Early the next morning, that is, on the morning of the sixth day of the seventh month of the third year of Chongzhen, Qin Shuhuai led 60,000 martial arts coalition troops to march north.

Shaanxi Governor Hong Chengchou and his subordinate civil officials and generals at all levels came to see him off, and at the same time, many people in Weinan City also spontaneously came to see him off after learning the news.

Because he knew that the team of the Marquis of Qin was going north to fight the Tartars, the most famous old man in the city was elected to pay tribute to the soldiers and drink.

This kind of wine had to be drunk, Qin Shuhuai dried several bowls in a row, and the crowded crowd made way to get out of the way and sent the soldiers out of the city with the shouts of mountains and tsunamis.

The common people are afraid of the Tartars, and it is rumored that the Tartars are the demon kings who eat people, so they hope that the officials and the army can defeat the Tartars, and the big guys are safe, so they are willing to donate money and food - even if the current taxes are already very high, but their own kings are better than the Tartars.

This is the most simple truth, and the common people recognize this. Since ancient times, the Chinese people's ability to endure is extremely high, as long as they do not reach the point where they can't live, their hearts are always towards the imperial court.

The army set off from Weinan, and the expected route was to pass through Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang and then go directly to Beijing. In Beijing, Qin Shuhuai will meet with Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong, in addition to reporting on the results of Shaanxi's crackdown on bandits, and more importantly, to obtain more information about the situation in Jizhen.

In this expedition, in addition to the martial arts coalition army, there were also 3,000 cavalry led by He Kegang. He Kegang was originally a general of the Guanning Army, and he was temporarily seconded to Shaanxi to suppress bandits this time, so now he happened to go back with Qin Shuhuai. When he came, he brought 3,000 Guan Ning Jing horses, but later he fought until there were less than 1,000 left. In order to express his gratitude, Hong Chengchou selected more than 2,000 cavalry to supplement He Kegang.

From Weinan to Jingshi, there are nearly 2,000 miles. At the pace of a rapid march of 160 miles a day, it would take at least 12 days. However, soldiers are not machines, and it is impossible to march in a hurry for more than ten days in a row, so it is estimated that it will take at least half a month to reach the Beijing Division.

Long marches are extremely boring, especially in July, when the sun is scorching, and people walk on the road as if they are in a steamer, and it doesn't take long to sweat, and after walking for two quarters of an hour, the whole person is like having just been fished out of the water. Although the army avoided marching at noon and at the hottest hour, many soldiers suffered from heat stroke on the way. Fortunately, there are qigong experts in the martial arts alliance, and it will be fine with a few strokes, and more than 60,000 people have not had a single case of injury or death caused by heat stroke.

Eight days later, the army arrived in Taiyuan.

Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the three sides stationed in Taiyuan, took Chu Fu and others, the city guard of Taiyuan, and personally went out of the city to greet him. Lu Xiangsheng had already learned that he could suddenly be promoted to the governor of the three sides, because of Qin Shuhuai's strong recommendation, so he had always regarded Qin Shuhuai as his Bole - although Qin Shuhuai was not much older than his son, but now who in the whole world would still treat Qin Houye as a hairy boy?

The army repaired overnight in Taiyuan and replenished some supplies. During this period, Lu Xiangsheng gave Qin Shuhuai a detailed introduction to the situation of suppressing bandits in Shanxi.

At present, under the joint encirclement and suppression of He Huchen, Du Wenhuan and others, Zhang Xianzhong's troops are only less than 30,000 troops, and the total number of other miscellaneous rogues is less than 30,000. It can be said that banditry in Shanxi has also been curbed to a great extent. Lu Xiangsheng said that as long as Zhang Xianzhong's lair can be found, the official army will definitely be able to defeat him in one fell swoop and completely quell the bandits in Shaanxi.

If the bandits in Shaanxi and Shanxi are put down, then the other gangsters in the three sides will not have anything to worry about, and the three sides will really be stabilized.

Qin Shuhuai thought of Zhang Desheng in Taiyuan City, this guy should have been mixed into the caravan that smuggled grain for Zhang Xianzhong now, so he asked Lu Xiangsheng if there was such a person who came to him?

Lu Xiangsheng exclaimed, "Master Hou, the Zhang family of the 'Dachang' firm is really a foreshadowing planted by you......?

Qin Shuhuai said, "What's wrong?"

"After the governor came to the three sides, the first thing he checked was the source of money, food, and weapons of Zhang Xianzhong's department. Later, it was found that there were 11 merchants in central Jinzhong, southern Jin, and northwest Shanxi who were secretly smuggling grain, cloth, and even weapons to Zhang Xianzhong. A few days ago, the Zhang family also came to shout grievances, saying that they were sent by the Hou Ye to mix in the bandit caravan, and the governor asked him what evidence he had, but he couldn't show it, only said that he was following the Hou Ye's password, so he ...... So Ben Governor thought he was quibbling and beat him up. Now the grandfather of the Zhang family, the boss, the old man and several business shopkeepers are all in prison. ”

Qin Shuhuai thought about it, it seemed that he really didn't give Zhang Desheng any warrant at the beginning, and this Zhang Desheng was also hot-blooded, so he gave up his life to dare to help himself do things with a few words.

It is really the backbone of Jin merchants! Ten thousand taels of silver, they regard promises as more important than life, even if there is no written contract, as long as they agree, they will definitely do it.

Thinking of this, Qin Shuhuai said, "Lord Lu, the Zhang family of the 'Dachang' was indeed sent by Benhou to mix in the bandit caravan, because Benhou did not think it well and did not give them any warrants, so they couldn't come up with any evidence. This matter is also asked to be investigated by Lord Lu. ”

Lu Xiangsheng immediately said, "Since the Hou Ye has personally testified for them, then the Governor does not need to investigate again, tonight the Governor will release them, and all the seized property will be returned, please rest assured." ”

Qin Shuhuai thought to himself, Master Lu, would it be good for you to return the property with one sentence? If it is in the future life, this will be compensated by the state. It was also in this era that the common people were tossed half to death by the government, and the government finally found out the unjust case and released them, and they had to thank Master Qingtian, and they didn't dare to mention the word "compensation".

No, you can play like that, but I can't. If you continue to play like this, the hearts of these Jin merchants who are willing to serve the country will be cold, so they still have to take a trip.

Qin Shuhuai intended to support the budding of capitalism at the end of the Ming Dynasty, so that the future Ming Dynasty would also drive a powerful fleet to venture around the world to dig gold, so he naturally had to adopt a moderate policy towards merchants.

So he said, "Lord Lu, this matter started because of Ben Hou, it is better for Ben Hou to personally go to the Zhang family to make amends, otherwise Ben Hou will be at peace." ”

Lu Xiangsheng was a little surprised, he didn't understand why Qin Shuhuai, who was a marquis and a scholar, wanted to be polite to a group of businessmen? Although Lu Xiangsheng was a rare talent in the late Ming Dynasty, the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing business, and officials greater than the people was still deeply rooted in his mind.

Qin Shuhuai didn't expect Lu Xiangsheng to understand his thoughts immediately, he just stood up and said, "I also ask Lord Lu to send someone to lead the way for Benhou." ”

When Lu Xiangsheng saw that Qin Shuhuai was going to go in person, could he still not go? So he immediately said, "Speaking of which, the Governor has also neglected to oversee this matter, so let's go with Lord Qin." ”