Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 225

Since Nanjing was renamed Jiangning, although the land in the south of the Yangtze River has not been as peaceful and stable as the Qing court wished, the city of Jiangning is really much quieter.

In the past, the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty was full of flowers and traffic, but now we can no longer see the suave white-clothed boy who spits out lotus flowers, nor the knight-errant who looks around with a sword and his brows, nor the grandson in fresh clothes and angry horse, who spends money like water. The young master and the feather fan scarf are the saws in the literary world who write poems and fus.

The people in the city, now with narrow-sleeved mandarin jackets and full hats and pigtails, no longer have the clothes of the old country. Only the green mountains and green waters and the ancient city walls are still the same as before.

At this time, the world was still uncertain, and Chen Zilong and Wu Yi's rebel armies were still active on Taihu Lake, hundreds of miles away. In addition, an organization called Tiandihui suddenly appeared on the rivers and lakes recently, and often assassinated Han officials who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, as well as Manchu senior staff.

A few days ago, Zhao Zhilong, one of the culprits who advocated surrender to the Qing Dynasty, returned to Nanjing, and was shot dead as soon as he entered the city, and the righteous man who assassinated was rounded up by the Qing soldiers and shouted, "Heaven and Earth will, Reverse the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and killed all the Han thieves in the world." After that, he drew his sword and stabilized himself in front of the city.

In addition, Zhu Guobi, the Duke of Baoguo who knelt down to welcome Duoduo into the city, was also beheaded on a snowy night.

The Tiandihui's activities in the south of the Yangtze River caused turmoil in the city. Duoduo, the Prince of Yu of the Qing court, ordered the Qing soldiers to strengthen patrols and hunt for righteous men.

When the Qing army was patrolling, they didn't carefully screen them out. Those who didn't like it were immediately thrown into the prison, and those who resisted were killed directly. Therefore, most of the people in the city dared not go out casually. Under the high-handed rule of the Qing court, it seemed a little lifeless.

The land in the south of the Yangtze River has been developed unprecedentedly since the Song Dynasty. It has completely surpassed the north in terms of economy and culture, and has become an important taxation area for the Central Plains Dynasty.

After the Ming Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, it relied entirely on blood transfusions from the south of the Yangtze River to feed nearly a million people in the capital, and a water transport became the lifeblood of the court.

Since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they seized the entire north and the south of the Yangtze River. However, the north was corrupt. The Qing court followed the advice of the Han ministers and abolished the three salaries to win over the hearts of the people, so there was no tax money.

If a large country wants to manage it, it will definitely not work without money. But for the Qing court, fortunately, they don’t have to rely on that pitiful tax to govern the country. The money they took from Dashun is enough to support the Qing government. The court's finances have been in operation for a period of time, and even if there is no money, the Qing army can solve the problem by massacring cities, looting, and killing wealthy households.

Using the money of the Han people to buy the hearts of the Han people, the rulers of the Qing court were extremely cunning. However, although the Qing court’s move attracted ordinary people, the massacre of the city was unpopular after all, which made the gentry class unable to return to their hearts. For the long term.

From time to time, Confucius Wentan of Hexi Road in Shaanxi Province who surrendered to the Qing court made a statement to Dorgon: "If the Holy Dynasty wants to rule the world, it only depends on two things to establish peace. One is to stop killing, and the other is to keep hair. .”

Dorgon watched his memorial, and although Kong Wentan was dismissed immediately and would never be reappointed, the Qing court also realized that their policies must be changed, and barbarism alone cannot rule China.

At this time, the Qing army occupied the affluent Jiangnan, which brought an opportunity for the Qing government to change its finances. Therefore, after the initial plunder, the Qing government began to make every effort to restore the economy of Jiangnan in order to form a stable and reliable source of taxation. .

It’s just that in Jiangnan under the rule of the Qing court, the common people and scholars lived under high pressure, and economic activities shrank severely. Even the prosperous Qinhuai River in the past was completely depressed. The upper society is in turmoil, and the economy of the entire Jiangnan has actually collapsed completely, so in terms of taxation, it has not met the hopes of the Qing court at all.

At that time, Duoduo, the Prince of Yu of the Qing court, was sitting in Jiangning. In addition to sweeping down the resistance forces in Nanming, he also wanted to restore Jiangnan's finances and enable the Qing court to obtain stable fiscal revenue.

At this time, in the mansion of General Pingnan, Duoduo felt a little melancholy. The establishment of the Longwu court in the south made the Qing court's plan to appease the southern provinces shattered, and the rising and falling rebels in Jiangnan and the recent rise of Tiandihui made Jiangnan not very happy. An Ning, he can't restore Jiangnan's economy at all.

At this time, in February of the third year of Shunzhi, Duoduo had been in Jiangning for more than half a year.

During this period of time, he made no progress other than destroying a few rebel armies. Not only did he fail to restore the economy, he also failed to wipe out any Nanming forces in eastern Zhejiang and Fujian, which made him a little anxious.

Not long ago, the Longwu court launched the Battle of Jingchu in Huguang. Although he sent [-] troops of Commander Lecter into Chu, he was still a little uneasy.

Because if the Ming army succeeded in Huguang, then Jiang Ning would be completely passive strategically.

Recently, he got the news that Wang Yan entered Chu, which made him even more worried.

Duoduo is the No. 15 son of Nurhachi. He has countless military exploits and has hardly encountered any opponents. Only Wang Yan let him suffer under the city of Yangzhou. Fight one more time to wash away the shame on him.

At this time, Duoduo was eager to settle the Jiangnan issue, but he was good at fighting and destroying, but he had no idea about governing the region, so he invited Governor Hong Chengchou to discuss.

In Jiangning City, Hong Chengchou was summoned by Duoduo, and quickly gave up what he was doing, and hurried over to the mansion to see him.

Duoduo's mansion was originally the residence of Zhao Zhilong, the garrison officer of the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty. The old boy voted for the Qing court, thinking that he could keep his glory and wealth, but he was sent to Beijing for house arrest. After spending all his family property on management, he was released to Nanjing as an official. , but was shot and killed by the righteous.

Now his family property has been swallowed up by the Qing court, and he himself has not come to a good end. Even if he dies, he will be notorious in the history books, which makes Hong Chengchou feel emotional.

Hou Fangyu, who was following him, could not help but sneer in his heart. Now he has become Hong Chengchou's most trusted confidant, and at the same time he is also the rudder leader of the Jiangning branch of the Tiandihui. He is jointly responsible for collecting intelligence on the Qing army with Yu Taichu.

Duoduo presided over the encirclement and suppression of the Taihu rebels several times, all because Hou Fangyu had obtained information from Hong Chengchou in advance and passed it on through Yu Taichu, which caused the Qing army to be defeated.

Chen Zilong and Wu Yi, because of their powerful intelligence, not only killed thousands of Qing troops, but also beheaded Wang Maogong, the chief general sent by Duoduo, which made the rebel army huge for a while, and even approached Suzhou for a while.

At first Hou Fangyu was troubled by being trapped in the Qing camp, but seeing his news played a big role, so he hid beside Hong Chengchou with peace of mind.

This time Duoduo recruited Hong Chengchou to discuss business, Hou Fangyu instinctively felt that something big must happen, so he immediately followed.

(End of this chapter)