On February 11, the 11th day of February, the main army of the Mites Qingnan Expedition, which had been stationed at the Xiba Ferry in Qingjiang County, Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province for more than two months, finally launched a river-crossing operation under the command of the commander Yue Le, crossed the turbulent Yellow River, and set foot on the real land south of the Yangtze River. [No pop-up novel network]

At the same time, the Fat Boy Army, who was closely monitored here, carefully scouted, and after confirming that the Qing Army's Southern Expedition was indeed the main force crossing the river, they immediately sent this vital news to Nanjing, the base camp of the Fat Army as quickly as possible!

The time when the news arrived in Nanjing was the afternoon of February 13 of the Great Tuesday year, and on the same day, Lu Fatzi, who had never liked extravagance and waste and had a very poor amount of alcohol, held an unprecedented festive banquet in his temporary trip and the former Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty, and invited more than 500 gentry and landlords from the states and provinces in the Jiangnan region to participate. Although Li Tianzhi, who was stationed in Suzhou, was unable to attend the meeting due to the urgent military situation on the southern front, he also sent Yang Yingyuan, the deputy commander of the corps, to Nanjing to attend the meeting. and Wu Mei, the daughter of Wu Lao Hanjian, the county lord of Pingxi Wangfu, also left the Humble Administrator's Garden and Suzhou for the first time and came to Nanjing to participate in this grand event!

The reason for holding this banquet is that Lu Bangning, the second son born to Lu Fatzi, is full moon, which is also the first son born to Lu Fatzi since he got rid of the control of Wu Laohan. In addition, the soil bun Lu Fat Man even specially indicated that there were twenty dishes per table at the banquet on the invitation sticker, so as to show off his wealth, which inevitably made the real wealthy Jiangnan big landlords, gentry and salt merchants secretly despise Lu Fat Man - the soil buns from Yunnan did not inquire about how many dishes the old man had on a table of flower wine.

Contempt is contempt, Lu Fatzi is also the current Jiangnan Emperor, he asked for a post to his son to do a full moon wine, the gentry and landlords under the eaves have not dared not to come, all of them have brought enough heavy gifts, and they will respectfully come to the Lu Fat Man Xingyuan on time, and present gifts to sit down. But fortunately, the Fat Army went up and down to Lu Fatzi himself and down to the most ordinary Fat Army soldiers, and the attitude towards these big landlords and gentry was quite cordial, and there was no arrogance of other warlords and high-ranking officials, so the atmosphere of the banquet was not bad, and it was also very good.

At the same time, Lu Fatzi's servant maid began to serve the dishes, and four dishes were placed on each table, namely a plate of scrambled eggs with leeks, a plate of fried shrimp with leeks, a plate of braised chicken nuggets and a bowl of spinach and tofu soup, and then there was no movement. The generals of the Wu army and the gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River all thought that they still had to serve food, so they didn't move, and Lu Fatzi, who had never wanted to sit in the master's seat, stood up, and said with a smile with an invitation gesture: "Generals, distinguished guests, twenty dishes are ready, everyone please move the chopsticks, you are welcome, you can eat and drink as much as you want, you must have fun." Please, please. ”

"Twenty dishes?" The generals of the Wu army, the gentry, the landlords, and the wealthy merchants looked at each other, almost doubting that Lu Fatzi would not be able to count. Only Gao Dejie, who was in a high position in the Fat Army, smiled and said, "Brother Lu, what are you selling?" It's obviously four dishes, but how can it be said to be twenty dishes? ”

"Brother Gao, count carefully." Fat Lu pointed to the table, smiled and counted decently: "A scrambled egg with leeks, a fried shrimp with leeks, two leeks (nine) will get eighteen, plus a plate of braised chicken nuggets and a bowl of spinach soup, isn't it twenty dishes?" ”

"Huh......." There was a happy laugh in the banquet hall, and Gao Dejie couldn't help but laugh again: "Brother Lu, no wonder someone calls you Lu Caishen, you really know how to calculate, there is still such a way to count in the world?" ”

