"We lost the Battle of Guishan after all! With 45,000 elite soldiers, the 80,000 Donglu troops collapsed in less than a day, with a loss of 15,000 to 15,000, as well as all armor, equipment, and baggage. But the number of enemies killed is only a few thousand, the lesson is profound!"
In the valley of Crouching Tiger Mountain, in a large watchtower house, Emperor Zhu who was stationed here knocked on a desk and told lies sadly.
And listening to him, in addition to Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Huang Degong, Yan Yingyuan, Wang Zhou, Hao Yaoqi, Li Chengdong and others, there were also Zhu Yihai who came from Qingzhou, Su Guansheng and Shen Tingyang who came from Dengzhou, There is also Gao Jie who came from Jinzhou, Liaodong.
Almost all the leading figures of the Ming Dynasty in Shandong and Xuhai are here, and they are all preparing to celebrate the New Year at Crouching Tiger Mountain, and welcome the arrival of the first year of Hongxing with Emperor Zhu Cixiang of Hongxing.
But Emperor Zhu has no intention of celebrating the New Year at the moment. He is very angry, sad and disappointed!
The Battle of Guishan was so bad that the 45,000 Ming troops could not defeat the 80,000 Qing troops. But why couldn't they last even one day?
In less than a day, they lost 16,000 people, and I don't know if they killed 5,000 enemies (the real number is 5,500). They also lost the city of Qufu later.
This is a big defeat!
The Shandong armies really disappointed Emperor Hongxing...
Zhu Cixiang looked disappointed, while the generals from the towns below had expressions of heartache and regret.
Haha, they now have 16,000 fewer people, and the total number of troops on hand is only more than 40,000, and at least half of them are bare-handed.
With this small force, Dorgon could not be defeated, nor could he fight against Emperor Zhu who had 30,000 to 40,000 troops.
So I can only lower my eyebrows and be submissive. Who dares to criticize Zhu Cixi? Emperor Zhu still has many high-quality crane-topped reds that were sent to Yan Shenggong Kong Yinzhi to teach the barbarian ghosts!
However, Zhu Cixiang was not really angry. Although he kept criticizing the Shandong armies, he was actually extremely satisfied with the performance of these armies.
It was normal for Shi Kefa to be defeated by Dorgon. The two men's fighting skills were very different, and Dorgon had 30,000 more soldiers... Back then, Huang Taiji led 60,000 people and defeated Hong Chengchou's 13 Thousands of people were beaten to nothing. Now, after Shi Kefa used 45,000 men to carry Dorgon's 80,000 men, he still had 30,000 left.
What does this mean? This shows that the remaining 30,000 people are "high-quality assets"! They were soldiers who had fought tough battles and were able to retreat from a major defeat. They were undoubtedly elite soldiers.
So Zhu Cixiang was ready to lower the price and acquire these high-quality assets... and turn them all into the Central Army!
"Your Majesty!" As soon as Zhu Cixiang finished speaking, Hao Yaoqi stood up and took over the conversation, "I believe that the defeat of Guishan was mainly due to the chaotic military system of the Shandong and Huaibei armies, inconsistent orders, and insufficient training... ...If we don’t overhaul and reorganize it, we will definitely repeat the same mistakes in the future.”
Zhu Cixiang nodded: "Walking the flag makes sense. The armies in Shandong and Huaibei should indeed be reorganized and reorganized."
This is to annex our army!
Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, Zuo Maodi, Zhu Yihai, Huang Degong, Li Chengdong and others all had heart twitches.
Zhu Cixiang looked at Shi Kefa with a rather expectant look.
"Your Majesty, I also believe that the armies should be reorganized."
Shi Kefa knew that he couldn't bear it forcefully. Although he was the "head of the six towns", he was now the weakest among them.
Because his hometown in Qufu and his money bag, the Kong Mansion, are both gone, and the December military pay for military training in Qufu has not been paid yet!
Therefore, he has no way to resist Zhu Cixi's annexation...if he surrenders early, he can still get some "shares" and find a job that can continue to defeat the war.
"Your Majesty, I also think that we should reorganize all the armies and give unified orders."
The next person who expressed his softness was Lu Wang Zhu Yihai. As a vassal king, how could he dare to compete with Zhu Cixiang for military power?
Besides, Zhu Cihong treated him well.
Zhu Cixiang nodded, very satisfied.
Two of the six towns have been obtained! Xu Hai's Gao Jie can be accepted or not. Now only Huang Degong, Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi are left.
