Luo Jian was in a hurry, and after arranging the affairs of Guazhou, he hurried back to Yangzhou with the messenger.

Shi Kefa was waiting for Luo Jian in the Dadu Governor's Mansion, and when he saw Luo Jian coming back, he hurriedly stood up and greeted him.

"Xinghua, things are in trouble."

"Brother Xian, don't worry, what's the trouble?"

"The imperial court sent people to say that the emperor wants to rebuild the palace, and now there is no silver, Ma Shiying said that Yangzhou can even remove the officials sent by the imperial court at will, and there is definitely no need for the military salary of the imperial court, and the military salary of the Yangzhou army will be stopped, which can be used to repair the palace, and the emperor insisted, so he agreed to reduce it by only half, that is to say, the military salary of our Yangzhou army can only be guaranteed by half."

When Luo Jian heard this, he sat on the chair and didn't speak for a long time.

"Xinghua, what's wrong with you? What do you mean? No matter how difficult it is now, it is not as difficult as when you first arrived in Yangzhou City, right? Shi Kefa said anxiously.

Luo Jian was thinking nervously at the moment, not hysteria as Shi Kefa thought.

This happened as early as Luo Jian's expectations, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly.

Its actions were extremely coordinated with the economic warfare of the Manchu court, which made Luo Jian a little puzzled.

It stands to reason that with Ma Shiying's political acumen, it is not difficult to see that Yangzhou is the gateway to Nanjing, and if the Yangzhou army is lost, Nanjing will inevitably be lost.

In history, although Ma Shiying was an official and greedy and greedy, his last integrity is still worthy of recognition, and he was unwilling to surrender to the Manchu Qing until he died. Is there something unknown in this?

Since this thing has happened, it may be impossible to correct it in a short period of time, so where is the way out for Yangzhou? How to get out of the current predicament? These are all questions that Luo Jian thinks about.

Liu Lan also came back early today, and saw Luo Jian and Shi Kefa sitting in the hall relatively speechless, not knowing what happened, and asked, "What happened?" Why are both of them like this? ”

"The worst happened? Did the imperial court cut off the supply of Yangzhou? Liu Lan suddenly understood.

"Liulan, it's not all broken, only half of it will be given in the future." Shi Kefa said with a sigh.

When Liu Lan heard this, she said with a smile: "That's good, it's not all stopped yet." Brother Luo, don't you remember how our predecessors came here? They were blocked, they were besieged, didn't they survive too? ”

"Yes, we don't know how much better the situation in Yangzhou than at that time, I am thinking about where our way out is, and what methods can be used to get out of the predicament as soon as possible." Luo Jian said.

Hearing Luo Jian say this, Shi Kefa suddenly relieved his heart, and at first he thought that Luo Jian couldn't figure it out and had hysteria.

"Our Yangzhou military and civilians must carry out production to save themselves, and the army must also be mentally prepared to live a hard life, if necessary, we blocked the canal, forced the Manchus to open up trade, and at the same time can also carry out active offensive operations, so that the Manchus are not at ease." Luo Jian thought for a moment and said.

"We must make it clear to all the military and civilians about the difficulties we have encountered, and call on everyone to unite and work together to tide over the difficulties." Liu Lan also added on the side.

"This... Will making the news public cause people's hearts to fluctuate? Shi Kefa said worriedly.

"Only by clearly explaining the difficulties we have encountered can we get the support of all the military and civilians. As I have just thought, our difficulties will not have a great impact on ordinary people, but industry, commerce and the army will be greatly affected. Luo Jian said.

"Our sweet potato seeds will not be provided to the people for the time being, and they will be distributed to the troops first, and the troops will be asked to start a large-scale production campaign to reduce the burden on the people as much as possible, Brother Xian, what do you think?" Luo Jian thought for a moment and then said.

While several people were talking, Liu Zhaoji rushed over.

"Xinghua, Inspector, you're all here. I heard we're having a hard time now? Liu Zhaoji said.

"How do you know?" Luo Jian asked curiously.

"Hey, it's been spread all over the outside, saying that the imperial court has stopped half of our Yangzhou army's military salary, and our Yangzhou things can't be sold." Liu Zhaoji said.

"Who said that?" Shi Kefa said angrily.

"The matter of stopping the military salary was said by the envoys of the imperial court, and they preached it all the way out of Yangzhou, and now almost everyone in Yangzhou knows about it, and things can't be sold, because several factories have begun to lay off a large number of people, can these people not say it?" Liu Zhaoji said with a wry smile.

Shi Kefa didn't react more when he heard Liu Zhaoji's words, while Luo Jian and Liu Lan were both taken aback.

Shi Kefa did not feel the terrible consequences caused by the massive unemployment of workers caused by the previous economic depression, but Luo Jian and Liu Lan understood it very well.

In the past, when workers were laid off, there was either a so-called "one-time buyout", or some monthly living expenses, and at this time there will definitely be nothing, so what should happen to the lives of these laid-off workers? At present, it can only rely on government relief.

The current factories are all manpower-intensive, and this reduction will not reduce the number of people, and the pressure on the Yangzhou government will be too great.

Hearing Luo Jian's explanation, Shi Kefa also became anxious.

