I

The salary increase for civil and military officials was not a decision made by Zhao Han at once, but the result of his careful consideration.

From the first-grade official to the seventh-grade official, the monthly salary will increase as a whole, while the salary of other officials will remain unchanged.

First grade: 320 stones.

From the first grade: 310 stones.

…

Seventh grade: 45 stones.

From seventh grade: 35 stones.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the salaries of top officials have more than tripled. But middle-level officials pay much more. The monthly salary of the seventh-grade official in the Ming Dynasty is 7.5 dan, and the monthly salary of the seventh-grade official in Datong is 45 dan, which is six times the salary of the previous dynasty.

The major case that broke out in Shaanxi was just the introduction to this salary increase.

The fundamental reason is that the income of ordinary people has increased, and officials cannot continue to maintain their status quo. They must be made more dignified. There is also an increase in government taxation, which not only makes money abundant, but also increases food income, which is fully able to maintain higher salaries for officials.

This kind of adjustment is normal. When Zhu Yuanzhang first entered the north, he couldn't come up with money and grain to pay officials, so he directly threw wasteland to officials and asked them to recruit people to grow grain to pay their wages. After the finances are sufficient, the land will be recovered one after another, and the government will distribute salaries normally.

Many policies of the new Datong Dynasty will need to be adjusted in the future.

For example, all military supplies and logistics in each province are in the hands of civilian officials. After a hundred years, the military attachés will be unable to raise their heads. The reason for this was because the founding generals were so powerful that civilian officials must be used to limit their power.

Zhao Han plans to continue this kind of restriction for more than twenty years. When all the founding officials are transferred back to serve in the central government, he will gradually release more power to local military attachés.

Just when Zhao Han announced the increase in official salary, the war in Liaodong also started.

Hetuala City, outside Guandi Temple.

People market.

There were shouts of hawkers coming one after another on the street: "Young and strong man, with good teeth, work more and eat less..."

A Manchu nobleman, surrounded by his house slaves, pointed at the slave in front of him and asked: "What's the price?"

"Twenty taels," the trafficker said.

The Manchu noble shook his head: "It's too expensive."

The trafficker smiled and asked, "How much is this gentleman willing to pay?"

"One price, ten taels." said the Manchu nobleman.

"At least eighteen taels. It's not easy to catch slaves nowadays." The trafficker emphasized.

The two parties bargained and the deal was settled in thirteen taels.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. After returning to Hetuala, the Manchu nobles who had been to Beijing found life increasingly difficult.

In the past two years, not only have there been many deserters, but also a large number of domestic slaves and serfs have fled. As long as they reach the Liao Great Wall, these domestic slaves will be safe. The Datong Army will let them pass, and the government will even allocate land to them.

When the Manchu dignitaries retreated, they took a large amount of gold and silver with them.

Now I have money in my hand, but I can't buy enough food, and even my slaves can't afford it.

As a result, the slave trade flourished, and the Eight Banners Army stationed in the northeast did not focus on defending the city at all. Under the general's instructions and led by Eight Banners officers, they went to the Heilongjiang River Basin to capture the indigenous people, and then transported them back to Hetuala for sale.

Human trafficking has been done by the nobles of the Eight Banners, both in history and in this time and space.

Historically, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty first entered the country, many Eight Banners nobles entered the city like country bumpkins. They drove the Han people out of the inner city of Beijing, and then found that the house they robbed was so big that the original servants were not enough.

Some Manchu dignitaries recruited local ruffians as their lackeys. Let these scoundrels lure, abduct, and rob Han people to engage in slave trade on Shunchengmen (Xuanwumen) Street. That street was dedicated to selling livestock. There was a mule and horse market, a cattle market, a sheep market, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties also created a human market.

It was nothing more than private transactions. Because the Eight Banners nobles had great demand for slaves, the Manchu and Qing courts directly permitted human trafficking in legal form.

It was completely chaotic at that time, and the situation worsened to the point where Manchu women and children were abducted and imprisoned. The human traffickers took the lead in practicing the ethnic equality of the slave trade.

It was not until Dorgon's death that the Manchu and Qing court banned human trafficking.

But he couldn't help it. In the third year after the ban was issued, a human trafficking gang was uncovered. The main criminal Jin Chengyuan alone sold more than a hundred slaves with his own hands the year he was captured, including even abducted Manchu civilians.

The noble son walked around the market and bought back six slaves in total, and then walked home all the way.

He missed his days in Beijing very much. Although his father did not deal with Dorgon, he still allowed his family to run horses and enclose land in the suburbs of Beijing. At that time, he lived in a large house in Beijing. There were more than 70 servants in the house, and he was even served by maids when he went to the toilet.

"Amma, I bought the slave back." said the noble prince.

Erke Daiqing sighed: "It's getting more and more outrageous. The number of escaped slaves is increasing day by day. Even the slaves in the capital (Hetuala) can escape."

The aristocratic young master said: "You can buy it after you run away. Our family is not short of that little money."

"Is this a matter of money?" Erke Dai Qing wanted to kick him out. His sixth son was really useless. He had learned bad things during the two years in the capital. A lackey who fights cocks all day long is only useful when buying slaves, and forget about leading troops in wars.

Erke Daiqing comes from the Borjijit clan, which can also be translated as the Borzhijin clan.

