I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 97: Power Envelops the Territory, Finally Exposed
In the following period, the dynasty began to issue appointment documents in large numbers, almost completely purging the officials in all the cities of the occupied territories.

Basically all the officials came from agricultural commune members.

The only exception is Wuchang in Weiyuan County, who is the only Ming Dynasty official to have served as a county magistrate.

Other officials, if they have not committed any crimes, embezzled or accepted bribes, and wish to serve in the People's Salvation Army.

Then let me join the agricultural cooperative first, become the village chief and manage a village. Once I have enough achievements, I will naturally have the opportunity to be promoted to a higher official position.

At least for now, before the dynasty establishes a better system of officials, all officials must be promoted in this way.

With the support of official positions, even illiterate ordinary farmers wouldn't encounter major problems.

It can be said that the extraordinary means of obtaining official positions and imperial status in the dynasty completely freed them from dependence on scholars and literati.

This model could only change once the dynasty stabilized the local areas and established other methods for selecting and recruiting officials.

Of course, the more likely scenario is that nothing will change.

Because of the existence of official positions, individual performance can be clearly recorded, and it is obvious who gets promoted and who gets demoted. The dynasty only needs to select from those with satisfactory performance.

If you can't even manage a village, how can you expect to manage a county, a prefecture, or even a province?

Moreover, when managing a village, even if a major mistake is made, the impact is limited to a small area.

In short, it would be extremely difficult to directly occupy a high position within the People's Salvation Army.

Of course, given the current momentum of the People's Salvation Army's development, promotion is still very easy, as there are plenty of vacant official positions, and a large number of lower-level officials could be promoted at any time.

If you have the ability, you can naturally get promoted quickly.

The most important factor was that the dynasty and the People's Salvation Army possessed the ability to suppress all resistance, forcing scholars and intellectuals to act according to the new rules and regulations.

As for the vast majority of ordinary people, they probably don't care much about these things.

For the vast majority of ordinary people, whoever can make their lives better is considered a benevolent and wise ruler.

Over the next ten days or so, the dynasty reorganized and reappointed all officials, soldiers, wealthy families, and other personnel in the newly occupied territories, thoroughly integrating them into a unified whole.

By November 20th of the seventh year of the Tianqi reign, the Salvation Army had completely achieved its previous strategic objectives, occupying Hezhou, Weiyuan County, Zhang County, Longxi, Ningyuan, and Tongwei, as well as the two prefectures and counties of Lintao and Gongchang.

After completely occupying these places, the dynasty began to manipulate spiritual power, spreading it outwards from the various cities, covering villages one by one, and eventually completely enveloping the territory.

Of course, covering such a large area inevitably dilutes the spiritual energy considerably, making it many times thinner than the newly generated acquired energy in the world.

However, with the replenishment of the spiritual power of the people in the territory, the concentration of spiritual power is also increasing rapidly, and it is believed that it will soon become rich again.

Along with this came a vast, bright yellow national fortune, which first enveloped the cities, then the villages, and finally the entire territory.

Unlike spiritual energy, national fortune is not evenly distributed; it varies in intensity.

Cities, with their large populations, naturally have a stronger and more abundant national fortune, while villages have a much weaker fortune, barely enveloping the entire village and radiating a very faint, bright yellow glow.

In the wilderness outside the village, there was only a thin, almost invisible layer that barely connected the entire territory.

Of course, the ruling party of the People's Salvation Army did not receive the support of everyone.

At least those numerous scholars and wealthy families whose homes had been ransacked were all filled with resentment and hatred towards the old militia, and all longed for the Ming army to come.

Needless to say, the wealthy families and their relatives lost their former privileged lives due to the People's Salvation Army.

As for those scholars and literati, aside from some who looked down on the current People's Salvation Army, thinking they were just a bunch of peasants and that the Ming Dynasty could quickly mobilize a large army to wipe them out once it realized what was happening, they were not.

More importantly, the fact that the People's Salvation Army did not require these scholars and intellectuals to govern hindered their path to advancement.

Moreover, in the territory of the People's Salvation Army, they did not have as many privileges as those in the Ming Dynasty. As long as they had a degree of Xiucai or above, they did not have to pay taxes at all.

In the territory of the People's Salvation Army, if you own land, you must pay taxes to me.

Moreover, a large amount of land has now been taken over by the People's Army and then rented out to the general public at 30% of the tax revenue.

Who else would cultivate those fields where at least 50% of the harvest is handed over, and which also have other miscellaneous taxes?
But as high-ranking scholars, they didn't know how to farm.

However, the People's Salvation Army will not reduce their land taxes.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to either lower interest rates or sell land.

If interest rates are to be lowered, then at least the same amount of taxes should be levied on the National Salvation Army.

Otherwise, no one would cultivate their fields.

However, when the People's Salvation Army collects taxes, they do not look at how much land rent they collect, but rather at how much land they own.

In other words, if they only collect 30% of the land rent, then all of it would have to be handed over to the People's Salvation Army.

This situation forced them to sell land, and the National Salvation Army stipulated that land could not be bought or sold privately; they could only sell it to the National Salvation Army at market price.

As a result, apart from farmers who originally owned land and ancestral homes and properties that were truly unsellable, very few individuals still owned land.

All of this, how could those scholar-officials and princes not hate it? They hated it to the core!

