"Your Majesty, the merchants from Guangzhou have jointly submitted a letter requesting to submit to Great Ming.”
On the mottled ancient city wall, Zhu Weichu was fiddling with an exquisitely crafted Leenfield sniper rifle, searching for Qing scouts lurking in the woods outside the city.
In the past two days, the dispatch of the Qing army had obviously accelerated. A large number of scouts had appeared outside Guangzhou. In addition to going to the workshop to watch Reba do scientific research, Zhu Weichu was also inspecting the training of the new army.
Now, he had found another hobby, which was to snipe the Qing scouts on the city wall.
The firing range of the Qing army's flintlocks could not hit the city walls, but using sniper rifles from the city walls could easily kill the Qing army. It was very interesting.
Bang ~
A clear gunshot rang out. The bullet drilled into the forehead of a Qing scout who was disguised in the grass 400 meters away. His brain and blood sprayed out. He couldn't be more dead.
Zhu Weichu put down his sniper rifle in satisfaction and turned his head to ask,""The Guangzhou merchants are collectively submitting?"
"Guangli Trading Company, Dongxing Trading Company, Xingtai Trading Company…eight large trading companies and ninety percent of the small trading companies have submitted and offered all their assets. There are about eighty million taels of silver, four million catties of refined iron, one million and five hundred thousand catties of copper, six hundred thousand tons of grain, one million pieces of cloth, and countless other materials.”
Yang Shiqi handed over a folder, his expression shocked.
Everyone knew that Guangzhou merchants were very rich, but they never thought that they would be so rich.
Zhu Weichu looked at the list of supplies and was in a good mood.
"Merchants pursue profits. It's understandable that they want to give charcoal in the snow to gain a rich future. Take it. The cabinet will assess it and appoint it as an official of the Ministry of Commerce to be in charge of foreign trade.”
"In the future, the Great Ming will not isolate the country from the outside world. While encouraging and supporting private trade, state-owned companies must also be established one after another. The lifeline of economic trade must be in the hands of the Imperial Court.”
A state-owned company? Royal merchants?
Yang Shiqi thought to himself.
With the establishment of a state-owned company, the private merchants basically had no ability to compete with the state-owned company. Wasn't the biggest merchant the imperial court?
"Your Majesty, isn't it inappropriate for the Imperial Court to compete with the people for benefits?”
"How is it inappropriate? You should have heard of how large the western capitalist class is. Once the capitalist class controls the economy, trade, and industry, the imperial power will be severely restricted. Or do you think that the Ming Dynasty should follow the example of Great Britain and implement a constitution of the monarch?”
Zhu Weichu's eyes flashed sharply, and Yang Shiqi keenly caught it.
Imperial power was supreme!
Plop ~
Without hesitation, Yang Shiqi knelt down and bowed.
"Your Majesty, I don't have such thoughts. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!”
"Get up. You didn't say anything wrong, but what you said about not competing with the people for benefits is completely wrong. If the country wants to prosper forever, the industrial lifeline and economic lifeline must be in the hands of the government. It's not impossible to implement a constitution of the monarch..."
"But not now. Let's wait until the country stabilizes before considering it! I am very clear about the shortcomings of the emperor's power system because no one can guarantee that the future kings will be wise kings. Therefore, the constitution of the monarch is imperative.”
Zhu Weichu was a transmigrator. Of course, he knew the drawbacks of the emperor's power system. There were also cases in history, such as Zhu Qizhen, the emperor who ended the rule of Renxuan. This was the tragedy that resulted from the emperor's arbitrary decision to not listen to advice.
Although the constitution of the monarch restricted the imperial power, the royal family became a mascot.
However, this was beneficial to the country and the future of the people. The world did not belong to the Zhu family, but to the entire people.
However, for now, he still needed a high degree of concentration of power.
The flower-growing people who had been harmed by the Mie Qing until they were weak and ignorant needed a spiritual belief to lead them out of the dark valley, to cheer up again, to twist into a rope, to break through the waves and bravely move forward, to be reborn from the mud.
This spiritual belief, other than the emperor who had absolute power, no one else could be competent.
"Your Majesty is wise, I am stupid."
Yang Shiqi was convinced and did not dare to say anything else.
"Your Majesty, I estimate that the Qing army will launch an attack within three days. The scouts I sent out reported that the Qing army seems to be capturing civilians. I guess that the Qing army is likely to kidnap civilians to attack Guangzhou and force us not to use the cannons…It's too despicable.”
"Ha, you idiot who broke his own foundation."
Zhu Weichu used to think that Qianlong was a worthy opponent, but now it seemed that he was just a selfish fool.
You used the civilians as meat shields, what would the Green Camp Han soldiers think? What would the people think?
He had no foresight, did things without regard for his head, was cruel, vicious, and selfish. He was indeed very clean.
"Your Majesty, we have to be on guard! It was impossible to open fire and bombard them. The hearts of the people were very important.”
"The problem is that if we don't open fire, the Qing army with hundreds of thousands of soldiers will cause us huge casualties.”
Yang Shiqi was worried. This vicious tactic of the Qing army was really disgusting.
Zhu Weichu was not in a hurry. The weapons of the Ming army gave him an almost unshakable confidence in victory.
"Master Yang, you have to believe in one thing. In front of absolute strength, all schemes and plots are useless. If we use all our strength to win this battle, the Miqing clan will be destroyed.”
"Prepare for battle!"
……
Qingyuan County, 40 kilometers away from Guangzhou City, was the headquarters of Agui Fulong 'an.
After half a month of mobilization, the 550,000 soldiers had been gathered. Food and fodder were in place, and 40,000 flintlocks were urgently produced.
In the rich south, there was no shortage of food and grass, and there was no shortage of rich landowners and gentry. With the full support of these people, the Qing army was strong.
The southern landowners and gentry who had relied on Miqing to become rich were very clear that they would not have a good ending after the Ming Dynasty's restoration. This was because their lives were tied to Miqing and they had done many things to help the wicked.
If the Qing Dynasty perished, they would also perish and die for the Qing Dynasty.
For the sake of glory and wealth, how could he not fully support the Imperial Court?
The more people there were, the more power there was. In half a month, they had rushed to produce 40,000 flintlocks and 4,000 cannons of various types. Agui Fulong was full of confidence. In addition, Qianlong had issued 18 imperial edicts in half a month to urge them to kill each other. The second Battle of Guangzhou had officially begun.
"Great General, this servant has already led the army to control 300,000 civilians. The time is ripe. If we delay, there will be changes.”
Zhong Mingkui, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, walked into the General's Mansion and cupped his hands to report the results he was proud of.
Ah Gui was overjoyed and immediately ordered.
"Good, give the vanguard troops, the left, right, and middle armies an order to surround Guangzhou and use the fiercest offensive!”
……
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