"There must be more people to hire, and the halogen and stove must be replaced with iron." In Ye Tianming's view, the first important thing is, of course, to expand production, now there are only more than 100,000 people in Chengdu, and the amount of salt needed every year is only one million catties, that is, to export some to Jianchang, the required production capacity is also very limited. But if you want to meet the salt needs here in Wuchang, you will undoubtedly need to hire a large number of workers and need more and better tools.

This time, the three million catties of salt brought by the Ming army were produced by the capital using the manpower of the disbanded army to work overtime, and Deng Ming once again summoned the army to recruit many temporary salt workers into the army. Even if the salt merchants in the prefecture wanted to expand production, they would not necessarily have such manpower to hire for a while, and in order to increase production, they would have to improve their tools.

"I'm going to buy some ironware from Wuchang." Ye Tianming said casually.

"Yes, but if you buy iron from Wuchang, I will take a tax from it, at least half, if the quantity is large, I will increase the tax rate, if you just buy pig iron, send it back to the iron smelting firm in the capital to help you make it, my tax rate will not exceed ten percent...... Well, this time I don't take any taxes, and I can give you free shipping. Deng Ming immediately replied, and further explained: "This is to protect the iron firms in the capital, otherwise what if you all buy them from Wuchang?" ”

"But," Ye Tianming argued, "The iron-smelting firms in the capital also lack manpower, and it is difficult for them to make such a large number of iron tools at once. ”

"So I only take half of the tax, and this money will be used to support the iron shop in the capital, and if you don't leave any business to the iron shop in the capital, I will take a higher tax to ensure that the iron shop in the capital will not go out of business." Deng Ming replied in a natural tone: "The iron shop, like your salt shop, is run by retired soldiers, and many of the guys hired are the same people, of course I won't favor one over the other." However, I will not interfere with your purchase of tools from Wuchang, I am happy to see you make money, and you can weigh it yourself, or pay taxes to help the iron shops in the capital, or leave the work to them, you can do both. ”

Ye Tianming pondered for a while, and did not make a decision immediately, but said: "Admiral, I need to calculate this matter, and I also need to inform my counterparts in the capital." ”

"No problem, if you have a letter that you want to send back to the capital, I will arrange a clipper ship and a messenger for you." Deng Ming didn't mean to force the salt merchant to make a decision immediately: "Do you have any other requirements?" ”

Deng Ming's question made Ye Tianming silent for a while, although he had repeatedly made up his mind before returning to the barracks, but when he really wanted to spit out this request, he still felt very embarrassed, because Ye Tianming also knew that this request was very excessive.

"Can the Admiral ...... Can you ......" But Ye Tianming finally mustered up the courage to open his mouth and said boldly: "Can you take the fleet around Jiangxi." ”

Deng Ming didn't show a surprised expression on his face, but asked calmly, "Why do you want me to go downstream for a circle?" ”

"Because ......" Ye Tianming gritted his teeth: "Huai salt is sold to Wuchang, and the heavy one is the Yangtze River shipping, as long as the shipping is cut off, let alone 50,000 catties a day, even five catties don't want to be transported here." ”

"And as long as Huai salt can't be shipped, the people here in Wuchang won't think about lowering the price of Sichuan salt, if they can't transport enough salt for a long time, they will become more and more dependent on Sichuan salt, Boss Ye has a good calculation." Deng Ming sighed lightly, Ye Tianming's request was not too unexpected for him, when he saw Ye Tianming's stumbling appearance just now, Deng Ming vaguely guessed that the other party wanted to affect his military strategy.

As he said his request, all the courage that Ye Tianming had worked so hard to gather disappeared without a trace, and now he was only ashamed, feeling remorse for his frivolous and arrogant request.

