The person who came to Nanjin Pass with the iconic broadsword on his back was Lu San, the chief dart master of the Shu Wangfu and the honorary boss of the Shunfeng Dart Bureau.

After completing the mission of the Six Kingdoms, Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu who was very happy, replied to the letter, and promoted him and Zhu Zhihan to the deputy regiment level. At this time, Lu San was already in Changsha.

In Lu San's life goal, becoming an official has always been a very distant dream. However, he didn't expect that a trip to Renshou that endured hardships made him a regular camp; A leisurely and happy trip to Huguang made him instantly step into the ranks of high-ranking officials in the palace. The elated Lu San dictated a letter to the old lady's wife, telling them that their own fortune had risen again, and the family could eat and drink boldly at ease, so don't worry about it. As for marrying a concubine in Lizhou, of course Lu San didn't dare to say it in the letter.

After occupying a few mounds by the Dongting Lake, Lü San and Zhu Zhihan handed over the affairs of Lizhou to the indigenous Li Zuocai, and then rushed to King Ji of Changsha with Tan Fengxuan's soldiers and Hua Fan's liquid assets to transport the negotiated Chen grain away for emergency relief.

King Ji smiled from ear to ear when he saw the real money, and the relationship between the two feudal domains of Shu and Ji immediately rose to a new strategic height.

Zhu Zhihan struck while the iron was hot and reached the next step of the framework cooperation agreement with the Jiwang Mansion: to order additional grain, and use the 300,000 taels of silver and countless treasures obtained by the Jingwang Mansion to buy the 250,000 stone of autumn grain newly collected by the Jiwang Mansion.

Originally, the transaction was made in cash as before, but on the eve of the signing and pledge, officials from Changsha and Shanhua counties suddenly intervened. The government put forward a request that made Zhu Zhihan and Lu San overjoyed: switch to silver money to pay! Not only that, but the government also clearly hinted that if Zhu Zhihan and Lu San did not agree, the 250,000 stone grain would not be available to the Shu Wangfu! Even if you get it, you can't even think of transporting it out of the two counties!

Why does such a good thing fall from the sky? The two were puzzled.

So, the two started to act again. Zhu Zhihan was delaying and entanglement on the surface, while Lu San used his god-level Dafa that he had tried and tested in the rivers and lakes behind his back to find out the news - bribery and silver. Soon, Lu San opened a breakthrough in a teacher who was over half a hundred years old in the Yamen of Changsha Mansion.

On that day, the master hid in the shadows of a secluded tavern and told Lu San the inside story.

Ever since the Liao Domain gave the Huguang Domain a letter of "exchanging money for money", the officials of Huguang immediately discovered the beauty of silver money. That is, the use of silver money to tax, the huge amount of fire consumption, escort costs can be saved at least ninety percent, put into their own bags!

Huguang was a major tax province in the Ming Dynasty, and its annual tax was more than twice that of Sichuan. After being converted into silver taels, the regular tax, the three salaries, the additional payment, the Zonglu and all kinds of unnamed taxes and fees, the silver that passed through in the autumn and summer exceeded 8 million taels.

How did you get the eight million taels of silver?

To get this silver, you have to start with a penny of copper and a small piece of broken silver from thousands of households. The county has collected all the money, and the money is exchanged in the dumping shop, and there will be an exchange and dumping fee here.

"Leviion" is a trouble, and "payment" is another trouble.

The county's silver was redeemed, and it was not handed over to the government at one time, but according to the payment list, and paid at the disposal. For example, in Zonglu, although the Changsha County Government and the Changsha Mansion are close at hand, the five palaces of King Ji of this county, King Rong of Changde, King Min of Wugang, King Liao and King Hui of Jingzhou have to pay the silver separately. In addition, there are also local guards, government offices, and the feudal divisions of Wuchang Mansion, who also have to transport silver over. The silver is not enough for fineness and weight, and it has to be explained back and forth to make up for it.

In short, the amount of work and expenses incurred by the county due to the collection of taxes every year is lost. This is true in the prefecture, but also in the prefecture and the feudal division.

In particular, the tax revenue of Huguang was managed by the Nanjing Household Division. When the local taxes reached the feudal division, the feudal division had to melt the collected silver into one ingot of gold and silver according to the rules of the imperial court before it could be handed over, which had to produce dumping and fire consumption. In addition, thousands of miles from Wuchang Mansion to Nanjing, both water and land routes are not very smooth. If there is a problem with a few million taels of silver on the road, I am afraid that the people of the clan can only be freed by hanging themselves and wiping their necks.

