Chapter 933: Zheng Zhilong, Hide the Money! (Please Subscribe)

Li Guo glanced at Liu Zongmin. This man, once the foremost tiger general of the Shun army, now looked like nothing more than a plump, amiable old fellow.

Perhaps because he had never learned to take care of his health, Liu Zongmin looked seven or eight years older than his actual age. He was not yet fifty, but he looked like an "old man" pushing sixty, his beard and hair already streaked with white, and he was fat besides—well over two hundred catties. No matter how one looked at him, he did not seem capable of charging into battle on horseback.

In truth, Liu Zongmin had not set foot on a battlefield for many years; in fact, he had not left Chongqing Prefecture for three years. Over those three years, Liu Zongmin had spent most of his time idling away in his princely mansion inside the city and his estate outside it, and he had even kept over a hundred singing girls and dancing courtesans to amuse himself. He was long past being the tiger general who once galloped and charged across battlefields; he had become a rich old gentleman whose fighting spirit had been worn away by wealth and ease.

Still, in order to show his standing in the Shun court, this rich old gentleman would from time to time make an appearance at court and spout some startling nonsense.

But Li Guo could not refuse to show this Co-Governing Prince of Han a little face. After all, the politics of the Shun dynasty was "rule by eight fathers," was it not? However decadent the man might be, he was still a Co-Governing Prince of Han—surely he was allowed to speak?

Besides, as one of the "eight fathers," the more decadent Liu Zongmin became, the more Li Guo ought to like it! If every "father" were as capable as Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, would not Li Guo, this "Shun Taizong," become invisible?

"Prince of Han," Li Guo said with a smile, "where do you think we should send our troops? Should we strike Shaanxi or Huguang?"

"How could we strike Shaanxi or Huguang?" Liu Zongmin shook his head repeatedly. "To strike Shaanxi you need cavalry. It has been nearly ten years since we entered Sichuan—how many good horses do we have left from those days? Are we supposed to rely on Yunnan and Sichuan ponies to charge head-on against the Ming army's iron cavalry? And our infantry has no great number of long spears either—all we have are sword-and-shield men, dart throwers, and firelocks... That set works well enough in mountain forests, but once you get out onto the open ground of Guanzhong, one blast from their cannons and one cavalry charge and we'd be done for!

As for striking Huguang, that requires a navy! We have no navy, and even if we did, we could not defeat the Ming's Yangtze fleet, so that is equally hopeless."

In fact, the Ming's Yangtze fleet did not have many ships left either. The Ming navy was now called the maritime force, and its main area of operations was naturally the sea, but it still kept a dozen or so "turtle ships" on the Yangtze.

These turtle ships were produced by the Shanghai Shipyard, modeled on the warships designed by the famous Joseon naval commander Yi Sun-sin—vessels shaped like turtles with bulletproof hulls—and further improved. The impractical flame-spouting dragon head was removed and replaced with a six-pounder cannon mounted on the bow, while a ram was also fitted underwater at the prow.

In addition, for more effective protection against shot, the side bulwarks of these Yangtze turtle ships were covered with a layer of iron plate, making them extremely sturdy—not something that warships hastily converted from civilian vessels could possibly contend with.

Therefore, the moment the Shun army moved east out of Huguang, it would inevitably be constrained by the Yangtze and the Han River.

Li Guo nodded slightly and put away his contempt for Liu Zongmin.

"Prince of Han," Li Guo paused, "where do you think we should send our troops?"

"Naturally, Guizhou or Guangxi." Liu Zongmin said. "Guizhou and Guangxi are thick with mountains and forests, which favors our sword-and-shield troops. Moreover, Guizhou and Guangxi are far from Nanjing, so it is not easy for the Zhu family to move troops, and transport is even harder... We need not even advance deep in force. If we stir up some trouble on the border and draw the Zhu family's great army into a long, exhausting expedition, that will drain their finances."

That actually sounded rather interesting!

Li Guo looked at Sun Kewang.

At present, the Army-Soothing Crown Prince Li Laiheng and the Prince of Jin, Li Dingguo, were both away fighting in Burma, so Li Guo could only turn to Sun Kewang for counsel.

Although the Prince of Qin, Sun Kewang, had risen from a military background, he was naturally gifted at administration and governance, and he had considerable insight into fiscal matters, so he had his doubts about the severity of the Ming's financial crisis.

"Imperial Lord, I do not favor sending troops to provoke hostilities." Sun Kewang said. "The Ming may be short of money, but we are not rich either. If war breaks out in Guangxi or Guizhou, we would have to commit at least tens of thousands of rotation troops... Just their kit and provisions alone would be an enormous expense. If the campaign achieves nothing, we will have wasted our resources."

