"Great handsome marksman!"

On the school field outside Jiaozhou City, several pot-bellied businessmen applauded there, and it was the twenty-first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen.

The Jiaozhou battalion army stationed in Huaibei has begun to enter Nanzhili, during this period, the salt field on the first line of Haizhou has seen a large number of fleets pass by several times, but perhaps they know that the soldiers and horses of Shandong are about to enter here, so they did not dare to go ashore, just passing by.

The two Huai salt farms can finally ensure relatively normal production, and the two Huai salt merchants have also calculated, after such a fuss at the end of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the income of the year was almost lost by two percent.

Nearly forty percent of the salt dealers and salt merchants in Shanxi and Henan are buying salt from Shandong, and it will take a lot of effort to take back this market in the future, but compared with the Jiaozhou camp, the salt merchants of Lianghuai have many old official connections in these places, while the salt dealers in Shandong do not have too deep roots outside, and the lost market can still be regained.

Seeing that Li Meng's army was about to enter Huaibei, the two Huai salt merchants and the Shandong general soldier Li Meng had dealt with each other, knowing that this person was ruthless, this time inviting Shandong soldiers to Huaibei, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was not an exaggeration to cut meat to make up for sores, and it was not too much to drink to quench thirst, it was not a long-term solution, what we had to do now was to flatter this evil star.

It is said that this New Year is actually a carnival for the two Huai salt merchants, and it is a very luxurious and happy month, but this year's situation, the happy days of the first month of the New Year are not ignored, and several salt merchants with a high status are sent directly to Jiaozhou City. The centuries-old inheritance of the two Huai salt merchants naturally knows how to deal with official figures, according to the jargon of their salt merchants. It's called femdom.

No matter if an official likes gold and silver, or likes beauty, or has any hobbies, the salt merchants, relying on their rich financial resources, can always buy people and let them work for themselves, and the officials of the prefectures and counties of Huai'an and Yangzhou, the commanders of the guards, and the generals of the barracks are all like this, just like the domestic slaves of the salt merchants.

When they arrived in Jiaozhou City, these pampered salt merchants were quite unaccustomed to it. It is said that Jiaozhou City is now the center of Lu Yan, and the salt is abundant, so there should always be some rich and noble style. Just like Jining Prefecture, the hub of Caoyun in Shandong, who would have thought of coming to Jiaozhou here, but saw an orderly and boring city. There are no leisure and entertainment facilities on the street, and everyone is nervously busy, as if everyone has something to do.

This made the salt merchants curse a few boring words, but the beautiful women and handsome children they brought were all to be given to the Shandong General Army, and they couldn't use it themselves, so they could only grit their teeth and stay up.

But they didn't pay attention to this aspect at all. There are no begging homeless people in the city, and there are no hungry and dying refugees on the roadside.

The representatives of the salt merchants who came over also knew the ins and outs of the grievances between the two sides in the past, and thought that Li Meng might not give them a good look, and when the other party was still a general, he fought bloodily with the salt merchants without fear, and now that he is the general army of Shandong, his arrogance will definitely be even more arrogant. Who would have thought that Li Meng would still be polite, after settling them down first. The agreement was to meet them on the twenty-first day of the first lunar month at the school outside the city.

Now the two sides are here to talk about things in harmony, and the salt merchants are not worried that this is a Hongmen banquet, so they simply send all kinds of gifts into the Li Mansion first, and the housekeeper of the Li family's manor, Luo Xi, except for the twenty male and female slaves, the rest of the items are gold and silver, which makes the salt merchants more assured.

About a year ago, the large-scale training of the Jiaozhou battalion was not carried out near the city, but at a distance from the city. First, the size of the military has expanded a lot, and the former school grounds are not suitable for use, and second, many military exercises also need to be kept secret, and the farther away from the places where civilians live, the better.

This school field outside Jiaozhou City, at most, is four hundred people practicing in it, and it has long been abandoned by the army, but when Li Meng lived in Jiaozhou City. They often bring their own soldiers here to practice exercises. As we have already said, Li Meng's pro-military battalion is actually an officer reserve.

