I have a cornucopia

Chapter 90: The bandits and I are at odds with each other

Of course, loyal ministers will not join in with such a traitor who dares to urinate in the palace.

but……

It’s okay to be conceited!

After all, it was now up to him to protect Huaiyang. At this special moment, if he said something that was obviously treasonous or did anything that was treasonous, just pretend not to hear or see it.

Of course, his unreasonable demands must be met as much as possible.

Want money?

Give!

Not just ten thousand taels a day.

What does it mean to a Huaiyang salt merchant who only eats the tips of sheep's lips?

The Huaiyang Salt Industry of the Ming Dynasty has an annual transaction volume of 30 million and a profit of tens of millions. It pays hundreds of thousands to the emperor, and the rest belongs to the salt merchants, or the family behind the salt merchants. Who can be a salt merchant without background? The largest salt merchant in Yangzhou in the mid-Wanli period was Zhang Sijiao, the younger brother of Zhang Siwei, the first assistant. Even though Yuandudu was a short-lived political upstart from a small and remote county, his younger brother Yuan Chongyu was also a salt merchant. So no matter how Ma Shiying or Lu Zhenfei hooked up with Yang Feng, the ministers behind the salt merchants in the court would choose to forgive them. After all, they were doing it for everyone.

Yang Feng is crazy!

But he is just crazy.

What bad intentions could he have as someone who has read the books of sages?

Just think of him as a madman.

But Li Zicheng is different!

Such a leak.

Yang Feng said while shaking his folding fan.

Yang Feng shook his folding fan and still put on the face of the old Hong Kong movie hero. He stood in the green of early spring and looked at the strong man in front of him who was about to draw a sword. Behind the strong man were thousands of troops in formation...

Really.

He relied on cavalry to fight in the world.

Li Guo said.

That has to be processed.

Thirty thousand cavalry attacked in three waves, known as the three walls, just like the French cavalry in the Soviet version of Waterloo.

He knows very well that the outcome of a fight is unpredictable.

Yang Feng shook his folding fan and smiled, and at the same time, the cavalry arrayed behind him moved forward.

Li Guo looked at Yang Feng.

Li Guo stopped laughing.

In order to get to Shanhaiguan quickly, even mules and donkeys were used.

One tiger was immediately amused.

"Who are you?"

As for whether it is used for special purposes...

“Laugh, keep laughing, if it’s not enough, there will be more behind me.

"It's Li Guo who's here. Sorry, you're late!"

He looked at the three thousand cavalry with crosses on their chests with some seriousness. As a knowledgeable person, he knew their strength from their formation, orderliness, equipment and the reaction of the soldiers' faces to the battlefield. This guy who looks like a sour scholar has real elites behind him, and the three thousand elite cavalry are considered very strong at least within the court system.

Of course Li Guo brought elite troops, and he divided his troops to pursue Yuan Shizhong, and they must also be cavalry. Although it was not tens of thousands at this moment, there were five thousand. The huge cavalry legion quickly completed the formation on the open plain. However, in addition to the cavalry, there were also more infantry, or trapped hungry people. These could be said to be a mess, and many of them didn't even have real weapons, just farm tools. But the problem is that there are so many of them, they seem endless, like garbage patches washed by floods, all with hungry madness, devouring the green of early spring.

Generally, those who can raise three thousand elite cavalry must be at the level of the Wu family.

The thief is coming.

"What, you don't even know the famous Yang Sheng?"

They are all Jianlu.

Yang killed more Jianlu than you have ever seen. Have you looked at the heads of these brothers?

All are Eight Banners Manchuria.

Dangshan.

Li Zicheng's main force was cavalry.

The elite soldiers behind him also laughed.

Besides, would these cavalrymen go out of their way to find a container when they dismount and urinate?

he shouted.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

"The water in the well will not interfere with the water in the river?"

That's a bandit, that's a thief, that's a matter of principle.

Yang Feng was shocked.

Poor those Qing soldiers' heads, they are still hanging on these guys, but they are dried, just like dried chicken. They are even salted for antisepsis, because the little tails are not strong and are actually nailed on them. I added a hemp rope so that I could hang it, since it was empty inside and weighed nothing.

Just hang up an alternative decoration immediately, or even hang two or three.

"Your Excellency is a soldier of Shandong. We have nothing to do with the river, so why bother to stand up for others? I am here just to kill the traitorous general, but if others are seeking their own death, I don't mind giving him a ride."

Li Guo...

