Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 354

Under normal circumstances, their power has been greatly enhanced, but the status of the chief assistant has declined. However, under this special situation, the power of the cabinet is greatly restricted.

Song Zhipu, the chief assistant, never objected to this.

Zhu Yihai is also very satisfied with this new system. He always holds great power, and he doesn't have to worry about being constrained or even emptied by the court and the cabinet.

"Your Highness, I think I deserve a reward, and it's so rare that I deserve a heavy reward. Especially the accompanying troops from the imperial battalion deserve a heavy reward. After all, they have a lot of credit for this."

Both Xu Shiqi and Shen Chenquan are cabinet bachelors and members of the Imperial Council. They generally represent the cabinet. General affairs are handled directly in the name of the cabinet, and sometimes important matters are communicated with the cabinet.

"We suggest three months' full salary as the reward standard. For example, the first-class soldier's monthly full salary is four taels, so this time, we will directly pay 13 taels."

Shen Chenquan suggested that the full salary of these three months should be used as a reward for the new emperor's enthronement, one month of which will be directly issued to the dragon silver, and the other two months will be issued to the bank of the account department.

"The ministers think that we should give out more wine and meat rewards. Recently, the army has more supplies, so we can consider giving out some more cloth to the soldiers."

Zhu Yihai nodded.

"Now around Nanjing, there are not only the imperial battalion, but also some sailors, local battalion soldiers, and village warriors. The total number of Zhan, Fu, and village soldiers is no less than [-]. This reward must be fast and fair, and no troubles will arise. "

Paying three months' salary means several 10 taels of silver, but Zhu Yihai still has some silver on hand now.

"In my opinion, it's better to use half a year's salary as a reward. Everyone in the Northern Expedition was very hard, and usually only received half of the salary. This time, let's pay more. Not only the auxiliary soldiers of the imperial camp, but also the provincial and town battalions and local soldiers. Xiangyong also wants to send out.

As for the standard, the armored and mule soldiers in the provincial camp and the township Yongli are all sent as first-class soldiers. One person is paid half a year, which is 27 taels of silver. , 25 taels of silver. "

"Your Highness, provincial town soldiers and local village braves are also paid at the rate of the Beijing camp, isn't that too much? Why don't provincial battalions pay third-class soldiers three or two nines a month, and township braves pay auxiliary soldiers three and twos a month? "

Shen Chenquan explained, "It's not that I'm reluctant to give up money, but the military always pays attention to the strict hierarchy. The imperial camp is the emperor's own army, and it is the elite of the Ming Dynasty. The provincial and town battalion soldiers are completely different from the local township soldiers. Especially It’s Xiangyong, who basically doesn’t get paid at ordinary times, only during training and fighting, there will be some money and rations, and now even if he pays three taels a month, there are 18 taels for half a year, which is already very generous.”

"If the bravery of the township gets the same reward as the imperial camp, then the soldiers in the imperial camp will definitely be dissatisfied."

Zhu Yihai asked several generals in the imperial camp, and they said that what Shen Ge said made sense.

Although the difference may be only a few taels of silver, there must be some rules.

"Alright." Zhu Yihai nodded.

At this time, Shen Wenzhong, the superintendent of the Imperial Battalion, proposed that the provincial and town battalion soldiers and the local township bravery can also be divided into elites and ordinary soldiers, so it is best to be divided into four levels of war assistants. , Unarmored soldiers, horse mule soldiers, boat sailors, auxiliary soldiers, etc. are subdivided, which can also motivate soldiers more.

In general, the imperial battalion was higher than the provincial battalion, and the provincial battalion was higher than the township regiment.

Zhu Yihai said, "What is the specific reward standard? You go back and discuss it. I only have one requirement. The reward should be timely, fast, and not procrastinated. Furthermore, it must be as fair as possible. Don't cause dissatisfaction among the soldiers at that time. Rewarding good things, making troubles.

To be honest, whether it is the imperial camp or the local soldiers and horses, everyone is serving the country with their heads up, so the reward for half a year's salary is not too much. Now that we have achieved a staged victory, we need to let the soldiers Let's share the joy of victory with us. "

The Tatars all know that they can raise a team capable of fighting the Eight Banners with a lot of money and high salaries. Doesn't he, Zhu Yihai, know that at a time like this, it is up to the soldiers to conquer the world?
If the money is gone, you can find a way to get it, but if the soldiers have no fighting spirit, it will be completely over.

Just talking about loyalty is not enough, the benefits that should be given must be given.

"There is one more thing. We are now under the city of Nanjing. Next, we will separate two legions to go to Susong and Anhui. We must take this opportunity to continue to develop the local volunteer army regiments. Let more brides come back, we will strive to make our camp soldiers, everyone can get married and marry wives, and in the future, everyone will have their own fields and houses, wives and children."

"This is very important. Why are you risking your life? We can't let the blood of the soldiers be shed in vain, especially those young and single strong boys. At least we have to let them have a priority."

In ancient times, it was known to recruit soldiers that they should first select more than one son, and not the only son.

"Jiangning City has already sent 150 million taels of silver, plus the 200 million taels of silver and 10 taels sent by Chen Hongfan and Qian Qianyi before, we have squeezed almost 500 million taels of money from Jiangning. They still owe us 900 million taels, but they probably won’t be able to squeeze it out, right?”

