More than a dozen generals and lieutenants were brought to Chongzhen at the same time, and all of them looked downcast.
Frankly speaking, Lu Guangzu and the others really did not expect that Chongzhen would lead his army to attack so quickly, nor did they expect that so many troops would be transferred from Xuzhou. As a result, they were caught off guard.
Not even giving them a chance to escape is cruel enough.
However, they still have illusions in their hearts, maybe the Holy Spirit will surrender them.
However, Chongzhen didn't even look at him and asked Zuo Mengeng, "Are they all here?"
"Two of them ran away." Zuo Mengeng replied with some apprehension, "Xu Yong and Hao Xiaozhong ran away."
"Go back and ask the painter to draw a portrait of the two of them, and issue an official document for the sea arrests." After saying this, Chongzhen pointed to Lu Guangzu and other deputy generals who were kneeling on the ground and said, "Drag them down and chop them down."
"Ah?" This was somewhat beyond Zuo Mengeng and Jin Shenghuan's expectations.
Even Lu Guangzu, Li Guoying and a dozen other generals and lieutenants were also greatly surprised. They didn’t even try them, but they were about to behead a dozen of us generals and lieutenants?
A few who were afraid of death even directly begged for mercy.
"We were also obsessed for a moment, and we knew we were wrong."
"Your Majesty, as long as you forgive us this time, we will work diligently and conscientiously to fight for the Ming Dynasty from now on. We will never dare to have the slightest dissent. Your Majesty, please spare our lives!"
"Drag him down and chop him down!" Chongzhen was completely unmoved.
He doesn't even care about Jin Shenghuan now, so he still keeps these?
It is already the 19th year of Chongzhen. The Qinwang scholars represented by Xu Yingwei and Yan Yingyuan have gradually grown up. Not to mention that there are still civil servants like Du Yinxi and Jin Xuan available. How can we still focus on potential warlords like Jin Shenghuan?
There is no need to keep military commanders like Lu Guangzu who have rebelled in the past.
To put it bluntly, these Liaodong generals are time bombs and cannot be used.
Zuo Mengeng deliberately wanted to persuade him, but in the end he said nothing.
Jin Shenghuan also watched helplessly as Yi Ding dragged Lu Guangzu and a dozen other generals and beheaded them more than a dozen steps away. He didn't know what was going on in his mind.
After dealing with a dozen generals and deputy generals, it was time to deal with hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers.
These hundreds of thousands of rebels cannot simply be killed. Instead, they must be screened first and then treated differently. Those who have not done evil can stay in Wuchang and become farmers.
But if you have done something bad, you can no longer stay in Wuchang.
There is a saying that goes like this: Once a soldier has tasted the taste of robbing and killing, it will be difficult for him to put the evil thoughts that have been released into the cage of desire again.
There is only one way to deal with such rebels.
Chongzhen even selected a prison reform site for them.
Chongzhen vaguely remembered that there was a large steel factory in Xiangtan.
Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to build a large-scale iron smelting factory in Xiangtan.
With the vigorous development of Jiangnan's industrial and commercial industry, the demand for steel and iron will definitely surge. Especially once the production capacity of the arsenal catches up, the demand for steel will be even greater. Therefore, it is necessary to take precautions to build a large-scale iron smelting factory in Xiangtan.
, after all, there are hundreds of thousands of free iron smelting workers available here.
While Chongzhen was thinking about it, Hubei Governor Zhang Kuang finally came with a group of officials to greet Chongzhen.
Zhang Kuang and other civil servants were shocked when they heard that the Holy Emperor had suppressed the rebellion. Hundreds of thousands of rebels had rebelled, but the Holy Emperor had suppressed it so easily? This was too fast.
But surprise is still a surprise, and you still have to see him as a gift.
"I will bow to the Holy Spirit Jin'an." Zhang Kuang led a group of officials, big and small, to bow down.
"Pingsheng." Chongzhen held his hands and said to Zhang Kuang, "Zhang Qing, I want to ask you a favor."
"Your Majesty, you are really trying to defeat me." Zhang Kuang said with a panic look on his face, "Isn't it the king's minister who is on the shore of the land? If your Majesty wants to do something, you only need to issue an edict, and I will definitely do it with all my strength."
"Okay." Chongzhen pointed to the hundreds of thousands of kneeling rebels and said, "You can find a way to screen these rebels. Anyone who has done evil will be found out and sent to the mines in Hunan for mining."
"Yes." Zhang Kuang said respectfully, "Please give me three days, please."
"Yes." Chongzhen nodded lightly and ordered Du Yinxi, "Qing Du, mobilize 10,000 soldiers to assist Qing Zhang."
Du Yinxi immediately transferred 10,000 town troops to Zhang Kuang, and Zhang Kuang immediately began to screen hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers. Chongzhenze and Du Yinxi led the army and entered the city accompanied by Fu Shangrui, the prefect of Wuchang.
…
On the second day of February, the dragon raises its head.
A spring rain wakes up Jiangnan, which has been sleeping all winter.
