Since the introduction of the imperial examination system in the Sui Dynasty, the gentry class, composed of those who had made meritorious contributions to the imperial examination and officials who had retired to the countryside and their relatives, gradually became the basis of social rule, playing an increasingly important role in the operation of the entire state apparatus, and reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Although most of the people in this class are in the opposition and do not directly control the political power, they are the foundation of the political power. They control the vast majority of land, manpower, and other resources in various localities, and they even control public opinion with absolute superiority, and even control the judicial, taxation, and other rights below the county level. In the turbulent succession of dynasties, the activities of the gentry can also be clearly seen.

Historically, why did Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang gain the world, but Li Zicheng could only lose the world, on this issue, the world's opinions are different. However, Pang Yue felt that the most critical reason was that Li Zicheng's series of policies had seriously dealt a blow to the interests of the gentry class, thus completely pushing this stratum, which was in a basic position in national politics, to the Manchu side. If Li Zicheng had been able to adopt a more moderate policy toward the gentry class like Zhu Yuanzhang, narrowing the scope of attack, and only differentiating some of the moths and tumors among them, and absorbing a large number of intellectuals into his camp, so that he could complete the transformation from the ruling base of the previous dynasty to the ruling base of the new dynasty and turn it into his own alliance of interests, the Dashun regime would never have been defeated so quickly. If this is the case, not to mention the defeat of one stone at a time, even if it is three or five times, ten times or eight times, Li Zicheng can completely recover quickly with the assistance and support of the gentry class and rely on the absolute manpower and material resources of the Central Plains. Afterward. The reason why the remnants of the Great Western Army led by Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo were able to gain a firm foothold in Yunnan and establish their own base was also related to their abandonment of the previous practice of sweeping the entire gentry class indiscriminately. Even in modern times, the gentry class is in decline. It was precisely because a certain rebel army changed some of its previous reckless policies and vigorously united the enlightened people in this class that it gradually got out of the predicament and continued to grow stronger. This shows how important the gentry class plays in the direction of history.

Take the gentry present in front of you as an example, although their number is small, they can be regarded as representatives of the gentry in Guangzhou and even Guangdong. And their banquet today is enough to reflect the current thoughts of the entire Guangdong gentry: because they had secretly survived under the governance of the Qing court, and even funded and assisted the Qing army, they had borne a heavy psychological burden. Although the strength of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as before. However, the majesty of the Heavenly Family, which had been precipitated for more than 200 years, could not be eliminated in a short time, so the gentry hoped to express their goodwill to the court and be forgiven through the powerful figure Pang Yue.

After understanding this meaning, Pang Yue did not resist too much. After all, in the future, the great cause of the recovery of the Chinese nation will also be inseparable from the support of the gentry class. If these people are indiscriminately beaten to death now, then in the future, when the rest of the provinces are recovered, there will probably be more gentry who have funded the Qing army. Can they be slaughtered? After learning about the fate of many historical figures who were enemies of the gentry class. Pang Yue would not, and did not have the right to do that kind of stupid thing for the time being. Of course, the scum who is really willing to help the Qing army slaughter the righteous soldiers of the Qing Dynasty must not be let go, and narrowing the attack surface does not mean that one will not kill, and sometimes it is still necessary to kill chickens and monkeys and make an example of others. However, Pang Yue also decided not to interfere in this kind of matter, because Yang Tinglin was about to come to Guangzhou, which belonged to the scope of the governor's authority of Liangguang, and he was not too arrogant.

Wait for the gentry present to make their words clear. Pang Yue's words naturally increased, and his attitude was much kinder. However, the tone is still relatively strict, and he does not make any promises easily. first thanked the gentry for their hospitality, and then stated that he was only in charge of leading the troops to fight, and as for whether the court pursued it or not, he didn't count. The new governor of Guangzhou, Yang Tinglin, was soon to come to Canton, and it was within his purview, and the gentry could visit him and express themselves to the court through him.

Seeing that the gentry were still worried, and even a little regretful, Pang Yue patiently persuaded again, saying that the imperial court was currently in need of the support of the gentry from all over the country, and His Majesty the Emperor was a saint and a wise person. If all of you here have not done anything out of the ordinary, but have only been forced to fund the Qing army, there is no need to worry at all.

Hearing Pang Yue say this, the expressions of the gentry relaxed a little, although they did not get a clear promise, but it was not completely in vain to be able to detect Pang Yue's tone. So they all stood up and thanked Pang Yue, thanking Pang Yue for his guidance. The atmosphere at the banquet suddenly became much more lively.

When the banquet was about to end, the gentry took out some gift money, ranging from two or three thousand taels to four or five thousand taels.

Although Pang Yue needed money, he thought that he was about to make a windfall, so he didn't take such a little money to heart. What's more, if you are greedy for such a small bargain now, you may get into some unnecessary trouble in the future, so you will refuse on the grounds of "no merit and no luck".

