It is not that there have been deserters in the Taiping army, but according to Zhang Yingchen, the number of deserters this time is very large. In less than ten days, more than 1,000 people were detained by the Anqing Taiping Army alone. According to estimates, at least a few thousand more people would have to bypass Wei Ze's stronghold on the south bank of the Yangtze River and head towards Wuchang.

"Let's find out what's going on, and then let them go." Weese replied.

"Let the deserters go?" Zhang Yingchen was surprised.

"So what are you going to do? Kill them? Or send it to Nanjing? Weser asked rhetorically.

Thousands of people were forcibly escorted to Nanjing, which required a lot of ships and a lot of food. At this time, Anqing did not have so many supplies at all. Zhang Yingchen said tentatively: "Prime Minister, should we leave them with us?" ”

"Let them flee after they have eaten enough?" Weeser continued to ask rhetorically.

Hearing this, Zhang Yingchen also felt that it was very reasonable, so he changed the topic, "Prime Minister, when will you raise the account?" It's been days! ”

Wei Ze smiled bitterly: "I'll go out now, you hurry up and investigate what happened." Let's talk about this first! ”

Half a day later, Zhang Yingchen came back with the results of the investigation, it turned out that they were local people in Wuchang, and they were coerced by the whole family to join the Taiping Army. At the beginning, the majesty of the Taiping army in Wuchang was very envied by the people. Chang Dachun burned down the houses outside Wuchang City, and everyone did not extinguish it for six days and nights, and the people of Wuchang hated the Manchu officials. After the Taiping army conquered Wuchang, they paraded the captured officials in bamboo baskets and then publicly executed them. The people of Wuchang rejoiced and were very envious of the Taiping Army. Under the very disciplined organization of the Taiping Army, the whole family joined the Taiping Army.

When they first joined the Taiping Army, the people of Wuchang were very excited. But this excitement is only temporary, after all, the people are the people, and if there is no systematic reserve army system, it is simply impossible to bring in them at any time to serve as a combat force. The old brothers in Guangxi, the old brothers in Xiangnan, one is because of the contradiction between the Turks and the others, and the other is because of the rampant bandits in Xiangnan, everyone has been more accustomed to licking blood from the knife since childhood.

But Wuchang is a wealthy place, and it has been peaceful for a long time, where are there so many backbone elements who are used to the troubled times. Looking at the majestic vertical and horizontal of the Taiping Army, it is to see people carry the burden. As for getting involved, that's a different story.

After several battles and the excitement passed, homesickness flourished. The number of people fleeing the Taiping army is increasing.

According to the people who fled, the men fled for 10 and the women fled for 12 out of 10. If this ratio is reversed, it can be said that the army has gotten rid of women, leaving more combat-ready men. But the reality is that a large number of women remain in the Taiping Army, and in this era, not only can it not have the effect of strengthening combat effectiveness, but it is also equivalent to carrying a lot of burden.

And even if no one escapes, the Taiping Army's combat effectiveness is now weakened, not strengthened. According to these escaped Wuchang residents, after the Taiping army invaded Nanjing, the other officers and troops were annihilated, but the Manchurian city in Nanjing did not surrender.

The city was full of Manchurians, and these people knew that they had nowhere to go, and even if they were besieged, they had no intention of surrendering. Moreover, the Eight Banners actually made a counterattack in such a situation, and a group of more than 2oo Eight Banners rushed out of the city, lined up in a queue to shoot in a row, and they were still rushing forward in the shooting. The purpose was to attack the more than 4oo Taiping troops who were trying to seize the Taiping Gate.

The troops that received the enemy were Li Kaifang's subordinates, and Wei Ze knew that there were many newly recruited soldiers from Wuchang in this army. According to the people who escaped from Nanjing, this more than 4oo Taiping army under Li Kaifang fought back, but was defeated and collapsed by more than 2oo Eight Banner soldiers.

Weizer's generals didn't care too much about the news, they had no experience in fighting the bannermen, and they just took it as a matter. But Weeser felt that his common sense had gone wrong again. He had encountered the Yellow Jacket who dared to fight, and now he had met the Eight Banners who dared to fight. These two kinds of goods are the wrecks in Wei Ze's common sense, but he didn't expect that at the moment of life and death, they really dared to eat cats.

It's just that in the historical records, the Eight Banners in the late Manchu Dynasty had no combat effectiveness at all. Being beaten like this by the Eight Banners is enough to prove that the expansion of the Taiping Army after it has not been able to play a good role.

After Zhang Yingchen's report ended, Wei Ze did not speak. Instead, he fell into contemplation again.

The city policy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Wei Ze also heard a little, and it was really evil. On March 5, 1853, the king of heaven, Hongxiu, wore a yellow dragon robe, sat in a sedan chair carried by 16 people, and entered Nanjing surrounded by dozens of palace maids, announcing that the capital was Nanjing, and Nanjing was renamed Tianjing. From the Bauhinia Mountain missionary to Dingding Nanjing, Hong Yang and other leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom died nine times and finally ushered in a great victory.

