After another three days, Deng Ming still did not get a letter from the governor of Caoyun. Lin Qilong felt that Deng Ming's conditions were very harsh, but he didn't dare to object, so he couldn't help but start delaying time. Seeing that Lin Qilong didn't even have an anti-construction yì, Deng Ming knew that this matter would not be smooth sailing - the other party didn't know how to bargain at all.

And the more he pondered about it, the more Lin Qilong thought about it, and at the beginning, when the governor of Caoyun faced the threat of force from the Ming army, he felt that he must not be spared, so he gave gifts and started negotiations. It's a pity that Deng Ming didn't seize this opportunity, and because he was afraid of his influence among the people in Jiangnan, he didn't completely cut off the canal traffic and block all shipping, including civilian ships.

When Lin Qilong found out about this, he began to be suspicious again, thinking that maybe Deng Ming's force was not as strong as he imagined, so he did not seize Yangzhou by force. Therefore, Lin Qilong decided to make two preparations, on the one hand, to continue negotiations with Deng Ming, and on the other hand, to prepare to defend the canal by force and expel the Ming army.

Liang Huafeng's order from the governor of Caoyun frightened Liang Huafeng, and he only brought 3,000 armor from Nanjing, many of which were local soldiers from the surrounding prefectures and counties, much worse than his subordinates during the last Battle of Nanjing. And Liang Huafeng knew that Deng Ming had brought 8,000 armor soldiers from Sichuan, and he estimated that the equipment provided by Zhu Guozhi to Deng Ming was enough to arm the combined forces of Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi. Even with the addition of Yangzhou's troops, going out of the city and fighting with Deng Ming is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, and now it is very reluctant to defend the city, let alone defend the smooth flow of the canal.

But no matter how Liang Huafeng objected, the more Lin Qilong thought about it, the more he felt that it was reasonable, and he decided that Deng Ming was suspected of bluffing, and maybe it would be exposed in a few days, and then he had to withdraw immediately. Therefore, it is planned to continue to adopt the policy of delay, and wait for Deng Ming's weaknesses to be exposed.

"I really need to knock it when I come to Yangzhou." On the 19th, Deng Ming summoned the officers and asked them to urge the whole army to prepare for going deep into the canal.

When the captains went to prepare one after another, Ren Tang asked Deng Ming: "What is the purpose of our army in this attack, should it be to take Yangzhou?" ”

Deng Ming shook his head, now Jiangnan is still the area ruled by the Qing army, Yangzhou has no military value for the Sichuan army, Deng Ming does not even plan to hold Zhenjiang, let alone consider leaving four or five thousand troops in Yangzhou. It is impossible for Deng Ming to leave half of the mobile troops in Yangzhou because Yangzhou has no value to him, but it is completely different for the Qing court, and it is even more inmissible for the governor of Caoyun, otherwise he can escape from the Ming army and run back to Huai'an Mansion, and it will be difficult to escape the knife of the Qing court.

"This is a letter from the Jiangnan Governor - Liang Huafeng, the Jiangnan Governor of the Qing court." Deng Ming waved a letter to Ren Tang, Mu Tan and Zhou Kaihuang: "Liang Huafeng said that he would only lead his troops and horses to hold Yangzhou, and he would also include the Liangjiang troops outside the city as much as possible. ”

Liang Huafeng didn't want Deng Ming to run rampant in Yangzhou Mansion, because after all, this was the jurisdiction of the Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang, and if Deng Mingyan destroyed the canal traffic, then the imperial court would punish Lin Qilong severely, and at the same time, maybe it would also be angry with Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng. If Jiang Guozhu loses the opportunity to win the throne of the governor of Liangjiang, then Liang Huafeng, who is as prosperous as him, will also suffer, he knows that there are a group of generals under the governor of Jiangxi who are worried about their position and think about replacing him all day long. Therefore, although Yangzhou is not as important as Jiangning, if he can reach a compromise with Deng Ming, Liang Huafeng is never willing to lose Yangzhou.

