The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 713
With this increase in troops this year, the military expenditure of Ming soldiers will definitely increase dramatically.

Let’s just calculate it like this, the average salary per person plus soldiers’ armor and gunpowder consumption, food, at least 20 taels per person per year, 20 soldiers and horses is 400 million.

Of course, Ding Yi can solve the food part by hoarding fields, but the real money he paid is at least 300 million or more.

He made a lot of money playing in Luzon this year, and he doesn't have much money himself.

The follow-up depends on capturing other places to find expenses.

Immediately someone asked at the scene, let’s raise a soldier, now it costs 20 taels a year?
20 taels is not much.

Ruan Wenlong settled accounts for everyone, not counting food, but only silver. An ordinary soldier was paid one tael of silver a month, which was 12 taels a year.

The cost of a blunderbuss for a gun soldier is four taels of silver, and the cost of iron armor and mail armor is even lower at four taels of silver.

War horses are not worth money.

Cotton armor and other year-round clothes are three or four.

Every year gunpowder, pikemen's lances, shield consumption, bows, hatchet equipment, cavalry's wheelguns are more expensive.

In addition, in the past two years, it has been equipped with marching backpacks, engineering shovels, water bottles and other things.

Also artillery cannons, shells.

Counting from seven to eight, the things on Ding Yi's infantry now add up to more than 30 taels.

The things on the cavalry add up to more than 35 taels.

Of course, considering that the first fixed investment is usually a waste of money, it will be better later.

So on average, all infantry, cavalry, sailors, and all officers and soldiers add up to 20 taels per [-] soldiers and horses per year.

"Damn it, our soldiers are really worthless." After hearing this, everyone felt that it was not easy for Mr. Ding to raise soldiers and horses.

Now it takes 20 taels a year to raise a soldier, and that doesn't include grain and food.

At that time, this kind of army piled up with money was infinitely close to the modern army, and it showed a combat effectiveness far superior to that of soldiers and horses of other countries at the same time.

"It's not that the Ming Dynasty was reluctant to spend money." Ding Yi said at this time: "The salary of the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty is like the Liaodong Cavalry who once received more than two taels of silver for a month."

"The salary is higher than our soldiers and horses, but they actually don't get as many as we do, and many of their weapons and armor are unqualified. In addition, they can't be trained strictly, so naturally they don't have much combat effectiveness."

"After the Battle of Songjin, the imperial court may have wanted to talk about peace, but historically, they failed to make peace in the end." After Ding Yi said this, he felt something was wrong.

Sure enough, most of the people at the scene didn't pay attention, Ruan Wenlong and the other civil officials were stunned for a moment.

Mr. Ding's words mean that he seems to know what happened in history.

Ding Yi hurriedly continued: "We can no longer fight Huang Taiji now, if we really wiped out Huang Taiji, we may have to fight with the Ming Dynasty soon."

This was the first time he publicly said this at a meeting, and many generals were excited to hear it. They wished Master Ding would say quickly, brothers, let's go against it.

Guarantee that 90.00% of the people on the scene will jump up and raise their hands in favor.

In Zhao Dashan's words, everyone is eager to be the hero of the founding of the country. Isn't this much better than being a loyal minister of Ming Dynasty?

"Now we all have to rely on the peasant army." Ding Yi changed his tone at this moment, and continued: "Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong will be more and more noisy this year, and Emperor Chongzhen can't stand it for a few years."

"The last few years are the time for us to devote ourselves to training, making money, expanding our influence, and accumulating strength."

Hearing the last few words, all civil and military personnel can basically understand. Ding Yida is going to wait until the peasant army destroys Chongzhen before making a move?

If Ding Yi said that before the Battle of Songjin, more than half of the people at the scene would not believe it.

But after the first battle of Songjin, the last elite of Ming Dynasty was almost lost.

At this time, there are really not many people in the country who can still fight the peasant army except Ding Yi.

"Shall we add fuel to the fire?" Someone asked with a smile.

