The loss of Jiangnan was shocked by the Qing court. In addition, the tens of thousands of Qing government troops in Jiangnan were annihilated by the Ming army, which not only lost a part of Jiangnan, but also caused the Qing court to have a serious shortage of troops.

During the Kangxi period, the total number of troops in the country was about 650,000, but this was only the number on the book. The actual number should be smaller than this number, about 600,000. If the border troops that cannot be used were removed, the number could be allocated was even smaller. Since Yuan Qi raised the army in Zhejiang in the 47th year of the Kangxi period, the Qing court has lost more than 100,000 in total troops in more than a year, which is a huge loss for the Qing court, which had only 600,000 in the conventional army.

In order to replenish troops and rebuild military towns, the Qing court began to increase the number of recruits at the end of the 47th year of the Kangxi reign. However, due to the loss of Jiangnan and the losses of tens of thousands of troops, although the Qing army was able to replenish these troops from the people as soon as possible, from the perspective of overall combat effectiveness and armed level, the strength of the Qing army began to decline with the failure of the Jiangnan Battle.

More importantly, Jiangnan has always been a major tax base for the Qing court, especially Jiangning Weaving Factory, Suzhou Weaving Department and Hangzhou Zhizao. These three prefectures have always been Kangxi's wallets and are directly under the jurisdiction of the Office of Internal Affairs. Now, these three major weaving factories no longer exists as the entire Jiangnan is lost. Even Cao Yin and Li Xu's confidant fell into the hands of a rebel, which made Kangxi feel very sad.

In addition to Kangxi, there was another person who hated Zhu Yicheng even more. He was Kangxi's prince Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince was well-known in the court and was known as the Eighth Prince. But in fact, the Eighth Prince was able to win over so many officials in the court based on his personal charm and status as a prince, and was also inseparable from the large amount of money he had in his hands.

Unlike other princes, the Eighth Prince started to extend his power to Jiangnan very early. It can be said that Jiangnan is the basic base of the Eighth Prince, especially the Governor of Liangjiang, Gali and others are the Eighth Prince's agents in Jiangnan. Every year, he can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of income from Jiangnan. In addition, through the officialdom and private industries, his profits have exceeded one million. Now everything has disappeared with the loss of Jiangnan. Without this large investment, how can an ordinary prince compete with the prince and other brothers for the throne?

Therefore, when the news of Jiangnan's loss came, the Eighth Prince was the most angry. For this reason, he asked several times to meet Kangxi and asked to go south to recover Jiangnan as soon as possible. However, although Kangxi was extremely angry about the loss of Jiangnan, he even kicked over the desk in the study room for the first time. For some reason, after so long, Kangxi did not immediately mobilize troops to counterattack Jiangnan. On the contrary, this matter gradually fell aside.

In the study room, Kangxi was summoning Ma Qi, He Yi, Geng E, Kuixu and Longkodo who had just returned to Beijing.

After listening to Longkodo's story quietly, after Longkodo left Beijing, he led his troops to quell the rebellion of the Bagua Cult in Shanxi, and then mobilized all the rebels in the northern Zhili area. In this way, the Bagua Cult forces north of the Yellow River were basically wiped out by Longkodo, and the local area was cleared. Later, Longkodo led his troops to Henan to be responsible for clearing the Zhu Jiancai troops who were in charge of the throne there. However, before he could launch a full-scale attack on the joint forces, news of the loss of Jiangnan suddenly came.

In order to avoid the Ming army taking advantage of the situation to cross the river and attack north, Kangxi hurriedly ordered the troops to set up defenses in the north of the Yangtze River, which led to Zhu Jiancai's escape. Now, in Henan and the Qing army are still in a stalemate. As for Yuan Qi's troops in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the entire battle situation has slowed down.

"Emperor, after Jiangning lost, the southern thieves are now in great power. The slaves are really insufficient. Please continue to increase their troops to ensure the safety of Jiangbei. According to what I saw, as long as Jiangbei can be sufficient, the slaves will be sure to completely solve the Zhu Jiancai Department in Henan first. Once Zhu Jiancai Department is destroyed, Yuan Qi in Wuchang will be alone. After destroying these two thieves, he can turn around and fight the Southern thieves again!"

Longkodo finally suggested that although he made great contributions to the troops this time, the key is that most of the soldiers he brought were cavalry. In the northern plains, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry is conceivable. In addition, Kangxi also transferred an elite force from the Fengtai camp to command him. With these forces in his hands, Longkodo was enough to gallop.

However, now that Nanjing is lost, the Yangtze River natural dangers are all in the hands of the Ming army, and the defense of the Jiangbei line is particularly important. Once the Ming army in the south takes the navy as the pioneer, they can fight wherever they want, and can directly land and break through from weak points. Therefore, in this case, sufficient troops are extremely important. If there are not enough soldiers in their hands, it is impossible to set up an absolutely reliable defense line in Jiangbei, which has thousands of miles of miles away.

"Ma Qi! Geng'er!"

"Slave is here!" The two of them quickly stood up.

"What do you think about what Longkodo said?" Kangxi asked with a narrow eyes. Ma Qi secretly complained in his heart. How could recruit soldiers be so simple? It all requires money! But now the Ministry of Revenue cannot afford much money at all. That's right, Ma Qi, even the prince, has recovered the debts of the Ministry of Revenue before, and has recovered a lot. However, since the 47th year of Kangxi, natural disasters and man-made disasters have been constantly, and the money is like flowing water.

