Chapter 293: Bean pod boiled beans, sword soldiers in troubled times

Although the old eunuch Liu Fulai judged that Yang Sichang was commanding many troops and would inevitably have chaos, in April and May of the 13th year of Chongzhen, the situation looked very good.

"Xian, Cao is in the siege, and Chuang is in the siege!" The encirclement of troops and horses in several provinces has almost been completed. As the task is about to be completed, the end of Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, and Li Zicheng's troops is approaching.

Although Zuo Liangyu, the general of the Ming army who led his troops to chase Zhang Xianzhong's troops, had almost won or lost, he was completely in an advantage this time. Zhang Xianzhong was about to be captured and wiped out the Shaanxi chaos army.

However, Zhang Xianzhong sent an envoy to the door, and while taking out a large amount of money to bribe, he persuaded General Zuo Liangyu and said:

"The general can achieve his wealth today depends entirely on the merits of suppressing the bandits. If we are annihilated, how will the general with heavy troops deal with it?"

This question is quite heart-wrenching. As the saying goes, birds are full of bows, there are many things in history, and generals like Zuo Liangyu are even more vigilant.

Fortunately, the Shaanxi general He Renlong came to the door with the initiative. Yang Sichang was the governor of various provinces and the governors under his command. The generals of various places also had superior subordinates. At present, the head of the military generals is Zuo Liangyu. Yang Sichang's prestige among the military generals is far less than that of Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Zheng Chongjian and others. They could only rely on high-ranking officials and generous rewards to mobilize the enthusiasm of the military generals.

General Zuo Liangyu is domineering and keeping orders is normal. When Yang Sichang dispatched Shaanxi general He Renlong, he promised that if Shaanxi thieves were defeated, He Renlong would replace Zuo Liangyu's position. Who would have thought that when the task was completed, the supervisor Yang Sichang would not fulfill his promise.

These generals are not loyal to the country. He Renlong did not get the expected promise and was immediately furious and hated Yang Sichang deeply, so he simply sent an envoy to tell Zuo Liangyu about this matter.

It's a coincidence, but this is also something that happened in history. Zuo Liangyu was suspicious because of Zhang Xianzhong's envoy's persuasion, but it really confirmed the other party's words.

Zuo Liangyu was wary of his heart, and his troops immediately became lazy in their actions. As a result, Zhang Xianzhong's troops, who had been embarrassed, immediately had a chance to breathe and immediately escaped from the siege and chase.

This incident happened only a month ago, but the situation had changed invertedly. It was really inconsistent with the prophecy of the old eunuch Liu Fulai, and it was in chaos.

On April 25, Li Meng received guests from Yangzhou Prefecture in Fengmeng Town. In three days, Li Meng's family and troops around him were about to move to Jinan City.

This guest surprised Li Meng. According to the customer's request, the news of his coming here was strictly kept confidential. Except for the most core figure, everyone else thought that this was just a gentry from southern Shandong, and came to discuss with Lord Li about the newly opened military farm.

Fang Yingren, the second son of the Fang family in Yangzhou Prefecture, the intelligence system of Lingshan Trading Company and Huang Ping has invested a lot of energy on salt merchants in the two Huaihe areas. A giant like the salt merchant Fang family has naturally paid attention to it. The Fang family is the leader of the salt merchants on Huaihang, and Li Meng's Jiaozhou Camp is currently doing all to cut off the salt merchants. The two sides are currently in a irreconcilable situation.

The eldest son of the Fang family, Fang Laoer, who has a very important position in the Fang family, visited him, which was really shocking.

Fang Yingren boarded a boat in Yangzhou Prefecture, went north along the canal transport, and changed cars and horses from Jiningzhou. He rushed to Jiaozhou City. What he saw along the way surprised the knowledgeable two sons of the Fang family. Fang Yingren had been to many places, and had run from south to north.

Of course, the places he has been to were not in chaos at that time, but what Fang Yingren saw in various places was chaos. The grassroots rule of the Ming Dynasty had collapsed at that time. The magistrate's orders did not leave the county town. Outside the county town, the wealthy families were the kings and laws, and ordinary people could only be willing to be bullied and exploited.

No one has done anything that should be done by the government, and the situation in the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River is slightly better, but that is because the people are rich and the benefits of industrial and commercial support are supported, so it looks more neat than other places.

The brothers ran differently. When they came back to exchange their experiences, the most common sentence was "There is no rules and laws". To be honest, the rise of Shaanxi thieves and chaos in the world was indeed abrupt, but combined with the experiences and experiences over the years, there was a bit of an expected taste.

But it is different in Shandong. Although it is also a disaster, it is very regular. A large number of people who repair water conservancy and maintain roads can often be seen along the way, and everything is in order.

