By the end of January, all the systems of the Wendeng camp were restored to normal, and a large number of displaced people were organized to build roads in Weihai, Wendeng, Jinghai, and Chengshan, and Liu Minyou was still busy traveling to and from various places, he reorganized the civil affairs system, split the functions of personnel, tuntian, commerce, and property in Tunpu, and set up a supervision department under his subordinates, and made secret visits in various tunpu, so as not to have such a thing as Xu Yuanhua, shops, procurement, etc., the people in charge of procurement in the workshop even have a foreign house and concubines in Dengzhou, all of which are gifts from merchants who supply iron and sulfur Chen Xin once told him that the army does not need a second-in-command, and he now feels that the civil affairs cannot have a second-in-command, but can only split the functions. There was an extreme shortage of people under him, and Liu Minyou just called these people to reprimand them separately, and then they all stayed in their original positions.

Liu Minyou went to Jinghai to inspect the first batch of produced cigarettes, and the price of each pack of 20 cigarettes was 6 wen, and the price of 50 cigarettes was 15 wen, and this price he took into account the purchasing power along the canal, the canal was relatively rich, and the consumption power was generally higher than that of other regions, and the tobacco was mostly grown in the north, and the current price was half of the profit. The first batch did not add cloves, and Liu Minyou planned to add cloves when others put in imitation, so as to defeat the first batch of early birds, and after gaining a firm foothold in the mid-range consumer market, he would produce cigarettes with a lower price of two or three cents.

Liu Minyou returned to Wendeng after the inspection, and they cleared out more than 20,000 acres of new civilian land and wasteland, and he needed to ask Song Wenxian, who was in charge of foreign affairs, to go to the county government to go through some formalities. Determine whether there is a gentry land, Huang Gongcheng and others last year made him very annoyed, although Huang Gongcheng was arrested and put in prison in the end, but he could not be convicted, the magistrate just dragged the case, he did not want to offend on both sides, others did not know Chen Xin's strength. He knew, and the more he inquired, the more he found that the power behind Chen Xin was strong. There is actually the shadow of the elder pavilion, in comparison, Huang Gongcheng's brother is nothing. And he has evidence in his hands, and he is not afraid of impeachment, so the magistrate dragged the case and ate the plaintiff and the defendant.

Liu Min has all the way to Wendeng camp, the road to see countless wasteland, so that he is very sorry, from the Baolong River on a stone bridge passed, and saw the Heng Wangfu set up a tax card, Heng Wangfu now does not even have a prince, it is said that he has been dead for more than a year. The new one has not yet been established, the eldest son has always been only in charge of government affairs, and he can actually set up cards everywhere in Wendeng, after all, there are still goods coming and going in these places, and they have been collected by this palace for hundreds of taels of silver. There are even more for other merchants.

Liu Minyou was angry when he saw them, and the servant who set up the card saw that they had no goods, and he didn't embarrass them, so he let them pass through Guò, and when Liu Minyou went to the official room of the garrison mansion, Song Wenxian was discussing things with Zhang Dahui. Zhang Dahui has not left since he came back last year, and Chen Xin plans to let him set up an intelligence station in Beijing, using a restaurant or teahouse as a cover, and he has recently been learning intelligence from Zhou Shifa and them.

Liu Minyou did not avoid Zhang Dahui, and directly told Song Wenxian about the wasteland, Song Wenxian agreed, Zhang Dahui smiled next to him: "It's an area again, Huang Gongcheng came last time, and this time it seems to be someone." ”

Song Wenxian gave Zhang Dahui a look, the matter of the intelligence bureau's killers was hidden from Liu Min, he knew how much Liu Min was a little sour, more than one thing is better than less, Liu Min did not pay attention to their small actions, and said to Zhang Dahui: "You go back to Beijing, in addition to the matter of the intelligence station, you should also use more thought on the shop, the shop is civilian, after all, you want to make money, there is naturally a shopkeeper here, you have a lot of roads in Beijing, you have to help introduce more business, if you make a lot of money, the trading company will also express it every year...... ”

Zhang Dahui agreed repeatedly, Liu Minyou now has tens of thousands of people, and he wants to make more money at any time, and Jingshi is one of the places with the strongest consumption power in the world, and he also attaches great importance to it.

