Chapter 1063: Speculations on the Gengzi Volume

 The negotiation with Zaisai is very simple, and Zhang Jingqiu and Chai Ke can also accept it.

  After all, there are more than 50,000 prisoners, including a large number of senior military generals and officers with military honors. It is normal to ask for any amount of money.

"Two hundred thousand taels of silver is not much. There are more than 50,000 people, and less than four taels of silver are paid to each person. However, the ransoms for these generals and officers are a bit expensive. They can easily reach tens of thousands of taels. It is the ordinary Qian Zong, The total amount is only a few thousand taels, so this difficulty is not ordinary." Chai Ke pondered.

"Zaisai also needs to go back and give an explanation to the five Inner Khalkha tribes and the Horqin people. After all, he refused Lindan Batur's order and stopped moving westward. Although on the surface, he could avoid continued losses to the Inner Khalkha and Horqin coalition forces. , but it also loses the possibility of further expanding the results. If he cannot obtain sufficient returns in this area, it will be difficult for him to convince them internally."

 Feng Ziying explained for Zaisai very objectively.

If the Nekalkha and Horqin coalition insists on attacking Fengrun and Yutian westward, judging from what Feng Ziying has seen after returning from this trip, I am afraid that Fengrun and Yutian will soon fall into the hands of the enemy, and the losses will be even more unimaginable.

For these grassland tribes, plundering the craftsmen, merchants and farmers of the Han people was of greater significance to them, but the damage caused to the counties of Shuntian Prefecture was probably more difficult to calculate in terms of money.

"Ziying, what you said makes sense. It's not that we don't understand, but..." Zhang Jingqiu pondered for a moment, "Will the Nei Khalkha people keep their promises?"

Feng Ziying glanced at Zhang Jingqiu keenly, and then at Chai Ke who lowered his eyelids. After thinking for a moment, he said: "It should be possible, but the premise is that we need to fulfill the conditions they put forward, such as the court's promise to pay a ransom of 200,000 yuan for the soldiers. Two, there is also the issue of the ransom of military officers. I did not commit to the ransom of military officers at that time, but Zaisai did not pay much attention to it, because there were already many businessmen who were willing to guarantee or help these people pay. Zaisai may have felt that Asking for ransom from the imperial court may also result in a lower price, so I'm not very enthusiastic about it."

This question is difficult to solve. Zhang Jingqiu and Chai Ke seemed to be aware of it, while Sun Chengzong and Yuan Keli looked completely ignorant. Feng Ziying was amused. It seemed that the emperor's thoughts were well understood by the Ministry of War. .

In fact, the consultations at the Ministry of War and even the cabinet are lackluster. They are all the same old routine. Even Feng Ziying herself is surprised that such reports have been written very clearly in her report to the Secretary of General Affairs. There is no need to go there in person unless...

 “Your Majesty, Feng Keng, comes to see the Emperor.”

"Get up and give me a seat." Emperor Yonglong's eyes were still calm and cold, and Feng Ziying felt much more at ease.

He may not have seen the emperor who was rumored to be seriously ill for a long time, but now it seems that he is in good spirits and is not at all like he is about to die as some people in the outside world have rumored.

"I heard that you fought a beautiful victory in Yongping?" Emperor Yonglong motioned to the chamberlain to put the brocade stool closer, which made the chamberlain next to him tremble. It seems that this little Feng Xiuzhan has been away from the court for more than half a year. It seems that the holy love has not diminished.

"Back to the emperor, I did not fight this battle. I just relied on Qian'an City and the Liaodong Army, plus the soldiers and civilians who had been training for several months in Yongping Mansion. I was commanded by the second general of Liaodong and the Jizhen cavalry. The cooperation with Ye Hejia's cavalry caught the people of Inner Khalkha off guard." Feng Ziying stood up and apologized: "I still want to accuse the emperor here. I secretly intercepted some of the guns that were supposed to be shipped to Liaodong and armed them. Yongping's military households and people were strong, and then joined forces with the Liaodong Army,..."

Emperor Yonglong's expression did not change. He had obviously known about this situation for a long time. It was definitely impossible to hide such a big thing from Long Jinwei. However, with Zhu Zhiren's endorsement and such a great victory, everything had been wiped away. .

"Oh? How are you going to return the guns from the Liaodong Army? You can't borrow it from Jingzhou and then repay it, right?" Emperor Yonglong said with a smile.

"Of course we have to pay it back. At present, the gun workshop jointly organized by Yongping Mansion and Guangdong Zhuangji, the Military War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau can already produce firearms, but the output is still small and the quality is not very stable. But this time After the Mongols retreat, they plan to start construction quickly and expect to achieve the original production target by the end of the year. By then, it will not be a problem to make up for the shortfall in Liaodong, and we will be better than the Western Yi Fire Gun in terms of quality. ."

Emperor Yonglong nodded with satisfaction, "Well, you are willing to take such a big risk of violating military law, and may even implicate your father, just to protect the city of Qian'an?"

"Your Majesty, my decision to defend Qian'an to the death is definitely not for the safety of Yongping Prefecture, but for the long-term plan for the future security of the capital." Feng Ziying knew that the emperor had not completely let go of his worries about this matter. It may be tolerated now, but if you don't give him a satisfactory explanation, I'm afraid it will still leave a feeling of resentment in his heart in the future.

