Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 36

Zhu Youjian is not worried about whether Li Banghua can successfully wipe out Liu Liangzuo's troops.

First of all, the emperor himself directly gave Liu Zeqing all the millions of property he had accumulated over the years to Li Banghua for the military pay for the extermination of Liu Liangzuo.

It is said that there must be a brave man under a heavy reward. Even if Li Banghua no longer knows how to command, he can still spend money to boost the morale of Liu Fangliang and Gao Jie.

What's more, most of Liu Fangliang and Gao Jie's men were from refugees, and they were always afraid of poverty. As long as the money is enough, they are not afraid that they will not work hard.

Secondly, Liu Fangliang's department and Gao Jie's department are also mostly old bandits who have fought against the government and army for many years, and their combat effectiveness is relatively strong. At least they can completely abuse Liu Liangzuo's soldiers and bandits who only harm the people and only know how to fight and run.

Moreover, Liu Liangzuo's department occupying Fengyang Shouzhou and Gao Jie's department occupying Xuzhou have always been in constant friction, and the conflict has deepened.

Zhu Youjian's ordering Gao Jie's troops to attack Liu Liangzuo's troops was undoubtedly in the hands of Gao Jie, and it was impossible for Gao Jie not to try his best.

In addition, Zhu Youjian also specially added a decree that Daming has never conferred titles for meritorious service, and Zhou Yuji was awarded the title of Uncle Ning Wu because of his meritorious service in saving his family.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian has promised first that as long as Gao Jie and Liu Fangliang destroy Liu Liangzuo, Zhu Youjian will make them counts.

Therefore, just by being able to confer titles, Liu Fangliang's and Gao Jie's tribes could do their best to wipe out Liu Liangzuo's tribe.

"I have given you enough money and food, and I have also handed over two of my best armies in Ming Dynasty to you. If Aiqing can't get rid of this Liu Liangzuo for me in the shortest possible time, you don't have to come to Nanjing to see me. You can just kill yourself as a thank you." countrymen."

Zhu Youjian said this to Li Banghua, Minister of the Soldiers Department of Wuyingdian University.

Li Banghua nodded solemnly: "Your Majesty, please don't worry. The Liu thief will not be eliminated. Please send troops to liquidate my Li family's property. I am willing to use all of this to benefit the country! This includes my head!"

……

The Third Guards Army led by Li Banghua and Liu Fangliang, Minister of Soldiers Department of Wuyingdian University, left.

Li Mingrui also made meritorious service for successfully luring Liu Zeqing into Jinan City and was executed, and was promoted by Zhu Youjian to be the governor of Huaiyang, the capital of Zuoqian.

Although this position was just a governor before, it now plays a pivotal role in Ming Dynasty, whose political center moved southward.

Zhu Youjian took the lead in letting Li Mingrui, a confidant official who followed him to the south, to be the governor of Huaiyang. In fact, he seized power from Shi Kefa, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing.

Logically speaking, Shi Kefa is the military and political power of the Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War to control Nanjing and its surrounding areas, that is, the entire Southern Zhili.

But now, Zhu Youjian asked Li Mingrui to be the governor of Huaiyang, which is to control the military control of Huai'an and Yangzhou, the important barriers of Nanjing, in his own hands.

In this way, he, the emperor, can take the emperor's position firmly after he arrives in Nanjing, and he doesn't have to worry about someone taking the opportunity to mess up Huaiyang and threaten Nanjing.

However, now that Zhu Youjian has not yet entered Huaiyang, nor has he arrived in Nanjing, Li Mingrui, the governor of Huaiyang, replaced Li Banghua as Zhu Youjian's temporary adviser, making plans for Zhu Youjian and taking care of the people on the way to the south. Various matters.

Li Mingrui also knew that his position as the governor of Huaiyang was similar to that of the governor of Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty. He cultivated the mind of a future cabinet minister, so Li Mingrui had to do his best.

