On the 17th year of Chongzhen, on the first day of August, Nanjing Imperial Palace, Wenhua Hall, and warm-up rooms.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Zhu Youjian, held the document in his hand.

"The commander of the Later Jin Dynasty, Haoge, the Manchu Eight Banners, Gushan Ezhen Yechen, and the King of Pingxi Wu Sangui, commanded 25,000 troops to station Jingzhou and Anling, which belonged to Hejian Prefecture in Northern Zhili. Among them, Haoge and Yechen led 5,000 soldiers to station in Jingzhou, and Wu Sangui led 20,000 Han soldiers to station in Anling, forming a confrontation with Dezhou and Wuqiao and other places."

"After Haoge arrived in Jingzhou, he sent scouts to Wuqiao and Dezhou for investigation many times. He did not stick to it in accordance with Dorgon's requirements. According to the information, Haoge intends to occupy Wuqiao and the ancient city, forming a clamping force against Dezhou. Once Haoge completes the above deployment, he will definitely launch a large-scale attack on Dezhou Prefecture."

"Because the Eight Banners Army stationed in Jingzhou and Anling, the number of merchants traveling to Dezhou suddenly increased. During this period, Haoge sent merchants to Dezhou to purchase grain. It can be seen that Dorgon gave Haoge not much food, which was not enough to support Haoge's large-scale conquest."

"I expect that if there is insufficient food and grass, Haoge is likely to take risks and suddenly launch an attack on Dezhou Prefecture City. On the one hand, he obtains enough money and grain, and on the other hand, he also makes military achievements to enhance his voice in the Later Jin court."

"The thief Li Zicheng has been defending Luoyang, Henan. Some time ago, he sent a scout to Kaifeng Prefecture City to investigate the situation and contacted Li Yan. According to Li Yan's report, Li Zicheng was willing to let Hongniang lead some troops to Kaifeng Prefecture City to assist Li Yan in defending Kaifeng Prefecture City. Therefore, the Dashun army under the thief Li Zicheng occupied Taiyuan, Shanxi, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Shaanxi, and Xi'an, Shaanxi. They can directly attack Beizhili, and retreat from Tongguan and other places to return to Shaanxi for self-protection."

"Information from Luoyang shows that the most difficult thing for the trespass Li Zicheng at the moment is still a problem of food and grass. Li Zicheng probably did not expect that some of the methods of relying on looting wealthy gentry and wealthy households in various places to maintain the expenses of food and grass by the army were not feasible. The wealthy gentry and wealthy households in Henan had either been looted by bandits or fled to Shandong and Nanzhili, and Henan was thousands of miles away. There was no food and grass for Li Zicheng to raise it. However, Li Zicheng issued a chasing order and seized a lot of money in the capital, north Zhili, Shaanxi and Shanxi. Li Zicheng relied on this money to purchase a large amount of grain in Shandong and Huguang and other places to provide the expenses of the army."

"The former general of Datong, Jiang Xiang, surrendered to the rebel thief Li Zicheng. Because of the battle of one stone, Li Zicheng suffered a crushing defeat. Jiang Xiang rebelled against Li Zicheng. Currently occupying Datong and other places in Shanxi, watching the situation in the north. The general under the rebel thief Li Zicheng led troops to garrison Taiyuan Prefecture City. Li Zicheng's nephew Li Guo was also garrisoned by Taiyuan Prefecture City. They were unable to take care of themselves and were unable to launch an attack on Jiang Xiang. The situation in Shanxi was also unstable. Intelligence predicted that Li Guo and Chen Yongfu were mainly concerned about the Eight Banners Army of the Later Jin Dynasty and had no intention of attacking Jiang Xiang."

"The situation in Northern Zhili and the capital is the strangest. Dorgon, the Regent of the Later Jin Dynasty, was committed to consolidating the rule of Northern Zhili. Dodo, Ajige and others sent troops many times to wipe out bandits from all over the Northern Zhili area, achieving significant results. They did not send troops to Shanxi and Henan for the time being. Intelligence analysis shows that Dorgon did this, which should be two reasons."

"First of all, the food and grass are not sufficient. In the past, the Eight Banners Army mainly used wars to plunder money and food, use war to support the army's expenses. However, after entering the pass, Dorgon planned the world. If the original combat method was maintained, it would only make the Northern Zhili and the entire north more decay. This problem would eventually be left to the Later Jin court and Dorgon, and it would be difficult to reverse the situation in a short period of time. Therefore, the Eight Banners Army must collect food and grass according to conventional means. Unfortunately, it is difficult for them to collect enough food and grass in Northern Zhili, and they can only rely on the food and grass transported from Chenyang and other places, so there is obviously insufficient food and grass."

"The second reason is that the emperor and the empress dowager of the Later Jin Dynasty would move to the capital before October to show the complete control of the Central Plains by the Later Jin Dynasty. Before that, Dorgon had to ensure the absolute safety of Northern Zhili and Capital. Therefore, the army led by Duoduo and Ajige tried hard to stabilize the situation in Northern Zhili and Capital, and did not launch an attack on Shanxi and Henan for the time being."

"The total number of troops stationed in Dezhou, Jinan, Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong is 60,000, of which 30,000 are stationed in Dezhou, 10,000 are stationed in Jinan, and 20,000 are stationed in Dengzhou and Laizhou. Shandong Governor Yang Wencong has fully controlled the situation in Shandong. Shandong Governor Han Ye is committed to local people's livelihood matters and cooperates with Yang Wencong."

"Dezhou General Liao Yuanjie has sent scouts to Jingzhou and Anling for investigation many times, grasped the many situations of Haoge, Ye Chen and Wu Sangui, and prepared to fight. At present, the land of Wuqiao is temporarily the buffer zone in the middle."

