Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 183 I will meet you in person
busy!
Zhu Cilang returned to Hangzhou on July 7, so only three days have passed since then.

Without mentioning trivial matters, several major events that could affect the war in Jiangnan occurred during these three days.

Duoduo's army had suffered several defeats. In the end, the worst that could happen was that they would cut off their rear to survive and still have the opportunity to counterattack again. But how could Zhu Cilang dare to be defeated?
As a result, he not only had to personally take care of every single matter, but even worse, like the night when the Tartars attacked Hangzhou, he, the crown prince who was the regent of the Ming Dynasty, had to take up his sword and go into battle.

So, when Zhang Yinli left the military tent, Zhu Cilang also felt a little tired.

just
"Your Highness, the Duke of Baoguo requests to see you."

Just as he was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, thinking about his meeting with Li Benshen, a report came from outside the tent. After he responded, he saw Zhu Guobi walk in.

"Your Highness, I am Zhu Guobi's subordinate."

When he first extended his hand to Hangzhou, he used this old guy to hook up with various forces in the city.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang came in person, and the ministers had the opportunity to see the real master directly, and his presence as the Duke of Baoguo became less and less felt.

When His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came back this time, he didn't even show up at the first moment like Ma Shiying, Huang Daozhou and others, but no one knew what he was doing.

"How is the Duke these days?"

As a superior, Zhu Cilang was naturally a little dissatisfied with the old guy's behavior after not seeing him for several days, but he also knew that he would never make such a low-level mistake, so he cheered up and dealt with it.

"Thanks to your Majesty's great blessing, I am doing fine. However, there is one thing that has been bothering me for many years. I have only found a solution today, so I dare to bother you."

Zhu Guobi could sense the dissatisfaction in the Crown Prince's words, but he had expected it and had a plan, so with just a few words he drew his attention to "that matter".

"Oh? What could possibly trouble the Duke of Baoguo of the Ming Dynasty?"

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang, who was leaning back in his chair, couldn't help but straighten up a little, obviously becoming interested in "that thing".

In fact, he was not completely ignorant of what Zhu Guobi had done in the past few days.

Although the Jinyiwei here are still not functioning well after being re-employed, these people have lived in Hangzhou for most of their lives after all. Even if they are not specifically keeping an eye on him, they can still get some information about him.

But in those messages, Zhu Guobi was busy colluding with various parties all day long, but no one knew what he was colluding with or what he was going to say.

"Your Highness, judging from the current situation, the Tartars will not be able to hold out for much longer. I was thinking of making some preparations for the post-war period, but... "

Zhu Guobi was right. The complete annihilation of Nikan's troops meant that the Qing army in Jiangnan, or at least in Zhejiang, was completely strategically passive.

No matter how the situation develops later, their withdrawal from Zhejiang is inevitable.

In this case, the Ming court would have to clean up this mess.

Let’s not talk about those aristocratic families for now. Even though they suffered a lot of losses, there is no need to pay too much attention to them, except for those who were directly wiped out by the Tartars.

But it was different for ordinary people. It was impossible for the noble families to bear all the plundering of the Tartars. After the levies were distributed, the total amount paid by the common people might even be far more than what the Tartars demanded.

Under such circumstances, all kinds of human tragedies are bound to occur among the people. Even if this war does not directly cause harm to the people, their situation will not necessarily be much better than if they died directly.

Therefore, the first priority of the imperial court after the war would inevitably be to gather refugees and provide relief for famine, and Zhu Guobi's connections with various families in recent days were for this purpose.

"The Duke is worthy of the title of guardian. He is indeed mature and thoughtful."

At this stage, Zhu Cilang's first principle in employing people is the ability to do the job, and he doesn't care much about other things. But Zhu Guobi was able to think of it at this time and took action in advance for possible situations. How could he not praise him sincerely?
just
"I am ashamed of your praise. I am an incompetent old minister. I have been busy for several days and have only collected more than 10,000 dan of grain and 50,000 to 60,000 taels of silver. It is really a drop in the bucket for the entire Jiangnan region."

Alas~~~~, the gift package hasn’t been received yet, but the place has already been created.

Before Zhu Guobi finished speaking, Zhu Cilang understood most of what was going on.

