When Gao Mingzhan came to the Ming army camp again, Deng Ming had already begun to transport the auxiliary troops to Chengdu, and the total number of prisoners in Guizhou and Shaanxi exceeded 30,000, plus the original soldiers and horses of the Ming army, it would take at least two rounds to complete the transportation. Since the Qing army was willing to exchange, the Ming army's transportation volume became larger, and Deng Ming decided to leave most of the Zhejiang Yiyong until the end, and the main force of the Ming army could ensure that the Qing army would not have any more risky ideas.

"Can the Admiral raise his noble hand and return General Daniel Zhang and General Wang Jinbao's personal soldiers together?" Gao Mingzhan asked pitifully, this kind of prisoner exchange must not be hidden for long, if Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao's personal soldiers are not redeemed together, Li Guoying is afraid that they will have opinions.

"No way!" Deng Ming was very resolute on this issue: "These people are kidnapping the people in Guizhou, if I release them back, how can I explain to those people in Guizhou?" There is no need to mention this matter again. ”

But Gao Mingzhan still refused to give up, and now only by pulling Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao into the water together can he ensure that this kind of behind-the-scenes transaction is not known to the imperial court.

Unable to withstand Gao Mingzhan's bitter pleading, Deng Ming thought about it, and ordered the guards to conduct another screening, perhaps whether any of the two of their personal soldiers participated in the plundering operation. As a result, there were really more than 100 people who did not directly participate in the activities of Lazhuang Ding in Guizhou, so Deng Ming reluctantly said to Gao Mingzhan: "There are 115 people in total, I will put them back, but each of these 100 people will cost twice the price." ”

In addition to the exchange of Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao, Gao Mingzhan also mentioned the issue of secrecy, that is, the need to say that this exchange was a ploy of the Qing army, not to succumb to the pressure of the Ming army.

"There's no problem with that." Deng Ming expressed his willingness to cooperate very happily, and he even had a better idea: "It's better to say that the generals I am responsible for guarding the prisoner of war camp here are very greedy for money, and Governor Gao, you all bribed and escaped, and then continued to bribe him to rescue the other prisoners." And the so-called exchange of cattle for people is just a pretense for him to give me an explanation after accepting bribes from you. ”

"The Admiral's plan is brilliant." Gao Mingzhan was overjoyed when he heard this, and in the eyes of the Qing court, the request to submit to Deng Ming was a loss of power and humiliation of the country; If it is said that the exchange proposed by the Qing army on its own initiative, although it is better, it is also suspected of being an enemy; If it is done according to Deng Ming's latest plan, then the quality of the Qing army will be even better, this is a trick used by the Qing army, which not only recovered the losses but also corrupted Deng Ming's senior generals.

"This matter," Deng Ming looked around at several guards in the camp, as if he had assigned someone to be in charge, but Zhou Kaihuang, Ren Tang and Li Xinghan shrank back one after another, and no one wanted to come forward.

And Zhao Tianba made it clear when Deng Ming saw him, Zhao Qianhu's biggest wish now is to make a name for himself and let him play this role? Just kidding, Zhao Tianba's reputation has not yet spread all over the world, how can he wear a hat that betrays the master and steals.

"Let this matter be brought down by the lowly position." Mu Tan saw that everyone else avoided Deng Ming's gaze, so he took the initiative to agree: "I am willing to be in charge of this exchange work." ”

"Okay." Deng Ming immediately ordered to inform the whole army, and Mu Tan was responsible for managing the work of the prisoner of war camp, the inside story of this exchange did not need to be known to everyone, and in the future, in front of other officers, Mu Tan could pretend to report to Deng Ming that he had come up with an idea of exchanging cattle for people, and then Deng Mingzhong agreed.

"Governor Gao is relieved, right?" After arranging a work in front of Gao Mingzhan, Deng Ming asked.

"Thank you, Admiral." Since he made a good confession with Deng Ming, Gao Mingzhan was also completely relieved, and he also thought about how to write a chapter for the imperial court in the future, that is, he tried his best to boast about Mu Tan's status by Deng Ming's side; Then he made a show to the imperial court, and said how he saw through Mu Tan's greed for money, so that this Deng Ming's henchman would dance according to his baton; Finally, of course, I have to emphasize to the imperial court that Mu Tan can help the Qing army prisoners escape today because of bribery, and tomorrow he may betray Deng Ming to the Qing court for money; For the purpose of protecting Mu Tan, the imperial court must not make a big noise, and do not let the officials know about this exchange operation, and the emperor and important ministers should know about it.

