Chapter 192: Something Changed Say yes

This year, there was a great drought in Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi were all disasters, and the troops of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were repeatedly defeated by the official army in this year, but they could not shake their fundamentals.

However, on the other hand, the situation in the southern part of Laizhou Prefecture is slightly better, first of all, although farming is still the main business, but the bulk of the money is in the private salt and those labor works around the Jiaozhou camp, Li Meng has an advantage, that is, the requisition of labor is paid for payment, and there is no arrears.

Illegal salt and labor brought income to the residents here, even if there was nothing to do in the fields, they could tide over the difficulties by buying grain, and the rise in grain prices attracted grain merchants from Nanzhili and Zhejiang, and transported the grain to Jiaozhou by sea, making the local area very calm.

Few people can understand that this is Li Meng's credit, but the herdsmen officials of the Laizhou prefect and the following prefectures and counties have earned a good reputation.

Among them, Jiaozhou Yan Zhizhou's reputation is particularly loud, and there are several Jiaozhou officials in Beijing, who correspond with their families, and they all know that although there is a great drought in Shandong, the family is still peaceful, so it is really a few words to this Yan Zhizhou.

And today, there are disasters everywhere, and only the officials force the people to rebel, and this is the case in places like Yan Zhizhou. It's really conspicuous, the cabinet and the celebrant have noticed him, and there is a faint rumor that the governor is over, and he will be promoted to a certain place to be the prefect.

Li Meng always felt that he came to this era, and did not change anything, but just went with the flow, with the changes of the times, in fact, there has been a tragedy of cannibalism in the history of Laizhou Mansion at this time, because of his arrival, things have changed somewhat.

Mu Yunyao came to Li Meng with the documents brought from Nanzhili, at this time Li Meng was receiving an old man from Jining Prefecture, this old man had been a two-term prefect in Nanzhili, and after Zhishi, he returned to his hometown Jining Prefecture to be a rich man, which can be regarded as a highly respected character.

However, on Li Meng's side, he sat politely down, and in Li Meng's study, only Wang Hai and two guards with knives stood aside, and when he heard the old man's attitude, he said very respectfully:

"Those people in the south asked the old man to bring a message to Lord Li, a few years ago, I didn't know the tiger's might, how offended, I don't dare to ask for anything else now, I just want these people in Shandong to return to Haizhou safely, after going back, Lianghuai will never set foot in Shandong Yanshi again."

The prefect of Nanzhili is generally the grade of the fifth grade and the fourth grade, such a level of civil officials is already considered a high grade, and when they meet with the generals on weekdays, they are all to be attended by the generals to perform official salutes, and politely greet them, and the civil and military lowly are particularly obvious here.

Even if it is Zhishi, this prefect also has many relatives and friends in the officialdom, and the local military attache does not dare to offend easily, but this old man is completely in accordance with the official etiquette of the civilian on Li Meng's side, and he is solemn and respectful to the extreme.

"Zhao Weng spoke there, this official is a general who guards Laizhou Mansion, and he takes care of the affairs of Yanzhou Mansion there, and besides, my position of salt administration investigation is only Qing, Deng, Laizhou Sanfu, and what do you have to do over there."

Li Meng sat there steadily, playing in an official tone, hearing Li Meng say this, the Zhao Governor couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, but he didn't dare to show it on his face, so he could only continue to laugh and say:

"The adults said there, the entire Shandong Salt Road has to rely on the tiger power of the adults, and the two Huai side is also entrusted to the old man to say the item, after all, they are now in Shandong are their Huaishang children, and they have wives and children and parents at home, and I hope that the adults will be merciful!"

Li Meng took a sip of the tea bowl and said with a smile:

"Nanzhili is at the foot of Nanjing, and the elders of Lianghuai naturally look down on me in the countryside, how can I afford Zhao Weng to speak so politely."

The old man's face became a little embarrassed, but Li Meng continued:

"Several times and three times, Li is just doing some small business, letting Shandong people eat Shandong salt, business is business, I don't want to bring anything bloody, but someone always comes to the door, and the official always has to do something."

When this Zhao Yuanwai heard Li Meng's words, he heard a little turnaround, and hurriedly stood up and said respectfully:

"Several families of the two Huai have already made a death guarantee, and will never offend the tiger power of the adults again, here by the salt transport of Haizhou and the heads of several families jointly wrote the guarantee and the contract, the six thousand quintals of Huai salt stored in the Jining salt warehouse were transferred to the adult, and another four thousand quintals of Huai salt were sent to Jining Prefecture by water, please accept them together."

The Huaishang salt merchants ceded the territory of Shandong, and gave Huai Yan 10,000 quintals as compensation, and there were some so-called noble people to make guarantees, this matter seems to have won a big victory for Li Meng, and the two Huai salt merchants have never encountered such great resistance anywhere.