"Our military plan this time is to end in Wuchang, as long as we can force Wuchang to accept the salt we brought, and do not completely prohibit our Sichuan salt from entering Wuchang, we will be satisfied, and I will announce this to the whole army before sending troops." Deng Ming seemed to explain to Ye Tianming, and it seemed to be talking to himself. Deng Ming's support for merchants far exceeded the habits of this era, and he also knew that one day the merchant group would try to influence his political and military decisions, but Deng Ming never thought that this day would come so quickly, and the immature Chengdu Salt Merchants Group was now a baby who had just been born in the womb, and he had the intention of showing his teeth to his peers under the feudal system before he even opened his eyes: "If I order the march to Jiangxi, it will expand the war, the soldiers will be in danger, and the soldiers may encounter danger and losses. And this qiē is not for the purpose of conquering the city or helping the alliance, but simply for the sake of the capital salt store to be able to make more profits. ”

"The villain knows it's wrong." Hearing this, Ye Tianming was already sweating with shame, and he even forgot to maintain the dignity of the imperial court's fame, and even changed his self-proclaimed name to the original one.

Deng Ming glanced at Ye Tianming twice, and he had a feeling that this seemed to be the first step in the transformation of the emperor ** into an imperial country. In the family of the feudal imperial kingdom, the most important thing is the interests of one surname and one family, just like the Opium War in his previous life, as long as the interests of the Aixin Jueluo family can be protected by external compromise, there is nothing great about sacrificing the interests of the country, and it is even justified. Imperialism, on the other hand, tends to make trade-offs within and outside the country, and it doesn't matter how much foreigners have to sacrifice for it, as long as it is good for the country.

Therefore, Ye Tianming's request was undoubtedly infringing on Deng Ming's feudal rights, and although his request was small, it was essentially asking the private army belonging to Deng Ming to serve his interests.

"If the army acts according to his requirements, it will be more like an imperial ** team than a heavenly soldier." Ye Tianming didn't know that Deng Ming was thinking about it now: "Imperialism is notorious, in my previous life, it was like a rat crossing the street, the most typical representative is the British Empire, in order to have an extra dollar in the pockets of the British, British Empire Xism doesn't care how much suffering the people of the world will suffer." ”

For example, in 1929, when Deng Ming was in his previous life, the Soviet Union refused to return the extremely dependent rights and interests of the Eastern Road Railway that Tsarist Russia had stolen from China and had expired, so the Soviet Union launched a war of aggression against China, plundered Jiānxyín in China, killed nearly 10,000 Chinese people, and forced the Chinese government to agree to continue to cede the railway and its subsidiary rights, and finally sold it to the Kwantung Army.

After the Soviet Union launched its war of aggression, some people in China immediately planned to carry out riots and strikes throughout the country in order to achieve the goal of supporting the Red Army and armed defense of the Soviet Union. This line of thinking of putting the interests of the people of the world above the state and the nation is the internationalism that enjoys a worldwide reputation and is infinitely admired by the people of the world.

"One step ahead of the times is a genius, two steps ahead is a madman." Deng Ming thought silently in his heart, he didn't believe this sentence, but occasionally used it as a reason to persuade himself: "Internationalism is too much ahead of this era, let's live and use imperialism first." ”

"Convene a meeting of all the officers." Deng named a guard, gave him an order, and then turned to Ye Tianming and said, "This is not for me to decide alone, I must discuss this matter with all the officers." ”

Shut down

Ye Tianming was ashamed and grateful, he didn't know why Deng Ming couldn't make a decision, under the current situation, Ye Tianming didn't have the ability to think carefully.

