Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 210 Jinling City (2)

More than a hundred horse-drawn carriages drove into Jinling City like a long dragon, with the sound of horse hooves. Nearly a thousand soldiers and horses were guarding them, with flags flying, and the scene was solemn and majestic.

Sitting in the carriage were Madam Zhou and sixty-two daughters of the gentry. They were dressed in gorgeous clothes and had pretty faces. The curtains of the carriage fluttered in the wind, occasionally revealing the figures of people inside the carriage, attracting the attention of passers-by.

"Old lady, please get off the carriage slowly." After receiving the news that the old lady was coming to Jinling, Meng Bian rushed to the carriage as soon as possible and helped the old lady get off the carriage personally.

"Madam, the king is not in the palace at the moment," Meng Bian replied respectfully.

"It doesn't matter. He has important things to do and he can take care of them first. I never thought that my son would accomplish such a great thing." Old Lady Zhou looked at the huge palace and couldn't help but sigh.

Meng Bian felt a headache when he saw so many women getting off the carriage and standing aside, but he did not dare to neglect them and could only bite the bullet and bring these women into the mansion.

These women came from different places, some were from famous families, some were beautiful girls from ordinary families, each with their own unique characteristics, making people dazzled. Meng Bian took great pains to settle them down one by one.

Yang En and his subordinates from the Governor's Office arrived in Jinling earlier than the old lady and others. Meng Jun went to greet Yang En in person.

Meng Jun smiled and held Yang En's hand and said, "Haha, my best talent is here. I've been waiting for a long time!"

Yang En responded modestly: "Your Majesty, you are too kind. I am just an average person. If it weren't for your appreciation and promotion, I would have been buried long ago."

Meng Jun patted Yang En on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Don't be so modest. I know your ability. Now that we have taken Nanjing, things are different now. I am not worried about the military for the time being. I just hope that you can restore the vitality of Nanjing as soon as possible, connect this southeastern land, make politics clear, and support the army with the people."

Yang En was filled with gratitude and said quickly: "Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty! I will do my best to live up to your trust!"

After taking Nanjing, although the wars continued in other places, the Qing army was not absolutely sure of the current situation and did not dare to attack Meng Jun easily. Meng Jun barely had time to sort out government affairs.

The killing by the Qing army in the Jiangnan area destroyed many cities, such as Jiangyin, Kunshan, Jiading, Songjiang, etc. Although these cities were no longer prosperous, most of the officials and gentry who monopolized the land died or fled, and a large number of ownerless fields were used as official fields.

After Yang En and others gathered, Meng Jun convened a meeting of counselors in the Governor-General's Office in Nanjing. During the meeting, Meng Jun put forward a series of reform plans. First, the name of the Governor-General's Office was changed to the Shogunate. At the same time, the Inspection Department, the Craftsman Department, and the Commercial Department were expanded. He also decided to establish a Military Academy.

During the meeting, Meng Jun decided to distribute these ownerless fields to the martyrs' families based on their military merits, and these fields would enjoy five years of tax exemption.

Almost all problems throughout the dynasties can be attributed to one thing, that is the land issue. This is an extremely difficult problem that many talented people cannot solve. Meng Jun knew that with the current level of productivity, he could not solve it either. He could only make some careful attempts on the land issue.

As the director of the Ministry of Personnel, Yang En's practical ability has been commendable in the past few years of experience. He has integrated officials at all levels of the Governor's Office, which has gradually led to the recovery of social productivity in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places. As for some of Meng Jun's new policies, such as encouraging industry and commerce, improving the status of soldiers and craftsmen, and opening up new schools, Yang En has followed in Meng Jun's footsteps. Although these measures are completely contrary to the traditional concepts of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, controlling the military with civil servants, viewing craftsmen as lowly occupations, and selecting talents through the eight-legged essay, etc.

The Director of the Civil Affairs Department was promoted by Yang En. His name was Li Weita. He was born a minor official, but he had extraordinary insight and was extremely sensitive to matters such as taxation. During his tenure, he made great contributions to raising military pay for Meng Jun.

The Department of Justice is an independent judicial institution, responsible for making judgments, discussing crimes, and handling prisons. The person in charge of the Department of Justice must be an impartial person. After much deliberation, Meng Jun transferred Wu Jinkun from the Military Law Department of the army to serve as the Secretary for Justice.

At the same time, Meng Jun decided at the meeting to establish a new department, called the Inspectorate Department. As the name suggests, it is the supervisory system of the shogunate, and Meng Jun intends to appoint Chen Zilong as the director.

As for the Jiangxin Division, it is a new technology research and development organization composed of craftsmen with special skills. Meng Jun has already issued an order to transfer Liu Guaizi from Zhoushan back to Nanjing to serve as the director. Meng Jun has a lot of things he wants to make, but on the one hand he has no time, and on the other hand he himself only has a vague understanding of them. For example, as for cement, Meng Jun only knows that lime powder seems to be used, but as for how to turn lime powder into cement, he doesn't know, and can only let the craftsmen slowly explore. As for the hydraulic drill barrel, etc., Meng Jun can only say a few things about these, but he doesn't know how to make them specifically.

At the meeting, Meng Jun ordered the Propaganda Department to send people with a large number of newspapers and periodicals, starting from Jiangnan and spreading to various parts of the south. They would secretly sneak into various places and publish newspapers that were personally polished by Gu Yanwu, with great fanfare about the victory of the army, the capture of Nanjing, and the destruction of Lekedehun. They would then secretly spread the news to Jiangxi, Huguang, Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other places.

Meng Jun decided to establish the Jinling Military Academy in Jinling City. He hoped that through this academy, he could integrate the war examples that he and other generals had personally experienced with the military concepts accumulated by various dynasties in history, and pass them on to young students or outstanding soldiers in the army. Meng Jun hoped that in the future this place would breed military talents and become a cradle of pillars of society.

The Department of Commerce was the department that Meng Jun decided to set up after his initial failure in opening up the sea. Meng Jun had never forgotten the threat from those maritime merchants, but Nanjing was just beginning to settle down, and the Department of Commerce that Meng Jun had set up was only for the purpose of allocating materials and conducting commercial exchanges among various places. The time was not yet ripe for opening up the sea.

The meeting lasted until late at night. Meng Jun's military group was a new group. The enthusiasm from top to bottom was completely incomparable to those bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty. Every order was issued from Nanjing and implemented in various places. The process was carried out from morning till night without any delay.

As the editor-in-chief of the Propaganda Department, Gu Yanwu was full of energy. Meng Jun only asked the Propaganda Department to spread the news to the south, but after Gu Yanwu and Wu Tai discussed it, they all agreed that they should not be so cautious, but should expand their pace, not only to the south, but also to the north. Moreover, they should not only spread propaganda, but also secretly contact anti-Qing patriots and develop underground armed forces for the future.