My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 123: Huang Taiji: What? I was cheated on by Dorgon?
Hey!
Seeing that Ni Yuanlu and Xue Guoguan were both silent, Zhu Cilang sighed first, then said:

"I know I'm overthinking things. Given the current situation, I really can't think too much. I can only do my best to ensure that the refugees don't starve to death."

"Therefore, the imperial court must properly accommodate those disaster victims who are about to flee to the capital."

Xue Guoguan was slightly stunned when he heard this, then he quickly bowed and said:
"Your Highness, do you mean to ask all the victims who are trying to escape to the capital to come here?"

Zhu Cilang nodded:
"Yes."

As soon as these words came out, Xue Guoguan was speechless.

You should know that throughout the dynasties, the first choice for disaster victims to flee was the capital.

After all, in their view, the capital is a rich place under the feet of the emperor, so at least they can have something to eat, right?

However, the attitude of emperors of every dynasty towards these refugees was very clear and cruel.

They did not allow refugees to enter the capital, both to prevent chaos in the city and to prevent the outbreak of plague.

After all, plague is always present during years of famine.

If these victims accidentally bring the plague into the capital, the situation will get out of control and may even threaten the emperor's safety.

Therefore, for hundreds of years, there has never been a precedent of a large number of disaster victims pouring into the capital.

At most, they just built a few porridge stalls outside the city and gave some porridge to the victims.

Of course, this is not because the emperor is cruel, but out of basic security considerations.

What's worse, a large number of soldiers would often be sent to intercept the victims who wanted to flee to the capital on the way, and then force them to return to their hometowns or go elsewhere.

But in Zhu Cilang's opinion, this kind of thing should never happen.

These disaster victims came all the way to the capital just to get a meal. If we drive them away directly, wouldn’t that be equivalent to indirectly killing them?

So, he decided to accept the upcoming 200,000 disaster victims!

Zhu Cilang knew that he shouldn't be so idealistic. After all, this was ancient times, and it was normal for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people to die in natural disasters.

But if traveling to this world cannot change this, then wouldn’t his travels have been in vain?
At the same time, Ni Yuanlu and Xue Guoguan were also racking their brains over how to solve this problem.

After a moment, Xue Guoguan said:

"Since Your Highness has decided to do this, I suggest that the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works step in to build porridge sheds and shelters outside the city and then provide disaster relief."

"In addition, we will call on the people and wealthy merchants in the city to donate money and grain to rescue more people."

"Of course, the civil and military officials in the court must also contribute money and food."

Immediately afterwards, Ni Yuanlu also echoed:
"The capital's current food reserves are sufficient to last for a year. Even with the addition of these 200,000 disaster victims, we can still sustain it for more than half a year."

"But in half a year, if the summer grain harvest fails, there may be a famine in the capital."

Taxes in the Ming Dynasty were collected according to the Two-Tax System, which means taxes were levied in summer and autumn, which were roughly July and November each year.

Originally, there was basically no need to worry about taxation because three additional taxes had been levied before, and the weather in the southern region was relatively good.

But now the natural disaster has also affected the south, and with the cancellation of the three taxes, Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Revenue, is really not sure whether taxes can be collected normally this year.

Now that it’s collected, there’s nothing more to say.

But if the money cannot be collected, not only will more than 200,000 disaster victims have no food to eat, but the people of the entire capital will have no food to eat!

But obviously, this is not a problem for Zhu Cilang.

Then Zhu Cilang waved his hand and said:

"Don't worry about what will happen in half a year. I have already decided to ship grain from overseas to Ming Dynasty."

"The price of grain overseas is far less expensive than in the Ming Dynasty. You can buy four or five times as much grain for the same price."

"When these grains are transported to Ming, they should be able to alleviate the famine in Ming."

"In addition, I have already had people begin trial planting some high-yield crops. Once these trials are complete, we will promote them on a large scale."

"By then, there will no longer be disaster victims in the Ming Dynasty."

When they heard this, they were both stunned.

No one expected that Zhu Cilang would do two such important things quietly.

If someone else said this, they would definitely think they were bragging.

But when it came out of Zhu Cilang's mouth, it seemed so reasonable and unquestionable!

After reacting, the two of them hurriedly bowed and said:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise."

There was no change on Zhu Cilang's face, he just continued:

"Then let's leave it at that!"

"I will not attend the morning court tomorrow. Xue Guoguan, please preside over it yourself."

"Also, there's no need to discuss disaster relief any further. I'll directly notify everyone in the name of the cabinet tomorrow morning."

"The Ministry of Revenue will begin mobilizing all available grain tomorrow to provide disaster relief throughout the country."

