Reborn Regent of Ming Dynasty

Jinan City is still in a delicate balance.

Liu Zeqing gathered his subordinates and stayed in the barracks obediently. The main reason why he didn't leave for Yanzhou for a while was because he hadn't paid for the food and supplies.

This was what the imperial court promised when he was urging him to go north. Now that he has lost troops and generals, his strength has been greatly weakened. Of course, he has to urge his superiors to give him supplies.

It's a pity that Shandong's Chief Secretary is also hard-pressed to give up good fortune... The Ministry of War and the imperial court made the promise, but Shandong has to bear the burden. This is naturally unreasonable. Come down and talk.

If it weren't for the scruples of the business group to fight back, of course Uncle Liu would rather take it by himself. In fact, many Yanzhou generals have this kind of thought.But Liu Zeqing had already lost his courage at this time, Zhang Shouren was in Linqing, and there were still city guards and business groups in the city, so they really started to do it, didn't they give others a reason to annex themselves?He couldn't do such a stupid thing, and he felt depressed, but he could only wait obediently. [

At the same time, he was also paying attention to the news in Yanggu area. Li Qingshan led his troops to gather outside Caozhou, so it was difficult for him to rest assured.

Tortured by all kinds of disadvantages, this general who called the wind and rain in Yanzhou had more than a dozen blisters on his lips, and he was upset every day.

Fortunately, he still has strength under his command, and local officials in Shandong dare not insult him lightly.

The commercial bank didn't dare to offend him too much. Although the commercial group held on for a while, many merchants in the commercial bank came to ask for an interview, and they all sent food and money.

After all, he is a general of the imperial court and has been operating in Yanzhou for many years. If these businessmen want to continue to do business stably, the power of Yanzhou is not something they can insult.

Apart from other things, if Liu and those aristocratic families interfere with the cotton production in the Jining area, how can these Lu merchants profit easily?

In addition to Liu Bu, there is the city guard battalion led by Huang Yinchang's deputy chief soldier. His city guard battalion is very elite, and the weapons and equipment are also good. It is obvious that there is also the shadow of Fushan.

This deputy commander-in-chief is both civil and military, and has the realm and heart to worry about the country and the people, so it is not surprising that he secretly associates with Zhang Shouren.

Then there is Ni Chong's governor bid. Among the three parties, he is the governor with the weakest strength, the fewest troops, and the least well-trained. He is the governor's personal bodyguard.

This was also the reason why Ni Chong sat back and watched Zhang Shouren's strategy for Jinan and Dongchang. Although there was a covenant that day, the most important reason was that Ni Chong's strength was too weak.

There is no way around this. The imperial court’s food and wages are tilted towards the Nine Sides, and Huguang and Fengyang can also get a lot. After all, many of the southern settlements are directly transported by Huguang and Nanzhili, in order to protect their own safety. However, it is not out of the ordinary to transport supplies to these military towns.Fengyang, Jiujiang, Nandu, Anqing, these military towns all have governors, and the strength of soldiers and horses is not weak. In the 15th year of Chongzhen, when Abate went straight to Shandong and inserted into South Zhili, Shi Kefa and other governors Chen Bing Huaian Fengyang In the area, Abatai saw that the strength of the Ming army was not weak, at least it did not look weak, so he did not dare to go deep and retreated.

With the status of Shandong, even the governor can't get much food and salary, and the government is controlled by Zhang Shouren, and the tooth bank tax card is in the hands of the big family and the royal family. The governor Ni Chong said that he is in charge of more than a dozen things, from military affairs It doesn't care about anything from the name of culture, education and punishment to Qiangu, but in fact the government orders are in the city of Jinan.

The smaller the power, the more important it is to protect it. Now it is not Liu Zeqing who is worried about Zhang Shouren sitting in Jinan, but Ni Chong and other local officials in Jinan.

The weather in the middle and late April is the arrival of the rainy season in the south. In Jinan City, the temperature is gradually rising, and people start to sweat when they walk around. Moreover, the drought and lack of rain in the north have made the weather more sweltering. Walking under the sun For a while, the person sweats quickly, feels breathless and thirsty.

"Stop for a moment and ask the bearers and porters to have some tea."

The old proprietor Li of Sanhao Xing was already in his [-]s, and his heart became a lot more kind after he was old. After feeling the heat wave, he stomped his feet in the sedan chair to signal to stop.

"Thank you sir!"

"Longevity and good luck, master!"

The servants of Li's mansion didn't talk so much, they just stopped and waited for the old man to choose a clean seat in the tea shed to sit down, then came out with the teapot they brought, and poured out the green spring water to make high-quality tea. After drinking slowly to quench their thirst, these family servants, together with the porters who carried the burden, picked a cool place in the four corners of the tea shed. After the big bowl of tea was delivered, they drank it to relieve the heat. [

Old proprietor Li had nothing to do, looked around in the surrounding mirror, nodded his head, and said with a smile: "The place is really clean, it's worth the money."

