Dashun Yongchang

On the contrary, the establishment of the council has weakened the voice of these big landlords in the county.It is said that after the Qin Dynasty, there will be no feudal system in China, only the county system, but this is a joke.On the landlord's land, the landlord is the tenant's heaven. Regardless of production, taxation, or competition for water sources with neighboring villages, who dares to act without the landlord's voice?

Especially those servants who bring their families to surrender to the landlord, their personal freedom and family are completely controlled by the landlord. Even if the servant makes a fortune in business, the landlord sends a business card to the government, and he can pull you to the lobby to make a few calls first. Ten boards.As for taking away the children of servants to serve as servants and maids in the mansion, that is really too common.

However, even these landlords who showed their power in front of their tenants were still divided into many classes, among which the big landlords with official status were the most respected.And those small landlords can only rely on the breath of these big landlords.The apportionment and salary increase in the county will almost always avoid these big landlords with official status and fall on those small landlords.

The small landlords can only get the big landlords to intercede with the government and help them reduce some additional payments by currying favor with these big landlords or relying on them.Under such circumstances, small landlords will also slowly lose blood and drop their ranks, making it even more difficult to get rid of the control of big landlords.

But the emergence of the council has given these small and medium-sized landlords, and even self-cultivating farmers a channel to speak out.What they are asking for is not that the imperial court should completely eliminate the bonuses, but that they want an average bonus, and they cannot put all the bonuses on their own heads.On the occasion of the council, the representatives of the small and medium-sized landowners or self-cultivating farmers finally had an opportunity to speak on an equal footing with the big landowners.

As a result, the big landlords who could do whatever they wanted in the county were besieged by the imperial court and small and medium landlords.The meeting became a place where small and medium landlords rebelled against the privileges of big landlords, rather than a place for democratic discussion as Li Zicheng said.

However, some gentry such as Gong Weilu also admitted that the power enjoyed by the gentry is indeed too great, but the responsibilities borne by the gentry are really too small.In the past, because there was no institution such as a council, the gentry in the county had their own territory, and naturally they would not interfere in other people's affairs. This is also an unspoken local rule.

However, after the meeting appeared, the more enlightened gentry also agreed to redistribute evenly the money and grain under an open and just distribution method.Those unenlightened gentry will naturally be mercilessly hit by Dashun's iron fist.To put it simply, the council is used by Li Zicheng to distinguish between local gentry groups who are willing to cooperate with Dashun.Those local gentry who were unwilling to enter the council naturally became Dashun's enemies or potential enemies.

Gong Weiliu and other gentry had no choice but to make a further statement to Li Zicheng that they were willing to serve Li Zicheng in order to avoid being regarded as a local force that needed to be attacked by the Shun army.Of course, Gong Weizhen also admitted that Li Zicheng also has unique views on government affairs, and he is not just messing around.

For example, the order signed by Li Zicheng he brought back this time, he felt that it was indeed an order beneficial to the people.Seeing him enter the door, Wang Yuchi, Shen Wenyu, Ren Wenshi and others also surrounded him, and couldn't help asking him, "What did your majesty say?"

Gong Weilu looked at these colleagues and nodded vigorously and said: "Your Majesty has signed the letter, and the reform of education can already start. However, His Majesty does not agree to exclude geometry and other western learning from the teaching and examination content.

And it is required to lower the assessment standards for the Four Books and Five Classics, especially prohibiting difficult questions, strange questions, and intercepted questions that do not meet the original intention of the Master.In addition, the integration of county and prefectural schools has been changed to a school year system, with a three-year school system, and the latest graduation cannot exceed five years..."

Ren Wenshi, director of Confucianism in Yangzhou prefecture, couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied after hearing this: "If the assessment standards for the Four Books and Five Classics have been lowered, isn't that equivalent to using Western learning such as geometry as the selection criteria? I'm afraid this is against the way of a saint?"

Gong Weizhen also agreed with Ren Wenshi's views, but he said: "The purpose of the school reform is to cultivate practical talents. If you don't learn geometry and other knowledge, you can't build water conservancy and manufacture machines. Besides, the school examination is not an imperial examination. , the imperial examinations will remain the same, this is His Majesty's biggest concession."

The Wang and Chi on the side also spoke out to help Gong Weilu, saying: "Your Majesty is absolutely right, blindly increasing the difficulty of the Four Books and Five Classics exams, instead of pursuing the principles in the Four Books and Five Classics, this is also an act of sacrificing the basics and looking for the last. I thought there was nothing wrong with Gong participating in politics."

