On October 27 of the first year of Chongzhen, the Battle of Jinzhou, which lasted for three and a half months, came to an end, and the Houjin general and Shuobeile Amin led the army to retreat.

The battle did not distinguish between victory and defeat, the Houjin army lost 17,000 people, and the Ming side also paid a heavy price of 12,000 killed, and the casualty ratio almost reached 1 to 1.

is obviously the Ming who defends the city, but it does not occupy too many advantages.

However, even so, when the war report entered Beijing, the whole city shouted in unison.

"Jinzhou victory!"

Yes, even on the defensive side, even if the battle loss ratio is similar, it is still a big victory.

Since the Battle of Salhu, the Ming and Houjin have fought more than 60 large and small wars, losing more and winning less.

"Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor."

Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun led hundreds of eunuchs and palace maids to the outside of the Qianqing Palace overnight, kneeling in the heavy snow flying in the sky and singing in unison: "Jiannu retreated, the siege of Jianzhou was lifted, and the Yuan Governor of Liaodong reported the victory, killing nearly 20,000 enemies, which is a great victory." ”

"Congratulations to the emperor, long live long live!"

The palace door of the Qianqing Palace opened, and Zhu Youzhen walked out expressionlessly, walking quickly towards Wang Chengen, who knelt on the ground and raised the battle report above his head with both hands.

"It's late at night, it's cold, let's all go back and rest." Zhu Youzhen picked up the battle report and didn't read it for the first time, but said to the hundreds of snowmen kneeling in front of him: "Early tomorrow morning, they will all go to the celebrant to receive the reward, and each person will be twenty taels of silver, and he will be happy." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After the warm thanksgiving, the team of hundreds of people dispersed with a hula sound, and only Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun were left outside the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youzhen first looked at the latter: "Huachun." ”

"The slave is here."

"You work hard tonight, and then go to interrogate that Mao Wenlong, and see what else he hasn't explained to the court."

Cao Huachun responded, and then kowtowed and said goodbye: "The slave and maid retire." ”

After Cao Huachun left, Zhu Youzhen signaled Wang Chengen to enter the palace with him.

When the door of the warm pavilion was closed, Zhu Youzhen's face instantly became extremely ugly.

"Make your own decisions."

Wang Chengen's heart trembled.

Who is the emperor talking about?

Could it be that he is blaming himself for making decisions without authorization and spreading the news of Jinzhou's victory all over the palace?

Wang Chengen, who was just about to confess, bent his knees halfway down, when he heard a name that he didn't expect.

"This Yuan Chonghuan doesn't make me worry at all."

“？？？”

Wang Chengen's eyes widened instantly, he didn't understand why Zhu Youzhen wanted to blame Yuan Chonghuan, didn't the latter just hold Jinzhou for the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, Inspector Yuan came to Jinzhou City in person......"

"I know that he has a meritorious role in defending the city." Zhu Youzhen raised his hand and interrupted: "I must reward the reward, I can't chill Guan Ningjun's heart, I will draft an edict of praise and send it to Ningyuan early tomorrow morning, and buy some wine and meat, don't be stingy with money." ”

"Your Majesty."

Only then did Zhu Youzhen pick up the Jinzhou military newspaper again and watch it intently.

After a while, he sighed.

"Qingshan buries loyal bones everywhere, why do you need to return the body of the horse leather, in the first battle of Jinzhou, my 12,000 Daming sons flooded Quantai, how tragic, the court should be compensated."

Wang Chengen poured tea for Zhu Youzhen and whispered: "After the battle of Salhu, the imperial court failed to pay compensation in time because of the serious financial deficit, which hurt the morale of the army.

When the battle of the Hunhe River was caused, the officers and soldiers of all departments wanted to wait and see, and they were afraid of the battle, but the result was that they were broken by Jiannu, and the Shizhu army of the Qin Governor Division was almost completely annihilated, and Zhu Wanliang's 30,000 troops watched and watched, and then they were chased and killed by more than 4,000 cavalry of Huang Taiji, with more than 3,000 casualties.

After the Battle of Liaoyang and the Battle of Shenyang, he was defeated in successive battles and lost more than 70 cities in western Liaoning. ”

Zhu You nodded again and again, and said with emotion: "Yes, the soldiers defended the country and fought bloodily, but the imperial court couldn't even send their pension money.

The imperial court can't just shout empty slogans, and none of the practical things that should be done can be left behind, but to solve the worries of the soldiers, so as to inspire the three armies to fight bravely and not be afraid of life and death. ”

"Your Majesty."

"What is the regulation of this pension money?"

