Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 769 Cooperation in Liaodong

Li Luoyou listened to these conditions with a blank face—the conditions were very harsh, but they were more relaxed than he expected.These conditions were in the same style as those he had negotiated with Australians in the past: harsh, delicate, detail-oriented, and verbal.Full of a strong self-confidence based on one's own strength.

Xu Tianqi then pointed out that the repatriated Ming army officers and soldiers were counted and repatriated one by one according to the roster of the Ming army.

Li Luoyou had to raise an objection: Don't tell the soldiers, whether it is a soldier or a miscellaneous soldier, or even the private servants of the officers, they are all included in the salary list, but there are still many people in the army who are not on the list, including those who were temporarily recruited. Husbands accompanying the army, servants of civil and military officials, and the like.

"This can be identified—it is indeed brought from the mainland. If he is willing to return to Guangdong, we will let him go. If he is local in Qiongzhou Prefecture, or he does not want to return to the mainland, he can stay."

Xu Tianqi stated the principle of voluntary repatriation, and Li Luoyou agreed.Whether those who are not on the list can go back is not a matter of concern to the bigwigs in Guangdong.

Finally, there is the issue of the disposal of the prisoners.Of course, the Senate was not willing to release the captives—this is a great labor force, but they are not interested in long-term hospitality for captured civil and military officials.Therefore, Guangdong is allowed to redeem people, whether it is the government or the family members of the captives.The social status is set according to the size of their official positions.In addition to his worth, each prisoner also had to pay one penny per day for food and lodging according to the number of days he stayed in the Lingao prisoner-of-war camp.

Li Luoyou nodded in agreement: the government will not pay the money, but these officials always have some money in their families, so paying the ransom is not a problem.

In this way, the issue of He Rubin's remnants in Qiongshan and Haikou has been finalized, and the whole plan can be implemented only after Li Fengjie agrees.Li Luoyou sent his cronies to send a secret letter to Guangzhou regarding the details of the peace talks.There will be no suspense in the result - Li Fengjie has no choice but to agree to these conditions in order to save the remnant soldiers and defeated generals from the disaster.

The meeting has ended, and both parties secretly heaved a sigh of relief——for the Traversing Group, the blockade without fighting in the Qiongshan siege is also a waste of energy. Now the matter has a definite conclusion, and they have won their final What I hope to get - peace.

Since Li Luoyou is a businessman, after all, many things are separated from the officialdom, and it is inconvenient to travel around.Li Luoyou discussed with Li Fengjie before departure, and asked Lu Yizhong to be the middle contact.Lu Yizhong is very familiar with the officialdom in Guangdong, and he knows many ways.Moreover, after he was captured, he was greedy for life and afraid of death, and was forced to write a letter of peace talks-after Wang Zunde's death, his staff team scattered, but Li Xijue was recruited by Li Fengjie and entered the governor's screen.Therefore, Li Fengjie also knew that Lu Yizhong had written a peace letter.A person who has lost his backer and has a historical stain, unless he is willing to retire, he can only be at their mercy.

"Mr. Lu as a contact person? Master Fu Jun is really a good idea." Xu Tianqi laughed and agreed.

Li Luoyou also laughed "haha" a few times, feeling very contemptuous of these staff and officials in his heart.The two then conducted a preliminary discussion on the next step of in-depth cooperation.Li Luoyou's enthusiasm for making guns and cannons for the Ming Dynasty has faded a lot-many of the Hongyi cannons manufactured by his factory in Foshan for the Guangdong side were not transported to Liaodong: some were lost in the Battle of Qiongzhou, and some were lost During the crusade against the Pearl River Estuary, Xiong Wencan transported the rest to Fujian and equipped Zheng Zhilong.This made him very disappointed, and in addition to the second battle of the Australians in Guangdong, the power of the Australian cannon was far higher than that of the Hongyi cannon, which made Li Luoyou very disappointed-almost wanted to stop there.

Unexpectedly, there was another new order from Shandong—this time it was the request of Denglai Governor Sun Yuanhua.The Catholic governor was training the new army in Denglai, and appointed many Portuguese as teachers.Sun Yuanhua cast Hongyi cannons in Shandong under the guidance of the Portuguese. However, because coal was used as fuel in the pig iron smelting in the north, the pig iron contained sulfur and the texture was brittle, which was far inferior to the artillery cast in the south. This requires Guangdong to provide more artillery.Of course, Li Luoyou was unwilling to give up the money-making thing.What's more, Shandong is an important window for him to manage trade with the Qing Dynasty, and Sun Yuanhua is a church member.Whether it is interest or reason, you have to agree.

Li Luoyou once again made a request to buy Australian cannons or production equipment, but Xu Tianqi only responded vaguely and refused to express his opinion-the opinions of the Senate on the sale of arms have not been unified.Seeing that the other party didn't want to take up the fight, Li Luoyou couldn't help but sighed knowing that there was no hope for this matter.

Xu Tianqi mentioned the Liaodong trade in his words, saying that the Travel Group is very interested in participating in the Liaodong trade, and hopes to get Li Luoyou's help.

