Chapter 184 Showing Our Value
Cheng Shijie is definitely not the youngest general in the Ming Dynasty, but it is not surprising that over the past two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, he has risen from a white man to the first-rank Zuo Governor. Mao Wenlong also did it with his surprise attack on Zhenjiang Fort. at this point.
However, the official system of the Ming Dynasty was divided into three types: central, local, and military. For example, Sun Yuanhua was the censor of Youqiandu, which was equivalent to a senior official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He was ranked second by the deputy censors of the left and right, and the deputy censor of the right and left. The third level is equivalent to the fourth in command of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
This is a central official position. He is also the deputy envoy of the Shandong Prosecution Department. This is a local official position, which is equivalent to the deputy president of the provincial court, deputy prosecutor of the provincial procuratorate, and deputy director of the Department of Justice in the current provincial public, procuratorate, and judicial agencies. He is also the deputy director of the Public Security Department. The governor has already written before that this is a military and political official position.
Although Cheng Shijie still holds the Seal of the Conquering General, this only means that he has the power to launch war and can take the initiative to send troops to conquer one party without asking for instructions. Of course, Cheng Shijie still needs to complete the formalities in advance.
His real official position now is that of Prince Shaobao, which is an honor. Minister of War, this is the central official position. When Sun Chengzong passed through Liaodong, he also held this official position concurrently in order to avoid being hindered by the court. He was an honorary Minister of War and had no real power.
Governor of Liaodong military and political affairs, this is Cheng Shijie's actual duty. However, in this actual position, something like this had never happened in Ming Dynasty. The speed at which Cheng Shijie was promoted was really eye-opening.
Cheng Shijie then stared at the imperial envoy. This chamberlain looked familiar, but he was not Cao Huachun, Gao Qiqian, Wang Chengen, Wang Zhixin and other chamberlains that Cheng Shijie was familiar with.
In fact, he was wearing the official uniform of a fourth-grade eunuch. It was obvious that he was a senior eunuch. In the palace, in addition to the twelve eunuchs, four divisions and eight bureaus, the number of eunuchs on his head could be counted. Of course, most of the twelve supervisors, four divisions and eight bureaus have high positions but little power. For example, among the six books, the six ministers have the same level. No one can deny that the official minister is the head of the six books.
The eunuch who delivered the order walked up to Cheng Shijie and lowered his voice: "Our family is Lu Jiucheng, who lives next to Eunuch Cao. Cheng Shaobao can call our family Lu Jiucheng!"
When Lu Jiuzheng said this, Cheng Shijie understood that this was someone else who wanted benefits.
Cheng Shijie is not afraid of corruption by his chamberlains. These chamberlains are much better than civil servants. There are many civil servants who accept gifts without doing anything. But chamberlains are different. They want reputation and worry that if their reputation is damaged, no one will give them gifts.
At least the high dive is pretty good.
Cheng Shijie did not hide it, and said openly and honestly: "The things prepared for His Majesty have been placed at the dock of Jinzhou Port. There are thirty ships in total. Eunuch Lu can take inventory!"
"There's no need to count. Cheng Shaobao is a smart man and he probably wouldn't dare to joke with the emperor."
"That's it, that's it! By the way, I also prepared a copy for my father-in-law. It's not much, it's only worth about 20,000 taels. I hope my father-in-law will accept it!"
Lu Jiuzheng was a little shy: "How embarrassing is that?"
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. We can't let my father-in-law go in vain, right?"
Cheng Shijie's so-called value of 20,000 taels of silver was, of course, value, but it was actually a bunch of worthless handicrafts, which were valuable in the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Jiucheng said with a smile: "Then our family will reluctantly accept it. It won't be the same next time!"
The subtext of "never do it again" means "do it again", and everyone knows this.
Lu Jiuzheng was very satisfied with the harvest. He got 20,000 taels of silver in just one trip. Where could he find such a good deal? What made him even more satisfied was that even the little eunuchs around him had received a lot of benefits from Cheng Shijie. Depending on their status, they ranged from dozens of taels to hundreds of taels. It wasn't too much, but it wasn't like anyone. I feel less.
Lu Jiuzheng didn't even eat or drink Jiefeng wine, and returned directly to the capital.
