?
It was not that there were no deserters in the Taiping army, but according to Zhang Yingchen, the number of deserters this time was very large. In less than ten days, the Anqing Taiping army alone had detained more than a thousand people. According to estimates, at least a few thousand people had bypassed Vézé's stronghold on the south bank of the Yangtze River and were heading towards Wuchang.
"Investigate what happened, then let them go," Vézé answered.
"Let the deserters go?" Zhang Yingchen was surprised.
"What are you going to do? Kill them? Or send them to Nanjing? "Vézé asked.
To forcibly escort thousands of people to Nanjing, they would need a lot of ships and food. Anqing did not have that many resources at the moment. Zhang Yingchen probed, "Prime Minister, should we keep them here?"
"Let them eat their fill and continue to escape?" Vézé continued to ask.
Hearing this, Zhang Yingchen felt that it made sense and changed the topic, "Prime Minister, when are you going to discuss this? It's been a few days! "
Vézé smiled bitterly, "I'll go out now. Hurry up and investigate what happened. Let's discuss this first! "
Half a day later, Zhang Yingchen came back with the results of his investigation. They were local citizens of Wuchang who were coerced by their families to join the Taiping army. In the beginning, the Taiping army's prestige in Wuchang was envied by the citizens. Chang Dachun set fire to the residences outside of Wuchang for six days and nights. The citizens of Wuchang hated the officials of Manchu Qing. After the Taiping army conquered Wuchang, they carried the captured officials in bamboo baskets and paraded them through the streets. They were then publicly executed. The citizens of Wuchang were overjoyed and envied the Taiping army. Under the well-organized organization of the Taiping army, their families joined the Taiping army.
When they first joined the Taiping army, the people of Wuchang were very excited. However, this kind of excitement was only temporary. After all, commoners were commoners. If there wasn't a systematic reserve army system, it was impossible to pull them over at any time to serve as a combat force. The old brothers from Guangxi and the old brothers from Xiangnan. One was because of the conflict between the locals and the other was because of the bandits in Xiangnan. Since young, everyone was more used to living on the edge of a knife.
However, Wuchang was a wealthy place. It had been peaceful for a long time. How could there be so many backbone members who were used to the chaotic world? Seeing how the Taiping army was able to move about in such an awe-inspiring and domineering manner, it was because they were looking at the people who were responsible for it. As for personally participating in it, that was another matter.
After experiencing several battles, after the excitement had passed, his homesickness grew even stronger. More and more people fled from the Taiping army.
According to those who had escaped, most of the men had escaped, while the women had escaped. If the ratio was reversed, it could be said that the army had gotten rid of the women and left behind the more capable men. However, the reality was that a large number of women remained in the Taiping army. In this era, not only did it not have the effect of strengthening the army's combat power, it was also equivalent to carrying a considerable burden.
Moreover, even if no one escaped, the Taiping army's combat power was currently being weakened, not strengthened. According to the Wuchang residents who had escaped, after the Taiping army invaded Nanjing, the other government troops were annihilated. However, the people living in Nanjing did not surrender.
The city was filled with people. These people knew that they had nowhere to go. Even though they were surrounded, they had no intention of surrendering. Moreover, under such circumstances, the Eight Banners Army actually launched a counterattack. A group of more than 200 people from the Eight Banners Army rushed out of the city, lined up in formation, and fired continuously. Their goal was to attack the more than 400 Taiping army who were trying to seize the Taiping Gate.
The unit that intercepted the enemy was Li Kaifang's subordinates. Vézé knew that there were many newly recruited soldiers in this unit. According to the people who had escaped from Nanjing, the more than 400 Taiping army under Li Kaifang fought back with all their might, but they were defeated by more than 200 Eight Banners Army.
Vézé's subordinates did not care much about this news. They had no experience in fighting against the Banners, so they simply listened to it. However, Vézé felt that his common sense had once again gone awry. He had encountered the Yellow Magua who were rather daring to fight, and now he had encountered the Eight Banners Army who were rather daring to fight. In Vézé's common sense, these two types of people were good-for-nothings. He did not expect that in a moment of life and death, they would really dare to bite the cat.
However, in historical records, the Eight Banners Army in the later years of the Manchu Qing dynasty had no combat power at all. The fact that they were beaten to such a state by the Eight Banners Army was enough to prove that the expansion of the Taiping army did not play a good role.
After Zhang Yingchen finished his report, Vézé did not say anything. Instead, he fell into deep thought again.
Vézé had also heard a little about the urban policy of the Taiping Rebellion. It was really strange. On March 5th, 1853, the Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan, wearing a yellow dragon robe, sat in a sedan carried by 16 people, surrounded by dozens of palace maids, entered Nanjing and announced that Nanjing would be the capital. Nanjing was renamed Tianjing. From preaching in Mount Zijing to establishing Nanjing, Hong Yang and the other leaders of the Taiping Rebellion narrowly escaped death and finally ushered in a great victory.