"It's not okay if you're not careful." Fat Lu smiled and said loudly: "Brother Gao, do you remember when our brothers used to kill full dogs in Yuping Pass?" At that time, the brothers in our army were paid only six dollars a month, and it was a time of war, and prices were soaring, and the military salary of six dollars of silver could not afford three tables of such food and drink. The brothers were all eating chaff vegetables, and our brothers were eating in a pot with the brothers, scooping vegetables with a horse spoon, and at that time we had a table of such dishes, and we were really not in the mood to drink wine, so we just threw ourselves on the table and grabbed them. ”

"Brother Gao, do you remember?" Lu Fatzi asked again: "When we and Mangou were in a stalemate at Yuping Pass, there was a brother's war horse that died of illness, and we were reluctant to throw away the dead horse meat, so we asked the man to cook it and add vegetables to the brothers, Yungui does not produce salt, so he is not even willing to put more salt, but for that plate of dead horse meat that is not even willing to put more salt, I and you and Brother Gao Hongchen have touched three glasses of wine." ”

"Yes." Gao Dejie nodded and said with a smile: "I still remember that at that time, Gao Hongchen and Wu Yonghua fought for the last piece of dead horse meat, and we were really bitter at that time. ”

"Brother Gao, since you still remember what happened at that time, why do you no longer yell when you see such a sumptuous dish now, and you no longer grab a plate like before - who dares Lao Tzu to snatch it and send him as a death squad next time?" Fat Lu asked with a smile.

"Because ......." Gao Dejie suddenly blushed halfway through his words, and vaguely understood the true intentions of Fat Lu.

"Because we have now entered the south of the Yangtze River, and we have fallen into the grain mountain and silver sea, right?" Fat Lu smiled and finished the second half for Gao Dejie, Gao Dejie didn't dare to say anything, and Fat Lu didn't embarrass him, just turned to the other fat army generals and said with a smile: "And the same goes for the generals, the best tradition of our army before was to eat with the brothers in a pot and stir vegetables with a horse spoon, and we used to be like this." But now it is different, only a very small number of brothers have maintained this tradition, and most of them have already begun to pay attention to it. ”

Most of the fat army generals lowered their heads in shame, and Lu Fatzi smiled again: "I also heard that some brothers no longer eat meat when they eat fish, but only eat the blood in the fish head, catch the fish on the boiling water, break the fish head with a hammer, let the fish blood flow into the boiling water and boil into shreds, and use about 20 carp for a dish." Li Guodong buried his head lower, and his old face turned into a red cloth.

"There are also brothers who ask four beautiful women to accompany them when they eat, and they like to let the beautiful women feed him wine and vegetables with their mouths." - This time it was the turn of Han Daren and Han Yuanren, brothers, and they blushed together to the base of their necks.

"There are also a few brothers who ask for eighteen dishes for a meal, and if they can't finish it, they will pour it out, and they will never eat leftovers and return to the pot." - Yang Yingyuan didn't dare to say anything, and so did Hu Tongchun and An Jiarong.

"It is the Wang Xu brothers who deserve to be commended." Lu Fatzi's tone changed, and he smiled at Wang Xu: "Brother Wang, you live in the barracks every day for 365 days a year and share weal and woe with your brothers, and even I can't catch up with you in this regard." ”

Wang Xu also blushed a little, and hurriedly said: "The general has won the award, I'm just used to it, and I can't change it, but don't blame other brothers, this is human nature, after so many years of hard work, it's time to enjoy it." Besides, the food of the soldiers in our army has also improved a lot, and there is meat every day, and there are fish and chickens at the head of the two for three days. ”

"Indeed." Lu Fatzi nodded, and said: "Brothers, don't care too much, I don't mean to accuse you, after so many years of hard work, now that the conditions have improved, it is time to enjoy and improve the food." This is human nature, and there is no place to blame, and I cannot ask you to wear coarse cloth and straw sandals, to eat sweet potato porridge and pickles every day, and occasionally to catch a rabbit and a pheasant and make a tooth sacrifice. ”

