In Erzinzhan City, Yang Yun was leisurely reading the newspapers sent from the Ming Dynasty, thousands of miles away. A thick stack of the Ming Dynasty Morning News, which lasted for more than ten days, was delivered together.
"The price of a house in Songhu has actually increased to more than 700 taels per unit. If I had known, I should have invested in buying some houses in Songhu. The houses in Tianjin have been unable to rise in the past two years."
"Yes, the economy of the south has always been better than that of the north. In recent years, the rise of factories, workshops, and trading houses has allowed the north to temporarily surpass the south."
"After the rise of factories, workshops, and trading houses in the south, they quickly caught up with those in the north. Songhu is right at the mouth of the Yangtze River, and its geographical location is much better than that of Tianjin."
"Well, there will definitely be room for improvement in the future."
Thinking of this, Yang Yun also picked up pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and quickly wrote a letter to his family, asking them to invest in a house in Songhu.
As the newly emerged nobles of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Yun, Zhang Mao, and Liu Jin were very close, and they invested heavily in various fields and places in the Ming Dynasty.
Yang Yun has his own factories, workshops, trading houses, and a large number of plantations in Nanyang. He also has a large number of pastures in his fiefdom of Australia, and he has his own silver mines and gold mines in the Golden Continent.
There are also cotton farms and pastures here in the Western Region and in the river. It can be regarded as a big business. In just a few years, it has accumulated such a huge family business.
Among them, a large number of farms, plantations, pastures, mines, etc. were all rewards he received according to the Ming Dynasty's military merit system after he marched and fought in battles and achieved military exploits.
Like the plantations in Nanyang, when they attacked the various countries in Nanyang and opened up new territories for the Ming Dynasty and the Emperor, they naturally received generous rewards. There were more than a dozen islands belonging to him alone, and they were all relatively large in area.
of islands.
The pastures in Australia were his fiefdom. He was named the Duke of Australia. There was a large piece of grassland in Australia that belonged to him. He also sent people to manage it and bought some slaves to herd cattle, sheep and horses.
Under the new military merit system, as long as he can win, every soldier has his own merits, let alone a leading general like him, who has a lot of money, land, and slaves.
Moreover, he also learned from Liu Jin and Zhang Mao, and followed them to invest in factories, workshops, trading houses, etc., and even invested in overseas colonies.
It's all legal.
Not only him, but every general in the army is actually similar. For example, Hou Huoying in Hezhong has a large number of pastures and cotton plantations in Hezhong and the Western Regions. He also invests in plantations in Nanyang, mining in Huangjinzhou, etc.
.
The ordinary soldiers who reach the lowest level are actually rich and wealthy.
In every battle, the captured gold, silver, jewelry, etc. will be converted into silver taels, and then distributed according to the proportion. Basically, every time a big victory is won, sometimes it will be a few dozen taels of silver, and when it is a lot, it will be several hundred taels.
I also had a thousand taels of silver.
In addition, there are a large number of physical rewards. When attacking the Western Region and the Hezhong area, almost everyone received a large number of cattle, sheep, and horses as rewards, and everyone was inevitably assigned a few slaves.
As for the land obtained by opening up new territories, they also have their share, and basically they can allocate the best land, and everyone is a rich man.
This is why the Ming army is now full of the opponent's desire and motivation for expansion.
If an army of 200,000 had traveled thousands of miles to conquer the Ottoman Empire in the past, it would probably have collapsed without the enemy's attack. The imperial court wanted money but no money, and no food, so it would have been impossible to fight.
But it's different now. Even if the court tells you that the food cannot be transported, they will say that it's okay, just an order to start the war is enough.
They can rob and figure out their own solutions. In short, when it comes to war, everyone likes it because it is a good opportunity to make a fortune and make achievements.
"Hmm~"
"This South Caucasus region is really nice. It has a mild and humid climate, beautiful scenery, and a variety of prey. Maybe I can retire here in the future."
Yang Yun was thinking about this harvest in his mind.
An army of 200,000 marched westward, killing more than 500,000 enemies, and captured hundreds of cities. The gold, silver, jewelry, and various other properties seized were worth tens of millions of taels of silver. In addition,
The reparations from the Ottoman Empire afterwards and so on.
It is estimated that when the army reaches 200,000, each person will be able to get a lot of money.
Of course, the money is only small. The real big part is the land in the South Caucasus. The land here is no worse than that in the Transoxiana region. It is very fertile and the pastures are also very good.
The entire South Caucasus region is also very large. After all, it is estimated that everyone will become a landlord here in the future.
"What are you thinking about?"
Liao Yuan found Yang Yun with a smile on his face.
"I'm thinking about how to retire here in the future. Not to mention, the climate here is really not good, with waterfalls and flowing springs, it's really suitable for retirement."
