They not only brought this issue of "National Policy Theory", but also took out every issue of "National Policy Theory" and all the manuscripts they could find, and they had unexpected gains: "According to the meaning of this article, our Northern Expedition and Jianyu entered the customs in order to survive, and it was difficult for Jianyu to survive if he did not enter the customs, and it was equally difficult for the Ming Dynasty to go on without the Northern Expedition." ”

Although everyone has a personal opinion on the Northern Expedition, but the harm of the Qing State entering the customs is very clear in the book, in addition to the permanent loss of Liaodong, Jingshi Shuntianfu and Jiubian, the Ming Dynasty also lost the five complete provinces of Beizhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and Shaanxi, and this is not counted as the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, which is equivalent to a small province.

"This is equivalent to the loss of almost half of the states and counties in the world, and there are already more scholars in Jiangnan, and now there is no way out!"

Zhejiang and Shaoxing can be said to be the most fierce competition in the world, although the Ming Dynasty controlled the whole world in the past, but a talent like Qian Cheng still always felt that life was sad, and now losing so many states and counties in the north is even more crowded with thousands of troops and horses, and everyone feels that there is no way out except for the Northern Expedition.

"According to the view of the national policy theory, as long as the north and Liaodong are taken back, the situation will be different, and we all have a source!"

The article on national policy is not simply a suggestion of the Northern Expedition, but has a complete set of plans, believing that if the Northern Expedition is successful, the Ming Dynasty should share the many benefits obtained with the meritorious officials, and one of the most important policies is to make an exception and use the heroes of the Northern Expedition to enrich the newly recovered prefectures and counties.

This is exactly the result that Qian Cheng and these people want, and they are now most concerned about only one question: "How can we become the heroes of the Northern Expedition?" Is there a way? ”

Qian Cheng had already turned over this issue of the national policy theory, and immediately replied: "There is news on the frontispiece of the book to recruit righteous soldiers to be trained and serve with the army. ”

Everyone flipped to the frontispiece, there is indeed such an edict, this edict is more implicit, only said that the recruitment of righteous soldiers from all directions into the team training, after the end of the training, the amount is applicable and with the army, although it is not said that the recruited "righteous soldiers" are used for the southern expedition or the northern expedition, and the requirements are relatively loose and not limited to civil and military affairs, but everyone feels that this is an excellent opportunity.

For the imperial court, these "righteous soldiers" after training are their own people in the real sense, and the newly recovered prefectures and counties should gradually replace those wavering elements with their own people trusted by the imperial court, and someone reminded them: "The court employs people completely different from the Hongguang Dynasty, even if the leaders of the three classes and six rooms are not sent by the imperial court, they are also transferred from other counties, and I heard that the next position in the county should be reserved for the meritorious ministers who crossed the river with His Majesty." ”

The officials of the Ming generation are often intertwined with father and son, but since the Chengtian Dynasty is called Zhongxing is really a business, it naturally has the atmosphere of a new dynasty, and a very important principle is to reuse the meritorious officials who followed Liu Yongxi's uprising.

Those generations of officials who are very old but missed the opportunity in the process of Liu Yongxi's uprising are naturally the first targets of the attack, and some people analyze: "Although the officials of this dynasty are separated, there is no longer an insurmountable gap between the officials of the previous dynasty, as long as they are meritorious officials, even if they are thieves, they can become prefects and Taoists." ”

The more everyone talked, the more excited they became, and they all felt that this was an excellent opportunity, and Qian Cheng said without hesitation: "Since there is such a good opportunity, let's go to recruit according to the edict above, and since there is a Zhejiang team, then we don't need much money to cross the river directly to Hangzhou!" ”

Everyone present was beaming, they missed the opportunity for Liu Yongxi to raise troops to resist the Qing Dynasty last year, so they felt that the opportunity of the Northern Expedition to Zhongxing could not be missed again.

In fact, the ideological mobilization of the Yue Ming Dynasty was carried out in all directions, and the channels were not only the "Theory of National Policy", but from the official newspapers, edicts, operas, and posters to the propaganda in the countryside, a national mobilization was completed in a very short time, and no matter officials, gentry, businessmen or ordinary people, they all formed a consensus on the Northern Expedition.

"Now they all say that the Northern Expedition will not work, although the Northern Expedition will definitely have to pay a great price, but the Qing State will go bankrupt when it comes to the Southern Expedition, so the long pain is better than the short pain, take advantage of the fact that Jianyu has not slowed down now to seize the opportunity of the Northern Expedition!"

Wang Puxiang didn't expect to meet a farmer casually when he talked about the Northern Expedition: "The old man is really reasonable, if Jianyu comes over again, our Fengyang Mansion will definitely bear the brunt!" ”

The old farmer who spoke actually didn't understand too much reason, but he naturally had an account in his heart: "In the past two years, we have passed the army twice, twenty-three people have died in our family, and there is no news from more than ten people until now, and every time the army is turned upside down, it is equivalent to doing it in vain for a few years, as long as the Qing country is not destroyed, such things will definitely continue to come, so even if the Qing country is not destroyed, we must take the Yellow River as the boundary, so that we can live a stable life, general, when can we start the Northern Expedition?" ”

This is completely different from a few months ago, when Wang Puxiang met a farmer who hated the Qing soldiers very much, but it was difficult for him to tell clearly what the Qing soldiers hated, so he had no enthusiasm for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, and now the situation is different, everyone Wang Puxiang met, even the Qinglou woman, was asking about when the Northern Expedition was.

