Huang Taiji couldn't help but feel happy when he heard the sound, and asked quickly: "Huh? What do you know?"
"There is definitely an inside job!" Fan Wencheng had just finished his answer and noticed that Huang Taiji was stunned and then a little angry. He knew that Huang Taiji might have misunderstood him, so he quickly added, "The slave means that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty He knows about the internal response and knows that this war will definitely be won. Therefore, he will lead the army out of Beijing, hoping to use this matter to reverse the negative impact of the Ming Dynasty being invaded and galloped around by our Qing army so many times. "
As soon as Huang Taiji heard this, his previous speculation about the Ming Emperor suddenly becoming more powerful disappeared, and his mood improved a lot. He nodded and said: "Yes, it is possible. Otherwise, I I don’t even believe that the Ming Emperor, who has never fought in a war, can still lead an expedition!”
"That's right, in terms of wisdom and prowess, the dog emperor of the Ming Dynasty can't keep up with his master even if he flatters his horse!" When Turge saw it, he immediately flattered him.
Huang Taiji laughed after hearing this. He himself felt that if he wanted to lead an army in a war, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who had never been out of the capital was definitely not worthy of carrying his shoes!
"However, I also have a doubt!" Fan Wencheng frowned and said a little worriedly.
As soon as Huang Taiji heard this, he immediately asked: "Can't you find the insider?"
"No, what I mean is that, slave, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty personally led the army to go on an expedition. Why didn't those Shanxi merchants get any news?" Fan Wencheng said in confusion, "Also, it's been so long, why didn't the Shanxi merchants come over? Make some noise, the supplies we agreed on before have been delayed in being delivered to Liaodong?"
When Huang Taiji heard this, he was puzzled and said: "You really shouldn't! If the Ming Dynasty changes its governor again and it is inconvenient for them to transport supplies, send someone to Liaodong to talk about the situation and tell them all the news in the Ming Dynasty. , these things are very easy to do!”
After saying this, he remembered that there were more than 200,000 people in Liaodong. Although many people died, there were still more than 100,000 people. So many people were originally waiting for those Shanxi merchants to send food and supplies. However, this did not come for a long time, and the Qing Dynasty's material storage was unable to make ends meet. This is not a good thing!
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard Fan Wencheng suddenly suggest: "Master, I think this slave should send troops to Ningyuan to have a look at the food, and to promote the military power of the Qing Dynasty, so as to tell the world that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty It’s nothing at all. If you have the ability, just lead the army in person to fight the Qing Dynasty. Let’s see if he is brave or not!”
At this time, the wheat had been harvested, and even if he led the army, he would not be able to grab much food; but in addition, Huang Taiji still liked this role. Therefore, he immediately agreed and decided to send troops to Ningyuan.
As for Turge, since he had already treated Dorgon coldly, he naturally could not deal with Turge in a big way. Because of this, he wanted to win over him and influence Dorgon's white flag. Therefore, he was not severely punished, but was given a painless punishment, and the matter was forgotten.
As a result, the Manchu Qing Dynasty sent troops to invade Ningyuan in October of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, just as it had happened in history.
When Huang Taiji's decision was made, Emperor Chongzhen had just arrived in the capital and learned the news from the Class A eavesdropping seeds in Turge. Therefore, he did not delay and sent Wu Sangui's family letter and the news that Jianlu was going to attack Ningyuan to Sun Chuanting, the governor of Jiliao.
When I finished this, I could already see the capital city wall. However, what is more eye-catching is not the long-lost walls of the capital, but the countless people, civil and military officials outside the capital.
Before Emperor Chongzhen arrived at the gates of the capital, he saw Empress Zhou and the Crown Prince leading all the civil and military officials, who had already knelt down to welcome him from a distance. All the people also knelt down to welcome him, and the sound of shouting "Long Live the Mountain" resounded through the sky.
Although the government has given instructions, the people of the capital are also willing to do so. The emperor returns from a victorious battle. This is also the glory of the people of the capital, and they are all happy to welcome him like this.
It can be said that almost all the people who can move in the capital city are here. With so many people coming to welcome him, this grand occasion can be said to be very rare. Many officials thought that the emperor should be very happy about such a scene. After all, this is the embodiment of the emperor's supreme martial arts!
