The 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the day before New Year's Eve in the 41st year of Qianlong's reign.
Prince Heshuorui, General Fuyuan, and Minister Aixinjueluo Shikai rushed to Tianmen despite the cold wind and snow.
This is the location of the first town of Hubei's new army. Prince Rui came here specifically to attend the founding ceremony of the army and deliver an important speech.
I was in a bad mood on the road, not because something went wrong during the reorganization process of Hubei Army No. 1 Town, but because there was a fire in the backyard.
The Aixinjueluo disciples who accompanied him on the expedition spontaneously formed a wave of deserters when the new year was approaching.
At first, just a few clan members quietly left the camp and fled, but then they got out of hand. When Jia Liu received the report, there were as many as a thousand clan members fleeing north, accounting for one-tenth of the total number of troops!
The situation is very urgent and of a very bad nature.
Jia Liu was so angry that he gave Balla, the wing commander in charge of the Yellow Belt Battalion, and Guan Zhizhong, the wing commander in charge of the Red Belt Battalion, each whipped thirty times.
It's really exciting.
After thirty whips, the two wing commanders couldn't even walk, so they were immediately asked to be carried away.
The reasons given by these people were either that they were ignorant, or that the bannermen did not dare to disobey their orders.
Anyone who harbors them will be arrested and sent away regardless of the reason.
In order to show his determination to punish severely, Jia Liu called all the Manchu and Han officials of the fourth rank and above at his camp and the surrounding garrison, and ordered in public that all the heads of the 35 escaped clan members be chopped off.
It said: "Anyone who is a deserter and has neglected his military affairs will be killed. We are not allowed to enter!"
On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the Supervisory Office arrested 35 new members of the clan who had fled north.
Ding Qing, who was in charge of the Eight Banners Internal Affairs Committee, was also to blame. After the two wing commanders were beaten, he volunteered to receive fifty lashes.
For some reason, Deputy Director Ji hoped that the prince would not start a war. After all, the members of the clan were not as important as ordinary bannermen.
At the same time, a document was issued in Hubei, Shaanxi, Henan, Zhili and other places, ordering all provinces to abide by the "Law on the Capture of Deserters" and to set up personnel to conduct interrogations everywhere in the territory. Once any deserters are found sneaking from the Huguang front line, they will be arrested on the spot and transferred to General Wang Xingyuan.
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Faced with the harboring phenomenon and the coming pressure from Beijing, Jia Liu personally wrote to the court to give an official explanation for severely punishing the clan members who fled north.
"It was only because of you old bureaucrats who muddied the waters and muddy the waters that the Qing Dynasty went from bad to worse, with corrupt officials and lax military discipline!"
This law stipulates that General Wang Xingyuan set up a special agency to arrest deserters, named the Supervisory and Arrest Office.
For the sake of profit, do not be afraid of Prince Rui’s laws.
For each one you get, the card keeper will be rewarded with 50 taels, and the rest will be rewarded with 5 taels.
Those who hide them are either local gentry, local officials, or people who are greedy for money.
Seeing that the prince had made up his mind, Deputy Director Ji could not persuade him any more, but he made some judicial interpretations on whether the "Law on the Capture of Deserters" complied with the procedures and whether it was a national law.
But the prince didn’t agree!
Anyway, the ones the prince wants to eliminate are the outstanding members of the clan, not this bunch of useless ones.
I hate that it's called smoking.
In this way, hundreds of harborers were captured, and after being removed from the prison, they were all executed.
In anger, Jia Liu decided to punish severely and promulgated the "Huguang Frontline Special Law on the Hunting of Deserters" in the name of General Wang.
In addition, it was also stipulated that all localities should send personnel to set up checkpoints at Daokou passes to specifically capture deserters.
In order to avoid possible accusations from the DPRK and China, Deputy Director Ji suggested changing the law on arresting deserters into a special order.
Any deserter captured will be severely punished according to military law and immediately beheaded, no matter who he is, whether he has a title or not.
Soon, the arresting officers from various places sent back the news that many escaped clan members found that the checkpoints were tight and hid on the spot.
This group of people is so cowardly and incompetent that they will not be able to hinder the great cause of the prince's yellow robe in the future.
Moreover, this group of clan members are really not very useful. It would be nice to ask them to go out for exercises, line up in formation, and wave flags. If they are really asked to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, not to mention the enemy's side, it is our own side. All hanging.
There are five supervisors and one hundred supervisors.
It just doesn't seem legal.
