In the palace of Tianning Temple, in a very dimly lit side hall, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty sat upright on the throne. Wearing a yellow dragon robe and a good-winged crown, his face is expressionless, sacred and solemn, as if he is still the powerful king of a country. But the look in his eyes no longer had the trembling sharpness of the past.
Outside the side hall, Emperor Chongzhen's attendant Wu Xuan was leading several confidants, watching the surroundings nervously. As soon as there is any disturbance, report it immediately. This arrangement is all for the Nanjing garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou and the former Nanjing official minister Zhang Shenyan who came to Tianning Temple to meet the emperor today.
Of the two visitors, one was standing and the other was sitting on an embroidered pillar.
Standing was the Nanjing garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou. At this time, he was weeping and talking to Emperor Chongzhen about the situation in Nanjing.
"Your Majesty... the nobles who have stayed in the capital, the former garrison officer Xu Hongji, the current garrison brother Zhao Zhilong of Xincheng, the admiral of water transport Fuyuan Marquis Zhu Guobi, the former garrison chief Anbo Guo Zuoyong, the governor of the Chinese Army Qian Shu Anyuan Hou Liu Zuochang, Lingbi Hou Tang Guozuo, Nanhe Bofang Yiyuan and others are the backbone, preparing to raise troops to serve the king. Now they have reorganized 40,000 people in the Nanjing Jingying squadron, more than 10,000 people in Caojiang Navy, and tens of thousands of servants from various families. People. We have also contacted Ma Shiying, Huang Degong, Lu Jiude in Fengyang, and Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang. We are ready to raise our troops to serve the king together and support His Majesty in regaining power!"
Emperor Chongzhen listened carefully, but his brows became tighter and tighter. He now knows that his son is cunning and cruel, and he does not believe in the reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao, but he absolutely agrees that Zhu Cixiang is like the resurrection of Cao Cao and the reincarnation of Sima.
As for the Nanjing Camp in the hands of those nobles in Nanjing... Emperor Chongzhen was very worried! Will these guys be caught in one fell swoop by the Crown Prince?
Therefore, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen just said nothing about the good news reported by Han Zanzhou.
After Han Zanzhou finished speaking, he just waited quietly.
After a while, Chongzhen said: "The prince now has six divisions, including the front, rear, left, center, right and the first division, to defeat the new army. Each division has 8,000 people. In addition, the command department of the new army to defeat the enemy has many troops under its direct jurisdiction. The total number is probably no less than 55,000..."
Zhang Shenyan, whose beard and hair were all white and very thin, saw that Chongzhen was worried, and quickly comforted him: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. As I know, one of the Sixth New Army Division is stationed in Dengzhou and the other in Huai'an. They are troops that cannot be mobilized. There are also nine associations stationed in Jiufu in the south of the Yangtze River. At least one association must be left here in Yangzhou. This will leave two and a half divisions, and the remaining troops will definitely be less than two divisions, a mere one. More than 10,000 people. Nanjing's troops are several times that number, and Fengyang's Ma Shiying and Huang Degong will bring thousands more elite troops. So we are still somewhat sure!"
"You want to start a war with the prince in Nanjing?" Emperor Chongzhen asked.
"It doesn't have to be a war." Zhang Shen said, "It's just a military admonishment. As long as the prince is willing to return to power, you can let him support the army in Jiangbei."
"Fu Jun Jiangbei?" Emperor Chongzhen was hesitant, "It would be great if he could agree..."
Zhang Shenyan breathed out and said, "As long as he is willing to go to Nanjing, he can't help but agree."
"Are you still worried that he won't go to Nanjing?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned more and more.
Han Zanzhou replied: "Your Majesty, it is not the Yingtian Mansion and the Yangzhou Mansion that are confronting each other now, but the Yingtian Mansion is confronting the eleven southeastern mansions in the hands of the prince... I have done a rough calculation, and now the prince's age is one year. From the eleven prefectures in the southeast, we can harvest more than 10 million taels of land tax, and more than 8 million taels of salt tax and commercial tax!
However, the land tax of Yingtian Yifu is only a few hundred thousand dan, and the business tax is even less, which is almost insignificant. If there is a long-term confrontation, it will be very disadvantageous for Tianfu. "
"The Eleventh House can earn more than 20 million yuan?" Emperor Chongzhen was surprised, "Isn't this an extortionate expropriation?"
