Chapter 526 The Jade Seal of the Kingdom reappears!

Sure enough, under the relentless pursuit of the Hu Ben Army, the thieves in Wulian Mountain were constantly beaten to death or captured alive. By October, most of the thieves in Wulian Mountain had been eliminated. The remaining few horse thieves were also targeted by various bandit suppression teams of the Hu Ben Army. It was only a matter of time to eliminate the entire army. Zhang Zhun estimated that if there were no accidents, all the bandits in Wulian Mountain would definitely be able to be eliminated by the end of the year.

The thieves in Wulian Mountain must have never expected that the Hu Ben Army was so cruel that they would follow them desperately. The Hu Ben Army was like a candy, and as long as they were touched, they would not be able to get rid of it. If they were discovered by the Hu Ben Army's squad, unless they had extremely skilled skills and could successfully get rid of the Hu Ben Army's pursuit, what was waiting for them would inevitably be the end of being beaten to death.

Dugu Lie is a horse thief in Wulian Mountain, and is naturally quite familiar with his former accomplices. With his guidance, the Hu Ben Army will naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort to deal with these horse thieves. At the same time, the Hu Ben Army also used the horse thieves who surrendered as guides to ask them to take them to find other horse thieves. As long as these horse thieves who surrendered to make meritorious contributions, they can forgive their previous guilt and receive rewards. They are naturally quite active.

The Hu Ben Army also vigorously promoted the methods used in Daze Mountain, Pingdu Prefecture, and actively encouraged the killing of horse thieves within each other. According to the previous practice, as long as you bring a head of an accomplice or a horse, you can be pardoned. If you bring more heads of an accomplice or more war horses, you can receive money on the spot. If you want, you can also join the Hu Ben Army.

Such measures have caused serious divisions within the horse thieves. Everyone suspects and guards each other, and eventually becomes a mess. Once the organization and discipline are lost, no matter how many horse thieves are, they will only be chased. Many horse thieves die in the hands of their own people and become tools for companions to seek credit. In September alone, the Hu Ben Army received more than 300 horse thieves' heads and more than 230 war horses. Most of the war horses owned by the horse thieves have now become the property of the Hu Ben Army.

Under the heavy pressure of the Hu Ben Army, many horse thieves who were not very guilty of their own surrendered and headed for rebirth. Even if those horse thieves with great sins fled to the northern Fulai Mountain, Maer Mountain, Changshan and other mountainous areas, they were still killed by the Hu Ben Army team that was chasing. For a moment, the entire Wulian Mountains were in a panic and were full of soldiers. The lucky horse thieves fled to Jinan Prefecture and other places, and no longer dared to stay in Qingzhou Prefecture.

"sharp!"

"ability!"

"Very good!"

Speaking of the Hu Ben Army's ability to suppress bandits, all the people raised their thumbs up.

The bandits in Wulian Mountain have been plaguing Andongwei for many years. In the past, the officers and soldiers had no choice but to deal with them. Now, the Hu Ben Army has only taken less than a month to let the bandits in Wulian Mountain disappear. Such combat power is really admirable. It is truly a match for the Tartars! It is many times stronger than the official army!

As the captain of the firefighting team, Liu Hang came to Junan County again. After obtaining the accurate data, Liu Hang quickly launched a propaganda operation in Andongwei. As long as he was willing to move to Junan County, everyone could get ten acres of land and be exempted from tax for three years. Such treatment was still very attractive. Without the threat of thieves from Wulian Mountain, Junan County was also safe. So, military households began to move from Andongwei to Junan County one after another.

Under the organization of Liu Hang and under the protection of the Hu Ben Army, these newly relocated people soon opened tens of thousands of acres of arable land in Junan County, and seized the time to sow crops such as winter wheat and peanuts. In addition, crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes were also sown in large quantities in the surrounding mountains. Andongwei's craftsmen were also organized to dig wells, build water conservancy, and build houses. Liu Hang's preliminary plan showed that about 30,000 people could live in Junan County.

