If they wanted to completely destroy the foundation of the gentry, this place was the most important place.
If they wanted to carry out the land reform here, it would probably cause rivers of blood to flow, because every family here had connections in the imperial court. Some of them were even working as officials, acting as the family's protective umbrella.
But so what? Was this the reason why they didn't want to carry out the land reform?
No, it was just that after stabilizing the rear, they would do their best to clean up this area, completely destroy the foundation of the gentry in the southeast, and control Zhejiang, Fujian, and Southern Zhili.
Because of this, Jiang Dahai had sealed off the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the route to the north. He had set up a blockade along the Yangtze River. Zheng Ying and the others had also stirred up trouble in the south of Hangzhou Prefecture. They had sealed off the road to the south, not allowing anyone from Hangzhou Prefecture to continue heading south.
Then, before the Nanjing army went on the northern expedition, the thirty thousand soldiers of Ji Town took control of Yingtian Prefecture and Guangde Prefecture, blocking the road to the west. Earlier, more than two hundred Black Water troops brought by Jiang Dahai entered this area and began to spy on and monitor the situation.
They did not allow them to communicate with the outside world successfully.
It was all for this moment, so that Xie He could free up his hands to carry out an unprecedented land reform in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area, completely destroying the power of the gentry and powerful, and uprooting the foundation of the imperial court in the north.
If these people had a brain, if they had a keen sense of smell, they should be able to smell something strange and know that they were in fact surrounded. But they might not know what was happening in the south central Zhejiang and Fujian, which were separated by Hangzhou Prefecture.
Fortunately, Xiao Ruxun's arrival in Nanjing and Ye Mengxiong and Xu Hongji's proclamation had caused a relatively fierce debate in this area, attracting their attention and making them pay more attention to the debate about whether the Taichang Emperor was legitimate or not, rather than the land reform south of Hangzhou.
While Xie He was sharpening his knife to send the army and the elite members of the land reform working group to Hangzhou Prefecture, they were still divided into two factions, arguing fiercely over whether the young Emperor of Taichang supported by Shen Yicheng was the legitimate emperor or not. Their words were very fierce, and the large clans argued endlessly over this matter.
They thought that the reason why they were locked up was that they did not express their support for the southern army or the northern court, so Xiao Ruxun locked them up. It was okay for a short time, but they could not stand it for a long time, so they should send someone to Nanjing as soon as possible to negotiate with Xiao Ruxun.
However, their opinions could not be unified. Some people scolded Shen Yicheng for tarnishing the reputation of the disciples of the Sages. The disciples of the Sages actually deposed the king. Did he think he was Huo Guang? Or Yiyin? They actually used a coup to depose the legitimate emperor. Where was the dignity of the Daming Dynasty? Where were the laws of the imperial court?
These people angrily claimed that Shen Yicheng was a traitor of the country and a traitor of the Confucian Sect. They wanted to expel Shen Yicheng from the school and drive him out of the family of scholars.
The other group of people were the heads of the large clans. They were more well-informed, and they knew that it was time for them to place their bets. The outcome of the war between the north and the south was about to be decided. Shen Yicheng was finished. As long as he could not open the route to the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and could not get the food, he would be finished. And his last hope, Li Hualong, was also finished.
Shen Yicheng no longer had the strength to fight. He only had the strength to struggle at death's door. He did not have much food on hand and could not support a big battle. The armies of the nine borders did not have any food supply, so they would not care about him. They might even cause trouble and respond to Xiao Ruxun.
When the one million soldiers gathered outside the capital, Shen Yicheng would commit suicide to apologize to the world, because the world would have abandoned him.
Thus, it was obvious who to place their bets on, and there was no need to think about it. It was very normal to place their bets on Xiao Ruxun. Was this not the reason why Xiao Ruxun had flaunted his loyalty and legitimacy?
But he had not come to negotiate with them, the pillars of the country, nor had he come to discuss the distribution of benefits with them. Instead, he had used his soldiers to isolate them. This was far too disrespectful. Did a mere general think that he could rebel and replace the Daming Dynasty?
They did not think so, because if he did that, no scholar in the world would help him, and without scholars to help him, how could he govern the world?
Thus, he had to find this place, find them, and discuss the future of the country with these true leaders who controlled the Imperial Court.
But he had not come, and he had even led his people north to fight. This was far too impolite.
They were still waiting.
However, they no longer had the chance. If they had come a little earlier, with a more sincere attitude, Xiao Ruxun might have given them some face for the sake of the talents they had nurtured.
But it had to be said that Xiao Ruxun really hated Qin Huai Feng Yue, hated talented scholars and beautiful ladies, and hated living a life of luxury.
When the Qing army marched south, they were still living a life of luxury, and it was only when the Qing army marched out of the city that they woke up from their daze.
Qin Huai Feng Yue ended under the butcher's knife of the Manchurian Qing.
Xiao Ruxun had no need for these blood-sucking worms who claimed to be the pillars of the country.
At the beginning of November, when the weather turned cold, Zheng Ying led his army into the territory of Hangzhou Prefecture. The resistance army of Hangzhou Prefecture was crushed as easily as a piece of tofu. The cannons had not been fired for a few times, and the kindles had not been lit, but the Hangzhou army, which seemed to be a sea of people, had already fled. They ran so fast that even the elite soldiers of Ji Town on horseback could not catch up with them.
On November 6th, Hangzhou City was captured. On November 8th, the entire territory of Hangzhou was captured, and the starting point of the Jinghang Canal was also controlled. After that, Xie He immediately ordered the working group to start the land reform.
The intelligence of this place had almost been collected by the Black Water Army. The names of the families, the population, the land, the number of their children studying abroad, and the number of their children serving as officials had been found out.
Zheng Ying's army did not stop and continued to march north. The Hu State Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture were also included in the attack range. The rumbling of the cannons was earth-shattering, and it woke up the people from the dream of luxury.
Xiao Ruxun's army began to attack the Hu State Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture. The attack was extremely fierce. The Hangzhou Prefecture had been defeated, and the entire territory had fallen. The soldiers of the Hu State Prefecture and Jiaxing Prefecture were defeated, and they could not hold on at all. Looking at their appearance, their next target seemed to be the Song Jiang Prefecture!
The hometown of the former First Chief Xu Jie!
Although Xu Jie was dead, the Xu Clan was still flourishing in this area. The fact that they occupied more than two hundred thousand mu of land had not changed. The Xu Clan had already become the number one clan in the Song Jiang Prefecture. But it was useless. Xiao Ruxun had singled out the Xu Clan to be eliminated.
Such a good piece of land would also become an economic center in the future. If the land belonged to the Xu Clan, what would it be?
Xu Jie and Xu Guangqi had nothing to do with each other, and Xiao Ruxun had nothing to worry about. He just instructed Xie He to pay attention to protect Xu Guangqi's family when he eliminated the Xu Clan, and then allocate more land for them to take care of. That was all.
After all, Xu Guangqi was now helping Xiao Ruxun to research flintlock muskets and mini bullets in the military research institute in the north of Myanmar. Such a great talent in science and technology should be used well. He was different from those old craftsmen who only understood empiricism. He was a talent who could summarize. Relying on him, perhaps they could jump out of the circle of empiricism.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