Nowadays, in southern Zhili and Jiangnan provinces, Huaibei and Jiangxi, there are no one alone, and there are many thieves, and it is normal to commit openly in the daytime. To be honest, this is nothing. If you go out of the Jiangnan border, Henan is said to be without pedestrians, and Shaanxi is also uninhabited for hundreds of miles. In Huguang and Sichuan, ordinary people are also scattered into the mountains. They are also sparsely populated and are extremely desolate.

After being ravaged by the Tartars once, Northern Zhili was already ruined and could not say anything. In such a general environment, Shandong is another exception.

Fang Yingren's carriage and horse team saw single pedestrians on the road more than once. Although these pedestrians were covered in despicable faces and looked like poor people, they did not look like fear and despair elsewhere, and they were quite stable.

These people from Yangzhou Prefecture were a little curious about this situation, but when they dismounted and asked, the pedestrians asked were frightened, waved their hands repeatedly, and left quickly. It seemed that they did not dare to answer with outsiders. Fang Yingren sighed that the Shandong management was indeed a bit stricter.

On the official road, there were regular horse riding teams wearing thick cloth clothes passing by. These young and strong clothes wearing thick gray and black cloth clothes were all armed with weapons and were quite uniform in their actions. When pedestrians on the road saw these groom knights passing by, they were all in awe and moved away.

These knights in civilian clothes also noticed Fang Yingren's unique team, but after seeing the pennant flag on the carriage, they ignored it.

Although the representatives of Lianghuai salt merchants in Shandong have been uprooted, there are still eyeliners and acquaintances, and some people explained:

"These common knights are all armed salt genitals from the Jiaozhou Salt Administration Inspection Department. These armed salt genitals are stationed at Ka at the intersection in Shandong. They inspected every day, and used to only investigate other private salts. In recent years, they have gradually eliminated bandits and maintained public order."

After hearing this explanation, Fang Yingren couldn't help but feel funny, but he was also a little awe-in. Jiaozhou Salt Administration Inspection Department, a small ninth-rank yamen, only investigated the southern part of Laizhou Prefecture at most. But along the way, he saw no less than a few thousand armed salt squads. He went to a big place. The armed salt squads, and the officers and soldiers in the Huai River were not as elegant as such. With such a force, the local area was really tightly controlled. If the salt squads were sold in, they naturally dominated the salt squads. And the fool could see that these armed salt squads could not only be used to investigate private salt and maintain public order.

He was amazed there, and the person leading the way pointed to the pennant flag stuck to the left side of the carriage and spoke:

"If it weren't for the road flags that the old shopkeeper of Wenru Trading Company in Jiningzhou, our carriage would not have been able to go so smoothly along the way. I'd probably have been stopped and interrogated."

Fang Yingren looked at the black-edged and red-bottomed triangular flag, with a few "269" painted with ghost-drawing talismans on it. He stared at it for a few times, but he still vaguely remembered that it was a symbol used by ghosts. He thought it was just a flag, but it could have such power.

There are also farmers who are farming in the fields along the way. At first, Fang's family didn't think they were concerned about farming. But when they walked along the way, except for those prefectures, counties, and cities, they saw this scene in places with fields, and gradually they felt something was wrong.

Because of the planning of the fields, these farmers in the fields were so similar. At the beginning, everyone who went to Shandong, the Fang family just sighed that the surrounding provinces were in trouble. Shandong was lucky to be able to farm, but later the same thing was the same.

Some sections of the road, the space between the rest at night is longer. Fang Yingren looked at the scenery on the roadside without any changes. The similar farmers, similar fields, and similar movements. The only difference is the background, and sometimes even the background is the same.

This journey is indeed too boring. Fang Yingren has been to Shandong, but his journey was not like this at that time. It seemed that he had arrived in a completely different place. Fang Yingren was a businessman who often wandered outside, but there were not many such boring itineraries. Whether it was prosperous or dilapidated on the roadside, there was always a scene, but it was the first time I saw this without any change.

Fang Yingren spent almost ten days in a drowsy journey, but after five days of this journey, Fang Yingren was inexplicably afraid of this. Such a monotonous and boring thing has not changed. It may be boring, but it shows a problem that the population of Shandong's fields and population are integrated into one person and become a force. Tens of millions of fields and millions of people, and the strength of this person can be.

In Shandong, this person can only be Shandong general Li Meng. Fang Yingren suddenly felt very lucky. If it were not for God's favor, how could he say the words he looked for Li Meng in the discussions of his father and son brother? Looking at this scene in Shandong, he bet on the right treasure.

After a few days of drowsiness, two days before entering Jiaozhou, Fang Yingren and his group could no longer feel sleepy. They were very awake every moment, but their fear became heavier and he always felt that there was an extremely huge giant looking down on the land of Qilu.

