In the first month of the fourth year of the Republic, Jiangxia City.

The wind and snow from the north mixed together, making this city, which had only been ruled by the Ming Dynasty again, look extremely cold and bleak.

Jiangxia Wangcheng, in the palace of King Zhong, is also in a state of panic now.

Li Zicheng fell ill after conquering Jiujiang and forcing Wu Yingxiong to death, and his illness was not very serious. Li Laishun arranged for him to recuperate in Jiujiang and led his troops to recover Jiangxia, Hankou, and Hanyang. Later, the news of Wu Sangui's death came, and the servant who served Li Zicheng told the sick "Long Live the Old Man" as good news, so that he could be happy. Unexpectedly, when the old man heard the news, he was happy that night, so he called a group of old brothers to drink with him, and suddenly burst into tears while drinking, and after crying he vomited blood, and then his body and bones deteriorated.

Later, when he heard that Jiangxia City had been recovered, he clamored to return to Jiangxia's Zhongwang Mansion and take another look at his Jiangxia City. Jiangxi Governor Yu Deshui couldn't screw him, so he had to transfer a sailor boat to send him back to Jiangxia. As a result, the old man saw that the once prosperous city has now become dilapidated and depressed, and many places have been overheated, leaving only ruins and broken walls, and his condition has worsened again, and he can't afford to see it.

Yesterday, a divine doctor named Zhu Guangdan invited by the Zhongwang Mansion quietly told Zhongwang Li Laishun that it was time to prepare for the future.

At this time, Li Zicheng, who was sick and thin, was lying on the couch, looking at the house with his eyes open, not saying a word, and not knowing what he was thinking?

Li Laishun has been guarding this old man who pulled himself up and let himself sit on the throne of King Daming Zhong, and his tears kept flowing down.

There was a sudden noise outside the door, which seemed to disturb Li Zicheng, who was thinking about something, he slowly turned his head and asked in a low voice, "How are you talking?" ”

Li Laishun knew what the old man was asking, so he sighed and said, "General Li wants them to hand over most of their military power, and reorganize the soldiers of the Zhongwang Mansion into three army towns and one water army town, which will be under the unified command of the Great General's Mansion. Combined with the royal guards, who were still under the jurisdiction of the amount, they could only give 53,000 soldiers.

In addition, the official fields of Jingzhou Mansion and Jingmen Prefecture can be assigned to the government soldiers, and all the soldiers and officials are given the status of countrymen, and the officials are given the status of national soldiers. Including officials, soldiers, and officials, a total of 57,000 national identities and 3,000 national identities were given.

As for those who follow us to fight against Wu, but can't get the number of soldiers, they will be given at most 100,000 Chinese people. ”

Li Zicheng smiled bitterly: "That's okay, there are 160,000 Chinese people and Chinese soldiers combined. What do the prefects and counties of the five prefectures say? ”

He was terminally ill, and he had to speak a few words with so much effort that he almost broke off.

Li Laishun knew that his time was short, but he still had to hurry up and ask for advice, so he said to him: "The prefects and counties sent by the foreheads can stay in office, but the provincial capital of Shangshu will be discharged from the prefecture and the county governor." In addition, Shangshu Province will also send the Department of Academic Administration to Hubei, and in the future, Hubei's official schools will also have Xiucai and personnel examinations, all of which will be supervised by the Department of Academic Administration, and the official examination will also be managed by the Department of Academic Administration. If the people sent by them can't pass the official examination within three years, then there will be no official to do, in short, it's not very satisfying! ”

It turned out that Li Zhongshan, who had moved to Jiangxia, was not only waiting to meet with Wu Zhou and Beiqing, but also presiding over the republican restructuring of Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

The so-called republican reform is to change the fake republic divided by the warlords into a real republic in which the people discuss politics and unify the government by decree.

Among these three provinces, Jiangxi was defeated, the current governor of Jiangxi is Li Fuchen, Li Zhongshan's father and son's confidant Yu Shiye, the admiral is Li Fuchen's old partner Shao Lingzhi, and the following officials at all levels, some of them are the "veterans of the four dynasties" (Qing, Ming, Zhou, Ming); Some of them were the "Restorationists" from Guangzhou and Nanjing—the former were basically Cantonese scholars, while the latter were mostly southeastern scholars, and the backbone was those who came from the Restoration School (including teachers).