"However, I would like to remind you of an important point." Fat Lu changed his majestic face and said solemnly: "Please brothers, don't forget, where did the food, clothing, and use come from now?" It was snatched from the hands of the dogs! Now that we eat meat and drink soup, we can change the dog to eat the chaff vegetables, and the dog can balance his heart? Do you want to try to get it all back? And those who have never eaten meat or drunk soup, can only want to eat bran and swallow vegetables for the rest of their lives, and watch us eat fragrant and drink spicy food? ”

"Brothers, tell me, is this possible?" Lu Fatzi asked again: "Please also answer me, brothers, is it now a time for us to sit back and enjoy the peace of mind in Nanshan?" ”

The fat army generals present were silent, and after a while, Gao Dejie stood up and said: "There is definitely no such possibility, and we have not reached the moment of peace of mind - Brother Lu, my brother understands what you mean, my brother will move back to the barracks when he returns to Yangzhou City, and as before, he eats with his brothers in a pot and stirs vegetables with a horse spoon." ”

"Me too." Han Daren nodded, "I will dismiss all the beauties when I go back, and give them the deed of sale, so that they can marry freely." ”

"Me too, me too." The generals of the fat army echoed one after another, and they all understood Fat Lu's good intentions. Fat Lu was very happy, nodded again and again and said: "Very good, very good, as long as we can follow the glorious tradition of the past, always guard against internal and external troubles, and always be prepared for danger in times of peace, then I can assure you that when our great cause of opposing the Qing Dynasty is completed, you will all have better enjoyment and more enjoyment!" ”

"The general taught, and the last general always keep it in mind!" The generals of the Wu army agreed neatly.

"Very good, I believe that all brothers will be able to remember, after all, our enemy is squatting not far away, squatting with green light in his eyes, and he may pounce on us at any time and bite us to death!" Fat Lu nodded and hurriedly greeted: "Okay, brothers, please sit down, today is your nephew's full moon, you must have fun." ”

The fat man thanked the generals, and then sat down one after another, and the fat man Lu turned his gaze to the big landlords, gentry and wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan who were present, and said with a smile: "Fellow squires, shopkeepers, I'm really sorry, I originally invited you to drink the full moon wine, but I let you participate in the internal rectification meeting of our Great Zhou army, it's really sorry, let you all laugh." ”

"There, there, the general is polite." The gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen hurried to be modest, but they were also quite prepared for danger in times of peace, never forgetting external threats, and secretly hoping that Lu Fatzi could continue like this, after all, as long as the fat army could hold Jiangnan and prevent the war from burning on the land of Jiangnan again, it would be a great thing for them to be unwanted. Moreover, the Fat Scout Army has a significantly smaller appetite than others, and can also take their interests into account while extorting money.

"Squires, shopkeepers, in fact, I have invited you here today, in addition to inviting you to celebrate the full moon of the little dog, there is one more thing I want to ask you." Fat Lu smiled and asked again: "Squires, shopkeepers, which one of you is good at arithmetic?" Can you stand up and help me settle the score? ”

The gentry, landlords and wealthy merchants looked at each other again, whispered for a long time, a salt merchant who was fatter than Lu Fat was pushed out by everyone, and said to Lu Fat Man with some restraint: "General, villain Yu Lun, do salt trading in Yangzhou, can plan at the same time with both hands, and have read "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and "Zhou Ji Arithmetic", barely understand some arithmetic, and are willing to serve the general. ”

"Thank you." Lu Fatzi thanked him, and asked Xiao Erlang to bring Yu Lun an abacus, and then asked in a long voice: "Shopkeeper Yu, then please calculate it for me, the Mangou Emperor issued 18 million taels of silver in October last year, with an annual interest of three cents, so in October this year, how much silver does the Mangou Emperor need to repay with interest?" ”

"Huh this?" Yu Lun laughed out loud and hurriedly replied: "General, the villain can answer immediately without an abacus, the annual interest of 18 million taels of silver is three cents, and by October of this year, the Emperor Mangou needs to repay 23.4 million taels of silver with interest." ”

