Judging from the aftermath of the emperor and several important events in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the finances at that time were not just bankrupt, but extremely exhausted.

If Liu Zeqing's department goes north, there will still be some money and grain to help, and when he went south from Linqing Canghuang, he lied that he had a foot injury, and Chongzhen also sent someone to send dozens of taels of silver greetings, which is also the emperor's real way to take this warlord, he can only try to win it over, and dare not stimulate it to make the flow of the army, which is the emperor's last bottom line.

Liu Zeqing has initially established a foothold at this time, he got no less than 200,000 stone of grain from various counties, with his scale of about 30,000 or 40,000 people enough to eat for several months, but then he still needs the Southern Ming Dynasty to help, at the same time he continued to collect grain in Huai'an and other places, Liu Bu's evil deeds are known all over the world, and there are many people who are forced to levy wages and kill people in the locality, but at that time, the four towns have been knighted by virtue of their support, and the civil officials have no choice but to them, the four towns are at war with each other, and thousands of people have been killed and injured Shi Kefa can only meet and say good things to mediate, Collecting one's own wages and killing people is already a very small matter.

The Zhu family's father and son talked about things are recent changes, in addition to the grain requisition, Liu Zeqing is such an extremely greedy person will definitely not let go of the salt merchants and their financial routes, recently the big salt merchants have donated a lot, the Zhu family directly donated 5,000 taels of silver and 2,000 stone grain, Liu Zeqing is still insufficient, began to send troops to directly control the stove households, Huaiyang around the stove households thousands, the monthly salt is directly collected from the stove households, the guest soldiers will control the stove households in batches, and then if they control the salt industry in Huaiyang, the salt merchants have to pay a high price to buy salt from the guest soldiers, When the salt is produced, it will have to be exploited again, and it will be difficult for everyone to do business in the future.

"Business is a trivial matter, and it is also a trivial matter to hand over another copy to Caozhou Liu," Zhu Renzhong lit the smoke pot in his hand with a flint, and after the green smoke rose, he took a few puffs before he continued: "But the guest soldiers are not good at all in business, and they are extremely vicious and harassing places, and now the salt production of stoves everywhere is decreasing, I am afraid that after a long time, Zhejiang salt and Fujian salt will seize the market in the two lakes and other places, even if the guest soldiers go and the output will come up again, the market will be robbed but it is difficult to grab back, then the matter is troublesome, I don't know how long it will take to recover." ”

Zhu Wanhe said: "It would be nice if we could control more stove households." ”

Zhu Renzhong shook his head and said: "The stove households have inherited their own set of means for many years, and the scale of output and the number of people are mostly fixed. ”

Zhu Renzhong glanced at Zhu Wanchun, and said: "The boss wants to open the gap from the military households, and last time he gave a few hundred taels of silver to the hundred households, but now there is no waiting." Silver is a trivial matter, but it will become a joke in other people's homes if it is spread to my Zhu family, and this kind of thing must be cautious in the future, and it will not be like this Meng Lang again. ”

Zhu Wanchun's face was slightly red, and Zhu Wanhe looked at his brother with sympathy on the side. The last investment of a few hundred taels of silver is really a small amount of money for a big salt merchant family like the Zhu family with hundreds of thousands of dollars, if Zhu Wanchun uses this money to buy a prostitute. The woman is relatively reasonable, although it is rumored to be a waste of money, but it will not be doubted to make decisions and IQ...... It's two different things.

Military households are also large households of frying salt, this is not surprising, in Huaiyang there are a lot of group stoves, the government uses this method to control salt production, so as to control the salt merchants, to the end of the Ming Dynasty, although the private salt is overflowing, the control is equal to nothing, this group stove system has been maintained. The military households are out-and-out private salt, but they also use iron pans to fry salt, and most of the benefits have always been taken away by the military attachés, and the military households can only use the fried salt to slightly supplement the degree of home use, and the three major incomes of the Dahewei military households, the military entrainment, the frying salt, the farming, and the work has to be carried out, even if about eighty percent of the income is divided among the military attachés, the income is barely able to survive.

From Zhu Renzhong's point of view, Dahewei, Huai, Anwei and Yangzhou are all frying salt, Xu Guangqi is a high-ranking civil official with real power and cannot implement salt, not only there are technical problems at many levels, but these troubles are also really difficult to solve.

