Jingxiang Daotai Hong Wenjun was born in the 21st year of Qianlong, and after serving as a cabinet secretary for two years, he was sent to serve in the local government, and successively served in Guangxi and Sichuan, and was promoted to Jingxiang Daotai in the 39th year of Qianlong.

Daotai was originally the former Ming Dynasty political envoy Si Yamen left and right to participate in politics, the grade from the third grade, second only to the governor and the government in a province, can be described as a high power.

Hong Wenjun, a Han official without any background, can be promoted to the Taoist platform, which is rare among all Han officials, and he is truly outstanding.

After the thieves and rebellion in Huguang in the 40th year of Qianlong, Hong Wenjun was not afraid of danger and actively cooperated with the governor Zheng Dajin to raise grain and grass, recruit the township brave regiment to train and fight against the soldiers.

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There was a time when the soldiers gathered thousands of people to attack Dangyang County, Hong Wenjun, who was in the city, killed Ding, the county magistrate who wanted to abandon the city and flee, in public, and then led the soldiers and civilians in the city to fight to the death, fought bloodily for several days, and finally succeeded in repelling the soldiers to keep Dangyang City.

Later, in order to prevent the people from being thieves, Hong Wenjun even imposed a heavy code and implemented the law of joint sitting in the locality.

That is, if one person surrenders to the thief, the whole family is killed;

A thief is killed;

If you surrender to a thief, you will be killed.

In addition, the local government strictly investigated the association, and anyone who found more than three people who were not relatives or relatives of the association would be arrested and imprisoned.

Under such a cruel decree, even though the thieves swept Huguang, attacked Jingzhou, and occupied Wuchang, most of Jingmen Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture under the rule of Hong Wenjun were still firmly controlled by the Qing army except for a few areas.

Zheng Dajin, the governor of Hubei, felt that Hong Wenjun had a good governance and meritorious service in defending the land, and specially recommended him to Chen Huizu, the governor of Huguang at the time, as an envoy.

After that, the situation in Hubei was very bad, and the thief army swept through Hubei with the great victory of Dingxi General Fengsheng, and Hong Wenjun was only a civil official no matter how well he was governed, and finally had to flee to Xiangyang with the governor Zheng Dajin.

Fortunately, in a critical situation, Prince He Shuorui led his army to Xiangyang in time and turned the tide of the war in one fell swoop.

After the former Xiangyang prefect committed suicide for harboring the people who fled from the north, Zheng Dajin asked Hong Wenjun to take on the post of Xiangyang prefect first, and in addition to completing the task of collecting grain and grass sent by the governor's yamen, he also trained many villagers in various counties, and took the lead in persuading the wealthy households in Xiangyang City to donate, raising more than 100,000 taels of silver, which greatly alleviated the food and money shortage on the Huguang front.

When Prince He Shuorui asked the governor of Hubei which officials in the province were available, the first person in Zheng Futai's column was Hong Wenjun.

After hearing about Hong Wenjun's deeds, Prince Rui was overjoyed, and said that after receiving Wuchang, he would recommend Hong Wenjun to the imperial court to take the vacant post of Hubei Buzheng.

Soon after, there was a "True and False King Incident" in which Prince Shui seized the military power of Prince Rui, which was also known as the "Big and Small King Incident".

The great king, and Prince Shuorui also.

The little king, the prince is also.

Prince Rui is the king of hats, and he should be the greatest.

Prince Zong Gui is the son of the emperor, but he follows from this expense, and he should be small.

The "Big and Small Kings" incident quickly evolved from a telegram and mutual accusations between the two sides to a big war between the two sides.

In this process, Hong Wenjun, as the Jingxiang Daotai who also served as the prefect of Xiangyang, stood in the camp of the "king" with a clear banner, and actively provided grain and grass for Prince Rui's troops, and mobilized the people to help Prince Rui's troops pull and transport artillery and other large baggage, and also mobilized the people to make "victory cakes" for the troops who went to the front line to resist the enemy.

After the good news of Prince Rui's Niu Xinzhai annihilation of the prince's ministry reached Xiangyang, the city celebrated, and Hong Wenjun was even more excited and said: "The dust has finally settled on the battle for the country, and the Qing Dynasty will eventually belong to Prince Rui." ”

The implication is that Prince Rui, who has won a great victory, will soon ascend the throne and become emperor, so as to lead the military and people of the whole country to jointly crusade against Chen Jialuo, the thief who stole the country.

Sure enough, a few days later, the news came that Prince Rui had been proclaimed emperor in front of the army.

As soon as Xixun arrived, the major units in Xiangyang City mobilized one after another, brushing the wall, sticking bricks, hanging ceilings, cleaning, and hanging lamps....

In two days, the whole city took on a new look, and the soldiers and civilians were waiting for the triumphant return of His Majesty the Emperor.

Among them, the Xiangyang prefect's yamen led by Hong Wenjun made great efforts.

The whole of the yamen was talking about Prince Rui saying that after the emperor returned, he would definitely reward those who had made meritorious contributions, and the prefect would definitely be promoted to the lord of the domain.

Especially the entourage that has followed Hong Wenjun for many years is even more excited.

The party Hong Wenjun himself does not take this too seriously, but he is inevitably happy.

After all, for an official, going further is more pleasing to him than the groom at night.

The whole city of Xiangyang was counting when the new emperor would return, but after waiting for many days the emperor did not return, well-informed sources said that His Majesty the emperor was reorganizing the army, and it might take a while to return.

That's what it should be.

After the great victory, if you don't take advantage of the situation to reorganize the army and consolidate the foundation, how can you wave the Northern Expedition.

