Although the salt merchants had both a sense of crisis and a plan, it was very difficult to implement, and after the merchants who sold salt to Jiangnan came up with the yì, the merchants who held the salt in the northern provinces made it clear that they were against it. Last year's donation had already caused a lot of losses to the salt merchants in the north, and Zheng Chenggong's attack was not directly related to them, the last time they were willing to pay was already a mutual help among their peers, and this time they were no longer willing to donate huge sums of money for a war that had nothing to do with them.

In fact, after the defeat of Zheng Gongcheng last time, the northern salt merchants already had some complaints, and after the crisis, many people began to doubt the role of donations, people felt that they could win even if they gave less to the Qing army, and more extreme thought that they could defeat the Fujian army without donating Jiangning, so they could save the huge amount of money.

"These profiteers." Liang Huafeng's envoy couldn't help but show disdain when he said this, the former governor of Caoyun was killed in the war, and there were still people in the salt merchant group who were heartbroken for money, didn't they know that their entire wealth was given by the imperial court?

The envoy's answer made Deng Ming's heart feel slightly relieved, and when the envoy mentioned the meeting of the salt merchant group just now, Deng Ming was also a little nervous, worried that the Qing court would fight back to protect their merchant group, or fight back against Deng Ming's merchant group in a catly manner. Compared with the wealthy Hui merchants, the Sichuan salt merchants are obviously more unable to withstand the blow, and Zhang Changgeng's side is also very unreliable, if the pressure from the Qing court is very great, so that he feels that he will be implicated, then Deng Ming estimates that Zheng Zhang Changgeng will most likely regret the contract and retreat.

Deng Ming showed great interest in this topic and continued the discussion with the envoy, who generously shared with Deng Ming all the news he had learned from the Yamen, the governor of Caoyun. If Deng Ming had shown even the slightest interest in the defense of Yangzhou City and the deployment of the surrounding Qing army, the envoy would have immediately become vigilant, but now he knew everything and said everything, because Deng Ming was asking about completely inconsequential matters. It was worthwhile to use some of the merchants' anecdotes to get closer to Deng Ming, as the envoy felt that this would better fulfill the task assigned to him by the governor of Jiangnan, and that there was no need to hide such innocuous trivialities.

According to the envoy, none of the merchants in Huizhou who took salt from the south fully agreed with this mentions.

Even though Deng Ming issued an unmistakable ban, the Sichuan army was extremely tough on the Huizhou salt merchants—an extremely rare attitude, and the Sichuan army was quite friendly and gentle towards other trades—but some Huizhou merchants still thought it extremely ridiculous to say that "Deng Ming's reason for sending troops to Jiangnan was to attack Huaiyan." All knowledgeable people know that this is the Ming court and the Qing court fighting for the world, and for Deng Ming, who has a mysterious background, if the Ming court wins, he is likely to be the biggest beneficiary. The owner of the dragon chair sitting in the Forbidden City is Deng Ming's opponent, even if the Ming army is weak, then at least it must be a high-ranking official of the governor to be qualified to be the target of Deng Ming's attack. And the merchants are the last of the four, and the princes and ministers will not take them seriously, let alone the people at the level of the master. If the Huai Shang went around preaching that Deng Ming regarded them as rivals, they would surely be turned into shameless people by the knowledgeable - they had seen those who raised their own worth, but they had never seen such a way of raising their worth.

In addition to Huaishang's lack of self-confidence, there is also fear. Salt merchants were probably the richest people in China in this era, and even the royal family could hardly compare with them. In Deng Ming's previous life, when Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he was warmly welcomed by the salt merchants in Huizhou, and the financial resources of the salt merchants made Qianlong feel unimaginable and shocked. However, no matter how rich the businessmen are, they are still businessmen who have no political status, and the money they donate to the Qing court is just simply in exchange for a smile from the government, if one day if something happens, the Huai Shang hopes that the government can read his filial piety and give special treatment, they have no right to ask what the money is used by the government, not to mention affecting the government's policy, in essence, this is no different from the dog whimpering and rolling at the owner's feet, and it does not contain the elements of the transaction but simply flatters and welcomes. Some businessmen are worried that this kind of flattery is too much, and it may not be good, after all, donating is a kind of leakage, and under the political system of this era, officials with huge power can easily have the idea of killing people and seizing wealth after seeing that the Hui merchants who do not have the status of politics are so rich.

