I Build an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty

In the face of King Lu's wooing, Wu Changqing first showed a posture of allegiance to King Tang, which would inevitably make King Lu anxious and give better conditions for recruiting.

"The general's words are bad. Now it is our King Lu who is resisting the Manchu Qing at the front line. How can King Tang be able to convince the public? Let's fight together."

Sure enough, Qiu Zhaojin was anxious.

He can't be in a hurry. King Lu's current strength is much smaller than that of King Tang. If Wu Changqing is loyal to King Tang again, then they will be caught between the north and the south by King Tang.

This situation is very bad for King Lu, and can even be said to be fatal.

In a hurry, Qiu Zhaojin was helpless about Wu Changqing's choice. In any case, the Longwu court now occupies a position of righteousness, and it is reasonable and reasonable for Wu Changqing to serve the Longwu court.

Qiu Zhaojin pondered for a while, and found that if he wanted to compete with King Tang for Wu Changqing, he could only tempt him with a higher reward.

The only recruitment condition that King Lu can come up with now is probably the title of nobility in name.

Originally, King Lu wanted to make Wu Changqing a prince and a fourth-class title.

However, Qiu Zhaojin felt that a county prince might not be attractive to Wu Changqing now, at least he should have the title of Count and Viscount.

The titles of foreign ministers in the Ming Dynasty were divided into eight grades, namely Duke, Marquis, Earl, Duke of County, Duke of County, Duke of County, Prince of County, and Prince of County.

These titles were very valuable in the prosperous times, and those who did not deserve great merit were not granted. And the throne is not sealed by non-Zhu clan.

But now, there are not many things that the Zhu family in power can offer to recruit people, so they can only award titles to others in the name of orthodoxy.

For the time being, they are still rewarding titles that can be given to foreign ministers. When the situation becomes more difficult, the emperor of the Zhu family will even start rewarding kings with different surnames.

For example, Li Chengdong, who made great achievements for the Qing army and killed Emperor Hongguang and Emperor Longwu, just relied on the merits anyway, and Emperor Yongli finally rewarded him as a King of Ningxia.

This kind of reward is full of sadness and helplessness.

"If the general can support King Lu, he will definitely fight for the position of a marquis for the general. As long as the general continues to make contributions, King Lu will never be stingy with rewards. If the general can retake Nanjing, a duke or even the throne is possible."

In desperation, Qiu Zhaojin had no choice but to promise Wu Changqing a reward first.

He believed that as long as he explained Wu Changqing's strength to King Lu and the actual situation here, King Lu should accept his proposal for the reward.

"Don't worry, Mr. Qiu, let's talk about the award. I personally still hope that King Lu and Emperor Longwu can reach a consensus and clarify an orthodoxy. I don't want to be designated as a traitor by Emperor Longwu because of my loyalty to King Lu, and I don't want to be called a traitor because of my loyalty to Longwu. King Lu is designated as the enemy. Our current enemy is only the Manchu and Qing Tartars."

Wu Changqing is not interested in the so-called title, he prefers to have real gold, silver or food and other materials. It's a pity that these King Lu himself are lacking, and it is impossible to reward him too much.

Therefore, Wu Changqing has no interest in the messenger of King Lu or the messenger of Emperor Longwu. He just wants to delay now, while perfunctory of the two imperial courts, while developing and strengthening his own strength.

He doesn't expect much support from Nanming's court, as long as he doesn't pull his back.

"The general has been thinking too much. No matter which side the general is loyal to, he is fighting against the Qing. The court will take this credit into account. If the general is not satisfied with the reward, I can report it to King Lu and try my best to help the general win."

Qiu Zhaojin said helplessly, it is too difficult to follow King Lu.

He could even understand Wu Changqing's attitude. After all, Emperor Longwu, the Tang King, seemed to be the orthodox. Their small local government, King Lu, was really unattractive.

"Let's do this for now. Next, I have to summon some wealthy businessmen to discuss food and grass, and I have to go to the military camp to train new recruits. I really don't have much time to accompany the messenger."

Wu Changqing said.

"Military affairs are important, the general please."

Qiu Zhaojin also knew that Wu Changqing's current situation was not very good. Although he occupied Suzhou, except for Taihu Lake in the west, the other three directions were the territory of the Qing army.

In this situation, whether it can hold up the Qing army's counterattack is a question.

Without persuading Wu Changqing, Qiu Zhaojin was also looking for an opportunity to persuade Wu Changqing's generals. If it can persuade a few generals in charge of the soldiers, it can be considered to have achieved some goals.

In the back hall, when Wu Changqing arrived, it was already full of rich businessmen and big landlords.

"I've seen the general."

As soon as Wu Changqing appeared, everyone stopped communicating.

"This is Mr. Tang Yutang from Tangjia Buzhuang, this is Mr. Chen Daolin from Shengyuanmi, and this is Mr. Liu Shizao. The family is in the tea business..."

The housekeeper introduced Wu Changqing to the merchants present one by one. These are all famous big merchants in Suzhou city, all of them are rich in wealth.

The biggest feature of the Ming Dynasty was that the court had no money, and rich merchants had money, because the tax on business was very low in the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, these wealthy businessmen are also gentry at the same time, and there is often an official in the family or family, who can enjoy some preferential tax treatment.

If the imperial court could not receive tax on business, it could only increase the agricultural tax to the common people, causing the common people to fail to survive the rebellion. Li Zicheng of the Dashun Army was a typical example.

Whenever the emperor wanted to change this status quo and wanted to increase taxes on businessmen, he would immediately be protested by the civil service group, and even criticized the emperor for wanting to compete with the people for profits.

The wealthy businessmen of the Ming Dynasty often spent a lot of money to raise children in their families, or to sponsor talented and intelligent people to study. And after these people obtained the fame, they naturally wanted to protect the interests of businessmen.

It can be said that the imperial court in the late Ming Dynasty was basically controlled by the class of wealthy businessmen and big landlords.

It's a bit like America in later generations, where consortia finance politicians' campaigns, and then politicians make policies that favor the consortium. The entire country is actually controlled by the collective interests of wealthy businessmen.

Before he was hanged, Chongzhen said a sentence, "All ministers in the world can be killed", because the world has been controlled by the interest group of wealthy businessmen.

And these people don't care about the life and death of the Zhu Family Dynasty at all, they only care about making money for themselves.

So much so that every time Daming wanted to fight, Chongzhen had to pay for his own money from his own coffers.

When Li Zicheng arrived in Beijing, there was not even anyone willing to accompany Chongzhen to escape. After the fall of the Zhu family, these wealthy businessmen immediately surrendered to Li Zicheng, and later to the Manchu Qing.

In short, in this era, there are really not many people who have the concept of a country and take care of their own selfish interests. It makes no difference to them who is the emperor.