Chapter 299: Step by step, there are successors

Lu Jiude, the eunuch in Nanjing, spent several years in the capital, but was recommended to the emperor by the Imperial Horse Supervisor and led troops to Huguang to support the suppression of the bandits. His military career was indeed extremely hard, and he had to be instructed by the Supervisor's civil officials. The domineering generals of friendly troops made life very uncomfortable.

Until he inexplicably took the position of the eunuch in Nanjing, and that day suddenly changed from underground to heaven. Although Lu Jiude didn't know the key points, it was a good thing after all.

After sitting in the position of the eunuch in Nanjing for less than three days, he sent someone to give a heavy gift to Wang Chengen, the eunuch in the capital's Liquor Supervisor, which almost cost 80% of his savings over the past few years.

Originally, the eunuch Wang Chengen found a candidate like Lu Jiude in order to win Liu Fu. The Silijian and the Imperial Horse Prison were both civil and military. There were still some conflicts between them. However, when he sent this gift, Wang Chengen found that Lu Jiude was also tactful, so he simply kept him in his position.

However, Lu Jiude is not a loss. He was in the position of eunuch in Nanjing for two months, and all the money he spent was returned to his own hands, and he was almost 10% more.

Nanzhili is indeed Taiping, Fengyang Zhongdu, Luzhou Prefecture, and Anqing Prefecture. There are Shandong soldiers and horses to the north and Zhejiang to the south. There are no military affairs here. It is also very leisurely on weekdays. Just enjoy it in this prosperous place in Jiangnan.

But Lu Jiude's peaceful days were not a few days later. On June 13, the 13th year of Chongzhen, the Nanjing garrison received an urgent report that a bandit broke into Nanzhili from Guide Prefecture, Henan, and was in a hurry along the way.

When the news was reported by the personal soldiers who were circulating the message, Lu Jiude was listening to the wine tasting in the mansion. Several eunuchs in Nanjing were accompanying him. When he heard the news, Lu Jiude stood there blankly, and the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground and broke without even realizing it.

Except for the troops in Nanzhili who guarded Nanjing, Zhongdu Fengyang and the Yangtze River, the rest were deployed on the border between Huguang and Nanyang Prefecture, Henan and Nanzhili.

During the day, Zhang Xianzhong led the riots into Fengyang, Zhongdu, burned the imperial tomb, and had a drink and carnival for three days. As a result, civil and military officials at all levels of Nanzhili, military eunuchs and others were beheaded and removed from office. Of course, the latecomers were unwilling to repeat the same mistakes. As a result, heavy troops were stationed in the western part of Nanzhili, and layers of defense were defended.

Although Zhang Xianzhong is now fleeing in Sichuan in a panic, he may return to Huguang at any time, so the focus of defense in Nanzhili is on Fengyang, Luzhou, and Anqing, especially Luzhou and Anqing, which are more focused.

On the contrary, at the junction of Henan, Shandong and Southern Zhili provinces, the defense is not so tight, because there have never been any rioters who have broken into it. Xuzhou is a hub and has always been stationed in heavy troops. With the protection there, the troops from Shandong and Henan also have responsibilities, so Lu Jiude has never paid much attention to it.

But today, the sudden arrival of the Nanjing eunuch Lu Jiude only realized that the Xuzhou soldiers were beaten a while ago and were injured. It is said that all the troops in Henan are concentrated in the southern and western Henan areas. The Shandong general Li Meng never ignored the outside world. It was clearly a place where heavy troops were stationed, but now it is the most empty.

The urgent report received that day was not only the garrison, but also the Nanjing Governor and the Nanjing Minister of War.

The general situation finally came to understand. It was said that a large bandit came south from the direction of Kaifeng Prefecture along the Yellow River. There were only 500 officers and soldiers in Guide Prefecture, and they all hid in the city and did not dare to come out. However, in Guide Prefecture, they deviated from the direction of the Yellow River and entered Nanzhili in Yongcheng.

All the generals who saw this news in Nanjing were cursing. The bandits had such good luck that they actually passed through the gaps between Fengyang Prefecture and Xuzhou. The soldiers from Fengyang Prefecture could not be transferred in a hurry.