"And this Min Yuanqi actually attacked and killed Yang Shida and his gang, brutal and ferocious, this generation is not a good type, you don't want to quarrel with him about this silver, just think it is a ruin to eliminate disasters, if you provoke this person, even if our family has some nursing homes, it is not a small trouble. This generation will come from someone to cook, let's not cause this kind of trouble. ”

Min Yuanqi looked at it, but he was not the kind of vicious person, and Zhu Wanchun was present at the time of Yang Shida's matter, Yang Shida extorted money in Shuiguan, causing a lot of trouble, there must have been a way to be destroyed, is it Min Yuan's hand that was activated, Zhu Wanchun feels that there are still doubts, it may not really be that Min Yuanqi led someone to do it.

When Zhu Wanchun didn't know how to defend himself, he was seen by Min Yuanzhong at a glance.

"Zhu Shaodong?"

Min Yuanzhong looked around when he entered the shop, it is difficult for people to look at him like this, the shabby Fan Yangli, plus the even more shabby faded fat jacket, This kind of flag army dress up in the city of Huai'an has at least more than 10,000 soldiers. Hongwu years set up Jiangbei Zhuwei, Huai'an City has been dilapidated in the remnants of the Yuan, the population is almost lost after many years of war, it is the garrison and the family members of the guard to support the early Huai'an, to the end of the Ming Dynasty when there are two guards in the city of the Wei Bureau, there are thousands of soldiers and more than 10,000 family members, the flag army is much poorer than the people, even if it is the military attache of the guard, less than 1,000 households are also quite embarrassed, the first class in the city is the civil official gentry, the second class is the salt merchant rich and the student, the third class is the ordinary merchant household, the fourth class is the turn of the military attache and the ordinary flag army, The only ones who are inferior are prostitutes and lowly households.

In addition to the shopkeeper in the store, there are also the head of the stove household who sends salt, the foreign merchants who enter the salt, the bustling flow of people in the store is very dense, Min Yuanzhong is too inconspicuous, even if he has a small flag official bronze medal hanging on his waist, he can fight with the county at the beginning of the country, and even the arrogance is still above the county, but at this moment, it has long been impossible to say that the Hongwu Yongle period has happened, even if the military generals have regained at this time, and even the Liaozhen military generals have long suppressed the civilian officials, but the resurgence of the military forces is the generals and battalions, but it is not about the military attachés and flag soldiers of the guard.

As soon as Min Yuanzhong called, many people looked at him, and everyone frowned and shook their heads, this dressed person really doesn't seem to be doing a big deal, this salt shop only does bulk trading, and there is a humane at the moment: "Don't call blindly, just buy salt to the grocery store, don't do a few catties of salt here." ”

Zhu Wanchun was also a little puzzled, but Min Yuanzhong ignored it, strode forward, got close to the counter, stood his body, hugged his fist very steadily, and said: "Zhu Shaodong is rare, I don't know if you still recognize it?" ”

"But it's a little bit of an eye."

Min Yuanzhong smiled, his face was still very flat, after he hugged his fists, he pressed his right hand on the handle of the Qi knife on his waist, and the bronze medal on his waist was also quite conspicuous, revealing his identity as a small flag officer.

"In Xia Min Yuanzhong, the small flag officer of the Dahewei Yunti Pass." Min Yuanzhong said in a deep voice: "Last time, I went to Huai'an with my family, but I met Zhu Shaodong. ”

"It turned out to be Min Xiaoqi......" Zhu Wanchun was shocked, but in his mind, he recalled the situation of the previous meeting.

When the fight was fought in Shuiguan that day, many flag soldiers did not dare to come forward, and later met at the Huai'an Shuiciguan Wharf, Min Yuanqi seemed to ignore the past suspicions, and introduced Min Yuanzhong and others to Zhu Wanchun to get acquainted.

When they met that day, Zhu Wanchun did not leave any deep impression, because these small flag officers were the same as ordinary lower-level military attachés and even flag soldiers, in addition to their tattered robes, their temperament was also cowardly and timid.

Under the long-term human being, living in embarrassment and poverty, doing coolie work, low income, low social status, and ancestors have been like this for generations, how can the soldiers of the guard station have any decent temperament revealed?