Furthermore, Liang Huafeng was also reluctant to block the canal by Deng Ming, because the severance of Cao Yun would also lead to the wrath of the imperial court, in addition to Lin Qilong, who would definitely be unlucky, Jiang Guozhu also had the possibility of being tied up. If Lin Qilong was allowed to mess around, Deng Ming would probably be furious and retaliate after being teased - the more Liang Huafeng pondered it, the more he felt that this was very likely, and Deng Ming would never tolerate the loss of his deterrent.

Since Liang Huafeng couldn't rely on his own ability to persuade Lin Qilong not to be naughty, he had to rely on external forces, Liang Huafeng wrote this letter late last night, and delivered it to Deng Ming this morning.

"Liang Huafeng said that Lin Qilong was lucky, if we didn't show force, he would probably not be obedient, so we need our army to go to Yangzhou to persuade the governor of Caoyun to return to the win-win road......" Deng Ming briefly introduced the content of Liang Huafeng's letter in his own words, but even so, Liang Huafeng still hoped that Deng Ming would not wreak havoc on the canal, and not let Lin Qilong have no way to retreat and break the jar.

"If we don't destroy the canal, how can we force Lin Qilong to bend his knees?" Mu Tan questioned that Mu Tan's hostility towards Liang Huafeng, the great hero of the Qing army in the Battle of Nanjing, has always been very heavy and undisguised, and he immediately objected after hearing Liang Huafeng's request: "I remember that the Admiral said that there are three elements of deterrence: we have the power to act; We have the determination to use our strength; We can show our enemies our strength and determination. If we don't commit any crimes along the way, Lin Qilong will wonder if we have the determination to carry out the sabotage. ”

"Yes, but Lin Qilong doesn't dare to bet." Deng Ming told everyone that Liang Huafeng also helped the Ming army choose a target: "It is the Caoyun wharf near Yangzhou, if these wharves are lost, then next year's Caoyun will be in big trouble." These wharves have been built over many years, and the Governor's river officers and soldiers have to inspect and renovate them every month, and once they are destroyed, they will never be restored in a short time. Admiral Liang built a defense of Yangzhou, defeated the river troops left outside the city by the governor of Caoyun, captured these inconspicuous but actually very important docks, as well as the workshops that repaired the boats along the way, and threatened to burn them all. Admiral Liang asserted that Lin Qilong would definitely bow his head under this threat. ”

No one was able to raise objections, because everyone's familiarity with Cao Yun Cheng Dù obviously could not be compared with experts like Liang Huafeng, the governor of Jiangnan, and only Mu Tan still had doubts: "What if Liang Huafeng misjudged?" What if Lin Qilong still refuses to bow his head? What if Liang Huafeng deceives us? He said it was important, but it didn't matter. ”

"We can burn all the docks and then continue north, destroying as many docks as possible from Yangzhou to Huai'an; We can also sink ships in canals, dig up embankments, and blast dams. Whether it's important or not, don't want to leave anything behind. Zhou Kaihuang said without thinking about it, as a northwesterner, he lacked feelings for the southeast: "If the canal is finished, not only will the Tartars be unable to transport grain, but even the Huai salt will be finished." ”

Liang Huafeng guessed correctly, after learning that Lin Qilong had noticed that he had changed his mind, Deng Ming immediately had the idea of killing a chicken to a monkey, the weaker the strength, the more important the reputation of having debts to be paid; If Lin Qilong was not severely punished, the fear of Deng Ming among other Qing court officials would be greatly alleviated. However, the complete destruction of the canal is likely to bring severe losses to the people in Yangzhou and Huai'an, and the damage to them may be even greater than that given to the Qing court. Besides, it is not easy to completely destroy the navigation of the Grand Canal, and the Qing court has no feelings for the people in the Huaiyang area, and can mobilize a large number of people to engage in dredging work at any cost, so Deng Ming did not agree with Zhou Kaihuang's words, but said: "Don't be so troublesome, we just need to take Yangzhou." ”

Taking Yangzhou may lead to trouble with Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng, but they may be able to survive without being held accountable, even if they are held accountable, there is nothing to be afraid of, as long as Lin Qilong is done well, then there is no worry that the new Jiangnan officials in the future will not be convinced.

