Chapter 271 A day in the life of a 15-year-old girl in Xianfeng
Forbidden City.
Grand court meeting.
"Your Majesty, over the past month, more than 100,000 refugees have surrendered to the enemy. I suggest killing the chicken to warn the monkey."
The first topic makes the atmosphere in the court become weird.
Because they all knew very well that refugees were not refugees, and the so-called surrender to the enemy was not really surrender to the enemy. They just crossed the Yangtze River and went to the territory of the Ming Empire.
"I believe that the killing should not be launched in large quantities." A Han minister said in opposition: "The Ming Dynasty attracted the people of our Qing Dynasty by giving land, money, tax exemption, and labor service. The treasury revenue has dropped sharply. In order to maintain a million troops, tax revenue can only increase labor service, and even force recruitment is required. If the killing is launched at this time... the people's hearts will disperse."
"Stop." The minister who proposed the proposal rebuked angrily: "You don't want to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. Do you also want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"
"That's right, the people's hearts are important? Without the people, what's the use of having the people's hearts?"
"Those people are all mean bones. If they have some benefits, they will forget their ancestors and betray their ancestors. If they don't kill them, they will not only cause the people's hearts to continue to collapse, but will also shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty."
"You are farting. Letting refugees go to the Ming Dynasty will also be beneficial to Your Majesty's Qing Dynasty. How long did the Ming Dynasty last? How much money does it cost? How much land? As long as the people do not have taxes and labor service, it will be finished sooner or later."
"Yes, right, the reason why the Ming Dynasty was reluctant to rush to the north was that it was because of the refugees? Millions of people went to the Ming Dynasty. When they went there, they had nothing, which would only waste the Ming Dynasty's treasury, and would also compete with the Ming Dynasty's powerful people for land. This would lead to conflicts with Zhao Wuji and his ministers and shake the foundation of the Ming Empire."
"We can't afford to raise a million troops, let alone the Ming Dynasty wants to raise millions of refugees. Even if they give those refugees land, it is impossible to get a harvest immediately. Besides, the Ming Dynasty does not have so much idle farmland that can be distributed to refugees. Millions of people need to open up land, how much manpower and material resources are needed? You really think that Zhao Wuji doesn't want a million troops, he can't afford to raise them."
"Your Majesty, I suggest that the army should be dismissed. The millions of troops can only fight for only half of the strength. After three consecutive years of defeat, the morale of the army is extremely disintegrated. The elderly, weak, sick and disabled, and only elite soldiers should be left, supplemented with the white horse magic gun, which will definitely be able to compete with the Ming Dynasty."
As we were arguing, the second issue appeared. Although the first issue had not been resolved, the second issue caused many court officials to argue.
Since more than two years ago, when Emperor Xianfeng claimed that he would treat Manchuria, Mongolian and Han equally, the strength of the Qing court had truly become balanced, even because the number of Han ministers was the largest and the most talented. Now the Qing court has the greatest voice.
Of course, these people do not want to kill and kill each other to prevent refugees from going to the Ming Dynasty, because refugees are all Han nationalities.
I also hope to disarmament.
It was not the sack of their brave camp, but the Eight Banners Army, one of the regular troops of the Qing court. Not only did those people have no combat power, but the military pay and treatment were much higher than that of the sack of the brave camp, and they were the first to be equipped with the White Horse Swordsman.
This made the military force controlled by Han Chen very dissatisfied with the courageous camp.
The contradictions are becoming increasingly serious.
Amid the noise, Emperor Xianfeng, who was sitting on the dragon throne, had no expression on his face and said nothing, as if he was in a daze.
In fact, she was really in a daze.
When she first came to be an undercover agent, she thought it was quite interesting, and she did a lot of tricks under Wu Yan's instructions.
For example, the White Horse Swordsman.
Although the Western powers did not want to see the Ming Empire become bigger, they also did not want to see the Qing court rise again, so they naturally would not be willing to sell the white horse magic gun to the Qing court.
When the negotiations began, they only demanded high rewards, but were still unwilling to take practical actions, which made the Qing court's ministers in charge of the negotiations extremely confused.
At that time, Emperor Xianfeng took action decisively, secretly met with the "powerful merchants" of a certain country, and successfully purchased the manufacturing method of the White Horse Swordsman at an extremely high cost.
The Qing court was naturally happy. They felt that it was a sign of the rise of the Qing court, and they had not paid the land that was ready to be cedeed before, but they were just given money.
For them, money is a small matter and land is a big matter. Every civil servant wants to be famous throughout the ages, but he does not want his infamy to be passed down through the ages.
