Yan Yingyuan and others, originally to Shen Shuren, were just names on the "History of the Ming Dynasty".

In addition to knowing that they are very reliable in terms of national integrity, Shen Shuren knows nothing about the rest of their talents, commanders and other practical talents-just Yan Yingyuan, who can be sure that he has a bit of a "commander's halo".

After sitting down and chatting deeply, the understanding of Shen Shuren became fuller, and those names became real images of flesh and blood.

By the way, a strategic plan for recruiting talents and cultivating forces is also gradually clear and perfect in his mind.

When leaving the Yamen of the Nanjing Officials' Department, riding on horseback, Shen Shuren couldn't help but think:

"The people I recruited today are all loyal ministers and righteous men who helped the Lu regime resist the Qing Dynasty after the fall of Nanjing.

We have also seen the information of some other officials from Xu Shiqi before, and they are all loyal and reliable people, but unfortunately now the official position is already on the high side, and it is not something that we can persuade as a five-grade prefect.

For example, in history, Huang Binqing, a general of the Tang dynasty who was attacked and killed by Zhang Mingzhen because of Tang Lu's infighting. Although this man died in the civil war, his attitude of resistance to the Qing Dynasty was still resolute. It's a pity that he is already a general of Ning Shaotai now, a full three levels higher than Zhang Mingzhen's official position, and I am not qualified to win him over at all......"

Thinking of this, Shen Shuren also summed up a law in his heart:

In history, the generals of the Southern Ming and Lu kings were relatively the lowest level now, because the legitimacy of the Lu kings was low, the power and base area were also small, and there were few talents to attract.

People who have been in high positions before may have surrendered when Nanjing fell in history, and they couldn't survive to join King Lu, and there was a process of reverse elimination.

The talents under the Tang Dynasty are now slightly higher than those of the Lu Dynasty, the Lu Dynasty is higher, and the Fu Dynasty is the highest (the Beijing officials in Beijing are not discussed).

After thinking about this, Shen Shuren's roadmap became clear: when he wanted to recruit reliable talents, he had to go against this reverse elimination route and look for it from back to front.

Now he is only a prefect, and he is only worthy of looking for people from the Lu royal family.

After his appointment is completed, he may be able to get a little bit of the low-level generals in the Tang Dynasty in history.

When he is promoted to governor again, he can consider the backbone of the Tang Dynasty lineage, and even some people from the Lu Dynasty......

As for the Fuwang system, it should be impossible to subdue it by relying on officialdom struggle. After all, you have to be the head of the Sixth Department of Nanjing before it is possible to talk about this.

And by the year of Chongzhen's death, that is, more than three years later, Shen Shuren was only twenty-four years old.

No matter how he made meritorious contributions through officialdom struggle, it was impossible for him to let Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying take the lead at the age of twenty-four. What's more, Shi Kefa is still his old boss at the beginning of his career.

Therefore, the last remaining "kick in the door" of the unification of the southern military power and the unanimous resistance to the Qing Dynasty in the future will absolutely not rely on officialdom struggle, but can only be guaranteed by force.

The officialdom struggle and pulling people just played the "pass assist link" before the goal.

"I have to take advantage of the last three years before Chongzhen's death to be promoted quickly, anyway, to save the Han people who were consumed by the internal strife in Tanglu in history, and try to unite under my own hands, so that I can unite with the outside world to fight Tartars in the future.

After that, it is necessary to save those who were shaken by King Lu and consumed internally...... To do this, I must at least be the governor before Chongzhen dies! It's better to be the Governor! One more level of official position, there will be more resources and more unity of strength! ”

Shen Shuren secretly made up his mind, and his desire to be promoted to power has never been so inflated and urgent.

But he is not ashamed of this, he knows that every step he takes is for the general interests of the nation, in order to unite more united fronts, not for selfish desires.

What's wrong with wanting to be promoted? His promotion was to serve the people of the world.

……

After leaving the household, Shen Shuren didn't have any leisure, and soon went to see Zheng Chenggong again.