Or they have never encountered such a general who takes private salt as his main business to operate, and has such a strong force, in the conflict half a month ago, the two Huai salt merchants almost lost hundreds of lives in Shandong, Shandong was not the main market for Huai salt, and in order to seek shelter, it has already given Liu Zeqing a lot of profits, this tragic competition, the profits are not big, but it is so bloody, the salt merchants who have been peaceful and rich for a long time have already given up.

Sending this prefect of Zhishi to come and say, this attitude is already kowtowing, hearing the conditions that the other party said, Li Meng is also satisfied, but this Zhao Weng is not just a lobbyist for the two Huai salt merchants.

Seeing Li Meng's attitude, the old man thought that the task of making peace had been completed, and his heart became extremely relaxed, and he sat back in his chair and was about to say a few words, but he heard Li Meng say with a smile in his seat:

"Zhao Weng also has a 3,000 quintal of salt in Juye, and it is said that half of this salt is Liu Zongbing's private property?"

A few words of understatement, in the ears of this Zhao Yuanwai, sounded like a thunderbolt from the sky, where did he no longer dare to show the grace of a high-grade civil official, as if there was a knife under the buttocks, jumped up, hurriedly walked to the middle, knelt down directly respectfully, and said in a continuous voice:

"Master Li is discerning, in the lower body of Liu Zeqing's station, many things have to be followed, and in the lower heart, I am often ashamed and abnormal, and I feel that I have failed the kindness of the court and the teachings of the saint."

Li Meng sneered in his heart, the salt seller in Jiaozhou went to this official of Zhishi to discuss the matter of private salt trading, who would have thought that he would be rejected by this person, and told Liu Zeqing's men and horses, and let his manpower be damaged by four or five, if it weren't for the identity of this person and the identity of the court official, he would have cut off his head here today, but the other party is the prefect of Zhishi, if he kills it, I am afraid that the court will deal with the Jurchens and the people of the army, and they will have to deal with themselves.

However, Li Meng also has some self-cultivation now, and just said lightly:

"This official still has the duty of salt administration inspection, for the sake of Zhao Weng's agreement this time, it will not be difficult, after Zhao Weng returns to Juye, he will transport this salt to Jining within ten days, and this matter will be forgotten!"

These private salts plus the cost of transportation, come and go, this Zhao Weng almost lost tens of thousands of taels of silver, not to mention the risk of offending Liu Zeqing, but looking at Li Meng who was sitting with a smile on his face, and the guards who stood around with a solemn face, this Zhao Weng, who could also be regarded as having seen the market, swallowed and spit, and replied with a dry smile:

"Since that's the case, then thank you Lord Li for your kindness, and I'll do it after Zhao goes back."

"This official also doesn't want to have more swords and soldiers in Shandong, please Zhao Weng reply to everyone in Huaishang, from now on, the world is peaceful, don't worry."

After Li Meng finished speaking, he agreed to the official's proposal to make peace, at this time, Zhao Weng's back was already soaked with cold sweat, he was in Juye, and Liu Zeqing in Caozhou was quite close, Liu Zeqing has always boasted of being brave and unparalleled, and everyone before and after him made a fierce appearance.

But that look is more pretending to be vicious, in front of the beauty of gold and silver, Liu Zeqing has always been smiling, but this Li Meng has always had a warm smile on his face, but he can't hide anything from him, his tone is indifferent, but he has a killing intent, this killing intent is not intentional, but it seems to be born with it.

This Zhao Weng was no longer willing to delay his work here, he thought that the faster he went, the better, and remembered what he said when he met Liu Zeqing before, the cold sweat behind him couldn't help but get stronger and stronger, and his body couldn't help trembling, this old man couldn't help but think of when he was the prefect, and the military general was not polite when he saw him, but now he is so arrogant and domineering everywhere, this world is really different.

Seeing that Zhao Weng walked out of the room almost embarrassed, Li Meng, who was sitting there, shook his head, thinking that with the participation of Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Caozhou, his action to expel the two Huai salt merchants from Shandong would encounter a lot of obstacles, who would have thought that it would be so easy, after launching, the other party put up a white flag so quickly to admit defeat.

But this result is just to remove a concern, more of these two provinces, the income of private salt is at most more than 10,000 taels, the current 8,000 soldiers' salaries, silver, grain, and equipment, clothing, and armor, this 10,000 taels of silver is a small help.

While pondering, Wang Hai and several guards retreated, and one of them ran in happily, in Li Meng's mansion, only Mu Yunyao could do this, and saw the girl holding a stack of papers, with a smile on her face, and said:

"Brother Li, there are some things for you to see."