Emperor Chongzhen had no money and wanted to reward the army. He also needed wine, meat and food. However, prices in the capital were extremely high. Cheng Shijie prepared 50,000 shi of wheat, 100,000 shi of rice, and 150,000 kilograms of meat, potatoes and sweet potatoes for Emperor Chongzhen. , loaded with thirty ships.
Watching Lu Jiuzheng leave Liaoyang, Sun Chengzong looked at Cheng Shijie and sighed for a long time: "Don't follow them anymore..."
Having said this, Sun Chengzong felt that he had said too much.
"Teacher, do you know something?"
"What words?"
"It is better to offend a gentleman than a villain!"
Cheng Shijie looked at Lu Jiuzheng's back and said: "They are all villains. Maybe they can't accomplish anything, but they are capable of doing bad things. If they want to do it, they must be recognized by the palace. People like them, If you can't offend, don't offend. If you do, beat them to death with a stick. You must not give them a chance to harm others!"
Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly and said, "I'm being pedantic!"
"Just like Zhou Dunyi's "The Theory of Love of Lotus", when you come out of the mud, you will not be stained, and when you wash the lotus, it will not be evil!"
Cheng Shijie smiled: "I have a close relationship with Gao Qiqian, and I have a good relationship with Cao Huachun. If I bribe them, they can cover up rumors for me. Now, I'm afraid there are already a mountain of memorials to impeach me!"
As the Battle of Liaoyang came to an end, the family members of those fallen soldiers gradually arrived in Baliwan City in Haizhou. The family members of these fallen soldiers included men, women, old and young. It would be better if they were the family members of Ning Haijun. Ning Haijun did not have the problem of not being able to eat or wear clothes. But the family members of Dongjiang Army and Guan Ning Army are different.
It is simply a replica of the Thousand Households in Dengzhou Weizuo. The families of these soldiers are in ragged clothes, with yellow and thin faces, and their faces are dirty and tinged with vegetable color. Men, women, old and young are waiting outside the city with anxious expressions. There are thousands of people calling out. The sound was accompanied by a cry.
"Son, my son, where are you?"
"Dad, dad, where are you?"
"You are so heartless, but you are willing to come back!"
"Brother! Brother!"
"Uncle! Uncle!"
"Lao San, Lao San!"
…
Whether it was Ning Haijun, Guan Ningjun, or Dongjiang Army officers and soldiers, they all ran out in unison when they heard the calls of their relatives, looking for their relatives in the crowd.
When they were found, they hugged each other and cried loudly. Those who were not found were anxious and shouted the names of their relatives. The family members were also trying hard to find their relatives. The scene was extremely chaotic.
From time to time there were sounds of mourning, and many family members desperately learned that the mainstay of their family could not come back, and all that came back was a corpse. You can imagine the despair and pain. I don’t know how many people were holding him. The cold corpse cried heartbrokenly, which is heartbreaking.
Due to the cold weather and natural refrigerator, these fallen soldiers were not cremated immediately. Instead, they returned to their roots and were brought back to their ancestral home for burial.
Cheng Shijie mobilized 200 engineering offices to quickly build coffins so that all fallen soldiers would have a home.
Cheng Shijie looked at those poor people who were in pain for a long time, and then sighed: "I...did I do something wrong? If I hadn't forced them to defend, maybe not so many people would have died. Their My loved ones won’t have to suffer so much..."
Sun Chengzong sighed and said: "Crying all the way is worse than crying in one place, and crying with one surname is worse than crying with one family. You need to know that if you hadn't forced them to defend Haizhou, once the slaves broke through Haizhou, Gaizhou, Fuzhou, Jinding I’m afraid not one of the more than one million people will survive, and not just hundreds of thousands of people who will suffer heartache, blood, and tears?”
Although Cheng Shijie understands the truth, the problem is that it is very difficult to accept it.
Cheng Shijie looked at the Liao people shivering in the cold wind, sighed, and said: "Hurry up and give them some sets of cotton-padded clothes, let them eat some good meals, and let them regain some strength."
Nowadays, supplies are no longer scarce in southern Liaoning. Of course, the people who were assigned cotton-padded clothes kowtowed to Cheng Shijie to thank him.
