After Chen Xinjia was silent for a moment, he frowned and sighed: "The emperor was able to recruit all the horses in the capital. It seems that the capital is not peaceful now!"
"Now that King Qin's army has won a great victory, I am afraid that it can offset the previous guilt of losing the sect, at least not as much as expected." After Chen Xinjia said this, he looked at Fan Yongdou and others and said, "I tell you, our current emperor is More impulsive. Now that there is such a big victory, it is very likely that something will be done once the excitement is heated up. You may listen to people's advice in normal times, but you probably won't during this time. It's also possible that if someone in the court If you are confused, you are likely to do things at all costs."
After hearing this, Fan Yongdou and others didn't understand what he wanted to say, so they had to wait quietly for his next words.
"We can't be at the forefront regarding Fan Ji Bank's affairs." Chen Xinjia continued to tell them, "I remember that Fan Ji Bank is nominally owned by your Fan family, right? Are you separated from your brother?"
"No!" Fan Yongdou didn't understand what he meant and said the truth.
When Chen Xinjia heard this, he quickly said to him: "You and your brother should separate immediately, at least on the surface. If the factory guard comes to check, I said that if they come to check, I will say that the family has already been separated, and the corresponding account records, acres and so on Yes, make a backup copy. Once there is a run on banknotes in the capital, you can't get out anyway. And you'd better compare and don't let anyone find it. The real owner is not here, even if you have doubts, there is nothing you can do. I’ll give you another word so that you won’t be forced into chaos.”
Having said this, he looked at the others and said: "Only we know that the rest of us are involved in stocks. To the outside world, we just say that it is our money in the bank. We will wait for others to run on it first and see what happens. , let’s go again. As for the banknotes, I believe you should be able to print them out, right? It doesn’t matter if you print more, or you will say later that the bank’s accounts are unclear.”
After hearing what he said, the eight major Shanxi merchants all understood and nodded quickly. Among them, Fan Yongdou replied: "Then I will go back to my hometown first and hide for a while. But what about the affairs in Liaodong?"
He has always been in charge of the business with Liaodong, so he asked this question.
"You don't need to worry about this yet." Chen Xinjia said to him immediately: "The Qing army will definitely be busy for a while after returning to Liaodong. After all, they have suffered a huge defeat. When the Qing emperor sorted out his domestic After that, it’s not too late to go to Liaodong for business.”
They heard what he meant. He meant that the Qing emperor would hold accountable matters within the customs, involving the power struggle within the Qing Dynasty. It's really hard to get involved in this kind of thing. It would be wise to wait until they are done.
Seeing them nodding, Chen Xinjia still had a serious face and said to them all: "Don't let the emperor be too compliant. You still have to spend the money you should spend to expose all kinds of bad things and be harassed everywhere. The tragic situation after the Qing army's looting also had to make a noise, both in the court and among the people, to create momentum. As a result, the emperor had many things to worry about and was so anxious that he had no time to worry about Fan Ji. Bank affairs."
After he said so much, these Shanxi merchants also reacted and nodded in agreement. If you are reluctant to let go of your children, you will not be able to ensnare the wolf. Just treat them as part of the cost of doing business. You still have to spend the money that needs to be spent.
"Now that King Qin's army is in power, there must be people in the court who are dissatisfied." Chen Xinjia had a lot of ideas, and after thinking for a while he said, "We can unite those people and find some faults to impeach Lu Xiangsheng and others. The emperor finds that his trust has been betrayed again. Maybe we will vent our anger on them. No matter what, there must be chaos. Only when the government is in chaos and the emperor is unconscious can we get enough benefits!"
To this, these Shanxi merchants naturally agreed, and then immediately started to act according to Chen Xinjia's suggestion. You can hide when you should, fake when you should, and go to the capital when you should...
Of course they didn't know that everything they told was truthfully fed back to Emperor Chongzhen who was far away in the capital by the eavesdropping seeds in Chen Xinjia.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen just happened to drive back to the palace to rest for a while. After all, it was indeed a bit cold with the cold wind howling outside. At this moment, he took a look at the eavesdropping seeds and immediately saw the content of their discussion.
After reading it, Emperor Chongzhen thought for a while, and suddenly a smile appeared on his lips. Sometimes, it is also best not to catch them immediately and let these pig-like opponents promote the innovations you want.
