Dashun Yongchang

In fact, in the eyes of the gentry, Jiannu is more qualified than Li Zicheng to enter Beijing, because Jiannu is an outsider, and Li Zicheng is a domestic servant of the following criminals.When slaves were established as masters of China, their lives would not change. The owner of the house was still the head of the house, and the servants were still the servants.But when Li Zicheng became emperor, the unshakable ethics like heaven and earth lost their foundation, which meant that the slaves in the past might also become the masters, and the masters in the past might fall into slaves.

That's why so many gentry in the north declared their allegiance to the prince, not to Dashun.Because through allegiance to the prince, they can maintain the ethical order they want to protect, and allegiance to Dashun means that their family heritage no longer exists, and they have to start again in the new dynasty.But many families can only live on their laurels, because the burden of the family is too heavy, and many people are idlers who do not have anything to do with production. Asking them to work hard is simply forcing them to die.

At present, the relationship between Dashun and the northern gentry has eased, not because the gentry accepted Dashun's rule, but because Li Zicheng took Dayi.In the face of the righteousness of supporting the crown prince to restore the country, it is difficult for the gentry to gain the support of the people for their resistance to Dashun. Without the support of the people, what would the gentry do to resist the Shun army's swords and guns?

Even Lu Zhenfei, who was loyal to Daming, had no choice but to bow his head to Li Zicheng. Of course, what he was looking forward to was the change after the prince really left the control of the Shun Army.Even if there is a one-in-a-million chance, as long as Li Zicheng can really let the prince go south, then as a prince, he can unite the hearts of the people in the south better than Fufan, and he will not be fighting among himself in the south as he is doing now.

In the final analysis, the political struggle between people like Ma Shiying in Nandu and the Donglin Party members represented by Shi Kefa was due to the lack of legitimacy of Fufan's succession to the throne. Send people to maintain detached neutrality.

Of course, Emperor Hongguang cannot be blamed for this, after all, the enmity between Fufan and Donglin party members was created by Donglin party members.The prosperity of the Donglin party members was when Bao Guangzong ascended the throne and opposed the Fufan's entry into the reunification.The Donglin party members portrayed the war of succession to the throne as an image of fighting for righteousness, and regarded the retreat of Emperor Wanli as a victory of justice. From this moment on, there was no possibility of compromise between the Donglin party members and Fufan .

No matter how magnanimous Emperor Hongguang was, it was impossible to allow the government to be controlled by his own enemies, the Donglin Party members. This is also the root cause of Ma Shiying's ability to control the foreign court.For Emperor Hongguang, Ma Shiying was just taking power, and the Donglin Party members would kill him if he took power.

How can we talk about helping each other in times of trouble when we can't save our lives?Emperor Hongguang, who had been wandering among the people for more than a year, obviously understood this point deeply, so the party struggle in Nandu could not be solved from the inside.Because according to the experience of the Chongzhen Dynasty, whoever retreats a step in the political struggle will be doomed, and the imperial power has lost the ability to balance political struggles.

Backed by force, Ma Shiying took control of Nanjing City.Backed by the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, the Donglin party controlled the areas outside Nanjing.The conflict between the two parties was so deep that they couldn't even take into account the looting behavior of the four Jiangbei towns against their own people.

Even Lu Zhenfei felt powerless in the face of such a situation.This is also the root cause of his reluctance to go south, and instead went north to Xuzhou to join the prince. He hoped that he could use the status of the prince to solve the tangled party struggle in the south.However, the Yongchang Emperor he met was completely different from the rumored intruder.

Although in the name of joining the prince, Lu Zhenfei knew very well that it was impossible not to contribute to Li Zicheng.He is not the kind of rigid Taoist gentleman who sees it as a sin to sit and eat with rebels.As long as Daming's principles can be maintained and the common people continue to feel the prince's benevolence, it is not a big problem to contribute to Li Zicheng.

Therefore, when he persuaded Huai'an officials and gentry and comforted the people for Li Zicheng, he also did his best.Because he didn't think it was helping Li Zicheng, but helping the gentry and people in Huai'an not to make unnecessary sacrifices.Similarly, as long as the local officials and gentry in charge remain unchanged, Ming's influence among the common people will not decline.

