"Since His Majesty said that the exam will be based on ability, let's not think too much about it and let the girls study hard... In fact, Your Majesty is in such good health and is not old, so the Crown Princess just passed the exam. We have to wait for many years before we can take any further steps! In my opinion, the fight for the crown princess should be left to the girls to deal with on their own! What we, the older generation, have to fight for is the immediate benefits!"
Old man Ma Shiying Ma's old eyes seemed to be closed. He was leaning on a recliner and gently shaking his folding fan. The tea sitting on the coffee table next to me has long since lost its heat.
The place where he was was still the old boat belonging to the richest man Zheng. There were three people in the boat, one was Zheng Zhilong and the other was Shen Tingyang. Among these three people, Zheng Zhilong is already a retired minister. Shen Tingyang and Ma Shiying are both in their seventies, and they are all waiting to be "ranked among the three fathers and three orphans" - this is actually the retirement treatment of important ministers, just for a false name. Receive a generous salary and point out the country, not to mention how happy you will be!
Of course, the three of them are not lonely ministers. They have a huge family behind them, as well as disciples and former officials all over the world.
If it were left to Emperor Taizu Gao, these three would have to worry about being blacklisted, but they would not dare to connect in private like this and plan how to compete for profit.
However, Zhu Cixiang is not Zhu Yuanzhang. His throne comes from blood inheritance rather than competition among heroes. This year is already the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The foundation of this semi-feudal and semi-capitalist dynasty, which has been in existence for 300 years and has transformed from decline to prosperity not long ago, has evolved and defeated the two enemies who tried to replace it. It is also more deeply rooted in people’s hearts.
If the Ming Dynasty can completely put the "Shun" pseudo-dynasty on the stage of competing for world hegemony on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the country, then the Ming Dynasty will become more solid, and maybe it can be passed down for another 281 years... .And driving Dashun out of Sichuan is what Ma Shiying said is the immediate benefit.
And this is a huge profit at your fingertips!
Because after the Battle of Lueyang, the Dashun Kingdom could no longer gain a foothold in southern Shaanxi. When Li Dingguo led his army to retreat from Lueyang, and after fighting and retreating into Yangping Pass, the Shun troops who were holding on to Nanzheng and Dingjun Mountains were also ordered to abandon their castles and retreat to Sichuan via Micang Road and Lizhi Road. The Shun army of Yunyang Prefecture abandoned Yun County and Yunxi in the Han River Basin, and withdrew to Yunyang and retreated to the mountains to continue to hold on.
After losing the large mountainous areas of Hanzhong and southern Gongchang Prefecture, the fertile plain areas of Sichuan Province lost most of their barriers. Although there are still some mountainous areas lying across the north of the Sichuan Basin, the strategic depth has been lost.
Originally, there were seven to eight hundred miles of continuous mountain roads leading from the Guanzhong Plain to Jianmen Pass. A normal march would have taken more than twenty days!
However, there is only a mere 200 miles of mountain road from Yangping Pass to Jianmen Pass, and the steepness cannot be compared with the road from Yangping Pass to Sanguan.
There were nine battles including the Battle of Lueyang, the Battle of Mioxian, the Battle of Baohe, the Battle of Sanguan Road, the Battle of Baoxie Road, the Battle of Ziwu Road, the Battle of Tangluo Road, the Battle of Qishan Road, and the Battle of Hanzhong Prefecture. The intensive battles also greatly consumed the strength of Li Dingguo's troops.
According to the report of the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi (the acting governor is Yan Yingyuan), excluding the Battle of Mianxian and the Battle of Baohe, where the Ming army was defeated, in the remaining seven battles, the Ming army captured and captured a total of roving bandit officers and soldiers. More than thirty thousand!
Among them, there were more than 15,000 buried corpses of Shun soldiers and more than 16,000 prisoners... These are all very difficult to fake! Therefore, the actual losses of Shunjun must be much more than 30,000, and may even be doubled.
In other words, 10% of Dashun's 600,000 soldiers have been exhausted, and the 10% that have been exhausted are still their elites!
Of course, the Ming army's losses were not small. The armies of Shang Kexi and Wu Guogui lost 30,000 people! Wu Sangui lost more than 4,000 people in Lueyang. Liu Sheng also lost more than 3,000 people on Qishan Road. Yan Yingyuan commanded three close guards to engage in a series of fierce battles with the more than 40,000 Dashun troops left by Li Dingguo in Hanzhong Mansion and Baoxie Road, Ziwu Road, and Tangluo Road, which also caused more than 4,000 casualties on his own side. And when Shi Dewei sent his army to attack Qiuchi Mountain, he created a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, killing 8,000 people... Add one more to the total, which is almost 50,000! This does not include the righteous people lost in Lueyang.
