Chapter 611: Disposal of Captives

For the slave merchants in Huazhou, the most valuable slaves were not Korean slaves, let alone those natives in South China, but Han people. Among the most severe punishments in Huazhou, the first one was of course the death penalty, and the second one was the confiscation of slaves. It was called a death penalty and a life penalty was hard to spare.

Although the Han people were very small in number, they had excellent production skills and were also in line with the language of slave owners. In many cases, as slaves, they played a role that was equivalent to free people, especially those who wanted slaves in various parts of Asia.

However, only Huazhou can convict the Han people as slaves. If other places are found to drive the Han people as slaves without authorization, there is no room for them to be executed or the whole family will be turned into slaves. This is the iron law of Huazhou.

Currently, the Ming army captured nearly 70,000 prisoners in Liao Town, and consumed food and supplies every day. The disposal of these people also caused a headache for the Huazhou Center. Most of these people were garrisons in Shanhaiguan and soldiers from Jizhen. These people could not be driven back to the local area like the soldiers in Liao Town.

If these people are scattered in the area, they will only become bandits and guerrillas. If they are driven back to the pass, they will soon be armed by the Ming court. Wouldn't this add unnecessary trouble to themselves?

These slave merchants are very close to the military and political circles of Huazhou. They naturally have a clear understanding of this kind of thing. They know that Huazhou is currently doing the totem for these prisoners, and they don’t know how to deal with it. So many prisoners and so many young and strong laborers are like gold coins piled in Liao Town, which makes people lose their eyes.

I immediately rushed forward and asked to sell these prisoners to slave merchants for his contributions to Huazhou for so many years. On the one hand, it was to shock the Ming army in the pass, and on the other hand, it was to solve a headache for Huazhou. Isn’t it a good thing to kill two birds with one stone?

Slave merchants all have an obligation, which is to use their own ships and armed forces to join the Huazhou Navy when they need it, and even in normal times, they still have the task of collecting intelligence and transporting spies, which is a semi-official force.

In fact, Huazhou used private money to raise soldiers. These sea slave merchants were actually pirates who defected to Huazhou back then. Some people were not suitable for the navy with strict military discipline. Do they have any skills in doing business? Huazhou cannot give up their combat power, so they all came to be this slave merchant. They went to the grassland and the north to hunt grass valley every year outside the pass. The guards who plundered people and livestock were of the same nature. Of course, Huazhou originally had a saying that the slave merchants were the marine guards of Huazhou.

These people came to the door and said that the center wanted to consider selling the Ming army prisoners outside the pass to themselves. Liu Shunhua, the chief assistant of Huazhou, knew in his heart that if the Ming army outside the pass became slaves, Huazhou could earn a large amount of money. Although Huazhou does not lack the cost of war at present, at this time, the army's old foundation accumulated in previous years was spent on its battles, and the income was a supplement.

But on the other hand, if the Ming army really became a slave, then there would be no smoother battle in the pass. When the Ming army faced the Huazhou army, it would only fight to the death, but it could only fight to the death. Although it was not a good treatment for military households, these half serfs were always better than slaves like beasts.

Moreover, Huazhou was also a strange force in the Ming Dynasty. Although local gentry and merchants had a good impression of the rumored policies, these were all in legends. If Huazhou did this, it would probably be immediately equated with barbarians like Mongolian Tartars, which would be a big trouble.

It is also a problem to reject slave merchants outside. The people outside have some military backgrounds, and some of the children, nephews and relatives directly work in the yamen of Huazhou, Yizhou outside the pass. As the chief minister of Huazhou, they are actually the prime minister. They can't make too many enemies at once, especially they can't get involved in military affairs.

Liu Shunhua was a high-ranking official who had been in the dark Ming Dynasty officialdom for many years. He knew that although he was the father-in-law of Wang Jiangfeng of Huazhou, he could not talk about any kind of family affection and friendship at this position. This shows that Sima outside the door was engaged in blatant surveillance with the personal military camp.

To deal with this, you must be more cautious. In the future, the army will enter the pass, and this kind of dealing with prisoners will continue to happen. You cannot make a rash decision. Liu Shunhua wrote his many considerations into a copy and sent a fast horse to the current military center Liaoyang, waiting for the disposal of Jiang Feng and his senior officers.

