In today's Gangneung City, although it is not yet the ancient style of not leaving the road and never closing the door at night, it is also a new atmosphere of prosperity and peace among the people. The reason is also very simple: most of the factors that can threaten and hinder law and order no longer exist.

Whether it is an idle evil teenager, or the most common city foxes, stove rats, rags, pickpockets and beggars in Dayi, they have gradually disappeared under the search and net of the patrol team; Because under the rule of the Taipings, idleness or idleness was a sin in itself.

Therefore, in addition to the criminal officials at all levels to which Fa Cao belongs, a new place called the Corrections Division has been set up, which is responsible for the whereabouts of these various offenders.

Whether it's littering, a slight foul of filth, or a work in the neighborhood that is choreographed; or petty theft, stealing chickens and dogs, etc., and being punished to estuarine sand fields, lumber yards, and quarries; Or they are filled into the pits and mines that have not seen the light of day for a long time.

In the words of a certain Taiping Army figure, it is "even the most filthy things can be used to fertilize the fields and plant." ”

And as a scenery that only appeared in the new Gangneung Castle,

Groups of young men dressed in uniform gray-blue uniforms, shouting faint slogans at the crisp whistle, lined up past the streets, and disappeared into the city with the small flags led by the leader.

If you look closely, you will find that even though they are thin and uneven, their complexion and energy are quite uplifting; And even if you are in the most detached and active years, you don't have much of a disorganized taste in the queue.

It is as if they have been regulated by some special tool, showing a completely different style and atmosphere from those ordinary poor children who are left to their own devices, covered in mud.

"Today's Jingnan rule, there is. . . Have you taken in so many orphaned teenagers?。。 ”

Yang Shigu, who had just returned from a visit outside the city, looked at him in a daze for a while before coming back to his senses.

But because of the youngest of them, he couldn't help but think of his daughter who died early because of the lawsuit he was framed for. If there is such a righteous army to bring good governance, perhaps we will be able to survive that despair and calamity.

Although he later broke the rebel army in Yunzhou, killed the upstart who framed him for him, took the lead in suing his colleagues, and tortured and persecuted his family in prison; But his lost wife and daughter will never return.

"Yang Junshi has misunderstood,"

The young officer who accompanied him smiled and said.

"Most of these are the children of the people in the city, and the real orphans and teenagers have other arrangements. Now according to the strategy issued by the leader. , but all the registered families of the lower third class of the common people, must be recruited from among the children over ten years old, to come to the city to work in a separate place for several years. ”

"These young men had to enter the camp during the day to work, go out in the afternoon to practice and do chores in the camp, and only teach writing and arithmetic in the evening. Anyway, the requirements are not high, as long as there is a little success, in fact, it is an alternative to the apprenticeship and labor in the future workshop and mining and metallurgy. ”

"Because the work-study room can be used at home, and the work is also packaged, teaching knowledge and learning skills, the city was once like a race to send it, so there is such a situation and weather."

"Naturally, because of the limited conditions, the place set up in this way is still limited to a dozen or so large cities under the rule of our army."

After listening to this series of introductions, Yang Shigu was a little touched by a sigh.

Even if it is only for food and lodging, and it has to be paid for by work, even if it is limited to the children of the common people in the city, it is a large expense over time; And it can make the people rush to it and compete with it, this is the new atmosphere of Ding Geyi.

As for his own side, although he established the king's title early and during the years, he also set up many officials and subordinates and repeatedly came to the top of the crowd; But there is no place where you can stop and live and support the people, and practice your wishes and ambitions.

In other words, there were similar good choices and opportunities, but they were missed and voluntarily given up by the military government's greed for immediate gains and losses, and the trend and momentum of reckless advancement.

As a result, the rebel army that died one stubble after another gradually did not look like the original rebel army, and the poor local people were still the same people; In addition to the short-term carnival when opening the warehouse and releasing grain, the hardships and hardships of life may not be able to reduce a little.

Even if they defeated many officials and soldiers, trapped many cities, killed more officials and rich people, and gained a lot of goods, the ideal and path of the original heaven to make up for the average were still far away and I don't know where they were.

As an old man who accompanied the rebels all the way, he really felt a little tired and sleepy, and gradually became more and more confused. And the old brothers who survived with him are getting fewer and fewer, but most of them don't want to think about it at all, and they don't bother to think about it.

Maybe for them, being able to go all the way back to their hometown and live a life of excellence in the township with their eyebrows raised is enough to become the only remaining pursuit and thought for the rest of their lives. But just like this, how willing is Yang Shigu from the bottom of his heart.

。。。。。。。。。

On the ninth day of the first month of March, it is already spring and tomorrow, and it is advisable to swear to march.

After receiving a large number of supplies of grain, straw, armor and materials from Gangneung, as well as the garrison of the third battalion and the reinforcement of the third battalion; The Taiping Army, which had been dormant and repaired for more than half a month, finally ushered in the day when the whole army was out again.

In fact, after leaving Jiangning City and crossing the Zhongshan hills, there is a flat and empty southern Jiangsu Plain (the western end of the Yangtze River Delta). I saw that marching on the wilderness, the army was like weaving flags, fluttering, spears and spears were like forests, and chariots and horses were lulu.

With the sound of the slow and brisk flute, these blue-gray Taiping soldiers crossed their bows and raised their guns and flags, and with the sound of the slow and brisk flute, they formed groups of chariots and horses to accompany the road, pulled out columns of different lengths, and strode forward. There were also many small groups of cavalry, slowly galloping lightly in the fields by the roadside.

