Zhu Cijiong made two requests for sending troops at the same time, one in the city and one in Jiangbei.
These two requirements were of course tailor-made for Geng Jingzhong and Liu Jinzhong, and the three loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Zhongxiao, Lu Sanhao and Chen Yonghua, were responsible for measuring the dimensions.
First of all, this arrangement of one city and one Jiangbei separated Geng Jingzhong and Liu Jinzhong.
Although the two of them cannot be completely considered the same, the Geng family had a favor for Liu Jinzhong after all, so Liu Jinzhong has always regarded himself as Geng Jingzhong's old subordinate over the years. Moreover, the number of troops Liu Jinzhong brought to Nanjing was far less than that of Geng Jingzhong. The latter brought a full 10,000 elite troops, while Liu Jinzhong only brought 3,000 men and 10,000 men to 3,000. The advantage was Geng!
If Liu and Geng were not separated, Geng Jingzhong would most likely absorb Liu Jinzhong's men. Even if he didn't do this, Liu Jinzhong would have little chance of becoming bigger and stronger if he and Geng Jingzhong were crowded together in Nanjing. Even if there was really plenty of oil and water in Nanjing, it would definitely be the case that Geng Jingzhong ate more and Liu Jinzhong ate less.
Secondly, although this "one city, one Jiangbei" is a "multiple choice question" that the two loyal ministers Geng Jingzhong and Liu Jinzhong chose, the answer can be guessed by anyone. Geng Jingzhong will definitely choose to stay in Nanjing - —He came here just for Nanjing!
There is both oil and water in Nanjing and Emperor Xian of Ming Dynasty. Of course Geng Jingzhong will not give up.
Geng Jingzhong had many troops and was powerful. If he wanted to stay in Nanjing, Liu Jinzhong had nothing to do with him. Naturally, he had no choice but to cross the river and go north to attack Jiangbei. Although Jiangbei is poor, the poor mountains and harsh waters produce elite soldiers!
Jiangbei has always been a place for military force. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, a group of Huaixi warriors emerged and assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the Ming Dynasty for three hundred years. Later, in the late Qing Dynasty, the Nian Army came out and "crushed" Seng Gelinqin, the last prince in the Qing Dynasty who could fight!
Therefore, as long as Liu Jinzhong can gain a firm foothold in Jiangbei, and as long as he has money, he can pull up the Jiangbei group training. According to Yingtian Jiangnan group training standards, an annual expenditure of 700,000 to 800,000 taels is enough to maintain 17,000 yuan. A regiment of eight thousand people was trained and armed.
The Jiangnan regiment with 17,000 to 8,000 people can only protect Jiangnan by itself at most, and that’s all it has in terms of combat effectiveness!
But the Huaixi regiment training with 17,000 to 8,000 people, hehe, that’s awesome!
As for the seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver spent that year, it was not a large amount for Wang Zhongxiao, who had the Guangdong Customs Road and "Made in Foshan" in hand.
Moreover, Wang Zhongxiao can also get back benefits from Chaozhou Prefecture that far exceed 700,000 to 800,000 taels a year through "escrow management" of Chaohai Town - it is not that Chaozhou can collect that much tax a year, but the taxes of Chaoshan people are not. So easy to collect!
But Chaoshan people have always had a tradition of traveling to Southeast Asia. Today, the Chinese society in Nanyang and Indochina is almost half Chaoshan and half Minnan.
The leader of the Hokkien family is the Zheng family, and Wang Zhongxiao doesn't want to and can't fight for it. But the people of Chaoshan don't have anyone who can be called a big boss now. If Wang Zhongxiao wins Chaohai Town, he will have the opportunity to manage Nanyang and Indochina.
"Your Majesty, let me go to Jiangbei!" It was indeed Liu Jinzhong who proposed to go to Jiangbei. His expression looked a little sad and angry, "I think back then, Duke Jing's jurisdiction was in Jiangbei, and his Chinese army was stationed in Zhenzhou. It's a pity that he couldn't Manage Jiangbei well until the country is in ruins! This time when I go to Jiangbei again, I will definitely learn the lessons of Huang Jingguo and live up to my mission. If I cannot clear out the Tartars and restore Jiangbei, I swear not to return south!"
"Okay!" Zhu Cijiong slapped his thigh, "What Ming Dynasty needs is a hero like Mr. Liu. Li Zhongtang, Chen Zhongtang, you two are responsible for providing ferry boats for Mr. Liu and the military salary needed to operate Jiangbei."
Although the true identity of "Li Zhongshan" has been exposed, Zhu Cijiong doesn't care, he still thinks that Wang Zhongxiao is Li Zhongtang.
