The tenth month of the lunar calendar is only late autumn, and it is only the early winter season in the north, but for Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty and the central ministers and even the Qianqing Palace, this season is as cold and harsh as the midwinter season.

If there is an electronic display screen in this era that can mark and display on the map all kinds of emergency military newspapers flying from all over the country like falling leaves in late autumn, and display them on the display screen, then at this moment, the Ming Dynasty, Tongguan on the western front, Jiangnan and Huguang on the southern line are all in crisis.

Needless to say, Tongguan on the Western Front. After Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai incorporated nearly 100,000 soldiers recruited and trained for them by Sun Chuanting, Tongguan was already shocked three times a day. From time to time, the rebel rangers who appeared outside a few ditches were regarded as the main force of the rebel army, and sent urgent documents to the Beijing division as if they did not need money.

The clans, officials, and gentry in Xi'an City packed up their gold and silver and fled east to Shanxi. A large number of goods have been transported across the Yellow River, but it is cheaper for the boatmen on the Yellow River, that is, the lowest sheepskin rafts, and the ferry costs ten silver dollars at a time. The boatmen, who were as humble as ants in the past, looked coldly at the anxious dogs of these old ladies who used to be high up in the past.

It was cheaper for Shanxi merchants and several businesses that prevailed in the city of Xi'an. Shops, real estate, clumsy furniture, farm properties, and many other valuable properties that the rich and noble could not take away were purchased at low prices and turned into property carried by the old ladies and wives. Anyway, they don't have to worry about Lao Li confiscating their property after entering Guanzhong.

Some middle-level officials and gentlemen from the countryside gathered in one place every day, discussing the collection of additional taxes per mu, the formation of volunteer soldiers, and the formation of villages to protect themselves against the imminent army of Li Zicheng. And so on. And so on.

And the southern line is even more of a headache for Chongzhen.

Zuo Liangyu was defeated and retreated on the front line of Wuchang and Hanyang, and the grain-producing areas of Chengtian, De'an, and Jingzhou in Jiangbei all fell into the hands of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai. It is the autumn harvest season, and there is not a single grain of rice that has become this year's autumn grain. but all the cheaper people and thieves.

The original "Songjiang is ripe, the world is full", as early as a hundred years ago, it quietly became "the lake is ripe, the world is full", and Jiangnan has changed from a grain export area to a grain import area, and a large number of cash crops are planted, squeezing the space for grain crops. However, when the news of the fall of the four prefectures of De'an came, the price of grain in Jingshi and Jiangnan immediately turned around and rose upwards for a few days. It rose by 30%.

If it weren't for the grain stores controlled by the Jingshi and the more than a dozen nobles and eunuchs in the capital who had joined forces to issue grain contracts to those small and medium-sized grain merchants, it was agreed that a large number of southern rice would definitely arrive in Beijing by sea within a month, so that they would not have to panic and just sell them. These businessmen will be suspicious, which has stabilized the prices of grain, oil, salt and other goods, but the huge food shortage also makes them celebrate, and everyone has a chance to make a fortune again!

Now, more and bigger food shortages are about to appear in front of the leaders of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Xianzhong, the eight kings of the Liukou who were originally active in Wuwei and Chuzhou in Jiangbei, suddenly robbed hundreds of big ships in Jiangbei. Carrying thousands of fishing boats, they crossed the Yangtze River. The soldiers pointed directly at Jiangnan. When the Nanyue Army and the sailors who stayed in the capital to garrison the Yamen arrived when they heard the news, hundreds of huge wooden plaques were erected on the land in the south of the Yangtze River, "The Eight Kings of Xiying crossed the Yangtze River here and went to the south of the Yangtze River." Officials don't have to send each other! ”

Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, crossed the Yangtze River, which was more important for the officials of the Ming court than Li Zicheng's army was in Chengtianfu not long ago. The ancestral tomb that threatened Chongzhen was much more terrifying! You must know that now the Donglin faction is strong in the court, if it is true that the demon king and butcher Zhang Xianzhong in their mouth rushed into the hinterland of Jiangnan, then they have a shop in Jiangnan. Garden, raise a play, the cook in the garden, the ** in the yard, and the silver in the house, wouldn't it be cheaper Zhang Xianzhong, the devil? !

