Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1656 Cutting Yuan ([-]) Japanese Bandits and Mutiny

The water boats have arrived in Nanjing from Suzhou.In the Jiangdong Guild Hall on the banks of the Qinhuai River, several geisha are playing or performing the recently popular "Huan Sha Ji".At this moment, there is a minor tune of Qingqu inside the house, and the sound of rain outside.

Wang Shiqi and Shu Qingping sat facing each other, there was only tea on the table, no wine.

It's rare to go ashore to rest, and you should drink a few cups to dehumidify and relieve fatigue. Could it be that this deputy Shu Qianhu doesn't drink alcohol?Wang Shiqi, who always prided himself on being a refined scholar, felt a little strange.

Shu Qingping seemed to be hiding something under his calm expression. While pouring tea to Wang Shiqi, he asked, "Hundreds of tank ships and tens of thousands of people are moored at the port. Only officials from more than a hundred households can go ashore to rest. The rest of the officers and soldiers must guard the ships." Zhi Ye...does Master Wang know why?"

"Naturally, brother Shu has a good command of the army, ordering and prohibiting, so as to ensure that the water transportation is safe."

"Haha...Master Wang, look at how many wine shops and brothels on both sides of the Qinhuai River, painting boats and singing songs, and wanting extravagance. The Cao Jun floating on the boat is also a human being. Who doesn't want to live and dream in this gentle village?" Shu Qingping sneered and continued. : "Hmph... Human nature is such that the imperial court can't control these things with a piece of paper. What can control these things is to let them understand the danger."

Seeing that Wang Shiqi's expression froze, Shu Qingping continued: "Master Wang, sometimes what you see with your eyes may not be the truth, just like this Qinhuai River, in your eyes or paradise on earth, in my eyes it is purgatory. "

Wang Shiqi had a shocked expression on his face, wondering why Shu Qingping said these words suddenly.Looking at the scar on Shu Qingping's face, he felt a chill in his heart for no reason.

Shu Qingping came over, as if he suddenly lost his respect for civil servants, he reached out and patted Wang Shiqi on the shoulder, and said, "The chief general of Zhenhaiwei, that one named Cai Jiacheng, has behaved not quite right recently, does Mr. Wang know? "

"Talking about the different ways of civil and military affairs, he is just a general, how does Wang know that there is something wrong with him?" Wang Shiqi replied.

"Really? Maybe so." Shu Qingping nodded noncommittally, and asked again: "Then there are other things that are not right, Mr. Wang must be able to know."

Wang Shiqi subconsciously took a deep breath and asked, "What's the matter?"

"The canal is becoming more and more congested, so the water boats go northward in batches as usual, and they usually don't squeeze together. However, according to Shu's observation, there are no less than five hundred water boats in Nanjing today, and there are at least seven large and small Cao armies. I don’t know how many people there are, but it must be at least [-].”

Shu Qing looked at Wang Shiqi calmly, paused, and asked slowly: "And Mr. Wang condescends to supervise the transportation of Shu's small fleet with his dignified honor as the head of the household department. I have to be surprised, but at the same time I really can't help but want to ask: Why did the master come here?"

Wang Shiqi smiled slightly: "Shu Qianrong's question is really surprising. Now Gao Jinglue is supervising the battle in Mobei, my imperial court's 60 troops are away, and the capital's supply of food is getting tighter...Under such circumstances, an official of my household department How strange is it to go south to supervise the transportation of food and salaries in person?"

Shu Qingping shook his head and said: "As a rule, the capital's grain storage will have an additional 400 million shi in addition to what is needed for a year, so that there is always a risk of mildew in the past. This is normal in my court. , It is to clean up the storage, eliminate the accumulated disadvantages, and add another 100 million stones for the storage of grain.

What's more, in this campaign, the military rations directly supplied by the capital were only 7 to [-] for the imperial guards, and the rest were drawn from the Nine Sides' reserves, which had also been additionally increased in the past two years.The Northern Expedition has only been going on for two months now, and news has even spread from the front that the Tumen army has disappeared, and the two armies have not yet engaged in direct combat.

From this point of view, the abundance of grain reserves in the capital is far from critical, and it seems that the officials who went south to supervise the transportation of grain and grass are not only from the Ministry of Households... What does the unknown king think about this? "

Wang Shiqi was at a loss for words for a while, but he still quickly replied: "I think the imperial court is planning for a rainy day, and would rather make more preparations than crouching when things come to an end."

"If the princes in power are only out of this consideration, it will naturally be the blessing of the imperial court and the world." Shu Qingping said with a smile: "However, the above-mentioned circumstances and the sudden arrival of Jin Yiwei when he was in Suzhou a few days ago, the whole Things just seemed a little bit out of the ordinary."

