Fang Yuan chose Songjiang Mansion as his target, firstly, because Songjiang Mansion was close to Suzhou Prefecture, which was convenient for mobilizing troops to suppress it; Second, the officials of Songjiang Mansion are more corrupt than Suzhou Mansion, and 30 catties of grain are collected more per mu of land than Suzhou Mansion, and more silver can be made in Songjiang Mansion.

The second is commercial tax, the main industries that can be taxed are salt, mineral industrial products, silk and cotton products, luxury goods, hotels, restaurants, brothels service industry, and customs duties.

Fang Yuan found the officials of the government to conduct a special study.

The salt industry was originally a monopoly, and the Ming Dynasty implemented the law of opening the middle, and it was necessary to pay a certain price to obtain the salt introduction, and the cost of salt ship transportation was high, and it was necessary to pay banknote tariffs during transportation, and the profits were deducted layer by layer, and it was not a high-profit industry, and even many salt merchants had to smuggle to survive.

The idea of smashing money in the salt industry is actually to scrape oil on the chicken foot pole, and there is not much oil and water.

Mineral industrial products, whether metal ores, wood lacquer and other products, in the production process, must set aside a part of the tribute, which is already considered to be a tax, if the tax is increased, it will not leave a way for the craftsmen of these industries to live.

Nor can new taxes be levied on mineral and industrial products.

Silk and cotton products are the pillar industry of Suzhou Prefecture, when purchasing raw materials silk and cotton, it is necessary to pay taxes, plus the sales of finished products, it is necessary to pay taxes through the city and the banknotes, if the tax is increased, I am afraid that the handicraftsmen of the silk and cotton industry will be forced to carry out the second large-scale riot.

Fang Yuan also went to the possibility of taxing the silk and cotton industry.

Service industries such as brothels and green buildings have long been managed and taxed by the Department of Education and Workshop, and they cannot be moved for the time being; Hotels and tea shops are basically individual industrial and commercial households with low incomes, which are usually the livelihood of a family, and there is no room for taxation.

Jewelry, jade and other luxury goods are taxed, and it is difficult to tax them before the crossing, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, which has a lot of backward productivity conditions, and this piece cannot be considered for the time being.

The only place Fang Yuan could think of expanding tax sources was to rectify the banknotes and collect taxes.

At the same time that Fang Yuan was preparing to carry out a drastic reform of the tax collection of banknotes, Chongzhen's holy decree suddenly came.

According to a report from Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan, spies in Liaodong reported that after losing the large-scale food supply of the Jin merchants, the food supply in the Manchu Qing Dynasty in this year's harsh winter had almost collapsed. Since he couldn't buy enough food and couldn't pass the New Year's Pass, Huang Taiji could only appoint his younger brother Abatai to lead a 40,000-strong Manchu army to prepare to invade the pass and grab grain to go back to the New Year's Pass.

In the territory of Liaodong, there are already signs of large-scale troop movements.

The Manchu invasion was imminent, Chongzhen, and the hundred officials in the capital immediately panicked, and immediately went to Zhou Yuji in Shanxi, Huguang Zuo Liangyu, Shi Kefa in Nanjing, Jiangnan, and Fang Yuan, who was the governor of Nanjing, to order the troops of the kings in various places to immediately return to the capital and prepare to resist the Manchu invasion.

It's finally here!

The Manchu invasion had long been expected by Fang Yuan, and he immediately summoned his cronies Qin Zhan, Jing Jie, Chigutai, Li Zongze, Su Hongyu, as well as Jing Jie and Chigutai to recommend Ma Lin, who had recently been promoted to the commander of the Shenji Battalion, to come to Canglang Pavilion to hold the most important military meeting so far.

This Malin is the descendant of Ma Gui, the commander of the second anti-Japanese war in North Korea, and is also a descendant of Mongolia.

According to the old rules, Fang Yuan first took out the holy decree, circulated it for a week, and then everyone began to discuss it.

Jing Jie, who commanded the military affairs of the two battalions of the Xuanjia Army and the Shenji Battalion, said with a sad face, "Boss, after several expansions, the Xuanjia Army has been expanded several times, and there are less than 3,000 elites, and there are as many as 40,000 iron cavalry invaded by the Manchu Dynasty. ”

Chigutai hurriedly echoed his statement, "Shaman Divine Envoy, although I have been itching to kill people in the past few months, this kind of duel with a huge disparity in strength can still be avoided!" I want to cut off people's heads, not be beheaded. ”

Li Zongze said, "In fact, the current idea of the imperial court is to wait for the Manchu Tartars to enter the customs and withdraw when they have enough, why waste the strength of the Xuanjia Army to fill the bottomless pit in the north?" ”

Su Hongyu also said, "It's better to use the excuse that Jiangnan is undecided, and politely reject the emperor!" ”

Although the generals of the military are gossiping, their attitude is surprisingly unanimous, that is, they cannot send troops, and they will be defeated if they send troops, so it is better to preserve their strength and wait and see what happens.

Fang Yuan listened silently to what the generals said, and looked at Qin Zhan, who had been slow to speak, out of the corner of his eye.

Qin Zhan didn't speak, not thinking about whether the military strategy to rescue the capital was feasible, but pondering Fang Yuan's mind and what kind of calculations he was making.

Since Fang Yuan didn't express his support, his mind should not be to refuse to send troops, he thought about it, and suddenly said, "The emperor gave the boss Shang Fang the sword, and the boss also promised that when the Manchu invasion occurred, he would lead troops to meet the Manchu Eight Banners, how to explain to the court and the emperor if he refused to send troops at this time?" ”

Fang Yuan nodded and said, "Fourth, what do you think?" ”

Qin Zhan got his hint and said, "My idea is that the main force of the Xuanjia Army is stationed in Sifu, and the old remnants of the Sanwei will take 10,000 people to rescue the capital. In this way, it can not only preserve the strength of the Xuanjia Army, but also give an explanation to the court and the emperor. Even if all of them were wiped out by the Manchu Iron Cavalry, this is also the responsibility of the emperor and the Ministry of War. ”

Everyone was silent when they heard it, Qin Zhan's method was the perfunctory method used by the general soldiers in various places in the late Ming Dynasty, and it was also a typical bureaucratic style.

The emperor wants to send troops to the king of Qin, and if he is not diligent, he will not be able to explain, and the real king of diligence will damage his elite.

The common method is to send some old, weak, sick and disabled, eliminated sergeants to Qinwang, these sergeants on the battlefield whether they have combat effectiveness, whether they will be slaughtered by the enemy, is not in the consideration of those who support the army, as long as they can pay to the court, to the emperor is all right.

The most proficient player in this method is Zuo Liangyu of Huguang.

Historical records record that this person was often defeated by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and the loss of tens of thousands of troops, but he was still able to become a big warlord with more than 200,000 armor, which is such a way to play. Once Zuo Liangyu was urged to go to war by Chongzhen, all the soldiers sent were actually old remnants who were destined to be slaughtered, which could not only give an account to the imperial court, but also clean up the surplus of troops in the army.

Qin Zhan proposed such a method at this time, which was also an abacus to kill two birds with one stone. It can not only perfunctory Chongzhen, but also clean up those local guards who do not belong to Fang Yuan's lineage. As for whether it can repel the invasion of the Manchus, it is not in the scope of consideration at all.

"Alright! Let me think again! ”

Fang Yuan listened to everyone's suggestions, and did not make a decision immediately, but just ordered everyone to go back to the army first to prepare for battle, whether it was the Xuanjia Army or the soldiers of the Three Guards.

Less than three days after sending off Jing Jie and his entourage, the Suzhou government officials headed by Chen Hongmi, as well as the wealthy businessmen led by Xi and Shen Erjia, all found Fang Yuan together.

