Traveling through the Ming Dynasty, as soon as you open your eyes, you will die

Chapter 67 Liu Fangliang’s decision (a big chapter, please vote)

Gu Weiben, the counselor and military advisor, was a member of the Ming Dynasty. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty had no future, Li Zicheng's power was still strong, and he was invincible and swept half of China, with great potential to replace him. In order to protect his family's interests, he took refuge with Dashun Liu Fangliang.

There were very few literati in Li Zicheng's bandit group.

There are two reasons for this. One is the inherent aloofness of the literati, which makes them look down on these mud-legged bandits who were born as refugees.

There is also the inherent Confucian thought of joining the bandits, becoming thieves, and humiliating the ancestors.

Not only this group of literati is like this, but also the bandits who are revolting in various places do not use their real names, but use nicknames instead, such as Chuang Jiang Chuang Wang Da Chuang Wang, Eight Great Kings Cao Cao, and a tiger waving the flag. There are many reasons why the sky is not stained with mud, etc. In fact, it is still out of the mentality of not wanting to insult the ancestors.

Gu Weiben's actions shocked the Shandong cultural world at the time. Liu Fangliang was deeply influenced by Li Yan. He also understood that bandits like himself could only conquer the country, but not govern it.

He paid great attention to this juren and prepared to set a benchmark for Shandong cultural circles and attract more people to join him.

For this reason, Gu Weiben not only saved his property in Shandong, but was also reused by Liu Fangliang and became his staff advisor.

At this time, he stood up and said: "If General Quan wants to truly rule Shandong, he can no longer continue to press for payment. Because the gentry and wealthy households are the foundation of a dynasty's rule. Our kind of pressing for payment, If we continue like this, we will offend all the gentry, wealthy and literati in Shandong. We will not be able to rule Shandong."

He is right, because in the feudal era, the feudal dynasty ruled the country and established prefectures, cities, and counties. Then the decree only ends at the county level. Next, it will be left to the powerful gentry from various places to manage it.

This system of governance, which was so crippled that it had amputation of limbs and no legs, was once highly praised by a certain public intellectual of later generations, saying that it would save the cost of governance and reduce the burden on the people.

In this way, in the feudal era, the gentry and literati class could not be offended.

Historically, the reason why Li Zicheng failed to gain a foothold in Beijing was directly related to his frantic push for subsidies, which directly offended the gentry, bureaucrats and literati class.

The purpose of our friends abandoning the old monarch and surrendering to your new court is to gain promotion and wealth.

It turns out that it's good for you, first of all, take action on the family property of us people. I didn't get promoted and made a fortune, but instead I paid you back. So what do I do to protect you? Let's slap each other and break up. Let's find a new master.

After a massive defeat, Li Zicheng retreated all the way to the west. As a result, the Ming Dynasty officials from various places who had surrendered to Dashun switched sides again for this reason, and everyone pushed him down. Li Zhicheng could not stand at all, and eventually lost his country and died at the hands of armed landlords who hated him.

In fact, Li Zi was not unjust in his success or failure, nor was he unjust in his death. It is true that he did not see clearly the nature of this evil feudal society.

Lu Mou also engaged in violent collection. But Lu Mou occupies the moral high ground. He is the creditor who presses the debtor, and what he says is to pay back the debt. It is a natural and right thing to do, which makes the debtor feel guilty, and his momentum is weak. He is violent and does not resist. of.

Then when Lu Mouqiang urged him, he also increased the wages of the officials. This is called a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other.

The beatings left you covered with bruises, and then I gave you a bowl of carrot soup and asked for help, making you feel guilty but also grateful.

The only thing I use is to not make people anxious.

There is no one like the bandits who press for payment, they only ask for it, but don’t give it. That's stealing other people's property.

The only person in the world who will fight against you is if you rob him of his property. Have you ever seen a few debtors who killed their creditors to settle their debts?

