Zhou Peigong and the Sichuan bankers rushed to Nanjing, and when he arrived at the Yamen of the Governor of Liangjiang, Yu Youming and others had already gone to the post station to rest, and the servants in the back house all had ugly faces, and when they were still far away from the study, Zhou Peigong heard someone roaring loudly inside. There were only two people in the study, Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng, after the Sichuan people left, Jiang Guozhu lost control again, smashed the furnishings all the way, and swore that Liang Huafeng would regret it sooner or later.

Facing the angry Governor of Liangjiang, Liang Huafeng didn't know how to comfort him, and after seeing Zhou Peigong, the Governor of Jiangnan also smiled bitterly: "In the past two years, I have been exempt from taxes, and I have been swept away by Deng Ming." ”

Although the imperial court exempted some taxes in the south of the Yangtze River, Jiang Guozhu did not copy them meticulously, and he told the imperial court that the Sichuan army passed through thousands of miles of red land, and the people were not able to make a living, and collecting taxes again would provoke a civil uprising; But Jiang Guozhu knew that in fact it was far from this point, not only could he continue to collect taxes, but the people along the way also made a lot of money doing business with the Ming army. As a result, Chiang only cut his taxes by about half, which not only gave some benefits to the lower profits, but also helped to restore Jiangnan's economy. These withheld agricultural taxes, coupled with a large amount of commercial taxes levied, allowed the Yamen, the governor of Liangjiang, to save some belongings.

"Stop!" Jiang Guozhu shouted loudly, in addition to these taxes, the Liangjiang Governor Yamen can also get a dividend from the Yamen of Prime Minister Deng, last year he helped the Ming army to carry the people, and provided materials to the Ming army so that the Yamen of Prime Minister Deng also made a lot of money, and the boat in the past six months has also earned a lot of income, but this time Deng Ming is almost a Jiang Guozhu came to a pot.

"Your Excellency the Governor is angry," Zhou Peigong hurriedly helped to persuade him, in Huguang and Jiangxi, the suppression of Prime Minister Deng's yamen has always played the role of a lubricant, and Zhou Peigong himself has written many letters to Zhang Changgeng and others, advising them to endure their anger for a while and not to act recklessly; At the same time, Prime Minister Deng Yamen also promptly told Huguang the mentality of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight in Liangjiang, or leaked Huguang's idea of wanting to reap the benefits of fishermen to the Liangjiang side: "Leave the green mountains without worrying about no firewood, Deng Ming has tens of thousands of armor this time, and he can only outwit him." ”

"Well, how could this Governor not know." Jiang Guozhu knew very well that there was no reliable alliance around him, and he could only cheapen others by relying on the strength of Jiangnan to fight hard with Deng Ming, and most of them would ruin his own family. Jiang Guozhu slowed down and praised Zhou Peigong again: "You did a good job this time." ”

Although Zhou Peigong was not able to persuade Deng Ming to return to the division, Zhou Peigong has been providing information from the upstream to the Yamen, the prime minister of Liangjiang, so that Jiang Guozhu was not confused by Zhang Changgeng, and he also clearly knew that the Jiangnan prefectures and counties in the upper reaches had also compromised.

After Liang Huafeng and Zhou Peigong worked together to appease Jiang Guozhu, the former took his leave and left, and Jiang Guozhu then asked Deng Ming if he had blackmailed Prime Minister Deng's yamen again.

"Exactly, but the lower officials argued with reason, and in the end Deng Ming agreed to suppress the profits of Premier Deng's yamen in the future, and only need to take out 20% to buy its bonds." Zhou Peigong hurriedly expressed his merits to Jiang Guozhu: "And Deng Ming also agreed, in the future, we can use his IOU to buy goods, or use it to pay for profits." ”

Seeing that Zhou Peigong had made such great diplomatic progress, Jiang Guozhu sighed lightly: "In this way, this IOU is not completely waste paper. ”

"It's not waste paper, but what is really useful is the IOU that was paid back to us at the end, and the bonds still can't be used to buy goods, or to pay him off profits." Zhou Peigong carefully introduced the difference between several types of IOUs to Jiang Guozhu: "Generally speaking, it is just to put the money in Deng Ming's place for a year, and he also wants to settle down with peace of mind, afraid that we will take advantage of Zheng Chenggong's death to besiege him." ”

"I hope so." Hearing that the money still has a chance to come back, Jiang Guozhu felt a little more comfortable when he had hope in his heart, and the idea of fighting a fish to die and breaking the net was even more faint: "I just don't know if Deng Ming will break his promise again in a year." ”