He originally planned to use the money to reward soldiers and provide them with pensions. If there was more left, he would try to get some machinery and equipment to build an industrial base. If there wasn't much left, he would keep it for emergencies.

But the world is bustling with people seeking profit, and the world is bustling with people seeking profit.

The wealth of those families individually may not be as abundant as Zhao Zhilong's, but when put together, it is definitely a fortune that is enough to make anyone jealous.

Since you are jealous, you should try to take a bite.

If the person who controls this wealth does not have sufficient strength, it is like a child holding gold, and the whole world is full of demons.

But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince commands a large army and has won battle after battle. Not only is he extremely powerful, he also has all kinds of means at his disposal. Who has the guts to call themselves a demon in front of him?
But I can't help but think that some people are thinking, who says you have to use force to get something for free?

Therefore, Duke Baoguo appeared in the tent of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and brought a hole that had to be filled with a large amount of money and food.

These twists and turns are not difficult to imagine, but there is one thing that Zhu Cilang still cannot understand.

"Thank you for your hard work, Duke. After this, I will ask officials from all regions to report the specific situation. If there are any deficiencies, I will try to make up for them."

At first glance, this does not sound problematic. Providing relief to disaster victims is the responsibility of local officials. It is normal procedure to ask them to report the required money and grain first, and then allocate them after the department has summarized them.

But if that was the case, how could a noble like Zhu Guobi reach out to the civil service system? If he didn't reach out, how could he get involved in the scandal?
So, to put Zhu Cilang's words in another way, it would be: "If you have a way to bypass the civil service system, just say so. If not, then do whatever you need to do."

"Your Highness! You absolutely cannot do that~!"

"Why is the Duke like this?"

Zhu Guobi cried out in anguish and gnashing of teeth, as if such actions would lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Although Zhu Cilang's reaction was not as exaggerated as his, he also showed enough surprise to suit the situation.

"Your Highness, the court does not have enough manpower to replace local officials. If they arrive in time, the court can only retain them and gradually replace them in the future. However, these people have no country or king in their hearts. How can such an important task as disaster relief be handed over to them!?"

Good reason!
As soon as Zhu Guobi finished speaking, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but exclaim in admiration in his heart.

This exclamation of praise was not because Zhu Guobi thought of such a reason, but because Zhu Cilang saw something hidden behind it.

He originally thought that Zhu Guobi's mind was only on money, but now he understood that the real plan of this old duke was not just that.

Due to the existence of local forces, Zhu Cilang was unable to truly control the city of Hangzhou. It was not until the "civil uprising" broke out that he took advantage of the conflicts between the various parties to forcibly capture the Hangzhou prefect Zhang Yinli.

He finally gained some control over the city of Hangzhou.

But there are thirty or forty cities of all sizes in the whole Jiangnan region. If he were to act in the same way as he did in Hangzhou, how many nails could he hammer into the wall even if he was made of iron?
If the cities had fallen into the hands of the Donglin and eunuch parties, wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be just like the Chongzhen period? "Well, what the Duke said is very true, but the court has gone through many twists and turns, and there are not so many people who can replace them in a short time."

"Your Highness, don't worry too much. As the saying goes, it's better to do something wrong than to do it right. You only need to send someone to supervise them. Why would you worry that they won't do their best to serve Your Highness?"

When mentioning the word "Your Highness", Zhu Guobi's tone became noticeably heavier, and Zhu Cilang finally understood the real conspiracy behind this old Duke.

Supervision, who will supervise?
Apart from that group of nobles who have nothing to do, who else can be transferred from Zhu Cilang's small court?

Don't think that this is just a one-time deal. The nobles can only make a little money at most.

As long as we build such a system through this incident, are we afraid that there will be no other things for them to supervise in the future?
After this and other incidents, are we still worried that this system cannot become another way for nobles to participate in government affairs?

After all, he is the one who got the title of Duke.

Zhu Cilang couldn't help but praise again in his heart.

At this time, he not only understood Zhu Guobi's overall plan, but also had a clear idea of ​​the obstacles in the whole matter.

On the surface, it seemed that Zhu Guobi took advantage of the opportunity when the two groups of civil servants were busy fighting among themselves to find an opportunity. However, without sufficient vision and full understanding of the court situation, who could come up with such an idea even if the opportunity was placed in front of them?

