Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 66 Water Transport Floats

Time soon came to mid-June.

The plague did not break out, but more than [-] refugees gathered in Xuzhou.

Originally, the people fleeing from their homes in North Zhili were planning to go south to South Zhili, because South Zhili has always been the richest and most prosperous area in China, and there are few wars.

But Chongzhen's garrison in Xuzhou changed this result.

Hearing that the Holy Majesty is currently in charge of farming in Xuzhou, the people who were planning to go to Nanzhili changed their minds and flocked to Xuzhou to participate in the farming.

In less than half a month, hundreds of thousands of refugees gathered.

And there are more refugees flocking from the Yellow River towards Xuzhou.

This inevitably tightened the string in Chongzhen's heart again, because in the first half of the year, there was only input but no output, so if too many refugees came, the whole plan would be dragged down.

Originally, the army transported northward from Yangzhou had arrived in Xuzhou and brought 20 shi of rice.

If there are only 10 refugees, according to the daily ration standard of one catty for a refugee, the daily ration is only 667 shi, and when the autumn grain comes out this year, it will only be 12 shi.

So feeding 10 refugees is not a problem at all.

But the problem is that the current 10 refugees are likely to be just the beginning.

Chongzhen had a strong premonition that this wave of refugees from Beizhili was likely to exceed 50, or even exceed 100 million.

Jiannu's hair-shaving order is extremely lethal.

If so, the pressure on water transportation will increase sharply.

It is only now that Chongzhen knows that Daming's Piao is not so exaggerated.

Just talking about water transportation, you can't calculate it according to theoretical figures.

According to Lu Zhenfei, the one-way journey from Yangzhou to Xuzhou only takes one month, and a water tanker can carry 400 shi. In theory, 40 troops and [-] water tankers can transport [-] meters to Xuzhou in one month.

But actually?In fact, only 20 shi of bad grain were shipped.

Where did the remaining 20 shi go?One is that the number of transported troops and tank ships is not as many as Lu Zhenfei estimated, and the other is that they are drifting away.

This drift is divided into two types, one is the real drift, that is, the tank boat decays and capsizes during transportation or the grain is soaked in water and mildew, and the other is the "drift" of the unspoken rules of officialdom.

According to historical records, Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang Town was rated at [-] taels of silver for military pay, but in reality he could only get [-] or even [-] taels of silver, and the remaining [-] to [-] taels of silver were squandered by government agencies at all levels from the central to the local level. up.

Chongzhen just didn't expect that at this time, Daming was about to perish, and he still wanted to play around.

At this moment, Chongzhen deeply felt the difficulty of doing things. Without an efficient and honest team of officials, no matter what you do, you can only get twice the result with half the effort, just like being stuck in a quagmire.

For example, now, if Chongzhen wanted to check Cao Liangpiao, he couldn't do it.

One is that there are no useful people at hand, and the other is lack of energy.

Just the farming affairs had already kept him busy.

Due to the lack of an official in charge of farming, the current farming affairs are enough to cause headaches.

Chongzhen himself is a two-handed sword, and eunuchs like Wang Chengen, Han Zanzhou, and Gao Qiqian are even less useful.

Arranging refugees, coordinating cultivated land, distributing agricultural tools, and supplying seeds, these tasks are complex and messy, and consume a lot of energy. Anyway, Chongzhen is already very busy.

If there were more refugees, he was really worried that he would be exhausted to death.

Someone said, why not let the local officials in Xuzhou manage the farmland?
I tried it earlier, and the local officials in Xuzhou are worse than Chongzhen himself in managing the farmland, and they dare to embezzle. The co-prefects and judges in Xuzhou were dismissed because of corruption.

Dare to be greedy for all kinds of food.

The good news is that Du Yinxi, the prefect of Changsha, should be arriving in Xuzhou soon.

As a lover of Ming history, Chongzhen remembered many famous officials during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but only three of them left a deep impression on him.

The first one is Yan Yingyuan, a Jiangyin classic historian who "leads allegiance on the [-]th day, represents the people of the seventeen dynasties of the Taizu, and [-] people are united in one heart and death, and guard the three hundred miles of the Ming Dynasty".

The second one is Zuo Maodi, who knew that he was going to die but resolutely led the mission to the north. For eight months, facing all kinds of threats and temptations from the Manchu Qing, even Dorgon followed Huang Taiji's example and personally stepped down to persuade him to surrender. Zuo Maodi But he remained unmoved, and finally died calmly at Caishikou.

It is easy to die generously, but difficult to die calmly.

This is a man who lives for faith.

Zuo Maodi's belief is not Ming Dynasty, but—the clothes of the Han family!
The last one was Du Yinxi who rode into the enemy's camp alone and persuaded the 40 loyal camp to surrender.

At the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Du Yinxi definitely had a place among many capable ministers. This is a truly capable official who can manage the army when he is on horseback, and manage the people when he is off his horse!If you give him a stage, he can really save Daming, but unfortunately he still loses in the party struggle in the end.

Du Yinxi was also the imperial censor who was looking for by Chongzhen.

Of course, letting Du Yinxi farm the fields is just the beginning.

Chongzhen's real intention was to let Du Yinxi take charge of the Huanghuai defense line.

Because he is the emperor, he can't stay in Xuzhou all the time, as long as he survives the first two waves of Jiannu's offensive, and even after the first wave of Jiannu's offensive, he has to return to Nanjing.

