At noon on the 30th day of the lunar month, everyone who came to visit Daohe, as well as all the subordinate generals and civilian officials, all went home for the New Year, and everyone was also informed that they were not eligible to participate in the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner of the chief soldier. Li Meng's side is finally clean, he is in a high position, private affairs and official affairs are one, and family affairs are also state affairs, so don't expect any private space, Li Meng now also has this understanding, the so-called high place is not cold, and that's it. For lunch, Yan Ruoran led a group of female dependents, and Li Meng's son Li Hong was hugged, and the whole family had a reunion dinner together, and Li Meng felt a little guilty about his son.

I have been out all year round, I have not hugged a few times, let alone changed diapers, and I have not even participated in happy days such as my first birthday.

Li Hong is now more than a year old, his parents have good genetics, and he was born with a golden soup spoon, and the child is very strong and tiger-headed, which is obviously one piece taller than his peers.

In these days at home, Li Hong didn't call Li Meng a few times "father" with a milky voice, he couldn't be idle in the house every day, and he always had to go out crazy regardless of the cold weather outside, but it made those nurses and maids busy every day, serving this little ancestor.

This kind of lively energy makes Li Meng very happy, no matter ancient or modern, the evaluation of this child is always a "good" word. Li Meng is a military general, but he doesn't want his son to become a "good" child, boys always have to be a little bloody and wild, but Li Hong and Li Meng are always not very close, there is a sense of alienation, and the attitude of his mother is obviously closer than that of his father, this strangeness makes Li Meng very uncomfortable.

In modern times, Li Mengchang heard some people who often ran around outside complaining, saying that they often ran business outside, and they didn't dare to call when they saw their children when they came home, and if they didn't meet, they would slowly become strangers. At that time, he was not married and started a family. I couldn't experience this feeling, and I didn't expect that after this era, I would actually let myself meet it.

In this case, Li Meng could only smile bitterly, thinking that he was working hard here. It is also for the future of the child, to lay a big foundation for him, thinking of this, it is more balanced.

Lunch was eaten with the female dependents and son, and at dinner, Li Meng called Liu Fulai and Sun Chuan** together, and the three of them gathered in the side hall for a drink.

The old eunuch had a New Year's dinner with Li Meng and them at noon, and Sun Chuan** also ate at home, and the three of them had a drink at dinner, in fact, they were also looking for a quiet place. Discuss something.

In this side hall, Sun Chuan** naturally took off the iron mask on his face, since following Li Meng. Sun Chuan** also knew that it was the old eunuch Liu Fulai's idea to rescue him from the edict back then, but the situation was like this, and there would be no emotions such as anger and blame, and he was also an open-minded person. I won't be angry about the past that is impossible to change, and meeting is nothing more than a smile.

Sun Chuan** is really a little scared when he thinks about it, after Yang Sichang committed suicide. Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi, who was imprisoned by Yang Sichang, was abandoned and beheaded by Emperor Chongzhen for a reason to pay tribute to Yang Aiqing, who was the emperor, thinking that Yang Aiqing would "take revenge". God knows if he is in prison, he will not be angry, thinking of this, he is a little more grateful to this Liu Fulai in his heart.

At this table, Sun Chuan** did not have any self-esteem, the old eunuch once served as a eunuch in the ceremonial eunuch, and also served as a Nanjing town guard. According to the practice of the Ming ****. This Liu Fulai should also be regarded as a first-class member of the dynasty, and his identity is only higher than that of Sun Chuan**.

Needless to say, Li Meng said. Although the three of them are all big names in the world, their identities and status are close to each other, and they are all in the same camp, so the private banquet is also harmonious and cordial.

In the Jiaozhou battalion system, Sun Chuan** and Liu Fulai do not have much real power, but their status is very high, and they are both consultants and the like, Li Meng generally does not maintain that kind of majesty towards his subordinates in front of these two people, and his behavior and words are relatively casual.

