I

  Chapter 342 340【Chongzhen Fundraising】

  When Zhao Han expanded his military system, Huang Taiji was doing the same thing.

July.

  After Wu Sangui surrendered at Songshan Fort, Huang Taiji personally led the army to bypass Jinzhou. Facing the heavy encirclement, the deputy general of Xingshan Castle surrendered to the enemy secretly, and cooperated inside and outside to help the Manchus occupy the castle.

  At the same time, Hauge and Duoduo led 5,000 cavalry to cut off the passage between Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan.

  Although there are more than 10,000 garrison troops in Ningyuan, most of them belong to the village valor regiment. There are troops recruited by Liaodong military officers, and there are also troops recruited by landlords and wealthy businessmen. The ranks are diverse and the orders are different.

  Jin Guofeng and Wu Xiang are both the commander-in-chief of the Ningyuan Regiment.

  Wu Sangui brought his family members to persuade him to surrender, and Wu Xiang was ready to move immediately.

  Jin Guofeng is from Shanxi, and was quite excluded in Liaodong. Although Ning Yuan took him as the main general, he could only command dozens of family cavalry.

  Seeing that the situation is not good, Jin Guofeng flees with his family, and is surrounded by cavalry led by Duoduo.

   Jin Guofeng would rather die than surrender, and charged at more than 2,000 Manchu cavalry with only a few dozen family members. The entire family was wiped out, and Jin Guofeng, father and son died heroically.

  When Jin Guofeng died, Wu Xiang surrendered, and Ningyuan was captured by the Qing Dynasty.

   Tashan Fort, sandwiched between Jinzhou and Ningyuan, also chose to surrender.

  The news came out that from Ningyuan to Shanhaiguan, all the forts along the way either surrendered or fled collectively to Shanhaiguan.

  Jinzhou.

  Zu Dashou has held on for almost a year, the outer city was lost, and the inner city ran out of food.

  Many buildings in the city were chopped into firewood and burned, and countless people in the city starved to death.

  The personal guard rushed over with a letter, Zu Dashou opened it up for a closer look, and then let out a sigh of relief.

  In the entire east of Shanhaiguan, only his ancestor Dashou is still guarding the city, including his relatives and nephews, who have surrendered.

   "Surrender, follow me out of the city." Zu Dashou had no other choice.

  The entire Liaodong fell!

  Due to the large number of Liaodong soldiers who surrendered, the combat effectiveness was uneven, and the command structure was extremely chaotic, Huang Taiji began to reorganize.

  Select 10,000 Liaodong soldiers, plus the Han army who surrendered before, and compile them all into the Han army flag.

  The rest of the Liaodong soldiers were thrown away to farm.

  In this reorganization, the Eight Banners system has been improved. Under the Eight Banners, there are Manchurian Banner, Mongolian Banner, and Hanjun Banner.

   Throughout the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners Army was about 100,000 people, and the number was not very large. And they usually have to farm, unlike Zhao Han's regular army, which is completely out of production.

   Each flag structure is as follows—

  XX Banner—Manchurian Banner (Mongolian Banner, Han Army Banner)—Jiala—Niulu.

  Those pure Manchurian banners are the same as Zhao Han's troops. Each banner has about 7,500 troops, and the total number of Manchurian banners is only about 60,000.

  The banners are not directly divided by ethnicity. The Mongolian nobles entered the Manchurian Banner, and the Mongols and Manchurians with Han surnames were compiled into the Han Army Banner.

   It is estimated that within half a year, Huang Taiji will not fight again. He must digest the newly occupied territory, and at the same time step up control of the reorganized Han army.

  The Ming court has become numb to this.

  Now there are three governors, Hong Chengchou is responsible for defending Liaodong, Sun Chuanting is responsible for defending Shanxi, and Chen Xinjia is responsible for defending Henan.

  Chongzhen's real real control sites are only Beizhili and Shandong.

  The provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, although still under the rule of Ming Dynasty, have already lost contact with each other, and money, food, taxes and taxes can no longer be transported to the capital.

  All the eunuchs in the various armies were recalled by Chongzhen, and eunuchs were not allowed to intervene in the military.

  But the supervising army still had to be dispatched, so civilian officials were selected as the supervising army.

