Chapter 371

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Hunan, Changsha, at the gate of the Inspector General's office.

A group of people in long gowns knelt at the gate. First they burst into tears, then they shouted in Xiangnan accents, "Sir, please send troops to help us take back our land!"

It was rare to see so many people in long gowns crying at the gate of the Inspector General's office. The commoners in short gowns on the road peeked at them, but they didn't dare to stop here. Every once in a while, a batch of notices would mysteriously appear in Changsha City. Every time such a batch of notices appeared, the Changsha government would conduct a large scale search. The people of Changsha didn't know whether they had caught the culprit or not. From the point of view of the people, the continuous appearance of the notices proved that they hadn't caught the right person. But the government never distinguished between right and wrong when it came to arresting people, so the people avoided them.

A while ago, a large number of notices appeared, and the government immediately went around arresting people like mad dogs. Unexpectedly, a group of people in long gowns suddenly appeared outside the Inspector General's office, crying and wailing. Even if the commoners in short gowns didn't dare to surround them, they couldn't help but sneak glances as they walked.

Hunan's Inspector General Mao Hongbin had long known the news in the office. In the past half a month, many landlords and gentry in the areas controlled by the Liberation Army had fled to Changsha. After they arrived in Changsha, they begged the government to send troops to attack southern Hunan and help them take back their land. Mao Hongbin investigated and found out that the Liberation Army had carried out land reform in southern Hunan. All the land was returned to the public and then distributed by the Liberation Army to the local commoners to farm.

According to the landlords, the unruly commoners in those places were obsessed. They didn't talk about fighting against the Liberation Army, but instead attacked the landlords regardless of the friendship of generations of people living in the same village. After losing their land, the landlords and gentry could only leave their homes and come to Changsha, begging the government to send troops to help them take back their land.

Of course, Mao Hongbin was unwilling to send troops. After the Liberation Army conquered Yongxing, they controlled the waterways and could go with the flow to attack Hengyang. If Hengyang was lost, Changsha would also be lost. Now the Xiang Army in Hunan was less than sixty thousand. They didn't even have enough to defend the city, let alone take back southern Hunan. The landlords and gentry had always refused to pay taxes. Now that their land was taken, they came to beg the government to send troops. In Mao's mind, the Liberation Army was the most hateful and the landlords and gentry the most hateful.

"Sir, the aristocrats are kneeling outside and crying." Someone came to report.

"Ignore them." Mao Hongbin said coldly.

For the next three days, the aristocrats knelt in front of the Inspector-General's yamen and complained. Mao Hongbin refused to see them. No matter what kind of officials came to lobby him, Mao Hongbin ignored them.

On the fourth day, some teachers from Yuelu Academy asked to see Mao Hongbin. Mao Hongbin ordered the scholars to be brought into the living room. Yuelu Academy was the largest academy in Hunan. It was also the place where Hunan's scholars wished to study. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked Changsha, Hong Xiuquan sent people to burn down the Yuelu Academy. Ceng Guofan used this matter as a pretext to rally the scholars of Hunan to support Ceng Guofan and eliminate the Taiping Rebellion.

According to the news received by the scholars from all over Hunan, the Yuelu Academy was completely destroyed. In this era, transportation was inconvenient. After receiving Ceng Guofan's letter, the angry Hunan scholars immediately supported Ceng Guofan. After the Taiping Rebellion was defeated, many scholars who were filled with grief and indignation came to Changsha to rebuild Yuelu Academy. Only then did everyone realize that only a small part of the academy had been destroyed. The only thing that could really be considered damaged was the statue of Confucius.

Not long after, Yuelu Academy reopened its doors. It's just that a large number of scholars joined the army, and the great scholars couldn't go to Yuelu Academy to show off for no reason. Therefore, the people gathered here were those who were unwilling to join the army, but wanted to borrow the name of Yuelu Academy to become the 'leader of opinion'.