Faced with the military intimidation of the People's Salvation Army, they could only swallow their anger and silently endure the "strict" regulations of the People's Salvation Army, waiting for the Ming army to rescue them.

The presence of these wealthy families, gentry, and scholars created discordant patches of black and gray in the territory of the People's Salvation Army, which was supposed to overshadow the nation's fate.

From the perspective of spiritual power, the entire area occupied by the Salvation Army was shrouded in a bright yellow national fortune, sometimes light and sometimes dark.

Not to mention the wilderness, it was almost invisible.

In populated areas, cities are brighter, while villages are slightly darker.

However, within the city walls, where the national destiny was even stronger, there were numerous gray and black patches, making it appear disgusting and ugly.

In contrast, the rural areas, where the nation's fortunes are somewhat weaker, are incredibly pure, with almost no trace of grievances or resentment among the people.

As for the idea that they could also join the agricultural cooperative and become a village head, thus having a path to advancement, etc.
Isn't that an insult to them?
Who are they? They are scholars who have studied the classics, how could they do such manual labor? Fortunately, they were able to afford to study the classics, so they had some wealth, and with the proceeds from selling land, they could live a carefree life for a very long time.

Of course, not all scholars were wealthy. When they lost their privileges, their lives became even more difficult.

Faced with the choice between life and integrity, they ultimately chose life.

Of course, they didn't become village chiefs or work in the fields; they chose to teach in private schools.

The dynasty and the village chiefs not only did not suppress these people, but also provided them with strong support.

In the end, the dynasty simply made a grand gesture, recruiting teachers in various villages, towns, and cities to establish official schools, with the Salvation Army paying the teachers' salaries.

As for opening schools, it would consume a lot of money and resources.

Ah, the dynasty that had seized all the money and grain from the two prefectures and several counties was now worried about how to spend the gold and silver piled up in its treasury.

For the dynasty, these gold and silver were only money when they were spent; if they were piled up in the treasury, they were just some metals that were not very useful.

As for its ability to bear the fate of the nation, it seems to be of little use at present.

After all, the nation's fortunes are already quite limited, so there's no room for such reckless waste.

Next, in addition to recruiting and training soldiers, the Wang Chaos also recruited civilians to carry out large-scale construction projects, such as building roads and schools.

This not only allows many people to eat and live directly on the construction site, saving their own food, but also allows them to earn a considerable amount of money.

Ten coins a day, three hundred coins a month, and about one tael of silver in three months.

One tael of silver, if spent sparingly, is more than enough to cover the expenses of a family of three for a year.

For ordinary people who have nothing to do in the winter, this is like a windfall!

At the same time, roads, schools, and other infrastructure in the two prefectures and counties were also completed.

This can be described as a win-win situation.

Instead of rescuing the militia and providing porridge and disaster relief, they also built infrastructure in the two prefectures and counties.

This can be considered a form of work relief.

In an instant, the entire territory of the People's Salvation Army was filled with vitality.

People who were able to eat their fill and even receive ten coins a day began to smile, their sense of identity with the People's Salvation Army deepened, and the nation's fortunes gradually improved.

As roads were built, the nation's destiny unfolded in cities and villages, creating a series of bright yellow "roads".

However, the news of the rescue of the militia could no longer be kept secret, and the surrounding counties such as Ningyuan and Tongwei gradually received the news as well.

However, when they tried to report the news of the militia, they suddenly discovered that their superiors, Lintao Prefecture and Gongchang Prefecture, seemed to have completely lost contact.

At first, they didn't think of it as a potential collapse.

Just like Li County, which is adjacent to Ningyuan
Ning Wenyuan, the magistrate of Li County, paced back and forth in the main hall of the county government office, muttering to himself.

"These damned bandits have some nerve, daring to attack and occupy the county town! They're plotting a rebellion!"

After a while, County Magistrate Duan Jiawen rushed in from outside the main hall.

Upon seeing Duan Jiawen, Ning Wenyuan's eyes lit up. He stopped walking and eagerly stepped forward to ask her questions.

"How's it going? Have you made contact with Gongchang Prefecture yet?"

Duan Jiawen shook his head helplessly.

"My lord, our connection with Gongchang Prefecture has been completely severed by the rebels in Ningyuan County. We have no way to contact Gongchang Prefecture."
and"

Towards the end, Duan Jiawen's expression became somewhat solemn, and his tone became slightly hesitant.

"And what? Tell me."

"What time is it? Why are you still hesitating?"

Ning Wenyuan frowned and asked anxiously.

"It seems that Fuqiang County has also been occupied by the rebel army."

"What? How could this happen?"

Ning Wenyuan couldn't help but gasp in surprise, his voice even changing slightly.

"I have my doubts, I have my doubts."

What do you suspect?

Duan Jiawen gritted his teeth and finally voiced his guess.

"I suspect that the situation in Gongchang Prefecture may also be somewhat dire."

Otherwise, there would have been a reason for the lack of any activity in Gongchang Prefecture.”

"This this this"
How could this happen? How could this happen?

Ning Wenyuan muttered to himself, staggered back a few steps in a daze, and plopped down on the chair behind him, slumping weakly.

If something really happens in Gongchang Prefecture, it will be a truly earth-shattering incident.

Most importantly, if those rebels were able to capture Gongchang Prefecture without any news of it being reported, then...

Wouldn't a county town like his be easily taken over in a matter of days?

(End of this chapter)