Guo Yao'er was stunned for a moment, thought about it again, and then finally realized: "Oh, yes, yes."
Since becoming the governor of Mizhou, Guo Yao'er, who led 200 troops back then, has greatly expanded his authority, and his status seems to have been elevated, becoming a big shot. But he actually feels that he was more comfortable back then. Although he has great authority now
, things are also complicated, and each one has never been thought of before, which often makes him focus on one thing and lose sight of another.
Since Yang An'er occupied most of Shandong, he immediately assigned his generals to various places. The generals tried their best to expand their armies to enrich their power. The training of taking charge of one area and one army gradually made the generals understand that serious rebellion would be different from the small rebels who had previously occupied the mountain stronghold.
Small troubles are different.
In addition to soldiers, an army also needs countless supplies such as food, salt, medicine, clothing, flags, tents, weapons, armor, mules and horses, and vehicles. Where do these supplies come from?
Yang An'er's marshal's office did not have the ability to mobilize supplies. When Yang An'er served as the commander of the Tiewa Ganzhan Army, he made great efforts to recruit a few literati who could do things. But after a large-scale army was launched and swept through Shandong, his close literati were scattered.
Shandong is so big, it's like throwing two or three sesame seeds into a big pot of soup, and everything is unprepared.
In this case, the generals can only show their own special abilities. But their knowledge and talents will only be worse than Yang An'er; the available manpower around them will only be less than Yang An'er. In the end, they can only use plundering the rich
, the method of scraping three feet off the ground.
Guo Yao'er was one of the few generals under Yang An'er who was unwilling to act like this.
If he didn't do this, he would always be short of money; if he was tight of money, he would not be able to win over the soldiers. Ji Qi and Jixian, who were also stationed in Mizhou, could not get any benefits from Guo Yao'er, so they had to do their own thing.
As a result, they still became bandit soldiers, and even dared to kill people at will in front of Guo Yao'er's eyes.
In the end, the people continued to suffer and the rebels became increasingly unstoppable, creating an unsolvable situation.
Today, a maritime businessman relied on the connections of local heroes to send a message to Guo Yao'er's army, saying that he had several businesses he wanted to do. From this, Guo Yao'er thought of a way to solve the problem, so he came out to greet him in person.
The Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties was famous for its wealth. As long as you were willing to pay, the maritime merchants had everything and could raise anything. However, Guo Jiaer had been rebelling for several months and had nothing else, so he still accumulated some frivolous wealth.
It would be great if we could exchange those gold and silver for the needs of the army!
At that moment, Guo Yao'er welcomed the merchants and their entourage back to their base camp.
After a few chats on the road, Guo Yao'er found out that this group of merchants came from Mingzhou in the Song Dynasty. The young man's surname was Zhang, who was from Mingzhou in the Song Dynasty and was also the leader of the caravan. The tall and thin scholar's surname was Zhou.
He came from the private port of Fushan Island in Laizhou and was a partner of Mr. Zhang. And the old soldier Zhao Bin was the leader of the escort invited by the caravan.
This caravan had just acquired a unique business in swim bladder glue and arrow shafts in Laizhou. On their way back, they passed through Mizhou. Because they had some old friendship with the military academy under Guo Yaoer, they took advantage of this friendship to land ashore.
When I got to Zhucheng, I wanted to see if there was any additional business to do.
"Yes! There is business!"
After everyone sat down in the account, Guo Yao'er cheered up and said with a smile: "We lack everything here, but we have a lot of money. But I don't know what you can provide?"
Zhang Kai smiled slightly and took out a thin silk book from his sleeve: "Commander, please take a look. This is the material I can raise from the Song Dynasty."
Guo Yao'er didn't know much about literacy, so he immediately waved a clerk to come up, open the books, select the important ones and tell them.
Although Zhang Kai is young, he is indeed a veteran in business. In his silk book, he introduced various goods in detail, including some cloths or medicines, and even drew bright pictures to explain the origin and characteristics of the goods.
The scribe was reading and explaining to Guo Yao'er. From time to time he would also give a few words of praise, admiring Zhang Kai's carefulness.