There are a lot of places where commercial firms spend money in Jinan. At the beginning, many merchants did not understand. Buyers and sellers are like this. They pay attention to investing money in order to see the output. How many people will agree to invest money in urban public welfare.This time, the business group and Caozhou Town fought fiercely in the city. The people in the city not only shouted and cheered, but also threw stones to help, and brought food in, and there were even more things to report.

Without the support of the people in the city, the morale of the business group would not be so high, and the morale of Liu Jun would not have declined so much.

After all, being hostile by tens of thousands of people in the city is not a good feeling.

In front of Li Dongzhu, the street is very flat and straight, and it is very clean. This is the avenue near Fuqian Street. It is all paved with a layer of green bricks as the roadbed. On both sides are dredged drainage ditches, and the top is covered. Bluestone slab cover.

In previous years, here was a dirt road, the mud covered the ankles in rainy days, there was no gutter drainage, and there was a stench everywhere. Even if the rich people took a car or a sedan chair, they would always get out of the car or sedan chair. That feeling is really true. is too bad.

When the Fushan army was in the city, sanitation was put on the agenda because of the epidemic at that time, and the gutter was dug out with the help of the Fushan army that day.

Now there is a Sanitation Public Welfare Bureau under the commercial bank, and it is their job to insist on cleaning and dredging.

In Daming, such a thing is a trivial matter, but it is also a major event. During the Chenghua period, because the capital gutter was blocked, the imperial history reported to the emperor, and the Chenghua emperor punished many Jinyiwei officials, because in Daming, it was the Jinyiwei who dug the gutter. Errands, if you can't do it well, you have to eat the board.

Even so, the urban planning and construction of Ming Dynasty was far behind that of Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. This is the so-called end of feudalism.

The servants were not qualified to answer the conversation, and several middle-level children of the Li family began to answer the conversation and discuss.

"Clean is clean, but it costs too much money."

"Grandpa, do you feel distressed? We have to spend [-]% of the profits a year to support business groups and do charity. When will it be worth it?"

"When?" Someone laughed and said, "Isn't it now? Anyway, the Taibao is going to enter the city, we are not afraid of further troubles, and all parties are fawning on us, so we don't have to invest money so vigorously in commercial banks."

Old proprietor Li squinted his eyes at the beginning, listening casually, and when he heard such words, he agreed: "Well, it's nothing else, everyone is flattering, this is right."

"Hey, the old man praised me..."

Just as the son of this family wanted to say a few words of modesty, another large group of people came to the corner of the street.

Master Li's complexion changed, and he said in a deep voice, "It's Dongzhu Wang from the north of the city, he's from Lekang."

"I picked a lot of things. I heard that they went to the palace yesterday, entered the Forbidden City, and only came out after drinking tea."

"Haha." Mr. Li looked up to the sky and smiled, but there was no smile at all in his laughter.Everyone is the eldest brother not to mention the second brother, it is all a virtue.

The nature of businessmen is also fully exposed during this period, speculative, unstable, right and left, suspicious.After defeating the attempt of Caozhou soldiers to enter the city, everyone lost their backbone. The development of the past two years was caused by strong external pressure. Now that Yanzhou's power has been seriously weakened, everyone has become suspicious.

It seems that there is no need to go all the way to the dark with Zhang Shouren?It is wise to bet on multiple parties, at least neither party will be offended. [

"Master Li, the junior is being polite."

"Haha, Mr. Wang, you are being polite. Please sit down. There is a draft here. Enjoy the coolness and drink tea. This is a good place."

"well."

I also saw Li Dongzhu and his party over there. The headed Wang Dongzhu was only in his thirties, with a beautiful moustache, and wearing a royal blue lake silk gown. Although the belt was not like the silver or jade belts used by officials, but the horn belt , inlaid with several kinds of precious ornaments, any one of them can be exchanged for once entering the house of Sanjin, and the horse he rides is an Ili horse bought from the Western Regions, with snow-white fur, tall shoulders and two More than a dozen entourages and companions also rode tall horses and wore silk and satin clothes. With this style alone, they were not like businessmen, but rather noble and romantic like clan relatives.

Behind him, there are also dozens of bearers who carry the burden. They have everything such as money, rice and grain. intention of coming.

"The general has a high position and authority, but the imperial court is already jealous of him. I heard that Ni Zhongcheng and Mr. Xunyan have been appointed to investigate the Linqing matter. Although it can't be done, you can see the holy family."

"I can't wait to entrust all my wealth and life to the general."

"It is for this reason that we have gone to the Wangfu, Zhongcheng, and a few others that should go... Yanzhou has suffered a lot this time, and everyone has no choice but to help us make peace with the proprietors in Linqing. , in my opinion, it is better to settle enemies than to end them, and reconciliation is better than confrontation."

"Well said, well said!" Mr. Li looked at Mr. Wang with admiration. Why doesn't his family have such an outstanding child?

"Of course we still have to be respectful to the general, but the profit is very heavy. Lifenghang and Fushan head office have to share some with everyone, otherwise we have worked for so many years for nothing, right? There are also business groups, which cost too much. Since the general is in Jinan, in my opinion, the merchant group must either be disbanded, or leave a ten or two percent to guard the warehouse, what does the old proprietor think?"