In the past, Xu Ping certainly had the consciousness of collecting taxes on the caravan, but his thinking was only to the point of collecting overnight fees in the city, and this move was ridiculed by Sun Kewang as opening an inn. In addition to setting up cards along the road, Sun Kewang also commissioned a large number of merchants to produce materials that Xu Ping urgently needed but could not produce by himself for the time being. However, the merchant who failed to bid in Sun Kewang did not only suffer a loss here, he would compare the offer of the unsuccessful merchant with the person with the lowest bid, if the goods produced by the merchant with the lowest bid can satisfy Sun Kewang, and his offer is more than two percent lower than the other two, then the property of the other two merchants with high bids will be confiscated by Sun Kewang: You black-hearted businessmen, if you just make a little money, how can I tolerate you since your heart is so black?

On the other hand, if the quality of the merchant's delivery is not satisfactory to Sun Kewang, he will also be severely punished, and Sun Kewang will hand over the production of goods to the next lowest company.

"If I don't let the businessman make any money, it's killing the chicken and taking the eggs," Sun Kewang explained to Xu Ping: "I have set a rule of 20 percent, if a businessman puts his profits within 10 percent, he will not be unlucky under any circumstances." ”

Xu Ping didn't think so, he estimated that there would be people who wanted to compromise their money to keep safe, but Sun Kewang thought that the businessman would soon be able to figure out this truth, so Xu Ping didn't argue with Sun Kewang on this kind of issue that he was not good at.

Under Sun Kewang's high-pressure rule, the price of the goods obtained by breaking into the camp was not only reduced to a point that Xu Ping could not even imagine, but the quality was also greatly improved. At the same time, Sun Kewang also obtained a large number of craftsmen by confiscating merchants, and the camp already had the ability to produce a variety of materials on its own, in addition to supplying the front-line army, there was still some spare power to produce some goods for Sun Kewang to sell for money.

Sun Ke is currently able to add more than 30,000 taels of income to Xu Ping's treasury every month, a figure he estimates will increase further after the autumn harvest, and he has already begun to implement these policies in the new territories.

Xu Ping repeatedly mentioned that he needed a large number of literate talents, and the energetic Sun Kewang regarded this matter as an important task, and Sun Kewang did not hesitate to threaten the lives of his family members and the chastity of his wife and daughter to those who refused to compromise, and carried out his threats without the slightest mercy. In front of Sun Kewang, who was true to his words, the vast majority of scholars chose to give in and teach the campers like slaves. For the purpose of preventing passive sabotage, Sun Kewang stipulated that the students should be assessed once every ten days, and insisted that a scholar with the worst teaching performance would be whipped in public. If the worst three times in a row will be stripped of the skin and filled with grass, and the daily teacher will teach under the watchful eyes of these scarecrows.

As for the thieves in Henan, Sun Kewang also sent them a letter: "If you come, you will be rich and noble, and if you don't come, you will be ruthless." ”

Sun Kewang was not unheard of by Xu Ping about the various atrocities of the scholars, and the Qingzhi Taoist also persuaded him several times: "The way of heaven is good, doesn't the general hear that the good swimmer died of drowning?" The general should always have compassion and have to spare people everywhere, otherwise how much will the general regret it on another day? ”

"What the master said is very true, but I protect the Dharma with a sword, so the only one who violates my law is Jian'er."

Although Xu Ping categorically rejected Qingzhi's advice, he pondered alone in the house for a long time, and finally went to see Sun Kewang again, persuading him to take a break from his murderous intentions, and if the scholars chose to cooperate, they should not cut off their yearning to break into the camp. Sun Kewang seemed to be very surprised by Xu Ping's request, and he said in a long voice: "General, those people you want to train will guarantee that they will be able to write within a year. ”

"Not every scholar is heinous, otherwise King Chuang would not have issued an order to copy the property of a famous person who has not raised people." Xu Ping remembered the young talent who had saved his life in Shandong.

"Of course not, but it doesn't mean that every scholar who has a reputation for raising a name is heinous," Sun Kewang chuckled and said: "I think that King Chuang gave this order because only when it comes to raising people, there will be oil and water, Xiucai and Tongsheng account for ninety percent of the scholars, but their combined family property is not even one-tenth." ”

"I don't fight with you, in short, I don't care how you threaten the scholars, Brother Sun, but I don't agree with you killing people."