Their purpose in meeting Mao Hongbin was naturally to support the landlords, hoping that the government could send troops to help the landlords regain their land. Master Mao Hongbin already knew the moral character of this group of scholars, so he had a good idea of what they would say. After listening to the opinions of this group of representatives, Mao Hongbin replied: "If we send troops now, it won't be possible without fifty thousand soldiers. If we send fifty thousand soldiers and horses, the whole of Changsha won't even have enough soldiers to defend it. Since everyone has this kind of intention, why don't you throw away your pen and join the army, and join the Xiang Army? When we conquer Xiangnan, everyone will have made a great contribution, and your wives and children will be conferred titles. "

Hearing Mao Hongbin's suggestion for them to join the army, this group of scholars was immediately dumbfounded. They were also prepared for the possibility of Imperial Inspector Mao Hongbin's excuse of "evading" the task. Unexpectedly, Inspector Mao Hongbin did not shirk his duty, but directly asked the scholars to join the army. If the scholars were willing to join the army, they would have joined the army a long time ago. This group of people who stayed in Yuelu Academy were naturally unwilling. Up until now, they had received too much news of the scholars who joined the army being killed.

Especially in the battle of Fuzhou and the battle of Sanhe, the Xiang Army's elite troops were annihilated over ten thousand people. Tens of thousands of families in the whole of Hunan were in mourning, that kind of tragic situation scared this group of scholars silly. As soon as they heard that they were to join the army, the scholars immediately shut their mouths.

Mao Hongbin did not have the intention to let this group of people go, he coldly said: "If those aristocrats really want to take back their land, why don't they join the army? If no one joins the army, how can the government have soldiers to fight? They kneel in front of the yamen and beg, they look pitiful, but actually they just want to threaten the government. I won't argue with them, I just feel that they are pitiful. If I really argue with them, this group of people will have to go to jail. When you get out, make it clear to them, either join the army, or leave. If this continues, don't blame the law for being merciless. "

These words obviously had an effect, not long after the scholars were 'sent' out of the Inspector Yamen, the landlords and aristocrats dispersed. The final result also made Mao Hongbin very disappointed, he originally thought that this group of landlords and aristocrats would be angry and join the army, but he did not expect that no one would do so.

The Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee, Shen Xin, soon received news of this. Ever since the invasion of Hunan, the Liberation Army's intelligence network in Hunan had grown increasingly strong. Although he did not know what exactly happened in the Inspector Yamen, he was able to gather news that Hunan's Inspector Mao Hongbin was unwilling to send troops.

At this time, the Liberation Army had begun land reform in the areas under their control. Hunan was the home of tea, there were many mountainous areas, it was not very suitable for farming, but it was very convenient to plant tea and mulberry trees. In these poor mountainous areas, manpower was very cheap, not only was the land distributed, but all the debts that the farmers owed the landlords were also cancelled. After the land was distributed and the debts were cancelled, the local people were deeply grateful to the Liberation Army and wholeheartedly supported it. The landlords, on the other hand, gnashed their teeth and tried to retaliate.

At this time, Shen Xin did not immediately resort to killing methods, he applied to the central government to establish the Eighth Army in Hunan. Soon, the central government agreed to Shen Xin's proposal, not only giving the Eighth Army of the Hunan Military District the designation, but also the Ninth Army of Hunan. The task force sent by Shen Xin immediately began to recruit soldiers in various parts of Hunan.

Every time the troops arrived at a village, they buried pots to cook rice, cured meat, and all kinds of canned food were placed on the table, and glass bottles of strong liquor were poured. First, the villagers ate and drank, and then they talked about daily life, telling the people that if they wanted to preserve their current lives, it was impossible for no one to join the army to fight. As for the target of the war, the task force did not hide anything. They wanted to fight the Xiang Army, fight the landlords, and fight the scholars who only knew how to speak for the landlords.

The people were very honest, as soon as they heard that the Liberation Army wanted to fight the targets, everyone immediately agreed with the Liberation Army's opinion. Moreover, when they learned that the families of those who joined the army could immediately get a stone of rice, their willingness to join the army increased. There were many children in the mountain families, and in a short time, 50,000 people joined the army.

There were also many female soldiers in the task force. These female soldiers wore handsome military uniforms, and their status was no different from that of men. At a glance, it was obvious that they would not be bullied in the army. If a man joined the army, he would get a stone of rice, and if a girl joined the army, she would get two stone of rice. Some families with many girls finally gave in to reality, and the effect of this demonstration was beyond the imagination of the army. Many young girls in the mountain secretly came to the army to ask to join. They did not have many reasons for asking to join the army, the most common reason was that they did not want to get married. R1058