Chapter 278: Xinyang Watching the Soldiers Ning Zhou Advice

If Xinyang Town is in modern times, it is the junction of Jiaonan County and Rizhao City in Qingdao. Li Meng and his group will not take too much time to set off in Jiaozhou.

Although Shandong has been under the control of Li Meng, now in a high position, the arrangement of personal guards and travel safety requires better attention. These 500 cavalry were also specially estimated by several military generals. Even if the troops from Yanzhou Prefecture and Nanzhili suddenly came over, the largest attack on the opponent could use. When Li Meng was completely alone, these 500 cavalry could resist and escort Li Meng back to the old camp.

Although Li Meng felt uncomfortable with this arrangement, he had no objection. After all, in this position, many things need to be adapted to actively.

The five hundred cavalrymen, except for Li Meng, were wearing armor, and were all wearing cloth robes and swords and guns. They did not look like regular troops in Jiaozhou camp, but like horse gang caravans walking on the road. Of course, the scale of this group of people was too large, but they were also hiding their identities.

Xinyang Town is surrounded by mountains and seas, but because of the sea breeze, the salt content is very high, so there is no way to plant crops, and even plants are not growing very much. There are large open spaces. Li Meng's group is quite loud, but he did not enter Xinyang Town, but found a remote place to stop from afar.

The staff of Qingzhou Prefecture had already brought tents, food, fodder and other things over, but did not disturb the situation in Xinyang Town, and just stumbled silently.

When it was just dark, half of the cavalry dismounted and half were on the horse. They all left the camp and arranged defensive positions on a nearby high slope. Li Meng stood in the openest view on the slope, quietly looking at the dark below and the blurry sea in the distance. Everyone was waiting for something.

It happened to be the day when the moon was full. The moon slowly rose and the surroundings were silent. It was late summer. People were quietly by the mountains and seas, and they felt a little strange.

Soon, this poetic silence was interrupted by the silence that gradually sounded. At first, there was only a small movement, but later it turned into a huge hustle and bustle.

Li Meng on the hillside and the guards around him were silent. Only the cavalry at the foot of the mountain went back and forth, but the actions were quite secret. It was difficult to find the huge noise. The light accompanied by the noise, and the moonlight became dull at this moment.

You can see the direction coming from Xinyang Town, in the direction of huge noise, countless stars are also moving towards this side. Li Meng and his personal guards did not react, but they are still watching somewhere.

As we get closer, the huge noise can be heard, the shouts and shouts of many people, and as for the spots, it can be seen clearly that it is the torch in the hands of these people.

"Follow Zhang Lao Er to me!" "Don't run away, that guy Gou Sheng has gone there, shout!" "I'm here, I'm here!"

The place under this high slope is already in a state of chaos. Li Meng and the others are standing is quite hidden and there is no torch lit. Who can take care of themselves and they can't take care of it. No one noticed that there was such a group of uninvited guests not far away. The people holding the torch are full of local dialects from Qingzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture, cursing and complaining about why they came out at such a night. Isn't this a torment?

There were still some people who scolded loudly among these voices. These scoldings were all maintaining order. Sometimes people shouted loudly and hurt. Unfortunately, it was dark after all, otherwise they could still be seen chasing and beating with wooden sticks.

There were only two or three thousand people below, but Li Meng and others who stood on the nearby high slope could not even hear the sound of the nearby waves hitting the coast and other movements, all of which were the chaotic and noisy sounds below.

I stood down for a while, and although the noisy and chaotic sound was a little less, it never calmed down. After a while, Li Meng whispered a few words to the personal soldiers beside him. The personal soldiers hurriedly ran down the hillside, and they didn't know how they conveyed the news. The voices who were just keeping order loudly there began to shout the chaotic crowds below to walk back.

He came for no reason and left for no reason. On the clearing, which had just become a little quieter, there was a huge noise again, and then he scolded and drove away. However, these people were not rioting. Just like when they came, a group of people walked back to the way they came.

