Lu Ming

Chapter 479 Negotiations Before Leaving
A good strategy seminar was finally turned into an arms exhibition by someone.

This is still a delaying tactic used by the public.

The [-]th style will not appear in the hands of the Ming army. Even if the emperor is willing to be taken advantage of and pay for money, he will eventually give up because the fire caps are out of stock.

What's more, the emperor may not have to spend so much money-according to Cao Zongbing's calculations, if he wants to form an elite musket battalion with only 500 people, in addition to buying guns and bullets, he must also conduct a lot of shooting training for the soldiers. This is a lot of money.

What's even more frightening is that the above are just preparatory work.When it really came to the battlefield, the soldiers must have been shooting like bullets, and Cao Zongbing almost went bankrupt this time.

To satisfy the interests of the emperor without posing a threat to the crossing people, the final solution to this problem still depends on the flintlock gun.

It is the 17s and the continental powers are in the middle of the Thirty Years War.During this period of time, European weapon innovation was in a period of rapid development. Matchlock guns had been gradually eliminated, and front-loading rotary flintlock guns were becoming the mainstream on the battlefield.

In fact, 20 years ago, the ultimate version of the percussive flintlock gun, which was finally perfected and improved by the Frenchman Mahan, has already come out.

However, due to the assassination of King Henry IV of France, the percussion flintlock gun was resisted by diehards-this is normal. Any new product will lead to opposition from conservatives. in this way.

Then it wasn't until the middle of the seventeenth century that the percussion gun was equipped with troops in large numbers.Historically, in the golden age of colonization from the [-]th to the [-]th century, the colonists used to rule the world were all descendants of this sharp gun.

In this situation, the crossing people can safely equip the secondary troops with flintlock guns.Anyway, Europe already has a prototype gun, and technical secrecy no longer exists.

The secondary troops here include not only Chongzhen, but also the colonial pioneer group that is being formed.In addition, some leading parties stationed in the enemy's rear also need this kind of gun, such as Li Jichun, the second and fifth boy.

Therefore, the solution to this problem is already very clear: first fool the emperor, and then sell the flintlock gun to the emperor.

And after Chongzhen saw another seemingly better solution, his previous enthusiasm faded away.Yes, if you can produce this kind of firecrackers yourself, or take a step back and buy them yourself, and then form a direct army, it will be safer than begging the warlords to sell their lives anyway?
After figuring this out, Chongzhen was no longer obsessed with transferring Cao Zongbing to Liaodong to garrison.

The following tea party entered another topic: military spending.

Speaking of which, Cao Zongbing began to ask the two elders to reimburse military expenses in front of the emperor. How much? 30 taels.

This number stunned the emperor and Zhou Yanru.

Then Lord Shoufu resolutely expressed his disbelief, and once again questioned Cao Zongbing's mouth in the lion.Cao Zongbing complained endlessly, not only settled the accounts on the spot, but also took out the official documents that Xiong Wencan had collected for him for 20 taels of military expenses.

This suddenly aroused the emperor's interest: Fujian is a poor province, and there is never enough to eat. Where did the 20 taels of silver come from?
This time, Zongbing Cao finally got his chance, so he slapped the old bear in front of the emperor. Pull down the face and shave three feet, interview/extort/donate merchants and gentry.In the end, it was found that the money was still not enough, so Lao Xiong could only endure the humiliation and rent out all the houses facing the street of the governor's yamen to merchants. Only then did he collect enough 20 taels of silver for Cao Zongbing.

After listening to Cao Zongbing's emotional story, the young emperor was immediately moved, and his eyes turned a little red: "Okay, okay, Xiong Wencan is doing well. I don't blame him for scraping the ground!"

At this time, the emperor finally established a basic concept in his mind: if he wanted to use the heads of the Tartars as a ball, the previous way would not work. It would cost money, spend money, spend a lot of money, and rely on beggars to win the war .

Cao Zongbing's story is well told, but unfortunately some people still don't buy it.Although Zhou Yanru is only 45 years old, those who can become the chief assistant must be old foxes. How can he be influenced by chicken soup jokes?

Not only that, Zhou Shoufu also found a flaw in Cao Zongbing's words-since the 20 taels were paid by the Fujian governor's yamen, then the household department and Xiong Wencan went to fight the famine.As for you Mr. Cao, the cabinet will consider researching and researching in the future. Probably, you may be reimbursed 10 taels.

Well, on this issue, Cao Zongbing can only admit it.Everyone knows that the imperial court is poor. He didn't expect to get money from the household department in the first place. He said that this topic was mainly to brag about the emperor.

After talking about the military expenses, it came to the last important topic: the emperor and the two assistant ministers began to discuss the formal arrangement of Cao Zongbing.Of course, as a great hero, Cao Zongbing also got the opportunity to listen in and express his opinions.

If you don't go to Liaodong, Cao Zongbing's position is actually very well arranged.

Whether it is to rise one level from the existing Zhangchao deputy commander-in-chief, or go to Guangdong and Fujian to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief, the emperor said that it can be considered, and heroes should not be treated badly.

At this time, it was Wen Tiren's turn to step forward.Because it is impossible for Zongbing Cao to express his position on this kind of matter, he can only humbly express that my old Cao listens to the emperor.

