Han ride

Chapter 115 Spy
"You mean someone in Shandong has rebelled?" Li Xin on the grassland was training soldiers and horses while capturing the territory of the Zhuosutu League. Soon, through Zhang Yifu's spies, what happened in Shandong was quickly revealed. Arrived at Li Xin's desk.

"Shandong is too far away from us, otherwise, we can get a foot in." Shi Yuanzhi frowned while touching his beard and said, "Kong Youde is a mighty fighter, if he can be recruited , the strength of our army will increase a lot.”

"This person is a rebellious boy. He will not surrender to us. He is going to surrender to Jiannu." Li Xin said coldly.No one knows better than him that there are two big traitors Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming following Kong Youde to surrender this time. If Wu Sangui is added, they will be the three big traitors in the late Ming Dynasty, and this Kong Youde is not a good person. Because he gave birth to a good daughter named Kong Sizhen, who was a loyal lackey of the Qing Dynasty, so Li Xin disliked this person very much.It was also because of Kong Youde that Jiannu used firearms on a large scale later.

"It's a pity." Shi Yuan was taken aback when he heard the words, but he didn't refute. Since Li Xin said that this person is a rebellious boy, then this person is a rebellious boy.

"My lord, there is a saying that my subordinates don't know whether to say or not." Zhang Yifu said suddenly from the side.

"What's the matter?" Li Xin asked in surprise.

"My lord, the number of business travelers around us suddenly increased a lot today. My lord, I think this is abnormal." Zhang Yifu took out another note from his pocket and handed it in respectfully.

Li Xin stretched out his hand to take it, his face suddenly became gloomy, and he saw that it said "Li Xin is brave, but very careful, there are hundreds of fine cavalry guards when he goes in and out, and there are more than a thousand cavalry patrolling day and night around the big tent, and they will come when they are called." .”

"What's going on here? How could someone spy on the military?" Li Xin looked at Zhang Yifu with a fierce look in his eyes and said, "Our military secrets, how can others know." Li Xin himself is a military secret, and non-ordinary people are not allowed to disclose it But now it is known by others, it is obvious that there are enemy spies nearby.

"My lord, this was seized from a spy who often walked nearby. I also heard that there are many such people, and most of them appeared around my tent in the form of business travelers." Zhang Yifu said in a low voice.

"Do you know the origin of these people? Are they Jiannu, or the imperial court?" Shi Yuanzhi's eyes showed a trace of panic.If such a spy really appeared around, it would be the most dangerous thing. Every move of our army would be under the surveillance of the enemy.

"From Zhangjiakou, it belongs to the Fan family." Zhang Yifu said quickly.

"The eight major families of Shanxi merchants?" Shi Yuanzhi showed a look of embarrassment on his face.The beginnings of Shanxi merchants and Tang Dynasty have already appeared. "Tong Dian" records: In the Tang Dynasty, there were shops as far as Fanyang, Taiyuan in the north, and Liangfu in the middle of Shu in the west, for business travel.But compared with Huizhou merchants, it cannot compete with it.In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Shanxi began to suffer year after year of famine, and people were forced to "go to the west entrance", that is, to go to the northwest to make a living and do business.There are generally two routes for Shanxi people to go to the west entrance, that is, start from the central and northern parts of Shanxi, one goes west, exits through the Shahu Pass, and enters the Mongolian grassland; the other goes east, passes through Datong, exits through Zhangjiakou, and enters Mongolia.Maybe it was because they were too eager for wealth, or maybe it was the pain of another wife and son who moved God, Shanxi people finally found the "extreme door" for doing business in Zhangjiakou.Since Zhangjiakou was an important place for the garrison, the sergeants also had to eat and wear clothes, so they became "military merchants" and started supplying military supplies.Under the impetus of "opening the middle system" (a kind of border defense policy implemented by the Ming Dynasty, as long as they send food to the border guards, they can exchange salt from the government, and they can use the salt to buy and sell smuggled salt and make profits), Shanxi people took the lead and did not hesitate to Working hard, walking among the mountains.They bought military rations from Henan and Shandong, and transported them over mountains and ridges to Zhangjiakou in small wheelbarrows in exchange for salt tickets.In this way, Shanxi merchants changed step by step from small wheelbarrows to ox-horse carts, from one to many, and then into convoys. Selling salt allowed Shanxi merchants to earn a lot of wealth.

