The reason why Li Chuang started up is said to be related to a policy of the Ming Dynasty, and the Chongzhen Dynasty no longer thinks about opening up sources and reducing expenditures, cutting unnecessary financial expenditures, and increasing fiscal revenues.

Emperor Chongzhen felt that the post station was too expensive, so he abolished the post station, and as a result, Li Zicheng was born as a post man and had nowhere to go, so he had to rebel from the crowd. It is said that it is also an exaggeration to say that it saves more than 100,000 taels of silver a year, but it costs more than one million a year to break into the disaster of the king and suppress the thieves and quell the chaos.

In order to quell the chaos, all kinds of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes were imposed, and the people were overwhelmed, and they rose up again, and in order to quell these new disasters, I don't know how much it spent.

In this era, with such a vast territory as the Ming Empire, there are no ways and means of information communication, which will definitely cause chaos and all kinds of inconvenience.

For example, the time and extent of the distribution of the newspaper, which is equivalent to a political briefing, are completely uncertain, and anyone who needs this information will establish its own transmission system through trade routes or other means.

On the third day after Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, was arrested and imprisoned, the news delivered by Kuaima arrived in Jinan City, and at present, the entire Jiaozhou battalion system is tilting towards the south, and the allocation of military resources, as well as the preparation of a larger army to the south, are all keeping Zhou Yang and Ning Qiangui busy.

Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's soldiers and horses were stationed thirty miles on the edge of Kaifeng City, and Zhangjiang's Yanzhou Army and several battalions of Guide Mansion were always on alert, ready to move at any time. Nanzhili has already started fighting, in this world, the only soldiers and horses that can fight more and more are the army of the displaced people, the old Hui Hui and the reincarnation king of the fifth battalion of the revolution, when they left Yingzhou, they were only in their early 100,000s, and when they arrived in Yingshang. It has swelled to 140,000, 200,000 inside and outside.

The Huaiyang army of 15,000 people was really a little cramped, but after receiving Li Meng's letter, Lu Jiude, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, did not hesitate for too long, and directly led the troops to battle.

More than 60,000 soldiers and horses in the south of the country. For the two battalions of the 5th Battalion of the Revolution, it was also a real deterrent, and both sides regarded this battle as a decisive battle, approaching cautiously, and the small units tested each other.

The Qingzhou Army stationed in Lianghuai and the Huaiyang Army left behind. Small-scale mobilization began, because it was the peak season for salt production, and most of the ship's capacity was on salt transportation, and it was impossible to mobilize it in a hurry. =

Originally, the Dengzhou Army was already preparing to withdraw to the garrison area, but it was vetoed by Li Meng as soon as it made a move. Seeing that there are more and more places to use soldiers, there is no need to run back and forth like this anymore.

Shandong is a provincial land. 100,000 soldiers, but the general soldier Li Meng has to pay attention to the battle in three directions, this is really shocking, such a large amount of consumption, with a province of Shandong, can be completely supplied, and it is better than the supply of soldiers and horses in the whole world, this is really shocking.

has paid so much attention to the fact that Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was imprisoned. It's not so worth paying attention to, when this news was sent to Li Meng by the soldiers, Li Meng handed it to Sun Chuanting casually, Sun Chuanting saw this newspaper, and this was the sudden realization that all the things that Li Meng wanted to do some time ago can be strung together now.

Sun Chuanting couldn't help laughing when he thought about the things before and after, but then he shook his head and sighed. Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the military department, is still his benefactor. The reason why he was able to patrol Shaanxi and become famous step by step in the battle with the thieves. It's all because of Chen Xinjia's promotion and appreciation.

Who would have thought that today, he was incognito in the Shandong Shogunate, but Chen Xinjia was imprisoned for carrying this black pot of peace talks for the emperor, I am afraid that his life is difficult to protect, and the way of the world has really changed.

At this time, Huang Ping's time with Li Meng had passed Wang Hai, and Wang Hai was busy practicing his own barracks and arranging defense every day.

Li Meng inspected all parts of the old battalion every morning, and after watching the drills and exercises, he directly returned to this water pavilion, and at present, the proportion of the intelligence work of the Jiaozhou battalion system is very large, to put it bluntly, it is doing private things everywhere, and all the leaders under Huang Ping are busy everywhere, and the people who are assembled and deployed must always be by the side of the supreme commander.

After reading the news of Chen Xinjia's imprisonment, Li Meng pondered for a while, and then asked:

"Have you arranged that person from Shangshu Mansion?"