"In Huguang, the governor He Tengjiao has begun to rectify the local areas, adjust some local officials, and start to comprehensively renovate ponds, dams and ditches to prepare for the spring farming in the coming year. Huguang General Deng Shiqiu, stationed in the Wuchang Military Camp, has basically controlled the Land Camp and the Navy Camp. However, there are a large number of soldiers who need to be eliminated, and it also takes into account the Huangzhou Military Camp. It will take a certain period of time to integrate the army in Wuchang and Huangzhou. Henan General Sun Mingkai is temporarily stationed in Xiangyang Camp. The integration of Xiangyang Camp is progressing well, and it is expected to take about a month to fully integrate."

"In Henan, the Governor Zhu Dadian was stationed in Guide Prefecture City and commanded all military and people's livelihood. After inventory, nearly 30,000 soldiers under the former general of Henan Xu Dingguo left behind only more than 10,000 people, and the rest were all dismissed. The dismissed people were temporarily placed in Yongcheng under Guide Prefecture and Xiaoxian under Xuzhou."

"Li Yan has truly surrendered to the court and established a document. According to his report, the treacherous thief Li Zicheng will send Hongniang to lead 10,000 Dashun army soldiers to Kaifeng Prefecture City. Li Zicheng has ordered Li Yan to take the position of a general in the Dashun court and lead 10,000 Dashun army soldiers to defend Kaifeng Prefecture City with Hongniang."

"But I think that the treacherous thief Li Zicheng could not fully trust Li Yan. The 10,000 Dashun Army soldiers sent were probably shouldering other missions, and it is possible to secretly monitor or even control Li Yan."

"The right governor of the Five Army Governor's Office, the general of the bandits, Zuo Liangyu, the former general of Huguang, established a letter to obey the imperial court and handed over all his troops under him directly to the court. The cabinet's pond newspaper has been transmitted to various parts of the south, and the generals of various parts of the south can receive this pond newspaper soon."

"Zuo Liangyu and Zuo Menggeng will arrive in Nanjing in two days. Also arriving in the capital together are the Right Assistant Minister of War, the Right Assistant Censor, and the Governor of Huguang Yuan Jixian."

"The south is generally stable, and there is no big move in Sichuan Zhang Xianzhong for the time being. Sichuan General Qin Liangyu has not had many troops to dispatch. The Baigang soldiers are still in the process of reconstruction. Sichuan general Yang Zhan has not had many troops under his command and cannot launch an attack on Zhang Xianzhong. Therefore, there is still a confrontation between Zhang Xianzhong and Qin Liangyu and Yang Zhan."

"Yunnan General Mu Tianbo wrote memorials several times, hoping to come to Nanjing to meet the emperor. Jiangxi General Liu Liangzuo and Fujian General Zheng Zhilong also wrote memorials and begged to come to Nanjing to meet the emperor."

"Your Majesty, I'm done."

After closing the document, Zhu Youjian looked at the cabinet ministers Gao Hongtu, Qiu Zude and Shi Kefa and others standing on the left and right.

Zhu Cilang nodded. For the court, taking down the general officer of Huguang, Zuo Liangyu, was a major gain. The generals from all over the south looked at the most powerful Zuo Liangyu. The complete victory of the Battle of Wuqiao could shock the generals from all over the south to a certain extent, but could not completely dispel Xiao Jiujiu, who was respectful to them. Zuo Liangyu surrendered and handed over the army completely. It was a fatal blow to many generals from the south. No one would believe that Zuo Liangyu was willing to handed over the army.

"Sir Gao, Lord Qiu, Lord Shi, do you have anything to say?"

Gao Hongtu, Qiu Zude and Shi Kefa shook their heads at the same time. A few days ago, what they were most worried about was the situation in Huguang. In less than half a month, Zuo Liangyu completely bowed his head. The court controlled hundreds of thousands of troops under Zuo Liangyu's command, which was equivalent to completely stabilizing the situation in the south.

Zhu Cilang sighed softly.

"The cabinet needs to make a decision in the major affairs of the court, rather than thinking entirely by me. These days, what I think most is about money and grain. All regions need money and grain, and many memorials require food and money, but where did the court come from so much money and grain? If the local government doesn't think of ways, it always depends on the court. Why do I need so many local officials to do?"

"The cabinet has a lot of controversy over the matter of trade taxes I mentioned. I can understand that during the Wanli period, the Sili Supervisor was responsible for collecting trade taxes, which caused many problems and caused the court to fall into a passive state. Later, whenever the trade tax was mentioned, the voices of opposition in the court were higher and higher. However, I also explained many things clearly. Who in the court had the greatest opposition, which was the people who were officials in the court and their families made huge profits from trade transactions. They jumped out and opposed it desperately."

"When the thief Li Zicheng attacked the capital, his father raised silver from the Chinese civil and military ministers in the court. The huge court raised less than one million taels of silver. Many of them were crying for poverty. Li Zicheng captured the capital and only pursued the salary of the fourth-rank and above officials in the court, so he asked them to take out more than 30 million taels of silver. Whenever I think of this, I feel disappointed."

"I won't do this, but I want the officials of the court to know that their lips and teeth are cold. Do you really think that with a mountain of gold and silver, you can guarantee everything? It's not necessarily true. If a Li Zicheng comes out again in the future, the accumulated wealth cannot be saved, and I am afraid that his life cannot be saved."

"This year, the cabinet must come up with a plan to collect trade taxes and start implementing it next year. I understand the difficulty of this matter, so I can gradually push it out."

"In addition, it is the matter of the court controlling the money house. The cabinet must come up with feasible plans within one month..."
Chapter completed!