Shimonoseki Pier.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Yang Qing urged anxiously.

The soldiers of the Beijing camp beside him crowded the ferries in front of them in a chaotic manner, and the ferries full of soldiers on the wide river hurried to the other side to reinforce the front line, and among these northbound boats, they occasionally missed small boats carrying refugees, struggling with the waves of the river in the wind......

Gao Yigong is approaching Liuhe.

Moreover, his evil act of hanging all the gentry officials on the side of the road in Tianchang has been exaggerated as a massacre by some people with ulterior motives, and has been wantonly spread on both sides of the Yangtze River, and has also added such purely fictitious elements as the defeat of Huang Degong's army and the sweep of 300,000 thieves' army. At this moment, at various city gates in Nanjing, refugees from Jiangbei who fled from the north and wealthy nobles who fled from Nanjing in panic are crowding each other, as if the end is coming.

Chongzhen has ordered all the three general troops of the Beijing camp to cross the river to reinforce Jiangbei.

Moreover, he rarely issued an edict guaranteeing that His Majesty the Emperor would live and die with the people of the Ming Dynasty, and even if he crossed the river against the army, he would fight to the end to defend the Taizu Mausoleum as in Beijing.

What an edict he is!

He's just creating panic!

If you want to fight to the end, don't pull us, we don't want to end up like those guys in Beijing who are all caught by Li Zicheng's stick.

Immediately, even the officials ran away.

In other words, Yang Qing didn't expect that Chongzhen's Ming Dynasty was scattered to such an extent, Jiangbei was a constant number of defective soldiers, happily welcoming the king's people, and Jiangnan was the officials and gentry who abandoned the emperor and ran away, no wonder the Qing army collapsed as soon as the Qing army came to the city's defense in history, this is purely a pile of sand! Before the loss, he felt that he had made a huge amount of money for Chongzhen, and this Daming must have changed more or less, so let's see the results now......

This is not as good as the original history!

Originally, in history, at least no ordinary people happily opened the door to welcome the Qing army.

Fortunately, Li Zicheng didn't know.

If Li Zicheng knew that this was the case and simply sent an army of 400,000 to the south of the Yangtze River, then he would really be able to drive Chongzhen out of the capital again.

"Uncle Zhongyong, how is the battle situation in Jiangbei?"

Song Quan shouted not far away.

"It's all messed up, who knows how, not only Gao Yigong's department, Yuan Zongdi abandoned Fengyang and Linhuai and then joined forces with Gao Yigong, their two armies added up and counted those officers and soldiers who surrendered to the enemy, it is estimated that there are no less than 200,000, it seems that they want to take Yangzhou directly, Huang Fei has retreated to Yangzhou and is ready to hold on, it is said that Huai'an and Xinyang were also attacked by the rebel army."

Yang Qing shouted.

"Zuo Liangyu reported that Tian Jianxiu's 100,000 troops attacked Fancheng!"

Song Quan said.

"I'll go into the palace to persuade Your Majesty to be happy in Hangzhou!"

Yang Qing said.

Their big mouths were not shy here, and the officials and gentry who came to inquire about the news next to them all heard it.

This terrible news instantly made them all stupid.

"Run! The thieves are coming! ”

An old guy suddenly screamed, turned his head and ran.

Then the docks erupted in horror screams.

Yang Qing and Song Quan looked at each other in amazement, the old Song was also a smart person, and then made a throat cutting action, Yang Qing pulled out Shang Fang's sword, jumped up without the slightest hesitation, and instantly appeared in front of the old guy, and then raised the sword in his hand and cut off his head.

"Shang Fang's sword is here, those who dare to spread rumors will be killed!"

He carried the bloodied sword of Shang Fang and yelled viciously at the frightened rebels.

The latter was silent.

Yang Qing glared at them menacingly, then got on his horse and went straight to the city gate, the chaotic people behind him looked at each other, and then continued to scream and flee without hesitation, Song Quan helplessly smiled bitterly and boarded the ferry in front of him, and with a resolute face, he led his army to the legendary battlefield on the verge of collapse, to fight to the end for the last line of defense to defend the Ming capital, and those fleeing chaotic people spread the news that the emperor was going to run away in Nanjing, and then create even greater panic.

As for the culprit......

The culprit first went home for a stroll and then ran to the palace again without doing anything, and at the same time as he entered the palace, the news that Zhong Yongbo had arranged for Yuanyuan to run away also spread.

In other words, this is a real hammer!

He had just returned from Jiangbei, and he knew the battle situation best ahead.

Qianqing Palace.

"A bunch of rubbish!"

His Majesty the Emperor thundered and furious.

A group of civil and military ministers were as silent as cicadas.

"Your Majesty, it's not that the ministers don't do their best! After the minister arrived in Jiangbei, he learned that Liu Liangzuo fled without a fight, and immediately went to block with Jing Nanbo, and did not want Liu Liangzuo to fight each other, so he was killed in a bloody battle, and then left Jing Nanbo to appease his subordinates, and the minister rode alone to catch up with the Jing Nanbo department who rescued Linhuai Pass, and as a result, he just arrived in Dingyuan and met Ma Shiying's department who was defeated from Linhuai Pass, and before he regrouped to counterattack Linhuai, he learned that Gao Jie abandoned Xuyi, although the minister had the intention to kill the enemy, he was unable to return to the sky! ”

Yang Qing said.