Some Shanxi merchants used Zhangjiakou as their base, went back and forth between inside and outside the customs, engaged in trade activities, transported materials for the Manchu regime, and even passed on documents and information.According to "Records of the Qing Dynasty", in the three years of Mandate of Destiny, there were 16 traders in Fushun from Shandong, Shanxi, Hedong, Hexi, Suzhou and Hangzhou. repatriation".The trade activities of Shanxi merchants inside and outside the customs gave great support to the Later Jin regime in terms of materials, and the Later Jin regime also gave Shanxi merchants courtesy and attention.Shanxi merchants cooperated with the Qing rulers in strengthening their rule over Mongolia.

Among them, the most powerful ones belonged to the eight families of Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Fan Yongdou, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa. They also belonged to the eight major families, the most prominent of which was the Fan family.

These people came around Li Xin's camp at this time, obviously because of Li Xin's battle on the grassland. In addition, Li Xin was originally from later generations and knew the importance of commerce. There were many businessmen around, but what I didn't expect was that these businessmen were so courageous that they actually monitored Li Xin's movements, which made Li Xin very angry.It can be seen from this that these guys were probably ordered by Jiannu to monitor Li Xin's every move and then send out the information.

"These guys really deserve to die." Gao Meng was in charge of Li Xin's guards. He didn't expect that Li Xin's every move was under the surveillance of the enemy. This was his dereliction of duty.

"My lord, these eight families are the most powerful people among Shanxi merchants. The entire Shanxi merchants may have controlled half of the financial power of Daming at this moment. They have money." Zhang Yifu reminded cautiously.What can money do?Money can make Mo Tui ghosts, Shanxi merchants are rich, and more importantly, he can not only fornicate and build slaves, but also cultivate a large number of loyal lackeys within the Ming Dynasty, these people will speak for Shanxi merchants, otherwise In other words, for so many years, Shanxi merchants betrayed the interests of the Ming Dynasty, but Chongzhen didn't know it at all, and it had a lot to do with a group of people in the court.

"Shanxi Merchants, if one day I conquer Shanxi, I will wash these Shanxi Merchants with blood." Li Xin said through gritted teeth.Merchants are chasing profits, which is understandable, but it is undoubtedly shameless to sell national interests for money, but Shanxi merchants are doing it with relish, maybe more than ten years, maybe it has been more than a hundred years Now, these Shanxi merchants are doing the same thing, how could Li Xin collude with these people.

Shi Yuanzhi and the others shuddered, and they all felt a strong murderous intent from Li Xin's tone.I can't help but feel a little sad for these Shanxi merchants in Zhangjiakou.

"Gutu, are those Mongolian soldiers obedient?" Li Xin asked suddenly.

"Returning to the lord, if they are disobedient, their relatives will die. If this is the case, how can they be disobedient." Jutu said triumphantly.

"Okay, tonight, you gather them together, and we'll make a big deal." Li Xin said grimly.

"My lord, you?" Shi Yuanzhi immediately figured out what Li Xin wanted to do.He said with an extremely terrified expression: "My lord is the body of a thousand pieces of gold. Don't act rashly. It's better to find someone else to do it well."

"No need. I don't feel at ease if someone else goes." Li Xin waved his hand and said, "I'm afraid this operation will involve a fight, and it's not for ordinary people to decide."

"I don't know how many people my lord is leading?" Shi Yuan asked softly when he saw that Li Xin could not be persuaded.

