Chapter 2402

How can we achieve actual control of a certain area without going to war with Ming Dynasty? Haihan has made various attempts in recent years and has relatively rich practical experience in this. But in fact, it is not as Chen Yixin said

In this way, only through the infiltration of trade activities, we can gradually control the area, or even completely bypass the local government. All overt or covert means must be based on Haihan's strong military strength, otherwise no matter how good Haihan is in business,

, is just a fat sheep in the eyes of the government.

Haihan's success in Fushan County was first of all due to the existence of the Zhifu Island military base. It was after establishing this stronghold that Haihan was able to launch trade activities in Shandong. If Haihan now wants to try to control the area

Expanding to the entire Dengzhou, or even a larger area, it may be difficult to successfully achieve the goal by relying solely on trade activities.

However, in external publicity, Haihan will never mention his use of military means to control these areas. Although Ma Dongqiang is Chen Yixin's father-in-law, when talking about these sensitive topics, Chen Yixin's rhetoric is still

Be extremely cautious so as not to let others take advantage of me when my father-in-law conveys his intentions to others in the future.

Ma Dongqiang was not dazzled by this appointment. He knew very well why he was able to gain Chen Yixin's trust. This trust did not come from his outstanding abilities, but from the interest relationship between the two parties after the marriage. The father depends on the daughter.

With the strong support of Haihan, he enjoys various special preferential treatment. And the position of the person in charge of the Shanhai Society is of course another example of this special treatment.

With Ma Dongqiang's ability, if he only focuses on his own business, he can continue to expand his business scale with the support of Haihan, allowing the Ma family to gradually grow into one of the leading private businessmen in Shandong. But let him manage a chamber of commerce and interact with Ma Dongqiang.

It was indeed a bit difficult for him to deal with various local people in Shandong and manage personal connections.

If Chen Yixin insists on handing over this job to him, then if there are any problems in the future management, or if the operation of Shanhaihui is not satisfactory, the responsibility will be placed on Ma Dongqiang.

"Son-in-law, do you want to reconsider this arrangement? You have not been in Shandong for a long time. If there is an emergency in the mountains and seas, it would be inconvenient for me to find someone to ask for instructions." Ma Dongqiang thought about it again and again, and expressed it tactfully.

own worries.

Chen Yixin was very calm: "Father-in-law, don't worry. Minister Hao will take care of the affairs of Shanhaihui. If there are any difficult matters, he will handle them on your behalf."

Although Chen Yixin never made it clear who Hao Wanqing was, Ma Dongqiang knew a little bit about it over time. He knew that many of the things this man did were hidden from the public, but his authority was also quite large. Even Chen Yixin had to give in to three people.

Point. It seems that the Shanhaihui is actually a cover for Hao Wanqing's convenience. Although Ma Dongqiang is the nominal president, when it comes to major events, the person who makes the decision may be Hao Wanqing behind the scenes.

But that's fine. With Hao Wanqing behind the scenes, Ma Dongqiang no longer has to worry about being unable to manage this business organization. He can just pretend not to know about things he shouldn't handle. But Chen Yixin has admitted that he will control Fushan County just like he did.

As actions are gradually launched against Dengzhou, the role of Shanhaihui will definitely become more than just a chamber of commerce.

In Chen Yixin's plan, the formation of the Shanhaihui was an important chess piece for Haihan to expand his influence in Shandong. It was also a necessary condition for Haihan to expand his actual control area beyond Fushan County.

At present, Dengzhou Prefecture governs Ninghai Prefecture, Penglai County, Huang County, Fushan County, Qixia County, Zhaoyuan County, Laiyang County and Wendeng County. However, in terms of wealth, Fushan County has surpassed other regions in just a few years.

A lot. During the current chaos in Shandong, the place that was least affected by the refugee influx in Dengzhou was Fushan County, which had the largest influx of refugees.

Wealth, stability, and a good development situation are all obvious characteristics because of Haihan's operation behind the scenes. The good operation of Fushan County provides an excellent model for other surrounding areas, and at the same time, it will gradually dispel people's suspicion of Haihan.

Han's suspicion. Although exerting influence on other areas in a peaceful way will take much longer than using military means, with the current investment status of Haihan in the north, there are not enough troops to occupy an area that is too vast.

For different regions, this subtle approach is more suitable.