Sun Kewang blinked: "Then this disagreement, is it confidential?" ”

"Of course, I'm not going to tell anyone else that I don't agree with killing."

"Okay then." Sun Kewang replied briskly: "As long as you don't say it publicly, General, I won't kill people for a day." ”

"It's a deal."

After Sun Kewang agreed, he beckoned Xu Ping to sit down and wait for a while, while picking up a book to read by himself, Xu Ping saw Sun Kewang acting like this, and was also a little curious: "What book is Brother Sun reading?" ”

Sun Kewang smiled slightly: "Behavioral Logic." ”

"Oh," Xu Ping immediately asked, after hearing this strange title, "Is this book from the people of Guangdong, or by the people of Fujian?" ”

"Hahahaha," Sun Kewang threw the book aside and laughed, "It's published by the National Book Company in Guangdong, what?" Have Brother Xu read their books too? ”

"Of course," Xu Ping also smiled: "When I hear this kind of word that I don't understand at all, most of it comes from these two bookstores in Jiangnan." ”

"Yes," Sun Kewang caressed the cover of the book lovingly: "I used to think that the owner of the National Bookstore was a believer in the family, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be an admirer of Xinxue." ”

"Is this book about the mind?"

"One aspect of the study of mind, I never understood what the unity of knowledge and action was, and I thought that this was a Confucian thing and had nothing to do with us thieves who committed mistakes. This book was copied by me from a scholar's house in Chengdu, the books from the bookstores in Jiangnan were all written in the vernacular, and punctuated them, which suited my spleen and stomach, I especially liked this book, so I called the scholar to interrogate, he said that the things in this book were derived from the study of the mind...... "The more Sun Kewang said, the more excited he became, and he talked to Xu Pingda: "...... In short, as Mr. Yang Ming said about the unity of knowledge and action, the goal we want to achieve, and our behavior should have an internal logical relationship, well, the word logic is very interesting, I thought about it for a long time, I didn't think that an old word can summarize this meaning well, it really has to be a new word......

During this period, Xu Ping also nodded his head again and again, and the book was easy to understand in the vernacular, and he felt that he had benefited a lot.

"Brother Xu still remembers Fang Wei in Xuzhou, right?" Sun Kewang heard about that experience from Xu Ping's mouth: "His purpose is very clear, that is, to defend Xuzhou for the great tomorrow, and then every action he adopts is closely related to this purpose, this book "Logic of Behavior" praised this kind of initiative of the unity of knowledge and action, and also ridiculed the kind of incompetent rats who 'usually talk about their hearts and minds, and repay the king when they die', saying that their death has no logical relationship with the purpose of repaying the king, and the king does not want them to die, but they contribute, haha, I won my heart. ”

"What is described in this book is just a drop in the ocean of mind, if my generation once achieves the will, we must let Yangming Gong enjoy the Confucian Temple, and take the mind as the key to selecting talents, until thousands of years later." Sun Kewang sighed with emotion: "In this national bookstore in Guangdong, although his boss is also a businessman, if I have the opportunity to meet him, I will treat him with courtesy. ”

After a moment of silence, Sun Kewang asked, "What kind of book has Brother Xu read from the National Book Company—well, I always find the name interesting?" ”

"The Social Contract."

"Ah, the famous book of no king and no father," Sun Kewang blurted out, "Brother Xu used to be among the officials and soldiers, do you dare to read this?" ”

"Well, I first watched it before I joined the army, and I forgot to sleep and eat at that time, and later when I was in the new army, I read the Xia Approval Book."

"Xia Piben, what is that?"

"There is a scholar surnamed Xia in Jiangnan, named Xia Wanchun, who seems to be a little younger than me, after reading this book, he vowed not to seek the imperial examination in this life, but to carry forward the essence of this book and become a new Confucianism." Xu Ping's face was full of admiration: "When I used to read the social contract, many of them were quite bitter, and some of them were simply unreasonable. Xia Piben is very well written, saying the same thing, but telling it eloquently, which makes people stunning. ”

"It's new, isn't it?" Sun Kewang shouted: "I haven't seen it, Brother Xu, you also know that this book advocates that the people and the Son of Heaven are in a contractual relationship, if the Son of Heaven can't work for the people, then the people have the right to resist food and donations, and everyone in the world scolds, but almost every Sichuan scholar has a copy, and there is an old scholar who has several versions in his hand." But there is no Xia Piben as you said. ”

