Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 142 Ye Xianggao, Doubting Life

"boom!"

In the early morning of April [-]th, the first year of Tianqi, thunder struck the ground...

Accompanied by the sound of dozens of cannons, Li Bingcheng, the guard of Fengji Fort, was awakened, hurriedly pushed away the charming woman next to him, got up and walked out of the bedroom in his middle clothes.

"What's going on? Who fired the cannon?!"

Li Bingcheng yelled at the door while taking off his armor with the help of the maid.

But at this moment, hurried footsteps appeared outside the courtyard, and then a guard entered the courtyard, bowing at the door and saying:

"Guerrilla, Jianlu dispatched artillery to attack the city!"

"What are you panicking about? Jianlu's artillery is nothing more than inferior artillery. Wouldn't it be enough to repel it with the general's artillery at the top of the city?"

"I can't even do this little thing well, just wait here!"

While cursing, Li Bingcheng put on the armor under the service of the maid. After testing the tightness of the gauntlets and wrist guards, he put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist and walked out of the main house.

He took people to the street, Fengjibao Street was already prepared, everyone was arranged to hide in the house, only the patrolling Minyong was patrolling around.

With more than a thousand famous servants of his own, Li Bingcheng went up to the top of Fengji Fort, and when he just walked up the city wall, he heard the sound of cannons again.

But after hearing a few "bangs", the stone bullet hit the outer wall, which made people's ears ringing, but Li Bingcheng shook his head and shouted:
"Is the garrison of the Firearms Battalion dead?! Won't they fire back?"

"Yes!" Hearing Li Bingcheng's order, the garrison of the Artillery Battalion commanded more than a dozen general cannons at the top of the city to start a counterattack.

Clear the gunpowder, insert the stone bullet, and finally ignite it with the matchlock. After seven or eight seconds of burning, the sound of "boom" is heard.

In an instant, more than a dozen stone bullets flew out of the barrels of more than a dozen general guns. After flying out, they traveled a distance of one mile, and only two of them smashed into Houjin's artillery position.

When the stone bullets fell, they became ricochets that didn't hit anyone. They hit three or four people while bouncing on the ground, knocking them unconscious instantly, or killing them directly.

"Re-medication!"

The garrison of the Firearms Battalion then roared, and then the soldiers under his command began the tedious task of clearing and reloading.

Li Bingcheng looked at the Houjin Camp outside the city, and the soldiers of the Artillery Battalion who were already moving the corpses, couldn't help laughing and said:
"This Jianlu is just looking for a gun, thinking that the craftsman who got the artillery from Fushun can make artillery like my Ming Dynasty? Idiots..."

Li Bingcheng sneered, and then said to his guard, "How long will there be enough food in the city?"

"Back to the general, about six months!" The guard replied, and Li Bingcheng laughed when he heard the words:
"Continue to defend the city if there is enough food, and this group of Jian captives will not cause any trouble, just defend the city."

After all, Li Bingcheng said: "You stay here and watch, and if you have anything to do, go to the gate tower and tell me."

"Obey!" The guard bowed in return, and Li Bingcheng also went to the gate tower.

As the first fort in the frontier, Fengji Fort has more than a dozen general cannons and more than [-] Franco cannons. It is not so easy for Hou Jin to attack by force, so Li Bingcheng is not worried.

However, compared to Fengji Fort, the other stone fortresses on the second frontier are in danger.

Especially in Wujingying, Baitapu, Hupiyi and other places. For these places where the defenders were weak, Houjin used the Haodu equipment, well rails, ladder carts and Lugong carts that were built early.

Shouts of killing sounded over Baitapu, and more than a dozen LV buses moved forward slowly. The moat in front of Baitapu had been filled with earth by tens of thousands of empress Jin Zhenlu.

Although the Franco cannons at the top of the city kept firing stone bullets, they could at most punch a hole in Lu Gong's car, which could not stop them at all.

"Ballista! Shoot Lu's chariot with a hook and sickle gun!"

