Chapter 544: How to Take Over the Sichuan Plate?

The solution Zhu Cilang offered could only slightly ease the grain shortage; it still could not cure the root problem!

The gap in the southeast's grain supply is enormous right now. In past years, the rice shipped from Huguang to the southeast ran to about twenty million shi, but the Huguang war that began last year disrupted the grain shipments. Although the war has now basically ended, the grain trade cannot recover immediately.

Even if Zhu Cilang is willing to put up deposits and let the two banks issue loans, there is no way twenty million shi of white rice can be shipped to the southeast that quickly.

In this day and age, with no trains and no trucks, moving goods is a real headache! How could grain be brought from the countryside to Wuchang so easily?

Zhu Cilang let out a heavy breath. "There will always be a way. First, back to Nanjing — we must steady the situation! As long as the southeast does not fall into chaos, there will always be a way!"

"Right! As long as the Crown Prince returns to court, there is nothing to fear!" Li Yan nodded. "Returning in triumph is bound to lift people's spirits. And Li Zicheng has been killed by us — this is the greatest victory since the bandit suppression began!"

Zhu Cilang nodded as well. "Imperial Father will certainly be overjoyed to hear this news. At last he can rest easy in his retirement!"

Qiu Yu, Governor of Hubei, had his brows knitted tightly. He did not believe Zhu Cilang could conjure up grain, and in the end this matter would most likely come down to the Huguang gentry taking the loss!

Because Zhu Cilang regarded the "northerners" as his military backbone and the "southeast" as his main source of revenue.

One was the hilt of the knife, the other the money bag — neither could be discarded.

And when Huguang is full, the realm has surplus — it seemed Huguang could only resign itself to being a granary.

Actually, being a granary was nothing new; it had been one for so many years already. The question now was whether Huguang could recover its prewar condition — whether it could still deliver more than two million shi in grain tax each year.

Qiu Yu, who had registered his household in Xiangyang Prefecture, and his fellow townsman Fang Yuegong exchanged a glance. Qiu Yu said, "Your Highness, the roving bandits are about to enter Sichuan and will join forces with the Xi bandit. The excellent situation in Sichuan was hard-won; it cannot simply be abandoned."

Fang Yuegong said, "Indeed! Your Highness, Sichuan is the Land of Abundance. If it falls to the bandits, Huguang will never know peace."

Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "Naturally, naturally. Without Sichuan, Huguang can hardly be secure. If Sichuan falls under the roving bandits' control, then the realm will be split three ways!"

"Right, right!" He Tengjiao said. "Reunifying three parts into one is no easy task! By then the roving bandits and the eastern barbarians will very likely collude to deal with us!"

Zhu Cilang's face suddenly darkened. "But the Sichuan plate is not easy to take over."

The Sichuan plate cannot be taken over without ten million! And the Ming court's books do not have ten million taels of silver in liquid funds — ten million taels exist, but the unallocated money outside the expenditure budget is only a bit over five million, and most of it has already been routed through the two banks to Wuhan. Even if all that money were shipped to Sichuan, it still would not be enough to take over the plate!

Moreover, Zhu Cilang could not do that. If he did, the two banks would never be able to establish credit in Huguang.

Zhu Cilang secretly held one-quarter of the Salt Merchants' Bank and one-third of the Sea Merchants' Bank, and he was also the actual controller of both great banks. So the credit of the two banks was Zhu Cilang's money!

Besides, even if Zhu Cilang found ten million from elsewhere, he could not rely on that bit of money to win the Sichuan war quickly, wipe out the two great bands of roving bandits — the Roving Bandit and the Xi bandit — and then conveniently settle the hundred or two hundred thousand demons and monsters in Sichuan.

Zhu Cilang would not be so naive as to think two model divisions could smash the Roving Bandit's and the Xi bandit's armies of at least two hundred thousand. His Hard-Work New Army did not have that kind of fighting power! Moreover, the New Army's officers also needed time to be tempered before anyone could stand out and grow into a commander capable of holding a front alone and pacifying a region.

Until then, the Crown Prince himself had to take the field to steady the situation! And he could not go to Sichuan to direct the campaign.

Therefore, the campaign into Sichuan required ample preparation — not only militarily, by continuing to expand the New Army's strength, but also economically.

The southeast's reorganization is only half done. If it is fully completed, the court can obtain at least thirty million shi of rice and twenty million taels of silver from the southeast every year. And as for Huguang — without thirty million shi, would the Crown Prince let the matter rest? Two hundred million mu of farmland, and giving a bit over two million is fobbing off beggars.

