Chapter 112                                                                                                                             

In fact, if Jiajing didn't know that the interests of maritime trade were so serious, it would be true. But if Jiajing didn't know that the gentry in Jiangnan made money at sea, it would be false.

Why didn’t Jiajing move before?

Isn’t it just weighing the pros and cons, and I think that if there is no problem in Jiangnan and there is no problem in all aspects, the gentry of Jiangnan does something privately, and Jiajing will not know it. If it really makes Jiangnan a sensation because of this matter, it will be more than worth the loss.

This is to be neither deaf nor dumb, not a family member. When you should be smart, be smart. When you should be confused, be confused.

Jiajing said: "Zhou Qing, you know how much money the imperial court has now. The taxes in Jiangnan are also your important responsibility. If you go to Jiangnan, this is also your primary task. Four million stones of grain a year, as well as the gold, flowers and silver that are offered to the imperial court, you must not lose any of them. In this case, can you still do these things?"

Today, Jiangnan is already a mess.

Even the financial problems in Jiangnan are even more difficult than the military disasters in Jiangnan.

If you really want to say, there are not many soldiers in Jiangnan, including the garrisons of Nanjing, the coastal guards, the township soldiers from various places, and the visiting soldiers from various southern provinces. To Duoli, there are also 700,000 to 800,000 troops. However, in Zhou Mengchen's view, only Yu Dayou, Lu Tong, and other generals, as well as the troops under his command, were only 20,000 to 30,000.

However, the money needed to support such a big situation is astronomical. Not to mention, Jiangnan, as a place of wealth and wealth in the Ming Dynasty, has never been a lot of taxes paid to the court every year. Jiangnan, which is known to everyone in the world.

In addition, Zhao Wenhua and the mischief acted, which means that Yan Dang also made a fortune from Jiangnan. Only Yan Shifan knew how much money he made. Anyway, it must not be a small amount.

Under these pressures, the people were suffering, and there were even cases where the people led the way for the Japanese pirates.

We cannot say that these people are traitors, because in this era, the national consciousness is still very weak, but the local consciousness is very strong. Without any chance of failure, no one is willing to bring outsiders to harm their hometown. But they can't survive.

Even Zhou Mengchen felt that it would be normal for Jiangnan to continue to struggle like this and cause several civil unrest. Even this is thankful to the Japanese pirates. If it weren’t for the Japanese pirates who were targeting the front to attract hatred, they might look like.

Sometimes, Zhou Mengchen felt that when Jiajing chose him to go to Jiangnan, he not only valued his successful military experience, but also his financial strengths.

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty, I have already made a scheming in this matter."

"Your Majesty, the reason why things in Jiangnan is so ugly is that the Southern Vault has become so bad that it has been useless for a long time. I applied to abolish the Vault and set up a county in Jiangnan to save expenses, and also sell all the land of the Vault and raise military expenses. I want to imitate the Heshuo system, select several places in Jiangnan to recruit soldiers, establish camps and station in Jiangnan. This is one of them."

Jiajing understood as soon as he heard this, Zhou Mengchen wanted to put what he did in Datong in Jiangnan. However, the folk customs in the northwest and Jiangnan were different. Not to mention anything else, the folk customs in the northwest were strong. A strong man, a little training would be enough for the formation, but the folk customs in Jiangnan were a little tough, so the Japanese pirates of dozens and hundreds of people would not be able to come and go freely.

The first question of Jiajing is, can the people of Jiangnan use troops?

The second question is, does the garrison still have land?

The premise for selling land is that there is land, but Jiajing is too clear. If the land of the garrison was not encroached on the garrison, the garrison army would not be vulnerable. It can be said that the combat effectiveness of the garrison army is directly related to the distribution method of land. Only the garrison army can ensure that every soldier has enough land to support the family. Then the combat effectiveness of the garrison army, no matter how unbearable it is, is above the level.

Jiajing also has a clear understanding of the situation in various places.

Jiajing asked: "Can the land of the garrison really be sold? After the sale, the garrison no longer exists. So, how do you plan to arrange the defense of Jiangnan? Do you really want to recruit the people of Jiangnan as soldiers?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty, as long as there is something in the Ministry of War, it is from the court, not from anyone. If no one sells it, I will reorganize the land of the garrison."

