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Qin Mu looked at Hong Niangzi who was drinking from a big bowl, smiled and shook his head, then took the wine pot and poured himself a glass.
Hong Niangzi said dissatisfiedly: "Why are you shaking your head? Shouldn't those people be killed? The Ming Dynasty was destroyed by these people. Why did we rebel in the first place? Wasn't it because of these corrupt officials that we rebelled? These termites bit the Ming Dynasty to pieces. When the Ming Dynasty collapsed, they immediately surrendered to the Tartars. Shouldn't such people be killed?"
"Yes, they all deserved to be killed, but they were definitely not the only ones who deserved to be killed. When Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao at Guandu, he seized a lot of letters. These letters were all written by his men before the war to secretly communicate with Yuan Shao. After Cao Cao seized these letters, he burned them all. Do you know what this is?"
Hong Niangzi glanced at him with disdain and said, "I don't understand the big principles, but I do understand some simple principles, for example, the richer the person, the more afraid of death, and the larger the territory, the smaller the courage. You are such a person. When I first saw you under the city of Yuanzhou, you were a very decisive person. You built a lot of Jingguan. At that time, you only had 2,000 men under your command. Now you have hundreds of thousands of troops under your command and have conquered half of the country, but you have become as timid as a mouse. I wonder why you are like this? What's wrong with building a few more Jingguan in Jiangnan? Oh, they are afraid of the butcher knives of the Tartars, but they are not afraid of our butcher knives?"
Qin Mu was slightly startled and held the wine glass without saying anything.
Hongniang poured another bowl of wine and took two big gulps. Her face showed even more heroic spirit, which made Qin Mu think of two lines of poetry: Who says women are not heroes? The Dragon Spring is chirping on the wall every night.
"Drink slowly. When we arrive in Jinling City tomorrow, are you still worried that there will be no wine for you to drink?" Qin Mu advised.
"Drink today, who knows what will happen tomorrow, or whether there will be another chance to drink?"
"You must have drunk too much to say such depressing things." Qin Mu said as he tried to grab her wine bowl.
Hong Niangzi dodged quickly without spilling a drop of the wine in the bowl. She glared at Qin Mu and said calmly, "Actually, I know what you are worried about. Aren't you afraid of killing them? Aren't you worried that others will follow the Tartars wholeheartedly in the future?"
"As long as you know."
"I know a lot more. I also know what it means to give a sweet date after a beating. Do you know that?"
"Just tell me what you think. If it makes sense, I will accept it."
Hong Niangzi unconsciously imitated him and rubbed Qiao'er's little head before speaking: "When we were in Wuchang, many officials from the north took the initiative to surrender to you, and you hired them according to your discretion. This is a sweet date. What about your big stick? When you arrived in Jiangnan, these people did not take the initiative to surrender to you. Now that you have conquered Nanjing, it doesn't count if they surrender. Isn't it enough to give them a big stick with this reason?"
"That makes sense. Keep going."
"In the past, when I followed the King of Rebellion, I had to kill the landlords and gentry to open the granaries and recruit soldiers. There are wars everywhere in the world, and there are so many hungry people. Now we have finally conquered the wealthy Jiangnan. If you don't kill these people, do you have so much money and food to relieve the hungry people? Even if you do, do you want to keep these termites to continue to bite your Qin State? In addition, all the land has been occupied by these people. A few days ago, you asked people to publicize the policy of dividing land in Jiangnan. If you don't kill them, where will you get the land to distribute to the poor people? I can't understand why you can't kill them? They are the accomplices of the Tartars. How can you calm the anger if you don't kill them?"
Qin Mu believed that Hong Niangzi had a deep mind of hating the rich and helping the poor by robbing the rich. But her words made Qin Mu feel enlightened.
"I have noted down what you said. I will seriously consider it. This is a military camp after all. Don't drink too much. I will treat you to a good drink tomorrow when we enter Jinling City."
Just as Qin Mu said this, Sima An's voice came from outside the tent, asking for a meeting. Qin Mu said to Yun Qiao'er, "Be good, and see your sister Ying'er off."
It seemed that Hongniang was still unsatisfied and left with an unhappy look on her face.
Sima An then entered the tent, as if he had seen nothing. He sat down and said one word calmly: "Kill!"
"Kill?" Qin Mu was stunned for a moment before he realized who he was going to kill. He waited for their next words in surprise.
"King of Qin, simply adopting a policy of appeasement is not enough to pacify the world. We must use both kindness and force. When we were at the gates of the city, few of the officials appointed by Hong Chengchou surrendered voluntarily. We have sufficient reason to kill them.
Furthermore, why did the King of Qin avoid using the Donglin Party? Most of the Donglin Party members were from aristocratic families in Jiangnan, with deep roots and complicated relationships. If the King of Qin did not take this opportunity to clean up a group of people, he would soon fall into a quagmire after entering Jiangnan.