In addition to a copy of the letter to Deng Ming, Liang Huafeng also sent a copy back to Nanjing, and when Deng Ming began to cross the river and invade the territory of Yangzhou Prefecture, Jiang Guozhu also got a copy of the letter.

"General Liang did a good job." After Jiang Guozhu finished the letter, he rewarded the envoy with a large piece of silver, Lin Qilong's thoughts Jiang Guozhu knew very well, that is, he couldn't make the final decision of Tong Deng for a long time, and always wanted to be able to get out unscathed.

However, Lin Qilong's actions are not only not in the interests of Deng Ming, but also not in the interests of the Yamen, the governor of Liangjiang, although Jiang Guozhu can hide it on the issue of the county and the county, but he still hopes that all the officials in the world will be able to pass Deng, so that even if the court finds out that he is not the one who stands out from the crowd and stands up for everyone.

Jiang Guozhu also has some understanding of the situation of Caoyun, and Liang Huafeng's offer makes him very satisfied: "The Caoyun wharf has been destroyed, then there will definitely be a big problem in Caoyun next year, and Lin Qilong will definitely compromise; But if he really goes crazy, Deng Ming will definitely burn down the wharf, and even sink the ship in the canal, so when I cooperate with the Caoyun Governor Yamen to repair the wharf and dredge the canal in the future, my share of credit will always be lost. ”

After Jiang Guozhu rewarded the messenger, he told his staff to redouble their efforts to supervise the various docks, and never allow a government ship to sail on the Yangtze River waters between Nanjing and Zhenjiang under the green flag. The ban on navigation issued by Jiang Guozhu now is to further dispel Deng Ming's worries, so as to ensure that Deng Ming can use all his strength to beat the river officers and soldiers of the Caoyun Governor.

Lin Qilong's reckless behavior had another benefit for Jiang Guozhu, that is, it helped him attract Deng Ming's attention. Jiang Guozhu has always been worried that Deng Ming's heart to attack Nanjing will not die, and he has no soldiers in his hands, no talent in the shogunate, and he urgently needs the help of the governor of Huguang, and now Lin Qilong jumped out by himself, even if he can't hold out for long - Jiang Guozhu feels that this is certain, the Liangjiang troops around Yangzhou City are commanded by Liang Huafeng, and the Yangzhou prefect is also Jiang Guozhu's subordinate, they will definitely not help; At the same time, Jiang Guozhu also sent secret orders to other prefectures and counties in Yangzhou, telling them to preserve their strength and maintain strict neutrality in the conflict between the Ming army and the officers and soldiers of the river - that would also allow Jiang Guozhu to wait for reinforcements for at least a few days, and he estimated that Zhang Changgeng might have obtained his letter by now.

……

Wuchang, Huguang Governor Yamen.

"Your Excellency summoned the lower officials to come, dare to ask what you command?"

Recently, Zhou Peigong has been very busy, and the shareholders of Wuchang Hawk Group, that is, the Sichuan Salt Commercial Bank, have been discussing the articles of association of the salt bank in the past few days. Originally, the acquisition of Sichuan Salt was to take some compensation for the hawkish group to reduce the loss of being arbitrarily taxed by Li Laiheng.

But gradually, things started to change. From the end of June to the present, the Yangtze River shipping has been in the hands of the Ming army, and a large number of salt ships will sail to Wuchang from the downstream every day to unload tens of thousands of catties, hundreds of thousands of catties of Huai salt. This hectic scene is no longer there, and at first there were a small number of salt boats that occasionally arrived, all of them sneaking up like private salt boats, hiding salt in the lowest level of the cabin, covered with all sorts of obscuring things. If it weren't for the shipowner, dressed like a beggar, who could pull out a crumpled piece of Huguang salt from his bosom and hidden in a salted fish bag, the soldiers would not have been able to distinguish these official salt men from the smugglers.

The amount of Huai salt obtained by Wuchang every day shrank from 100,000 jin to less than 10,000 jin, and when Deng Ming left Jiujiang and marched downstream, Huai salt was almost extinct. Now Jiangxi's salt import has also been greatly reduced, and the official salt transported to Nanchang needs to be smuggled in every possible way, let alone transported to Wuchang.