Therefore, it is relatively easy to unify the decree in Jiangxi, but it is a bit difficult to implement the people's government in Jiangxi, because Jiangxi does not have a huge number of people, especially the unarmed people without people, there is no republic!

The situation in Hubei was the opposite of Jiangxi, and the original five prefectures of Hubei, under the leadership of Li Zicheng, most thoroughly implemented the "Heavenly Dynasty Farmland System", and the small landlords or rich peasants were originally the backbone of the society of the previous dynasties, and the Chinese people in the early Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period were also from this type of family. In addition, the experience of the "War of Resistance against Wu" made the small landlords and rich peasants of the five provinces of Hubei under the Ming Dynasty all armed and participated in the war against Wu Zhou. So this group of people has grown into the backbone of the republic!

However, the "Hubei Wufu Republic" is not equal to the "Ming Republic", if the Hubei Wufu can not be integrated into the Ming Republic system as soon as possible, but let the Hubei Wufu self-contained, then the people of the Hubei Wufu are likely to support the Zhongwangfu against the Ming Dynasty in the future

As for Hunan, the situation is even more complicated, with a small half of the province's territory being conquered by Li Yat-sen, about half of which was forced to land, and two prefectures being controlled by the Lao Jia family, a warlord force attached to the Nanwangfu.

In addition, Hunan's original administration and "quasi-national system" with the Great Zhou Chu Mansion and the Hunan Governor's Mansion as the core were now beaten and pulled to his side by Li Yat-sen. The Jia family established a feudal system in Chenzhou and Guiyang that was firmly controlled by the Jia family. In short, the situation is very complicated.

The situation in Guangdong is also a bit complicated, as the Guangzhou Prefecture, Shaozhou Prefecture, and Nanxiong Prefecture, which originally belonged to Li Yat-sen's personal leadership, have gradually established the national people's government and unified them under the military orders and government orders of the Great General's Mansion and Shangshu Province. This system is similar to the republican system of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

However, the other state capitals of Guangdong have been under the rule of Nanwangfu. Although there are a large number of soldiers who have allocated land in those state capitals, and there are also many soldiers who have been used by the Nanwang Mansion, they are now all under the orders of the Nanwang Mansion!

And Guangxi. The situation is even more complicated, Sun Jiqing and Kong Sizhen beat Li Jizhen away. But a complex feudal system established by Li Fuchen and Kong Sizhen still partially exists!

This feudal system in Guangxi is a feudal hodgepodge that includes the direct leaders of the Southern Prince's Mansion, the direct leaders of the Dingfan, the retainers of the Dingfan (the servants of the original Dingfan), the subordinates of the Dingfan (the bandits of the Green Camp and Zhao'an under the jurisdiction of the original Dingfan), the Tusi, and the Mintuan (local heroes).

Now most of the retainers of the Dingfu have run away, and some of the subordinates of the Dingfan have also run away, but the Tusi and the militia are still there!

Moreover, in order to drive Sun Jiqing and Kong Sizhen away as soon as possible, Li Jizhen also sent out many Zhizhou (subordinate prefectures), Zhixian and Tusi officials when he marched into Guangxi, forming many legal separatist forces.

It's a headache to watch.

Except for Jiangxi, which Li Yat-sen could completely prohibit by order, this "republic" in Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, and Guangxi had to be implemented through government decrees and negotiations.

And what Li Yat-sen wants to talk about at present are Li Laishun, the loyal king, Wu Guogui, the king of the west, Wu Shijue, the prince of the west, Li Fuchen, the king of the south, and Li Jizhen, the prince of the south. After talking to them, they go and talk to the people below. It is possible that there will be back-and-forth and that we will need to negotiate again.

In short, while unleashing the fighting power and enthusiasm of the grassroots level, this republic will make it difficult to implement the imperial decrees. However, relying on the old method of relying on the literati and gentry to rule the local area will actually lead to a situation where the government decree does not leave the capital, and in many cases it is even worse than the republic.

