Dong Weiguo was led into a large camp by the Ming army guards, he knelt on the ground without the slightest hesitation, and shouted directly ahead: "Sinner Dong Weiguo, meet the Admiral." ”

"Don't be polite," a voice came from Dong Weiguo's side, Deng Ming moved out the long table he used to negotiate, and placed it in this tent, Dong Weiguo saluted the table as soon as he entered the door, Deng Ming didn't have time to stop him: "Dong Bu, political secretary, please take a seat." ”

Dong Weiguo not only did not go to sit down, but also kept being modest there, seeing that the other party did not eat and toast, Deng Ming made a sè at the guard at the door, and the two Ming soldiers snorted heavily from their noses at the same time, and pulled out some of their waist knives. Seeing this, Dong Weiguo immediately stopped being polite, quickly rushed to the place where Deng Ming pointed his finger, and sat down on the chair honestly.

"I heard that Secretary Dong Buzheng is willing to exchange porcelain for grain ships and grain?" After Dong Weiguo sat down, Deng Ming asked.

"Not bad!" Without waiting for Deng Ming to say more, Dong Weiguo talked about it like a river, first boasted about the quality of Jiangxi porcelain, and then began to show off the output, and patted his chest to ensure that no matter how much Deng Ming wanted, he could give it with both hands, as long as Deng Ming returned the grain ship to him.

During this period, Deng Ming turned his head sideways to look at Mu Tan, who smiled helplessly and shook his head to say that he definitely did not deliberately scare the Jiangxi political envoy.

"That's not going to work." After Dong Weiguo finished speaking, Deng Ming shook his head, this benevolent brother was obviously a dog jumping off the wall, and he planned to agree to whatever the Ming army asked, and there was no big difference between the show and the guys in the Opium War. But Deng Ming did not have a strong British and French army or royal navy in his hands, so he could not agree to sign a too unfair treaty with Dong Weiguo: "War is war, business is business; Fighting a war is about not getting tired of deceit, and business must be childlike. This batch of grain was captured by our army in the war, and so were the ships, so naturally they would not be returned to Dong Bu's political envoy in vain, but when it was exchanged, if Dong Bu wanted to return the grain, I only needed porcelain with a market price of 300,000 taels of silver, and the ships were counted separately, if Dong Buzheng had more porcelain, I would spend money to buy the extra part. ”

In this era when there were no highways and railways, the local value of Jiangxi porcelain was only a fraction of that of Wuchang and Nanjing, and the market price of Deng Mingzhi was of course the market in Jiangxi. Now the Yangtze River waterway is in Deng Mingkongzhì, before he thought that there was no chance to get involved in the ceramic trade, so according to the requirements of Wuchang, the upward cargo ships transporting ceramics and other Jiangxi native products did not ask or hear, if Shun lì reached a deal with Dong Weiguo today, Deng Ming would have to change his face to speak to the ceramic merchants.

"How dare you ask the Admiral to pay for it?" Dong Weiguo thought that Deng Ming didn't believe in his sincerity, so he hurriedly swore an oath: "The lower officials will do their best to find every porcelain plate for the commander." ”

"No way!" Deng Ming was very resolute on this issue, and there was no room for bargaining: "The porcelain sent by Dong Buzhengsi, or other Jiangxi native products, must be calculated according to the market price of Nanchang, converted into silver, and traded at the price of one stone of grain and one tael of silver. ”

Deng Ming's tone was categorical, there was no room for maneuver, Dong Weiguo was stunned when he heard it, and after a long time, a panic gradually appeared on his face because he couldn't understand it at all.

"Secretary Dong Bu may wonder in his heart, why don't I want things for nothing?" When encountering Zhou Peigong's kind of guy who calculates carefully and talks nine falsely and truthfully, Deng Ming wants to compete with him for interests on the basis of reason, but when he encounters a person like Dong Weiguo who doesn't know how to bargain at all and doesn't think about the future in order to get through the immediate difficulties, Deng Ming has to think about it for him in turn.

Dong Weiguo nodded quickly, obviously he couldn't figure out why Deng Ming wanted his subordinates to show mercy.

"To tell you the truth, I don't have the strength to seize Jiangxi at all, and even the matter of sending troops to Jiujiang is a heavy burden for me, which requires a lot of my food, grass and military salaries." Originally, Deng Ming did not have much interest in attacking Jiujiang, and in addition to food and salary, he was not strategically allowed to divide troops to garrison Jiujiang, Jiangxi, which was far away from the base, and Deng Ming was also worried that attacking the city would bring disaster to the people in the city - not being able to garrison it meant that he would eventually have to give up, and the Qing army would not have any psychological burden on slaughtering the city when they regained the lost territory. But Deng Ming found that Jiujiang had a rebuilt Jiangxi Naval Division, and the Naval Division was a great threat to the Ming army, in this case, Deng Ming couldn't control the people of Jiujiang, so he would first knock down Jiujiang and destroy the Jiangxi Naval Division again.