This speculation is not unreasonable, and it is traditionally important to pay attention to the lack of exposure of wealth, and it is largely because people are unable to protect their property. In Deng Ming's previous life, after Qianlong exclaimed that the salt merchants were "financially great", he returned to Beijing and fabricated charges against him, and sent a large number of salt merchants who had entertained him to prison and raided their homes.

If you don't get enough response, the matter of mentioning yì will naturally be over. There are still a few people who still refuse to give up, and go to see Lin Qilong, the governor of Caoyun, with the silver, Lin Qilong smiled when he received the money, and praised these people for their loyalty and patriotism, and they must go to the court to ask for a plaque for them. But one of them, an ignorant salt merchant, took the liberty of asking the governor of Caoyun what his plan was, whether he could drive Deng Ming back upstream in a short time.

Lin Qilong, who was still smiling with a smile on his face, suddenly turned his face like frost when he heard this question, and he walked away without even scolding, and several other salt merchants hurriedly got up to confess, but they didn't make Lin Qilong change his mind, but were blasted out of the yamen together. In Lin Qilong, these salt merchants are strictly speaking pigs raised by the imperial court, and salt is equivalent to feed for pigs, and the fatter they are, the better; If the pig is very knowledgeable and knows how to cut off a piece of meat to honor his master when he is hungry, then the master will also be happy; But the problem of this salt merchant is like a pig in a pen, accusing the owner of giving bad feed, and pointing fingers at the master's feeding methods.

Lin Qilong's anger is similar to the master who was taught a lesson by a pig, when will it be the turn of businessmen to intervene in national affairs? Even a successful merchant can only be an appendage of the emperor, officials, and gentry.

Another point is that if the enemy is Zheng Chenggong, with the sole purpose of taking Nanjing and recovering the southeast, then Lin Qilong may be slightly better to the merchants who can provide military expenses, so as to encourage them to contribute more money to assist Lin Qilong in defending Caoyun. But now the enemy on the opposite side is Deng Ming, who has always left room for doing things, and these businessmen are trying to influence Lin Qilong's decision-making, so that he risks angering Deng Ming and losing a qiē to protect the salt merchant's money, which is really arrogant!

Since Lin Qilong is such a logic, he naturally won't believe any nonsense such as "Deng Ming sent troops to fight for the interests of Sichuan Yan".

The governor of Caoyun did not know all the thoughts of the salt merchants, and what the envoy relayed to Deng Ming was even more incomplete, but even so Deng Ming understood the general idea. Deng Ming's companions actually have similar thoughts, but most of them belong to the group of "relatively uninformed" people, who were illiterate a year ago, and what Deng Ming said they believed, the discrimination against businessmen was not too strong.

After some deliberation, Deng Ming summoned Lin Qilong's envoy again, and asked him about the reaction of the Huaiyan merchants, and the insiders of the Caoyun Governor's Yamen really knew much better than Liang Huafeng's people. Probably the situation was no different, but Lin Qilong's envoy added some details.

The trivial matter of the salt merchant has been discussed for most of the hour, and Deng Ming's detailed inquiry and serious expression are obviously not the attitude that idle talk should have. When he talked about the back, Lin Qilong's envoy had a different face, and Liang Huafeng's envoy was also thoughtful, they were obviously suspicious of Deng Ming's purpose, but they couldn't guess Deng Ming's true intentions.

After some deliberation, Deng Mingzhengse said to Liang Huafeng's envoy: "I came to Jiangnan this time to crack down on Huai salt and protect Sichuan salt smuggling. ”

Because it involves Zhang Changgeng, Sichuan salt smuggling is the unified voice of the Ming army's top brass to the outside world, including the general meeting of officers held by Deng Ming, and the reason given to the officers is also to block the transportation of Huai salt to help increase the price of private salt, Deng Ming told the two envoys: "What the Huizhou salt merchants said is right, my original purpose of sending troops to Jiangnan this time was to crack down on Huai salt." ”

Hearing this, Lin Qilong and Liang Huafeng's envoys all laughed, their laughter was hearty and their expressions were natural, and when their commanders were sarcastic and sarcastic about the enemy in the past, whether it was funny or not, they would laugh heartily. Therefore, after hearing Deng Ming's words, both of them were extremely skilled and began to cheer.

