Chapter 509: Those who know the times keep their wealth and wealth

Running in a hurry, the terrain is not suitable for setting up artillery, and the remnants of the king who retreated in panic on the official road accelerated even more after seeing someone coming to intercept them.

Thirty cannons were brought, but only eight cannons were fired in a hurry, and the so-called frightened bird, even if it was the elite of a hundred battles, was panicked when it was defeated and fled.

The loss of artillery bombardment is certainly unavoidable, and the most appropriate way is to urge the horses and cavalry to move forward as soon as possible, and the brigade is to pass.

But the general of the defeated army, in a hurry, in addition to being able to retreat, saw a few cannons on the side of the road to bombard, in the distance suddenly thousands of soldiers and horses rushed violently, many cavalry subconsciously reined in the horses, or towards the other side of the road to disperse.

Shandong soldiers and horses really had no last resort this time, and they actually arranged an ambush to intercept them on the retreat road, but thinking of this made people frightened.

Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, and his personal generals, did not care about gathering their soldiers and horses in the midst of the rout, and only cared about running wildly, allowing the cavalry behind to disperse.

Eight guns fired one round, killing less than 15 cavalry, but almost a quarter of the cavalry and brigade broke up, and when the Jiaozhou battalion firecrackers rushed to the side of the road, they fired two rounds of firearms and fell more than 100 cavalrymen.

Obviously, he saw that the target was in front of him, and the opportunity to get the great work was about to be obtained, but because he was a step late, Li Zicheng escaped under his eyelids, which was really regrettable, Yuan Shizhong was so angry that there was almost fire in his eyes, but after such a blockade, there were less than three thousand horses left around King Chuang.

Yuan Shizhong's side in addition to the cannon's pack horses, the cavalry is more than 100 people, and the infantry dare not be too scattered, if they run away, they will be killed by the cavalry of the king of Chuang, and they will not be able to resist when they turn their heads and rush over, Yuan Shizhong led the soldiers on the official road and pretended to chase for dozens of steps, and then stopped hatefully.

Since he came here, he was not in a hurry to leave, so he simply set up a position here on the official road, in addition to the brigade led by King Chuang, there must be the rest of the scattered cavalry soldiers who will go here, and they will be intercepted here when the time comes.

Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, fled this time, but it was not a strategic retreat, he was completely defeated on the battlefield, and he fled when he was on the verge of despair, and he didn't care about the life or death of the friendly army at all, and it was too late to care about the life or death of the friendly army.

The troops who intercepted the Jiaozhou Battalion Horse Army and Gao Jie's soldiers and horses in the rear Jiaxian area, as well as Hao Shaoqi, who was in charge of the two wings, were no longer able to take care of it.

Especially in Hao Shaoqi in Ye County, according to the prediction of various intelligence in advance, the troops of Chen Liu, the general of the Jiaozhou Battalion Zhengxi, should have arrived in Ye County.

According to the combat effectiveness embodied by the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Jiaozhou battalion today, although Hao Shaoqi has 40,000 foot soldiers in Ye County, he can block more than 10,000 people led by Chen Liu, the general of the expedition to the west, and there is no certainty at all.

However, Yexian County, which is considered to be likely to be broken, is still very intact, and the situation around Yexian is also stable and abnormal, but the army of Chen Liu, the general of Zhengxi, is camped ten miles away from Yexian, and it has already opened the posture, although the Shun army troops outside the city of Yexian are also heavily guarded, such as facing a big enemy, but there is no movement.

The Shun army foot soldiers stationed here are slightly inferior in combat effectiveness compared to the troops led by the prince in the Xiangcheng area, but Hao Shaoqi has an advantage here, his direct old troops are in his hands, and the troops in his hands are also first-class pawns of the Shun army, and this time the battle with the Shun army will also be transferred to the past, but Hao Shaoqi has fought with Shandong soldiers and horses several times, and the losses of the troops in his hands are not small every time.

The troops in his hands have not been in existence for a long time, and although they are his cronies, their combat effectiveness is inevitably a little worse than that of the others who have not suffered losses.

