Zhu Youxiao came to the imperial prison in person, which surprised Li Xianzhong.
After all, in his impression, the "Carpenter Emperor" was a little unprofessional and favored Ke Yinyue and Wei Zhongxian too much, which led to the loss of power.
Coupled with the fact that he was only 15 years old, Li Xianzhong inevitably felt some contempt.
However, His Majesty came to the prison in person to rescue him from the sea of misery, and he still had to show his gratitude!
After Li Xianzhong knelt down and accepted the imperial edict, he immediately expressed his gratitude!
But obviously, His Majesty is not very interested in Li Xianzhong's flattery!
Soon Zhu Youxiao was attracted by a gadget on Li Xianzhong's desk.
Li Xianzhong said: "This is a Rubik's Cube that Weichen ordered the craftsmen to build. It is used to kill time when you have nothing to do."
Zhu Youxiao picked up the Rubik's Cube and started to move it. Sure enough, it didn't take long for all six sides of the Rubik's Cube to be restored.
He said: "Uncle Ning Yuan, can you give this Rubik's Cube to me?"
These were originally things that Li Xianzhong had tailor-made for Zhu Youxiao. Of course His Majesty wanted him very much.
He pointed to a small box next to him and said, "Weichen has prepared a lot of these gadgets to relieve boredom. If your Majesty likes, feel free to take them."
Zhu Youxiao soon fell in love with this exquisitely crafted huanghuali box.
To be precise, this is a mechanism box, which can also be called a "Luban box". To unlock it, you need to keep flipping the wooden bars on the box until the mechanism is triggered. Since the Luban box is three-dimensional, it is much more difficult than the Rubik's cube.
Li Xianzhong opened the "Luban Box" for the first time, but it took him two days.
Sure enough, Zhu Youxiao didn't untie it on the spot after fiddling with it for a while, but he still happily accepted the box of gifts.
After all, a gift with a sense of expectation made him have more reveries.
Then he ordered the cabinet to fully support Li Xianzhong in his campaign to establish the state.
Wei Zhongxian on the side was also surprised. His Majesty had no one to care about him since he was a child. When he was bored, he liked to go to the craftsman's room and do some carpentry work by himself.
But how did Ning Yuanbo know about this kind of thing?
Even he only thought of hugging Zhu Youxiao tightly after Emperor Taichang became critically ill.
Uncle Ning Yuan must have prepared these things a long time ago. This seemingly unintentional move must have been carefully planned by him.
Since His Majesty is more interested in carpentry than in government affairs, this is not a bad thing. He can just do what he likes.
After Li Xianzhong left the imperial edict, he gave Wei Zhongxian a large house.
Wei Zhongxian originally didn't want to accept it. After all, Li Xianzhong spent a lot of money to save his life when he was a stranger.
I am a person with a clear sense of grudges, so the care I took for him in prison can be regarded as repaying my gratitude. It is not appropriate to accept the generous gifts from Uncle Ning Yuan.
However, Li Xianzhong said: "It is really gratifying and congratulatory for Eunuch Wei to regain his original surname and be named Zhongxian by His Majesty. It's just a house, don't refuse it!"
"Now that the Donglin Party is in power, I am afraid that there will be many constraints in the DPRK and Central Government to show loyalty to Jianzhou. I hope that Eunuch Wei will support the Liaodong general in the war."
Wei Zhongxian returned the longevity lock given by Wanli to Li Xianzhong and said: "The people from the East Factory of the wooden box have checked it, and a piece of silk was indeed found inside. It records the civil and military ministers of the court, including the chief minister Zhao Zhigao. In order to weaken the power of the Li family, he tipped off the Mongols, which led to the death of Li Rusong, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong."
"Uncle Ning Yuan also knew that our family was illiterate, so he just listened to the general description of the situation and presented the silk silk to Emperor Taichang. In the end, His Majesty burned the silk silk and killed the relevant eunuchs."
"So our family can only tell Uncle Ning Yuan so much."
Li Xianzhong never expected that Zhao Zhigao, the chief assistant at the time, would actually participate, because it was this chief assistant Zhao who drafted Li Rusong's epitaph. He once complained about Li Jiayuan and claimed to investigate the matter thoroughly.
