The Shajing Erma Post on the north bank of the Yellow River is bustling with people.
Zhao Shikui put his Shu brocade robe on his belt and carried his boots that got wet when he crossed the Yellow River on a cowhide raft. He stepped barefoot on the north bank of the Yellow River. The gravel on the bank was a bit irritating.
Before he could look around at the mountains of grain bags at the Flood and Drought Dock, the weapons of the two hired guards behind him were taken away, and the group of three people were pushed forward by the sergeant of the Marshal's Mansion.
The leader escorting them forward was Song Shouzhen, the leader of the hungry people who had rebelled earlier than Liu Chengzong. He had been studying in an academy since arriving in Xining, and he still had no official official position.
But Song Shouzhen never panics, because he knows that the Marshal's Mansion is in great need of knowledgeable talents. As long as he improves his knowledge, he will one day be remembered by the Marshal.
Just like this time, the carrier thought of Song Shouzhen when it needed people. When the landmines at the Henan ferry were cleared, Song Shouzhen was appointed as the Henan Grain Transport Officer. He was responsible for recording the money and grain sent back by each team, counting the amount, and loading it onto the ship. to the north shore.
The carrier received the money and grain at Shajingyi City on the north bank, checked the fineness of the silver and the quality of the rice grain, and then packed and bagged the most important money and grain for shipment to the west.
These tasks were repetitive and boring, making the carrier as busy as a frothing donkey, but he enjoyed it and took the trouble to check the carts of grain and money.
Although he is only a young man, he has handled more money and grain than almost anyone else in the world in a lifetime. He can tell the quality of silver and gold at a glance, and he can tell the storage years of different types of grain just by smelling it.
The complex mathematics related to military management of baggage all year round is simple and clear for transportation. How many people, how much food, how to transport, and how much consumption have become instinctive.
Chengyun was checking the rice grains in the temporary grain shed piled high when he saw Song Shouzhen bringing people over. He wondered: "Brother Song, didn't I tell you that I have enough craftsmen here?"
Before that, Chengyun had asked Song Shouzhen to inform the grain moving team in the south to recruit some craftsmen from the people of Xiguping City, firstly to build a fort at the mouth of the river, and secondly to build new grain transport vehicles.
Since the Marshal's Mansion was still the Lion's Camp, the vehicles they used to transport baggage were two-wheeled carts carrying four or five stones of grain. Those carts carried less grain but didn't have to worry about getting stuck on the road. The most important thing was that they could run fast and be able to keep up with the team. Travel speed.
But now that they occupy Hehuang, the six hundred miles from the mouth of the river to the Navy Yamen will be very safe, and there is no need to worry about delivery time. Therefore, the carrier needs to build larger vehicles to transport materials with less manpower and road consumption. .
He had three new types of carts made for the imperial court to transport grain, all of which had a higher load capacity. Among them, a four-wheeled cart could carry 30 shi of rice and grain, a two-wheeled cart could carry 15 shi, and a small cart could carry 5 shi. , three types of vehicles can meet the needs of traveling thirty miles a day.
But if you want to run faster, you can only use a car.
Song Shouzhen shook his head and said with a smile: "Three generals, they are not craftsmen, but merchants. He said he was a merchant from the Commander's Mansion, so I brought him here."
"A businessman from the Shuai Mansion?"
The freight forwarder wrote down a line in the account, put his gun on the grain bag after checking, then turned around, looked at the merchant and the two guards behind him and said, "Which handsome mansion are you merchants from?"
Zhao Shikui recognized Chengyun's identity from Song Shouzhen's title. He quickly put down his boots and saluted respectfully: "Returning to the General, the villain Shaanxi businessman Zhao Shikui has an appointment with Mr. Cai in Dajianlu. The commander-in-chief has contributed one thousand two hundred dollars." The two formed a partnership with the villain and established Tianyingde Trading Company."
Cheng Yun turned around and looked at Song Shouzhen, meaning: Is this happening?