"These profiteers! When they were making money, they rushed to recruit people, and now that they encountered difficulties, they began to lay off people, and they must not be allowed to lay off people. Liu Zhaoji said hatefully.

"Yes, capital is this virtue, making money is their fundamental purpose, how can the life and death of the workers be in their hearts?" Liu Lan said.

"Brother Xian, let's do it, tomorrow we will convene a meeting of these businessmen, first, to support the Yangzhou government through the difficult period, the Yangzhou government is sending people to the south to help them contact the sales of products, and second, to tell them that we are preparing to set up overseas caravans, and then their products will not be a problem, and the third is to require them to absolutely not reduce manpower, if they insist on layoffs, they must pay workers half a year's salary, otherwise they will no longer enjoy any preferential policies in Yangzhou in the future."

When Shi Kefa heard this, he could only do this at present, this matter was a top priority, if these factories were allowed to lay off workers, the Yangzhou government would immediately have a big head.

"Xinghua, Inspector, the thousands of taels of silver that my family invested in the glass factory have now become more than 10,000 taels, you can take it to the emergency first, I only have so much, I came here today to talk about this." Liu Zhaoji said.

"Brother Liu, I understand your kindness, your 10,000 taels of silver is a drop in the bucket, you should stay in the glass factory, and it will be turned into hundreds of thousands of taels in the future, and when I have no money to spend, you can sponsor me personally." Luo Jian said with a wry smile.

"By the way, Brother Liu, how much of your first division's Yangzhou Type 1 rifle is currently equipped with?" Luo Jian asked.

"Xinghua, you ask this? Are you going to prepare for war? At present, there are nearly 3,000 of them, and in addition to the special brigade, Ma Yingkui's regiment is also basically equipped. Liu Zhaoji said.

"Well, Brother Liu, you do a good job of pre-war mobilization, now the Manchu Qing Dynasty is forcing us to fight, we must use your first division if we want to win the battle." Luo Jian said.

"Xinghua, you can rest assured, our first division will encounter tens of thousands of Qing soldiers, and that will not be a problem." Liu Zhaoji said confidently.

"By the way, Xinghua, I have already written letters to Jingnanhou and Li Chengdong and their division commanders, our army can't drag Yangzhou back, our first division has unified its thinking, before the source of Yangzhou's military salary is solved, all the officers and soldiers of our first division are below themselves, and they don't want military salaries, as long as they have a full stomach." Liu Zhaoji continued.

Luo Jian listened, and didn't speak, but stepped forward and silently held Liu Zhaoji's hand and shook it vigorously.

Shi Kefa also looked at Liu Zhaoji with grateful eyes, and Liu Zhaoji was a little embarrassed.

"Xinghua, Inspector, my Lao Liu is also a member of the Yangzhou Army, if we have difficulties, our own people don't grit their teeth and get through, do you still expect pies to fall from the sky?"

"Yes, we are not afraid of difficulties, as long as we work together, isn't there a saying that says, 'As long as the mind does not slip, there are always more ways than difficulties', Brother Xian, isn't it?" Luo Jian laughed and said.

Then the next morning's meeting of businessmen did not go well.

In the Yangzhou Hotel, dozens of businessmen from all walks of life came.

Just when Shi Kefa proposed that the factories should not lay off workers, there was a mess below.

"Inspector, we don't want to lay off people, but if this thing is produced and can't be sold, we are losing money."

"Yes, Inspector, I've lost a lot this month, and if I continue to lose, I'm going to go bankrupt."

"What do you glassworks say?" Luo Jian asked, pointing to the major shareholders of several glass factories.

"Governor, you are the largest shareholder of our glass factory, and we are also trying to tell you, our glass factory must also lay off people, we can't go on like this, it's really not good, I'm going to withdraw my investment." A chubby shareholder said.

"Yes, now that I have so many idlers, I can't make any money at all, and I will withdraw my investment, and I haven't made any money this month." Another shareholder said.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, listen to what I've to say." Seeing that there was already chaos below, Shi Kefa slapped the table and shouted, waiting for the silence below, and then explained everything Luo Jian said yesterday.

Shi Kefa had just finished speaking, and the following discussion began.

"Of course, overseas business is highly profitable, but the Yangzhou army is very good at fighting on land, and it may not be good at sea, right? I've heard that pirates are so powerful that if you encounter them, you'll lose all your money. ”

"Even if we go to sea, it is far from water that can't quench our thirst, so we have to continue to lose money to trade?"

"Governor, Governor, we can't always pay for idlers, I'm afraid this layoff is necessary." There were a few businessmen who shouted the most, and one of them was the fat shareholder of the glass factory, who seemed to be surnamed Ma, and Luo Jian didn't remember it very clearly.

"Smack!" Luo Jian slapped the table vigorously, and the following suddenly fell silent.

"Just now, the superintendent has explained to you the difficulties we encountered in Yangzhou, although the difficulties we encountered are temporary, our situation is still very serious, which requires all of us to tide over the difficulties together. Have you ever wondered what would happen to them and their families if these workers were laid off? When I was making money, I desperately squeezed them, and now I have encountered some difficulties, so I just say that I am raising idlers? ”

Luo Jian lightly tapped the table, his eyes coldly looking at the merchants who had screamed the most just now.

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