When Liu Min finished his ramblings, Zhang Dahui lit a cigarette, and then asked: "Brother Liu, this cigarette is convenient, I estimate that it can be sold well in Beijing, and I can earn a lot of silver a year, and I am afraid that it is okay to raise 10,000 or 20,000 people." ”

Liu Minyou sighed and said: "There will be more and more people, and now there are people coming from Dengzhou and other places every day." There is also a need to open up more sources of money. He looked at the two of them and suddenly asked, "If you sell illicit salt, can you make money?" ”

Zhang Dahui didn't understand much, looking at Song Wenxian, Song Wenxian shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's difficult, Shandong is full of private salt, there are a total of 19 salt divisions in Shandong, and the salt divisions in various places also sell private salt. ”

Liu Min is full of confidence, he is in Weihai and other places to watch people use frying to make salt, time-consuming and laborious, and said to Song Wenxian: "If Mr. Song knows a salt merchant, just introduce it, I have a new method, no need to boil salt, the price will be much cheaper than private salt." ”

Song Wenxian's eyes lit up at first, and then he asked suspiciously: "What Mr. Liu said is the salt drying method?" ”

Liu Minyou asked in surprise, "Master Chen told you?" ”

Song Wenxian shook his head inexplicably, "Lord Chen has already sent to inquire, and the people who are specifically looking for the salt division in Dengzhou have asked, the salt fields in Shandong and Beizhili have been accustomed to using the salt drying method, leading seawater into the salt pond, sometimes divided into seven to nine layers, each layer becomes thicker and flows into the next layer of salt pond, if the weather is appropriate, it can become salt in three or five days, the fastest salt drying method, add lime to the salt pond, it only takes two or three hours to produce salt, and the salt quality is good. (Note 1)

Liu Min swallowed his saliva, it turned out that people would have long ago, no matter how much he got it, the cost would not be much lower, not to mention that he might not be as professional as those salt farms, at most it was just to solve Wendengying's own salt use, he had thought about it for a long time, and he couldn't help but feel a little lost, Song Wenxian looked at Liu Minyou's face, and said tentatively: "Mr. Liu doesn't have to worry, in this world, as long as there is food, you can raise people, what is silver, Lord Chen always said that if there are more people, you will earn money, and nothing is expensive." ”

Liu Minyou had no choice but to nod, he can only hope that the Agricultural Research Laboratory will come up with high-yield varieties as soon as possible, and the corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc., which will flow into China at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the corn will be widely planted in the north. There are relatively few sweet potatoes and potatoes, all because the yield is too low, but Liu Minyou can't take care of so much now, at least these crops don't need to be fertilized, and some uncultivated mountains can also be planted, those are real wasteland, the land that has been carved out by himself. It also avoids disputes with the locals -

In Chen Xin's office, Zhou Shifa and Zhang Dong were sitting across from his desk, reporting to him the latest situation in the Intelligence Bureau. The two men sat down in the room. There seemed to be a cold air in the room.

Chen Xin slowly looked at a brief report in his hand, looked at it very carefully, looked at it for a long time, raised his head and asked Zhang Dong: "The habits of the previous part of Jiannu are well written. In the future, our intelligence department will have to study more of the habits of combat targets. ”

Zhang Dong bowed his head slightly and said, "Yes, my lord." ”

Chen Xin continued: "Judging from the practice of Jiannu in Liaodong, there are not a few meticulous works they sent to Dengzhou, and our people should pay more attention to the suspicious people around the workshop, military camp, and tunbao. ”

Zhou Shifa replied: "The practice of building slaves is generally to buy local gentry or military generals, and send some unshaved people to pretend to be homeless workers, go in and out of the local area, listen to the situation, and spread rumors. Every time the slave chief wants to move. It is necessary to deploy the organ first, and the latent plan should be coordinated. The feelings of reality and urgency are clear in the chest. Li Yongfang, who was the first to surrender to Jiannu, has been managing the use of slave chieftains. ”

