"Isn't this Xiao Guo and the second eldest son of the Lu family? I, the old man, have no interest in sitting alone. Come and keep me company!" Just as Guo Zeng'an and Lu Jianchen were talking, voices suddenly came from next to them. They turned around to look.
, I saw an old man with white beard and hair waving to the two of them.
"Hey! Mr. Lin!" The two men immediately stood up and saluted the old man, and then trotted to Mr. Lin.
Mr. Lin is the father of the Lin family, the largest aristocratic family in the salt industry in Yangzhou City, that is, the old head of the Lin family. Although Mr. Lin is no longer in charge, he has senior qualifications and seniority in the salt industry, so
At this time, being called to the table by Mr. Lin, Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an both felt a little flattered.
As soon as the two of them sat down, Mr. Lin picked a three-inch bun from each of their plates. Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an quickly stood up and said, "Old man! Let's do it ourselves! Let's kill the younger generation."
Mr. Lin smiled and gestured for the two of them to sit down, and said: "As we get older, we have less appetite. But seeing you young people eating well makes me feel very happy. Eat, eat!"
What he said made Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an a little confused. After they looked at each other in confusion, they opened their mouths and took a bite of the bun.
Then Mr. Lin's smile became even brighter: "I have been busy all my life, and now I should enjoy peace and happiness. However, I also have a regret in this life. Outsiders have always called our Yangzhou salt Huai salt, but I have always thought
Remove the word 'Huai'."
After hearing Mr. Lin talk about the main topic, Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an both put down their chopsticks and listened carefully.
"But why do we, Huaiyan Salt, keep competing with Shaanxi Salt and Sichuan Salt for the market and suppressing prices? In terms of output, our Huaiyan Salt accounts for half of the world; in terms of background, we also have wide connections in the officialdom. But in recent years, our Yangzhou colleagues
Life is becoming more and more difficult, natural disasters have occurred. Too many people have died, and the less people eat salt, the less they will eat!"
"But this is also a good opportunity! The old man has been thinking: Aren't there always civil unrest in Shanxi and Sichuan? If someone pacifies that place and hands over the salt fields there to us, won't they eat us all day long?
Do you have any salt? But as I am getting older, I may not see such a day anymore. It depends on you, the younger generation."
"This..., old man..." Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an were inexplicably placed such high hopes by Mr. Lin, which made them not know what to say.
Mr. Lin made a gesture to keep the two of them quiet, and then said with a smile: "I have lived for a long time. I have seen too many ups and downs. For this opportunity of our colleagues in Yangzhou, we must not fight among ourselves.
Ah! When talking about Yangzhou in the past, it was always the Four Famous Families, but now it has become the Three Famous Families. Alas—! But in the future it might be the Five Famous Families!"
Hearing what Mr. Lin said, Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an couldn't sit still. They stood up and wanted to speak. But Mr. Lin smiled and pointed at the door. They saw that Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an's companions had been restless for a long time.
Wandering at the door, as if they had something to say. But they saw their master and Mr. Lin together, so these companions did not dare to approach.
Mr. Lin then smiled and said: "Go quickly! Don't miss the business!"
The confused Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an had just walked to the door when their companions shouted excitedly: "Master! Master! Marshal Wu of Runing has won! They have defeated the Tatars!"
The hearts of Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an suddenly floated to the clouds, but before their hearts fell, someone shouted in front of them: "Two gentlemen, the gentlemen of Yangzhou Salt Industry invite the two gentlemen to the plum garden to enjoy the flowers.
." It was the Lin family's chief butler who spoke.
It was only then that Lu Jianchen and Guo Zeng'an understood why Mr. Lin found them. But at this time, they felt as if they had eaten ginseng fruit, and the pores all over their bodies revealed one word - comfortable!
Nanjing City, Ruan Dacheng's Mansion.
Ruan Dacheng dragged Hou Fangyu into the study, closed the door, and said, "Chaozong, you are a fireworks woman, why do you do this?"
Hou Fangyu replied confidently: "If you are for yourself, you should avoid it, but for your friends, you can't bear it. Fang Yu knows that Mr. Wang has good intentions, but we have different opinions and do not want to work together. I will take my leave today."
"Don't be impulsive!" Ruan Dacheng quickly stopped him and then advised, "Just bear with your anger for a moment. Mr. Mu Zhai is unstoppable, and he is also a leader in Jinling literary circles. Chaozong should think twice!"
Today, Ruan Dacheng invited Nanjing talented people to gather in his house. However, during the banquet just now, the Qing army's entry into the customs was discussed. However, as he talked, Qian Qianyi began to sneer at Wu Shigong, who took the initiative to meet the enemy. Originally
Hou Fangyu wanted to endure this, because everyone knew that Qian Qianyi regarded Wu Shigong as his love rival. But Liu Rushi was also attracted by Qian Qianyi's charm and kept speaking for Qian Qianyi, which made Hou Fangyu unable to bear it.
.
So a very fierce and elegant quarrel broke out at the banquet. However, Qian Qianyi's friends had a large number of people, and with the strength of the crowd, Hou Fangyu was defeated by them. Seeing that the situation was not good, as the host,
Ruan Dacheng quickly persuaded Hou Fangyu to his study.
"But why don't they believe that Chang Jing will win?" Hou Fangyu said aggrievedly.
"That's not the case!" Ruan Dacheng explained, "Since the Wanli period, many powerful military forces have been defeated at the hands of the Liaodong chieftains. Every time the court was full of confidence, but in the end they were all defeated and their hearts were cold!
