"Did the people in the House discuss anything today?" In addition to training every day, Mu Tan asked about the academy meeting. Although this council was chaotic and its personnel changed frequently, everyone expressed their opinions and analyzed the problems more thoroughly.

A few days ago, when several salt merchants from Xuzhou went to Chengdu to buy and sell, they shouted in the parliament, and when the trade was over, they hurried back to Xuzhou, and the mobility of these merchants made it impossible for them to stay in the parliament to perform their duties. For the local farmers, it was a slack season, so there were always many locals gathered around the council, and it was a good opportunity for them to popularize the policies of western Sichuan.

"Now the Senate has reached a consensus that the southeastern problem is one of the heavy taxes of the Imperial Court, and the second is the ban on the sea and our requisition of ships. Because shipping on the Yangtze River has almost stopped, and the shipyards have been shut down by themselves, the situation is a mess. Ren Tang said with a hint of disdain: "Even if the people there work hard, they make very little profit, and the production of various goods has been reduced across the board, and it has even affected our trade." When Fengjie heard Zhou Peigong's envoy describe the predicament, he came up with this idea, but neither Kuidong nor the southeast governor was completely unconscious. Deng Ming's BRICS theory is the consensus of the military, so the Ming army has a considerable understanding of the importance of business

In addition to the people who moved out of the coastal areas, Huang Wu's ban on the sea also included cracking down on merchants in order to cut off Zheng Chenggong's financial resources. Although some of the businessmen are Zheng Chenggong's related households, there are still many innocent businessmen who have been detained in the name of "Tong Zheng". is that some of Zheng Chenggong's related households are not mainly engaged in business with Zheng Chenggong, but have the idea of making money when they have money. As the ban spread in the coastal provinces, the magistrates further expanded the scope of the "Tongzheng" trading houses, using this as an excuse to plunder the merchants' property.

Now the officials and officials of the coastal provinces are in a carnival, frantically robbing those trading houses with no background; The big businessmen with government backgrounds, the most typical of which is the Hui merchants, were hit hard by the joint efforts of Deng Ming, Jiang Guozhu and Lin Qilong.

"If the businessmen in the courtyard are right, the situation in the southeast will continue to deteriorate. When commerce is completely destroyed, agriculture and industry in the southeast will also regress in great strides, and it seems that the famine will continue to spread. A hint of worry appeared on Mu Tan's face. The Qing court's ban on the sea was like cutting off one's arm to treat an abscess on his hand, but the Qing court's vitality was greatly damaged, and Zheng Chenggong would also be in a dilemma, if the business did not exist, Zheng Chenggong's smuggling would also be a problem: "And this will also be harmful to us, and when the people in the southeast are impoverished, they will not be able to afford our salt and goods." If we can't make any money growing cotton and weaving cloth, there won't be many people weaving silk and cotton anymore, and we won't have any goods if we want to engage in commerce. ”

Through the discussion in the parliament, the people of western Sichuan now have a vague understanding of these truths, and those veterans who have heard Deng Ming talk about the BRICS theory are also volunteer propagandists of the policy. In the face of anxiety, some peasants were already shouting outside the parliament that they wanted to interfere in the policy of the southeast, and some people went to the prefect's yamen to petition and demand that the prefect's yamen quickly come up with countermeasures.

"If the shipping collapses, the life of the fellow talents will not be so easy!"

"If there is less revenue, subsidies will fall, maybe taxes will be raised, and there will be no free education."

These rumors were all spread from the hospital association, which immediately made the people of Chengdu indignant.

Ren Tang said with a smile: "Their daughter-in-law is even more difficult to find, and everyone understands it when it comes to their own interests." ”

In the beginning, the members of the council were prepared in advance, so that the people knew that war would be beneficial to them, so that if they were to mobilize money and troops in the future, it would be easier for the people to understand. However, as the people accepted their claims, the call for armed intervention became louder, which in turn had an impact on the hospital. At present, military intervention has become the consensus of all members of the Yuan, and what is discussed every day is how to intervene in order to maximize the benefits of western Sichuan.

The plan to slaughter the gentry to gain wealth had long been rejected, and doing so would only make the southeast poorer. The governor of the southeast may be able to solve the urgent need for a while, but there is no benefit worth mentioning for western Sichuan, but it will lose potential collaborators; And it doesn't seem like a good idea to help Jiangnan get tax cuts, although it is good for the southeast, but the southeast is now the enemy's territory, and the people of western Sichuan can't see what is beneficial to them in helping the southeast to increase its strength.

"Now Beijing is sucking blood from the southeast. We are the same, but one is a means of taxation and the other is a means of trade; If the southeast becomes stronger, it will certainly strengthen its resistance to Beijing, but it will also strengthen its resistance to us. It is better to let the southeast continue to be weak, but it will be more dependent on us, unable to refuse our demands. Mu Tan recounted a summary of the meeting, which he thought made sense, and that in the final analysis, the governor of the southeast was still an enemy: "Today, the meeting has a preliminary plan, which is to sell ships to the southeast to help them resume commerce. The common people worked desperately to do odd jobs in order to bear the taxes of the Qing court, and if the things made were marketable, the people's lives would be better, and our supply of goods would be guaranteed. We can buy it at a very cheap price, as long as the hard-working people don't starve to death or leave them behind. ”

"Doesn't selling the ship to the southeastern governor strengthen their power?" Ren Tang asked.