The guard of Baitapu gave orders loudly, but in the next moment, the Franji artillery next to him suddenly exploded, and with a "bang", the guard was rushed away, fell from the city wall as if inside the city, and died directly.

"Li Guerzilla is dead!!"

The soldiers under the city found out and shouted immediately, but were kicked over by other Ming army guards in the next moment.

Kicking over his garrison, he raised his knife and shouted loudly: "Li Guerrilla died for the court! Of course we should follow him! Your relatives are all in the city, if you surrender, you will only be slaughtered!"

"Stick to Baitapu, this is the only way to survive!"

The garrison shouted loudly, then rushed to the top of the wall, and continued to order the ballista to shoot at Lu's chariot.

The Lu public car equipped with hooked guns fired, and more than a dozen hooked guns sank into Lu's bus, and even killed three or four unsuspecting Jian captives.

"pull!"

The guard gave a loud roar, and then the rope at the end of the two-hook sickle gun was pulled instantly. With the pull of hundreds of guards, the Lu Gongcar was soon pulled to the ground.

Dozens of Houjin Jianlu in the car fell into a daze, but at this time Houjin's cloud car was approaching the city wall.

"Spike and hot oil, and 檑木 get ready!"

The guard shouted loudly, but soon saw Jianlu with a five or six catty bone in his mouth climbed onto the cloud cart, but before they were happy, the hundreds of catty mace that was hanging suddenly dropped down, knocking him off the ladder .

In this section of the city wall, the guards of the Ming army made great achievements, but the circumference of the city wall of Baitapu is more than three miles. After days of siege, most of the soldiers in the city have already died in battle, and it is now at the end of their battles.

In the city, a hundred households who used a large tank to listen to the underground sound shouted loudly, then found the right place, and led people to surround a city wall.

At this time, the rammed earth suddenly loosened, and then three or four Ming soldiers stabbed their spears, piercing through the thin soil layer in an instant, and stabbing Jianlu who was trying to dig a tunnel to death.

"Drag him out!"

A small flag official roared, and led his men to drag the stabbed Jianlu to the ground, and Bai Hu also led his men to bring wet firewood.

"Set fire! Burn the rats in the ground to death!" Baihu said, then threw a can of fire oil into the pit and smashed it, then picked up the torch and threw it in.

Immediately afterwards, they moved a large tank and covered the ground, leaving only a ventilating opening.

Soon, the underground tunnel was shrouded in smoke, and some Jin Jianlu who did not retreat in time were suffocated to death underground.

It's just that there are too few Ming troops in Baitapu, and there are too many Jianlu outside the city. After a while, Jianlu began to appear at the top of the city, and the number is increasing, while the number of Ming troops is getting smaller and smaller.

Gradually, the city wall fell, and all the remaining Ming troops retreated into an alley.

Jianlu came continuously and fought with the Ming army in an alley less than ten feet wide.

Guarding a wall behind, in front of him are tens of thousands of convicts pouring in.

More than a dozen Ming soldiers have become blood men, and the last guard in the city is trembling, and the waist knife in his hand is also broken.

Seeing the Jianlu rushing in, he produced a burst of strength out of thin air, and with the Liao accent of the Liao people, he squeezed out a voice from his chest and roared:

"Kill the thief!!!"

--------

"Baitapu, Wujingying, Changyong and other thirteen stone forts have fallen. Sure enough, these Liao people are unreliable. How much military salary the imperial court pays them every year, and now they have only been besieged for two months before the city collapsed..."

In the capital city and Wenhua Palace, looking at the military newspaper sent by Liaodong, the officials were all disdainful to Yao Zongwen during the incident.

On the other hand, Guan Yingzhen, who was beside him, shook his head and said, "With less than [-] troops against the tens of thousands of old slaves, it's not bad to stick to it for two months."

"Now the frontier is the wicker village. The connection between Shenyang and Liaoyang has been broken, and there is no news from Fengji Fort. I am afraid that at least a few thousand people will fall into captivity."

