However, even if the nobles and people in Nanjing donate food, it is still impossible to close such a big gap. Jiujiang City has food reserves and the middle part of the king has no worries. Anqing has food. Huang Degong has no worries. Liu Liangzuo of Luzhou and Gao Jie of Xuzhou are all self-sufficient. Since both of them are wealthy, they don't need to worry about him, but the remaining generals and tens of thousands of troops are all waiting for food.
So Chang Yu decided to take action against Liu Zeqing. It was not enough for him to die, so he had to get the food out. He thought to himself and looked at Li Yan, only to see Li Yan nodded to him with a slight smile. Damn, they really have a tacit understanding.
But Chang Yu also knew that even if Liu Zeqing's house was ransacked, it would only be enough for immediate needs, and there would still be a big gap in the follow-up. But that's all it could do for now, let's wait and see, and figure out a way later.
Damn it, it’s a pity that all the vassal kings in the Central Plains were taken away by the bandit army. Otherwise, if you just find a house to beg for food, you can eat for several months. Anyway, for Chang Yu, who needs experience when begging for food, he is not worried about the other party. If you don’t give it, the problem is that there is nowhere to get it.
Damn Li Zicheng, if I had time traveled a few years earlier, I wouldn't even have left a hair for you!
The fate of the generals and the supply of food and grass have been discussed at all levels, and the most critical issue left is the welfare time of tens of thousands of soldiers.
The essence of Chang Yu's military management is to adopt the leaders of Li Chengliang and Qi Jiguang's families. On the one hand, he has strict military laws and on the other hand, he has high officials and generous salaries.
Those who violate discipline will be punished, and those who have merit will be rewarded.
Tens of thousands of troops traveled thousands of miles and fought more than ten bloody battles. Although they defeated the rebels and killed the Tatars many times, they also became tired after a long battle. It would not matter if they were just exhausted physically, but mentally exhausted. In other words, the soldiers began to have problems. War weariness.
At this time, in addition to recuperating, the fastest way to adjust is to reward the entire army!
Chang Yu was well prepared. He got a lot of money from Jinan and a lot of money in Nanjing. In addition, he also got a lot from the Baiwang campaign. It is estimated to be in the millions!
After a brief discussion with the generals, Chang Yu decided to give half of the reward to the entire army. It was estimated that the average person was about 10 taels, which was definitely a huge sum of money for ordinary soldiers!
In addition to being used as pensions for soldiers who died in battle, the rest also had to be used to advance funds for Emperor Chongzhen.
Chang Yu had a headache when he thought about this, and lamented that money is really worthless for a country, and it costs money everywhere.
He robbed a few traitorous wealthy businessmen in Shanxi to get tens of millions of taels of silver for Emperor Chongzhen, which was equivalent to a year's treasury income in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
As a reminder, many people say that the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was actually only three to five million taels of silver per year. The main basis is that Ming Shenzong spent eight million taels of silver to build his own mausoleum, which is equivalent to two years of total income from land tax, so there is an annual income. Income of three to five million.
In fact, this is not the case. There are two types of fiscal revenue in the Ming Dynasty, cash silver and grain payment. Cash silver is indeed only three to five hundred per year, but if the grain is converted into silver, the annual income should be about 20 million, with the highest in the tenth year of Wanli. In three years, the fiscal revenue in that year was 22.953 million taels.
Of course, by the end of Chongzhen's reign... all the mice in the barn were starving to death.
However, there were too many places to ask for money. In the blink of an eye, most of the tens of millions of taels were spent by the court after Chang Yu chased the Tatars around Qingzhou, leaving very little.
In fact, to be honest, chasing the Tatars was already a waste of food, grass and money. If Qingzhou Prince Heng’s Mansion hadn’t come to the rescue, what a waste!
Later, when he went south to suppress Bai Wang, he was even more empty-handed, asking for money and food, all relying on deceit and abduction along the way. But there was nothing he could do about it. We couldn't let Bai Wang attack Nanjing all the way.
The imperial court has always rewarded the generals for winning battles. Chang Yu knew that the imperial court was in a difficult situation at this time, so he rewarded the generals on behalf of the imperial court first. The remaining ones were used to reward the generals on behalf of the imperial court in addition to paying the soldiers' pensions.
Generals are not just rewarded with a few taels of silver. They are often rewarded with thousands of taels and ten thousand taels of silver. When you talk about it, it seems that the emperor's favor is vast, but when you actually show it out... forget it, reserve some first, so as to save you embarrassment later. Embarrassing again.
This may be what Chongzhen particularly likes about Chang Yu. He does everything for his sake and takes care of the royal family's face. Others ask for money and food before sending troops in wars. Otherwise, they will not move even an inch. But Chang Yu is different. He just leaves when he says it. Go, don’t ask for anything, and every time you come back from a war, you can give him a little extra!
You said, who the hell wouldn’t love such a subordinate?
After making arrangements for everyone and everything, Chang Yu had to leave. Where to go? Naturally, the master returned to Beijing and wrote a secret report to Emperor Chongzhen a few days ago. He believed that the man in the Forbidden City wanted him to fly over with his wings, and then set up a table in the Qianqing Palace. The alarm struck: Last time Speaking of Bai Wang's fierce general Wang Yi'en leading his troops to kill outside Tongling City...
In addition to telling stories to Emperor Chongzhen, he also has more things to do. He can help a little with people's livelihood matters, but the most important thing is to prepare the layout!
The Zheng family in Fujian must make good friends, make detailed plans to march into Xi'an and prepare food and grass, and they must not take matters outside the country lightly.
Almost all the generals were drunk that night, and even Li Yan was sluggish in his steps, but he didn't feel sleepy at all and took Chang Yu for a walk in the yard.
