Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 372
More than a dozen deputy generals of the general army were brought to Chongzhen at the same time, all of them were downcast.

In all fairness, Lu Guangzu and the others really did not expect that Chongzhen would lead his army to kill them so quickly, let alone that so many soldiers would be transferred from Xuzhou, and they were caught off guard.

Not even giving them the chance to escape is cruel enough.

But they still have illusions in their hearts, maybe the Holy One will recruit them.

Chongzhen didn't even look straight in the eye, and asked Zuo Menggeng, "Is it all here?"

"Two escaped." Zuo Menggeng replied with some apprehension, "Xu Yong and Hao Xiaozhong escaped."

"Let's ask the painter to draw the portraits of the two of you later, and issue the official arrest document." Chongzhen paused, then pointed to Lu Guangzu and other lieutenant generals who were kneeling on the ground, "Drag it down and chop it up."

"Ah?" This was somewhat unexpected by Zuo Menggeng and Jin Shenghuan.

Even Lu Guangzu, Li Guoying and a dozen other lieutenants of the general army were greatly surprised, they didn't even try, and they were going to behead our dozen lieutenants of the general army?

Those who were afraid of death begged for mercy directly.

"Your Majesty, please spare us, Your Majesty."

"We were also delusional for a while, and we knew we were wrong."

"Your Majesty, as long as you forgive us, from now on we will work diligently and conscientiously to fight for Daming, and we will never dare to have the slightest disagreement. Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"Drag it down and chop it up!" Chongzhen was completely unmoved.

Now he doesn't even care about Jin Shenghuan, why would he keep these?

It has been the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, and the scholars of King Qin represented by Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan have gradually grown up, not to mention that there are civil servants such as Du Yinxi and Jin Xuan available, so why should we focus on potential warlords like Jin Shenghuan?Military generals like Lu Guangzu who have a history of rebellion don't need to stay.

To put it bluntly, these Liaodong military generals are time bombs and cannot be used.

Zuo Menggeng wanted to persuade him a few words, but in the end he didn't say anything.

Jin Shenghuan also watched Yi Ding dragging Lu Guangzu and a dozen lieutenant generals to a dozen paces away to behead him, and he didn't know what was going on in his mind?
After dealing with more than a dozen generals and deputy generals, the next step is to deal with hundreds of thousands of rebels.

These hundreds of thousands of rebels cannot be simply killed, but must be screened first, and then treated differently. Those who have not done evil can stay in Wuchang as a farmer.

But if you have done evil, you can no longer stay in Wuchang.

There is a saying that goes well, eat the marrow to know the taste, if a soldier has tasted the taste of robbery and murder, it will be difficult to lock the evil thoughts that have been released into the cage of desire again.

For such rebellious soldiers, there is only one way to change them.

Chongzhen even chose the place for prison reform for them.

Chongzhen vaguely remembered that there was a large steel factory in Xiangtan.

Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to set up a large iron smelting workshop in Xiangtan.

With the vigorous development of Jiangnan's industry and commerce, the demand for steel and iron will definitely surge, especially once the production capacity of the arsenal catches up, the demand for steel will be even greater, so it is necessary to plan ahead to set up a large iron smelting factory in Xiangtan , after all, there are hundreds of thousands of free ironworkers available here.

While Chongzhen was thinking, Zhang Kuang, governor of Hubei, finally came to welcome Chongzhen with a group of officials.

Hearing that the Holy Majesty had put down the military chaos, Zhang Kuang and other civil officials were all surprised. How could the Holy Majesty put down so easily the hundreds of thousands of rebellious soldiers?This is probably too fast.

But the surprise is the surprise, I still have to see the ceremony.

"The ministers are waiting to bow down to the Holy Spirit." Zhang Kuang bowed down with a group of officials, big and small.

"Pingshen." Chongzhen bowed his hands, and said to Zhang Kuang, "Zhang Qing, I want to ask you something."

"Your Majesty, you are really a shameful minister." Zhang Kuang said with a look of panic on his face, "Is it possible that you are a king's minister on the shore of the land? If you have anything to do, you only need to issue an order, and the minister will definitely do it with all his might."

"That's good." Chongzhen pointed to the hundreds of thousands of rebels kneeling on the ground, and said, "You find a way to screen these rebels, and all those who have done evil will be caught and sent to the mines in Hunan to mine."

"Yes." Zhang Kuang said respectfully, "Please give me three days, Your Majesty."

"Yes." Chongzhen nodded lightly, and then ordered Du Yinxi, "Du Qing, send [-] town soldiers to assist Zhang Qing."

Even if Du Yinxi transferred [-] town soldiers to Zhang Kuang, Zhang Kuang immediately began to screen hundreds of thousands of rebels. Chongzhen and Du Yinxi led the army and entered the city accompanied by Fu Shangrui, the prefect of Wuchang.

……

On the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon looked up.

A spring rain awakened Jiangnan who had been sleeping all winter overnight.

