I

  Chapter 683 680 [Siege of Salhu]

  The salary increase of civil and military officials was not decided by Zhao Han, but the result of his careful consideration.

  From the first-rank officials to the seventh-rank officials, the monthly salary will increase as a whole, and the salaries of other officials will remain unchanged.

  First product: 320 stones.

   From the first grade: 310 stones.

  …

   Seventh Grade: 45 stones.

  From the seventh grade: 35 stones.

  Compared to the Ming court, the salaries of top officials have more than tripled. But the middle-level officials have turned over a lot. The monthly salary of the seventh rank of the Daming is 7.5 shi, and the monthly salary of the seventh rank of the Datong is 45 shi, which is six times the salary of the previous dynasty.

  The outbreak of a major case in Shaanxi is just the introduction of this salary increase.

  The fundamental reason is that the income of ordinary people has increased, and officials cannot always maintain the same status. They must be made more decent. In addition, the increase in government taxation has not only enriched money, but also increased food income, which can fully maintain the higher salaries of officials.

   This kind of adjustment is normal. When Zhu Yuanzhang first entered the north, he couldn’t provide money and food to pay officials, so he directly threw the wasteland to officials, and asked the officials to recruit people to grow food to pay their wages. After the finances were sufficient, the land was recovered one after another, and the imperial court distributed the salary normally.

  Many policies of the Datong New Dynasty will need to be adjusted in the future.

  For example, the military supplies and logistics of the provinces are all in the hands of civilian officials. After a hundred years, the military officials will inevitably be overwhelmed. The reason for doing this is because the founding generals are too powerful, and civil officials must be used to limit their power.

   This kind of restriction, Zhao Han intends to last for more than 20 years, and when the founding ministers are transferred back to the central office, they will gradually release more power to the local military officers.

   Just when Zhao Han announced the increase of official salary, the war in Liaodong also started.

  Hetuala City, outside Guandi Temple.

  People City.

  Calls came from the street one after another: "Young man, with good teeth, works more and eats less..."

  A Manchu nobleman, surrounded by domestic slaves, pointed to the slave in front of him and asked, "What price?"

   "Twenty taels." The trafficker said.

  The Manchu nobleman shook his head: "It's too expensive."

  The trafficker asked with a smile: "How much is this master willing to bid?"

   "One price, ten taels." The Manchurian nobleman said.

   "At least eighteen taels, it's not easy to catch slaves nowadays." The trafficker emphasized.

  The two sides bargained, and the transaction was made in thirteen taels.

  It is easy to go from thrift to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. The Manchu nobles who have been to Beijing, after returning to Hetuala, feel that life is becoming more and more difficult.

  In the past two years, not only have there been many deserters, but also a large number of domestic slaves and serfs have fled. As long as they arrived at the Liao Great Wall, these domestic slaves would be safe, and the Datong Army would let them pass, and the government would even allocate land to them.

  When the Qing dignitaries retreated, they took away a large amount of gold and silver.

   Now I have silver in my hand, but I can't buy enough food, and I can't even look after the servants.

   As a result, the slave trade flourished, and the Eight Banners Army stationed in the northeast did not put their minds on defending the city at all. Under the command of the general, they were led by the officers of the Eight Banners, and ran to the Heilongjiang River Basin to capture the aborigines, and then transported them back to Hetuala for sale.

  Human trafficking, no matter in history or in this time and space, the nobles of the Eight Banners have done it.

  Historically, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty first entered the customs, many nobles from the Eight Banners entered the city like bumpkins. They drove the Han people out of the inner city of Beijing, and then found that the house they robbed was so big that the original servants were simply not enough.

  Some dignitaries in the Manchu Qing Dynasty accepted local ruffians as dog legs. Let these **** lure, abduct, and rob the Han people, and engage in the slave trade on Shunchengmen (Xuanwumen) Street. That street was dedicated to selling livestock. There were mule and horse markets, cattle markets, and sheep markets.

  Private transactions are fine, because the nobles of the Eight Banners have too much demand for slaves, the Manchu and Qing courts directly allowed the sale of human beings in legal form.

   At that time, it was completely chaotic, and the situation intensified. It developed to the point where Manchu women and children were abducted and imprisoned. Human traffickers took the lead in practicing the national equality of the slave trade.

   It was not until Dorgon's death that the Manchu and Qing courts ordered the prohibition of human trafficking.

  But I couldn't help it at all. In the third year after the ban was issued, a gang of human trafficking was cracked. The principal criminal, Jin Chengyuan alone, sold more than 100 slaves with his own hands in the year he was arrested, including abducted Manchu civilians.

  The aristocratic son walked around the market and bought back a total of six servants before walking all the way home.

  He missed the days in Beijing very much. Although his father had a disagreement with Dorgon, he still allowed his family to staking land in the suburbs of Beijing. At that time, he lived in a big mansion in Beijing, and there were more than 70 servants in his family, and even maids took care of him when he went to the toilet.

   "Ama, the servant has bought it back." The nobleman said.

   Erke Daiqing sighed: "It's getting worse and worse. The number of escaped slaves is increasing day by day. Even the slaves in the capital (Hetuala) can escape."

  The aristocratic son said: "You can buy it after you escape. Our family does not lack that little silver."

   "Is this a matter of money?" Erke Daiqing really wanted to kick him. His sixth son is really useless, and he learned how to be bad in the capital during the two years. One is used for fighting **** and running dogs all night, and it can be used when buying servants, and don't even think about leading troops to fight.

   Erke Daiqing, from the Borzigit clan, can also be translated as the Borjijin clan.

