It was 2,000 miles back and forth from the capital to Liguo waterway, so this long journey was very hard, and when they arrived at the Xuzhou wharf of the canal, Hu Xianjue, the captain of the iron factory guard who had already received the news from the Nanjing Lianfeng flying pigeon, and all the officers and soldiers of the death battalion had been waiting there for a long time.

Seeing the brothers, Liu Ziguang was very happy, and felt like Sun Wukong who returned to Huaguo Mountain on the way to learn the scriptures, with all the brothers around him, and even the scenery of the poor mountains and bad waters seemed much more pleasing to the eye.

"Big brother, it seems that there are a lot of brothers missing." Liu Ziguang felt that the team was less than 516 people, did something happen and hung up his brother.

"Don't mention it, my brothers used to eat clear soup and little water, but now they have big fish and meat every day, and my stomach can't stand it, let alone them, even I have been in trouble for a few days. Now there are still more than a dozen wastes lying on the bed crying and crying for vegetarian food, I bah, why don't you eat vegetarian last year, seeing the female pork with skin is like rushing for life. Zamuhe replied.

"Eat, eat, eat, get used to it, how can you have the strength to fight without meat. Not only eat meat, but also drink milk, the eldest brother helps to get a few dairy sheep mares, it is better to have cows, people say that a glass of milk strengthens a nation, let's use goat milk and mare's milk to strengthen an army. Liu Ziguang was inspired by Hu Yimin, high-quality food can improve physical fitness, not to mention that his army already has a large number of nomads and whites, blacks, and Arabs, and it is more suitable for them to drink milk and eat meat.

"The general is wise!" A group of Turkic and Mongolian cavalry immediately became happy, it was so happy to be able to drink the long-lost horse ** wine, and the general was really our intimate person.

The two young ladies got on the incense car, and under the escort of the Xuanjia cavalry of the brigade, they returned to the ironworks in a mighty way, and the people hid on the side of the road along the way, looking at the convoy with awe-inspiring eyes, and the prestige of the ironworks in this piece was greater than that of the government. Reminiscent of the scene where Hu Yimin, a private banker, brazenly argued with Shangshu of the Ministry of War, Liu Ziguang couldn't help but sigh: The emerging forces of the bourgeoisie should not be underestimated.

Back in the factory, the members of the debt collection group who were thousands of miles away from home and tired of traveling to Beijing took a bath, changed their clothes, took a nap, and woke up, the banquet had been prepared, and they were waiting for everyone to take the table.

The debt collection in Beijing was a great success, the first credit should be Liu Ziguang, an old face of the owner of the Peng factory smiled and blossomed, at the banquet even toasted Liu Ziguang several glasses of wine, the officers of the death camp also participated in the reception banquet, and the iron guards who have been looking at each other do not like each other take the opportunity to fight wine, Yanghe Daqu more than a dozen jars for a while to drink to the bottom, where is the Central Plains people are the opponents of these Fanbang heroes, just Zamu and one person killed several captains of the iron guards, although Anthony does not like to drink Chinese liquor, but also drank several opponents, Shaking his head, he said, "It's still the gin from our hometown." "The main target of the Iron Guard, the black face of Duncan, the head of the guard on this business trip, has been drunk and deformed, "What is gin, the rum we use sugar cane in Taiwan is strong enough, those Zheng Jiajun don't dare to drink without a little water, of course, my Lord Duncan has never drunk without water, in comparison, this Yanghe Daqu can only be regarded as white water....white water" As he said this, he slipped under the table, snoring like thunder.

Most of the people were drunk and carried away to rest, the banquet gradually dispersed, and the owner of Peng, who was full of red light and a smile, suddenly put away his smiling face and said to Liu Ziguang in a deep voice: "Follow me to the back hall." ”

Coming to the back hall, Liu Ziguang sat down with a big grin, took out a slender dagger from his boots to pick his teeth, and leisurely waited for the old man to speak, the old man sat on the Taishi chair and pondered, and the idlers were all driven away, only Peng Jingrong stood next to him and poured tea and water, playing the role of a maid.