The dishes are very simple, and the three of them have already passed the era of pursuing appetites, and they are in high power, and they can eat whatever they want, but they have begun to cherish their blessings and maintain their health. Ordinary people's speculation about the extravagant life of the upper position is quite untrue, even if it is He Zeng's eclipse of ten thousand dollars, especially if there is no place to put it down, it is mostly for the sake of setting up the score; Li Deyu had 30,000 yuan a pie, but it was because he liked lead and mercury and wanted to take it to ascend to immortals.

Li Meng's three people, but they all started from the end, but they didn't have much to think about, lead and mercury, that is even more unthinkable, the table is nothing more than some peanuts, shrimp, steamed fish, all kinds of cured meat, etc., the real rarity, but some cucumbers and eggplants, these are all from the greenhouse outside the city, but it is difficult for ordinary people to eat, and the wine, it is also a good wine in Beijing.

The three of them drank a glass of wine, and Li Meng put down the wine glass and asked:

"Uncle, Mr. Sun, Xuzhou belongs to my Shandong soldiers and horses, and the Jiaozhou battalion is stationed more and more wide, and now Henan and Nanzhili are connected with Shandong's adjacent places. However, the territory is large, and the town guards and horses of the Jiaozhou battalion are inevitably a little insufficient, but if this is to expand the army, I don't know where to find the military salary and military expenses in a hurry. At present, the Jiaozhou battalion has jurisdiction over various places, and there are countless places to spend money, but there is no new input, and there is really no money to spend...... I wonder what Uncle and Mr. Sun will do? ”

The embarrassment of military spending, Liu Fulai and Sun Chuan** both knew this matter in their hearts, since the two of them had the role of consultant and counselor, they had considered this matter, but this was the first time the two sides met, and there was no communication in advance.

The two glanced at each other, Liu Fulai picked up the wine glass and made a gesture of inviting first, Sun Chuan** spoke first, to say that this is a matter of finding financial resources, Sun Chuan** really has no new method, the traditional education he received since childhood, being a magistrate is nothing more than persuading people to rejuvenate agriculture, and then it is a long time to lead troops to fight, and he has no experience in this economic way. Sun Chuan**'s successful economic deeds are also landed, but there is not much difference from this Li Meng, and he is also running a tuntian in Xi'an and recruiting displaced people, this experience is not helpful to the current situation. Therefore, when I said this, I also felt a little lacking in confidence.

"Lord Li, Dengzhou Zhaoyuan, where gold mining began at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Shenzong was abandoned in the last years, and when Sun was an official, he also heard the gossip of colleagues in Shandong, saying that the gold mine was abandoned, not without mines. It's that there is no way to operate, and there is a natural disaster and landslide, which is abandoned, and adults may be able to send someone to explore it. ”

After saying this, Sun Chuan** also smiled a little embarrassedly, the mining of gold and silver minerals is indeed a lucrative business, but taking this as an economic way is inevitably a bit tricky, Li Meng regards himself as a big material assistant. It is indeed a bit embarrassing to ask about the way of economy, but only to answer like this.

Probably thought of it. That is the allusion, Sun Chuan** also carefully thought about the methods that could be proposed, tuntian, trade, salt as a tax, these he could think of, Shandong is doing it. And it's even better, this suggestion to open a mine is just a few words of idle talk and memory when he was an official. I didn't expect to take it out today and use it as a strategy.

In this situation, even Sun Chuan**, who is accustomed to wind and rain, is a little embarrassed, and he is worried, so he simply picks up his wine glass and looks at Li Meng's reaction.

Who would have thought that when Li Meng heard his words, he was stunned for a while, and then slapped his forehead with his hand, and said with regret:

"Confused. Confused......"

Sun Chuan** heard this. His face was a little ugly, but he adjusted normally. Now that he is under Li Mengdi, he can only bear it. On the contrary, Liu Fulai on the side stared at Li Meng, thinking that his nephew, he was not so reckless in talking on weekdays, and there was also a sense of reminder and blame in his eyes.

The expressions of the two people sitting at the same table changed, but Li Meng, who slapped his forehead, reacted, and hurriedly said with a smile:

"Mr. Sun, don't misunderstand, Li blames himself for not thinking that the territory of Dengzhou Mansion is still the jurisdiction of Li Mengqi's family, and he actually ignores the past so much, he really blames himself for being confused, I really want to thank Mr. Sun for the reminder...... Come, I'll give Mr. Sun a drink. ”

As soon as he said this, Sun Chuan** had a big heart, then raised his glass, and lowered his left hand, which is the etiquette of the wine table of people with a slightly lower status.