And then there is Fujian and the two Guang provinces. The richest man in the Ming came from that region! Shouldn't it be thoroughly squeezed?

Once the southeast, Huguang, Fujian, and the two Guang provinces are all settled, can Sichuan still get away?

Moreover, Zhu Cilang cannot agree to Sichuan giving only 1.08 million shi of white rice a year. Who would believe Sichuan has no fifty or sixty million mu? The Land of Abundance with only a bit over ten million mu? Where is your conscience?

Still, Zhu Cilang cannot simply ignore Sichuan now. The Sichuan plate cannot be taken over, but the project must be set in motion!

Zhu Cilang once again met with the old lady Qin Liangyu. Before he left Wuhan, he needed to fully exchange views with the old lady on the Sichuan question.

"Madam Ma," Zhu Cilang said to Qin Liangyu, "something has come up in Nanjing. I imagine you have already heard of it."

Qin Liangyu sat in a chair, leaning on a cane, her aged eyes narrowed as she studied Zhu Cilang. She weighed her words and said, "This old woman has heard. May I ask when the Crown Prince will be able to return to Wuhan?"

"It will take a month or two, at least." Zhu Cilang sighed. "The fighting in Huguang is not yet over, and the arrangements for Sichuan have not yet been laid."

"What arrangements for Sichuan?" Qin Liangyu asked.

"How about the arrangement of military governorships?" Zhu Cilang probed. "Just as in Shandong. Zeng Ying, Yang Zhan, and Qin Yiming are all men with the talent to govern a region!"

"But they may not be willing to serve as military governors!" Qin Liangyu was slightly disappointed.

A military governorship was not what the Sichuan warlords wanted. What they wanted was for the court to hurry up and produce money, troops, and equipment to take over the mess in Sichuan.

As for carving out territory — they had already carved it out anyway, so what difference would a military governor's title make?

Zhu Cilang smiled. "Then I must trouble you, Old Madam, to persuade them to govern a region for the court. We will never treat meritorious subjects poorly. In the future, when the court has its hands free, every one of them will not lack a duke's title. And Sichuan will certainly have territory for them to hold and guard in perpetuity!"

"But the various armies in Sichuan are now short of pay and equipment, and can hardly hold the situation together." Qin Liangyu said. "The court must give some support, surely?"

"That is certain!" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "However, the court does not yet understand Sichuan's situation and does not know how much to give. In a while, We intend to recall Ma Shiying, question him thoroughly on the conditions, and then decide how to establish the military governorships in Sichuan and how much monthly pay to subsidize each garrison with. What does the Old Madam think?"

Qin Liangyu knew Zhu Cilang was stalling. She had dealt with Ming bureaucrats all her life — how could she not know this?

She did not need painted cakes now; she needed something real and tangible!

"But the Roving Bandit is about to enter Sichuan!" The old lady's tone hardened. "The various armies in Sichuan are already exhausted dealing with the Xi bandit alone. How can they have strength left to deal with the Roving Bandit at the same time? If the court does not lend a hand, the situation in Sichuan will surely deteriorate badly. Once the three-way division is set, I fear it will be very difficult for the court to retake Sichuan."

Zhu Cilang's brows furrowed slightly. He pondered for a moment. "A batch of matchlock muskets and gunpowder will soon arrive from Nanjing. At that time, five thousand matchlock muskets and a portion of the gunpowder will be sent to Sichuan, to be distributed by you, Old Madam. How does that sound?"

What was coming from Nanjing were five thousand Spanish light matchlock muskets, all imported goods, brought by the Dutch to sell to the Crown Prince — for now, the gun factories in Foshan, Anping, Shanghai, and Nanjing were not yet capable of mass-producing Spanish light matchlock muskets, though the Spanish heavy matchlock musket, the turtledove-foot gun, could indeed be mass-produced.

The batch of Spanish light matchlock muskets coming from Nanjing was meant to replace the Japanese matchlock muskets in the Huguang army, so of course they could not be sent to Sichuan. But Zhu Cilang would have the discarded Japanese matchlock muskets sent to Sichuan.

This time Qin Liangyu finally showed a smile. She had already studied the New Army's "matchlock-and-pike formation" and found that it happened to suit the White Pole troops of the Shizhu Tusi army perfectly.

(End of Chapter)