Chapter 49: The Crusade (I)

"What? This, how is this possible? Although his heart has been greatly tempered in the past few days, Chen Liang was also shocked to the point that his body was crooked. Thanks to his hands on the table, he barely fell on the spot.

He was surprised not that the Huai'an army had found the Pu family, after all, after Zhu Chongjiu's assassination, Huaiyang's internal people were in turmoil, and they urgently needed a battle to improve cohesion. He was surprised that Zhu Chongjiu was actually shameless and asked Xue Xue to help mediate, so that the Mengyuan court watched him go and swallow Quanzhou Port in one gulp!

It's nothing short of whimsical! Although the port of Quanzhou is not big, it is the important place of taxation of the Great Yuan Dynasty, and the seven major cities have been abolished several times when the country was founded, and finally only three of them remained, and Quanzhou is one of the three. And now, Qingyuan City Bosi has long fallen into the hands of the pirate Fang Guozhen

In other words, there are now only two cities left in the Great Yuan Dynasty, Guangzhou and Quanzhou. If Quanzhou is forcibly occupied by the Zhu butchers again, there will be only one left in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is far away from Dadu, and the gold drawn from the sea trade every year has no chance to be transported to Dadu.

Hama is the prime minister of Dayuan, not the Zhu family. Even if his younger brother secretly hooked up with Zhu Butcher, even if there was still a person in the Manchu Dynasty whose head had not been stepped on by a horse, he would not let the court watch Zhu Butcher smash his own rice pot. However, what is absolutely impossible for Chen Liang to join the army, in the eyes of Burigud, is very logical, "How is it impossible?" Pursing his lips slightly, he sneered and said, "The Quanzhou Pu family is naturally rebellious, as early as three years ago, under the pretext of the poor land routes, they wantonly drifted on the sea to the Li Jin, which should have been released to the imperial court. This year is even more ruthless, from the beginning of the year to the present, only a batch of sea ships have been sent to the Zhigu side, handed over 20 catties of Nanzhu, 300 taels of gold, and the rest are all worthless rice. Even in previous years, one percent is insufficient. Since he has the face to say that he encountered a storm at sea, don't blame the court for being cruel to him! (Note 1) "But, but he, after all, they still have a little handover!" Although Chen Liang didn't know much about mundane affairs, he also knew that three hundred taels of gold was really less. After hesitating for a moment, Ai Aidi defended the Pu family.

"Do you think the beads are as valuable as they were in previous years? The Huaiyang firm has long had the art of dotting beads, and the beads of the same size have now been sold in Yangzhou on the dustpan! And what can three hundred taels of gold do? It's not enough to buy a prefectural order! Moreover, as long as the imperial court gives an order, it can reopen the market in Zhigu. At that time, the transaction will be under the emperor's nose, no better than letting the Pu family guard the middle?! I don't know if he was instructed by the master in private, or if he was born shrewd, Deputy Wanhu Burigud pursed his lips and dismissed Chen Liang to the fullest.

"But, but" Chen Liang, who joined the army, could no longer find a reason to keep Quanzhou, but he was unwilling, and continued to stammer, "But the face of the Great Yuan Dynasty, the face of the Great Yuan Dynasty." After all, Quanzhou is the place of the Great Yuan Dynasty. If so, if the court does not move, wouldn't it make the world, the loyal people of the world feel cold! ”

"You're wrong again!" Burigood continued to sneer and shook his head, "If the Pu family is loyal, there will be no treacherous villains in this world." You know? The Pu family colluded with the big food and maritime merchants, and they had long been disobedient. The 'Yisi Baxi' soldiers under his command are all Tianfang cultists. Not only did he refuse to obey the orders of the government, but he only looked forward to the Pu family. Even other local clans have been poisoned by it. If Zhu Butcher is willing to fight with them to lose both, it just solves a big problem for the imperial court! (Note 2) "This" Chen Liang was completely speechless. Since the Pu family in Quanzhou already had the idea of supporting the army and respecting themselves, it is understandable that the imperial court borrowed the hands of Zhu Butcher to eliminate him. It's just that the Great Yuan Court can really reap the benefits of fishermen? I am afraid that when the time comes, it will always be a very small number of people who will receive the benefits. And Quanzhou City was swallowed into the stomach by Zhu Butcher, but no one could make him vomit it lightly!

