The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 373 Guangzhou changes its flag!

Guangzhou is a large coastal city in the south, with two counties, Nanhai and Panyu (not Panyu in later generations) attached to it.

Since the Qin Dynasty brought Lingnan under its rule, Guangzhou has been the political and military center of Lingnan.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road was connected, and Guangzhou had become a world-famous oriental port. It also established the country's first structure for managing foreign trade affairs, the Municipal Shipping Department.

During the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Guangzhou's maritime and foreign trade economy became increasingly prosperous, and the population of Guangzhou City also increased.

According to available historical records, in the eighth year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty (1304), the population of Guangzhou City was only over 17 (the city wall population is also included). After experiencing the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the population of Guangzhou was only 18.

Today, Guangzhou has a population of four to five million!

The governor's office of Guangdong and the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty were initially located in Zhaoqing, because it was an important military area and could better take care of Guangxi.

However, since the Wei army went south and invaded Shaozhou Prefecture, Shen Youlong moved the governor's headquarters to Guangzhou City in order to better arrange the defense line and supervise the management of grain and grass.

Because there was no governor's office or governor's office here originally, Shen Youlong's residence was actually an ordinary mansion - it was once a property purchased by a convict in Guangzhou City, but it was later confiscated by the government and has never been disposed of.

Seeing that September 28th was approaching, Shen Youlong felt a little depressed.

Although his reason told him that leading Guangdong to surrender was a good choice for him and the people of Guangdong.

However, at nearly sixty years old, he had been a minister of the Ming Dynasty for twenty-six years. It would be absolutely false to say that he had no feelings for the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, even if his reputation for loyalty is put aside, in terms of personal feelings, he does not want to become a traitor.

But he also knew very well that the Ming Dynasty could no longer sustain itself or be saved, and it was even very likely that it would perish this year.

According to the news previously sent back from the sea, Li Zicheng, who established the Puppet Order in August, led hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Shanxi from Shaanxi, with overwhelming momentum along the way. At the same time, the Shun troops in Shandong and Henan (Hebei region) also launched a massive attack on the capital.

At that time, the only area under the control of the Ming Dynasty in the capital was Beizhili, which was not complete.

Since Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, slaves have entered the army several times, and they have wreaked havoc on Beizhili. They have kidnapped many people and livestock, and robbed many gold and silver treasures.

Coupled with the continuous natural disasters and military disasters, the state of Northern Zhili is no less dilapidated than that of Henan and Shaanxi.

By August, it could be said that the Ming court in the capital had neither money nor food to use, nor reliable troops and horses to mobilize.

According to the intelligence previously disclosed by Xunfengwei, the main force of the Shun Army led by Li Zicheng has probably occupied most of Shanxi and invaded Beizhili.

Thinking of this, Shen Youlong couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Zilong is also in the hospital.

He knew that Shen Youlong was in a bad mood recently, and when he heard his sigh, he explained: "Why does Mr. Shen have to be depressed? It should be noted that if Mr. Shen is unwilling to change his banner and surrender to Wei, I don't know how many people will be affected by the war.

Moreover, now and then, people in various parts of Guangdong are overwhelmed by heavy taxes and cause trouble and cause trouble in the local area. In the past, Duke Shen had already neglected one thing and neglected the other in suppressing civil unrest.

If the Wei army comes, it may be able to correct all the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty and make the people live and work in peace and contentment. "

Hearing Chen Zilong talk about this topic, Shen Youlong shook his head, "People all over Guangdong have troubles from time to time, and it's not just because the government charges heavy taxes.

Also because of serious land annexation and intertwined clans, it was impossible for the government to reach the countryside.

In addition, as the population grows, the contradiction between Han people and mountain people (referring to ethnic minorities), and the contradiction between subject and object, has become increasingly serious and difficult to reconcile.

Even if Dawei were to govern Guangdong, it would probably be difficult to solve these problems. "

Chen Zilong said: "In the past, I didn't think there was any difference between Damei and Ming Dynasty. I even thought that the Yi army was similar to Li Chuang and other rogue bandits.

But when I became a prisoner and did hard labor for more than a month under the supervision of the Wei army, I realized that there was indeed something unusual about the idea of ​​Emperor Dawei in governing the army and the people today.

