Wang Chengen replied.

Chongzhen continued: "By the way, make up the edict documents and canonical coupons of Xu Dingguo, Ding Qiguang and Wu Zhangtan. ”

The granting of iron coupons for the Book of Xun Guidan was a major feature of the Ming Dynasty.

However, there is one thing to say, these Danshu iron coupons are useless.

"Yes." Wang Chengen complimented and wrote it down honestly.

Chongzhen said to Huang Jiarui again: "Huang Jiarui, then you will prepare according to 5 million stones, and the oil, salt, pickles, and forage required by the soldiers and the forage required by the war horses will also be prepared." ”

"Yes." Huang Jiarui replied and said, "But the saint, this silver ......."

Chongzhen frowned and said: "Jiangnan is a place of anointing, and Yangzhou is a thoroughfare between the north and the south, and merchants gather, don't tell me that Nanzhi's treasury can't even take out this bit of silver." ”

Huang Jiarui's face darkened again, and he said angrily: "Shengshang, you have to speak with your conscience, in the past few years, you have repeatedly ordered the interception of Nanzhi, and the little silver in the Nanzhi Domain's treasury has long been bottomed out. ”

Chongzhen said: "You just said how much money is left in the Nanzhi Domain?" ”

"Not a tael of silver is gone." Huang Jiarui continued to blackface, "The moon of the Xu officials has not been settled. ”

The officials of the Ming Dynasty received the annual salary, but the officials did not have an official body, and the imperial court did not support Lu rice, so the chief official was required to pay private money to recruit and pay the Lu on a monthly basis.

In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang did a really inauthentic job.

This is typical of asking the horse to run and not to graze.

In the end, however, the financial burden was not reduced, but rather heavier.

Lao Zhu can be said to be a cocoon and self-restraint, not only as a villain, but not yet well.

However, the system of officials has accumulated shortcomings for a long time, and it is by no means possible to reverse it in a short period of time, and there is no energy to manage it now.

Chongzhen sighed when he heard this, because he knew that Huang Jiarui was not crying poor, this was all true, a few years ago, the Ming treasury was in short supply, and Chongzhen repeatedly ordered the interception of the provinces, and Nanzhi has always been the big one.

Nanzhili is no matter how anointed it is, and it can't withstand the two scraping of the ground in three days by the imperial court.

At that moment, Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, has the floating wealth of the high thief been counted?" ”

"It's counted." Wang Chengenyu reported, "In addition to the floating wealth in the army, the high thieves also have the floating wealth hidden in Shugang Town, with a total of more than 900,000 taels of silver, more than 10,000 taels of gold and other rare antiques. ”

This number is similar to Chongzhen's estimate, although Gao Jie's gang is very good at robbing, but he has not beaten any rich big city all the way south from Shanxi, so it is already the limit to gather to one million taels.

It is estimated that Gao Jie didn't give much money to his generals, guerrillas, garrisons, etc.

It's no wonder that Li Chengdong and Gao Jinku were so easily divided and co-opted.

Wang Chengen said again: "Long live Lord, Jin Yuanwai also caught Gao Jie's military family from Shugang Town, and his wife Xing has a son, how to deal with it?" ”

"Let it go, Da Ming doesn't engage in that set."

Chongzhen said: "The crime was committed by a high thief, and it has nothing to do with his wife and children. ”

Huang Jiarui was stunned when he heard this, the official committed a crime, shouldn't his wife be a lowly status?

And when did the Ming Dynasty stop engaging in strain connections? It is the norm to punish the three tribes, and there are precedents for the nine and ten tribes.

However, Huang Jiarui quickly reacted, and the emperor's move was probably done for Gao Jie's old ministry.

Gao Qiqian, who had already been beaten with twenty lashes and was carried back to Xingyuan, had a resentful face, at that time, long live the lord of Hara Hetao, you want to punish my ten clans.

