Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

It has to be said that the Ming Dynasty was really unlucky at this time.To describe it in one word, it would be bad luck.

So Hong Chengchou was forced to personally lead the army to Xining to suppress the rebellion.The peasant rebel army took the opportunity to "divide into Guanlong." When Hong Chengchou calmed down the mutiny and freed up his hands to suppress the peasant rebel army, the peasant rebel army withdrew from Shaanxi one after another, heading to Shanxi, Huguang and Henan respectively.

Not to mention Hong Chengchou playing hide-and-seek with the peasant rebels.It should be said that Xuanmo, the governor of Henan, also performed well when he encircled and suppressed the peasant rebel army.

When Xuanmo paid attention to the peasant rebel army and then entered Henan, he moved his army from Ruzhou to Lushi, and ordered Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou and other ministries to guard the vital points, which effectively blocked the peasant rebel army. Entered Henan on a large scale.

And the local Henan Luoyang deputy general Wang Shaoyu, Kaifeng guerrilla Chen Yongfu and other generals also attacked repeatedly, and defeated several Henan local bandits who were more lively. The situation deteriorated further.Therefore, from August to the end of October in the seventh year of Chongzhen, Henan had to settle down for a few months.

And Wu Shigong also took advantage of this rare rest period to do several major things in Runing.First of all, the whole territory of Runing and Tuntian Zhuangzi in Guide Mansion had a bumper harvest.This rare bumper harvest in recent years made the granary of the Runing army full.And the hearts of those who turned to refugees quickly settled down.

Because some officials from Runing and Guide in the court received letters from their families and knew that there was such a happy land in the chaotic Henan, they greatly praised the local officials in Runing, and this praise was quickly passed on to Emperor Chongzhen. And in the ears of all the great scholars.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen recalled the three decrees proposed in the memorial submitted by Guan Kesong, the prefect of Runing at that time, so he immediately praised them.And Guan Kesong was immediately praised by Longkou as a "capable minister".

And the Ministry of Officials is also planning to break the rules and promote Guan Kesong.But when the news reached Runing, Guan Kesong felt mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was happy that he would be promoted; And he only issued a decree, and later collected some more routines from the Runing Army, but did nothing about other specific matters.

Guan Kesong knew even better that without the deterrence of a strong army like the Runing Army, the bandits roaming around the four borders of Henan would have ravaged the Runing Mansion long ago. Where did the big harvest come from?If the court simply promoted itself.But if he doesn't give himself a strong army, and puts himself in areas where peasant rebels are active, such as Shaanxi and Huguang, then Guan Kesong will have three heads and six arms. Even if thirty decrees are issued, the situation there will still be bad. May get better.

Can confess to the imperial court: The tranquility of the Runing Mansion is actually due to the dismissed Wu Dusi?Guan Kesong must also be reluctant.If you give up the opportunity for promotion in front of you, you won't know that the next promotion will be in the Year of the Monkey.This is really a happy trouble!

There is another person who also has the troubles of happiness.That is the "famous general" Li Lu who was promoted to three ranks.The bragging words of the cripple not only reached Wu Shigong's ears.And spread throughout Henan officialdom.

And how could Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan who was short of major generals, waste Li Lu's powerful army?He issued transfer orders every three days to recruit Li Lu's powerful army to the front line of bandit suppression.

But how could Li Lu conjure up an army?He can only delay the transfer order with many reasons such as "the troops need to rest after the battle!" "It is difficult to march due to bad weather!"

Now Li Lu has been living in the Runing Army camp for a long time, and he begged Wu Shigong to send some troops to let him fool this level every day, but how could Wu Shigong casually wear down the strength of his Runing Army?So Li Lu was sadly thrown aside by Wu Shigong, and he even wanted to hang himself at this time.

People are really afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong!Li Lu did not go to learn from Zhao Ming, although he could not be promoted.But at least you're not in danger.At this time, Li Lu must have known the true meaning of misfortune from the mouth!

And the bumper harvest in Runing Mansion also made the gentry in Guide Mansion jealous.Jimin Land Reclamation Firm took the opportunity to extend its tentacles to Guide Mansion.After getting Wu Shigong's approval, Chang Meng immediately established a branch in Guide Mansion.The major shareholder of Jimin wasteland reclamation business holds [-]% of the shares, unites local officials and gentry from Guide Prefecture, and imitates the "Forbidden Wasteland Order" implemented by Runing Prefecture.Collect all the abandoned land in Guide Mansion, gather the refugees, and prepare to do a big job in the coming year.

And this big alliance also fully demonstrated the often fierce and slick methods, which made the local officials of Guide Mansion and the respectable gentry get some benefits to some extent.What's more valuable is that the Guide Mansion branch also promised to sell the excess grain to the Runing Army at a fair price, and the management of those farm villages and the command of the village guard team are also owned by the Runing Army. It is impressive.