"Puzhou is by the Yellow River and is also the bridgehead for us and the bandit forces. It has an important strategic location. No one is more familiar with it than you, and no one is more suitable to be in charge of Puzhou than you. It's just that the mountains are high and the road is far away, but you don't have to worry. , just walk slowly over, and for a while, the thieves will be unable to harass the imperial court, and they will not be able to fight."
Li Yan smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The journey here is almost two thousand miles long. If you want to take a leisurely stroll, why not walk for two months?" Chang Yu smiled: "Just treat it as an outing. Besides, I will accompany you all the way to Kaifeng and Luoyang." It’s not boring, don’t worry, the food and grass must be supplied for you, and when our family returns to Jing Road Economic South, we will take Liu Zeqing’s food and send it over.”
Li Yan hummed: "He takes what he uses, and others can't gossip about it." He raised his eyebrows and said: "When the Governor passes through Chizhou, he should have a good relationship with Wu Sangui..."
"It doesn't matter." Chang Yu snorted: "Although Wu Sangui is unruly and conceited, but after being defeated by our family, his thoughts must have changed. If our family can use his merits to win over Wang Tizhong, we can also win over him." , and if he dares to be bold and dare not disobey orders, our family will transfer him to Luoyang to garrison, and if he dares to say a word, we will make him regret it immediately! "
"The general will believe in the governor's methods." Li Yan smiled and said, "That's it. The mountains are high and the water is far away. Let's meet again in Puzhou."
Three days later, Chang Yu bid farewell to the generals and left Xingzi County to march eastward along the river. The generals also began to gather their troops and rush to their respective garrison locations. Li Yan's troops were all in Anqing, so he followed Chang Yu's way. This time he took a boat and took the waterway. .
Before leaving, the person in charge of Jin Yiwei in Jiujiang sent information about Wuchang. A large number of Jin Yiwei and Dongchang Fanzi transferred from South Zhili have entered Wuchang one after another. Zuo Liangyu's every move is under his surveillance. Most of the original Jinyi guards in the city were transferred elsewhere. In fact, even if they were not transferred, these wallflowers would still know what to do. It was obvious that Zuo Liangyu lost the arm wrestling match.
When the ship passed Pengze, Chang Yu ordered Chen Ruxin, who was stationed in the city, to lead his troops to set off from Chizhou. When they arrived at Dongliu County, they took Wuzhong, Chen Wangting and other wounded people on board to go with them. After more than half a month, several people recovered quickly from their injuries. It would take just a month to recover. After all, although the injury was serious, it did not cause any serious damage.
One day and one night, they arrived in Anqing at dawn. Chang Yu, Li Yan and others landed in the city, washed up briefly, and then went to the military camp to express condolences to the soldiers. This naturally aroused the soldiers' morale. After all, Chang Yu's prestige in the army was too great, and the soldiers regarded him as He is his idol and the god of war. When they see him, they are like chicken blood. Everyone is a fan.
At noon, everyone was sitting at the table. Zhang Qingzhen and Wei Shichun were a little surprised to learn that they would be transferred to Luoyang, but they didn't say anything. They knew that the next step of the little eunuch would be to use troops against Xi'an. Although it was estimated that I won't be able to return to Beijing for more than half a year, but it's better than going back empty-handed.
"Does your butt still hurt?" Chang Yu seemed to be teasing casually, but Hu Ling and Fan Jiaqian's expressions immediately became nervous: "I will be strict with myself in my humble position and will not dare to do it again."
"Just remember it." Chang Yu looked at the two men and said, "The tribes must not disturb the people during their long journey. You two will lead the Gongzi camp to accompany the army. Anyone who commits crimes and violates laws and disciplines will be severely punished."
At this time, Chang Yu had more than ten generals under his command, but the most disciplined was Li Yan, followed by Wu Sangui, Ma Ke, Huang Degong, and then the Guards and Shenji Battalion. As for Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Gao Jie, The bottom of the bottom.
Liu Zeqing has already burped, and there is no need to worry about his subordinates returning to Li Yan to dispatch military discipline. Huang Degong and Gao Jie are now more consciously restrained under Chang Yu's influence, but there are always some people who refuse to change despite repeated admonitions, and someone has to watch them.
Of course, Chang Yuming ostensibly asked Gongziying to supervise military discipline, but in fact he still monitored these generals. These generals knew it well, but fully accepted it. After all, it was much better than the original supervisors.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was a system of military supervision, in which the emperor sent eunuchs to the army to monitor the generals, and surveillance was all about surveillance. However, when these eunuchs were in the army, they only liked to show off their authority. They knew nothing but liked to show off, so to speak. Over the years, at least three to four of the ten defeats of the imperial court were inseparable from these supervisors.
But after Chang Yu came to power, he persuaded Emperor Chongzhen to recall the supervisory troops in each army. Although Gongziying still has this function now, he is very responsible and only enforces military discipline and never interferes in military affairs.
The midnight bell rang for the passenger ship. Late at night, several large ships docked at the Qiupu River pier in the west of Chizhou City. They were immediately surrounded by Wu Sangui's troops who were stationed nearby. Then... the news of Chang Yu's return to the city spread throughout the city as if it had wings. The military camps outside and even Xu Hongji and Wu Weiying in the city heard the news and quickly got up and hurried out of the city to see him.
But they found that Wu Sangui's camp was very lively. Hao Yaoqi, Ji Jike, Tu Yuan, Jia Waixiong, and Lao Jiu from Gongziying were all here, but they were all standing outside, saying that the young eunuch, Wu Sangui, and Ma Ke were there. Tell some secrets in the handsome tent.
