Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 520 Jiangnan
In Jiangnan at the beginning of June, just after the Slight Heat, the air is filled with the fragrance of green grass, and the seedlings in the rice fields outside the city are growing vigorously. The summer wind blows, bowing their heads, forming waves of green waves.

In the third year after the Qing army occupied Nanjing, after the initial massacre and looting, the Qing government made policy adjustments to the areas that had gradually succumbed, and began to focus on the restoration of local agriculture to ensure the rations needed by the Qing soldiers.

As the war continued to expand, and the Ming Dynasty gained a firm foothold in Chu and Jiangxi, and the consumption of the war was astonishing, the Qing court became more aware of this and needed more food.

As the governor of Jiangnan, Hong Chengchou was given high hopes by the Qing court, and he did not live up to his master's trust and expectations.

He first broke through the Chen Zilong Rebel Army who had been entrenched in Taihu Lake for nearly three years, turned the anti-Qing forces in the entire Jiangnan from bright to dark, and made Jiangnan peaceful on the surface.

If there is no accident, Jiangnan this year will definitely have a big harvest. With food to eat, the people will settle down.

At this time, Jiangning City, with the change of policy, is not as depressed and dilapidated as it was when the Qing soldiers first occupied it. Many small vendors have begun to appear on the streets, and there are also a few shops.

Although it is not as good as a drop in the bucket compared to the city of Nanjing with a million registered permanent residence and commercial prosperity, and it cannot be compared with the current Guangjing, but it gradually has a commercial atmosphere.

This is mostly due to Hong Chengchou, and of course it is also because the eight imperial merchants entered the south of the Yangtze River and started staking their land.

Qing soldiers went south, and the salt merchants in Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers were destroyed along with Yangzhou City, which had been in operation for a hundred years. Most of them died in the First World War in Yangzhou, and a few left their homes and businesses. Started a maritime business.

The benefits of salt and iron have been profitable industries since the Spring and Autumn Period. As a supporter of the Qing army's entry into the customs, Shunzhi children personally summoned and conferred the imperial merchants. They naturally took over the salt industry from the declining Lianghuai salt merchants. profit.

In addition, with the entry of the Qing soldiers into the south of the Yangtze River, the emerging business groups in the southeast under the protection of the Donglin Party and the maritime merchants in eastern Zhejiang under the protection of the Zhejiang Party were all looted by the Qing soldiers, and the southeast businesses were completely destroyed. In decline, the Eight Great Imperial Merchants naturally extended their hands to the south of the Yangtze River.

Today, among the ten shops in Jiangning City, at least eight are owned by the eight imperial merchants.

As the governor of Jiangnan, Hong Chengchou also supported Shanxi merchants. With them, the people could exchange surplus rice for silver. With money, they could buy cloth and agricultural tools, revitalize business, and help him restore Jiangnan.

At the same time, just like before the Qing soldiers entered the customs, they provided the Manchus with strategic materials such as ironware and gunpowder, which bankrupted the Ming Dynasty’s trade blockade against the Manchus, and provided the Qing soldiers with information about the Ming army, which made the Ming army fail. Now the Imperial Merchant can also help him buy strategic materials from the areas controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and as a well-informed businessman, he can also provide him with a lot of information, sometimes faster and faster than the secret agents of the Qing court. allow.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou came to Prince Yu Duoduo's mansion in a hurry with a message from the eight imperial merchants in his hand.

This mansion was originally the mansion of Xu Wenjue, the Duke of Wei in the Ming Dynasty. From Xu to Xu Wenjue, it has been operated for more than 270 years for eleven generations. Besides, it is absolutely unique in Jiangning City.

This is much better than the thatched huts in the earthen pits outside the pass. Every tree and every stone is exquisite. There are small bridges and flowing water, pavilions, terraces and attics, which are too beautiful to behold.

If such a good house falls into the hands of Hong Chengchou, educated people will be able to see some ways and write a few lines of poetry from time to time, but in the hands of Duoduo, they can only use one sentence, "It's so fucking beautiful. " to express his emotion.

Hong Chengchou hurriedly walked through the promenade, walked across the small bridge, turned a few corners in the house, and finally came to a garden. Before he entered the yard, he heard a babbling libretto, presumably Duoduo was listen to the play.

In the yard, Duoduo only wore a white singlet, and sat on a wicker chair with his breasts leaking breasts. With his eyes closed, he patted his legs rhythmically following the libretto of the two young students. There were two young beauties wearing tulle, one gently fanned him, and the other picked up chilled grapes, peeled them, and put them in his mouth with jade fingers. Life was so pleasant.

At this time, the woman next to him lowered her head and reminded him a few words, and Duoduo opened her eyes just in time to see Hong Chengchou standing aside with her head bowed, and she didn't know how long she had been waiting.

Seeing this, Doduo was a little embarrassed, and waved his hand to make all the servants and maids retreat, and then closed the single clothes with his hands to cover his increasingly slack belly.

The Manchurian had been in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, and gradually realized a little bit of beauty, ugliness, and shame. He sat up from the rattan chair and asked, "Governor Hong, why did you come to my king today?"

Hong Chengchou looked at Duduo's somewhat swollen face, sighed in his heart, and saluted him, and then said: "My lord, Fan Douyong's people got the news when they were purchasing supplies in the south. Shu."

When Doduo heard this, he sat upright suddenly, but then he raised his eyebrows and smiled again, and softened up, "Oh~ then Hauge has suffered a lot."

Hong Chengchou was stunned, and after a while, he said: "Before, there was news from Beijing that Prince Su and King Pingxi were powerful in Sichuan, occupying Chengdu, Zhang Xianzhong was also surrounded, Sichuan and Sichuan were about to be settled! , then the situation may change. After all, the soldiers and horses of Prince Su and King Pingxi have been exhausted after nearly a year of continuous fighting. Almost all the wars ended in failure. As a result, the humble official is worried, and I am afraid that the trend of the world will be reversed!"

Doduo frowned when he heard this. Although he hoped to see Hauge deflated, he could still distinguish between the serious and the serious when it was related to the overall situation of the Qing Dynasty.He straightened himself up, with a serious look on his face, "What does Governor Hong mean?"

"My lord, the firms of Fan Douyong and others traded goods in Huguang and Jiangxi, and collected a lot of information. This time Wang Yan entered Shu and took away most of the elite soldiers from Guangdong and Hunan. The strength of the Ming army on the Eastern Front Feel empty. Jiangnan is now stable, and after pulling out the nail of Taihu Lake, we have no worries. I think that we should take advantage of Wang Yan's opportunity to enter Shu and plot the land of Chu and Jiangxi!"

Duo Duo nodded. Chu Gan was lost from Dorgon's faction. If he could get it back, his Duo brothers' position in the Qing court would be greatly consolidated. It would not be impossible to pull the little emperor down in the future.

"Governor Hong thinks how we should fight? Jiangxi has about 10 Ming troops, and Huguang He Tengjiao and Fu Shangrui have nearly [-] horses. Should we fight Jiangxi first, or Hubei first, or after reporting to the court, we will unite with King Liangshun of Henan to fight together Hit the whole Chugan?"

(Thanks to Xiaoke Donghuadong, gdrthg for the reward, and book friend 5288 for the monthly pass.)
(End of this chapter)