"There is nothing in the world that is satisfactory in every way." Li Zicheng muttered, and only after a while did he say in a low voice: "I thought about things simple back then!" ”

He seemed to return to the light, and his voice became clear: "Governing the country, especially governing a big country, is really difficult to govern well, I thought it was difficult to fight the world, but I never thought that it was much more difficult to govern the world than to fight the world." That Li Zhongshan is not simple, he understands better than anyone at a young age, if you don't know, I think he has been an official all his life, and he is still a capable official. Come to Shun, you can't compare with him, you can't do anything. You, listen to him, when you encounter something you can't do, honestly tell him that you call him uncle now, and you must really treat him as an uncle in the future. In this way, the Li family will be able to stay rich and prosperous for a long time, and the old brother who follows you will not suffer."

After saying that, he turned his head back slowly, no one looked at it, and just muttered to himself: "Do you know that Mr. Liu, Tian Yufeng, and a tiger?" The world is always going to be peaceful."

His voice grew softer and quieter.

On the eighth night of the first month of the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, King Li Zicheng broke into the king, and he was killed!

In the general's line, Li Zhongshan, who was receiving the envoys of the Great Zhou and the Qing Dynasty, looked a little sad. After he learned of Li Zicheng's death last night, he immediately went to mourn. However, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, is not an ordinary person after all, and a grand funeral is not good, otherwise it will be too bad for the republican son Zhu Cijiong to save face, so he can only be buried in a low-key manner.

Li Laishun also explained Li Zicheng's last words to Li Zhongshan - that is, let him listen to the words of "Uncle Zhongshan" or something!

So Li Yat-sen immediately said that everyone will be their own people in the future!

After taking care of Li Laishun to bury Li Zicheng in a low-key manner, Li Zhongshan returned to his own line, and not long after he came back, Wu Guogui, Wang Shirong, Fang Ying, Chang Ning, and Mingzhu, who arrived in Jiangxia City the day before, came to ask for a meeting.

Among them, Wang Shirong and Fang Ying (Fang Guangchen's nephew) were Wu Shifan's envoys, and Chang Ning and Mingzhu were Kangxi's envoys.

And these two groups of envoys have a not very decent name, that is, "the envoy of the minister", they came to the Ming Dynasty to call the minister and recognize the boss!

Of course, the object of their vassal is not Li Zhongshan, but Zhu Cijiong. It's just that the conditions for being a younger brother have to be discussed with Li Zhongshan first, and only after the negotiation is done can he go to Nanjing to recognize Zhu Cijiong as the boss.

"What? You have to borrow money. Colonization of the Western Regions? ”

When Li Zhongshan heard Wang Shirong's conditions for the Great Zhou Emperor Wu Shifan (actually Wu Yingqi's conditions), he was almost stunned.

What's going on? Da Zhou is also going to borrow money for colonization? Are they making progress too fast?

"Don't worry, the old Wu family is the most trustworthy, and there are debts that must be repaid!" Wu Guogui patted his chest and vouched.

and debts to be paid. Li Zhongshan said: Do you have a gold mine at home?

Seeing the suspicion on Li Zhongshan's face, Prince Gong Chang Ning smiled and said, "General, this expedition to the Western Regions is bound to make money, and it is impossible to defeat the battle!" Because this battle was the Great Zhou, the Great Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Department of Oirat, in the name of the Mongol Great Khan and the Chagatai Khanate, they sent troops together! How is this possible to beat? ”

Oh, co-authored with the cos Mongolia expedition to the west!

Li Zhongshan couldn't laugh or cry a little, "It's the Great Khan of Mongolia again, and it's the Chagatai Khanate, what do you want to do?" Want the eldest son to go west? What age is this? Is there anyone in the west who recognizes the Mongol rule? ”

"The general doesn't know anything," said Fang Ying, who seemed to be polite and seemingly quite learned, "the area west of the Tianshan Mountains and the west of the Green Mountains in the Western Regions is now called the land of the Mughal Mountains. To the north of the land of the Mughal were the Kipchak steppes, the territory of the Golden Horde, and the Kazakh Khanate that now ruled there was a descendant of the Golden Horde. The land in the river south of Mughal is the territory of the Chagatai Khanate, although it has now been robbed by the descendants of the Golden Horde, but the descendants of Chagatai are the rightful masters there, and the Yeerqiang Khanate in the Western Regions is actually the Chagatai Khanate that moved eastward. Now that we control the Yarkand Khanate, we are equivalent to controlling the Chagatai Khanate.