Li Meng really wants to blame himself for being confused, when he was still in modern times, he was a soldier in Weifang and a financial escort in Qingdao, and he still had some impressions of Zhaoyuan, which had always been a golden county, and the arrogance and extravagance of those mine owners were even more unforgettable. Sun Chuan** said that it was already deserted during the Shenzong period, and it is estimated that it has nothing to do with the mineral source.

Because the gold mine in Zhaoyuan is still being mined until the modern 21st century, there must be rich reserves for hundreds of years, and such a rich large mine is under his nose, but he completely ignores the past, as a guard of one side, it is really a dereliction of duty.

But the mining of this gold mine is helpful to Li Menghe and his subordinates for millions of people and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and the amount mined is not a small amount, and the manpower and material resources required to achieve such a scale are not small, nor can they be immediately effective, but this gold mine will definitely be of great help to themselves in the future.

This Mr. Sun is really a big material, and his casual suggestion actually made him suddenly brightened, Li Meng's mood was no longer so irritable, and the old eunuch Liu Fulai on the side said slowly:

"Li Meng, the situation in your hands is not small, but no matter what you do, you are lacking a name, for example, you can't collect taxes in Shandong, you can only sell salt at a compromise, but this requires a lot of additional manpower and material resources......

Li Meng nodded and said:

"What my uncle said is that now ninety percent of the fields in Shandong are concentrated in the hands of less than thirty large landlords, and each family has its own background behind it, although it is not impossible to collect taxes from them and levy forced labor, but the current situation, this is done earlier, and the Nalu Wangfu is already in trouble, and in another year, Li can go and collect the ......"

Hearing Li Meng's words, Eunuch Liu laughed softly, and then preached to Sun Chuan**:

"Master Sun, this nephew of our family is good at everything, but he lacks the momentum of young people, and he always prefers to be slow rather than wrong in doing things, and he is tepid and looks like he is old."

When Sun Chuan** heard this, he smiled, there are some things that Liu Fulai and Li Meng's uncle and nephew can talk about, but they can't speak rashly. Li Meng was not angry, he just picked up the wine jug and gave the old eunuch a glass of wine, and then poured it full for Sun Chuan**, he knew that Liu Fulai's words were not finished.

"Li Meng, when you were a garrison and a capital secretary in the Nalai Prefecture Mansion, your strength was weak, so you naturally had to tremble and be cautious, and now there is such a situation. If you are still careful, it will be cramped, and it will inevitably make the world's heroes look down on you, although it is necessary to be sharp and introverted, but it is not right to always show your edge. ”

Sun Chuan** agreed with these words. Nodding slightly, with Li Meng's current strength and skills, there are often some villains who can't take the stage in Shandong who want to provoke, just like a mouse in the mountains who wants to find trouble with a tiger, very self-conscious, but such a ridiculous thing is inevitably related to Li Meng's obscure and low-key attitude, and the tiger is always lying there and not moving. It inevitably makes the rats think it's a puddle of meat.

Many people don't understand why Li Meng is doing so low-key in his current situation. With Sun Chuan**'s knowledge, even if it was Li Chengliang back then, his strength was different from Li Meng, and now what Zuo Liangyu, Huang Degong and the like. Compared with the behemoth of Jiaozhou Ying, it is just a bed bug that can be pinched to death. A few discerning people could vaguely perceive that Li Meng, the general soldier of Shandong, seemed to be afraid. Or trying to hide, but the reason is that people can't figure it out.

When Li Meng heard this, he was noncommittal, just smiled, and said indifferently:

"Uncle said yes, what should the little nephew do!?"

