Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 120 The First Year of Apocalypse
The scenery of the twelfth lunar month and the snowflakes in the north are getting bigger and bigger. In the vast expanse of white mountains, there are countless roads and stone castles criss-crossing.

Deep in the road where the stone fort was set up, after stretching for hundreds of miles, a house stretching for more than ten miles and a city standing on the top of the mountain appeared on a plain at a five-fork intersection between mountains.

Right now, the place is brightly lit. If you look carefully, the houses that stretch for more than ten miles are all blacksmith shops.

All the blacksmiths lit lanterns and waved their hammers in the blacksmith's shop with their bare upper bodies, constantly beating the red iron on the long tongs in their hands.

Accompanied by the sound of "ding ding", pieces of iron were forged into arrows, weapons, hammer heads, and even armor pieces.

Some women sat at the door of the blacksmith shop, skillfully inlaying the nails that had just been built and cooled down in series behind cloth coats.

Here, it looks like a military factory, and here, the capital of Houjin, Hetuala...

Hetuala, it was called "Xingjing" by Jianlu, which means Henggang in Chinese, that is, a city built on a flat top hill.

The city lies between the arched mountains and consists of two cities, the inner city and the outer city. The inner city is less than one mile from east to west, from north to south. It is not as big as some royal palaces in Ming Dynasty, but it is a real post-golden imperial city.

The outer city is two miles long and wide, and there are more than [-] Jurchens living in the city, and there are more than [-] mu of farmland outside the city, accounting for almost one-twentieth of the Houjin farmland.

Since Kaiyuan, Tieling, Fushun and other places were captured, these three places have become Houjin's big granaries. Millions of shi of grain are shipped to Hetuala every year, barely able to maintain Houjin's huge army.

It's just that Hou Jin's life is not easy...

In the main hall of the palace, an old man with a height of about five feet two or three inches and a well-proportioned figure was sitting on the khan seat. .

In addition to these nine important ministers, there are several other Taiji, Han generals and so on.

They were gathered here because they were summoned by the old man on the stage, and this man is the current "Great King Fuyu the Wise Khan of All Nations", Nurhachi...

He is not tall, nor can he be regarded as Kongwu powerful. He can develop to this day, all because of three words.

Know how to advance and retreat...

From taking refuge in Li Chengliang, to using Li Chengliang's power to wipe out the tribes of Jianzhou Sanwei who refused to accept him, to unifying Jianzhou, conquering Beishan Savage Jurchen and Haixi Jurchen, etc.

All of this is based on the pattern of admitting to the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty.

When the generals of the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty still happily believed that Nurhachi was just a wild chieftain under the command of the Ming Dynasty, he had already expanded his troops from the quota of more than [-] in the three guards of Jianzhou to [-]. The court conferred the official position of General Dragon and Tiger of Ming Dynasty.

However, in the first year after Li Chengliang's death, Nurhachi, who had amassed nearly [-] troops (recorded in old documents in Manchu), finally rose up and claimed to be Dajin Khan. The "seven great hatreds" swear to the sky.

After that, Sarhu defeated the Ming army and took Fushun, Kaiyuan, Tieling and other places.

It's just a pity that because Wanli used Xiong Tingbi to manage Liaodong, and Xiong Tingbi's iron defense directly broke Nurhachi's ambition to occupy the Liaodong Peninsula.

Although the current Houjin interior, although superficially triumphant, everyone knows that if they can't defeat Liaodong, they will at most be Yang Yinglong's generation for the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Nurhachi has been preparing for the next attack for half a year, but at this time, a letter disrupted his deployment.

Under the candlelight, Nurhachi looked at the letter in his hand, squeezed it into a ball, threw it directly into the stove beside him, and raised his head and said to everyone standing:
"This little emperor of the Ming Dynasty should not be underestimated. Three days ago, six thousand Sichuan soldiers entered Shenyang City, and went to the empty space to get rid of the old and weak in Shenyang."

"Two days ago, a [-]-strong Zhejiang army was stationed in Liaoyang. The leader of the army is Qi Jiguang's nephew, Qi Jin who once guarded Ji Town and participated in the Korean War."