However, what surprised them was that Emperor Chongzhen was actually immune to such scenes. Since setting off from Nanyang, he has seen countless such scenes. The most important thing is that he really doesn't attach much importance to the achievements he made during this trip to Beijing. His goal is the stars and the sea, so how can he be satisfied with defeating a Mongolian tribe and wiping out the dirty thieves?
Therefore, after arriving at the capital city, Emperor Chongzhen just smiled and let them get down, and then prepared to enter the city and return to the palace.
Seeing this, the young prince couldn't bear it anymore and couldn't help but ask Emperor Chongzhen: "Father, don't you say something? Also, don't you go to the Ancestral Temple first?"
In fact, he was already very excited when he saw such a big scene, even though he knew that such a grand scene and the welcoming sounds of mountains and tsunamis were not directed at him.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen turned to look at him and said with a slight smile: "What can I say? As the emperor, it is my duty to fight for the people. It is just a small victory, so there is no need to mobilize troops. When one day I conquer Liaodong and rescue the people of Liaodong, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty no longer have to worry and fear the Jianlu, then I will announce to the world that Liaodong has been leveled, and I will worship the previous emperors and the Jianlu have been destroyed! "
Hearing this, not only the prince, but others including the queen were a little shocked.
It turned out that this expedition to annihilate the Hetao Tartars and encircle and suppress all the bandits was a victory. In the eyes of the emperor, this was actually the victory. His goal was to conquer Liaodong. He felt that only by destroying the Jianlu barbarians would it be worthwhile to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Worship?
At this time, they suddenly felt that they did not seem to be on the same level as the emperor's ambition.
When the people nearby heard this, they were more concerned about the emperor's other words: As the emperor, it is my duty to fight for the people!
This was the first time they heard this, and they were also very surprised.
Everyone has always felt that the world belongs to the emperor and everything belongs to the Zhu family. The emperor went on an expedition for the sake of his own country and country. However, now they heard such a statement for the first time, and it was said by the emperor himself.
If you think about it carefully, it seems to make sense.
The emperor personally went out to fight and eliminated the Hetao Tartars, so the people in Shaanxi no longer have to worry about the Hetao Tartars entering the pass to raid the grassy valleys, and they no longer need to suffer military disasters; after the bandits are encircled and suppressed, the people in the Central Plains no longer have to worry Even in times of war, life can be peaceful. From this perspective, isn’t the emperor fighting for the people?
Thinking of this, these people were also excited. They passed this sentence to each other in a low voice, and combined it with the rumors that the emperor had said before, such as "If you don't make decisions for the people when you are an official, it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes", thus confirming a conclusion. , the current emperor is an emperor who truly cares for the people!
Therefore, after Emperor Chongzhen returned from this expedition, his prestige in the capital was already high, and now it has reached another level. If someone speaks ill of the emperor, for example, the emperor is ruthless, if the emperor kills many people, confiscates many homes, etc., the people of the capital will immediately attack him or even attack him in groups, regardless of whether the person is wearing silk or not. Luo Silk Satin, no matter which house this person comes from or from other places, there is no exception.
Emperor Chongzhen didn't know this yet. After returning to the palace, he immediately reviewed the memorial. This hard job was a symbol of the emperor's power and was what he had to do to have overall control over the affairs of the country.
What worried him was that there really wasn't much good news. The worst news is that Jiangnan suffered floods, inundating many towns, mainly along the Yangtze River. In addition, Guangdong was hit by another typhoon. Many houses were blown away and people disappeared. Not to mention that when the typhoon came, many fishermen had no time to escape and never came back.
The saying "floods in the south and drought in the north" are really not just words.
The feudal princes were mainly concentrated in the north. This time, by squeezing the prince's palace for money and food, and mobilizing food in advance to the drought-stricken areas in the north, they could barely survive. However, the flooding in the south was so serious that he had to worry about the public sentiment in the south.
Seeing his worried look, Xue Guoguan, the first assistant, comforted him and said: "Your Majesty, floods in the south actually happen every year. No matter what, there is more food in the south, unlike here in the north, there will be follow-up Continuous famines magnify the impact of disasters.”