"I accept the order!"
"I obey the decree!"
Wang Zhongxiao (Li Zhongshan) and Chen Yonghua came out together and bowed their hands to Zhu Cijiong and took the order. Then they both patted their chests towards Liu Jinzhong.
Wang Zhongxiao smiled and said: "Mr. Liu, the money you need to fight and operate in Jiangbei will be paid by us in Guangdong. We will give you 50,000 taels a month in advance! If it is not enough, we will discuss it later."
Chen Yonghua also looked generous: "Mr. Liu, our Yanping Palace has paid for the boats, gunpowder, shotguns, and artillery you need to cross the river! Let's not talk about the excess, a thousand shotguns, ten red guns A small cannon and a thousand kilograms of gunpowder will be given to you right away!"
Liu Jinzhong was also a sensible person, and he immediately raised his hand to Wang Zhongxiao and said: "Brother Shikai, I don't want your salary of fifty thousand a month for nothing. Chaohai Town's Jiedu, please find someone to take over. "
"It's easy to talk about it. I will take care of Chaozhou's affairs. When Brother Liu no longer wants to stay in Jiangbei and comes back to Guangdong, I will definitely return to Zhao intact!" Wang Zhongxiao did not ask Prince Zhu San for instructions and directly agreed. .
Fang Zhen of the Ming Dynasty gave and received privately in this way. And these two are loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty after all! The loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty now are much more powerful than the loyal ministers of the previous Ming Dynasty!
Seeing the generosity of Wang Zhongxiao and Chen Yonghua, Geng Jingzhong felt a little guilty. Wang Zhongxiao and Chen Yonghua were sending money and arms. Are they trying to win over Liu Jinzhong?
But the most important thing now is to enter Nanjing City!
As long as you can enter the city of Nanjing, you can control the emperor and command the princes!
After all, Liu Jinzhong is still loyal to Daming. Otherwise, wouldn't it be better for him to live a peaceful life with Shang Shuying in Chaozhou? He can hold most of Chaozhou Prefecture in his hands and wait until the world is at peace. With half of Chaozhou Prefecture and thousands of elite soldiers, can he still get a hereditary and irreplaceable marquis?
Therefore, as long as Emperor Zhu is in hand, he is not afraid of being unable to control the loyal minister Liu.
Thinking of this, Geng Jingzhong clasped his fists at Prince Zhu Third: "Your Majesty, leave those bannermen in Nanjing Imperial City to me. I have an army of ten thousand, all of them are elite soldiers. I also have the fierce general Shang Zhixin. I am not afraid of taking advantage of him." Not to mention those bannermen."
Is Shang Zhixin a fierce general?
Wang Zhongxiao wondered: Could it be that because his family was ruined and his family was destroyed, he realized his shame and became brave? You must be careful when you meet him in the future.
"King Geng, are all your 10,000 troops entering Nanjing City? Are you leaving any of them elsewhere?"
It was Lu Sanhao who asked Geng Jingzhong the question, and he was from Wu Sangui! Moreover, he is also the "big brother" of Jiangnan Tuanlian. Although Jiangnan Tuanlian has not yet formed an army, it has already gathered its members.
With a regiment worth tens of thousands and several thousand in his hands, and controlling the administration of Yingtian Prefecture and five counties, Lu Sanhao certainly dared to challenge Geng Jingzhong.
Geng Jingzhong's face darkened and he said coldly: "I have many elite soldiers and generals under my command. They have been stationed in Dangtu, Wuhu, Fanchang and Xuancheng. After I capture the imperial city, I will divide my troops to capture Chizhou, Huizhou, Quzhou and other places to completely open up the connection with Fujian."
It turns out that Geng Jingzhong did not just march into Nanjing with all his troops. When he besieged Wuhu, he had already ordered Chen Shikai to lead two thousand troops to attack Xuancheng, the capital of Ningguo Prefecture, and Wang Jinzhong to lead one thousand troops to attack Taiping Prefecture. In Fanchang within the territory, Ma Weixing led a thousand troops to attack Dangtu, the capital county of Taiping Prefecture.
And his ultimate goal is to capture the entire southern Anhui and Quzhou in Zhejiang, and open up contact with his hometown of Fujian.
In this way, he could control the emperor and command the princes while controlling Fujian without pulling down both ends. It was a beautiful thought.
Lu Sanhao asked again: "King Geng, how will the military expenses of your 10,000 elite troops be spent after they are stationed in Nanjing? Will they be spent on taxes from Taiping Prefecture, Ningguo Prefecture, and Chizhou Prefecture, or?"
