Nanjing City, flower boat on the Qinhuai River.

Hou Fangyu, Mao Xiang, Chen Zhenhui, and Fang Yizhi led some students from Donglin Fushe and were discussing family and country affairs.

Hou Fangyu was drunk and shouted angrily: "Zhou Yanru was incompetent and caused the destruction of a million-strong army at the hands of thieves in yellow.

The country has been raising troops for two hundred years, and not a single general has been able to worry about the country.

The generals in his hands are incompetent, and even if my father has great talents, he can't use them.

The imperial court was blind and immediately dismissed my father from his post after this war.

The two military leaders should bear the main responsibility.

Zuo Liangyu still serves as the commander-in-chief of Huguang, and You Shiwei was transferred to Liaodong."

Maoxiang lamented: "There are too many mediocre people in the court, and the emperor is also ignorant and incompetent.

Looking at the court's practices, rewards and punishments are simply unfair.

In the past, when he won, civilian officials were promoted, but military generals had no merit.

If it fails now, the civilian officials will bear the responsibility, but the generals will not.

This was a sign of the gradual loss of imperial power, and the Ming court could no longer control the rising generals.

These generals will gradually develop into a person who listens to orders rather than propaganda.

If this continues, the Ming Dynasty will repeat the disaster of the vassal towns of the Tang Dynasty."

Chen Zhenhui immediately stood up and covered Maoxiang's mouth.

"Brother Mao, be careful, this kind of thing is not something we can discuss."

He then looked at the man drinking alone in the corner.

"Brother Fang Xian, I heard that Uncle Fang will be re-appointed by the imperial court as governor of Huguang.

Be on the front line against the thieves in yellow."

Fang Yizhi nodded and at the same time cupped his hands in the direction of Hou Fangyu.

"I still have to thank Uncle Hou, who strongly recommended my father.

My father was appointed governor of Huguang by the imperial court.

My father received the appointment from the imperial court and has already taken a boat to Huguang to take office."

Hou Fangyu smiled and said: "We are all Donglin gentlemen, so of course we have to recommend our own people.

Brothers, the current national situation is difficult, let’s talk about how we can save the Ming Dynasty.”

Chen Zhenhui said with a solemn expression: "I have studied the thieves in yellow for a long time and found that they have neither good soldiers nor good generals.

In every war, the traditional fighting style is used, and various military methods are basically not used.

The tactics of the thieves in yellow are to charge with cannons after blasting with cannons, and then encounter explosives on the fortified city.

As long as our Ming Dynasty firearms are more powerful than the thieves in yellow, it will only be a matter of time before we wipe out the thieves in yellow."

Maoxiang smiled coldly and said: "This seems very simple, but it is the most difficult thing.

If the imperial court could achieve this step, why would it allow the thieves in yellow to rise?

The thieves in yellow at least manage the Qingming Festival, look at what our Ming Dynasty is like.

Corrupt officials were rampant, and even half of the one million taels allocated by the court for the military was not actually used.

Civil officials are corrupt and military generals are afraid of death.

Wu Xiang's Guan Ning army numbered tens of thousands and only had 5,000 horses left.

Were they punished? No.

Chen Hongfan, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, had more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, but he brought back only 10,000 people.

Was he punished? No.

If the court does not punish such generals who lead troops after defeat, then where is the prestige of the court?

In future wars, when encountering difficulties, these generals will run away and will not fight tooth and nail."

When Chen Zhenhui saw Maoxiang, she wanted to continue talking.

He immediately stopped him and told him to stop talking.

Maoxiang was originally a very traditional Crown Prince of Donglin.

I saw the bad thing about the thief in yellow sitting down before, and I called on all the gentry to resist the thief in yellow.

Afterwards, he read some newspapers about thieves in yellow, and his thoughts gradually deviated from the gentleman's theory and tended to develop against thieves.

After hearing this, Fang Yizhi sighed with emotion: "War is the best place to test whether a force is strong or not.

It doesn't mean that there are many soldiers and generals, but this force is powerful.

From ancient times to the present, there have been many battles that used less to defeat more.

I now feel that there is no way to contain the thieves in yellow.

The best result is that the world is divided between two points. We, the Ming Dynasty, rely on our rich heritage to drag the thieves in yellow to death.

I found that the policies of the thieves in yellow require a lot of gold and silver, and these policies will not last long.

The taxes on farmers in yellow clothes are so low, education and medical care must be popularized, and so many officials must be recruited.

As long as the imperial court can hold on for a few years, the thieves in yellow will be dragged down by their own finances."

Maoxiang looked at Fang Yizhi with eyes full of mockery.

He took two deep breaths and said slowly: "It is very simple to deal with the thief in yellow. Learn the thief's skills and defeat the thief.

It depends on whether His Majesty the Emperor and the civil and military officials can do this."

After Maoxiang finished speaking, he took advantage of his drunkenness and stepped off the flower boat.

The more I get to know the thief in yellow, the more I see a terrifying giant beast devouring Daming bite by bite.

Daming was just struggling in vain now and had no way to resist.

He packed up his things and rushed directly to Hanzhong by boat.

Maoxiang wants to learn from the thieves and learn their skills. As for whether to control the thieves, that depends on the development of the situation.

…………………………

At Qian Qianyi's house, a group of core members of the Donglin Party were discussing the impact of the situation on the Donglin Party.

Lu Zhenfei said: "Mr. Qian, you are the leader of the Donglin Party, and you want to represent the Donglin Party and make our voice heard.

Last time, under your planning, Xu Guangqi's salt tax collection was abandoned halfway.

This time Wen Tiren raises the salt tax again, we can’t let him succeed.”

Qian Qianyi was spinning walnuts in his right hand and thinking about this matter carefully.

As they expected, Emperor Chongzhen was moved by the huge mining tax collected by Xu Guangqi.

After this battle with the thieves in yellow, the treasury was empty again.

Emperor Chongzhen thought of collecting salt tax again, and handed over the task of collecting salt tax to Wen Tiren, who had just become the chief minister.

Emperor Chongzhen's intention was very clear. If he could not even collect the salt tax, Wen Tiren should not be the chief minister of the cabinet.

Wen Tiren's moves were steady and ruthless. This old official's ability to mix things up was much better than Xu Guangqi's.

He directly took over the official position related to salt affairs in the Huaihe and Huaihe regions, and he had to collect the salt tax this time.

Qian Qianyi said helplessly: "Xu Guangqi's health is dying and he doesn't have much time left.

Only then did they resort to reckless means to collect a large amount of mineral taxes.

Wen Tiren was a cunning fox, and he could handle it with ease despite the fierce party disputes in the court.

Emperor Chongzhen trusted him very much. As long as we have the emperor's trust, we cannot touch the chief minister of the cabinet.

If you want to deal with this person, you need to choose your method carefully.

Let’s see what moves he comes up with, and we’ll do the next thing.”

Everyone in the Donglin Party looked at each other, and they couldn't think of a good idea to solve this matter.

After Lu Zhenfei heard this, he said angrily:

"The imperial court wants to compete with the people for profit. Did Emperor Chongzhen forget that Emperor Wanli and Emperor Tianqi collected taxes? What kind of reputation are they?

Emperor Chongzhen always wanted to be a holy king, so how could he be tempted to compete with the people for profit?

Those censors in the court, why didn't they stop the emperor?"

Everyone in the Donglin Party was extremely angry and denounced Emperor Chongzhen's actions.

If Emperor Chongzhen did this, he would take away the benefits that should belong to them.

It took them decades and various means to get most of the proceeds from the salt tax, and they must not give it away so easily.
To be continued...