It's just that he didn't expect that the meeting Li Zicheng convened was not to appease the gentry and people of Huai'an, but to instill a thought in the people of Huai'an.Although Li Zicheng quoted the words of the master, he always felt that something was wrong.

Suddenly, Lu Zhenfei stopped, and the Huai'an officials who were following him were caught off guard for a moment and almost bumped into him.But Lu Zhenfei didn't have time to take this into consideration, he looked up at the little golden light leaking through the leaves, he couldn't help but sighed and said: "This is not the master's way of benevolence and forgiveness."

The officials around him who managed to stabilize their bodies were a little dazed for a while, but Zhou Guangxia, the governor of Huai'an, came to his senses first. He moved closer to Lu Zhenfei and said in a low voice: "I heard that Emperor Yongchang has never formally entered school. It's normal to know Master's way of benevolence and forgiveness."

Lu Zhenfei turned his head and glanced at the officials around him who were nodding one after another, and suddenly felt a sense of indescribable summer insects, he lowered his face and said lightly: "After today's meeting, who still regards Emperor Yongchang as a person who doesn't study? It shows that this is an unreasonable two-legged bookcase."

After finishing speaking, Lu Zhenfei turned around and walked towards the main hall where the meeting was held, flicking his sleeves.Seeing Lu Zhenfei's uneasy pace, Wang Wendong, the magistrate of Shanyang, asked his colleagues blankly, "What's wrong with Mr. Lu? How can you get angry just talking?"

The other officials didn't pay attention to him, but followed Lu Zhenfei with heavy gait, but Gao Qifeng still wanted to make a good relationship with Wang Wendong, so he pulled him along and said, "Master Lu feels that Emperor Yongchang wants to subvert Master's way, this is the anger."

Wang Wendong fell silent immediately. This kind of rational argument was too far away from him. For him, being able to fulfill the responsibility of Shanyang County and protecting the people under his rule from the rebellion is the top priority.The reason why he still stays in Shanyang County is that besides the righteousness of surrendering to the prince, he can still perform his duties. If he can't even perform the duties of Shanyang County, then he has no choice but to abandon his official position and go back to his hometown. up.

When everyone returned to the main hall again, they were indeed in a much better mood.But this time Li Zicheng did not let these Manchu captives tell about his crimes, but asked them: "Lao Nu and Huang Taiji killed so many Han people, how did they treat those Han officials who surrendered?"

Although those councilors rushed up with stools and smashed them a few times, it was completely harmless to these Manchu captives, but the captives who can appear here have basically been trained to be quite honest by the Statistics Department .Therefore, no one dared to show dissatisfaction even after being beaten a few times.

Under Li Zicheng's questioning, someone replied honestly: "Lao Khan and Xian Khan both give preferential treatment to Han officials who come to vote. During the Xianhan period, some Han officials had thousands of private members, some had more than 100, and the rest had no less than a hundred people..."

Chapter 139 Doubt

Most of the councilors in the hall couldn't believe it when they heard the answers of these Manchu captives.They didn't expect that the officers and soldiers of Liaodong Town were so incompetent when they fought against Jiannu, but they lived so comfortably after surrendering to Jiannu, which was completely different from those Han people who were regarded as slaves.

And then Li Zicheng asked the Manchus about the family property of these Han officials who surrendered, which made the congressmen even more angry.Among them, when Zu Dashou moved from Jinzhou to Shengjing, there are countless gold, silver, silk and satin. Even the rich and powerful among the Manchus were amazed, and it made the congressmen gnash their teeth, shouting one by one: "Zu Dashou and Liaodong Town can kill."

Li Zicheng ordered these Manchu captives to be taken down, and then said to the members of the hall: "Wu Sangui said that he introduced Jian slaves into the customs to destroy us. But in fact, when Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong with a false edict, Liaodong The town has already colluded with Jiannu.

While putting pressure on the imperial court, they asked for more military pay and more armaments; at the same time, they dared not go out of the city to fight against Jiannu, and watched Jiannu looting all the rice, grain, and armaments brought by the imperial court from the interior.

The most ridiculous thing is that these Liaodong towns who dare not go out of the city to fight Jiannu, always criticize the guest troops who went to Liaodong to support them, saying that these guest troops are unwilling to go out of the city to fight in the field.When the guest army was forced out of the city, the Liaodong army always took the lead in fleeing when they encountered Jiannu, which greatly damaged the morale of the army.