Geng Jingzhong said: "Of course the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs raised the money for me!" He paused, "I don't want much, just like Liu Zhen. I get 50,000 taels a month, isn't it a lot?"
Fifty thousand a month is not a small amount for Lu Sanhao, the Minister of Household Affairs. Nanjing Household Department is not Wang Zhongxiao's Guangdong Town, and it is not that broad.
Of course Wang Zhongxiao can generously promise Liu Jinzhong the 50,000 yuan a month's salary. He owns the two cornucopias of Guangzhou Prefecture and Guangdong Customs Road, and he can also get some compensation from Chaozhou. He can't receive 50,000 yuan a month right now. But 20,000 yuan is not a big deal, and you will only lose more than 300,000 yuan a year.
But Nanjing's household department is not as large as Yuehai Town, and there is no place to make up for it. Give Geng Jingzhong 50,000 yuan a month, which is 600,000 a year. Add in Jiangnan League Training's 770,000 a year, which is 1,300,000 yuan. One hundred and seventy thousand. One hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver can be spent in a month!
Just four thousand taels of silver a day!
In addition, the Nanjing court still has many officials and their yamen to support, and soon there will be a puppet emperor Ming Xiandi to support, and I am afraid that another one or two thousand taels a day will be needed.
The current Nanjing Household Bureau guards one city outside Nanjing and several counties outside the city. It collects five to six thousand taels of silver a day. It is very difficult!
Seeing Lu Sanhao's troubled face, Prince Zhu San was also a little anxious - he was also counting on Nanjing Hubu to make a living!
He served as Emperor Xian of the Ming Dynasty. Ten thousand taels of money in a one-month palace is not a lot, right?
"Three good things," Prince Zhu San asked, "do you have enough money to spend? Do you want to use internal funds?"
There is still money in the house. Do you have it? Do you think you really inherited a Ming Dynasty?
Lu Sanhao really didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he didn't dare to tell Geng Jingzhong that he had no money, so he had to force out a smile: "Your Majesty, don't worry. I won't spend your internal funds. At worst, the people will suffer!"
"The people are suffering." Zhu Cijiong thought: The loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty this time seem to be a bit bad!
Zhu Cijiong asked Lu Sanhao again: "I don't know how to suffer the people?"
"How else can it be miserable? Of course, there will be additional levies, additional distribution, and commercial taxes!" Lu Sanhao is quite familiar with this, "But we can't increase it too much."
"That's right," Prince Zhu San said, "water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it! We must have a long-term plan. King Chuang is in Wuchang now!"
Although he was Xiandi, he also wanted the Ming Dynasty to be able to fish sustainably this time.
But in a few days, someone else is going to "welcome the King of Chuang".
"The king's words make sense," Lu Sanhao said, "We can still sell our fame!"
"Selling fame?" Prince Zhu San asked, "Is anyone buying it?"
"There must be!" Lu Sanhao nodded and said, "That Zhu Guozhi made a memorial case and wiped out more than 10,000 scholars and scholars in Jiangnan. I don't know how many people in Jiangnan want to be honored but can't get it. Now spend some money With money, you can get a Ming Dynasty title. In the future, when the Ming Dynasty pacifies the southeast, they can come to take the Jinshi examination if they have a name, and they can even become officials directly! How come no one buys such a good thing?"
"But we only have five counties in Yingtian Prefecture!" When Prince Zhu said this, he looked at Chen Yonghua.
"Your Majesty," Chen Yonghua did not refuse, "I will be responsible for selling out the fame to Yingtian Mansion. However, the people in Jiangnan deeply hate Zhu Guozhi!"
The people in Jiangnan may not particularly hate Zhu Guozhi, but the Jiangnan gentry must hate him very much! Moreover, when Zhu Guozhi was the governor of Jiangning (the governor of Jiangsu), he also vigorously promoted coastal defense. The pirates Zheng family also hated him, and now it was time to avenge their private vendetta!
"Ministry of Punishment!" Prince Zhu San quickly asked Zheng Desheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment.
Zheng Desheng said: "Your Majesty, this Zhu Guozhi is so hateful. When he was investigating the Weeping Temple case, he also killed many scholars in Jiangnan! We can collect money from his enemies to handle the case this time. As long as the money is enough, we will deal with him. Execution in Lingchi!"
Killing people for money. Is this what the Minister of Punishment can say?
Prince Zhu San could only sigh. He was the alternate Emperor Xian of the Ming Dynasty. This was all he could do!