  In history, Zhang Ruoqi, the key figure who led to the fall of Liaodong, has no chance to harm Liaodong and Hong Chengchou this time.

  Well, he harmed Sun Chuanting.

  Zhang Ruoqi's official position is as a doctor in the Ministry of War.

   It doesn't look like a big official, but he is a powerful figure!

  Assessment of rewards and punishments for military exploits, distribution of rations, reorganization of the army, training of soldiers, conquests and garrisons...all under the direct jurisdiction of this guy!

  Now, he is still sent to supervise Sun Chuanting.

   It took only half a month for Zhang Ruoqi to take Sun Chuanting off the ground. Generals like Yang Guozhu and Wang Pu had to listen to him.

   This guy started his career by fighting for the party, and by currying favor with Yang Sichang, he didn't understand military affairs at all.

  As soon as he arrived at the front line, he emptied the coach, and then eager to make contributions, ordered all departments to take the initiative.

  Yang Guozhu's grain road was cut off, so he surrendered directly to Li Zicheng.

   Li Fuming's lone army was deeply surrounded and died in a fierce battle. The whole army was wiped out.

   Seeing that the situation was not good, Wang Pu led his troops to run fast, and at least got stuck in the Jingxing Passage, preventing Li Zichang from driving straight to Beijing.

   Zhang Ruoqi, who caused all these messy things, originally stayed in Wang Pu's army, but Wang Pu left him when he ran for his life.

  Seeing Li Zicheng's army approaching, Zhang Ruoqi led the remnant soldiers to surrender.

  …

  Dry Qing Palace.

   Chongzhen was shaking with anger as he held the battle report in his hand.

  His military officer, Fang Silang, and the confidant he sent out to oversee the army, surrendered to the bandits after burying the army!

   "Confiscation of the house, Zhang Ruoqi ransacked the family's house!"

   Chongzhen's face was ferocious, as if he was crazy, and he tore the battle report to pieces.

  The next day, the court meeting.

   "What else can you do?" Chongzhen asked.

   No answer.

  Partisanship is gone. With Zhao Han occupying Jiangnan, a large number of southern officials fled the capital, and the remaining Donglin Party has completely lost its right to speak.

  Now Xue Guoguan's family dominates, firmly sitting in the position of chief assistant.

  In the hall, there was a dead silence.

   Chongzhen got impatient with the wait, and asked, "What can Xue Qing do?"

  Xue Guoguan's scalp was numb, and he replied: "You should train a new army, otherwise it will be difficult to resist the bandits."

   "Where's the money?" Chongzhen asked.

   Xue Guoguan said: "Li Shangshu still needs to find a way."

   Li Daiwen, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was from Cantonese. His whole family was killed, and was jointly killed by Guangzhou businessmen. His family was extinct, so he dared not return to his hometown, so he could only stay in Beijing as an official.

Li Daiwen came out and said: "Your Majesty, the household department has no silver taels. Even if there are silver taels, it is still not enough to buy food. After the summer harvest this year, the price of rice in the capital has barely dropped to two taels per stone, and countless people in the city have starved to death. Training the new army and forcibly purchasing food, I am afraid that half of the people in Beijing will starve to death. Moreover, there will be no money for the civil and military salaries of the Manchu Dynasty next month."

   "What about the Changlu Salt Class?" Chongzhen asked.

   Li Daiwen replied: "It has been deported to Beijing and sent out as military salary."

  It was summer at this time, and Chongzhen sat in the hall, only feeling chills all over his body.

  The emperor was silent, and the ministers were silent.

After a long time, Chongzhen said in an almost begging tone: "The current situation is indeed extremely dangerous. All the ministers are ministers of the country, and my internal funds are not enough. Can you donate to serve the country? I don't want too much. Donate three Wanliang is the best."

   "Your Majesty!"

"woo woo woo woo…"

  The officials knelt down and wept bitterly.

   It seems that they are crying for Daming Jiangshan, but no one mentioned the matter of donating money to save the country.

  Chongzhen was upset by the crying, retreated back to Qianqing Palace, and asked the factory guards to speed up the search of the house. Zhang Ruoqi, who surrendered to the bandits, bought a mansion in the capital even though his hometown was far away in Shandong.

  That night, the factory guard came back and reported that Zhang Ruoqi was indeed a corrupt official, and more than 3,000 taels of silver were found in his home.