Officials at all levels in the feudal department and the prefecture were disgusted by the collection of two seasons a year, but because it was a court system, they had to do it year after year. But now that there are money banks in major cities, it's different.

For large amounts of silver, you only need to issue a bill of exchange at the local bank, and then exchange it at the destination banker for cash, which will only produce a small amount of a certain percentage of the water. If the destination yamen agrees to accept the bill of exchange, then after continuous endorsement, the confluence will be changed from several to one, and a lot of savings will be saved. Compared with the exchange of large amounts of silver, it is more convenient to pay a small amount of silver, and a few pieces of paper can be counted in person.

Now that the benefits of money exchange have been recognized, all that remains is to confirm the safety.

In the middle of last month, at the request of the Huguang Domain, the Huguang General Account of Huitong Qianzhuang confirmed to him that the Nanzhi General Account of Huitong Qianzhuang in Nanjing could undertake the business of paying autumn grain in Huguang Province.

The Huguang Domain Division got the letter and immediately reached an agreement with the Huguang General Account of Huitong Qianzhuang. This agreement stipulated that the Huguang Domain Division would first deposit the silver money into the Huguang General Account of Huitong Qianzhuang, and the Huguang General Account would remit it it to the Nanzhi General Account. Then the officials of the feudal department cashed the money into cash with the bill of exchange to the Nanzhi General Office, and paid the tax and silver to the household department in Nanjing. The wishful thinking of the Huguang Domain was that they kept all the money that should be handed over in the treasury. Even if the Nanzhi General Number can't be cashed out as promised, because their silver hasn't left the warehouse, they are not afraid of problems at all.

However, this seemingly safe agreement caused big problems for the officials of the prefectures and counties to which the Huguang Domain belonged.

The old men of the Huguang Domain thought that the silver banknotes were the same as the treasure banknotes, and the silver banknotes circulating in the market were infinitely rich, so they immediately issued a letter ordering the local prefecture and county officials to check the inventory of silver banknotes, so as to borrow the feudal division for the purpose of collecting and exchanging the autumn grain.

Who knows, all prefectures and counties immediately replied, saying that there was a certain amount of silver and grain in stock, but there was not a single silver banknote in stock!

The Huguang Domain Division was immediately dumbfounded. After thinking hard to no avail, he had to send a number of Yazhong masters to visit unofficially, suggesting that the local government should hand over silver banknotes or silver bills of exchange for the autumn grain season. The day before yesterday, the master of a feudal division and yamen had just arrived in Changsha Mansion and was currently negotiating with the prefect Du Yinxi on how to turn last year's autumn grain from Changsha Mansion into a bill of exchange.

Lord Plug is Chongzhen's ten-year jinshi background, first worked in the Dali Temple of Beijing, and later worked as a director in the household department of Nanjing, in charge of money and grain, and also managed to collect taxes, is an authentic financial and tax expert, according to himself before was still an out-and-out madman.

This former madman lamented to his colleagues that he had thought about such a convenient and trouble-free tax payment method, but he never expected that it would actually be realized.

Why? Because of the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, no money bank dared to undertake the remittance and exchange of silver money for the tax of a province! Even if Qian Zhuang dares to take it, the government will definitely not hand it over to them!

First of all, the capital of these banks is too small, and tens of thousands of taels of silver have to be borrowed temporarily, and it is impossible to undertake hundreds of thousands or millions of exchanges; Secondly, there are too few outlets of these money banks, and the scale of money banks across prefectures and prefectures is not small, and even across several provinces, hundreds of money banks with cloth shops are even more unheard of!

For this reason, Lord Block also sighed in the yamen: As soon as the Shu currency comes out, the world's banknote law has changed greatly!

The master said to Lu Sandao, the method of replacing autumn grain with silver money in Changsha Mansion has agreed in principle, but he still has some doubts. Because there is no precedent for this practice, and there is no official writing in the province. turned a large pile of white silver into a bill of exchange, and I felt even more unsure. So yesterday, Lord Block quietly ordered them to go down and let them, the masters, go to find out the details of Huitong Qianzhuang, and immediately reply when they found out. Master Blockade has explained, and it is necessary to approve the letter within three days. Because he has recently been in a hurry to raise township soldiers in various counties to go to Anhua and Ningxiang to suppress thieves, the bandits there are getting more and more troublesome, and they have already defeated the officers and soldiers who have entered the suppression several times.

