Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1692 Southwest Afterglow

Wu Sangui is over 60 years old today. The injuries and illnesses accumulated during his decades of military career may not be taken seriously in his prime, but now in his sixtieth year, he is extremely tortured.

People, it’s not okay to be disobedient!

Wu Sangui sighed deeply, and sat down at the dining table with the support of the old servant.Today's breakfast is the same as before, with small dishes, salted duck eggs and rice porridge, very light, but Wu Sangui likes it very much, he has eaten it for decades, and even forced his children, wives and concubines to "enjoy" it with him for decades. From the side, it shows the person's desire to dominate.

Yes, even in the old age of pain, Wu Sangui is still worried about his wife, children, and even his generals. He is used to controlling everything and dictating his actions. Don't worry, you have to ask about everything, and you have to intervene in everything, which makes people very speechless.

Confidants such as Ma Bao, Xia Guoxiang, and Hu Guozhu have persuaded Wu Sangui more than once that he should let go of his de facto heir Wu Yinglin (although Wu Yingxiong is the eldest son in name, but he is in Beijing and has no time to escape, so he cannot entrust King Pingxi's foundation) has been tempered.Wu Sangui also agreed at the beginning, thinking that he really needed to give his heir a chance to exercise, so he was sent to the position of magistrate of the CD prefecture, and he became a local parent official in all seriousness.

But who would have thought that Wu Sangui's old problems would not change, he would call his son over on CD every three days to report on his work, and then pick on his faults horizontally and vertically, which made Wu Yinglin terrified and frustrated.Later, I asked for instructions in advance for everything, and I had no personal opinion. The magistrate of the CD government was like a puppet, which was boring, and it was impossible to talk about training government affairs. set.

The behavior of Wu's father and son really disappointed the people below, and they also felt a lot of uncertainty about the future of the feudal town they joined.For future consideration, some "smart people" began to contact outside forces in private. Of course, 90% of them secretly communicated with the Qing court, and very few people had connections with the Shun army.The reason is probably because Dashun's territory is only three provinces, and its soldiers are no more than 30 to [-], which is really not enough for the behemoth of the Qing court.I believe that if it hadn't been for the Zuoying of the Shun Army fighting in the area of ​​Kuizhou Mansion in the past year or so and winning some victories, no one would have contacted them at all.

"Recently, my son-in-law always comes to me crying about the lack of money. I am very annoyed. The business that I entrusted to you a few days ago, how is it now? Is there any clue?" Fighting and killing, so the family rules are not too heavy, there are not many red tapes, and when meeting with veterans and servants on informal occasions, they will not call themselves lonely, and are very easy-going.

What Wu Sangui just said about the so-called business affairs is actually very simple, that is, now he relies on a Sichuan to raise [-] to [-] troops (in fact, there are more than a few thousand Manchurians and [-] Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalions in northern Sichuan who need to pay for them). Experienced the Southern Expedition War.Although they successfully defeated the remnants of Xiying and captured half of Guizhou, it was a huge loss when calculated—the Guizhou that "the land is not three feet flat, the sky is not sunny for three days, and people are not three cents of silver". Even if you do a good search in a poor and remote place, how much money can you get?

Not to mention, now there are another group of grass-roots chieftains who fall to him. These people are quite influential in the southwest area. Wu Sangui spent a lot of money in order to win them over. If these factors are added together, even Sichuan Known as the Land of Abundance, it has been prosperous since ancient times, and it will not be able to support it in the short term. Wu Sangui inevitably felt the financial strain, so he turned his brains to businessmen.

And when it comes to business, in terms of Sichuan's geographical location, it actually means trade with Huguang, Yunnan-Guizhou, and Shaanxi-Gansu.Among them, the trade with Yunnan and Guizhou is actually nothing to talk about, the volume is not large, the variety is not many, and southern Sichuan is not a rich place, so it has been at the bottom of the three trade lines for many years; compared with the trade between Yunnan and Guizhou The trade route from Sichuan to Shaanxi and Gansu is about to become much more prosperous. A large number of commodities such as livestock, leather, and wool produced in the Northwest are pouring into Sichuan, in exchange for Sichuan's tea, brocade and other special products. It has been prosperous for decades. Profitable.

