Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Comrade Qian Qianyi, a great Donglin scholar, eventually jumped into the river.

The water was really cold though.

Even though he didn't volunteer.

In front of Liu Rushi, in front of the people of Nanjing who were peeking out through cracks in the doors, and in front of the great director Zhang Shikang.

In such a comedic way.

Qian Qianyi struggled continuously, hoping to survive, but the soldiers from the Beijing camp pressed him down with sticks.

Even though Zhang Shikang had tried his best to help him, his death was not at all inglorious.

There was only one thing Zhang Shikang could be sure of: he would not be hungry when he died.

The arrests in Nanjing are still ongoing and will continue for a long time.

Throughout September, everyone was busy except one person.

Gao Jie's troops, Liu Zeqing's troops, and more garrison troops surrendered. The city of Nanjing was in chaos, and Sun Weifan and Huang Degong were extremely busy.

The Jinyiwei were busy ransacking houses, and the Dongjishichang were busy checking the land.

On September 22, Zhang Shikang transferred back 2,000 Dongjishichang personnel from Jiangbei, half of whom were still responsible for checking the farmland.

The other half were sent by Zhang Shikang to Zhejiang, Fujian, and even Guangdong and Guangxi.

Their mission this time was not complicated, which was to collect overseas crop seeds from the coastal areas of Jiangnan, including potatoes, peanuts, sweet potatoes, peppers, corn, tomatoes, etc.

These crops, such as peanuts, were actually introduced to the coastal areas of Jiangnan as early as the middle of the Ming Dynasty. For example, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, etc., although a little later than peanuts, were also introduced to the Ming Dynasty around the Wanli period.

However, although these crops were introduced, they were not promoted throughout the Ming Dynasty and were only grown in small quantities along the coastal areas of Jiangnan.

For example, chili peppers are actually grown as ornamental flowers by wealthy families in the coastal areas of Jiangnan.

The promotion of agricultural crops must rely on the strength of the entire country. Zhang Shikang has been plowing the land in Daming throughout the whole year, waiting to finish plowing the prefectures in the Jiangnan region. As everyone knows, after plowing the land, it is time to plant it.

During these years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court treated the people too badly.

Various natural disasters, coupled with bandits, the Jianlu, as well as corrupt officials in the court and gentry and landlords at the bottom.

If we count from the past ten thousand years, the common people have been struggling to survive in constant suffering for decades.

The process of land liquidation and redistribution will also be the process by which the Ministry of Households will count the actual population of the country.

Zhang Shikang once conducted a survey in later generations and found that the peak of the Ming Dynasty's population occurred in the middle of Wanli's reign, with statistical data ranging from approximately 130 million to 190 million.

The error is not small, but it is understandable if you think about it. The way of counting population at that time was not as accurate as in later generations, and most people fled due to the pressure of survival.

According to historians who compared a large amount of data, 140 million was finally chosen as the middle number, which is a relatively objective number.

However, if we look at the data after the unification of the Qing Dynasty, historians still compared a large amount of data and finally obtained an intermediate number that was only between 60 million and 100 million.

What does this mean? In just a few decades, the population has dropped by almost half.

Countless people died for various reasons. They had no names or surnames. The court didn’t know them, and no one knew them.

There is great hunger in old age, and people eat each other.

When locusts arise, nine out of ten houses are empty.

Just a few words in history books cannot express the suffering of the people.

But Zhang Shikang knew that there was still a chance. It was not the 17th year of Chongzhen, and the Qing Dynasty had not yet moved south.

Zhang Xianzhong had not yet started his furious massacre in Sichuan, nor had he taken the blame.

As long as Zhang Shikang was alive, there would be no Ten Days of Yangzhou, the Three Massacres of Jiading, nor the Eighty-One Days of Jiangyin, the Massacre in Jinan, the Massacre in Caozhou, and the Massacre in Guangzhou.

There will be no more massacres in Shuozhou, Fenzhou, Jingxian, Jiaxing, Changshu, Kunshan, Jinhua, Ganzhou, Pinghai, Shaowu, Tongan, Xiangtan, Nanchang…

History has memory. Even though the Qing Dynasty destroyed a large amount of official historical materials, they are still recorded in the county annals of many places, so that the descendants of these places will not forget them.

There are also historians who recorded this period of history in their own private histories, and there are quite a few of them.

For example, Tan Qian, Zhang Dai, Wan Sitong, Ji Liuqi...

Zhang Shikang roughly estimated based on the current population statistics that the current population of the Ming Dynasty is around 120 million.

If we were to use four words to describe the current Ming Dynasty, it would be that everything is in ruins.

It took Zhang Shikang a year to plow the land and another year to resume production.

The people needed to be appeased, new crops needed to be promoted, and even the soldiers from the Beijing camp were exhausted after struggling in the south and north of the Yangtze River for more than half a year.

But Zhang Shikang knew that there was a Qing dynasty in the north that was eyeing him covetously. That was a guy that once made all the officials in the court and even his brother Chongzhen shudder with fear.

This is also what Zhang Shikang will have to deal with next.

As for Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng in Sichuan, Zhang Shikang did not regard them as difficult enemies to defeat.

Speaking of heaven, I just don’t have time to take care of it for the time being.

The whole month of September was spent in this kind of busyness.

On September 27, Zhang Shikang ordered Huang Degong to lead his 12,000 imperial troops to continue south to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions to eradicate the remnants of the Donglin clan.

Because of the report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, in view of the great defeat of the Southern Army, some Donglin Party members, gentry, landlords and corrupt officials who knew they were doomed to die eventually fled to Guangdong with their families.

On the surface, Zhang Shikang did not want to let these people go, but in fact, what he really did not want to let go was the property they took away.

Zhang Shikang roughly guessed that these guys probably wanted to leave the Ming Dynasty by boat in Guangzhou.

People can leave, but their property must be left behind. If they are not aware of this, then both the person and the property will have to be left behind.

Don’t you see who is in control of Nanyang now? Oh, of course it is not in the hands of Zhang Shikang, but Zhang Shikang still wrote a letter to the Zheng family.

In addition to entrusting Zheng Zhilong to strictly investigate the sea vessels in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, Zhang Shikang also stated that he would visit the Zheng family in person at an appropriate time in October.

It is not easy to come to Jiangnan, and if the Ming Dynasty wants to look overseas, the Zheng family will never be avoided. At least for now, Zhang Shikang needs too many things in maritime affairs.

Most of these things are only owned by the Zheng family.

By the second day of October, Zhang Shikang had finally finished assigning all tasks.

Looking at his subordinates who were busy with their tasks, Zhang Shikang stretched himself.

"Sir, the residences of all the nobles, gentry, and Donglin Party members in Nanjing have been thoroughly checked.

This is the corresponding document.

In accordance with your request, I have selected the mansion of Marquis Anyuan as your temporary residence.

This mansion is of suitable size and luxuriously decorated. I have already placed your singing girl in it." Liu Wenbing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, said.

"Well, come on, let's go take a look with me."

……