New Shun 1730

After urinating, you still need to shake three times. On the second day, the emperor held a grand parade after the war and performed the final step of the official dance.

When the auspicious time came, the imperial guards brought the royal horse. The royal horse was equipped with decorative "dragon horns" on its head. The emperor's rider, the dragon, was not afraid of being stabbed and bleeding by the dragon's horns.

"Command the armed forces to conduct a grand review!"

The drums were beating and cannons were fired in support.

Luan Yi, who was leading the way in front, was holding something like a golden lantern, the eunuch was following behind with an umbrella, and the Han general of the Boy's Army was holding a triangular dragon flag and a festival ax.

The close-fitting Xunwei followed with the emperor's royal sword, and the Luan Yiwei's honor guards lined up with bent swords for protection.

In accordance with the Ming system, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Leng Fengyang, a member of the Jinyiwei family, was not tortured because of his good reputation. After surrendering, he managed Luanjia for Li Zicheng.

Some styles have also been inherited, but after all, Leng Fengyang is only a hundred households, and many details are still different from the Ming Dynasty.

Officers and veterans from various ministries came forward one after another to maintain the team and prepare for the emperor's review.

This has been decided a long time ago. Although there has been no on-site drill, the flags of the markers have been prepared in advance, and all the ministries only need to stand step by step under the command of the general.

At this moment, Liu Yu is a very small supporting role, and because he went directly to the border after being promoted to honor guard, he couldn't even serve as an honor guard.

He could only huddle in the middle of a group of honorary guards, carrying a long-handled ceremonial bent knife, wearing a double-breasted hood, and hanging a embroidered spring knife with a tassel pendant on his waist.

I mingled in the middle of the group and walked around in a daze. Once again, the Khalkha people were shocked, and then the emperor raised the account, established the official seal, and awarded honors.

Not counting veterans and not counting emperors, Liu Yu is still the one with the highest military exploits among the remaining people.

Doctor Si Xun counted the heads and counted the prisoners. There are not enough officials in the imperial court, and the emperor can only confer honors but not officials in such a place.

"Liu Yu, the honorary guard, will fight a thousand men in one battle, and it will be a base. The first level is 500, and if you hit more with less, it will be called the battle, and it will be three turns; if you capture more than 300 enemies and one ship, it will be the top reward, and it will be three turns. "If you destroy the fort once, you can go to the seventh rank; if you capture the enemy general, you can go to the eighth rank."

After reading the reward, the emperor should have come forward to encourage him at this time.

But Li Gan thought about it and didn't know what Liu Yu was planning to do, nor where he wanted to go with this self-propelled chess. If he made any strange remarks again in public, he didn't ask any more questions.

Although the twelve ranks of Cexun in the Tang Dynasty were restored, there was no need to think about conferring land for military merit. The imperial court did not have that much land in its hands. There is plenty of wasteland in the Northeast, but no one wants it.

However, he was relatively generous in terms of money. Dashun learned from the lessons of the Ming Dynasty and knew that he could not default on his salary as a soldier.

Liu Yu's family belongs to the upper class of the ruling class, and they don't need the benefits of being awarded a medal, not having to perform corvee service, and being exempted from taxes. The messy amount can be converted into a treatment of one thousand taels of silver every year.

These are all secondary. The key is that the 17 or 18-year-old Captain Shangqingche is still a member of the Xunwei family, and his future is bright.

The rest of the people who followed Liu Yu out, or the people Liu Yu knew and wanted to take care of, also benefited.

Jiao Lao Butu also managed to become the captain of the Qingqingqi Captain, and he could be promoted to a higher position, but now is not the time.

In yesterday's battle, he waved the flag first and caught the emperor's eye, so he gave him some encouragement.

At this time, Jiao Lao Butu had great trust in Liu Yu. Thinking of what Liu Yu had quietly said to him before, when it was time to show his loyalty to express his gratitude, he loudly said: "I see that the north is restless and the Rakshasa is arrogant, and I am willing to do it for you." The country is guarding the border. Please allow me to serve as a border general to patrol the border!"

