In March of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the news came back to the Beijing Division, and the Songshan City, which had been held for half a year, was broken by the Qing army, and the superintendent Hong Chengchou and the brigade of soldiers and horses led by him were broken. In a fierce battle in the city, he was still defeated.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier and others all fought unyielding and died, and the Ming army in the city fell to ten but not

It is a bit strange to the proverb that there is no filial son in front of the bed for a long time, and the news of the defeat of Songshan in July of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen was transmitted back to the world of Jingshi and the panic and shock, and after more than half a year, the news that Songshan Castle was broken and the military generals of Wenchen were all killed in battle, and the common people in Jingshi from the emperor to the following accepted this with a very calm, or numb, attitude

After the siege of Songshan, the fate of the soldiers who went out had already been decided, and everyone had expected this result in front of them, it was nothing more than sooner or later.

Supervisor Hong Chengchou died in battle, thinking of Ding Qirui, the supervisor who suppressed thieves in Henan, and couldn't help but sigh that there was no one available in Daming.

Numb acceptance is one thing, in order to do it for the world to see, but also to encourage the hearts of his subordinates, Emperor Chongzhen after the news came back, he commended Hong Chengchou as a loyal martyr, gave him a good gift, and a public sacrifice to summon the soul.

"Hong Hengjiu is not dead, such a character, the Tartars are reluctant to kill."

This news was passed on by the branch of the Lingshan Commercial Bank in Luanzhou, and the degree of Jinan City receiving the news was one day faster than that of Jingshi.

The news of the destruction of Matsuyama Castle was tightly sealed, except for a few people in the inner account premises. That is, Li Meng and Sun Chuanting were able to understand.

After hearing the news of the destruction of Songshan City and the martyrdom of Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting seemed to have aged for ten years all of a sudden. After being silent for a long time, Li Meng could also understand the other party's emotions, and after Sun Chuanting recovered, he sighed and said:

"This ...... Daming is finished......"

There was no limit between the words, but Li Meng pondered for a while, but said the sentence "Hong Hengjiu is not dead". Looking at Sun Chuanting's wide-open eyes, Sun Boya, who was a heavy minister, rarely had such an expression.

Hong Chengchou is one of the few characters who can be remembered in Li Meng's historical knowledge, and the fate of this character is too attractive, and it played a too big role in the later Manchu Qing Dynasty, as well as the so-called "scandal", too many modern film and television dramas and legends are a lot of ink.

In that era of information explosion, Li Meng heard and witnessed it. I know a little bit about it, and although the impression in my mind is a little vague, I still make this judgment.

At this time, Sun Chuanting did not wear an iron mask, his eyes were very strange when he looked at Li Meng, and the expression on his face was as plain as possible, but he could still see anger emerging.

Presumably, the man was dead and was shown to be a martyr by the imperial court. Why do you actually say such things, isn't it insulting to death?

Li Meng naturally knew what was going on with Sun Chuanting's expression, the Jiaozhou battalion had no intelligence network outside the customs. Fang Cai's words were a bit like the magic stick of an unpredictable prophet, and Li Meng was also a little uncertain whether history would change because of his arrival.

However, the existence of the Jiaozhou battalion, at least at present, has no intersection with the Tartars outside the Guan, and the history of the Guanzhou is also slowly unfolding according to the original general trend, and there should be no changes.

"Li said that there should be an eighty percent quasi-head, Mr. Sun, don't look at me like this. Is Li the kind of person who talks nonsense? ”

This rhetorical question really stopped Sun Chuanting. Li Meng never said anything casually, and all his judgments were basically reasonable. And it's accurate. It is because of this that Sun Chuanting has a vague idea in his heart, that is, the destiny of heaven is in Li Meng's body, and after being asked by Li Meng so rhetorically, Sun Chuanting was slightly stunned, but he immediately accepted Li Meng's judgment in his heart.

After accepting this judgment, the next thought made Sun Chuanting even more chilled:

"If this Hong Hengjiu is alive, if it is really used by the Tartars, it will be a great harm to the world, and he ......"

Hong Chengchou did not die in the street battle, and the deputy general Xia Chengde sent his son out of the city to collude with the Tartars, and took his son as a hostage to win the trust of the other party, and made an appointment to open the city gate in the middle of the night and let the Qing army enter the city.

This betrayal also requires a heavy greeting gift, and Inspector Hong Chengchou, as the highest-ranking official, is a suitable choice.

