I have a cornucopia

Chapter 208 My scalp is a little itchy
Go south or north?

Of course, go south.

There is no benefit in going north. The capital is now like Luoyang during the time of the Five Barbarians...

I saw you among the thorns!
The capital city is now full of thorns. Because of the sharp decline in population, a large number of houses have been abandoned and left unattended, turning into ruins with thorns and foxes and rabbits. Even the imperial palace is in ruins. After all, it was burned by Li Zicheng before, and Dorgon certainly didn't have the money to repair it on a large scale. He could only leave the ruins there and wait for money, but his goal of getting rich seems to be a long way off. And it is estimated that this kind of desolation will be exacerbated in the future. After all, even the loyalists of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty have fled. The population has already dropped sharply. Even if the loyalists of the Eight Banners move in, the population is still sharply reduced compared to the past.

Now the Eight Banners' strongholds have also fled, so the population of the capital is less than a quarter of that of the Wanli period, and the wealthy and powerful are gone, and even the former nobles are suffering from hunger and cold...

There are beggars everywhere.

There are those who have fallen into prostitution.

It is really like the flowing water, falling flowers and the passing of spring. Perhaps many years later, some writers and poets will write about them.

That's what they like.

In short, there is no more oil and water!
As a militia military group, it naturally has to think like a real militia military group.

It's really a simple question to choose between going north and going south.

What's more, what Li Zicheng gave was all empty talk.

But what we gained from going south was real.

When Zhu Datian said that he would do his best to raise military supplies, he was not just saying it casually. He meant to tell Yang Feng clearly that even if he went back to mobilize the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River to raise money, he would still guarantee the military supplies for the King of Donghai.

His words alone are worth millions.

however……

Suzhou.

Xuanmiao Temple.

The elders were outraged.

This place has become more and more like a British city. In order to facilitate meetings, the interior has even been renovated to create two sets of facing terraced seats. In order to take care of the elderly who have poor hearing, a circle of screens were built around to create a sound-gathering effect...

It's all science.

In fact, they all attach great importance to science.

After all, the gentry of the Ming Dynasty are not the slaves of the Qing Dynasty. These guys, especially those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, are very fashionable. At present, major cities in the south of the Yangtze River are entering a period of rapid development. In addition to the explosive growth of the military industry stimulated by the war, civilian products such as self-ringing clocks have been manufactured in large quantities, and telescopes have been made very well. There is even a gentry who is keen on this thing and installed a telescope on a cannon.

Cannon sniper.

Of course, he just wanted to observe where the shells would land.

Free capitalism!
The unrestricted free capitalism that has surged after the extreme weakening of monarchy is ushering in the dawn of a new era for this city, where workers' rebellion occurred half a century ago.

"You want silver again, every day. Does it mean that our silver comes from the wind?"

The water was too cold, he said angrily, waving a document at the podium in the middle.

He was pardoned. It was said that his wife Liu Rushi went to Nanjing in person to ask for an audience with the regent and explained to him. In the end, the regent pardoned him for the mistake he had made because he was deceived by Hou Xun...

Of course, it was actually the regent's attempt to appease the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

After all, Shui Tailiang is a leading figure among the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Being lenient towards him would indeed make the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River feel relieved, so he is still the head of the Suzhou Elders Association.

The battle situation in Yangzhou was still tense. After the Qing army finally completed the control of the new city, they used a large number of captured artillery to bombard the old city wall from the new city wall, while a large number of artillery on the old city wall also bombarded each other. The two sides continued to destroy the opposite wall every day across the ruins of the new city. The soldiers and civilians of the old city worked together to repel the attacks of the Jianlu, but the reinforcements from the periphery were still weak. Although Wu Zhikui's troops counterattacked the new city many times, they were defeated. In the final analysis, whether it was the official army or the militia, they were still far behind the Qing army in the field. The battle situation west of Yangzhou was the same. Zheng Sen's counterattack on Yizhen also ended in failure. After all, his men were indeed not suitable for this kind of combat.

However, a group of Fujian militia was heading north. After receiving Yang Feng's promise, the Fujian gentry were obviously very enthusiastic about maintaining the Regency Court.

They love such a court.

For the Fujian gentry, as long as they were not allowed to go out to sea for trade or engage in industry and commerce, he would be an absolutely wise and benevolent ruler.

The rest is not worth mentioning.

Liu Zhaoji only defended Xuyi. He was not very good at fighting, but his advantage was that he was loyal. It was also because of the vast Hongze Lake that the Qing army could have reached Gaoyou and Baoying areas.

After Zhu Cilang failed in his attempt to persuade Yangzhou to surrender, he finally stopped hiding and built a temporary palace in Chuzhou...