"I lost to Liu Liangzuo, and I dared to flee without a fight!"

Chongzhen said angrily.

"Your Majesty, according to what his subordinates said, Liu Bu is mostly a righteous citizen of Nandu, this generation does not want to be in the north, and they all cross Huai to survive according to it, but Fengyang is poor and has no way to make a living, and the court does not give him food and salary, even Liu Liangzuo's department has been owed for more than two months, and the soldiers are naturally not willing to fight if they can't eat, and the rebel army will collapse immediately as soon as they arrive."

Yang Qing said.

"What about the food? What about the money of the household? ”

Chongzhen yelled at Gao Hongtu.

"Your Majesty, the household income is limited, and it is already beyond its means, at this time there is only 50,000 silver left in the treasury, and all military salaries and silver are in arrears, not only Liu Liangzuo."

Gao Hongtu said cautiously.

"When I was in Beijing when the soldiers were approaching the city, I asked the household department to have only 80,000 silver left, and when I was in Nanjing today, Qing told me that there were only 50,000 left in the household department, where did my money go? I am rich all over the world, sitting on thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, why am I so poor? Is my Ming poor? But why did I hear that Li Zicheng was in Beijing to help pay and scavenged a whole 70 million taels from the ministers in Beijing? Seventy million! I have reigned for seventeen years, and in the past seventeen years, has the income of the Ming Dynasty added up to 70 million taels? And that's just the city of Beijing. Can anyone tell me why? Why am I so poor, and why are all my Gonon princes so rich? ”

Chongzhen shouted with blood-red eyes.

Shi Kefa and the others trembled, and no one dared to answer.

"Your Majesty, they don't actually pay taxes, so they naturally accumulate more, and the only thing the minister can think of is that they are corrupt and pervert the law, and I should not be corrupt and pervert the law."

Yang Qing said.

"Ah, they don't pay taxes!"

Chongzhen said with a cruel smile.

"I'm so poor that I don't even collect taxes from them, am I too stupid? Isn't it ridiculous? From now on, no matter officials, nobles, or scholars with meritorious reputations, all those who have more than 100 acres of land will pay taxes as civilians if they do not need to pay money and grain according to the law, and from today onwards, the gentry will pay grain as one errand and pay grain. ”

He said.

"Your Majesty, this must not be done!"

Xie Xuelong exclaimed.

"Can't? Do you want to make Li self-made? ”

Chongzhen sneered.

Xie Xuelong was so frightened that he quickly shut up.

This is the threat of Chiluoluo! I don't have money, the gentry have money, then I will cancel their past tax-free privileges, you agree best, if you don't agree, then I have to learn from Li Zicheng, nothing to copy the homes of you officials, you can do it yourself, anyway, the court can't fight if it has no money, and it can't stop Li Zicheng's army, and then he will come to clamp you with sticks.

Pay taxes, the gentry earn less, and the court has a rich army to better protect you.

If you don't pay taxes, everyone will be doomed together.

It's not complicated.

"Your Majesty, the situation is erosive not only because Liu Liangzuo fled without a fight, but also because of the rebellion in various places, that Linhuai Pass is thrown by the soldiers in rebellion, Tianchang County is said to be opened by the local poor, this generation is confused by Li Zicheng's free food in the north, so he ignores his loyalty and righteousness, and blatantly opens the door for the rebel army.

Yang Qing was very in line with the standards of traitors and added oil and vinegar there.

"Uncle Zhongyong, does he also let the court not collect money and food!"

Shi Kefa couldn't help but say angrily.

"This is not very feasible, but it can reduce the burden of the people, so that they will not be confused by Li Zicheng, after all, it is also a good thing, so it is really not possible not to collect money and grain, but it can be divided into the head office, right? In this way, those with less land pay less, and those with more fields pay more, and the income of the imperial court is not damaged, but it takes care of the poor to the greatest extent, which is a good thing for those poor people after all, and they can also feel the emperor's grace. Otherwise, his generation will be confused by Li Zicheng and help him to abuse, as soon as the rebel army arrives, they will open the door to surrender to their henchmen, which is not good for the gentry, but hundreds of gentry officials and even rich families are all hanged on the side of the road in the Great Wall, if Li Zicheng's rebel army arrives in the south of the Yangtze River, how many gentry officials do you think will be hanged on the side of the road? ”

Yang Qing said.

The ministers were silent.

"Let's compare our hearts to our hearts, we really want to live a better life and make more money, but those ordinary people also want to! Even in this rich land of Nanjing, there are many starving ghosts who are carried out every morning, right? If Li Zicheng calls, do you think those who are on the verge of starving to death like them will open the city gates to welcome the rebel army, and then hang us all by the Qinhuai River?

Although it is impossible for the gentry and the poor to be the same after all, at least we should think of easing the relationship between the two sides, right?

It's not good to always treat you like this!

Everyone earns a little less, and they should also leave a stutter for those poor people, don't let them go to a dead end, and finally take risks and go against the party, to be honest, we have come to this day, to put it bluntly, isn't this how it makes trouble? If the gentry in the north could really leave a way for the hungry people to survive in times of famine, would they still be killed and scattered? The hungry people are dying of starvation, what can't they do to survive? They will die with the gentry.

What a lesson from the past!

Posterity mourns but does not learn from it, but also makes posterity mourn posterity, the sigh of the sages is vivid, don't really regret it when you are hanged on the side of the road! ”

Yang Qing said earnestly.