Chapter 213 Shandong people

Li Langjun is chasing the bride at the horse, and Yan Zhizhou goes back

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Yan Zhizhou and his wife have gone a long way in vain. Although Li Meng is alone, the woman's parents are always present.

As a result, Yan Zhizhou's convoy and Li Meng's men joined together and returned to Jiaozhou City. After returning to Jiaozhou City, Luo Xi, who was in the Salt Administration Inspection House, finally breathed a sigh of relief. The New Year is a big event. As the housekeeper of the house, he was busy for a long time every year to prepare for the Spring Festival. But every time Li Meng was busy with something else. As the housekeeper of the inner house, he always felt something was wrong, as if the responsibility was not fulfilled.

In fact, Laizhou Prefecture has the same idea as the gentry in various places. Every Spring Festival is the season for giving gifts and congratulations. However, when the gifts are given, Li Meng is not in the local area. He often feels like he punches and knocks down the empty space. There is no expected effect and he is quite depressed. This time he has a chance.

Li Meng, the general of Laizhou Prefecture, married the daughter of Yan Zhizhou's family on the seventh day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Chongzhen. The news spread throughout Shandong in the twelfth lunar month. Originally, Li Meng thought that the marriage was his own family matter, and there was no need to disturb him too much. Yan Zhizhou's family was not a person who liked to make trouble, so the scale was limited.

Wu Tongzhi, who has already acted as a magistrate, should have been in charge of both public and private affairs, so Wu Tongzhi naturally tried his best to be busy there.

The urgent letter to Nanjing Eunuch Liu had already been sent. He was his elder, so he had to tell him, but the other party was old and so urgent, so he probably couldn't get there.

The generals stationed in Jiaozhou Camp in various places also had their own priorities. When Liu Zeqing was defeated and needed to be careful, Ma Gang and his men were stationed in place and just sent envoys to congratulate him. Of course, this was all Li Meng's arrangement.

There were various restrictions. Wu Tongzhi and several principals invited several close people from Jiaozhou City and colleagues from the prefectural yamen. A leading figure from Fengmeng Town and Lingshan Guard were naturally also invited. Because he was about the same age, Chen Liuzi was selected as his best man, which made him very excited for a long time.

Many gentry and powerful people don’t know about this. Only two companies in Guting Town and Pingduzhou received invitations, because these two companies were the first to become private salt sales in Jiaozhou and were considered loyal.

After receiving the invitation, the two powerful men were really shocked. They were completely unexpected. They wanted to place them in other families of Li Meng's level. Getting married is an extraordinary event. From hiring to engagement to getting married, there are various procedures. You can receive gifts every time. Who would have thought that Li Meng would handle it so quickly that he did not pay attention to any etiquette and rules.

The two powerful men thought about it. When General Li got married, of course he had to prepare a generous gift to give. Then he thought carefully that almost half of Shandong would rely on Li Meng's care. He knew the news here. If his relatives and friends didn't know, if they didn't give gifts and post greetings at that time, would they be hated by General Li? This is an amazing thing. General Li was angry and wanted to kill people. Thinking of this, the powerful men hurriedly sent letters to people who were close to him. The powerful men who received the letter also had the same idea.

Li Meng returned to Jiaozhou before the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month. Everyone in Jiaozhou camp was happy and thought that this time it would be a good New Year. However, except for Jinan Prefecture, the landlords and powerful people with some relationship with Li Meng have not had a good year. Except for those close to Jiaozhou City, the rest of the people hurriedly arranged gifts and set off to Jiaozhou to congratulate him.

The inn owner in Jiaozhou City was going to close the door on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, but who thought that on the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, he decided to open for business this year as usual. Because there are too many customers, many wealthy families send their children to come and congratulate them first and give them a gift for meeting, which is considered to be a greeting, and then give another great gift on the day of marriage.

Wu Tongzhi was really worried this time. He never thought that so many people would come to see the ceremony and congratulate him. But these people were youngest and were also local gentry. Many of them were some children of XX and XX and XX and XX, and some were large clans who had been for many years and could not refuse at will. However, he also had many benefits. Otherwise, a small magistrate who could see so many prominent figures in Shandong there would be beneficial to the future.

After asking Li Meng, all the guests who could only come were placed. As a result, the pre-examination plan for the magistrate's house to hold a banquet was overturned. The more spacious salt administration inspection house was regarded as the wedding venue. Chefs from Gaomi, Jimo, Jiaozhou, and Pingdu were invited to come over. Many civilians in Jiaozhou City also made money because of this. There were not so many places for residents in the small city and inn. Many residential houses with spare rooms were rented as temporary residences.