"Why didn't the men and horses of the Anqing Navy Battalion attack Zhang Xianzhong halfway when he crossed the river? Not only can you make meritorious contributions, but you can also eliminate this great harm for the country! ”

"Why did the Yamen sit back and watch Zhang Xianzhong go south and ignore it? Let him cross the river at will?! ”

"The military horses of the Liang Guogong Office are in Jinshan and other places in Shanghai, watching the Liukou cross the river in a big way, what do you want?"

Up and down the government and the opposition, there was a shouting and scolding. From the garrison of the Yamen in Nanjing, to the sailors stationed in Xiaogushan in Anqing, to the garrison in the Shanghai Trade Zone a little farther away, none of them were lucky enough to escape the verbal and written criticism of the Donglin gentlemen. After all, this is a big matter related to their lives, property, and honor, so how can they take it lightly?

On the one hand, he swept away thousands of troops in the study and scolded Fang Xuan, accusing the generals of leading the troops for incompetence and negligence, and arranging inappropriate actions, while the adults and gentlemen ordered their henchmen to go south to deliver a letter to their homes by speedboat, telling them to move quickly! Don't be greedy for the pastoral houses at home, quickly bring gold and silver, fine and soft antique calligraphy and paintings, deeds and other things, and go to Shanghai Jinshan, Qingpu and other places to avoid chaos! It is the territory of Liang Guogong's Nanyue Army, and no matter how bold Zhang Xianzhong is, he doesn't dare to pick up the tiger's whiskers easily!

The scale is far larger than the crowds of people fleeing and avoiding chaos in Xi'an and Guanzhong, and is similar to the Spring Festival that everyone is familiar with in modern times. appeared on the south bank of the Yangtze River. People either take boats, cars, and sedan chairs, and they converge into rivers like streams, and then quickly form rivers that rush eastward.

A large number of people quickly poured into the newly expanded Shanghai Business Zone, turning the land that was originally just a piece of land with luhuadang and riverside tidal flats into a land where every inch of land was valuable. The courtyard of the house that has been built before, and the house price of the Taiwanese tourist inn is changing day by day.

The large amount of gold and silver brought by these people quickly pushed up the prices in the area of Songjiang Prefecture, making the people who originally lived here feel miserable.

The prefect of Songjiang Prefecture quickly became a red member of the DPRK. Every day, I am overwhelmed with all kinds of letters and prayers. All kinds of people with great origins made the prefect of Matsue angry, painful and happy.

There are also those who are more active, and do not go to the Shanghai Business District to join in the fun, but turn around and go to Hangzhou. "There are also naval divisions of the Southern Guangdong Army in Hangzhou Bay, a Qiantang River, the gunboats of the naval division can run rampant, and Ningbo Port is the place where the naval division is stationed. Let's go there, first, because it's safe, second, it's easy to buy land and build houses at low prices, and third, because the population is not so large, and the natural life is much quieter. ”

A large number of people crowded into the various strongholds in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River that the Nanyue army overtly and secretly controlled in order to seek refuge, and the major squires and celebrities in the south of the Yangtze River exchanged letters for the sake of the people. They asked the imperial court to come forward and order Li Shouhan to assist in the defense of Jiangnan, "Since Liang Guogong signed a Jianghai cooperation contract with the yamen left behind in Nanjing, then he must assume the obligation to protect the land south of the Yangtze River. The righteousness of the words is strict, and it is not like them who wrote "The Tombstone of Five" with a stroke of the pen.