Cheng Shijie looked at the faces with tears of gratitude and reluctance, and was filled with emotion. He loudly said to everyone: "Live well, the worst moment is over, everything will be fine!"
A Liao citizen with white hair and beard shouted tremblingly: "Cheng Shuai, I have wanted to come back for a long time... just!"
"Just what?"
"If the Jian slaves come to attack us again, will you come to save us?"
"Yes! I will fight wherever the Jiannu come from! If they still dare to follow us and run wild in our territory, the tens of thousands of corpses lying outside Bali Bay and Liaozhongwei City will be their examples!"
Zu Dabi, Zu Dalue, Zu Kefa, Wu Sangui and others said goodbye to Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie looked at Zu Dabi and said, "Thank you, Commander Zu, for your support. Without Guan Ningjun's help, our battle would have been difficult!"
Zu Dabi smiled and said: "I won't thank you for you. We will leave for Beijing immediately. You can thank me in person!"
“As the saying goes, if you borrow something, you must repay it, and it’s not difficult to borrow again!”
Cheng Shijie smiled faintly and said: "This time, the brothers of Guan Ningjun came to their aid. If I don't express my gratitude, it would be unreasonable, Second General Zu!"
"The general is here!"
"You have lost a lot. I will give you 3,000 powerful crossbows, 500,000 crossbow arrows, 3,500 pieces of armor, 3,000 saber handles, 30,000 shi of grain and beans, and 10,000 shi of horse materials!"
Zu Dabi looked surprised: "Isn't this too much!"
"Compared to the lives of our brothers, what do these things mean?"
Cheng Shijie then said to Wu Sangui: "Uncle, I will give you a thousand crossbow machines, two hundred thousand crossbow arrows, fifteen hundred pieces of iron armor..."
The loss of Wu Jiajun is also an objective fact. Although he doesn't like Wu Sangui's personality, the more generous Cheng Shijie is, the officers and soldiers of Guan Ning's army, especially the wounded soldiers, will not go back.
In addition to the fallen soldiers under Wu Sangui, there were six to seven thousand family members of the soldiers who migrated from Ningyuan, and there will be more people who will come later. These people are all named Cheng.
Wu Sangui and Zu Dabi understood that Cheng Shijie gave them these equipment just to silence them. They suffered heavy casualties this time. The wounded soldiers were all precious, but the problem was that they did not have the medical conditions themselves. On the contrary, the navy can get better treatment.
"Cheng Shuai, see you in the capital!"
"Easy to say!"
"Why spend so much money on them?" Looking at the soldiers of Guan Ning's army who were carrying goods bare-chested in the cold wind and sweating profusely.
Sun Zhiman asked with a smile: "Aren't you afraid that they will never come back?"
Cheng Shijie shrugged disapprovingly: "If they leave and never come back, it means they are hopelessly stupid!"
Sun Zhili smiled bitterly and said: "Commander, I still don't understand why you spend so much money on Guan Ningjun. You know, Guan Ningjun's record has never been very good..."
"I asked you to lead a group of soldiers who have been hungry all year round to fight. Can you give me a good record?"
"I want the horse to run but not let it eat grass. How is this possible?"
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Guan Ning's army received a lot of military expenditures from the imperial court, but the problem is that these military expenditures were spent on the generals' debauchery and did not fall on ordinary soldiers. Let's not talk about anything else, let's just talk about Cao Wen. Uncle Zhao and nephew, aren’t they at a low level? How are they treated? What is the level of equipment of the troops? In this battle, you also saw that Zu Dabi and Wu Sangui led their direct descendants, and their equipment was no worse than that of the Ning Navy. , do you know how much they spend a year?”
Sun Zhidao shook his head: "I really don't know!"
"Actually, this is just a part of the money. The biggest part is in the hands of Wu Xiang of Zu Dashou!"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said, "Guess how much land Wu Xiang has?"
"One hundred thousand acres of fertile land?"
"Guess again!"
"A million acres!"
"Triple it!"
Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "In a total of three million acres, almost 90% of the soldiers in Guan Ning's army are actually treated the same as the guards in the mainland, and they have all become slaves of the generals."