Wen Tiren's plan is very simple: just increase the rank of Deputy General Cao by one level.The reason is also very good: there are currently no vacancies for the commander-in-chief in Guangdong and Fujian. If you have to promote Cao Zongbing to Fujian and Guangdong, it will involve a series of personnel transfers, which is very troublesome.

A little history has changed here: in the Ming Dynasty, there was no Zhangchao general soldier, only the deputy general soldier, and the general soldier would not appear until the Qing Dynasty.

Seeing Wen Tiren talking eloquently, presenting the facts and making sense, Chongzhen secretly nodded inwardly.Actor Wen's view of the overall situation satisfied the emperor. As expected of a lonely minister, even Cao Zongbing, who sent him into the cabinet, could fool him.

For the emperor, the commander-in-chief of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, at least for now, cannot be handed over to Pirate Cao—even though the emperor said that he can choose the seat at will, but after all, he is the real commander-in-chief in charge of the army and horses of a province, that's all The emperor must have made a fuss about granting the title to Pirate Cao.

In history, Chongzhen appointed Zheng Zhilong as the commander-in-chief of Fujian, and that would have to be in 1640, when the Ming Dynasty was precarious.But now because of the great victory, Chongzhen is full of enthusiasm, and he still plans to be the master of ZTE, so naturally he will not let the warlords grow bigger.No matter how much credit Cao Zongbing has, what should be suppressed secretly should still be suppressed.

Therefore, the plan proposed by Wen Tiren is the most suitable for the emperor's mind: Zhang Chao's deputy commander-in-chief is promoted to the commander-in-chief. It seems that he has been promoted to a higher level, but it is actually useless.Cao Zongbing is still the same soldiers and territory as before, and he still has no right to command the officers and soldiers of Fujian and Guangdong.

However, the time-traveling crowd also thought so.

Right now, Daming has no defenses at sea, and its officers and soldiers are decadent, so they can only barely fight soy sauce in the coastal areas.Cao Zongbing is in this relatively unique position of Zhangchao Zongbing with both ends, which is equivalent to actually bringing the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong into his own jurisdiction. This is the most important thing.

As for what Chongzhen was worried about, the people who traveled through didn't care.Anyway, he can't rebel right now, and instead of being the commander-in-chief of a province, his hands are tied.

When the first and second assistants nodded to this plan, the emperor followed suit and promoted Cao Chuan to the commander-in-chief of Zhangchao on the spot.Then Cao Zongbing took the order to thank you, and then everyone smiled with blessings on their faces, and it was impossible to see who was silently saying the word "stupid" in their hearts.

After the canonization was completed, he probably felt a bit of a pang in his conscience, so the emperor asked Cao Zhongchen to promptly report the list of those who made meritorious service in this battle, "for the best use".

As for the meritorious personnel, Cao Zongbing really has nothing to report here.In the next few years, the cross-travelers will follow a low-key development route in the north, so they don't plan to recommend a shiny agent, standing there to be targeted by the Guanning Army and the Donglin Party.

Like Wen Tiren and Li Jichun, the second and fifth boy, Cao Zongbing has now pretended not to know these two.The reason was that they were afraid that after he left, the two of them would be labeled as one of Cao's party.

However, although there is no recommendation list, Cao Zongbing still needs to mention it.After finally earning some credit, it must be exchanged for something from the emperor.

So Zongbing Cao put forward the following two requirements.

First: open the sub-base.

According to Cao Zongbing, this time he led his troops to serve the king. The reason why he stayed in Tianjin at the beginning was because the supplies did not keep up. On the other hand, a large number of southern soldiers fell ill.

When the southerners came to the north, they were not acclimatized to the environment, coupled with unaccustomed diet and poor accommodation conditions, etc., which led to his imposing commander-in-chief for a time.

So Cao Zongbing took this opportunity to apply to the emperor today, hoping to designate a piece of land in Shandong and Tianjin for him to build a military port.In this way, he can usually hoard supplies locally, and when the next time he serves as the king, the soldiers can quickly finish their rest and go to battle after arriving at the station.

Cao Zongbing's request was reasonable and reasonable, and the emperor would definitely agree to it——Huang Taiji returned with a full load this time, and he knew with his heels that the Houjin bandits would definitely find an opportunity to enter the customs.At that time, Cao Zongbing will definitely come in handy.

Chongzhen immediately nodded and agreed to this request.

By this time, the benefits of the time-traveling crowd supporting Wen Tiren's entry into the cabinet became apparent.There is no need for Lao Wen to make wind and rain, it is precisely because of these inconspicuous, but crucial political affairs for the people of the crossing.

For example, in the subsequent official correspondence, Lao Wen could seemingly arbitrarily designate a certain place in Shandong Province that was favored by the public for the construction of a military port.The emperor doesn't care about such trivial matters.

After the first request was met, Cao Zongbing's second request was a little weird: Macau.

Yes, according to what Cao Zongbing said: the Franji people entrenched in Macau not only robbed him of the arms trade in the Indian Ocean, but also opposed him on many sea trade routes.

Cao Zongbing now formally proposes to the emperor: let him personally pay for troops and horses, and take back Macau without spending a penny from the court.

Cao Zongbing also promised: After the matter is completed, he will return Macau to the imperial court, and the imperial court will send regular civil officials to manage it.

Although this topic was embarrassing, the other people present understood that if this was really the case, Cao Zongbing would be considered to be expanding his territory.

(End of this chapter)