Chapter 261: A Major Trouble

With the relocation work completed, Li Mu became increasingly busy.

The migration of tens of thousands of people was no small challenge in the feudal era.

Some who were weak or ill died on the road. What should have been a joyous family reunion ended as a funeral.

Encountering such tragic events, as a good superior, Li Mu naturally had to step forward to offer comfort.

Although this comfort was more for show, doing it was certainly better than not doing it at all.

As land was distributed one after another, joy soon washed away the sorrow. It was clear that everyone's obsession with land was something money could not compare to.

Unlike the guard stations outside, Li Mu made subtle adjustments to the original system.

Military land remained military land, but it was converted to a family contract system, though not a purely family-based one.

The guard station would advance the initial living expenses and provide production materials like oxen and mules; military households participating in farming would pay forty percent of the output according to the agreement.

In disaster years, military households could borrow grain from the guard station, and no interest was charged within the scope of basic rations.

All expenses for soldiers in service were covered by the guard station.

An additional monthly subsidy of two silver coins was issued, along with various benefits like rice, flour, grain, oil, and cloth during festivals.

During wartime, they received combat subsidies.

Compared to traditional military households, those in the Guangxi region were more like free citizens paying taxes to the imperial court.

Soldiers were no longer primarily focused on farming but were moving toward semi-demobilization.

Except for busy farming seasons when they returned home to help, they spent the rest of their time in the military camp receiving training.

The support of soldiers was no longer a burden on military households.

The only difference was that the guard station's management was stricter, and the primary entity for paying taxes and performing corvée labor had shifted from the imperial court to the local guard station.

The most intuitive feeling was that the burden on military households had lightened, and there was someone to hedge against risks.

Since the plan had been formulated, it had to be implemented.

Not only did the relocated military households need proper settlement, but the management of the original military households also needed reform.

Beyond the soldiers, the interests of the commanders had to be considered as well.

In the past, the income of guard station commanders mainly came from sharing the profits of military land.

Now that the collection standards were clearly defined, everyone's autonomy was gone, so they certainly needed an explanation.

Theoretically, one could simply issue salaries according to the pay scale of recruited commanders.

In actual operation, this was impossible.

The salaries issued by the imperial court were filled with treasure notes that were little different from waste paper, and they changed every year.

If nothing went wrong, the proportion of notes in the salary would only get higher, and arrears would become more frequent.

Li Mu dared not engage in the same practice.

If salaries kept shrinking and were paid in deceptive treasure notes, the people below would surely revolt.

Great Dayu suppressed military generals politically, but it was quite lenient regarding official ranks.

An inconspicuous Platoon Leader in the army was at the same rank level as a County Magistrate; they were all Senior Rank Seven.

If all were paid in full with money and grain, the treasury would surely go bankrupt.

It was true that the official salary was low, but that was only the base salary; the actual income of officials had never been low.

Fortunately, there were recruited commanders who could serve as a benchmark.

While enjoying military land, their income was calculated based on the actual average income of recruited commanders, with those of the same rank directly halved.

There was no fear of people having objections; half-pay treatment was normal, and transferring from a guard station to a recruited unit was considered a promotion even with a rank demotion.

Those who could be transferred laterally into recruited units, or even promoted, were all well-connected.

For ordinary guard station commanders, wanting to serve in recruited units meant a demotion was inevitable.

Busy with sorting out internal issues, Li Mu only managed to free himself from internal affairs when the appointment of the Viceroy of Liangguang arrived.

Now was the perfect time for land grabbing; affected by the war, Guangdong also had a large amount of ownerless land.

Unfortunately, the appointment came a bit too late, as the officials in the Guangdong region were basically already in place; otherwise, there would have been more room for maneuvering.

Even with restrictions, there was still plenty of room for operation.

Military land had long since become a muddled account; at worst, it would just be a matter of bickering.

Without the gentry taking the lead, local officials would not put in much effort once a *fait accompli* was established.

What the current Guangdong gentry needed most was self-preservation, not external expansion.

The power of the clans had been severely damaged, and the lucky survivors no longer held the same influence as before.

Most crucially, the military deterrence was gone.

In the past, they could easily pull out thousands of young men from their clans, and local officials had to defer to them.

Now that these people had been slaughtered by the rebel army, the original local connections had been smashed to pieces.

If they continued to act recklessly, things might not be so easily covered up.

Before completing the infiltration of local government offices, everyone had to keep a low profile.