Cheng Shijie naturally knew that the offensive and defensive situation between Jiannu and Ming Dynasty was now changing. Jiannu's next operation was to show weakness and might sue for surrender, lower the court's vigilance against them, and delay the negotiations.
Cheng Shijie's wooing of the Guan Ning Army was mainly to attract low-level soldiers of the Guan Ning Army and their families. The climates in western Liaoning and Liaodong are similar, and they are also suitable for the living environment in Liaodong. As long as there are enough people, Cheng Shijie can crush Jian Nu to death. .
Just like now, if Cheng Shijie attacks again and Jiannu refuses to fight, but continues to escape to the northeast or northwest, Cheng Shijie will only be able to pursue him for one or two thousand miles even if he tries his best. .
Since ancient times, no dynasty has ever been able to completely defeat a powerful nomad in a head-on confrontation, never!
When the Han Dynasty attacked the Xiongnu, they first divided the Xiongnu into northern and southern parts, and then gradually eliminated them. The Tang Dynasty destroyed the Turks. In fact, as early as the Sui Dynasty, Changsun Sheng and Pei Ju deceived the Turks into splitting. The Eastern Turks are divided into East and West Turks, and the nomadic peoples all have this same behavior. If they are isolated, they will be weak. If they are weak, they will suffer from civil strife. If they suffer from civil strife, they will be besieged by the whole world.
The Xiongnu, Turks, Tubo, Jurchens...these once-prosperous steppe empires perished in this way.
Cheng Shijie now wants to leave a retreat in the hearts of the officers and soldiers of Guan Ning Army. As long as they can't survive, they can get what they want in southern Liaoning and on Cheng Shijie's territory with the head of a slave. Land, food, and treatment.
Guan Ning's army is not monolithic, they will split. As long as some people turn to Cheng Shijie, it will be much easier to take action again.
Sun Chengzong had to lament that Cheng Shijie was so good at grasping people's hearts.
In fact, from the moment Cheng Shijie captured Liaonan, Jiannu's nightmare began.
With Cheng Shijie here, Jiannu had no chance to fight a fair fight.
…
In the backyard of General Ninghai's Mansion in Jinzhou, in the warm pavilion in the left wing, because the house is burning with earth dragons and fire walls, even though the wind is biting outside, the inside is as warm as spring. Yang Yuniang was currently wearing a milky white skirt and looking through the account books.
Yang Yuniang's maid and the adopted daughter of her master Feng Sanniang, Feng Cuier pushed the door in anxiously: "Commissioner Yang...Commissioner Yang...Commissioner Yang!"
Yang Yunniang frowned and said helplessly: "Tui'er, when will you be able to change your bad habits?"
Shen Cuier gasped, holding on to the table and saying: "The Marshal...the Marshal...has become a Duke!?
Yang Yunniang smiled calmly and said: "If I had waited until you started yelling and screaming before I found out about this, I would have no place for me in this Jinzhou!"
Shen Cuier opened her mouth wide and said, "Ah... you know everything?"
Yang Yunniang sighed and said: "Not only did I know that the commander-in-chief worshiped the Minister of War and was granted the title of Duke of Haiguo, I also knew that the little girl from the Xu family was gone!"
Miss Xu Shumin and Xu Si left Liaonan because she knew that she had no chance.
But Yang Yunniang is also having a headache. If she knows practical things, she should move out of the Ninghai General Military Mansion. But the problem is that although Cheng Shijie is lukewarm towards Yang Yunniang, he is very good to Xiao Jiaxin. No matter how tired or busy he is, he will always make time. Hug little Jiaxin, now she is babbling and learning to speak.
It is precisely because of Cheng Shijie's teaching that Xiao Jiaxin's accent is straight Mandarin.
Her master Feng Sanniang also advised Yang Yuniang that since Cheng Shijie was not interested in her and had no idea of moving in, why should she?
With Yang Yuniang's status and power today, what kind of man could she not find?
But Yang Yunniang has her own concerns and ideas. She is in the Cheng Mansion. No matter how bad Xiao Jiaxin is, she is still the adopted daughter of Cheng Shijie. Like Cheng Jingjing and Cheng Anning, at least the household registration given to Xiao Jiaxin by the Liaodong Management Committee has her surname. Cheng, his given name is Cheng Jiaxin, and his household registration is also in the name of Cheng Shijie.
