Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 452 The First Northern Expedition

Yang Chao's greatest resistance to the Northern Expedition was not the slightly exhausted army, nor the economy that had just been baptized by the flames of war, but his own family.

His family strongly opposed Yang Chao's Northern Expedition. The soldiers were fierce and the battle was dangerous. They told him not to take risks easily. Not only his parents were against it, but also his wives and concubines were against it.

In fact, during this period of time, Yang Chao has always been in Nanjing, and he has never been to the front line in person. It is because of his family and because his wife is pregnant. He also wants to accompany his wife until she gives birth, so no matter whether it is Azig or Haoge, he is always in Nanjing. , not one step away from the family.

But this time is different. This time Yang Chao has to respond personally. He has to deal a heavy blow to the Qing court, so that the Qing court can calm down and take a rest. Yang Chao needs too much time, and Jiangnan’s reforms are carried out Half, half of the economic reform has been completed, and the political reform has not yet been carried out.

It will take at least three years, one year of reform, two years of stability, and three years of development. Only in this way will there be enough spare power to wage a long-term war with the Qing court.

"Princess, listen to me. If there is a reason for my husband to stay, I will not leave you. But this time is different. This time, no one can go. I must come forward in person, and it must be under the banner of Yang Zi." The army of men stabbed Manqing's heart fiercely, and only then did they know the pain and fear."

Auntie Zhu wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

"But the baby will be born in four months, and you said you would stay with me."

Yang Chao sighed: "Princess, don't worry, when the child is born, I will definitely be by your side."

Auntie Zhu also knew that Yang Chao had made up her mind to go. As a wife, it was really not easy to prevent a man from seeking success. Even if people with a discerning eye saw that Yang Chao's achievement was to dig the walls of their Zhu family, but rather than being dug away by others, it would be better to give it to him. As a man, let alone her as a woman, those political affairs are not her concern at all.

So Auntie Zhu could only nod her head: "Your son-in-law must keep his word!"

Yang Chao hugged her lightly: "My husband's words don't count that time."

The princess's face turned slightly red, she was not used to being in broad daylight, but she enjoyed being held in the arms of a man very much, while still having his flesh and blood in her stomach.

"Okay, you have to take care of yourself, you will know when I come back!"

After a long time, Yang Chao let go of Aimee Zhu.

Auntie Zhu nodded with a blushing face.

"You have to exercise every day. Your body is too weak. If you don't exercise, you will have to suffer when you give birth!"

The patient exhortation made Aimee Zhu feel a sense of happiness, which she thought she would not have as a princess, but now that she has all of these, Aimee Zhu felt for the first time that the failure of the Ming Dynasty seemed to affect her personally. That said, it's not such a bad thing.

After leaving Auntie Zhu, she began to persuade her parents, reasoned with her parents, and analyzed the situation. Her parents were not a tough person, especially now that Yang Chao was in a high position. His father even thought that Yang Chao was fighting for the Yang family, so he didn't want to organize.

"My son, you have to remember that you must not take risks. You are the pillar of this family now."

The father exhorted with all kinds of concern.

"Hey, the heirs are weak."

After finishing speaking, he did not forget to sigh. He used to say this sigh because he failed to take concubines and give birth to more sons, and every time he would be blamed unreasonably by his mother.

But this time, instead of blaming her, the mother showed a look of shame, as if she felt guilty for not adding more to the Yang family.

On the same day, my mother discussed with my father about finding two maids for him to be concubines, but this time my father himself refused, saying that his grandson was about to be born, what would it be like to be a concubine for a grandfather, and he was only hoping that the princess would give him a concubine. Add a boy to the family.

After Yang Chao persuaded his parents, it was time to persuade some concubines.

Speaking of concubines, the status of concubines is really low. A pregnant wife is the most annoying at this time, and unreasonable parents are the second most annoying. Are these concubines? They can still be offended.

"Crying, crying, why are you crying! It's unlucky for you to cry like this, because your husband is going to fight in the battlefield, to protect the country loyally!"

As for the concubine, it is natural to put on the airs of the old man.

In fact, it was Dong Xiaowan and Chen Yuanyuan who were crying. Dong Xiaowan stared at Yang Chao with mournful eyes, and Chen Yuanyuan just cried in a low voice. Li Xiangjun didn't cry, but showed a worried look.

"Yes, don't cry. Husband is about to go to war, it's unlucky!"

After Dong Xiaowan sobbed a few times, she forcibly stopped crying.

"Then let the servants take good care of the uncle tonight."

Dong Xiaowan turned and said shyly.

Chen Yuanyuan raised her head, and said resolutely with her disastrous beauty: "My family also wants to serve uncle."

Li Xiangjun hesitated to speak, but still couldn't let go, and was afraid that Yang Chao would be exhausted.

Yang Chao laughed: "Okay, let's come together!"

