Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 700 The trumpet sounded
The meeting in the council hall lasted from morning to evening. Perhaps because it was the first time, many officials seldom raised any opinions. They thought it was reasonable and passed it immediately.

Among them, the key to discuss, in fact, to put it bluntly, is money.

Farming nations fight, sometimes more than logistics.

Wang Fuzhi's proposal of casting money and borrowing money was discussed with Wang Yan, and the purpose was to solve the cost of the Jiangnan campaign.

Generally speaking, it is the imperial court's right to mint money, and local governments have no right to mint money. But Wang Yan has a lot of lice now, so he doesn't care about such a thing. After all, minting money can quickly increase his income.

This time, the coins were mainly made of copper coins, but some silver coins and gold coins were also tried.

The reason why Wang Fuzhi had such an idea was that when he was running the Shibo Department, he obtained a large number of silver and gold coins from Xiyi, which were more convenient to use than silver ingots and broken silver.

Now with trade, the economy is becoming more and more prosperous, and the people also need some more convenient currency. You can’t always carry a handful of copper coins, or you have to use a small scale to weigh the silver every time you buy something, and you have to pay for it if you have too much. It is too inconvenient to drop a piece, which is not conducive to the development of business, so it is imperative to make money.

This not only allows the household department to quickly earn a sum of money, but also promotes commercial development. Of course, there are also disadvantages, that is, it will further aggravate the inflation caused by the large inflow of silver and increase the burden on the people.

With regard to borrowing, there are two previous precedents. Now as long as the vassal state has no money, the first solution that officials think of is probably to find a loan from the chamber of commerce.

Although Wang Fuzhi predicted that the tax of the vassal state may exceed 1000 million taels this year, but the 1000 million will not be fully collected until the end of the year, and the battle in the south of the Yangtze River will be fought now, and money will be needed immediately, so we have to continue to borrow.

In addition to making money, borrowing money, and preparing for war, there is one other thing that needs to be mentioned in particular, that is, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Martial Arts, which will probably be completed in October. It is imperative to enter the two chambers.

These issues, through deliberation, were finally passed one by one and handed over to the various ministries for implementation.

At the beginning of April, [-] Jiangxi Ming troops marched towards Chizhou, and the vanguard of Zheng Cheng's attack also appeared in the East China Sea. The battle of Jiangnan was just about to break out. The old emperor who was over fifty years old personally sounded the clarion call to recover the southern capital.

After more than a month, Li Suiqiu finally arrived in Wuchang with a batch of gunpowder transferred from Guangzhou, as well as a large number of equipment produced by Cannon Workshop, Military Weapons Supervision and folk workshops, a total of fifty large ships.

Due to the rush of time and the high intensity of labor, many boat trackers even died of exhaustion on both sides of the river.

Wang Yan saw that the soldiers and civilians under his rule had paid a lot for this campaign, and he felt a lot of pressure. If he failed, he would not only be sorry for the people, but also ruin his political ideals. Therefore, he did not dare to be sloppy. After that, a military order was issued immediately.

He Tengjiao's magical five armies, plus the Houyong Battalion, had nearly 10 people. After the Ministry of War issued a transfer order, Wang Yan transferred [-] soldiers from them and promoted them to the elite soldiers of the Five Loyal Army. The strength of the loyal army reached its peak.

The entire adjustment process was time-consuming. When Longwu dispatched troops, only the superintendents and Zhongyong Town, who were first stationed in Wuchang, had been replenished, and with a little training, Zhongzhen who came from Hunan had just begun to replenish, and Zhongwu , Zhongzhi is still rushing to Wuchang.

Although Wang Yan didn't deal with the emperor, he intended to compete with the emperor for the credit for recovering Nanjing, and wanted to suppress the imperial court, but he didn't want to see the Ming army in Jiangxi fail suddenly, which would ruin the situation all at once.

When he learned that the Jiangxi Ming army was rushing towards Nanjing, he became a little worried. 7 troops marched along the south bank of the Yangtze River to attack Jiangnan, which was guarded by 15 people. He felt that there was not much chance of winning.