There are also people who find another way, to Li Xiangjun's adoptive mother Li Zhenli Li Miss Li begged bitterly to try to achieve the goal through the pillow wind, "Don't look at it, don't look at it." Please Miss Li look at the face of the living beings in Jiangnan, and ask the grandfather to protect the people, the girl will inevitably be regarded by the people of Jiangnan as a reborn parent, and set up an ancestral hall to worship with incense! ”

Everyone knows that the relationship between Li Zhenli and Li Shouhan is extraordinary, and it is rumored that Miss Li even had a miscarriage for Grandpa Li. If there is no such relationship, how can Li Zhenli become Li Guogong's representative in Jiangnan and win the hearts of the people in Jiangnan for Grandpa Li. Give the poor men the anointing silver?

However, the person who pierced this layer of window paper was clever to himself. Li Zhenli just sneered and sent the people away.

With all these actions, the leading figures in Jiangnan are just two goals, and the highest goal is naturally to pressure Li Shouhan to lead the Nanyue Army into Jiangnan, so as to preserve their net worth and property, and ensure that they can continue to sing, dance, drink and write poems without being disturbed. The lowest target. No matter what means or means, even if he pressured Hou Chaozong to clean up his good friend Li Xiangjun and send him to the bed of her cheap stepfather Li Shouhan to serve Grandpa Li with her adoptive mother, he had to force him to agree to continue to expand the Shanghai Trade Zone, so that everyone could have a refuge in paradise.

As Zhang Xianzhong's army and Lao Hui Ma Shouying began to conquer cities and territories in various parts of the Yangtze River, Li Shouhan was even more on the cusp of public opinion.

The holy decree issued by the cabinet in the name of the emperor and the special decree written by Chongzhen himself from the Qianqing Palace. The official documents of various ministries, the letters of the first assistant of the cabinet and several bigwigs, and the letters of the eunuchs with the palm prints of the eunuchs and the eunuchs of the master of ceremonies, flew over the five mountains like snowflakes and flew to the palace in Guangzhou.

However, no matter how many of these documents there are, they are useless, and Li Shouhan is not in Guangzhou at this time.

Foshan.

This town, known as one of the four famous towns in the world, is located in the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta, with the waterway located in the upper reaches of Guangzhou and the lower reaches of the Xijiang and Beijiang rivers, which is the only way for the waterway to reach the provincial capital. Geographically adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, water and land transportation extends in all directions. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, advanced farming techniques appeared, and Foshan became the land of fish and rice. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Foshan became an industrial and commercial town, and in the Ming and Qing dynasties, it became one of China's four famous towns and China's "four major gatherings".

In the Qing Dynasty, Liu Xianting's "Guangyang Miscellaneous Records": "Hankou is not the throat of Chu Province, but the goods of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Jiangxi are all transferred here. There are four gatherings in the world, Beijing in the north, Foshan in the south, Suzhou in the east, and Hankou in the west. However, on the coast of the East China Sea, outside Suzhou, there are Wuhu, Yangzhou, Jiangning, and Hangzhou to divide their potential; The west is only Hankou. ”

Since the reign of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, it has been a commodity distribution center and a manufacturing center for smelting, ceramics, textiles, and Chinese patent medicines in the Lingnan region.

If it weren't for Li Shouhan's leadership of Ha Jing's many manufacturing industries, Foshan would still be the center of the manufacturing industry of smelting, casting, ceramics, textiles and other manufacturing industries on the rich side, and the foundry industry here has been well-known throughout the country since the Song Dynasty, and the ceramic industry is the industry leader. Huang Qiying, who single-handedly created bone china for Li Shouhan and Nanyue Jun, a hen that can lay golden eggs, is a ceramic industry in Foshan.

