"Master Chitose, the ship has been docked at the Wujiaxue Town pier. Soldiers from the forward division have landed to alert the police. Jiujiang garrison Liu Kongzhao Liu Jue and several local officials who ran away from Wuchang, Hanyang and other places are waiting at the pier. ..."
The speaker was Yan Yingyuan. He was a good Jinshi, but was deceived by Zhu Cixiang into joining the army. He first attended the Nanjing Martial Arts School for a few months, and then went to the "Bloodstream Stream" after leaving, and served as Hao Yaoqi's former military advisor. Battalion deputy. Now he has been promoted to the head guard of the guard camp, which is also the battalion commander.
His promotion speed is almost less than that of riding a rocket. But he has a Jinshi diploma, so others have nothing to say - the Ming Dynasty has valued literature over martial arts for more than 200 years. If you include the three hundred years of the Song Dynasty, the idea that literature is valued over martial arts and that Jinshi is the most valuable has long been ingrained in the bones. ! Therefore, Yan Yingyuan was considered to have suffered a loss when he exchanged civil service for military service. He should have been promoted faster.
"Let Liu Kongzhao come, others tell them to disperse!" Zhu Cihong ordered, and then looked up at the three gray-bearded civil servants in his cabin.
These three are all high officials!
Two of them are old acquaintances of Zhu Cixiang, one is Qiu Yu and the other is Fang Yuegong.
Both of them were former cabinet ministers, and later resigned as cabinet ministers to serve as governors for more than a year. Before Zhu Cixi went to war this time, he adjusted the administrative divisions of Southern Zhili and abolished Susong, Zhenchang, and Huai The five "small governors" of Yang, Fengyang and Yingtian were replaced by two major governors of Jiangbei and Jiangnan, respectively appointed by Lu Zhenfei (governor of Jiangbei, governing Yangzhou) and Hou Xun (governor of Jiangnan, governing Suzhou).
Therefore, both Qiu Yu and Fang Gongyue were off duty, and Zhu Cixiang asked them to follow him on the expedition in the name of Zanxiang's military affairs.
Of course, bringing these two old men is not because there is no place to arrange them, but because Huguang needs them. Because both of them are from Xiangyang, Hubei Province, one is from Gucheng County and the other is from Yicheng County. Mr. Ge, coupled with his status as Earl Kenan, makes him a proper scholar leader in Hubei!
Another old man is from Jiangxi, named Yuan Jixian. After the fall of Beijing, when Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang and their sons went south, he served as the right minister of the Ministry of War and the censor of the right capital. He was stationed in Jiujiang and was the governor of Jiangxi, Huguang, Anqing, Yingtian (Nanjing) and other military affairs.
He seems to be a great official, but in fact he is an empty governor. There was no army for him to supervise, so he succeeded in lobbying Zuo Liangyu and regained some territory in Hubei.
Later, after Zhu Cixiang established a foothold in Nanjing, he dismissed his official position and transferred him back to Nanjing to guard the election. After a year of guarding, he finally got an errand. He also praised Xiang's military affairs and went on an expedition with Zhu Cixiang - he was also very familiar with Huguang. , he went to Hubei twice to serve in the tenth and twelfth years of Chongzhen, and both held positions related to military affairs, and fought against the bandits.
In addition to these three old men who praised Xiang's military affairs, there was also Wu Sanfu in the cabin - without him following him, Zhu Cixiang would not be able to fight. In addition, Zhu Cihong's military advisor Li Yan also left Nanjing, but now he is not in the army, but has gone to Fengyang Prefecture and Runing Prefecture to mobilize troops.
Yan Yingyuan turned and left, while Zhu Cixiang breathed out softly and said with a smile: "Liu Kongzhao was not waiting in Wuchang, but he came to Wujiaxue Town. It seems that he was a little slow and failed to capture Wuchang and Hankou!"
Of course Zhu Cixiang knew the news about Zuo Mengeng leaving Wuchang and Hanyang for the "Western Expedition" immediately!
At that time, Zhu Cihong had just left Nanjing with his forward division and navy and had not yet arrived in Anqing. However, Zhu Cixiang did not order the fleet to speed up, but slowly ordered Liu Kongzhao's navy stationed in Jiujiang to seize Wuchang City and Hankou City as soon as possible.
Now Liu Kongzhao most likely has not completed the task, but Zhu Cixiang looks at it but he is not anxious at all... Wu Sanfu in the official cabin is used to it, and he knows that this man is holding back something bad. Qiu Yu and Fang Gongyue, the two old men, also knew a little about Prince Zhu's personality, but they just squinted their eyes and thought about it.
