Chapter 334

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The conference hall of the Recovery Association was rather shady. Wei Ze wiped his sweat and thought that he should get an electric fan as soon as possible. With this thing, summer would be much more comfortable.

Just as he was a little distracted, the Minister of Finance, Li Yuchang, said, "Commander-in-Chief, every dynasty has to recruit heroes. Just as he was a little distracted, the Minister of Finance, Li Yuchang, said, "Commander-in-chief, every dynasty needs to recruit heroes.

Ten minutes ago, Pang Congcong, the secretary of the Iron and Steel Group, talked about the issue of new firearms. They talked about the import of rice from Vietnam. Originally, Vézé wanted to calm the skyrocketing price of rice in Guangdong by importing large amounts of rice from Vietnam. He didn't expect Li Yuchang to bring up the topic of recruiting local gentry in Guangdong. Li Yuchang seemed to be very interested in the gentry and suggested a way for them to advance.

By this time, Li Yuchang had already talked about this topic for a few minutes. Vézé was quite repulsed by this topic. It was easy for engineering students to feel repulsed by landlords and gentry. Rich landlords, amateurs, didn't understand science, and wanted to be civil officials. In short, these were all problems that engineering students considered to be absolutely negative. But now, Vézé wasn't just an engineering student, he was also a ruler. As a ruler, Vézé's disgust for the gentry was even stronger.

Vézé was only twenty-six years old this year, still in the prime of his youth. Such a long period of political experience had made him start to become more scheming, but he still couldn't help but bring up some of his ideas. Li Yuchang was a Huizhou merchant, so how could he not see Vézé's displeasure? However, he felt that he had an obligation to contribute to the recovery of the Commander-in-Chief's Office. Even though he knew that Vézé was unhappy, he insisted, "Commander-in-Chief, I don't mean to let the gentry be officials. I just feel that it's better to let the gentry be officials. Even if it's a small official, it'll make the gentry feel that we're not hostile to them. In this way, if you order them to sell grain, they'll sell it. "

Hearing this, Vézé's face darkened. He wanted to open his mouth to say something, but he kept his mouth shut. Li Yuchang stopped talking and waited for Vézé to speak. Both of them waited for a while before Li Yuchang continued, "We've always been suppressing the local landlords and gentry. The big opium dealers and landlords who were in cahoots with the foreigners have already been uprooted, and the landlords and gentry in other places are uneasy. If we can make them feel that we have no malice towards them, we can win their hearts. This is the way of the world, and the will of the people is the key!

Wei Ze held back his displeasure and listened to Li Yuchang's words. He gave himself a "like" in his heart. Regardless of the occasion, a meeting must be organized to allow people to speak, and it must not be interrupted for no reason. This was something that Wei Ze had learned when he argued with his parents. At that time, Wei Ze was the weaker party and hoped to have the right to speak. However, when he became the stronger party, he knew how torturous it was to listen to the "nonsense" of the weaker party.

Everyone knew that Vézé was about to speak, but Vézé didn't speak immediately. His heart was boiling with malice. The hostility of the believers of the industrial society towards the feudal landlords was only slightly less than the life-and-death class struggle. Therefore, Vézé fiercely suppressed his hostility towards Li Yuchang. Vézé would rather believe that Li Yuchang's words were just a reflection of his shallow knowledge. He didn't want Li Yuchang to become the spokesman of the feudal landlords.

After calming his hatred, Vézé finally spoke. "People say that a general's success is built on the bones of thousands. What did we rely on to achieve what we have today? They relied on the tens of thousands of soldiers, the thousands of brothers who died in battle, and the hundreds of thousands of enemies killed by these thousands of brothers who died in battle. It's because of these hundreds of thousands of corpses that we've been able to walk to where we are today and where we are now! Only then can we continue towards the goal of overthrowing Manchu Qing and building a new era! "

The members of the Standing Committee looked dignified. Thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, these were not numbers that Vézé said in order to strengthen his tone. The brothers who fought with Vézé knew this was the truth. The Liberation Army had established its illustrious reputation today not by boasting about benevolence, but by strong military strength.

Vézé calmed down a little and continued, "The state is a tool of class rule. In the current Guangdong and Guangxi, our Commander-in-Chief's Office is the ruling class. We control the means of production, that is, land, factories, and mines. The people of Guangdong and Guangxi farm, serve as soldiers, and work in factories. The vast majority of workers are engaged in production! After the Commander-in-Chief's Office controls the assets, if we don't work closely with the people who are engaged in labor, but instead cooperate with the gentry who have some assets in the past, isn't that too much to do? "

These words were ruthless and straightforward. After a while, Li Yuchang said, "Commander-in-Chief, I think the gentry should also want to cooperate with us."

"Cooperate? Haha! "Vézé couldn't help but laugh as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. After laughing for a while, Vézé put away his smile and said earnestly, "Minister Li, people of the same trade are enemies! Do you think the gentry joined us to work? Those motherf * cking bastards want to join us, but they want to share the assets! We can only work hard, seriously, and patiently, improve the education system, strengthen the ability of social organization, and in the process continue to promote the workers who are willing to join the Commander-in-Chief's Office. We can't promote those gentry who oppose us! "

"Commander-in-Chief, the gentry might not want to oppose us!" Li Yuchang still tried to defend himself.