Those "poor wretches" they looked down upon in the past now had to be treated seriously.

Especially those with many male descendants; they were even more untouchable.

If pushed too far, they might just resort to a desperate act of violence.

Even the century-old feuds between the locals and the guests had decreased significantly.

Conflicts still existed, but the method of fighting had changed from armed clashes to verbal abuse.

On one hand, resources were not as strained after the population decline.

On the other hand, everyone had lost a large number of young men in the war; now that the number of young men was severely insufficient, another armed clash would mean the extinction of their clans.

Against this backdrop, while it couldn't be said that there were no gentry who dared to lead the opposition against the military, their numbers would definitely not be high.

After all, the remnants of the rebel army had not yet been completely wiped out, and it was normal for a few escaped rebels to pop up.

……

"Mr. Lan, the imperial appointment has come down. In a few days, I will go to Guangzhou to take up my post.

Arrange for these two books, 'Guard Station Management System' and 'Economic Crop Planting Manual', to be printed as soon as possible, and then distributed to every guard station officer.

For the next period, these will be the study materials for the guard station officers.

Have everyone memorize them thoroughly for me; when I return from Guangzhou, I will organize an examination.

Those who fail the examination will regret it!"

Li Mu said solemnly.

Facing a group of semi-illiterate commanders, he was also very helpless.

In fact, the literacy rate of the Great Dayu Dynasty was already considered the highest among feudal dynasties.

In the early years of the founding, the imperial court even attempted to popularize universal education, establishing a multi-level education system of community schools, county schools, and prefecture (department) schools.

Among them, community schools were the most basic educational institutions established in villages.

To encourage children from commoner families to enroll, the imperial court even made a mandatory regulation: "If children from commoner families do not attend school by the age of eight, their fathers and brothers will be punished."

Enrollment required no examination, there were no quotas, and anyone under 15 willing to enroll could attend.

Those with excellent grades could enter county schools.

Theoretically, everyone had the opportunity to receive education and enter officialdom through the imperial examination.

Without any surprise, this policy was implemented in the early years of the founding.

During the subsequent execution, it slowly changed its flavor, deviating from the original intention of universal education.

At first, one could learn with just a sand tray, but gradually students were required to purchase textbooks, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and tuition fees grew accordingly.

Textbooks also changed from simple and easy-to-understand children's primers like the "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic" to high-end works like the "Great Learning," "Analects," "Mencius," and "Doctrine of the Mean."

Community school teachers were also of uneven quality.

There were those who were conscientious and responsible, but more were just going through the motions, busy with their own imperial examinations.

Reading from the book a few times was considered completing the task; wanting explanations required extra money.

Cheap education soon became a luxury, exceeding the limits of what the public could afford.

The community school system gradually became a mere shell, replaced by the rise of private schools.

In this process, the gentry group played an inglorious role.

After all, universal education was simply too terrifying.

The cake was only so big; if everyone joined the competition, how could they ensure their own descendants would stand out?

To protect their own interests, they had to find ways to raise the threshold for education and block more people out.

Just this was not enough to be safe; to ensure their descendants gained greater advantages, the academy interest alliance emerged as the times required.

Those scholar families that have passed down their legacy for generations and produced a constant stream of imperial examination graduates are the beneficiaries of the new rules.

If one analyzed the background of the *jinshi* of each session, one would find that the proportion of *jinshi* from literary families had been in a state of continuous rise.

Of course, the quota for *jinshi* was limited; wanting to take this shortcut was not that easy.

Just being in the circle was not enough; one's own academic knowledge had to reach an average level so as not to be seen as a fraud at a glance.

Fulfilling these conditions, one could receive slight care from the chief examiners.

If one's father was a high-ranking official in the court and also met the above conditions, then it was basically secure.

Even if it was a failed attempt, it still created the highest literacy rate of a feudal dynasty.

Many semi-illiterates relied on the oral teachings of their fathers to recognize a few common characters.

The knowledge of grassroots commanders in the army did not come from the teachings of their fathers, but mainly from the previous literacy education.

However, having missed the best age, the learning speed was indeed slow.

Even with the temptation of promotion and salary increases, everyone's knowledge level was limited to recognizing some common characters.

"My Lord, does everyone have to memorize them?

For those older commanders, why not relax the conditions a bit?

For this 'Economic Crop Planting Manual', taking them directly to the fields to learn would be even more efficient."

Lan Linjie advised tactfully.

