I have a cornucopia

Chapter 234: The Yangtze River's back waves push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach

Li Zicheng's unwillingness continued until the season of birds singing and grass growing, and he finally swallowed his anger.

He temporarily gave up his efforts to unify the world.

Just like Cao Cao after the Battle of Chibi, fortunately he did not lose so badly.

Of course, in order to save face, he did not voluntarily admit defeat, but the emperor in Xi'an issued an imperial decree to transfer the King of Qin back to Shaanxi, because Wu Sangui invaded Huozhou from the south, so the King of Qin was transferred to lead the army back to fight against the traitor. Since it was an imperial decree, it could not be disobeyed, so the King of Qin hurried back to Shaanxi, leaving Tian Jianxiu to stay in Chengtian and control Xianghan.

Jiujiang, which was previously controlled, was abandoned, but Zhu Yiwu was appointed as the general to garrison Ezhou.

Newly established.

That is to upgrade Wuchang County to Ezhou Prefecture.

Then Xingguo Prefecture was abolished, and Yongxing, Tongshan and Daye, which originally belonged to Xingguo Prefecture, were returned to Ezhou Prefecture.

Therefore, Ezhou Prefecture was governed by Wuchang County.

After all, it is better not to give up the conquered territory as much as possible. There is really no way to give up Jiujiang. After all, Li Zicheng has promised to withdraw from Jiangxi. What's more, Tian Jianxiu is trapped in Jiujiang by 100,000 Jiangxi militia. If Jiujiang is not given up, he and his subordinates will not be able to get out.

But the area from Wuchang County to Tongshan must not be given up easily, as this is where the iron mines are located.

Hao Yaoqi was appointed as the general of Huangzhou, and he and Zhu Yiwu blocked the Yangtze River. Whether by land or water, whether the upstream wanted to go to the downstream, it all depended on whether they would let them go. The two generals were not under the control of the governor of Huguang and the governor, but were left behind by Chengtian. In this way, Li Zicheng controlled the Hanjiang waterway from Xiangyang to Hankou, and extended it forward to Huangzhou and Qizhou, and then blocked the Yangtze River shipping. Zhu Yiwu could also continue to recruit mountain people in the mountainous areas to expand his strength. Li Zicheng didn't need to invest anything to make Huguang and the downstream all feel uncomfortable.

Collect taxes!
An iron chain was pulled between Huangzhou Prefecture and Ezhou Prefecture to lock the river, and ships had to pay taxes when passing through.

This is a huge tax.

In fact, Li Zicheng announced in the name of Chongzhen that the Jiujiang Chaoguan would be moved to Huangzhou, and appointed his own confidant as tax supervisor, so that the Yangtze River shipping tax would become his.

The Nanjing Regent court chose to accept this silently...

If you don't accept it, you can only fight again.

Compared with the huge military expenditure, this loss is not worth mentioning.

After all, Jiujiang couldn’t collect much tax in the past.

But this also means that if Li Zicheng wants to go south again, he can attack Jiujiang directly at any time, or even bypass the De'an defense line and go straight to Jianchang as before. Therefore, his absolute strategic advantage has not changed. He can even use the subsequent confrontation period to make more preparations, such as manufacturing a large number of warships in Hankou.

He still weighed on the lower-level gentry like a nightmare, forcing the latter to continue to strengthen their military power.

As for upstream...

He doesn't need to make any statement upstream.

The upstream was to escort the petition group and let Chongzhen solve it directly with an imperial edict.

His Majesty the Emperor has already known the public opinion of the three southwestern provinces and is considering it. They should all go back and wait for the imperial judgment. There is no need to go to Nanjing. In particular, the escorting government troops should also withdraw to Sichuan. Failure to withdraw would be a rebellion.

His Majesty the Emperor does not need to pay attention to such a trivial matter as the King of Shu's attempt to persuade Zhang Xianzhong to surrender.

The King of Shu just surrendered a petty thief. Is it necessary to alarm the Emperor?
Since Zhang Xianzhong likes to be a militiaman so much, he should continue to be one. The commander of the Sichuan militia is also a very promising career, but don't dream of getting an official position. It has to be said that His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin has a bad taste in keeping his old brother and old rival in a position where he needs to look up to him. Although Zhang Xianzhong was very angry about this, he really had no choice. After all, Li Zicheng was much stronger than him now. Since the lower reaches had accepted this mutual compromise, he certainly couldn't expect his own coalition forces with their own ulterior motives to fight together...

As for his allies, they were much more interested in killing him than killing Li Zicheng.

He also has to conserve his strength.

Therefore, Wang Yingxiong also announced on behalf of the Three Provinces Alliance that he would obey the order.

Withdraw.

Everything else continues as usual.

Theoretically, the three provinces were not under the jurisdiction of Nanjing, but they did not listen to the Xi'an court either.

When local officials have problems, they still go to Nanjing, and the Nanjing Regency Court is still responsible. It is simply waving the banner of public opinion in the three provinces. We must respect public opinion. Even the King of Qin respects public opinion, so of course we must respect public opinion as well.