Yang Yun smiled and replied.
"Forget it, I still like to return to our hometown in Ming Dynasty for retirement."
Liao Yuan smiled and said: "News has just arrived. Our Ming fleet is bombarding Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Marquis of Hezhong has also led his army to annihilate the 50,000 Ottoman Empire army. The Persians are taking advantage of the situation to prepare to attack Baghdad again."
"Okay~"
"I want to see how long they can hold on. If they still don't agree to our conditions, then our army will march westward. I don't believe it. If they annihilate one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand people, they can still
So tough."
"The compensation is only ten million taels of silver, and all my brothers will drink from the northwest wind."
When Yang Yun heard this, he couldn't help laughing happily.
When he talked about war reparations, he seemed very angry.
The more indemnity is paid on this battlefield, the more these soldiers can get, and it will be distributed according to proportion. The Emperor of Heaven will take the lion's share, the imperial court will get some, and the soldiers who fought bloody battles will also get some.
So the more war reparations the better.
"Report~"
"The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Ali Pasha, asked for an audience, and they said they were willing to agree to our conditions."
As soon as Yang Yun finished speaking, his soldiers hurried over to report.
"Haha, they must have finally bowed their heads."
When Yang Yun and Liao Yuan heard this, they couldn't help laughing happily. Under the successive blows, the Ottoman Empire could no longer withstand it. Even though the conditions were very harsh, they still had to sign it.
Soon, Yang Yun met Ali Pasha with a smile on his face in the living room.
"General, I just received the decree from our Sultan. Our Ottoman Empire is willing to accept the armistice agreement proposed by the Ming Empire. I also ask your army to abide by the agreement and no longer attack our Ottoman Empire."
When Ali Pasha saw Yang Yun, he immediately said anxiously.
This time I was really in a hurry, and I couldn’t be more anxious.
As soon as the Ming army took action, it immediately destroyed the Bursa Army, and another 50,000 Ottoman Empire troops were destroyed. If the Ming army continued to attack, what would the Ottoman Empire do to resist it?
"Haha, it would have been better if I had agreed earlier. At least the 50,000 Bursa Legions are still there and can still deter the Persians."
When Yang Yun heard this, he immediately laughed.
"Please also ask the general to give an order to the Ming Dynasty fleet in the Sea of Marmara and ask them to stop bombarding our city."
Ali Pasha wiped the sweat from his forehead and said again.
"Don't worry, as long as you sign the agreement and start to implement it in accordance with the content of the agreement, we will naturally stop the attack. But if you just delay the attack, then I'm afraid all your plans will fail."
Yang Yun nodded slightly, thought for a while and said.
"General, please rest assured, we will definitely abide by the agreement~"
"The great Sultan has ordered people to empty out the treasury of our Ottoman Empire. At the same time, he has also ordered all merchants and nobles in our Ottoman Empire to use their family property to pay the Ming Dynasty's compensation."
"Furthermore, the Sultan has ordered the arrest of those criminals who invaded the Ming Dynasty, and has also redeemed the trafficked Ming Dynasty people in various places. We are very sincere."
Ali Pasha said very solemnly.
"That's good~"
"Then sign the agreement~"
Yang Yun nodded with satisfaction.
Soon, under the joint witness of both parties, an agreement drafted in Chinese characters, Arabic, and Turkic was written.
Then Australian Duke Yang Yun represented the Ming Dynasty, and Grand Vizier Ali Pasha of the Ottoman Empire represented the Ottoman Empire. The two sides formally signed an armistice agreement.
This armistice agreement was called the "Erzincan Agreement" by later historians because it was signed in the city of Erzincan. The main contents of the agreement are.
The Ottoman Empire ceded the South Caucasus region to the Ming Dynasty and recognized the Ming Dynasty's right to rule the region. It was not allowed to station troops within a hundred miles of the border with the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, several islands in the Aegean Sea were ceded, and in the future, Ming ships would not need to pay taxes or be restricted by the Ottoman Empire when passing through the Bosporus Strait and the Sea of Marmara.
As the defeated country and the party that provoked the war, the Ottoman Empire compensated the Ming Empire with 100 million taels of silver. Because the Ottoman Empire did not have enough wealth to pay in one go, it adopted the method of installment payment.
The initial payment amount is 40 million taels of silver. Daming is willing to accept the conversion of relevant valuables, and the payment must be completed before August 1, the 16th year of Hongzhi.
The remaining 60 million taels of silver will be paid in installments over thirty years. A total of 1.5 billion taels of silver including principal and interest will need to be paid to Daming. Five million taels of silver or equivalent value must be paid before the first day of August every year.
of property.
As soon as the "Erzinjan City Agreement" was signed, it spread quickly.