What? The four civil and military officials were stunned.
Your emperor's way of relieving disasters is to recruit all the warriors from Shaanxi and Shanxi into your army and take them away to have enough to eat?
What should we do if there are still so many peasants and people in these two provinces who are facing the loess and turning their backs to the sky? Starve to death? Are you still benevolent like this? Can it still be blessed by destiny?
"Long live my lord," Zhang Mengjing, the governor of Yansui, couldn't think about it, so he asked, "If Shaanxi is really going to have a drought for a few more years, how will the people who farm the fields survive? Doesn't the imperial court care about the life and death of the Shaanxi people? ?”
Zhu Youjian looked at Zhang Mengjing, he knew this was a good official! In his previous life, when he was the governor of Yansui, he worked hard and worked hard to make a pot of rice. With a group of soldiers who were short of food and clothing, he repelled three attacks from the Han tribe and beheaded 300 people, which was considered meritorious.
Later, during Huang Taiji's first entrance battle, he worked hard to scrape together a small army and asked Wu Zimian, who knew how to make money, to take him to King Qin... The result was not bad. Although Wu Zimian secretly sold all the horses of his cavalry during the march, took bribes from the generals, and sent a lot of elite soldiers home, he only brought a group of old and weak people to the capital.
As a result, the news spread back to Yulin, making Zhang Mengjing furious to death.
But Zhu Youjian later felt that Wu Zimian was not bad. Although he was incompetent and greedy, he did not cause mutiny, rebellion, or plundering of places. It was not easy.
The 5,000 Shanxi soldiers led by Zhang Honggong, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, and Geng Ruqi, the governor of Shanxi Province, caused a bit of a fuss. Because the Ministry of War did not provide them with food and asked them to constantly change their defenses outside Beijing, they became angry and marched directly outside Beijing. Let go of the grab. Then because Zhu Youjian asked the Jin Yiwei to capture Geng Ruqi and Zhang Honggong, they fled back to their hometowns. Many of them must have joined the bandits!
Later, Zhu Youjian became angry and beheaded the two unlucky guys Geng Ruqi and Zhang Honggong.
In addition, Mei Zhihuan, the governor of Gansu, was also a bit outrageous. His Qinwang soldiers directly launched a rebellion, which took several months to suppress. Oh, the suppression was not complete. At least two people slipped through the net, one was named Li Zicheng and the other was named Li Guo (Li Jin).
So when Huang Taiji came again in this life, Zhu Youjian simply issued an order to the local officials - This emperor is brave enough to conquer the three armies and is particularly good at fighting, so you are not allowed to be diligent and just stay at home.
"Your Majesty," Shanxi Governor Geng Ruqi, who lost his head because he couldn't control the army in his previous life, said, "There are tens of millions of farmers in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, and their lives are already difficult... .Now that there is a severe drought, everyone is counting on the imperial court to provide disaster relief. Even if the imperial court is unable to provide disaster relief, it should at least provide food, taxes, and extra troops. How can we only care about the warriors and ignore the common people?"
Zhu Youjian said heartily: Didn't you let me chop off your head because you failed to take care of the warriors in Shanxi in your last life? Why haven't you learned your lesson?
Geng Ruqi was stared at by Zhu Youjian's gloomy eyes for a while, and his heart went crazy. He didn't dare to say anything for a while, so he had to wink at Zhang Honggong beside him.
Zhang Honggong hurriedly reported: "Long live my lord, there are not many warriors who are proficient in riding and shooting in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, and most of them are serving in the government and army. There will be no chaos... As long as the common people can make a living." , then the world will be at peace."
not a lot? Zhu Youjian glanced at this faint official and said to himself: Where did all the warriors under Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong come from? Not much... everything is still in the army, and now the officers and soldiers don't have enough to eat!
Zhu Youjian snorted: "Zhang Honggong, how many troops are there in Shanxi Town under your control in Hequ County, Baodezhou, Xingxian, Linxian, and Yongning Prefecture? Why didn't I see any of them when I led the troops to Baodezhou? Wait? What will you do if the bandits from Fugu cross the Yellow River and enter Jin Dynasty? If I hadn’t brought my troops to Fugu, would you still be able to serve as the commander-in-chief?"
After being scolded by Zhu Youjian, Zhang Honggong's legs softened and he knelt down.
Of course, Zhu Youjian could not spare him lightly and continued to reprimand: "You said that most of the warriors in Shanxi are in the army? Well, you let them come to Fugu to practice martial arts! I want to count how many there are!"