The weather this year is significantly warmer than last year, and there is plenty of rain.

Looking at the non-stop spring rain outside the window of the duty room, smiles appeared on the faces of Lu Zhenfei and the other four elders. It seems that this year will be a good year.

But soon, the faces of the four elders showed worry again.

Lu Zhenfei said: "As soon as the waking sting is over, spring plowing will begin soon, and I don't know if the army of the Holy Lord and the [-] town soldiers led by Du Yinxi have arrived in Wuchang smoothly?"

"Yes, but don't miss the farming season in Huguang." Meng Zhaoxiang said.

Zhang Shen said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to not miss the farming season. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of frontier troops who have mutinied this time. Even if most of them are wiped out, only tens of thousands escaped, it is enough to turn the entire Huguang upside down."

"What Zhang Ge said is very true." Qian Qianyi said, "I have to do the worst..."

Before the words were finished, Liu Shizhen, the general manager, walked in excitedly: "Four elders, Wuchangtang newspaper!"

"Oh?" Lu Zhenfei got up abruptly, "There is a report from Wuchang so soon? Could it be that the army of the Holy Lord and Du Yinxi have wiped out the rebels?"

"This?" Zhang Shenyan said dumbfounded, "Impossible? Didn't it mean that they were still suppressing bandits in the Dabie Mountains during the Lantern Festival? Calculate the time, and this meeting has just arrived in Wuchang Mansion, right?"

Qian Qianyi said: "Yes or no, you can tell by opening the pond newspaper."

"Oh, yes!" Lu Zhenfei hurriedly picked up the dagger to remove the wax, and took out the letter.

"Really!" After reading it quickly, Lu Zhenfei couldn't help but exclaimed, "Just one battle, the Holy Majesty easily quelled the rebellion, and it was all in one go, not a single rebellion escaped."

"This..." Zhang Shenyan said in disbelief, "How did Your Majesty do it?"

"Look." Qian Qianyi clapped his hands and said, "My servant said that the Holy Majesty would definitely be able to wipe out the rebellious soldiers easily. As expected, the Holy Majesty easily wiped out hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers with just one blow."

"Okay, okay." Lu Zhenfei said happily.

"The rebellious soldiers have been wiped out, and Huguang will no longer miss the farming season."

After a while, he said: "There is one thing, we have to agree on it as soon as possible."

Zhang Shen said: "Shou Kui, do you mean the candidate for the new governor of Huguang?"

"Yes." Lu Zhenfei said, "Huguang controls Sichuan in the west, and rejects the puppet Shun in the north. Its position is very important. You must choose a governor who is familiar with government affairs and soldiers."

Qian Qianyi said: "Has your Majesty proposed a suitable candidate?"

"No." Lu Zhenfei said, "The Holy Majesty clearly stated in the pond newspaper that the cabinet will decide who will be selected."

"So, I recommend Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang." Qian Qianyi said, "Ma Shiying has served as the governor of many prefectures, and he has made a lot of political achievements during his tenure. This is the first time I fought against bandits, and I won a lot of victories, it can be said that I can be said to be both civil and military, and I think it is enough to be the governor of Huguang."

"Inappropriate." Zhang Shenyan said decisively, "Ma Shiying is indeed a talented governor, but he can use Lufeng but not Huguang. Using force will not only harm Ma Shiying himself, but will even miss the important military affairs!"

Meng Zhaoxiang also said: "My servant also thinks that Ma Shiying is not a national scholar, but the governor of Huguang is not a national scholar."

Seeing that both Zhang Shenyan and Meng Zhaoxiang objected, Qian Qianyi stopped talking in embarrassment, but felt a little regretful in his heart, this time he was hasty, and he knew that he shouldn't have done this for Ma Shiying, and it wasn't worth it for a few hundred taels of silver.

Gao Shenyan pondered for a while and then said: "Shou Kui, I think it must be Yuan Jixian."

Meng Zhaoxiang immediately agreed: "My servant also thinks that Yuan Jixian is qualified for the post of governor of Huguang."

Yuan Jixian's official position was the governor of military affairs in Jiangxi, Huguang, Anqing, and Yingtian. It was only after the governor of Huguang was appointed that he ceased to be in charge of military affairs in Huguang.

Therefore, civil officials and generals such as Zhang Kuang and Lu Ding are all old subordinates of Yuan Jixian.

Lu Zhenfei immediately made a decision and said: "Yes, then let's move on to the governor Yuan Jixian's military and political affairs in Huguang. As for Jiangxi, Anqing and Yingtian Mansion, there is no need to worry about bandits or slavery, and there is no need to appoint a governor. "

……

At this time in Wuchang.

Chongzhen asked Du Yinxi: "Du Qing, you have also worked in Huguang for several years, and you should be familiar with Huguang officialdom. Do you know anyone who can be called a capable official?"

Du Yinxi replied: "Zhang Kuang, Fu Shangrui, Wu Jinxi and others are all capable officials."

