In early April, the city of Beijing.

Early in the morning of this day, Liu Yan entered the Forbidden City wearing a national official robe, followed by Wu Guojin, the secretary of the Ministry of Military Intelligence, and Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, and the New Army guards behind the three followed from a distance.

Along the way, Liu Yan discussed something with Wu Guojin and Tian Huixu, and soon came to the cabinet hall on the east side of the noon gate, which was Liu Yan's office in Beijing.

To the north of the cabinet hall are the Red Book Library, which is where the cabinet documents and other confidential documents are stored, and the court room is where the civil and military officials are waiting to be summoned and the ministers handle government affairs in the palace.

At the same time, in order to strengthen the connection between the cabinet and the inner court, Liu Yan changed the address of the court from the Qianqing Palace to the south after inviting Emperor Chongzhen, which was originally used as a ceremonial place in the Taihe Palace.

At this time, in the cabinet hall, Zhao Min, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the Ministry of Equipment, Zhang Lei, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Song Gongming, the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Bao Xuezhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Health, Wang Weizhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the General Staff, had already waited here.

Liu Yan smiled and motioned for everyone to sit down, and everyone in the cabinet gathered in the cabinet hall today for one thing: to make money!

After everyone sat down, Liu Yan pointed out the topic, and then said to Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance: "Yue Shangshu, let's talk about it specifically." ”

"Yes."

Yue Ming immediately took out a thick notebook and said to everyone: "Elder Liu Ge, colleagues, now that my Ming treasury is drying up, it's time to straighten out the revenue and expenditure of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Everyone heard

Yan was very surprised, the previous imperial court raided one hundred and seventeen Donglin Party members, nearly tens of millions of taels of income, it was only two or three months, and it was spent?

Yue Ming immediately explained, and only then did he solve the doubts in everyone's hearts.

Now, in order to exterminate Li Zicheng's million-strong army, the new army and the garrison army are being reorganized and mobilized.

Liu Yan ordered that the rear battalion of the new army be stationed in Shanhaiguan, and the second battalion of the garrison army should be stationed in Gubeikou, Juyongguan, and Xifengkou, and more than 20,000 soldiers of these two battalions were specially left in northern Gyeonggi to guard against the Qing army.

At the same time, the third battalion of the garrison army was stationed in Beijing, and the fourth battalion of the garrison army was stationed in Laizhou Mansion and Qingzhou Prefecture.

The remaining front battalion, left battalion, right battalion, middle battalion, personal guard battalion, cavalry battalion, artillery battalion, as well as the first, fifth, and sixth battalions of the garrison army all rushed to the area around Jingcheng Pass in Zhending Prefecture to stand by, ready to go west to Shanxi to pacify Li Zicheng's troops.

In this way, more than 110,000 soldiers from 10 battalions were mobilized, and more than 400,000 people were recruited.

According to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Defense, the imperial court must provide at least half a year's worth of money and grain for the army, more than 2.6 million taels of silver, and 1 million stone of grain and grass.

The Ministry of Finance estimates that at least 2,160,000 taels of wages and expenses will be needed during the six-month period, and the rations needed by more than 400,000 people will also cost 2.7 million stones.

Counting the grain and grass needed by the army, the imperial court needs to prepare a total of 3.7 million stone of grain, which is

An almost astronomical amount of expenditure!

Now there is a shortage of grain in the imperial court, and the grain copied from the 117 Donglin Party families is only more than 800,000 stones, and the Ministry of Finance can still raise more than 100,000 stone of grain from all sides, but the remaining nearly 2.7 million stone of grain must be purchased in large quantities.

Based on the current grain prices in various parts of Beizhili, after the influence of hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops going south, as well as the impact of drought in various places, the grain in various parts of Beizhili has now risen to about four to five taels per stone, and after the calculation of the Ministry of Finance, this expenditure on grain procurement alone needs more than 12 million taels of silver!