During the construction of Junan County, there was a small episode about wild boars. Due to the rampant wild boars in Junan County, the Huben Army also vigorously eliminated wild boars while suppressing thieves. In the past, ordinary muskets had almost no harm to wild boars, and the damage of arrowheads was also very low. Hunters could only use primitive tools such as traps to capture wild boars, which was very low in efficiency, resulting in wild boars rampant around Junan County. These groups of wild boars appeared in large numbers, destroying crops and farmland. Ordinary thieves did not dare to collide head-on when encountering these fierce wild boars.

However, the Hu Ben Army is different. The Minnie bullet fired by the Hu Ben Gun can effectively knock the wild boar to the ground. Generally speaking, as long as it hits the key point, a Minnie bullet can kill a wild boar. If it doesn't hit the key point, just three or four Minnie bullets can also make the wild boar lie on the ground. The shooting distance of the Hu Ben Gun Gun is far, so it can successfully kill the wild boar before the wild boar makes a fierce counterattack. Therefore, every time the Hu Ben Army is dispatched, a large number of wild boars will be brought back.

The Hu Ben Army couldn't finish eating so much wild boar meat, so it was distributed to the new residents of Junan County for free as daily meat to supplement nutrition. The excess wild boars were sent back to Andong City for the people there to taste them. The two major specialties in Wulian County, wild boars and thieves, gradually became extinct under the strong attack of the Hu Ben Army. According to incomplete statistics, in September alone, the Hu Ben Army killed five or six hundred wild boars.

After traveling to the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Zhun, who had not eaten wild boar meat, had completely eaten enough this time. He tried all kinds of methods. He was full of people in later generations, and it was impossible to have so many wild boars. This time he was in Wulian Mountain. In addition to wild boars, other wild animals in Wulian Mountain are also very rich, including yellow zither, foxes, wild pheasants, etc., which became the favorites of the soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army.

However, at this critical moment, Zhang Zhun had to leave Junan County. Because at the end of September, Maoyans sent a top-secret piece of information. The information was sent by Rainbow Six and had a lot of content. The most important one was that the Tartars were about to launch a third invasion!

Rainbow No. 6 is Ma Yi. The information he sent out by lurking in Shenyang and risking his life is extraordinary. In the information, Ma Yi said that in order to save the accomplices in Dengzhou City, the Tatars were planning a third invasion in an effort to retaliate against the Ming Dynasty. In the past month, the atmosphere of preparation in Shenyang has been very strong. A large amount of war materials, as well as horses, cattle and sheep, gathered from all around to Shenyang.

In recent times, the Tartars' envoys have been traveling back and forth between Shenyang and Mongolian tribes. The princes and princes of several major Mongolian tribes have recently been to Shenyang. The Tartars also announced several Mongolian-Manchu marriages. Huang Taiji was also preparing to confer the widow of Lin Danhan as a concubine. At the same time, the Korqin tribe was also the beautiful girl Hailanzhu of the Korqin tribe. The Korqin tribe is an important ally of the Tartars, and the Korqin tribe's relationship with the Tartars is closer. This Korqin tribe settlement is the only way for every Tartar invasion.

In addition, some people from North Korea came to Chenyang, who was a prince named Li Ding. This person was the younger brother of North Korea King Li. His purpose was obviously self-evident, and it must be for the safety of the Tatars' own rear. There is news that the Korean vassal army may help the Tatars guard certain areas in Liaodong, but Ma Yi has no evidence to confirm it.

Ma Yi mentioned in the intelligence that the third invasion of the Tartars must be larger than the previous two times. In the previous two times, the Tartars were purely for looting. There is no fixed statement whether they could be robbed or how many they could be robbed. However, this time, the Tartars' invasion was a revenge. Many slave chiefs clamored to take revenge on the Ming Dynasty, and to razed the northern part of the Ming Dynasty to the ground and slaughter it.

