Chapter 150
Any plan can never keep up with changes.
Cheng Shijie originally wanted to try this case publicly to lay the foundation for the construction of the rule of law in southern Liaoning. But the problem is that an unexpected accident disrupted Cheng Shijie's plan.
In fact, this change was not the military intelligence brought by Jin Yiwei Qin Buhui, but the transaction from Fan Yongdou.
During the autumn harvest, Fan Yongdou saw the harvest and Cheng Shijie's delivery ability. Now the grain in southern Liaoning is piled up like a mountain, and hundreds of granaries have been built. Any one of these granaries is enough to store 100,000 stone. above food.
At this time, Fan Yongdou accelerated the transaction process and sent people to Liao Zhongwei to notify the men who had been stored in Liao Zhongwei to drive the cattle, sheep and horses to southern Liaoning.
Cheng Shijie was planning to trick Fan Yongdou from the very beginning, why didn't he want his money?
Because silver is so easy to hide and transport, there are many channels for silver to flow into southern Liaoning, and it can be transported by water or land. A two-wheeled carriage can pull 700 to 800 kilograms at the very least. If the road surface is good like that in southern Liaoning, a two-wheeled carriage can pull 1,500 kilograms.
Even if it is 300,000 taels of silver, the total weight is only 18,750 jin, and a dozen carriages can pull it away at once. Such convoys are too common in southern Liaoning.
But livestock is different. The target of livestock is too big. Five thousand horses and five to six thousand cattle require at least a thousand people to take care of them. The target is very large and easy to manipulate.
As long as it is not within the territory of southern Liaoning, Cheng Shijie can send people to grab it in advance.
In addition to the two thousand iron-hoofed horses that are a normal trade, there are 1,600 Hequ horses, including three to four thousand Liaodong horses, plus those cattle, this is a huge team.
After Fan Yongdou sent his messenger to order the camel teams that were looking after the cattle and horses to come to Liaonan for trading, Fan Yongdou's men left Jinzhou City and were followed by Ning Haijun's scouts.
Although the messenger sent by Fan Yongdou was very vigilant, the problem was that Su Wannayan under Hu Erqi was proficient in hunting. In the words of later generations, he was a self-taught traceology expert.
This thing sounds a bit mysterious, but in fact it is not difficult to guess. Thousands of horses and more than 8,000 cattle must rely on freshwater lakes or rivers.
As a result, the cattle and horses stored in Liao Zhongwei were finally found by Hu Erqi. There were a total of 5,000 fine war horses, more than 8,000 cattle, and tens of thousands of sheep.
In fact, these were all recruited by Jiannu from various ministries. Fan Yongdou was just Huang Taiji's white glove, responsible for this transaction. Hu Erqi was overjoyed. In a surprise attack, more than 1,300 men responsible for taking care of these cattle and horses were captured by Hu Erqi in one fell swoop.
Now Fan Yongdou has no cattle and horses to trade. How can he buy Cheng Shijie's grain?
Without money, Cheng Shijie would not give a grain of food to Fan Yongdou.
After Hu Erqi's troops attacked Fan Yongdou's men, they sent Su Wanayan to lead his troops to take charge of the rear. Because the movement speed of cattle and sheep was too slow, even the Jurchens under Hu Erqi's troops were mostly good at domesticating cattle and sheep, but the problem was , but cattle and sheep cannot move as quickly as war horses.
However, Su Wannayan discovered that hundreds of cavalrymen from Jiannu were chasing him. He counterattacked and drove the enemy back. During the pursuit, he swept away more than a dozen tribes around Liao Zhongwei and captured tens of thousands more. Cattle and sheep, thousands of war horses.
Su Wannayan was also a ruthless character. Seeing the northwest wind direction, he sent people to set fire near Fushun Guard in the middle reaches of the Hun River. The fire soared into the sky and was out of control. The fire burned for one or two hundred miles from the banks of the Hun River. The fire effectively stopped Jiannu's pursuers.
As for the fodder they burned, it is impossible to estimate.
Now Hu Erqi can be said to have returned with a full load. Not only did he successfully bring back Fan Yongdou's cows and horses, but he also made a lot of money hunting rabbits. While reporting to Cheng Shijie, he slowly returned to Haizhou carrying the horses, cattle, and hundreds of thousands of sheep captured by Fan Yongdou.