What are you going to do in Nanjing?Of course it is to make money, and shake people.

It is only a stopgap measure to build the Huanghuai line of defense and use the border troops of the twenty-eight towns to defend the Yellow River.

There are still many things to do in the future, so it is impossible for Chongzhen to stay in Xuzhou all the time, so it is necessary to find a minister with outstanding ability to take up the important task of guarding Xuzhou when he is not around.

And Du Yinxi was the candidate Chongzhen was looking for to guard Xuzhou.

Chongzhen was thinking about something, when a voice suddenly sounded in his ear: "Father, I'm hungry."

When Chongzhen looked back, he saw that the youngest Zhu Cizhao was looking at him pitifully, and found that he had successfully attracted Chongzhen's attention, so Zhu Cizhao burst into tears.

"Don't cry." Chongzhen snorted and shouted.

Zhu Cizhao could only hold back the tears.

Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cijiong on the other side are very strong.

After these months of ups and downs, I grew up all at once.

One of the two brothers stepped on the pit with his feet, and the other sowed seeds. They were already decent.

"Xiao'er, hold on a little longer." Chongzhen said to Zhu Cizhao while stepping forward on the pit, "After planting this ridge of land, we can have dinner."

Holding a small dustpan, Zhu Cizhen picked up corn seeds from the dustpan and sprinkled them into the pit, while saying, "Father, I want to eat white noodles, can I have white noodles tonight?"

Chongzhen sighed lightly when he heard the words.

He himself must eat the same brown rice as the refugees.

It's not masochistic, it's just political showmanship.

If you can't set up a sage who is "compassionate about the common people and caring for the low-level soldiers", how can you turn people's hearts around?What to fight with civil servants?After all, the soldiers and civilians at the bottom have already despaired of Daming.

Scholars all over the world may still have a little nostalgia for Daming.

But the soldiers and civilians at the bottom have already despaired of Daming, they have no resistance to the change of the dynasty, the Dashun army said that following King Chuang, they don’t have to pay food and have food, so they follow King Chuang, if they don’t do anything after the slaves enter the customs They won't rebel if they change their clothes. As long as they have a bite to eat, who is willing to rebel?
Therefore, it is necessary to reverse the image of Daming in the hearts of the soldiers and civilians at the bottom.

It is necessary to let the soldiers and civilians at the bottom know that Daming has a good emperor, and that it is worth rescuing after the Ming Dynasty is not finished, and that the emperor who follows Daming can also have a full meal.

Of course, turning the hearts of the people is a systematic project.

It is by no means a political show for a few days or even a few months.

For this, Chongzhen has a comprehensive idea in his mind, and now it is just the beginning.

All in all, now is one point, defending Huanghuai, and at least withstood two waves of Jiannu's offensive, especially the one in October, before having a chance to consider other issues.

……

Chongzhen didn't know that Du Yinxi had arrived in Xuzhou.

And at this very moment, Du Yinxi was standing on the ground, watching in a daze that Chongzhen took the three imperial heirs and followed the refugees to sow seeds in the plowed fields.

Xu Haogu, Du Yinxi's staff member, was also amazed.

"Dong Weng, in the past two thousand years, have you ever heard that an emperor brought his heir to cultivate the land himself?"

"It may have happened in ancient times, but in the past [-] years, only the monarch advised farming. It has never been heard that the emperor brought the emperor's heirs to personally farm like an old farmer."

"So, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Of course it's a good thing." Du Yinxi said decisively, "In any case, an emperor who knows the hardships of the people and three princes who also know the hardships of the people are a great blessing to the common people in the world."

"Dong Weng's words are in line with my wishes." Xu Haogu said happily, "Now that the sage is in court, and Dong Weng is a capable official and official to assist him, there is hope for my great Ming Dynasty to flourish."

Du Yinxi just shook his head when he heard the words.

To be honest, he didn't know why the emperor summoned him suddenly.

If he said that he blocked Yinxi Jian in the emperor's heart, he would never believe it.

He Du Yinxi was just from a humble family background, he had no background, and he was not good at speculation. He only went to Nanjing a month ago to visit Shi Kefa, Minister of the Ministry of War of Nanjing, and Yuan Jixian, Governor of Jiangxi.

Both Shi Kefa and Yuan Jixian appreciated him.

Could it be that Elder Shi Ge recommended him to the Holy One?

Seeing that Du Yinxi was silent, Xu Haogu said: "Dong Weng, it's time for you to come forward and see him."

"Oh yes." Du Yinxi woke up like a dream when he heard the words, and hurriedly straightened his clothes and walked into the field.

"Stop, who is it?" The two Yi Ding guarding the ground immediately rushed forward to block the way.

Du Yinxi kowtowed to the ground at a distance of more than ten steps, and said in a loud voice: "My minister Du Yinxi kowtowed to the Holy One."

"It turns out that Du Aiqing has arrived." Chongzhen was overjoyed, and immediately came forward barefooted to greet Du Yinxi with his own hands, then took Du Yinxi's hand and said, "I have been waiting for you for more than a month."

"The sage was made to wait for a long time, and all the ministers died." Du Yinxi said anxiously.

"Hey, how can I blame you for this matter." Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to Xingyuan and talk about it in detail."

Well, Chongzhen actually left his three sons behind and took Du Yinxi's hand and left.

(End of this chapter)