Li Gan was a little surprised when he heard this. Jiao Laobutu had already been selected into the Boy Army. Although it was best to be sent abroad if there was a chance, usually the south would grab the lead and no one would ask about it in the north. There was actually someone who took the initiative to organize border defense for the border general.

"How magnificent! You are so loyal and good! Give me some wine!"

Jiao Laobutu picked up the wine glass, thinking a lot.

In my heart, I was satisfied with the emperor's words of encouragement, "It's magnificent". I drank in front of thousands of troops, and I was extremely satisfied mentally. But in my heart, I was also thinking, brother Liu Yu, brother Liu Yu, don't cheat me. If we don't open border trade in the future, I was tricked to death by you.

But the words had already been spoken, and now it was too late to regret. Besides, in front of more than ten thousand soldiers, he felt as heroic as he should be, so he picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

Du Feng's achievements on the Eastern Front were better than Jiao Lao Butu's, and he also had the ability to seize artillery, and became a rank-6 mounted captain. His father's title gave him an easier opportunity to enter the Palace of Military Virtue. As a captain, he also gained an easier opportunity for the next generation to enter the Palace of Military Virtue. He could directly bypass the various places. Camp level one.

The emperor also thoughtfully considered that he had to take the selection examination at Wude Palace, so he exempted him from the obligation to continue fighting with the army and asked him to follow the team to take the examination in Shenyang.

After the encouragement, Du Feng saw that what Jiao Laobutu said was exactly what Liu Yu secretly said to them about "the future". He thought that if His Majesty did not have the intention to open up the South China Sea in the future, he would not lose anything; if he did, , isn’t it just like Mr. Liu said, find another way?

"Back to Your Majesty. In the past few years, the country has been in good health, the people are happy and prosperous, and the population has increased. The population has increased but the land has not increased. The northern land is cold and miserable, and it is difficult to become a granary. I heard that there is a continent in the South China Sea. The land is thousands of miles wide, the water and grass are fertile, and the four seasons are distinct. . If it can be controlled by the dynasty, it can give birth to millions of people. I am willing to learn the art of sailing and open up the sea for the dynasty in the future."

"Yeah. Mianzhi!"

The emperor praised him, and felt something was wrong.

It was normal for Jiao Lao Butu to be loyal and ambitious in the north.

But this Du Feng grew up in a cold and bitter place, in a mountain valley, and he actually had the insight that "the population grows but the land does not increase", and he also said that he wanted to open up Nanyang... Nanyang, I'm afraid you haven't been to Liaohe, right?

It's hard to say that he was not influenced by Liu Yu.

Li Gan was not afraid that Liu Yu had any personal favors in the army. He was just a guest general, and the Zhechongfu only had the power to train soldiers and patrol the border. The central government still had to send people to command the war, so the court was still at ease with these soldiers.

It's just that Liu Yu had only been in contact with them for a year, and he could secretly influence these people. He really had some tricks.

He had planted someone among the people Liu Yu brought with him, and that person also reported back. At first, he said that Liu Yu imitated the ancient generals, shared hardships with the soldiers, and spent money to improve the soldiers' clothing. Li Gan thought all these were normal, and even thought that Liu Yu was a useful person.

In the subsequent reports, Liu Yu did nothing out of the ordinary. He just talked about dirty jokes every night, and sometimes talked about Western learning and how big the outside world was.

Now, when Du Feng started talking about "the population is growing but the land is not increasing", Li Gan felt that it was somewhat unexpected and reasonable.

I thought: The ancients said that a gentleman is like jade, moistening things silently. Maybe this is the kind of person?

With this idea, to the surprise of the attendants next to him, Li Gan asked more soldiers who were not qualified to be encouraged in terms of their rank. Most of them followed Liu Yu all the way to the expedition.

The answers he got were also varied and mysterious.

Except for Liu Yu's attendant who had "low ambitions" and said that he joined the army to get rid of his servant status and marry a good wife, which caused a smile or laughter, the answers of the others really opened Li Gan's eyes.

