November 30th, night, Tianjing City.
When Ouyang Shuo led his troops into the city during the day, the city was naturally lively and peaceful. Under Yang Xiuqing's iron fist, all the discordant factors temporarily lay dormant.
According to Yang Xiuqing's arrangements, Ouyang Shuo received the civil and military officials of the previous dynasty, pardoned thousands of ordinary prisoners in the city, and distributed oil, rice, and other resources to the people in the north of the city, especially the poor.
In short, it was as auspicious as possible.
Yang Xiuqing could be said to be very familiar with this. This could also be considered as a "specialty" of Heavenly State.
When Ouyang Shuo saw this, he could not help but be amazed.
After a busy day, this "show" only came to an end after the grand banquet.
In the end, when it came to choosing a place to stay, Ouyang Shuo did not listen to Yang Xiuqing's arrangements for the first time. According to Yang Xiuqing, it was arranged for Ouyang Shuo to stay in the Emperor Palace that had already been sealed.
But Ouyang Shuo politely declined this.
The place Ouyang Shuo chose to stay was a side courtyard in the city. This side courtyard was the residence of the fallen general, Lin Fengxiang. It was quite imposing and did not disgrace Ouyang Shuo's status.
Seeing this, Yang Xiuqing did not insist.
Because he could feel that the Marquis was probably unwilling to stay in the Emperor Palace for some other reason.
After the clamor, Ouyang Shuo finally had the energy to deal with official matters.
That night, the commander of the Imperial Guard Division, the Tiger General Lin Yi, who was temporarily in charge of Tianjing City's defense, the head of the Black Snake Guard and the Military Intelligence Division in Xunzhou County, and the young general Shi Hu gathered at the side courtyard where Ouyang Shuo was staying.
Obviously, this was an internal meeting of Shanhai City.
Even Yang Xiuqing did not receive an invitation from Ouyang Shuo.
In fact, before Ouyang Shuo arrived in Tianjing City, the two major intelligence agencies would gather relevant information and report it to Ouyang Shuo every day for him to read.
As for the incident on the way to Tianjing City, it was enough to prove that the two intelligence agencies paid too much attention to Tianjing City and neglected other places, especially the layout and investigation of the villages.
Through the information sent by the two agencies, Ouyang Shuo knew that there was currently a hidden force in Tianjing City that opposed the rule of Shanhai City.
Among this force, there were military generals, important ministers of the previous dynasty, and even gentry, merchants, and other people of various social classes. The scope that was involved and the depth of its influence was truly shocking.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had to get rid of this hidden force before Bao Shu Ya arrived at Tianjing City to take up his post. Otherwise, once Tianjing City lost its army, chaos could erupt at any time.
The question now was what method to use.
According to Lin Yi's opinion, he would naturally mobilize the army and start a bloody purge in Tianjing City.
When Ouyang Shuo heard that, he immediately shook his head and rejected it.
Lin Yi was a pure soldier, and it wasn't strange for him to think like that. After all, cleansing was also an option. But to Ouyang Shuo, this was only a last resort.
Shanhai City easily conquered Tianjing City. There were advantages and disadvantages.
Think about it, if Shanhai City attacked Tianjing City with a large army, Ouyang Shuo could naturally use the momentum of victory on the day the city was breached, and under the guidance of the Military Intelligence Department and the Black Snake Guard, he could directly cleanse the city.
At that time, Shanhai City was the victor of the war, and no one dared to say anything.
However, it was different now. Tianjing City had voluntarily surrendered.
Facing people who had surrendered, Shanhai City naturally couldn't easily wave the butcher's knife.
Otherwise, first, it would chill the hearts of the people in the city. Second, even for Yang Xiuqing and the others who were originally on Shanhai City's side, it wouldn't feel good in their hearts.
It was precisely because of this that Ouyang Shuo was extremely cautious in handling the affairs of Tianjing City. That was why he was patient during the day and let Yang Xiuqing 'manipulate' him to complete that big show.
Apart from that, there was another problem that made Ouyang Shuo cautious.
The two intelligence agencies did indeed have a list of the people of this force in their hands. However, as for whether the list was complete, even the two people in charge probably didn't have any confidence.
Once the army started the cleansing, it would definitely alert the enemy and scare the other hidden enemies. In this way, it would only make them hide even deeper.
Therefore, this cleansing had to be planned.
The few of them discussed until late at night, and finally came up with a compromise.
Needless to say, the Military Intelligence Department and the Black Snake Guard would continue to monitor the enemies and ensure that they could be taken down at any time.
As for the hidden elements in the army, they would be dealt with by Lin Yi.
For this reason, Ouyang Shuo ordered Shi Hu to lead two independent mountain barbarian divisions and assist the imperial guard division. With the excuse of protecting the Marquis's safety, they would further strengthen their control over Tianjing City and completely take over Tianjing City.
Especially for the hundred thousand Taiping soldiers in the city, they had to be even more vigilant. They had to limit their range of activities and supplies in the future to reduce their threat as much as possible.
Most importantly, Ouyang Shuo wanted to summon Yang Xiuqing and the other generals of the Taiping army tomorrow to discuss the reorganization of the hundred thousand soldiers.
As long as the threat of the army was removed, the rest was just a minor problem.