Wang Yan could tolerate the emperor's small defeat, and was happy to see him and the Qing soldiers tussle, but he didn't want to see a big defeat ruin the situation.

At this time, the materials from Guangdong arrived, and the materials in reserve increased from supporting 4 people to supporting [-] people.

The navy in Jiangxi was not strong, so the emperor went to the south bank of the Yangtze River. Wang Yan also issued a call to arms in Wuchang, saying, "In the past, the chaos of China in the past five years was only passed on again and again. Today, the eastern captives should be prophesied, suitable for five years." The period. Sincerely, the way of heaven is easy to return, and the people are also thinking about Han. Since the Jiashen was shocked, the land of the gods has fallen. The chieftain originally belonged to the barbarians, but he was repeatedly turned against him, so he took advantage of the difficulties and stole the Central Plains. Clothes changed into dogs and sheep , the country fell to Rongdi. There is no bloody person who does not grieve his teeth at the slave chieftains. This vassal advocated by heaven, punished the people, used troops like the ancients, took Jinling first, was born in the water and fire, and restored the majesty of the officials of the Han Dynasty The civil and military generals of the Er Puppet Administration are all the sons of the great Han. It is a matter of nature and justice, the distinction between Hua and Barbarians is very clear, the source of wood and water, the good of loyalty and filial piety. Now that the soldiers are approaching, revenge and shame, how can we wait for a different time. This fan has always been benevolent and righteous, with clear rewards and punishments. Anyone who raises his troops to return to the right will not rectify the past, and anyone who is stubborn will be punished by the whole family. The teacher will not be promoted, and the time will not come. The announcement will be far and wide, and the salty envoy will know. Respectful and special."

Following the issuance of the call to action, Wang Yan raised his troops in Wuchang, ordered Dai Zhifan to be the vanguard officer, and led an army of [-] troops along the north and east of the river to share some pressure for the emperor, protect the emperor's flanks, and at the same time clear the way for the follow-up army.

The actions of the Ming Dynasty were so big that Hong Chengchou in the south of the Yangtze River had long been alarmed.

As early as March, the secret works of Manchu Qing kept sending back news, and the movements of Long Wu, Zheng Chenggong, and Wang Yan gradually gathered on Hong Chengchou's desk, and he knew that something was wrong.

There are various indications that the emperor of the Southern Dynasty, as he expected, would send troops to attack Jiangnan after the peace talks broke down. However, the Southern Dynasty came a little too soon, and he was not fully prepared.

If only the Ming army came all the way from Jiangxi, Hong Chengchou was not afraid, and even had the confidence to eat up this Ming army. But this time, there were more troops from the Southern Dynasty. There were King Lu and Zheng Chenggong on the sea in the east, and Longwu and Hebei in the west. Wang Yan.

In particular, the information from Huguang shows that the Five Loyalty Army, five towns, and one bid, except for the Zhongyi Town, which guards the key point in eastern Sichuan, the other troops are all moving to Hubei. In Bide, this made him a little uneasy.

At the beginning of April, Duoduo, who had besieged Rugao for more than a month, suddenly withdrew his troops and returned to Yangzhou on the eve of breaking the city, which relieved Zhang Mingzhen, Xie Qian and others.

At this time, the fleets of Lu Jianguo and Zheng Chenggong entered the mouth of the Yangtze River one after the other. Lu Jianguo brought Zhang Mingzhen a large amount of rice and grain bought from Guangzhou, as well as gunpowder, weapons and equipment bought from Japan. , and also published a call to action.

However, after Lu Fan issued the proclamation, there was no follow-up action. Instead of chasing and killing the retreating Duoduo, he rested in Rugao and other places.

The reason why Duoduo was forced to withdraw his troops was that Long Wu and Wang Yan sent troops successively.

On April 3th, Dai Zhifan set off from Wuchang with a full staff of [-] Zhongyong and [-] grain guards. At the same time, Jin Shenghuan and the Qing general Jin Li fought fiercely in Chizhou. Jinshanwei landed, attacked Songjiang Mansion, and sounded the clarion call to recover Nandu.

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