Chang Meng, who was constantly praised by Wu Shigong, was highly motivated, and then he wanted to expand the villages in Kaifeng, Ruzhou, and Nanyang, which were close to the area controlled by the Runing Army.

But at this time, a problem arose. The other shareholders of Jimin Reclamation Firm had little interest in developing those areas.The reason is very simple, after all, those places are outside the control area of ​​the Runing Army, relying on only a small number of village guards, maybe even the young crops in the fields will be eaten by those hungry and crazy refugees.

Besides, where there is farming now, there will be fragrant steamed buns, and those bandits will swarm here like a swarm of flies.And it is impossible for the Runing Army to take care of such a large place in time.Therefore, those major shareholders think that the risk of going to those places to cultivate wasteland is too great.

It was also impossible for Wu Shigong to force those big shareholders, and the business development of Jimin Land Reclamation Firm was temporarily at an impasse.But an unexpected visitor broke the deadlock.That was the senior male publicist Wu Shigong had met a few times in Nanjing—Ma Shouxin, the second son of Ma.

As a man, he wants to make a career, and Ma Shouxin is no exception.Although in the eyes of outsiders, Ma Shouxin seems very chic to accompany the young masters in Nanjing to eat, drink and have fun, but Ma Shouxin knows that those young masters look down on him, and he also knows that his status in the Ma family is not high.So when seeing off Wu Shigong, Ma Shouxin's heart was immediately moved when he heard Wu Shigong's words.

But after all, Ma Shouxin is also a young man, and it is definitely not good to let him make up his own mind, so when he returned to Songjiang Mansion, Ma Shouxin told the head of the Ma family, his father Ma Yong, about his meeting with Wu Shigong.

After hearing this, Ma Yong certainly didn't take it seriously.A noble son who married into a family, a military officer who was dismissed, and a warrior who came to Nanjing to borrow money, what is worth paying attention to?

But hearing that his second son's tone was always inclined to cooperate with Wu Shigong, and Ma Yong was not good at dampening Ma Shouxin's enthusiasm, so he reluctantly agreed to let Ma Shouxin go to Runing, Henan to have a look.

But this rare trip shocked Ma Shouxin greatly.Ma Shouxin has always been in the most prosperous city of the Ming Dynasty, but he rarely hears about the situation in the world, and he always gives some dry introductions, without any intuitive understanding at all.

But on this road, although they passed through the most affluent areas of the Ming Dynasty, there were endless sightings of poor people displaced and people dying on the roadside.

So when Ma Shouxin arrived in Jining, after hearing from the innkeeper about the rampant situation of bandits in Henan, Ma Shouxin wanted to go back home.It was the shopkeeper of the Jining branch of Sihai Commercial Bank who repeatedly ensured the safety of the journey, so Ma Shouxin went to Runing Fucheng suspiciously.

Ma Shouxin walked with the caravan of the Universal Trading Company.As soon as he entered Guide Mansion in Henan, Ma Shouxin noticed a strange phenomenon. Although there were a lot of refugees beside the road, as long as they saw the banner of Sihai Commercial Company, they all kept away from it and did not dare to approach it.

So Ma Shouxin asked the shopkeeper who led the caravan with great interest, and the shopkeeper told Ma Shouxin: No one dared to mess with Runing Army's Four Seas Trading Company in the border of Henan.The group of gangsters who provoked the Four Seas Trading Company last time have already had more than 1 heads beheaded by the Runing Army.

After all, Ma Shouxin was used to dealing with young masters, so his observation ability was quite strong, so he felt that the shopkeeper's understatement was somewhat smug.

I also heard that more than 1 heads had been chopped off. If the shopkeeper hadn't been bragging, then the military officer I was going to meet this time who came to Nanjing to borrow money must be a crazy butcher.At this time, Ma Shouxin was a little interested.

But Ma Shouxin's amazing journey has just begun.When he entered Runing Mansion, Ma Shouxin felt as if he had entered two worlds.There is not a single refugee on the main road here, and there are no beggars or corpses lying dead on the roadside.Farmers are cultivating in the fields, but they often encounter teams of soldiers patrolling the road.

Although these soldiers were not as brightly armored as the soldiers guarding Nanjing that Ma Shouxin saw in Nanjing City, they were dressed in commoner clothes and their actions showed proficiency.They only saw the banner of the Four Seas Trading Company, and they let it go after a brief interrogation.

But when Ma Shouxin complimented Wu Shigong's good soldiers to the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper laughed out loud, and then he introduced to Ma Shouxin: These are actually not Wu Shigong's soldiers.Some are militia groups, and some are village and road protection teams organized by the Department of Internal Affairs.And the soldiers of the Runing Army are much more capable than these people!

Ma Shouxin couldn't help being stunned by the shopkeeper's words, he couldn't imagine what a soldier who was more capable than these people would look like, and this question was brought up when he met Wu Shigong. (To be continued..)