Wuchang.

Since the Han Dynasty rebelled and captured Wuchang, the most dangerous thing that clamored for the expulsion of the Tartars and the restoration of China was actually a demoted official.

This person was Wang Ang, the scholar of Yichang who was the first to surrender to the Han army.

Since the surrender of the Han army, Wang Ang has always talked about righteousness and orthodoxy.

He believed that since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they slaughtered our bare-handed people, changed our clothes, cut off our civilization, and reduced our Chinese people to slaves and ignorant people. Therefore, we must fundamentally overturn the Qing government's policies, thereby awakening the vast number of ignorant people to rise up.

Together they overthrew the Qing court.

Since Wang Ang was the first Qing official to surrender on his own initiative, he was appointed as the chief envoy to Hubei by Gu Shidao, the commander-in-chief of the Xinghan Army.

It may also mean the golden horse bone.

After Wang Ang took office, he immediately mobilized people in Hubei to cut braids and grow their hair, and also promoted Hanfu and Han crowns to mark the legitimacy of the Xinghan regime.

For this reason, the Hubei Buzheng Yamen promulgated the "Han People's Crown Uniform System" and "Han People's Crown Uniforms Map", requiring officials at all levels to take the initiative to wear Han official clothing, restore the previous Han etiquette, and introduce many bad habits imposed on the Han people by the Qing court.

Abandoned and burned a large number of historical books compiled in the Qing Dynasty.

For this reason, some people went so far that they even banned the "Disciple Regulations", a teaching material given to children in various places by the Qing government, and the "Kangxi Dictionary" was renamed the "Hongwu Dictionary".

It is also stipulated that whenever the words Qing Dynasty appear in official documents of all levels of government, they should be replaced by "Tatar" and "Hulu", which is completely opposite to the Qing court's civil prison. I don't know if Wang Buzheng has suffered from the civil prison or has been corrected.

just.

However, because the Manchus occupied China for a hundred years, the common people not only knew about Hanfu, but also didn’t even know much about the former Ming Dynasty. Therefore, although the Xinghan Army itself is an organization of survivors of the Ming Dynasty, it has not preserved the civilization of Han people’s clothing during the Ming Dynasty.

Complete, but due to the demonizing propaganda of "traitors" by the Qing court, most Hubei people, except for a few social groups and speculators who were close to the Han army, were skeptical and resistant.

At the same time, because there had been no war in Hubei for decades, although the officials were corrupt, the people were still able to have enough food and clothing, so there was no motivation to overthrow the Qing government.

Therefore, Wang Ang's new policy of restoring clothing and clothing has not aroused great resonance among the people. Only in the streets of big cities such as Wuchang have Hanfu reappeared, and in other places they are still worn in the past.

On the contrary, the forced cutting and braiding of hair has achieved a lot of results.

In order to encourage the people to take the initiative to cut off their braids, Wang Ang actually issued a strict order and ordered people to post notices everywhere, saying, "The Manchus stole the country, changed my clothes, and forcibly braided their hair, following the smelly custom... Today, the Qing court

The general trend is over, and the restoration of the Han Dynasty is about to succeed. All my compatriots should purify themselves of the old stains and become citizens of the new dynasty.

Anyone who has not yet removed their braids will have their braids cut off within twenty days of the order being issued. Anyone who disobeys will be punished with a serious crime as he joins the Manchurian Tatars."

I just started posting notices, but the effect was not very good.

The reason is that people think that cutting off one’s hair and braids would be unfilial to one’s parents.

In addition, many people think that although it is ugly to have braids, if you cut off your braids, you will have a bald head, which will look even uglier.

Of course, the most important reason is that the Qing Dynasty ruled for hundreds of years, and braids are deeply ingrained in the minds of the people. They believe that braids have been inherited since the beginning of mankind. If they are cut off now, they will destroy the ancestral inheritance.

In addition, some squires who were not optimistic about the rise of the Han army secretly spread rumors that if the Qing soldiers came back with their braids cut off, they would all be beheaded. As a result, only a handful of people responded to the idea of ​​cutting off their braids.

In response to this situation, Wang Ang initially adopted inducements, that is, setting up free meals at traffic arteries and city gates. As long as people are willing to cut off their braids, they can enjoy free meals with the cut off braids. In addition,

You can get three cents.

This method has a certain effect. Many poor people actually come to have their braids cut off for the free meals. However, many people cry while eating, and even try to take their braids back with them when they leave. They say that this will mean that they will die in the future.

It can also be used by relatives to put it in when they are buried.

