On the third day of the second month of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zhi sat in the third hall of the Jinguo Mansion, looked at Li Xing, who was in the dust, and poured him a cup of tea. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

This time, Shanxi raided the luggage of the Jin merchants, and Zhi did not go in person, but asked the four division commanders under his command to go together. Among the four, Li Zhi asked Li Xing to control the other three division commanders and play a leading role.

Li Xing did a good job and did an excellent job of taking the lead. He and the other three division commanders discussed everything and successfully copied the eight Jin merchants who communicated with the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Although the key work of plotting against Wang Pu was completed by Li Zhi himself, Li Xing, the former commander-in-chief of the enemy, also contributed a lot.

Therefore, Li Zhigui is the Duke of Jinguo, and he also has to pour a cup of tea for his younger brother Li Xing.

Li Xing took Li Zhi's tea with a smile, raised his head and drank it in one sip, and said: "Big brother, you don't know, we have been busy fighting so many battles, and we finally copied the eight Jin merchants, but the eunuch Wang Chengen went to Taiyuan to take a look around, and said that he would give 10 million taels to the Son of Heaven. ”

"Wang Jimo, the governor of that Xuanda, has been fanning the flames by the side. To say that this 10 million taels is not too much in any case, and to say that to give 5 million taels to the Son of Heaven is to deceive the king. Wang Jimo didn't know how to incite the gentry in Shandong, and one hundred and thirty-seven famous gentry in Taiyuan jointly wrote a letter to the eldest brother, saying that he wanted the eldest brother to give 10 million taels to the Son of Heaven and 2 million taels to the military treasury of the three towns of Xuanda Shanxi. ”

"I was almost so excited that I cut down all the one hundred and thirty-seven gentry."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "How did you deal with it in the end?" ”

Li Xing laughed and said: "That Zheng Kaicheng is still an idiot, saying that he should give the Son of Heaven an extra 2 million taels and leave 500,000 taels for the three towns of Xuanda to deal with the past." I ignored Zheng Kaicheng, and directly called Wang Jimo to the school field outside the city to show him the heavy artillery of the Tiger Army, and Wang Jimo was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat on the spot, and then he didn't dare to say anything about leaving money for Xuanda. ”

Li Zhi asked, "Wang Chengen, how did you reply?" ”

Li Xing said: "I didn't reply to Wang Chengen, and the eldest brother has to make a decision on the affairs of the Son of Heaven." ”

Li Zhi was very satisfied with Li Xing's performance and nodded.

Li Xing asked, "How is the eldest brother going to reply to the Son of Heaven?" ”

Li Zhi said lightly: "The Son of Heaven is not like Wang Chengen, who opened his mouth widely, but a holy decree came asking me to report the harvest of this inspection as soon as possible." ”

Li Xing thought for a while and said, "The Son of Heaven is implying that the eldest brother can't eat alone, and he should let more people out." 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 steal this time?" ”

Han Jinxin stood up and arched his hand and said: "Grandpa Return, this time I raided the eight major Jin merchants in Shanxi, and I got a total of 12.31 million taels of silver and copper, and other goods are estimated to be sold for more than 4.2 million taels. There are also a large number of shops, houses and granges, which are worth at least more than 16 million taels. Taken together, our harvest in Shanxi is about 32 million taels of silver. ”

Hearing Han Jinxin's report, Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction. More than 30 million taels of silver is a huge amount of money!

And among the goods seized were saltpeter and grain, which were more precious than silver.

Last year, Li Zhi raided the gentry who conspired to "overthrow Li" in Shandong and got 20 million taels, and now he has 30 million taels from the Jin merchants, and Li Zhi can now easily feed 60,000 soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army.

However, rifle workshops have limited capacity, and it takes time for new craftsmen to learn how to build rifles. If it weren't for the fact that the production of weapons and the supply of saltpeter could not keep up, Li Zhi would definitely continue to expand his army.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Make a discount and repay the harvest to the Son of Heaven according to the harvest of 16 million taels." ”

Li Xing said with a smile: "The Eight Great Jin Merchants have been hiding deeply over the years, and those officials in Shanxi don't know the situation. We quoted 16 million taels, and they probably thought we only got more than 20 million. After a pause, Li Xing said again: "Big brother, how much will we give in the end of the five million taels of the Son of Heaven?" ”

Li Zhi said: "How can you change the five million taels that you said at will? Just give five million taels, not more than one tael! ”

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"Hooray!"