Because of the failure of Xuzhou's troops, the military force is already very tight to protect Xuzhou, a water and land transportation hub, and they dare not divide their troops to go south. If the opponent cuts off the retreat and the canal transportation will be affected, the matter will become more and more serious.

After the three ministers of War, the garrison and the eunuchs in the garrison, and the opinions of the generals in Nanjing, they concluded that this group of bandits were hungry people and came to the forefront of wealthy places. Fengyang Prefecture, Xuzhou and Huai'an Prefecture will not be their targets for stopping. The places where Jiangbei can go, especially in the scope of Nanzhili, that is, Yangzhou Prefecture is the target.

The current purpose is to send troops to block refugees in the north of Fengyang Prefecture, and send troops from both Nanjing and Fengyang Zhongdu to work together to block and completely eliminate them.

Lu Jiude and the military generals in Nanjing did not look up to the combat effectiveness of this bandit force. It would be extremely easy for the troops from Nanzhili to destroy this bandit.

After the three people in Nanjing agreed, they could directly allocate troops from all over the Nanzhili area, and then ask for orders from the capital. They immediately sent out a series of military order documents. The nobles in the city and the generals outside the city all sorted out their troops and hurriedly went out of the city to cross the river and headed to the junction of Yangzhou Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture.

But five days after the dispatch of the military order was sent, another messenger in Xuzhou came to deliver the letter. This news made everyone in Nanjing stunned again. After passing through Xuzhou, a large number of refugees did not go south, but instead headed towards the east sea and headed to the north of Huai'an Prefecture.

According to the time it takes to communicate with the letter, these refugees may have passed Suqian now. What are they doing there?

This is not a big problem. The real problem is that the army is rushing to the west of Yangzhou Prefecture, all gathering in Sizhou and Xuyi. I am afraid that there will be too late to dispatch troops. I am afraid that the response will be taken out. This is already going to the north of Huai'an Prefecture.

However, they are anxious, but they are not as panicked as before. The sea to the east is a dead place, and the north of Huai'an Prefecture is a place with strong people. The servants and private soldiers of the clan will also cause a lot of resistance to the bandits, and there are also Shandong soldiers stationed in Huaibei.

One by one, the news spread from the north to Nanjing City, and then to the rich people in Nanzhili through open and secret information channels. The most anxious thing now is the salt merchants in Yangzhou City. After finally getting rid of the scourge of pirates, why did the bandits come again? And if these bandits don’t go to those rich places, why did they go specifically to Huaibei?

There are salt farms and manors produced by the salt industry, and the lifeblood of various salt merchants!

There was a great disaster in the world, and Nanzhili was not without disasters, because Nanjing and Fengyang had many royal relatives and nobles, and other prefectures and counties had many noble relatives. Land annexation was one of the most powerful places in the Ming Dynasty. There were really many farmers who went bankrupt without land. There were large refugees from Henan, and these civilians in Nanzhili who could not survive were also followed.

What no one expected was that after passing Suqian, the number of refugees suddenly changed from less than 10,000 to nearly 30,000, which had become a disaster.

Huai'an Prefecture hastily gathered more than 4,000 troops to stop them. The salt merchants are their parents of food and clothing, and their superiors. They are about to go to the salt merchants' salt farms in Huaibei. The salt merchants are all furious.

These more than 4,000 soldiers were defeated by the bandits without any suspense. The generals and officers of the team died in the chaos. The soldiers who escaped by chance said that there were a large number of horse thieves among the bandits. After the war started, the Ranma rushed over and could not suppress the situation. The next step was to collapse.

No matter how confused this bandit is or how he goes to the desperate situation in Linhai, it is no longer important. At present, the most important thing is to defend the salt field in Haizhou.

Of course, the salt merchants couldn't sit still. Who is the most capable soldier in Haizhou and Ganyu now? Of course, the 5,000 troops of the Huaibei Army in Jiaozhou. These 5,000 troops and a thousand troops can withstand the siege of thousands of horse bandits. What are these bandits?

An official from Huai'an Prefecture, an envoy from the Haizhou Salt Transportation Office, and the subordinates of the salt merchants, went to the Huaibei Army's garrison like a flowing stream, asking the troops to send troops to fight against the bandits.

