"It can also make my Ming no longer have no soldiers, and my Ming will benefit from it for hundreds of years!"

After some compliments, the relationship between the two seemed to be closer, and Luo Lun deliberately served Zhu Mingzhong and discussed some of these issues with him, and the problem of discussion was probably the purchase of military supplies and other materials from Jiangbei, of course, his request was also to give some preferential treatment in price.

"There is no way to get a better price deal."

Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile.

"But when it comes to payment, you can change some more flexible methods and consider bartering."

"Barter?"

Loren replied in surprise.

"Yes, for example, the porcelain of Jingdezhen, now Jiangbei is making every effort to develop foreign trade, Jingdezhen's porcelain has always been popular with overseas businessmen, since now the official kiln no longer needs to serve the Manchu Dynasty, why can't the government organize the official kiln and the nearby private kiln, and then specialize in the production of porcelain for export to foreign countries, the trade bureau can have preferential prices to purchase, so that we have goods to export abroad, and you also have funds for the purchase of various weapons and materials."

Originally, Zhu Mingzhong thought that in this era of China, tea should be the most important export material. Never thought that now European countries don't know what tea is? They don't have the habit of drinking tea at all.

Europeans generally drank tea until the 18th century. Before that, China's most important export was porcelain. Especially now that Europe is not able to fire porcelain itself, they can't do without porcelain from China.

Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province is the most important center of porcelain production, with some of China's best craftsmen and the best official kilns. If Zhang Huangyan can manage it, he will be able to make a profit of at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.

Of course, this is not only for them, but also for Jiangbei. It is to allow Jiangbei to further develop overseas markets, and also to allow Zhang Huangyan's strength to maintain a certain balance with Zheng Chenggong.

"Jingluo's suggestion will definitely be conveyed to Shao Sima in the next, I think there will be a lot of troubles in Jingluo when the time comes, in fact, the reason why I came here this time, in addition to these things, is to discuss one important thing with Jingluo."

Looking at Zhu Mingzhong, Luo Lun directly said his intention.

"Jingluo, the reason why Shao Sima was sent to Jiangbei this time is that in addition to purchasing various materials, he also asked Jingluo for help."

Loren's tone was unhappy, and his voice was not loud. When he asked for help, he even deliberately observed the change in the other party's expression.

"I think I have already known from Shao Sima's letter that Shao Sima plans to use troops in Wuchang and other places, this Wuchang city is high and strong, and the defenders are the elite of the Qing army, although Shao Sima's command is not afraid of this, but because Wuchang City is close to the Yangtze River, it is most suitable for waterway marching. And the navy is not the director of our army, although there are thousands of boats, but there are not a few large ships equipped with cannons, so Shao Sima wants to borrow troops from you. ”

Borrow soldiers!

When Luo Lun's words fell, Zhu Mingzhong looked at him carefully, but said quietly.

"Oh, borrowed soldiers? You should know that now, the situation in Jiangbei is not optimistic. ”

Although the Manchu army is now stuck in Shandong, Henan and other places, their threat to Jiangbei does exist.

It can even be said to be unsettling, at this time. It is obviously unrealistic to lend troops to other places, after all, Jiangbei is also short of troops now.

"Jingluo, what we want to borrow is the Yangtze River Water Army!"

Loren directly said what he meant.

"Although the Qing Dynasty threatens Jiangbei now, but Jiangbei's Yangtze River Naval Division is idle, in contrast, the Yangtze River Naval Division under the command of Jing Luo has dozens of gunboats, if our army can get the help of the Guishui Division, this Wuchang will definitely be able to go down!"

When Luo Lun looked at Zhu Mingzhong expectantly, he was just silent, thinking silently.

Before Luo Lun came to Qingjiangpu, the military department had already received a secret report, Zhang Huangyan was making full preparations for the westward expedition, and his goal was to conquer the Hubei area, and even enter Sichuan from Hubei, so as to cut off the communication between the Qing army in the southwest and the north.

If he achieves this goal, then the Qing army will be divided into two parts, north and south. In this way, Hong Chengchou would become the de facto ruler of the Manchus in the south, and it could even be said that he would become independent. ”

Gu Yanwu's words made Zhu Mingzhong nod in agreement. After Luo Lun left, he summoned all his staff to discuss whether to help Jiangxi.