"If you don't have any objections," Zhu Cijiong said, "then let's find a way to raise money! Prince Geng, let's find a way to raise the money. I'll leave it to you to fight for the Nanjing Imperial City."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it!" Geng Jingzhong finally patted his chest with a look of loyalty on his face.
In Nanjing, while the newly minted loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty were causing mischief, in Xiangyang Mansion, Huang Zhisheng, the envoy of Li Zicheng, the alternate loyal king of the Ming Dynasty, had already met Wu Yingxiong, the eldest son of the Western King of the Ming Dynasty, and Wu Shifan, the grandson of the Western King of the Ming Dynasty.
"What? Li Zicheng wants to divide Jingzhou with me? Has he forgotten who he is?"
Although Wu Yingxiong was determined to fight for his wife and children, he still looked furious when he saw Huang Zhisheng.
"Your Majesty, please calm down," Huang Zhisheng and Wu Yingxiong had known each other for a long time and knew who he was, so they were not worried about him turning his back and killing people. He still looked unhurried and said with a smile, "King Chuang will be here soon." , maybe I can become a minister in the same palace as you, the Crown Prince."
"A minister in the same palace? Whose minister?" Wu Yingxiong was stunned.
"The Ming Dynasty!" Huang Zhisheng said with a smile, "The prince will not forget that you and your father are loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, right? King Chuang also plans to ask the young prince to come forward to Prince Zhu San of Nanjing City and ask for the title of loyal king. The young prince is the loyal king of the Ming Dynasty and King Chuang is the old loyal king!"
"Lao Zhong Wang? Li Zicheng? He still wants to be Lao Zhong Wang?" Wu Yingxiong didn't know what to say.
Wu Shifan on the side frowned and asked, "Does Li Zicheng still want to be on an equal footing with my grandfather, King Xi?"
Huang Zhisheng laughed and said: "How can King Zhong be considered equal to the King of the West? Those who are equal to the King of the West should be the King of the East, King of the South, and King of the North!"
"Has it been sealed?" Wu Shifan's brows furrowed even more.
Huang Zhisheng smiled and said: "I don't know, but it will happen sooner or later."
Of course Wu Sangui, the Western King, was not willing to sit on an equal footing with the Eastern, Southern and Northern Kings.
However, it is unlikely that the New Ming Dynasty will only have one Western King and no Eastern King, Southern King, and Northern King.
In addition, the third prince Zhu is not completely in the hands of Wu Sangui, the king of the West, so this matter is a bit difficult to handle!
When Wu Yingxiong and Wu Shifan, father and son, were complaining in their hearts about Prince Zhu's "arbitrary designation of the king", Wang Shirong on the side took over the topic with a smile and asked: "So, you King Li Zhong are really not afraid of settling the accounts after the fall?"
"I was afraid of the Qiu Queen settling accounts at that time!" Huang Zhisheng said, "But if there is such a Qiu Queen, I'm afraid it's not just the Zhongwang family who will be settled, right? No one will settle the accounts of your Xiwang family? Who killed Emperor Yongli? ? Isn’t that long live your King of the West? Although the third prince Zhu is not Yongli’s son, Yongli is also the emperor of the Ming Dynasty after all. After the third prince Zhu becomes the emperor, he probably has to regard him as Zhengshuo, right? If Yongli If you become Zhengshuo, who is the person who destroyed Qianming?"
Yongli definitely wanted to be the Zhengshuo of the Ming Dynasty. If he didn't, who would be the Zhengshuo of the Ming Dynasty? Could it be blamed on Shunzhi? That is absolutely not possible!
Since Shunzhi is not Zhengshuo, Yongli must be Zhengshuo.
And as soon as Yongli comes to power, Wu Sangui will be in big trouble!
If Wu Sangui captured Yongli, he would have destroyed the Ming Dynasty. The last Ming Dynasty was not destroyed by Li Zicheng, but by Wu Sangui!
Even if Prince Zhu's military strength is weak and he dare not pursue Wu Sangui's crime of destroying the Ming Dynasty, who can guarantee whether there will be a day after the autumn?
Huang Zhisheng added: "Although Chongzhen was forced to death by King Lao Zhong, King Xiao Zhong was not the grandson of King Lao Zhong. He was the son of Duke Xingguo. Duke Xingguo was not the son of King Lao Chuang. He was older than the old king. How much older is King Chuang! So the crime of the old King Chuang of forcing Chongzhen to death may not necessarily fall on the young King Zhong. But the crime of King Xi’s destruction of the Ming Dynasty, can you escape, Prince?"
(End of chapter)