The roving bandits of old, who once wandered and plundered everywhere, had now become settled brigands who collected rents and supported their families. Although their fighting strength had increased, the cost of sending troops on campaign had also risen sharply, while their destructiveness had likewise diminished.

"Are we to let the Ming off just like that?" Li Guo was unwilling!

If they did not take advantage of the Ming's financial crisis to cause trouble now, then once Emperor Zhu had saved up enough money, it would be time to retake Sichuan...

Sun Kewang stroked his beard, his eyes darting about, and a plan had already formed in his mind.

"Imperial Lord, we can send troops against Siam!"

"What? Send troops against Siam?"

"Yes," Sun Kewang said. "In any case, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin's great army is already in Burma. Since they are idle, we might as well have them attack Siam. The Kingdom of Siam is a vassal of the Great Ming. If we invade it, the Great Ming is bound by treaty to send troops... An expedition of ten thousand li will inevitably cost an enormous sum! And if Emperor Zhu does not send troops, then with the valor of the Crown Prince and the Prince of Jin, we can surely force Siam to abandon the Ming and submit to us!"

"Excellent!" Li Guo clapped his hands, and a smile finally appeared on his face.

The Prince of Qin's plan was truly the best—a fine peasant uprising war, and now it had turned into imperialist power politics. Nothing could be better!

Great Ming, Jiangnan Province, Shanghai Prefecture.

Songjiang Prefecture had been renamed Shanghai Prefecture in the seventh year of Hongxing, but the prefect had not been replaced—it was still the Ming dynasty's "star prefect," Luo Dagong.

This Prefect Luo had also heard that the Great Ming was suffering a financial crisis!

He had just heard it from the great Joseon Confucian scholar Song Siyeol.

Song Siyeol had come from Jeju Island. It turned out that the former king of Joseon, Yi Ho, after abdicating, had not gone into exile in the Great Ming, but had taken the opportunity of a sea voyage to slip away to Jeju Island.

It turned out that Jeju Island had not been captured by Jin Dodo's army. Although Jin Dodo's navy had a certain strength, Jeju Island's location was simply too sensitive—situated between China, Japan, and Korea, and commanding the Korea Strait. If Jin Dodo sent his navy to Jeju Island, he feared that "Lord Ukita Hideie" would come knocking again...

Yi Ho, having retreated to Jeju Island, was naturally unwilling to accept the fall of the two-hundred-year-old Yi dynasty, so he was still scheming. On one hand he sent people to Japan to beg the Tokugawa shogunate for aid; on the other he tried to make contact with the Great Ming, and he also sent agents to lie low in Hanyang, Incheon, Busan, and other places to gather intelligence and wait for an opportunity.

In the end, before any reply came from the shogunate or the Great Ming, he heard about the Great Ming's financial crisis, and so he dispatched Song Siyeol to Shanghai to investigate.

But when Song Siyeol arrived in Shanghai and looked around—good heavens, it was so prosperous it was practically taking flight! Everywhere there were bustling construction sites, every trade in the markets was thriving, and the factories along the Wusong River were all busy expanding production and hiring workers. What was more, wages were extremely high, so high that half of the attendants Song Siyeol had brought with him ran off...

The great scholar Song, utterly bewildered, went to seek out his old acquaintance Luo Dagong. Luo Dagong, as it happened, was also looking for him—the king of Joseon had promised to come to the Great Ming to live out his retirement, and Emperor Zhu had instructed Luo Dagong to receive him. Luo Dagong had even prepared lodgings for Yi Ho on the newly opened Madang Road. How had the man simply vanished?

Surely he had not drowned?

Just as Luo Dagong was thinking of holding funeral rites for Yi Ho, Song Siyeol arrived, and of course Luo Dagong had to entertain him.

After the two exchanged a few pleasantries, Song Siyeol immediately began inquiring about the Great Ming's financial crisis!

"Who has no money? Master Song, who is it you say has no money?"

"The Great Ming court! The Great Ming court has no money..." Song Siyeol said with deep anguish. "It is all over Incheon and Busan—they say the Ming spent too much money in the Northern Expedition, drained the national strength, and is on the verge of collapse, so it had no choice but to withdraw its troops in bitterness!"

"Spent too much? How much did it spend?" Luo Dagong asked.

"One hundred million!" Song Siyeol held up one finger, gritting his teeth. "One hundred million taels of silver!"

Luo Dagong blinked. "One hundred million taels... is that a lot?"

"What? One hundred million taels is not a lot?" Song Siyeol could hardly believe his ears.

What kind of people was the Great Ming employing these days! One hundred million taels! And they said it was not much... How much money did the Great Ming have now?