Zhao Wenji squinted at Li Zhaoji for a while, and saw that he was still holding his sleeves, sandwiching his favorite dishes on the table, most of his attention was not attracted by the dishes, and the words that came out of his mouth seemed to be just casually.

"Shopkeeper Li, what do you want?" Zhao Wenji asked.

Li Zhaoji did not answer, but asked rhetorically: "What do you think I can get with my current strength?" ”

Zhao Wenji pondered for a moment and said, "After all, you still have to follow Zheng Zhilong, dominate one side, and monopolize Yuehai." ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "What is Yuehai!" He Zheng Zhilong's dog guarding the household, how can he compare with me. ”

"You're too arrogant when you say that." Zhao Wenji said.

Li Zhaoji said: "It's better to be arrogant, if you are weaker, I'm afraid that Mr. Zhao, you will have to talk about appeasement." ”

Zhao Wenji was surprised: "You guessed? ”

Li Zhaoji spread out his hand: "What's so hard to guess about this, originally I was a maritime merchant, and I had a few broken ships under my command, Shen Youlong appeased me, which could not pacify the rebellion of the four surnames for him, and effectively imitated Zheng Zhilong's fear, where would he be."

But now it's different, I have a lot of gunboats under my command, it is difficult to conquer the north, and I even seized the Treasure Island of the Japanese Kingdom in the North Sea, and I was rich for a while, if I was appeased, it was equivalent to adding a province of military capital to the imperial court. In other words, Guangdong is afraid that it has not given the imperial court any money for ten years.

I have heard people say that although Guangdong is prosperous and has a lot of fertile land, in the Ming Dynasty, there are two taxes in summer and autumn every year, ranking last in the two capitals and 13 provinces, and the poor provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi. ”

Zhao Wenji's eyes widened: "You...... How do you know this? ”

Li Zhaoji smiled: "My freshwater, businessmen from all over the world, can always hear a thing or two. ”

Guangdong's economy was not bad in the Ming Dynasty, but the level of taxation was very low, not only with Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but also with the northern provinces.

The summer tax accounts for only 0.1 percent of the country's summer tax, and the autumn tax accounts for less than 5 percent. Even if the Liao salary was levied, the tax amount apportioned by Guangdong was only 6 percent, and in fact, Guangdong and its nearby provinces had wars for many years, especially in the southwest, and there were many rebellions, and they always needed Guangdong to help pay salaries.

Because the current income of the Oriental Trading Company mainly depends on the profits from the trade in gold and silver mines and bulk goods, especially the latter is not fixed, because it cannot be expressed in terms of annual income, but at least it is certain that in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zhaoji had more financial resources at his disposal than Shen Youlong, the governor of Liangguang.

Because, for Shen Youlong, appeasing Li Zhaoji for his own use is one more rich man.

"I have long heard that you have won Treasure Island, and your strength is different from before, but I didn't want to, it has reached this point, and even the Governor does not care about it." Zhao Wenji said.

Li Zhaoji laughed: "Where, where, the Ming Dynasty is Chinese orthodoxy, Lord Shen is the Heavenly Patrol Pastor, where do I dare to be contemptuous, it's just this appeasement, Mr. Zhao don't want to talk about it now." ”

Zhao Wenji nodded slightly, and said in his heart Li Zhaoji is gagging his mouth, after all, there are a few such ambitions in the world, and there are a few Oriental Trading Companies. Most of the people in the Oriental Trading Company were born as peddlers and pawns, and if they knew that the imperial court had appeasement, they could be added to the rank and rank and glorify their ancestors, and they would definitely be tempted.

But listening to the meaning of Li Zhaoji's words, it was not that he didn't want to be cared for, but he just felt that the time was wrong, Zhao Wenji said: "Then Shopkeeper Li thinks, when can Zhao bring up the old things again?" ”

Li Zhaoji said: "But when I have to be the imperial court." ”

Zhao Wenji frowned: "What must you do if you have to be in the imperial court?" ”

Li Zhaoji said with a smile: "You can be appeased when you can't survive if you don't have the imperial court, and you can be appeased when you can't make progress when you can't make progress." ”

"You are talking, so unfathomable, you don't seem to want to tell Zhao the truth." Zhao Wenji was impatient and said helplessly.

