In fact, Xiong Tingbi, the secretary of the Ministry of War, has always been concerned about the war in Liaodong.

According to his original plan, Liaodong would have to increase to at least 1670,000 soldiers and horses in order to contain Jianzhou.

However, with the defeat of Yuan Yingtai, the Ming Dynasty lost tens of thousands of elites, coupled with Li Xianzhong's elite army plan, now the whole town of Liaodong is only 100,000 horses, but the pressure of Jianzhou is out of breath.

He also had to admit that Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong was not only brave in battle, but also a genius in strategic planning.

Now the imperial court actually relies on the three roads of Kaiyuan, Tieling, and Fushun under Li Xianzhong to deal with Jianzhou.

Li Xianzhong completely grasped the initiative on the battlefield with only 30,000 men and horses.

After abandoning Kuandian Fort, the pressure on the Ming army on the southern front suddenly decreased a lot.

Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, only needed to use tens of thousands of elite soldiers to hold the line between Yahu Pass and Qinghe Fort, and he could completely stabilize the situation on the southern front.

Obviously, Liaodong's strategy of "attacking in the north and defending in the south" has not only worked, but also saved a lot of military spending.

The annual military salary of 70,000 people alone saved 1.26 million taels of silver for the imperial court.

And Li Xianzhong only dispatched 20,000 people to attack Jianzhou, which is a scale that the imperial court can bear even if it takes a year or two.

Therefore, he did not agree with Ye Xianggao's proposal to increase troops in Liaodong.

First, it greatly increased the burden on the imperial court, and secondly, there was no need for this.

Because the dangerous places in the north of Jianzhou, such as the Boundary Domain, Salhu, and Gule Village, have all been in the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

Now there is only one Mardun village left to the north of Hetuala.

As long as enough ammunition and armaments were allocated to Ning Yuanbo and Li Xianzhong, it would be a matter of time before they could conquer there.

In addition, from a strategic point of view, now Jianzhou is in the midst of internal strife, if the Ming army is pressed at this time, they will definitely temporarily put aside the internal contradictions and go all out to fight to the death with the Ming army.

If the Ming army delays the offensive at this time, it may be able to allow them to continue infighting, and even a fire will occur.

Therefore, Xiong Tingbi did not approve of continuing to increase troops in Liaodong and opening up a second battlefield in Kuandian.

Xiong Tingbi is the most knowledgeable member of the cabinet, and his opinion should be the most authoritative.

However, the cabinet dominated by the Donglin Party does not see it that way.

They believe that the chaos in the founding of the state at this time is a good opportunity to completely solve the problem of the establishment of the state.

Li Xianzhong was grinding in Maldun Village, which obviously meant the self-respect of raising a coward.

Emperor Taichang was very jealous of the power of the Li family in Liaodong at the beginning, so he asked Li Xianzhong to send troops to attack Jianzhou.

But now the casualties of the Ming army are not large, and the Li family in Liaodong will be even bigger after the war.

Since Li Xianzhong was unwilling to attack quickly, the imperial court could only increase troops and horses to open up a second battlefield.

This will certainly hasten the collapse of the Jianyu.

On the one hand, it can avoid Li Xianzhong's monopoly on the great achievement of pacifying and establishing a state, and on the other hand, it can also stimulate him to strengthen the offensive and help completely solve the problem of building a state!

Now the three parties of "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang" are soft-spoken in the cabinet, and among the seven cabinet ministers, only Shi Jikai and Xiong Tingbi oppose it.

Since Yan Mingtai was concurrently the governor of Liaodong with the governor of Jiliao, the cabinet soon made Ye Xianggao's protégé Wang Huazhen the governor of Liaodong.

And the Emperor of the Apocalypse had just ascended the throne at this time, so he didn't know what was at stake.

Knowing that the cabinet not only allocated military funds, but also increased troops to Liaodong, so that the conquest of Jianzhou could be ended as soon as possible, he readily agreed to the appointment of Wang Huazhen.

After all, it is no longer the Wanli Dynasty, although the court meeting is not held every day, but it is still easy for the minister to meet the emperor.

Emperor Tianqi directly agreed to this matter at the court meeting, and it was impossible for the celebrant to reject the relevant votes of the cabinet.

However, Wei Zhongxian still used his power as a eunuch to revise the cabinet's vote.

