Because the court was under the influence of Zhang Juzheng's liquidation incident, they did not pay much attention to the White Lotus Sect in Shandong, at least they did not treat it as a top priority. This gave Liao Chuanzhi a chance to breathe, and he led his troops to stay at home in the new stronghold, until one day a secret letter came from the Jingshi, which was the latest instruction from the great chief.

It turned out that after the information from Shandong was delivered to the headquarters of the White Lotus Sect in Beijing, the big leader was very concerned, and after many inquiries, it was determined that the imperial court had no intention of large-scale cleanup for the time being, so he sent the latest instructions to Liao Chuanzhi: It is necessary to continue to expand the influence of the White Lotus Sect in Shandong, recruit more dignitaries into the religion, and expand the team first. The headquarters has already given the same instructions to the local branches, and when the right opportunity comes, the White Lotus Church will start up in the right place.

After receiving the instructions of the Beijing Division, Liao Chuanzhi did not dare to slack off, and commanded the disciples to take action, and the White Lotus Sect, which had been dormant for many days, began frequent activities again, and the land of Shandong, which had just stabilized, would rise again.

However, these changes have just begun, and there is no sign in sight for the time being, and it will not have the slightest impact on our guerrilla adults, and now Zhong Nan only has two things every day: training and accompanying his wife. Since returning to Dongchang Mansion from Beijing during the Spring Festival, Zhong Nan rarely eats out to socialize except for his daily working hours, as long as time permits, he will have dinner with Qiu Xiang, and then take a walk, chat and talk. Even the prefect of Dongchang sometimes can't ask him, but everyone can understand: the beloved wife of the guerrilla lord has just returned home, and she really needs more company, and no one thinks that Zhong Nan is unsociable.

Zhong Nan's day and night companionship, coupled with the recent period of recuperation, made Qiu Xiang restore the beauty of the two when they first met, and the psychological shadow gradually disappeared. Qiu Xiang felt very fortunate that she had found such a caring husband, and she had nothing else to ask for in this life.

In his daily work, Zhong Nan's most important thing is to train the army, and in his opinion, building the "Zhong Family Army" is the top priority in the near future. Fortunately, these 500 elite soldiers now have more and more "elite" charm, and after the battle of Phoenix Mountain, Zhong Nan felt that it was necessary to put the expansion of the army on the agenda.

Raising an army is not a trivial matter, the most important thing is to need a lot of silver, whether it is silver or daily expenses, the cost is not a small amount, although the court has allocated silver taels every month, but after layers of deductions, it is much less to him. For this kind of "rules of the game" that everyone abides by, Zhong Nan has no way to care, not to mention that his military rank is not high, and he can only manage his own one-third of an acre of land for the time being. If you want to change the status quo, you must have great power, otherwise you will be attacked by vested interests, and you may not even be able to save your life at that time.

The scale of five hundred centaurs has already stretched Zhong Nan's strength, and if the number of elites is to be increased, it will undoubtedly be impossible to achieve the defeat of the family. Thinking about it, there are only two ways to do it, the first is to ask the superiors for military expenses, thinking that Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and other fierce people are not the same as going everywhere, it is said that Qi Jiguang also sent two Dongying beauties to Zhang Juzheng, in order to let the former Shoufu master allocate more military expenses!

The next day, Zhong Nan went to Jinan to meet Shi Changting, and after explaining his intention to his boss, Deputy General Shi spread his hands, "Zhong Guerrilla, you also know that I am only a deputy general soldier, and I have not been in office for a long time, not to mention that the allocation of military expenses is all arranged by Gu General Soldier, and I can't intervene at all!" ”

Zhong Nan could see that Shi Changting was telling the truth, and he didn't complain at all, although the two were old acquaintances, they didn't have a lot of friendship.

"Guerrilla Zhong, it's not a secret, now that the imperial court allocates less and less silver every month, I'm afraid that Gu Zongbing may not be able to squeeze out the silver!" Shi Changting explained the bottom line, "Originally, the military expenses in various places were mainly solved by the local governments themselves, so you might as well go to Governor Zheng's Mansion to think of a way." ”

The trip to Jinan Zhong Nan returned in vain, and after returning to Dongchang, he went to visit the Zheng prefect's mansion after a short rest. Zheng Lide, the name of the Zheng Governor's Mansion, is currently the Dongchang Governor, Zhong Nan has dealt with him several times after he arrived in Dongchang, and the relationship is not good or bad.

After meeting, Zhong Nan first chatted with the other party for a while, and then turned to the topic when the time was right. Zheng Lide was refreshed, and he didn't think about it for long before agreeing, "Since Zhong Guerrilla has spoken, I naturally can't let you go home empty-handed!" ”

"Then I'll thank Governor Zheng first!"

"Be polite, you and I are both officials in Dongchang, and we should take care of each other, but you also know that I, the prefect yamen, is not rich, so I ......"

Governor Zheng only said half of what he said, but Zhong Nan understood it, and the implication was that there was no next time. But no matter what, Zheng Lide still sold his face, and he should thank the other party for reason.

ran to the provincial and municipal yamen, so that Zhong Nan realized that the first method would not work, so the plan for today could only be based on the second method - to find rich people to sponsor. It's just that I don't have any foundation in Shandong and Dongchang, where can I go to get sponsorship?

