On March 12 of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the two Huai salt merchants finally agreed to Wang Zheng. If the Shandong army sent troops to expel the pirates and pirates, the two Huai salt merchants would take out 1,440,000 taels of silver every year for military expenses.

Of course, this military expenditure is only a general name, which includes the expenses of the soldiers of the Shandong Army in Huaibei.

In addition, when the Shandong army was stationed in various towns, the local chamber of commerce and salt merchants also had to make it easier for them, after all, they had to bow their heads.

The Shandong Military Committee was really surprised that this "treaty" could be reached, and Li Yan, Guan Qingtian, and Gu Junen of the Military Discussion Department also looked at each other with a wry smile when they heard the news.

The handsome king of the heart is really not comparable to Liu Zeqing, in the last stage, in addition to the deficit of the cultivation farm, that is, the effort to eat a meal actually made up for most of it.

Besides, the expulsion of the pirates and pirates said so, and everyone knew in their hearts that as long as they entered the city, it was not impossible to suppress them for three and a half years.

In fact, having said that, although Wang Zheng started by selling smuggled salt, he is not a person of this era after all, and the news of the style of action and family property of the two Huai salt merchants is partly the credit of the spies under the spy department of the Military Affairs Department, and the other part is from Fan Ruohai and other Shandong salt merchants who worked for Wang Zheng.

They have been wandering on the salt road for a long time, and it is not an exaggeration to say that all their wealth is pressed on it, and they are familiar with all kinds of information and unwritten rules.

The salt merchants paid more than 700,000 taels of silver in advance for the first batch, and the news was sent to Licheng in a hurry the next day, which shows how eager they were in their hearts.

However, the more eager the salt merchants were, the more stable the king was waiting, and only by grasping their necks tightly could they be more sure, and more than 700,000 taels of silver were received from the treasury on the same day to allocate various military expenses, but the date of sending troops was not set.

On the morning of March 14, the day after the silver was delivered, the anxious salt merchants did not wait for the news that the Shandong army had entered Huaibei, but heard that Wang Zheng had held a grand ceremony to sacrifice the flag to the north.

The 12 battalions of the Shandong Army and the Army are all in number, totaling more than 12,000 armored soldiers, and if the number of auxiliary soldiers of the baggage battalion and the number of sergeants of the firearms battalion and cavalry battalion are also counted, the number is about 20,000.

Licheng and outside the city were crowded with people who came to see each other off, the streets were blocked, and even it was very difficult to get in and out.

"Have you heard, Wang Dashuai led the Shandong army to the north!"

"How can you not know~, this is a big thing recently, you listen, the children are singing smoothly!"

"This is a good thing to say, but I heard that those rogues in the Central Plains, what are the Eight Kings, what Cao Cao, are not good characters."

"Let's pray for the commander and bless the victory of the Shandong army!"

......

On the second day of the Shandong Military Sacrifice Flag, Lu Jingrong, the commander of the main army of Qingzhou Prefecture, led three regular barracks and entered the Huaibei territory very slowly after the rectification of the Andong Acropolis.

If the Ming officers and soldiers stationed in Haizhou City in the past were not too incompetent, the salt merchants would not have had to beg the Shandong army for help.

Haizhou is the world's famous Huai salt production area, the top priority of the two Huai salt industry, but also the two Huai salt merchants to start the foundation, absolutely not to be lost.

The salt merchants were afraid of this, so they took the initiative to spend money to sacrifice the army and fund the construction of military camps and wharves.

It is said that the number of officers and soldiers in the city is getting smaller and smaller, and no matter how the salt merchants block the news, this kind of official army can not hide the fact that they broke and fled overnight.

After Lu Jingrong led his troops into Huaibei, he did not rush into Haizhou, and advanced steadily for several miles, but after crossing the Shu River, he was stationed in Linhong Town.

The three main barracks of the Shandong Army acted very steadily, and did not have a day idle when they were stationed in Linhong Town, and Lu Jingrong continued to spread scouts day and night, hoping to get useful information from the local people.

Later, I learned that what the salt merchants said was indeed the truth, and the pirates and pirates in various parts of Huaibei were simply very rampant, and there were even Ming officials and soldiers in Haizhou who defected, and this kind of person was familiar with the situation and caused greater harm.

Lin Hongzhen was originally stationed by a thousand presidents with 300 Ming troops, but when Lu Jingrong led his troops to station, there was not a single officer and army left, and all the people who could run ran away, leaving only some old, weak, sick and disabled waiting to die.

Lu Jingrong, who led the troops, was really shocked in his heart, he had been in Shandong for a long time in the past, and he was used to seeing those scenes of Jingping, but he was suddenly pulled back to the cruel reality, and it was a little difficult to accept for a while.

Speaking of which, this year can be described as Lu Jingrong's lucky year, at the beginning of the year, he was promoted from the commander of the Yanding line to the commander of the battalions of the Shandong Army stationed in Qingzhou Mansion.

From the commander of the lineage of Yanding who traveled all over the country to the general who went out of the town, this is a qualitative leap.

In the past, Lu Jingrong's family was just some friends on the salt road, no more, no less, but enough to support the façade, but this year's Spring Festival was replaced by the gentry and noble families from all over Qingzhou Prefecture, and the rich and noble families in these places actually came to the door to ask for care.

In fact, having said that, with Lu Jingrong's current status as a general of the Shandong Army, and the title of the capital secretary, he naturally deserves to be surrounded by local heroes, and the threshold was almost kicked out in those days.

In this kind of situation, it can be seen that Lu Jingrong's mother can't keep her mouth shut for a few days, and even praises her son for growing up and promising, so glorious.

Lu Jingrong was excited and excited, but also secretly determined to fight for the king, thinking that this time he would lead the troops to Huaibei, and the various systems and systems would be handled in accordance with the decrees of the Military Parliament Department, and he would strictly obey the military orders.

Who would have thought that the situation here was very different from what he thought, first of all, according to Wang Zheng's military order, the Qingzhou Mansion was mobilizing three battalions to enter Huaibei, and the total number was three thousand, but according to the intelligence in recent days, the number of pirates and pirates rampant here is far more than that.

In fact, this is also Wang Zheng's miscalculation, he initially started in Dengzhou and dealt with water bandits, pirates, and pirates, and robbers, and he knew the combat effectiveness of these scumbags, so he naturally didn't take it to heart.

At first, Wang Zheng even thought that it would be enough to send only one main battalion over, but after discussing with the Military Division, he felt that it was safer to send three battalions.

From now on, everyone seems to have thought wrongly, and three battalions are not enough.

However, Lu Jingrong knows himself very well as a superior, and Wang Zheng, the general soldier of Shandong, has never been a magnanimous person, and attaches great importance to the personal ability of military generals, and the Shandong army has never needed to be greedy and afraid of things.

Lu Jingrong just sat in the seat of the commander of the main soldiers of Qingzhou Mansion, naturally he had to be very cautious, this time he was the first time to take this kind of big errand to lead the troops out of the country, if he just came out and said that there was a difficulty, I was afraid that the generals of the Shandong army would also laugh at him.

Lu Jingrong was stationed in Lin Hong Town for seven days, and after thinking about it, he decided to try it first, and he also knew that great merit and great merit were actually between a thought.