You salt merchants are already doing very well and pay millions of taels of salt tax every year. Isn't this amount of tax not enough?
Those gentry who own 10,000 to 20,000 acres of land do not have to pay a penny in taxes.
You salt merchants have been extremely benevolent to the Ming Dynasty.
They even want to increase taxes on salt merchants, which is not acceptable.
We need to tell Emperor Chongzhen and those ministers who want to raise taxes.
Increase taxes on the common people, and they have no strength to resist.
You salt merchants are different. Anyone who dares to raise taxes will be killed by you.
This approach is not to take action directly.
Just leave some room for maneuver and don't quarrel with the court.
Xu Guangqi is a very capable person, so we cannot let him become a leader.
This man holds Shang Fang's sword and has already dealt with many people in Nanjing for collecting mineral taxes.
It made the official life miserable, and many nephews of Donglin big shots were dealt with by him.
The imperial court has assembled an army to destroy the thieves in yellow clothes. Where will the money come from?
Part of it was the original Liao salary, and the other part was the money obtained by Xu Guangqi.
Qin's salary is a bottomless pit, and we cannot rely on Donglin to fill it.
Even if we were all blown up, we wouldn't be able to fill this bottomless pit."
Wang Ming nodded solemnly.
"I understand, waiting for our good news."
He must handle this matter well. If he handles it well, he will still be a big salt merchant in the future.
If he doesn't do it right, he will be put in jail tomorrow for selling smuggled salt.
…………………………
After Wei Yang entertained the guests, he walked to the basement to check the intelligence collected today.
He is the person in charge of the secret guards sent to Yangzhou to take charge of the city's intelligence.
This wine shop is responsible for uploading and distributing messages, and is also a message transfer station.
The restaurant belongs to Donglin boss, and there are no royal guards or corvees who dare to inspect the restaurant here.
Wei Yang saw the salt merchant discussing with Donglin representatives, and he asked people to pay close attention to it.
A few days later, he learned what happened through various channels.
Some Yangzhou salt merchants, under the pretext of negotiating salt taxes, brought account books that had been touched by smallpox patients to meet Xu Guangqi.
Xu Guangqi had suffered from smallpox and was seriously ill and could not get out of bed. The yamen had been blocked by the yamen.
No one was allowed to enter or leave the place where Xu Guangqi was, and famous doctors from Yangzhou were summoned.
"Sir, these salt merchants are not afraid of the spread of smallpox. They themselves have contracted smallpox."
Wei Yang sighed and said: "These salt merchants have all been vaccinated against cowpox.
They have no way to cultivate cowpox vaccine, but we have cowpox vaccine in stock at rural health clinics.
With so much inventory, it is basically impossible not to leak out.
The cowpox vaccine only costs one hundred copper coins.
One hundred taels of gold here can't even buy a bottle of cowpox vaccine.
If the profits are so huge, no matter how severe the punishment is, some people will take risks.
These salt merchants were extremely afraid of death and had never been vaccinated against cowpox, so they did not dare to use this method.
As for whether people died on a large scale due to smallpox, these people don't care at all."
After Wei Yang finished speaking, he wrote down the situation of his inquiry on the paper in code words.
Wrap it in oilcloth and place it in a small paper tube.
He wrote five copies in total and tied them to five pigeons respectively.
These pigeons are all brought from Hanzhong and will return to their birthplace after being released.
He released five pigeons at once to prevent the pigeons from dying midway due to accidents.
"Take these bamboo tubes and go to the pigeon nest to find five little pigeons that have not given birth and let them fly.
Don't let old pigeons fly again. Last time you acted impetuously, I was reprimanded by Mr. Su."
The subordinate took the bamboo tube and said happily:
"Boss, these pigeons are really amazing. They can fly such a long distance from Yangzhou to Hanzhong.
Every time someone comes from above, they bring a group of pigeons and take away a group of pigeons.
These pigeons give birth here, and the little pigeons think this is their home.
Bring the little pigeons back to Hanzhong, and they can fly back here with orders.
It's just that there are too few people raising pigeons now. If you raise pigeons on a large scale, you will easily be targeted by the Jin Yiwei.
Our pigeon nest needs to be moved frequently."
Wei Yang said sadly: "Fortunately, there are many pigeons now, so it doesn't hurt to lose a few.
When we first came here, the lives of pigeons were more important than human lives.
In order to protect the pigeons, many colleagues took the initiative to lure away the servants of Jin Yiwei and Donglin Party members.
Just to protect the pigeon so that it can deliver the message as quickly as possible."
…………………………
Zunyi Mansion.
In the wounded soldiers camp of the Second Brigade of the Second Division, Brigade Zhu Shi Qutian looked at these wounded soldiers, but he was helpless.
They have just received a group of new soldiers, including surrendered soldiers and refugees from northern Shaanxi.