"No, wait and see what happens, recruit refugees, hoard food, train recruits, forge armor, and wait for the opportunity." Ding Yi had an expression on his face that he was in control of everything.

At this meeting, Ding Yi determined the specific direction for the next two years.

'Sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and wait to see the Ming Dynasty die. '

And when the peasant army is raging, gather more refugees, increase your own population, and select strong soldiers as soldiers.

The more chaotic the world is, the more Ding Yi's population will be, and the more abundant the reserves will be.

In the past, he had no place to put it. Some people transported it to Dayuan and Jeju, which took a lot of time and warships. Fortunately, he had a lot of ships and there was no war on the sea.

Now he has occupied Gaizhou and Haizhou, and sent all the [-] to [-] people who plundered from these two places to Jeju and Dayuan.

Another [-] moved from Lushun to Haizhou, and [-] to Gaizhou.

At the same time, villages to the south of Gaizhou and Haizhou can hoard land and live in people.

At least 5 people can be arranged at once.

Not to mention the rest of the former Dunbao area in Liaodong, including the east to the south of Niu Mao Village, tens of thousands of people can arrange it.

So this year he plans to move at least 10 people from the Laizhou area of ​​Shandong to Liaodong.

After the meeting, all the ministries went back to their garrisons, making every effort to prepare for the expansion of the army, the training of recruits, and the preparation of supplies.

Ding Yi received a group of newly promoted officers the next day, encouraged them one by one, gave them swords, and taught them a lesson before letting them return to the camp.

A few days later, Ding Yi came home one night and went to see Ruan Wenyan first, but found that she was not at home. He heard from the maid that she took Ding Ye to Ruan Wenlong's house.

Ruan Wenlong's Mansion is very close to Ding Yi's Mansion, less than 100 meters in a straight line, and it takes seven or eight minutes to walk. When Ding Yi saw her go back to her natal home, he immediately went to see Qin Nan and his second son Ding Xiang.

Ding Xiang is the same age as Ding Ye and Ding Mi. They are all nine years old this year and are still in elementary school.

When Ding Yi left, Ding Xiang and Ding Mi were doing homework together, and Qin Nan was watching over them lovingly.

Seeing Ding Yi coming in, the two siblings quickly stood up.

"Meet my father." Ding Xiang was very polite, serious like a little adult.

"Father." Ding Mi happily threw herself into Ding Yi's arms, more like a child than Ding Xiang.

Ding Yi gently picked up Ding Mi, and looked at Ding Xiang from the corner of his eye.

Ding Xiang blushed slightly, and seemed to want to be hugged by his father, but he was educated to strictly observe etiquette and respect the elders, which was not as natural as Ding Mi.

"It's so tall, my dad hasn't hugged me for a long time." Ding Yi laughed loudly, walked over, and hugged Ding Xiang again.

Ding Xianghe immediately showed joy on his face.

However, the two children are both nine years old, and Ding Yi found that he couldn't hold them, so he put them down quickly.

"Brother Ding." Qin Nan looked at him with a smile on his face, eyes full of tenderness.

Before Ding Yi could speak, Ding Xiang said slowly: "My lord, my eldest brother has something to do at home today, so he didn't come to study with us."

"Oh." Ding Yi glanced at him calmly and nodded slightly.

After Ding wanted to finish speaking, he seemed a little scared, his face turned even redder, and he lowered his head, not daring to look at Ding Yi.

Ding Yi knew that Ding Ye had a perverse personality, was playful and active, and liked to tease and bully others. Ding Xiang, Shen, and Ding Mi didn't like Ding Ye at all.

Ding Xiang said what he said just now, on the surface he was speaking for Ding Ye, but in fact he meant that Ding Ye didn't fit in and didn't come to do homework together.

This is what Qin Nan taught him?Ding Yi looked slightly at Qin Nan.

Qin Nan's face was like a peach blossom, and he could only see tenderness.
-
In April of the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), Bao Cheng first entered the capital, and Chen Xinjia had a secret meeting with Emperor Chongzhen.

