Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 505 The Yanguan’s Viewpoint on War Has Changed (Chapter 24)
The First Corps of the Third Army of the Guards regained Zhangde Mansion soon after recovering Weihui Mansion in Henan.

After regaining Shunqing Mansion in Henan Province, the Second Corps of the Third Army of the Guards moved westward into Shanxi and moved towards Lucheng, Shanxi.

So far, the entire territory of Henan has been included in the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty has officially recovered the three prefectures of Henan!

And the news that the Ming Dynasty successively regained the entire territory of Sichuan and Henan was quickly spread back to Nanjing City. Now the people of the Ming Dynasty are particularly sensitive to military news.

Because every news of military victory is sent back to Nanjing City, the value of the "Northern Expedition Voucher" will continue to increase substantially, and those who hold the "Northern Expedition Voucher" will have more and more wealth.

The Ministry of Household Affairs and the Central Bank of Ming Dynasty will also jointly print more securities, namely "Northern Expedition Vouchers" for sale based on this, so that the military expenditures for the entire Northern Expedition will be paid by the people of the whole country.

It can be said that the Northern Expedition has now become a war involving the participation of the whole people.

No one does not want this war to be lost.

The central court of the Ming Dynasty could exchange an ordinary paper coupon for wealth worth hundreds of silver dollars, but the reason why the common people were willing to buy this kind of ordinary paper coupon was because the real income they could obtain came from the income obtained during the Northern Expedition.

The land, money, human resources and other benefits obtained by the Guards during the Northern Expedition will be distributed to the soldiers and people across the country in the form of Northern Expedition vouchers.

Make the people of the whole country the biggest winner in this war.

Of course, these wealth are controlled by the central court, that is, the Ministry of Households, which means that the right to use this wealth is in the hands of the central court of the Ming Dynasty, but the central court of the Ming Dynasty has to distribute all the profits obtained in the process of controlling this property to Daming The soldiers of the empire.

From a certain point of view, the Ming Empire is now similar to a company. Those who hold the "Northern Expedition Certificate" have become shareholders of the empire, and the imperial court is nothing more than a board of directors that exercises management power in place of the general meeting of shareholders.

Whether civil servants, military generals, merchants, or handicraftsmen, as long as capitalists with spare money began to invest a large amount of wealth in the empire by purchasing "Northern Expedition Coupons".

Once the imperial court fails to operate and there are unfavorable circumstances such as corruption, war defeat, and large natural disasters, the wealth of everyone will be reduced.

It can be said that one is prosperous, and one is lost.

The same is true for the Northern Expedition today. Qu Shixu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, issued the "Northern Expedition Voucher" in accordance with the instructions of Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, and bound the interests of all civil servants, gentry, generals, businessmen, scholars, etc. The smoother the thoroughness, the greater their benefit.

This is also the reason why the Imperial Guards used the name of punishing the Han thieves to attack the northern gentry on a large scale during the Northern Expedition. The gentry in the Ming Dynasty, that is, the southern gentry, has not opposed much.

Because he has no way to object, the harder he hits the northern gentry, the more benefits they will get now, and some officials who want to make the news of the Northern Expedition more exciting and make the value of the Northern Expedition coupons they hold directly suggest that every time a city is recovered Massacre the city for three days to restore justice!

No one would have thought that in today's Ming Dynasty, there would be such a suggestion from an official, because they used to oppose it even when war was mentioned.

Of course, there are people who understand clearly that the consequences of doing so will lead to a significant weakening of the power of the gentry class. They will no longer be able to control the court, and they will even be revolutionized in the future. The madness in pursuit of increasing wealth.

Among them, Gao Hongtu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, is a sensible person.

When he learned that his elder brother bought half of his savings into the Northern Expedition coupons and that his butler's nephew also took most of his savings to buy the Northern Expedition coupons behind his back, he realized that his wealth had been controlled. In the hands of the court.

In the future, the court will move him as much as he wants, and he can only maximize the interests of the court as much as possible, otherwise his family will suffer huge losses.

Gao Hongtu was particularly depressed about this. In the past, the interests of officials and gentry like himself were not controlled by the court, but now they are controlled by the court. All of this is the fault of Qu Shixu, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Ruan Dayue, who first proposed this method of raising money. , so Gao Hongtu hates these two people very much now, so he couldn't help but write in his private notes:

"Today, everyone pursues profit and forgets righteousness, and does not think about the future. It is all because of the faults of Jizhi (Ruan Dayue's character collection) and Qitian (Qu Shisi's character Qitian). Alas, the people's hearts are not old, and the world is declining. It’s all right to talk about money!”

But only people like Gao Hongtu lamented feebly.

And they themselves have no way to stop the general trend of the world. On the one hand, they criticize this phenomenon with the excuse that a gentleman is ashamed of words and interests, and on the other hand, they let their family members buy Northern Expedition coupons, and even accept bribes in private, and they are unwilling to accept silver dollars. Appreciated Northern Expedition coupons, after all, silver dollars are depreciating due to rising prices.

The Northern Expedition is still going on smoothly, they are like an army serving the capitalists of the entire empire, actively expanding the results of the war as much as possible according to the needs of the empire's interests.

The First Army of the Guards advanced step by step in North Zhili, uprooting the interests occupied by the northern gentry. The Seventh Army of the Guards went north to Shaanxi to prepare for the land and population in the Northwest. The Third Army of the Guards also entered Shanxi and Beizhili.

And now the First Corps of the Fourth Army of the Guards has also left Xiangfan, crossed Tangzi Mountain along the Baihe River, and entered the Nanyang Basin.

The Nanyang Basin is located in the south of the Qinling Mountains and is the main grain-producing area in Henan. Entering Henan Province from Nanyang, you will come to Hulao Pass.

Hulaoguan was in the hands of the Manchus at this time, and Jierhalang also attached great importance to this place. He sent [-] Manchu crossbowmen with red flags, [-] Han soldiers, Zhenghongqi firearms battalion and infantry, and [-] green battalions. The guard of the tiger prison is guarded by the veteran second-class Boyleden himself.

Now the generals of the Qing Zhuang faction of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have long been lost in the two wars of the 17th year of Chongzhen and the 20th year of Chongzhen, and in the end they can only be guarded by these old futures who are already dying.

And Irden is one of them. Jierhalang, Prince Zheng of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, still has high hopes for Irden. Live in the Ming army.

Yirden himself knew how important Hulao Pass was to his Qing Dynasty. He had led the Manchurian iron cavalry in many battles in his early years, and had also fought against the Ming army many times. He knew how to defend against firearms and cavalry.

These days, he personally led the entire Qing army at Hulao Pass to dig many traps in this area, waiting for the First Corps of the Fourth Army of the Guards to drill them.

The First Corps of the Fourth Army of the Guards was led by Huang Degong himself. Huang Degong was also a veteran of many years of combat.

(End of this chapter)