Matsue Mansion, South Building, late autumn.

"It's a hairy crab!"

"No, this is a king crab."

"Who dares to call crabs king crabs, it's just relatively large hairy crabs." In the late autumn leaves, seven or eight children gathered around the pavilion, shouting the names of the crabs in their meals.

The eldest of these children is only seven or eight years old, the youngest is only four or five years old, and a five-year-old boy is red-faced, only he insists, everyone eats relatively large hairy crabs, not king crabs.

Because this child is the crown prince of Emperor Hongguang of the Ming Dynasty, his father is the emperor, and he is also the future emperor, of course, it is not acceptable for anyone to dare to eat crabs named after the emperor.

The children around him are also either rich or expensive, including King Taiping, the eldest son of Xing, the son of the prefect of Songjiang, and the four children of Li Zhaoji, these four children were born to the two daughters of Li Xiangjun and Bian Yujing, and have been raised in Songjiang.

It's just that on the south floor, Emperor Hongguang of the Ming Dynasty didn't care about the name of the king crab, drank Huadiao wine, ate king crab, and sighed about the comfort and beauty of life.

In front of this emperor, there is a huge round table, the revolving table on the round table can turn all kinds of dishes in front of everyone, and sitting with him are not only Li Zhaoji, Liu Mingde and He Bin of the Oriental Trading Company, but also Shen Youlong, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Sen, who was named the king of Yanping through his military exploits, and the Jiangnan consortium represented by Cheng Bi, and the Guangdong consortium represented by Lin Weiyuan and Huangguanlou.

Here, there is still dignity and humility, but being able to eat at the same table with the emperor has already shown that the old etiquette system has been broken.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, lunch was over, Zhu Yousong said to the eunuch beside him: "Get some fishing rods for the children and let them catch fish. Now let's get down to business. ”

"Father, I'll take my younger siblings with them." The young man sitting next to Li Zhaoji said. He is Li Zhaoji's eldest son Li Shirong, but Li Zhaoji shook his head slightly: "You are no longer a child, you should focus on serious and big things." Li Shirong bowed slightly, did not argue, but Zhu Yousong was extremely satisfied with Li Shirong, when he cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks and served tea and hospitality, he also made a few questions about Li Shirong, and listened to his answer, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Brother Li, Shirong is better than you, at least the Four Books and Five Classics have been read." You will also memorize 300 Tang poems, haha....... ”

"That is, our Li family inherits the ancestry, just like building a warship, and each generation is stronger than the next." Li Zhaoji laughed and said that he was also very satisfied with his eldest son, Li Shirong was very smart, calm, and handsome.

"Shirong..... Shirong ....... Behind the screen on the side, a lovely girl whispered Li Shirong's name.

"Meiyu, why are you here?" When Li Zhaoji saw Chen Meiyu, a smile immediately bloomed on his face, and his voice was gentle.

Chen Meiyu saw that she couldn't hide it, so she took the initiative to come in, and after saluting, she said: "The two aunts want to take their younger brothers and sisters to the city to play, and the child wants Shirong to go with her, but I don't know if my uncle will allow it." ”

"Oh, okay, you go and wait first, he'll be here in a moment." Li Zhaoji said to Chen Meiyu. After Chen Meiyu left, Li Zhaoji asked the people around him: "Do you have money with you?" ”

"I have a cashier's note from the Oriental Bank here, which is 10,000 taels." Cheng Bi said immediately.

"Change, silver dollars, copper coins, and the like." Li Zhaoji immediately said. Cheng Bi shook his head, everyone is the same, everyone here is either rich or expensive, who goes out is not a large entourage, who will bring money with him.

"I've got some here." However, Zhu Yousong, who had the most noble status, took out a money bag and handed it to Li Zhaoji.

Everyone couldn't help laughing, after Zhu Yousong had a son, he was a lot concerned about state affairs, but he was still not interested in pro-government, and it was rumored that he often sneaked out of the palace to have a good time, judging from the money he carried, this may not be fake.

Li Zhaoji stuffed him into his son's arms, carefully admonished him, and let him go.

"Shirong is so old, don't you want him to listen to major events?" Shen Youlong asked with a smile. Li Zhaoji said: "A lifelong event is a real event, and if he can marry Meiyu, it will be a great achievement." ”

"Alright, the map is unfolded, let's talk about big things." Zheng Sen reminded. Li Zhaoji spread his hands and didn't care about Zheng Sen's lack of face.