"Hooray!"

After the gorgeous Son of Heaven honor guard passed, Zhu Youzhen rode in the Son of Heaven car to inspect the 80,000 new army. The new army wore blood-red mandarin duck jackets and shouted long live in unison in the cold wind.

The main body of the new army is 40,000 people in Beijing. These 40,000 people were selected from the elite of the 80,000 Beijing battalion, and were equipped with the Hongyi cannons of the Lu Mi Gun and the Franco Man. The other 40,000 men were composed of the soldiers and horses of Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu -- Cao Bianjiao and Yang Guozhu's soldiers and horses were known as the first daring soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and had repeatedly made meritorious contributions on the battlefields of suppressing thieves and killing slaves, so he was called up by Zhu You to form part of the new army, which was also equipped with new weapons.

Cao Bianjiao was originally the chief soldier of the Jizhen East Association, and Yang Guozhu was originally the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, but now they are all transferred to the Beijing camp and become the chief soldier of the new army in the Beijing camp.

In the midst of the tsunami shouting long live, Zhu Youzhen observed the posture and appearance of the new army all the way. Military generals such as Cao Bianjiao and Huang Degong did not dare to deceive in the new army, which the Son of Heaven valued so much. The new army was clearly dressed and looked quite sturdy, and it was obvious that under the nose of the Son of Heaven, the situation of eating empty salaries and drinking the blood of soldiers and greedy for military funds was controlled.

Wang Chengen rode a horse and followed the car of the Son of Heaven, shaking his head and sighing as he looked at the military appearance of the new army.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen and asked, "Wang Chengen, what are you sighing for?" ”

Wang Chengen replied: "Holy Lord, I am impressed by the magnificent appearance and neat camp of the Holy New Army. It's a pity that Li Zhi only handed over five million taels in Shanxi this time. If Li Zhi hands over 10 million taels, the saint can train tens of thousands of new troops! ”

Wang Chengen looked at the face of the Son of Heaven and said, "Holy Lord, according to the estimation of slaves and maids, Li Zhi has captured at least more than 20 million taels in Shanxi. Could the Holy One make another decree with stricter words and ask Li Zhi to hand it over more? ”

Zhu Youzhen heard Wang Chengen's words, thought for a while and said: "I originally thought that the Jinguo Guild would be trapped in Shanxi, and when the time came, I would ask the widow for help, so I could take advantage of the situation to let him pay more silver." Unexpectedly, Jin Guogong quickly cut through the chaos, and in two months, he mastered all the evidence of the Jin merchants' collaboration with the enemy, and in a month and a half of dispatching troops, he defeated the entire three towns and eleven cities, and wiped out the eight Jin merchants..."

Hearing the words of the Son of Heaven, Wang Chengen sighed heavily, obviously Li Zhi's toughness had made Zhu Youzhen and Wang Chengen feel that they couldn't react.

Shaking his head, Zhu Youzhen said: "Since the Duke of Jin Guogong is doing this, it is not easy for me to force him to pay the money. Otherwise, the money will not be paid at that time, which will make Jin Guogong dissatisfied. ”

Wang Chengen sighed and arched his hand and said, "Emperor Shengming! ”

Zhu Youzhen no longer said much to Wang Chengen, but set his eyes on the soldiers of the New Army again. The soldiers of the new army were very excited in the eyes of the Son of Heaven, and stood up straight. They were holding the Lumi gun in their hands, and there was a Hongyi cannon in the middle of the queue every dozen zhang, which looked very elite.

The Son of Heaven rode in a car to the west side of the Daxiao Field, and saw the four commanders of the New Army kneeling there.

The four general soldiers were headed by the crown prince and Taibao Cao Bianjiao, and there were also kneeling next to the prison army Lu Jiude and others. Cao Bianjiao and the others saw the Son of Heaven's car driving over, and shouted loudly: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" ”