Wu Sangui said, it was us peasants who caused the world to be in chaos.But aren't these Liaodong warlords who forced the court to pay more to the victims?Aren't these Liaodong warlords who took money from the hungry people in the pass to sell their sons and daughters, but dared not go out of the city to shoot at Jiannu?Aren't these Liaodong warlords who surrendered Jiannu the people who brought Jiannu into the customs and looted the people of Ming Dynasty?

Those so-called upright gentlemen in Southern Metropolis agree with Wu Sangui's statement, saying that they want to unite slaves and suppress thieves. Isn't this just the subjugated minister mentioned in Emperor Lie's suicide note?In order for the four towns to support Emperor Hongguang and help the southern capital resist the northern soldiers, they dared to sell the people of Huaibei to the four towns.In order to favor Jiangnan, they dared to sell all the people in northern China to Jiannu.

When Jiannu has digested the entire north, what else can the gentlemen in the southern capital sell?People in Jiangnan?But yes, after selling off the Chinese people, these honest gentlemen can still serve as officials with the Manchus, they can still be high-ranking officials and generous salary, maybe they can share a piece of soup with Jiannu, and take a share of the looted Chinese people the property of.

Members of Parliament, I have said so much, just want to tell you what the world is like today, and then ask everyone.Are you willing to defend your homeland with us?Or do you want to continue to believe in the honest gentleman in the southern capital and the filial general in the north, they will not betray you to warlords and slaves? "

The councilors in the hall couldn't sit still for a while, and started discussing with the acquaintances around them.Except for the representatives of the salt merchants and gentry who were embarrassed and didn't know what to say for a while, the other members of the council became more and more angry as they spoke, and began to lose respect for the Nandu court in their words.

The salt merchants and representatives of the gentry really didn't want to make a choice. Their purpose of participating in the meeting was actually very clear, which was to meet the demands of the Shun army and protect their own family property.After all, they are all big households with real estate, so there is really no need to place bets when the situation is not clear.Now that Dashun is being supported with great fanfare, what if Dashun fails?

If there is no council, then of course it is not up to these students and small landlords to talk about affairs in Huai'an City. After all, they are soft-spoken and cannot unite, so naturally they cannot change the public opinion in Huai'an City.However, this meeting changed the mainstream stratum in Huai'an city, and gave these students and small landlords a platform to unite.

Without the platform built by Shunjun, it would be an exaggeration for these students and small landlords to gather a dozen or twenty associations, and they can only represent themselves.But now, the freshmen and small landlord backbones in and around Huai'an City have all been called together, and they have been selected by the township, which means that they represent at least 2 households here.

In terms of the structure of the council, the salt merchants and gentry who originally dominated Huai'an's public affairs are now equal to these students and small landlords, and everyone has only one vote.In this way, they changed from leaders leading the people in Huai'an to representatives representing a part of the public opinion in Huai'an, and their connection with ordinary people was never as close as these students and small landlords.After all, it is impossible for ordinary people to enter their house, and the students and small landlords live among the ordinary people.

In the past, these students and small landlords were led by them because they made friends with local officials and even dignitaries in the imperial court, so everyone could only rely on them to speak for the local area, and naturally they dared not offend them.But now, the world is in chaos. Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself in Beijing, and Emperor Hongguang of Nandu sold the Jiangbei region to the four towns. These salt merchants and gentry have actually lost the aura of the imperial court. Everyone listens to them just out of Just get used to it.

In this meeting established by Li Zicheng, everyone can communicate directly with Emperor Yongchang, so who will be submissive to the salt merchants and gentry? Of course, everyone's first choice is to protect their own interests first.

What are the greatest interests of the people in Huai'an at present?Nature is safe.When Liu Zeqing, Gao Jie and other troops fled from the north to Yangzhou for the first time, they harassed around Huai'an once. The corpses fill the fields, and the young girls are humiliated by prostitution." This is completely like a beast army.

When Liu Zeqing returned to Huai'an, relying on the orders given by Nandu, he completely regarded Huai'an as his own farmland, robbed the gardens of the gentry, blackmailed the local people, and insulted the wives and daughters of the people.Of course, Liu Zeqing's troops, who are basically like this, are still much better than Gao Jie's army, at least they didn't kill people randomly.

