Chapter 296 Shanxi Merchants
A gust of warm wind blows, making the silent Dongyang River stir, and the sides of the river bank are also covered with a layer of green. This time is undoubtedly the best season for grazing.
But Yaruo could no longer come here to graze. She had to pick up her own lamb, looked at her husband Xiao Hong, and asked with tears in her eyes: "Brother Hong, you must remember to come to Xinghe to find me. I am already pregnant." Lost your child!”
Xiao Hong nodded and kissed his wife on the forehead: "I know, I will come to you!"
Xiao Hong said goodbye to his wife. As the clerk of the county government, he could not leave Kaicheng with his wife.
But at this moment, most of the people in Kaicheng had to leave Kaicheng. The county prime minister Wang Long and the commander-in-chief Li En escorted them to Xinghe. There is a thousand households in the Ming Dynasty. Currently, a guard of the Ming Dynasty is stationed there. The brigade and five thousand frontier troops are also close to the important town of Xuanfu.
According to the arrangement negotiated by Gui Yong and Zhang Cong, it is undoubtedly the most appropriate arrangement to move the people of Kaiping City, especially the Mongolian people, to Xinghe, because there are more officers and soldiers stationed in Xinghe, which can provide these people with the safest shelter. There is also enough power to prevent spies from causing trouble, and the relocated people live outside the city and will not affect the city's defense.
Kaiping City does not have a large number of civilians, which makes it easier for the defenders to defend and reduce food consumption.
All Mongolian people must leave the city, and those who resist must be treated as spies!
However, the Han people followed their own free will. If they wanted to stay in the city because they were reluctant to part with their family property and business, they also had to follow the arrangements of the defenders.
However, basically most of the people left Kaiping City.
At this time, only more than 2,000 border troops were left in Kaiping City, and at this time, all the Tatar cavalry had gathered outside Kaiping City.
Kule reluctantly rode his horse to the city. He was not afraid of being beaten to death by the Ming army on the city. He just felt helpless. He did not understand why his tribal leader wanted to join forces with Huadang to attack Pingcheng. It was clear that everyone The business was going well, and the Mongols no longer had to worry about the mountains of meat that could not be sold and would rot. They could even exchange it for silver dollars from the Han people in exchange for tea that could relieve fatigue and very cheap cloth.
But as a member of the tribe, he had to obey the orders of his tribe leader, mount his war horse, pick up his sword, and fight for the Golden Family.
As the leaders of his tribe said, the Meng people were born to rob. They would either take other people's things into their own hands, or they would be robbed, killed or made slaves by others. They could not just farm like the Han people. Do business.
But Culler accepted this point of view. He had to admit that the Mongols were more suitable for plundering and could not do business with the Han people. The Han people had always been cowardly and most of them would not stick together, so they were the best race to rob. If Kaiping City was really captured , he is also looking forward to plundering the prosperous Kaiping City, because he has been to Kaiping City and knows that there are Chinese women in Kaiping City who are softer than his beloved women, a lot of gold and silver, and the most industrious and suitable The low-level deceiver who is his own slave.
"General Tian Ba, please tell your general that the son of Duoyan Guards Commander Hua Dang is commanding the sons and grandsons of Tong Zhi Ba and the Left Commander Alans of the Tumote Department is coming with 100,000 cavalry. The tiny city of Kaiping City cannot stop our army at all. But Lord Huadang knows that you are all heroes and is willing to swear to Changshengtian. As long as you are willing to surrender, the Lord will allow you to join us and become our brothers!”
Kule was a nobleman from Tumut and a big businessman from the Tumut tribe. He was familiar with many Ming troops in Kaiping City. Therefore, he was sent to persuade the frontier defenders of Kaiping City to surrender. After all, Hua Hua Dang also knew that Kaiping City was a fortified city, and the Ming army's firearms had always been very sharp, so naturally they would persuade them to surrender if they could.
"Kule, Shantai and the others are not your friends. They help you load the goods and even help you do business to prevent you from being deceived because you don't understand arithmetic. But how do you treat them? Is this how you deceive others?" Treat friends?
Now that you still want to persuade us to surrender, I, Tian, put it here. Unless all my brothers in Kaiping City are dead, you can't even think of stepping into my Kaiping City! ”
Tian Deng did not convey Kuller's words of persuasion to surrender to Gui Yong, but directly cursed Kuller on the barbican.
