The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 566: King Min Offers Advice
As the capital of the Jin Dynasty, the defense of Beijing was undoubtedly strong. Moreover, with a large number of soldiers and sufficient food, it was extremely difficult to break through. Even in the rotten late Ming Dynasty, it took Li Zicheng more than a month to capture Beijing.

The capital city at this time was naturally more difficult to capture. In fact, the three major camps of the Beijing army had been attacking fiercely for half a month, but it was still in vain and they suffered heavy casualties. The morale accumulated from the previous victories began to decline.

The pressure that Emperor Qiansheng was under was undoubtedly enormous, because the longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. On the one hand, of course, the million shi of grain stored in Tongzhou warehouse had been burned, but the greater pressure came from Liaodong. Once the Liaodong army was defeated, Nurhaci would take advantage of the victory and march south to Shanhaiguan, then everything would be over.

The three main camps of the Beijing army had been under siege for a long time and their morale was low. At the same time, the Jurchen army attacked again. With enemies coming from both sides, the only outcome waiting for Emperor Qiansheng was defeat.

Those ministers accompanying the emperor were also under great pressure and were anxious. They were worried about the safety of their families in the city and also worried about defeat and death without a burial place. In this situation, little Karami like Jia Huan was more relaxed, at least he didn't have to worry about the rebels threatening his family's lives.

For example, Zhao Mingcheng, the leader of the Donglin Party, was miserable. As the saying goes, "A big tree attracts the wind." The rebels would capture several of his family members from time to time, hack them to death on the spot, and hang their bodies on the city wall to show their authority. In the past half month, all four of Zhao Mingcheng's sons had been killed, and their bodies, separated from their heads and bodies, were hung neatly on the city wall. It was extremely miserable.

To be honest, Jia Huan admired Old Zhao very much. He watched his sons' bodies exposed to the wind and sun on the city wall every day, but he could still hold on and didn't even shed a tear. He served before the emperor every day as usual. It has to be said that those who play politics are ruthless people, especially those who are good at it and are in high positions. They are all the best among the ruthless people.

The autumn wind blows in August. There is a saying among the Cantonese people, "When the autumn wind blows, eat cured meat." However, at this time, the capital city was filled with artillery fire and smoke, so there was no cured meat. However, there were quite a few "cured people". The top of the Chaoyang Gate was full of corpses. They were all relatives of the ministers who stayed in the city. Some of them had already rotted and smelled, or even dried up.

Both sides were blood-thirsty. The attackers tried every possible means to break into the city, including bombardment, flooding, burning, and digging tunnels. The defenders responded by countering each other's moves. They were both testing their limits to see who would give up first.

In the imperial tent outside the city, Emperor Qiansheng's eyes were bloodshot. He originally had a rather handsome appearance, but now his face became more gloomy, even sinister, and his gaze made people shudder.

At this moment, Emperor Qiansheng looked at the battle report just sent back from Liaodong, his face became more gloomy. The situation on the front line was extremely bad. Nurhaci had learned that there was an internal conflict in the Jin Dynasty, and took the opportunity to launch a fierce offensive. Just a few days ago, Guangning City, the front line, fell. King Qing and King Dai were afraid of fighting, and gave up Yizhou and Shisanshan respectively, retreating to Jinzhou, losing 300 miles of land.

Xiong Tingbai, the governor of Liaodong, sent three urgent reports in succession, urging for logistical supplies. However, the warehouse in Tongzhou was burned down, and Emperor Qiansheng could only rely on plundering the surrounding prefectures and counties to barely meet the needs of the three major camps of the Beijing Army. There was no extra supplies to support Xiong Tingbai, so he could only provide spiritual support - granting him an official position and making wishes.

Emperor Qiansheng told Xiong Tingbai that logistical supplies were being collected and would arrive soon, so he must hold on. After the rebellion was quelled, he would transfer him back to join the cabinet and serve as prime minister. At the same time, he encouraged Prince Dai and Prince Qing to be loyal to their duties, and hinted to them that whoever made the greatest contribution would be made crown prince in the future.

However, painting a rosy picture may give people a temporary boost of motivation, but it cannot satisfy their hunger. Emperor Qiansheng is well aware of this, but he can do nothing about it as he cannot capture the city.

At this time, the guard outside the tent came in and reported: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Min wants to see you."

Emperor Qiansheng relaxed his frowning brows, suppressed the anxiety on his face, and said calmly: "Let him in!"

Xu Wenhou came in, knelt down and said, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you, Father."

"Get up, Seventh Brother, what do you want?" Emperor Qiansheng's gloomy eyes fell on Xu Wenhou.