After completely wiping out the original Qing Dynasty officials and soldiers in Nanjing, Hong Yang began to reform the political power and social organization in Nanjing according to the teachings of the God worshipping religion. According to the usual practice, the Holy Treasury system was strengthened in Nanjing. All the property of the residents was confiscated, and the Taiping Rebellion government distributed rations. All the families in Nanjing were disbanded, and all the men were incorporated into the army. The women, with the exception of a few smart and beautiful women, were selected to enter the palaces of the princes as female officials and maids. Those who were good at needlework were selected to enter the Splendid Camp, and the rest were organized into the Women Camp. All the industries and handicrafts were abolished in the city. The skilled craftsmen were organized into the Craftsman Camp to produce industrial products under the command of officers. The old, weak, sick, and disabled were specially selected and organized into the Pai Gang to do some simple manual work.
The social organization of the Taiping Rebellion was generally carried out according to the "Land System of the Celestial Dynasty", which had also been practiced many times in Wuchang and other places. This kind of organization, which combined soldiers and farmers, organized all the masses, completely abolished private ownership of land, and established a system where all property was owned by the public. According to Hong Xiuquan's idea, the masses were organized in the way of the army. Thirteen thousand one hundred and fifty-six families formed an army, and there were Commander, Division Commander, Brigade Commander, Battalion Commander, Two Sima, and other local officials. The smallest unit in the army was one family, and the basic organization, "Two", was twenty-five families. Therefore, all the objects of administration were based on the twenty-five families, and were managed by two Sima. For all twenty-five families, there was a national treasury, which was used to store the public products. The pottery, smelting, wood, stone, and other craftsmen were appointed by the Five Commanders and the Five Soldiers. They were responsible for managing the affairs of the twenty-five families in the countryside.
The departments in charge of the handicrafts in Nanjing were the Craftsman Camp and the Hundred Craftsmen's Office. The organization of the Craftsman Camp and the Hundred Craftsmen's Office was somewhat different. The Craftsman Camp had a large number of people, and it followed the military system completely. Each camp was led by a commander, and the overall system was similar to that of the army. The number of people in the Hundred Craftsmen's Office was also different. If there were a hundred people, there would be a Battalion Commander, who would be in charge of four Liang Sima. If there were two hundred people, there would be two Battalion Commanders. There was no Commander, Division Commander, or Brigade Commander. There were also some differences in their duties. The Craftsman Camp was only in charge of manufacturing, while the Hundred Craftsmen's Office was in charge of everything.
At this time, Hong Renxuan had not yet arrived in Tianjing from Hong Kong, and the "New Chapters on Political Affairs" had not yet been published. Hong Xiuquan was completely implementing the policy according to the "Land System of the Celestial Empire". In Vézé's view, this system was indeed the culmination of China's small-scale peasant economy. In the face of all kinds of irresistible natural and man-made disasters, the people pursued "equalitarianism". Therefore, the political slogan of the Taiping Rebellion was "Everywhere Is Uneven".
In 1853, this naturally had a great attraction for ordinary people in China. However, this did not attract Vézé, who had seen the industrialization of China. In Vézé's view, the fairness and justice of the era was built on the foundation of development. If you want to eat your fill, you must first produce enough food to feed everyone. This was something that only industrial countries could guarantee. Agricultural countries were always in crisis. It would be foolish to only pursue equality and seek to share blessings and misfortunes.
"Prime Minister! What should we do next? "Zhang Yingchen's voice called Vézé out of his contemplation.
"Let them go, let them go." Vézé replied.
"Prime Minister, what should we do in Anqing?" Wei Changrong asked. "Recently, there have been a lot of local people coming to join the army, should we …"
Vézé already had an idea at this time. He said, "These people who escaped from Nanjing are an example. If we also expand the team like this and force people to sign their names, then let the whole family of the local people join the team, let's not talk about how much food we can eat. If we don't strictly train, I'm afraid if we lead the team to fight in the future, I'm afraid the result will be the same. "
When saying this, Vézé did not have any hesitation. He said, "Right now, we have to distinguish who is our enemy and who is our friend. Manchu Qing is our enemy. Those who did not leave with Manchu Qing can be regarded as our friend for the time being. So, we should first unite our friends and fight Manchu Qing. "
Hu Chenghe listened to Vézé's words and frowned. "They may not be willing to fight Manchu Qing with us. There are not as many people joining the army as there were a few days ago. There are only four to five thousand people coming to join us, and most of them are not Anqing natives. We only have ten thousand people now. "
Vézé smiled. "We have ten thousand people. If we train well, fighting twenty to thirty thousand Qing Yao won't take much effort. And friends don't necessarily have to follow us. If they can provide food to feed twenty to thirty thousand people, they are also friends! "
The generals were good at war, but they were not good at politics. Vézé's words were clear, but they did not understand. Their puzzled eyes fell on Vézé's face.
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