According to Ma Yi's estimate, the Tartars dispatched at least 50,000 troops. Among them, the number of Mongolian cavalry may increase greatly. Because the Tartars successfully surrendered to the Mongolian tribes this year, which brought great help to the Tartars. After Lin Dankhan's death, the Mongolian tribes had bad relations with the Ming Kingdom. Therefore, following the Tartars and retaliated against the Ming Kingdom was also what the Mongolian cavalry was willing to accept.

The large increase in the number of Mongolian cavalry means that after entering the hinterland of Ming Dynasty, the places that the Tartars may plague are larger, more and farther away. As long as there is enough force to cover the flanks, the main force of the Tartars cavalry will go deep into Shandong, which is no problem. At that time, the entire Northern Zhili, northern Shanxi, and western Shandong may become battlefields. Ma Yi speculated that even if the Tartars cannot directly fight with the Tiger Army, it is very likely that they will force the Ming court to put pressure on Zhang Zhun through force.

The atmosphere of the Hu Ben Army suddenly became tense.

At the same time, news came from Jiangnan that the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce was postponed. The date was changed to March next year. The lonely sail was distant and the blue sky was gone, and fireworks were in Yangzhou in March. It is indeed a good choice to hold a chamber of talks in Yangzhou in March. Yangzhou in March is the most beautiful season of the year. Big businesses traveling to Yangzhou can enjoy the spring scenery of Yangzhou more comfortably.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that there must be a reason for the rescheduling of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce this time. The reason for the postponement of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce is unknown to the outside world, but Zhang Zhun is very clear. It is nothing more than the big merchants in Jiangnan who have serious differences over the arrival of Zhang Zhun. Before this disagreement is eliminated, the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce may continue to postpone it.

Yes, Zhang Zhun is indeed able to fight and can indeed give them a sense of security. If the Tartars had the intention to go south, Zhang Zhun could block them and protect the safety of Jiangnan. However, Zhang Zhun was also very destructive. Many of the policies implemented by Zhang Zhun were very afraid of Jiangnan's big businesses and landlords. Especially the "Juntian Ling", which really violated the rights and interests of too many wealthy families. It can even be said that Jiangnan's big landlords' fear of Juntian Ling was completely inferior to the Tartars.

The powerful landlords in Jiangnan have the most land, with hundreds of thousands of acres. Ordinary wealthy families have tens of thousands of acres of land. If the land does not exceed 10,000 acres, they are embarrassed to tell others that they have abundant fertile land. To be honest, there is no so-called self-cultivation farmers in Jiangnan, all of them have the characteristic economy of big landlords. Once the "Junior Land Order" is implemented in Jiangnan, these people will inevitably resist with the strongest attitude.

These big landlords vigorously planted economic crops, which was quite a bit of a manor economy. For example, Tan Xiao’s business method in Changshu, Suzhou is quite typical. His business scale was large and he achieved practical success. He hired more than a hundred villagers to work for him, and he rented out part of the land and hired workers to operate it.

Judging from his tens of thousands of land, from reclamation, planting to management, the number of employees required is a large number of employees. Most of the products in Tan Xiaozhuang's fields are put on the market, and the space utilization is very clever and reasonable. It can be said that this is a three-dimensional farm for the purpose of commercial production.

There is also Pan Yunduan in the Wanli period. Among the one or two thousand acres of land owned by his farm, a considerable number of employees were hired to operate. The varieties of crops planted are also diverse, including rice, wheat, beans, rapeseed, cotton, vegetables, as well as watermelon, dates, peach, persimmon, cherry, orange, plum, plum, fragrant round and other fruits, osmanthus, osmanthus, plum blossoms, peony, rose, bamboo, cypress, pine, holly, cypress, palm and other flowers and trees. In addition to being used for the farm products, some of them are also put on the market. It is also a typical farm-style operation.

