Dominate the Country

Chen Ming is in Hangzhou.

The Fu Han army's southward troops have completely captured Jinhua, Taizhou, and Quzhou. Wu Xiongguang's militia was almost broken up in Jinhua, but Wu Xiongguang still refused to surrender. Jinhua's prefect Zheng Ting and his co-prefect all surrendered obediently. The latter had a bad reputation and was dismissed from his post, while the former was still appointed as Jinhua prefect by Chen Ming. This man's reputation was not bad, and of course he was not a "honest official" like Peng Zhongrui and Wu Changjun, whose bones were rotten in Jianli.

The 16th Brigade of the 4th Division and the entire 1st Garrison Division were marching towards Chuzhou and Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang. The 2nd Garrison Division assembled in Nanjing, while the 1st Division and the Guard Brigade slowly assembled in Hangzhou. There were also surrendered Qing navy, which were completely broken up and mixed into the Fu Han army navy. Those who did not want to continue to serve were given silver and sent back home. But this number is quite small. Soldiers are for salary. The treatment of Fu Han Army is much better than that of the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty. I just happened to get in, so I don't want to go back home. Among them, part of the main force of the navy was deployed in Zhoushan, and the other part was guarding the mouth of the Yangtze River. The last 20 to 30 warships were led by Chen Dai and Shi Xinxiong as the chief and deputy chief, and the Marine Corps went north to Shandong, and has not returned yet.

The new recruit camps set up in Yangzhou and other places in Jiangnan are also constantly "importing new recruits", including the number of recruits in southern Anhui, Jiujiang and Anqing. Chen Ming has already drawn officers at all levels to prepare to form garrison troops in southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

So, soldiers have to fight. If you don't fight, it's extremely difficult to climb a level; once you fight, the outstanding ones can rise like a rocket.

When the troops heading south have conquered southern Zhejiang, the 16th Brigade and the First Garrison Division should take a good rest. The First Division and the Guards Brigade will immediately go south to attack Fujian, and Chen Ming will leave the troops of the Second Garrison Division in Nanjing for a while. Ever since Feng Sheng'e was surrounded in Changzhou, Beijing has turned a blind eye to this. It is already June, but Emperor Qianlong has not mobilized troops to attack northern Jiangsu.

The news from the secret camp is that the Qing army in the north has indeed not made any moves, but Chen Ming is still worried. This brigade staying in Nanjing is a late move!

After winning the Battle of Wusongkou, Chen Ming sent people directly to Hangzhou.

In just half a month, Hangzhou has returned to peace. Although many shops on the street are closed or sealed, the people look calm.

The first thing Chen Ming did when he entered Hangzhou was to offer sacrifices to Yuewang Temple on a grand scale. Now the Lu Gong Temple in Yixing and the Yan Gong Temple in Jiangyin are under intensive construction. How many people in the whole Jiangnan region still don't know the "political direction" of the Fu Han Army? Before, Qin Dacheng was unwilling to join the Fu Han Army, and his mother even put on an appearance of "rather die than surrender". Isn't she walking beside Chen Ming now? Chen Ming paid tribute to Yue Fei, and an article of sacrifice was written by him.

Qin Dacheng has a great affinity with Yuewang Temple.

It is said that after Qin Dacheng won the first place in the imperial examination, he resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown. He made an appointment with his poet friends to visit Hangzhou together. In front of Yuewang's tomb, he saw the iron-cast statues of Qin Hui and his wife kneeling, covered with filth. The poet friends joked that he was also surnamed Qin, and was a descendant of Qin Hui, and asked him to write a couplet to record this trip. Qin Dashi wrote the couplet immediately: "People have been ashamed of the name Hui since the Song Dynasty, and I am ashamed of the surname Qin when I go to the grave." It added a good story to Hangzhou West Lake.

Kang Mazi once renovated Yuewang Temple in his later years. It has only been fifty years since then. During the Yongzheng period, when Li Wei was the governor of Zhejiang, he specially cast four traitors. The last time Chen Ming took Hangzhou, he melted the four traitors and recast them. After the Fu Han Army retreated from Hangzhou, Yin Jishan of course ordered the four traitors to be moved away from Yuewang Temple, and for various reasons, they were not recast. The four traitors were also taken by the Qing army to be cast into cannonballs.

