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.
Wu Yingji, a rising star of the Donglin Party, lamented: "It was not the butcher's knife of the thieves in yellow that gave Emperor Chongzhen confidence.
Emperor Chongzhen only wants money, but the thieves in yellow want lives.
The thief in yellow is too far away from us now. I think it’s really not possible, so we’ll pay some money.
We must ask the court to keep the yellow-robed thieves in the west. If they rush into the south of the Yangtze River, it will be really terrible."
When this topic comes up, the big guys from the Donglin Party start chatting and discuss how they should deal with the threat of the thieves in yellow now.
Donglin Party leader Qian Qianyi, after listening to everyone’s opinions, expressed his own views:
"I think we should make plans early. I asked the court to allow the gentry to hold group training.
As long as there is a tuanlian, this kind of power is similar to the position of Jiedushi.
Only in this chaotic world can we protect our own safety and interests.
But the court would never let go of an independent army like Tuan Lian.
We should capture all the governors of Jiangnan provinces.
Let our descendants join the army.
Now we must control a few armies of our own, in order to effectively protect our interests in such troubled times.
We cannot imitate Xiong Wencan. Zheng Zhilong, an independent force he recruited, is simply undesirable.
We want to control several armies that are completely controlled by our Donglin Party.
This goal is as important as controlling scientific examinations.
We now control the grassroots imperial examinations so that all scholars are members of our Donglin Party.
As long as the successful candidates and Jinshi in the Jiangnan area are now members of our Donglin Party.
From now on, the goal is to build the army in the Jiangnan area and replace all the officers with our Donglin Party members.
Those who refuse to cooperate with us will be transferred away if they have a strong background, and if they have no background, we will kill the chicken to scare the monkeys."
The bosses of the Donglin Party have already realized the danger of the situation.
Especially the failures of Sun Chengzong, Hou Xun and others made them realize that relying on other Ming armies was no longer feasible.
As long as the imperial court can persist for ten to twenty years, they will infiltrate day by day.
They will be able to fully control the Jiangnan region, and when things really change, they will have a way to protect themselves.
The big guys in Donglin didn't care before that Houjin, a small nomad, could make a big difference.
They used the late gold to support the bandits and gained a lot of benefits.
The big guys in Donglin don't care about break-ins and other thieves.
These bandits are very destructive, but they are all in Shaanxi, Henan and other regions, which are far away from them.
With the Ming Dynasty's national power, there is no problem in defeating the bandits.
However, the emergence of the yellow-robed thieves, especially the nationwide efforts, failed to exterminate the yellow-robed thieves.
This court's failure really woke up these Donglin bosses.
Let them realize that great changes have taken place in the world.
The Donglin Party's thinking must be changed in order to protect itself in this chaotic situation.
…………………………
"The thieves are coming, let's run away!
These bandits all want to eat people, and the prince of the Ming Dynasty was cooked and eaten by the bandits."
"Take some dry food and we will flee south.
There is a war going on in the west and north, so it would be bad if there is a military disaster."
Li Xin looked at the panicked people and was ready to pack up his belongings and go hide somewhere else.
This year he offended the county magistrate because he took the lead in resisting taxation.
He was caught by the county magistrate and several newspapers about the thieves in yellow were seized from his home.
Hiding the newspapers of the thieves in yellow is a serious crime of treason.
He was taken to jail.
This caused outrage in the county and put the county magistrate under tremendous pressure.
Their family also spent all their wealth to attack the magistrate, and then they took him out of prison.
However, his family was bankrupt, and he was deprived of the title of civil servant by the court, and he was unable to protect his family's tenants. These tenants found refuge with other gentry.
Li Xin put a few yellowed newspapers into his arms with great care.
He took his family to prepare to flee, and his goal was to be under the rule of King Qin.
The taxes in King Qin's country were very low, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
Here in Henan, taxes have become extremely high.
The King of Qin occupied a large area of land and had a war with the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming court was already short of money and lacked several huge tax sources.
The battlefield is right next door to Henan, and their place belongs to the rear area.
The war between the Ming Dynasty and the King of Qin required a huge number of people to transport grain, grass and other supplies.
The money the court could spend became even less.
Logistics transportation and grain and grass supplies require Henan to provide a large amount of materials and personnel.
The Ming court issued orders to Henan officials, but did not provide enough funds.
It may also be that enough funds have been provided but the money has not reached the hands of local officials.
These officials must get things done, which affects whether they are promoted or demoted.
With no money on hand and the need to get things done, these officials can only choose to suffer more for the people.