After the information about braid cutting from various places was fed back to Wuchang, Wang Ang immediately knew that inducement alone would not be enough, so he asked the army to help force the braid cutting.

"It has been more than a few months since Huguang was restored, and the braids have not been removed yet, but the people are still hesitant and hesitant to cut them off. This is because the ugly customs of the thieves still exist, and it is harmful to the reputation of the Han people."

Gu Shidao, the commander-in-chief of the Xinghan Army, immediately ordered all ministries to cooperate with local areas to cut braids. With the intervention of the army, localities began to cut braids on a large scale.

After all, braids are not too important compared to life.

However, even though many local gentry were forced to cut off braids and grow their hair, they still cursed the Han army with "long hair", saying that "long hair" would definitely not last long.

However, as the Xinghan Army became more and more powerful and even General Dingxi of the Qing Dynasty was killed, the attitude of the gentry became obviously somewhat relaxed.

When many people talk about "long hair" in private, they no longer attack as viciously as they did at the beginning. Instead, they will say a few words with emotion, saying, "Aren't all Han people in the past just long hair?"

The success of the braid cutting greatly increased Wang Ang's confidence. In order to gain merit and gain a firm foothold in the Xinghan Army, he also suggested that the senior officials of the Xinghan Army go to Xianling to worship, to show that the Xinghan Army regime was the successor of the Ming Dynasty and was the orthodoxy of China.

location.

The Xianling Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Zhu Youqian, the biological father of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. It was originally buried in Songlin Mountain under the royal order. During the Jiajing period, it was reorganized and upgraded. The mountain was called "Chunde Mountain", the mausoleum was called "Xianling", and the temple was named Ruizongxian Emperor.

It is also the only mausoleum of Emperor Ming outside the two capitals.

This visit was the first time in a hundred years that Ming Dynasty survivors paid homage to the tomb of a former Ming emperor, so everyone attached great importance to it.

In the name of Gu Shidao, Wang Ang wrote the "Essay on Commemoration to Mingling Tomb" and wrote: "...the Manchu Qing Dynasty invaded the Central Xia Dynasty and complained about my helpers and brothers, one after another, and it lasted for more than a hundred years."

The article refers to the century-old period of Qing rule as the age of the subjugation of China, intending to warn the world that the Han people will regain power and restore China, just as Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Huizu, the governor of Qinghuguang, also put forward a series of suggestions after his return.

First of all, he proposed to reorganize the army and reorganize the Xinghan Army, which was originally divided into battalions, into the 12th Army. At the same time, he proposed to sort out the finances and strengthen the army in preparation for the Northern Expedition.

Financial problems are currently the biggest problem for the Xinghan Army.

Originally, the main force of the Xinghan Army was less than 4,000 people, and the campaign was mainly focused on capturing. Now it has expanded to more than 100,000, and it occupies the land of three provinces. It can no longer capture a place and then loot the vassal treasury to support the army as before.

, on the contrary, actual local governance had to be carried out. Therefore, as the number of troops increased sharply, ammunition, ammunition and food were both insufficient. There was a shortage of arms and military pay.

In addition, due to the war, business was blocked, residents were stranded, and the market was depressed. Once the external pressure was too great, the environment could easily collapse from within.

As Chen Huizu said: "If money and food are not handled well, the soldiers will become thieves and the people will become bandits."

In the past, Gu Shidao only led the remnants to fight against the Qing Dynasty in Jinchuan. In terms of territory, he was no more than a county magistrate, and in terms of soldiers, he was no more than a general. His integrity was unparalleled in the world, but he had almost no actual political experience.

Therefore, Gu Shidao treated Chen Huizu who had been the governor of Huguang with great courtesy and kindness. He still appointed Chen Huizu as the governor of Huguang, and appointed Bayan San, another demoted governor of Hunan, as the Yangtze River Manager.

That is to say, Chen Huizu helped the Xinghan Army to establish political power and carry out actual local governance;

Use Bayan San as the leader to revitalize the Han army and attack the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

After taking office, Chen Huizu tried every means to provide generous amounts of money and food to the Xinghan officers and soldiers to ensure the morale of the army. At the same time, he carried out drastic reforms to address the past bad policies, that is, to massively reduce local expenditures and eliminate local useless people.

At the same time, a similar salary-raising unit was established in Wuchang, called the "Rate Subsidy Bureau".

The method of raising funds is to send personnel to investigate, go door-to-door to solicit donations, identify the amount, and fill in the donation book.

Large and small business houses in Huguang, local gentry, and wealthy households are all included in the payment aid.