Although Wang Yuchi, who was born in the Wang family in Xincheng, Shandong, has a profound family education, the problem now lies in the dispute between the northern and southern scholars.Years of wars in the north, coupled with various natural disasters, it can be said that the north, which is already lagging behind in education, is even more difficult to compare the number of educated people and the quality of education in this period of time with the south, which has always been calm.

Reducing the difficulty of the examination of the Four Books and Five Classics is tantamount to giving northern scholars a chance.Otherwise, based on the ratio of education in the south, even in the city of Yangzhou, more than [-]% of the people can read newspapers. It is said that the literate population in Suzhou, Changshu and other places can reach [-]-[-]%.From the point of view of quality, scholars in the south can at least be admitted to Juren in the north.

What's more, the families of scholars in the south are generally well-off, and they often have the experience of studying abroad.And this kind of study tour not only greatly broadened their knowledge, but more importantly, they could get advice from famous teachers, and most of the northern scholars did not have this condition.Although a family like Wang Yuchi is not worried that their descendants will not produce talents, but if the court is full of southerners, even if you are a northerner, you may not be able to be an official for long.

Therefore, although Li Zicheng added the original geometry to the teaching content of the school, Wang Yuchi could only support Li Zicheng on the issue of education.Compared with one more Western study, the most important thing is to reduce the difficulty of the Four Books and Five Classics exams.

Shen Wenyu, who was born in a scholarly family in Pingqiao, Huai'an, after careful consideration, also decided to agree with the currently approved plan.He said to several of his colleagues: "It is at least a good start to establish at least one five-year primary school in each county. The imperial court subsidizes 200 taels of silver for this primary school every year, and the initial budget is 40 taels. An unprecedented cultural and educational event.

It would be too narrow-minded for us scholars to speak up and resist just because the teaching of mathematics and geometry has been added to primary schools.Enlightenment is the first priority advocated by the Master. Can we overthrow the Master's point of view because of our own likes and dislikes? "

Those who can sit here and work have already been selected several times, and the kind of diehards who are stubborn and unwilling to compromise will never appear among the subordinates of the Marshal's Mansion.The people who can sit in this office room are all people who are very clear about their own interests, so after several people expressed their opinions, those opponents finally revised their opinions.As a result, the education order issued by the Marshal's Mansion in the first year of Yongchang was quickly written and published in newspapers.

Chapter 187 New Deal II

While looking at the bright autumn day outside the window, Chen Yuanyuan lamented in her heart, why did she stay here to work in such a day? In such a weather, she should invite a few little sisters to go up the mountain to enjoy the autumn scenery.Thinking of this, she couldn't help but miss the joy of drinking with all the sisters on the Qinhuai River that day.

"Ahem, why are you in a daze. Have you calculated the annual cloth production and export sales in Jiangnan? Also, how much rice will be sold in Suzhou's rice market in a year, and how much rice will be imported from other places..."

Li Zicheng was rambling about arranging Chen Yuanyuan's work, and here Chen Yuanyuan finally dropped his pen angrily, lay down on the chair and said bitterly: "Quit, why do you even have to do the calculation work? I'm not an abacus. Tiantian If you stay in your room and write this or that, you will never be idle for a day, what is the difference between me and the donkey in the mill?"

Li Zicheng subconsciously continued, "Donkeys can't write."

Chen Yuanyuan's eyes widened, and she looked at Li Zicheng in disbelief: "What? What did you just say?"

Li Zicheng finally came to his senses. He immediately walked behind Chen Yuanyuan, put his hand on her shoulder and said, "I mean, you are better than a donkey, no, you shouldn't be compared to it. I can't sleep with my arms around a donkey." ,right?"

Chen Yuanyuan felt that this sentence was not a good word, but because of Li Zicheng's behavior of massaging herself, she still ignored the small problems contained in this sentence.It's okay to lose your temper a little, you can't really have a big fight with Li Zicheng.

Feeling the fatigue on her shoulders gradually dissipating, Chen Yuanyuan's mood finally improved again. She couldn't help asking Li Zicheng for advice: "You have so many important things to do, why should you pay attention to these business matters? Leave such things to others. It’s okay for people to do it, right?”

