Chen Zilong was speechless by Cheng Er's repertoire of counterattacks, as Cheng Er said, Yangzhou was not without money at that time, on the contrary, Yangzhou was one of the richest cities in the late Ming Dynasty, here is not only the intersection of the canal and the Yangtze River, but also the country's largest two Huai salt districts, the wealth of the sea is gathered here, not to say 100,000 taels a year, even a million taels can be taken out here, if Cheng Er cuts the flesh on the body of the people to make up for the sores, The local gentry just cut the meat from the small people and stuffed it into their mouths. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"Then did Lord Xu borrow a sum of money from the Yangzhou gentry?" Chen Zilong asked in a low voice, regretting his words as soon as he spoke. Sure enough, Cheng Er sneered: "Chen Gongzi asked well, Lord Xu, do you remember how much silver the adults in Yangzhou donated at that time?" ”

Xu Hecheng didn't answer immediately, he was silent for a while, and then replied in a deep voice: "Three thousand five hundred taels of silver, two thousand stones of grain, and one hundred stones of salt and a little cloth and miscellaneous goods." ”

At this time, Chen Zilong couldn't wait for a crack to appear on the ground, so he could get into it immediately, he knew very well in his heart that the truth of what Xu Hecheng said was very high, because he himself was a member of the gentry, and he knew very well the temperament of his companions, they had money and food, but the enthusiasm to pay money and food to defend the township was not high; Unlike those local tyrants living in the countryside in the north, these gentry in Yangzhou usually live in the city, and the poorly armed thieves are not much of a threat to them hiding behind the towering city walls.

Liu Ru saw that Chen Zilong's words were stiff, and hurriedly got up and started a round: "The fish must be cooked, why don't we eat a few cups first and chat while eating?" Speaking of this, she smiled slightly: "I haven't eaten this Songjiang four-cheek sea bass for a few days." ”

"That's what the girl said!" Cheng Er knew how to know the opportunity, and said with a smile: "I don't eat the fish belly, but I say something boring here, I am really a big fool!" ”

How could Chen Zilong not know that Liu Ru was playing a round for him, and reluctantly smiled at Cheng Er: "Lord Xu, Mr. Cheng Er, please come here!" ”

The group went to the next door, and a banquet had already been set up, and the four of them sat down, and Xu Hecheng said to Liu: "Please ask Mr. Liu to get some food for my knife bearer." ”

Liu Ru glanced at the man who had been holding Xu Hecheng's long knife, only to see his medium-sized figure, but his shoulders were wide and his back was broad, his face was expressionless, and his eyes were surprisingly bright, knowing that he was a first-class person in Xu Hecheng's personal guards, so he smiled and said: "Why don't you go downstairs for this strong man, I'll let my subordinates open another table!" ”

"Downstairs is downstairs, I'm going to follow the adults! The girl asked me to take some food and I did! The voice of the man with the knife was a little strange, although the words were very clear, but word by word, it was like a child who had just learned. Liu Ru looked at Xu Hecheng in surprise, and when he saw that he didn't speak, he smiled and said, "It's okay, Xiaoju, you can get a small table for this gentleman!" ”

"Don't bother!" The man with the knife went to the table, took a plate of mutton, and a few steamed buns, and went to the door, sat down on the ground, and ate it. Liu Ru and Chen Zilong were taken aback, and Cheng Er hurriedly explained: "This Mr. Yoshida is a Japanese man, and that's how they sit there." ”

Chen Zilong looked at the knife-hugging man sitting on the ground, and secretly cursed a few words of barbarians and slaves in his heart, and then picked up the chopsticks. The four of them were eating and gossiping at the table, Liu Ru was flattering and said some funny words, which made Cheng Er and Xu Hecheng laugh more than once, and after a while, she saw that Fang Cai's embarrassing atmosphere was almost gone, and Fang Cai asked with a smile: "Lord Xu, I just heard from you that the thieves are actually not difficult to break, but why since this autumn, the situation in Lianghuai has been so bad, and even fallen into famous cities, except for you, my lord, how many officials and troops have been defeated?" ”

"Miss Liu, what I just said is that among the thieves, except for Chuang, Xian, and Cao Cao, it is not difficult to break, and you just listened."

"Oh, then dare to ask, what are the strengths of this Chuang, Xian, and Cao Cao, and why do they surpass the group of thieves?"

