When Fang Yuan was building warships like dumplings at the Taihu Shipyard and Longjiang Shipyard, the Dutch people in the southeast sea and the Zheng family had formed an alliance with the threat of Fang Yuan, the common enemy. One of the two sides had the most powerful fleet in the South China Sea, and the other had thousands of cargo merchant ships, and they directly plundered all the merchant ships that the Portuguese and Britons came to buy and sell overseas silk.

The Dutch people also no longer purchased the silk of Fangyuan, but instead bought the silk from the Ming Dynasty, smuggled through the profiteers along the coast, and then sold to the West.

Due to the cutting off of the sea trade route, Fang Yuan's chemical fiber silk trade has been seriously unsalable for several months, the profit has been reduced to one-fifth of the previous one, and the annual loss of silver is one million taels of silver. However, it will take at least a year for his artillery mothership formation to take shape, and after the completion of the construction, it will take military drills and tactics, and it is estimated that it will take at least two years to form combat effectiveness.

According to Shi Lang and Shi Fu's estimates, before the artillery mothership formed its combat capability, the final victory against the Zheng family and the Dutch people in the south was only 20% at most.

Fang Yuan was forced to endure this breath for the time being. Instead, he took the route of the previous overland Silk Road, took the overland trade, and began to contact the chambers of commerce of the Luzi country.

There are 10,000 people who are willing to be this middleman to make profits, and the two sides hit it off, the only condition is that Fang Yuan must transport the silk to Xi'an, and the merchants of the Luxi Kingdom will receive the goods in Xi'an.

This is not that the merchants of the Luhu Kingdom sat on the ground to raise prices, but because of the Ming Civil War, the silk in the south of the Yangtze River had to go north through the Grand Canal, and then go west through Kaifeng Mansion in Henan to reach Xi'an. Along the way, at least pass through Liu Zeqing in Shandong, Kaifeng Mansion of the imperial court, and the territory of the three Qin kings in Shaanxi.

The three companies along the way will definitely not sit idly by and watch the silk from the south of the Yangtze River be transported to Xi'an, and will inevitably sit on the ground and charge a lot of tolls.

Fang Yuan sent the official and merchant Xu Hua to the imperial court in the capital and the Qin king in Shaanxi to discuss the transit of goods.

After deliberation by the cabinet, the imperial court in Beijing replied to Fang Yuan that the imperial court did not cut off the trade route for the sale of silk from Jiangnan to Shaanxi, but for every ten horses of silk transported to Shaanxi, the imperial court had to pay a toll of three pieces of silk.

Fang Yuan and Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin in Shaanxi, were old friends, and Zhu Cunji readily agreed to the request to transit Shaanxi, and only charged two silk tolls for every ten silks.

Originally, it was to sell 6 taels of silver per horse of silk, but after a price increase along the way, the price to Xi'an became 9 taels of silver per horse. Coupled with the freight along the way, it is at least 12 taels of silver per horse. This price is twice as high as the original, and Luxi Country is also happy to respond, because if it is sold to the West, it can be at least several times higher.

Since the Dutch people want to cut off their own trade routes and start a trade war with Fang Yuan, the price increase of Western chemical fiber silk is inevitable.

Xu Hua walked around from the capital and Shaanxi, negotiated the passes for all transportation links, and was about to go to Jinan Mansion in Shandong to negotiate with Liu Zeqing when he was about to return, but the news that the Beijing court sent Sun Chuanting to lead 20,000 new Ming troops to attack the Shandong warlord Liu Zeqing.

Xu Hua hurriedly fled to Yanzhou Mansion to live temporarily, because Jinan Mansion was the only place for silk to go north, he could only wait for the results of the imperial court's crusade against Liu Zeqing in Yanzhou Mansion, and then decide whether to go to negotiate with Liu Zeqing.

Liu Zeqing faced the conquest of the imperial court, and had an army of 100,000, and at first he wanted to wrestle with the imperial court and strive for the status of an independent warlord.

As soon as the two sides started the war, Sun Chuanting's army had just arrived in Hejian Mansion, and he issued an edict to Dongchang, Qingzhou, Laizhou, Dengzhou in Shandong Province, as well as Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu in Yanzhou Prefecture, ordering the prefects and commanders of each prefecture to raise troops together to jointly attack Liu Zeqing's base camp - Jinan Mansion.

As soon as the imperial court's edict arrived, the prefects and commanders of Dongchang and Qingzhou in Shandong Province immediately announced their submission to the imperial court, drew a clear line with Liu Zeqing, and sent the army of the guard to echo the army of Sun Chuanting's crusade.

Although the two governments of Laizhou and Dengzhou did not respond immediately, they still closed the city gates, showing that they would never support Liu Zeqing's attitude.

On weekdays, these prefects and commanders were respectful and respectful to Liu Zeqing, which made Liu Zeqing form a serious misjudgment, thinking that the north of Shandong was already his Liu Zeqing's own land, and he could use Shandong to fight against the imperial court. Before the battle, there was civil strife, and he lost a lot. Only then did Liu Zeqing see the situation clearly, the world is still the world of the Ming Dynasty; Shandong Province is still the Shandong Province of the Ming Dynasty, not his Liu Zeqing's. He wanted to fight against the imperial court according to Shandong, which was simply whimsical.

