1627 Rise of the South China Sea

"This Chen Yixin is simply bullying others!"

On the carriage back to the palace, Chongzhen finally couldn't help but lost his temper.The sound came from the carriage. Wang Chengen, who was accompanying the carriage, lowered his head and did not dare to make a sound, lest Chongzhen would vent his anger on himself.

When the two met in Ritan, Wang Chengen listened to their conversation clearly, so he naturally knew where the fire in Chongzhen came from.

If anyone in the Ming Dynasty dared to say those words to Chongzhen in the tone of Chen Yixin, they would be taken down on the spot and sent to the sky prison.But Chongzhen could only swallow the bad breath in front of Chen Yixin. One can imagine how angry he was.

What made Chongzhen angry was not that Ming Dynasty was defeated, but that Chen Yixin admitted frankly in front of him that Haihan's goal was to replace Ming Dynasty. This humiliating armistice agreement obviously could not satisfy Haihan's appetite, let alone have any impact on him. Binding.

When Haihan feels that the time is right, he will start another war against Ming Dynasty, and cut off the flesh of Ming Dynasty one by one, over and over again, until Ming Dynasty is destroyed.

Qi returned to Qi, but Chongzhen still had to find a way to solve the current problems he was facing.

"Pass my decree and order all civil and military officials to enter the palace as soon as possible to discuss state affairs!"

Wang Chengen hurriedly responded outside the car, and then immediately sent people to various ministers' offices to deliver the decree.

On the one hand, Ming Dynasty now has to pay the various compensations requested by Haihan, and on the other hand, it has to continue to strengthen its armaments and prepare for the next war that is unknown when it will come. The situation is even more difficult than in previous years.

If the previous national policy is still implemented, the gap in strength between the two countries will probably only get wider and wider. If Ming wants to rely on compromise to survive, the situation will only become more difficult, and it must find another way.

The only thing that gave Chongzhen some relief was that as soon as he returned to the palace, someone came to report that several groups of naval and Han troops outside the capital had begun to break out of their camps. It seemed that they would gradually evacuate within a day or two at most.

No matter what the situation is in the future, at least the crisis in the capital has been temporarily relieved for now, and I can sleep peacefully for a few days.

At the same time, in Balizhuang, east of the capital, the Haihan Army headquarters was packing up and preparing to evacuate.

Chen Pingliao was packing his luggage when he received a summons from his father Chen Yixin. He quickly put down what he was doing and went to Chen Yixin's office.

When Chen Yixin saw him coming in, he ordered: "Ping Liao, when you return to Shandong, take these boxes back. These are some rare classics seized by the troops from various places. I don't have time to look at them carefully, so I will transport them back first to make an inventory." .”

Chen Pingliao was shocked when he heard this and said, "You won't go back to Shandong with me?"

Chen Yixin said: "The things here are not finished. I will stay in Tianjin temporarily to deal with follow-up matters and supervise Ming Dynasty's implementation of the armistice treaty."

Chen Pingliao said: "If that's the case, then should I stay too?"

Chen Yixin waved his hand and said: "You go home to be with your mother first. She will send telegrams every three days, worried about your safety. You go back and show up to make her feel more at ease."

Chen Pingliao smiled and said, "Mom, you only care about your children. When she sent you the telegram, wasn't she also concerned about your safety?"

Of course Chen Yixin didn't want to go back, he really couldn't get away.After the war, the Haihan Army would take over a dozen states and counties in Shuntian Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, and Hejian Prefecture. Ming Dynasty would definitely not hand over these places honestly. At least three feet of land would be scraped off before the handover. , maybe even all the local people will have to move away to give Haihan a stronghold and clear land.

After Haihan took over these places, he needed to re-establish the bureaucracy, arrange the garrison, and deal with many tedious matters.

However, most of these things can be left to his subordinates. Chen Yixin only needs to keep track of the progress.What he really needs to deal with here is to receive visitors from all walks of life from Ming Dynasty.

During the period when the Haihan Army was stationed outside the capital, there were quite a few people from all walks of life who came privately to burn incense.Although many dignitaries could not come forward in person, they found various channels to send messages and gifts to Chen Yixin.

The purpose of these people is also very clear. If the Haihan army breaks the city, they hope to seek shelter to ensure their personal and property safety and avoid being affected by the war.

Therefore, the various antiques, calligraphy, paintings, gold and silver jewelry sent to Chen Yixin during this period are really valuable.When the Ming Dynasty asked for military pay, they might not be willing to pay, but when it came time to spend money to eliminate disasters, they were still willing to pay.

Even if the Haihan army finally withdrew without breaking the city, these expenses would not be wasted. At least they had signed up with Chen Yixin, and they might be able to come in handy in the future.

Of course, there are some people who don’t just want to spend money to save their lives.

Seeing that the change of dynasty is imminent, not everyone is willing to die for the Ming Dynasty, and there are also many people who have other ideas.

As long as you take refuge in Haihan, you can expect prosperity and wealth in the future. There are really many people in the capital who want to be the leader.

Chen Yixin judged that after Haihan withdrew his troops, there must be some people who would not give up. They would definitely come and recommend themselves, and maybe they could provide him with valuable intelligence.

The Haihan Army withdrew all the way to Tianjin, and sure enough, within two days, visitors from Beijing came to ask for an audience, and there were several groups of people arriving one after another.

In order to win Chen Yixin's favor, these people did bring a lot of information to prove their sincerity in joining Haihan, including some about the "New Deal" that Chongzhen was preparing to promulgate and implement.

The so-called "New Deal" refers to the measures Chongzhen summoned to discuss the measures to deal with this defeat.This is divided into two parts, one is to raise war compensation, and the other is to improve the level of armaments.

In addition to deducting the war compensation by transferring a large number of people and jointly developing minerals, a considerable part of the compensation needs to be paid in the form of currency. There is not much inventory in the Ming Dynasty treasury, so the bulk still has to be paid through taxes. Method.

But if taxes continue to be raised, the already unstable domestic situation in Ming Dynasty will only be further destabilized, and more and more peasant armies will rebel.

Chongzhen was not completely ignorant of the people in whose hands most of the wealth of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated.Now that the people could no longer squeeze out much money, Chongzhen had to turn his ideas to the wealthy noble families.

Chongzhen has authorized Jin Yiwei to investigate dignitaries, including relatives of the emperor and senior cabinet officials, assess the value of their assets, and then collect "national protection pay" in different proportions based on their status, up to [-]% of the family property.

If it is successfully implemented in Beijing, the next step will be to use this as a demonstration and implement it nationwide.

Chongzhen's idea is good, but anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that there will be many problems in the implementation of this plan. The troubles caused by it may be even greater than those of the endless peasant army.