Zhang Jiang of the Huaibei Army is only in his twenties this year, but he is an old man who has been carrying soldiers for many years. He is full of official accents and said, "The army and horses led by me in Lu are the guest soldiers, and the area they guard is the Haizhou city. Don't worry, if you have this army in Haizhou city, you will definitely have no worries, but this other place..."

The Haizhou city can be kept well, but the Haizhou magistrate and the salt transport envoy have no intention of being happy at all. There is a bird for guarding a city in Haizhou. The salt field outside the salt field and the salt warehouse ships on the side of the salt transport river are the real big heads. If these are destroyed, the shipment of Huai salt in the second half of the year will probably be affected again.

Sichuan salt has been used in the west of Huguang, which has been blocked for hundreds of years, but there has been a problem during this period. If it is destroyed this time, even Nanzhili will have to eat salt from other provinces.

But no matter how the salt merchants and the government persuaded them, Zhang Jiang was still calm and said righteously. "I was appointed by General Li, General Li, and was led by Governor Yan from Shandong, and did not obey the orders from other authorities." He blocked all these people back.

The salt merchants are really confused now, especially when they see the leader of Lianghuai Salt Industry. The Fang family in Yangzhou is all planning to use their own private military commanders and recruit Zhuang Ding to guard the salt field and the salt fields, and they are even more panicked.

There are two ways for salt merchants to do at present. One is to send people to move in Nanjing City to ask those senior officials and generals to urge the soldiers in Xuyi to transfer to Huaibei as soon as possible. With the purpose of these adjustments, the generals who led the soldiers said that they could not run anymore. The soldier would easily run away. When Shaanxi and Huguang suppressed the thieves, the soldiers everywhere had such difficulties. If they could not keep up, they would become bandits.

These fallen soldiers who were scattered and dispersed were probably a greater disaster than bandits when they came to the people, and they could not move in a hurry. The second method was to recruit horse thieves to attack these bandits.

Recruiting horse thieves to fight the bandits is a bit ridiculous. However, Chen Wu, a salt merchant, did this, but this is not a suitable method. After all, it is not a long way to relieve his thirst.

Shuyang City was besieged by large bandits, but Shuyang City defended the military and civilians climbed the city to defend. These bandits did not have the ability to attack and were only clamoring under the city for a few days.

After the refugees who were starving to death in Henan came to Huaibei, they were guided to break the large manors and some rural forts and found a large number of food and supplies. Although they were fighting desperately here, they could eat enough compared to Henan.

In the prisoner camp under Kaifeng city, some "members" and "enthusiastic people" clamored that the so-called wealth in Huaibei was at least able to eat enough as long as they came here.

For these hungry refugees, eating a full stomach is supreme happiness, and it is worth betting on their lives for this goal and fighting to the death.

The siege of Shuyang was not successful, and many Nanzhili refugees who followed the brigade in Fengyang Prefecture even left themselves, but there were about 20,000 people left, and everyone was clamored and felt excited. Haizhou City is the richest city in the world. As long as this city is opened, everyone can have food and clothing and worry-free.

Faced with such a situation, the salt merchants were indeed anxious. Fang Yingzhong, the eldest son of the Fang family, summoned the salt merchants' fellow workers to discuss it for a day, and the messenger drove a fast horse from Yangzhou and headed towards Haizhou.

The bandits who left Shuyang City and went to Haizhou followed the official road. Since entering Nanzhili, Guide Prefecture, Henan, these bandits have not encountered any obstacles, but this time they encountered big trouble. They left Shuyang City for about 70 miles and met the Jiaozhou Camp Huaibei Army who was waiting in line.

This time, the Jiaozhou Camp Huaibei Army was led by the garrison Zhang Jiang, and the firearms and artillery were brought out, leaving only a thousand people behind.

When they were under Kaifeng City, many bandits were rookies who were on the battlefield for the first time. Along the way, many people have become much more sophisticated. At least they are not afraid of blood and dare to raise their swords to kill people.

However, such progress is far from enough to face the regular army of Jiaozhou Camp. Although they are facing the troops mainly recruits, what is even more terrible is that the horse thieves who have been rushing forward as backbones in the past have escaped first this time.

As soon as the horse thieves fled, the entire team of the bandits collapsed. When the Jiaozhou camp troops rushed to the front, the tens of thousands of bandits who seemed to be majestic immediately collapsed completely.

