In March of the eighth year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, was a prosperous and lively time.
It is different from the situation at the feet of the emperor in Beijing where the prosperity has faded away, but the solemnity and solemnity are getting stronger day by day. In recent years, Nanjing has become more and more prosperous.
The streets are full of bustling shops or vendors selling goods along the street. The aroma of various Jiangnan delicacies permeates the busiest streets along the Qinhuai River. On the Qinhuai River, among the painted boats and yachts coming and going, the melodious sound of silk and bamboo can be heard from time to time. River ships carrying rice, silk, cloth, tea, porcelain, and other miscellaneous commodities came in and out of the Longjiang Estuary where the Qinhuai River merged into the Yangtze River.
In addition to the local people of Jinling, there are also merchants who come from along the Yangtze River and canal on the street. The clothes many of them wear are extremely gorgeous and gorgeous. It doesn't matter if they wear gold or silver. Even the clothes made of red and gold grosgrain that are prohibited for private use are still worn openly by businessmen with full wallets. On the body, he walked sideways on the street with a swagger.
There were far more scholars here than in Beijing today. There were not only local scholars from Yingtian Prefecture, but also scholars from other prefectures in South Zhili. Wearing the same gorgeous Confucian clothes, waving exquisitely crafted folding fans, they swaggered through the streets of the prosperous area of Jinling, enjoying the envy and admiration of passers-by.
In this capital of the Ming Empire, the most respected ones are not the left-behind nobles who know nothing but eating, drinking and having fun, but the current prince Zigong who is both a businessman and a Confucian scholar - even after Zhu Youjian visited Jiangnan, The taxes in Jiangnan jumped from more than 6 million yuan a year to more than 20 million yuan, which did not make the lives of these current princes even a little bit harder.
This is because the 20 million the Ming court collected from Jiangnan was not rice or silver, but silk and cloth produced in Jiangnan. As long as there is enough cotton and silk, 20 to 30 million pieces of cotton cloth and silk fabrics are nothing to Jiangnan... This is the crushing of agriculture by the factory handicraft industry!
While "exploiting the south of the Yangtze River", Zhu Youjian also abandoned the canal and changed it to the sea, abandoning the canal and protecting the Huaihe River. These two policies can be said to have greatly promoted production in the southeast.
After the canal was abolished and converted to sea, the originally suppressed river and sea transportation suddenly boomed, and sand ships on the Yangtze River could sail directly offshore! Starting from Liaodong and Korea in the north to Guangdong, Guangxi and Annan in the south, they are all connected by coastal transportation, and they are all integrated!
The abandonment of the canal system and the protection of the Huaihe River added tens of millions of acres of fertile farmland to the southeast, greatly alleviating the situation of "people competing for food and cotton competing for land". Therefore, the supply of cotton and silkworms in Jiangnan has gradually increased. A huge increase.
Therefore, after Zhu You inspected Jiangnan, the financial strength of Jiangnan gentry and merchants was not only not weakened, but also slightly enhanced.
In addition, because Zhu Youjian retained the Nanjing household department and did not implement the "big government system" in southern Zhili, the privileges of the southeastern scholar-bureaucrats were not greatly weakened.
In today's Jinling City, as long as there is a scholar with a reputation, he is considered a member of the circle, and he is eligible to make friends with the so-called Donglin successors and Jiangnan talents by traveling to Shilin, and become a party. With their protection, even if you can't enter the officialdom or pass the imperial examination, you can still be a gentleman or a businessman and become rich!
But with the news of the Ming army's great victories in Mobei, Yanshan, and Liaoxi, can the good days of Jinling's talents last long?
The continuous victories of the Ming Dynasty soldiers outside the Great Wall will not only increase the authority of the imperial court, but also empty out the treasury warehouses that are slightly better off due to the "exploitation of Jiangnan"...
Would the Ming Emperor, who had authority but no money left, think about going to Jiangnan again?
When the talented people walking on the streets of Jinling think of this, they feel so happy!
Several strong horses passed by the market like the wind. The knights on the horses were dressed as if they were riding in a six-hundred-mile hurry. They did not slow down their horses much after entering Nanjing City. They were shouting on the horses as they ran. : "Expedited military report! Everyone, stay away!"
Urgent military report! There must be another thief somewhere, right?
