Chapter 257: Rumors and Gossip

Outside Yangzhou City.

"If you all came to see us off, I will accept it on behalf of my husband.

Other matters are all exempt.

You should know why the Yangzhou Camp is leaving.

It's not that we are heartless, it's just that some people are too greedy and dare to reach out for everything.

Cannot share wealth, and don't expect to share adversity; this is a universal principle."

Jing Yaqing's words made the Yangzhou officials very embarrassed.

The small actions before were all acquiesced by them.

Without local official cooperation, even the noble families would not dare to act easily.

The test failed, but people were offended.

Now that they have encountered trouble, wanting to come to the door for help again, things are not so simple.

"Madam, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of people in Yangzhou, please……"

"These things are the responsibility of you parents and officials; I am just a little woman and have no ability to get involved.

Alright, it's getting late, please clear the road."

Gu Youwen's words were interrupted by Jing Yaqing halfway through.

The tough stance made the Yangzhou officials think of the sentence "Only villains and women are difficult to raise".

They were very unhappy in their hearts, but they had to accompany them with a smile on their faces.

The background of the Duke's mansion, no matter in which era, is at the top level of the empire's power.

Marrying Li Mu, a general with real power, is fully qualified to ignore them.

"Madam, please tell Commander Li that as long as he can keep Yangzhou Prefecture, the conditions are negotiable!"

Gu Youwen hardened his heart and said.

Leaving the conditions to the other side is undoubtedly giving up the initiative.

There is no way; in the public eye, blocking a woman's carriage is too inappropriate.

From beginning to end, Jing Yaqing did not show her face in the carriage, just to avoid suspicion.

"Prefect, what should we do if Yangzhou is left like this?"

After watching the convoy leave, Ma Vice Prefect asked with a gloomy face.

The family members have left, meaning the biggest bond is gone.

The land and mines that cannot be taken away, even if the rebel army comes, they cannot be taken away.

After the court suppresses the rebellion, it can be taken back.

As the main force of the suppression army, they might be able to take more.

"What can we do if we don't let them go? Do you dare to detain people with that person's identity just now?

If any rumors spread, do you think we can handle it?"

Gu Youwen said angrily.

Once any rumors spread, they would be dead.

No matter how noble the civil and low the military, it does not mean that these middle-level officials can provoke the empire's top nobles.

Losing their official positions is small; the most afraid is that the other side does not follow the rules and comes directly to a ruthless one.

Now there are so many rebel armies, suddenly one appears in their hometown to carry out an extermination action, which is not impossible.

Similar cases have precedents in history.

At Li Mu's age, doing something extreme, no one would be surprised.

The previous tentative reach to the Yangzhou Camp killed hundreds of people.

That bloody scene was not something civil officials could predict.

The aftermath of the storm subsided quickly, and the most important factor was that everyone was scared.

The previous interest disputes were all kinds of open and secret struggles, where did they come up and kill, kill, kill.

Encountering this unfamiliar mode of fighting, except for submitting memorials to impeach, they had no better way.

It happened to be wartime, and the court would not take general impeachment memorials seriously at all.

The people who died were all specialized in dirty work, either local ruffians or thugs with hidden identities.

A group of people who couldn't be on the table died, and they couldn't be brought to the court to talk about it.

There was no way in the past, and now that they have something to ask for, they have no confidence.

In the final analysis, they all have families and businesses, and they need to consider their families and clans when doing things.

……

Guangxi Camp.

Looking at the reported list, Li Mu frowned slightly.

There were more generals interested in Zhejiang than expected.

Among the ten garrison commanders under his command, seven signed up, and the number of commanders and deputy commanders who signed up was as high as fifteen.

Zhejiang Province has only eleven prefectures in total, where can it accommodate so many deputy generals and assistant regional commanders.

No matter how rich the place is, it cannot be so militaristic.

According to Li Mu's estimate, Zhejiang Province can accommodate at most three deputy generals and eight assistant regional commanders.

The lower three prefectures with developed economy and higher importance, Hangzhou Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, and Huzhou Prefecture, each accommodate one Assistant Regional Commander, and the other eight prefectures each set up one assistant regional commander.

Once the compilation is completed, the original local army forces in Zhejiang can almost be said to be squeezed to death.

Resources are limited and cannot support so many soldiers.

After a brief hesitation, Li Mu signed the list refreshingly.

How to settle these generals is the Marquis of Wuyang's business.