"If I make this decision, then the army is still my personal army, it is the army of the warlords, if one day I am added to the yellow robe, they will change from the army of the warlords to the soldiers of the Son of Heaven and the soldiers of the emperor, not the emperor's army." In the spare time of waiting for the officers to gather, Deng Ming was still thinking about this Yan Sù philosophical question, there were no other traversers around him to discuss, all the definitions were his own understanding: "I just don't know if these officers have the consciousness of the emperor ** official?" I guess most not, most of them still see themselves as subordinates of the warlords. ”

Soon all the officers of the Ming army above the rank of second lieutenant gathered in front of Deng Ming's podium, and Deng Ming began to speak: "You must all know that we came to Wuchang this time to sell the three million catties of salt in our hands, which we have made in the capital in the past two months, and among the soldiers who followed us to Wuchang, seven or eight out of ten have burned salt, and they are still waiting for these salts to be sold so that they can get dividends." ”

Then Deng Ming loudly announced that the task of selling salt had been successfully completed, and there was a cheer from the audience.

"Now there is a new question, that is, should we almost return to the capital according to the original and then start the siege of Chóngqìng? Or take it a step further. Deng Ming carefully described to the officers the salt market that Ye Tianming had heard, and the officers present were almost the same as Ye Tianming, and they had never seen ten taels of silver in their lives, and they couldn't imagine how big a fifty taels of ingots would be, so when they heard that the salt industry in Wuchang could bring a thousand taels of silver to the Sichuan salt industry, many officers showed unbelievable applications. After the initial shock, the breathing of many officers became heavy.

"But if you want the salt store to get this 1,000 taels of silver per day, you need the army to continue to cut off shipping in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. However, if the salt shops do get their hands on the money, they will be able to hire thousands of day laborers in the capital, and make a better life for these workers and their families, who may be you, or your relatives and friends. The development of the salt industry will allow them to buy more tools, which will allow the iron and mining companies in the capital to hire more people and increase wages. ”

Deng Ming tried his best to explain the prospect, and finally asked: "But this requires the army to risk their lives, and if we return to the division as planned, this war will be over; If we march to Kiangsi, new battles will break out. Deng Ming looked around at the officers present and asked, "How do you think our army should act, whether it is to join the division or launch a new offensive?" ”

The officers below were all surprised by Deng Ming's question, and for a while no one could answer his question at all, and it took a long time for Zhou Kaihuang to raise his hand with a look of confusion.

"Major Zhou, please speak." Deng Ming immediately pointed at the henchman who raised his hand.

"What the Admiral says, we'll do." Zhou Kaihuang stood up and said loudly: "I am a rough man, I only know that only the orders of the Admiral are obeyed. ”

Zhou Kaihuang's words expressed the voices of many people, and suddenly a large number of people responded, expressing their resolute obedience to Deng Ming's decision, obviously, like Ye Tianming, they thought that this army was Deng Ming's personal tool, and all they needed to do was obey.

"Sure enough, it's still the emperor's officer, not the emperor's ** official." Deng Ming sighed in his heart, he did not intend to implement a voting system in the army, and he also believed that obedience was the duty of soldiers, he just hoped that the officers could have their own views on the war.

"I just can't make up my mind now, because I don't weigh the pros and cons, and I have already told the soldiers before I send out the army that I will sell the salt and go to the army. It is precisely because of my hesitation that I have invited you here, hoping that you will express your opinions. Deng Ming knew that it was impossible to reverse the concept all at once, but it could be induced, and at the same time, he was very curious to know how these officers would choose.

After Deng Ming announced the discussion, the young officers in the audience immediately exchanged loudly, not long ago they were all volunteers in Zhejiang, and some of them also knew the profits of business. However, for most people, the purpose of this dispatch made them feel a little puzzled and confused. In the past, when Zhang Huangyan was under his command, no matter how poorly trained and organized the army was, everyone knew very well in their hearts that their purpose was to expel the Tartars and recapture the Han family. And every action of their Zhejiang army was closely centered on this purpose, in order to take back the land and power from the Qing army.

After arriving in Chengdu, Deng Ming gave the Ming army better training and better equipment, but Deng Ming's military purpose was far more complicated than Zhang Huangyan's, which made many officers feel very confused. It seems that Deng Ming sent troops to Wuchang this time, not for the purpose of seizing land or annihilating the Qing army, but to sell his salt.

