Chapter 138: The Clouds Rise in All Directions (II)

ps: Some readers said that in the Fuwang Mansion in Luoyang at the end of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that there are no three million taels of silver and more than 100,000 stone rice grains.

But I have a statistic here, when King Fu was a feudal domain, Emperor Wanli himself directly rewarded King Fu with more than one million taels of silver, and King Fu must have some savings before, plus the rest of the income, so when he set off for Luoyang, King Fu already had at least two million taels of silver. After that, this Fu Wang must also be a clever winner in Henan, and he should have four or five million taels of silver in the fifth year of Chongzhen. After all, when this guy was still a prince, he spent 300,000 taels of silver on a wedding! Moreover, this is not long after the beginning of the great drought in Chongzhen, and the grain in the Central Plains is not as scarce as in the next few years, and the grain in Fuwangfu should naturally be more.

Also, another part of the reader thinks that food prices have risen too high, but note that this is an inflated price of food under conditions of war and embargo, and is largely hyped up by profiteers and does not reflect the real supply and demand situation. When the summer grain is on the market, it will naturally fall back.

The premise is that there is still summer grain available for the market this year...... Or there is a consumer market where summer grain can be sold......

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Of course, in the matter of building up the army, opportunistic ways to save money are not absent.

First of all, if the system of compulsory soldiers is adopted instead of a professional military system, then the settling-in allowance for soldiers can be basically saved.

Second, if soldiers are required to purchase ordnance and ammunition on their own, to be responsible for their own training, to get their own uniforms, to spend their own money on the treatment of their wounds and diseases, and even to allow them to bring a certain amount of food for themselves in short-term combat, then the training expenses and the expenses for ordnance, clothing, and medical treatment will be smoothly resolved.

Finally, the remaining military pay, pensions and pensions. It's easier to solve. As long as a small amount of money is paid first, and then let them "break the city and let them be plundered", and grab and eat wherever they go, basically there is no need to pay military salaries. As for pensions, burial costs and retirement pensions, they can be paid with the land occupied, or even not at all. Just declare that "joining the army and fighting in the war is an obligation"!

But here's the problem...... Can an army built up by cutting corners like this really be able to fight?

Not even a cent of settling-in allowance is given. Asking soldiers to die for you is likely to make them reluctant and demoralized.

And the practice of letting soldiers prepare their own ordnance, ammunition and even food is even more miserable, and most of those who have money will not be willing to fight for their lives, while the poor who have no money even if they are willing to gamble their lives, they still can't afford to buy the household goods they have at hand, so they can only get some wooden sticks and kitchen knives to make do.

In addition, it is obviously difficult to unify the specifications of self-brought weapons. For example, with all kinds of long and short spears, it is difficult to list a neat phalanx.

As for training, it is also a big problem, those soldiers who have not been trained must be a group of unorganized and undisciplined rabble, and I am afraid it will be difficult to even arrange the formation. Even if the government orders it to organize its own training, the problem is that such absurd orders are often impossible to enforce who should lead the organization. Who will take care of the accommodation, who will find the venue, who will act as the instructor? What kind of drill code is used?

According to the above inference, this army, which was built almost without money, in the absence of other factors to incentivize, must have morale but no morale. To be equipped without equipment, to be disciplined without discipline, to train without training, to cohesion without cohesion...... Even if it is ten times larger than the other party in terms of quantity, it must be no different from a pile of waste, and even how to go to the battlefield smoothly is a problem, what is the point of this numerical advantage?

The military household of the Ming Dynasty. It's almost such a self-financed army, but the actual combat effectiveness can only be described as desperate.

However, on the other side of the Yangtze River, as a rebel, the demon people of the Smelling Fragrance Sect have a way to overcome the above disadvantages, of course, through the most cruel, bloody, and worst way...... To put it simply, it's one word, grab!

Want money? Want land? Want a woman? Then grab your knives and guns and go to the houses of those rich and unkind families!

The Wenxiang Sect in Jiangbei, which had no food and no pay, initially relied on such a fool to pull up hundreds of thousands of teams in one go.

But the problem is that the methods that can be used by the Smelling Fragrance Sect cannot be used by the Donglin Party. These Donglin gentlemen are themselves big landlords who occupy the vast majority of the wealth and land in the south of the Yangtze River, if they use robbery to fool the soldiers, wouldn't it be tantamount to encouraging these vulgar warriors to rob their own property?