Of course, for areas with special resources, the methods Haihan will take will be more direct. For example, in the Zhaoyuan area where new mineral veins have been found, the local gold deposits are worthy of Haihan's use of some unconventional methods. However, it is currently recruiting

There are still a large number of refugees gathering in distant counties, and those who want to exploit local gold mines will have to wait until the local social order returns to normal before they can do so.

Although Haihan's actions in Dengzhou could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Ming Dynasty, at present, the Ming Dynasty could no longer care about these trivial matters with Haihan. The Qing army's invasion this time spanned more than 2,000 miles between the capital and Shandong areas.

, a total of more than 60 towns and cities were lost, hundreds of thousands of people were taken captive, and countless materials and money were taken away, causing great damage to the warring areas. However, the Ming army failed to obtain a single victory in the half-year battle.

It was a decent victory, but tens of thousands of troops were lost.

Although this war ended with the Qing army voluntarily retreating, the situation in the Ming Dynasty did not improve because of the enemy's retreat. Many places in Gyeonggi and Shandong became no man's land, and social production was completely stagnant, and the damaged

National strength cannot be quickly restored in a short period of time.

And because of this war, the number of people who left their homes and became refugees was even greater than those taken away by the Qing army. Due to the lack of food and clothing during the winter escape, many people did not even survive until the end of the war. Even according to the most conservative estimates

It is estimated that the Ming Dynasty lost more than 400,000 people in this war.

In addition, due to the refugee flow, many places are simply unable to afford the food supplies needed to relieve refugees, which has also led to the outbreak of various secondary disasters. Only in Dongchang Prefecture, Yanzhou Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture, etc. around Jinan Prefecture

There were dozens of refugee riots, large and small, and there was even a farce in which thousands of refugees gathered to attack the county seat.

This may be caused by peasant army forces from the Central Plains, or perhaps the surviving rebels want to take advantage of the situation, but objectively these areas have fallen into a second wave of chaos. And the government has no way of judging who is the real one.

Refugees, who are the rioters lurking among them, once they find something is wrong, they can only use rough methods to eliminate the hidden danger, but this often leads to more intense conflicts.

For such a big mess, the imperial court will definitely be held accountable after the fact, but the blame cannot be placed on the top decision-makers. The only way to do this is to blame local governments at all levels for their inability to resist the Qing Dynasty.

Originally, the person to take the blame should be Yang Sichang, the Minister of War, who formulated the response strategy. However, Yang Sichang was not willing to take the blame himself, so he wrote a letter to the local government at all levels and the Ming army against the five major crimes.

The first was the loss of opportunity while guarding the border, the second was the destruction of the city, the third was the loss of the vassal, the fourth was the loss of the commander-in-chief, and the fifth was the support of troops to wait and see. So after some clever shirk-passing operations, Chongzhen issued an order to deal with a large number of people.

scapegoat.

These included Zheng Xizhao, the director of Jizhen, Zhongguan of the branch, Sun Maolin, the sub-supervisor, Chen Zubao, the governor of Shuntian, Zhang Qiping, the governor of Baoding, Wu Guojun and Chen Guowei, the chief soldiers of Jizhen, Ni Chong, the governor of Shandong, Zu Kuan, the chief of the reinforcements and suppression, and Li

The important town, and its deputy generals down to the prefectures and counties, including Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong who wanted to set up a defense line in Dezhou to block the Qing army, a total of thirty-six officials were sentenced to death. As for the officials who were demoted and reduced, the number was even higher

Times this much, it can be described as a huge earthquake in officialdom.

The only good thing is that Lu Xiangsheng, the Minister of War, who was unfortunately killed in this war in history, survived by luck. This objectively also benefited from some weapons and equipment provided by Haihan earlier, including twenty

The artillery helped Lu Xiangsheng defend Jiazhuang at the last moment and repelled the siege of the Qing army. But he was also pressed by Yang Sichang, so he would inevitably be charged with underestimating the enemy and fearing war. If there were not some real soldiers

If he pays for his crime with a hundred Qing soldiers, then his position as Minister of War will probably be demoted.

So many officials were dealt with, but the real decision-makers in the court remained unscathed. This was equivalent to telling the world that it was the local civil and military officials at all levels who lost the war, not the Ming Dynasty under the Zhu family.

The dozens of high-level official positions that were freed up in this breath naturally attracted the covetousness of many people. The intrigues and exchanges of interests surrounding these official positions prevented the entire court from paying attention to those who could have influenced the situation.

On Haihan.

