I

  Chapter 292 290 [Poetry talent] (addition for the penguin boss)

   "When and how to send troops, I have already planned." Zhao Han said.

"I know where Zhao Zongzhen plans to send troops this summer." Xu Nianzu picked up his teacup, walked to Zhao Han's table, dipped in the tea and drew a simple map. The officers and soldiers confronted each other."

  Zhao Han felt a little interesting, and said with a smile: "Go on."

Xu Nianzu did not continue to draw the map, but said: "The rebels in Fujian have been in chaos for many years, and the officers and soldiers of Fujian were wiped out in Jiangxi. The meaning of the general town is to send troops from Qianshan in the north and Chaozhou in the west. If you subdue Zheng Zhilong, you can go by sea. Attack Fuzhou. The officers and soldiers of Fujian must wait and surrender."

  Zhao Han sat up straight and looked at this person. His expansion plan for this summer was actually clearly stated.

   Well, it’s not outrageous, anyone who understands military strategy can guess it.

  Zhao Han asked with a smile: "Since that's the case, why did you let me send troops to the south of the Yangtze River?"

Xu Nianzu said: "Zhao Zongzhen's delay in going to the south of the Yangtze River is nothing more than fear of the imperial court's northern army. Now there is no need to be afraid. Last year, the Manchus entered the pass and turned Beizhi and Shandong upside down. It’s a mess. Not to mention sending a large army to the south, the imperial court doesn’t have enough troops to fight in the north, and they have to send additional training salaries to train the new army. Once the training salaries are paid, the Ming Dynasty will perish!”

   "Sit down, don't stand up." Zhao Han raised his hand to signal.

  The Ming court collapsed a bit fast.

   Judging from the current situation, even if Zhao Han did nothing, Daming would definitely not last seventeen years of Chongzhen.

   Last year was a watershed moment —

  Zhao Han expands, the Tartars break through, and the rogue bandits come back.

  The three forces are not involved with each other, but they influence and promote each other, and together they beat and disabled the imperial court.

  This produces a violent chemical reaction!

  The finances of the Ming Dynasty have completely collapsed, only in the spring of the twelfth year of Chongzhen. In terms of the financial situation, it is estimated that it collapsed to the extent of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen.

  Even the officers and soldiers who encircled and suppressed the rogues, many troops could not pay their food and salaries, and they all relied on the generals to rob the people themselves.

  The imperial court will continue to organize and train the new army, and send an additional training salary of 7 million taels.

  The seven million taels of silver, most of which came from Henan, Shandong, Nanzhi, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Hubei, plus the money embezzled by local officials, how can ordinary people bear it?

  Zhao Han wanted Daming to live for a few more years, but judging from the current situation, he really couldn't live long.

   "General Town," Xu Nianzu said anxiously, "Are you just watching the people in the south of the Yangtze River starve to death?"

  Zhao Hanfa asked: "Your Xu family has so many fields, why don't you give out food to help the victims?"

Xu Nianzu sighed: "The Xu family has a lot of cotton fields and mulberry fields, but there are really not many grain fields. If the Xu family wants to help the victims, a few thousand people are enough. Once there are tens of thousands of hungry people, they have to buy food. But the head office is in Jiangxi and southern Hunan. Embargo, the Xu family can't buy food even if they have money! Fortunately, the drought last year was not serious, otherwise the price of rice in the south of the Yangtze River this spring would have risen to at least five taels of silver per stone!"

  Taihu Lake Plain and its surrounding areas belonged to the country's largest grain production base in the early Ming Dynasty.

  The rapid development of industry and commerce has led to the fact that the grain output of this grain production base is not enough for self-sufficiency, so it has to buy rice from Huguang and Jiangxi.

  Zhao Han's expansion broke this supply chain!

  The grain shipped out from Jiangxi and Hunan decreased, which caused the price of rice in Jiangnan to soar. Workers and farmers cannot afford food (many farmers grow cotton for food), causing a social imbalance between supply and demand, and destroying both urban and rural ecology.

   At this time, the imperial court will increase taxes, which is tantamount to a fatal blow.

