"I beg your blessing...order Yue Le, E Chu, Mal Ji, Cao Xi and others to come on board and talk!"
Kangxi did not disembark immediately, but asked Yue Le, Echu, and Maleji, the three most powerful figures in Jiangning City, and Cao Xi, Kangxi's eyes and ears in Jiangning, to board the ship to talk.
After giving the instructions, he turned around and returned to the cabin.
Yue Le, E Chu, Mal Ji, and Cao Xi didn't dare not obey the imperial edict now. They all walked over the gangplank one by one, boarded Kangxi's royal boat, and then got into the cabin.
There was not much space in the cabin, but Emperor Kangxi still made a grand display. His confidant eunuch Xiao Guizi led eight eunuchs, four palace maids, and stars surrounded the throne. Two precious fans and a long gauze screen surround the back. Mingzhu, Zhuo Butai, Xiong Cilu, Wang Fuchen and others all stood tall and knelt beside him, making Emperor Kangxi look particularly tall.
Yue Le, Echu, Maleji, and Cao Xi kowtowed to Emperor Kangxi again. After watching the four slaves kowtow like worms, Emperor Kangxi sighed and said to Yue Le with tears in his eyes: "Uncle Emperor, Fuquan was killed by the traitor Zhu Heji! I was defeated miserably in Jianyang River again. Wu Sangui... This is all my fault!
I originally thought that visiting the front line in person could boost morale and make the three armies fight vigorously. Unexpectedly, I am not good at using troops and am no match for Wu Sangui. And Fuquan couldn't defeat Zhu Heji, who was as brave as Xiang Ji, and was killed by his formation...
I feel sorry for Fuquan, and I feel sorry for so many soldiers who died for the Qing Dynasty! "
After saying that, Kangxi burst into tears.
At this time, Yue Le and others were finally convinced that the person in front of them was indeed the real Kangxi who "decapitated his head but survived".
Because this method of taking mistakes and excusing the people below is not something that ordinary emperors can do - if the two armies are in a stalemate now, no one can do anything to the other. Then Kangxi should impose military laws on his generals who were unable to fight effectively. But now the three armies are defeated, people are panicked, and rumors are flying everywhere. If Kangxi was too strict and might not be able to disintegrate and fall apart, then the Qing Dynasty would really be doomed.
"Your Majesty, please take care..." Yue Le quickly persuaded with tears, "Although the current situation is critical, it has not yet reached the point of being out of control. After all, the three provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang are still there. Under the firm control of the imperial court! As long as we have the population, taxes, grain and sugar of these three provinces, we can continue the fight, and the advantage will still be on the side of the imperial court!"
Now China has a population of about 50 to 60 million, so population is an extremely precious resource, and the population of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces accounts for at least a quarter of it.
With the population of these three provinces, plus the population of the northern region, the population in the hands of the Qing Dynasty now accounts for at least six-tenths of the country's population.
Once these three provinces are lost, most of China's population will be under the rule of Zhu and Wu.
The taxes provided by these three provinces accounted for more than one-third of the annual income of the Qing Dynasty before the war.
Now that the Qing Dynasty has lost the five relatively wealthy provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi, its financial revenue has dropped sharply compared with before the war. Therefore, the tax revenue of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces is even more important, accounting for at least the Qing Dynasty's tax revenue. Half of the annual income!
In addition, it is also the most important point. Among these three provinces, Zhejiang Province also produces white sugar!
Although Zhejiang's sugar output and quality cannot be compared with Guangdong and Fujian, for the Qing Dynasty, it was a matter of having it or not having it.
Now sugar has moved from the kitchen to the battlefield, and has become the most important military supply! But now all the white sugar in the world comes from the four provinces of China: Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi, and Zhejiang. Among them, Guangdong and Fujian have the largest output and the best quality.
And Guangdong and Fujian are now the territory of the Ming Dynasty!
In addition, Guangxi is now under the joint rule of Wu Sangui's cousin Zu Zeqing and Wu Sangui. As long as Guangxi does not lose, Wu Sangui will not be without sugar.
The white sugar in Daqing can only be supplied by Zhejiang... If Zhejiang is lost, then the sugar supply chain in Daqing will not be in our hands.
Although it was impossible for Zhu Heji to completely control the flow of sugar, the cost of obtaining sugar for the Qing Dynasty would definitely increase significantly.
If the Qing Dynasty loses the income and population of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui at the same time, then it will be really difficult to sustain this war.
