Lu Jiude, the eunuch of Nanjing, lived in Beijing for a few years, but after being recommended to the emperor by the imperial horse supervisor and leading troops to Huguang to support the suppression of thieves, his military career was indeed very hard, and he had to be instructed by the superintendent Wenchen, and the leaders of the military generals in the friendly army were very uncomfortable.

Until he inexplicably sat in the position of the eunuch guarding Nanjing, this day suddenly changed from the underground to the sky, although Lu Jiude didn't know the secret, but after all, it was a good thing.

After sitting in the position of the eunuch in Nanjing for less than three days, he sent someone to give a heavy gift to Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch of the Beijing Division, which almost spent eighty percent of his savings in the past few years.

Originally, the great eunuch Wang Chengen was looking for a candidate like Lu Jiude when he came to win Liu Fu, and the master of ceremonies and the imperial horse supervisor were both literate and martial, and there were still some contradictions between them, but this heavy gift was sent over, and Wang Chengen was now Lu Jiude was also interested, so he simply left him in his position.

However, Lu Jiude did not lose anything, and after two months in the position of the eunuch in Nanjing, all the money spent was returned to his hands, and it was a few percent more.

Nanzhili is indeed peaceful, Fengyang Zhongdu, Luzhou Mansion, Anqing Mansion is stationed in the army, the north is Shandong soldiers and horses, the south is Zhejiang, surrounded, there will be no soldiers here at all, it is also very idle on weekdays, and it is enjoyed in this prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River.

But Lu Jiude's peaceful days did not pass a few days, on June 13 of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the Nanjing town guard Yamen received an urgent report, saying that there were Liukou from the direction of Henan Guide Mansion to break into Nanzhili, and there was an emergency along the road.

When this news was reported by the pro-soldiers who passed the message, Lu Jiude was listening to music and tasting wine in the mansion, and several eunuchs in Nanjing City accompanied him and heard the news. Lu Jiude stood there in a daze, the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground and shattered.

In addition to guarding Nanjing, Fengyang, the central capital, and several key points of the Yangtze River, the rest of the soldiers and horses were deployed in Huguang and the border between Nanyang Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture in Henan Province and Nanzhili.

On the same day, Zhang Xianzhong led the rebellious army to break into the central capital Fengyang, burned the imperial tomb, and drank and carnivaled for three days. The eunuchs and others who supervised the army were beheaded and removed from their posts in large numbers. Later, of course, he was unwilling to repeat the mistakes of the past, and as a result, the current south was directly subordinate to the west, with heavy troops stationed in the west, and layers of defense.

Although Zhang Xianzhong is now fleeing in embarrassment in Sichuan. It is possible to return to Huguang at any time, so the defense focus of Nanzhili is to put it in Fengyang, Luzhou, and Anqing. In particular, Luzhou and Anqing are more focused.

On the contrary, it is at the junction of Henan, Shandong, and Nanzhili provinces. The defense is not so tight, because there have never been any thieves breaking in, and the Xuzhou side is a hub. Heavy troops have always been stationed, plus the protection of the land over there, and the soldiers and horses in Shandong and Henan also have responsibilities, so Lu Jiude has never paid much attention to that side.

But today's emergency report came suddenly, and Lu Jiude, the eunuch guarding Nanjing Town, reacted that the Xuzhou soldiers were beaten some time ago, and Henan is said to be all concentrated in the southern and western Henan areas, and the Shandong general Li Meng. He never pays attention to outside things. It's obviously a place where heavy troops are stationed, but now it's actually the emptiest place.

I received an urgent report on this day. Not only the town guarding the yamen, but also the Nanjing garrison and the Nanjing military department naturally received a message from Xuzhou.

Probably the situation was finally understood, saying that a large number of Liukou came all the way south along the Yellow River from the direction of Kaifeng Prefecture, and there were only 500 officers and soldiers in Guide Mansion, all of whom were cowering in the city and did not dare to come out, but in Guide Mansion they deviated from the direction of the Yellow River and entered Nanzhili in the Yongcheng area.

In Nanjing, all the generals who saw the news were scolded, this gang of rogues was so lucky, they actually passed through the gap between Fengyang Mansion and Xuzhou, and the soldiers of Fengyang Mansion could not be transferred in a hurry.