When the old eunuch Liu Fulai first entered the Li Mansion, he was still quite cautious, and he was very open now. Because he also realized that Li Meng really treated himself as a relative and elder. The old eunuch was pleased, and this behavior was relatively casual. He didn't care about Li Meng's noncommittal reaction. Again:

"Paying taxes and rents is indeed troublesome, even if those dozens of big landlords don't have any background backers, your nameless past rent collection is easy to stir up chaos, this chaos is in the heart of our Li family, it is always a trouble, it's good not to touch it for the time being."

On the side, Sun Chuan** took a sip of the wine glass on his lips, and the taste in his heart was quite complicated, although he was already loyal to Li Menghe Jiaozhou Ying, but this world is still the world of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Chuan** has struggled for this world and the court for many years, but there are people here in front of him who say "our Li family territory", which is really ......

"In the land of Qilu, there is a golden river flowing, and the Jiaozhou camp is in urgent need of silver, so it is very convenient to scoop some out of this golden river."

As soon as he said this, Sun Chuan** suddenly wanted to understand what the "Golden River" Liu Fulai was talking about, his eyes widened, but there was a little admiration in his heart, this old eunuch did have some doorways, and the methods he thought of were extremely clever.

Li Meng groaned slightly, raised his head and asked in a deep voice: Uncle, could it be that you are talking about the canal? ”

The old eunuch was slightly drunk, and heard that Li Meng was a little penetrated by himself, coupled with Sun Chuan**'s admiring eyes, this is today's famous ministers, and there are many heroes in the world, it seems that they all admire themselves very much, and they can't help but be a little satisfied, they are a eunuch person, those scholars have always felt that only they can pass through the heavens and latitudes, and can support the court, and look at the eunuchs like watching pigs and dogs, even if they are flattering, they actually look down on themselves behind them. Today, Sun Chuan** admires this, but it doesn't seem to be an action, Liu Fulai's mood is a little higher, he patted his palms lightly, and said with a smile:

"That's right, the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years, the land of Beijing, all rely on the grain to maintain, the transportation is cut off, the north Zhili and Shanxi are immediately embarrassed and abnormal, not to mention the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, sell and buy goods to the north, all rely on this transportation to transport and operate, but through Shandong, in addition to the wharf in Jining Prefecture to collect some fees, prosperity of the market, other areas have no income."

Sun Chuan** has recovered from that complicated feeling, and when he heard the old eunuch say this, he also interjected:

"Along the Shandong Canal, every year for the river workers to spend a lot of manpower and financial resources, before the Apocalypse, the water transport project is still lacking, these years the imperial court can not allocate silver, the local land repair is a loss-making business. Moreover, for this Cao Yun, the people on both sides of the Huai River and the Yellow River are deeply suffering, and in order to ensure the Cao Yun, I don't know how many people have been flooded. ”

"That's right, the river runs the boat to transport the grain, the transport of grain is only three or four out of ten, but the merchant goods account for more, they enjoy the convenience of this transportation in vain, but it does not cost a penny, how can there be such a good thing in the world, you are the general of Shandong Town, it is natural to do something for this Cao Yun policy."

Eunuch Liu seems to have a case for a long time, and when he talks about this, he even thinks of the reason for receiving the money, Li Meng leaned on the back of the chair, crossed his arms, and carefully pondered the words of the old eunuch. The more Liu Fulai talked, the more he rose, and he stopped drinking the wine, and said loudly:

"There are three places to set up cards, Jining, Linqing, and Dezhou happen to be the front, middle, and back three places where the canal is choked in Ludi, and this is a business. Handed over to the branch of Lingshan Commercial Bank to do, they are in this Cao Run, they have a lot of eyeliner and are familiar, and others naturally can't hide it. As for how much to draw, one out of a hundred can be drawn, and the sand is accumulated into a tower, and the ships on this canal have passed more, and one out of a hundred is drawn. It's also enough. ”

Li Meng tapped on the table there, feeling that his boredom had been swept away, and pondered for a moment. He raised his head and said in a deep voice:

"Uncle, this method, the land is indeed a wonderful strategy, but Caoyun is the lifeblood of the Jingshi, let's set up a card there, and the court must be angry. If this thing gets a big deal......"

