Chapter 216: Shanxi merchants

Li Meng is in a high position and has become a little more cultivated over the years. But when he heard the other person's words, the mouth of tea in his mouth almost spewed out, but at least he stopped.

Gao Yigong, a character who is in a high position in the camp, not to mention the hundreds of miles of journey from western Henan to Shandong, both provinces have suffered major disasters. Moreover, as his identity, if he was caught by the official army, he would probably be cut into pieces immediately. Among the rioters, Gao Yigong is already a general who commands ten thousand people. He has such a status and does not enjoy it, but he takes such a huge risk to pass through the prefecture and come to Shandong to borrow money.

Although the eight camps of the rebel army were all extremely poor farmers when they revived, they were from Shaanxi to Shanxi and Henan, then to Huguang, Sichuan and even appeared near the capital. With such a large range of activities, they were really destroyed. Many wealthy families were broken by the rebel army. The accumulated generations and even dozens of generations of gold, silver, grain and fodder were all plundered. Except for a small part of them distributed to the local poor people, most of them were used as military supplies for the rebel army.

Li Meng thought about it. Although the trespassing army had a size of hundreds of thousands of people at most, these people might not have spent military pay. Li Zicheng's core army would definitely have some foundation in his hands. What urgent needs to be taken to borrow money from him at risk.

But when the words came, they were not asking the truth. Li Meng asked with a smile:

"I don't know how much money Brother Gao wants to borrow, but Li has some savings."

Gao Yigong cleared his throat without being polite, and said slowly:

"Fifty thousand taels of silver..."

Before Gao Yigong finished speaking, Li Meng laughed there and said with a smile:

"As a foundation as big as a camp, I have accumulated over the years, I must have millions of gold and silver. I took such a big risk to come to me to borrow this 50,000 taels. If I want people to know, wouldn't I laugh out loud!"

Hearing Li Meng say the word "camp" and Gao Yigong's body was shocked without anyone's attention. He narrowed his eyes and then his whole body became calm. Li Meng obviously had known his exact identity here, so he wouldn't have been panicked, but it was the first time he said this.

Looking at Li Meng's expression, although there was a joking statement in the words just now, he did not express a clear rejection. Gao Yigong came here this time and did not think too smoothly about this matter. He was sarcastic and even had a chance of meeting with swords and guns. But as soon as the other party continued, he was very happy.

In this era, most of the things Li Meng experienced were solved with real swords and guns, but this high school master climbed from the bottom to the current position. Everyone had dealt with, and his scheming was much better than Li Meng. Although Li Meng did not express anything clearly, he did not say death.

Gao Yigong knew that if he wanted to make up some reason at this time, it would be counterproductive. It would be better to speak directly, and after pondering for a moment, he spoke in a muffled voice:

"The camp has a big business and a lot of expenses. All provinces are thriving. Supplies can only be squeezed out from the hands of corrupt officials and bullies. However, the food and wages can be squeezed, but the weapons and armor cannot be used. The blacksmiths in the old camp are not enough. In Shaanxi and Henan, several arsenals opened in Henan are also empty."

Li Meng nodded. Not everyone is as dedicated as he is, and he is raising a group of craftsmen and blacksmiths. These military generals from Shandong are all purchased from the arsenal. The eunuchs who are in charge of weapons are not cheap. In order to save more money, these military generals do not replace weapons at all.

Therefore, it is common for soldiers to hold rust spears and blunt armor in their hands and wear tattered armor. It is not surprising at all. Cold weapons fight, swords and swords, and spears sting. If there are many battles, they will be scrapped soon. After many slashes, there will be gaps or even broken. The spear tips are the same. The armor is not always protected and must be repaired and maintained.

Li Chuang started his army and could not say that he fought every day, but he would not say anything about the five-day battle. Every day, he and the government army would surround, break through, attack and defend each other, pursue and block each other, and fight every day. It is impossible that he would really use wooden sticks and farm tools as described in Wen Ci.

But if there are so many battles, the loss of weapons will be huge. If you go to the camp and fight in the five provinces, but there is no base to rely on, there will naturally be no stable supply of weapons. You can only obtain it by opening the arsenal of the prefectures and counties, and some secret ways. The Qingyan exchanges weapons channels on the Jiaozhou Camp are naturally one of them.

However, Li Meng was very clear about the number of weapons shipments twice to three times a month. Although the number of weapons in several ships is quite large, it is a drop in the bucket for a large-scale army like the camp, even the core troops of the old camp, and it does not have much effect.

