In this chaotic era at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Liangyu's army was famous for its military discipline, and every time he captured a city, he would inevitably loot silver and women. Blatantly arsoning ** women on the street has also become the norm for the Left Army.

The left army claimed to be 800,000, and the regular sergeants were only 300,000 or 400,000, and the difference in the middle was the families of the army, and tens of thousands of young women were used as military prostitutes.

The basic source of these military prostitutes is the young women looted by the Left Army, and the tools for the chief officers, officers, and sergeants to vent their humiliation from top to bottom in the army.

Fang Yuan was unwilling to deal with a notorious warlord like Zuo Liangyu in his heart, and when it spread, Fang Yuan's reputation was an indelible stain.

This time, Zuo Liangyu was instigated to send troops to Nanzhili, and the only way to do so was informal negotiations, so as not to settle the truth. The envoy sent by Fang Yuan was neither military nor political, but Xu Hua, who ran a brothel in Jiangnan, went to Jiangxi under the pretext of trading silk for women.

As soon as Ma Shiying arrived in Nanjing City, he made a hostile strategic deployment against Fang Yuan, and Zuo Liangyu, who was always paying attention to the movements of Nanzhili, had already received information.

Xu Hua's identity is too special, he is not only a big businessman, but also Fang Yuan's cronies, he suddenly arrived in Jiangxi at this sensitive moment, although he is trading silk for women, but Zuo Liangyu has felt the clear signal released by Fang Yuan, it is by no means as simple as talking about silk trading.

Zuo Liangyu was sick and in urgent need of recuperation, so he arranged for his son Zuo Mengeng to come forward instead of him and meet Xu Hua.

Zuo Mengeng is Zuo Liangyu's successor, just been named the general of the Ping Thief by the imperial court, and put out a luxurious lineup in the mansion to receive Xu Hua, in addition to Zuo Liangyu who was stationed in Luzhou and Anqing, the other general officers Wu Xueli, Li Guoying, Ma Jinzhong, etc. all gathered together.

Xu Hua entered the barracks, and the purpose of his entry, including Zuo Mengeng, was that every chief officer was holding two or three women with almost naked upper bodies, without the slightest physique of the barracks.

His first feeling was like entering a beast's den, Zuo Mengeng directly pushed two women with upper body ** to Xu Hua, laughed and said, "Come, come, this is our Zuo Army's hospitality, smile, smile!" ”

Although Xu Hua is the big boss of Kaiqinglou, he is also from Jiangnan, who is a scholarly person, and he also knows what shame is, so he was startled, and hurriedly pushed away the two women, and was shocked under the pressure, and said with a smile, "General Zuo, I'm here to do business, why bother to make such a big battle?!" ”

The so-called those who wear shoes are afraid of being barefoot, those who are barefoot are afraid of horizontal, those who are horizontal are afraid of shamelessness, and those who are shameless are afraid of death.

Zuo Mengeng deliberately put on this posture, just to let Xu Hua see it with his own eyes and feel it himself, and then go back to tell Fang Yuan that Zuo Jun is a group of rogues and bandits who have nothing and no benevolence, righteousness and shame, and they only recognize swords, silver, and women in their eyes, and there is nothing else to talk about.

He glanced at Han Jin, a big porcelain merchant in Jingdezhen, who was at the bottom of the table, and Han Jin said solemnly, "I am Han Jin, a big porcelain merchant in Jingdezhen, and the silk trade is not mentioned for the time being, the new porcelain bought and sold by Governor Fang is also the craft of Jingdezhen, but the official kiln and private kiln in Jingdezhen have not produced these batches of porcelain." Dare to ask, where did Governor Fang steal this skill? ”

Xu Hua didn't expect that the Zuo family would get straight to the point and ask about the imitation of Jingdezhen porcelain, he was used to seeing people and talking about ghosts, and said with a smile, "This, I only sell silk, not porcelain, this transaction is not under my control." ”

Han Jin said angrily, "Governor Fang has wantonly dumped counterfeit Jingdezhen porcelain overseas, making our real porcelain unsalable, and losing at least two million taels of silver every year, how should this account be calculated?" ”

Only then did Xu Hua understand that the Zuo family was looking for an excuse to blackmail the silver, and he even said, "If General Zuo and Boss Han have any questions, you can send someone to Suzhou City with me to meet Governor Fang." In fact, as long as the other transactions are done, what is the silver of porcelain? ”

When he looked at him, he was hinting to Zuo Mengeng that the matter of blackmailing money should be put aside for now, and he could talk about military and political affairs. As long as the major military and political affairs are settled, everything else is easy to discuss. If the major military and political affairs are not properly discussed, the other things will be discussed in vain.