It can be seen from this that if the Nanjing court, as the ruler, suddenly had a brain-dead and wanted to use this method of cutting corners to build up an army, the result would either be a collapse without a fight, or a rebellion and rebellion, which was simply a suicidal act of death.

Therefore, no matter how stingy and difficult to give up money, the money that should be used must still be used, otherwise you can only wait to be cut and robbed.

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However, although the ministers in the palace also vaguely understood this truth, these guys were all masters who did not shed tears when they saw the coffin, and wanted them to pay a huge sum of millions of taels of silver to raise soldiers, which was really more distressing than digging their ancestral graves...... Moreover, this group of people also knows very well that even if they really grit their teeth and donate money to serve the country, how much of this silver can be used?

Today's Yonghe Emperor's court has inherited the "second government" of the Ming Empire in Nanjing very completely, and naturally has completely inherited all the stereotypes and bad habits of the Ming Empire. When 10,000 taels of silver were withdrawn from the state treasury, 3,000 taels were immediately to be drifted away by the household officials according to the "usual practice". After the silver left the household department, the next thing was to pass through the yamen of the military department, and it was also to be slaughtered again. Then it has to go through the deduction of the military preparation road yamen and the general army yamen before it can be sent to the officer in charge of recruitment, and if there are three thousand taels of silver left at this time, it is time to burn high incense.

Then, according to the usual practice, these recruiting officers would deduct about 50 to 70 percent of their salaries to socialize and support their own families...... After such layers of geese plucked their feathers, God knows how many percent of the silver will be really used for recruitment?!

In that case, why should the important ministers take out the money they have worked so hard to embezzle and give it to those lower-level officials for welfare?

In general, the ancient "meat eaters" were really quite "despicable". It always seems to be in some kind of situation where eating a hundred beans is not too fishy. Even these insatiable guys. They know that the crisis of ruining their families and countries is imminent, but they still won't learn any lessons.

In this way, in view of the above-mentioned considerations of great practical significance, Rao is Zhou Yanru's first assistant is good at talking badly, and he has worn out his tongue, and on the issue of raising military funds, the Donglin gentlemen finally only reluctantly agreed to mobilize their families. Serve 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 stone of rice to the imperial court, and then apportionment of a sum of 300,000 taels of silver to the people of Beijing.

Seeing that the military budget has only been raised to one-tenth of what was expected. Zhou Yanru, the first auxiliary minister, couldn't help but have dark eyes, with such a little money and food, it is the limit to be able to pay the existing troops of the Nanjing Imperial Court with full military salaries, where is there any spare money to recruit new soldiers?

It can be seen from this that Emperor Chongzhen, in the case of lack of money and food, completely tore his face and copied the Fuwang Mansion for the crime of rebellion! If it weren't for the start-up capital of the Fuwang Mansion, the situation of the exiled court in Huguang would not have been very difficult! It must be known that the loyalty of those gentry and landlords in Huguang Province to the Ming Dynasty is not necessarily much stronger than that of the Donglin Party in the south of the Yangtze River!

He took a deep breath and once again admonished himself to be patient and haste. After silently reciting a series of heart-clearing mantras that are said to be calm, Zhou Yanru's first assistant, who was slapped in the face one after another in the court today, finally lifted his spirits again and threw out the next topic: to make peace with the thief.

At present, the decline of the Nanjing Imperial Court has been quite obvious, even if it abandons the strongholds of Yangzhou and Chuzhou in the north of the Yangtze River, and uses the surging Yangtze River to block the footsteps of the demons of the Wenxiang Sect. However, the more than 10,000 field troops that withdrew would definitely not be able to stop the two-sided attack of the Australian thieves and the deposed emperor Chongzhen.

In view of the Nanjing court that supported the new emperor Zhu Yihai. There are irreconcilable contradictions between him and Emperor Chongzhen, who was forcibly deposed. So the two sides can only fight one big game anyway. On the contrary, after the Australian thieves occupied Hangzhou and controlled a corner of Jiangnan, they never continued to attack northward and advanced into the heart of Jiangnan. Although I don't know what kind of considerations these thieves have. But there seems to be room for negotiation.

