Chapter 179: Money first is king
The cavalry could quickly reach Fangjin Village after two days' journey. Sun Chuanting immediately reported the battle situation at Shengu River to Chen Cao. Of course, judging from the appearance of Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng, the battle at Shengu River should be in Chen Cao. Fucking expected.
Also accompanying him was Toyotomi Hideyori's messenger.
"Tokugawa Hidetada is dead..."
"died?"
When Sun Chuanting heard what Chen Cao said, he exclaimed: "That's hundreds of thousands of troops. The Japanese value the relationship between master and servant. How can they escape..."
"Hattori Hanzo covered Hidetada and evacuated ten miles outside Hagiyama Castle. He was intercepted by soldiers led by Hidetaka Mouri, the lord of the Choshu domain. Hanzo scolded the rebellious Hidetada Mouri. At that time, Terumoto arrived and talked with Hidetada for a long time. Hidetada knew that the situation was over. , he committed seppuku and had Huiyuan chop off his head;"
Momohu, who was in charge of liaison, continued: "After Hidetada died, Terumoto knelt in front of Hidetada's body and cried loudly before committing suicide. Before he died, he asked Hattori Hanzo to chop off his head."
Chen Cao nodded, and then asked: "How did the shogunate army fare after the Battle of Kamigawa?"
Bai Hu said: "Going back to the Marquis, the Choshu clan intercepted from behind and killed the defeated shogunate army. They were defeated again. It is said that the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings led the shogunate army to finally evacuate. In this battle, the Toyotomi army captured on the battlefield Countless, nearly 200,000 prisoners alone."
"Both Tokugawa Hidetada and Iemitsu are dead, who will be the next governor of the Tokugawa family?" Sun Chuanting asked.
Momohu shook his head: "I don't know my humble position. Now the remaining shogunate army is less than 100,000 people. They have retreated to the territory of Izumo Kingdom. The Toyotomi army also stopped chasing. The battle line was too long, so they stopped in the Zhoufeng territory. , to digest so many troops.”
Chen Cao touched his bare chin, and then shook his head: "After this battle, the Toyotomi family and the Tokugawa family formed a powerful force, but the shogunate was newly defeated, and both family governors died. For the Tokugawa family, It’s a big blow, and the Toyotomi family already has the absolute upper hand in Japan.”
"The Marquis's plan is to let them fight in the nest and hurt both of you." Sun Chuanting interjected.
"Hahaha..." Chen Cao laughed a few times: "Boya is Boya, I take it as a roundworm in my stomach. Yes, although the Toyotomi family has the upper hand, they can only occupy the land of Kansai. The Japanese nation has been at peace for more than 20 years, and the Tokugawa family has many supporters. Even though two governors have died, the Tokugawa family has not yet perished, so the Japanese nation is in chaos. Only with this chaos can we have the opportunity to make a fortune. The Toyotomi family Only then will they ask us for various military supplies and food, this is my purpose."
"Then the Marquis is in a hurry to call us back?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.
"Someone from the court is here, let's go back..."
Chen Cao said with a serious face: "The Japanese affairs are almost over, Fangjin Village must retain people, and I have decided to keep the third division in Fangjin Village;
We also need to set up Ryukyu General to manage the front line between Ryukyu and Fangjin Village. Song Che, as the deputy commander-in-chief of our Dingwu Army, will be the Ryukyu General. The station will be located in Fangjin Village. We will build Fangjin Village into our Ming Dynasty’s first overseas largest port. "
"Master Hou, what's the income?" Sun Chuanting asked again.
Chen Cao laughed and then waved his hand: "No matter what Toyotomi Hideyori sends, we will accept it. Shi Xiu also heard it," he said, looking at Song Che beside him: "As for the taxes of Fangjin Village or their Whatever we demand must be firmly in our hands."
"The harvest this time is considerable, at least it will allow me to be fully prepared for a long time," Chen Cao thought before ordering: "Leave the left wing battalion of the Navy in Fangjin Village, and the remaining 1st and 2nd Divisions will start landing tomorrow. Ship, let’s set off back immediately.”
.
"I'll leave the Japanese side to you. You don't have to worry about your family when you go back. I still have everything."
The night before leaving, Chen Cao and Song Che talked alone.
Song Che nodded: "I feel relieved to have Mr. Hou with me. I hope Mr. Hou will take more care of me at home."
"Don't worry, you can run Ryukyu and Fangjin Village with peace of mind. I will come back in the future," Chen Cao said, and then asked: "You must remember that the Toyotomi family cannot be allowed to eliminate the Tokugawa clan, nor can the Tokugawa clan be allowed to Destroy Toyotomi."
"The two are weighing each other and are rivals. We want them to have civil strife."
The corner of Chen Cao's mouth rose: "I knew you were not stupid. The Japanese country will be in my pocket in the future. How can I let them own it if it belongs to my Ming Dynasty? Although the Japanese country is barren, the land is a good thing after all. Yes, Ryukyu is the same, the Shang family can only be a puppet, and they will all be moved to our Ming Dynasty in the future."
"Know..."
"Keeping you here is a bargaining chip," Chen Cao drank to himself: "If something goes wrong, I still have the foundation of the Third Division, and Fangjin Village and Ryukyu can be used as transit bases, so the port The construction must be perfect, and the best thing is to build a port city in Fangjin Village."
"Port City?" Song Che frowned.
"Surround Fangjin Village in the city and build walls on the outside. If the enemy really wants to attack, they have to come from the sea. Now the Japanese country has no capital to fight with our navy, so it can only choose to attack by land."
"What if the Toyotomi and Tokugawa families accepted the emperor's reconciliation?"
