On the afternoon of March 25, Li Zhi was sitting in the Nanjing Military Department Yamen, Shi Kefa's official office, when he received two special guests.
At this time, the inspection work of the gentry in Southern Zhili had not yet been completed. Zheng Kaicheng and Zhong Feng each led an army of 10,000 to arrest the gentry and traitors in various prefectures. In order to speed up the progress, Li Zhi also sent Li Laosi out on the 24th.
He took Xue Sanku's 10,000 selected vanguard cavalry to sit in Nanjing City.
Han Jinxin's informant reported that Shi Kefa and the Jiangbei Army had fled all the way to Nanchang Prefecture in Jiangxi Province, without any sign of fighting back. Li Zhi with 10,000 people was enough to defend the bustling city of Nanjing. Now Li Zhi is more concerned about the escape of the gentry and traitors.
The problem is that now the news that Nanjing has been captured by Li Zhi has spread throughout Southern Zhili. The Southern Zhili gentry who participated in the Jiangbei Army's fundraising all understand that the situation is over and flee one after another.
Counting now, only the four prefectures of Huai'an, Yangzhou, Fengyang and Changzhou have completely wiped out the traitorous gentry. Of course, Zhong Feng exceeded his authority and went to Huzhou, Zhejiang, and captured Huzhou by surprise, which turned into five prefectures.
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However, in other places, the raids on homes were not so successful. In the Suzhou Prefecture and Ningguo Prefecture where the Huben army attacked, all the gentry fled. If this continues, Li Zhi's intention of obtaining a large amount of military expenses by raiding and beheading the gentry will not be realized.
As time goes by, it is conceivable that the gentry from other prefectures will flee more quickly, and the money Li Zhi can earn will only become less and less.
But just when Li Zhi felt that there was no hope of raising military funds, two guests came and gave him a big gift.
Governor Ma Shiying of Lufeng and former Taichang Shaoqing Ruan Dacheng came to see Li Zhi and offered Luzhou to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi sat on the main seat and looked at the two scholars.
Ma Shiying has a long face, looks to be in his fifties, and has a medium build. He is not wearing an official robe at this time, only wearing a silk straight skirt and a Confucian scarf. Obviously Ma Shiying came to Li Zhi this time and did not want others to know.
Sitting in Li Zhi's guest seat, he seemed a little hesitant and didn't speak much.
Ruan Dacheng is older, probably close to sixty years old. He is thin and has a Chinese character face. In fact, Ruan Dacheng gave up his official position as early as the Tianqi period and now lives exclusively in Nanjing. He is the most famous opera writer in Jiangnan.
Although Li Zhi is not very proficient in history, he also knows that in the original history, Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng were powerful officials in the Hongguang regime of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Ma Shiying was a powerful official who supported the Hongguang Emperor and finally resisted the Qing Dynasty until his death. Li Zhi cannot remember what official Ruan Dacheng was.
But it seems that the vote was cleared in the end.
Li Zhi looked at the two of them for a while and was not in a hurry to speak. He just took a sip of tea.
Seeing that Li Zhi's attitude was not very enthusiastic, Ma Shiying turned to look at Ruan Dacheng, as if he wanted to leave. But Ruan Dacheng did not look at Ma Shiying's actions, stood up and said loudly: "Ruan and Ma Du are here to see the Duke today.
, to hand over to the Duke the whereabouts of the Qian family’s traitors in Luzhou!”
After saying this, Ruan Dacheng took out a piece of paper from his arms. He looked at the words on the paper, stepped forward and handed the paper to Hong Chengchou who was sitting next to Li Zhi.
Hong Chengchou looked at the piece of paper and felt that there was no problem, so he handed it to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi looked at the calligraphy on the paper and found that what was written on the paper was the hiding place of the gentry involved in the case of the Northern Army in Luzhou. Obviously, this was information collected by Ma Shiying, the governor of Lufeng, relying on his authority. Although the gentry involved in the case was hiding in the countryside
In the wild village, they could not escape Ma Shiying's spy. With this information, Zheng Kaicheng's troops could kill all the gentry involved in the case in Luzhou when they went south from Fengyang.
