, the whole household will be punished."
Ma Sizhong immediately sneered, "I thought you were smart, but you thought we didn't know these methods? If you don't solve the problem of relief, the people will be hungry. No matter how you organize the troops, it will be in vain. They will still take risks to survive. If you have the ability, you can generate some money and food, and you don't need to show off your skills in front of me."
Qin Mu ignored his sarcasm and continued, "It's not that there is no food in the city. Ganzhou Prefecture is connected to Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, Fujian in the east, and Huguang in the west. The trade routes have been uninterrupted since ancient times. I think there must be many wealthy merchants in the city.
The current situation in the world is unstable, and these wealthy families must have stored more money and grain. Now the government must explain the pros and cons to them. If there is no grain relief, Ganzhou will not be protected. If Ganzhou is not protected, their wealth will be seized by the rebels. After that, Lord Yang will borrow grain from the wealthy families and declare that the taxes will be paid back next year. "
"What if others don't lend it?" Ma Sizhong sneered.
Qin Mu also immediately said in a cold voice: "Anyone who doesn't lend it is collaborating with the enemy!"
Yang Tinglin shook his head and said, "County Magistrate Qin's move is too radical. I'm afraid it will provoke a popular uprising. It's inappropriate, inappropriate."
Qin Mu bowed and said, "Lord Yang, Zhang Xianzhong captured Wuchang with hundreds of thousands of troops. In order to prevent Zhang Xianzhong from taking advantage of the situation, Nanchang would not dare to send troops to help Ganzhou suppress the bandits. Now Ganzhou has no reinforcements from outside, and there are tens of thousands of refugees inside, like a powder keg that can explode at any time. I am sure that if these tens of thousands of refugees are not settled as soon as possible, Ganzhou will definitely be lost.
In this extraordinary time, we must take extraordinary measures. I don't know whether Lord Yang's borrowing of grain will provoke a civil uprising, but if you can't borrow grain, I am sure that a civil uprising is imminent.
In this situation, there is no need to talk about extra reasoning. Whether it is forced borrowing or robbing, there is no need to worry about many things. Lord Yang just needs to keep his original intention and repay them after suppressing the bandits in the future;
As for how to repay, Lord Yang, you don't have to worry too much. Wherever the rebels pass, officials, gentry and wealthy families are robbed and killed. The rebels have taken a lot of dirty silver. If we can quickly put down the rebellion, this dirty silver will be enough to repay the grain debt."
Chen Shaoping, the Tongzhi of Ganzhou, asked, "What if we can't put down the rebellion?"
Qin Mu spread his hands, too lazy to answer such an idiotic question.
Chen Shaoping reacted quickly, and a look of embarrassment appeared on his face. That's right, if you don't fight the thieves, the thieves will fight you. Do you still need to pay back your debts
Qin Mu's words might indeed be the only way to resolve the current crisis, but this is tantamount to robbing the people's property. Once a civil uprising is aroused, even if it is suppressed and the rebels are successfully pacified in the future, Yang Tinglin and others will still inevitably be punished when the court investigates it later.
Moreover, Yang Tinglin also felt that this move was too radical and should not be used unless it was absolutely necessary. As for when it would be a last resort, everyone's perception was naturally different.
Yang Tinglin pondered and asked the officials present: "Everyone, please express your opinions and see whether County Magistrate Qin's plan is feasible or not."
Ma Sizhong immediately replied: "I still insist on my opinion to settle the refugees outside the city. If Lord Yang intends to forcibly borrow food from the rich families in the city, I dare not agree with him. Everything is up to Lord Yang."
Chen Shaoping, Gao Dingfang and Wang Gong hesitated for a moment and each said that instead of forcibly borrowing grain from the rich households in the city, it would be better to settle the refugees outside the city.
Qin Mu understood that no one wanted to take responsibility and everyone wanted to get by. The risk of forcibly borrowing grain was much greater for them than driving the refugees out of the city.
There was no doubt that if the refugees were driven out of the city, they would inevitably join the rebels. However, they still had a glimmer of hope, thinking that even if these tens of thousands of refugees joined the rebels, Ganzhou City might still be defended. As long as Ganzhou was not destroyed, their guilt would be much lighter.
However, if they forcibly demand grain from the rich and stir up civil unrest in the city, they will be held accountable by the court in the future, and there will be no escape.
As the saying goes, when faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. It is normal for these officials to make such a choice.
Yang Tinglin weighed the pros and cons for a long time, and finally shook his head and said, "As the prefect of Ganzhou, I am guarding the area for the emperor. At this moment, I must not drive the people out of the city. This is no different from forcing them to follow the bandits. If that really happens, I am afraid that everyone present will also be held accountable by the court. Let's do this. First, place the refugees in the prefectural school and send soldiers to guard them. At the same time, register the households, investigate the spies, and open porridge shops to provide relief. I will also invite the rich families in the city and explain the pros and cons. I think we can raise some money and food. We can deal with it for the time being, and then send people to Nanchang Prefecture to ask the governor to transfer food for relief."
After Yang Tinglin finished speaking, except for Ma Sizhong who sneered and said nothing, Chen Shaoping, Gao Dingfang and Wang Gong agreed to this compromise.
Qin Mu didn't say anything else, but he couldn't help sneering in his heart. Compared with Chongzhen, you, Yang Tinglin, are nothing. When Li Zicheng reached Beijing, Chongzhen asked the dignitaries in Beijing to donate money to raise military pay. As a result, the dignitaries in Beijing would rather wait for the city to fall, and no one was willing to pay, so in the end Li Zicheng got the money for nothing.
The more chaotic the times, the more the rich want to keep more coffins for self-defense. This is inevitable. Apart from forcing them to "borrow", if you want them to take out their money and food, one word: difficult! Two words: forget it. Three words: go to hell!
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ps: Because of the delay in the contract, I have not received any recommendation for my 70,000 words. I am very sad. By next week, I will be an old lady.
After separation, do you still miss me
Dear ones, please give me comfort, please give me deep comfort.
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