And the soldiers and horses of Xuzhou have suffered defeats, and now to protect Xuzhou, the hub of water 6 transportation, the troops are already very nervous, and they dare not divide their troops to the south.

After the three of them discussed the military department, the garrison, and the eunuchs of the town guard, plus the opinions of the generals in Nanjing, they came to the conclusion that this group of rogues were hungry and homeless, and they came to seek food, and they must be coming to a rich place, Fengyang Mansion, Xuzhou Mansion, and Huai'an Mansion would not be the target of their station, and Jiangbei could go to the local area, especially in the middle of Nanzhili, that is, Yangzhou Mansion was the target.

The current goal is to send troops to block the displaced people in the north of Fengyang Mansion, and Nanjing and Fengyang Zhongdu will each send troops and horses to intercept and completely eliminate them.

For the combat effectiveness of this rogue army, Lu Jiude and the military generals in Nanjing City did not think very highly, and it was still very easy for Nanzhili's soldiers and horses to destroy this group of thieves.

After the three of Nanjing discussed together, they could directly transfer the soldiers and horses from all over the south of Zhili, and then ask for instructions from the Beijing division, and immediately went out one by one the military order documents, and the soldiers and nobles in the city and the generals outside the city were all sorted out the soldiers and horses, and hurriedly went out of the city to cross the river and go to the junction of Yangzhou Mansion and Fengyang Mansion.

However, five days after the paperwork of the transfer of troops, there was a messenger in Xuzhou who sent a letter quickly, and this time the news made everyone in Nanjing City stunned again, and after a large number of displaced people passed through Xuzhou, they did not go south, but went to the sea in the east and went to the north of Huai'an Fu.

According to the time it takes to exchange messages on this letterhead, I wonder what these displaced people are doing there now that they have passed Suqian?

This is not a big problem, the real problem, the army is rushing to the west of Yangzhou Mansion, all in Sizhou, Xuyi area to assemble, and then transfer troops I am afraid that it will be too late, I am afraid that I am waiting for the countermeasures to come out, this side is already about to enter the north of Huai'an Mansion.

But in a hurry, but not as panicked as in the previous period, the sea in the east is a dead land, and the north of Huai'an Mansion is a place where the people are strong, and the families and private soldiers of the big clan will also cause a lot of resistance to the rogues, and there are Shandong soldiers and horses stationed in Huaibei.

One by one, the news continued to come to Nanjing City from the north, and then through the open and secret news channels to the ears of the rich and noble people in Nanzhili, and now the most anxious is the salt merchants in Yangzhou City, and it is not easy to get rid of the scourge of the sea bandits, how can they come to the rogue again, and these rogue people do not go to those rich places. Why did you go specifically in the direction of Huaibei.

There are salt farms and salt production estates, the lifeblood of all salt merchants!

The world is a catastrophe, and Nanzhili is not without disasters, because Nanjing and Fengyang have many royal relatives and nobles, and the rest of the prefectures and counties have many noble officials and relatives, and land annexation is one of the most powerful places in the Ming Dynasty. There are really a lot of landless and bankrupt peasants, and there are a large number of displaced people from Henan, and these civilians who can't survive in the south of the country also follow one after another.

What no one expected was that after Suqian, the scale of displaced people would increase from less than 10,000. It suddenly became nearly 30,000, which has become a catastrophe.

Huai'an Prefecture hastily gathered more than 4,000 soldiers and horses to intercept it. The salt merchant is their food and clothing parents, the boss of the boss. Now that they are about to go to the salt factories in Huaibei, the salt merchants are angry.

These more than 4,000 soldiers and horses were crushed by the rogues without any suspense. Even the generals who led the team died in the chaos, and the soldiers who escaped said that there were a large number of horse thieves among the thieves, and after the battle, the horses rushed in, and they could not hold down the position at all, and the next thing was often to collapse.

No matter how confused this stream is, no matter how desperate they go to the desperate situation of Haiti, it doesn't matter. For now. The most important thing is to defend the salt works in the Haizhou area.