In order to show the two that he was not joking, Deng Ming repeated it sternly, in exchange for a knowing smile between the two...... After saying it a few times in a row, Liang Huafeng's subordinates reacted a little, put away their smiles, and asked with a strange expression: "Is this true?" ”

"Of course." Deng Ming was already a little angry, and he angrily told the two envoys: "Take my words back to Governor Sù Lin and Governor Liang." ”

Liang Huafeng's envoy stood up, hesitating and not knowing how to answer, when a person in a high position said something obviously ridiculous, the only thing he had to do was to smile and lean back to show that the other party's words were indeed wonderful and to the point, but today's cheeks hurt with laughter, and Admiral Deng still repeated again and again--when is this the head?

After looking at each other with the companions who came to Zhenjiang, the two messengers finally stopped laughing, but replied solemnly: "The villain obeys the order." ”

"Good." Deng Ming signaled that they could go out to rest, and the Ming army would prepare tea for them, and a festive meal would be prepared for them in the evening.

Originally, Deng Ming was hesitant to suggest that Jiang Guozhu's envoy was also here, but he didn't expect Lin Qilong's envoy to take the initiative to ask, saying that if Jiang Guozhu also sent an envoy to congratulate the Mid-Autumn Festival, they would like to see it. Obviously, Deng Ming underestimated Cheng Dù, who was the protector of officials, and no matter which official sent an envoy to Deng Ming, they were not afraid of their colleagues who had the same behavior as them, on the contrary, they could also use this to form alliances and gain a sense of security.

The guards were sent to inquire about it, and seeing that Jiang Guozhu's envoy did not object, Deng Ming asked the guards to arrange for them to stay together, and they might as well have dinner together.

After sending off the people from Yangzhou, Deng Ming, who had been tired all day, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to recuperate. At this time, Mu Tan flashed into the Chinese military tent and reported: "Just when the admiral met the envoy from Yangzhou, the envoys of the Taiping Mansion, Chizhou Mansion and Suzhou Mansion arrived, which one does the Admiral plan to see first?" ”

Deng Ming didn't seem to hear it, and still maintained a posture of closing his eyes and recuperating, but just raised a hand and gently rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"The latest military information!" When Deng Ming was noncommittal, another person rushed outside the tent of the Chinese army, and after seeing Deng Ming's appearance, he didn't dare to speak loudly, but whispered a few words to Mu Tan, and after Mu Tan listened, he turned his head to Deng Ming again and reported loudly: "

"I hear you." Deng Ming, who closed his eyes, opened his mouth and said, cutting off Mu Tan, who had only said four words, although the soldier did not shout loudly, but the Chinese military tent was not very big, and every word that the soldier said clearly entered Deng Ming's ears: "Anqing Mansion and Changzhou Mansion have also arrived, right?" ”

"Suzhou, Changzhou, haven't I been there yet? Why did they come to join in the fun? Deng Ming rubbed the bridge of his nose, his face was tired, in the past two days he had to march again, and he had to meet with Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi, and he had to train troops and buy supplies...... I guess they're almost there, so are they using me here as the yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang again? I dare say that their congratulatory gifts were definitely in duplicate, one was sent to Jiangning and the other was sent to me. ”

Speaking of this, Deng Ming suddenly stopped, closed his eyes and shook his head after a moment, denying what he had just said: "No! I'm not here in the yamen of the governor of Liangjiang, how can Jiang Guozhu give himself a gift? Besides, there is also the congratulatory envoy of the Governor of Caoyun, and I am obviously from the Military Aircraft Department here. ”

After finishing speaking, Deng Ming put down his hand and opened his eyes: "Where can the Military Aircraft Department see it if you want to?" Let them all go to rest first, Shao'an is not impatient, and when everyone is here, I will see them together, and receive the gifts together, now I will go to eat first, and then sleep for a while. ”

The envoys of these Qing court officials were placed together, and the two governors and the confidants of many prefects had met before, and those who were familiar with them asked and talked about family life, and those who were not familiar with them quickly asked acquaintances to make friends.

After all, the friendship that was built by words alone was still unreliable, and soon someone proposed to make a request to the Ming soldiers outside the camp. The Ming army readily agreed to their request, and Mu Tan had already explained that he would try his best to meet the demands of these envoys.

Soon the soldiers of the Ming army moved a few tables, and the envoys and deputy envoys of the Qing army gathered around the left, rubbing hemp while discussing good strategies to deal with Deng Ming. Jiang Guozhu and Lin Qilong's envoys sat opposite each other at the card table, and they were also the main speakers in this Zhuge Liang meeting; Liang Huafeng's envoy sat between the two and expressed his opinions from time to time; In addition, the people at the table, as well as a few byes, also interjected from time to time a sentence or two.

