: Secret game

Li Zicheng has always been a decisive person, and he never hesitated as long as he wants to do. After confirming that there would be no war near Nijianghe, he quickly transferred Li Yan and Lu Weiliang back and started the next move. After a few days of peace, Nanzhili started to storm again.

On November 14, the third year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng took Liu Zongmin as the vanguard and attacked Nanling City, Ningguo Prefecture. Now the main force of the Beijing camp is in Wuhu, and the Xuanfu army is in Luzhou Prefecture. The Ningguo Prefecture has limited troops and uneven combat power. In just half a day, under the siege of 20,000 peasant troops, Nanling City fell. After taking Nanling, Liu Zongmin was eager to make contributions and bypassed Xuancheng and headed straight to Ningguo County in the southeast.

Liu Zongmin took risks, but he really made him bet right. The more than 3,000 guards in Xuancheng dared not leave the city to stop him. He just watched Liu Zongmin's vanguard army swung around. On November 17, 10,000 peasant troops attacked Ningguo County. There were only less than 2,000 soldiers and civilians in Ningguo County, so how could they be the opponent of the peasant army? It was ridiculous. Ningguo County was captured in less than an hour.

After Liu Zongmin took Ningguo County, he quickly led his troops to Tianmu Mountain without waiting for Li Yan's troops to arrive.

Tianmu Mountain, Tianmu Mountain, the gods and immortals have been in Lin'an since ancient times. The moment the peasant army stepped on the West Tianmu Mountain, it means that the peasant army entered the boundary of Zhejiang. The peasant army pointed directly at Zhejiang, and the world was shaken for a moment, and Hangzhou was in chaos.

Zhejiang is a very special existence for the entire Ming Dynasty. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Su Yang and Zhejiang have almost surpassed one-third of the Ming Dynasty's taxes. The prosperity here is no worse than Su Yang at all. Although taxes in Jiangnan have always been a big problem in recent decades, it is precisely because of this that this is the lifeline of the Qingliu officials. The imperial court has fixed procedures for collecting taxes. The Qingliu officials have some solutions, but when facing bandits, there is no way.

The bandits don’t tell you any reason, and they won’t care about any procedures. They will rob them without any scruples. This is Zhejiang. If the bandits let them rob, half of the country in Jiangnan will collapse. At this time, the officials in Nanzhili were really anxious. At this time, they didn’t care much. No matter what kind of troops they were, they would be willing to bear any price as long as they could save Zhejiang.

The six ministries of Nanjing were busy, not only busy mobilizing troops, but also busy pacifying the people. Now the gentry of Nanzhili was extremely disappointed with Nanjing. Before Tongling fell, at most it was panic. But now, the bandits have hit Tianmu Mountain and one hand has reached Zhejiang, which is a real threat. Almost all the gentry and wealthy people in Nanjing have interests with Zhejiang, especially those rich businessmen. Zhejiang really has a problem, silk, porcelain, and tea, and they will be affected. This is not the most important thing, the most deadly thing is salt. Zhejiang's eight major salt fields are in charge of the food and drink of millions of people in several provinces in the south.

The bandits just had just captured Tianmu Mountain, and the salt prices in Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Jiangdu and other places rose. Those who are conscious of crisis have already started to buy large quantities of salt. This is just the beginning. Once the bandits really rampant in Zhejiang and affect the operation of the salt farm, the salt prices will inevitably soar. By then, no matter how rich you have, you may not be able to buy salt.

The price of salt soared at this time, but it was different from the intentional stockpiling of salt merchants. It was really caused by no salt. This was better than the salt merchants who deliberately stockpiling of goods, at least there was salt. Now, the major salt merchants are very worried. Water did not expect this situation before. Not to mention that the bandits attacked Zhejiang, even if they hit Luzhou Prefecture, they felt that it was a bit fantasy. Therefore, the salt merchants did not deliberately stockpile goods. Now they reacted, it was a bit too late to stockpile goods.

Salt must not be cut off. Of course, salt merchants are not considering people's livelihood issues, but based on their own personal interests. Salt merchants sell salt every year by relying on salt traction and shore traction, which is all indefinitely. Each year, in order to get the corresponding share, salt merchants desperately rush to rush salt and shore traction, and they are counting on selling salt later. Bandits rage in Zhejiang. Once the supply of salt farms is cut off, there is no need to be too much. In just one month, the losses of salt merchants will be very large, and even the cost of a year cannot be recovered.

