Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 227 Great Expectations
Hangzhou.

Pan Yinglou from Yanfa Road, Zhejiang Province wrote letters in his study again.

When there was a turmoil in Taizhou, he went to Hangzhou to transfer troops. As a result, the Qing army suddenly moved south to occupy Hangzhou.When his father was the governor of Zhejiang, seeing Wei Zhongxian gaining power, he immediately took the lead in building a shrine for Wei Zhongxian in Zhejiang.

Pan Yinglou was trapped in Hangzhou, and he immediately took the initiative to surrender, so he got an official position as a Hangzhou Tongzhi.

However, Jiang Qing was also a coincidence, and his family members were still in the rear, so he became a naked official.Others sent their wives and children away, and he kept the naked officials. He had his wives and children at home, so he ran outside to be naked officials.

In just a few months, Pan Yinglou performed outstandingly and was promoted to Zhejiang Yanfa Road and branch of Xunhang Jiahu Road, which is a high promotion.Especially the Salt Fadao, in provinces where there is no salt transport envoy, that is the highest salt official.And the management of the salt administration has always been a fat job, and many people rush for the job.

Pan Yinglou is a fourth-rank official with the title of deputy envoy of Zhejiang Press and Inspection, and also a branch of Yanfa Road and patrol road.

And a few months ago, he was still a promotion official in Taizhou, and he was only at the seventh rank.In the 12th year of Chongzhen, he became an official with special permission for tribute students, and was awarded the title of Taizhou Tuiguan. He worked for five years. Although he did a good job, he was only a seventh-rank official.It has only been a few months since he was sent to the Qing Dynasty, and he has been promoted again and again, first to the fifth-rank Hangzhou Tongzhi, and then to the fourth-rank Yan Fa Dao.

Not to mention other things, this Yanfa Road has only been in office for a month, and Pan Yinglou has already collected more than 3 taels of silver when Zhejiang Province only occupied three prefectures.

The fat of this job of managing the salt method is that Pan Yinglou even called it really fragrant.

The only bad thing is that the wives and children are still in the territory of Daming. What is a little comforting is that Fang Duanshi, a fellow villager, has been helping and taking care of them. Letters from time to time to report safety are also comforting.

But recently, Fang Duanshi replied to him more frequently, and he no longer just reported that he was safe, but began to talk about more content.

Especially the one I just received today, it has exploded a lot of news.

Lu Jianguo personally beheaded the general Zhennanbo Fang Guoan with his sword, killed hundreds of generals of the Fang tribe, and then dismissed most of his troops, and some of the brave and capable soldiers were incorporated into other battalions.

Lu Jianguo killed Fang Guoan, and he also purged the local powerful gentry in Yanzhou, confiscating their homes everywhere. For example, Fang Fengnian's cousin, the former chief assistant, was forced to confiscate more than 5 shi of grain and 10 taels of silver. Forced to donate 10 taels of silver and a lot of food.

Many gentry and landlords in Yanzhou were forced to pay taxes for 20 years and were also fined huge sums of money.

Fang Duanshi also said that because he was Fang Guoan's supervisor, he was demoted to be the head of the eighth grade. Fortunately, he climbed up to Zhang Guojun, the elder brother of the prison king's concubine, through his fellow countryman Ruan Dacheng, and after raising a large sum of money to give him, he finally Can recover.

Now Ruan Dacheng, who gave the money together, was awarded the Jinqu Strict Branch of the Road, Ma Shiying was assigned to guard the Road, and he was awarded the prefect of Hangzhou.

But Fang Duanshi complained, saying that Hangzhou is still in the hands of the Qing army, but he, the magistrate, can only manage affairs in Fuyang, but no one knows when the Qing army will occupy Fuyang.

Inside and outside the letter, it reveals the disappointment with the Lujian Kingdom in eastern Zhejiang and the despair for the future of Ming Dynasty. Some want to abandon the darkness and turn to the Ming, but I don’t know if this side can accept it. I want to talk to him first. Help him find out.

Of course, Pan Yinghua replied immediately and said yes, and said that he has a very good relationship with Feng Quan, the cabinet scholar of the Tianqi Dynasty. The prince Taibao was dismissed because he offended the eunuch Cui Chengxiu, and Chongzhenlu was demoted to the people for flattering Wei Zhongxian.

He was sent to the Qing Dynasty last year, and was ordered to enter the Inner Court with the original title of a bachelor to assist the maintenance. This year, he was awarded a bachelor of the Hanlin Hongwen Academy and a minister of the Ministry of Rites. In Beijing, he is also trusted by the Manchurians.

Feng Quan used to be the president, and presided over the compilation of the three dynasties. He was Wei Zhongxian's confidant, but later he was too greedy, which caused Cui Chengxiu to be jealous and infighting, and was dismissed. The Chongzhen Dynasty was liquidated again. The guy went to worship immediately, and the Tartars he attracted were very satisfied, so he became a Han scholar in the Manchu court like Hong Chengchou and others.