After being tempered in the melting pot of the military, these people from all over the world will become one family.
Qu Tian looked at the wounded soldiers in the ward who kept beating him.
These people include new recruits and veterans of many battles.
They did not fall under the enemy's swords and guns, but were defeated by the unknown miasma in this place.
"Director Ma, 243 soldiers have lost their combat effectiveness this month.
This number is greater than the casualties caused by a small-scale battle.
Haven't you discovered yet what caused the disease?"
Dean Ma looked at Qu Tian and said helplessly: "The miasma in this place is very evil. Not to mention outsiders, even locals will often suffer from this disease.
They sent out a batch of microscopes, but I couldn't tell what kind of bacteria they were suffering from.
I took some allicin mentioned above, but it had no effect at all, so I stopped taking it.
In Zunyi, this disease is relatively mild.
In Yunnan and Guizhou, this kind of miasma is more common than here, and it can cause many people to get sick.
Especially in the hinterland of Miao territory in Guizhou and the rain forests of Yunnan.
Our troops must be prepared to go to these places, and we must make preparations in advance. Otherwise, I can't even calculate how many non-combat casualties there will be.
There is no way to treat this disease now, we can only depend on our fate.
If you have a good life, you can get through it; if you have a bad life, you will die or be disabled."
Qu Tian looked at these patients and there was nothing he could do.
We can only write a report and submit it to the Governor's Office, asking His Highness the King of Qin to organize doctors to conquer this disease.
If this disease is not resolved, more soldiers who enter the southern region will become ill and lose their combat effectiveness than those killed by the Ming army. This will have a serious impact on morale.
They are located in a remote area, and every time they receive supplies, they also have newspapers and many books.
Qu Tian read the newspaper, and now doctors in Hanzhong have discovered that most plagues are caused by small bugs called bacteria.
Now the King of Qin organized the research and development of antibiotics, which are very effective in treating infections.
The medicine has just arrived here and has already rescued more than 20 people.
Tao Guifan walked in with an anxious look.
"I knew something big had happened to you here."
When Qu Tian saw Tao Guifan's appearance, he guessed: "Did Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, attack our front line?
During this period, troops have often been sent to harass us, are you sure he is officially attacking?"
The situation on the front line was very tense during this time.
Qu Tian is not sure about other places. Here in Zunyi Prefecture, Guizhou Commander-in-Chief Xu Chengming is very restless.
Tao Guifan nodded and said: "The soldiers saw clearly through the hot air balloon and the telescope.
There is a large-scale military gathering in Pingyue Prefecture, Guizhou.
Our scouts also discovered that Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou Province, organized many young men and was transporting grain to Pingyue Prefecture.
It's still a small-scale conflict, and I believe we won't have to wait too long for the decisive battle.
Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, is ready, a battle may break out at any time.
You also know that the Ming Dynasty is preparing to encircle and suppress us. This encirclement and suppression will be of great scale.
The Ming armies attacking our Sichuan include the Huguang, Yunnan, and Guizhou Ming armies under Hou Xun, and the Liangguang Ming army under Wang Zunde.
There was also support from the Ming army in Fujian, Henan, South Zhili and other places.
Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, received strong support from the Ming army and his strength was basically restored.
Since we have changed our country and returned home, many native people have fled to Guizhou.
Most of them also joined Xu Chengming's army for revenge.
When some local chieftains in Guizhou learned about our policy of returning natives to rural areas, they helped the Ming Dynasty and tried their best to resist us."
"Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou Province, saw that we had a brigade in Zunyi. He looked down on us.
Let him have a long memory again and know that the tiger's butt cannot be touched.
We are different from before. The roads are now open and cannons can be transported.
The day before yesterday, I went to try out the new rifle myself. This kind of musket is very powerful, and we will definitely give Xu Chengming a surprise."
Qu Tian was not worried that the army would not be able to stop Xu Chengming's Ming army. The combat effectiveness of the two sides was not at the same level.
They are front-line troops and are among the first batch of troops to be equipped with Type 28 rifles. This rifle is too powerful.
"Master Qu Zhu, I will lead the troops to meet the enemy. You write a report to His Highness the King of Qin and the Sichuan Governor's Office to inform the front line of the official engagement with the enemy.
At the same time, a messenger was sent to report the situation to the division commander."
They discussed their respective tasks, and Qu Tian came to his room to write a report.
A detailed report, written in code.
A total of three copies were written and sent to the division commander, Sichuan Governor Su He and His Highness the King of Qin respectively.
A simple enemy attack report, only a few words.
"Zunyi, I would like to give you five thousand yuan."
There are only three groups of words and seven characters in total. This is to facilitate the new communication system and convey this information accurately and quickly.