The focus is on those officials who served as senior officials in the Qing Dynasty.

For example, the former Minister of Justice, Mr. Guo, was personally visited by Chen Huizu to persuade him to donate. Faced with Chen Huizu’s threats of annihilation, Mr. Guo had no choice but to donate 300,000 taels.

However, there were also many people who took the initiative to donate money to the Xinghan Army.

Liu, a Jingzhou native who had served as Su Songdao, took the initiative to donate 100,000 taels of silver to the Xinghan Army, and told Chen Huizu that if the Xinghan Army did not harass the people and did not persecute retired officials in Huguang, he could also come forward to persuade him to donate.

He also advised the Han Dynasty army not to torture and plunder the gentry like Li Zicheng did in the past. In that case, the revival of the Han Dynasty might be short-lived.

This Liu actually had a sincere idea of ​​regaining the Han Dynasty, but due to various reasons, he was inconvenient and did not dare to surrender openly like Chen Huizu.

Chen Huizu did not find it difficult for Liu, and agreed to his request, repeatedly asking the Xinghan Army stationed in Jingzhou not to disturb the gentry.

So under Liu's efforts, retired Qing officials and local gentry in Jingzhou donated a total of 1.58 million taels of silver, 10,000 dan of grain, and more than 10,000 pieces of cotton-padded clothes to the Xinghan Army.

In addition to persuading salaries, Chen Huizu also rebuilt government offices at the three levels of government, prefecture, and county. He also persuaded many Qing officials who were avoiding trouble to become officials. In addition, he counted the vassal treasury and counted the seizures, and obtained hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Other money and grain will be collected as usual, soil and plaster donations will be collected as usual, taxes and salt taxes will be collected as usual, and all public funds and properties everywhere will be inventoried and used at any time.

Various policies coupled with the powerful measures of the Xinghan Army, it took only half a year to sort out the financial problems of the Xinghan Army. Although the money and food supplies in various places were still insufficient, they were enough to support the needs of the war.

Gu Shidao, the commander-in-chief of the Dexing Han Army, looked at Chen Huizu with admiration and said: "To win Huizu alone is like winning half a wall."

While solving the problem of money and food, Chen Huizu also urged the rectification of military discipline.

Due to the rapid expansion of the Han army in the previous period, the composition of the personnel was complex, a large number of deserted troops were dispersed, and local ruffians filled the army. Therefore, except for the elite core, the military discipline of the other units was worrying. Mutinies, robberies and other vicious incidents often occurred, which aroused the people's hatred.

Xing Han army was dissatisfied.

For example, when more than 400 surrendered soldiers from the Green Battalion of Huangzhou were called at the school grounds, the soldiers actually demanded their military pay. The Huangzhou magistrate appointed by Wuchang did not agree to the unreasonable request of the surrendered troops, so the surrendered troops mutinied and looted everywhere. Afterwards, after counting this military chaos,

Huangzhou suffered losses of more than 300,000 taels.

The mutiny was suppressed by the Xinghan Army on the fourth day after it occurred, and dozens of its leaders were executed.

In fact, the problem of military discipline first appeared when the Xinghan Army captured Jingzhou. After the main force of the Xinghan Army entered the city, they only paid attention to the Eight Banners in the city and had no time to pay attention to other things. As a result, thousands of new recruits took the opportunity to rob the outer city, leaving no jobs in the city.

The homeless also took advantage of the situation and started looting, resulting in no peace in the outer city for two days.

Most of the shops were robbed, and the one with the greatest losses was robbed of more than 70,000 taels of cash that day.

A lot of new soldiers were added in the follow-up, but the order was not in order, the soldiers did not need orders, the discipline was poor, and it was difficult to command.

After all, time was limited. Even if the Xinghan Army was aware of military discipline issues and took many targeted measures, it would still be difficult to integrate and improve more than 100,000 troops in a short period of time.

It is extremely difficult to achieve the current situation.

In terms of military strength, the Xinghan Army's main force of hundreds of thousands was not inferior to the Qing Army at all. Therefore, as long as it can continue to create victories, various internal deficiencies will not affect the overall situation.

The situation turned out exactly as Chen Huizu expected. The Qing army was retreating steadily, and Jiangxi Province was gained effortlessly.

Under the heavy pressure of the Xinghan Army, the Anhui and Jiangsu Qing troops in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River were transferred to Anqing. It seems that Anqing is a hard nut to crack, but as long as the Xinghan Army can conquer Anqing, Anhui, and Jiangsu at all costs, it will only take time

thing.
To be continued...