Although Chen Yue gave power to Qian Fenglin and handed over all the affairs of Jiangnan to him in charge, there was still due supervision. The Jinyi Wei secret spy in Liu Neng's hands has been closely monitoring everything, and reported what happened to Chen Yue to know.

Therefore, Chen Yue basically has a general understanding of what happened in Jiangnan. However, there are many hidden things, and Jinyiwei can find out only a lot, and it is not thrilling to say it from the mouth of the person concerned.

Listening to Qian Fenglin's detailed description of what happened during this period of time, Chen Yue finally had a detailed understanding of the current situation.

"Lord, how to change it next, please ask the prince to give instructions." Finally, Qian Fenglin respectfully asked.

Now that Chen Yue has returned to the south, Qian Fenglin knows that he must immediately hand over the power in his hands, after all, he now has more than 100,000 rebels in his hands, which is a very huge force! This force that is out of the outside is that the imperial court is shocked, how can the king of Qi not worry about things getting out of control?

Therefore, this is also the reason why as soon as he heard that Chen Yue was leaving, Qian Fenglin immediately put aside everything and came to meet him.

Listening to Qian Fenglin's statement, Chen Yue nodded with satisfaction. As Qian Fenglin expected, Chen Yue himself was also full of vigilance against more than 100,000 rebels, because this was a force that was not completely in his hands. If this force gets out of control, the damage will be immeasurable! Therefore, despite the need to use troops everywhere in the north, Chen Yue still withdrew 20,000 of the most elite troops to accompany him, just in case of accidents!

Now the arrival of Qian Fenglin made Chen Yue breathe a sigh of relief!

"Brother Fenglin, you have been in charge of the rebels, I wonder if you have any suggestions?" Chen Yue asked with a relaxed expression. Although he had a general idea in his heart, Chen Yue still had to listen to Qian Fenglin's opinion first, after all, Qian Fenglin had been in charge of this matter.

Qian Fenglin said: "Lord Wang, my subordinates have been thinking about this issue all along. The rebels are nothing but a tool we use to coerce the imperial court, and now that Your Majesty and the imperial court have yielded, the mission of the rebels has also ended.

But after all, there are more than 100,000 rebels, and they must be given a good home, otherwise once they become chaotic, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Chen Yue nodded, understanding the meaning of Qian Fenglin's words. More than 100,000 rebels, most of them were surrendered Zhejiang soldiers and local poor people, among these people, only the first thousands of Dongfan troops and more than 20,000 Jiangxi soldiers were regarded as their own real army.

For the sake of secrecy, the vast majority of rebel officers and soldiers did not know their relationship with King Qi at all, and thought that they were really rebels. That's why there are so many things of burning, killing, and looting, although Qian Fenglin has been trying hard to control it, such things have never been avoidable, and bloodshed in the four provinces of Jiangdong, Zhejiang Province has happened every day.

Raiding the gentry and wealthy households, robbing grain and property, a large amount of wealth blinded many eyes, and greed made countless original officers and soldiers turn into bandits.

There are even ruffians in various places who have risen up and openly looted under the banner of rebels, which is really difficult to control!

The current situation is that Qian Fenglin is also terrified every day, for fear that he will not be able to control the situation and become a sinner for the ages! Chen Yue's arrival made his heart relax.

Chen Yue nodded: "It's to give them a good home, Brother Fenglin, what do you suggest?" ”

Qian Fenglin said: "Lord Wang, my subordinates suggest that the young and strong can be transferred to the official army, and the old and weak can be replaced as farmers, and land can be distributed regardless of the army and the people, so that the situation can be quickly stabilized." ”

Chen Yue asked, "Then in what name is this going on?" ”

Qian Fenglin said: "Naturally, in the name of being appeased, now that you are leading your troops south, and the rebels are afraid to accept the appeasement of the imperial court, we can feign a few battles to hide people's eyes!" The subordinates told the prince about the situation of those less controlled armies, and these people were all spontaneously exposed by the local people, and they were not controlled by their subordinates at all, and the prince could use them to make a knife for the court to see. ”

Chen Yue nodded with satisfaction: "That's very good." In this way, after the last battle, you gather your rebels and withdraw to Ningbo, and gather the rebels together as much as possible to facilitate appeasement. I will dispatch Wang Yin to attack from the sea, and quickly appease the rebels under the two-phase attack, so as to reduce the damage to the place as much as possible. ”

Qian Fenglin exclaimed: "Lord Wang, but in this way, how should the policy of land distribution formulated by his subordinates be implemented?" ”

Not long ago, in order to expand his momentum as soon as possible, Qian Fenglin carried out a huge campaign to confiscate the gentry and distribute the fields. According to Qian Fenglin's own assumptions, the rebels in various places were appeased on the spot, and the distributed land was still owned by the rebels, which could not only hit the gentry power, but also facilitate the rapid recovery of the locality. And according to what Chen Yue said, if all the rebels are concentrated in Ningbo and then appeased, things will be very complicated. Will the power of the gentry make a comeback?

