Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 344

Jiangning.

Zhao Zhilong's mansion, a group of nobles from the former dynasty gathered again.

"Master Zhao, this is no longer a way to survive, and forced to donate again!"

"It's endless."

Xu Yunjue, Zhang Guobi, Zhang Gongri, Li Zushu, Zhang Weicheng, Tang Guozuo, Deng Wenyu and others complained endlessly.

Last time Zhao Zhilong was persuaded to donate 20 taels, and Xu Yunjue was sent to donate 100 million taels. In the end, they got a [-]% discount.

But it's only been a few days, come again?
Even if you are cutting leeks, you have to cut one crop and let the second crop grow before you can cut it again.

Although everyone is a member of the Ming Dynasty and has shared prosperity with the country for more than two hundred years, the money did not come by the wind.

This year has been very difficult for everyone. First, when the Qing army crossed the river, everyone was forced to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and they also paid a large sum of money to pay tribute. Even the magistrate, a Taoist member of the vassal state, did not dare to offend him.

Everywhere must be managed, and everywhere must be filial.

After a few days of stability, the Qing court first began to turn its back on the account, and then the Ming army reappeared, Jiangnan was corrupted, everyone's business and trade, and even the farm mines were greatly affected. When Jiangning was under martial law, the granary rice in their hands Pubuzhuang and others were directly expropriated and borrowed materials in exchange for a pile of IOUs.

Big donations and small donations continue.

"Mr. Zhao, you are well-informed. What is the situation outside now? Why is the situation so tense?" The speaker was the fifth generation of Lingbihou. .

At that time, Tang He was a fellow of Taizu Fengyang, and an old brother who herded cattle. Like Xu Da, he was Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted brother, and he was a rare one among the founding heroes. He was a Marquis, but he failed to be one of the Dukes of the Six Kingdoms, but he was later granted the title of Duke of Xin, and after his death he was posthumously named King of Dongou.

However, there was a problem with the inheritance of the title of the Tang family. Tang and his five sons, the eldest son died in the 14th year of Hongwu's conquest of Yunnan. Yao, the five sons achieved the first-rank position as the governor of the Zuo Army, but unfortunately they also died in the battle.

Only the second son lived longer, but after Tang He died, according to the system, the eldest son should inherit the title. If the son died early, then the grandson would be the grandson. When He's great-great-great-grandson asked the court for the title, it was already Ming Yingzong's time, and Tang He's title had not been inherited for 40 years.

At this time, Ming Yingzong didn't think much about the love of the Taizu's old brother's family, and directly dismissed the Duke of Xinguo. What's more unfortunate is that Tang He's great-great-grandson never gave birth to a son, and in the end he had to adopt a son from his younger brother. When the son came, it was Tang Shaozong.

Originally, the Tang family had been dismissed from their titles. Who knew that Xiaozong was in power, and he attached great importance to the meritorious service of the founding officials of the year, so he specially granted Tang Shaozong a position as the commander of the Nanjing Jinyiwei, which may be hereditary.

When he arrived in Jiajing, Tang Shaozong, the hereditary commander of Jinyiwei in Nanjing, was given the title of Marquis of Lingbi. From then on, it was passed on for five generations, and it was in the hands of Tang Guozuo.

It can be said that Daming was really good to the Tang family. The ancestors were born to be dukes and died as princes, and their descendants cut off the inheritance of titles. After decades, they can renew the title of marquis.

"Last time I took out 2 taels of silver, but now I can't get it out. Now that I have eaten the rations and have not eaten the next meal, this Jiangning City is a city. I think we will die. I heard that Ma Guozhu He directly threatened that he would be like Zu Dashou of Dalinghe, and eat whatever he could eat or not. If the city ran out of food and the reinforcements did not arrive, then the whole city would be slaughtered as two-legged sheep for military rations. Eat first, then the women, and finally the men..."

Zhao Zhilong looked at Tang Guozuo who was very loud today, thinking that the Tang family was related to Lu Wangfu, the first generation Lu Wang Zhu Tan married two concubines successively, both daughters of Tang He.Zhu Tan's posthumous title was Huang, which was decided by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. We can see how absurd this king of Lu is, and it is said that the first concubine Tang was as violent and absurd as King Lu Huang, so he was given death by Zhu Yuanzhang later, in order to appease Tang He, He also asked Tang He to marry a daughter to be Zhu Tan's concubine, and also asked Tang He's son to serve as a guard in Lu Wang's mansion.

Since then, Lu Wangfu and Tang's family have often married.

When Zhu Yihai went south, Zhu Yihai was sent to Taizhou and left his second son in Nanjing, who lived in Tang's family at that time.

Tang Guozuo also planned to betroth his daughter-in-law to the son of King Lu, but later the son died in the military chaos when the Qing army went south.

This guy's voice is so loud today, is it because of this relationship?
Zhao Zhilong pondered, has he already made secret contact with King Lu?
He remained calm. Zhao Zhilong was the tenth generation of Xin Chengbo. His ancestors were honored ministers who followed Zhu Dijing, who was not successful. He was a level behind the founding heroes of the Tang family. However, Zhao Zhilong was the last Nanjing defender. After Fu Ma Shiying and others fled, he stayed in Nanjing, and finally led a hundred officials to offer Nanjing to surrender.

"We have to think of a way, we can't really become two-legged sheep, can we?" Tang Guozuo continued to speak.

