In this way, Emperor Chongzhen met with the nobles and key officials of Nanjing in three batches, and then met with the local gentry arranged by the Nanjing court, as well as many respected literati leaders.

After enjoying the stars and the moon again, the supreme emperor's addiction, Chongzhen seemed to be tired, that is, the haze on his face had been swept away, and he was very interested, and he sat in the position for three full hours, and he didn't seem to feel tired.

Zhou Shixian stood aside and listened motionlessly, and through their conversation, he had roughly understood the basic situation of the Nanjing Imperial Court and the southern provinces.

One word, mixed for good!

As places less affected by peasant uprisings and natural disasters, the productive forces of the southern provinces were not seriously damaged, and the financial and demographic bases were still there. whereas

Moreover, the major grain-producing areas of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Jiangnan are still under the control of the Ming court, and they are connected by the Yangtze River system, which means that as long as Zhou Shixian handles it properly, there is no shortage of large quantities of food and salary needed to train the army.

This is very important, and without grain-producing areas, it is impossible to raise a strong army.

In this era of war shortage and backward transportation, relying on external imports, not to mention the high cost, the reliability of military rations cannot be guaranteed at all.

If an army runs out of food and is starved for 10 days and half a month, not to mention how much combat strength is left, whether it will mutini and join the enemy is a big question.

At the same time, as a person from later generations, Zhou Shixian also knew very well that the influence of the Xiaoice River was about to subside after this year, and the entire continent would usher in a period of relative wind and rain, which meant that as long as a qualified regime was established and its operation was ensured, Zhou Shixian would be able to obtain a steady supply of materials from the southern provinces.

Although the Ming Dynasty temporarily lost the right to rule the northern provinces, but also got rid of the huge military expenditure of hundreds of thousands of border troops, which allowed Zhou Shixian to use all the money on the blade, except for Zuo Liangyu, Jiangbei Four Towns, Nanjing Jingying, Nanjing Imperial Court did not have a huge financial burden, and it became possible to train a new army.

According to Gao Hongtu, the head of the household department in Nanjing, only in Taicang, Nanjing, there are more than 3 million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of stones of rice and grain, many of which are because of the war, the Cao Road is cut off, and the money and grain that were originally to be supplied to the north are now all stranded.

Of course, in addition to this good news, the bad news should not be underestimated.

Although Gao Hongtu felt that the foundation of the industrial and commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty had not been shaken, except for Sichuan, which had become Outuo, the rest of the southern provinces, from Lianghuai to Yunnan and Guizhou, Wuchang to Guangzhou, were still the world of the Ming Dynasty, with money and grain, prosperous industry and commerce, and the overall situation was still there.

In other words, in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to Shaanxi, Shanxi, North Zhili, Henan, Shandong, northern Huguang, and Sichuan, South Zhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, southern Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou are still in the hands of the imperial court.

But Zhou Shixian is not so optimistic, first of all, Yungui will soon be in chaos, Shading Prefecture will not change because of Zhou Shixian's arrival, Zhou Shixian is far away in Nanjing, and he can't take care of Yunnan at all, at most it is to remind Mu Tianbo.

Then, Huguang will also become the main battlefield, and the situation there will not be taken into account by the Nanjing court until the crisis of the Qing army's southward movement is resolved.

However, the mountains and rivers are far away, and Fujian is the territory of the Zheng family, and it is difficult to control it without using some means, and it is impossible to ask them to pay all the taxes and grain.

In other words, for a period of time in the future, only the three provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi may be under the direct control of the Nanjing Imperial Court, and Liangguang can be controlled by a little political means, but Fujian will have to pay special attention.

Zheng Zhilong has no ambitions, but he is an old slippery head, and it is impossible to let him die.

However, such a person is also easy to handle, as long as Zhou Shixian can block the Qing army, and then give it a high-ranking official, the Zheng family will still be obedient, and their sailors can still be used.

Especially Zheng Chenggong, that is a hero, as long as Zhou Shixian is properly used and promoted and appreciated, he will definitely be able to be included in his command, and this son will definitely be able to take charge in the future.

In addition to territory and taxes, the more critical issue was the army, which had few ready-made soldiers to fight in the south.

What is even more serious is that if the hundreds of thousands of border troops lost in the north are like the original history, they all defected to the Manchu Qing with Li Zicheng's defeat, then the situation will be extremely bad.

You must know that these hundreds of thousands of border troops are now a weak division, but as soon as the Manchu Qing Dynasty let them have enough to eat, these soldiers are not weak, although it is said that they can't beat the Manchu Eight Banner soldiers, but it is more than enough to beat Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Huang Degong and others.

Thinking of this, Zhou Shixian was also more worried in his heart, he had to remove all obstacles and defeat the Qing army in Lianghuai, on the one hand, to stabilize the situation. On the other hand, it is also necessary to buy more time and train more soldiers and horses.

Back to the present, after meeting with the nobles and officials in Nanjing, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Zhou Shixian, Li Banghua, Ni Yuanlu, Shi Kefa, and Lu Zhenfei that night.

Shi Kefa and Lu Zhenfei also became the trusted ministers of Emperor Chongzhen at this time because of their previous performance.

Zhou Shixian naturally wanted to follow Chongzhen back to Nanjing, Ni Yuanlu, as the secretary of the household department, and Shi Kefa, as the secretary of the military department, also had to go to Nanjing to prepare the money, food and materials needed for military training.

And as long as this symbol is still there, many things will be easy to do.

So, Li Banghua and Lu Zhenfei were temporarily left in Huai'an, on the one hand, to deter those generals, and on the other hand, to coordinate all parties to meet the needs of the 20,000 slender men and their families, as well as soldiers and horses under Zhou Shixian.

This is the most reassuring thing for Zhou Shixian, although when he arrives in Nanzhili, these slender men have no way to retreat, and it is even more impossible to escape.

However, if sufficient food and grass cannot be provided, I am afraid that the next training will have to be postponed.

"Li Banghua, Lu Zhenfei, the big and small affairs of Jiangbei depend on you, and when the horse finishes doing things in Nanjing, I will naturally send him to take over the situation."

Emperor Chongzhen paused, and said: "The transfer of officials in Jiangbei, below the seventh grade, is also fully responsible for the two of you, and you don't have to report it in advance." ”

"The ministers obey the order, share worries for His Majesty, and dare not speak hard."

Zhou Shixian, Li Banghua, and Lu Zhenfei spoke in unison at the same time.

Chongzhen gave Zhou Shixian a dismount and put the other party and these ministers together. I was quite proud in my heart.

He looked around and continued: "Shi Kefa, starting tomorrow, you will have each ministry and government assign a squire or an official. State affairs are like this, I can't rest any longer, let them be on duty to assist me in handling official documents, and the Ming Dynasty can't do without me. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, this matter will be coordinated immediately, and the six ministries and other prefectures will definitely be on duty tomorrow." Shi Kefa folded his sleeves.