Cheng Shijie received information from Hu Erqi on the night of September 4th, and also received information from Qin Buhui, the Jin Yiwei. He could conclude that under this situation, Huang Taiji would definitely not be able to sit still.
If he could sit still, the Eight Banners nobles would not sit still. This time, Hu Erqi was too ruthless. Taking advantage of the northwest wind, he burned down one or two hundred miles of grassland with a fire, which meant that, In addition to the snowstorm last year, Jiannu will encounter a serious shortage of pasture this year.
Cheng Shijie was worried that Jiannu would send troops to block Hu Erqi's command, so he quickly ordered the entire Ning Haijun army to enter a state of first-level combat readiness. At the same time, Zhao Wencai of the Cavalry Department led the Ning Haijun cavalry to go out to meet Hu Erqi's command.
Because of this unexpected situation, Cheng Shijie could only temporarily abandon the public trial of this major case, and to prevent Zhang Chen from being persecuted by both public opinion and Zhang Daqiang, he ordered the Management Committee to start formulating the "Ning Haijun Military Family and Martyred Family Protection Law" and use legal means To protect the interests of Ning Haijun’s military and martyrs’ families from being infringed upon by his clan or outside forces.
Considering that Jiannu is now ready to take action, Cheng Shijie can go to the capital with peace of mind. It won't be long before he receives news of Jiannu's move, and Cheng Shijie can return to Liaonan smoothly.
"Cheng Jinglue is going to the capital to report on his work?"
"Of course I'm going. I'm very busy right now. The autumn harvest is finally over. Cheng heard that Your Majesty is suffering too much!"
Cheng Shijie's current acting skills are definitely at the level of a movie actor, and he sheds tears whenever he wants.
Gao Qiqian also admired Cheng Shijie very much. His expression of bursting into tears was as real as it could be. If Cheng Shijie really lost two ounces of meat, he might be able to become famous in the palace.
"Master Cheng, hurry up and get ready!"
"Easy to say!"
Cheng Shijie's preparation really made Gao Qiqian's jaw drop. Sixty fine horses, two hundred sheep, four thousand catties of fish and shrimp, two million catties of sweet potatoes, two million catties of potatoes, and Eight hundred thousand kilograms of corn, ten thousand kilograms each of soybeans, wheat, rice and sorghum.
Seeing this scene, Gao Qiqian said to his godson beside him: "General Cheng is still good at being an official. The other generals just cry when they see Long Live Lord. They try their best to get some benefits from Long Live Lord. I am sending you such a gift to Your Majesty." He is still the first general to give generous gifts!"
Wang Muzhi opened his mouth.
In fact, like Gao Qiqian, he had already seen the momentum of the Liaonan feudal town. It is political logic for any central court to suppress a feudal town while its power has not yet taken shape.
But the problem is, Gao Qiqian doesn't want to say it.
Because in this year, Cheng Shijie directly or indirectly gave Gao Qiqian more property than he had obtained in the past ten years.
These numbers sound like a lot. If converted into tons, two million kilograms of sweet potatoes are only one thousand tons. All grains added together are only six or seven thousand tons. These are less than one percent of the autumn harvest in southern Liaoning.
However, these sweet potatoes and potatoes are carefully selected and are very large in size. The sweet potatoes are more than two kilograms, and the potatoes are also large in weight.
A total of sixty-two transport ships were loaded with these supplies and were ready to go to the capital. In addition to the generous gifts to the emperor, there were also gifts to Sun Yuanhua and Xu Guangqi.
If you don’t hit someone with a smiling face, Cheng Shijie is no exception.
The night before leaving, Yang Yunniang and Feng Sanniang came to Cheng Shijie's study to ask for an audience.
"Meet Mr. Cheng!"
"No gift!"
The moment Cheng Shijie saw Feng Sanniang, he guessed that she must be here for Hao Wuniang. After all, the Liaonan case had a great impact, and the Zhang Chen family was wealthy. In the eyes of ordinary people, the Zhang Chen family's money was not glorious. Otherwise, who can go from abject poverty to wealth in just one year?
In the mentality of hating the rich, the majority of people sympathized with Zhang Daqiang, Zhang Dongyuan and others.
Cheng Shijie is very clear about this situation.
In some cases, many people’s buttocks are already crooked.