Precisely because the book was written in detail, there were actually not many types of goods, and the three or five pages were quickly turned over. The clerk bowed to Guo Yao'er and returned to the next page.
Guo Yao'er pondered in silence for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "We need food and medicinal materials. Now we can negotiate a price. According to the book, I will take them all. Others, such as tea, silk and silk
He patted the table and laughed twice to himself: "You guys should know that we are rebels! The heads of rebels are not their own anymore, so why do you want these enjoyments?"
Zhang Kai also laughed: "The commander-in-chief started the rebellion just for the sake of glory and wealth. How can there be no reason not to enjoy it? Even if the commander-in-chief himself is not good at this, he will use it to reward the soldiers, or give it to other generals, or even donate it to Marshal Yang An'er.
It’s also good!”
Guo Jie'er snorted heavily.
Nonsense, of course that's good.
Guo Yao'er lives in a tent in the military camp, and his daily life is no different from the past. However, these days, many of the other generals under Yang An'er's command are living a life that is beyond description! If Guo Yao'er takes these things as gifts, who will
Don’t like to smile?
It would of course be better if it were presented to Marshal Yang. Marshal Yang has recently been busy arranging the founding of the country and proclaiming himself emperor, so he probably would not refuse to bring some rare things from the south to support the occasion.
Guo Yao'er heard that since ancient times, when emperors ascended the throne, auspicious signs appeared. If I offer something good at this time, it might also be auspicious and can be exchanged for promotion.
Thinking of this, he continued to shake his head: "No need."
He pressed his elbow on the desk, looked deeply at Zhang Kai, and said in a serious tone: "We are rebels, not officials of the imperial court, so we don't need these things."
Once a veteran like him became serious and powerful, Zhang Kai couldn't help but shrink back.
Guo Yao'er then heard a chuckle from the tent, with a hint of mockery in the laughter.
Guo Jie'er frowned.
In any case, these are maritime merchants who can bring a lot of good things. Guo Yaoer also hopes to use them as a starting point to slowly attract more maritime merchants to Mizhou. So why are maritime merchants afraid of the power of warriors?
Ridiculous? It seems that the control of subordinates has been relaxed these days. There are also people in the Chinese army's tent who are so frivolous!
He glanced at his subordinates to see who was so rude, but he saw that all of his subordinates had serious faces, and the one who laughed mockingly was the scholar Zhou Keshan.
Guo Yaoer asked curiously: "Mr. Zhou, why are you laughing?"
Zhou Keshan leaned back and sighed: "What I laugh at is that there are too few people like Dutong among Marshal Yang's subordinates."
"What's the meaning?"
"We came from Jiaoxi and Gaomi areas, and we have met several generals from your department before. With all due respect, few of Marshal Yang's subordinates think that they are rebels. Some think that they are rich men, and some think that they are rich men.
Think of yourself as an official with a decent background, but some people, hey, just think of themselves as thieves."
These words are simply pointing at the nose, saying that Yang An'er's subordinates are in trouble.
Guo Jie'er couldn't help but feel angry.
Just as he was waiting for a response, Zhou Keshan reached into his sleeve and took out another silk book: "General, the list you just looked at is the materials we can assemble and traffic from Mingzhou in the Song Dynasty. Now, please take a look at this
A list.”
Guo Yao'er suppressed his anger and asked the official to come up and take it. The official looked at it twice and said in a trembling voice: "Du Tong, this... this..."
"What's on top of this?"
"There are swords and guns, armor, and arrows!" The officer looked over and over twice: "Five hundred swords and guns each! Fifty armor collars! Ten thousand arrows... That is enough to meet the needs of our army!"
Guo Yao'er was startled, grabbed the silk book with his hands, and flipped through it. Although he might not recognize every word, those pictures were indeed familiar to Guo Yao'er.
With the silk book still in his hand, Guo Yao'er suddenly stood up. Because the movement was too big, he almost brought down the people in front of him: "You are not ordinary maritime merchants! You are from..."
He noticed Zhao Bin again and remembered the familiar feeling from before.
Damn it, I was negligent. Now in Shandong, there is only one family that can command such battle-hardened veterans!