Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 400 Layout
Yang Menglong was on the verge of breaking out, and the Nanyang officials present also looked gloomy, and everyone was in a very bad mood.The current situation in Nanyang is the result of their concerted efforts, working from dawn to dusk. Seeing Nanyang becoming rich rapidly, everyone feels a sense of accomplishment.Of course, they also made a lot of money. Some businessmen will give them red envelopes when they do business or invest in factories. Their family members also set up factories or shops, and even partnered with some businessmen. In the past two years, Nanyang Finance There is a lot of surplus, and bonuses were given to them during the Chinese New Year. These are all legitimate incomes. Although they are not as exaggerated as the three-year Qing magistrate and one hundred thousand snowflakes, it is very easy to maintain a decent life. Enjoy this kind of sense of accomplishment that the people sincerely support them while enjoying the scenery.It's all right now, Nanyang is getting richer, and some people are jealous, and start poking their knives and forks over.

There are only a few routines in the officialdom, one is a problem of ability, and the other is a problem of style.The problem of ability is very simple. If you find faults in the place under your jurisdiction, it will prove that you are not capable, and you will be told to leave directly—no faults?Just kidding, it's not easy to manage a place well, but it's too easy to mess up a place. Just spend a small amount of money and send a few people over to instigate trouble.The issue of style is relatively damaging. In modern times, one would expose the other person's mistresses, but in ancient times, one could not do this. In ancient times, having three wives and four concubines was the norm. Isn't it normal to have mistresses?You have to start with the other person's character, pick out some bad things, and then magnify them infinitely, attributing it to the other person's bad character. In ancient times, character was very important. If a person has bad character, he will be looked down upon by everyone. , the future is basically doomed.However, what's funny is that most of the officials in the late Ming Dynasty had poor conduct, and there were fewer people with good conduct than beef on beef noodles.The reforms that Nanyang vigorously promoted were shocking at the time. It was too easy for those who wanted to replace everyone from prefect to magistrate in Nanyang to find an excuse to attack them!
Wu Yong said angrily: "There is a villain in the court! General Yang and all the gentlemen have worked hard to govern Nanyang. Our family can see it. How can they open their eyes and tell lies! No, our family will come in again Once in the capital, I must tell the emperor the truth about Nanyang no matter what, so that everyone can be innocent!" This dead eunuch also worked very hard. In September, he went to Beijing to report the victory to the court on behalf of the Heluo New Army and stayed there again. He recruited technical personnel and several foreign missionaries for Nanyang in the capital area. He returned to Nanyang in November. Now he has to travel again. He is born to be a hard worker.

Yang Menglong sneered: "It's useless, father-in-law, it's useless even if you run ten times! So what if the Holy Majesty knows the truth? So many people are fascinated by Nanyang's oil and water. It's too easy for them to collapse Nanyang without telling the Holy Majesty." Already!"

Wu Yong called: "Then what should we do? Just watch them ruin our hard work!" He sat down on the back of the chair and closed his eyes, muttering: "Nanyang Technical School, what a school! There can be cultivated very important talents who are proficient in agriculture, engineering, mathematics, machinery, water conservancy, astronomy, financial management, etc. The country lacks such talents, why can't they tolerate such a school?"

Yang Menglong smiled meaningfully, and said: "When the ass determines the head, they can do even ridiculous things." He clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Okay, everyone, don't be so sad, be happy. The big thing, we will talk about it after the sports meeting is over, what we have to do now is to hold this grand event, firstly, to celebrate the triumphant return of Heluo's new army, and secondly, to see off Mr. Zhang, who will go to Denglai next year Now that he has assumed the post of governor, it is very appropriate to use such a grand event to celebrate his promotion!"