The old man had orders, and these people who were doing things had to pretend to go to the street to investigate. In fact, no one in Changsha Mansion knows who doesn't know: the silver banknote of this Huitong Money Village is the ticket of Shu Wangfu. The upper part of the front of the silver banknote is printed in italics: "Daming Shu Wangfu Huitong Money Village", and there is a statue of Emperor Gao of the Ming Dynasty on the right side!

The old man also said that Changsha County and Shanhua County were the first to learn of this latest political trend because they were attached counties of Changsha Prefecture. The sum of the two counties found that there was a long chain of interests, and officials at the county, state, government, and provincial levels could all benefit from it. It just so happened that they learned that the Shu Wangfu had purchased grain from the Jiwang Mansion for the victims, so they immediately took action to take advantage of this matter to make a big fuss.

The true color of Jiwangfu in Wangzhuang Zheng is not much, and it is mainly silver. If the Ji Wangfu suddenly took out 250,000 stone grain to sell, in fact, the Jiwang Mansion couldn't do it. The wishful thinking of the Ji Wangfu is to borrow the silver of the Shu Wangfu and use the power of the Jiwang Mansion in Changsha to forcibly requisition and purchase at a low price in the market, so as to make another profit. In this way, it will inevitably cause public resentment. Therefore, the Shu Wangfu and the Jiwangfu do business, instead of letting the Jiwangfu make a lot of money in the middle, it is better to do business directly with the government of Changsha County and Shanhua County!

The master also suggested that if the grain in these two counties is not enough, he can also buy it from Xiangtan, Xiangyin, Xiangxiang, Liuyang and other large grain-producing counties under Changsha Mansion through Changsha Mansion. Anyway, sooner or later, in the end the officials will understand: using silver money is not only convenient, but also can leave a lot of benefits!

Lu San found out the accurate news, which made Zhu Zhihan ecstatic.

As soon as the two of them put it together, they immediately decided on three things:

The first thing is that he wants to write a letter to Shizi and Qiu Zigong, telling them that the silver money of this Huitong money bank is more powerful than real knives and real guns. They are like real silver, which can dazzle the eyes and disturb the mind; You can storm the city and sweep away thousands of troops. Therefore, he suggested that it should be distributed in Huguang Province as soon as possible. Strive to reach the density of one state and one county and one money village like Shudi. In addition, the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River should also speed up the layout, so that "the silver money will always be in front of the army, and the army will follow the money village closely!" ”。

The second thing is that this Lord Block's deep understanding of banknotes makes Zhu Zhihan very interested. Zhu Zhihan decided to personally ask for a meeting with Master Du in the name of the chief shopkeeper of Jinghu Qianzhuang, explaining his personal identity as the clan of the Shu clan and the origin of Huitong Qianzhuang, dispelling his concerns about Yinxi, and expressing his desire for further in-depth cooperation with the Changsha government.

What kind of in-depth cooperation? It is to purchase grain for a long time through the Changsha government, regardless of how much, in short, if there is grain, it will be purchased as much as possible, so as to alleviate the food crisis caused by the current displacement into Sichuan, and thus establish a good mutual trust between the Shu Wangfu and the Changsha government. For this reason, if it is difficult for the big man to use the township soldiers to suppress the bandits, he can also sponsor some silver and one or two "meritorious" generals. Of course, horses, armor, swords, military uniforms and other military materials that have been tested in actual combat can also be sold to them at preferential prices.

As for the third thing, the government should cooperate, and the agreement reached with the Ji Wangfu should be signed correctly, and in the future, it will strive to reach an agreement with King Rong, King Heng, and King Min.

Zhu Zhihan sighed to Lu San that 250,000 stone grain can feed 100,000 displaced people or 50,000 troops. With these people, even if he gives real money, the money and treasure that he gave out will come back sooner or later. If the Jiwang Mansion really stirred up the resentment of the local people for this batch of grain, it would be even better, because the silver and treasure would run back on their own legs!

……

Nanjin Pass garrisons in the yamen.