Oh, by the way, don’t tell me, Li Zicheng did it. He killed his creditor Wei Juren and became debt-free.

Well, good idea.

Liu Fangliang also believed that the current situation could not go on any longer: "Sir, you are right, we will stop pressing for subsidies now." But the topic changed: "But how should we solve our future money and food supply?"

Gu Weiben breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He finally made some contribution to the Shandong elders: "As for the current food crisis, there are two solutions."

Liu Fangliang's eyes lit up. Literary people are smart. He was so worried here, but in the blink of an eye he found a way to return two of them: "Sir, please tell me, which two?"

Gu Weiben said calmly: "One solution is that through this operation, we already have no less than 500 million taels of silver in our hands. We buy grain from merchants in the south and transport it along the canal."

When they heard that the money in their hands was going to be touched, Liu Fangliang and other leaders felt heartbroken: "Sir, the money in our hands now is not enough to face the huge future expenses. So we can't touch it at this time. In addition, there are Is there any other way?"

Gu Weiben said: "Yes."

Upon hearing such an affirmative answer, Liu Fangliang's eyes couldn't help but light up: "Is there any other way?"

"borrow."

"Borrow? Who can I borrow from?"

"Ask Li Fang of Henan to borrow it."

As soon as this method came out, Liu Fangliang became discouraged: "I'm afraid this method won't work."

Gu Weiben said with a smile: "Li Yan and his wife have been running Henan for three years, and half of Henan Province is under his control. The past two years have been good, and I knew in the first year that the area under his jurisdiction was very mature. There is food in his hand.”

Liu Fangliang smiled bitterly and said: "That's not what I meant. What I meant was that even if Li Fang had food in his hand, he would not lend it to me."

Gu Weiben asked doubtfully: "Why?"

Why, that is a family scandal, and family scandals cannot be publicized.

But facing his own military advisor, if he needs to give him advice, he has to tell him about his family scandal. Therefore, Liu Fangliang told Gu Weiben the complicated contradictions between Li Yan and Li Zicheng that finally forced Li Yan to rebel.

After listening to such an introduction, Gu Weiben not only did not give up the idea, but instead smiled with confidence: "In this case, I dare to conclude that if the general asks Li Fang to borrow food, he will definitely agree to be satisfied. And he must do this, no Other options.”

"Why?" Liu Fangliang asked in surprise. This is incredible.

Gu Weiben smiled and said: "Because, if Li Fang really surrenders to Dashun, then in order to prove his sincerity, he must extend a helping hand to the general. If he pretends to defect to Dashun, in order to keep his His territory, then in order to cover up his conspiracy, he even took the initiative to lend food to the general. Under such circumstances, the general thought, did he have any other choice? "

When Liu Fangliang heard this, he slapped his thigh: "Sir's analysis is indeed correct. I will write to Li Fang and ask him to borrow food. I will borrow it if I ask him to, or if he doesn't." Then he laughed happily again. : "I just like to see that kid look deflated."

The generals also burst into laughter and were very happy.

Suddenly a soldier came trotting in with a letter in his hand and a hurried expression: "Sorry, General, it's an urgent military situation."

Liu Fangliang frowned: "What's an emergency military situation? At worst, there's a resistance coming out of nowhere. Just send troops to suppress it. Why panic?"

"This time it is not the landlords and gentry who are resisting, but General Hong from Binzhou who is urgently asking for help."

Liu Fangliang was shocked when he heard Binzhou Hong Zhiqiang asked for help.

Hong Zhiqiang is one of the best among his men in fighting. He has followed him for more than ten years, through life and death, and has never complained or flinched from any difficulties in front of him.

For him to ask for help, the situation must be quite tense. He snatched the request for help document from the soldier's hand, tore open the seal, and read through it urgently.