After completely killing the former Qing Dynasty officials and soldiers in Nanjing, Hong Yang set out to reform the political power and social organization in Nanjing according to the teachings of God worship. In accordance with the usual practice, the sacred treasury system was strengthened in Nanjing, and all the property of the residents was confiscated, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom government distributed the rations in a unified manner. All the families in Nanjing were disbanded, and all the men were incorporated into the army as soldiers, and the women were selected to enter the palace as female officials and maids except for a few clever and beautiful women who were selected to enter the palace as female officials and maids, and those who were good at female popularity were selected to be incorporated into the splendid camp, and the rest were incorporated into the women's battalion. All industry, commerce, and handicrafts were abolished in the city, and craftsmen with skills were organized into the craftsmen's battalions to produce industrial products under the command of the officers. The old, weak, sick and disabled are specially selected and compiled into the Pai Tail Pavilion to do some simple rough work.

The form of social organization of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was generally implemented in accordance with the "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System", and it was also practiced many times in Wuchang and other places. This kind of organization that combines soldiers and peasants will organize all the masses, completely abolish private ownership of land, and establish a system of public ownership of property. In accordance with Hong Xiuquan's concept, the masses were organized by the methods of the army, and 13,156 families were set up as an army, and township officials such as army commanders, division commanders, brigade commanders, pawn commanders, and two Sima were set up. The smallest unit that constitutes the First Army is one family, and its grass-roots organization "Liang" is 25, so the first qiē government objects are all based on 25 and managed by the two Simas. Among the 25 houses, there is a state treasury for the custody of the public products, and the craftsmen who smelt wood and stone are all served by the chief of the army and the soldiers, and the 25 are made into a rural commune organization.

The departments that manage the handicraft industry in Nanjing include the Zhujiang Battalion and the Baigong Ya, and the organization of the Zhujiang Battalion and the Baigong Ya is somewhat different: the Zhujiang Battalion has a large number of people, completely in accordance with the military system, and each battalion is commanded by the commander, and its general system, supervising the army, and the military commander are the same as the establishment of the army; The number of subordinates of the 100 workers varies from 100 to a commander, with jurisdiction over four or two horses, and 200 people to have two commanders, and there are no officials at all levels such as army commanders, division commanders, and brigade commanders, and their organizations are not in accordance with the military system. There are also some differences in the office, the craftsmen are only in charge of manufacturing, and the hundred craftsmen are all in charge of everything.

At this time, Hong Renxuan had not yet arrived in Tianjing from Hong Kong, and the "New Chapter of Senior Administration" had not yet come out, and Hong Xiuquan was completely in accordance with the policy implemented by the "Tianchao Tianmu System". In Wei Ze's view, this system is indeed the culmination of China's small-scale peasant economy, and in the face of various irresistible natural disasters, the people pursue "egalitarianism". Therefore, the political slogan of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is "everywhere is uneven".

This was naturally very attractive to ordinary people in China in 1853. However, this did not attract Wei Ze, who had seen industrial China. In Weeser's view, the fairness and justice of the times are built on the basis of exhibition. If you want to have enough to eat, you have to produce food that can feed everyone. It is a foolish act to sacrifice the basics and seek the ultimate in the pursuit of the agrarian countries, which are only in the midst of various crises all the time, and only pursue the equality of everyone, the happiness and the hardship.

"Prime Minister! What's next? Zhang Yingchen's voice called Wei Ze from his contemplation.

"Let them go, let them go." Weese replied.

"Prime Minister, what should I do in Anqing?" Wei Changrong asked, "There are a lot of local people who have come to join the army recently, is it ......?"

Wei Ze already had an idea at this time, and he said: "These people who escaped from Nanjing are examples. If we also expand the team in this way, and force others to submit their names, and let the whole family of the locals join the team, not to mention where we have so much food to eat, if we don't train strictly, if we lead the team out to fight in the future, I'm afraid it will be the same result. ”

By the time he said this, Weser had no hesitation. He said: "At this moment, we must first distinguish who is our enemy and who is our friend. The Manchus are our enemies, and others who have not followed the Manchus can be regarded as our friends for the time being. So now we will unite our friends and fight the Manchus. ”

Hu Chenghe listened to Wei Ze's words, frowned and said: "They may not be willing to follow us to fight the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and there are not as many people who have joined the army as a few days ago. It's just four or five thousand people who came to defect, and most of the people who defected to us are not Anqing locals, and we are only 10,000 people so far. ”

Wei Ze smiled slightly, "We have 10,000 people, if we train well, it won't be difficult to fight 20,000 or 30,000 Qing Demons." And friends don't necessarily have to follow us in both ribs, can provide food to feed 20,000 or 30,000 people, can they be considered friends! ”

The generals are all good at fighting, but they are not proficient in politics. Wei Ze's words were more clear, but everyone didn't understand. The puzzled gaze fell on Wei Ze's face.

Wei Ze was not prepared to discuss these basic policy issues with them, and he said: "At this time, our priority is to expand the area of control first. In the area of control, we have to do three things. First, inform all the people in the control area that they must pay taxes on their grain this year. Second, in the implementation of a graded tax payment system in the control area, the landlord must pay grain, and pay more. Those who grow their own land also have to pay for food, but less than the landlords. As for the tenant farmers, they were exempted from paying grain. I just need to help us with some moving things. Third, it is necessary to crack down on usury. Within our control area, usury is not allowed! ”

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