Three hundred and sixtieth chapters along the river
On the third floor of Dajiang Yinzhuang, Jiang Fan, He Xianya and Liu Ruogu all stood respectfully. Pang Yu waved his hand for the three of them to take their seats and briefly introduced the results of the discussion with Ruan Dacheng to them.
Pang Yu looked at He Xianya, "In the past, we only dealt with the Yamen of the Governor of Yingtian. Ruan Dacheng is right. We should go to the prime ministers of the five provinces. Since Xiong Wencan is easy to deal with, we can make some efforts first. Third brother, you go to Guangdong.
On one trip, I would like to see Xiong Wencan in my name and bring some more gifts."
He Xianya was stunned for a moment and said, "It's a bit abrupt to give a gift like this. Can I ask Master Xiong about his route to the north first? The Anqing garrison can protect him along the way."
"He Sili is more thorough this way."
Pang Yu nodded in approval, "We still don't know where Lord Xiong will be stationed, but if he doesn't take a sea ship, he should go through Jiangxi. It's a suitable reason for us to support him."
Liu Ruogu looked up at Pang Yu and said, "I'm afraid that Master Xiong chose you as the base camp and strayed away from the foundation of Anqing."
"I was also worried about this at the beginning. Lord Xiong is not someone who goes into battle to kill the enemy, so he certainly will not run around with a garrison camp. Thirty thousand soldiers and horses will not gather in one place. They should still be stationed in various places.
The best result is to still be stationed in Anqing, but can be freely mobilized in the surrounding areas, and does not need to be restricted to the Yingtian area, so it is even more important to take care of it earlier."
He Xianya bowed in his seat and said, "I understand, little man."
"There is one more thing to do. Lord Xiong has served as an official in both Fujian and Guangdong. You can build a relationship with Lord Xiong's followers and ask them to introduce you. You can go to Macau and recruit some people who can make guns and cannons.
The craftsmen come back and talk to those red-haired devils. If there are artillery and self-made firecrackers for sale, buy some back no matter the price."
"Master Xiong has been at the beach for a long time, and he has a heavy responsibility this time. Naturally, he would like to have more powerful guns. My subordinates think that he is happy to see this."
After talking about the matter in Guangdong, Pang Yu turned to Jiang Fan with a smile, "Ruan Dacheng agreed to the matter in Yangzhou. Once he and Zhu Dadian come to an agreement, the Cao Gang will first establish a foothold in Yangzhou."
"Don't worry, sir, we will control all the docks in Yangzhou within half a year."
"It's better not to mess with Chao Guan. Zhu Dadian can't control it. Some methods can be used in other places, but it doesn't have to be just killing."
Pang Yu thought for a while and then said, "Caobang wants to point along the river. There are so many docks on the river. It is impossible to attack them all. There is so much movement. Why did I say that people from Wuhu should be in charge of Wuhu docks? Is it for other people?
Look at the place, just have this place as an example.
In Yangzhou, we might as well use both soft and hard tactics, and the rule from now on is to allow terminals from all over the country to join.”
"Join?"
"When you join a gang, they are in charge of the place, but they must manage it according to our rules. People from Anqing will come to help. The most important thing is that everyone benefits.
The Cao Gang is not from Anqing, but from the Dajiang Cao Gang. They are not here to steal jobs, but to give them a way to survive."
Jiang Fan nodded and said, "Young man understands, just like a boat company asking someone to bring a boat into the gang."
"That's what it means. Caobang, the boat shop and the bank are integrated. When we go to a place, we go together. We first go to the river and then the canal."
Yangzhou is a place where the river and the canal meet. Yinzhuang has already opened there and has a lot of silver deposits, but it is not under the jurisdiction of Yingtian, so it is far less convenient than Wuhu. Since Zhu Dadian provides convenience, it is better to do it sooner rather than later."
Liu Ruogu continued, "After the great victory in Susong, the bank's silver deposits increased greatly. Now the number of silver deposits in Nanjing exceeds one million taels. Yangzhou is indeed not as convenient as Nanjing. All sales are controlled by the tooth shop. It is said that the color of silver is in the tooth shop's interests."
It is difficult to pass banknotes here."
Jiang Fan hesitated for a moment, "Your Excellency has ordered manpower to be stationed in Huguang. If they come downstream to Yangzhou this time, will the manpower be withdrawn from Wuchang, Jiujiang and other places?"
"Keep it for now."
