Among the various military horses that Deng Ming had seen, the Fujian army led by Zheng Chenggong was the best equipped, and the 30,000 combat soldiers all had good battle armor. Not to mention the Iron Army, even the rest of the soldiers can be equipped with half-body scale armor and iron skirts, with a large number of bows and arrows and firearms, and a large number of artillery.

Compared with Zheng Chenggong, most of the Yudong army is similar to Huazi, relying on trading with Zhang Changgeng, and now the department of Li Laiheng in Yudong has improved greatly, and the elite troops are equipped with a lot of armor, metal weapons and warm clothes. However, the quality of armor and weapons still cannot be compared with that of the Fujian army, and the artillery is even rarer.

The last time he saw Zhang Huangyan's Zhejiang army, Deng Ming felt that the Zhoushan army was almost as poor as the Yudong army, and what was worse was the extreme lack of qualified soldiers - not just officers. Therefore, at the time of the breakup, Deng Ming gave most of the capture to Zhang Huangyan on the grounds that the Zhejiang army had participated in all the battles under the city of Nanjing. After meeting again in Zhenjiang this time, Deng Ming found that Zhang Huangyan's troops were still very poor, and after breaking up with Deng Ming last time, relying on the blasting technology and equipment taught by Deng Ming, Zhang Huangyan broke several prefectures and county towns around Ningbo, and obtained some seizures, but these materials were quickly consumed due to the influx of large numbers of people into Zhoushan.

Ma Fengzhi's elite lost more than half of it when attacking Hangzhou, and later lost a lot when it was pursued by Dasu, and when he fled to Zhoushan, it was already a big loss of strength. In addition to the people brought by Ma Fengzhi, there were also a large number of volunteers who arrived in Zhoushan - the first battle of Nanjing also gave a lot of encouragement to the people in the surrounding provinces, and many people who were already discouraged and disappointed rekindled their hopes and took advantage of the collapse of the Jiangnan Navy Division and the southward transfer of the Shandong Navy Division to Zhoushan.

These volunteers did not have any weapons and equipment, and they had no training, but they had to eat, and Zhang Huangyan's main work in recent months was no different from that of previous years, which was to solve the problem of food for the Zhoushan army.

Yesterday, after discussing the situation in Xiamen, the king of Yanping County, Deng Ming asked about the current situation in Zhoushan, and Zhang Huangyan clearly told Deng Ming that he hoped that Deng Ming would provide him with some military rations. If it weren't for Deng Ming's call this time, Zhang Huangyan would not have sent an army to enter the Yangtze River again, after all, this kind of military action would consume a lot of grain and grass. Although at the last Nanjing Conference, Deng Ming asked Zhang Huangyan to harass the southeast from time to time, and the latter agreed, but the Zhoushan army was actually unable to complete this task, and Zhang Huangyan's shoulders were almost crushed by the heavy logistical burden.

"How much food does Zhang Shangshu need?" Deng Ming didn't expect to see him for a few months, Zhang Huangyan's Zhoushan Army was about to return to the old road, his Sichuan was only worried about few people, but Zhang Huangyan couldn't feed tens of thousands of mouths. The only thing that can comfort Deng Ming is that the Zhoushan Army has 5,000 troops with both equipment and combat experience, and after Li Laiheng's short-term training, plus Ma Fengzhi's old army, it can be regarded as having a certain ability to conquer cities and territories alone.

"We brought 30,000 people, Admiral Deng gave us 30,000 stone of food, our province can eat for two months, the army goes out, we can't let the soldiers starve."

"Thirty thousand?" Zhang Huangyan's request surprised Deng Ming, if he directly purchased from the gentry in the Jiangnan area, 30,000 stone of rice and white flour would cost about 25,000 silver.

"Well, I also know that Admiral Deng's food is also limited, but our army is really in difficulty." Zhang Huangyan brought 20,000 stone of military rations with him on this expedition, and if Deng Ming gave him another 30,000 stones, then even if the war lasted for two months, he could basically feed the soldiers.

"I can immediately give Zhang Shangshu and Admiral Ma 50,000 stone of rice and white flour, and give you the same amount of grain in half a month." Deng Ming had already earned millions of taels of silver by traveling along the way, and now the fine grain on the ship was far more than 50,000 stones. This is still because there is no profit in making grain voices in Jiangnan, so Deng Ming did not buy a large number of them, but just wanted to vacate the cabin to load those local products that can make a larger profit: "After a while, Shangshu can send someone to my ship to move away." ”

Deng Ming's boldness made Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi stunned for a while.

Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but ask: "Is Admiral Deng bringing grain from Sichuan?" Do you have enough to eat? ”

"Of course not, it's all grain here in Jiangnan." Deng Ming saw Zhang Huangyan's face change slightly, and hurriedly explained: "Zhang Shangshu, don't worry, I bought all this grain with money. ”

"I don't think I've ever seen Admiral Deng short of money." Zhang Huangyan was really a little worried just now, because he had heard Deng Ming say that he had not broken a few cities along the way, as if he had a city in Jiujiang in Jiangxi, and a Jiujiang treasury was definitely not enough for tens of thousands of Sichuan troops to eat for so long: "Admiral Deng's money...... Is it to which Tartar official was sold what city? ”

"Zhang Shangshu is like a god." Deng Ming stroked his palms and laughed, he did not hide anything from Zhang Huangyan, and told the other party about the matter of Jiujiang, Jiangxi: "...... The porcelain in Jiangxi was worth 500,000 yuan, and I only sold it in Nanjing and Wuchang, and I got 500,000 taels of ......."

There are other local products along the way, plus the contributions of Qing court officials in various places, Deng Ming's wallet is very bulging.

Zhang Huangyan cared for the people and strictly forbade soldiers to plunder; And Ma Fengzhi has never been self-financed, he has always eaten military salaries when he was in the Qing court, and he is used to the days of opening his mouth for food, and his ability to manage the territory is not as good as Zhang Huangyan. The Zhoushan Army has such two leaders, and it is naturally destitute.

"What do we have to sell in Zhoushan?" Ma Fengzhi was fascinated when he heard this, and immediately started the idea of Zhoushan's local products: "Salted fish? There is also cuttlefish, cuttlefish roe, which can also be sold if pickled. ”

"I'm already selling," Zhang Huangyan glared at Ma Fengzhi, and there was nothing left for Zhoushan to smuggle to the mainland, except for salted fish and cuttlefish: "How much can this thing be worth?" Coarse grains can't be exchanged for much. ”

"Ugh." Ma Fengzhi sighed, and became depressed again, he was a martial artist and was not good at doing business at all.

"Salted fish is really worthless, it will stink if you put less salt, and salt, there are not so many people in Zhoushan who make salt by hand, right?" Deng Ming remembered that Zhang Huangyan said that Zhoushan only has boiling salt, and the output is very small, which is basically enough for his own use: "I have already thought about it, and the porcelain from Jiangxi will be distributed to you half." ”

Hearing that Deng Ming was going to give him half of the porcelain, Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi were shocked, and Deng Ming smiled and popularized a little business experience for them: "Don't sell here, otherwise we will sell so much at once, and the price will come down." This half of porcelain is only worth 250,000 taels in Jiangxi, but it is slowly sold in Jiangnan and is worth at least 500,000 or 600,000 yuan. Do you know who to sell to? ”

"Who?" Deng Mingcai sold Guanzi, and Ma Fengzhi immediately asked.

"The King of Yanping." Deng Ming pointed to the southwest direction: "Sell the king of Yanping County for 800,000 taels, maybe he will be willing, he will sell it to the Japanese and Westerners, and the profit may be greater than ours." ”

"Really?" Ma Fengzhi's eyes lit up: "Then why don't we sell it directly to the widow and the red hair?" ”

"Because we don't know who to sell to, does Admiral know the Japanese and Western merchants who bought porcelain?"

Ma Fengzhi was silent.

"How can you take so many things from Admiral Deng?" Zhang Huangyan was a little embarrassed.

"In the same boat, Zhang Shangshu doesn't have to be polite." Deng Ming told Zhang Huang that there was no need to be polite, if the Zhoushan Army was strong, it would also play a good role in echoing the Sichuan Army and the Yudong Army in the upper reaches.

"Thank you so much, Admiral Deng." Zhang Huangyan did not refrain repeatedly, the Zhoushan army urgently needed a large amount of money to solve the urgent need, because of the shortage of materials, Zhang Huangyan mobilized the whole Zhoushan people to engage in production, after the battle of Nanjing, Zhang Huangyan also wanted to promote the military skills taught by Li Laiheng. But all the training programs could not be carried out because of the need to consume food, and there was no way to train volunteers in Zhoushan before, and it still can't.

