Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 172
In the next few days, Emperor Chongzhen basically ignored other matters and focused on the preparations for the establishment of the Wubei Hall.

Led by Du Yinxi, Zhou Yuji, Ma Xianglin, and even Yuan Shizhong are all trying to get rid of the specific content of Wu Beitang's lectures.Of course, Emperor Chongzhen would ask for the results of their discussions every day, and at night, he would also tell Liu Weichao to see what Liu Weichao thought.

As the most useful keyboard man in history, Liu Weichao naturally did not hesitate to give some pointers, telling Emperor Chongzhen some of the military academy experience of later generations.For example, the purpose of Wubeitang is to train officers.There are different lectures for officers of different ranks.

In addition, Liu Weichao taught Emperor Chongzhen to formalize the ancient staff, that is, to establish a staff system to share the energy of the commander, and to improve the comprehensiveness of combat from the system.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen fed back the suggestions heard by Liu Weichao to Du Yinxi and others the next day, asking them to refer to this and supplement and improve the results of their previous discussions according to the actual situation.

On the other hand, Emperor Chongzhen was still working on hardware such as the location of the Wubeitang. After ensuring that Du Yinxi had results, the Wubeitang could be opened as soon as possible, so as to cultivate a system of officers loyal to him, instead of those hereditary Wu Xun's disciple.

This is also a time when there is no way to build a strong army. He hopes that the sooner the better!
Not to mention that Jianlu will invade the pass in the second half of the year, as far as Kaifeng is concerned, it is estimated that the fight has already begun.

If the army can be formed as soon as possible and reinforcements are sent over early, Kaifeng will be more secure!
In this way, inside and outside the capital, the Baigan Army, the Jingying, and the Yongwei Battalion all started training in full swing.

The energy of Emperor Chongzhen, including his money and food, was spent on these things absolutely, so that the situation in other places became even worse.

For example, Huguang, where Zhang Xianzhong rebelled, originally both Sun Yingyuan and Huang Degong were there.After the sudden transfer to the north, the pressure on Zhang Xianzhong and the coalition forces of the [-]th Gezuo Battalion was relieved, and the trouble naturally became more violent.

The memorials in the south of the Yangtze River, including Fengyang, the central capital, the Huaihe River Basin, and even Yingtian Mansion, were written every day, calling for reinforcements from the imperial court.

However, it's not that Emperor Chongzhen didn't want to save him, but he was really powerless. This is limited to his military strength. He wants to twist it into one rope, expand the army, and expand it to a strong enough army to control the real battle situation, instead of splitting up the fire like before. A part, and then split a part, so that in the end, the elite was lost.

For those memorials, he could only shout "Hold it up, you stand up to me", that's what it means!
Regarding this situation, those officials in the south of the Yangtze River were not in a hurry, and they all wrote memorials to Emperor Chongzhen in the capital.

It is said that Fengyang, the central capital, is where the emperor's mausoleum is located. If it falls again, I will be ashamed of the previous emperors!

It is also said that Jiangnan is a place where the imperial court pays a lot of taxes. Once it is hit by thieves, the imperial court will have no source of taxation, and the consequences will be unimaginable!

After talking about this kind of thing too much, Emperor Chongzhen was naturally worried, so he asked Ji Yu his friend.

In this regard, Liu Weichao said to Emperor Chongzhen according to the situation in Nanming: "Jiangnan is indeed a place of heavy taxes, but how much of the taxes in Jiangnan can you collect? The power of the gentry in Jiangnan is so great that you, the emperor The decree is probably not very useful. Apart from other things, can you solve it, such as hidden households, donations, etc.? A simple example, your grandfather, the tax officials sent by Emperor Wanli to the south of the Yangtze River, can be directly beaten to death , from this we can see that the power of the gentry is great, right?"

"..." After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was speechless for a moment.

After a long while, he finally said with a little confidence: "But...but most of the imperial court's taxes now come from the south of the Yangtze River. If the south of the Yangtze River is really in chaos, then there will be no money collected!"

After hearing this, Liu Weichao did not refute this, but said another thing to Emperor Chongzhen: "The Southern Song Dynasty only occupied half of the country, mainly in the south of the Yangtze River. How much is the annual tax? For comparison, how much can you collect from Jiangnan in a year?" ?”

"..." Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was speechless again.

In fact, let alone the Southern Song Dynasty, even in the middle and early Ming Dynasty, the taxes collected from Jiangnan were not comparable to what they are today.

Liu Weichao saw that he was silent, so he continued to say to Emperor Chongzhen: "Over there in the south of the Yangtze River, land annexation is serious, and the land is in the hands of officials and gentry, so you can't collect taxes. From a certain point of view, the thief is yours. Enemies, the officials and gentry in Jiangnan are also your opponents. And because of the identity of the officials and gentry in Jiangnan, you will actually be more difficult to deal with..."

Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen realized something, and asked in an uncertain tone: "You mean, on the Jiangnan side, use the strategy of driving away wolves and tigers, let the thieves make trouble first, and I will clean up last. Endgame?"

Speaking of this, he denied it himself: "But if this is really the case, how can those gentry be the opponents of those vicious thieves! Don't smash the whole Jiangnan, it really is all smashed!"

When Liu Weichao heard this, he sneered and said, "I feel that you are worrying too much. The power of those gentry is much stronger than you imagined. According to records, the population at the end of Ming Dynasty was about 5000 million; but you How many are registered? The land in other places can’t support so many people, where can those hidden households be? It must be on the Jiangnan side!”

After a pause, he reminded again: "Do you remember Jiangyin on the 81st? It's just a small city like Jiangyin. When the Jian captives went south, everyone was in panic. Even when the Southern Ming court was still in ruins, they could persist on the 81st day." .Now at least nominally they are still unified, which is much better than at that time. How can the cities in the south of the Yangtze River be easily defeated by thieves?"

"This..." Emperor Chongzhen was speechless after hearing this, and seriously considered Liu Weichao's words in his mind.

"The most important thing is..." Seeing this, Liu Weichao said to Emperor Chongzhen a little louder, "Things have reached this point, if you don't go on and build a strong army, you think you can save Jiangnan Can you still stabilize the north? You...can...can you deal with...who?"

In the end, he spat out word by word.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard it, it was as if he had been enlightened, and he suddenly came to his senses.

That's right, if you don't have a strong army in your hands, don't say that the imperial mausoleum in Zhongdu can't be defended, even the mountains and rivers of Daming can't be defended; My own life is about to die!

Which is more important, is really very clear!

Not to mention, many of what Liu Weichao said just now make sense!

After hanging up the video communication with Liu Weichao, Emperor Chongzhen began to think about Liu Weichao's statement.

To be honest, although the principled issue has been settled, that is, no matter what the cost, we must build a strong army; but besides this, is there a way to get the best of both worlds?
He really didn't want to lose Jiangnan's money!
After thinking for a long time, suddenly, Emperor Chongzhen's eyes lighted up, and he immediately issued an order to summon Wang Dehua, who had lost his position as eunuch of the chief inspector of ceremonies and was only the admiral of the East Factory.

During this period, Wang Dehua's life was actually difficult.

Although there was a reason for Emperor Chongzhen to dismiss his post of eunuch as chief inspector of ceremonies, he knew in his heart that the root cause was not this so-called reason, but his loss of favor.

Otherwise, it would be a big deal, and the emperor would let him go.

At this time, although he still has the position of admiral of the East Factory, he can be regarded as a high-ranking eunuch in the palace.However, he was often worried, because he was afraid that when Emperor Chongzhen would come to deal with him again.

Sometimes, he even woke up from the nightmare.

Because he really couldn't figure out what was the reason that made him lose the grace all of a sudden?

Wang Dehua doesn't believe what he said about collusion with the foreign court, corruption and the like!
After all, no one has done less of these things!

For example, Wang Chengen, who is the most trusted by Emperor Chongzhen at the moment, doesn't he have contact with the foreign court and is not corrupt?

Wang Dehua pondered over and over again, but couldn't figure it out!
Under the fear, he suddenly got the emperor's summoning order, so he rushed there, a little afraid that the emperor would make trouble for him again.

Not to mention, as soon as Emperor Chongzhen saw Wang Dehua, he remembered that he trusted him so much. In the end, not only did he not die for his country, but he also welcomed the thieves, persuaded them to enter, and welcomed the Jian captives.

However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen did not reveal the disgust in his heart. Instead, he said to Wang Dehua with a hint of kindness and joy: "Wang Daban, I have a very important matter. After much deliberation, others are not at ease. Do you know if you can do this for me?"

Wang Dehua is an old man, and he will not be like the young eunuch who listens to the wind and rains. Hearing the emperor say this, he will be grateful again.

He knew very well in his heart that this so-called very important matter must be very difficult, even thankless!
But on the surface, Wang Dehua acted like a young eunuch. When he heard Emperor Chongzhen's words, he immediately showed a very excited look, and quickly told the emperor that he must handle this matter well for the Long Live Lord!

Emperor Chongzhen is no longer the former Emperor Chongzhen. Looking at him like this, how can he not know that he is pretending.But he didn't point it out, he was just acting with each other!

So, Emperor Chongzhen was very "happy" and said: "It's better for Wang Daban to use it properly. For others, I am always worried that they will do bad things, and they are not reliable at all!"

After another round of praise, he directly made a request: "You go south with your capable men to investigate the scandals of those big salt merchants for me. In short, no matter what method you use, I only want those big salt merchants. money, do you understand what I mean?"

"..." Wang Dehua was stunned when he heard this.

He thought a lot, but he didn't expect that Emperor Chongzhen wanted him to do this!

(End of this chapter)