Before entering the city this time, he estimated that if the officials did not surrender and committed suicide, their families would probably commit suicide. There is no such thing as preferential treatment of prisoners and good treatment of women and children in this time and space. Once defeated and captured, men will be beheaded and women will be beheaded.
Prostitution is common, unless the victor is willing to show mercy: which is rare.
This time, some of the female relatives of Magistrate Dong survived, which was very strange. He couldn't help but ask again: "What's going on?"
"Originally, I wanted to save myself. I didn't know why I hesitated for a while, but when the soldiers from the sky arrived, I saved him." Wei Bifu said, "I thought I was not determined to die."
"It's no wonder. Ants are still greedy for life."
"Yes." Wei Bifu lowered his head and said, "Sir, do you want to call me for questioning?"
"No need," Liu Xiang shook his head, "Just lead the way."
Next to the flower hall, there is another side courtyard, which is where the master lives. Wei Bifu said that the master's whereabouts are unknown at the moment and he has probably gone into hiding.
Behind the flower hall is the place where the magistrate lives his daily life, which is no different from that of an ordinary large family. There is also a small garden in the backyard. It is slightly decorated with spring stones for rest.
Liu Xiang saw that the furniture in the hall was in disarray, and all kinds of loose clothes were scattered on the floor. The red sandalwood tea tray fell to the floor, and several smashed cups... You can imagine what kind of horror the family went through before Magistrate Dong committed suicide by taking poison.
, chaos and despair. Liu Xiang was deeply saddened.
Wei Bifu carefully accompanied "Master Liu" to check, and saw the soldiers of the Fubo Army who had rushed in early in the morning and were standing guard in front of the steps of each doorway. They stood upright without squinting. Even though the ground in front of them was scattered with various soft materials.
Jin Zhu was also unmoved. He secretly wondered in his heart - if it had been anyone else, the back house would have been fighting each other to snatch the property, and the property would have been robbed to the point where not even a tea cup was left!
Those who were collecting property were another group of pretenders. They were in groups of three. One person carried a small wooden box and carried a bag on his back to transport the property; the other person held an account book and a dip pen, and an ink bottle hung around his neck to record books.
.Another person is responsible for picking up. Every time he picks up something, he must lift it up and shout.
"Dial the emerald silver step and shake one!"
"The used blue floral satin is better than a piece of armor!"
"A piece of broken tide silver. I don't know how much it weighs!"
"A bunch of copper coins, over a hundred! Not counted yet!"
…
Such cries kept coming and going in the hall. There was a special person watching. Wei Bifu thought to himself: I heard in the past that thieves are as fine as hair, and a penny is as good as life. Now I see it, and it turns out to be true!
However, he did not dare to express this idea. He only bowed his head and waited for instructions. At this time, a naturalized citizen staff member trotted over, stopped in front of Liu Xiang and bowed: "Chief!"
Liu Xiang knew that they were members of the special search team of the Planning Institute. The prefect alone in the yamen probably had a lot of private wealth, and he could make a fortune. He smiled and said, "No need to be polite. How long have you been here? Let's take stock of the treasury.
Is it done?”
"It's been three hours." The cadre said crisply, "Most of the previous ones have been searched, and the treasury will be listed tomorrow. The back house is the focus of today, so we need to check it carefully."
"Isn't it a big gain?"
The cadre was a little embarrassed: "To be honest, I didn't gain much. No matter whether it was the master's residence or here, I didn't find a large amount of silver coins. There are quite a few small ones. I'm going to dig up the treasure next."
"Oh, are there any clues?"
"Yes, although many of Magistrate Dong's family members have fled, his housekeeper and chief attendant have all been captured. We will find them after they are all interrogated - no matter what happens, we have a way.
We will never let silver grow mold in the ground."
"Okay. We need to clean the house as soon as possible to welcome guests. I'm still waiting to use this place."
"Yes, Chief. We will do it as soon as possible."
Liu Xiang took a general look at the government office and saw that there were many houses here and the buildings were tall and elegant. The conditions were much better than those in Wuyangyi, so he decided to temporarily locate the Guangzhou Municipal Government here. Although according to the plan, the Senate planned to build a new building on Henan Island.
Build a new "Guangzhou New City" from scratch, and the administrative center will also be located in the new city. But for now, their main work still has to be carried out in the old city.
Instead of having to go to and from the city every time to deal with affairs, it is better to open an office directly here to do things nearby and conveniently.
Liu Xiang actually also passed the examination for the Guangdong Bu Zheng Xuan Envoy Yamen, but after thinking about it, it was better to leave it to the Guangdong Region Office of President Wen. Anyway, as the mayor of Guangzhou, in addition to the Fu Yamen, he also has Nanhai and Panyu counties.
There are many government offices available. And Guangzhou is the capital of a province. There are countless government offices on the east and west sides of Chengxuan Street. There are also many large temples in the city. There are plenty of transitional houses, so there is no need to rush for houses.
It was immediately decided that the Guangzhou Municipal Military Control Commission would be located in the Guangzhou Fu Yamen. At the moment, the demoted officials and their families of all levels of demoted officials and their families living in the Fu Yamen were asked to move out as soon as possible and vacate their houses.