"This is not a one-shot deal, I have already agreed with the people of Jiangxi, and I will ...... in the future" Deng Ming originally wanted to say that in the future, half of the porcelain purchased and sold in Jiangxi would be handed over to the Zhoushan Army, but when the words came to his lips, Deng Ming suddenly remembered that he had just reached an agreement with Zhang Huangyan to cut off the Cao Yun with all his might.

Zhang Huangyan saw that Deng Ming wanted to speak and stopped, and after waiting for a few seconds, he saw that the other party still didn't continue, so he took the initiative to ask: "Is there anything embarrassing about Admiral Deng?" ”

"I didn't want to tear my face with the Governor of Caoyun and the Governor of Jiangning, I planned to follow Jiangxi's method and knock out some silver from them to subsidize the military when we couldn't control Jiangnan, but now this plan may not work......" Unconsciously Deng Ming told his original plan, and he originally planned to hide it from Zhang Huangyan in case the other party got angry. After talking for a while, Deng Ming suddenly realized that he had lost his words, and confided out the abacus that violated the incompatibility between the Han and the thief: "But when we attack Caoyun, it will be regarded as stepping on the tail of the governor of Caoyun and the governor of Jiangning, and they have to jump." ”

"I think Admiral Deng's original plan is very good," Zhang Huangyan didn't seem to mind that Deng Ming had asked him to send troops in the name of cutting off Cao Yun, but tried his best to speak for Deng Ming's original plan: "Half of Jiangxi's porcelain will be transported to Wuchang and Nanjing to be sold, and the remaining half will be sold to the king of Yanping County. ”

"Does Zhang Shangshu think so?" Deng Ming asked with some surprise: "But I think that if we attack Cao Yun, the Nayu Court will inevitably send troops and horses from the southwest to rescue us, which will be helpful to the King of Jin." It would be best if the court transferred Wu Sangui back to Jiangnan, even if Wu Sangui was not transferred, it would further reduce the food and salary given to him, which would be a great help to the King of Jin. ”

"Oh, Admiral Deng said so......" Zhang Huangyan frowned and thought for a while, and then spoke: "It's better like this, half of the goods sold to Yanping are sold by me on behalf of the King of Jin, and the silver obtained can be sent back to the upstream, and you can buy grain and pig iron in Huguang, and then transport it to the King of Jin by Admiral Deng, which should also be of great help to the King of Jin, right?" ”

"Hmm......" Deng Ming's attitude was not very resolute, and in his heart he also regretted that he could not continue to operate the trade on this golden waterway, Zhang Huangyan's persuasion made Deng Ming hesitate again, and began to consider whether it was better for Li Dingguo to attract the attention of the Qing court, or to give him some supplies - and Deng Ming's feelings made him lean towards the latter more favorable.

"I don't know!"

When Deng Ming was noncommittal, Ma Fengzhi suddenly shouted.

"Huh? Don't recognize what? Zhang Huangyan and Deng Ming were both shocked by Ma Fengzhi, and they asked in unison.

"I don't know the widow or the red-haired merchant." Ma Fengzhi replied regretfully, when Deng Ming and Zhang Huangyan were talking just now, Ma Fengzhi carefully combed through his friends, subordinates, acquaintances, and people who had a relationship, and regrettably found that he could not have anything to do with Japanese or Westerners no matter what.

……

The next day, when Deng Ming learned that the envoy of the governor of Caoyun had arrived, he asked the guards to bring the people in.

"On the orders of Governor Lin, I will meet the Admiral." When the envoy saw Deng Ming, he saluted in a proper manner, as if he was visiting a high-ranking official of the Qing court.

Lin Qilong, the current governor of Caoyun, was a lifter of the Ming Dynasty and a lifter of the Qing Dynasty. When he took office as the governor of Caoyun, he committed suicide by throwing himself into the water after Zheng Chenggong's victory in Zhenjiang, and the Qing court wanted to use Cai Shiying, the former governor of Caoyun, once again to use Cai Shiying, the former governor of Caoyun, after learning that Zheng Chenggong was defeated in Nanjing, Cai Shiying once also had the intention of taking office. But within a few days, Deng Ming defeated Lang Tingzuo in Nanjing, and seeing that Nanjing was about to be unsafe, Cai Shiying was worried that he would die in office, so he resigned from his appointment on the grounds that he was old and infirm and incompetent for heavy military affairs.

