Chapter 293 Different choices
Capital
"Sir, the distinguished guest has arrived..."
As soon as Chen Yan stepped into the central hall, Zou Weilian, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately greeted him. After the screen retreated, Zou Weilian personally brought a wooden box to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan looked confused: "Brother Dehui, what does this mean?"
Zou Weilian had a smile on his face: "Brother Fa Sheng, please open it first and see what it is..."
When the wooden box was opened, it was full of silver notes. Even the smallest denominations were one thousand taels. Seeing the thickness, there were only a few hundred thousand taels of silver notes.
"Brother Dehui, this..."
Zou Weilian pressed his hand: "Brother Fa Sheng, here are the banknotes of one hundred thousand taels from Baotong Bank in Beijing, and 150 acres of good paddy fields in Daxing. They are all given to you, Brother Fa Sheng."
"This...how is this so embarrassing?"
Chen Yan has a good relationship with Zou Weilian. Since Chen Yan became a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, he has been serving in Zhan Shifu. Because he was from a remote place in Sichuan and had no money, even the eunuchs looked down on him. In recent years, Chen Yan The actor's family lived in a rental house on the outskirts of the capital, and they had to get up three hours early to go to court every day and walk to the city.
It was this situation that created Chen Yan's somewhat withdrawn character. It was not until Chen Cao asked Zou Weilian to develop offline helpers that Zou Weilian finally settled on Chen Yan, a marginal figure, after several years of exploration.
"Brother Fa Sheng, this is a gift from Duke Liang to meet you..."
Chen Cao...
Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat. He had no power back then, and neither the Donglin Party nor the Eunuch Party wanted him, just because his official position in Zhan Shifu was simply useless, not to mention that Emperor Tianqi didn't even have a prince. Zou Weilian, the left counselor of the General Affairs Department actually transferred him to the Ministry of Punishment as a doctor, and he suddenly made money.
"This...low-ranking official will not receive salary without merit..."
"Hey...brother Fa Sheng, this is the prince's wish...just accept it..."
"Brother Dehui, I would like to express my gratitude to the Duke. I wonder if the Duke of Guo has any instructions?"
Zou Weilian laughed, then stood up and handed a red-lacquered official document from the General Affairs Department to Chen Yan: "Let's take a look first..."
Chen Yan's face turned red after reading the official document, then he stood up and bowed to Zou Weilian: "Brother Dehui must have been the mediator, so...so...hey...thank you so much..."
Chen Yan bowed to the end, and Zou Weilian hurriedly stepped forward and held Chen Yan's hand: "This is the work of the Duke of Guo. I just came here to do it for you. I want to thank you. I will thank you in the future..."
After leaving Zou Weilian's mansion, Chen Yan hugged the wooden box tightly in his arms. Carrying the official document, he sorted out his excitement and walked towards the Metropolitan Procuratorate with square steps. He changed from a doctor in the Ministry of Justice to a Although Chengdu Procuratorate, Huguang Road Supervisor and Censor, were all seventh-rank officials, their powers had changed greatly.
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Chuzhou Prefecture, King Fu’s Army Camp on the Bank of Xiangshui River
"How is it? How does Chen Cao react?"
Facing Sun Dewen's rhetorical question, the commander bowed: "Back to Eunuch Sun, Duke Liang has agreed to send troops, and said that 80,000 people have gathered in Changzhou Prefecture, and that there are still 100,000 officers and soldiers stationed in Zhenjiang Prefecture."
Zhu Changxun sat on the handsome seat and ate the newly supplied grapes. He twisted his fat body and looked at Gao Qiqian on one side: "Does Qiqian know about Nanjing's defense?"
Gao Qiqian has made great contributions to the city, and now he and Sun Dewen have become Zhu Changxun's right-hand men. The two eunuchs have begun to fight for power in private. At this moment, Zhu Changxun asked and immediately flattered: "Go south along the Xiangshui River, which is the mouth of the Xijiang River. On the other side of the river is It is Dasheng Pass and Jiangning Zhen Pass. If these two passes are captured, the city of Nanjing will be exposed to the king's army;
The servants had previously reported that the imperial court had mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops to march south to Nanjing. However, they dare not make a final conclusion on how to arrange the arrangements at this moment. "
Zhang Gaoping, the commander of the camp, was Zhu Changxun's confidant. At this moment, he walked into the tent wearing armor and holding a long sword: "Your Majesty, the scouts in front reported that Nanjing has withdrawn all the defenders in Jiangpu City and evacuated all the ships along the coast to Jiangnan. At this moment There are no ships in the north of the Yangtze River, and I have sent people to search for ships along the river north."
Zhu Changxun didn't know anything about fighting. He relied on Zhang Gaoping and the deputy capital commander Li Wanchang to organize the march. In addition, with the power of conquering Fengyang this time, the 300,000 Jingnan troops were all arrogant and gearing up.
The staff around him were even planning for him to capture Nanjing and then commemorate Emperor Taizu's enthronement at the Zhongshan Imperial Mausoleum.
"I have given you full authority over the march and formation. After taking Nanjing, you will be the first to take the lead, and you will be named the Duke of the country..."
Zhang Gaoping saw that Zhu Changxun didn't care about these details, so he thanked him and left.
Li Wanchang was waiting outside the tent. After listening to Zhang Gaoping's account, he couldn't help feeling a little disgusted with the eunuch Gao Qiqian, and then said: "Now that the officers and soldiers are guarding the other side, I believe the garrison at Dasheng Pass will suddenly increase. If we cross If Jiang Qiang attacks, we must not go through the Xijiangkou again."
