In the dead of night, Xu Guangqi stood alone in front of the window, looking up at the sky full of stars. During the day, he was forced to go to the Grand Marshal's mansion by Zhou Qingfeng, but they didn't get along well with each other. But in the end, the scene of Old Li coming out and kneeling down made him deeply shocked. The common people compared themselves to children, looked at the 'Revolutionary Army' like their parents, and were willing to work for it. But they looked at the Ming court like a bandit, and hated it all the time.
"Chu Yang, can I, Daming, rise again?" Xu Guangqi was well-versed in Chinese and Western knowledge, but he always hoped to climb up in the Ming court system. But the current Ming court was really hard to explain. He was frightened and couldn't help but open his mouth to ask his student.
Sun Yuan Hua sat in the dark room, dispiritedly shook his head and sighed: "There's no turning back."
"Why not?" Xu Guangqi knowingly asked.
"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. The people can prosper the country, but it can also collapse the country. I have been in Tianjin for several months, in fact, I wanted to say long ago that the disaster of this Daming is not in the court, not in the military equipment, not in the money, but in the people's hatred. The elders in the court know the suffering of the people, and wrote beautiful articles to reduce taxes. But the court has no money, but the officials are getting richer and richer. "
Sun Yuan Hua's tone was calm and long, as if he was talking about something irrelevant: "And this' Revolutionary Army '? They have heavy taxes and taxes, and are very strict. If there is tax evasion, they are easily punished, and the killings are heavy, without mercy. But the people's life is not only not bitter, but also getting better. That Zhou Qingfeng wrote a lot of articles in the newspaper, I read them one by one, and then I know that the disaster of the officials is the root of the country's chaos. "
At the end of the last sentence, Sun Yuan Hua sighed in a low voice: "I am also an official, after thinking about it carefully, I really do more harm than good. The court is full of worms like students, how can Daming rise again? Now thinking about it, this' Revolutionary Army 'is so cruel and ruthless to the officials, but gives preferential treatment to the craftsmen and farmers, it is really the only way to break the situation. "
The teacher and student lived in the government guest house in Tianjin. They didn't eat much during the daytime banquet. Zhou Qingfeng, on the other hand, took the initiative to pull Old Li into his seat and chatted while eating. The dignified Grand Marshal of the Revolutionary Army, who commanded millions of people and commanded the whole world, was actually chatting happily with an old farmer who came from the countryside.
When asked about the trivial matters in the fields, Zhou Qingfeng was also very familiar with them. He was not just talking nonsense. Old Li was timid at first, but after a few drinks, he started talking non-stop. The joys and sufferings of the common people were all spoken openly. Zhou Qingfeng personally took a pen and paper and wrote everything down. He discussed it repeatedly and learned a lot.
Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuan Hua were originally the host and guest, but in the blink of an eye, they could only be relegated to the last seats. Occasionally, Zhou Qingfeng would ask them a few specific questions, but they could not say as much as Ma Keshi, whom they despised. After the meal, Zhou Qingfeng and Old Li were drunk. Ma Keshi also gave a lot of advice. Only the two of them were ashamed.
Who in the Great Ming would be able to pull an old peasant up to the table?
No, no one would do that …
"Grand Marshal meets Old Li." This sketch was on the headlines of several newspapers the next day. Old Li's origin, demands, and the whole story were all told in the newspapers. Ma Keshi even wrote a column to describe the details of the meeting banquet in detail. He downplayed Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuan Hua as "people from the Ming Court" and described the arrogance and embarrassment of the teacher and student when they faced the Grand Marshal.
Xu Guangqi was under house arrest in the guest house for two days and also saw the news published in the newspapers. In the headline sketch, he and Sun Yuan Hua both became two blurred figures. But he knew that a painter named Cai Zhiwei came to the banquet and drew all the details on the spot.
"Chuyang, do you think we, teacher and student, will go down in history?" Xu Guangqi asked again.
"Go down in history?" Sun Yuan Hua said with surprise, "I don't think so. That Zhou Qingfeng really wants to recruit us, otherwise he would not talk nonsense with us and directly kill us. Teacher only wants … " He paused and felt that it was inappropriate, so he changed his words and said, "Why don't I stay and let him let teacher go? If one day Zhou Qingfeng really ascends to the throne, teacher can just bow his head and admit his mistake … "
Xu Guangqi was stunned for a long time and did not speak. He stood in front of the window and sighed all night and did not fall asleep until late at night.
