Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

() Wu Shigong listened to Wan Wendong's story with great interest.In modern times, no matter which novel has such a plot, those private mine bosses must be some villains, and those miners' behavior of resisting oppression will definitely be highly praised.

However, Wu Shigong certainly doesn't care about such moral judgments.But after understanding Li Lu and Wan Wendong's intentions, to be honest, Wu Shigong has little interest in sending troops to help those private mine owners and take back those private mines.

Wu Shigong is still very confident in the combat effectiveness of his army.According to Wu Shigong's estimation, as long as an army of 500 to 2000 people is dispatched, those miners can be driven out of the private mining area.It's nothing more than the fact that those private mines are located in mountainous areas, with complex terrain, and the length of time it takes for the army to fight.

Of course, if Wu Shigong sent troops, the food and pay for his own soldiers would definitely be provided by those private mine bosses.But that's not how it works out.For Wu Shigong, it is very uneconomical to let his carefully trained soldiers bear the sacrifices for the benefit of others.

In addition, Wu Shigong just needs some cheap iron materials.He can buy from these private mine owners through Li Lu, and of course he can also buy from the miners organized by horse bandits.Maybe those horse bandits didn't have other channels to sell iron materials, so the iron materials sold to Wu Shigong would be cheaper.No matter what Wu Shigong himself said, he wouldn't suffer too much.

However, since Li Lu brought Wan Wendong to ask him for help, it is not good to refuse.Besides, Wu Shigong also wanted to learn about the situation of those iron mines in detail through his own eyes and ears.Therefore, Wu Shigong said to Wan Wendong very politely: "This matter is too serious, and I cannot answer it immediately. Outside of Wanyuan, you can have a good time in Runing Mansion for a few days, and wait for my official to discuss it. Give you an answer."

After sending Li Lu and Wan Wendong away, Wu Shigong immediately called all the main staff and military officers around him to discuss whether to send troops.In the process of deliberation, everyone's opinions were surprisingly unified, and they all felt that sending troops was of little significance.

And Deng Qifan's words are also the most representative: "My lord, if the Runing Battalion sends troops this time, those mine owners will just pay some food and salary. But the rule of your lord's Runing Battalion is that the soldiers get double pay, plus the compensation for the casualties of the soldiers. , so the adult’s income must not be much.”

"And if adults want to gain benefits, they must take advantage of this opportunity to take a share in the iron mine. Not to mention whether those mine owners are willing to give up, even if those mine owners agree to give them to adults, how can adults guarantee it?" Will those miners not make trouble again in the future?"

"So in order to prevent those miners from rebelling again, my lord must station an army in Nanyang Mansion. The students don't mention the question of why the lord, the garrison of Runing Mansion, should station troops in Nanyang Mansion. Even if this problem can be solved Solve it, where will the future food and salary come from for the new army that your lord has added?"

"My lord's concern now is nothing more than one problem: Those rebellious miners don't sell your iron material, and your iron material supply is cut off. In fact, this problem can be solved, let the Four Seas Trading Company send a shopkeeper to these rebellious miners. Just touch it."

"Of course, if the interests of those mine owners are large enough, adults can also send troops to help. However, there is no need for adults to rush to answer now and let the mine owners of Nanyang Mansion wait for a while. In that case, they may do it. Make a relatively large concession."

After listening to Deng Qifan's words, Wu Shigong took it very seriously.That's the old fashioned way.So after the meeting, Wu Shigong asked Yuan Xingshan to send several shopkeepers and associates from the Four Seas Trading Company to Nanyang Mansion to contact the rebellious miners and discuss the purchase of iron materials.On the other hand, he called Xue Zhinong over.

After all, Wu Shigong still had to make preparations to send troops, so those preparations had to be done first.And the Shanchuan Division should immediately send people to find out the map of Nanyang Mansion and the situation of those rogue miners.

After Xue Zhinong came, Wu Shigong explained the task clearly, and he finally said to Xue Zhinong: "Zhinong, in addition to the things you just told you, the people you sent to Nanyang Mansion this time need to figure out two things."

"One thing is, I heard from Li Shoubei that the combat effectiveness of the rebellious miners has surpassed that of the general army. They have 4000 people. Such a large force, placed by our side, will always It makes people feel a little uneasy. Although they have not threatened us yet, we have to find out their situation as clearly as possible."

"The other thing is, you also need to find some old local miners who really know the output of those iron mines. If those mine owners are willing to give us some, then we will not suffer a loss in negotiations."

"Yeah!" Xue Zhinong nodded quickly in agreement.

"If there's nothing wrong, you go down."

