Chapter 136: Manchu Liaison Station

Zhang Zhimu heard Huang Zhi say that he wanted to give information in exchange for his life, and thought that the information that could be used to save his life would definitely have extraordinary value, so he hurriedly said: "Then you can talk about it." ”

"Today, after Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, and Zhai Tang found out that Huang Yongfa and they had a problem, the four of them drove their gold and silver vehicles out of the city before closing the city gate. The reason why they chose this time is so that after closing the gates, you will not be able to chase after you. They knew that their affairs had been discovered, and they did not dare to go directly to Guanwai now, but planned to drive the silver cart to the Manchu army station first, hoping that the Manchu army would protect their gold and silver. Huang Zhi said a piece of news that shocked Zhang Zhimu in one breath, but Zhang Zhimu was unmoved on the surface and asked: "Now that the city gates are closed, are you going to go there?" ”

Huang Zhi replied: "Yan Jinghua knows that Fan Yongdou and they have been exposed, so Fan Yongdou can't stay at home. He took the gold and silver that had been kept in Fan Yongdou's house and prepared to go to a secret liaison station in Zhangjiakou of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Manchu Qing Dynasty had liaison stations in Zhangjiakou, Hukou, Datong, and Beijing. These places are all in charge of Yan Jinghua. ”

Zhang Zhimu asked, "If I let you go, can you help me find out all these places?" ”

Huang Zhi said: "I know that I have killed Hukou, Datong and Zhangjiakou, but I have never been to Beijing. But once I secretly saw that under the wooden board under the seat on Yan Jinghua's carriage, there was a book that he had memorized, and it might be useful for you to look for it. That's all I know. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "It's okay, you know enough to save your life." I'm trying to keep you. But how do you go back to the Manchus after you leave? And then how to live. ”

"I asked Zhang Dongjia to reward me with a bite to eat, and I have a way to go back home and pick up my old mother." The man said.

Since the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty had been at war, both sides were blockaded very strictly, and it was difficult for ordinary people to go back and forth. Therefore, when Zhang Zhimu heard that this person still had the same way, he was secretly happy in his heart, this person is also a talent. If he really brought his mother over, he could have used him entirely.

Zhang Zhimu said: "When you are healed, you will go back and bring your mother back." I'll take care of you. Just tell my people about the rest, and they'll take care of the rest. After speaking, Zhang Zhimu got up and walked out of the room.

Li Zhi and Li Jing were waiting at the door, and when they saw Zhang Zhimu coming out, they stopped talking and turned their heads around. Zhang Zhimu said: "The situation is a bit urgent now, and now we need to take Huang Zhi and immediately copy the Manchu Qing liaison station in Zhangjiakou, otherwise there will be many dreams at night, and don't let them run away when they get the news that Yan Jinghua was arrested." In addition, they must find a way to get out of the city immediately and inform Uncle Chen that they will immediately send troops to chase Fan Yongdou and their silver convoy. These fellows had already sent the convoy of gold and silver out of the city before the gates were closed. ”

Li Jing said: "If you want to go out of the city, you have to go." It's not clear what others are going to do. But what about the arrest of the Manchu Liaison Office? ”

Li Zhi was a little reluctant when he heard this, and said, "We won't do anything without you." You can just hand over all your soldiers to me, and you don't need many people to jump the wall. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Yes, Li Jing handed over your command to Li Zhi. Li Zhi is here to monitor Fan Yongdou and their task, don't relax. Hurry up, surround the Manchu contact point first, and then rush in, you must make a surprise attack, preferably there is no movement outside. Trying to get some more information and expand the results of the battle is a good exercise for your intelligence department. Don't talk about anything else, let's go and see Yan Jinghua's carriage, Huang Zhi said that there is something under the wooden board under the carriage, let's go and see it first. ”