"Han merchants came to report that Shenyang's military strength should be less than [-], with enough food for about half a year."

"The strength of Liaoyang is [-], including [-] Zhejiang soldiers from Qi Jin, [-] remnants of Zhejiang soldiers from the north, and more than [-] Liao soldiers..."

Nurhachi's remarks instantly gave an overview of the situation in the Liaodong Peninsula.

The combined strength of Liaoyang and Shenyang is about [-], and there is a saying in the art of war, "Ten will encircle them, five will attack them, double them will fight them, and the enemy will be able to divide them. If they are few, they will be able to defend them. Of"

This means that if we are ten times the enemy, we will encircle and suppress them; if we are five times the enemy, we will attack; if we are twice the enemy, we will try to defeat the enemy;

If the army is weaker than the enemy, avoid fighting.

But right now, Houjin has far more troops than Zhu Youjian and others thought. If it is a war to destroy the country, Houjin can pull out all the men over the age of [-], with a total of more than [-] soldiers.

In fact, Houjin was not as powerful as they boasted, and in the Battle of Saerhu, after fighting with the two tribes of Juniper and Liu Ting, more than thousands of people were killed or injured.

Right now, they are only three times the strength of the local defenders in Liaodong, and a strong attack is obviously not good.

When Nurhachi said these words, he was not announcing information, but asking how to fight next.

"Khan Ama, we have fought Shenyang City more than once. It is not so easy to fight. The artillery of the Ming army is farther than ours."

The first person to speak was a man of short stature who was over thirty years old and wearing a red robe, and he was the second son of Nurhachi, who was acting as the leader of the red flag.

As soon as he spoke, the others dared to speak, and the second one to speak was A Min, the owner of the Xianglan Banner, Nurhachi's nephew.

"Khan, we are running out of food, we still have to fight."

He was thirty to four, and he was considered tall in the Aixinjueluo family, with a full five feet and four inches.

In the battle of Sarhu, he killed Liu Ting, who was unarmed and exhausted, so he was promoted as the bravest of the four Baylors.

Right now, his words made Nurhachi very satisfied, but this was not what he wanted to hear.

He looked at the slightly obese young man who was sitting on the seat, and this man was Huang Taiji, the only one besides Nurhachi who knew Chinese among the many Taiji and Baylor in the future.

Seeing Nurhachi looking at him, Huang Taiji said calmly:

"We failed before because the Ming army's firearms were sharp, and He Shixian's [-] cavalry were good at breaking through formations."

"However, they also exposed their shortcomings."

"Khan Ama, the general thinks that He Shixian likes to drink too much, and likes to lead the army in person."

"With his personality, once we lure him with a small group of people, he will definitely take the bait, and then we can kill him."

"What about the Sichuan soldiers in the city?" Nurhachi was very satisfied with Huang Taiji's answer, asking like a school exam, and Huang Taiji also replied:

"This matter is very simple, as long as rumors are spread, it shows that the court is going to continue to send eunuchs to collect mining taxes, and then spread the slogan "have a house to live together, have food to eat together, and have land to cultivate together" in Shenyang city."

"If you spend enough gold and silver to buy some Mongols and Liao soldiers in the city, then as long as the suspension bridge is lowered and the city gates are opened, the Sichuan soldiers will be nothing but the corpses of the great Jin Ruishi."

The current Huang Taiji is only in his twenties, and he is still very immature, and he doesn't understand the white soldiers, so he thinks that the white soldiers are at most the level of Liu Ting's men and horses.

But even so, the method he said of trapping and killing He Shixian, using mining taxes to cause Liao people to resist the Ming court, and then spreading slogans did indeed hit the Ming Dynasty's vital point in Liaodong.

As for Nurhachi, he said to everyone after nodding:
"Soldiers and horses of each banner, prepare food and grass by yourself, prepare to set off in March, besiege Shenyang, and capture Liaodong!"

"Yes!"

Due to the initial creation of the dynasty, many of the speeches of the current Houjin do not have so much etiquette, but even so, the barbaric momentum broke out.