Kule did not talk back, nor was he angry. Instead, he dropped his head in shame and came back. He did admit that Shan Tai and other Han people who were killed by his own people in front of him were his friends, and he even intentionally killed them. When his daughter married Shan Tai, he also invited Shan Tai to his home to drink milk wine countless times.
But what he had to admit was that he was a Mongolian, and his ancestors had been fighting for the Golden Family for a long time, and he was naturally no exception. Even if these Han people were friends, he could not betray his master because of his friends. .
Kule was very painful and helpless in his heart. He was unwilling to face the situation of having to fight with each other because of different ethnic groups. He would rather everyone do business together on the grassland, but the lords like to plunder because of that. It is easier and more beneficial than buying and selling, and the Han people will basically not retaliate.
"Chief, they are unwilling to surrender!"
Culler reported back to his leader Alans about how he had persuaded him to surrender, and Alans looked at the commander-in-chief who had attacked Kaiping City this time.
"Since they refuse to surrender, after attacking the city, no one in the city will be left behind. Tell me all the warriors in Dayuan that the property and women in the city belong to them!"
As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Han, a Han man wearing a Confucian robe: "Mr. Jiang, are you sure that the artillery you forged can capture Kaiping City?"
"Don't worry, young master, this cannon forged by your humble position weighs three thousand kilograms and can shoot two miles away. It will definitely be able to break through Kaiping City!"
Jiang Han was originally a civil servant and came from a family of bureaucracy. His father had served as a Hanlin official. However, because he was dissatisfied with the new policies of the imperial court and killed his family's servants with a stick, he was dissatisfied with the imperial court's decision to take his own life and fled to the outside of the Great Wall. Unexpectedly, he He will be caught by the Tatars of Duoyanwei.
Moreover, because Hua Dang thought that he was a Han and a scholar, he thought he could make cannons, so he kept him and forced him to make cannons for himself. Jiang Han had no choice but to agree in order to survive, but he did. I had studied at Nanjing Central University and was familiar with artillery casting, so I cast a live cannon capable of long-range shooting according to my own understanding.
Huadang was extremely satisfied with this, and promoted Jiang Han to be his commander. He followed his son and his children and grandchildren to attack Pingcheng, and took charge of the artillery for his Duoyan Guard.
Jiang Han did not expect that he would have such a good fortune. He was grateful to Hua Dang for using him in such an important way. He even began to hope that Hua Dang could destroy the Ming Dynasty and reestablish Confucianism's status in governing the country.
However, his children and grandchildren do not value Jiang Han as much as his father. He despises this person who betrayed his clan, but he also knows that he needs this person if he wants to conquer Kaiping City for his father. Therefore, although his face is gloomy, But he still said politely: "That's very good. Mr. Lao Jiang will be the first to attack Kaiping City with artillery!"
boom!
Suddenly there was a loud explosion!
The whole earth seemed to be shaking! The powerful air wave knocked all these Tatars to the ground!
"Young master, be careful!"
A Tatar guard hurriedly protected the children and grandchildren, and fell to the ground together with the children and grandchildren.
When he pushed his children and grandchildren away from the dead guard who was pressing on him and stood up, he saw a three-foot-wide bomb crater in front of him, and no fewer than ten Mongolian cavalry had been killed on the spot, and even ten more Several Mongolian cavalrymen who were not killed were half-broken and wailing in pain on the ground.
Bloody and bloody!
Broken bodies!
What's more, the war horse was struggling to stand up on the ground in pain, covered in blood!
……
This is the power of Daming City’s long-range defense artillery!
Although there are only five guns, after steam power was also used in the Ordnance Bureau, the boring machine technology of the Ming Dynasty's artillery has matured, and the steam-powered boring machine can be directly used to directly boring out giant cannons with rifled threads, coupled with the accuracy and conicity The use of artillery shells can naturally cause great damage to the enemy with a single bombardment, and the Ming Dynasty's artillery shells are still explosive shells today!
The only empire in the world today that masters the technology of explosive bombs!
Note: Explosive bombs have already appeared in history, and the Ming Dynasty’s weapons research has been quite popular. The emergence of Explosive Bullets here should not be too advanced. After all, the Ming Dynasty’s technology has been developed for many years in the novel.