On this small school field. Li Meng told the soldiers about it, and asked the soldiers to conduct on-the-spot exercises, and in his spare time, Li Meng often exercised his body in this school field.

When Li Meng, the chief soldier of Shandong, was exercising on the school grounds, he also met some guests by the way, which was a little less formal and serious than the mansion, and everyone was casual and cordial.

There was an arrow target erected about fifty steps away from Li Meng, and Li Meng stood here with a bow and arrow, but after all, he didn't go through any bow and arrow inspection, and when he shot out, he didn't touch the target at all, but stuck to the side. Among the generals of the Jiaozhou battalion, except for a few people such as Ma Gang, the rest of the people are not too good at bows and arrows, and this bow and arrow training takes a lot of time.

Even if the land is crooked, the salt merchants are still smiling and applauding there sincerely, of course, whether they are sneering in their hearts is unknown.

Thirty percent of the soldiers standing on the side to protect Li Mengdi were newly transferred from the battalions, and there was very little time for close contact with Li Meng, and seeing that their own adults had deviated so much from their archery, a few people couldn't help but want to laugh, but those veterans all looked as usual, obviously they had seen too much.

Li Meng looked at the arrows inserted in the land, couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head, hearing the loud applause of the salt merchants behind him, this smile couldn't help but increase a little more, he occasionally thought that he had come to ancient times, so a general who was proficient in bows and horses was also a necessary requirement, of course he had to learn, but first, there was no time, and secondly, bows and arrows were like this, which had high requirements for training and Li Meng, who was entangled in affairs, couldn't do it at all.

"Bring up the firecracker!"

The soldiers on the side took the bows and arrows, and the soldiers on the side handed over the firecrackers, and the firecrackers used by Li Meng were also the standard firecrackers of the Jiaozhou battalion, which kind of wooden fork frame was used. The soldiers had already finished loading the ammunition, and the fire rope was already clamped on the fire rope clamp, Li Meng took a good posture and aimed at the target.

With a "boom", the pillar-shaped arrow target made of straw had been interrupted by this firearm. The soldiers handed over two muskets again, each gun was the target, and the cheers of the salt merchants were a few points higher, Li Meng was still confident in knowing this kind of firearm.

Li Meng threw the fire gun to the guards beside him, turned around and walked towards the salt merchants, Li Meng, who had always been serious, had a rare smile on his face, but it made the soldiers around him quite surprised, it was rare to see an adult like this, and he was so kind at this time.

There are also a few small rooms around the school grounds. It was converted from a barracks for the salt ladies and could also be used as a guest room for entertaining guests.

The two sides sat down, the soldiers brought tea and snacks, and after leaving one guard, the others followed and retreated. Li Meng took a handkerchief and wiped a few handfuls on his face, and also took this opportunity to look at the three salt merchants opposite, it is rare to see a fat man in this era, and the three people opposite are the kind of round and rich appearance, it can be seen that they have been pampered for many years, and these three people are all forty years old.

After taking a seat, you will report your name. But one person is surnamed Sun, one is surnamed Jiang, and another person is surnamed Shen, and the dress on his body looks plain, but every place is exquisite and expensive, this is the style of generations of rich people, Li Meng has also done business, and has a certain understanding of these things.

The value of the clothes and ornaments on each of these three people. are worthy of the whole armor of the officials above the general manager of the Jiaozhou battalion, Li Meng's attitude made the three salt merchants on the opposite side a little unsure of what to do, the salt merchant surnamed Shen smiled and said:

"Dashuai, I don't know what gifts the villains bought yesterday, but they are still eye-catching? This time I came to Shandong, it was really a little hasty, the villains and brothers hurriedly bought some crude things in Yangzhou City, and I hope that the handsome man will not be surprised! ”

to the status of Li Meng, the general soldier of a province. Hearing the salt merchant surnamed Shen mention yesterday's gifts, and said that it was rude, Li Meng's heart was really a little emotional for a while, those gifts yesterday are not counting those maids and small servants, almost 30,000 taels of silver, which can be regarded as rude. That's what counts as exquisite.