In the past, salt transported to Wuchang was not only used in Huguang, but also transported to Guizhou and parts of Henan, but now the transportation of salt to these areas has been terminated. Henan is a little easier to do, and you can also think of some land transportation methods, but this is far higher than the cost of taking the Yangtze River waterway, which is difficult, and the rise in salt prices is inevitable; Not long ago, Wu Sangui wrote to mention the issue of salt for the first time, saying that the price of salt in Guizhou began to rise, and the people's hearts were unstable.

The price of salt here in Huguang is also rising, so when at the beginning of this month, Ye Tianming's "Sichuan salt smuggling fleet" arrived in Wuchang for the first time, it did make many people breathe a sigh of relief, although the supply of Sichuan salt this month is only a pitiful average of 5,000 catties per day, but the quantity has been rising steadily, and it is hoped that the daily supply will be increased to more than 30,000 catties before the salt reserves are exhausted (in addition to the batch of Sichuan salt left by Deng Ming at the beginning, the Ming army later transported millions of catties of seized Huai salt. This is the minimum demand estimated by the Wuchang side.

As a result, selling salt became a very lucrative business, and many former hawkish members believed that if Deng Ming continued to stay in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, their share of salt would not only cover all the taxes they paid (in theory, Deng Ming would only pay half of the compensation), but even make a little money.

Zhou Peigong's calculation results were the same, so around the time Deng Ming left Jiujiang, the attitude of the former Wuchang hawk group had changed from the original advocacy of adopting a tough stance towards the main Yudong to supporting the adoption of a tough stance on Jiang Guozhu, and the goal of support was also different from before, the previous object was the Qing army, and now it is Deng Ming, the governor of Sichuan. Of course, this support was still private at that time, and it could not be said openly.

With the influx of Jiangxi porcelain into Wuchang, the Wuchang hawks not only supported Deng Ming's hard-line attitude towards Jiang Guozhu, but also supported Deng Ming's hard-line attitude towards Zhang Dynasty, because these porcelains also had to be given one-third to ensure that the gentry who held IOUs were compensated. All goods shipped to Wuchang must be deducted as a reserve to ensure the convertibility of IOUs. This was not one of the terms agreed between Deng Ming and Zhou Peigong, who only asked for the IOU to have the highest priority, but the person in charge left by Deng Ming said that this policy was made by Deng Ming to show his sincerity, to ensure that the person in charge here in Wuchang would not exchange the inventory for real money while claiming that the IOU was out of stock, which the hawks had feared that Deng Ming would use to default on their compensation.

Seeing that this rule has been strictly enforced, the voice of support for Deng Ming has also sounded a little louder, of course, it can only be circulated in private. And Zhou Peigong has also been praised and grateful by many people for this, and everyone is extremely admired for his foresight - after seeing that this policy has won the hearts of the people, Zhou Peigong unceremoniously took the credit for himself, and said that he came up with and promoted the one-third inventory retention system to ensure the interests of the hawkish group, and the person in charge of Deng Ming also adopted a tacit attitude.

Gradually, the hawkish group began to feel the inconvenience of this clause, because with the continuous arrival of a large number of Jiangnan native products, the IOUs in the hands of these people, to be precise, the tax certificates, began to run out, and the goods that arrived were still meticulously divided by the person in charge left by Deng Ming, and the reserves could only be collected with IOUs.

After selling out the goods in exchange for the IOUs, the hawkish group tried to persuade the person in charge left by Deng Ming to wholesale the remaining inventory to them. But the person in charge disagreed, saying that this was a rule that Admiral Deng had repeatedly explained and must strictly enforce, and advised those people, like other competitors, to use silver to buy the other two-thirds of the goods that could be used.

This answer, of course, does not satisfy the hawks.

At first, the hawks had little confidence in the price of huàn, feeling that the IOU was a piece of waste paper and could not be compared with real money. However, Deng Ming did not force them to buy IOUs anyway, but provided them as compensation vouchers, and they didn't think too much about it. Soon the price of the IOU began to overflow, as the one-third of the goods exchanged for the IOU had few competitors, and the two-thirds of the goods that did not need the IOU would have bidding problems. Anyway, the goods priced at 100 yuan will definitely not be able to get one tael of silver, at least one tael, and even two taels if they are in demand.