In the face of Sun Chuanting's aggressive offensive, Liu Zeqing's lone army did not dare to defend in Jinan Mansion, and before fighting a battle, he gave up the base camp, Jinan Mansion, an important town in Shandong, and led the army to flee to Laizhou and Dengzhou with the looted gold and silver.

Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu in Yanzhou Mansion, was still thinking about whether to learn from King Qin, King Qing, and King Su, and strive to be a local overlord in Yanzhou Mansion. As a result, as soon as he saw the collapse of Liu Zeqing's army, he was so frightened that he hurriedly sent 20,000 Lu troops and began to go north to join Sun Chuanting to jointly crusade against Liu Zeqing, who fled to Deng, Laizhou.

Liu Zeqing and his entourage were turned away from Laizhou Mansion, but due to Sun Chuanting's military pressure, they did not dare to attack the city and moved to Dengzhou Mansion.

Dengzhou Mansion was still unwilling to accept him, and Liu Zeqing saw that Sun Chuanting had not yet chased, so he immediately sent troops to attack Dengzhou Mansion. After five days in a row, Dengzhou Mansion was finally captured. Before he could catch his breath, Sun Chuanting's 20,000 new-style Ming troops had already chased to Laizhou Mansion.

The prefect of Laizhou Prefecture and the commander of the guard immediately opened the door to welcome the imperial army into the city.

Liu Zeqing guarded a Dengzhou Mansion, where did he still have the capital to argue with the imperial court, so he was so frightened that he hurriedly wrote to the imperial court to beg for mercy, willing to restore the land and commercial taxes to the imperial court, and the two sides made peace.

The cabinet immediately rejected Liu Zeqing's request to call off the army and make peace, and ordered Liu Zeqing to surrender immediately, hand over his army, and then go to the capital to stand trial.

Liu Zeqing was cut off from all his back roads, if he was escorted to the imperial court for trial, it would be a man-made sword and I would be a fish and meat, and this risk must not be taken. Liu Zeqing was desperate, so he simply gritted his teeth and sent an edict to the Manchu Emperor Dolgon, asking Dolgon to send troops to aid Shandong, and afterwards he was rewarded with 30,000 taels of gold, 500,000 taels of silver, and 100,000 men and women.

Due to the containment of the forces of the domestic emperor Taiji's lineage, Dolgon did not dare to march from Liaodong to Guannei on a large scale, but he still had the ability to send a partial division to aid Shandong, blackmail Liu Zeqing, and reap some benefits. As soon as he received Liu Zeqing's edict, he gathered 50 Niu Lu with white flags, led by Gushan Ezhen He Luohui, together with 20,000 sailors of Shang Kexi, 30 warships, and 100 troop carriers, and put on a posture of crossing the river to provide combat support.

He Luohui followed Dolgon's arrangement, directly blackmailed Liu Zeqing, raised the previously negotiated asking price, and must immediately send 2 million taels of gold and silver and 200,000 people before sending troops to cross the sea to help.

Liu Zeqing has been operating in Shandong for several years, and he has looted countless amounts of gold and silver, at least as much as 5 million taels. The destruction was imminent, and only two million taels of silver could save his life, so he agreed without hesitation, and directly sent 30,000 taels of gold and 500,000 taels of silver to the Manchu military camp on the Liaodong Peninsula.

He Luohui, who received 500,000 taels of silver from Liu Zeqing, still did not cross the river to aid as agreed, but only sent a diplomatic note to the Ming court and the superintendent Sun Chuanting, immediately stopping the attack on Liu Zeqing, otherwise the Manchus would send troops to support.

Dolgon's abacus is to extort the most silver and people at the lowest price, without sacrificing a Manchu soldier, he can scare off the Ming court by intimidation, and get the gold and silver promised by Liu Zeqing, which is the most cost-effective deal.

Sun Chuanting got the threatening letter sent by He Luohui, and his face turned blue with anger, but the diplomatic relations with the Manchu Qing Dynasty were related to the stability of northern Xinjiang, and he did not dare to make decisions on his own, so he immediately sent a letter to the imperial court, asking for the court's decision.

Half a month later, the imperial court's edict arrived, which suspended Sun Chuanting's military campaign against Liu Zeqing, and asked Sun Chuanting to focus on negotiations, supplemented by military strikes, as long as Liu Zeqing was willing to return to the imperial court, he could be allowed to occupy Dengzhou and retain military strength.

The fighter plane cannot be lost, Liu Zeqing is demoralized at this time, and he is chased like a lost dog, and the defeat of Liu Zeqing is just a snap of his fingers. If the negotiations are delayed and Liu Zeqing has a firm foothold in Dengzhou, it will be difficult to attack and destroy it again.

Sun Chuanting was so angry that he couldn't disobey the will of the imperial court, but he was really unwilling to let Liu Zeqing go. He thought about it, and finally decided to put the matter of peace talks with Liu Zeqing on hold for the time being, and sent another private letter to send someone to Jiangnan to hand over to Fang Yuan.

Xu Hua, a big official and businessman, stayed in Yanzhou Mansion for three months, and finally waited for Liu Zeqing to be driven to Dengzhou, relying on the intelligence that colluded with the Manchus to survive. Xu Hua's trade agreement with the imperial court had already been negotiated, and there was no need to delay any longer, so he immediately returned to Suzhou Mansion with the war report from Shandong and reported to Fang Yuan.