But what they didn't know was that the businessman who claimed to be in contact with the sky was actually Wu Yan's man. The 30 tons of gold they used to buy the white horse sharpshooter manufacturing method also flowed directly into the Ming Empire after going to sea.
The military factory they used resources to build, and the white horse sharpshooters and bullets they created were just making wedding dresses for Wu Yan.
There are also some new things from the Ming Empire, such as cement, concrete, glass, cloth and silk that were previously made, which were also introduced to the Qing court through "foreign merchants" and obtained exclusive franchise management rights because of the previous White Horse Swordsman.
Although these important officials and businessmen of the Qing court cursed the Qing Dynasty every day, they were willing to buy it at high prices when facing many new things.
Including the pocket watches that were made before, the watches that were only on sale, as well as many other gadgets that Wu Yan used to "rob the rich and help the poor", they could also flow into the area occupied by the Qing court in a very short time.
Some were claimed to have been smuggled from the Ming Dynasty, while others were claimed to have been imported from abroad.
In short, with the cooperation of Emperor Xianfeng, he was able to make money from the Qing court openly and then transfer it to the Ming Dynasty.
This is also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty was able to raise millions of refugees for free. In addition to the improvement of productivity, the emergence of the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty, and the recognition of the issuance of paper currency, the powerful, gentry and gentry of the Qing court also helped a great benefit.
Of course, refugees cannot be raised in vain. Some of them were spies from the Qing court, but the undercover agent of Emperor Xianfeng would not have any impact.
Wu Yan was able to arrange personnel, select suitable people from them and return to the north of the Yangtze River, celebrating the benefits of the Ming Empire. On the one hand, it allowed more people to come to the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, it also reduced the resistance when he was ruled by the Ming Empire in the future.
These things were very interesting to Emperor Xianfeng.
But over time, I feel bored.
After all, she is still a 14-year-old girl.
The mind is relatively mature, not really mature.
"Your Majesty, you say something."
The court officials were so quarreled that they were dry and as if they were in the mouth of the Caishikou. Then they remembered that their Emperor was sitting on the dragon throne and realized that they were in the court.
"Oh." Emperor Xianfeng came to his senses, looked at the court officials and said, "I think you are going to argue for a while."
Some of the court officials were ashamed, some were expressionless, and some sneered in their hearts.
If it weren't for the contribution of getting the White Horse Swordsman before and having established a single-line connection with the "Mysterious Foreign Businessmen", then some of these court officials would have wanted to rebel.
An emperor's power is proportional to national strength. Now that the Qing court is in decline, he is worried about the Ming Empire's command to go north every day, so naturally he has little prestige.
However, the Qing court did a good job in centralization, and Emperor Xianfeng was not willing to let anyone overthrow him. In the Qing court, he was also the last emperor in history to have the power of "one-man rule".
"I am a little tired, let's discuss these things tomorrow." Emperor Xianfeng waved his hand and said, "You guys stay for a while, and you will discuss the matter of talks with Western countries."
The ministers were not surprised, because many things could not be achieved in a few days, and the Qing court's efficiency was as always. As for the multi-national talks mentioned by Emperor Xianfeng, some people also expected success, while others believed that it was impossible to succeed.
After resigning from the court, the important officials named by Emperor Xianfeng went to a conference hall.
Zeng Gelinqin, who had been redeemed for a year, was an important position as Minister of Military Affairs at this time, but she did not say a word in the court meeting just now.
It was not that he was ashamed of being captured, nor that he was ashamed of the talents recommended to Xianfeng. He became the enemy of the anti-Qing and restoring Ming Dynasty, and was also a very successful enemy.
With the "absolute trust" of Emperor Xianfeng, he still had supreme authority in the Qing court, which was higher than before he was captured.
The reason why he didn't speak was just because it didn't make any sense to say it or not. He had already seen it clearly that under the current situation, the Qing court must be the one-man of Emperor Xianfeng.
"What do you think about Your Majesty?"
Senggelinqin asked for his wishes when Emperor Xianfeng came in, and then asked, saying: "The refugees flowed to the Ming Dynasty, and the morale of the army was dispersed. The conflicts between the Eight Banners Army, the Green Camp and the Brave Camp were getting deeper, and military pay expenditures were no longer sustainable... These things really need to be resolved."
Emperor Xianfeng thought about Annie's half a month, and took advantage of the night to send the message, coughed dryly and said, "Do not kill refugees. I don't want the people to be as disintegrated as the morale of the army. Let's maintain the status quo first. As for the army... I want to disarmament, what do you think?"
Several important officials began to discuss. Compared with the quarrels in the court, the discussion here is more serious and they are all meaningful.
