"The Sichuan army of Baoguo Gong no longer looks like officers and soldiers." Zhang Huangyan sighed lightly, in fact, his Zhoushan Army is now drifting away from the definition of "officer and soldier" in his mind, but Zhang Huangyan is always comforting himself, this is to cooperate with Deng Ming and not to act like this.

"Not like an officer or soldier?" Zhu Zhiyu heard it even more inexplicably: "What is that like?" How is it not like an officer and soldier? ”

Zhang Huangyan pointed to Ren Tang: "You can tell Mr. Shunshui about it." ”

Now when he was in the Sichuan army, Ren Tang would no longer feel embarrassed, but in front of a courtier like Zhu Zhiyu who was loyal to the Ming court, he was suddenly ashamed and his face flushed, but he still said honestly: "It's really not like an officer and soldier, the Duke of Baoguo calls the Sichuan army the imperial army." ”

"Imperial troops? What does empire mean? Zhu Zhiyu couldn't understand this kind of advanced vocabulary at all.

"That's what robbers mean." Ren Tang said hesitantly. He told Zhu Zhiyu that now the Sichuan army is not begging for thieves, but has reached various agreements with the Qing army; When the Sichuan army generals saw the local officials appointed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they would not rush up to give them a white knife to go in and a red knife to come out, but would often drink and talk happily and make money at the negotiation table; As for the goods Zhu Zhiyu saw at the Zhoushan wharf, most of them were bought from the Qing army.

When Ren Tang narrated, Zhang Huangyan sighed on the side, looking distressed, as if the Zhoushan Army had not participated in these agreements and transactions.

Of course, Zhu Zhiyu was dumbfounded, and after finally reacting from the shock, Zhu Zhiyu jumped up and asked Zhang Huangyan: "Doesn't Zhang Shangshu persuade Baoguo Gong?" ”

Zhang Huangyan spread his hands: "Baoguo Gong is young and vigorous, I can't see him a few times a year, how can I persuade him?" So Brother Shunshui went to Chengdu because it was too timely. ”

Although Zhu Zhiyu wanted to return to China to serve, he never thought that the responsibility on his shoulders would be so heavy, and he needed to bring the Sichuan army, which was about to go astray, back on the right track.

"Bao Guogong is too young." Zhu Zhiyu has heard some rumors about Deng Ming, and just this unposthumous prince is enough to make people think about it, Deng Ming's merits make Zhu Zhiyu not have any disgust with him, but anger at the princes around Deng Ming: "This is completely a rogue, it must be that group of Kui Dong thieves...... No, that group of Kui Dong will bring the Baoguo Gong to ruin. ”

Zhu Zhiyu also reproached Zhang Huangyan with some dissatisfaction: "Why doesn't Brother Cangshui go to Sichuan, in my opinion, Chengdu is now the hope of recovering Shenzhou." ”

"Isn't this my going to help Baoguo sell goods?" Zhang Huangyan quickly found an excuse to excuse himself: "What Brother Shunshui said is extremely true, so I went all out to run Zhoushan so that I could help Baoguo raise some military supplies." ”

"When are you going back to Sichuan?" Zhu Zhiyu asked Ren Tangdao.

"Well, it's probably going to be mid-June...... Ren Tang said that there is a lot of preparation to be done before going on the road, and he needs to make sure that the Yamen of Premier Deng has prepared the grain and boats: "You can also buy some food on the road, but it always hurts to prepare more." We have hundreds of thousands of mouths, and this is an unprecedented march, and if we don't have enough to eat along the way, something big may happen; Whether it is starving the people who have defected to us, or letting them plunder the people along the way because of hunger, the ...... of the empire It is not good for the reputation of the officers and soldiers. ”

After hearing the term "suppressing Prime Minister Deng's yamen" just now, Zhu Zhiyu nodded slightly and praised it: "This name is good." ”

Now when Ren Tang complained about how much money he spent to relocate the people, Zhu Zhiyu's face showed puzzlement again: "Aren't you the imperial army?" How do you pay for the boat and food? ”

Ren Tang said that the people should not be disturbed, which Zhu Zhiyu fully agreed; But the Ming army actually had to pay a reward to Prime Minister Deng's yamen, which made him incomprehensible.

According to Ren Tang, in order to relocate hundreds of thousands of people back to Sichuan, the Ming army estimated that it would cost five or six million taels of silver. This amount of money is so large that Zhu Zhiyu smacked his tongue, in his opinion, what is wrong with such a large sum of money, why should he give it to Zhou Peigong of the Qing court with both hands?

"This is the way of theft." Zhang Huangyan wasted no time in saying on the side, which can be regarded as relieving Ren Tang: "Although it is an imperial army, it can't be counted if you speak." ”

"In the past, the captives entered the customs and plundered, and each time they robbed hundreds of thousands of people, and they also robbed a lot of gold and silver; But unlike the Manchurians, we can't do everything we can to ruin where we pass, so we have to find a way to raise food and grass. Ren Tang patiently explained that now in addition to the Ming army on the Yangtze River, there are many ships to suppress Premier Deng's yamen, and if you want to use the ships of Premier Deng's yamen, you have to pay rent.

"Zhou Peigong has so many ships, is there a threat to the officers and soldiers?" Zhu Zhiyu was completely unaware of the situation in China, and after hearing that the Qing army had many ships, the first thing that came to mind was that the other party had military potential.

"Oh, there are no warships, they are all civilian ships, at most they are used for transportation." Ren Tang replied nonchalantly.

"How do you know?" Seeing that Ren Tang was so light on the enemy, Zhu Zhiyu asked sharply.

