"Among the people, your ideas are naturally excellent, and the officials who love the people are also deeply admired, but it is ......" Li Jingsheng was a little embarrassed.

"Is Fuzun worried about those people in Zhangpu?" Chen Zilong asked.

Li Jingsheng nodded: "Exactly." ”

Chen Zilong is now tantamount to betraying the Fushe, which is not tolerated by Zhang Pu and others. That's why the newspaper office was besieged and burned. Behind Zhang Pu and others is the gentry of Wuzhong, who is a big family in Suzhou. If Chen Zilong is appointed to be in charge of the defense of Suzhou City, he will inevitably offend the Fushe and the gentry Wu. And without the support of the gentry, what to defend Suzhou?

"Lord Fuzun is ridiculous!" Chen Zilong shook his head and said, "Seven or eight days have passed since the White Lotus Sect bandits annihilated the army led by the Governor of Mei, and it has been two days since the fall of Wujiang County. ”

Li Jingsheng was silent, he was also born as a Jinshi, and his intelligence could not be bad, how could he not guess?

At present, the emperor is stationed in Zhenjiang and is doing the matter of releasing slaves from Juntian, and the next step will inevitably be to implement the policy of releasing slaves from Juntian in Suzhou and even in the entire Jiangdong Jiangnan! The emperor, who has a large army in his hands, has completely freed himself from the constraints of the imperial court, and can do whatever he wants, and no one can stop him. The gentry of Wu Zhong have already felt the heavy pressure of survival.

If they were allowed to continue, they would lose all the fields they controlled, the slave tenants they would lose control, and even all the privileges that the gentry bringed, how could they endure it?

Therefore, they will not help the government to defend Suzhou City at all, on the contrary, they will secretly help the White Lotus Sect bandits, maybe these White Lotus Sect bandits are secretly supported by the gentry Wu. Only when Suzhou was in turmoil, and the whole Jiangdong was in turmoil, could the gentry take advantage of the chaos. If you can take this opportunity to get rid of the emperor in Jiangnan, it will be even more popular for all the gentry in Jiangnan. As for the benefits lost in the war, compared with the losses after Juntian was released from slavery, it is not worth mentioning!

"Fuzun, you should understand cause and effect." Looking at Li Jingsheng's ever-changing face, Chen Zilong continued:

"Don't care about the gentry Wu Zhong first, Lord Fuzun, you have to think about it for yourself. As a magistrate, you have the responsibility to defend the territory, and if Suzhou City is really attacked by the White Lotus Sect bandits, you will not be able to escape the punishment of the imperial court no matter what. That is, you can take refuge in the White Lotus Sect bandits to save your life, but what about your family in Shanxi, what about your family? Would you like to see all the doors in exile? ”

Li Jingsheng's face turned pale, why didn't he understand this truth?

"So Lord Fuzun, now we have the same interests, you can only count on me to help you defend Suzhou, and you can't count on the gentry in the city at all!" Chen Zilong continued.

"It's not that I don't believe in you, but after all, you are weak, and they can't wait to get rid of you soon." Li Jingsheng sighed.

Compared with the huge Fushe and the Wuzhong gentry clan behind the Fushe, Chen Zilong's strength is too weak. Using Chen Zilong's words, he will offend the Fushe and the gentry Wu, and maybe it will make things worse.

"Lord Fuzun is ridiculous!" Chen Zilong shook his head and said, "Who said that I am weak? The Restoration Society is not a solid whole, aren't Huang Taichong and Gu Yanwu the people in the Restoration Society, and now they also choose to stand on my side? And just now, you have heard that when I came, hundreds of Suzhou people flocked to see them off, and they all hoped that I could lead them to defend Suzhou. Lord Fuzun, the vast majority of the people in this city don't want the White Lotus Sect bandits to break the city, with the support of hundreds of people, why is it difficult to hold Suzhou? ”

Li Jingsheng looked at Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, and then glanced at the outside of the mansion, still a little hesitant. Although he didn't know why Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu would stand on Chen Zilong's side, he believed that the vast majority of the people in the Restoration Society would not support Chen Zilong, after all, no one wanted their family to be freed from slavery by Juntian. As for the low-level people outside, they are just some hired workers, what can they do with them?

Chen Zilong saw Li Jingsheng's thoughts, and said lightly: "Lord Fuzun, don't underestimate the people outside, the strength of the people is very strong, and it is enough to turn the world upside down if you use it well!" ”

Is it upside down? Li Jingsheng shook his head slightly, just some untouchables, it is too exaggerated to say that it is earth-shaking.