Xu Hecheng glanced at Liu Ruyi, and then at Chen Zilong on the side, knowing that although it was Liu Ruyi who was asking in front of him, it was Chen Zilong who really wanted to ask. He put down the chopsticks in his hand, thought for a while, and replied in a deep voice: "Since the second year of Chongzhen, there has been a great hunger in Shaanxi and a group of thieves; Among the thieves, there are tens of thousands of leaders, and there are thousands of less, and those who cross several provinces are like carp crossing the river, but among them, the male ones have no breakthroughs, offerings, and Cao Cao, because the three of them each got a word. ”

"A word for each?" Chen Zilong asked.

"Yes, it is strict, it is cunning, and Cao Cao is generous."

"Please explain!"

"The thieves have coarse clothes and vegetables, clothes and armor, no treasures, no two colors, and they are strict with themselves; The army is strictly organized, it is strictly forbidden to kill and plunder to be strict, to be strict with oneself to win the public, to be strict to win the hearts of the people, and there are laws to advance and retreat, which is not an ordinary thief. The thief is fierce and cunning, and his actions are often unexpected, which is secretly in line with Sun Wu's law; Cao Cao was generous, and all the thieves were happy to use it. These three are all thieves among thieves, and they are really incomparable to other thieves. ”

When Chen Zilong heard this, he couldn't help frowning and asked, "If it is according to what Lord Xu said, Chuang, Xian, and Cao Cao all have merits in their actions, and they can be regarded as heroes?" ”

"Hasn't Chen Gongzi heard that thieves also have a way?" Xu Hecheng said with a smile: "The hidden in the husband's delusional room, the saint is also. Be the first, be brave. After coming out, righteousness also. I know if it's okay, Zhiya. Evenly, benevolence also. (Before stealing, it is wise to judge the situation to decide whether you can do it; It is holy to be able to guess the location of the property of the house; When acting, take the lead, take the lead, and be brave; After the theft, the last one departed, righteously; It is benevolent to give the stolen property to his men fairly. Chuang, Xian, and Cao Cao have tens of thousands of people, rampaging thousands of miles, naturally have their merits, and how can they be compared with those rats who are flies and dogs? ”

When Chen Zilong heard this, his face couldn't help but change slightly, like Xu Hecheng's evaluation, it was the first time he heard it, if it weren't for Xu Hecheng being a dignified Yangzhou soldier, he had just defeated the thieves and made a great contribution, he was afraid that he would be in front of him. Liu Ru saw it clearly from the sidelines, and hurriedly interjected: "Then Lord Xu thinks that which of the three people is the greatest threat to the imperial court?" ”

"A threat to the imperial court?" Xu Hecheng frowned, and then smiled: "This also depends on luck, how to say it clearly." “

"What if you put your fortune aside?"

"If you put the luck aside, it should be the first, the second, and the last!"

"Why do you say that?"

"It's very simple, the ancients said: only merit and virtue can convince people. The thief treats himself strictly, treats his subordinates strictly, and is virtuous and virtuous, as long as he does not die early, he will naturally be able to win the hearts of all the people and have something to do; Although the thief is cunning, but the cunning can hurt others, but also hurt oneself, the art of war is the way of deceit, if there is no virtue to match, it will hurt oneself; As for Cao Cao, he won the public with his generosity, but he could not save his majesty, and sooner or later he would die on this road. ”

Chen Zilong listened to Xu Hecheng's eloquent conversation on the side, and his heart became more and more depressed, so he interjected and asked: "If according to what you said, the other thieves are all idlers, then Lord Shi supervised the soldiers to stick to the river, not only did they not capture, but most of the states and counties were poisonous, why is this?" ”

Hearing Chen Zilong's question, Xu Hecheng's face moved slightly, but he didn't answer, picked up a piece of perch, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, and said with a smile: "This Songjiang perch is really delicious, and other places can't match it."

Seeing this, Chen Zilong didn't know that Xu Hecheng avoided answering, he was angry in his heart, but he had no way to take the other party. At this moment, the maid Xiaoju came in from outside, blessed everyone, and handed a greeting note to Liu Rus: "Sir, it's Zheng Gongzi's post!" ”

"Oh!" Liu Ru took the post, his face changed slightly, and asked, "Who sent it?" What about people? ”

"It's Zheng Gongzi himself, waiting downstairs!"

"Don't invite him in yet!"

Xiao Ju went down for a while, and then heard heavy footsteps coming from the stairs. Xu Hecheng's brows furrowed slightly, he has a lot of experience in the rivers and lakes, and he can already hear from the footsteps that he is amazingly heavy, is this Zheng Gongzi a giant?