That night, Xia Chengde arranged for his confidants to open the city gate as agreed, and he took his soldiers and horses straight to the location of the Hong Chengchou local government office, and rushed in while the chaos.

Although Hong Chengchou was ready to be martyred, when the matter came, the sword placed on his neck could not be cut no matter what, and he was snatched away by Xia Chengde's subordinates who rushed in, tied it up and sent it to the Manchu army.

Governor Qiu Minyang and chief soldier Cao Bianjiao did not die in the street battle, but were captured by the Manchus in a hurry, but when the Manchus surrendered, they were all scolded for not surrendering and martyred.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, also scolded him, but the Qing army did not kill him, perhaps because he had greeted him in advance, and sent Hong Chengchou directly to Shenyang.

With the intelligence of the Ming Dynasty outside the customs, it is impossible to know this at all, so it has to be publicized as a martyrdom.

The destruction of the army of Songshan represents the defeat of the last army capable of fighting in the north of the Ming Dynasty, since the end of Wanli, the center of the Ming Dynasty has implemented the strategy of "fighting outside the pass and sheltering the pass", and strive not to let the war be born in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.

But after the defeat of Songshan, the fall of Jinzhou will not be too long.

If Jinzhou falls, the various fortresses behind Jinzhou can not hold on for a long time, and can only be returned to Shanhaiguan, although Shanhaiguan is known as the world's first Xiongguan, but as a defense is too thin.

If the Shanhai Pass is broken, from the Shanhai Pass to the land of Gyeonggi, there is no danger at all to rely on the defense, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty has no soldiers available.

People of insight in the world, with a little analysis, can see a very terrible future, but few people are willing to think in that direction. I just thought that maybe there would be a turnaround.

On that day, Ming Yingzong led an army of 500,000 to conquer the thorns, but the whole army was annihilated. The emperor was captured, and the Ming Dynasty still supported it, and today's situation is not as bad as it was then.

It is hoped that after the decisive battle in Henan, Li Chuang and the thieves will be completely annihilated, and then the forces will be mobilized to deal with the Tartars outside the customs again, but this idea is just a pipe dream.

There is not much hope that anyone who understands will also know this. But the result is too terrible, no one wants that to be born, disasters are frequent, internal strife and external troubles, is this the scene of the end times, many people dare not think about this.

Since Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, received the letter from the Confucian Mansion, he first instigated the imperial court to issue an order to promote the official rank of Chen Liu, a general of the Huaiyang Army. Promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of Shandong, after accepting this official title, Chen Liu did not show any self-reliance, but increased his inspection in the land of Lianghuai.

After Chen Liu was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief, the Confucian Mansion immediately contacted several illegal salt dealers in Huaibei and prepared to sell salt goods to the Confucian Mansion privately.

These salt sellers were caught by Chen Liu without accident and had their heads cut off. As soon as this move was made, everyone naturally knew that this divisive strategy had failed.

The action of inspecting the soldiers and horses was even more dusty, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, did not expect to break his head. The Shandong soldiers and horses actually didn't eat a single empty amount, Chen Xinjia didn't believe in this result, but Zhang Ruoqi and Shandong officials signed the document there.

The soldiers and horses were checked clearly, but Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, only said that the salary and silver should be used in the land of Gyeonggi to prepare the new army, and the matter of giving Shandong soldiers and horses was naturally postponed......

What annoyed Chen Xinjia even more was that he didn't know why. He wanted to keep the results of this point test in strict secrecy. It actually spread among the Beijing Division, and there are some unenlightened officials and scholars who live idlely. wrote an article to praise and praise, which caught Chen Xinjia off guard.

Of the three pre-planned methods, two have already failed, Chen Xinjia also heard from some news channels that the great eunuch Wang Chengen once laughed at him in private, saying that he listened to the comments and made a strategy, it was purely a show, and Chen Xinjia who heard this was really disgraced.

After the ceremony of the imperial court memorial to the soldiers who died in Songshan, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, played a game, saying that Gyeonggi was short of time to train recruits, and it was necessary to transfer foreign soldiers and horses to Beizhili to defend it.

Shandong soldiers and horses are sufficient, should be transferred to Shandong soldiers and horses into Zhending Mansion garrison, Emperor Chongzhen did not have any impression of these things, directly accurate, the imperial court issued an order, the Ministry of War below, transferred Shandong General Soldier Li Mengsuo, into Zhending Mansion Hengshui, Yizhou garrison.