These recitals can definitely get Li Guoying's endorsement, and the more Gao Mingzhan thinks about it, the more he feels that he has a great chance of success.

……

It was not until the beginning of April that Deng Ming was able to lead the main force to arrive in Xuzhou, and the people who had gathered near Xuzhou also went to Chengdu in large numbers, making it a completely empty city.

"After seeing that we transported a large number of ploughing cattle back to Chengdu, the people here in Xuzhou are not willing to live in the mountains anymore." The officers who arrived earlier reported to Deng Ming that not only here in Xuzhou, but also in Jiading, a large number of people flocked to Chengdu. At the beginning, the people in these two places were already moved when they saw the grain ships of the Ming army going one by one, and the recent continuous transportation of ploughing cattle made most people give up their wait-and-see attitude -- after more than ten years of war, Sichuan's production has been completely destroyed, and many people have not seen iron farming tools for many years, let alone ploughing cattle.

"Well, Chengdu's IOU, I'm afraid it will have to be printed again." Deng Ming was of course very happy to see the people around him return to Chengdu with hope and longing, but the rapid population of Chengdu also put great pressure on Deng Ming's economic policy.

Deng Ming did not intend to fill the government with the ploughing cattle exchanged this time, he first ordered them to be issued to the orphans and widows who died in battle; If he is not a bachelor without a wife, then check if he has any brothers, and if so, give him a head. The second group consisted of those who had been maimed by their wounds, some on the battlefield and some because of the beatings they had been beaten after being captured, and these incapacitated people were given two cows each, and they could make a living by renting out the cattle.

In addition, Deng Ming also has more than 1,000 cattle in his hands, Liu Jinge sent a letter to Deng Ming after the first batch of cultivated cattle arrived, and the government will raise these cultivated cattle, and then rent them to Tongxiu to collect rent, which can usually be worn in each pavilion.

Deng Ming clearly objected to this: "There are many disadvantages of the government coming forward to raise cattle: first, you need to hire people to take care of them, these people are not taking care of their own cattle, and they will definitely not be very careful; second, in order to collect more money, in order to show their superiors that they are capable, they will not spare the ploughing cattle, but will work hard; Third, the people need to use cattle, and if the cattle are mostly in the pavilion, someone may bribe the pavilion chief...... In the end, in order to make money, the government may make it difficult for the people who own and rent out their farming cattle. ”

Shut down

Out of deep-seated distrust of the government, Deng Ming immediately wrote back to the Chengdu government, ordering that all cattle should be auctioned publicly. The rules of the auction were also set by Deng Ming himself, and after each batch of cattle arrived, they would be led to Chūn Xi Road, displayed to onlookers in a temporary auction hall, and then let everyone bid, and the highest bidder would win.

After arriving in Xuzhou, Deng Ming received a letter from Chengdu, according to Liu Jinge, the auction was very successful, in order to raise the price, he only auctioned ten heads a day, and the onlookers were crowded, and many people were desperately borrowing IOUs from their neighbors to buy cattle.

"This guy!" Deng Ming couldn't cry or laugh after reading the letter, don't look at Liu Jinge, who is less than twenty, but after being the prefect for a few months, the means of raising prices are becoming more and more proficient: "I really have enlightenment." ”

After reading the letter, Deng Ming asked Zhao Tianba and others to continue to advance with the army, while he himself returned to Chengdu first with the ships transporting farm tools.

On April 10, Deng Ming returned to Chengdu, and Yuan Xiang and Xiong Lan also came to Liu Jinge's yamen to meet him.

"I plan to do a census to see how many people there are in Chengdu now." After seeing Liu Jinge, Deng Ming immediately said his plan, and when he came back this time, Deng Ming noticed that Chengdu had become very different from when he left, and the number of shops on Chūn Xi Road was doubled: "How many people are there in Chengdu now, does Brother Liu have an approximate number in his heart?" ”

Liu Jinge's main job is to sell cattle, but he also knows the population of Chengdu.