Now, after listening to Li Zicheng's description of the situation in the world, these representatives of the people in Huai'an became even more anxious.They are different from those salt merchants and gentry, they can't surrender to whichever force comes, because they don't have the ability to defend their own homeland alone, and they don't know famous figures in all camps.After realizing that the upper class might throw them out to comfort the foreign troops, these congressmen became wary of these local celebrities.

After more than a quarter of an hour of discussion, at least two-thirds of the members reached a consensus that they had no better choice than Dashun. At least Yongchang Emperor was willing to tell them the truth instead of deceiving them with lies.In this regard, Emperor Yongchang is at least more honest than Nandu and the so-called filial general.

So soon a member of the council stood up as a representative and asked Li Zicheng for advice: "Then what should we do so that Dashun can protect us?"

Seeing that all the councilors in the hall calmed down and looked at him actively, Li Zicheng corrected him calmly: "It is not Dashun who is protecting you, but how you plan to defend your own homeland. This is not only our war, but also yours. Do you expect others to fight to the death against foreign enemies in the front, while you continue to enjoy a peaceful life in your own home? Then when we fall, you plan to surrender on your knees and contribute your property, wives and daughters to those who built slaves and warlords?"

"No, of course we won't do that. But what can we do? We don't know how to fight at all, and it's hard for us to stop even the broken soldiers who fled back from the north. Please teach us, Your Majesty." , we are willing to obey your orders." A congressman stood up and pleaded loudly to Li Zicheng.

After pondering for a few seconds, Li Zicheng said calmly: "In war, I think the main thing is to seize four things, money, weapons, soldiers and beliefs. Among these four things, I think beliefs are the most important. An army does not know why If they do not fight, they will fear death; if the people do not know why they are fighting, they will complain that the war has increased their burden.

Therefore, the first thing I want the council to do is to publicize.Let the people know the meaning of this war, let them know who we are fighting for, and where the taxes they pay are used.

The second thing is to formulate laws and regulations. Even if it is to punish those traitors who try to surrender and profiteers who hoard money to make the country difficult, I hope that they will be punished by the law, not by someone, because people will change, but the law will not. will change.

The third thing is to formulate wartime control measures. As I just said, war needs money, weapons, and soldiers. In order to ensure that we can win the final victory, then we must purchase and dispatch money, food, build weapons and confiscate according to the needs of the war. troops.

During the war, the rich should learn to be thrifty, the poor should be relieved, the old and young should be cared for, and the young and strong should be organized for regular training. This is not some people's war, but all people's war. interests, no one can stay out of it..."

Li Zicheng spoke eloquently, but the members below heard it very seriously. Apparently they had begun to accept Li Zicheng's claim that this was a war that concerned the interests of the entire Chinese people.Under Li Zicheng's suggestion, more than [-] congressmen were divided into several groups to discuss issues of money, weapons, soldiers and propaganda.

Obviously, this kind of discussion cannot be completed in one day today, so Li Zicheng decided to leave temporarily during the group discussion, intending to investigate the shipyards in Qingjiangpu. There are four main shipyards and eight shipyards along the canal from Hexia to Qingjiangpu. This is the main base for manufacturing tank ships in Daming, and it is also one of the three largest shipyards in the country.

But when he was about to leave, Lu Zhenfei followed alone, Li Zicheng stopped and asked him: "Mr. Lu, do you have something to tell me?"

Lu Zhenfei looked at the people around Li Zicheng, but did not speak.Li Zicheng then waved his hands to keep the people around him some distance away, so that Lu Zhenfei could talk to him alone.Only then did Lu Zhenfei solemnly ask Li Zicheng: "What exactly is your majesty going to do? What you said at the meeting completely violated the original intention of the master. Are you planning to eliminate the gentry?"

Chapter 140 What is Dashun

Li Zicheng stared at Lu Zhenfei for a long time, then raised the corners of his mouth and said, "Why does Mr. Lu think that this is not Master's original intention? Master told you?"

Lu Zhenfei was silent for a while and then said: "The way of the master has been discussed in great detail by later generations, and everyone in the world thinks so, and it is not the foreign minister who can feel the way of the master."

