Chapter 190 All are Dispatching Troops and Generals
Chapter 190 Everyone is mobilizing troops and generals
Zhu Cixiang threatened to cut down mulberry trees and restore farmland. He felt that he was cheating, but those officials and scholarly families did not think so.
In the past, Jiangnan was a land of fish and rice. Later, with the prosperity of maritime trade and the development of the textile industry, a large number of fertile fields were turned into mulberry fields for profit. In the end, the food produced in Jiangnan was not enough for itself, and Jiangxi and Huguang needed to transport food.
This kind of behavior of turning farmland into mulberry fields in pursuit of profit, leading to a reduction in food production, and regardless of the life and death of the people in the world, is something Confucianism is not ashamed of. It is also an act of valuing business and suppressing agriculture.
If the emperor, under the banner of caring for the people of the world, demanded that all the mulberry fields in the south of the Yangtze River be converted into farmland and replanted with rice, it would be an act of great justice.
At least on the surface, no one dares to object.
In ancient times, morality often took precedence over the law, especially in the Ming Dynasty, which governed the country with benevolence and filial piety.
Therefore, the officials and scholarly families in Jiangnan were really frightened by the emperor's threat to cut down mulberry trees and restore farmland, and the silk merchants were also frightened.
In fact, the officials and aristocratic families in Jiangnan were originally afraid of the emperor's direct violence. Now that the emperor took a step back, they naturally chose to compromise by taking advantage of the situation.
Although the price of raw silk increased threefold, it could not match the filial piety of those merchants in the past, but in the end some losses were recovered.
And those silk merchants happily accepted it. Although it cost three times the unjust money, it was still worth it to completely get rid of those official families.
However, official families from various places did not completely give up on reeling and weaving. While building looms and organizing merchants and farmers to weave at home, they were also looking for new small businessmen to support them and let them sell.
Obviously these official families also know that production and sales cannot be entirely in the hands of those merchants, otherwise even if they control the raw material raw silk, they will be controlled by others in the future.
After all, regulations are dead and people are alive. It is completely possible for those farmers to weave the cloth and sell it to the merchants they support, and they only need to collect money from both farmers and merchants. It does not exist at all.
Selling cloth and doing business.
Zhu Cixiang was naturally aware of the little thoughts of these officials and aristocratic families, and for the time being he was too lazy to care.
With the compromise of the officials and scholarly families who controlled a large amount of mulberry fields, the silk weaving industry in Jiangnan finally began to recover, but the price of silk rose sharply.
After some landowners and gentry were expropriated in various places, other gentry and landlords also compromised and retreated, setting the rent at around 50% and never more than 60%.
There is no other way. Everyone wants to take the imperial examination and become an official. If the land rent is too high, it will inevitably affect their reputation.
At that time, even if the emperor slaps his hat of a fish and meat village on his head and refuses admission to high school, there will be no room for reasoning.
After temporarily stabilizing the business in Jiangnan, it was already February. Zhu Cihong did not waste any more time and began to mobilize troops and generals. While preparing to implement the New Deal in the southern provinces, he was also preparing to deal with the two major rebels.
The first is to dispatch garrisons to the seven provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi.
Similarly, each county and scattered prefecture will set up a hundred-household office with a garrison of 100 to 150 troops. Zhili Prefecture and Prefecture will set up a thousand-household office with a garrison of 800 to 1,000 troops. Each province will set up a garrison, with the capital government directly
Five thousand troops were stationed.
Yunnan and Guizhou, which border Sichuan, will not implement the New Deal for the time being, and the chieftains in the seven provinces will not implement the New Deal for the time being.
As troops and horses continued to arrive in various provinces, the cabinet also began a series of personnel transfers. First, senior officials such as the patrol envoys from the seven provinces were all transferred to the Eight Ministries in Nanjing.
Then he selected seven ministers from the left to serve as governors of each province, and brought a large number of officials there to form eight branches in each province.
It was not until the new governor took office and the provincial branches were established that the cabinet followed the original process of the Southern Zhili, first reporting the list of officials to the Ministry of Personnel for record, then granting grades, and finally swapping them with each other.
With the example and experience of Southern Zhili, as well as the vigorous publicity of the Propaganda Supervision Bureau, now the provinces are able to implement it more easily, and it is also much smoother.
