12-69 Driving the tiger and welcoming the wolf

Nanjing, the palace is noisy, the Xixia people are too high, 70,000 taels of gold, 7 million taels of silver, 700,000 horses of silk, even if the Ming Dynasty is rich in oil, it will hurt to take out this money and things.

The silver is good to say, the treasury and the inner treasury of the household department, maybe you can make up enough, but the gold and silk are difficult to say, the circulation currency of the Ming Dynasty is silver, there are very few gold ingots, even if there is a part of the gold coins of the Song Dynasty as an international settlement, it is also stored in the treasury of Shanghai, and the silk has to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou to collect, and the inventory of the hundreds of silk and satin villages in the capital is not enough to add up to a dime.

What to do, the enemy does not dare to fight at present, only to spend money to send this plague god away, what to do if he can't make up the gold and silk, only start from the people of the capital.

Nanjing City is inhabited by all the clans of the Ming Dynasty, princes and high-ranking officials, feudal officials, countless merchants, even if it is a small people who rise to the top, most of them are middle class, gold is the most popular ornament and value preservation products in these years, as large as the princes and nobles, as small as the people in the market, who has no gold at home, even the poorest washerwoman, will also insert an old Fengxiang's gold hairpin in the temples.

Yes, take them and send the brocade guards to loot the gold and silver of the people, the enemy is current, the soldiers are working hard, and the people have to do their best, but in this way, no one can hide, those ministers have tried their best to climb to this position not to make money, but the money has not been earned, first to give the gold at home, how willing they are, so they unanimously opposed.

The minister who insisted on looting the gold and silver of the people to retreat from the enemy army was Hou Sui, his old face was flushed, and he made a generous statement, reprimanding the other ministers for their eyes, saying that after the gold, silver and silk were delivered to the enemy, it was not that they could not get it back, and when the Mongols came, they were light and rushed forward, and when they left, they brought so much gold, silver and silk and satin and they would definitely not go fast.

Hou Sui's words won the support of Wei Zhongxian, Zhu Youxiao also nodded again and again, and gradually the ministers also came back to their senses, and they had already thought of the way to make money from the flexible mind, the gold and silver from the princes and nobles could naturally be returned, and those from ordinary people's families could be operated, hehe, not only would they not lose a penny, but they could also take the opportunity to make a sum of money, so the opposition disappeared and became one-sided support.

"This plan to delay the army is very good, Lord Hou deserves to be my great master." Zhu Youxiao praised, and Hou Sui stroked his beard and smiled proudly: "Your Majesty is still wise." ”

"There must be no mistake in handling this matter with Qin Misi, Dongchang, Jinyiwei, and Ying Tianfu." Zhu Youxiao issued a will, and suddenly the state apparatus started to loot the people's wealth inside and outside the capital, and the people suffered before the Tartar entered the city, and the officials were ordered to rob, and even the momentum was much stronger than in the past, in addition to looting gold and silver, he did not forget to take some other valuable things with the sheep, and for a time the people in the capital were disgruntled.

After all, the time was too hasty, and at night only 30,000 taels of gold and 2 million taels of silver were made up, far from the amount required by the Mongols. ”

"That's all there is to it, to fool the Tartars with bronze vessels." The monarchs and ministers all laughed, and after laughing, they felt that it was not like that, the dignified Heavenly Empire was beaten to the capital by others, and they were killed like cutting melons and vegetables, and now they were forced to loot the whole city to collect gold and silver to buy peace, and even took out the bronze utensils to make up the number, which is really a bit embarrassing. ”

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, and after a while, Zhu Youxiao said: "It's all gone, go and make up gold and silver." ”

Suddenly, there was a shout from the door of the main hall: "No need to make up gold and silver, my Ming victory is in sight!" ”

Everyone turned their heads together, it turned out that they were stiff at the gate of Qianqing Palace, the moonlight shone on his body, a confident smile and a paper fan gently shook in his hand, there was really a lupine scarf, Zhuge reincarnation.

"How did you escape back?" Hou Sui asked in a lost voice.

Mao Bi stiffened and shook his head with a smile: "Although the enemy camp is tight, in my eyes, but Er'er, I can come if I want to come, I can leave if I want, and I returned to Beijing late at night to report a good news to Your Majesty and the princes, and the Tartars are almost over." ”

Everyone was overjoyed all of a sudden, and came over to ask this and that, Wei Zhongxian coughed unhappily, and everyone came to their senses, and hurriedly came to the emperor with Mao Bi Stiff, and Mao Bi Stiff performed the courtesy of the monarch and ministers, and Zhu Youxiao gave the seat tea, so that Mao Bi Stiff would come to the matter carefully.

Mao Bi's eloquence was originally good, and the story was quite dramatic, and he spat out lotus flowers to deepen the twists and turns and excitement of the matter a little more, and everyone was amazed and their mood was ups and downs.

