Chen Yixin's first reaction when he heard the news was just to laugh. Chongzhen's method seemed smart, but I'm afraid the effect would be counterproductive. He was afraid that Ming Dynasty would not fall fast enough!
In the original history, in order to raise military expenditures at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court not only imposed additional taxes on the people to raise three salaries, but of course also targeted high-ranking officials and dignitaries, hoping that these wealthy classes could contribute some blood to supplement military expenditures. , to win the battle of life and death for Ming Dynasty.
It's a pity that Chongzhen's painstaking efforts have no effect at all. Everyone calls him poor and miserable, and even says Potian has no money, as if the country's future and destiny have nothing to do with them.
When Li Zicheng attacked the capital, Chongzhen originally wanted to mobilize troops from Shanhaiguan and other places to serve the king. However, the Ming court was seriously short of military spending, which made it impossible for foreign troops to move from their bases.
So when the Ming Dynasty still had hundreds of thousands of troops to fight, the peasant army captured the capital. In the end, not even the king of the country could escape.
After the capital was captured, Chongzhen had no choice but to commit suicide. However, Li Zicheng plundered wealth worth tens of millions of taels of silver from the city. Only a small part of it came from the palace, but the wealth from the families of the emperor's relatives and important court officials accounted for the majority. .
If these funds are used for military expenses, I dare not say that the internal and external troubles faced by the Ming Dynasty can be solved immediately, but at least reinforcements can be mobilized to Beijing in time, so that the peasant army will not seize the capital and force the emperor to a dead end.
Now, the Ming Dynasty in this time and space seems to be in a similar situation, and has to try to use some unconventional means to raise military expenses.
The difference is that the main opponent of the Ming Dynasty is no longer the peasant army with a rough background, nor the Jurchen barbarians from outside the Pass, but the Haihan army, which is well-equipped, well-trained, and more powerful.
If the Ming Dynasty continues its military confrontation with Haihan, the amount of military expenditures required will only be greater than that against the peasant army and barbarian armed forces. What's more, while preparing for war, it must also pay war indemnity to Haihan.
With Chongzhen's ability, is it possible to squeeze money out of these upper-class people in society? Chen Yixin believed that the hope was slim. Maybe there would be trouble within Mingting before Haihan took action next time.
As for Chongzhen's second New Deal to improve armament levels, it is probably no easier to implement than raising military expenditures.
Manufacturing flintlock muskets and muzzle-loading cannons with simple structures no longer poses many technical obstacles to the Ming Dynasty. However, the problem is that the Ming Dynasty’s military industry still relies on the equipment manufacturing capabilities of the handicraft industry. The production capacity cannot be increased and the cost remains high, making it impossible to Large-scale deployment of troops in a short period of time.
Moreover, the strength of the Ming Dynasty's water and land armies was seriously unbalanced. Almost all the naval forces were lost. This caused the Ming Dynasty not only to lose control of coastal areas, but also its combat capabilities in large river basins also declined sharply, and it could not even use inland waterways. It is difficult to deliver troops quickly.
These areas are where the Haihan Army has the most frequent activities and have become the main battlefields in previous battles.
If it wants to restrain the Haihan Army, Ming Dynasty must rebuild a decent surface armed force.
However, the Ming Dynasty's military expenditure was already stretched thin. If it wanted to allocate funds to the navy to build a large number of warships, it could only cut the budget of the army. But if the army cannot be effectively strengthened, Ming Dynasty may not be able to defend its current territory.
After going round and round, we are back to the original problem - money. Without money, there is no way to improve the level of armaments. Without money, everything is just empty talk.
And these people who came to Tianjin specifically to visit Chen Yixin were also not optimistic about the prospects of Chongzhen's New Deal. Their reasons were more practical. In the past thirty years, the Ming Dynasty had fought many large and small battles with the Haihan Army, and had invested countless military expenditures, but it had almost never achieved a decent victory. Under such circumstances, Chongzhen wanted to recruit military funds from the rich. Who would be willing to hand over his money to the court to continue wasting money?
Even if the Ming Dynasty dies, only the Zhu family will die. Not everyone is willing to be buried with the Ming Dynasty. Besides, it wouldn’t be bad if Haihan came to rule the world. Then after Haihan took over the rich places like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huaiyang, etc., wouldn’t they still be extremely prosperous now?
The down-and-out royal family of Prince De's Palace and the sons of Yangzhou's salt merchants are now serving as officials in the Haihan Kingdom. Those who jumped on the ship of Haihan earlier would certainly be able to continue their prosperity and wealth just around the corner.
After Chen Yixin figured out what these people were thinking, he encouraged them and asked them to return to the capital first, continue to maintain secret contact, and provide more valuable intelligence to Haihan.
In return, Chen Yixin will report their situation to the Executive Committee. After the world situation stabilizes, they will also receive awards from the Haihan Executive Committee as meritorious officials.
As for the request of these people to arrange for their nephews and descendants to serve as officials in Haihan, Chen Yixin also gave a clear answer. They can go to Shandong or Liaodong to participate in the imperial examination held by the Haihan government this year. As long as they are talented young people, they will definitely do it. Select the best and arrange to work in the yamen.
During the subsequent land handover process, as expected by Chen Yixin, some chaos arose in the local area.
According to the agreement between the two parties, Daming Hejian Prefecture was bounded by the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, and the east part was assigned to Haihan. This division method basically divides Hejian Prefecture into two parts in the middle. There are about 100,000 people living in the states and counties east of the canal. The Ming Dynasty did not want these people to be occupied by Haihan in vain, so it tried to All the people were moved away before the handover.
But these people have lived in this area for generations. How can they just give up their family properties? Naturally, they will not obey the government's arrangements.
The Ming Dynasty sent troops to forcibly relocate, which inevitably caused another friction with the Haihan army who came after hearing the news.
Several small-scale armed conflicts broke out in Nanpi, Dongguang, Wuqiao, Ningjin and other places, with both sides suffering casualties.
Although the Haihan Army did not suffer any losses, Chen Yixin was furious after receiving the news. While questioning the Ming court, he ordered the Fifth Lu Division to send troops to reinforce the southern part of Hejian Prefecture.
The battle order issued by Chen Yixin was brief and clear. As long as the Ming army appeared east of the canal, regardless of its organizational size and the purpose of the operation, the local garrison could attack it without asking for instructions. Killing, wounding and capturing the Ming army would be recorded according to wartime standards.
So just half a month after the armistice agreement was signed, a new round of fighting broke out between the two countries in the southern part of Hejian Prefecture. In just a few days, the Haihan Army pushed the front to Jingzhou, Fucheng, and Jiaohe west of the canal.
Although the scale of the battle was small, and the combat troops Haihan invested were only at the battalion level, it still caused the frightened Mingting to panic again.
The Ming court had to issue several orders in succession to stop the Ming army's population relocation in the ceded areas to prevent the situation from deteriorating beyond control. Therefore, the action planned by the Ming court to strengthen the walls and clear the country came to an end not long after it was put into practice.