I have a cornucopia

Chapter 221 Bah, you are so shameless!

Lushan.

Contains Pokou.

"This is a letter to the world issued a few days ago in Nanjing by great scholars from all over the country, led by Duke Yansheng. It can also be called a declaration.

public opinion!

This is public opinion.

It is public opinion that demands Your Highness stop."

Yang Feng handed the scroll he had just received to Li Zicheng.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, the Deputy Marshal of the Ming Dynasty Army, also looks wealthy. After all, he had always been displaced in the past, and even when he was in high spirits, he was often on horseback. But since he withdrew from the capital and fled to Xi'an, he has lived a stable and dominant life for more than half a year. Not only does he look good, but he has also gained weight, and has the momentum of a tiger crouching and a dragon coiling.

Moreover, he has now completed the integration of people's hearts in the northwest...

After all, he really fulfilled his promise.

The Northwest has not collected any taxes to this day because a large number of gentry have died and the population has also dropped sharply. Most of the remaining population is concentrated in high-quality farmland areas, and he has also spent money to build water conservancy projects.

The Eight Benefits of Guanzhong could not be repaired, but the water conservancy facilities that had been in disrepair for a long time could be repaired. In addition, with the continuous food brought from the south in various ways and the new crops such as sweet potatoes promoted with the support of Yang Feng, there was no large-scale starvation in Shaanxi at present. This was enough for all forces in the northwest to accept his rule. After all, even local tyrants knew that no egg would be left intact under an overturned nest. The northwest had been in chaos for more than ten years, and many noble families had become dead. Li Zicheng not only ended the chaos, but also got money and food from outside. He himself was not arrogant and extravagant. In fact, he still liked to squat to eat...

He eats while squatting, so it is impossible for him to serve hundreds of dishes.

The old bandits under his command were also poor people who had just become rich, and they were easily satisfied.

One hundred sheep at a table?
Well, they don't have that much imagination yet.

Now just giving them a bowl of mutton soup with steamed buns would be enough to satisfy them.

It is hard to say what will happen in the future, but at least for now, their imagination can only support them in pursuing some enjoyments that can be said to be crude and lowly compared to the wealthy families in Jiangnan, and these enjoyments cannot affect the people under their rule.

So even people from the areas controlled by our Qing Dynasty fled to him.

Under such circumstances, Li Zicheng was truly regarded as the boss in the northwest.

Even the remaining gentry were the same.

After all, they still have the option of joining if they can't beat them, and then corrupting the enemy from within.

Li Zicheng was very happy about the Lushan negotiations with Yang Feng. After all, he knew that Yang Feng would definitely not kill him. If he really died, what would Yang Feng do? They all needed each other.

Li Zicheng, the Prince of Qin and Deputy Marshal of the Ming Dynasty's Army, took the scroll casually.

then……

“I can give you as much of this stuff as you want.

As for what is written in it, it’s up to me.

A bunch of spineless literati, they will write whatever I ask them to write, even if I ask them to bark like a dog, they will learn it, and they still call him a great scholar? Does Hui Shiyang count? How about asking him to bring the Shaanxi literati to write you a letter praising my merits and begging me to sweep the Jiangnan region with my army to save the people from the disaster?
Duke Yansheng?
How about I ask His Majesty to issue an edict to depose him as Duke Yansheng?
Let's say someone reported that the current Duke Yansheng is no longer a descendant of Confucius. Let's give you some more evidence. If it's not found in the history books, then we can make up a history book with the imperial seal on it. No one dares to say it's false. Let's say that when Your Majesty left the capital, you found a secret memorial from the Hongwu period of Emperor Taizu among the books in the palace, saying that the Jinyiwei had found out and reported it to Emperor Taizu, but Emperor Taizu did not make it public because the Kong family was relatively honest.

how is it?

public opinion?

You, a bunch of gentry, get together and write something randomly and that counts as public opinion?

If this is the will of the people, then is it the will of the people when the hungry people ask you to open your granaries and release grain? Is it the will of the tenants when they ask you to reduce the rent by 20%? You are still using the will of the people to flatter yourself. Then do you dare to really call together all the people in the world, whether they are soldiers, civilians, craftsmen or merchants, to debate together and see what is the true will of the people?
A man with 200,000 mu of land led a group of people with no less than 10,000 mu of land, a man with a million-dollar fortune led a group of people with a million-dollar fortune, and finally drank together and wrote a random article, saying it was public opinion, and they wanted to use this to stop my 300,000-man army. Don’t you think it’s ridiculous?”

He threw the scroll casually and said with contempt.