Obviously, both the officials in the provinces, the landlords, gentry, and the common people were well prepared and knew that it was useless to resist their evil intentions, and they would only suffer in the end, because lessons abounded.
The landowners, gentry and officials in Southern Zhili are much smarter than those in other provinces.
At the same time, after the beginning of the new year, the Red Lady also began to mobilize troops and generals in the north and hoard food, grass and weapons on a large scale.
In Henan alone, no less than millions of grains were hoarded. In Taiyuan, Beijing, and Shanhaiguan, there were also two million stone grains each.
Liu Zeqing's first town and Tang Tong's sixth town were all transferred to Luoyang, and Wu Sangui was ordered to lead the front army south to Henan.
Zhu Cixiang also asked Li Dakai to lead the Ninth Town to Chongqing, and the Eighth Town led by Qin Lihua also entered a state of war readiness. After last year's autumn harvest, grain from Huguang was also continuously shipped to Shizhu.
With such large-scale deployment of troops and supplies of grain and grass from the north and south at the same time, almost any fool knew that the imperial court was finally going to deal with the two major rebel kings who were separatist in the southwest and northwest.
Zhu Cixiang's plan was to deal with King Chuang first, and then the Eight Kings.
The ninth and eighth towns of Chongqing and Shizhu first stood still to intimidate Zhang Xianzhong, and then Wu Sangui led the former army and the four towns of He, Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie, Tang Tong, and Zuo Menggeng, with a total of 180,000 troops, to attack from Henan.
The Red Lady led the Central Army, the Left Army, Liu Liangzuo's troops in Shanxi, and part of the Royal Forest Army, a total of 160,000 troops, to attack northern Shaanxi from Shanxi, attacking from two directions.
Zhou Yuji's rear army still guarded the front line of Ji Town, Shanhaiguan, Huang Degong's right army stayed in the capital, and Liu Fangliang and Wu Sanfu, who guarded Xuanfu in Datong, also remained unchanged.
But the plan could never keep up with the changes. Just when Zhu Cixi sent people to Chang'an and Chengdu to spread the decree, announcing that Qin King Li Zicheng and Shu King Zhang Xianzhong came to Beijing to face the saints, and then took action on the grounds that the two kings did not obey the emperor's edict, the slaves in the Northeast were not willing to be lonely.
Dorgon issued a proclamation in March, accusing the Tumut tribe of betrayal and using despicable means to kill the Qing prince. He announced an army expedition and vowed to kill all the Tumut tribe.
The specific date for the start of the troops was not specified.
In fact, after the beginning of the new year, as the Ming army mobilized troops on a large scale, Dorgon realized that the Ming army might want to deal with King Chuang and the Eight Kings, so he immediately transferred Hong Chengchou back to Shengjing from North Korea to ask for advice.
As the saying goes, the enemy of the enemy is an ally. Even without Hong Chengchou's explanation, Duo Ergun knew that he could never let the Ming Dynasty destroy the two anti-kings.
However, the three sides of the Ming Dynasty had strong soldiers and horses, and the defense was tight. Not to mention that it was difficult to break through the barrier now. Even if he could break through, Dorgon would not dare to rush in as casually as before.
But if the Qing Dynasty did not take action, King Chuang and the Eight Kings would never be able to withstand the Ming army. When the Ming Dynasty eliminated the two anti-kings, they would definitely turn around and deal with the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, under Hong Chengchou's suggestion, Dorgon also actively prepared for war, while sending envoys to contact Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, hoping to reach a tripartite alliance, and issued a proclamation threatening to conquer the Tumote tribe.
If the Ming army really ignored Chuang Wang and attacked Chuang Wang, then the Qing Dynasty would also directly send troops to the west, destroy the Tumote tribe, and then go south and northwest from Hetao to assist Chuang Wang.
If the Ming army stood still, then the Qing army would also stand still.
The fact is indeed as Hong Chengchou expected. Since the news that Jin Yiwei general Jian Nu was also dispatching troops and actively preparing for war spread back to Beijing, the Red Lady only let Wu Sangui go south to Henan, while the Chinese army and the left army temporarily
We stopped at Xuanfu in Datong and did not continue going south.
Because if the Ming army did not help, the Tumote tribe would never be able to defeat the Eight Banners of Jiannu.