"Ming people don't say dark words in front of them, the porcelain business has a lot of profits, I hope to carry on this business for a long time, and if you want to do this business for a long time, you can't just take advantage of me and let Dong Buzheng suffer losses, so it will definitely not be ......able to last long" Deng Ming clearly told Dong Weiguo that as long as the other party is willing to be his business partner, then Deng Ming will do his best to ensure that he can benefit from the cooperation, Deng Ming sold his win-win theory to Dong Weiguo again.

The win-win model shocked Dong Weiguo even more than Zhou Peigong, Zhou Peigong not only reacted quickly and had a good brain, but also had a certain understanding of Deng Ming, but Dong Weiguo had not traded with others on an equal footing for many years. For Shangguan Dong Weiguo is flattery and swallowing his anger, for his subordinates is bullying, these two diametrically opposed attitudes are the whole of Dong Weiguo's life, every time he meets with people, Dong Weiguo first weighs the strength of the two sides, high status, and then chooses an attitude.

"Fighting is your life and death, and there is nothing to talk about." Deng Ming saw the expression on Dong Weiguo's face change, and knew that he couldn't get around this circle for a while, so he further explained: "But doing business is completely different, don't think that I am giving you something, no matter what benefits I give to Dong Bu, it is for my own convenience - it's like keeping Dong Bu's net worth, this is also very important to me, because if someone else is to be the Jiangxi political envoy, he may not be willing to sell porcelain to me-since Dong Buzheng is willing to sell porcelain to me, Then I will do my best to keep the position of Dong Bu's political envoy for my own interests. ”

Deng Ming said it so clearly, where can Dong Weiguo not understand, the other party has already made it clear that as long as Dong Weiguo is still smuggling porcelain to Deng Ming for a day, then Deng Ming will give him convenience for a day. But if Dong Weiguo regrets it in the future, his relationship with Deng Ming will once again be restored to a life-and-death relationship.

"The commander understands."

"It's good to understand, so although Dong Bu political envoy can bargain with peace of mind, I think there should be a lot of places where Dong Bu political envoy wants to use money, if Dong Bu political envoy wants to make some money from this business, I think it is completely right." Deng Ming asked again: "I just don't know, does Dong Bu's political envoy's speech count?" What is Governor Zhang's attitude towards this? ”

"The governor doesn't know yet, but he should agree with the lower official." Dong Weiguo hurriedly replied, he remembered that Zhang Chao said that if anything happened to the sailors this time, then there would be no boat left in Jiangxi -- even if Dong Weiguo was slaughtered, Zhang Chao would not be able to save the situation, and no matter what trouble Jiang Guozhu and Zhang Changgeng encountered in the future, Zhang Chao would be the scapegoat.

"Okay, then ask the political envoy Dong Bu to go back to Nanchang to discuss with Governor Zhang, as long as you sell me porcelain at the market price in Nanchang, any grain and ships can be handled, and I still have some boats in Jiujiang, which can also be sold to Governor Zhang and Governor Dong Bu cheaply." The boats in Deng Ming's mouth were all snatched from Dong Weiguo last time: "The punishment of your imperial court is too severe, I think it is really too harsh." ”

Learning from the lessons of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing court adopted stricter accountability for civilian officials, and the loss of the garrison was a dead end. Of course, this greatly stimulated the resistance of local officials, and anyway, abandoning the city and fleeing is also a way of thinking, it is better to resist desperately to the end, at least to win a leniency for the family; On the other hand, officials were willing to pay bribes in order to evade responsibility, and when Li Dingguo was aggressive, a large number of Qing court candidates poured all their possessions and bribed officials to avoid taking up their posts in Guangxi and Hunan.

"Jiujiang is not the place of trust of Dong Bu's political envoy," Deng Ming said slowly, theoretically Dong Weiguo's office is also in Nanchang, but in recent years, Jiangxi political envoys have often stayed in Jiujiang in order to supervise Cao Yun, and almost regarded it as a station, which is why Dong Weiguo felt that his head might not be protected after losing Jiujiang. If the imperial court is really a dead end, if the imperial court sees that he wants to let Dong Weiguo go, it is not without a valid reason - this is also the reason why Dong Weiguo is bent on engaging in this military adventure, he wants to please běijīng: "But it is still a little unsightly to lose Jiujiang, in the past, Dong Buzheng and I had no business dealings, and it was not my turn to care about Dong Buzheng's life or death, but now that Dong Buzheng is my business partner, I think Jiujiang will return it to you." ”

Although Deng Ming didn't make it clear, Dong Weiguo knew very well what the other party meant, and he assured loudly again: "Don't worry, the commander will be able to persuade the governor after returning to Nanchang, otherwise he won't come back alive to see the governor." "If you can't convince Zhang Chao, you really don't have to live.

