Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 124 Jiujiang Welcomes the Emperor
Although Zhu Cilang was on the ship, this did not prevent him from promptly handling the important government affairs submitted by various provinces. It was just that the postmen and horses who delivered the important government affairs and military intelligence had to follow the westward-bound fleet.

But the Ming Dynasty is not limited to Jiangnan. Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan and Guizhou are also of great strategic significance at this time. The closer Zhu Cilang is to Jiujiang, the faster the military intelligence transmitted from Huguang, Sichuan and Guizhou will reach his hands.

After Chen Fu took his leave again, Zhu Cilang immediately began to busy himself with post-war affairs. For him, the end of this war was just the beginning of another war.

More than half a month before, he had ordered Lu Zhenfei to basically arrange the defense of Jiangbei. The people and the rebel army in Yanzhou, eastern Henan and other places would soon withdraw to various places in Huaibei. The Palace Army and the Beijing Camp would also return to their bases to continue training.

At the same time, the Ministry of War was recruiting new soldiers, and the Ministry of Revenue was also working hard to mobilize money and food. This time, Zhu Cilang planned to expand the Palace Army into the Central, Left, and Right Armies, with the number of troops expanded to nearly 30,000. The Beijing Camp would also add three more camps, increasing the number of troops to more than 20,000.

Of course, after these new recruits are recruited, they still need to be trained and selected by the Military Affairs Department, and the money and grain mobilized by the Ministry of Revenue also need to be connected with the Logistics Department, and then distributed to each army by the Logistics Department.

In addition, the powers of the officers of the Military Court and the Training Corps were also rapidly expanded in the army. Zhu Cilang wanted to use this expansion to formally establish the basic power system within these two new armies.

After the establishment of the military settlements in Huaibei, Zhu Cilang also planned to establish a military settlement team there to replace the original local garrison troops, so that the local people with stable property could guard their hometown. At the same time, it could also accommodate the veterans who had retired due to injuries and let them serve as training officers.

During this process, he also planned to select one or two thousand elite soldiers and officers from the remnants of the Shun Army to fill the shortage of veterans in the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp.

Although Zhu Cilang has built a framework, everything is actually still in its infancy. What he lacks most now is field veterans with battlefield experience.

Before a professional training officer corps is formed, the army's production line cannot be established. Without the guidance of battle-hardened veterans, it is difficult for those recruits to learn to fight quickly. Once they enter the real battlefield, they will expose fatal problems.

Zuo Liangyu's group did have many veterans, but their habits were too bad. The Eastern Shun Army was the elite under Li Zicheng, most of whom came from Shaanxi and the Central Plains Ming Army. After Li Zicheng's reorganization, their military discipline was far better than that of the Ming Army.

In the original history, except for Hao Yaoqi's troops, other Shun troops would not kill innocent people unless they had no other choice. Even Hao Yaoqi did so because of lack of food.

However, these Shun army generals had no intention of establishing their own regime. After Li Zicheng's death, it would not be difficult for Zhu Cilang to recruit them if he wanted to. The difficulty lay in how to bring out the strength of these troops.

The formation of a new army, the gathering and surrender of the remaining troops of the Shun army and the various units of the Zuo army are naturally the top priorities, but the most critical thing behind this is actually money and food. Without sufficient money and food support, these are nothing but castles in the air.

For Zhu Cilang and the Nanjing court at that time, the most important thing about money and grain, besides saving money, was to increase revenue. The most critical of these was the tax reform of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the prerequisite for tax reform is the reform of the official system and the military system. Zhu Cilang needs to control the grassroots officials and soldiers first before he can truly increase tax revenue.

In fact, as early as the Chongzhen period, the Ming Dynasty began to find ways to collect commercial taxes, but corruption had already become rampant among grassroots officials, and the eunuchs were even more of a disaster. In the end, even the Linqing Money Customs, which was "more prosperous than the two capitals and richer than Qi County", could only collect tens of thousands of taels of silver a year.

