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Under Li Yan's deliberate delay, negotiations with Wu Sangui and others are still proceeding slowly. By the end of June, he had transferred another 6,000 troops from Henan to strengthen his deterrence against Yongping Province.

In Taiyuan, Li Zicheng's troops are still making every effort to defend Taiyuan and are doing the work of clearing the wilderness. At the same time, in accordance with Li Zicheng's request, he suppressed the rebel forces in various places and executed all the gentry and landlords who participated in the rebellion. Those wealthy gentry who did not rebel also began to forcibly relocate, and naturally they did not have time to trouble Li Yan.

The reason why he was able to draw troops out of Henan again was because he received news from Li Zhong that Gao Yigong went to Shaanxi with nearly half of Huguang's troops. And the people of Huguang began to collect taxes because of Li Zicheng, and not only collected grain taxes, but also collected other miscellaneous taxes, which were also apportioned according to land. The people felt cheated and began to resist taxes. Therefore, most of Li Zicheng's troops in Huguang were sent to assist in tax collection, and the pressure on Henan was much less.

As for Nanjing, there is no news of the Northern Expedition at present, and the troops are basically deployed near Jiangxi and Huai'an, looking passive and defensive. Moreover, Shi Kefa, the original secretary of the military department, was sent to Jiangxi to supervise the division, and Ma Shiying, the governor of Jiangbei, was recalled to Nanjing and became the first assistant because of his decision-making work.

It is said that Jiangnan Shiren is brewing a political tide and is preparing to oust Ma Shiying from power. The reason for the bright side is that Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng have a good relationship, and Ruan Dacheng should be reactivated. But Ruan Dacheng is a eunuch again, and if the eunuch party wants to come out to be an official, they will definitely not allow it. At the same time, these scholars also began to plan to punish those who rebelled against them, and used them to crack down on Beijing officials who fled south. Since Li Yan entered Beijing, more and more officials have fled south, and their official positions are not low, seriously threatening the status of existing officials in the south.

These made Li Yan very happy, and it was really like God's help. All the forces are busy with their own affairs, but it allows him to have a rare time to settle down. At this time, he was transporting a large number of potatoes from Henan to the north, and he had to let them live because he had added so many new people. Fortunately, the yield of potatoes is extremely high, which can give strong support to the north.

Li Yan instructed at this time: "Inform the officials in Shandong, after compiling the household registration book and fish scale book, return some grain to the people according to the household." ”

After the wheat harvest, the former officials of Shandong still collected taxes from the common people according to the old practice. However, because Li Yan's people were sent over one after another, the methods were quite restrained, and there was no phenomenon of forcing people to die.

After the grain is returned to the people, the people should completely agree with Li Yan's rule, and at that time, Shandong will be considered to have settled down. As for those officials and wealthy households, they had already killed a lot of bandits and counterrebels in the previous crackdowns, and many of them were also locked up in the prisoner camps. Without the assistance of external forces, they should not dare to stab.

After that, he instructed: "Let the potato extension personnel sent out pick the seeds well, pay attention to the time, the north is slightly colder than Henan, don't miss the best planting time." ”

Sun Sifu said with a smile: "Dashuai, they will naturally think of these things, so you don't have to worry about it." ”

"Henan alone can't feed the population of the three provinces." Li Yan said helplessly: "If the potatoes in autumn can't be ripe, someone will be hungry next year." ”

He suddenly asked again, "The people from the powder shop haven't come yet?" ”

"It's not there yet. It should arrive tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, so don't worry. Sun Sifu said.

Li Yan frowned, and then made a quick decision: "Send a cavalry to pick it up." These people are our treasures, and we can't let them be in any danger. ”

"The lowly office understands, so send someone to pick it up."

In the capital, the War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau stored a large amount of copper, tin, iron, sulfur, saltpeter, charcoal, and animal tendons. Li Zicheng and the Qing army withdrew in a hurry, and they both chose to take the gold and silver with them, so these raw materials were fortunately preserved.

Li Yan naturally won't waste it. Every time the baggage team returned, they would bring copper and iron back to Henan to make artillery bows and crossbows. As for the materials of gunpowder, he planned to manufacture them locally, so he asked the gunpowder workshop to send key personnel from various processes to Beijing to establish a gunpowder production workshop.

The artillery workshop, gun workshop, bow and crossbow workshop and other workshops in Qixian County are also constantly expanding. Qi County can no longer meet the needs of establishing workshops, so several workshops have started construction in the eastern suburbs of Kaifeng. In order to prevent the Yellow River from harming, starting from Luoyang, the embankment of the Yellow River began to be strengthened again, and the captured Qing troops were also escorted back to participate in the reinforcement of the embankment.

At the same time, Li Yan also planned to open a ditch on the south bank of the Yellow River to divert water from the Yellow River, and first build a few machines that use hydraulic power to see how effective it is. It was also a big project, so some of the captives did it. And this project, he handed over to Tang Ruowang and others to be responsible for planning and implementation, these people also know some engineering manufacturing, and the engineering personnel in Kaifeng to study together, maybe the plan can be completed more smoothly.

Yongping Mansion, Shanhaiguan.

"What the hell is going to do?" Tang Tong said: "We must discuss a solution as soon as possible. Li Yan has always been delaying time, look at the present, thousands of troops have been added, let's face to face, Li Yan's troops are almost 20,000, right? If it drags on any longer, we won't even be qualified to negotiate. ”

After pacifying the interior, the Qing army finally threw out a plan for cooperation to Wu Sangui and others. And at the same time, he also brought 100,000 taels of silver and 1,000 stone of grain as gifts, which was much more generous than Li Yan.

"Isn't that why don't you let us be the shield?" Gao Di said with some concern.

Wu Sangui said lightly: "Do you still want to move to Shenyang?" ”

"That's better than being caught in the middle." Gao Di said pessimistically: "Qingguo and Li Yan, we can't afford to provoke them." Sandwiched between the two sides, it will be wiped out at any time. ”

Tang Tong suggested: "Otherwise, let's surrender to the Qing court." No matter how powerful Li Yan is, can he still fight outside the gate? In the Qing Kingdom, we must have the title of a prince. ”

Wu Sangui hesitated for a long time before he said: "Then let's talk to Qing Guo first, I still have to see what the Liao people think." If they agree, that's all it takes. If the Liao people oppose it, I will not delay your future, and you will go out of the customs by yourself. ”

Tang Tong and Gao Di looked at each other, and they both nodded in agreement. Although they knew that the Qing army still cared about Wu Sangui and his troops. If they surrender alone, they may not have a higher title. But now is the critical moment, and if it drags on, they will not get anything.

For Wu Sangui, these more than 100,000 Liao people are his capital, and he will not discard them unless he has to.

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