Fang Yuan released Li Zicheng's envoy Li Yan, and next, it was time to meet the envoy sent by the imperial court, Zhu Yihai, again.

The Xuanjia army attacked Fengyang Mansion, and Ma Shiying and Huang Degong would inevitably ask Sun Chuanting in Shandong for help. Zhu Yihai, sandwiched between Fang Yuan and Sun Chuanting, although the army is not strong, only 20,000 or 30,000, but the terrain is excellent, the north can attack Shandong, and the south can go down to Yangzhou.

And although Zhu Yihai is lustful, his lust has nothing to do with his own ambition, will, and toughness. Historically, he has always hung the banner of opposing the Qing Dynasty, and he has been defeated and fought repeatedly, from Shandong to Zhejiang, then from Zhejiang to Fujian, and then from Fujian to Taiwan, and finally died in Kinmen.

During this period, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had several times to surrender him, but he sternly refused. He was the one of the most resisting vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty who opposed the Qing Dynasty, and almost ran through the entire stage of the Southern Ming Dynasty's resistance to the Qing Dynasty.

In reality, he worked hard to curry favor with Fang Yuan, and Chigutai, who presided over the Northern Expedition, also wanted to profit between Fang Yuan and the imperial court, and strive for the greatest interests for King Lu's family.

If you underestimate Chen Yuanyuan by asking for a trivial matter, you will definitely form a serious strategic miscalculation.

Although Zhu Yihai was addicted to the rouge gouache in the peach garden all day long, he was quite well-informed, and after getting the news that the Xuanjia army was going to Fengyang Mansion, he didn't wait for Fang Yuan to go to the peach garden to invite him to come, and went to the palace by himself.

The two sat down separately, and Zhu Yihai asked bluntly, "Regent, I heard that the Xuanjia Army did not go west, but went to attack Fengyang Mansion?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and began to play Tai Chi with him, "The Western Expedition, of course the Western Expedition." However, Ma Shiying and Huang Degong of Fengyang Prefecture, taking advantage of the Xinding of Luzhou and Anqing in Jiangbei, actually instigated the displaced people in the two prefectures to make trouble and captured two county seats. If this thorn in the eye is not removed, I can't go west with peace of mind! ”

Zhu Yihai said hesitantly, "But Fengyang Mansion is the central capital of the Ming Dynasty and the land of Longxing." Ma Shiying and Huang Degong are loyal to the court, and the regent went to conquer, which is unreasonable! ”

Fang Yuan stopped sneering and said sharply, "His Royal Highness King Lu, which court are Ma Shiying and Huang Degong loyal to?" The Beijing court, or the Nanjing court? If they are loyal to the Nanjing court, even if they have any further disagreements with me, they should go to Nanjing City to meet the prince of the prison state in person. If they are loyal to the Beijing court, they are aiding and abetting abuse, which is the goal of my Qing monarch. ”

"The Ming Dynasty is that there are too many feudal officials who don't know right and wrong, so that the world will be reversed as now, and there is no distinction between people. The empress and the crown prince of Beijing dared to openly put His Majesty under house arrest and steal the imperial power. I am loyal to Your Majesty, and I must sweep away these rebellious thieves! ”

Zhu Yihai was so speechless by Fang Yuan that he was speechless, who was loyal and who was traitorous, it was just idle talk. Where the gun is, there is the saying. Even if Zhu Yihai refutes, it is just a war of words, and it can't change any facts.

Seeing that he was silent, Fang Yuan took a sip of tea and continued to ask, "His Royal Highness King Lu, I heard that you privately bribed our military general, but is there such a thing?!" ”

Zhu Yihai was stunned, and suddenly came to his senses, he was referring to the matter of sending Chigutai silver, his face changed slightly, and he hurriedly explained, "This, this, I have a very good personal relationship with Chi Shuai, the salt dealers who smuggle smuggled salt in Huai'an Mansion often flee to Yangzhou Mansion to avoid pursuit, and it is Chi Shuai who arrested me for me, and those silver are just honorariums." ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Silver is considered a gratuity, but His Royal Highness King Lu added a dozen taels of silver to smuggle war horses to Jiangnan at a high price, and all the silver will be earned!" ”

Zhu Yihai thought that Fang Yuan was here to investigate him for selling horses at a high price, and began to cry with Fang Yuan with a bitter face, "This, this, the regent should also know, the imperial court in the capital strictly prohibits selling war horses to Jiangnan." I also risked being beheaded by the imperial court to sell war horses, and the price was really not high. ”

Fang Yuan smiled slightly, took his hand and said, "His Royal Highness King Lu is willing to sell war horses to support the Jiangnan Imperial Court, I can only be grateful, where will I be harsh?" But, I want to know, where did the war horses smuggled by King Lu come from?! ”

Zhu Yihai was stunned, hesitated for a while, and still told Fang Yuan the truth.