Li Zicheng looked up at the sky, there were a few white clouds floating in the blue sky, the sky was no different from that of later generations, he then lowered his head to Lu Zhenfei and said: "Then let the people of the world decide what is real. If the people in the world think that I am wrong, then I will admit my mistakes. If the people in the world think that I am right, then it is not I who want to change the wrong idea. What do you think of Mr. Lu?"

Arrogance and perfunctory, this is Lu Zhenfei's first impression, but since he dared to come out and stop the other party at this time, he has already made mental preparations, Li Zicheng's attitude did not exceed his expectations, at least he was still able to communicate within range.

Lu Zhenfei thought about it in his heart and said: "Your Majesty is already the Emperor of Dashun, isn't he most concerned about how to pacify the world as soon as possible? At this time, it is completely harmful to His Majesty to start a debate about the way of master. And the Crown Prince You will also be involved in this controversy, isn't Your Highness innocent?"

Li Zicheng stared at Lu Zhenfei, at this moment he wanted to understand why the other party jumped out to persuade him, it turned out that it was to get the prince out of this vortex.That's right, when he started a debate on the way of the master, the prince had to stand on his side, so those great Confucians had to stand on the opposite side of the prince, otherwise they would deny the basis of their own theory .

But, that's exactly what he wanted.Confucian scholars who shouted to uphold Gangchang ethics, but had to oppose their own lords in order to uphold Confucianism, this is the best example of smashing Confucianism.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng said with a smile on his face: "I heard that someone in the West has discovered a law, that is, matter will not perish but only transform. For example, if you burn a piece of paper, although it eventually becomes a pile of lighter matter Ashes, but the lightened part did not disappear, but was combined with another component in the air.

So if you burn it in a closed environment, then you will find that the air and ash in this closed environment are equal to the weight before burning, neither increasing nor reducing the weight.I say that, Mr. Lu, do you understand? "

Lu Zhenfei: "..."

After several breaths of silence, Lu Zhenfei said calmly: "The minister is dull, can you please speak more clearly, Your Majesty?"

Li Zicheng restrained his smile, and said to him seriously: "Since matter is indestructible, the resources I invest in the prince should naturally be rewarded, otherwise it will violate the laws of nature. Things that violate the laws of nature cannot It exists in nature. Is Mr. Lu clear now?"

Of course Lu Zhenfei didn't understand, he felt tired talking to this kind of warrior with a knife handle, they were already sitting at the same table eating, but they still wanted to overturn the table, honestly be your emperor Is it not good?How to set rules for the world is the responsibility of these scholars. As the emperor, it is enough to appoint scholars to govern the world.

It's just that other than him in Huai'an now, no one else can understand what Li Zicheng is going to do. If he doesn't stand up and wait for the fait accompli, then the world will really be in chaos.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhenfei could only continue to persuade: "Your Majesty, the unified order of China started in Qin and then in Han. All dynasties that follow this order can enjoy long-term peace and stability, and all dynasties that violate this order will not last long." The old man said: Hu people have no luck for a hundred years.

Your Majesty has broken the tradition that the imperial power does not come down to the county, and replaced the gentry with the council to govern the county. Don't you worry about the merger of the powerful?Besides the master's way of loyalty and forgiveness and the rules of etiquette and music, why do people in the world respect the emperor?Does Your Majesty really know what kind of Dashun your Majesty wants to build?If His Majesty doesn't have such a great Shun in mind, and rushes to destroy this old house, will His Majesty still have a shelter from the wind and rain in the future? "

If there is no one in Li Zicheng's body, Lu Zhenfei's words are undoubtedly correct. After all, no matter how weak China is now, it is still the overlord of East Asia. If it weren't for those Ming soldiers who surrendered to Jiannu, Jiannu would not be possible Enter the customs and compete for the world.

But to someone, what Lu Zhenfei said is actually nonsense, because he knows very well that these gentry will not support Li Zicheng, unless Li Zicheng kills his old brother and then uses the gentry to govern Dashun, then he Probably can also be the master of the new dynasty.However, there are now three choices for the gentry, the Manchus in the north, the Hongguang court in the south, and Dashun.

The plundering policy implemented after Dashun entered Beijing has made the Dashun regime and the gentry all over the world enmity, because no one knows whether these Dashun troops will come again in the future to recover stolen goods and pay. After all, the knife is at the hands of the Dashun army hand.

