Since he did not know when the Qing troops would go south, Ma Shiying proposed that the Ming Dynasty should not only deploy defenses in advance in Jiangbei, Shandong and other places, but also transfer the large army that could be mobilized to the vicinity of Nanjing City as much as possible. The household department also prepared at least 400,000 koku of food in advance in case of emergency, as well as herbs to stop bleeding and heal wounds, etc., and did everything possible to prepare for the war.

"What Ma Aiqing said is very true." Zhu Cihong nodded, and then looked at Liu Zongzhou, the secretary of the household department: "Liu Aiqing, how much grain reserves does the household department have now?" ”

"Back to the emperor, last year's several wars, coupled with the relocation of refugees to Hubei, cost a total of millions of stones, grains and grass, and now the household can only get less than 500,000 stones of grain and grass and four million taels of silver at most." Liu Zongzhou said with a sigh

"Elder Liu Ge, didn't there still be more than 20 million taels of silver in the treasury last year, why are there only 4 million taels left?" Ma Shiying asked with a frown.

"Yes, Liu Ge Lao, you are in charge of the household department, where did all this money go?" Qian Qianyi and the others also looked at Liu Zongzhou, their faces were not good, and their expressions were as if Liu Zongzhou was greedy for the money in the household.

Liu Zongzhou's old face darkened, and he snorted coldly: "In several major battles last year, the army suffered a total of hundreds of thousands of casualties, and the pension alone cost nearly four million taels of silver, the emperor formed the Ying Long Army, all of which were firearms, a flintlock pistol was twenty taels of silver, and the ammunition consumed, and after several major battles, more than one million taels of silver ammunition were consumed, and there was also military salary, the military salary of the Ying Long Army was an average of 60,000 taels of silver per 10,000 people per month, and for most of last year, more than 30,000 Ying Long Army spent more than 5 million taels of silver on a total of various expenses, And this year, the emperor expanded the Yinglong army to 120,000, and the monthly military salary alone is more than 700,000 taels of silver, and it is necessary to make muskets, and it is good that the household department can still have 4 million taels of silver left, which is not enough for the imperial court to issue another four months of military salary to the national army. ”

There is the account book of the household department, and all the income and expenses are well documented, although Liu Zongzhou is the secretary of the household department, it is indeed impossible to be greedy for a penny of silver from the household department.

"Ying Longjun has spent so much!" Ma Shiying didn't doubt Liu Zongzhou, but when he heard that Ying Longjun's expenses should be consumed, especially the ammunition, they all gasped, and Li Yan did the same.

Although they all know that the Ying Long army is almost all piled up with silver, but this kind of cost is really terrible, last year the Ying Long army of more than 30,000 people just participated in three major battles, and it cost more than one million taels of silver of ammunition, if all the 120,000 Ying Long army participated in the war, wouldn't it cost more than one million taels of silver for a big war, and the musket of the Ying Long army did not shoot out any ammunition, it was simply silver.

"Your Majesty! The silver spent by the 120,000 Ying Long army can form an ordinary army of millions. Ma Shiying and the others looked at Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong touched his nose in embarrassment, he knew that Ying Longjun was too expensive, so he only dared to form 120,000, no matter how much the Ming Dynasty couldn't afford it, and now it can't afford it.

"Although I knew that it would cost so much silver, why don't you think about it, based on the results achieved by the Ying Long Army last year, is the money spent worth it, and if the more than 30,000 Ying Long Army is exchanged for 300,000 ordinary Ming troops, it may achieve such results?" Zhu Cihong asked rhetorically.

"This" Zhu Cihong asked, and Ma Shiying and the others immediately fell silent.

Although Ma Shiying and others don't want to admit it, they also know that under the combat effectiveness of the ordinary army of the Ming Dynasty, if the more than 30,000 Yinglong troops were replaced by 300,000 ordinary Ming troops to participate in the war last year, let alone exterminate Zuo Liangyu, it would be good not to be exterminated by Zuo Liangyu, not to mention that they also went north to Shandong to defeat more than 100,000 Qing troops, and defeated Zhang Xianzhong's 100,000 troops outside Wuchang City.

