Lu Ming

Chapter 481 Consequences
Attracting investment from wealthy men in the capital is a good thing that kills multiple birds with one stone.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the finances had fallen into serious stagflation.On the one hand, the country is poor and the people are poor, but on the other hand, the gentry class hoards a large amount of stolen national taxes and does not participate in economic circulation.Natural disasters and man-made disasters occur frequently in various places, and the upper echelon has already sensed the crisis and began to store food and grass for the winter.

However, these people did not expect that there would be a person named Li Zicheng who would eventually plunder all the silver in their hands. 2000 million taels.

People in later generations know that for economic development, currency must be circulated.Therefore, the cross-travel crowd threw out a plan to buy land: the wealthy people in the capital have money, and instead of waiting to be plundered by others, it is better to take it out and buy land early.

In this way, the blood vessels that were originally blocked are equivalent to working again - the money purchased for the land will be used by the transversal people on the spot, invigorating the northern economy and buying the northern refugees.

The policy of requiring customers to bring their own farming staff is a must.It can even be said that this is the real purpose of the Travelers to absorb capital from the capital.

In this way, the accusation of "rebels absorbing refugees" does not exist.

The ancients were actually very clear about this trick. It was left over by the ancestors for thousands of years. In today’s situation of frequent disasters and wars, is there another explanation for a force to recruit refugees wantonly besides wanting to rebel?

The most serious crime in the previous bulletin accusing Cao Zongbing was absorbing refugees, and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty acquiesced to this.

That's why Cao Zongbing promptly threw out the land purchase policy to hedge against this accusation.

The core point of the land purchase policy is that it gives investors a false concept: Lao Tzu bought the land, and the tenant farmers are also Lao Tzu's households, and these assets are not named Cao.Since the population and land are scattered in the hands of the lords, it is not illegal to transport people to Yizhou.

Yes, as of now, this is how the gentlemen think.

In addition, some of the gentry who were deeply hostile to Cao Zongbing still kept their back tricks.

In the future, if the person surnamed Cao is sensible, everyone will live like this; if the person surnamed Cao is not sensible, then I am sorry.The land and population belong to the lords. If it’s not possible, the imperial court can also be used to reform the land in Yizhou and set up counties. Although the county magistrates will pay agricultural taxes when they come, there is no such thing as the surname Cao. .

This is a reserved big move that hurts both sides.

It's still the same sentence: you're eyeing other people's XX, and the idea of ​​people eyeing the gentlemen looks beautiful. As for the result, just wait and see.

In short, after the introduction of the land purchase policy, the biggest accusation that Cao Zongbing is currently facing no longer exists.The provision of "self-transportation of tenant farmers" by investors broke all the legal constraints and enabled the cross-travelers to quickly open up the situation in the north. With the help of the wind, a more "coarse" population transportation channel was opened up.

After the two most important terms of tax exemption and self-importation are negotiated, some other small policies are not very important.After all, investors have to send a team to investigate first, and then go to Yizhou to experience it, and understand all the policies.

After everything was settled, the day for Cao Zongbing to leave the capital finally arrived.

On the morning of April 1630, 4, Uncle Zhongyong and the governor of the left, Cao Chuan, bid farewell to Emperor Chongzhen in public at the court meeting. After receiving gifts such as coins and brocades from the emperor again, Uncle Zhongyong bid farewell to the mansion under renovation at noon that day He and Xue Jing, who stayed behind, led the guards and left the capital.

Unexpectedly, on the way out of the city, there was even a Ming person standing by the long street to see him off.Although there were not many people this time, the enthusiasm of the people was still the same. Mr. Cao came out of the capital amidst the sound of blessings from "Gonghou Wandai".

Leaving the capital, joining the large troops from the barracks outside the city, looking back at the gradually receding ancient city, the crossing crowd let go of their horses and led the team towards Tianjin.

From this moment on, it took half a year. In history, the Jisi Change, which represented the official countdown to the Ming Kingdom's subjugation, came to a special end in the process of being changed by the traversers.

The changes in history have far-reaching impact and great significance.

This battle is not just as simple as Hou Jin's first entry and robbery.It had an immeasurable impact on the political economy of the Ming Dynasty, and even the combat confidence of the ruling and opposition parties.

In addition, in this self-change, some seemingly inconspicuous but far-reaching changes also quietly appeared.

Judging from the superficial impact, first, this battle caused the Ming Dynasty's society to shake and the temple to shake.

Huang Taiji led the army to besiege the city, marking the shattering of Chongzhen's dream of rejuvenation.During the battle, the defense system in the Gyeonggi region of the Ming Dynasty was severely damaged. The six generals Zhao Ledjiao, Man Gui, Sun Zushou, Ma Dengyun, Hei Yunlong, and Zhu Guoyan were either killed or captured.

In addition, Wang Qia, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Zhang Fengxiang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, Yuan Chonghuan, governor of Jiliao, Wang Yuanya, governor of Zunhua, and Liu Ce, the prime minister of Jiliaobao, were either dead or imprisoned.

Second, the court situation is chaotic.After the Jin army retreated, the Ming court not only failed to learn the lesson, but took the opportunity to sway and engage in party struggle.Since Han Yu, Qian Longxi, Cheng Jiming, and Li Biao, the cabinet scholars of the Donglin Party, resigned, they were replaced by Zhou Yanru, Wen Tiren and others in the cabinet, and the six ministries and nine ministers were also changed accordingly.

Third, the defense of the capital is lax.Before that, the capital had lived in peace for 180 years.When the war came suddenly, there was no actual preparation from top to bottom, the army defending the city was in chaos, and the capital was almost lost in the hands of Hou Jin.

In the end, the wealth was plundered and the people lost their lives.The Gyeonggi and Gyeongdong areas were plundered wantonly, the people were devastated, and all businesses withered.All of the above exacerbated social conflicts in the Ming Dynasty and accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

This battle is of great significance in history.It marked a major change in the strategic situation of the Ming and Qing Dynasties: Ming’s previous policies of fortress advancement, economic blockade, and diplomatic alliance all collapsed before and after this campaign, and Ming permanently lost its strategic initiative.

In addition to the above losses, there are other things that escaped from Pandora's box.

Not long after the Jisi Change, under financial pressure, the Ming court relaxed the restrictions on "donation classes" and began to sell official hats on a large scale.

Although the imperial courts of all dynasties before this also sold officials, they all sold a title of supervising students to businessmen so that their children could participate in the imperial examinations in the future, and the total amount was controllable.

But this time the sale of officials was on a large scale. Anyone who paid the money could become an official, or even buy a real-time official position.Then the trend intensified, and in the last years of Chongzhen, a Beijing official sold for 3000 taels of silver.

As we all know, whenever the imperial court sells officials wantonly, it should go bankrupt-the end of the Han Dynasty, the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the end of the Ming Dynasty, all of which are like this.

While opening the gates to sell officials, Chongzhen continued to increase taxes.In history, just next year, the emperor raised the field tax from nine per cent to one cent and two per cent, distributed more than 660 million taels of silver, and collected more than 520 million taels of silver.In addition to tariffs, salt tax and miscellaneous items, a total of 740 taels of silver was collected.

The imperial court raised one or two taxes, and the officials below at least took the opportunity to collect three or two taxes to fill their own pockets, so Daming's blood was drained one after another like this.

The last bad consequence of the Jisi Change was that it led to the growth of the Shanshanan Peasant Army.

Before Chongzhen saw Hou Jin's army entering the pass, he issued an imperial edict.

After receiving the edict, Zhang Mengjing, governor of Yansui, Liu Guangsheng, governor of Shaanxi, Yang He, governor of three borders of Shaanxi, Mei Zhihuan, governor of Gansu and others immediately mobilized more than 17000 elite soldiers from each border town, led by the commander-in-chief of the five major towns along the border to Beijing to serve the king. .

On the way of King Qin's army entering Beijing, the nightmare began.

First of all, there was such a regulation in the Ming Dynasty: After the guest army arrived in the field, no food would be released on the day.

After Shanxi General Zhang Honggong's army arrived in the Jingyuan area, the panicked military department first ordered the department to station in Tongzhou, then transferred to Changping the next day, and sent to Shouliang Township on the third day.

This caused Zhang Honggong's army to go without food or drink for three consecutive days.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military system of the border towns was already rotten to the bone, and there was no discipline at all.The soldiers had been short of food and wages for a long time, and they complained a lot. As a result, this time King Qianliqin couldn't even eat enough in the end.

Hungry and hungry, the soldiers had no choice but to rob folk food in the station.

A funny scene appeared: the court arrested Zhang Honggong, the general of Shanxi, and Geng Ruqi, the governor of Shanxi, as the reason that they had no way to rule.

Then the frontier soldiers brought by the two broke up and ran back to Shanxi.After that, the imperial court executed Zhang Honggong and Geng Ruqi, and the King Qin army along the way was gone.

In addition, the Qinwang army on the Yansui road, because the general soldier Wu Zimian withheld military rations (this was very common in the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty), which caused a large number of soldiers to flee back to Yansui halfway.

But Zhang Mengjing, the governor of Yansui, was afraid and angry because of this incident, and died of grief and anger, and the King Qin army along the way was gone.

For the same reason that they did not distribute food for Anjia, Gansu King Qin’s army also mutinied in Anding County: After the conflict intensified, the sergeant Wang Jincai and others instigated the soldiers to kill the generals who blocked them, robbed the money and food in the camp, and fled back to their hometown.

In this way, the originally aggressive Qinwang frontier army all collapsed halfway because of the financial and corruption problems of the imperial court.

The most frightening thing is that these deserters with military skills, most of them later joined the various peasant armies that were revolting in Shanshan and Shaanxi: Gao Yingxiang, Wang Jiayin, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Express who had already taken the lead. They formed the backbone of all walks of life to break into the Wanglaoying camp.

The impact of this: the elites of the border towns have been drawn out, and the strength of the peasant army has greatly increased.With the three years of Chongzhen as the boundary, the Chuang Wangs from all walks of life further gathered their strength, and began to move around in a large area in the northern part of the Ming Kingdom.

If it is said that before the Jisi Change, Daming was still a dilapidated building, then after that, the first load-bearing column of the building has collapsed, becoming a real dilapidated building.

And in this plane, although the cross-travelers made timely repairs, the steel bars inside the dilapidated building in Daming had already corroded.From the overall point of view, the collapse is irreversible, and traveling through the crowd cannot save the situation.

In other words, the time-traversing people actually don't want to save them—nothing broken, nothing built.

(End of this chapter)