On the twelfth day of the first lunar month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Zhun returned to Fushan City.

At this time, Fushan City was already a storm that was about to come and the wind filled the building. The imperial edict from the court had been sent to various places, and the people in Fushan City naturally knew about it. Of course, the people in the Aoshanwei area had no favoritism. They originally agreed that Zhang Zhun was a thief, and the imperial edict from the court was just a formal determination of Zhang Zhun's identity as a thief. It was purely taking off his pants and farting, and it was a waste of time.

However, in Lingshanwei, many people are talking about this matter. The biggest difference between the people of Lingshanwei and the people of Aoshanwei is that they still lack the courage to win more rights and interests for themselves. Originally, some people have tried to imitate Aoshanwei and implement the policy of dividing land in Lingshanwei. However, after the imperial edict was issued, these people gave up again. They should work honestly in the farm.

"Master, in the few days after you left, all the old people have come." Ji Yuqing said to Zhang Zhun tactfully.

"Well, I understand." Zhang Zhun nodded and said calmly.

The imperial edict from the court announced that Yang Kaide, Chen Guoxi, Mao Shunjiang, Huang Qingping, Meng Qinghao, Shi Zhenshan and others from Aoshan City could not sit still and came to Ziyuan one after another to ask Zhang Zhun what to do. These old people followed Zhang Zhun on this difficult road. Zhang Zhun was not on his territory, and they always felt uneasy.

Zhang Zhun immediately convened all the backbone of Shengxia Sect to have a meeting.

Except for Zhou Zhengyu, Fang He, Liu Dong and others who were staying in Yuzhou Mountain, all the other backbones of the Xia Sect were here.

After almost half a year of development, the members of Shengxia Sect have increased from more than 30 to about 200 now, including more than 50 backbones. These backbones cover all walks of life, most of which are backbones of the army.

"Mo Yu, explain the content of the edict from beginning to end."

At the meeting, Zhang Zhun said calmly.

"clear!"

Mo Yu immediately explained it in vernacular according to the content of the edict.

In fact, there is not much difficulty in interpreting the edict, but Zhang Zhun needs to interpret it according to his own wishes. What does Zhang Zhun mean? Of course, the court wants to kill all of us, and we all have no way out. If we want to survive, we can only show greater motivation and work with the court to the end. If anyone turns against the law in the middle, there will definitely be no good results.

After listening to Mo Yu's interpretation, all the backbone of the Xia clan below looked solemn. The edict was drafted by the emperor and there was no possibility of change. In other words, Zhang Zhun's identity as a thief was settled. Zhang Zhun's thief was settled, and those who followed Zhang Zhun naturally also settled as a thief. After the edict was issued, it was the imperial criminal of the court. Well, at that time, the title of Qin criminal was still relatively stressed. For a moment, everyone was silent.

Zhang Zhun looked at everyone, his eyes were shining, his face was cold, and he said calmly: "I believe that when you followed me to do something, you already knew what I was going to do. So, now, I don't make too much explanation. Now I want to emphasize that the court is not scary. What can a garbage edict do for? We are not afraid of the imperial army in Shandong! Kill one thousand and kill one thousand, and kill ten thousand!"

"What we have to do now is to show greater momentum, produce more food, produce more weapons, produce more warships, and arm more troops! As long as we have territory, money, food, weapons, and soldiers on our hands, what are we worried about? The court has Tartars in the northeast and Shaanxi's uprising army in the Central Plains. These two fires have not been extinguished. How many people can the court send to deal with us? So, there is no need to panic! On the contrary, now is a good opportunity for us to launch a large-scale attack!"

"We have been in the territory of Aoshanwei for a long time! Now, we have to take the initiative to launch an attack! My first step is to completely occupy the entire Laizhou Prefecture! Didn't the court say that we are rebels? We must look like rebels! If we don't even have a place in the palace, we will be ashamed of the title of rebels! So, now, I announce that we will march towards Laizhou Prefecture immediately!"

Mao Shunjiang shouted excitedly: "Sir, no matter what the outside is doing, in short, we will follow you."

Chen Guoxi and others shouted, "That's right, let's follow the adults!"

Those backbones from the military system shouted loudly: "Advance towards Laizhou Prefecture!"