The one who smuggled and sold war horses in the north was Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin in Shaanxi.

In order to resist Li Zicheng's offensive a few years ago, Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin, had already spent all the savings of the palace. In addition, Shaanxi is a large agricultural province, and commerce is not developed. After Fang Yuan opened up maritime trade, even the silk and porcelain that were originally sold from the Silk Road to the countries of Luxi were also diverted to the sea route, which was more convenient for transportation.

In the past, Zhu Cunji could still make some tolls from the trade of the Silk Road, but now even the tolls are very few, and he has long been so poor that one tael of silver is used as two taels of silver.

Over the years, because there was no large-scale war between the Manchus, Mongolia, and the Ming Dynasty, and the capital banned the sale of war horses to the south of the Yangtze River, there were thousands of horses on the Mongolian steppe.

And the richest in the world, and the most lacking of war horses, is Fang Yuan in Jiangnan. Zhu Cunji could only choose to smuggle and sell war horses to Jiangnan to exchange for silver to solve the urgent need.

These horses cannot be sold to Jiangnan through formal channels, and can only be smuggled through smuggling channels.

However, the imperial court in the capital strictly forbade the smuggling of war horses to the south of the Yangtze River, even if Zhu Cunji wanted to sell war horses, or Zhu Yihai wanted to buy war horses, they must also go through the strict review of the imperial court. Blatantly transporting war horses to the south will definitely not be able to pass the imperial court.

Zhu Cunji first found Zhu Yihai in Huai'an Mansion. The two vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty closed the door and discussed, and decided to deal with the court's criticism in the name of Zhu Yihai's arming and defending against Fangyuan's invasion, and continuously purchased the best quality war horses from Shaanxi to Huai'an Mansion.

These war horses transported to Huai'an Mansion, Zhu Yihai sold them to Chigutai at a higher price, and the two Ming vassal kings increased the price by at least 20 taels of silver per horse, and sold 30,000 war horses, that is, 600,000 taels of silver in hand, making a lot of money.

As for whether transporting war horses to Jiangnan will pose a threat to the defense of the north, they really can't care about it. Anyway, the friendship between the two kings and the imperial court is not as deep as the friendship with Fang Yuan, and the northern imperial court really can't hold it, and the two kings have a big deal to surrender to Fang Yuan.

Although Fang Yuan set up another imperial court in Nanjing, he at least still hung the banner of the Ming Dynasty, and also claimed to be the regent of the Ming Dynasty, so he should not be too harsh on the two kings.

Fang Yuan learned the truth from him, and it turned out that it was Zhu Cunji, the king of Qin in Shaanxi, who was smuggling war horses. In this way, the evidence of the two vassal kings' crimes of smuggling war horses and horses is in his hands, and he does not worry that the two kings will not stand on his side at a critical time.

Fang Yuan laughed and said, "Haha! It turned out to be my old time, His Royal Highness King Qin! Good, good. His Royal Highness King Lu, can you smuggle more to Jiangnan? ”

Zhu Yihai wanted to smuggle 100,000 or 200,000 horses, but it was easy to buy horses, but how to transport them to evade the supervision of the imperial court was a tricky problem, "Regent, if the number of war horses is too large, I am afraid that it will arouse the suspicion of the imperial court in the capital, and it is difficult for me to do it!" ”

Fang Yuan saw that he misunderstood that he was buying and selling war horses, and said with a smile, "His Royal Highness King Lu, it is enough to keep the smuggling volume of 30,000 war horses, and I want His Royal Highness King Lu to smuggle ......."

He looked at the stunned Zhu Yihai and continued, "It's a human, a Han Chinese in Northern Xinjiang who are good at riding and fighting, or a Mongol. ”

Although the cavalry battalion of the Xuanjia Army had 30,000 or 40,000 cavalry, less than 20,000 cavalry could really go to the battlefield.

It is not difficult to train the martial arts on horses, and it can be achieved in a few months. The difficulty is to be familiar with the nature of the horse, to be able to skillfully control the horse, but it is even more difficult, and it takes at least several years to train a cavalryman who can fight well.

If he wanted to quickly expand the cavalry battalion, Fang Yuan and Chigutai had discussed, and the fastest way was to go directly to the northern Xinjiang to buy and sell slaves who were good at riding horses, and with a little combat training, they could quickly form combat effectiveness.

There were not a few people who bought and sold slaves in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty and the Mongols, and most of them were enemy clansmen captured by the Mongol tribes when they attacked each other. Some of these captives were kept for their own use, and some of them were sold for money.