Xue Zhinong turned around and was about to leave.But at this moment, as if he suddenly remembered something, he turned around and asked Wu Shigong again: "My uncle arranged for the young girl, and the young one has already been sent to Mother Li for training. The young one wants her to be a teacher for us in the future. Shanchuan Division works."

Wu Shigong was taken aback when he heard this, and after thinking about it, he realized that what Xue Zhinong was talking about was the Tang Mei he gave to Xue Zhinong!Then Mama Li was the old bustard Man Ling used to be, but why did Xue Zhinong send Tang Mei to Mama Li?

"Since it has been given to you, then you can make up your own mind and arrange it yourself." Wu Shigong also immediately understood that Xue Zhinong said that if Tang Mei was to work for Shanchuan Division, it must be using Tang Mei's beauty to use beauty tricks.However, regarding the specific affairs of the Shanchuan Division, Wu Shigong decided to let Xue Zhinong, the leader of the Shanchuan Division, let go of his hands and feet.

Under Wu Shigong's arrangement, the two waves of bright and dark troops set off quickly.Then, Wu Shigong enthusiastically participated in his birthday, which was the first time he celebrated in a big way since he came to the Ming Dynasty.

I won't talk much about the lively scene of the birthday banquet, but this time, Wu Shigong took advantage of the large number of guests who came to congratulate, and by the way, he organized the concubine-marrying ceremony for Qiong Niang, Man Ling and Mei Yun.

After all this work was over, the manpower sent by Na Bo Ming from the Four Seas Trading Company brought back satisfactory news as expected.After contacting the leaders of those rogue miners, that is, the horse bandits, the horse bandits readily agreed to Wu Shigong's request to buy iron materials.

Moreover, after those horse bandits learned that Wu Shigong bought a relatively large amount of iron materials, they were willing to give Wu Shigong a more favorable price, even lower than the price Li Lu gave Wu Shigong.

But after some time, the people sent by Nabo from Shanchuan Division also came back, but they brought an unexpected news to Wu Shigong.

Xue Zhinong reported to Wu Shigong: The total number of those miners who rebelled was indeed more than 4000, and their family members also numbered over 1. From the number of people, Wan Wendong did not deceive each other.

And those miners are not usually gathered together.They live separately according to the hilltops that produce iron ore, and each hilltop is managed by a mountain owner.Only when there is something to do, will they gather together to resist foreign enemies.

However, the horse bandits who were the leaders of the miners obviously had experience in the army.When the horse bandits were in the miners' spare time, they organized the miners and conducted certain military training.Therefore, those miners are not without a little fighting power.

Wu Shigong didn't have any unexpected thoughts when he heard this.Because in the Ming Dynasty, among the horse bandits and bandits who fell into the grass, there were indeed many soldiers who had fled from the army.Therefore, it is not surprising that among those horse bandits, there are talents who understand military training.

But what Wu Shigong heard next made him unable to calm down.Xue Zhinong went on to report that: After inquiring about some old miners, he learned that the output of those iron mines was not satisfactory.And along with this iron mine, there are also some small coal mines.But these minerals are enough to meet Wu Shigong's current needs.

But, besides those iron and coal mines, there was also a saltpeter mine in that district.However, the saltpeter mine was not well exploited because of its remote location, so the local people basically left the saltpeter mine idle.

For Wu Shigong now, the allure of this news must be great.Because in Wu Shigong's army now, the use of firearms is quite common, and the consumption of gunpowder is also quite huge.

But because the purchase of gunpowder is not easy, Wu Shigong's army can only maintain a relatively low level of training.As an integral part of gunpowder, Wu Shigong himself had a charcoal-burning workshop.However, it is more difficult to obtain saltpeter and sulfur.

Compared with sulfur, which is relatively easy to purchase, the purchase of saltpeter is more difficult and the price is relatively high.If there is this saltpeter mine now, more than half of Wu Shigong's problem of obtaining gunpowder will be solved.

But in terms of economic accounts, what made Wu Shigong even more undecided was the political and military accounts.Whether it is iron or saltpeter, to Wu Shigong, it is not only a commodity, but also a strategic material.

If there was only one kind of strategic material—iron material, Wu Shigong might still bear it, but with two kinds of strategic material, Wu Shigong would definitely not be able to sit still.

For this reason, after hearing Xue Zhinong's report, Wu Shigong had already made up his mind that he must send troops to take both the iron mine and the saltpeter mine into his own hands.

But for the current Runing Camp, the organizational setup is relatively complete.Regarding sending troops, Wu Shigong can't be too arbitrary.Therefore, he called together his main staff and military officers to discuss.