It is not difficult to find reasons for the extermination of Liu Liangzuo. There have always been many censors who impeached Liu Liangzuo, especially the officials of the Donglin Party who impeached Liu Liangzuo the most.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian now has to borrow the knife of the Donglin Party to kill the warlord Liu Liangzuo.

Among the four towns in Jiangbei, Liu Zeqing, who was entrenched in Huaiyang, Shandong, has been eliminated by Zhu Youjian.

Gao Jie's department occupying Xuzhou was bought by Zhu Youjian, and he was about to fight for Zhu Youjian to attack Liu Liangzuo.

Liu Liangzuo, who occupies Fengyang Shouzhou, is about to face the fate of being wiped out.

Huang Degong of Luzhou is the only reliable official among the four towns in Jiangbei. Zhu Youjian will naturally not touch him, and he has already issued a decree to him, ordering him to beware of Zuo Liangyu's department in Huguang, and to ensure the safety of the west side of Nanjing. .

In other words, the problem of the warlords in the four towns in Jiangbei basically has a clear solution.

In the future, Zhu Youjian will not worry about internal troubles in Nanjing.

As for defending against foreign enemies, Zhu Youjian has left Zhu Zhaoming and Ni Yuanlu in Beizhili, Zhou Yuji and Sun Shilun in Shandong, and Zhou Yuji, governor of Huaiyang.

It can be said that from the entire Central Plains to Jianghuai, Zhu Youjian had taken precautions before the Tartars arrived.

This is naturally much better than the one-year preparation time wasted when Hongguang was busy dealing with the three major internal cases in the original history.

Of course, this does not mean that after Zhu Youjian retreats to the south, it will be smooth sailing, and he will be able to easily rule the river with Jiannu and successfully accumulate strength to prepare for the Northern Expedition.

Even internally, there will still be the North-South partisanship between the Donglin Party and the Eunuch Party that has never been reduced, and even the participation of Nandu officials will intensify the struggle between the North and South landlord classes.

In addition, there is also the threat of Zuo Liangyu's 80 troops.

As well as the Zheng Zhilong Pirate Group, which is affiliated in name but actually controls most of Daming's sea trade wealth, is a threat to Daming.

In addition, the tax reform that must be done to increase treasury revenue and ease class conflicts will definitely encounter great opposition.

These Zhu Youjian need to overcome obstacles one by one to solve.

The former Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty was just a master of power and tactics who had never been out of the capital. Although he knew how to use people's hearts, he didn't know how to govern the world, but now Zhu Youjian knows that it is necessary to control a corrupt regime and bring it back to life. How difficult it is.

This requires Zhu Youjian to perform a major blood-changing operation on this decadent political system. The difficulty of the operation is far more difficult than a complicated surgical operation, and the risk is extremely high. He himself will be killed by people in his own system first.

Therefore, even if Zhu Youjian is the emperor, he has to take every next step with great care.

After leaving Jinan, Zhu Youjian's next stop was Yanzhou Mansion.

Because Zhou Yuji led the First Guards Army to stay in Shandong, Liu Fangliang led the Second Guards Army and Li Banghua took him to Xuzhou to meet Gao Jie.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian is only surrounded by He Xin's Second Guards Army.

Although the scale of the southward withdrawal has been reduced a lot, it is actually safer than before.

After all, you no longer have to worry about chasing soldiers behind you or soldiers and bandits in front of you.

"Your Majesty, after arriving in Yanzhou, you only need to go through Huai'an and Yangzhou before you can reach Nanjing. In this way, the trip to the south can finally be completely over!"

Li Mingrui happily reported the progress of the southward retreat to Zhu Youjian, and immediately lowered his head involuntarily:
"It's just because we are running out of money and grain. We have paid too much for the military pay recently and left too much for Shandong Governor Zhou Yuji's farming. The silver reserve is now less than 200 million taels."

Zhu Youjian didn't say anything, but just smiled and said: "Yanzhou is not far from Qufu, after arriving in Yanzhou, go to Qufu to see Confucius's residence."

(End of this chapter)