Chapter 138: Clouds of chaos rising from all directions s: Some readers said that Prince Fu’s Mansion in Luoyang at the end of the Ming Dynasty probably did not have three million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of stones of rice and grain.
But I have a statistical data here.
When King Fu was granted the vassal status, Emperor Wanli himself directly rewarded King Fu with more than one million taels of silver.
King Fu must have had some savings before, plus the rest of his income, so in When he set out for Luoyang, King Fu already had at least two million taels of silver.
After that, this lucky king must have made a lot of money in Henan.
In the fifth year of Chongzhen, he should have four to five million taels of silver.
After all, when this guy was still a prince, he spent 300,000 taels of silver on a wedding.
Moreover, this was just when the Chongzhen drought had just begun, and the food in the Central Plains was not as scarce as it was in the following years.
Prince Fu's Mansion Naturally, there should be more food stored.
Also, some readers think that food prices have risen too high, but please note that these are falsely high food prices under conditions of war and embargo, and are largely hyped up by profiteers and do not reflect Real supply and demand situation.
After summer grain comes on the market, it will naturally fall back.
The premise is that there is still summer grain that can be put on the market this year or there is a consumer market for summer grain to be sold.
Of course, there are also opportunistic ways to save money when it comes to building an army.
First of all, if a professional military system is not implemented, but a compulsory military system is adopted, then the settlement expenses for soldiers can be basically saved.
Secondly, if soldiers are required to purchase their own ordnance and ammunition, be responsible for their own training, make their own clothes, and spend their own money to treat injuries and illnesses, and even allow soldiers to prepare a certain amount of food by themselves during short-term operations, then the training expenses and ordnance, The cost of clothing, quilts, and medical expenses were successfully settled.
Finally, the remaining military pay, pensions and retirement funds are easier to deal with.
As long as they pay a small amount of departure fee first, and then let them "break the city and let it be plundered", they can rob and eat wherever they go, and basically there is no need to issue military pay.
As for pensions, burial fees and retirement benefits, you can use the occupied land to pay the bills, or you can even not pay the bills at all.
Just declare that "it is compulsory to join the army and fight."
But the question is, can an army built by cutting corners like this really be able to fight a war?
If you don't even pay a penny of resettlement allowance and ask the soldiers to work for you, it is likely to make them unwilling and demoralized.
And the practice of asking soldiers to prepare their own weapons, ammunition and even food is even more miserable.
Most of the wealthy people will not be willing to fight with their lives, and even if the poor people who have no money are willing to risk their lives, they still cannot afford to buy the household items they can get. , I can only get some wooden stick kitchen knives to make do.
In addition, it is obviously difficult to uniformly prepare self-prepared weapons.
For example, it is difficult to arrange a neat square array with various long and short spears.
As for training, it is also a big problem.
Those soldiers who have not been trained must be a group of unorganized and undisciplined rabble.
I am afraid it will be difficult to even form a formation.
Even if the government orders it to organize training, the problem is that such ridiculous orders usually cannot be implemented at all.
Who should take the lead in organizing, who will bear the food and accommodation, who will find the venue, who will serve as the instructor, and what instructions will be used.
Based on the above inference, this army, which was built with almost no money, without other incentives, will most likely have a lack of morale, a lack of equipment, a lack of discipline, and a lack of training.
Training requires cohesion.
If there is no cohesion, even if the number is ten times that of the opponent, it will be no different from a pile of rubbish.
Even how to successfully go to the battlefield is a problem.
What is the meaning of this numerical advantage?
The military households of the Ming Dynasty were almost self-funded troops, but their actual combat effectiveness could only be described as despairing.
However, just on the other side of the Yangtze River, the Wenxiang Cult Yaoren, as a rebel group, has a way to overcome the above disadvantages.
Of course, it is through the most cruel, bloody, and worst-effect method.
In short, it is in one word, robbery.
Do you want money?
Do you want land?
Do you want women?
Then pick up your swords and guns and go to the houses of those wealthy people who are ruthless about wealth.
The Wenxiang sect in Jiangbei, which had no food or salary at first, relied on this kind of deception to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops in one go.
But the problem is that the Donglin Party cannot use the methods that the Wenxiang Sect can use.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
These Donglin gentlemen are themselves big landowners who have occupied most of the wealth and land in Jiangnan.