After listening to someone's blow, Chen Youfu said to Zhu Zhihan in official uniform with emotion: "I can't imagine that Zhu Gongzi can raise so much life-saving food for the people as soon as he travels to the Six Kingdoms, which is really a great merit!" With food, we can recruit troops! The Qizhou Mansion fled with King Jing, half a battalion and a company were enough, otherwise it would be difficult to raise ships, horses and vehicles.

Jingzhou is not like Qizhou, it is a big city, and there are obviously too few battalions to guard it. It's just that the current garrison in Jingzhou is probably not appropriate. The intention of the general is to recruit and train troops in Nanjin Pass first. As soon as something happened, we quickly transported reinforcements to Jingzhou, Yueyang and other places to deploy defenses.

As for Wuchang Mansion, I had to wait for Lin Yan and Gonggong Li to have a result.

Tens of thousands of people have already arrived in Lizhou, and in the future, they will help Yiling to settle people, and recruitment and training will start immediately. The general's intention is to divide two cadre battalions to Lizhou tomorrow, led by Deputy Regiment Commander Li Mingshi and Chief of Staff He Huan! ”

Chen Youfu's words are military orders. The deputy head of the regiment, Li Mingshi, was still in the pile of displaced people at the bottom of the mountain, and He Huan stood up to take the order for Li Mingshi.

"The order is forbidden, and there are many officers and soldiers who have won the Shu army, so they must defend and win the war. If so, both state and family affairs are expected! ”

There is no officialdom culture of prevarication, and there is no belly lawsuit where you come and go, no matter how big or small the matter is, everyone will discuss it, and then the Lord will make a decision. Seeing this, Zhu Shuya, who was wearing a big hat, sighed. He came to Nanjin Pass this time and brought 30,000 stone of grain raised by the King of Liao. After handing over the grain, he also had to go to Shu to meet Zhu Pingjian, the prince of Shu, on behalf of the Liao domain, for the reason that there was a courtesy exchange between the two domains of Shu and Liao.

Chen Youfu was not familiar with the nobles of the Liao Palace, so he just bowed slightly to Zhu Shugui to show politeness. He said to Wen Yang: "Lao Wen, the recruitment will start tomorrow morning." Note that the scholars and craftsmen among the people must be screened and registered separately! Especially Langzhong, we're going to use it soon! ”

After arranging the conscription, Chen Youfu turned to Lu San: "The will of the prince, the garrison of Jinghu Shu Wangfu implements a unified command of the military and the people. Do you know that now you are at my command? ”

"Captain Chen, the villain is a dart, you can rest assured that you can command......" Lu San stood up and took the order with a grin.

"The more and more displaced people gather here, I would have been worried that something would happen. Conscription begins tomorrow morning, and the people are in formation at the same time. Time is in a hurry, and we will screen it when we get to Shudi. About three or five hundred people formed a team, each team sent a captain, and set off early the day after tomorrow! Captain Wei will send someone to meet from the direction of Kuizhou. Remember, it's best to form a team of a family, a township and a mile, and then go to a team after forming a team! Before departure, each person should carry at least fifteen catties of food! Most of the grain ships in the palace can only be driven to Kuimen. The land route of the north road of the Three Gorges, all the way up the mountain and the road is dangerous, and it is all grain-free area. If there is no food on the road, it will be bad! ”

"Captain Chen is very right!" Lu San said with a smile, "At the beginning of last year, in Renshou, we almost starved to death ......!" ”

"I would like to thank Lu Tou in the future, if it weren't for Lu Tou to ask for food from Chengdu, the fathers, wives, and children of more than 30% of the officers of the National Protector Army would starve to death!"

The people here were laughing and laughing. They talk about tomorrow's recruitment and look forward to the future of the homeless. Zhu Zhihan was suddenly a little apprehensive, he didn't know what the prince would give him through Chen Youfu. Unified command, taken literally, can there only be one Shangguan in the Jinghu area? So how will he, a man without soldiers and no generals, deal with himself?

He was entangled in his thoughts, but he saw the young scholar who had sat far away when he entered the room and stood up: "Head Chen, in addition to taking the north road to Kuimen, the students also know a road from the south road to Sichuan. This mountain slope is gentle and flat, and you can also borrow a waterway to transport grain on the way! As for the guide on the road, don't worry! Today, the students checked the water situation and found that the water of the Yangtze River rose sharply,......"