It was bright.

Riding a horse, I felt backaches. After all, it was a concubine in her twenties. Her body was pinched out of water, and she was too lacking in hard work. Yang Chao's vitality was seriously injured to satisfy them.

Seeing that Zhao Kang and Sun Changfu were also doing the same thing, Yang Chao knew that they played too much last night.

Go ahead with the cavalry unit, the cavalry unit led by Zhao Kang is nominally Yang Chao's personal army, so in this unit, everyone has a special feeling for Yang Chao, the soldiers are extremely enthusiastic about Yang Chao, regardless of Yang Chao Wherever he went in the team, he was the absolute focus, and even because he paid too much attention to Yang Chao, the marching was messed up.

The army led by Sun Changfu moved slowly by boat. The only purpose of his and Zhao Kang's southward trip this time was to complete a long-distance march for training. Apart from consuming thousands of tans of food, they did not make any contribution.

When the army passed through Yangzhou and Huai'an, they saw that these two cities had fully recovered, the damaged houses had been rebuilt, and the streets had returned to their former prosperity.

Under Yang Chaoxin's verification system, Huaiyang salt merchants invested in the construction of 100 new large salt farms by the sea. Together with the original salt farms of the government, the output of Jianghuai salt has more than doubled compared to the past. The price of salted fish, which is expensive for fresh fish, has fallen below that of fresh fish for the first time, and it is still increasing rapidly. It is estimated that the salted fish produced by fishermen in seaside fishing villages will reach [-] million tons next year.

The strange thing about China's salt industry monopoly is that the common people are generally surprised that the price of salted fish is lower than that of fresh fish. In the past, the price of salted fish was always high, and ordinary people could not afford it.It is really because the price of table salt is so high that only fishermen's families by the sea can afford it, because they cook and marinate their own salt and save it for winter.

However, it is impossible and dare not for fishermen to produce a large amount of salted fish. The first reason is that cooking salt by oneself is inherently expensive, and it is illegal. Selling it is tantamount to undermining the court's salt administration.

Now there is a large amount of cheap salt available from the Huaiyang Salt Merchant Salt Farm. These fishermen can freely make salted fish. Men go fishing in the sea and women pickle at home. The work is several times busier than before, but the income is also much lower. Doubled in the past.

As a country with a vast coastline, a large amount of seafood gifted by the ocean can only be enjoyed by fishermen in the past. This is extremely unreasonable. You must know that fish meat provides most of their protein supply for a marine nation like the Netherlands, which is Japan. The salted fish in China is also the lowest food, but it has become a high-end food in Daming.

The reason is that the government has to collect 100 million taels of silver every year. At the same time, the relevant officials and salt merchants have taken most of the benefits. The price paid is that the whole country has to eat high-priced and low-quality salt.

Now that Yang Chao has passed the reform, with a salt ticket and 10 taels of silver, salt merchants are eligible to participate in all links of salt production and sales. The wealth and power are so great that they are all willing to invest in these links desperately.

Salt farms had to be built, salt boats had to be sold, and salt shops had to be opened. A large amount of silver buried in the ground was brought out by them and put into the market to be circulated as currency. These investments in Huaiyang and Yangzhou were absolutely unavoidable. As test distribution centers, it goes without saying that the economies of these two places have recovered quickly, and the speed of development is extremely fast. If there are modern statistics, the growth rate of Jedi will not be less than [-]% of a year and a half.

However, the influx of silver stored in salt merchants' cellars into the market definitely does not mean that it only promotes the development of the two cities of Huaiyang, it will drive a whole economic chain. Long-distance transport to big cities results in little interest in their production.

Now that there is a large amount of salt, the production of salted fish can be released. A huge market is suddenly opened to them, like a black hole. No matter how much salted fish they produce, the market can digest it. Will invest in expanding their boats, build bigger and more fishing boats, go to sea to catch farther places.

Then the shipbuilding industry grew, and sailing talents were also cultivated. These fishermen can fish during the fishing season, and they can also use fishing boats to transport goods during the off-fishing season. This is how the Dutch developed. Their large herring fishing fleet, fishing After the season, they drove small boats to traffic goods from northern Europe to southern Europe, and finally made the Dutch develop into sea coachmen.

The two prefectures of Huaiyang and Huaiyang have developed, but when they arrived in Xuzhou, they became depressed. The city that was originally developed on the canal, due to the shortage of food in the north and the south, and the extinction of business travel, the market suddenly became light, let alone development, Xuzhou, etc. The land is not as prosperous as it was a few years ago, the streets are deserted, and most people close their shops and go home.

However, compared with the sluggish business in Xuzhou City, the population has not decreased, on the contrary, it may be more.

Because at this time, there are nearly [-] troops gathered here, and they are ready to go, with high morale, preparing for the Northern Expedition.

(End of this chapter)