After Wei Han led his troops back to the Lingshan Acropolis, he not only brought back Lu Xiangsheng's handwritten letter, but also some armor and firecrackers allocated by Lu Xiangsheng for Liu Yan, although the number was not very large, but there were also more than 300 pairs of armor, 500 bird guns and three-eyed guns, but those firecrackers were basically arquebuses, and there were very few flintlock guns.

Seeing this, Chen Xun ordered Wei Han to work hard again and send this batch of armor, firecrackers and Lu Xiangsheng's handwritten letter to Jimo Yingcheng.

When Wei Han arrived at Jimo Yingcheng, he happened to meet Yue Ming, a money and grain official, and Song Gongming, a commercial official, outside the guerrilla general's mansion.

Seeing Wei Han, Song Gongming and Yue Ming greeted each other with fists, and the three of them exchanged a few words, Wei Han asked with a smile: "When did Song Qianhu and Yue Qianhu come over, and they want to go back?" ”

Song Gongming said: "We arrived yesterday, and the adults urgently summoned us to discuss the matter, and we have to rush back now." ”

Wei Han said in surprise: "So urgent? Otherwise, wait a minute, I will hand over the escort equipment, how about we go back to Lingshanwei together? ”

Yue Ming waved his hand and said, "Let's go first, the time given to us by the adults is too tight, and we can't delay it for an hour." ”

After speaking, Yue Ming hugged his fists and confessed his guilt, and left quickly with Song Gongming, there were already horses prepared at the gate, Yue Ming and Song Gongming turned over their horses, dressed in thick skins, and rode their horses away in the cold wind.

Wei Han shook his head, he didn't understand what these two "God of Wealth" were anxious about, could it be that something was wrong?

"Go first to the barracks in the city, and store your weapons in the arsenals."

"Yes."

After sending his subordinates away, Wei Han entered the guerrilla general's mansion and met Liu Yan in the warm pavilion.

At this time, Liu Yanzheng was frowning and writing something, Wei Han stood in the distance and saluted with his fists, and explained the matter of the escort soldiers, and then took out Lu Xiangsheng's handwritten letter.

Liu Yan said hard work, unfolded the letter and read it, didn't say anything, just sighed slightly, and then said to Wei Han: "You came at the right time, just have a hard trip." ”

Wei Han cried out bitterly in his heart, and asked with a smile: "What is the send?" ”

"You led your troops to Dapanbao, and by the end of the year, the soap workshop, the wine workshop, the salt drying field and the glass workshop all had a backlog of money and grain, and you led the department to transport this batch of money and grain directly to Jimo Yingcheng."

Wei Han was stunned for a moment, and said: "My lord, the income from the workshops has always been directly stored in the Lingshan Wei Mansion Treasury, that is, the Treasury on the side of Moying City, which is shared by the official Treasury of the General Zhang Youxun and other adults, if we store it, ......."

Liu Yan said: "You don't care about this. After transporting it back, you will directly hand over it to Miao Shao, the commander of the guard battalion, and he will prepare the treasury separately. ”

Wei Han clenched his fists and took the order, and then retreated, but he secretly said in his heart: "No wonder I saw Song Qianhu and Yue Qianhu just now, the faces of the two of them were not quite right, it turned out that the adults were raising money and food." Is there a war to be fought? ”

Wei Han thought as he came to the gate and mounted his horse to the barracks to transfer his subordinates.

In the warm pavilion, Liu Yan was still writing something, and the rice paper was already full of various numbers, and it turned out that he was counting the amount of money and grain.

"Still a little bit!"

Liu Yan calculated a total, then leaned back in his chair and smiled bitterly.

It is now the twelfth year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1639 AD, at the end of this year, Emperor Chongzhen's edict ordered to train border soldiers and militiamen, and levy one cent of silver per mu of training, and the whole country collected a total of 7.3 million taels.

"Chongzhen's twelve years of salary was exhausted and the thief was not settled, so he discussed from Sichang and Zhang Bojing, the supervisor of the salary, and increased the salary by 7.3 million yuan."

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were 80,000 soldiers in training, and more than 700,000 in Liao, repression, and training were paid, and the disadvantages were the same.

At this time, Liu Yan recalled some historical materials he had read, and his heart was very heavy. The reason why the three salaries at the end of the Ming Dynasty were so famous was not because of itself, but because of the great harm of the three salaries, and even many scholars believed that the addition of the three salaries accelerated the defeat of the Ming Dynasty, making it impossible to reverse the situation in the world!

This time, the imperial court levied additional salaries, according to the calculation of time, it is estimated that now Emperor Chongzhen's edict has been headquarters, and the military department presided over by Yang Sichang has also issued an official document, and it will not be long before news will be received from all parts of Shandong.

"Humph! Yang Sichang thought that with an additional levy of more than 7.3 million taels of silver, he could train a large number of elite soldiers and horses, which was really naïve! ”

Liu Yan knew very well that at this time, most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty were corrupt officials, or they were so-called clear streams who could only talk high, and there were very few officials who were really capable. In such a situation, how much of the more than 7.3 million taels of silver that was levied and collected was actually distributed to the soldiers? A million or a hundred thousand?

"It's ridiculous!"

Liu Yan knew the means of the officials at this time, and the imperial court clearly wanted to levy 7.3 million taels of silver, but the officials at all levels would definitely increase the amount of silver, and how much silver would they have to show off to the people? Ten million or twenty million? Liu Yan didn't know, and he didn't dare to think about it.

What is even more terrifying is that officials at all levels will not levy salaries from merchants, gentry, and officials themselves, but will transfer all the pressure to ordinary people, making the already poor and helpless people even worse.