"Because they sold it to Zhou Peigong." Zhang Huangyan interjected again.

"Zhou Peigong's boat was bought from you?" Zhu Zhiyu had a bewildered expression: "And then he collected rent from you again?" ”

"We still make money, and we also make some money from shipping on these ships during this period." Ren Tang hurriedly explained: "Besides, we don't stop building ships in Sichuan, and Zhou Peigong promised that as long as we keep selling ships to him, he won't run a shipyard. ”

"Zhou Peigong is also making money, how do you know that he won't open a shipyard after he gets the money?" Seeing that Ren Tang was not only light on the enemy but also credulous, Zhu Zhiyu was even more anxious.

"Because we have fifty percent of the dry shares in the Yamen of Premier Deng, as long as he makes money, he will give us half of the shares, and there are also our people who manage the accounts, and we can check the accounts for what Zhou Peigong does with the money."

Hearing this, Zhu Zhiyu was completely stunned, he turned his head to look at Zhang Huangyan: "What is General Ren talking about, do you understand?" ”

"Well," Zhang Huangyan nodded: "The general manager of the account audit is me, and I have already sent the account office to the Yamen of Prime Minister Deng." ”

……

"I know that it is an eventful autumn and stormy, so in order to win the battle, Baoguo Gong obeyed the words of the group of people in Kuidong." Zhu Zhiyu found that the difficulties in front of him were much greater than he initially imagined, and he did not blame Deng Ming, but believed that Deng Ming had been adversely influenced by the generals of Kuidong because he was eager to reverse the unfavorable military situation.

Ren Tang said in his heart: "I'm afraid it's not Linguo Gong who is influencing Baoguo Gong, but Linguo Gong and they are all damaged by Baoguo Gong." However, Ren Tang did not say this, and when Zhu Zhiyu was heartbroken, Zhang Huangyan and Ren Tang were silent.

"You're probably going to leave in mid-June, right?" Zhu Zhiyu calculated in his heart: "That means I still have some time." ”

Although he knew that the risk was very high, Zhu Zhiyu still decided to venture into the enemy territory: "I'm going to find Meng Zhengfa." ”

"What are you looking for him?" Zhang Huangyan was taken aback when he heard this. Zhu Zhiyu has a good reputation, and his ambition to resist the Qing Dynasty is widely known, and if his identity is exposed, he is likely to encounter danger.

"I am just a scholar, I have never led troops to fight, and I have been running around in Japan all these years to raise food and salaries for officers and soldiers, and ask for reinforcements, and I don't know anything about military affairs. If I see Bao Guogong alone, Bao Guogong may not be willing to listen to me. Zhu Zhiyu thought about it carefully, he has not made any amazing achievements over the years, and Deng Ming seems to have been deeply influenced by Kui Dongliukou, Zhu Zhiyu has no confidence to persuade Deng Ming to repent: "Before entering the customs, my ability was to read and teach, and Meng Zhengfa was different, he was called 'the first person to dare to fight since the southern crossing'." I took him to Sichuan, and Bao Guogong may not believe me, but Meng Zhengfa is a scholar who is both civil and military, and Bao Guogong will definitely listen to his opinions carefully. Sichuan also needs people like Meng Zhengfa to contribute. ”

Zhang Huangyan coughed and was about to speak.

But before Zhang Huangyan objected, Zhu Zhiyu said sincerely: "I know that Meng Zhengfa has shaved his head and surrendered, but who can be blameless if he is not a sage?" He also hates the people of Kuidong, if he and Baoguo Gong talk about the bad deeds of Kuidong people in the past, they can also make Baoguo Gong suffer less bad influences. ”

Zhang Huangyan was hesitating whether to talk to Zhu Zhiyu about Deng Ming again, but he saw Ren Tang secretly throwing a look. The former Ren Tang was Zhang Huangyan's confidant, and now he is the general of the Sichuan Army, Zhang Huangyan put away the idea of persuasion when he saw this.

Zhu Zhiyu said that he would leave, and he didn't even care about resting, so he hurriedly asked Zhang Huangyan for a fast boat and left Zhoushan. He planned to go to Hubei alone to persuade Meng Zhengfa, Wang Fuzhi and others.

After Zhu Zhiyu left, Zhang Huangyan found an opportunity to ask Ren Tang: "Can't you see what Bao Guogong means?" Baoguo Gong has been to Jiangnan three times, and has not visited any Shilin leader; And his path is definitely not taught by the generals of Kuidong. ”

"So we really need some scholars to go to Sichuan, otherwise the students really can't deal with Baoguo Gong alone." Ren Tang replied. After Chen Zuocai arrived in Chengdu, Ren Tang felt that he saw a glimmer of light, and he felt that although Deng Ming did not look down on Wang Fuzhi and Meng Zhengfa's military talents, he could have at least respect for scholars: "Is Shangshu worried that Mr. Shunshui is in danger?" ”

"Of course," Zhang Huangyan nodded: "He hasn't returned to China for several years." Although Meng Zhengfa will not betray him, I know Shunshui's temper, as long as Meng Zhengfa refuses to go with him, he will definitely risk his life to stay there and have to pull him away. It is inevitable that some people will see the strange thing and report to the court. ”

"What's the point of worrying about that?" Ren Tang laughed: "The student will go to Wuchang to repair the book, and let Zhang Changgeng secretly take care of Mr. Shunshui." Even if Mr. Shunshui can't persuade Meng Zhengfa to go to the mountain, he can still keep him safe and go to Jingmen. ”