It took almost half an hour to go away. At this time, Li Meng's personal guards ignited the torch and set up a canvas wooden chair for Li Meng at the camping place below. Except for the necessary guards, the rest of the people started to make fires and cook, and some people also brought bread and bacon to Li Meng. Only two or three thousand people were like a market for ten thousand people. At this time, except for the neighing of the horses, the rest of the people were busy there quietly, and no one made any noise.

It was another half an hour, and dozens of horses could be seen galloping towards this place in the distance. The personal soldiers of Jiaozhou camp took out their weapons and whispered to issue passwords to prepare for the work of alert.

When the people arrived and shouted a few words from each other, they immediately asked dozens of horses to come in. As soon as the dozens of knights entered the guard area of ​​Li Meng's personal guard, they immediately got off the horse, handed over the weapons they carried, and bent down and trotted to Li Meng.

Two large braziers had been burned on both sides of Li Meng, illuminating the place clearly. The dozens of knights hurriedly knelt on the ground when they were about twenty steps away, kowtowed a few times, and said:

"I have met Lord Li!"

The dozens of people who came here were all wearing cloth clothes, but they were not exquisite clothes, they were just short dresses of fishing work by the people on the beach. However, these people did not look like fishermen. They were all tall and strong, and they were vicious. The person in the leader was a little different from the one behind him. They were a little thinner, but they also looked sophisticated.

With the reflection of the fire, Li Meng looked at the person kneeling in front of him, and a smile appeared on his indifferent face and said lightly:

"Stand up! This is not in the barracks!"

After some people stood up obediently, Li Meng nodded and said to the strong man in the lead with a smile:

"A few months ago, Yang Si, you are still a sea monkey. I heard that people in Xinyang Town have called you the Great Sage of Hai recently!"

After hearing Li Meng's words, Yang Si, who was standing at the head of the team, immediately turned pale. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed on the ground repeatedly, explaining in a trembling voice:

"The General Master is a clear explanation. This is all the ignorant villagers in Xinyang Town. The villain has no other thoughts. He is loyal to the master, and he is loyal to the master..."

The world is levied and paid more. The government did not dare to touch the industries and tenants of the top landlords and powerful lands. Instead, the common people in the towns have become the best targets for exploitation. Various taxes are superimposed, which really forces people to death. Moreover, these wolves and tigers have to be levied to increase their levies to make money for themselves and make these taxpayers miserable.

Jiaozhou Camp ignored such matters. Anyway, the government did not dare to come to contact Jiaozhou Camp's industries and subordinate personnel. The more he forced the others, the more people he would rely on and entrust them to the Jiaozhou Camp system. It was obvious that he was driving fish for the abyss, so Jiaozhou Camp was naturally happy to watch.

Xinyang Town, Qingzhou Prefecture, is also a relatively prosperous market in Qingzhou Prefecture. The yamen runners in nearby Zhucheng County naturally focused on this place. In mid-July, more than a dozen yamen runners came to Xinyang Town together.

These yamen runners entered Xinyang Town like tigers and wolves and sheep. The whole town was immediately in chaos. The disadvantage of levying additional taxes was not the additional tax, but the people who were taxed below were arbitrarily assigned. The taxes to be paid in Xinyang Town were not too high, but were raised many times by these yamen runners. How could ordinary people afford it?

If you don’t have money to pay taxes, you will take away the valuable things in your family. If you don’t have valuable things, you will sell your relatives who can sell them. If you don’t have valuable relatives, you will sell yourself. This is the beastly behavior of these yamen runners.

In the past dynasties, administrative management was only in the county, which means that there were no administrative personnel sent by the state under the magistrate. There was no one in Xinyang Town who could stand up and speak. The yamen runners from these counties were already the largest. The residents of Xinyang Town were forced to do nothing, but some people took the risk to pay attention. They went to the beach to ask Yang Si, the sea monkey who had recently returned to their old careers. Although Yang Si was not a good person, he did not provoke his neighbors in the past. This time he went to ask him to come forward to take care of the situation, which might be of some use.

