Yangzhou, the closest to Zhenjiang, was the first to meet the returning envoy of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"Everything?"

Lin Qilong's question was answered in the affirmative, Liang Huafeng was next to the governor of Caoyun, and his gold and maids were returned by Deng Ming.

"Gold too, women too, Deng Ming really doesn't refuse to come." Liang Huafeng thought that Deng Ming would at least return the maid, so he didn't bother to choose a reliable person, but now he slapped his thigh with regret: "I should have thought of it a long time ago, Deng Ming is strong-blooded, and when he really can't resist women, he should really send a few desperate people over." ”

Even if he can't spy on the intelligence, at least he can blow the wind on the pillow and affect Deng Ming's judgment, Liang Huafeng regretted that his intestines were blue: "It's me who lives with my own heart, thinking that he will definitely not dare to stay, and he will definitely return it, alas, I don't know if it's too late to send it now." ”

"Now if you send it again, you will show your deeds," Listening to Liang Huafeng's words, Lin Qilong also felt that Deng Ming was too careless, but due to Liang Huafeng's mistake, this opportunity was not seized: "Let's wait for the next time I have the opportunity to talk about it, it's too late." ”

Then Lin Qilong asked the two messengers again: "What else did Deng Ming say?" ”

"He said that he came to Jiangnan this time, not for the land, but to protect the interests of the salt merchants in Sichuan...... "The envoy reported Deng Ming's words to Lin Qilong, and Deng Ming not only spoke to them, but also mentioned them to other envoys.

"What is this?" Lin Qilong was dumbfounded when he heard this, and turned his head to Liang Huafeng: "What kind of nonsense is this?" ”

"Well, in the opinion of the general." Liang Huafeng pondered carefully for a while, and said a thoughtful conclusion: "Deng Ming is here to take advantage of the emptiness in Jiangnan to extort us a sum of money, and this matter is undoubted!" The thieves are powerful, and the elite and baggage of Jiangnan are all supplied to the general of Zhengnan to sweep away the Fujian thieves, so we can't outwit the enemy; Seeing that Deng Ming was short-sighted and greedy for small profits in front of him, he planned to give the thief a little silver to buy time to strengthen the city defense......"

"It's all nonsense," Lin Qilong listened to Liang Huafeng's justification that they had discussed, in case the imperial court heard about the matter here, and urged impatiently: "Deng Ming is here to blackmail, yes, but what is he saying this for?" ”

"Deng Ming saw that we congratulated him on the Mid-Autumn Festival, and sent a heavy gift, knowing that most of the silver could be obtained, so he also wanted to help us find a step down, so he said that he came to arm smuggling this time, so it is logical that he does not attack the city." Liang Huafeng has always felt that Deng Ming is very good, although he bet on both sides when he was in Nanjing, he did keep his promise and had a good credit.

"Oh." Lin Qilong savored it carefully, and felt that this was indeed the truth, so he nodded and said: "I have heard for a long time that Admiral Deng has made a promise of a thousand gold, and he is really a man who is famous. But this reason is too far-fetched, and no one believes it. Well, that's just a reason, we just have to pretend to believe it. When the time comes, his withdrawal from the army will only prove that he is a fool, and he will be satisfied with a little smuggling profit. ”

However, Lin Qilong also understands that whether Deng Ming is willing to withdraw from the army in the future still depends on whether he is willing to agree to Deng Ming's request, and now that Deng Ming has begun to release goodwill, then he has to start taking Deng Ming's mention seriously.

Not long after, Jiang Guozhu in Nanjing listened to the envoy's report on Deng Ming's statement, but his face was very gloomy: "This kind of statement can't even deceive a three-year-old child, is he deceiving ghosts?" ”

Unlike Lin Qilong and Liang Huafeng, Jiang Guozhu smelled the smell of conspiracy and sighed to his staff: "What does Deng Mingdi want to do? ”

If Deng Ming asked Jiang Guozhu for a considerable ransom fee in addition to the money last time, then Jiang Guozhu might be relieved. But now that the governor of Jiangning didn't know anything about Deng Ming's true purpose, he felt very nervous, and said to the staff around him: "Last time, Deng Ming asked us to rest assured and ask for silver. This time, Deng Ming covered up and refused to tell his true intentions, did he really want to fight Jiang Ning? ”

Listening to the analysis of the governor of Jiangning, the staff of the yamen of the governor of Liangjiang also found that the situation was strict, as long as the city could be defended, it would be easy to deal with the private transactions - if it could be covered up, it could be covered up, and if it could not be concealed, it could be strongly argued that it was a plan to deceive the enemy, anyway, the city was not lost, and it was a great achievement.