No one dared to mention in court why the Ming Dynasty did not ask Haihan for support in time when the Qing army invaded. If Haihan could send troops to fight in the Ming Dynasty like he did to rescue Korea, then relying on the deep defense belt in the Gyeonggi region might not be impossible.

Block the Qing army in the mountainous area north of the capital.

If we pursue this matter, it would be a slap in the face of Chongzhen, because the person who initially vetoed the request for external aid was none other than Emperor Chongzhen. But in fact, in the half-year battle, the Ming army fought very few decent battles.

Almost all the troops participating in the war used weapons produced by Haihan to a greater or lesser extent.

In particular, Lu Xiangsheng's troops, who were lucky enough to escape the siege of the Qing army in Julujiazhuang, were equipped with 20 Haihan artillery pieces and 400 muskets produced by Haihan, and they performed very well in the battle with the Qing army.

The Qing army, which had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, finally had to give up the siege of Jiazhuang.

Although this kind of achievement was not publicly commended by the court after the war, how could those who experienced it like Lu Xiangsheng not know the secret of repelling the Qing army? So after the Qing army retreated, he also wrote to the court, suggesting that

The Ministry of War contacted Haihan, purchased a large number of Haihan weapons, and hired Haihan officers to train the Ming army to practice more advanced firearms tactics.

However, Yang Sichang, Minister of War, clearly opposed Lu Xiangsheng's proposal. His reason was that although Haihan was a nominal military ally, he now openly occupied many territories of the Ming Dynasty, and had no intention of returning control of these areas to the Ming Dynasty.

.In addition, Haihan also used ulterior motives to coerce traditional Ming vassal states such as Annan and Korea. To separate these small countries from the Ming vassal system would really undermine the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As for the Haihan weapons that Lu Xiangsheng has been strongly recommending, Yang Sichang also claimed that it is completely possible for the Ordnance Bureau, Staff Bureau, Gunpowder Bureau and other departments of the Ministry of Industry to imitate the Haihan guns without having to pay back due to tight military expenditures.

Lu Xiangsheng spent a huge amount of money to purchase Haihan weapons, but Lu Xiangsheng insisted on purchasing the weapons produced by Haihan, probably because he wanted to receive benefits from them.

When Chongzhen thought about it, it seemed that this was indeed the case. Now that the national treasury was empty, if he wanted to buy expensive Haihan weapons, he would probably have to impose additional taxes on the private sector. But since these weapons can be imitated, why should I buy them at high prices? As for

Whether Lu Xiangsheng's suggestion came from the bottom of his heart or for personal gain, Chongzhen didn't bother to ponder the truth. He just hoped that the Ming Dynasty's border defense troops could be equipped with better weapons as soon as possible to block the evil neighbors in the north from the border.

There is time to recuperate and restore national strength.

Both Chongzhen and Yang Sichang were ignorant of military technology, and they had never been to the battlefield in person to see the combat power of Haihan weapons. Everything they knew came from various written and oral reports. It would be a shame if they could make accurate judgments.

What's more, Yang Sichang was very selfish and wanted to suppress Lu Xiangsheng to prevent him from displacing his position after he gained military exploits. How could he let the court use resources to improve the combat effectiveness of Lu Xiangsheng's troops?

Therefore, under such circumstances, Lu Xiangsheng's proposal failed to gain the attention of the court at all. On the contrary, Yang Sichang's plan to increase military training and training was approved by Chongzhen without much trouble.

Yang Sichang suggested that the towns in Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, Gansu, Guyuan, Lintao, Liaodong, Jizhen, Baoding, Jifu, Shandong, and Hebei should train elite troops separately from the general towns, governors, and general troops.

Respond immediately upon hearing the warning. As for the required military expenditure, it can be obtained by increasing private taxes.

Therefore, where there was originally an increase in Liao and Suppression rates, now another level of training has to be added. For this purpose, the whole country has to collect an additional 7.3 million taels of silver from the people, and the various additional war taxes are counted together.

, as high as 16.7 million taels. This has made countless already very poor families even worse, especially in areas with frequent peasant army activities in the Central Plains. More people will be forced to join because they cannot afford these wages.

in the rebel ranks.

Of course, these long-term disadvantages have not yet emerged, and only a few knowledgeable people will realize the consequences of squeezing the people in this way. But the view in the court is to stop the Qing army's annual invasion at all costs, and then slowly solve the internal problems.

It was a contradiction, so no one could convince Chongzhen to give priority to the harm caused by these measures.
Chapter completed!