Chapter 3589
Zhou Sen couldn't help but cried out that he was wronged, saying that although the quartz sand mine in Liuhe County was a very profitable business, the county's financial situation was not as good as the outside world thought.
Several mines operating in the county are joint ventures between the two countries. Most of the shares belong to several large trading houses in Yangzhou with Haihan official background, and the rest are jointly held by local officials, merchants and gentry.
The profits from the mining operations, after deducting the taxes paid to the Ming Dynasty government, were distributed among the shareholders in proportion.
Not all the taxes collected by the Liuhe County Government were turned over to the court, because in addition to the daily expenses of the county government, the local revenue had to bear the expenses of the more than 1,000 garrison troops in the county. In fact, there is not much left.
Shi Chengwu wondered: "Shouldn't the Ming army's military expenditures be allocated by the Ministry of War?"
Zhou Sen said: "The city of Nanjing has been lost. How can the Ministry of War be willing to allocate money to the south now! I heard that the imperial court is going to build a new line of defense to the east of Shuntian Mansion to protect the capital. It is estimated that all the money in the Ministry of War has been spent there. ”
Last year, under the command of Chen Yixin, the Northern Region's troops were directed towards the capital and reached Tongzhou. Although they later signed an armistice agreement and withdrew their troops, Tiezha Shanhaiguan in the east and Tianjin Wei, the gateway to the Bohai Sea, were both occupied by Haihan.
This also means that Haihan can attack the capital again at any time if he is willing. If Ming Dynasty wants to solve this risk, it must either move the capital to another place or build another strong defense line in the capital area.
It was impossible to move the capital. Once such a move was made, it would be equivalent to voluntarily abandoning Shuntian Mansion, which had been operated by the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years.
What's more, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty who decided to move the capital to Shuntian Mansion in Beiping, as well as a total of twelve emperors in the subsequent dynasties, as well as a large group of queens and concubines, are all buried in the imperial mausoleum in the northwest of the capital. Even the one built by Emperor Chongzhen for himself The mausoleum is also there. How can this place be easily handed over to the enemy?
In this way, it seems more reasonable for Ming Dynasty to plan to build a new line of defense in Shuntian Mansion to prevent Haihan from directly attacking the capital. However, this kind of defense line must require a huge investment and a very long construction period. It is difficult to say whether the Ming Dynasty is still capable of building such a large project.
If what Zhou Sen said is true, then this project has affected the Ming Dynasty's military investment in other areas. Areas like Liuhe County that need to bear their own military expenses for garrisoning are probably not limited to this area. This is a relatively valuable piece of information. .
Shi Chengwu's face brightened slightly, and he ordered his men to remove the shackles on Zhou Sen's body, and said pleasantly: "If you know anything else, you might as well tell me in detail."
Zhou Sen said: "I have offended Wang Bingzhong this time, and I am afraid that my family will also be persecuted by him. Please ask your Excellency to mediate on my behalf."
Shi Chengwu nodded, called the adjutant over, and asked him to lead the team to protect Zhou Sen's family. Fortunately, the Zhou Sen family lived in the courtyard adjacent to the county government office. There were Haihan troops inside and outside, so the people in Wang Bingzhong did not dare to cause trouble here.
Seeing this, Zhou Sen felt much more relaxed, and Shi Chengwu learned some other information from him.
The two counties of Liuhe and Jiangpu, which originally belonged to Yingtian Prefecture, were in a very awkward situation after the city of Nanjing changed hands last year. Although the court wanted to arrange for the neighboring Chuzhou and Fengyang Prefectures to take over temporarily, no one was willing to take over these two counties. This is a hot potato, because everyone knows that sooner or later, Haihan will cross the river to attack the north bank, and these two counties must be the first to bear the brunt.
Although the fiscal revenue of these two counties is quite decent due to the quartz sand mines in their territory, this part of the benefits has long been divided up by relevant parties, and outsiders will not get much benefit if they come in. Therefore, Chuzhou and Fengyang will have a negative relationship with the two counties. The county resisted requests for help in every possible way and refused to send reinforcements. Similar situations are probably the norm in the Jianghuai region north of the Yangtze River. Last year's war between the Ming Dynasty and Haihan resulted in serious losses in various places in Jiangbei that had spent money and resources to reinforce Yingtian Mansion. Afterwards, the court could not come up with any compensation and appeasement measures. Instead, it increased the tax amount in the Jianghuai region. This made the state governments All very disappointed.
Nowadays, these state capitals are operating independently to preserve their strength. They have begun to obey the imperial court's instructions and are no longer willing to fully cooperate.
Shi Chengwu said: "Since the situation in Jiangpu County is similar to that of Liuhe County, what attitude do you think Jiangpu County will take towards our army?"
Zhou Sen understood the implication and responded with a wry smile: "Bizhi County of Jiangpu County is old and has no energy to organize resistance operations."
Shi Chengwu was still worried and asked: "Are there any other troublesome people in the area?"
Zhou Sen shook his head and said: "I have never heard of it. If the general can trust me, I would like to write a letter and send it to Jiangpu to persuade Bizhi County Kaicheng to surrender."
Seeing that he was so righteous, Shi Chengwu couldn't help but wonder how he could be tied up by Wang Bingzhong and used as a sacrifice to the city.
Zhou Sen sighed and said: "Wang Bingzhong is reckless, greedy for life and afraid of death. He opened the city without even negotiating the conditions. If he encounters a murderous leader, the whole city, young and old, will be killed by him!"
Shi Chengwu said: "So you had a dispute with him before, and you just wanted to negotiate good terms with us before surrendering? How come I heard that many people advised you to surrender in Kaicheng, but you rejected them all? You also gave Wang Bingzhong an order, Is it okay to let him start a war? ”
Zhou Sen's face remained unchanged and he said: "The people who advised me to surrender in Kaicheng are all people who have connections with your country. I'm not sure whether they are playing tricks. As for Wang Bingzhong, I already knew that he didn't have the guts to start a war, but he didn't. Just thinking that he dared to do something to me.”
After hearing this, Shi Chengwu felt that what he said was somewhat reasonable, so he told him that Wang Bingzhong's family was the shopkeeper of a trading house in Yangzhou.
Zhou Sen suddenly understood after hearing this, and then he understood why Wang Bingzhong dared to surrender without negotiating terms with the Haihan Army. It turned out that there was a way out. What I thought was a prudent approach that took the overall situation into consideration may be blocking his bright road to promotion and wealth in Wang Bingzhong's eyes, so naturally he was eager to get rid of this stumbling block.
General Shi Cheng understood the situation almost well, so he let Zhou Sen go to see his family first. At the same time, he ordered him to write a letter of persuasion to surrender as soon as possible and sent a horse to Jiangpu County.
Since there was no trouble in Liuhe County, Shi Chengwu was not prepared to spend too much time here. Once the local temporary management committee is up and running, they can lead their troops to Jiangpu County in the west.
However, Zhou Sen and Wang Bingzhong have already formed a rift this time, and it is obviously inconvenient to place them both in the temporary management committee, so they must be separated.