Chongzhen Undergraduates

"I don't owe you any money?" Liu Changshun couldn't remember when he owed money.

"One soldier is five taels of silver. I have brought one hundred thousand soldiers. You owe me 5 taels of silver!"

"Ah! One hundred thousand soldiers." Liu Changshun was so scared that he peed his pants.

The big opera in Haizhou City sang all night, Zheng Longfang didn't sleep with his sister bought in Yangzhou until very late.

The city watchman shouted loudly as usual: "It's all right!"

Of Liu Zeqing's [-] soldiers, [-] are in Yancheng, responsible for protecting his cornucopia.The [-] in Huai'an is to look after his home and nursing home.Another [-] in Haizhou and [-] in Suzhou.

Of the 3000 soldiers in Haizhou, [-] of them are in Ganyu, and they have been quietly taken away by Zhu Youjian's troops.There are still [-] soldiers stationed on the coastal defense line, and [-] soldiers are in Haizhou City.

Zheng Longfang never expected that Haizhou would be attacked by the enemy, so it was no wonder that he had followed Liu Zeqing for many years, and had never fought a serious battle.

The Huai'an army's awareness of prevention is very poor, and the defenders on the walls of Haizhou City are all dozing off.

"What was the sound just now?" A soldier who was sleeping on the wall was very impatient when another soldier pushed him awake.

"Why are you so startled? It's the middle of the night. I want to scare people to death." It's very annoying to be woken up after dozing off, especially when it's dawn.

When Zhu Youjian led all the troops to the designated location, it was almost dawn.At this time, tens of thousands of people have surrounded Haizhou on three sides, and the only gap left is the sea.

"I really want to hear movement outside." The awakened soldier poked his head and stretched his neck to look outside the city. It was still too dark outside to see anything.

"Maybe it's the people who didn't have time to enter the city last night. It's a pity that they stayed outside the city overnight." Another soldier yawned. up.

"I really think I just heard a horse braying, there was more than one horse." The soldier who spoke still felt that something was wrong. It was early in the morning, and the movement outside seemed to be a little louder.

While the two were talking, there was another sound of horse hoofs coming from outside. This time the two heard it clearly, it was indeed not the sound of a horse.

"Which caravan is outside the city?" The two boldly shouted down the city.Then, there was no response from outside the city, and the sound of horseshoes still didn't stop, as if there were cavalrymen passing by constantly around.

Just at this time, the sky in the direction of the sea in the distance was pale.Through the light, the two vaguely saw a large group of people passing by in the distance outside the city.

"Did you see clearly? Are they humans or ghosts?" The soldier who spoke first was a little scared, and moved close to the other soldier.

"This chicken has been crowing several times, and there is no ghost coming out. It must be a human!"

When it was getting dark, the gate of Zheng Longfang's General's Mansion in Haizhou City was constantly being smashed.Zheng Longfang, who worked hard all night on Sister Kiln, just fell asleep and was sitting in a dream, when she heard hurried footsteps outside the door.

"Who is it? It's so early in the morning, I'm so disturbed." Zheng Longfang turned over, pressing a black-haired thigh on the two naked women.

"General, it's not good, we are surrounded." The guard quickly replied outside the door.

"What to surround, surround and let Wusheng play." Zheng Longfang was still immersed in last night's drama.

Suddenly, Zheng Longfang stood up, and only then did he wake up.After all, he was a soldier, and at least he was Liu Zeqing's lieutenant general. As soon as he got up, he picked up the single knife hanging by the bed, and ran out of the room without any clothes on.

When he came to the top of the city, the outside of the city could already be seen clearly, a large area covered in darkness.There are not many banners in the soldiers, but there is a big banner in front of the big tent of the Chinese army, and the Ming Dynasty's flag is fluttering in the wind against the first rays of the morning sun.

"Damn it, how can I get soldiers?" Zheng Longfang was puzzled, why so many soldiers suddenly appeared overnight, and they were flying the flag of Ming Dynasty.

"Go, ask which general the other party is under."

"I've asked, but the other party didn't reply at all." The confidant said quickly, "And they are surrounded in three directions. They don't seem to be attacking the city, they are setting up camp."

"How many people do you see outside this city?"

"According to my subordinates, there are more than 6 to [-] people."

"What the hell, where are there so many soldiers around here? Only Huai'an has them, but if Marshal Liu comes, there is absolutely no reason not to enter the city."

