Nanjing.
At this time, the imperial court had been debating for several days whether or not to support Huguang.
"He Tengjiao of Huguang held military power and acted independently. Although he submitted a memorial to the emperor saying that he had submitted to the court, he actually disobeyed the court's orders."
He was a complete traitor.
Now that he is fighting with the treacherous minister Li, we can completely ignore it.
Let them fight like dogs.
At this moment, an official dressed in a scarlet robe stepped forward and spoke righteously in the court.
In response to his words, another official, also dressed in a crimson robe, stepped forward and said:
"I disagree with Imperial Censor Chen's words. Huguang is located upstream of my Jiangnan region, and the key to our resistance against the traitor Li lies in that great river."
Once Huguang falls and is occupied by the traitor Li, it will be as if the Yangtze River will be shared by the traitor Li with us.
Moreover, Li Qin occupied both banks of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and the traitor Li's iron hooves roamed freely on both the north and south banks of the river, so our naval advantage was completely gone.
Therefore, we must go to support Huguang; we absolutely cannot let the traitor Li occupy Huguang.
"Supporting Huguang? If we send our troops to support Huguang, what will happen to Jiangnan?"
What if Li Zicheng attacks Jiangnan?
Therefore, supporting Hubei and Hunan is absolutely not feasible...
Emperor Zhu Jianshen was also very troubled as he listened to the words of his senior officials.
He has heard a lot of discussions about the following during this period.
Some of them supported Hubei and Hunan, while others did not.
The most vehement opposition came from the government representatives of the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan.
The Jiangnan region was the main source of tax revenue for the imperial court, and although he had brought many officials from the north.
However, the middle and lower-level officials throughout Jiangnan were all people of Jiangnan landlords and gentry.
Moreover, the newly formed Beijing Garrison was recruited entirely by people from Jiangnan.
The Huai Army under Hu Zongxian's command had a large number of mid- to low-ranking officers who were also from the Jiangnan region.
The only group that had little to do with Jiangnan was Yang Zhiyong's troops from the north.
Moreover, they are very close to Wuchang.
However, regardless of which unit it was, their provisions were supplied from Jiangnan.
These landlords and gentry from Jiangnan were the most opposed to throwing their money away in Huguang (Hubei and Hunan).
You can get them to use the money to protect Jiangnan, and you can even get money out of them.
However, if you ask them to use their money to support Hubei and Hunan, it will be extremely difficult to get money out of them again.
Most importantly, he cannot afford to completely break ties with them.
They even had to go along with them and promote them as much as possible, because only they were so closely bound to them.
They would never go and seek refuge with Li Qin.
He knew perfectly well that some of the officials he had brought had fled from the north in a sorry state.
There is no foundation here, neither the soldiers I recruited nor the money I spent.
They provided all of it to the imperial court.
If I were to break ties with them and force them to side with Li Qin, I would be in trouble.
It's possible that when he woke up, Li Qin's army had already crossed the river.
Perhaps he will wake up to find his palace on fire.
Or what if he went out on his own and fell into the water?
There are far too many things like this.
After all, they were on their territory.
Facing these local bullies, his own powerful army, which had not yet completely broken away from them, was in a predicament.
It's not even a strong dragon; it can only be considered a weak one.
They simply couldn't control these local bullies.
We can only appease them.
So now, even though he desperately wants to support Huguang, he is helpless in the face of the Jiangnan gentry and bureaucratic group that controls Jiangnan and strongly opposes it.
In the end, all we could do was watch them argue back and forth in the imperial court.
He didn't understand why, although they were all so smart individually, their decision-making ability collectively declined when they came together.
To put it bluntly, isn't it just that internal contradictions outweigh external contradictions?
Li Qin's activities in the north had a significant impact on the landlords and gentry of the Jiangnan region.
Under Li Qin's rule, the landlords and gentry in the north had it much easier than before, and Li Qin hardly stopped land annexation and such.
Or rather, he doesn't want to stop it now.
With Li Qin's relaxation of restrictions, the living standards of the landlords and gentry in the north have been getting better and better.
Although everyone knows that continuing like this will lead to endless troubles, it is still a trouble.
These are chaotic times. Even if future troubles are about to erupt, they'll have to wait until I'm alive.
It can be said that as news of Li Qin's governance of the North spread to the South, the landlords and gentry privately praised Li Qin's so-called "benevolent governance" in the North.
He had no choice but to further promote officials from gentry and landlord backgrounds into his court and win them over.
To further bind them to themselves, and prevent them from standing with Li Qin.
Although he had won them over and made them all stand on his side.
However, the ending was tragic.
That would mean he himself had become, in a very naked way, an emperor representing the interests of the landlords and gentry of Jiangnan.
His own court had become a court representing the interests of the gentry and landlords of Jiangnan.
The imperial court now belongs to the south of the Yangtze River, not the entire country.
The advantage was that it united the gentry in Jiangnan. As long as they were united, it would be difficult for Li Qin in Jiangbei to attack.
However, the downsides are also obvious: Jiangnan is the most prosperous region in the country, and they lack sufficient motivation for things like a northern expedition.
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