Du Yinxi beside Yang Feng, the Jiangxi Governor Kuang Zhao who had just arrived, and Jiang Yueguang, the head of the Jiangxi Elders Association, were all speechless.

Because this letter to the world was really written like this!

Duke Yansheng arrived in Nanjing, and then Gu Tianxu took the elders who had already arrived in Nanjing to Longjiang Pass to welcome Duke Yansheng. The latter went to the palace to meet the Princess Regent, and then came out to Yuejiang Tower together. A group of old guys drank wine while enjoying the river breeze and admiring the scenery of the Yangtze River flowing eastward. After a few words, Qian Shisheng, the former Dongge University Scholar and the top scholar of the Wanli Dynasty from Jiaxing, wrote this thing. Qian Shisheng's son Qian Xing and nephew Qian Zhan were both staff members under Zhang Guowei and core figures in the Zhejiang New Army. The Zhejiang New Army was actually the real Zhejiang Provincial Tuanlian. It was Xu Du and others who were named Zhejiang Tuanlian, which was more accurately called the Zhejiang East Tuanlian.

After all, there are also many factions within Zhejiang, and the circle in eastern Zhejiang is different from the circle in Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou.

Then the Duke of Yansheng and others signed one by one...

Debate?

Why bother?
It’s just public opinion. It’s enough to have us. What we are talking about is public opinion.

And then it was done.

As for the content, of course it is based on quotations from classics, with the people being the most important, the emperor being the least important, and the country being the third most important. It uses the standard eight-part essay template, and then writes this letter to the world. You don't even need to read the content to ensure that the argument is flawless.

That's the talent of the top scholar, what could be wrong?

Besides, in Zhejiang, this kind of thinking has already spread, especially in the eastern Zhejiang faction, where the upper and lower houses are actually being played, with the upper house being the elders’ association and the lower house being the academy alliance. These guys who can’t wait to rush to capitalism are as happy as wild dogs that have broken free from their reins. Local officials have become completely useless, and even the judgment of cases has to be supervised by the elders’ association or the association of local celebrities. These people have to be questioned before a verdict is made, just like a jury.

Therefore, Li Zicheng’s contempt can be said to be completely correct.

You're just trying to fool me with this?

Return to public opinion?
I bother!

shameless!

"So, you want what you think is public opinion?"

Yang Feng said slowly.

Du Yinxi and others looked at him in confusion.

“So, if public opinion is like this and they don’t want you to move forward, then you should stop moving forward?”

Yang Feng asked immediately.

Du Yinxi was the first to wake up.

"King Qin, is that so?"

He immediately followed up with a question.

Li Zicheng...

Li Zicheng was silent. "King Qin, you said this, you think this is the true public opinion, but this is not the case now. Then we can give you the true public opinion, and even allow you to send people to supervise. We can follow your proposal and summon the military, civilians, craftsmen, merchants and other registered people to Nanjing for another discussion. If the result is to welcome King Qin to rule Jiangnan, we have nothing to say. If the result is still not willing to let King Qin rule Jiangnan, please withdraw King Qin to Xi'an."

Du Yinxi continued.

Li Zicheng looked at Yang Feng with a serious expression.

"Of course, since we are all His Majesty's ministers and the Ming Dynasty is still His Majesty's kingdom, we can discuss the court's financial and taxation issues separately. We still recognize the Xi'an court as the court, and the regent is only in Nanjing to supervise the country by order. The Nanjing court is an old system and there is no legitimacy problem. But the Nanjing court, as the capital court, must still abide by the old system and maintain its obligations to the court. That is to say, we will still deliver the taxes that were originally required to be sent to the capital every year. The Nanjing court only has Yingtian and provincial examinations, and the metropolitan examination is only in Xi'an. In the future, candidates from the south who take the metropolitan examination will also have to go to Xi'an to take the examination. As for the issue of the military, there is no need to discuss it. After all, it is meaningless to talk about anything now.

Even if you limit the number of troops we can maintain, we can just set up another one.

Now the government troops are less numerous than the militia.

Even if you don't allow us to organize group training, we can still change the name of the group training.

After all, we still have to wipe out the Jianlu."

Yang Feng said.

So we still have to make an offer to Li Zicheng.

Giving him taxes is equivalent to the south still supplying grain to Guanzhong every year. The power recognizes Xi'an as the superior and the Nanjing court is lower than the Xi'an court. But don't talk about disarmament. Most of us are militia, not official troops. If you want to disband the militia, the worst that can happen is that we change our name.

There is no point in discussing this issue.

But matters concerning silver and grain, and who is bigger and who is smaller, are all easy to discuss.

Then, according to your requirements, we will create what you believe to be the true public opinion...