"It's really just out," Xu Ping nodded, the author of the original book is anonymous, everyone guesses that he is also afraid that this kind of kingless and fatherless work will make him stink for thousands of years: "The original book is very empty, it can be seen that the author is a rich family, Xia Sheng has traveled north and south in the past few years, went deep into the counties and villages, and put together the various sayings of the original book, and the affairs between my officials, officials, and people. Or is it given by the National Book Company. Xu Ping couldn't think of any useful examples in a hurry, so he said: "Brother Sun knows the military regulations customized by the Marquis of Zhendong." ”

"Yes."

"Well, there are some similarities, Zhendonghou's military regulations are unprecedented, and they are amazing, but many places are still rough and have not been carefully polished. The same is true of this "Social Contract Statement", doesn't Brother Sun feel that there are many inexplicable places? ”

"When you say that, I also feel that this is the case, Huang Hou's military regulations are indeed similar to that book, but the author is still a great talent."

"Yes, it's indeed a ghost," Xu Ping agreed, and added: "Although it is far from being comparable to Zhendong Hou." It's a pity that real people don't show their faces. Xia Sheng vowed to spend his life to complete this book, and I am convinced that it will become a branch of Confucianism and carry forward through Xia Sheng's hands. ”

"There is one more person on the list of people I want to treat with courtesy, what is his name, Xia Wanchun, right?" Sun Kewang frowned: "I still don't understand, how can the new army let you read this kind of book?" ”

"When the Xia version was just released, a colleague in the new army teaching team got a copy, and it caused a lot of turmoil at that time, Xia Sheng happened to be in Beijing at that time, he heard that the suffering of the peasants in the north was even worse than that of the south of the Yangtze River, so he came to the north to investigate and prepare for the writing of the second volume, after hearing about this, Xia Sheng ran to the Hou Mansion in the east of the town to smash the door and ask to see, and after seeing the Hou Ye, the words were not harmonious, Xia Sheng scolded and left, saying that with the Hou Ye this kind of martial arts to discuss Confucianism, benevolence and righteousness, it seems to be the same Xia insect language."

"What a summer student! Even Huang Hou dared to scold. Sun Kewang gave a thumbs up: "However, he really scolded the point." Sun Kewang, who listened with relish, asked, "And then?" ”

"And then? Then Hou Ye inquired about the matter, and he canceled the punishment of that comrade, saying that since the officers were taught to read and write, how could they not let them read books, and said that we are not children anymore, and we can distinguish what is right and what is wrong, so what's wrong with reading books? It's just a big fuss. ”

"Huang Hou ......" Sun Kewang seemed to want to say something, but after opening his mouth for a moment, he finally shook his head and sighed: "Brother Xu, can you describe Huang Hou's temperament to me?" ”

"I haven't seen Master Hou."

"Ahh Sun Kewang let out a soft sigh.

……

At the end of May, when Xu Ping and Li Dingguo completed the initial encirclement of Kaifeng, Sun Kewang was mobilizing troops to exterminate the native bandits in the rear and the newly defeated Ming army. After seeing Xu Ping's reply and refusing his request to go to the front, Sun Kewang wrote to Xu Ping again and asked to fight on the front line for the second time. Obviously, the glory of stable production in the rear is far worse than riding into Kaifeng City side by side with Xu Ping and Li Dingguo. Xu Ping had no choice but to write a long letter to Sun Kewang again, analyzing the current situation and pointing out that there were tens of thousands of main forces of the Bianjun army gathered in Kaifeng City, which was by no means easy to capture. Xu Ping reassured Sun Kewang with kind words, and promised that he would remember to transfer him to the front line on the eve of the destruction of Kaifeng City and share the honor of capturing Kaifeng with him.

The scorching summer made Xu Ping's offensive difficult, and the invasion army, lacking siege weapons, made slow progress in clearing the outer fortresses of Kaifeng, and many soldiers suffered from heat stroke, and Xu Ping finally ordered a halt to the large-scale military operation. There are a total of 12,000 combat soldiers in the guard battalion and the west camp of the Chuang army on the periphery of Kaifeng, and the Ming army trapped in the Kaifeng area is more than 20,000. However, unlike the previous two attacks on Kaifeng, this time the invasion army had a solid rear, and all the county towns in Kaifeng Mansion fell into the hands of the invasion army, which made Kaifeng a complete isolated city, and the invasion army could carry out the offensive without worry.

