With the official seals of these Qing officials and the letters they wrote, the Chu army easily controlled the thirteen prefectures and 63 counties of Xiang Province.
After taking control of these areas, the Chu army immediately began to raid the houses.
After more than half a month of looting, the Chu army had seized more than 30 million taels of silver!
It included the assets of these corrupt officials themselves, as well as their relatives and cliques.
In addition to the cash, the Chu army also counted a large amount of land, with a total area of more than 10 million mu, accounting for more than 20% of the total cultivated land in the entire Xiang Province!
Among them, the governor of Xiang Province was the one who embezzled the most. A total of 4 million taels of silver, 1.2 million mu of land, and a large number of shops and real estate were confiscated from his home.
The most exaggerated one was the county magistrate of Daozhou County, Yongzhou Prefecture. He was just a seventh-grade official, but he embezzled more than one million taels of silver and more than 400,000 mu of land. The amount was so large that even Zuo Zongtang himself was surprised!
"This bunch of bastards. It's good that they're greedy for money, but they don't know anything about governing the place and benefiting the people!”
Zuo Zongtang was an honest official and had a very bad impression of corrupt officials who took bribes.
In history, under the influence of Zuo Zongtang's style, the generals under the Chu army were also very honest. Many generals died with nothing left. They could not even afford the burial fees. Zuo Zongtang had to pay for them out of his own pocket.
Compared to Li Hongzhang and his Huai army, Zuo Zongtang and his Chu army could be regarded as a clean stream in the late Qing Dynasty.
However, Zuo Zongtang was also very happy that he had plundered such a large sum of money from them.
Therefore, he immediately wrote to Lin Yu and reported this matter to him. He also asked Lin Yu to go north.
When Lin Yu received Zuo Zongtang's message, he had already arrived at Hengzhou Prefecture.
When he learned that Zuo Zongtang had not only taken down the entire Xiang Province without bloodshed, but also obtained a huge sum of 30 million taels of silver from the officials of Xiang Province, Lin Yu was delighted.
"It seems that not only can Zuo Zongtang lead troops to war, but he is also good at investing and managing money!”
From the time Zuo Zongtang sent his troops to the Eastern Expedition until now, he had conquered a total of four provinces, including Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan.
Among them, Min Province and Gan Province had many mountains and few plains, so they did not have a large population and were relatively poor.
In these two places, the Chu army didn't get much profit. On average, a province could only get 10 million taels of silver.
However, the situation in the wealthy Zhejiang and Hunan provinces was very different!
Zhe Province had always been a land of fish and rice. Since the Song Dynasty, it had always been very rich.
Even though the population and economy had declined due to the influence of Taiping Country, it was still one of the wealthiest regions in the entire Celestial Empire. It was even comparable to Guangdong and Guangxi!
In Zhejiang Province, Zuo Zongtang seized nearly 40 million taels of silver and a large number of workshops, most of which were spinning workshops.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the largest foreign trade of China was raw silk and good tea. These two commodities were very popular in Europe. Every year, a large number of European ships came to Guangdong and Zhejiang to purchase goods.
By relying on the export of these things, China gradually accumulated hundreds of millions of taels of silver from the late Ming Dynasty, greatly increasing the circulation of silver in China. This made silver the main currency of China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Therefore, from a certain perspective, the value of the seized spinning factories and workshops was even higher than the 40 million taels of silver!
Although Xiang Province wasn't as rich as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, it was less affected by the Taiping Country's civil strife. In addition, the Xiang army had seized a large amount of silver and treasures from the war zone and sent them back to Xiang Province, making the economy of Xiang Province very prosperous. This was why Zuo Zongtang could steal 30 million taels of silver from here.
In this way, in just two months, Zuo Zongtang had brought him a huge income of at least 90 million taels of silver!
This sum of money allowed Lin Yu's many plans, including the expansion of the navy, the expansion of the army, the construction of new shipyards, the construction of railroads, roads, and other large-scale infrastructure, to be funded!
Therefore, he quickly led his troops to Xiang City, the capital of Xiang Province, and met up with Zuo Zongtang.
"Your Highness, this subordinate did not fail your mission and successfully seized the four provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hunan. All the money, food, and materials seized have been counted.”
Zuo Zongtang was very honest and did not hold back at all. He handed over all the cities he had conquered and the money, food, and materials he had collected to Lin Yu.
Lin Yu nodded and said,"Thank you for your hard work. I will send people to take over the government affairs of various places!"”
After conquering such a large territory, they had also captured all the officials of the Qing government in various places. This caused a large number of vacancies to appear in the official positions in these areas.
If they did not arrange for officials to take office as soon as possible, these places would probably become chaotic very soon.
"Your Highness, do you need me to lead troops to attack the Hanwu Palace in the north and Tianjing in the lower reaches?”
The administrative offices of the two provinces were not in Xiang City, but in Han City in the north.
Han City was an important city in the middle of the Yangtze River. It was also the first area where the Qing court opened up foreign trade.
In the late Qing Dynasty, Minister Zhang Zhidong built the famous Hanyang Arsenal and Hanyang Iron Plant in Seoul. The steel and rifles produced by these two factories were very famous in the later generations of China. The Hanyang rifle production had been active for decades until the Chinese 56 rifles were put into production.
The former capital of Taiping Country, Tianjing City, was the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties and the most important city in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
These two places were two important nodes on the Yangtze River. For generations, if they wanted to gain a foothold in the south and resist the threat of the north, they had to occupy these two cities.
In fact, they even had to think of a way to occupy Xiang City in E Province. Only then could they ensure their own safety and not be easily annihilated by the enemy!
Zuo Zongtang was familiar with the art of war and knew the importance of these two places better than anyone else.
Back then, when the Xiang army destroyed Taiping Country, there were two crucial battles. One was the battle for Wuchang House, and the other was the battle for Anqing House.
After these two battles ended, the Xiang Army had completely established their naval advantage on the Yangtze River. From there, they could drive straight in and quickly attack Tianjing City, making the Taiping Army completely passive and unable to resist. In the end, they were annihilated!
Therefore, in Zuo Zongtang's opinion, in order to avoid a similar lesson from the Han army in the future, they had to occupy these areas first and protect their core territory from being threatened!
After hearing Zuo Zongtang's suggestion, Lin Yu walked to the map and took a look.
These two regions were now in the hands of the Qing court and the Xiang army.
If they were to send troops, they would clash with both sides at the same time.
He wasn't worried that he wouldn't be able to defeat them on the battlefield. He was mainly worried that it would arouse their vigilance and fear, resulting in a butterfly effect.
If Zeng Guofan felt that the Han army was a greater threat and left the Qing court to attack them instead, it would be self-defeating.
At the thought of this, Lin Yu said," We'll attack the E Province first. Tianjing won't touch him for now. It won't be too late to wait until the situation in the north is clear!"”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。