Even after annihilating the Eight Banners and surrendering the Huguang Green Camp, Huang Li did not get carried away and divided his troops to plunder.

After all, we still have to guard against the Qing army coming downstream to rescue Huguang.

However, the Liangjiang Navy and the Poyang Lake Navy are still there, and there are more than 70,000 green battalions in Liangjiang (Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu), as well as more than 6,000 Eight Banners troops under the command of General Jiang Ning in Nanjing.

"After receiving the report from the Qing court, we sent troops to each province. By now, the Qing troops in each province should have been mobilized, or have already marched towards Huguang."

Huang Li returned to Wuchang to take charge, but he had already begun to make plans to retreat, just waiting for the grain, grass, supplies and people to be transported away.

Yuan Zongdi led the fifth battalion of soldiers and the 6,000 Huguang Green Battalion to set off by boat. They will land at Yiling and march directly to Dangyang. They will form a pincer attack with Li Laiheng's troops in Maolu Mountain against the Gansu and Shaanxi Green Battalion in Yuan'an.

Huang Li only had three battalions of men and horses, and another more than 3,000 Huguang Green Battalion. Of course, there was also the navy that occupied Tianjia Town, preparing to resist the Qing troops coming from downstream.

20,000 Huguang Green Camp, Huang Li adopts a voluntary principle. Only those who are single and unaccompanied and willing to go to eastern Sichuan with their families will stay. The rest will be sent away after being educated.

Therefore, of the nearly 20,000 Huguang Green Camp soldiers, less than 10,000 were left in the end. However, these demobilized personnel were left with the option of taking their families to eastern Sichuan.

Although Hu Maozhen held a Hongmen Banquet and killed some hesitant officers, Huang Li still did not dare to use it with confidence in the Huguang Green Camp.

The number of defectors almost equaled that of the Ming army. This made Huang Li instinctively feel dangerous. What's more, the military discipline of the Green Camp soldiers was really not reassuring.

Perhaps in the view of the concept at the time, this was a bit redundant. Others were doing this, and the more people and horses fought, the more momentum grew.

But Huang Li insisted on his own ideas, right or wrong. He didn't want to be completely transformed by this era, and he still wanted to keep a conscience in his heart.

If you want to plunder the population, you can do it as early as in northern Sichuan, Huizhou, and Lueyang.

But it is not a complete family. If you take away a young man, he may be the backbone of the family, and you will end the family's hope of survival.

I am not a Holy Virgin, but if I can avoid such a tragedy, I should try my best to avoid it. Although it is impossible to be foolproof, at least I can have a clear conscience.

What's more, Huang Li believes that his move is for the long term. Huguang, he will come again. These demobilized Green Camp soldiers may be propagandists or even internal agents.

Of course, the Military Intelligence Department has indeed done a lot of secret work and planted a lot of eyes and ears.

"Your Highness is kind, and the benevolent are invincible..." Instead of Tan Yi, the flatterer, there is Hu Maozhen, the guy who always talks about compliments.

Huang Li did not give Hu Maozhen an official title for the time being, but stayed with him as a staff advisor.

This guy has traveled south and north, and has an understanding of the mountains and terrain, as well as many Qing generals. For example, Guizhou Admiral Li Benshen, Guangdong Admiral Yang Yuming, etc.

"Li Benzhen is an incompetent person. If he hadn't been Gao Jie's nephew, he would have been a general soldier at most. However, this guy was so good at flattering others that Wu Sangui won him the title of Admiral of Guizhou."

Huang Li slightly chinned his head and thought: That means he is just like you!

"After returning to the army, I will attack Guizhou and assist Shuixi in the uprising against the Qing Dynasty." Huang Li looked at Hu Maozhen and said warmly: "General Hu will live with me during the introduction, and I will give him more praise."

"I don't dare, I don't dare." Hu Maozhen waved his hands repeatedly, with a sincere and frightened look, "Your Highness, you have something to do, and you dare not do what you can do."

Huang Li was still about to ask some questions about the Qing generals, but he saw Wang Shide walking in, hesitantly wanting to say something.

"What's the matter?" Huang Li took the initiative and said with a smile.

Wang Shide smiled sheepishly, bowed and said, "Your Highness, I don't have enough money for this."

Huang Li was stunned for a moment, then understood and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Don't rob shops, don't rob people, this also includes wealthy gentry and businessmen without official status.

From the treasury to the house raids, it seems that we have gained a lot of money, but we can buy everything with money.

We also give people relief money, prisoner severance pay, and improve the food for the soldiers, so they can eat pigs and sheep. It is true that making money quickly is not enough to spend it slowly.

This is also thanks to the hardship and simplicity of the Thirteenth family. It is good to have enough to eat in a remote place. How can there be military pay?

Huang Li thinks this tradition is good and should be maintained. Of course, it must be adjusted. Giving land is a modification. One hundred acres is too small, and more will be added in the future, so that every soldier becomes a landlord.

Seeing that His Highness was a little helpless, Wang Shide couldn't help but chuckle, scratched his head, and retreated. In his heart, he complained about those guys who were teasing him. Isn't this creating a problem for His Highness?

Hu Maozhen also took the opportunity to resign, leaving His Highness the opportunity to think hard.

But time was running out, so Huang Li summoned the clerks and asked them to write an IOU with a denomination of one thousand.

Huang Licai wrote down a total of two hundred thousand taels of silver, one by one, and ordered people to call Wang Jialu, and he carefully numbered the IOU with a quill pen.

Because of his contribution to persuading Hu Maozhen to surrender, Huang Li admired Wang Jialu's courage very much and planned to upgrade the General Intelligence Department to the Military Intelligence Department, while Wang Jialu was in charge of the work of the Huguang Division.

"Take these IOUs and take them to the homes of rich families in the city." Huang Li was a little surprised and made two strokes with his hand in the air. "Borrow some money from them to fund the military. You will repay the principal and interest in the future."

Wang Jialu's expression didn't change, as if it was a matter of course, he took the IOU and turned to leave.

"It has to be voluntary, it has to be done in secret, and don't make it known to everyone." Huang Li reminded again: "Borrow as much as you can, no need to force it."

Wang Jialu bowed and agreed, but there was no embarrassment on his face and he strode out.

"Oh, I could have used robbery, but I still wrote an IOU. Isn't it my benevolence and justice?" Huang Li stroked his forehead and comforted himself.

The market in Wuchang has calmed down. The Ming army did not rob or kill, and paid for what they bought, which dispelled the people's nervousness and fear.

Many people knew that the Ming army was about to leave, and feared that the Qing army would return and suffer disaster, so they took their families and moved to eastern Sichuan by boat.

But it is difficult for those wealthy businessmen to just leave. The land is here, the property is here, the business relationships and connections are here. How difficult is it to go to eastern Sichuan to start a business from scratch?

Therefore, it makes sense to say that the richer you are, the more reactionary you are. When you only care about your wealth, righteousness is often forgotten.

The three towns of Wuhan, especially Wuchang, developed into commercial centers during the Han Dynasty by virtue of their geographical location as thoroughfares.

In the Tang Dynasty, with the reunification of the north and the south, the trade between Jiangnan and Sichuan became increasingly close. Hanyang gradually surpassed Wuchang economically because of its "right bank of the river, with the ship Guanpu".
Chapter completed!