"This will definitely not, in the final analysis, this time we are too impatient, the four provinces are not ready, they began to attack Zhang Huangyan, gave Deng Ming's truth, and forced him to be mad and desperate. If we are more careful and steady, our four provinces will still be much stronger than him, and besides, we also have a court behind us, and we can't deal with Deng Ming with all our might. Zhou Peigong pointed out that as long as the four southeastern provinces are sincere and united, and everyone has the strength to work together, then Deng Ming is not an opponent at all: "Besides, he sold the bonds to so many people this time, if he dares to break his promise, Wuchang and Nanchang will definitely not be able to give up with him, Deng Ming promises, as long as we don't give him an excuse, he can't break his promise." Xia Guan still feels that as long as our four provinces are united, then no one can bully us. ”

"It's easier said than done." Jiang Guozhu sighed: "Nanchang and Wuchangzhi are not as good as this, if they are willing to fully support the governor, then Deng Mingxiao'er and the Beijing Imperial Court, what are they afraid of?" ”

Zhou Peigong has been actively expressing loyalty to Jiang Guozhu, saying that the other party was the first official to give him real power, and his kindness was far above that of other governors, and he also opened the middle gate of the governor's yamen for him. Zhou Peigong also said this to Zhang Chao, but the reason was changed to that the latter was the first person to give him the title of political envoy, so that he could be among the top officials; When he saw Zhang Changgeng, Zhou Peigong also repeatedly thanked the other party for promoting him from a white body to an official; And Lin Qilong is more difficult to do, and Zhou Peigong can only go all out to shoot the horse.

This kind of double-faced and three-knife Zhou Peigong is not worried about being exposed, because these guys have their own ghosts, and they have all discussed plans with themselves that are unfavorable to others; The profits of the Yamen of Premier Deng are also becoming more and more considerable, and the governors want to eat more and occupy more, and they unanimously ask Zhou Peigong to inspect Zhoushan for falsifying accounts, while also implying that Zhou Peigong is making false accounts to others. Now there are six or seven sets of versions of the account book in Zhou Peigong's hand, some for Zhoushan to see, some for several governors to see together, some for the governors to see separately, and one set for Deng Ming.

"This time, when Deng Ming asked Xia Guan to use the total profits to buy his public bonds, Xia Guan kept an eye on him and signed a secret contract with him."

"Secret covenant? What secret covenant? Jiang Guozhu came as soon as he heard the interest.

"In exchange for buying public bonds, Deng Ming agreed to sell us warships, weapons, and help us train our troops." Zhou Peigong pointed out that the training level and combat effectiveness of the Sichuan army far surpassed that of the green battalion, so it was necessary to learn advanced military technology from the Sichuan army, and since this army had paid Deng Ming, he had no reason to ask for the disbandment of the commander-in-chief: "Doesn't the governor still understand the matter? Deng Ming is a money fan, as long as he has money to earn, he will be willing to take risks. If Deng Ming can't get a penny, then he will forbid us to rebuild the water division for his own safety, but as long as he can get the money, he will make concessions out of greed. We can slowly build up our strength. ”

Zhou Peigong told Jiang Guozhu that when he first made this request, Deng Ming was already a little hesitant, but he couldn't resist Zhou Peigong's temptation, and warned him that if the southeast did not have the ability to protect itself, then the Manchu Qing Dynasty could make Deng Ming go back to four years ago overnight. In the end, Zhou Peigong persuaded Deng Ming with rigorous analysis, and he agreed to provide necessary support to the Yamen of Prime Minister Deng.

"My brother is really the best among people." Hearing that Zhou Peigong bought such a small amount of bonds, he could get back so many things from Deng Ming, Jiang Guozhu was secretly ashamed, Zhou Peigong really deserved to be an "expert on Deng Ming's problem", and he did things more than a hundred times more beautiful than others. Moreover, Jiang Guozhu also immediately realized that once this army was formed, it would be a four-province coalition army, and as long as this army was mastered, there would be no need to worry about Wuchang and Nanchang dragging their feet indefinitely, and even force Wuchang and Nanchang to adopt the same pace as Nanjing.

The only thing that worries Jiang Guozhu is whether Deng Ming will infiltrate this army, after all, in order to persuade Deng Ming, Zhou Peigong promised that all the weapons of this army would be purchased from Deng Ming, and he also paid Deng Ming to let Sichuan provide military instructors for the Yangtze River Suppression Brigade.

"The lower officials are not very sure about this, the adults know that the lower officials are not familiar with military affairs, maybe they will be deceived by Deng Ming, but they will raise the army for him." Regarding Jiang Guozhu's worries, Zhou Peigong applauded loudly: "So Xiaguan and Deng Ming said that we can ask for the implementation of this secret agreement, or we may not ask for the implementation." It was because the lower officials did not consider the pros and cons that they did not consider it well, so they asked the adults to decide. ”

"Hmm." Jiang Guozhu pondered for a moment and said categorically: "You can't be afraid of wolves and tigers before doing things, since my brother has worked hard to get such a condition, and we have also bought Deng Ming's bonds for this, then we have to do things." You said that we were the ones who paid the military salary, right? ”

"Yes."