——After the Denglai rebellion was put down, because Denglai had been completely destroyed, the countryside was deserted, and people’s livelihood was in ruins, no one wanted to be an official in that unlucky place, because it was too difficult to make achievements there. Once you get out of the trap, you will definitely be in bad luck.Yang Menglong recommended Zhang Tong to Chongzhen. Originally, a small county magistrate could not catch the eye of Chongzhen. After receiving the recommendation, Chongzhen specifically checked Zhang Tong's resume and political achievements.It was better not to check, but I was shocked when I checked, oh, this guy is not bad. Under his governance, the population of Wuyang suddenly jumped from 8 in the second year of Chongzhen to more than 500. The taxes paid It also dropped from two thousand, five hundred taels of silver to nine thousand, one hundred and sixty eight taels!In ancient times, if the taxes paid by a small county exceeded 160 taels, the first reaction of the court was not to be happy, but to quickly send people there to see if the man had made the people miserable... There was no way, in ancient times Productivity is so low.Naturally, Chongzhen also asked Jin Yiwei to come down and investigate. The result of the investigation was that without people in Wuyang, people would not be able to make a living. On the contrary, it was becoming more and more prosperous. The number of cultivated fields was increasing year by year, and the grain output was increasing year by year!For such a genius who could not only engage in production and economy, but also help the court make money, and please both sides, Chongzhen certainly had to use it to death. He slapped the table, okay, Zhang Tong, don’t be the county magistrate of yours. Denglai should be the governor!

Zhang Tong, however, was not at all happy about being promoted. He just sighed and said nothing.In fact, he didn't want to leave Wuyang. After leaving Wuyang, everything would have to start again. He didn't dare to expect that he would meet someone in Denglai who would take the initiative to help him improve his political achievements. There would be a steady stream of money for him just lying around and doing nothing. Yang Menglong's business tax came to his door.

Originally, everyone was looking forward to the first Nanyang sports meeting, but after all the terrible things happened, everyone's interest was greatly reduced, and everyone sighed, and didn't know how to deal with it next year.

But Yang Menglong knew that the sky of the Ming Dynasty would fall next year.Yes, innocence is about to collapse. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao launched more and more fierce encirclement and suppression against the rogues occupying the northwest. He was driven to the Central Plains and has been out of control ever since.Originally, Henan had frequent natural disasters, agricultural harvests have been lost year after year, hungry may cheat the wild, and heavy taxes, the common people can no longer live happily, 30 to [-] rogues fled into the Central Plains, which is equivalent to throwing napalm bombs into the coal mines, the people of the Central Plains The crowd responded, and the rogues became stronger like a snowball, sweeping across Henan, Hebei, Anhui, and Hubei, and dug up the ancestral graves of the old Zhu's family. Zhang Xianzhong even fled into Sichuan, and no one could stop him. Sichuan's red land is thousands of miles away, and it has almost become a dead land. The current Sichuanese basically moved from Shanxi, Huguang and other places during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and the aborigines have been killed.This huge snowball rolled over everything rumblingly, shaking the land of the Central Plains. In the end, it just touched lightly, and the Ming Dynasty, whose foundation had been hollowed out long ago, collapsed and turned into dust... In fact, now This kind of bad omen is already quite obvious. Just in June this year, the Yellow River burst its embankment in Mengjin County, Luoyang, and countless victims were affected. These poor people are potential soldiers of the rogues!The fire is imminent, those guys don't want to think about how to put out the fire, but instead try to squeeze some oil and water out of Nanyang, Yang Menglong doesn't know what to say, he can only explain that the dynasty is really a dynasty with a spirit of death , The dynasty is immortal, and you will die endlessly!

If you don't die, you won't die. If you die, I will definitely kill you. If you want to play, I will play with you!

Yang Menglong returned to the General's Mansion and asked someone to call Wang Rui and Qin Mai over, while he wrote and drawn on the map, not knowing what he was doing.

Wang Rui and Qin Mai walked in imposingly, clasped their fists and saluted: "See you, General!"

Yang Menglong threw down the charcoal pencil, stood up straight, looked at the two, was silent for a while, and asked, "You have been with me for three years, right?"

Wang Rui said, "It's been three years since my lord said it!"

Yang Menglong said helplessly: "I'm not very good at employing people. There are so many unreasonable arrangements for you. I have wronged you."