At this time, Song Jin had just experienced a big defeat, the Ming army had lost all its elite, and the peasant army was raging in the country, and Ding Yi was disobedient and ambitious.

Emperor Chongzhen immediately decided to negotiate a peace.

But Chongzhen is really a typical example of wanting to be a cousin and erecting a memorial archway. He has tried to negotiate peace many times in history, but he dare not admit that he has this idea. He just wants to let his subordinates take the blame. Just dump the pot.

The last time Lu Xiangsheng wanted to negotiate peace with Man Qing, he ran over to ask, but he denied it.

Huang Taiji talked with him halfway, but before he got a reply, he was furious and entered the customs. He first killed Lu Xiangsheng, and then slaughtered Jinan City. The Ming army lost hundreds of thousands of people and animals, and the loss of property was immeasurable.

So, in real history, Huang Taiji actually wanted to negotiate a peace. His structure is not big, probably similar to that of the Netherlands. He wanted to be recognized by Spain and recognized that he established a country, and then everyone divided the territory and each belonged to his own management.

But Chongzhen actually played tricks on him twice, changing his mind every time in the middle of the conversation.

So everything repeats as before.

Chongzhen first agreed to negotiate a peace, and sent Langzhong Ma Shaoyu and general Li Yulan to make peace.

Ma Shaoyu went to Tashan (the only fortress of the Ming army in front of Ningyuan) in May to present the imperial edict of the Ming Dynasty.

But when Huang Taiji and the others saw it, they felt that the imperial edict was not real.

Because Chongzhen was afraid of being left behind and leaving himself infamous for thousands of years, he didn't dare to affix his seal.

Of course Huang Taiji quit, and immediately ordered to attack Tashan.

Ma Shaoyu persuaded the Qing soldiers not to attack, but the Qing soldiers refused to follow, and still attacked fiercely.

Naturally, the Ming army couldn't resist. In the end, except for Ma Shaoyu, the Tashan defenders and the common people, all of the city set themselves on fire and died, and none of them surrendered.

Qing soldiers escorted Ma Shaoyu out of the city, and sent horses and food for him to return to Beijing.

After Tashan was destroyed, Wu Sangui, who was stationed in Ningyuan, gave up Ningyuan without waiting for the order of the court, and the whole army retreated to Shanhaiguan. (In the original history, he left after the capital was defeated by Li Zicheng. This time Wu Sangui ran back to Shanhaiguan after being encouraged by Xu Fuzuo.)
At this point, all the places north of Shanhaiguan and the Ming court belonged to the Qing Dynasty, and the Songjin defense line that had been in operation for decades was given away.

In June, Ma Shaoyu returned to Beijing, and the Qing Dynasty sent a letter to Emperor Chongzhen to send Chen Xinjia a confidential document on the terms of equal relations, coins, and boundaries.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was also in a state of desperation.

Earlier, Chen Xinjia accidentally told Fu Zonglong that he wanted to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty.

When Fu Zonglong left Beijing, he told the matter to Xie Sheng, a senior scholar and Minister of the Ministry of officials.

Xie Sheng later saw Songjin's defeat, so he told Chongzhen what Fu Zonglong had said. Emperor Chongzhen summoned Chen Xinjia to question him, and Chen Xinjia kowtowed to apologize.Xie Sheng thought for a while, and then said: "If you are willing to negotiate peace over there, peace is fine." Emperor Chongzhen remained silent.

Unexpectedly, within a few days, Qing envoy Bao Chengxian came.

Chongzhen was naturally overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered Chen Xinjia to carry out this matter secretly, so the rest of the court officials did not know.

Later, a spokesperson went to see Xie Sheng, but Xie Sheng accidentally slipped the tongue: "The emperor meant to advocate peace, I hope you don't talk too much."

Of course, Xie Sheng may not have been careless. He probably felt that the emperor would take responsibility, and he would admit it if he dared to do it.