These manor economies are based on a large number of fields. The smallest manors have thousands of acres, large manors, and even tens of thousands of acres. It can be said that such a manor economy is actually dominated by the Jiangnan economy. People in Jiangnan are already accustomed to this economic model. Zhang Zhun wants to overthrow it all at once, so of course they will not do it.

In addition, the Donglin Party is also a big constraint. Most members of the Donglin Party have a large amount of land. For example, Ye Xianggao's family owns more than 100,000 mu of fertile land, and their family property is no less than one million taels of silver. If Zhang Zhun implements the equal-field order, Ye Xianggao may have to jump out of the grave and fight Zhang Zhun to death. Qian Qianyi's family is the same, and they also own tens of thousands of mu of land.

It is conceivable how difficult it would be for Zhang Zhun to implement the equal-field order in Jiangnan. The biggest feature of the literati and powerful gentry in the Ming Dynasty was that they only care about their own interests and ignore the interests of the country. As long as their own interests are not violated, surrendering to Li Zicheng and surrendering to the Tartars is not a problem. However, once their own interests are violated, they will rise up to resist. On the tenth day of Yangzhou, the three massacres of Jiading were actually deep conflicts of interest behind the massacre.

At the beginning of the Donglin Party, it had its own political propositions, which were more popular with the people. Later, it was completely trapped in the whirlpool of fighting for power and profit, fighting for the sake of struggle and opposing it. They tried their best to instigate Chongzhen to increase the salary, forcing the poor people to live in poverty. Mars rose everywhere, and they had millions or even tens of millions of family funds, but they did not lose a penny.

In the end, these short-sighted guys followed the Ming Dynasty and were buried under the butcher knife of the Tartars... Well, I was wrong. Many Donglin Party members later defected to the Tartars. Qian Qianyi was one of the most obvious examples. When people in later generations talked about the Donglin Party, they would smell the streets. If there was no such group of garbage, Chongzhen would not have to hang himself on the coal mountain.

It is easy to ask the gods to send the gods, but the merchants and landlords in Jiangnan did not want to easily put Zhang Zhun, the big tiger. Zhang Zhun blocked the Tatars' way to the west in Huang County and trapped the Tatars in Dengzhou City. Jiangnan became safe for the time being. Therefore, the previous tension and urgency temporarily disappeared. Since the Tatars could not come to Jiangnan, Zhang Zhun's role was not great. The people of the Donglin Party naturally did not want Zhang Zhun to continue to interfere in Jiangnan's affairs.

"Cut the bridge across the river!"

"Pick the board across the bridge!"

"Download the mill and kill the donkey!"

Chen Lingfei was angry in her letter to Zhang Zhun to describe the practices of major merchants in Jiangnan. She was indeed too angry. She was ready and was waiting to go to Yangzhou to attend the Chamber of Commerce in a grand manner. Unexpectedly, the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce suddenly rescheduled, and she heard a lot of news that was unfavorable to Zhang Zhun.

"The complaints are too strong to prevent heartbreak, so you should look at the scenery in the long run."

In his reply to Chen Lingfei, Zhang Zhun wrote as if nothing had happened.

In early October, Zhang Zhun returned to Fushan City.

Fushan City is now very prosperous, with dense shops everywhere and crowds of people coming and going. From Heilong Bay to Fushan City, there are various trolleys and a large number of porters, coming and going, and working hard to transport goods. The thirty berths in Heilong Bay are all filled with merchant ships from Jiangnan. The berths are no longer usable and need to be further expanded.

Especially after the war in Huangxian, a large number of people moved to Laizhou Prefecture, especially to the Fushan City area, which greatly enriched the population density of Fushan City. Many wealthy families bought a piece of land here and occupied a foothold first. If the Tartars rage in the future, or the Shaanxi chaos rages, they will all be able to get safety guarantees here. When it comes to war, the Hu Ben Army should be the strongest.