"
"But even so! How can Mr. Mu Zhai and the others be proud of it? To put it bluntly, even if Mr. Mu Zhai and the others join the cabinet, they still need to bravely lead a strong army. How can they carry their own guns and go to the battlefield? Let's not mention Mu Zhai and the others.
Why should others look down upon Chang Jing's fight for the wind? Saying defeated before the battle is over, what good will this do to the court and us? Not to mention Fang Yu's opinion: If only one army of the Ming Dynasty can defeat the Tatars, then
Only the Runing Army will be honored."
"Oh? Chaozong thinks so highly, can you tell me? Where do you think Wu Runing's army ranks in the world?" At this point, Ruan Dacheng suddenly became interested in Wu Shigong's Runing army.
Ruan Dacheng is both a cadre of the Donglin Party and a traitor of the Donglin Party, so his experience is very legendary.
Ruan Dacheng was a disciple of Gao Panlong, and his fellow villager Zuo Guangdou was the leader of Donglin and a close friend of Dacheng. He even lost his head in the "struggle" to overthrow the non-Donglin Pavilion veteran Shi Jikai and others introduced by Fang Congzhe.
Because of his outstanding achievements, he was listed as the backbone of Donglin, and was nicknamed "No Block" in "Dianjianglu" compiled by Wei Zhongxian.
However, in the fourth year of Tianqi, there were vacancies in the civil service department. Zuo Guangdou notified Dacheng to come to Beijing to fill the vacancies. However, a group of people including **
"Dian is close, Dacheng is not available", and another disciple of Gao was going to be replaced - Wei Dazhong, who was also a general of Donglin. After some internal transactions, when Dacheng arrived in Beijing, **xing and his group made him
Supplementary engineering courses.
You know, this status gap is quite big. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Civil Affairs ranked first, while the Ministry of Works ranked last. Ruan Dacheng, who should have been replaced by the Ministry of Civil Affairs according to seniority, was unexpectedly angry. So he did nothing.
Without giving up, he immediately took refuge in Wei Zhongxian.
Of course, Wei Zhongxian welcomed Ruan Dacheng's surrender with both hands, so he allowed Ruan Dacheng to get his wish. However, Ruan Dacheng did not serve as an official for long, and the terrible pressure from the Donglin Party forced him to abandon his official position and flee back to his hometown less than a month after taking office.
From then on, Dacheng and Donglin broke up. He would die if he really had enough.
After that, Emperor Chongzhen came to the throne, and officials who had anything to do with Wei Zhongxian were in bad luck anyway. So he was dismissed from office for being a traitor, and fled to Anqing and Nanjing. He recruited knights, talked about military affairs, and formed a literary society.
It can be seen that Ruan Dacheng is an official fan. When he lived in Nanjing, in addition to making outstanding contributions to Chinese culture and drama, he always wanted to make peace with Fushe and Donglin. Therefore, he always donated generously.
The scholars from Nanjing were summoned to have a banquet. Of course, those scholars often had a good time at the banquet, and then turned around and cursed Ruan Dacheng, a traitor to the Donglin Party. That’s why today, when he saw Hou Fangyu, he was attacked by Qian Qian
After being ostracized by them, I felt a sense of sympathy for each other.
Unexpectedly, Ruan Dacheng found an opportunity after talking with Hou Fangyu.
Of course Hou Fangyu didn't know what Ruan Dacheng was thinking at this time. Because finally someone was willing to listen to him, Hou Fangyu immediately said: "Mr. Don't hide anything. Fang Yu believes that the Runing Army of Changjing is ranked first in the world, better than that
On the three sides, the border troops in Liaodong are much stronger."
"Is that really true?" Ruan Dacheng's eyes lit up even more.
But Hou Fangyu thought that Ruan Dacheng didn't believe his words, so he immediately explained: "It has been more than ten years since Changjing's Runing Army was established. It has fought more than ten major battles and small battles continuously, and it has not yet suffered a defeat. It was during the Jisi Year.
King Qin still succeeded in the battle with the Tatars. Is this result a fluke? Let me tell you one more thing: If you can't stop it with long respect, no one will be able to stop it tomorrow! So where will China go? Could it be that the Tartars outside the pass?
?Return to the Meng Yuan? Or the Guizhou bandits? The artifact changes hands? No matter what, there will be no place for you and me to be buried."
"But he has always been respected in Runing. He has been dedicated to virtue and education, developed agriculture and mulberry trees, trained a strong army, and is close to the gentry. He is a member of the gentry. He is a disciple of Yan Shenggong. He is the generation of you and me. He is also humble and courteous.
Being fond of making friends and valuing commitments is not what Mr. Mu Zhai said at all."
After hearing this, Ruan Dacheng's mind became completely active. He immediately saluted Hou Fangyu with a smile and said: "Sure enough, as Chaozong said, Dacheng is very excited. I really want to see this hero as soon as possible. Dacheng has a special
As a courtesy, can Chaozong introduce me to you?"
The conversation between Hou Fangyu and Ruan Dacheng today was very speculative, so he immediately agreed: "With a little effort! Fang Yu will edit a letter for you as soon as possible."
But at this moment, there was a sudden uproar outside. Ruan Dacheng immediately asked loudly: "What's going on outside?"
The servant at the door immediately opened the door and went inside to report: "Master! The news just arrived is that Marshal Wu of Runing has defeated the Tatars." (To be continued...)