When the news of victory spread, the Jiangbei area in Nanzhili was relieved and had a new judgment on the Huaibei Army in Jiaozhou Camp. The Shandong soldiers were indeed able to fight, which gave the tens of thousands of bandits who had been in trouble for so long. The 4,000 Huaibei Army actually won the battle.

There are also rumors that the Salt Industry Guild in Yangzhou made 200,000 taels of silver for Zhang Jiang. The promise of all military funds in this battle was that such a great benefit made Zhang Jiang agree to lead the army to fight and win this time. It seems that the money spent is worth it.

However, the Jiangbei area in southern Zhili was relaxed too early. The defeated bandits were not completely annihilated, but were divided into large and small teams, completely scattered in various parts of Huaian Prefecture, attacking villages and harassing the salt fields and salt fields. Now, because the whole was broken into pieces, these refugee teams were also flexible and mobile. At first, they were just panic in Huaian Prefecture, but now they were completely corrupt in Huaian Prefecture.

In just half a month, five salt farms were burned, and even a salt merchant's manor in the countryside was broken, with heavy casualties.

Now the officers and soldiers gathered in Xuyi can finally come to Huai'an Prefecture to suppress the civil unrest, but their troops could not take care of such a large place as Huai'an Prefecture, and could only defend a few cities.

After the refugees were dispersed, there was no threat to the city, but the salt merchants did not rely on the city to make money and make money in Huaian Prefecture. The salt field and salt fields were all outside the city.

After that defeat, the Huaibei Army guard Zhang Jiang was no longer willing to attack at will. He said that the ground in Huaibei is now unstable, and it is the responsibility to protect the safety of Haizhou City. If he attacks at will, I am afraid that my general will not spare me. This reason is so high-sounding that the salt merchants can do nothing.

And this time they felt strange that they spent a lot of money to get Zhang Jiang to play last time, but now, no matter how high the price is, Zhang Jiang is not moved at all, but there are signs of turning against each other.

At this time, the only thing that makes people admire their good luck is that the Fang family. Otherwise, the Fang family has achieved such a large scale in hundreds of years, most of the Fang family's salt farms are near Haizhou City, and there are large guards of the Huaibei Army of Jiaozhou Camp here, and the bandits and bandits dare not come to harass them.

Because production has always been very stable, salt merchants in Yangzhou each have salt fields and salt fields, and the production capacity is very large. Every year, in order not to cause price competition, there are negotiations and agreements to divide the shares in advance. Nowadays, many salt fields and salt fields cannot even transport a grain of salt due to local chaos.

The Fang family and the salt merchants who also have salt fields near Haizhou and Ganyu did not suffer any losses in this chaos, but instead took a lot of advantage. Since the originally designated share cannot produce salt goods, they will naturally be invalid.

Because of this chaos, not only were some salt merchants from Lianghuai, but also were booming at the salt transport terminal in Jiningzhou. A large number of salt goods produced in salt farms from Shandong gathered from waterways to Jiningzhou, and then transported to various places for sale through canal transportation.

Yangzhou salt merchants are the top one among the richest people in the world, but although the income is huge, the expenditure is also quite large.

Now the salt goods business is affected, and the salt merchants who are directly involved are in a difficult situation. At the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, pirates harassed the salt farm, and the economic situation has been greatly damaged. In addition, the "protection fee" of the public sector was expected to make up for the gaps and loopholes based on normal production this year, but suddenly something happened again, and many families could not hold on.

In fact, these rich salt merchants also have a capital chain problem in the homes. Once the income and expenditure are unbalanced, there is a danger of collapse and destruction. Now this danger is here.

In July, the most common words that teahouse idle people say in teahouses are "The house is leaking and raining." The smaller the salt merchants, the more they suffer the most in this bandit rebellion. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In addition to discussing this, the idle people also praised Mr. Fang for his kindness and righteousness. On the one hand, they spent money to help fellow workers in trouble, and on the other hand, they sent people to conduct activities in Nanjing and the capital to completely eliminate the bandits in Huai'an Prefecture.