When they arrived in Jiaozhou and went to Lijia Manor to ask for Li Meng, Fang Yingren and his group were already full of awe. Especially when they arrived near Jiaozhou, they also saw the appearance of the soldiers and horses of the Jiaozhou camp. Even those who knew nothing about military affairs knew that this was a strong army.

Li Meng was surprised that the envoy sent by Fang Jia, the leader of the salt merchant, who was almost mortal, to meet him, but after meeting him, he found that the other party's unusual awe-inspiring attitude made Li Meng even more surprised.

Although he is a mortal enemy, it does not mean that he cannot meet. Now Li Meng is a gathering of big army leaders, big landlords, and big merchants. Different objects are different, and the identities used when meeting are different. Since salt merchants are coming to discuss business, Li Meng will use the identity of a businessman to discuss it.

So Li Meng has always wanted to expand his power in Huaibei naturally, occupy several salt fields, and use the other party's channels to sell. Unfortunately, there has been no suitable opportunity. In recent times, the salt merchants responded quickly and could not find an excuse to cause trouble.

When Li Meng heard Fang Yingren, who was from the Fang family, was immediately interested. Fang Yingren also saw the change in Li Meng's expression, and felt a little sure of it. He couldn't help but smile and said:

"The adults also sell salt, but they are not done in detail. You should know that the salt industry's transactions cannot be sold with salt. The salt merchants in both Huaihe River are all merchants from Shanxi and Huizhou. The inheritance and accumulation of dozens of generations have led to the current situation. It seems that it is a business that is full of money and goods, and there are many channels in it!"

Li Meng nodded repeatedly. The top level of Daming Salt Industry's transactions are these salt merchants from both Huaihe River. The two sides have not been in trouble for a long time. Li Meng sometimes thinks that when he kills all these salt merchants, he may never have the chance to know the secrets in this industry. Today, a salt merchant on Huaihe River told him, which is a rare opportunity.

Fang Yingren was actually a little nervous. As a general of Li Meng, he already had a kind of killing spirit. When he approached, Fang Yingren was under great pressure. After saying a few words, his throat was a little dry. He picked up the tea bowl and drank it, but it was empty. Li Meng smiled and took the teapot and filled it with him.

This time Fang Yingren was not nervous, but instead smiled and took the teacup and felt it. Li Meng finally asked:

"But I don't know what Brother Fang is going to be. Isn't it just chatting here, right?"

Fang Yingren completely let go and replied with a smile:

"The name of the Grand Marshal is really a waste of killing villains. The Grand Marshal raises troops and governs the people, and it costs a lot. This open source mind must be very urgent. There are some ways in the family of the people who are willing to help the adults."

Hearing this, Li Meng narrowed his eyes. Of course he understood what the other party meant, and also knew that the other party was taking the initiative to come to please him. There was no pie falling from the sky, and the other party would inevitably ask for a reward.

In the past, Kong Sande and Zhou Yang had done similar things. People with frequent natural disasters, internal and external troubles, and clear-minded people all saw that civil strife was coming, eager to seek shelter, or wanted to gain great wealth in this chaotic world. However, under the current situation, even if they had ideas, they could not accumulate force, and individuals could not compete with the court.

At present, it's just a bet.

The imperial army had no need to place bets, and the regular offerings were already annoying. The Tartars were thousands of miles away and were often outside the pass. Moreover, the Qing Jurchens at this time were still no different from beasts in the eyes of the Chinese Han people. Except for the Shanxi business that had been dealing with the grasslands, the rest of the people were unwilling to choose.

The Shaanxi chaos army, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng and others, had hundreds of thousands of troops when they were so powerful, but they were ups and downs, and they could never see the long-term, which made people feel uneasy.

In theory, Li Meng was also the general of Shandong and the soldiers of the regular court. In the eyes of outsiders, Li Meng was no different from the ordinary Ming army generals, and his ability to make money may be even better.

Anyone who has been in close contact or has carefully observed knows the difference between Li Meng and the people around him. Perhaps Li Meng seems to be alternative in this era.

Li Meng was good at making money, but his private life could be called frugality. He drove military training every day and never deducted military pay. He was stationed in Shandong but did not harass the people. Instead, he farmed and sheltered refugees.

Despite doing these good things, Li Meng lived frugality, but he devoted all his money to his own army, farming to shelter refugees, but the farming farming was completely his own industry. The army was called the national army, but in fact it was also strictly controlled by Li Meng and could not be poured into it.

The Ming army generally had eunuchs and military supervisors, and the actions were led by high-ranking civil officials such as the governor. However, Shandong Governor Yan Jizu and military supervisor Liu Yuanbin were likewise arranged, and the handle was captured by Li Meng.

