"Bang!"

In the early morning of April 29, the first year of the Apocalypse, there was thunder on the ground......

With the sound of dozens of cannons, Li Bingcheng, the guard of Fengji Fort, was awakened, hurriedly pushed away the delicate man next to him, got up and walked out of the bedroom in his middle coat.

"What's going on? Who fired the cannon ?! ”

Li Bingcheng scolded at the door while being under the armor with the help of the maid.

At this moment, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the courtyard, and then a guard entered the courtyard and waved at the door:

"Guerrilla, Jianyu has transferred artillery to attack the city!"

"What's the panic? Jianyu's artillery is just an inferior cannon, can't it be repelled with the general's cannon at the head of the city? ”

"I can't even do this little thing, wait here!"

Li Bingcheng scolded and scolded, while wearing the armor and stomach under the service of the maid, and after testing the tightness of the gauntlet and bracer with his hand, he reached out to support the handle of the knife on his waist, and walked out of the main house with his crotch.

He led people to the street, Fengjibao Street had already prepared, everyone was arranged to hide in the house, only the patrolling Minyong patrolled around.

With more than 1,000 of his own families, Li Bingcheng went to the head of Fengji Fort, and then just walked on the city wall, but heard the sound of cannons again.

But when I heard a few "booms" and the stone bullets hit the outer wall, it shook people's ears, and Li Bingcheng shook his head and shouted:

"Is the garrison of the firearms battalion dead?! Can't shoot back? ”

"Yes!" Hearing Li Bingcheng's order, the garrison of the artillery battalion commanded more than a dozen general guns at the head of the city to start a counterattack.

The charge was cleared, the stone bullet was stuffed, and finally it was ignited with the fire rope, and after burning for seven or eight seconds, a "boom" was heard.

In an instant, more than a dozen stone bullets flew out from the inside of the barrels of more than a dozen general cannons, and after flying out, they crossed a distance of one mile, and finally only two smashed into Houjin's artillery position.

When the stone bullets fell, they became ricochets without hitting anyone, and when they jumped on the ground, they hit three or four people, instantly knocking them out, or directly killing them.

"Re-medicated!"

The firearms battalion garrison then shouted, and then the men's corporates began the tedious clearing and charging.

Li Bingcheng looked at the Houjin camp outside the city, and the artillery battalion soldiers who were already moving the corpses, and couldn't help laughing:

"This Jianyu is looking for a fight, thinking that the craftsman who got the artillery from Fushun can make a cannon like my Ming Dynasty? Fools talk about dreams......"

Li Bingcheng sneered, and then said to his guard: "How long is there enough food in the city?" ”

"Back to the general, about six months!" The guard replied, and Li Bingcheng smiled when he heard this:

"If the food is enough, continue to defend the city, and this group of prisoners will not make any trouble, just defend the city."

After that, Li Bingcheng said: "You are watching here, if there is anything to tell me in the city gate tower." ”

"Yes!" The garrison returned the salute, and Li Bingcheng also went to the city gate tower.

Fengji Fort, as the first fort on the front, has more than a dozen general cannons and more than 30 Furlong machine guns, and it is not so easy for Houjin to storm it, so Li Bingcheng is not worried.

However, compared to Fengji Fort, the other stone forts that served as the second front were dangerous.

Especially in Wujing Camp and Baitapu, Hupiyi and other places, for these places where the defenders were weak, Houjin used the objects such as ferry equipment, wells, ladder cars and Lu public cars that were built early.

The shouting sound of killing sounded in the sky above Baitapu, and more than ten Lu buses moved slowly, and the moat in front of Baitapu had been flooded by tens of thousands of queens Jin Zhenyu.

Although the Fran cannon at the head of the city continued to shoot stone shells, at most it could not stop them by punching a hole in the Lu car.

"Ballista! Shoot the Lu bus with a hook sickle! ”

The white tower shop guard gave a loud order, but in the next moment, the Fran machine cannon next to it suddenly exploded, and with a "boom" sound, the guard rushed away, planted from the city wall as if in the city, and swallowed directly.

