In late May, Zhu Cilang, who was far away in Nanjing, began to feel restless.

On the one hand, it was because Zhang Xianzhong was getting closer and closer to Nanjing, and on the other hand, there was a secret letter from Beijing.

"Minister Shi, where is the thief?"

At Shi Kefa's mansion, Crown Prince Zhu Cilang asked with a frown.

"Your Highness, the Xian bandits were unable to capture Anqing, and when they saw the reinforcements from Lu Daqi's navy arriving, they quickly headed north to avoid the battle."

"The three counties of Huaining, Tongcheng and Lujiang in the north surrendered without a fight, and the rebel army has already arrived at the city of Wuwei." Shi Kefa was filled with worry as he looked at the newspaper in his hand.

He never expected that more and more cities would surrender without a fight.

Wuwei Prefecture is more than 200 miles away from Nanjing. If Wuwei surrenders without a fight, Nanjing will be in danger.

Zhu Cilang was even more worried than Shi Kefa. He turned to look at Qian Qianyi who was standing next to him.

This Donglin leader was nominally Shi Kefa's aide, but in reality he was the crown prince's aide.

The prince is in trouble now, he can't just stand by and watch.

After thinking carefully for a while, Qian Qianyi stared at the secret letter in Zhu Cilang's hand and asked, "Your Highness, can you tell me the emperor's will?"

Zhu Cilang did not hide anything and handed the secret letter to Qian Qianyi, saying, "Father has four wishes. The first is for me to do a good job in reclaiming and restoring the land in the south of the Yangtze River. Only by settling the people down and farming, will there be fewer and fewer refugees."

"The second decree is to have the garrisons of the prefectures and counties in Nanzhili... rotate their guard."

"Change of defense?"

"Yes," Zhu Cilang nodded and said, "It means that the garrison troops in County A will be transferred to County B, and the garrison troops in County B will be transferred to County A. In addition to paying the garrison troops their salaries during the rotation period, they will also be given extra food."

Qian Qianyi was very smart and quickly understood the meaning of this.

"Wonderful! So wonderful!" he couldn't help but sigh.

Zhu Cilang asked in bewilderment, "What's so wonderful about this?"

Qian Qianyi smiled: "After the garrison is replaced, the local gentry will lose their most powerful arm. If they still fail to pay their tax arrears, they will be severely beaten by the court!"

"But... the gentry control the local finances and public opinion. If they take the opportunity to incite the people to cause trouble and rebel, won't the South be in chaos?" Zhu Cilang felt a little cold all over.

The Ming Dynasty has finally recovered its breath, but if chaos breaks out in the south, the Ming Dynasty will lose this breath.

Qian Qianyi said nothing and looked at Shi Kefa.

Shi Kefa hesitated for a moment and then said, "Don't panic, Your Highness. The decree only ordered the garrisons of the prefectures, counties and districts in Nanzhili to rotate their guards. There is no decree to collect the arrears of taxes."

"Your Majesty and the ministers in the cabinet must have considered this, so there has been no follow-up action yet."

Although Shi Kefa was not sure how Chongzhen would deal with the southern gentry, he had already guessed their response strategy.

There are only two coping strategies.

One is to organize scholars to cause trouble.

They surrounded academies, government offices, examination halls, and even boycotted the examinations to put pressure on the court.

The impact of this kind of thing is more serious than Li Zicheng's declaration of emperorship.

Officials in the Ming Dynasty were all scholars before they passed the imperial examinations. They would safeguard the interests of scholars so that their descendants would continue to succeed through studying.

Once this happens, local governments will take the initiative to stop and support the scholars.

When questioned by their superiors, they would say that students were gathering outside the yamen and the yamen was unable to handle official business.

The court had no choice but to find a way to calm the scholars' anger as quickly as possible.

The second is to organize people to cause trouble.

The specific method is very simple. They will tell the people that the land rent will be increased because the imperial court has imposed heavy taxes on them, and they have no choice but to increase the land rent in order to make a living.

The people already have to pay heavy land rents, and after hearing about this kind of thing they would unite to resist taxation.

The population of a county could be as few as 10,000 or as many as tens of thousands. As long as there were enough people causing trouble, the local government would be unable to catch them all.

If the situation gets out of hand, it might even lead to a popular uprising and force the imperial court to compromise.

The gentry manipulated scholars and common people through their invisible hands to charge in the front, while they themselves hid behind and reaped the benefits.

This is to tell the court that they are not easy to mess with.

Chongzhen certainly took this into consideration, so he wanted to resolve this matter completely during the tax exemption period!

The time is set after the autumn examination and before the summer grain collection next year.

As long as this matter is handled well, the Ming Dynasty will be able to recover at least 20% of its national strength.

The most important thing is to win the hearts of the people and improve their popularity.

If the people's popularity is high enough, they will be loyal to the court and treat the bandits like enemies.

Over time, the bandits will be defeated if they are not suppressed.

"Excuse me, Your Highness, what is the third decree?" Shi Kefa asked Zhu Cilang.

"The third decree is to transfer Liu Zhaoji to Beijing!"

Shi Kefa was shocked at first, but then he was overjoyed.

He personally drafted the official document sent by the Nanjing Ministry of War to Beijing, in which he emphasized Liu Zhaoji's performance on the battlefield.

"If nothing unexpected happens," Shi Kefa paused, "Liu Zhaoji will be promoted and given important positions when he comes to Beijing this time."

Qian Qianyi laughed and shook his head, saying, "It is true that you can be promoted, but you may not be given important positions."

"Why?" asked Zhu Cilang who was listening.

"Liu Zhaoji has no soldiers. If you want to use him, you have to give him military power. Wu Sangui of Shanhaiguan, Huang Degong of Miyun, Yan Yingyuan and Tang Tong of Xuanfu all have their own soldiers, but Liu Zhaoji has no soldiers."

"Your Majesty needs an army that can fight well, not a general who can fight and command battles!"

Shi Kefa smiled awkwardly and continued to ask, "Excuse me, Your Highness, what is the fourth decree of His Majesty?"

"The fourth order is for me to tell Qin Liangyu and Mu Tianbo that the Yunnan chieftain Wu Bikui and Sha Dingzhou's tribe have the intention of rebellion and they must be careful and vigilant."

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