It can be said that this is exactly what Hong Chengchou wants. And why does this also explain? The reason why Hong Chengchou has been reluctant to strengthen the forces around Wuchang so far, it is certain that as far as the current situation is concerned, and even to a certain extent, Hong Chengchou hopes that Zhang Cangshui can capture Wuchang, because it is more beneficial to him. ”

Almost as soon as Gu Yanwu's words fell, Zhu Daxian agreed on the side.

"Indeed, if our army captures Wuchang and cuts off the connection between the north and south of the Qing army at that time, then this Hong Chengchou will become a soil emperor. As for the Manchu Qing side, I am afraid that they can only appease him in every way, and it is more beneficial to him to say this. ”

While they were talking about their opinions, Shi Lei was just silent, just sitting there, as he had done most of the time in the past, so that others would often ignore his existence.

In fact, he was thinking about another question right now - what was not able to grasp this information in advance.

From their conversations, basically several judgments can be made. First, Zhang Huangyan and Hong Chengchou had contact before this. They may even have reached a consensus on some issues. And this also explains why the forces of Wuchang have not been strengthened. Second, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has lost the most basic trust in Hong Chengchou, the traitor. This is, of course, the result of a series of stratagems. Just like Fan Wencheng, Fan Wencheng's sudden death from a violent illness is a wake-up call for many people. Hong Chengchou also needs to protect himself. And this is also the fundamental reason why he and Zhang Huangyan reached a certain agreement of interests.

Although this situation was single-handedly brought about by the Military Principal Division, it did not really grasp the development of the subsequent situation, and even failed to profit from it.

In other words, it is equivalent to making a wedding dress for others.

If it weren't for Hong Chengchou losing the trust of the Manchus, how could he find a way to protect himself, and how could he let Zhang Huangyan fall cheap.

Get cheap!

In any case, in Shi Lei's view, Jiangxi has taken a big advantage this time, if there is no betrayal of the Qing Dynasty here, how can there be Hong Chengchou's self-preservation? If it weren't for the fact that the Manchus didn't trust him, how could he not ignore Liu Fangming's subordinates stationed in Wuchang in order to protect himself.

Even together with Liu Fangming himself, he is also sitting in a dangerous building, and now inside the Manchu Dynasty, how many of those traitors are not afraid because of Fan Wencheng's sudden illness, so to speak, the turmoil within the Manchu Qing Dynasty now, although it originated from the book "The Secret History of Concubine Zhuang", but if there is no fan of the military Zhengsi, how can it become more and more intense, and how can it be that Shunzhi Xiaoer's trust in Hanchen is not there?

However, in the end, Jiangbei did not fall cheaply from it - cheap completely fell into the hands of others, Jiangxi is one of them, Zhang Huangyan seized the opportunity, nearly 100,000 troops are waiting in Jiujiang, there is a momentum to seize Huguang in one fell swoop, and for now, he will stop at the north of Dongting Lake, do not threaten Changsha, and this is exactly what Hong Chengchou needs, he needs to borrow the Ming army to prevent the Manchu Qing from his "bird bow hidden", once the north of Dongting Lake is controlled by Zhang Huangyan, no matter how angry Shunzhi Xiaoer is, In order to ensure that the overall situation is not lost, he will do everything possible to entrap Hong Chengchou instead of calling him back to the capital.

And once the connection between Hong Chengchou and the Qing court was cut off by Zhang Huangyan, after he controlled the south of Dongting Lake, wouldn't the south of Dongting Lake and the southwestern provinces become the world of the Hong family?

When Shi Lei was thinking about it, everyone had reached a consensus on supporting Jiangxi to attack Wuchang, after all, the Yangtze River Naval Division did not have much use for the temporary defense of the Loyal and Righteous Army, and the capture of the area north of Dongting Lake could form a situation of approaching Sichuan, which was also conducive to the Ming Dynasty to win the hearts of the people in the world, and everyone would naturally not object.

"It's not impossible to send a sailor to support Shao Sima, the key is what we need to get!"

After everyone reached a conclusion, Zhu Mingzhong said with a serious expression.

"It's like doing business, no one in the world has ever been willing to do a loss-making business, although Shao Sima and I are for a family, but if you want us to send troops, you have to give enough benefits, the question is, what benefits do we want?"