Seeing Li Yuchang so stubborn, Vézé couldn't help but feel angry. He sneered and said, "The people don't have much food in their hands. They are often in urgent need of money, so they quickly sell the food after receiving it. The ones who can drive up the price of food are definitely not the people, but the gentry who have a lot of land and harvest a lot of food. They are hoarding and driving up the price of food. Is this the attitude they have when they want to cooperate with us? Damn it, they want to stab me in the back and laugh at the Commander-in-Chief's Office. They are blind! When the food from Vietnam comes and the price of food drops, I want to see who those bastards will sell their food to! "

Li Yuchang didn't expect Vézé to be so ruthless. He said with some hesitation, "Commander-in-Chief, if we do this, I'm afraid we will greatly offend the gentry!"

"Offend them? Haha! " Vézé sneered, "They raise the price of food, and we lower the price of food. Do we offend the gentry? If this can offend them, then I am not afraid of offending them at all. Minister Li, I repeat, we can only work closely with the working people. As for the gentry, let them die with their sweet dreams! "

Li Yuchang lowered his head. Because Vézé was so emotional, he wisely chose not to say anything. Li Yuchang was older than Vézé by 20 years, and his life experience had made him no longer try to argue on a whim. The fact that the other members of the Standing Committee were silent when the debate had reached such an intense point was enough to show their standpoint.

This wasn't because they were afraid of Vézé's authority. When the higher-ups of the Commander-in-Chief's Office held a meeting, they all had the guts to speak up. Vézé would never attack a person just because of a difference of opinion. So even though he was facing such fierce opposition, Li Yuchang secretly told himself that Vézé didn't have any ill intentions towards him.

Vézé stared at Li Yuchang and cleverly changed the topic, "Today is the 18th of July. Shi Dakai is now fighting in Baoqing, Hunan. I thought that Shi Dakai was preparing to enter Sichuan, but I didn't expect him to fight in Baoqing without a logistics base. They haven't won for two months. Their logistical support could only last for about two months. If they continue to fight, they can at most hold on for another month. Given the current situation, Shi Dakai won't be able to go to Sichuan. He will go to Guangxi first. So I have contacted Lin Fengxiang and asked him to send troops to Jiangxi to pick up as many people as possible who are willing to return to the Taiping Rebellion. These people who are destined to be eliminated are now struggling to survive. In a year at most, we will take over Guangxi and northern Hunan. "

Everyone listened attentively, but felt that the situation had changed too strangely. According to Vézé, Shi Dakai's troops were about to split up. Lin Asheng couldn't help but ask, "Commander in Chief, if Shi Dakai enters Guangxi, he might not necessarily lose his footing. Even if they can't hold their ground, so many of our brothers should be closer to us. "

"I don't want Shi Dakai's men," Vézé said frankly. "Shi Dakai's men are quite similar to the gentry. They feel that they are important people, that they are vegetables. No matter where they go, they want others to leave a place for them first. We have our own selection criteria for every position in the Recovery Army. Only those who are capable can occupy the position. And if they want to make these positions their own, don't even think about it. But these people won't accept our system. Just like how landlords won't give up their land, Shi Dakai's brothers are all military leaders. They will never agree to give up their troops. It's fine if they're cornered and obedient, but if it's a large force, recruiting them into our army is just asking for trouble! "

These words were resolute and extremely callous. Li Yuchang felt a chill run down his spine. Li Yuchang had read before, and knew very well that this was a ruthless argument. Vézé didn't have a personal opinion about a particular person, but he had made a judgment about them based on human nature. Having followed Vézé for several years, Li Yuchang naturally knew that Vézé was decisive in killing and had his own opinions on important matters. If it weren't for the fact that Vézé had other ideas about the gentry and Shi Dakai's subordinates, Vézé's men would basically be set in stone. And when Vézé had made up his mind, he would never waver.

"If these brothers are completely annihilated in Hunan and Jiangxi, it will only benefit Manchu Qing. That's why I asked Lin Fengxiang to send troops to Jiangxi. It's naturally good if we can conquer Jiangxi, but if we can't, we can at least bring our brothers back to the Taiping Rebellion. This is also a good thing for the Taiping Rebellion. With the Taiping Rebellion supporting us, we can also relax a lot. We'll have more time to develop ourselves and prepare for the northern expedition. "Vézé continued to explain why he wanted to sell such a huge benefit to the Taiping Rebellion.

Lieutenant General Lin Asheng, who was in charge of the political and legal committee, didn't really like to talk, but right now, he couldn't help but ask, "Commander-in-chief, is it really time to contend for hegemony? Anyone who doesn't realize this will be kicked out? "

"Yes!" Vézé answered resolutely. "The era of heroes rising together has already ended. In this era of contending for hegemony, they are still dreaming of the era of heroes rising together. Do they really think that there are no heroes left in the world? Shi Dakai is finished! "