On the third day of February in the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zhi was sitting in the third hall of the Duke's Mansion of Jin State. He looked at Li Xing who was tired of work and poured him a cup of tea.
This time, Li Zhi, who was inspecting Shanxi merchants in Shanxi, did not go in person, but asked four of his division commanders to go together. Among the four, Li Zhi asked Li Xing to control the other three division commanders and take the lead.
Li Xing did a good job and fulfilled this leading role brilliantly. He and the other three division commanders discussed everything and successfully ransacked the homes of eight Shanxi merchants who communicated with the Qing Dynasty.
Although the key work of instigating Wang Pu's rebellion was completed by Li Zhi himself, Li Xing, the former enemy commander-in-chief, also played an important role.
Therefore, as the Duke of Jin, Li Zhigui also had to pour a cup of tea for his younger brother Li Xing with his own hands.
Li Xing took Li Zhi's tea with a smile, raised his head and drank it in one gulp, and said: "Brother, you don't know, we have fought so many battles in our busy schedule, and finally raided eight Shanxi merchants, and the result is that
The eunuch Wang Chengen ran to Taiyuan, looked around, and said that he would give the emperor ten million taels."
"The Governor of Xuanda, Wang Jimo, has been fanning the flames. He said that one million taels is not much in any case, and that giving five million taels to the emperor is deceiving the emperor. I don't know why Wang Jimo also incited the gentry in Shandong and the one hundred and thirty in Taiyuan.
Seventeen famous gentry jointly wrote a letter to you, eldest brother, saying that you should give 10 million taels to the emperor and leave 2 million taels for the military treasury in the three towns of Xuanda Shanxi."
"I almost got excited and beheaded all these 137 gentry."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "How did you deal with it in the end?"
Li Xing laughed loudly and said: "That Zheng Kaicheng is still a fool. He said that he should give the emperor two million taels more and leave 500,000 taels for Xuanda Sanzhen to deal with it. I ignored Zheng Kaicheng and called Wang Jimo directly.
Wang Jimo was so frightened that he broke into cold sweat when he was shown the heavy artillery of the Huben Army on the school field outside the city. Later, he never dared to say anything about leaving money for Xuanda."
Li Zhi asked: "Wang Chengen, how did you reply?"
Li Xing said: "I have no reply to Wang Chengen. It is up to my eldest brother to make the decision regarding the emperor's affairs."
Li Zhi was very satisfied with Li Xing's performance and nodded.
Li Xing asked: "How will the eldest brother reply to the emperor?"
Li Zhi said calmly: "The emperor is not like Wang Cheng'en, but he just sent an imperial edict asking me to report the results of this inspection as soon as possible."
Li Xing thought for a while and said: "The emperor is implying that the eldest brother cannot eat alone and needs to let out more. How did the eldest brother reply?"
Li Zhi looked at Li Xing, then at Han Jinxin who was sitting behind Li Xing, and asked: "Han Jinxin, how much silver did we confiscate in this inspection?"
Han Jinxin stood up and raised his hands and said: "My lord, back home, this time I inspected the eight Shanxi merchants in Shanxi and found a total of 12.31 million taels of silver and copper. Other goods are estimated to be sold for more than 4.2 million taels. I still have to pay.
There are a large number of shops, houses and farms, which are worth at least more than 16 million taels. Taken together, our harvest in Shanxi is about 32 million taels of silver."
After hearing Han Jinxin's report, Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction. More than 30 million taels of silver is a huge sum of money!
Moreover, among the stolen goods were very precious saltpeter and grain, which were more precious than silver.
Last year, Li Zhi got 20 million taels from investigating the gentry in Shandong who were plotting to "overthrow Li". Now he has received another 30 million taels from Shanxi merchants. Li Zhi can now easily support 60,000 Tiger and Ben army soldiers.
However, the production capacity of the rifle workshop is limited, and it takes time for new craftsmen to learn how to make rifles. If it were not for the fact that weapons production and saltpeter supply could not keep up, Li Zhi would definitely continue to expand his army.
Li Zhi nodded and said: "We will give the emperor a half-discount and a harvest of 16 million taels."