Yang Si didn't want to stand out, and he didn't know what the people below said to him. He remembered that the dozen or so yamen runners were surrounded by hundreds of vicious young men. The weapons on these officers were nothing more than iron rulers and waist knives. Looking at the sudden emergence of these young men, the other party had many people, and they actually had long weapons such as long spears and big swords in their hands. These officers were immediately frightened to death. Fortunately, Yang Si and others were still responsible for their work and did not kill people, but just drove them out of Xinyang Town.

These yamen run back to Zhucheng Yamen. When the magistrate of Zhucheng County heard this report, there were hundreds of young and powerful people holding weapons gathering in this remote seaside town, and they openly resisted taxes. This was a rebellion! Zhucheng County Magistrate hurriedly reported to the top and asked the troops to go to wipe out.

However, Shandong wanted to wipe out the bandits, and only one of them sent out troops, namely the Jiaozhou Camp, the subordinate of Shandong General Li Meng, who was the subordinate of Shandong General Li Meng. However, the news of the request for troops to suppress the bandits was reported, but the Jiaozhou Camp did not react at all. It looked like he was willing to do so. Now the sea monkey Yang Si immediately became famous.

Not only did the people nearby go over to join us, but some people also changed the name of Yang Si's sea monkey. According to Sun Wukong's meaning, he called him the Great Sage of the Sea. In fact, this was the scene when Yang Si officially pulled the pole and pulled the flag for more than a month, but the momentum was greatly boosted.

Because of the chaos in Shaanxi, Huguang and Henan, the yamen in various places were extremely alert to the signs of rebellion and rebellion that people gathered here. The magistrate of Zhucheng did not dare to conceal this news and reported it to the Shandong Governor. In the end, the yamen at all levels naturally asked the garrison troops to help eliminate them. The garrison troops were the Jiaozhou camp of Shandong General Li Meng. The Jiaozhou camp at all levels agreed, but there was no movement at all.

Wulun is the governor Yan Jizu or the military supervisor Liu Yuanbin. He cannot speak straight in front of Li Meng, let alone the military preparations and prefecture officials who are in charge of various places. Li Meng is not famous, but everyone is helpless. However, the story of a big thief in Xinyang Town, Qingzhou Prefecture gradually spread.

From the beginning of preparations to Li Meng coming, the young and strong people had been training for almost a month. Li Meng just wanted to see how well Yang Si and others trained.

Outsiders looked at Yang Si's majesty and already had the attitude of a hero, but Yang Si himself knew that the consumption, weapon training, and even the small leaders who led the team were all controlled by people sent by Jiaozhou Camp. He was just a tool for being pushed out by the other party to do things.

Yang Si didn't even dare to think about what Jiaozhou Camp should do. That was really terrible, but since he did it, there was no chance of regret. His family and his family were taken to Jiaozhou, calling it care, but in fact it was a hostage. Yang Si also understood that even if he wanted to escape regardless of his family, he might not have left Xinyang Town and his head would fall off first.

But then again, since Yang Si was pushed to the position of the pirate leader, he felt very different from before. A few years ago, he already felt extremely majestic, but these days he commanded these thousands of young and strong men and trained military law. The feeling was very different. No matter how much he was a puppet, he was the leader after all, and Yang Si was reluctant to let him go.

However, every day after these days, Yang Si's awe of Li Meng for Jiaozhou Camp deepened a little. Li Meng's joking words fell into Yang Si's ears, as if it was thunder. He felt that his courage was about to be crushed immediately, and he just knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy.

Yang Si had also seen a blood-dead pirate back then. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was a brave man, but in front of Li Meng, all this disappeared without a trace and disappeared.

That sentence was indeed Li Meng's joke. Seeing Yang Si kneeling down, Li Meng couldn't help but shake his head and said with a smile:

"Stand up, you are now the leader who commands thousands of pirates. Don't let people see the joke."

After hearing this sentence, Yang Si's tone was relaxed, and he stood up honestly. Li Meng turned his head and asked Wang Hai who was standing behind him and said:

"How do you feel when you looked at these thousands of people just now?"

Originally, Wang Hai was standing behind Li Meng with his hands expressionless face. When he heard Li Meng speak, he pondered for a moment, and showed a very contemptuous and disdainful expression on his face, and he replied coldly:

"Report to my lord, we were like this when all the markets in Lingshanwei were in our day... Well... I'm afraid we can't compare to this noisy!"

