The battle was not long, but more than 400 laborers paid with their lives.

Seeing that Yangzhou sent an envoy, Deng Ming did not let the soldiers continue to risk blasting the city wall, but returned to the military camp with the envoy, but after returning to the military camp, Deng Ming did not immediately negotiate with the envoy, and now he still has a big doubt to figure out, that is, why the Cao Union is so desperate. Deng Ming was worried that the people near Yangzhou had strong hostility towards the Ming army, which would pose a threat to the follow-up actions of the Ming army.

At first, the confessions of the captives were messy, and Deng Ming didn't understand it very clearly, only knowing that when they saw a fire in the direction of the canal, they thought that the Ming army had killed all the families of the Cao workers near the canal, and they killed the Cao Gong when they saw it, leaving them no way to live. Later, the Ming army found a wounded Caotou from the captives, and soon figured out the ins and outs of the matter after having this person.

"Lin Qilong, this dog thief." There were a few guards who broke into the camp and were furious when they heard this, and the reason why they would pay a heavy price when they came to these workers was because of Lin Qilong's bewitchment.

After asking about what happened, the envoy sent by Yangzhou had been waiting outside the barracks for a long time, and Deng Ming asked the guards to bring him. Mu Tan, Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang were all accompanied by Deng Ming, among them, Zhou Kaihuang's Yangzhou envoy's vision was the most unkind, and Ren Tang's demeanor was not very friendly, but Mu Tan did not show too much hostility.

As soon as he saw Deng Ming, the envoy of Yangzhou immediately poured out Lin Qilong's words and shirked his responsibility cleanly.

"How dare you lie to your face!" Zhou Kaihuang was furious when he heard this, and jumped up without waiting for the envoy to finish speaking, pointing at the messenger's nose and scolding.

But Deng Ming stopped Zhou Kaihuang so that the envoy didn't need to panic: "A few captives just now spoke differently from what your envoy said. ”

First carefully explained the confessions of those captives to the envoys in Yangzhou, and then Deng Ming spread his hands: "But since the envoy said that the salt merchants were bewitched, then right, these people also mentioned several subordinate officials of the governor, and they fought viciously and took bribes from the salt merchants, pulled tiger skins to make banners, and incited the workers to attack our army." ”

"Don't worry, Lord Admiral, go back and tell Lord Caoyun to ensure that none of these rats can escape." The envoy immediately patted his chest and reassured, and then put a smile on his face: "The governor of Caoyun is willing to raid the salt merchant's house and provide the admiral with a hundred taels of silver as compensation. ”

"Now one million taels is not enough, two million taels," Deng Ming shook his head and counted the other party with his fingers: "On the canal, our army burned down a large number of houses, and we need to compensate the workers who lost their houses; In front of Yangzhou City, our army used a large number of bows and arrows to attack Caogong, which also cost money......" After carefully calculating it to the envoy, Deng Ming told the other party: "The military expenses and compensation for Caogong are a total of 800,000 taels, and there are 1.2 million taels of punitive damages, a total of 2 million taels." ”

"This ......" The envoy saw Deng Mingshi's mouth open, and suddenly doubled the compensation silver, and his face also showed some bitterness: "A few bows and arrows don't cost 10,000 taels of silver, even if you add the expenses along the way, it is far less than 800,000 taels of silver." ”

"Okay, it may not be useful, in the face of your envoy, I will reduce it by half, and the military compensation will be 400,000 taels of silver." Deng Ming said generously: "Plus 1.6 million taels of silver in punitive damages, a total of two million taels, what else is wrong with your envoy?" ”

The envoy had nothing to say, as long as he made a fuss about punitive damages: "This is not what the Governor meant, it is entirely the work of the salt merchants and some small people, and the Governor wants to compensate for the housing of the Cao Gong, and the Governor can do it for him, so he does not have to spend it on the Governor." ”