If you are short of money and squeeze the people again, a poor man can squeeze out three ounces of oil. If you don't have oil or water, you can arrest people directly.
The imperial court did not increase taxes. The local government collected a large amount of taxes and donations from the people, and also forced the people to participate in corvee labor.
Many people here in Henan have become refugees and have taken refuge with the bandits.
Harsh government is as fierce as a tiger, and people cannot survive. This is the most important reason.
Li Xin was completely disappointed with the Ming Dynasty, so he wanted not to affect other people in the family.
He planned to change his name to Li Yan and become an official of the King of Qin to change the world.
…………………………
Niu Jinxing looked at the letter in his hand. He had read it over and over again, but still had not made up his mind.
This is a letter written to him by his good friend Song Kangnian.
It has been a year since he sent it, and he has been hesitant and had not made up his mind before.
Song Kangnian, who had no fame, took refuge with King Su He of Qin and has now become a second-rank official.
He manages Taichang Temple and the Ancestral Temple and is now famous.
Niu Jinxing looked down on this kind of official, but a person without fame could climb so high.
This is enough to show that Qin King Su He is really thirsty for talents.
If he has passed the exam, he will definitely be reused by the King of Qin.
Song Kangnian explained in his letter that as long as he surrendered to the King of Qin and passed the imperial examination, he would be promoted quickly.
Now the King of Qin is in short supply of civil servants. If you perform well, you can become a prefect in two or three years.
Even if you fail to pass the imperial examination, there are many opportunities in the Qin Palace, and there are many channels for becoming an official.
With his talent, he will stand out sooner or later.
He was born a small landowner and had no connection with the DPRK.
In the Ming Dynasty, he had no chance to fill the vacancy of a county magistrate.
Before today, Niu Jinxing had never made up his mind to seek refuge with King Su He of Qin.
He just couldn't become an official. Among the people of the Ming Dynasty, the title of Juren was very useful.
Why go to Su He and be frightened?
A rebel like Su He might one day be wiped out by the court.
This will ruin your whole life and will probably bring disaster to your family.
But some time ago, he received news that the Qin army under the command of Qin King Su He had withstood the encirclement and suppression by the Ming Dynasty's million-strong army.
An army of 200,000 thieves is besieging Luoyang.
Bull Venus knows what this means.
This means that Qin King Su He can no longer be regarded as an ordinary rebel.
He is already a prince, and he is still a prince with a heavy army, and he may overthrow the Ming Dynasty at any time.
Learned martial arts and sold them to the emperor's family.
For a conceited person like him, he has all his abilities but nowhere to put them to use.
Every day was very painful. I wanted to go to King Qin, but I was afraid that King Qin would fail and be implicated.
The extremely brilliant victory of the Qin army dispelled all his worries.
There are large-scale bandits here in Henan, and it has become unsafe again.
After Niu Jinxing made up his mind, he only brought his wife and his wife's brother's family.
He knew that Shaanxi had been conquered by King Qin, so he followed the junction of Henan and Shaanxi and rushed to King Qin's rule.
He is full of expectations for his future life.
…………………………
"Uncle Wu, are we going to go directly through the Han River with such arrogance?
Since the Ming army's inspections were so loose, he was not afraid that the Qin army would sneak into the caravan and catch them off guard."
Yang Tengfei asked curiously.
They passed through the upper reaches of the Han River, even though his brother-in-law was the admiral of the Han River Navy.
Their fleet has undergone strict inspections.
Unexpectedly, here in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army soldiers did not even get on the boat, but gave some silver coins and the Ming army generals let them go.
Wu Yuanmai pointed to the mast of the ship and said: "Xiao Yang, have you seen the flag on the top mast of the ship?
This is the flag issued by General Zuo, the commander-in-chief of Huguang Army.
The annual toll for each ship is one hundred taels of silver, and the goods traded will be divided according to the value of the goods, giving Zuo Zongbing a share.
As long as there is this flag, the Ming army's inspections will not be too strict.
Without this flag, the entire ship would be seized, and the owner would have to spend a lot of money to ransom the ship.
If you rent our Wu family's boat, we will definitely bring you safely to Hanyang."
Wu Yuanmai saw that the Ming army was disorderly and very loose, standing on both sides of the Han River and making a mess.
He was happy that the Wu family had boarded King Qin's big ship.
Now their Wu family is well-known in some circles in Hanyang.
All the young people and direct descendants of the Wu family were assigned to the areas under the rule of the Qin Palace.
Only the elderly people like them are left to maintain the normal operation of the Hanyang Wu family.