"The Ministry of Works will also begin building temporary shelters outside the city and preparing some cold-weather supplies to ensure that the victims have food and shelter when they arrive in the capital."

"In short, we cannot let any of the disaster victims who come to the capital starve to death. Do you understand?"

When the two heard this, they hurriedly bowed again and said:
"Your Highness, I understand."

After saying that, the two of them took their leave.

Watching the two people leaving, Zhu Cilang's mood remained calm, even a little scary.

Because he had just noticed from the conversation between the two people that their attitude towards these disaster victims was actually very indifferent.

It seemed as if these 200,000 disaster victims were just an ordinary number to them.

But Zhu Cilang also understood that it was not their fault.

Because they were from the scholar-official class, not ordinary people, they had never been hungry and did not know what it felt like to be hungry.

In their eyes, ordinary people are nothing but grass, and those refugees from disasters are no longer even considered human beings.

But in Zhu Cilang's view, these disaster victims are never cold numbers, they are living people!

They are people who are insignificant in history but have existed in reality!
Zhu Cilang couldn't treat them like numbers!
Zhu Cilang knew that as a qualified king, it was inappropriate for him to have such emotions, but he just couldn't help it!

At this moment, he suddenly remembered a plot from a TV series he had watched in later generations.

Among them, the corrupt official He Shen once said a famous saying:

"Are disaster victims still considered human beings? People who are about to starve to death are no longer considered human beings. They are animals, a pile of rotting flesh without a soul."

It sounds like a very appropriate statement.

But Zhu Cilang couldn't treat them as a piece of rotten meat or as animals, because they were all living people!

He also thought about carrying out disaster relief according to the methods in TV dramas, replacing rice with the cheapest bran and then mixing sand into it.

Although it doesn’t taste good, it can save more people.

But he doesn't want to do that!
Because he wanted to treat these disaster victims the same way he would treat a human being!
The next day, Zhu Cilang did not go to court as expected. He only instructed Ma Bao to go to the palace to inform Wang Chengen to copy several imperial edicts of enthronement.

The people who were enthroned were naturally his several brothers-in-law.

In Zhu Cilang's view, using these positions in exchange for a steady supply of food to the Zheng family's caravan was undoubtedly a good deal.

After the imperial edict was delivered, Zhu Cilang checked it roughly and sent it to Zheng Chenggong's residence after confirming that it was correct.

After receiving the imperial edict, Zheng Chenggong immediately sent someone to deliver the edict and his handwritten letter to Fujian at full speed.

At the same time, at the morning court, the issue of disaster relief was successfully passed.

Naturally, the civil and military officials of the court had no objection to this matter. After all, the Ming Dynasty now had money and food, so disaster relief was a matter of course.

However, when Xue Guoguan asked the civil and military officials in the court to donate money and grain, he encountered some resistance.

These officials have always been stingy and unwilling to donate money.

It was not until Xue Guoguan stepped forward and made it clear that this was the intention of His Majesty and the Crown Prince, and took the lead in donating 5,000 taels of silver, that other ministers were willing to step forward and donate grain and money.

After all, the current Chongzhen is no longer the monarch who could be perfunctory as before. Intelligence agencies such as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory are spread throughout the court and the country, making it impossible to get away with it.

You said you didn't have money to donate money and grain, but when the Imperial Guards checked, it turned out you had money! You just didn't want to donate!

I'm afraid I'll have to go to the imperial prison again by then.

In that case, let’s take the initiative!
In this way, at the morning court session, the civil and military officials who attended the court alone donated 800,000 taels of silver and 700,000 shi of grain.

This does not include the high-ranking and low-ranking officials in the capital who are not qualified to attend court.

But of course, these are still just the tip of the iceberg for Zhu Cilang.

After breakfast, Zhu Cilang summoned Wang Qinian and gave him a task.

The task was very simple, which was to help him find some things.

Limestone, clay, iron smelting slag, and some other things.

These things are raw materials for making cement.

That's right!

Zhu Cilang is planning to make cement!

After all, the capital is about to welcome 200,000 disaster victims. We can't let these people just eat and do nothing every day, right?
If that were to happen, there would definitely be some trouble!
Therefore, Zhu Cilang planned to adopt the method of work-for-relief to allow these disaster victims to build houses and repair roads.

The Guanning Iron Cavalry needed to be stationed in the capital, but these 10,000 people had to sleep in the open air every day, and they all lived in makeshift tents. Zhu Cilang saw this and felt a little bit sorry for them.

What's more, there are 30,000 war horses, and managing these horses requires building a huge stable.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang decided to build a dedicated Guanning Cavalry Camp for these people and horses.