Li Jing entered Yan Jinghua's car, first lifted the seat out, then uncovered the wooden board under the seat, lit the lamp and saw that there was some straw paper under the wooden board, and when she opened the straw paper, she really found a small book. Zhang Zhimu took the small notebook and opened it to see that there were many words densely written in it, including Chinese characters and Manchu. Zhang Zhimu knows that this little book must be very important, and he will definitely get a lot of useful information after cracking it. But now is not the time to look into this. Zhang Zhimu said to Li Jing: "You hurry up and hand over the people to Li Zhi." You immediately go out of the city and tell Uncle Chen that the carriages are all going out from the south gate, and their purpose is to run to the garrison of the Manchu army. It is estimated that before the convoy departs, they will definitely send someone to inform the Manchu army to come to meet them. Therefore, Uncle Chen and the others must send a large team of men and horses to pursue, and they are ready to fight an encounter at any time. Also, if it's hard to recapture the silver cart, don't force it. After taking the carriage, don't transport it back to Zhangjiakou, and send someone to send it back to Yaogang directly. ”

Li Jing said: "Okay, I remember everything." I'll hand over the people to Director Li now, and then I'll go back to the inn and change into a night coat and leave. ”

Li Zhi arranged for someone to show Huang Zhi the wound again, and then said to him: "No way, we have to act today, so no matter how serious your injury is, you must show us the way and go to your liaison station in Zhangjiakou." ”

Huang Zhi said: "No problem, I can still hold on, and I will rest when I take you to the place and deceive the door open." "It seems that Huang Zhi wants to make meritorious contributions, so he has to work hard to perform. Because his hand was cut off, although Li Zhi gave him the "Divine Hand Zhang" golden gun medicine, which could relieve the pain to some extent, it would definitely hurt a lot.

Zhang Zhimu and the others left Sun Yujiao's backyard several times and returned to the inn.

Li Jing explained to his people, and went out with the package of the night suit.

Based on Huang Zhi's introduction, Li Zhi formulated a plan of action to raid the Manchu Qing liaison point. A number of people were assigned to surround the perimeter, specifying the division of labor among those who stormed the courtyard. From beginning to end, Zhang Zhimu did not participate in the command of this operation, and Li Zhi was responsible for everything. Li Zhi saw that Zhang Zhimu didn't care, he knew that this was Zhang Zhimu's trust in him, so he was even more serious and made sure to do things beautifully.

Yang Yulin saw that Zhang Zhimu was fine, so she picked up a children's book and read it, she couldn't sit still, and asked Zhang Zhimu: "You won't go to the night action?" ”

Zhang Zhimu didn't raise his head and said: "With Li Zhi and them busy, I don't have to worry about that." If you want to go, go along. ”

Yang Yulin took a glass of water and said, "If you don't go, how can I go?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said casually: "Oh, you can't leave me anymore?" ”

Yang Yulin snorted angrily: "It's beautiful to think." I'm afraid you're not safe. If I leave and leave you here without any care, I don't know how many people will scold me. ”

At this time, Li Zhi didn't care what they said, and came over to Zhang Zhimu and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's all ready." Look, what else do you have to ask? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Let's start when you're ready." I don't have much to say, I wish you all the best. ”

"Okay, you can rest assured, we're leaving." After saying that, Li Zhi went out.

Yang Yulin sighed when she saw Li Zhi go out. Zhang Zhimu said: "If you don't go, it'll be too late." I'm not going anywhere at the inn, don't worry about me. ”

Yang Yulin finally made up his mind to participate in the operation with Li Zhi, he went out and called over a few special forces left by Li Zhi for Zhang Zhimu, and told them not to leave the corridor, and there should be someone outside the window. She went after Li Zhi and them herself.

As soon as Yang Yulin went out, Lu Chengxiang came in and said, "Mr. Zhang, how many good things do you guess that envoy has?" ”

"What kind of immortal do you really think I am, how can I guess." Zhang Zhimu knew that Yan Jinghua's things were indispensable, otherwise Lu Chengxiang, who had seen a lot of silver, would not be able to see the light on his face.

Lu Chengxiang said: "I took a look, there is nothing cheap in this carriage, there are more than 10,000 taels of gold and 30,000 taels of silver. There are two boxes of jade, jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, etc. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "It seems that these eight businessmen have worked Yan Jinghua. It is estimated that this is what Yan Jinghua has obtained in their hands over the years, and it has been kept in Fan Yongdou's house, and it is not easy to transport these things back to the occupied territory of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he doesn't want too many people to know. There's really no way to ship it out today, so let's make a little fortune too. ”

"What? You say it's a little money? Lu Chengxiang stared, thinking that this one was a little too crazy.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Alas! , the big head Fan Yongdou and they were all transported out of the city. I asked Li Jing to go out of the city to inform Uncle Chen that they would chase after him, but I don't know if I can catch up. ”

Lu Chengxiang realized that Zhang Zhimu was compared with Fan Yongdou and their big heads, and of course 10,000 taels of gold was not much.