Some said that they would go to sea in the future to find a fertile land that was not as bitter as the Songhua River and had lush water and grass for cultivation; some said that they would make meritorious contributions and enter Petersburg in the future; some said that they would look for strange beasts and species in the Classic of Mountains and Seas; and some said that they would go to see the Fusang tree in America.

Many of these words were not even heard by the veterans who followed Li Gan.

I just felt that I could recognize every word these people said, but I couldn't understand what they meant when they were put together.

It was true that each of them had heroic ambitions, but these heroic ambitions were like the heroic ambitions of the Han Wu period when the Western Regions were just opened up. They were all talking about strange stories thousands of miles away, just like the grapes, alfalfa, pomegranates, and carrots at that time.

Although most of them were just polite words...

But it was jaw-dropping that a soldier from a mountain valley could talk about his ambitions thousands of miles away.

Listening to this group of rural soldiers who may have never been to Jilin or eaten peaches before, talking about the mountains and seas thousands of miles away, there was always an indescribable magic.

After all the questions were asked, Li Gan smiled and encouraged many times, thinking that he might have glimpsed some of Liu Yu's thoughts and figured out many things.

Many of Liu Yu's previous seemingly unintentional statements gradually became clear.

When asked at Jinshui Bridge that day, Liu Yu did not mention Nanyang at all, but talked about the new army and Western learning, which sounded like boasting.

Look at Liu Yu's performance this year, what he did along the way, and his style of using money to make soldiers fight hard and lure people with benefits.

Obviously, Liu Yu was not the kind of fool who only knew how to talk about justice.

At that time, it was believed that the new army Liu Yu mentioned was for the wars in Junggar and Northern Xinjiang.

Now think about it, I am afraid that Liu Yu did not take the war in the northern border seriously at all. In his eyes, Junggar was not even qualified for him to talk about.

Nanyang...

If it was for Nanyang, if it was for Westerners, all this would make sense.

Anyone who studies Western learning knows the words of Xu Guangqi in the previous dynasty: The northern border is just a minor disease, and the great trouble of the country is in Nanyang.

However, with the spread of Catholicism in China, this word was misinterpreted by the Western and French parties and became a reason for refusing trade with Protestant countries such as the Netherlands and Britain. Even because of religious sentiment, these words are rarely mentioned.

"Nanyang... Nanyang... No wonder."

His heart moved, and he thought that Liu Yu, who was acting like an antelope hanging on the horns, was completely unpredictable before, but now he finally has a clue.

Li Gan also secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

He thought Liu Yu was talented, but he always felt that Liu Yu's thoughts were too deep and he could not see through them.

As an emperor, he did not like a minister who was completely unpredictable.

Even if this minister is really talented, if you can't see through him, you can only consider it again and again before using him. Especially from now on, he is definitely a stubborn person who "follows the Tao instead of Zhou".

When asked at the Jinshui Bridge that day, Liu Yu's words were all about the great righteousness of "loyalty to the emperor and the country". But like every young man, after talking, he avoided or didn't care about the most vulgar, basic, and gentlemanly thing - money.

Reforming the military system, training new troops, opening military schools, replacing flintlocks and bayonets, everything sounds good, but everything requires a lot of money.

If we have fought against Junggar and pacified the northern border, and closed the door to the country, do we need to spend so much money on reform?

Is it necessary to fight against Korea with flintlocks and bayonets? Or is it necessary to fight against the chieftains and suppress the civil uprising with the new army? Although Luosha State is stronger, it can only gather a field mobile corps of 3,000 to 5,000 people across the cold and desolate land. Even if they pile up people, they will die.

Wouldn't it be better to use this money for disaster relief and free food?

Li Gan initially thought that Liu Yu was young and might not be able to think so much. He might also dislike money like every young person and think that he is not interested in money.

Now it seems that this is not the case.

I am afraid that Liu Yu knows too well how important money is.

I heard from the spies that Liu Yu distributed money all the way from Shenyang to Nurgandusi and from Nurgandusi to Muluhanshanwei. If his own money was not enough, he distributed the payment for the disguised caravans of the court; if the payment was not enough, he distributed the spoils of the Russian castle.