In Ziyuan, Zhang Zhun didn't see Chen Lingfei, saying that she had already negotiated business with others. She was very arrogant, and was not right. The eldest lady of the Shen family, who was above the top, was finally willing to go out. This time, she led the fleet to North Korea. What was strange was that the person who invited her to North Korea was a local businessman from North Korea.

After saying hello to Ziyuan's women, Zhang Zhun and Liu Rushi came to the study. Brigadier Zhang handed Ma Yi's information to Liu Rushi, then sat down and quickly browsed all the information compiled by Liu Rushi. He often went out, and only urgent information would be delivered at any time. General information was sent to Ziyuan and handed over to Liu Rushi for handling.

Among these intelligence information, the most eye-catching thing was that at the end of August, the court issued an edict ordering Lu Xiangsheng as the prime minister of the five provinces and cooperated with Hong Chengchou to be responsible for the bandit suppression war in the southeast and northwest respectively. This information revealed two information. First, Lu Xiangsheng began to enter Chongzhen's eyes and was appreciated and valued. Second, the court began to make mistakes again.

In the past, the imperial court used Chen Qiyu alone as the prime minister to coordinate and command the Ming army to encircle and suppress the Shaanxi chaos army. The results were significant. One of the big reasons was that all officers and soldiers were headed by Chen Qiyu. Chen Qiyu could mediate in the center to prevent omissions in the bandit suppression affairs. He wove a large net tightly and eventually forced the Shaanxi chaos army into the car box gorge.

However, now, Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou are on par, one in charge of the southeast and the other in the northwest. There is definitely no one who can integrate with each other. As long as there is a little problem with the cooperation between the two sides, the Shaanxi chaos army can be able to get along with each other and move forward and retreat freely. This is simply a helping the Shaanxi chaos army. To use the popular sayings in later generations, the Shaanxi chaos army must have been installed undercover at the top of the court.

After reading this information, Zhang Zhun said to himself: "The court likes playing table tennis so much."

Liu Rushi said with some confusion: "Master, what is table tennis?"

Zhang Zhun smiled and said casually: "The Cuju in his hand is shirking responsibility. Lu Xiangsheng's passionate and fierce rushing and striving have indeed achieved some results. However, his overall situation must be improved. He is good at fighting in front of the formation and is not good at strategizing. On the contrary, Hong Chengchou has a view of the overall situation and is good at strategizing, but does not have the courage to rush to the front. If one person is above the two, he must coordinate and cooperate with each other, and perhaps he can play the strengths of the two. Or if Hong Chengchou is the main force and Lu Xiangsheng is the deputy, he can also play the strengths of the two. However, the court insists that the two are on an equal footing, and there will definitely be problems."

Liu Rushi frowned and said, "In this way, the job of suppressing bandits will fail again?"

Zhang Zhun said affirmatively: "It will inevitably fail!"

Liu Rushi was silent for a moment, then staggered the topic and said, "The imperial seal actually fell into the hands of the Tartars?"

Zhang Zhun nodded and said slowly: "The Tartars should announce this matter in the near future."

Liu Rushi frowned and said, "After being ordered to live forever, the imperial seal was missing from Emperor Shun of Yuan. Later, Lin Danhan did not say that he inherited this object. Why did the Tartars have another imperial seal? Could it be that Lin Danhan himself did not know the existence of the imperial seal, and the Tartars could snatch it from his descendants?"

Zhang Zhun said with a gloomy face: "The Tartars have a lot of ambition!"

Liu Rushi frowned and said, "Are you worried that the Tartars are Cai Jing, Zhang Dun and others?"

Zhang Zhun said without any concealment: "Fan Wencheng is Cai Jing."

Liu Rushi's beautiful eyebrows rose gently, and he remained silent.

The jade seals of the kingdom have always been the focus of folk legends. This treasure that has been passed down since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period has always been a symbol of power. Founding emperors of all dynasties must obtain the jade seals of the kingdom to prove their true dragon identity after seizing power. Otherwise, some people would say that they were "white-board emperors."

