When Ren Tang and Li Xinghan's rear team arrived, the triumphant Xiying cavalry sent news again, saying that Tan Yi had also been caught up and caught by them. Hearing that Tan Yi was captured, the eyes of those guards from Tan Wenjun turned red, Li Xinghan hesitated for a moment, and asked Deng Ming: "Dare to ask the admiral to let the lowly post escort this thief back to the capital." ”

Those Tan Wen's old subordinates also had to go with Li Xinghan to escort Tan Yi, they didn't want to blatantly destroy Deng Ming's reputation for not killing prisoners, so they wanted to use the excuse of escorting Tan Yi back to Chengdu, slaughtered him halfway to avenge Tan Wen, and found an excuse for Tan Yi to try to escape afterwards.

According to the morality of this era, the request of Li Xinghan and other Sichuan soldiers and generals is very legitimate, and they have the obligation to avenge their benefactor Tan Wen, even if they make this request directly, Deng Ming is not good to refuse categorically. In fact, even if Li Xinghan publicly broke Tan Yi's body into thousands of pieces before the three armies, Deng Ming would not be unable to get along with Tan Yi and Li Xinghan, and the army would not think that there was anything wrong with Deng Ming's cover-up, after all, Tan Yi killed thousands of Ming soldiers under the city of Chóngqìng, and he was in a lot of blood debts. The method that Li Xinghan is proposing now is just an excuse, and now the guards take Deng Ming's promise and reputation very seriously.

However, Deng Ming hesitated for a moment, and finally shook his head: "Tan Yi murdered Marquis Fu, murdered the lives of thousands of soldiers under the city of Chóngqìng, you can't be unclear about the canonical punishment, instead of letting him die here in a daze, it is better to send it to Fengjie, and the supervisor can give an explanation to the fallen soldiers of Marquis Fu and Chóngqìng on the court to pay tribute to their spirits in the sky." ”

Seeing that Li Xinghan and several guards had disappointed on their faces, Deng Ming knew that they were regretting that they could not avenge Tan Wen with their own hands, so he immediately added: "Lock up Tan Yi first, and when we attack Chóngqìng, a few of you will escort him back to the Inspector, and then you can ask the Inspector for you to carry him out." ”

As the founder of the Tongxiucai fame system, Deng Ming has not yet reported this matter to Wen Anzhi, and he has no hope of returning to Fengjie at all.

"Thank you, Admiral." After hearing Deng Ming's solution, Li Xinghan and the others felt a little relieved.

…… Di Sanxi had a good life in Chengdu, and he was also famous among the military and civilians in Chengdu, and after seeing that the situation around Chengdu was stabilizing, Di Sanxi asked people to return to Jianchang to report to Feng Shuangli. After the cold winter has passed and the mountain road is better, Di Sanxi will set off to return to Jianchang. Recently, these rìzi Di Sanxi had nothing to do, and muttered some bad words about King Li Jin in Deng Ming's ear, implying that this person was Yongli's sworn friend.

Deng Ming was noncommittal about these words of sowing discord, but talked to Di Sanxi about exchanging people. As soon as he heard that Deng Ming intended to exchange food for people from Jianchang, Di Sanxi said that Deng Ming was really out of sight, and if Chengdu lacked manpower, King Qingyang was willing to help. However, Deng Ming insisted on exchanging grain, if it was for nothing to take the king of Qingyang and their people, first, Deng Ming was embarrassed to take a lot, and he hoped to be able to continue to exchange grain for the people of the auxiliary soldiers, he always believed that only the equivalent exchange could make the business go on for a long time; Second, even if Deng Ming was regarded as the future monarch by Jianchang's soldiers, he also needed to exchange his interests for what was in the hands of the military leader, and if he took it for nothing, he would owe favors, and this debt would not know what price it would need to be repaid in the future - for example, Feng Shuangli gave Deng Ming 10,000 people, and then because of the need for manpower, he went to take away a batch of people from Jiading Prefecture, so did Deng Ming care or not?

After hearing that Deng Ming had plans to continue exchanging population, and the number was more likely to be as high as 10,000 people, Di Sanxi did not dare to take care of everything, but cautiously said that as long as it did not affect the military camp of the generals in Jianchang, Deng Ming should have no problem exchanging food for people. As Deng Ming guessed, although Jianchang opened his mouth to the common people with no background, a man needed 50 stone of grain to redeem himself, and he also asked them to be responsible for transporting the grain in a cattle cart. But if the exchange object is Deng Ming, Di Sanxi said that the price is completely negotiable. If a common man here in Chengdu had a relative in his army, and Deng Ming wanted to take the relative away for that common man, Di Sanxi would not only accept the exchange price of about 30 stone of grain, but also accept other exchange goods, such as cloth, weapons, armor, or other materials.

After repeated searches outside the city, the Ming army finally captured 7,000 Qing prisoners. More than 4,000 Qing soldiers had not been found, and by the end of the first month, the Ming army estimated that the chances of their survival were very small, so they stopped further searching.

What to do with these seven thousand captives became a big problem again. Originally, Deng Ming wanted to turn them all into ordinary people engaged in farmland reclamation, but if they were allowed to cultivate fields, whether to give them the identity of Tongxiucai would become a troublesome problem. If they don't give it, it will be difficult for these people to integrate with the local military and civilians; But if it is given, I am worried that the soldiers and civilians of Chengdu will complain, especially the soldiers in the army, they are still like Xiucai, and these prisoners have more privileges than they have.

In addition to the prisoners, the garrisons in Jiange, Jiangyou and other places also had many problems to solve. After seeing the prosperity of Chengdu, the garrisons in Jiangyou and other places did not want to return to their original stations. Moreover, the officers in these places are also worried that their auxiliaries will not advance and retreat with them, and if they really want to leave Chengdu, most of the auxiliaries will choose to flee the army and stay in the vicinity of Chengdu to open up the wasteland and become a fellow showman.

Deng Ming welcomed these troops to stay, and had no intention of letting so many people go and returning to Jiangyou, Jiange and other places in Chengdu that they were currently unable to control. In the event that the Qing army launched another attack in the future, the garrisons in these places may not be able to stop the enemy army, but will provide manpower and guidance for the invading Qing army.

However, after the officers of Jiangge and Jiangyou expressed their willingness to stay in Chengdu, they began to ask Deng Ming for the land of the military tun, which gave Deng Ming a headache. Now Liu Yao and Yang Youcai do not have military tuns, and they originally formed an alliance with Liu Jinge, intending to treat the people near Chengdu as military soldiers. After Deng Ming arrived in Chengdu and took over all the people, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai regained the idea of establishing a military camp.

"The military tun is not efficient, and it takes up a lot of manpower," Deng Ming summoned all the members of the guard, including Liu Jinge and Yuan Xiang, to discuss: "Let's think about it, what is the way not only not to give them the military tun, but to persuade them to hand over all the auxiliaries in their hands?" ”

The guards looked at each other, and none of them came up with a good idea. Liu Yao and Yang Youcai came to ask for treatment on behalf of the military before, because they felt that they might not be able to keep their auxiliaries. Deng Ming promised them to improve the treatment of the soldiers and help them maintain control of the army, and not long had passed, and if the intention of depriving them of their auxiliary soldiers would definitely chill the generals of the army.

"Of course we don't take their stuff for nothing, but we buy it from them. What do you think will cost them to give up their auxiliaries to us willingly, and never fight the army again? ”

There was still no one able to answer Deng Ming's question, so Deng Ming had to ask everyone to go back and think about it again, but they were not allowed to spread the matter to the outside world, so as not to make the military think that Deng Ming wanted to unload the mill and kill the donkey.

As a result, the next day, Liu Jinge came to Deng Ming again, saying that he came up with an idea, that is, to exchange the prisoners for the auxiliaries in the hands of the generals: "Of the 7,000 captives we captured this time, nearly 5,000 are auxiliaries, and there is no danger for these people, even if they serve under Liu Shuai, there is nothing to be afraid of, anyway, Liu Shuai will definitely use them as coolies." With these 5,000 men, we can exchange 5,000 original auxiliaries, all of whom are our own people, and we will give them land to cultivate. ”

"That's a good idea, what else do you have in mind?" Deng Ming nodded again and again. If the original soldiers in Chengdu were still suffering in the army, but the new prisoners could immediately enjoy low taxes and reclaim large tracts of wasteland to own their own property, not only the soldiers and civilians might feel unconvinced, but even Deng Ming himself felt a little unfair and damaged the morale of the army.