Zhejiang Province cannot settle down, and they can be stuffed into other provinces.

The current Marquis of Wuyang is concurrently serving as two major governors and has jurisdiction over four provinces.

In addition to the lack of excellent generals in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong also lack excellent generals.

The most critical thing is that such a split is exactly the picture that the Emperor and the ministers like to see most.

On the surface, after the war, the Guangxi Army still has more than 30,000 elite combat soldiers.

Such military strength, looking at the entire Great Dayu Dynasty, can be compared with the Liaozhen.

More than twenty backbone generals left, taking away more than 10,000 elites, and the newborn "Gui faction" was dismantled.

With these reinforcements, the military strength of Zhejiang, Guangdong, and other places, which were originally lacking, was not so great.

The 10,000-plus combat soldiers left, in the eyes of the Emperor, were not so dazzling.

If the military strength is still strong after the replenishment is complete, then transfer it out again.

In the eyes of the outside world, without the continuous input of the court's resources, it is difficult to support more than 10,000 combat soldiers in that place of Guangxi.

Since it does not pose a threat, Li Mu's position can also be moved up.

In essence, this is a silent political transaction.

It's just that Li Mu is smart enough not to wait for the Emperor to miss him, and dismantled the team in advance.

Of course, on the surface, this credit is still the Marquis of Wuyang's.

The plan was proposed by him, and Li Mu just cooperated with the execution, without making any trouble, belonging to the law-abiding military general.

"Commander, letting so many people leave at once will inevitably affect the combat effectiveness of the army.

The Governor's office, I'm afraid it's not easy to explain!"

Lan Linjie tactfully persuaded.

Military general mobilization is normal; in order to strengthen the control of the army, the court will carry out a personnel adjustment every few years.

However, most adjustments are aimed at recruiting soldiers, and they are playing micro-adjustments.

Large-scale personnel adjustments only existed in the first few decades of the founding of the country.

Later, considering the cost, the frequency of such mobilization became lower and lower.

Training a qualified soldier requires a lot of manpower, financial resources, and material resources.

In the eyes of many people, elite soldiers are money and grain.

In order not to lose money, everyone will take money to raise retainers even if they have money.

Only the Nine Borders heavy towns have the ability to cultivate soldiers.

In fact, that side is also dominated by retainers, only because the war needs to cultivate a batch of soldiers who can fight.

The Guangxi Army was also born under the same conditions.

The victory of the early war allowed Grand Secretary Xu to see the opportunity to open the situation in Guangxi, and he tilted in money and grain.

Plus Li Mu's planning and the help of the noble group, he trained an army with good combat effectiveness.

After fighting several battles on the battlefield, it gradually transformed into an elite.

Although this "elite soldier" is relative to colleagues, it is still a valuable wealth.

According to the current cost of living, wanting to train 10,000 elite soldiers requires at least an investment of 2 million taels.

In actual operation, it may cost more.

After all, elite soldiers have to go to the battlefield to kill, and there must be losses in the process of fighting.

This process, the loss is impossible to control.

If you are lucky, the casualties will be 20% or 30% after a few battles.

If you are unlucky, you will be buried directly on the battlefield.

With the current medical conditions, even if the wounded recover, they can only retire.

"It doesn't matter; after the list is sent, the Emperor will issue an imperial decree.

If the Governor's office has an opinion, let them talk to the court!

Now the Jiangnan war is tense; if there are no accidents, the court will transfer the Yangzhou Camp back.

After such a toss, the original Yangzhou Camp is left with an empty shell.

If you want people, let the Yangzhou Prefect's office go and grab people with the generals!"

Li Mu said with a smile.

He is the Guangxi Regional Military Commissioner, and it looks like he is commanding the Yangzhou Camp for a long time.

In the past, it was wartime, and no one would pick faults.

Now that the army has entered the rest period, all kinds of troubles have followed.

In order not to make wedding clothes for others, Li Mu naturally laid out in advance and gradually transferred his confidants out of the Yangzhou Camp.

Those who hang their posts in the Yangzhou Camp are these noble children, as well as their retainers and direct descendants.

Now that these people leave, the Yangzhou Camp has completely become an empty shell.

Not only is the Yangzhou Camp an empty shell, but the Yangzhou Navy is also an empty shell.

Even the ships borrowed in those years were directly reported as war damage in the battle to encircle and suppress the rebels.