Zhang Dong added: "When the old slave was old. Slave soldiers are not good at attacking cities, every time they take a big city, they are all meticulous first, first hide and do fine, and attack the inside from outside, Fushun, Qinghe, Kaiyuan, Tieling, Shenyang, Liaoyang, Guangning are all like this. Its emphasis on meticulous work, far more than my Ming officials, conquered Shenyang only one day, then sent meritorious spies to Liaoyang, Liaoyang some gentry and Jiannu originally had something to do with the slave spies in the name of the servants, plus the original including the spies, even the people know that 'slave spies are full of Liaoyang" As a result, when Jiannu attacked the city, there were slave spies to detonate the Xiaoximen powder magazine, and fires broke out everywhere, and the city was in chaos, so the city fell. The old slave just conquered Liaoyang, and sent a fine pretending to be a defeated army into the customs, this batch of more than 100 people, more than ten days into the Beijing Division, around to inquire about the news, rumors and trouble, the people in the customs everyone thought that the slave three heads and six arms, mostly because of the tongue of these people. Later, with false rumors, the people talked about the change of color, and the soldiers looked at the mountains and seas and were shocked, and when the rumors arrived, the whole country was shocked. ”

Chen Xin nodded and said: "Jiannu's prestige also has the credit of these people, Zhang Dong, how did you learn this news?" ”

"The villain was fighting in Guangning, and it was not difficult to inquire about these news, but the officials disdained it, and they always regarded the slave chief as a barbarian, and underestimated their minds, how could they know that the old slave was so shrewd. Just like the Mongols in Liaoyang, everyone thought that they could not be led into the city, but Shangguan said yes, and most of the people who set fire to the city were these people. But to talk of it, there are still things that make people laugh, after Jiannuke Liaoyang, captured a Han Xiucai in Guangning, and sent him back to Guangning to investigate, this Xiucai may be stupid, and found a boy to lead a donkey, he rode on the back of a donkey and shouted along the street that the people surrendered, and let the people capture the Ming army alive to receive the reward, among which the Sichuan army was the most expensive, and it was ten taels of life and death. ”

Chen Xin and Zhou Shifa both laughed, Zhang Dong laughed for a while, and then said: "There are many slave spies in Guangning, and even the people know that in the later battle of Guangning, they still wanted to buy Li Yongfang, but Li Yongfang bought Sun Degong, otherwise Guangning fortified the city, the city is high and the grain is sufficient, how can Jiannu capture it." ”

Chen Xin's evaluation of Jiannu is even higher, they are not only superior to the Ming army on the battlefield, but also a complete victory on the secret front, although their methods are not clever, but they put in more energy and material resources than their opponents.

Zhou Shifa continued: "They even bribed the military department of the Tang officer, this person is called Liu Bao, originally from Liaoyang, in the Beijing division is responsible for the military department of the Tang newspaper record, Jiannu gave him a hundred taels of silver every month, he handed over the military information to Jiannu as the leader, through the border wall or Liaohai back to Liaodong, I Ming transferred how many soldiers and horses in He Town, when and where, are all on the desk of the slave chief. ”

Zhang Dong said: "Jiannu is not only meticulous, but also good at preventing espionage, and all the guards have the duty to capture the spies. ”

Chen Xin smiled a little, he originally thought that the spy war he watched in the movie would only happen in modern times, who knew that the secret front in ancient times was also fierce, he had the advantage of knowing the general trend, and the current task was mainly counter-espionage.

"Have you found out Wendeng's Jiannu in detail?"

Zhou Shifa said respectfully: "Just as I was about to ask my lordship, the torture room tortured a few of the last time. The accents and physiognomy of several other people were clarified, and people were successively sent to various tunpu and construction sites to check, and traces of two of them have been found, one is helping in a lacquerware shop in the old camp, and the other is repairing the road on the way to Chengshan. This person in the old battalion may have seen the training of peasants and soldiers, but the people who built the road should not have seen it. Will you kill these two people directly, or will you stay? ”

"Didn't they have to return to Liaodong in March, Jiannu didn't treat them as a long-term line. Directly arrested and tortured, and together with the last detailed work, he was escorted to various tunbao for publicity, and after the publicity, he was beheaded for public display. The corpses were hung on the roadside in Weihai, Jinghai and Wendeng to warn the people. ”

Zhou Shifa hurriedly agreed, and he said to Chen Xin: "My lord, this matter is not enough to rely on the Intelligence Bureau alone, there are too many displaced people who are coming now, and it is difficult to distinguish between them, and the tun chiefs and instructors of the subordinate tunbao must also be responsible for screening on weekdays, even if it is a labor shop, they must sit ...... together."