At the same time, the military camp on the Beijing side had not been repaired for decades, so it was just the right time to build a new one.

Since the disaster victims were to be made to work, Zhu Cilang had to consider how to ensure that these 200,000 people were well fed. First of all, he would never let the disaster victims eat bran or put sand in their porridge.

Those who were unable to work were given three bowls of thick porridge and some pickles every day.

Those who can work but cannot do heavy work have two bowls of thick porridge, a bowl of dry rice and some pickles every day.

Those who can do heavy work or have some skills will receive three meals a day, some meat and vegetables, plus twenty copper coins!
Of course, this is just Zhu Cilang’s initial plan, and the specific implementation will depend on the situation.

As for the possibility that someone might take the opportunity to sneak in and eat for free, he didn't care at all.

After all, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the East Factory, and the West Factory are not vegetarians.

Once the disaster victims arrive, let them take charge of supervision.

If someone really sneaks into the group of disaster victims to steal food, then he will be severely punished by having his property confiscated!

I believe those people should be able to tell the difference between a bowl of rice and having their property confiscated.

Just as Zhu Cilang was busy preparing for disaster relief work, Hong Chengchou finally arrived in Liaodong after a long journey of dozens of days.

After arriving, he didn't even have time to change his clothes before asking Duke Ying about the recent events in Liaodong.

After this period of experience, British Duke Zhang Zhiji has become much more stable.

He told Hong Chengchou that nothing major had happened in Liaodong during his absence.

It was just because of his previous raid on the Jiannu that Huang Taiji was furious, so he also organized several raids.

But he always guarded the city strictly, which prevented Huang Taiji from launching a successful surprise attack.

Apart from that, everything is fine in Liaodong.

However, there has been a lot of trouble over there recently with the Jiannu.

Because not long ago, the news of the confiscation of the eight imperial merchants and the rectification of Xuanfu had already reached Liaodong.

The Ming army cursed the merchants, officials and generals who had secret dealings with the Jiannu, but at the same time they felt a lot more at ease.

Because this means that the Jiannu can no longer obtain large amounts of food and other supplies from the Ming Dynasty.

As long as we continue to stalemate with the Jiannu, the Jiannu will definitely choose to retreat due to insufficient logistics!
In addition, the news that Chongzhen appointed Abunai as the Great Khan of Mongolia spread to Liaodong.

When they learned that the Ming Emperor wanted to help Mongolia restore its country, many Mongols from the Jiannu side chose to flee back to the grasslands and join Abunai.

Some Mongols also chose to surrender to the Ming army.

Although the rest are still in the Jiannu camp for the time being, they are obviously not as loyal to Jiannu as before.
After hearing these words, Hong Chengchou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Because overall, things are still under his control.

So, the first thing Hong Chengchou did was to gather hundreds of literati who could read and write.

Then he took out the booklet that Zhu Cilang had given him before and asked them to copy it down in Manchu, Chinese and Mongolian respectively.

When these scholars saw the contents of the booklet, they all showed incredible expressions.

They never imagined that Hong Chengchou asked them to come just to copy a book called "The Emperor's Uncle"!
But in the end, with the generous reward offered by Hong Chengchou, they still began to copy it skillfully.

At the same time, they roughly understood Hong Chengchou's intention and all of them tried to hold back their laughter.

They copied until the whole night and had copied more than a thousand booklets written in Manchu, Chinese and Mongolian.

The Duke of England happened to come to Hong Chengchou for something. He picked up a copy out of curiosity and took a look at it. His face was instantly filled with disbelief.

Then he looked at Hong Chengchou beside him and asked in astonishment:

"Is this your idea?"

Hong Chengchou smiled, stroked his beard, and said:

"Duke Ying, you misunderstood. This was not my idea, but that of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. This is a ploy to win over the hearts and minds of the people."

A strategy to win over the hearts and minds?

The Duke of England looked at the booklet in his hand and felt only amused for a moment.

After a moment, he said:
"What a trick to win people's hearts! If Huang Taiji saw what's written above, he would probably be furious."

So, in the middle of the night, a group of people quietly left the city in the dark and quickly arrived near Jinzhou City.

Then he threw these thousands of pamphlets into the Jiannu military camp and quickly retreated.

By the time the Jiannu reacted, they had already disappeared.

Not long after, Huang Taiji, who had already fallen asleep in the Jiannu camp, suddenly received a secret report from his subordinates.

"Your Majesty, the night patrol guards found many pamphlets in the camp. I think you should take a look at them."

The guard who came to report said with a red face.

