Seeing that Chongzhen's idea was dispelled, Zhou Yanru was very happy in his heart, after all, he didn't want too much change to happen at this juncture, which would likely lead to the destruction of everything he had worked hard to manage over the years, and as for the financial dilemma described by Bi Ziyan in the excerpt, there was always another way to solve it.

Seeing that this summons had come to an end, Zhou Yanru stood up easily and was about to bow and leave, but unexpectedly heard Chongzhen ask: "Yang He, the governor of the three sides, asked for money and food to appease the thieves, Mr. Zhou thinks how much should be sent at the moment?" “

As the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Yanru naturally knew about this recital related to the overall situation of the northwest, and he even remembered the above vote (the Ming Dynasty auxiliary ministers replaced the Son of Heaven in the recital to answer, and submitted it to the Son of Heaven for review along with the recital, which was the final answer in most cases), but at this time, Chongzhen once again asked a separate question, obviously hoping to get a further answer.

"The total amount is not known, but the minister thinks that there should be more grain and less silver."

"Oh?" Chongzhen's eyes lit up and asked, "Why did Mr. say that?" ”

Seeing this, Zhou Yanru knew that he had grasped the key point, it turned out that the inner treasury of the Ming Dynasty emperor was mainly stored in silver and various goods, and the grain was in Taicang and the warehousing in various places.

"Your Majesty, what is lacking in the northwest is food rather than money, and if there is more than money, it is nothing more than filling the pockets of corrupt officials, and it is not beneficial to the people."

"What the gentleman said is very true!" Chongzhen laughed: "Just do what Mr. said, more and less food and silver!" “

Yanzhou, Shaanxi, June of the fourth year of Chongzhen.

"Whoever tells me that the end is the Xiaoice River period, let him taste the taste of the sun in this June day!"

Liu Cheng wiped the beads of sweat from his face, and muttered to himself, he was only wearing a single coat, but the sweat still kept pouring out of his body, soaking the single coat to the wet surface, and then it was quickly dried by the scorching sun, condensing into a thin layer of salt crust on the skin.

"My lord, why don't you find a place to rest, and wait for the sun to go down before you get back to work." Du Gu on the side was already sweating hot, and he simply took off his shirt, revealing his furry chest.

Liu Cheng didn't speak, he bent down and grabbed a handful of soil, rubbed it twice in his hand, the clods of soil that had been whitished by the sun immediately turned into fine dust, and his fingers couldn't feel a little moisture, Liu Cheng sighed, clapped his palms and said: "It's all done like this, it seems that there is no hope for this year's summer grain." ”

"Yes!" Du Gu sighed: "Since the beginning of spring, there has not been a single penetrating rain, and those light rains are only a finger deep, except for those river flats in the three counties of Yanzhou, other places can't even harvest the seeds." ”

"What about Yan'an, Wuzhen, and Guyuan?" Liu Cheng asked.

"Not even over there!" Du Gu replied with a bitter face: "This Dunzhou is still a small pass, there are still some river beaches, and there are wells in the village, although the irrigation fields are not enough, but people and livestock still have water to drink." Unless the north and west sides are by the river, I am afraid that there will be no water for people to drink. ”

"Yes! We don't even have water to drink, so it seems that our hard work has been in vain! Liu Cheng's face showed a look of worry, he took out a stack of papers from the sheepskin pocket on his waist, looked at it for a while, and said, "Time is pressing, we have to hurry, don't rest at noon, and continue to work." ”

"Yes!" Du Gu responded, his face full of bitterness.

That night, Liu Cheng returned to his residence, ate a few bites of dinner, and returned to the house. In the house, Yu He Zheng and Xu Xianming sorted out the fruits of Liu Cheng's labor these days - in the past few months, Liu Cheng has traveled almost all over the city, made a basic survey of several relatively large rivers and mountains in the local area, and prepared for his next step.

"Your Excellency!" Seeing Liu Cheng push the door in, Yu and Xu hurriedly got up and saluted, Liu Cheng smiled and waved his hand, and said with a smile: "That's it, don't be polite, how are you tidying up." ”

"My lord, we have too few people, and it's still very early to finish it all, but the Hulu River has almost been sorted out."

