Chapter 293: A Different Choice

Capital

"Sir, the distinguished guest has arrived..."

As soon as Chen Yan stepped into the middle hall, Zou Weilian, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately greeted him, and after retreating, Zou Weilian personally carried a wooden box to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan looked puzzled: "Brother Dehui, what does this mean?" ”

Zou Weilian smiled: "Brother Fa, you open it first to see what it is..."

As soon as the wooden box was opened, it was full of silver tickets, that is, the smallest face value was 1,000 taels, and seeing this thickness, it was hundreds of thousands of taels of silver tickets.

"Brother Dehui, this..."

Zou Weilian pressed his hand: "Brother Fa, this is a hundred thousand taels of silver tickets from Baotong Qianzhuang in the capital, and one hundred and fifty acres of good paddy fields in Daxing, which are given to you Brother Fa." ”

"It's... What's so embarrassing about that? ”

Chen Yan has a good relationship with Zou Weilian, since Chen Yan became a jinshi in the second year of the Apocalypse, he has been serving as the post of Zhan Shifu, because he was born in a remote area of Sichuan, and he has no net worth, that is, even the eunuch party looked down on him back then, Chen Yan's family has rented on the outskirts of the capital over the years, and he has to get up three hours in advance and walk to the city every day.

It was this situation that created Chen Yan's somewhat withdrawn character, until Chen Cao asked Zou Weilian to develop a downline helper, and Zou Weilian locked on Chen Yan, a marginal character, after several years of exploration.

"Brother Fa, this is a gift from the Duke of Liangguo to meet you..."

Chen Cao...

Chen Yan's heart jumped, he had no power back then, and the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party didn't want him, just because the official position of his Zhan Mansion was simply useless, not to mention that the Emperor of the Apocalypse didn't even have a prince, since he attached Zou Weilian, the left senator of the General Administration Department actually transferred him to the Criminal Department to be Langzhong, and he suddenly had oil and water in the account.

"It's... The subordinate officials are not meritorious..."

"Hey... Brother Fa, this is the heart of the grandfather of the country... Take it..."

"Brother Dehui, thank Grandpa for the next official, I don't know if Grandpa Guo has any instructions?"

Zou Weilian laughed, then stood up and handed Chen Yan a red-lacquered official document covered with the General Political Secretary: "Let's take a look first..."

Chen Yan read the official document, his face turned red, and then stood up and bowed to Zou Weilian: "It must be Brother Dehui who mediates from it, so... Certain... Ay... Thank you very much..."

Chen Yan shook it to the end, Zou Weilian hurriedly stepped forward and dragged Chen Yan's hand: "This is the handwriting of Grandpa Guo, I just came here for me, thank you, thank Grandpa Guo in the future..."

Out of Zou Weilian's mansion, Chen Yan held the wooden box tightly in his arms, carrying the official document, sorting out his excitement, Chen Yan walked towards the Metropolitan Procuratorate in all directions, from the Criminal Department Langzhong to the Metropolitan Procuratorate Huguang Road Supervision Imperial History, although they are all officials of the seventh grade, but their powers have changed greatly.

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Chuzhou Mansion, Xiangshui Bank Fuwang Army Camp

"How is it, how did Chen Cao react?"

In the face of Sun Dewen's rhetorical question, the general flag bowed: "Back to Gonggong Sun, Duke Liangguo has agreed to send troops, and said that 80,000 people have been gathered in Changzhou Mansion, and that there are still 100,000 officers and troops stationed in Zhenjiang Mansion. ”

Zhu Changxun sat on the handsome seat and ate the newly supplied grapes, twisted his fat body and looked at Gao Qiqian on the side: "Do you know the defense of Nanjing?" ”

Gao Qiqian Xiancheng has meritorious, and now he has become Zhu Changxun's right-hand man with Sun Dewen, and the two eunuchs have begun to fight for power and profit in private, at this moment Zhu Changxun opened his mouth to ask, and immediately flattered and said: "Along the Xiangshui all the way south, it is the mouth of the Xijiang River, and on the other side of the river is Dasheng Pass and Jiangning Zhenguan, and if you capture these two passes, Nanjing City will be exposed to the king's division;

The slave maid had to report to the imperial court that he had mobilized hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to go south to Nanjing, and he did not dare to make a conclusion about how to arrange it at this moment. ”

Zhang Gaoping, the commander of the camp, was Zhu Changxun's confidant, and at this moment, he walked into the big tent with a long sword in armor: "Lord Wang, the scouts in front have reported that Nanjing has withdrawn the defenders in Jiangpu City and withdrawn all the ships along the coast to Jiangnan, at this moment there are no ships in Jiangbei, and the minister has sent people to search for ships along the way along Jiangbei." ”

Zhu Changxun didn't know anything about fighting at all, and the marching formation all relied on Zhang Gaoping and Li Wanchang, the deputy commander, and this time with the might of breaking through Fengyang, the 300,000 Jingnan army was all arrogant and ready to go.

The staff members around him are even planning for him to take Nanjing, and after taking Nanjing, he can commemorate Emperor Taizu's accession to the throne at the Zhongshan Imperial Mausoleum.

"The matter of marching and arranging the formation is handed over to you, after taking Nanjing, you will be the first meritorious, and you will be the prince of the country..."

Zhang Gaoping saw that Zhu Changxun didn't care about these details, so he thanked him and retreated.