In mid-June, the New Army launched another offensive against the rebels in Shandong, and as Xu Ping expected, the New Army failed to commit all the troops at once, but only four battalions, including Firefighting and Panshi, were engaged in the battle. Of course, despite this, the Shandong rebels could not withstand the offensive of the new army. Ji retreated from the New Army, and in early July successfully organized two counterattacks, hitting the Ming army fighting with the New Army, and crushed the opponent on both occasions. However, the new army of the fourth battalion formed a group and fought steadily, without giving Ji Huisi any chance.

On July 12, Xu Ping resumed his offensive against Kaifeng. After more than a month of training, the Guards Battalion had expanded to 5,500 men, with 400 cavalry, more than 1,900 flintlock muskets, 500 arquebuses, 2,000 spears, and two cannons.

Xu Ping received an urgent letter from Zhong Guinian on this day, according to Zhong Guinian, Ji Huisi asked King Chuang to test whether he would mind if he came to Henan to join the camp. Xu Ping wrote a reply twice and tore up the letter twice, and when he put pen to pen for the third time, he first took a story in the popular romance of the Three Kingdoms as an example: Cao Cao's crusade against Ma Chao was timeout, and every time he heard that Xiliang reinforcements had arrived, Cao Cao was not worried but happy.

“…… The reason why Cao Cao was happy was because he knew that the more concentrated the Western Liang army was, the more conducive it would be for Cao Cao to eliminate them at once. And if these Xiliang troops are scattered in their respective base areas, then the war will be protracted, and if it is protracted, there may be more changes. Today, the situation of our rebel army is similar to that of the Xiliang army, and the new army is the Cao army, and the more we concentrate on the new army, the more beneficial it will be for them to bite our rebel army and destroy us. I am not alarmist, the rebel army does not have the strength to fight the new army now, and in our rebel army, no matter which one is attacked by the new army, we must grit our teeth and persevere. I know that the camp and the Dongjiang Army are a prosperous relationship, and I will do my best to launch an attack to attract the attention of the Ming court, hoping that the new army will make mistakes. ”

The autumn harvest has already begun, and it doesn't take too close observation to see that Sun Kewang is a little resistant to Li Zicheng's order not to levy grain. But Sun Kewang certainly wouldn't violate this ban, and these days, Sun Kewang has never done anything beyond the policies he described to Xu Ping. At present, there are a large number of checkpoints set up by Sun Kewang on all the roads within the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture, and the caravan will encounter one every five miles on average, and the soldiers at the checkpoint will charge tolls according to the number and type of goods in the caravan. These checkpoints not only charge the caravan, but also charge the peasants, after the autumn harvest, when the Kaifeng peasants transport the grain to the market for trading, they have to hand over a sum of money to the army on the way to buy the road, and when they arrive at the market, they have to pay the army a transaction fee.

The peasants would definitely leave enough rations for themselves before trading grain, and Xu Ping also deeply believed this. Since Sun Kewang can provide Xu Ping with enough supplies, Xu Ping will turn a blind eye to these not too outrageous actions. Restricting peasant trade was only a small part of Sun Kewang's economic policy, and in order to avoid grain merchants hoarding, his main experience was to limit the flow of grain. Sun Kewang believed that the merchants' behavior of making a profit by hoarding grain must be based on their ability to transport grain to grain-scarce areas, so Sun Kewang imposed extremely high tax rates on the transportation of large quantities of grain, with the aim of making the cost of grain circulation extremely high, thus making it unprofitable to resell grain.

In addition, Sun Kewang had just reported to Xu Ping that he had formed his own food purchase team. He estimated that the high grain transportation tax made it necessary for merchants to keep the purchase price of grain very low and set the selling price very high if they wanted to make a profit from buying and selling grain, so that it would become very inappropriate for the peasants to transport grain to the towns and cities for sale, after all, the cost of transportation for the peasants had increased greatly compared with before after the road tax was introduced. After using administrative means to artificially raise the transaction costs of the people, Sun Kewang planned to let the grain purchasing teams that broke into the camp go deep into the countryside to buy grain, and then transport it to the towns and sell it to grain stores.

[Remember the URL . 三五Chinese网]