Aspirations for Nation and Beauty: Section 23 Shanxi Merchants

While Wufeng is vigorously adjusting the defense of Western Xinjiang, the General Administration of Military Affairs is also actively adjusting the defense of the entire central control area including Jinzhong. The City Guard Corps is still stationed in the area south of Qinghe Mansion , and the Fourteenth Army was adjusted to the east of Zhongzhou to strengthen the defense against Luyang, and the Third Army was also deployed to the area adjacent to Longquan, clearly showing a defensive posture against the western border, while the Fourth Army was Arranged to Jinzhong, three divisions were stationed in Jinzhong Fucheng, while the other two divisions were placed at the junction of Jinzhong and Longquan. The eighth and ninth legions were placed on the southern line, and more than 200,000 people were placed on the front line with Huanggang and Jiujiang. Although the posture is decent, but how effective it will be, I am afraid that even the General Administration of Military Affairs has no idea. .

The series of defense adjustments came suddenly, but the order from the General Administration of Military Affairs clearly expressed the unquestionable intention, that is, in the meeting of kings, the safety of the imperial capital must be fully guaranteed, and the The Imperial Guard Corps, which was leaderless, seems to have begun to recover. The head of the Imperial Guard Corps, Ma Yuanxiang, who has not shown up for a long time, has also begun to show up frequently, which has also attracted the attention of various forces. After all, when several major legions were stationed in the suburbs around the imperial capital, only the most powerful armed force of the empire remained in the entire imperial capital. When the kings enter the capital, although they each have their own armed forces, the strong dragon does not overwhelm the snake, and the kings are unlikely to lead too many guards. If the imperial guards can really be kneaded together, or join hands with the other party, it will be a huge impact on the other party. It is a great threat from several parties.

Although all parties have expressed their desire to enter Beijing, it is still hard to say whether they will enter Beijing after they finally arrive at the city. The imperial capital is like a cage threatening the safety of all parties, and at this time, the owner of the cage may not be able to grasp the power to open the cage, which makes everything full of variables.

With a trace of exhaustion and excitement after the task was completed, Ying Jianming stood alone at the top of the city and looked westward. His Highness King Qin will pass through Jindong East and enter Zhongzhou tomorrow, and the Jinzhong City in his hands will become His Highness King Qin. After entering Zhongzhou, the only checkpoint to contact his territory, one can imagine that Xijiang attaches great importance to this checkpoint. Fortunately, his first division finally won the opportunity to be stationed in the city, but the second division is still stationed on the outskirts of the city. An unsafe factor. Fortunately, the Fifth Division controlled by my confidants is also stationed in the outskirts of the city. The whole situation is still in my hands. Unpredictable changes have really occurred, and I can firmly control this checkpoint. Together with the Western Frontier Army.

Obviously, deploying the 20th Regiment on the outskirts of the city is a balancing act. It is hard for Ying Jianming to say whether this is because the other party does not trust him. After all, the 1st Division is his direct descendant, and the 5th Division Although the regiment can't see anything on the surface, it still aroused the vigilance of the other party when it made a suggestion when it was deployed. He is an expert, but he probably never dreamed that he had an extraordinary relationship with Xijiang, which is just a subconscious precaution.

As far as the eye can see, there are some faint mountain shadows in the sky. It is a broken terrain mixed with hills and flat land, and the situation in the north is basically the same, except that there is a large flat land in the area adjacent to Longquan, which seems to have opened a gap, and the other parts are also mixed with shallow hills and dams.

Although the seemingly broken and messy land is not fertile, it contains the richest coal resources in the empire. The entire 14 towns in Jinzhong Prefecture, almost all of them produce coal. Not only is the coal quality good, but it is also easy to mine. In addition, the Fan River winds its way from Jinzhong Prefecture into Zhongzhou, and this has become the largest coal producing area in the empire and the largest fuel supply area in the imperial capital.

The wealth and luxury of coal merchants in Jinzhong, the salt merchants in Yangzhou and the financial merchants in the imperial capital are called the three major wealthy merchant groups in the empire. This shows the wealth of the coal mine owners in Jinzhong. Coal mines are like black gold, enough to make people Get rich overnight, and after accumulating several generations, you can become a rich man in the entire empire. Most of these coal mine owners chose the imperial capital as the place to buy property and start a family after they made their fortunes, and the dignitaries in the imperial capital were also jealous of the rich resources in Jinzhong, and they used various means of power to infiltrate Jinzhong. , many aristocratic families who were originally from the imperial capital also gradually infiltrated into Jinzhong, and the local coal merchants in Jinzhong penetrated into the imperial capital. Combining the two, the close relationship between Jinzhong and the imperial capital is even far more than that of Jinzhong. The connection between Jinzhong and other prefectures in Heshuo County, including the capital Hejian Mansion, and the position of Jinzhong city guard has affected the nerves of many people in the imperial capital. Every time the main officials of Jinzhong are adjusted, there will always be The occasional turmoil in the imperial officialdom has also become a barometer of the changes in the imperial officialdom.

