Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 439 Virtue
"My lord, Ding Wensheng's men are here."

General Sun Long came in and reported, "He sent 2 taels of silver, saying that 1 taels of it was for honoring the prince, and he also sent a hundred horses."

Kong Youde snorted coldly, "What this king wants now is food, not money and horses. Can I buy food with money now?"

Ding Wensheng was the governor of Shandong. This man was originally a scholar from Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty. He was attached to Houjin in the first year of Tianqi and entered the customs.

Kong Youde and Ding Wensheng are also very close. When he crossed the sea from Denglai to invest in the posthumous investment, it was Ding Wensheng and Zhao Fuxing who first approached him.

After that, he advocated that the newly attached Kong Youde and others send troops to attack Lushun.

"I helped him wipe out thousands of Zhang Guang robbers in Wei County, and he gave me this little money, what the hell?" Kong Youde was very dissatisfied.

Shandong has experienced many years of war and devastation, especially in the autumn and winter when the Ming army went deep, which made Shandong even worse. Ding Wensheng's report to the court said that six out of ten people in Shandong went into exile.In a household, there are only one or two people, and only one or two mu of land is cultivated.

He asked the imperial court to cancel the three salaries in Shandong, recruit refugees, renew Mingtian, etc., in order to restore his vitality.

Shandong used to have a total of more than 1000 million mu of land, and a population of more than [-] million in the Wanli period, but now the population is more than one million, and most of them are wandering outside.

There are abandoned villages everywhere, barren fields, and the corpses and bones on the side of the road have not been buried. Originally, when the Qing army attacked Hangzhou last year, Shandong seemed to be able to recover. However, with the rise of Zhu Yihai and the Northern Expedition, they continued to fight all the way to Shandong , blocked the canal, attacked both sides of the strait, and Shandong was once again seriously injured.

The price of grain in Shandong has reached three taels and nine silver a stone, and it is still difficult to buy.

Years later, Zhang Guang, a native of Weixian County, rebelled and soon gathered thousands of hungry people. They attacked Laizhou. , was lured by Zhang Guang to ambush the enemy, and was defeated.

Feng Wuxiang was killed in ambush, the standard battalion was defeated, and Laizhou was besieged again. Ding Wensheng urgently asked the court for help. This is why Dorgon urgently ordered Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, who were stationed in the Yanxu area, to immediately return to Denglai , and put them on command at Dunley.

The two kings of Kong Youde led his troops back to help, and ran for hundreds of miles. In the first battle, they beheaded Zhang Guangda's generals Nisiqi and Zhao Mingchun, and relieved the siege of Laizhou. Zhang Guang was defeated and fled to Pingdu. Kill Zhang Guang and annihilate his troops.

So the chaos was settled.

But although Zhang Guang and others were quickly pacified, their uprising swept Denglai within a short period of time, and countless hungry people followed, giving Shandong the last bit of vitality.

Kong Youde was stationed in Dengzhou, and Geng Zhongming was stationed in Laizhou, but Ding Wensheng, the governor of Shandong who was also in charge of food and military affairs, was unable to provide food and salary.

Even the post station in Shandong is seriously short of horses and food, and cannot be maintained.

Ding Wensheng had no choice but to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall. On the one hand, he relied on paying back the old tax of ten years ago, and on the other hand, he imitated the south to set up stalls and abolish the guards.

The guards in Linqing, Dongchang, and Pingshan have a quota of [-], more than half of which is empty, because these guards have to undertake the task of transporting water, which is very urgent, but now even the canal is blocked, and these guards with serious shortages are just a waste of money and food. Please reduce it to save only two thousand. The saved money and food will be used to restore the Fubiao Camp and strengthen training to catch thieves.

But Shandong suddenly stationed two princes, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, with a total of [-] soldiers and horses. Ding Wensheng couldn't afford such a large number of soldiers, and his own standard battalion has not yet been rebuilt.

But the imperial court put the burden on him, Kong and Geng were not ordinary generals, he couldn't afford to offend him, so he had to turn around and squeeze the gentry and common people in Shandong.

They just copied some gentry's houses and dug some Tibetan silver from the ground, but the problem is that there is silver in Shandong and they can't buy food.

Zhao Fuxing, the governor of Fengyang next to him, was his old partner in the past, and he was in charge of Lufeng, Huaiyang, Chu and Xu three prefectures, but now he has more soldiers stationed under his command, and the forced demolition by Zhu Yihai last year was even more serious. Overwhelmed.

Although Shandong used to be a province with a large population and grain, it suffered severe droughts and floods. There were eight droughts in ten years and seven floods in ten years. Droughts and floods intersected.

After the year, the hunger was severe everywhere, and poles were raised everywhere, but they couldn't survive.

In Huangxian County, a bucket of millet costs two or six taels of silver, and a stone of millet costs 16 taels of silver.The price of rice in Fushan, Boxing and other places has broken through ten taels of silver per stone.

Hunger spread throughout Shandong, and the imperial court had to grab food from Shandong to supply the army and officials.

Ordinary people have long run out of food, and most of them are in exile. The land is even more uncultivated, which aggravates the hunger situation.

While the government is shamelessly playing rogues and wants to pay back the grain owed by the previous dynasty, the landlords and gentry not only have to make up what they owe, but even hand it over together. After that, it is necessary to ensure that all the taxes of Tong A are paid. If someone escapes and fails to pay, the person of Tong A has to make up for him.

After A has been completed, the same insurance has to be supplemented, and then the upper reaches are the townships and counties.

Anyway, the government lowers the tax amount, regardless of the population reduction, the tax remains the same.

In addition, they also forcibly ordered the gentry and landlords to sell the grain on a flat basis. Now the lowest price of grain is four or five taels of silver per shi, but he asked them to sell the grain at the price of two or three taels of one shi.