It turned out that it was just a drama of "Catch the thief when the thief shouts". As expected, the chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet were all "actor" level.
After all, it was an old story more than 20 years ago, and the original masterminds are now deceased.
In any case, Li Xianzhong was very grateful to Wei Zhongxian for telling him this. It seemed that Wanli was indeed treating him well. Since he dared to tell him the truth, it also meant that he was not the mastermind behind the scenes, but just passively accepted the situation.
As a reciprocation, he also gave Wei Zhongxian a hint and said: "Next, the Donglin Party will definitely attack and exclude people from the three parties of Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang. Eunuch Wei can take the opportunity to recruit these people and expand his influence in the court. .”
Later, Li Xianzhong gave Wei Zhongxian 1.5% of the dividend rights of Heaven and Earth.
Originally these belonged to Zheng Yangxing, but under Li Xianzhong's persuasion, Zheng Yangxing recognized the reality and used these dividends in exchange for Wei Zhongxian's protection.
On the other hand, the sky in Beijing has changed, and "heaven and earth" naturally need a new "protective umbrella."
After Wei Zhongxian entered his house, he discovered that there were 20,000 taels of silver and a huge Dongzhu inside.
According to the butler, Ning Yuanbo asked him to give it to the Hakka family, Mrs. Fengsheng.
Wei Zhongxian was a little scared at this time. He really couldn't hide any secrets in front of Uncle Ning Yuan.
In addition, there are several young craftsmen with excellent carpentry skills in the courtyard.
Only then did Wei Zhongxian have to admire Ning Yuanbo's methods. He had even prepared all these for himself. He had remembered this kindness.
No wonder Ning Yuanbo was the first favorite of Emperor Wanli. His meticulous thinking was beyond the reach of those who worked as slaves all day long.
Since Haqiya came to the capital, she and Li Xianzhong have been together less and more apart.
Although Li Xianzhong was unwilling to be separated from his wife and children for a long time, if he took his family members out of the capital at this time, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of the court.
After some tenderness, the two said goodbye.
From the end of last year to now, in just over half a year, the Ming Dynasty has passed away one queen and two emperors.
It has a great impact on business in heaven and earth.
There were only a few days of opening, which made the development of the Intelligence Department somewhat stagnant.
Mao Yuanyi said: "Cui Wensheng has now joined the Intelligence Department. He bribed Wei Zhongxian with money and has obtained the title of Nanjing Guarding Eunuch."
This surprised Li Xianzhong. The Nanjing garrison eunuch was almost the third-ranking eunuch.
It can be said that they are second only to the eunuchs in the capital, the eunuchs holding the seal, and the eunuchs holding the pen, the eunuchs in the east factory.
Although Nanjing is far away from the political center and has always been known as the "retirement place for eunuchs," it is the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the economic lifeline of the empire.
The eunuchs who guarded Nanjing had great power, and they also held military power.
Although it is difficult for Cui Wensheng, an airborne guard eunuch, to do much in a short period of time, the Intelligence Department can use his connections to open up situations in South Zhili.
Heaven and Earth can open a branch in Nanjing, and maybe there will be a chance to gather the "Eight Beauties of Qinhuai".
But the most important thing right now is to leave the capital, a place of right and wrong, and leave it to Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party.
Li Xianzhong spent a whole day from the capital to get to Tianjin Wei. The navy's warships had been waiting at the port for a long time.
Thanks to the copper shipping route in Liaodong, Tianjin Port is also more prosperous than last year.
The Ming Dynasty has a long coastline, but it does not develop trade well, which is really disappointing.
The fortune ship of the navy stationed in North Korea cut through the waves all the way, and Li Xianzhong appeared at Yingkou Pier four days later.
After a year of development, Yingkou Port has transformed from a little-known small terminal into the number one commercial port in Liaodong today.
Before entering the port, a huge lighthouse appeared in Li Xianzhong's field of vision.
The long trestle is full of dock porters unloading cargo, as well as cargo ships waiting to enter the port.
The tax collectors of Yingkou City Shipping Department are working hard to collect physical taxes on the merchant ships coming and going.
Four miles away from the commercial pier is a water village, and soon the huge sails and towering forecastle and stern of the ship come into view. This is a typical Spanish Galenic sailing ship.