Yue Ming frowned, and said with a solemn expression: "Now the treasury of silver in stock, counting the more than 9.3 million taels of silver seized from the Donglin rebel party's house, there are 11.73 million taels, but after deducting the army's military expenditure for half a year, as well as the wages of the people, there is only about 4.5 million taels left, and there is still a gap of nearly 7.5 million taels from the more than 12 million taels needed to purchase grain!" ”

Hearing this number, everyone was not calm and looked at Liu Yan one after another.

Especially Chen Xinjia, the strategy for the army to go out is formulated by the General Staff, and the minimum six months of the war are also given by the General Staff, if the imperial court can't come up with this money and food, it is equivalent to completely overthrowing the strategy of the General Staff, and it is also a big blow to Chen Xinjia's status.

Liu Yan thought for a while, and then asked Yue Ming and Song Gongming, "How much money and grain did the shogunate have stored before?" ”

Yue Ming and Song Gongming glanced at each other, and then Yue Ming said

Said: "Pavilion Elder, the money and grain accumulated by the shogunate still have more than 6.5 million taels of silver coins and more than 3 million stone grain, but these money and grain have been useful, according to the current speed of the implementation of the new policy in various places, as well as the consumption of money and grain, after the subordinates discussed with Song Shangshu, at least four million taels of silver coins and two million stone of grain should be reserved for backup." ”

Liu Yan said: "Then use the remaining money and food for the military expenses of this war." ”

Yue Ming said: "In this way, 1.7 million stones of grain still need to be purchased, and after accounting, there is still a gap of 510,000 or 200,000 taels. ”

Hearing this news, Liu Yan and everyone fell into deep thought, and then Zhang Lei, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, said suspiciously: "Ge Lao, our new army has mobilized more than 100,000 troops before, but there has never been such consumption, why do you need so much money and food this time?" ”

Zhao Min, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, also said: "Yes, before my new army went out, it only hired a small number of people, and the money and food of the army were transported by the heavy soldiers in the army, and all of them acted with the army. ”

Everyone looked at Chen Xinjia, Chen Xinjia suddenly became nervous, and hurriedly said: "That's the case, it's not that there was no need for people before, whether it was the Battle of Kaifeng or the later Battle of Jinzhou, the rear was responsible for the transfer of money and grain, so there were not many people recruited by the Shandong soldiers, and the expenses were not very large." ”

"But now it is different, even if the army carries money and food with the army, it is impossible to bring half a year's money and food, so it is necessary to recruit enough people to transfer money and food, and this expenditure is inevitable.

”

Only then did the crowd understand, and then they fell into the beginning of the question: where to raise the money and food?

Liu Yan is also at a loss, after all, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and she has also experienced the dilemma of Emperor Chongzhen's lack of money and food.

At this time, Liu Yan thought of the ministers in the court, after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, it didn't take long for him to start torturing officials and imperial relatives, with Liu Zongmin as the main responsibility, and soon got tens of millions of taels of silver from these people!

Liu Yan naturally thought of this method, but he couldn't do it, after all, he was not Li Zicheng, and he wouldn't go back to Shandong to paint the ground as a prison with one vote, so he couldn't do it with all his might.

The people deliberated for a long time, but they still couldn't think of a good way to raise money and food.

At this time, Wu Guojin said: "Elder Ge, since you can't find the source of the money and food for the time being, then your subordinates will mention another matter." ”

Liu Yan said: "It's okay, now that the general staff's strategy for sending troops has been determined, the officers and men of all departments have been deployed in place one after another, and the people have basically been recruited. ”

Immediately, Wu Guojin said: "Pavilion Elder, recently, there are many gentry and officials inside and outside the Beijing Division who are secretly contending, although it is not clear what they are planning in secret, but it is certain that it must be unfavorable to Pavilion Lao!" ”

Wu Guojin is equivalent to the former head of the Jinyi Guard, and all the cabinet members present have a certain degree of resistance to it, and even some fear, so after Wu Guojin finished speaking, everyone sweated against the officials in the court and the gentry around Beijing.