"Very good, sure enough, it counts quickly." Fat Lu nodded with satisfaction, and asked again: "Then shopkeeper Yu, may I ask again, from whom did Emperor Mangou take the silver to repay?" ”

"Of course it's from the people." Yu Lun smiled and replied, "Collect taxes from the people, and then pay them back to the people." ”

"Then I would like to ask the shopkeeper Yu, and the squire shopkeeper who has been to Zhili, Shandong and Shanxi, do you think that the Mangou Emperor will be able to collect a tax of 23.4 million taels of silver in these three provinces within a year?" Fat Lu smiled and asked, "Please remember again, the tax collected by the Mangou Emperor, after providing for the Mangou army and the Mangou banner people, after maintaining his huge palace expenses, can the remaining silver money and grain be repaid these two thousand three million four hundred thousand taels of silver?" ”

"Absolutely not enough!" Countless gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants shouted, "Most of the annual tax revenue of the Mangou Imperial Court comes from our Jiangnan, and those ghost places in Zhili, Shandong, and Shanxi are knocking on the bones and sucking the marrow, and it is absolutely impossible to collect so much silver!" ”

"Don't talk about those three poor provinces, without our Jiangnan, even all the provinces in the country pay taxes to the Mangou Emperor, and the Mangou Emperor can't collect 23.4 million taels!"

"During the Taiping period, the annual tax income of Mangou was only more than 24 million taels, and now there are only three poor provinces left in the Mangou Emperor, one Henan flooded by the Yellow River, and a few poor places that fight every day, even if the Mangou Emperor is sold, he can't take out so much silver!"

The gentry, landlords and wealthy merchants in Jiangnan gossiped and laughed at the financial predicament of the Qing Dynasty, and also despised the poor provinces outside Jiangnan, but there were also many smart people who quickly woke up and began to understand the true intentions of Lu Fatzi, for example, Yu Lun shouted, "Everyone, please be quiet, I understand what the general meant, Emperor Mangou will definitely not pay back this huge amount, the only way is to enter Jiangnan, scan from our heads, and rob our silver to fill his bad debts!" ”

"Shopkeeper Yu is really smart!" Fat Lu applauded and said with a smile: "Everyone, Shopkeeper Yu has already understood, do you understand?" The Mangou Emperor owes this huge amount, what is the only way to repay it? It is to scavenge from you fat sheep and cut your flesh to make up for the sores of his Kangxi dog pockmarks! Yu shopkeeper is enlightened, have you understood? ”

was reminded by Lu Fatzi and Yu Lun, the largest and richest landlords, gentry and wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan who were present also woke up at this time, and said in their hearts, yes, the Emperor Mangou owes such a big bad debt, if you want to repay it, what else can you do except cut meat from us? How much do you get to cut meat from someone else?

"Guys, it looks like you've got it." Lu Fatzi said loudly: "The Mangou Emperor gathered an army in a patchwork manner, and forcibly borrowed this eighteen million taels of silver from the people in the north, and did not use it in the Shaanxi and Gansu battlefields, which were the most critical in the situation, but in the Jiangnan battlefield, for what?" It's not to cut meat from you, cut more meat to pay off the debt, and then use it to beat the prince of the Great Zhou, Geng Jingzhong, Zheng Jing, and Shang Zhixin, everyone, are you willing to pay off this bad debt for the Mangou Emperor? Are you willing to use your money and food to fill the bottomless pit of the Dog Emperor? ”

"Everyone, everyone." Gao Dejie also jumped up and said loudly: "There are many shopkeepers and squires from Yangzhou present, and they must all know that there is an alley called Screw Knot Top in Yangzhou, thirty years ago, the dogs slaughtered Yangzhou City, killing 800,000 of our Han compatriots, most of the corpses were piled up there, piled up as high as a mountain!" Thirty years ago, Mangou killed 800,000 Yangzhou people and robbed tens of millions of taels of real money and silver. ”

"I don't want to!" Yu Lun was the first to roar, and the other gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants also rushed to shout, "I don't want to! Unwillingly! Unwillingly! ”

"General, speak!" There are also big landlords who shouted: "If you want silver, we will give silver, if you want food, we will give food, as long as the Great Zhou army can repel Mangou to defend Jiangnan, and prevent the Mangou Emperor from robbing us and killing us and cutting our flesh again, we will give as much silver and food as we want!" ”

"Yes, we'll make up as much money and food as we want!" Yu Lun roared: "I took the lead in pledging 30,000 taels of silver!" Help the general kill all the dogs! ”

"I'll donate 10,000 taels and another 3,000 stone of grain!" A large landowner from Changzhou also shouted.