But in fact, during the Wanli period, Linqing was already the largest commodity distribution center and trading center in North China, and was ranked one of the five major commercial ports in Jiangbei. Before it was massacred by the Qing army in the 15th year of Chongzhen, the surrounding population was nearly one million, so it was impossible to collect only such a small amount of silver.

In other words, as long as Zhu Cilang could really collect these taxes, the commercial taxes alone would probably be 10 to 20 times more, millions of taels, and he would have enough money and food to expand his army.

The "Jianghuai Defense War" lasted for more than half a year. The Palace Army, the Beijing Camp, and the garrison troops in northern Jiangbei all suffered heavy casualties. Those soldiers who retired due to injuries had experienced actual combat and most of them were elite. In addition to being used to train garrison soldiers, Zhu Cilang naturally had other uses for them.

During the post-war relief process, he planned to pair those soldiers who had retired due to injuries but still had some combat effectiveness with a group of officers to form a tax camp army, which would be specifically responsible for the collection of commercial taxes.

Since Zhu Cilang wanted to use the army as his base, he naturally had to distribute these lucrative positions to the army. This was true for the agricultural soldiers and officers in the garrison, as well as the soldiers in the tax bureau camp.

If these soldiers inside and outside the army were not given power within the system, they would never be able to support Zhu Cilang, the emperor who treated them well.

In order to further enhance the status and honor of the soldiers, Zhu Cilang also planned to award medals to the soldiers in the army when he returned to Nanjing. He agreed to the design of the specific medals and gave orders.

On the surface of the Yangtze River, this huge fleet was sailing upstream. Zhu Cilang was busy every day. Political and military reports from all over the country flew onto his desk like snowflakes.

At the same time, as batches of horses were delivering memorials and imperial edicts back and forth, they reported Zhu Cilang's location to the Governor's Mansion in Jiujiang City. He Tengjiao immediately began to make arrangements to welcome the emperor.

Not only civil officials such as He Tengjiao, Yuan Jixian, Fu Shangrui, Yan Qiheng, and Zhang Kuang, but also military generals such as Zuo Menggeng, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, Li Guoying, and Xu Yong, all gathered in Jiujiang City to prepare to welcome the emperor.

Since the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty came to Jiujiang in person, they naturally did not dare to be negligent. He Tengjiao even raised a batch of money and food and issued the overdue rewards to the soldiers who were clamoring for pay.

After Ajige withdrew, He Tengjiao no longer treated the wealthy and powerful people in Jiangxi with the same courtesy as before. He not only stepped up the collection of overdue taxes, but also created various ways to increase revenue. Fabricating charges and imposing fines without trial were just the appetizers. The main event was to ask the wealthy and powerful people in various places to voluntarily donate military funds.

After all, almost none of the wealthy merchants in these places were clean, and the problem of slavery in Jiangxi was also quite serious. In the early years of Chongzhen, there were several uprisings involving slaves and esoteric religions, which took several years to completely suppress.

He Tengjiao wanted to use these crimes that clearly violated the laws of the Ming Dynasty to deal with those gentry. If he could collect the unpaid taxes from previous years, he would no longer be short of money and food.

But the problem is that no one is clean. He Tengjiao can catch a few typical cases, but it is wishful thinking to expose them all.

After more than a year of restoration, the Ming Dynasty's bureaucratic system had regained important positions. At this time, the government and the country were deeply intertwined. He Tengjiao had offended countless people before he could even start working hard and achieve results.

You have to know that the sons and sons-in-law of those gentry and wealthy businessmen are all officials in the court. At the very least, there are a few high-ranking officials who are of the same year. When He Tengjiao, the commander-in-chief, encounters their joint counterattack, he has to think carefully about whether he can do it.

When he was the commander-in-chief and in control of the army during the war, he was extremely powerful and could do anything with justification, but things are different now.

This is why Zhu Cilang had to rely on the power of the army to form a garrison for the Taxation Bureau. If he had used the original old bureaucrats, his situation would have been the same as He Tengjiao's.

It's not that the people below don't want to do anything, but they always find ways to delay. If this goes on for a few times, nothing will get done.