Of course, the salt merchants can't sit still, who are the most capable soldiers and horses in Haizhou and Ganyu now. Of course, it is the 5,000 troops of the Huaibei Army in the Jiaozhou camp, these 5,000 troops, and a thousand soldiers can withstand the siege of thousands of horse thieves.

Officials of Huai'an Province. The envoys of the Haizhou Salt Transport Envoy Yamen, the salt merchants, went to the garrison of the Huaibei Army like a stream, and asked this army to send troops to meet the thieves.

Huaibei Military District Zhang Jiang is only in his twenties this year, but he is an old oilman who has brought soldiers for many years, and his mouth is full of officialdom, saying that "the Ludi army and horses led by this general are guest troops, and the range of guards is Haizhou City, you can rest assured, there is this army in Haizhou City, it will be worry-free, but this other place is ......"

Haizhou city can be guarded, but Haizhou Zhizhou and the salt transport envoy have no happy meaning, Haizhou a city to guard a bird, the outside salt field salt field, the salt warehouse ships on the side of the salt river are the real head, if these are destroyed, I am afraid that the shipment of Huai salt in the second half of the year will be affected.

At present, the west side of Huguang has begun to use Sichuan salt, which has been blocked for hundreds of years, but there is a problem during this time, if it is destroyed this time, I am afraid that even Nanzhili will have to eat salt goods from other provinces.

But no matter how the salt merchants and the government persuaded him, Zhang Jiang just stood still, and what he said was also righteous and awe-inspiring: "I was supposed to be appointed by the chief soldier Li Daren, under the command of the governor of Shandong Yan, and did not listen to the orders of other places", and forcibly blocked these people back.

The current salt merchants are really hesitant, especially when they see the leaders of the Lianghuai salt industry, the Yangzhou Fang family is all Zhang Luo using their own private soldiers and recruiting Zhuang Ding to guard the salt field and salt fields, they are even more panicked.

There are two ways for the salt merchants to do at present, one is to send people to move in Nanjing as soon as possible, so that those high-ranking officials and generals urge the soldiers and horses in Xuyi to transfer to Huaibei as soon as possible, the purpose of these adjustments, the generals who led the troops are all saying that they can no longer run, and the soldiers who run back and forth will easily run down, and when Shaanxi and Huguang suppress thieves, the soldiers and horses everywhere have such difficulties, and they can't keep up with the team, but they become bandits.

When these stragglers and soldiers arrived at the people, I am afraid that they will be a greater scourge than the rogues, and they cannot be moved in a hurry, and the second way is to recruit horse thieves to fight these rogues.

Recruiting horse thieves to fight the rogues is really ridiculous, but Chen Wu, a salt merchant back then, did the same, but this is not a suitable method, after all, far water does not quench the thirst of the near.

Shuyang City was besieged by a large number of rogue bandits, but the defenders of Shuyang City climbed the city and held on to it, and these rogue bandits did not have the ability to attack the fortifications, and they only clamored under the city for a few days.

The displaced people who were on the verge of starvation in Henan, after coming to Huaibei, were guided to break the large manor and some rural forts in succession, and found a large number of stored grain and supplies.

In the prisoner camp under Kaifeng City, some "villagers" and "enthusiastic people" clamored for the so-called wealth of Huaibei, and as long as they came here, they could at least have enough to eat.

For these hungry and destitute homeless, having a full stomach is the supreme happiness, and it is worth risking your life to fight to the death for this goal.

The siege of Shuyang was unsuccessful, and even many Nanzhili refugees who followed the brigade in Fengyang Mansion left on their own. But there are almost 20,000 people left, and everyone is excited about the fire, Haizhou City is the richest city in the world, as long as this city is opened, everyone can have food and clothing without worry.

Faced with such a situation, the salt merchants were indeed anxious. Fang Yingzhong, the son of Fang's family, convened the salt merchants for a day's secret discussion, and the messenger drove out of Yangzhou on a fast horse and headed for Haizhou.

The rogues who left Shuyang City and went to Haizhou marched along the official road, since Henan Guide Mansion entered Nanzhili. These rogues have not encountered any obstacles, but this time they have encountered big trouble. About seventy miles away from Shuyang City, he met the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou Battalion waiting in formation.