"The most important thing now is to defend Shenyang and Liaoyang. As long as the cities of Liaoshen and Shenyang are not lost, these stone castles can be regained afterwards."

"It's easy to say, but..." Yao Zongwen was about to say something, but he saw a left concubine walk into this resting room, bowing to the two of them:
"Both, Mr. Ye Ge invites the cabinet, six ministries, six divisions, and the Wenhua Palace officials on duty from the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go to the main hall for discussion."

"Understood, please trouble Liuzuo concubine to go." Yao Zongwen put on a smile when he saw that the person who came was from his Zhejiang party, and then walked to the main hall of worship with Guan Yingzhen.

When they arrived, there were already more than [-] officials sitting in the main hall, and Ye Xianggao was sitting under the high platform of the main hall.

Yao Zongwen and the others took their seats, and then they saw the Donglin party member sitting opposite them, and immediately frowned, very displeased.

Among the Donglin party members, Liu Yixiu sat first, followed by Han Yu, Zhao Nanxing, Zuo Guangdou, Zou Yuanbiao, Zhou Chaozong, Gu Dazhang, Yang Lian, Gao Panlong and more than [-] people.

On the side of Yao Zongwen and others, there were more than [-] people including Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu (guan), Qi Shijiao and others.

As for the remaining ten or so people, they are officials from small parties such as the Qin Party or the Qin Party.

Calling so many people here at once, in the hearts of all the ministers, they naturally knew that it was the matter of Liaodong.

Sure enough, when everyone arrived, Ye Xianggao, who was wearing a suit, picked up the memorial in his hand and said:

"On the fourth day of May, Xiong Tingbi, the economic strategist of Liaodong, reported that Nurhachi had captured thirteen stone fortresses, Shenyang had become an isolated city, Fengji lost news, more than [-] soldiers and horses in Liaozhen died in battle, and more than [-] surrendered. [-] people were kidnapped by bandits."

"The old slave did not coerce the people to attack the city, but drove the people across the river, and then led the army to retreat for fifteen miles."

"The common people spontaneously went to the foot of Shenyang city, asking for the door to be opened, and disturbing the arrangement of our army outside the city."

"Seeing this, Qin Bangping, the commander-in-chief of Shenyang, had no choice but to order people to open the city, bring the people into the city, and behead more than [-] of the defeated soldiers and northern captives."

"It's unreasonable!" Hearing that Qin Bangping beheaded the rout and the Mongols, Gao Panlong took the lead and said:

"Such a murderer, can such a person defend Shenyang!?"

"..." Ye Xianggao frowned. He had already experienced and understood Gao Panlong's talk, so he was no stranger to it.

Originally, he didn't want people to be called Gao Panlong, but Gao Panlong came here uninvited.

Offending the emperor, and still playing tricks in the court, really...

Ye Xianggao was speechless, ignored Gao Panlong's words, and continued to the crowd:

"Long live has passed the decree to dispatch [-] battalions of soldiers from the three towns in Shanxi, with a total of [-] people to aid Liao. At present, they have assembled in Xuanfu, and they will arrive at Yanshan Camp on May [-]th."

"Therefore, counting the time, it should be reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs, please Long live to allocate the military salary and dispatch money for these [-] people, and the arrears have sounded."

Ye Xianggao looked at Li Ruhua, and when Li Ruhua heard the words, he had already kept the amount of money in mind, so he said:
"There are [-] soldiers and horses in the three towns in Shanxi, and there are [-] civilians in addition. They need to raise [-] taels of silver, and the balance is [-] taels. In the first half of this year, the military pay is [-] One hundred and twenty-two thousand taels."

"In addition, after arriving in Liaodong, based on the calculation of the guest army's [-] taels a year, the first month's guest army's aid to Liao army is [-] taels, a total of [-] taels. One hundred and fifty taels."

Speaking of this, Li Ruhua said again:

"This is the silver that needs to be paid for internal funds. In addition, the household department needs to transfer [-] stone grains, [-] catties of dried meat, [-] pieces of cakes and other things from Taicang, and it needs to spend [-] taels."