Hong Wenjun is even more determined here, handling official affairs step by step every day, but the people around him are discussing with Zhuge Liang one by one when the new emperor will go on the Northern Expedition and how the Northern Expedition will sweep the north, and he can't help but put down the brush and snort slightly: "One by one, do your own things well, what are you doing with so much heart?" The official can't even ask about such a big thing, let alone you. ”

Master Wang En, who has been with Hong Wenjun for almost ten years, said with a smile: "Master, they are idle, the master gives them more errands, see that they still have this leisure." ”

As he was talking, Lao Li of the porter rushed into the second hall in a hurry, saying that a group of officers and soldiers had come outside and were coming towards the master.

Wang En asked Lao Li: "Where are the soldiers?" ”

Without waiting for Lao Li to reply, more than a dozen soldiers had already pushed the door and walked in.

It looked like a soldier of the Green Battalion, but strangely enough, there was no braid at the back of the head, and a white cloth was tied to each person's arm, and the word "internal affairs" was written in red ink on the white cloth.

It's nondescript, I don't know what kind of stuff it's a group.

As soon as Wang En was about to get up and ask how these soldiers dared to trespass into the office of Lord Daotai, he saw an officer leading the team step forward to look at his benefactor, look at him and ask, "You are Jingxiang Dao Hong Wenjun?" ”

The tone is very bad.

Hong Wenjun couldn't help frowning, and said a little unhappily: "This official is Jing Xiangdao, what are you doing?" ”

After confirming the target, the officer became a little polite, and said with his fists clenched: "We are from the Internal Affairs Committee, please come with us." ”

"Coming with you?"

Wang En said angrily: "My lord is the Jingxiang Daotai appointed by the imperial court, what is your internal affairs committee, why do you want my lord to go with you!" And there is no royal law anymore! ”

As he spoke, a group of officials who heard the movement rushed over, and when they heard Master Wang's anger, they immediately rushed into the office one by one to drive out the gang of soldiers.

Seeing this, the officer immediately pulled out his saber and roared murderously: "The internal affairs errand, the idle people are scattered, and those who dare to obstruct the law enforcement will be regarded as a rebellion and killed on the spot!" ”

"Huh!"

Hearing the order, the soldiers quickly drew their knives in their hands, and this posture immediately shocked the group of officials who only had a killing rod and a waist knife in their hands.

Outside, more footsteps came, and a group of soldiers with firearms rushed in, and when they saw that the officials dared to surround their own people, they immediately aimed their guns at them.

As a result, the officials were even more panicked and did not dare to move.

Wang En was also shocked, and he didn't understand what the origin of these guys who claimed to be members of the Internal Affairs Committee was and why they came to take their benefactors.

The officer who led the team looked around at the group of officials and ignored it, walked straight to Hong Wenjun, took out a brand-new arrest warrant from his briefcase and handed it to the Daotai lord.

"This is an arrest warrant issued by the emperor, please sign it for confirmation. If Lord Hong has anything to say, someone will ask you to say it when you get to the Internal Affairs Committee, please don't embarrass your officials. ”

Then, a scene that surprised Wang En and the officials happened.

Lord Hong sighed lightly and silently picked up the pen and signed his name on the so-called arrest warrant, and then walked out of the office with a wry smile.

Immediately, his hands were locked by the members of the Internal Affairs Committee with something similar to iron cuffs, and he was taken directly out of the yamen.

After the leading officers and other targets were taken away, they ordered their subordinates to immediately block the prefect's yamen and immediately confiscate Hong Wenjun's personal belongings.

During this period, the personnel of the six rooms of the prefect's yamen were summoned together and informed that all work was going on as usual, and that the governor's yamen would send someone to take care of it later.

Hong Wenjun's master, Wang En, was also controlled, but was not brought to the Internal Affairs Committee, but was only placed under residential surveillance in the Yamen.

For a time, the Yamen of the Xiangyang Prefect was barking at chickens and dogs, and there were soldiers everywhere.

Before long, all of Hong Wenjun's belongings in the back hall of the yamen were cleaned out and sealed, and even the bedding was packed and pasted.

The gold and silver were all handed over.

After working for most of the day, preliminary statistics show that the cash stored in the Yamen residence alone is as high as tens of thousands of taels.

"Captain, all of the subject's personal belongings have been confiscated and registered, but,"

Jia Wang, the team leader who was responsible for the seizure of Hong Daotai's personal belongings, reported a situation to the captain Li Shaoqun, that is, there was a concubine of Hong Wenjun in the backyard, and he didn't know how to deal with it.

Captain Li glanced at Jia Wang: "That concubine has been used by anyone other than Hong Wenjun?" ”

"Huh?"

Jia Wang was stunned for a moment, and quickly shook his head: "That's definitely not." ”

"It hasn't been used by someone else, it's the target's personal belongings, bringing people back."

Captain Li made the final decision, and he absolutely carried out the orders above.

A similar scene is being played out in all prefectures and counties in the Qing army-controlled areas of Hubei.

This was an arrest operation personally commanded by Ding Qing, director of the Internal Affairs Committee, and the operation code name was the "Iron Fist" drawn up by His Majesty the Emperor himself.

A total of 165 people were arrested in Operation Iron Fist, including 87 serving officials, and the rest were retired, nobles, naturalized gentry, and gentry with meritorious reputation.

In order to ensure the complete success of the operation, all the arrest targets were arrested, in addition to the action team directly under the Internal Affairs Committee, Director Ding also reported to His Majesty the Emperor to request the mobilization of garrisons from all over the country to participate in the arrest.

The plan was approved, and the number of troops assisting in the capture amounted to more than 5,000 people.

Suddenly, Hubei officialdom was shaken.