However, the losses on Dashun's side were real people lost, while on Daming's side there were casualties, and the injured could still be rescued, so the final loss should be less than 50,000. Moreover, the total strength of the Ming army was hundreds of thousands more than that of Dashun, so the same losses could be easily replenished.
In addition, for some reason, the people in southern Shaanxi particularly loved the Ming Dynasty and were crying and clamoring to join the army to fight the bandits, so it was easy to make up for the war losses.
If this happens everywhere in Sichuan, then this fruit is really ripe!
"This fruit won't fall into our hands, right?" Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "Wu Sangui put his life on the line... The next governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi will never be replaced by a southerner. I guess Either Wu Sanfu will take action, or one of Wu Guogui, Wu Guoyong and Wu Guozheng will be chosen."
Ma Shiying said: "Of course it's not our turn to be the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Isn't there also the Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan?"
Shen Tingyang frowned and said, "Brother Yaocao said Qin Zhongzhou? Can he defeat the rogue bandits in Sichuan?"
Qin Zhongzhou refers to Qin Liangyu's nephew Qin Yiming. After Qin Liangyu's death, he followed Ma Shiying to fight against the bandits in Sichuan, Guizhou and other places. He had no merit but hard work. Therefore, after Ma Shiying's second term as governor expired, he was recommended to take over as governor.
"Why not?" Ma Shiying smiled, "Although we rely on the Northern Army to revive the Ming Dynasty, when has the Southern Army in this dynasty been worse than the Northern Army? And the Southern Army has always been stronger than the Zhejiang Army and the Sichuan Army. Now although the Zhejiang Army It has been in decline for many years, but the Sichuan Army has become more and more brave as it fights! And...do you two still remember the Huya Mountain Rebellion at the beginning of the month?"
"The Huya Mountain Rebellion?" Zheng Zhilong nodded, "I know, what does this have to do with taking Sichuan?"
Ma Shiying smiled: "The rebels in Huya Mountain are actually the key for our Sichuan Army to go to Sichuan! Now that the southern Shaanxi side has lost its commander, the army is in urgent need of reinforcements and will not be able to enter the army until three or two months later. If the Sichuan Army can take it by surprise, There is no need to take down the entire Sichuan, as long as we can take Chongqing Prefecture, no, as long as we can take Kuizhou Prefecture, the Northerners rely most on the army, and they will be greatly eclipsed!"
"this......"
"Is there still this matter?"
Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang looked at each other, both showing a little interest.
"Yao Cao," Zheng Zhilong asked, "you told Mr. Zheng and Mr. Wu Mei about such confidential matters. Do you want me and Mr. Mei to help you?"
Ma Shiying nodded and said: "Although the Governor-General of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan has the power to make emergency decisions, the chaos in Huya Mountain is under the control of the factory guards. Without His Majesty's permission, this credit cannot go to the hands of the Sichuan Army!"
"Your Majesty, can you nod?" Zheng Zhilong asked.
Ma Shiying said with a smile: "Then it depends on whether you are more powerful with the money bag or the handle of the knife!"
Zheng Zhilong nodded, "I understand!" He glanced at Shen Tingyang again: "Mei Weng, now is an unexpected opportunity! Should we...should give it a push?"
...
"What? The Ministry of Finance has no money?"
It's been a long time since Zhu Cixi heard the story of "the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money"! How could the Ministry of Accounts have no money? Moreover, just after Wu Sangui died, your household department ran out of money. Is this a coincidence?
He looked at Wei Zaode, the chief assistant, and asked, "Wei Qing, why do you have no money?"
The person who reported this matter was Wei Zaode, the first assistant. He did not formally submit the memorial, but stayed in the hall after noon to talk about it in private.
"It's not that there's no money at all, it's just that money is a little tight..." Wei Zaode said, "The original budget of the Ministry of Household Affairs will be almost enough after the war in southern Shaanxi this year. I didn't expect the war to progress so smoothly, nor did I expect the losses to be so huge. , I didn’t expect that southern Shaanxi would be so poor under the governance of rogue bandits. What I least expected was that the people in southern Shaanxi support the Ming Dynasty so much, support His Majesty so much, and that so many righteous people want to join the army..."
What words? Zhu Cihong thought to himself: Why are you, the chief assistant, so lacking in foresight? I didn't expect such obvious things - now that the Ming Dynasty is prosperous and the people are safe, and the Holy Emperor is in power, isn't it normal for the people in southern Shaanxi to support it?
"Approximately how much is the shortage?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
Wei Zaode said: "It's hard to say... If the Battle of Pingchuan can be fought quickly, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works may be able to free up money."
