"Why hasn't Gao Yingwu (Gao Jie) come yet? What is he doing so procrastinatingly?"
"What else can we do? The prince has sent the censor to check on him! He is trying to think of a way to deal with it!"
"Censor? Who is it?"
"Ji Yan Wang... Gao Yingwu is in a terrible situation this time! How much has he embezzled in Haizhou in the past two years? More than two to three million! Ji Yan Wang must have come to the north to check him out!"
"That's right... We all have the best of both worlds. Even if King Ji comes, he won't be able to find us!"
"But Gao Yingwu is the commander-in-chief. He has 20,000 men who dare to fight. Now it's time to use the army. Will the prince argue with him about corruption?"
"Are there still too few military leaders who have been involved in corruption and bribery in the past two years? Five or six of the New Army's commanders have been lost... Commanders, commanders-in-chief, and deputy generals from all over the country have lost their jobs. How much!"
"Yes! And how can Gao Yingwu be a man who dares to fight? It's all the wealth that has drained his fighting spirit. His Highness the Crown Prince is about to level up, and the new king will use three fires when he comes to power, and he must be burned in the first one!"
In the middle hall of the government office of the Seven Provincial Military Gate of Qufu Governor, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Huang Degong, Kong Xingxie (son of Kong Yinzhi), Li Huajing, Liu Zhaoji and others took advantage of Shi Kefa, Kong Yinzhen and Lu Wang Zhu Yihai to Before I arrived, I was drinking tea and talking loudly.
What they were talking about was the upcoming appointment of Ji Kun Ji, the censor of Shandong Province. Contrary to Zhu Cixi's expectation, these warlords felt very good. No one thought that Ji Kun was here to deal with them - they didn't make much money, and Gao Jie was the most corrupt official. The manor on Yuzhou Island was as gorgeous as the imperial palace, and it was said that it was also built in Shanghai's shanghai port. A Shaanxi street, all the houses on the street belong to the Gao family! He also built luxury houses in Nanjing and Wuhan, and deposited huge sums of money in the Salt Merchant Bank in his wife's name.
In addition to taking bribes, Gao Jie also passively avoided war. As the commander-in-chief of Xu Hai, he did not have a good fight with Donglu. Last time, Shi Kefa gathered all the troops to break the Qing army's Yishui camp. Everyone sent out troops, but Gao Jie did it half-heartedly and only sent some food and gunpowder.
Now the prince is about to ascend the throne and become emperor, and then he must go to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains - now the rogue bandits have been severely damaged, and Li Zicheng is likely to die! Xiangyang and Nanyang, two lairs that had been occupied by rogue bandits for two or three years, were also occupied by government troops. The situation in Huguang and the southwestern part of the Central Plains is excellent.
At the same time, the anti-Qing situation in Shanxi was also quite good. The Dai vassals on Luliang Mountain are getting stronger and stronger. Although Datong Mansion is once again surrounded by the Qing army, the current situation is still supportable - a large number of Qing troops are therefore restrained on the Shanxi battlefield.
In addition, Li Ruolian, Su Guansheng and Shen Tingyang also made considerable progress in attacking and plundering the coastal islands of Liao Dynasty. At present, it has occupied Juehua Island, Zhangzi Island, Shicheng Island, Big and Small Changshan Island, Wangjiashan Island, Guanglu Island, Tieshan Island, and even landed on Changsheng Island, the big island in Fuzhou Bay this summer! They pretended to attack Jinzhou Guard and Fuzhou Guard, which caused great panic in Liaodong.
Judging from the current situation, His Highness the Crown Prince will most likely launch a Northern Expedition to establish his authority after taking the throne... and the chances of winning are quite high!
And before sending out troops, it is indispensable to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys!
Therefore, a general like Gao Jie who only knows how to make money but does not know how to fight against the Qing Dynasty will definitely be unlucky. The chicken to be killed is him...
While everyone was discussing, there was a cough from behind the screen. Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi looked at each other and stood up from their chairs. Gao Hongtu also said sternly: "Stand up, Prince Lu is here!"
There are many big names here in Shandong. Even Shi Kefa, the governor of the military sect of the seven provinces, is not the biggest. The biggest one is King Zhu Yihai of Lu!
Zhu Yihai went to the DPRK for a pilgrimage a while ago. Accompanied by King Fat Fu, he met the "semi-retired" Emperor Chongzhen. He also went to Xuanwu Lake and Tangshan to visit the "Summer Palace" and "Winter Palace" where Emperor Chongzhen abdicated. .
