Finally, two brigades of armored soldiers entered Wenqiao. Except for one battalion of armored soldiers who took over the defense of Wenqiao Town, the main force was stationed in the camp in the north of the town.
The Huaidong Army recaptured Wenqiao on behalf of the imperial court. Most people in Wenqiao Town were indifferent. It was just a change of officials to collect grain and tax, and life would continue to be the same.
The battle against Wenqiao was not fierce. In addition to the annihilation of most of the soldiers loyal to the Governor's Office in Southern Zhejiang, more than a hundred local soldiers were killed and injured. There were also nearly 300 soldiers who had surrendered their armor and were imprisoned in the prison.
In a monastery in the town.
The families whose children died were naturally heartbroken, took the body, wrapped it in a straw mat and buried it; the families whose children were imprisoned in a centralized manner, although they heard from the big family in the town that the Huaidong Army would release them and forget the blame, no one could see them.
When I put it back, I felt very uneasy.
Even the big families in the town were worried. They were worried that the court would hold them accountable, that the Huaidong Army would plunder and extort the place, and that the Zhejiang and Fujian rebels would come back to counterattack.
The big families in the town, headed by Hu Mingjie, the elder of the Hu family, gathered around Zuo Shixiong, who had come to persuade him to surrender, and complained and expressed their loyalty. At the same time, they did not dare to neglect. On the night of the 29th, several families gathered together ten carts of grain and five cows.
Fifty sheep and two thousand taels of silver were sent to the camp in the north of the town overnight.
The Zhenbei Camp said that local donated materials would be received by officials sent by the Military Department. The army could only redeem grain, cattle, sheep and other materials at market prices. Not only did they confiscate the money, but they also dragged back two large bags of copper coins, which made the big households in the town even more uneasy.
.
A dozen people gathered in the Hu family's mansion, looking at the two bags of copper coins and feeling worried.
In addition to gold and silver ingots, the most widely circulated thing in the world is money making.
According to the law, only the Ministry of Industry in Jiangning has the right to mint coins. In fact, local private minting has been banned for many times. After the power of the vassal became stronger, casting coins has become a semi-public method for the military department to raise military resources. Those who abide by the rules can melt copper and cast coins.
The amount of money is sufficient; the unruly ones use inferior iron to make money; some even more rogue ones directly add the words "worth five coins", "worth ten coins" and other words on the money, so that one coin is worth five coins or ten coins.
use.
The money raised by the local government is used to pay salaries and redeem supplies from the local government. In the end, all the money goes to the local government.
In just two or three years, the currency system of Jianghuai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Lianghu, including the Zhejiang and Fujian areas controlled by the She family, fell into complete chaos.
Last year, Huaidong officially set up a mint to cast coins, discarding square hole coins and directly casting copper coins.
The Huaidong Army invaded southern Zhejiang and the coastal areas of eastern Fujian, and implemented a strategy of forced expropriation and forced ransom against gentry and tyrants. This not only reduced the level of local resistance, but also ensured that more supplies could be obtained from these areas.
The big households in Wenqiao Town have long seen the appearance of Huaidong Copper Yuan.
The most common Huaidong copper yuan is ten coins, which is equivalent to ten pieces of old coins. It is said to be shameless, but the Huaidong copper yuan is relatively abundant, the copper color is exquisite and the pattern is exquisite, and it is absolutely difficult to imitate. Compared with the local rough-made coins,
When it comes to making money, ordinary people know that Huaidong copper coins are valuable. The coastal areas of southern Zhejiang and eastern Fujian are not very resistant to Huaidong copper coins.
The big families in the town were not worried about the two bags of Huaidong copper coins, but they couldn't figure out the attitude behind the Huaidong Army Division's refusal to reward the troops and insistence on redemption. These days, when scholars encounter soldiers, they have the courage to ignore them. The representative of the Huaidong Army Division
When the imperial court conquered Zhejiang and Fujian, if they ruthlessly slaughtered them all and plundered Wenqiao Town, they would have no place to redress their grievances.
Zuo Shixin followed the army to another place to persuade him to surrender. The big family in the town, headed by Hu Renjie, had no eyes or ears to pry out the news for a while. They and other families whose children were detained for participating in the rural bravery lived in panic.
One night.
It was not until the early morning of the 30th that the officials sent by Huaidong to take over came ashore and entered Wenqiao.
Huaidong quickly set up an inspection department in Wenqiao, and the first inspector was Tang Xitai, one of the Chongzhou meat ticket boys.