Li Zicheng stopped what he was doing, approached her, then pointed to his shoulder, motioning for Chen Yuanyuan to pinch himself a few times, and then said: "I'm worried that if I leave it to others, they will calculate it blindly." Once the report comes up, such data is of no reference.

In matters of the military and the state, money and food are the top priority. If I don't even know the money and food figures in various places, what else can I use to discuss major issues with people outside?Do you just sit together and talk about the mountains?This is the first time I have done the calculations, and then let them do the calculations, I have a bottom line in my heart.Otherwise, I have to believe whatever numbers they give.

Now that the Manchus have entered the pass, and the Ming army on the nine sides surrendered to the Manchus one after another, this means that the war between us and the north may not end within a year or two.Our East Route Army has almost 50 officers and soldiers, and the West Route Army has 40. These more than 90 people plus their families, the total is estimated to exceed 300 million.

Just talking about food, one liter per person per day, it costs 3.6 shi a year, and 300 million shi for 1080 million people; It costs more than 1.5 million taels.

Right now, the north is already dilapidated, and those who can collect a little food are Shaanxi, northern Huguang, and the road from Huai'an to Yangzhou. Only relying on the output of these places and the Manchus to fight, the Manchus will go bankrupt before they reach Dashun. .

An area south of the Yangtze River that has not been affected by the war is a life-saving straw for me, Dashun.If we cannot find enough money and food from Jiangnan, this war will be lost without fighting.Because a hungry army can't fight, and they won't accept any order to fight their lives.

Therefore, we need to obtain sufficient war resources from Jiangnan, not only food and cloth, but also iron, wood, bamboo and other materials and a lot of manpower.But we can't propose more money and food than the southern provinces can afford, otherwise the south of the Yangtze River will be in chaos first, which is obviously not in our interests. "

Chen Yuanyuan finally understood Li Zicheng's intention of asking her to calculate these accounts, she sighed and said: "Although Suzhou has the largest rice market in the south of the Yangtze River, its rice mainly comes from Jiangxi, Huguang, Taipingfu and Ningguofu. Fengqiao Rice Market is the largest rice market in Suzhou, with annual sales of nearly ten million shi, [-]% of which come from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, accounting for [-]% of the entire Suzhou rice market.

In addition to supplying the daily diet of the population of Suzhou's prefecture and counties, these rice grains are also used for wine making, which consumes millions of stones a year.The amount of rice shipped from various places in the upper reaches, Sichuan has stopped exporting grain due to the war; the rice-producing areas in Huguang are mainly in the south of the Yangtze River, and tens of millions of shi can be exported every year; about 500 million shi in Jiangxi can be exported; Taipingfu and Ningguo There are also millions of stones that can be transported abroad in Fufu and other places.

In this calculation, the key lies in Huguang. If the trade route to Huguang cannot be opened up, it will be difficult to solve the shortage of rice and grain for His Majesty.Without Huguang's export of more than 1000 million shi of rice, all parts of the south of the Yangtze River could barely survive, and it would be difficult to raise military supplies for His Majesty. "

After pondering for a long time, Li Zicheng said: "Indeed, Zuo Liangyu is the key to the problem. Right now, I really can only coax him first. How is Daqiao Town going?"

Chen Yuanyuan said helplessly: "It's still the same, everyone is deadlocked, Chen Mingxia and the others insist that Fu Fan must abdicate first before discussing other issues; the other side advocates that other issues should be discussed first, and then bring the results back to Emperor Hongguang for review However, let’s talk about the abdication issue. I feel that they can talk for a whole year without any progress.”

Li Zicheng curled his lips and said: "It seems that Nanjing sent a group of people who can't make decisions. How is that Ruan Yuanhai's contact? Is he interested in our recruitment?"

Chen Yuanyuan hesitated for a moment before saying: "Does Your Majesty really want to use this person? Although Ruan Dabeard is bold, he has a deep grudge with Dong Lin. If His Majesty uses him, I am worried that Jiangnan Shilin may not be able to be used by Your Majesty in the future." gone."

Looking at the clear blue sky outside the window, Li Zicheng laughed and said, "Even if I don't use Ruan Yuanhai, those scholars in Jiangnan may not be used by me. After all, they are gentlemen, and I am a thief after all.

