"My lord! Just because of these foreign things, but offended Yang Ge Lao, this matter is very unwise. Zhang Zhiheng whispered to Wu Shigong.

When Zhang Zhiheng learned that Wu Shigong and Yan Jizu had reached an agreement, although he still wrote a piece for Wu Shigong, he still had opposing opinions in his heart. Today, while Wu Shigong was alone, Zhang Zhiheng took the initiative to ask for a meeting, wanting to point out Wu Shigong's mistakes, and it was best to find a way to make up for it.

"Mr. Zhang! If it's not for my benefit, I'm actually helpless! Wu Shigong sighed.

"But do you understand? Governor Yan's promise is like a castle in the air, once he is not in his position, all his words will be invalidated, and the gap between the Lord and Yang Ge has been completed, but it is difficult to ease, it is really too much to lose! ”

This time, in order to ask Wu Shigong for help, Yan Jizu can be said to have thrown out a lot of money. In order to let Wu Shigong make a move, not to mention the small conditions that he promised, Wu Shigong was also given two major benefits: one was to give Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing 10,000 mu of unowned land near Jinan City; The second is to acquiesce to Wu Shigong's opening of a sea-going wharf in Denglai.

To be honest, if these two benefits are realized, they can indeed bring considerable benefits to the Runing Army. Let's talk about 10,000 acres of land first, Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing agreed to divide it into seven or three, and Wu Shigong can get 7,000 mu for nothing, even if it changes hands, he can get tens of thousands of taels.

Besides, that pier, if it is realized, it will be even more unbelievable, it will simply become a cornucopia of the Runing Army.

Because of the ban on the sea in the Ming Dynasty, there were no commercial docks in the northern coastal areas at all, and the maritime merchants in Jiangnan and Fujian led by Zheng Zhilong had some docks on their own territory, but in order to conceal them, they still used the docks on the islands as the most.

This has caused a very strange phenomenon, such as: the most profitable golden route - Daming to Japan. If the north of the Ming Dynasty carried out import and export trade with Japan, the goods had to be sent to the south first. It is then shipped through the southern terminals. This is simply a great waste in the face of the expensive logistics costs of the Ming Dynasty.

If there is a transit station in Denglai, then the cost of transportation will be greatly reduced, and the profitability of sea trade will be greatly increased. In addition, it allows sea vessels to replenish and repair ships in multiple places along the way. Therefore, when the Zheng family learned that Wu Shigong had two salt farms in Denglai, they had already asked Wu Shigong about the possibility of building a wharf. At that time, because the time was not ripe, there was no follow-up. However, Wu Shigong had already taken this matter to heart.

And after Wu Shigong owns this wharf, he will also greatly improve his status in cooperation with the Zheng family. At least I can have the right to speak, not like now. was unscrupulously suppressed by the Zheng family.

It seems that there are indeed many benefits, but there must be a foundation for all this, that is, Yan Jizu must stay in the position of governor of Shandong. And not only can they not be punished, but they cannot even be removed from office. You can see how difficult it is to achieve this.

And. The things that Yan Jizu gave to Wu Shigong were all things obtained by using his power. And he doesn't have to pay anything for it personally. And what Wu Shigong paid was real support. In other words, Wu Shigong used real things to replace his ancestors. This always makes people feel at a loss.

"Mr. Zhang! You have also been an official in the court, according to what you see, if there is no such thing, what does Yang Ge Lao think of this official? Since it is difficult to explain to Zhang Zhiheng on the front, Wu Shigong is ready to use a roundabout method.

Zhang Zhiheng immediately frowned. I thought about it for a long time. After thinking for a while, he sighed, shook his head, and said, "Not good! ”

In fact, this truth is also obvious. Although Wu Shigong and Yang Sichang have little personal intersection, there are no opinions and prejudices between the two. But Emperor Chongzhen has a bad feeling towards Wu Shigong, and Yang Sichang is Emperor Chongzhen's confidant, so it is decided: Yang Sichang will definitely have the same position as Emperor Chongzhen, so Wu Shigong and Yang Sichang are natural enemies. Since he is already a natural enemy, he is not afraid of offending Yang Sichang again.

Although he figured this out, Zhang Zhiheng continued to blame: "My lord! That being said, you shouldn't be anxious! Zhang Zhiheng's words are also very reasonable, no matter how you say it, it is better to have a fight later than to see the red with a bayonet immediately, you must know that the current Wu Shigong is fledgling after all, and it is not appropriate to make too many enemies.

Wu Shigong's face was also full of bitterness, and he shook his head and sighed: "Hey! Mr. He made it clear that the soldiers in this battle were heroic and extraordinary, and there were no mistakes in command, but I still made a mistake of underestimating the enemy, and underestimated the Tartars, thinking that with 16,000 Runing troops could defeat the Tartars, but I didn't expect the Tartars to be so difficult to gnaw and the casualties were so large, so although this battle was won or lost, once it was mishandled, it may be that our years of hard work were all in vain. ”

"Why?" Zhang Zhiheng was immediately surprised. Because he joined the Runing Army for a short time, Zhang Zhiheng did not fully understand the financial situation of the Runing Army.