Only Yuan Jixian was the most honest. The old man was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead, "Your Highness, the bandits have now learned to take root, and they use the method of calculating and talking to equalize land to deceive people. Their ambition is not small... You must not take it easy." Look at it!"
Li Zicheng has improved... and is not easy to deal with!
Zhu Cixiang nodded, as if he felt the same, "What Yuan Chanxiang said is very good... The situation in Huguang is extremely critical now, and we really can't take it lightly!
The most critical aspect of this situation is not the gains and losses in Wuchang and Hankou, but the aspirations of the people in Huguang. In my opinion, it is easy to win Wuchang and Hanyang, but it is difficult to win the hearts of Huguang! "
Wuchang and Hanyang are not difficult to defeat. It's just a matter of mobilizing more model troops and artillery... Li Zicheng's strength can be counted on his fingers. How many acres of land are there in Xiangyang, Yueyang, and Nanyang? How many "old camp warriors" can be raised if they are all trapped?
Therefore, Li Zicheng's current capital is only 70,000 to 80,000 elite soldiers, and he has to leave some for Nanyang and Xi'an. Those who can come to Huguang are 40,000 to 50,000 elite soldiers.
The model army that Zhu Cixi could mobilize far exceeded this number... So defeating Li Zicheng in Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou is not a problem. The problem is what about the millions or even tens of millions of Hubei farmers who have been allocated land?
If they all stand on Li Zicheng's side and protect the achievements of Ji Tian Tuo Tian... then they will be a real crowd of millions!
How many troops can Zhu Cixi invest in Huguang? It's a model army of 100,000 people. Can 100,000 people destroy a million people?
"This..." Old Yuan frowned deeply after listening to Zhu Cixiang's analysis, as if he was really worried about the country and the people.
The two elders from Hubei, Qiu Yu and Fang Gongyue, just squinted their eyes and stared at Prince Zhu - although this young man is young, he has a lot of evil ideas!
To the gentry and businessmen of Hubei, this prince is only slightly better than Li Zicheng...
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Let's take Wuchang first... Wuchang Mansion is also quite big, and there should be quite a few official fields and military villages in it, right?"
"Ah..." Old Yuan thought to himself: How come you, the prince, only have military fields and official villages in your eyes?
Before Zhu Cixiang finished speaking, he continued: "I have been thinking about it on the way to Hubei. If Li Zicheng divides all the land in Hubei as oral farmland, can we still get it back? There are millions of people. Now...the law does not rule the masses! And I am a benevolent monarch, how can I seize people's land in Hubei as soon as I ascend the throne? You are all virtuous veterans, tell me."
"This is indeed inappropriate..."
"But it's not right for rogue bandits to dictate to Tian!"
"We can't just make mistakes, right?"
Zhu Cixiang nodded repeatedly, "That's right, that's... I'm not unreasonable. That's why I want to find out the official fields and military villages of Wuchang Mansion!"
What do you want to do?
The three old men all looked at Zhu Cihong.
Zhu Cixiang said: "This is what I think...the fields granted by Li Zicheng will not be taken back. From now on, they will be regarded as private fields, and the average tax will be based on two nanometers per mu. Anything because of Li Zicheng For the Hubei gentry who lost their farmland, the imperial court used the official land and military villages in Wuchang to make up for it. The land compensated to them will be settled in Wuchang from now on, and they will not go back to their hometown again."
This is too dark!
The three old men, including Qiu Yu and Fang Gongyue, all took a breath.
Zhu Cixiang is darker than Li Zicheng!
He came to Huguang not to fight off the bandits and protect the good people, but to fight against the good people... Li Zicheng took away the land of the good people and planned to grant them the land. Zhu Cixiang planned to fight off Li Zicheng and then collect taxes from the farmers who had been granted the land. !
You get two buckets of rice from one acre of land... Are you too happy to pay taxes?
Originally, the total land tax in Huguang was only over 2 million shi!
Now Li Zicheng wants to acquire at least 60 million acres per acre... The tax of two bushels per acre is 12 million dan! Even if 20% is deducted to give the local officials a commission, there is still 9.6 million shi!
This is just Hubei, there is also Hunan, which has a larger territory! Counting Hunan, wouldn't it mean that more than 20 million stone meters were scraped away from Huguang a year? This is ten times more than before... Is it okay with your conscience to tax you like this?
Before the discussion on the issue of conscience began, Yan Yingyuan's voice came from outside the cabin: "Master Qiansui, please see Liu Kongzhao!"
"Xuan!"
