For the Ming Dynasty, winter was not a suitable season for combat, especially when the New Year was approaching, and the soldiers had no will to fight and were eager to relax and be peaceful, so the Ming army usually rested in winter.

Defending the winter and attacking in the summer is also the experience of the Ming army according to the characteristics of the Qing army's operations, but there are exceptions to everything, last winter the Ming army was forced to fight a big battle with the Qing army in Jiangbei and Huguang, and this year, although the Ming army ended the Yangzhou war before the winter came, but there were exceptions in the southwest.

After the autumn harvest, Sun Kewang, who had been in Yunnan for more than two years, began to repeatedly invade Guangxi and Guizhou, testing the Ming army, and the friction between the two sides continued, and Xi'an also sent back the exact news, the Jin State tore up the peace agreement with the Ming Dynasty on the grounds that the Ming Dynasty sent killers to assassinate the Qing envoy and interfere in the national affairs of the Jin State, and Haoge had personally led the army into Shu.

The southwest of the Ming Dynasty will inevitably not be calm in this winter.

Counting the time, the Sichuan side has already started a war at this time, but the specific situation, because the Nanjing court is too far away from the battlefield, does not know the specific battle situation at present.

In the middle of October and January, Nanjing also ushered in a heavy snowfall, and the land south of the Yangtze River presented a northern scenery.

"Ruixue Trillion Year!" Wang Fuzhi and several ministers stepped on the snow and made a sizzling sound.

Although the southwest is now facing war, many ministers obviously did not show too much anxiety, without the original sense of urgency, probably because the Ming Dynasty has passed the most dangerous period, through the period of losing the war and about to destroy the country and the nation, and to a relatively safe situation.

"Yes, after this year's snow, Nanzhi will definitely have a big harvest next year." Fang Fengnian, the governor of Nanzhi, echoed with a smile, and the old man's face was full of spirit.

"I heard that the tax burden reported by the provinces this year, Nanzhi is second only to Jiangxi, if next year's harvest is better, is it going further!" Yan Qiheng, the secretary of the university scholars' department, said with a smile, "With such a political achievement of Elder Fang, I'm afraid His Highness will let Elder Fang enter the cabinet!" ”

Jiangnan has a strong heritage, plus the Ming Dynasty is still the capital of Nanjing, as long as it recovers slightly, it is stronger than the general provinces, and there are also people sent to Qiongzhou and Guangdong every year to persuade many people in Jiangnan, especially those with Yangzhou background to return to Jiangnan, and give appropriate preferential policies, so that Jiangnan business is rapidly revitalized, and the local economy gradually recovers, even surpassing Fujian, becoming the fourth largest taxpayer province.

Fang Fengnian heard Yan Qiheng say this, and his heart was also moved, he hoped to be able to enter the cabinet again.

The words of several officials of the Chu Party reached the ears of several people in the same industry, and Qian Sule, the governor of Zhejiang, immediately blushed and felt that his face was gloomy, and the taxes paid by Zhejiang this year were only a little stronger than those in Guizhou, Sichuan, and Guangxi, which were subsidized by the imperial court, so he was really a little difficult to explain.

In addition to him, Jiang Yinxi of Jiangxi, Jiang Yueguang of Fujian, and even Wu Jinxi, the governor of Huguang, also felt great pressure.

The new law on the evaluation of officials issued by the cabinet attaches great importance to political performance, and if a province fails to collect taxes, the promotion of governors, governors, political envoys, and other senior officials will be affected, and they will even be demoted.

Wang Yan promulgated the new policy, and at the end of the year, when all the governors returned to Beijing to report on their work, they had to make a report to the 100 officials of the council, talk about the results of running the local area for one year, and make a forecast for the coming year.

Most of the civil officials are decent people, and there is no first place in the literature, since ancient times, the literati are light, everyone wants to be faceless, there is no achievement all year round, and they are really embarrassed to stand in front of the hundred officials, the most terrible thing is to fall into a mediocre reputation, that for a literati with a good name, it is really better to live than to die.

Today's deliberation is to convene important officials of the imperial court to make a summary of this year's year and make a plan for the coming year, and the governors of various places, except for Wang Yingxiong, the governor of Sichuan, He Tengjiao, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and Chen Zilong, the governor of Liangguang, who were unable to return to Beijing to report on their duties because of the war in the southwest, most of the governors of other provinces were ordered to return to Nanjing.

As they spoke, they walked to the council hall, and the little officials immediately stepped forward, took the cloaks of the adults, shook off the snow, and hung them up.

Officials entered the warm chamber and talked in twos and threes, all about the annual report.

In a small side hall behind the council hall, Wang Yan and Tang and Lu, who arrived first, rested here, and then went out to participate in the meeting after the officials arrived.

At this time, there was a brazier in the center of the side hall, and it was not charcoal that was burned, but charcoal from Changxing, Zhejiang, and the dark red charcoal baked warm in the hall.

Wang Yan looked at the growth of taxes in Liangguang and Huguang this year, without the previous momentum, the growth was less than two percent, but the tax in Nanzhi was growing rapidly, Wang Yan compared the two newspapers and looked at them, and some understood that with the Ming Dynasty still having the capital of Nanjing, the political center returned to Jiangnan, and many merchants and gentry of Liangguang and Huguang began to buy industries in Jiangnan, so the development of the Chu Party's base camp slowed down, and Nanzhi quickly recovered some vitality.

Wang Yan then flipped through the detailed rules behind, mainly looking at the harvest of grain in Huguang this summer and autumn, he glanced at it, the grain output was reduced by one percent compared with last year, and the cotton planting was one point more, and he couldn't help but feel a little melancholy, if it goes on like this, there will be more money, but less and less grain, and Nanyang does not know if it can supply enough grain.

Seeing this, King Lu handed a piece of the recital in his hand to Wang Yan, and then picked up the two copies of the recital that Wang Yan had thrown away, one to Tang Wang, and the other to sit down and watch it.

They also know themselves and their opponents, and understand the situation of the provinces under the opposing forces, so that they can have a clear idea and have a comparison.

Wang Yan looked at Zhejiang's excerpts, the situation is more miserable, once one of the richest provinces in the Ming Dynasty, but now it has hung the tail of the car, but Wang Yan also understands the reason, mainly when the grain is speculated, the Zhejiang gentry suffered heavy losses and suffered great injuries, and then the Lu Wang faction used the power of the government to prevent other forces from entering Zhejiang, so Zhejiang's economic recovery was slow.

After the people planted mulberry seedlings and cotton, there were no powerful businessmen to buy them, so the grain output in Zhejiang increased a lot.

Then Wang Yan picked up Fujian and Jiangxi and looked at it, but suddenly in Fujian's report, he saw a special situation, Fujian's eight mountains, one water, and one field, Wang Yan knew very well, it stands to reason that Fujian's grain output should not be able to meet the province's consumption, but since the summer of this year, Fujian has not actually purchased grain from other provinces, which is unusual.

For a while, Wang Yan became interested, and couldn't help but sit up straight and look at King Tang.

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