On the other hand, he never heard of the great cause of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. The mobilization before the war has always been "distributing money", "spoils", "silver", "fur"...

How can such a person not know how important money is? How can he not know that money is the basis of all problems?

Where does the money come from? Liu Yu did not mention it, but now from the "ambitions of these decorated soldiers", it is clearer than ever.

According to Liu Yu's envisioned military reform, the imaginary enemy is Westerners?

If you want to conquer Nanyang, you must have a new army that can fight against Westerners.

If you want to develop Nanyang, you must have a navy that can fight against Westerners.

If you want to conquer Nanyang, you must have money; if you want to have money, you must conquer Nanyang.

Li Gan heard from Liu Yu that Westerners are very rich. It is said that England now has an annual income of more than 20 million taels. With an island the size of Henan Province, it has collected three-quarters of the annual income of Dashun, and there is no civil uprising... Li Gan believes that Western countries are really scary.

If you can collect money, you can fight, it's a simple truth.

The court is short of money now.

The north is a money-loser.

Now that Mongolia has been taken back, not only can we not get a penny a year, but we have to pay three million taels a year for the annual rewards to the nobles, the expenses of immigrants, the construction of post stations, etc. But we can't not pay it, otherwise it will cost more every year for early warning, mobilization, and fort repairs.

The south is rich, and it is the most difficult to get money out of it.

The gentry are of the same blood, and if you pull out a carrot, you will get mud. In order to gain a firm foothold and accept the mandate of heaven in the late Ming Dynasty, after the Battle of Jingzhou, they learned from the mistakes of Taizu when he entered Beijing: "the head did not keep up with the buttocks, he did not become corrupt and degenerate, but sat on the side of the working people, and did not know what the people who won the hearts of the people were, which led to a great defeat." They have compromised with the gentry appropriately, and the preferential exemptions are still there, and it is difficult to collect money.

Although there are Wude Palace and nobles as the basic base, you can try to slowly cancel the preferential exemptions, but you must be prepared for half of the turmoil. If you are not careful, the whole Jiangnan will stop the examination, write letters, form associations to resist, and write manifestos to restore the Ming Dynasty, and then it will be lively.

The southwest is still in the process of changing the land system, which is also a bottomless pit of money; the northwest will have to fight another war, and money will have to be thrown into it after the war. The war is not over yet, and the money in the hands of military meritorious nobles cannot be taken now.

It seems that if you want to make money, you can only do it in Nanyang. However, Li Gan knew very little about the Nanyang trade. He also thought that he could collect 10 million taels from a province like England, but he didn't understand it at all.

Thinking about the previous positioning of Liu Yu, that he was a "strange chess piece to open the game", it was inevitable to be cautious before guessing what he wanted to do, but now that it seems to have been guessed, he can try to use it.

If it is used well, it may really open up the situation.

If it is not used well, just use his brain, anyway, he has no foundation:

There are typos and incomplete characters when writing memorials, and he can't pee in the same pot with the group of literati in Jiangnan; although he understands Western learning, he supports the prohibition of religion, and the baptism of the Western Law Party regards it as a heresy; he is born as a son of a noble family, but he is not the eldest son; he can fight, but his ambition is not to command the army but to train soldiers; he knows the benefits of spending money, but he has no money.

Thinking that this is probably to understand Liu Yu's true thoughts, Li Gan summoned Liu Yu again that night.

After encouraging him privately, Li Gan suddenly asked: "You are also considered an excellent student in Wude Palace. You will definitely be selected as a senior student in the future. Where do you want to go when you are sent out in the future?"

Liu Yu thought that this question had a standard answer, so he said: "Thunder and rain are all divine grace. Wherever your majesty wants me to go, I will go there. How dare I have any extravagant hopes?"

This very standard answer was exchanged for Li Gan's half-smile.

"You have great ambitions, but as you said, my Dashun is like a broken ship, leaking everywhere? So it doesn't matter where you go? It needs to be repaired everywhere?"

In 1725, Britain's annual income seemed to be 21.8 million taels. Dashun estimated that if it took Jiangnan to "remember the benevolent rule of the previous dynasty", it would only be able to collect 3,500?