Zheng Sen's hand was on Xiangyang and Xuzhou, and said: "Li Chuang is stationed troops and grain in these places, and a large number of artillery is also being mobilized. Your Majesty, Weichen has received conclusive news that the thief army should launch an attack in August next year. As soon as these words came out, the representatives of the Oriental Trading Company and several consortiums were in an uproar.

They were a gang, and they had already met beforehand, and even Li Zhaoji didn't know when the Shun army would attack, but Zheng Sen had already determined.

"Are you sure of this information, where is the source?" Li Zhaoji asked. Zheng Sen said: "It is difficult to get conclusive news from Li Chuang, but I have received conclusive news from the Xian thief, who will attack in August. "Zheng Sen has dealt with the Great Western Army in the southwest for several years, and he has won and lost each other, and he also presided over the appeasement work, although it didn't work, but he had more contacts, and he may have obtained some intelligence sources, but in fact, this news was bought from Sun Kewang.

Li Zhaoji nodded slightly, although Zheng Sen would not say specifically, but he looked around and found that Shen Youlong's attitude was still the same, since Da Ming believed it, why didn't he believe it?

"So, the question now is, what role is the Oriental Trading Company prepared to play in this war, Mr. Li, are you willing to assist Daming." Zheng Sen asked, apparently preparing to be the bad guy to the end.

Everyone's eyes also looked at Li Zhaoji, who lit a cigarette and said flatly: "This is a very complicated issue. If I were to speak only from the point of view of showing my attitude, my attitude would be. ”

"I knew that Brother Li's Oriental Trading Company would always be the most reliable ally of the Ming Dynasty." A smile bloomed on Zhu Yousong's face, and he said with a laugh.

Li Zhaoji patted his fat hand, signaled him not to say much, and then said: "There are no outsiders here, we don't need to say some high-sounding words." What I said was the truth. Frankly, we will help, but not because of our allies, but simply for the sake of the trading company's own interests. For us, it was to the disadvantage of the trading companies that any party, whether it was the Great Ming, the Great Shun, the Great West, or the Manchu Qing Dynasty, agreeing to the Eastern Continent. I'm sure you understand that. And we help Daming, which is also based on our assessment. In my opinion, you are not the opponent of Dashun, and if the trading company does not participate, it will be in danger, which will undermine the trading company's continental equilibrium strategy. Shen Youlong and Zheng Sen's faces were a little ugly, but reason told them that Li Zhaoji said the truth and from the bottom of his heart.

On the contrary, Zhu Yousong didn't feel embarrassed, as long as Li Zhaoji stood on Daming's side, he would be satisfied, and the rest would be discussed by the people below.

"Then what role is the Oriental Trading Company prepared to play in this war?" Zheng Sen asked simply. "It's not up to us to decide, it's up to you," Lee said. Ladies and gentlemen, if we are asked to fight for the Ming Dynasty, you need to bear our military expenses, each soldier needs thirty taels of silver to fight in silver, and then bear all the ammunition consumption. It's just that because the Ming Dynasty will even owe its own army, it is necessary to advance part of the ammunition cost in advance. For each brigade we dispatched, we needed 300,000 taels of ammunition, and the excess was refunded and the deficiency was compensated. Therefore, a brigade needs 450,000 taels of silver, and these need to be paid in advance before our soldiers can land. ”

"The old man can't agree to your request." Shen Youlong said immediately, and then he realized that he shouldn't have answered so simply, so he said: "Zhaoji, you know the tax situation of the Ming Dynasty, although the finances of the Xia State of Zhang and Quan were improved after the king of Yanping pacified Zhang, but it was not spent in any year. There is a slight surplus in the treasury this year, and we are going to face a big war, and this year's autumn tax has been increased, and it has been given to you together, what should Wang Shi do? Li Zhaoji said: "Loan, Lord Shen has not operated it. Hong Kong has Cantonese Pass, and Songjiang has Jiangnan Bank, both of which can take out loans. Cheng Bi, Lin Weiyuan and the others all smiled slightly, but they didn't say anything, even though Li Zhaoji had already mentioned them.

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Shen Youlong was very helpless and looked at Chen Shangchuan, as the prefect of Songjiang, he was the liaison link between the Ming Dynasty and the Oriental Trading Company.

