When they heard that Zhangjiawan had been looted by the rebels and burned to the ground, many ministers present became anxious.
Zhangjiawan has a special geographical location and is one of the two terminal points of the Grand Canal.
Official ships disembark at Tongzhou Wharf, while civilian ships disembark at Zhangjiawan. The prosperity there is even more prosperous than the capital city. Although Zhangjiawan Town is only a town, it has a population of 100,000, with various shops, warehouses, and bank accounts.
There are countless pawn shops. It is the most important commercial port in the north.
In addition to Donglin's control of Zhangjiawan Town, many ministers of the DPRK and China had business there.
It is actually a wholesale market for goods shipped from the south to the north. All businesses in the capital buy goods from Zhangjiawan and work as second-tier dealers. Therefore, the biggest local business is from Donglin. They control the supply of goods in the south of the Yangtze River and are the largest wholesalers.
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The second-level merchants are all civil servants of all sizes in the imperial court who serve as backers.
All of a sudden, Zhangjiawan was robbed, and the civil servants suffered the greatest losses.
Soon, censors came out to impeach Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji, which was detrimental to the protection of Zhangjiawan, leading to the fall of the Grand Canal terminal.
For a time, the impeachment was like a storm, with everyone's indignant accusations and the inaction of the Tongzhou army causing serious losses to the court.
Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Household Affairs, couldn't stand it any longer. He stepped out and said: "Your Majesty, the end of the Grand Canal is Tongzhou, and that is where the official ships for the northward transportation came ashore. I thought that Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji were right to save Tongzhou first.
of."
In fact, this is a question of whose interests should be protected first when a disaster strikes. Protecting Tongzhou means protecting the interests of the imperial court. Protecting Zhangjiawan Town means protecting the interests of the civil servants. Obviously, the civil servants believe that Zhangjiawan and Tongzhou are equally important.
Li Banghua, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, frowned and his face became increasingly ugly. He was worried that the rebels had plundered a large amount of wealth and strengthened their strength, so they would recruit troops and continue to expand their ranks.
The surrounding guardsmen have been in poverty for a long time, and they cannot resist the temptation.
Chongzhen looked at the ugly behavior of these officials coldly. On the surface, it was Zhou Yuji and others who were being impeached, but in fact it was for him, because these were the soldiers he actually controlled.
"My dear friends, what do you think? How should the Zhangjiawan issue be handled?" Chongzhen asked with a straight face.
The emperor kicked the ball back. Since you have impeached me, you should give your opinions on how to deal with it.
The ministers all fell silent for a moment. They had nothing to say. When they discovered that the emperor did not protect anyone at all, they were dumbfounded.
The emperor's intention is very clear. You can come up with your opinions on how you want to deal with these two unfavorable generals.
However, they can't come up with any opinions. Now that these two guys are captured, who will defend Tongzhou for them? Should the rebels be allowed to rush to Gyeonggi and rob their surrounding manors?
Chongzhen said in a cold voice: "Why don't you say anything? These two people are so unworthy, shouldn't they be punished? Weren't you all excited just now? Why are you all mute?"
The ministers all immediately shut up, saying that if you speak at this time, you will be caught by the emperor. If you give advice to the leader, the leader will let you do it. Didn't you say that it can't be done? I will punish them, and you will do it. If you
If it doesn't work, I'll do it for you.
This is not what the ministers want. Especially not what Donglin wants.
Just like a major newspaper in a certain country in later generations, they are looking for trouble, saying that you set high prices and exploit the public. When you lower the prices, they say that you are squeezing the living space of small and medium-sized merchants. The company has made adjustments several times, and the media is always blocking it.
I can make trouble for you. The boss has no choice but to go to the newspaper and ask the editor, what do you think we should do? You are not attacking us. We all listen to you. We will fix it as you say.
The editor angrily rebuked, "We are the media, this is not our responsibility. What you do is your own business, we are only responsible for exposing it. Please get out immediately. Do not hinder press freedom."
Later, the company became anxious and united with many companies to stop advertising in the media. Only then did the media get scared and stop torturing the company.
That's what some people in Donglin are like. It's my right to scold you. You can scold you for whatever you do. But if you ask me to tell you what to do, I'm sorry, it's not my responsibility. I'm only responsible for scolding, not responsible.
Solve the problem.
Seeing that the emperor wanted them to be responsible for solving the current situation, they all immediately shut up and stopped talking. They didn't want to get into this trouble.
"At this time, Zhangjiawan is already over, so there is no need to go to the rescue. The biggest thing is if Dong Jishu and Zhou Yuji can hold Tongzhou. I think we should make them pay for their crimes." Looking at the situation, Li Banghua said.
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Although the ministers were filled with hatred, they also knew that it was too late to say anything now.
The most urgent matter at the moment is how to defend Tongzhou. The current strength comparison between the rebels and Zhou Yuji is still four to one. If Zhou Yuji is captured now, who will stop these rebellious Qiu Ba for them.
Do we really have to wait until the rebels sweep around Gyeonggi and loot all their estates?
Chongzhen saw that the ministers had calmed down and said coldly: "Immediately give an order to Zhou Yuji and ask him to protect Tongzhou for me at all costs. As long as he can defeat the rebels, I will promote him to deputy commander-in-chief."
Zhou Yuji didn't know the situation in the court. He was setting up defenses at the moment. There was no attack on the opposite side for three days, so he set up defenses for three days. On the evening of the third day, the scouts trained by the Xinghe regiment came back to report that the 20,000 soldiers who had gone to Zhangjiawan
The rebels are back.
Zhou Yuji knew that the war would start tomorrow.
The rebels now have enough property to reward the rebels. As long as the superior officials can give enough money, these people below will dare to fight for their lives. There will be a lot of pressure tomorrow.
"An extra meal tonight, white flour steamed buns, stewed tofu, and each commander will be given a bucket of canned fried sea fish. It will be enough for the brothers to eat well today and have a good sleep." Zhou Yuji ordered.
After a day of building the fort, the soldiers returned to the barracks and found that they were very happy to have extra food tonight. They had not had this kind of regular meat for half a year. Tofu is a good thing, if it hadn't been for the five new ones delivered yesterday.
With ten carts of soybeans, they can't afford such a good thing.
Xiaoqi Gao Changlin and ten brothers sat around to eat together. A stainless steel basin contained a full bowl of steamed buns. Another basin contained cucumbers mixed with clear sauce, crushed garlic, and rice vinegar. Clear sauce
That is, soy sauce, which has been around since the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was widely used as a seasoning in the Ming Dynasty.
There is also a pot filled with stewed tofu. Soybeans are the most cost-effective source of plant protein at this time. If you can’t afford meat, you can only rely on this to supplement protein.
The ten people were all carrying the kidney-shaped kettle and lunch box set that Yang Fan had given them when he was managing them. Each person's pork kidney-shaped stainless steel lunch box contained a pound of fried fish and a lot of soup.
The soup was full of fat. When the steamed buns were dipped in it, it was so fragrant that I almost bit my tongue off.
"Boss, is there going to be a war? How come Mr. Zhou feeds us so well?" Xu Ning asked.
This chapter has been completed!