Half a day later, the Yangzhou merchants obediently handed over the silver to Zhu Youlang.

All of them add up to 6,730,000 taels, which is more than Zhu Youlang expected.

Originally, Zhu Youlang thought that it would be very good for these businessmen to donate five million taels of silver, but he didn't expect them to donate six million or seven hundred and thirty thousand taels so hard!

Of course, this silver could not be all the wealth of these merchants, but Zhu Youlang felt that their sincerity was enough.

He also didn't want to do the thing of killing chickens and taking eggs. After all, in this way, the merchants in other places will definitely have resistance and desperately help the Qing army attack the Ming army.

The result is a win-win.

In the past two years, the Tiger Ben Army has been expanding.

The population density of Nanzhili is extremely high, and the quality of the soldiers that can be recruited will be higher than that of other places.

Zhu Youlang hoped to recruit 20,000 troops in Nanzhili, so that the number of the entire Tiger Ben army would reach 50,000.

This also means that the number of pro-troops that Zhu Youlang can directly command is no less than that of Li Dingguo, Zheng Chenggong, Li Laiheng and others.

This is very important for Zhu Youlang.

Although he knew that these courtiers and generals were very loyal, it was difficult to ensure that some of them had wrong thoughts in the array.

If these people are always pouting at the ears of Li Dingguo and others, what if one day they really have the idea of replacing them?

It's not entirely impossible.

Zhu Youlang still has to take precautions and plan early.

The yellow robe added to this kind of thing, Zhao Da was also very sudden at that time, didn't he finally get off the donkey and become the emperor?

But if Zhu Youlang had an army under him that was on par with the generals, it would be different.

Those careerists also have to think carefully about the cost of rebellion, if the cost and risk of rebellion are too high, maybe they will not take action.

Putting these aside, Zhu Youlang also felt that the military system before the Ming Dynasty was very unreasonable.

After Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he single-handedly founded the health system.

Soldiers work as farmers in peacetime and as soldiers in wartime.

It looks very reasonable, very much like the government military system in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

But on closer analysis, that's not the case at all.

The soldiers of the Sui and Tang dynasties took turns to enter Beijing to defend the Beijing division, and they were relatively free at other times.

Moreover, the status of the government soldiers in the Sui and Tang dynasties was very high, and they were not at all as miserable as the tenant farmers of the Ming Dynasty, who were eventually reduced to officers.

And Lao Tzu is a guard, and his son must also be, so there is no possibility of changing careers.

You can't run, once you run, you're a fugitive, and as long as you get caught, you'll be hanged according to military regulations.

Under this deformed system, the combat effectiveness of the first generation of guards may be good, but from the second and third generations onwards, it will decline sharply.

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was no essential difference between the guards and the Hanako.

This is why in the Jiajing period, tens of thousands of guards were chased by hundreds or thousands of pirates.

It's not that they don't want to fight, it's that their ability really doesn't allow it.

Later, Qi Jiguang, including the border army, took the road of recruitment.

This can solve a temporary need, but it is not a reasonable model.

In the long run, it will only make the power of local warlords extremely inflated, and eventually become big and big.

Zhu Youlang felt that the most reasonable military model was to combine recruitment with government soldiers.

In this way, the country will not be left without soldiers to recruit, and the imperial court will have a strong army that can suppress the local government and make the local obedient subordinate.

Three hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's prestige is still there.

As long as Zhu Youlang can set this model and develop it well for decades, I believe that the future of Daming will be bright.

Of course, this has to be done gradually.

The first step was to stabilize the imperial court's control over the army, and Zhu Youlang wanted to firmly hold the military power of the Tiger Ben Army in his own hands.

Not to mention a military general, even a eunuch should not want to get involved.

...

...

The news of the fall of Yangzhou reached Susong? For a while, people were panicked.

As the richest area in the whole of Jiangnan, Susong has always been a major contributor to taxes.

Among them, there are countless wealthy businessmen, and they live a drunken life all day long? Naturally, this pattern is not wanted to be broken.

But if the Ming army attacked, it seemed that everything was uncertain.

It's just that Su Song, who is a little embarrassed, has far less troops than Yangzhou.

Even Suzhou and Songjiang together have only 30,000 green battalion soldiers. Among them, 10,000 are old and weak.

Only 20,000 people were really worthy of the war.

This can't be helped? Originally, there were more than 10,000 elite cavalry? was sent to aid Yangzhou, but it was all lost there.

Now being able to gather 30,000 people is already Su Song's limit.

Relying on 30,000 people to fight the Ming army of nearly 100,000?

No matter how you look at it, it's not reliable.

Even the Qing army itself was not optimistic about being able to hold it, let alone others.

Some of the city's merchants were already debating how to pave their way out.

"I heard that after the city of Yangzhou was broken? The merchants in the city took the initiative to donate silver to the Ming army? That's a few million taels. ”

"So much?"

"What's more? This is made up by dozens of wealthy businessmen, and the total to one is hundreds of thousands of taels. ”

"These businessmen are still worth millions of taels, so there shouldn't be any problem with taking out hundreds of thousands of taels to save their lives, right?"

"That's what you say, it seems to be true. Spend money to buy peace. ”

"Since the Ming army didn't directly raid their homes? It doesn't seem to be as arrogant as rumored. If Su Song can't hold it in the future? Can we follow suit? ”

"What do I think? There's no need for us to stay in another boat until we die. It's just a change of emperor? We can't be less good. ”

"Huh? But be sure to be proactive as soon as possible. If it's too late? It's hard to make His Majesty the Emperor angry. I heard that he still killed a person Liwei. ”

"Kill only one? Yes, let's not make stones in that pit. If you give in earlier, nothing will happen. ”

After the discussion, the businessmen already had a plan in their hearts.

They made two preparations, and if the Qing army could withstand the Ming army's advance, it would be business as usual.

Otherwise, they would take the initiative to give half of their wealth to the Ming army to keep them safe.

...

...

The situation in Huai'an is very different.

Although Huai'an Linhai salt? But the silver was all earned by the salt merchants of Yangzhou.

Huai'an is not as developed as Susong and Hangzhou? At most, fishing and farming.

This can make a few bucks.

Even if you put it in the whole Nanzhili to compare? Huai'an is also a relatively poor prefecture.

But the more so? The Huai'an Qing army's fighting spirit will be stronger.

If they win, they can be in the limelight in front of the Qing court, and it is not a problem for officials and generals to be promoted and make a fortune.

Even if you lose the battle, you can escape by floating in the sea and retreat to Denglai.

So sure you don't lose money? There's something terrible.

Moreover, Huai'an still has the strength to fight a war, and the whole government has 40,000 or 50,000 troops.

In this case, they still want to give it a go.

...

...