After playing two rounds of cards, someone came from Hefei and Hezhou, and immediately someone shouted to the Ming army outside the tent: "Add a table of mahjong!" ”

…… Add another table...... Another table was added......

When the cards were shuffled, Liang Huafeng's envoy looked up and scanned a circle of tents, which were densely packed with Qing court officials, and when he lowered his head to build cards, he suddenly whispered: "To be a thief to do the role of Admiral Deng, should it be said that this thief has done too successfully, or too failed?" ”

……

After eating, Deng Ming still didn't have time to take a nap, but brought the three henchmen Zhou Kaihuang, Mu Tan and Ren Tang to discuss the issue of external caliber with them. Deng Ming planned to truthfully announce the purpose of his trip to the Liangjiang officialdom, indicating that he was to support the Sichuan salt merchants.

Mu Tan was a little puzzled by this: "If we let the court know our true intentions, will it cause us some trouble?" ”

"Are you afraid that the Imperial Court will support the Hui merchants?" Deng Ming asked rhetorically, he suspected that the Qing court knew that its purpose was to attack the two Huai salt merchants, and it might not react because of this, in the conversation with the Yangzhou envoy just now, Deng Ming felt that in the eyes of the other party, the salt merchants were not worth mentioning, and the two governors could not fight for their own future: "And in the eyes of the court, the merchants do not produce, but only accumulate the wealth of the people, even if I am temporarily cut off, this wealth is not short, it is still in the land of Liangjiang, as long as I do not seize the land, The wealth remained in their hands and was not lost, but it was just a little troublesome to accumulate. Deng Ming made a confident judgment.

"Is there a problem with this law of the Imperial Court?" Ren Tang asked a little confused, he felt that this statement was very correct, merchants do not produce food or products, since they only move things around, of course there is no shortage of wealth. However, what the Qing court did not know was that the salt chamber of commerce in Sichuan took advantage of the situation to march into Huguang and help Deng Ming gather the people's fat and ointment into the hands of the Ming army.

"Of course, the troops, the farmers, the workers, and the merchants, are all creating wealth." Deng Ming said.

Ren Tang shook his head, euphemistically saying that he didn't understand Deng Ming's words, and he would never agree with them. In Rentanglai, the merchants may not be able to say that they get something for nothing, but there is no doubt that they are exploiting those laborers, who have produced nothing but are able to earn a fortune, and are obviously taking advantage of it.

"Off topic." Deng Ming suppressed the urge to argue with Ren Tang, and pulled the topic back on track in time: "And the content of the officers' plenary meeting before I sent the army has been transmitted to Yangzhou and Huai'an, and it makes no sense for me to hide it, so it's better to say it clearly." After Zhang Shangshu finds out by himself, he will think that I am hiding from him. ”

The content of the officers' plenary meeting was passed through the officers to the soldiers, and then from the mouths of the first soldiers to the auxiliaries, and then to the people who came to trade with the Ming army, Deng Ming felt that he couldn't hide it no matter what, so it was better to admit it directly, and strive for Zhang Huangyan's understanding, there was no need to make efforts to conceal a message that was destined to be known.

"And it can also make Jiang Guozhu and Lin Qilong no longer suspicious, and my envoy is still secretly worried, afraid that I will sneak attack their station. After Jiang Guozhu and Lin Qilong have an understanding of my purpose, they will be able to negotiate boldly with confidence. ”

Mu Tan and Zhou Kaihuang did not have any objections to this decision, especially Zhou Kaihuang, who definitely belonged to the collection of "uninformed people" in this era. After the officers' meeting, Zhou Kaihuang wholeheartedly believed that there was only one reason for Deng Ming to send troops, that is, to attack the two Huai salt merchants and support the Sichuan salt industry. Mu Tan may not be as convinced as Zhou Kaihuang, but it is not too much.

Seeing that these two people agreed with Deng Ming's opinion, Ren Tang no longer objected, but he did not leave with the other two people, but stayed alone, and asked Deng Ming seriously: "When the Admiral decided to send troops in Wuchang, was it really for Boss Ye and them?" Instead of disturbing the Jiangnan attack, didn't you think of the porcelain in Jiangxi at that time? ”

Ren Tang knew that Deng Ming had never deceived him, but this doubt in his heart could not be dispelled-every time he remembered that Deng Ming actually sent troops for a group of merchants, there was always a lingering sense of absurdity.

"The traverser is lonely." Deng Ming sighed secretly in his heart, he didn't know that Zhou Peigong had analyzed the purpose of his actions to his wife, otherwise he would definitely be a confidant.