Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 542
Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian has been going north along the route of the Second Corps of the First Guards Army.

Today, the forward troops of the Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards have recovered Qing County along the Grand Canal.

And Zhu Youjian has also arrived in Cangzhou, not far from Qing County.

Although it is already March in spring, when the flowers are red and the willows are green, but because the water transportation has been cut off, the current Hejian Mansion looks a bit bleak and not as busy as it used to be.

Fortunately, because of the Northern Expedition of the Guards, although these places are desolate, they are calm.

When Zhu Youjian got out of the chariot, he could still see some people coming and going.

Zhu Youjian couldn't help asking Xu Zhaohua, the eunuch accompanying the Supervisor of Rites, "Zhaohua, what did you see?"

Xu Zhaohua pondered for a moment, she knew that Zhu Youjian liked to listen to the truth, so she replied: "Going back to my father, what I saw was that there is no sound of reading in the village house, and there is no Jin Yilang in the street."

Zhu Youjian knew what Xu Zhaohua meant. After the guards crossed the border, the entire grassroots society controlled by the gentry clan seemed to lose its upward vitality.

Xu Zhaohua was born in a scholarly family, and his attention is habitually focused on the gentry level, and Zhu Youjian can understand this.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian just smiled and said nothing.

But at this time, Zhu Youjian saw Liu Xiyao, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards, and asked Liu Xiyao again: "Liu Xiyao, what did you see?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, what I saw was a smile, the smile on the faces of the common people, the smile of a three-year-old child pulling weeds in the field, the same smile I saw in my own field when I was a child, only when I was in my own field. To have a smile like that.”

Liu Xiyao said excitedly with a smile on his face.

Zhu Youjian still just smiled slightly without making any comments.

What Xu Zhaohua sees is that as the entire northern gentry class is eradicated, there will be a breakdown in grassroots social services throughout the north.

For example, grassroots services such as building water conservancy, mediating disputes, helping the poor, and supporting education that were previously undertaken by local gentry all required the imperial court to undertake.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian is very happy that the management of these grassroots societies is directly controlled by the imperial court, not through the squires, so that the people of the empire will not have the consequences of knowing only their clan patriarchs but not the Ming emperor.

And what Liu Xiyao saw was that with the eradication of the entire northern gentry class, the common people got their own land, and the interests and needs of the common people were met.

This is the result that Zhu Youjian wants to see. The Ming Dynasty has treated the gentry too preferentially for hundreds of years. It is time for these gentry to bleed and let the common people enjoy some benefits and no longer become refugees.

In order to completely change the social form of the Northern Zhili area, the Northern Expedition of the First Guards Army was very slow, but it was also because of this that the reform movement in several prefectures in the Northern Zhili area was particularly thorough.

After all, Beizhili will be the core ruling area of ​​the Ming Empire in the future, and the more thorough the reform movement is, the better it will be for Zhu Youjian to transform the Ming Empire.

Now Zhu Youjian has also received news of victory from various Northern Expeditionary armies one after another. After knowing that there are only a few mansions in the Northern Zhili area left in the entire Qing Dynasty, he is in a very good mood.

The current Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian has never had such a sense of accomplishment as he does now. Although he is a time traveler now, he feels very excited when he knows that he is about to reunify the entire China.

It was something he was looking forward to.

After all, being able to turn the tide and even reunify the country when the alien race rises is not something that a random emperor can do.

Ning Guogong Zhou Yuji, who is now in charge, admires Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian very much. In his eyes, his own Ming Emperor Zhu Youjian is the greatest holy king in history, and no one in future generations will be able to match his own Chongzhen His Majesty the Emperor.

First of all, what Zhou Yuji admired was that he didn't know why his Emperor Daming still knew how to call him to Beijing and choose him when Li Zicheng was about to attack Beijing.

He felt that his majesty the emperor was very knowledgeable.

Li Mingrui now also has to admit that his majesty the emperor is actually the most wise emperor in the world, no matter his mind or the city, he is invincible.

"Ten years ago, few would have believed that the Ming army could retake Liaoyang, Shenyang and other cities outside the pass, but His Majesty the Emperor did just that."

Li Mingrui wrote in his notes.

The Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards soon regained Dacheng, which was the transportation hub between Hejian Mansion and Baoding Mansion.

Recovering Dacheng is tantamount to cutting off the connection between Baoding Mansion and Hejian Mansion, and the Governor of Qing Zhili in Baoding Mansion, Gushan Ezhenshi Tingshu, will naturally have no time to take care of the defense of Hejian Mansion.

The Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards quickly divided into two groups, attacking Tianjin Wei from Dacheng and Qingxian respectively.

Due to the blockage of water transportation, it is difficult to reach Tianjinwei by water.

But once Tianjin Wei is occupied, Beijing can be reached directly by land or water.

Because of this, Tianjin Guard is very important for defending Beijing.

Dorgon even directly dispatched Duoluo County Wang Mingle to lead Zhengbai Banner and Xianghuang Banner [-] Manchurian cavalry and [-] Han Army Banner elites, as well as [-] additional cannons to defend here.

In addition to the original [-] Han Banner Qing soldiers and [-] green battalions in the entire Tianjin Guard, the total defending Qing army in the entire Tianjin Guard has a total strength of more than [-].

The Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards has a total of more than [-] people.

This can also be regarded as one of the few guards who fought more with less in the entire Northern Expedition.

King Mingle of Duoluo County in the Manchu Qing Dynasty knew that defending Tianjin Guard had to defend the Ming army in two directions.

Therefore, Mingle, the king of Duoluo County, deployed heavy troops in both Jinghai and Dagukou.

Liu Xiyao, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Second Corps of the First Army of the Guards, was in charge of commanding the battle to recover Tianjin Guards.

Zhu Youjian did not interfere with Liu Xiyao's command of the battle to recover Tianjin Wei, nor did he let Zhou Yuji interfere.

How to arrange troops is still only in the charge of Liu Xiyao.

However, Liu Xiyao also knew that he had to fight well in Tianjin Wei's battle. After all, His Majesty the Emperor was right in front of him, so he couldn't be too embarrassed.

Therefore, these days, Liu Xiyao almost stayed out day and night to observe the enemy situation in the direction of Jinghai and Dagukou.

The Qing Dynasty did not want to lose Tianjin Wei, and the Ming Dynasty had to occupy Tianjin Wei if it wanted to succeed in the Northern Expedition. Neither side wanted to give up easily.

Dorgon is also always paying attention to the movement in the direction of Tianjin Wei. He even came to Tongzhou in person to make it easier to understand the news of Tianjin Wei's situation.

　Thank you book friends for giving you 100 book coins
　　
　
(End of this chapter)