  The powerful officials who are in charge of the distribution of military rations and rewards and punishments for military merits have only a little more than three thousand taels in their family.

  Chongzhen could only choose to believe it. Could it be that he ransacked the house himself?

  More than three thousand taels was considered an income, and Chongzhen sent factory guards to urge officials to donate from door to door.

   A few days later, many stalls suddenly appeared in the streets and alleys of Beijing.

  Xungui's relatives, civil and military ministers, set up stalls on the street one by one, selling pots and pans in exchange for silver donations to serve the country.

  This situation is so moving.

   Those who hear it are sad, and those who see it cry.

  You are dozens of taels, I am hundreds of taels, and the relatives, civil and military, donate enthusiastically, and the heart of serving the country is well known in the world.

  The **** came to Zhou Kui's house and said with a smile on his face, "Master, Your Majesty is going to seal you a marquis. Take a bath and fast, and the imperial decree will arrive in three days!"

   Zhou Kui was overjoyed, he pulled the **** to talk, and asked someone to seal the money as a thank you gift.

  The **** suddenly said: "Master of the country, the donations from hundreds of officials are too little, Your Majesty would like to ask you to set an example. How about a hundred thousand taels of silver?"

  Zhou Kui burst into tears instantly: "Corrupt old minister, how can I have so much money? Rice prices are so high now that the family can't even afford to eat, so they can only buy moldy rice and cook it..."

  The **** quickly interrupted: "Master, please tell the truth. Our family is also following orders. If you make sure, I will go back and report to His Majesty."

  Zhou Kui stopped crying again, and raised a finger: "The most I can give is ten thousand taels."

  The **** went back to report, Chongzhen was very aggrieved.

   After all, he was his father-in-law, and Chongzhen couldn't force him too much, so he said, "Go and tell the father-in-law that ten thousand taels is too little, why donate twenty thousand taels."

  The **** went to pass on the message again. Seeing that Zhou Kui couldn't be fooled, he hurried into the palace to find his daughter.

Empress Zhou persuaded: "Father, the Ming Dynasty is in dire straits. How can we train troops and suppress thieves without money? As the head of the country, my father should understand the righteousness and set an example for the rich and powerful in the city. The daughter still has some money for himself. Take them all, at least you have to collect 20,000 taels of silver."

   Empress Zhou gave her father five thousand taels, and Zhou Kui would make up another five thousand taels.

  Back home, Zhou Kui thought about it, but was still reluctant to donate 20,000 yuan. The five thousand taels given by his daughter, he directly picked out two thousand taels, and took 13,000 taels of silver to donate.

   Inside and out, I only paid 8,000 taels, which is a good deal no matter how you think about it.

  After the father-in-law set an example, the honorable ministers should follow suit, so they all took out silver donations, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of taels per person.

  After donating, I felt that I had donated too much, and it spread like a corrupt official, so I posted a note on the door of my house: This house is for sale.

   After a farce, Chongzhen had hundreds of thousands of taels of silver again.

   Then, he didn't know what to do.

  Shanxi, Henan, and Liaodong are full of bandits on three sides.

   That **** Zuo Liangyu is entrenched in Shandong, saying that he is fighting Cao Cao thieves all day long, and he doesn't listen to the court's transfer at all.

  Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are just lingering.

   Chongzhen summoned Wang Tiaoding, and asked in a flat tone: "Will Zhao Han still take in the royal descendants?"

  Wang Tiaoding didn't bother to pretend anymore, so he changed his name directly: "The governor of Zhao said that the royal family fell into the hands of bandits, not only the face of the Zhu family was lost, but he also felt shame."

Chongzhen backed away from the left and right sides, and said in a low voice: "You take the prince and princess out of Beijing, and leave the city at night, don't make a fuss. I will give you another imperial decree, canonize Zhao Han as king, and after you leave Beijing, this imperial decree will also let you go. The cabinet and the six ministries are aware."

Chongzhen thought about it carefully, and said: "Bring a few officials from the clan's mansion to the south, and I will marry my daughter to Zhao Han and let him be the son-in-law of Ming Dynasty. None of the nobles and relatives in Beijing are worthy of trust. I hope that Zhao Han can keep his promise. Be kind to my children!"

   (Two updates today.)

  (end of this chapter)