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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 back to southern Hunan to 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 to the local people by the Liberation Army.
According to the landlords, the unruly people in those places were bewitched. Not only did they not want to fight against the Restoration Army, but they also did not care about the friendship of living in the same village for generations; they attacked the landlords. 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 Hengyang. If Hengyang was lost, Changsha would also be lost. Currently, the Xiang Army in the whole of Hunan was less than 60,000 soldiers. They were not strong enough to defend the city, how could they have the manpower to recapture the southern part of Hunan? This group of southern Hunan landlords and gentry had always refused to pay taxes; now that they had been deprived of their land, they came begging the imperial army to mobilize. In Lord Mao's heart, the Liberation Army was the most detestable, and these landlords and gentry were the most detestable.
"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 the scholars of Hunan wanted to study the most. When the Taiping Rebellion attacked Changsha, Hong Xiuquan sent people to burn down Yuelu Academy. Ceng Guofan used this incident to rally the scholars of Hunan to support Ceng Guofan and eliminate the Taiping Rebellion.
According to the news that the scholars of Hunan received, Yuelu Academy was destroyed. In this era, transportation was inconvenient. After receiving Ceng Guofan's letter, the angry scholars of Hunan immediately supported Ceng Guofan. After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was defeated, many scholars came to Changsha to rebuild the Yuelu Academy, filled with grief and indignation. Only then did people realize that only a small part of the academy was destroyed. The only thing that could be considered damaged was the statue of Confucius.
Not long after, Yuelu Academy reopened. But a large number of scholars joined the army, and the great scholars couldn't find trouble by going to Yuelu Academy to show off. Therefore, the people who gathered here were people who were unwilling to join the army, but wanted to borrow the name of Yuelu Academy to become "opinion leaders."
They came to see Mao Hongbin to support the landlords and gentry. They hoped that the government would send troops to help the landlords and take back their land. Master Mao Hongbin already knew the moral character of this group of scholars. He also knew 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, the whole of Changsha won't even have enough soldiers to defend it. Since you all have this intention, why don't you throw away your pen and join the army and join the Xiang Army. When we conquer Xiangnan, you all will have made a great contribution and your wives and children will be conferred titles. "
Hearing Mao Hongbin's suggestion to join the army, this group of scholars were dumbfounded. They were also prepared for the possibility of Imperial Inspector Mao Hongbin's excuse of "evading" the task. They didn't expect that Inspector Mao Hongbin didn't refuse, but directly wanted the scholars to join the army. If the scholars were willing to join the army, they would have joined the army long 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.
In the battle of Fuzhou and the battle of Sanhe, the Xiang Army's elite troops were wiped out more than ten thousand people. The tens of thousands of families in Hunan were in mourning. This kind of tragedy scared the scholars silly. Hearing that they were to join the army, the scholars immediately shut their mouths.
Mao Hongbin didn't have the intention to let this group of people go. He said coldly: "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 in fact, they just want to threaten the government. I won't argue with them, I just feel that they are pitiful. If we really argue, this group of people will be imprisoned. When you get out, make it clear to them that they either join the army or leave. If they continue to block the way, don't blame the law for being merciless. "
These words were obviously effective. Not long after the scholars were 'sent' out of the Inspector's yamen, the landlords and aristocrats dispersed. The final result made Mao Hongbin very disappointed. He thought that some of these landlords and aristocrats would join the army out of anger, but he didn't expect that none of them did so.
The Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee, Shen Xin, quickly received this information. Ever since the invasion of Hunan, the Liberation Army's intelligence network in Hunan had grown stronger and stronger. Although he didn't know exactly what had happened in the Inspector's yamen, he could gather information 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 a tea country, and there were many mountainous areas. It wasn't 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 did they distribute land, but they also wanted to cancel all the debts that the farmers owed to the landlords. After the land was distributed and the debts were cancelled, the local people were deeply grateful to the Liberation Army and wholeheartedly supported them. The landlords, on the other hand, gnashed their teeth and tried to retaliate.
At this time, Shen Xin didn't immediately resort to killing. 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 did they give the Eighth Army in Hunan, but they also gave the Ninth Army in Hunan. The task force sent by Shen Xin immediately began to recruit soldiers in various parts of Hunan.
Every time the troops went to a village, they buried pots to cook rice, cured meat, and all kinds of canned food. Strong liquor was poured in glass bottles. First, the villagers ate and drank. Then, they talked about daily life and told the people that if they wanted to keep their current lives, they couldn't do it without people joining the army to fight. As for the target of the war, the task force didn't hide it at all. They wanted to fight the Xiang Army, the landlords, and 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 was going to fight, they 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 bag 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. One look and you could tell that they weren't easy to bully in the army. If the men joined the army, they would get a stone bag of rice, and if the women joined the army, they would get two stone bags 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 ask to join the army. They didn't have many reasons for asking to join the army. The most common reason was that they didn't want to get married.
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