Li Zhaoji laughed: "Sir, you are full, if you are full, please come with me." ”

Zhao Wenji was suspicious: "What are we going to do?" ”

Li Zhaoji said: "When I went to the school to inspect the soldiers and horses, didn't Chen Ping also come, I heard that he had become a guerrilla, but he did not come to the banquet, and obviously blamed me for my affairs in Guangzhou." Let's take a look at it with him. ”

Zhao Wenji asked: "Have you already gathered soldiers and horses and want to go to the four surnames?" ”

"It is true to gather soldiers and horses, but it is false to recruit the four surnames. I have already made an appointment with the local barbarian leader Atta, and I will join him in the expedition against the high mountain barbarians, and I will send troops soon, and the school yard is training soldiers and horses. Li Zhaoji smiled and went to the school with Zhao Wenji.

On the way, Chen Ping got the news and arrived, he looked at the carriage and horse in front of him with a depressed face, and shook off the curtain fiercely.

"General Chen, what's wrong with you?" Zhao Wenji asked.

Chen Ping said: "On the order of the Governor, I went to visit his house yesterday and gave him all the silver gifts I carried. I never thought that the guy didn't even see him, but he accepted the gift and only sent a servant to say that he had nothing to do with me anymore and that he was fine.

Very hateful, very hateful! ”

Zhao Wenji smiled: "In the end, in the bow of others, the general should not make trouble, after going back, tell Dong Weng truthfully, and he will not be blamed." ”

"Mr. Zhao, this is true, I'm really afraid that I will go back and make the governor unhappy." Chen Ping said.

"That's natural, with the old man here, the Governor will never blame you." Zhao Wenji said with confidence.

Roar! Roar!

At this moment, the two of them suddenly heard a roar, and even the horses they were pulling were startled, and if it weren't for the horseman's desperate pulling on the reins, they were afraid that they would have to run.

"Two distinguished guests, please get out of the car, this horse is shocked, I'm afraid it will be a while." The groom said as he grabbed the reins.

Chen Ping hurriedly jumped out of the car, and then helped Zhao Wenji down, seeing that the horse was uncontrollable, Zhao Wenji didn't dare to move, Chen Ping simply picked up Zhao Wenji, stepped aside, and put it down.

"Mr. Zhao, are you alright? Fang Cai is in a hurry to obey the power, and he is under Meng Lang. Chen Ping hurriedly crossed his hands and saluted, and said apologetically.

Zhao Wenji waved his hand, and said: "It's okay, it's okay, if there is no General Chen, the old man's life will be ruined here." ”

"Brute, stop!" Li Zhaoji's shouts were reaching Zhao Wenji's ears, and he raised his eyes to see that Li Zhaoji was already sitting on the horse pulling the cart, constantly pulling the reins, and exhaling continuously.

In the end, Li Zhaoji stood up to stop the beast's ferocity.

Seeing Li Zhaoji turn over and dismount, he was also embarrassed, Zhao Wen and the two lost the anger just now.

At this time, a general in armor stepped forward with his sword drawn and shouted: "Beast, see that I don't kill you!" ”

As he spoke, the waist knife was raised and slashed at the horse, but he was caught by Li Zhaoji: "The horse is precious, how can you say that you will kill it, and you will not let it go." ”

"The person in armor over there is the general of the land division under Li Zhaoji, Yang Yandi." Chen Ping introduced in Zhao Wenji's ear: "I have inquired below, this person is nicknamed Yang Er, he is a smuggler of salt between Gaozhou and Guangzhou, he really has some skills, and among the merchants of Guangdong Province, he has many righteous names.

When he was on Lingding Island, he voted for Li Zhaoji and took charge of the military affairs of Tamsui, and he was in power. ”

"How did you know so much?" Zhao Wenji asked.

Chen Ping said in a low voice: "Li Zhaoji and Yang Yandi are just peddlers and pawns, where do they know how to train soldiers and martial arts, after they gain a foothold in Tamsui, in the coastal guards, they look for more people who are familiar with military books and have the ability to be generals, and recruit their subordinates to assist in military training."

