A palace attendant came in holding a bouquet of flowers. It was a bouquet of beautifully blooming peach blossoms.
Zhu Yihai put down his work, stood up and watched the palace servants put the bouquet of peach blossoms into the vase, "The peach blossoms are blooming. It should be the busy time for spring plowing outside."
The palace attendant smiled slightly, "This flower was also brought by Governor Ruan from Linhai City, Taizhou, Zhejiang. Eunuch Liu asked his slave to plant it in the royal study."
This palace lady is not very young, nor is she even very beautiful. She is about 20 years old, and she even has a light scar on her face. However, she is tall, tall and healthy.
In fact, she is like many maids in the Nanjing Palace today. Only a few were maids in this palace. Due to the war, there were no palace attendants in the Nanjing Palace. After Zhu Yihai entered the palace, he did not agree with the imperial court's large-scale selection of young people from among the people.
Palace maids, and even began to castrate people to be trained as eunuchs.
He selected a group of women from among the people. He did not give priority to young and beautiful women, but selected some poor women who suffered from war. Some women lost their families in the war, some lost their children, and some were even injured. They are now
No family, alone.
Very pitiful.
Zhu Yihai selected some relatively healthy women in their twenties and thirties to enter the palace to serve as palace attendants, and also called back some women from the private sector who had served as palace attendants.
Nowadays, there are not many maids in the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and they mainly serve in the harem.
In the previous dynasty, he mainly used bodyguards and a thousand-niu young army to accompany him.
"You take two peach blossoms and send them to the harem to the two sisters Ruan Bin. They are brought by Governor Ruan from Zhejiang. They should also be shared with them."
Zhu Yihai summoned Liu Chao.
"Ask Ruan Dacheng to wait for me at Wuying Hall. By the way, Ma Shiying should also be in Nanjing. Let him meet with me together. Also, invite Yan Qing too."
The side wing of Wuying Hall.
Ruan Dacheng, Ma Shiying and Yan Wegong were sitting here waiting to be summoned. Liu Chao, the eunuch and eunuch of the ceremony, accompanied the three. It was morning. The emperor gave them a tea snack, a pot of Anji white tea, and
Some snacks.
It is relatively simple, not exquisite, and not even as good as those in big restaurants outside. It is not in line with the status of royal court dim sum. However, Ruan Mayan and others know very well that people today do not like to pay attention to flattery, let alone luxury.
.
I have said more than once that we should be frugal and frugal.
So not only were they accustomed to the simple tea snacks given by the royal family, but when they came to meet the Holy Spirit today, they also paid special attention to the decoration of their clothes. Even the official uniforms were specially chosen to look a bit old, and they did not even dare to use any expensive perfume.
Fumigation, just use ordinary incense to smoke it casually.
There were no gold and jade decorations, trying to look as simple as possible.
"Your Majesty has summoned you, please come with your servants." A chamberlain came in.
Ma Shiying and others quickly stood up.
In Wuying Palace.
Zhu Yihai changed into a Silongtuan casual robe. In the late spring of March, the weather was getting warmer, so Zhu Yihai was wearing much thinner clothes. When he saw Liu Chao coming in with three ministers, he stood up and walked out of the imperial palace to greet them.
"Oh, my three ministers are here, and I have to go to the door to greet them in person." He laughed and stepped forward.
Several people seemed a little restrained.
"My dear friends, I have called you here this time because I also want to hear you report your work face to face. I want to hear you talk about your specific actual work, what problems you have encountered, etc. Please sit down and don't be restrained."
"Go and pass the fruit."
The fruits in the palace are actually relatively simple. The apples and oranges are from last year, and the only ones in season are loquats.
With the respect of the emperor, there are actually a lot of fruits that can be eaten during this season, even if you want to eat watermelon, there is no problem, but Zhu Yihai doesn't like to do this.
Eat whatever you can. You can't be like those salt merchants who only eat eggs. You have to raise a group of hens that only eat cordyceps and ginseng to lay eggs. Each egg costs one or two silver. That's too much.
In today's current situation, Zhu Yihai has to pay more and more attention to setting an example. Even if he has the conditions to eat well and use it well, in order to set a good example, he has to pay special attention to frugality.
Otherwise, if things go up and down, and if conditions permit, we will do this, and the atmosphere will not be good.
"My dear friends, March is about to pass, the weather will get warmer, and the Tatars will become more active. I can't help but feel anxious when I think about the empty treasury."