Chen Cao smiled bitterly and looked at Song Che: "You can think of it, I can think of it, their two families are feuding. The Tokugawa family even forced Toyotomi Hideyori's mother to death. This kind of hatred should not be underestimated in our Ming Dynasty. watch for."
"Everything here is up to you..."
"Peace of mind..."
...
On October 21, the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the victorious Dingwu Marquis Chen Cao led the Dingwu army to leave the Japanese country and returned to the Ming Dynasty under the protection of the navy.
On December 14, after nearly two months of sailing, the fleet arrived at the Longjiang Estuary in Nanjing safely. The reason why it was much delayed was also because of Chen Cao's previous plan.
And Chen Cao would not go home directly, because he received the imperial edict, made some arrangements, and then went to Tianjin with money and troops. He had to go to the capital to respond to the edict.
On the 23rd, the fleet arrived at Tianjin Port, and twenty carts of gold and silver were escorted by the Dingwu Army to the capital.
After Chen Cao arrived in the capital, he first went to the General Affairs Department to reply to the order, and the rest was to wait for the summons.
The last dynasty was at the end of the month, and there were still four days left. According to etiquette, Chen Cao had to wait until after the dynasty if he wanted to see the emperor in private, so the first house he went to was the residence of Zhang Wenda, the former Minister of Civil Affairs.
However, when he arrived at Zhang Wenda's house, he discovered that the owner had changed.
"Xin Zhao, go to Beizhen Fusi immediately and ask Yang Huan where Zhang Wenda's family has gone."
Chen Cao had a gloomy face. Although Zhang Wenda was dead, his family still had official relatives and a son who was an official in Shaanxi, so he would not even sell his mansion.
Not long after, Zhao Xin also came back with a gloomy face. When Chen Cao saw this, he frowned: "What, you were rejected?"
"Not really." Zhao Xin shook his head: "My subordinates went to Beizhen Fusi to find Yang Huan. He was arrogant and rude. He happened to meet Ning Guogong Wei Liangqing. His subordinates did not recognize him and were scolded. He heard that his subordinates I am yours, so I let me go. Alas, I feel a little uncomfortable;
Lord Marquis, you also paid for Wei Liangqing’s title as Duke..."
The reason why Wei Liangqing got the Duke of Ning State was that Wei Zhongxian gave Wei Liangqing the credit for repairing the three main halls. The key point is that the money for repairing the three main halls came from Chen Cao.
Chen Cao frowned and suddenly felt something was wrong. Ever since Wei Zhongxian and others started killing Gu Dazhang, he, the sixth figure in the eunuch party, was actually not as good as Yang Huan, who was running errands in the capital, so he was also at the core. The outer fringe area is very embarrassing.
"Where's the matter?"
Zhao Xin responded: "I asked. After Zhang Wenda's death, their family sold their mansion in the city and moved to the outer city. I heard that the Zhang family is returning to their hometown in Shaanxi."
"Have you found out where you live?"
"My subordinate will lead the way."
.
The Zhang family's old housekeeper was overjoyed when he opened the door and saw Chen Cao. He recognized Chen Cao and immediately felt like he had found a savior. He enthusiastically brought Chen Cao and his entourage into the house, and ran quickly into the house to call for help.
Zhang Yingnan, the eldest son of Zhang Wenda, walked out of the so-called central hall with great joy, ran down the steps quickly, and bowed to Chen Cao: "The common people have seen Lord Dingwu..."
"Grass people?"
Chen Cao looked at him doubtfully. Although he had never met Zhang Yingnan, he had heard about this incident from Zhang Wenda. He looked up and saw that the Zhang family, who were originally well-dressed and well-off, were now wearing ordinary silk clothes. They all appeared under the eaves of the central hall, looking at Chen Cao and a group of others.
"Brother, why are Jin Yiwei here again? Our family has given enough money." The speaker was Zhang Yingnan's younger brother Zhang Yingwu.
Zhao Xin and a dozen people behind him were all wearing Jin Yiwei's flying fish uniforms. Zhang Yingnan turned around and yelled: "Second brother, come quickly. This is Dingwuhou. Have you forgotten what my father told me before he died?"
"Marquis Dingwu?"
Zhang Yingwu quickly ran down the steps, knelt down and saluted Chen Cao: "Young man Zhang Yingwu, pay your respects to Marquis Dingwu."
Chen Cao stretched out his hand to help Zhang Yingwu up, with a solemn expression on his face, he turned to look at Zhang Yingnan: "Take me to give Uncle Zhang a stick of incense."
.
"My father's coffin has been transported back to his hometown in Shaanxi. The imperial court asked my family to contribute 100,000 taels to support the military expenditure in Liaodong. My family really had no money, so we had to sell the mansion in the city and raise money from everywhere. I only got 50,000 taels." Two taels of silver were handed over, but if Lord Zhang Weishu had not spoken out, all of our Zhang family would have been sent to the prison of Beizhen Fusi."
Zhang Yingnan, a middle-aged man in his late forties, started crying when he said this, and all the Zhang family members behind him also cried.
"You call yourself a grassroots citizen. Could it be that you have lost your official position?"
Zhang Yingnan nodded towards Chen Cao. It was really embarrassing for a northwest man to cry like this: "To be honest with you, the civil unrest in Shaanxi is very serious, and the common people are implicated. I have dismissed my official position as Zuo Counselor, and now my family is an ordinary citizen;
Before my father died, he told my second brother many times that if he had anything to do, he could contact Marquis Dingwu of Nanjing, but Marquis Dingwu was not in Nanjing at that time, so we really had no choice..."
There were faint sounds of crying in the hall. Chen Cao found another beauty, so he thought it was either the Zhang family's wife or Zhang Wenda's precious daughter.