The so-called collection of unpaid taxes may also cause the gentry to transfer the burden to the tenants, and eventually lead to a peasant uprising. If He Tengjiao wants to keep his official hat, many things will be impossible to do.

The Ming Dynasty was burdened with too much historical baggage, and as the imperial court, it could not easily overturn the table. He Tengjiao was already a capable official in the Ming court at that time, but Jiangxi was still a mess for him.

Of course, as a commander-in-chief, he did have some means. Although he could not solve the fundamental problem, he could collect some loose change and temporarily deal with the army that was demanding pay, which was more than enough.

He Tengjiao naturally knew that Zhu Cilang knew about the military pay riot, and he had no intention of covering it up. For such a matter, not only would he not cover it up, he would also deal with it thoroughly.

But he had to pretend to do his best in front of Zhu Cilang instead of letting things escalate. This was a question of loyalty, which he believed was more important than ability.

He will go further in the future and even replace Li Banghua to become the chief minister of the cabinet. In addition to ability, the most important thing is loyalty!
Soon, as a lucky ship carrying the imperial edict and several officers of the Palace Army docked at the pier of the water gate north of Jiujiang City, the specific time of the emperor's arrival was officially determined.

He Tengjiao immediately brought a group of civil and military officials including Yuan Jixian, Fu Shangrui, Yan Qiheng, Zhang Kuang, Zuo Menggeng, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, Li Guoying, Xu Yong, Wang Yuncheng, and Ma Shixiu, and waited at the dock early. He also organized tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians to welcome the emperor.

Although northern Jiangxi also experienced war, Ajige only harassed and demonstrated for a while and then withdrew. It was not like Huaibei where people were killed and reduced to a bloodbath. This was also something that He Tengjiao was very proud of.

He withdrew his gaze from the welcoming formation of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians behind him. It was already summer and daybreak came quickly. Although the newspaper said that the emperor's carriage would arrive at noon, he still asked everyone to gather here and wait as soon as the sun rose.

Those civil officials and generals all enjoyed it, but the soldiers and civilians in Jiujiang City suffered. They started preparing to welcome the emperor ten days ago, and they had not had a moment's rest from last night until now.

At this time, Yuan Jixian took advantage of the fact that Zhu Cilang had not yet arrived and was surrounded by colleagues, and said indignantly to He Tengjiao, who had just withdrawn his gaze from a distance:
"Yun Cong, that Ma Jinzhong bastard is really becoming more and more domineering. If we don't teach him a lesson, he'll probably bully you and me and act like a tyrant."

However, He Tengjiao remained calm upon hearing this, and even kept a straight face as he slowly said:
"Ji Tong, if you want to speak up for Zuo Menggeng, there's no need. His Majesty is very observant. Our every move is under the eyes of the Jinyiwei. Even if you, Xizheng, Zhensheng, and Yuye all speak up for him, it's doomed to fail."

Yuan Jixian and Zuo Liangyu have been friends for a long time. Although Zuo Menggeng can no longer suppress those arrogant and powerful generals, he has inherited some of Zuo Liangyu's power. Yuan Jixian wants to win over the other party, but he also dislikes Ma Jinzhong. At this time, he is lobbying other people everywhere, especially He Tengjiao to support Zuo Menggeng.

However, He Tengjiao remained unmoved, but Fu Shangrui, who had always sought a promotion, was already eager to make his move. Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, and the others were quite domineering and clearly difficult to control, but Zuo Menggeng seemed much easier to deal with, so he naturally wanted to win them over. "But it's still better than Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, and the others. Even Li Guoying and Xu Yong, after being instigated by them, are now going their own way. They don't even care about the elders," Fu Shangrui said immediately.

"No matter how wrong Zuo Menggeng is, he's at least better than those bandits." He Tengjiao's capable subordinate, the military supervisor Yan Qiheng, also said immediately:
"I don't know what's wrong with Du Yinxi. He actually made a so-called gentleman's agreement with a group of traitors. It's ridiculous. I say those traitors should all be killed. If it weren't for them, the Ming Dynasty wouldn't have reached this point today."