As for the smelting industry, because the production of iron materials is extremely famous in the Ming Dynasty, there are even northern merchants who travel thousands of miles to Guangdong to transport iron and sell it. Their caravans sometimes numbered several thousand head of cattle at a single dispatch. This town as early as the middle of the Ming Dynasty, is an important iron-smelting center in Lingnan, the iron industry is the most prosperous, inside and outside the city, there are tens of thousands of single ironworkers, folk notes have been recorded, "the dynasty made weapons, craftsmen have always been unwilling to dedicate themselves, the officials of the supervision also seek to save, up and down to simplify things is enough, Aneng Seiko?" ”

The notes also say that at the time of trade between the East and the West. Zhuyi will buy the guns in Guangzhong, and the people sell them to Yi people extremely fine, which can be seen that Foshan, Guangdong Province has formed a one-stop industry technology industry chain from pig iron smelting, processing and manufacturing. If it weren't for the fact that the Ha Tinh area relied on its own unique geographical environment conditions to carry out coal and iron co-manufacturing, the smelting cost would be greatly reduced. At the same time, the use of coke to smelt iron has improved the technical performance of pig iron, which has greatly suppressed the industry market of Foshan, which relies on charcoal to smelt pig iron.

Now, Foshan and the entire Pearl River Delta have all changed their surnames to Li, and Li Shouhan naturally wants to fight the idea of this famous town in the world.

"Brother Zong, you organize people to draw up a charter and see how you need to start revitalizing Foshan's ceramics, iron smelting, manufacturing, textiles and other industries. You might as well let Huang Qiying come back from Nanzhong. He is a native of Foshan, and he is familiar with the situation here, so of course he has to contribute to the land of Sangzi. “

Li Shouhan smiled at Li Peiting, who accompanied him all the way to Foshan to carry out his so-called research activities. Since Li Peiting returned to Guangzhou, he was entrusted with an important task by Li Shouhan, and he was given an errand in the official office. "You are familiar with all parts of the Central Plains, whether it is the Liaodong rebels or the various people's armies in the Central Plains, don't be busy with other things. He was born in the official room to analyze the next possible actions for Lone, so that Lone and the Nanyue Army could also plan in advance. “

Words. Li Peilin was transferred from Long Shengxing to the official office, and every day he organized analysts from the Business Intelligence Department and the Investigation Office to gather the materials and military information of Dolgon, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and others in one place. Conduct analytical studies.

In order to facilitate the discussion, Li Peiting was ingenious and simply designated a group of people to play Dolgon and the Liaodong anti-thief group, "You should treat yourself as a Tartar, think about what the Tartar thinks, and worry about what the Tartar is anxious about." He thinks of himself as a tartar. Think carefully for the lord and think about how Dolgon's men will act. “

Similarly, there is also a group of people who play Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Zhang Xianzhong, the three big thieves who crisscross the Jianghuai River, to figure out their movements. These four groups of people are very busy every day, and the interaction is very lively.

A trip to Foshan. However, because he was familiar with the way of management and knew how to resume production, Li Shouhan took him and a large group of deacons from the Department of Commerce and Information to Foshan to change their minds.

Foshan, after the tide of anti-grain and anti-tax in Guangzhou, has become much more withered. There were hundreds of iron-smelting furnaces of all sizes that were sparkling day and night, but only a hundred were still barely supported. Most of the iron produced is made of stupid guys such as farm tools, and there are very few high value-added products such as firearms, artillery, knives and guns.

"Since the rise of the military, Foshan has been the most severely affected. Iron is hard to find, and taxes are heavy. It's easy to build something out, but either it can't be shipped out or it is robbed by powerful people from all over the country halfway. Large and small iron-smelting workshops and workshops inside and outside the city, open one and pour another, in vain. ”

The entourage heard that the magistrate of Sanshui County introduced the dilapidated situation of Foshan to Li Shouhan, and all of them knew it, but their faces were full of compassion. If it weren't for Li Shouhan's large-scale import of iron and all kinds of manufactured products into the mainland, which ruined Foshan's smelting and manufacturing industries, and ordered the government yamen in Guangdong to continue to collect various taxes, the related industries in Foshan would have gone bankrupt one after another, and all kinds of employees would have been swept into the torrent of rebellion and donations, or they would have crossed the sea to work in the iron yards of Ha Tinh. I'm afraid that Foshan is still a rich and comfortable place, people get up early to eat Daliang pheasant rolls, Daliang sand, Daliang ginger juice milk, fried milk, double skin milk, Xiaofeng cake, South China Sea Yusheng, Dafu cake, Jiujiang fried dumplings, Sanshui paparazzi duck, crystal dumplings, carrot steamed cakes, Xiqiao flatbread, Foshan nine-layer cake, Shiwan fish breast, Foshan Zhuhou sauce, silkworm pupa, white sugar cotton cake, Ying Ji wonton noodles, Jinyuan restaurant carrot steamed cake, Fenning white sugar cotton cake, champion and the first porridge, blind cakes, Gao Ming sesame powder, drink the champion and the first porridge, drink the champion and the first porridge, listen to Cantonese opera at night, In the afternoon, eat snacks and pass the time so comfortably and quietly.