There is also the act of deserting soldiers from the detention center, which has long been spread among military households in Guangdong. I don't hide it from Mr. Zhao, there are many people under his command in the thousands of households where I am located.

However, I also heard that Li Zhaoji also gathered Frangki, Yingli and other Taixi Yiding, and used Taixi's method to train soldiers. ”

"Most of the Yangyi are barbarians, and when it comes to naval warfare, there may be some tricks, but if it comes to the duel between land divisions, it is difficult to make a difference." Zhao Wenji shook his head and said.

Chen Ping reminded: "But you can't say that, Mr. Zhao deals with Yangyi differently." I heard from the merchants that in Nanyang, Yangyi was employed by many countries, trained soldiers, and took money to fight for various countries. Just like the Quang Nam country, with a population of only a few hundred thousand, it fought against Annam, which was ten times stronger than itself, for decades, relying on the 4,000 musketeers and 10,000 sailors trained by the Franco. ”

Zhao Wenji nodded lightly, although he has the pride of a scholar, he is not a pedantic person.

Li Zhaoji appeased Yang Yandi, who was about to kill Ma Xie, walked up to Chen Ping and Zhao Wenhe, and invited them to go to the high platform together.

Under the high platform, it is the newly trained soldiers of Yang Yandi for several months. Li Zhaoji's Beihang trade was changed to an expedition, and most of the elite of the Tamsui soldiers, whether they were guards or volunteers, were transferred.

After an expedition, the soldiers and horses left behind in Sado suffered a lot of losses, so there was no division in Tamsui. When Tang Mu went south to deal with the aftermath, he conveyed Li Zhaoji's order, and Yang Yandi recruited elite soldiers in Macao and Tamsui on the basis of the remaining elite soldiers under his command, and selected well-behaved slave laborers from the Gaoshan barbarians captured in the first battle of Shengqiu, gave them civilian status, and then enlisted in the army.

From this, a battalion of soldiers and horses was trained, including 200 musketeers and armored spearmen, which was called the new training camp, and after Li Zhaoji returned, when the first review was made, the new training camp was already quite groomed, Li Zhaoji was renamed the Tamsui Battalion, and the Sado garrison was the Beihai Battalion.

In addition to the Tamsui battalion, the military affairs headquarters was also organized. It is also counted as a battalion unit, but there is no battalion commander, but technical arms such as baggage, artillery, and craftsmen are included in it. Because Yang Yandi was called the chief of military affairs in the Oriental Trading Company, this battalion was under his direct control, so it was called the military affairs headquarters.

The original 200-strong volunteer team was only half left after the attrition and injuries of the expedition, and the newly recruited soldiers were not limited to the Kaida Gran, but also included the Dawas people in the south of the Tamsui River, the Gaoshan barbarians who had been freed from slavery, and the Nanyang Malays brought by merchant ships and foreign ships.

It's just that unlike the Tamsui Battalion, the musketeers and spearmen in the Righteous Battalion are only 100 people, and the rest are hunters, jumpers, archers and other troops.

After returning from the expedition, Tang Mu was also appointed as a military commander, selected a few people from Li Zhaoji's personal entourage, controlled the vanguard brigade, and selected strong and brave people from the newly recruited soldiers from all over the country, wearing thick armor and holding sharp blades, to be the vanguard of the siege and breaking the formation.

The one who was reviewed on the school field this time was the Tamsui battalion, and the leader of this army was Zhao Dahe, who made great contributions in the first battle of Shengqiu.

The Tamsui battalion is divided into two brigades, four squadrons, eight squadrons, and twenty-five people as a team, with the squadron of musketeers and spearmen as the basic combat unit.

"Let the elephant team come forward and look at the freshwater soldiers, who can hold on in the face of the enemy's cavalry charge." Li Zhaoji said to Yang Yandi.

Yang Yandi nodded, then waved a flag, and then, behind a barn, several four-legged giant beasts rushed out, with bright fangs, wearing heavy armor, and roaring angrily.

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