In this way, the Hongguang court, which maintained the old system, or the Qing Dynasty, which plundered the people but favored the gentry, were more favored by the gentry than Dashun.In such a situation, how could someone disarm the peasant army and replace it with gentry ruling the country?These gentry would definitely not be able to defeat the Qing Dynasty, and after losing their force, would the gentry still regard him, a peasant, as an emperor?

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, it was also a large number of Huaixi nobles and gentry who were cleaned up in large numbers before he finally secured his position as emperor, not to mention his many sons, enough to rule the Quartet.But Li Zicheng only has a daughter who is less than ten years old, and if he puts down the knife in his hand, the whole family will be considered as kind by the gentry.

After so many years of debate on the Internet, someone certainly knows that the bottom line of a gentry is that there is no bottom line.For example, Jiang Gong will at least treat his savior leniently, and some gentry and military leaders can arrest the orphans and widows left behind by the savior when his bones are still cold, and they can also release a group of ethnic separatists in the name of rectifying the chaos. The common people are treated as fish and meat.

As for revising history, engaging in literary inquisition and other things are trivial matters.In front of these gentry, even the colonists and bandits who have committed many evil deeds will bow down.Because the colonizers and robbers would not claim that they came to liberate the aborigines, and these gentry could have the cheek to say that the slavery going south was a great success of national integration, and any exposure of the massacre of slavery would destroy national unity.

Allocating the crimes created by the slave owners to the slaves, and then saying that this nation is guilty of original sin, this is the best technique for the gentry to create ethnic confrontation and consolidate their position.Therefore, someone has never believed in the gentry of Ming Dynasty, and he has never even thought about letting the peasant army defend the land of these gentry.

Except for those little pinks who regard the bureaucratic and wealthy countries as their own motherland, the real proletariat always knows who their enemies are, and even fruit fans know that if they want to send themselves to the country of death, they should die early.Only Little Pink can tell the difference. Defending the country and sending the proletariat to death have never been the same thing.

After staring at Lu Zhenfei for a quarter of an hour, Li Zicheng finally said, "Of course I know what Dashun I want. The people don't exist for the king, the king is for the people. This is what I want." Dashun, Mr. Lu, please do it yourself."

After finishing speaking, Li Zicheng turned around resolutely and left, while Lu Zhenfei also froze in place without making another sound.After leaving the mansion, Li Zicheng got on his horse and headed towards the old city under the guard of a team of knights. Qingjiangdu Shipyard is located on the south bank of Qingjiang Pu River, between Shanyang and Qinghe counties, and its center is 30 miles away from the two counties.

As the only dynasty in history that established a country in the south and conquered the north, there were many shipyards in the early Ming Dynasty as the capacity to transport military rations.However, after the Grand Canal was unimpeded in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, almost all of these official shipyards were abolished. Qingjiangdu Shipyard, Linqing Shipyard, and Hangzhou Shipyard were the three major shipyards in the late Ming Dynasty.

Among them, Huai'an Qingjiang Shipyard ranks first among the three major shipyards. It has 82 sub-shipyards, more than 5000 craftsmen, and tens of thousands of relevant employees including dental workers and merchants. The factories and sheds along the river are more than 20 miles long. .It can be said that the bustling town of Qingjiangpu came into being after the Qingjiang Shipyard.

Li Zicheng went to the Zhili Factory today. The Qingjiang Shipyard is divided into four major factories to meet the needs of different units. For example, the Jingwei Factory builds ships for most of the guards under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing Pro-Military Guard and the Nanjing Five Armed Forces Governor's Mansion. The Zhongdu Factory built ships for the left guards in Zhongdu and the guards under its jurisdiction; the Zhili Factory built ships for the relevant guards in Southern Zhili; the Weihe Factory built ships for Tongzhou Zuowei, Huaianwei, and Dahewei.

Why are there so many branch factories? I have to talk about the unique household registration system of Ming Dynasty. From the artisan households to the boat households providing jute and tung oil, they are all assigned to certain guards for management, and then draw lots every year or a few years. or tribute.

That is to say, the artisans I manage are of course serving the guard, and serving other guards is not a loss of the guard's interests.The Ming Dynasty was not a commodity economy. These materials and craftsmen were allocated rather than purchased and hired.Therefore, although the shipyards in various places have been abolished, the territorial and personal system of shipbuilding has not changed. It is nothing more than the fact that they used to serve and pay tribute not far from their homes, but now they are centralized in Huai'an.For the court, it simplifies the management, but for the common people, it increases the burden.