However, some people may not believe it, the trade volume between Sichuan and Shaanxi-Gansu, which was also under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, was not as good as the trade volume with Huguang, which was an enemy country!This sounds unbelievable, but when you think about it carefully, it makes sense, because Jingzhou has always been the largest trading partner of Shu in history!

"Huguang earthen cloth is popular in central Sichuan. The large cloth of Xianning, the cotton cloth of Changsha, and the floral cloth of Hengyang are sold all over Sichuan; the firecracker industry, bamboo basket making industry, combing industry, gold foil industry, paper flower industry, and carving industry in Jiangxi are all sold in Hubei. The tinware industry, lacquerware industry, beekeeping industry, etc., flocked to Sichuan and made huge profits every year. The military supplies of the thieves were half dependent on this..." The above passage was made by the officials of the Qing Dynasty after many years of investigation. From the conclusion drawn, it can be seen that the trade volume between Sichuan and Chu is indeed quite large, and it has lasted for many years, which further deepened the understanding of Wu Sangui's "death to death" by the Manchu and Qing courts.

Huguang’s products are very popular in Sichuan. On the other hand, when these merchants return from Sichuan, it’s impossible for them to return empty-handed. In fact, they purchase a large number of specialty products in Sichuan and transport them back to Huguang to sell at a profit.For example, Sichuan’s more developed tea-making, wine-making, silk-weaving, oil-pressing, rice-milling, paper umbrella, candle, and salt-making industries are all commodities that are sold to Huguang, and they also create great value for Sichuan. A huge profit.

In the past, these businesses were basically run by local businessmen in Sichuan, and the scale has been like this for many years.Of course, they also paid taxes and even tribute to the actual rulers of Sichuan such as Wu Sangui, and Wu Sangui and others have never had any objections.However, after four or five years of war and gradually falling into economic difficulties, Wu Sangui is eager to develop business. To put it bluntly, he just wants to make money so that he can continue to arm his army and continue to fight in the north and south.

The reason why Wu Sangui seems to be in business is that besides being from a merchant family, he also has a little help from the East Coast people.As we all know, with the rapid rise of Dong'an people on the eastern coast of China for almost 30 years, even the dullest people have begun to study their strengths and wonder why they have been able to gallop for so many years without failing.As the largest warlord in the southwest region and the actual ruler of Sichuan, Wu Sangui has always been concerned about the people on the east coast. He also spent a lot of money to collect their various trends, rumors, books and other information. .

For example, after reading through some newspapers and books circulated around Ningbo that were acquired at a huge cost, he now has a relatively acceptable idea of ​​developing business and obtaining funds.Therefore, after sending people to carefully inspect the business environment in Sichuan, Wu Sangui planned to focus on the development of the tea, salt and silk weaving industries, and then make profits by exporting to neighboring regions.

Wu Sangui handed over this kind of matter to his old servant who has been with him for many years to handle it. It has been about a year now, and Wu Sangui, who is a little financially distressed, asked if he could subsidize himself.

Hearing Wu Sangui's question, the old servant immediately replied respectfully in a low voice: "There has been some progress. The tea and silk cloth in central Sichuan are sold far and near. According to a charter, advancing and retreating at the same time, competing with businessmen from other provinces, has made a lot of profits in the past year. However, if the tea and silk cloth in this province want to improve, it is not enough to rely on these alone, and we must find another way. Old slave I heard that the Dongguo people in Ningbo have machines for silk reeling and silk weaving, which are dozens of times faster than the cloth woven by the people. Once such a sharp weapon is obtained by us, the annual profit will not be more than ten times this? Sir, this Please think about it carefully, this old slave has been thinking about it for a year, and I think it is worth spending a lot of money to get it."

The old servant only mentioned the two major trades of tea and silk cloth, but did not mention the salt industry in central Sichuan, which is also well-known for a long time.But both he and Wu Sangui himself understand that there is no need to mention this matter, this business has always been a business that makes them extremely worry-free, and it makes huge profits every year. It was raised by reimbursement from those salt merchants, and it is really the first-class core industry in Sichuan.

"I'll send someone to inquire about this matter, you're interested." Wu Sangui, who had already finished his breakfast, didn't go back to his study, so he still cleaned up the dining table, then took a stack of documents, and read them carefully.