But this also has a good advantage, that is, he has the troops of his cronies in his hands, and the entire plate of Ye County is controlled by him, and the orders are smooth.

The best house in Ye County is a certain Zhishi prefect's, the prefect's family has long fled to Kaifeng City, this time Hao Shaoqi led the troops over, he is the commander-in-chief, this house should be used by him, the Shun army to the present, the people below may have a hard time, the officers above the lieutenant are exquisite, the level of the general is even more remarkable, Hao Shaoqi is also a general, the treatment is naturally not bad.

Now his line, within a hundred paces, is already under martial law, and Hao Shaoqi's personal guards are patrolling there with weapons in hand. Such a cautious vigilance is because Hao Shaoqi is receiving a guest at this time, and this guest, Hao Shaoqi does not want others to know.

Although they want to keep it secret, but Hao Shaoqi's people also know the identity of this guest, when Hao Shaoqi was still in Shaanxi, Gao Yigong, who was in charge of military quartermasters, often needed green salt from Shaanxi, Hao Shaoqi helped buy a lot, and later Gao Yigong's side of the salt goods went more, and he was familiar with the dealings, and he would directly let people lead the salt merchants in Shandong to come over to trade and trade, and today this guest is a nodding friend.

If it was just such a shallow friendship, the army of displaced people rose and fell several times, and later when Henan was booming, although someone was in charge of military supplies, many times it was necessary for each ministry to raise its own funds.

On the one hand, the Shunjun army has its own tuntian farming, and on the other hand, it opens the cellars of those gentry and landlords, but there are still some medicinal materials such as weapons, clothing, and armor, which are to be bought.

At this time, Hao Shaoqi met again with the Shandong salt merchant who had a relationship, and the salt merchant was very skilled, boasting about Haikou, saying that as long as the silver was enough, he could give the army the weapons and various necessities needed.

There is no shortage of silver in the army, and there will definitely be a large amount of gold and silver in the war, but these gold and silver are nested in their hands, and there is no place to spend them.

Hearing that this Shandong salt merchant came to find business, Hao Shaoqi was really moved, and later heard that the rest of the departments had some such transactions, so he was not wary, anyway, he asked for delivery first and then gave money, and he was not afraid of what tricks the other party played.

The ability of the Shandong salt merchant is really not small, after the two sides agreed, a large number of supplies were really transported over, God knows how he passed those blockades.

Check the goods, are also the best goods, after the change of storage, Hao Shaoqi's troop combat effectiveness is also a lot stronger, although the price is much higher, but each takes what they need and does not suffer a loss, the business is not to say that the two sides are satisfied, the Shandong salt merchants are very clever and sleek, every time the business, always give Hao Shaoqi and the generals a copy of the reserve, will never be missed.

Although everyone is loyal to the Shun army, the rebellion is not just to eat, and now that the cause is big, then we have to think about how to live better.

The money used to buy weapons and medicinal materials is all public funds, and there are accounts to check, even if everyone wants to do it, they must ponder and ponder military law.

This business only stopped after the Ming Governor Hou Sui led the troops out of the customs, Hao Shaoqi and the various departments converged, chatted with each other, only to know that the various departments were stationed in the place and Shandong, Lianghuai, Hebei merchants to do business, all kinds of special products to buy those high-priced materials.

Thinking about the life and death with Shandong over the years, there have been no interruptions, and there are businessmen in Shandong who have been doing business uninterruptedly, and these people are not afraid of being killed.

Hao Shaoqi and the other generals of the Shun army have made enough money in these businesses, and they don't seem to be doing any harm to themselves, and those businessmen look like they are doing business, and they don't come to inquire about any internal military news, which is beneficial and harmless, and everyone will naturally not expose it.