Ye Xianggao and others originally wanted to completely elevate Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, and let Yan Mingtai directly move out of Liaodong to sit in Jizhou.

The celebrant refused to let Yan Mingtai evacuate Liaoyang on the grounds that he had worked hard in Liaodong.

With Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, in charge, Wang Huazhen is still somewhat restricted.

However, Yan Mingtai knew that he should not be able to stay long in this Jiliao governorship.

Because he had already heard the news, the cabinet intended to bring forward the original Kyocha three years later.

The Ming Dynasty stipulated that every six years, officials from the north and south of Beijing should be inspected, which was called "Beijing Cha".

During the Beijing inspection, the officials above the fourth rank were personally inspected by the emperor, and the officials below the fourth rank were inspected by the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

The Jingcha of officials above the fourth rank mainly used the form of the courtiers to write "Zi Chen Shu", and the courtiers themselves reported to the emperor the various deficiencies in the work of the past six years, hoping that the emperor could remove Qian and depose himself.

After reading Zi Chen Shu, the emperor usually encouraged his courtiers and then kept them in office.

Therefore, this kind of Beijing inspection of officials above the fourth grade is often left in the situation and cannot play a supervisory role at all.

In the late Wanli period, due to the rise of party strife, Jingcha directly evolved into a tool for party strife.

Whoever controls the Ministry and the Inspectorate will be able to purge the other parties.

In the Beijing inspection in the 45th year of Wanli, the three parties of "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang" used the Beijing inspection to directly clean up almost all the Donglin party members out of the court!

Now that the Donglin Party wants to advance Jingcha, it is obvious that they want to use Jingcha to further clean up the officials of the three parties of "Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang", so that the imperial court will become the "Yiyantang" of the Donglin Party.

Once the Donglin Party completely controls the situation, then he, the governor of Jiliao, will definitely be taken down by them.

However, the change of the governor of Liaodong this time caused an uproar in the officialdom of Liaodong.

Because of the profits from the copper transportation in Hongtou Mountain, one percent belonged to the yamen of the governor of Liaodong, and this percent was directly distributed to everyone by Yan Mingtai as a welfare official in Liaodong.

In addition, Li Xianzhong gave Yan Mingtai 30% of the Yingkou tariff, and Yan Mingtai would also give a part to the officials below.

Moreover, officials in Shenyang and Liaoyang along the copper line can also get some additional income.

It is no exaggeration to say that Li Xianzhong and Yan Mingtai are like the food and clothing parents of these Liaodong officials.

Even if they are not in the Kaiyuan Third Road directly under Li Xianzhong, they also enjoy the benefits brought by smuggling in Liaodong and the private customs.

Obviously, Wang Huazhen, the sudden governor of Liaodong, was not popular with everyone here.

Wang Huazhen was a Jinshi in the 41st year of Wanli, and had served as the head of the household department and the right senator for a long time, and he had long heard about the smuggling in Liaodong.

He also knew that it would definitely not be enough to be promoted to governor with his qualifications, let alone the governor of Liaodong, the head of the nine sides?

Now that the soldiers and horses to reinforce Liaodong are still on the way, he can just grasp the problem of smuggling in Liaodong, and by the way, establish his own prestige.

Soon he received accurate information, and many merchants used copper ships on the Liao River to smuggle goods to Kaiyuan, and then resold them from Kaiyuan to the Mongol tribes.

This is an important source of income for Li Xianzhong, and he can just use this to establish his prestige and let these officials in Liaodong know where to stand?

Kaiyuan is Li Xianzhong's lair, and it is a monolith at all, even if he sends someone to investigate, it is estimated that he will not be able to find any clues.

So he decided to raid the copper ship on the Liao River and catch the real hammer they used to smuggle copper boats!

In order to prevent someone from ventilating the news, he did not call in the Ming army in Liaoyang.

Instead, he directly used his own direct guards, and these people were all brought by himself from the Beijing Division, and they would never leak the news.

Soon at the mouth of the junction of the Liao River and the Sancha River, more than 40 shallow boats of 400 materials appeared.

This is also the standard transport ship of the Daming inland river, each ship has a cargo capacity of about 300 stones, and is equipped with ten boatmen and guards.

The mine flags flying on the bow indicate that these ships are the ones responsible for transporting copper ore.

