The Ming army's ostentatious performance outside Jiujiang City left a deep impression on the surrounding people, and the soldiers' exquisite military uniforms and healthy and ruddy complexions proved to the audience that their living conditions were quite good, which was completely different from the traditional soldiers who were called flowers, beggars, and serfs in the minds of the people. After the local snake helped to publicize, many farmers were moved and were willing to consider marrying the Ming army.

Of course, the most important thing is the bride price promised by the Ming army. In order to help the soldiers solve the marriage problem, Deng Ming allocated a budget of 500,000 taels of silver to Ren Tang. Ren Tang fought hard for his hometown, and Deng Ming had plenty of money and indeed had the need for a quick decision, so Deng Ming finally decided to come up with such a large sum of money.

Among them, 100,000 taels of budget will be used to pay for various necessary expenses, such as commissions paid to matchmakers and household registration fraud fees paid to Xu officials, and the remaining 400,000 taels will allow each Ming soldier to pay a bride price of 100 taels to his father-in-law's family. Even in Nanchang City, ten taels of silver can buy a girl. For the people in the neighborhood, marrying a daughter in exchange for such a large amount of dowry money is enough to marry three sons in a decent manner, not only to build a house for their sons, but also to buy some household belongings.

Because of poverty, many local peasant families do not even have the ability to afford to marry a second son if they do not consider changing parents. Now although the girl is married far away in Sichuan, since the husband's family has the ability to come up with such a large amount of dowry, it is unlikely that the daughter will be hungry and cold, that is, the average small landlord is reluctant to pay such a large dowry. In fact, after hearing the amount of the Ming army's dowry, even many small landlords were also excited, and solemnly considered marrying their daughters to Sichuan, and then using the dowry money to buy a few acres of land -- if they were not married to soldiers, many small landlords would have run to inquire about marriage.

Deng Ming had already told his subordinates in advance that he could not bear all the costs of marriage, and that each soldier would receive a bonus of 5,000 IOUs for participating in the Battle of Gaoyou Lake, which was converted into 50 taels of silver, and the remaining 50 taels of dowry money were temporarily lent to them. But it's an interest-free welfare loan to help military members get married, and they'll have to pay back $100 a year to the government for the next 50 years. And those extra costs for matchmakers can be regarded as Deng Ming's treat.

The soldiers were not dissatisfied with Deng Ming's request, and they privately calculated that 100 yuan a year was only equivalent to paying an extra stone of food, and it was not a heavy burden. Moreover, Deng Ming also explained that this kind of welfare loan is a debt of death, and if they unfortunately die in the next 50 years, this debt will not fall on their wives and children.

In addition to paying off the debt each year, Deng said that another repayment model could be adopted, which was to have his wife work in a government-run factory — a labor force that Deng Ming wanted to improve the status of women while using this part of the workforce. The result of his deliberations was that women had to be paid for their work in the same way as men. Deng Ming's reasoning is also high-sounding, he said that Sichuan is in a state of ruins, and needs to manufacture a large number of bedding, clothes, shoes and socks and other military supplies, and women's participation in labor can be of great help to the army. If a soldier agrees to get his wife to support the government and the military, for example, for five years, Deng Ming will not only pay the wages but also forgive their loan debts.

The high bride price put the Ming soldiers in a very advantageous position, and they could choose those girls who matched their hearts. After the initial contact, the people of Jiangxi were surprised to find that these Ming soldiers were literate, at least they could write their own names, and some smart soldiers could even write their own letters of appointment.

When Deng Ming arrived in Jiujiang with the main force, Ren Tang reported to him that hundreds of marriages had been agreed, and not only small landlords, but even nearby people came to choose sons-in-law when they heard the news. It seems that the Ming army can at least solve lifelong events for thirty percent of the soldiers in Jiangxi, and the rest can be completed when the Ming army stays in Huguang for a long time.

After Deng Ming arrived in Jiujiang, Dong Weiguo came to the camp to meet him that night, and he did not come to see Ren Tang before to avoid suspicion, so as not to suspect Deng Ming that he had another plan for his private contact with the Ming army generals.