If they use robbery to deceive the soldiers, wouldn't it be equivalent to encouraging these vulgar warriors to rob their own properties?
It can be seen from this that if the Nanjing court, as the ruler, suddenly becomes mentally retarded and wants to use this cutting-edge method to build the army, the result will either be collapse without a fight, or a riot and rebellion, which is basically a suicidal act. .
Therefore, no matter how stingy you are by nature and it is hard to part with your good fortune, you still have to use the money you should use, otherwise you will have to wait to be hacked or robbed.
However, although all the ministers in the palace vaguely understand this truth, these guys are all masters who will not shed tears until they see the coffin.
If you want them to spend millions of taels of silver to raise troops, it is really worse than poaching.
Their ancestral graves are still distressed.
Moreover, this group of people also knows very well that even if they really bite the bullet and spend all their money to donate money to serve the country, how much of the money will be put to practical use?
Today's Yonghe Emperor's court has completely inherited the "second government" of the Ming Empire in Nanjing, and naturally also completely inherited all the old habits and bad habits of the Ming Empire.
After ten thousand taels of silver were withdrawn from the treasury, three thousand taels of silver would immediately be floated away by officials from the Ministry of Revenue according to "routine practice."
After the money leaves the Household Department, it will pass through the Military Department Yamen again, and will be stabbed again.
Then it would have to go through the deductions from the Bingbei Road Yamen and the General Military Yamen before it could be distributed to the officers responsible for recruiting soldiers.
If there were only three thousand taels of silver left at this time, it would be time to burn high incense.
Then, as usual, these recruiting officers will deduct about 50% to 70% of their salary to use it for socializing and supporting their own servants.
After plucking it off layer by layer, God knows what percentage it will be in the end.
The money will actually be used to recruit soldiers.
In this case, why do the important ministers use their hard-earned and embezzled money to give it to lower-level officials for welfare?
Generally speaking, the ancient "meat eaters" were really quite "despicable".
It seems that we are always in a certain situation where we can eat a hundred beans without getting too fishy.
Even if these greedy guys know that the crisis of ruining their family and country is just around the corner, they still won't learn any lessons.
In this way, in view of the above-mentioned very practical considerations, even if Zhou Yanru, the chief minister, talked a lot and ran out of words, on the issue of raising military expenditures, the gentlemen of Donglin finally reluctantly agreed to mobilize their families to report to the court.
In exchange for 200,000 taels of silver and 10,000 shi of rice, a "Jingnan donation" of 300,000 taels of silver was distributed to the people in the capital, and then it was gone.
Seeing that only one-tenth of the expected military expenditure had been raised, Zhou Yanru, the chief and assistant minister, couldn't help but his eyes darkened.
With such a small amount of money and food, it was the limit to be able to provide full military pay to the existing troops of the Nanjing court.
Where is the money left to recruit new soldiers?
This shows how wise and correct it was for the time-travel version of Emperor Chongzhen to completely lose his face and seize Prince Fu's Mansion for treason when he was short of money and food.
Without the start-up capital from Prince Fu's Mansion, the exiled court in Huguang would have I don’t know how difficult the situation will be.
It should be noted that the loyalty of the gentry and landlords in Huguang Province to the Ming Dynasty is not necessarily much stronger than that of the Donglin Party in Jiangnan.
After taking a deep breath, admonishing himself once again not to rush but to be patient, and silently reciting a string of heart-clearing mantras that are said to calm the mind, Zhou Yanru, the chief minister who was slapped one after another in the court today, finally cheered up again. spirit, and brought up the next topic: negotiating peace with the Kun thieves.
The current decline of the Nanjing court is quite obvious, even if it abandons its strongholds such as Yangzhou and Chuzhou in the north of the Yangtze River, and relies on the roaring Yangtze River to stop the footsteps of the Wenxiang Cult demons.
However, the more than 10,000 field troops that were withdrawn could never stop the two-sided attack by the Australian Kun thieves and Chongzhen's deposed emperor.
In view of the irreconcilable contradiction between the Nanjing court that supported the new emperor Zhu Yihai and the forcibly deposed Emperor Chongzhen.
So the two sides can only fight one battle anyway.
On the contrary, after the Australian bandits occupied Hangzhou and controlled a corner of Jiangnan, they never continued to attack northward and advanced into the heart of Jiangnan.
Although I don’t know what the thieves’ considerations are, it seems that there is still room for negotiation.