These powerful gentry in Shandong Province usually act as a local hero, but now when they are in the same place, they have to communicate with each other.

These people in Jiaozhou City "don't see the mountains" and live with Jiaozhou Camp and Li Meng every day. They feel a little common about Li Meng's strength and power. When they see the powerful and powerful gentry coming over the mountains and valleys, they are all dumbfounded. It turns out that Li Meng has such ability to splash.

After the powerful people from other places communicated with each other in real and falsehood, many of the scales that they had known before began to become complete. For example, a certain village was completely destroyed, and what happened in Caozhou City was all frightened. Jiaozhou Camp was so powerful.

In the past, local military leaders had to rely on local gentry to support money and food, but now the situation is that local gentry would be robbed by bandits without the protection of Jiaozhou Camp. Without the private salt provided by Jiaozhou Camp, they would have to lose a lot of money. Without the army of Jiaozhou Camp, their children would have no place to stand out.

Most civil officials in the world were literati from Jingxiang, Jiangnan, and military officers were the military households and nobles. The middle and lower-class tyrants had almost no way out, but they found that many of the powerful and powerful gentry of Laizhou Prefecture had a promising future, and were promoted in Jiaozhou Camp for military merits and other things.

I don’t know if I don’t say it. After talking, I found that the way out and wealth were captured by Li Meng. Moreover, Li Meng’s official position, Li Meng’s territory, and Li Meng’s strength were rapidly expanding. Such people need to be more motivated!

After the 25th day of the 12th lunar month, as the incident in Caozhou gradually became more and more congratulated by military officers from all over Shandong, the military officers were also here. Military officers could not leave their posts without permission. However, military generals from all over Shandong prepared gifts and sent confidants to Jiaozhou City to congratulate him, including several subordinates of Liu Zeqing near Caozhou.

In addition to a general in Jinan Prefecture, Shandong has another general in charge of Laizhou, Li Meng and Shandong general Qiu Lei. Liu Zeqing's official title is "Caozhou" in front of Li Meng's official title, and "Laizhou" in front of Li Meng's official title, which also means that they are guarding the territory. Qiu Lei, who is stationed in Dengzhou, is nominally in charge of the troops and horses in the entire Shandong area.

The imperial army was stationed in Dengzhou, and Qiu Lei's army was much more than that of Li Meng Jiaozhou Camp. Of course, we should not mention combat effectiveness. Although Liu Zeqing was domineering, Qiu Lei was even better. He condoned his subordinates several times to plunder the food, fodder and silver allocated by the court to Liu Zeqing. The two sides fought all day long.

In fact, in the historical trajectory of normal development, Liu Zeqing used a trick to imprison Qiu Lei and killed him in his military camp four or five years later.

Although Li Meng and Qiu Lei are adjacent to the prefecture, there is no conflict and they are still peaceful. They are just an attitude of treating each other as non-existent.

Among the posts and gifts sent from Shandong this time, there was no thing that Qiu Lei sent. Both Wu Tongzhi and Master Ning noticed this and reported it to Li Meng separately. Although there were large troops in Dengzhou, Li Meng was not worried. The combat effectiveness of Liu Zeqing's troops had already allowed him to see what the real ability of the main force of the Ming Dynasty was.

Around the 27th day of the 12th lunar month, the Shandong Governor's Office, various soldiers and civil servants from the prefectures, and the congratulatory messengers also arrived.

Originally, Li Meng was about to hold a marriage in a hurry, but Yan Ruoran was naturally willing. Yan Zhizhou also felt that he would not say anything. After all, marrying a military general who was a soldier of salt was not a glorious thing in the Shilin. However, Yan Zhizhou and his wife, the old couple may not feel that they were so silent. They were really wronged. The girl's daughter was married for the first time and she still had to handle a glorious event to be faced.

But now they don’t have this idea. Looking at the crowded situation in the small Jiaozhou City and posts and gifts from all over the country, this is all the face of his son-in-law, and the scenery is enough

On the third day of the first lunar month of the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong's third brother Zheng Zhibao came to Jiaozhou City in a carriage. The leader of the Zheng family was originally planning to take a boat to Jiaozhou in February to discuss the specific matters of Shandong private ports with Li Meng. After learning about the news of the marriage in Nanjing, he took a carriage to Jiaozhou overnight.
Chapter completed!