Of course, compared to the army, the navy's sense of existence is lower; it is estimated that everyone will not think of the Yangzhou Navy for a while.

"Commander, the rumors outside now are very unfavorable to us.

Everyone is saying that we took the wealth looted by the White Lotus Holy Kingdom.

Some say tens of millions of taels, some say hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and some say 10 million taels of gold and hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

Privately, people have asked the student, and I am afraid that many people are staring at us.

At this time, having troops in hand is more important than anything!"

Lan Linjie said with a nervous face.

The innocent man is innocent, but the sin is in his treasure.

Without sufficient strength guarantee, possessing huge wealth is a disaster.

What's more critical is that after the war, Li Mu did not carry out any point-to-point operations, just like nothing happened.

Once the rumors outside come out, officials who want a share will also push the waves.

However, officials in the Guangxi territory don't have a hard enough backbone; even if they are thinking about it, no one dares to come to the door to ask for it.

If the news reaches the capital, it will be troublesome.

After all, they, the participants, know that the rumors outside are not groundless.

Li Mu didn't get that much, but adding the harvest of generals and soldiers at all levels in the army, it is really tens of millions or even hundreds of millions after conversion.

In this background, the best choice to avoid risk is to hold troops and respect oneself.

Tens of thousands of troops are placed there; even if the court knows it is true, it can only pretend not to see it.

"Mr. Lan, these words cannot be said indiscriminately; when did we have a huge harvest.

A group of generals in the army can testify that we gained nothing in the battle to encircle and suppress the fake Emperor. 【257-136

The Guizhou army next door has also joined the battle; we can't just take all the spoils while they stand by and watch, can we!

The rumors outside right now are all being spread by the rebels; everyone needs to view them rationally.

If outsiders ask, just let them calculate the daily consumption and expenditure of over a million rebels.

Try to steer everyone's attention toward the smuggling merchants, letting the outside world know that the wealth plundered by the rebels is all being used to feed their troops.

Secretly have people spread the word that the wealth plundered by the rebels is merely the property the gentry had on the books.

Even more silver is buried in cellars.

Arrange for people to pose as treasure-hunting teams and search the old mansions of the great clans to see if there are any unexpected gains.

If there aren't any, deliberately stage a few instances and let people see them."

Upon hearing Li Mu's reply, Lan Linjie was slightly stunned.

The rebels' rumor was entirely an overt scheme.

No matter how one explains it, there will always be people on the outside who are suspicious.

Even if the captured loot is handed over, there will still be people who are suspicious.

Stubbornly denying it won't work either; with so many people in the army, it's impossible for everyone to keep a secret.

If there are a few who like to brag, the rumor will be confirmed.

Against this backdrop, if one doesn't want to be unlucky, preparing for armed confrontation is very necessary.

As long as a stance is taken, no one in the imperial court will dare to make a move.

He never expected that Li Mu's way of responding would actually be to use others as scapegoats.

It is true that the Guizhou imperial army joined the battle, but they only joined in the second half.

The front of the convoy was already intercepted, and only a group of stubborn rebels remained in the back.

Throughout the entire campaign, the Guizhou imperial army was either getting beaten or on the way to getting beaten.

They just tagged along for the military merit; where would there be any spoils of war!

Since there were no gains anyway, even if they are used as scapegoats, there is no fear of the court sending people to investigate.

The smuggling merchants in various places are about to face tragedy.

In the coming period, the number of officials looking to squeeze them for benefits will inevitably increase significantly.

Especially against the backdrop of tight military funding, they might even be directly raided and have their homes confiscated.

Although they have connections and backers, once the profits reach a certain level, no backer is strong enough to block the greed of the human heart.

At the very least, compared to a powerful general like Li Mu who holds heavy troops, they are all definitely soft persimmons.

The various uninhabited gentry mansions will also become lively in the coming period.

If their surviving descendants don't hurry back to look after their homes, they will be dug up three feet deep by others.

Once the trend of treasure hunting begins, their ancestral graves might also suffer as a result.

After all, in these people's mansions, there might only be silver hidden in cellars, but there are definitely burial goods in the ancestral graves.

"My lord's insight is brilliant; this student will go and make arrangements immediately!"

Lan Linjie said with a face full of joy.

Whether others are unlucky has nothing to do with him.

As long as the imperial court is made to believe that their gains are not as large as the rumors suggest, the matter will pass.

(End of chapter)