After hearing his staff's repeated advice, He Tengjiao was actually a little shaken. If he wanted to continue to make achievements and get promoted, he had to ensure that those generals obeyed his orders.

But now, the development of things was obviously beyond his control. He was a military commander appointed by the court, and his power came from Zhu Cilang. The generals under Zuo Liangyu often pretended to obey him but secretly disobeyed him.

He Tengjiao originally wanted to rely on Zhu Cilang to go to northern Jiangxi in person to suppress these people, but at this time he noticed that the other party had frequent contacts with Du Yinxi, and even his attention was always on the remnants of the rebel army in Pingjiang and Liuyang, and he felt very uneasy.

Although Du Yinxi was his subordinate, he already had a tendency to be on par with him, which He Tengjiao absolutely could not tolerate. If the other party took charge of the incorporation of the hundreds of thousands of troops, his status would definitely be affected.

Under the persuasion of his officials, He Tengjiao could not help but waver. He had originally wanted to use his status as the governor of three provinces to intervene in the recruitment of the rebel army, but now he thought it would be better to take down Zuo Menggeng as well.

"This matter needs to be discussed again." He Tengjiao took a deep breath and did not give a clear answer, but he finally gave in.

"But Zhensheng, you must remember that recruiting rebels to serve the imperial court is His Majesty's will. From now on, it is better for you to say less."

Upon hearing this, Yan Qiheng immediately lost his temper and dared not say anything. Although he thought this was inappropriate, he did not have the courage to confront the emperor, Zhu Cilang.

He Tengjiao didn't need to say anything else. He was thinking about the situation in the court, the obstacles on his way to becoming the Prime Minister, and the expedited imperial examinations this year.

After a while, He Tengjiao turned his head to look at Yuan Jixian and asked with a smile:

"Jiangxi scholars have always performed exceptionally well in the imperial examinations. Now is the time when the country is in danger and urgently needs talents. We should also make some efforts in this regard and provide some convenience.

Many things are just a piece of cake for us. Lord Li is in Nanjing, out of reach and powerless. You are in Nanchang, so you can do anything convenient for us. "

Yuan Jixian was originally from Jiangxi and was born in Yichun. To the south is Ji'an, an important imperial examination center of the Ming Dynasty and also Li Banghua's hometown. He is very familiar with Jiangxi and many local prominent families have come to him.

He Tengjiao's words clearly indicated that he was going to deal with Li Banghua and help him get promoted. Yuan Jixian immediately responded:

"I will definitely do a good job on this matter and discover more talents for the court to assist Your Majesty and revive the Ming Dynasty."

Looking at Yan Qiheng who was already eager to make a move, He Tengjiao immediately said with a smile:
"Zhensheng, you should also contact Zhejiang. Even if we can't help much, if you can show your gratitude, there will be someone to take care of us when we go to Nanjing to work in the future."

"I obey your command!" Yan Qiheng said excitedly.

In fact, during this period, officials who were also from Zhejiang had contacted him, and he was not the only one. After the war, there were wealthy people coming and going everywhere, and everyone wanted to make a future in the new dynasty.

Naturally, there is an exchange of money and power involved. Some people want to take advantage of opportunities and offer huge bribes, while others extort and defraud people under the pretext of selling official positions.

The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, except for the area that Zhu Cilang personally oversaw, was still in a mess, with most people busy climbing up and making connections.

The local military generals also did not change their usual thinking. Ma Jinzhong, Wang Yuncheng, Li Guoying, Xu Yong, Jin Shenghuan, Zuo Menggeng, Ma Shixiu, Hao Xiaozhong and others were all thinking about how to ask for rewards and how to get more money from He Tengjiao under the pretext of reorganizing the army and actively preparing for war.

What made them different from other military generals of the Ming Dynasty was that, under the influence of Zuo Liangyu, they had no fear of civil officials and were even unscrupulous.

Ma Jinzhong glanced at He Tengjiao, Yuan Jixian and the others, then turned his head to look at the river where no one was visible, and laughed coldly:
"He Tengjiao is such a slave! He summoned us all here to wait before His Majesty even knows when he'll arrive. It's hard to judge the time when sailing against the current. If the wind direction on the river is wrong today, I'm afraid we'll all be waiting in vain."