Chongzhen instructed Wang Chengen again: "All this money will be handed over to Huang Futai, including those rare antiques, and they will be sold in Yangzhou City, and they can almost make up 1 million taels with one piece." ”

Huang Jiarui said: "Holy Lord, 1 million taels is far from enough. ”

1 million taels is indeed not enough, and the price of grain in Beizhi has risen to the sky this year.

Due to the bumper harvest in Nanzhili, the price of rice is low, but it also costs 1 stone and 1 tael.

However, once the imperial court buys a large amount of grain from the market, it will definitely lead to an increase in the price of rice, and it is very likely that it will rise to 1.5 taels or even 2 taels and 1 stone.

5 million stone grain is conservatively estimated to be 7.5 million taels!

plus hay, beans, pickles, oil and salt, 10 million taels can't be beaten.

Chongzhen asked Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, are Gao Hongtu, the head of the household department in Nanjing, and Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Caoyun, here?" ”

"It's all here." Wang Chengen said with a smile, "I heard that you have come to Yangzhou, and the officials of the entire Nanjing officialdom above the third grade and the officials of the science and Taoism have come, and Lu Butang also happened to come to Nanjing, so this will be waiting outside." ”

Chongzhen hummed and said, "You go and call Gao Hongtu and Lu Zhenfei in." ”

Wang Chengen took the order and left, and after a while, he led Gao Hongtu and Lu Zhenfei into the line.

Gao Hongtu and Lu Zhenfei are both old ministers, and there is the past of the two in Chongzhen's memory.

Gao Hongtu and Lu Zhenfei had already brewed their emotions on the way to the war, thinking that after the monarch and the minister met, they would beat their chests to show that the monarch and the minister got along.

However, the Holy Driver did not have this consciousness at all.

Chongzhen didn't even bother to deal with the etiquette of the monarch and ministers, so as soon as they met, he asked Gao Hongtu first: "Gao Hongtu, I asked you to raise 5 million taels of silver to come to Yangzhou immediately, have you done it?" ”

Gao Hongtu took back his tears and said: "Back to the saint, the old minister can only send 3.6 million taels for the time being, and less than some old ministers will go back and find a way." ”

These 3.6 million taels are actually this year's grain.

Because Beijing has fallen, there is no need to send the grain to the north anymore.

Lu Zhenfei came to Nanjing from Huai'an this time, mainly to discuss this matter.

However, Lu Zhenfei's original intention was to use the 3.6 million taels of grain to appease the four towns in Jiangbei, but Chongzhen suddenly appeared.

Chongzhen nodded, and said to Huang Jiarui: "Huang Jiarui, you take half of the 3.6 million taels, plus the 1 million taels of the high thief, and use it first, how much is missing, and I will make up for it for you later." ”

"Minister, Commander." Huang Jiarui replied.

After sending Huang Jiarui away, Chongzhen's eyes turned to Lu Zhenfei.

Lu Zhenfei hurriedly stepped forward and bowed in response: "The minister is here." ”

Chongzhen said: "How many people and boats are left in the transport army?" ”

The Huanghuai defense line conceived by Chongzhen, Caoyun can be said to be very important.

The reason why Chongzhen wanted to set up the defense line of the Ming Dynasty on the Huanghuai line was because since ancient times, the defense line of the Yangtze River must be guarded, and once the defense line of the Huai River is lost, the defense line of the Yangtze River will not be guaranteed.

The second is because of the canal's waterway transportation.

The existence of the canal can greatly reduce the loss of materials.

Since ancient times, what are the reasons that restrict the Central Plains Dynasty's use of troops abroad?

It's just that the logistics support can't keep up, and 1 stone of grain is transported to the front line, and there is usually only 1 bucket left!

With such a big loss, no matter how strong and rich the dynasty is, it can't bear it, and the strong Han and Tang Dynasty can't bear it either.