Huang Ping was well aware of these things, and hurriedly stepped forward and replied:

"The leader of Chenghai who is in charge of the Jingshi side has already brought people out, and this person's family has been placed in Jining Prefecture, and it is estimated that in half a month, they will be able to reunite. \”

Li Meng nodded and said loudly:

"This kind of arrangement must be done well, but also for the world to see the land, I Jiaozhou camp work, never cross the river to tear down the bridge, so that people can rest assured, in order to let others do things for us willingly."

This is reasonable, Huang Ping hurriedly bowed down and agreed, and promised to handle it in the future, Li Meng directly put this matter aside, unfolded another volume, and looked at the date marked, the date on it was already half a month ago, opened the content, Li Meng was suddenly a little angry, and directly threw it on the table, and said in a cold voice:

"Master Ning's account, your salt gang's expenses outside the customs have always been high, how did you find out such news, even if you don't need it, Ben Shuai is waiting here, and he will know it after half a month."

The things mentioned in this document are all hearsay things, what Huang Taiji is seriously ill, Belle Abatai will be reused in the near future, etc., the same news, Li Meng heard it a few days ago, because there is also the setting of the Shandong Salt Gang in Lingshan Private Port, and all the conversations of the sailors and crews, as well as the sights and stories of Neiying, are all brought together.

Unconsciously, the transaction of foreign merchant ships from Lingshan private port to the area of Jinzhou, the original Liao Town, has become a semi-public matter, and the manpower on the ships that originally ran to the north was strictly required not to talk about this matter in the private port.

In the restaurant and teahouse and some stalls, there are always people talking about what they have seen and heard in the north, and similarly, what they say is gathered by the "people with hearts" and presented to Li Meng's desk.

Hearing Li Meng's unhappy tone, Huang Ping hurriedly stepped forward to explain. He was also quite helpless:

"Dashuai, except for the Han people under their own jurisdiction of the Tartars, it is almost impossible for outside merchants to enter, and in the towns where the Tartars allow trade, there are often evil things of the military attachés of the Tartars abducting and plundering the foreign Han people as slaves, and everyone is tied. It's hard to do things. ”

"Then take the money to buy the Tartars, do you think those shaved Tartars are some kind of righteous and awe-inspiring characters, go and spend money to try to buy them."

The importance of intelligence work is extremely important to the Jiaozhou battalion, especially to the intelligence of the north. But there is no inch here, so Li Meng is not in a hurry.

Over there, Huang Ping hurriedly apologized and agreed, just at this time it was Ning Qiangui who came to ask to see him, and Huang Ping took advantage of this excuse to leave first. Li Meng's arrangement, he has to make corresponding changes.

It's different from Huang Ping. Ning Qiangui has a lofty status in the Jiaozhou camp, he is already the top two people in the civil and official system, and he is also a big steward in terms of money and economy.

The Ming land is separated from each other, sitting in the same hall, generally the main seat is in the middle, and the guests and the people under the status sit on the left and right. However, on the side of the Jiaozhou camp, Li Meng sat on the side of the bookcase, and everyone who was qualified to sit down sat opposite, not one person persuaded Li Meng, saying that it was so impolite, but they were all vetoed by Li Meng, this is a habit developed in the previous life, and he has no blessing to enjoy. Li Meng is the one standing across the table in modern times.

Ning Qiangui also knows his duty. When you enter the door, you still have the same subordinate attitude as before, and you can smile cutely. It was extremely polite, Li Meng naturally knew that they were already powerful and powerful people outside, but he didn't care, let Master Ning do the opposite, and poured a cup of tea according to the old habit.

There are also some new guards who are busy with the paperwork on the side, and they are all shocked and moved when they see this scene, our Li Dashuai actually pours tea for people, and this Master Ning's status is really extraordinary.

Sun Chuanting shook his head and smiled, his handsome man has some quirks that are difficult for others to understand, for example, this pouring tea is one of them, but it also seems very humane, Li Meng's prestige is more and more towering in Jiaozhou Camp and Shandong, others always look up, and with such a small move, it can always win people's hearts.

Ning Qiangui took a sip of tea, he could feel the surprise and astonishment of the people around him, although this tea was not a good tea, but this kind of vision made him feel comfortable all over his body.

"Mr. Ning, how are you talking to the Zheng family?"

