"Since Your Majesty said that you should take the exam based on your ability, let's not think too much about it and let the girls study hard... In fact, His Majesty is in such good health and is not old, so the Crown Princess just passed the exam. Now, we have to wait many years before we can take any further steps! In my opinion, the dispute over the crown princess should be left to the girls to deal with on their own! What we, the older generation, want to fight for is the immediate benefits!"

Old man Ma Shiying Ma's old eyes seemed to be closed. He was leaning on a recliner and gently shaking his folding fan. The tea on the coffee table beside him had long since lost its heat.

The place where he was was still the old boat belonging to the richest man Zheng. There were three people in the boat, one was Zheng Zhilong and the other was Shen Tingyang. Among these three people, Zheng Zhilong was already a retired minister, Shen Tingyang and Ma Shiying They are already in their seventies, and they are all waiting to be "ranked among the three nobles and three orphans" - this is actually the treatment for retired ministers. They have a false name, receive a generous salary, and give guidance to the country, not to mention how happy they are!

Of course, the three of them are not lonely ministers. They have a huge family behind them, as well as disciples and former officials all over the world.

If it were left to Emperor Taizu Gao, these three would have to worry about being blacklisted, but they would not dare to connect in private like this and plan how to compete for profit.

However, Zhu Cixiang is not Zhu Yuanzhang. His throne comes from bloodline inheritance rather than competition among heroes. This year is already the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. In these 300 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has not long ago turned from decline to prosperity, achieved evolution, and defeated the two enemies who tried to replace it. The foundation of the semi-feudal and semi-capitalist dynasty that was beaten to death is certainly more solid than when Zhu Yuanzhang first founded the Ming Dynasty, and it is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

If the Ming Dynasty can completely put the "Shun" pseudo-dynasty on the stage of competing for world hegemony on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the country, then the Ming Dynasty will become more solid, and maybe it can be passed down for another 281 years... .And driving Dashun out of Sichuan is what Ma Shiying said is the immediate benefit.

And this is a huge profit at your fingertips!

Because after the Battle of Lueyang, the Dashun Kingdom could no longer gain a foothold in southern Shaanxi. When Li Dingguo led his army to retreat from Lueyang and fought and retreated into Yangping Pass, the Shun troops who were holding on to Nanzheng and Dingjun Mountains also After receiving the order, they abandoned the castle and retreated to Sichuan via Micang Road and Lychee Road. The Shun army of Yunyang Prefecture abandoned Yun County and Yunxi in the Han River Basin, retreated to Yunyang, and retreated to the mountains to continue to persist.

After losing the large mountainous areas in Hanzhong and southern Gongchang Prefecture, the fertile plain areas of Sichuan Province have lost most of their barriers. Although there are still some mountainous areas remaining across the north of the Sichuan Basin, they have lost their strategic depth.

Originally, there were seven to eight hundred miles of continuous mountain roads leading from the Guanzhong Plain to Jianmen Pass. A normal march would have taken more than twenty days!

However, there is only a mere 200 miles of mountain road from Yangping Pass to Jianmen Pass, and the steepness cannot be compared with the road from Yangping Pass to Sanguan.

There were nine battles including the Battle of Lueyang, the Battle of Mioxian, the Battle of Baohe, the Battle of Sanguan Road, the Battle of Baoxie Road, the Battle of Ziwu Road, the Battle of Tangluo Road, the Battle of Qishan Road, and the Battle of Hanzhong Mansion. The intensive battles also greatly consumed the strength of Li Dingguo's troops.

According to the report of the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi (the acting governor is Yan Yingyuan), excluding the Battle of Mianxian and the Battle of Baohe, where the Ming army was defeated, in the remaining seven battles, the Ming army captured and captured a total of roving bandit soldiers. More than thirty thousand!

Among them, there are more than 15,000 corpses of Shun soldiers and soldiers buried, and more than 16,000 prisoners... This is very difficult to fake! Therefore, the real losses of Shun army must be much more than 30,000, and it may even be

Double.

In other words, 10% of the 600,000 soldiers in Dashun have been exhausted, and the 10% that have been exhausted are still their elites!

Of course, the losses of the Ming army were not small. It is gratifying that Wu Guogui and his army lost 30,000 people! Wu Sangui lost more than 4,000 people in Lueyang. Liu Sheng also lost more than 3,000 people on the Qishan Road. Yan Yingyuan commanded three guards

They fought a series of fierce battles with Li Dingguo's more than 40,000 Dashun troops who stayed in Hanzhong Mansion and Baoxie Road, Ziwu Road, and Tangluo Road, which also caused more than 4,000 casualties on their own side. Shi Dewei's attack on Qiuchi Mountain was even more devastating.

A mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​​​blood, a total of 8,000 people were beaten to death... Adding up all kinds of people, there are almost 50,000! This does not include the righteous people lost in Lueyang.

However, the losses on Dashun's side were real people lost, while the losses on Daming's side were casualties, and the injured could still be rescued, so the final loss should be less than 50,000. Moreover, the total strength of the Ming army was dozens more than that of Dashun.

million, the same loss can be easily replenished.

In addition, for some reason, the people in southern Shaanxi particularly loved the Ming Dynasty and were crying and clamoring to join the army to fight the bandits, so it was easy to make up for the war losses.

If this happens everywhere in Sichuan, then this fruit is really ripe!

"This fruit won't fall into our hands, right?" Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "Wu Sangui put his life on the line... The next governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi will never be replaced by a southerner. I guess

Either Wu Sanfu will take action, or one of Wu Guogui, Wu Guoyong and Wu Guozheng will be chosen."

Ma Shiying said: "Of course it's not our turn to be the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi. Isn't there also the Governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan?"

Shen Tingyang frowned and said: "Brother Yaocao said Qin Zhongzhou? Can he defeat the rogue bandits in Sichuan?"

Qin Zhongzhou refers to Qin Liangyu's nephew Qin Yiming. After Qin Liangyu's death, he followed Ma Shiying to fight against the bandits in Sichuan, Guizhou and other places. He had no merit but hard work. Therefore, after Ma Shiying's second term as governor expired, he was recommended to take over as governor.

"Why not?" Ma Shiying smiled, "Although we rely on the Northern Army to revive the Ming Dynasty, when has the Southern Army in this dynasty been worse than the Northern Army? And the Southern Army has always been stronger than the Zhejiang Army and the Sichuan Army. Now although the Zhejiang Army

It has been in decline for many years, but the Sichuan army has become more and more brave as it fights! And...do you two still remember the Huya Mountain Rebellion at the beginning of the month?"

"The Huya Mountain Rebellion?" Zheng Zhilong nodded, "I know, what does this have to do with taking Sichuan?"

Ma Shiying smiled: "The rebels in Huya Mountain are actually the key for our Sichuan Army to go to Sichuan! Now the southern Shaanxi side has lost its commander, and the army is in urgent need of reinforcements. It will take three or two months before they can enter the army. If the Sichuan Army can take it by surprise,

There is no need to take down the entire Sichuan, as long as we can take Chongqing Prefecture, no, as long as we can take Kuizhou Prefecture, the Northerners rely most on the army, and they will be greatly eclipsed!"

"this......"

"Is there still such a thing?"

Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang looked at each other, both showing a little interest.

"Yao Cao," Zheng Zhilong asked, "you told Mr. Zheng and Mr. Wu Mei about such confidential matters. Do you want me and Mr. Mei to help you?"

Ma Shiying nodded and said: "Although the Governor-General of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan has the power to make emergency decisions, the chaos in Huya Mountain is under the control of the factory guards. Without His Majesty's permission, this credit will not go to the Sichuan Army!"

"Your Majesty, can you nod?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

Ma Shiying said with a smile: "Then it depends on whether you are more powerful with the money bag or the handle of the knife!"

Zheng Zhilong nodded, "I understand!" He glanced at Shen Tingyang again: "Mei Weng, now is an unexpected opportunity! Should we...should give it a push?"

...

"What? The Ministry of Finance has no money?"

It's been a long time since Zhu Cixi heard the story about "the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money"! How could the Ministry of Household Affairs have no money? And just after Wu Sangui died, your Ministry of Household Affairs had no money. Isn't this a coincidence?

He looked at Wei Zaode, the chief assistant, and asked, "Wei Qing, why do you have no money?"

The person who reported this matter was Wei Zaode, the first assistant. He did not formally submit the memorial, but stayed in the hall after the noon meeting and talked about it in private.

"It's not that there is no money at all, it's just that money is a little tight..." Wei Zaode said, "The original budget of the Ministry of Household Affairs will be almost enough after the war in southern Shaanxi this year. I didn't expect the war to progress so smoothly, nor did I expect the losses to be so huge. , I didn’t expect that southern Shaanxi would be so poor under the governance of rogue bandits. What I least expected was that the people in southern Shaanxi support the Ming Dynasty so much, support His Majesty so much, and that so many righteous people want to join the army..."

What are you talking about? Zhu Cihong thought to himself: Why are you, the chief minister, so unforesighted? You didn't even think of such obvious things - now that the Ming Dynasty is prosperous and the people are safe, and the Holy Emperor is in power, isn't it normal for the people of southern Shaanxi to support you?

"Approximately how much is the shortage?" Zhu Cixiang asked.
Chapter completed!