As the imperial capital of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing is the capital of the Ming Dynasty. There are countless news coming in from the south and north of the Yangtze River every day. Whether it is folk rumors and gossip or the people's livelihood politics in the court, it can spread to every corner of the capital in one day.
The officers and soldiers are attacking everywhere. The locust plague in Shandong has failed to harvest anything. The plague is on the rise in Hebei. I heard that there is another bandit rebellion. I heard that the prince has left the palace to inspect the public situation in Henan. There is also a Hidden in it is the notorious Qufu Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi who suddenly died suddenly some time ago.
Yes, what the Kong family in Qufu reported to the court was a sudden death with no specific reason.
The so-called sudden death may be due to a sudden illness or an accident, but the specifics are all speculation. People listen to gossip and wonder if they will be scolded to death by us. You must know that the Kong family has been aloof for generations, but In the last month, people from all over the country have been shouting and killing, scolding them for being hypocritical and full of benevolence, justice, wisdom, trust, loyalty, filial piety, shame and courage. However, their knees are so weak that no one can kneel down... The Kong family has never suffered such an insult in thousands of years. Perhaps the head of the family was so angry that he Burp.
People thought this was the case, but the note on Emperor Chongzhen's desk clearly stated that the villain was committing the crime.
To put it bluntly, he was killed. How he was killed was not explained in detail. It was not important to Emperor Chongzhen at all. He was just a puppet used by the court to fool the people. He just died and his son succeeded him.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't care about this at all, because there were too many troubles for him to deal with, and the most urgent thing was food. All of Henan and Hebei plus parts of northern Shandong and Shanxi all lost their summer harvests due to war, thus triggering the butterfly effect of autumn harvests. It has also been greatly affected. Dozens of millions of people are without food and hungry. This requires a large amount of food relief. This is a huge gap and the most serious problem facing the court at this time. If it cannot be solved, hunger this winter will Countless people will die!
But generally speaking, the situation in the Ming Dynasty is much better than a few months ago. You must know that at that time, the intruders were all going to the capital. The Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse. Although it was still in dire straits, the court was not so dangerous. The surrounding areas All the military chaos was suppressed by Chang Yu, which is very gratifying.
Chang Yu's defeat of Bai Wang certainly made Chongzhen Emperor Longyan very happy, but it still could not hide the anxiety caused by the food crisis. Chang Yu's move to squeeze out military rations for relief made him emotional and moved. There is no other way, but... there are many places in the south that are not under the control of the imperial court, and the only areas that can provide food relief are Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. However, these places do not offer free shipping, and you have to pay first.
Is the court rich? There is also a little bit, tens of millions of Shanxi Shanxi merchants were copied, and only a few million were left in just a few months. Just last month, Ning Yuanzu's birthday was allocated one million to rebuild the fortress outside the pass.
This is equivalent to repairing the courtyard wall of your own home, and you can't do it without paying the necessary money.
How much food can I buy with the remaining money? Moreover, it was impossible for the imperial court to use the remaining money from the treasury to buy food for disaster relief. It could only urge the southern provinces to pay autumn taxes.
If you expect to use autumn gifts to provide disaster relief, don't ask whether it is enough, just ask whether it is too late.
Moreover, the grain tax is not so easy to collect.
Therefore, the price of food in the capital has soared to the sky. Although the Octopus Chamber of Commerce has taken the lead in setting an example and resolutely not to raise prices, and the imperial court has also intervened to drive up prices, the cost of food has skyrocketed. Grain merchants will not make any money if they do not increase prices. You can't sell it at a loss.
Emperor Chongzhen was in dire straits, and the courtiers were all talking and unable to come up with practical and effective solutions. At this time, Jinyiwei sent a big news. Zheng Zhilong from Fujian Province sent hundreds of large ships of grain from Tianjin to Tongzhou Wharf.
I wipe it!
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was really inspired. He was a helper in the snow. How could Zheng Zhilong be so discerning and so kind-hearted and generous? After careful questioning, it turned out that it was Chang Yu who had planned ahead for a rainy day. This really made Emperor Chongzhen sigh with emotion. In his previous life, What good thing have you done to get such a good serving eunuch?
The news is good news, but the reality is still cruel. Only a small part of Zheng Zhilong's hundreds of ships of food are rice grains, and the rest are potatoes and sweet potatoes, which are not edible and are used as seeds.
Does Chang Yu want to promote the planting of these two crops on a large scale in the north? And is it too late to plant it now, and where does he plan to plant it? In these famine years, you may be picked out and eaten as soon as you plant it.