"Taipu Temple needs to allocate [-] taels of silver for horses. After the three towns in Shanxi aid Liao, the local battalion soldiers will buy military horses."

Li Ruhua speaks eloquently, talking about the expenditure of nearly one million taels, and this is only the expenditure of mobilizing [-] people.

Although nearly [-] taels of this was military pay, the amount was quite extraordinary.

In comparison, the Sixteenth Guards and Thirteenth Battalion under Zhu Youjian's command felt a bit like being raised by a stepmother.

However, the expenditure of such a sum of money is indeed a challenge to Daming's finances.

First of all, Li Ruhua who mentioned the money said directly: "The household department has [-] taels, and the household department can't get this money out."

"On the twenty-ninth day of last month, the Ministry of Household Affairs has already sent all the money from Taicang and the Outer Shipping Depot to the Four Towns in the Northwest and Sanwei in Daning."

"Therefore, this money needs to be obtained from the Ministry of War..."

"The Ministry of War can't get this money." Before Li Ruhua could speak, Cui Jingrong, Minister of the Ministry of War, refused:
"The treasury of the Ministry of War has been empty for a long time, and the grain and grain from the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion have not been transported to the War Ministry. The Ministry of War sent people to ask. They said that because of the abolishment of Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion, the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion has been unable to make ends meet."

"Therefore, the Ministry of War has no money, so in my opinion, it's better to use the money from the Jieshen Treasury of the Ministry of Industry to make up for it."

As soon as Cui Jingrong opened his mouth, everyone turned their attention to Wang Zuo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.

But when Wang Zuo saw this, he coughed and said, "A few days ago, the Ministry of Industry's Jieshen Treasury was used up in the construction of the Sanwei City in Daning, so the Ministry of Industry really couldn't allocate money."

"What about the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of Punishment?" Ye Xianggao looked helplessly at the three ministers when he heard the words, but he didn't want them to shake his head too.

At this time, it was Gao Panlong who bowed his head and said: "Since the six departments have no money, why don't you ask Wansui to send out internal funds for emergency?"

Civil servants asked the emperor to use his private money to help the treasury. This was only the case in the Ming Dynasty, and it was still the norm.

In the case of Tang, Song and Yuan Qing, it is estimated that Gao Panlong will hardly survive until next year.

However, all the ministers got used to it and nodded one after another, only Ye Xianggao frowned.

Squeeze it back and forth with the wool, and finally get it on the emperor?
Is this how these guys have governed the Ming Dynasty all these years?
Ye Xianggao has some doubts about life, and even feels that the current central political level of the Ming Dynasty is not as good as when he was alone.

Thinking of this, Ye Xianggao could only sigh:
"The internal funds need to supply the [-]th Guards and the [-]th Battalion of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. In addition to this time, the money for the dispatch and the salary and the military salary are already beyond the means. It is better to ask all the officials to contribute."

"Uh... this..." No one dared to speak first after hearing this.

Zhou Jiamo, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, frowned even more and said, "There are [-] civil and military officials in the imperial court, and last year's salary has not been paid out yet. I am afraid..."

Well, after pushing and pushing, I still don't want to take out the money.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Ye Xianggao knew that Zhou Jiamo was just telling the truth, but he also knew that there was indeed a problem with the Ming Dynasty's finances, and it was not doing well.

If the emperor and King Qi hadn't abolished Jizhen and the twenty-six guards of Shangzhi, the current situation would have been even worse.

There was no other way, Ye Xianggao could only say to Sun Chengzong next to him:

"Zhensheng (table word), I'll trouble you to make a trip and go to Qianqing Palace to ask about Long Live."

"This... the officer obeyed..." Hearing that such an errand fell on his own head, Sun Chengzong could only admit that he was unlucky, and then walked out of the Wenhua Palace.

However, after he walked out of the Wenhua Palace, many ministers began to bargain over the [-] taels of silver from the Taipu Temple. In the final analysis, they still wanted the emperor to pay.