Finally finished telling the story, and everyone was still immersed in it for a long time and couldn't extricate themselves, or Hou Sui spoke first: "Then Liu Zongmin, will he really go down the river to the king to save the driver?" ”

"Can't be wrong, the Tartars are most afraid of him, General Liu is also known for his cavalry, rushed to Wuchang in the starry night, requisitioned civilian ships to the south, smooth sailing, and will not be too late than the Tartars." He said confidently.

"Liu Zongmin has long heard of this person, he was originally a blacksmith, and he was born with divine power and the courage of ten thousand people, and later joined the army as a general under the command of Yuan Inspector, because some trivial matters have been suppressed by Liu Ziguang, a traitor, and his official position has not been promoted, alas, it's a pity." A military officer who thought he knew the inside story said bitterly.

"Such a good general, how can he be buried, when he arrives in Beijing, I will be rewarded heavily. Come on, the gold and silver will be put into the warehouse for the time being, strengthen the city defense, and wait for Liu Zongmin's reinforcements. ”

The next day, the Mongolian soldiers on the other side began to cut down trees and build ships, inflated the cowhide raft they carried, and prepared to cross the river to attack the city. ”

Wei Zhongxian was also anxious, if he let the Tartars attack his glory and wealth, it would be over, he said with a heart: "It's okay, the city of Jingshi is tall, and there are countless artillery and crossbow arrows, and the Tartars can't attack it." ”

Zhu Youxiao hurriedly said: "Then hurry up and prepare, you see that the tartars are all in the water." ”

But the Mongols just went into the water and slipped a corner, they were not stupid enough to ride a horse across the Yangtze River to be a live target for others, and the city wall here also began to be busy, preparing all kinds of equipment to meet the enemy, suddenly a partial general ran over and whispered a few words to Wei Zhongxian, so angry that Wei Zhongxian slapped his head in the face, and said to Zhu Youxiao angrily: "Your Majesty, the slave will come when he goes." Then the general came to the side and asked in a low voice, "What about the cannon that cost millions of taels of silver?" ”

The general said with a bitter face: "Who knew that the capital would also fight, and not all the silver went into your pocket." ”

Wei Zhongxian was so angry that he slapped him again: "Why don't we remember, then what do you say, what are those black and shiny cannons on the city wall?" Furnishings? ”

The partial general said aggrievedly: "Isn't it just a decoration, a fake cannon made of wood, painted with a layer of paint on the outside, not to mention looking at it from a distance, even if it is seen from a distance, it is the same as the real one, this hand is still taught by the Governor." ”

Wei Zhongxian woke up like a dream, didn't he teach it himself, he thought that the Jingshi had never fought since the Battle of Yongle Yejing, and he didn't need a strong city fire force at all, and only a small part of the money to buy artillery ammunition was spent on model guns, and the rest were privately swallowed by himself and the officials and generals of the military department and the Beijing battalion.

Wei Zhongxian was so frustrated that he almost hit his head against the wall, and when he sobered up, he asked again: "Can those steam repeaters that were purchased before still work?" "It was still a project under the reign of the nine thousand years old, and it cost a million taels of silver to order a new gadget from the Liguo Iron Works, and now I can't count on artillery, and I can block it with a steam crossbow for a while.

The answer is as expected, the steam repeater system has long been dismantled and sold as tatters by these losers, which means that now the city defense of Nanjing has no heavy weapons, and can only rely on firearms, bows, arrows, knives and guns to defend against the Mongols.

Wei Zhongxian only felt dizzy, it was too late to say anything now, look at the creation, the only hope is whether Liu Zongmin can arrive in time, if the reinforcements do not arrive, he will have to protect the emperor and run away.

The efficiency of the Mongols was very high, and they made hundreds of large rafts in half a day, and installed the captured artillery on them, which became earthen gunboats, and the Yangtze River Naval Division was originally an inland river fleet, scaring fishermen or something, even in the face of earthen gunboats, they could not do anything, they could only barely resist for a while, and used as cannon fodder.

Seeing the sound of the horn on the north bank, Zhu Youxiao and the ministers were dumbfounded, Wei Zhongxian licked his chapped lips, and was about to propose to abandon the city, when he suddenly pointed to the riverside and shouted: "Look, there is a boat!" ”

A big ship appeared at the turn of the Yangtze River, and on the top of the mast was the Mingzi battle flag, and then there was a Zhangba general military flag, with a Liu character written on it, and after the first ship sailed by, there were thousands of sails behind it.

"Bang" a cannon sounded, the warship opened fire, the distance was too far, no one hit, only set off a high column of water on the river, but this was enough, the Mongols died down, abandoned the raft and retreated in a hurry, not even the artillery tied to the raft.

"Victorious! Win! There was a shout of joy from the top of the city, knowing that greater danger was just beginning to come.