Xu Wenhou said, "Nothing... nothing, I just came to see you, father. By the way, I brought a bowl of snow fungus and lotus seed soup. It's autumn now, the weather is dry, and father works hard day and night, so it's just right for you to drink some snow fungus and lotus seed soup."

Emperor Qiansheng's eyes softened upon hearing this, and he nodded, saying, "It's rare that you are so filial, please bring it."

Xu Wenhou clapped his hands hurriedly, and a palace servant came in with a tray and brought the lotus seed soup to the imperial table. As usual, he tested it with a silver needle, then took a bite himself. After proving that it was not poisonous, he left.

Emperor Qiansheng picked up the lotus seed soup and drank it all. The palace servant came forward to collect the bowl and left. Emperor Qiansheng glanced at Xu Wenhou who was still standing there, frowned and asked: "Seventh Brother, do you have anything else to say?" Xu Wenhou plucked up his courage and said: "The city has been attacked for a long time and has not been broken. I have come up with some strategies and I dare to present them to you, father."

Emperor Qiansheng's eyes flickered, and he said softly, "Let's hear it."

Xu Wenhou said: "The city has been under siege for a long time, which shows that the rebels are very willing to resist. I think we should divide and weaken them."

Emperor Qiansheng said disapprovingly: "How to divide and weaken?"

"The Emperor has issued an edict promising to execute only the core and stubborn elements among the rebels, and the rest will be spared if they lay down their arms."

Emperor Qiansheng's face darkened slightly. He wished that all the rebels would be killed along with their entire clans. He said calmly, "I'm afraid this method won't work."

"Father, can you please promise again that anyone who kills his superiors and surrenders can be replaced and rewarded generously according to his rank."

Emperor Qiansheng nodded and said, "This one is quite interesting."

Xu Wenhou's spirits lifted, and he continued, "Father can also send people to drop a letter into the city, saying that if the common people kill the rebels, they can get a reward based on the heads they kill. Two silver coins per level, and if you kill a small flag, you can get ten taels, a general flag can get fifty taels, a hundred households can get one hundred taels, and so on."

Emperor Qiansheng looked at Xu Wenhou in surprise and asked, "Anything else?"

Xu Wenhou coughed lightly and said, "The Tongzhou warehouse was burned down, and a million dan of grain was lost. I think the most urgent task is to solve the food crisis. Breaking the city is secondary. As long as there is enough food, Liaodong will be stable. If Liaodong is stable, there will be no worries. Even if we besiege it without attacking, after a long time, the capital will fall without a fight."

Emperor Qiansheng said with satisfaction: "Seventh Brother, you have indeed made progress. I have ordered the whole country to mobilize food to support the capital, but it will take time."

Xu Wenhou shook his head and said, "This is not enough. Moreover, by the time the local governments collect the summer taxes and transport them to the capital, it will probably be winter. By then, even if the city is breached, there will be no food. Millions of people in the capital will not have enough to eat, and there will be starving people everywhere, which may cause chaos!"

Emperor Qiansheng said calmly: "Then what good ideas do you have?"

“Father, you can do two things at once. On the one hand, you can speed up the reconstruction of Tongzhou warehouse and collect summer grain from all over the country. On the other hand, you can open up maritime trade, focus on grain trade, and trade with foreigners using tea, raw silk, porcelain and other in-demand commodities to encourage them to transport grain from neighboring countries to Jin. In this way, a large amount of grain will surely flow in to make up for our country’s food shortage and at the same time achieve the goal of stabilizing grain prices.

Merchants pursue profits. As long as there is profit to be made, their efficiency is much higher than that of the government. Or they can simply set up a port office in Tianjin so that foreigners can directly transport goods to Tianjin for trading, which is convenient and fast. "

Emperor Qiansheng glanced at Xu Wenhou meaningfully and said calmly, "Seventh Brother, are these all your own ideas?"

Xu Wenhou's face turned red, and he said awkwardly, "These are some superficial opinions that I discussed with Jia Hanlin."

Emperor Qiansheng snorted coldly and said in a cold voice: "I knew it must be Jia Huan's son. I hate this kind of sneaky behavior and the behavior of people who instigate others behind their backs. Someone, summon the Imperial Academy editor Jia Huan to see me."

Xu Wenhou shuddered and secretly regretted that he had spoken too much and actually harmed Jia Huan. But fortunately, his father only said to summon Jia Huan to see him, and did not say to arrest Jia Huan to see him, which shows that he will not be severely punished, right?
(End of this chapter)