(The name of the governor of Caoyun, Wang Wenkui, has been misspelled as Li Wenkui before, and is hereby corrected)

"Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!"

Sitting decadently on the smelly haystack in the dungeon, Wang Wenkui couldn't stop muttering in his heart.

He couldn't figure out how he could be so unlucky, he was confessed by the people in the hiding place when the Ming army searched the rout, and then he was caught here.

He wanted to say that when he went out, he would take revenge on the people who betrayed him, but he had to regret realizing that once he entered this dungeon that he didn't usually want to set foot in, it would be difficult for him to get out again.

After spending the whole night in the dungeon, it was not until noon the next day that Wang Wenkui was finally brought out and taken to the courtyard of the Governor's Caoyun Department, with whom he was most familiar, to meet a Ming commander whom he had seen in portraits.

Just at first glance, Wang Wenkui recognized the identity of the other party - the king of Nan'an County in the Ming Dynasty, and he was also a confidant who had risen rapidly in the past two years and made the Qing Dynasty a headache.

Su Yan was also observing the other party, Wang Wenkui was still wearing the coarse linen clothes he stole from the people at this time, the robe was worn on his body, which seemed incompatible with his temperament, even if no one reported him, the soldiers in charge of the search would easily recognize him.

"Is that Wang Wenkui, the puppet governor of Caoyun?" After Su Yan looked at it, he asked.

Wang Wenkui said in his heart, didn't you already know my identity, and now you are still asking what here, but in order to survive, he still nodded honestly and said, "It's right in the next place." ”

Perhaps seeing Wang Wenkui's concern, Su Yan said indifferently: "Don't worry, this governor only has a few questions I want to ask you." ”

As he spoke, he added: "Before that, Ben Governor will remind you that Nikan is dead. ”

"Nikan is dead?"

Wang Wenkui repeated Su Yan's words in shock, he only felt that his heart trembled a few times, that was the prince of the Qing Dynasty, why did he die.

Su Yan nodded and said, "Nikan died in battle, Huai'an fell, even if you are released back to the Qing court, what do you think the Qing court will do with you?" I think you should know it very well in your own heart. ”

Wang Wenkui's heart trembled again, how could he not know what the Qing court would do with him, they would definitely pile all the sins on his head - like what kind of rescue was unfavorable and caused the prince to die in battle, lose his army and lose his land, delay the military state, and so on.

Moreover, he was only a Han official in Zhejiang Huiji, not a banner man, and the imperial court blamed him for all the crimes, and no one would say anything, but could appease the angry Manchu and Mongolian officials.

Thinking of this, Wang Wenkui inevitably felt a little chilled.

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for a long time, Su Yan knew that he was making up for the Qing court's means, so he didn't open his mouth to interrupt him, and after Wang Wenkui figured it out, the latter suddenly bowed deeply to Su Yan and said:

"The criminal minister Wang Wenkui is willing to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, and serve the county king Chitose, and the criminal minister will definitely know everything and say everything."

Seeing him behave like this, Su Yan smiled indifferently, and then raised his hand and ordered someone to fetch a chair for him to sit down, Wang Wenkui felt a little flattered.

After he sat down, Su Yan pondered for a moment and began to ask about all the information that Wang Wenkui knew.

Including the quota of money and grain that Huai'an sends to the north every year through Cao Yun, and the current Cao Yun is cut off, the situation and changes in the north of the Qing court.

Since Wang Wenkui chose to surrender to the Ming Court, he naturally did not hesitate to ask Su Yan for his question, and told everything he knew.

The scope of the Qing court's expropriation of grain was Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Henan, and Shandong provinces, and it was planned to collect 4 million stone every year, but the actual collection was generally about 3 million stone.

After the fall of Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, and the cutting off of Cao Yun, only the Cao grain from Henan and Shandong provinces was able to go north through the canal, and the Cao grain collected by Huguang was forced to accumulate in the granary in Huguang.

Naturally, the grain of Henan and Shandong provinces alone could not supply tens of millions of people in the north, so the Qing court could only rely on the grain and grass accumulated in recent years.

This time, Nikan led the army to the south, consuming a large amount of hoarded grain and grass, and now the military operation here was defeated, and the hoarded grain and grass brought by Nikan in Huai'an was also captured by the Ming army after the city was broken.

This undoubtedly brought a greater blow to the Qing court, which was already short of food.

Naturally, the Qing court would not sit idly by, and since the southern Cao Yun was cut off and could not be dredged for the time being, they could only set their sights on the most loyal subject state in the east, the Korean Li Dynasty.

As the most loyal and filial son of the former Ming Dynasty, although the North Korea was unwilling to pay grain and grass to the barbarians in their eyes, under the threat of the naked butcher's knife of the Manchu Qing, they could only pinch their noses and recognize it, adding another million stone of grain and grass to the annual tribute.

In general, the Qing court was currently suffering from a shortage of grain, but with the grain supply from Henan and Shandong and the grain supply from North Korea, it was able to continue to hold on.

However, this is not a long-term solution, North Korea is mountainous, its own grain production is not much, and it has to pay millions of stone grain and grass to the Qing court every year, and after a long time, Korea will fall into famine, which will evolve into a rebellion against the Korean royal family.

At that time, if the Qing court did not want to lose such a loyal vassal state, it would have to send troops to help quell the rebellion, and because of the rebellion, the food supply to Korea would also be forced to stop.

After listening to Wang Wenkui's answer, Su Yan also had a new understanding of the current situation of the Qing court, the Qing court was still huge compared to the Southern Ming Dynasty, if he only wanted to collapse the Qing court by cutting off the luck, it would still be whimsical.

However, Wang Wenkui mentioned another thing that interested Su Yan.

"A good friend of the criminal minister in Beijing is the head of the Ministry of Rites and is in charge of contacts with North Korea, and he recently wrote to the criminal minister about a new phenomenon within North Korea."

"Oh?"

"The news of the successive victories of the county king Chitose in the southeast was also transmitted back to Korea with the Korean merchants, and the anti-Qing voices of the Korean monarchs and ministers were increasingly intensified.

Su Yan listened to his words, and remembered in his mind who the current monarch of North Korea was, and after thinking for a while, he came up with the answer.

Hyojong of Korea.

Before crossing over, Su Yan had also seen part of the history of Korea in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and when the Southern Ming Dynasty held on, the Korean monarch was determined to go on a northern expedition and restore the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

He also planned to train 100,000 birds, and wait for the Qing court to send troops outside Shanhaiguan after civil strife, but unfortunately he soon rose due to illness, and the Northern Expedition plan was in vain.

Of course, even if he didn't rise to the top, his plan was just a fantasy, and with the weak national strength of North Korea, he wanted to train 100,000 bird-gunners to fight against the Eight Banners army that had not yet been completely corrupted by the Qing court, and it was just an egg hitting a stone.

However, Su Yan may be able to take advantage of the anti-Qing stance of the reigning Korean Hyojong at this time, and he does not ask for North Korea to send troops against the Qing Dynasty, so that North Korea can delay the supply of grain under various pretexts.