Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 155 The Great Dragon
Zhu Yihai rode into Suzhou City under the guard of Habayashi.

He was riding a white horse, wearing silver armor, looking left and right. Suzhou City, an important town in the south of the Yangtze River, is indeed one of the most prosperous cities in Ming Dynasty, and he was lucky. He was not slaughtered like Yangzhou, nor was he killed like Nandu. Beijing was also looted.

Because they surrendered after hearing the news, there was basically no change in Suzhou, except that Yang Wencong led troops into Suzhou City, beheaded Duduo and Qian Qianyi's recruiting envoys, killed a few false officials, and then opened the treasury. He took out the silver and distributed it to some Ming soldiers as severance pay, and took a batch of money and food to evacuate.

Yang Wencong wanted to defend Suzhou at that time, but he had few troops and no fighting spirit, so he had no choice but to abandon Suzhou.When he left, he did not destroy the city of Suzhou. He retreated, and the forward of the Qing army had arrived outside the gate of Suzhou that day.

Suzhou City has not suffered any real war. Although the local national treasure stationed in Suzhou is very greedy and brutal, compared with many cities in the Central Plains that were destroyed in the war, Suzhou is lucky.

Jinwu Town attacked Suzhou by surprise and took it almost without bloodshed.

At this time, Suzhou City could not even feel the atmosphere of war. There were not many people on the streets. Some people came to welcome Master Wang when they heard that Master Wang had entered the city, but most of them were small townsfolk, peddlers and pawns.Those gentry and powerful households, on the contrary, only rarely came, and many families only sent a few symbolic people to welcome them.

They were obviously not optimistic about Lu Jianguo, and felt that the Qing army was powerful.

"These damned guys should all be killed." Yang Wencong, who had followed into the city, reentered Suzhou with mixed feelings. At the beginning, he went all the way south from Zhenjiang to attack and recruit envoys in Suzhou, but he failed to stay behind.Unexpectedly, he could come back so soon, but the attitude of these people in Suzhou City made him angry. At the beginning, these people also regarded him as a plague god.

I wish he would leave as soon as possible. No one would agree to defend Suzhou together.

Now that Master Wang is on the Northern Expedition and Guangxu Prefecture, these people still have this attitude.

"When the Tartars entered Suzhou, they welcomed them grandly and warmly."

However, Zhu Yihai has long been used to it, "In the land of the Three Wus, there are loyal Jiangdong righteous men and weak Wu Xia cowards, so don't worry too much about it."

"Your Majesty welcomes you." Fu Ya.

Yuan Zongdi, Zhang Mingbin, Ma Jixiang, Chen Bangding and other Ma Jun generals all waited to see him. Just now, everyone did not reveal Zhu Yihai's identity as the supervisor of the country outside.

"Sit all."

"The minister dereliction of duty, let Tu Guobao escape." Zhang Mingbin made many helpless pleas, digging three feet, but failed to dig up the figure of Tu Guobao.

"If you run away, you run away. If you run away, the monk can't run away from the temple. If you run away this time, you will catch it next time. Besides, didn't you dig out the underground treasury of the national treasure, and the harvest is very rich." Zhu Yihai smiled. comforting.

Zhang Mingbin handed over a list, "I am also very surprised. This national treasure can really be amassed. I actually dug such a big secret room under the governor's office and hid so much gold and silver. I have sealed all the property. Sending troops to watch over it, nothing less.”

Zhu Yihai took it and glanced at it. The list was quite long, mainly gold and silver, and there were also some precious items such as jewelry and tortoiseshell. Regardless of these luxury items, only gold and silver are very amazing.

There are more than 10 taels of gold, more than [-] taels of silver, and other things are estimated to be worth no less than [-] taels.

"This guy is indeed very greedy. He has only been the governor of Jiangning for a few months?"