If this is all there is, these officers can barely understand that this is to improve the lives of the officers and soldiers and the people of Chengdu, to obtain precious materials to further increase the strength of the Ming army, and ultimately for the great cause of Deng Ming. But if it was just to satisfy Ye Tianming's monopoly on the salt trade and sent troops downstream, then what was the significance of this battle to Deng Ming? No matter how Deng Ming explained, the officers felt that the benefits that Deng Ming could obtain from it were too many twists and turns, and the army seemed to be serving the interests of the merchants, followed by the interests of the common people, and Deng Ming's interests were too few in comparison - this was the ideological confusion that would inevitably occur when the feudal army was transformed into an imperial army.

"This should also be a kind of enlightenment, the real emperor ** team should act for the interests of the empire rather than the interests of the emperor," when watching the heated discussion among the people in the audience, Deng Ming pondered the pros and cons of this decision in his heart: "The emperor ** team is undoubtedly more effective than the soldiers of the Son of Heaven, and has more hope of fighting for the country, but for the emperor and warlords, this is very good for a road to the guillotine and gallows, because there will not be a feudal ** emperor who will be sentenced to death for committing treason, But the Imperialism is a different story, where the real allegiance of the military is to the interests of the empire rather than to one family. But I have nothing to worry about, now I am just a warlord, and the Manchus have nine out of ten in the world. Besides, even if I defeat the Manchus in the end, it will take many generations for the emperor to worry about committing treason, right? ”

……

Ye Tianming was not an officer and had no right to participate in the officer meeting of the Ming army, so he could only wait for news outside the camp tent.

After more than an hour, Deng Ming slowly walked out of the camp, and seeing this, Ye Tianming immediately greeted him, and asked with anticipation: "Commander, what do the soldiers say?" ”

Deng Ming held a letter in his hand, he waved it to Ye Tianming, and then handed it to a guard who was dressed very neatly behind him, and instructed the latter: "Let's go immediately." ”

"Yes, Admiral." The guard gave Deng Ming a military salute and strode out of the tent.

"This is the envoy I sent to Zhoushan, and he and two other people will go to see Zhang Shangshu with the letter I just gave him." Now Deng Ming has learned from Huguang that after driving Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi out of the mainland, Da Su has gone to Fujian with the main force, and joined Geng Jimao's Fujian sailors to peep at Xiamen. So now Jiangnan has become empty again, and there are only Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng who have just rebuilt the green camp. Jiangxi and Su Songshui, who were relied on as the Great Wall by the Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang, were also wiped out by the sneak attack of Deng Ming and Li Laiheng, although Jiang Guozhu worked hard to rebuild, but the time was only six months, and the strength can be imagined to be far less than before.

"They go to Zhoushan?" Ye Tianming repeated it gently, encouraging and enduring the excitement in his heart, waiting for Deng Ming's next words.

"In the letter, I asked Zhang Shangshu if he was interested in sailing on the Yangtze River with me to show the might of our army to the captives in Nanjing." Deng Ming smiled slightly, and the vast majority of the Ming army officers present today supported continuing the march. However, relying only on the few people at Deng Ming's hand, he felt that the deterrent effect was probably limited, and the risk was a little too great: "But if we see Zhang Shangshu, we can't say that our purpose is just to cut off the Yangtze River shipping." If Zhang Shangshu discovers our true purpose, then he will probably be furious. ”

"Does the Admiral mean that you have agreed to launch an offensive for the sake of the salt shops in the capital?" Although the facts were in front of him, Ye Tianming still felt as if he was in a dream.

"The will of the people is the mission of the emperor." Deng Ming said with a smile, and when he saw the puzzled expression on the face of the businessman in front of him, he couldn't help laughing: "Yes, what I mean is that we will march to Jiangxi, Nanjing, and Yangzhou!" ”