"Sir is wise, and I want to ask him for advice." So Wu Shigong introduced the situation that the Runing Army was going to face to Zhang Zhiheng in detail.

First of all, Wu Shigong compared the combat effectiveness of the Runing Army and the Qing Army for Zhang Zhiheng. Wu Shigong believes that the Runing army is a little stronger than the Qing army, but it is not much stronger.

Wu Shigong analyzed: The advantage of the Runing army is firearms, so the head-on confrontation is superior; The advantage of the Qing army was full cavalry and strong mobility. The command, tactics, individual combat effectiveness, and will to fight of the two armies are all similar.

If the two armies fought head-on again, Wu Shigong was confident that he would be able to defeat the Qing army even if it was not devastating. However, if the Qing army took the initiative to retreat or fight, the Runing army would be in no way. And this is when the number of the two armies is about the same. So in the next analysis, Wu Shigong was a little pessimistic.

Among the casualties of the Runing Army this time, most of them were soldiers from the Teaching Association, Pegasus Town, and the Artillery Association. These soldiers are either jishu soldiers or veterans of the Runing Army, and it should be said that they are all the elites of the Runing Army. Therefore, such casualties have already damaged the vitality of the Runing army.

On the side of the Qing army, although the casualties were about the same as those of the Runing army, Wu Shigong estimated that the number of the Manchurian and Mongolian coalition troops in Liaodong would not be less than 200,000 (in fact, this was Wu Shigong's high estimate), and it should be said that there were no broken bones. So compared here, the strength of the Runing army and the Qing army is actually more open.

Then there's restorativeness. Because the situation in the Qing army is unknown, Wu Shigong can't estimate it. But if the Runing army wants to restore the pre-war level, it will need at least 400,000 taels of silver, not counting other horses and supplies. And in this expedition, the Runing Army did not achieve the purpose of nourishing the war with war at all, and it can be said that it did not gain a penny. Therefore, the current Wu Shigong also encountered the same problem as Emperor Chongzhen - there was nowhere to raise food.

The only thing that compares is that Wu Shigong has more than 100,000 guards, mines and road guards, so there is no shortage of soldiers to prepare, but the key to hindering the explosion of troops is money.

Zuihou Wu Shigong confessed to Zhang Zhiheng about Ru Ningjun's belongings. The current Runing Army can use the maximum amount of money at the bottom of the box is 70,000 or 80,000 taels, so this gap is very large.

When Wu Shigong returned to Runing, he wanted to raise another 40,000 or 50,000 yuan by selling some properties. But other than that, there is no source. So this gap is quite large. Therefore, Wu Shigong promised Yan Jizu that he wanted to get some. There is no way, the current Wu Shigong is also poor and crazy.

"How about the adults issue bonds again and raise money from the gentry?" Zhang Zhiheng asked.

"I have thought about this method, but the former debts are not settled, and the later debts are difficult to solve, after all, the gentry have a lot of floating wealth, and most of them buy stocks and save money, and raise up to 20,000 or 30,000 yuan, which is really a drop in the bucket!" Wu Shigong had thought about this method for a long time, but there were too many directions for investment in Runing and Guide, and the attraction of stocks and futures was too great, so Wu Shigong was not sure about issuing bonds. At this time, Wu Shigong really had a feeling of being cocooned, and the financial products he invented had sucked up a lot of money on the market, so that it was difficult to borrow even if he wanted to borrow now. It's really a stock that succeeds and a stock that fails!

"Do you have any extra land to sell?" Zhang Zhiheng asked again.

"The land owned by the Runing Army is actually very tight, and the disabled, the pensions of the fallen soldiers, the resettlement of veterans, the expiration of the ransom of the farmers, and the distribution of serfs to free people have all gathered in the past few years. The only thing that can be used is the land of Jinan and the land of Zheng's guerrilla attack on Yizhou this time. ”

"But the land of Jinan can't be sold. After years of famine, land prices have been pushed to extremely low levels, and it is even more difficult to find buyers in a hurry to sell, unless we make another concession to the price. And the land of Yizhou is even more impossible. Unless it is sold to Zheng Guerrilla, otherwise, there is not even a single buyer. But Zheng Guerrilla did not lack a place in Yizhou at all, so there was no place in that place. While speaking, Wu Shigong grabbed his scalp, and at this time he seemed quite troubled.

Zhang Zhiheng also felt quite tricky, and after thinking about it for a long time, he could only say: "Then the adult can only reduce the number of soldiers." Replace the number of soldiers with the essence of soldiers. ”

Wu Shigong smiled bitterly again. He knew that this question was very tricky, and asked Zhang Zhiheng if it was nothing more than a dead horse as a live horse doctor. Seeing that Zhang Zhiheng couldn't come up with a way, Wu Shigong's heart fell into stone.

Wu Shigong thought to himself: He may be too persistent, and he has been delusional about restoring his original troops. But there is really no way but to take a step back, so that the sea and the sky are wide. Although there were more than 10,000 casualties, Wu Shigong still had 50,000 strong troops. As long as it is painstakingly operated for a few more years, the strength of the Runing Army will still be restored. However, in the past few years, the Runing Army has not been able to have another major war, and it can no longer withstand such attrition. (To be continued......)