Sun Chuan** wanted to speak, but those ideas always felt unspeakable, and there were still some obstacles in his heart. hesitated, so he simply picked up the chopsticks, took a mouthful of food and put it in his mouth, and ate it by himself, which was considered to avoid this embarrassment. Hearing Li Mengdi's inquiry, Eunuch Liu calmed down, leaned back in the chair, and said leisurely:

"What can you do with anger, the northern elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are all besieged in Songshan. Although there are eight general soldiers in the north of Zhili. But most of the soldiers and horses have only been in the army for a year, not to mention that the imperial court has not given you a penny of silver in Shandong for several years. Raising money on the spot is also a matter of necessity, and it is reasonable to say that it is in the past. ”

Liu Fulai carefully distinguished the situation for Li Meng, although the Beijing camp is known as 100,000, it can only fight with three or four thousand people in the warrior battalion of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, but these people still have to defend the palace, and there are no less than 20 high-ranking officials and generals such as the governor of Beizhili, the governor, and the general soldier, but the soldiers and horses led by them are all grass platform teams that have been in the army for less than a year, and they can't do anything.

Speaking of which, the only thing that can fight is to deploy 20,000 troops in the Tongzhou area, which is the army brought back from Huguang by Liu Yuanbin, the eunuch of the Beijing camp, but the ability of this army is only relative to the soldiers and horses of the Beijing camp and those grass platform teams. In this northern Zhili, it's just a general among the dwarves.

The Ming Dynasty had the strength of soldiers and horses, and now they are all surrounded on Songshan!

Li Meng's nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses, just south of Beizhili, from Dezhou to Jingshi, are all gentle terrain of Pingchuan, and can go straight to Tianjin Wei along the canal, and then turn to attack Tongzhou, which is really unstoppable.

For the Beijing Division, the Shandong soldiers and horses at this moment are like giant beasts watching on the side, what the people in the Beijing Division want to say, what they do have to be weighed, but can the Chongzhen Emperor and the ministers of the Beijing Division have such a sensitive feeling and understanding, do they have a minimum understanding of the situation in the world? It's hard to say. There is no foolproof strategy for foolproof, because nerds are always creative.

After three rounds of drinking, Liu Fulai's matter was almost settled like this, it was dark one night, the firecrackers and fireworks outside had already begun to set off, the old eunuch drank too much, felt tired, and simply went to the inner hall to rest, by the way, teasing Li Hong, the next generation did not add this, the old eunuch Liu Fulai pampered Li Hong very much.

Since Sun Chuan** took the iron mask to follow Li Meng, his mood has been released, and his body has recovered a lot, so he drank more wine tonight, and when he saw Eunuch Liu go out, Sun Chuan** smiled dejectedly, straightened up, leaned forward and said:

"My lord, what the old lady said about Cao Yun is taxed, one out of a hundred, and one out of a hundred is centi, and the name of this collection of money is called centi."

What the name is is just a literati's trick, it doesn't matter, Li Meng can also feel that Sun Chuan** is embarrassed in his heart, the Ming Dynasty has been a monk for three hundred years, Sun Chuan** has been to the Qionglin banquet again, hairpins come out, and Tianjie rides a horse to show off his martial arts, for the Ming Dynasty, for the Son of Heaven, there is always a thought that cannot be let go, but this is also the norm and normal. However, the name of Lijin is indeed very suitable for setting up cards on the canal to collect taxes, and the words are concise and to the point, and the merchants will know what it means when they hear it. It's just that the word "Li Jin" has been heard somewhere in a trance.

Sun Chuan** looked a little drunk, and after saying the name of "Li Jin", he said with a smile:

"Lord Li, don't look down on the princes of the court, these years, the soldiers and horses in Shandong have been so low-key and obscure, and those fools in the court may not have any scruples when they do things."

After a pause, Sun Chuan** took another glass of wine, and then said slowly:

"The transportation of goods from the south to the north has always been profitable, and most of the southern merchants are wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River. The ministers of the court and the central government are all from Jiangnan Shilin, and they are inextricably linked with each other, this luck is so profitable, how can the imperial court not collect taxes and money, it's not that they don't want to collect it. It's unmoving, I don't know if Master Li still remembers Donglinkui and Li Sancai, that's Donglinkui who will be recorded. “

Speaking of which, Sun Chuan**'s face was flushed, and he looked a little drunk, when Wei Zhongxian investigated the Donglin party, he set up a Donglin point general record, and listed these backbone ministers of Donglin, Donglin and the eunuchs have been fighting each other for almost 30 years. Those who can enter this point will be recorded for a while, and they feel extremely honored.