"Yes, so the salt merchants who instigated the workers and the subordinates of the governor's yamen, I hope that the governor will punish them severely, and they can make trouble successfully, of course, because the governor of Lin is not strict, in this case, of course, the governor of Lin will be responsible for compensation; And I burned the Caogong's house, of course, I will also pay for it, but if Governor Lin is good to his subordinates, I will not attack and will not be resisted by Caogong, so I will compensate Caogong and Governor Lin for me, which is very reasonable. With this punitive damages, Governor Lin can weigh it in the future, whether it is better to spend a small amount of money to eliminate those hostile to our army, or is it appropriate to wait for me to come to the door? Seeing that the envoy gave up arguing over compensation, Deng Ming mentioned the conditions he had said before: "Governor Lin also needs to write me an oath that he will not support the rebuilding of the Liangjiang Naval Division, that he will not spend money on the purchase of warships, that he will not build a shipyard, and that if anyone proposes a similar construction, he needs to inform me and oppose it as much as he can." This oath must be drawn by Governor Lin, and it must be stamped with the seal of Governor Caoyun, if Governor Lin goes back on his word, it is intended to provoke trouble. ”

"Yes, the Governor will give the Admiral an oath." The envoy agreed, and when Lin Qilong let him out, he had already said that he could meet Deng Ming's request, and Cao Tou confessed the name of the subordinate official of the governor Yamen who instigated him, and the Yangzhou envoy wrote down the name of this official, and then took his leave and left.

After sending away the messenger from Yangzhou, Deng Ming sighed and waited for Zhou Kaihuang to ask.

But when Zhou Kaihuang jumped out to question, the answer was not Deng Ming but Mu Tan, and Mu Tan's reaction to Deng Ming was very reasonable: "If Lin Qilong must take responsibility, then how can he be willing to negotiate with us?" It wasn't he who instigated the laborers, and since he said that it was those subordinate officials who did their own thing, let him take matters into account for us. ”

"Let Lin Qilong hand over those salt merchants and subordinate officials to us, I don't believe it, this matter will not be instructed by him." Zhou Kaihuang sneered.

"How could Lin Qilong hand over people to us alive? Besides, who doesn't know that the behind-the-scenes instruction for this matter is Lin Qilong? But if he is not given a way to live, won't he have to fight to the death with our army? Mu Tan replied again with a smile and a smile: "The Admiral reminded me just now, just to let Lin Qilong know that the Admiral gave him a favor, so he pretended to be confused and let him honestly hand over the money to avoid disasters." ”

Of course, Zhou Kaihuang also understood Deng Ming's intentions, but when so many Cao Gong died in vain, there was always an urge to hold them accountable for the culprits. After listening to Mu Tan's words, Zhou Kaihuang argued strongly: "Today, Lin Qilong can incite Caogong, and tomorrow he can incite others to fight against our army." ”

"As long as Lin Qilong causes us damage, we will ask him for compensation," The loss of the Ming army this time is minimal, and if Lin Qilong honestly hands over the silver, then the Ming army will obviously make a lot of money, so Mu Tan is even a little grateful to Lin Qilong, feeling that if he didn't come out to find it uncomfortable, the Ming army would not have an excuse to extort him such a large sum of silver: "Those Cao Gong were instigated by Lin Qilong, and it was their own business, and they didn't pay us taxes and didn't fight for us as soldiers, can we care about their lives and deaths?" ”

"After all, they are all the people of the Ming Dynasty." Ren Tang listened a little awkwardly, and couldn't help but help: "What Brother Zhou said also makes sense, they are still Ming people in the final analysis. ”

"The people of the Ming Dynasty who attacked the officers and soldiers?" Mu Tan sneered: "It's all against the officers and soldiers, that's the anti-thief, not the people, and it's not a crime to kill it!" If we don't kill this gang of rebels, do we still have to fight for this gang of rebels? ”

Ren Tang had to admit that what Mu Tan said was very reasonable, he was immediately convinced, and thought that he was indeed too lenient, a group of thieves who obeyed the orders of the puppet officials and confronted the officers and soldiers, and they were betrayed and killed by the puppet officials in Yangzhou, which was obviously dog eat dog, and Ren Tang, as a Ming officer and soldier, really did not need to sympathize too much with these thieves.

But Zhou Kaihuang didn't do it, he felt that Mu Tan's words had the flavor of referring to Sang scolding Huai: "They also have bitterness." ”

"What's the problem? A thief is a thief. Mu Tan was unforgiving: "If you have any hardship, you should die!" Some people are so high-minded that seeing a thief is like meeting a relative, and they inexplicably have to push a large sum of money out. ”

"!" Zhou Kaihuang confirmed that the other party was not pointing at Sang and scolding Huai, but pointing at his nose and scolding the door, and raised his voice to fight back.