"Back to the big marshal, the Zheng family didn't say anything, saying that there was a ship back this time, so let the four gunboats follow back, and the warships and nothing were a problem."

Since the Zheng family went to Liaozhen to do business, Li Meng has already ordered to return several gunboats entrusted to the Zheng family for training, and the ships that the Zheng family promised to sell to Shandong over the years have also been settled.

In the past, when the two sides were in the honeymoon period, these ships were handed over to the Zheng family to operate, and they could also train sailors for Shandong, but now, there are such big safety risks, for the sake of safety, it is better to transfer them back.

The relationship between Shandong and the Zheng family is strictly a business dealing, and the person in charge of communication is naturally Ning Qiangui, the person in charge of this aspect, and the people of the Zheng family are not stupid.

Thousands of Shandong disciples are working in the Zheng family's fleet, as well as those warships and warships, which have the meaning of entrusting training, but also have the meaning of hostages.

This can be regarded as a guarantee of happy cooperation between the two sides, the Jiaozhou battalion suddenly wants to withdraw these people, it is really not known what happened, the Zheng family and the leaders of the Ba Min Commercial Bank in Shandong have asked to see Li Meng many times, and the reason given by Li Meng is also very real, Shandong is too close to Liaodong, and he is worried that the other party will take advantage of the situation and need a naval army to defend.

According to the words of a Zheng family shopkeeper, the defense of the Jiaozhou battalion in several ports in Shandong is already stronger than the defense of several ports in Nanyang, and no one has seen so willing to spend money on the fort.

With the ships of the Tartars outside the Guan, if they want to get close to such a port, there is no other fate except for being sunk, and all kinds of reasons and signs, this Shandong's move to transfer back the ships is even more incomprehensible. Moreover, the Zheng family's landlord in the southeast of Shandong couldn't understand why his family acted without offending Shandong, so why did he suddenly come out like this, which is really puzzling.

But after several inquiries, the Jiaozhou battalion was up and down for a reason, and a guarantee was given. The act of saying that the vessel is going back will not affect the future business dealings between the two parties.

The Zheng family was helpless to get this promise, so they could only promise to send the ship and people back, after all, the Zheng family is currently opening Taiwan and operating attachments. It needed a large number of salt cargo support, and south of the Yangtze River estuary, most of the valuable seaports were under the rule of Shandong, and the Zheng family's ships also needed these stops.

The Zheng family can't leave Shandong, but it doesn't matter whether there is a Zheng family in Shandong. Besides, the ship was originally his eastern land, so he had no choice but to let it go.

But Li Meng's request was also short on time. Ning Qiangui went to talk there, and it was inevitable that he made some concessions, and the price of these salt transactions was a few points or something.

"Back to the marshal, it is not difficult to talk about this matter, the Zheng family is worried, but there is no reason to worry, then the Zheng family said a few words in Jiaozhou, saying that the Zheng family is just two gunboats, but you have built four in Jiaozhou. Or Shandong is good at business and has money in hand......"

Saying that Shandong is good at management, this is actually a change of law to boast of itself, after all, this economic aspect is to be operated by itself, who would have thought that after saying this, Li Meng was slightly stunned, turned his head and shouted loudly:

"Go and call Huang Ping back!!"

Ning Qiangui stumbled, and he didn't know what was born, not long after. Huang Ping trotted in. Li Meng opened his mouth and asked:

"How many multi-story gunboats are there in the Zheng family?"

This question was asked very suddenly, and Huang Ping was stunned at first. There are a lot of things in plain life, this number has never been the point, how to think about it for a while, just before being reprimanded, and now I can't think of this, the cold sweat on Huang Ping's head followed, thinking that this is self-inflicted bad luck, what happened today.

However, Huang Ping didn't answer, but Li Meng was not in a hurry, but just opened his mouth to urge:

"Hurry up and find out and tell me, I'll wait here."

The forces related to the Jiaozhou battalion, whether they are friends or foes, the Shandong Salt Gang is concerned, of course, because of manpower and scale, the degree of concern is coarse and fine.

The Zheng family's side has always been the focus of attention, Lingshan Commercial Bank, Shandong Salt Gang and Jiaozhou's local yamen have always been very close to the Zheng family's people, and various news searches are quite timely.

Soon Huang Ping ran back and replied respectfully:

"Two, at the beginning of this year, because we paid a lot of money for shipbuilding, they built a slightly smaller gunboat, listening to the bows of the Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong once said that the Zheng family is rampant on the sea, and it is the right thing to build more merchant ships to make money, and it is too late to wait for the battleship to be rebuilt."

