Dominate the Country

[Huhuhu, another month is about to end. Time flies, and the two-month summer vacation is over! ]

What is the exact number of Taiwan's rebels?

"Your Highness, the number of rebels in Taiwan reported by Yan Yan is only a little over 20,000 in total." Liu Wu held a thick folder in his hand, which was handed over together with the surrender letter from Taiwan.

It recorded the scale of the various rebels, the origin, age, origin and merits of the leaders, and the exact number of the various rebels, and also the age statistics.

"Less than 22,000 people, and 13,000 to 14,000 people are over 35 years old." Liu Wu's mouth was full of disgust. Those stupid guys, do they think that the arrangement of the dark camp in Fujian is really completely dependent on the Tiandihui, and there is no other manpower? How many people are there in the Taiwan rebels? Although the Fu Han Army does not have an exact number, there are also rough estimates.

We also know what these people have done in the more than one year of occupying Taiwan! Those Tiandihui leaders who led the rebellion are now well-fed. Who doesn't have hundreds or thousands of acres of land?

The big and small leaders, plus their relatives and soldiers, have divided up the existing one or two million acres of "five groups" cultivated land on the west coast of Taiwan. Everyone is well-fed, so who is willing to stand up and serve in the army?

At first, Zhangzhou people were the leading force in the Taiwan uprising. Quanzhou people first helped the Qing government, but soon turned against it; Chaozhou people sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, so this time Chaozhou people got the least benefits, Zhangzhou people ate the most, and Quanzhou people also got a lot of meat.

The only ones crying are the local tyrants who stood on the side of the Qing.

The local clan forces in Taiwan have undergone a major reshuffle. "But this is not a complete defeat of the local clan forces in Taiwan, but a new group of people replacing the old ones. It's just like a change of dynasty!" It's just that these new families have not yet gained a firm foothold.

In front of Liu Wu and Xiong Bingzhang, Chen Ming doesn't need to hide too much, he just doesn't like the clan forces.

He can still tolerate the family, what is the clan?

The clan is further a clan! Or in other words, they are clans that have been reduced countless times. There are countless clans, and 99% of the clans have influence limited to the local area - to be precise, a "county". The slightly stronger clans support a few scholars with achievements and reputations, and they will change their appearance and become a scholarly family.

From a scholarly family to an official family, in another sense, they are a variant of the clan.

After the Tang Dynasty, all dynasties were able to tolerate this kind of "family", that is, when they picked up the "pen", they had already dropped the "knife".

Chen Ming can tolerate this kind of "family", but he can't tolerate the clan, the clan power that has always bowed down to the underworld, and the clan that has not been transformed into a scholarly family or an official family. Because this kind of clan controls the people most directly, this is the "knife"!

When people pick up the "pen", they are equivalent to entering the existing system. No matter how you bully me, you oppress me, it is a kind of competition under the existing system. But it's different for those who hold the "knife". Holding the knife handle in your hand, you can destroy and overturn the rules.

Chen Ming's idea may be a little "left".

But in order to solve the clan power, he and his father racked their brains. Didn't the Chen family also start with the power of the clan?

Chen Hui also has a "warning" in his heart. If there is a Chen family in the world, there can be a second "Zhang family" and a third "Zhao family". He is more attentive to this matter than Chen Ming. And he really came up with a definite method, tiered taxation!

——Taxes are collected based on family property and land.

For those with less than 100 mu, only 5% [5%] is collected for each mu of land; for those with more than 100 mu, 10% is collected; for those with more than 500 mu, 15% is collected... and so on. Of course, this is just an analogy.

This method was Chen Ming's idea for commercial taxation before, but it was shelved in the end. Even the smallest sparrow is meat, and Chen Han is not yet at the point of exempting small merchants from tax. Chen Hui transferred this method to land, believing that if this method is implemented, it will definitely force rural clans to disperse.

There are countless people in Chen Han who agree with this method. The old ones include Qi Gong, Jiu Gong and the old uncle, and the young ones include Gao Yanming and Chen Jiqing, all of whom agree very much. What they think in their hearts is similar to Chen Hui's taboos. However, if this method is to be fully implemented, the details must be fully prepared, and it is still under "research".