Then he became furious: "The officials of the former Ming Dynasty were indeed unreliable. The three counties of Binzhou all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty without any resistance. Hong Zhiqiang of Binzhou was caught off guard and unprepared, and was surrounded by the Ming army. This group of officials who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty can't be trusted. They are so angry that they can kill. Come on, continue to impose more stringent demands on the former Ming officials to pay them. If they cannot meet the quota we gave them, kill them all and kill their whole family."

Gu Weiben was shocked when he heard this and hurried forward to try to dissuade him again. However, Liu Fangliang waved his hand and said, "Sir, there is no need to say any more. I have made up my mind. Now, sir, you should help me solve the siege of Binzhou."

When Gu Weiben saw it, he could only give up in anger and began to understand the enemy's situation.

After understanding the enemy's situation, everyone in the room was wondering, Daming, when will these soldiers still exist? When will we have well-fed and well-equipped soldiers, their faces glowing red, their momentum like a rainbow? Since they have such soldiers, why not take them out earlier, but drive a group of hungry, cold, sallow, thin, weak, ragged clothes, and only a stick to fight against us?

Regarding this situation, everyone felt a sense of confusion and disbelief.

"Li Yan, Li Yan must have secretly brought his Henan savings over after he defected to the Ming Dynasty. Li Yan, you white-eyed wolf, you have ignored the trust that King Chuang had in you."

After finishing the scolding, Liu Fangliang also felt that he seemed to have scolded him wrong.

She felt extremely regretful in her heart: "Well, if Li Yan had not been suspected and suspected, it would be great if he had such an army belonging to Dashun. In that case, I would already be sitting in the bustling city of Beijing enjoying the blessings."

"How to do?"

Gu Weiben said calmly: "Although the Ming Dynasty sent out such elites, I guess Chongzhen brought out his own troops at the bottom of the box. But they did not directly attack Dezhou and Jinan, but took a side attack and attacked along the coast. Just by looking at it, we can conclude that they don’t have enough troops, so it’s not a full-scale counterattack, but they have other plans.”

After listening to Gu Weiben's analysis, everyone felt relieved, as long as it was not a full-scale counterattack.

Liu Fangliang frowned and asked: "Sir, I am a local. You said that they would not hesitate to use their life-saving troops to attack along the coast. Is there anything along the coast that is worthy of their desperate efforts?"

Gu Weiben frowned and thought, looking southward along the Ming army's offensive route. Suddenly, Shouguang's name jumped into his eyes.

He pointed his hand firmly at Shouguang. "According to the judgment of my subordinates, their ultimate goal is Shouguang."

"Why?" Now Liu Fangliang didn't even know how many reasons he had asked. He was a dignified General Shun Quan, but now he has turned into a curious baby. This made Liu Fangliang feel that his momentum was getting weaker and weaker than that of this nerd.

"Because Shouguang has salt."

"Is salt useful to the Ming Dynasty, which is still on its last legs?"

"Because there is almost no salt in Zhili."

Liu Fangliang understood that it was not that he had many problems, but that he only knew how to fight and did not understand governance and economics. This was not his fault.

After understanding the enemy's strategic goals, things have returned to their strengths and war has begun.

Immediately ordered: "Binzhou must not be lost, and the channel for the Ming army to go south to obtain salt must be blocked. This general decided, Liu Hongliang."

"Brother, what order?"

"I'll give you 20,000 troops to reinforce Binzhou. We must be under Binzhou City and work with General Hong to unite inside and outside to annihilate this last powerful force of the Ming Dynasty."

Gu Weiben exclaimed in alarm: "General, the young general only has 20,000 troops. He may be outnumbered. If he encounters an ambush on the way, it will be a big deal."

"Li Yan bypassed me in Jinan and carried out a sneak attack, which is enough to prove that he also has insufficient troops. If he wants to capture Binzhou before I can react, he must go all out. Where can he have other troops to attack me? An ambush? Sir, you have unparalleled tactics, but I, the general, have enough experience in war. Just leave this matter alone, I have the final say in this matter."

Gu Weiben immediately shut up.

(End of this chapter)