"Oh?" Emperor Yonglong originally did not expect to get a satisfactory answer from Feng Ziying, but he did not expect that Feng Ziying would say such a thing.

"Your Majesty should probably know that due to the southern invasion of the Chahars and Waikarkhas and the fall of Miyun and Huairou, the number of refugees pouring into the capital city has inevitably reached close to 100,000, and now there are three counties in Changping, Shunyi and Pinggu. It has become a battlefield. There are now hundreds of thousands of refugees gathered outside the capital city. They have come to escape the war. It can be expected that in the next month, even if the Mongols know that they cannot break the capital city wall, they will not be willing to do so. They easily exited the border wall, so there will definitely be a series of attacks. The Jizhen Army, Xuanfu Army, and Datong Army are bound to engage in fierce battles with them on this line. With the Mongols' ranger mobility, it is estimated that the entire north of the capital city may fall. For the battlefield,…”

Emperor Yonglong frowned.

He heard the implication of Feng Ziying. The biggest problem of the war is that the mess left behind needs to be cleaned up. A war like this may produce hundreds of thousands of refugees. Their homes are destroyed, farmland is abandoned, and only people are left. The Mongols retreated. How did they survive such a miserable winter? How to survive the hungry spring next year?

It is conceivable that most of them can only sell their poor land to those wealthy gentry families, and their whole family becomes a registered peasant household. There are also some proletarians who have no land in the first place who are the most miserable. They sell their landless land. But to sell, you can only sell yourself. If you can't even sell yourself, you can only freeze to death, starve to death, or become a bandit.

The number of this group of people is ridiculous, it will be at least 30% or more. If calculated according to the consequences of this Mongolian invasion, it should not be less than 100,000 people. How to solve such a huge unstable group? Relying on government relief investment is another bottomless pit.

"This is the case for Shuntian Prefecture alone, but if Yongping Prefecture cannot resist the southern invasion of the Inner Khalkhas, Qian'an, Lulong, Changli and Luanzhou prefectures and counties alone may be There are more than 800,000 refugees. They have nowhere to go. The most likely possibility is to come to the capital. This has been the habit when encountering floods and droughts in the past, but this time it is even more shocking..."

Feng Ziying's words were a bit exaggerated, and Emperor Yonglong knew that, but even if they were exaggerated, it is very possible that there would be at least three to four hundred thousand refugees at a discount. If the refugees in Shuntian Prefecture were combined into one, then the entire Gyeonggi area would really be destroyed. Messy.

"Have you considered this?" Emperor Yonglong was a little surprised, but also a little relieved. At least this man took his responsibilities very seriously, and even knew how to share the worries of the court.

"It is foreseeable that Shuntian Prefecture will not solve these troubles for our Yongping Prefecture, and will most likely repatriate them to Yongping Prefecture. However, these hundreds of thousands of refugees have lost their property and missed the sowing season. , and there is almost nothing to help them survive this cold winter and the even more difficult spring next year, but the emperor may also know a little bit about the situation in our Yongping Mansion. In the past few years, our summer taxes were still lacking, and the relief from the treasury There is very little food. It can be said that our Yongping Prefecture is unable to solve such a problem. In the end, it will either have to be solved by the court, or these refugees will starve to death or return to the capital, or even be invaded by people like the White Lotus Sect and Wenxiang Sect. Coerced by secret societies, the rebellion started, just like the Linqing uprising a few years ago, but the scale could be much larger..."

Feng Ziying's calm eyes met the somewhat profound gaze of Emperor Yonglong, "I don't want to lie in front of His Majesty. I just went to Yongping Mansion, and I even carried some misunderstandings by our northern scholars. I don't want to be blamed for this matter." Although I thought that even if such a thing happened, my responsibility would not be big. However, as a minister, I should share your worries for you. Even if I take some risks that I thought I could bear, it would still be worth it. "

 Emperor Yonglong was slightly moved.

He didn't believe that Feng Ziying, who was born in a family of martial arts, didn't understand the consequences of intercepting the firecrackers shipped to Liaodong. He also didn't believe that Feng Ziying didn't realize what impact such consequences might have on her father's career. Feng Ziying should do the same. It is clear that his chances of success in taking such a risk are not high, and even if he succeeds, there will still be many obstacles. It can be said that as long as officials have been in the officialdom for several years, no one will choose to do such a thing. Things where the risks and benefits are not commensurate.

As Feng Ziying said before, the Ministry of War and Jizhen actually gave up the defense of Yongping Mansion. As a colleague, he was unable to guard the evacuation of Lulong, and his responsibility would not be too great. At most, his official reputation would be affected, and This risky move pales in comparison.

Emperor Yonglong pondered, maybe this person really cares about the court, or maybe he thinks that he can gain greater reputation by taking advantage of such an opportunity. Emperor Yonglong is inclined to have both, but no one has any selfish thoughts, if that's the case Man, Emperor Yonglong couldn't believe it.

 In any case, as long as you can serve the court wholeheartedly, such behavior should be rewarded based on merit.

 (End of this chapter)