Chapter 380 Township Official
During the entire April of the first year of Chengtian and the first year of the Republic, Zhang Chong stayed in Handan. On the one hand, he presided over the spring plowing work in Handan, and on the other hand, he dealt with the personnel establishment of the returning team.
Due to the composition of the army's population, Zhang Chong currently only targets the Qingzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Jizhou, Youzhou, and Gyeonggi areas at this stage, and other places are still beyond his reach.
But even so, this is also a lot of work.
Just when Zhang Chong was intensely engaged in this work, a horse flew from the northern region of Zhao into Handan, breaking the silence of the military mansion.
However, there was a civil uprising in Fengshan in the north of Zhao State. A man named Zhao Xin quietly pulled out a group of people and raised a flag to rebel.
Zhang Chong did not expect that someone would rebel against him. When he was greatly surprised, he quickly found out the identity of this person named Zhao Xin.
It turned out that this person was from Fengshan, also named Zhao Zhong. He was an ordinary farmer's son. He had lived in the Zhao family for a long time and knew two or three characters. In addition to farming, he also sells firewood from the mountains. There are eight brothers in the family, which is undoubtedly a big family in the Zhao family. He also has a cousin who is a minor official in Fengshan. He is not a popular person, but he is also a powerful figure in the place.
Looking at this information, Zhang Chong roughly summarized the background of this thief. He was a quasi-local tycoon who made a fortune.
But Zhang Chong couldn't understand how this person had the courage to rebel.
So, Zhang Chong asked Meng Ju, who was in charge of intelligence:
"Can you find out why this person rebelled?"
For Zhang Chong, why is more important than how to pacify the coming ones now, because these thieves do not need to be dispatched by the Fifth Army School Lieutenant Department at all, and can be captured and eliminated by only relying on the local garrison.
Meng Ju shook his head and said that there was no accurate information yet.
Zhang Chong was not surprised. After all, Xin Zhao was a small figure before, so how could he have such detailed information?
But before Zhang Chong could continue to ask, Yi Feijun hurried in with his flag on his back, first handed a piece of information to Meng Ju, and then took out a written memorandum and waited beside it.
Meng Ju glanced at the information, his face was shocked, and then reported to Zhang Chong:
"Commander Qu, we just got the information from Fengshan. This man named Zhao Xin not only started to besiege Fengshan City, but also sent a letter of appeal to the city."
Zhang Chong was confused:
"Appeal to the letter?"
With that said, he took the letter from the flag-carrying hand and read it.
At the beginning of the letter, it was said that the Zhao Guoyi Army carried out an action to spread the message that the same enemies were united in killing thieves and supporting righteousness.
Then he started to curse them Taishan Army, saying:
"The Tao is sufficient, and rebels must die; people's hearts are hard to understand, and every man will take revenge. Silly eared thieves, evil deeds in Lu Tai, instigating evil cults, entangled bandits. In the past, disaster spread to the Central Plains, but now it spreads poison to the two rivers. . Killing fathers, wives and daughters, taking people’s property and burning their houses.”
Then he began to slander their various policies of the Taishan Army:
"Regardless of businessmen or peasants, they were captured to serve as soldiers; no matter whether they were old or young, they were killed immediately. They tortured and plundered without restraint under the pretense of calming the people; they used barricades to prevent rapes and plundered as they pleased."
Zhang Chong always felt that he had a good temper, but after seeing this letter, he was still so angry that his head hurt.
He read it patiently, counted it again, and roughly accused their Taishan Army of twelve major crimes.
The first is inciting a cult, the second is killing innocent people indiscriminately, the third is raping women, the fourth is demanding tribute and plundering, the fifth is burning houses, the sixth is wanton plundering soldiers, the seventh is violent expropriation, the eighth is harsh torture, and the ninth is exterminating famous religions. Ten is for violating one's name, eleven is for harming the loyal and good, and twelve is for trampling on customs.
Some of these were indeed done by the Taishan Army. For example, the so-called tribute and robbery in the Taishan Army was just torture.
The first thing Fan Taishan's army did after entering the city was to surround the powerful families who participated in the defense and resistance, and then tortured them for ransom. From Zhang Chong's point of view, this was already an act of mercy outside the law.
You powerful men dare to defend the city. If you lose, I will spare your life. This is already a hundred times stronger than the Han army.
What, do you think there is no price for raising a sword at my Taishan Army?
There are also severe punishments, arrogance of names, trampling on customs, etc., the Taishan Army has done them all. It's just that Zhang Chong here calls for ruling the country by law, opening up government structures, and changing customs.
But as for the others, Zhang Chong did not recognize them at all.
Such as killing innocent people indiscriminately, raping women, demanding tribute, looting, burning houses, captivating soldiers wantonly, and expropriating people, weren't they done by your Han army? There is also the extermination of famous religions, which is also done by Taiping Dao. What does it have to do with their Taishan Army?
And more importantly, this kind of slogan can be written by a farmer who only knows a few Chinese characters?
This thing is getting more and more interesting.