Of course, the generals of the Shun army would not have thought that among the various incomes of the Jiaozhou battalion group, the most lucrative is the transaction with the Shun army, and the weapons that have been redressed in various parts of Shandong, as well as the low-cost materials from the south and north of the Yangtze River, have flowed to the control area of the Shun army through the logistics system of Shandong, where, because of the blockade and shortage of materials, the income and profits obtained are almost three to five times that of normal circumstances, and the prices of some special commodities will be higher.

In the same way, after the low-priced materials in the area controlled by the Shun army were transported to Shandong, they could also be sold at a high price, and the silver money earned continued to be turned into cannons, guns, and military salaries, and put into the army of the Jiaozhou battalion.

Naturally, there is such a network in the enemy-occupied area, in addition to being used by the Lingshan Commercial Bank to do business, the Inventory Division will naturally not let go, and many businessmen who walk in Huguang, Henan Province have the identity of the Inventory Division - the gang of the Shandong Salt Gang.

After the Ming Governor Hou Sui led the army out of Tongguan, those businessmen who had been doing business here suddenly disappeared, and it was also clear that since the war was imminent, the other party would not come from the danger place.

But the disappeared merchant suddenly appeared on the day of the war, and everyone understood his intentions, and his identity was also revealed.

However, after Hao Shaoqi faced this smiling and unusually calm businessman surnamed Jiang, he hesitated, but still let the person into the mansion, and ordered his cronies to be under martial law on Jingjie.

"Good tea!!"

The businessman surnamed Jiang took a sip of tea leaves, and couldn't help but exclaim, this Ye County is also the scope of the war, ten rooms and nine empty, Hao Shaoqi can actually get such a good thing, and then look at this tea bowl, it is also the best quality of fine porcelain, I really don't know how to buy it.

Hao Shaoqi was wearing a tight-fitting robe, but he was not wearing armor, and his waist knife was also placed on the side, and the guards were sent out.

Looking at the fat businessman surnamed Jiang drinking tea there and admiring, Hao Shaoqi felt irritable in his heart, don't look at this businessman surnamed Jiang looking at the rich state, he may be walking in the chaos like this, and he is not an idle person, yesterday he tried to persuade King Chuang to leave, but today, the businessman surnamed Jiang came to the door, which made him feel wrong in his heart.

"Jiang Hua, you look like this, in such a chaotic place, aren't you afraid of being boiled and eaten?"

Hao Shaoqi was a little breathless, and first opened his mouth to sneer, and the old god of Jianghua tasted the tea in the cup again, put down the tea bowl, and said with a smile:

"What does General Hao say, although Jiang is fat, but if you want to eat a bite, you have to worry about whether your teeth will break, the gentry and people up and down Henan are still sensible, not afraid!"

He didn't say soft or hard to come back, Hao Shaoqi was even more angry, but his heart was becoming more and more bottomless, and he said:

"In this kind of chaos, Jiang Hua, you are not at home to enjoy the happiness, what are you doing here?"

"General, we still have 5,000 taels of swords and silver on our side, and this time we are here to settle the account."

Hao Shaoqi was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed out loud, Jiang Hua's lazy appearance really made him unable to do so, and he stretched out his hand and pointed at Jiang Hua and said:

"Do you really want silver? I will immediately ask the quartermaster to prepare for you, and I will also prepare a few horses for you to carry together, you see how it is, Lao Hao is a good person to go home, anyway, you go out a few miles, just go directly to Chen Liu's side. ”

"General Hao, we have been in business for so long, and the gold and silver in your hand are no less than 110,000 taels, right?"

When they were joking with each other there, Jiang Hua said such a sentence leisurely, Hao Shaoqi was stunned for a moment, and stood up suddenly, his movement was not small, and several guards who had been outside the house rushed in with a move, Hao Shaoqi stood there and sighed, waving his hand to his hands.

The figure of 110,000 taels shocked Hao Shaoqi, he had made a total of more than 40,000 taels of military supplies over the years, and Jiang Hua should have known this amount, but he looted and tortured money everywhere, and among the gold and silver sent to the public funds, he deducted a lot of them cleanly.

Added up, it is not a number of 110,000 taels, the question is how Jiang Hua knows this number, even if he knows about this matter in his own army, there are only dozens of confidants and cronies.

Hao Shaoqi stood and glared angrily for a while, Jiang Hua picked up the tea bowl again, and drank it for a long time, Hao Shaoqi suddenly felt that he had no strength, sat down on the chair again, and said helplessly:

"Jiang Hua, Mr. Jiang, if you have anything to say, just tell Lao Hao directly, we are a rough person, we can't understand it if we are so sharp."

Jiang Hua smiled, put down the tea bowl, and said solemnly:

"General Hao, General Chen's army is ten miles away, are you sure that you will win the battle?"

Hao Shaoqi didn't hesitate and replied simply:

"Can't win!"

"General Hao, Qi Guogong led 40,000 soldiers and horses against King Chuang's 100,000 army, what do you think of the victory?"

“…… Can't win! ”

After a little hesitation, Hao Shaoqi still replied with certainty, Jiang Hua leaned forward and said earnestly:

"General Hao, you also know that there is a huge disparity between the strength and weakness of the Shandong and Shun armies, Jiang said something offensive, adults were just farmers who relied on the sky for food more than ten years ago, but now they are worth more than 100,000 taels, and tens of thousands of people under their hands are masters, this kind of wealth is more than one day, if the army is defeated and killed, everything disappears, then why bother?"

Hao Shaoqi's face became more and more gloomy, and he asked in a muffled voice:

"The outcome of this is still unknown, the person who persuaded him to surrender has already come to the door, Lao Hao doesn't understand, you have such a big certainty, don't care about this, come, Jiang Hua, you tell me, what conditions did Qi Guogong offer?"

"If you want to serve the people, you can give a veteran general treatment, the family property and family will not move, the prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River in Shandong, please choose any place to live, if the adult wants to continue to lead the troops to fight, the family will naturally not move, but the family needs to live in Jinan City or Jiaozhou, and the soldiers need to be selected according to the standards of the Jiaozhou battalion.

has reached such a point, Hao Shaoqi naturally will not be a civilian, but he is already a general and marshal in the Shun army, and he surrendered to do a guerrilla in the past, which is really too fast to lose his status, and he is also unwilling.

But when the other party came to the door, he must have been 100% sure that he would not be recruited, and when the other party's soldiers and horses came, all this would disappear.

Thinking of this, Hao Shaoqi also hated in his heart, and when he was about to fight, he suddenly talked about such things, and he didn't even have time to prepare to think, he was powerful and wealthy, and he had been loyal to King Chuang for more than ten years, and he had to make a choice within a few hours of this day, which was really difficult to do.

"General Hao, it's not a year or two for you to deal with someone in my Jiang, and I don't want you to be embarrassed here, General Zhengxi Chen is stationed not far away, and he won't start a war without receiving an order, and now King Chuang and the Duke of Qi must be fighting fiercely, and it must be difficult to let the general get an idea if there is no result."

Hearing this, Hao Shaoqi raised his head and saw Jiang Hua say with a smile:

"After the battle situation is confirmed, the marshal will send a fast horse to deliver the news, let's wait for the news to be confirmed, how about you make a decision, General Hao?"

At this time, Hao Shaoqi collapsed weakly in his seat, and asked in a low voice:

"You Shandong, you have such a big certainty, so sure ......"

"If you are not sure, Jiang has come in person, if you can't say that it can't be compatible, wouldn't it be a joke on your own head, let's wait for the news, General Hao, and ask you a word, you can catch the 40,000 troops inside and outside the city, if there is any instability, I will also report to General Chen's side in time, and make preparations early!"

Hao Shaoqi waved his hand helplessly and said in a deep voice:

"Don't worry about this, most of the generals inside and outside the city are my henchmen, if there is really any fluctuation, the news from Xiangcheng will come, and everyone will naturally know how to choose!"

When he said this, he actually thought that King Chuang would be defeated, Jiang Hua smiled and arched his hand, picked up the tea bowl again, and began to admire the tea bowl and tea, the weather was a little cold, Jiang Hua wore a lot, but the vest was already wet, and he was also trembling in this kind of danger.