Now Chengdu is the most of course, Sichuan people, Chengdu, Jiange, Jiangyou, Mianzhu retired auxiliary soldiers more than 18,000, from Xuzhou and Jiading Prefecture to Chengdu as many as 50,000 people, half of them are men, counting Sichuan men have 43,000 people; The second is the Yunnan people, 15,000 of the 20,000 auxiliary soldiers in Jianchang were Yunnan people, plus the later immigrants from Jianchang, the number of Yunnan men was as high as 22,000; Shaanxi people are tied for second place, they are all former Qing soldiers abandoned by Li Guoying, and their numbers are the same as those of Yunnan; The fourth is the Guizhou people, and the number of prisoners this time, plus the original Jianchang auxiliaries, is also as many as 16,000.

In addition to these more than 100,000 men, there are 30,000 volunteers and their 20,000 dependents, of which there are more than 20,000 Zhejiang people, and the remaining 10,000 are from Huguang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places.

"There were about 130,000 men, 50,000 women and more than 10,000 young children." Deng Ming nodded, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai still have some men on their side, but at present, those people belong to the Sichuan Army and have nothing to do with Deng Ming.

"Liu Shuai also wrote to him, saying that there seem to be refugees west of Tongxinguan." Liu Jinge reported to Deng Ming that Tongxinguan was near Dujiangyan, which was the farthest point in the traditional control area of the Ming court. Further west is the mountainous area of Sichuan, far less suitable for farming than western Sichuan, so the rich Han people in western Sichuan are generally reluctant to take a step out of the Tongxin Pass in the peaceful era, but more than ten years of war, so that many Han people would rather go to the difficult Sichuan border area than stay in the West Sichuan Plain: "Liu Shuai said that the people are scarce, and when they see the army, they run, and now Liu Shuai has limited materials, and he has not gathered refugees, but if we are rich in food in the future, we can prevent people from crossing the Tongxin Pass and go deep into the mountains of Sichuan to search for refugees and persuade them to come back." ”

"That's exactly how it should be." Deng Ming was not surprised by Liu Yao's report, and the post officer in Jiading Prefecture also told Deng Ming that there were still refugees hiding in Emei and Leshan, and as long as there was enough food, they could go into the mountains to search. Food can also convince these refugees to come out, after all, life in the mountains is extremely difficult, and it is difficult for the people who hide in them to eat and clothe. The large amount of grain transported by the Ming army this time made the people who had fled in the mountainous areas near Jiading Prefecture and Xuzhou unable to resist the temptation of having food to return to Chengdu.

In addition to briefly arranging the census questions, Deng Mingsu told Liu Jinge that he had brought back a large number of iron farm tools, totaling more than 20,000 pieces.

"Great." Liu Jinge immediately said: "Let's use the old method of the Admiral, let's auction them." ”

"Nope." Deng Ming knew that Liu Jinge would have this idea again, so he personally escorted these farm tools back to Chengdu: "In the past few months, how many farm tools have those blacksmith shops created? ”

Liu Jinge immediately asked people to take out the tax account books and hand them to Deng Ming, Deng Ming looked through them, and they were still the three iron firms when he left, and they had only built more than 1,000 farm tools in total in the past few months.

"It's much less than I imagined, they all add up, and they can't make 10,000 tools a year, 5,000 is good." Deng Ming sighed lightly, with the current metallurgical capacity of Chengdu Prefecture, let alone providing equipment for the army, even the production tools needed in Chengdu cannot be satisfied: "What I need is not only a blacksmith shop that can make a few axes and sickles every day, but also an ironware shop that can produce everything from iron pots and iron spoons to swords and firearms, I need them to be able to produce hundreds of thousands of tools and utensils every year, and I need them to do their best to achieve such a scale." ”

"If we auction off farm tools, it will be more difficult for these blacksmith shops to do business, they will not have the manpower to expand production, and if someone goes bankrupt and can't do it, it will do us even more damage." Deng Ming stared at the account book thoughtfully, now these three blacksmiths seem to be working actively, and their output is increasing every month: "They must be supported." ”

Among the three blacksmiths, there is one named Li Muyang who does the best, employs the most short-term workers, and the number of ore purchases is also the largest, and almost half of the more than 1,000 tools made in Chengdu are produced by the Li family iron shop, and the output growth rate is also the highest.