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng looked at the chart presented by Xu Xianming and nodded: "Yes, it's almost enough, and it's almost ready to do it depending on the weather." ”

"The weather? Do it? Yu He looked at Liu Cheng with some confusion, since Xu Hecheng said goodbye, Liu Cheng urged his subordinates to rebuild Qianhu City, while walking around in Juzhou, and writing and painting everywhere he went, he thought that Liu Cheng was preparing for the future war at first, but seeing more and more charts brought back by Liu Cheng, he found that something was wrong. Before the advent of modern cartographic technology, ancient maps in both the East and the West were not so much a reproduction of the actual terrain as some kind of freehand landscape painting. Even for military purposes, there are only some important roads, ferries, rivers, and cities, and most of the terrain and features do not appear on the map. Liu Cheng's charts, on the other hand, are much more complex and detailed, and even indicate the height of the mountain and the shallow depth of the river in some parts, which is obviously not for military purposes.

Seeing that Liu Cheng did not continue to step up the urging to clean up the military tun, both the local gentry in Yanzhou and Yu He breathed a sigh of relief, the former because he had seen Liu Cheng's power, and the latter thought that Liu Cheng had understood the truth of being with light and dust, and knew the way to protect himself. But seeing Liu Cheng's performance, Yu He found that this should be his misunderstanding, and the person in front of him never knew what was called self-preservation.

"Mr. Yu, you write a letter to Yang Zhijun for me!" Although he has spent more than half a year in the Ming Dynasty, Liu Cheng's brush writing is still miserable, so he had to let Yu He do his own documents, but this is a common thing among the generals in the late Ming Dynasty.

"Yes, sir!" Yu He sat down in front of the desk, dipped the brush in ink on the inkstone, and heard Liu Cheng say: "Yes."

Let Yang Zhijun send 3,000 Ding Zhuang from the displaced people, and I will place them on the military cantonment land in Juzhou. ”

As soon as Liu Cheng's words fell, he heard a snap, but the brush in Yu He's hand fell to the ground, and he couldn't care about it so much, and retorted loudly: "My lord, don't do it." Although there is a military cantonment, but the ploughing cattle, seeds, farm tools, etc. have not yet landed, and seeing that this year is another year of great disaster, I don't know if there will be a harvest if I plant it, this is not 3,000 Dingzhuang, this is 3,000 flames! “

"Mr. Yu, don't worry!" Liu Cheng bent down and picked up the brush on the ground and stuffed it back into Yu He's hand: "If I ask you to write, you will write, I have my own way when people come, and there is a tall man on top of the sky when the sky falls, what are you afraid of?" ”

Looking at Liu Cheng's confident face, Yu He reluctantly sat down again, and sighed while writing: "My lord, everyone else is pushing the trouble out, but you are the only one who pulls it into the house, as if you are afraid that there will be fewer things, I really don't know if you are smart or stupid!" “

"Mr. Yu, you are wrong when you say so, where can the trouble be pushed away? The more you push, the more you chase you, the road only gets narrower and narrower, if you turn around, as long as you solve the trouble, it is a good road. ”

A few days later, the governor of Juzhou.

Compared with a few months ago, Lu Boqi was a lot haggard, his originally thin figure was stiffened, and his wrinkled face was like a knife carving, which was all the credit of Liu Cheng, an outsider, who had a lot of trouble with the local gentry in the matter of cleaning up the military camp, and even used swords and soldiers, killing more than a dozen people. The only thing to be thankful for is that in the end, Liu Cheng, a strong dragon, reached a compromise with the gentry, and the land snake reached a compromise, and Juzhou temporarily calmed down, and now Lu Boqi's only luxury is to maintain a situation before he leaves office, so he didn't need Liu Cheng to open his mouth, he provided the other party with more than 100 people's grain, and he only didn't see what the other party had done in the past few months, and he just burned incense and prayed in front of the statue of Lu Zu in the back hall of the yamen every day, praying that he could spend the last few months safely.

However, Lu Zu didn't seem to hear the prayer of Lord Zhizhou, and that afternoon, when Lu Boqi was burning incense and praying in the back hall as usual, the curtain friend walked in quickly from the outside and whispered in his ear: "Lu Gong, Liu Dusi asks to see!" ”

"What, that killer again?" Lu Boqi shook his wrist and almost dropped the incense on the ground: "What trouble did he cause again?" Come to the official! “

"I don't think so!" The curtain friend touched the silver ingot in his sleeve, which was the door bag given to him by Liu Cheng, and he was in a very comfortable mood: "Liu Dusi brought two entourages this time, both of them were dressed in civilian clothes, and they also brought four-color gifts, not like looking for trouble." Speaking of this, he lowered his voice and said: "My lord, I have seen the gifts, twenty Tan sheepskins, a piece of fine sheep fat jade, or the original stone, a little polishing is a family heirloom!" ”