Chen Ming also thought this method was good, but he was also sure that this method would definitely make the gentry and landlords more repulsive to Chen Han's rule.

It depends on when his father will come up with a complete set of tiered taxation methods.

Chen Ming only hoped that his father could be two years later, preferably until Chen Han's army entered Beijing and established an absolute advantage before he could rule the world. Otherwise, the landlords and gentry in the north would have plenty of energy.

This matter is just like the adjustment of high-tech industries. Using high-tech industries to drive old intensive industries is a gain and a loss. In the long run, there will be great benefits, but in the near future, there will be great losses. But this is a political matter, and Chen Ming himself can't think of any two-pronged approach, and his people can't think of any perfect plan. This is like "land annexation", a big problem that has been a headache for all dynasties. Hasn't it been helpless for thousands of years?

Chen Ming just watched how his father dealt with it.

"Those who are willing to join the army will be transferred to Fujian for rectification; those who are unwilling to continue to serve in the army will be dismissed as civilians."

The Qing Dynasty's garrison in Taiwan has always been class soldiers. This is to prevent Han soldiers and civilians from crossing the sea to establish a separatist regime and become a base for anti-Qing forces. Therefore, the Qing court stationed heavy troops in Penghu, and there was a class soldier system and volunteer soldiers on the main island of Taiwan. The latter was more of a kind of rural militia, and Taiwanese were also prohibited from serving in the military, and privately making weapons and organizing secret societies were strictly prohibited. The Qing court's garrison in Taiwan was all dispatched from the mainland and transferred every three years, which was the class soldier system.

Chen Ming is a Han Chinese, so of course he will not disband all the Taiwanese soldiers and prohibit them from serving in the army. At the same time, continuing the class soldier system by inertia will also have a foothold in public opinion and will not encounter much resistance. Of course, there must still be some local Taiwanese soldiers in the team returning to Taiwan. This time the troop transfer is more of an opportunity for him to see what attitude the Tiandihui people in Taiwan have towards military power!

On the eighth day of June, the navy of the Fu Han Army gathered on the sea of ​​Lianjiang. A large number of Fu Han Army soldiers boarded the land in sampans and cleared the Qing army outside Lianjiang City in just one hour.

The Qing Navy also gathered on Langqi Island, but seeing the large number of Fu Han Army soldiers landing in Lianjiang, Wu Bi Da did not dispatch warships.

Ling Liang had returned to Nanping, the capital of Yanping Prefecture. He was either on a fast horse or a fast boat along the way. At least he returned to Nanping before the Fu Han Army attacked Fuzhou. A letter from the Fu Han Army was waiting for Ling Liang in Nanping City. Nanping City is the capital of Yanping. Going upstream along the Minjiang River, after passing Fuzhou is Nanping.

Ling Liang also relied on geographical advantages. Among the many righteous armies in Fujian, he was the most enthusiastic about attacking Fuzhou.

"General, Zhang Gou of Longyan and Li Shaomin in the north of Tingzhou have stopped their troops." These two places are considered southern Fujian. Longyan is next to Yongchun Prefecture, which Ling Liang has just occupied, and Tingzhou is in the southwest of Fujian. Ling Liang was called "General" on the surface, but the people around him called themselves "General". This title directly revealed Ling Liang's ambition. How could his military strength and momentum be compared with Chen Hui's situation at the beginning?

There is no one in the Fujian rebel army who calls himself "Grand Commander", but Ling Liang is not the only one who calls himself "General".

Ling Liang knew what was written in the letter without even reading it, "Zhang and Li retreated because of a piece of paper, Duke Lu is so powerful." But a man should be like this. Ling Liang was angry and envious. Chen Ming asked them to stop fighting and stop the internal fighting, with the excuse of "the enemy has not been eliminated", and also asked them not to advance to the Qing army's territory without authorization, because those were all fat meat aimed at by the Fu Han army.

Chen Ming sent people to contact the various rebel armies in Fujian as early as March, and the sign of Wan Yunlong and Wan Erheshang, which was put on the head of the Fujian Tiandihui. The result was not ideal. Except for Lu Mao, who had a deep friendship with him and was willing to surrender immediately, the rest of the troops were reluctant. Even Yan Yan in Taiwan did not give an accurate answer at that time.