But this time Ye Xianggao didn't have the face to continue asking the emperor for money, so he could only let Taipusi solve it himself with a cold face.

After talking about this, they began to discuss the affairs of the provinces again, and Sun Chengzong bit the bullet and conveyed Ye Xianggao's words to Zhu Youxiao, who was handling the memorials at the Qianqing Palace.

"What do you mean, the money was paid out from inside?"

Zhu Youxiao tightly clenched the pen in his hand, showing that he was very upset.

He originally thought that he paid more than [-] taels of silver, and the household department would not care about the [-] or [-] taels, but he couldn't even take out this sum of money?
"It's like this, long live, the Ministry of Household Affairs has just issued more than [-] million yuan in salary to the three guards of Daning and the four towns in the northwest. It is true that they can't get the money out."

Sun Chengzong politely bowed to respond, but Zhu Youxiao wanted to dismiss it, but when he thought that the current priority was to send the soldiers and horses of the three towns in Shanxi to Liaodong, he took a deep breath:

"I see, let's go back, the money will be released from internal funds later."

"I'll leave..." Hearing that Sun Chengzong withdrew from the Hall of Mental Cultivation and the Palace of Qianqing, Wei Zhongxian also stepped forward and said:

"Long live, is this money really coming out of internal funds? But right now internal funds..."

Wei Zhongxian said with a pained face: "The deposit silver in the internal funds is less than [-] million taels."

"If you pay the military salary, the payment in arrears, the starting silver and grain, and the military salary for the first month after arriving in Liaoning, then the internal silver will be less than [-] million taels."

"First..." Zhu Youxiao bowed his head to deal with the memorial, and gave Wei Zhongxian a verbal order.

Wei Zhongxian had no choice but to nod in agreement, and then asked Wang Tiqian and others to transfer the money to the Ministry of Households and Yanshan Daying.

But after doing this, he turned back and said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live, there is news from Dongchang that His Royal Highness King Qi has built a salt field on the coast south of Yongping Mansion. It is more than [-] miles long and covers more than [-] acres..."

"Whatever brother wants to do, let him do it." Zhu Youxiao still didn't look up, but paused for a few seconds after saying this sentence.

After a few seconds, he spoke again:

"Ask the eunuch who escorted Yinzi to the Yanshan camp to pass some words, and ask King Qi and Liaodong if they need to send other troops to help..."

"Yes..." Wei Zhongxian bowed in response when he heard the words, and began to think in his heart.

Obviously, the emperor was a little unsure about the affairs of Liaodong. After all, the result of two months of sticking to it was that Jianlu laid down thirteen stone fortresses, which made the emperor feel uncomfortable.

Although Mangui has expanded the soil for more than three hundred miles, it cannot conceal the fact that Liaodong has lost its soil.

Wei Zhongxian ordered someone to pass on the message, and it was already the sixth day of May when this sentence reached Zhu Youjian's ears.

More than [-] taels of silver were escorted into the Yanshan camp, while Zhu Youjian led Tian Cewei to train soldiers in the Yanshan camp.

When the eunuch passing the decree passed the message to him, he was sitting in the field of the martial arts school in a normal suit, and waved to the eunuch:
"Tell the emperor, there is no need to transfer other troops, Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui will send troops soon, and the old slave will retreat before winter."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, the eunuch who passed the decree nodded slightly in return, and left after Zhu Youjian waved his hand.

But after he left, Zhu Youjian looked sideways at Lu Wenzhao beside him and said:
"Where is Sun Yingyuan?"

"We should arrive in Laizhou, and we will reach Zhenjiang Fort in three days." Lu Wenzhao bent down and explained to Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian thought for a while after listening.

In general, Nurhaci swept the Thirteen Forts within a short month after learning that the Bayo tribe was wiped out. Zhu Youjian really did not expect such bravery.

However, tens of thousands of Liaodong generals and soldiers were wiped out of the Thirteen Fortresses, which will help Zhu Youjian's subsequent Liaodong reform.