Li Meng is quite self-aware. He is almost ignorant of the ancient poems and articles after the Chongzhen period, and it will definitely be ugly for him to deceive the ancients with the things of later generations. After coming to this era, he has always been worried about the affairs of soldiers, and he simply thinks he is a rough person.

Those gifts yesterday were all extremely delicate things, or jewelry, or fine porcelain and jade, Li Meng looked a little awkward, thinking that if you directly give 30,000 taels of silver, I will buy it myself.

Speaking of which, Yan Ruoran's stomach already has some appearance, and now in the Li Mansion, it is completely centered on her, revolving around her, Yan Ruoran likes a set of good celadon in this gift very much, the texture of this celadon is a few copies higher than the green jade Guanyin that Li Menghua bought with a lot of money that day, and it was illuminated by candlelight there, as if clear water was condensed into a shape, very beautiful, Yan Ruoran couldn't put it down.

His wife was happy, and Li Meng was naturally happy, and when he heard the other party mention it, Li Meng immediately replied with a smile:

"That set of green jade is good, the insider likes it very much!"

Hearing Li Meng say this, the three salt merchants were quite happy, thinking that the other party's words had opened an opening, after all, there was a happy thing, but Li Meng also didn't expect that this set of celadon was the best green jade, and there was no collection in the palace, and the wife of the general soldier in Shandong liked celadon, and many people knew this matter in their hearts, in order to make this trip to Jiaozhou go smoothly, the salt merchant surnamed Jiang took out all the treasures at home.

After these few conversations, the atmosphere in the room also became more harmonious, and Li Meng said directly:

"If you have anything to say, you say it first, this seat is not good at words, you say, let's discuss!"

The three salt merchants glanced at each other, but they didn't expect Li Meng to be so straightforward, the salt merchant surnamed Jiang hesitated, and said cautiously:

"Dashuai, in the past, the villain's chamber of commerce didn't know that the sky was high and the earth was thick, and it offended Dashuai's tiger power, this time, I still have to make a loss with Dashuai, I hope Dashuai You have a lot of adults, don't take it to heart."

After finishing speaking, there was a pause, looking at Li Meng's reaction, Li Meng smiled and waved his hand, and said casually:

"Don't mention the past, everyone still has to look forward, Ben Shuai didn't take this matter to heart, you talk about your land!"

After saying this, Rao is three salt merchants were calm and prepared in a low profile. But I was almost choked by Li Meng's words, but fortunately I swallowed it in one breath and didn't cough out, those conflicts in the day, Li Meng made a lot of money for the salt merchants in Shandong, and now he is so tolerant and generous to say "look forward", which can really make people angry.

However, looking at Li Meng's demeanor, there was no trace of sarcasm, and the salt merchants reacted quickly, and everything is based on strength. In the current situation, Li Meng said that he was looking forward, that is, looking forward, and then looking back at the grievances and hatreds in the past, then the salt merchants would be destroyed.

Calm down. The salt merchant surnamed Jiang continued to speak slowly:

"The marshal is magnanimous, the villain will talk about the current matter, the handsome soldiers and horses are now stationed in Haizhou, if there is no marshal's help, I am afraid that the salt industry in Huaishang will be destroyed on those who kill a thousand knives."

Since the vanguard of more than 200 people of the Jiaozhou battalion arrived in the Haizhou area, it was still the time to survey the terrain and make advance preparations for the arrival of the army. The Haizhou salt merchant released the news, and the actual idea was to take this opportunity to raise Li Meng's name to scare the pirates.

Who would have thought that it would really work wonders, don't look at the troops of less than 300 people, and take over the pirate ships that were swaggering on the beach a few days ago, and they will disappear.

Seeing that there was such an effect, even the salt workers working in the coastal area of Huaibei gradually felt at ease, and the salt pans were restored. Production has also begun to shift to regularization.

