Zhenjiang is only more than 140 miles away from the southern capital, and if people walk, they can reach it in one day. The www.biquge.info can be reached in half a day by horse-drawn carriage, but even faster if you ride a horse.

Zhou Shixiang likes to ride horses, which has something to do with the fact that he was a cavalry in his previous life, and there is nothing more powerful than riding a horse to show the majesty of the commander of the army.

It's a pity that the big green horse that was snatched from Yunlong died in the battle under the city of Yangzhou, although now this mount is also a first-class Mongolian horse, but Zhou Shixiang always feels that it is not as good as the big green horse. Perhaps, in his heart, Da Qingma is not just a horse, but his comrade-in-arms.

In the past, no matter what time he traveled, Zhou Shixiang would cavalry. But this time he went to Nanjing, and Zhou Shixiang chose to take a carriage. First, it is to keep a low profile, so as not to be "misunderstood" by the outside world; The second is to see the recovery of people's livelihood along the way.

Since Jiashen, not only has the population of various places decreased sharply, but the people's livelihood has also withered, and in the past 20 years, even the original official roads have mostly become incomplete and submerged in the barren grass. At present, except for the main roads (leading to provincial capitals and important transportation points), most of the roads are still deserted, except for the main roads (leading to provincial capitals and important transportation points) that have to be repaired by the people.

Guangdong, which has the best development, has also achieved a 70 percent road abandonment rate. It is not that the Yamen, the governor of Liangguang, did not think about organizing manpower and material resources to repair these abandoned roads, but due to population factors, it was unable to organize enough manpower to repair the roads.

For example, the city of Luodingzhou when the Taiping Army started is now a ghost city, uninhabited at all, and where can the "master" come from to recruit and recruit. This is not the case in Guangdong, not to mention other provinces.

The latest provincial population yellow register has been reported, and the situation is better than two years ago, but the overall situation is still not optimistic.

Among the provinces actually controlled by the Taiping Army, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Hunan had the largest population, of which Jiangsu had 4.7 million Dingkou, Zhejiang had 5.12 million Dingkou, and Hunan had 2.9 million Dingkou. Among the remaining provinces, Guangdong has 1.69 million in Dingkou (an increase of 110,000), Guangxi has 1.04 million (an increase of 50,000), Fujian has 1.39 million, and Jiangxi has 1.43 million.

Because Guizhou and Yunnan have just been occupied, the grassroots government has not yet been fully established and effectively ruled, and there are a large number of natives in the two provinces, so the population data has not yet been counted. It is optimistically estimated that the number of people in Dingkou in the two provinces is about 2 million, of which less than half of the Han population is arguing.

Hubei nominally belongs to the Dingwu regime, but Yuan Zongdi, the governor of Hubei, was born in the loyal battalion, and the relationship between the loyal battalion and the Taiping army is also similar to the alliance relationship of cooperation, so this part of Hubei is a bit of a propaganda and not a tune for the Dingwu central government, and it is very independent, so it is naturally impossible to conduct a "population census" according to the requirements of Zhou Shixiang as other provinces.

In addition, Hubei and Hunan originally belonged to Huguang Province, after the Great Western Army went north to resist the Qing Dynasty, Huguang has been the main battlefield of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and years of war will inevitably lead to population decline. After the loyal battalion left Kuidong, in order to grow rapidly, they forcibly pulled strong men in Hubei and looted them on a large scale, causing the production of Hubei to stop and the people to disperse, so even if Hubei is willing and able to conduct a census, the number of people in the territory will never exceed Hunan.

Jiangsu was originally the south of Zhili, the population of Hongwu in the early years was as much as 11.29 million, after more than 200 years of development in the Ming Dynasty, the population was as high as more than 30 million, but now there are only more than 470 thousand, not as much as Zhejiang, which was only half of his population, the main reason is that when the Qing army went south, almost all counties and counties in Jiangsu were slaughtered (especially Jiangnan), and some places were slaughtered continuously, resulting in Jiangsu becoming the province with the largest population loss, which is more serious than Sichuan, which has become a "no man's land".

If other provinces have more or less natural disasters and the influence of the Rogue that have caused a serious decline in population, then Jiangsu's population decline is entirely caused by the Manchu massacre, and Jiangsu's resistance to the Manchus is also the largest among all provinces.

Although the character of the provinces has plummeted, even so, the Taiping army actually controls the population of each province together, which is about 21 million, which is already the largest force controlled by the Ming, Qing, and Wu families.

Population is the cornerstone of a country's development and strength, and the Zhou Shi attached no less importance to population recovery than the Northern Expedition to exterminate the entire Manchu Dynasty. Therefore, after the Jiangnan riots subsided, Zhou Shixiang took the opportunity to vigorously promote the establishment of villages and townships, and replaced the old system in Jiangnan with a new system, so as to stabilize the local area, resume production, and let the people who had suffered from the war have better conditions for reproduction.

Most of the gentry who participated in the Jiangnan Rebellion were uprooted by the Manchu family or even the whole clan, and a large amount of land was stripped out of the hands of these gentry, and a large amount of "floating wealth" also became the financial resources of the government to maintain the local area and the military expenses of the Taiping Army.

