The ten regiments of 25,000 cavalry and horses stationed in Nanjing had already eaten away hundreds of miles of grassland around them before winter came in the first year of Guangde.
Since September, horses have died of illness and starvation every day. These war horses from Mongolia, North Korea, Liaodong and other places are obviously not adapted to the warm and humid climate in the south. The further you go, the less fodder you get. Xie Yang and others have obviously overestimated Nanjing’s supply capabilities.
To make matters worse, the Emperor found that he had to accept a large number of Southern Ming surrender troops.
The Nanjing garrison alone has 108 guards, which is equivalent to hundreds of officers and tens of thousands of soldiers.
Coupled with the surrender of the remaining troops of Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Sen, Liu Zhaosun and his officials had to provide food for nearly 300,000 surrendered Ming troops.
When the Supreme Emperor first took over Nanjing, in order to appease people's hearts and weaken the resistance, he decided to gather and surrender the Ming army. The policy at that time was: take all the troops that should be taken, and not let anyone freeze and be discouraged.
Qian Qianyi and others suggested that those who surrendered to the Ming army should be treated as new recruits of the Qi Dynasty. Each of them would be given two stones of grain and two taels of silver per month.
This proposal was immediately rejected by Liu Zhaosun after it was submitted. The Supreme Emperor had been in the army for a long time and knew what it meant for more than 200,000 people to receive two stones of grain and two taels of silver per person per month.
Facts have proved that even if each person was later given a one-stone ration per month, the food in Nanjing's internal treasury would only be enough to last for two months.
At this point, the only way to go is to demobilize and surrender the troops. Otherwise, it won't be long before the main forces of each regiment will be in the dilemma of insufficient food and grass.
However, Jiangnan had recently surrendered, and Da Qi could not do without this force, leaving them responsible for maintaining order in various places. Liu Zhaosun planned to wait until Jiangxi and Fujian were completely pacified before gradually disbanding these Ming troops.
In addition, there were too many officers in the surrendered Ming army. Many officers were good at falsely reporting their troops. In other words, they were good at taking empty pay. Therefore, the more than 200,000 soldiers and horses reported must be at least discounted. It would be good to have 100,000 soldiers. .
The Supreme Emperor ordered the elite members of the surrendered army to be drawn out to form a new army as cannon fodder to cope with the upcoming war.
The total strength of Qi's army in the south was 120,000, including the accompanying auxiliaries and civilians, only a little over 200,000. It was obviously not enough to spread the troops to the nine provinces of Jiangnan.
The Ming armies in the southern provinces either surrendered or fled, and the Qi army was stretched thin and unable to capture all the cities. Liu Zhaosun began to worry about "local gangsters, looting everywhere."
The so-called gangsters are scoundrels who fight against gangsters. These forces usually harm the place. Once there is a vacuum in power, they become even more unscrupulous, just like bandits.
The purpose of this southern expedition by the Supreme Emperor and his Da Qi army is of course not to grab a handful and then return to the north, but to actually prepare to bring the provinces south of the Yangtze River under the rule of Da Qi and achieve firm control over various places, at least like Like Henan and Shandong.
It is precisely based on this that the rulers of Da Qi must avoid simple military actions - such as burning, killing and looting of the people like the surrendered generals Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong - Liu Zhaosun increasingly realized that Da Qi must end the war as soon as possible. The current system must be transformed into a peaceful governance model. In other words, it is necessary to suspend the rush and use political tolerant means (the most important thing is economic means) to digest the amazing results achieved in the past two years.
This is also an inevitable requirement for Da Qi’s destiny (legitimacy of rule).
The Emperor knew very well that no matter how brave and skillful the Qi army was, no matter what brilliant achievements his troops had achieved, or how many enemy countries they had destroyed, military affairs would always only serve politics.
Only the knife hidden in the sheath is the knife that makes people afraid.
Spending all day wielding knives and guns, trying to catch and kill whoever you want, you are destined not to last long.
If you pick it up and sharpen it, you can't keep it for a long time.
In short, in the first year of Guangde, when the Qi army occupied the south of the Yangtze River and was about to pacify the world, reform was once again put on the agenda by the rulers of Qi.
Reform cannot be accomplished overnight, but it cannot be delayed any further.
In view of the painful lessons of the previous reforms, the Supreme Emperor did not act arbitrarily this time. Instead, he handed over the great reform task to Liu Kan and his eight ministers, who were empowered by the little emperor and the cabinet ministers to discuss it.
This reform in the first year of Guangde was limited to two provinces: Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
The two provinces will be used as pilot projects. After success, we will consider extending it to the nine southern provinces.
There is nothing new in the content of the reform, and it generally follows those of Zhang Juzheng's reform: prohibiting empty talk, destroying the world's academies, passing the imperial examination, clearing out the parents-in-law, etc.