Chen Zilong decided not to talk to Li Jingsheng anymore, and directly threatened: "Lord Fuzun, you know my identity, I was sent to Suzhou by His Majesty, and you should also know the purpose of His Majesty sending me." Now you have to make a decision on how to choose, whether to choose to believe me, or to believe in Zhang Pu and others of the Fufu Society, or to believe in the gentry Wu Zhong who you can't see! ”

Li Jingsheng was stunned, but he didn't expect Chen Zilong to break out and directly threaten himself, and he didn't know how to respond for a while. According to the merit, he is a Jinshi, Chen Zilong is a person, he is the prefect of Suzhou, a member of the four grades, and Chen Zilong is only privately awarded by the emperor to receive the seven miscellaneous officials who have not been certified by the ministry, and the status difference between the two is too far. However, behind Chen Zilong stood the emperor, while Li Jingsheng himself had nothing to rely on......

"Of course I believe you in what you say. I am Your Majesty's courtier, and I am willing to smear your Majesty's liver and brain. Whatever you want me to do, just say it! After figuring everything out in an instant, Li Jingsheng didn't dare to hesitate anymore and hurriedly said.

To offend Chen Zilong is to offend the emperor, and there will be no good end. Forget it, let's go crazy with Chen Zilong, even if Suzhou City is really attacked by the White Lotus Sect bandits, for the sake of his obedience, I hope the emperor will not be too observant, Li Jingsheng sighed secretly.

"It's good that Fuzun has figured it out," Seeing that Li Jingsheng finally came to the road, Chen Zilong nodded, and then soothed, "As long as you can hold Suzhou and don't make your soul miserable, Your Majesty will naturally not forget your and my achievements." ”

Li Jingsheng's heart moved when he heard this, if it is really as Chen Zilong said, he can hold Suzhou City, not to mention his own life, and the merits will inevitably reach the ears of the emperor, and with this merit, the emperor will definitely not be able to suppress his own corruption, and then this official may be able to continue to be in power, even if he is promoted to the governor of Yingtian, it is unknown, after all, the emperor also needs people to do things for him.

"Among the people, you can tell me, as long as it is conducive to defending the city, I will listen to you!" At this moment, Li Jingsheng put himself in the right position and no longer held the prefect's shelf.

"The so-called name is not right, please write a letter of appointment first, and temporarily appoint him as the prime minister of Suzhou city defense, with full responsibility for city defense matters." Chen Zilong was not polite, and ordered directly.

"Okay, I'll write the letter of appointment." The scholar who was waiting for him took out the banknotes, wrote a letter of appointment, and stamped it with the prefect's seal. Ying Tian Governor Mei Baohua and Bingbei Dao Qiu Yu were all buried in Taihu Lake, and now Li Jingsheng has the highest official position in Suzhou City, and the war is urgent, so he naturally has the right to temporarily appoint a guard.

Since he became the prime minister of urban defense, of course, he must have an office office. Li Jingsheng suggested that Chen Zilong move to the governor's yamen, and the governor Mei Baohua was martyred. Chen Zilong shook his head, not wanting to be too ostentatious.

"Then Premier Chen will work in the Tongzhi Office, and he will be closer to the official, and it will be easy to discuss in case of trouble." Li Jingsheng finally said. Last year, there was a vacancy in the Suzhou government, and the new government did not know why the imperial court had not appointed it, and the government office had been empty.

Chen Zilong nodded and did not refuse again.

On the same day, Chen Zilong moved into the Tongzhi Office and officially took over the city defense of Suzhou.

Now there are almost no soldiers defending the city in Suzhou City, and the upper city wall is defended by the government and the soldiers of Wu County and Changzhou County. It can be counted as the unstaffed white servants, and the scale of hundreds of people is only enough to guard the eight gates of Suzhou City.

The first thing Chen Zilong did after taking office was to send someone to move Xia Yunyi and the newspaper office to the government office, and then personally wrote a notice announcing to all the people of Suzhou the establishment of the city defense prime minister's yamen, and his appointment as the city defense prime minister, calling on the people of Suzhou to contribute people, money, and strength, and work together to defend Suzhou.

After the notice was written, it was immediately typeset and printed, and then sent people to spread it throughout Suzhou.

Next, Chen Zilong called a meeting to discuss how to defend Suzhou. Xia Yunyi, Huang Zongxi, and Gu Yanwu attended the meeting, and the prefect Li Jingsheng also came to observe.

"If you want to keep Suzhou, the key lies in people, money and food. Defending the city requires people, and it is necessary to recruit a large number of villagers. The villagers have to eat when they guard the city, and they can't let people bring their own rations. Defending the city requires weapons and shields, and you need wooden lime bottles and other equipment to defend the city, which must be purchased at a cost. The villagers risked their lives to defend the city, and they must also be rewarded with silver coins. As long as the money and food are in place, it is not difficult to defend Suzhou City. Huang Zongxi was the first to speak and express his views.