The mansion that the Zheng family bought in Nanjing is much more spacious than the Shen family.

Since he knew that his son was going to study in Nanjing all the year round and there would be no danger, Zheng Zhilong was very willing to spend money. not only spends money on his son's life, but also is willing to make friends with various figures in the Nanjing officialdom, whether he has real power or not, he can share some benefits more or less.

If it weren't for Zheng Chenggong, he would have just been fifteen years old when he came, and now a year and a half later, he would only be sixteen and a half years old, and his imaginary age would be seventeen, which is too young.

Otherwise, relying on the Zheng family's own operation, Zheng Chenggong could easily get an official position, and it would not be Shen Shuren's turn to sell this favor at all.

Of course, Shen Shuren also knows that Zheng Zhilong has not sought a foreign official position for Zheng Chenggong so far, and there is another layer of worry, that is, he is afraid that after leaving Nanjing, it will be more unsafe to go to other places, and it will be easy to be retaliated against if no one takes care of him.

The Zheng family is so rich, powerful and soldiers, and there are many enemies. The deeper they went inland, the more the Zheng family couldn't control the situation.

Now with him, a quasi-ally, to help take care of the shelter, the Zheng family dared to rest assured.

As soon as they arrived at Zheng's mansion, before Shen Shuren got off the horse, he saw Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Hongkui coming out to greet him, obviously having already received a letter from Wu Meicun.

The personnel arrangements of the Zheng family are still the same - the fourth Zheng Hongkui leads a military position, runs around outside to liaise and deal with the relationship between all parties, and the second and third follow the eldest brother to lead the troops in Fujian. This time to send his nephew to office, it was still Zheng Hongkui who approached.

"Shenfutai has always been good? Shenfutai is really a hero among the people, he has not seen him for just a year and a half, and he has already lived in the fifth grade. The matter of the nephew has to be taken care of by Lao Duoduo. ”

Zheng Hongkui took the lead in saying some kind words, and there was no fake sour vinegar drop in the book bag, and at first glance he was a vulgar general.

The only difference from back then is that he no longer dares to call Shen Shuren "virtuous nephew" when he speaks.

Shen Shuren didn't put up a fight, but still carried people in a sedan chair: "Uncle Shi has a good reputation, I haven't seen each other for a year and a half, aren't you also a guerrilla attack from Du Sisheng, I'm afraid it won't be long before you should join the general." In terms of rank, it is still higher than that of the little nephew. ”

The capital division and garrison are the five rank of martial arts, the guerrilla has four ranks, and the general has three ranks. Theoretically, after Shen Shuren's military preparations came down, he was on the same level as Zheng Hongkui's current guerrillas.

But in fact, Zheng Hongkui obviously won't accept this kind of compliment, everyone is knowledgeable: "Shen Futai, don't scorn me, do you compare martial arts and civil functions." If you are so polite, you won't treat us as your own. ”

The two sides were no longer hypocritical, and Zheng Chenggong on the side also seized the opportunity to salute Shen Shuren: "In the future, thanks to Shen Futai's allocation, the lower officials only want to defend the country and kill the enemy to make meritorious contributions." ”

Shen Shuren hurriedly stretched out his hand to help: "Eh, why is the virtuous brother like this, let's just talk about the friendship when we were in the country's prison." You and I are both from Wu Shanchang's family, even if he teaches his own studies, then I will be classmates for the rest of my life, and I will be annoyed to shout Shen Futai in the future! ”

Zheng Chenggong pushed the boat down the river, calling him Brother Shen.

While climbing the friendship, the Zheng family had already invited Shen Shuren to sit in the house. The two sides talked about some specific personnel appointments, and Shen Shuren also gave the bottom of the situation.

Zheng Chenggong took the normal channel, and it is said that he would be an official of the eighth grade at most, and he would be promoted to the office.