Ling Liang could only sigh that fortunately Chen Ming did not intend to use force against the Tiandihui at this time, so there was still time for maneuver in this pressing situation. And from the intelligence he received these days, except for Lu Mao, the stupid goose who received great favors from the Fu Han Army, no one in Fujian really wanted to surrender to Chen Han, which made Ling Liang breathe a sigh of relief. But Ling Liang thought of Lu Mao's territory again in a blink of an eye. It was not big, only half of Zhangzhou. But where is that half of Zhangzhou? Thinking of this, Ling Liang was angry. Lu Mao had the support of the dark camp at the beginning. When he first started his army, everything went smoothly. At that time, he didn't show off Wan Yunlong. He occupied Zhangpu, Zhangzhou, Xiamen and other Feng Shui treasures, all of which were ports near the sea. But now he wants to seek an outlet to the sea, but he is not satisfied in every way.

Ling Liang is not a fool. He has been in the army for such a long time. He is very clear about the huge gap between his soldiers and Chen Ming. That's why he attaches importance to the port. As for firearms, the "magic art of making weapons" of the Fu Han Army is known to the world. Only foreigners, those foreigners with red hair and green eyes, can compete with the guns and cannons of the Fu Han Army.

If there is an outlet to the sea, he would have sent people to Guangzhou to contact foreigners long ago.

Those barbarians just want tea and raw silk, don't they? He will give them. As long as there are guns and cannons, Ling Liang is willing to give as much tea and raw silk as possible. "What a pity, what a pity!"

Ling Liang was thinking one after another, and several trusted civil and military officials looked at each other, and they could see each other's worries in their eyes. This "general" of his family is definitely capable among the leaders, but he is too ambitious. What's even worse is that he was "born at the wrong time"!

Born at the same time as Chen Han and General Chen, how could he have a chance to succeed?

If the general keeps holding back, and his "great ambition" cannot be put down, they will not have a good future.

Everyone can't help but think of the rumors from Taiwan. Taiwan is certainly not richer than Fujian. When they were "conquering the world", they all robbed houses full of gold and silver, treasures and boxes, and each of them had thousands or even tens of thousands of acres of land. But they can't just throw their hands up like their counterparts in Taiwan and enjoy wealth and prosperity in peace. Once the Taiwanese handed over the soldiers at hand, they turned around and became masters. Maybe His Highness Lu Gong will reward them again?

...

Langqi Island, the largest island at the mouth of the Minjiang River, is like Chongming Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The Qing Navy occupied this place, and the Fu Han Army could not enter the Minjiang River at all.

Hundreds of ships, a large amount of military supplies and fodder, and more than 10,000 soldiers filled Langqi Island.

Wu Bidada transferred as much of Haitan’s material reserves and cannons as possible to Langqi Island, and all the warships were also stored on Langqi Island.

Ye Xiangde's heart was in his throat. The Fu Han army had already reached Lianjiang, and was only one step away from Langqi Island. Why didn't Wu Si'er send a definite message?

Ye Xiangde didn't dare to leave the navy camp. He was afraid that Wu Si'er would be caught by Wu Bi Da. If he went, he would be trapped. And if he stayed in the army, no matter how powerful Wu Laojunmen was, he couldn't do anything to him.

The Qing army was already in danger and could no longer withstand the slightest wind and waves.

But what Ye Xiangde didn't expect was that he didn't dare to see Wu Si'er, but Wu Xiqun came to visit him in person.

"Haha, brother Ye, don't worry. It will definitely not make a big mistake." Wu Xiqun trusted Ye Xiangde with a piece of paper and a small iron piece. If this piece of paper and this iron piece that was less than the size of a palm were seen by his father, Wu Bi Da would definitely cut him with a knife.

That was Chen Han's letter of appointment and the identity badge of the dark camp.

So, people's hearts are absolutely unpredictable. Wu Bi Da never dreamed that his four sons who were always by his side would have hooked up with the Fu Han Army so early on. Ming Fu and E Ning, two senior officials of the Manchu Army in Fuzhou City, certainly didn't know about it. Even Ye Xiangde, who had no taste, found it very strange when he thought of this matter. At the same time, he remembered the power of the Fu Han Army's secret camp even more.