Originally, I thought that Li Luoyou would agree, but I didn't expect him to look embarrassed, and he was unwilling to take the blame for a long time.Xu Tianqi asked again and again, Fang slowly said:
"I have no choice but to do business with Jian slaves," he said. "It's not like you can't make money doing business here. Why do you need to trade with Jian slaves?"

"We do business, of course, the more business partners the better."

Li Luoyou tried to persuade them to give up this idea.First of all, the distance is long and the transportation of goods is inconvenient.There are risks on the road.The Ming Dynasty imposed a trade embargo on the Manchu Qing, and trading with the Manchu Qing was illegal smuggling.Normal trade still has to deal with layers of exploitation by the government. What's more, such illegal business, whether it is Li Luoyou's trade from Shandong to Liaodong, or Shanxi merchants' trade with the Manchus through the Mongols in Zhangjiakou, has made many people in Ming Dynasty Officials make a lot of money.

"How do you know the hardships involved?" Li Luoyou couldn't help exaggerating the hardships involved, such as going through rough seas when sailing at sea.When transporting by land, when encountering bandits and soldiers, they often lose both people and goods.As for buying and selling goods, they were still picky, blackmailed and deducted by the officials of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.

Xu Tianqi did not refute, he knew that Li Luoyou did not want them to intervene in the trade with Liaodong - not only because of the attempt to monopolize profits, but also because he was afraid that the Australians would "capitalize the enemy".Australians do not have his loyalty to Daming, so they must sell whatever they can to make money. At that time, everything such as grain, ironware, and even gunpowder cannons may be sold to the Qing Dynasty.

"I heard that the Tartars are extremely short of food." Xu Tianqi asked suddenly.

"Indeed." Li Luoyou thought about it, could it be that they want to sell food to the Tartars?Tartars are willing to pay ten or even twenty taels per stone to buy grain, which is a very profitable thing.For this reason, Shanxi merchants did not hesitate to buy grain in the Central Plains, which was originally short of grain, and sold it to the Qing Dynasty.Australians also want to do this?They can buy grain from Guangdong and resell it in Liaodong to make a fortune.For this reason, he hastily added, "However, officers and soldiers in the Denglai area have been closely interrogated, and grains of rice are not allowed to cross the sea."

"Hehe," Xu Tianqi laughed, "Master Li! We understand your thoughts very well! However, you should know the situation of the people captured by the Tartars."

How could he not know this?Li Luoyou traveled all over Liaodong for the purpose of redeeming people, and he knew exactly the living conditions of the Han people who were taken captive as slaves.Not to mention all kinds of hardships, many people can't even eat enough, it's completely because they are half-starved and half-full.

"It's so miserable." Li Luo breathed out.

"I heard that Man Qing also sent women and children to Mongolia to exchange cattle and sheep, and a half-grown child for a sheep. Don't you know about it, shopkeeper Li Da?"

"I did hear it."

"When we do business with the Manchus, what we want is not their gold and silver - but their people. They are the people of the Ming Dynasty who were abused and sold by the Tartars!" Xu Tianqi said righteously, "You think this business can't be done?"

"What? Are you going to Liaodong to redeem the people?" Li Luoyou was taken aback and stood up.Suddenly dizzy for a while, he fell back into the chair again, and the servant, Sao Ye, who was waiting by the side quickly took out the medicinal wine and gave him a few sips, which made him calm down.

He calmed down, thinking that the Australians are really generous - with his wealth, he would never have thought of such a thing.After all, he is not doing good deeds.This kind of thing can't be done even if you spend all your money.Australians are so fussy and penny-pinching, why are they so generous all of a sudden?The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

Xu Tianqi saw the puzzled look on his face, so he explained: what they want is the people who were taken away by the Qing Dynasty.The traded population will all be transported to Qiongzhou for resettlement.

I see!Li Luoyou thought to himself, Qiongzhou has a vast land and few people, they want to cultivate land, set up factories, and train their own soldiers, they need people everywhere, no wonder the idea is on Man Qing's head.

In any case, it is much better for those poor people to fall into the hands of the Australians than to stay in the hands of the Tartars.Thinking of this, Li Luoyou's original attitude became a little loose.At the moment, he promised to help establish contacts between Australians and Manchu officials in Liaodong trade.

Xu Tianqi thought that this trick really worked—of course, whether he only accepts population as a means of payment is another story.According to the speculation of the financial department, Liaodong should be in the midst of inflation at this time, and the value of silver has depreciated sharply. It is a good thing to buy gold and silver at this time.

In addition to the population, Xu Tianqi also proposed to buy horses, cattle and sheep from the Manchu ruled area.Especially horses.This is the goods that Lingao urgently needs at present.

"As for horses, in fact, you can buy them from the Mongols as long as you follow the route of the Guanning Army." Li Luoyou said, "But transportation is inconvenient--a small amount is okay, and a large group of horses will go south all the way. People cut it off. Besides, it is difficult to supply the horses along the road with food and fodder.”

(End of this chapter)