Shi Dakai continued to use the strategy of siege and reinforcements. He first called Shi Xiangzhen's bluff to besiege Nanchang, and mobilized the exhausted Qing army in Jiujiang, which was not very large. Afterwards, he ordered Shi Zhenlun to lead the 5,000 troops brought from Tianjing to storm Jiujiang, and once again mobilized the Qing troops to return to their home base. However, Shi Xiangzhen's main force has been hiding in hiding, waiting for work. This time, not only did Jiang Zhongyuan, the sworn enemy of the Celestial Dynasty, die under the sword of the Celestial Army, avenging the Southern King's hatred, but he also took over Jiujiang City with ease.
As soon as Jiujiang was taken, Shi Dakai immediately sent his troops to advance by land and water. At Tianjiadu, the Qing army's river defense fortress, he annihilated more than 10,000 defenders in one fell swoop. From then on, the land and water gateway for the Heavenly Army to enter Hubei was wide open. Taking advantage of the victory, the Heavenly Army marched straight in, went down to Qizhou, defeated Huangzhou, and threatened Wuchang. Facing the massive and invincible Heavenly Army, the officers and soldiers of the Qing Dynasty in the three towns of Wuhan were disheartened and had no fighting spirit. The Tian army once again occupied Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang.
After careful consideration, Shi Dakai decided to let Hu Yihuang take charge of Anqing and take a peek at Nanchang, while he managed the Wuchang area, and the Hubei Governor's Yamen became his residence. Following Lin Haifeng's suggestion, he abandoned the past practice and strictly implemented the policy of not attacking the local tyrants and evil gentry unless they were the most evil culprits in the vast areas of the three towns of Wuhan, which not only safeguarded the interests of the poor people, but also protected the enlightened gentry and wealthy households. At the same time, basic organizations at the village and township levels began to be established, with each village setting up a rural self-defense force and a township self-defense regiment. In addition, preparations have been made to build local troops and a trial implementation of the three-in-one military development strategy of field, local and civilian self-defense armed forces.
His approach still has reservations about Lin Haifeng¡¯s suggestion, that is, after all, all this is limited to the surrounding Wuhan. He wanted to try it first.
When he received Lin Haifeng's letter about Shi Zhenji, Shi Dakai didn't seem to be surprised at all. He gently put the letter on the table, picked up the tea cup, stirred the floating leaves with a tureen, and glanced at him before he stopped talking. Shi Zhenlun said, "Keep talking about you."
"In a few days, the development of the Self-Defense Forces and Self-Defense Groups was still going very smoothly. The people understood the principle of defending themselves and were very interested. The recruitment of local soldiers was also good. After all, they did not leave their homes, which was better than before. . It¡¯s just that too little silver was collected. The total amount of gold and silver confiscated from the treasury of the three places was less than 600,000 taels. If this continues, I¡¯m afraid there will be no way to help Tianjing.¡± Shi Zhenlun seemed a little frustrated. If it had been before, he would have been the first to enter the city. One thing is to send out troops to designate large households one by one to pay silver tael according to the situation at hand, ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 yuan to as many as 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. How can it be as miserable as today?
Zhang Suimou walked to the table and saw that King Yi had no intention of objecting, so he picked up King An's letter and read it close to his eyes while muttering, "Actually, it is difficult to conclude that this crime is so heinous. , it is natural to levy grain and send pay in ancient times. This" He is short-sighted. It is hard to imagine how difficult it must be for him to fight with the enemy on the battlefield while riding a horse and wielding a sword. things. But that's how he fought it out, from Jintian to now. He was fearless in the face of bloody battlefields and had a culture that could change according to circumstances. This was what Shi Dakai liked about him.
"There's nothing like this or that. You have to do whatever you say." Shi Da smiled. "Starting tomorrow, we will build a customs office to collect customs duties from merchants. We must effectively protect the legal merchants in the city. For the time being, we will build a customs office." One is not to tax, and the other is to support. There are also those people who rent land from wealthy households. Suimu, you have to personally organize people to intervene, and you must implement the rent reduction one by one. To be honest, my family was I have a lot of land, and I have done a lot of farming and making money, but I have never bullied the weak. Can you say that I am guilty because I am rich? My family property has been accumulated for generations, and I have never cheated."