In particular, the square yellow sun, moon and dragon flags on the top of the mast look particularly eye-catching under the sunlight.
Mao Yuanyi said: "This Spanish Galenic sailing ship was purchased from the Portuguese in Macau, with a full load displacement of 680 tons. The ship is equipped with 48 of the latest 12-pound Hongyi cannons, and can fire both solid bullets and explosive bullets!"
Although this is a second-hand warship, even the ship and blueprints cost a full 40,000 taels of silver.
After all, this tonnage is already the Portuguese's battleship. In fact, they are not willing to sell it. If it weren't for Tang Ruowang, the deal would really not be possible.
Li Xianzhong pointed to the two smaller Galen ships beside him and said, "Didn't you say that I only bought one warship? Why are there two more ships beside me?"
Mao Yuanyi said with a smile: "These two ships are actually merchant ships, with a full load displacement of 480 tons. I think we have our own cannons. The structure of these merchant ships is actually not much different from warships, except that the forecastle and stern are not as high. In addition, there are fewer gun positions.”
"But the price is much cheaper than warships. The package price of two ships is only 16,000 taels."
The Galen Merchant Ship is actually very easy to modify, but merchant ships are more disadvantaged in boarding battles. If the ship is used as a gunboat, it will not be a big problem.
Anyway, now our own artillery factory can produce cannons, and it is indeed much faster to transform merchant ships than to build them.
Nowadays, the two renovated gunboats are also equipped with 36 rapid-fire 6-pound Franco machine guns and 8 12-pound red cannons. When fighting against Dutch or Spanish armed merchant ships, their firepower may still be somewhat disadvantaged.
But if the opponent is a pirate from the south or a Japanese pirate from Japan, this firepower will definitely crush them.
Now the Liaodong Navy owns 3 main warships even after buying and modifying them.
According to Li Xianzhong's previous proposal, they were named "Kaiyuan", "Tieling" and "Fushun" respectively.
The Liaodong Navy recruited 50 Portuguese sailors and instructors, and the remaining sailors and gunners were selected from the Ming Army's navy stationed in Korea. A group of new sailors were also recruited as reserve forces.
In addition, there is a large shipyard in Yingkou that has now built two docks. The shipwrights include Portuguese recruited from Macau, more craftsmen recruited from shipyards in the Ming Dynasty, and apprentices recruited locally in Liaodong.
The sailing battleship designed by Li Xianzhong is a bit difficult to build. Portuguese shipwrights said that it is impossible to build it under the current conditions of Yingkou Shipyard.
The keel they are currently laying is a modified Spanish galleon, similar to the light galleon of England.
The designed full load displacement is 800 tons.
However, the ship will not be completed until a year at the earliest.
At present, the Liaodong Navy still needs training, and it should be able to form combat capabilities in a few months.
Li Xianzhong plans to set up a shipyard in Incheon to build commercial Galenic sailing ships. After all, they are currently using the Navy's lucky ships to carry cargo, and the ship's carrying capacity is still reduced.
In particular, the ocean navigation performance of Fuchuan is not very good. It is okay to run short-distance routes from Liaodong to North Korea, but it will be difficult to go to Japan or even Ryukyu.
Moreover, shipbuilding takes a lot of time, and free North Korean labor presents a huge advantage.
After reviewing the navy, Li Xianzhong immediately went north from Yingkou to Liaoyang.
After all, setting off to establish a state is the top priority right now, and of course he needs the assistance of Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao.
But along the way, he discovered that the drought in Liaodong was also very serious. It was summer, and it stands to reason that the water level of the river should be relatively sufficient.
However, the water level of even large rivers like the Liao River has begun to drop. Fortunately, it has not reached the point of suspending navigation.
Yan Mingtai was also very happy to see Li Xianzhong returned to Liaodong sadly. After all, they were now grasshoppers tied to a rope.
Now that the Donglin Party is in power, if Li Xianzhong collapses, his role as governor of Jiliao and governor of Liaodong will come to an end.
Yan Mingtai had previously received instructions from Ye Xianggao, the chief minister of the cabinet, asking him to assist Li Xianzhong in his campaign to establish the state. However, so far, the court has only allocated 200,000 stones of grain and grass and more than 2,000 kilograms of gunpowder.