After learning that there was someone behind Zhao Xin, Zhang Chong specially dispatched a group of soldiers to go to the mountains to quell the thieves.
The general in charge of this song was Han Hao, who was promoted in the previous Battle of Handan. After arriving at Fengshan, he immediately took charge of the work surrounding the mountain.
Shanbaotou, where Zhaoshili is located, is located in the Taihang Mountains. It is located on a large gentle slope running northeast, and the remaining three sides are surrounded by walls, which can be said to be quite steep.
When Han Hao saw this terrain, he realized why this person had the courage to cause trouble.
But Han Hao's hometown is also in the mountains of Hanoi, and he has very rich experience in mountain combat. Therefore, although Han Hao was surprised by the situation in Zhao's Li, he was very confident.
Sure enough, within seven days, Han Hao cut off its water sources and food routes, and captured Zhao's village.
Afterwards, Han Hao took the culprit Zhao Xin back to Handan overnight and handed him over to Zhang Chong.
It was also from Zhao Xin that Zhang Chong learned more information.
This incident was somewhat beyond Zhang Chong's expectation.
First of all, this Xin Zhao is indeed an ambitious person.
He actually looked like Zhang Jiao of the trumpet, or in other words, he just imitated Zhang Jiao.
This man named Xin Zhao has a witchcraft. However, using sorcery to organize a crowd is not new, but the strange thing is that this person actually rose to power on the path of peace.
When Zhang Jiao said that Huang Tian should be established, Zhao Xin said that Bai Tian should be established and claimed to be the reincarnation of the Golden Emperor's son.
He also had several magical powers to establish himself, such as turning beans into soldiers and making rice into water, which made the villagers near Zhao's village regard him as a true god.
Later, after the Taiping Dao uprising, Hebei was in chaos. More and more people came to seek refuge with Xin Zhao, hoping for his magical power.
Since the Yellow Turbans were fighting against the Han army, wouldn't it be a perfect match if Zhao Xin destroyed the Yellow Turbans?
When Zhao Xin was interrogated, Zhang Chong was at the side.
When he heard what this person said, sowing beans turned into soldiers, making rice turned into water. Zhang Chong suddenly asked Xin Zhao to perform.
But this person was like, haha, Aba didn't see anything weird for a long time.
Of course Zhang Chong knew that this person couldn't do anything. He had just learned some first-class folk witchcraft, and had some acting talent, and he could do tricks.
Afterwards, Zhao Xin talked about the message that Zhang Chong cared about most.
The appeal was indeed not written by Zhao Xin, but by the powerful sons of Handan recruited by Zhao Xin.
Since Handan was broken, many people have gone to seek refuge with Zhao Xin in the mountains to advise him.
This time Zhao Xin rose up because he believed one of his aides, saying that Zhao Xin had a kingly spirit and was in great danger.
Therefore, the facts are different from what Zhang Chong thought. It is not that there is someone behind this Zhao Xin, but that this person is extremely ambitious.
Those powerful disciples originally wanted to do something like a chicken to lay eggs, but Xin Zhao took power very seriously. Those disciples could serve as counselors, but only Xin Zhao could give orders and prohibitions. And the armed forces in the Zhao family are almost all staffed by Zhao family members, and even the logistics deployment has to go through the hands of a Zhao family member.
When Zhang Chong heard this, he was greatly surprised by this person named Zhao Xin. He did not expect that this person was still a figure.
He thought that there would be dozens of forces in the Taihang Mountains in the future, and he estimated that this person named Zhao Xin was one of them.
But Xin Zhao jumped too fast after all, and was suppressed by Zhang Chong's backhand before he could do anything.
But another thing Zhao Xin said made Zhang Chong feel irritable.
It turns out that Xin Zhao is indeed ambitious, but he also forces the people to rebel. And this official turned out to be Zhang Chong himself.
It turned out that the reason why Zhao Xin hurriedly rebelled was because the Taishan Army arranged for the township official on the other side of Fengshan to ask for twenty gold in aid.
A small settlement named Fan had been ganged up on before, and was later forced to hang himself. When Zhao Xin saw that he wanted to hate the township officials, he simply raised the flag to rebel.
The Taishan Army's rural official system is actually an immature wartime system that matches the current land distribution system.
In the current grassroots organization of the Taishan Army, there are ten settlements as prefectures, and this prefecture is a military name, and it is also called a township in civil terms. The township officials were the grassroots officials in the Han Dynasty in the past, and they were all responsible for grassroots operations.
As the Taishan Army took root in Yecheng, the township official system was gradually rolled out in Wei and Zhao.
As Zhang Chong himself knows, township officials have always been an important point in the Taishan Army's grassroots governance. It was precisely with the presence of township officials that the local division of land, the establishment of field guards, and spring plowing and autumn harvests were guaranteed.
This is the first time Zhang Chong has heard of what Xin Zhao said.
But Zhang Chong did not listen to Xin Xin, but left Zhao Xin to Fa Caosi to handle it according to the law.
Then Zhang Chong called Dong Zhao, the military envoy of the Fei Army, and asked him to investigate the situation of Fengshan Township officials.