The position of the governor of Caoyun was idle until Deng Ming retired from the army, Jiangnan was restored to calm, and Lin Qilong happily came to take office, who would have thought that he would be in danger of martyrdom.

After Liang Huafeng led the reinforcements to Yangzhou, he tried his best to render Deng Ming's strength and invincibility to Lin Qilong, and was bent on completing the task assigned by Jiang Guozhu, wanting to drag Lin Qilong into the water, so as not to be accused of Tongdeng by the governor of Caoyun in the future. And Lin Qilong is also very willing to be dragged into the water by him, the local officials of the Taiping Mansion have set a good example for Lin Qilong - Zhu Guozhi, who fought with Deng Ming, was wiped out, and now he still knows whether he is alive or dead, and those officials who are through Deng are all alive and well, if it weren't for their own stupidity, Lin Qilong would not know what they were doing. And Lin Qilong is now half of the thief ship, he detained the reports of some officials, if this is stabbed by Jiang Guozhu, although it may not be as strict as Tong Deng, but a person who is not loyal enough to the emperor still can't escape.

Lin Qilong, who was already hesitant and wavering, was frightened by Liang Huafeng for several days, and after Liang Huafeng, who felt that the heat was about the same, began to hint that he could trade with Deng Ming, Lin Qilong agreed without hesitating for too long. Today, the person sent by the governor of Caoyun is one of his most trusted standard camp guards, and last time he went to Nanjing to carry out the negotiation work with Jiang Guozhu, and this time Lin Qilong sent him to Zhenjiang again.

It is also convenient to go from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang, and it is also possible to cross the Yangtze River, and the channels for information exchange are very smooth, and Deng Ming feels that with such convenient conditions, the two sides should be able to reach a consensus quickly.

Deng Ming also knew that Lin Qilong's envoy was just here to ask for directions today, and he had no right to agree to any conditions, so Deng Ming didn't talk nonsense with him, and directly listed his terms.

"During the period when Governor Lin was in charge of Cao Yun, I could not take the initiative to attack Cao Yun, as long as Governor Lin paid the toll for the Cao boat—it was very cheap, and I would charge a tax of one or two silver for every hundred stone of grain, very cheap, right? I will not attack or intercept the boats. Although Deng Ming wanted to take advantage of Lin Qilong's ignorance to charge him another sum of money, but after careful consideration, Deng Ming felt that people could not stand without trust, and if they were discovered, it would damage their reputation: "Huguang and Jiangxi's boats do not need to pay tolls for the time being, and if they need to be charged in the future, I will inform Governor Lin in advance." ”

Deng Ming did not explain why the boats in these two provinces were so favored, and let Lin Qilong figure it out for himself.

"While I exercise restraint and refrain from attacking Caoyun, Governor Lin is not allowed to propose to Beijing to rebuild Susong and Jiangxi sailors; If there are other people who have similar opinions, Governor Lim should find reasons to object. Deng Ming did not mention the issue of the right of the Ming army on the Yangtze River, and he will talk about it in the future, so as not to be said by the other party to have an urgent demand for this: "In order to show his sincerity, Governor Caoyun proved to me that this meeting was not to delay time, and I think Governor Lin should make an expression to our army." The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming, let's bring us 100,000 stone of grain, the rice is the same as half of the white flour, this bit of grain is not difficult for Governor Lin, right? ”

Since the Wuchang Ye Tianming incident, Deng Ming has been paying attention to improving the quality of the army's diet, after entering Jiangxi, Deng Ming's food expenses allocated to the army have been increasing, and now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is imminent, Deng Ming plans to provide high-quality holiday meals to the soldiers.

……

Zheng Yaojun and a few colleagues were holding rice bowls, waiting to get today's meal, just now he looked around and knew that he would provide lo and noodles today.

After leaving Wuchang, the food in the army became better and better, and after arriving in Jiujiang, the Ming army provided white noodles to the troops for the first time. In the past, only on happy occasions or festivals, pure white noodles were eaten. When he heard that there was enough white noodles to eat, Zheng Yaojun remembered that he and his comrades all let out screams of happiness and disbelief, and then found the biggest guy to line up - although the high-level said that there was enough white noodles, everyone was still worried, for fear of being led by others.