For several days, Zhong Nan has been thinking about raising military spending, but he can't think of a practical way. After inspecting the army today, he wandered around Dongchang City alone, hoping to change his mood, maybe he could have a flash of inspiration and think of some good ideas!

Although Dongchang City is not as prosperous as Jinan City, it is also one of the six prefectures, the popularity of the main city is still quite strong, Zhong Nan wandered in the meantime, you can really feel the happiness of the local people - the price of the Ming Dynasty at this time is very low, an ordinary family of four or five people, one or two silver per month can meet the basic food and clothing life. Whether it is farming or setting up a stall to do a small business, it is not difficult to earn two or three taels of silver per month, so Zhong Nan can see the heartfelt smile on the faces of every person around him, he sincerely hopes that this prosperity can last for a long time, and he is also willing to contribute to the continued prosperity of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhong Nan is now a celebrity in Dongchang Mansion, and most of the officials and dignitaries know this master who can also speak in front of the emperor, no, when he walked near Cuiming Xuan, the largest restaurant in Dongchang Mansion, he happened to run into a local wealthy businessman's building. The shopkeeper is in his forties, with a round face and big ears, and he looks kind to everyone, he is a famous businessman in Dongchang, and he is doing the business of maritime trade, although Dongchang is not close to the sea, but it is said that he has put on a line that can directly pull the goods down the ships of foreign merchants. Within a few years, the shopkeeper earned a lot of money and became one of the legends of Dongchang Mansion.

At that time, silk, tea, ceramics and various handicrafts in the Ming Dynasty were extremely popular goods in Eurasian countries, so as long as you can find sources and buyers, just doing this kind of business of buying low and selling high, you can earn at least tens of thousands of taels of silver a year if you do a good job. There are also people who act as brokers, help find buyers and sellers, or provide relevant key information, and can also earn a lot of money.

It is said that the highest-level maritime merchants along the coast can earn millions of taels of silver a year; Wang Zhi, a great pirate during the Jiajing period, is said to have an annual income of tens of millions of taels of silver. During the Wanli period, the financial income of the imperial court was only three to five million taels a year, which shows how profitable the maritime trade was. It's just that in the end of the Ming Dynasty, no one looked down on this cornucopia, whether it was the emperor or the ministers, and missed the opportunity to greatly increase income.

The shopkeeper was getting down from the sedan chair, and when he saw the guerrilla adults who were about to pass by, where would he miss a good opportunity to deal with him! He didn't wait for himself to stand firm, so he greeted Zhong Nan: "Lord Zhong, long time no see!" ”

Zhong Nan turned his head and saw that he recognized this person, so he responded: "Shopkeeper, I haven't seen you for a long time, are you feasting in Cuiming Xuan?" ”

"Don't hide it from Lord Zhong, there are two guests to see at noon," the shopkeeper rubbed his fat palms, happy like a Maitreya Buddha. He expected that this guerrilla general would definitely soar in the future, so he had already had the heart to make friends, but there were not many opportunities for the two to meet on weekdays, and today he was lucky enough to meet Zhong Nan, so he naturally had to invite him.

"Lord Zhong has free time in the evening, I have prepared a table of thin wine in Cuiming Xuan, and I hope that my lord can come!"

As long as there is nothing important, Zhong Nan will basically go home for dinner, and he originally planned to push this dinner, but what Lou Dong said next in his ear made him change his mind, "My lord, I still need to rely on you for a business here, and we will talk about it in detail in the evening?" ”

Zhong Nan agreed, and the two sides said goodbye after a few words. Back at the barracks, Zhong Nan did nearly two hours of exercise as usual, then dealt with some trivial matters, and then came to Cui Mingxuan at the appointed time.

The guy at the door directly led Zhong Nan to the "Tianzi Room", and after entering the door, Zhong Nan glanced around and found that there was only Lou Dong and one of his personal attendants in the room. Seeing that the guerrilla adults were coming, Lou Dong also hurriedly stepped forward, and the two of them sat down separately after a polite exchange.

Lou Dong instructed his entourage to stand outside the door, and at the same time gave some advice before returning to his seat again. At the dinner afterwards, the shopkeeper only persuaded the wine and food, and did not say anything else, and talked about some inconsequential things, Zhong Nan was not in a hurry when he saw this, he should eat and drink. Almost an hour later, the shopkeeper saw that the guerrilla adults had eaten and drunk almost enough, and only then did he get to the point.

"Lord Zhong, at noon, I said that I need to take care of you if I have a business, haven't you forgotten?"

"The shopkeeper laughed, I'm just a small guerrilla, you are one of the few wealthy businessmen in our Dongchang Mansion, and there are still things that can stump you?" Zhong Nan was sloppy.

"Where, I'm a businessman covered in copper smell, Lord Zhong, you are a rising star in our Shandong officialdom!" Lou Dong was also modest again and again, "Besides, what I said about this matter, I really have to ask you Lord Zhong!" ”

"What?" Zhong Nan's tone was calm.