Wang Hai's evaluation really did not leave any face. After saying this, several personal guards standing behind Li Meng could not help laughing out loud. The brazier here was full of light and was quite bright around him. If his eyes were better, he could still see the dozens of pirates dressed behind Yang Si, all of whom looked ashamed and some lowered their heads.

Seeing Wang Hai's face turned blue, Li Meng smiled and turned his head. He understood why Wang Hai was so angry. Jiaozhou Camp sent to Xinyang Town to train these young and strong officers. They were all drawn from Wang Hai's personal military camp, and they were also Wang Hai's direct descendants. On weekdays, the personal military camp felt that he was the champion of the Jiaozhou camp and the elite among the elites. Everyone could be a small team or even the general manager in an ordinary army.

The thousands of people just now came over, like a bunch of loose sand, chasing and beating with sticks, shouting loudly, were the people standing behind Yang Si now.

"Haha, don't feel ashamed of you. Some young and strong men who are not obedient to discipline have trained for less than a month and marched at night. Although they are chaotic, they have not disintegrated. This is your achievement."

Li Meng said with a smile. When he said this, everyone's expressions calmed down. However, what Li Meng said was indeed what he thought. The young and strong recruited in Xinyang Town really trained to look like they were. Li Meng was also a little happy and pointed at Yang Si in front of him and said:

"You guys are so lucky. Once you enter my Jiaozhou army, you can command thousands of people. Look at these guys behind me, and have been struggling for several years. You don't have the same luck as you!"

Hearing Li Meng's words, Yang Si knelt down again and said loudly:

"It is all the grace of the general. The villain can have a background under the command of the adult, and the family will be glorious. Even if the young one is a cow or a horse, he will not be able to repay the adult."

Since he was forcibly tied to the chariot of Jiaozhou Camp, what Yang Si thought was that he would fight to the death and not be discarded by the other party in the end. Li Meng's words had already vaguely promised him a way out. Yang Si was excited. This time he knelt down to thank him, which was really out of inner gratitude.

Next is to explain what to do next. After a few simple sentences, Yang Si and the others will go back to Xinyang Town. Before leaving, Li Meng smiled and explained:

"It looks like this today. I will come back in two months, hoping not to see the scene for a few days!"

Everyone on Yang Si agreed in unison and hurriedly rode back to Xinyang Town. The next morning, Li Meng and his personal guards also left early. The open space where they were actually where Yang Si led his men to train martial arts. Except for dozens of leaders, no one knew that Li Meng had led his men to come.

After returning to Jiaozhou, the first thing Li Meng did was to ask Zhou Yang, the governor of Laizhou, to write a document to go to the governor Yan Jizu to collect military wages and food. At present, the most urgent thing about Jiaozhou camp is lacking in money consumption. At present, the military farm is absorbing refugees from all over the country, requiring a large amount of food and money consumption.

Although the village farm has a certain reserve, it cannot withstand the absorption of too many refugees this time. A large amount of food is consumed every day and a large amount of money is invested in it.

The sales of private salt in Shandong, the transactions of private salt with the Zheng family, the income of Lingshan merchants, and the merchant ships on the sea paid taxes at the ports, and the income of merchant ships in Jiaozhou camp in name. In addition to the operation of the Jiaozhou camp itself, the rest of the money was invested in the recruitment of soldiers, migration of craftsmen, and resettlement of refugees. In terms of major projects, Jinan Prefecture, captured by the Tatar soldiers, also spent a lot of money to rebuild the fortress.

In the past, Li Meng relied on his own money to support his soldiers, and his soldiers were more powerful and he did not care about the deducted food and wages allocated by the court. Now that the scale has increased, the money has not been running out for a while. However, due to the disaster year, the income of private salt in Shandong has also decreased compared with previous years, and other incomes have not increased much.

Zhou Yang's aides and Ning Gangui's private salt inspection yamen, everyone was frowning and desperately allocating and raising funds to see if they could pass this level. Li Meng still had about 100,000 taels of silver in his hand, but this was the final reserve. He could never take it out before the 100,000 was in a hurry.