Pang Yu knew that staying would mean spending money. The deployment of these posts in Caobang was not as simple as sending people to be porters, but Hu, Guang, and Jiangxi were all upstream of Anqing and were important grain producing areas. They were the most important commodities on the river, so they still
Planning needs to be carried out. After thinking about it, he asked, "How will the weather be like this year in Henan, Huguang and Shaanxi?"
"Traders coming and going at various docks said that it seems to be slightly better than in previous years. If there are no bandits, the harvest should be enough to survive."
"This year is the tenth year of Chongzhen."
Pang Yu frowned and thought for a moment. He didn't know how many years it would be until the Qing Dynasty entered the country. The only thing he remembered was that Chongzhen didn't seem to be too old when he died. He should not be more than forty years old. The emperor this year is twenty-seven, so
That means there may still be about ten years left.
Judging from this year's climate, the rogue bandits have not yet been able to expand their strength to a larger level. Officers and soldiers from various places are still capable of pursuing them, and the emperor can increase their pay, which shows that this empire still has certain potential.
However, the rogue bandits are still very destructive. Every time they pass by, the local area becomes more devastated. Even if it has been invaded by bandits, when the rogue bandits cannot obtain enough supplies along the official road, they will naturally expand the scope of their plunder and the scope of destruction.
will increase, producing more refugees. When the damage reaches a critical value, perhaps the rogue bandits will develop rapidly.
His most important reference point, Li Zicheng, is still active in Shaanxi and Sichuan, and is being chased by officers and soldiers. I haven't heard that he has achieved a clear victory this year, so it seems that it will still take a few years.
But his layout relies heavily on commerce. If Huguang and Jiangxi are completely destroyed, and the population and demand disappear, the river will have no trade value, and Anqing, which is in the middle reaches, will no longer have an advantage, and his operation will be unsustainable.
Judging from the current strength of the garrison camp, it needs to expand rapidly within a few years to protect not only the river, but also the wider area to maintain production and demand.
This is what he wanted to get from Xiong Wencan, that is, the garrison camp needed a larger range of activities to be able to project troops where needed, so he changed his mind and struck a suitable balance between garrisoning Anqing and large-scale conquests.
.
After the victory at Susong, the garrison had a good opportunity to expand. Pang Yu no longer planned to limit himself to the number of troops in the imperial court. Zuo Liangyu was a ready example, but Zuo Liangyu could not be an example everywhere.
There are people in the court who are constantly impeaching him. Last month, the military affairs department was in trouble. Ling Yiqu also impeached the commander-in-chief Zuo Liangyu.
Not good, and Pang Yu needs reputation, and his method of doing things is still different from Zuo Liangyu, so he needs to find a higher level of care.
Now that the news from all over the place has been summarized, Qian Qianyi's matter has not yet been settled. Fushe and Donglin are crumbling under Wen Tiren's blow and are not suitable for climbing up. Most of the officials in Anqing are biased towards Donglin, and Pang Yu dare not touch them for the time being.
But from the garrison eunuchs in Nanjing, Pang Yu realized the power of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. "Our biggest disadvantage has always been that there is no one in Beijing to care about us, and we have no sources of information, so we act at a loss."
After the Susong War, our garrison was well-known across the river. Naturally, we have to extend our power to all places. The requirements for intelligence will be higher, and it can even determine our success or failure. Therefore, we will not only extend our tentacles along the river, but also to all places.
Go to the capital."
What we were talking about just now was about the Cao Gang, and now we are talking about the Secret Service, but they are all under the jurisdiction of Jiang Fan. Jiang Fan habitually bowed and said, "Your Excellency, most of the people in the Secret Service come from the Cao Gang and are good at everything.
We have inquired about the docks, county offices, and shipping companies. This capital... I am afraid there is currently no suitable candidate. Ruan Dacheng has been a capital official and still has a lot of contacts in the capital. If he is willing to help, he can get twice the result with half the effort."
Pang Yu waved his hands and said, "The capital is bigger, and the market also needs manpower. The secret guard is newly established and has no experience in this area. It is step by step. As for Ruan Dacheng, they are still outsiders after all. The news he gave is
As for the other channel, we have to maintain the network introduced by us in the end. We mainly rely on ourselves. The three religions in the capital, the officialdom and the palace are all sources of information, rather than being limited to one place. Besides, we have other advantages."
He turned to Liu Ruogu and said, "Official loans can be started. The interest rate should not conflict with other banks, but other conditions can be relaxed. There should be no shortage of business if Fushe recommends it to us. In the future, these new officials will be distributed all over the country and they will be ready."
sources of information."
"I understand, I can also inquire about this person's literary talents from Fushe. If he is ranked first or second in high school, I can be more relaxed."