Duke Shen might have imagined that the juniors and many officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were not mistreated after becoming prisoners, although they were forced to do hard labor. There were even military and political officials from the Yi army who came to tell stories to the prisoners and teach them literacy and arithmetic?

Can Duke Shen imagine that the Yi army was building bridges, paving roads, and repairing ditches and rivers in the local area, and there were very few corvee levies. Even if there were, they would not only take care of the food, but also subsidize some money and grain? ” ˆ ˆ Shen Youlong was silent for a while after hearing this.

Then he said: "What you said is part of the reason why I am willing to lead Guangdong Yi Zhi to surrender to Wei. But there are some things you still don't understand-Da Wei's current method of governing the local area is too generous, I'm afraid it will not last; in the future, if If we use the old Ming Dynasty method again, it will be even more difficult for the people to accept it, and maybe there will be chaos everywhere again."

Chen Zilong said a little excitedly: "Perhaps there are some oversights in the way Emperor Da'ei governs, but his kindness to the people is undoubtedly good. Moreover, because of this, shouldn't Duke Shen join Da'ei to assist the emperor and make the world truly peaceful and stable?"

Shen Youlong wanted to say something else.

But a servant came to report that Xia Yunyi and Chu Huai were coming.

He then let the two men in.

Xia Yunyi is the hometown of Shen Youlong in Songjiang.

As for Chu Huai, he was a military and political officer of the Xunfengwei camp in Damei, and he was also a prominent figure in the Xunfengwei who participated in persuading Shen Youlong to surrender.

"Mr. Shen."

After the two came in, they bowed to Shen Youlong.

Shen Youlong nodded slightly, but the previous melancholy expression disappeared - he had been favored by Chen Zilong's father, and was a close friend of the Chen family. He regarded Chen Zilong as his nephew, so he would reveal his inner emotions in front of him.

In front of Xia Yunyi and Chu Huai, he subconsciously kept his "official business" appearance.

"What do you two want?"

Chu Huai, who was only in his twenties, smiled and said: "I came here specifically to inform Duke Shen that Yongxing Hou (Li Dingguo) has led troops south from Qingyuan and will arrive at Guangzhou City tomorrow to take over the city defense.

In addition, I would also like to ask Mr. Shen to write a letter to help me persuade Xiao Yifu to surrender. "

Shen Youlong frowned slightly.

It was agreed upon that Li Dingguo led troops to take over Guangzhou City, so he was not surprised. But Da'ei asked him to write a letter to persuade Xiao Yifu to surrender, but he was a little unhappy.

He said: "I have no friendship with Xiao Yifu, and I have never even met. How can I persuade him to surrender?"

Chu Huai still had a smile on his face, "You don't need to use friendship to persuade Duke Shen to surrender, you only need to show your righteousness. Duke Shen is the governor of the same province, so he must be able to explain the meaning of Yi Ban's surrender to Wei more clearly."

In fact, just like persuading Shen Youlong to surrender, Dawei tried to persuade Xiao Yifu to surrender from many aspects.

It is one thing to ask Shen Youlong, the Ming Dynasty's governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and governor of Guangdong, to write a letter to persuade him to surrender. In addition, Xunfengwei will also find Xiao Yifu's relatives and friends in Dongguan to help him write a letter to persuade him to surrender.

With a multi-pronged approach, Xiao Yifu will be able to be touched.

In addition, Yang Heqing led the First Division and tens of thousands of troops to send troops to Fujian to exert military pressure. I believe Xiao Yifu will make the right choice like Shen Youlong.

Shen Youlong frowned slightly and stared at Chu Huai for a while. When he saw that Chu Huai had no intention of evading or forcing him, but looked extremely calm, he couldn't help but sigh and said, "That's alright. It's just a letter, I'm just writing it, I just hope it will have some effect."

···

More than one day passes quickly.

Li Dingguo led the third division to outside Guangzhou.

Because Shen Youlong had already taken control of Guangzhou city defense through supervision, the Third Division of the Standing Army successfully took over Guangzhou City.

On September 28th of the first year of Qianyuan, the city of Guangzhou officially changed its flag and came under the rule of Damei.

Shen Youlong was worried that someone would cause rebellion and kept the matter concealed. Therefore, it was not until they saw a large group of Wei troops entering the city and taking over the city defense that many people knew that Shen Youlong had surrendered to Wei!

Suddenly, there seemed to be some commotion in the entire city of Guangzhou.

　First update.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)