Zhang Gaoping could not know this, so he whispered: "The attack on Nanjing is related to our future wealth and safety. Your Majesty has given us full authority to handle this matter without letting those eunuchs interfere. You and I need to seize the opportunity." .”
Following the prince's rebellion, he fought for the emperor under the banner of Jingnan. If he succeeded, everything would be fine. Once he failed, it would be no different from the King of Han's fight for the throne. The King of Han was imprisoned and killed, and all the commanders around him were beheaded.
Li Wanchang also lowered his head: "We must not let the eunuchs get involved. If necessary, brother, I will arrange for my confidants to guard the prince. If there is any disharmony, I will kill a few eunuchs around the prince first."
Zhang Gaoping admired Li Wanchang's decisiveness in his heart. After thinking about it, he nodded gently: "I'll leave this matter to you. To prevent accidents, it's best for you to stay with the prince personally. I will arrange the crossing as soon as possible."
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"Nanjing mobilized all the garrison troops north of Nanzhili and mobilized 100,000 garrison troops from Shandong Dusi to go south, almost emptying out most of the troops in Shandong, plus the border troops who came from Datong. With the addition of the army and Qin Liangyu, the garrison army in Nanjing alone now reaches 200,000;
In addition, there are 100,000 people in Nanjing's capital camp. If you include the soldiers of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division and the surrounding inspection departments, another 50,000 people will be more than enough. "
"We have to include the 100,000 people under Xu Chengqing's command in Zhenjiang."
"The number of troops in Nanzhili has reached 450,000."
Chen Cao listened to what his counselors were saying, but he looked at the sand table and the hanging detailed map of Nanzhili. After a long time, he said: "Prince Fu's army is going to attack Nanjing and is coming from Fengyang. The fastest and closest way is to go to Xijiangkou and go to Nanjing from Dasheng Pass. I believe those in Nanjing must have deployed heavy troops at Dasheng Pass and Jiangning Zhenguan to respond. If we cross the river, there is no other choice."
"According to reliable military information, Xu Chengqing stationed 100,000 soldiers and horses in batches in Danyang County and Dantu, Zhenjiang Prefecture. The two places are 60 miles apart and close to the canal line. There are 50,000 soldiers and horses in each place."
Chen Cao looked at Xing Shenyan, who was in charge of the recruitment and recruitment of the new army: "How are the preparations of each army?"
"In addition to the two divisions of the Dingwu Army and the Longwu Army that have recently gone north, all the new recruits in each division have been put in place according to the request of the Lord. The three divisions of the Longwu Army and the two divisions of the Dingwu Army, totaling 80,000 people, are now all here. Wujin County, in addition, the two divisions of the Shanghai garrison have all been equipped with new rifles and can follow the father-in-law at any time."
In the suburbs of Pudong, Shanghai, tracts of buildings are rising. Although they are only four floors, each building can accommodate twelve families, and the key is that the people who can live in the buildings are family members of the military. The people inside The identities of the hosts are all extraordinary.
Although there are many buildings close together in the suburbs, there are still old-fashioned rural buildings around. At this moment, Chen Cao, accompanied by his uncle and nephew Zhao Xin and Cao Wenzhao, took the two brothers You Shiwei and You Shigong to the suburbs of Pudong. Observing the public sentiment, although You Shilu was seriously injured, he received timely treatment in Shanghai and could walk in a month or two.
The five people were all dressed in ordinary clothes, but all of them came from the military, and their aura radiated from the inside out.
Coming to a gathered village, the tall village gate shows the strength of the people in this village.
Xin Zhao grabbed a young man and smiled: "Hey, why are you running?"
The young man saw that these five people were quite powerful, so he bowed respectfully: "How are you guys? I'm going to receive the land tax subsidy..."
You Shiwei frowned, is there any subsidy for this land tax?
The young man obviously saw You Shiwei's doubts, so he smiled and said, "Aren't you from Shanghai? Are you businessmen from other places?"
Chen Cao smiled and said: "Exactly, I have heard that Shanghai's new policy is interesting. We are all from Zhejiang. I wonder what this land subsidy is?"
Chen Cao's question is a stupid question, because he came up with the land subsidy, but now the main thing is to let You Shiwei and others know the benefits of the new deal.
"Farming is no longer just for a living. Now we farmers are farming. For every acre of land, the local government will give us five silver dollars as land compensation. However, according to the new policy, those who receive land compensation must sell the grain they grow to If you don’t want to sell the grain station, there will be a subsidy, but it’s only one silver dollar.”
You Shiwei and the others knew before that Chen Cao was paying the entire Songjiang Prefecture's taxes, but now that they have raised the banner of rebellion, this tax is no longer available and has become a subsidy for the local people.
"Then you are losing money by selling food?"
The young man smiled mysteriously: "This man doesn't know something. Although our grain station in Songjiang Prefecture is run by the government, it strictly follows the grain price set by the Grand Duke and purchases it at the market price. We ordinary people will never sell grain." Damn, did you see that field?
Yes, it’s the one with the wooden sign. Those fields are all military fields, which is a symbol of glory. There are several soldiers in the Dingwu Army in our village. These fields are the military exploits earned by those soldiers. , not only is there no tax, but you can also buy and sell freely. "
You Shigong interjected: "Don't be fooled. We heard that Songjiang Mansion has been exempted from taxes for a long time. How can we talk about business?"