Therefore, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the continuous corruption of the bureaucratic system, this first-class shipyard in the Ming Dynasty also began to decline.But for Li Zicheng, the Qingjiang Shipyard was the first factory he could take over in this era. Although the Qingjiang Shipyard under the feudal system was completely different from the modern factory, the particularity of the tank boat made this Daming Shipyard own The experience of batch construction and the adoption of a standardized production process are no more suitable for reorganization into a real factory handicraft workshop than this.

However, Li Zicheng had no time to inspect the place before, so he had to hand over the shipyard to Xi Benzhen and Chen De. Chen De was the son of Chen Yongfu. After Chen Yongfu was recalled to Henan, Li Zicheng transferred Chen De to his side. Guards Brigade.

Chapter 141 Qingjiang Shipyard I

At the gate of Zhili Factory, Xi Benzhen, Chen De, Shen Tingyang and others who got the news were all waiting here, ready to welcome Li Zicheng.Although the sun was very strong in the afternoon, none of the officials went to enjoy the shade under the willow tree nearby.

Although Xi Benzhen and Shen Tingyang only met a few times, as a good friend of Lu Zhenfei, of course he had met this official who was temporarily in charge of Qingjiang Shipyard.After all, Shen Tingyang's proposal to restore the maritime water transport initiated by Zhu Qing in the Yuan Dynasty to provide food for Liaodong was appreciated by Chongzhen.

The former General Cao Shi Kefa recommended Shen as the Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, and was promoted to the Minister of Taipu Temple and the Ministry of Household Affairs.In the 16th year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen appointed Shen Tingyang as the Secretary of the Guozijian, and was ordered to change the water boats into Yangtze River warships and be responsible for the supply of military supplies in the north.This is a big business, and Xi Benzhen will naturally find a way to get to know Shen Tingyang and take over some supply business.

It's just that the situation in the world changed so quickly that Emperor Chongzhen disappeared in a blink of an eye, and Shen Tingyang became a prisoner of the Shun Army, but Xi Benzhen became a representative of the Shun Army to take over the Qingjiang Shipyard.

It was awkward when the two met, because Shen Tingyang was still hesitant, thinking that he should not surrender to Dashun. After all, he was promoted all the way from a donated official, thanks to the appreciation of Emperor Chongzhen.The other officials didn't have deep feelings for Emperor Chongzhen. If Li Zicheng couldn't get rid of his habit of banditry, they would have broken up with Chongzhen long ago.It was only under Shunjun's policy of recovering stolen goods that they remembered the benefits of Emperor Chongzhen.

So Xi Benzhen pointed out to Shen Tingyang: "Just because you have received the great kindness of Emperor Daxing, how can you abandon the prince and seek refuge in Fufan? Even if the prince is trapped in the Shun army, it is not the reason for you to abandon the prince. Otherwise From now on, who would dare to treat Your Excellency with enthusiasm? Even Fu Fan may not really believe that Your Excellency is sincerely loyal to him."

Shen Tingyang was hesitant for more than half of his thoughts, and when he heard that the crown prince was about to go south, he finally bowed his head and started doing something for the Shun army.With the assistance of Shen Tingyang, Xi Benzhen figured out the management method of Qingjiang Shipyard and recruited a group of managers in just a few days. It can be regarded as an explanation to Li Zicheng, so Li Zicheng decided to come to inspect the shipyard this afternoon.

While waiting for Emperor Yongchang, Xi Benzhen was still worried and told Shen Tingyang: "Master Shen, you must restrain your temper when you meet your majesty. Although your majesty was born in the fields, his knowledge and knowledge are comparable to others."

Shen Tingyang didn't really believe Xi Benzhen's words of praise, because he didn't think that a leader of a bandit army could have any insight. As a member of a maritime merchant family, he might not be as knowledgeable as those Jinshi officers, but when it came to what he had seen and heard, he didn't believe that he would He was not as good as a bandit army leader who was born as a farmer. Even if the opponent went to many places to fight with the government army, it was only in the northwest and the Central Plains.

