At the small wharf near the Liaojia River, hundreds of sampans were moored near the wharf, and although the soldiers wearing iron helmets had already gone ashore, they did not see the slightest confusion, but scattered near this riverside fishing village, and at a dilapidated restaurant near the wharf, a group of soldiers in iron armor stood with guns.

There are six plates on the table, the dishes on the plate are meat and vegetarian, the meat dishes are all river fish, although the dishes are good, but this will Zhu Mingzhong's heart is just secretly thinking about what he just heard, this matter is really too weird!

Gao Chao ordered the city to be sacrificed...... No, he wanted to sell the city to the salt merchants and exchange Yangzhou for a sum of silver.

I've seen all kinds of officials in this era, but it's the first time I've seen someone like Gao Chaoling.

Actually want to sell the city!

This is really my official of the Qing Dynasty! It's really my big halal biography!

Okay! My emperor of the Qing Dynasty betrayed the country, and these officials sold the city one by one!

"Well, do you think this news is credible?"

Look at the crowd. Zhu Mingzhong asked with a smile, it is really a person who is sleepy and sends a pillow, but the person has not crossed the river yet, and here, someone is going to sacrifice the city.

In fact, it is easy to have such a result, in addition to the great reputation brought by the Jiancheng of Nanjing. The most important thing is probably that those local officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not agree with the Manchu Qing Dynasty in their bones, otherwise, how could Zhang Huangyan rely on 2,000 people and take more than 20 cities before the conquest of Nanjing without spending a single soldier?

Popularity!

People's hearts are in the Ming Dynasty!

"Throughout the ages, there have been people who have sold the city? This high court order is inevitably too unexpected. If he is willing to surrender, he will sacrifice the city, so why should he do that? ”

Zhu Daxian's words were full of incomprehension, and indeed no one could understand such a move.

"Junmen, although this Gao Chaoling's behavior is indeed unexpected, it is expected!"

On the contrary, Zhang Guojiu seems to be able to understand Gao Chaoling's intentions.

"Junmen, although this Gao Chao Ling is the highest-ranking official in Yangzhou City. But he is not a pro-people official, and whether Yangzhou City can be defended has nothing to do with him! He is just a salt transport envoy, so naturally he doesn't need to be like the prefect of Yangzhou, who is responsible for defending the land. Even if he had escaped, he would have saved his life with just a few pieces of silver! In this way, he naturally preferred to ask for silver. ”

But even if the law of the Qing Dynasty stipulates that local officials have the responsibility to defend the territory, those who abandon the city and surrender to the enemy will be decided. But it still could not prevent the surrender of local officials.

Now that Gao Chaoling, but he directly chose to sell the city and exchange Yangzhou for silver, it's a shame that he can come up with it!

"So, is this credible?"

Looking at Zhang Guojiu, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"Zheng Jieshi, this person should be credible! But he's a businessman after all. is the so-called business, what is he for? ”

As for what these salt merchants are for?

Looking at Zheng Xiaru, of course, what they are seeking is also interests. Even as their representative, Zheng Xiaru came over to "negotiate" with him!

Businessmen are profitable!

Sure enough!

It can be said that the risk of avoiding this is too great. When did there be such a merchant in ancient China? Nothing else, but it's the courage. It's enough for Zhu Mingzhong to talk to him!

“…… The salt tax of Lianghuai Zhenggang is more than 90 taels of silver, plus the taxes of weaving, copper and gold, a total of more than 180 taels a year, at most no more than 2 million taels. ”

It's not as much as you imagined, doesn't it mean that there are tens of millions of taels? Why is there only so little? Oh yes! Population!

Salt is eaten by people, and the people of the world let the Manchus kill so much. There are fewer people, and naturally there will not be so many salt taxes!

Of course, there must be tax evasion! And there is the salt profit that goes to the salt merchants! We must find a way to solve this problem in the future!

Looking at the somewhat absent-minded military gate, Zheng Xiaru suddenly became a little nervous, didn't he care about this huge amount of money at all? 2 million taels a year, enough to make anyone's heart move!

After finding that the other party was unmoved, Zheng Xiaru took a deep breath and then said his chips.

"Junmen, in my opinion, the 2 million taels are too little, if you can make a rectification, there is no problem with a monthly income of 200,000 taels and an annual income of more than 2.5 million taels......"

2,500,000 taels!

Zhu Mingzhong, who had recovered from the chaos of his mind, looked at Zheng Xiaru in front of him, this can be regarded as paying attention to it, he muttered.

"2,500,000 taels ......"

Say too much, say too little.

If it is used for military training, it is only enough to support 50,000 troops!

It's still too little!

That's not enough money to spend!

"Shisuke knows, if this town wants to go on a northern expedition, how many troops will it need to lead?"

"The military gate, there is no military ...... below"

Zheng Xiaru's answer made Zhu Mingzhong smile slightly, and he pointed to the soldiers outside the window and said.

"Loyal and righteous soldiers, the monthly military salary is two or five yuan, and the disabled and killed in battle have a pension, and the families of the dead can get 10 years of military salary......"