After the discussion, Senggelinqin said: "The Ming Dynasty now has 200,000 regular troops. Although their population is already large, they have not expanded their troops. It should be because the national treasury is empty and they cannot afford to support more troops. Although the Ming Dynasty has occupied all areas south of the Yangtze River, many places still need to station troops... I believe that if they want to march north, there will be only Shi Dakai's vanguard army, Zuo Zongtang's Pingbei army, and the top scholar army that may regroup, a total of 160,000 troops."
"With my understanding of Zhao Wuji, he would definitely choose to be the emperor in person to attack the capital." Senggelinqin said: "At that time, we had two ways. One was to fight him head-on. Although a million troops seemed to be a lot, because we were the defensive and they were the offensive sides, it was difficult to determine their march route in time and then defend. The mobilization of a million troops would consume a lot of manpower and material resources, so it was necessary to leave elite troops after the disarmament. Another way was to take advantage of the fact that Zhao Wuji was in person to launch a full-scale attack, cut off Zhao Wuji's retreat, and then attack forward and backward."
Emperor Xianfeng pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think that even if Zhao Wuji's commander came out in person, the Eight Banners Army, Green Camp, Brave Camp, and more than one million troops, how much does it take to stop Zhao Wuji and capture the Ming Dynasty?"
Senggelinqin and others were silent.
After a while, Senggelinqin said: "The Ming Dynasty's army is better than ours, and defending the city has the convenience of the people and the local area. If Zhao Wuji chooses the opportunity when he goes north, it will be more beneficial to the times. Therefore, I suggest that we disarmament and then use the elite to fight against the elite. If we win in one battle, the world will be pacified."
Emperor Xianfeng looked at Senggelinqin with some surprise.
If she hadn't known that Senggelinqin had not taken the "Tenquan Dapu Pills", she would have thought that Senggelinqin had surrendered to Emperor Wu of the Ming Dynasty.
It’s not that Wu Yan is reluctant to give up a Ten-Full Tonic Pill, but that people like Senggelinqin are really not afraid of death at critical moments.
On the contrary, there is a great possibility that the news that Wu Yan had the method of Shiquan Dapu Pill was exposed, which was not good for both the Qing court and the Ming Dynasty.
After having absolute force, Wu Yan would no longer use the Shiquan Dapu Pill except for some necessary people. Even if it is used, he would not clearly inform him.
If you betray, just kill me and don’t have many pusses.
"Although I have said that Manchu and Han are equal, I still have to rely on my own people after all." Emperor Xianfeng said: "Senggelinqin, I ordered you to disarmament. It is necessary to ensure that the remaining elites are loyal to me and the Qing Dynasty."
Senggelinqin nodded and said, "Please rest assured, I think so too. However, there are many Han people who are loyal to Your Majesty and loyal to the Qing Dynasty. I believe that they should also be selected as elites."
That would be even better.
Emperor Xianfeng nodded and said, "Only by our side, even if we already have the White Horse Swordsman, our guns are not as good as those of him, Zhao Wuji, and their morale is not as good as those of the military. Therefore, we must get the support of Western countries."
Senggelinqin sighed and said, "But Your Majesty, their asking price is too high. Tsarist Russia, which is the easiest to send troops, directly demanded land north of Heilongjiang and south of Xing'an Mountains, which is more than 600,000 square kilometers. This is simply..."
According to the original history, the Qing court and Tsarist Russia signed the Treaty of Aihui after the Second Opium War. In addition to ceding these lands, the area east of the Ussuri River would also be classified as the Qing and Russia jointly managed.
Although it was definitely impossible for Wu Yan to start the Second Opium War this year because of Wu Yan, the peeping heart of the great powers never disappeared.
The important officials next to him also said: "There are also Britain, France, and the United States, and they have also proposed extremely unequal treaties, which is simply..."
"Lost power and humiliate the country?" Emperor Xianfeng said for these people, and then said expressionlessly: "It doesn't matter. As long as they help me win this battle, I will be able to work hard to govern and innovate government affairs, military, and technology like Zhao Wuji. I am the real destiny. He who can fight against all the countries that are fleeing in a panic. How can I not?"
"What your Majesty said."
"That's true. As long as the Ming Empire is captured, the people from the Ming Academy of Sciences will surrender to Your Majesty, and we can also have their technology."
"Anyway, we will sign the treaty first. If they don't work hard when they help, then we will not recognize the treaty after that. They don't want the Ming Dynasty to win and tear up the treaty, and they will definitely do their best."
"They may make small profits, but we will never lose."
After hearing this, Emperor Xianfeng nodded with satisfaction, looked at Senggelinqin and others, and said in a tone full of ambitions: "Believe me, I will grab what I give to them."
Even if the Qing Dynasty is dead by then...
Chapter completed!