Song Shouzhen nodded and said: "Yes, I have sent a letter to the commander-in-chief. It is indeed true, but the commander-in-chief forgot about it when he came back from Nangqian, so he asked me to bring someone here and let the third general talk to him. "
After receiving confirmation, Cheng Yuan raised his eyebrows. The second brother was fighting in the south and also opened a business?
He nodded, smiled, and said to Song Shouzhen, "Okay, I understand."
Chengyun first asked the guards to introduce Zhao Shikui into the post city. His second brother asked Chengyun to build a fortress here. Liu Chengyun fell in love with this post city.
Yicheng is located at the east end of the Hehuang Valley, on a large mountain platform on the north bank of the Huangshui River. It is composed of three mountain platforms, one large, two small, two high and one low. It can completely build a city that is difficult to attack and cannot be conquered according to the mountain terrain. .
Chengyun's painstakingly designed plan was to build half a large city on a high platform and sit on a lower city. The two cities were stacked on top of each other, and a sharp-angled enemy platform structure was used to place the entrance on a separate enemy platform.
On the day it was sent to the front line, Liu Shizi changed his mind and sent back two plans. One was to change the overlapping mountain city into an enemy tower, and simply build several connected and acute-angled enemy towers according to the mountain topography; The large city was completed, and a sharp-angled enemy tower was also built in the west.
The reason is very simple. The design of the carrier is very good, but the amount of work is relatively large. It will take about three years to complete the construction of Diecheng. Liu Shizi believes that after three years, they will no longer need to fight against the government troops in Hehuang.
If we must build such a city, it would be better to build it bigger as a western barrier to capture Lanzhou City in the future.
Three small enemy towers within one mile of the city could be built in two months. In Hehuang, eight or nine small enemy towers facing the east were built according to the mountain and hydrology. Even with the addition of trenches and artillery slopes, they could be completed within half a year.
Without even thinking about it, the carrier chose the latter.
After finishing what he was doing, Chengyun boarded the Shajing Post City and invited Zhao Shikui, who was resting in the official room, to the Postmaster's Yamen. They each took their seats and then smiled and said: "There are a lot of things going on now, I hope Shopkeeper Zhao won't take offense."
Zhao Shikui smiled apologetically and said, "I don't dare, a villain."
"I just heard from Shopkeeper Zhao that you are partnering with Dashuai in Dajian Lu." Cheng Yun asked, "Why didn't you come from Nangqian?"
"To be honest, I originally wanted to take Xikang Road, but there was a rebellion in Kangning Mansion last year, and the company happened to have property in Hanzhong, so I came along the trade road, but I didn't expect that there would be another war when I went north."
Zhao Shikui said with lingering fear: "Thank you for not entering Lanzhou City, otherwise I'm afraid he would still be locked up in the city now."
Chengyun smiled when he heard this, and then asked: "Shopkeeper Zhao encountered a soldier, did he not give you any trouble?"
"No!"
When Cheng Yun asked about this, Zhao Shikui immediately shook his head and said in surprise: "The elites under the commander's command are truly the masters of kings, and they have done nothing wrong for the common people."
Chengyun didn't take Zhao Shikui's praise of the army seriously. His family knew his own affairs. Under the current reward and punishment regulations of the Marshal's Office, it was normal for the officers and soldiers of each team to commit no crime against the common people.
It doesn’t even need to be a veteran, even a recruit, as long as he knows the rules of rewards and punishments, he will complete the robbery mission assigned by the superior with great enthusiasm. They will do whatever they are told to do, and they will not do anything if they are not asked. He would never go out to rob people privately.
Because looting is the simplest and most rewarding mission among all the combat missions of the Marshal's Mansion army, looting high-value targets, the property brought back by each team will be distributed to individuals in proportion after the war.
As far as the carrier knows about the current results, Lanzhou, which was not affected by the drought, is much richer than northern Shaanxi. The headquarters with the least achievements brought back more than 2,300 stones of rice and more than 4,200 taels of goods.
Calculated based on this amount, after calculating the rice grains and goods after the war merits, each soldier of the Hundred Corps who participated in the robbery could receive a reward of more than twelve taels of silver.