Li Wanchang waited outside the tent, and after listening to Zhang Gaoping's relay, he couldn't help but feel a little disgusted with Gao Qiqian's eunuch, and then said: "Now that the official army is firmly guarding the opposite bank, I believe that the garrison of Dashengguan will definitely increase sharply. ”

Zhang Gaoping couldn't know this, so he whispered: "The attack on Nanjing is related to whether you and I will be rich and safe in the future, and the prince will leave these matters to us without letting those eunuchs interfere, you and I need to seize the opportunity." ”

Follow the prince to rebel, fight for the emperor under the banner of Jingnan, win everything is fine, once it fails, it is no different from the Han king's struggle for the throne, the Han king was killed, and all the commanders around him were beheaded.

Li Wanchang also lowered his head: "You must not let the eunuchs get involved, if necessary, brother, I will arrange for my henchmen to guard the prince, if there is something discordant, I should first behead a few eunuchs around the prince." ”

Zhang Gaoping admired Li Wanchang's decisiveness in his heart, and after thinking about it, he nodded lightly: "This matter will be handed over to you, in case of accidents, it is better for you to stay by the prince's side in person, and I will arrange the crossing of the river as soon as possible." ”

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"Nanjing mobilized all the guards north of Nanzhili to settle in, and mobilized 100,000 guards from Shandong to the south, almost hollowing out most of the soldiers in Shandong, plus the border troops from Datong and Qin Liangyu joined, and now the number of guards in Nanjing alone is as high as 200,000;

In addition, there are 100,000 people in Nanjing's Jingying, if you count the soldiers of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division and the surrounding inspection division, it is more than enough to gather 50,000 people. ”

"You have to count the 100,000 people in Xu Chengqing's department in Zhenjiang."

"The troops of Nanzhili have reached 450,000 people."

Chen Cao listened to a few of his advisers say a word, but he looked at the sand table and the detailed map of Nanzhili hanging on it, and said after a long time: "King Fu's army wants to fight Nanjing, coming from Fengyang, the fastest and closest is to go to the mouth of the Xijiang River, from Dasheng Pass to Nanjing, I believe that those people in Nanjing must also arrange heavy troops in Dasheng Pass and Jiangning Zhenguan to echo, if you cross the river, there is no other choice." ”

"According to reliable military information, Xu Chengqing stationed 100,000 soldiers and horses in batches in Danyang County and Dantu, the capital city of Zhenjiang Prefecture, which are 60 miles apart, next to the canal, and each has 50,000 soldiers and horses."

Chen Cao looked at Xing Shenyan, who was in charge of the recruitment and transfer of the new army: "How are the preparations of the various armies?" ”

"In addition to the two divisions of the Dingwu Army and the Longwu Army, according to the requirements of the grandfather, the recruits of each division have all been in place, the three divisions of the Longwu Army and the two divisions of the Dingwu Army, a total of 80,000 people, are now all in Wujin County, in addition, the two divisions of the Shanghai garrison have all been equipped with new rifles, and they can follow the grandfather at any time."

In the suburbs of Pudong, Shanghai, patches of buildings have risen from the ground, although there are only four floors, but each building can live in 12 families, and the key is that the people who can live in the upper floors are all military families, and the identity of the owners of the people in them is not ordinary.

At this moment, Chen Cao, accompanied by Zhao Xin and Cao Wenzhao's uncle and nephew, took You Shiwei and You Shigong to observe the people's situation in the suburbs of Pudong.

The five of them were all dressed in ordinary clothes, but all of them were from the military, and a momentum spread from the inside out.

When you come to a village that has been gathered, the tall village gate shows the strength of the people of this village.

Zhao Xin grabbed a young man and smiled: "Hey, what are you running?" ”

The young man saw that these five people were quite powerful, so he saluted respectfully: "A few masters are well, the boy is going to get the field to pay subsidies..."

You Shiwei frowned, there is still a subsidy for this Tianfu?

The young man obviously saw You Shiwei's doubts, so he smiled and said, "Feelings, aren't you from Shanghai?" Merchants from other places, right? ”

Chen Cao said with a smile: "Exactly, I have heard that Shanghai's new deal is interesting for a long time, and we are all from Zhejiang, I don't know what this field subsidy is?" ”

Chen Cao's question is a brain-dead question, because this field subsidy is what he came up with, but now the main thing is to let You Shiwei and them know the benefits of the new deal.

"Now farming is no longer poor for a living, now we farmers farm, each acre of land by the local government to give field compensation of five silver dollars, but according to the new policy, those who get the compensation must sell the grain planted to the grain station, if they are not willing to sell, there is also a subsidy, but only one silver dollar."

You Shiwei and the others knew that Chen Cao was paying the taxes of the entire Songjiang Mansion on his behalf, but now that the banner of rebellion was raised, this tax was no longer there, and it became a subsidy for the local people.

"Aren't you selling grain at a loss?"

The young man smiled mysteriously: "This master doesn't know, although the grain station in our Songjiang Mansion is government-run, but it is purchased at the market price in strict accordance with the grain price set by the grandfather, and we ordinary people will never lose money selling grain, do you see that field?"

Yes, it is the one with the wooden card, that field is Xuntian, that is a symbol of glory, there are several soldiers in our village in the Dingwu Army, these fields are those who are soldiers in exchange for the war exploits, not only no taxes, but also free to buy and sell. ”

You Shigong interjected: "Don't be blinded, but we heard that this Songjiang Mansion has long been exempted from taxes, how can we talk about buying and selling?" ”