The weather this year is obviously much warmer than last year, and there is enough rain.
Looking at the steady spring rain outside the check-in room, Lu Zhenfei and the other four pavilion elders all had smiles on their faces. It looked like this year was going to be a good one.
But soon, the faces of the four pavilion elders showed worries again.
Lu Zhenfei said: "As soon as the Waking of Insects is over, spring plowing will begin soon. I don't know if the Holy Army and the 100,000 soldiers led by Du Yinxi have successfully arrived in Wuchang?"
"Yes, but don't miss the farming season in Huguang." Meng Zhaoxiang said.
Zhang Shenyan said: "It is difficult to avoid missing the farming season. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of border troops who mutinied this time. Even if most of them are wiped out and only tens of thousands of people escape, it will be enough to turn the whole of Huguang upside down."
"What Mr. Zhang Ge said is absolutely true." Qian Qianyi said, "Servants must prepare themselves for the worst..."
Before he finished speaking, Liu Shizhen, the envoy of general affairs, walked in excitedly: "Four pavilion elders, Wuchangtang newspaper!"
"Oh?" Lu Zhenfei stood up suddenly, "Is there a news report coming from Wuchang so soon? Could it be that the Holy Army and Du Yinxi have wiped out the rebels?"
"This?" Zhang Shenyan said dumbfounded, "Isn't it possible? Didn't you say that you were still suppressing bandits in the Dabie Mountains during the Lantern Festival? Counting the time, you have just arrived in Wuchang Mansion now, right?"
Qian Qianyi said: "Yes or no, just open the newspaper and take a look."
"Oh, right!" Lu Zhenfei quickly picked up the dagger, picked off the paint, and took out the letter.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "It's true!" After reading it quickly, Lu Zhenfei couldn't help but said with joy, "In just one battle, the Holy One easily put down the rebellion, and he wiped out every rebel.
None of them ran away."
"This..." Zhang Shenyan said in disbelief, "How did the Holy Spirit do this?"
"Look." Qian Qianyi clapped his hands and said, "My servant said that the Holy One can easily wipe out the rebels. Sure enough, the Holy One easily wiped out hundreds of thousands of rebels with just one strike."
"Okay, okay, okay." Lu Zhenfei said happily.
"The rebels have been wiped out, and Huguang will no longer miss the farming season."
After saying this, he added: "There is one thing that we must discuss as soon as possible."
Zhang Shenyan said: "Shou Kui, are you talking about the candidate for the new governor of Huguang?"
"Yes." Lu Zhenfei said, "Huguang controls Sichuan in the west and refuses to be submissive in the north. Its position is not trivial. It is necessary to choose a governor who is familiar with government affairs and knows military affairs."
Qian Qianyi said: "Has your Majesty proposed a suitable candidate?"
"No." Lu Zhenfei said, "The Holy One made it clear in the Tang newspaper that the candidate will be decided by the cabinet."
"In this case, I recommend Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang." Qian Qianyi said, "Ma Shiying has served as the prefect of many places, and he has achieved quite a lot of political achievements during his tenure. He is well versed in political achievements. He served many times as governor of Fengyang and during the military affairs of various prefectures in Luzhou.
He fought with bandits for the first time and achieved many victories. It can be said that he accepted the civil and military orders, and I thought he was worthy of being the governor of Huguang."
"Inappropriate." Zhang Shenyan said flatly, "Ma Shiying is indeed a governor-general, but he can be used in Lufeng, but not in Huguang. If he is used forcefully, he will not only harm Ma Shiying himself, but also miss military and national affairs!"
Meng Zhaoxiang also said: "I also thought that Ma Shiying was not a national scholar, but the Governor of Huguang was not a national scholar."
Seeing that both Zhang Shenyan and Meng Zhaoxiang objected, Qian Qianyi stopped talking, but felt a little regretful in his heart. He had been hasty this time. He knew that he should not have done this for Ma Shiying. It was not worth a few hundred taels of silver.
Gao Shenyan pondered for a moment and then said: "Shou Kui, I think it must be Yuan Jixian."
Meng Zhaoxiang immediately agreed: "I also think that Yuan Jixian is qualified to be the governor of Huguang."
Yuan Jixian's official position was the governor of Jiangxi, Huguang, Anqing, Yingtian and other military affairs. It was only later that the governor of Huguang was appointed as the governor, and he was no longer in charge of Huguang's military affairs.
Therefore, civil servants and generals such as Zhang Kuang and Lu Ding were all Yuan Jixian's old subordinates.
Lu Zhenfei immediately made the decision: "Yes, then let's move on to the military and political affairs of Governor-General Yuan Jixian of Huguang. As for Jiangxi, Anqing, Yingtianfu and other places, there is no need to worry about the invasion of thieves or slaves, so there is no need to have another governor."
"
…
At this time in Wuchang.
Chongzhen asked Du Yinxi: "Qing Du, you have also served in Huguang for several years. You should be familiar with Huguang's officialdom. Do you know anyone who can be called a capable official?"