Therefore, the defense line is set up in Huanghuai, which can greatly shorten the logistics supply line of the Ming army, and if Yangzhou is used as a transit station, it is only 600 miles of waterway from Yangzhou to Xuzhou.

According to the average day of walking 20 miles of waterway, you can get there in a month.

Moreover, the donation of waterways is very small, according to the calculation of 400 stones for a boat, ten transport troops go back and forth in two months, and the theoretical consumption is only 8 stones.

Of course, there is nothing to drift in the actual transportation process, and the final loss will definitely be more than this, but it will never exceed 10%, which greatly improves the logistics support efficiency of the Ming army.

The efficiency of logistical support is reflected in the battlefield and is the army's enduring combat effectiveness.

Therefore, Cao Yun is very important to the Huanghuai defense line conceived by Chongzhen.

Lu Zhenfei: "The Hecao army is 120,000 people, but in the past ten years, the army has been poor and poor, and the number of escapes is increasing, and now there are less than half left, after the thieves trapped Beizhi, Henan and Shandong, the northbound army was also affected, and thousands of people were lost, and now there are only about 50,000 left, and there are more than 4,000 Cao ships left. ”

50,000 troops and 4,000 boats, which are almost enough.

However, the top priority was to deal with the first wave of Jiannu's attack.

Chongzhen said: "How many troops and ships can be mobilized within ten days?" ”

Lu Zhenfei: "Within ten days, we can only mobilize the transportation troops in Yangzhou and the nearby ones, plus the transportation troops that were originally in Yangzhou, there are about 10,000 people and more than 1,000 boats. ”

Chongzhen asked again: "How many stones can a cao boat carry rice grain?" How long does it take to get from Yangzhou to Xuzhou? ”

Lu Zhenfei said: "A Cao boat can carry 400 stone of rice, and it needs to transport 10 troops, and it usually takes half a year or even longer to go back and forth from Hangzhou to Beijing, but two months is enough to go from Yangzhou to Xuzhou." ”

Chongzhen silently calculated that he could transport 400,000 stone of grain to Xuzhou at a time, which was barely enough.

At that moment, Chongzhen said: "First gather Yangzhou and nearby transport troops to transport grain to Xuzhou, and gather the remaining transport troops and cao ships within a month to listen to the dispatch in Yangzhou." ”

"Commandment." Lu Zhenfei replied respectfully.

Chongzhen said again: "Okay, then you can go and get busy first." ”

"The minister retired." Lu Zhenfei arched his hand, turned around and hurried out.

Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, and instructed Wang Chengen again: "Wang Daban, let the civil officials come in." ”

Gao Hongtu, who was still in the tent, suddenly perked up, and listened to the tone of the saint, this is to promote the cabinet to assist.

In a short time, the six hall officials led by Shi Kefa and the officials of the Kedao Yan rushed in, almost crowding the line.

Among these officials, there are six Jiuqing, left and right Yushi, Nanjing Guozi Priest Wine, Six Departments to give the matter, and other officials above the third grade, such as Zhan Shifu Zhan Shi, and the six left and right servants.

After shouting three long live, Chongzhen said: "There is no need to say much about the fall of the Beijing Division, except for Wu Linzheng and more than ten other people who broke through with me, the rest of the Beijing Division officials either died or surrendered. ”

"However, the country cannot be without a king for a day, and the cabinet assistant must not be absent forever."

"At this extraordinary time, I could have simplified the number of officials to serve as counselors in the cabinet, but considering that the court promotion system of my Ming Dynasty has been implemented for a long time, and I do not want to encroach on the power of the ministry, I still follow the rules of the court to promote the cabinet officials, and I will form a new cabinet on the spot with the approval of the court, and assist the administration on the same day."

"The saint is wise and wise, and the Ming Zhongxing is promising."

Shi Kefa and other Nanjing officials decisively presented their top hats.

Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Then ask Otsuka Zai to come out and preside over the court push." ”

Hearing this, Shi Kefa and other Nanjing officials chuckled in their hearts, broken.