Then Zhu Youjian said to Wu Zimian, the commander-in-chief of Yulin: "Wu Zimian...how many warriors are there who are good at riding and shooting in Yulin Town under your control?"
Zhu Youjian said: "Your Yulin Town has more than 50,000 actual soldiers and more than 20,000 actual horses. There are at least 10,000 cavalry among them, right? How many cavalry are good at riding and shooting? There must be 5,000, right?" "
"Your Majesty..." Wu Zimian was so frightened that his heart was pounding. As a general, he was not very interested in making achievements and only wanted to make money. Therefore, he will not use the withheld military pay to support many servants, and the military pay in Yulin Town has been in arrears for the past two years - the military pay in border towns in the Ming Dynasty was not all paid by the Ministry of Household Affairs, but by the army. It is composed of , civilian transportation grain, Beijing transportation silver, etc. Among them, the income of military grain transportation and civilian transportation grain is very unstable, and it will inevitably be in arrears in disaster years.
The grain for the democratic movement in Yulin Town is all provided by Shaanxi. If Shaanxi is suffering from a drought like this, the grain for the democratic movement will definitely not be harvested. The military camp in Yulin was also unable to deliver all the grain grains due to a severe harvest failure.
In this case, even if Zhu Youjian ordered the cabinet to pay Beijing Yun Yin and Yan Yun Yin in full (it was originally given to Yan Yun, but after Yan Yun Yushi took charge of Ji Liao military pay, the silver was changed to the imperial court), Yulin Town There is still a huge gap in military pay.
Moreover, with successive droughts in Shaanxi and Shanxi, food prices in Yulin also continued to rise, and the purchasing power of the money issued by the court was also greatly reduced.
"Your Majesty," Zhang Mengjing, governor of Yansui, didn't know that he had been angered to death by Wu Zimian once, so he helped to put in a good word, "There has been a severe drought in Shaanxi in the past two years, and the drought in Yulin Town has also been severe... so There is a huge shortage of food supplies for the democratic movements and military camps, and many Yulin soldiers have fled."
"Humph!" Zhu Youjian snorted, "A lot of people escaped? Where did they escape? Did they escape to become a thief?"
"Your Majesty..." Wu Zimian lay on the ground, almost breathless.
Zhu Youjian saw that Wu Zimian was so frightened that his face turned pale, so he softened his tone and said: "I know that many warriors from the five towns of Shaanxi have fled, so I want to recruit them into the Zhangqian and Yanshan armies and take them away from the northwest. .
If these warriors who are good at riding and shooting leave Shaanxi, they will not join the hungry people... How much trouble can the hungry people cause if they are not led by warriors? "
There are many hungry people in Shaanxi, but only a few of them are able to carry a knife and mount a horse. Training a cavalry does not happen overnight, and for farming people, the cost is not low... Without these warriors who can fight on horseback, even if the hungry people of Shaanxi revolt, they will be nothing more than a group of rabble. Pawns, only a small number of elite cavalry can defeat them.
Of course, Zhu Youjian wants to recruit all the warriors in Shaanxi, which does not mean that he wants to give up on the hungry people... He is just preparing for the worst first. Moreover, the existence of these warriors is actually very detrimental to Zhu Youjian's court letting go of saving Shaanxi refugees.
"Your Majesty," Zhang Mengjing seemed to have discovered something wrong with Zhu Youjian's words, "If all the brave and capable warriors leave the five towns of Shaanxi, can the five towns still maintain peace in the western frontier of the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Youjian shook his head: "Peace in the Western Frontier can no longer rely on the Five Towns... Because Shaanxi has become so drought-ridden, it can no longer afford the Five Towns! Moreover, transportation in the Western Frontier is difficult, and the court cannot mobilize transportation from the southeast. We will use food to support Shaanxi. For the current plan, we can only live within our means and reduce the expenditure of the five towns. This is why I took the warriors of the five towns away from Shaanxi!"
Zhu Youjian paused again and looked at the four civil and military figures in front of him expectantly, "I will conduct a review of Shaanxi warriors in Xi'an in the first month of the third year of Chongzhen. All warriors who think they are proficient in riding and archery can participate. I will Select 10,000 people from them to join my pro-army or Yanshan armies, and you can be granted 100 acres of land - 500 acres! You can also get a reward of 50 taels of silver!
As for the warriors from Shanxi Town, they will all come to Fugu within 10 days. I want to review the martial arts performance! Geng Ruqi and Zhang Honggong, after I leave Fugu and go south, you two will lead the warriors of Shanxi to guard the Yellow River and prevent the thieves from Shaanxi from crossing the river. If you can't defend yourself, I will punish you two severely! "