Chen Xin looked at the two of them, shook his head and said, "The duties of the tun chief can be added." As long as the boss is not a slave spy, don't be implicated, otherwise who dares to hire homeless people can't waste food because of choking. However, the matter of the displaced people is indeed a loophole, and I will tell Mr. Liu that the displaced people in the future must be organized as Baojia first, and they cannot be slowly organized as before. ”

After Chen Xin finished speaking, he turned to the back page, which listed the personnel of the Intelligence Bureau, and there were already more than 50 people. There is everything in the personnel skills, theft, lockpicking, poison, deception, business, assassination, martial arts, etc., I don't know and think it's a criminal group, he asked Zhou Shifa with a smile: "Are there any difficulties in personnel and institutions?" ”

"There are not many suitable personnel, and now I can barely set up a platform, and the last time I killed the official, it was Zhang Dong who did it himself. The personnel stationed in the foreign intelligence station are disguised as businessmen, and they choose ordinary people, most of whom have done business, and there are no restrictions on the action team, and the personnel are the most sufficient. The next step of the subordinates is to improve the Dengzhou intelligence station, which must reach at least thirty people, three strongholds in the city, and other places will follow the shop pù of the Sihai Trading Company, and place one or two people in it. This year's focus is on Dengzhou. ”

Chen Xin thought about it and said: "Don't be busy going to the Four Seas Trading Company first, in addition to Dengzhou, you will build a base in Guanning this year, and I want to understand their dynamics." ”

Zhang Dong and Zhou Shifa looked at each other, and finally Zhang Dongfa asked: "My lord, are we focusing on monitoring the movements of the Guanning Army, or investigating slave spies?" If Jiannu is found in Dengzhou or Guanning, will we do it? ”

Chen Xin paused for a moment, "The focus is on the movements of the Guanning Army, don't do anything to the slave spies for the time being, Jiannu has been operating in these two places for a long time, it is a place where you can put a long-term line, investigate it clearly, and in the future, we can use them to spread some false news to fool Jiannu." ”

He looked at the two of them and said: "The establishment of the intelligence bureau is still short, but you have done a good job in the matter of the officials, and now that Huang Gongcheng has been arrested, those Xiucai are worried about being implicated, and they have been scattered, and they will have no follow-up to make trouble, saving me my hands and feet." In the future, we must continue to work hard, and the bonus for the action will be 20% higher than the reward for the soldiers. ”

Zhou Shifa asked in a low voice: "My lord, we sent a person to deceive a maid of the Huang family, it is said that the Huang family has sent someone to Jinan, Huang Gongcheng's cousin sent a servant back, just arrived in Wendeng, after asking about the situation, it is said that he is ready to impeach the adult, and he has not left yet, do you want to kill him." ”

Chen Xin waved his hand and said: "Let him impeach, if Wen Deng is quiet, the emperor is afraid that he should be worried, after the last inspection of Lord Sun and Lord Jianjun, the notes to the emperor are all well written, and it is not a bad thing to let people impeach them occasionally." ”

Chen Xin didn't care about Huang Gongcheng, and didn't want to say more about this person, but continued: "In addition to the intelligence station this year, you also have one thing, go to Laiyang to find suitable bandits all the way, and you want the kind of leader who is easy to control. ”

The two agreed together, it is naturally easier to do things in the name of bandits, Chen Xin smiled: "Of course, the focus is still on Jiannu, since Jiannu has two brushes, let's also cheer up and see if he Li Yongfang can please Wendeng." ”

Zhang Dong stood up and said, "My lord, my subordinates have seen this Li Yongfang. ”

"Oh? When have you seen it? ”

"When his subordinates were in the Thirteen Mountains, Li Yongfang was sent by the slave chiefs to recruit him, and his subordinates and Bi Mazi went to see him."

Chen Xin laughed, "It turned out to be an acquaintance, so you have to entertain this Fushun colt well." ”——

Note 1: "Heavenly Creations." The fifth record of "Zuo Xian" records: "Haifeng has a person who leads seawater directly into the pool to dry, and when it is condensed, it is swept without manpower. Same as salt solution. But when the salt is formed, it is very different from not borrowing the south wind. "The salt method was pioneered with Haifeng County, from the beginning of the sixteenth century, the salt method gradually replaced the boiling salt method, the salt solution is the tribute salt of Shanxi Jiechi, the original is the best quality, but after the salt method came out, the quality is basically the same as the original tribute salt, the main salt fields in Shandong and Beizhili at the end of the Ming Dynasty have mostly used the salt method. (To be continued.)