It's just that the current situation dictates that some of them have to submit to me.But these people don’t have much real talent and learning. It’s okay to ask them to recite poems and write poems to embellish the prosperous times in peacetime. Now what I want is people who can really do things. If they can’t even beat Ruan Yuanhai, wouldn’t it be a waste of rice to recruit them? ? "

After all, Chen Yuanyuan wasn't Liu Rushi and Dong Xiaowan, sisters who were close to the Donglin Party, otherwise she wouldn't have been forced to go to Beijing.Ruan Yuanhai and the four gentlemen of Fushe are actually similar in her heart, and at most they only prefer some of her sisters. After all, the handkerchiefs she makes friends almost all admire the gentlemen of Fushe.

Therefore, out of her feelings for the sisters, she persuaded Li Zicheng. Now that Li Zicheng had made up his mind, she said honestly: "Ruan Yuanhai is easy to understand. He said that he is willing to contribute to His Majesty, but he hopes that His Majesty can give Ma Shiying a little bit of help." A way out. In the past few days, we have learned a lot of information about Nanjing from him, from personnel affairs to Nanjing garrison and city defense, he knows everything.”

Li Zicheng immediately smiled and said, "Ruan Yuanhai values ​​friendship very much. Forget it, let someone invite him to Daming Temple. I want to have a talk with him tomorrow..."

While the two were talking, Li Laiheng suddenly came to the door, but he lingered outside the door and dared not come in.After seeing his figure, Li Zicheng called him in and asked him what was lingering in front of the door.

Only then did Li Laiheng hesitantly say to him: "That woman is here and wants to see His Majesty."

Li Zicheng asked confusedly: "What woman? I have been in Yangzhou for so long and haven't left the Daming Temple a few times. How could a woman know me?"

Li Laiheng groaned for a long time, and then confided under Li Zicheng's impatient gaze: "Mrs. Xing is here."

"That Mrs. Xing... Damn, is that Mrs. Xing here? She came alone?" Li Zicheng asked in shock. After receiving Li Laiheng's affirmative answer, he immediately fell into deep thought, trying to figure it out. What did Mrs. Xing want to do when she ran here alone.

But he quickly gave up and turned to Chen Yuanyuan and asked, "How many people have we sent to Gao Jie's army?"

Chen Yuanyuan said: "There are only 200 people, but in a few days more people will complete the training, and then we can send another 300 people. We have to choose people from Li Chengdong's army, otherwise it will be difficult to mix into Gao Jie's army The various departments in the book. There is still not enough time."

Li Zicheng thought for a while, finally got up and turned to Chen Yuanyuan and asked, "Are you brave enough?"

Chen Yuanyuan silently looked at Li Zicheng for a few breaths, and then replied: "Although I am not very courageous, I have nothing to fear when your majesty orders me."

Li Zicheng nodded to her and said: "Then you go to see her for me and tell her two things. Yu private, there is nothing to talk about between me and her, so seeing each other is worse than not seeing each other; Yu Gong, what I want to see The person is not her. So, you send her back to the canal for me..."

When Li Zicheng ordered Chen Yuanyuan to meet Mrs. Xing, Gao Jie just realized that his wife had disappeared, which made him a little anxious.Under his questioning, the maid next to Madam tremblingly took out a letter to him, and said that it was left to him by Madam.

After reading the letter, Gao Jie was furious immediately, and when he was trying to go out of the city to the Beiying camp to rescue his wife, Li Benshen suddenly appeared kneeling on the ground and stopped him, saying, "Please don't spoil my aunt's important event, my aunt is coming!" Before leaving, I told my nephew that the lives of these tens of thousands of soldiers are more important than her life, and they are the foundation of my uncle's life. My aunt also said, please think about Yuan Jue again."

Gao Jie stood there for a long time, finally let out a long sigh and dropped his whip, turned around and walked back to the inner room.

Chapter 188 New Deal III

Gao Jie sat alone in the room, until it was getting dark outside, he didn't make any movement.None of the servants and maidservants in the courtyard dared to light a lamp for him. After all, when his wife was away, no one could stop Gao Jie from venting his anger.

Li Benshen and Hu Maozhen, who had heard the news, stood guard in the hall, and the two sat silently looking at each other.Seeing that Gao Jie didn't come out of the inner house all afternoon, Hu Maozhen finally couldn't help but sighed and said: "Madam is still reckless, shouldn't I discuss with the commander in advance before acting."

Li Benshen had no choice but to defend his aunt: "If the commander-in-chief foresaw this, wouldn't Emperor Yongchang look down on uncle, and Emperor Yongchang would not forgive our army even more.

