Harbour City.

The news that the No. 72 collective estate annihilated the Jiangnan army and won a complete victory, with only a dozen casualties of its own, reached the staff headquarters, causing a wave of congratulations and cheers.

Victory.

Another big win!

"After this battle is over, the nobles and gentry in Jiangnan can stop for at least a year, no, at least two years." A young staff officer asserted.

"No matter how long it stops, they will not stop fighting against us, unless we kill them in fear and extermination, then it is possible to accept the reality and stop resisting and making trouble."

"Rebellion? The owner of the village is so gentle and kind, he has already left them a way to live, they are not grateful, forget it, they still dare to resist, to be a praying mantis? I don't think there is any need to be kind and polite to them in the future, and if anyone dares to oppose Xujiazhuang, kill them all, and leave no one behind! The young officer said aggressively.

"The contradiction between us and the noble gentry is irreconcilable, that is, the relationship between you and me, they are defeated ten times and a hundred times, and they will firmly stand on our independent side, continue to resist and make trouble, the best way to be able to do it once and for all is to occupy Jiangnan, that is, to seize the Ming Dynasty, rather than the manor expansion model that is now step by step, which leaves too many opportunities for the opponents to make trouble, and they will not live in peace every year, just like the spring ploughing of No. 72 manor, affected by the war, this year at least fifty percent of the production will be reduced."

This staff officer named Li Zheming said.

"Yes, with our current strength, it is more than enough to take Jiangnan, and then expand the Xu family's army to more than 100,000, at most in two or three years, we can take down the entire Ming Dynasty, and then destroy all enemies and build a new world."

"Hey, I don't know what the owner thinks, it seems that he really has no intention of being an emperor, he can do it once and for all, but he is always so gentle and benevolent, and he gives the enemy time and time again, and the enemy never cherishes it."

A considerable number of young officers and staff officers had difficulty understanding the actions of the owner, so they complained and puzzled a lot in private.

Of course, it's just a little grumbling, for the owner, they are very admired and respected, and they dare not have the slightest disobedience and disrespect.

And after this war.

For the tens of thousands of prisoners of war who were captured (especially the more than 800 officials and gentry), they did not dare to make the decision, but waited for the owner Xu Yuan to come over, and then asked the owner for the handling suggestions, and he made the decision.

"What to do with the captives?"

Faced with this question of the staff officers, Xu Yuan thought for a while and said: "Send all the captives to Shandong to dig gold mines, as for those who have status and status, let their families use gold to ransom people, 10,000 taels of gold for a captive, if they can't take out 10,000 taels of gold, they will also be sent to Shandong to mine and dig to death!" ”

This took some of the staff officers by surprise.

"Lord Zhuang, the disposal method we discussed earlier is not to set up a guillotine, and then try those officials and gentry, and then behead them all! To deter the Jiangnan gentry? This...... Why didn't you kill them and become so merciful? ”

"Headmaster, I think it's better to behead all those captives with status and status, especially Xu Hongji's son Xu Wenjue, if he wants to execute Ling Chi and cut him with 100,000 knives, you must know that when these noble gentry discuss how to deal with the owner of the village, they are also extremely arrogant and rude, and now they are the ones who are Ling Chi with 100,000 knives, I think, this must be a huge blow that can break their will!" This civil servant from the Manor School said.

"That's right, we will conduct a public trial against the noble gentry, so that those victimized people can avenge their grievances and take revenge, so as to win the support of the broad masses of the people, gain more popular hearts, and let the vast number of people stand by our side in the future, and will not easily become cannon fodder in the hands of the noble gentry...... The people's hearts are priceless, and the benefits brought by this are far more than 10,000 taels of gold. ”

"Lord Zhuang, I also support the beheading of those officials and gentry with bad deeds after the public trial, in order to win the hearts of the people!"

Listen to the advice of these young staff officers.

If it was a normal situation, Xu Yuan nodded and pushed the boat down the river to do what they said.

But not now, especially in recent times.

Because he has no money, the construction cost of a hundred new manors is more than ten times that of ten manors, which is a simple arithmetic problem that everyone can calculate, but it also means that the amount of money he has to spend on purchasing materials from modern society every month will skyrocket from about 100 million per month to more than 1 billion.

What's more, the initial stage of manor construction is the most expensive and the highest input cost, even if he tries his best to save a lot of expenses, maximize the utilization rate of cultivators, tractors, excavators and other machinery, and the pumping machine is shared by multiple estates, but the utilization rate has increased, the amount of gasoline and diesel cannot be saved, and the basic procurement expenses such as fertilizers, pesticides, improved seeds, and power facilities are difficult to reduce.

The monthly expenditure is more than 1 billion, which is equivalent to more than 3.3 tons of gold, so in just half a year, in modern society, the 30 tons of gold reserves in the underground vault of his villa have plummeted to less than 10 tons today, and can only last for three months at most.

So now he is desperately lacking in gold, and desperately needs gold!