"Why did we let them run away when we were so watching?" Lu Chengxiang asked. Without waiting for Zhang Zhimu to answer, he continued to say: "Fan Yongdou and any of them have been in business for several generations, and they can be rich and rival the country." If all their money is gone, how many cars will it take! ”

Zhang Zhimu said, "Don't worry, Mr. Lu, sit down." Maybe Uncle Chen, they can catch up. Even if they can't catch up with us, they don't have a little bit of silver, but in fact, our silver is enough. Now we are not short of silver, but also talent. The reason why I still need to get more silver is that I want to open a bank with a bill number in the future, and we need a certain amount of reserve gold and silver. ”

"What is the bank and ticket number, can you tell me carefully?" Lu Chengxiang asked.

Zhang Zhimu said: "I was just about to tell you about this. Let me tell you a little bit first. Suppose someone wants to go to Yangzhou to do business and deposit the silver in our cabinet in Zhangjiakou, we will issue them a silver ticket of equal amount. They bring silver tickets, and they can exchange them for cash when they arrive in Yangzhou, and we only charge a certain percentage of the water. He can also buy goods directly from merchants without exchanging them for cash. If the merchant is willing, he will exchange the silver on the counter, and he will not exchange it for the same. ”

"If we have a good reputation, there is no need for ordinary merchants to keep so much money at home. It takes a lot of brains to save money in any family, so it will save a lot of trouble. However, I heard that there were also people who did this in the previous dynasty, but later they all went out of shape. Many people have money with money orders and cannot get their money. Just like our 'Da Ming Bao banknote', like waste paper. Lu Chengxiang nodded and said.

"So we must have a certain reserve of gold and silver, not afraid of other people's runs, and after a few years of operation, everyone feels that the silver is safe with us, and we can do a lot of things." Zhang Zhimu took out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Lu Chengxiang and said, "This is the business content of the ticket number I wrote." You take a look first, and we can slowly improve. ”

Lu Chengxiang took it and looked at it carefully. The main business of Zhang Zhimu's ticket number is exchange and deposit, as well as the exchange of gold, silver and copper coins.

Lu Chengxiang said: "These businesses, with our current reputation, can be carried out soon. But we really don't have that kind of talent right now. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "The lack of talent is one thing, we are even more lacking in experience, and we lack the internal management mechanism of the ticket number. Because we are directly dealing in silver, the employment of ticket numbers is a big matter, and there must be a strict review system. How to supervise and manage on a regular basis is also a big problem. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "I don't care too much about management, we Shanxi people have a good management problem in all the bigger deals." And our Shanxi people's semicolon has basically not had a major problem, which is related to our Shanxi people's integrity, but our Shanxi people's management methods also work. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "What do you think is the problem? ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "The ticket number line is dealing with these gold and silver every day, I have done these things in Zhangjiakou before, and I am quite familiar with this line." If you don't have the ability to distinguish between gold and silver, then you have to have an accident when you run a business. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Then cultivate it slowly." ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "Without a few years of experience in standing on the counter, you can't train it." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "No matter how difficult it is, we have to take this step. My idea is that in a few years, we will be able to issue silver tickets. This silver ticket is the equivalent of a paper banknote. It can be circulated freely, and if you don't want to circulate anymore, you can exchange it for cash at any time. Silver tickets can come in a variety of denominations that facilitate circulation. ”

"In that case, can we issue more silver tickets? For example, we have 10,000 taels of silver in stock and issue 15,000 taels of silver tickets. Lu Chengxiang asked.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Send a little more according to a certain proportion. But not too much, otherwise everyone will run together, and our ticket number will fall immediately. ”

"What kind of money do we earn when we issue silver tickets?" Lu Chengxiang asked.