And now that the hearts of the army are fluctuating, my aunt said that we must first let everyone know who Emperor Yongchang is in order to calm the hearts of tens of thousands of people, otherwise, without waiting for the war, our army's morale will also collapse. "

Hu Maozhen, who presided over the daily military affairs for Gao Jie, naturally knew that Li Benshen was telling the truth. As some officers and soldiers of Li Chengdong's troops fled back from the north, the news they brought back let the soldiers know that the Shun army did not start a massacre, but only asked them to release the battalion. After the captured women and children, most soldiers thought that this condition was acceptable. After all, after being defeated by the Shun army, it was impossible for these people and property to stay.

On the basis of ensuring that everyone's lives will be safe after the surrender, the middle and senior officers are counting on the Shun Army to retain their current official positions.By this time, what everyone was thinking about was not fighting with Emperor Yongchang, but how to negotiate a better surrender condition with Emperor Yongchang.

So Gao Jie's army was on the verge of attacking Huang Degong's troops in the direction of Yizheng. Although large-scale offensive and defensive battles did not break out, small-scale battles with less than 50 people continued.But for the Shun army in the direction of Yangzhou City, they showed extra restraint. Not only did Gao Jie's army not attack the patrol troops of the Shun army, they even stopped harassing the houses under the control of the Shun army.

In fact, according to the knowledge of the guards around him, some troops on the defense line even had a relationship with the Shun army on the opposite side. After all, the main force of Gao Jie's army is from Shaanxi and Henan, and the main force of the Shun army is also from these two places people.As the Gao Jie army who betrayed from the peasant army, in fact, many of the generals below and the generals of the Shun army still know or have heard of it.In terms of emotion, Gao Jie's closeness to Shunjun is closer than the other three towns in the four towns.

It's just that Gao Jie's army, as a rebel who betrayed the peasant army, was more worried that the Shun army would settle old scores with him, so he was more active in the battle with the peasant army before.But this kind of enthusiasm does not come from the wishes of the low-level soldiers, but from the thoughts input to these low-level soldiers by officers at all levels below Gao Jie: We have a grudge against Emperor Yongchang. Emperor Yongchang may let other Ming troops go, but he will not Let us go.

However, after the fleeing officers and soldiers of Li Chengdong's department brought back completely different information, the emotion of not being able to surrender to the Shun army because of fear was immediately dispelled.And their previous concept of fighting for the court also disappeared when they plundered the people while fleeing south.Nanjing ordered the Zhenjiang Navy to seal off the river and not allow them to cross the river. Although many people were dissatisfied on the surface, but in private, everyone also felt that it was normal for Nanjing to worry about them because of their actions near Yangzhou City.

It was precisely because of the feeling of being hostile between the North and the South that Gao Jie's army had no choice but to continue to follow Gao Jie, because they knew that if they collapsed by the Yangtze River, where everyone is an enemy, everyone would have no way out.After all, Gao Jiejun survived the troubled times. They may not have any political ideals, but they still have the understanding that the only way to survive is to stick together.

But now the surrender conditions given by the Shun Army have made many people realize that they can live without forming a group. Suddenly, some people began to waver, wondering whether they still need to go all the way to the dark.With the plunder they have made all the way south, and the rewards given by Nanjing, some people actually don't want to work in the army anymore, and they want to go back to their hometown and buy a few fields to live on.

Even the generals around Gao Jie have lost their goal right now.In the past they counted on the court, but now that Emperor Chongzhen was martyred and Emperor Hongguang was so wary of them, these generals felt that the court was no longer doing well. If we really want to talk about it, I am afraid that the crown prince in the hands of Dashun or Emperor Yongchang Both are more aggressive than the Nanjing court. As for the Manchuria in the north, everyone has not thought so far at this time, and they don't think they are a member of the struggle for the world.

Therefore, even Hu Maozhen, who later learned that Mrs. Xing was going to the Shunjun camp, had to think that this was a good move at the moment.If Emperor Yongchang could forgive Mrs. Xing, then Gao Jie and his son would naturally be forgiven, and everyone would be able to openly discuss when to surrender.If Emperor Yongchang could not forgive Mrs. Xing, then the commander-in-chief could use this to refuse everyone's request to surrender to the Shun Army, and gather troops to fight with the Shun Army or Huang Degong's troops.

Right now, the only way to make our army fight for the last sliver of life is to work hard.After all, after the Shun army covered the north and Nanjing cut off the Yangtze River route, our army had nowhere to go.

