The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 140: Redeeming King Chong, a virtuous cycle

In fact, there are only three people.

A knight errant, a businessman, a scholar.

These three people each have their own men. There is no salary in Ge Wenyou, but they all have their own needs.

For example, merchants can do business tax-free in Henan with documents from the governor's office.

Therefore, Ge Wenyou was not polite in driving the three of them, and quickly talked about the matter.

Finally, he asked: "Which of you is willing to take someone to Ruyang to find out the news about King Chong and the truth about Liu Thief?"

The ranger and the businessman looked at each other and were silent for a while, but it was the scholar who spoke first.

"I wish I could go there later in life."

Ge Wenyou was quite surprised and asked: "Zhang Jian, do you have any students you know well in Ruyang?"

It turned out that Zhang Jian was a scholar, and he was mainly responsible for inquiring about information among some young scholars in Kaifeng City for Li Xianfeng's reference.

After all, the governor Li Xianfeng was not only in charge of military affairs, but also civil affairs, and the students' opinions of him were also quite important.

Zhang Jian said: "There are indeed one or two friends in Ruyang."

Ge Wenyou didn't give much advice, but just reminded: "Ruyang is occupied by thieves after all. You have to be careful after you go."

"Lansheng understands."

Zhang Jian returned home, made some preparations, and set off with his two servants.

He was able to gain popularity among Kaifeng students not only because he was well-rounded, but also because he was generous and willing to help poor students.

It turned out that his family was a big businessman in Kaifeng City, and someone had been an official a few generations ago, but it later declined.

When he was a teenager, he was selected as a scholar. He thought he would be a good candidate, but he failed to pass the exam several times and wasted more than ten years.

Seeing that his official career was hopeless, he was introduced to Ge Wenyou and became Ge Wenyou's subordinate. He hoped to become an official through special channels and then become an official.

But it was said that the day after Zhang Jian's trip, someone threw a kit in front of the gate of the governor's office.

Menzi picked it up and took a look and found a stone and a letter inside.

The envelope reads "Personally addressed to Governor Li Xianfeng".

The disciple did not dare to neglect and quickly took it in and handed it over to Ge Wenyou.

Although Ge Wenyou was responsible for the communication of information, he did not dare to open this letter privately - who knew if Li Xianfeng had some inhumane private activities?

Fortunately, Li Xianfeng was handling government affairs in the government office today and did not go out to suppress bandits.

He took the letter to Li Xianfeng's study and presented it.

Li Xianfeng opened the letter, only to find that in addition to the letter, there was also a smaller envelope inside.

He first read a letter outside, and his expression suddenly became very strange.

He anxiously read the letter in the white envelope again, and his expression became even weirder.After reading it, I breathed a long sigh of relief.

This change in expression made Ge Wenyou extremely curious.

"Dong Weng, what exactly is going on?"

"It's the letter from Liu Thief of Ruyang, and the letter from King Chong to His Majesty."

Li Xianfeng said and handed over a letter from outside.

Ge Wenyou looked at it, his expression also became very strange, and finally couldn't help but said: "This Liu thief is really brave, he actually took Chong Wang's family as hostages, and did what the bandit threatened and extorted!"

This letter was naturally "sent" by Liu Sheng from Xunfengying.

By the way, the Xunfeng Camp was also asked to place spies in Kaifeng City.

As for the content of the letter, it was something he mentioned to King Chong that day.

Li Xianfeng came back to his senses at this time and said: "This thief is indeed bold, but it is always a good thing for us that Prince Chong's family is still alive."

Ge Wenyou said: "He asked the court to use [-] shi of grain to buy the lives of King Chong's family for a year. The court could afford [-] shi of grain, but if he agreed, how would the court's face be saved?
Dong Weng should know that the current one cares about face very much. If he knew this, he would probably be even more angry. "

"So this matter cannot be reported to the court for the time being." Li Xianfeng stood up, "Then since Thief Liu took the initiative to send the letter, it means that we can talk.