Therefore, Zhou Yanru feels that even if he is just trying to make a fool of himself, he should send someone to contact and negotiate with the Australian thieves so that he can concentrate his efforts to fight against the enemies upstream.
No matter from which point of view, Zhou Yanru's opinion is very important.
Reasonable: "Currently, the Kun thieves are entrenched in Hangzhou and have captured a corner of the south of the Yangtze River.
The demons of the Wenxiang Sect are wreaking havoc in the north of the Yangtze River.
They are only separated from Jinling by a river.
Even with the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, there is no guarantee that the thieves will not find a way to sneak southward.
And there are strong enemies in Huguang.
On the other side, the imperial court is eyeing the remaining capital.
The situation has evolved so far that the imperial court has been overwhelmed, so it can only seek to maintain peace for the time being, so that the imperial court can fully deal with the crisis in the upper reaches.
There is no other way to protect the remaining capital."
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
But here's the thing.
There are so many things in this world, and they are always insulated from rationality.
After Zhou Yanru made this suggestion, the Donglin gentlemen who had just been filled with resentment because they were forced to pay money immediately exploded.
Get the pot: "We must not let the thieves massacre the Jin gentry and humiliate the scholars in Zhejiang.
They have done so many evil things.
How can the court forgive this person's heinous sins?"
"It's shameful that I am a sovereign heaven, how can I bow my knee to such vulgar barbarians?"
"Your Majesty, I impeach the chief minister Zhou Yanru.
As the chief minister of the cabinet, I shoulder the hope of the world, but I praise the paintings in vain.
I can't help your majesty at home and abroad, but instead treat foreign barbarians and treat them like slaves.
I really deserve death."
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has not ceded territory, paid indemnities, or made peace.
Even though Tumubao was defeated in the past and the Wala army besieged the capital, they never knelt down to beg for peace.
How can we make an exception for a mere bandit today?"
All the Qing gossip officials stood on the moral high ground and fired fiercely at Zhou Yanru, a traitorous official.
After spitting out some righteous words, Zhou Yanru instantly became the target of thousands of criticisms and was drowned out by the overwhelming curses.
As for the other Donglin bosses, even though they understood that negotiating peace with the Kun thieves was the right choice, none of them were willing to stand up and say a few words to Zhou Yanru.
They were all still eyeing the position of chief assistant under Zhou Yanru's butt.
What if they could take advantage of this opportunity?
If you ruin this guy's reputation, wouldn't it be more convenient to overthrow him in the future?
In the end, the helpless Zhou Yanru had to retract the proposal sadly, and at the same time secretly cursed in his stomach: You guys who stand here and say that they don't have back pain, don't you know what I did?
The poisonous snake bites the hand, the strong man breaks the wrist?
What else is there to say about not ceding land, not making peace, and not paying compensation?
Isn’t the official title and the amount of silver and silk given by the imperial court in order to appease the various Tatar chiefs and chieftains still too little?
It’s just that they didn’t use old coins like the two Song Dynasties in the past.
It’s just words, what’s the difference in substance?
But at this moment, you are still making noises, saying that losing power is humiliating the country and insulting ethics.
But do you have the ability to move mountains and reclaim seas and turn the tide from collapse?
You all talk as if you can command thousands of armies.
Wanma, otherwise this thief will ask you to take your servants to fight him.
However, although Zhou Yanru kept complaining in his heart, he still did not have the ability to turn the tide and fight with the Confucian scholars.
He could only watch the Nanjing court jump off the cliff.
In short, under the "wise decision" of Mr.
Donglin, Nanjing's Emperor Yonghe will continue to be in a weak state, short of soldiers and pay, and bravely fight against the three enemies of Emperor Chongzhen, the Wenxiang Sect, and the Australian Kun Bandits at the same time.
Throughout the entire court meeting, His Majesty Zhu Yihai on the throne remained silent, watching indifferently as the civil and military officials spit and cross-eyed below.
It was not until after the ministers dispersed that the Emperor Yonghe, who had been a puppet on Danqi for a long time, moved his hands and feet and walked straight to the back court.
Like the overgrown halls of the previous dynasty, the back court of the Forbidden City in Nanjing is also barren and even more dilapidated because it has been uninhabited for two hundred years: lush vines and plants have long climbed up the stone steps and steps of the palace.