Chen Zilong nodded: "What Brother Taichong said is exactly what I want, defending the city needs manpower, and you can recruit young people who dare to fight as village warriors for the people of the whole city. ”

Most of the workers employed in the workshop are farmers who have lost their fields, and they do the same kind of work all year round, and they are the most hard-working, obedient, and patient. And those ruffians in the city seem to be arrogant and domineering on weekdays, but when they actually go to the battlefield, they will be strained, and they will not obey discipline. Chen Zilong has read the "New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" compiled by Qi Jiguang and knows how to select soldiers.

"There are thousands of workshops inside and outside the city, and the number of hired workers is hundreds of thousands, and the township is easy to recruit, as for the money and grain," Chen Zilong looked at Li Jingsheng: "Fuzun, how much grain is there in the treasury now?" ”

Li Jingsheng said: "This year's autumn tax has been collected, and the whole government has put a total of 980,000 stone of autumn grain into storage, but 800,000 stone of it will be transported to Beijing as grain, and the remaining 180,000 stone grain will be distributed to officials and officials, and it will also be supplied to the yamen such as the government school and the county school, as well as the Jinshanwei, Zhenhaiwei and post stations and other institutions at all levels......"

"Eight thousand troops died in Taihu Lake, and the food supplied to them should be saved, right?" Chen Zilong interrupted Li Jingsheng's words. Cao grain does not dare to move without permission, but other grain can be temporarily embezzled, and it can be calculated that almost 100,000 stone of grain can be transferred, enough for 20,000 villagers to eat for a year. In the end, Suzhou Mansion is rich in the world, and it is basically impossible to transfer so much grain in other places.

"Yes, it can be saved, but soldiers who die in battle usually need to be compensated, and a large amount of money and food is needed." Li Jingsheng sighed.

"Ignore the matter of bereavement for the time being, and the food supplied to other yamen institutions will also be transferred, and the food will be used to defend the city first. And then there's the money, how much money is there in the treasury now? Chen Zilong asked.

"There is not much money in the treasury, only more than 20,000 taels." Lee Shing King Road.

"Just a little bit of silver?" Chen Zilong didn't believe it. Suzhou Prefecture has jurisdiction over six counties and one state, plus Chongming Island, located in the Taihu Lake Plain, is the most prosperous place in the world, the entire Suzhou Mansion, there are many people with millions of family assets, and people with 100,000 family assets abound, and the treasury is only 20,000 taels of silver, which makes Chen Zilong how can he believe it! couldn't help but look at Li Shengjing suspiciously, and secretly said that this guy had moved all the money in the treasury to his own house?

Li Shengjing sighed: "You know the virtuous brother among the people, in my Ming Dynasty, the gentry do not pay taxes. Don't look at the fact that there are workshops and shops everywhere inside and outside Suzhou, and the world is prosperous. But most of the workshops and shops belonged to the gentry, and they did not pay taxes to the government at all. The silver of the treasury was all levied from shops without gentry background, and the scale of these shops was too small, and the treasury could not collect much commercial tax every year, and they had to pay salaries to the servants and feed the officials of the government and the government. ”

Chen Zilong glanced at this guy and knew that his words were mixed and could not be fully believed, if he went to raid his house now, the silver copied from his house would definitely be much more than the treasury, but there was no need to delve into it at this time.

"In that case, let's take out the silver in the treasury for emergency purposes first, and find another way for the other silver." Chen Zilong commanded.

The army goes first before the grain and grass are moved, and only with money and food can things be done. Twenty thousand taels of silver is naturally not enough to defend the city, but other ways can be found in the future, such as forcing the gentry to donate money and food. All the gentry in the city had to donate money and food, and no one wanted to escape.

Next, Chen Zilong began to assign tasks.

"Brother Yi Zhong, you can be the secretary of the Yamen, the prime minister of the city defense, responsible for promoting the theory of equality of all people, in charge of the official documents, responsible for the printing and distribution of the royal people's newspaper, tonight you will take people to work overtime overnight, publish a new newspaper, call on the people of the city to unite to defend Suzhou, someone will give people, money will pay, and there will be things! Defending the city and protecting the family is everyone's responsibility! Chen Zilong said to Xia Yunyi.

"Brother Taichong, you can recruit troops for the Prime Minister's Yamen, and be responsible for the recruitment of Xiangyong. Recruitment: As I said earlier, try to recruit workshop workers. Then they will be organized into an army, and the junior officers can be personally guarded by me. Chen Zilong said to Huang Zongxi, the emperor sent more than 100 Jinyi guards and guards, and these people can be used as grassroots officers to lead and train the villagers.

"Brother Ning Renxian, you can be the official of the city defense yamen, responsible for the money and grain, responsible for the distribution of money and food in the army, and other matters." Chen Zilong said to Gu Yan again.

At this point, the Yamen platform of the prime minister of urban defense has been set up.