But the more Deng Ming refused to say what he meant, the bigger his intentions became, which could not help but make the Yamen, the governor of Liangjiang, feel nervous.

"I'm short of talent." Seeing that the staff were helpless and couldn't say why, Jiang Guozhu couldn't help but be a little envious of Zhang Changgeng, obviously Huguang was close to Yu Dong, and his previous family background was also defeated by the previous governor Hu Quancai, but Zhang Changgeng was able to keep Wuchang as impregnable, no matter what unsightly things were behind it, at least there were no flaws on the surface. Unlike Jiangnan, which is already a mess, everyone knows what the officials of various prefectures and counties know.

"Zhou Peigong." Jiang Guozhu read out the name softly, a year ago this was still an unknown young man, but now the name has reached the heavens, and the official promotion is as fast as making a rocket. In Huguang's propaganda, this is, of course, because Zhou Peigong has both wisdom and courage, and can deal with Deng Ming without falling behind, Jiang Guozhu is now very suspicious of this, and guesses that Zhang Changgeng used Deng's means to keep Wuchang safe. However, no matter what method Zhang Changgeng used, Jiang Guozhu concluded that Zhou Peigong played an important role in it, and if it wasn't for him who was particularly good at fighting, it must be because he was particularly good at Tongdeng.

The shape is very sinister, the 50,000 troops of the Ming army are in Zhenjiang Mansion, and Liangjiang Mansion County is scattered, but Jiang Guozhu can't even guess Deng Ming's true purpose. At the juncture of burning his eyebrows, Jiang Guozhu didn't care whether he would owe Zhang Changgeng a favor, and immediately decided to write a chapter to the imperial court, in which Jiang Guozhu said that Jiangnan had suffered repeated military disasters, and not long ago he was trying his best to supply Dasu's army, but now the defense is extremely empty, and the mobile force has no field ability at all after being defeated by Zhu Guozhi. In order to prevent Deng Ming from showing off his military might in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiang Guozhu demanded that Dasu's elite soldiers be transferred back from Fujian immediately - this Jiang Guozhu knew that the imperial court could not agree, and gave priority to eliminating Zheng Chenggong and completely eliminating the hidden dangers on the southeast coast It was a strategy set by the imperial court early on.

The key lies in the second article, Jiang Guozhu said that if Dasu has no time to withdraw for a while, then he strongly asks Huguang to send troops into the Liangjiang territory to assist in the suppression, and he, as the acting governor of Liangjiang, has no view of the door at all in his chest, and does not force the Huguang reinforcements to obey the dispatch of the Liangjiang Governor Yamen, but is willing to fully cooperate with the guest army in turn. And the commander of the Huguang reinforcements, Jiang Guozhu, claimed that it was none other than the well-known current Wuchang prefect Zhou Peigong.

After writing the recital to the imperial court, Jiang Guozhu immediately began to write an official letter to the governor of Huguang, asking him to send Zhou Peigong to lead reinforcements to Jiangnan to exterminate Deng Ming. After writing the official letter, Jiang Guozhu wrote another private letter, in which Jiang Guozhu hinted that he had no choice but to try to make a false decision, but he did not have the right manpower to carry out the tricks and persuade Deng Ming to withdraw from the army.

Jiang Guozhu begged Zhang Changgeng in a private letter to pull him no matter what, and patted his chest and promised that if he could get through the current difficulties, he would definitely repay it a hundred times after becoming the governor of Liangjiang in the future, and no matter what problems Zhang Changgeng encountered in the future, as long as Jiang Guozhu was still in Nanjing, then the entire Liangjiang would be the strong backing of the governor of Huguang.

After writing the private letter, Jiang Guozhu sent his henchmen to Wuchang with the official letter, and also sealed two generous gifts to bring with him: one for Zhang Changgeng and one for the prefect of Wuchang.

……

When Jiang Guozhu wrote a letter to Zhang Changgeng, there was also a commotion in the barracks here of Deng Ming, Zhang Huangyan originally did not intend to interfere with how Deng Ming publicized it to the outside world, but when he asked about Deng Ming's true purpose, he still got the same answer as he gave to the Qing army. This made Zhang Huang angry, and felt that Deng Ming was just deceiving the Qing army, and he even had to hide himself, which was really distrustful of himself.

What made Zhang Huangyan angry was not only this thing, he had privately approached Deng Ming before, talking about King Lu's plan to adopt him as his heir, and asked Deng Ming what his plans were for this. As a result, Deng Ming desperately refused, and refused to accept anything-just kidding, Deng Ming knew very well that once he agreed, he would inevitably report the inheritance and genealogy, and this Deng Ming would not be able to make up a circle no matter what, so he could only insist that he would never be a clan.

But where is Zhang Huangyan willing to believe, thinking of Wen Anzhi and Zheng Chenggong's attitude, Zhang Huangyan spit out the uneasiness in his heart, and asked what is the relationship between Deng Ming and Tang Wang. Deng Ming still pushed cleanly, insisting that he had nothing to do with Tang Wangfu. If Deng Mingzhen has nothing to do with King Tang, of course it is the best, for King Lu, Deng Ming is a distant branch is naturally the best, Zhang Huangyan chose to believe it, but what made him angry was that Deng Ming still refused to admit that he was a clan.

If Deng Ming is a single descendant of a certain clan, even if it is not a prominent clan, Zhang Huangyan will not be able to force Deng Ming to agree to his family's extinction. If this is the case, Zhang Huangyan can understand it, but the odious thing is that Deng Ming's words are not true, and he refuses to explain openly why he rejected the kindness of King Lu - if it is an insignificant distant branch and a general of Zhenguo who has no inheritance issues to consider, this is of course an insult to King Lu.

Zhang Huangyan had the heart to denounce him, but Deng Ming didn't talk about his life experience, so Zhang Huangyan couldn't talk about it if he wanted to blame, he found that Deng Ming's move was really bad, if the other party was not a clan at all, then of course there was no way to talk about inheriting the Lu Domain. But Wen Anzhi's trust, as well as Zheng Chenggong's abnormality, Deng Ming claims that he is not a clan? He thought Zhang Huangyan was a fool, would he believe this kind of nonsense?

On the issue of inheriting the Lu Domain, Zhang Huangyan held back his anger, and now seeing that Deng Ming was blatantly lying, he couldn't unite in anger, and reprimanded loudly in front of Ma Fengzhi. Zhang Huangyan reproached Deng Ming for being narrow-minded and completely distrustful of other loyal ministers and righteous people, and even asserted that if Deng Ming did not change his past wrongs, he would inevitably ruin the great cause of Zhongxing.

Ma Fengzhi was surprised and admired on the side, and couldn't help but sigh again in his heart, Zhang Shang had set up a bureau early and deployed a large number of henchmen around Deng Ming, and now he has the confidence to speak. Of course, Ma Fengzhi will never get involved in this troubled water, although he is determined to hold Zhang Huangyan's thigh and not waver, but Deng Ming can not be offended, so Ma Fengzhi never said a word when the two of them spoke, like a schoolboy who made a mistake, dodged back two steps, and lowered his head to the ground.

Deng Ming explained, but the more he said Zhang Huangyan, the more angry he became, seeing that the other party couldn't listen to his words at all, Deng Ming hesitated, and had to apologize: "Zhang Shangshu is not strange, in fact, when I first came to Nanjing, the main purpose was to extort some silver from the officials here in Nanzhili." It's just that this reason is too unpleasant to say, so I want to deny it, Zhang Shangshu forgives and forgives his sins. ”

"What's so hard to say? Admiral Deng felt that this reason was not good, but the argument that he originally came to Nanzhili for businessmen was even more ugly? Zhang Huangyan saw Deng Ming's sincere apology, and his anger disappeared suddenly, after all, Deng Ming gave him a lot of help, not only provided a large amount of food and salary, but also handed over the armor and weapons seized from Zhu Guozhi and Dong Weiguo to the Zhoushan Army.

Deng Ming apologized again and again, the atmosphere between the two eased down, seeing that Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan were calm, Ma Fengzhi regained his ability to speak, he first praised Deng Ming's clever calculation, and then complimented Zhang Huangyan and said: "Zhang Shangshu is also a genius in the world, and he knows the subtleties, and he guessed Admiral Deng's mind clearly from the beginning, as the so-called heroes see the same, there is a way to meet the wind and clouds, and the dragon and tiger gather ......."