Kangxi was actually waiting for Yue Le to say that Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces were important. So he immediately took up the topic and said: "What the emperor uncle said is absolutely true. I also feel that the three provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have a huge stake in the gains and losses! So I want to follow the example of the previous Ming Dynasty and transform Jiangning back to Nanjing Yingtian Mansion... ..What does the Emperor’s uncle think?”
"Prince An," Academician Mingzhu rushed to speak without waiting for Yue Le to answer the question, "the imperial court recently sent an envoy to Jingzhou to redeem the captured Eight Banners soldiers from Wu Sangui. According to the reports from Hong Shiming and Wang Shirong who served as envoys, , now the people in Jingzhou City are happy and everyone is happy. Fu Honglie and Zhou Peigong, who once went to Guangfu to investigate the fake Ming Dynasty imperial examination, also reported that the people in Guangzhou City welcomed Zhu Ni and resisted the imperial court. This shows that the imperial court not only lost on the battlefield The people's hearts in Huguang, Guangdong, and Fujian are not towards the imperial court, but what about the people's hearts in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui?" Gu
"Maleji, tell me!" Kangxi immediately transferred the question to Malji, the governor of Liangjiang.
What did Malaki say?
Do you think the Qing Dynasty was very popular in Jiangnan? Isn't this bullying the emperor? And this gentleman doesn’t seem to want to hear such nonsense.
But the truth is...
Forget it, don’t say anything anymore.
Malji quickly prostrated himself on the ground, sticking his butt high in the air and saying nothing.
The meaning is obvious. If you want to fight, then fight. Anyway, I dare not tell the truth.
"Cao Xi, tell me, you are one of my own, there is nothing I can't say." Kangxi approached Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Xi, who was Kangxi's "own one".
"Returning to the emperor," Cao Xi said, "I think the people in Jiangnan are more recoverable than those in Guangdong, Fujian, and Huguang. The key depends on what the court does."
His words are well spoken!
Don't directly say that the court is unpopular, but say that it can be restored. Moreover, it is compared with the places already taken by Zhu Heji and Wu Sangui.
Kangxi nodded, "I regard Jiangning as Nanjing Yingtian Mansion and personally take charge of it, just to win back people's hearts. As long as people's hearts are on the side of the Qing Dynasty, I will be sure of victory!"
"I wonder how the emperor is planning to win back people's hearts besides sitting in Nanjing?" Yue Le said more at this time.
He really couldn't bear it anymore. Things had come to this point. How could he win back people's hearts? How to recover? Is it to be redeemed by extortionate expropriation? Or use literal inquisition to save it?
When Kangxi was asked by Yue Le, he was a little embarrassed and said in a low voice: "Then how did Prince Zhu and Wu Sangui win the hearts of the people?"
This question... most people in this cabin know about it, maybe only Kangxi, the Holy Lord, doesn't know about it.
The method used by the Zhu and Wu families to win people's hearts is actually very simple, just two words - Qing Dynasty!
In fact, after the Qing Dynasty took over the Central Plains, it didn't have to worry about so many things. It could live a peaceful life for more than two hundred years. But the Qing Dynasty thought too much about "ten thousand years", so it tormented the Han people in different ways. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, the execution power was relatively strong, so it was particularly violent. Naturally, this man’s heart has been extremely lost!
Of course, even Cao Xi did not dare to say this to Kangxi, but Cao Xi already had a way to deal with it. He saw him taking out a red post from his arms and raising his hands.
"Your Majesty, look at this."
Kangxi was stunned, "Is this...a wedding invitation? Getting married? Or giving birth to a son?"
"Your Majesty, this is a hero's note." Cao Xi said, "This is a hero's note for a heroes meeting to be held in Jiugong Mountain next spring to discuss national issues. It is issued in the name of the fake grandson Zhu San!"
"To whom?" Kangxi asked hurriedly.
"Anonymous." Cao Xi said, "As long as you claim to be a hero, you can take the post to Jiugong Mountain. Many porcelain bottles sent from Jingdezhen to Jiangning these days have such heroic posts stuffed inside them. There are also some smuggling salt and other The gangsters who are trending are also distributing these hero posts everywhere."
"I see... come and see." Kangxi winked at Little Guizi's father-in-law, who immediately sent this hero's note to Kangxi.
"So this is Zhu Ni's way of deceiving the hearts of scholar-bureaucrats," Emperor Kangxi opened the hero post and said to himself as he read it, "I also have the ability to speak widely. I will tell you everything I know, and I will tell you everything. The speaker is not guilty. Well! I also want to open a Nanjing Heroes Meeting, and let all the heroes from all over the world come and take the lead on my behalf to protect the Qing Dynasty!"