Li Meng never said anything loyal and righteous. In the court, Shandong general Li Meng was very inconspicuous, but knew that there were few chaos in Shandong, and he would obey the orders of sending troops if there were any trouble in the court. But after thinking about it carefully, Shandong's troops had no achievements and had never done anything except defeating the Qing army in Qihe County.

If a person who has carefully observed Li Meng and Shandong soldiers and horses to make a judgment, he will only come to a conclusion such as "this person's goal is not small" or "who is not something in the pool".

Although this is tacky, for those who want to bet on wealth or seek peace, such people are what they need most.

Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong are also arrogant and domineering generals with tens of thousands of troops, but if they collude with such generals, it is equivalent to being with tigers and wolves. It is impossible to say when the other party will swallow you even the belt and bones in one bite, without even a single slag.

But Li Meng is different. From the beginning to now, he has always been abide by the rules and has never done anything untrustworthy in business, which makes people feel more at ease.

Moreover, for businessmen, Li Meng is also a businessman. He is the largest salt merchant in Shandong. This identity in the same circle is more reassuring and easy to grasp.

In the past, Li Meng could not see this. Kong Sande and Zhou Yang solemnly expressed their importance to him or surrendered him. Li Meng was somewhat flattered. Now he is no longer like this. The salt merchant Fang family came to him, which did not surprise him.

It’s just that the Fang family has a good vision and contacted him in advance. The other party came to him out of thin air to give him a great benefit. What he relied on to repay is the swords and guns in his hands and the tens of thousands of soldiers under his command.

Seeing that the other party's expression was nothing unusual, Fang Yingren felt that the trip was correct. If he bets or not, he might have a big advantage in front of him. He paused, straightened his body, and spoke with a smile. At this time, Fang Yingren's position and attitude were no longer as reserved as the conversation just now, but he was truly standing on an equal position.

"When the villain was at home, my father often said that although the salt industry in Lianghuai has been prosperous for almost a hundred years, it is not stable. There are too many people involved in it, and they are fighting for each other and maliciously. The plate that should have been larger is limited. If someone fixes it, it will definitely go to a higher level."

Li Meng nodded with a smile and said:

"The salt industry is rectified, that is the matter between the Salt Transport Office and the Ministry of Revenue in Nanzhili. I am a military general and guarding Shandong. I can't control that far, so many!"

Hearing Li Meng's answer, Fang Yingren laughed a few times, as if he hadn't heard it, and he was talking about other topics on his own:

"The Fang family is willing to jointly establish a salt bank with Lingshan Trading Company. The shares are 60% of Lingshan Trading Company and the Fang family only have 40%. Lianghuai Salt Industry's plate has millions of taels, because it has been chaotic and there are still many loopholes to be discovered. After rectification, one or two percent can be deducted from the plate. At that time, the salt bank jointly established by Fang family and Lingshan Trading Company will do this or two percent of the business."

Fang Yingren said with a smile very relaxed, but one or more percent of Lianghuai Salt Industry's business is a deal worth millions or millions of taels, which is really profitable. Seeing Li Meng's eyes gradually light up, Fang Yingren relaxed more and more and continued:

"Although the villains in Yangzhou Prefecture are inexperienced, some relatives in the family who work in the government are usually responsible for their relatives. They always know the rules and regulations, but there are also some merchants in the industry. No one in the family does business in the government and does not teach them. It is inevitable that some people will lose their rules and forget how to do business."

Anyone comes in and hears any sentence the two people talk to, they will be confused for a long time. Fang Yingren's words are not in touch, but Li Meng's smile becomes stronger and stronger, and she finds it quite interesting.

If you want to be the target of others' bets instead of becoming a pawn, strength is very important, and intelligence is equally important...

Speaking of this, it seems that both sides have already understood this topic. They will not mention it anymore. They will talk about some romantic affairs. Although Yingren is capable, he is a wealthy family in Yangzhou and a wealthy family. He is very proficient in these ways of enjoying and having fun. Speaking of which, it is much better than just playing the puzzle.

Speaking of which, Li Meng is a few years younger than Fang Yingren, but Fang Laoer is pleased and the two sides have a great time to talk. Seeing that it was time to have dinner, Fang Yingren knew that this first meeting had already talked enough. He thanked Li Meng for the invitation to leave the meal and left to live in the inn.

When he was sent out, Fang Yingren seemed to be ringing something, and turned around and said with a smile:

"There is something that makes Dashang know. My father said that this salt goods are business sold by officials. No matter how they do it, they must be able to live on the official side."

Li Meng answered with a straight face:

"Save it, save it. I am also a decent official of the court, so I naturally know that everything must be followed by the king's laws."

Seeing Li Meng's stern face, Fang Yingren was stunned. He waited until Li Meng finished speaking before he relaxed. The two looked at each other and laughed.
To be continued...