According to the reception plan, all the surrendered people, family members and property in the city were placed in the Guangdong Gongyuan on Dashi Street at the foot of Yuexiu Mountain. The Gongyuan is large in area and has many buildings, which is enough to accommodate surrendered and captured Ming Dynasty officials. The more important officials and family members were sent to Guangdong.
Screening at the temple. All surrendered generals and troops were sent to Hong Kong Island for reorganization.
Liu Xiang walked around and saw that the flower hall was almost tidied up. He immediately asked to receive the descendants of the first and two counties of Guangzhou in the flower hall. Wei Bifu, the general magistrate of Guangzhou Prefecture, was the leader. Below were the county magistrates, chief records, classics, edicts, and rivers.
Inspection... all kinds of officials who have not yet entered the mainstream, and the heads of clerks in three classes and six rooms at the county level... stood densely packed in the courtyard. But there was not even a sound of coughing.
Liu Xiang asked Wei Bifu to roll call, and the descendants came up one by one to see the ceremony. Liu Xiang asked a few words and then sent them away. This was not because he was showing off his authority, but in fact, he wanted to know the general situation of the descendants. See if he could make use of it. Let him know a little bit.
Disappointedly, not only the prefect committed suicide, but also the magistrates of Panyu County in the South China Sea. Those who surrendered were almost all Zaza officials.
Miscellaneous officials are far behind in terms of appeal. The Ming Dynasty may not have "people's support", but it is a fact that "the officials' support is in the Ming Dynasty". If the Foreign Intelligence Agency can win over a few local officials to surrender this time, it will be
Okay. It will play a big role in future propaganda. After all, only high officials have the role of weather vane.
However, the whereabouts of other yamen officials are no longer within the scope of Liu Xiang's power. His calculations can only be made within the territory of Guangzhou Prefecture - if there are genuine halls in other states and counties under Guangzhou Prefecture.
It would be better if the faculties "flee to the light".
At the moment, it seems that Wei Bifu is a good person. Although I don't know what his true ability is, at least he is active enough in "leading the way". You can temporarily ask him to help with things.
After receiving the surrender, Wei Bifu went out again to report: "In order to welcome the Holy Envoy, I have prepared gifts to show my sincerity, and I beg the Senate and Mr. Liu to accept them."
The surrenderers donated ten thousand taels of silver, as well as many precious items, including agarwood, jade belts, red gold jewelry, jade pots and other precious objects. At a rough glance, they were worth tens of thousands of taels of silver.
The gift was divided into two parts, the larger one was dedicated to the Senate, and the smaller one was naturally given to Liu Xiang.
Liu Xiang said: "Everything Wei Bifu and others have presented shows their loyalty. I will accept those presented to the Senate. As for personal gifts, I will not take them. You can take them back each." Wei Bifu and other surrenders quickly knelt down.
He repeatedly begged on the ground: "My lord, I don't accept anything, and I am really uneasy about my humble position. I hope you can give me some appreciation!" Seeing their sincere words, Liu Xiang ordered his secretary to accept one jade pot and return all the rest.
Liu Xiang also "taught" a few words, which was nothing more than telling them to "don't be burdened", "study hard, accept transformation, and strive to serve the Senate and the people as soon as possible"...
After speaking, he asked the descendants to disperse, leaving only Wei Bifu and a few old officials from the original Yamen of Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai Panyu County. He asked about the local people's sentiments in Guangzhou.
Liu Xiang called people from the Planning Institute to count all his belongings and hand them over to the public. Even the jade pots he had collected were handed over to the public. Several people who saw this were secretly wondering: Australians are said to be greedy for money. That's true, but their money is worth every penny.
Elders, but all of them are as honest as water. I don’t know what they think!
Then he casually chatted with the descendants about the basic situation in Guangzhou.
What he is most concerned about is population, which is not only the labor force but also the consumer market. Guangzhou is not as good as Qiongshan - Qiongshan's urban population does not exceed 40,000 people now - Guangzhou was a megacity in the 17th century, with a non-agricultural population alone.
Eating is a big deal. Especially now that Guangdong has not yet been completely occupied, the food supply from Guangxi will also be interrupted for a long time. Find out how many non-agricultural people there are, and the self-sufficiency rate of local food, firewood, cloth and other necessities for people's livelihood.
How much can we organize effective trade supply channels and avoid crises caused by insufficient supply?
However, the feedback he received was unsatisfactory. The only demographic figures he could obtain were the numbers in the yellow rolls stored by the government offices at the prefecture and county levels - Liu Xiang had already seen the accuracy of the yellow roll numbers in Qiongshan.
According to the yellow records and the estimates of household clerks, there are 38,000 households in Nanhai County, slightly less in Panyu County, and about 60,000 households in Guangzhou City, with a population of about 200,000. The real data is probably more.
The entire population of Guangzhou is approximately between 500,000 and 600,000.
Liu Xiang started to go crazy. Although the Yellow Book listed in detail military households, craftsmen households, and luxuriant households with various names, in fact these household registration classifications had no meaning in the late Ming Dynasty. Military households did not necessarily serve as soldiers, and craftsmen households
They are not necessarily craftsmen, and counting the non-agricultural population requires a lot of imagination.
"We still have to conduct a census." Liu Xiang muttered to himself and wrote this down in his notebook.
After talking for a while, when he was free, his secretary Guo, a naturalized citizen, came in and whispered: "Chief, the young lady from the Dong family wants to see you." (To be continued.)