The most basic point of his plan was that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would definitely interfere in local political affairs after gaining control of the military power. Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had no one in his pocket, whoever could take the initiative to step forward and accomplish this task would surely gain huge benefits.

Compared with such benefits, a little money is nothing.

As for how the two civil servants will react after they realize what is going on.
Everyone knew that the small court could not provide enough personnel to replace the rebel officials. Even if someone suggested transferring personnel from other parts of the Ming Dynasty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could just use the emergency as an excuse.

In this case, supervision becomes the only option at the moment, and the rest is just a matter of negotiation among the various parties on the selection of candidates and the allocation of quotas.

"I understand what the Duke means. After that, you will come up with a charter with Mr. Huang and Mr. Ma."

"Old minister accepts the order."

When things got to this point, Zhu Guobi finally breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time he was a little hesitant.

He has not only thought of giving up more places and benefits as a price to pay in order to successfully establish this system.

He had also planned to join forces with Ma Shiying, who was also a powerful outsider, to suppress Huang Daozhou in the subsequent competition for quotas, and then join forces with them to suppress Qian Qianyi, who was already somewhat disabled.

But he was still a little worried about the attitude of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Although from the perspective of the court, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can use the nobles to form a check and balance on the civil officials, but from the perspective of the matter itself, he actually did not gain much benefit.

Therefore, before coming here, he was ready to pay some benefits in exchange for His Highness' support.

But now.
"Your Highness, I have something else to report."

"Oh? What else?"

Hearing this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Normally, now that the main business had been discussed, Zhu Guobi should have left to deal with the matter. However, from what he said, there was still one thing he wanted to explain, but no one knew why it took him so much precious time.

"Your Highness, I met a merchant the other day who claims to specialize in maritime trade. If he can get help from the court, he will be able to expand the sea routes and make great contributions to the court."

As the saying goes, everyone shares the benefits. Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has expressed his stance on the matter, there are still variables before the dust settles.

Therefore, in order to be safe, Zhu Guobi finally brought out the prepared benefits.

"The court will help? How?"

"Well, it's probably to allow their goods to be shipped from Hangzhou or Songjiang, and the merchant is willing to pay 200,000 taels of silver."

To be honest, there were merchants, but 99% of the so-called 200,000 taels of silver belonged to Zhu Guobi.

From the perspective of the country, these two hundred thousand taels of silver are indeed nothing, but to put it bluntly, this is the reward from the nobles to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for allowing them to participate in politics. The silver will naturally go into His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's personal pocket, so it is indeed not a small amount.

On the surface, it seemed that the Crown Prince of Ming Dynasty got more than one million from Zhao Zhilong alone, but every penny of this money was being watched by everyone and had already been put to a certain place.

There were not many funds that could actually be used by Zhu Cilang, so Zhu Guobi very considerately defined this reward as a subsidy to Zhu Cilang's personal pocket.

Zhu Cilang was initially unable to react to this situation.

But at least he knew something, and after a moment he thought of the "imperial treasury".

The inner treasury is basically the emperor's small treasury. The biggest difference between it and the national treasury is that it can be used as the emperor wishes without the consent of court officials.

Although he understood that the money was a bribe to him, he still didn't quite understand the reason behind it.

After all, in his opinion, this time he has gained the ability to interfere in the local area through the hands of the nobles. Even if the effect of this ability is unknown, it is still a huge gain.

What's more, he had a backup plan to strengthen this ability, so he didn't associate the money with "bribery."

So in his opinion, this money was simply paid for the shipment of goods to sea, which made him feel confused.

Is this money a one-time payment or ongoing?

One-time words seem too little, and ongoing words seem too much.

"One year?"

After hearing the Crown Prince's doubtful questions, Zhu Guobi immediately understood that His Royal Highness seemed to have not yet associated the money with "bribery".

Didn't he understand all the obscure negotiations and answer them clearly? Why did he not understand at the critical moment?
"It's probably just a shipment of goods, and it's not purely for business. I just want to contribute to the country, but I don't have a suitable excuse."

Zhu Guobi spoke hesitantly, as if he did not understand the full picture of the matter, or as if he had something to hide.

Zhu Cilang was naturally impatient with this, and without much thought, he said directly: "Call the merchant here, I want to meet him in person."

(End of this chapter)