This is also the reason why in the late Ming Dynasty, Xu Yuan was so 'gentle' to the officials, nobles and gentry, he still had to deal with these people, and find a way to get the gold, silver and all kinds of resources in their hands, if he is completely offended now, and the economic exchanges are completely decoupled, it will also reduce Xu Yuan's income and increase his economic pressure.

In addition, this is why Xu Yuan did not consider being the emperor here and taking the entire Ming Dynasty, the construction of more than 100 low-level modern manors required Xu Yuan to pay such a huge investment cost, if it was the entire Ming Dynasty, how much would he invest?

Of course, managing a huge empire will definitely bring incomparably huge benefits, all resources within the territory can be developed as a whole, and the available manpower is endless, and the advantages are so obvious, why is Xu Yuan short-sighted as if he can't see it?

I don't know how these Xu Yuan actually are.

But there is a cost to developing resources, a very huge cost.

Managing a large empire also comes with a cost, not just spending money and not making money.

This kind of example abounds in modern society, the bigger the country, the more difficult it is to get richer, the larger the population, the heavier the burden, but those small countries with resources and technology and small population, but they live quite nourishingly, and even get rich, the principle of this is worth in-depth study.

Onigiri reads a book

And Xu Yuan came to this world at the end of the Ming Dynasty, mainly to make money and make a fortune, not to be the emperor every day to correct the folds, not to put the money earned in the modern society, like a bottomless pit here, in the end he still has to see the positive benefits, can't wait for him to build the world in the late Ming Dynasty, there is no money on his body, people are about to die of old age, and after the time and space gate disappears, he does not leave much wealth to future generations, this is the biggest failure.

Therefore, I heard the shouting and shouting of the young staff officers.

"Enough!"

Xu Yuan waved his hand and said, "You don't need to say more, just do what I say, just pass on my instructions." ”

"Yes, owner!"

"Headmaster, your broad-mindedness and kindness, Jiangnan nobles and gentry, I don't know when you will be able to sober up and repent."

"Hey, in ancient times, Zhuge Wuhou captured Meng Shu seven times, and now there is the generosity and benevolence of the owner, this kind of mind is worth learning from students such as me."

"Yes, yes, I just don't know if those stubborn people can be influenced by the owner of the village and no longer be our enemies in the future."

The young officers and staff officers said one after another.

……

June 23.

Xujiazhuang issued a "Warning Letter to the Jiangnan Gentry", which explained the war process and results of the Jiangnan army's siege of Xujiazhuang No. 72 Manor, and Xujiazhuang, as the winning side, was unwilling to expand the scale of the war, and was willing to temporarily cease fighting, and if he wanted to fight, he could accompany him to the end.

As for the more than 40,000 ordinary captives captured by the Xu family, they would be sent to Shandong to mine and work for twenty years before they could be freed.

There are nearly 1,000 high-ranking captives with status, Xu Jiazhuang allows his family to redeem prisoners of war with gold, 10,000 taels of gold per captive, everyone is equal, and asks the nobles and gentry of Jiangnan to quickly raise money and redeem them all, if they can't see gold or the money is not enough after three months, they will also be sent directly to Shandong to mine, and dig until they die!

In addition, a "list of unfriendly to Xujiazhuang" containing 3,326 names was also announced, and any individual or family who entered this list, next time there is an unfriendly behavior against Xujiazhuang, then after Xujiazhuang counterattacked, the individual or family who continued to oppose Xujiazhuang would never be forgiven! Let these people or families feel the deepest regret!

In the face of Xu Jiazhuang's response.

Nanjing, in the Mansion of the State of Wei.

After reading the content of the "Warning Book" in his hand, as well as the attached "Unfriendly List", he saw the names of the Duke of Wei and his Xu Hongji, ranking first on the list.

Burst~

Xu Hongji raised his head and spit out a mouthful of blood, and said angrily: "Shame, shame!" Then he slumped down on the couch.

"Lord Guogong!"

"Lord Guogong is angry, don't be too excited!"

The noble officials below ran over one after another, helped Xu Hongji up, wiped the blood, patted the back, and pressed the person in the person, and it took a while for Xu Hongji to suppress his anger and regain his consciousness.

But as for how to ransom the prisoners and how to deal with Xujiazhuang next, they no longer have the tough attitude they had before, only a desperate wail:

"Xujiazhuang, what can we do to eradicate the helpless Xujiazhuang?"

"The sky is unfair, the sky has no eyes, why don't you take away the demon of Xujiazhuang!"

"Sage articles, etiquette and righteousness, what is the way to influence Xu Jiazhuang, so that he is the same as us, and no longer the enemy of our sages?"

"It's hard, it's hard! Such an unprecedentedly strong enemy, can only be outwitted, not invincible, we should change the strategy, to overcome the rigid with softness, if we can use the sage to influence the owner of the Xu family, we may have a glimmer of life. ”

"Hey, defeated, 200,000 troops defeated! Xujiazhuang, if it can give us a way to live and use it for our faith, it is not impossible for us to join Xujiazhuang, why would we rather those ignorant fools than us, Confucian gentlemen? Why did you turn us away when we could have helped take care of the manor, and it was better to take care of it? The official was heartbroken and unacceptable.