Besides, even if things are like this, we can’t expect any truly effective management of the three provinces.

It's just symbolic.

Could it be possible that if the Nanjing Regent replaced the prefect of Chengdu, he would be able to take up the post without Zhang Xianzhong's approval?

It's nothing more than public opinion, and then the Nanjing Regent will give a formal appointment.

No shame either.

Isn’t this the case in our Tang Dynasty?
Didn't the three towns of Heshuo all start with the public nomination of the successor and then let the Li family emperor go through the procedures? If you don't want to go through the procedures, then we will help you to be decent. Emperor Dezong of Tang said why bother? However, this is a good thing for many people. For example, the Mu family can be happy. They finally realized their ideals for generations and can treat the civil servants of the court as dogs.

By this calculation, in this war that caused a precarious situation in the South, the region that suffered the greatest loss was Huguang, which was the first to welcome the royal army. Not only did Jiangbei lose all its territory except Jingzhou Prefecture, but four counties were also taken out of Jiangnan. Wuchang Prefecture was severely damaged and almost two-fifths of it was cut off. However, the gentry in Huguang made a lot of money.

They earned at least five million taels of silver from Li Zicheng through food, arms, and the like...

Nanjing.

Big parade ground.

"It's just for Li Zicheng to keep temporarily. How can you seek the skin of a tiger and end it well?"

Shen Tingyang said this with a hint of sourness.

It tastes sour indeed!

While the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River were spending money like water and trying their best to resist Li Zicheng, the gentry in Huguang were taking money home like water. Maybe this money was the tax that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River had just paid. When they thought of this situation, they found it difficult to control their envy, jealousy and hatred.

But they had no choice, after all, Jiangnan also needed food from Huguang.

If Huguang is prosperous, the whole world will be prosperous.

The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, who desperately developed the textile industry to make money and planted mulberry and cotton all over the land, had to sadly discover after the collapse of the country that they had been strangled by the gentry in Huguang with food. In the past, if Suzhou and Lake Tai were well-fed, the rest of the country would be well-fed, but now the large-scale cash cropping around Taihu Lake has made it impossible for Suzhou and Lake Tai to be self-sufficient in food.

The money earned from the textile industry began to be given away again.

From this point of view, aren't they just keeping it temporarily?
"Then you can also make way and let Li Zicheng's army attack us."

Su Dunsheng said with a smile.

Shen Tingyang smiled coldly...

That would result in even greater losses!
In that case, Li Zicheng's soldiers would have to use tongs to deal with them.

The current situation is that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River paid out 10% of their family property as military expenses to stop Li Zicheng in order to protect their entire family property. The reason why the gentry in Huguang knelt so readily was simply because they had been robbed by Zhang Xianzhong a long time ago. For them, their family property had long been destroyed and they had nothing to lose, so of course they had nothing to worry about. Li Zicheng couldn't possibly take away even their land, right?
But now it's finally over, even if only temporarily.

As for the future...

Who cares so much!
Just stay alive!
"The Regent has arrived, the King of the East Sea has arrived!"

Then a sudden shout interrupted their conversation.

Shen Tingyang and others quickly tidied their clothes and prepared to welcome the Regent.

Behind them, groups of soldiers, dressed in different clothes but with similar weapons, quickly formed neat lines under the orders of the officers, with their own flags in front of them...

Yingtian Camp.

Zhenjiang Camp.

…It’s all like this.

These were the first militiamen to arrive and participate in the Northern Expedition.

According to the plan of Prince Yang, all militias from all over the country gathered in Nanjing and trained in the Grand Parade Ground. The training would take at least half a year, so the Northern Expedition would not officially begin until winter, giving Zhu Shuren a chance to reform. After all, the Regent still had deep feelings for her brother. During this period, she kept sending people to Fengyang to ask her brother to apologize to her father, and then she persuaded her father to re-appoint him as the crown prince.

He didn't have to break away from Dorgon's control. After all, even when he was in Dorgon's hands, he was still the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.

Chongzhen did not want to appoint another crown prince.

His Majesty the Emperor is at a good age and he still has dreams!

Especially in this special situation, a prince who is not under his control is very dangerous.

But if this prince was in the hands of Jianlu, it would be the perfect choice.

There is no legitimacy anymore.

There is a prince.

But the prince has no legitimacy.

Then he, the emperor under house arrest, can rest assured.

As for what happened in Dorgon's hands, it is indeed a bit magical, but there are many magical things now. Can it be more magical that the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty is in Yang Feng's hands and the Empress Dowager is receiving guests?
The world is already like this, so everyone needs to have a richer imagination.

Be brave to accept new things.

Including new things like the Queen Mother receiving guests.

In short, the princess has been working hard for her family.

Of course, the main reason is that Yang Feng does not want to launch a northern expedition yet.

