This person has been respectful since he came in just now, bowing his eyebrows and bowing his waist, not daring to look up, and when he heard Wen Xian's introduction, he immediately led a few companions who did not dare to come out of the air to step forward, and bowed down under the hall.

"The villain is the name of Rizhao, surnamed Qin Mingke, mainly doing some cattle and sheep trading, because of the concept advocated by the Jing'an army, so last night with his men discussed with his men that they were willing to respond to the army in the city into the city. It happened that I met Wen Zhuangshi and others who bravely opened the waterway, and it was just the right time for him. This man was bloated and had a sharp voice, which contrasted with the hoarseness and thickness of the smell.

Qin Ke, Yu Zhilong meditated, looking at its style, it is indeed the appearance of a local rich man. But how could this person who dared to lead the crowd to kill the soldiers of the Yuan Court and sacrifice the city be a figure to be despised?

Yu Zhilong turned his head to look at a bookstore in Rizhao County, which had been attached to the inquiry, and the man understood and hurriedly came out to report: "The Qin farmer has been operating outside the city for generations, and there are three pastures with more than 1,000 cattle and horses. ”

Yu Zhilong nodded, ordered Qin Ke to sit down on the side, and said with a smile: "The Jing'an Army is very fortunate to have the help of the Qin field master!" Then he commanded that tea be given.

"If there were no righteous deeds such as Qin Zhuangshi, how could our army win the city so easily? Now it should be rewarded, well, and give 10,000 taels of silver and ten boxes of lake silk, and talk about it tomorrow! Yu Zhilong was not stingy, and directly took out part of the confiscated assets and rewarded him. In this night attack on the city, Wen Xian and his group really made a significant contribution.

"The general is overrated! The little old man really can't afford it! Today's general advocates the righteous teacher, save us from fire and water, in fact, the reborn parents of the local mulberry, if we continue to be silent, wouldn't it be worthy of being born in this world? Xiao Lao'er has been running a ranch here for several generations, and now there are thousands of cattle and horses, and there are five or six hundred mounts. Knowing that there is a shortage of horses in the army, I am willing to dedicate it to the army today, and please accept it with a smile! ”

Before the Jing'an army came, Qin Ke had already transferred most of the cattle and horses to other places, Liang Si and Meng Sanjie were in a big way to requisition local livestock, he did everything possible to shirk and escaped the war in Rizhao. Speaking of which, Qin Ke's vision and courage to see people and things are not much better than Wu Xingde!

Now as soon as he said this, Mu Chun, Kong Ying and others were overjoyed. The Jing'an army has fought many times, not only the loss of pack horses, but also the loss of war horses, especially the army left behind in Linqu, which barely retains a scout cavalry army; Zhao Shi defeated Yishui and Juxian, but he got thousands of horses, but unfortunately most of them were pack horses, and now the cavalry army that has become an establishment is only here in Yu Shichang. If the cavalry general Shichang heard it, he would definitely be smiling.

Yu Zhilong was naturally overjoyed, got up to help him wait, and laughed: "A certain has always advocated fair trading, and strong men have worked hard for many years to have today's situation, how can they take it lightly?" Don't mention that! ”

Qin Ke hurriedly said: "This is the sincerity of the little old man, there is no reluctance!" ”

"In this case, General Mu can send someone to select some good horses, but the silver taels purchased are still for Qin Zhuangshi to accept." Yu Zhilong pondered for a moment and instructed Mu Chun.

Qin Ke resigned again, but Yu Zhilong was finally unallowed.

Yu Zhilong personally introduced Qin Ke into the seat, and then asked about Qin Ke's business situation, Qin Ke sighed deeply: The Yuan Court has been used for a long time over the years, and the intensity of this restraint has far exceeded the beginning of the founding of the country.

Restricting horses is also known as brushing horses and horses, that is, the Yuan court forcibly and without cost to collect horses.

"Since the beginning of the year, the pseudo-yuan has repeatedly brushed the horse, and the villain's horse farm has an annual output of thousands of cattle and horses, and the total number of people who have been brushed in the past ten years has been no less than forty percent. There were no less than 300 people, but now there are only 100 people left, plus natural disasters and plagues in recent years, a large number of livestock have died from time to time, and they are barely full in recent years. Qin Ke said slowly.

Yu Zhilong nodded secretly, the profitability of agriculture and animal husbandry in ancient times was quite low, and it basically belonged to watching the sky and eating. If the imperial court and the people are fierce, and the people's livelihood is naturally poor. Although Qin Ke is a big businessman for generations and has a lot of family assets, he can't withstand the intensifying efforts of the Yuan Court, and now it is inevitable that he will have different aspirations. This is similar to Wu Xingde and others.