Chen Ming returned to Hangzhou this time and never planned to leave. When he learned that the four traitors in front of Yuewang Temple were empty, he set up a furnace by the West Lake and melted the swords, guns and artillery seized from Hangzhou to recast the four traitors in front of the people of Hangzhou.

"Green mountains are lucky to bury loyal bones, white iron is innocent to cast treacherous ministers." Although this couplet by the daughter of the Xu family in Songjiang has just been published for a short time, it has spread all over the world.

"Use the iron of the Tartars' weapons to cast the kneeling statues of treacherous and evil people!" How fitting. Chen Ming himself felt his heart surging when he thought about it. In addition, there are the kneeling statues of Zha Jizuo and Wu Zhirong, the two informers of the "Ming History Case". The latter two were then sent to Nanxun by water with gongs and drums all the way!

A sacrificial temple has been set up in the town of the latter, enshrining those who were killed that year, such as Zhuang Tingyue, Li Lingxi, Mao Yuanming, Jiang Linzheng, Zhang Jun, Wei Yuanjie, Pan Yuzhang, Wu Yan, Wu Zhirong, and Wu Zhiming. This sacrificial temple was built by the local wealthy families in Nanxun with money donated obediently, and some families donated the good materials they found for making coffins. Compared with the initial escape to the south after hearing the news, it is really a world of difference!

When Chen Ming offered sacrifices to the Yuewang Temple, the statues of the four traitors left the temple and reappeared in their original positions after a year.

And there was Yuan Mei.

He resigned in the 14th year of Qianlong's reign, and then he purchased the abandoned garden of the Sui family in Nanjing, renamed it "Suiyuan", built a house and settled there, and was known as Mr. Suiyuan. He stayed in Xiaocang Mountain for 20 years, but when the Fu Han army first attacked Jiangnan, Yuan Mei patted his butt and ran back to his hometown in Qiantang, and then hid in Ningbo.

This time, didn't Yuan Mei, who was already 54 years old, wait for Chen Ming in Qiantang?

Yuan Mei is very famous in later generations, but his fame is all in literature. Chen Ming only values ​​Zhao Yi more among the three great families in Jiangyou because of his political talent. He is the one who wrote "Talented people emerge in every generation, and each leads the trend for hundreds of years". But now, this great writer Zhao is still working honestly for the Qing Dynasty in Guangxi.

"The Qing Dynasty has done a lot of dirty things. We must work hard to publicize and expose them!" Chen Ming said to Shen Guozhen. Jiangnan is a place where humanities gather, and it is severely oppressed by literary inquisitions. Those literary inquisitions of all sizes are the best entry point. It can well drive the "common hatred against the enemy" hearts of both sides. Yuan Mei, the prefect of Hangzhou, listened obediently on the side. After all, he is a "famous scholar" in the world. Yuan Mei has already been submissive, so Chen Ming naturally praised him-the prefect of Hangzhou.

Shen Guozhen's reputation is not comparable to Yuan Mei's, but he joined the Fu Han Army early, but he has Lu Liuliang's tablet on his head, and now he sits in the position of Jiangnan Supervisory Censor. The Supervisory Censor itself has the responsibility of guiding public opinion, and Jiangnan is a place where humanities gather. Now it is time to prepare provincial and prefectural newspapers, which is particularly important.

Shen Guozhen has just returned from Jinhua, and Zhu Dadian's memorial temple has started. When the construction is completed, even if Chen Ming cannot go in person, he must hold a grand memorial ceremony. This time, Shen Guozhen's memorial to Zhu Dadian was written by Yuan Mei.

"Jiangnan is the world's money warehouse. This turmoil has little impact on the livelihood of local people and will not move the bones here." So Jiangnan must be watched more closely. "Silk, cloth, raw silk, tea, porcelain, these are all necessary things in the West. When Ningbo and Shanghai open ports and foreign ships arrive, the people will naturally move."

"Therefore, whether it is the local government or the customs, preparations must be made as soon as possible." Chen Mingyou had just discussed the newspaper's public opinion orientation with Shen Guozhen and Yuan Mei, and turned around to talk about the customs with Chen Min who came to Hangzhou.