Chen Shangchuan said helplessly: "To be honest, the two banks still depend on the attitude of Oriental Trading Company. This time, the imperial court wanted to borrow money from banks as collateral for customs and canal duties. And only the Oriental Bank is willing to borrow, and the two major banks are willing to borrow, and twice as much as the Oriental Bank. The imperial court meant that it hoped that Mr. Li would lend one million taels, so that the two banks would each lend two million taels, which would be five million taels. This is the reason why the two major banks are willing to send representatives to attend, the Ming Dynasty really can't take out any decent collateral, and they don't think that the Ming Dynasty has any credibility, and only Li Zhaoji can maintain the credibility of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, there is no confidence in Daming, in case the money is lent to the imperial court and the imperial court is defeated, what should I do, Dashun will not pay back the money for Daming.

If there is no Li Zhaoji, these two families will go to the north and borrow money from Dashun, after all, the winning rate of the others is higher.

And this point, the two did not explain when they met in the early stage, and Li Zhaoji only then understood. They don't see the rabbit and don't scatter the eagle, only if the Oriental Trading Company intervenes in the war, then the Ming Dynasty can win or be undefeated, and they can lend money to the Ming court.

Only if the Oriental Trading Company sends troops + borrows, they will have confidence.

"It's right to talk about money before the soldiers and horses move the grain and grass, but in essence, we need to win." Li Zhaoji was silent for a while, and then said, "Let's talk about the war plan first. If you can't win on the battlefield, everything is equal to zero, this is an unbreakable truth. How about we do a wargame? ”

"What is wargaming?" Everyone on the Ming side asked. Li Zhaoji pointed to the map and said: "Li Chuang and Daming generally know how many soldiers and horses there are, and the combat area is also known. The trading company plays Li Chuang's side, you are still on the Ming side, let's deduce the course of the war on the map, how about it? I'll play Li Zicheng, who will be the boss of Daming? Shen Youlong and Zheng Sen glanced at each other, and Shen Youlong said, "King Yanping, it's better for you to come." Zheng Sen bowed slightly, held his head high, and said, "Okay, I'll parry on behalf of Daming." It's just that, Mr. Li, how do you calculate your company's soldiers and horses? ”

"I now have two field armies, totaling 55,000 people, and I will give you the most elite first army, which will be used as 30,000 people."

"Why don't you leave it all under my command?" Zheng Sen asked. Lee Siu-kee said: "After the deduction began, you understood that if you can move, you can also deploy. Zheng Sen nodded, and his hand was on Songjiang: "Before April next year, the First Army of the Oriental Trading Company will land in Songjiang and go to Nanjing to station. Li Zhaoji thought for a while and said: "We received information in April that the main force of the Oriental Trading Company entered Daming, and the number is unknown. "Everyone looked at each other and felt that this was nothing, Songjiang is now the center of Oriental trade, and the scale of the First Army is really too large, tens of thousands of people, tens of thousands of horses, thousands of vehicles and artillery, how can it be impossible to hide.

Li Zhaoji continued: "We will inform the Shengjing side of the information, let it reconnoiter the south of the Han River, and if the information is confirmed to be correct, we will launch a second war on the peninsula. Zheng Sen nodded again, now the Manchu Qing is still nominally an ally of the Ming Dynasty, but it is an enemy of the Oriental Trading Company and has a normal relationship with the Great Shun, they will definitely not watch from the sidelines in the war, they will choose to take advantage of the opportunity, it is obvious that it is more appropriate to enter the peninsula than to fight Shanhaiguan.

"Okay, the Chuang army will carry out strategic maneuvers, transfer the elite of Guanzhong and Hanzhong and half of the soldiers and horses of Xuzhou to a decent one, and let the soldiers and horses in the Gyeonggi area be transferred south to Qingzhou, Shandong. At the same time, the Western Army was invited to go out to Kuidong and attack Huguang. According to the plan, an offensive ....... launched in Xiangyang in July. Li Zhaoji said.

Zheng Sen's face changed greatly: "You...... How can you launch an attack from Xiangyang, with such a transfer of troops, Xuzhou will only have 30,000 soldiers and horses, and it will not be possible to cross the river. Li Zhaoji said: "With the main force of the Shun army plus the Western Army, I can gather 150,000 soldiers and horses in Xiangyang, and if necessary, the mobile corps that goes south to Qingzhou can also be connected, and it may be 200,000 soldiers and horses at that time." In this way, I can knock down Huguang and then go down the river to form a strategic encirclement of the two rivers. ”