There was a dead silence inside and outside the lobby of the Hunan Tuanlian Minister’s Yamen.
No one expected that Zeng Guofan could give such a clean and shameless answer!
It wouldn’t be surprising if these words came from Seng Gelinqin, a Mongolian prince, or Jiang Zhongyuan, a robber and scholar who was used to fighting. But Zeng Guofan was just a Confucian scholar who rose to prominence through hard study, examinations and superb kneeling skills. ah!
Although he looks like a villain, he has never been in a killing array.
How could you say such vicious words?
Is it really a matter of face and heart? Is he really a born bad guy?
Zeng Guofan squinted his triangular eyes and looked at the group of well-dressed officials and gentry leaders inside and outside the hall, and said in a stern and somewhat helpless voice: "Since the military disaster in Changsha, Zuo Jigao of Xiangyin began to loudly call for rent reduction and interest rate reduction. We want the gentry in Xianghu to give the poor people in Xianghu a bite of food... even if it's just temporary!
The scholars who came to me today are all wealthy and familiar with the books of sages. I wonder who has listened to Zuo Jigao, Jin Liang’s cry, and reduced the rent and interest for the tenants below? "
There was silence down there.
Rent and interest reduction?
How is it possible?
Rent and interest are subject to market trends. When there are more people, less land, and no other way out, rents will inevitably rise. And rising rents will in turn drive up interest rates on loans!
Because the rent is high, the landowner takes a larger share of the output, leaving less to the tenants, and the tenants have to bear the small share of seeds, farm tools, taxes, apportionments, deposits, and more. All kinds of expenses required for survival and reproduction. It is normal to make ends meet. Borrowing loan sharks is the only option when you cannot make ends meet... You have to borrow no matter how high the interest rate is!
And lending money to these poor households with insufficient repayment capacity will inevitably bear the risk of bad debts and the trouble of debt collection, so the interest rate must be higher. Therefore, this rent reduction and interest rate reduction are not in line with the laws of market operation!
Besides speaking out loudly, Zuo Zongtang could not use any means of enforcement.
After all, if Zuo Zongtang, a "commoner from Xiangyin", wants to become a "little lord", he has to rely on the support of a wealthy family. Under such circumstances, Zuo Zongtang not only cannot force the wealthy family to reduce rents and interest rates, but even We have to help them seek more benefits.
His loud shouting is no different from farting.
Hearing that everyone was silent, Zeng Guofan smiled bitterly and said: "The great chaos in the world today is ultimately caused by the lack of land due to the large number of people. Although Zeng Guofan's words are unpleasant to hear, it is indeed true!
What should we do if there are too many people and too little land to support us?
Either grab territory or reduce the population.
Seize the land. Where to seize? Whose to seize? There are 40 million people! How much is enough to seize!
Since grabbing land is not an option, the only option is to reduce the population.
Zeng Guofan then said in a gloomy tone: "Actually, what Changmao is doing now is also reducing people... It's just that they are reducing landowners and gentry like me, giving all the property that our ancestors have worked hard to accumulate for generations to the poor below. We are just ordinary people." "Teacher, do you mean that we should reduce the population of poor tenant farmers?"
Finally someone asked this leader of the Xianghu gentry a question.
The person who asked the question was the "Huang Dashan" Huang Shijie. His family reduced the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's population a lot... and the reason why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was able to take over Etang Town so easily was largely because of his big name. A good man opened a porridge factory in Etang Town to do good deeds. As a result, he attracted "starving ghosts" from all over the surrounding areas.
As soon as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom came, these people forgot about Mr. Huang's kindness and turned around to beat Mr. Huang.
This incident made him angry for several months, and he lost any sense of friendship with the poor people in his hometown in Hunan.
However, other gentry landlords who have not suffered from the rebellion of the poor and lower-middle peasants are still a little reluctant to attack their own tenants. After all, many of those tenants are related to the bosses like them, and they may have to be buried after their death. An ancestral grave. After going to hell, I still have to see an ancestor...
"Of course not!" Zeng Guofan shook his head and twirled his beard and said, "Ziying, this is not how you do subtraction as a teacher. Subtraction as a teacher has to be done outside Hunan!" "Go outside Hunan!" ?" When Huang Shijie asked this question, he subconsciously glanced at Seng Gelinqin, Guanwen and Shengbao...