However, he knew in his heart that Xi Benzhen had good intentions, so he wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief, and said calmly and casually: "Thank you for your kindness, brother Xi. The crown prince is causing trouble. There seems to be a group of knights coming over there, it should be Emperor Yongchang, right?"

Xi Benzhen glanced at it, then said to the shipyard officials behind him: "Stand up, stand up, Your Majesty is coming..."

Li Zicheng rode his horse and ran to the gate of the shipyard. Seeing Xi Benzhen and others waiting outside, he immediately stopped his mount, then dismounted and walked forward, grabbed Xi Benzhen's arm and said with a smile: "Such a big sun, Xi Benzhen Why doesn't the shopkeeper hide under the shade of a tree? If this is sunstroke, who will do things for me? Quick, quick, let's find a shady place to talk."

For Li Zicheng's behavior, Xi Benzhen was not surprised at all. At first he thought it was Li Zicheng's trick to buy people's hearts. As a businessman, he would not have used such a trick before, but soon he Then I realized that this was just due to Li Zicheng's nature, he treated everyone like this, there was no distinction between superiority and inferiority, only distance.

Therefore, Xi Benzhen quickly brought Li Zicheng into the Yamen in the shipyard. Unlike the factory in Li Zicheng's imagination, Qingjiang Shipyard was actually similar to the prison of later generations in his opinion.The officials live in the yamen, while the craftsmen work in the shipyards outside. Those who supervise the work of these craftsmen are not quality inspectors but soldiers, which means that the craftsmen actually have no freedom in the shipyard.

After listening to the reports of these shipyard officials and stewards in the yamen for a while, Li Zicheng found that his understanding of the shipyard was still in chaos.He couldn't help stopping the report, and asked them: "Let's not talk about what ships this shipyard can build for the time being. To be honest, I don't understand what you are talking about these ships are used for. Let's talk about them first." Let’s talk, what’s wrong with the operation of the shipyard now? What are the requirements of the craftsmen? Can any of you tell me?”

The officials and stewards who reported enthusiastically to Li Zicheng just now shut their mouths tightly.Shen Tingyang, who had been silent just now, finally said: "Actually, there are two biggest problems in the shipyard. One is that the imperial court defaulted on the payment of the ship; the other is the frequent wars, and the shipbuilding materials along the Yangtze River cannot be transported, especially the lack of timber.

Qingjiang Shipyard can build 560 water ships and 50 ocean-going ships every year. However, due to insufficient food and wages, craftsmen have fled one after another, and wood cannot be purchased. The old wooden boards used for the water ships built now have reached [-]% of the new ships. The number of ships built every year is only three or four hundred.There is a lack of tung oil, jute, nails, not even coal and lime..."

Li Zicheng's heart moved, and he asked Shen Tingyang: "How much silver is owed by the imperial court to the shipyard? How many craftsmen are left in the factory?"

Shen Tingyang thought for a while and replied: "There are about [-] to [-] taels in arrears to the shipyard, which is almost half a year's shipbuilding costs. The craftsmen still have less than [-] taels, because the ships are underutilized, and many servants and merchants have left. "

After hearing this, Li Zicheng got up and said, "I want to see the place where the ship is built."

The officials and stewards in the lobby were a little surprised, and they all turned their attention to Shen Tingyang and Xi Benzhen. Shen Tingyang simply got up and led the way for Li Zicheng. Xi Benzhen followed behind Li Zicheng without saying a word, and the others had no choice but to follow.

On the way, Shen Tingyang said to Li Zicheng by the way: "In the early years of the Kingdom, the material of a tank boat was priced at 100 taels, and the cost of a sunken boat was 120 taels. The bottom plate was made of nanmu, and other parts were made of fir. After thawing, timber began to rise, especially nanmu was rare, so the imperial court began to increase the price of ships and allowed the use of pine and miscellaneous wood.

After the apocalypse, the cost of a tank boat has risen to 280 taels, and a new ship must use [-]% of the old boards and [-]% of the new boards.However, after the imperial court began to default on the payment of the ship, the old boards exceeded [-]% of the consumption, and the quality of the ship became worse and worse.Therefore, no matter how skilled the craftsmen of Qingjiang Shipyard are, it is difficult to build a few good ships, because there are no good materials, and the better they are built, the more they will subsidize, because the price given by the shipyard is fixed..."