Zhu Yihai thought about the fact that Tu Guobao was too greedy in history, so even the Qing court couldn't stand it. He was demoted and punished first, but he didn't repent, and it got worse, so Dorgon personally ordered his dismissal and investigation, and Tu Guobao finally committed suicide in fear of crime. .

Compared with Zhu Dadian's greed, Tu Guobao's greed is the kind that is both greedy and capable. Of course, in truth, Tu Guobao's ability is far inferior to Zhu Dadian's.

Counting the time, Zhu Dadian should also be in Huguang, and I don't know if the takeover of Huguangshun is going well, and I don't know if He Tengjiao will honestly step aside.

"In addition to the discovery of the secret treasury of the national treasure, we also found the Tibetan silver of some of his confidantes, such as Zou Xixiang, the deputy general of the Chinese army, and his nephew Fubiao Guerrilla Yang Guohai. Yu Wanliang. This Yang Guohai, taking advantage of his power as a national treasure, frantically smuggled salt, and even smuggled sulfur and saltpeter, and even dared to resell armor, horses, birds and guns in the army."

The two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang in the south of the Yangtze River are both heavy taxes in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty. The money, food and taxes paid by the two prefectures even accounted for a huge proportion of the imperial court.

Taking the Suzhou government as an example, the money and food handed over are mainly divided into the money and food handed over to Beijing’s inner government, including gold flower silver and Jiegang silver for the inner carrier warehouse, white grain plus silver for the supply warehouse, and natural wax tea. The original color three-silk cloth and the original color broad white cloth were given to Jia and Tingziku, and the white grain and silver were given to the wine and vinegar noodle bureau, and the Lumi white grain and silver were given to the vassal kings.

In addition, it must be paid to Taicang, Jingtongcang, and Yamen of the Ministry of Households.

In addition, white grain and silver must be handed over to Guanglu Temple, four divisions of labor silver and various materials must be handed over to the Ministry of Industry, and animal material silver, medicinal material silver, etc. must be handed over to the Ministry of Rites, not including the grain and silver that will be escorted to Nanjing. Materials etc.

Roughly calculated, for a prefecture in Suzhou, the main land tax, the summer tax is worth more than 66 taels of silver, the autumn grain is worth more than 5000 taels of silver, and the materials for supply are worth about [-] taels of silver. Two, the banknote tariff is about [-] taels.

The salt tax is about 5000 taels, the miscellaneous courses are about 11 taels, the Yao service is worth more than 90 taels of silver, and several major items are worth about [-] taels of silver.

The land tax accounted for more than 110%, the silver for the Yao service accounted for more than 18.00%, and the two together accounted for [-]%.Later, due to the revision of the commercial tax, the amount was increased from more than [-] taels to more than [-] taels. Therefore, the total tax amount in Suzhou was converted to [-] million taels of silver, and the commercial tax accounted for [-]%.

The taxation of a prefecture of Suzhou far exceeds that of a province of Zhejiang.

Suzhou plus Songjiang plus Nanjing accounted for one-third of the world's taxes.

"Is there any silver grain in the Suzhou government treasury?"

"There are only tens of thousands of taels of silver, but there are more than 3 shi of rice, more than [-] shi of wheat, and more than [-] shi of beans. There are also many weapons and armor, even bird guns and cannons, and there are many iron materials and other materials for making weapons and armor. "

Hearing this news, Zhu Yihai was refreshed.

In his [-] Northern Expeditionary Army, there are still many soldiers who only have a long gun, and even less armor, and firearms and gunpowder can only be used sparingly.

"As expected of a financial and taxation center in the south of the Yangtze River, Suzhou is indeed rich, so hurry up and transfer them all."

"Really don't keep it?"

Although Zhu Yihai has said more than once about his strategic plan, it is necessary to trade space for time, and be prepared for a protracted war. You cannot rush to fight with the Qing army, but you must first buy time, train soldiers, and stabilize people's hearts.After the strength comes up, come to the decisive battle.

Therefore, the purpose of this Northern Expedition is not to regain lost land or capture many cities, but to campaign and fight to eliminate some enemy forces. Knowing that Daming is still fighting, he has not died yet.

No matter how many cities have been conquered, they will not defend them now, but they will try their best to seize supplies, money and food to support the army.

But when Zhu Yihai really said that he wanted to withdraw, everyone was still reluctant.

"Since we can win Suzhou now, wouldn't it be easier to come back in the future? So don't be afraid to break these bottles and cans. Now they are a burden to us, and we have to travel lightly."

Zhu Yihai also knew that Zhang Guowei, the supervisor, gave Zhu Yihai more than one time to propose his recovery strategy. In summary, his strategy was actually the same as Sun Chengzong's management of Liaodong during the Chongzhen reign of Tianqi.

It is to fight for every inch of land, advance steadily, first capture Hangzhou, and then engage in fortress tactics, relying on big cities like Hangzhou, Songjiang, and Suzhou, advance step by step, defend the city with the Tartars, and rely on the big cities to fight against the Tartars, he thinks Sun Chengzong's tactics back then were very effective outside the pass. If it weren't for the eunuch party's destruction, it would definitely be pushed all the way to Fushun and Shenyang.

Of course, Zhu Yihai believed that Sun Chengzong's tactics back then had changed the situation outside the pass, but they might not be able to win to the end, let alone be applicable in this era.

Now that he is fighting for every inch of land with the Tartars, Dorgon can laugh out loud in his dreams.

Although Zhu Yihai is only a history buff, he knows history after all. He is equivalent to a half-prophet. Combining with historical trends, the strategy Zhu Yihai drew up was the Northern Expedition of the First Pro-Army Army. It is not only to slow down the pace of the Qing army going south to the base camp in eastern Zhejiang, but also to gain prestige for him as a supervisor, and even to manage his own real people.

Without a real army, the supervisor or the emperor is actually just a puppet placed in the sky.

Going north to Sanwu is to gain prestige and win the hearts of the people, and it is also the basis for training troops, expanding the army and increasing strength. Only when this step is done well can the next step be started.

Zhu Yihai has already opened up the situation in Sanwu, and has also begun to operate in further places, such as sending Zhu Dadian to Huguang to supervise the division, recruiting the rest of the Chuang army, wooing Huguang officials to block Yinxi, and kicking He Tengjiao. Open up a new battlefield and base to contain the Qing army.

He has already begun to deploy the third step, which is to wait for Wang Zhiren to solve Zhoushan's worries, go to Shaoxing to sit on the front line, and then transfer Zhang Guowei to Jiangxi to supervise the division. Go to reinforce Ganzhou.

Ganzhou is the key eye of the next chess game, connecting Huguang to the west, Zhejiang and Fujian to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and the Yangtze River to the north, leading to the Central Plains.

Ganzhou itself is also high and dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so as long as Ganzhou can be defended well, things will become a dragon, and the entire front will be alive.

The Ming army was able to put pressure on the Qing army at the same time from the fronts thousands of miles from east to west, making the Qing army exhausted. Zhu Yihai's final strategy is to hold the strategic initiative in his hands.

Historically, Nanming retreated steadily, not because the Qing army was so strong that it was invincible, but because Nanming never had a clear strategic plan, or that internal strife was serious and each had their own ghosts, so they were not able to unify the internal and external at all.

The various forces in the Southern Ming Dynasty were fighting on their own. The Qing army could calmly mobilize and concentrate their forces to defeat them one by one. Their soldiers could be transferred from Nanjing to Jingzhou, from Shaanxi to Sichuan, and from Hangzhou to Jiangxi. The most elite The Eight Banners soldiers were also deployed everywhere, coupled with the continuous integration of the surrendered green battalion soldiers, and finally nibbled and advanced step by step, but it was not until the Kangxi period that the remaining part of the Zhongzhen Battalion in eastern Sichuan and the Zheng family that pacified Taiwan were wiped out.

(End of this chapter)