Chen Yue sighed slightly: "Brother Fenglin, we want to eliminate the power of the gentry as much as possible, not completely eliminate the gentry."

There are some things we have to admit that the gentry, who can fight all the way in the imperial examination and gain fame, are the elites of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention how powerful the power of these people is, how troublesome will it be once they all rise up against us? And even if we can really wipe out all the gentry, Brother Fenglin, think about it, what will we use to govern the world then? Even if we can cultivate our own readers, how much time will it take to cultivate them? ”

Qian Fenglin was unwilling to say: "Lord Wang, the gentry are just representatives of scholars, without them, there are countless scholars who have no fame, can't they be used?" ”

Chen Yue sighed: "It's not impossible, but these people don't have any experience, so it takes too much time for them to become officials and have to start training." ”

Qian Fenglin was silent for a moment, he was also born as a gentry, so he naturally knew that what Chen Yue said was right. The talented children in the world are also scholars, but these people are all painstaking in the imperial examination, and they have no intention of learning the knowledge of the Four Books and the Five Classics, and they don't know anything about governing government affairs. These people may be able to do some clerical or bookkeeping gentlemen, but they are really not able to manage the affairs of a county or even a government.

After the catastrophe, the gentry in the world will be the most in the southeast, if all these gentry are defeated, I am afraid that as Chen Yue said, the new court will fall into a situation where no one is available.

"The gentry, then the court, and the gentry, all have the experience of governing the place. If these people are used well, they will be very beneficial to our great cause. And they represent a lot of power, and defeating them all will have serious consequences.

Brother Fenglin, you also know how huge the power of the gentry is in the local area, for the local people, many people only see the gentry in the eyes of the often, and there is no official government. Once the gentry of the world are in despair and rise up against this king, if they support the Zhu family's clan vassal king again, how much trouble will it cause us?

Now the gentry in the southeast have been greatly hit, their power has been weakened to the limit, and the officials represented by Qian Qianyi have written to this king to show their submission. In that case, it's okay to let them go. At this time, we can take the opportunity to win the hearts of the gentry and make them available to me. Chen Yue said softly about his plan.

Qian Fenglin had a bitter look on his face, he could understand what Chen Yue meant, but he also knew that while the gentry were being reined in, some people would inevitably suffer, and it was naturally the rebels who would suffer.

If you want to rein in the gentry, you naturally have to give the gentry an explanation. Although in the eyes of discerning people, the rebels are behind the manipulation of King Qi's family, and after all, they have not been put on the surface. Now that Qian Qianyi and other gentry of the Donglin Party have decided to surrender to Chen Yue, the king of Qi, and Chen Yue also intends to accept their surrender, then they must be given a reasonable explanation, which is the reason why Chen Yue asked Qian Fenglin to withdraw all the rebels to the coast of Ningbo.

According to Qian Fenglin's plan, the rebels were reorganized into civilian troops on the spot, and the divided fields were returned to the rebels themselves, so in the eyes of the victimized gentry, what was the difference from before? How can their hearts be comforted?

Only when all the rebels are driven out of sight, and a group of the most heinous criminals are killed, I am afraid that they can give the gentry a bad breath.

But in this way, won't all the promises he made be null and void? And how should you say to the rebels? Qian Fenglin's mood was extremely heavy.

"Lord Wang, can you think about it again, after all, your subordinates have made promises." Qian Fenglin said with difficulty.

Chen Yue comforted: "This king knows your promise, don't worry, this king will not let you break your promise." Although the gentry would be restored to their former status, the land they had accepted would not be returned to them, but would be used to house the rebels who had been deported to their hometowns.

Fujian, Zhejiang, Susongchang and other places experienced this catastrophe, and there were many borderless lands, and the king would send people to register them one by one for resettlement and distribution, and at the same time re-measure all the land, and take the opportunity to regain the fields they occupied from the gentry. Then the gentry would be taxed as one, so that it would not be long before the southern provinces would be restored. ”

Hearing Chen Yue say this, Qian Fenglin's heart relaxed a little, "The prince is wise!" ”

Chen Yue nodded: "You go back and act according to the plan." I have to go to Nanjing in the near future, and our plans must be carried out as soon as possible. ”

"Yes, Lord Wang!"

