Daming Yinghua

Chapter 146
Kong Youde was only fifteen or sixteen years old at this time, about the same size as an adult man like Wu Bangde, with the look on his face and eyes showing the cautiousness of a poor kid from the bottom.

He entered the room and quickly knelt down to kowtow to Zhang Quan.

Nowadays, guerrilla generals and the like will kneel down and worship civil servants above the fourth rank, let alone a small personal soldier.

Zhang Quan nodded to him kindly, and saw that his nose was red from the cold, so he took a piece of sticky rice bun from the side of the goose cauldron, and handed it to him: "Baby, dry your hands."

Mao Wenlong said to Kong Youde: "Youde, this spring, you transported ginseng and mink fur to Fushun to catch a big market. How was the situation of the Mongols and Jurchens in the horse market at that time? Please report carefully to Zhang Shilang."

Kong Youde was still kneeling while holding the sticky rice bun, and said respectfully: "In the horse market this spring, there were many Tartars from the Mongolian Nuantu tribe in the north who came to sell horses, but they were all bad horses, and no one wanted them. The Mongolian Tartars are here. Fushun was drinking and making trouble. Later, I heard that General Li Shen had rewarded them with silver, so they sent them away. But Jianzhou Jurchen Tartars came more, and they, they were quite honest. Honey, honey, they are all very good, and they are not expensive to sell, and the merchants in Shanxi and Hebei gave them a round. Later, they didn’t sell enough, and they took a lot of our goods, and they were very polite to us.”

Zhang Quan asked, "Did the Jianzhou Jurchens bring horses to sell?"

Kong Youde shook his head: "No. It is said that the Jianzhou Tatars can collect a lot of horses from the Haixi Jurchen and the wild Jurchen, and Fushun is close, so it is much easier to drive the horses here than the Mongols. Let's mutter, don't we? Because the old chieftain of the Tartars has made himself king, and he wants to gather horses to beat us..."

Zheng Haizhu interrupted him suddenly, and said with a strange smile: "They will beat us, Daming, for sure, but this spring's horse market will not bring horses, probably because of the appetite of horse dealers from all over the world. Mashi, let's do a big job."

Kong Youde raised his neck slightly and looked at Zheng Haizhu on the table.

He had seen this woman when she first arrived in Liaoyang City.Xu San told him that it was a businessman who was in partnership with General Mao, and he was regarded as the head of the southern end.

But unexpectedly, this woman is not only doing business, but also sitting at the same table with the Minister of the Ministry of War.

Kong Youde looked at Zheng Haizhu with some surprises: "It seems that Mr. Zheng is in the horse market this spring. Yes, the market opened for about ten days. Those Jurchen Tartars told the horse dealers that this year the Ye He tribe in Haixi will stop the horse market." It is said that the barbarian Nuzhen's good horses can't get on, and in autumn they sweated and cleaned up Yehe Nuzhen, and there will be no problem with two or three thousand horses coming to the horse market in the next spring."

There was a slight silence during the dinner, Zhang Quan said to Kong Youde: "Baby, you go out first."

He smiled and pointed to the steamed bun in his hand: "Eat it while it's hot."

Kong Youde hurriedly kowtowed again, got up and left.

Mao Wenlong's expression darkened, he looked at Zhang Quan, then at Zheng Haizhu and Wu Bangde, touched his stubble-covered cheeks and said, "Damn it, looking at it this way, it's really weird. He's a Jianzhou Tartar? It's time to be afraid of the Yehe Tartars, and they won't be able to get horses in exchange for food?"

Zheng Haizhu said: "The Jurchens are all hunters, and they are the best at setting traps. The old chief can set a trap and let out the wind in front of the horse market in the next spring, saying that there are a lot of good horses coming, and then let his Eight Banners soldiers pretend to be horses. As a merchant, he sneaked into Fushun City first, and cooperated with the Tartars who came later. By the way, the Mongolian Nuantu tribe is also very suspicious. Maybe next spring will still come to ask for rewards, but it is actually Nurhachi's side response."

What Zheng Haizhu said is the history of Nurhachi's plan to attack Fushun in history, but after the foreshadowing, it is not so abrupt to say this conjecture by himself.

With a "bang", Zhang Quan slammed the wine glass on the table.

Although he has a strong temper, he always behaves in a gentle manner, and his actions at this moment are a rare expression of emotion.

"Li Yongfang, the imperial court can't use him anymore. The slave chief has established himself as a khan last year, and Li Yongfang actually allowed so many Jurchens to enter the city in this year's Fushun horse market!"

"Zhang Shilang," Zheng Haizhu said slowly, "with all due respect, Li Yongfang can still use it. No matter whether he has been bought by Nurhachi or this person is just lax, if the old chief really attacks next spring Li Yongfang should stay in his position as a general in Fushun to avoid Nurhachi's suspicion. As for the movements of the Jianzhou Tartars, we must go to spy on them, but instead of sending soldiers and generals, it is better for merchants like us go."

