Borrow the day to change the day

Zuo Yingxuan looked at Zhong Jinwei's earnest expression, and remembered his good impression of Zhong Jinwei before, so he told the truth: "There are many refugees in Changli City. It has been besieged by the Tartars for many days, and there is not much food left. Now the food is embezzled from surplus rations."

"The amount of food you eat is enough to kill half of Changli City for a day." The yamen servant also went all out, emphasizing loudly on the side.

Zuo Yingxuan heard this, and turned around to reprimand this bold servant, but was stopped by Zhong Jinwei, who then asked Zuo Yingxuan, "Then where did the meat we eat come from?"

Zuo Yingxuan looked at Zhong Jinwei and the generals standing behind Zhong Jinwei, hesitated for a while, and then said: "It was made up by the people in the city and the country gentry out of gratitude for the army's coming to rescue."

After Zuo Yingxuan finished speaking, Zhong Jinwei fell silent, and the others didn't speak either, and Qianya fell silent. [

After a while, Zhong Jinwei said to Zuo Yingxuan: "I won't say anything superfluous, you write down the specifics of the Battle of Changli, and attach it to the victory memorial to me, and I will convey it to the emperor." .The list of meritorious personnel must be clearly stated, but fabrication and exaggeration are not allowed.”

Before Zuo Yingxuan could respond, Zhong Jinwei turned around and said to He Kegang who was standing behind him: "We will return to the capital tomorrow, remove the surplus dry rations in the army, and save some war preparations such as gunpowder, and hand them over to Changli City. "

"Yes, Supervising Army." He Kegang clasped his fists in agreement.

After He Kegang agreed, Zhong Jinwei turned back to Zuo Yingxuan and said, "The dry food in the army is a bit unpalatable, but you can still make do with it by boiling it with water. I underestimated the war, and I never thought about the food in Changli city." The problem, this time is also a chance for me to learn."

Zuo Yingxuan didn't expect that Zhong Jinwei not only gave the army food, but also blamed himself, so he couldn't help being stunned.Ordinary people have a good face, even if they know they are wrong, they will not say it, let alone Zhong Jinwei is a high-ranking supervisor, which is too surprising.

Zhong Jinwei didn't know what Zuo Yingxuan was thinking, so he continued: "The Jian captives have already retreated, so we should go back too. If there are still wars in the future, we can send people to the capital for help."

After finishing speaking, Zhong Jinwei clasped his fists to the left and said: "There will be a period later."

Then he took the lead to go out, followed by other generals and personal guards, and the front office, which was still crowded just now, suddenly became empty.

Seeing that Zuo Yingxuan was still there in a daze, Shi Guozhu quickly tugged on his sleeve, pulled him back from his daze, and hurriedly chased him off to see him off.

There were only a few yamen servants left in the front office, they looked at each other, and one of them asked, "Did we offend Uncle Zhongxing?"

"Go, why offend Uncle Zhongxing? Have you ever seen someone who was offended still think about us like this?" Another yamen servant retorted.

"I think the county venerable will be Zhongxing Bo's man in the future. Anyone who dares to embarrass the county venerable should report the matter to Zhongxing Bo. .

Early the next morning, Wuqian Guanning's cavalry began to pack their things, while Zhong Jinwei led the generals to supervise the handover of food, gunpowder and other supplies, and Zuo Yingxuan was also with him.

At about the beginning of Sishi, all the supplies were handed over, and the army was ready to go.

The prominent figures in Changli City were all behind Zuo Yingxuan, while other ordinary people stood at the head of Changli City, crowded to the ground, wanting to see off the support army.

When Zhong Jinwei was saying goodbye to Zuo Yingxuan, a few riders galloped over and found Zhong Jinwei. It was Emperor Chongzhen who told him to return to the capital to meet him.

Zhong Jinwei thought it was the victory of annihilating four thousand Tartars earlier, so the emperor was happy to invite him back to ask for details, but the envoy shook his head, saying that it was not for this matter, and asked Zhongxing Bo to go back to the capital to see the emperor, so that he could know the specific situation.

Zhong Jinwei's heart sank. He didn't know what happened in the capital. The emperor must have encountered a problem and wanted to discuss it with himself, so he hurried back with his army without further delay.

Until the five thousand cavalry left, the people of Changli were still watching.Shi Guozhu leaned closer to Zuo Yingxuan and said, "Master Zhongxing, this Uncle Zhongxing seems to be very favored."

"Isn't it good for the Son of Heaven to be a virtuous minister, far from a villain?" Zuo Yingxuan asked back.

"This subordinate doesn't mean that. I just think that the county honoree will be reused if Bo Zhongxing conveys the good news." Shi Guozhu quickly explained.