Moreover, the current drought in Liaodong is very serious. Except for some fields near rivers that can be irrigated, it is estimated that nearly 70% of the land will have no harvest.
This is really not a good time to go to Jianzhou.
Li Xianzhong was also helpless about this and said: "The Wanli Dynasty launched three major campaigns, and successively put down the Ningxia Kuaibai, the Korean Japanese Rebellion and the Bozhou Yang Yinglong Rebellion."
"The conquest of Jianzhou must not be abandoned halfway, so this fourth campaign to "peace Jianzhou" must continue. Although His Majesty has passed away, this year is still the 48th year of Wanli. I must fulfill this wish for Your Majesty! "
According to Li Xianzhong, he wanted to completely pacify Jianzhou in half a year.
Yan Mingtai said: "The governor admires Uncle Ning Yuan's loyalty to the late emperor, but now that there is a severe drought in Liaodong, it is really not appropriate to go on a large-scale expedition."
Li Xianzhong said: "Don't be anxious, Governor Yan. Our Kaiyuan Third Route Ming Army will be the main force in this expedition to Jianzhou. We don't need to dispatch too many troops. There are too many troops in Hetuala and we can't deploy them."
"I just need a group of troops to come out of Crow Falcon Pass and make a feint to contain the soldiers and horses built in Kuandian!"
At this time, the veteran Liu Wei said: "I personally participated in two of the three previous Wanli campaigns. Naturally, I can't miss this time to pacify Jianzhou. Don't worry, Ning Yuanbo. The task of getting out of Crow Falcon Pass is left to me!"
After defeating the feinting Ming army, Li Xianzhong finally returned to his territory.
When Li Xianzhong was imprisoned in Chao Prison, Li Sanshun quietly spread the news.
The court's move caused great dissatisfaction among the Liaodong soldiers, especially now that the Ming Dynasty had lost two emperors in a row, and Emperor Tianqi was only a 15-year-old baby, which made them even less optimistic about the court.
The Intelligence Department was also very busy some time ago, because this can almost be regarded as a rehearsal for Liaodong's independence.
They want to record everyone's reactions.
There are generally three types of people in the Liaodong Army. One type is Li Sanshun, Kong Youde, Li Xianzhong's absolute confidants, or people from the Li family in Liaodong. Naturally, they actively stated that they must put pressure on the court, and even went so far as to mutiny to rescue Ning Yuanbo.
There were more calm factions. Although they said that the court was unfair and that Ning Yuanbo must be rescued, they did not advocate an overly extreme method such as immediate mutiny.
Finally, there are a small number of people who sit on the fence. These people feel that the Li family is going to collapse and are ready to find their own way out. They even contact other backers.
Fortunately, there is no third category of people among the main generals who opened the original path. Those who cannot withstand the "revolutionary test" will naturally be gradually marginalized and eventually eliminated from the Liaodong Army.
Even let them "sacrifice gloriously" without anyone noticing in future battles!
As the saying goes, food and grass should go before the soldiers and horses are moved. Now Li Xianzhong is most concerned about food.
Because this summer, Liaodong and Jianzhou were hit by a once-in-a-century drought. It had been almost three months since there had been a drop of rain.
It should be said that the drought in Jianzhou is more serious than in Liaodong because there are not many big rivers in their territory and many fields are located in mountains. Once drought occurs, irrigation becomes a big problem.
According to information from the Intelligence Department, at least 90% of the summer grain harvest in Jianzhou this year will be lost, which means that the food supply in Jianzhou is very tight now.
Unlike Li Xianzhong, who had been hoarding grain through the "Open China Method" and purchasing grain from Jiangnan, Jianzhou had long stopped purchasing grain because a large amount of grain was plundered from North Korea last year.
When Nurhachi discovered that the drought was serious this year and wanted to buy more, Horqin's merchants had already stopped supplying food under Li Xianzhong's order.
Fan Wencheng said proudly: "Thanks to Uncle Ning Yuan's foresight, we built hundreds of large reservoirs in advance."
"Currently, there are a total of 300,000 acres of fertile land around Pinglu Fort, of which 100,000 acres close to the Fan River are still growing wheat, corn and other grains, and the other 200,000 acres have been planted with sweet potatoes provided by the Intelligence Department."