"My lord, since the rise of the army, I am afraid that the most profitable iron factory in Foshan is to build a cauldron specially sold to the northern Tartars and Liaodong thieves." Li Peilin proudly supplemented Sanshui Zhixian by Li Shouhan's side.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol people, who had fled back to the northern steppe, realized that they had not mastered the technology of iron smelting at all, and had to "import" iron pots for daily necessities from the Central Plains Dynasty. On the other hand, the Ming Dynasty government was afraid of the strong combat effectiveness of a small number of people, and was afraid that the exported iron pots would be destroyed and refined into weapons and cause trouble, so they turned to include them in the category of strategic resources, calling them "pots and cauldrons", and strictly restricted their exit. The "Daming Huidian" clearly stipulates: "Iron pot and nitrate yellow steel are strictly prohibited, the market is set in Datong Town, one city per year, each city is only two days." "One side has a strong demand, and the other side restricts in every way, so the battle of wits and courage between the ethnic minorities and the Central Plains political dynasty has staged one diplomatic drama after another. For the former, it is called "the battle for the pot and grabbing the pot", and for the latter, it can be called the "iron pot defense war".

The history records that the Mongolian tribe at that time "destroyed the raw pot, made up for the leakage in every possible way, and used it as a last resort, so that they used the skin to store water and boil meat for food", "there was no way to get the pot for many years, and occasionally there were temporary accounts to borrow the pot and cook it, or to use the horse easy pot", "the molecule married the daughter had a pot and each divided it in half". Such a life without a pot can be said to be miserable.

Among the major items exported to the Mongol tribes, Saurons and Liaodong rebels in the north, the iron pot cast in Guangdong was the most lucrative.

The so-called "wide pot". The reason is that "Guangguo pig iron is not subject to frying", and "if it is destroyed, it cannot be restored to soldiers", that is, it can only be used for steaming, not stir-frying, which just fits the cooking habits of ethnic minorities such as Mongolia, and more importantly, it is difficult for Guangguo to be destroyed and refined into weapons, which is the point that the Ming Dynasty government is most concerned about. In order to demonstrate this point of view, some people have made the following experimental statistics: ten catties of Guang pot can be smelted five catties of iron, and the quality is so poor that "it has not yet been built", and the price of the canton itself is high, so the minister asserted that the Mongolian Tubo Jurchen and other departments would not be stupid enough to use such an expensive pot to smelt iron: "Although the captives are cunning, who is willing to self-destruct and refine with rare daily cooking tools?" ”

Li Peiting's prosperity was to purchase a large number of iron pots from Foshan and other places, and then sail north to carry out various trade activities with the Liaodong rebels, Mongolian tribes, and Saurons. It is used to exchange everything that can be traded by both parties, and get a huge profit from it, an absolute profit!

"My lord, if you want to revitalize the iron-smelting manufacturing in Foshan that day, I am afraid that you will have to make great efforts. At present, the iron-smelting furnaces in various places have a small capacity compared with the furnaces in Ha Jing, and most of them use charcoal as fuel, which is too labor-intensive. His Majesty thought that he should start with the manufacturing industry first. Let the iron factories in Foshan create a thing for our southern Guangdong army, and make all kinds of trade items for Longsheng. From the outside to the inside, gradually advancing. ”

Duan Yihong, the household official who accompanied him, pondered for a while and put forward his own opinions. (To be continued.) )