"Guerrilla Lee is dead!

”

When the soldiers in the city found out, they immediately shouted, but they were kicked over by other Ming garrisons in the next moment.

Kicking over his guard, he raised his knife and shouted: "Li Guerrilla sacrificed his life for the imperial court!" We should follow him! Your relatives are all in the city, and surrendering will only be slaughtered! ”

"Stick to the white tower shop, this is the only way to live!"

The garrison shouted, then rushed to the head of the city, and continued to give the order for the ballista to shoot at the Lu Gongcha.

The Lu bus equipped with hook and sickle guns fired, and more than a dozen hook and sickle guns were submerged into the Lu bus, and even stabbed three or four unsuspecting prisoners to death.

"Pull!"

The garrison roared, and then the rope at the end of the two hooked sickles was pulled in an instant, and under the pull of hundreds of defenders, the Lu bus was soon pulled to the ground.

Dozens of Houjin Jianyu in the car fell into a daze, and at this time, Houjin's cloud car was close to the city wall.

"Wolf tooth slap and boiling oil, sassal wood ready!"

The garrison drank heavily, but soon saw Jian Yu, who had five or six catties of bones in his mouth, climbed onto the cloud car, but before they could be happy, the hundreds of pounds of wolf teeth that were hanging suddenly put down, smashing him down the ladder.

In this section of the city wall, the Ming army's guard made meritorious contributions, but the perimeter of the city wall of Baitapu was more than three miles, and under the siege of the city for several days, most of the soldiers in the city had already died in battle, and now it is already the end of the strong crossbow.

In the city, a hundred households who listened to the sound of the underground in a large vat drank loudly, and then found the right place and led people to surround a city wall.

At this time, the rammed ground suddenly loosened, and then three or four Ming soldiers stabbed out their spears, which instantly penetrated the thin layer of soil and stabbed to death the Jianyu who tried to dig the tunnel.

"Pull him out!"

A small flag officer yelled, and dragged the stabbed Jianyu to the ground with people, and Baihu also brought people to bring wet firewood.

"Set fire! Burn the rats underground! As he spoke, Baihu threw a jar of fire oil into the pit and smashed it, then picked up a torch and threw it in.

Immediately afterwards, they brought in a large vat and covered the ground, leaving only a ventilated opening.

Soon, the underground tunnel was shrouded in smoke, and some of the Houjin Jianyu who did not retreat in time were suffocated to death underground.

It's just that there are too few Ming troops in the white tower shop, and there are too many prisoners outside the city, and after a while, the city head began to appear with prisoners, and the number is increasing, while the number of Ming troops is getting smaller and smaller.

Gradually, the city walls fell, and all the remnants of the Ming army retreated into an alley.

A steady stream of Jianyu came and fought with the Ming army in the alley less than a zhang wide.

Guarding a wall behind him, in front of him were thousands of prisoners.

More than a dozen Ming soldiers have become bloody people, and the body of the last garrison in the city is trembling, and the waist knife in his hand full of gaps is also broken.

Looking at the surging Jianyu, he gave birth to a force out of thin air, and squeezed out a voice from his chest with the Liao voice of the Liao people and roared:

"Kill the thief!

！ ”

————————

"Thirteen stone forts such as Baitapu, Wujingying, and Changyong have been lost, and sure enough, this group of Liao people is unreliable, how much military salary does the imperial court pay them every year, and now the city has been broken after only two months of siege......"

In the capital and Wenhua Palace, looking at the military report sent by Liaodong, Yao Zongwen was full of disdain.

But the official Yingzhen next to him shook his head and said: "With less than 10,000 troops against tens of thousands of old slaves, it's not bad to hold on for two months." ”

"Now the forefront is the wicker village, the connection between Shenyang and Liaoyang has been broken, and there is no news from Fengjibao, I am afraid that the most minority of the people will fall into captivity."