After this meeting, the banner owners of each banner began to supervise the blacksmith shop outside the city, hoping to equip their soldiers with better armor and better weapons before the next battle.

Everyone is waiting, waiting to move into the first city in Liaodong after defeating Shenyang.

While they were waiting, the capital thousands of miles away rang the morning bell and announced the arrival of a new day...

"Clang... clang... clang..."

With the ringing of the morning bell, the first year of Taichang and the [-]th year of Wanli have completely become history, and the first year of Tianqi officially entered the lives of the people of Ming Dynasty.

"Crackling-"

When the morning bell rings, what rings with it is the continuous sound of firecrackers in the Beijing city of Shuntian Prefecture.

In Beijing, home to millions of people, red lanterns were hung up in many places, and new couplets and blessings were pasted up.

Among the crackling firecrackers, the "fresh" smell of gunpowder made some children obsessed.

Some children who put on new clothes will use wooden sticks to find unlit firecrackers among the debris of firecrackers, and some children will follow their parents to visit the neighborhood.

Such visits often get a red envelope of one penny or several pennies, and after receiving the red envelopes, they all ran to the street, looking around, hoping to see the figure of the salesman.

Seeing the salesman pushing the cart, all the children surrounded him.

In this peddler's cart, there are sugar, rattles, kites, windmills, sour vinegar, shoes, rattles, brooms, hats, scissors...

There is also a bamboo basket on the back, with bamboo rakes, cattail fans, birdcages, umbrellas, horseshoes, shuttles, snacks, bottles and cans pinned to it...

Even the salesman has a variety of items such as a fence, a flute, a horn, and a gourd strapped to his waist, which makes people dazzled!
It's just that the salesman hadn't walked out of a street before his body and cart were sold out. Finally, with a heavy purse, he hummed a little tune and prepared to push the cart home.

As for the children, some flew kites, some showed off their rattles, and some put on their new hats, shaking their heads and swaggering around.

The adults in the distance, as well as some young girls who have not left the cabinet, stood at the door, looking at these children shaking their heads, they couldn't stop laughing.

Perhaps for the common people of Ming Dynasty, the New Year is the beginning of a new atmosphere. No one would have thought that such a prosperous Ming Dynasty would not be far away from its end.

Not to mention them, even the officials above the temple would not feel it.

"Sing!"

"Long live……"

In the Wenhua Hall, accompanied by the singing of Honglu Siqing, all the officials in court uniforms knelt down one after another, and then stood up one after another under Zhu Youxiao, who was wearing a crown uniform.

In the late Ming Dynasty, even Zhengdan, which only had three grand court meetings a year, was nothing more than a Lunar New Year gathering.

Whether it is a civil servant or an emperor, they prefer to handle government affairs in Wenhua Palace and Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youjian still thinks too complicated.

After congratulating the officials and reading out the congratulatory gifts and congratulatory forms from the yamen of various prefectures and many vassals at home and abroad, the Great Court Meeting ended in a hurry without discussing any political topics.

If there is, it is that Zhu Youxiao ordered many nobles to go to the imperial tombs of Tianshou Mountain in Changping to sacrifice to the ten imperial tombs.

As well as Zhu Youxiao's banquet, and from the internal funds, he took out Zhengdan New Year's money to distribute, and gave money to Sun Ruyou, Fang Congzhe, Liu Yixiu and other cabinet scholars and six ministers.

Looking at it this way, the emperor is still very bitter.

Not only do they have to be scolded by this group of guys every year, but they also have to spend their own money to give them benefits in the new year.

"Suffering..."

At the gate of the Wenhua Hall, Zhu Youjian held a handful of watermelon seeds in his hand, knocking them while spitting them into the cloth bag held by the little eunuch next to him.

Looking at the courtiers in the hall who were still congratulating him, he felt very bored, so he led them out of the Wenhua Hall.

Crossing Wenlou, taking advantage of the fact that there were not so many civil servants, Zhu Youjian came to the three main halls with ruined walls, led people up to the ruins and asked:

"Didn't the emperor say to repair the three main halls?"