Gao Yigong told all the things he encountered when he broke into the camp. Perhaps it was because of the secret matter so openly. He felt a little nervous and hurriedly picked up the tea bowl and drank it in big gulp, and hesitated:

"To be honest, General Li said that in the past, the troops and horses of all units of the camp had their own channels. I don't know about other camps, but we bought them in Pingyang Prefecture City and Shanzhou, Shanxi. The price was about three to twice the market price. Zezhou Prefecture and Luzhou Prefecture produce iron, and there are many blacksmith workshops for official and private enterprises, so it is easy to buy weapons."

Although Gao Yigong was dull and his eloquence was average, Li Meng heard it with relish. If the camps in Shaanxi were fighting against officers and soldiers with wooden sticks and stones, they have been wiped out now. How can they fight until now? The stable food and pay and weapons must be very important. There is no big problem in collecting food and pay on the spot. The origin of this weapon was Li Meng always confused. When he was discussing privately with Zhou Juren, he still speculated whether it was the local garrison who bought and sold weapons privately. Who would have thought that it was the local garrison who bought and sold weapons openly in the prefecture of Shanxi.

Luzhou Prefecture and Zezhou Prefecture are both famous iron production places in the world. The Ming Dynasty set up a mining supervision and weapons bureau here, which is considered a major place. However, now the administration is chaotic and the scene of the end of the world. Eunuchs, officials in charge, and the landlords and gentry below are all thinking about making money from the official iron ore. It is not a big deal to sell weapons privately.

It was just that I was talking about silver, but Gao Yigong led the topic to the weapon, which was really a bit confused. Li Meng was not in a hurry. It was rare to listen to stories and anecdotes in other armies, which always had a lot of benefits for him, and he did not rush to turn this topic on the right path.

Gao Yigong's mood gradually became a little normal, and his speech became smoother, and he still said calmly:

"Since September last year, the price of weapons purchased in Pingyang Mansion suddenly increased fifteen times, and we had to give enough cash. The old camp had some savings, but the imperial dog officials Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were chasing each other tightly and kept biting it. The money for buying weapons was soon not enough."

Before he finished speaking, Li Meng choked in his throat with a sip of water, looked at Gao Yigong in front of him with laughter and tears:

"Brother Gao really doesn't treat Li as an outsider. Wouldn't this dog official be scolded even me?"

I knew that I was wrong, Gao Yigong was a little embarrassed, but this silent man opened up and spoke a lot, and continued there:

"The price is high, so I can't help but buy it. The foundation of the old camp has been consumed quickly. These days, the officers and soldiers suffered a great loss when they fought with the imperial court. Some of the brothers who had already surrendered later could only have 20% of their weapons. To be honest, Lord Li said that Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou are both capable people. If the camp continues like this, they will be injured. The King of Chuang said that no matter what, they will get a batch of weapons, fight a big battle and hurt the officers and soldiers. Otherwise, if they run like this, the camp will collapse."

There was no scruples at all. The scene was quite awkward. A large thief leader and a senior military officer from the court were talking about how to defeat the officers and soldiers and preserve the core of the "rebels". What they said was already a rebellious thing. Even without these words, the meeting between the two was enough to behead and exterminate the clan.

The other party wanted to borrow money to buy weapons, but Li Meng finally understood the reason for the 50,000 taels, but he still had some questions and couldn't help but ask:

"Why has the price of Shanxi's weapons increased so much? It's wrong to increase? Could it be that there is no iron?"

"That mine will be enough for a hundred years. We buy weapons through the big shops in Shanxi, Goldman Sachs and Pingyang's semicolons. Who knew that these dog-dollars raised prices in the second half of last year and said that if you don't buy them, then there will naturally be someone to buy them, and the weapons are not enough!"

Gao Yigong, who has always been calm, finally got a little angry in his words. He learned about other provinces and events through Tangbao and Dibao. Some businessmen’s descriptions, all Li Meng could know was a relatively one-sided thing. The information brought by Gao Yigong’s words is very large, and it really requires full attention to understanding.

The big business owner Goldman Sachs and Shanxi, perhaps this is the Shanxi businessman that has been widely publicized in the media for many years. Maybe he can find any root cause in modern times.

"Who can Goldman Sachs sell weapons besides you? Can the imperial court's troops afford money? Besides, they can directly allocate them in the arsenal!"

Even though the house was clean, Gao Yigong still spitted on the ground hatefully and cursed:

"Who to sell it to those Tartars outside the hole, those Tartars will sell it to the east, and they will get skins, cattle, horses and mountain goods..."

Gao Yigong was just talking vigorously, but saw Li Meng standing up from the chair, with a very shocked and angry expression, and shouting loudly:
Chapter completed!