Shandong soldiers and horses, who have always been low-key, and Li Meng, the general of Zhendong, were rarely conspicuous in the Beijing division for a while, because of this result of the inspection of troops and horses.

I thought it was just a short episode, but who would have thought that this kind of conspicuousness would continue, but the praise and kind words at the beginning lasted for a short time, and then there was a flood of attacks.

Because at the end of February, Shandong soldiers and horses began to set up cards on the canal to collect money, called Shandong Caoyun Lijin, from official ships to civilian ships, none of them slipped through the net.

It took some time for the news to reach Beijing from Shandong, and on 25 February, the Jining Prefecture Ground Transport Wharf was already in turmoil, the canal was flowing gently, and the ships were not moving quickly.

Hearing that the tax should be levied according to one percent of the value of the goods on board, the shipowner was in an uproar, but the ship could not run fast, so the person who collected the gold in Jining Prefecture got on the ship by himself.

At the beginning, the shipowners were in an uproar, unwilling to pay the money, they always felt that no matter how arrogant Shandong soldiers and horses were, they did not dare to offend the anger of the public, not to mention that the law does not blame the public, so many people are making trouble here, and Shandong's tax collectors should also be afraid of one or two, as long as one person does not pay, everyone does not pay the money.

"Do you know whose family this goods is, this is the Cabinet Auxiliary Scholar Zhou Yanru Master Zhou, your Shandong governor and general soldiers will kowtow when they see Lord Zhou, and they dare to come up to draw tax money, how bold are you, if you offend Lord Zhou, you will all be crushed!"

On a large ship, a merchant was scolding, and behind him stood a group of shipwrights and sailors, all of whom looked unkind, staring at the Shandong tax collectors who had come on board to collect taxes.

Just now these tax collectors came on board to inspect the goods. was stopped by the merchant, and the two sides pushed slightly. He just scolded and reported the name of his place.

This ship sailed on the canal, as long as the name of Zhou Yanru was reported, no one dared to stop it, who would have thought that it would be stopped in Jining Prefecture, Shandong, and it would have to be taxed.

"Is there a name for this money!? It's not that you corrupt officials in Shandong want to fill their pockets, just let this boat go. If you don't let it go, you Jining, you Shandong officials, all wait to drop the black yarn! ”

Hearing this, I don't know if he is an assistant or Zhou Yanru is an auxiliary, there is a lot of noise here, and the merchant ships docked at the wharf and river port are all coming over, looking at the tax collectors on the opposite side with gloomy faces. They were all clamoring one after another, and the situation was out of control for a while.

The businessman said that he was foaming at the mouth, listening to the surrounding noise and applause, and he was even more energetic, just about to talk about how Zhou Yanru was favored by the emperor, if he offended Zhou Yanru, it would be equivalent to offending the current saint. Then it is the sin of deception.

The tax collector who looked like a master in front of him was always reading the account book when he was scolding. There were more and more ships gathered around, and more and more people cheered, and the tax collector closed the ledger and said in a cold voice:

"Where did you get so much nonsense, resist taxes and don't pay, and go down the river!"

When the merchant was talking energetically, he heard the other party say such a sentence, and was about to continue scolding, when he saw several tax collectors on the opposite side approaching. Holding a bamboo pole of about five or six feet in his hand. Drive away the servants around him and work together. It just pushed the merchant off the ship.

"Poof", the person has fallen into the river, this time the surrounding noise is suddenly smaller, the merchant should know water, fell into the river is actually fluttering, but the tax collectors took out a bamboo pole more than ten feet long, and there is an iron hook in the head of the bamboo pole.

A tax collector took this iron hook and stretched out a bamboo pole to hook the back of the businessman's robe, and the surrounding people were bold, thinking that these Shandong local tax collectors really did not dare to harm people's lives.

The merchant of the Zhou family's cargo ship was also bold, and just about to shout something cruel, the tax collector above used his arms to hook the placket of this person's clothes, and he couldn't break free, and he was directly stuffed back into the river.

In February, when the river was opened, and the water was just open, the water temperature was very cold, and the merchant was stuffed back into the water for a while, which was a great sin.

With a "bang", the tax collector picked up the merchant again, and the master with the account book walked to the side of the ship, and asked in a good time:

"Is this relative of Scholar Zhou willing to pay taxes to assist Cao Yun?"