Among other things, there is absolutely no pressure to abolish the guards in the Thirteen Forts, and there is no distribution of land.

As far as Liaodong is concerned at the moment, the power of the entrenched guards has been very weak, and the military settlements of the guards have long been controlled by the Liao generals.

In Xiong Tingbi's previous report, there were [-] main soldiers and [-] auxiliary soldiers.

However, Qin Bangping and Qi Jin abolished, and Nurhachi swept away again. Under these three waves of operations, it is estimated that there are only about [-] main soldiers, and no more than [-] auxiliary soldiers.

Now it's time to see what the combat power of the Liao soldiers in western and southern Liaoning looks like...

The easiest way to test their combat power is to go to the battlefield!
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Lu Wenzhao:
"After Sun Yingyuan arrived at Zhenjiang Fort, let him build the local pass and report back. After that, I will ask the emperor to transfer the Liao soldiers from Liaonan and Phoenix City to garrison the pass, and let Sun Yingyuan train the [-] auxiliary soldiers from Hebei in Kuandian. , waiting for Qi Yuangong and Qi Yuanfu to arrive."

"Besides Mangui, remember to tell him to be careful about the reinforcements from Liaozhen. Xiong Tingbi can trust it, but it doesn't mean that the generals of Liaozhen can trust it."

"Let him be more careful, and don't lose too many soldiers and horses."

"Your Highness..." Seeing what Zhu Youjian said, Lu Wenzhao said again:
"There is one more thing you need to pay attention to."

"Say..." Zhu Youjian said, and Lu Wenzhao also explained:

"Xu Guangqi, Mei Zhihuan, Li Changgeng, Bi Ziyan and others have taken office. Mei Zhihuan and the others are quite satisfactory and are still adapting to the local officialdom, but..."

Lu Wenzhao paused, and then said: "Xu Guangqi and his disciple Sun Yuanhua inspected the silver treasuries in various parts of Shaanxi, and then began to ask each government to build water conservancy projects. However, the problems in Shaanxi cannot be solved by water conservancy."

"Details." Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, and Lu Wenzhao also said:

"Shaanxi and Gansu are integrated, but there are only [-] million acres of private land..."

"The reason is that there are a large number of official lands in Gansu and Shanxi in Taipusi and Weisuo, and these official lands..."

"Okay, I see..." Hearing this, Zhu Youjian frowned slightly.

He has known for a long time that Shaanxi is the place where the most official and private land has been invaded. As far as the current situation is concerned, the actual number of acres of land in Gansu and Shaanxi may have exceeded [-] million acres.

If he remembers correctly, there are thirty-three guards and twenty-four guards in Gansu and Shanxi, with a total of [-] households and [-] million mu of military farmland.

In addition, there are Taipu Temple fields and Yuanma Temple grasslands, as well as six or seven million mu of land in the Qun Musuo.

These fields were swallowed up by the frontier generals and generals of the guards, while the fields of the Taipu Temple were embezzled by the subordinates and privately handed over to some powerful local gentry.

In this regard, these powerful gentry only need to spend a very small amount of money to pay taxes, and they can use a large number of fields.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian never thought about killing all the powerful gentry and even nobles in the world, because this road is difficult to get through.

He had already changed his mind, and transformed the whole world's fields into Weisuo fields and official fields.

Those who invaded the Weisuo fields and official fields would be brought to justice, and these fields would be distributed to the common people for cultivation after they were taken back.

All the military farms and government farms all over the world have been withdrawn, which is enough to keep [-] million people alive.

As for other people, such as Gansu and Shanxi, where the people can no longer survive simply relying on the land, the only way left is to move...

Hetao, the Western Regions, the Northeast, and the Southwest, there are many places where they can survive. The only thing they need is that the court has enough food to deal with the food problem after relocation.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian also got up and said:

"The matter of Ganshan and Shanxi is not yet time to resolve it. Shanxi and Liaodong should be resolved first."

After all, he turned and left the school grounds...

　A little more comfortable, two updates today, and one more in a few minutes

　　
　
(End of this chapter)