"That's not the case anymore," Zhang Shenyan shook his head and said, "Master Qiansui has already issued an order canceling the three salary increases."
"What? After canceling the three-month bonus, there are still more than 20 million..." Chongzhen said, tears dripping down.
When he was in power, he "desperately added more troops" to get this number, and half of the world was forced to rebel. Now it's Zhu Cixiang, and after exempting three salaries and adding additional stipends, eleven houses can collect that much!
This is really irritating!
Chongzhen sighed and stood up from his throne, his expression a little gloomy. It was obvious that he had been hurt by his corrupt officials.
The reason why he is in this situation is because he has no money! Can't you corrupt officials be a little less greedy?
Chongzhen said slowly: "Zhang Qing, Han Zanzhou, the situation is precarious now, we should be more cautious... The prince is not easy to deal with... You go back to Nanjing first, and be careful. Don't be direct participate......"
...
The streets of Nanjing are still as bustling as ever, seemingly not affected by the chaos at all. People wearing relatively decent silk or cotton clothes crowded shoulder to shoulder in the bustling streets of Jinling. Scholars are popular and merchants are wealthy. On the Qinhuai River, exquisite and picturesque boats come and go, to the point where boats and boats follow one another. Occasionally, there are rumors of people riding pond horses passing by on the street. The knights on the horses are all servants of the old Xu family who are hereditary guards in Nanjing. They are richly dressed and high-spirited.
Although the Southeast is peaceful, the world is finally in chaos! The nobles holding a large army in their hands became more and more noble in their defense. Even his servants started to tremble and galloped forward daring to cause trouble in Nanjing.
Several strong horses galloped through the market like wind, with bells tied to their hooves. The bells rang, and the people stumbled away. When some passers-by dressed as scholars saw it, they couldn't help shaking their heads and muttering in a low voice: "The emperor is covered in dust, and the world is declining!"
After finishing speaking, there was only a sigh.
Nowadays, Nanjing's Six Ministries and the Procuratorate, where civil servants handled matters, have almost disbanded. The former officials have either left the industry or gone to Shandong to continue to follow Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu. Others simply hung up their hats and left, temporarily becoming idle clouds and wild cranes. Naturally, the city of Nanjing is decided by the honorable nobles and the garrison eunuchs!
"Young Master, a letter from Eunuch Han!" The servant of the Xu family entered the Dagong Workshop in a blink of an eye, stood outside a pavilion, and respectfully handed over an envelope.
Hearing this, the two people who were playing chess in a pavilion on a small island in the middle of the back garden of Da Kungfu trembled at the same time, and then looked at each other. Xu Yunjue was wearing a large jade-white Confucian robe. He threw away the chess piece in his hand, took the envelope, tore it open, took out the letter paper inside, first scanned it, and then read it word by word. tone.
Sitting opposite him was Zhao Zhilong, who was in charge of Nanjing's garrison. He waved to the Xu family servant and told him to go away, and then asked: "Young Master, how are you?"
"The date is set!" Xu Yunjue said with a smile, "We will leave Yangzhou on the first day of September and we will arrive almost on the fifth day of September."
"The fifth day of September..." Zhao Zhilong took a breath, his face showing a bit of ferocity.
Now he has two things to do. On the one hand, he wrote a memorial to the prince and exposed the conspiracy of the Nanjing nobles. In fact, there was no need for him to expose it, because everyone knew about it! On the other hand, he is still participating in Nanjing's conspiracy, and is even a core member! If he succeeds in overthrowing the prince and returning power to Chongzhen, he will be a great contributor to Emperor Chongzhen, and he will be granted the title of Duke.
If you bet on both ends, you won’t lose money!
Zhao Zhilong took a deep breath and asked Xu Yunjue: "Young Master, are you ready?"
"Ready!" Xu Yunjue nodded, "All 2,500 of my servants have arrived in Nanjing. The entire capital camp has been reorganized. With the combined manpower from each family, 60,000 people can definitely be pulled out. Now. The only thing left is Ma Shiying and Huang Degong..."
Zhao Zhilong said: "Huang Yushi went to urge him three days ago... Huang Degong will definitely lead his elite troops to Nanjing before the fifth day of September!"
Xu Yunjue said: "Then it's foolproof!"
. m.