"Your Highness, how can I afford to repair this..." The little eunuch next to him smiled wryly:

"Emperor Shenzong spent more than [-] years and managed to save enough timber. As a result, the Ministry of Industry quoted [-] million taels. Where did the court get so much money..."

"Fifteen million taels, they really dare to ask for it..." Zhu Youjian curled his lips, then looked at the broken eaves and walls, and thought to himself:
"When this place is about to be built, I will definitely ask Brother Huang to get some lightning rods and lightning wires in the square next to the East Palace."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian was also speechless.

The cost of building these three halls is high, and as a result, two incidents of thunder and fire have already occurred in the two hundred years of construction.

If the fire continues like this, Daming's underwear won't even come out clean.

"Your Highness, Your Highness..."

While Zhu Youjian was eating melon seeds, an eunuch ran over from Wenlou in a hurry and shouted at Zhu Youjian.

"What are you doing, in a panic, where is the etiquette?"

Zhu Youjian was eating melon seeds, and taught the eunuch a lesson with a very unmannered appearance, and after the eunuch heard it, he also ran over and said with a smile:

"Your Highness, the servants are Wang Tiqian, the eunuch and eunuch of the Supervisor of Rituals, and they are sealed by Dongchang Wei..."

"Okay, okay, I got it." Hearing that it was Wang Tiqian, Zhu Youjian waved his hand to show that he knew.

Zhu Youjian still remembers this guy's name, because in history, when Wei Zhongxian wanted to falsely accuse Chongzhen of organizing royal guards and intending to rebel, Wang Tiqian asked him not to falsely accuse Chongzhen.

This guy has a good mind and can see clearly. If Wei Zhongxian has almost done the wrong thing in the future, he can be used to continue to memorize.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian stretched out his hand with a smile, patted Wang Ti and said:
"Xiao Wang, work hard, Gu is very optimistic about you."

"Hey..." Hearing this, Wang Tiqian was flattered, and he also remembered the business, so he edited:

"Your Highness, Long Live, let you go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to wait, and by the way, ask the Imperial Dining Room to cook some breakfast you like."

"Well, I see, you go back." Zhu Youjian waved his hand to show that he knew, and then let Wang Tiqian leave.

After Wang Tigan returned the gift, he walked towards the Wenlou, while Zhu Youjian walked towards the Hall of Mental Cultivation, eating melon seeds.

Just when he had just crossed the Jinshen Hall, there was a voice calling for him from behind.

"Letters from Your Highness, Liaoshen and Nanchang!"

"Stop..." Hearing that it was a letter from Liaoshen and Nanchang, Zhu Youjian immediately raised his hand to make people stop, and then waited for the panting Jin Yiwei to come over.

He walked up to Zhu Youjian's side, and handed out three manuscripts and a volume of documents in his hand, while Zhu Youjian said to the little eunuch of Xuqin Palace next to him:
"A reward of two taels of silver."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." The little eunuch returned the salute, and the little banner official of the Jinyiwei also responded happily.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

After Zhu Youjian nodded, he was not in a hurry to open the letters. Instead, he led people into the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Qianqing Palace, and told him what to do for breakfast, before he opened the three letters.

The first letter he opened was from Qin Bangping in Shenyang.

The letter mainly wrote about the situation and process of entering Shenyang, and then wrote about the personalities of He Shixian, You Shigong, and Xiong Tingbi, and finally wrote:

[Shenyang's military register has [-] main soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers. After checking and removing the vacancies, there are [-] main soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers. There are [-] auxiliary soldiers, and the Shenyang soldiers have a total of [-] regular soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers, totaling [-].]

At the end of the letter, Qin Bangping responded to Zhu Youjian, saying that according to Zhu Youjian's previous arrangement, the salary of Shenyang's main soldiers will be raised to fifteen taels, and the auxiliary soldiers' salaries will be increased to ten taels.

"Six thousand and seven main soldiers, two thousand and four auxiliary soldiers..." Zhu Youjian calculated quickly in his mind, and finally came up with the answer.

"That is to say, the Shenyang military salary on paper was at least [-] taels, and when the food and supplies were included, it was at least [-] taels a year."