The merchant was about to open his mouth, but he was stuffed back into the water, and when he was lifted up again, his face was already pale, and as soon as he came out of the water, he shouted at the top of his voice:

"The little ones are willing to pay taxes, they are willing to pay taxes, pull me up, pull me up."

The master nodded, nodded at the tax collector beside him, and two more people came and dragged the merchant in the river onto the boat, and the merchant was speechless when he got on the boat, and was trembling there wearing a piece of felt.

Seeing such a vicious tax collector, the merchant and the servants did not dare to come out, and several tax collectors and several scribes began to swagger to check the goods and estimate the value.

The people on the boat around the onlookers are now quiet, no one thought that these Shandong tax collectors were so fierce, just now the merchant on the ship jumped to his feet and said that he was the manager of Zhou Yanru, a court assistant and a cabinet scholar, and this ship was the property of Zhou University.

Shandong tax Ding's subordinates showed no mercy, and directly knocked people into the river, looking at the posture, if they didn't agree to check the goods, I am afraid they would drown in the river.

Using this merchant to shout and scold, and then attracting the boats on the river to gather, he used drastic means to establish his authority, and specifically found this businessman who had a good fight, and even killed chickens to show the monkeys, and the effect was excellent.

However, the ships that surrounded them were all ships from other places, and the ships from Jining Prefecture and other Shandong provinces had already obediently docked and took the initiative to ask for inspection of the goods and pay the centi.

The ships that can go south and north on this canal make a lot of profits, and one percent of the value of this goods is really not so necessary.

"There are seven ships of silk, fine porcelain, and spices, and a total of ....... are estimated according to Jining prices...... A total of 38,000 taels of silver and 380 taels of gold. ”

After a period of time for the accounts and tax collectors to be checked. Gathered on this ship, he began to report the goods he had counted out and reported them one by one.

Taxation this time. The local tax collectors composed of the Lingshan Commercial Bank and the armed salt collectors were very well prepared, understood the value of various goods in the market in advance, and after checking the goods, they directly quoted the unit price.

The merchant in the felt was sizzled by the frozen ground, and it was extremely uncomfortable. The boatman hurriedly boiled a pot of hot soup, he was drinking it there, thinking in his heart that this time he was afraid that he would lose a lot, and these wolf-like tigers were not going to blackmail themselves fiercely.

Sitting on the bow of the ship, he heard the other party report the value of the goods and the amount of tax to be charged, but the merchant was stunned, and the other party's estimate of the value of the goods was very fair.

Strictly speaking. The estimated value of these tax collectors was slightly lower than the real value, because the profits from the southern freight to the Jingshi area were much higher than those sold in the Shandong area.

And the other party said that it was one out of a hundred, and it was really one out of a hundred, and there was no increase, but it was also fair, which was different from what I expected. The merchant had nothing to say, so he had to ask his subordinates to take the money and pay the bill.

Deterrence first, then fairness. The first step of this tax collection is very good, and the master of the tax collector wrote down the first amount of silver collected in the account book, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart, and Hou Shan and Huang Ping communicated for a long time in advance before deciding on such a form.

He knew that the owner of the ship he had taxed just now was not a lie, but it did have something to do with Zhou Yanru, and after the goods on this ship were sold in the north, seventy percent of the profits would go into the pockets of Zhou Yanru, the assistant of the current dynasty, but the more such a background. The more effective the chicken is the more effective it will be.

It starts on the third day of the first lunar month. The entire Shandong Salt Gang personnel in Lianghuai were looking for such a "chicken", and in the end, the target was locked on the owner of the ship, which had something to do with Zhou Yanru. Don't look at the three hundred and eighty taels of silver collected, in fact, the cost of the Jiaozhou camp is far more than that.

After knowing that there was such a ship, it was almost in the most urgent way to transmit military information, and the fast horse relay was transmitted to Jining Prefecture, and the Shandong Yan Gang people also spent money to buy off several sailors on the ship and the merchant's family, and some people also got on the ship as substitute sailors in Xuzhou.

In other words, even if this flamboyant Jiangnan businessman didn't make a fuss on the boat, someone would definitely make a fuss and stage a drama on the river.

"You treacherous little officials who act for the tiger set up cards to collect taxes privately, and the decent system of the court is corrupted on you people."

The surroundings had been quiet for a long time, but the master who kept the accounts heard someone on the side say this, and in a blink of an eye, it was "acting for the tiger", "treacherous little official", and "corrupting the dignity of the court" Several big hats were buckled on his head, and this master was only in his thirties, and he couldn't help but be a little annoyed when he heard this.

Turning his head to look at the source of the sound, he saw that a ship had not left, and on the bow stood a young man dressed as a scribe, looking at this side with a look of jealousy and hatred.

When the tax collectors heard him say this, they were all a little angry, but the master felt that he couldn't provoke right and wrong for such a young scholar, seeing that the other party was not very old, and he was dressed like a rich man, he must not know the sky and the earth, and the young and vigorous character, and replied with a smile at the moment:

"The imperial court has not allocated money to repair the Cao Canal for many years, and if Shandong doesn't collect money to raise it himself, I'm afraid this prince won't be able to walk by boat."

I thought that after this sentence was finished, the matter would be over, but who would have thought that the young man would open his mouth again and said coldly:

"It is the right way for the imperial court to pay taxes from the fields and earthworks, and the boats on this canal are the property of the gentry and eunuchs, and you bully the weak and forcibly collect them, isn't it discrediting the court and the locality, and you also take care of the dignity of the court."

The righteousness of this is awe-inspiring, to put it bluntly, this tax and servitude has nothing to do with the gentry and eunuchs, these Ming propertied classes, enjoy the benefits given by the Ming Empire, and become human beings, but they do not bear the slightest obligation, those obligations that should be fulfilled, and the taxes paid must be borne by the bottom of the Ming Empire.

The master's face gradually turned cold, he was a scholar with no merit, before entering the Jiaozhou camp as an errand, his family was already bankrupt because he couldn't afford the taxes, and the family was on the verge of starvation, but the families with merit in the same village did not bear any taxes and servitude. But they took advantage of this opportunity to wantonly annex land.

After entering the Jiaozhou camp as an errand boy, this master was instilled with a truth. There is a responsibility and obligation, Shandong soldiers and horses guard the land of Qilu, ensure the safety and smoothness of this land of transportation, and collect some money, which is also a matter of course.

Seeing that the master's face turned cold, the more ugly the expressions of the tax collectors became, and the more the scholar standing at the bow of the boat felt extremely awe-inspiring. The words became more and more impassioned, and he said loudly:

"Don't think that you can be unscrupulous and domineering, at most it can only be arrogant for a while, you don't know what happened to the eunuch local tax supervisor and weaving supervisor in Jiangnan, I advise you and others, if you go against the grain, then the people's resentment will boil. The righteous people flocked, and even if it was regretted, it would be too late. ”

Hearing this, a smile appeared on the face of the master of the tax collector who led him, and he replied with a bow:

"Don't bother, Gongzi, you can't collect taxes everywhere in Jiangnan, mainly because you can't suppress the situation, and you have suffered a big loss. On the ground of Shandong, whoever dares to make such a fuss must weigh it on the shore. ”

This master finished speaking. Ignoring the boy who stood at the bow of the boat and thought he was righteous, he led the people off the boat directly, got into the dinghy and headed towards another ship, and left a voucher of "payment of money" to the fleet that had received the money when he left. The soldier standing at the bow of the boat didn't expect such a big remark, but he was so angry by the other party's reaction that his face turned a little blue for a while, and he looked in the direction that the master was pointing to, but saw that the eight guns on the pier were aimed in the direction of the canal. On the other side of the dock there was also a warship full of soldiers.

Look at the swarthy muzzle. and the light of the blade reflected in the sun, the scholar shivered during the day. I didn't dare to stir up here anymore, and hid back in the cabin.

Zhang Jiang, the military capital of Yanzhou, arranged two battalions on this Jining wharf, and the common people of Daming were easily agitated after the Wanli year, and all things that were taxed or handled by non-civilian officials often clashed with the common people, such as the one in Suzhou in the last year of the Apocalypse.

Wei Zhongxian sent people to Suzhou to arrest people, stirring up a popular uprising, and the result was a lot of uproar, and Zhang Pu, the leader of the restoration society who died violently last year, also wrote "The Tombstone of Five People" based on this incident.

For Li Meng, this "Tombstone of Five" is also one of the few things that he knows about the Ming Dynasty in modern times, and when he was in junior high school, Li Meng's grades were still good.

Originally, according to the discussion between the Shandong Salt Gang and the Lingshan Commercial Bank, it was thought that relying on the tax was enough to deal with the possible changes, but Li Meng transferred troops and prepared to deal with the possible chaos with the attitude of dealing with the enemy soldiers.

In the Wanli year and the year of the Apocalypse, the imperial court sent tax supervisors and mine supervisors to the south of the Yangtze River to collect taxes, which was ridiculed as one of the evil governments of the eunuch party and competing with the people for profit.

But the land is collected, and the squeeze is ruthless, it will be like now to provoke the people's uprising, and the thieves will swarm, not to mention that the Ming Dynasty has been since the beginning of Jiajing, and there is basically no year when the wind is evenly adjusted, and the normal operation of the Ming Empire needs to be supported by taxes, and the peasants' harvest achievements are so much.

The effective means of increasing fiscal revenue is to collect industrial and commercial taxes, but these industrial and commercial taxes must be collected from those handicraft workshops and large trading houses, and most of the people behind these rich industries are the wealthy families of Jiangnan scholars, who are inextricably linked with the Jingshi and Nanjing and local officials, and even the families of these high-ranking officials and dignitaries themselves come forward to operate.

If they collect a penny of tax, they will earn a penny less silver, and they are naturally full of reluctance, but Wanli and Tianqi are both emperors with some ideas, and they will not easily withdraw their policies.

As a result, the following came up with various ways to confront each other, when the tax supervisor and the mine supervisor collected taxes at the local level, they were often restrained by the local officials, and even found reasons for the local officials to punish them, while in Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, it was often the factory owners and wealthy businessmen who were behind the instigation.

Let the workers of those factories make noise and storm the official offices and residences sent by the imperial court to collect taxes, so that these eunuchs who collect taxes have nowhere to stay in the local area.

When the workers clash with the tax superintendent and his entourage, there will inevitably be deaths and injuries, and if there are casualties, it is the sin of the tax superintendent and his men, and they will be attacked by the scholars of the government and the opposition.

Every time a magistrate punished the tax supervisor and the mine supervisor, the local people's confrontation was beautified by the literati as a righteous act and a righteous person, and the behavior was enough to coexist with heaven and earth, the sun and the moon. It is an act of great justice.

Some literati and celebrities have good writing and write articles. After watching it, it is indeed enthusiastic, and I can't wait to be there.

But all the above righteous and awe-inspiring things, carefully investigated, will show that what these officials and righteous people did was just to not pay the taxes collected by the imperial court.

The imperial court could not collect taxes. There is no money, no money for the officials, no money for the soldiers, no money for the construction of water conservancy, but the operation of the imperial court needs to be supported by finance and taxation all the time, and the gentry and eunuchs, these richest people, cannot collect money. It can only go to the common people and deduct money from the pitiful land rent.

There are many disasters, and this land oppression is naturally the people's livelihood, and it is for this reason that the rebellion of the displaced people that is now disturbing the world is for this reason.

In order to quell the rebellion of the displaced people and resist the threat of the barbarians outside the border, the only way to continue the above cycle is to continue, which is the so-called vicious circle.

This is true everywhere in the world. Shandong has set up private checkpoints and charged centi, although it is illegal. But it was also an effort to reorganize this order, and Li Meng was in charge of a province at this time, and it was in this province that he ensured that all the common gentry in Shandong, except for the special Confucian Mansion and the Lu Palace, had to pay taxes.

Everyone knows that Shandong's approach is correct, but not everyone can learn this approach, and only Shandong, a place like Shandong, where Li Meng has achieved complete control, can promote it.

The lords of the court are usually noble and tight, and even when they speak, they rarely mention the word money, and they feel that they are cheesy when they talk about the word money.

But I heard the people below talk about their own goods. was actually drawn a cent of gold when crossing the eastern border. Immediately there was a furious rage, and there was the minister. In the ten years of the DPRK and China, he has not participated in any political disputes, and when the court is in the court, he is always a good man under the guise of haha, and he takes a rare and confused route.

But this time it was all angry and abnormal, and the affairs of the Ming Dynasty were handled by others, and had nothing to do with themselves. But if someone wants to collect their own money, it is tolerable and unbearable, and they must make a fuss.

As soon as the news reached the capital, those remarks praising General Zhendong and Shandong General Li Meng for not eating empty quotas and being loyal to the country disappeared in an instant.