He had already proclaimed himself emperor.

This time we went south only to return the capital to Nanjing.

Therefore, they could only build a temporary palace in Chuzhou first, and also set up a court.

The chief minister was Chen Mingxia.

Chen Tanhua had previously surrendered to Li Zicheng and then to Dorgon in the capital. He had actually shaved his head and changed his clothes, but he did not like it very much. It happened that Dorgon needed to put together a makeshift team for Zhu Cilang, so he grew his hair again and became Zhu Cilang's chief minister.

The remaining ministers also belonged to this category, such as Jin Zhijun, Xiong Wenju and others, who were all southern civil officials who surrendered to Li Zicheng in the capital and then surrendered to Dorgon.

Including Gong Dingzi.

A group of former rat-tails grew their hair again and became Ming officials again.

In order to reverse the negative impact of the Yangzhou massacre, Dorgon showed that he was not invading the south. Therefore, according to the agreement, the newly occupied territory south of the Huai River was still the territory of the Ming Dynasty and was ruled by His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zhu Cilang's Ming Dynasty was already a regime, and a pseudo-regime was also a regime. Anyway, officials and gentry in various places who were happy to welcome the emperor could use this to comfort themselves. What surrender? How could we surrender? We were obviously welcoming His Majesty the Emperor. Aren't we subjects of the Ming Dynasty? We didn't shave our heads or change our clothes. As for the Qing troops around us, they were friendly countries, okay?
Don’t talk nonsense and surprise your friends!

Anyway, there is now another regime on the land of Daming...

More and more.

Two Ming emperors, one regent, and one Qing emperor. Although the Qing emperor was fishing, he was still the Qing emperor after all. There were already four emperors of the same level, and the regent was also of the same level.

Dorgon was only the regent, so he was at most on the same level as Li Zicheng.

There was also another Great Western Emperor.

To this extent, we have to add an imperial level.

However, the enthusiasm of the Emperor of Dashi towards surrender has waned recently. After all, the current situation on the side of the Regent is not good, and he does not want to surrender and then lose the court. In short, he has begun to wait and see. He has already ceased fire with the Yunnan-Guizhou Group and is now waiting and watching. After all, as long as Li Zicheng does not win the battle for the downstream, it will not have much impact on them.

Shui Tailiang was angry because Zhu Dadian, the acting governor-general of Zhi and Zhejiang, finally revealed his corrupt nature. He forced the governor-general of Zhi and Zhejiang to collect five million taels of military expenses within a month, with Suzhou as the head. He also stipulated the amount of money to be apportioned to each prefecture. Suzhou must have the most, 700,000 taels. This money was used as military expenses to relieve the siege of Yangzhou. To put it bluntly, it was to bribe Yang Feng. When Shui Tailiang thought of this purpose, he was furious. Is this still the court? Why do we have to let the local government pay for the governor-general who led the troops to rescue? Doesn't Yang Feng receive a salary from the court? Aren't his troops the court's troops...

Although this is definitely not the case.

But this is not the point. The point is how many times has he blackmailed in this year?
Is it over yet?
"Yes, we can't let him blackmail us anymore!"

"How can we have any money? How much have we paid for the Ming Dynasty this year?"

……

The elders were all furious.

They were indeed enraged. Even though they did have money and even though they did not dare to offend Yang Feng, the problem was that you could not bully us like this. It had only been a year, how many times had you blackmailed us? It cost us a huge amount of money to raise the militia, and we were not behind in the war, yet you kept blackmailing us. Are you treating us like fat pigs?
"So you refuse?"

Wen Zhenheng, an elder from the Elders' Association who was also somewhat angry, said.

He is Wen Zhenmeng's younger brother.

The elders woke up instantly.

reject?

"Li Zicheng has already arrived in Nanyang. He Yuncong has not received the imperial edict from Nanjing, so he has sent more troops to Xiangyang. But I'm afraid it won't last long. After all, Li Zicheng is powerful, and He Yuncong doesn't have the heart to fight to the end for us. Once he opens the way, Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops will march south of the Yangtze River. Where will we go?"

Elder Yang Tingshu said.

He was actually summoned to the court, but because of his disagreement with Ma Shiying, he resigned and returned.

Anyway, the imperial court in Nanjing is just a decoration. There is no point in being an official.

The elders were even more speechless.

"What to do? Of course, it's to abandon darkness and join the light."

In the silence, two people walked in from outside, and the leader said with a smile.

"Umemura, what is light and what is dark? The one behind you is light?"

Yang Tingshu said.