This time, the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou battalion was personally led by the garrison Zhang Jiang. Firearms and artillery were brought out, leaving only a thousand men behind.

When Kaifeng was under the city, many of the rogues were rookies who went to the battlefield for the first time. Along the way, many people have become much more sophisticated, at least they are not afraid of blood, and they dare to raise their swords to kill.

But such progress was far from enough in the face of the regular army of the Jiaozhou battalion, although they were facing a unit dominated by new recruits, and even worse, the horse thieves who had always rushed to the front as the backbone. This time, he escaped first.

The horse thief fled. The entire ranks of the rogues were scattered, and by the time the troops of the Jiaozhou battalion rushed to the front of them. The tens of thousands of rogues who seemed to be majestic immediately collapsed completely.

The news of the victory spread, and the southern Zhili Jiangbei area was relieved, and they all had a new judgment on the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou battalion, this Shandong soldiers and horses were really able to fight, and tens of thousands of rogues who gave Henan and Nanzhili soldiers and horses a headache for so long, and the four thousand people of the Huaibei Army actually won in one battle.

It is also rumored that the Salt Industry Association in Yangzhou promised Zhang Jiang 200,000 taels of silver, and the promise of all military expenses for this operation was all-inclusive, so much benefit that Zhang Jiang agreed to lead the army to fight, and won this time, it seems that the silver is worth it.

However, the area of Nanzhili and Jiangbei relaxed early, and the defeated local rogues were not all annihilated, but divided into large and small teams, completely scattered throughout Huai'an Prefecture, attacking villages, harassing the salt field and salt fields, and now because they are divided into pieces, these displaced people squads are also flexible and mobile, at first it was just a local panic in Huai'an Prefecture, but now it is a complete erosion in Huai'an Prefecture.

In just half a month, five salt farms were burned, and even a salt merchant's estate in the countryside was broken, killing and wounding a lot.

Now the officers and soldiers gathered in the Xuyi area can finally come to Huai'an Mansion to suppress the civil unrest, but these soldiers and horses can't take care of such a big place as Huai'an Mansion, so they can only stick to a few cities.

After the dispersal of the displaced people, there was no threat to the city at all, but the salt merchants did not rely on the city to make money in Huai'an Province, and the salt farms and salt fields were all outside the city.

After that defeat, the Huaibei army garrison Zhangjiang was no longer willing to attack at will, saying that now the ground in Huaibei is restless, and it is the duty to protect the safety of Haizhou City.

And what made them feel strange this time was that it cost a lot of money to let Zhang Jiang play last time, but now no matter how high the price is, Zhang Jiang is not moved at all, but there are signs of turning his face.

At this time, the only thing that makes people admire their luck is to talk about the Fang family, not to mention that the Fang family has achieved such a large scale in hundreds of years, most of the Fang family's salt farms are near Haizhou City, and there is a large army of the Jiaozhou Battalion Huaibei Army to escort it, and the thieves and thieves dare not come to harass it.

Because the production has been very stable, the salt merchants in Yangzhou have their own salt fields, and the production capacity is very large, every year in order not to produce price competition and other things, there are agreements in advance to divide the shares, and now many salt fields and salt fields can not even be transported out because of local chaos.

The Fang family and the salt merchants who also had salt fields near Haizhou and Ganyu did not suffer in this chaos, but took a lot of advantage, and since the originally demarcated shares could not produce salt goods, they were naturally invalid.

Because of this chaos, it is not only some salt merchants in Lianghuai who have benefited, but also the salt transportation wharf in Jining Prefecture is also booming, and a large number of salt goods produced by salt farms in Shandong are gathered from the waterway to Jining Prefecture, and then transported to various places for sale through Cao Yun.

Yangzhou salt merchants are the top class of people among the world's richest people. But everyone is a big family, although the income is huge, the expenditure is not small.

Now that the salt land business has been affected, the salt merchants who are directly involved are in a difficult situation, and at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, pirates harassed the salt works. The economic situation has already suffered a lot of damage, and with the "protection fee" shared by the public, it was expected to rely on this year's normal production to make up for the gaps and loopholes, but suddenly there was such a thing, and many families could not hold on.