"Our army has 1000 soldiers and horses, but most of them are out for battle. Naturally, the brigade cannot be dispatched easily. I will lead [-] personal guards and set off." Li Xin said without thinking, "Order Jiang Yi to come back and sit in command." Commander-in-chief, temporarily in charge of military affairs, sir can be in charge of civil affairs."

"Your subordinates just follow orders." Shi Yuanzhi nodded.

"Zhang Yifu, have you ever been to Zhangjiakou?" Li Xin asked Zhang Yifu, who glanced aside.

"I've been there." Zhang Yifu showed a rare dignified face, and said: "Zhangjiakou was not called Zhangjiakou originally, it was called Baozili. It was a common name for Zhangjiakou Fort. It was built in Xuande four years ago. In recent years, 3000 Ming Dynasty frontier troops have been stationed here, all elite. Outside Zhangjiakou, there is the Great Wall with a total length of 10,000 miles. Among them, the Great Wall in the west of the bridge is [-] miles long, and it is built along the mountain. Materials from the ground are built with stone bases and jointed with mortar. In the north of Zhangjiakou, there are East and West Taiping Mountains facing each other majestically. The east gate is called Yongzhen, and the south gate is called Cheng'en. Zhangjiakou Fort is the fortress of Xuanfu Town on the Great Wall defense line. It has always played an important role in preventing the Mongolian army from invading. It has never been lost in the war, so it is called "Wucheng". During the Longqing and Wanli years, the situation changed greatly. The conflict between the imperial court and the Alta tribe of Mongolia was turned into friendship, and the "tea-horse market" was realized. The function of Zhangjiakou Fort also changed accordingly, from a purely military The castle has evolved into a border city with both trade functions. It is also because of this that Shanxi merchants can settle down here, which is extremely safe. More importantly, Xuanfu is tens of miles south of Zhangjiakou. Some people say that there are [-] people in Xuanfu. + Troop strength, but the subordinates can only observe about [-] elite Ming troops. Among them, there are tens of thousands of cavalry, but in a few hours, the soldiers and horses of the Xuanfu can reach Zhangjiakou." Obviously Zhang Yifu has a very sharp eye, and he can see it all at once. Out of Li Xin's plan, he just wanted to rush into Zhangjiakou and teach the Fan family and even the entire Eight Great Families a harsh lesson.But what he saw and heard in Zhangjiakou, he believed that it was impossible for Li Xin to capture Zhangjiakou, so he dissuaded him.

"Who is the current chief soldier of Xuanfu?" Li Xin asked after thinking for a moment.

"It's Hou Shilu, and the governor is Shen Qi." Zhang Yifu hurriedly said, "Hou Shilu is a mighty general in the world, and his son Hou Gongji is now a general in Xuanfu."

"Zhangjiakou doesn't look like it's generally difficult to fight!" Li Xin frowned, but he never thought that Zhangjiakou was so important. The Ming Dynasty sent tens of thousands of elites to garrison here. Zhangjiakou, the Fan family and other eight great families betrayed the interests of the imperial court, not only sent some prohibited items outside the pass, but also sent information to Jiannu, he didn't believe it, Hou Shilu and others didn't know the situation inside, but this is the case Under the circumstances, these people are not willing to do anything to these eight merchants. On the one hand, it may be because these have benefited from the eight major Shanxi merchants, or, Hou Shilu and others have also participated in it. No matter what it is, Li Xinruo If they forcibly attack Zhangjiakou, they will face endless revenge from the eight great families headed by the Fan family.

"My lord, attacking Zhangjiakou is definitely not possible with our current strength, but it is not difficult if we want to teach those eight great families a lesson." Shi Yuanzhi hurriedly said: "Now we have blocked the passage of these eight great families to Jiannu. On the one hand, the lord can let people levy heavy taxes, and the two can temporarily make friends with these, which is also good. Or there is another way, that is, to act as a middleman and buy things from these guys in Zhangjiakou, so that they may go to Jiannu gone."

(End of this chapter)