The scribe of the governor's yamen said to Wang Huazhen: "Governor Qiqi, according to reliable information, these copper ships are loaded with a large amount of mink skins and are ready to be transported from Yingkou to Tianjin Port for sale. ”

At Wang Huazhen's behest, the soldiers quickly set up a card to stop the fleet.

The copper miner asked angrily: "This is a copper ship in Liaodong, why are you obstructing it?" ”

The scribe said: "The governor's yamen has received a report that someone is using a copper ship to take advantage of the opportunity to engage in smuggling, and we are ordered by the governor of the king to set up a card here for inspection, and please cooperate?" ”

At this time, I only heard a sharp voice from the cabin: "The governor of Liaodong, Yamen, is really bold, he even dares to inspect the copper transport ship of the Liaodong Mine Supervisor, don't you know that these copper ingots were paid tribute to His Majesty by Ye Hebu, and you bear the consequences of delaying the progress of copper transportation?" ”

Wang Huazhen didn't expect that Ma Yun, the supervisor of Liaodong Mine, was also on the ship, so he had to go to the front desk and say: "Ma Gonggong personally escorted the copper mine, which is really hard." Benfu has also received many reports, so I have to set up a card here for inspection, and ask my father-in-law to cooperate! ”

Ma Yun also said angrily: "Our family was ordered to return to Beijing to report the situation of the copper mine to His Majesty, and Governor Wang must inspect it today." If the smuggled goods are found, our family will definitely find out the smuggler and give Governor Wang an explanation; But if you can't find evidence today, our family will definitely ask Ye Shoufu for justice for this delay in transporting copper! ”

It seems that this time he has completely offended this father-in-law, but now he has to send it!

He could only bite the bullet and say: "Thank you Father-in-law Ma for your cooperation, Wang will only be offended." ”

Soon Wang Huazhen's soldiers from the governor's yamen boarded the ship for inspection.

The soldiers inspected the inside and outside of the boat, and it was almost overturned.

Surprisingly, however, no smuggled goods were found.

This is Ma Yun pointing to a big box and saying: "This box contains our family's personal belongings, is Governor Wang going to open it to see what contraband is inside?" ”

Wang Huazhen could only clench his fists and said: "There is a lot of disturbance, and I ask Gonggong Ma to forgive me!" ”

He understands that he is letting people get into a pit.

So Wang Huazhen, who was annoyed and angry, led his troops directly to Yingkou Wharf.

He wanted to seize evidence of smuggling by merchants directly at the docks.

Unexpectedly, before he entered the dock, he was intercepted by a team of Ming troops.

Hundreds of cavalry kept them 5 miles away from Yingkou Harbor.

Even if he revealed his identity as the governor of Liaodong, the other party still had no intention of letting him go.

The leader of the general said: "The last general Yaozhou guerrilla Zu Dashou was ordered to garrison Yingkou Port. ”

"This is the transportation port of the Liaodong copper mine and the supply port of the 'Ming Army' naval division in Korea. Without the instructions of Ma Gonggong, the supervisor of Liaodong mines, or Li Xianzhong, the governor of the Ming Dynasty in Korea, the general would not dare to let Governor Wang enter Yingkou Port. ”

Wang Huazhen snorted coldly and said, "You little Yaozhou guerrilla actually dared to prevent Benfu from entering the port for inspection, what if I had to enter the port for inspection today?" ”

Then the Ming army behind Wang Huazhen drew his saber.

Zu Dashou said with a smile: "Don't say that it is the governor of Wang, even if Ma Gonggong, the superintendent of the Liaodong mine, can't go to the water village of the 'Ming Army stationed in the dynasty' to inspect, and Ning Yuanbo still can't go to the copper mine wharf when he comes in person." Please also ask Governor Wang not to be embarrassed! ”

"If Governor Wang must enter the port for inspection, please take out Governor Yan's warrant!"

"Otherwise, please forgive the end and won't be able to let him go."

After Zu Dashou said this, the cavalry behind him directly raised the spear in his hand.

Although the number of people on both sides is about the same, Wang Huazhen understands that those fancy soldiers he brought from the capital, where are the opponents of these Liaodong border troops?

What's more, there is a city wall outside the port at Yingkou, even if they can defeat the Ming army in front of them, they still can't enter the port.