In fact, these salt merchants also have a problem with the capital chain in their families. Once there is an imbalance between income and expenditure, there is a danger of collapse. Now the danger comes.

In Yangzhou City, in July, the most common sentence said by the idlers in the teahouse is that "the house leak coincides with rain". The smaller the salt merchants, the more they suffered the most in this rebellion, and the so-and-so family had already dismissed many subordinates and maids. So-and-so sells antiques, calligraphy and paintings in the collection and so on.

In addition to discussing this, the idlers also praised the old lady Fang for his benevolence and righteousness, on the one hand, he spent money to help his peers in difficulty, and on the other hand, he sent people around Nanjing City and Jingshi, preparing to completely eradicate the bandits in Huai'an Mansion.

Outsiders look like this, but those salt merchants who encounter financial difficulties know that they are suffering, and it is not a costless charity to help the Fang family, and they take out a penny of silver. and they will take away a penny of silver. These salt merchants are all weak people with no background, and they have no right to speak. At this moment, he was robbed by the other party, and he could only grit his teeth and admit it.

If you don't recognize it, you will dismiss the subordinates and maids in the family, sell the ancestral calligraphy and painting treasures, and do business by relying on the identity of officials and businessmen over the years, and you don't understand other ways at all......

Moreover, the Fang family also used the relationship between the various yamen, Yangzhou salt merchants are government-run, if there is no salt to sell, then the government and the relevant local yamen can also cancel your salt merchant qualifications, to that extent, but it is really a catastrophe, and you can only agree to it.

At the end of July, the Yu bandit rebellion, which was getting bigger and bigger, finally decided to solve it, and the only active and effective way at present was to invite Shandong soldiers and horses to enter Huai'an Mansion to pacify.

The Fang family has a lot of acquaintances in Beijing and Nanjing, and this time almost all of them were mobilized, and the Shandong soldiers and horses to guard the Huaibei Army had actually set a precedent, and there were also Zuo Liangyu's deeds of repeatedly leading troops into Huguang to level thieves in Nanyang Mansion, and it was natural for Shandong soldiers and horses to enter Huai'an Mansion to suppress bandits.

At the beginning of August of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Chen Liu, who was in Jining Prefecture, had already completed the mobilization of 9,000 soldiers and horses of the Yanzhou army, and was ready to personally lead the army to Huaibei to Ping Thieves.

It seems that there is a lot of chaos, but in fact it is all in the plan, Li Meng almost expected this result when he returned from Kaifeng City, there is a gap in the defense between Fengyang and Xuzhou, as long as you observe the situation over there, you will understand.

Those members under Huang Ping instigated and guided among the rogues, and brought a large number of nomads to the north of Nanzhili, and the horse thieves who escaped were all horse bandits in Henan and Shandong, since those salt merchants could spend money to hire, the Jiaozhou battalion also spent money, and these horse thieves became the real core of these thieves under the command of Shandong sergeants.

Zhang Jiang's army attack was of course part of the plan, after the entire Liukou gang was dispersed, the horse thieves and the Liukou were divided into small teams of about 1,000 people, and this time it was the Fang family's personnel in Huaibei who showed them the way and provided support, so those salt merchants with dilapidated backgrounds and no foundation, their industries were accurately hit.

After all this is done, all that remains is for the Fang family to use their connections in the officialdom to do something that pushes the boat along the water, such as the entry of Shandong soldiers and horses to clear out the thieves, which is a very legitimate request, and no one can find fault with it.

When will the bandits be wiped out, it is not a matter of what the Jiaozhou battalion can control, as long as he is stationed in Huai'an Mansion for a day, Huai'an Mansion will be under the control of Li Meng for a day, and his territory has stepped into one foot towards the richest province in the Ming Dynasty, but none of this is important to him.

Li Meng just wanted to return to his own house in Jinan as soon as possible, because he was a father......

In mid-June, Li Meng arrived in Jining Prefecture, listened to the report of the shopkeeper of the Lingshan Commercial Bank there, and met with Kong Sande and other wealthy businessmen in Yanzhou for a few days.