At a glance, you can tell that he is from Mongolia. His father's name is Engodel, and he is Beile from a small tribe in Khalkha Mongolia. After losing the internal struggle in Mongolia, he could only lead his troops to seek refuge with the Manchus. They were arranged to live and work in Liaoyang as a whole and were subordinate to Zhenghuang Banner. The land given to them was of course taken from the Han people.

During Dorgon's reign, he asked Erke Daiqing to change to Zhengbai Banner. However, this person was not attracted by Dorgon and devoted his life to Dayu'er.

Nowadays, he has achieved great success. He has been promoted to the first-class official position, has been granted the title of Shaobao, and is also the crown prince's Taibao.

These are nothing. Erke Daiqing's actual position is similar to that of the Nine Admirals later in the Qing Dynasty. He is in charge of the troops and horses of the entire Hetuala City. So it was funny. Several of the servants in Admiral Jiumen's house escaped from the city. This was the reason why Erke Daiqing was angry.

Riding on a horse, Erke Daiqing and his men went out to inspect the city defense in person.

The streets in the city were very deserted. Due to the "Order on Kindly Treating Reformed Persons" issued by Liaoning, a large number of Han people fled from the areas under the jurisdiction of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Even the Han landlords who had played tricks on the Qing Dynasty could settle down in Liaoning with land allotments as long as they fled to the Liao Great Wall to register. Under the crazy exploitation of the Qing Dynasty, some landlords abandoned their land and ran away.

Not to mention the residents of the city, the poll tax was too harsh and they would flee whenever they had the chance.

Nowadays, even if Han people go out of the city to do business, several households must act as guarantees. One family fled, and several families were asked to answer questions. The phenomenon of people fleeing did not get much control. Instead, it gave the city defenders an excuse to harass the people entering and leaving the city gates.

It was precisely because the population of the "capital" was getting smaller and smaller that the Manchu Qing court encouraged the human trade and tacitly allowed the Eight Banners Army stationed in the rear to leave their posts without authorization to arrest the natives. The tribes in Heilongjiang were greatly harmed.

After getting off his horse and climbing onto the city wall, Erke Daiqing looked over.

He knew that the Qing Dynasty would be over sooner or later, but he had no other choice but to sink with this broken ship.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

A fast horse came from the mountain road and was stopped and searched when it came to the city gate. The man said anxiously: "Don't waste time, Sarhu is surrounded!"

Erke Daiqing quickly received the news and went to ask in person: "How many people from the barbarians came to besiege the city?"

The messenger said: "Tens of thousands!"

Erke Daiqing said anxiously: "This is a decisive battle. Come with me to see the Queen Mother and Your Majesty!"

…

"Boom boom boom!"

Lu Xiangsheng sat in the camp, listening to the continuous sound of cannons from the west.

At this time, Sarhu City was far stronger and stronger than it was in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. Because Nurhachi rebuilt it and moved the capital here for more than a year, and it was built according to the specifications of Houjin Capital City.

"The bloody battle in Salhu."

Lu Xiangsheng thought of the war many years ago. Although he had not experienced it personally, he had heard people talk about it countless times because it was the beginning of the collapse of the situation in Liaodong.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

The sound of horse hooves came closer and closer, and a scout rushed over: "Commander, we encountered some Tatar scouts. We killed two of them, but none were captured alive, and we did not encounter any enemy reinforcements."

"Continue to explore." Lu Xiangsheng ordered.

This is a city defense fortress group. The main city is Sarhu City on Sarhu Mountain. There is an acropolis on the east and west sides of Sarhu.

Not far to the northeast, at the intersection of the Hun River and the Suzi River, there is another Jiefan City. Before Nurhachi moved his capital to Sarhu, he once made his capital Jiefan City. The city area was not as large as Sarhu, but the mountains were steeper and sandwiched between two rivers, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, there is an acropolis on the east and west sides of Jiefan City.

In addition, there is also Gule City, which was once the royal city of Jianzhou Jurchen.

These three cities form a tripod, and they are all built based on the dangers of mountains and rivers.

If you want to overthrow the Manchus, you must pull out all these cities before you can attack Hetuala. Even if the Eight Banners Army's combat effectiveness has deteriorated, as long as they insist on defending, it will take more than half a year to slowly attack the city.

At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng led his army to block the East Guards City of Sarhu. His task is not to attack the city, but to keep an eye on the Tatar reinforcements. The Tatars from Jiefan City and Gule City may come to kill them at any time.

As for Hu Dinggui, he led his army to get stuck between the main city of Sarhu and the Western Acropolis, cutting off the connection between the two Tatars.

Xiao Zongxian was leading his troops to storm the West Guard City, and all the artillery of several divisions was allocated to him.

One hundred artillery pieces bombarded the small acropolis, and the Tatar defenders were stunned. Even the Tatar artillery had to be forced by officers with knives before they dared to use city defense artillery to fight back.

"Boom boom boom!"

"boom!"

Although the artillery of the Datong Army was well protected by the rammed earth bunker, one was still destroyed by the city defense artillery.

The two acropolis of Sarhu are definitely almost gone.

This kind of small castle was built by Nurhachi when he started his army. How could it withstand the continuous bombardment of hundreds of cannons. The city wall can be destroyed in a few days. The next step is to besiege the main city of Sarhu, and besiege the city for reinforcements, waiting for the Tatars from Jiefan City and Gule City to come and die.

Enemy reinforcements required military orders from the Manchu and Qing court.

When Dayu'er learned that Sarhu was besieged, her first reaction was to run away and wanted to take the little emperor Shunzhi to Heilongjiang.