Wang Rui and Qin Mai looked at each other and smiled wryly.Their position in the Heluo New Army is indeed a bit awkward. Kong has all the skills, but he can't find a suitable position.The Chasseurs have Xu Gong, who is a master at digging pits and laying ambushes to beat black sticks, no one is more suitable than him; the Lancers have Zhong Ning and Cao Jun, and the two cooperate seamlessly; the infantry has more talents , Han Peng, Xue Siming, Wang Tiehammer, Xu Meng... any one of them can be taken alone. For an army of only [-] people, the Heluo New Army has a bit too many strong generals.Of course, the most terrible thing is the Bird Feather Staff Plan made by Yang Menglong. Each thousand households has more than a dozen staff officers. These staff officers may not be able to fight wars, but they win because of their flexible minds. , Summarize all kinds of information, assess risks in advance, consider all kinds of difficulties that may be encountered after the war and the insidious tricks that the enemy may use, and often formulate several sets of different plans for the general to choose from, and the general will choose the best from them. The plan that is stable and the least risky, if you follow this plan, even if you fail to win, the troops will not suffer too much loss.They don't have this quality and are not suitable to be staff officers, but infantry and cavalry have no suitable positions for them, so they can only follow Yang Menglong without embarrassment and become the captain of the personal guard.

Yang Menglong said: "I know that your ideal is to cross the battlefield and make contributions. Letting you be the captain of the guard really wronged you."

Wang Rui said: "Your Excellency, please don't say that! Elder Qi's arrangement is very reasonable. In the army, the strong go up to the weak and the weak go down. Qin Mai and I are not as capable as Brother Xue, Brother Zhong, and Brother Cao. We should be captains of the guards." Nothing to complain about either.”

Yang Menglong said: "But people have to go to higher places after all, don't they?"

Qin Mai asked in horror: "My lord, why do you say that? Are you trying to drive us away?"

Yang Menglong shook his head: "What are you thinking! Although I am not very good at employing people, I can see that you are all courageous, resourceful and passionate men. How could I drive you away!"

Qin Mai chuckled: "It's fine if you don't drive us away, I'm really afraid that you don't want us, sir!"

Yang Menglong said: "Stupid words!" After hesitating for a moment, he said: "Wang Rui, Qin Mai, I have something big to do and I want to ask you for help."

Wang Rui and Qin Mai bowed their hands solemnly, and said: "My lord wants us to do what, just order it, don't ask us for help, it will kill us in embarrassment!"

Yang Menglong said: "I said I wanted to ask you for help. There is a reason... This matter is very dangerous. If it fails, you will be fine if you are decapitated. It is not impossible to be hacked into pieces. Even I Everyone's life will be lost!"

Qin Mai's eyebrows twitched, Wang Rui's face changed slightly, and he asked, "What is it that is so important?"

Yang Menglong called them over, pointed to the map and said, "I want you to select some right-hand men to leave the Heluo New Army, gather refugees here, form an army, and take this large area for me!"

Qin Mai was shocked: "My lord, this is treason!"

Yang Menglong gritted his teeth and said: "It's almost like treason, but I didn't take down this large area to overthrow this country, but to save this country! You also know that when Nanyang becomes rich, many people are jealous, and they will do whatever they can. Take Nanyang out of our hands, and with our strength, we can't compete with them at all! If we lose Nanyang, the 10,000+ refugees who have worked so hard to settle down in Nanyang will have no way to survive!" He walked around anxiously, and said loudly: "The Central Plains is already full of hunger, and the people are in dire straits. Once the bandits enter the Central Plains, they will immediately ignite beacon fires everywhere and turn the whole country into ashes! Those idiots can't see this." Yes, they only think about how to make money and how to collect more taxes. They don't care whether the country is dead or alive. Anyway, if the country dies, they will still be officials if they change the court! But we can't care less, the country If we die, we will be smashed to pieces!"

Wang Rui and Qin Mai took a few steps back in horror, looking terrified.Although the current situation of the Ming Dynasty is indeed very bad, in the eyes of the vast majority of people, these are temporary. As long as the Ming Dynasty is in power and appoints sages, it will soon survive, but Yang Menglong clearly told them, The Ming Dynasty will perish, and this land will be flooded with boundless blood!If other people said this, they would take it as a joke at most, but they had to believe what Yang Menglong said, and they dare not believe it!

Wang Rui stabilized his mind and decided to do it.There are too many talented people in the Heluo New Army, and the competition is too fierce. With their abilities, it is not easy to get ahead. Now there is an excellent opportunity. Once he succeeds, he will not only be able to stand out, but also make great contributions , It will be remembered by future generations, how can we do it without a fight?He asked in a deep voice, "My lord, what should we do?"

(End of this chapter)