"The meaning of the Yuan meeting is to let Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Chao set up some government-run shipping firms, and put them in the name of Premier Deng's yamen. We sold the ships to these trading houses, and let Jiang Guozhu exchange them for the seized shipyards, unemployed shipwrights, and fishermen and sailors who moved inward. And we still have half of the shares of these shipping companies, and we can check the accounts. ”

"That's a good idea." Ren Tang nodded. For the Ming army, this was the relationship between the left hand and the right hand, and the trade profits were used to meet the needs of Kuidong's allies and become rich. This kind of monopoly shipping can not only maintain commerce, but also squeeze out the profits in it: "In other words, in addition to the smuggling on Chongming Island, other commercial transportation must also be in the hands of our people?" ”

"Yes, nominally under the Yamen of Premier Deng, but a general office must be appointed by the Yuan, and we have the final say on how much taxes to collect, if Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Chao dare to disagree......"

"Just let him know how good we are." Ren Tang sneered: "Doesn't Kui Dong want to fight? This time they will be useful. ”

With the convening of the academy meeting, many of Deng Ming's policies became no longer a secret in Chengdu, and even many agreements between western Sichuan and Liangjiang were also poked out at the academy meeting, which shocked the Shanxi people who had just come to Chengdu. The Mongols even remembered the bizarreness of the Battle of Gaoyou Lake. However, there was no radio at this time, and even the secrets that everyone in Chengdu knew could not be transmitted to Sichuan. And Ren Tang and the others also have an indifferent attitude towards this, Jiang Guozhu They are enemies, even if they are really unlucky, there is nothing to worry about, but if the academy wants to make the right decision, it must know these correct information.

On the basis of this outline of the plan, the Yuanhui made some revisions, and finally formally issued an order in the name of Deng Ming to the yamen of Chengdu and Xuzhou, demanding a full mobilization to join forces with the ASEAN army to attack Jiangnan.

The mandate given to the military was: first, if Chiang or Chang Chao rejected the resolutions of the Senate and the Imperial Diet, the military was completely free to take any necessary action; If the governor of Liangjiang agreed to the resolution of the Yuanhui, then the imperial army could attack the coasts of Shandong and Zhejiang, and assist the sailors who were forced to move to the sea to Chengdu. Second, the attacks on Shandong and Zhejiang should be compensated by Liangjiang, ensuring that the well-informed Liangjiang governors would avoid becoming the focus of the Qing court's attention, and allowing them to share in the spoils of war would help them to willingly assist the Ming army in its work.

After the mobilization order was issued, a large number of Tongxiucai in Chengdu enthusiastically signed up, and the same was true in Xuzhou, and in the end, the Ming army mobilized a total of 50,000 people, which was double to two times the number of people expected.

This is an unprecedented mass mobilization. In the past, Deng Ming had to promise various benefits to the soldiers, and this mobilization was probably able to mobilize less than 20,000 people in the past, but now it has mobilized 50,000 people. Li Xinghan, the highest-ranking military officer, was appointed commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, and Zhou Kaihuang stayed behind, accompanied by Mu Tan and Ren Tang.

Speaking of the efficiency of this mobilization, the officers of the Ming army were full of pride: "Now Tong Xiucai understands that this battle is related to their future lives. The Yuan Council also asked the Liangjiang Governor to assist the Ming army in their blind date activities. ”

Having been able to mobilize such a large army, the Senate was reluctant to allow the Kui Allies to enter the war, but instead proposed a compensation agreement to the committee: the Kui Eastern Army would be responsible for pinning down Chongqing when the western Sichuan army left Sichuan, and the western Sichuan army would subsidize their expenses.

After learning of this, Liu Tichun and the others had an urgent discussion. In Deng Ming's absence, the generals of Kuidong were overjoyed that Western Sichuan was able to mobilize a large army to fight, and they also knew that the plan had changed drastically, and the people of Western Sichuan were willing to use more reliable troops to conduct military operations. In the end, after discussion, Liu Tichun said that the Kuidong coalition army would drive to the vicinity of Chongqing to monitor, but he claimed that if the Kuidong army could capture Chongqing and solve the threat once and for all, then Sichuan should bear all the additional military expenses and give more allowances.

The Kawanishi side considered it and agreed to the committee's request. At this time, Yuan Zongdi finally regretted it, and also announced that he would join the committee and announce his participation in the siege of Chongqing - if Kui Dong's army captured Chongqing, then Yuan Zongdi was sure that he would have the right to rule the city, after all, there was no one closer to Chongqing than him.