Zhang Zhimu said: "We have to charge for the cash of silver bills and the exchange of cash for silver bills, and we also have to charge interest on the extra silver we put out." These businesses can make money on the one hand, and more importantly, they can make our commercial circulation more convenient. The whole business environment is good, all parties benefit, and there is money to be made. Our business can do better. ”

Lu Chengxiang smiled and said, "It seems that Mr. Zhang still has the world in his heart." ”

Zhang Zhimu asked: "Mr. Lu, we have been working together for a while, what do you think is the difference between our kiln and other places?" ”

"Hehe, it goes without saying. The people of our kiln gang live freely, and everyone lives like a human being. When I returned to the kiln, I felt that my breath was even. As I said before, this is the happiest time I live. In the past, when I was proud of the spring breeze in Zhangjiakou, I tried to do as much business as possible, and by the end of the year, the owner could have more points. When the time comes, my little abacus is pulled, and I have saved a little more money in a year, and I am very happy. At that time, I felt that my life was better than others. But when I arrived at the kiln, everything was different, and you kept taking the big guy to be busy for all the people in the kiln, as if I had forgotten about myself. Seeing everyone in the kiln smiling day by day, I am also happy. To be honest, I haven't counted how much money I've earned since I fell into the kiln. Even for their own feeling weird. Anyway, Mr. Zhang can't be worse than us. Lu Chengxiang said.

Zhang Zhimu wanted to take this opportunity to talk more to Lu Chengxiang and asked: "Does Mr. Lu want more people to live a life like Yaogang?" ”

Lu Chengxiang has a very smart brain, he said: "If Mr. Zhang has the ambition of a bird, I am willing to serve the work of dogs and horses." From the day I poured the kiln, I knew that Mr. Zhang was definitely not an ordinary businessman. Since my life was saved by Mr. Zhang, it is Mr. Zhang's. You can't do anything wrong, no matter what you do, as long as you say it, I will be the first to approve. ”

Zhang Zhimu knew that he didn't have to go around in circles with Lu Chengxiang, and said: "Mr. Lu, our business is getting bigger and bigger, and I think we must have a core to do it, so I have always had a plan to set up a secret organization as the core of our career leadership." Without a leadership core, as we get bigger and bigger, we will be a mess if we don't get it right. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "This is a good thing, if you need it, even if you want me." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This is still one of my plans. I think the people at this core must be selfless and fearless, and be willing to dedicate themselves to our cause. So I'm just talking about one of my thoughts, and Mr. Lu doesn't have to worry about answering whether to participate or not. ”

When Lu Chengxiang heard Zhang Zhimu say this, he was a little anxious and asked, "Mr. Zhang, have I ever been vague about what happened to my old Lu?" You don't trust me! ”

In fact, Zhang Zhimu deliberately provoked him and asked him to speak thoroughly. Zhang Zhimu said: "Look, Mr. Lu, you misunderstood. I mean, it's just an idea of mine, and it's not time to actually do it yet, so you don't have to rush. If I really do this, you will be indispensable as a big butler. ”

At this time, Lu Chengxiang showed a little smile on his face.

At this time, someone knocked on the door and came in to report that Li Zhi had succeeded and wanted to invite Zhang Zhimu to go. Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, let's go together if it's okay." Maybe there's something to be gained. ”

After Li Zhi left the inn with the people, Huang Zhi sat in Yan Jinghua's carriage and led the way in front, and soon came to a place not far from the Manchu contact point in Zhangjiakou. This point of contact is usually a shop that is not very obtrusive, and it is the kind of structure with a shop in front and a house in the back. When Li Zhi and the others arrived, it was already late at night. Li Zhi ordered people to quietly surround this courtyard first.

Before Li Zhi finished issuing the order, Yang Yulin rushed over. Li Zhi asked: "Miss Yang, you are here, who is responsible for the safety of Mr. Zhang?"