Therefore, Zhou Yanru felt that at the moment, even if it was false and wrong, he should send someone to contact and negotiate with the Australian thief, so as to concentrate his forces and meet the enemy upstream No matter from which point of view, Zhou Yanru's opinion is very reasonable:

“…… At present, the thieves are entrenched in Hangzhou and have gained a corner of the south of the Yangtze River; Smelling incense and teaching demons to ravage Jiangbei. It is only separated by a water from Jinling, and even if there is a natural danger of the Yangtze River, it is difficult to guarantee that the thief army will not find a gap and smuggle south. And Huguang has a strong enemy on the side, eyeing the remaining capital. The situation has evolved so far, and the imperial court has been overwhelmed. The thief can only be appeased temporarily. Seek peace for a while, so that the imperial court can make every effort to deal with the upstream crisis and protect the remaining capital. There is no better way to do this! ”

But here's the thing. There are so many things in this world, and there has always been an insulator between rationality After Zhou Yanru made this suggestion, the Donglin gentlemen, who had just been forced to pay for it, immediately exploded:

“…… Never! The thieves slaughtered the gentry in Zhejiang, humiliated the scholars, and did many evils! How can the imperial court forgive the heinous sins of this generation? ”

“…… Shame on you! How can I bow my knees to such a vulgar barbarism? ”

“…… Qi Sheng, the minister impeached the first assistant Zhou Yanru, as the first assistant of the cabinet, shouldering the hope of the world, but the praise and painting were fruitless, and he could not be safe for His Majesty, but he was a slave to the outside world, but he deserved death! Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I have not ceded land, not paid compensation, and not made peace, even if the Tumu Fort was defeated in the past, and the Wara army besieged the Beijing Division, I have never bent the knee to beg for peace, how can I make an exception for a mere thief today? ”

……

All the gossip officials stood on the moral high ground and fired fiercely at Zhou Yanru, a traitorous minister. After a righteous and stern saliva sprayed down, Zhou Yanru suddenly became the target of thousands of people and the target of everyone, and was drowned out by the overwhelming scolding. And the other Donglin bosses, even if they understand that making peace with the thief is the right choice, none of them are willing to stand up and say a few words to Zhou Yanru, they are still staring at the position of the first assistant under Zhou Yanru's ass! If you can take the opportunity to tarnish the reputation of this guy, wouldn't it be more convenient to fall down in the future?

In the end, Zhou Yanru, who was helpless, had no choice but to retract this proposal gloomily, and at the same time secretly scolded in his stomach: You sour people who stand and say that they don't have back pain, don't you know what this official has done, but you are just following the example of King Yue Goujian lying down and tasting gall, the so-called poisonous snake devouring hands and strong men breaking their wrists?

What else do you say about not ceding the land, not getting along with relatives, and not paying compensation! In the past, the imperial court rewarded the official titles and silver silks in order to appease the various Tartar chieftains and Tusi. Is it still less? It's just that it doesn't use the words of the old coins like the two Song Dynasty in the past, so what's the difference in substance?

But at this moment, you are still making noise there, saying that it is humiliating to the country and insulting the religion, but do you have the ability to move mountains and reclaim the sea and turn the tide to the top? It seems that they can command thousands of troops! Why don't you take your family to see it?

However. Although Zhou Yanru kept complaining in his heart, he still didn't have the ability to turn the tide and fight the Confucianism with his tongue after all. In short, under the "wise decision" of the Donglin gentleman, the small court of Emperor Yonghe in Nanjing will continue to fight a fierce war with the three enemies of Emperor Chongzhen, Wenxiangjiao and Australian thieves at the same time in a weak state of lack of soldiers and salaries......

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From beginning to end of the entire court discussion, His Majesty Zhu Yihai on the throne did not say a word, and indifferently watched the civil and military officials spitting and fighting cross-eyed below. Until after the ministers dispersed, the Yonghe Emperor who served as a puppeteer for a small half a day on the Danqi. Only then did he move his hands and feet and walked straight to the back court.

Like these overgrown halls in the previous dynasty, the back court of the Forbidden City in Nanjing was also barren and even more dilapidated because it had been uninhabited for two hundred years: the lush vines and plants had already climbed the stone steps and windowsills of the palace, and the small green saplings sprouted and grew in the brick cracks, gradually breaking the masonry of the paving...... At first glance. It's like an ancient Mayan city engulfed in a jungle.