Shut down

After receiving Deng Ming's affirmation, Liu Jinge couldn't help but be shocked, and continued: "These prisoners of war were all captured by us, and it would obviously not be good to give them the same treatment as our original soldiers immediately. ”

"Well, that makes sense." Deng Ming speculated that Liu Jinge might deprive these captives of their personal rights and turn them into coolies indistinguishable from the auxiliaries in other regions, which obviously conflicted with Deng Ming's vision of the future, and was not conducive to transforming these captives into his own people, although he did not have to treat them as his own immediately, but he did not intend to treat them as enemies forever.

Liu Jinge has always thought about problems straightforwardly, and rarely can come up with such a plan with a beginning and an end, Deng Ming knows that Liu Jinge has obviously used a lot of brains this time, so he must also pay attention to language and attitude, and cannot dispel the other party's positivity. When he was pondering how to euphemistically reject Liu Jinge's proposal, Deng Ming heard that Liu Jinge had a following.

"Therefore, the lowly post Jianyì gives these prisoners of war a reputation that is close to that of Xiucai," to Deng Ming's surprise, Liu Jinge actually considered it quite thoughtfully: "Now they can use limited corporal punishment, and they can't be allowed to act casually, lest they find an opportunity to escape or find out our information." But this merit can be changed to be like Xiucai at some time in the future, such as a year later, or if they have made enough merit, that is, if they have been proven to be reliable people. When they become like Xiucai, they will be eligible to be replaced by newly captured captives, and they will no longer be military households. ”

"Wait, wait." Deng Ming raised his hand to interrupt Liu Jinge's speech, and asked with a puzzled expression: "Is this all what you came up with?" ”

Liu Jinge's face turned red: "Mr. Mingjian, yesterday Xiong Guerrilla happened to be a guest at the lowly position, and when he saw the lowly position, he asked what troubles the lowly position had, these are all ideas that Xiong Guerrilla came up with with to help the lowly position." ”

"This guy." Deng Ming snorted.

"This is all a lowly and lax tone, not a fault of Xiong's guerrilla." Liu Jinge saw that Deng Ming's face was not good, and hurriedly defended Xiong Lan. Although he looked down on Xiong Lan's background before, and even more despised Xiong Lan's personality, Xiong Lan's appearance in Chengdu this time made Liu Jinge look at him with admiration: "And Xiong Guerrilla said that he would definitely not leak it out." ”

"He? Of course he doesn't leak out, he's a lot more cautious than you. Deng Ming laughed when he heard this: "He must have seen me even rì convene you to discuss the matter, guessing what difficult problems we might have, and after weighing it, he thinks that you have a good relationship with him, and he is most sure of hearing the news, so he will find an excuse to come to you and ask questions, and then borrow your mouth to tell me." ”

Liu Jinge was full of surprise when he heard this: "Won't it?" Xiong Guerrilla also made a special note to the lowly officer, saying that he must not sue Mr. Sù that these were his ideas. ”

"Haha," Deng Ming laughed: "I said that I can't leak it, you can sue him, so how can you keep it secret for him what he told you?" ”

After laughing, Deng Ming asked a soldier from the Yamen to find Xiong Lan, and said to Liu Jinge: "Brother Liu, not everyone in the world tells you the truth like Ling Zun, especially people like Xiong Guerrilla, who have been struggling to survive in a difficult environment for many years, and most of his words have a purpose. ”

Speaking of this, Deng Ming sighed softly. It has been more than a year since he traveled to this era, and Deng Ming feels that his scheming has increased a lot, but fortunately, he has read some psychoanalysis books in the past and has been exposed to the rich information of film and television media, so that he can gradually grow up in the complex world in front of him.

Soon, Xiong Lan happily followed the soldiers of the Yamen.

Xiong Lanjian, in addition to exchanging the newly captured 5,000 people for the auxiliaries in Liu Yao's hands, also asked Di Sanxi to take away the 2,000 soldiers from the Ganshaanlu Green Battalion: "These people are all killing people for their business, and they may not be willing to let them stay and work hard to farm the land, and there are too many of them." This time, because of the lack of food and clothing, the admiral took them without much effort, but they must not be taken lightly, if the Tartars attack the capital again in the future, there may be some people with evil intentions among the two thousand. ”

Xiong Lan originally thought that it would be the easiest to kill them all, once and for all, and there was no need to waste food on these people. However, after talking with Liu Jinge, Xiong Lan changed this opinion. Liu Jinge also relayed Deng Ming's sentence "zhèngfǔ's most important duty is to make money" to Xiong Lan, which touched Xiong Lan greatly.