Then, he said again: "My subordinates first congratulate the county lord!"

Zuo Yingxuan stopped talking after hearing this, and only returned to the city to start busy with post-war affairs after seeing no sign of the cavalry.

In a large manor on the outskirts of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, luxury carriages entered from time to time, and finally all gathered in front of a single building inside.

The single building is surrounded by family guards. People who got off the carriage, all dressed in expensive silk and satin, were helped up by a few personal servants to a conference hall on the second floor.

There was a man who looked like a housekeeper standing at the entrance of the meeting hall, and when he saw someone coming, he nodded and bowed to say hello: "Master Wang, please sit inside."

"Master Li, walk slowly and be careful of the threshold."

"..."

While talking, he signaled the maidservants to stay, everyone was familiar with the rules, so the masters could enter by themselves, and the maidservants went to wait in the next room.

When the last person entered the meeting hall, the person at the door retreated into the hall and closed the door.

There were five people sitting on the left and right in the meeting room, and two people sitting on the upper seat. The one thing they all had in common was their gloomy faces, and they seemed to be in a bad mood.

Seeing that everyone has arrived, a half-century old man in the upper seat spoke first: "Everyone knows the imperial court's bullshit New Deal, right?"

The news of the capital has spread to the localities, and even those who are relatively close to the capital have returned and started to reform the salt administration.It is estimated that the related residence newspaper will spread to the world within these days.

"Then what on earth does Zhou Yanru eat?" the man who was called Master Li just now said angrily.

"Liao Bin, come and tell the masters about the capital." The half-century old man said to the butler standing beside him.

"Yes, master." Liao Bin took a few steps forward, and reported the whole process of finding Zhou Yanru after he arrived in the capital, before returning to the place where he was standing.

Liao Bin was one of Chen Liang's confidants butlers, and he existed as a foreign affairs liaison after the big salt merchants united.

"Brother Chen, we sent Zhou Yanru to the cabinet this week, but it's still useless. Isn't this a waste of our money!" a big fat salt merchant complained.

The reason why Chen Liang was regarded as the person in charge by these big salt merchants was that he was calm and scheming.

He shook his head and said: "Zhou Yanru is already a cabinet minister at a young age. Although he is one of the few high-ranking officials in Ming Dynasty, his foundation is still shallow. He has tried his best this time, so don't expect too much. .”

"Then what should we do? If we pave the way for him, we must pay us back, right?" Another big salt merchant followed suit. [

"I have thought about it for the past two days. There are still many people in the imperial court who are older and more prestigious than Zhou Yanru. It is difficult for him alone to do anything now, and it will take time to show his role. Therefore, we need to do something. There are two aspects." Chen Liang expressed his thoughts.

"Which two aspects? As long as it is really useful, money is not a problem." The big fat salt merchant asked arrogantly.

The other salt merchants in the chamber also looked at Chen Liang, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"The first thing we have to do is to buy court officials, no matter what means we use to attack Zhou Yanru's political opponents, and pave the way for him to truly seize power, because the previous investment cannot be wasted."

"Secondly, we still need to step up support for another person, and echo him from a distance, so that we can truly influence the court situation and put the Ming Dynasty Salt Administration in our hands. Maybe in the future, we can also gain great benefits in other aspects!" Chen Liang said all the things he had to do after careful consideration.

"Brother Chen, you mean Zhang Pu, who was born to that concubine?" the big fat salt merchant asked with disdain.

"He has talent and learning, and he has a lot of ambition. We agreed to support him before. I think he is a person who can achieve things and will be rewarded." Chen Liang saw that the big fat salt merchant still judged people based on his background, so he went on again. Emphasized the reasons for choosing Zhang Pu.

After speaking, he looked at the other salt merchants, and said again: "This is a move that Brother Guo and I have discussed and felt necessary to take."

Those salt merchants sitting on the left and right looked at Guo Lun, another person in charge of the upper seat.

Guo Lun nodded and said: "The government and the public are all in our hands, and the wealth of the world is not all ours. Everyone, look further."

These salt merchants saw that the two principals had the same opinion, so they stopped talking. Anyway, they just wanted to contribute some money, and the most they needed was money.

"Then how do we deal with the new salt policy?" A big salt merchant asked.

"Let's take a step at a time for the time being. The output has really increased. Talk to those in charge, first exchange the warehouse notes we have on hand." Chen Liang replied.

This has never been done in all dynasties, there is no precedent to follow, and other salt merchants did not have a good idea, so they acquiesced to Chen Liang's statement.

After discussing some details, they dispersed separately.