However, although he was speaking to Wu Weiye, he was looking at the people behind Wu Weiye. Wu Weiye was not an elder. Although his ancestors were good, his family declined during his father's generation, and it was not until he revived that they became family. But in a place like Suzhou Prefecture where there were so many descendants of noble families, he was still some distance away from being an elder. However, he was the secretary of the Elders' Council, specifically responsible for issuing announcements to the Elders' Council.

"Fu'an, I come from the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, so I am Ming."

The man behind Wu Weiye said.

All the elders looked at him with complicated expressions.

This is Jin Zhijun.

"Then please take off your hat, Your Excellency!"

Yang Tingshu said.

"Fu'an, that's not necessary."

Shui Tailiang said with a smile.

"Someone, take off his scarf!"

Yang Tingshu shouted.

He was a genuine elder, and the water was too cold. He wanted to say something, but he held back. Then two militia soldiers came forward and took off Jin Zhijun's scarf in shame and anger, revealing a very funny hairstyle inside. Although he had grown his hair again, it was only more than a month, so how much could his hair grow? Instead, the original rat tail at the back was hanging abruptly, which was quite a bit of modern non-mainstream spirit boy style.

He stood there with his face flushed.

"How can you face your ancestors?"

Wen Zhenheng roared.

In history, he committed suicide because of the order to shave his head.

The elders also looked unhappy.

The water was rather cold and calm, and his scalp must have been itchy.

"Everyone, what's the point of being so persistent now? Am I not a wise minister now?"

Jin Zhijun said.

"First bright, then smooth, then clear, then bright again. Your Excellency changes four times a year, and the four seasons are distinct!"

Yang Tingshu sneered.

"I was forced to do this because of the situation. You all blame me for this, and I dare not escape. However, Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops will arrive in less than a month. I wonder how many of you will be able to face death calmly when the time comes? I have been hit by the clamp, but I wonder how many of you can withstand it? Or are you prepared to continue to give money to Yang Feng in exchange for his protection? If Li Zicheng comes again next year, are you prepared to pay more money? Yang Feng and Li Zicheng have been trading continuously. It was he who facilitated Li Zicheng's ability to hold the emperor hostage to control the princes. It was just his plan from the beginning to the end.

He facilitated Li Zicheng's use of the emperor to control the other princes, and he helped Li Zicheng contain Dorgon, allowing Li Zicheng to retreat to Xi'an calmly.

After Li Zicheng became powerful, he used Li Zicheng to threaten Jiangnan and forced us to pay money.

Is it a good plan?

He cooperated with Li Zicheng and could do so year after year.

Like a leech, it keeps sucking our blood.

But now the new king has arrived.

Do you want to fight back and kill this blood-sucking leech, or do you want to continue like this until it sucks your blood dry?"

Jin Zhijun said.

"Is this how you persuaded the salt merchants in Yangzhou?

Capture this traitor and send him to Nanjing."

Yang Tingshu said.

"Fu'an, don't make trouble!"

The water was too cold and I finally couldn't bear it anymore so I drank it.

"If we listen to his instigation, if he succeeds, the Jianlu will slaughter Suzhou, and if he fails, Yang Feng will torture you all. Which one do you want?"

Yang Tingshu said.

"Fu'an, Mu Zhai is the head of the meeting, let alone how to discuss it."

An elder said.

"What's there to discuss? Do you want Suzhou to follow in Yangzhou's footsteps?"

another said angrily.

"What are you talking about? Mr. Qian is just speaking the truth. But you are on good terms with Yan Ermei. Are you trying to sell your hometown to please Yang?"

"You are slandering me. I just stole your business. Why do you want to frame me like this?"

……

The elders immediately started to quarrel with each other.

Wu Weiye quietly winked at Jin Zhijun, who quickly turned around and tried to leave, but the militia soldiers still stopped him. Shui Tailiang waved his hand to signal him to leave. Jin Zhijun hurried out, but Yang Tingshu pulled out his pistol, aimed at him and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun instantly shook the hall, but the bullet missed.

The elders who were arguing with each other looked at Yang Tingshu in shock.

"Fu'an, you are so incomprehensible!"

The water is too cold, he said angrily with trembling lips.

Wu Weiye anxiously winked at him, signaling him to make a prompt decision. After all, Shui Tailiang was the head of the association. Although the elders' council was elected, the head did have the right to expel unwelcome elders.

A decisive action is needed now.

After all, most of the elders are wavering, and as long as the Water Is Too Cold takes the lead, they can decide to welcome the royal army.

but……

The water was too cold to just stand there.

And then just stood there.

"There's no way to make a fool of yourself!"

Wu Weiye couldn't bear it anymore and cursed him, then left in anger.

Of course, he only took a few steps.

Because a large number of group trainings poured in soon after...

(End of this chapter)