Shi Zhenlun shook his head, "Those wealthy households with land allocate their fields just to collect rent. Ask them to rent out all the land. It's strange that they are not in a hurry. I have to be in a hurry even if I don't."
"Haha, you are right now." Shi Dakai put the tea cup on the lid of the bowl and pointed at him with his free hand, "If you are not happy, don't be afraid. If the tenants become anxious, they will report you to our Yamen Here, you are a bully, then I will force you to do it. If you don¡¯t agree, I will take over your property. As long as more people recognize it, you will be guilty of a heinous crime. "
Shi Zhenlun blinked his eyes, thought carefully, rubbed his hands and smiled, "Oh, I think back then we were just collecting rent, and we would come to collect debts in New Year's Eve. At that time, we didn't care about other people's life and death. Now I think about it. Come to think of it, that¡¯s really a rich man.¡±
"Your Highness, this" Zhang Suimou carefully read the letter from King An to King Yi, and then handed the letter to Shi Zhenlun. Looking at His Highness King Yi, who was still chatting and laughing, he stamped his feet anxiously and could not say anything. He said neatly, "What kind of thing is this? How can you kill just by saying?"
"Who to kill?" Shi Zhenlun only glanced at the content of the letter and immediately jumped up, "Your Highness, this is not acceptable!"
"Why not?" Shi Dakai glanced sideways at him.
"Anyway, justNo, big brother will be here soon, and he won¡¯t be willing to let it go! "Shi Zhenlun threw Prince An's letter on the tea table and shouted. The eldest brother he was talking about was Shi Xiangzhen, and both of them were brothers of Shi Dakai. At that time, the Shi family had two thousand people in the Jintian regiment, and they could Although there are many people who are accustomed to fighting, Shi Zhenji is the one who stands out and is young, so he is deeply loved by everyone. Especially Shi Xiangzhen, who is regarded as the most powerful general in the Celestial Dynasty, taught Shi Zhenji step by step in martial arts since he was a child. He was even more regarded as the apple of his eye. He was placed in the newly formed Red Army precisely because they all had greater expectations for him.
"Give me Prince An's letter and put it here respectfully!" Shi Dakai put down the teacup in his hand heavily, and his expression suddenly turned grim.
Seeing Shi Zhenlun meekly placing Prince An's letter in front of King Yi with both hands, Zhang Suimou sighed inwardly: Why is Your Highness so confused? This clearly means that Prince An wants to use Shi Zhenji as a paving stone. of? But he didn't dare to say it. He still remembered the words King Yi warned him on the ship just after leaving Tianjing. "Your Highness, His Highness Prince An sent this letter so urgently, I am afraid that he also hopes that His Highness can quickly intercede with Dong Wang for Zhenji. I think that since Tianjing has abolished the system of separate men and women, it should allow casual intermarriage. Just like we are here now.¡±
"How can it be the same?" Shi Dakai said coldly, "We do not interfere in the private affairs of the people, but the heavenly army still has to abide by the rules of heaven."
"It was wrong to make this rule in the first place." Shi Zhenlun waved his arms angrily, "You are allowed to have hundreds and dozens of concubines when you become king, but you are not allowed to reunite couples or get married. This has not happened since ancient times. I¡¯ve heard of such a king¡¯s law. We are joining a God-worshiping association, not a monk temple or a nunnery!¡±
Shi Dakai stared at him, his Adam's apple squirming up and down for a while, then he suddenly stood up and laughed heartily, "You guys have simply misunderstood the teachings of the King of Heaven." He raised his finger and pointed at Shi Zhenlun, "The King of Heaven is in the sky. The precepts mentioned in the article do not mean the prohibition of unions between men and women. As for the temporary article, it is only for temporary needs, and no one has said that it will last forever. It is not that you have not heard the news from Tianjing. Isn't it slowly changing? Everything takes time. But no matter what, there is one thing that cannot be changed, that is, just after you have found stability, you will covet the love of men and women, and lose your fighting spirit. From ancient times to the present, you have fallen on this There are countless heroes. Think carefully about King Li Chuang and look at what Zhenji did. I think you should understand a little bit."
Shi Zhenlun wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Shi Xiangzhen who was swept in like a whirlwind