"I will donate 25,000 taels, and another 5,000 stone of grain!"

"I'll donate 10,000 taels and 10 sea ships!" A Songjiang maritime merchant shouted, "The general loves the people like a son, and is so good to us maritime merchants, I would rather donate all my family property to the general to kill the dogs and defend our Jiangnan, and not give a couple of silver to the dogs!" ”

"Yes, I will also donate 10,000 taels of silver and 3,000 stone of grain!"

"I'll donate ...... too!"

Under the mutual infection, the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen who were worried about being slaughtered and cut by Kang Mazi rushed to express their happiness and defeat, boiling into a pot of boiling porridge, and also made up an astronomical amount of money and food for the fat army - no way, the richest people in the world in this era are basically here. It made the Fat Army laugh up and down and crooked their mouths, the financial situation of the Fat Army in the land where the essence of the world is already excellent, there is no deficit at all, and after receiving such a huge amount of money and food, the future will naturally be better.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Lu Fatzi thanked him again and again, and hurriedly arranged a pledge book for the gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen to sign and write down the number of money and grain pledged. It wasn't until the venue was basically quiet that Lu Fatzi said loudly: "Everyone, there is one thing I have to correct, to repel the army full of dogs, in fact, we don't need to be happy to lose and donate, the money and food in our hands are basically enough." Today, I invite you to lose money and food, in fact, there is another purpose. ”

"Huh?" The gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants present were all in one place.

"Want to know my other purpose?" Fat Lu smiled, and suddenly raised his voice again and said: "I and our Great Zhou army are going to use your money and food to become our sword!" Then use our sword to fight for more land, more trade routes, more tenants and customers for you! ”

"Jiangnan is good, but Jiangnan is too small! Your salt, your tea, your silk, your silk, your cotton, and your grain, you need more people to buy it, so that you can get more silver! Although the land in Jiangnan is fertile, there is too little land in Jiangnan! Now you have enough to eat, but in the future there will be more and more sons and grandchildren, and what if you don't have enough to eat, not enough to plant? Only by letting the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty use our common sword to win more land and more tenants for you and for us, and for you and for us to win more tea mountains, cotton fields, mulberry fields and more mines, your children and grandchildren and our children and grandchildren will never have to worry about money and food! ”

Speaking of this, Fat Lu waved his fat arm and roared: "Everyone, please shout with me!" With our swords, go and take our land! Go our way and let others have no way out! ”

"With our sword, go and take our land!" Fat Lu shouted, and everyone present shouted in unison, "Go our way, let others have no way out!" ”

"Hahaha......." After shouting, everyone in the banquet hall laughed, and they all felt that Lu Fatzi's slogan was simply selfish to the extreme, and he also had an extreme appetite! And the newcomers and old men of the Fat Army also think that Lu Fatzi is reasonable, Jiangnan is very good, and he has enough to eat now, but what if his sons and grandchildren don't have enough to eat in the future? It is better to take advantage of the current chaos in the world to grab more land, and even grab the land and people in the whole world, so that your children and grandchildren can always have no worries about food and clothing.