"If these two thousand people are incorporated into Liu Shuai's army, I am afraid that it will be more dangerous, they can usually connect with each other, and they also have access to weapons, so that the Admiral can really sleep at night? Therefore, in the view of despicability, it is better to simply send them all to Jianchang. Now that Jianchang and King Jin border, they have nowhere to run even if they want to. Besides, there are many people in Jianchang, and two thousand captives are nothing. The Tartars were too far away to attack Jianchang, and they had no chance to make trouble. ”

"I can use this batch of people to come back from Jianchang for another batch of people." Deng Ming asked.

"Admiral Takami. These captives are all soldiers, they are strong, and even when they are coolies, they are better than ordinary people, and Jianchang must be willing to change them. Besides, the Admiral can exchange three for two, or four for three. Why not exchange unreliable captives for a people who are grateful to the Admiral? The Admiral can also ask for an IOU of 5,000 yuan from each ordinary person, and even if he can exchange it for 1,000 people, it is still an IOU of 5 million yuan. ”

Last year, only 38,000 stone was collected for the protection fee near Chengdu, which was less than 4 million yuan when converted into IOUs. Xiong Lan said: "After exchanging 5,000 auxiliary soldiers from Liu Shuai, maybe you can ask them to pay some ransom fees, from the status of a military household to a common people, it is not too much to ask for an IOU of a few thousand yuan, right?" ”

"No, zhèngfǔ has to earn money, but some money is better not to earn." Deng Ming immediately shook his head and said: "I will help the people redeem people from Jianchang, and there is no problem with this IOU." But for the local auxiliaries, it is better to let them remember our benefits than to ask for money to redeem them. ”

"What the Admiral said is that he is confused." Xiong Lan hurriedly apologized.

"There's also the issue of military cantonment." Deng Ming continued to ask: "I don't want to continue to run a military camp, do you have any thoughts on this?" ”

If Ren Tang and Liu Yao were here, maybe they would wonder how Deng Ming regarded the ancestral system as nothing, but Xiong Lan obviously didn't take Zhu Yuanzhang's military policy to heart at all: "As long as the commander changes the cantonment to recruitment, won't it be solved?" ”

Deng Ming shook his head, he had also analyzed this method: "Each soldier needs one stone ration per month, even if half of it is given to him, it will cost half a stone." The military salary is at least 50 yuan for the IOU, and Liu Shuai's soldiers add up to almost 10,000 yuan, which is 500,000 a month, and the IOU alone is 6 million a year! ”

At present, there is no credit in the IOU, and it is estimated that the soldier will be dissatisfied with the military salary of 50 yuan a month. In addition, there are training expenses and weapons costs, which add up to absolutely astronomical amounts. In this way, it will not be long before there will be evil inflation and the IOUs will become worthless.

"It's not real money anyway." Xiong Lan didn't quite understand Deng Ming's thoughts: "The admiral can pay a salary." ”

"What is a payroll?" Deng Ming asked.

"For example, if you collect a mining tax, because you don't know how much the mine can produce, you just set a number, and after you pay enough, you can just mine it." Xiong Lan explained.

"Well, this is a tax package, I understand."

"After recruitment, in order to ask for more salary, the general will definitely falsely report the number of people, and the admiral can set a salary figure, and then press the person's hair. For example, let's set 6,000 people, there is no military cantonment, and the auxiliaries cannot be used to produce food; Military salaries are also fixed, and it costs more to feed the soldiers, so that raising auxiliaries is not only useless but will cost more, and the generals will take the initiative to let people out to farm. Xiong Lan felt that there could be more IOUs issued to the army, and there was no need to worry about it, anyway, the army was going to exchange this thing for something in the hands of the people.

"Anyway, don't talk about it again." In this era, those who don't know about treasure money are okay, but those who know a little bit about treasure money, in their impression, paper money is used to cheat money, and they can last as long as they can, and if they can't hold on, they will stare at each other, and they will turn their faces and deny it. Deng Ming could understand Xiong Lan's thoughts, but he absolutely couldn't agree.

Before coming to meet Deng Ming, Xiong Lan always thought that Deng Ming would not refuse to use paper money to cheat money, and would not care about the credit problem of paper money in a few years, and several of his suggestions were also based on this preset premise. Now that this assumption is not true, Xiong Lan has to think again.