Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Nine: The Quartet Is In An Emergency
Just a few days after the victory in defending the city, Yanzhou, which had only been rejoicing for a few days, besides Zu Xiangyang asking Zhu Ling for instructions to appease Zouxian County, which had been ruined by Liu Zeqing, received several more letters from all sides, southeast, northwest, etc.
Urgent report.
To be honest, the situation revealed by these urgent reports is not very good, or it might as well be said to be very bad.
First of all, Shanhaiguan in the north is in emergency one after another. The emergency report said that Jiannu has been continuously attacking the city for several days, and the city is in urgent need of supplies. If no assistance is received, Shanhaiguan will fall in less than ten days. Secondly,
It was the capital. Meng Zhaoxiang sent countless messengers, but in the end only one arrived. He told Zhu Ling that the invading troops outside the city were stationed nearby and were ready to counterattack the capital at any time.
Urgent news also came from Nanjing: the increase in commercial taxes has caused dissatisfaction among businessmen in many places. They have begun to hoard goods, close shops, and even drive up prices, preferring to burn them rather than sell to the people. They have begun to send troops to suppress it.
, but with little effect. Zheng Zhilong, on the other hand, only accepted the reward and did not mention anything else.
There is also bad news coming from the southwest.
Zhang Xianzhong is marching into Sichuan on a large scale, and Sichuan, Yunnan and other places are deploying troops to resist, but they are defeated eight times out of ten. It is a foregone conclusion that Zhang Xianzhong will enter Shu. He hopes that the imperial court will send troops to assist, otherwise not only Sichuan but also Yunnan will fall if this continues.
.
They had already conquered Liangshan, Zhongzhou and Fuzhou, defeated the general Cao Ying, and broke through Fotuguan. However, a group of Ming Dynasty clan members and officials including Zhu Changhao, King of Rui who had escaped from Hanzhong, Chen Shiqi, the governor, Chen Hao, the deputy military envoy, Wang Xingjian, the prefect, etc.
The bureaucrat was captured and executed. Qin Liangyu, the previously brave and skilled Sichuan general, was also defeated.
After everyone read the contents of these urgent reports, they felt a sudden sadness in their hearts and the pressure doubled. According to this situation, if they want to regain the Ming Dynasty, they have to give up the idea within a few years. Zhang Xianzhong, the smallest rebel on the side today, let him go
The court had a headache. Qin Liangyu couldn't stop Zhang Xianzhong, how many people in the court could win?
"Everyone, although we defeated the Chuang Army's offensive, it was only a small victory. The current situation is still not optimistic. What do you think? What should we do next?" Zhu Ling sat on the upper position and asked in a deep voice.
Dao. In his heart, he was very shocked that Zhang Xianzhong was so quick.
If he remembered correctly, it was only late April and not even May. But Zhang Xianzhong had already attacked Sichuan. He was afraid that he would capture Chongqing in May or not before June. Then he divided his forces and advanced towards Chengdu.
For now, Li Zicheng is not so urgent.
"Your Majesty." Wang Jiayan stood up first and said: "Now Jiannu has entered the pass again, but our Ming army has retreated to Shandong and Jiangnan. The only thing that is beneficial to us is that Jiannu will not fight with us. On the contrary, this
The conflict has shifted to the intruders. And after the battle in Yanzhou, the intruders will definitely not attack easily, but will shift their focus to other places, then we will have a chance to eliminate Zhang Xianzhong!"
"No!" Shi Kefa obviously had a different view, and then said: "The intruders will not give up Shandong. Even if they don't come in the near future, there is no guarantee that the intruders will gather an army and attack again. Think about it, who would hope?
Is your neighbor an enemy with a sword? I think we should consolidate Shandong first, and then order all the southern regions to gather troops to confront Zhang's thieves. After all, we don't have the strength to fight them decisively."
"But Wu Sangui is very anxious now. Should we go to Shanhaiguan to aid first? After all, once Shanhaiguan is broken, not only Li Zicheng will face Jiannu, but Shandong will also be swept away. By then, we will have another enemy.
." Huang Bodang also came out and said.
After several people's remarks, Zhu Ling also showed some hesitation. Now there is a crisis everywhere, and the Ming Dynasty has fallen into pieces. However, the power of the imperial court is too weak and scattered. If a unified force can be gathered,
It would be best to concentrate on attacking one area.
"Everyone."
Suddenly, a weak voice came from behind everyone, but it was extremely eye-catching in the silence at this time. Looking back, it was Huang Degong who raised his hand and spoke.
"Shouldn't the issue we should be thinking about now be the revenue of the national treasury?"
As soon as these words came out, the ministers present suddenly woke up. That's right! Nothing can be done without money. We were just busy discussing where to save first, but we forgot that without money, no matter how much we talk, it is just empty talk.
Suddenly, the way he looked at Huang Degong was a little different.
"This issue is indeed the most important thing to consider at the moment." Wang Jiayan sighed, seeming to have returned to the topic that everyone was most helpless about.
"Just now, there is an urgent report saying that merchants from all over the south of the Yangtze River protested against the increase in commercial taxes and even burned their goods rather than sell them to the people, in order to resist the court's policy. Do you think we should appease the merchants appropriately? Lower the commercial taxes.
, so as not to arouse their rebellious mentality, not only for the sake of the court, but also for the livelihood of the people."
Shi Kefa raised his hands and said tentatively towards the superior Zhu Ling.
"No."
Wang Jiayan objected: "Now the business tax is only raised by a few percent, so they protested like this. It can be seen that the business tax before was very low. They earned one hundred taels of silver every year, but only paid five taels of silver. But relatively
For farmers, they have to pay forty taels of silver!"
Everyone was a little surprised when they heard this. The taxes on ordinary people were so high, while the taxes on businessmen were so pitifully low in comparison. From this point of view, it is normal to increase business taxes at present.
Since His Majesty ascended the throne, there have been constant natural disasters and disasters. The lives of the people have been in dire straits. In some places, taxes have been increased to ten years later!
It is also true that His Majesty loves the people like his own son and reduces taxes for them. On the contrary, he has to raise business taxes. But I never expected that the reaction of those businessmen would be so violent. After all, there are too many corrupt officials in the court, and they are not at ease with each other.
Collusion made them so arrogant and resisted the imperial court.
"I believe that troops should be sent to suppress these businessmen! In troubled times, heavy codes should be used!"
The superior Zhu Ling just squinted his eyes slightly and did not speak. He was just thinking about something in his heart. Before, King Lu was asked to sell alcohol, and the profit was huge. But the scope was only in Shandong and other places. Now the businessmen in the south are
Wouldn't it be perfect if we could replace these merchants and let the court form a chamber of commerce to control the sale of all goods?
Immediately, he looked up at King Lu and said, "Uncle Huang, how much silver have you sold?"
Seeing His Majesty asking him, King Lu quickly stood up and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, due to the war in the past few days, the sales of alcohol have been affected to a certain extent. However, after the war, the demand has increased significantly, and the sales of alcohol are now sold.
The amount of alcohol was probably hundreds of thousands of bottles. The final amount of money received was estimated to be several million."
"oh?"
Now it was Zhu Ling's turn to be confused, and immediately asked: "Wasn't the price of alcohol previously set at ten taels of silver a bottle? Why is it that now the price of a bottle of hundreds of thousands is several million? Could it be that you..."
"Your Majesty's guess is correct. I set the price of alcohol at fifty taels a bottle!"