But no matter how much you toss, there will be no food in the wasteland, especially when this kind of shortage occurs.

The gentry could only pay in silver instead of food, but Ding Wensheng robbed a lot of silver back. The problem was that there was no place to exchange the silver for grain. Facing the constant urging of Kong Youde and others, he could only send the silver.

"Gao Tang and Chi Ping of Dongchang Mansion raised bandits again. Ding Wensheng had no soldiers to use. Seeing that the thieves were about to surround Dongchang Mansion, he thought of us. He sent such 2 taels of silver and wanted us to go there. Wipe his ass, hum."

Sun Long also said with a smile, "Ding Wensheng previously abolished the guards in Dongchang and other places, and he was very ruthless. As a result, the rebels in Gaotang and other places are all the former guards officers and soldiers who were dismissed by him before. Those people have been officers and soldiers of the guards for generations, and they are responsible for water transport tasks. They have a lot of influence. Ding Wensheng directly cut them off. After the cuts are over, he will pursue their debts and ask them to sell rice and wheat. All of them will fall on these people, you say Can it not be reversed?"

Now in Shandong, those who still stay in their hometowns, and even have money and food in their hands, are generally those big landlords and gentry, such as Yan Shenggong Kong’s family, because they surrendered early and because of their special family. Because of their status, they didn't touch them very much, and Ding Wensheng didn't dare to touch their family.

But the other landlords and gentry, even if some were officials, gentry and military generals who also belonged to the court, he still urged them to pay the apportionment, but it might be better for those with official positions.

But those guard officers who were abolished, these people are very fat local snakes, military attaches of the guard for generations, and then they are also in charge of water transportation, they are really fat.

Ding Wensheng laid off the soldiers of the guards, cleared the landowners and gentry for their arrears of payment, and forced the big grain households to sell grain, and it happened that the knives and knives fell on these people.

If it was in the past, these people might not have dared to do anything, but now the situation has changed. The Qing court's rule in Shandong is now weak, while the Ming army in the south is gaining momentum.

"My lord, I think we're just sitting in Dengzhou and blowing the sea breeze, and we're just doing nothing. It's better to collect the 2 taels of silver, just in time to send troops to suppress the thieves..." Kong Long chuckled.

Kong Youde immediately understood what he was thinking, and he was stationed in Dengzhou, so he shouldn't act recklessly. After all, he didn't win the battle last year, and now he has to behave with his tail between his legs.

But if the governor of Shandong came to borrow troops to suppress the thieves, he would send troops at that time, and then there would be a lot of room for manipulation.When it comes to Gaotang and other places, who is a bandit and who is a good citizen at that time, isn't it entirely up to them to decide?
"It makes sense for a tree to die when it is moved, but for a person to live when it is moved."

Denglai has been pacified now, and Kong Youde is waiting here for the North Korean grain ship. He doesn't know when it will arrive.It is hopeless to count on the local government and the imperial court. You can't let the brothers hang around hungry and full every day.

"You take three thousand steps to ride, and then pull some cannons over there,"

Sun Long immediately patted his chest and said, "My lord, don't worry, I will definitely get money and food after the end is over. By then, not only will the brothers who will fight be able to eat their fill, but they will also make a lot of money. The end will definitely send food and grass as soon as possible." back."

Kong Youde is very satisfied with Sun Long, this is his old subordinate who has followed him since Pidao.

"Old grandson, my daughter Sigu is the apple of my eye. Although she is still young, she has already been adopted as a righteous daughter by the Empress Dowager, and given the title of Heshuo Gege. I plan to give her to your son to grow old. What do you think? "

Of course, Sun Long couldn't wish for this kind of marriage between his sons and daughters.

"Thank you, my lord, for your kindness."

"My brother, what are you talking about, the imperial court has changed me to be the king of Hunan, and promised that as long as I can recover Hunan, then Hunan will be handed over to me as the hereditary king of Yongzhen.

This time you go to Gaotang to quell the chaos, remember to get more money and food, and bring more young men into the camp. We have to take Hunan by ourselves. We must recruit more troops and store more money and food.

When Hunan is conquered in the future, I will be the king of Hunan, and I will also grant you the title of duke and marquis. We will guard Hunan together. We are all old brothers who were killed with one knife and one shot. If the imperial court grants me a province, then I will also make a plan at that time A county is given to you, and we have the same blessings and difficulties, and share weal and woe. "

After hearing this, Sun Long wished to recognize Kong Youde as his godfather, he patted his chest excitedly, "Please rest assured, my lord."

The next day, Sun Long took a three-thousand-step horse and headed west to Dongchang Mansion to quell the chaos.

Kong Youde led 2000 troops to stay in Dengzhou.

Being idle is also idle, Kong Youde was looking forward to the arrival of the North Korean grain ship, and at the same time simply sent out his soldiers to the counties of Dengzhou Prefecture to "suppress thieves and calm chaos", in fact, he went to collect grain and catch the strong men.

The imperial court granted him the king and fiefdom of Hunan, but he still had to fight for it himself. He had to recruit more troops to take Hunan.

The promise of Shifeng Yongzhen is still very attractive. Although Huang Taiji also granted him a piece of fiefdom after he voted for the empress dowager back then, and also assigned him a household registration and other jurisdictions. The temptation of the king.

As for whether Shandong is chaotic or not, Dengzhou is rotten or not, what does Kong Youde care about those?
A few days later, the family will report.

"My lord, the North Korean grain ship has arrived."

Hearing this, Kong Youde got up and smiled, "Damn it, it's finally here. If I don't come again, I can only go to the sea with my brothers to pick up grains and wild vegetables to satisfy my hunger."

(End of this chapter)