Of course, according to the national conditions of Da Qi, modern military training, school system, reform of the imperial examination system, foreign trade, supremacy of maritime power, mercantilism and other contents will inevitably be added.
After Zhang Juzheng's death, the new law soon came to an end, and the Ming Dynasty finally just returned to its glory. However, this problem did not exist with Liu Kan. He had plenty of opportunities to implement his reforms for a longer period of time.
Another aspect of the new law is to adjust the harsh government from the first year of Wu Ding to the third year of Taichu, which is commonly known as bringing order to chaos (reversing history). The overly radical utopian strategies of abolishing private property and equalizing land rights were previously implemented in Henan and Liaodong. , will also receive certain adjustments - without adjustments, it will simply not be implemented in Jiangnan.
From this perspective, the emperor's intention is also very obvious, which is to give this opportunity to loosen the imperial chariot to Guangde Emperor Liu Kan, so that his son can establish an image of a benevolent king in both the government and the public before taking power, and reap the benefits. More popular support.
Of course, this is just a father's good wish. No one knows what the new law will eventually become.
All reforms in history are nothing more than redistributing the cake and re-creating the benefit distribution system. It sounds easy, but it is very difficult to actually change it.
Whenever reformers touch the slightest benefit of interest groups, they may be dismissed from office or demoted, or their bodies and heads may be severed.
As the saying goes, blocking people's way of making money is like killing their parents. Reforming this business is not as simple as blocking people's way of making money, so reformers in history have not ended well.
Shang Yang was finally quartered by five oxen, Wang Anshi's life was ups and downs, and Zhang Juzheng was almost killed after his death...
However, it is conceivable that the resistance to the reform in the first year of Guangde must be very small, or even almost negligible.
The reason is self-evident. Taking advantage of the power of annexing the south of the Yangtze River, the Supreme Emperor led a hundred thousand troops and was invincible. He was powerful in the south of the Yangtze River.
At this moment, no matter how unhappy the various factions feel, they have to curl up even if they are dragons, and they have to lie down even if they are tigers. No one dares to say no.
This was an advantage that Emperor Guangde had that other reformers did not have.
Of course, everything depends on how Liu Kan and the cabinet ministers operate.
~~~~~
On November 15, Emperor Guangde summoned his veteran minister Qiao Yiqi in the main hall of Qianqing Palace.
As soon as the little emperor saw Qiao Yiqi, he asked someone to give Mr. Qiao Ge a seat. After the palace maid came up to offer tea, the little emperor waved back and said straight to the point:
"Mr. Qiao Ge, my father has entrusted me with the important matter of the reform. I feel dizzy in my heart. I don't know where to start. I am worried that I will miss the important national affairs. You are an old minister from Kaiyuan and have experienced more major events than anyone else. I would like to invite Mr. Ge today. Come on, please don’t hesitate to teach me!”
Qiao Yiqi bowed her hand to Liu Kangong, put down the tea bowl, her throat trembled slightly, like an old fairy in a New Year painting.
Qiao Dazui is sixty-one this year. He has worked hard for Kaiyuan and Daqi for almost twenty years. It can be said that he has dedicated half of his life to the Liu family and his son.
Because he had not taken the secret medicine Vajra Powder for a long time and was not as good at maintaining health as Kang Yingqian, after Kang Yingqian died, Qiao Dazui was overly sad and suddenly suffered a stroke. After the treatment, his hair and beard turned white. He staggered when he walked and needed someone to support him. Finally, What's terrible is that his ears are also a little hard to hear.
"Your Majesty, what did you say?"
Liu Kan repeated it loudly, looking expectantly at this veteran of two dynasties.
"Your Majesty, what did you say?"
Lin Yu, who was standing at the entrance of the palace, turned around and looked this way.
The little emperor came close to Qiao Yiqi, put his ear close to his ear, and said loudly: "I ask you how to change the method!"
Qiao Yiqi nodded, saliva overflowed from the corners of his mouth, Liu Kan quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped it for him.
"Your Majesty," Qiao Dazui gently pushed Liu Kan away and said loudly:
"You know what you do if you want to persuade someone to open a window in their house?"
Liu Kan stared at the decrepit old man in front of him, scratched his head, and said with a blank expression: "Give him money."
Qiao Yiqi didn't hear the little emperor's words and continued: "Your Majesty first said that the room was too dark and the roof should be removed. Yes, others would definitely not agree to remove the roof. Then His Majesty said, let's open a window. Others I agreed.”
Qiao Dazui leaned on his cane and said with a smile: "Your Majesty first releases the news that the "Qi Dynasty Land Acquisition System" will be implemented in Jiangnan to scare those local tyrants and evil gentry to death! Then he will implement Zhang Taiyue's new laws. That's it."
Lewen