Seeing that the emperor was still frowning and did not seem to feel relieved at all, Xue Guoguan said again: "In fact, after this memorial came up, Wei Chen checked the records of waterlogging in the south in recent years. There are several years of The situation was worse than this year, but we got through it in the end!”
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen asked him for relevant information and read it carefully.
Indeed, as Xue Guoguan said, in previous years, typhoons affected several provinces and even caused heavy rains, which not only flooded the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, Emperor Chongzhen had no influence. Looking back at this memorial now, and thinking about it carefully, he found that in the past, when disasters occurred, they were reported after the fact, and the text description was written in a way of minimizing major issues. After watching it, people will have the feeling that the disaster in the south is actually nothing.
He didn't know that this year's disaster was not only timely but also required the imperial court to provide disaster relief more than before. It gave people the impression that the disaster in the south was serious and different from the previous approach. It was caused by Emperor Chongzhen himself.
He removed the black gauze hat of the governor of Nanyang on the spot, and his words, "If you are an official and do not make decisions for the people, it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes", which quickly spread throughout the country. Over in Huguang, with water and land connections in all directions, the virus spread rapidly.
After those local officials heard about it, they dared to conceal the disaster again. For the sake of their own shame and to prevent them from thinking that they would be found out by the emperor, they also took off their shamelessness. They would rather make the matter serious than make it a big deal. Smaller.
Of course, as for the reason why the disaster is so serious, they will attribute it to the seriousness of the natural disaster, and will not explain that they did not prevent it properly. For example, houses were not reinforced in advance, rivers were not built, embankments were strengthened, etc.
The disasters in the south were so serious. Emperor Chongzhen, as a later generation, certainly knew how many typhoons and floods there would be in the south. In fact, even if there is an early warning mechanism for future generations, the annual losses to the people are still difficult to estimate.
Floods in the south and droughts in the north should all be taken seriously. Otherwise, the people who suffered the disaster will lose some centripetal force towards the imperial court. What is more serious is that there will be more thieves.
However, disaster relief requires money. When Emperor Chongzhen checked the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank, he found that there was not much money left from the Shanxi merchants and dignitaries who had confiscated their homes.
Drought, military disasters in the north, and post-disaster reconstruction in various places, especially the military pay owed by the border troops, are all huge consumers of money. In addition, Emperor Chongzhen once explained that the war bureau must maintain adequate supplies and that the creation of ordnance cannot affect the preparations for the war against the captives in Shandong, Shanhaiguan and other places, which is also a big spender of money. Especially in Shandong, Dongjiang Town needs to be rebuilt, soldiers trained, ships built, etc. It is also a bottomless pit that consumes money.
In fact, Emperor Chongzhen actually spent a lot of money and food on this expedition. However, the loss was that the Hetao Tartars were all annihilated, and there were countless trophies. In terms of value, they almost offset each other.
But in fact, just those war horses, horse feed and other materials that need to be consumed are another expense. The saying that one cavalryman can raise many infantrymen is not just talk.
Financial difficulties are about to arise again, which makes both the first assistant and the Minister of Revenue very worried. However, they also knew that the emperor had already made it clear to them that the lack of money could never be replenished by printing banknotes from the Ming Dynasty Royal Bank.
Of course, in fact, without the emperor's personal decree, none of them would want the Ming Royal Bank to print more banknotes.
Now that this matter has been brought to light again, Emperor Chongzhen doesn't have much to worry about. Because he has a way to ensure the supply of money. But for now, he doesn't plan to make it public and will take action immediately. Because he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to reform the tax system. The income of the imperial treasury must be sufficient.
Therefore, he first issued a decree requiring officials across the country to plant sweet potatoes, and clearly stated that the sweet potatoes planted must not encroach on existing grain fields. In other words, sweet potatoes must be planted in barren mountains and wilderness. The number of sweet potatoes harvested by then will become an important assessment indicator for local officials' performance.
As for how to grow sweet potatoes, Xu Guangqi has already written it very clearly in "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs". No matter north or south, you can refer to it. And this is why local officials should be familiar with the "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia": it will be of great help to farming!