If we advance westward in the name of the Chagatai Khanate, we will have the support of the Mongol warriors in the southern Mughal region who are interested in the Chagatai Khanate! ”

"Really?" Li Yat-sen didn't believe it at all, and he wasn't interested.

This Fang Ying is Wu Shicong's military advisor, and he has been following him to level the Yeerqiang Khanate, so he knows a lot about the Yeerqiang Khanate, and in order to get "venture capital" this time, he has also done enough homework, he saw that Li Zhongshan seemed to have little interest, and then flickered: "General, how about this other Mughal Khanate, the lower officials are not sure, but the Timurid Dynasty of India will definitely support the Chagatai Khanate!" ”

"What did you say?" Li Zhongshan was taken aback, "India? ”

India is rich!

Now India has risen, the world's first economic power, and the number one developed country in the seventeenth century is India!

"Yes!" Fang Yingdao, "The general doesn't know that this Chagatai Khanate once perished, and later returned to the country in Yeerqiang, and this Chagatai Restoration Lord Saide and the Timurid Khanate who led the Timurid Khanate to move into India are close relatives and friends, and they used to fight side by side in Mughal back then. The Timurid Khanate and the Chagatai Khanate also supported each other for a long time in history, and the two khanates also married each other and had a close relationship. If the khans of the Timurid Khanate had known that the Chagatai Khanate had returned to Mughul, he would have sent troops to support. ”

What an opportunity!

Li Zhongshan's interest came immediately.

He didn't know much about those things in Central Asia and India, and he didn't know that Yeerqiang had such a relationship with the Mughal Empire in India, but he knew very well that with the strength of Wu Zhou, Northern Qing, and Galdan, it would be easy to eradicate the various khanates of the Mughal Khanate. It's the same with or without the Mughal Empire!

But if the Chagatai Khanate and the Mughal Empire can really get in touch, it can open up for the Ming Dynasty. No, it is to facilitate India's struggle against British colonial aggression.

Briton. After all, it is a foreign ghost animal, not a "Mo" race, and its heart must be different! And the Chagatai Khanate also has the Mongol Great Khan and the Mughal Empire of India, but the blood of the Mongol brothers is thicker than water!

If the British could not get India, then British capitalism and industrialization would not be so easy to come, and it would be worth a try just for this sake!

Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan finally nodded: "Since the relationship between the Chagatai Khanate and the Timurid Khanate of India is extraordinary, then you can invest a little silver!" ”

In order to stir up the British colonial cause of India, it is worth losing even a few million!

"Throw in some silver?" Fang Ying asked, "General, do you mean to borrow?" ”

"Let's not talk about borrowing," said Li Yat-sen, "any of you have ever heard of the Dutch East India Company?" Does anyone know about VOCs? ”

"Yes!" Chang Ning nodded, "General, I know you said this when you played to the emperor to impeach the Pope of Rome. This is a business house that treats money grabbing as a business! ”

"Let's make one too!" Li Yat-sen said, "It is only right that there is an East India Company to engage in Indian trading!" ”

"General, do you want to build a Ming East India Company?" Chang Ning asked.

"No, no" Li Zhongshan shook his head, "The people of the East India Company of the Ming Dynasty don't recognize it!" Let's build a Mongolian East India Company! ”

"Mongolia?"

"The Mongols know how to grab money best!"

"That's good! The Mongolian East India Company went to the Timurid Khanate of India to do business, and Aurangzeb Khan of India would definitely take care of it. ”

Li Zhongshan said with a smile: "Then it's better to have a three-country joint venture, let's do it together, use the name of the Mongolian East India Company to develop the Western Regions trade route, and also do business with India." The share capital of this company should be set at 1 million taels first! When we set up this company, we will borrow money from the silver number in Daming in its name, and it will be no problem to borrow a few million from it. ”

This is a good feeling!

Wang Shirong, Fang Ying, Chang Ning, and Mingzhu are all bright.

It is much better to borrow money in the name of a company than to borrow money in the name of the state. How ugly it is for the state to borrow money and not pay it back! If the company wants to borrow money and not pay it back, this is a loss in the transaction, can't it be reversed?

(End of chapter)