Once she leaves Cheng Mansion, what will Cheng Jiaxin do?
So, Yang Yuniang had an excuse: "It's all for the sake of the children!"
"Win! Win!"
At this time, the military households, farmers, workers, merchants, and soldiers left behind in Jinzhou were shouting wildly and their joy was beyond words.
For this war, Ning Haijun went out in full force. They endured huge sacrifices and won a huge victory. What could be more exciting than this!
Ning Haijun really beat Jian Nu badly this time. Cheng Shijie's promotion is inevitable!
The bigger Cheng Shijie's official position is, the larger the territory he manages; the larger the territory he manages, the more opportunities there are for everyone to follow and make a fortune. Is there anything more joyful than this?
In a short period of time, the entire southern Liaoning was plunged into a carnival.
Since Nurhachi launched his rebellion, the Ming army has been retreating steadily, losing cities and territory time and time again, and leaving mountains of blood and corpses outside the pass. The people of the Ming Dynasty have been holding back this tone for more than thirty years. They have been dreaming of a great victory for the Ming army. Now, their wish has finally come true!
When Cheng Shijie returned to Jinzhou from Haizhou, there was already a sea of people more than ten miles outside Jinzhou City, and there was no room for standing on the roadside. Fortunately, the weather was cold and the ditches on the roadside were frozen solid.
Pushing the cart into the ditch and standing on the roof of the carriage, you can still see Cheng Shijie on the road.
Speaking of which, carriage-style carriages are also a characteristic of southern Liaoning. In the Central Plains, there are few large and small carriages, and flat-bed carriages and ox-carts are the majority. However, it is too cold in Liaodong, and riding in a carriage is a pain. In particular, Cheng Shijie's horse-drawn RV has caused a stir.
Of course, rich people buy two-wheel or four-wheel horse-drawn RVs directly from carriage factories. Even if it is a cargo-type flatbed carriage, there is a small compartment in front of the carriage to protect it from the wind and cold, just like a truck. Same as the cab.
The common people cheered loudly, rushed towards them, and handed the fine wine and food in their hands to these soldiers. Shang Keyi, the former Dongjiang Army, felt a little sore in his nose and murmured: "This is the first time that we, Old Shang, have fought in a battle all our lives." To receive such love from the people! Just for this love, it is worth risking my life for them!"
Shang Kexi looked at the Liao people kneeling on the shore, and his heart was up and down. Then he thought about how he wanted to stand still and sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. His face was burning, and he suddenly had the urge to find a crack in the ground and crawl in.
Among the crowd, Xu Shumin looked at Catherine beside her and said, "Let's go, let's go too."
When Catherine heard this, she was so excited that she wanted to cry.
She and her fleet were forced to flee to the far east three years ago, but she never thought that when they arrived near Dengzhou, they were tricked by pirates and were held captive for nearly three years, first in the hands of Meng Xianhan. , although Cheng Shijie did not regard them as prisoners, he did not give them the necessary help.
They can only rely on their own two sides to work hard to make money. Some work as teachers at Golden State College, some work in factories, and some, like Catherine, become maids of wealthy ladies.
After more than half a year of getting along, Catherine finally gained Xu Shumin's trust. In fact, Xu Shumin also had limited trust in Catherine. This time, Xu Shumin used nearly 600 people from the Xu family and a total of five sand ships to go to sea.
The three large-scale ships of the Ming Dynasty were Shachuan, Fuchuan (built by Jifu), and Guangzhoun (made in Guangdong). In fact, Shachuan was a sand-proof flat-bottomed wooden ship used for navigation in ancient times. Appeared in the Tang Dynasty. The small ones are 250-400 tons, the medium ones are 500-800 tons, and the large sand ships are more than 1,200 tons.
The five large sand ships that Xu Shumin gave to Catherine were not actually large, but only medium-sized ships. Each ship was 800 tons, and they were fully loaded with materials purchased from southern Liaoning, such as white sugar, blue and white porcelain, sea pearls, etc. produced in southern Liaoning. Woolen cloth, potato wine, and lots of steel.