For example, Chen Xinjia and those Shanxi merchants were discussing to let the customers of Fanji Bank cause trouble and let the people who had the bank notes of Fan Ji Bank intercede. But looking back, they, the shareholders, had distanced themselves from each other, and Fan Yongdou still wanted to hide and announce the separation.
On the surface, these kinds of things seem to cause trouble for oneself. After all, regardless of whether they have saved money or have banknotes, they are all rich or have a certain amount of power and financial resources. As for ordinary people, they may never see a banknote in their lifetime. These people used various means to cause trouble, which would definitely be a headache for the original Emperor Chongzhen. So many people are cheating and cheating, maybe they are cheating and lame.
However, for me, isn't this the best opportunity to transfer the power of all private banks to print banknotes to the Ming Royal Bank? At least let them deposit a certain amount of reserves in the Ming Royal Bank. , and must also accept the supervision of the court.
After all, private banks have the same risks as Fanji Bank, which is a disaster. The Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty will not fail unless there is a change of dynasty.
When you turn around, ask the factory guards to check. There must be something like this kind of private bank run and bankruptcy or absconding with money, so we will take the opportunity to publicize it together. In this way, it was not easy to return the banknotes to the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank before, but this time, it should be possible to do it in all likelihood.
As for Chen Xinjia's idea to publicize the tragic situation since the Manchu army entered the customs in an attempt to attack Lu Xiangsheng and others, it was also an assist for himself. When the public opinion reached its peak, he announced that the biggest culprit was actually the traitorous Shanxi merchants.
Haha, when the time comes, if all the families are confiscated and their families are exterminated, no one will say that they are cruel! More likely, it’s applause!
With this in mind, Emperor Chongzhen decided to let the clowns dance and rejoice first, while he firmly grasped the military power first.
Just when I was thinking about Cao Cao, Cao Cao came. The chamberlain came to report, and the commanders of King Qin's army, Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, were waiting to see him.
So Emperor Chongzhen immediately summoned them alone in Wenhua Hall.
After seeing the ceremony, Emperor Chongzhen first asked with concern about the situation of King Qin's army.
"Your Majesty, don't worry, all the soldiers are happy!" Lu Xiangsheng replied with a smile.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen said straight to the point to the three ministers: "I want to rebuild the army under the Yuma Supervisor. In addition to the Yongwei Camp remaining unchanged, three more battalions will be reorganized, and each battalion will be based on the Yongwei Camp." Generally, there are two general troops, more than 10,000 people. The main combat target is to build captives in Liaodong, at least for now. I wonder what you think?"
Lu Xiangsheng and the other two looked at each other, obviously prepared for Emperor Chongzhen's question. After all, the emperor had mentioned this matter twice.
According to the usual practice in the officialdom, Lu Xiangsheng, who had the highest official position, finally responded: "Your Majesty, I and others have discussed a lot about building captives in Liaodong, especially since the battle lasted for more than three months. In addition, the prisoners were captured this time. Some Jianlu have also learned a lot of things. Therefore, I think that if Your Majesty reorganizes the Royal Horse Supervisor to deal with Jianlu, you might as well get to know the Jianlu army first."
Emperor Chongzhen originally thought of just following Qi Jiguang's military strategy, but after listening to Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion, he nodded and said: "Know yourself and your enemy. I know this. Lu Qing tells me."
"I obey the order!" Lu Xiangsheng said with a serious face, and then began to introduce him to Emperor Chongzhen.
"Your Majesty, our great enemy in Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty is actually the Jianzhou Jurchen. In the past, the strength of the Jianzhou Jurchen was only its heavy infantry. Compared with such a single unit, it is not a big concern. It’s just that my Ming Dynasty didn’t take it seriously and was strengthened by it.”
"Before the Jurchens were founded, the slave chief Nurhaci first annexed the Yehe Jurchen tribe, and the Yehe Jurchen tribe was famous for its heavy cavalry. As a result, the Jianlu army added heavy cavalry. Later, the Jianlu troops annexed the grasslands. The tribe obtained the Mongolian light cavalry, and also attacked North Korea and forced about 20,000 gunmen. In addition, the Dongjiang rebel generals surrendered to the enemy, bringing heavy artillery and naval fleets to the Jianlu. As a result, the Jianlu All types of troops in the captive army are fully equipped, and they are indeed our formidable enemies of the Ming Dynasty!"
Lu Xiangsheng said that he was a strong enemy, but he was actually trying to save the emperor's face. To put it bluntly, the Jianlu Army's complete range of arms actually outclassed the Ming Army.