"Follow the prince with all your heart, do you really follow this fat man?" Gao Dejie and Han Daren and other old Wu Jun old people also began to ponder in their hearts, "The prince is nepotistic, the fat man is meritocracy, the fierce generals under the command of the prince are like clouds, relatives and friends are like the sea, in the future, the prince will win the world, the most and best things, will definitely be given priority to the prince's relatives, friends and henchmen, we can only eat some leftovers." But if this fat man ......, who will have the biggest and most benefits? There are a lot of sons, sons-in-law, grandsons and grandsons of the prince, and we can still have fun without us, but this fat man is ....... ”

"Everyone, everyone." Fat Lu waved his hand again to signal quiet, and after everyone was quiet, Fat Lu said sincerely: "Everyone, today the puppy is full moon, you have all given gifts, I have seen the gift list, it is too much and too valuable." So I'm here to ask you one thing, when you leave after drinking, please bring back all the gifts you brought, you can support our Great Zhou army so enthusiastically, Lu Yifeng is already very satisfied, but Lu Yifeng himself can't take a penny from you anymore. ”

"How's that going to work? Don't say that, General. The gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants hurriedly waved their hands and refused.

"Gotta take it back!" Lu Fatzi insisted: "I have already said that I accept your money and food in order to turn your money and food into our common sword, to fight for our common land for you, I personally have a lot ......to receive, and I must not accept your penny of gifts." ”

"Report ——!" The messenger who suddenly rushed in interrupted Lu Fatzi's hypocritical defense, rushed to Lu Fatzi, knelt down on one knee, and held a military emergency report above his head with both hands.

"What's wrong?" The gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants present were all taken aback. Lu Fatzi remained silent, took the military intelligence emergency report and opened it for a look, and immediately raised the military intelligence emergency report and said with a smile: "Everyone, let me tell you a great news, the army full of dogs led by Yue Le Xiao'er has finally stepped into the ambush circle of our Great Zhou army!" Annihilating this army full of dogs is already a matter of waiting! ”

"I see." The gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants all breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said hello to Lu Fatzi, and the generals of the Fat Army looked at each other, and said together that the people in our army who led the troops to fight were basically here, how could the army of dogs step into our ambush circle? Also, when did our army set up an ambush circle for Yue Leman's army, why don't we know?

"Everyone, please be seated." Fat Lu greeted: "Please sit down and have a good drink, General Ben, but I have prepared for you - a full twenty dishes!" ”

Everyone burst into laughter, and hurriedly re-entered the table, drank wine and vegetables, and enjoyed the 'twenty' delicious dishes prepared by Fat Lu for himself. It was also at this time that Fat Lu quietly pulled the salt merchant who claimed to be able to plan the plate with both hands at the same time, and said in a low voice: "Shopkeeper Yu, please calculate it for me immediately, eighty-eight days, three catties of rations per person a day, how many catties of grain have 120,000 people eaten in eighty-eight days?" According to one hundred and six catties of grain per stone, how many stones are converted into stones? ”

Yu Lun didn't say a word, grabbed the abacus with both hands and shook it neatly to separate the abacus up and down, and then ten fat fingers played quickly and gracefully on the abacus like playing a piano, crackling for a moment, and soon replied in a low voice: "General Hui, 298,867 stones and 95 catties." ”

"Thirty-two thousand war horses, each of which consumes eight catties of concentrate feed, or eighty-eight days, how much is it?" Fat Lu asked in a low voice again.

Yu Lun once again showed off his stunt of dialing the plate with both hands at the same time, crackling and after a while, he quickly said: "Two thousand two million five hundred and twenty-eight thousand catties, and if it is calculated according to one hundred and six catties per stone, it is two hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred and twenty-nine stones." ”

"That's enough, thank you." Fat Lu replied with a smile.

"General, what are you doing with these?" Yu Lun asked curiously.

"Of course, when will the military rations of the Manchu Dog Court bottomed out." Fat Lu laughed more and more happily, and said secretly: "That nursery rhyme should have spread in the Gyeonggi area, right?" Kang Mazi, don't let me down. ”

Jiangnan Lu, Demon Longxing, thousands of troops and thousands of horses are out of the army! True Son of Heaven, wield the heavenly soldiers, subdue demons and subdue monsters and slay demon dragons, and regain Jiangnan Xingdaqing! ——In the crow mouth of Fat Lu, this nursery rhyme has indeed spread in the Gyeonggi area of Zhili, quietly circulated, and unknowingly, it has reached the ears of those idle imperial historians in the Qing court............

(To be continued)