nanming man

Chapter 128 Settling Accounts
Before I knew it, it was the end of the 15th year of Chongzhen, and in a few days it would be 1643, the 16th year of Chongzhen, less than a year and a half away from the Jiashen State Change.

The 15th year of Chongzhen can be regarded as a terrible year for the Ming Dynasty. Since the fall of Songshan at the beginning of the year, Hong Chengchou was captured, and more than a hundred officials such as the governor of the Ming Dynasty Qiu Minyang, the general soldier Cao Bianjiao, and Wang Tingchen were killed by the Qing army. In the middle of the year, the battle between the official army and the invading army around Henan failed one after another, and the elites in the pass were completely lost. At the end of the year, the Qing army invaded again, and Sun Chuanting was defeated in Shaanxi.

One piece of bad news after another shook the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. The 200-year-old empire was finally on the verge of collapse, and the entire city of Beijing was gloomy.

The Ming Dynasty is like a red sun in the evening, about to sink into endless darkness.

Unlike the lifelessness that prevailed in the Ming Dynasty, the Runing Mansion is full of vitality and is preparing to welcome the new year.

Now Runing First Mansion is Second Brother Gao's territory, Second Brother Gao naturally hopes that Runing will get better and better, so taking advantage of the New Year's approach, he started to clean up Runing City by virtue of the tradition of common people cleaning.

Although the urban management of Ming Dynasty was very developed, it was still not up to standard in the eyes of the second brother, so he asked the soldiers and the people to clean up the garbage in the city, dredge the drainage ditches, repair the streets, and keep the city clean.

The plague that was rampant in Henan did not pass away. It was only suppressed because the weather became colder, people seldom moved around, and the cities and towns were basically isolated.

The second brother clearly remembered that Li Zicheng's ability to enter Beijing had a lot to do with a great plague.

After a catastrophe, there must be a catastrophe. Once the weather gets warmer, the plague will become prevalent again at any time, so it is actually very necessary to clean up the city.

Second brother Gao gave an order, and the soldiers and civilians in the city worked together to clean up the houses of the people and every corner of the city.

After everyone was busy for a while, all the potholes on the streets in the city were filled up, the weeds at the foot of the people's houses and courtyard walls were cleaned up, and the sludge in the ditch was transported outside the city, and everything was clean , making people refreshed a lot.

The crowd worked in full swing for three days, and finally swept out a lot of rubbish, finally giving the city a new look, and it was already the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month.

At this time, the people in the city were posting Spring Festival couplets to prepare for the New Year. In the government office, Second Brother Gao sat in the room with Lu Yifang, Gao Xinghao and others to liquidate the assets of Second Brother Gao.

From time to time, the sound of firecrackers came from outside the yamen to everyone's ears, but everyone turned a deaf ear to it, just buried their heads in looking at the ledger and fiddling with their abacus.

In the past, the second elder brother had a small stall with less than 1000 people, and it was easy to calculate the money and food coming in and out, but now the second elder brother has nearly ten thousand people, and the site is one prefecture plus several counties.

Lu Yifang fiddled with the beads for a while, then stopped, picked up the ledger to look at it, picked up a pen and changed a few places, then stood up and walked to Gao Yihuan's desk, and handed the ledger to Gao Yihuan, "The general has nine thousand troops now. 300 people, of which 5000 are temporary soldiers, 4000 are miscellaneous soldiers, and 300 are logistics teams, and the pay at the end of the year is 4000 taels."

"The general said that the soldiers will be rewarded during the New Year. It will cost 5000 taels to reward meritorious officers and soldiers. In addition, 3000 taels will be needed to purchase horse feed, medicinal materials, refined iron and other military supplies. The total of several items is 4 taels."

Lu Yifang pointed to the numbers on the account book and said: "The general has 6 taels in Luyi's account, and 36 taels of silver in Ruzhou treasury and Chongwang fan treasury. The total property in the account is 42 taels. .These silver coins minus expenses, after the beginning of the year, the treasury should have a balance of 37 taels."

The second brother Gao looked at the account and there was nothing wrong with it, but after reading it, he couldn't help but feel a little bit emotional. He resold supplies for half a year, but in the end he couldn't grab the one in Runing, which made the second brother plan to change his career.

From now on, Second Brother Gao will need to pay nearly 2 taels of military pay every month. However, with the windfall from Chong Wang's treasury, this money is not only enough for him to pay, but also barely enough for him to build cities and cannons.

At this time, Gao Xinghao also stopped, went to the desk of Second Brother Gao, and handed in the account book, "Second Brother, we have [-] shi of grain in Luyi, and only [-] shi of Ru Ning. There are only [-] stones in total, which is enough for the army, craftsmen, officials, and family members for six months."

Gao Yihuan thought about it in his heart. The winter wheat in Luyi and Runing had already been planted, and the grain should be able to last until the harvest. If it was not possible, he asked Ma Yuanwai to buy some more grain.

After reading the liquidation results of Qianliang, Second Brother Gao knew that he was still very rich for the time being, so he didn't need to worry about the Qianliang issue.

At this time, the second brother closed the account book and said with a smile: "Today is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, and the New Year will be celebrated in a few days. Our liquidation will come here first. After the new year, we will continue to liquidate and measure the acres of land, and formulate a new tax system." , and re-count the household registration."

The calculation of money and food is relatively simple, but the difficult part is the calculation of the fields and the statistics of the population. It is estimated that they will be busy for a long time after the new year.

After the money and food were settled, Second Brother Gao gave everyone a holiday, and everyone dispersed. Second Brother Gao also ran to the yard to rest, teased Liang Yizhang's cub for a while, and insisted that the cub call him godfather.

"Second Brother, Yicheng is back!" Second Brother Gao was playing with the child, and Gao Xinghao, who had just left not long ago, turned back again.

In the study, Second Brother Gao picked up the kettle and poured a bowl of water, handed it to Gao Yicheng, who was busy in the world, and asked, "Yicheng, how is the situation in Shandong?"

Gao Yicheng took the water bowl, drank the warm water, and said with some lingering fear: "Second brother, I only went to Juye County on the west side of the Grand Canal and turned back. I dare not go any further."

Brother Gao picked up the kettle and filled it up again, then sat down and waited for Gao Yicheng to continue.

"Second brother, the Tartar soldiers are really powerful. When I went to Juye, I heard that Jinan was defeated by the Tartars again. When I reached the canal, Jining Prefecture and Yanzhou were also defeated by the Tartars. There are Tazi soldiers everywhere in Shandong, and they dared to plunder everywhere in groups of ten or so, and led groups of people and livestock to Linqing and Dongchang."

Gao Yihuan felt a little heavy after hearing Gao Yicheng's words, "Is the main force of the Tartar soldiers all near Linqing now?"

"Yes, the Tartars are attacking Linqing and Dongchang, but it is said that there is a high-ranking man in Linqing and Liu Zeqing's army in Dongchang, so the Tartars have not yet been defeated."

Gao Yihuan was a little surprised when he heard this. As far as he knew, Gao Mingheng should have fought against the Qing Dynasty in Yizhou, so why did he go to Linqing?Brother Gao frowned slightly, thinking in his heart, "It seems that not only the situation in Henan has changed, but Shandong has also deviated from the track."

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(End of this chapter)