Chapter three hundred and forty seventh military pay
"Sure enough, he is a figure who can compete with Xiao Jihuai." After He Qizhou praised him, he quickly regained his composure and asked sternly: "Do you know the name of 'General'? Do you know 'Yue Yin'
?”
"I just heard about it not long ago. It was from the Zhang family." Jiang Shuo was a little confused, but still answered truthfully.
"Does your family have anything to do with that bastard general? Why are you smuggling behind the imperial court like them?" He Qizhou continued to ask?
"You mean the deal with the Northern Zhou Dynasty? I told you earlier, but it's a long story. Let's talk about how you survived." Jiang Shuo said.
He Qizhou said firmly: "No, if we don't explain this clearly, we can't talk about other things. Just keep your story short!"
"Okay, I'm afraid of you, but the transaction with them is very confidential, so you must not spread it to anyone." Jiang Shuo said: "Since the closure of the market, the two parties have never stopped private transactions. Private smuggling is endless. How can we catch it?
We couldn’t catch them all, and since we couldn’t stop it, my family and the Zhang family simply took over the matter, and the private transactions gradually stopped.”
"Then you can make such dirty money with peace of mind?" He Qizhou asked.
Jiang Shuo said aggrievedly:
"What kind of talk is this? Do you know how many border towns, hundreds of gates, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers have received their official salaries in full every year? How can we be stable without relying on these transactions with the Northern Zhou Dynasty?
Can you live with those soldiers? They are working hard to support their families!
Besides, because there is no natural danger, the imperial court has invested too much money in the Yanjing area due north over the years to build elite troops and build defense lines. How can it take into account the border towns in Shaanxi-Gansu area?
Compared with other armies, we are poorly fed, poorly clothed, and even have the worst weapons! Didn’t my family and the Zhang family make up for these shortfalls in salary?
Don't worry, the emperor knows about this. Without his acquiescence, we wouldn't dare to take such a big risk."
Jiang Shuo said this, and He Qizhou believed eighty-nine percent of it. He had traveled from Shaanxi to Gansu, and he had seen the land becoming more and more barren along the way, but he still asked with some doubts: "So, what's the deal between you and that big human trafficker?"
Isn't it different for the general? Do you know whether the actions of that bastard general also have the approval of the emperor?"
"Our emperor wants to leave his name in history, so why would he do such dirty things? But I can tell you something. Someone has been buying off generals in the army recently. The bids are very high, and they only give money.
, there is no need to do anything for them, at most only a few people can be inserted.
Several of the middle and low-level generals that my family and the Zhang family have installed in the army have received money. We asked them to accept the entire amount according to the order first, and at the same time get to know the details of the other party. But the other party is very careful and has no clue yet.
Later we came to the conclusion that the mysterious funder only bribed those generals who did not belong to the three major families and were not close friends of the four major generals. This person must also have spies in the Privy Council, otherwise he would not be so familiar with the situation in the military.
We suspect that the only one with such financial resources is the general you mentioned. After so many years of smuggling, his money is probably not much less than that of the national treasury. Both of our families have given secrets to the emperor, but we haven’t done so yet.
echo."
"Could it be the Zhang family? Zhang Zhiren is both the deputy envoy to the Privy Council and the minister of the Ministry of War, and is also related to the emperor. But it is unlikely? It was the Zhang family that cut off the financial path between the big bastard and the Western Regions?" He Qizhou muttered.
road.
"This is indeed impossible! Uncle Zhang is the most respected official in the DPRK. I can guarantee it with my head," Jiang Shuo said.
"That bastard is in collusion with the Northern Zhou Dynasty! How can we fight this war? By the way, do you know who the guard of this small town is? Has Jiang Li's information been sent out?" He Qizhou started to get to the point.
Jiang Shuo pointed to the tip of his nose with his finger and said: "I am the deputy general of Yuguan and the leader of the Zhenbeiguan garrison! In order to see you, I finally found this decent uniform. Jiang Li's intelligence on the first day
So I sent it back. It has a wax seal on it. I have no right to open it, but I also sent a message back about his exposed situation. It is up to the Inspector General and the Privy Council to judge."
"According to Guo Wen of the Lotus Gang, you must have spies from Zhou Ting here, either mixed in the caravan or permanently stationed in this small town!" He Qizhou said.
"I also know this. I have rotated seventy-eight out of ten of the garrison in the small town. There should be no big problems with this group of people now. As for the businessmen, it is hard to say. In fact, there are two families who have come forward, and there are still more people below them.
Six or seven smaller businesses have been listed, and most of them have sent people here. They have been running around in a hurry these past few days, urging the two companies to close the deal as soon as possible. It is hard to say whether there are spies from the Zhou people among them."
"Those small merchants don't have much access to information, right? I think if there are spies, they must be in the two big ones, and they are people who travel this trade route all year round and have easy contact with the Northern Zhou Dynasty." He Qizhou said.
"If that's the case, my family's Xinglongji has always been controlled by Lao Wu, and Uncle Gen is also an old man. I can vouch for them with my head. As for the shopkeeper Zhao Er of Bailiju, he doesn't come often, so this time
Their chief shopkeeper came here because he was seriously ill. Speaking of which, Wei Xing, the third shopkeeper, came more often. I heard from people in Bailiju that he was mainly the one doing the talking in the past," Jiang Shuo said.