Some of the gentry who had not been captured, but who had chosen to be "neutral" after the riots began, were also warned and persuaded to donate food. The gentry who participated in the captivity and participated in the riots, but woke up in time after the riots and turned to help the government suppress the religious people, were more or less mitigated. Wang Shirong, who presided over the anti-rebellion movement, asked the gentry to pay for the repair of houses for the victims of the disaster, or to raise funds to build orphanages and homes for the elderly. And the gentry, who stood firmly on the side of the Taiping army, were rewarded by them.

After Wang Shirong's report and Zhou Shi's blind date approval, about 200 children of enlightened gentry were sent to the martial arts academy in Nanjing and the middle schools in Nandu and Suzhou. Roughly the same number of children of the enlightened gentry were recruited into the six houses of the prefecture and county yamen and the village offices, and those gentry were given honors, so that they broke away from the original gentry circle and became the staunchest supporters of the Taiping army.

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On the carriage, Zhou Shixiang commented on the notes sent from all over the country while feeling the idyllic scenery outside the car. However, he always felt that the scenery outside was a little awkward. The awkward reason is that the prefect of Zhenjiang didn't know which tendon in his head was wrong, so he asked people to brush all the people on both sides of the official road with white lime, and they looked very eye-catching.

Could it be that this is a common problem of bureaucrats?

Perhaps, the starting point of the Zhenjiang prefect is good, and he doesn't want the handsome to see the houses that are too dilapidated along the way, but this kindness is obviously not bought by Zhou Shixiang. It's just that Zhou Shixiang had no intention of making trouble with the prefect of Zhenjiang on this matter, because in his previous life, local officials liked to do this. It's as if you paint those dilapidated houses with white lime, and the atmosphere is new.

Zhou Shixiang was still satisfied with the official road from Zhenjiang to the southern capital. This official road still generally maintains the appearance of Jiashen, and the foundations along the way are very smooth, and there are occasional damages, which are also repaired by the people of Zhenjiang and Shuntian.

Compared with other provinces, even Guangdong, which is the most developed now, the road conditions in the south of the Yangtze River are excellent, and the degree of perfection is much better. This is mainly due to the fact that when these official roads were built, they were basically made of stone slabs, and no matter how bad they were, they were paved with stones, so they were not like other places cutting corners when building for financial reasons, so after 20 years of war, the official roads in the south of the Yangtze River were still able to undertake its due mission.

The better the economy, the better the transportation facilities, because this is the need of business. When the transportation is convenient, it will naturally bring commerce, thereby improving the livelihood of the local people. Zhou Shixiang understood this truth, and when he was in Guangdong, he wrote a slogan to the yamen of the governor of Guangdong, called "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads".

It's a pity that other places can't be like Jiangnan, after all, there are differences in regional economic development. Now the population has been severely lost, and I am afraid that it will not recover to the population of more than 200 million in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty in a few decades. Without enough manpower, even the best ideas can only be built in the air.

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Zhou Shixiang has ordered Yuan Zongdi, the governor of Hubei, to find a way to get King Han from Hao Shaoqi's hands, if the other party can do it, the matter of Hubei's integration into the central government can be slowed down, after all, the factor of the loyal battalion must also be taken into account.

If the Taiping army marches into Hubei now, I am afraid that Li Laiheng and them will die in Kaifeng in Henan, and there will really be no way to retreat.

A peaceful settlement of the Loyalty Battalion, and even Wu Sangui, was Zhou Shixiang's wish. Compared with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, both of them are Han Chinese, the former is holding high the banner of the Ming Dynasty, and although the latter is aiding the abuse, but now he is also fighting with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so from the perspective of the overall situation of restoring China, Zhou Shixiang really has no need to fight with them.

If Wu Sangui is willing to submit to obedience, Zhou Shixiang doesn't mind letting him enjoy the same treatment as a prince like Li Jinguo and Li Laiheng, and can even choose a piece of land for them in Yongzhen in the future in areas other than the two capitals and eighteen provinces. Liaodong, Northwest China, and even overseas can do it. But this does not depend on Zhou Shixiang, but on Wu Sangui and Li Laiheng themselves.

Tang Sanshui, who had taken on the heavy responsibility of guarding Kaifeng, sent a letter a few days ago, and the letter was a grievance of the Great Dao, saying that the loyal battalion was desperate to die in Kaifeng, and almost broke the city several times. He really lived like a year in the city, and implored Zhou Shixiang to see that he had no merit and hard work, so that he could send troops to the north and force the loyal battalion to retreat and return to southern Henan to stay honestly. Otherwise, he was really worried that he would not be able to complete the sacred mission entrusted by His Royal Highness King Qi.

Zhou Shixiang couldn't help this, Brother Sanshui thought simply, but Zhou Shixiang really wanted to send the Taiping army north, and Kaifeng would be really dangerous. Because the loyal battalion will only regard the Taiping army going north as a reinforcement ally, not as an enemy. As long as the news of the Taiping Army's northward movement reaches Kaifeng City, the veteran generals of the loyal battalion will definitely be like being beaten with chicken blood, and they will throw their cannon fodder under Kaifeng City without their lives or capital. At that time, Brother Sanshui was really dangerous.