"Alright, alright." Deng Ming hurriedly came out of the round and asked Zhou Kaihuang and Mu Tan to stop fighting.

Zhou Kaihuang immediately stopped talking, and Mu Tan was still muttering: "The admiral has an order, and the lowly position will naturally receive the order, the army is alone, and money must be used everywhere, and the capital is eager to treat a penny as a penny to spend ......."

"That's it!" Deng Ming spoke out again to stop Mu Tan, and the policy towards Yangzhou was decided.

It didn't take long for the envoys from Yangzhou to come to Deng Ming's camp again, and he was accompanied by a few river officers and soldiers, who carried a pile of bamboo baskets, in which were placed dead heads.

After listening to the envoy's report, Lin Qilong quickly cut through the mess, and the few subordinate officials of the yamen who were sent by him to incite the cao workers were immediately taken down, and without saying a word, cut off their heads and put them in a bamboo basket and sent them to Deng Ming; Along with these yamen officials, there were also those Yangzhou salt merchants who mobilized the workers, they were both insiders and rich people, Lin Qilong killed people with his right hand, and sent troops to raid their homes with his left hand.

Deng Ming checked the head very carefully, and threatened the envoy again: "I don't believe that this matter has anything to do with Governor Lin, but if I let me know the impostor ...... in the future"

"The Admiral is the only one who asks." The envoy hurriedly replied, Lin Qilong was very sharp, not only was the official who confessed to Cao Tou taken down by him immediately, but even the officials who went to incite Dong Xiaoye to die in battle were also slaughtered by him, ensuring that Deng Ming could not find any fault.

For Deng Ming, these people are also a good example, which can make the governor of Caoyun know what the fate of helping the governor of Caoyun to confront the Ming army will be. In the future, if someone persuades the Governor of Caoyun to oppose Deng Ming, he must think about what will happen after the Ming army mobilizes the people to ask for the crime, and even if the Governor of Caoyun wants to stumble on Deng Ming, his officials also need to consider whether they should really use all their strength to help him achieve his goal.

In addition to the responsible criminals requested by Deng Ming, the Yangzhou envoys also promised that they would transfer two million taels of silver to Deng Ming within two days, hoping that Deng Ming would suspend the attack on Yangzhou and return to Jiangnan after obtaining all the silver and Lin Qilong's oath.

Deng Ming said that he could not withdraw immediately, perhaps Lin Qilong thought that Deng Ming's statement of compensating the canal residents was a scene, but Deng Ming really had to meticulously fulfill his promise. However, Deng Ming told the Yangzhou envoy that even if he stayed in Jiangbei, he would never continue to destroy Caoyun, and those Caoyun wharves occupied by the Ming army would also be protected and handed over to Lin Qilong's river officers and soldiers intact.

"Zhang Shangshu hasn't crossed the river yet, right?" After dealing with the affairs in Yangzhou, Deng Ming saw that the Qing army had compromised, so he asked people to inquire about Zhang Huangyan's location.

Now Ma Fengzhi has crossed the river and is gathering troops on the bank, while Zhang Huangyan is still in Zhenjiang Mansion on the other bank.

"Since Zhang Shangshu hasn't crossed the river yet, let him not bother, there is no need for more troops here, and I will return to the south bank soon." Deng Ming sent an envoy to Zhang Huangyan to report the victory, and at the same time, let him stay on the south bank to defend the camp, if Zhang Huangyan also followed across the river, to Deng Ming burned down so many houses, maybe how sad he would be.

……

For the next two days, Deng Ming personally directed relief and compensation work along the canal.

"What are you going to do with those orphans?" Some of the Cao Gong who were killed by the Ming army left their bereaved families, Deng Ming inquired, and learned that it is very normal for widows to remarry on both sides of the canal, the reason is very simple, Cao Gong has no land, almost no private property, and widows who lack the ability to earn a living are almost like waiting for death if they do not remarry.

Orphans will almost certainly be abandoned, and most of the people on both sides of the canal are destitute people, and those who can't even support their own wives and children will not adopt other people's orphans. If the older girl is still married, she can probably be married or sold, and the chances of survival are slightly greater, and girls under the age of eight, and boys under the age of fifteen, are almost impossible to survive.