Hu Maozhen and Li Benshen stopped talking after a few words, because he also felt that it was inappropriate to say anything at the moment. After all, they still had to wait for the news from the Shunjun side, or the commander-in-chief regained his strength before they could discuss what to do next.

At this moment, suddenly there was a loud noise outside, and when Li Benshen was about to go out and scold him, he was stopped by Hu Maozhen.After listening intently for a few breaths, he finally smiled and said, "Call outside again: Madam is back. Let's go take a look together."

Gao Jie in the inner house finally came out after hearing the butler's report, and finally saw his wife in the hall. Regardless of other people's sideways glances, he looked around his wife and said with peace of mind: "It's fine, it's okay good."

Mrs. Xing glanced at the people in the hall, and then said to her husband: "Of course I'm fine. Everyone go about your own business. I want to talk to the commander in chief."

Although Hu Maozhen and Li Benshen really wanted to stay and hear what news Mrs. Xing brought back, but seeing Gao Jie's face, they resigned knowingly.After the others left, Gao Jie asked hesitantly, "What did that person say?"

Mrs. Xing put away the smile on her face, went to the teapot beside her and poured herself a glass of water, drank it in one gulp before saying, "I didn't even see him, I was received by the concubine next to him."

Only then did Gao Jie let go of worrying about gains and losses, and asked his wife in astonishment: "Li Zicheng sent you back without even seeing you? Then what does he mean? He wants our whole family to die together. mean?"

Mrs. Xing, who had been running for a day with dry mouth, coughed violently after hearing Gao Jie's words, choked on the tea. Gao Jie immediately went up to pat his wife's back.It took a while for the Xing family to recover, and then cast a blank look at her husband and said angrily: "What are you thinking? If Li Zicheng really thinks so, he won't wait for us to surrender before disposing of our family. Why bother to go to war? "

Gao Jie was still puzzled, so he asked: "Then what does he want by doing this? It doesn't mean that he wants me to submit to him willingly?"

Mrs. Xing snorted coldly and said, "Li Zicheng has always been ambitious and stubborn, and he can't hold back what he has decided. Now he regards himself as the emperor, and feels that there is no such thing as a dragon chair in the world. It's important, so we can let go of our affairs. I guess, this is the horse bone that treats us as Qianjin City's horse bone, if he can tolerate us, who else in the world can't tolerate it?"

After Gao Jie was silent for a long time, he pointed out to his wife: "But he is indeed the Emperor of Dashun now."

Xing: "..."

On the other side, after Chen Yuanyuan was asked to pick up Mrs. Xing, Li Zicheng also walked out of his study and walked to another courtyard.When he walked to the steps of the main house in the courtyard, he heard Zheng Zhilong’s voice coming from inside: “…Jeju Island, Ryukyu, Taiwan, Luzon, Borneo, Malacca, the ports in this series of regions will become A defensive circle shields our country's coastal areas from the Liaodong Peninsula in the north to Hainan Island in the south. If overseas enemies cannot break through this defensive circle, they will not be able to threaten our coastal areas..."

Li Zicheng smiled slightly. Sure enough, professional things should be left to professional people.His views on maritime defense are entirely derived from the geographical knowledge of later generations, but for a maritime businessman like Zheng Zhilong, as long as someone helps him clarify the general situation of the world, then he will establish a defense based on his own knowledge. A more operational solution, rather than someone's lip service.

When Li Zicheng walked up the steps and entered the room, the officials who were discussing maritime defense in the room got up and greeted him one after another, and Zheng Zhilong followed suit without hesitation. It seemed that he had begun to get used to following the army etiquette used in .

After Li Zicheng greeted everyone in the room, he asked with a smile: "I was outside the door just now, and I heard you discuss very enthusiastically. Do you have a clue about the plan for the sea control area?"

An officer nodded to Li Zicheng and replied: "Yes, under Nan Amber's suggestion, we have avoided many detours. Now, we have a deeper understanding of the issue of establishing control over the entire Northeast Asia to Southeast Asia waters ..."

While the officer was reporting to Li Zicheng, Zheng Zhilong was also re-examining his income in the past few days.Originally, he came across the river to get in touch with Li Zicheng to see what price Li Zicheng could offer for their Fujian maritime force.

But what he didn't expect was that Li Zicheng first attracted him with a huge maritime trade plan, and then asked him to help the Shun Army put forward many ideas on controlling the East Asian maritime area.