Now Shandong's intelligence work is under the control of the Inventory Department, and the intelligence systems of the Lingshan Commercial Bank and the Shandong Salt Gang have been integrated by the Inventory Department, and Jiang Xianxuan is now a deputy director of the Inventory Department, responsible for external intelligence work, and this Jiang Hua is a secret agent under him.

Jiang Hua is a little different from ordinary secret agents, Jiang Hua is Jiang Xianxuan's cousin, and he knows more about this Shandong insider than ordinary officials.

Now is a big event, can make a contribution as soon as possible, you can win glory and wealth in the future, when the time comes, the start is a few levels higher than the rest of the people, a little faster, if you wait until the big event is determined, and then make a contribution, then you have to climb slowly in the system, and the future is usually bleak.

The persuasion of Hao Shaoqi this time, the danger is not small, although we all know that there is no suspense about the victory or defeat on the battlefield, but there is a general to surrender, Shandong soldiers and horses fight one less battle, more strength, and can accelerate the collapse of the Shun army, this is a great merit, but rashly come to talk about what to surrender, Hao Shaoqi is the descendant of the Shun army, the top generals, I am afraid that a mouth, was cut off by someone.

Jiang Hua and Hao Shaoqi have dealt with a lot, knowing that this person's personality is not the same as most of the Shun army generals, others are righteous and enthusiastic, while Hao Shaoqi is much cooler, thinking more about his own interests, Jiang Hua and other companions exchanged news, found that the voices everywhere, this Hao Shaoqi received the most filial piety silver, since he loves money so much, he is not so loyal.

But all this is speculation, and Jiang Hua doesn't dare to judge what it is, but he still has to bet on this vote for the sake of his future glory and wealth.

Judging from the conversation between the two sides, he seems to have made the right bet, after the two sides finished speaking, Hao Shaoqi's face became very bad, but he began to raise his voice to beckon the cronies outside to come in, and ordered one after another, and did not shy away from Jiang Hua on the side, Jiang Hua took the teapot and poured himself a drink, but he could understand Hao Shaoqi's arrangement, it was nothing more than a certain battalion withdrawn from the city gate and replaced by a certain battalion, and several points in Yexian City were changed guards.

Such a move made Jiang Hua even more sure in his heart, Hao Shaoqi had already begun to change guards in the city and was ready to prepare, and these arrangements were obviously not for Chen Liu outside the city, but clearly for the defense of the city.

The battle was carried out in the morning, and it would take a few hours for the Xiangcheng side to come to Yexian County, and the news would reach at the earliest, when it would be dark at night.

Hao Shaoqi's personal soldiers and attendants set up a banquet according to the order, but whether it was Hao Shaoqi or Jiang Hua, they didn't have the slightest intention of eating, they were all waiting for the news on the battlefield, and when the news arrived, everything could be determined.

The head of the city of Ye County has long been set up with a sentry, and you can see that the military camp of General Zhengxi on the opposite side is also brightly lit, but there is no sign of dispatch, the two armies are not far apart, but the mood is very different.

Hao Shaoqi and Jiang Hua didn't stay in the house for a long time, and the two couldn't sit down, so they simply asked people to build a shed at the head of the city and wait together.

The night is getting heavier and heavier, and the brightly lit Jiaozhou Camp Zhengxi Military Camp opposite is gradually leaving a little bit of light, but Jiang Hua feels that his body is getting colder and colder, and he doesn't know if it's the weather or psychology.

Perhaps aware of Jiang Hua's state, Hao Shaoqi said in a deep voice:

"Don't be afraid, the scout horse I sent should also come back, he should be much faster than you Shandong!"

Such a major event, if the false news inside and outside the city is used, wouldn't it be a big loss, and a veteran like Hao Shaoqi will naturally not make such a mistake.

When everything was quiet, a rapid sound of horses' hooves reached the ears of several people in the city, and the news came......