Having been captured twice, and having negotiated and entrusted Gu once, the Jiangxi political envoy was more comfortable in the Ming military camp than Jiang Guozhu, and his happy laughter echoed throughout the camp.

"I heard that General Ren is also from Jiangxi?" After two glasses of wine, Dong Weiguo asked Ren Tang with a smile: "I don't know if General Ren still has clansmen in his hometown?" If the general wants them to go to Sichuan, even if they say yes, everything will be wrapped up in me. ”

Ren Tang shook his head and told the other party that most of his relatives and clansmen had been martyred in the War of Resistance against the Qing Dynasty, but his cousin Ren Hongcheng had a young son who survived, but his whereabouts have been unknown.

"What a martyr!" Dong Weiguo was in awe, patted his chest and said: "After General Ren's cousin is also Zhongliang, this official definitely can't look at Zhongliang's heir, don't worry, this official will definitely do his best to find his whereabouts, and it is incumbent on him." ”

"I heard that General Ren is not married yet," Dong Weiguo sighed, and changed the topic: "This official knows some of the ladies of the family, if General Ren is interested, this official is willing to be a matchmaker." Saying that, Dong Weiguo looked at Zhou Kaihuang again: "General Zhou doesn't seem to have a family yet, right?" The girls of the Jiangxi Shi family are knowledgeable, gentle and virtuous, and General Zhou can also consider it. ”

"The Admiral has an order, no officer or soldier in our army is allowed to marry a woman with small feet." Ren Tang shook his head: "Besides, Hu Lu has not been destroyed, why do you want to be at home?" ”

Deng Ming used the former reason to send Jiang Guozhu's niece and Lin Qilong's daughter home. Liang Huafeng regretted it even more, and repeatedly lamented that he was a military general, why he wanted to learn from a scholar to bind his daughter's feet, but he mistook his daughter.

"Sure enough, it's a young hero, Top Gun, be a big white!" Ren Tang's latter reason made the political envoy of Jiangxi in the Qing Dynasty sigh with emotion, raised his glass and saluted Deng Ming, Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang, and then raised his head and drank it all.

"Look

I'm not the only one who has schizophrenia. Deng Ming thought in his heart, raised the teacup and took a sip of tea, while Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang silently accompanied Dong Weiguo to have a drink.

Dong Weiguo knew that Deng Ming didn't like to drink, so he didn't persuade him to drink. Seeing that the atmosphere in the camp tent was a little cold, the Jiangxi political envoy laughed, just now he had congratulated Deng Ming Gaoyou Lake on his victory, and now he congratulated again: "Admiral Ge killed the first emperor and shocked the world, and this Shunzhi has only been over in seventeen years." I don't know what the era name will be next year, and I don't know how many years I can last in front of the Admiral this time? In the opinion of the following officials, maybe not even seventeen years, haha. ”

"His symptoms of schizophrenia are even stricter than those of Jiang Guozhu." Deng Ming thought about it and smiled slightly: "I think it will be Kangxi." ”

"Kangxi?" Dong Weiguo was stunned when he heard this, and he didn't know how Deng Ming could say this. Shunzhi had just died, and the name of next year's year had not yet been decided; Moreover, the formulation of the era name is a decision at the highest level of the imperial court, and even Shangshu and banner owners are not qualified to hear about it. Even if it has been decided, unless an important minister of this level or even the Empress Dowager sends someone to notify Deng Ming urgently for six hundred miles, how can he know? Dong Weiguo figured it out in a blink of an eye, this was purely Deng Ming's joke, and he smiled playfully: "It's really good, but Admiral Deng also loves our court too much." ”

"Why did the Admiral think it was the word 'Kangxi'?" Hearing Deng Ming say this, Ren Tang was also interested. This is not the first time he has heard Deng Ming mention this matter, before releasing Suo Etu and the others, Deng Ming went to meet them, and said to these captives: "The era of Shunzhi is over, and the next thing is Kangxi." ”

When Ren Tang heard it, his thoughts were similar to Dong Weiguo at this time, thinking that Deng Ming was just saying it casually. Or some other meaning, such as making a gesture of giving the Qing court an era name to humiliate the Tartars. However, this makes some sense, the other party is a rebel in Jianzhou, and Deng Ming's humiliation method is nondescript.