This time, he tried every means to put gold on him, Shen Shuren stuffed the money to tie the relationship, and got him a seven-grade patrol envoy subordinate to the Hubei Yanfa Dao, who was responsible for the anti-smuggling of the rivers around Huangzhou and Wuchang in the future.

Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Chenggong were almost shocked when they heard this term at first glance, obviously they had a great misunderstanding of the authority of this official position.

"Salt Law Dao?! How is it possible, this is the world's fat shortage. Isn't it all because of the land where thieves are rampant and the magistrates are in danger, so the vacancy is serious? The officials of the Yanfa Dao Yamen don't have to go into battle to face the thieves, how can there be vacancies? ”

Zheng Hongkui's speed of speech was very urgent, obviously he couldn't understand it at all. Although Zheng Chenggong next to him didn't say anything, his eyes were full of doubts and excitement.

Shen Shuren raised his hand lightly to signal that he should not be impatient: "Don't worry, you have a misunderstanding of the salt law, I'm afraid you will compare the two Huai salt laws on Nanzhili's side."

The degree of fertilizer shortage between the salt law road of the salt-producing provinces and the salt law road of the non-salt-producing provinces is several times different. Huguang is the identity of not producing salt, and it depends on Huai Salt Jichu or Sichuan Salt Jichu. Therefore, Hubei Yanfa Road has only one Yangtze River anti-smuggling authority.

The reason why Brother Oki was arranged there this time was also because he was angry and asked Jiang Shilang from the side of the household. After the imperial court officially started to levy the levy, because there was no special yamen for tax inspection and anti-smuggling.

Therefore, Huguang, Nanzhi, and other places will split up some people from the Yanfa Dao Yamen, which has always had experience in anti-smuggling, to temporarily take charge of the work of anti-smuggling and cracking down on tax evasion. On the Hubei side, the key is to block the Huangzhou-Wuchang River.

Your Zheng family is begging for a living on the water, and if Brother Damu can do things in this kind of yamen, you must also be willing to help him make some efforts to help him make meritorious contributions as soon as possible. If it is during the anti-smuggling blockade, it can also hit the thief's sailor army and transport fleet by the way, why can't you be promoted as soon as possible?

This kind of official position is much safer than finding a county seat to be recovered in Suizhou and Huangzhou, and it is not beautiful to be able to make meritorious contributions without worrying about safety? ”

Shen Shuren's operation was obviously well thought out, and he thought of the pros and cons of all parties.

He can also directly arrange for Zheng Chenggong to start as a magistrate, but will Zheng Zhilong agree? Can you rest assured? As soon as the Zheng family's power penetrates deep into the mountainous area, it will greatly reduce the sense of control, and Zheng Zhilong will be uneasy, and it will inevitably cause trouble in the future.

Finding an errand for Zheng Chenggong to beg for work on the water surface can completely reassure the Zheng family, and let Shen Shuren operate it, which is also an extra favor.

Moreover, the official position of Yanfa Dao is much better than that of those sailor generals who directly lead the troops, after all, they are nominally fat and lack civilian officials, and they have a lot of face!

Zheng Zhilong cares about face very much, he already has real power, troops, and money, and the Zheng family now lacks a face in the literary officialdom.

After Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Chenggong listened, they were still a little dizzy.

Zheng Hongkui has operated a lot of buying officials, he knows the market, and sighed from the bottom of his heart: "If you want to buy a magistrate, I'm afraid it will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver." Under the Yamen of this Salt Law Dao, even if it is a member of the seventh grade, I am afraid that I can't beat it for hundreds of thousands of taels, right?

How can you be embarrassed to let Shenfutai out of such a large amount of money, I will send the silver when I turn around! It's too heavy, it's too heavy, we can't afford it. ”

Shen Shuren stopped him from taking out the money, and said lightly: "Eh, they are all trying to serve the country with one heart, what kind of silver." If you have a heart, you might as well work 'how to help Brother Damu make meritorious contributions in the future'.