Tang Xitai served as a minor official in Jianling and had been in charge of the land inventory work for more than two years. Although he was only a little over the age of a weak man, he was capable, calm and measured, and he had the status of a scholar. He was appointed as Wenqiao's inspection, which could reduce the local resistance.
Tang Xitai spent a day in Yueqing. After he led his retinue ashore at Genwu Port in the south of Wenqiao, he did not enter the town immediately, but first went to the Zhenbei camp to meet Chen Zhi.
Although Tang Xitai did not enter the town, he was wearing a lake-blue ninth-grade civil service uniform. He was very conspicuous among the generals who were ashore armed with swords and armor for the past two days, and immediately attracted the attention of the people in the town.
Hu Renjie, the uncle of the Hu family, came out after hearing the news and wanted to stop him midway to pay his respects. Tang Xitai and others had already passed through the town and entered the Zhenbei camp. Although no one was waiting, Hu Renjie and others could not go back, so they waited under the archway.
Seeing a group of mud-legged people gathered together and discussing why they should not disperse, Hu Renjie was afraid of causing displeasure and unnecessary worries to the officials who took over Huaidong, so he sent his servants to drive them away.
The servant left and returned, reporting back: "I heard from people over there that there was a general who just passed through the town. He seems to be the second son of Widow Hu's family in the east of the town!"
"Who?" Hu Renjie couldn't remember who it was.
"A few years ago, the Taizhou Prefecture Bureau selected Huma monkeys who went to the north where King Qin died?" Someone next to Hu Renjie thought of such a person.
"Hu Ma Monkey?" Hu Renjie vaguely remembered that such a person was still a descendant of the Hu clan, but he was too far away and his impression was blurry. Besides, the last time Zhejiang soldiers went north to King Qin was in the ninth year of Chongguan, and this year is already Yongxing.
It’s been two years. “It’s so funny that Humahou is still alive and has become a general of the Huaidong Army. Are they not fooled?”
"It's probably true. Not only the second son of Widow Hu's family, but also Tang Gui from Qianwei and a boy from Zhong'ao. I couldn't name him for a moment. They even said hello to the people in the town when they passed by, but there was nothing under their feet.
Stop," the servant reported back, "someone has already gone to call Widow Hu over there."
"That's probably true," someone said next to him, "Oh, by the way, the third son of Widow Hu's family is still being imprisoned in the temple..."
Hu Renjie was stunned for a moment, and became confused for a moment. Hu Renjie came to his senses only when Widow Hu, whose face was as dry as a withered tree, was full of snot and tears, and was helped by the villagers to find her son. Hu Renjie came to his senses. Hu Renjie quickly took his usual
The old woman who felt upset at just one glance invited her over and gave her a couch to sit on. Seeing that the old woman's clothes were thin, he kindly took off her fox fur coat and gave it to the old woman to wear.
The mother returned the kiss. The old woman, Widow Hu, was at a loss...
At almost midnight, Chen Zicai and Tang Xitai walked towards Wenqiao Town, and Hu Mahou also came with them in the retinue queue.
Hu Renjie led a dozen Wenqiao squires to come forward to greet her. Widow Hu really saw her son come back from the dead, standing in the middle of the crowd wearing armor and holding a knife. She threw herself at him, howled loudly, and sat on the ground:
"Mummy monkey, Sanwazi is about to be beheaded. You have to save Sanwazi..."
Chen Zhi and Tang Xitai were also confused. A bunch of people explained gibberish for a long time before they found out that the third brother of Hu Mahou and the local hero in the town were all imprisoned in the monastery in the town after they had disarmed.
, the villagers rumored that these people would be taken out and beheaded.
Tang Xitai looked at Chen Zhi, raised his hands and asked, "Commander Chen, how do you think we should deal with it?"
Chen Zhi was most troubled by this kind of thing. When he saw the deputy inspector who came with Tang Xitai and an old woman from the local area crying together, he also knew that they were relatives getting together and said: "The Military Secretary appointed Mr. Tang, General Hu Shao
Come here to deal with local affairs, these matters are naturally your decision; I have to pull all the people out quickly!"
Tang Xitai then walked over with a smile, helped the monkey and the old woman up, and said, "Jin Xiong, it is a great joy for you to return home and meet your mother today." He then said to Hu Renjie and other local squires, "Wen Qiao
The village elder was forced to become a thief, and there were twists and turns. The Huaidong Army Division had already experienced the twists and turns. This time, a certain representative of the Huaidong Army went to the place where he was assigned. On behalf of the Huaidong Army Division, he would also pardon the Wenqiao village elder for his unintentional mistake, and he had no intention of pursuing it.
