When they heard that Zhangjiawan had been looted by the rebels and burned to the ground, many ministers present became anxious.
Zhangjiawan has a special geographical location and is one of the two terminal points of the Grand Canal. Official ships disembark at Tongzhou Pier, while civilian ships disembark at Zhangjiawan.
The prosperity there even exceeds that of the capital city. Although Zhangjiawan Town is only a town, it has a population of 100,000. It is densely packed with various trading shops and warehouses, and there are countless banks and pawnshops.
It is the most important commercial port in the north. In addition to Donglin's control of Zhangjiawan Town, many ministers from the DPRK and China had business there.
It is actually a wholesale market for goods shipped from the south to the north. The business in the capital is all about buying goods from Zhangjiawan and working as second-tier dealers.
Therefore, the largest local businesses are from Donglin. They control the supply of goods in Jiangnan and are the largest wholesalers.
The second-level merchants are all civil servants of all sizes in the imperial court who serve as backers. All of a sudden, Zhangjiawan was robbed, and the civil servants suffered the greatest losses.
Soon, censors came out to impeach Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji, which was detrimental to the protection of Zhangjiawan, leading to the fall of the Grand Canal terminal.
For a time, the impeachment was like a storm, with everyone's indignant accusations and the inaction of the Tongzhou army.
It caused serious losses to the court. Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs, really couldn't stand it anymore. He went out and said: "Your Majesty, the end of the Grand Canal is Tongzhou, and that is the landing place for the official ships transporting to the north. I thought that Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji were not wrong to save Tongzhou first." In fact, when disaster strikes, first The question is whose interests are protected.
Baotongzhou is to protect the interests of the imperial court. To protect Zhangjiawan Town is to protect the interests of civil servants. Apparently, civil servants considered Zhangjiawan and Tongzhou equally important.
Li Banghua, Minister of the Ministry of War, frowned and his face became increasingly ugly. What he was worried about was that the rebels had plundered a lot of wealth, strengthened their strength, and would recruit troops to continue to expand their ranks.
The surrounding guardsmen have been in poverty for a long time, and they cannot resist the temptation. Chongzhen looked at the ugly behavior of these officials coldly.
On the surface, it was Zhou Yuji and others who were being impeached, but in fact they were impeaching him. Because this is the pawn he actually controls.
"My dear friends, what do you think? How should the Zhangjiawan matter be handled?" Chongzhen asked with a straight face.
The emperor kicked the ball back. Since you are impeaching, you should give your opinions on how to deal with it. The ministers suddenly fell silent.
They couldn't tell. When they discovered that the emperor was not protecting anyone, they were dumbfounded. The emperor's intention is very clear. You can come up with your opinions on how you want to deal with these two unfavorable generals.
However, they can't give any opinions. Now that these two guys are taken down, who will defend Tongzhou for them?
Should we let the rebels rush to Gyeonggi and rob their surrounding manors? Chongzhen said in a cold voice: "Why don't you say anything? These two people are so unbearable, shouldn't they be punished? Weren't you all excited just now? Why are you all mute?" The ministers immediately shut up, saying that if they spoke at this time, they would be punished. When the emperor is on duty, you give suggestions to the leader, and the leader will let you do it.
Didn't you say it can't be done? I'll punish them and you can do it. If you can't do it, I'll do it for you.
This is not what the ministers want. Especially not what Dong Lin wants. Just like a major newspaper in a certain country in later generations, it is looking for trouble, saying that you charge high prices and exploit the citizens.
If you lower your prices, they say you are squeezing the living space of small and medium-sized merchants. No matter how many times the company has adjusted, the media is blocked from both sides and will always cause trouble for you.
The boss had no choice but to go to the newspaper and ask the editor, what do you think we should do? You are no longer attacking us.
We all listen to you. Just adjust it as you say. The editor-in-chief angrily said that we are the media and this is not our responsibility.
What you do is your own business, we are only responsible for exposing it. Please get out immediately. Do not impede press freedom.
Later, the company became anxious and united with many companies to stop advertising in the media, and the media became afraid.
Stop this torture of businesses. That's what some people in Donglin are like. It's my right to scold you, and I can scold you for whatever you do.
But if you ask me to tell you what you should do, I'm sorry, this is not my responsibility. I am only responsible for scolding people, not solving problems.
Seeing that the emperor wanted them to be responsible for solving the current situation, they all immediately shut up and stopped talking.
They don't want to get into this trouble.
"At this time, Zhangjiawan is over, so there is no need to go to the rescue. The biggest thing is if Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji can hold Tongzhou. I think we should make them pay for their crimes." Looking at the situation, Li Banghua said .
Although the ministers were filled with hatred, they also knew that it was too late to say anything now. The most urgent matter at the moment is how to defend Tongzhou.
The current strength comparison between the rebels and Zhou Yuji is still four to one. If Zhou Yuji is captured now, who will stop these rebellious Qiu Ba for them.
Do we really have to wait until the rebels sweep around Gyeonggi and loot all their estates? Chongzhen saw that the ministers had calmed down, and said coldly: "Immediately give an order to Zhou Yuji, asking him to protect Tongzhou at all costs. As long as he can defeat the rebels, I will promote him to deputy general." Zhou Yuji did not Knowing the situation in the court, he was setting up defenses at the moment.
There was no attack on the other side for three days, so he deployed a three-day defense. On the night of the third day, the scouts from Xinghe Tuanlian came back to report that the 20,000 rebel troops who had gone to Zhangjiawan had returned.
Zhou Yuji knew that the war would start tomorrow. The rebels now have enough property to reward the rebels. As long as the superior officials can give enough money, these people below will dare to fight for their lives.
Tomorrow will be stressful.
"For extra meals tonight, white flour steamed buns, stewed tofu, and a bucket of fried canned sea fish will be given to each commander-in-chief. It will be enough for the brothers to eat well today and have a good sleep." Zhou Yuji ordered.
After a day of building the fort, the soldiers returned to the barracks and found that they were very happy to have extra food tonight.
They haven't had this kind of regular meat for half a year. Tofu is a good thing. If it hadn't been for the fifty carts of soybeans that were delivered yesterday, they wouldn't be able to eat this good thing.
Xiaoqi Gao Changlin and ten brothers sat around to eat together. A stainless steel basin is filled with a bowl full of steamed buns.
Another basin contains cucumbers mixed with clear sauce, crushed garlic, and rice vinegar. Qingjiang, also known as soy sauce, has been around since the Western Zhou Dynasty.
Da Ming is commonly used as a seasoning. There is also a basin filled with stewed tofu. Soybeans are the most cost-effective source of plant protein at this time. If you can’t afford meat, you can only rely on this to supplement protein.
The ten people were all carrying the kidney-shaped kettle and lunch box set that Yang Fan had given out when he was managing them. Everyone's pork kidney-shaped stainless steel lunch box contains a pound of fried fish.
There is also a lot of soup. The soup is full of fat. The steamed buns were so fragrant that I almost bit my tongue when I dipped them into them.
"Boss, is there going to be a war? How come Mr. Zhou feeds us so well?" Xu Ning asked.
