Dominate the Country

ps: Keep asking for collection. I also hope to receive a recommendation message from the backstage today.

As a commercial town that rose at the intersection of three rivers, Zhoujiakou has many merchants coming from the south and north. Like many commercial towns, local merchants in Chenzhou Prefecture do not occupy a leading position in Zhoujiakou. The first to lay a foundation here were a group of old stingy people from Shanxi. For well-known reasons, Shanxi merchants have a great reputation in my Qing Dynasty.

Zhoujiakou can be transformed from a simple land and water thoroughfare to a tea distribution center on the Tea Road from the mainland to Moscow and St. Petersburg through Kyakhta. Of course, the contribution of Shanxi merchants is indispensable. As early as the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Shanxi merchants built a guild hall in Zhoujiakou. In name, it was a place to talk about hometown friendship and business information, but everyone knew what it was actually used for.

By the 32nd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, the Shanxi Guild Hall had become the arbitrator and leader of Zhoujiakou's commercial order, a place to discuss matters with the heads of various industries and connect and collude. Zhoujiakou is facing a catastrophe, but Chenzhou Tongpan is lucky enough to go to Xihua. Without him, how will Zhoujiakou deal with the crisis? Shanxi Guild Hall is the undisputed "master".

Tea, medicine, grain, cloth, ironware, etc., the top figures of each industry, as well as those cross-industry big merchants, almost all gathered in this Shanxi Guild Hall. They are all waiting for the result of the battle outside.

Some people pretended to be relaxed and encouraged themselves, "The bandits and scoundrels are so small and powerful that they are absolutely ruthless. How can they be the opponents of the officers and soldiers?" More people were frowning and worried.

How many people who can make their business one of the few in the industry are fools? The fact that Chen's army can fight in front of Zhoujiakou already strongly represents something.

But the bad news came too quickly.

How long has it been since the sound of gunfire? Two quarters of an hour? The person watching the wind at the west end quickly came back to report that the soldiers had been defeated!

The head of the Shanxi merchants in Zhoujiakou was surnamed Chang, and his name was Chang Baoshan. His ancestors had settled in Zhoujiakou for two generations. It was said that he was a branch of the Chang family in Yuci. Many of the tea leaves he collected and transported every year were indeed traded with the Dadeyu Merchants of the Chang family in the north. But no one could say for sure whether it was true or not. Chang Baoshan was very powerful, and he became the head of the Shanxi merchants because of his worth, not his surname.

Looking at the long-servant who was reporting to him in a hurry, Chang Baoshan swept the tea bowl on the table to the ground with a wave of his hand, and he didn't even hear the crisp sound. "The soldiers..., defeated?" Defeated so quickly? ? ?

"Master, how dare I lie about this. The officers and soldiers were indeed defeated."

"They used small cannons to attack the musketeers of the Lushan bandits. The Lushan bandits' musketeers were arranged in a more orderly formation than the officers and soldiers, and their marching was also more orderly. The officers and soldiers used small cannons to blast holes in them, but they did not get in disarray. The soldiers were really well trained. Then a volley of gunfire disrupted the officers and soldiers' musketeers, and the officers and soldiers' musketeers in the front row of the second barrel scattered and fled. The Lushan bandits took advantage of the situation to launch an attack, and the officers and soldiers could not hold on for long and were defeated."

The hall was completely silent.

After hearing the words of the long-servant, everyone was speechless, and no one dared to shout about throwing money to recruit people to resist.

Chang Baoshan took a long breath, and the black dizziness in front of his eyes disappeared. He finally recovered from the blow. Seeing the silent appearance of a group of people in the guild hall, he was angry: "Why are you still standing there? Go and reward the bandit Lu. The doctor of the pharmacy should be sent to rescue the wounded quickly, and the carriage and horse shop should prepare the carriage to pick up people. The restaurants and hotels should be busy and prepare the wine and food."

Chang Baoshan sprayed everyone like venting, but his hand was tightly grasping a handful of paper on the table. This was the Zhoujiakou merchants who had vomited in advance just in case, a total of 47,000 taels of silver and various grains, medicinal materials, cloth, salt and sugar.

"Prepare a car. I want to meet the young master Chen of the bandit Lu in person." 47,000 taels of silver is a little less than Zhoujiakou, which is like a cornucopia. This is only the first batch. After seeing Chen Ming, Chang Baoshan will definitely say: This is only the first batch, and we will take the second batch. As for those guys who ran away first, whether their inns, their businesses, and their industries can be saved, no one can care about anyone else.

Chen Ming was waiting for someone to come in the west of Zhoujiakou at this time. There was no need for him to go out to chase the defeated soldiers. After the defeat of the Qing army of Ford in this battle, the threat no longer existed. Chen Ming immediately changed his target and set his eyes on Zhoujiakou. Just as Chang Baoshan thought, Zhoujiakou was a cornucopia of gold and silver in Chen Ming's eyes.

According to Chen Liang's intelligence, the Chen family army could find at least 5,000 to 6,000 kilograms of sulfur in this small town, and more saltpeter. First, the output of saltpeter was larger than that of sulfur; second, in summer, saltpeter was used to make ice, which was very popular in a place as rich as Zhoujiakou.

There were almost no ice cellars in Zhoujiakou, or in the area south of the Yellow River. Although officials in the entire Qing Dynasty, both in the north and south, had ice, charcoal and silver.

Therefore, the saltpeter reserves in Zhoujiakou were much more than sulfur. Counting Chen Liang's own reserves, 20,000 kilograms was no less. In this way, all the gunpowder consumed by the Chen family army in this battle with the Qing army can be replaced.

After the battle with Ford, only a few of the 360 ​​explosive packs were left, and there were also a lot of paper bombs and grenades. Although he also seized some gunpowder in the war, it was far from enough to match the consumption. More than one-third of the Chen family's [gunpowder] was lost in this battle. Chen Ming was counting on Zhoujiakou to make up for the gunpowder consumption of the Chen family army this time.

Chang Baoshan ran over in a hurry, the carriage stopped a long way away, and a layer of sweat broke out on his head. But Chen Ming absolutely did not approve of the notes he gave. The dignified Zhou family had only scraped together less than 50,000 taels of silver. What a fool? If Chang Baoshan hadn't firmly said that there was a second filial piety, Chen Ming would have turned against him.

When the sun turned westward that day, the Chen Jiajun drove into Zhoujiakou with great swagger. A batch of supplies were sent to the boat gang from Zhoujiakou Ferry. The carriages, horse shops and boat gang in Zhoujiakou were all requisitioned by the Chen Jiajun. Zhang Yunhe from Chen Yihe's shop looked outside with fear.

When the sound of gunfire from the west end came, his heart was pounding. Not long after, news of the defeat of the officers and soldiers spread to Zhoujiakou. In the afternoon, Chen Jiajun's soldiers entered. That night, two thousand Chen Jiajun began to raid homes and shops, such as the one diagonally opposite Chen Yihe's store. The door of the warehouse was smashed open by a grenade from Chen Jiajun. The six guys inside didn't even dare to say a word, so they tied their hands. Then dozens of soldiers moved the warehouse clean.

If the warehouse owner hadn't fled, Zhang Yunhe believed that he would have seen blood.

Every time soldiers from the Chen Jiajun passed by the door of Chen Yihe's shop, he felt extremely nervous, always afraid that the flag outside would not work and the semicolon would be copied by the Chen Jiajun. As a result, Chen Jiajun walked past the door honestly every time without even pausing. His heart really felt like he was on a roller coaster.