Zhang Quan was slightly taken aback, and then showed a look of deep thought.

Mao Wenlong breathed a sigh of relief.

Today Zheng Haizhu talked about Fushun or Nurhachi's first prey during the banquet. Mao Wenlong was quite happy at the beginning, thinking that this eldest niece knew the soldiers, which made him look good in front of Zhang Shilang.

When Kong Youde talked about the situation in Fushun Horse City, Mao Wenlong was a little nervous again, fearing that Zhang Quan would blame him for being lacking in side affairs. To the east of Liaoyang, where Mao Wenlong was guarding, is Fushun.

Fortunately, Zheng Haizhu was on his side, and the girl offered to spy on the military situation. Looking at Zhang Quan's face now, her anger gradually faded.

I only heard Zhang Quan say warmly to Zheng Haizhu: "Girl, you have courage, I admire you. However, the harvest of the Tartars is extremely poor this year. If you go there as an ordinary caravan, you will surely fall into the mouth of a tiger, with your goods being robbed and people Killed. Let the old man think about it, is there any other way."

Zheng Haizhu was secretly moved.

Zhang Quan, a civil servant, is very kind.Like a father, like a daughter, it is also a blessing for Xianglin to marry Miss Fengyi.

Zheng Haizhu asked Mao Wenlong with a look of searching: "Hey, Uncle Mao, didn't you say that Li Chengliang's son Li Rubai married Shuerhaqi's daughter, Nurhachi's niece?"

Mao Wenlong said: "Yes, when Zongbing Li was alive, the two brothers Nurhachi were obedient to him like their own fathers. Shuerhaqi sent his daughter over to marry him. Zongbing Li said that all his sons have regular wives. Well, I can only be a concubine if I want to do it. The Jurchen said that even being a maid is their good fortune. Look at that obedient appearance back then..."

"Mao Shoubei," Zhang Quan interrupted Mao Wenlong, "the court has always known that Li Zongbing and Shuerhaqi have a good relationship, so they specially supported Shuerhaqi back then and asked him to contain his brother Nurhachi. It's a pity that he died of illness early .”

Mao Wenlong took a sip of wine and said: "He died of any disease, a strong man who could beat a tiger to death, our Liao generals all said that it was Shuerhaqi who wanted to lead people to stand on the top of the mountain, and was locked up by Nurhachi and starved to death."

Zhang Quan snorted coldly: "It's probably true. Nurhachi is not a good stubble. Now, is Li Rubai's concubine still in Liaoyang?"

Mao Wenlong nodded: "Yes, Shuerhaqi's daughter is called Yilanzhu. There is no need to hide it from Zhang Shilang, Mao's concubine, who sometimes makes ointments and sends some to Yilanzhu. This suggestion The state girl is also pitiful, when she was sent to Li's family in Liaoyang, she was only 13 years old, and when she gave birth to Li Rubai's first child a few years later, news of her mother's and her father's death came one after another, something went wrong, and it has only gotten better in recent years."

Speaking of this, Mao Wenlong suddenly realized: "Yes, this woman has always said that she wants to go back to Jianzhou to worship her parents."

Zheng Haizhu smiled and said: "Zhang Shilang, Uncle Mao, our caravan, you can accompany her back, bring some good brocade tea, let her give it away, maybe you can enter Hetuala, see if Nurhachi has anything movement."

Zhang Quan thought for a while and asked Mao Wenlong: "This Yi Lanzhu, did you ever guess that your own father was killed by your uncle?"

Mao Wenlong said: "She definitely doesn't believe it. She also said that her cousins ​​are very kind to her. She begged Li Rubai many times and wanted to return to her hometown to pay homage. Li Rubai dared not agree, for fear that someone in the Liao general would report Li Jiatong to the court. Chief."

Zheng Haizhu persuaded Zhang Quan: "Zhang Shilang, in my humble opinion, Nurhachi will not kill this niece. The old chief just wanted to neutralize the prestige of the bannermen. If he harmed the married niece who returned to his hometown to worship, it would not only appear narrow-minded, but more It's like announcing to the Eight Banners that Shu Erhaqi, a fellow human being who fought with him through life and death, was killed by himself."

Zhang Quan took a few more sips of wine, and finally agreed: "Okay, Li Rubai, let me talk about it first, and say that the imperial court knew his grievances, and allowed him, a concubine, to go back to the old city of Jianzhou. Attitude. I won’t talk much about the rest. What we have decided today, we don’t need to let outsiders know. The old man and Mao’s garrison have to plan the strength of the military forts from Liaoyang to Fushun. plan."

(End of this chapter)