"Everyone in the world knows that I am in charge of the Ming eunuch party and my relatives are autocratic, but how can such an unbearable court still resist foreign captives for more than ten years? How can we still make half of the Ming Dynasty's annual income more than when the Manchu Qing Dynasty dominated the world before entering the customs? Old man Peng suddenly threw out a political history discussion question.

I haven't learned this twisted history, and I don't have an advantage as a traverser; Liu Ziguang shook his head and said, "I don't know." ”

"Balance, the key is balance, Empress Dowager Li and Huang Jinrong are both good at this, when they overthrew the prince together, they formed a subtle alliance, you have me, I have you, use each other, restrain each other, Empress Dowager Li relies on the strong financial support of Rishengchang and Jiangnan Weaving, as well as the internal exercises, the armed forces of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses. Huang Jinrong relied on the salt merchants of Lianghuai, the coal and iron of Anhui, and the overseas trade tax of Shanghai, of course, Dongchang and Jinyiwei were not vegetarians. I don't know if you have noticed, the forces behind them are all emerging wealthy families, the former Jiangnan Shi clan and the Manchu Qing in the north are their common enemies, it is precisely because of this that the industrial and commercial shipping of the Ming Dynasty can be lucky to develop, creating huge wealth to fight against the iron hooves of the Manchus. It turns out that these two are still the spokesmen and protectors of the bourgeoisie, and the "Queen Mother" and "Nine Thousand Years Old", who have always appeared as negative figures in history, have inadvertently made the Chinese nation take a big step forward along the track of historical development.

"I don't think they may be balanced, and on the way back, I saw the big shopkeeper of Rishengchang and the secretary of the military department rushing to the road." Liu Ziguang said that he was trying to find a loophole in Peng's words.

"Everyone knows the truth that one mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, of course their alliance is not monolithic, the Donglin Party has been wiped out, and the arrogance of the Manchu Qing is not as arrogant as before, and the common enemy has been lost, of course this balance will be broken, but I don't want this balance to be broken by you." The owner of the Peng factory finally fell on Liu Ziguang.

"When the balance is broken, there will be chaos, unless a strong regime emerges or a new balance emerges, and I wonder if the little emperor who is less than sixteen years old and has no experience can control the complicated situation? Can you Liu Ziguang take on the operation of this huge empire? Can the Liguo Railway Plant give you such strong financial and material support? Liu Ziguang, who was speechless after a series of questions.

"Yes, I believe in your current strength, coupled with the help of the chariots and cannons of our iron factory, it is not impossible to secretly enter Beijing to eradicate the Queen Mother and the Nine Thousand Years Old, but what about after that? Do the uncontrolled Dongchang Jinyi Guards and the rebels in various guards listen to you? The little emperor, who has always been stubborn, has this prestige and shouts, will the world surrender? I'm afraid that when the world is in turmoil, it will be true that the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Western Xia will take the opportunity to seize my Daming country. The owner of the Peng factory continued.

Liu Ziguang glared at Peng Jingrong, she was really a fast-talking girl, and she told her father everything. "The little emperor is about to get married, in order to compete for the queen's candidate, these two parties will definitely fight, since the balance will inevitably be broken, what is the difference between a little earlier and a little later? Although the emperor is young, I see that his courage is extraordinary, he dares to act, and the forces suppressed by the Queen Mother and the Nine Thousand Years Old can also be used, I don't believe that without this so-called balance, the Ming Dynasty will collapse! ”

Liu Ziguang is not willing to live in the iron factory for the rest of his life, and it is easy to seize an opportunity to soar, how can he be changed by Old Man Peng in a few words.

"It's not a bad thing for a man to have the world in his heart, if I were as young as you, maybe I would have taken this path, but I don't want the ironworks and Rong'er to be involved in this matter, remember the contract you signed with the ironworks, and you can only carry out the tasks of the ironworks during the period when the contract is not expired. Okay, that's all for today, so do your own thing. After speaking, the owner of the Peng factory brushed his sleeves and left.