After flattering the two of them fiercely, Ma Fengzhi retired first, nodded to Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan and said, "The last general will go to inspect the troops first." ”

Both of them let Ma Fengzhi feel free, and after Ma Fengzhi came out, Deng Ming asked Zhang Huangyan strangely: "Is Admiral Ma always talking like this?" ”

"No, it's been normal for most of the past six months." In the past few days, Zhang Huangyan also felt that something was wrong, and Ma Fengzhi seemed to have changed from when he was in Zhoushan.

"I don't like to talk more and more, and I always look like I'm not giving up, and it's weird." Deng Ming remembered that when he first met Ma Fengzhi, the other party didn't seem to be like this.

"Yes," looking at the back of Ma Fengzhi's departure, Zhang Huangyan told Deng Ming that he felt the same way: "It started after the joint venture, and it wasn't like this when I first arrived in Zhenjiang, well, it started the day after the joint venture, and the clouds and mountains began to cover the fog when I spoke, which was always incomprehensible." ”

"After the joint venture?" Deng Ming thought for a moment and asked hesitantly, "Isn't it that Admiral Ma ate something unclean in my camp?" ”

"I don't know about that." Zhang Huangyan shook his head and said.

Another day passed, Deng Ming ran to Zhang Huangyan's tent to find him: "Zhang Shangshu, I will talk to the generals at least one night a month and give them lectures, there will be one this afternoon, is Zhang Shangshu interested in coming?" ”

"How can you not go?" Zhang Huangyan came to his senses as soon as he heard it, he knew that Deng Ming often gave lectures to his officers, which was also one of Deng Ming's means of training the army, since this was the case, he thought about it.

In addition to those on duty, more than 30 captains under Deng Ming were present, and Ren Tang and Zhou Kaihuang, who were not in rotation, also sat opposite Deng Ming with the officers. There is also a Taishi chair on the side, which is prepared for Zhang Huangyan who is visiting.

"I think everyone remembers that before leaving Wuchang, we discussed why we sent troops to Jiangnan; When we arrived in Jiangnan, we also discussed why we had to control trade on the waterways – to fight the commerce of the Qing court and develop our commerce. Today, I'm going to tell you why I attach so much importance to business. Deng Ming paused to give the officers time to guess his answer before continuing: "We all know that the army depends on the wealth of the country, and the more wealth the country, the stronger the army, and I think that farmers, craftsmen and merchants are creating wealth for the country. ”

Zhang Huangyan's face showed a slight disapproval, but he politely remained silent.

"If there is no agriculture, we will all starve to death, and we will not want to make anything, so it can be said that all the wealth of society has the participation of agriculture." Deng Ming drew a line on the blackboard, pointed to it and said, "This is agriculture, the beginning of wealth." ”

"If there is no industry, we will only be able to gather wild fruits, we will not be able to cultivate a large number of wastelands, we will not have boats, no fishing, no clothing, and we will not be able to live and cultivate in places where it will snow in winter. Therefore, I think I can say that the rest of the wealth was created by agriculture and industry, except for picking wild fruits and fishing in the river barefoot. After saying that, Deng Ming drew another straight line on one line, and then made a parallel line opposite the two straight lines, and drew a rectangle: "With industry, the wealth of the country is not just a gold thread, we get a piece of gold leaf." ”

"If there is no business, what would have happened?" Deng Ming paused for a moment, giving the officers time to think about the answer again before he said what he thought: "Everyone needs to dig by themselves, smelt iron, build farm tools, grow cotton, make needles and threads, and then make clothes for themselves...... In our capital, for example, if we didn't have merchants, the hundreds of thousands of people in the capital would need each to have a set of mining tools, a blacksmith shop, and everyone would have to be able to raise cattle, and they would have to be able to make and have time to make farm tools...... Otherwise, the people of the capital would have to wear tree bark and carry sticks to farm. ”

Deng Ming drew a third line: "This is the business that the merchant is engaged in. He drew a cube: "We got a gold brick, and this is the wealth of the country, the foundation of the army." ”

"What I just said was a situation where the business is extremely bad, what would it be like if the business was extremely good?" Deng Ming asked the third question and immediately gave the answer: "A couple who are good at farming don't need to make farm tools by themselves, or even need to repair farm tools by themselves, he needs shoes, he doesn't need his wife to pay for them, just work hard to farm; He needs clothes, he doesn't need his wife to weave, he just needs to keep farming. And the same is true for those who are good at making clothes, he doesn't need to farm, fish, or even spin, weave, or make buttons by himself, as long as he does the garment job he is best at, he can get what he wants. ”

Deng Ming's remarks have already touched on the concept of social division of labor, and in his previous life, relying on developed commerce, people could concentrate on the most skilled work to meet the needs of life.