Li Meng didn't have a deep understanding of this, but it wasn't just his subordinates who often talked about it. Even Liu Fulai and his father-in-law Yan participate in politics often mention, and they have an impression,

"Back then, Shenzong had sent a tax supervisor to prepare to collect taxes on this transport, but this Li Sancai's family was a wealthy businessman, and this tax collection was not a cut of meat. immediately clamored and shouted, and forcibly found the mine supervisor to go to prison for a reason, and played the son of heaven afterwards. To abolish the world's commercial taxes, and now the merchants in the south and north of the Yangtze River are still praising Li Sancai for his righteousness and courage to speak out, and ask for his life for the people, Lord Li, your move, I am afraid that it will be a commotion between the north and the south, without Li Sancai, as well as Qian Mu and Ruan Jizhi, adults are tens of millions of small

Hear here. Li Meng understood. If you take a penny, it will be against a huge interest group. This group is the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, these people are inextricably linked with the ministers on the **** and the famous scholars, and even the imperial court collects taxes, they are trying their best to fight it, not to mention that they are not right.

Thinking about these people clamoring in the government and the opposition, Li Meng also felt troublesome, but this trouble was similar to the nature of eating oranges and needing to peel them, Sun Chuan** made another drink, and said with a smile:

"It's okay, it's okay, it's just this little trouble, Shandong has 100,000 fine armor, these noises are just crows, but listening to the upset, there is no hindrance, these people ...... Self-comparison with famous ministers....... but it is also the ability to make mistakes......"

Having said so much, Sun Chuan**'s wine was surging, and he didn't care about any gaffes or not, he fell asleep on the table, but Li Meng's spirit was excited, the firecrackers crackled outside, and he could hear the excited shouts of his family, Li Meng poured himself another glass of wine and drank it all.

Recently, the melancholy has been swept away, only to feel that the sea and the sky in front of me are wide, the fireworks outside are colorful, and various colors are reflected on the window paper, "touch", I don't know what fireworks explode in the sky, and the room is brighter, Li Meng raised the empty cup in his hand, and he didn't know where to greet him.

This year, everyone in the Jiaozhou camp is having a very happy life.

After receiving the letter from Confucius, Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was relieved and found a good home for his daughter, but he also understood that Confucius agreed to his marriage request, and the few things mentioned in the letter must be the conditions.

It is difficult to frame the local military generals with real power, as the secretary of the military department, Chen Xinjia naturally knows how difficult it is, but he feels that he must do it.

Sent Zhang Ruoqi, the head of the military department, to supervise the army in Hong Chengchou's army, and urged Hong Chengchou to join the army, which was the main reason for the defeat of Songshan, although Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor of the army, had not returned to Beijing.

But after Wu Sangui fled back to Shanhaiguan, the officers and soldiers who retreated from Songshan gradually spread some news, nothing more than how the prison army persecuted, and there were secret decrees and orders of the imperial court, and it was precisely because of these factors that Hong Chengchou, the governor who had led the troops for many years, rushed forward, and was copied by the Tartar army led by Huang Taiji and surrounded Songshan.

After the defeat of Songshan, the whole court was terrified, and the officials knew that if they rashly said anything at this time, they would definitely be angered by Emperor Chongzhen.

But almost half a year has passed, who should bear this responsibility in the court, although Emperor Chongzhen should be most responsible for this defeat, but of course the officials dare not say this, but there must be a minister who is responsible for this.

Chen Xinjia knew that as long as the officials began to speak, it was most likely that the responsibility would fall on him, and he would inevitably be charged with killing his head and abandoning the city.

At the moment, we must find something to divert the attention of the officials, arrogant, domineering, bullying scholars, and insulting military generals are quite good targets.