When I went out, I saw that a group of cavalry rushed over, and the three or four led by were civil and military, all of whom were acquaintances.

"See the end of the observation!"

Liang Zhiren jumped off the horse, threw the reins to the soldiers behind him, and saluted Li Si with a fist, shouting in his mouth, but his knees were not bent at all, and there was a bit of a playful smile on his face.

"Lao Liang, you guy, come to pickle me as soon as you meet! Be careful that I really play a copy, please Shang Fangjian cut off your dog's head......" Li Si stretched out his hand, slapped Liang Zhiren's fists, and turned around to greet Chen Zhaoan, Luo Mingshou, and Zhang Jiabao next to him one by one, and they were all familiar with each other.

Liang Zhiren is a local warlord in Guangdong, the battle of Ganzhou and Wang Kefan are related, Ding Kuichu after the fall of Chaozhou as the general soldier, on the surface is a subordinate of Su Guansheng, the governor of Liangguang, but in private he has close contacts with the Chu army.

"Lower officials, see observation." Chen Zhaoan saluted with a smile, he is the Xin'an County Commander, an official of the Chu Xun faction, and Hong Kong is under his rule, but Li Si has the rank of a fourth-grade official of the salt tea ceremony, which is his superior.

"You come too! Scold me, don't you? I'm a vain Taoist, and you're my parent's official! If this happens again, I will kneel down and kowtow when I see you in the future, and shout Lord Qingtian......" Li Si joked, invited everyone to sit down, and asked: "It was the gust of wind that blew you all here today, is there anything urgent?" ”

Together with Luo Mingshou and Zhang Jiabao, almost all the important officials of Chu Xun in Guangdong have arrived, and although Liang Zhiren is an outsider, he also has a close relationship with Chu Xun, so they hurried together in a hurry. There must be something important.

"The imperial court is going to use troops against Jiangnan, this is a letter from Wang Junmen to you, you can take a look first." Chen Zhaoan is closer to Guangzhou. Received the news earlier.

This is Wang Kefan's handwritten letter, which has not been opened yet, Li Si called and read it carefully, frowned and glanced at Liang Zhiren, and asked: "Although Wang Junmen is going to go on an expedition again, there is no need to transfer troops from Guangdong, Lao Liang came to me." What's the fun? ”

"Although Wang Junmen doesn't look down on Fujian, my Su Junmen is staring at it! My Lao Liang is also going to go on the expedition this time, and there is a shortage of soldiers and food. I have come to ask for your help......"

In the current Southern Ming Dynasty, the boundaries between the provinces are not so clear, and big fists can naturally bully others, such as the western part of Jiangxi was occupied by the Qing army. After Wang Kefan regained the lost territory. will not return this land to 10,000 yuan...... Although Wan Yuan Ji was nominally the governor of Jiangxi and Fujian, in fact he only controlled the southern part of Jiangxi, and his strength was far worse than that of Guangdong. Su Guansheng, the governor of Liangguang, was preparing to send troops from eastern Guangdong to attack Fujian, which could not only grab credit, but also grab territory, and all the face...... Liang Zhiren's troops were stationed in Chaozhou Mansion for a long time, and they confronted the Qing army head-on, and the soldiers in Guangdong were considered elite. He was selected by Su Guansheng to participate in the Battle of Fujian.

"Lao Liang, you have found the wrong person, regardless of lack of food and salary. Go to the Soviet Army Gate and ask for it! Li Si said lightly: "If there is really an emergency, I will return that component to you, and the interest will be almost 10,000 taels of silver......

"No retreat! Not a penny will be refunded! I'm still pointing to that silver for retirement! Liang Zhiren hurriedly refused, and said: "I have long known that you are an iron rooster with no hair, and I didn't plan to borrow silver from you, this time I borrowed some food and soldiers and horses from you...... I heard that your sweet potatoes and potatoes here are very cheap, so lend me 5,000 stone first, and repay it twice as much after this battle. ”

Su Guansheng allocated him a sum of military expenses, and Liang Zhiren is not short of money now, but he is just in time for the lack of money, and he has money and no place to buy food. The so-called soldiers and horses go first before they move the grain and grass, and thousands of men and horses will consume tens of thousands of catties of grain and grass in one day, and if the problem of logistics supply is not solved, this battle will not be fought.

"Don't borrow!" Li Si had a brother's expression of settling accounts: "You have a good calculation, now it is the spring famine, the price of grain is the most expensive, and after this battle, it will be harvested in the summer, even if you double the grain to me, I will still suffer...... Don't worry, let's be brothers, I won't talk about it at all, grain can be sold without borrowing, sweet potatoes are one or two silver and one stone, potatoes are two taels and one stone, one hand pays money and one hand delivers, no bargaining, no copper money......"

"You're more expensive than rice!" Liang Zhiren shouted: "No! No way! It's a big deal that I'm going to buy rice, and I was slaughtered by you for no reason! ”

"Hmph, my price is fair enough." Li Si raised the letter in his hand and shook it at Liang Zhiren: "As soon as this news comes out, how high the price of rice will rise, I can't be sure now, if you can buy a suitable one, you will never stop you as a brother." ”

Liang Zhiren was stunned, and said angrily: "Okay, count you ruthless!" I simply asked for more, 5,000 quintals of sweet potatoes, 3,000 quintals of potatoes, and 2,000 quintals of brown rice, all in cash. ”

"yes, okay." Li Si was slightly stunned in his heart, these grains cost more than 10,000 taels of silver, and the price is really not cheap, but Liang Zhiren agreed so happily, which is a little strange.