Originally, he thought that only Li Xianzhong's subordinate Kaiyuan Sanlu couldn't be managed by him, the governor of Liaodong.

As a result, he found an even more cruel reality, I am afraid that he can't control the entire east of the Liao River.

Is this Liaodong still not the Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty?

It seems that Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, and Li Xianzhong have long been wearing a pair of pants.

But he soon discovered that there were some things he still had to take care of.

He returned to Liaoyang City to find the warrant for Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, to enter Yingkou Port, but found that Yan Mingtai had gone to the front line of Gule Village.

At this time, a large number of hungry people in Liaoyang City gathered in front of his Liaodong governor's yamen.

This year, there was a severe drought in eastern Liaoning, and more than seventy percent of the land was lost.

Although the imperial court has reduced this year's taxes, the common people who have no food have to live!

Originally, Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, was also the governor of Liaodong, and he also asked people to cook something called sweet potatoes mixed with some wild vegetables to help the victims of Liaoyang City.

But since Wang Huazhen took office, he has never done the work of relief.

The hungry people had no choice but to surround his governor's yamen and ask the governor of Liaodong to open a warehouse to release grain.

This drought is not a day or two, and the grain from some of the original Yicang and even the official warehouse has been distributed several batches of grain.

Now the granary can be empty and can run horses, and even a mouse can't be seen.

Thousands of people, their faces haggard and ragged, their hearts glinting with anger and resentment in their eyes. They surrounded the governor's yamen, and everyone's eyes were glued to the yamen's gates.

They cried out loudly, their voices filled with pain and despair. They demanded that warehouses be opened, food was distributed, and everyone could have a chance to survive. Some of them were even more radical, raising broken farm tools, waving tattered clothes, and roaring hoarsely.

Inside the yamen, Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, had a blue face.

The other governor's yamen, big and small, were trembling, for fear that they would become the punching bag of the king's governor.

This year's severe drought has caused grain prices to rise again and again, and at present corn has reached 2 taels of silver and 1 stone, and rice is even more than 3 taels of silver and 1 stone.

But fortunately, there is a thing called sweet potato, which sells for only 5 yuan and one stone.

If it weren't for these sweet potatoes, I'm afraid many more people would starve to death.

Wang Huazhen said: "Where can I get this sweet potato? ”

The scribe whispered: "This sweet potato is grown in Pingyubao, and this year's drought in eastern Liaodong has not been harvested only in 300,000 acres of land in Pingyubao. ”

"The sweet potatoes used by Governor Yan for disaster relief before were the taxes paid by Ning Yuan Bo Lingping Pingyu Fort, and now they have been used up."

"Not only Liaoyang, except for the Kaiyuan Third Road under Ning Yuanbo, I'm afraid that the hungry people from all walks of life have stopped giving relief now."

Wang Huazhen asked again: "What about the rich people in the city, shouldn't they help the disaster relief at this time?" ”

The scribe said: "Governor Yan has mobilized many times, and at present, even the landlord's family has no surplus food. ”

Wang Huazhen gasped, he really picked up a mess.

Yan Mingtai, Li Xianzhong, you are ruthless enough!

In fact, there is still food in Liaoyang City, and in order to open up the second battlefield, the imperial court has just allocated 120,000 stone of grain.

Now in the face of these hungry and crazy hungry people, he can only take out 20,000 stone of grain to give porridge first, and he will be the first to resist for a while.

Then Wang Huazhen hurriedly wrote a letter asking the cabinet to continue to allocate more food for disaster relief.

At this time, Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, was feasting with Li Xianzhong in the Ningyuan Bofu in Kaiyuan.

Li Xianzhong pointed to a pile of beef, mutton and sweet potatoes on the table and said: "Now that there is a drought in eastern Liaodong, grain is particularly precious, and even Benbo has not eaten rice for more than ten days. ”

"But I don't have anything else here, sweet potatoes and beef and mutton are enough, please don't dislike Brother Yan."

Yan Mingtai and Li Xianzhong are friends of life and death, and he can't care about his image at this moment, so he grabbed a small leg of lamb and gnawed it.

He also had a miserable life in Liaoyang, not that he couldn't afford it.

But the people of Liaodong are all suffering, and many people can't even eat wild vegetables, and he, the governor of Jiliao, is not good at big fish and meat.