Hearing this, Pang Yu thought of Yang Erming's story. All the official loan lenders followed him to Anqing. It was Pang Yu who sent him there. He seemed to be a Jinshi in the seventh year of Chongzhen. He couldn't help but ask, "The exam is held every three years. This year."
Is it time to release the list again?”
"To tell you the truth, the results will be released in February."
Pang Yu said, "Then let Fushe introduce some more people who need official loans. I haven't seen Fang Yizhi for a long time. Did he win this time?"
...In Longpanli at Qingliangmen in Nanjing, Pang Yu had just walked to the alley when he looked up and saw a group of knights coming towards him. They were all young men. They were running in a hurry, shouting loudly all the way to make people avoid them.
There was a lot of chaos in the street, and passers-by did not dare to provoke them. They avoided and cursed. Guo Fengyou and several other guards hurriedly protected them. Pang Yu did not have to fight with these young people and took the lead to step aside to the street.
When the group of horses passed by, Pang Yu suddenly saw that there were two brothers, Fang Yizhi, among them. He was here to visit Fang Yizhi today. He needed him to contact the official loan of Fushe again, and at the same time, he also inquired about the situation of Fushe and whether it was
Being implicated in the Qian Qianyi case, if the court wanted to crack down on Fushe, Pang Yu would not get involved in the official loans of Fushe's friends for the time being.
Immediately he shouted, "Master Fang!"
Fang Yizhi had already run by, and when he heard the sound, he turned around on his horse. Pang Yu waved quickly. Fang Yizhi recognized it and immediately pulled the horse's head. A rider behind him almost collided with him.
Fang Yizhi skillfully controlled his horse to avoid it, and dismounted next to Pang Yu from the roadside. Pang Yu noticed that he was still carrying a sword, and laughed at the teenagers who were waiting for him, "It turns out that General Pang, who defeated the Eight Thieves, has arrived.
Come and see me soon."
The young men did not dismount, but were noisily greeting Pang Yu. The scene was quite lively.
"You go first, I want to catch up with General Pang today."
Fang Yizhi pulled the horse and asked Pang Yu to go back to his apartment with him. Pang Yu asked with interest, "Master Fang is riding a horse and wielding a sword. Where are you going to kill thieves?"
Fang Yizhi laughed and said, "I can't compare to General Pang, but I still have the heart to kill thieves for the country. These fellow members are also people who talk about military affairs and practice martial arts, so they naturally have to practice in their free time."
Pang Yu praised him, Liu Ruogu and the others didn't know about Fang Yizhi's exam situation. They only said that he spent the whole day doing activities with fellow members of Fushe, and often saw him riding horses, or else he was hanging out in Qinhuai.
"Mr. Fang, has he been studying physics intensively recently?"
"Not really."
Fang Yizhi suddenly fell silent. He pulled his horse to the door of his apartment and stopped, saying, "You might as well tell General Pang that he failed in the provincial examination last year. He has been free for the past few years, but he has no intention of studying miscellaneous subjects."
Pang Yu was a little surprised. He had always thought that Fang Yizhi had already passed the examination and was just waiting for the national examination in Nanjing. However, Fang Yizhi did not even pass the provincial examination.
"Young master Fang is still young and has a lot of poems and books, so there is no need to worry about this small setback."
"You're not young anymore, I'm already twenty-six this year."
Fang Yizhi sighed, "My father was already a high school scholar at the age of twenty-six, and our Yang Tangzun from Tongcheng is only more than ten years old."
Pang Yu was stunned for a moment. Later generations always think that people in their twenties are very young, and this habit has not changed to this day.
"I have no intention of taking the imperial examination now, and serving my country is not limited to the imperial examination."
Fang Yizhi suddenly smiled, "Fortunately, we have some clues about my father's resurrection. If I have the responsibility of leading the army, I plan to serve in the army and kill the thieves for the country at the right time."
Pang Yu was a little surprised when he heard that Fang Kongzhen was about to resurrect. When the civil unrest in Tongcheng was quelled, Fang Kongzhen was admitted to the Shenxiang Bureau. He reported to the cabinet along the way and was regarded as a border talent. At that time, Pang Yu
He thought he would revive soon, but there has been no news in the past two years. Pang Yu almost forgot that Fang Kongzhen was still a township official. At this time, he suddenly heard that he was about to revive. It was probably because the court was in urgent need of talented officials.
And Fang Kongzheng also has suitable connections.
He didn't want to ask about the specific position, so he just cupped his hands and said, "Congratulations to Mr. Fang first."
Fang Yizhi finally smiled, laughed, stretched out his hand towards the door and said, "Please, General Pang."