At the banquet, Yu Zhilong greatly appreciated Qin Ke's righteous deeds, and specially ordered that 20,000 yuan each of silver notes and silver should be allocated from this seizure and handed over to Qin Ke as an advance for the purchase of horses. He also promised that the Jing'an Army, including the local county governments, would certainly need a large number of cattle and horses and other livestock in the future, and that as long as he continued to raise cattle and horses, the Jing'an Army would be given priority in purchasing them at market prices, and could even make an advance payment in advance so that they could operate smoothly.

Qin Ke was overjoyed, quickly knelt down, and bowed deeply: "Thank you General Fei for your love!" Qin and his subordinates can't do other things, but this shepherd cattle and horses still has some experience, and now Lord Meng will not give up, and is willing to serve the general's meritorious deeds for dogs and horses! ”

Yu Zhilong did this because he was well aware that the Jing'an Army's military supplies and local farming and transportation required a large number of livestock, and that restoring local production at the moment was an urgent task to stabilize the Jing'an Army's rule.

The pastures of the Yuan court in the Central Plains and the hinterland mainly include the following: Liaoyang, Datong, Taiyuan, Luzhou, Raozhou, Anxi Wangfu, Guanzhou, Enzhou, Gaotang Prefecture, Dadu, Zhending, Yidu and other places.

If the Rizhao commercial port is prosperous, the sea and land transportation are convenient, and the scale of the local horse farm is no less than that of Yidu, if the people's minds can be quickly stabilized and the agriculture, animal husbandry, and shipping industry can be restored, it will naturally benefit the follow-up operation of the Jing'an Army.

It's just that livestock farming requires far more land than farmland. Linqu, Rizhao and other territories are full of fields, mountains and hills, and there is not much land suitable for stocking. If a large amount of fertile farmland is occupied, it will have many adverse effects on people's livelihood. Yu Zhilong silently wondered whether he should consider going west or south.

Qin Ke then hesitated slightly: "Qin still has a lot of peers, and the situation is also embarrassing, these people are quite skilled in raising livestock, if they can be used by adults, they will help!" It's just that many of their captive breeding animals and pastures have been seized by the pseudo-Yuan or Mongolian magnates, and if they can receive the favor of the adults, they will be grateful to the adults! ”

"Oh, if it is occupied by the pseudo-Yuan magnates, once it is verified, the land and livestock can be returned." It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, there is no pasture and breeding stock, and Qin Ke and others can't give birth to more livestock even if they have natural talents. Yu Zhilong immediately agreed. Kong Ying hurriedly instructed the clerk in the back seat to record it immediately, and then went to someone to investigate, and several local officials who were attached to the hall immediately went to the side wing room to look through the records of the past years without touching the ground after receiving the dispatch of the clerk's office.

Qin Ke thanked him again without mentioning it. Wu Xingde and other local businessmen and gentry praised and praised General Fei's benevolence. Most of them couldn't help but be amazed when they saw that Yu Zhilong attached so much importance to agricultural business, and advocated fair trading, fishing without drying up, and not rushing for quick success.

Although this person is a thief in the court, he seems to be treating people well. As long as one's own interests can be safeguarded, it is still necessary to meet for the time being.

In addition to the locals, there are also many big merchants in the past, this time because of the war, most of the commercial goods they transported were detained and requisitioned by Meng Sanjie and others, and many precious lacquerware, woodware, jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, ingots, etc. were occupied by the Yuan army, and most of them were captured by the Jing'an army this time. Seeing that Yu Zhilong had such a kind attitude, and there were bold people at the table, he simply stood up in public, confessed first, and dared to ask Yu Zhilong to be the master.

Yu Zhilong didn't know his identity, and turned his eyes to Wu Xingde and others. Wu Xingde and a few local county officials hurriedly came over and whispered the identities of these people one by one: most of them were big merchants who came from the south to the north, and in terms of background, some of them had such and such intertwined relationships with local governments and gentry.

Inviting these merchants over was completely Yu Zhilong's idea.

Yu Zhilong understands that whether his territory can be stabilized in the future is directly related to whether the local economy is prosperous. Liu Bang, Cao Cao and other heroes can sweep the world, which is naturally closely related to their strategy on the battlefield, but if you analyze it carefully, their deepest population and economic power are the guarantee of their success. Now, he has no time to subdivide the identities and backgrounds of these people, and tonight he just takes the opportunity to show his attitude towards businessmen in public. It doesn't matter whether any of them are completely spokesmen for officials and businessmen.