There is no immediate way to increase income at the moment. The only thing that can be imagined is the food and salary allocated by the court. After calculation, there is another year of salary and money that has not been allocated. Even if the Ministry of War deducted it, the Shandong Governor and local governments at all levels will definitely not dare to deduct it. It will be a lot of money in hand, and it can be rescued in any case.

After Zhou Yang finished writing the memorial, Master Ning hurried to Li Meng's side. The two of them had long wanted to talk to Li Meng about the budget for the coming year.

Speaking of which, although Zhou Yang and Ning Gangui were both scholars, Zhou Yang was the magistrate of Laizhou at that time, and he was also a middle-level official. Ning Gangui was a scholar and a master in the Salt Administration. According to the statement at that time, there was a difference in clarity and a huge identity. The literati around Zhou Yang and the literati around Ning Gangui were somewhat despised by each other.

However, Zhou Yang and Ning Gangui got along well. This time, we talked about the budget for the coming year, and both sides had communicated in advance. After a few simple greetings, Zhou Yang said first:

"Sir, I've said it straight to the point. According to the expenses this year, there will be a gap of about 300,000 taels next year. Even if the food and salary allocated by the court is allocated on time, it will be almost 150,000 taels away."

Li Meng did not make a sound, but just raised his hand to signal Zhou Yang to continue. Seeing that Li Meng's expression had not changed much, Zhou Yang turned his head to look at Master Ning, and continued to say:

"The food and wages that the subordinates mentioned just said were only deducted by the Ministry of War. If only 30% of them were deducted, the gap was even bigger. This year there was a severe drought. My subordinates were worried that although the land increased this year, the harvest may not be as good as last year, and the refugees are still pouring in..."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yang pondered for a while. He knew that the following words were very unpleasant, but he gritted his teeth and said:

"If this drought continues, I am afraid that the money transfer in Jiaozhou Camp will collapse in February next year. At that time, the situation will be even worse if the soldiers are out of pay."

"If it is the worst case, how much money should I use to fill it with?"

Hearing Li Mengxiang’s question, Zhou Yang and Ning Gangui looked at each other, but this time it was Ning Gangui who spoke and said slowly:

"Report to the Lord, the 30 entries in the inspector's office have calculated for five days. This year's severe drought will affect the harvest of the farm based on 75% of the previous year, which is 450,000 taels. But looking at the drought, the harvest is not pessimistic to count as 60% of the previous year, which is 600,000 taels!!"

The speaking skills are about suppressing first and then promoting. After Zhou Yang and Ning Gangui said the large amount of "450,000 taels" and "600,000 taels", they wanted to show Li Meng that the financial situation of the Jiaozhou Camp system was extremely dangerous. Since they began to monopolize the private salt business in Shandong to joining forces with the Zheng family to sell private salt, Jiaozhou Camp's revenue peaked at 300,000 taels of silver, mostly spent on soldiers in Jiaozhou Camp.

The expenses outside that day were the military expenditures of Jiaozhou Camp, and the rest were small, and they were always quite wealthy. However, since the establishment of the military farm, the expenses suddenly increased. If this military farm was established for five years, it would naturally be beneficial. However, the continuous expansion and absorption in the past two years requires investment everywhere.

The reason why it is still supporting is that although the military farms cost huge expenses, there are also productions. By replenishing production, they barely balanced some income and expenditures. However, this year's expansion of the army and the increase in the farms have made this fragile balance unable to support it. Zhou Yang and Ning Gangui are in charge of the finance and people's livelihood of Jiaozhouying. Seeing this situation, how can you not be in a hurry?

However, when the Tartars invaded Shandong and Li Meng was promoted to Shandong general, the expansion of the Jiaozhou camp was a must-do, which was also the consensus of everyone. Although the 20,000 soldiers recruited did not have to consider the future food and salary expenses, the clothing, armor and weapons all cost money. Those refugees who defected to the country also needed to be taken in. In the future, they would be human resources for Jiaozhou camp to fight farmland, and resettlement costs were also indispensable.
To be continued...