"The most important thing now is to hold Shenyang and Liaoyang, as long as the two cities of Liaoyang and Liaoyang are not lost, these stone forts can be regained afterwards."

"It's easy to say, but ......" Yao Zongwen wanted to say something, but saw a Zuo concubine walk into the resting room and said to the two:

"The two of them, Ye Ge Lao, invited the cabinet, the six ministries, the six sections, and the officials on duty of the Wenhua Hall of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go to the main hall to discuss matters."

"I know, I'm tired of Liu Zuo's son." Yao Zongwen saw that the person who came was from his Zhejiang Party, so he put on a smiling face, and then walked to the main hall with Guan Yingzhen.

By the time they arrived, there were already more than sixty officials sitting in the main hall, and Ye Xianggao was sitting under the high platform of the main hall.

Yao Zongwen and the others took their seats, and then they saw the Donglin Party members sitting opposite them, and then their brows tightened, and they were very displeased.

Among the Donglin Party members, Liu Yixian sat in the first place, followed by Han Yi, Zhao Nanxing, Zuo Guangdou, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhou Chaozong, Gu Dazhang, Yang Lian, Gao Panlong and more than 20 people.

On the side of Yao Zongwen and others, there are more than 30 people such as Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu (guan), Qi Shijiao and others.

As for the remaining dozen or so, they are officials from small parties such as the non-party or the Qin party.

Summoning so many people to come at one time, in the hearts of the ministers, they naturally knew that it was a matter of Liaodong.

Sure enough, when everyone arrived, Ye Xianggao, who was wearing a given clothes, picked up the music in his hand and said:

"On the fourth day of the fifth month, Liaodong Jingluo Xiong Tingbi played a sparse, Nurhachi has captured thirteen stone forts, Shenyang has become a lonely city, Fengji lost news, Liaozhen soldiers and horses killed more than 7,000 people, more than 4,000 surrenderers, and 160,000 people were coerced by thieves."

"The old slave did not coerce the people to attack the city, but after driving the people across the river, he led the army to retreat for fifteen miles."

"The people spontaneously went to the city of Shenyang and asked to open the door and disturb the arrangement of our army outside the city."

"Seeing this, Qin Bangping, the chief soldier of Shenyang, could only order people to open the city, bring the people into the city, and kill more than 2,000 of them and the northern captives."

"How can it be!" Hearing that Qin Bangping had killed the defeated soldiers and the Mongols, Gao Panlong took the lead and said:

"Such a killing, can such a person guard Shenyang!?"

"......" Ye Xianggao frowned, he had already experienced and understood Gao Panlong's mouth cannon, so he was no stranger.

Originally, he didn't want people to be called Gao Panlong, but Gao Panlong actually came uninvited.

offended the emperor and played tricks in the court, it's really ......

Ye Xianggao was speechless in his heart, directly ignored Gao Panlong's words, and continued to everyone:

"Long live has passed the decree, the three towns of Shanxi to transfer 12 battalions, a total of 37,000 people to aid Liao, they have been assembled in Xuanfu, about May 12 to arrive at the Yanshan camp."

"Therefore, counting the time, it is up to the household to pay the 37,000 men and draw the silver, and the arrears."

Ye Xianggao looked at Li Ruhua, and when Li Ruhua heard this, he had already memorized the amount of this silver, so he said:

"The soldiers and horses of the three towns of Shanxi, 37,000 people, and 16,000 people, need to open 185,000 taels of silver, 266,400 taels of arrears, and 222,000 taels of military pay in the first half of this year."

"In addition, after arriving in Liaodong, according to the calculation of the guest army's fifteen taels and one year, the salary of the guest army in the first month was forty-six thousand two hundred and fifty taels, a total of seven hundred and nineteen thousand six hundred and fifty taels."

Speaking of which, Li Ruhua said:

"This is the silver that the internal money needs to come out of, and the household department needs to transfer 150,000 stone grain, 30,000 catties of jerky, 60,000 cakes and other things from Taicang, and it needs to spend 73,400 taels."