Wang Chengen said: "The standards of Liao pay and Jiubian and other armies are different, and the regulations that are still used now are still in the forty-seventh year of Wanli, when Xiong Tingbi and the imperial court agreed on the amount, Liao salary is two taels of silver per soldier per month, five buckets of rice.

In this way, it is twenty-four taels of silver and twelve stone of grain per year, and the standard of the bereavement pension is set in the eighth year of Tianshun, and the pension is paid for five years, plus the exemption of six stones of household tax or the exemption of three ding of servitude. ”

After speaking, Wang Chengen glanced at Zhu Youzhen carefully.

This account is easy to calculate, Zhu Youzhen blurted out: "According to the current grain price in the capital, one stone of grain is worth twenty-four taels of silver, that is to say, the annual salary of each Liao soldier is forty-eight taels, the pension silver is two hundred and forty taels, and the exemption of field tax is six stones, which is one hundred and forty-four taels, and the combined is as high as three hundred and eighty-four taels, right." ”

Wang Chengen bowed his head and said: "In recent years, natural disasters have continued, and the grain production in the field has already been seriously reduced, and there is no way to hand over the grain if it cannot be produced.

Therefore, since the seventeenth year of Jiajing, all those who have pensions will be replaced by the imperial court who are exempted from servitude. ”

"Three hundred and eighty-four taels." Zhu Youzhen was still talking about this number: "In the first battle of Jinzhou, my Daming Erlang died more than 10,000 yuan, and according to this standard, it is more than 480,000 taels of pension silver, right." ”

"Yes."

"How much silver is left in the inner garment?"

Wang Chengen hurriedly reported: "After the Gengchen national disaster and the leaf dumping incident, a total of more than 46.3 million dirty silver was confiscated, but some time ago, we allocated 300,000 to Hong Chengchou and 500,000 to Qin Liangyu, plus 11.8 million taels of arrears, which used 12.6 million taels, leaving only 33.7 million taels.

In addition to the internal money, Wen Tiren brought in 1.5 million taels from Nanjing last month, and the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, Lianghuai Cao Salt and the City Shipping Division under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Mingjing Division paid 2.17 million taels of silver.

As for how much silver there is in Taicang now, it is the account of the household department, and the slaves and maids are not clear. ”

Zhu Youjian gently knocked on the table a few times and groaned.

"I thought that the confiscated silver would be enough for a long time, but now it seems that these tens of millions of taels are not enough to fight a battle with the strength of the country together with Houjin.

Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan has to expand the army as soon as possible, the Guan Ning army has lost more than 10,000 people this time, and its strength has decreased sharply, if it does not expand the army, it will not be able to stop the counterattack of Huang Taiji after the beginning of spring next year, called Bi Ziyan... Forget it, don't bother at this hour, summon him early tomorrow morning, and Sun Chuanting will summon him together.

It seems that I have to settle the accounts with them before I can do a good job. ”

"Then, will the silver for the pension be sent to Ningyuan tomorrow together with the edict of praise?" Wang Chengen asked cautiously.

Zhu Youzhen smiled bitterly: "Wait a minute, anyway, it has dragged on for so many years, and it is not bad for ten days and a half months, Yuan Chonghuan's song also asked me to ask for a cotton armor to keep out the cold, which is also a large amount of silver, and after I spend a good deal with the country with Bi Ziyan and Sun Chuanting tomorrow, I will send the pension silver to Ningyuan with the cotton armor." ”

"Yes." Wang Chengen responded, and then persuaded: "It's still early, Your Majesty should not rest for a while." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "Forget it, wake up, get some more books, you go to sleep, you can sleep for an hour and a half." ”

"Your Majesty hasn't slept, how dare the slave and maid rest."

Zhu Youzhen looked down at the book: "You are busier than me now, you haven't had a good rest since you came back from Denglai, yawn, your body is important, go, sleep for a while." ”

Wang Chengen didn't say anything more and silently withdrew from the warm pavilion.

He was indeed tired.

But in today's world, who is not tired of anyone who wants this country to be reborn from the ashes?

From Zhu Youzhen, the emperor, to the unknown soldiers who were frozen to death in the cold night at the head of Jinzhou, everyone chose to do their best, instead of crossing their waists and watching coldly, and sarcastically said that the country is no longer saved.

If God bless one day, peace and prosperity can come again, and the vibrant sun will shine on the bodies of those mockers, washing away their anger.

Then everything now has meaning.

Even if it really can't be saved, there will be many people who are willing to sprinkle their blood on this land.

Till death rest!