Wang Shiqi shook his head: "Shu Qianrong, you and I are mere officials of the fifth or sixth rank, so why should you care too much about these things? The sky is falling and there is a tall man standing on top of it, so where is it our turn to discuss and worry about it?"

Shu Qingping was silent for a while, paced a few steps, and said, "In other words, something really happened."

"Maybe, maybe not, but Wang still said that, we can't change anything, why bother to trouble ourselves, or even die?" Wang Shiqi replied quietly.

Shu Qingping snorted softly, and there seemed to be a little mockery in his laughter, or he laughed at himself: "Of course Shu is an insignificant pawn, but you are not Mr. Wang."

Wang Shiqi's heart suddenly jumped, and he forced himself to calm down and said: "The master of the sixth grade, if you catch a lot of people in Beijing, aren't you also a pawn?"

Shu Qingping glanced at him, and said: "My lord, if my investigation is correct, your name is Uncle Jiong, and you are from Taicang. Great-grandfather Yuzhuo, Chenghua Jinshi, Minister of the Ministry of War; Zu Yuying, Jiajing Jinshi, Youdu Yushi; father Taboo Shizhen, Jinshi of Jiajing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, a leading figure in the literary world...

Isn't it too modest for Mr. Wang to say that he is a small soldier with such a life experience?If this is the case, people like Shu and his brother Cao Jun who are here are probably no longer considered human beings in the eyes of Master Wang. "

A flash of light flashed in Wang Shiqi's eyes, but he immediately recovered his expression, and said lightly: "So what if some of Wang's ancestors were not well-known? I think Gao Situ, the official of my ministry, is almost the same age as Wang, but now he is The honor of the Ministry and the strategy of the side, once this battle is successful, I am afraid that returning to the court will be the future of the old man, and the title of Marquis and Prime Minister is not far away. Compared with it, if Wang is not a pawn, what is it?
Furthermore, Shu Qianrong's worries at the moment have nothing to do with Wang's family background.Moreover, the person who went south to supervise the transportation of the water boats was far from someone Wang, which is clearly the handiwork of the imperial court.That being the case, whether you or I are worrying or doubting here, it is useless in the end, so why bother?If it's going to rain, and your mother is going to get married, it's better not to ask, not to talk, not to do it. "

Just as Shu Qingping was about to speak, he suddenly heard someone outside exclaiming: "It's water! It's water!"

"Sure enough something is wrong!" Shu Qingping was startled by the shout, and suddenly turned his head to look outside. The firelight from the sky was reflected on his face through the window, and hundreds of tank boats on the riverside wharf were connected into a fire dragon by the fire.

But this is not what shocked him the most, because the voice of the shout changed immediately: "Japanese pirates attack at night! There are Japanese pirates!"

Shu Qingping's heart tightened, he turned around, picked up his saber, and glanced at Wang Shiqi.Wang Shiqi also stood up, with a look of panic on his face, and muttered: "Why are there still Japanese pirates?"

Shu Qingping sneered, but ignored him, jumped out of the window on the second floor with his knife in hand, and rushed towards the flagship.On his flagship was a congratulatory gift from the governors of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River presented to the emperor. If it was snatched by Japanese pirates, all the brothers of the Cao army on board would die.

At this moment, hundreds of tank boats and the shore of the wharf have been engulfed in a sea of ​​flames, making the Qinhuai River red, and the lightning and rainstorm did not reduce the flames.Countless Qinhuai painting boats were in a mess, scurrying around like headless chickens, which aggravated the chaos.

Some soldiers on the tank boat had no time to bring weapons, let alone put on equipment, and some soldiers were even so drunk that they were injured by Japanese pirates who came from nowhere.Not only his Cao army was caught off guard for a while, but several Cao troops were defeated.

This group of Japanese pirates obviously came prepared. They were in a small team of ten people, with archers, two knives on their backs, and a clear route. Once they succeeded, they retreated immediately and never wanted to fight. The whole operation was orderly.

The Cao army and the Japanese pirates fought together on the ship, the dock and the shore.Shu Qingping jumped onto the tank boat, only to feel a cold light flash in front of his eyes, his face became hot, blood spurted out, and the left cheek was slashed by Japanese pirates, but luckily he dodged in time and did not hit the vital point.

He swung his sword back and forced the ferocious Japanese pirate back, and then stepped forward with three swords.Perhaps the Japanese bandit had been killed easily before, but he did not expect that a formidable opponent suddenly came, and he accidentally split his chest obliquely, and fell to the ground with a bang.

It was too late for Shu Qingping to be happy, the flagship was in danger at this moment, he had to find a way to stabilize the situation.Shu Qingping shouted, using his own voice to stabilize Cao Jun's morale, while bravely brandishing his saber, he dealt with the two Japanese pirates who came to outflank him.