He also took the lead in reducing three meals to two meals and nibbled on sweet potatoes for many days.

To be honest, sweet potatoes don't feel very full, and I'll be hungry after a while.

Although people can't starve to death after eating things for a long time, they have no energy and no strength.

Yan Mingtai said: "Is the yield of this sweet potato really so terrifying? ”

Li Xianzhong said: "At present, the weather in eastern Liaoning can be planted twice a year, and the harvest period is about 100 days. It is suitable for planting from mid-March to early October every year. ”

"The yield per mu can reach 7-10 stones."

Yan Mingtai said in surprise: "That is to say, in the 300,000 mu of fertile land in Pingyubao, you have harvested more than 2 million stone sweet potatoes at once. ”

"This thing doesn't matter if it's full, you sell it for 5 yuan and 1 stone, it's too black-hearted, right?"

Li Xianzhong said: "The imperial court has already ordered tax exemption, and Benbo still sent you 200,000 stone sweet potatoes in the name of paying taxes. Otherwise, Liaodong doesn't know how many people will starve to death? ”

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, how many businessmen have donated 200,000 stone of grain to the imperial court for disaster relief?"

Yan Mingtai said: "It's for my brother's loss, but your trick is really bad." I'm afraid that Wang Huazhen has been overwhelmed by those disaster victims. ”

Li Xianzhong said with a wicked smile: "We are slowly pushing Jianyu into a desperate situation step by step, this Wang Huazhen actually wants to come directly to pick peaches, how can he get his wish?" ”

"Brother Yan, don't think that 5 yuan of silver for a stone of sweet potatoes is expensive, you must know that this sweet potato is now 5 taels of silver a stone in Jianzhou, and you can't buy it with silver."

Now Nurhachi's back injury is getting worse and worse, almost to the point where he can't sleep.

And his big gold, like his body, is almost unbearable.

It's November now, and although the autumn harvest has long since passed, this year's drought has caused them to have almost no harvest.

Before falling out with Daiseon, they were able to get some food from North Korea.

But now that Daishan has become self-reliant in North Korea, Jianju has also lost access to food, which makes them completely cut off food.

Originally, Huang Taiji controlled the family members of the two red flags, and he wanted to stay until he inherited the throne to blackmail Dai Shan.

But where did they get the surplus food to feed these hostages?

In the end, an agreement was reached with Dai Shan, and Dai Shan exchanged 150,000 stone of grain for a large number of family members of the two red flags.

In this way, at least the food of the Eight Banners soldiers was solved.

But the Jianzhou Jurchen people and the families of the Han army were covered by the North Koreans, and they could not do anything.

The old men of Jianzhou picked up bows and arrows and went hunting in the mountains and forests, while the fishermen fished in the rivers.

But even so, a large number of people were still starving to death.

Fortunately, at this time, the profiteer Fan Yongdou extended a helping hand to them, and he sold 100,000 stone of sweet potatoes to Jianzhou at a price of 5 taels of silver and one stone.

After getting this batch of sweet potatoes, Hetuara avoided the tragedy of cannibalism.

At this time, Nurhachi summoned Huang Taiji and Fan Wenyu to his dormitory.

He said: "It seems that I can't survive this food shortage by myself, is it possible to think of a way from Mingguo?" ”

Fan Wenyu said: "The Ming Kingdom is also in a great drought, and the current grain in Liaodong has also risen to two or three taels of silver and one stone, and it is not much better than us?" ”

At this time, Huang Taiji said: "I have already communicated with Daishan about exchanging grain for North Korean clothing, and there are also North Koreans starving to death on Dai Shan's side, and it is impossible for him to feed that batch of North Korean clothing." ”

Nurhachi fell into deep thought, and said, "In that case, we will have to think long-term, and these untouchables should be the rations of my army rather than starve to death. ”

When Huang Taiji and Fan Wenyu heard this, they glanced at each other, and finally Huang Taiji said, "I understand what to do." ”

Soon the old and weak of the city were driven out of Hetuala, and now they were left to fend for themselves.

Then more than 200,000 North Korean coats were brought into the canyon deep in the mountains of Jianzhou by them in batches.

Although no one knew where those North Korean coats had gone except for the Zhenghuang Banner on the mission, jerky actually appeared in the daily food ration of the Eight Banners.

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(End of chapter)