Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 535

As for the 50 army, the Ming Dynasty was not unable to produce it. After the capital was breached, Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, and Liu Liangzuo fled to Jianghuai's four towns in the north of the Yangtze River. There were 30 troops under his command. The army also dispatched nearly 40 people, not including the Qin soldiers in Shaanxi, Huguang and Sichuan soldiers.

But the soldiers of the whole country can be handed over to one person. With the character of Emperor Chongzhen, is it possible for him to let him go?What's more, in Hong Chengchou's tone, it seems that he wants to add another 50 troops. The so-called 75 additional troops in Yang Sichang's salary training plan back then has exhausted the Ming Dynasty, let alone 50. up.

At this time, Hong Chengchou didn't want to come out when he was singing high-profile with the emperor. His face was twitching a little. After Wang Chengen reprimanded him next to him, he planned to order the emperor to let Jin Yiwei throw this lion-mouthed bastard back to the dungeon and eat it again. I went to prison.

Today, however, the emperor seemed to be very patient. After trembling with anger for a moment, Zhu Youjian was still patient, and even waved his hand to make Wang Chengen step aside, and immediately asked Hong Chengchou with a sullen face.

"Hong Qing, why do you have to have 50 soldiers?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, Li Chuang's trouble is not in soldiers, but in disasters! Your Majesty, Li Chuang is not invincible. Chen, Zheng Du, Ding Du, and Chen Du have defeated him countless times, but every time Li Chuang I can get up, and I am stronger, without him, my Ming Dynasty is unlucky, there is a severe drought, and the three salaries have been raised every time, the government servants rush to sparks, and the common people are starved to death in duckweed. The cornerstone of money, grain and taxation in Huguang and Central Plains has been broken, and Sichuan capital is cut off. Your Majesty, the household treasury is probably empty, right?"

Hong Chengchou was squatting in the prison like Sun Chuanting in history, but the difference between him and Sun Chuanting was that Hong Chengchou squatted relatively late, while Sun Chuanting squatted at the peak of his career. The two had completely different impressions of the Ming Dynasty. He had intercepted and killed the king of heaven Gao Yingxiang, so he said that five thousand elite soldiers could quell the bandits. Hong Chengchou had experienced the days of waiting to die in Songshan City. .

This sentence was another opportunity for Wang Chengen to report good news but not bad news. The loyal eunuch couldn't help scolding him for the second time, but this time, Zhu Youjian waved his hand to stop him again.

There is no way, what Hong Chengchou said is the truth, although it doesn't catch my ears, no one has told him the truth for a long time.

Without interruption, Hong Chengchou continued to describe his strategy.

"When I joined Yousi, the intruders already had a crowd of 20 and besieged Luoyang. In a year, the intruders would probably require millions of mercenaries. Qin Town has less than 20 registered soldiers, and Jin Town has only [-]. , Chu Town still has about [-] bandit suppressing troops left by Yang Ge's Ministry, which is worthy of a battle. Hebei has [-] Baoding Admiral Yang Wenyue, and Jianghuai has [-] Huaihuai General Song Qingshu. These troops are enough to defeat Li Chuang. However, it is not enough to completely quell the war. The people start from the thieves, and the officers and soldiers will continue to need supplies. They have fallen into the mess of chasing the thieves all over the country a few years ago. If this continues, the situation will only worsen. erosion."

"So the minister's strategy, the Northern Army recruited 50 new troops, and attacked the Central Plains from the north to the south with Chu Town. Wherever they passed, the thieves would die! Four directions were set up, and Li Chuang was sent out of Hebei and Shaanxi. Back then in Gansu, the land was vast and sparsely populated. There is no way to make up for it, Li Chuang has lost a lot of money, so it will not take half a year for Li Chuang to die! Looking back, Zhang Thief is just a clown!"

What Hong Chengchou said was bold and murderous enough. If he said that the thief will die, if it is realized, it is estimated that the Central Plains Guanzhong will be killed by him into a sea of ​​corpses. I am afraid that the number of people who have been killed is no less than millions. The people who go down are killed, and the rest will naturally be good people who respect the Ming Dynasty, and the peasant uprising army will naturally disappear. This method is about to catch up with the change of dynasty. A large population will immediately redistribute resources, and when the social distribution is even, the next prosperous age will start.

Of course, the premise is that there must be an army of 50. The Emperor Chongzhen who said this was silent for a long time before shaking his head with difficulty.

"Heaven has the virtue of loving life, and the thief is also my own child, why should we fight each other? This strategy is not allowed!"

This emperor is hypocritical enough, he also said this before, but when Hong Chengchou killed the captives in Shaanxi, Chongzhen happily promoted him to three ranks, this time it was also to save face, it cannot be said that the dignified emperor of Ming Dynasty has no money Bar?Back to the question of not being able to bear to kill again.

Fortunately, the so-called 50 army was learned by Hong Chengchou and Yuan Chonghuan. First, he fooled the emperor with a big talk, and then it was the real strategy. He said that the household department was empty. The new army is coming.

"Your Majesty, forgive me, I'm stupid. If there is no army of 50, I can only propose Yang He's old strategy, the strategy of nourishing vitality!"