Zhu Yihai laughed, "Don't worry, now that our soldiers are approaching the city, Yan Wogong in Jiangning City is a good hand who can make money and manage money. He can send 100 million taels every seven days. He can do this. Jiangning is a million-dollar city. How many wealthy families and big merchants?"

Admiral Ruan Jin smiled and said, "Your Majesty's plan to encircle and not destroy is really good. If we enter Nanjing City now, it would be better to squeeze money out of the hands of those big families and rich merchants so abruptly."

Everyone present couldn't help laughing.

Yes, I think that when Emperor Chongzhen was in Beijing, he asked all the officials to donate money to help them pay, but everyone cried poorly, and even deliberately sold furniture on the street, humiliating the gentleness and embarrassing the court.

But after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, how much money was stolen?
There are all kinds of theories, but there are certainly many.

The salaries offered by Li Zicheng are clearly marked, that is, [-] yuan for the middle hall, [-] or [-] yuan for the brocade clothes in the Jingtang of the Ministry, [-] yuan for the Daoist Ministry, [-] yuan for the Hanlin, and [-] yuan for the subordinates. Each counts in thousands.

Many ministers and nobles were forced to donate their salaries or plundered tens of thousands of taels of silver, and there were so many honored relatives, high-ranking officials, and famous noble families in Beijing.

As the accompanying capital of the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing’s wealth is astonishing. Although the Qing army entered the city half a year ago and looted a lot, after all, Nanjing surrendered at that time, and the Qing army did not massacre or openly plunder after entering Nanjing. The wealth is basically still there.

"Don't worry about that for now, let's distribute this batch of rewards first, and then let the two armies go to Susong and Anhui."

Zhu Yihai's imperial camp has been quite strong for more than half a year, and the scale is not small. Now he plans to continue to split, no longer put all the imperial camp on Wu Yue's side, but to expand the territory, such as dividing a part of it into the The Anhui area in the upper reaches, and in the future, will use that as the base for development. This is also to truly bring Anhui and Jiangxi into his real rule.

Right now, Zhu Yihai's real and complete control is actually the eastern part of Zhejiang, and the rest of the places are basically the local army, which is not stable.

Like the Shence Army of the Tang Dynasty, he intends to let them go out of the Guanzhong, continue to build up the imperial camp, squeeze the space for those local soldiers, and reorganize them step by step, so as to avoid the biggest problem at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Local warlords are out of control.

If this plan is successful, then Zhu Yihai will be able to fully control eastern Zhejiang from now on, and then control the fission of Anhui and Susong, integrate the local army, and truly be included in the imperial court.

In the future, it can continue to expand outwards, such as Jiangxi, Fujian, and even Huguang, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

In places outside the control of the imperial camp, Zhu Yihai actually doesn’t have much hope, just like Jin Shenghuan Wang Deren in Jiangxi and Jiangxi, He Zhen in Hanzhong, Wu Dading in Guanzhong, and those former Ming chieftains in Chongqing and Sichuan. As for the army, it is possible to contain the Qing army, but it cannot be said to be reliable.

Just like the five loyalists in Huguang before, they claimed to be 50, but they fled thousands of miles in World War I, and even sent troops to loot the place. Now Zhu Dadian, Zhang Mingyang and the others are still besieging Ma Jinzhong and others. It burned to Guilin in Guangxi and Pianqiao in Guizhou.

Even the Sichuan Ming Army, which had just joined forces to attack Chongqing, and under the leadership of the admiral Zuo Liangyu, began to send troops to reinforce and suppress those rebels.

As for He Zhen from Hanzhong, Wu Dading from Guanzhong, and Wang Guangtai and Gao Doushu from Yunyang to attack Xi'an, Zhu Yihai originally opposed this matter, but the new He Zhen and others ignored his will and insisted on fighting. .

Regarding this, Zhu Yihai can only say that he can't do anything, Gao Doushu, the governor, can't restrain him. In the end, it's those old problems, the warlordization of the local army.

Not to mention the Zheng family from Fujian, Zhu Yihai kept giving them rewards, and even asked them to fight in Taiwan, promising to seal Yongzhen forever, and the Zheng family was very happy to start preparations.

But Zhu Yihai ordered them to send some naval warships and soldiers to the north, sail to the Yangtze River and even cooperate with the imperial battalion along the coast of Susong. Zheng Zhilong began to evade with various excuses. Zheng Hongkui said that he led a fleet of ten thousand people to the north. So far, this fleet has not sailed out of Fujian's waters.

Even the Customs of the Municipal Bureau of Shipping established by Zhu Yihai in Fujian is basically controlled by the Zheng family.

Governor Zhang Tangken of Fujian went back to push for tax reforms, but he was also obstructed everywhere. Governor Zheng Zhilong had a very unhappy relationship with governor Zhang Kentang, and Zheng Zhilong even pushed Zhang Kentang to Taiwan.

But in the face of these, Zhu Yihai can only endure for the time being, temporarily unable to turn around and use force on Zheng Shi, so he can only order to appease or even give rewards over and over again, and then write down Zheng Shi's one sentence in his small notebook count.

(End of this chapter)