Scanning everyone, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Gu Yanwu, Zhu Daxian and others like a businessman and asked,

"What do you think you should want?"

Although the sudden mention of business and benefits on such an occasion makes people a little uncomfortable, whether it is Gu Yanwu, Zhu Daxian, Qian Lei and others are all people who are familiar with history books, since even the Empress Dowager Xuan of Qin State can say to the Korean envoy, "The concubine is the king in advance, and the king is a concubine with his concubine, and the concubine is not tired; Put all the concubines above, and the concubines are heavy, why not? With its less, it is advantageous. In this case, it is impossible to send troops to imply that there is no benefit, let alone them.

"After a while, I think that the area north of Dongting Lake is rich in fishing rice, and Jiangbei is not the land of fish and rice, and it is necessary to buy grain from Jiangnan no less than hundreds of thousands of stones every year, and after Shao Sima captures Wuchang, he can release 150,000 stones of grain to Jiangbei every year to relieve the military needs of our loyal and righteous army."

Jiangbei is not the land of fish and rice, this is a well-known fact, and even because of the relationship between the Yellow River and the Huai River, Jiangbei can be said to be "frequent disasters and famines", so it is necessary to buy a large amount of grain from Jiangnan every year, and the suggestion mentioned by Gu Yanwu is undoubtedly more suitable for the needs of Jiangbei.

"150,000 stones, well, compared to the local annual grain of one million stones, it is not much, and I don't mind thinking about it, but this 150,000 stone grain ......."

Shaking his head, Zhu Mingzhong still vetoed this proposal.

"As far as Jiangbei is concerned, it doesn't make much sense, and it will make the people in the curtain unhappy, 150,000 stone a year, not much grain, but for it, it is tantamount to paying money and grain to the upper peak, as for the food problem, now the Nanyang company has begun to be formed, and then every year they will buy millions of stone grain from Nanyang and ship it back to China, Nanyang rice is only two dollars per stone, even if it is a million stones, it is only 200,000 taels ......"

Zhu Mingzhong has never been worried about the food problem, first, when he sent troops to Jiangbei last year, he seized nearly two million Shicao grain, which supported the military needs of the loyal and righteous army, and now, with the opening of the Nanyang route, the almost inexhaustible cheap Nanyang rice can not only ensure the distribution of rice and rice for the Jiangbei government and the loyal army, but also allow the government to profit a lot from it, so that the demand for domestic rice and grain will naturally be reduced to the minimum, and naturally there will be no need for rice grain in Hubei.

After many suggestions such as rice grain, silver money, etc. were rejected one by one, seeing that the big guy really didn't have any good ideas, after thinking for a while, Zhu Mingzhong said.

"Whether it's rice or money, it's just for a while, and for us, there is no shortage of either at the moment, since we want to ask them for something, we have to find out what we need now?"

Jing Liu's words fell into Qian Lei's ears, making him think for a moment, and then said.

"Jingluo, if it is said that there is a shortage, Jiangbei is now lacking, one is people, the other is copper and iron, the former, because Jiangbei has been slaughtered by Liukou and Qing captives, and there is no one in ten Ding households, but the situation in Jiangxi is not much better, this person is naturally helpless, as for copper and iron, now the former can obtain millions of catties from Japanese trade, as for iron, there is only one iron factory in Jiangbei now, that is, Liguo Iron Works......"

As Zhu Mingzhong's most relied on staff and the staff with the most "work experience", Qian Lei knows everything about Jiangbei well, and to a certain extent, he knows Jiangbei better than Gu Yanwu and what Jiangbei needs. As long as Zhu Mingzhong reminded him a little, he knew what Jiangbei needed more now, and now Jiangbei did not need rice and grain, nor did he need money, but what he needed was another minimum industrial raw material.

“…… Now the amount of iron used in Jiangbei has surged, according to the plan of the Joint Logistics Department of the Ministry of War, Jiangbei will add more than 10,000 four-wheeled carriages this year, and each four-wheeled horsepower will use no less than 500 catties of iron, which is almost equivalent to the Liguo Iron Works in May. The factory will also become an ornament. Therefore, in the following opinion, I might as well ask Shao Sima to let me ...... an iron mine."