Chapter 1005
: The Army Sets Off to the South
Chapter 1005: The Army Sets Off to the South
The moon is dark and the wind is strong,
As the cold wind blew, everyone on the official road couldn't help but shiver, especially the captain who led the troops. He looked at the old man in front of him, not knowing whether to accept or not.
I have never heard that the Marquis has set up a caravan in the capital, but the old lady is not sure. The Marquis's business is all in the charge of Miss Lan and Miss Shu, and everyone knows it.
But he did not dare to delay, so he dismounted, grabbed the torch from the soldier behind him, and stretched forward. Under the light of the fire, the golden token gleamed, and there was a word written by the Marquis' Mansion. The captain's face changed, it was the golden token of the Marquis' Mansion, and he immediately knelt on the ground.
"Pingyao City Rangers, the left wing captain Shan Yunpeng, greets the Marquis Wan An, and greets the old lady Wan An,"
immediately,
A large number of cavalrymen behind him immediately dismounted and knelt, shouting in unison.
Not only was Shang Dada horrified, even Wu Jinxiao was somewhat confused, and pulled his two sons to kneel down together.
Shang Da reacted quickly, taking back the gold medal immediately, and quickly helped the captain up, saying;
"Please stand up, sir. I am only the president of the Chamber of Commerce. I am here on orders. Since the Marquis' Mansion has iron rules, it is not easy to violate them. Just ask them to pay the taxes."
After saying this, he glared at Wu Jinxiao and the others.
Captain Shan stood up, not wanting to ask too many questions, and nodded to the soldiers around him. Then, all the soldiers who were kneeling around him stood up.
"May I ask what your name is, President?"
"I am sorry to trouble you to be so polite. My surname is Shang, and I am the eldest in my family. My name is Shang Da."
The Chamber of Commerce President was not arrogant and responded with a fist salute.
"Okay, in that case, we will do everything according to what the president of the Shang Guild says. In addition, I wonder if the president has any other instructions for the Marquis' Mansion. I am a soldier on the left wing of the Marquis' Mansion. If it is convenient, I can go and pass on the order."
Captain Shan's eyes were burning, and the soldiers behind him were even more so. Shang Da narrowed his eyes. It seemed that the influence of the Marquis' Mansion had spread all over the outside of the Great Wall.
"Nothing else. I am just leading a caravan for the first time, selling goods from the Chamber of Commerce. How dare I interfere with other matters?"
This was true. Ever since he joined the Marquis' Mansion, Shang Da had no interest in other matters and focused on the business of the Chamber of Commerce. Even the clerks employed by the Chamber of Commerce were usually arranged by the old lady, who instructed them to do so. As for other matters, only the lady was in charge of the accounts, and he did not dare to interfere.
But seeing the looks in everyone's eyes, he remembered what the Marquis had told him, so he took out a letter from his pocket.
"Sir, there is something. This is a letter given to me by the Marquis. He said it was for Madam Wu. Where is Madam Wu?"
Captain Shan was stunned. Looking at the bright letter in front of him, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Madam Wu was the Jurchen leader. She now lived in Pingliao City, and she also had some cavalry stationed in Pingyao City, specifically responsible for clearing out those smuggling caravans.
"Ahem, Madam Wu is in Pingliao City. Do you believe me? This lieutenant will pass on the message. The goods of the Chamber of Commerce President can be directly delivered to the Nancheng Freight Station in Pingyao City. The old lady has already made instructions. As for this village head Wu, he can go back, but he must pay the taxes."
"Yes, yes, I will definitely make up for it, make up for it,"
Wu Jinxiao was sweating profusely, and nodded in response. After seeing that the matter was resolved, Captain Shan took the envelope, got on his horse, and led his troops back.
This time,
All the caravan owners around came over to greet him, but were scolded and driven away by Wu Zhuangtou. After they left, they clasped their fists and thanked him.
"Thank you, Shopkeeper Shang. I don't know Shopkeeper Shang."
I wanted to say a few more words, but I didn't know that Shangda just bowed politely.
"Captain Wu, I am just a small shopkeeper. If Jia Yun hadn't spoken up, I wouldn't have taken action this time. But you, Captain Wu, clearly know the rules outside the Great Wall, but you still hope for the best. You are really..."
Shaking his head, it was self-evident. Wu Jinxiao's face darkened after hearing this, and he smiled awkwardly. But when he saw Jia Yun following him, he was curious, but after what happened, he was afraid, so he could only bow and thank him.