Other teams will only gain more. Which ordinary people would carry a pound of silver with them and let the soldiers risk losing rewards or even being killed to plunder? Even if they meet rich people, they won't bother to talk to them as long as they are not on combat missions.
Cheng Yun Xin said that the reason for not making any mistakes in this autumn is not solely due to high discipline, but only a not too low level of intelligence so that everyone knows what to do.
He smiled, and then asked Zhao Shikui: "Shopkeeper Zhao came to Lanzhou. Does he have something to discuss with the commander?"
"Don't dare to discuss it." Zhao Shikui shook his head quickly and said: "The villain is here to report to the commander. The shops at both ends of the bolt have been completed. I want to ask the commander how to send the company's dividends in the future. Lanzhou will send it to Xining and Chengdu. Are you going to send the stoves, or should you send them all to one place? In addition, please ask the commander to send me a few bookkeepers to do the accounting."
Is the shipping already profitable? It's going pretty fast.
He asked: "Shopkeeper Zhao, wait a minute, what does Tianyingde Company do? How do you and the commander calculate the share capital?"
"The capital is 1,200 taels from the boss, 800 taels from the villain, 60% will be divided, and 30% will be left for the business."
As soon as Zhao Shikui said this, Chengyun frowned. This ratio was a bit unfair. People have to make money by doing things. He asked: "Isn't it too little?"
But he didn't expect Zhao Shikui to shake his head like a rattle: "A lot, a lot, to be honest, the villain not only got his money back, but also made a profit of 1,800 taels... It's enough. If the general is not satisfied with this, You can share more.”
The carrier was stunned. He looked at Zhao Shikui with extremely hot eyes and blurted out: "Eighteen thousand taels in two years?"
"Thanks to the commander-in-chief, the villain has fulfilled his mission."
Zhao Shikui really didn't feel proud in his heart. His business could be done by anyone, just like robbing money.
He said: "Tian Yingde deals in Sichuan salt, Sichuan tea, and Sichuan brocade. These are things that the villain was originally proficient in. Later, he added Spanish medicinal materials, leather goods, and farm tools. In the future, he also plans to make Lanzhou leather goods, tobacco and alcohol, and the profits are not high. few."
The profit he made was all fool's money with little profit. As long as he could get into Kangning Mansion, anyone could do it, but no one could get into Kangning Mansion.
I bought farm tools from Yazhou for 48 taels for a thousand iron shovels and 9 taels for 2,000 copper tea spoons. The total cost was less than 60 taels. Five cartmen went to Kangning Mansion and in half a month they brought with them something worth 800 taels. The prepared caladium and cordyceps came out.
The carrier asked: "No one stopped your goods?"
"Yes, but then it disappeared." Zhao Shikui turned around and pointed to the two guards standing outside the yamen, and introduced to Chengyun: "General, one of them is called Sheng Sheng and the other is called Return. This time, they came here to send someone from a certain background. , they killed a thousand households in the south."
After returning from victory, it was once the Songpan Guards Banner Army.
The year before last, the eunuch Zhang Yuanheng returned to the defense in full robes. The accompanying news revealed that a Han army was commanding the army in the southwest and was recruiting military households to build arrow stoves for the fields. The brothers had nothing to worry about and spent half a year preparing enough to use half of the furnace. Many months of rations left Songpanwei, who had stayed with him all his life.
After passing through the barbarian territory where the war had just subsided, they arrived in Luhuo County as they wished. Each received a cow, six sheep, and 200 acres of land. They also received rations from the chieftain in the west of Changhe River, so they could start farming in the next spring.
But before the spring started, the generalissimo led the troops to march north, and then the unknown Mongols rushed from the north. They were recruited by Cai Zhongpan to strengthen the people and prepare the army for war. The fields could only be cultivated by hiring people.
In the end, the battle did not start. The leader of the Mongolian soldiers was called Xiao Lazun by General Cai. He even helped Kangning Mansion suppress the rebellion. After the battle, he went directly to Qamdo.