When Lu Xiangsheng said this, he did not finish everything by himself, but looked at Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou understood, and he went on to introduce it to Emperor Chongzhen: "In addition to what Lu Benbing said, Jianlu also put a lot of thought into the sophisticated equipment. Its elite white-armored soldiers, in every battle, wear three layers of armor to provide strong protection. Extremely strong, hard to damage with swords, hard to pierce with arrows, very difficult to deal with."
"Besides that, the fire blunderbuss used by Jianlu has very few explosions, and the workmanship is very fine. There are also ordinary spears used by Jianlu, which are several feet longer than those used by our army. Our officers and soldiers have not yet After stabbing the enemy, Jianlu's spear has already stabbed our soldiers. For all these reasons, it is unpleasant to say that Jianlu's weapons and equipment are not only sophisticated, but also specially improved for our soldiers. Every time on the battlefield , our army will suffer a lot in terms of equipment and weapons."
Emperor Chongzhen knew some of Hong Chengchou's words, and some was the first time he heard them, so he couldn't help but be surprised. It can be seen from this that Jianlu's rise was indeed deliberate.
Thinking like this, he turned to look at Sun Chuanting, feeling that he should have something to say.
Sure enough, seeing the emperor looking at him, Sun Chuanting also respectfully said: "More than that, Jianlu not only treated the soldiers who fought in the war extremely well, but also had clear rewards and punishments, and strict military discipline. Even the most notorious Korean gunfire After arriving in the Jianlu army, he became brave and dared to shoot directly at our soldiers without retreating."
Speaking of this, he gave an example to the emperor: "When the slave chief Huang Taiji originally formed an artillery battalion with Han soldiers, the first-class gunner was rewarded with eighty taels of silver, and the second-class gunner was rewarded with fifty taels of silver. And our army If you don't collect the elite at night, you can only get two taels of silver a month. Of course, this is the limit. Although it does not represent everything, it can illustrate the courage of the slave chief. The same is true. The soldiers of our Ming Dynasty, the army that was originally defeated at a touch, will When they surrendered to the enemy and attacked the Ming Dynasty, they became brave and good at fighting. The slave chiefs would also share part of the property they plundered with them. All these methods are unbelievable. How can this be a frontier? The barbarians can come up with it!”
Upon hearing this kind of praise for the slave chieftain, Emperor Chongzhen was not angry, but became serious.
There is a view in later generations that the Manchu Qing Dynasty finally conquered the world because of too many random opportunities and how much shit luck it took to win such a big jackpot. But once he was in the situation and analyzed it carefully, Emperor Chongzhen believed that it was not all luck that the Manchus were the best to conquer the world.
To say that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was bad, but the Ming and Mongolia were worse, is actually inappropriate!
The Manchu Qing Dynasty arose between white mountains and black waters. They were just a group of barbarians, so we looked down upon them. This was obviously not a correct view. The Mongol Empire that once swept the world, weren't they just a small tribe in Mobei at first? In later generations, England, which was so arrogant that it was known as the Empire on which the sun never sets, was just a small island country!
Listening to the analysis of the three ministers, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but have a deeper understanding of Liaodong Jianlu.
Seeing Sun Chuanting finish speaking, Lu Xiangsheng took over the topic and continued: "The reason why I have made great achievements this time is not actually that our army is stronger than Jianlu, but that your Majesty's strategizing is far beyond what Jianlu usually does to me. The impression of the army is that they had this opportunity, and they were able to catch them by surprise, and they achieved such a victory. If they were really stronger than the Jianlu, I would have rescued the remaining people and wiped out the remaining Jianlu. It’s closed.”
What he said was indeed sincere and he did not mean to flatter Emperor Chongzhen at all. If it were not Emperor Chongzhen, then the Ming army would still be the original Ming army. Even if some individuals were brave and good at fighting, it would still be destroyed by Jianlu if their troops were not as powerful as Jianlu.
For example, the previous Qi Jiajun, Baigan Army, etc. were all powerful armies for the Ming Dynasty, but in the end they were defeated by Jianlu and annihilated. No matter how many enemies were killed or injured, Jianlu won in the end.
Seeing Emperor Chongzhen thinking, Lu Xiangsheng and two others suggested to Emperor Chongzhen in unison: "Your Majesty, if you want to build a strong army against the captives, you must take the right medicine. Instead of making great determination and energy, you just mobilize King Qin's army this time." I’m afraid there won’t be enough people who dare to fight!”