When Jiajing heard this, he thought to himself: "So that's it."

Zhou Mengchen's trick seems tough, but in fact it is very smooth. In essence, it is a recognition of the existing facts.

The land of the garrison has been encroached. Zhou Mengchen knew that he could not bring back the land of the garrison and redistribute it to the soldiers. If such a thing is done in Datong, he would have to kill people first. In Jiangnan, Zhou Mengchen really wanted to do it. He would become a public enemy of the Shilin of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention entering the cabinet in the future, I am afraid that the existing positions may not be able to be maintained.

For specific examples, please refer to Sun Chuanting. Sun Chuanting used this method to pull out 100,000 Qin troops. Then the gentry in Guanzhong would rather Li Zicheng return to Guanzhong than kill Sun Chuanting.

Zhou Mengchen sold land in name, but in fact, it was a chance to whitewash the gentry who had embezzled the land. Before, what was the situation of the land? But it was always black. But after this sale, it became white. And there was also a vague intention to sow discord. That is, the gentry who had already occupied the land refused to pay for another purchase, so Zhou Mengchen sold it to someone else. The government only recognized the black and white words of the court. In theory, those who bought it could forcefully take over the land.

Therefore, even if the land has been occupied, Zhou Mengchen can still scrape a layer of oil and water from it. Moreover, Zhou Mengchen estimated that the amount is not small, because the price of land in Jiangnan was several times that of Datong, or even dozens of times. In addition, there are many coastal garrisons, which is enough for Zhou Mengchen to raise a large amount of money.

With this large amount of money, other things will be easy to get rid of.

Of course, if someone really doesn't know how to praise him, and wants to buy it at a low price, and even starts a relationship and does not allow others to compete. Then Zhou Mengchen really wants him to see, he is a man of Zhou. Anyway, after the previous level of differentiation, there will not be too many people who don't know how to praise him.

It is true that Zhou Mengchen acted in Jiangnan and did not dare to arouse public anger. But it does not mean that he did not dare to kill people.

Although the gentry of Jiangnan was put together, it does not mean that there was a group of Jiangnan gentry. It is estimated that there might be such a group during the Donglin Party period. But now there is no one. Most Jiangnan gentry would not stand up for someone who could not see the situation clearly.

When Zhou Mengchen saw that Jiajing understood what he meant, he continued: "Your Majesty, I am going to arrange Jiangnan defense as the main naval division and the auxiliary naval division. I will retain some coastal garrisons as military ports. Overall, Jiangnan defense should be dominated by the naval division. In principle, local people are recruiting local people as soldiers. After all, local people are familiar with the nature of water."

"Your Majesty, I think the reason why the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan is so embarrassing is not that the Ming soldiers are defeated by the Japanese pirates, but that the Ming naval ships are not as large as the Japanese pirates, and the number is not as large as the Japanese pirates. I heard that there are more than 1,300 ships of all sizes and sizes in Wangzhi's troops alone. However, because Wangzhi goes out to sea all year round, as long as the ships cross the ocean, they are larger than the ships of the various garrisons in Jiangnan. Moreover, the local garrisons have not repaired ships for many years, and many ships are actually not in the account books. In other words, the Fujian soldiers and ships under Yu Dayou's troops are pretty good, so the achievements of the water battle are mostly attributed to the Fujian soldiers."

"The Jiangnan water network is densely populated, the coastline is long, and the fleet is maneuvering. There are too many possibilities, which caused our army to be passive on the entire line and could not catch the tail of the Japanese pirates. If we really want to select elite troops and fight with the Japanese pirates, the Japanese pirates may not be the opponent of Yu, Lu, Tang, and the generals of the Va family."

"I have used cavalry in the north and ships in the south. Even infantry, it is best to be able to march on horseback in the north and finally to march on a boat in the south. Therefore, the defenses of all provinces in the south should be dominated by naval troops and assisted by infantry. When encountering chaos, the fleet will begin to arrive and infantry will get off the ship to use troops."

Jiajing nodded after hearing this. He didn't know much about military affairs, so Zhou Mengchen said whatever he said. But he knew very well about another thing. He asked, "Where does the money for building ships and raising soldiers come from?"
Chapter completed!