Chongzhen asked again: "I heard that the many iron mines in Xiangtan County in Changsha Prefecture intend to build a large-scale iron smelting workshop in Xiangtan County, and set up an iron smelting censor to smelt iron. Who do you think is the most suitable?"

"Wu Jinxi is responsible for this matter." Du Yinxi said without hesitation, "Because Wu Jinxi loves Taoism, is proficient in Taiyi's unique art, and is also quite dabbled in metal and stone smelting."

While talking, Zhang Kuang hurried in.

The salute paid homage and said: "Chen Zhang Kuang kowtows to ask the Holy Spirit to go to Jin'an."

"Pingshen." Chongzhen said with a sullen hand, "Zhang Kuang, are you done with the screening?"

"Returning to the Holy One, the screening is over." Zhang Kuang sighed, and said again, "There are more than [-] rebels, only [-] have never done evil, and the remaining [-] have killed innocent people."

"More than one hundred thousand?" Chongzhen asked again, "How did you identify it?"

Zhang Kuang said: "The minister ordered the rebels to report and expose each other. If the report is true, they can avoid death. Therefore, these rebels actively denounced each other."

"A good idea." Chongzhen said happily, "It seems that the result is credible."

Zhang Kuang asked: "I don't know how the Holy Majesty plans to deal with more than [-] rebels with bad deeds?"

Chongzhen asked Zhang Kuang back: "Zhang Kuang, what do you think I should do with these rebels?"

"Your Majesty, I think I should try not to kill them if I can." Zhang Kuang said, "These are all strong men, even if they are left to farm, more than [-] rebels can cultivate millions of acres!"

"Garn the fields?" Zhang Kuang's words hit the true intention of Chongzhen's trip.

To be honest, if you just want to suppress the military chaos, Chongzhen doesn't need the imperial conquest at all. You only need to let Du Yinxi lead [-] town soldiers to go south to easily quell the military chaos.

The reason why Chongzhen personally conquered Wuchang had another purpose.

This goal is more than [-] million mu of fertile land in Huguang!

Food security or food security has always been a top priority of the country since ancient times.

In the Song Dynasty, there was a folk proverb that when Suhu is cooked, the world is full, which means that when the grain in Suzhou and Huzhou is ripe, the whole Song Dynasty will no longer be hungry.

But after the Ming Dynasty, the folk proverb became Huguangshu, the world is full.

It means that as long as there is a good harvest of grain in Huguang, the whole world will have no worries about food.

This shows how important Huguang, the granary of the world, was to the Ming Dynasty.

Especially now that the industry and commerce in the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River are booming, the farmland in the south of the Yangtze River will inevitably be converted to cash crops such as cotton, hemp and mulberry. This will inevitably lead to a sharp decline in grain production in the south of the Yangtze River, but the population in the south of the Yangtze River will increase sharply At this time, if there is another problem with the big granary in Huguang, the Ming Dynasty will be in big trouble.

Therefore, Chongzhen must take precautions to rectify Huguang, the granary of the world, in advance to ensure the food supply in the south of the Yangtze River.

At that moment, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Speaking of farmland, the farmlands of more than a dozen vassal kings including Chu Fan, Liao Fan, Min Fan, and Xiang Fan, are they now deserted or who is cultivating them?"

In the Ming Dynasty, there were as many as nineteen vassal kings in Huguang.

There were thirteen vassal kings who lasted until the Chongzhen period. These thirteen vassal kings occupied half of the fertile land in Huhu, and the remaining small half of the cultivated land was concentrated in the hands of the landlords and gentry. Five of the arable land, but need to bear [-]% of the land tax, which is dozens of times the tax amount ruled by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty!
Who can bear such a heavy tax?So the owner farmers have only two ways to go.

The owner farmers either fled, or surrendered their farmland to the vassal king, and became tenant farmers ever since.

So ten years after Chongzhen, the self-cultivating farmers in Huguang have almost disappeared, and more than [-]% of the cultivated land has been concentrated under the names of various vassal princes and clans.

Then, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong captured Huguang successively, and the vassal kings entrusted in Huguang were almost taken over in one pot, and the cultivated land under the names of each vassal became ownerless again.

In the past two years, Chongzhen did not have the energy to take care of these.

But now, Daming's situation has greatly improved, and he can finally free up his hands to deal with the Zhuangtian under the name of the vassal king.

"This..." Zhang Kuang was speechless when Chongzhen asked about the vassal king Zhuangtian, and his expression was not very good-looking.

"What?" Chongzhen's face collapsed, and he asked with a dark face, "Master Zhang Kuangzhang, is it hard to say or dare not say it?"

"Brother Yuye, why do you need to cover up for those people?" At this time, Du Yinxi who was next to him suddenly said, "My lord, the farmlands of the various feudal clans have long been seized by the gentry of the various prefectures secretly."

(End of this chapter)