"Okay, then I'll wait for good news." Deng Ming ordered Dong Weiguo to be given a fast boat, and if it was a qiē shun lì, Jiujiang could also be safely returned to the Jiangxi Green Camp, without worrying about the slaughter of the people here.

…… Mu Tan annihilated the Qing army perfectly, and before Dong Weiguo returned to Nanchang, the governor of Jiangxi, Zhang Chao, did not even get the news of the defeat.

After listening to Dong Weiguo's report, Zhang Chao was speechless in shock at first, and it took a long time to recover his ability to ask: "How is Deng Ming?" ”

"The watch of the dragon and phoenix, with the ambition of the world." Dong Weiguo replied without hesitation, he told Zhang Chao Deng Ming that he was tall and looked very heroic.

"The ambition of the world?" Zhang Chao asked suspiciously, "I heard that he has a high regard for those rogues. ”

"This is just a good use of people, my lord, think about it, if it is an ordinary rogue, he will definitely extort desperately, and he will definitely not take the initiative to say anything about converting silver taels, selling and buying, why? Because the Liukou don't know what to do, if they don't want it this time, then they may never get it; And Deng Ming doesn't do this kind of short-sighted thing, because he is ambitious, and he has confidence in himself, and he is not afraid of us regretting it. Dong Weiguo analyzed it for his boss and admired Deng Ming's strength: "I heard that there are less than 100,000 people in Chengdu, and there are no more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. ”

"Well, but you also said that he is alone, and he himself admits that he can't stay in Jiujiang for a long time, maybe we don't need to trade with him to recapture Jiujiang" Zhang Chao said hesitantly, and then he said what he was really worried about: "What if Deng Ming doesn't believe his word?" ”

"Yes, but Deng Ming dares to expose his shortcomings, which shows that he is not afraid; Besides, can Jiujiang be recaptured in time? It is still unknown whether we can recapture it along the way, as long as we reach a deal with Deng Ming, we can take Jiujiang back without much effort and complete this year's Cao Yun. Dong Weiguo had to persuade Zhang Chao no matter what, and desperately said good things for Deng Ming: "In the opinion of a petty official, we can send porcelain in batches, and send a batch of them, and Deng Ming will send a few boats to Yangzhou; Our sailors boarded the ship, sailed into the Yangtze River, and then sent him a second batch of porcelain. ”

"This plan is feasible," Zhang Chao thought for a while, nodded slowly, he didn't have the slightest confidence in recovering Jiujiang by force, but if the imperial court knew that Jiangxi Green Camp had been defeated repeatedly, then he, the governor of Jiangxi, would have almost done it: "I just don't know if Deng Mingken is unwilling to return Jiujiang to us as promised, this is an important place after all." ”

"The lower officials think this matter can also be discussed." Dong Weiguo pondered Deng Ming's win-win theory repeatedly along the way, and found that this seemed to be the best strategy for the weak Ming army - anyway, no matter which official was replaced, it would be impossible for Jiangxi to change the court and leave the Qing court to join the distant Southern Ming; Needless to say, Jiangxi and Huguang, as neighbors of Sichuan, would not defect at their own peril, in this case, if the local officials were willing to trade and smuggle with the Ming army, and secretly reached a ceasefire agreement, it would indeed be the best treatment for the Ming army. After figuring this out, Dong Weiguo put himself in Deng Ming's position and considered it, and found that as long as he was willing to trade with Deng Ming, the other party really needed to protect himself with all his might: "Deng Ming can't even beat Wuchang, and Chóngqìng is still in the hands of Governor Li, where does he have the spare strength to hang out here in Jiujiang?" Anyway, we have to give up, as long as our conditions are right, there is no reason why he should not return it to us. ”

…… Soon Deng Ming heard that something had happened in Nanchang, and the governor of Jiangxi cracked a serious case of fornicating with the Ming army, and several ceramic firms were identified as Deng Ming's secret line, exploring Jiangxi's intelligence for the Ming army, and also helping Deng Ming to receive and sell goods. The officialdom and gentry in Jiangxi were not too surprised by the fact that the governor's yamen confiscated the property of these porcelain merchants: these businessmen may really have fornicated with the Ming army, or it may be that the governor of Jiangxi is simply to make up military expenses, and the fat pigs like Shangjia are not raised for emergency use?

But after Dong Weiguo arrived with the first batch of porcelain, Deng Ming happily exchanged a few boats and the first batch of grain for him. Seeing Deng Mingzhong's promise, Dong Weiguo's face was full of joy and worry.