"These sweet potatoes have been planted in March, and the growth is encouraging now. It is estimated that they will be harvested in another month. With 300,000 acres of fertile land, Pinlubao should not only satisfy nearly 70,000 mouths, but also have many Less rich!”
This batch of sweet potatoes is very important. After all, the previous sweet potatoes were bred by the Intelligence Department in Fujian.
If it can be successfully planted in Liaodong, then a considerable part of these 200,000 acres of sweet potatoes will become seeds for the entire Liaodong.
This year, except for a few areas near rivers, other fields will definitely not be able to grow food, so we can only count on these sweet potatoes to save our lives.
At present, the food supply in Liaodong has skyrocketed. Although merchants have brought a lot of food, the current price of millet has risen to 1 tael and 5 qian per stone, while the price of rice in Jiangnan is 2 taels and one stone.
It is said that the grain in Jianzhou has been offered at 6 taels of silver and one stone, but Li Xianzhong is still unwilling to give them grain.
Today, there are 1.3 million stones of grain in Pinlubao's granary.
In addition to a small part of these grains sold at high prices to earn silver, a considerable part of them would be used by Li Xianzhong to collect land.
Nowadays, food prices have skyrocketed, and many people cannot afford food at all, so they end up selling their land in exchange for food.
The land in Liaodong is not as good as that in Jiangnan, and the best land is only 10 taels of silver per acre.
Moreover, it is impossible to sell it at this price now that the war is in chaos.
Now that the war has not started, the price of grain in Liaodong is already at this price. Once the war with Jianzhou starts and the drought continues to be serious, the price of grain will definitely rise.
The saddest thing is that you can't buy food even if you have money.
Then Li Xianzhong can easily exchange 1 stone of grain for 1 acre of fertile land.
You must know that the food he purchased from Jiangnan cost only 5 taels of silver.
It is equivalent to spending 1 tael of silver to buy two acres of fertile land.
And these landless people will become his tenants. This time he can at least acquire hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land and enslave hundreds of thousands of people.
In the evil feudal society, every major disaster is a good opportunity for these big bureaucrats and big landowners to annex land.
However, Li Xianzhong had no choice, just in case he was forced to rebel one day. He has 30,000 men and horses, and based on the monthly salary of 2 taels per person, that is 720,000 taels a year.
The money in his hand could not last even a year.
At this time, Fan Wencheng finally remembered what Li Xianzhong said: "Don't worry, saving food is definitely more cost-effective than saving money!"
This is not a bargain at all. It seems that I still haven’t built enough granaries.
There is still a lot of money in Pinglu Fort, but the granary is no longer enough, and the grain cannot be piled up.
In recent months, due to the increase in labor force and the optimization of production technology, all Lumi guns of the Liaodong Army have completed the transformation from match rope to suifa.
Many new types of explosive ammunition have been manufactured, and there is sufficient gunpowder, just waiting to show off their skills on the battlefield.
After Li Xianzhong returned to Kaiyuan, the morale of the Ming army in Liaodong soared. The generals learned that they were going to conquer Jianzhou this time, and they even asked for a direct attack on Hetuala.
In the end, Li Xianzhong definitely used the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, the Assault Battalion, and the Pinglu Guards with 9,000 men as the main force of this attack.
In addition, 11,000 people from Mao Wenlong, Zhao Lianjiao and other troops were mobilized as auxiliaries. This time the Kaiyuan Ming Army sent a total of 20,000 troops to conquer Jianzhou.
On the first day of July in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Ning Yuanbo Li Xianzhong personally paid homage to Emperor Wanli in Jiefan City on Fushun Road!
Then he recited the "Advocate for Impeaching the Prisoners" loudly!
Twenty thousand Ming troops shouted in unison: "Conquer Jianzhou, capture the old slave alive, take his leader, destroy his city, and destroy his clan!"
Li Xianzhong led the Kaiyuan Ming Army's main force of 20,000, plus 10,000 cavalry from the Hercynian Jurchen Yehe tribe, three 3,000 cavalry from the Mongolian Horqin left wing, and 2,000 cavalry from the Mongolian Zasai tribe.
A total of 35,000 cavalrymen set off from Jiefan City and directly started the Wanli Fourth Expedition "Ping Jianzhou"!
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