Of course, this move cannot be told to the slave merchants below that these people don’t know the secrets of the officialdom at all. If you ask Jiang Feng for this matter here, they can understand that your Huazhou chief assistant Liu Shunhua can’t do anything, and you won’t have to look for you in the future. If you make such a big fuss, you won’t have to do anything in the future.

The fast horses were passed on, and the sturdy horses were prepared along the way, and the speed was very fast. After Liu Shunhua's documents were brought to Jiang Feng's hands, they were highly valued.

So many prisoners were also a headache for Jiang Feng. It seemed that they were almost 100,000 yuan in strong laborers, but the military's civilians could not let them do it, for fear that there would be any problems. Then, they would have to work hard to suppress. Most of the Ming army in Guangning were soldiers from Jizhen and could not be assigned to the local area as civilians.

At present, the food and grass consumed by these prisoners are still the spoils seized by Guangning and the surrounding garrisons after they were defeated, so the Huazhou army has not yet been spent, but it seems that it will not take too long.

Seeing Liu Shunhua telling his own concerns, Jiang Feng also deeply agreed. The problem of his current headache was not about marching and fighting, but about this kind of people's livelihood politics. Before the war with the Ming Dynasty, everyone in Huazhou was trembling, fearing that one step would lead to a mistake and would be doomed.

In today's situation, even the most cautious strategist Liu Shier was extremely optimistic. Huazhou can at least maintain Liao Town, with Shanhaiguan as a barrier and sea warships as support. It was impossible for the Ming army to connect to the grassland through the downloaded Liaoxi Corridor, Liao Town, Huazhou, and outside the pass. The population resources of such a large land have been firmly controlled by Huazhou.

This scale is already half a Ming Dynasty. Nothing can be done or where to go.

Moreover, the advantages of the army made everyone in Huazhou feel more confident. In the battle between Shuanggouhe and Guangning Ming Army, there was a big victory in the end, but several officers who were commanding in the front, including Liu Shisan, the chief general of the vanguard army, were summoned back to Liaoyang and were severely scolded.

The most powerful lesson was Liu Shier. He was even more merciless to his younger brother. Although it was a great victory, he would never give me credit. Why? It was because the battle was actually too bad, and there were huge problems in terms of the deployment of the troops or the decision at the last minute.

The two thousand cavalrymen who were able to win this station were of great significance. It was precisely because of the bravery of the two thousand cavalrymen who came from the guards that they saved the Huazhou army at the critical moment. The command of the officers can be said to be extremely bad.

But then again, if you can still win such a big victory by fighting so badly, you can imagine how different the military strength of the two sides has reached. It is not surprising that such a huge advantage has such strong confidence before. It is not surprising that it is not a problem for the military to have such strong confidence. It is not a matter of military concern, and always moves from victory to victory. Jiang Feng's focus has been on things outside the military, such as how to deal with the prisoners this time.

The only confidant advisers and generals around him were Liu Shier, Zhao Yangfan (Zhao Xiucai), Luo Yi, Zhang Liang and Yangda, who were all responsible for the strategy of the Ming Dynasty in front.

When these people were gathered together to discuss, everyone was also worried. Zhao Yangfan's own position was getting higher and higher. From a destitute scholar who was used as bait in Tianjin Weiren City, he became a treasurer in Huazhou, equivalent to the six ministers of the Ming Dynasty. This was already the peak of civil servants.

After the changes in status and the changes in the world and the changes in the world, Zhao Yangfan became more and more taciturn. Liu Shier was proficient in military politics and was not good at economics. Luo Yi was originally a military general of the inner guard and had no idea about how to deal with the prisoners, but these three people all proposed things that they could not do.

Huazhou Treasurer Zhao Yangfan (Zhao Xiucai) said that he could not continue to let these surrendered soldiers have to eat for nothing, otherwise his own food and grass would have problems. Luo Yi said that the personal military camp has already started the training of all the capable military personnel in various civil and military service, but it is still a bit difficult to control these surrendered soldiers. Liu Shier said that he could not kill or expel these Ming troops, otherwise there would be great resistance after entering the pass in the future.

This is actually a judgment made by various departments in Huazhou to protect their own interests. The slave merchants did not consider Huazhou at all. They just thought of making money. Jiang Feng listened absent-mindedly to the arguments of these people, and sighed a little depressedly, but inexplicably thought about what he learned in political class that year: everyone under the private ownership is considering himself, and that is still thinking about the collective.
Chapter completed!