The effect was remarkable: 158 people were arrested within three days, and all of them were rectified after being verified.
Then he saw the prince overturning the Eight Immortals table in front of him to the ground, and cursed: "Who is a soldier who misses home? Why, he Aixinjueluo is a human being, and others are not human beings! His grandma's, this is The king didn’t even go home to celebrate the New Year, how dare they go home!”
Since they are like this, it is better to turn a blind eye, close one eye and let them go.
Therefore, what Deputy Director Ji meant was that if the prince was more generous, he could even give the court a break and send a group of clan members back to the capital in the name of "kindness and consideration."
Among them, the person with the highest title is the general of Zhenguo.
Thousands of capable officers and soldiers were mobilized from various places and assigned to the arresting office, all equipped with fast horses.
In this way, the impact of the "wave of deserters" can be diluted, and secondly, the gratitude and support of the clan in Beijing can be obtained, which will play a certain role in crushing the possible "Hong Kong, Sex, and Wealth" reactionary groups.
After the execution, he displayed the sword Bilong personally given by the emperor and said: "Anyone who disobeys the king's order will be haunted by this sword!"
Because the duty of the General-General King is to be in charge of the important tasks of life and death in front of the army, as well as military affairs, large and small, even if he has just been granted the title of Councilor King, he does not have the power to promulgate the "Law on the Hunting of Deserters" without notifying the court.
Jia Liu decisively rejected Lao Ji's proposal.
Jia Liu snorted slightly and ordered his bodyguard to carry out the execution.
If you conduct in-depth investigation, you will find that most of the harborers have connections with Beijing, or may be thinking about the future, or want to connect with the clan.
In short, everything is for profit.
After fifty lashes were struck, Deputy Director Ding's face turned green.
After using the seal, orders will be issued to all provinces and places.
I don't hate the prince for being ruthless, but I hate that the clan deserters implicated me, and I hate that the Internal Affairs Committee seriously failed to investigate the work and failed to stem the tide of deserters, so that thousands of people fled in three days!
"Your Majesty, calm down. According to my official's opinion, these children have never left home. They have been pampered since they were young. Suddenly they came to this strange south with the army. It is also approaching the end of the year, so they feel homesick."
All localities no longer dare to neglect the issue of deserters. Anyone found within the territory who speaks with a Beijing dialect, regardless of whether he is a bannerman fleeing north, will be arrested and sent to the general Wang Xingyuan.
Under such heavy pressure, no one among the frontline Manchurian generals dared to offer advice.
In order to prevent someone on the front line from advocating for the clan members who fled north, such as the internal minister Niulunbao, the second cousin Urxi Balan, etc., Jia Liu issued another order from the general.
"The descendants of our clan are the successors of our Qing ancestral temple, and they are also the pillars of our country. Whether they are abroad or at home, they are the last pillar of the country. However, today's descendants go out with the army and do not want to serve the country. Instead, they are fleeing the country, and not one of them is captured. After all, The reason is that traitors hide in hiding, so the legislation has to be strict. If the law is strict, the country will suffer, but if the law is not strict, those who hide will have no control, and the more people will escape!
Fleeing from the clan today, fleeing from the Eight Banners tomorrow, and fleeing from the Green Camp later? Why rely on raising troops? The clan alone is suffering, but the troops of our Banners and Han Dynasty are not suffering?"
The Supervisory Office immediately took action, and at the same time the Eight Banners Internal Affairs Committee, which Ding Qing was in charge of, also mobilized. Suddenly, there was an uproar all over Hubei, and people were everywhere setting up traps to arrest the clan members who had fled north.
The heads were cut off in large pieces, so that no one anywhere dared to hide the banner man who wanted to go home to celebrate the New Year.
The highest-ranking official involved in the case was Wang Shaogong, the prefect of Xiangyang. This man was originally from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and had harbored several relatives of his master's family without authorization.
As a result, the news was too tight, and the few clan members who fled north were quickly reported. Wang Shaogong saw that the general Wang Lifa was very strict and would kill anyone he caught. He was so frightened that he committed suicide.
Checkpoints in various places were also tightened step by step, and the wave of deserters was curbed in a few days. Those red and yellow belts who had not yet escaped but were already thinking about it, saw the consequences of running away, and no one dared to mention going home again.
, everyone was silent and trembling, saying that Guiziliu was really serious again this time.
The name of the Iron-Blooded Prince spread like wildfire across the country, adding a touch of beautiful scenery to the Qing Dynasty as the sun set in the west.