At first, Zheng Zhilong wanted to hold back, after all, for maritime merchants in this era, information about shipping routes is a commercial secret.But in the face of Shunjun's new staff system, Zheng Zhilong soon discovered that cooperation is more cost-effective than confrontation.Because with the help of these Shunjun staff officers, he can also use their computing power to integrate his sea force deployment, so as to obtain the optimal configuration.

So in just a few days, Zheng Zhilong got along with these young staff officers, and even forgot that he was in Li Zicheng's army.

Chapter 189 New Deal IV

When Li Zicheng, Zheng Zhilong, and a group of officers were studying maritime affairs, in a courtyard several yards away from them, Zhang Fengxiang, Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Jiayu, Qiu Junsun, Zong Hao, and other advisers from the Marshal's Mansion were discussing about Tian Fu and The problem of food prices in the south of the Yangtze River.

Since Li Zicheng set up the Marshal's Mansion, he has divided the scholars who are willing to serve the Dashun regime into three categories. The first category is those who can afford some government work after inspection. They are all placed in the civil government;

One type is the scholars recruited from the local area when the Shun Army retreated from the north to the south. Most of these people are children and students. and publicity work.

The last category is the in-service officials of the Ming Dynasty or the gentry in the country. They already had status and power in the Ming Dynasty, and the cooperation with the Shun Army was mostly superficial, but their experience in government affairs was needed by the Shun Army. Li Zicheng set up consultants to arrange these collaborators.

Of course, there was another category of scholars who were unwilling to cooperate with Shunjun, or who could not see their political inclination for the time being. Li Zicheng left it to the Wenhua Palace managed by the prince, and asked them to sort out the literature and history materials.

As Li Zicheng continued to go south, the civilian officials of the Marshal's Mansion were also distributed in Xuzhou, Huai'an and Yangzhou, and the advisers around Li Zicheng gradually became more important, because Li Zicheng really didn't have anyone available.He ordered all localities to organize councils, to a certain extent, in order to reduce the administrative pressure on the Marshal's Mansion, and handed over part of the power to the localities.

After all, appointing a few officials is just a matter of confession, but whether these officials will stand on Dashun's side after they arrive in the place is another matter.What's more, in this era of chaos and chaos, local gentry have begun to establish militia groups. It is really hard to say how much respect they have for foreign officials. For example, the Zunhua, Jizhou, and Xuanfu mutinies were all organized by local gentry Rise up against the magistrates appointed by Dashun.

Officials who are sincerely loyal to Dashun may be sacrificed in vain if they are sent to the localities, and officials who are not loyal will become the leaders of the local rebellion. These councils negotiate with the Marshal's Mansion before appointing officials, thus transforming the local management of the Marshal's Mansion into the management of the council. Compared with the tens of thousands of local people, there are tens of hundreds of members Always easier to manage.

The local councils organized by the Marshal's Mansion also shocked the local wealthy families.From the point of view of these powerful families, this meeting is like a Baojia, if one person commits a crime, the whole meeting will suffer.

For example, in the past when a few wealthy families tried to rebel against Dashun, others could pretend not to see it. Naturally, the Shun army could not arrest people indiscriminately when they went to quell the chaos.But now, unless all members of the council support the rebellion against Dashun, they will be forced to side with the Shun army to suppress the rebellion. Otherwise, it is tantamount to condoning the rebellion. After all, the council has autonomy.

Therefore, after the establishment of local councils, although the Dashun regime's control over the local area has weakened, the stability of the local area has increased.Because apart from the rebellion in the entire county, the small groups of bandits in the county no longer need to be taken by the army, and the council can gather strength to eliminate these small groups of bandits.

When the Marshal's Mansion is separated from the heavy local administrative affairs, it will undoubtedly be able to focus more energy on system construction.A series of political declarations made by Li Zicheng turned the Dashun regime into a people-oriented regime, so many of the original systems of the Ming Dynasty could not continue. After all, the systems of the Ming Dynasty were designed around the imperial power.

Even the Ming officials and gentry who were not willing to be used by Li Zicheng expressed their support for Li Zicheng's announcement to cancel certain privileges granted by the imperial power.For example, confiscating the land of the suzerain vassals, canceling the evil policies of the Ming vassals levying commercial taxes and obtaining salt for free.For the Shandong and Henan gentry, they naturally supported the confiscation of the suzerain's land and the abolition of the power of the Ming suzerain to levy commercial taxes.