For more than a year, Qian Fenglin was in charge of the south alone, and his power was too great, and the rebels had more than 100,000 people, which made Chen Yue even more frightened. If the rebel army is integrated into the Qi King system according to Qian Fenglin's suggestion, then the huge strength formed by these more than 100,000 people will be Qian Fenglin's team in the future, so who else can compete with Qian Fenglin in the Qi King family? And this is the biggest reason why Chen Yue vetoed Qian Fenglin's proposal.

......

On the third day after Chen Yue led his army across the Yangtze River to Zhenjiang, he led his army to attack the rebels.

In the face of the attack of the world-famous Northern Expeditionary Army, the rebels were not to be outdone, and dispatched troops to organize as many as 50,000 troops to meet the Northern Expeditionary Army attacking along the canal in the territory of Changzhou Prefecture.

However, the rebels were a rabble after all, and they could not compare with the strong Northern Expedition that drove out the Manchurians, and the two armies met thirty miles west of Wujin City, and after only an hour of fighting, they ended in the defeat of the rebels, and the rebels left thousands of corpses and fled in disarray.

Chen Yue sent several troops to chase and kill, until the rebels were crushed, and fled towards Suzhou Mansion.

At the critical moment, the rebel leader Ai Nengqi personally appeared and recalled the rebels who had captured the city of Songjiang in Wuxi in an attempt to fight a decisive battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army in Suzhou. Chen Yue, on the other hand, led his troops to advance slowly, giving the rebels time to fully deploy their troops.

In Wu County, most of the rebels who entered Jiangdong were gathered here, with as many as 100,000 troops, and there were more than hundreds of ships in Taihu Lake alone.

Looking at the rebels' camps stretching for dozens of miles, listening to the situation of the rebels told by the sentinels, even Chen Yue was secretly frightened. The power of this rebel army is too large and not completely under its control, and if it is not handled carefully, the consequences will be unexpectedly serious!

At Hushu Pass, which was thirty miles away from Wu County, Chen Yue ordered a large camp to be set up, and the more than 100,000 rebels were far away. Together with Wu Mengming's 10,000 Jiangbei Army, the number of troops controlled by Chen Yue was only 30,000, which was very different from the rebels, so knowing the details of the rebels, Chen Yue had to be cautious.

At night, a man in black hurriedly entered the camp, and after the guards searched it, he brought it into Chen Yue's big tent.

"Subordinate Lu Jianxing to meet the prince!" Lu Jianxing, who was once one of the four thousand households of Jinyiwei, came to Chen Yue's camp.

"Brother Lu is exempt." Chen Yue stretched out his hand and smiled gently.

Lu Jianxing stood up and began to report to Chen Yue, "Lord Wang, my subordinates have already met the two deputy generals in the rebel army, Ma and He, and told them your instructions, Lord Wang, and they assured their subordinates that tomorrow's plan will definitely not be unexpected. The 20,000 Jiangxi soldiers under Ma He are the backbone of the rebel army, and Ma He and the families of the Jiangxi soldiers are under our control, and they will never dare to disobey your will. ”

Chen Yue said lightly: "Did you see them separately?" ”

Lu Jianxing said respectfully: "Yes." The subordinates dare to guarantee that Ma and He Er will not know each other about the tasks you gave them, Lord Wang! ”

Chen Yue nodded: "That's good, Brother Lu has worked hard, go down to rest and eat something, and I have to trouble you to rush back overnight." Tomorrow's War will never allow for accidents! ”

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Lu Jianxing saluted Chen Yue and retreated.

Looking at the starry sky and the illuminated camp, Chen Yue sighed lightly. It's not that he doesn't trust Qian Fenglin, when he reaches his status, he must be cautious in everything, and there should be no less precautionary measures.

In recent times, the change in the situation is too great, although the palm of the hand is strong, Chen Yue still feels like sitting on pins and needles, everything has to be careful, for fear that he will make a mistake and fall into a catastrophe!

Therefore, knowing that the rebels were under the control of Qian Fenglin, Chen Yue still secretly used the power of the Jinyi Guard hidden in the rebels to get in touch with the main generals of the rebels, in order to be foolproof.

And the reason why this is the case, there is another reason, that is, Chen Mo was placed in Zhejiang by Qian Fenglin, not in Suzhou.