The meaning of this sentence is that Zunyi Prefecture was attacked by an army led by Guizhou General Xu Chengming.
They have a total of fifteen thousand Ming troops.
Qu Tian handed a copy of the finished report to the ordering soldier.
They sent the news back through the post office system found in various places.
Simple reporting, rapid delivery of information through communication towers.
Qu Tian personally brought a simple report to the communication tower located on the high mountain of Zunyi Prefecture.
There is a squad of soldiers stationed here, and every two hours, five soldiers will climb up to the guard tower to stand guard.
Among these five people, one person is responsible for command, they are the squad leader or the teacher.
The two are responsible for observing the situation at both ends of the communication tower.
The remaining two people are responsible for writing the message to be delivered.
There are three shifts every day, taking turns to guard this communication tower.
The communication soldiers on the communication tower saw the message Qu Tian wanted to convey.
They wrote down the contents of the message and climbed up the communications tower.
The observation post holds a military telescope and observes the movements of the northern communication tower.
Each communication tower is five kilometers away. You can see the situation above the communication tower through the military telescope in your hand.
The terrain in the mountains is complex and affected by the curvature of the earth.
Each communication tower is five kilometers apart, which is a relatively appropriate distance.
Master Zhu, who was stationed on the communication tower, saw the information brought by the squad leader and immediately arranged the task.
The signal soldiers arranged red and green flags on the wooden board.
The red command flag is in the shape of a long strip, and the green command flag is in the shape of a fist-sized dot.
Through the arrangement and combination of these two command flags, a short message can be conveyed.
If the board space were not limited, it could convey more information.
During the day, the flag is used to convey messages, and at night it turns into a long red lantern and a green round lantern.
The signal soldier quickly wrote the message that needed to be conveyed on the wooden board.
He passed the large wooden board through a simple pulley block and hung it on the top of the communication tower. He fixed the wooden board with ropes so that it faced the communication tower in the north.
The communication soldiers were on the communication tower, constantly waving flags to attract the attention of the soldiers on the opposite communication tower.
His actions quickly attracted the attention of the observation post on the opposite communication tower.
They saw what was hanging on the communication tower opposite.
He dictated the above content and asked his companions to write the same content on the wooden board.
The communication soldiers on the communication tower used this method to reproduce this content.
They showed the contents of his replica in the direction of the communication tower that sent the message.
Messages delivered by communication towers are inherently brief.
Wrong one word and the meaning changes dramatically.
Military vocabulary is very strict, so every communication tower must ensure that the information it reproduces is absolutely accurate.
On the communication tower where the message is sent, the observation post uses military telescopes to read the message reproduced on the opposite side.
"The information is correct, send them the signal."
The signal soldier in charge of holding the command flag waved the green flag in his hand.
The observation post in the communication tower opposite saw him waving the green flag.
"The copy content is correct and the content should be recorded well."
Another signal soldier heard that the content was correct. He turned the plank to the next communication tower and fixed it with ropes.
Next, they will repeat this process, and the communication towers will relay each other to quickly transmit the message to far away places.
At the same time, the squad leader or commander of the signal corps is responsible for recording the received information.
This kind of information must be clearly recorded. If there are major errors, this is an important basis for accountability.
Someone made a mistake, and this is evidence that they are free of guilt.
In areas where communication towers cannot be built, hot air balloons are used instead of communication towers.
…………………………
In the Sichuan Dudu Mansion, Su Xiong looked at the thick fog outside.
Wearing a cotton coat, he felt a bit cold standing in front of the door.
As a northerner, I am still not used to spending winter in Sichuan for the second time.
Wang Shiyuan came to the Governor's Mansion with a stack of reports from various units.
"Captain Su, this is a report from Zunyi, Wusa, and Jianchang. The Ming army in Yunnan and Guizhou has begun to mobilize.
Xu Chengming, the commander-in-chief of Guizhou, acted relatively quickly. He had already begun to test the strength of the Zunyi Prefecture defenders.
The armies from various parts of the Ming Dynasty have begun to mobilize, and the war is about to break out.
Also, non-combat attrition of troops in border areas is very serious, which greatly affects morale."
Su Xiong took the report and looked at the contents carefully.
"The communication tower system delivers messages very quickly, but it is too dependent on the weather.
In foggy weather like this, the communication towers will directly stop working, and we still have to rely on traditional methods."
After Su Xiong read the information from the front line, he immediately made combat arrangements.
At the same time, he reported the information on army mobilization and news on the front line to Hanzhong.
Now that the communication tower cannot be used, he uses carrier pigeons to deliver handwritten letters.
Detailed reports from various armies and the Sichuan Governor's Office were sent to Hanzhong through the postal system.
…………………………
The post office's correspondent, who was responsible for transporting confidential documents, carried the sealed box on his back, mounted a fast horse and ran out of Chengdu.