One by one, the relatively generous treatment of the soldiers of the loyal and righteous army, Zhu Mingzhong's words turned around, looked at Zheng Xiaru and said.

"200,000 taels per month, but it is only enough for tens of thousands of soldiers to be trained.

Zheng Xiaru was not curious about the salary of the loyal and righteous army, after all, although the salary of the green battalion soldiers was not so much, but after all, they still had the income from looting, even if it was the people who defended the city, the monthly salary was one or two or five yuan. And what really made him feel a little uneasy was this sentence from the military gate.

"Junmen, this, this ......"

Zheng Xiaru's expression became a little uneasy.

"Although this Yangzhou is rich, but, but the military training is not limited to Yangzhou?"

Of course, Zhu Mingzhong didn't think that he only relied on the taxes of Yangzhou to raise soldiers, and the salt tax in Yangzhou was just a relatively stable income for him, and after this income, he could do other things.

But who in this world would feel that silver is in their hands? Naturally, no one will feel that way. Regarding the attitude towards silver, everyone has always been Han Xin's soldiers, and the more the merrier.

"Indeed, it is impossible for Zhu's Northern Expedition to be limited to one place in Yangzhou!"

Glancing out of the window, Zhu Mingzhong said with a serious expression.

"But for Zhu, Yangzhou is a place where he wants to take it, so why do you need to do this? Shijie, you and other salt merchants bought Yangzhou from Gao Chaoling at a high price of 200,000 yuan, and the person who did it was only Yangzhou, and under the desire for profit, how could Zhu believe you......"

The sudden reprimand made Zheng Xiaru tremble violently, and he hurriedly defended himself.

"The military gate, in the next is completely for the 100,000 people of Yangzhou, I can't bear to suffer from the war again, and I also ask the military gate to learn clearly!"

Zheng Xia almost knelt on the ground like this, but despite this, he did not show the slightest fear, but continued.

"Moreover, it is also for the military gate, the people who currently control the salt affairs in Yangzhou are all Shaanxi and Jin salt merchants, and most of their family businesses are in Shaanxi and Jin provinces, if the military committee uses others to run the salt business, they will plan for their own family business, and they will be disobedient, if they are not people who understand salt affairs, it is very likely that they will be deceived......"

Observing the change in Zhu Mingzhong's expression, Zheng Xiaru carefully threw out a chip, and at the same time, he repeatedly thought about whether he should throw another chip in his heart, and now that two chips have been thrown, should the third one be thrown now?

When Zheng Xiaru threw another bait, Zhu Mingzhong looked seriously at the guy in front of him who was more like a middle-aged scholar than a businessman.

This person...... It's kind of interesting! However, he obviously didn't understand that there were some things that could not be used to talk about business!

"Shisuke, Zhu wants to ask you, do you want to be rich for a while, or do you want to be rich for a generation?"

After saying this, Zhu Mingzhong picked up the tea casually and tasted the tea slowly.

Drinking tea, he didn't care what kind of storm Zheng Xiaru's heart set off in this seemingly casual question.

Rich for a while!

Generations of wealth!

The seemingly simple words, listening to Zheng Xiaru's ears, set off a frenzy in his heart, his brows were tightly locked, trying to throw some of his things out of his mind, but his heart could not be calm.

Rich for a while!

Generations of wealth!

What's the difference?

"Under the stupidity, please make it clear to the military gate!"

Zheng Xiaru still seemed unwilling to face reality, but the change in his face had already fallen into Zhu Mingzhong's eyes.

"This salt transport envoy Yamen, since Zhu can exercise full power in this Northern Expedition, he may not be able to allow you, this 2.4 million taels of silver per month, unpaid can not be collected, Shijie, you only think that Zhu values the 2.4 million taels of taxes, and Nanjing will also value it, and when he receives the power and responsibility of the Yamen with salt transportation in Nanjing, you only need to show favor to Nanjing, and you can make Diaoyutai steadily?"

Holding a teacup in his hand, Zhu Mingzhong punctured Zheng Xiaru's thoughts in a few words, his idea was very simple, it was nothing more than to lure him to profit, to himself and Nanjing, but he just forgot that this is officialdom! Officialdom has never been a business field.

"Since Ke Shijie has been an official, he doesn't know that when he receives the right to salt in Nanjing, how can he discuss with you, a piece of paper, you can be dismissed from the official and imprisoned, and at that time, all the wealth is just a passing cloud!"

In an instant, Zheng Xiaru's face changed, he immediately realized that he had made a mistake somewhere, he only thought of showing favor to Nanjing, befriending Nanjing's important ministers to help, and he could keep the position of the salt envoy, but he ignored one point - when the time comes, it is the military gate in front of him who will control Jiangbei, if Nanjing wants to take the Yangzhou salt tax, he must find a reason, maybe Nanjing does not dare to do anything to Zhu Junmen, but he is a small salt envoy, how can those important ministers in Nanjing look at it?

Isn't this wealth a momentary wealth?

Seeing that Zheng Xiaru had already figured out the links, Zhu Mingzhong put down the teacup in his hand and said.

"Whether it is rich for a time or for generations, it depends on how Shisuke chooses!"