Flying Clouds in Another World

Chapter 335: Imperial Decree to Massacre Ten Thousand People

"The officials are forcing the people to rebel! Is such a court really worth risking our lives to protect?"

After Liu Feiyun had a thorough understanding of the experiences of these barefoot prisoners, he felt not only miserable, sad and uneasy, but also confused.

These captives did not come from just one place, but from more than 60 counties in three states, nine counties, and more than 60 districts.

In other words, their experience was not unique to one state or one county, but was a common phenomenon.

Officials do not serve the people, but only seek promotion and wealth. This is the mentality of most officials in the corrupt Dachen Dynasty.

The situation of collusion between officials and businessmen, with the poor becoming poorer and the rich becoming richer, is even more difficult to reverse.

All people in the empire were divided into five major classes: nobility, gentry, commoners, untouchables, and slaves.

Under normal circumstances, civilians accounted for the largest proportion, followed by untouchables, then slaves, while nobles and gentry accounted for only a very small proportion.

The nobles are the masters and hold power.

The gentry either controlled wealth or managed the people on behalf of the nobles.

Commoners can create wealth and advance to the ranks of the gentry by studying and practicing martial arts. Although the chances of success are not high, there is always a path to upward mobility, even if the path is narrow and the hope is slim.

The untouchables were restricted in the occupations they could engage in. They could only do the dirtiest, most tiring jobs that no one was willing to do, and the government imposed many restrictions on them.

As for slaves, they were talking animals or property and were not considered human beings under the laws of the imperial court.

Slave owners like the Liu family who treat slaves as human beings can only be said to be outliers in this world, and they are extremely rare.

Nowadays, the proportion of slaves in the total population has probably already exceeded that of civilians!

Moreover, even among the common people, a considerable number of them became refugees, and their lives were not necessarily much better than those of slaves. Sooner or later, they would either become slaves of others, starve to death, or rebel to try to survive.

In the next few days, Liu Feiyun ordered the Zhenhuang Army to temporarily gather under the city of Hanchuan to rest and recuperate, while also guarding the hundreds of thousands of barefoot army prisoners.

After the reinforcements from various places plundered the meager belongings of the prisoners, they withdrew and returned to their homes.

After all, these troops were originally used to garrison in various places, and they also have to guard against new rioters appearing in their respective jurisdictions.

Looking at the government troops going away, the chief military official and the imperial nobles were moved:

"A county has at least 10,000 households, a prefecture has 100,000 households, and a state has 1 million households. The organization of the state, division, county, brigade, and battalion still seems too weak!"

"During the previous northern expedition, most of the northern states mobilized half of their troops, and they were the half with stronger combat power. Liangzhou was one of them!"

"Now, half of the troops who participated in the northern expedition have gone south to other states to quell rebellions. The remaining troops who stayed behind are too weak and there are not many of them. I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to control the local area."

"And the Imperial Guards also have to guard Tiandu and the border fortresses, so they can't spare too many troops to quell the rebellion!"

"Perhaps, His Majesty will delegate military power, allow local forces to expand, and let each region quell the rebellion on its own!"

After listening to He Chaogui's words, Liu Feiyun recalled a plot from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the four great classics of another time and space:

During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the emperor allowed the localities to expand their own armies to quell the rebellion, but he also let the localities solve the problem of material and money by themselves. As a result, the local gentry families took advantage of the situation and the rebellion became more and more serious!

During the Taiping Rebellion in the late Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners and the Green Camp were unable to fight, and the Qing government also allowed officials to organize their own militia to quell the rebellion. As a result, the Hunan Army and the Huai Army also took advantage of the situation.

Liu Feiyun sighed softly: "If Your Majesty really does this, I'm afraid... I'm afraid... it will only make the situation worse."

A few days later, the two imperial edicts finally arrived.

One copy was issued to the public, and just as He Chaogui had expected, the emperor allowed each locality to increase its military establishment by one level.

Each state has a state army, which is led by the state governor and commanded by the state lieutenant.

The county had a county teacher, who was led by the governor and commanded by the county lieutenant.

The county had a county militia brigade, and the prefecture had a local militia division, which were led by the county magistrate or prefect and commanded by the county lieutenant or prefectural lieutenant.

Of course, these local armies are not fully staffed. Each place sets its actual staffing based on its own population and wealth, as long as it is not overstaffed.

Troops at all levels can only quell riots within their own jurisdiction and are not allowed to cross borders to fight without authorization.

"What's supposed to come has finally come! The great chaos! It's really about to begin!"

Liu Feiyun thought.

The other imperial edict was given only to Liu Feiyun, and it contained two main contents.

One was to agree to expand the Zhenhuang Army from 13 brigades with 50,000 people to 17 brigades with nearly 60,000 people.

One was to execute all the hundreds of thousands of barefoot army prisoners under Hanchuan City on the spot in order to deter the rebellious armies across the country.

Ever since Liu Feiyun gained a deep understanding of the barefoot soldiers' captives, he was no longer very enthusiastic about expanding the Zhenhuang Army.

Now that he has received the emperor's order to massacre him, he is even more disheartened:

Hundreds of thousands of people, are they going to die just because of a thought of your Emperor Gu Huairen?

They are not the barbarians of the Northern Wilderness, nor are they cannibalistic beasts. They rebelled for a reason, so how can they be killed? Can't they be given a chance to live?

Liu Feiyun knelt on the ground in a daze, and was reluctant to stand up to receive the order.

"General Liu! What do you mean?"

The eunuch who delivered the imperial edict asked with some displeasure.

"Eunuch! I'm sorry Liu Feiyun doesn't dare to accept this order!"

"Why?"

"Is it really your Majesty's own idea to execute hundreds of thousands of criminals? These are hundreds of thousands of lives!"

"Hundreds of thousands of lives!? Commander Liu, you shouldn't say that! A few months ago, weren't those hundreds of thousands of barbarians killed by your army? Why are you showing mercy now?"

"But now is different from the time in the Northern Wilderness!"

"Different? What's the difference? They are all enemies of the Great Chen court! Or, General Liu, do you want to disobey the order?"

"Feiyun doesn't dare! But, Feiyun really can't do the thing of executing hundreds of thousands of criminals! After all, they are the people of Dachen, the subjects of your majesty! Even if they have committed a serious crime, the worst that can happen is that they will be demoted to slaves, so why bother..."

"That's enough! Commander Liu! I'm just a messenger. If you have anything to say, you can write to His Majesty to explain. But now, if you disobey the order, it will be a crime of treason! Will you accept this imperial edict or not?"

"I...I'm sorry I can't obey you!"

"How dare you! Liu Feiyun! You really have lost your mind! Don't think that just because you have won a few battles and are your majesty's junior fellow student in the Academy of Literature, you can be arrogant and do whatever you want! You have to think clearly! If you don't accept the order, it will be treason!"

"I dare not commit treason, but please reply to Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please think twice! Give these hundreds of thousands of criminals a way out!"

"In that case, we can only put you in jail first and wait for His Majesty's decision! Someone, come! Take Liu Feiyun to jail!"

The eunuch who delivered the imperial eunuch's decree looked increasingly unsightly, and finally he directly ordered to arrest Liu Feiyun.