"I will definitely handle this matter impartially!"
Feng Sanniang felt very uncomfortable when she heard this. If she had not brought Hao Wuniang to Liaonan, Hao Wuniang would not have become the bodyguard of the Zhang Chen family. If she had not become the bodyguard of the Zhang Chen family, Hao Wuniang would not have caused this catastrophe.
Feng Sanniang's legs went weak, and she knelt in front of Cheng Shijie and said, "Please have mercy, Commander-in-Chief!"
Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "I already know about this matter, and I will let Judge Zhang handle it appropriately!"
"But……"
Yang Yunniang quickly winked at Feng Sanniang.
When Feng Sanniang actually left Cheng Shijie's backyard, she asked in confusion: "Why don't you intercede for Hao Wuniang?"
"Because you don't have to ask!"
"No need to beg? She killed eight people!"
"It's okay to kill eighteen people!"
Yang Yuniang sneered: "The commander-in-chief knows best who is one of our own and who is the enemy."
Before heading to the capital, Cheng Shijie finally sold the secret recipe for processing sweet potatoes and potatoes to all customers who bought sweet potatoes and potatoes, including Fan Yongdou, for a price of one hundred and fifty taels of silver.
These secret recipes are illustrated with pictures and text, including equipment diagrams and text descriptions. As long as you follow Cheng Shijie's secret recipe, you can process sweet potatoes into dried sweet potatoes or sweet potato vermicelli. Of course, you can also process them into sweet potato powder.
After sending out the shipping information, Fan Yongdou had already packed his things and was about to leave Liaonan. After entering the study, he calmly spread out the paper, dipped his pen in ink, and wrote without any details to Huang Taiji who was far away in Shenyang. Start writing letters.
Fan Yongdou summarized what happened to him during the recent period and reported to Huang Taiji: "Looking at it from Yongdou, although the Ning Haijun General Army has been established for many years, he is not as smart as the middle man, and he may have the intention of separatizing the frontier. There is no such thing as the ambition to enter the imperial court. The people here are mediocre and of poor quality..."
"Dong dong..."
There was a knock on the door.
At this time, Fan Yongdou did not open the door immediately. Instead, he quickly finished writing the letter in a few strokes, dried the ink, put it into an envelope, and then opened the door.
"Fan Jian!"
"master!"
A tall, muscular man came over.
Fan Yongdou handed the letter to him: "Take this letter and set off for Shenyang at night. We will arrive in Shenyang within five days and hand it over to Fan Xueshi's house. The outside of the bag does not matter. The letter inside must be given to Fan Xueshi to open personally. , this matter is very important, you must be careful, if there is even the slightest mistake, you will not come back..."
"yes!"
Fan Jian turned and left.
A baby-faced scribe slowly entered the study. This person was Fan Yongdou's staff adviser. His surname was Cao Mingxu, and his courtesy name was Dongsheng. He was from Jiexiu. His fate was similar to that of Song Xiance. The Ming Dynasty was an era where faces were judged. For officials or those with academic qualifications above the imperial examination, the first thing they had to pass was their appearance.
Without good looks, you cannot get academic qualifications. Although Cao Xu was not a dwarf, he had a baby face, which also cut off his career path.
"Dongsheng is here!"
Fan Yongdou invited Cao Xu into the room.
Cao Xu looked at Fan Jian's back and said, "Proprietor, have you written a letter to Shenyang?"
"That's right, Fan Jian has already sent it over."
"The proprietor is a little anxious!"
Cao Xu sighed and said, "Something went wrong!"
"Worse?"
"From Zhang Hong on down, sixteen people have all been killed!"
Fan Yongdou was able to get along like a fish in Xuanfu and Datong because his money opened the way and could bribe soldiers, generals, and civil and military officials in various towns.
Officials in the Ming Dynasty had low salaries and the cost of corruption was low. Therefore, Fan Yongdou had friends everywhere in Datong and Xuanfu, and he walked through any pass as if he were walking on plain ground.
Hearing this, Fan Yongdou broke out in a cold sweat: "Everyone is in trouble?"
"The students wanted to make some friends in southern Liaoning, but they never thought that if they went to give gifts, they would be reported."
Cao Xu said with lingering fear: "Fortunately, I have no use for our people this time!"