In the end, public opinion definitely did not want Li Zicheng to go south.

This is inevitable.

public opinion?

This is the best to manipulate.

"You want to coax the king to stop with these? Gather the four people to discuss again? You can spend some money to bribe the people you summoned, and if that doesn't work, you can force them. Give land to the tenants and money to the poor. In the end, you will get whatever result you want."

Gu Junen, who was with Li Zicheng, said with contempt.

He understands.

But I don’t understand much.

"Your Highness, I have already said that Your Highness can choose someone, such as randomly appointing someone according to the household registration, or simply drawing lots. In short, as long as they are from the four provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, they will be fine."

Du Yinxi said calmly.

This definitely does not include Shandong, because Shandong was not originally under the jurisdiction of the regent, nor does it include Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Huguang. Huguang has already been watching, so why bother with them now? As for Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou, it is because Li Zicheng could not reach them. In short, at present, the group that resisted Li Zicheng's going south of the Yangtze River is Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian. No matter which one Li Zicheng picked from this range, the result would be the same in the end.

Not bribed?
Do you know what bribery means?
When Li Zicheng went to designate a tenant, no one might give him money. However, a famous local scholar suddenly accepted his son as a student, and even said that his son could pass the imperial examination and bring honor to the family!

Then his son went home and angrily denounced Li Zicheng, who was nominally a Ming minister but actually a Ming traitor.

What would he choose?
Specify a merchant?
Of course, no one would bribe this businessman.

Bribery is too low-level.

But his shop suddenly had several big customers who spent a lot of money. They bought the goods he sold without asking the price or quality. I am happy because money can't buy anything. But these customers hated Li Zicheng to the core. What would he choose? These were actually tricks that the gentry had played out. Li Zicheng was not from the gentry circle, so he didn't understand them. But Du Yinxi, a cunning and treacherous son of aristocratic family, knew them very well. As long as Li Zicheng said that he would select the people according to his standards and go to the capital to discuss again, and get the real public opinion, and then if the public opinion did not want Li Zicheng to continue to Nanjing, he would not go, then the gentry had a hundred ways to make those who went there oppose Li Zicheng.

public opinion?

When the gentry encouraged Ge Cheng to take the lead in resisting taxes, wasn't that the public opinion that Li Zicheng wanted?

You will always lose if you play this with a group of people who have the power to speak.

Li Zicheng remained silent.

It was obvious that he also knew that he seemed to be falling into a trap.

"Your Highness, I remember that you are not the kind of person who is fussy. Be straightforward. You were the one who proposed this first."

Yang Feng said.

Li Zicheng sneered.

"What if I ignore all of you and go straight to Nanjing?"

He said.

Yang Feng stood up with a smile.

Li Laiheng and others beside Li Zicheng immediately became nervous and drew out their pistols without hesitation. At the same time, the people behind them also raised their weapons and pointed their guns at Yang Feng.

But Yang Feng just turned around and walked to a tripod standing behind him, then leaned over a high-power telescope to look at Poyang Lake in the distance. Then he waved his hand, and an attendant behind him immediately waved the flag in his hand.

"Your Highness, do you want to see what a real battleship is?"

Yang Feng turned to Li Zicheng, made a gesture of invitation and then said.

Li Zicheng stood up with some doubts, walked to the high-power telescope, and then looked at the surface of Poyang Lake pointed by Yang Feng. There were more than a dozen warships there, including three large ones. These warships were lined up in a column and moved slowly on the lake. In front of them, six inland warships were also lined up, but they did not move. They should have dropped anchor. Soon, the largest one in front of those warships was facing the first inland warship. The next moment, white gunpowder spewed out from the front of the warship. Li Zicheng immediately lay on the high-power telescope and looked at the warship that was very clear in the lens. The latter's side gun ports were spraying flames and gunpowder, while the first inland warship that was its target was flying wood fragments, and even the shells went straight through and flew out from the other side.

The two ships passed each other at close range.

But during the exchange, nearly twenty cannons on the side of the battleship completed a round of salvos.

The river warship was in a state of disarray and then began to sink.

And the great battleship continued forward.

It didn't even use the warships behind it, and used its cannons on the side to continuously sink the inland warships in front of it. Soon, all six inland warships turned into floating rubble. At the same time, the fleet also stopped on the lake. The next moment, flames began to spray from the first large warship, and the warships opened fire one after another from the front to the back, and the lake was instantly filled with smoke.

The debris that they were bombarding quickly turned into floating wood fragments.

"Your Highness, you don't want them to destroy your navy one by one, do you?"

Yang Feng said sincerely.

(End of this chapter)