But all this is already a thing of the past. After experiencing the Taiping Sect incident, the power of coal merchants in Jinzhong was hit hard. Almost all the big coal merchants had to flee and hide in the imperial capital to avoid disaster. As soon as they took control of Jinzhong, these coal mines were taken over by the Taiping Sect. However, due to the escape of a large number of skilled workers and joining the Taiping Army, and the fact that the coal mine owners fled away, most of the coal mines were in fact at a standstill. , and the sales of coal mines were also interrupted, and Jinzhong suddenly became a chicken rib. Without a market, this coal mine is almost worthless, and coal is not much different from mud and stone. The Taiping people who lack economic acumen do not realize this, and they will not use other methods except fighting and plundering To make up for the financial constraints, such a resource-rich Jinzhong Prefecture could not get much financial support from it in their hands.

The collapse of the Taiping Sect seems to have brought a glimmer of hope for the comeback of Jinzhong coal merchants. The resumption of control of the imperial army over Jinzhong seems to indicate this. In my hometown, coal mines began to resume work one after another. But the reality is often not as good as imagined. With the large-scale expansion of the army controlled by the central government of the empire, the central finance of the empire is obviously unable to support such a large army, especially after the East China Sea and Jiangnan have cut off the payment of taxes to the central government of the empire. This problem has become particularly serious. Although the imperial central government's finances are still a bit old-fashioned, an army of up to seven legions is simply not affordable for an imperial central government that tightly controls a central state and a central Jin Dynasty. Under the pressure of Fang, the central government of the empire did not dare to dismantle several legions. If it wanted to maintain it, it had to transfer these problems to the business class.

So coal merchants are now the main recipients of donations. According to the thinking of the central government of the empire, Jinzhong not only has to bear the military expenses of one legion stationed in Jinzhong, but also the expenses of another legion. This is equivalent to asking one Jinzhong government to bear the expenses of two legions. No matter how rich Jinzhong is, no matter how rich the coal merchants are, they are unlikely to accept this result. The end result is that the coal merchants refuse to pay, and the army stationed here simply implements military control, instead of the government forcibly collecting various taxes and lijin. This has also led to continued tension between the local coal merchants and the army. The backstage of the coal merchants has also continued to launch troubles in the court, attacking the military's ineffective management of the army, and the army harassing the local area, causing public resentment. Taking national affairs as the most important thing, the finances are unable to support the army, so they have to drink poison to quench their thirst. This method is used to raise funds to maintain the existence of the army. Fortunately, His Majesty is no longer in charge of politics, and many major issues are dealt with by a few important ministers in the court, but the final solution is to make peace, let the military order the garrison on the one hand, and reduce the burden on the people in Jinzhong~IndoMTL.com~ On the other hand On the one hand, we also hope that the gentry and the people will understand the current plight of the government and be patient for a while.

However, this kind of thing is difficult for coal merchants to accept, especially those with a strong background in the imperial capital, so some coal merchants began to invest in Hejian, Longquan and Montenegro in the west, while others Some began to blatantly refused to pay donations and losses, which directly caused conflicts between the two sides, and the situation in Jinzhong became increasingly unstable. The reason for the sudden adjustment of the army deployment this time is, on the one hand, to strengthen the outer defenses of the imperial capital, and on the other hand, it is also to ease the already bad military-civilian relations. At least after adjusting the deployment, the new Fourth Army can also renew To establish a relatively relaxed relationship, of course, this is just the wishful thinking of the General Administration of Military Affairs.

The coal merchants hope to return to the previous situation. However, the army of as many as seven legions in the empire must be borne by people. In view of the continuous drought in the past one or two years, it has made it difficult for farmers to maintain food. If you want to Asking farmers to bear such a huge amount of expenses would immediately trigger peasant riots. After repeated deliberation, the high-level officials of the empire could only count this expense on the merchants, especially the coal mine owners with the aura of Shanxi merchants. them.

Both Ying Jianming and his boss, Xu Xiangyang, the commander of the Fourth Army Corps, are aware of the joints. The reason why Xu Xiangyang would rather command from the imperial capital by himself than directly station in Jinzhong is that he is not willing to Facing the troubles of those coal mine owners directly, you must know that these coal mine owners have great backing behind them. Xu Xiangyang just wants to make a smooth transition, and doesn't want to get too involved with the high-ranking officials of the imperial capital on this issue. , these tightrope-like problems were all pushed to Ying Jianming, who was in charge of the overall defense of Jinzhong Fucheng.

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