Just about to leave. There is a fast horse urgent messenger in Jinan, and the fast horse is not riding a horse, desperately beating the horse and galloping, but setting up a post station every dozens of miles, and the messenger constantly changes horses to advance, so that the horses can ensure a high degree. Continuous.

The Ming Dynasty still maintained a similar system in the year of the Apocalypse, and Chongzhen was abolished in order to save money, but the information in various places was not smooth, not to mention, and a post guard who was laid off was forced by life to rebel. This person is Li Zicheng.

After Li Meng gradually grasped the power of Shandong, he began to restore the post station. But there must be rotating horses every few dozen miles at this station, and there must not be one horse. It also has to be raised by special people, the cost is really huge, and the financial resources of Jiaozhou are not abundant. It can only be set up between the various Jiaozhou camps.

Since it is a huge cost, whenever it is to be used, it is a major military situation or something, but this time it is used for the sake of having future generations.

Moreover, the messenger he met halfway met after meeting Li Mengdi's team and leaving the news, but did not return immediately, but went in the direction of Jining Prefecture, saying that he wanted the people in Jining to know about this "big event". And also said. In Jinan, fast horses and urgent messengers were sent everywhere, and generals from all over the Jiaozhou battalion town. and the wealthy families who are good with the Jiaozhou camp.

His wife gave birth to a son for herself, and Li Meng was naturally ecstatic, and let his henchmen and relatives and friends know that this is also a matter of course.

But there is no need to use this to hurry, it is the time to start a business, is it necessary to spend so much for your own private affairs, and the scope of this notice is inevitably too wide, Li Meng said secretly in his heart:

"I have a son, my family should be happy, let so many people know what to do, it is not to ask all parties to give gifts, whoever has the idea, go back and definitely have to reprimand!"

There are successors, Li Meng can be said to be ecstatic at this time, and the so-called anger is not serious, but it is better to say that he does not understand this practice.

After the news reached Li Meng's team that returned to Jinan, Li Mengxian's team, Wang Hai and Tang Er, the confidant generals, and the reserve officers in the pro-barracks had a subtle change in their attitude towards themselves.

Li Meng didn't know how to describe it, maybe it might be expressed as more deferential, Li Meng knew that his subordinates, especially Wang Hai, Tang Er, and these officer reserves who were selected for the pro-military camp, were all respectful and loyal to him, and this degree of loyalty was more appropriate to describe with dead heart.

To such a height of faithfulness is to be added a more deferential. This is really a strange metaphor, but Li Meng really feels like this.

It's just that I don't know where such a change came from, and when there was still a day's journey to Jinan, the envoys sent by Chen Liu and Kong Sande caught up behind, not to mention the heavy gifts, and said a lot of congratulatory words, from the specifications of the gifts to the etiquette of congratulations, they were all very grand.

Li Meng finally felt that this matter did not seem to be his private matter, and it could be seen that everyone was extremely serious.

After returning to Jinan City, this was the first time Li Meng saw his new home in Jinan City, but he didn't care about it, changed into clean clothes, and simply rushed down, and went to see Yan Ruoran and his son.

The newborn child is not open, it is really not good-looking and ugly, but in Li Meng's eyes, this is the most beautiful child in the world, and the feeling of blood relatives cannot be described, but it really exists.

Yan Ruoran cried a lot, her husband has always been fighting outside, she is in charge of housekeeping at home, and she is pregnant, it can be said that it is very hard, but she still has to make a dignified gesture in outsiders, this time the reliance in her heart and the backbone of the heart came back, and she naturally cried relaxedly, but it made Li Meng feel very guilty.

Soon after the time of meeting the mother and son, the Shandong General Military Mansion and even Jinan City began to be lively, and the notice of the fast horse and the urgent notice had been transmitted to all places, and some nearby people had already arrived, and the inns outside Jinan City were still accepting guests.

Li Meng is still a little confused about this, it is not wrong to exchange courtesies, but everyone's attitude towards this matter is solemn and abnormal, some guests who did not even participate in his wedding and the ceremony of the inauguration of the general army, but this time they came in person, and the old eunuch explained his doubts very simply:

"Now, your foundation is stable...... "Today is constantly chasing, constantly fighting."