One hundred thousand stones of grain can buy the lives of King Chong and his family for one year. Can more grain or money be used to redeem King Chong? "

Hearing this, Ge Wenyou couldn't help but remind him, "Dong Weng, we can't even collect the food and pay for the soldiers now, how can we still have the money and food to redeem King Chong?"

Li Xianfeng smiled and said, "We don't have it, but King Zhou does. After all, we are all close vassals, and King Zhou has always had a reputation as a virtuous person, so he might be able to help with this."

Ge Wenyou still thinks this matter is too mysterious.

"It is a big deal for Ruyang to fall into the hands of thieves. If Dong Weng doesn't report it, it doesn't mean that the imperial court won't know about it.

In addition, if this Liu thief is really willing to let King Chong go, he may have put forward a price in the letter.

He didn't say anything, probably because he was worried that the imperial court would be surrounded and suppressed by heavy troops. How could he let him go so easily? "

Li Xianfeng smiled bitterly, "Why don't we know what you said? But besides redeeming the king with that Liu thief, do we have any better choice?
Nowadays, party struggle comes first in everything in the DPRK. Even if I report this matter and send troops to take back Ruyang, I am afraid I will still be dismissed from office.

If King Chong dies because of this, I will more likely be imprisoned and questioned, or even lose my life.

On the contrary, if I can redeem King Chong, even if the court blames me afterwards, the most I can do is lose my official position. "

Seeing that Li Xianfeng had made his decision, Ge Wenyou stopped trying to persuade him and sighed, "I wish this letter had come a day earlier."

"Why do you say that?"

"My subordinates just sent spies to Ruyang yesterday."

Li Xianfeng smiled and said: "What's the harm? We still need to talk to King Zhou here. After the negotiation is completed, you will go to Ruyang in person.

As for the spy, let him go for a few days first. When you arrive, you can contact him and understand the Liu thief's true state. In this way, you can know yourself and the enemy during the negotiation, and you will not be completely manipulated by the Liu thief. "

"Yes."

···
November 26.Ruyang City.

The front yard of the government office.

"Sir, I've been waiting for you!"

Seeing Li Changwen and others coming in, Liu Sheng stepped forward with a smile and held Li Changsheng's hand.

Seeing Liu Sheng personally greeting him, Li Changwen was surprised and felt honored.

When Liu Sheng let go of his hand, he bowed deeply and said, "See the leader."

Qian Yunsheng (formerly the chief administrator of Queshan) and Li Yunzhong (formerly the administrator of Queshanhufang) followed behind him and bowed deeply, "See the leader!"

"You don't have to be polite, please get up quickly."

"Thank you leader!"

"It's cold, and this is not the place to talk. Come on, come and sit with me in the hall, where there is a stove."

As he spoke, Liu Sheng brought Li Changwen and others into the main hall of the government office.

On the day after the capture of Ruyang City, that is, the twentieth day, Liu Sheng sent three groups of messengers on fast horses to Suiping, Queshan, and Tianshan respectively, and gave them to Hong Niangzi, Wen You, and Li Changwen. Each person brought a letter.

Wen You just told him that Ruyang had fallen, and asked him to guard Suiping with peace of mind.

On the other side, Li Changwen was asked to bring officials Qian Yunsheng and Li Yunzhong from Queshan to Ruyang to take over the civil affairs.

Because judging from the current situation, even if "King Chong threatens the court not to attack Runing" cannot be accomplished, the Ming court will most likely delay sending troops until the spring of next year.

If we delay a little longer, it might take until Li Zicheng breaks Luoyang.

Even if the imperial court still sends heavy troops to attack later, the rebels at Jie Shi have more troops and have great hope of defending Ruyang City due to its tallness and solidity.

In this case, Liu Sheng must of course consider the governance issues of Ruyang.

Although the rebels captured some officials after breaking the city, none of them are willing to surrender.

There are quite a few clerks working for the rebels, but most of them are threatened, and I'm afraid few of them are sincere in their service.

