When she arrived at Meixianglou, sure enough, Li Xiangjun was crying and her eyes were red, and her adoptive mother Li Zhenli was coaxing on the side, and when she saw Yang Chao coming, she didn't have a good face.

Yang Chao kindly comforted her and told her that he would definitely bring her into the Yang family, and let her wait patiently.

Li Xiangjun didn't believe it very much, the previous dynasties had never heard of that concubine, and she was already dead.

However, Yang Chao was able to comfort her for the first time, which made Li Xiangjun feel very gratified.

After Yang Chao comforted and left.

Although Li Xiangjun was psychologically comfortable, he was still not immune to the blow.

But her adoptive mother had changed her concept of Yang Chao at this time.

said to Li Xiangjun: "Silly daughter, I mistook this man for my mother, he is not a heartless man, but an amorous seed." ”

Li Xiangjun was puzzled.

Li Zhenli sighed: "He can think of you for the first time, which shows that he has you in his heart." And said that he would marry you and go home, but it was difficult for him. ”

As soon as he heard that Yang Chao had himself in his heart, Li Xiangjun felt much better, full of a kind of sweetness, and it seemed that it didn't matter if he could marry into the Yang family or not.

But she still has no hope of marrying into the Yang family, and even if Yang Chao dares to marry her, she is not willing to marry, just like her adoptive mother said, if she still wants to marry into the Yang family today, it is undoubtedly causing trouble for Yang Chao, which she does not want to see.

Yang Chao left Meixianglou and soon arrived at Dong's house.

To Yang Chao's surprise, Dong Xiaowan was even more fierce than Li Xiangjun.

"He kicked me out of the house and said that he wanted to marry me with a sedan chair, which turned out to be a lie! It turned out that he wanted to marry the princess! ”

Dong Xiaowan understands it this way, no matter how Chen Yuanyuan coaxes her, she can't coax her.

Dong Xiaowan has a high EQ and a high IQ. And people with high emotional intelligence are actually very sensitive, how can they guess the minds of others if they are not sensitive. How can you have high emotional intelligence?

Miss Dong was originally the daughter of a large family, and her family was in the middle. Her father died early, her mother was seriously ill, and she had to start from the Qinhuai River, but at first she was known for her high school, but she couldn't get along in the Qinhuai River and returned to Suzhou.

After that, his temperament slowly changed, and he became familiar with people, not only was he not in Qinggao, but his popularity improved.

But it was also then. She is bent on finding a backer, looking for a less annoying backer, he can't look down on a fat businessman, she doesn't feel safe as an ordinary talent, Yang Chao is a man who can be literate and martial, has a great favor to her, and can stand up at a critical moment, has a great attraction to her, speaking of which she just lacks a sense of security.

So she tried her best to marry into the Yang family, but she didn't expect to be persuaded by Yang Chao. promised her eight sedan chairs, but it turned out that she was going to marry the princess, and she felt that she had been deceived. The great humiliation made her unable to support herself, and deep down she turned out that she was still the high-minded Dong Xiaowan.

"Don't think about it! The promise made by my Yang Chao will not change even if the mountain falls! ”

Yang Chao heard Dong Xiaowan's hysterical and collapsed accusation outside the door, then pushed open the door and said solemnly.

When Dong Xiaowan saw Yang Chao coming in, she stopped crying, but turned her back and sobbed in a low voice.

Seeing this, Kang Xiaobao and Chen Yuanyuan gave up the place with a very good look. They all walked out.

"Don't cry. I also didn't expect the emperor to give marriage. You know I can't say no. ”

Dong Xiaowan snorted: "I know! ”

Yang Chao sighed: "Do you really know? ”

Dong Xiaowan said: "Others don't dare to refuse, you can't refuse." ”

I saw Dong Xiaowan talking. Yang Chao also intended to talk to her more, and asked, "Why?" ”

Dong Xiaowan sighed: "Who let you hold heavy soldiers." Doubts are added out of thin air. If you refuse the marriage of the Heavenly Family, you will be even more suspicious, unless you want to be Cao Cao, you can't refuse at all. ”

Dong Xiaowan explained Yang Chao's situation from another aspect, Yang Chao didn't think about this, his concept is positive, always look at what he can gain first, rather than thinking about what he will lose.

However, what Dong Xiaowan said is very reasonable, if Yang Chao refuses, it is really difficult to deal with, the little emperor currently trusts Yang Chao very much, but if he refuses, he will lose the trust of the little emperor, then the series of actions of King Qin in the north may not be meaningless.

Yang Chao couldn't help but look at Dong Xiaowan with admiration, no wonder this woman can take away the hearts of the Yang family, just this exquisite mind is not comparable to other famous prostitutes.

Yang Chao pondered for a moment, but he didn't notice that Dong Xiaowan had turned around, looked at him lovingly, and stopped crying.