Seeing this, Deng Ming kindly asked him what was on his mind, but Dong Weiguo couldn't stand Deng Ming's repeated inquiries, so he told him that the quantity of porcelain was limited, which might not be able to meet Deng Ming's needs.

In order to meet Deng Ming's needs, Zhang Chao planned to charge the ceramic merchants with the crime of "fornicating with the Ming army", confiscating their homes, and selling their family property and children, and the gold and silver in exchange could also be used to buy local products and provide them to Deng Ming. This kind of thing is to kill people for money, but the government is clever when it is done, and the court will not frown at all about the life or death of merchants.

However, it may not be possible to copy so many things in a hurry, and after hearing that Nanchang has repeatedly raided the porcelain shop, everyone will know that the governor of Jiangxi is gathering, and the merchants will only flee from Nanchang as far as they can. Ceramics are not the same as salt, they are not completely official monopolies, although the porcelain merchants generally lack a background, which is convenient for the Jiangxi governor Yamen to slaughter, but also the dispersion of the property, so that the Zhang Dynasty is a little troublesome to gather.

Deng Ming quickly figured out the truth, and he immediately had a win-win method with the Jiangxi governor Yamen, but this method would make Jiangxi's merchants, pottery bosses and porcelain workers lose a lot...... As in Jiujiang before, although Deng Ming was worried about the safety of the people, if the Ming army was threatened, his choice was still very clear.

"In my opinion, the problem in Jiangxi is that there is no unified purchase and sale of porcelain, as long as it is announced that Jiangxi ceramics will be temporarily monopolized, all problems will be solved." Deng Ming finally came up with his method.

"What is unified purchase and sales?"

"That is, all porcelain is purchased by the government and then sold ......" Deng Ming stretched out his finger and pointed to his nose: "Sell it to me." ”

"This ......," Dong Weiguo paused.

"Businessmen don't produce, and they can't add a stitch or a brick to this world." Deng Ming knew that since ancient times, countless Chinese people have been convinced that commerce cannot create social wealth: "The governor and the political envoy are to implement unified purchase and sales, and there is no harm to the people, but they just take back the people's fat and ointment that the merchants have taken away from them." ”

Deng Ming thought that Dong Weiguo was worried that this move would harm the people, but he completely looked down on the other party, and Dong Weiguo realized that there would be great benefits when he heard it, but he needed to consider the feasibility of this matter, first of all, it was a name.

"Isn't it easy?" Deng named Dong Weiguo to solve the problem: "Let's just say that the Yangtze River bandits are rampant, in order to exterminate the Jiang bandits and ensure the safety of Jiangxi, it is necessary to temporarily return Jiangxi's porcelain to the official camp." ”

"Jiang bandits?" Dong Weiguo asked incredulously.

"Yes, Jiang bandit." Deng Ming stretched out his hand and pointed to his nose, and his face was full of shame: "Yu is harmless to the people, suppressing Jiān Shang, and not delaying the luck of the imperial court, will anyone object?" ”

"Well, the Admiral is right." Dong Weiguo felt that this matter was completely feasible, the only problem was that neither he nor Zhang Chao, the governor of Jiangxi, had ever run a ceramics business, and running a business was obviously much more troublesome than robbing a merchant's property.

"This is easier, the governor and the political envoy can hand over the monopoly of the official camp to the well-known gentry in Nanchang, they have connections, they will definitely be able to purchase porcelain, as long as there are no other merchants to raise the price, the price of porcelain should be much lower, and I promise not to lower the purchase price; If Governor Zhang can guarantee that no one else is in the ceramics business, I can also give the price increase. The gentry will definitely earn some, but even if the scholar has money, he will use it to let his children study and take the imperial examination, which is to cultivate talents for the country. Although Deng Ming learned the tone of the people of this era and described the commercial activities as worthless and without any positive significance, he knew that once the monopoly was implemented, it would cause unpredictable adverse consequences to the manufacture and marketing of Jiangxi ceramics. It's just that Jiangxi is too far away for Deng Ming now, and for the foreseeable period of time, Jiangxi will still be the enemy of the Southern Ming, and the more developed the commerce of Jiangxi, the more wealth it will provide to the Qing court. And the plundering of Jiangxi's ceramics industry by Tongguò will reap huge benefits from both Chengdu and Nanchang officialdom - so this agreement will definitely be reached.

"That's a great thing the Admiral said!" Dong Weiguo excitedly agreed, and now he felt that this matter was not only feasible, but also would be of great benefit to both him and Zhang Chao, and the profits of the monopoly were not only large, but also could be used to buy a group of gentry allies: "The commander's win-win principle, the lower officials finally understand it thoroughly. ”