Zheng Longfang didn't think about what happened to An Dongwei at all. The army that suddenly appeared in front of him made Zheng Longfang anxious. For the current plan, he could only send someone to notify Liu Zeqing quickly to relieve the siege of Haizhou.

Chapter 71: Into the Tiger's Den

It is Zhu Youjian's established action plan to encircle Haizhou City and not fight. Li Yan is the real leader of the south this time.

It is obvious that a big fight with the Huai'an army is not in the current interests.It is in the current interests of Ming Dynasty that Liu Zeqing can be pulled down, and then the Huai'an army can be successfully incorporated.Even if you really want to fight, it can only be a small-scale battle to minimize internal friction.

Since Li Yan was leading the team, where did Zhu Youjian go?This has to start half a month ago.

When Deng Zhirong led the team to head south to Andongwei, the entire military operation against the Huainan Army was officially launched.

On a whim, Zhu Youjian wanted to go to Liu Zeqing's side to find out information.Liu Zeqing had never seen Zhu Youjian's real face. Before in Tai'an Prefecture, Zhu Youjian always acted with a mask.

"This matter is absolutely inappropriate! Huai'an is dangerous, and the commander cannot go." Li Yan must be the first to object. As the most important subordinate around Zhu Youjian, he is unwilling to see any accidents happen.

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't catch the tiger's cubs. We know too little about Huai'an, and we don't have time to spy on information."

The news from Shaanxi is very bad. In just three months, Houjin has already approached Tongguan.Moreover, there has never been a defeat along the way. The foreseeable situation is that Li Zicheng's defeat is only a matter of time.

Moreover, since Zhu Youjian killed Oboi on Mount Tai, Houjin has been gathering new troops in the capital, and there are signs of going south.

If the four towns in Jiangbei do not take action to integrate, the recruits in Kongliu Luzhong will not be able to stop Jin Bing's pace, but will only serve as a shield for these warlords.

"The commander can't go there himself. If he really wants to go, I will go. The commander will lead the troops south."

"If I don't show up, Huang Degong won't listen to others."

Liu Zeqing's territory is actually not that big. This time, he joined forces with Huang Degong and Gao Jie to deal with the Huai'an army. In fact, it was Lu Zhongjun and Huang Degong who really took the lead.

"What if Huang Degong attacks the commander?"

"It's not impossible. Take a gamble. War itself is a gamble. I succeeded in suppressing pornography this time."

Although this idea was unanimously opposed by the senior officials of Lu Zhongjun, Zhu Youjian kept his word.Among the four towns in Jiangbei, history has proved that the only one who is loyal in the end is Huang Degong. If Huang Degong is really unreliable, then the whole of Jiangnan should not be counted on.

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One of the main reasons that prompted Zhu Youjian to go to Huai'an was the Salt Merchant Conference in Huai'an City. The original Salt Merchant Conference was held in Yangzhou. This year, the salt production area is in the hands of Liu Zeqing, and salt merchants from all over the world can only gather in Come to Huaian.

The Salt Merchant Conference was naturally full of people, and Zhu Youjian planned to get involved in it to see if there was any chance to fish in troubled waters.

"Merchant Hexia is the most luxurious, and the windows are pasted with fine gauze. There is an urgent salary limit of 30 yuan, and Western merchants still leave home for a long time."

The salt merchants in the early Ming Dynasty were actually dominated by Western merchants.They originally lived in the most prosperous area of ​​Xiaguan in Yangzhou, which is close to the official salt transportation department and Chaoguan (tax customs) along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. They also became rich by selling salt and dominated one side.

After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Anhui merchants flocked to Yangzhou to operate the salt industry. In the early Qing Dynasty, they overwhelmed the Western merchants and formed a monopoly. Later, when most people mentioned the history of Yangzhou salt merchants, most of them "only knew about Huizhou, but not Shanshan". , when Qin and Jin joined forces to fight against the Hui Gang

The past is almost obsolete.

In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370), Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the advice of his counselors and implemented the new policy of "opening the middle of salt", which opened up the government's salt monopoly system that had been implemented for thousands of years, and allowed private merchants to transport grain to the border in exchange for a license for salt distribution. Salt

About 30 catties of grain can be exchanged for a portion of "Yanyin", and it was the best quality and most profitable Huaiyanyin at that time.

This is the origin of the salt import system.Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty, Shanshan merchants had special privileges in Yangzhou. Shanshan merchants were specially approved by the court to have "merchant status" because they settled in other provinces. there are seven no