Does the King of Qin still remember the time when Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty opened two lists of candidates for the imperial examination? Before the unification of the country, the King of Qin did not even have the opportunity to open two lists. The Donglin Party has deep roots in Jiangnan. If it is not cleaned up, they will soon fill the court of our Great Qin. By then, it will be difficult for the King of Qin to clean them up. "
Qin Mu nodded with a smile. Sima An was a little surprised by this attitude. He had no idea that after listening to what Hong Niangzi said just now, Qin Mu had already figured out a lot of things and even made up his mind.
Sima An went on to say: "In every dynasty, when the country was first established, people's livelihood was able to develop quickly and the country prospered. The most fundamental reason was that the old system was broken and there was an opportunity for land and wealth to be redistributed;
Now the whole world is in ruins, except for Jiangnan, where there are many wealthy families whose wealth is more than the annual income of the previous Ming Dynasty. Half of the world's wealth is concentrated in these people's hands. If this wealth is not redistributed, the rich will only get richer and the poor will get poorer. Our Great Qin will soon fall into the difficulties of the previous Ming Dynasty's financial and taxation shortages, and it will be difficult to lay the foundation for eternal peace. "
Indeed, there are ten thousand reasons to kill these people, and they are not in vain. When Nanjing surrendered, the whole of Jiangnan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. It is not just those surrendered officials who are rising up in rebellion now. Moreover, there are not many places like Jiangyin. To this day, most of the counties and prefectures in Jiangnan are still nominally under the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
After Hong Chengchou took over the military and political affairs of Jiangnan, he adopted a policy of appeasement as the main method and suppression as the auxiliary method. The original aristocratic system in Jiangnan was not broken, the gentry remained the original gentry, and the powerful remained the original powerful. On the contrary, it was strengthened because the hundreds of people selected by Qian Qianyi were mostly Donglin Party members from Jiangnan aristocratic families.
As Sima An said, if this group of people is not dealt with, first of all, the land and wealth will continue to be monopolized by them. What is more terrifying than wealth is their complicated network of contacts. In the future, if the policies are not to their liking, they will make trouble in many ways and use their strong network of contacts and influence to hinder and resist them. No matter how good the policies are, they will be distorted when they are promulgated and implemented.
"Does King Qin still remember what Shao Hua mentioned last time?"
"Remember."
When he was in Taiping Prefecture, Zuodu Yushi Shao Hua mentioned that in the past six months, there had been twelve cases in Jiangxi of local tyrants bribing officials, concealing household registration, hiding land and evading taxes, and evading labor service, while there had not been a single case in Huguang. The reason was that the original official-gentry system in Jiangxi had not been completely broken.
"Mr. Sima, how do people grasp this balance?" Qin Mu asked calmly. Everything should be done in moderation. It is necessary to break the original system of officials and gentry, but one cannot kill indiscriminately.
"At least the hundreds of people Qian Qianyi selected to serve as officials in various places must not be let off. Also, any powerful people who helped the Tartars suppress the righteous people and acted as accomplices to the tigers must be punished. However, this matter can wait until Jiangnan is pacified, and then the three officials can submit a memorial for discussion. The King of Qin must not give a direct order."
Qin Mu's direct order and his ministers' petition for execution are both active and passive, which are fundamentally different. In the court, monarchs often do not actively express their opinions, but listen to the opinions of their ministers.
Even if the monarch has his own ideas, he will not say them directly, but will find a minister to use as a gun. Only in this way will there be room for maneuver if something goes wrong.
Therefore, in the court, ministers often argue with each other until they are red in the face, while the monarch rarely speaks. If a monarch always gives direct orders, he will not only be accused of being self-willed, but also the blame will be directed at the monarch if problems arise.
Sima An specifically reminded Qin Mu because he was worried that he would ignore these ways of being a king.
Qin Mu nodded and said with a smile: "It's not enough to just use the stick. At the same time, how to appease the people in the south of the Yangtze River, Mr. Sima should also think about it first."
"Don't worry, King Qin. This is not difficult."
"Well, today is Double Ninth Festival, Mr. Sima, please have a drink with me."
"I won't disturb the King of Qin's interest."
Sima An didn't mention the ban on alcohol in the army, but the word "refined interest" made Qin Mu quite embarrassed. He thought to himself, what's wrong with me and Hong Niangzi? Of course, I want to have something, but is Hong Niangzi so good
After Sima An left, Qin Mu suddenly remembered, damn, wasn't it this old guy who scared away Hong Niangzi? Scaring her away made me "happy", I am so happy.
"Ahem, when Lady Hong left just now, she seemed to be reluctant to leave. Should we call her over to talk about life and ideals together?"
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ps: When I woke up in the morning, I heard the first cicada chirping of this year. A lively yet lonely summer began.
In ancient times, people believed that cicadas ate wind and drank dew, and had noble character. I wanted to be a cicada and have a lively summer. But after all, I am not a cicada, and I cannot live by eating wind and drinking dew.
I borrowed 300 yuan yesterday, and after applying for a new bank card, I had 280 yuan left. This money will last until the 10th of next month. I haven't been so embarrassed in many years. It's a black humor. Hehe, this summer started with such a black humor.
Please give me monthly tickets, rewards and support!
.(To be continued..)
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