On the window sill, small green saplings sprouted and grew up in the cracks of the bricks, gradually cracking the bricks on the floor.
At first glance, it looked like an ancient Mayan city swallowed by the jungle.
In this lush "urban jungle", only a small side palace was cleared out to serve as Zhu Yihai's bedroom.
Zhu Yihai's original wives and concubines were separated on the way to escape, and they did not bother to marry again after arriving in Nanjing.
So such a small amount of land can still be accommodated.
At this time, there was a middle-aged eunuch with a white face and no beard, guarding the gate of the palace with a bit of restraint.
Seeing Emperor Yonghe appear outside the door, the middle-aged eunuch breathed a sigh of relief.
He quickly greeted the emperor to come in, and then stepped back with a very nervous expression.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
However, Emperor Yonghe's expression was very calm.
He found a chair and sat down, and then he calmly asked the eunuch: "Have you completed all the things you ordered before?"
"Your Majesty, everything is done."
The middle-aged eunuch who had protected Zhu Yihai all the way south from Shandong quickly replied in a low voice.
At the same time, he placed several robes in front of the emperor and opened them.
There were two books of ultimatums and half of them.
Several sets of old monk robes , flints, dry food, and coins.
Among them were copper coins and silver ingots from the Ming Dynasty, gold coins and silver coins from Westerners, and even Chinese yuan banknotes from the "Australian Kun Thief".
I don't know where this middle-aged eunuch got them. .
There is also a set of head shaving tools, and it looks like you are ready to make up and run like a monk at any time.
And this is exactly the purpose of Emperor Yonghe Zhu Yihai.
"Well, very good."
Zhu Yihai nodded with satisfaction, "Pay attention to the roads in the palace these days.
If there is any trouble, we will shave our heads and put on monk robes to escape.
I don’t want to stay in this ghost place anymore.”
"Yes, Your Majesty, but, Your Majesty, do you really no longer want the position of emperor?"
the middle-aged eunuch asked hesitantly.
"Emperor, hey, I'm an emperor, what kind of emperor is he?
He's not right.
He's worse than Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty at the time of the Three Kingdoms.
None of the clans in the world are willing to accept him.
How many loyal ministers are there around Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty?
Apart from you, I, the emperor. , who else can be trusted?”
As soon as he mentioned this matter, Zhu Yihai suddenly became melancholy, "It's okay if you can't grasp the authority and no one listens to your words.
It's okay to sit on the throne and be a puppet.
After all, it was all agreed upon before.
But you see Look, those rebellious officials and traitors are only willing to give me a thousand taels of silver every month.
Moreover, what kind of palace is this that they live in for the widows?
It is just like the haunted abandoned house.
This is actually the place where the emperor lives.
I remember that the concubines and concubines in the palace lived there.
The house is not in such a dilapidated state, right?"
He pointed at the palace he was in now.
Although it had been roughly cleaned and repaired, it was still filled with a lingering rotten musty smell.
"Hey, I really shouldn't have been so obsessed with Qian Qianyi in the first place."
It's great that the old man actually went to fight for the throne with Lord Chongzhen.
Judging from the current posture, let alone the rule of the world, I'm afraid even the city of Nanjing won't be able to hold it for a few days.
If Emperor Chongzhen were allowed to break into Nanjing, those court ministers would most likely be able to be forgiven of their previous sins and reformed, as long as they knelt down and cried bitterly and repented.
At the worst, they would just resign and return to their hometowns.
If Emperor Chongzhen wants Jiangnan to be stable, he must not be cruel to them.
Only I, the false emperor, will definitely be pushed out by them, and this kind of thing is destined to be a dead end.
As I guess, there are probably people in this city who are secretly contacting Emperor Chongzhen of Wuchang, asking for a small sum of money.
I, the pseudo-emperor, should have my head thrown in for fame."
"Oh, Your Majesty, your life is really miserable."
When the middle-aged eunuch heard this, he burst into tears thinking about how his young master seemed to be so noble now, but was actually walking on thin ice.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Where's the madam?"
As a result, the master and servant held each other's hands and cried, and then quietly discussed the plan of trying to escape from the palace in disguise when the crisis came.
While the Ming Empire in the south was strolling, procrastinating, and slowly preparing for a life-and-death battle as always, the Qing Dynasty in the north was still advancing like a raging fire and wind, conquering the Central Plains at an astonishing speed.
Flowers of the Han people oshow7: