ushernet Page 118
Page 118
When the group of them approached Wu's army on horseback, the horses under Wu Sangui and Wu Yingxiong's crotch suddenly started to speed up.
Although Wu Sangui is already in his sixties, he is well maintained and exercises regularly, so his figure is still very healthy on horseback.He and his son Wu Yingxiong were one in front of the other, just galloping in front of the army.From one end to the other end, the eyes of tens of thousands of soldiers just followed the figure of the father and son slowly.When the horses under the crotch of the father and son made a clean U-turn at the end of the formation, the tens of thousands of Wu family soldiers who formed the formation shouted in unison: "Long live! Long live!"
Because Wu Sangui had pretended to be ill for several months before, and Wu Yingxiong had been a hostage in Beijing for a long time.So there is still some doubts in the Wu family army-is Lao Wu still able to do it?Don't rebel, half of the people are gone!If old Wu is gone, can Xiao Wu take over?
So before Wu Sangui crossed the river, he had to go out with Wu Yingxiong, so that everyone under his command could rest assured.
Wu Sangui is still very good!
Wu Yingxiong is not Wu Gouxiong either!
Amidst the cheers, the father and son rode their horses back to the center of the army formation. With a big wave of Old Wu's hand, the subordinates knew that the old man had something to say, so they stopped shouting.
The cheers of the generals gradually stopped, and finally became silent. Wu Sangui glanced at the whole army, and raised his arms and shouted: "Today, I, President Wu Sangui, Generalissimo of the World Army and Horses, will lead you and other soldiers of benevolence and righteousness to cross the Yangtze River to the north. Crush the crimes of the people, crusade against the barbarians, and rejuvenate China... Wu swears to the Yangtze River that if he can win this battle, he will share the world with the kings and share the wealth and honor!
If not victorious, Wu vowed not to return to Jiangnan! "
As soon as Wu Sangui finished speaking, two tall knights came up behind him holding a banner each.The long banner is white, with two lines of big characters written on it.
On the left is: a hundred thousand troops cross the Yangtze River!
On the right is: If you don't break the Hulu, you won't return it!
Then, father and son Wu Sangui and Wu Yingxiong turned their horses around and walked slowly towards the pontoon bridge on the Yangtze River with the two flags.
When Wu Sangui's war horse stepped onto the deck of the pontoon bridge, whoever it was, suddenly took the lead and shouted: "One hundred thousand troops cross the Yangtze River! I promise not to return the barbarians until I break them!"
Then tens of thousands of people shouted in unison: "One hundred thousand troops cross the Yangtze River! If you don't break the Hulu, you won't return it!"
……
In Beijing, the Nanhaizi school grounds were full of slavish air, and there was a scene of chilling.
The Eight Banners athletes, the coated slaves, and the Green Battalion soldiers who wanted to be the coated slaves all carried banners of various colors and stood in the middle of the school grounds.
Zhuobutai, Wang Fuchen, Mingzhu, and Emperor Kangxi's two brothers, Prince Yu Fuquan, Prince Gong Changning, and the others also put a lot of thought into today's military parade.They also know that the newly opened Coated Minion Army is not ready yet.Therefore, Kangxi was specially asked for instructions, and some Eight Banners soldiers and Green Battalion soldiers who were planned to be conscripted with Emperor Kangxi in person were called to town the place and act as a facade.
Although Emperor Kangxi had to rely on the coated slaves, it did not mean that he had to immediately abandon the Eight Banners and the Green Camp.
The "Tianwei" of the Eight Banners soldiers is still very useful - without the Eight Banners soldiers guarding them, how can the coated slaves go to the battlefield?
As for the green battalion soldiers... escorted by flag-carrying officers and cadres who became slaves in coats, their vigor immediately rose.
The officers who have already become the Eight Banners all feel that they are very powerful-the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers!
The backbone of the coated slaves also feel that the "slave life" is full of hope. They are now the "domestic slaves" of the Qing emperor, and the path of ascension is very smooth.
And those ordinary green battalion soldiers who wanted to be coated slaves also saw hope-in the past, no matter how hard they worked, they only got two rewards, and they couldn't enter the Eight Banners system at all.
But it’s different now. Now the Qing Dynasty has a promotion channel of "green battalion soldiers-coated slaves-eight banner officers".
As long as they work hard for the emperor, they will have a chance to become a glorious coated slave...
Just look at the energy of the 20 or [-] banners, the coats, and the green battalion soldiers here, and you can know how successful Emperor Kangxi's reform of the "coated slaves" is - he just released [-] coats The number of slaves boosted the enthusiasm of the [-] Green Battalion soldiers.
At the same time, there is also a coated slave soldier that can be used as a basic armed force...
Emperor Kangxi was now in front of his tens of thousands of slave soldiers, looking at the black slaves, Kangxi was so excited that he was almost speechless.With so many good slaves, is the Qing Dynasty afraid that it will not be able to wipe out the two thieves Zhu and Wu?
After a long while, under countless pairs of eager gazes, the Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the master of hundreds of thousands of good slaves in the world, finally opened his "Jinkou" and uttered his "Jade Words" ".
Kangxi's pockmarked face was ashen, and he asked loudly: "...Wu Sangui rebelled in Yunnan! Third Prince Zhu rebelled in Guangdong! There are also many rebels, big and small, who have joined their ranks and want to rebel together. The Qing Dynasty wants to steal your good future! Tell me, what should I do?"
There was a moment of silence at the bottom, and the shouts burst out suddenly: "Kill, kill them all! Kill all the traitors! Defend the Qing Dynasty! Defend the Emperor..."
Chapter 273: Zhu and Qi are playing tricks!
"My lord, Wu Sangui has crossed the Yangtze River!"
When the news of Wu Sangui's crossing the Yangtze River reached Zhu Heqi, it was already the second ten days of June of the second year of the reign of King Ding of the Ming Dynasty.It's almost July—this is the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and if converted to the Western calendar, it will be August when the autumn wind is approaching.
When the news arrived that day, the sage Shizi was presiding over a small military meeting at the Military Academy on Huangpu Island.
The Whampoa Military Academy started construction when Zhu Heqi just became the lord of Guangzhou. It took almost a year, and now the first phase of the project has been completed—there are no tall buildings, but only twenty or thirty rows of very simple Chinese style. There are brick houses, a large school field, a shooting range, a mound bastion, and a dock.
In addition, a shipyard, an iron factory, and a coking factory were also built together...these are all experimental factories and are not large in scale.
The arrival of the Military Academy and the three small factories brought a lot of popularity to the originally deserted Huangpu Island.
There are more than 200 teachers and students in the Military Academy plus teaching soldiers.There are [-] craftsmen and small workers in the three factories.In addition, hundreds of craftsmen and the families of military officers also went to the island.
These people gathered on the East Island of Huangpu Island and formed a "military town" around the Military Academy. Since the end of the Ten Thousand Races Conference, Zhu and Qi spent ten days on Huangpu Island every month. The days are spent in Guangzhou city and Haizhu Island respectively.
During the ten days in Guangzhou, the main work was to continue to promote the "Guangdong Land Reform", manage the business of the North Factory, the Inner Factory, and the South Factory, supervise the "big infrastructure" of the Canton Mansion, and manage the finances of the Guangdong court.
Among them, finance is the most important thing... With money, other things can be handled easily!
Now the Guangdong imperial court’s finances are mainly supported by three sources. One is trade. Both Guangdong and Fujian have been maritime trade centers for thousands of years. Even after the chaos in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, there are still three big money-making fists left: white sugar, ironware, and porcelain. Products, in recent years, tea has become a little more popular (brought by the British East India Company), together with the sugarcane wine developed by Zhu Heqi, high-quality granulated black powder and perfume, a total of seven high value-added fists have been formed. product!
Driven by these seven major products, Guangzhou, which reopened to the outside world, soon ushered in wave after wave of foreign businessmen, and quickly restored its former leading position in international trade.However, the prosperity of trade does not mean the sharp increase of taxation, otherwise the Ming Dynasty would not be poor to death!
So Zhu Hechi had to spend a lot of energy on "tax supervision"...and his tax collection ideas were "simple" and "collect all".
The so-called "simple" is to simplify the way of taxation as much as possible-it is too complicated and easy for people below, and Zhu and Qi don't have so many high-quality cadres.
Therefore, his main means of collecting commercial taxes is to set up tax cards on major traffic routes, measure the length and width of vehicles and ships, and collect fixed taxes based on the length and width of vehicles and ships—just to buy road money.
And "all collection" means no matter who owns the vehicle or boat, all taxes must be paid!
Even if Zhu Tianwang, the supervisor, goes on tour, as long as he takes a car or a boat, he has to pay taxes according to the law!Since the prison is unavoidable, others can only obediently pay the money.
Of course, this kind of "road money"-like taxation is not heavy, and there are not many tax cards and customs duties, so it will not have any impact on domestic and foreign trade.
But because of the wide tax base and low tax cost, the total income is quite considerable!
In addition to the "travel money" related to trade, another major source of income for the Guangzhou imperial court was "protection fees", which were to collect food and soldiers based on the land and population of the various clans below.
In addition, the private property on the "official private land" in Guangdong must also pay the corresponding "protection fee".
The collection of "protection fees" also follows the two principles of "simple" and "collect all"!
No one can refuse to pay the "protection fee", even the private property owned by the two fathers and sons of Zhu Tianwang, Zhu Heqi and the "Chaozhou Zhu Clan" headed by the two of them, which collected a group of Zhu Ming's descendants, must also pay the "protection fee". Protection fees".
Also because of the two principles of "simplicity" and "collection", although the rate of "protection fee" is not high, the total income is still quite a lot.
The third largest income of the Guangzhou imperial court was the self-management of government production—mainly the rent of government-owned land and the profits of the five major factories in the east, south, west, north, and inner regions.It is more difficult to get this part of the money. Zhu Heqi spent a lot of energy on this aspect, and specially formed a management team with Pang Eunuch, Xiao Gonggong, Swen Bai, Yu Erye, and Da Boling as the core.
During the ten days on Haizhu Island, the main task of Zhu and Qi was to focus on education.The huge Cidu Temple on Haizhu Island has now been transformed into a natural university hall.However, there are no students in this school, just a group of teachers who are being trained.
Zhu Shunshui, Gu Yanwu, Qu Dajun, Qu Huajie, Qu Dajun's son, and Luo Wenzao, the bishop of Macau, formed the management of the school.In addition, there are more than a dozen "true learners" selected through last year's imperial examination to form the teacher group.
After Zhu Heqi came to Haizhu Island, his first task was to teach these people and guide them to be self-study; secondly, with the help of these people, he compiled textbooks on subjects such as Confucianism, mathematics, and natural jurisprudence; His "spell experiment"...
During the ten days on Huangpu Island, apart from handling some daily government affairs sent by the Ministry of Education, Zhu and Qi also focused on the education and training of the military academy, as well as the testing of new weapons.Sometimes, he would discuss military reforms or plans for the Northern Expedition with Zhuge Junshi, Yang Qilong, Qiu Rong, Chen Shangchuan, Wu Sanwei and other military staff.
To be honest, Zhu Heqi's power is still in its infancy.Don't look at the rapid rise, but the foundation has not yet been laid.Unlike Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong, who have a base that has been operating for many years, he has a huge and intricate military and political group.
The capital he used to start his business was nothing more than a small "rebel group", to put it harshly, it was just a group of bandits with a little idealism.Later, when Jieyang County was captured, the cause of the rebellion was on track, and more scholars began to join.Financially, they were also a little more comfortable, so Zhu Hechi could start running schools, factories, institutions, and the military.Although many "golden fingers" were opened, I did get help from a few talented people.However, the development time is too short after all, and the accumulation is insufficient, which can be said to be a difficult start.
After winning Macau and Guangzhou, Zhu Heqi's career has entered the take-off stage.With the population of Cantonese and the wealth looted from the Catholic Church in Macau and the Shangfan Palace in Guangzhou, as well as Cantonese, a trade center that is already rich in wealth.Finally, Zhu and Qi can let go of their hands and feet and work hard.
However, the things he wanted to accomplish were too big and too many. After the stalls were rolled out one by one, Zhu and Qi were a little bit overwhelmed, and felt that there was not enough time every day.
What made him a little speechless was that he himself wished that there were thirteen hours a day, so he could work hard.But the people below all looked very leisurely, even characters like Zhuge Sanhe, Yang Qilong, and Wu Sanwei were slow to do things.
Even if Zhu Dasheng gave them "promotion and salary increase" one by one, the salaries of these hard-working and simple former Confucian high-ranking officials have all been raised from tens of taels per month to one hundred to five hundred taels per month, and they will be returned to them. Everyone has allocated a big house in Guangzhou Fucheng, and the rhythm of this group of people still can't get up fast.
Who made these people get used to the slow pace of the agricultural society, while Zhu Hechi himself is the fast pace of the information society?
Of course, this "slow pace" is just Zhu Hechi's own opinion. Whether they are high-level officials, middle-level, or grass-roots people, these days there is a feeling that they are so busy that they are about to fly.
And when these people heard the news that Wu Sangui had crossed the Yangtze River, they immediately became more motivated, and someone immediately offered advice to Prince Zhu.
"My lord, Wu Sangui crossed the river with all his strength, and he will definitely use the opportunity of his high morale to seek a decisive battle with Xuanye. Although Xuanye's soldiers, horses, money and food are far more than Wu Sangui's, his Eight Banners soldiers have Weakened, and it is impossible for the new army of coated slaves to practice immediately... The situation is very beneficial to Wu Sangui!"
The one who spoke was Yang Qilong, who was in charge of intelligence in the Military Advisor's Mansion, and Zhu Hechi's "Strategic Advisor". He was not as capable as Zhuge Sanhe in terms of tactics, but he was better than that Zhuge Military Advisor in terms of grand strategy.
"Mr. Yang," Zhu Heqi also seemed a little worried, "What should we do..."
He didn't finish his sentence, but Yang Qilong and the smart people present understood what he meant "how to play tricks".Conquering the world, how can there be such a great light?It's normal to make dots go bad.
"Master," at the beginning Zhuge Sanhe, who regarded himself as a "genius military adviser", but after a while, turned into a general, waved the goose feather fan and frowned, analyzed, "Although Wu Sangui crossed the Yangtze River, But his goal is still Wuchang and Hanyang. Only by capturing these two prefectures can he control the Yangtze River waterway and the Hanshui waterway, and then go north to Xiangyang and east to Jinling with ease.
The masters under Kangxi must also understand this truth.Therefore, Kangxi will not easily transfer troops from Wuchang and Hanyang, and Wu Sangui will definitely try his best to urge Kangxi to transfer troops from Wuchang and Hanyang!If we want to play tricks, we can start from this aspect..."
The direction has been found!
But how to make it worse?
Zhu Heqi knew that the bad water in the stomach of this military adviser Zhuge was not enough... In today's Guangzhou court, the worst must be Yang Qilong.
Thinking of this, he turned his attention to Second Army Division Yang for consultation!
Chapter 274 It's Really Bad!
Yang Qilong frowned tightly, and he knew that he was holding back the water at a glance!
After holding back for a long time, Yang Qilong finally opened his "bad mouth", waving a folding fan and said slowly: "Master... Now that the autumn wind is about to rise, our navy has not yet finished preparations, and Guangdong still needs a few more It’s going to be straightened out in the next month, and I’m afraid it’s impossible to go to the south of the Yangtze River within the year.”
After hearing what he said, Zhu Heqi turned his attention to Qiu Rong and Chen Shangchuan.
The champion Qiu Rong is still a naval commander in the final analysis. After going around for a while, Zhu Heqi still made him a naval governor-his father Qiu Hui is now the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He is the governor of the navy. It's really beautiful!
After Chen Shangchuan won Qiongzhou, he was also invited to Guangzhou by Zhu Heqi—he was also a naval talent, and Yongzhen Qiongzhou was the only talent.So Zhu Heqi made him the admiral of the Nanyang Navy!
A governor of the navy and an admiral of the navy, the navy of the Guangzhou court was handed over to them.
And the main task of the two of them now is to be responsible for training naval officers and soldiers and supervising shipbuilding... This is time-consuming and labor-intensive work!
"My lord," Qiu Rong said, "if you want to hire civilian ships and foreign ships, I can give you [-] big ships for one month. But if you want to use a warship like Dongfang, you can send troops next summer." It’s already too late.”
Chen Shangchuan also said: "My lord, in fact, using civilian ships and foreign ships is enough to deal with the navy of Qingyao... But Metok, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, went to Japan not long ago in the name of visiting Japan. Ningbo, and then disappeared, probably taken to Jiangning by Fan Chengmo. And the Dutch fleet that escorted him to Ningbo is still in Ningbo port, we have to guard against it!"
Qiu Rong snorted: "These Dutch red-haired people are the worst... That Metok went to Beijing to kowtow to the Shunzhi demon head, and later helped the Qing demon fight against Xiamen Island, he deserved death !"
Military Adviser Zhuge frowned and said, "My lord, the Dutch foreign barbarians don't have much trouble with us... It is the Yanping Palace that has a grudge against them, not our Ming court. Besides, we don't prohibit the Dutch from entering Hong Kong for trade. Can't we Give them a little favor, win them over? At least keep them neutral."
Yang Qilong frowned and said: "Master, the Dutch foreigners seem to be very hostile to us, even surpassing the group of foreign monks in Macau. Is there some unknown reason for this?"
"Hehe," Zhu Heqi sneered, "Nanyang was originally the land of our Ming Dynasty, and the sea was full of merchant ships from our Ming merchants. Now it is occupied by foreign barbarians who came tens of thousands of miles from the Western Ocean. The Dutch accounted for the most. So the Dutch foreigners are naturally afraid of my revival of the Ming Dynasty, afraid that we will deprive them of their interests."
In his previous life, Zhu Hechi was a "little anti-imperialist" who dug into the corners of imperialism, so of course he knew the little tricks of imperialism.
The most unacceptable thing for the Dutch is a China that is strong enough to rebuild the order of the Celestial Dynasty in the East... Although this order has existed for more than 1000 years, they only came for a few decades.
"But we don't have such an idea now!" Zhuge Sanhe still didn't understand imperialism enough, "We have only won a corner of Guangdong now, how can we have the time to compete with the Dutch for the petty profits in Nanyang?"
Zhu Hechi snorted: "We don't have this idea, but we do have this ability. In their view, having this ability is a crime! But it's good for their warships to guard Ningbo Port, so we don't have to look for them everywhere. .When our navy is established next year, we will destroy them all together.”
Zhu Heqi's confidence in his own navy is quite high. The Great Eastern-class armed merchant ships have only completed the construction of the No. [-] and No. [-] ships. Already thinking about destroying the warship fleet of the Dutch East India Company!
Moreover, Zhuge Sanhe, Yang Qilong, and Wu Sanwei are the "mainland factions" who have no idea about the rich Nanyang. Got an idea...
"My lord," Yang Qilong had already thought of a "bad idea" at this time, "I already have a solution."
"What way?" Zhu Heqi asked.
Yang Qilong shook his fan and said, "Of course it's the way to pit Xuanye, Wu Sangui, and Geng Jingzhong."
"It's a good relationship!" Zhu Hexi said in his heart: "One plan will cheat Kangxi, Wu Sangui, and Geng Jingzhong... that's bad enough!"
"Why?" Zhu Hechi asked hurriedly.
"Of course it's a series of pits, pits within pits!" Yang Qilong laughed, "Let me first talk about the goals to be achieved."
"Let's talk." Zhu Heqi nodded.
Yang Qilong said: "I think Wu Sangui is old and frail, Wu Yingxiong has no ambitions, Wu Yingqi is reckless and impulsive... Once Wu Sangui dies, the Wu family will decline! Compared with the Wu family, the threat of Qing Yao is greater. Xuan Ye is young and energetic, and he is not An incompetent person just lacks experience, and there are not many experienced generals under him. If he wins the Jianghan battle, his methods and talents will be developed through experience.
So Jianghan will fight so that Wu Sangui can win, but at the same time he can't let him win too much.This should be our first goal. "
"Well," Zhu Hechi asked, "what about the second target?"
"The second goal is that our people must take Jiujiang and block Wu Sangui's way to the east." Yang Qilong analyzed, "Wu Sangui already has the ambition to become emperor, and after capturing Wuchang and Hanyang, he will definitely take over the title of emperor. If he can't If Jiujiang is caught in time, it is very likely that Wu Sangui will go down the river and seize Jinling."
Zhu Hechi nodded, "Is there any more?"
"There is a third goal," Yang Qilong said, "that is to win Geng Jingzhong's Fujian together with the Zheng family. If we want to achieve the first two goals, we must use Geng Jingzhong's big card. After using him, he will There is no need for the land of Fujian."
Zhu Heqi laughed: "Yeah, he might not even need his head by then!"
Yang Qilong smiled and said: "Whether he can save his head to eat depends on his fate."
"I think his life may be a bit bitter!" Zhu Heqi shook his head, "Mr. Yang, please tell me, how should Geng Jingzhong be put on the road?"