At this moment, a cloud-piercing arrow emitting red flames whizzed through the night sky and exploded like daytime.The sound of rumbling war drums came from far and near from the river.

A typical Jinghua-style armed transport ship was in front, two ordinary Ming army Haicang ships were behind, and three warships passed through the night in a character-shaped attack formation and sailed to the dock.

The soldiers on the armed transport ship uniformly wore brown bunts inside and sleeveless armor outside. More than 100 soldiers armed with Wanli Type [-] muskets lined up on both sides of the deck, and the front and back rows alternately fired salvos at the Japanese pirates.

The soldiers on the Ming army's Haicang boat uniformly wore mandarin duck battle robes, carried long knives on their backs, and swung flying hooks in their hands to throw at the tank boat.After the flying hook grabs the mast, he leaps forward, flying into the sea of ​​fire to fight the Japanese pirates close to him like a divine soldier descending from the sky.

At the same time, another [-] soldiers disembarked and landed, blocked the pier and cut off the Japanese pirates' retreat.Shu Qingping was shocked by the scene in front of him. He had never seen such a well-equipped and well-trained army with clear tactics.But when he subconsciously looked at the bridge flag of the leading armed transport ship, he suddenly understood.

"Tax Police Headquarters!"

After the establishment of the two departments and the eleven divisions, a special army was set up under the Customs Department, called the Tax Police Corps.The name of this unit is modeled after the "Tax Police Headquarters" (Baidu by itself), but it continues the high-pragmatic style of "choosing a small name". Second Regiment Battalion", "Ten Regiment Battalion" and the like.

The purpose of Gao Pragmatism in establishing the Tax Police Corps is different from that of the boss Song of the "Tax Police Corps" 300 years later. He does not need to regard the Tax Police Corps as his political and military capital. The task of the Tax Police Corps is simply to suppress smuggling. Protection taxation only.

However, there are similarities with the "Tax Police Headquarters", that is, the sources of troops of the Tax Police Headquarters are very complicated, and the weapons and equipment are very sophisticated.

The soldiers of the tax police corps mainly come from two sources: the Jinghua armed servants are directly employed by the customs office, and the elites of the Ming army are selected and dispatched.This force is divided into two parts, land and water, but they are uniformly dispatched by the Customs Department, and all expenditures are also allocated by the Customs Department.

The three ships of the tax police corps that appeared on the Qinhuai River today came from the water part. Among them, the armed transport ship of Jinghua came from Shanghai County, and the two ships of the Ming army came from Jiangyin, which belonged to the inland part of the Yangtze River. .

At this moment, Shu Qingping didn't know why the warship of the Tax Police Headquarters appeared here, but he still shouted and responded, actively mobilizing the enthusiasm of the Cao army, trying to keep the ship and the cargo.

However, this is just a drop in the bucket. In the end, he only saved his own flagship. Most of the other ships were damaged, and about [-]% of them were seriously damaged. It seems that there is no need for repairs, and the cargo on it is probably turned into Nothing.

On the other side, the Tax Police Headquarters is still fighting fiercely with the Japanese pirates. Although the Japanese pirates are brave, they lack firearms and are crushed and beaten by tall and majestic armed transport ships.This is a large ship. Although it is a little difficult to move in the Qinhuai River, it is also convenient for them to block the mouth.

Seeing that they couldn't beat them, the Japanese pirates put the looted things on their own ships and began to flee. When they rushed past the armed transport ship, they were greeted by artillery and guns, and one ship was sunk. Six ships escaped.

However, the Japanese pirates finally rushed out. The three ships of the Tax Police Headquarters were obviously very annoyed, they turned around as quickly as possible, and chased after them.

There was chaos on the Qinhuai River, and flames shot up into the sky. Shu Qingping stared blankly at the hundreds of tank boats that were almost burned out, thinking about the punishment he might face next, and couldn't help but lose all hope.

Cao Jun is responsible for [-]% of the loss of water transport!
To put it bluntly, now his cavalry army—no, there are several other cavalry troops parked here at the same time, have reached the point where they can't afford to pawn their underwear.It seems that the distribution of Jiubian or even beheading and ransacking the house is a certainty.

It's all over!

But Shu Qingping still refused to give up, and when he came back to his senses, he quickly commanded the somewhat stupefied soldiers of the Cao army, ordering them to try their best to rescue the tank boats and supplies.However, at this moment, he found that something was wrong with the surrounding situation. Several other Cao troops not far away were gathering. It seemed... was someone giving them an order?
Probably not, because he soon heard some shouts, among which were mixed such as "I can't afford it", "Forget it", "We have a lot of people", "Nanjing city is not short of money" and so on.

Shu Qingping yelled in his heart, "It's going to be bad", this is probably someone stirring up a mutiny! ——
Thank you book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your support, thank you!
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(End of this chapter)