"20,000 pieces of farm tools, I handed over 10,000 pieces to this Li Muyang for sale, didn't he make 700 pieces in the past three months? Seven hundred of them were given to him for free. Deng Ming finally made up his mind and began to assign tasks to Liu Jinge: "The other two companies will also do the same, give them farm tools with the same output as them as a reward, and let them sell our farm tools according to the proportion of output; I charge half of the selling price of these consignment farm tools as tax, and they take half of the IOUs and the government takes half; But for every piece they produce and sell, I will refund them a piece of tax, and the refund deadline is the end of this year. ”

Liu Jinge and Xiong Lan glanced at each other and asked cautiously, "Admiral, if they really made 20,000 pieces before the end of the year, wouldn't it be all given to them for nothing?" ”

"I'm talking about real things that can be sold, but yes, if they can make them, I'll give them 20,000 pieces for free, and selling them on behalf of them will make them as much money as they can, and if they have an IOU, they will be able to buy more manpower and buy more ore; And as long as they want to take my farm tools for nothing, they have to do everything they can to increase the yield. Looking at Liu Jinge, who was a little distressed, Deng Ming smiled: "Don't you remember what I said?" zhèngfǔ not only has to be able to make money, but also to spend money, and if we can use this money to buy Chengdu iron production to quadruple, we will benefit. Don't forget, we're still at war, and now we can't even make weapons, even farm tools. ”

In addition to iron tools, the horse shop is also a key support project of Deng Ming, but now the scale of the Chengdu horse shop is even more pitiful, there are not many mares, and it is estimated that a foal may be born after a year: "Within four years, we don't have to expect the horse shop to provide horses to our army, whether it is a war horse or a horse, within a few years we will die one less horse, unless we go to the Qing army to rob." In addition to continuing to provide for these horse dealers, we must also set up a system of rewards and punishments, and I intend to allocate a hundred horses for this seizure...... Well, let's give 200 horses to the horse dealer for sale, and the distribution ratio will be calculated according to the number of horses they have deposited, and the IOUs sold will belong to them for the time being, but they will be counted as five-year loans. They can use it to improve the stables, buy more mares and better feed, and then I will settle accounts with them in five years, and for every foal they raise, I will forgive them an IOU, or I will have to pay it back to me with interest. ”

"With interest?" Xiong Lan felt that this rule was obviously much harsher than that of the iron shop: "All of their other loans are due in five years, and if they don't raise enough foals, the horse shop will go out of business." ”

"If these horse shops can't even raise 200 foals in five years, they deserve to go out of business, and I won't invest any more money in this kind of horse shop." Deng Ming felt that not all horse dealers would be waste, and that the survival of the fittest should also be: "Unlike the iron firms, the horse dealers have not achieved anything so far, and I don't know if they are wasting bank loans; Of course, but this consignment is voluntary, and if the horse dealer doesn't want it, I don't force it. ”

Although Deng Ming offered incentives to stimulate the Chengdu Iron Weapons Company and the Horse Breeding Company, he knew that in the short term, Chengdu still had no hematopoietic capacity, and the troops' equipment could only rely on seizures from the Qing army.

"We are now one less rusty knife, one less dead horse, and one less big ship, and we can't even see the day when we can build ourselves. So, gentlemen, we can't sit back and wait for the swords to rust and the horses to die, we must actively launch an offensive and seize more weapons, horses, cloth, vehicles, and ships from the Qing army. In short, there is nothing we don't want; The war can also bring us prisoners, which can be used to replenish the population of Chengdu, or exchange supplies from their governors, or exchange them with Jianchang, and if not, they can be sold to Tibetans for yaks. Deng Ming said to Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang: "I am more eager for war than ever, and for the time being, we can't reach others, so we can only fight Li Guoying first." After Zhao Tianba and them return to the capital, we will do our best to launch a new round of offensive, and before they come back, let's send someone to reconnoiter the terrain near the Sword Pavilion. ”