Although Pan Yinglou was not a high-ranking official in the past, his family background is not small, and the Pan and Feng families are still relatives, so after he surrendered to the North, he soon established a relationship with Feng Quan who was in the court, especially Pan Yinglou. After Feng Quan gave 1 taels of silver, Feng Quan was already very kind to Xiao Pan, regarded him as a confidant, and openly called him a student.

Feng Quan also gave Pan Yinglou a task, hoping that he could recruit more officials and gentry from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. This is not only the credit of his Pan Yinglou, but also the credit of Feng Quan.

Feng Quan once said a very level of flattery to Dorgon, saying that he can be loyal to two gentlemen with one heart, but he can't be half-hearted with one gentleman to show that he is reliable.

Pan Yinglou is more open-minded. Since he has surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he will go all the way to the dark. If he can enter the court and become a cabinet scholar of the Qing Dynasty in the future, wouldn't he be very successful?
After writing the letter, call a servant who takes care of the abdomen, and ask him to go to Fuyang to deliver the letter himself.

······
Fuyang.

Chen Zilong, the newly appointed governor of western Zhejiang, has not yet arrived, but Fang Duanshi, the new prefect of Hangzhou, has already arrived.

But now Fuchun Jiangbei is garrisoned by the Imperial Battalion and the Banner Bearer Battalion. All the counties are rectifying their troops, clearing up fields and measuring land, and clearing up taxes.

Fortunately, Fang Duanshi came with a secret mission this time.

"Pan wrote again, inviting us to meet."

Fang Duanshi took the letter to Ruan Dacheng, and after Ruan Dacheng read it, he showed a satisfied smile, "Pan Yinglou has completely trusted us now, pick a time, it's time to meet."

"What should we do after we meet?"

Ruan Dacheng is very confident, "This Xiao Pan is a person with good family background and good ability, but he is alone in the north after all, we just need to grasp his weakness, and we are not afraid that we will not be able to control him."

Pan Yinglou wanted to recruit Fang Duanshi and even Ruan Dacheng, but he didn't know that Ruan Dacheng had been fishing all the time, and wanted to turn him against him.After all, Pan Yinglou's status in Zhejiang is not low now, and he even has a backstage in Beijing.

Before Jian Guo is about to attack Hangzhou, it will definitely be of great use if he can successfully instigate such an important figure.

"Threat with his family?"

Ruan shook his head, "This method is too despicable and low-handed. I'm afraid it can really instigate rebellion with this method. It's not a last resort."

"Then what method?"

Ruan smiled slightly, "I haven't been idle during this time, I have collected a lot of information about Pan's descent to the north. When this guy was the Tongzhi of Hangzhou, Boluo and other Tartars were still there, but he worked hard and didn't dare to mess around. Collect some rules and regulations. But when Boluo went north, he toured Zhejiang, presided over the salt administration in Zhejiang, managed various salt farms, collected salt taxes, and cracked down on illegal salt, and the result was dishonest.”

"In just over a month, tens of thousands of taels of silver have been collected."

"Use this as an excuse to threaten?"

"Wrong, why didn't you understand, Xiao Pan is very greedy and courageous, so we can't use force on him and get lured. Isn't he in charge of the salt administration of the Tartar Zhejiang Province, then we will be with him Jiang Zhige, you can smuggle salt over there, and then you will get a share of the profit from Xiao Pan, and you can get it, won't Xiao Pan get closer to us?"

Pan Yinglou already collects money from salt merchants and salt dealers. This kind of thing is actually a common practice. Who patrols the salt and does not collect money?You can’t stay if you don’t take it. After all, the money is not yours alone, but everyone below will share it. If you don’t take it, how will others share it.

Now in this time of war, Zhejiang is the front line again, and the salt administration has more loopholes to exploit, making it easier to make money.

Ruan Dacheng is a smart man, there is no temptation to force him.

If he is in charge of salt, then find him to smuggle salt and distribute the money to him. As long as there is a lot of money, he will be completely dragged into the water. The problem with this large sum of money.

"Ji Zhigong is brilliant." Fang Duanshi is still a little younger after all, not as far and as deep as Ruan Dacheng's thinking, or Ruan Dacheng, although he has been idle in the Chongzhen Dynasty, has always been active among scholars, he is a great politician Brokers and compradors in the officialdom, no one knows the connections inside better than him.

Pan Yinglou, like his father, is not a loyal and upright person. Everyone is a fellow from Tongcheng, Anqing, and who doesn't know who else.

······
Tiaoxi.

In Hangzhou, the Qing army occupied Yuhang, and the Ming army occupied Lin'an. The two sides took Tiaoxi as the boundary, with the Ming army on the south bank of the river and the Qing army on the north bank of the river.

After the Qing general Tian Xiong personally led troops to capture Yuhang County, the two sides maintained peace for the time being.

Two boats approached.

Fang Duanshi boarded Pan Yinglou's boat.

As soon as they met, Pan Yinglou couldn't wait to persuade him to surrender, "Mr. Feng in Beijing has already promised that as long as you are willing to surrender, you will be retained at the original grade and you will be guaranteed the fourth grade."