Chu Qing, a native of Songjiang, was also among them, Yu Zhilong chatted with him that day, and this time he was specially asked to sit with him, during which Yu Zhilong remembered something, and when he went out to change clothes, he sent a guard to invite Chu Qing to the wing room for a while.

Chu Qingcheng was terrified, and he didn't know what to say, under the guidance of the guards, he came to see Yu Zhilong.

Yu Zhilong instructed him to sit down a little, while Lao Jing pushed out of the house to cover the door and stood guard outside.

It turned out that Yu Zhilong suddenly remembered that corn and sweet potatoes and other food species had been brought from Nanyang in the late Ming Dynasty, which greatly alleviated the food crisis of the Chinese population, and made the population break through from 100 million in the late Ming Dynasty to 300 million in the early Qing Dynasty. If Yu Zhilong's guess is correct, at this time, these species should have been transplanted from South America to the South Seas. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He went to the South Seas many times, the main purpose was not these high-yield crops, and the duration was too short, and soon the Ming court banned the sea, so it is very likely that he missed this precious opportunity, and since he knew it, he should never let go.

Hearing Yu Zhilong's order to ask him to bring a few people to Songjiang Mansion and inquire about the sea ships going to Nanyang, Chu Qing was greatly surprised. I really wonder how this mysterious young general planned it? Could it be that he is planning for his own future?

Of course, Yu Zhilong would not tell him his true intentions. He just asked Chu Qing to provide as much convenience as possible, and then, Jing'an Jun would choose a few people to return to Songjiang with him. On the road, there should be a point and a southward fee, and the Jing'an Army will come forward. It's just that this matter is kept secret.

Where can Chu Qing say a word, he is naturally full of promises. Seeing that Yu Zhilong had no more orders, he retreated first.

Yu Zhilong took advantage of the strength of the wine before he got up, and immediately ordered Lao Jing to select ten sergeants in the guards and the army, who were flexible, sincere, and a little bit of pen and ink, and explained the reason to them. They returned to Songjiang Mansion with Chu Qing.

On this night, at the banquet in the back hall of the county government, surrounded by Chinese lanterns, countless red candles were lit on the bronze lamp tree, illuminating the room brightly, and more than a dozen charcoal stoves in the corner burned the room as warm as spring. There is a silk bamboo slow song under the hall, which can go around the beam for three days.

Yu Zhilong personally raised his glass on the top again and again, and the wine was full, and he left his seat to drink with everyone one by one, and talked with everyone about the wine.

The night was as dark as ink, and the city of Sunshine almost fell into a deep sleep. Several black shadows quietly moved to the outside of the city like ghosts, they carefully avoided the Jing'an military barracks and patrol posts outside the city, carefully looked at the dilapidated Rizhao city wall, walked around the city wall for most of the circle, saw that the city gate was closed, and countless patrols and soldiers holding torches on the city wall went back and forth, unable to blend into the city, several people discussed in a low voice, and then they were unwilling to quietly withdraw between the cracks in the guard outside the city.

"Brother Pan, this thief army is heavily guarded inside and outside, and it is difficult to sneak in during the gap, why don't you join up with everyone and then think about it in the long run?" A dark shadow whispered.

"It's a pity that we are a step too late, and the officers and soldiers have lost the city, so they can't take advantage of the situation. Go back first, meet with Lord Yan and then discuss, and see tomorrow if you can manage to infiltrate the city, and carefully probe the defense of the thief. Pan Ge said in a hoarse voice.

"As the old saying goes, there are only a thousand days to be a thief, and there is no thousand days to prevent a thief. There is always an opportunity to do so. An accomplice with a short-circuited head suddenly burst into words.

"Stupid! We are working hard for the court, and we are doing the work of killing thieves, what thieves are not thieves? One of the people next to him was annoyed and hit him on the head a few times.

"What my brother said is that the kid is confused!" The guy who was beaten quickly put on a smiley face.

"Since you brothers are willing to come out with me to do things for the court, they will all be officials from now on. In the past, my brother had prepared a note in the official office, and all of them were gone. As long as you take the head of the thief this time, this bonus will be at least 50,000 taels! Big guy spirit point, as long as you have a good eye, there is always a chance! Let's go, take advantage of the dawn and find Lord Yan to plan carefully. ”

Since Pan Tou received his order, he has found dozens of helpers from all sides, and he also has a fight in terms of strength. It's just that it took a lot of time in the early stage, and I gathered people to find Yu Zhilong, but I have never had a chance.

Thinking of Lord Yan's ruthless methods, Pan Tou didn't dare to slack off, and led his accomplices to retreat quietly.