Li Zhi put the piece of paper on the coffee table aside and looked at Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying with interest. This was the first time that Li Zhi met a civil servant who was willing to help him when he was fighting against the gentry.
Hong Chengchou looked at Li Zhi's face, thought for a while, and asked Ruan Dacheng: "I heard that Mr. Yuan Hai has lived in Nanjing these years, and his living expenses have all depended on the land rent donated by the common people. Now the Duke of Tianjin has held a high position in Nanjing.
Ping Tianfu has a great banner, but Mr. Yuan Hai doesn't care about the land rent income? Are you willing to defect to the Duke of Tianjin? "
Ruan Dacheng laughed loudly and said: "It's nothing to worry about in terms of land rent. The Duke of Jin is righteous, and the fierce and brave army is the best in the world. After the Ming Dynasty, it will be controlled by the Duke of Jin. Although we scholars are stupid, we also know that the Duke of Jin is single-minded.
The public interest is so great, how can we not wake up and bring people to vote?"
Li Zhi suddenly asked Ruan Dacheng: "Which one is wiser, Yue Sheng or Guan Sheng?"
Ruan Dacheng was stunned for a moment, then stroked his beard and said: "I think that the Yue Sheng is more virtuous. The Yue Sheng serves loyally and can rejuvenate the country."
Li Zhi looked at Ruan Dacheng and said, "Mr. Ruan seems to have known about my education in Tianjin."
Ruan Dacheng cupped his hands and said: "I happened to get a copy of "Gongde" from Tianjin Middle School. After reading it, I was astonished and realized that the country's grand master has great mountains and rivers in his heart. Ruan Dacheng just hopes to join the government's family and become a driving force.
pawn!"
Ruan Dacheng's flattery did not impress Li Zhi.
Li Zhi looked at Ruan Dacheng and felt more and more that this man was really working hard for power. He read the books of sages and ate the food of the gentry. When he was almost sixty, he actually sold the gentry. This was what Li Zhi repeatedly emphasized in Tianjin.
Even with public morality, I can't help but despise people like Ruan Dacheng who have no personal morality.
What's more, from a historical point of view, Ruan Dacheng has no moral integrity.
Smiling, Li Zhi looked at Ma Shiying again.
"Ma Duchen presented this anonymous list of traitors. What do you want?"
Ma Shiying smiled awkwardly and said: "Ma Shiying admires the mainstay of the Duke of Guo. He only hopes that this album can help the Duke of Guo to rectify order in Southern Zhili."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "I understand your request!"
Seeing Li Zhi's smooth talk, the two knew they were about to see off their guests. Although it was a big deal for them to show their kindness to Li Zhi, for Li Zhi, the Duke of Jin, taking over Luzhou was just a small matter. When will Li Zhi repay the two people?
See when Li Zhi is convenient to operate.
The two of them did not dare to stay any longer, so they stood up and left.
Li Zhi looked at the two people leaving, thought for a while and asked: "Counsel Hong, that Ma Shiying looked reluctant, it was obviously brought by Ruan Dacheng. He is a dignified governor, how come he doesn't have an official position in everything?"
Ruan Dacheng conducts it?"
Hong Chengchou raised his hands and said: "The Duke of the State does not know about this officialdom. The reason why Ma Shiying is in a high position is entirely due to Ruan Dacheng's recommendation. At that time, Zhou Yanru relied on Zhang Pu to raise money to become the first assistant, and Ruan Dacheng contributed the money.
Quite a lot. However, Ruan Dacheng had betrayed the Donglin Party. As the boss of Donglin, Zhou Yanru could not promote him, so he asked Ruan Dacheng to recommend someone to serve as an official on his behalf."
"Ruan Dacheng recommended Ma Shiying, and from then on Ma Shiying rose to prominence."
"Ma Shiying is a person who repays kindness. Since he owes Ruan Dacheng a huge favor, he has been led by Ruan Dacheng from now on."
Li Zhi picked up the list presented by Ruan Dacheng, looked at it, shook his head and said, "Don't make this matter public. If you have the opportunity in the future, promote Ma Shiying."