"If they come to the porridge factory, they will give them a copy." Jiang Nan reported.

"And what about when we're gone? Who cares about these orphans? Although it was only two days, there were already people eyeing the bereaved families, and Deng Ming heard that the swift people were already persuading widows and orphans to marry them, and even take care of their children and brothers. But that's just a matter of saying, and it won't be long before the destitute laborers will abandon these burdens that they simply can't afford, and their wives will not hold on because they are forced by life.

"Go and find it, and bring all the orphans with you." Thousands of migrant workers were killed during the entire military operation, and the number of orphans they left behind was greater than Deng Ming imagined, and the combined number of underage boys and girls was more than 3,000.

Hearing that the Ming army was willing to adopt, the widows also handed over the children in tears, especially the boys under the age of ten, no one by the canal would be willing to raise them for many years, although there was little hope of handing them over to the Ming army, but as long as they didn't see the child die, they could still lie to themselves.

"By the way, I heard that the few Caotou who died also have a bunch of small families, such as a man named Dong Xiaoye, he seems to have two men and three women, have they all been found?"

Deng Ming's question made Jiang Nan pause for a moment, and only after a while did he ask: "Admiral, do we also want to save these Caotou children?" ”

There is not much difference between the dead Caotou and Caogong, the chance of survival like a child is extremely low, and soon after the death of Dong Xiaoye and others, their family property was divided up, and their wives and concubines were also remarried. There may be a few subordinates who can raise their children on the kindness of Caotou, but Caotou also has many enemies, and orphans are the ideal targets for revenge.

Even if there is no one to take revenge and someone is willing to adopt, Dong Xiaoye's son probably only has two ways to go, or like other ordinary workers, he swallows his anger and does coolies; Or like his father, he took the guy to fight for turf with other gangs, and most of them ended up dying by the canal.

"Let's take it all with us." Deng Ming nodded, indicating that his subordinates had not misheard the order.

"These are the Admiral's enemies." Jiang Nan asked a little puzzled, even if it is an ordinary Cao Gong, the grudge between them and the Ming army can be resolved, their orphans have no future, and it is not necessary to follow the Ming army to go worse; But these Caotou were all lackeys of the Qing court, and their status as orphans plummeted, and they were likely to hold a grudge against Deng Ming. According to Jiang Nan's law, Deng Ming could even consider cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, so as not to want to seek revenge from Deng Ming in case someone can grow up.

"It's the same as when you order a house to be burned within fifty paces, and sometimes, in order to keep the army safe, we have to attack people who are harmless and may be innocent. Sometimes such actions are unavoidable, but they are not right, which is why I compensate the workers. Hearing Jiang Nan's hint, Deng Ming explained: "Just because I am afraid that someone will grow up to retaliate against me, I will kill all the children, and this prevention is a bit too much, just like you kill people when you see someone in order to prevent someone from attacking our army, which is a reaction that exceeds the necessary scale." ”

"But, but ......" Wu Baoping and Jiang Nan still felt dangerous.

Deng Ming glanced at them: "The Tartars sometimes carry out prevention without restraint, and they also think that this is natural and does not need compensation, do you think we should learn from the Tartars?" ”

"Of course not." Wu Baoping and Jiang Nan shook their heads together.

"What is the Admiral going to do with these kids?" Wu Baoping asked more: "Some children are only a few years old, and they can't do anything in ten years." ”

"They can study first, I will set up an orphanage, let them study, in the future they will be good merchants, sailors, craftsmen, and there will also be qualified bookkeepers and breeding experts." Deng Ming pondered for a while and decided to give his subordinates a little vaccination: "Girls also have to go to school, and they can become teachers in the future to help educate young children in the capital." Under my Deng Ming's banner, it's not enough to just want to eat for nothing and not do things, they don't teach for me for two years to pay off the bills, don't want to go out and get married. ”

"Indeed," after the initial shock, Jiang Nan showed a look of approval: "It costs a lot of food to raise a girl, and we have to find a way to recover some capital." ”

……

Fifty years later, when looking back at the first members of the Chengdu orphanage, people find that among the children of these workers, in addition to a large number of talents that Deng Ming desperately needs. The daughters of the Cao Gong also made outstanding contributions in all aspects, so that the traditional law was changed more quickly. The researchers found that the orphans of Caotou paid more attention to the government than average. For example, a Dong surnamed Caotou's two sons, the eldest son became a newspaper reporter, with the mission of exposing the collusion between the underworld and the government, and his investigation report led many corrupt officials and underworld figures to fall into the law, and finally disappeared in a disguised infiltration operation, and no one has seen this brave reporter since; Reporter Dong's younger brother, on the other hand, showed his enthusiasm for the law, became a criminal officer, analyzed in detail hundreds of cases of government infringement of civilian rights, and wrote a large number of relevant judicial expositions, and was considered a legal authority in this regard.