Her Royal Highness the Princess sat on the elephant cart, the Prince of Donghai stood on the elephant cart, and the last fig leaf of the nobles, Huaiyuan Hou Chang Yanling, followed on horseback. After all, they had to cover up in this regard. After all, the world was still the Ming Dynasty, and Nanjing could not be without military officials. Behind the elephant cart followed the entourage and ceremonial guards, moving forward to the sound of drums and music, reviewing her Northern Expedition Army, and the first stop was of course in front of Yingtian Camp...

"The commander of the Northern Expedition Army's Yingtian Battalion and the student of the Yingtian Imperial Academy, Ji Yingzhong, pays homage to the Regent."

Du Li's brother-in-law knelt down and saluted.

"Yingtian Group Leaders kowtow to the Regent!"

A thousand soldiers behind him knelt down together and saluted the regent.

"Everyone, stand up. In the past, Emperor Taizu Gao was here to serve as the King of Zhongshan Wuning, the King of Kaiping Zhongwu and all the generals and soldiers. He ordered them to march north to the Central Plains, drive out the Tartars and unify the world. Your ancestors were just like you today, and I hope you will be like them too."

Her Royal Highness the Princess, who was already standing on the elephant cart, said this.

Her words echoed across the parade grounds through the loudspeaker on the elephant pulley.

Then she took over a newly designed military flag from Yang Feng...

The golden dragon on a red background looks back, gazing at the golden sun and white moon that form a circle.

At Yang Feng's coughing hint, Ji Yingzhong, who was still not used to it, quickly stood up and took the flag without a flagpole with both hands.

"I bestow upon you the flag of the Northern Expedition. Wherever the sun and the moon shine, the lands where the dragon walks will be all enlightened. I hope you will not let down your ancestors!"

Her Royal Highness the Princess said.

"The minister obeys the order!"

Ji Yingzhong said quickly.

He actually had the title of censor, which all the main militia commanders had, but he generally did not use this title to refer to himself. After all, there were too many censors. Together with the existing ones, the number of censors in the Nanjing Censorate had exceeded 300, and was still increasing. After all, new militia were also being formed continuously.

Yang Feng wanted to give Zhang Xianzhong an imperial censor, but later he felt that he didn't really need one...

The Lich King is in a rage!
Giving him another censor would easily make him mistakenly think that it was an insult to him.

Then the elephant pulley continued to move forward.

"The commander of the Zhenjiang Camp of the Northern Expedition Army, the Danyang candidate Ge Lin, pays homage to the Regent."

Zhenjiang militia leader Ge Lin and his 1,000 militiamen knelt down in salute.

The Zhenjiang militia will retain 2,000 people. After all, Zhenjiang is not as good as Suzhou, and the gentry have limited financial resources. Now that Jiangnan is temporarily safe, there is no need to continue to maintain the previous militia scale. 2,000 people will be retained. Ge Lin will take 1,000 to join the Northern Expedition Army, leaving 1,000 to be used as replacements in the next battle. With his militia veterans, when the need arises, it can be expanded quickly. The gentry have already begun to learn to reserve, but the combat effectiveness of this militia is no problem.

That was also during the Battle of Yangzhou, when we were mainly fighting against the Qing army on the periphery.

Ge Lin was indeed a juren.

But the combat effectiveness is not low.

That also means being able to use a spear to block arrows, and this job requires a very high level of martial arts strength.

Ge Lin, a burly man who did not look like a juren, took the military flag from the regent in fear.

The third one was the Changzhou militia, led by Lu Xiangsheng’s younger brother Lu Xiangguan.

In fact, he was already a Jinshi, but his previous official position was Zhongshu Sheren. Before he went to the capital to take up his post, Chongzhen had already traveled to Yue in his carriage, so he stayed in the south to organize militia.

……

"A new generation replaces the old."

Chang Yanling looked at this new generation of generals with some disappointment.

There is no military general in the traditional sense here.

All of them were well-educated, well-read, and had achieved great success. They all wore armor, carried new muskets, and led elite troops. They were even able to fight against the Jianlu alone on the battlefield. Most of the old government troops were reduced to marginal roles on the battlefield. That is, the elite servants could still maintain their advantage, but in a real battle, even the servants could not defeat these literati without suffering huge losses.

What about the Ming army that once dominated the world, fought all the way to Karakorum, completely destroyed the Yuan Dynasty at Buyur Lake, and made the entire East fear them?

He looked around at the peddlers and hawkers who were watching the excitement...

"The Yangtze River's waves behind push the waves ahead, and the waves ahead die on the beach. Huaiyuan Hou, the times have changed!"

Yang Feng suddenly appeared beside him, patted his shoulder and said.

"I heard that Marquis Huaiyuan is growing vegetables to cultivate his character?"

He asked next.

Chang Yanling remained silent and calm.

He still remembered vividly the scene where this bastard tricked the Nanjing nobles into the hall and then ordered his men to shoot and kill them.

The person hidden in this skin, which is said to be that of a scholar, is actually Erzhu Rong or Zhu Wen.

"That's great. I also like growing vegetables. I have a lot of vegetable seeds. I'll give them to Huaiyuan Hou to plant someday. It's good for self-cultivation and self-improvement."

Yang Feng said.

(End of this chapter)