For example, when I was in Huangzhou, I only relied on all kinds of firearms and ordinary ordnance to kill thieves last year. Fortunately, last year, Liu Xiyao despised me and took the initiative to attack and was annihilated by the enemy lured by me. If I were to personally attack the door and storm the city, I am afraid that this thief has not been eliminated yet.

If some Hongyi cannons are convenient for attacking the city, won't it be like a tiger with wings and twice the result with half the effort in the future......"

Hearing Shen Shuren's hint, it should even be said that it was explicit, Zheng Hongkui immediately reacted.

After a little thought, he simply offered a high price within the scope of his authority: "This is as it should be!" Or Shen Futai is right, let's not talk about silver, it's vulgar to talk about silver.

In this way, since my nephew can be favored by the salt law smuggling, my Zheng family is willing to send out ten cannons captured from the Hongyi people, plus thirty elite warships and soldiers' weapons, in fact, they are at the disposal of Shenfutai to patrol the Huangzhou-Wuchang River. ”

Zheng Hongkui specially emphasized the ten original Hongyi guns, and then told Shen Shuren that there were other domestically made Hongyi cannons or heavy Franc machines on the thirty warships, but the quality was not as good as the original.

Shen Shuren was a little surprised, and asked a little more, only to learn that these original goods were captured by the Zheng family from the Dutch during the Battle of Luowan eight years ago-

In the autumn of the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), the Zheng family had a bloody battle with the Dutch fleet that occupied the majority of the East China Sea in order to dominate the East China Sea and the South China Sea. The Zheng family also lost a lot of materials, and dispatched hundreds of arson boats, but in the end they still won the war.

The Dutch, on the side, were surrounded by an overwhelming array of arsonist ships, and were finally sunk, stranded, burned and captured one of the captured Galen ships, slightly wounded several of them, and fled back to the Grand Crew (the Dutch fleet had 9 Galen ships at that time)

From the battleships that ran aground and sank and burned and captured, the Zheng family also captured a batch of cannons that could represent the best scientific and technological level of the West in the 1630s, which was roughly equivalent to 12 to 24 pounder guns.

This is even more powerful than the self-made Hongyi cannons in service in the Ming Dynasty or the Manchu Qing Dynasty. For the sake of Shen Shuren's great favor, he directly took out ten original Dutch heavy naval guns, which was already very sincere.

Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are not a big deal compared to these things.

Shen Shuren listened to Zheng Hongkui's boasting, and he couldn't open his mouth:

"This ...... How embarrassing it is, it's just to find out if there are any private businessmen who have stolen money in the future, and how can they use such a good heavy artillery. ”

Zheng Hongkui: "Deserve it!" This is all what Shen Futai deserves, and when the time comes, he will take it to the nest cultivated by He Jin and Lin by the way, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone. ”

Shen Shuren: "Then I have to be cheeky, but it's disrespectful." ”

The exchange of interests ended in a harmonious atmosphere of joy for both guests.

That night, Shen Shuren brought the Zheng family and the group of subordinates who had just been recruited in the morning to Meilou for a big meal.

Zheng Chenggong also became familiar with Yan Yingyuan, Zhang Mingzhen and other civil and military officers for the first time, and everyone team-building had a good relationship.

At the banquet, Shen Shuren also further explained to Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Hongkui the benefits of the Li Jin policy to the imperial court and the exchange benefits that can be given to the Zheng family in the future, so that the Zheng family can fully support this matter.

In the future, the Zheng family's "Shanwu Road" caravan along the Yangtze River to the mainland also guaranteed to take the lead in paying taxes according to the regulations - Shen Shuren also promised to be absolutely official and would not increase the price outside the law.

The initial tax rate of centigold is actually not high, which is very conscientious.

Historically, the Qing Dynasty collected higher and higher fees later, mainly because of the demand for cards, repeated collections, and arbitrary tax increases at the local level.

Therefore, as long as Shen Shuren promises to do business, the Zheng family can completely bear it.

After doing all this, Shen Shuren's layout in Nanjing is also completed, and they are ready to leave for Huguang.