As he read, his brows furrowed involuntarily, and his lips trembled a little, as if trying to suppress his anger.After a long time, he let out a long breath, took a sip of tea, and then said slowly: "Ma Bao is incompetent, lost his master and lost his ground. It has been several years, and he still hasn't been able to deal with Li Dingguo, the remnant of Xiying. The more than 2 soldiers and horses even let them occupy some prefectures and counties in southern Sichuan. Although they are all poor and remote places, it doesn't matter if they lose them, but the siege can't be stopped every time, and so much food and money are wasted, but it can't be justified. Then Li Dingguo really has three heads and six arms!"

"Ma Bao is incompetent, and Wang Pingfan is also in a mess. He has been in Guiyang City for two years, and he has not calmed down the surrounding situation. Son Kewang, who has repeatedly sent troops to attack me, killed my soldiers, and robbed me of food and grass. So, what's the use of it!" At this point, Wu Sangui finally got a little angry, and began to count the mistakes of so many generals under his command over the years.

For example, Xia Guoxiang, who was defeated in Kuizhou and lost half of Kuizhou's mansion, Wu Sangui said a lot, angrily denouncing his young enemy's reckless actions, which caused the loss of soldiers and generals, and made the remnants of the Shun army many counties and counties, and even killed them. Part of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalion that came to aid has pinned down a large number of Wu Sangui's troops so far, and has been unable to restore the front line to before the outbreak of the war.

After talking about Xia Guoxiang, Hu Guozhu, another confidant general, was also criticized by Wu Sangui, saying that he failed to attack decisively at the critical moment of the Battle of Guiyang, and his movements were slow, so that Sun Kewang, a bandit chieftain, broke out and left a legacy today.Otherwise, if he beheaded the general of the Southern Ming Dynasty, maybe his men and horses would have taken the victory straight to Kunming and reached the overall situation.

During the time Wu Sangui got angry, the old servant remained silent and did not speak.But in his heart, he was also silently mourning for Wu Sangui. The so-called hero's twilight is probably like this.Now that he is old, he can no longer fight, and the arrogant soldiers under his command no longer work as hard as they used to. They are more careful than each other, and they are more slippery than each other when fighting, although it is not enough to say that they betrayed him. Mr. Wu, but it is inevitable to be neglectful.

And under the influence of their group of veterans, the entire Wu Group is now growing old, which is a bit similar to the old affairs of the feudal towns in the late Tang and Five Dynasties.Under such a situation, it is very good that the Sichuan regime can maintain itself, let alone compete with other forces, it is simply difficult for Wu Yinglin's successor.

Therefore, the old servant also understands Wu Sangui's current thoughts very well, that is, before he dies, he will try his best to help the descendants manage the situation, clear up hidden dangers, and accumulate money, so that Wu Yinglin can be more confident in guarding the descendants after taking over. Foundation, although it doesn't look very easy-the Wu Group has many hidden worries in the future, not to mention the internal ones, the main external worries come from the east and the north.

For those in the east, Liu Zhonggui from Dashun Zuoying and He Zhen and his son from Shangluo Mountain are relatively brave men who can fight. Even if Wu Sangui conquers himself, he must mobilize elites from all walks of life to gain the upper hand.Once I die in the future, what will happen to the situation is really hard to say.

In addition, in addition to the threat from Dashun, it is also difficult to guard against open swords and hidden arrows from the Qing Dynasty.Up to now, there are still three or four thousand Manchurian Eight Banners and more than 3 Shaanxi-Gansu Green Battalions stationed in the Guangyuan area. These people are completely under the orders of the Qing court, and their combat effectiveness is quite good.Their existence, apart from helping their own side at critical moments and blocking Shun's army from entering Sichuan, don't they have the purpose of guarding against and monitoring themselves?Wu Sangui was worried that once the Sichuan army fought against the Shun army in the future, the Qing army, which could not keep the whole of northern Sichuan, would take the opportunity to go south and seize the real power in various prefectures and counties, thus actually taking back the rule of the wealthy Sichuan province. ah!

Therefore, he, Wu Sangui, is really worried now, worrying about what will happen to him after his death, and how to better pass on his legacy to his descendants.However, after all, this world is not based on the will of a certain person. What is the future of Sichuan and even the entire Southwest? I am afraid that the answer can only be found by oneself.

(End of this chapter)