The person responsible for bribing the civil and military officials in southern Liaoning was Zhang Hong. Zhang Hong appeared to be a broker and his ancestral home was Yangzhou. On the surface, he has nothing to do with Cao Xu or Fan Yongdou.
These people are all cannon fodder used to test Cheng Shijie. Even if they can't survive the torture, they can't be found on their heads. He can play this trick more smoothly.
Fan Yongdou looked at Cao Xu and asked, "Dongsheng, what do you think of Cheng Shijie?"
Cao Xu's face became serious. I thought for a while. Just now he said slowly: "It's hard to say..."
"Hard to say?"
"Yes, it's hard to say!"
"This man is handsome and tall, but he has a philistine face and does not look like a hero. He speaks and acts informally, and has no scruples about chamberlains like Gao Qiqian and officials like Sun Yuanhua. He seems to have no idea about the imperial court. The depth of water and ground.”
Cao Xu sighed and said: "However, the soldiers under his command are really impressive. They look cold and bloody when they stand there. Although I don't know soldiers, I can still feel the killing spirit of these people. They don't have real swords or guns." No one who has been on the battlefield has such a temperament. I am sure that there is no such soldier in the world. These soldiers are obedient to this Cheng Shijie, and it seems that they can go through fire and water with just a wink... There is no need for verbal orders at all, he is a real master of tiger and wolf..."
Fan Yongdou nodded and said: "This person's rise is extremely rapid!"
Cao Xu said: "It is impossible for an ordinary person to manage the Liaodong strategy by an unknown person within a year. The general of the Pinglu Army is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary people. If this person is not a puppet pushed out by some people, Even though he has concealed his family’s origins, there may be some hidden meaning in it!”
Fan Yongdou said: "Dongsheng, what you mean is..."
"The humble position means nothing, it's just a possible inside story!"
Fan Yongdou smiled and said: "Dongsheng and I are nominally equal, but in fact we are just like family members. You don't have to hesitate when you have something to say, but it's okay to say it!"
Cao Xu said: "Master, please think carefully. If Cheng Shijie comes from a family of warriors and has been skilled in the military since childhood, but his family fell into decline and he became a merchant, then what is his family background? And when did he fall into decline? Even if he fell into decline, Well, since he is a general in the camp, with his uncle’s ability and skill, it will not be difficult for him to get ahead, right?"
"It is rumored that he is the son of Cheng Yongxing, the guard of Qianhu in Phoenix Mountain..."
Cao Xu shook his head and said: "Just listen to this. The surname Cheng is not a minor surname. Cheng Shao, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, was named Gongye. In the fourth year of Tianqi, Cheng Ne, the governor of Henan, and Cheng Shizhen, who had a close friendship with Qian Qianyi, also There is Cheng Shichang, looking at his name, doesn't it look more like his brothers?"
Fan Yongdou frowned and said, "Keep talking!"
Cao Xu said: "It can only be said that he has difficulties, and these difficulties are not enough for outsiders to understand. Otherwise, he will be killed..."
Fan Yongdou's eyes lit up and he said slowly: "He is thirty-six years old this year."
Cao Xu smiled and nodded: "Based on age, he was exactly seventeen years old in the forty-third year of Wanli!"
"In the forty-third year of Wanli, the imperial attack case... was widely implicated." Fan Yongdou said very puzzledly: "But why is he now..."
"Proprietor, what does this have to do with us?"
Cao Xu said: "No matter what Cheng Shijie's background is, it is not uncommon for a general to be able to run an army, but it is rare for a general to be able to run a bank. At least his family may have access to bank matters. This kind of secret is not something that can be accessed casually! "
Cheng Shijie knows how to farm, do business, and make money. Any of these skills is not unusual if taken alone, but the problem is that Cheng Shijie knows these things.
"The proprietor just wants to make money, why should he get involved in Huang Taiji's affairs? Looking at his humble position, Huang Taiji is a mean person, and he is usually the most unreasonable. If you don't want to help him and follow him, you are an enemy of him. , Not to mention a wealthy businessman like the proprietor, even the nobles of their Eight Banners, brothers and sisters have suffered enough from his temper!"
Fan Yongdou smiled lightly and said: "So, accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. In the past three or four years, I have never dared to go to Shenyang!"
"It means nothing if you think you are humble!"
"Not big?"