"Thank you, President Shang, and thank you, Brother Yun. This is not the place to talk. There are some things that cannot be said openly."
After thinking about it, Wu Jinxiao really didn't have the courage to say anything more. The more he understood, the more frightened he became.
Although Shang Da and Jia Yun were a little strange, they were just casual acquaintances. Even if they were people from the Duke's Mansion, they didn't want to cause any trouble. So, after some politeness, they returned to their own camp.
"Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, you are still the best,"
Jia Yun sighed, "If you haven't been a merchant, you won't know how difficult the trade is.
"The master is very capable, but the head of Wuzhuang must be hiding something. If you return to the interior, you have to be careful. When you arrive at Pingyao City tomorrow, after loading the goods, go back immediately."
Shang Da's eyes were bright. It was not easy to inquire about the internal affairs, especially the affairs of the Duke's Mansion, but the person in front of him was from the Jia family, so perhaps he could inquire about it. Jia Yun nodded and responded;
"Yes, President Shang, Jia Yun understands."
The two of them fiddled with the bonfire and returned to their tent to rest.
the other side,
Wu Jinxiao returned to the camp with a gloomy face. His two sons were even more worried. It was not easy to return to the interior.
"Dad, what should I do?"
"What can I do? I will go back and pay the taxes. This trip is a profit, and I still need to report to the Ningguo Mansion. If Master Zhen asks, I will need to explain in detail. Sigh."
What's going on? I thought no one would care about the manor outside the pass, but after Luo Yunhou came to power, I had a chance to make money, but it's not so easy to get. There are other things. People outside the pass know about it, and people inside the pass may know about it.
"Dad, that means you will earn less money,"
Wu Xiangwen looked reluctant, but Wu Jinxiao slapped him in the face and scolded him;
"You can make endless money, but you only have one life. The Madam Wu that the official just mentioned is in Pingliao City. Don't say you don't know the rumors."
"Oh, I know, Dad,"
After returning to the battalion commander, no words were spoken that night.
The next morning,
The light rises high,
In the quiet county town, the horn sounded.
Inside the county governor's mansion, Zhang Jinyu had already dressed up, changing his full armor into light armor.
Outside the house, the generals of the Beijing camp were waiting. When the door was opened, all the generals clasped their fists with joy and sang in greeting.
"Good night, sir,"
"Well, are you all ready?"
He asked casually, and then looked at General Gu Ping of Jingnan who was standing at the outermost position.
"My Lord, I left 5,000 soldiers to guard the city. The rest of the army has already moved south and is marching slowly."
Regardless of the hardship along the way, Gu Ping received the order from the Marquis and immediately organized his troops to march south. He himself led his personal soldiers and rushed to the county city to listen to the Marquis' orders.
"Okay, now that General Gu is here, the next step will be easy. Everyone, General Song will lead 50,000 troops to guard the county city, General Duan will lead 50,000 troops to capture Linzhou, and General Yin will lead 50,000 troops to capture Qinzhou. The rest of the army will follow me south to Weizhou, and Gu Ping's troops will be the vanguard and go first."
"Yes, Lord, I will obey your order," the generals responded loudly, clasped their fists and left.
As he left, the palace suddenly felt peaceful. I don't know if it was a blessing, but suddenly a thought came to me: the rebellion in the south might be suppressed smoothly.
at this time,
Lan Yue'er was already dressed and carrying a package on her back. Behind her, it was His Royal Highness Prince Jin and Xia Yu who also came. Seeing what the Marquis had just said, Prince Jin couldn't help but be curious and asked;
"My Lord, didn't you say that you would rest for two days before heading south? Why did you rush out and something unexpected happened?"
After all, they had just captured the city, and arranged many soldiers to search the whole city. The search was not yet complete, and almost the entire county governor's mansion was filled with gold and silver valuables. The white silver filled the whole room, which also made the King of Jin very shocked. After the Taiping Cult had already searched it, there was still so much silver. It was really unbelievable.
"Well, Your Highness has a keen eye and really has intelligence. Gu Ping led his troops to the county city last night, and a scout reported that the White Lotus' Huaizhou troops were all rushing to support the county city bandits. But halfway through, the White Lotus turned their horses around and went to Linzhou City. So if the enemy doesn't move, I won't move. If the enemy moves, I must move. Since the bandits have mobilized their troops, we should take this opportunity to go south to attack the city and cut off their retreat."