What is the covenant that is not contracted, thinking that it can bind me? Liu Ziguang snorted contemptuously, "Slave master with a mouse eye." ”

Peng Jingrong saw that her sweetheart was unhappy and wanted to come over to comfort her, but the owner of Peng Factory shouted "Rong'er" in the back hall, and when she heard her father's call, she could only leave Liu Ziguang with a "reassured" look, and then entered the back hall.

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Cui Chengxiu had already abandoned the ship and boarded the car, and galloped on the Shandong Plain under the escort of the cavalry of the forbidden army of the brigade, and rushed to the Yanzhou front line overnight.

In the green tweed cart, Cui Chengxiu and his chief staff Zhou Mengren were talking secretly.

"My lord, I will listen to you at the right time, and the little one is very skeptical of this Fan Wencheng's words." Zhou Mengren's Shaoxing official dialect.

"Say" Cui Chengxiu leaned on the cushion, his body swayed regularly with the bumps of the carriage, his eyes squinted, and he looked comfortable.

"First of all, let's talk about the so-called brother-killing feud between Dolgon and Yuan Chonghuan, in my opinion, if Yuan Chonghuan hadn't killed Huang Taiji five years ago, Dolgon would not have been so easy to ascend to the throne, thanks to Yuan Chonghuan It's too late, where did the revenge of killing his brother come from. Yuan Dudu is good at defending the city, with him, it is extremely difficult for the Qing army's southern expedition to succeed, and the Qing Tartars don't want to get rid of their elbows and armpits with the hands of adults, right? As soon as Yuan Chonghuan died, the Qing army marched south, and who could resist it. The treacherous things of the Qing Tartars have been done a lot, and the adults have to guard against it. Zhou Mengren said in a solemn tone.

"Also, the plan to bring down Rishengchang is indeed exquisite, but it is not only Rishengchang that suffers, there are no less than 10 million people who use Rishengchang silver tickets in Daming, once the ticket number is bankrupt, Daming will be shaken up and down, the people are panicked, and the harm is endless, revenge for adults is fake, and it is true to hit my Ming economy."

Cui Chengxiu's face became worse and worse, and finally patted the armrest, suppressed his anger and shouted: "Enough! ”

As soon as the words came out, he realized that it had affected his image as a corporal of Lixian, and said gently: "Sir, I am too worried, Prince Rui is known for his trustworthiness, and he will definitely not be a negative official, and besides, isn't their first minister, Fan Wencheng, still being a hostage in my hands?" Take a step back and say, isn't this official commander inferior to Yuan Chonghuan? This official is a famous Confucian general in the Ming Dynasty, and Dolgon's breach of the contract may not be able to bargain. Even if the Qing State does not propose this secret agreement, this official must also eradicate Yuan Chonghuan, a traitor, Mr. I don't know, the northern border army under this guy has been called "***", and the public weapon built by the imperial court at a cost of thousands of dollars has become his private army! If this evil is not eliminated, the court will be unstable. This time, the official took Shang Fang's sword to patrol Shandong, firstly, to behead the Yuan thief, to recover the elite of the imperial court, and secondly, to recover Tai'an and Jinan without a fight, and to make a century-old peace treaty with the Qing State. Kill two birds with one stone! ”

The night outside the car window was like paint, and the horses' hooves were bursting, Cui Chengxiu patted Zhou Mengren's shoulder, and said seriously: "Kill a Yuan Chonghuan, in exchange for an army of more than 100,000 troops and thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in Shandong, and a hundred years of peace, this account Mr. must be clear." ”

"As for the matter of Rishengchang, a money bank is just a bank, and if it goes bankrupt, it will go bankrupt, I am very rich, how can I be shocked by it, and other money banks will be able to take its place immediately, so I don't have to worry. Don't talk about it, sir. ”

Zhou Mengren said very knowingly: "Adult, high opinion." And he said no more.

Cui Chengxiu rubbed the Jiaoyu skin sheath of Shang Fang's sword, and a picture appeared in front of him: on the edge of the Yellow River, he stood on a high place, accepting the tearful worship of thousands of Shandong fathers and elders below, and the elite Xuzhou army was also subdued by his own grace and power, and Yuan Chonghuan's head was hung at the gate of the city.

All this will become a reality in the near future, thinking of this, Cui Shangshu smiled reservedly.