Only Wang Mingyu, Liu Hang, Liu Baoyu, Yang Liren, Hou Shanping and other internal affairs backbones were quite worried. They were not dissatisfied with the march towards Laizhou Prefecture, but were a little worried that after taking over Laizhou Prefecture, their power was not enough to manage the huge Laizhou Prefecture. It should be noted that under the rule of Laizhou Prefecture, there are five counties, including Ye County, Changyi, Wei County, Gaomi, Jimo, and two prefectures, Jiaozhou and Pingdu Prefecture, with a total population of more than 800,000!

In terms of image, Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei are actually the territory of two counties. Now, Zhang Zhun wants to expand his territory to more than nine counties in one breath, and the difficulty of governance is really great. The biggest flaw is of course that Zhang Zhun and they are both military families and do not have many cultural people around them. When fighting, it is okay to be illiterate, so just follow the superiors. What is required to cut people's heads is strength, not to read and recognize words. However, it is not okay to manage internal affairs and not to be illiterate. Is Zhang Haogu in the court?

Zhang Zhun waved his hand calmly, let everyone return to peace, and said slowly: "Now, I announce a few orders, and I hope everyone can help implement them."

The first order, of course, unify the thinking.

Every member of the Shengxia Sect must play the role of a pillar and firmly guide the main ideological trend. It is actually a good thing that the imperial edict of the court came at this time. The edict announced Zhang Zhun’s identity to the whole world. That’s right, Zhang Zhun’s current identity is a thief. Those who are willing to follow Zhang Zhun and continue to follow him. Those who are unwilling to follow Zhang Zhun and find another way out. In front of the edict, there is no possibility of being a fence-bearer.

The second order was to formally announce it to form an alliance with the Shaanxi Uprising Army.

Since they are all rebels, of course it is necessary to unite and deal with the court together. No matter what happens in the future, they must stand on the same front now. The old saying goes, you are willing to sacrifice yourself and dare to take down the emperor. What the rebel army has to do is this. However, Zhang Zhun did not declare himself the 37th battalion of the rebel army, nor did he accept the nickname "Yu Jiaolong". Strategically, the two sides can form an alliance, but in actual actions, the two sides have almost no intersection.

The third order is of course to expand the army and prepare for war.

The imperial court's butcher's knife was raised all of a sudden, and the Hu Ben Army could not show weakness. Therefore, Zhang Zhun announced that the original armed forces, guerrillas, and soldiers from the recruit training camp would be added to the Hu Ben Army, and three other associations were established, including the eighth, ninth, and tenth. The commanders were Peng Bo, Zou Mingjia, and Zhang Lingyun. The troops in each association were still 250 soldiers, and the officers were not included.

After further expansion, the Hu Ben Army had a total of ten soldiers, with a total of about 3,000 troops. Zhang Zhun's basic strategic deployment was to deploy one army in each county, and the other army was the battle reserve team. In addition, the Artillery Association also expanded from the original two squads to five squads, with a total of 250 soldiers. The number of flying dragon cannons increased to 25. The Artillery Association was also a battle reserve team, assisting the main force of the Hu Ben Army in combat.

"Since it's a thief!"

"Then you have to rebel to the end!"

"We will march towards all parts of Laizhou Prefecture right away!"

Zhang Zhun said calmly.

The war machine of the Hu Ben Army started to operate quickly.

All combat troops gathered around Jimo and Jiaozhou and could set off at any time.

For a time, Jimo, Jiaozhou and other places were in a panic, and local wealthy families fled one after another. Everyone knew that Zhang Zhun was going to make a big move. This time, it was definitely not scary. If Zhang Zhun came, they would definitely not have any good results. Especially the edict had already clarified Zhang Zhun's identity as a rebel. Zhang Zhun had to give up and would definitely start a massacre.

On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, Ma Yi hurried to Zhang Zhun, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and reported: "Sir, these are the preliminary list we have compiled."

Brigadier General Zhang took the list and praised him and said, "Okay! Well done! Thank you for your hard work!"