Liang Zhiren suddenly changed to a smiling face: "Let me give out so much silver, you have to do me another favor...... In order to win, I would like to borrow 3,000 elite soldiers from you to help in the war, how about it? ”

He has been engaged in a tug-of-war with the Qing army in recent years, and his troops have been constantly depleted, but the speed of replenishment has not kept up, and he only has more than 4,000 armored soldiers under his command.

"This one definitely won't work." Li Sizheng said: "Although I have 8,000 soldiers and horses here, there are only 2,000 or 3,000 elite soldiers who can fight, and I can't leave Hong Kong lightly." If I borrow your 3,000 elite soldiers to go to Fujian, what if the red hairy fan is killed from the sea? ”

"How can it be so coincidental that the red-haired fan doesn't dare to come." Liang Zhiren said: "As long as you are willing to send troops, the food and salary will be paid by me, if there is an injury, the pension will be doubled, and there will be another heavy thank you after the victory, and you will never let your soldiers and horses run empty, how about it?" ”

Li Si was just about to open his mouth, but Zhang Jiabao next to him interjected: "Fourth master, just let me go!" In the past two years, the brothers have not stopped practicing, and it is easy to seize an opportunity to kill the Tartars, and it is really not a taste to stay at home and watch. How about I pick 2,000 elite soldiers to stay, and then 3,000 soldiers? ”

Liang Zhiren also hurriedly replied: "Okay, as long as it's armor, it's good to leave two thousand elite soldiers first, so as not to be afraid of the fourth child." ”

Zhang Jiabao's 8,000 troops were responsible for defending Hong Kong, and for the past two years they had been training according to the standards of the Chu army, which had captured armor and weapons on the front line, and had them constantly transported back to Hong Kong to equip them neatly. Although they don't have much actual combat experience, these 8,000 soldiers can go into battle to kill the enemy, and if they are placed in the Guangdong official army, they will definitely be the main force.

"What does Luo Shuai mean by this ......?" Li Si asked Luo Mingshou's opinion.

"It's not a big problem. Hongmao Fan himself is fighting among himself, and he can't take care of stealing business with us recently, although there are some skirmishes in Xiamen, Zheng Chenggong will not openly come to Hong Kong. Luo Mingshou thought for a while and said: "If the fourth master is not at ease, just let them take a boat and take the waterway, in case something happens in Hong Kong, I will return to the ...... immediately."

Luo Mingshou inadvertently proposed a new battle plan, outflanking Quanzhou Prefecture by sea and fighting a landing battle by water.

"That's a good idea! Let's take a closer look...... "Liang Zhiren is very interested, if the surprise attack on Quanzhou Mansion is successful, he will be able to eat the Zhangzhou Mansion in the middle and occupy the two mansions at once, Liang Zhiren has certainly made a great achievement, even Su Guansheng has basically achieved his goal, and the other Guangdong soldiers and horses are just icing on the cake.

"No, I can't do this." Li Si still shook his head: "If you all think that you can fight, at least ask Wang Junmen first." In this way, I will immediately send a fast horse to Jiangxi by post road, and ask Wang Junmen to decide. ”

"Hey, then don't delay for ten days?!" Liang Zhiren was greatly dissatisfied.

"Sharpening knives is not a mistake for woodcutters, there are ten days of hard work, just do more preparations. Besides, the waterway is already fast, so you should send troops first. Li Si thought more, although sending troops to Fujian is obviously picking fruits, but it is difficult to say whether it will cause other troubles, and Wang Kefan will make the decision.

After Liang Zhiren achieved his goal, he said goodbye and left, and the others began to actively prepare, even if Wang Kefan did not agree to send troops to Fujian, Hong Kong would provide a batch of military supplies for the Chu army, and Li Si, Chen Zhaoan, Zhang Jiabao and others were busy.

Before parting, Li Si conveyed another order from Wang Kefan: "The letter from the military gate instructed that from now on, Hong Kong can no longer have copper and iron to go to sea, and if there are guests selling copper coins and iron utensils, we must try to eat them, we really can't eat them, and we must find a way to keep them on the mainland for sale." ”

"What, does the military gate need copper and iron to make weapons?" Zhang Jiabao asked.

"For this reason, but the most important thing is that we can no longer exchange copper and iron for silver, so that the price of silver is getting higher and higher, and the goods are sold too cheaply, and we will suffer a loss." At this moment, Li Si looked very profound, and the expression on his face was like constipation: "Our Ming Dynasty uses silver as the currency and implements the 'silver standard' system, understand?" ”

“……”

Chen Zhaoan, Zhang Jiabao, Luo Mingshou, Qin Zhiben...... One counts as one, and all of them are dumbfounded, like listening to a book from heaven.

Li Si is actually learning and selling now, swallowing dates, pinching the letter written by Wang Kefan, but like an economist who has just won the Nobel Prize: "According to the order of the military gate, we will prepare to mint a batch of silver dollars in Hong Kong within two years to replace loose silver in this port, let's sum up this matter......

Wang Kefan is not good at economics, and his understanding of the silver standard system is also very superficial, and he only understands some very basic principles, but it is enough to bluff Li Si.

He wanted to mint silver dollars, not on a whim, but according to the development of history, he judged that the silver coin system would inevitably replace the silver tael system. After the West entered the period of great exploration, gold and silver coins were minted as a unified currency, and Hong Kong should also prepare in advance if it wants to develop maritime trade. (To be continued......)