In other words, Zhang Jinyu did not want to advance directly eastward. After all, the White Lotus Sect was at least once the largest sect in the world, and no one knew what trouble it might cause. It would be better to catch the half-crippled remnants of the Taiping Sect, pursue them relentlessly, and then encircle the White Lotus rebels.
The eyes of the King of Jin lit up. It was indeed the reputation of Marquis Luo Yun. Even the White Lotus rebels retreated after hearing of his reputation. If this was true, it would not be difficult to recover the areas south of Beijing, and it would also ease the pressure on the court. It was these silvers.
"My Lord, since you are leaving, what are you going to do with the silver and valuables that you have looted from all over the county?"
Zhang Jinyu raised his eyebrows. How much silver and valuables could be looted? Some were taken away by the court, and the Taiping Cult emptied the treasury. The rest was nothing more than scraping the marrow with a knife. How much fat could be sucked out?
"Your Highness, please do not disturb me. I have left Song Yutian to guard the county city, especially to take care of the property. Please make sure to keep a careful record in the account book and distribute it all to the soldiers heading south in the future. This has already been agreed upon with the soldiers. How dare I go back on my word? In addition, how much property have you found?"
Zhang Jinyu suddenly became curious. He thought that it was only one million taels of silver, most of which were left by wealthy merchants.
Who knows,
After asking, I saw King Jin hesitated to speak, his face flushed, and he stammered,
"My Lord, the treasuries of the government offices in Linshan County have long been empty except for food. However, my Lord once said that the swords will not be put down for three days, and all the looted property will be distributed equally to the soldiers heading south. Therefore, after entering the city, almost all the soldiers were looting property. A rough calculation shows that, not to mention the literati paintings and antiques, only silver was dug out from various houses. Four million taels of silver were dug out, and the rest are still digging. It is said that there is a lot. In addition,"
The King of Jin pulled out a box from his bosom, opened it and took out a stack of silver bills, saying;
"There are also some Sihai Bank notes that we haven't taken away, about 800,000 taels. Among them, there are 600,000 taels of silver with stamps that can't be used. They are all here. Song Da also reported that General Gu from Huaizhou and General Song from Chenzhou have each sent more than a million taels of silver."
After saying that, he pushed the box forward. Not to mention others, Zhang Jinyu almost widened his eyes. Damn, so much, not counting those antiques and calligraphy and paintings, there are six million taels of silver alone. Suddenly I thought of the Ming Dynasty in my previous life. What was recorded? The emperor was collecting military pay, and every household cried poor. The two million taels of military pay were collected, less than one-tenth. Who were they waiting for? Anyway, the rebel army fought to the capital, occupied the capital, searched the palace, and didn't see even a valuable thing.
On the contrary, after searching the noble families in the capital, it was said that they found a huge amount of silver worth 10 million taels, which shocked the world. Perhaps it could be said that the incident in Linshan County was similar. The imperial treasury had been plundered long ago, and the buried silver of the wealthy families in the city could not be taken away.
"Ahahaha, so funny, so funny. The people in southern Beijing are so hungry that they are eating each other's children and have no clothes to wear. I never thought that so much silver could be dug out in this chaotic place. He is really a good official. Tsk tsk, if that's the case,"
Zhang Jinyu raised the corner of his mouth, reached out his hand, took the silver note with the seal, and pushed the rest back.
"Your Highness, take the rest of this back as pocket money. The ones with seals are the unique secret marks of Sihai Bank. But now that they are in my hands, no one can swallow them. So many people were killed or injured in the Beijing camp this time, and many of them left behind their families. These are all for life-saving."
Zhang Jinyu was not just talking. When he returned to the capital, he would take these to the Sihai Bank to exchange for silver. He would have to pay. This action made King Jin blush. He had never seen so many silver bills before. When he was hesitating, Zhang Jinyu pushed them away casually, and then thought about it and walked into the side hall, where the gold and silver objects looted were placed.
He opened a box, which was filled with a small box of silver. He waved to the guards outside the door, and several of them came in.
"Master Hou,"
"Well, carry this box of silver to His Highness' carriage."