While he was thinking about it, a burly man in a black robe walked to the door and blocked the door tightly, even blocking the light outside the door. Huo, the knife-wielding man at the door, jumped up, pulled out his knife in his backhand, and shouted, "What person?" ”

"It's me, Mr. Liu!" A crisp voice came from the door, and everyone looked at it, only to find that there was a young man in brocade sitting on the shoulder of the black-robed man, and the man's figure was too burly, and everyone's attention was on the man, and they didn't notice the young man on his shoulder at all. The black-robed man stretched out his hands, lifted the young man and gently put it on the ground, the young man in the brocade robe had a golden crown, red lips and white teeth, and eyes like paint, but at the age of twelve or thirteen, he was born handsome and abnormal. He stepped on the ground with both feet, tidied up his clothes, bowed to Liu Ru, and said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, this is the Kunlun slave that my father gave me, what do you think?" ”

Everyone looked at the man at the door, only to find that the man was not only dressed in a black robe, but even his exposed skin was as black as charcoal, not only that, but the outline of his facial features was also very different from that of the people of Middle Earth, Xu Hecheng and Cheng Er had seen a lot of knowledge, Liu Ru and Chen Zilong had never seen such people, and couldn't help but be amazed, Liu Ru smiled and said: "This life is a good life, and I don't know where it came from, don't the people there look like this?" ”

"This is a gift from the red-haired man to my father, I heard that from the far west, the locals are born to be extremely burly and strong, but it is extremely rare to see him like this. The nearby princes and nobles selected the sturdy and agile ones from the local children, brought them home to teach martial arts, and when they grew up, they became guards, also known as Mamluks. My father gave him to me, or I will give him to you, and live in this south building, and no one will dare to come to you for trouble! ”

"Forget it!" Liu Ru covered her mouth and smiled: "Such a big black man is at my door, who else dares to come to me?" It's scared to death! Speaking of this, she introduced to Xu Hecheng beside her: "Lord Xu, this is the eldest son of the Fujian guerrilla general Zheng Zhilong, whose surname is Zheng Damu!" He smiled at Zheng Damu again: "This is Lord Xu Hecheng of Yangzhou Bingbei Dao, this is Mr. Xiuning Cheng Er, and this is Chen Zilong Chen Gongzi of Huating."

"Ohki, meet you!" Zheng Damu hurriedly bowed down and bowed.

"Childe doesn't have to be polite!" Xu Hecheng stretched out his hand and exchanged glances with Cheng Er, but the two of them were secretly surprised in their hearts, they naturally knew that just a few months ago, they had a battle with Zheng Zhilong's subordinates for the battle for Dayuan Port, and then it was Liu Cheng who left Yang Sichang's relationship to settle the matter, but they didn't expect to bump into the son of the main owner on the south floor of Songjiang, could it be that the road is narrow?

Xu and Cheng had something on their minds, and their words were much less, and they only heard Zheng Damu and Liu Ru talking during the banquet, although Zheng Damu was only a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, he could talk and behave like a child of the family, and he couldn't see that his father was a pirate leader who had just been recruited for a long time. Chen Zilong also nodded secretly when he saw it, feeling that he had not insulted Zhou Yanru's lintel.

Zheng and Liu chatted for a few words, and suddenly laughed: "Da Mu, you didn't go to Mr. Jade Rope to be taught, why did you suddenly come to me, weren't you expelled from the division by Mr. Jade Rope?" ”

"How could that be!" Although Zheng Damu knew that Liu Ru was making fun of himself, after all, he was still young, and his face suddenly turned red: "It was my father who sent a letter saying that there was no peace here, and asked me to go back to Fujian to live for half a year first, and then come back to ask Mr. Zhou when the situation is stable." Before leaving, I came to bid farewell to Mr., but was teased by Mr.! ”

Liu Ru and Chen Zilong glanced at each other when they heard this, and they both saw helplessness in the other party's gaze, she sighed: "General Zheng is right, it is true that there is no stability here this year, you better go back to Fujian first, and it is not too late to come back when things have calmed down!" ”

"It's all because Shi Kefa and Hong Chengchou brought disaster to the country and the people, so they got such a field!" Zheng Damu said hatefully.

"Oh? Why did Oki say that? Hong Chengchou is also okay, Master Shi is still very loyal! Chen Zilong was stunned when he heard this, Hong Chengchou was fine, since the fall of Nanyang, his reputation in Jiangnan Shilin has been declining, and he has chased Yang Hao, Yang He and others. But although Shi Kefa has never made any contributions, the thieves have basically never crossed the river, and he is a disciple of Zuo Guangdou, the boss of the Donglin Party, with this incense, naturally Jiangnan Shilin's attacks on him are much less.

"Loyal? The donkey in my mill is also very loyal, but he is the governor of Anqing and the officials and soldiers of Chizhou, how can the word loyalty be enough? (To be continued.) )