"Taifu Temple needs to allocate 160,000 taels of silver for horses, and after giving the three towns of Shanxi to aid Liao, the local battalions will buy military horses."

Li Ruhua was full of enthusiasm, and he opened his mouth to say that the expenditure of nearly one million taels was only the expenditure of mobilizing 36,000 people.

Although nearly 500,000 taels of this are military salaries, the amount is also quite unexpected.

In comparison, the 16th Guards and the 13th Battalion under Zhu Youzhen feel a bit like a stepmother.

However, such an expenditure of silver is indeed a challenge to the Ming Dynasty's finances.

First of all, Li Ruhua, who said this silver, said directly: "The 73,400 taels of the household department, the household department can't take out this silver." ”

"On the twenty-ninth of last month, the household department has taken all the silver from Taicang and the outer carrier warehouse to the four towns in the northwest and the three guards in Daning."

"Therefore, this money needs to be ...... from the Ministry of War."

"The military department can't get this money out." Without waiting for Li Ruhua to speak, Cui Jingrong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, refused:

"The treasury of the military department has long been empty, and the military tun seed grain of the five military governor's mansions has not been transported to the military department, and the military department sent people to ask, and they said that because of the reduction of Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion, the five military governor's mansions have been unable to make ends meet."

"Therefore, the Ministry of War has no silver, so in my opinion, it is better to transfer the silver from the Ministry of Works."

As soon as Cui Jingrong spoke, everyone turned their attention to Wang Zuo, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

It's just that when Wang Zuo saw this, he coughed and said: "A few days ago, in the matter of building the city of Daning Sanwei, the Ministry of Industry has used up the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Industry, so the Ministry of Industry really can't allocate money. ”

"What about the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Punishment?" When Ye Xianggao heard this, he looked at the Shangshu of these three books helplessly, but he didn't want them to shake his head.

At this time, it was Gao Panlong who said: "Since there is no silver in the six parts, why don't you ask Banzai to send internal money for emergency relief?" ”

Wenchen asked the emperor to use private money to relieve the treasury, which is the only thing in the Ming Dynasty, and it is normalized.

Changing to the Tang and Song dynasties and the Yuan and Qing dynasties, it is estimated that it will be difficult for Gao Panlong to live until next year.

However, the ministers were accustomed to it and nodded one after another, only Ye Xianggao frowned.

Wool came and went, and finally it fell to the emperor's body?

This group of guys has governed the Ming Dynasty like this all these years?

Ye Xianggao had some doubts about life, and even felt that the current central political level of the Ming Dynasty was not as good as when he was alone.

Thinking of this, Ye Xianggao could only sigh and say:

"The internal funds need to supply the sixteen guards and thirteen battalions of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, plus the opening of the silver and the lack of sound and military salaries this time, it is already beyond the means, it is better to ask the hundred officials to make up some."

"Uh...... This ......" Hearing this, no one dared to speak first.

Zhou Jiamo, the secretary of the ministry, frowned and said: "There are 90,000 civil and military officials in the court, and the last year's Yulu has not yet been distributed, and I am afraid that it will be ...... if I want to make up the silver from hundreds of officials."

Well, push and push, still don't want to dig out the silver.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Ye Xianggao knew that Zhou Jiamo was just telling the truth, but he also knew that the finances of the Ming Dynasty were indeed in trouble, and it was not very good.

If it weren't for the emperor and the king of Qi who abolished Jizhen and Shangzhi Twenty-six Guards, I'm afraid the current situation would be even worse.

There was no way, Ye Xianggao could only say to Sun Chengzong next to him:

"Childish rope (table word), I'll bother you to run and go to the Qianqing Palace to ask long live."

"This ...... The lower official obeyed the order...... "Hearing that such an errand fell on his head, Sun Chengzong could only consider himself unlucky, and then walked out of the Wenhua Palace.

However, after he walked out of the Wenhua Palace, many ministers began to bargain over the 160,000 taels of silver in the Taifu Temple, and in the final analysis, they still wanted the emperor to pay.