After giving the officers some time to digest, Deng Ming came up with the next question: "Why do Tartars need to use whips to force them to be coated and planted?" ”

"Because Tartars are cruel by nature." Someone immediately gave the answer.

"Then why do our military camps also need to formulate a lot of punishment rules?" Deng Ming asked.

"Because there are always lazy bones?" Most of the people didn't speak, only Zhou Kaihuang replied in a hesitant manner, and he also knew something about Yuan Zongdi's military tun.

"We produce because we need it, we have to farm when we are hungry, we have to weave when it is cold, and the food and clothing for clothing, Ha food and clothing are all wrapped in tartars, they don't need it, so they don't need to produce."

"Yes, the Admiral said, they're based on need." Zhou Kaihuang has a good memory.

"Really?" Deng Ming laughed, and the others were a little stunned, not knowing why Deng Ming thought the word was so ridiculous.

After laughing, Deng Ming nodded: "Yes, so whips and torture are needed, if the Tartar coats and our cantonments need not to be beaten and suffered, they need to work, this is also a kind of business." ”

"We produce when we need it, and through commerce we can provide more to the people, and if they need meat, fruit, wine, warmer clothes, they need to work harder. We can also let the people know that they can give their children better toys, that they can have their own horses and vehicles, and that if they need them, they will have to work harder in farming and mining. Deng Ming turned around and began to draw the three lines again: "But when the commercial line becomes longer, the other two lines will also become longer, so that we will have a larger gold brick, which will help us to feed a stronger and better equipped army." ”

In Deng Ming's previous life, the growing business in Europe stimulated people to improve tools, invent and create products, and the hunger for technology led countless people to engage in research day and night, dreaming of discovering a technology patent that would make them rich. A certain philosopher also admits that the productive forces created in the past hundred years are more and greater than those created in the past qiē era, and the ultimate plan for the development of the productive forces he gives is to destroy commerce and eliminate demand - on Deng Ming's blackboard, this is to erase the third pillar of the gold bricks.

"If we have enough troops to seize large areas of land and cities in Huguang and Jiangnan, then we will take away the agriculture and industry of the Qing court." Deng Ming stretched out his hand and pointed to the two bottoms of the cube and said: "This is a complete destruction, and it is also a method of fighting for the world since ancient times, but unfortunately we can't use this kind of upright method." ”

Then Deng Ming moved his finger to the vertical edge of the cube and said to the officers: "Commerce is the weakest of the gold bricks owned by the Qing court, and it is also the one that they attach the least importance to. But now this pillar is still the Qing court's own, and we will start by cracking down on the Huai salt merchants and turn this pillar into our possession. Starting with the salt merchants, and then from all walks of life, the freight and shops in the interior of Huguang and Jiangnan will become an indispensable part of the south when our trading houses take over. If our trading houses were better at running than the merchants of the Qing court, the gentry and common people in Jiangnan would have lived even better than before, and the lines of industry and agriculture might even be extended. But! ”

Deng Mingjia said in a tone: "But this pillar depends on our army and exists, it belongs to us, and we can share the greatest benefits of this gold brick increase; And in case, in case our army is repulsed, this line will shrink and even cease to exist. Deng Ming wiped off the third pillar and turned the cube into a plane, and he drew a small cube on the side: "This is our capital, although our agriculture and industry are not as good as the Qing court, we are a gold brick, and they are a layer of gold leaf, and the gap is not as great as it seems." ”

After a long discussion with the officers, Deng Ming announced his disbandment, and the captains would spread Deng Ming's ideas and intentions to the whole army, so that the Sichuan army could have a clearer strategic consideration of their commander.

"Zhang Shangshu," Deng Ming said to Zhang Huangyan, "maybe you can believe it now, my original purpose of coming to Jiangnan this time was not just to extort money, but indeed to develop Sichuan's salt industry. ”