This seems a bit ridiculous. Isn’t the transaction of official salt profitable? It is like that the transaction of official salt is huge profitable, but accordingly, it is not easy to obtain salt and shore. If you want to get a share from the Salt Kesi, you have to pay a lot of money. The salt merchant has twelve months a year, ten months to recover the cost, and the remaining two months to make real money. Although it is only two months to make money, it is also a income of tens of thousands of taels per month. Because of this, it is said that the official salt profit is huge. But in the same way, if you can’t get salt for two months this year, you will definitely not make any profit.

Of course, it is easy to make money, just increase the price of salt, but the official supervision and strict control of salt prices is how can you raise the price by raising the price? In normal times, everyone relies on relationships, collusion between officials and businessmen, and slightly increase the price. Now at this critical moment, it is a big deal that dares to raise the price, which has caused public resentment. In order to appease the people, the court may do anything to kill.

Rich merchants gathered in Suyang and other places, mainly salt merchants and weaving manufacturers, among which salt merchants can be said to be the mainstream merchants. The four major salt merchants in Jiangnan, Wu, Yang, Xu, and Xiao, were all concentrated in Yangzhou and Nanjing. Yangzhou and Nanjing were only separated by a river, so after the bandits went south to Tianmu Mountain, all major salt merchants went to Nanjing to put pressure on the court.

Salt merchants were also forced to do so. If they could not defeat the bandits as soon as possible, they might lose all their money. The official and salt business means huge profits, and it is also very stable compared to other businesses. Because of this, the annual investment of salt merchants is astronomical, which is definitely not comparable to merchants in other industries. Salt merchants go to the Salt Transportation Department to get a share of millions of taels, which is common. Take this year as an example. In order to acquire the shores of Yangzhou Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture, the Xiao family and the Xu family also purchase salt intakes, and the family is 9 million taels and 7 million taels.

If such a large sum of money is lost, even a big family like the Xu family and the Xiao family will be damaged. If the bandits have to struggle for half a year and the business of official and salt plummeted, the more you invest, the more you will lose. Therefore, the most active person to put pressure on the court is definitely the salt merchant, and the one who takes the lead is the Xiao family and the Xu family.

Recently, due to the epidemic, Xiao Ruxue got a large number of medicinal materials from Henan Prefecture, which allowed the Xiao family to make a fortune by taking advantage of the east wind. However, before they could be happy, the bandits entered Southern Zhili, and the joy brought by the reselling of medicinal materials was instantly washed away. As the head of the Xiao family, Xiao Zhenlin put pressure on the court to come to Nanjing in person. Xiao Ruxue also came here with him. At this time, Xiao Ruxue was in a very bad mood.

Xiao Ruxue followed him to Nanjing, not to argue with the gang of court officials, she came for others. Some things that others didn't know about were, but she knew about them.

Since the Xuanfu army arrived at Luzhou Prefecture, two virtuous supporters from the Tiemo family quietly entered Nanjing City. Although this matter is secret, it is not difficult for Xiao Ruxue, who is paying attention to these two women, to find out.

The gentry and powerful people in Nanzhili all turned their attention to Tie Mo, but they didn't know how terrible the two women Hai Lanzhu and Chang Minyue were. If the bandits entered Nanzhili, Tie Mo would not know at all, it was purely a lie. In Xiao Ruxue's opinion, the bandits were deliberately put into Nanzhili. Now that the bandits have been fighting in Zhejiang, they have to ask the two women how to end this matter.

After entering Nanjing City, Xiao Ruxue asked his servant to drive the carriage to the bank of Qinhuai River. The servant was very puzzled, "Miss, don't we follow the head of the family to the Salt Transportation Department?"

"No, go to Nuanxin Pavilion!" Xiao Ruxue frowned, looking worried. From the beginning, her thoughts were different from her father Xiao Zhenlin. She felt that finding the Yanyun Department at this time and putting pressure on the court was not a good idea.

What good ways do the six officials in Nanjing have? If they can drive the bandits out, they will have to wait until now? So, finding those officials is useless and putting pressure on the Salt Transportation Department, it will be even more useless. At this time, the only one who can really reverse the situation in Nanzhili is Tie Mo. Recently, this guy has been almost secluded behind the scenes and hid in Luzhou Prefecture and did nothing. This is too abnormal.

Nuanxin Pavilion is a very famous restaurant on the banks of the Qinhuai River. Because this restaurant is located in the middle section of the Qinhuai River, there are more than a dozen or souvenirs and boats on the left and right, the business is naturally very booming. Nuanxin Pavilion integrates restaurant accommodation and welcomes guests. Even many Nanjing gentry come here for two days a month.

The haze of war enveloped the south of the Yangtze River, and the entire Nanzhili was panicked. However, on both sides of the Qinhuai River, there was another scene. After nightfall, lanterns on both sides were hung high. Although the winter was cold and the pleasure boats were no longer there, there were still desolate sounds in the tramways, music continued, and passers-by were smiling. A prosperous scene on the long street. A scene of the long river and a scene of joy, as if the haze outside had nothing to do with this place.