However, this time Ye Xianggao had no face to continue to ask the emperor for silver, so he could only let Taifu Temple solve it by himself with a cold face.

After saying this, they began to discuss the affairs of the provinces again, and Sun Chengzong stubbornly conveyed Ye Xianggao's words to Zhu Youxiao, who was dealing with the music in the Qianqing Palace.

"You mean, let the money go out?"

Zhu Youxiao clenched the pen in his hand, which showed that he was very unhappy.

He originally thought that he had paid more than 700,000 taels of silver, and it stands to reason that the household department would not account for the 70,000 or 80,000 taels, but he couldn't even take out this silver?

"That's the case, long live, the household department has just issued more than 2 million yuan of silver to Daning Sanwei and the four towns in the northwest, and it is true that I can't get this silver."

Yavin

Sun Chengzong responded in a proper manner, and Zhu Youxiao wanted to refuse, but when he thought that the current delay was to send the soldiers and horses from the three towns of Shanxi to Liaodong, he calmed down:

"I know, and stand down, this money will be distributed from the treasury later."

"The minister retired ......" Hearing that Sun Chengzong withdrew from the Yangxin Palace and the Qianqing Palace, Wei Zhongxian also stepped forward and said:

"Hooray, is this money really coming from within? But now the inside is ......"

Wei Zhongxian said with a painful face: "The silver deposit in the inner treasury is less than two million and three hundred thousand taels. ”

"If the military salaries, arrears of salaries, silver and grain are repaid, and the military salaries for the first month of arrival in Liao, then the internal silver will be less than 1.5 million taels."

"First ......" Zhu Youxiao bowed his head to deal with the sparseness and gave an edict to Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian was helpless, so he could only nod yes, and then asked Wang Tiqian and others to transfer the silver and send it to the household department and Yanshan camp.

But after doing this, he turned back and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live, there is news from Dongchang, saying that His Royal Highness King Qi has made a salt pan on the coast south of Yongping Mansion, which is more than 40 miles long and more than 6,000 acres......"

"Whatever my brother wants to do, let him do it." Zhu Youxiao still didn't look up, but paused for a few seconds after saying this.

After a few seconds, he spoke again:

"Tell the eunuch who escorted the silver to the Yanshan camp to pass on some words, and ask the king of Qi and Liaodong if they need to transfer other horses to support ......"

"Yes......" When Wei Zhongxian heard this, he responded, and began to think in his heart.

Obviously, the emperor was a little unsure about the affairs of Liaodong, after all, the result of holding on for two months was that he was captured and thirteen stone forts were destroyed, which made the emperor a little uncomfortable.

Although Mangui expanded the land for more than 300 miles, it could not hide the fact that Liaodong lost its land after all.

Wei Zhongxian ordered someone to pass the word, and when this sentence reached Zhu Youzhen's ears, it was already the sixth day of the fifth month.

More than 800,000 taels of silver were escorted into the Yanshan camp, while Zhu Youzhen took Tian Cewei to train in the Yanshan camp.

When the eunuch who delivered the decree to him, he was sitting on the martial arts school in his regular clothes, and waved his hand to the eunuch and said:

"Tell the imperial brother that there is no need to transfer other horses, Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui will send troops soon, and the old slave will retreat before winter."

"Slave and maid take orders......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen say this, the eunuch bowed slightly, and left with a wave of Zhu Youzhen's hand.

It's just that after he left, Zhu Youzhen looked sideways at Lu Wenzhao next to him and said:

"Where is Sun Yingyuan?"

"It's time to arrive in Laizhou, and you can arrive at Zhenjiang Fort in three days." Lu Wenzhao bent down to explain to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment after listening.

In general, Nurhachi swept through the Thirteen Forts in just one month after learning that Bayo's troops had been swept away, and such courage really made Zhu Youzhen not expect.

However, these thirteen forts were swept away by tens of thousands of Liaodong generals and soldiers, which was of some help to Zhu Youzhen's next Liaodong reform.