There are a lot of local things. In addition, there are always people who escape from the war. No matter how they are sent back to their hometowns, they must be appeased, given money and food. Compared with the income seized by the Fu Han Army, the money and food consumed are not much, but the matter is troublesome.

Besides, the local land will be re-registered, and the land will be measured, which will delay the major event of household registration and population statistics.

It is also because the Fu Han Army has already established its momentum. The old officials in the local area have seen the wind direction and have joined Chen Han with a smile.

They are familiar with the inside story, and they also know about local affairs, and they have a goal to achieve. The officers and officials of the Fu Han army are inseparable. Even the lowest-level officials can be promoted step by step if they do well, which gives these veteran officials greater enthusiasm. This time, when the dynasties in Jiangnan changed, many of the top positions in prefectures and counties were taken by the clerks and the teachers. This is a naked example!

Each of them worked hard to do practical things, which made the new local officials much more relaxed.

Shen Guozhen's office as the Supervisory Censor was set in Suzhou. His hometown was in Chongde, which is Jiaxing Prefecture. After entering Jiangnan this time, he only had time to offer three incense sticks to Shen's ancestors, cried bitterly, and then recruited talents without stopping.

Lü Liuliang's line suffered a devastating disaster, and the direct line was wiped out, but there were still many remnants. Shen Guozhen took advantage of the momentum of the Fu Han army and recruited more than a hundred people, young and old, for Chen Ming. Most of these people have now gone out.

It can be said that as long as Shen Guozhen does not go the wrong way in the future, the Shen family will stand up again in the land of Jiangnan, and it is unknown how many times more glorious it was before. Coming out of the former Hangzhou General's Mansion where Chen Ming settled, Shen Guozhen held a long flat brocade box, which contained a very ordinary bamboo ruler.

But the bamboo used for this ruler was cut down by Chen Ming himself, and the six words on the front were also written by Chen Ming himself: Integrity brings prestige, and justice brings clarity; there are also sixteen small words on the back: Your salary and salary are the fat of the people; it is easy to abuse the people, but it is difficult to deceive the gods.

The words can only be said to be written squarely, but can the things given by Chen Ming be judged by the words alone?

Shen Guozhen went out of the door and returned to his residence as quickly as possible. He wiped the sweat on his head and pulled the secretary beside him to give urgent instructions, but he asked the secretary to contact the people he "recommended" to see if anyone had committed corruption.

This ruler was like an invisible hammer, hitting Shen Guozhen's heart heavily. Shen Guozhen's heart, which had been floating in the air due to the flattery of countless people around him, sank heavily, and his mind was extremely clear.

"Your Highness still loves me. Otherwise, if you just watch quietly from the side, I will not be able to fly to the sky in a year or two."

When Shen Guozhen's secretary reported, it was less than a month before four officials of all sizes recommended by Shen Guozhen were arrested, all of whom were corrupt, soliciting bribes.

There was a big ice basin in front of Shen Guozhen, but he still couldn't stop sweating.

The secretary hurriedly handed a towel to Shen Guozhen. Just like a certain dynasty in the 21st century, the future of secretaries under the Chen Han political system was also closely tied to their bosses. Shen Guozhen, the secretary, was also "killing generals and enemies". How many people stood by Shen Guozhen after PK, Shen Guozhen must not fall down.

"Your Highness certainly has me in his heart. To put it bluntly, when did you join the Han Dynasty? That is a bond of sharing weal and woe. The King of Han and Your Highness are both famous for being nostalgic." Otherwise, how could Zhang Chi, with his background, be able to sit as the Minister of the Army? What a joke.

"Every failure is a learning experience. I will remember this lesson. When you go back, find a pedestal, and put this ruler in my study."

Shen Guozhen was sweating in Hangzhou, and the news spread quickly throughout Jiangnan. The bustling officialdom in Jiangnan suddenly became quiet. Chen Min had already left Yangzhou in a hurry and headed straight to Zhenjiang and rushed to Yangzhou.

Most of the salt-producing areas in Lianghuai have fallen into the control of the Fu Han Army, and the salt company was established at the same time. But how to buy salt is another matter. Chen Han is now unable to control the entire territory to distribute goods, so local salt merchants must be used.

Now salt merchants from Huguang, southwest Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi and other places have all rushed to Yangzhou. It is not just the foreigners in Shanghai who are waiting for Chen Min.