"Origin?" Xu Hecheng looked Xu Wanren up and down, and sneered: "Tang Wangren is good, but it's a pity that he is Yuanzhi, even if there is an accident in the saint today, how can it not be his turn, what kind of background can I get for you?" You don't lack money, let's be honest, what do you want to do? ”

"Huh! Big brother, if it is a peaceful year, His Royal Highness the Tang King can only stay in this palace as a rich prisoner in this life, but now big brother, do you think it is a peaceful year? ”

Xu Hecheng didn't answer, the answer to Xu Wancheng's question is obvious, as long as you are not blind, you can see that the troubled times are coming, if it is really a peaceful year, why should you let the rich man not do it, and go to run for Liu Cheng Quartet? In a sense, Xu Wancheng and himself are just two sides of the same coin, both of them seem to feel the swallows of the approaching rainstorm, looking for shelter from the rain, the difference is nothing more than that they first met Liu Cheng because of the blessing of misfortune, and Xu Wancheng is still like a headless fly. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Xu Wanqian saw that his brother was silent, and thought that the other party still hated the fact that he had seized the position of the Red Sun Sect Master by trickery, so he said in a deep voice: "Brother, it was indeed mine to take away your sect leader in the first place, if you still want to be the sect leader, I will let you do it, but you must help me this time!" Speaking of this, he bowed to Mayor Xu Hecheng.

When Xu Hecheng heard Xu Wancheng say this, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, he turned sideways slightly, avoiding his brother's pleading: "Wan Cheng, I'm afraid this matter won't work!" ”

"Why? Do you still remember the past? Xu Wanyan's face changed greatly: "I ruined your business at the beginning, and you also ruined me in Jingshi once, the two of us are even, and I promised to give you the position of sect leader, why did you come to ruin my business again this time?" ”

"Wan Yan, I'm not here for the beginning!" Xu Hecheng explained: "It's just that your intentions for voting for the Tang King are not right, not to protect the lord and make meritorious contributions, but like last time, you want to use the Tang King as a ladder to climb up, I don't want you to harm him!" ”

"Hahahaha!" Xu Wanren suddenly laughed: "Big brother, you have only known this Tang King for a few days, and you are actually worried about him." But you don't want to think about it, why did this Tang King build a recruiting platform in Nanyang City? Why did I marry you? Why did Fang just give you jade and woo you, do you think he is willing to be a prince of peace? Do you think I'm doing him harm or helping him by being around him? ”

Xu Wancheng's series of cannon-like questions made Xu Hecheng fall into contemplation, just as Xu Wancheng said: What this Tang King did can be said to be a corporal of Lixian, or it can be said to be ill-intentioned, it is nothing more than which angle to look at. Although Zhu Yujian is just a side branch vassal king who can no longer be biased, he still has the blood of Emperor Taizu Gao in his body, and he has an irrefutable inheritance to the supreme position of the empire. In order to prevent the empire from falling into civil war, the civil officials established a very strict patriarchal law according to the Confucian classics to determine the succession of members of the royal family of different statuses, and strictly restricted the meddling of members other than the Son of Heaven in military affairs to prevent him from having the power to break the throne. Therefore, in a sense, any behavior that can increase power is inappropriate for a vassal king, such as studying, practicing martial arts, accumulating fame, recruiting talents, and party henchmen. Combining Zhu Yujian's actions with his identity and words, it is difficult to say that he is a peaceful vassal king.

"Big brother, you have also seen it in the past few days, what this Tang King has done, even if he doesn't have me, he will cause trouble sooner or later. A fool like Chen Zhenhui will naturally cause trouble when he meets me, but if it is this Tang King, it may not be! ”

Facing Xu Wancheng's lips and tongue, Xu Hecheng finally wavered, and he asked in a deep voice: "Then if I promise you, what do you plan to do beside King Tang?" ”

"If I am by this Tang King's side, at least my brother's righteous brother will be clear about the movements of the Tang King, doesn't Liu Zongbing want to have a child of the Heavenly Family in his hand just in case?" Xu Wanqian said with a smile.

Xu Wancheng's words became the last straw that broke the camel's back, Xu Hecheng couldn't help but be surprised by his younger brother's keen political sense, and began to consider the pros and cons of this matter in his mind, and finally he had to admit that with his understanding of Liu Cheng, he was likely to agree with his brother's suggestion, but he finally hesitated and said in a low voice: "Okay, but we have to wait until we arrive in Xiangyang, use carrier pigeons to ask adults, if adults agree with you, you can go to King Tang!" ”

"That's nature! Like my brother, I'm working for that Lord Liu! Xu Wanqian smiled, looking like he was in his chest.