"Chen Xiucai, you are still young!" Seeing that Chen Liang's eyes were full of confusion, Burigud's sympathy was great. Walked forward, patted him on the shoulder, and comforted him earnestly. "In this world, if you are either loyal or treacherous, then everything is simple. Forget it, now I'm telling you that you don't understand. Let's take a look, and from now on, there will be a lot of excitement to see! ”

"Hmmm! Thank you, Big Brother Bouri! Chen Liang was patted and shook again, and then nodded vigorously.

According to the other party's advice, in the following days, his eyes widened every day. Sure enough, I found more "interesting" things.

Xue Xue followed Guan Yu and Guan Yunchang and crossed the river to the meeting alone. Then it is said that he reprimanded the thief in front of him, and scolded Feng Guoyong, the arm under the command of Zhu Butcher, speechless. In the end, the two sides agreed to take the Yellow River and Weishui as the boundary and stop the war again.

Because of Xuexue's loyalty and bravery, Feng Guoyong, the arm of the Zhu butcher, promised to buy at least 5 million catties of wool from northern merchants every year at a high price of 70 wen per catty. If it exceeds 5 million catties, it will be based on the market. Unless there is a resumption of fighting, which disrupts trading. Otherwise, the two parties will deliver the goods at Haimen Port on a monthly basis, and the goods will be paid on delivery, and they will not be in arrears with each other.

In order to take care of the livelihood of the people who fell under the rule of thieves and show the royal grace, Xue Xue agreed and advised the imperial court to open a city in Zhigu Port and Shizikou further north for private business travel. However, if the imperial court did not allow the guò to pass, it would not have any effect on the wool trade between the two parties.

When the news came back, the entire Imperial Forest Army thundered with joy. Everyone praises that General Xuexue has the ability to 'manifest the spirit of righteousness, bravery, and martial arts, and the king of Yingji', and his virtue is born by the common people. (Note 3) Even the governor of the Dayuan Privy Council, who has rarely appeared, did not spend too much money on political affairs, and personally went to the cowardly Xue army to express his condolences to Xue Xue. praised his ability to "do things" in public. And announced in public that one million catties of five million catties of wool share would be disposed of by Xue Xue herself, and she would receive dividends to buy armaments to strengthen the army.

The remaining four million catties naturally don't need to worry about Xuexue, and naturally there are "merchants" to negotiate and divide them. But any business that gets a share will inevitably come to Xue Xue's camp tent again, or give some small gifts, or leave a few hundred stones of rice and grain, which can be regarded as a little bit of thin for the reorganization of the Xue army's armament.

Everyone was elated by the bargain they had received. Only Chen Liang, who joined the army, squatted next to the account book alone, with a sad face. This Zhu butcher is five million catties of wool as soon as he shoots, and his hand is indeed terrifying. And the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty have eaten such a large benefit, and they have a short mouth, when the Huai'an army uses troops in Quanzhou, who is embarrassed to mention the words of the Pu family? ! This butcher surnamed Zhu, what kind of demon king descended to earth, and actually spent a lot of money on stunts and cultivated so superbly?!

Note 1: Because Pu Shougeng betrayed the Zhao family, Quanzhou City Bosi was controlled by the Pu family throughout the Yuan Dynasty. Tariffs have been significantly withheld. In the case that there are only two customs offices in the whole country, only more than 3,000 taels of gold will be handed over in a normal year. At that time, Quanzhou Port had direct import and export transactions with more than 100 regions.

Note 2: At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the rebellion of the 'Yisi Baxi' soldiers in Quanzhou brought a devastating blow to the port of Quanzhou. After ten years of revolt, all non-Celestial Christians, including Christians who had been in Quanzhou for a long time, were massacred by the Yisba Xi soldiers. Until the founding of the Ming Dynasty, foreign non-food ships did not dare to enter Quanzhou for half a step.

Note 3: King Yingji, the king of Yingji, the first year of the Tianli calendar of Yuan Wenzong, the posthumous seal of Guan Yu.