There was no need for Fang Yuan to keep this kind of open discussion of military and political affairs secret, so he met with this group of people at the Suzhou Mansion.

Chen Hongmi said straight to the point, "Governor Fang, it is rumored in the city of Suzhou that the holy decree of the capital has arrived, ordering the four prefectures of Nanjing to send troops to the king?" ”

"Yes."

Fang Yuan inspected Chongzhen's holy decree to everyone, and Chen Hongmi said again, "What does Governor Fang think?" ”

Fang Yuan asked him rhetorically, "What is the idea of the Suzhou Mansion?" ”

Chen Hongmi said bluntly, "In the Battle of Songjin, 150,000 Ming troops were defeated, and more than 10,000 guards in Suzhou Prefecture were not enough to plug the teeth of the Manchu Tartars." ”

"Governor Chen said it too well!"

"Suzhou Mansion is thousands of miles away from the capital, and it is a long-distance attack, and it is also the end of the strong crossbow when it arrives in the capital, and its potential cannot wear Lu Mian."

As soon as Fang Yuan heard it, he knew that the attitude of the entire Suzhou Mansion officialdom was also surprisingly consistent, and there was no need to use the manpower and financial resources of Suzhou Mansion to rescue the capital, and even found a theoretical basis for Fang Yuan in the art of war as a reason to avoid war.

Fang Yuan's gaze fell on the Xi and Shen families again, "Master Xi, Shen Gongzi, what do you think?" ”

Xi Benzhen said lightly, "There is also a rumor in the market, that is, Lord Fang wants to send the sergeant of the Suzhou Mansion Guard to death, perfunctory to the emperor, and preserve his strength. ”

Shen Xiang immediately objected bluntly, "Lord Fang, these guards are all local military households, if they are sacrificed and sent to the Manchu Iron Cavalry for slaughter, it will immediately arouse the anger of the people in the entire Suzhou Mansion!" ”

Fang Yuan had to admire these wealthy businessmen for being well-informed, it seemed that Qin Zhan and them were already operating according to this plan in private.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Where did the news come from? I am still in the process of strategic planning, and it is inconvenient to disclose it to you for the time being because of the military secrets. Let's go back and wait for news! ”

Chen Hongmi, Xi Benzhen and others did not get a definite answer from him, and they could not force him to express his position immediately, so they could only leave with suspicion.

Less than two days after sending Chen Hongmi and his party away, Shi Kefa, the secretary of Nanjing's military department, also went to the Suzhou Mansion, and Fang Yuan received Shi Kefa in the Suzhou Mansion as usual.

Shi Kefa didn't beat around the bush either, and said straight to the point, "Governor Fang, the Manchu invasion and the Beijing division are in danger, when do you plan to send troops?" ”

Fang Yuan responded and said, "The army is being reorganized for war, how many soldiers and horses is Shi Shangshu going to lead north to rescue this time?" ”

Shi Kefa said loudly, "The society is in danger! Your Majesty is in danger! I have summoned 30,000 soldiers from the Nanjing Guard Station to prepare to go north to King Qin, what about Governor Fang? ”

Fang Yuan said noncommittally, "The Suzhou Mansion Guard Office can also send 10,000 soldiers to the north to King Qin." ”

Shi Kefa saw that his attitude was quite perfunctory, and he didn't go around in circles with him, "Then I will make an agreement with Governor Fang, half a month later, Governor Fang's 10,000 soldiers will go to Jiangdu, and we will join forces to go north to King Qin." If there is a slight delay, it will be dealt with by military law! ”

Shi Kefa directly drove the ducks to the shelves, and even moved out of the military law to threaten Fang Yuan, because he was worried that Fang Yuan would continue to play Tai Chi, guarding one acre and three points of land in Suzhou Mansion, and refusing to send out the soldier Qin Wang.

Fang Yuan saw through his thoughts, but thinking that he was also loyal, he didn't bother with him, so he responded in a row.