Datong, the general military office.

"My lord, Gushi Khan has granted your request, and has sent two thousand camels, and a thousand war horses, half of which will be brought to Guihua City in two months with the five hundred mercenaries you have recruited, and the remaining half of the horses and camels will arrive before July, but Gushi Khan hopes that you will be able to double the amount of tea, gunpowder, birds, and lead this year, and he will need twelve twelve-pounder cannons, twenty six-pounder cannons, and four mortars for siege purposes. As well as the engineers and officers necessary to use these guns! The room was dimly lit, there was only an oil lamp, and outside the window were Mongolian guards who didn't know Chinese at all, even so, Zhao Wende still lowered his voice: "It seems that Gushi Khan has great ambitions, but I am afraid that he not only wants to use troops against Zangba Khan, but also covets the Yarkand Khanate!" ”

"You write back to Gushi Khan: just say that the Great Khan and I are very grateful for his help, and that there is no problem with tea, gunpowder, bird's guns, and lead, but the number of artillery must be reduced by half. The output of the factory has reached its limit, and in addition to attacking my war against Houjin, it is necessary to supply my father-in-law's order! ”

"Brilliant plan!" Zhao Wende high-fived and praised: "Just warn Gushi Khan, even if he buys artillery from the adults and eliminates Gushi Khan, there is still Batur Khan staring at him behind him, and he can't help swallowing the Yarkand Khanate alone!" ”

"Well, before I settle the Jurchens, it's better that there is no monopoly in the west!"

"The Russian merchant has arrived in Ningxia, and it belongs to the St-Stroganov family!" Zhao Wende read the letter again before reading the Russian name: "He asked your lord if he could open a new trade route to bypass the territory of the Dzungars, and he complained that the ongoing war between the Kazakhs and the Dzungars poses a threat to the caravan, and the Dzungars extort their caravan, which is not good for you!" ”

"You wrote back to this Mr. Stroganov on my behalf, saying that Batur Khan had entrusted his daughter to me, that I could not turn my back on him, and that the new trade route meant great risks. The war will always end, and they can negotiate with Batur Khan about blackmailing the caravan, and I will speak for them! ”

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Wende wrote down Liu Cheng's reply, and it was obvious that this Stroganov's purpose was not only to open up a trade route bypassing the Junggers, but also to test Liu Cheng's relationship with the Junggers, and Liu Cheng's attitude was very clear: he was loyal to the alliance with the Junggers and showed due vigilance against the Russians.

"Chaoyi Xu Xianming has a letter here, Ma Ziyi came to Chaoyi seven days ago, and there is something in the words that he wants to be in Hetao Tuntian!"

"Huh!" Liu Cheng laughed: "This old guy finally can't bear it?" You write a letter to Xianming and ask him to tell Ma Ziyi, saying that Tuntian is okay, but everything must be done according to the rules. No amount of land will be reclaimed in the coming year, and if it is not reclaimed, it will be recovered! Not a penny of food or silver should be paid! ”

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Wende hurriedly wrote down Liu Cheng's words, Liu Cheng did not plan to cultivate a large number of yeoman farmers in Hetao, after all, if nothing else, these soldiers under his command would not want to retire from the army in this life, even if they were given land, they would not have the energy to cultivate, and the yeoman farmers would only improve their living standards if they had surplus food, rather than selling it in the market. In addition, digging irrigation canals, cultivating fields, and purchasing farm tools and livestock required a lot of capital, and ordinary farmers could not afford to develop the Hetao area, so he did not shy away from Ma Ziyi and other gentry to build farms on the Hetao. But this does not mean that Liu Cheng will watch these gentry occupy large tracts of uncultivated land in the Hetao and use this land as capital to enslave the displaced people. Liu Cheng allowed them to reclaim the land in order to provide him with a large amount of cheap commodity grain to feed his army and workers, not to turn them into a bunch of parasites who only knew how to suck the blood of serfs, but did not know how to run agriculture. Therefore, Liu Cheng's attitude is very resolute: how much he occupies, how much he reclaims, and if he occupies more land than he can cultivate, he will confiscate it.