Soon after, when Emperor Chongzhen became the Supreme Emperor of Chongzhen, he lived in the Xipu Palace in Nanjing in the spring and autumn, in the Palace in Xuanwu Lake in the summer, and in the Hot Spring Palace in Tangshan in the winter... And there are still one million taels of gold and silver available for flowers every year.
This life is really unspeakable...Zhu Yihai was extremely envious. After returning to Shandong and meeting Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi, he kept praising Prince Zhu for his filial piety!
Shi Kefa and Kong Yinzhi were also convinced. They accompanied Zhu Yihai out from behind the screen, and after sitting down separately, they told everyone the good news one by one.
"The prince is so filial!" Dazhongliang Shi Kefa twirled his beard and said with a smile, "I took the refugees to Huguang to eat, but I didn't lose a tael of gold and silver for the emperor. I also built Xuanhu Palace and Hot Spring Palace for the emperor. , so filial..."
Kong Yinzhi nodded repeatedly and agreed: "To give the emperor a round number, Chongzhen still has twenty years! Twenty years as emperor, thirty-six-year-old prince... The emperor is really the master of great blessings." !”
"Yes, yes!" Zhu Yihai said with a smile, "And the emperor is in good health and in his prime. He looks like he will live to be at least seventy-six years old...Twenty years as emperor and forty years as emperor. , what a blessing!”
I don’t know what Emperor Chongzhen would think if he knew what these three “loyalties” whom he had high hopes for said.
But Shi Kefa, Kong Yinzhi, and Zhu Yihai all spoke the truth!
In the view of the three of them, Chongzhen had been in power for seventeen years and had brought a still-sustainable Ming Dynasty to such a state. However, after the prince had been in power for two and a half years, the country's power had improved greatly... It would be a mistake to restore Chongzhen's power. If the country harms the people, it will also be a disservice to the ancestors.
So Emperor Chongzhen had better retreat as soon as possible! Retiring at the age of thirty-six and enjoying all the wealth and beauty in the world, what else is wrong? Do you have to stay on stage and torture yourself to death?
Besides, His Highness the Crown Prince has already rounded up the numbers for Emperor Chongzhen - what a filial son he is? In the future, the twenty-four filial piety can be changed to the twenty-five filial piety by adding the deeds of Zhu Da's filial son!
Huang Degong also felt very good. He had no idea that King Ji Yan was here to check on him! He was still smiling and echoing: "When the prince comes to the throne, he will probably launch the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains... I can be considered useful!"
Shi Kefa stroked his beard and also smiled: "Yes, that's why we invited everyone here to discuss how to carry out the Northern Expedition! In the past two years, the Tartars have been rebellious in the Central Plains, and they have long been angry. I believe that as soon as Master Wang arrives, all places will There will definitely be a response, and we will be able to conquer the Central Plains in the near future!"
Yes, Dorgon encircled the land and set up green flags, and allocated land according to the plan. He also did not give any discount to the scholar-bureaucrats. They all collected taxes at the rate of four liters per mu (this was collected by the Qing court, and there were additional taxes in local areas). How is it possible not to be angry and resentful?
Everyone who fled to Qufu hated him so much... It was similar in Jinan, Qingzhou, Denglai and other places. There was no one who didn't hate the landlords and rich people!
"It is inevitable to conquer the Central Plains in the north, but the land in the Central Plains... will be returned to its original owner!" Zuo Maodi, the filial son, said solemnly, "The Central Plains and Huguang are different!"
"Yes, yes, what Brother Luo Shi said is absolutely true!" Gao Hongtu also agreed with Zuo Maodi's opinion, "In the past two years, there has been a national crisis, and countless gentry in the Central Plains have destroyed their families to help the disaster. The court must not treat everyone badly!"
Kong Yinzhi also said: "In the past ten years or so, Shandong, Henan, Beizhili, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Liao areas have suffered from natural and man-made disasters... Both the gentry and the people have been damaged. After recovery, We must rest with the people. Why do we have to be tax-free for ten years?"
Huang Degong shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Master Yansheng, what will we do if we are exempted from tax for ten years? We can't let the imperial court do what we want, right?"
Shi Kefa smiled and said: "Aren't there still official fields and military villages? We can sell the government fields and military villages to raise military pay. Isn't it enough to sell them out in ten years?"
"This is a way..." Huang Degong seemed to be less optimistic than Shi Kefa and Gao Hongtu. "I just wonder how many years it will take to win the Northern Expedition?"