Hearing this, Li Menghaha laughed out loud, to say that there is nothing wrong with Zheng Zhilong, and now the situation, the entire sea in the East, even the Spaniards and the Dutch have to avoid three points, and if there is no other opponent, there is no threat, it is better to build more merchant ships to make money.

This kind of gunboat is purely for combat use, and cannot be transformed into merchant ships, and it is indeed of little use at present, and after the Zheng family used the captured and bought Western merchant ships to transform them into gunboats, there has been no opportunity to use them, in fact, the entire Zheng family's fleet has not had any chance to fight in recent years.

This situation made the Zheng family unable to realize the strength of this kind of battleship, so they didn't value it so much, this is the advantage that Li Meng can reflect as a crossing.

Li Meng asked the Zheng family to build more gunboats for themselves, and the Zheng family thought that Li Meng was stupid, but no one knew that this kind of gunboat was the main shape of warships in the next few hundred years, and the Zheng family still stayed in the firearms as the auxiliary, approaching the combat mode based on hand-to-hand combat.

I don't know if there are still these gunboats in Taiwan at present, and I don't know if the Zheng family can have warships from the Netherlands and other Western countries participate in the war if they turn against Shandong, but in the current situation, the return of these gunboats, plus the strength of the port and the Xinyang water battalion, can be said to be more than enough for self-protection.

Incidentally, this so-called gunboat is nothing more than a small gunboat with a maximum of forty guns and two floors, which is still far from the big ships of Europe of the same era.

After saying this, Li Meng's mentality became a lot happier, and he smiled and said to Sun Chuanting and Ning Qiangui in the room:

"The people on Master Federer's side have been here for a few days, and they haven't had time to see them, that Zhang Lipu was sent to Lingshan Trading House to be busy, Hou Shan's side said that they were doing well, and I don't know what the rest of the people will be capable of."

Ning Qiangui said with a grin:

"Dashuai, speaking of Master Federer, I think of Su Anqi's child, who has become more and more promising, and in another two years, it seems that the villain can be a steward of the inspection yamen, and even if he takes over the villain's position in the future."

Zhou Yang, the same acquaintance of Jinan Mansion, also said something similar, this Su Anqi is equal to the student of the two of them, Zhou Yang's children are still young, Ning Qiangui's two sons are both shopkeepers in Lingshan Commercial Bank, and they all have great expectations for this Su Anqi, you must know that Su Anqi has been a scholar and a student to Liu Fulai and Sun Chuanting, and the teaching of several people, plus the child is originally smart, it really can't be underestimated.

Sun Chuanting nodded on the side and said:

"For so many years, it is rare to see such a smart and studious child, handsome, such a talented and beautiful jade, it is better to let him deal with Master Fei and those people, although Master Fei is a loyal person, but after all, Huayi has a different path, and there is always something inappropriate."

Looking at Li Meng's enthusiasm for those foreigners, this Sun Chuanting didn't have much interest, the so-called foreigners, with his status, really saw a lot.

Indeed, there are many scholars and doctors who are quite keen on Western learning, such as Xu Guangqi, a highly respected bachelor, and Sun Yuanhua, the governor.

I learned a lot of valuable knowledge in the West, such as casting artillery, and some Gezhi, mathematics, astronomy and other knowledge, which is indeed very practical and rarely involved in the Ming Empire, but Sun Chuanting always felt that the purpose of these foreigners was not to spread this knowledge, but to preach.

"Da Shuai, the ghost thing, although it has its advantages, but after all, Da Shuai is in Huaxia, and it is ...... that he should take Huaxia as his ancestor."

Ning Qiangui, who was on the side, interjected with a smile:

"When the villain was in Lingshan Port, Jiaozhou, he also saw a few ghosts, and the smell was so big, as if he had never seen a beast on the market, and he really couldn't see anything outstanding, but I heard that their ship came from thousands of miles away, and I didn't know whether it was true or false."

The gap between this era has not yet opened, and after a few hundred years, the ghosts and beasts in the eyes of Ning Qiangui and Sun Chuanting have become symbols of civilization, and the land of China, which has been inherited for thousands of years, is considered to be a country of barbarians, and perhaps the foreigners are all skilled.

But with so much ahead, it is always a place for people to learn, but Li Meng just thought about it in his heart, and did not say it explicitly, and smiled.

Have a great weekend everyone, thank you