Chapter 638 The king and his ministers are suspicious of each other
After Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi took over the second transshipment of 2 million shi, Wang and Hu's businesses immediately began to run with all their strength, raising more ships, mules and horses, and recruiting more civilian men.
Although it has already entered the busy farming season in May, as long as you can afford the price, you can still recruit people.
The Wang and Hu families really spent a lot of money this time, and even sold the jewelry from the Duke of Guizhou at a low price just to advance funds and transfer military supplies.
Therefore, the government-supervised commercial offices are really powerful.
In the past, the Ming Dynasty had to prepare at least 4 million shi of grain in order to transport 2 million shi to Beijing. The civilians or troops responsible for transporting grain were still miserable, and many families were destroyed.
But now, it only costs 1 million yuan to transport 2 million stones to Beijing.
Moreover, the civilians responsible for transportation took the initiative and even made money from it.
The only difference between the two is that it changes from a government-supervised office to a commercial office, avoiding the huge bureaucracy along the way, thus saving heavy floating costs.
The court saved money, the people made money, and the merchants did not lose money.
The only people whose interests are harmed are the bureaucracies along the way, and there is no way to suck out the bones and marrow from them.
Then again, businessmen are definitely not good people. If they are left unsupervised, they will definitely make every last copper from the people, so they need to be supervised by the court.
It is to use the power of the court to set the boundaries of merchants.
You are not allowed to cross the line, and once you do, you will be severely punished.
Here in Chongzhen, you are given management rights but not controlling rights.
For example, in the Weng family, the machinery factory will be run by you, and you can get dividends if the operation is successful. Looking for
For example, the Wang family and the Hu family will build the railway for you two, and run the railway business for you two. After the operation is completed, you can get a large amount of dividends, as much as you want. Chongzhen will never default on the debt.
However, machinery factories and railway companies must be controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Royal Family.
If you want to start a new business and go it alone? That will make it difficult for you to move forward and destroy your family!
It is self-evident that the Guandu Commercial Office was more advanced than the Guandu Official Office, so the waterway from Nanjing to Dagukou and the land route from Dagukou to Beijing immediately became busy again.
After the North Sea thaws, the navy and canal ships can reach Dagukou directly.
Therefore, by omitting the land route from Dengzhou to Dagukou, the freight can be significantly reduced.
This is also an important reason why the Wang and Hu families dared to take this order, otherwise they would really lose their money. Xun
This busy scene was quickly reported to Dorgon through Dagukou and Jiannu Xizuo along the way. Dorgon immediately summoned Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanme to go to the palace to discuss matters.
"Two gentlemen, the Ming army is transporting large quantities of grain to Beijing again."
"And this time the scale of grain transportation is even larger than the previous one."
Speaking of this meal, Dorgon continued: "In other words, Chongzhen did not intend to retreat at all, but was determined to continue to besiege Beijing and continue to consume the Qing Dynasty like this."
Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, I couldn't help but sigh.
I thought the Ming Dynasty’s national power was still stronger than that of the Qing Dynasty.
After nearly half a year of stalemate, the Qing Dynasty was already stretched thin.
However, Daming seemed to be at ease.
Speaking of grain, the Qing Dynasty's treasury only had enough grain to last for one month.
However, the Ming Dynasty actually increased the scale of transporting grain from Nanjing to Beijing.
I really don’t know how much food is in the Ming Dynasty’s treasury? It mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and at least 500,000 civilians, and spent half a year in Beizhi, but the Ming Dynasty’s treasury has not been depleted yet?
That is to say, Dorgon and the others did not know the details of the Ming Dynasty.
If they were told that the Ming Dynasty only had to bear the rations of hundreds of thousands of troops, and that the food and wages of more than 500,000 civilians were paid by merchants, they would probably be very desperate.
If they knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs' official warehouse contained more than 80 million shi, they would probably be even more desperate.
But at this point in the war, the Qing government had no way out. Even if it knew it was losing, it could only bite the bullet and continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty. If there were no conditions, then it would create conditions to continue to fight against the Ming army.
So Fan Wencheng comforted Dorgon: "Master, although our Qing army failed to cut off the Ming army's food route, and the plague has not yet broken out, the situation is still in my favor, because the Ming army's logistics channel is a hundred times longer than our Qing army's."
Soldiers, this also means that the consumption of the Ming army is ten times that of mine, so if things go on like this the Ming army will definitely be the first to fail."
"Not necessarily." Dorgon said, "You two gentlemen should know very well that the Qing treasury only has one month of rations left, so will the Ming army collapse in a month?"
Ning Wanmei said: "At this point, we can only distribute food!"
"Yes, we must obey the authority when the matter is urgent." Fan Wencheng also said, "Right now we can only send food."
"Distribute food?" Dorgon's eyes showed a strange look, and he looked at Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo quietly.
The so-called distribution of grain, to put it bluntly, means forcing donations, that is, forcing the common people, officials, gentry, children of the Eight Banners, and even nobles under the Qing Dynasty to donate grain to help the court tide over difficulties.
This can indeed raise a large amount of food.
Not to mention hundreds of thousands of stones or millions of stones, tens of millions of stones can be raised.
But doing so will also greatly arouse public anger, because no one wants their own interests to be harmed.
So the question is, who should distribute food to? It is definitely not possible to distribute food to everyone. There must be a choice. So should food be distributed to the common people, or to Han officials, gentry or Eight Banners disciples?