As for the serious scholars who defected to the rebels, there were also no serious scholars. Even if there were, Liu Sheng would not entrust them with important tasks without understanding them.

Therefore, he recruited Li Changwen and others.

"We want to capture Ruyang." Liu Sheng said straight to the point, "As for Shangcai and Xiping further north, it is not suitable for us to capture them this year.

Even in Suiping, if a heavy Ming army comes to attack, we can give up and evacuate. "

Li Changwen nodded and said, "When we first made the plan to attack Runing, we took it a little bit for granted.

For one thing, Shangcai, Xiping, and Suiping are all located on the great plains. They only have cities to rely on, but they are far less tall than Ruyang City. Once the Ming army comes to attack, it will be difficult to defend them.

Unless there is a large army that can contain the Ming army in the wild, or even directly defeat the Ming army in the wild.

Although the leader once again expanded his army ten days ago, the troops guarding Ruyang, Suiping, and Queshan were already stretched thin.

If you want to capture more cities, you must expand and train your troops.

Secondly, even if we have enough troops, if we capture these cities, we still lack reliable manpower to manage them - our Huabu's foundation is weak after all. "

In fact, what Li Changwen said was based on the steady progress of the Hua Department.

If the Hua tribe is like ordinary bandits and rebels, and does not care about the destruction of the place, the loosening of the organization, the serious reduction of the quality of the team by new members, and even the chaos, then occupying all the cities in Runing Prefecture in ten days will be OK.

But if we do that, the foundation of China Department will be unstable, and various difficult problems will arise in the future.

Therefore, it is better to follow the previous rhythm and be a little more steady.

Liu Sheng nodded, agreeing with Li Changwen's analysis.

He continued: "We confiscated 200 million kilograms of iron materials in Wuyang before, including 18 kilograms of refined iron and 66 kilograms of wrought iron.

Just give us some time, we can turn these iron materials into guns, weapons, and armor, which will greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

In addition, the previously reorganized civilian brave teams also need training - when they have the equipment and sufficient training next year, most of them can be converted into standing armies.

At the same time, with the hundreds of thousands of stones of food seized from Prince Chong's Mansion, we can continue to recruit refugees from all directions.

Those who are willing to migrate can move to North America; those who are unwilling to migrate can stay in Ruyang and work for relief. They can also be transformed into people in our Chinese tribe.

As for those single young and strong men, they can follow Queshan's model and be first selected as civilian husbands, then selected as civilian warriors, and finally the outstanding ones are selected to join the army.

In this way, before our food reserves are exhausted, everything is in a virtuous cycle, which will allow our Chinese Department's strength to increase steadily and rapidly! "

A virtuous circle?
After hearing this new word in Liu Sheng's words, several people couldn't help but ponder it.

Then Li Changwen couldn't help but clapped his hands and said: "The leader's words are really clever. The growth of our Hua Department should be a virtuous circle!"

"Ingenious indeed!"

"Small words mean great things!"

Qian Yunsheng and Li Yunzhong also praised him.

As for how much of their words are sincere and how much of them are flattery, only they themselves know.

Liu Sheng didn't care. He looked at Li Changwen with a smile and said, "Since Mr. Li agrees with what I think, the heavy responsibility of the prefect of Runing will be handed over to Mr. Li."

They all showed that they wanted to follow Liu Sheng to do big things, so Li Changwen did not refuse pretentiously. He immediately stood up and bowed deeply to Liu Sheng, saying: "I will do my best to live up to the leader's trust!"

Qian Yunsheng and Li Yunzhong next to them saw their eyes turned red.

From a white man to becoming a prefect, this is probably something that many scholars can only dream of!
Not to mention a heavy burden, even a critical one, they are willing to resist it.

Liu Sheng then looked at Qian Yunsheng and others, and said with a smile: "Master Qian then worked hard to serve as the magistrate of Ruyang County.

As for Li Dianli - I have established a temporary financial bureau in Ruyang to take charge of the money and food in Ruyang. I will hand over the responsibility of this bureau to you..."

　Second more.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)