Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume 5: Lying on the salary and tasting the guts

Chapter 2 The Tiger and Wolf Nirvana Became an Army

Section 6: Loans

After staying in the capital for two days, Liu Yunwei received a reply from Huang Jiashan: the iron, saltpeter, sulfur, and 100,000 taels of silver allocated by the military department had been shipped a day ago and were now on their way to Tongzhou; And Li Ruhua, the secretary of the household department, has also promised that he will raise a large number of tuntian materials within three days and try to assist the tuntian affairs of Tongzhou Town, but the remaining shortcomings need to be found by the Tongzhou General Military Government itself.

Liu Yunwei is still quite satisfied with this result, after all, the time left for the imperial court is too tight, and the amount of materials that need to be raised is very huge, and it is not realistic to expect the imperial court to prepare all the materials in a short time. So, Liu Yunwei led the team to leave the capital on the day he received the news, and rushed all the way back to the Tongzhou camp.

After returning to the Tongzhou camp, Liu Yunwei did not see Yuan Mingxuan's figure, and after asking around, he learned that Yuan Mingxuan was making a fire gun as a superintendent at this time. So, Liu Yunwei didn't care about resting, and immediately went to the Jiangzuo Division located in Zhangjiawan Village, east of Tongzhou City.

At this time, Zhangjiawan has changed from a small village to a huge workshop. Originally, dozens of families in the village had been moved to other places by the Tongzhou General Military Office, and the original houses in the village had been rebuilt and expanded, and more than 200 houses had been built on the periphery of the village for the production of weapons and armor, as well as for the residence of craftsmen.

The whole Zhangjiawan Village is divided into five areas, namely: the soldiers' workshop for the production of weapons, the armor workshop for the production of armor, the firearms workshop for the production of firearms, the sub-medicine workshop for the production of gunpowder, gunpowder and lead, and the tent area for craftsmen and guards to live. Among them, the Bing Fight Workshop, the Armor Workshop, the Firearms Workshop and the Tent Area are all located in Zhangjiawan Village, while the Ziyaofang is a small river bay located two miles south of Zhangjiawan Village, which is a separate house surrounded by a one-man high wall. The reason why the medicine workshop was built separately outside the village was mainly due to the danger of making gunpowder, after all, Zhangjiawan Village was full of fire sources, and it was necessary to be very careful.

When Liu Yunwei arrived at Zhangjiawan Village, where Jiang Zuosi was located, it was already afternoon. As soon as he entered Zhangjiawan Village, Liu Yunwei saw a scene in full swing, full of strong men hurrying by carrying goods, clanging workshops everywhere, mountains of all kinds of materials everywhere, and semi-finished weapons everywhere.

After Liu Yunwei and his entourage searched the village for a while, they found Yuan Mingxuan, who was sweating profusely, in the firearms workshop, and Yuan Mingxuan was checking the manufacture of bird guns and pipes.

"Lord Yuan, I can be regarded as having found you." Liu Yunwei stepped forward quickly and said.

Yuan Mingxuan looked up, put down a sample in his hand, and said to Liu Yunwei: "The little general came just in time, I have something urgent to find you." ”

Liu Yunwei asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"That's right, the iron stored by the division is almost bottoming out, and it is estimated that it will run out later today." Yuan Mingxuan said with a sad face: "What does the imperial court say? ”

Liu Yunwei smiled and said, "Lord Yuan, don't worry, the military department has already allocated a batch of iron and sulfur and other materials, and it is estimated that they will be delivered tomorrow; In addition, Master Li Ruhua, the secretary of the household department, has promised to send a batch of tuntian materials for emergency, and he should be able to cope with it for a while, but it is definitely not enough for the people and the army. ”

Yuan Mingxuan sighed and said, "Then what should I do?" These materials sent by the imperial court are definitely not enough, what should I do after they are used up? ”

Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "I still say the same thing, the boat will naturally go straight to the bridge!" Lord Yuan doesn't need to worry too much. ”

"Is the little general confident?" Yuan Mingxuan said with some doubts: "Little general, don't play dumb riddles with me, I'm going to die in a hurry for the past few days, and I haven't slept peacefully for several days." ”

Liu Yunwei smiled apologetically and said, "Lord Yuan, don't worry, it's like this: I waited for a reply from the military department in the capital for two days, and I didn't wait at the pavilion. I took advantage of this time to visit many big merchants in the capital, those are some big families that have been heirlooms for several generations, it may be an exaggeration to say that they are rich and rival the country, but the rich and rival province is still about the same! In order to raise enough supplies, I talked to their patriarch about our business in Tongzhou Town. ”

"What other business can we do in Tongzhou Town? How did I not know? ”

Liu Yunwei raised his hand and pointed to the east, and said to Yuan Mingxuan, "Does Lord Yuan know what kind of place is over there?" ”

Yuan Mingxuan looked in the direction of Liu Yunwei's finger, didn't react for a while, and asked, "Where is it?" ”