Especially when all the people went with the big guys, the soldiers of the Ming army felt that they were too bad to take the bowls, that time Zheng Yaojun was carrying the washbasin to line up, and the comrades around him also carried wooden basins and barrels, and each of them walked with at least two catties of white noodles.

Zheng Yaojun may have asked for more, he couldn't sleep that night, so he took a handbag to do sanitation in front of the camp - not only him, many Ming army comrades spontaneously worked, and they really couldn't sleep - there was a brother of the standing army, after eating a basin, he went to line up again to receive it, that guy didn't sleep all night, and swept the ground at the camp gate all night.

After a few experiences, Zheng Yaojun will no longer be so unproductive, and now the Sichuan army knows that whether you make a basin or a bucket of noodles, you will scoop a spoonful of marinade. There is frangipani, minced meat, vegetables and soy sauce in the marinade. Zheng Yaojun took the rice bowl in his hand, and had already made up his mind in his heart: for a while, he would ask the master who served the noodles to make half a bowl of noodles, and then let the master who made the marinade scoop a full spoonful of the marinade, and then go to the queue after eating this bowl - although he had to queue up several times, he could eat several bowls of marinade, which was much more cost-effective than carrying a basin to eat.

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming," the Mid-Autumn Festival is second only to the Spring Festival is an important day, and it has always been necessary to treat the soldiers well, when they were in Zhoushan and Zhang Shangshu in the past, no matter how hard they usually lived, Zhang Shangshu also had to make something delicious to make the soldiers happy. Zheng Yaojun pondered, Deng Ming would not violate this convention, and would definitely take out much better food than usual for the soldiers to enjoy during the Mid-Autumn Festival: "It's twelve today, I must not eat bad stomach, there will definitely be fish and meat in the Mid-Autumn Festival, right?" I'm going to have to save some energy. ”

"Ah, yes, yes, it's white noodles."

The far-sighted Zheng Yaojun was thinking about the Mid-Autumn Festival, and suddenly there was a surprise cry behind him, which he felt a little familiar with, and he turned around and saw a few Zhoushan soldiers with happy faces, shouting at the masters who were in charge of serving the meal.

Yesterday, Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi informed the entire army in Zhoushan that they would fully cooperate with the Sichuan army, and Deng Ming would be fully responsible for the food in the future. The way of eating in the Sichuan army is different from the tradition, instead of a group of soldiers eating around a bonfire, there is a special team of men responsible for the food of the whole army, providing food to the whole army three times a day, and many rows of tables will be set up for the soldiers to line up to receive it. After hearing that they would be able to eat three meals a day in the future, the morale of the Zhoushan army was high, and they shouted long live.

After completing the joint camp at noon today, dinner was the first meal they had in the Sichuan military camp.

One of them, Zheng Yaojun, also knew Li Tianyuan, who had spoken several times in the past when he was in the Zhoushan army. After the last setback in Nanjing, Zheng Yaojun took his family from Huzhou to Anqing, and then went to Sichuan; And Li Tianyuan was one of the 4,000 people who followed Ren Tang to try to return to Zhoushan. Zheng Yaojun didn't think Li Tianyuan had anything special, but later heard that Li Tianyuan had made great contributions under the city of Nanjing, and single-handedly captured Lang Tingzuo who tried to escape.

Zheng Yaojun was about to say hello, but several Zhoushan soldiers who had come to inquire about the food level of the Sichuan army suddenly turned around together, shook off and strode towards their barracks.

Several waves of Zhoushan soldiers who inquired about the truth arrived, and their reaction was similar to that of Li Tianyuan's others, first letting out a cheer of surprise, and then running back to their camp without looking back.

After serving half a bowl of noodles and scooping a spoonful of marinade, Zheng Yaojun walked over, quickly ate the food, and then lined up in the line again.

"The next bowl can be chewed and swallowed slowly." Zheng Yaojun thought so in his heart.

At this time, there was a burst of hearty laughter behind him, as well as excited discussions, and Zheng Yaojun seemed to hear Li Tianyun's loud voice. Zheng Yaojun turned around, and sure enough, he arrived at Li Tianyuan, who was striding forward, carrying a huge wooden basin under his arm. Around Li Tianyuan, the other Zhoushan soldiers were also holding their own wooden basins, and Zheng Yaojun also went to a burly Zhoushan soldier with a bucket on each shoulder, and one on his arms to support one.