On the contrary, they had eaten military rations for five months and maintained their health quite well.
Originally, they should go home and farm after the war, but Cai Zhongpan gave the two men two muskets, saying that a Qianhu in Yazhou had stopped their goods, and asked them to kill the Qianhu. After that, they went directly to Zhao Shikui and went to the north. Find a career with the Generalissimo.
The two of them had originally wanted to find the Generalissimo. They thought about it all night, and at dawn they didn't say anything. They took the gun and went.
Cai Zhongpan picked the two of them to be killers, not because of their superb skills or any other reason. Songpan Wei's flag soldiers all had the same skills. They knew how to use weapons and farm tools. They knew everything a soldier should know and what a farmer should know.
The key lies in their appearance. The two brothers look like flag soldiers who have been bullied. They don't even need to blend in even though they are wearing rags. They look like they are the same as the guards with their frowning eyes.
The two of them didn't even need to change their clothes, they just carried a dirty little bag to get through the customs. The local soldiers from the Lengbian Tusi didn't bother to stop them, they just thought they were poor military households going to steal things from arrow stoves again.
No one even stopped them when they entered Qianhu Station in Yazhou. The two brothers threw their purple cloth bags on the ground, chatted with the banner troops and entered the guard station.
Just when that team of flag soldiers was working slowly, they were caught by Master Qianhu, who asked Baihu, who had no actual instruction, to give the entire team two whips.
He was so angry when he came back from victory. This bitch didn't even know if he was attacking his own soldiers.
In anger, the two brothers sneaked into the warehouse and bumped into a bannerman who was stealing ordnance to resell. With the bannerman pointing out the storage location, they stole a few kilograms of gunpowder, made a mine and buried it in the toilet.
That night, Master Qianhu was sent to heaven with his urine and urine amidst the moans of relieving himself, and went to report his work to Emperor Taizu.
The two brothers ran to the Yamen and shouted that Mr. Qianhu had been killed in the bombing. Baihu Wenxun, who had whipped them during the day, ran out. Seeing that they looked familiar, he asked them to put on armor. After they had put it on, they gave it to them. Armed with a knife and a spear, he went out of the city to hunt down the murderer.
The lead prepared for Master Qianhu naturally hit Master Zhenfu in the wild.
Chengyun was very happy when he heard the brothers' experiences. Assassinating Qianhu was such a serious matter, but he forced the two of them to do it like a joke. They are so good-looking. The only good thing about these two brothers is that they look crooked. Jujube has no energy.
These two demolition geniuses should not be called returning victoriously, but should be called dejected.
He thought to himself, if his eldest and second brothers looked like this, maybe their family hadn't rebelled yet, and they would have killed Zhang Qianhu without saying a word.
He said: "My name is Liu Chengyun, would you two follow me?"
After returning from victory, he hurriedly prostrated himself. Then Liu Cheng turned to look at Zhao Shikui and said, "Since shopkeeper Zhao is here and there is a business to be done, it will be easy to handle. You can keep your family in Xining and I will do the business in Hehuang for you."
Zhao Shikui took a deep breath and nodded slowly twice.
Chengyun was very happy and said: "I have a profit worth 130,000 taels of silver. Since shopkeeper Zhao has shops in Hanzhong and Chengdu, let's sell it."
Zhao Shikui asked uncertainly: "One hundred and thirty thousand taels?"
"Yes, I don't know the price of many calligraphy and painting antiques. If you calculate your profit, I can calculate it to be 130,000 taels. You can exchange it for steel and copper ingots. There is no shortage of silver in the handsome manor. If you can't exchange it, just exchange it for gold. How about it? ?”
Zhao Shikui nodded at first, and then asked, "It's okay to sell, but how can we transport it to Xining in this situation?"
"That's your business. If you can't transport it... I'll find you when I return from victory." Cheng Yun said, and smiled: "Just kidding, as long as you can transport it to Lanzhou, my second brother can let the goods cross the Yellow River." .”
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