At two meetings attended by generals and above, Zhou Shixiang mentioned the new term "general mobilization". Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Zhou Shixiang attributed the current situation of the Taiping Army to two reasons, one is that the soldiers sacrificed their lives for righteousness and fought bravely; The other is the effective mobilization of manpower and material resources.

"There is no distinction between north and south, and people are young and old, all have the responsibility of protecting their families and defending the country! As the old saying goes, there is money to pay, and there are people to pay, and this general mobilization is to ask our people to contribute to the country. Guangdong's efforts to build villages and townships not only allow the people to be the masters of their own homes, have their own fields, and have their own business, but more importantly, let the people know that our Taiping Army and listen to our Taiping Army.

In the past, the landlords and gentry in the countryside had the final say, and when the government asked for grain, they would give a share and give an explanation, and the county magistrate would sit in the yamen and wait for the landlords and gentry to hand over the money and grain, which was definitely not possible. Things in the world, but when it comes to money and things, once you get your hands on it, no matter how much you stare at it, there will always be less. A little less here, a little less there, adds up to a lot, and often ends up receiving less than half of the treasury, or even less.

This situation will certainly not work, so we must build villages and townships, and deprive the landlords and gentry of their privileges, and if they do not want to, we must eliminate them. The village chief and the township chief must use our people. Of course, those gentry who are willing to help us, we still have to trust, compared to those stubborn and strong landlords in the fish and meat country, these gentry are enlightened and know the righteousness of the family and country, these are the objects that can be cooperated, and they cannot be beaten to death with a stick. There are also some gentry who insisted on resisting the Qing Dynasty before we came, and we should also be kind, but before we can be kind, we need to settle accounts with them. If he didn't owe taxes before, that's the best, and if he does, he still has to make up for it. However, after making up for it, we will pay them back, in the form of court awards, and even more for some meritorious gentry, more than he handed over. Those who are willing to go out of office, depending on their talents, and those who really can't manage things, will be given honorary care, so that they can be respected in the countryside and identify with us. ”

"As long as we can mobilize all the people, neither the Manchus nor Wu Sangui can resist us. War is not only about bravery, not only about weapons, but also about who has more people and who has more money and food! ”

The biggest obstacle to the "general mobilization" policy proposed by Zhou Shixiang was undoubtedly the entrenchment of the landlords and gentry in the townships. The 2,000-year-long clan system and the imperial power did not go to the countryside made these landlords and gentry become the spokesmen of the locality, and in some specific historical stages, another synonym for the landlord gentry was "Haoqiang". In the Ming Dynasty, Haoqiang did not appear, but the landlords and gentry and their spokesmen and scholars controlled the court, public opinion, and the country's economic lifeline. In times of national crisis, some of them chose to stand up and fight, but under the butcher's knife of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, more of the gentry shrunk their necks, all because of the idea that the country will not be lost. In order to whitewash themselves, they regarded the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty as a natural response, changed the dynasty, and used various theories to justify their cowardly behavior.

Zhou Shixiang was bent on exterminating the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and naturally did not allow any internal friction and dragging his feet under his rule, so he had to pay off his debts. Debt settlement is both an end and a means. The ultimate goal of settling the debt was to crack down on the gentry clique in Jiangnan and weaken their influence. The settlement of debts itself is a means to promote the construction of villages and townships in the south of the Yangtze River, and only by sweeping away and weakening the gentry group can the construction of villages and townships be promoted without resistance, so that manpower, money, and food resources can be mobilized.

The settlement of debts was still going on, and for the first few months, it can be said that the gentry treated them equally, regardless of whether they had meritorious service against the Qing, and they were all regarded as the objects of debt settlement. This move is naturally a bit arrogant and domineering, unsentimental, and the most criticized. Many people think that Zhou Shixiang's debt is only due to the accumulation of private wealth. Zhou Shixiang knows very well the truth of beating a stick and giving a carrot. Those so-called gentry who had made meritorious contributions to the Qing Dynasty were to a large extent just secretly supporting the anti-Qing cause engaged in by Qian Qianyi and others, and in essence they still hoped to enjoy the benefits of not paying taxes in the Ming Dynasty in the past. And this is obviously something that Zhou Shixiang could not give, and he, like the Manchu Qing, would not agree that these landlords and gentry did not pay taxes. After more than 30 years of war and bad weather, the surviving civilians have very little money and food resources. Even in some places occupied by the Taiping Army, the people are still unable to bear fruit because of the disaster.

Not long ago, Li Yicui, Jiangxi's political envoy, made a concert, saying that Ji'an Prefecture has been reducing production year after year, and many people in townships and towns have fled with their families to ask for food, and some people who are so hungry that they can't stand it can even change their children to eat.

Naturally, this note was not sent to the General Administration Department of the Southern Capital and then presented to the emperor's imperial case, but directly to Zhenjiang.

Zhou Shixiang was very sad when he saw this performance, he raised an army against the Qing Dynasty, not only to avenge his parents, wife and children, but also to let his compatriots live without worrying about food and clothing. But now that the southern capital has been recovered, this kind of tragedy still occurs in Jiangxi, which really makes him sad and blames himself, blaming himself for mishandling politics.

After resuming production, Zhou Shi's determination to pay off the arrears became more and more firm, because he needed a large amount of money and grain for disaster relief and local production. Even if it is not enough to feed the people in the short term, at least ensure that they do not starve to death. Otherwise, if everyone is dead, what will there be to talk about?

It's just that while the determination is firm, Zhou Shixiang also asked Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Changgeng to start screening the gentry, and if they really have meritorious service in resisting the Qing Dynasty, or have a good reputation in the countryside, they can be returned and rewarded, so as to win over and unite a part of the gentry. The advantage of post-screening is that the gentry's resistance and gratitude psychology are very different.

If these meritorious gentry were given privileges at the beginning of the settlement of their debts, exempted or not leved, they would have thought that it was a matter of course, and they would not be grateful to the Taiping army, but would have been dissatisfied, after all, this was something they had never encountered before, and even the Manchus had never done so. But once they were cleared and wanted to cry without tears, suddenly the government returned the money and food they had been expropriated and gave them commendations, and this mentality immediately changed, and those who had not been relieved of the fate of the gentry who had been dismissed from their merits, how could they not be grateful to the Taiping army for "impressing" them. With this lesson, they will also become more knowledgeable, and if the government takes any measures in the future, they will only cooperate, not target. This is like a person who was suddenly arrested by the government, beaten him severely and sentenced to prison, when he was desperate, the government suddenly corrected his previous practices and made up for him greatly, he would only have the thoughts of the Qingtian Lord in his heart, and there would be no hatred and complaints.

As for those stubborn people, Zhou Shixiang gave Jiang and Zhang cheap power. In other words, it is to kill when it should be killed, and to be caught when it is needed. In this context, since the beginning of the year, a large number of "fugitives" have begun to appear among the people in Jiangnan.

These "fugitives" were different from the fugitives who were landless and slaves produced by the Qing court, and most of the people who fled were landlords and gentry. For these gentry who fled to the north because they were dissatisfied with the policies of the Taiping Army, Zhou Shixiang did not want to be strictly arrested in various places, but asked all places to open the door of convenience and let these gentry flee north. It's just that once the gentry fled north, all the land and houses under their names were confiscated and distributed to the local poor.