   At first glance, he knew that he came from Mongolia. His father's name was Ngodel, and he was Baylor from a small tribe in Khalkha Mongolia. Failed in the Mongolian internal struggle, he could only lead his tribe, and ran to seek refuge in the Qing Dynasty. He was arranged to farm and live in Liaoyang as a whole, and belonged to Zhenghuang Banner. The land given to them was of course snatched from the Han people.

   During Dorgon's reign, he asked Erke Daiqing to change to Zhengbaiqi, but this person was not co-opted by Dorgon, and devoted himself to working for Dayuer.

  Now, he is so prosperous, he is promoted to the first-class public, he is added to the Shaobao, and he is also the prince and the Taibao.

   These are nothing. Erke Daiqing's actual position is similar to that of the nine admirals in the Qing Dynasty. He is in charge of the soldiers and horses of the entire city of Hetuala. So it was funny, several servants of Admiral Jiumen's family escaped from the city, this is why Erke Daiqing was angry.

   Riding on a horse, Erke Daiqing led his men and went out to inspect the city defense in person.

  The streets in the city were very deserted. Due to the promulgation of the "Order to Treat Returned People Kindly" in Liaoning, a large number of Han people fled from the areas under the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty. Even the landlords of the Han nationality who had been the henchmen of the Manchu Qing, as long as they fled to the Great Wall of Liao Dynasty to register, they could settle in Liaoning. Under the crazy exploitation of the Manchu Qing, some landlords left their land and ran away.

  Not to mention the residents in the city, the head tax is too harsh, and they will run away whenever they have the opportunity.

  Nowadays, even if the Han people go out of the city to do business, several households have to provide security together. One family fled, and several families questioned the crime. The phenomenon of fleeing people was not curbed, but it gave the city guards an excuse to demand cards from the people entering and leaving the city gate.

  Because the population of the "capital" was getting smaller and smaller, the Manchu and Qing courts encouraged human trafficking, acquiescing to the Eight Banners Army stationed in the rear, and leaving their posts without permission to arrest the aborigines. The tribes in Heilongjiang were greatly harmed.

   Turned off his horse and boarded the city wall, Erke Daiqing looked out.

  He knew that Manqing would be over sooner or later, but he had no other choice but to sink with this broken ship.

   "Da da da da!"

  A fast horse came from the mountain road, and when he came to the city gate, he was stopped and searched. The man said anxiously: "Don't waste time, Saarhu is besieged!"

   Erke Daiqing soon received the news, and asked in person: "How many people have come to besiege the city?"

  The messenger said: "Tens of thousands!"

   Erke Dai Qing said anxiously: "This is a decisive battle, come with me to see the Queen Mother and Your Majesty!"

  …

   "Boom boom boom!"

  Lu Xiangsheng sat in the camp, listening to the continuous sound of cannons from the west.

  Sarhu City at this time is far taller and stronger than it was in Daming's hands. Because Nurhachi had been rebuilt and moved the capital here for more than a year, it was built according to the specifications of the Houjin Capital City.

   "The **** battle of Saarhu."

  Lu Xiangsheng recalled the battle many years ago. Although he had not experienced it personally, he had heard it said countless times, because it was the beginning of the collapse of the situation in Liaodong.

   "Da da da da!"

  The sound of horseshoes approached from far away, and a scout rushed over: "Master, we met some Tartar scouts. We killed two of them, but we didn't catch anyone alive, and we didn't encounter enemy reinforcements."

   "Continue to investigate." Lu Xiangsheng ordered.

  Here is a city defense fortress group, the main city is Saerhu City on the Saerhu Mountain, and there is an acropolis on the east and west sides of Saerhu.

  Not far to the northeast, at the confluence of the Hun River and the Suzi River, there is another Jiefan City. Before Nurhachi moved his capital to Sarhu, he once set his capital at Jiefan City. The city area was not as large as Sarhu, but the mountains were steeper, and it was easy to defend and difficult to attack because it was sandwiched between two rivers. Moreover, on the east and west sides of Jiefan City, there is also an acropolis.

  In addition, there is Gule City, which was once the royal city of Jianzhou Jurchen.

  These three cities are in the form of a tripartite confrontation, and they are all built on the basis of the dangers of mountains and rivers.

  If you want to destroy the Qing Dynasty, you must pull out all these cities before you can go to attack Hetuala. Even if the Eight Banners Army has degraded its combat effectiveness, as long as it is dedicated to defending, it will take more than half a year to slowly attack the city.

  At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng led his army to capture the East Acropolis of Sarhu. His mission was not to attack the city, but to keep an eye on the Tartar reinforcements. The Tartars in Jiefan City and Gule City might come at any time.

  As for Hu Dinggui, he led his army to get stuck between the main city of Sarhu and the Western Acropolis, cutting off the connection between the two Tartars.

  Xiao Zongxian was leading his troops to storm the Western Acropolis, and all the artillery of several divisions was assigned to him.

   A hundred artillery pieces bombarded the small acropolis, and the defenders of the Tartars were already stunned. Even the Tartar artillery had to be forced by officers with knives before they dared to use city defense artillery to fight back.

   "Boom boom boom!"

"boom!"

  The artillery of the Datong Army was well protected by the rammed earth bunker, but one of them was destroyed by the city defense artillery.

  The two acropolises of Saarhu must be gone soon.

  This small castle was built by Nurhachi at the beginning of his army, how could it withstand the continuous bombardment of hundreds of cannons. The city wall can be destroyed in a few days, and the next step is to besiege the main city of Sarhu, and besiege the city to fight for aid, waiting for the Tartars from Jiefan City and Gule City to come and die.

  Enemy reinforcements require a military order from the Qing court.

  Da Yuer learned that Saerhu was under siege, her first reaction was to run away, and wanted to take the little emperor of Shunzhi to Heilongjiang.

  (end of this chapter)