"Yes, Jiannu seems to be overpowering the Ming Dynasty in everything now. There are many people surrendering in Shenyang, and they don't care whether the proprietor surrenders to him. Otherwise, Bao Cheng will not be sent first. This is a clear sign that he does not trust the proprietor. !”
Cao Xu continued: "From Huang Taiji's point of view, the proprietor is just a businessman who can be exploited. Didn't the proprietor realize that General Cheng is not interested in this?"
Cao Xu discovered that Cheng Shijie created a system of three provinces and six ministries that was different from the Han and Tang Dynasties, and was also different from the cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he adopted a system that he had never seen or heard of.
The Liaodong Management Committee has an executive committee under its jurisdiction, and the executive committee has a working committee under its jurisdiction, with one level of management and one level of management. This in itself is not abnormal, but compared with the current Ming Dynasty prefecture system, this management system has more power. Decentralization. If a working committee director wants to control a working committee, he must obtain the support of more than half of the committee members.
However, there is no distinction between high and low among the committee members. In this case, the committee members are actually the top of the mountain.
More importantly, Liaonan does not discriminate against businessmen. People with a background like Fan Yongdou, such as Gu Shizhang, have now become a member of the Jinzhou Executive Committee. For rising stars like Gu Shizhang, his property or The influence is far less than that of Fan Yongdou.
If Fan Yongdou defected to Cheng Shijie, he would definitely get more than Jiannu.
Fan Yongdou sighed and said: "In fact, if I join Cheng Shijie, I can obtain cheap salt, grain, steel and other materials from southern Liaoning in the short term. The profit is certain, but in the long term, the risk is too high."
After all, Huang Taiji had rebelled, but Cheng Shijie had not. Although Fan Yongdou could see that Cheng Shijie had built a state within a state in southern Liaoning, there was still great uncertainty about how this southern Liaoning would develop.
…
Leaving Liaonan and setting foot on the border of Dengzhou, this place is already another world. Just like last year, this spring was extremely dry, with so little rainfall that the land was cracked. The grain harvest in autumn is not complete, but the production is seriously reduced.
Sun Yuanhua was unable to complete the tax collection with autumn grain, and there was a faint rumor from the court that Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, was to be replaced. If Xu Guangqi had not spoken for him in the court, Sun Yuanhua would have packed up and left at this time.
For Sun Yuanhua, the only advantage is that a large number of refugees can go to southern Liaoning, and it is impossible to form a rebel army in Shandong. After a short stay in Dengzhou, Cheng Shijie unloaded some gifts and the fleet headed north.
On the tenth day of September, Cheng Shijie's fleet docked at Tianjin Port. Although Tianjin is Tianjin, it is different from the Tianjin of later generations.
At this time, Tianjin was very desolate and far less prosperous than Dengzhou. I am afraid no one would believe that Tianjin was not as prosperous as Dengzhou.
Today's Tianjin is actually Tianjin Wei, and later Tianjin Left Guard and Tianjin Right Guard were added. This is a purely military city with no civilian government institutions.
When Cheng Shijie arrived at Tianjin Acropolis, he found that the place seemed a bit familiar. It was almost the same as the original Dengzhou Weizuo Qianhu. This was a city that was almost deserted. All the military households were in ragged clothes and lifeless.
There are three guards in Tianjin, and the three guards are stationed in the same city. Each has its own commander and has no control over each other. When Cheng Shijie led his troops to Tianjin, only Tianjin Zuowei commander Zhu Sheng and more than a hundred people under his command came to the dock to greet him.
Cheng Shijie didn't feel anything was wrong, but Gao Qiqian couldn't help it. He looked at the sparse crowd of more than a hundred soldiers and said with a displeased look on his face: "Huh, Commander Tianjin Guard... what a big arrogance!"
Cheng Shijie raised his eyebrows and thought to himself: "This damn eunuch wants to cause trouble!"
Cheng Shijie's guess was actually right, Gao Qiqian wanted to cause trouble.
Gao Qiqiu really wanted to cause trouble, and someone immediately handed him a ladder.
Zhu Sheng smiled and said: "Master Cheng Jinglue, Eunuch Gao, the commanders of Tianjin Guard and Tianjin Right Guard are busy rectifying military affairs, and they really can't leave..."
"Our family would like to see how Tianjin rectifies military affairs!"
(End of chapter)