  The gentry families in Susong and Changhu prefectures either directly engage in industry and commerce, or provide raw materials for industry and commerce. How could they not be affected?

  Now it is not the skyrocketing price of food, but the overall increase of social prices!

  All the prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, whether landlords or merchants, hope to end this situation as soon as possible. The economic ecology they have operated for more than a hundred years was completely disrupted by Zhao Han.

   "General Town, people eat each other!" Xu Nianzu shouted.

  Zhao Han sighed: "There are too many big families in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is too much resistance to dividing the land."

   Although Jiangxi has serious land mergers, it has many mountains and little land. It is already a super wealthy family with tens of thousands of acres of land.

  In the south of the Yangtze River, each family has one surname, and they occupy hundreds of thousands of acres of land at every turn!

  This is the inevitable result of the prosperity of industry and commerce. Capital not only allowed fertile land to be planted with cotton, but also quickly concentrated wealth to a few families. The richer these families are, the more they want to annex land, and this is the same situation all over the world.

  Xu Nianzu remained silent.

   "Let me think about it again." Zhao Han did not immediately refuse.

  Xu Nianzu wanted to say more, but was held back by his younger brother Xu Fengcai, for fear of offending Mr. Zhao.

  Zhao Han waved his hand and said, "Go."

  The Xu brothers left, and three famous prostitutes were invited in.

  Zhao Han leaned back on the chair, tapped his fingers on the armrest, his mind was full of Jiangnan affairs.

  Plans cannot keep up with changes.

  Since the rise of the army, Zhao Han's military expansion plan has never been able to stick to it.

  Da Ming's decay and his fragility are beyond Zhao Han's imagination, and his plans are all too conservative.

   "Meet Mr. Zhao!"

  The three courtesans bowed in unison.

   "Sit down." Zhao Han said casually, still thinking about business.

  It was the end of spring at this time, and Zhao Han was wearing a cotton Taoist robe, which was Ming Dynasty casual clothes made of cotton cloth.

  The costumes are very ordinary, but the characters are extraordinary.

  The three famous prostitutes have met many important people, including famous scholars, scholars, and governors. But there is really no one who can have Zhao Han's momentum, just sitting there quietly, giving people a strong sense of oppression.

  Suddenly, Zhao Han came back to his senses and said with a smile, "I'm really sorry, I was thinking about something just now."

  It was as if the ice had melted, and the oppressive feeling disappeared, allowing the three of them to relax at the same time.

  Wang Wei is the oldest, she said flatteringly: "Mr. Zhao has a lot of things to do every day, and I'm afraid he's thinking about some major issues in the world."

   "You really guessed right," Zhao Han asked, "Tell me, should I fight Jiangnan first, or Fujian first?"

  The three women were dumbfounded.

  They are good at poetry, painting, tunes and singing, and they have never talked about this kind of content with customers.

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "Don't be afraid of making mistakes, just speak freely."

  Lin Xue said: "My concubine is from Fujian, I hope my husband can fight Fujian first."

   "Fight Jiangnan first!" Wang Wei and Liu Rushi spoke at the same time.

  Zhao Han asked: "Why did you attack Jiangnan first?"

"Jiangxi has been traveling all the way, and the people live and work in peace and contentment," Wang Wei replied, "The land of wealth in Jiangnan, rather than its money falling into the hands of corrupt officials, it is better for Mr. Zhao to beat it down, so that the people in Jiangnan, like the people in Jiangxi, will pass by as soon as possible." Have a good day."

Liu Rushi said: "Nanjing and Zhenjiang are better off. I heard that the price of rice has risen to three taels of silver in remote counties in the south of the Yangtze River. How can ordinary people afford such expensive rice? If Mr. Many people died of starvation. Two years ago, I was only a hundred miles from Songjiang to Suzhou, and I saw three cannibalism scenes. If there is no escort, I am afraid that I will also be eaten."

  Jiangnan is too fragile, with more money and less food, in case of natural disasters, there will be famine.

  Zhao Han suddenly changed the subject, and said with a smile, "You three come to Jiangxi, what do you want to do for a living?"

  Wang Wei said: "I want to be a teacher in a girls' school."