"After the abolition right now, about [-] taels of military pay will be reduced, and there will be about [-] taels of food and supplies."

Zhu Youjian was depressed, and hated He Shixian's behavior of eating empty pay.

But there is no way, if it is not for empty pay, He Shixian and You Shigong will not have three thousand family members, let alone defend Shenyang City.

The past is over, and the pursuit of responsibility will only reduce the Ming Dynasty by two more generals who can fight well.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian opened Qi Jin's letter.

He unfolded the letter, read the contents of the letter at a glance, and couldn't help but nodded in satisfaction.

In the letter, Qi Jin settled in Liaoyang City more easily than Qin Bangping, and after he settled in Liaoyang City, he immediately handed over the military power of the former Liaoyang General Soldier.

Perhaps it was because of the "Jizhen Mutiny" and Li Rusong's attack on Zhejiang soldiers during the Korean War. Compared with Qin Bangping, Qi Jin had a bit of hatred for the generals in the Jiliao area.

Therefore, after checking the vacancy in Liaoyang, he immediately chose to search the house.

Liaoyang, which had [-] main soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers on paper, actually had only [-] main soldiers, [-] auxiliary soldiers after the empty quota, and [-] ordinary Zhejiang soldiers who fled back from the defeat of Sarhu.

After screening, Qi Jin left only [-] Zhejiang soldiers, [-] Liaodong servants, and [-] auxiliary soldiers.

This is much more than what He Shixian and You Shigong are paid for!
Not only that, He Shixian and You Shigong ate empty wages, at least to support the elite family members, and Liaoyang City only has [-] principals and assistants, and only [-] family members.

As for the person in charge of guarding Liaoyang City, it was a Liaodong general that Zhu Youjian was not familiar with.

But in this way, after the abolition, Liaoyang will only have [-] new and old Zhejiang soldiers plus [-] Changping auxiliary soldiers, and there will be [-] Liao soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers.

In other words, Liaoyang currently only has [-] main soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers.

With such a small number of troops, if Nurhachi really invaded Shenyang, then Liaoyang would have more than enough protection for itself and insufficient support.

"There's no time, Qi Yuanfu must hurry up and lead the troops northward..."

This thought flashed through Zhu Youjian's mind, because if nothing else happened, Nurhachi would launch an attack on Shenyang in two or three months.

"There should be enough time to go to sea." Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief when thinking of the warship used by the Yumajian to transport cattle and sheep, and then opened the letter from the south field of the Yumajian, hoping to see good news.

Under his glance, the Nanchang letter written by Lu Wenzhao is very pleasing to the eye, and everything is explained very clearly.

After investigating the military farmland of the Four Guards and the Three Institutes, the Yumajian Nanchang obtained more than [-] mu of military farmland.

As for the farming of gentry, grain merchants, and officials, there are far more data than paper data after checking with the land deeds.

The actual number of acres is more than [-] acres...

Looking at the string of data in the letter, Zhu Youjian was overjoyed.

If the content of this letter is true, then there are currently more than [-] acres in the south field of Yumajian.

With so much land, even if it is divided between the tenants and the land tax and additional payment, there are still more than three million shi.

Thinking that he got so many good things for his good brother, Zhu Youjian continued to look down with a smile.

In the letter, Lu Wenzhao and Cao Huachun distributed [-] million mu of cultivated land to more than [-] million Yumajian tenants on average, and the remaining more than [-] mu were used to raise cattle and sheep.

The cattle are mainly given by Zhu Youjian. Nanchang must raise the cattle well, and he will be of great use in the future.

As for sheep, it is an economic product.

Zhu Youjian read Lu Wenzhao's letter happily, and then saw Lu Wenzhao's last message at the end of the letter.

The news came on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and he and Qi Yuanfu had already escorted the autumn tax, grain, and additional taxes to the north.

"Twenty-eight..." Zhu Youjian murmured softly, after some calculation, five days had passed.

According to the footsteps of forty miles a day, they should have arrived in Xuzhou.

When Zhu Youjian was thinking about whether there was enough time, he covered his eyes with his hands:
"Guess who I am……"

　one more chapter

　　
　
(End of this chapter)