Whether it is thought of or unexpected, attacks come one after another, "ill-intentioned" and "ill-intentioned" are already common remarks, as well as comments such as "pig's head and horns".

These offensive words were arranged by Li Meng to be copied into a book and sent back to Jinan City as soon as they were obtained by the people in Jingshidi.

Li Meng laughed at the dissenting remarks that attacked him, which was expected, but it was this dog-headed allusion that made him very strange. The old eunuch Liu Fulai explained with a smile, "The literati used the dictionary indiscriminately, from the word dog head with horns, saying that the pig's head has horns in the shape of a dragon, and it also means that you have a bad heart", Li Meng laughed, there is nothing wrong with what these people said, and they really said their own thoughts.

However, among the twists and turns sent back by the Beijing Division, there is a special one is Liu Zongzhou, the imperial history of the left capital, he said on the excerpt, looking at the documents of the household department and the military department, the Shandong soldiers and horses have not had a salary for several years, this matter is unreasonable, but it is forgivable.

Moreover, the Cao Canal has not been repaired for many years, if the gold extracted from Shandong can be used on the canal, it is also the best of both worlds, and many of the imperial courts in the provinces of Jiangbei have lost control, and the army is paid to make up for it.

In fact, this method of setting up cards to extract centigold, in such a chaotic world and the decline of the control of the imperial court, is really a method, at least it can maintain the supply of troops and localities, and the imperial court is no longer able to provide any help.

The disadvantage is that it is easy to make the local independence too strong, but in the current situation, the independence is too strong, it is better than not having a trace of strength.

It's just that Mr. Liu is known for his honesty and honesty, and he is a scholar, he doesn't have any industry related to Caoyun, but no one will listen to the so-called fair words he said.

This statement was quickly drowned in other people's folds, and they all said that Liu Zongzhou was too good to make such an amazing statement, and he didn't need to pay attention to it.

Emperor Chongzhen was also the same as usual, his ears were very soft in front of Wenchen, so he naturally ignored it, but reprimanded Liu Zongzhou a few times.

"Lord Zhou, you are the cabinet assistant, you must give everyone an idea of this matter, then Li Zhendong is really making trouble!"

After the last dynasty, the ministers of the DPRK and China gathered in the palace of Zhou Yanru, the cabinet assistant, and wanted to discuss a way to collect centijin in the north of Caoyun for their own goods, and many ministers with different political views came together.

Zhou Yanru looked at these colleagues who were shouting in the living room, he was also a little crying and laughing, listening to the man's words, Zhou Yanru was also a little angry, and said in a muffled voice:

"The old man's cousin's trade was also collected when he crossed the Shandong border, what did the old man say, then again, Li Meng, the chief soldier of Shandong, what way do you deal with it."

As soon as I asked this, all the ministers in the living room were dumbfounded, Zhou Yanru's reputation was not good in the imperial court, he was known for his greed for money and lust, and the violent death of Zhang Pu, the leader of the Restoration Society, also had an unclear relationship with him, but this insight was good, and his judgment was convincing to everyone.

Seeing this sentence, everyone was dumbfounded, Zhou Yanru sneered and said again:

"From the year of the Apocalypse to the present, the generals who have achieved the level of general soldiers and staff generals, and the strength in their hands is still there, can the imperial court add real crimes to them? There is no one, they are all painless punishments and reprimands, this Shandong general soldier Li Meng inspected the soldiers and horses some time ago, didn't he still say that he didn't eat the empty quota, the old man estimated, it is impossible not to eat the empty quota, but it is sure that he has eaten relatively little, and there are 20,000 soldiers in his hands, can the court move such a general? Decree reprimand, that's not the wind in your ears! ”

The room was quieter after a while, and it took a long time for the waiter of the Criminal Department to hesitate and say:

"A few days ago, Chen Shangshu of the military department played, saying that he was going to transfer Li Meng's troops to Beizhili to guard the town, if he obeyed the order to adjust the defense, things would be easy to do."

Everyone in the room was a little excited, and Zhou Yanru sneered and said:

"Liu Zeqing has been transferred a few times, has he ever moved the place, the deployment of Shandong soldiers and horses, the old man looks difficult, everyone, hold on!!"

On the seventh day of the first month of March, the Qin messenger who sent the decree to adjust the defense arrived in Jinan City......