In the mouths of the people in the city, the imperial seal has been given too many mythical colors. There are even rumors that a citizen who has won the imperial seal may encounter changes in the wind and clouds. In order to compete for the imperial seal, he often has to pay a lot of life as a price. The alternation of the imperial seal means that the earth is turned upside down and the dynasty changes.

Of course, as the wisdom of the people gradually becomes more enlightened, the mythical color of the imperial seal is gradually dissipating. In the eyes of discerning people, the imperial seal is just a tool and does not have much effect. As long as there is enough manpower, material resources and financial resources to determine the world, the imperial seal is optional. Only when everyone is stalemate can the imperial seal play a certain effect.

In fact, the imperial seal was gone during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The reasons for the loss of imperial seals have always been vague. Later, the emperors of the Song Dynasty used the imperial seals that Cai Jing, Zhang Dun and others did not know where to "find it out". The officials of the Song Dynasty rarely mentioned this imperial seal that was not true or false.

After the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty, this so-called imperial seal fell into the hands of the Mongols. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were driven out of the Central Plains and fled in a panic, and the imperial seal was gone. When Zhu Yuanzhang's army invaded the Yuan Dadu, they looted many jade seals of various colors, but there was no imperial seal. Therefore, in the end, there were no imperial seals in the hands of the emperors. However, the Ming Dynasty had never cared very much.

Unexpectedly, the so-called imperial seal that had disappeared for more than two hundred years actually appeared again and fell into the hands of the Tartars. For the Tartars, this imperial seal had a great effect on them. Because they lacked a legitimate reason to fight with the Ming Dynasty. Nurhaci's seven major hatreds were actually very reluctant, and the Ming people did not take it seriously at all. However, with the imperial seal, this situation may change to a certain extent.

Liu Rushi's eyes flashed and he said tentatively: "Maybe this is a tentative signal released by the slave chief Taiji? Prove that the Tartars are the destiny of heaven? The Ming Dynasty has exhausted its energy?"

Zhang Zhun nodded and said deeply: "Huang Taiji wants to be emperor."

Liu Rushi was slightly surprised.

After Nurhaci established the Great Jin Kingdom, he did not proclaim himself emperor, but continued to proclaim himself the Great Khan. Therefore, the Great Jin Kingdom was unable to be on par with the Ming Kingdom. Until now, in the minds of the Ming people, Liaodong, or the Great Jin Kingdom, were part of the Ming Kingdom. At least, it was also the nature of a vassal state. The war between the Ming Kingdom and the Great Jin Kingdom was just a war within the Ming Dynasty.

However, once Huang Taiji became emperor, it would be equivalent to being on par with the Ming Dynasty. The war between the Ming Dynasty and the Great Jin Dynasty also became a war between countries. Huang Taiji was ambitious and of course he hoped to be on par with the Ming Dynasty and to fight with the Ming Dynasty in a legitimate way.

Liu Rushi frowned and said, "Huang Taiji's ambition is so great that he actually tries to be emperor?"

Zhang Zhun said slowly: "It's not just about becoming emperor. After the Tartars became emperor, their desires will continue to expand, and they will try to enter the Central Plains."

Liu Rushi said in disbelief: "The Tartars are still trying to enter the Central Plains?"

Zhang Zhun nodded gloomyly.

He understood why Liu Rushi was surprised. Because, at this moment, no one believed that the Tartars would eventually enter the Central Plains. In everyone's opinion, every time the Tartars attacked, the purpose was to plunder population and supplies. As long as they grabbed enough population and supplies, they would retreat and not stay in the Central Plains at all. This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty was not very nervous about the Tartars' invasion. If the Tartars tried to enter the Central Plains, Chongzhen would definitely be even more anxious.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Zhun suddenly asked, "Is Madam Hong back?"

Liu Rushi said, "It's in the back!"
Chapter completed!