These are three cups of poisonous wine. Drinking three cups in a row will definitely lead to death.
If you only drink one cup, you might still have a chance to survive.
After a long while, Dorgon asked quietly: "Who do you two gentlemen think should distribute food to?"
"Han officials and gentry!" Fan Wencheng and Ning Wanwo responded without thinking, "The people don't have much food, and you can't raise much food by forcefully distributing food. The Eight Banners disciples are the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. If they touch the country, the country will be overturned, so the only way to distribute food is to
The target is the Han officials and gentry under the Qing Dynasty, who have plenty of food and will not cause serious trouble."
Ergouzi is Ergouzi, and he will only attack his own compatriots.
Dorgon was noncommittal: "The two gentlemen coincide with Hong Chengchou, haha."
Fan Wencheng, Ning Wan, I was immediately shocked. What did the regent mean? I suspected that the two of them were secretly colluding with Hong Chengchou? Are they colluding with each other internally and externally?
The two of them were so frightened that they dared not speak.
After a long while, Dorgon said: "Gentlemen, don't think too much, I just said this."
After listening to Fan Wencheng and Ning Wan, I felt even more panicked, thinking to myself: How could we not think more about it?
Dorgon added: "It's getting late today, so you two gentlemen should go back home and rest first."
After Fan Wencheng and the others knelt down, Dorgon asked Cao Eryu: "Cao Eryu, do you think there is a possibility that Hong Chengchou did it on purpose?"
"This... shouldn't be serious, right?" Cao Eryu was so frightened that her lips began to tremble.
Although Dorgon's question was confusing, Cao Eryu still understood it.
Dorgon suspected that Hong Chengchou secretly colluded with the Ming army and deliberately blocked the army's food routes and deliberately did not cause a plague, in order to force the Qing Dynasty into today's desperate situation.
In this way, even if the Ming army cannot destroy the Qing Dynasty, it can still gain the support of the Han officials and gentry in the north.
With the support of the northern Han officials and gentry, the Ming Dynasty was able to quickly pacify several northern provinces.
Then Hong Chengchou could use this achievement to atone for his crimes, gain Chongzhen's understanding, and even possibly continue to serve as an official in the Ming Dynasty. This possibility does exist.
As for why Hong Chengchou didn't directly surrender to Chongzhen with his army?
That's because he couldn't do it, after all, Hou Fangyu and the others were watching.
So, has the regent begun to doubt Hong Chengchou's loyalty?
It is not a good thing for the monarch and his ministers to be suspicious, and he is still an arbitrary king and a minister with a heavy army. If not, the Qing Dynasty will be destroyed.
…
Jinghai City Head. Looking for
Hong Chengchou looked towards Beijing City in the distance and sighed quietly.
Hong Chengchou had an ominous premonition, which was exactly the same as nine years ago. He had a premonition that he was about to lose Dorgon's trust, and maybe Dorgon would force him to send troops just like Chongzhen did.
Hong Chengchou sighed, and Hou Fangyu also sighed.
The plague that Hou Fangyu was thinking about did not break out after all.
If the plague did not break out and the Ming army's food routes were unimpeded, the situation would become a hard loss.
If it were a hard loss, with the weak national power of the Qing Dynasty, it would definitely not be able to consume the Nanming, but it would still have to consume it. At this point, the Qing Dynasty had no way out.
"Three cups of poisonous wine, you have to drink one in the end." Xun
Hou Fangyu asked: "Which drink does Hong Butang think the regent will choose?"
"Of course it's the one with the least poison." Hong Chengchou sighed and added, "It's not a question of which drink to choose. The question is, will the regent suspect that we poisoned him?"
"This is impossible, the regent is wise and wise..."
Hou Fangyu subconsciously wanted to deny it, but stopped mid-sentence.
Two months ago, Hou Fangyu dared to say categorically that Dorgon would not be suspicious.
But now Hou Fangyu dare not say this anymore, because Hong Chengchou is really "suspicious".
From Dorgon's standpoint, I have handed over to you the hundreds of thousands of the most elite firearms troops of the Qing Dynasty, and the main force of the Ming army has always been gathered outside Beijing. The main pressure of the Ming army has always been on me, but even if
In this way, you, Hong Chengchou, are still unable to cut off the Ming army's food routes. What on earth are you, Hong Chengchou, doing?
Do you want to wear out the Qing Dynasty and let the Ming army win without a fight?
Hong Chengchou smiled bitterly and said, "Can Hou Canjun go back to Beijing?"
Hou Fangyu thought for a moment and then replied: "Yes, I will try my best to explain to Hong Butang. I also ask Hong Butang to think about the rise and fall of the Qing Dynasty and never have other thoughts."
"Hou Shenjun is overly worried." Hong Chengchou said with a bitter smile, "As the saying goes, one mistake will lead to eternal hatred. If you look back, it will be a hundred years later. I am the same as you and can never look back."
Hou Fangyu wanted to refute, saying that this is not a mistake, but a mistake.
But in the end Hou Fangyu said nothing. He just gave Hong Chengchou a long bow, turned around and hurried down the tower, and then led Meng Xuelia and Juziying straight to Beijing.
Juziying is Hou Fangyu, a soldier who joined the army.
Take it with you naturally when traveling or returning to Beijing.