……

After reaching an agreement with Deng Ming, Lin Qilong was busy fulfilling the terms, and at the same time dictated the spirit of the recital to the imperial court to his master, and asked them to help draft it.

Lin Qilong reported that when Deng Ming besieged Yangzhou this time, he coerced hundreds of thousands of Caogong and the people of Liangjiang, and the reason why Deng Ming invaded Yangzhou was because of the previous collaborators of the salt merchants -- Lin Qilong found out that many salt merchants in Yangzhou offered bribes to Mu Tan, the general under Deng Ming, in order to safely pass the Yangtze River, but later regretted it and relied on the large amount of bribes promised to Mu Tan.

In addition to Mu Tan, there were many people in Jiangnan who were coerced by Deng Ming who also had enmity with the salt merchants, and it was precisely because the salt merchants were bullying people on both sides of the Yangtze River and defrauding people of money that they aroused the hatred of a large number of people, and Deng Ming used this dissatisfaction to incite them to attack Yangzhou and block the canal.

Lin Qilong claimed that the salt merchants had repeatedly withheld the wages of the mill workers on the canal, and had colluded with some of the cao workers to brutally oppress the workers. These Cao Gong didn't know too much about the righteousness of the monarchs and ministers, and when they heard Deng Ming shouting to go to Yangzhou to ask for wages, they all followed.

Why didn't these people follow the regular path? Naturally, there were some black sheep in the yamen of the governor of Caoyun, who colluded with the salt merchants, ignored the victims, and deceived the governor of Caoyun -- Lin Qilong also admitted to the imperial court that he had made a mistake in his work, although he had only been in office for a short time, but he did not find out that he did not find out, and he told Beijing that the short working hours were not the reason.

Generally speaking, Lin Qilong thinks that Caogong and Jiangnan Baixin are here to ask for accounts and salaries, but after they can't go through the formal way, they refuse to continue to be good citizens, but make such a big deal and shout at Deng Ming, of course, it is malicious to ask for accounts and ask for wages.

For this kind of anti-thief who puts personal interests above the interests of the imperial court, Lin Qilong believes that the suppression is completely reasonable, and when some people outside the city shouted grievances to Liang Huafeng at the head of the city, the latter also showed enough consciousness and rebuked those rebellious parties with righteous and stern words: "The general is ordered to beg for thieves, but he knows that there is war!" ”

“…… Tens of thousands of thieves knelt on the ground and were silent, pointing to the sky with one hand and ...... with the other in the palm of their hearts" After recounting Liang Huafeng's heroic words, Lin Qilong continued to describe the pity of the people who maliciously demanded accounts and demanded wages: "It is said that profiteers and evil officials colluded, and there was darkness on both sides of the canal......

Lin Qilong said that he felt that these people should still be distinguished from Deng Ming's sworn friends, so after carefully checking the thousands of documents they brought, Lin Qilong took out all the savings in the treasury and raised donations from the gentry in Yangzhou, raising 3 million taels of silver and paying them to these people. He also beheaded the corrupt officials and the salt merchants who committed evil as soon as possible in order to appease the people's grievances.

The consequence was that there was a thunderous cheer outside Yangzhou, and millions of people and workers praised the wisdom of the imperial court in unison, and then dispersed as soon as possible overnight. According to Lin Qilong, now that Deng Ming's plan is poor, and there are only more than 10,000 party members left, it is estimated that the siege of Yangzhou will soon be lifted. Lin Qilong also told the imperial court that he had now confiscated all the property of the salt merchants in Yangzhou City into the official domain, and after restoring the savings of the government treasury, the rest would be used to return the money to the gentry who had paid to help the government tide over the difficulties.