In fact, none of the previous governors did a better job than Yang He in governing the peasant army. He was indeed not good at military affairs, but he saw the problem sharply. He did not regard the peasant rebellion as a war, but as a war. For social issues, it is advocated to lighten the tax and reduce the misfortune of the people, and the imperial court helps the hungry people. To be honest, if this strategy is implemented successfully, Ming Dynasty will not come to where it is today, let alone perish.

It's not that Yang He is incompetent, it's that Zhu Youjian is too courageous. Disaster relief is a national matter, and naturally it needs the support of the whole country, but how much support does Zhu Youjian give?What are you doing with 10 taels of silver when you pay one hundred thousand taels of money?The money Song Qingshu sent to Zhou Yanru in a year was more than five times that. In front of millions of starving people, it was a drop in the bucket. Hong Chengchou also saw this and strongly advocated strangulation.

But now, Hong Chengchou brought out the strategy of his political opponent Yang He again, and Chongzhen was taken aback when he heard it, and couldn't help but nodded.

"go on!"

"I recommend two people to your Majesty. Zheng Chongjian, the former Governor of Shaanxi, and Hou Xun, the former Minister of the Household Department. Zheng Chongjian has supervised Shaanxi for many years. He has cultivated fields and reclaimed land, managed the army fairly, and is strict and old-fashioned. General Qin admires him more. He can be the governor of the three sides. Among the 20 troops in Chu Town, Zuo Liangyu's army is the most brave. When Zuo Liangyu broke the law in Liaodong, he should be executed. It was the governor Hou Xun who appreciated his bravery. Today, Hou Xun has been kind to him by promoting him and saving his life, so it will be more handy to use Hou Xun to replace Fu Zonglong as governor of Chu Town!"

These two are Hong Chengchou's inmates, but Chongzhen was embarrassed when he heard it. Both of them were dismissed and sent to prison because of Chongzhen's own temper. As the main force of the army, the battle of Xiangcheng has been exhausted. It is true that Zuo Liangyu is the main force. When Hu Dawei dies, he will be left in Chu Town.

"I agree with these two, Cheng En, the supervisor of ceremonies will draft the imperial decree for Mr. Zhou to issue and deal with by the cabinet, Hong Qing, then what?"

"Then it's time to defend! Zheng Chongjian defended Tongguan, Governor Hou Xun tried his best to drive Zhang Xianzhong northward and stabilize Huguang, Governor Xuanda and Governor Baoding guarded the Taihang to prevent the bandit army from going north or east. Raise the vitality of the country for a few years, don't use large-scale troops, when the treasury has enough silver, choose a general to oversee an army of [-], encircle with the armies of the four directions, and the thieves will be defeated without fighting!"

This is a bit of a meaning of driving fish for Yuan. For the time being, the imperial court gave up the rule of Henan and completely gave it to Li Chuang. He exchanged space for time to recuperate, resume production, restore social order, and a large part of the most elite European part of the Soviet Union during World War II. They were all occupied by Germany, relying on the vast land, they still survived. Although Ming Dynasty is in chaos now, the situation is much better than that of the Soviet Union. If it can be implemented, maybe it can really turn around.

And just in Henan, regardless of the flat terrain, the large number of fields, and the years of great famine, it may not be able to feed the world's thieves. They followed the rebellion to have food to eat. He rebelled against the thief, which is tantamount to throwing the burden of the court to the thief.

And now Chongzhen still wants to make peace with Jiannu. If this matter is done, it will really have the effect of two-pronged approach. However, with Chongzhen's temperament, will he accept Henan to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong?

Hearing Hong Chengchou's suggestion, Zhu Youjian frowned, sat on the dragon chair, dragged his chin with his hands, thought hard for a long time, and finally nodded.

"This matter will be handed over to the court for discussion and disposal in a few days."

Don't look at the emperor nodding, but Hong Chengchou's heart is already cold. If this matter is to be implemented, the emperor must be arbitrary. The officials who gave up their ancestral land and negotiated peace with the thieves would lose the face of the court. It is even possible to say that Hong Chengchou is Li Zicheng's spy. The officials were originally created by Zhu Yuanzhang to maintain the cleanliness of the Ming Dynasty. Nowadays, fierce party disputes have made this tool sour. For the speaker, it doesn't matter whether the words are right or wrong, the loudest and most powerful voice can win the reputation. Anyway, the ancestral system does not kill the speaker. They dare to scold the emperor if they are not guilty of speech, but they will not speak collectively about this matter if it is not bad.

And if this matter involves himself, Hong Chengchou probably doesn't have to wait for the Songshan War to deal with it, and he will be impeached to death in a few days.

Fortunately, when he was sweating coldly, the emperor did not forget him, after a long time, Chongzhen suddenly remembered again, and raised his head to ask Hong Chengchou.

"I have recommended two people, but Hong Qing hasn't said that you can take over the position, how can you serve me!"

Here's your chance!With his heart beating wildly, Hong Chengchou quickly bowed down again with a serious face, and kowtowed heavily to the emperor.

"Your Majesty, there is still a place in the world where the people are brave and the products are rich. I would like to supervise it for Your Majesty, train a new army, and wipe out the bandits!"

(End of this chapter)