Chapter 1756 Questionnaire of Renzi Juan

   "Your father should know who Liu Dongyang and Tu Wenxiu are. Using Liu Dongyang as the vanguard has already made the Ministry of War a little dissatisfied. Now that he recommends Qi Bingzhong as the general soldier of Ningxia, your father is still too Menglang."

  Qi Yongtai's tone was calm, Fang Zheng's face didn't show much expression, "This kind of taboo thing can be done once or twice, if there are too many, it will backfire."

  Qi Yongtai could say that, and Feng Ziying also knew that it was for his own sake that he would say such heart-to-heart words. This is someone who is questioning.

Zhang Huaichang, Minister of the Ministry of War, was born in Liaodong, and his whole heart was to destroy the Jianzhou Jurchen. As long as the generals in the border town had the ability, they had always been more lenient. And it was not Xu Dahua's turn to intervene in this kind of matter. If dad has an opinion, don't ask, it's Li Sancai who can be cured, and maybe Zhang Jingqiu, the censor of Zuodu?

"Master Qi reminds me more, and my disciples will write to remind my father." Feng Ziying nodded and saluted, "My father also mentioned in the letter to the students that the officers and men in the second town of Ganning and Ning are aggressive, but their military discipline is lax, and they have a history of being cold towards the court. Resentment, if you can sharpen the soldiers of the second town through warfare and give them the opportunity to make meritorious service on the battlefield, it will be considered well deserved..."

  Qi Yongtai nodded slightly, the three towns and four towns have always been the most poor, and the financial resources of the imperial court are limited. They always guarantee Ji Liao first, then Xuanda, and finally Sanbian. It is reasonable for the soldiers of the three sides to be dissatisfied.

Now that the North-South War is about to start, Feng Tang brought out some of the most passionate soldiers from the Three Sides and Four Towns Army. Now the imperial court will give you the opportunity to make meritorious service. As long as you can win, then everything will be easy to talk about, and you will have the confidence to fight for better treatment.

   "Your father's arrangement makes sense, but you need to be cautious in employing people, and don't give them a handle." Qi Yongtai just reminded, without any in-depth intention, and that is not the field he is in charge of.

At present, the cabinet has also made a division of labor. Li Tingji is in poor health and has been bedridden. Ye Xianggao presides over the overall government affairs. , and at the same time be responsible for the stability of the entire Northland, while Li Sancai is in charge of coordinating the entire military affairs.

   That is to say, the current cabinet tends to transfer to the wartime cabinet, and Qi Yongtai has also changed from being simply in charge of personnel to now taking care of the security of the Northland rear.

Of course, this also makes sense. Qi Yongtai was originally a great Confucian in the North, and he has a high prestige in the North. Now that the North and the South are at war, the stability of the North is even more important, especially in the face of a severe drought that may affect the entire situation in the North. Stabilization With this large rear area, the army can march south with peace of mind.

  The core of the stability of Northland is the stability of Gyeonggi, and the core of Gyeonggi is Suncheon Prefecture, which is the capital city, so it is only natural for Qi Yongtai to talk to Feng Ziying.

"As far as the current situation is concerned, the impact of the drought in Shanxi and Shaanxi may gradually become apparent. The imperial court has sent two patrols to Shanshan and Shaanxi respectively to urge the localities to implement relief. The imperial court has also decided to exempt land tax for drought-affected areas in Shanxi and Shaanxi for two years,... "

Qi Yongtai's words did not get Feng Ziying's approval, "Master Qi, this is far from enough. The disciples are well aware of the barren and poor conditions in Shanxi and Shaanxi. We depend on the sky for food. The severe drought has affected many places too seriously, especially in Shaanxi. The imperial court has to find a way to solve the living problems of the victims, and not let them gather and flee, otherwise there will be chaos."

Although the imperial court pays attention to the drought in the north, it still responds according to the past practice, mainly relying on the local area, and then the imperial court sends personnel to supervise, but the severity of the drought this year is much higher than before, and the imperial court is precisely when it is weakest. It will be dangerous if it becomes a peasant uprising storm like in the late Ming Dynasty in the previous life.

  Qi Yongtai still attached great importance to Feng Ziying's opinion, nodded and asked: "What else do you think the court can do?"

"The problem caused by the severe drought is actually one. There is no food to eat. The victims eat wild vegetables, grass roots, and tree bark. In the end, they can only eat white clay, and then wait to die. At that time, rather than being starved to death, it is better to let go Take a gamble, maybe pry open the warehouses of the gentry and the government, you can always grab some food, even if you are caught by the government in the future, it is worse than starving to death now,..."

Of course Feng Ziying doesn't know what it's like to die of starvation, but she has heard her father say it countless times, and Feng Zuo and Feng You have also talked about that situation. , I can't take care of the knife, ax and neck.

  Qi Yongtai frowned, "You mean to transport grain from other places into Shanshan?"