"The army is more expensive than fine, and the development of tens of thousands of eight banners in the Qing Dynasty has become a big problem for my Ming Dynasty, and my Ming Dynasty's million army, how can I take the Qing Dynasty? Thinking about it this way, is it worth it for Daming to raise 120,000 Ying Long Army! Zhu Cihong said with a smile.

Hearing Zhu Cihong say this, Ma Shiying and the others sighed, but they were not entangled in this matter. Indeed, if the imperial court could have a Yinglong army back then, why did it allow the Qing captives with a population of hundreds of thousands to develop to such a point out of control.

"In this way, last year, in addition to gold, silver and jewelry, the officials of the Donglin Party and the Duke of Wei also obtained 800,000 mu of fertile land, most of which are in rich places such as Jianghuai and Jiangnan. Zhu Cihong thought for a while and said.

The reason why these good fields Zhu Cihong has been kept is to prepare for emergencies, and they come in handy today.

"Thank you for your grace." Liu Zongzhou's face looked a lot better.

With the addition of these six million taels of silver, the treasury will have 10 million taels of silver, and Liu Zongzhou estimates that it should not be a problem to deal with the southward movement of the Manchu Qing.

"Your Majesty, Weichen feels that he should not only prepare money and food, but also win over the hearts of the people, so that the Broadcasting Department can vigorously publicize the various evil deeds of the Qing prisoners, so that the people can see the true face of the Qing prisoners more clearly." Zhang Zongyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, also put forward an opinion.

"Well, that's how it should be." Zhu Cihong smiled and nodded.

Although Zhu Cihong had already planned to do so, he was very pleased that someone could bring it up, which showed that everyone was indeed doing their best, and for the first time, they were not selfishly thinking about how to resist the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

In the next period of time, in order to deal with the possibility of the Manchu Qing Dynasty going south at any time, the military department mobilized the army, and almost all the troops that the Ming could draw were concentrated in the Jiangnan and Jianghuai areas to be stationed on standby, in addition to the 120,000 Ying Long army, Shandong, Jianghuai, Jiangnan and other places concentrated about 300,000 troops in 11 towns, together with the Ying Long army, the Ming Dynasty could mobilize 420,000 troops to participate in the war.

At the same time, the Department of Publicity and Publicity vigorously publicized the various brutal acts of the Manchus and the misery of the Han people outside the Guanwai under Manchu rule, focusing on those Han Chinese who were enslaved by the Manchus as clothed minions.

"I can't imagine that the Qing captives are so barbaric and brutal, and they actually take the Han people as slaves, wantonly beat and scold, and even kill, it turns out that outside the Guan, the Manchurians can beat and scold us Han people at will, but we Han people can't have any resistance, otherwise the whole family will be killed, this is simply "A corner of Nanjing City, a scholar who knows how to read looked at the introduction in the Daming Daily with a pale face.

This scholar does not doubt the authenticity of Daming Daily, after all, in the past six months, everything reported by Daming Daily has been known to be true, and everything is true and can be checked if you want to. It is precisely because of this that the reputation of Daming Daily has been completely beaten, and the people believe what is written on it.

Daming Daily has a wide circulation, with hundreds of thousands of newspapers circulating almost every day.

After nearly ten days of propaganda, the brutality of the Manchu Qing was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

"Sure enough, if it is not my race, its heart will be different, we must not be slaves of the country, at least we cannot be ruled by foreign races, otherwise the whole family will become a slave who can be wantonly killed, what is the meaning of death!" A middle-aged man slammed the table, his expression resolute and extremely determined.

"Defend the territory and drive out the captives! Swear not to be a slave to the country! ”

Finally, under the deliberate guidance of Zhu Cihong, the first demonstration in Chinese history broke out in Nanjing, and finally spread to all parts of the south of the Yangtze River, and all the people had a unified idea for the first time, that is, the Manchu Qing must not be allowed to win the world.

"Your Majesty, the propaganda effect of the Publicity Department is wonderful, and the enthusiasm of the people of the world to resist the Qing captives has been ignited." Li Yan came to see Zhu Cihong with a happy face and said.

Zhu Cihong smiled slightly, this is the power of public opinion, not to mention, the Manchus are alien, and the people have a grudge against the Manchus in their hearts.

"Yes, the people of the Ming Dynasty are united and united, and I don't believe that the Manchu Qing Dynasty will be able to turn the sky upside down in the future." Zhu Cihong's eyes showed coldness.

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