Du Yinxi replied: "Zhang Kuang, Fu Shangrui, Wu Jinxi and others can all be called capable officials."
Chongzhen asked again: "I heard that there are many iron mines in Xiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture, and I want to build a large iron smelting factory in Xiangtan County and set up an iron smelting censor to smelt iron. Who do you think is the most suitable?"
"This matter must be done by Wu Jinxi." Du Yinxi said without thinking, "Because Wu Jinxi loves Taoism, is proficient in the art of Taiyi Qimen, and is also involved in the smelting of gold and stone."
While he was talking, Zhang Kuang hurriedly walked in.
The great ceremony paid homage and said: "I, Zhang Kuang, kowtow to the Holy Spirit Jin An."
"Pingshen." Chongzhen solemnized his hands and said, "Zhang Kuang, is the screening finished?"
"Back to the Holy One, the screening has been completed." Zhang Kuang sighed and added, "There are more than 189,000 rebels in total, only 80,000 have never done evil, and the remaining 100,000 have killed innocent people."
"More than one hundred thousand?" Chongzhen asked again, "How did you identify them?"
Zhang Kuang said: "I ordered the rebels to report each other. If the reports were true, they would be spared death. So these rebels enthusiastically exposed each other."
"Good idea." Chongzhen said happily, "It seems the result is credible."
Zhang Kuang asked: "I wonder how the Holy One plans to deal with the more than 100,000 rebel soldiers with bad deeds?"
Chongzhen asked Zhang Kuang in return: "Zhang Kuang, what do you think I should do with these rebels?"
"Your Majesty, I think I should try my best not to kill them if I can." Zhang Kuang said, "These are all strong men. Even if they are left to farm, it will be fine. More than 100,000 rebels can cultivate millions of acres!"
"Tunting?" Zhang Kuang's words captured the true intention of Chongzhen's trip.
To be honest, if he just wanted to suppress the rebellion, Chongzhen would not have to go on a personal expedition. He could easily put down the rebellion by just letting Du Yinxi lead a hundred thousand soldiers to the south.
The reason why Chongzhen personally conquered Wuchang with his imperial chariot had another purpose.
This purpose is Huguang’s more than 90 million acres of fertile land!
Food security, or food security, has been a top priority for the country since ancient times.
During the Song Dynasty, there was a folk proverb that when Suhu and Suhu were ripe, the world would have enough. This meant that when the food in Suzhou and Huzhou was ripe, the entire Song Dynasty would no longer be hungry.
But after the Ming Dynasty, the folk proverb became "If you are familiar with Huguang, you will be satisfied all over the world."
This means that as long as Huguang has a good harvest of food, the whole world will not have to worry about not having enough to eat.
This shows how important Huguang, the world's granary, was to the Ming Dynasty.
Especially now that the industry and commerce in eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River are booming, the farmland in the south of the Yangtze River will inevitably be converted to cash crops such as cotton, linen, mulberry, etc. This will inevitably lead to a sharp decline in the food output in the south of the Yangtze River, but the population in the south of the Yangtze River will increase sharply.
, if problems arise again in the big granary of Huguang at this time, the Ming Dynasty will be in big trouble.
Therefore, Chongzhen must take precautions to rectify Huguang, the world's granary, in advance to ensure the food supply in Jiangnan.
At that moment, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Speaking of farmland, the farmland of more than a dozen vassal kings such as Chu, Liao, Min, Xiang, etc., are they deserted now or who is cultivating them?"
In the Ming Dynasty, there were as many as nineteen vassal kings enfeoffed in Huguang.
There were thirteen vassal kings who lasted until the Chongzhen period. These thirteen vassal kings occupied half of the fertile land in Huguang, and the remaining half of the cultivated land was concentrated in the hands of the landowners Jin gentry. The final result was that less than 100% of the land was owned by farmers.
Five years of cultivated land requires 100% of the land tax, which is dozens of times the tax amount determined by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty!
Who can bear such a heavy tax? So the farmers have only two options.
The peasants either fled or dedicated their farmland to the feudal king and became tenant farmers from then on.
Therefore, ten years after Chongzhen, Huguang's own farmers had almost disappeared, and more than 90% of the cultivated land was concentrated under the names of various vassal princes and clans.
Then, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong conquered Huguang one after another. The vassal kings who were entrusted to Huguang were almost wiped out in one fell swoop, and the cultivated land under each vassal's name became ownerless again.
In the first two years, Chongzhen did not have the energy to take care of these things.
But now, the Ming Dynasty's situation has greatly improved, and it can finally be free to deal with the land under the name of the feudal king.
"This..." Seeing Chongzhen asking about the vassal king Zhuangtian, Zhang Kuang was speechless and his face didn't look good.
"What?" Chongzhen's face fell and he asked with a dark face, "Master Zhang Kuangzhang, is it difficult to say or do you dare not say?"
"Brother Yu Ye, why do you have to cover up for those people?" At this time, Du Yinxi, who was standing next to him, suddenly said, "Your Majesty, all the farmland of each vassal has been secretly occupied by the gentry of each government."