   "Transporting grain from other places into Shanshan and Shaanxi is not small, and it consumes too much." Feng Ziying pondered and said, "It can only be said to solve part of the problem. Of course, it is also necessary, but my disciple believes that the key is still in the local area."

   "Local?" Qi Yongtai stroked his beard in silence, of course he knew what Feng Ziying was referring to, local gentry and merchants.

"Yes, in fact, it is true to say that Shanshan and Shanxi suffered a severe drought, and the harvest was reduced, but didn't it mean that there was no food?" Feng Ziying said to herself: "We all know that, in fact, which gentry house does not have enough food?" Eat food for three to five years? Just refuse to take it out. There are several reasons for this. One is to prepare for the use of the whole family, the other is to sell it for the highest price, the third is that the poor have no money to buy it, and the last is Worried about what will happen if I feed these poor people and develop a habit?"

  Qi Yongtai nodded. As a disciple, he is still very good at understanding people's hearts. Of course, the gentry and merchants are not short of food, and they would rather let it go bad than take it out. There are only a few reasons for this.

"But this time it's different. The drought is too severe. They want to sell it but no one can afford it. Moreover, they should know that the troops from the three borders and four towns will be transferred to the east. The frontier troops in Shanxi Town and Datong Town will also fight. It means that the imperial army in the whole north has been weakened. Once the disaster victims revolt, what does it mean? It means that even if the imperial court quells the civil unrest in the future, then everything about them will be wiped out. This point of interest must be explained, and some people may be aware of it , some people may not be so smart, they need one-on-one insight from the government,..."

  Qi Yongtai held his forehead and thought deeply, "That being said, if these people are asked to provide so much food, they will definitely not agree."

Qi Yongtai knows the nature of these people better than Feng Ziying. It is okay to let them give out a little food to help them gain a reputation and make a good impression on the government, but if there is more, it will not work. It's the government's business.

"Don't let them take it out for nothing." Feng Ziying was confident, "The imperial court still has to allocate a large sum of money to various places, and the local government will buy it from the homes of these gentry and merchants. The price will rise appropriately according to the average grain price last year to ensure that the local disaster victims can survive Ming Xia,..."

  Qi Yongtai couldn't help shaking his head again, "Let the government do this, I'm afraid it will go astray again, and there will inevitably be many nasty things happening inside, increasing the scale layer by layer, taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents,..."

"Master Qi! I don't care too much. As long as we can ensure that there will be no major riots in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and no large-scale riots will be formed. All costs are worth it. We can't control so many individual cases. In addition, the imperial court can also send more people to supervise and prevent deviations..." Feng Ziying said in a deep voice: "I even think that if the gentry and merchants in some places are too mean, then let the frontier army send out a movie to play the rioters who caused the incident." I don’t hesitate to play a few scenes of killing chickens and scaring monkeys.”

  Qi Yongtai looked at his disciple in amazement, and said unwillingly after a while: "Why is this so?"

Feng Ziying sneered in her heart, you have never seen the great uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, no one will be able to do anything. Even if it is really suppressed and pacified, the whole Northland will be greatly damaged, and more importantly, The order and people's hearts were disturbed, and the court's prestige plummeted. This was something he didn't want to see in his position and wanted to maintain the rule of the Great Zhou.

"Master Qi, in fact, you know very well that those landlords and gentry may have done worse than what the disciples said. They can do everything that violates human relations and natural principles for the sake of profit. Ordinary people are not regarded as human beings in their minds. It’s just lifeless slaves and goods, and it’s too difficult to ask them to provide money and food without any exchange of benefits, even for the government.”

Feng Ziying was still very calm, narrating the facts in an orderly and expressionless manner: "But the reality before us is that the Northland cannot be chaotic, otherwise the imperial court may face collapse. Therefore, sometimes we have to choose some extraordinary measures, really. When it comes to a critical juncture, it might not be possible to let the frontier troops do some extravagant things, of course, the government can't come forward,..."

Qi Yongtai has learned a lot about his disciple's audacity, but Qi Yongtai still can't accept this kind of disregard of the discipline law today, so frankly. This is a disciple who was taught in Qingtan Academy. what?

This may be related to the customs he has developed in the border area for a long time. The violent and unruly mentality of the soldiers in the border town has affected his character, so that even after he became an official through the imperial examination, it still remains. time will emerge.

But Qi Yongtai also admits that some of Feng Ziying's proposals are quite targeted. The exploitation and oppression of the common people by the landowners and gentry in Shanshan and Shanxi are too much, just like Feng Ziying said. It is self-evident to choose civil commotion and riots or killing chickens and scaring monkeys to eradicate one or two bad gentry.

   Seeing that Qi Yongtai was not opposing his point of view, but just stroked his beard and murmured, Feng Ziying knew that his master was still moved.

  Although my master is upright, he is not such a pedantic generation. Feng Ziying is still clear about this, otherwise she would not have made this suggestion.

  (end of this chapter)