Now that the situation in Xinjiang is bad, Xie Sheng also feels that a peace must be negotiated. Don't you, Emperor Chongzhen, not want to?
Unexpectedly, the officials spread the news ten to ten times, and everyone was shocked. They immediately wrote letters to impeach Xie Sheng. If Chongzhen was responsible, he would directly declare in the court this time that I asked Xie Sheng to do this. Use it, just listen to it, and the fate of the Ming Dynasty may have changed.

But of course Chongzhen didn't admit it, and immediately pushed the blame on Xie Sheng, who was dismissed from office.

But Chongzhen still wanted to do it, so he continued to hand it over to Chen Xinjia, and warned him not to leak it out again, but the court officials were not fools, and gradually everyone knew, so they repeatedly wrote letters to dispute, but they didn't have any evidence.

They wrote letters every day and every day, scolding Chen Xinjia angrily, which was actually tantamount to scolding Chongzhen.

Chongzhen was so scolded that he couldn't help it.

At this moment, Ma Shaoyu returned to Beijing, bringing with him a secret letter on the terms of the Qing army's peace talks.

Chen Xinjia put it on the case, and his family mistakenly thought it was a Tang newspaper, and handed it over to the provincial offices in Beijing for copying. This was the end of it, and it spread all over the Ming Dynasty in an instant, and even Ding Yi got a copy.

In the secret letter, Huang Taiji said that he hoped that Ming would recognize the status of the Qing Dynasty, and that the two sides would divide the border with the existing territory.

And open trade, the Ming Dynasty is the brother country, and the Qing Dynasty is the brother country. The elder brother should reward the younger brother with 10 taels of silver and 20 stone grains every year. (year coins).

There is one thing to say, although the Manchu Qing Dynasty was brutal, in the history of Huang Taiji, he really wanted to negotiate peace at this time.

You must know that there is no Ding Yi in the original history. After Huang Taiji won the Songjin Battle, he was forced by the situation in Shengjing and wanted to negotiate peace with Chongzhen.

Perhaps it was Chen Xinjia's family boy who changed history, but in another way of thinking, Chongzhen was so irresponsible, even if he really decided to negotiate a peace, it would be a problem for Chongzhen to pass the hurdle of the officials in the end.

After this incident was revealed, the courtiers were in an uproar, and the whole country was shaken. During the incident, Fang Shiliang first reported Chen Xinjia. Emperor Chongzhen was so annoyed that he suppressed the memorial in the palace.Afterwards, a stern imperial edict was issued, severely criticizing Chen Xinjia and asking him to explain himself.

But Chen Xinjia is not Yang Sichang, he will not take the blame, not only does he not blame himself, but he boasts of his meritorious deeds, he almost said that the emperor asked me to do this, and I am about to make meritorious deeds.

Chongzhen was even more angry. At this time, Ma Jiazhi impeached Xinjia again, so Emperor Chongzhen finally decided to do it.

On July 15th, the 1642th year of Chongzhen (29), Chen Xinjia was imprisoned. He wrote a letter from prison to beg forgiveness, but Chongzhen refused.He had no choice but to bribe the high-level officials to rescue Liao Guolin, Yang Zhiqi and others during the incident. Xu Shiqi, the servant of the criminal department, refused to agree, and Chen Yan, a senior scholar, also rescued him vigorously. Minister of the Ministry of War should be killed."

At this time, Chongzhen turned on the pretending mode, and Dayi said awe-inspiringly: "If nothing else, the killing and humiliation of my seven princes is not more serious than the enemy soldiers hitting the city?".He said it as if he didn't know about it at all, and wanted to fight Man Qing to the death.

Xu Shiqi, the servant of the Ministry of Punishment, said: "A minister has no foreign affairs. There is no one who is in the court and does not tell the emperor and his father, but only takes advantage of it. Xin Jia's private money humiliates the country, and it should be captured by the law of the city and beheaded."

Emperor Chongzhen resolutely agreed, and quickly killed people to silence him.

Therefore, on September 22 of that year, Chen Xinjia was beheaded in the city, and the Ming Dynasty lost its last chance to negotiate a peace.

(End of this chapter)