For Zhang Zhun, it is not difficult to occupy Laizhou Prefecture from a military perspective. The problem is how to implement effective control after military occupation. Among them, land reform is the key among the key. For the support of the vast majority of poor peasants, land reform is definitely a big killer. This trick has been tried and proved repeatedly on China's land, and historical facts have been repeatedly proved. Therefore, after the Hu Ben Army controlled Laizhou Prefecture, the first thing to implement is a comprehensive land reform.

The problem now is that the structures of the counties in Laizhou Prefecture are different from those in Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei. Most of the five counties and two prefectures in Laizhou Prefecture live in households, and their land composition is completely different from that in Aoshanwei. The local social situation is also relatively complex. These complex problems cannot be solved simply by force.

In addition, the treatment of landlords cannot be done in one-size-fits-all ways. Some of the local landlords and gentry are relatively enlightened, unlike the officers of the garrison. These people should try their best to fight for them instead of pushing them to the enemy. If they fight for them, their strength will grow a little. Push them to the enemy, and their strength will grow a little. Therefore, an undifferentiated massacre will not work here.

Zhang Zhun, who came from later generations, knew very well that at any time, the gentry collective was the elite of a country. Perhaps later generations mentioned the word elite and looked at some contemptuously, but in the late Ming Dynasty, the word elite was still a compliment. At that time, the gentry collective included all cultural people. It would definitely not be possible to govern the country without cultural people. If they did not receive the support of these people, it would be impossible to govern the country.

Li Zicheng's failure was to accidentally push all this group to his opposite. If Li Zicheng implemented the strategy of winning over a group of gentry groups, neutralize one group, and massacre one group, he would definitely be able to gain a foothold. After the Qing Dynasty entered the pass, wasn't this the strategy implemented? Those who dared to resist would be killed. Anyone who surrendered would be reused. As a result, while fighting and winning over, the entire group of gentry groups of Ming Dynasty quickly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

Zhang Zhun's slogan of rebellion was very loud and he valued the interests of the peasants. In fact, he also knew that it was completely fine to pull a group of military households to kill and kill people and fight, but it would be impossible to govern a region or even a country. Governing Aoshanwei and Lingshanwei was already the limit of Wang Mingyu, Liu Hang and others. If you want to expand further, you must get the support of the gentry group. Otherwise, there would be only destruction and no construction.

There is no need for any culture to kill people in war, just fuck you up and cut them down. The governance of internal affairs is completely different. Without cultural people, that is absolutely not possible. Governance and fighting are completely different. Later generations often say that Li Zicheng was a bandit and Huang Chao was a bandit. He did not want to build a base, but only wanted to destroy it. In fact, do they really want to? It’s not that they don’t want to, but that’s impossible! Without cultural people, how do you build a base?

Zhang Zhun did not want to be Li Zicheng. If you want to build a strong base, you must appoint officials to maintain the effective operation of the local government. However, in his hands, there are not so many talents, especially those with culture. Well, Zhang Zhun’s requirements are not high, but at least you have to recognize words, right? You must be able to write the most basic list and notice, right? The meaning of the superior must be implemented, and it is not enough to rely on your words alone.

In fact, Zhang Zhun does not need a large number of cultural people, as one hundred is enough. Laizhou Prefecture needs a group of about thirty, about thirty, and each of them needs about ten people. Considering that some old officials may surrender to him by then, this number can be discounted. However, no matter how much the discount is, dozens of people still need it.

Therefore, Zhang Zhun had to find some useful personnel from all over the place. They must have certain talents and may work for the Hu Ben Army. To be honest, it is difficult to find such people. I heard that Zhang Zhun was coming, and basically all the cultural people ran away. There was no way, so Zhang Zhun had to let Ma Yi's intelligence department find a list of personnel through various channels. At that time, the Hu Ben Army would be targeted and arrest people according to the name. Well, if you said it wrong, it was to ask someone, and "invited" them with full armed forces, and then entrusted with important tasks.

The lists Ma Yi handed over are exactly the list of people who meet Zhang Zhun's requirements. Well, maybe this list should be called a blacklist. Because if the people on the list do not run away in time before the arrival of the Hu Ben Army, they will all fall into the Hu Ben Army's big net.

"Liu Guangxin, Tian Feng, Lei Yuan, Pu Rongsheng, Chen Lieshu, Wang Donghua, Xu Xinyu..."
Chapter completed!