I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 112
Chapter 111

"Steal? Rob who?"

Cheng Shijie turned his head and followed the prestige.

I saw Huang Long, the commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang Army, and his subordinates Mao Chenglu, Shang Keyi, Xiang Zuolin, Fan Hualong, Zhang Dalu, Li Weiluan, He Yongsheng, Du Jincai and other generals coming hand in hand.

When Cheng Shijie saw Huanglong coming, he knew that something big might happen.

The generals of the Dongjiang Army, including Huang Long, had a very respectful attitude: "The last general pays homage to Marshal Cheng!"

Cheng Shijie nodded and said, "Go back to the military headquarters first!"

Huanglong was a little strange.

Right here, hearing the voices of Huang Long and others, the surrounding military households crowded towards Cheng Shijie's direction. Thousands of people crowded together, which could easily lead to a stampede.

"Marshal Cheng is here!"

"Caomin kowtows to Marshal Cheng!"

"The Marshal Lord Wandai!"

At this time, the Liaonan soldiers and civilians present kowtowed to Cheng Shijie.

Even though Cheng Shijie had left, these soldiers and civilians still didn't get up. Even though there were mountains of supplies next to these civilians, no one came to rush to get them.

Huang Long looked at Cheng Shijie's back, very envious.

He was also the commander-in-chief, his nose was cut off by a mutinous soldier under his command, while Cheng Shijie had the highest prestige among the soldiers and civilians.

Of course, Cheng Shijie didn't know what Huanglong was thinking.

If Cheng Shijie knew, he would only smile lightly. If Huanglong could get Dongjiang Army 3000 to 70 million mu of reclaimable wasteland, 800 million shi of grain, and [-] million taels of silver, Huanglong's prestige would also be so high .

It's just that Cheng Shijie's today, including everything about Ning Haijun, has an irreproducible chance.If it wasn't because Cheng Shijie accidentally wiped out Zhang Huairen who was stamped "Zhen Sanshan" when he was destroying the bandits, he wouldn't have offended the behemoth Zhang family in Laiyang.

If Cheng Shijie didn't offend this behemoth, he wouldn't be arrested either.If Cheng Shijie hadn't been arrested by Zhang Shigang, the soldiers of the Ning Navy would not have launched the Dengzhou mutiny. With a new army that had been in the army for more than a month, they launched a mutiny and attacked Dengzhou, an important military town defended by more than [-] elite troops. , the point is, it succeeded without much effort.

The Ning Navy seized tens of thousands of taels of silver from Sun Yuanhua to support the Dengzhou Army, the Dengzhou Navy, and the Denglai New Army, as well as 30 million shi of grain.The Ning Navy was even surrounded in one fell swoop, and was robbed of the wealth and food operated by generations of the Zhang family in Laiyang. Only then did they have the capital to initially develop southern Liaoning.

More importantly, during the Kong Youde Rebellion, Ning Haijun accidentally killed Kong Youde's dead brother and defeated Kong Youde's will to fight. Seeking a way to survive, he gave Cheng Shijie all the money from the rich gentry that he looted.

All of this, even if it is calculated in every possible way, it is impossible to calculate so accurately, any mistakes in any link will fall short.

Of course, Cheng Shijie's luck was really good.

It is impossible for Huanglong to replicate this kind of success, and it is impossible for anyone to replicate this kind of success. Even if Cheng Shijie is asked to do it again, he does not have such ability.

Huang Long asked Cheng Shijie to come here because he had no other choice.

Originally, Cheng Shijie had summoned more than [-] elite soldiers from the Dongjiang Army to prevent Jiannu from attacking southern Liaoning. To the north of Gaizhou Acropolis, there were two passes, Stone Castle and Tieshanbao.

Ning Haijun is fully defending Tieshan Fort, while Dongjiang Army is defending Shicheng Castle in the west. Of course, Cheng Shijie is still a little worried about Shicheng Castle, but Shicheng Castle is close to the Liaodong Bay waters in the west. The large-caliber naval gun of the navy can bombard the vicinity of the stone castle.

The problem is, the plan was wrong.

Although Jiannu suffered a dull loss and lost thousands of troops, Huang Taiji did not send troops to retaliate. In terms of strength, it is useless to send fewer troops, but the logistics cannot support it if there are too many.

Under such circumstances, the Dongjiang Army transferred 6000 troops from southern Liaoning, of which [-] civilians did not fight, but enjoyed the benefits of the Ning Navy for training.

Now the soldiers of the Dongjiang army scattered on the islands are unwilling to do it anymore. If it is a bloody fight with Jiannu in Shicheng Castle, no matter how well the troops transferred by the Dongjiang army in southern Liaoning eat well and dress warmly, no one will have any objections. Because these treatments are what they sacrificed their lives for.

However, in the absence of fighting, they are equivalent to eating free food. Various guerrillas and generals within the Dongjiang Army have asked Huanglong, the commander-in-chief, for instructions. They will also go to southern Liaoning to receive training from the Ning Navy. Good cooperation with Marshal Cheng.

Although the Dongjiang Army didn't like mutiny in Mao Wendong's time, since Mao Wenlong's death, the Dongjiang Army has learned a lot from Guan Ning Army, mutiny at every turn, and mutiny at every turn.

People are scattered, and the team is not easy to lead.

In desperation, he had no choice but to come to rescue Cheng Shijie.When he learned that Cheng Shijie was not at the Ning Naval General Mansion in Weicheng, Jinzhou, Huang Long led a group of generals from the Dongjiang Army and went directly to Luoshan Town.

Just when he heard Cheng Shijie say that he could grab it if he had no money, Huang Long felt that the opportunity had come.

Arriving at the front hall of Ning Naval General Mansion, Huang Long smelled a tempting fragrance.

Regarding the food of Ning Haijun, the soldiers of the Dongjiang Army have nothing to dislike, because the food of Ning Haijun is not only good, but also very rich in oil and water.

The Ning Navy is different from other armies of the Ming Dynasty. The Ning Navy trains every day, and the soldiers consume a lot of physical energy. In order to ensure that the nutrition of the Ning Navy soldiers can keep up, Cheng Shijie also took great pains.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, unlike later generations, there were a large number of breeding factories, such as pig farms and chicken farms. In any city, if you want to eat pigs, sheep, mutton, and beef, you can basically supply them openly.

But the problem is that the grain output in the late Ming Dynasty was so small that there was not enough food for people, let alone those poultry and livestock such as pigs and sheep?
Even if there is money, it is impossible to purchase enough meat for more than [-] Ning Navy soldiers and more than [-] soldiers of the Dongjiang Army.

Even the most common and cheapest chicken in later generations cannot guarantee the supply. In desperation, Cheng Shijie had no choice but to buy in large quantities in Jiangnan with money.

Although Shandong is closer, the problem is that Cheng Shijie's large purchases in Shandong have caused the price of Shandong to skyrocket. to seven denarii.

In fact, the main reason for the poverty of farmers in the Ming Dynasty was closely related to the monopoly of merchants on the market. At that time, the price was desperately lowered, especially for the high-quality rice in Jiangnan, only a very small part could be sold for four renminbi per shi, and most of the rice prices were between three and five cents per shi or three renminbi.

According to the records of "Ming Shilu", in the orthodox four-year governor Datong Xuanfu Youqiandu's imperial envoy Lu Rui wrote that Shanxi sent 10 taels of grain and silver every year, and each silver was one tael of grain and four stones. The price of Xuanfu rice Tumbling, but it is only one tael of quasi-grain, two stones and five buckets of silver.

Wang Zhen, a native of Zhejiang, also said in his book "Five Lun Books" that "the price of rice in western Zhejiang is extremely cheap." " wrote: "The price of rice at that time was only seven coins!"

And Mao Yuanyi was deprived of his official position after Sun Chengzong stepped down in the fourth year of Chongzhen and returned to his hometown in Jiangxi. It can be inferred that the rice at this time was only seven coins, and it should be even later. (The author speculates) There is an inscription in the Shaanxi area that records "two or three dollars per bucket of rice and millet", so the price is very outrageous, and it fully proves the severity of the disaster in the Shaanxi area.

Cheng Shijie purchased 30 shi of wheat from Jiangnan, and the price to Jinzhou Port was 45 cents and [-] cents per shi.

In order to make dumplings for the people in southern Liaoning during the Chinese New Year, a large number of mills grind a lot of flour, but after the wheat is ground, there is only wheat bran left, which is the outer skin of the wheat.Cheng Shijie asked people to use the wheat bran to raise pigs.

Now Ning Haijun's breeding factory has raised more than 6000 pigs in captivity. These pigs are more than 100 catties in size, [-] to [-] catties in size, and [-] to [-] catties in size.Of course, the piglets in the breeding factory are like piglets weighing dozens of kilograms, so pigs must not be slaughtered.

Cheng Shijie pointed to the big basin on the front lobby and said, "Today, I invite you all to eat pig-killing dishes!"

Huang Long looked at the butchered vegetables in the big pot, a layer of oil floated on the top of the vegetables, and couldn't help swallowing: "Cheng Shuai, what a shame... Isn't it too... Expensive..."

"It's okay. By this time next year, I can guarantee that the people in southern Liaoning will be able to eat meat in every household!"

Cheng Shijie sat down and said, "We, Ning Haijun, raised the pigs ourselves. It doesn't cost a lot of money. You are welcome to eat them with your belly open!"

Huang Long looked at the general of the Dongjiang Army and said, "I still don't thank Cheng Shuai. Cheng Shuai has a good way of making money, and he has plenty of money. He can't afford him!"

All the generals of the Dongjiang Army sat down one after another, and laughed loudly: "Thank you Cheng Shuai for your generosity!"

This pig-killing dish was only regarded as a civilian dish in later generations. In the late Ming Dynasty, even if they were present for the last time, they were generals of the fourth rank and the fifth rank, but it was rare for them to eat a bite of pork.

The generals of the Dongjiang Army were so full that their bellies were round and they burped.

After dinner, everyone's eyes fell on Cheng Shijie.

Under the instigation of all the generals under his command, Huang Long looked at Cheng Shijie and said, "Cheng Shuai has now made a fortune, so don't forget about Huang!"

The reality is so helpless. Although Cheng Shijie has taken in many Liaodong people, this has greatly reduced the logistical pressure of the Dongjiang Army, but the reduction does not mean that there is no.

In fact, many members of the Dongjiang Army and the Dongjiang Army soldiers themselves were also unable to solve the food problem, as if they wanted to learn from Cheng Shijie to reclaim wasteland. However, many of the coastal islands of the Dongjiang Army are uninhabited small islands that are not suitable for human habitation. Some don't even have fresh water, and farming is even more nonsense.

The land that can be cultivated has almost been reclaimed.

If they counted on the imperial court, they could only starve to death. Huang Long also wanted to feed and clothe the soldiers of the Dongjiang Army, but the problem was that his strength did not allow it.

"The way to get rich!"

Cheng Shijie mused, "Then we can only wait until the beginning of spring. We can work together to dry salt by the sea and bring down the price of salt held by salt merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang!"

"What about now?"

Huang Long smiled wryly and said, "Don't hide it from Cheng Shuai. Now the Dongjiang Army has been unable to open the fire. Some soldiers are very dissatisfied. They are about to rebel. I wonder if Cheng Shuai can..."

Huang Long wanted Cheng Shijie's territory in southern Liaoning to be part of the Dongjiang Army, but the problem was that Huang Long still had to face, and he was really embarrassed to speak to Cheng Shijie.

No matter how good his personal relationship with Cheng Shijie is, Cheng Shijie can manage the Dongjiang Army's 6000 people to eat for several months, but if it involves fields, even if Cheng Shijie agrees, the generals of Ning Haijun will not agree.

Cheng Shijie is only controlling the Dongjiang Army, not holding the seal of the general officer of the Dongjiang Army. If Cheng Shijie is willing, Huang Long can give Cheng Shijie the seal of the general officer of the Dongjiang Army with both hands.

Although Huang Long only said half of what he said, Cheng Shijie is also very clear about the difficulties faced by the Dongjiang Army.

It is absolutely impossible for Cheng Shijie to distribute the land to the Dongjiang Army, unless the soldiers of the Dongjiang Army send their families to southern Liaoning and accept the adaptation of Ning Haijun. , will also provide them with seeds and farming tools.

But the problem is that in this way, the family members of these Dongjiang Army officers and men have become Ning Haijun's own people, and they are just wearing the skin of the Dongjiang Army.

"It's difficult right now!"

"Cheng Shuai, no matter how difficult it is, our Dongjiang army will never forget Cheng Shuai's great kindness!"

"you are welcome!"

Cheng Shijie thought for a while and said: "Back then, in order to prevent Mao Shuai from bringing Jian slaves to North Korea, North Korea ceded Phi Island to live with Mao Shuai, if..."

Cheng Shijie walked to the map of the Korean peninsula, and punched Tamna Island with his fist: "Why doesn't Commander Huang use Tamna Island to raise troops?"

"Borrow Tamra Island?"

Huang Long's eyes suddenly lit up, then dimmed again: "I'm afraid North Korea won't agree!"

"No, how easy it is!"

"Simple?"

"If Japanese pirates attack North Korea, with North Korea's military strength, is it capable of resisting Japanese pirates?"

"But Japanese pirates..."

Huang Long is not stupid either, he immediately understood what Cheng Shijie meant.

There are no Japanese pirates, it is actually simple, true and false, as a true Ming Dynasty person, the Japanese pirates that Huang Long knows are different from the historical records of later generations.

"Ming Shizong Shilu" records that "the Japanese pirates are used in the name, but in fact there are very few real Japanese pirates."At the same time, because the Japanese pirates "committed their lives and dared to fight", the officials of the Ming Dynasty were terrified, so the pirates of the Ming Dynasty used the name of the Japanese pirates, "it was just a special name, but in fact they were all from Zhongzhou." People from the Ming Dynasty, such as Wang Zhi, Xu Hai, Ye Qinman, Mao Haifeng, Peng Lao, etc.

In the later period, when the Japanese shogunate closed the country, especially in the later period of the Kansai War, Samopan was defeated, and a large number of Japanese ronin and forced warriors surrendered to Zheng Zhilong.

True or false Japanese pirates are not important, what is important is a clear eye.

As Cheng Shijie opened a window in front of the generals of the Dongjiang Army, the heads of these generals of the Dongjiang Army began to come alive. Although there were no Japanese pirates in the Dongjiang Army, it was too easy to find them.

"Thank you Cheng Shuai!"

Huang Long smiled excitedly: "Huang knows what to do!"

"That's great, if you need any help, just speak up!"

After dinner, Huanglong returned to Lushun overnight to prepare for the Dongjiang Army's land reclamation plan. At this time, the Dongjiang Army's war machine began to activate. In order to help the Dongjiang Army complete the plan of borrowing the east wind, Cheng Shijie generously provided the Dongjiang Army with six thousand shi of grain, and Seventeen broken pirate ships seized from Meng Xianhan.

These pirate ships were originally planned to be used as firewood, but now they are just used as waste.

……

The servants of Ning Naval Commander's Mansion began to post Spring Festival couplets and arrange red lanterns, preparing for the Spring Festival, but Cheng Shijie was still a hard worker.

Located on the wharf of Jinzhou Port, rows of large transport ships are unloading. These are rice and wheat purchased from Jiangnan, as well as some maltose and other materials.

Workers on the wharf loaded sacks of grain into carts, and the carts full of grain and other supplies were transported to Jinzhou Acropolis.

Cheng Shijie's ultimate goal was not achieved. He originally planned to distribute 80 catties of flour per capita to the people in southern Liaoning. The people in the South distribute twenty catties of flour. This benefit is available to all people, even [-]-year-olds or newborn babies.

Ordinary people are given [-] catties of flour, Ning Navy officers and soldiers, military and martyrs are given [-] catties each, and rice is five buckets per person for ordinary people, and it is also distributed on a per capita basis.

But the soldiers of Ning Haijun and their families and martyrs are one stone per person.When distributing the New Year's benefits, Cheng Shijie exploded in anger.

At present, the Ning Navy has not set up a government office in southern Liaoning, and the imperial court has not appointed officials. Cheng Shijie compiled ten garrison farms and hundreds of households together to set up Maqiao in Jinzhou Weicheng and Gaizhou Weicheng for the convenience of management. Town, Gushan Town, Luoshan Town, Tonggou Town, Shahe Town, Lijia Town, Dongjia Town and other 43 towns.

According to the actual headcount of each town, the New Year benefits are distributed according to the custom, but the problem is that despite the fear that there will be problems, problems still arise.

The mayors of 43 towns headed by Ma Shilin stood in front of Cheng Shijie and were trained like grandsons.

"Look, what are you guys doing!"

Cheng Shijie threw a stack of rosters on the ground: "Let you report the number of people in the town, name, age, gender, and place of origin to the commander. You only need to distribute the forms to the military households and ask them to fill in the name, age, and gender." And the place of origin, is it difficult? What a big deal, you guys have been working on it for half a month, and it’s still messed up by me, how can it be more difficult for you to do something than me to do it myself?"

The town mayors, according to their own understanding, they should be the adults of Qianhu. The so-called town is actually the original Qianhusuo.

Ma Shilin was so scolded that he couldn't lift his head up, and he stammered after a long while, "Big... Marshal, they... they can't read..."

At this time, Ma Shilin felt wronged and wanted to cry. He thought he was quite capable and thought he could be a good county magistrate, but the problem was that he did very poorly in the task Cheng Shijie gave him.

"If you can't read, then you'll be a fart mayor!"

Cheng Shijie pointed to the mayors and said, "I will give you three months. No matter what method you use, I will teach me how to write and count. It doesn't matter how advanced you are. Can't even fill out the form!"

These statistical tables were all printed by Cheng Shijie in a printing house in later generations, and then moved to the end of the Ming Dynasty. It took a full three days to print these forms to the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Distributing physical objects like this is the most prone to problems.

Cheng Shijie is also suffering from a headache now. Everyone has gone to school and knows that it will take at least three or four years to go from being illiterate to being able to read and write normally, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie doesn't have this time.

What's more, if you can't even do a very simple household registration statistics, what else can you do?
Herding sheep directly?

Some readers commented in the book review area, the author is an idiot, he doesn't know how to move technical books...

But the question is, who will bring it over for viewing?Can you understand?Not to mention Ming Dynasty people who have not received modern education, readers with a junior high school education, how many people can understand professional books on metallurgical engineering for you?
Cheng Shijie did not let these mayors go, and began to criticize them violently.

"Who else is there! Liu San!"

Liu San, whose name was called by Cheng Shijie, almost dropped his head to his knees.

"You've been with me from the very beginning. You haven't learned anything from what I did? Let you be the mayor, and you messed up the mayor. After so long, you didn't even do a good job of hygiene. A good Maqiao Town has turned you into a big latrine..."

Cheng Shijie's finger almost touched Liu San's forehead: "What's more, the merchants are doing business in Maqiao Town, and you don't let them pay taxes!"

"Marshal, those merchants are too difficult to deal with, they just don't want to pay taxes, I almost kneel down with them!"

"That's your incompetence!"

Cheng Shijie raised his voice an octave and said, "You are the mayor, the head of the town, and you are the biggest in Maqiao Town. Why don't you take advantage of the power given to you by the commander? Who dares not pay taxes, close shops and arrest people? Starve them for three days and see if they can pay! Also, all of you are the same, those who do business in southern Liaoning must pay taxes."

Cheng Shijie didn't have a good impression of the merchants of Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of merchants, there was nothing that could not be sold, and they would rather spend tens of thousands of taels of silver in bribes than pay taxes of thousands of taels of silver.In the logic of businessmen, paying taxes is the most incompetent expression.

There are taxes that cannot be raised, which is also the root cause of the downfall of the Ming Dynasty.

Ma Shilin opened his mouth: "National court preferential treatment..."

Ma Shilin didn't say this, because the Ming Dynasty gave preferential treatment to scholars, gentry, officials, and officials, but never preferential treatment to merchants. In the interior, almost all big merchants had countless dignitaries standing behind them, so they naturally didn't have to pay taxes.

"Marshal, all the good things about the humble job, they just don't pay taxes!"

"Then find a few gangsters to smash their shops, and then send a few people to sneak in and order a few shops while they are not paying attention, and see if they pay taxes!"

All the town mayors broke out in cold sweat: "Marshal, this...doing this is illegal!"

Cheng Shijie's eyes were fierce, and his sharp eyes swept over everyone's faces: "What is law? In Liaonan, the words of my commander are law."

PS: I have written it, this chapter is only [-] words, continue tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)