He was riding a horse galloping on the concrete road, and the horseshoes hit the concrete road, making a rhythmic thumping sound.
He knew his mission, which was to run to the next station safely.
The secret messages inside the box are specially encrypted. Unless there is a code book, no one can understand the contents.
Now the Qin Palace's ruling area has completely eliminated the bandits entrenched in various hills.
The correspondent was no longer afraid, and suddenly a group of bandits came out to rob the passage.
The correspondent was running on the road when he suddenly felt a cold wind blowing.
Fortunately, he was wearing cotton clothes and could endure the cold wind.
It's just that the skin on his face feels like it has been cut with a knife.
He continued to run forward and saw dark clouds in the sky, and soon snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
Snow has begun to fall in northern Sichuan.
"In this kind of weather, communication towers are completely useless. We still have to rely on us to deliver information."
It was getting dark, and the correspondent braved the heavy snow and arrived at the post office.
"Emergency military information, Class A communication token."
The correspondent took out a token and handed it directly to the staff at the inn.
He handed the token and box to the inn, and led the horse into the inn to rest.
Their post office uses the method of changing horses and people to deliver messages.
He is only responsible for this section of the road, and he has been running this section of the road for most of his life.
In the past, it was mainly about transporting goods. After the arrival of King Qin, he joined the post office and he transported official documents.
After walking this road for a long time, I become more familiar with it.
Even if he is blindfolded, he can ride a horse through this section of the road safely.
This is also the reason why he dared to ride a horse in the wind and snow.
He traveled many times at night to convey urgent military information, but nothing went wrong.
Asking a correspondent to walk an unfamiliar road can easily lead to trouble.
Arranging a correspondent who is familiar with the road is the best choice.
The post station received the token and the mailbox, and arranged for the correspondents to ride horses overnight and brave the wind and snow to deliver the letter to the next post station.
The inns relayed messages to each other, delivering the mailboxes to the edge of the Han River, and then took a boat straight to Hanzhong City.
…………………………
Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.
A masked man approached a leather goods store.
"Ninety-nine pounds of top quality pig skin."
"Objectively, we have run out of pig skins for sale, do we need cow hides?"
"The leather is of high quality, both cowhide and pigskin are the same. I'll go take a look at the leather."
"Please come to your backyard."
Han Yunxian, Director of the Third Division of the Military Intelligence Bureau, personally received this person. This was a Ming general that their Military Intelligence Bureau had just come into contact with.
After the establishment of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the King of Qin mobilized a large group of secret guards to enter the newly established Military Intelligence Bureau.
Han Yunxian wanted to make a great contribution and make their military intelligence agency famous.
The secret guard has too many functions and its energy is scattered.
Their Military Intelligence Bureau specializes in military intelligence and is more dedicated to military intelligence. In its own field, it cannot be surpassed by the secret guards.
They sat together drinking tea, and Han Yunxian advised:
"Brother also knows the current situation. The situation in Ming Dynasty has become difficult to recover from.
My brother is the general who leads the army. I know better than anyone whether he has the strength to resist King Qin's army.
If a person does not protect himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth, what do you think about it?"
Han Yunxian looked at the person opposite him. If he came here, he would have already figured it out.
The man took a sip of tea and said slowly:
"Emperor Chongzhen has issued a strict decree and will never let the thieves in yellow survive the five years of Chongzhen.
Known as an army of 500,000, they divided into five groups to surround and suppress the thieves in yellow.
I only know that here in Shaanxi, 80,000 Shaanxi local guardsmen and 120,000 reinforcements have been assembled.
In particular, the 40,000 Guanning Army is the most powerful, of which 18,000 are cavalry."
This person introduced in detail the generals and army composition of the Ming army in Shaanxi.
Han Yunxian picked up a wooden box from under the table.
He opened the wooden box, which was filled with gold coins.
There are five hundred taels of gold coins in this box.
He saw that the person opposite him was breathing heavily.
"We are innocent. As long as your information is important, we can give you any amount of gold coins."
The man accepted the box with a greedy look in his eyes.
"I have another news to tell you. In March next year, a batch of cannons and muskets will be shipped over to equip the Guanning Army in Shaanxi.
There are very few weapons in Guan Ning now, most of them are old firearms like three-eye blunderbuss, which are not as good as your muskets.
I have seen new firearms, and they are not much different from your muskets."
After Han Yunxian heard this, he took out another box of gold coins.
He took out half of it and handed it to the man.
"Brother, if you can get one of your new muskets, the remaining half of the gold coins will be yours."
The man looked at the gold coins greedily. After thinking for a long time, he nodded and said, "No problem, just wait for my good news."
A few days later, Han Yunxian arranged for his confidants to escape from Xi'an City and return to Hanzhong with a crudely made musket.