Since others have sent thousands of troops over, it is equivalent to choking the neck of the Lianghuai salt industry, and they must be careful to curry favor with it, or at least they must be careful to curry favor with the past during this time, and then they will find some means in the officialdom to get Li Meng away.

The salt merchants also have such self-confidence, and they have paid filial piety to the government for so many years. The subsidized student officials have established local relations in the north and south and the provincial officialdom, which is the source of their confidence, anyway, the army garrison and the transfer movement are all in the hands of the civilian officials, and they have grasped the key of the civil officials and the eunuchs. is not afraid of the generals turning the sky.

Of course. They don't realize that in these last days. Not everything comes according to the rules.

But in front of you, you must be careful to serve, the salt merchants know that if they hide it and wait for the other party to ask for it, then everyone will be almost the same, it is better to bring up this matter first, and everyone will understand. The salt merchant surnamed Jiang opened his mouth to foreshadow it first, and then said:

"Now the money of the imperial court is also tight, several times to increase the grain tax, all the food and salary are welcomed, and the Shaanxi thief and the east affairs are given priority, the adult must be very embarrassed, since the villains are invited to the adult's tiger Ben to come to the town to guard the guard, naturally there is no reason to let the adult run this trip in vain, and I am willing to help the military funds."

Li Meng, who was sitting on the chair, leaned forward slightly, obviously quite interested in the topic of salt merchants, and after the salt merchant surnamed Jiang said this, he exchanged glances with the two companions, and then said:

"The villains don't know the extent of the soldiers and horses stationed in Huaibei here, and they hope that the marshal will give a number, and go back to Yangzhou to prepare with the chamber of commerce!"

Looking at the other party's trembling appearance, Li Meng's heart suddenly rose with a sense of joy, remembering the assassination in Jiaozhou that day, as well as the battle of the sneak attack on Liu Zeqing's troops, it was worth it now. At this time, the attitude of the two Huai salt merchants was to beg for money to be given to Jiaozhou, not to fail.

Li Meng put his right hand on his knee, tapped the ground knuckle of his middle finger on the surface of his leg, and said slowly without much effort:

"One and two hundred thousand taels a year."

As soon as this number was spoken, the three salt merchants stood up in unison, looked at Li Meng dumbfounded, and the salt merchant surnamed Sun, who had not spoken, stammered:

"Big ...... Adult, a hundred ...... One million two thousand taels of silver, this ...... That's a lot! ”

In a panic, what honorific title and respect were completely thrown aside, and the salt merchant surnamed Shen also reacted from the shock, and hurriedly said:

"Dashuai, the two Huai salt industry, the tax and silver paid to the imperial court in a year is only 1.5 million taels, and the 1.5 million taels are almost to raise a million soldiers and horses, and the soldiers and horses in the hands of the adults are less than 50,000, where can I use so much silver!" Hehe" twice, Li Meng sneered directly there, since the other party doesn't pay attention to any etiquette, he doesn't have to be polite here, and directly retorted:

"It's okay for you to tell people about that. Tell me this, what did I rely on to start here, do you remember, you are embarrassed to take the money handed over to the official family, and you are not afraid to make this seat laugh off his big teeth. ”

The guard standing behind Li Meng looked at the chaos in the room, he was still watching with his mouth and nose, as if these things had nothing to do with him, Li Meng ruthlessly exposed them, making the salt merchants blush, and they returned to their original positions in a dejected manner.

There was silence for a while, but it was Li Meng who said in a deep voice:

"Since you don't think it's an acceptable amount. Then I'll say another number. ”

Hearing this, the three salt merchants finally felt a little better in their hearts, and they were happy there, waiting for Li Meng to say a new number, thinking that the number they had just said was indeed too high. Maybe the chief soldier just wants to say this to scare everyone.

Li Meng pondered for a while, stretched out two fingers, and then opened his palms to gesture, but the three salt merchants were a little confused by this gesture, and then heard Li Meng say:

"Two and a half million taels!"