Chen Xinjia is even more

secretly said in his heart: "Could it be that the elder can't raise money and food, so he wants to continue to get money and food from the officials of the court and the gentry everywhere?" Doing so is a dead end! ”

Just when everyone's hearts were overturned, Liu Yan said: "Let the people from the Nanzhen Fu Division of the Ministry of Military Intelligence intervene to find out what they are secretly contingencing, if it is just to play on the topic and vent the grievances in their hearts, it is up to them to do it, and don't pay too much attention to it." But if someone is secretly plotting to sabotage the New Deal, then don't tolerate it, catch what should be caught, and kill what should be killed! ”

Wu Guojin clenched his fists and took his life.

Then Wu Guojin said: "There is another matter, the Military Intelligence Department has received news that there may be businessmen in Zhangjiakou who are smuggling materials outside the customs and grasslands, and it is said that the amount is still very large, and his subordinates have sent Yao Guangming, the commander of the Nanzhen Fu Division, to personally lead people to investigate." ”

"Zhangjiakou?"

When Liu Yan heard these three words, he immediately thought of the notorious eight families of Jin merchants in history, and the famous eight traitor families!

In the turbulent times at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty generally rose with the help of civil officials, and these businessmen were all unprofitable and could not afford to be early, but they did not have any national righteousness in their hearts, and they only wanted to gain every inch.

Like Fan Yongdou, the leader of the eight families of the Jin Dynasty, was originally a common man of the Ming Dynasty, but during the Ming and Qing dynasties, he was greedy for personal gain and sold a large number of materials and Ming army intelligence to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. ”

If the Manchus didn't have these traitors and businessmen, who continuously supplied all kinds of strategic materials, could those Tartars have the advantage of iron weapons, and could they rise so quickly? Maybe, but never

So quickly!

Therefore, at this time, the Jin merchant group is actually a traitor who sent a sharp knife and a hater, in history Jiading Three Massacres, Yangzhou Ten Days, Jiangyin Massacre, Guangzhou Massacre and other massacres, this kind of traitor businessmen are also one of the executioners, and even to some extent, more hateful than the real Tartar, although it is difficult to eliminate this hatred for eternity!

At this time, Liu Yan stood up abruptly and said angrily: "Those people who are secretly in the capital, just send someone to beat it, there is a battalion of troops stationed in the city, and they can't make any big waves." The Military Intelligence Department concentrated all the strength of the South Town Fu Division and the North Town Fu Division, and gave me a strict investigation of all the merchants in Zhangjiakou, with the Shanxi merchants in the Zhangjiakou area as the main target, and gave me a thorough investigation! ”

Everyone was dumbfounded, why did the elder Ge's gaze jump directly to Zhangjiakou again?

Wang Weizhen asked tentatively: "Elder Ge, is the cabinet's attention still focused on the raising of money and grain, and the preparation for the battle to pacify the Liukou, even if there are businessmen secretly smuggling in Zhangjiakou, it will not affect the situation in the world, do you wait until Li Zicheng is pacified, and then pay attention to it?" ”

"Really?"

Liu Yan said loudly: "Do you all think that Shangjia's secret smuggling is just a trivial matter? But my father told you that those Shanxi merchants were all rich and rival the country, and the materials they trafficked outside the customs were also very large, otherwise how do you think the Manchu Qing could build a dozen or hundreds of thousands of well-equipped troops? Can those dog tartars mine enough iron and other materials on their own? No way! ”

Everyone present was dumbfounded, some people couldn't believe it, but Chen Xinjia sighed slightly

, apparently knowing a little about the smuggling situation in various parts of the Nine Sides.

Seeing everyone's surprised expressions, Liu Yan said to Wu Guojin: "Within half a month, my father-in-law will get the evidence of the crime of Shanxi businessman Jia Litong in Zhangjiakou!" ”

Wu Guojin asked, "Elder Ge, what if the charges are true?" ”

Liu Yan thought for a moment and said: "My father asked Xu Ming to lead a cavalry battalion to Xuanfu Town to standby, and after verifying the evidence, he immediately contacted Xu Ming, and directly raided the family and exterminated the clan, no need to ask for instructions!" ”