……

After the banquet, not long after Pang Yue returned to the Dusi Yamen, Xing Biao came to report again, this time his expression was obviously much more relaxed than in the morning, and it did bring good news: Li Chengdong's cronies and staff finally confessed, and told Li Chengdong's belongings where they were hiding, which was in several underground secret rooms in the backyard.

Hearing this news, Pang Yue's spirits were immediately lifted, and he hurriedly led the Eagle Eye Guard and the people of the personal army to the backyard to retrieve those belongings, and arranged for people to set up a perimeter cordon to prevent accidents.

When he arrived in the backyard, Pang Yue found that Li Chengdong had really taken great pains to hide these ill-gotten gains, and there were five large underground secret rooms dug up, and the locations were all different. Some are under the firewood house, some are under the rockery, and even one is under the thatched house, and all of them are carefully set up, and it is difficult for people who do not know the inside story to find out.

Pang Yue first came to the secret room under the rockery in the courtyard. This secret room is very delicately designed, and the above-ground part is integrated with the rockery, and there is no abnormality at all. Pang Yue first separated the rest of his personal soldiers, leaving only Wei Yuan and Xing Biao. Xing Biao personally stepped forward to pull an inconspicuous protrusion on the top of the rockery, and on the ground in the rockery cave, two large stone slabs that had been modified and camouflaged were removed, revealing the entrance to the secret room, which could only accommodate two people at a time. At this time, the soldiers who had been instructed rushed over.

After Wei Yuan took a few personal soldiers to explore the road first and confirmed that it was safe, Pang Yue and Xing Biao also followed closely behind. Unexpectedly, there were more than ten steps under the dark hole, and after walking down, it still felt crowded, and there were some messy debris piled up on the ground. The group continued to walk forward a few steps, pushing open another hidden door in the earthen wall before they suddenly felt open. Facing the doorway, a large pile of locked boxes was stacked.

After receiving Pang Yue's orders, several personal soldiers pried open the outermost box. As soon as the lid was lifted, some of its contents shone brightly in the light of the torches.

Pang Yue walked over to take a look, only to see that the box was full of neatly stacked gold bars, which were faintly exuding the alluring light of wealth. He tried his best to control his excitement, and ordered his soldiers to pry open another box nearby. This box is bigger, and it is filled with shiny silver ingots, and there is no official seal at the bottom, which should be the silver taels privately cast by Ding Kuichu at the beginning, but unfortunately they were cheaper than Li Chengdong later. And now, naturally, it is cheaper than Pang Yue.

Whether it was in his previous life or in this life, it was the first time that Pang Yue had seen so many chests full of gold and silver. And the allure of wealth is naturally amazing, not only Pang Yue himself, but even the most stable soldiers he specially selected after seeing so much wealth, their expressions also moved slightly.

"Okay, let's see it here! You go up and wait. After looking at the two boxes, Pang Yue didn't let the soldiers pry it down again.

"Yes!"

After all the soldiers came out of the secret room, Xing Biao began to introduce on the side: "According to the confession of Li Thief's staff, this secret room under the rockery is the largest, and it contains the most treasures. Combined with the rest of the secret rooms, the number is even more staggering. If all the gold is converted into silver, and the original silver is added, the total is 850,000 taels. In addition, there are many pearl agate celebrity calligraphy and paintings, etc., which are converted into nearly 200,000 taels of silver. ”

"So it's more than a million taels? Not bad! It's also thanks to the Li thief that he hid so tightly, but in the end it still fell into our hands! Pang Yue laughed mockingly.

"That's right, Dashuai! Do you want to look somewhere else? ”

"Good!" Pang Yue nodded, and then instructed Wei Yuan, "From this moment on, you must choose reliable brothers in the team, and take turns to guard the secret rooms day and night, and there must be no mistakes!" As for the way to open the secret room, don't easily leak it to outsiders! Don't tell anyone but me! ”

"Don't worry, if there is a mistake, his subordinates are willing to be killed!" Wei Yuan said with confidence.

Seeing that Pang Yue handed over the guards to the pro-soldier team, without the share of the Hawkeye Guard, although Xing Biao's face did not change, he couldn't help but feel a little lost in his heart. He also knew that after all, he had not joined Huguang Town for a long time, and he could not be trusted by Pang Yue like Wei Yuan for the time being, so he could only increase his trust through his future performance. However, when he remembered that Pang Yue had listed himself as one of the "three of us" just now, Xing Biao couldn't help but feel a little encouraged.

Subsequently, Pang Yue, Wei Yuan, Xing Biao and others went to inspect the rest of the secret rooms, and roughly estimated the total value of the property, which was not much different from the confessions confessed by Li Chengdong's staff and the records of later generations.

Thinking of the extra million taels of silver in his hand, Pang Yue's heart also felt a little more confident. If the water division is not established, this silver will be enough for Huguang Town for several years. Even if you want to establish a water division, you have a lot of "start-up capital". It's promising!

Perhaps, it's time to think about starting a sailor! In addition to being excited, Pang Yue said silently in his heart. (To be continued.) )