Wang Yuncheng was also quite bold. He chuckled a few times before saying:

"I heard that it was because His Majesty directly asked Du Yinxi to pacify the Chuang army. He was worried that Du Yinxi would become too powerful and he would fall out of favor, so he was so flattering."

"He Tengjiao originally wanted to recruit another army to use for his own purposes to suppress us. Now that this plan has not come true, he is of course panicking." Xu Yong is also a good judge of the situation and had long seen through the little calculations in He Tengjiao's mind.

Of course, the soldiers under their command were not rioting for pay because of this, or they wanted to add fuel to the fire. It was just that these military leaders wanted to take the opportunity to extort some money to appease their troops.

"The rebel army was already defeated by Ajige. Even if Du Yinxi recruited all these soldiers and horses, they would surely rebel again after receiving money and food. Then we would probably have to rely on us to quell the rebellion." Ma Jinzhong shook his head.

He himself came from the peasant army and was very familiar with the situation of the Chuang army. However, he did not expect that the Chuang army would be completely without a backbone without Li Zicheng, and there would be no talk of rebellion again.

"That's probably what His Majesty meant, otherwise things wouldn't have become tense so quickly." Li Guoying also said, "After the Battle of Nankang, these people had disagreements with Zuo Menggeng and Jin Shenghuan, and now they have evolved into three small groups that are close but not close.

"What does Your Majesty think?" Ma Jinzhong was always arrogant, and now that he saw that the emperor had not arrived yet, he naturally had no scruples.

"In northern Jiangxi, and even in Huguang, we are the only army capable of fighting. Wuchang is still in the hands of the Qing army. Wang Tizhong and Zheng Siwei have tens of thousands of soldiers under their command. I heard that there is also an Eight Banners Army in the city.

If they weren't afraid of us, they would have continued their attack on Jiangxi. Your Majesty, who else can you rely on besides us fighting for him now?"

This statement was unanimously agreed by everyone, and they considered the troops in their hands to be their greatest reliance at the moment.

Ma Jinzhong received nods of praise from all the old brothers, and then he raised his head and said:

"Your Majesty claimed to have annihilated 100,000 enemies in Jiangbei, but we killed over a thousand Eight Banners cavalrymen in Nankang and less than 2,000 sailors on the river, yet we still claimed to have annihilated 50,000 enemies?"

"Hahaha, Your Majesty is probably the same as us. We encountered the Qing army that did not dare to attack the city. After a few months of confrontation, the Qing army retreated on their own." Wang Yuncheng responded.

"Both Ajige and Dodo defeated Li Zicheng before heading south. Furthermore, when I was in Liaodong, I heard that Ajige was a better fighter than Dodo. Your Majesty, even if you annihilate 100,000 enemies, I'm afraid they're no match for us."

Li Guoying, Xu Yong and others had no objection to what Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng said, and even agreed with them in their hearts. This was not strange.

After all, the Tatars had entered the Great Wall six times, and hundreds of thousands of them were annihilated as reported in military reports. Yet, they dared to come again every once in a while. They were no longer surprised by such things.

Moreover, they really couldn't imagine how Zhu Cilang could win so many battles against the Eight Banners Army as reported in the newspaper.

At first, when they heard the good news, they didn't completely believe it, but as long as the city hadn't fallen, they felt a little confident, because the Tartars were not good at attacking strongholds.

This is actually the source of their confidence. As long as the imperial court does not have a strong army and cannot do anything to them, they can continue to do as they please.

However, just as these warriors were chattering and discussing, the sound of drums rang out. Everyone looked up and saw the outline of the fleet finally appear on the river.

Just as those civil officials followed He Tengjiao and stepped forward to welcome the emperor, and a group of military generals were still looking at each other, Ma Jinzhong, who had just been so tough, took a step forward and rushed in front of all the other military generals.

Welcoming the emperor to meet him, this is such a good thing that even the ancestors cannot pray for, how could Old Ma fall behind others?

(End of this chapter)