Even the Eight Banners and Han troops were not qualified to hang on their horses. "

He does have an advantage in terms of military strength, but the problem is that Yang Feng is not himself. There are indeed three thousand cavalry in front, but there are also seemingly endless soldiers behind. Yuan Shizhong, those he had collected before, add up to more than 20,000 to fight. soldiers. What's more, Yang Feng only came to support Yuan Shidong's retreat. Even if Li Guo tried his best to win, he would still lose miserably. But behind Yang Feng were Ma Shiying's troops, and it was then their turn to give Li Guo a fatal blow. He didn't really explore the way for Li Zicheng. Next, he went south to Huaiyang. Li Zicheng had no such idea at all. It was just Ma Shiying and others who were frightened into thinking. Li Guo was just here to deal with Yuan Shizhong, so there were no reinforcements behind him. He dealt with Yuan Shizhong. We must return to Xiangyang immediately.

Yang Feng looked at him...

"I and the bandits are inseparable!"

Then the next moment Yang Shengyang raised his arms and shouted.

Li Guo smiled coldly, then turned his horse's head, while his soldiers stared at Yang Feng. They did not gradually retreat until Li Guo withdrew. Li Guo, who had already arrived in front of the formation, simply raised his sword...

"withdraw!"

he shouted.

The cavalry immediately began to retreat.

"Is this the end?"

Su Dunsheng looked at this scene and said in shock.

"They didn't really go south, they just wanted to hunt down Yuan Shizhong, but now it's impossible to chase him down, and it's not cost-effective to fight with us. In that case, why not withdraw? They are rogue bandits, and they don't have the habit of sticking to one place. If they are defeated What can we do? Not to mention that Ma Shiying will take the opportunity to kill them. Even if Ma Shiying does not dare to attack, how can they still attack Guide? They are just a lone army, but they have made a fortune for us. "

Yang Feng said with a smile.

For his attack this time, the Huaiyang salt merchant paid one month's military expenses in advance.

Three hundred thousand is in hand.

And there are also 10,000 Yin salt.

This is purely a gift. One tael of silver can buy thousands of jins in the salt field. One tael of silver can buy more than 200 jins. Ten thousand taels of silver can only buy a few thousand taels. In this era, salt depends purely on the distance. From Changlu Salt Field to the capital, you can buy it. It has increased five times. From Huai'an to Huguang, it can increase dozens of times.

If you go to the mountainous area of ​​​​Huguang, there is a record of up to 60 times.

But it’s not just salt dealers who make money.

Salt merchants are not those who sell salt locally, they are called local merchants.

Those were all controlled by local gentry.

The salt merchants transported the salt. When it arrived, the county government summoned the native merchants to negotiate the price. The magistrate made a ruling based on the negotiation and then handed it over to the native merchants. This was modified step by step based on Zhu Yuanzhang's system. Of course, all the boards of Zhu Yuanzhang's coffin were pressed. Can't live. Because in his system, the local merchants are actually Lijia, and Lijia does not sell salt. Instead, after the county magistrate sets the price, he goes back to the people to collect grain or treasure banknotes according to the fixed price, and then takes the received grain or treasure banknotes to the county. Yamen changed salt.

Then go back and divide.

The salt merchant then took the grain or treasure money he received to buy grain with treasure money, and then transported it to the border town in exchange for salt.

Then take the salt and lead it to the salt field for distribution. Then continue with the next cycle.

The people with the least human rights in this system are the salt merchants.

Countless salt merchants cried and traveled north and south, finally making a small amount of money, and then with the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, they began to be manipulated step by step by various interest groups. This system was constantly modified and distorted, and every time the salt merchants were modified and distorted, they became happier. points, the common people who eat salt will pay an extra cent.

It was changed until the late Wanli period.

The salt merchant's happiness is finally fully unlocked.

You don't have to be polite to squeeze them, you must do your best to squeeze them.

Even the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty came to blackmail me personally.

Of course, it was the salt merchant who was moved by the emperor's grace and offered tens of millions of taels of silver.

but……

It can only be squeezed, not destroyed.

Because their existence has irreplaceable value at least for now. Although Lao Zhu’s design is very clever, it can be said that it can ensure that simple farmers are cheated by profiteers to the maximum extent, but his system is indeed not conducive to economic development.

Salt merchants are miserable!

No matter how hard it was, it didn't stop them from continuing to work as salt merchants.

"Let's go back to find Yuan Shizhong."

Yang Feng said.

"He has 60,000 people with him, so he needs to be given an official position!"

Su Dunsheng said.

Yang Feng smiled.

This official...

"Inspection, I will find an inspection department for you in Qingzhou Prefecture to do the inspection."

He said to Yuan Shizhong simply.

The cronies around the latter immediately became angry.

"Yang Sheng, the one Yan Shenggong promised is the chief soldier."

one of them said angrily.

The next moment, Yang Feng arrived in front of him, then grabbed his neck and pressed him against the wall. He turned around amid the roar behind him, looked at Yuan Shizhong's men calmly, and then slowly twisted his neck to a weird angle...