Not to mention anything else, in these thirteen forts to dismantle the guards, there is absolutely no pressure, and there is no division of fields.

As far as Liaodong is concerned, the entrenched power of the guard has been weakened, and the army of the guard has long been controlled by the Liao generals.

In Xiong Tingbi's previous report, there were 80,000 regular soldiers and 40,000 auxiliary soldiers.

However, Qin Bangping and Qi Jin were withdrawn, and Nurhachi swept again, and under these three waves of operations, it is estimated that there are only about 50,000 regular soldiers, and no more than 80,000 auxiliary soldiers.

Now it's time to see what the combat power of the Liao soldiers in western and southern Liaoning looks like......

The easiest way to test their combat power is to go to war!

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen said to Lu Wenzhao:

"After Sun Yingyuan arrives at Zhenjiang Fort, let him establish a local pass and return to him, and then I will ask the imperial brother to transfer the Liao soldiers from Liaonan and Phoenix City to garrison the pass, and let Sun Yingyuan train the 20,000 Hebei auxiliaries in Kuandian, and wait for Qi Yuangong and Qi Yuanfu to arrive."

"In addition, Mangui's side, remember to let him be careful about the reinforcements of Liaozhen, Xiong Tingbi can be trusted, but it doesn't mean that the generals of Liaozhen can be trusted."

"Let him have more eyes and don't lose too many soldiers and horses."

"Your Royal Highness......" Seeing Zhu Youzhen say this, Lu Wenzhao said again:

"There's one more thing you need to be aware of."

"Say ......" Zhu Youzhen spoke, and Lu Wenzhao also explained:

"Xu Guangqi and Mei Zhihuan, Li Changgeng, Bi Ziyan and others have taken office, Mei Zhihuan and the three of them are still decent, and they are still adapting to the local officialdom, but they are ......"

Lu Wenzhao paused, and then said: "Xu Guangqi took his disciple Sun Yuanhua, and after inspecting the silver vaults in various parts of Shaanxi, he began to ask the prefectures to build water conservancy, but the matter of Shaanxi is not a problem that can be solved by water conservancy. ”

"Elaborate." Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, and Lu Wenzhao also said:

"Shaanxi and Gansu are one, but there are only 26 million acres of private land......"

"The reason for this is that there are a large number of official fields in the Ganshan area of Taifu Temple and Wei District, and these official fields are ......."

"Okay, I know......" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly.

He has long known that Shaanxi is the place where the most official and private fields have been occupied, and as far as the current situation is concerned, the real number of acres of land in Ganxi and Shaanxi has long exceeded 40 million mu.

If he is not mistaken, there are 33 guards and 24 institutes in Gansu and Shaanxi, with a total of 28,800 households and 10,440,000 mu of military tun land.

In addition, there are also the fields of Taifu Temple and the grassland of Yuanma Temple, as well as six or seven million acres of fields of herdsmen.

These fields, the Juntun field was swallowed up by the border generals and the generals of the guard, and the fields of the Taifu Temple were embezzled by the subordinates and privately handed over to some local powerful gentry.

In this regard, these powerful gentry only had to pay taxes for a very small amount of money, and they could use a large number of fields.

To be honest, Zhu Youzhen didn't think about killing all the gentry and even nobles in the world, because this road is difficult to get through.

He had already changed his mind and transformed the whole land into a field of health and an official field.

Those who encroached on the fields of the guards and officials were to be brought to justice, and after the acres were recovered, they were given to the people to cultivate.

The entire world's military tuntian and official fields have been recovered, which is enough for 20 million people to live.

As for other people, such as Gansu and Shaanxi, where the people can no longer survive on the land alone, there is only one way left......

Hetao, Western Regions, Northeast and Southwest, there are many places where they can survive, and the only thing they need is that the imperial court must have enough food to deal with the food problem after the migration.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen also got up and said:

"The matter of Ganxi and Shaanxi is not yet time to be solved, so we will solve Shanxi and Liaodong first."

With that, he turned and left the schoolyard......