The bad news continued, and a few days after the death of the fifth son of the emperor, Chongzhen finally learned the news that Zhang Xianzhong had rebelled again. This is a blow to him.

I just wanted to get some silver from the relatives and courtiers to meet the cost of military expenses and relief, but because of the 'Nine Lotus Bodhisattva' apparitions, I didn't dare to continue.

Especially that Zhang Xianzhong, he burned the ancestral tomb of Zhongdu (Fengyang), Chongzhen spared him and accepted his surrender. Now fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong not only did not be grateful, but continued to rebel again. Now there are dozens of prefectures and counties in the country that have reported disasters, and most of Zhili and Shandong have been ravaged by Qing soldiers, and it is time to reduce taxes and recover. One can imagine how angry the current Emperor Chongzhen is.

But now that Zhang Xianzhong is reversed, the first task now is to defeat this leader first. And this means that the army will have to be paid again. And the idea of practical training and full salary put forward by Zheng Eryang before is very good, and if he continues to increase his salary, the name will be 'training salary'.

Under the auspices of Yang Sichang, a plan was developed for each town to dispatch elite soldiers and train them in sufficient wages. A total of 730,000 elite soldiers were drawn from each town, and a total of 7.3 million taels were needed. Of course, since this money cannot be asked from the relatives and court officials, it can only be asked from the peasants. If you tax the merchants, you will be competing with the people for profit, and the gentleman will not do it. So now Chongzhen doesn't need to be reminded, he will avoid commercial taxes and directly increase agricultural taxes.

Of course, as a minister of the imperial court, he naturally has to oppose this kind of expropriation and extortion. So some courtiers proposed that there was already a salary and a salary, and if one more salary was added, the peasants in the world would not be able to survive, and the strength of the thieves would rise sharply, and the gains would outweigh the losses.

Yang Sichang came out to explain, saying that the money was added to the acres, and the fields were concentrated in the Haoqiang family, and the additional levy could also inhibit the merger. Moreover, every 100 mu is only an additional three or four yuan, so how can such a small fee make the peasants become thieves?

As soon as Yang Sichang said this, the courtiers could not object. What people take is data, 7.3 million taels, and then distribute it to the fields that can collect taxes across the country, which is really not much.

But what Yang Sichang said was on paper, and the courtiers opposed it, but it was the actual basis. That is, there is so much registered land, but many of it is not subject to taxes, and all the taxes will be passed on to the few yeoman farmers, who can only become homeless after bankruptcy. But this reason could not be explained on the surface, so they had to give up their opposition.

The 'training salary' was finally successfully passed through the court meeting, and soon a decree was formed, which was sent to all parts of the country, ordering the state and county officials across the country to start collecting the 'training salary'.

"Yang Wenqiao is drinking to quench your thirst!" After the dispersal of the dynasty, a group of civil officials gathered and discussed with each other.

"Treacherous villain, doesn't he know what's going on?! It is really shameless to use the high-sounding words of 'a hundred acres are only three or four dollars' to convince Your Majesty! ”

"Your Majesty is anxious for money, no matter what the reason is, he will levy 'training salary', and it is useless to say more about this matter."

"Alas, Your Majesty's treasury doesn't know how much gold and silver is hidden, but he always takes money from the hands of the small people, it's really ~ alas!"

……

Just as these officials were eagerly discussing, Yang Sichang also came out, so the officials exchanged glances at each other, stopped talking, and began to go separately to their respective yamen.

Yang Sichang actually heard the words of some officials, but he didn't care. This is an opportunity, as long as the thieves can be exterminated this time, then the rest is the East Captives, whether it is peace talks or confrontation is easy to say. As long as it survives this difficult period, Daming has the hope of ZTE. And he is the Zhongxing hero of the Ming Dynasty, and he wants to leave his name in history! He has always believed in this.

He didn't pay attention to the officials, but went straight to the military headquarters. He wanted to write a letter to Xiong Wencan, asking him to quickly transfer troops and defeat Zhang Xianzhong first, and then there was hope. Xiong Wencan was recommended by him, and if Xiong Wencan is punished, he, the recommender, will also be jointly and severally liable, so he and Xiong Wencan are tied together, and helping Xiong Wencan is helping himself.

Xiangyang, Prime Minister.

"Where's Zuo Liangyu?! What about Luo Dai?! Where have they been?! When will it arrive?! Xiong Wencan asked with a roar. As early as when Zhang Xianzhong left Gucheng County, he gave an order to Zuo Liangyu and Luo Dai, asking them to come to Xiangyang immediately to meet and exterminate Zhang Xianzhong. But until now, it's mid-June, and Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong have not yet arrived. Even if it is a turtle climbing, it is long overdue to go to Xiangyang.

"They, they're still in Dengzhou." The colonel replied cautiously.

Zuo Liangyu and Luo Dai are not stupid. The original plan was to encircle on all sides, but now that they are the only ones who move, the power is much less. Moreover, they had already been reported, and they knew that Zhang Xianzhong had joined Cao Cao and other nine battalions in Fang County, so they didn't dare to go to Xiangyang to join the division. So they stopped in Dengzhou and waited for further changes in the matter.

"Good! Good! Good! Xiong Wen said three times in a row. Then he commanded: "Give them a command!" Let's just say that if the prime minister is asked, the two of them won't be able to escape! All kinds of documents are there, and the responsibility for them to delay the opportunity, causing the thieves to become bigger, and eroding the overall situation, will not be lighter than this prime minister! ”

The staff immediately put pen to paper and transformed Xiong Wencan's words into the style of official documents. After that, he handed it to Xiong Wencan and asked him to take a look.

Xiong Wencan looked at it and immediately tore the paperwork to shreds. Then he commanded: "Write my words to them!" It's an epistle, not an official document! Send a letter to Zuo Liangyu and Luo Dai, asking them to immediately lead their troops to Xiangyang to meet their teachers, otherwise the prime minister will first impeach the imperial court! ”

After a while, the staff had written a letter. Let Xiong Wencan take a look. Xiong Wencan saw that there was no problem with writing, so he asked his staff to write another one, and then he left his name and private seal at the end, and asked the sergeant to send it out immediately.

This is his only chance and he has to take it. Up to now, although he still deliberately blocked the news that Zhang Xianzhong had rebelled, there were eunuchs and eunuchs in the prison army and the imperial historian who patrolled him, and he also knew that maybe Beijing had already known the truth, and maybe his will to arrest him was already on the way. However, as long as he can exterminate Zhang Xianzhong, then he has no merit, and the goods he looted can continue to remain in his hands. If it fails, then it is a great crime to destroy the family.

So he must defeat Zhang Xianzhong. For the sake of his net worth and life, for the sake of the family's wealth and prosperity, no matter what means he uses, he will definitely not give up this opportunity to save himself!