"Mr. Ruan's intention?"

Fang Duanshi thanked repeatedly, "Thank you, Brother Pan, but I'm still a bit unwilling to leave like this. The Lu Jianguo humiliated me so much, and this revenge must be avenged."

"Brother Fang, although you are the magistrate of Hangzhou now, you don't have soldiers and horses. Is it not easy to go it alone?"

"I discussed it with Ruan Gongmi, and this is how I thought about it. We voted for the North like this, and we didn't have any merit. We didn't even have a vote. I'm afraid Beijing may not reuse me. Brother Yu Pan, it doesn't show credit. Why don't you make use of the prefect of Hangzhou and the inspectors of Jin Qu Yan who have just been obtained through Zhang Guojun's relationship, and make a good plan."

"..."

After hearing the "plan" conspired by Fang Duanshi Ruan Dacheng and others, Pan Yinglou couldn't help but get a little excited when he heard that they planned to surrender several prefectures in eastern Zhejiang to Xiancheng.

"Can you do it?"

"King Nalu's massacre in Yanzhou this time not only killed many generals of the Fang Guoan Ministry, but also persecuted the local gentry in Yanzhou. Now everyone feels resentful."

Pan Yinglou sighed, "Before I got along with King Lu for a while, I thought he was a virtuous corporal. Why is he so cruel now?"

"No, once the supervisor is in charge, he really thinks that he is supreme, but he doesn't know that his reckless behavior has already made people's hearts turn away."

After the secret talk, Pan Yinglou was very excited.

"Brother Pan, I have another idea this time."

"what?"

"Salt!"

"Salt?"

Fang Duanshi then talked about his plan to make a fortune, taking advantage of the special situation at the front line, and Pan Yinglou is the Yanfa Daotai in Zhejiang, and he is the prefect of Hangzhou. Therefore, they proposed to cooperate in smuggling salt.

Taking advantage of Pan Yinglou's authority to manage salt, he brought salt from the western Zhejiang salt field to eastern Zhejiang, and sold the salt to various prefectures in eastern Zhejiang through Fang Duanshi, Ma Ruan, etc., without importing salt and paying high salt taxes. Among them, the profits are huge, and the income is very profitable. Everyone gets five for two.

"Mr. Pan, you get half, and I, Mr. Ma and Ruan, get half."

Pan was also moved, feeling very rich, "How can this work? Since we want to cooperate, we must be fair. The four of us, why not share five shares. Each of the four of us will get [-]%, and I will share the remaining [-]%." How about giving it to the officials of Yanfa Road and Salt Fields below? "

After some excuses, Fang Duanshi finally reached an agreement with Pan Yinglou, and agreed to bring the salt at the next meeting.

"Is there a way for you to get some armaments and horses?" Before parting, Fang Duanshi asked, "There are a lot of soldiers and horses in the east of Zhejiang, but there is a shortage of weapons and armor, and the price of all kinds of armaments is very high. You can make a lot of money by reselling them.”

Pan Yinglou hesitated for a moment.

"Brother Pan, you have the right not to use it. It will become invalid after the expiry date. Such an opportunity is rare now, and it may not be so convenient in the future. While it is convenient now, let's get more money quickly. Isn’t it convenient for families to buy fields and land.”

"Don't care about armor, knives, guns, cannons, horses, as long as we can get them, we will accept them all at that time, and even give some more money. You can get more names, such as damage or replenishment of ordnance. This is buying low and selling high, and there is a lot of price difference between them.”

"Some of them can even be bought and sold without money."

Pan Yinglou was moved by what he said. Because Zhejiang is not peaceful now, his Yan Fa Dao also has a salt patrol road mark. There are not many soldiers, only two battalions of [-] people, and the equipment is also very ordinary, but after all, it can be regarded as capable. A channel for making weapons.

Seeing that his heart was moving, Fang Duanshi struck while the iron was hot, and dragged him to continue talking for a long time.

Holding the power and controlling the land, there are many ways to get money, not only salt smuggling, weapons reselling, and even other food and cloth can also be done.

Pan Yinglou admired this fellow villager and classmate so much that he could think of so many ways to make money.According to him, if they don't make three to five million taels of silver this year, they will be sorry for the favorable position they occupy now.

When Fang Duanshi returned to his boat and went away, Pan Yinglou was still so excited that he couldn't calm down for a long time.

I thought it was just recruiting a few fellow villagers, but I didn't expect that there would be such a big money and business opportunity.

He has no doubts about Fang Duanshi. After all, his family has been hiding in Fang Duanshi's house for the past few months, and he has been helping to take care of him. Besides, it is also true that Fang Guoan was killed. Fang Duanshi was Fang Guoan's prisoner. It is normal for the army to be implicated.Now he has bribed the magistrate of Hangzhou through the way of the uncle of the country, but in the current situation, what is there to be a magistrate of Hangzhou, even the city of Hangzhou cannot be entered.

It is normal for Fang Duanshi to want to find another way out to save others by himself.If he hanged himself by a tree with a crooked neck in Daming, that would be a problem.

(End of this chapter)