Yang Yulin said: "I have already arranged it, Mr. Zhang feels that this matter is too important, so he asked me to come and have a look." ”

As soon as Li Zhi heard it, he knew that Yang Yulin was talking nonsense, but it was already like this. I don't want to delay any more work for this. As soon as he waved his hand, Huang Zhi drove Yan Jinghua's car and stopped at the side door of this office, and Huang Zhi got out of the car and knocked on the door knocker a few times. At this time, Huang Zhi couldn't hold on a little anymore, and the sweat was already running down his cheeks. However, when he heard the door ringing inside, Huang Zhi still stopped. Seeing a small window on the side door open, Huang Zhichong said inside: "It's me Huang Zhi, open the door quickly." ”

The person inside the door looked out through the small window and sure enough, it was Huang Zhi, and behind him was Yan Jinghua's carriage. This person knew that Yan Jinghua was coming, so he didn't dare to slack off. Tighten the door and let Huang Zhi drive the carriage in. The carriage entered the courtyard, and the person who opened the door just wanted to close the door. But suddenly a hand reached out of the door, and because he was defenseless, it dragged him out of the door. Before he could make a sound, someone came up and covered his mouth, and then a sharp blade slit his throat.

After entering the courtyard, the carriage leaned aside, and Li Zhi commanded the people to run to several rooms separately. A few people blocked the window, and a few people were ready to kick the door. When everything was ready, Li Zhi waved his hand, and everyone acted together. In front of the door, they all kicked open the door and rushed in, and before the people sleeping in the room could react, the knife was already on their necks.

At this time, Li Zhi had already ordered someone to light torches, and then put everyone in the courtyard. Huang Zhi came over to take a look and said, "It's broken, there is no head of the office on this side." ”

As soon as Li Zhi heard Huang Zhi's words, his head buzzed, and he thought to himself, if he ran away from the head of the office, today's action would be too much of a failure.

Li Zhi hurriedly began to interrogate the captives. There were twelve captives captured today, including eight men and four women. At first, these people gritted their teeth and didn't say anything, but after Li Zhi's toss, a few of them were recruited. These people who recruited all answered the same way. It turned out that there were three people missing. One of them was the first to send a message to the Manchu army, asking the Manchu army to pick up Fan Yongdou's caravan. The other was just after dark, and it turned out that Fan Yongdou had received a report that because the passage of the road before going to Beijing was too slow, the people who escorted the grain had already raised wagons and camels that could carry more than 25,000 stones of grain, and they had already gone on the road to Zhangjiakou. However, Fan Yongdou knew that this place had been exposed, and he didn't want to transport the grain to Zhangjiakou, so they had already sent someone to inform the people who escorted the grain to send the grain directly to the Manchu army. This second person sent this news to the Manchu army and asked them to receive food.

The third person, the head of the liaison office, was very strange, and the captives said that this person must have been in the courtyard before he went out.

When Li Zhi heard the news, he was surprised and delighted. It was surprising that such a big person was hiding here, and so many people couldn't find it; The good thing is that this person can hide, and there must be a secret room here. Where there is a secret room, there must be secrets.

But when the captives were asked again, they all said, "I don't know where their heads have gone." Anyway, I shouldn't have been out of this hospital. Li Zhi thought to himself, the outside of the yard has been fenced, and this person can't run out in this yard. However, the matter of transporting grain is an urgent matter, and Mr. Zhang should be notified immediately. But I couldn't leave here, so I had to send someone to invite Zhang Zhimu.

After Zhang Zhimu and Lu Chengxiang came here, they heard this situation and said, "You can handle other things yourself." I will wait for dawn and let Li Jing and the others set off to intercept the grain. ”

Lu Chengxiang was interested in the fact that since this was a business, there should be silver in the silver box. He went straight to the silver box. As a result, it took a total of seven or eight hundred taels of silver to find a total of seven or eight hundred taels of silver, and the angry Lu Chengxiang stared at him and said, "It's really disappointing to toss me in the middle of the night to get such a little silver." ”

Zhang Zhimu looked at Lu Chengxiang like this and felt very interesting, and just wanted to joke with Lu Chengxiang, but he suddenly found that he had not seen Yang Yulin since he arrived here, according to his usual habits, as long as Zhang Zhimu was here, Yang Yulin should not leave him. But where is Yang Yulin?

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By the way, I recommend "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty", similar to this article, it is also a "technology flow" through the novel, but it takes place in the Southern Song Dynasty, Yashan, Anti-Yuan, Restoration, and European World Wars.