"Humph!" This generous gift did not play a normal role in Lu Boqi, he still looked worried: "I don't think so, this Liu Dusi is not easy to get along with, I am thankful that he doesn't make trouble for me, where do you still want his gift." “

"My lord, Liu Dusi is looking for you for official business, and business is always negotiable, but those things are private things." The curtain friend replied with a smile: "Besides, no matter what, you are still the lord of a state, should you not allow it?" “

Lu Boqi didn't speak, obviously the advice of his friends played a role, he sighed and said, "You go to the signing room to accompany that Liu Dusi first, and I'll go over immediately!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The curtain friend answered, turned around and walked out, Lu Boqi turned around and looked at the portrait of Lu Zu hanging on the wall, and sighed: "Ancestor Lu, Ancestor Lu, is this a blessing or a curse?" As he was talking, Lu Boqi suddenly screamed, it turned out that he had just been talking to his friends, but he forgot to insert the incense stick in his hand into the incense burner, and the incense had burned to the knuckles. He threw Zhu Xiang on the ground in annoyance and scolded: "Sure enough, it's a disaster! ”

In the signing room, Liu Cheng was sitting on the guest chair, there was no word of gossip with the curtain friends who accompanied him, he wore a royal blue round-necked robe today, taught to step on soap-colored thin-soled official boots, did not wear a hat on his head, only used a green hosta hairpin to pull his hair in a bun, held a gold fan in his hand, and the two personal soldiers behind him were also wearing cyan short robes, not like a court military attaché, but like a rich child traveling with a servant.

While he was talking, there was a sound of footsteps outside the signing room, and then he saw Lu Boqi walking in from the outside, Liu Cheng stood up with a smile and arched his hand: "Lord Zhizhou, it's rude to come here today!" “

"That's it!" Lu Boqi's face was not good-looking, and his still throbbing fingers gave him an ominous premonition, he waved his hand a little tiredly, and motioned for Liu Cheng to sit down again: "Liu Dusi, what is the matter with you coming to this official today?" “

"Lord Lu, Yang Zhijun and the last general have a military order, and they have something to do with Yanzhou, so the last general naturally wants to meet his old parents and discuss."

"Yang Zhijun's military order?" Lu Boqi's face was immediately covered with a layer of black gas, and he replied angrily: "Didn't the report document of the army master say that the Shaanxi thieves have been wiped out in one fell swoop, and Cheng has not won a great victory for decades?" Why do you have a military order? Isn't it a trick to turn defeat into victory? “

"The old parents laughed!" Liu Cheng smiled: "How can such things be fake? “

Lu Boqi snorted coldly: "Then what is Liu Dusi looking for this official to do?" Yang Zhijun's military order was issued to you, not to his own officer. ”

"My lord, Yang Zhijun asked the last general to place three thousand Ding Zhuang on the military cantonment land cleared out in Dunzhou, if you think that this matter has nothing to do with you, then the general will leave immediately!" Speaking of this, Liu Cheng stood up with a posture that he was about to leave.

"Wait!" Lu Boqi immediately drank Liu Cheng: "Three thousand Ding Zhuang, what's going on?" Where did Ding Zhuang come from? “

"My lord, these are some of the thieves who are appeased by the army, yesterday the Yang army had a military order, saying that the thieves who were appeased were squandering food and salary, and the land of the Yanzhou Guard was empty, just to be settled."

"What?" Rao is Lu Boqi is a good-tempered person, and at this time, he was also angry: "What a Yang He, he actually came up with such a trick, those thieves let them return to their hometowns, why do you want to settle in my Yanzhou?" This official must go to the court and discuss black and white with him. ”

"Lu Zhizhou, it's no wonder that Yang Zhijun is here." Liu Cheng explained: "Most of these thieves are from Longshang, this year's drought in Dunzhou has become like this, I'm afraid Longshang won't even grow grass, if they return to their hometowns, won't they force them to rebel?" ”

"Fart!" Lu Boqi couldn't bear it anymore, and couldn't help but scold: "Go to Longshang and they rebel, if you come to Dunzhou, they won't rebel, how many people can you support with that little military tun?" To tell you the truth, don't think that my Junzhou Mansion will give a grain of rice and a penny for these people. This Lu Zhizhou was very confused about other things, but as soon as he got into the matter of money and food, he was more refined than a cat, and he immediately bit it and didn't let it go.