It's just that in other places, it was already a busy season for spring ploughing, but now it is a cold and withered and extinct scene. In the paddy fields that should have been filled with sleeping ditches after the spring thaw, there was only a piece of dry, hard, and hardened clods of soil that had been exposed to the wind and sun, but as long as you stepped on it, the mud would pop out with a loud sound.

Many of the fields have been trampled by the movement of large crowds, and some canals have been cut off or dug up, flooding the nearby fertile fields and turning them into muddy and impassable temporary swamps.

The villages that you encounter from time to time are also in ruins. Some of them have long since fled. The empty houses, shacks, and fences let the spring breeze blow like ghosts, making some kind of whimpering sound that the wind and rain have blown away; There is no scene and charm of the densely populated southeast fish and rice town, and the southeast wealth rich land full of boats and cars.

Of course, behind this scene, there may be the result of Zhou Huai'an's promotion. Although I know that this is the inevitable price to be paid in the process of ending this troubled world, or it is the result of helplessness; But after seeing it with his own eyes, it still made Zhou Huai feel at ease about the moral bottom line and three views of modern people who were still in the background, which was a little unpleasant.

"The leader, according to the already proven enemy situation, these vain new enemy positions are volunteers from all over eastern Zhejiang."

Ge Congzhou also followed the horse driving companion on the left and right:

"Volunteers? What is the origin and relationship of this? ”

Zhou Huai'an couldn't help asking.

"It was originally the Tutuan army and town garrison soldiers recruited by the townships in various places; It's just that the old thief of Zhenhai Zhou issued a lot of notices a few days ago, and all of them were listed under his command and called the righteous battalion army; ”

Ge Congzhou continued to explain.

Later, he sent orders to the Quartet, but all those who were willing to come to Runzhou to prepare for the enemy to serve in battle would be rewarded and rewarded; He ordered the state treasury to be opened and distributed to ordnance and material use. Therefore, in a short period of time, it gathered a large number of people, and was known as '100,000 volunteers'. ”

"Among them, there are many people who have been deceived by the government and fought bravely for the sake of defending the land and the people; He is also quite familiar with the geographical advantages of the countryside, and the people are moved by the wind and the people. It was in this way that in addition to the headquarters of the old capital, the rest of the rebels were all defeated. ”

Zhou Huai'an couldn't help sighing, this is where the traditional rebel army is short-sighted or only cares about the shortcomings in front of them in terms of propaganda and mobilizing the people. In dealing with those local forces, the Taiping army not only brutally and resolutely suppressed those upper strata and their vassals, but also paid attention to the subsequent excavation and destruction of the corresponding roots and soil.

And it can use the follow-up means of distributing floating wealth and materials to win over and unite the silent majority, and tie it to the chariot of the Taiping army camp in disguise. After all, most people have a rather limited vision and are quite lucky.

However, once they took what the rebels distributed, the follow-up liquidation from the government and the powerful families regained power did not let them go so easily. As a result, those who were originally unwilling to go with the rebels would also turn over one after another under the pressure of the environment and behavior.

On the other hand, it is obvious that there are also the rumors that it is inconvenient for Ge Congzhou to say directly, that is, these other rebel armies, which have been greatly expanded in a short period of time and have different good and bad qualities, have all kinds of ineffective discipline corruption and indiscriminate killing and looting, which have caused the expansion of local harm and the rapid alienation of people's hearts.

This is not a factor or result that you can control.

There is a third reason, which is vaguely judged by Zhou Huai'an from the data collected by the three detachments of census, exploration and work in the expatriate places;

It is compared to other places where there have been years of famine and war; After all, the land of Jiangdong and Zhejiang is the land of abundant fish and rice. Even the people who fled under the exploitation of the imperial court were able to rely on the relatively abundant fish, goods, aquatic products, melons and vegetables in the wild, and they could barely survive with each other.

Therefore, there are only a few examples of real mass displacement here; Even those who jumped out and raised flags to echo were quickly swept away and extinguished. On the contrary, it was the local tyrants who controlled most of the social resources that were able to withhold taxes and conscripts in disguise to enrich themselves, and then quickly grew up in the name of being prepared.

In addition, the Wolf Mountain Town in western Zhejiang Province in the past few years curbed the rebellion of Wang Ying, so that the local powerful clans relaxed and reduced the exploitation of the township on the premise of protecting their own wealth; It has also caused a kind of false hope that the villagers at the bottom can survive as long as they are obedient and obedient in recent years.

This greatly weakened the fact that the rebel army was able to lay a land, and they encouraged and recruited the people of a place to strengthen and enrich their base; After all, it is the plot of people leaving their hometowns and difficult to leave their homeland, or the mainstream of society.

And when the base of these low-level people is also forced or actively on the opposite side of the rebel army, it is not surprising that it can be said that it is difficult to move forward and even frustrated everywhere.

This can be clearly reflected from the progress and encounters of the three detachments that were dispatched. Of course, this is not a problem that the Taiping army has sent at the moment can solve in one go.

But in any case, only by defeating the current enemy first can there be more room and space for dominance in the future. Zhou Huai'an was thinking about the gains and losses, when he saw a horse galloping towards him and shouted:

"Report, the pioneer group that came out of the front encountered the enemy in the northwest to Guping Temple. . . ."

(End of chapter)