  Lin Xuedao: "I am good at painting, so I can draw some illustrations for the bookstore."

   "As a concubine... I also want to be a girls' school teacher." Liu Rushi said.

Zhao Han thought for a while and said, "Saomei Academy has no shortage of female teachers. Jishui, Nanchang, Raozhou, Qianshan, and Jiujiang are all planning to establish girls' schools. I can write a recommendation letter, and you take the recommendation letter. Just go. As for the bookstore, I can also write a letter of recommendation."

  Liu Rushi suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhao, can a woman be an official in Jiangxi?"

   "Yes," Zhao Han sighed, "but it's very difficult, and it's easy to attract criticism."

  Xiaohong is already married. In order to take care of her family, she no longer works as a missionary. Instead, he became the director of Anfu County, which is equivalent to the director of the county office. This incident caused a sensation last year, and even some pedantic people ran to the gate of the county government to post big-character posters.

  Zhao Han's General Military Mansion also received a lot of petition letters, hoping that he could ban women from being officials.

  Liu Rushi quickly said: "I just asked casually."

  Lin Xue immediately changed the topic: "Is "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" written by Mr. Zhao?"

   "Haha," Zhao Han couldn't help laughing, "Have you read that novel?"

"It was republished two years ago, and I drew illustrations for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," Lin Xue said, "This book has two signatures, one is Li Zhuowu (Li Zhi) and the other is Zhao Ziyue. Said it was Mr. Zhao from Jiangxi."

  Zhao Han couldn't help laughing: "I'm afraid it's not Jiangxi Mr. Zhao, but what they said is Jiangxi Zhao thief."

  Lin Xue didn't answer the words, and asked: "Mr. Zhao really did it?"

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I used to be a house slave for others, and I had no money, so I wrote novels to earn some money."

   "Mr. is really a great talent." Lin Xue complimented.

  Through the novel, Lin Xue managed to make the atmosphere relaxed and harmonious.

  Liu Rushi made persistent efforts and asked: "It is said that Mr. Zhao has a reputation as a scholar, but is it true?"

   "I took the exam twice, but I failed." Zhao Han said.

  Wang Wei asked: "Are you proficient in poetry?"

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I haven't studied it."

   Famous prostitutes have their own way of life. These three women are all trying to get Zhao Han's interest.

   There is no other intention, just want to get Zhao Han's care.

  The conversation between Xu Ying and Zhang Pu that day, Liu Rushi listened to the whole process, she asked: "I heard that at the age of fourteen, Mr. Jiangxi is favored by the inspector of Jiangxi. Do you want to accept Mr. as a student?"

   "Yes." Zhao Han nodded.

  Wang Wei and Lin Xue were very surprised. They thought Zhao Han was superficial, but they didn't expect him to be a child prodigy.

  It is really rare for a provincial academic officer to take the initiative to accept apprentices, because it will definitely attract criticism.

  Liu Rushi raised the corners of his mouth: "I guess Mr. Zhao must be full of knowledge, and he only regards poetry as an outsider's way, so he doesn't bother to discuss poetry with others. Mr. Zhao must have some masterpieces?"

  They also understand "major national affairs", but they are all old-fashioned, such as rectifying the administration of officials and appointing people on merit.

   It goes without saying that Jiangxi has already done it.

   Then you can only use poetry, which is the strong point of courtesans.

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "I think of an old work, in front of three famous masters. Don't sing the song of eternal regret. There is also a galaxy in the world. In Shihao Village, there are more tears than in the Palace of Longevity."

  After reciting this poem, the three famous courtesans hurriedly stood up: "Thank you for your teaching, sir!"

   Zhao Han saw through their petty thoughts, and was beaten by this poem. Let them sing poems and songs in the future, pay more attention to the sufferings of the people, and don't just care about emperors, generals, ministers, talented scholars and beautiful women.

  Throwing out this poem is also Zhao Han's warning to the governing servants.

  Liu Rushi thought to himself: Mr. Zhao is worthy of being a child prodigy. He is really proficient in poetry, and he just hides it in his heart without showing any traces.

  (end of this chapter)