What's more, when Hangzhou was captured by the Ming army and the Ming army captured Jiangning in such a short time, the recovery of the debts of the Ministry of Revenue became a waste of paper. The situation is now critical. Not to mention that the prince had deliberately relaxed the gap before, causing the pursuit to fail. Now that Jiangnan is lost, even if the officials who have the money can't pay it back, it is impossible for them to take out the money for nothing. Once the money is beaten, wouldn't it be a big loss?

"Emperor, according to the Ministry of War, now he will recruit at least 200,000 to 300,000 troops, and the cost is expected to be more than 5 million taels. This does not include subsequent military pay, military supplies and food and grass expenses." Geng E is the Minister of War. No matter whether it is a matter of money or not, he spoke out the plan of the Ministry of War directly.

After hearing Geng's reply, Kangxi turned his eyes to Ma Qi. At this time, Ma Qi was very distressed. Five million taels? Thank God for the Ministry of Revenue now that there is one million taels. Where did he find the gap of four million taels? Isn't this killing him?

But Kangxi had to answer when he asked, and immediately said with a gritty voice: "The slave can solve the problem of 800,000 taels of silver first. As for the rest, it will take some time to raise the troops. The Ministry of War may recruit soldiers first. The slave can do his best to ensure the subsequent funds..."

Speaking of this, Ma Qi's forehead was filled with sweat. Everyone couldn't help feeling a little sad when they saw that Ma Xiang, who was above ten thousand people alone, was forced into this shape by Yinzi.

"Your Majesty, I think that it is really difficult to solve the income gap in the Ministry of Revenue in Jiangnan. According to the views of the Ministry of Revenue, it is necessary to increase revenue and reduce expenditures. As for reducing expenditures, it is nothing more than to reduce some unnecessary expenses. Put the overall situation first and spend the money to the point of realizing it. As for opening up the source, I dared to ask the emperor to issue an order to collect taxes!" He Yi, as a hardcore in Ma Qi's faction, immediately gave Ma Qi a speech, and at the same time changed the topic and pushed the shortage of silver in the Ministry of Revenue to the loss of Jiangnan.

"I think Lord He's words are reasonable. Jiangnan has always been a place of taxation in our dynasty. Now Jiangnan is occupied by the Southern thieves, and this tax impact is quite large. In addition, the imperial court needs a lot of money in reorganization of army or recruitment of troops, and the rebels such as the Southern thieves and Yuan, Zhu and others need a lot of money. Therefore... I also asked the emperor to consider the Qing Dynasty, put the people of the world first, and issue special taxes to compensate for the shortcomings. When the Southern thieves are pacified in the future and the world returns to peace, it will not be too late to reduce the benefits of the world!" Kuixu also quickly said that he was the son of Mingzhu, the powerful prime minister of Kangxi in his early years. Although Mingzhu was questioned by Kangxi, Kuixu has always been valued by Kangxi and praised by Kangxi as "excellent character". Now he is in charge of the Hanlin Academy. Although his position is not very high, his importance is no less than that of an ordinary minister in Shangshu.

In fact, Kangxi was very clear about the situation of the Ministry of Revenue, and knew that Ma Qi would definitely not be able to bring so much money, especially now that Jiangnan is gone, the next investment will be reduced by a large amount, and there will be money everywhere, so it will be difficult to make ends meet. Then, let alone recruiting troops to counterattack Jiangnan, the court will be unstable if it is not done well.

But Kangxi was a benevolent monarch and even announced to the world that he would never increase taxes. Therefore, Kangxi could never mention the topic of taxation, otherwise how would the people in the world think of him as a benevolent monarch? But in fact, since the end of last year, private taxation has been underway. Not to mention the others, just talk about the fire consumption among the people. The collection of fire consumption in just one year has doubled. In addition to filling the income of the Ministry of Revenue, the money has fallen into the pockets of officials at all levels.

"You can discuss this matter..." Kangxi finally agreed to the taxation in this way. Ma Qi finally felt relieved when he heard this. As long as Kangxi let it go, it would be fine. As for how to collect and how much, it was what they slaves were going to do.

"The Southern thieves are now in full swing. The Jiangbei defense line must be ensured. Longkodo said just now, stabilize Jiangbei first, and wait until Yuan Qi is solved. Zhu Jiancai and the two rebels, I, the Qing Dynasty, will free up my hands to deal with the Southern thieves. However, the gap in troops is quite large, and it takes time to recruit troops. Do you have a way to stabilize the Jiangbei defense line?" Kangxi turned the topic to the Jiangbei defense line and the Jiangnan Ming army and asked.

Everyone looked at each other. After a while, Ma Qi was the first to react and quickly replied: "Emperor, after Jiangning's defeat, after Jiangning fell, Galli, Governor of Liangjiang, Cao Yin, Suzhou Weaving Manufacturer Li Xu, Jiangning Eight Banners Ginseng Ferler and more than 30,000 Eight Banners' children were all caught in the enemy. Although these people had lost their territory, they were ministers of the Qing Dynasty and even the emperor's slaves. The slaves felt that they could send people south to meet the southern thieves first. If they could be saved by chance, I think the world would praise the emperor's benevolence."

Hearing Ma Qi say this, Kangxi's expression instantly eased, and a hint of satisfaction appeared in his eyes. He nodded and said the word "ke".
Chapter completed!