, I also ask Mr. Wenqiao Township to put down your worries..." At that moment, he introduced to Hu Renjie and other local squires the more than ten Taizhou-born military attachés who had risen, led by Hu Jinxiong.
Hu Mahou had no great name at first. He was one of the Zhejiang soldiers captured in the Battle of Yangxin. He moved to Jinhai and settled there. He was named Hu Jinxiong in Jinhai. He was later incorporated into the Tianjin Navy to defend the city and served as the captain of the capital for his merits. Withdrew to
After returning to Huaidong, he entered the combat training school and was just promoted to deputy sentry general. This time he was transferred to the deputy inspection post to assist Tang Xitai in presiding over the preparation of local soldiers in Wenqiao.
Huaidong considered that after occupying southern Zhejiang, in addition to managing the local area and collecting taxes, it was also necessary to effectively organize local military equipment. This would not only control southern Zhejiang more effectively, but also recruit brave and capable soldiers from southern Zhejiang.
The troops on the battlefield in southern Zhejiang are insufficient.
In the past, local military equipment was mostly controlled by local powerful families. Even if the She family governed Fujian, it mainly relied on the power of the clan. After occupying the two Zhejiang provinces, they also adopted the governance principle of the She family governing the city and the wealthy gentry governing the countryside. They focused their attention on
Controlling key cities and fortifications, the power is not enough to penetrate into all aspects of southern Zhejiang.
When Lin Fu governed Huaidong, one of his fundamental methods was to quietly suppress local forces. Inspection departments were set up extensively under prefectures and counties. On the one hand, the original local military equipment was abolished, and on the other hand, the inspection departments directly under the jurisdiction of the Military Department were re-established.
Organize local military preparations to achieve the purpose of replacing them.
Generally speaking, local forces do not have the ambition to seize power and fight for supremacy. They are mainly concerned about land rights and the gains and losses of fields and houses. The Huaidong Military Division's establishment of an inspection department has not increased the burden on the local area and has increasingly stabilized local security.
Generally it is popular with the local area.
Lin Fu will naturally apply this successful experience to southern Zhejiang.
This time when the battlefield in southern Zhejiang was opened, in addition to a large number of officials such as Tang Xitai, Luo Chengyi, and Zhu Ai being drawn from the Huaidong area, nearly a hundred grassroots military attachés from southern Zhejiang, including Hu Jinxiong, were also transferred to fundamentally control the southern Zhejiang area.
The use of grassroots power.
Chen Zhi ordered all the armored soldiers in the town to be withdrawn, moved to the camp in the north of the town, and formally handed over Wen Qiao to Tang Xitai to take over. Chen Zhi was busy with military affairs and was too lazy to deal with the local gentry. The commander-in-chief of the Huaidong Army
Military principles also strictly restrict the military from intervening in local affairs. After the handover here, Chen Zhi went directly back to the Zhenbei camp without entering the town.
Following Tang Xitai and Hu Jinxiong into Wenqiao, in addition to the officials and military attachés, there were only a dozen or so soldiers. However, with the army stationed on the side, twenty or thirty people were more than enough to maintain local order. The key was to deal with local affairs as soon as possible.
Organize with military equipment.
Tang Xitai and Hu Renjie and other local squires dealt with it. Hu Jinxiong supported his mother and took more than ten guardsmen to the temple to take over the custody of the more than 300 rural warriors imprisoned there. He first calmed down the fearful and speculative people.
The locals were afraid of the soldiers, and the soldiers wearing armor and holding swords withdrew, and officials such as Tang Xitai came to take over. The local squire's mind was mostly settled. It was reasonable to say that there was no need to worry about threats to his property and life; not to mention that he came with Tang Xitai.
There are also many military attaches who were born in Wenling, who always take into account the feelings of the country and will not mess around.
Wenqiao has an important terrain. The Governor's Office in Southern Zhejiang also set up an inspection department in Wenqiao to control the place. Naturally, Tang Xitai took over the office. After going to the office to chat for a while, Tang Xitai arrived with Hu Renjie and other local squires.
Went to the big temple in the town to visit the more than 300 village warriors who were imprisoned there.
Hu Jinxiong helped his mother and some Wenling military attachés to come over first. All the guards outside the temple had withdrawn. Tang Xitai and others walked in. Hu Jinxiong was sitting on the ground, telling his experiences over the years in a local accent, standing behind him and supporting him.
My wife is a dark, strong young man, probably Hu Jinxiong’s younger brother Sanwazi.