Yes, what Catherine buys the most is steel. Each ton of steel costs one hundred and sixty taels of silver, which is equivalent to eighty yuan per catty. This price is not cheap. Of course, due to the large quantity, it is slightly lower than the market price by 20%. .
Catherine had no money, so he promised Xu Shuyuan that as long as he shipped it to Venice, he could earn ten times the money in exchange. As profitable as silk was, it was a good thing that Catherine did not mention silk.
When it comes to silk, Xu Shumin asked people to buy silk in Shanghai. They collected a total of 120,000 pieces and spent more than one million taels of silver. For the steel part, he borrowed money from the bank in the name of the Xu family and purchased it. More than six hundred tons.
Catherine's plan succeeded, and she would open a commercial trade route between Venice and the Ming Dynasty.
"Which of you is the captain?"
Catherine stepped forward and said: "I am!"
"You can lower your sails and you can go to sea only when you are allowed to go to sea!"
"Why?"
"Don't worry, it's a military secret!"
Soon Catherine knew why they were not allowed to go to sea. Cheng Shijie's motorcade arrived at the Jinzhou Port pier, and there were still a huge crowd of people and businessmen going to see them off.
When Cheng Shijie walked along the trestle to the battleship, I don't know who took the lead. Tens of thousands of people on the pier knelt down and screamed: "Cheng Shuai, you must have a safe journey!"
Cheng Shijie, Sun Chengzong, and Sun Zhiwan did not stop in Jinzhou. They had to go to the capital to present victory and hold the New Year's parade, so they had no choice but to go because time was too tight after all.
Cheng Shijie boarded Ning Haijun's new ship. This was the first batch of two thousand material ships produced by Ning Haijun's Lushun Shipyard. Its full load displacement was equivalent to 650 tons.
This new type of warship adopts a slender hull and five masts. With full sail, it has a speed of 9.8 knots, which is two knots faster than the 7.8 knots of a 400-mass gunboat. Don’t underestimate these two On the battlefield, this speed advantage is enough to change the outcome of the war.
Cheng Shijie's battleship is the "Jinzhou", and adjacent to it are the four King Kongs of the Ning Navy, namely the Haizhou, Fuzhou and Gaizhou. These four battleships are all large ships with two thousand materials. , equipped with twenty-four three-inch smoothbore cannon.
The main reason why the infantry did not have time to equip more three-inch cannons was that it prioritized equipping these four kings. The four kings were ninety-six three-inch cannons, which exhausted the huge production capacity of the gun bureau.
The three-inch cannon fires explosive ammunition. Although the smoothbore breech-loading cannon is not as accurate as the breech-loading rifled cannon, the problem is that the three-inch cannon has a range of two thousand meters, which is much farther than the Franco machine gun.
It must be at least six to seven hundred meters away. In a naval battle, the advantages of this kind of artillery will be directly converted into combat effectiveness.
As the Jinzhou sailed out to sea, the Gaizhou, Haizhou and Fuzhou followed closely behind. In addition to these four King Kongs, there were more than 200 warships from the Ning Navy escorting them.
Of course, it was not because Cheng Shijie was going to the capital to show off, but because there were too many heads of prisoners and slaves, which occupied a huge carrying capacity. Next, Ning Haijun went to the capital from the left and right. There are three commanders of the army, three generals of the Guards, and each has its own commander. In addition, there is one commander of the artillery and two commanders of the cavalry. The whole army has a total of nine commanders and more than 10,000 troops.
Until there was only a pointed sail shadow left on the sea level, the Liao people on the dock were still kneeling and kowtowing to it, and no one stood up.
When Catherine saw Cheng Shijie and his fleet leaving, she said sourly: "Giovanni, you see, this is just a governor of the Ming Dynasty, he has hundreds of thousands of troops (exaggeration), he just defeated the Jin Kingdom The army is said to have annihilated more than 80,000 enemies!”
"This is more than the population of Venice!"
Catherine smiled faintly and said: "This is an opportunity. If you have a good relationship with Duke Cheng..."
"But what should we do?"
“It’s simple, show our value!”
(End of chapter)
