Li Guodong gave Zhang Dingguo not much food, only forty stones, but the information he sent to Zhang Shuheng was a hundred times more expensive than food: Li Guoying, under Zuo Liangyu, would send a batch of fake cigarettes and gold and silver treasures stolen from the people in five days, and set off from Shucheng to trade at Chaohu Lake in Liang County for food exchange. The information clearly stated the number of fake cigarettes, as many as 10,000 boxes, and the estimated value of gold and silver treasures was more than 10,000 taels.

Zhang Dingguo calculated the price of fake cigarettes, a pack of ten cents of copper plates, a box of 1,500 bags, which is thirty stags of copper plates, which is equivalent to about thirty taels of silver and ten thousand boxes, which is thirty thousand taels of silver. Most of the silver will be exchanged for food by Li Guoying.

Li Guodong's personal guards' information was very accurate. Zhang Shuheng had successfully installed an inside line in Shucheng. A thief general like Zuo Liangyu, whose military discipline was worse than that of the bandits, had not been very strict in the army's confidentiality system, and Zhang Shuheng and others easily obtained information. Originally, Zuo Liangyu was named the general of pacification by the court, but because the people hated Zuo Liangyu, they simply removed the word "ping", so Zuo Liangyu became the general of the thief mentioned by the people.

"Do it! You must do this ticket! You robbed this batch of goods!" Zhang Dingguo made up his mind. He was short of food now and could stop the goods on the way back when Li Guoying came back.

Zuo Liangyu is the general officer, but his troops have reached more than 100,000. If a general officer is allocated food and pay according to the court, that is, 10,000 people, Zuo Liangyu has made contributions to suppressing the bandits and reported the number of people. Chongzhen was already kind-hearted when the court could allocate food and pay according to 30,000 people. So what should I do if the remaining 70,000 mouths are left? Zuo Liangyu will find a way himself.

So Zuo Liangyu's army was corrupt and there was no way. So many people wanted to eat, but the court provided insufficient food and salary, so they could only rob it. However, the robbery of gold, silver and treasures and food were insufficient. If they wanted to support so many people, they could only find a way to find a way by themselves. Relying on winning the "thief" heads to repay merit, it was also a drop in the bucket. In fact, many of the so-called "thief" heads sent by Zuo Liangyu were innocent people who were killed by the left thief army.

Later, Zuo Liangyu discovered that Li Guodong's tobacco business was booming and was a profitable industry, so he also asked people to start the tobacco business. However, the cigarettes made by Zuo Liangyu were far inferior to Li Guodong's Dadewang brand in terms of quality and taste, because he didn't know the secret recipe at all.

Zuo Liangyu's cigarettes were not sold at all, so he thought of a way: fake the Dadewang brand and start making fake cigarettes from then on.

On the Hangbu River leading to Chaohu in Shucheng, a fleet of ships under the banner of Zuojun was flowing down the Hangbu River. Small boats were loaded with boxes of fake Dadewang cigarettes. The left army had more than 2,000 people, expelling more than 1,000 ship workers to deliver goods by boat.

Zuo Liangyu's general Hao Xiaozhong was responsible for escorting fake cigarettes. His task was to deliver the fake cigarettes to Fengzhouwei on the edge of Chaohu Lake. The grain merchants from Huguang would pick up the fake cigarettes and gold and silver treasures there and sell the grain to Hao Xiaozhong. After completing the transaction, Hao Xiaozhong only needed to escort the food back to Shucheng.

In the woods by the river, several figures wearing Ming army uniforms were hiding in the woods, observing the movements on the river.

"Second brother, the thief generals are on board the boat. They will probably come back by boat when they come back from transporting food. We have too few ships, how can we do it?" Zhang Wenxiu asked softly.

These people wearing Ming army uniforms were disguised by Zhang Dingguo and others.

Zhang Ding Guodao: "They must go to Fengzhouwei to trade on the waterway, so we might as well go to Fengzhouwei to do it."

"Why are the eldest brother so sure that they will trade in Fengzhouwei?" Zhang Nengqi asked.

"It's very simple. The Hangbu River is too small. The large ships of food cannot enter. They can only go to Fengzhouwei by the lake. Third brother and fourth brother, you go back and summon the old camp cavalry, and I will continue to stare at them." Zhang Dingguo gave orders to Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi.

Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi left with a few scouts and whistle cavalry. Zhang Dingguo, with more than a dozen personal soldiers, simply came out of the woods and rode down the Hangbu River. Even if he encountered officers and soldiers interrogated him, he was not afraid. Zhang Shuheng and the others had already prepared fake waist cards and fake documents for him. It was a trivial matter for Zhang Shuheng and others.

Fengzhouwei is the entrance to the Hangbu River flowing into Chaohu Lake, where there is a river embankment and a ship lock. Hao Xiaozhong's fleet arrived in Fengzhouwei, and the officers and soldiers guarding the river embankment opened the ship lock, allowing Hao Xiaozhong's fleet to enter Chaohu Lake.

The fleet entered Chaohu Lake and did not sail into the depths of Chaohu Lake, but was moored on a dock beside Fengzhouwei Lake. Hao Xiaozhong was waiting for the arrival of the grain merchant's fleet here.

In the evening, a fleet appeared on the lake and slowly drove into Fengzhouwei Port Area.

"Shopkeeper Cheng, why are you here in person?" Seeing Cheng Liangru walking down from a large ship, Hao Xiaozhong hurriedly greeted him.

Cheng Liangru is not an ordinary person, but the largest Huai'an canal merchant in the two Huaihe Rivers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. He was a salt merchant and grain merchant. He was a guy who could make a fortune on the canal. The backstage behind it was quite large, including the governor of the grain transportation department, Nanzhili, Yingtianfu, and all the troops. Later, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing rulers came and lived a life of living a life of debauchery, because after the Qing army entered the pass, these merchants who had no lower limit turned around and surrendered to the Qing army to provide food to the Qing army.

There is also a lot of money in the fake cigarette business. Although he himself does not participate in the production of fake cigarettes, he can make a profit from it by picking up the goods from Liu Liangzuo and Zuo Liangyu and selling them at a high price. The profit from it is higher than the profits of the two producers. He bartered and exchanged grain for Zuo Liangyu for fake cigarettes, so the price of grain is naturally higher than the market price.

Cheng Liangru walked forward, bowed his hands and said, "Mr. Hao Qian, we have already delivered the food you want, a total of 100,000 stones. I want to see your goods."

"One hundred thousand stones? Our goods plus cash silver, the total price is 400,000 taels of silver! You actually only give 100,000 stones? Is this price too dark?" Hao Xiaozhong opened his mouth wide in shock.

The price of grain in the late Chongzhen period rose, but even the worst grain merchants could sell for three taels of silver and one stone, which was already very unscrupulous. Cheng Liang bought the grain sold to Zuo Liangyu, but he actually dared to sell it for four taels of silver and one stone!

"Hahaha!" Cheng Liangru laughed, "This price is normal. If it is a normal channel, it will be at most three taels of silver. But you are bartering, and your cigarettes are fake, so of course you have to calculate a little more discount. Also, don't think I don't know where your gold, silver and treasures came from, and they weren't stolen? I won't provide you with food. Look at other grain merchants. They don't dare to come when they hear the name of Zuojunmen. Only I, Cheng, have the courage to come to you for business."

Hao Xiaozhong didn't dare to offend Cheng Liangli, and even Zuo Liangyu didn't dare to offend him. After all, this person's backstage was very tough and his background was too big. If he cut Cheng Liangli, there would be only one way to raise the flag to rebel. Zuo Liangyu could hold his own troops and not listen to the orders of the court, but they still didn't have the courage to raise the flag to rebel. Now Zuo Liangyu was wearing the skin of an official army and could do evil and harm the people. Once he raised the flag to rebel, he would face heavy encirclement and suppression of the court. Zuo Liangyu knew the best of how the rebels were. Now the thief army was surrounded and suppressed from all sides and could only hide in the mountains and eat tree bark and grass roots. Zuo Liangyu didn't want to live such a life.

Hao Xiaozhong handed over the list: "Shopkeeper Cheng, this is the list, please check it out."

Cheng Liangzhi took it over and opened the list and saw it. It said: 60,000 taels of silver, 2,000 taels of gold, 3 boxes of jewelry, 500 boxes of high-quality good cigarettes, 3,500 boxes of medium cigarettes, and 6,000 boxes of low-quality cigarettes.

"Let's go, go and inspect the goods." Cheng Liangru waved.

Several guys walked on Hao Xiaozhong's ship, opened the boxes, and checked the goods in boxes.

Half an hour later, the guys came back: "You report to the shopkeeper, there is no problem with the goods, and there is no problem with gold, silver and treasures."
Chapter completed!