In this lush "urban jungle", only a small side hall was cleaned out, and Zhu Yihai's original wives and concubines were separated on the way to escape, and they didn't care about remarrying after arriving in Nanjing, so they could still live in such a little land.

At this time, there was a middle-aged eunuch with a white face and beard. Slightly restrained at the gate of the palace. Seeing Emperor Yonghe appear outside the door, the middle-aged eunuch quietly breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly beckoned the emperor in, and then retreated left and right, his expression looked very nervous. However, Emperor Yonghe's expression was very calm, and he found a chair to sit down. Only then did he speak unhurriedly and asked the eunuch, "...... Have you done everything you were told? ”

“…… Back to Your Majesty, it's all done! The middle-aged eunuch who had escorted Zhu Yihai all the way south from Shandong hurriedly replied in a low voice, and at the same time put a few blankets in front of the emperor and opened them, including two books, several sets of half-used monk's clothes, flints, dry food, and a number of coins, including copper coins and silver ingots of the Ming Dynasty, gold coins and silver coins of Westerners, and even Chinese dollar banknotes of "Australian thieves", and I don't know where this middle-aged eunuch got it. In addition, there is a set of head shaving tools, which look ready to make up for the appearance of a monk running away.

And this is exactly the purpose of Yonghe Emperor Zhu Yihai"...... Well, that's great! Zhu Yihai nodded with satisfaction, "...... These days, pay attention to the road of Miyagi. As soon as there is any trouble, let's shave our hair and change into monk's robes and escape! I don't want to stay in this place anymore! ”

“…… Yes, Your Majesty...... But, Your Majesty, don't you really want the position of emperor? The middle-aged eunuch asked with some hesitation.

“…… Emperor? Hey! What kind of emperor is this? If the name is not right, it is worse than the Han Xian Emperor of the Three Kingdoms! There is no one in the world who is willing to be convinced. Emperor Han Xian still has a few loyal ministers around him! Who else can be trusted by the widow's side but you? ”

As soon as he mentioned this, Zhu Yihai's face suddenly became melancholy, "...... If you can't grasp the authority, no one will listen to what you say, and it's nothing to sit on the throne and be a puppet, after all, it's all said before. But look at it, those rebellious ministers and thieves are only willing to give the widow a thousand taels of silver every month, where can they sustain it? Moreover, what kind of palace did they give to the widows? It's like a haunted abandoned mansion! This is actually where the emperor lived? I remember that the houses where the concubines and concubines in the palace lived were not so dilapidated to such an indecent state! ”

He pointed to the dormitory he was in now, although it had been roughly cleaned and repaired, it still permeated with a lingering smell of decay and mustiness, "...... Hey, I really shouldn't have been fascinated by Qian Qianyi's old thing! actually went to grab the throne with Lord Chongzhen! This is good, it is really difficult to ride a tiger! Judging from the current posture, what do you say about dominating the world, I'm afraid that even this Nanjing City won't be able to hold it for a few days!

If Emperor Chongzhen is allowed to enter Nanjing City, those court ministers are afraid that as long as they kneel down and cry and repent, most of them will be exempted from their previous sins and reformed, and at worst, they will just resign and return to their hometowns. If Emperor Chongzhen wants Jiangnan to be stable, he can't be ruthless to them.

Only the widow, the puppet emperor, is destined to be pushed out of the top tank by them, and this kind of thing is destined to be a dead end! As far as the widow guesses, most of the people in this city are now secretly contacting the Chongzhen Emperor of Wuchang, and they want to use the head of the puppet emperor as a vote! ”

“…… Alas, Your Majesty! You're really miserable! ”

When the middle-aged eunuch heard this, he thought that his little master seemed to be noble at the moment, but in fact, he was walking on thin ice, and he was also in tears for a while, "...... It's all because our family didn't serve you! How can I go underground to see the old prince and the eldest lady when the time comes? ”

So, the master and servant hugged their heads and cried, and quietly discussed the plan to try to escape from the palace in makeup when the crisis came......

Just as the Ming Empire in the south was strolling and procrastinating as always, slowly preparing for a decisive battle of life and death; The Qing Dynasty in the north was still advancing like a blazing wind, wantonly attacking the flowers and rivers of the Han people in the Central Plains at an astonishing speed...... (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )