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

Chapter 434 Professional People Do Professional Things

Chapter 434

"The victory of Nanjing does not mean that this battlefield has come to an end. In fact, this war has just begun!"

Cheng Shijie delivered an important speech at a meeting of the General Staff Headquarters: "As you all know, I have never been able to get rid of sand in my eyes. I run the army very strictly. Our first priority now is to immediately restore order in Nanjing City. , any soldiers who dare to disturb the people will be beheaded regardless of their rank!"

Wu Sheng, Cheng Shi, and Jiang Wubing all responded immediately: "I promise to complete the mission!"

"I am not worried about you completing your mission. After all, even if you all have undergone at least half a year of military discipline training and ideological education, what I am most worried about is the unruly Zhejiang Army, Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Zhenjiang and other armies!"

Song Xiance bowed and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I can guarantee that they are more honest than my grandson!"

When it comes to ideological education for the army, Song Xiance is definitely very professional. In fact, after the failure of the first attack on Nanjing, Song Xiance and Chen Guodong began to carry out ideological education for the surrendering troops.

This ideological work is very simple and crude. First, Ning Haijun, no, now the Royal Army of the Ming Dynasty, told all the surrendered soldiers about the military pay, military job benefits, and military merit rewards for beheading. This made these surrendered soldiers feel that they were responsible for Cheng Shijie. Soldiers are simply more comfortable than local landlords and rich people.

But the problem is that as long as military discipline is violated, all the benefits obtained will be immediately cancelled, including preferential policies for military families. In short, whether it is a meal of meat or a meal of meat, it all depends on your choice.

Therefore, even if the surrendered soldiers entered the city of Nanjing, they would not dare to think about burning, killing, and looting. Not only did they not dare to think wrongly, they also had to treat the people injured in the war and help the people repair their houses. They were very busy. Round and round.

Cheng Shijie officially entered Nanjing on the fourth day of Nanjing's invasion, which was July [-], the first year of reform. Fortunately, thousands of people in Nanjing watched Cheng Shijie enter Nanjing uneasily.

As Cheng Shijie walked towards the Nanming Palace, he said to Song Xiance beside him: "Kangnian!"

"Chen is here!"

"In this rebellion, you are going to make a list!"

Song Xiance immediately understood what Cheng Shijie meant: "What does the king mean, is the queen settling accounts?"

"This word is inappropriate. In my opinion, this is called accountability. Murder to pay for life, and debt to pay for debt. It cannot be that just because one of their people died, the debt they owe must be purchased and sold in one lump sum!"

Cheng Shijie said angrily: "There is nothing so cheap in this world. As long as the Jin gentry is related to this rebellion, no one can escape."

"Your Excellency understands!"

Song Xiance used the fastest efficiency to organize the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty from small to large, and compiled a list of 97 people, including the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, the Governor of Yangzhou Shi Kefa, the chief assistant of the Nanming cabinet Zhou Yanru, Ma Shiying, and Ruan Dayue , Huang Daozhou, Lu Zhenfei, Fan Jingwen, Lu Weiqi and so on.

Cheng Shijie took a red pen and crossed out a few names on the list, such as Lu Weiqi, Bi Maokang, Zhang Jimeng, and officials who died in the Southern Ming Dynasty because of their unyielding loyalty. The homes of other officials, regardless of life or death, were all searched.

Song Xiance took the list and said, "I think we should choose a virtuous minister to raid the house!"

"Who?"

"Cheng Shi!"

"He is inappropriate!"

Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "Let your nephew Jiang Wubing be responsible for this matter, and you will help from the side!"

"Yes!"

Jiang Wubing's face was full of joy.

Song Xiance understood, however, that this was Cheng Shijie's test for Jiang Wubing. If Jiang Wubing did this well, his future would be limitless. If he missed it, it would be a matter of whether he could survive in the Dingxin Dynasty, let alone promotion. one question.

Song Xiance thought for a moment and said, "Is there going to be a public trial?"

"There must be a public trial!"

Under the guidance of Song Xiance's imperial list, Jiang Wubing led the elite troops of the No. 16 Brigade and began to search homes everywhere. Every time a home was searched, the property they found was truthfully announced, not only on the bulletin board in Nanjing, but also on the bulletin board in Nanjing. Published in the Ming Empire Times.

At first, the people in Nanjing didn't think anything happened. They all thought it was a winner or a loser. But soon they were shocked by the series of figures released. In the end, the shock turned into anger, and everyone yelled: " Okay, you bunch of sanctimonious guys, you keep saying that it's for justice and justice, and the Han family's orthodoxy, but in fact it's all for money! In order to make more money, in order to keep the money you made, you are treating us Jiangnan people as fools!!! "

They couldn't help but be angry. Looking at the published figures, a ninth-grade Zhima official had a fortune of tens of thousands. As for those wealthy businessmen who had been dealing in salt, iron and silk for generations, it was even more astonishing. Speaking of those figures could scare people into having a heart attack!
Looking at this frightening figure, and then thinking about how stingy these guys were during the food shortage in Jiangnan, the people in Nanjing and even the entire Jiangnan felt like they were being played, which made them extremely angry!
This wave of house confiscation spread from Nanjing to the entire south of the Yangtze River. As long as they were gentry and wealthy businessmen related to the rebellion, no one could escape. The whole family was thrown into prison and their property was confiscated.

It is worth mentioning that it is not they who have the final say whether it has anything to do with the rebellion, but the imperial court. This directly leads to a geometric increase in the number of people implicated. I am afraid that all the prisons will be freed up to imprison them all. It can’t be stuffed anymore.

But it doesn't matter, the imperial court has already prepared a large enough prison for them, which can be filled even if their number is doubled several times.

After the public trial, most of the gentry who were formally sentenced, in fact, all the main figures of the gentry died in this war. Those who survived were either greedy for life and afraid of death, or they were really not corrupt.In this world, it’s not that there are no honest officials, it’s just that there aren’t many of them.

On the ninth day of August in the first year of Dingxin, the first batch of ocean-going transport ships arrived at the Nanjing Pier. This was a temporarily built wharf, because if it were not built, there would be no way to dock such a huge ocean-going transport ship.

Nowadays, the largest transport ship produced in Liaodong is a super-large sailing ship built according to Guangfu Shipbuilding. It has a carrying capacity of more than 2000 tons. If it transports grain, it can load [-] shi at a time.

This kind of transport ship named Ocean Ship will be responsible for transporting gentry to Australia. No, the name Australia is actually Greek, which means the unknown land in the south. Cheng Shijie directly named Australia Zhanzhou, and directly named it Zhanzhou. Sydney Bay was named Nanjing Bay.

In the future, a Jiangnan will be roughly replicated in Zhanzhou. Zhanzhou will serve as a prefecture-level unit in the Ming Dynasty and temporarily exercise management and governance authority.

As long as the population is large enough and the economy is prosperous enough, administrative units will continue to be upgraded. Although Zhanzhou is regarded as a huge prison, the problem is that it is not a deserted land. Historically, the British used the smallpox virus to basically eliminate it. Australian Aboriginals.

But the problem is that Cheng Shijie does not intend to adopt a crude mining-style management method to establish Zhanzhou Prefecture and also establish a Zhanzhou Military Division.

At the meeting, no one was willing to choose the director (prefect) of the Zhanzhou Management Committee. In the eyes of all of them, going to Zhanzhou was simply an exile.

However, there is never a shortage of smart people in this world, but Shen Huandong stepped forward to volunteer. Shen Huandong is only a sideline member of the Shen family in Chongming. Moreover, his knowledge is not high, and he is not the smartest person. The resources he can enjoy are very limited. , So far, Shen Huandong’s official official position is only an inspection of the Wusongkou Inspection Department.This is the official position of the ninth rank.

Cheng Shijie naturally agreed to Shen Huandong's request, but he did not let him directly serve as the director of the Zhanzhou Management Committee. Cheng Shijie's eyes fell on Cheng Shi. He thought for a while and said: "Cheng Shi was transferred to the Guards Brigade Commander, and Hou Si followed I’ve been with you for a few years, so it’s time to let me go!”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Zhanzhou is rich in steel. You serve as the director of the Management Committee in Zhanzhou and also the commander of the Zhanzhou Army!"

Zhanzhou District is not large in scale. In fact, an infantry regiment, a medical battalion, and a transport battalion were directly transferred from the Guards Brigade to form a reinforced regiment. The entire army only has more than 100 troops.In Cheng Shijie's view, the Ming Dynasty's current Royal Army equipment is much more elite than that of Britain more than [-] years later. These exiled officials and gentry will definitely be forced to form a rope under the pressure of the situation, and it should not be a problem to gain a firm foothold. .

At this point, the Jiangnan Rebellion was generally over. Small-scale rebellions still occurred from time to time, but they were no longer insignificant.In this counterinsurgency battle that lasted for several months, the Ming army only invested 7 men in three brigades, and it was easily defeated.

The war scenes are a bit underwhelming, but the significance of this counter-insurgency war cannot be overestimated.Through this war, Cheng Shijie completely destroyed the rebellious Jiangnan Jin gentry group and uprooted this political force that had been openly and secretly opposing the court since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had indirectly controlled the entire court. rise.

After this battle, the once glorious Donglin Party no longer existed, and the most powerful resistance to the Dingxin Dynasty's New Deal was destroyed by the court in an extremely brutal way.

The wounds of war destruction in Nanjing are slowly healing. A large number of houses that were bombed or destroyed are directly rebuilt. The corpses that need to be collected are collected, those that need to be cremated are cremated, the land that needs to be distributed is distributed, and those who should live can continue to live.

Song Xiance was holding a statistical account book. The wind was blowing under his feet and he seemed to be flying.

"Your Majesty, this is the statistical result after the house was confiscated. Guess how much money these bastards have?"

Cheng Shijie vaguely remembered that after the Qing army captured Jiangnan, they plundered a huge amount of [-] million taels of silver, but his heart was unmoved: "How much was it?"

"After more than a month of house searches and tax inspections, countless gold and silver treasures were unearthed from the south of the Yangtze River, equivalent to more than 5000 million taels of silver..."

"Why is this?"

Cheng Shijie's reaction was beyond Song Xiance's expectation: "What does the king mean, is this not enough?"

"Of course it's less!"

Cheng Shijie said calmly: "Jiang Wubing is not very good at this job!"

"This is 5000 million taels..."

"The wealth accumulated by the Jiangnan Gentry Group over more than 200 years through tax evasion and collusion between government and businessmen must be more than this!"

Cheng Shijie's first reaction was that Jiang Wubing was not clean this time and was responsible for ransacking the house. He only needed to use a few tricks to make astronomical wealth.

Song Xiance was uneasy. He was also worried that his nephew had used money that he should not have used. This money was the fundamental guarantee for Cheng Shijie to develop industry and implement the New Deal. If Jiang Wubing had used this money, no one could protect him.

But thinking about Jiang Wubing patting his chest to reassure him, he fell into confusion again.

After investigation by Chen Guodong and Jin Yiwei, it was found that someone did take action, but it was not Jiang Wubing, but three battalion-level officers of the No. 16 Brigade. They embezzled more than 39 taels of silver in total.

However, Cheng Shijie is still wondering, is the gap too big?
In the end, it was Yang Yuniang who revealed this doubt to Cheng Shijie. Now, in the Imperial Bank of the Ming Dynasty, formerly the Liaodong Bank, a total of 650 merchants and gentry from Jiangnan have deposited silver in nine banks, with a total of more than [-] million taels of silver deposited. , and in the private sector of Liaodong, gentry from Jiangnan invested a total of more than [-] million taels of silver.

A considerable part of the money was harvested as leeks by the Ning Haijun Group in the North Zhili Food War and the Jiangnan Food War.

Now all the money is cheap for Cheng Shijie. Although it is still far behind the Qing army, it is exaggerated enough. This money has laid a solid foundation for the implementation of the Dingxin New Deal. The Jiangnan Gentry Group can also be regarded as a contributor to the Ming Dynasty. The revival made a huge contribution.

Of course, this kind of contribution is not something they are happy with!
The capture of Nanjing City meant the end of the Jiangnan gentry group that once dominated the fate of the Ming Dynasty. This powerful force withdrew from the stage of history in a tragic way. An old era ended and a new era began. prelude.

With money and the land acquired by the gentry group, there are too many things that can be done. The first is to re-measure the acres of land in the south of the Yangtze River and start to distribute it to the people in the south of the Yangtze River, even though autumn is about to enter.

However, the climate and land conditions in the Jiangnan region are more suitable for agricultural production, and crops can be grown in multiple seasons throughout the year.Generally speaking, seasonal crops that can be planted in Jiangnan include spring crops, summer crops, autumn crops and winter crops.

What makes the people in Jiangnan feel the happiest is that the Dingxin Dynasty began large-scale road repairs and dredging of ditches. These are national-level projects, and the work-for-relief method was adopted to allow the people in Jiangnan to quickly recover.

Sea salt, textiles, canned meat, seafood, and daily necessities from Liaodong quickly entered the market in Jiangnan. This was a timely blessing for Liaodong factories, which were already experiencing overcapacity.

In addition to the gold and silver treasures seized from the houses, a large amount of grain was also seized, which means that the Dingxin Dynasty had almost no investment and only used the grain and wealth of Jiangnan to feed the people of Jiangnan.

Just as Jiang Wubing continued to spread his family confiscation from Nanjing to all parts of the Yangtze River, an astonishing fleet of ships on the river in Nanjing raised their sails, with a large number of people and materials on board, preparing to go to sea.

The commander-in-chief of this fleet is Hou Si, and the deputy commander is Shen Huandong. They have been promoted from a ninth-grade inspector to a fourth-grade deputy director. This man's reputation has skyrocketed within the Shen family.

Hou Si's official position was granted the title of Governor of Zhanzhou by the imperial court. Just when everyone thought that he was satisfied and would happily take up the post of Governor of Zhanzhou to save a fortune for himself and for future generations.Hou Si was preparing for a big fight.

Unlike others, he followed Cheng Shijie and learned what kind of place Zhanzhou is. This place is larger than the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. It is now sparsely populated and very backward. In just a few years, he can develop it like Cheng Shijie. Like Liaodong, Zhanzhou was managed to be as prosperous as Liaodong.

The prison in Nanjing City couldn't hold too many people, so they had to vacate the Lion Rock Camp and fill it with people. This camp, which can accommodate 6 to [-] people, can naturally hold hundreds of thousands of prisoners.

Prisoners naturally have no human rights. They can only guarantee not to starve to death. Lu Weiqi, his sons Lu Zhaohuang, Lu Zhaolin, and their disciples and former officials were imprisoned in Lion Rock.

Cheng Shijie did not forget Lu Weiqi, but he did not release him immediately. Until everything settled, Lu Weiqi and his sons were brought to an open-air barrel, where a large amount of insecticide was added, and they were directly forced to bath.

After washing three buckets of black water, they were allowed to put on brand new clothes, because Cheng Shijie was going to host a banquet for them. If it had just been the fall of Nanjing, Lu Weiqi would have scolded Cheng Shijie and wanted to die.

But during this period of time in prison, under the torture of being unable to die or survive, Lu Weiqi was shaken. He didn't want to die, he wanted to live, even if he lived as humbly as an ant.

He could die, but what about his son?The eldest son, Lu Zhaohuang, is only 28 years old, and the second son, Lu Zhaolin, is only 22 years old. There are three ways to be unfilial, the most important is to have no heirs, and the Lu family cannot have no heirs.

Cheng Shijie's idea is that scholars cannot be eliminated, but empty talk will harm the country.Scholar does not just refer to a person or a group of people, but an ideal, or more broadly speaking, a doctrine.

Many Chinese people have no faith.Taking history as a mirror, the people believe most in themselves.

Our ancestors have been walking for 5000 years without roads. The mountains and seas cannot be leveled but they have to be moved. On the [-]th, they shoot the sun and bend their bows in the sky.

Jingwei holds a tiny piece of wood, and will fill the sea with it.Xing Tianwu is a relative, and his fierce will is always there.

This is the belief of our nation.

The Han Dynasty admired the three-foot-long Qingfeng and sought the title of marquis.

In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, there was a heroic spirit of destroying Loulan and never returning it.Let professional people do professional things, this is how things should be.

(End of this chapter)