Afterwards, Ren Tang quickly put this matter behind him, and today he heard Deng Ming use these two words again, Ren Tang's curiosity was greatly stimulated, he pondered again and again, how could he not taste the humiliation in these two words, on the contrary, as Dong Weiguo said, these are two very good words.

"I guessed." Deng Ming smiled slightly, and quickly diverted the topic. He uttered these two words completely mischievously, without the slightest intention, and I don't know if the Qing court will still use this era name in this history; What if the Qing court still used this era name, Deng Ming didn't think about it.

Dong Weiguo and Ren Tang didn't take this matter to heart. Needless to say, Dong Weiguo is not as ignorant as Deng Ming, they all know very well that formulating an emperor's era name is a secret belonging to the highest level of the imperial court, whether it is the Ming court or the Qing court.

……

"Kangxi, Kangxi...... Kangxi ......: "Suo Etu, who has returned to Xuzhou, is still thinking hard about Deng Ming's last words before parting. For a great enemy like Deng Ming, the captured Praetorian Guard officers did not dare to take it lightly. Suo Etu kept muttering to himself day and night, "What the hell does this mean? A code? Who among us said that? ”

The other Praetorian Guards officers around Suo Etu also heard Deng Ming's words, and they also secretly pondered, the more they thought about it, the more they felt that there seemed to be a big conspiracy hidden inside, maybe there was a traitor hiding in their group of imperial guards, and it was this person who betrayed the emperor's whereabouts to the Ming army; And Deng Ming probably used this code word to give this traitor some instructions. Maybe this traitor is also the contact person of some big man in Jingshi. If you can't understand the meaning of these two words, then you can't see through the true face of the traitor and stop Deng Ming's conspiracy.

"Kangxi......, Kang ...... Hee, hee...... Kang ...... "The son-in-law of Kupilon also kept repeating these two words softly. It was impossible for him to guess that this was the future era name of the Qing court. Although his father-in-law is eligible to participate in the discussion of next year's year name, even if his father-in-law knows about it, he will keep his mouth shut and will not reveal the slightest tone to his son-in-law. Even Sony will not reveal it to Suo Etu before the Qing court announces the world. There is no doubt that there must be a shocking conspiracy and a terrible secret hidden in these two words.

All the Praetorian Guard officers were worried, and Deng Ming's simple words aroused deep suspicion and suspicion among them: the person sitting next to him might be the traitor who betrayed the emperor!

"As soon as you see your father, report it immediately, and he may be able to figure out what this code word means." Suo Etu quietly made up his mind in his heart, and the other Praetorian Guard officers also had the same idea.

……

At the same time, the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The Empress Dowager sat in the center, and below stood a row of Manchu and Han ministers.

"Queen Mother, mourn." Sonny stepped out of the crowd and said in a sad tone. The choice of the emperor has been decided, and the important ministers gathered here today to decide the name of the new emperor.

Seeing Sonny holding the yellow paper in both hands and handing it over, the Queen Mother's tears welled up again, and she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. The eunuch took the yellow paper and put it on the table respectfully.

"This is agreed upon by the minions, please ask the Queen Mother to judge." Sonny took a step back and whispered.

The Queen Mother glanced at the yellow paper, pondered for a moment, and nodded slightly: "Very good, just use it." Draw up the decree and tell the world. ”

"Yes."

Sony, Ao Bai and other important ministers knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the queen mother. Wait a few more moments, and after the edict is issued, the Queen Mother will officially change her name to the Queen Mother.

"Ugh." The Queen Mother picked up the yellow paper and looked at it again, and gently placed it on the imperial case. From this moment on, there was no need for secrecy.

On the yellow paper are two large characters:

Kangxi!