The salt merchant surnamed Shen was the fattest of the three, hearing this number. I only felt that my body was weak, my body slipped off the chair, and I sat heavily on the ground, but I didn't feel any pain at all, just stared at Li Meng, who was sitting there for a long time, and didn't dare to say a word. The other two salt merchants, the salt merchant surnamed Jiang and the salt merchant surnamed Sun, were all trembling a little, and their lips opened and closed but they couldn't speak.

Li Meng picked up the tea bowl on the side. Leaning on the back of the chair, he leisurely looked at the three people in front of him, and said with a smile:

"Give one million to the imperial court, and the common practice of handing over to all places is to show off five million to the rich, and you have five million for your own family, and this seat wants these, it doesn't seem to be much!"

After saying this, it was as if a cold wind was blowing in the house, and the three salt merchants shivered in unison. The gaffe suddenly disappeared, on the contrary, he was a little distracted, and the salt merchant surnamed Shen got up tremblingly, and sat down on the chair again, and the other two were also similar.

The numbers Li Meng said are naturally not completely accurate, and it is naturally impossible to make up millions of integers. It will not be more than 500,000 to go up and down. This number is not a secret, but most of the people who know it are within the salt merchants and some officials close to the salt merchants.

It is said that it is completely impossible for this Shandong general soldier to have access to this information. To put it bluntly, there is really no way to harden up on their side, and the taxes paid by the salt merchants to the imperial court are hidden in the case of official salt being sold privately and repeatedly used, which is also one of the reasons why the salt merchants get rich.

The so-called salt and iron monopoly is just a joke here, and the remaining silver is consumed in the meaningless expenses of the salt merchants to show off their wealth and fighting spirit, and this meaningless expenditure such as the great method of doing things, donating to the temple and Taoist temples in various aspects, even so the remaining gold and silver are distributed to each salt merchant is also an amazing wealth.

"This seat costs 2.5 million, your salt industry will give less worship to the gods and Buddhas, and this seat will be more for your good, this money is thrown into the bottomless pit every year, and everyone in the world looks distressed!"

After Li Meng said this with a smile, the businessman surnamed Shen over there reacted with a spirit, stood up with a swiftness that did not match his fat body, and hurriedly took a few steps forward. His action was really sudden, and the guards behind Li Meng held his backhand on the hilt of the knife, and he was about to draw the knife.

As long as the salt merchant surnamed Shen took another step forward, he would be splashed with blood on the spot, Li Meng raised his hand and shook it to stop his subordinates from making this action, and the merchant surnamed Shen took a few steps forward and knelt on the ground with a bang, kowtowed on the blue brick ground, and pleaded with a crying voice:

"Dashuai, Dashuai, the world is in a famine, and the life of the Lianghuai salt industry is not easy, such a huge amount of silver, even if it is broken, it can't be raised!"

After saying this, the two merchants also knelt down, kowtowed again and again, and only pleaded, "Please be gracious, and give some grace!" ”

It is said that this bargain is full of smiles, pushing each other's cups and changing lamps, everyone is polite, who would have thought that Li Meng would be so straightforward, salt merchant traffic officials, the first time they meet is to communicate feelings, talk about family life, if the official has a cold face, the future will be a long approach, if it is the official's smiling face, then do what he likes.

When the salt merchants saw the local officials, there was not one who did not love money. But on the surface, they are all in a tone, as if the mention of the word money is insulting, and some salt merchants say that the process of approaching officials is "slow stew", after all, it must not be rushed, it must be carried out slowly, and the benefits of silver money must be talked about after the two sides are very familiar.

How could Li Meng be so anxious to ask for money in person, he really tore his face, and he didn't talk about the decency of the official family at all, even if he knelt on the ground and complained, the three salt merchants still couldn't help but scold in their hearts. I thought that this Li Meng was really a smuggled salt seller, and he was completely a shameless robber.