The next day, Sun Yuan Hua went out to see Zhou Qingfeng. Not long after, someone came to inform Xu Guangqi that he could go. Xu Guangqi got on the car to the dock with a tired look and returned to Tongzhou against the current. When he arrived at the Tongzhou camp, he reported to Governor Xiong Tingbi of Jiliao. He only said that the military situation had been investigated clearly, but said that his student's whereabouts were leaked and he was captured by the Revolutionary Army.
Xu Guangqi originally thought that Xiong Tingbi would at least ask about the military situation this time, but this hot-tempered Governor Xiong scolded in front of him. He scolded the recently appointed Liaodong Military Commissioner, Wang Huazhen. "This surnamed Wang publicly submitted a letter to negotiate peace with Kennu and said that he wanted to borrow troops to enter the pass to suppress the Revolutionary Army. This person is really muddle-headed, how dare he think of this kind of idea. "
This was really a situation where a country was about to fall, there must be a monster!
Hearing this, Xu Guangqi turned pale with fright and asked what had happened.
After Yang Gao was imprisoned, the Liaodong Military Commissioner became a hot potato, no one was willing to take over. In the end, Tingbi forced Wang Huazhen to take over. Wang Huazhen did not want to do it, but after he became the Liaodong Military Commissioner, he simply said that he wanted to negotiate peace with the foreign enemy. Later, he felt that negotiating peace was not enough, so he arrogantly said that he could borrow troops to suppress the enemy.
This not only went against the national righteousness, but also directly interfered with Xiong Tingbi's duties. These days, Lao Xiong also repeatedly submitted letters and quarreled with Wang Huazhen. At this juncture, who cared about the military situation in Tianjin?
The strange thing about this matter was that the lower the officials were, the more opposed they were. They either talked about the story of Dong Zhuo sleeping with Diao Chan or An Lushan fooling with Yu Huan. In short, the public opinion was one-sided. The Han government introduced foreign tribes to suppress the civil strife, but there were no good results.
But no matter how noisy the lower levels were, the higher the officials in the Ming court were more ambiguous. Taichang Emperor was quite moved by Wang Huazhen's idea of saving trouble and money. Because Wang Huazhen's subordinate, Mao Wenlong, secretly went to Zhenjiang in the direction of Dandong and contacted King Li Hui of Korea to send troops. Since Korean troops could be borrowed, why couldn't Kennu troops be borrowed?
Xiong Tingbi was so angry at this kind of shameful argument that he was about to burst into flames. He even submitted a letter to scold Taichang Emperor. But the more he scolded, the more Taichang Emperor ignored him. He wanted to enter the capital to see His Majesty, but the Emperor didn't allow it. Zhu Changluo wanted him to stay in Tongzhou and not run around.
Xu Guangqi saw that Xiong Tingbi was so angry that he was about to cry. He couldn't help but think of what Zhou Qingfeng said. Back then, Zhu Hongwu expelled the Tatars and restored China. Now, the descendants of the Zhu family wanted to invite the Tatars in. What was the use of protecting such a Daming?
"Worry and fatigue are too harmful to the body. Supervisor Xiong should be more relaxed. This country is so difficult. Supervisor Xiong is already one of the few pillars of my Daming family. Let him deal with the affairs of the court. I still need Supervisor Xiong to work hard in Tongzhou. "Xu Guangqi could only persuade him like this.
"What else does Tongzhou need me to work hard for?" It was better not to mention Tongzhou. Mentioning it made Xiong Tingbi even angrier. "The tens of thousands of troops here are almost not listening to my orders. Previously, I ordered the merchants in the north to trade goods with the rebels in the south to replenish military supplies. Do you know who is the biggest merchant now? "
The biggest merchant?
Xu Guangqi's mind was thinking of relatives of the Imperial Family, high-ranking officials and dignitaries. But Xiong Tingbi immediately shouted, "It's that group of soldiers in Tongzhou. Tens of thousands of people have all run off to do business in just two months. In order to seize the docks, they've had internal strife more than ten times. In the end, I had to mediate and divide the area for them to load and unload the goods. "
Tens of thousands of soldiers running off to do business?