Zuo Mengeng nodded and said, "What does Governor Fang think?" ”

Xu Hua didn't know how to tell the truth at all, and began to play Tai Chi, "Governor Fang has nothing to do with this matter, I'm here to do business, and doing business is a win-win situation, and everyone takes what they need." ”

Zuo Mengeng knew that Fang Yuan cherished feathers, and was very taboo about having anything to do with Zuo Jun, and said bluntly, "I won't beat around the bush, Fengyang Mansion, Hezhou, and Chuzhou belong to us, and you can't interfere; As for what you are doing in Gangnam, we will not interfere. But there is an additional condition, that is, you must agree to the sale of porcelain for military rations. ”

The Left Army did not have a long-term plan in Jiangxi, and it was basically in a state of total plunder. Due to the deterioration of military discipline in the Left Army, both peasant households and tenants fled in large numbers, and when they heard of the arrival of the Left Army, all men and women fled to the mountains, so the Left Army was very short of both military rations and salaries.

Zuo Mengeng's proposal to exchange porcelain for military rations was actually to ask for Fang Yuan's military rations support.

Xu Hua only came this time for a preliminary trial, and he had no right to promise this deal, so everything could only be discussed in detail by Han Jin, a big porcelain merchant in Jingdezhen, to Jiangnan and Fang Yuan.

Xu Hua and Han Jin returned to Suzhou City together in the name of porcelain trading, Han Jin was arranged to live in the pavilion, and Xu Hua secretly brought the conditions of Zuo Mengeng's porcelain for military rations to Fang Yuan, and also informed what the wanton traitors in the Zuo army camp had seen and heard.

Zuo Mengeng was willing to exchange porcelain for military rations, and Fang Yuan readily agreed. Those Ming versions of Jingdezhen porcelain can be sold to the people in Jiangnan at the original price, which can be regarded as a change of direction to improve the living standards of the people.

Of course, the grain traded with the left army could not be too much, nor too little.

The volume of military rations traded is too large, and the Left Army, a half-rogue and half-bandit-like army, once the military rations are sufficient, it can be a large-scale riot. Although the quality of the soldiers cannot be guaranteed, once the number and scale increase, there will be no small threat.

The volume of military grain transactions cannot be too small, the left army is a combination of officers and soldiers, and rogues are basically a rabble, and the quality of the sergeants and equipment are not as good as Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and these regular Ming troops. Once the war fell into a stalemate, the cost of 300,000 or 400,000 men was not a small amount, and if the left army had no military rations and collapsed, then Fang's original plan would have failed.

After careful calculation, Fang Yuan limited the amount of military rations traded with the Left Army to 200,000 stones. This batch of grain can supply the 300,000 left army for about two or three months, and can last until the end of this war.

200,000 stone military rations are 300,000 taels of silver, and the porcelain finished in Jingdezhen is only worth less than 200,000 taels. Fang Yuan also put forward the suggestion of deducting silver with people, and only women under the age of thirty. At a discount of three taels of silver per woman, 120,000 taels of silver, Zuo Liangyu needs to hand over 40,000 women.

Han Jin came to negotiate on behalf of Zuo Liangyu, as long as these young women can be grabbed anytime and anywhere in Luzhou and Anqing, as many as they want, Fang Yuan is willing to spend military rations in exchange, where will Han Jin refuse? directly agreed to the deal of exchanging women for military rations for Zuo Liangyu.

Fang Yuan can't turn his face with Zuo Liangyu now, this move is to do his best to save the poor women who were used as military prostitutes in the Zuo Army barracks, he is not a savior, he can't finish the injustices in the world, can he save one by one!