There was silence in the back.

"I have the final say!"

Yang Feng said.

Yuan Shizhong sighed.

"Yang Sheng, I listen to you."

He said.

"This is the sensible thing to do, but you can rest assured that I am not the kind of person who kills people to get rid of troubles. Since you sincerely surrender, I will keep you safe. You can go on this inspection with peace of mind. In troubled times, you can have someone who has no worries about food and clothing." Life is not bad. You just happen to have your woman with you. It will be great to have a wife and children on the hot bed in the future. What good is there to fight and kill each other with precarious life and death?

Ambitious?

Do people like you still want to compete for supremacy? "

Yang Feng nodded.

Of course he couldn't keep Yuan Shizhong to continue to lead his men. Regardless of Yuan Shizhong's background, he was now a big thief running rampant, and his men were also big thieves. They are indeed good to the people, but they must also understand that as a result of their wandering around Henan, more innocent people have died from famine caused by war and production destruction. The famine and war in the late Ming Dynasty influenced each other. The famine caused the rise of bandits and then brought war. The war intensified the famine, and the aggravated famine intensified the war. In the end, the two legs kept walking towards the cliff.

The bandits cannot be said to be bad people. It is true to rebel for survival, but they cannot be said to be good people. In this era of competition, they are indeed not the worst, but they cannot be said to be good people either.

Good people...

All the good people these days are dying of hunger.

Maybe Ling Mengchu in Xuzhou City later could be considered a good person, but as a local magistrate he was unable to protect the people. The bandits should be Cheng Jikong's gang. They forced him to surrender but he was unwilling to betray the emperor. In the end, he negotiated with the bandits and the latter promised not to kill the people. , he ordered the resistance to cease and then went on a hunger strike to death.

But people like Yuan Shizhong...

They are just a group of not too bad people in this era when there are not many good people.

Of course, Yang Sheng is not a good person either.

The good people of this era...

Who are the good guys? You are the good person, and your whole family is a good person!

"As for you."

Yang Feng looked at Yuan Shizhong's cronies.

"Follow me!"

He said.

The latter knelt down one after another...

In this way, Yang Feng completed the recruitment of Yuan Shizhong. With this batch, he has recruited at least 200,000 people in Xuzhou and eastern Henan. It is indeed not difficult to support him at present. After all, he borrowed 300,000 people from the canal transport. Ten thousand shi of food, and as military ration, the Huaiyang salt merchants paid another 50,000 shi. Of course, this is still obtained from the canal transport, but the Huaiyang salt merchants have to make up for it for Lu Zhenfei. Yang Feng has already distributed 1.8 million in the capital, so it is not a big deal if the canal grain is delayed by ten days and a half.

This year the plan is still to transport 4 million, so it is no big deal for Yang Feng to misappropriate some.

But this is only temporary.

Because he needs to continue to support these people.

How long can this amount of food last? Two months is not enough.

Ten days later, he took these people to Ganyu, and they were temporarily placed between Ganyu and Cross Road. Those villages that had been massacred by the Qing army before had enough houses to build themselves. Those who were willing to farm would first build their own villages in those villages without owners. Farming on wasteland, these are all farming anyway. As for southeastern Shandong and Haizhou, the agricultural conditions are slightly better than those in Henan. In fact, they are already part of the rice growing area. After all, this area has a coastal climate that is slightly warmer than that of the inland. And it is backed by a mountainous area. Although it lacks big rivers, it has countless small rivers. In summer, the wind blowing from the sea can bring some precipitation. If Henan cannot survive the severe drought, this area can already struggle to survive.

Of course, these are not important.

What matters is the fishery.

After returning to Andongwei, Yang Shengyuan abandoned everything and ran to a nearby cave.

He wants to retreat.

He wanted to have in-depth communication with the gods. In short, he just asked his sister to bring him food. No one was allowed to disturb him before he came out of seclusion. In short, he had to be in seclusion for at least half a month.

In the cave...

"Damn it, I want to see how many useful things I can catch in half a month."

Yang Sheng, who summoned the cornucopia, looked at the basin suspended in mid-air in front of him. He inserted his hands into it and judged it. After confirming that it was not steel, he suddenly pulled it out...

"Good luck, although it's useless!"

He looked at the bag of seed corn he had pulled out.

Hybrids.

But we can try, can we use hybrids to breed with the corn at this time? The hybrids are second generation degenerates, but the corn at this time is also at the level of fairy species if it is degenerated. The corn at this time is not even on a cob. Just a few dozen particles, twenty pounds per acre of land is pretty good.

No matter how degenerate the hybrids are, they will not produce dozens of corns per cob.

In this way, he began to open blind boxes that lasted for half a month...

(End of this chapter)