Even if someone snitches and wants to attack the Wu family, the family's losses will not be too great.
After this war, everyone saw the strength of King Qin.
Some shrewd families have begun to prepare to bet on both ends.
They did not want their family to end up like the Sichuan gentry.
These families learned that some extremely cooperative gentry families in Sichuan had made their losses acceptable.
The Ming Dynasty also had this law of killing for life, but the King of Qin enforced it more strictly.
Through the channel of the Wu family, many families in Huguang sent their direct or collateral descendants to Hanzhong to seek opportunities.
Yang Tengfei sat on the boat and looked at the scene in Huguang.
This was his first time traveling alone on business.
Before, he was following his father Yang Wencai, and his father handled everything.
Yang Tengfei heard that his father asked him to go to Huguang to recruit female weavers.
He was surprised after the Qin Palace sold the war bonds.
As long as you purchase a certain amount of war bonds, you can obtain the title of Lord.
The Yang family were the first merchants to support the King of Qin, and all merchants followed the King of Qin's policies.
The Yang family made a lot of money, more than enough to buy a few lords.
Yang Tengfei asked his father why he took the risk to go to Huguang when he could easily get something with money.
His father told him that if he wanted to be an ordinary businessman in the future, his family would spend money to buy him a lord.
If you want to go further, you must contribute to the Qin Palace.
Yang Tengfei understood his father's opinion and boarded the Wu family's ship with a large amount of silver coins.
His father asked his neighbor Uncle Ding to contact the Wu family.
The Hanyang Wu family has great influence in Hanyang Mansion, which is enough to ensure his safety.
The Hanyang Wu family is also a wealthy family, and they will not lose the reputation of the Wu family just for their own little money.
Safety is guaranteed when traveling on a Wu family ship.
They took a boat all the way to Hanyang, and Wu Yuanmai looked at the rapid water of the Yangtze River.
“It rains so hard upstream and the Yangtze River flows so fast that I don’t know which land will burst its banks again.
I hope I'm not in Huguang, the weather is really weird.
There has always been little rain in the north, and in Hanzhong near the south, rain is extremely scarce.
In Sichuan, Yunnan and other places, it is pouring with rain all the time. This weather is so abnormal."
Yang Tengfei also chimed in, talking about how the weather has changed over the past few years.
They soon arrived outside Hanyang City.
Yang Tengfei looked outside Hanyang City and saw so many refugees that he couldn't even count them.
"Uncle Wu, why are there so many people here? What happened here in Huguang?"
When Wu Yuanmai saw this situation, he was also stunned.
I have been in Hanzhong, and this time my family team came to Hanzhong.
Only then did he know that the Ming army had retreated and transportation on the Han River had been reopened.
The news about their family is faster than the news in newspapers.
After the Han River became navigable, a fleet of ships was sent over immediately.
He just took the family ship and returned to Hanyang.
He doesn't know the specific situation in Hanyang now.
Wu Yuanmai saw the family coming to greet them.
He immediately called a young man and asked about the situation here in Hanyang.
"Uncle Wu Sanbo, the banditry in Henan is very serious. Many people in Henan have fled to Huguang to avoid the war.
Two bandits, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, fled from Henan to Xiangyang Prefecture.
General Zuo Liangyu led the troops to encircle and suppress these two thieves.
General Zuo Liangyu's military discipline is obvious to all, and he is even more evil than these thieves.
Many people in Xiangyang Prefecture had their families destroyed by those soldiers and generals, and they had no choice but to flee in all directions."
Wu Yuanmai listened to the family members' introduction to the situation in Hanyang.
He thought of Yang Tengfei's purpose and suggested: "There is no need to buy these refugees at all, as long as you give them some food rations, these refugees will be willing to follow you.
Now outside Hanyang, a large number of refugees starve to death every day.
We gentry have no choice.
The new governor of Huguang has not arrived yet.
Officials like these in Huguang don't care at all now.
The gentry in the city also tried for a few days, but there were too many refugees.
The government stayed out of the matter, and there was no one to maintain order. Several stewards who were giving porridge were beaten to death by the refugees.
No one is going to give out porridge anymore. There are so many refugees and we simply can’t save them."
When Yang Tengfei saw these refugees, he had a bold plan.
Even if it doesn't succeed, it's just a waste of silver coins.
He promised many conditions, and with the coordination of the Wu family, he recruited a large number of refugees with food.
Not only does he recruit young female refugees, he recruits family units, including the elderly and children.
Yang Tengfei didn't even remember how many people he recruited. He didn't stop recruiting refugees until the Wu family's ship could no longer be loaded.