Everyone was silent.

In the past six months, everyone has experienced the tragic experience of falling from Yunxiao to the bottom of the dust. The former nobles of the country, aloof and commanding the wind and rain, are so majestic.Although the civilization of the Ming Dynasty is high and the military is cheap, the family of meritorious service is not an ordinary military officer, it is the top privileged family.

Just like Liu Kongzhao, the admiral of Caojiang, who was the admiral of Caojiang, was able to scold the servants of Donglin after King Fu succeeded to the throne, Zhao Zhilong, who was guarding Nanjing, could also directly interfere with the political affairs of the court, not to mention the economic privileges up.

And in the past few months, they have experienced the loss of these powers.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

These honorable ministers used to be noble and rich, but now that they have lost their power support, they have become cattle and sheep at the mercy of others.

Not to mention the Governor of Economics and Strategy, even the generals and clerks in the city are now daring to come to their door to blackmail them.

Endurance, until now it is really unbearable.

After all, he had only paid tens of thousands of taels of silver, and it was only a few days later that he asked for it again.

Furthermore, the Ming army's offensive in the past half month was really shocking, especially in the first battle of Xuzhou and the battle of Zhenjiang, even the most elite Manchu and Han Eight Banners soldiers could not beat the Ming army head-on.

What does it feel like?
This made them feel agitated.

At the beginning when thieves invaded Beijing, Chongzhen hanged himself, and the Qing army entered the pass, they also participated in supporting King Fu and proclaiming themselves emperor, and they also enjoyed the skyrocketing power and wealth brought about by their support.

But then the Qing army went south, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo. Zuo Liangyu of Xiangyang even raised troops to go south to the side of the Qing emperor. Then the Qing army attacked Huai, the four towns were defeated, and the emperor fled. They also experienced helpless surrender.

Now that Lu Jianguo is so powerful, it is already the appearance of Zhongxing Mingzhu, and everyone's hearts inevitably began to waver again.

It's really hard to be a subjugated slave, let alone go from a Xunchen to a leek.

Everyone was restless, but still hesitating and wandering, no one dared to take the first step rashly.

Zhao Zhilong sighed, "The situation is bad."

"The [-] Banners led by Meilezhang Jingbashan were all defeated in Zhenjiang and wiped out. It is said that the Eight Banners of Manchuria, which are said to be brave and capable of fighting, actually had thirteen kneeling begging for surrender. They walked ten miles on their knees. Asked to surrender to the King of Lu, the braid was cut off, even the scalp was cut off, and their thumbs, middle fingers and thumbs of both feet were cut off, and then they were named Baylor, and eight of them were named Eight Banners host·····"

"Admiral Cao Jiang, Governor of Anhui Chen Jin, Governor of Water Transport, Governor of Rivers, Envoy of Salt Transport and Governor of Huaiyang Chen Tai, Governor of Jiangning Zhang Dayou, also died in Zhenjiang."

"Jiangzhou Water Camp and Zhenjiang Water Camp both rebelled. The Ming army seized thousands of horses, tens of thousands of mules, thousands of armors, countless knives and guns, dozens of cannons in red clothes, and countless gunpowder of various types... "

"Now Jiangning City only has [-] soldiers, [-] warp bidders, [-] supervisor bidders, and more than [-] warden bidders received by local national treasures."

"In addition to the Zhenjiang and Jiangzhou naval battalions, there were two other naval battalions and one Tibi battalion, all of which were defeated or captured."

Following Zhao Zhilong's news, the faces of all the ex-Mingxun officials were flushed and their breathing became short of breath. They were more informed than ordinary people, and they belonged to the few who could probably know about the Eight Banners, which only had 20 soldiers. Knowing that after the Eight Banners entered the customs, the troops are scattered, and also know that Jiangxi and Hanzhong are anyway, and Huguang, Jiangnan, Shandong and other places are corrupt.

In particular, the deaths of Shang Kexi, Chen Jin, Bashan, etc., as well as the green camp rebellions in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, let them understand that this seems to be changing.

"Governor Ma said that we must stick to Jiangning, live with the city, and die together!"

······
Tang Guozuo blushed and said, "The situation in Jiangning is not as good as Xia Shi."

He was talking about the situation after the Qing army crossed the river and captured Zhenjiang.

While talking, an Jinglue banner officer came with several pacesetters to deliver the order. After entering, he glanced at everyone's faces, and then said with a smile, "It turns out that everyone is here, so it saves my legs and feet. It just so happened that I was going to go to your residence, but now it will save trouble."

"Everyone, the situation is difficult. Ming thieves are invading. There is an order. The city has the money to contribute money and is capable of contributing. Time is urgent, so we will donate another amount according to the amount donated last time. In addition, Yan Jinglue will borrow money from you again." a sum."

"This is a list, and please take the money."

As he said that, he sent two slips to Zhao Zhilong, one was a donation slip, which was the same as the previous amount of 2 taels of silver, and the other was an IOU, which was a loan of 2 taels of silver.

It is said to be an IOU, but there is neither the name of the borrower or the repayer, nor the witness of the guarantor, nor the agreed repayment time and interest.

This kind of excuse is simply to deceive people.

"I also ask Mr. Zhao to get someone to get the money quickly. I'm running out of time and I have to go to the next one."

"Gold and copper coins can also be converted into silver."

(End of this chapter)