A window in the third floor of Nuanxin Pavilion was slightly opened, and the breeze was blowing. Two beautiful women stood at the window, looking at the night view of Qinhuai. The sound of silk and bamboo was constantly heard from both sides, and occasionally accompanied by the pleasant singing of girls, the two women frowned slightly, without any joy. After a while, one of them closed the window and sighed softly: "I finally know why the ancients sighed, the business girl did not know the hatred of the country, and still sang the back garden flowers across the river. Isn't this the scene?"

Tonight, Hai Lanzhu truly experienced that artistic conception. How helpless would she feel when she wrote such a poem? Of course, these have nothing to do with her. It seems that the more she is, the more beneficial it will be to her.

Chang Minyue sat at the low table with a cup of hot tea. She was about to take a sip, but she turned her head and covered her mouth and nose with a veil, and sneeze. The two girls lived in the north for a long time and were not afraid of the cold, but they were a little uncomfortable with the wet and cold climate in the south. A few days after arriving in Nanjing, Chang Minyue was infected with a cold wind, but fortunately it was not serious.

Taking a sip of tea to warm your body, Chang Minyue smiled faintly and said, "Sister, don't worry about the ancients. Let's think about what price you want next. Have you thought about what price you want?"

Hai Lanzhu thought for a while, smiled slightly, and made a flicker in the air, "It's not the time yet. What price is required, it depends on how much trouble it can be made in Zhejiang. Now I'm looking for those people to increase their investment, I'm afraid they will treat us as fools. But, the business here is really tempting, and the money here is much better than in the north."

"Yes, why don't you say that Jiangnan raises people?" Chang Minyue looked helpless on her beautiful face. The skin trade business was also a huge profit. It can be said that the skin trade business supported Shanxi merchants. But when I think about the fur transaction, I went to Kulunwuerge and half of the ten people were left. The fur profit was very hard. It was not like the Jiangnan business, which was also a profit of one million taels a year. The wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan made money leisurely while lying at home, but they were not like the business in the north, worried.

Perhaps it is precisely because Jiangnan has sufficient profits and a prosperous life that Jiangnan merchants have joined forces to resist the inflow of external forces. For decades, all businessmen in northern China have thought of ways to make their business south, but they all failed here. Perhaps because Jiangnan's official and businessmen are united and are united to the outside world, how can a mere businessmen in northern China succeed?

This time, Chang Minyue wanted to reach out.

The bandits caused trouble to Nanzhili, which was a disaster for merchants in Jiangnan, but for her, Chang Minyue, it was an opportunity.

After the two chatted for a while, a maid knocked on the door, "Two ladies, the eldest lady of the Xiao family is asking for a meeting, and they are now downstairs."

Hai Lanzhu was stunned for a moment, but she was not surprised. Xiao Ruxue knew that they were in Nanjing, which was normal. Xiao Ruxue was a very smart woman. She was afraid that when the bandits broke into Luzhou Prefecture, she would notice it. She put down the hot tea in her hand and smiled at Chang Minyue: "Sister, I think Miss Xiao is here to ask us for a crime this time!"

Chang Minyue smiled and said, "So what? As long as there are enough benefits, what can Xiao Ruxue do? She will still cooperate with us. She is false to ask for the crime, and the benefit is true."

Hai Lanzhu nodded in agreement. She was consistent with Chang Minyue. If Xiao Ruxue really asked for guilt, she would not have come alone. If she really asked for guilt, the outside of Nuanxin Pavilion would probably be filled with Jiangnan merchants, and the officials in Nanzhili would rush up to ask for an explanation without hesitation.

Soon, Xiao Ruxue went upstairs. She and Hai Lanzhu were familiar with each other, so after meeting, she asked directly with a cold face: "Two ladies, what are you thinking? The Chief Supervisor refused to go forward, let alone the bandits attacked Zhejiang, it has nothing to do with you."

What Tiemo did, these two women must be the first to know. If there is any conspiracy, can Hai Lanzhu and Chang Minyue not know?

Xiao Ruxue sat at the table, her face turned cold. Hai Lanzhu and Chang Minyue looked at each other and smiled. Chang Minyue helped fill a cup of tea and said softly: "Since Miss Xiao is here, we won't hide it from you. The bandits go to Zhejiang, it does have something to do with us. So, what are you doing? Tell the officials in the palace and arrest us?"

Chang Minyue admitted it very simply and answered more bluntly. But the more she did this, the more confused Xiao Ruxue was and didn't know how to answer for a while.
Chapter completed!