"Your Majesty," Li Chengdong frowned, "My brothers have all divided the land in Tai'an Prefecture and Feicheng. They are assigned to serve as soldiers..."
"Tian Zhaona," Zhu Cihong said, "It is considered a meritorious service. I will give him another military salary, and the treatment will be the same as other soldiers of the new army that overcomes difficulties." He paused, "The troops in Beizhen have resisted the captives for several years, and there is no Credit also comes with hard work, and I will allocate merit fields to them in Shandong."
Really annexation...complete annexation!
The warlords were heartbroken, but they still had to keep smiling faces.
"Okay," Li Chengdong sighed, "I don't have anything to say..."
Zhu Cixiang turned his attention to Gao Hongtu, and Gao Hongtu said: "Your Majesty, my Shandong regiment training relies on the help of Shandong gentry, and the soldiers used are not recruited. It is difficult for me to make the decision alone."
Zuo Maodi also said: "Your Majesty, my regiment training was only established with the support of the gentry of the province."
They still have the name of group training, but their nature is different. Shi Kefa's Qufu regiment training was actually a recruitment of soldiers, mercenaries supported by Confucius' money. Naturally, whoever gave the money followed whoever left. Zhu Yihai's army was similar, supported by money from Prince Lu's Palace and taxes from Qingzhou Palace.
Li Chengdong had no money, but he got two very fertile territories in Tai'an Prefecture and Feicheng, so he divided the land among his men and let them serve as feudal soldiers.
As for Gao Hongtu and Zuo Maodi, things are complicated. They are the training leaders of the big group coaxing the training leaders of the small group, and they don't really have much strength of their own.
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Gao Qing, Zuo Qing, if you two can't make the decision, find those who can make the decision, and I will talk to them personally.
In addition to talking about the inclusion of team training, I also want to talk to them about Qingtian, Shandong. "
According to the account books left over from the Wanli period, there were nearly 61.75 million acres of land in Shandong Province, and the rated land tax was about 2.85 million stones of flour.
61.75 million acres of land, 2.85 million stone of flour, still a little less! On average, one acre is just over four liters and six liters, not even half a bucket.
Zhu Cixiang planned to increase the land tax to eight liters per mu (Shandong is no different than Jiangnan, Huguang, Sichuan, and Guangdong, the yield per mu is relatively low, and the tax on eight liters per mu is also not low), and looked at the tax collected by Bidorgun in the north. Four liters per mu is twice as much, but Zhu Cihong will implement the payment of shares and laborers, and there will be no household transfer (cloth), and the cost of tax will be deducted from the eight liters.
In other words, here in Shandong, one acre of land is equivalent to eight liters of noodles!
Zuo Maodi hesitated, "Your Majesty, Shandong has been in chaos in recent years, and a lot of land records have been lost..."
He is a loyal minister, and there are many loyal ministers in the Zuo family, but their family is also one of the largest landowners in Shandong Province!
"Prefectures in war and chaos will naturally not collect land taxes," Zhu Cihong said, "but Qingzhou, Dengzhou, and Laizhou will be exempted from land taxes for five years starting from the first year of Hongxing.
Moreover, I will no longer pursue the matter of the loss of official and military fields in Shandong...Re-register, whoever occupies the land, who gets the deed, and who is responsible for paying taxes! Except for Xundian and Wangtian, the officials and gentry all receive food as one, so they are not exempted.
In addition, Shandong's commercial tax and salt tax will also be strictly levied starting from the first year of Hongxing! "
Shandong is located on the front line, and many areas are still controlled by the Qing army, so "losing money" is certain, but this does not mean that Zhu Cixi can not control Shandong's losses... The collapse of the Ming Dynasty began with finances , and Zhu Cixiang’s rescue operation also started with financial restructuring and consolidation.
Therefore, he is very concerned about the "profit and loss" of the territory... If the territory loses too much, he would rather not directly control it, or even not occupy it for the time being.
It's not because he doesn't care about politics, but because he really can't afford to lose money... He is now using the profits from Southeast, Huguang, Fujian and Guangdong to fill the deficit elsewhere. Moreover, he does not have a money printing machine, and it is difficult to raise debt financing. .
Once a deficit occurs, it can only be filled by arrears of military pay and official salary... Therefore, Zhu Cihong did not dare to blindly expand, and every time he expanded, he had to consider digestion issues.