Now the Northern Expedition is already a consensus among the people, and more importantly, now half of Shandong and Henan are in the midst of a civil war, Zuo Mengeng, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo's uprising is very strong, although it was once frustrated, but still won twenty or thirty prefectures and counties, and under their influence, the anti-Qing uprisings in the entire north are one after another, so everyone feels that they can't miss the opportunity.

But Wang Puxiang still has the same answer: "It depends on whether the Qing Dynasty has sincerity, if they are willing to give us all the south of the Yellow River, then we can temporarily let them go, if they are unwilling to give up the Yellow River, then don't blame us for being polite!" ”

Although the old peasant was not very satisfied with this answer, he also knew that if the Great Qing State could give up the south of the Yellow River, Jianghuai would no longer be the north of the Chengtian Dynasty, and he would not need to bear the astonishing military pressure: "But Jianyu is now fighting with Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Zuo Mengeng, all of which are south of the Yellow River!" ”

Wang Puxiang immediately laughed: "So the imperial court is not unprepared, now Huguang has transferred several elites over, and when the time comes, please take care of the old man!" ”

The so-called "transfer of several elites from Huguang" is actually a permanent division and use of the loyal battalion, but since Empress Gao is in favor of this transfer, and Empress Xing not only approves of it, but also transfers the loyal brigade under her name to the eastern front, this large-scale transfer is extremely smooth, and these loyal battalion soldiers find that they seem to have returned to the good days that swept Henan.

And unlike the era of "opening the city gate to welcome the king", at that time, only the small people of Shengdou welcomed the arrival of the camp, but now all classes, including gentry, officials, and merchants, welcome the arrival of this elite division, this old man said very directly: "It's good that the elite is here, don't be polite to Jianyu, at least take back the south of the Yellow River!" ”

Wang Puxiang immediately laughed: "Now that the righteous people from all directions fully support the Northern Expedition, then we will take the lead in the contest with the Qing State!" ”

As for Zhang Tianlu, he doesn't know how to describe the current situation now: "King Yu, the Ming Kingdom will definitely launch the Northern Expedition, and we must leave more soldiers and horses to deal with the Ming Kingdom!" ”

Yu Wang Duoduo said with a wry smile: "General Zhang, I understand all the truths you said, but the first problem to be solved now is to pacify the Caozhou thieves first!" ”

The Manchurian nobles, including Duoduo, underestimated the scale of the Caozhou uprising, and they originally only knew that Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo participated in the uprising, but they did not expect that the thirty battalion leaders under Zuo Mengeng's department also participated in the uprising.

When the Great Qing Kingdom reacted, it found that the so-called "Caozhou thieves" had swept through twenty or thirty prefectures and counties in Shandong and Henan, and even Azig, who was claimed to be equal to the Jinhua thieves, almost suffered a big loss, so the Great Qing Kingdom made up its mind to try its best to gather troops to deal with these lawless Caozhou thieves.

But this was strongly opposed by Zhang Tianlu, who had a deep blood feud with the Yue Ming army: "King Yu, you have to think twice about this matter, the Jinhua thieves have transferred a lot of soldiers and horses from Huguang to Jianghuai, and they are openly asking this dynasty to retreat to the north of the Yellow River, since they want to take the south of the Yellow River no matter what, we have to prepare soldiers and horses to deal with the northern invasion of the Jinhua thieves!" ”

And Duoduo could only pin his hopes on Zhang Tianlu: "That's why General Zhang is fully responsible for sitting in Yizhou, the imperial court has high hopes for General Zhang, and General Zhang wants to recruit troops and horses as soon as possible to recover his vitality!" ”

Zhang Tianlu and Zhang Tianfu brothers' headquarters originally had only 3,000 people, although it was once expanded to seven or eight thousand people, but the soldiers and horses of the Zhang brothers in the Huai'an battle of Huai'an personally conquered by Empress Changping were devastated, not only Zhang Tianfu was slaughtered on the spot in front of the array, but Zhang Tianlu only collected seven or eight hundred remnants of the defeated generals in the end.

Although the Great Qing Kingdom had high hopes for Zhang Tianlu after this defeat, Zhang Tianlu now has more than 2,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, and it is naturally doomed to use this force to defend against the Northern Expedition that the Chengtian Dynasty may launch, and although Duoduo and the Great Qing Kingdom gave the right to recruit troops and horses, they provided corresponding resources, making it difficult for Zhang Tianlu to cook without rice, so he could only complain: "King Yu attaches too much importance to the Caozhou thieves, and if the Jinhua thieves launch the Northern Expedition, it will definitely be a thunderous momentum, not to mention a Zhang Tianlu, even ten Zhang Tianlu can't cope with it!" ”

But Duoduo laughed when he heard this: "General Zhang, rest assured, there is a perfect strategy for dealing with the Jinhua thieves fleeing north to the Great Qing Kingdom!" ”