Huang Taiji was originally half asleep, but he opened his eyes after hearing this, and then said with some dissatisfaction:
"What pamphlet? Bring it over and have a look."

The guard hesitated at first, but still handed the booklet in his hand to Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji opened it sleepily and found that the booklet was written in Manchu.

He took a closer look at the title and frowned:
"The story that Dayuer and Dorgon had to tell in those years."

Then he took a few more glances at the content and immediately became furious!
"Damn it! Who did this?!"

Huang Taiji suddenly sat up from the bed, his face distorted with anger.

You can see that he is really angry!

Because a long time ago, there have been rumors in Shengjing that his wife Dayuer and his younger brother Dorgon had an unclear relationship.

But Huang Taiji never cared about it because he trusted Dayuer and Dorgon.

But he never expected that he would see these rumors again at this time, and someone even wrote these rumors into a booklet.

What's more, it is described in a very detailed manner, as if some things were witnessed with one's own eyes.

The most outrageous thing is that it actually said that his son Fulin was not his son, but Dorgon's son.

How could he bear this?
After all, he is still an emperor now. How can he convince the people if he is cuckolded?

In a rage, Huang Taiji tore the booklet in his hand to pieces, and then shouted:
"Tell me, where did this come from?"

The guard knelt on the ground and answered with a look of panic:

"I don't know either. I only know that they suddenly appeared in various places in the military camp in the middle of the night. I found one and immediately brought it to the king."

Huang Taiji frowned and asked:
"Wait, you said everywhere in the barracks? Isn't there just one copy of this thing?"

The guard replied cautiously:

"That should be the case. Such booklets were found throughout the military camp, written in Mongolian, Chinese, and Manchu."

"I have already sent people to collect them, but I estimate that many people have also picked up such booklets."

Hearing this, Huang Taiji was almost angry to death.

If he was the only one who saw this kind of thing, perhaps he would have just endured it and let it go. After all, it was a war in the midst of a war, and it was not advisable to shake the morale of the army.

But what if everyone saw it?
How will everyone look at him, Huang Taiji, then?
For a moment, the rat tail behind Huang Taiji's forehead was so angry that it almost stood up!

The arrest of the eight imperial merchants and the complete loss of access to food from the Ming Dynasty were already distressing enough.

Unexpectedly, this kid Abunai actually ran to the Ming Dynasty and was canonized as the Great Khan of Mongolia by the Ming Dynasty.

This made the Jiannu's situation even worse!
Now the Ming army is playing psychological warfare again, which really caught Huang Taiji off guard for a while.

If they leave this alone, they will probably have to retreat before their food and supplies are used up!
Thinking of this, Huang Taiji suddenly calmed down, and then said sternly:

"Call all the generals to see me immediately!"

"Yes!"

The guard agreed and then left.

At the same time, senior generals in various military camps also had a copy of the booklet in their hands.

However, at this moment, their reactions were somewhat different, with both worry and excitement.

This is because although Huang Taiji ruled the entire Jurchen tribe, his brothers were always restless.

Some of them always felt that Huang Taiji was too harsh on them, his brothers.

So when they got this booklet, they naturally felt gloating.

As for those Mongols who surrendered, he couldn't help but despise them in his heart at this moment.

After all, even among the Mongols, two brothers would not fall in love with the same woman at the same time. I didn’t expect that the Jiannu would do this.

At the same time, they secretly had other thoughts in their hearts.

Because not long ago, the news that the Ming Emperor had appointed Abunai as the Great Khan of Mongolia had also spread here.

That night, many Mongols fled overnight.

Some surrendered to the Ming army, and some headed straight for the grassland to join their new Khan.

After all, if one can be loyal to one's own country, who would be willing to be loyal to the Jiannu?
You should know that in every battle, Huang Taiji would let these Mongols rush to the front, treating them like consumables, which made them very unhappy.

In other words, Huang Taiji quickly realized that something was wrong, killed a group of Mongols who wanted to escape, and appeased the remaining Mongols, which barely stabilized the situation.

But now after seeing the contents of this booklet, they suddenly felt that the Jiannu were really disgusting.

It seems they have to find a chance to escape!
Even if they did not go to Abunai, they had to surrender to the Ming Dynasty. After all, even their Mongolian Khan had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty.

There is no shame in surrendering to the Ming Dynasty!

When the Han generals saw the contents of the booklet, their reactions were actually similar to those of the Mongols, or even a little more intense than those of the Mongols.

After all, two brothers fell in love with the same woman at the same time, and then gave birth to a child, and the child's biological father was unknown. This kind of thing is really too imaginative.
the other side.

In Dorgon's tent.

Dorgon was also holding a booklet and reading
(End of this chapter)