"Then build it!" Jiang Guozhu's voice became calm and powerful: "We need this army to unite the forces of the four provinces, and we also need it to fight against Deng Ming and the imperial court. ”

"Yes, the subordinate thinks that it is best to let Admiral Liang manage this army." Zhou Peigong once again stressed that he did not understand military affairs.

"No, this will make the imperial court pay too much attention, and they will wonder why I will let a general like Admiral Liang take care of a team of officials on the water, and it will attract the attention of those who have a heart; It will also make Deng Ming doubly vigilant, and more importantly, Wuchang and Nanchang may not be willing to allocate funds to the general brigade. Jiang Guozhu immediately decided: "The Yamen of Prime Minister Deng will select officers to take charge of this army." ”

"But in this way, the corps is not in the hands of adults," Zhou Peigong still objected: "But it is completely controlled in the hands of Prime Minister Deng's yamen." ”

"But you control and suppress Prime Minister Deng's yamen, don't you?" Jiang Guozhu asked rhetorically.

Zhou Peigong hesitated for a while, and suddenly fell to the ground: "Your Excellency Governor, the power of the subordinate officials is not small, and I can't meet with the adults every day, I am afraid that there will be a mouth behind my back to hurt people." ”

"Don't be afraid, I can trust my brother." Jiang Guozhu helped Zhou Peigong up with a smile and cheered him up: "You can rest assured to do it boldly and make achievements, so that when I hand over the position of Governor of Liangjiang to my brother in the future, others will not be able to say anything." ”

After leaving the yamen of the governor of Liangjiang tremblingly, Zhou Peigong sat in his sedan chair and staggered back to his residence: "Hmph, is the position of the governor of Liangjiang very rare?" As long as Admiral Deng is still invincible in the world, the suppression of Premier Deng's yamen will be in full swing. ”

Now Zhou Peigong is no longer the young man he was at the beginning, he has been maneuvering between various governors in the past few years, and he is used to seeing the deceit of officialdom, and there is an alien like Deng Ming to give some teachings.

"Governor Zhang's ambition is to divide the territory and become a veritable prince." Zhou Peigong closed his eyes and meditated in his heart about the abacus of the governors: "Governor Lin and the governor of Jiangxi have similar ideas, take one step at a time, and when the sky falls, there is a high top, and if it doesn't work, he voted for Deng Ming; And Governor Chiang's ambition is the greatest, and I have always speculated unclearly before, for example, he has been actively collecting evidence of the Shiren's crimes recently, as if he wants to create a big prison and loot a lot of money. ”

Zhou Peigong also reported this matter to Deng Ming when he saw the latter, and Zhou Peigong was still a little confused at that time, because Zhang Changgeng obviously valued the people of the territory, and he was categorically unwilling to offend the gentry in order to please the court, which was obviously inseparable from Zhang Changgeng's separatist mentality. And if Jiang Guozhu has the same mind as Zhang Changgeng, it is said that he should not offend the gentry in Jiangnan to death.

For this reason, Deng Ming and Zhou Peigong discussed for a long time, and finally Deng Ming suspected that Jiang Guozhu wanted to learn from Wu Sangui, and his ambition was not to divide Jiangnan - no matter whether the Qing court won or the Ming Dynasty prospered in the future, it was impossible to tolerate a certain guy entrenched in Nanjing. Jiang Guozhu probably figured this out a long time ago, so he had already made up his mind to train an army, and for this reason, he would not hesitate to offend the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, and this territory would definitely not be able to be kept anyway. And if he can build an army, Jiang Guozhu will have the capital to bargain with the Qing court or Deng Ming, and in the future the Qing court will win, he can count on an expedition to Sichuan like Wu Sangui and establish his own vassal state; And if the Ming Dynasty is prosperous, Jiang Guozhu can also sacrifice Nanjing, and then go to Liaodong to find a place to settle down.

The more Deng Ming and Zhou Peigong pondered, the more they felt that it was very likely that Jiang Guozhu would design his future in this way, so the two of them discussed using the Deng Corps to test Jiang Guozhu, and if they really wanted to learn from Wu Sangui's words, Jiang Guozhu would definitely not dislike the army.

"Ripping the Ground? Hmph, the praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch is behind. I can't be Admiral Deng's Yellow Sparrow, but someone else's can try it. Zhou Peigong still closed his eyes, and a smile floated from the corner of his mouth: "Good wife, although the husband can't accompany you at home, he will earn you the title of princess in the future." ”

After hearing that the vanguard of the Ming army was approaching Nanjing, Jiang Guozhu sent someone to greet him, he had already selected a camp site for the Ming army, and enthusiastically helped repair the camp to offer courtesy, but his henchmen soon returned to report that Li Laiheng, the vanguard of the Ming army, had declined the kindness of the governor of Liangjiang.

"Hu Shuai said, everything else is so troublesome to adults, but this military camp still has a water camp, he must repair it himself."