Moreover, now that the Taiping army is rectifying, there is no way to send troops north. In response to Tang Sanshui's temperament, Zhou Shixiang happily continued to draw a big cake for him, and said in the letter that his brother's hard work, his brother didn't know, so when the big thing was done, he would be rewarded by the king of the county.

Tang Sanshui wrote a letter asking for help, and Wu Chongshan also wrote a letter from there, but what he said was different from Tang Sanshui, the straight road was as solid as gold, and there was no danger of falling at all. In this way, it was even more impossible for Zhou Shixiang to send troops north, but he sent an order to Jiang He, asking him to raise a batch of military rations to send to the loyal battalion, lest they would not be able to hold on in Kaifeng.

In addition, one thing Tang Sanshui said in his letter made Zhou Shixiang attach great importance to it.

Tang Sanshui said in the letter that Ao Bai sent a group of captured Wu generals to Kaifeng, including Wu Sangui's fierce general Gao Dajie. When the person was delivered, he was half dead and detained in the Kaifeng prison. Jia Hanfu, the governor of Henan, wanted to behead Gao Dajie and others directly, and then send the head to Beijing, but was stopped by Tang Sanshui, because he knew that Zhou Shixiang was bribing Wu Sangui's subordinates, so he felt that if he could save these captured Wu generals, it might be useful in the future.

When he heard about Wang Pingfan's death, Zhou Shixiang was embarrassed, and reported that he asked Tang Sanshui to treat those captured Wu generals no matter what, and then find a way to send people out of the city, and the people from the Military Intelligence Department would take them back to Jiangnan. In any case, these people were all anti-Qing generals, and Zhou Shixiang really couldn't bear to see them executed by the Qing court.

Wu Sangui is still in a stalemate with Aobai.

Although Wu Sangui's soldiers and horses were still stronger than Aobai, he suffered successive defeats, the morale of the army fluctuated, and the transportation of grain and grass in the army was also difficult, so it was difficult to launch a major offensive again in the short term.

Now, in addition to being busy transporting grain and grass from Shaanxi and Gansu to Henan to support the war, the Wu army is also dividing troops to attack Shanxi, hoping to attract Ao Bai to divide his troops.

However, Ao Bai was not fooled, and Sonny, who presided over the government, entered the palace with Suke Saha to meet the Empress Dowager, and then asked him to lead troops to Shanxi to defend against the enemy without Dunbai's knowledge. Dunbai was furious, but he did not dare to disobey the will of the empress dowager, so he could only take a few thousand of the eight banners in Beijing to Shanxi.

Zhou Shixiang felt that Wu Sangui would probably not have a big harvest in Shanxi, because he was not Li Zicheng back then.

At that time, Li Zicheng was the last heavy army group of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chuanting's department, and it was really smooth sailing, and everywhere he went, the Ming army was all looking forward to the wind. And now, Wu Sangui has not been able to annihilate Aobai, the last heavy army of the Qing army, for the Qing court, for those Qing generals, they still have hope, so it is impossible to fall to Wu Sangui in batches like the Ming army that surrendered to Li Zicheng that year.

The premise of wanting to settle Wu Sangui peacefully is that the Wu army cannot achieve victory on the battlefield again, and even faces the crisis of internal collapse, only in this way can Wu Sangui completely dispel his ambitions and turn to Zhou Shixiang to admit defeat.

Therefore, of course, Zhou Shixiang did not want Wu Sangui to win, otherwise, he would not have dragged him back, sent troops to Yungui, and now ordered the third theater to prepare to go out of Sichuan and enter Shaanxi to fight.

On the Shandong side, the Yuqi rebel army has already played a high tide. Huang Wu, the governor of Shandong appointed by the Qing court and the Duke of Haicheng, couldn't resist it at all, so he could only put the hope of quelling the chaos on Belle Tuntai. The Tuntai Department has now arrived in Texas, and it should pounce on Denglai by the end of the month at the latest.

Zheng Mingjun, the East China Sea Division, sent a battle report that the Navy Division had entered the waters of Laizhou, but it was not attacked by the Chiang Rai State Water Battalion, and there was no resistance at all. After discovering that the big ship of the Ming army was driving on the sea, the deputy general of the Laizhou water camp didn't even want a boat, so he fled from the water camp with his subordinates in a hurry.

At present, the East China Sea Division is deploying a defensive line in the Laizhou Water Camp and leveling the dock, and at the same time sending people to contact the Seventh Righteous Army.

That's good news.

After retracting his gaze from the car window, the voice of the blind man Li sounded outside: "Dashuai, Nandu has arrived." ”

"Is it there?"

Zhou Shixiang poked his head out of the car window. In front of you, there is Zhongshan - Zhongshan with wind and rain and yellow.

...............

Depressed, Xing Chong rushed to catch two days, 50 yesterday, 90 today, the market price is 40 yuan, which is about a chapter of 24-hour subscription income.

Miserable, let's ask for a subscription.