Li Xing said with a smile: "The eight major Shanxi merchants have been hiding deeply over the years, and the officials in Shanxi are not clear about the situation. We quoted 16 million taels, but they may have thought that we only got more than 20 million." There was a pause.
, Li Xing said again: "Brother, how much will we give you in the end for the five million taels that day?"
Li Zhi said: "The agreed five million taels, how can we change it at will? Just five million taels, no more than one tael!"
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"Long live!"
"Long live!"
After the emperor's gorgeous ceremonial guard passed by, Zhu Youjian rode in the emperor's chariot to inspect the 80,000 new troops. The new troops wore blood-red mandarin duck war coats and shouted "long live" in the cold wind.
The main body of the new army is 40,000 people from the Beijing camp. These 40,000 are elites selected from the 80,000 Beijing camp, equipped with Lumi guns and Hongyi cannons of the Franji people. The other 40,000 people are composed of Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu.
The composition of soldiers and horses - Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu's soldiers and horses are known as the most brave in the Ming Dynasty. They have repeatedly made military exploits on the battlefields of suppressing thieves and killing slaves. Therefore, he was summoned by Zhu Youjian to form part of the new army and was also equipped with new weapons.
Cao Bianjiao was originally the commander-in-chief of the ASEAN Association in Ji Town, and Yang Guozhu was originally the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. However, they were both transferred to the Jingying camp and became the commander-in-chief of the new army in the Jingying camp.
In the midst of a tsunami of shouts of "Long Live Long Live", Zhu Youjian observed the posture and appearance of the new army all the way. Generals such as Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong did not dare to cheat in the new army, which the emperor valued so much. Each of the new army had bright uniforms and armor.
He looked quite strong, and it was obvious that under the emperor's nose, the situation of consuming empty pay, drinking soldiers' blood, and greedy military resources was under control.
Wang Chengen rode beside the emperor's chariot, shook his head and sighed as he looked at the appearance of the new army.
Zhu Youjian looked at Wang Chengen and asked, "Wang Chengen, why are you sighing?"
Wang Chengen replied: "Your Majesty, I admire your Majesty's new army for its magnificence and orderly formation. It's a pity that Li Zhi only handed over 5 million taels in Shanxi this time. If Li Zhi had handed over 10 million taels, Your Majesty could train again."
Tens of thousands of new troops!"
Wang Chengen looked at the emperor's face and said: "Your Majesty, based on my estimate, Li Zhi seized at least more than 20 million taels in Shanxi. Could your Majesty issue another edict with harsher words and ask Li Zhi to pay more?"
Come up?"
After Zhu Youjian heard Wang Chengen's words, he thought for a while and said: "I originally thought that the Jin Guo Gong was trapped in Shanxi and would ask for help from me, so I could take advantage of the situation and ask him to pay more money. Unexpectedly, the Jin Guo Gong
Cutting through the mess quickly, we actually grasped all the evidence of Shanxi merchants collaborating with the enemy in two months. We dispatched troops to capture the entire three towns and eleven cities in one and a half months, and wiped out eight Shanxi merchants..."
Hearing the emperor's words, Wang Chengen sighed heavily. It was obvious that Li Zhi's strength had made Zhu Youjian and Wang Chengen feel like they couldn't react.
Shaking his head, Zhu Youjian said: "Since the Duke of Jin is using this method, I can't go back on my promise and force him to pay. Otherwise, the money will not be paid when the time comes, which will make the Duke of Jin feel dissatisfied."
Wang Chengen sighed, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, Sheng Ming!"
Zhu Youjian no longer talked to Wang Cheng'en, but turned his attention to the soldiers of the New Army again. The soldiers of the New Army were very excited in the eyes of the emperor and stood up straight. They were holding Rumi guns in their hands.
, a Hongyi cannon is placed every ten feet or so in the middle of the queue, which looks very elite.
The emperor drove to the west of the main campus and saw four new army generals kneeling there.
The four general soldiers were headed by the crown prince and Taibao Cao Bianjiao, and beside them were kneeling supervisor Lu Jiude and others. When Cao Bianjiao and others saw the emperor's chariot approaching, they fell to the ground and shouted loudly: "Long live my emperor!"
