Yan Wogong, the manager of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, sent the people in the city to deliver Laba porridge to the Ming army early in the morning. The city of Nanjing has now begun to supply limited amounts of food, but Yan Wogong still tightened his belt and gritted his teeth to deliver Laba porridge to the Ming army outside the city.
Laba porridge was delivered, and cartloads of grain were moved out for fear that the Ming army would not be able to celebrate the Laba Festival.
"Your Majesty, the New Year is coming soon. I have sent people to clean up the imperial city. Your Majesty can celebrate the New Year in the palace."
Zhu Yihai and Yan Wogong were drinking Laba porridge under the imperial wall of Xiaoling Mausoleum in Zhongshan.
"If I enter the Nanjing Imperial Palace, you won't be able to stay in Nanjing anymore. I'm afraid the Qing troops from all over the place won't try their best to save me."
Zhu Yihai was not in a hurry to enter Nanjing, nor did he want to enter the Nanjing Imperial Palace.
"I have already thought of a perfect countermeasure. I pretended that I could not collect the money to redeem the city. His Majesty was angry and attacked the city. I also happened to send some disobedient generals and soldiers in Nanjing City to defend it. When the time came, the imperial camp defeated them and captured them.
In the imperial city, I will lead my troops to defend the line of the Qinhuai River to the west of the palace. In this way, the Qinhuai River from Tongji Gate in the south to Taiping Gate in the north is bounded by the line of Xuanwu Lake. Your Majesty can safely enter the palace, while I will retreat to the inner city.
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Yan Wegong suggested that he could take the opportunity to open a wave of cities and let some Nanjing people out of the city to avoid being trapped in the starving city. Of course, he did not intend to let go of those collaborators and treasoners. These were fat sheep and he planned to take care of them.
I have no intention of letting go until I beat them and destroy all their possessions.
"How well do you control the troops and horses in Nanjing now?" Zhu Yihai asked.
"After the death of Chen Jin, Chen Tai, Zhang Dayou and the Bashan generals, Ma Guozhu, Tu Guobao, Liu Yingbin and others went out to move reinforcements. I guarded Jiangning alone, and I found an opportunity to send the prefect Lin Tianqing to your Majesty as a prisoner.
, the remaining officers such as the Governor Biaoying and the Governor Biaoying were unwilling to obey. Last time, the ministers took the opportunity to seize the military power, and finally forced them to mutiny, and then took the opportunity to peacefully win.
Now there are nine thousand soldiers in the entire Jiangning City. The middle and upper-level officers are basically our own people, and most of the officers and soldiers below are willing to obey orders.
I also organized a hundred battalions of 50,000 people to assist in the defense, but these people have no armor or weapons, so they are just a look-alike."
Hearing the result, Zhu Yihai was very satisfied.
This means that he has not yet entered Nanjing, but Nanjing has secretly changed its color and is basically controlled by his own people.
Yan Wogong and his generals and lieutenants spent a lot of money and constantly reorganized, quickly turning the soldiers in Nanjing into their own private army.
It was for this reason that Lord Yan proposed to invite the emperor to move into the palace.
Now that the Ming army had won a great victory in Zhenjiang and the news of the siege of Nanjing had begun to spread rapidly to various places, the news of Zhu Yihai's enthronement in Xiaoling followed closely behind.
In this cold winter month, these news can be said to have shaken countless people on both sides of the Yangtze River and cannot calm down.
Yan Wogong planned to take the opportunity to let some people in the city go out, and first sent some craftsmen to the Ming military camp. In the clear sense, he was exchanging silver to redeem the city's silver. In reality, of course, he was using the information mastered by the Qing government in Jiangning City.
It would be better to send these talents to the emperor.
"Strictly obey the decree!" Zhu Yihai said loudly.
Duke Yan quickly stood up, then knelt down to receive the imperial edict.
"I will confer you the title of Duke of Ji Kingdom, and you will be hereditary for your descendants forever!"
Lord Yan was stunned by this reward.
"Your Majesty, I have only done a small job in promoting people. How dare I be rewarded? I don't dare to accept it."
"Yan Qing, you are the second Duke I have granted. The first one is Duke Zheng Zhilong. But in my eyes, your contribution is far greater than that of Zheng Zhilong. You are still lurking in the enemy camp. This way
The decree can only be kept secret. When I regain Yanjing one day, I will solemnly announce the title to you!"
A strict man is better than a hundred thousand tigers.
For such a great achievement, Zhu Yihai would never begrudge a hereditary title.
December 9th.
In Jiangning City.
Yan Wogong, who has been managing the strategy, has basically completely controlled the military and political power in Jiangning. Several civil and military officials such as Daotai, generals, guerrillas, etc. who were still single-minded have basically been killed or beheaded by Yan Wogong for reasons.
It's either transparency, cowardice, or corruption. Anyway, my father-in-law has the final say now, so it's very easy to kill them.
"Yesterday, Japan's economic planner asked me to send a batch of grain to appease the Ming army. As a result, someone actually dared to tamper with the grain, mix it with old grain and old rice, and even mix it with mud and sand. It's really audacious. Now King Ming
Either he will be furious or I will pay him one million taels of silver."
"What do you think we should do about this matter?"
Yan Jinglue swept across all the civil and military officials attending the meeting with murderous intent.
More than a dozen people were shivering there.
Some people couldn't help but said, "Then King Ming is just making excuses. Besides, now that the two countries are at war and fighting around the city, is there any reason to use the little food in the city to give it to the Ming army to survive Laba?"
"The lower official believes that from now on, one tael of silver or one grain of rice can no longer be given to the Ming army. That would be to support the enemy!"
Yan Wogong glanced at him and said, "Zhao Tongzhi, you were responsible for the Laba grain this time. As a result, this happened now, and you can't get rid of it."
Immediately, one of the generals came forward and presented a pile of conclusive evidence to prove how Zhao Tongzhi had embezzled and withheld grain, and even sold the stolen grain at high prices on the black market.
There are hundreds of participants.
Not only many Jiangning officials were involved, but also many large households in the city, grain merchants, etc. were also involved.
"Zhao Tongzhi, the witnesses and physical evidence are all there, what else do you want to say?"
Zhao Tongzhi trembled, knowing that he could not survive under this strict iron face, so he simply gave up, pointed at Yan Wogong and cursed, "You, surnamed Yan, can only succeed when you fall, you have no talent and no virtue, and you have reached a high position by flattering others.
But as the manager of the five provinces, you have no ability. Apart from making Jiangnan more chaotic and worse, do you have any chance to save the situation?
You are the most responsible for the current situation in Jiangnan!"
"My responsibility is not my responsibility. Whether you have the ability or not is not up to you." Yan Wogong sneered, "But now you dare to embezzle and embezzle under my rule and shake the morale of the army, but you will never be spared. You will be dragged out and beheaded."
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"As well as those guys who collude and dare to exploit the country's difficult war wealth, we will all be dragged out and chopped down, and their property will be confiscated!"
After the dozen officials were dragged away, the atmosphere in the hall became even more solemn.
"Let's get down to business. It's hard to get reinforcements right now. We still need to stabilize King Ming to delay time."
"Give me some money," someone said.
Some people think that this is a bottomless pit, and that King Lu has no credibility. Before, two envoys, Chen Hongfan and Qian Qianyi, had sent two million taels of silver and one hundred thousand taels of gold.
Later they gave another two and a half million taels of silver.
There is still eight million taels left to redeem the city.
Now he is fined another one million taels.
When will this end?
Besides, the first few million taels of silver were already the result of scraping land from Jiangning City several times.
"I really can't get any money out of it."
"There is not enough food in the city."
"Now some people in the city have begun to pursue the idea of beggars. The Yamen has received many reports of missing beggars. It is said that they have been kidnapped and made into rice and meat."
Yan Wogong looked at these people, "Then you mean you won't give it to me?"
"It's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice, Master Jinglue!"
"hehe."
Yan Woggong waved his hand and announced the adjournment of the meeting.