In recent years, there have been many disasters all over the world. The situation in the south of the Yangtze River is much better than that in Zhongzhou and the northwest. But there are also floods and droughts from time to time... When the trouble becomes serious, some good guys rise up and start a fight! In the early years of Chongzhen, there was a big riot in Fujian, and the scene was no less than that of some intruder in Shaanxi!
Isn't there a big thief somewhere this time?
How dare you stop pedestrians on the street? They stumbled away one after another, and then watched Jianma galloping towards the Nanjing garrison yamen.
...
The Nanjing garrison office is located outside the Forbidden City in Nanjing. It was originally part of the government office of the Chinese Army. Nanjing garrison noble Zhang Zhiji and Nanjing garrison eunuch Pang Tianshou, as well as Nanjing military minister Zhu Xieyuan, who is counselor of the aircraft maintenance department, are all set up here. Court.
Now these three people are gathered in the middle hall behind Zhang Zhiji's garrison hall, drinking tea and reading the newspaper they just received from the Huaixi General Soldier's Yamen.
The news in the Tang newspaper was one - the bandits of King Gao Yingxiang had fled into the Dabie Mountains!
"What does Duke Dingguo do for a living? There are so many soldiers in Huaixi Town, why can't they stop the few intruders?"
The British garrison of Nanjing, Zhang Zhiji, was the first to get angry after reading the newspaper. How important is Huaixi Town? Guarding Fengyang Mansion in the central capital, he also guarded the ancestral mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty!
"No, I have to ask the Holy One to supervise the division!" Zhu Xieyuan, the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, is also a ruthless man. He is still hot-tempered despite his age, and he has already shouted to supervise the division.
"Young Master, Duke of the State," Pang Tianshou also looked frightened and said to Zhu Xieyuan and Zhang Zhiji, "This intruder Gao Yingxiang is not an ordinary thief. I heard that he has superb martial arts, is proficient in bow and horse, and has many men under his command. Each of the 36 generals was brave enough to defeat anyone. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the generals under Long Live Lord, failed to stop him. They made him break out from Liupan Mountain and charge in from Hanzhong Mansion. They broke into Yunyang Mansion, then broke into Nanyang Mansion from Yunyang Mansion, then broke into Xinyang Mansion from Nanyang Mansion, and finally entered the Dabie Mountains..."
"How is this possible?" Zhu Xieyuan shook his head repeatedly, "That's it for Li Zicheng. He has not been in charge of the Guyuan Army for a long time, and he was too angry to rectify it. The people below were unconvinced and refused to fight, so it was normal for Gao Yingxiang to run away. But Zhang Xianzhong led The cavalry of the Youth Army in front of the tent! How could they not stop these bandits?"
Gao Yingxiang was really making a fuss now. Li Zicheng was chasing him and Zhang Xianzhong was blocking him in front, but he didn't succeed and even let him get into the Dabie Mountains.
"Is it because there is no supervisor?" Zhang Zhiji shook his head and said, "Li Zicheng is the commander-in-chief, and Zhang Xianzhong is just a general... They can't command the local officials at all. Without the cooperation of the local officials, they It is difficult for our troops to even supply supplies, let alone rely on local regiments and civilians."
"That's true," Zhu Xieyuan nodded, "It's really impossible without a supervisor..." He stroked his beard, "But there is an old man here in Nanzhili. I'm not afraid of not being able to control this if I send a supervisor. The thief named Gao!"
Zhu Xieyuan's confidence is not unreasonable. He is a commander who made a name for himself during the She'an Rebellion! Moreover, as the Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, he is not the master of the corpse. During the years he has been in office, he has been doing his best to rectify military affairs. With his efforts, the four general soldiers in Southern Zhili (Nanjing Jingying General Soldier, Huaixi General Soldier, Huaidong General Soldier, and Jiangnan General Soldier) did not dare to slack off too much. Thirty to forty thousand soldiers could still do it. Pulled out.
In addition, Zhu Youjian's "Taizu Phalanx Army" in recent years also reminded Zhu Xieyuan, and he also reformed the army of the Fourth General Army of South Zhili and introduced phalanx tactics. Therefore, the armaments of Southern Zhili are now much improved than in the past, and they already have the capital to fight.