For a scholar like him to learn, naturally there was no difficulty.

After all, although the two books looked thick, the actual word count was not much.

Standing from a practical perspective, as long as one could remember the general meaning, there was no need for verbatim recitation.

"Military discipline must be memorized; the 'Economic Crop Planting Manual' can be flexible.

The content is all in plain language, and there is no difficulty in learning it.

There is no need to relax the conditions; the oldest in the camp is only in his thirties, not yet at the age to go home and hold grandchildren.

Wanting to increase the guard station's income, promoting economic crops is inevitable, and they are the specific executors.

If they know nothing, it will be easy for trouble to arise."

Li Mu thought for a moment and said.

Laymen leading experts easily leads to bizarre orders.

Even if arrangements were made for veteran farmers with planting experience to provide technical guidance, the commanders below still had to know basic common sense.

The current learning was just a beginning.

If nothing went wrong, in the future they would have to learn more about agriculture and animal husbandry.

It was not just to develop the guard station's economy, but also to show the outside world.

Promoting agricultural technology was in line with the mainstream of the era, and no one would find it strange.

If the guard station soldiers were completely demobilized, it would be clearly telling the outside world that he was hoarding troops to bolster his own power.

Just the guard stations in the Guangxi region had over 80,000 troops on the roster; if the guard stations in Guangdong were also filled to capacity, that would be an army of over 100,000.

With so many troops, they definitely had to actively farm to put everyone at ease.

On the basis of farming, going on to engage in side businesses and developing other industries would only make people think he was good at management.

Tinkering with two more towns of recruited troops and placing them in the open to attract outside attention would make the plan perfect.

……

Chengdu Prefecture.

"Viceroy, something terrible has happened!"

"An urgent report from the front line: a civil uprising occurred in the Chongqing region ten days ago.

The rioters killed the Chongqing Prefect and surrendered the city to the rebel army.

Caught off guard, the reinforcements for Chongqing suffered heavy losses; dozens of commanders from the Guard Commander downwards died for the country, and Chongqing Prefecture has fallen!"

Upon receiving this news, Lu Junliang's face turned dark instantly.

Although he had prepared himself for the fall of Chongqing after the loss of Qutang Pass, it all came too fast.

To reinforce Chongqing Prefecture, he had successively sent out an army of 30,000, only for them all to become the enemy's battle record.

"News from ten days ago, why is it only being transmitted back now?"

No one could answer Lu Junliang's questioning.

The small soldier responsible for delivering the letter was just following orders.

The content reported was what those above told them to say; the messenger didn't know the real course of the battle.

How much the battle report had been embellished and beautified, no one could say clearly.

The only thing that could be certain was—Chongqing Prefecture had indeed been lost.

"Viceroy, there is no need to make things difficult for those below.

These things are not something a few small soldiers could know.

Chongqing has fallen, and the Chuandong region is engulfed in the flames of war.

Relying solely on the army within the province to wipe out this rebel force is almost impossible.

The urgent priority is to report to the imperial court immediately and request His Majesty to send reinforcements."

Provincial Administration Commissioner Li Yongliang spoke up to break the deadlock.

As the "Land of Abundance," Sichuan's finances were relatively good, but the pressure it bore was also great.

Besides meeting its own expenses, it also had to provide financial and grain support to places like the Yunnan-Guizhou Regional Military Commission, the Ü-Tsang Regional Military Commission, the Dokam Regional Military Commission, and the Hami Guard.

The role it played in the Great Dayu Dynasty was that of a wet nurse.

Once an accident occurred in Sichuan, the entire Great Southwest region would lose control along with it.

Even the Northwest region would be subject to no small impact.

In terms of influence on the empire, it certainly couldn't compare to the Jiangnan region.

But in terms of the degree of trouble, it was even worse than Jiangnan.

After all, although the rebel army in the Jiangnan region was making a big scene, as long as the rebellion was quelled, it could recover quickly.

Once Sichuan fell, it would bring about problems in Yunnan-Guizhou, Tibet, and the Western Regions all at once.

Looking purely at the territorial area, the map of Great Dayu would instantly lose half.

The most troublesome thing was that these places were difficult to handle; once military force was used, it would be a protracted affair, not something that could be ended in a short time.

With Great Dayu's current situation, once the worst-case scenario appeared, it would be completely unable to cope.

In future history books, they would be the negative examples that led to the fall of the empire's territory.

"Now, this is all we can do!"

……

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 262 =====