Outsiders see this, but those salt merchants who encounter financial difficulties have their own difficulties. The Fang family's help is not a charity priceless. If you take out a cent of silver, you will take away a share of the silver. These salt merchants are all weak people with no background and have no say. At this moment, they are robbed by the other party, so they can only grit their teeth and admit it.

If you don't recognize him, you will dismiss the servants and daughters in your family and sell their ancestral calligraphy and paintings. Over the years, you will rely on the official and businessman to do business, and you will not understand other ways at all. When the cost is reduced to the minimum, you will sell out all the inventory at home. Do you have to work on your own and your wife and concubines...

Moreover, the Fang family also used the relationship between various yamen. Yangzhou salt merchants are the official business. If there is no salt to sell, then the government and related yamen can also cancel your salt merchant qualifications. To that extent, it will be truly doomed and can only agree.

At the end of July, the increasingly riot of Henan bandits finally decided on the solution. The only moveable and effective way at present is to invite Shandong troops into Huai'an Prefecture to ease the peace.

The Fang family has many acquaintances in the capital and Nanjing. Almost all of them were mobilized this time. Shandong troops guarding Huaibei Army has actually set a precedent. There are also Zuo Liangyu stationed in Nanyang Prefecture and led troops into Huguang to combat the bandits. It is natural that Shandong troops entered Huai'an Prefecture to suppress bandits.

In early August of the 13th year of Chongzhen, Chen Liu, who was in Jining Prefecture, had already completed the mobilization of the 9,000 troops of the Yanzhou army and was preparing to personally lead the army to Huaibei to pacify the bandits. The Yanzhou town was the old camp to take care of it. For this reason, Li Meng expanded his army again, trained Zhuang Ding 9,000, and entered the Yanzhou Prefecture to guard the garrison.

It seems that there are many chaos, but in fact they are all in the plan. When Li Meng returned from Kaifeng City, he had almost expected this result. There was a gap in defense between Fengyang and Xuzhou. As long as he observed the situation there, he would understand it.

The members of Huang Ping were motivated and guided by the bandits and led a large number of refugees to the northern part of Southern Zhili. The horse thieves who escaped in the battle were all horse bandits in Henan and Shandong. Since the salt merchants could spend money to hire, Jiaozhou Camp also spent money. Under the command of Shandong soldiers, these horse thieves became the real core of these bandits.

Zhang Jiang's leadership of the army was of course part of the plan. After the entire bandit gang collapsed, the horse bandits and bandits were divided into small teams of about a thousand people. This time, the people who gave them directions were the Fang family's personnel in Huaibei. Therefore, the salt merchants with dilapidated backgrounds and no foundation had their industries accurately hit.

After all this is done, the rest is to use the relationship in the officialdom to do things that go with the flow. For example, Shandong soldiers and horses entered the country to clear out the bandits. This is a very legitimate requirement and no one can find fault.

When will the bandit suppression be completely wiped out, it is not a problem that Jiaozhou Camp can control. As long as you stay in Huai'an Prefecture for one day, Huai'an Prefecture will be under the control of Li Meng for one day. His territory will step into the richest province of the Ming Dynasty, but these are not important to him.

Li Meng just wanted to return to his mansion in Jinan soon because he became a father...

In mid-June, Li Meng arrived in Jiningzhou, listened to the report of the shopkeeper of Lingshan Trading Company there, and had a party with the wealthy merchants and other great soldiers in Yanzhou Prefecture for a few days.

Just as we were about to leave, a messenger with fast horses came from Jinan. The quick horses were not riding a horse and whipping the horses desperately, but setting up post stations every dozens of miles, and the messenger kept changing horses to advance, so that the horses could ensure a very high speed and continuous continuous speed.

The Ming Dynasty maintained a similar system during the Tianqinian period. In order to save money, Chongzhen period was removed. As a result, the information in various places was not smooth. A postman who was removed was forced to rebel because of life. This person was Li Zicheng.

After Li Meng gradually gained power in Shandong, he began to restore the post station, but there were rotations of horses every few dozen miles. There must be no one horse, and he had to be raised by a dedicated person. The cost was really huge. Jiaozhou Camp's financial resources were not sufficient, so he could only set up routes between the Jiaozhou Camp's important areas.

Since it costs a lot, whenever you want to use it, it will be a major military situation. This time, it is for your own descendants.
To be continued...