Although Xu Guangqi helped Xiong Tingbi train the troops, he really wasn't too clear about business. He only knew that there were people doing business in the army, but he didn't know how big it was. Listening to Xiong Tingbi's meaning now … they were all doing business in full swing to earn money.
"That group of generals are usually tight-fisted, but in order to do business with the rebels, they actually used their own money to build a new dock. They also bought cranes and freight carriages from the south, just to load goods faster and make a lot of money. They even hired laborers to pave the roads so that the goods from the surrounding villages could be transported here quickly.
They started out in the brick business, and now the brick kilns they built are even bigger than the ones in the government camp. In order to make the kilns produce more and better, they even sent several hundred people to Tianjin to learn how to bake bricks. Because burning wood is too expensive, they even opened their own coal mines. Now a lot of farmers in the north who have lost their land have been recruited to work, because burning bricks is more profitable than farming. "
If Zhou Qingfeng were here, he would definitely laugh and say that this was the beginning of the national bourgeoisie!
But Xiong Tingbi was deeply grieved, beating his chest and stamping his feet. He hated this chaotic situation where the soldiers were not soldiers, the generals were not generals, and the country had nothing to do with the city. He continued, "In order to make money, these soldiers aren't even afraid of the nobles in the capital. They can't beat the rebels, but they are extremely fierce against the people in the capital. If the people in the capital want to do business, they have to beg them to give way, otherwise it won't work.
Nowadays, the bricks and wood used to build houses in Tianjin are basically all produced in the vicinity of Tongzhou. The rebels' so-called Department of Commerce actually dared to set up an office in my Tongzhou City, specifically to coordinate the purchase and transportation of goods from merchants in the north. Unfortunately, the merchants in the north all listen to them, because if they don't listen, they will face some 'sanctions'.
When I heard about this, I wanted to investigate this office, but in the end, after three days, no one did anything. In the end, I personally led the standard camp there, but the people in the standard camp were all clamoring, saying that we can't cut off their source of income. In the end, I couldn't even deal with a few rebels right under my nose. Tens of thousands of people were actually intimidated by some 'office'. Is there anything more absurd than this in the world? "
Xiong Tingbi wept tears of blood as he spoke. In the end, he took out a few silver and copper coins issued by the 'Revolutionary Army' from his sleeve, and said even more angrily, "Nowadays, the market is full of these rebels' 'flower coins'. When I gave the soldiers their salaries, they even despised me, saying that silver is not convenient to use. They said that the Ministry of Revenue's silver is filled with lead, and that the rebels' silver is real silver.
This is all the silver that I painstakingly asked for from the Ministry of Revenue. It's obviously pure snowflake silver, but those soldiers just don't recognize it. The rebels' 'flower coins' are mixed with copper, but the market likes it. The soldiers and common people all say that it's convenient to use, the value is high, and it's not easy to counterfeit. "
Xiong Tingbi had always been bad-tempered, but the more he spoke, the angrier he became. He actually burst into tears. Xu Guangqi also sympathized with him, but he was now used to using the rebels' 'flower coins' because it was indeed convenient to use. The value of the coin could be seen at a glance, and there was no need to cut up the silver to weigh it like in the past. The merchants could save a lot of operating costs and time, and the common people could also benefit from it. No one would dislike it.
The manufacturing process of the 'flower coins' was extremely high, and no one could imitate the fine patterns stamped on the surface of the coins. This was a great blessing to the Daming Dynasty, where bad money was circulating everywhere. In the past, it was always' bad money chasing good money ', but now, the' Revolutionary Army 'had been putting' flower coins' into the market day and night, and they had specified that they had to use 'flower coins' to trade with him. As a result, the bad money was being chased away.
Xiong Tingbi's palm trembled as he held a few silver coins and said bitterly, "These rebels are not recorded in the history books, nor have they been seen since ancient times. They seem to be living in Tianjin and not thinking of making progress, but their goods and money are being circulated everywhere. The foundation of the imperial court has been hollowed out by them. In time to come, when they lead the army to the north, I'm afraid that everyone will surrender at the sight of them. As the Governor of Ji and Liao, I'm just an empty shell. "
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