"Yes, Lord Marquis,"
The two guards clasped their fists and carried the box out. King Zhou Ding of Jin was watching from behind, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He saw the Marquis open several other boxes, which were filled with jewels, mostly gold, silver, jade, gold hairpins and jade bracelets. He didn't even look at them, but pointed to three small boxes. The guards behind him went over and carried them out.
"My Lord, what is this for?"
Zhou Ding couldn't help but ask quietly,
"Your Highness, of course you can take it back and enjoy it slowly. Everything in this room is of the highest quality. Since I took office as the commander-in-chief of the three princes' residence, I have not fulfilled my duties conscientiously. Today is a good opportunity for me to prepare some gifts for you, Your Highness. Your Highness has worked hard to accompany me all the way, so naturally you should take more."
Zhang Jinyu stepped out. All the money and property in this room belonged to him. Some words and some things could not be arranged openly. However, the fact that His Royal Highness Prince Jin could take out those banknotes showed that he was still a rookie. If it were those old foxes, they would be greedy for the boxes, not to mention the banknotes.
"Well, I'll obey your Majesty."
I don't know if it was because of what the Marquis heard, Zhou Ding just felt happy and clear-minded. Unfortunately, there were so many corrupt officials in the southern part of Beijing alone. Wouldn't the officials in the capital be depressed almost instantly?
"Your Highness, let's go. There are so many things in the world that cannot be sorted out. This silver, to me, is a great help. A soldier died in battle, and the court did not give much in terms of pension. Therefore, as the commander-in-chief, I will plunder as much as I can. Most of the soldiers in the Beijing camp are from the capital, and their families are all relying on them. If they are not handled properly, and the people in their families make a fuss, how can the court keep its face?"
This matter has almost become a convention. When bandits come, search once, when soldiers come, comb once. That is to say, they have to search once.
"I understand what the Marquis meant, but I never expected that the officials and gentry in the south of the capital would act in this way. They deserved to die. I want to chop them into pieces."
Prince Jin followed behind him, his face turning blue with anger. The world was ruined by these corrupt officials, but there was nothing he could do as there were too many corrupt officials to kill.
Talking
The group had already left the government office and boarded a carriage in front of the government gate, and then the personal guards were ready to join the army at the South City Gate and head south together.
As the horn sounded in the city, the sound of weapons clashing in the south of the city gradually faded away. Hundreds of thousands of troops were divided into three routes, with the main force heading south and the branch troops heading east. Looking around for a moment, who could compete with such a powerful army?
Watching the army depart from afar, the boring time in the car returned to normal.
Zhang Jinyu touched the jade ring in the box in the car. It was crystal clear and made of top-grade topaz. Wearing it on the hand, it felt warm and cool. No wonder those noble masters liked it. Then he looked at His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, who was sitting there in silence, and found it a little funny.
"Your Highness, there are many injustices in the world. Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish. It needs to be simmered slowly and not impatient. These corrupt officials are all cunning and treacherous. They look poor on the surface, but when their property is really confiscated, who would not be jealous of these boxes of silver?"
Zhang Jinyu opened the boxes that he had just ordered his personal soldiers to load onto the carriage. They were filled with jewels and precious stones. With the sunlight coming in through the window, many of the items sparkled and were extremely dazzling. The more this happened, the more annoyed the King of Jin became.
"My Lord, if being an official is all for this, then what is the point of the imperial court and the whole country selecting talents?"
It’s better not to select them. Among those seemingly young talents, how many can stick to their original intentions?
Zhang Jinyu smiled again, closed the box, turned to Lan Yue and Xia Yu and said;
"You two, take whatever you like. Only things that can be used are good. If you can't use them and just hide them, they are just dead things."
"Thank you, Lord."
Xia Yu and the other girl looked strange, but they did not refuse. They were just some personal belongings. Then, the two girls opened the boxes and started to choose openly, which made King Jin feel a little embarrassed.
"Your Highness, you can't say that. The imperial examination system broke the monopoly of the aristocratic families. It gave the poor a way to rise to prominence. It could also have an impact on the princes. As the saying goes, if you want to be an official thousands of miles away, why else would you do that if not for money? As the saying goes, the emperor is far away. It is very difficult for officials in remote places. We can't be too harsh on them. But those who disregard the lives of the people and cause disasters like Jingnan did must be killed as a warning to the rest of the world."
"This, what does the Marquis mean?"
The King of Jin suddenly thought of a person in his mind, Yu Shiyuan, the Governor of Southern Jing!
(End of this chapter)