Zeng Guofan nodded and said solemnly: "I received a report from the governor's office yesterday. Tens of thousands of troops led by the pseudo-king Hong Xiuquan have approached Changsha City. The day before yesterday, the Hunan governor's office took the gentry and citizens in the city to evacuate to Yiyang County. "In addition, the false angel Luo Yaoguo led more than 20,000 bandits. The day before yesterday, due to the defection of more than 1,000 fishermen from Dongting Lake, they successfully broke through the Xiangyin Linzi Pass. Now they have entered Dongting Lake and will be approaching in the near future. The capital county of Yuezhou is Baling."
"As soon as Baling is defeated, Changmao will definitely take advantage of the emptiness in Hubei to attack Jingzhou and attack Wuchang! This is a good opportunity for us, the Xianghu people, to go out to Hunan and establish great achievements! If I, the Xianghu people, can eat outside Hunan, If you are full, you will naturally not have to reduce the number of people in Hunan. Not only will you not reduce the number of people in Hunan, it will also benefit your hometown... What do you think of this subtraction of the Guofan?"
"good!"
Jiang Zhongyuan clapped his hands and applauded: "The subtraction of Di Zhang is great! Di Zhang does subtraction outside Hunan and addition within Hunan!" He stood up and bowed his head, "Zhongyuan admires it! Zhongyuan wishes Follow my father-in-law out of Hunan to make meritorious deeds, find a way out for my descendants from Xianghu, and seize their chance of life!"
Immediately afterwards, Huang Shijie, a disciple of the former sect, also bowed to the teacher: "On behalf of the millions of people living in Xianghu, I would like to thank the teacher for his kindness in surviving!"
Guo Songtao also clasped his fists and said loudly: "Xianghu is led by Di Zhang, and it will definitely prosper in the future! Song Tao would like to thank Di Zhang for his support for the future descendants of Xianghu!"
Luo Zenan's favorite disciple Li Xubin also came to the Tuanlian Minister's Yamen in Changde during this period. He came to discuss cooperation with Zeng Guofan on behalf of his mentor - Luo Zenan was from Xiangxiang, and most of his disciples were also from Xiangxiang, and were fellow townsmen of Zeng Guofan. , Zeng Guofan’s two younger brothers were also Luo Zenan’s students.
Now that Zeng Guofan has come out, Luo Zenan will of course consider hanging out with Zeng Guofan.
I just thought that whether I should follow Zeng Guofan in the end depends on whether Zeng Guofan's "addition and subtraction" is good. Now it seems that Zeng Guofan's "addition and subtraction" is indeed better than Zuo Zongtang's!
Zuo Zongtang is still a bit weak on the issue of "human subtraction".
In history, when he conquered the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, there were not many records of massacres. Later, when he suppressed the Northwest Rebellion... he did not leave any bad reputation as a "left-behind leader".
So after listening to Zeng Guofan's words, Li Xubin immediately made a choice for his teacher, leaned over and said with a salute: "Di Zhang, it seems that I, the leader of Xianghu, must be you, Di Zhang! Xu Bin, his mentor Luo Shanggong, and everyone else
We all are willing to go out of Xianghu and conquer all directions for the sake of our father-in-law!" With the support of Jiang Zhongyuan and Luo Zenan, Zeng Guofan was not far from the throne of the leader of Xianghu.
Jiang Zhongyuan is the leader of the gentry in Baoqing Prefecture, and Luo Zenan has great influence on the ground west of the Xiangjiang River in Changsha Prefecture, with many followers. Coupled with the support of Huang Shijie, the leader of the Yongzhou gentry, Zeng Guofan has already
He could stabilize Zuo Zongtang. However, if Zeng Guofan wanted to truly defeat Zuo Zongtang and become the number one boss of the Hunan Army, he had to get the support of Seng Gelinqin, Guanwen, and Shengbao, the three Manchu and Mongolian lords.
Without their support, it would not be easy for the Hunan Army to leave Hunan!
"Prince, Ke Zhai, Xiu Feng... what do you think?" Zeng Guofan twirled his beard and squinted his triangular eyes as he looked at Seng Gelinqin, Sheng Bao and Guan Wen. Neither Sheng Bao nor Guan Wen spoke.
Just looking at Seng Gelinqin.
Seng Gelinqin smiled, cupped his hands and said, "Disheng, I absolutely trust you. However, the "Essay on Pursuing Prisoners and Prospering Confucianism" has been widely circulated, and the current situation in Hetang Town, Xiangxiang must also be...
Chapter completed!