Yang Chao sat opposite him and stared at her: "Don't worry, I said that I would marry you, and I will never break my word!" ”

Dong Xiaowan shook her head lightly: "I thought it would be very sad, but when you came, I wouldn't be sad." ”

Yang Chao sighed: "Don't worry, wait for me." ”

Dong Xiaowan shook his head again: "That's it." In fact, it doesn't matter if you are a concubine or not. If you have the heart, I'll make an outer room as well. ”

To put it bluntly, the outer room is the junior of the later generations, the woman who is secretly raised outside.

But Yang Chao is very firm: "I, Yang Chao, have never kept my promises, especially I don't have the habit of cheating women." ”

Dong Xiaowan suddenly laughed: "Have you deceived less?" ”

Yang Chao said: "I have never deceived. You must wait for me in peace, and don't go to the Wa Kingdom. I'll give you an unexpected dowry! ”

Dong Xiaowan insisted: "No, I must go!" ”

Seeing Dong Xiaowan's firm eyes, Yang Chao sighed, she knew Dong Xiaowan's thoughts, and felt that she could help Yang Chao when she went to Japan, so she insisted on going.

Yang Chao nodded: "Actually, it's not bad to go and see, the Wa Kingdom is not as terrible as the legend!" ”

After comforting the two women, Yang Chao returned to the barracks, and something happened in the army in the past few days.

It's not a question of training, it's not a question of infantry, it's a question of sailors.

Zhang Dawei is now the deputy general of the navy, with 100 large ships and 300 medium ships, and he has no opponents in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Recently, however, he has been confronted with a number of problems.

It's a problem for the city.

The matter of the city division is definitely not a trivial matter.

In order to get the city's shipping division, Yang Chao reopened the Daming Sea Trade, which can be described as painstaking.

One of the biggest concessions is the issue of self-financing.

At this time, the north was destroyed, and Zhu Cihong's new army ascended the throne, but he was facing a mess.

It can be said that the world is half bad. Needless to say, the north is the south.

When Li Zicheng invaded Beijing, Hubei north of the Yangtze River was largely occupied by him. The entire Hunan and Jiangxi prefectures in the south were completely controlled by Zhang Xianzhong, and the only territory that the imperial court could control was Wuchang. After Zhang Xianzhong suddenly entered Sichuan, the Ming army recovered some of the state capitals in Hunan.

However, the long-term war made it obvious that Huguang could not provide food and military salaries to the new imperial court, and because of the cultivation of cash crops such as silkworm tea in the Jiangnan region, it had actually begun to rely on Huguang's grain to feed, and the so-called Huguang was full of the world.

The loss of Huguang would be the loss of a considerable source of food.

Fortunately, Yang Chao supported the crown prince to succeed to the throne, and the undisputed inheritance made most areas in Jiangnan congratulate. It is equivalent to recognizing Zhu Cihong's monarchy, which can be regarded as stabilizing the situation in Jiangnan on the surface.

But relying on Jiangnan's salary alone is indeed stretched.

But the courtiers can't help but pay them, even if the courtiers don't pay them for the time being, but the army can't help but pay them.

In the four towns of Jiangbei alone, the imperial court stipulated that each town had 30,000 soldiers, and supplied 200,000 stone of rice and 400,000 taels of silver every year. Fortunately, it has finally fallen back in the past few months, but it has also stabilized at three taels of silver, so it is necessary to supply 800,000 quintals of rice to four towns a year. It was worth two million taels of two million taels and one hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver, making a total of four million taels.

But this is only the quota given by the imperial court to the four towns, the four towns are not so obedient, after occupying the territory one by one, it is a crazy expansion of the army, and the reason for their fight is the Northern Expedition to recover the Central Plains, in which Liu Zeqing said, "Play an enterprising plan and raise hundreds of thousands of soldiers." Save hundreds of thousands of salaries, prepare more than 100,000 horses. After a year or two of straightening out the equipment, you can cross the river."

Under the guise of this. The total strength of the four towns has reached 300,000, and at the same time, they are vigorously destroying the imperial court, and scaring the courtiers with Li Zicheng and the Qing army, saying that without military salaries, Li Zicheng will not be able to stop Li Zicheng from going south, and the ministers can only send silver and rice to Jiangbei one by one.

The total amount of taxes and grain collected by the imperial court so far is "less than 5 million in the southeast, and 3.6 million in the north." ”

Most of the taxes collected were given to the four towns in Jiangbei, but the four towns still said that the salary was not enough, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit and even showed signs of mutiny, which frightened the civilian officials.

Originally, in order to win the hearts of the people, the new monarch ascended the throne and generally reduced taxes, and some courtiers suggested that some taxes in Jiangnan should be reduced according to the old rules.