Soon, Dong Zhao handed over the results of the investigation to Zhang Chong, and the conclusion was that Fengshan Township officials were indeed apportioning tyranny.
In the name of raising and deploying military resources, Fengshan township officials unscrupulously extorted the wealth and support of local people. Moreover, because the local capital of Guizhou had just been divided into fields and was consciously indebted to the Taishan Army, it was obedient to the excessive demands of the township officials.
In the simple understanding of these Guizhou leaders, if the Taishan Army can allocate land to them, they must continue to repay it later, so their behavior of only becoming township officials is the Taishan Army's intention.
Therefore, they did not sue the subordinates and did not investigate the superiors. Instead, they allowed these township officials to gain power.
After Zhang Chong learned of this situation, he was furious and called Guan Yu into the military mansion for the first time and cursed him.
Because most of the township officials in this Northern Expedition were appointed by Guan Yu, and the township officials in Fengshan were from this batch.
After Guan Yu heard about this, his face turned red.
Because he really didn't know much about this matter. At that time, it was mainly handled by his staff Feng Fangdian. Guan Yu only kept these people in the camp for a while, examined their character and grassroots work ability, and then released them.
After Guan Yu knew that he had been in such a big mess, he took the initiative to ask Ying to participate in this investigation in order to make up for his mistakes.
Zhang Chong also knew that during Guan Yu's Northern Expedition, the army was busy and it was unlikely that he would pay attention to this matter. But since he is the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, he must bear the responsibility if something like this happens.
Therefore, Zhang Chong ordered Guan Yu and Dong Zhao to take full charge of the matter with the Feijun internal forces, and investigate all the township officials appointed for this Northern Expedition.
Not only that, Dong Zhao also immediately led people to control Feng Fang, the staff member who appointed these rural officials.
Regardless of whether this person is involved in this matter or not, control it first.
After that, the Tiqi from the Feijun army went out in all directions, constantly leaving Handan and began to visit and investigate the situation in the northern part of Zhao State.
It was also this time that the civil and military personnel of the Taishan Army finally understood the power and complexity of the Fei Army's internal forces.
Soon, the results of the investigation were sent back to Handan.
During this Northern Expedition, the Taishan Army appointed a total of 231 people.
Among them, there are 137 people who were originally Han Dynasty local officials. These people generally have local governance experience and have always been an important bridge between the court and the countryside.
After the fall of the Han Dynasty, they naturally defected to the Taishan Army, continuing to do similar work as before, and enjoying the same status as before.
To put it bluntly, Zhang Chong was not surprised when he saw this ratio.
Because the Taishan Army currently does not have the ability to effectively control local areas. At present, the talent reserve of the Taishan Army is only enough to meet the needs of the army. At the local level, let alone Lishe, even at the county level, it cannot be fully staffed.
Therefore, Zhang Chong tacitly approved the recruitment of low-level officials from the original Han Dynasty, in order to quickly stabilize the place by leveraging the experience of these people.
At that time, Zhang Chong didn't think these people would do anything bad.
Because at the lowest settlement level, the Taishan Army has complete control. There is dual management by field officials and field guards, so in the countryside, there are more middle-level people.
But unexpectedly, the problem was in the middle layer.
These people are accustomed to deceive the superiors and deceive the subordinates. They are familiar with the tricks of self-interest and fraud in the past. Taking advantage of the current lack of officials in the Taishan Army, they actually started to make money through corruption below.
However, the final investigation results did not make Zhang Chong angry anymore. Except for two people who were found to have embezzled thousands of dollars, the others did not do anything illegal.
There are various possibilities here. Maybe these people have just become officials of his Taishan Army and want to wait and see what happens. Maybe these people really want to do things carefully, or they may even just be corrupt and illegal before they have time.
But Zhao Xin's chaos still made Zhang Chong wary of the entire township official.
Because of this investigation, Zhang Chong learned that these 231 township officials were really not good people.
In addition to a large part of them being the former Han Dynasty rural officials mentioned above, there are also some who are knights, and the proportion of them coming from farmers in the head of Guizhou is very small.
It's not that Zhang Chong has any prejudice against rangers. As far as the Taishan Army is concerned, many generals in the army are rangers. Isn't Dian Wei a good man?
But on the whole, rangers generally have a social spirit. These people have a strong ambition to improve their destiny and have certain social connections, but generally few of them are pure.
Not to mention rape, but at least the methods are quite spicy. These people will do anything to climb up.
This is determined by their living environment.
Therefore, in order to prevent the slightest change, Zhang Chong issued the new selection criteria for township officials that night.
Under this standard, those who were born from Lishe children and those who were disabled and retired soldiers in the army must account for 50% of the number, the old Han officials accounted for 30%, and the remaining 20%.
As soon as this order was issued, the northern region of Zhao State immediately followed it.
In this way, a new round of selection of township officials began in the northern part of Zhao State. This time, no one dared to neglect.
At present, the systems of the Taishan Army are not perfect and are mostly maintained by movement-style governance. But movement-style governance is also governance, and it is much better than the non-governance of the Han Dynasty.
(End of chapter)