Those who did not have IOUs were equally dissatisfied, and it was a clear waste that the price of the goods they came to increase was related to this rule, and that a large number of goods that could be immediately profitable were locked in the storeroom and moldy.

So the person who praised Zhou Peigong's foresight at the beginning began to complain that he was the initiator of this rigid policy, and demanded that Zhou Peigong take the responsibility of a hawkish leader to cancel this policy.

But this not only wronged Zhou Peigong, but also beyond his ability, Zhou Peigong did not participate in the formulation of this policy at the beginning, it was completely Deng Ming's idea alone, but afterwards Zhou Peigong felt that the response was good, so he casually took some credit to himself, and now of course he can't cancel it.

No matter what Zhou Peigong said, the person in charge left by Deng Ming just didn't let go, and if he wanted to take these reserve goods, he had to bring an IOU, and soon Zhou Peigong found that he had become the shield of the person in charge, one by one: "This is what your Zhou Governor agreed", "This is what your Zhou Governor first proposed to the Admiral." ”

The pressure on the person in charge was reduced tenfold and pressed on Zhou Peigong.

"I'm being pitted!" Zhou Peigong complained to his wife in private: "I was too careless, I actually thought that I could take advantage of Admiral Deng for nothing, I was really unlucky!" ”

Since the road of silver can't go through, everyone has to find a way to save the country, so some people want to exchange some IOUs from the person in charge of Chengdu. There is no need to follow the ratio of 1:100 silver dollars, that is, 1:90 or even 1:80, these people also said that they can accept it.

But the person in charge shattered their dreams again, and told them that the 100 yuan announced by Deng Ming was equivalent to one tael of silver, just to help the hawks understand the value of their IOUs, which in the final analysis evolved from 100 yuan per stone of rice, and if he wanted to exchange the IOUs, he would need to pay taxes to Liu Jinge, the prefect of Chengdu. In other words, if you transport a stone of grain to Chengdu and hand it over to Governor Liu, you can get an IOU of 100 yuan - in fact, it may not be possible, this is just the statement of the person in charge of Deng Ming.

Chengdu is too far away, grain transportation in the past still need to organize a fleet, Wuchang someone proposed to advance next year's IOU, unfortunately was vetoed by the person in charge, he said that next year's tax has not been paid, this IOU does not exist at all; Since this is the case, some people said that they would pay taxes in advance to Li Laiheng, Hao Shaoqi, and He Zhen, presumably they must be willing to collect them, but the person in charge still disagreed, saying that Deng Ming said that it was to compensate for the annual positive tax, and even if they paid it in advance now, they would not be able to pay the IOU until next year; The hawkish clique has failed to make another plan, and they have said that they feel that Li Laiheng has less taxes, and they are willing to pay more taxes to the Dong Army, but this point still cannot be recognized by the person in charge, saying that Deng Ming only compensates for taxes and does not compensate for donations, which is obviously a voluntary and spontaneous act of assistance and cannot be issued with an IOU.

At the same time as smashing the most complaints on Zhou Peigong's head, some people in the Wuchang hawkish group have begun to seriously consider the issue of transporting grain to Chengdu. The person in charge reminded them that it was doubtful whether they were qualified to pay taxes in Chengdu, which meant that Liu Jinge might not accept the taxes paid by the Wuchang people to the Chengdu prefect's yamen. But the person in charge didn't say anything to death, so a few people had already prepared a grain ship, planning to go to Chengdu to throw stones and ask for directions, if they could exchange for IOUs.

But it is one thing to privately buy the goods smuggled by Deng Ming in Wuchang, and it is another thing to organize grain ships to cross the occupied areas of the Ming army in eastern and western Hubei and transport grain to Chengdu, especially when a group of people are still clamoring for Zhou Peigong to take on the responsibility of the hawkish leader and escort their grain ships, which makes Zhou Governor's house even more anxious.

Zhou Peigong had been working on this matter for the past two days until he was summoned to the governor's yamen by the envoy of the governor of Huguang.