Chapter 98 Chongzhen's Deal

This has already reached the lowest paper standard of the Liaodong army, and from now on it can no longer be said that the court favors some over others.

However, there was a condition for raising military pay. From now on, Mao Wenlong could no longer just decide on how many people to send. The specific number had to be confirmed by the military supervisor Jiang Yueguang.

Second, Chongzhen said that he knew Mao Wenlong had been taking in refugees, and that the living pressure on the island was quite high, and he appreciated this, etc. He also said that if Mao Wenlong felt that it was too stressful to feed these people, the court could send ships to take in the refugees.

Moreover, for every refugee Mao Wenlong sent to the interior, the imperial court gave him a subsidy of two taels of silver.

On the surface, this seems to be a losing business, but it is not.

Just imagine that Mao Wenlong was in charge of Pi Island for seven years, and the island only housed about 200,000 people in total. If all of them were exchanged for silver from Chongzhen, there would only be 400,000 taels.

This might have been a large sum of money in the past, but for Chongzhen now, it was just a small matter.

Moreover, the main purpose of this move was to shut Mao Wenlong up so that he would no longer have an excuse to take advantage of the situation with regard to the number of troops.

It also compensated Mao Wenlong for the loss of free labor to a certain extent. Compared with directly ordering Mao Wenlong not to demand military pay under the pretext of refugees, this move would prevent Mao Wenlong from giving up on continuing to accommodate refugees due to lack of profit.

This also left a glimmer of hope for survival for the people of the Ming Dynasty who were occupied by the Later Jin.

The third and most important point is that Mao Wenlong should no longer be passive and idle, but should actively cooperate in the Liaodong war to harass the rear of the Jiannu.

Moreover, the imperial court would not let the Dongjiang soldiers take risks in vain. A genuine Tartar head would cost three taels of silver!
However, one cannot kill innocent people and claim credit for the achievement. Reporting of achievements requires the seal of the military supervisor Jiang Yueguang for confirmation.

Moreover, Mao Wenlong can do business, but he must not sell any supplies to the Later Jin!

In the handwritten edict, Chongzhen used a stern tone and revealed that the former Denglai Governor Wu Zhiwang, the Right Censor of Engineering Pan Shiwen, and the Censor Fan Ruzi had already submitted a petition to impeach Mao Wenlong and proposed that Mao Wenlong be moved to Gaizhou.

However, neither the handwritten edict nor Jiang Yueguang mentioned what Chongzhen meant.

And what kind of place is Gaizhou?

Huang Taiji sent troops from Shenyang to attack, and it would only take two or three days to arrive.

The Guanningjin Defense Line is at least as good as the Great Wall Defense Line, but Gaizhou is facing the Jiannu army directly.

If the capital was really moved to Gaizhou, it would not be easy for Huang Taiji to defeat Mao Wenlong with his 20,000 to 30,000 Dongjiang troops who were only good at guerrilla warfare.

At the end of his speech, Jiang Yueguang smiled and said, "Your Majesty has taken all the difficulties that Brother Wenlong has faced into consideration! This shows how much Your Majesty values ​​you."

Mao Wenlong had a dull expression on his face and kept his mouth open for a long time without saying anything.

These decisions made by Chongzhen can be said to have hit Mao Wenlong hard, forcing him to compromise without harming his fundamental interests.

Mao Wenlong had no reason to turn against them first, and his subordinates would not agree with it.

First, Chongzhen increased the military pay. No matter how much Mao Wenlong and others sucked the blood of the soldiers, the number of soldiers could still be increased to some extent.

Secondly, while asking Mao Wenlong to disperse the refugees on the island, he also gave him silver, which was equivalent to buying directly from Mao Wenlong to put it bluntly.

Although these people can create more than two taels of value for him on the island, he still has to take a lot of effort to support them. It is not as convenient as just handing over money and people at the same time.

The subordinates would also be happy to see such a deal. After all, it meant that they could go ashore and gather the people themselves. Even if Mao Wenlong took the bribe, it would at least be a good deal.

The other thing is the military merit. Although three taels of silver for a Tartar head is not high, Pi Island is close to the origin of Tartar heads, and the work is guerrilla warfare. As the saying goes, a little bit of money adds up to a lot, so it is also an income.

The most important thing is that Chongzhen knew that he was engaged in smuggling on Pi Island... This is not important, Mao Wenlong himself admitted it in his memorial, using the excuse that there was no food on the island and he could only do business with North Korea to buy rice.

But Mao Wenlong's business with the Jiannu was extremely secretive.

It would be fine if Yuan Chonghuan and Zu Dashou in Liaodong had heard of it, but without real evidence, there was nothing they could do to him.

But how did the newly enthroned emperor Chongzhen know this?
Moreover, the tone of the imperial edict was harsh, as if it had already determined that he had been secretly communicating with the Jiannu!
Damn it, could there be spies from the Imperial Guard on the island?
Mao Wenlong's dark face was immediately covered with beads of sweat.

Since ancient times, any border general who was identified by the emperor as a traitor would have a good ending!

Although he cannot be said to be very loyal to the emperor and patriotic, he has been managing Pi Island for many years and has built his foundation for half his life here. If there is still room for redemption, he does not want to easily turn against the court.

Thinking of this, Mao Wenlong immediately understood that this was a deal between Chongzhen and him.

First comes the exploitation, followed by the threat.

Since Chongzhen ascended the throne, Mao Wenlong had submitted memorials to the court, and Chongzhen had also given him many replies.

Based on these exchanges, Mao Wenlong believed that Chongzhen was by no means a young talent. However, judging from the handwritten edict conveyed by Jiang Yueguang today, the tactics of winning over, stripping him of power, and suppressing him were all done in one go.

Although they are all straightforward and lack the cunning slyness of an old fox, they are still irresistible.

Instead, it highlights the majesty of the royal family!

Seeing that Mao Wenlong remained silent, Jiang Yueguang did not urge him but just picked up the teacup and took a sip.

After a while, Mao Wenlong let out a sigh of relief, then he chuckled and said, "Wenlong, have you figured it out?"

After Mao Wenlong understood his thoughts, he was no longer panicked and doubtful. He smiled calmly and said, "We have a holy emperor in the throne. Why should we worry about not being able to revive the Ming Dynasty?"

Jiang Yueguang burst into laughter upon hearing this, raised his teacup and toasted Mao Wenlong with tea instead of wine.

It is now February 15th of the first year of Chongzhen, and today is the Spring Equinox when all things come back to life.

However, the snow in the capital showed no signs of melting, and there was a late spring cold snap, so the weather seemed even colder than the worst winter.

This undoubtedly made life more difficult for the people in the capital, but it was not a bad thing for Wang An.

The cold weather has pushed Wangji Coal Store’s honeycomb briquettes sales to new highs.

The low price and longer burning time make Wangji honeycomb coal a new favorite among the people.

There was an endless stream of donkey carts transporting honeycomb coal every day, and there was always a group of shopkeepers, both big and small, in the warehouse, holding silver bags in their hands and piling them on Yun Zhao's table.

Even if Wang An asked Xiaowu and Xiaoliu to come and help count the money, they were still too busy to handle it.

Although Wang An wanted to be a hands-off boss, he was surrounded by coal warehouse owners who had distribution rights, and they all asked for an increase in their quotas.

They complained that the quota of honeycomb coal allocated to them was too small and totally insufficient for sales needs.

(End of this chapter)