Liu Yan concluded that after the start of the campaign, there will be a round of exile frenzy in the next day, and now Li Zicheng's generation will wake up laughing in their dreams, and Emperor Chongzhen gave Li Zicheng a "soldier gift package" under the advice of Yang Sichang!

This time, Liu Yan urgently called Song Gongming and Yue Ming to raise some money and grain for backup.

Although the military households of Lingshanwei and Aoshanwei are far richer than the people in other places, but when they encounter this kind of apportionment, they will be looted at the lightest, and they will be directly ruined, Liu Yan will naturally not sit idly by, so he decided to use the money and grain in his hand to directly make up for the money and grain apportioned this time.

At the same time, Liu Yan concluded that the rest of the military households in various places would definitely be hit, and the people who went bankrupt in various places would form a flood if they were levied on salaries, and Liu Yan must prepare enough money and food in advance to meet the needs of the emergency.

However, there is not a lot of money and food that can be mobilized in Liu Yan's hands now, in addition to the expenses of Lingshanwei and Aoshanwei for repairing the city defense, as well as the expenses of the new army, there must also be a part of the Lingshanwei treasury retained.

The rest of the money and grain, after Song Gongming and Yue Ming's accounting, is currently only 380,000 taels of silver and 200,000 stone of grain.

Liu Yan thought about it again and again, and still ordered Song Gongming and Yue Ming to find a way to raise some more, and scrape together 450,000 taels of silver and 300,000 stone grain, and transport them all to Jimo Yingcheng within a month.

Miao Shao had already received Liu Yan's order earlier, and was now leading his troops to build a treasury in a deserted village ten miles east of Jimo Yingcheng, near Aoshanwei, as a place to hoard this batch of money and grain.

After a busy time, Liu Yan sighed, he had tried his best, hoping to tide over the difficulties.

"I thought that there would definitely be a lot of displaced people from all over the world this time, and it was a great opportunity to absorb the population, but unfortunately I was shy in my pocket!"

"That's it! Count as much as you can, do your best, and listen to the destiny of heaven! ”

A few days later, the order of the imperial court to levy additional salaries was sent to the capital of Jinan, and this time the guards in various parts of Shandong were apportioned a large share, which was 430,000 taels of silver.

Lu Xiangsheng was quite indignant when he received the order, and said to Yan Jizu, who came to discuss countermeasures: "I have two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty, and the northern provinces have been ravaged by the army of thieves and slaves in succession, the people are poor and the fields are barren, while the southern provinces have been affected very limited. ”

However, the imperial court did not distinguish between rich and poor, and shared the northern provinces equally. Shandong has been sacked by slaves and thieves twice in a row, and the military households and ordinary people are about to be unable to live, and we don't even have the silver to repair the city, but the imperial court has apportioned 430,000 taels of silver, and the rich places such as Nanzhili, Fujian, and Zhejiang have only apportioned 300,000 or 400,000 taels of silver. ”

Yan Jizu was also indignant and said: "Don't forget, the governor and the ministers are all controlled by the Donglin Party at present, and most of their relatives and protégés are in the provinces south of the Yangtze River, so they naturally have to maintain it, where can they take care of the lives of the people!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng is actually also a member of the Donglin Party, at least he thinks of himself as Donglin, at this time after listening to Yan Jizu's words, he felt a trace of sadness in his heart, and sat down dejectedly.

Seeing this, Yan Jizu knew that he was speechless, and hurriedly clenched his fists and apologized.

Lu Xiangsheng shook his head and said: "Yan Futai is right, the current Donglin Party members are no longer the Donglin Party members of the past. The Donglin officials in the court have long since lost the character of the Donglin Magi, they only have authority and gold and silver in their eyes, and they don't care about the life and death of the people, and don't care about the safety of the world! ”

Yan Jizu wanted to say something, but in the end he couldn't say anything, and he sat down and shook his head and sighed.

After a long time, Lu Xiangsheng slowly got up and said, "Yan Futai will be in charge of Jinan Fucheng, and you must try to collect as much money as possible." Today, the Governor went to inspect various places and urged the generals to pay their salaries. ”

Yan Jizu hurriedly said: "Governor, let's think about it again, with the current situation of the people in Shandong, if you don't like it, even if you force out the people to revolt, the 430,000 taels of silver will not be enough!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Liu Yan has a saying that is right: the people have no silver, but the officials everywhere are very rich!" This time he inspected the localities, and the governor inspected on the spot, and if the people were poor and could not collect all the money, the local officials would either pay for the money themselves, or they would be dismissed from their posts on the spot and go home to farm. ”

Yan Jizu was shocked and exclaimed: "The governor must not!" In this way, the governor will be the enemy of Shandong officialdom! ”

A few days later, Lu Xiangsheng went south from Jinan Prefecture, all the way south through Tai'an Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture, stayed in Yanzhou Mansion for three days, and then turned eastward, passing through Mengyin County and Yishui County into Laizhou.

Along the way, Lu Xiangsheng kept beating local officials and urging the generals of various health offices, but the effect was minimal.

The salaries paid by the people in various places are very limited, and the officials in various places have also pretended to be poor, and even worse, they directly put on a righteous and awe-inspiring posture: I am a clean official, and I don't want any money!

Lu Xiangsheng was also helpless about this.

"Governor, where are we going to patrol next?"

In the cold wind, Lu Xiangsheng's guard of honor was marching along the official road, Lu Huaiying rode a horse and followed the carriage, only to see Lu Xiangsheng lift the cotton curtain on the car window and say, "Go to Gaomi County, and then make plans." ”

"Yes."

Lu Huaiying knew that from Gaomi County to the north through Pingdu Prefecture, it was the capital city of Laizhou, and from Gaomi County to the south, it was Jimoying City.

"The governor is also struggling!"

Lu Huaiying said in her heart.

Some people died, but not completely......