At this time, even Shi Kefa didn't dare to agree: "The world is half bad, the annual endowment is only more than 4.5 million, and in the future, the military salary will be excessive, and the training salary, the salary and other items cannot be removed." ”

Not only can it not be reduced, but it also needs to be increased, but this kind of proposal was vetoed by Yang Chao, he insisted that he could not increase the endowment, and he had forced the northwest to rebel, and the peasant army had entered Beijing.

If the tax is not reduced, the household department counts: "At that time, the income of the main item is 6.2 million, and the output of the army of the four towns is more than 7.5 million, and the general annual shortage of the main item is 1.5 million."

This is still only to support the army of the four towns, and if you add Zuo Liangyu from Wuchang, the shortage will be even greater.

The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households said: "Today, the troops, horses, money, and grain are all planned, and the shortfall is 2.25 million yuan. ”

The shortage is more than two million, and the imperial court only has more than 1,000 taels of silver in stock, so the imperial court can't afford to raise so many soldiers at all, but to cut the troops, not to mention that the generals don't agree, even if the generals agree, the civil officials don't have the courage, they are more afraid of the rogue from the north than the generals.

Zuo Liangyu, who fed the four towns and guarded a Wuchang city, the imperial court couldn't stand it, and it was impossible for the imperial court to add Yang Chao's 100,000 battalions anyway, so when Yang Chao agreed to raise his own military salary and raise the water battalion soldiers with sea trade, the ministers agreed very happily.

As a result, Yang Chao was given the privilege of monopolizing the tariffs of the city, so how could he be careless on the issue of the city's shipping department.

You must know that those soldiers in Yangsi Town need four million taels every year, although most of them are embezzled by military generals, such as Liu Zeqing, who built gardens in Huai'an for pleasure.

Yang Chao's cost of raising troops is actually greater, 100,000 troops, and the military salary alone is not a small amount.

Because of the high price of rice, in order for those soldiers to be able to support their families, Yang Chao had to raise the military salary again, a private also had to give one or two silver, the third-class soldier was already one or two halves, the second-class soldier was two taels, the first-class soldier was three taels, plus the officer's military salary, each month's salary alone was more than 200,000 taels, and it was more than two million taels a year.

In addition, Yang Chao has always insisted on equipping soldiers with the most well-equipped equipment, each person has at least one pair of iron armor, a pair of iron armor twenty taels, and more than two million taels, as for equipping other spears, birds, artillery, and one million taels of silver, so Yang Chao needs at least more than five million taels to build 100,000 soldiers.

And all this money has to be cut out from the city's shipping department.

So after getting the power of the city, Yang Chao took action non-stop.

Yang Wencong had already arrived in Susong, and he set up his city and city division yamen in the city of Songjiang Prefecture, but Yang Chao sent troops to set up three water battalions in Wusongjiang, Chongming Shasuo and Jinshanwei, and constantly cruised the Yangtze River estuary.

The purpose is naturally to fight smuggling.

Last year, an agreement was reached with the Zheng family, but Yang Chao was never able to control the Yangtze River, and later found that this could not be achieved at all, just cruising on the two lines from Songjiang to Nanjing, it would require a fleet of thirty ships, and each team would have at least ten warships, that is, three hundred, almost draining Yang Chao's troops, which was obviously impossible.

Now that he has mastered the City Shipping Division and has the support of the imperial court, Yang Chao can do it boldly with confidence, and it is obviously much easier to control an outlet to the sea than to control a shipping route.

But things still made Yang Chao a little unexpected, sending Zhang Dawei was anti-smuggling, but he always found it difficult to completely control it.

Yang Chao assigned him ten brigs and ninety sloops to form a fleet of one hundred, but the number of troops was still insufficient.

There are so many places in the coastal areas that can be connected to the sea.

If nothing else, it is Suzhou, which can pass through the canal of Wujiang to Jiaxing to Huatingtang, and then enter the Huangpu River, and then go south to the sea in Zhejiang Province.

Although Zheng has always been very face-saving and ordered three million taels from Yang Chao, if Yang Chao can't control the shipping, the three million taels is probably a limit, and Zheng will definitely not increase.

And Yang Chao took the Daming Customs in his hands, hoping to collect more tariffs by expanding maritime trade.

But the temptation of huge sea trade is too great, so big that people do not hesitate to take risks, Yang Chao has taken this into account, so he has given Zhang Dawei a very strong force, but unfortunately he still can't control it, and it's understandable that he can't control it, after all, the coastline is too long, but if you can't beat the pirates, it's a little too much.

"What's going on?"

Yang Chao saw Zhang Dawei anxiously waiting, so he immediately asked very dissatisfied.

When Zhang Dawei was cruising with 30 warships, not only did he let one smuggling ship escape, but he himself was sunk by others, and most of the soldiers were rescued, but more than 10 soldiers disappeared into the vast sea.

Zhang Dawei sighed: "The thief ship is big, invincible!" (To be continued)