The last time Zhu Wanchun saw Min Yuanzhong, he was not impressed, because everyone was very respectful to him with such a big fortune, with a smile on his face, most of them were half-bowed when he spoke, the same ragged robe, this time Min Yuanzhong gave him a different feeling, mostly from the changes in the subtleties of his face and body.

The figure stood upright, it stood like a pine, although there was a smile on his face, but there was no obvious flattering look before, and most of the smile was calm and an indescribable confident look.

If you see the details again, you can see that Min Yuanzhong's legs are slightly apart, the right leg is slightly forward than the left leg, after his hand is arched, the right hand is pressed on the waist Qi knife, his palm is wide and powerful, the bone joints are rough, at a glance it is made of a lot of hard work, such a big hand plus a strong figure, as well as the waist hanging Qi knife, if the expression is obscene, it is easy for people to ignore the attributes of their military identity, if such as Min Yuanzhong at this time, it will give people a strong psychological hint, so that people feel a realistic threat.

Although Zhu Wanchun was sure that he would not be attacked, he still felt a little uneasy at the small flag officer with strong military attributes in front of him, and after he bowed his hand, he said in surprise: "Min Xiaoqi came here on the order of Min to try a hundred households?" But you're short of silver taels? If there is any help in the next place, please feel free to say it. ”

At this time, Zhu Wanchun had already made up his mind, that Min Yuanqi looked extraordinary before, and now it seems that it is estimated to be a big fool, but Min Yuanqi is outstanding in force and courageous, and when he saw that the little flag officer in front of him was as mediocre as an ordinary flag soldier, now it is like a polished sword, and the blade is shining and gives people a strong sense of threat, which shows that Min Yuanqi is indeed good at force, and his subordinates are all quite outstanding.

It's best to deal with such people less, but if you have something to tell you to help, as long as it's not too much, you can help with money, and the business should not easily offend people, but you can't be wronged by others.

Zhu Renzhong was still quite dissatisfied with Zhu Wanchun, but now he nodded slightly, after all, the eldest son has been in charge of the business for many years, and he still has experience and decision-making ability.

Zhu Renzhong has been in charge of the business for many years, he is over the age of sixties, and he was born in a family, when he was young, he ran around in Nanjing and other places in Beijing, and his experience was quite rich, when he was a teenager, Qi Jiguang was transferred from Jizhen to Guangdong when he was transferred to Huai'an, and the local officials knew that Qi Shuai was suspicious and deprecated because of the relationship with Zhang Juzheng, and he couldn't avoid it, only some idle retired officials and gentry had a banquet to invite each other, during the banquet Qi Jiguang was full of white hair, and his expression was depressed, Zhu Renzhong held the pot and poured wine when he was a teenager, and he had no deep impression of Qi Shuai, I only remember that it was a white-headed old man, but I was extremely impressed by the pro-soldiers around Qi Shuai, those pro-soldiers were all about thirty, Qi Jiguang had been guarding for many years, they were all the elite of the elite, each of them had scars and scars on their faces, they stood upright like a pine, and they looked at anyone coldly, and there was obvious murder in their eyes. Zhu Renzhong stepped forward to toast at that time, a little closer, a personal soldier glanced at him, that kind of indifferent eyes made Zhu Renzhong almost unable to hold the wine jug, and he had nightmares for a long time afterwards.

In the years that followed, there were many battalion generals at the level of general and deputy generals, and those generals also had their own fierce and brave guards, but Zhu Renzhong had never seen the elite soldiers around Qi Jiguang.

It's not that those families are not brave, the generals are all the temporary choices in the camp, and they are all brave. But those people are either arrogant, or violent, or greedy, and always have shortcomings that can be seen at a glance. And Qi Jiguang's guards back then maintained the demeanor of a soldier with gestures, silent, and silent, but he never forgot his own soldier himself, standing and moving as if it had been standardized, and dozens of people were always the same.

The little flag officer in front of him, from Zhu Renzhong's point of view, has an obvious elite demeanor, and his gestures have a military atmosphere, not to mention that the flag army of the ordinary guard station cannot be compared with it, even if there are many guest soldiers in the city now, it is far worse than the small flag officer in front of him.