Therefore, the meeting tomorrow was a test for Ouyang Shuo. He knew that there were at least one or two generals in the Taiping army who were loyal to Hong Xiuquan.
It was just that they didn't find a chance to resist and had been pretending very well.
Thinking about it, it wasn't an easy thing to mediate with such a group of opponents.
On the other hand, in order to draw out the other hidden enemies in Tianjing City, Ouyang Shuo thought of a method called luring the snake out of its hole.
"Luring the snake out of its hole?" Lin Yi asked.
"Yes."
"Marquis, do you have a brilliant plan?" Lin Yi asked again with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Shuo smiled faintly and said, "Think about it. Is there any place in Tianjing City that cannot be desecrated by Hong Xiuquan's diehard followers?"
"The Sky Emperor Palace?!" Lin Yi and the others exclaimed in unison.
"Yes!"
"Marquis, do you mean to burn down the Sky Emperor Palace on purpose to provoke Hong Xiuquan's loyal followers so that they will jump out on their own and then we can catch them all in one fell swoop?" Lin Yi asked.
"No." Ouyang Shuo shook his head and said, "Wouldn't it be a big loss to burn it down?"
Strictly speaking, Ouyang Shuo was also a bit greedy.
He was also very familiar with the way to extort land.
Coincidentally, Xunzhou County and Zhen 'an County's reconstruction funds were tight, so Ouyang Shuo naturally wanted to find a way to earn some money.
As for the specific strategy, Ouyang Shuo didn't reveal it.
Early the next morning, Ouyang Shuo issued the first edict since he entered Tianjing City.
The edict stated that since Tianjing City was chosen as the administrative center of Xunzhou County, there should naturally be a corresponding county office for the governor and the officials of the four departments to work.
After investigation, the location of the Sky Emperor Palace was the best place to build a county office.
Therefore, Ouyang Shuo had no choice but to bear the pain and decide to tear down the Sky Emperor Palace and build a standard, more practical county office on the original site.
Once the edict was issued, the whole city was in an uproar.
The common people were only surprised by Marquis's heroism. As for Hong Xiuquan's loyal followers, tearing down the Sky Emperor Palace was no different from cutting off their only hope in the Sky Emperor. It was even more painful than tearing down their houses.
Therefore, as soon as the edict was issued, people continuously petitioned for Marquis to retract the edict. And these people who jumped out naturally entered the sights of the Black Snake Guards.
Not to mention Hong Xiuquan's loyal followers, even Yang Xiuqing had doubts about Marquis's edict. After all, as an important minister of the previous dynasty, Yang Xiuqing knew what the Sky Emperor Palace meant to the people, especially the followers.
If it was to build a county office, there was no need to go through so much trouble.
Firstly, as long as the Sky Emperor Palace was slightly remodeled, it would be an extremely grand county office. Secondly, even if it wasn't remodeled, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with choosing a place to build it.
After all, it was only a county office, not a palace. There was no need to pay too much attention to feng shui.
But thinking about how Marquis had insisted on staying in the Sky Emperor Palace last night, Yang Xiuqing guessed that Marquis was really determined to tear down the Sky Emperor Palace.
Seeing that he was going to Leizhou County to take up his post in a few days, Yang Xiuqing naturally didn't want to go against Marquis's will at this juncture, so she didn't raise any objections.
But many people came to Yang Xiuqing, asking him to act as a lobbyist to persuade Marquis to retract the edict.
Hearing this, Yang Xiuqing could only smile bitterly.
Needless to say, all the petitioners were blocked outside the gate by the cold and merciless Divine Martial Guards. They didn't even get to see Ouyang Shuo.
Before tearing down the Sky Emperor Palace, Ouyang Shuo didn't have any intention of keeping the dozens of carriages of treasures in the Heavenly Peace Palace. He directly arranged for the Commerce Department to work with the various large chambers of commerce to evaluate the treasures and sell them off.
Ouyang Shuo's actions this time were firstly because he didn't like luxury, and secondly, he was trying to minimize Hong Xiuquan's influence in the two counties.
According to preliminary estimates, just the treasures taken from the Sky Emperor Palace could be sold for at least three hundred thousand gold coins. From this, one could see how luxurious Hong Xiuquan's life was.
With this huge sum of money, the two counties no longer needed the support of the Protectorate of the Southern Border.
As for the palace maids and eunuchs in the Sky Emperor Palace, they were naturally dismissed as well.
That afternoon, thousands of craftsmen began to dismantle the Sky Emperor Palace.
Yes, dismantling.
The superior wood, stone carvings, screens, and other materials in the palace were all carefully sorted out. It wasn't as wasteful as Lin Yi had imagined.
Ouyang Shuo announced that he would organize an auction in Tianjing City for the superior wood and other old items of the Sky Emperor Palace. Everyone in the two counties could participate in the auction.
They would buy these items of the Sky Emperor Palace back home as souvenirs. Even if they weren't souvenirs, the materials themselves were still rare and excellent.
Seeing that he couldn't stop the dismantling of the Sky Emperor Palace, Ouyang Shuo believed that Hong Xiuquan's diehard supporters would definitely jump out and buy these items.
In this way, he would be able to earn money and catch hidden enemies. It was killing two birds with one stone.
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