But now that you have to rely on the bandit's soldiers and horses to guard the guards, it is impossible to turn your face in anger, so I can only hope that I can talk about a few points at this price. Salt merchants are still merchants after all, and they are facing the first-class generals of the imperial court. This difference in status and status, as well as the comparison of each other's strength, made the salt merchants unable to be angry at all.

The price offered by Li Meng was shared equally by the salt merchants after he went back, and everyone was interested, and these three representatives were also famous and reputable among the salt merchants. If you go back with the amount of 2.5 million taels, I am afraid that your reputation will be lost, and you will not continue to work hard in the salt industry.

Whether it is strength or mastery of the opponent's bottom line, Li Meng completely occupies an overwhelming advantage, and these salt merchants can only beg for land.

Li Meng leaned down, looked at the three salt merchants in front of him who had kowtowed and were about to knock their foreheads bleeding, and said with a smile:

"I'm not a heartless person. Look at you so pitiful...... Anyway, don't mention the matter of the 2.5 million taels of silver......"

The topic here is almost a leap change, the salt merchants are almost unable to keep up with Li Meng's train of thought, hearing this, they are all overjoyed, staring at Li Meng in a daze, I don't know if there is a follow-up, sure enough, the words are not finished.

"One million two hundred thousand taels. Can't be missing! ”

The three salt merchants on the ground looked up in amazement after hearing this number, and dared to turn back at this time, and when they raised their heads, they happened to see Li Meng's meaningful smile, and the salt merchants immediately knew that they might have been tricked by Li Meng, the so-called sky-high asking price, and sitting on the ground to pay back. That's it.

The salt merchants were completely overwhelmed by Li Meng's momentum. I didn't care about whether the other party had set a trap, and I was completely led by Li Meng.

One million two hundred thousand taels. It was exactly the condition that Li Meng had put forward before, and at that time it was unacceptable to hear this number, but now that he said it, he felt that this 1.2 million was much easier to accept than 2.5 million, although the three salt merchants were still kneeling on the ground, but their frightened expressions disappeared a lot, and several people exchanged glances there.

These were all seen by Li Meng, and he didn't say anything, but said with a smile:

"I'm not in a hurry, a few gentlemen will go back to their residences to discuss first, and it's not too late to come to a conclusion and then reply to the letter." The frightened salt merchants were drenched in sweat, but they were temporarily relieved when they heard this, thinking that they could go back and discuss it first, and hurry back to Yangzhou to get back to the area of Yangzhou.

The salt merchant surnamed Jiang recovered quickly, first stood up and wiped his sweat and said:

"Today, I lost my temper in front of the marshal, and I hope that the marshal will not be held accountable for the rudeness, the villains are ordinary people, and they don't know much about etiquette."

Li Meng said with a smile that it didn't matter, he got up to send off the guests, although it was a few words of dialogue, but the thrilling part was not much worse than the battlefield fight, the three salt merchants were not willing to stay in this room for a moment longer, so they agreed to leave.

Li Meng was still polite, and actually stood up to send him off, sent it to the door, with a smile on his face, and said to these salt merchants very politely:

"Actually, there is no need to be so troublesome, Li has a horse and a knife, if there is a lack of gold and silver, then go to your place to get it, why bother so much tongue!"

After saying this, he didn't care what the salt merchants thought, and walked away, the three salt merchants were sweating profusely with nervousness, but when they heard this, they felt a chill from the bottom of their hearts, cold to the bone.

On the thirty-first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the two Huai salt merchants agreed to Li Meng's conditions, if the Shandong soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion were stationed in Huaibei, they would pay various expenses according to 1.2 million taels of silver every year, and half of the advance payment was 600,000 taels.

Being able to reach this agreement, Li Meng has such an understanding of the expenses and income of the two Huai salt merchants, and knows their style of action. It is completely due to Liu Fulai, the eunuch who guarded Nanjing, the old man is in the center of the south of the Yangtze River, and he is familiar with a lot of information.

The so-called family has an elder, if there is a treasure, it is appropriate to say this......