"The Grand Canal!" Liu Yunwei said: "I told those big businessmen that as long as they can provide me with a steady stream of tuntian materials and all kinds of materials that will be needed by the company on a monthly basis, I can guarantee that they can use the freight terminal of the Grand Canal free of charge!" They all have a lot of north-south traffic business, and they need to traffic goods between the north and the south. ”

Yuan Mingxuan frowned and thought for a while, but he shook his head and said, "They won't agree, let's not say that we are not qualified to exempt the tax on river transportation, even if it is exempted, how much silver can we have?" Compared with the huge amount of tuntian materials and the materials that will be used as the division, that tax can be said to be only a drop in the bucket, and no one will do this kind of loss-making business. ”

Liu Yunwei nodded and said, "What Lord Yuan said is right. However, the gratuitous use of the canal wharf is only a pledge used as collateral when I borrow materials on credit, and it is not really exempt from taxes, but we subsidize the taxes spent by those merchants to them; What I really used to pay for these supplies was something else. ”

Yuan Mingxuan's curiosity was completely aroused by Liu Yunwei, and he hurriedly asked, "What else can be used to pay off debts?" ”

Liu Yunwei said: "Before I talk about this thing, let me ask first, does Lord Yuan know what specialties are in Liaodong?" ”

Yuan Mingxuan fell into deep thought, and after a while, he said: "Ginseng, leather goods." ”

"And Haidongzhu!" Liu Yunwei said with a smile: "These three things used to be a specialty of Liaodong, and they were loved by rich people from all over the country, and they were all very expensive. However, since the wild boar skin raised the army, the thousand-year-old ginseng, all kinds of leather goods and Haidong pearls that entered the customs from Liaodong have been completely cut off. Because Liaodong has now been engulfed in the flames of war, few people will sacrifice their lives to Liaodong to sell these goods back to the customs, coupled with the strict control of these three goods by the Jiannu side, those very few people who go out of the customs to sell goods are also returned, and even throw their lives outside the customs. Therefore, today's high-ranking officials and wealthy families in the capital and even the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River can't buy good millennium ginseng, all kinds of leather goods, and Haidong pearls even if they have money, which has led to fewer and fewer thousand-year-old ginseng, all kinds of leather goods, and Haidong pearls that were sold into the customs in the past, thus doubling their value! ”

Hearing this, Yuan Mingxuan suddenly thought of something and exclaimed, "Is the little general planning to use these goods from Liaodong to repay his debts?" ”

"That's right!" Liu Yunwei said: "I said to those big businessmen: in three years at most, I will lead 200,000 troops out of the Northern Expedition and completely annihilate the Jiannu Tartars!" After the annihilation of Jiannu, I will divide all the ginseng, skins, and Haidongzhu that I can find among the big merchants and count them as the arrears I repay them, so that they can make a fortune. ”

"So do they believe it? Aren't they worried that we'll be defeated? ”

"Those big businessmen are indeed worried, after all, those big businessmen just listened to me, and the tragic situation of the previous battle of Salhu is still vivid." Liu Yunwei said in a deep voice: "Therefore, I have sent an invitation to those big businessmen, and I will hold a grand military parade outside Tongzhou City in ten days, so that those big businessmen can see the majestic posture of our Hanwei army, see the majestic wind of 200,000 tigers and wolves waiting in formation, and completely sweep away the worries in their hearts." ”

Yuan Mingxuan paused for a moment after hearing this, then laughed out loud and said, "Haha, since that's the case, then I have nothing to worry about." ”

Yuan Mingxuan felt a lot more relaxed as if he had gone to a heart disease, and then said with a smile: "Okay, I'm afraid it's the first time for the little general to come to the general, right?" I think we'll spend the night here tonight, and I'll take the little general to take a look around and find out about the situation of our division. ”

Liu Yunwei couldn't ask for it, and was about to take a look around Zhangjiawan Village under the leadership of Yuan Mingxuan, when he suddenly saw a night bully rushing over.

"Qiqi General Town, the team of the imperial court transporting materials has passed through Tongzhou City and is rushing here, and it is now five miles away from Zhangjiawan Village."

Liu Yunwei was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately ordered the vacant land to be cleared to place the supplies, and Yuan Mingxuan also personally led people to clear a vacant land in the village as a transit place for materials. After being busy for half an hour, Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan reported that the team transporting the materials had arrived outside the village.

The two hurried to the outside of the village, only to see more than 30 carts neatly parked on the official road, and a team of officers and soldiers in charge of escorting them were guarding the side, led by a hundred households.

Liu Yunwei and Yuan Mingxuan stepped forward to check the materials on the car together, and saw that they were all fine iron, sulfur, saltpeter, and silver, and they were all full of silver, and they were very happy in their hearts. After Liu Yunwei made the settlement with the hundred households, he ordered the receipt of the materials and settled the officers and soldiers who transported the materials.

After dealing with these affairs, it was already nightfall, Liu Yunwei looked up at the faintly visible stars, was in a good mood, and said, "Lord Yuan, let's go to the village and take a look." ”