Yan Wogong was Zhu Yihai's newly appointed cabinet bachelor, and he was also appointed as the commander-in-chief of Zhejiang Province. He was responsible for supervising the military and political affairs of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Anhui.
Ruan Dacheng was the governor of Zhejiang, and Ma Shiying was the governor of Jiangsu.
The current position of Yan Wogong is actually the former governor of Liangjiang. After Zhang Guowei recalled the imperial court and joined the cabinet to assist the government, the bachelor Huang Daozhou was changed to the post of governor of Liangjiang, responsible for Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.
Originally, with the governor of Liangjiang, there was no need to set up another governor, but Zhu Yihai still gave Yan Wogong this position.
The governor of Huang Daozhou was based in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and the governor of Yan Wogong was based in Yangzhou, and the towns were divided into the lower and lower reaches.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. Although the weather is getting warmer, it is still impossible for the Tatars to go south in a short time. Moreover, now that the canal is unblocked, it is actually beneficial to our Ming Dynasty, and we can give full play to our naval advantage." Yan Wogong laughed.
Follow the path.
After the Tatars suffered successive defeats last year, they have now been awakened.
From being unacceptable and angry at the beginning, they have now become pragmatic and cautious.
Except for Wu Sangui on the Western Front, the Hauge Corps is still using troops, and everything else is very honest.
Hong Chengchou, the manager of Huguang and other six provinces, was dismissed from his post and recalled to Beijing. It is said that he is still under investigation by various ministries. He is called to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for questioning every day, and he is not given any job.
Obviously, he was deeply involved in the economic strategy of the five Jiangnan provinces.
After Hong Chengchou was recalled, the former governor of Huguang, Tong Yanghe, was also recalled to Beijing. Although he had made great achievements in relieving the siege of Wuchang and defeating the Ming army last year, the court is still pushing him hard. The reason is that Beijing thinks that Tong Yanghe
After staying in Huguang before, he mishandled the situation and should not have spent too much energy on recruiting loyal troops.
The Great Victory of Wuchang was not recognized by Beijing, because they believed that it was not a great victory at all, and there was not even a single imperial camp of Zhu Yihai.
Beijing's current view of Nanming is that Zhu Yihai's imperial camp is regarded as the same existence as the Eight Banners of the Qing Army. The other various soldiers and horses can only be regarded as the Green Camp of the Qing Army. Therefore, as long as the imperial camp of the Ming Army is not annihilated and severely damaged, no matter how many are defeated,
A miscellaneous unit cannot be considered a meritorious service.
Tong Yanghe did not get the last bit of credit. Instead, he was accused and was dismissed from his post to reflect at home.
Luo Mianxiu was the governor of Huguang, but he was just the governor of Huguang, and no longer oversaw Sichuan. Sichuan was under the control of Meng Qiaofang, the trilateral governor of Shaanxi, and Gansu. The reason was naturally that Meng Qiaofang fought very well in Xi'an this time.
Although Tong Yanghe felt it was unfair, Meng Qiaofang only defeated He Zhen, Hu Xianghua, Wu Dading, Sun Shoufa and other local rabble-rousers, and there were no imperial troops from Zhu Yihai. Besides, Meng Qiaofang did not defeat the Ming army by herself.
During the siege of Xi'an, Wu Sangui and Li Guohan arrived and saved his life.
Why is it that he has merit but he has faults?
But Tong Yanghe finally admitted it, because his matter actually involved an internal struggle among the upper class of the Tatars. The Tong family was a relatively famous Han family among the Tatars. Although they had already told Huang Taiji that their Tong family was actually a member of the Tatar family.
The Manchus later became the Han nationality of Liaodong, so they changed their surname to Tong. In fact, they were the Manchu Tong Jia surname.
However, it doesn’t matter whether the Tong family’s surname is Tong or Tong Jia. What is important is that the first concubine of Nurhachi married a daughter of the Tong family, and Prince Li Daishan was born to the Tong family. Therefore, the Tong family in the Eight Banners Han Army has always been Daishan.
The people here are naturally not the regent Dorgon's people.
In the final analysis, Tong Yanghe was innocent and guilty, and was recalled to take over his position. It was a battle between gods and gods that affected innocent people.
Luo Xiujin, the governor-general of Huguanghou, did not dare to act rashly. Last winter, they lived on tenterhooks. He, Luck Dehun's 18,000 banner troops, and the local Green Camp only dared to stay in
It took several months of effort to repair the big cities such as Wuchang, Xiangyang, and Jingzhou, but they could barely repair them. There was no energy or time to repair the other destroyed cities.
Last winter, I came here hungry.
There was no way, the war was fought last year, and although we were victorious, it was actually a tragic victory. Huguang was almost demolished, and the population was almost wiped out. There was no food harvest at all in autumn, and there was no place to collect food.
Relying on a little grain transportation from Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places, the grain that was finally transferred was always robbed and attacked by the Ming army in the Yunyang Mountains and the villages in the Dabie Mountains. In the end, only 40% of the 100% was.
It was shipped to the Qing army in Huguang.
Everyone can only starve.
Even the 10,000 Eight Banners horses were skin and bones due to lack of food, and in the end many of them were eaten by the even hungrier Eight Banners soldiers.
From last winter until now, the Qing troops in Huguang, regardless of the Eight Banners or the Green Camp, have been very honest and have not dared to go out. Anyway, they rely on their strength to carry, endure, and starve.
Among the more capable generals in the Huguang Green Camp, Zukefa was seriously ill and was about to die. He followed Hong Chengchou and others back to Beijing to recuperate. Zhang Yong, who had made great achievements, was transferred to Shaanxi and promoted to admiral.
Sun Dingliao, the former Henan Commander-in-Chief, was promoted to the Admiral of Huguang, but he could only garrison Xiangfan. He could not defend it. Once he left Xiangfan, he would definitely be attacked by the Ming Army Zhongkai Town in Xunyang upstream. Last year, he was attacked three times, and Xiangyang City was also attacked.
It was folded three more times.
We can only stay in Xiangyang and not leave. We will continue to mobilize grain and labor from Henan and other places to repair the city, dredge the Han River, and transport grain and grass.
There was a precedent of 18,000 banners in the south of the Yangtze River being completely wiped out. Luck Dehun and the others were in fear every day in Huguang. The imperial court was in arrears with their wages and even the supply of food and grass was insufficient. How could they dare to go out to fight in the city.
And it's not much better on Xu Huai's side.
The Huainan area is now uninhabited for hundreds of miles. All the people have fled, and most of them have fled to the south of the Yangtze River. It is impossible not to escape. The Tatar officials from all over the country tax and impose taxes so that no one can survive. They also have to undertake tasks such as transporting grain and building ships.
, especially since the Ming army went deep into Xuhuai last year and even reached Shandong, and they did a lot of mopping up in Huainan.
Nowadays, the Ming army still has one army stationed in Anqing, and the Qing army only dares to deploy one army to garrison Hefei to prevent the Ming army from going further north and deeper into Henan.
Tan Tai was beaten by Zhu Yihai last year and his reputation was completely ruined, but fortunately he is still alive.
Therefore, it was almost over from last autumn to this spring, and he was still very cautious. He only stationed in Xuzhou before the Chinese New Year last year, and only rushed to station in Huai'an at the beginning of spring.
Today, in the middle reaches of the north bank of the Yangtze River, the Qing army is stationed in the three towns of Wuchang, Jingzhou, and Xiangyang. In the Jianghuai area, troops are stationed in Hefei, Fengyang, Huaiyang, and Xuzhou, and a strategic reserve force is stationed in Kaifeng, Henan.
The western front is on the offensive, while the rest of the middle and eastern front are completely on the defensive.
Yan Wogong even dared to say that the Qing army now simply did not dare to fight the Ming army in the Huaihe River area, especially in the area south of the Huaihe River.
However, it is difficult for the Ming army to launch an expedition to the north of the Yangtze River because of the issue of food and wages.
"Many ministers in the court have persuaded me to temporarily negotiate peace with the Tatars to gain some time to recuperate and accumulate strength." Zhu Yihai sighed with his hands behind his back, "We want to recuperate, but the Tatars don't know that we can't limit ourselves first."
"I still want to take the initiative. We can slowly talk to the Tatars, but we can't stop. This spring is about to end, and we have to launch the Northern Expedition again."
"I also know that there is a shortage of food and wages, and I also know how the south bank of the Yangtze River has been beaten. The Jiangnan prefectures around Taihu Lake, this tax-heavy land, are now in dire straits, but we cannot stop.
We must seize the opportunity to pursue the victory and make the Tatars breathless.
What I want to talk to you about today is nothing else but the main hope that you can find a way to squeeze out some more money and food for the Northern Expedition!"