No, call this boy back quickly and ask for details. Perhaps only he can solve the current food crisis, so Emperor Chongzhen sent people to rush, but he got shocking news that Chang Yu took the waterway!
Isn't this nonsense? If you ride back to Beijing quickly, it takes three to five days. The fastest you can take by water is ten days and half a month. If someone else were there, Emperor Chongzhen would have stamped his feet and cursed, but he understood that the reason why Chang Yu took the waterway was definitely not For entertainment, it must be profitable.
As the boss of Dongchang, Chang Yu also knows everything that is known in the capital. Even if he takes the waterway, Jin Yiwei and Dongchang's fans will report all kinds of information along the way every day.
Three days later, when night fell, the fleet arrived at Xuzhou Pier and a group of people entered the city. Gao Jie hosted a banquet in the General Military Mansion to entertain the guests. Nearly a hundred personal guards, including Ma Yingkui, Yan Yingyuan, Li Mingyu, etc., all attended the banquet. The house is very lively.
The chairman is placed in the lobby, but there are only a few people who can sit in this position. They happen to be the top leaders, Shi Kefa, Li Muchian, Gao Jie and his wife, and Chang Yu.
Women were not allowed to attend these days, but Mrs.
Mrs. Ask, just turn around and let the wind blow slowly by the bedside.
But what's interesting is that she and Chang Yu talked the most during the dinner. Everyone else was eating and drinking with them or listening, because the two of them were talking about borrowing food.
As the boss behind Gao Jie's wife, Mrs. How long you can borrow it, the same saying goes: "Uncle can take whatever you want"! (Calling uncle is a local name in northern Jiangsu or southern Shandong, and refers to the child’s uncle)
"Sister-in-law's righteousness" Chang Yu even respected Mrs.
Moreover, Chang Yu couldn't really empty Gao Jie's warehouse at once, nor would he borrow it for several years. Everyone was happy after agreeing on the installments and interest, but now it was enough for the Octopus Chamber of Commerce to keep busy. In addition to regular help to the military In addition to purchasing and transporting grain and grass, additional manpower was also dispatched to transport the grain purchased by the Wang brothers from Yangzhou to the capital. The grain was transported from Xuzhou to Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Puzhou. The grain and grass were also transported in batches from Jinan to Puzhou and the capital. , This requires a lot of manpower and material resources, but it is also a good thing. After all, it can solve the employment problem of thousands of people at once, which is equivalent to solving the food and clothing problem of thousands of families.
It was already late at night after the banquet, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest after enjoying themselves. However, Gao Jie was not in a hurry to say goodbye rather than get married. Instead, he and Chang Yu were enjoying the cool air in the yard while discussing a secret matter.
Mrs. Xing captured Xu Dingguo!
Chang Yu was stunned when he first heard the news. Historically, Gao Jie was trapped and killed by Xu Dingguo. He had previously warned Gao Jie to be careful of this person and kill him if he encountered him.
Before Gao Jie went south, he told Mrs. Xing that he had heard of it. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Xing was so brave and talented that she planned to deceive Xu Dingguo from Suizhou, Guide Prefecture (now Sui County, Henan) and imprison him.
After asking about the process carefully, it turned out that Mrs.
Xu Dingguo is now an idle soldier. He gathered hundreds of people to cause trouble in Suizhou, saying that he was a soldier but not a soldier, and that he was a thief but not a thief, but he did the same thing as the thief (Li Zicheng defeated Sun Chuanting in Tongguan in the 16th year of Chongzhen, Xu Dingguo When the generals were defeated, they could not escape. Because they were afraid of being held accountable, they ran back to their villages to wait and see the situation.)
Historically, before the intruders broke into Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen rewarded many generals in order to call on the world's soldiers and horses to be diligent. For example, Wu Sangui, Zuo Liang, and Yuhuang were all knighted for their meritorious service. Xu Dingguo, who was the chief military officer of Shanxi at that time, was also on the list. Promoted one level.
Looking at Xu Dingguo's resume, you will find that although he is not as good as Huang Degong, he is still very inspiring. He rose step by step from a low-level military attaché to the rank of commander-in-chief. Later, he was awarded a title during the Southern Ming Dynasty, and he launched the Suizhou Incident to lure Gao Jie to death. This led to the collapse of the defense line in the late Ming Dynasty. When Shi Kefa heard the news, he stamped his feet and cursed: "Things in the Central Plains cannot be done, and national affairs will be ruined by thieves!"