He Qizhou pondered for a moment and said: "How many heads do you have? Are you willing to use your own head to guarantee it? The Wei Xing you are talking about is the tall and thin guy? So he should be able to set the price and finalize the deal?"
Jiang Shuo said: "That's natural. Shopkeeper Zhao actually listens to him most of the time."
He Qizhou continued to ask: "You just said that those small merchants are already begging the two to make a deal? What do they mainly sell?"
Jiang Shuo said: "It's mainly luxury goods like silk and fine porcelain. The Yan Gang is really ruthless. I guess we can't stand it. We haven't let go for so many days. I guess the deal will be done at the price of the Yan Gang in the end, because those
Merchants can still make money. There is currently a severe shortage of salt in our area. If the price of salt rises every day, the sooner the transaction can be completed, the sooner they can turn it into cash."
"Then if I increase the price quoted by Yan Gang by 10%, will it be easy to close the deal?"
"That's right! If this is the case, I will tell them to close the deal quickly. With so many businessmen here, I am also a little worried." Jiang Shuo said.
He Qizhou finally figured it out and said, "Okay, let me tell you this. Before I talked to you, the person I was talking to was Shopkeeper Wei. He didn't want to hear my compromise plan at all. I will increase the price offered by the Salt Gang."
He was not moved at all and said that he wanted to discuss it with Shopkeeper Zhao. I guess he must be the one who resisted the merchants below and refused to let go!"
"Indeed, because he is the most experienced, everyone still trusts him. Is there any problem with this?" Jiang Shuo asked.
"Yes! I guess he is Zhou's spy!" He Qizhou said decisively.
"Why did you say this?" Jiang Shuo was puzzled.
He Qizhou said:
"Let me tell you what I think. Along the way, Zhou Ting and the Salt Gang have been trying their best to conceal Jiang Li's identity. Their purpose is to ensure that the information is sent. Now that the information has been sent, why doesn't the Salt Gang not find a way to conclude the deal as soon as possible?
This kind of firm bargaining is too strange, because the Salt Gang also needs this batch of goods to regain its strength as soon as possible, so I guess this is stalling for time! It wants the information to be sent to the court! It wants to wait for the court's reaction!
Shopkeeper Zhao went too far and at least wanted to listen to my quotation. Maybe he was worried that my plan would be put under greater pressure if it reached the ears of those small merchants, so he chose to turn a deaf ear. What does this mean? It means that he also
He is stalling for time. He has no reason to stall for time. The only possibility is that he is stalling for time for the Salt Gang, so he is a spy!"
Jiang Shuo sighed in admiration and said: "This is where your He Yiquan is really powerful! I didn't want to say it at first, you know? Shopkeeper Wei's guy is the secret agent of Wuchasi, that is, every time he comes to talk to Jiang
We met with Li Li, and now it seems that both of them may be spies of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. So tell me what they want to do to waste time?"
"I don't know this yet, but there is one thing that deserves warning. In addition to bringing salt, the Salt Gang also brought in at least six cartloads of heavy objects. I guess most of them are ordnance and the like. Are you with them?
Is there an internal agent in the military camp? Is there anything unusual recently?"
Jiang Shuo said: "There was one who was transferred away a few days ago. Our watchers on the mountain said that most of the sergeants in the opposite city have been rotated out in the past ten days. For this reason, I am still a little nervous. I am on the mound every day.
I patrolled along the driveway under the ravine. The day your convoy came in, I also took a careful look up there."
Qi Zhou asked: "Is that the only road leading to the military camp from the Zhou Dynasty?"
Jiang Shuo said: "That's not true. There is a smaller road. Most of the road sections are only a few feet wide. It can only pass one person and one horse. But the only road that can be used for driving is the road at the bottom of the ditch. We will always pay attention to whether the other party is there.
If the baggage comes in, if there is any, the road at the bottom of the mountain will be blocked directly."
Qi Zhou asked again: "I think there is only one battalion of officers and soldiers stationed in Zhennan Pass at most. With this small number of people, we can attack? How many people do you have here? Why are you so nervous about their every move? Is this small town very important?"
"
"It's very important! Very important! I came here apparently because I offended the old man and was sent to this most remote border. In fact, the old man didn't trust anyone else to guard him. In addition to sending me, he sent all his personal guards.
Sent here. Because once the war begins, this small city is the fortress that the Zhou Dynasty wants to capture most!"
Jiang Shuo continued:
"The small city is located in northern Shaanxi. As long as this city is captured, the cavalry can reach Yuguan in two days. The terrain of Yuguan is far less dangerous than here. If we are not prepared, we can easily be captured again.
If he continues to lose Yuguan, Zhou Qi will have a smooth road in front of him. He can join forces with Tongwancheng to the west, open up the Helan Mountain Pass, and approach Lanzhou. The next step is to cut off the Hexi Corridor and leave Tuyuhun alone!
Directly threatening the three important towns in the north of Shanxi to the east, our country's defenses will be ineffective;
To the south, it is approaching Chang'an, and then threatening the capital Luoyang! So although there are several Zhenbei Pass along the Great Wall, the Beiguan of my town is the most important. Even if it falls, Yuguan and other subsequent passes must do the work.