"Is there any new news from Jingshi?" Liu Cheng rubbed his temples, he had been working for three hours in a row, and he felt a little tired.

"Gonggong Hu sent someone to send a semicolon from the Beijing Division, saying that he would buy two hundred bird guns, as well as some armor, saying that it was for internal exercises. He also said that he wanted a few officers who were good at firearms to be the head of the coach. The shopkeeper on duty feels that the stakes are very important, please tell the adults how to deal with it! ”

"Internal?"

"Not bad!" Zhao Wende hurriedly explained: "This is the old practice of the imperial court, Zhengde ten years Wuzong selected more than 3,000 strong eunuchs to practice in the inner teaching field, and during the apocalypse, Wei Eunuch sent his henchmen Wang Tiqian, Shi Bin, and Zhang Wenyuan to follow the holy order, and selected the internal drill officials to be awarded a battle in the middle of the north door to practice military exercises. ”

"Are you saying that all the eunuchs involved in the drill are eunuchs?" Liu Cheng looked at Zhao Wende's face, and suddenly smiled: "Mr. Zhao, I'm just afraid that the reputation of this internal exercise is not good, right?" ”

Zhao Wende smiled: "Zhao has never heard that the ancestors have an internal exercise system, the Son of Heaven is the master of the six armies, the whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's minister, why should the eunuch be the henchman, in order to eliminate the hope of China and foreign countries?" ”

Liu Cheng did not speak, obviously Zhao Wende was quite disdainful of Chongzhen's restoration of the internal exercise system, from the perspective of political science, Chongzhen, as the son of the great tomorrow, but to conduct military training for a group of low-status physically disabled people, which can only show one point - he does not trust the existing civil and military ministers and secret agencies, and does not think that they have the ability to protect themselves. As a scholar, Zhao Wende naturally wouldn't like this approach.

"You write a letter to Xu Xianming and ask him to choose the best equipment for Grandpa Hu!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Is there anything else important?" Liu Cheng snorted, he felt that his eyelids were as heavy as lead, and he sank hard. Before crossing over, I always envied the traitors who usurped the throne in the history books, but as his power position became higher and higher, the burden on his shoulders became heavier and heavier. After he was transferred to Datong, he actually controlled three main points: Guihua City, Chaoyi, and Datong. The city of Naturalization was under the command of Min Min, and the Great Khan Abnai was also there, who ruled the Mongol tribes as the Lady of Jinon and the adoptive mother of the Great Khan, and Chesan was also there as the presiding officer of the Silver Buddha Temple; Chaoyi was managed by Xu Xianming, Tang Muyao, Liu Zongmin and others, who were responsible for production; And he was in Datong, presiding over military affairs. This iron triangle is interconnected, and anyone who dares to attack one of the horns will be hit by the remaining two horns, and Liu Chengcheng is like a huge spider, silently spitting out the silk threads and forming a larger and larger web, but unfortunately he is not like a spider, he has eight legs, and too many silk threads are involved together, making him tired to death.

Zhao Wende also saw Liu Cheng's exhaustion, he casually flipped through the notes in his hand twice, and decided to end tonight's business with a relatively light topic: "My lord, I just received a letter from Mr. Xu. ”

"Big brother has news here?" Liu Cheng's spirit suddenly lifted: "How is he doing along the way?" At this point, he immediately noticed that something was wrong: "So fast? He should have just gone to Hubei and Henan now, right? ”

"Your acquaintance guessed right, Mr. Xu arrived in Xiangyang five days ago!"

"Xiangyang? So why did he write to me? Could it be that something happened on the road? The tiredness in Liu Chengshuang's eyes immediately disappeared, and his back straightened, as if he had just drunk a cup of strong tea.

"Not bad!" Zhao Wende couldn't help but secretly admire, Liu Cheng has an outstanding point, that is, no matter how tired he is and how complicated the situation is, he can always quickly find the key place and solve it, and it is the first time he has seen someone with this quality.

"When Mr. Xu arrived in Nanyang, he happened to be attacked by thieves at night! Because the prefect and the deputy general withheld military salaries, which provoked a mutiny among the defenders, Liu Cheng took the opportunity to break the city. Speaking of this, Zhao Wende paused slightly, looked at Liu Cheng's face, and then continued: "But Mr. Xu rescued King Tang, and the group fled all the way south to Xiangyang!" ”

"You mean Nanyang was attacked by thieves?" (To be continued.) )