Gui Yong looked at this scene and couldn't help but smile coldly. His own advanced firearms gave him great confidence in defending Kaiping City. After seeing that the first round of shooting caused the entire Mongolian army to almost fall into chaos, he continued to give instructions: " Change your gun and shoot again! Kill a few more of the Tatars before they retreat!"
……
boom!
boom!
boom!
The sound of a series of shell explosions came again, like Gesang flowers blooming on the grassland, directly blowing up the soil and stones and the Tatar war horses, and the violent air waves flew away more than a dozen Tatars. The bullets, and the shrapnel also turned into a sharp blade under the action of strong momentum, directly cutting the Tartar or war horse into two pieces!
One round of bombardment is over!
silence!
Deathly silence!
Only the wails of the Tartars and the pitiful neighs of the war horses echoed!
The son and grandson were a little confused. He didn't expect that the Ming army's artillery had developed to such an extent that it could kill so many of his people with one shot!
The children and grandchildren hurriedly shouted: "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat one mile!"
Fortunately, these Tatar cavalry have always been well-trained soldiers, and there was no chaos because the commander Zisun ordered the retreat. However, the Ming army's shelling also caused a big shock to their hearts, and they were all at a loss. He turned around and looked in the direction of Kaiping City to see if any shells were coming.
……
Gui Yong looked at the hurriedly retreating Tatar army and only smiled coldly again and ordered: "The artillery battalion cools down the artillery, cleans the barrels, lifts up the short-range artillery and tiger squat artillery, all the musketeers are loaded and ready to shoot! Wait! These Tatars must disperse and attack the city. After the long-range cannon cools down, they will be responsible for blowing up the Tatar artillery!”
Less than half an hour after Gui Yong finished speaking, Tatars began to appear pushing huge cannons. Tian Deng, who was responsible for using telescopes to observe, hurriedly reported to Gui Yong, and Gui Yong hurriedly ordered the artillery to prepare to bombard the Tatar artillery.
……
On the Tatar side, Jiang Han took a pair of binoculars given to him by Hua Dang and looked at the Kaiping City Wall. After making sure that the cannons on his side were all placed in the right position, he ordered: "Let go!"
Bang!
The Tatar cannons were live ammunition, so they just hit the city wall made of thick cement concrete with a loud bang, leaving only a little bit of mud.
"How could it be! How could this be! The cement city wall mentioned in the newspaper could be so strong?! Even cannons can't destroy it?!"
Jiang Han said in horror.
At this time, the Ming army who had been hiding under the battlements and preparing to avoid the bombardment found that not even a drop of dust fell on their heads. They were all surprised and couldn't help but raise their heads and burst into laughter.
"The artillery of this dog Tatar is still stuck in the era of relying on iron balls and black powder! It is simply a delusion to want to blast away our Kaiping City!" Yan Heng, the leader of the team, said at this time, as the Ming Army Military Academy As a first-class graduate, he was naturally very clear about the development history of gunpowder and artillery in the Ming Dynasty. Now he couldn't help but laugh at the impact of Tatar shells and artillery.
And this time.
The Ming Dynasty's long-range cannon also launched a counterattack. The five artillery pieces accurately delivered ten shells to the Tatar artillery position within a few breaths.
boom!
boom!
boom!
All the Tatar artillery pieces were blown to pieces, and all the Tatar artillerymen were also killed. Jiang Han ran back desperately, then stumbled and fell to the ground, and couldn't help but kowtow like pounding garlic. Said: "Don't blow me up, don't blow me up!"
……
Seeing that all his artillery was destroyed and that he could not shake Kaiping City, he had no choice but to order his cavalry to disperse and attack Kaiping City. He used his cavalry's bows and arrows and his fearless spirit to shoot down the Ming troops on the city wall.
then.
Countless Tatars rushed over from all over the sky.
But as soon as these Tatars drew their bows and arrows and rushed towards them with howls, the Ming army's short-range artillery and tiger squatting artillery opened fire. Continuous shells exploded among these Tatars, directly blowing up these Tatars. One by one they flew up, corpses were flying everywhere, and blood was sprinkled on the grassland like rain.
The Ming army, on the other hand, kept changing their muskets and used continuous shells and gunpowder to harvest the lives of these Tatars.
These Tatars were not afraid of death and continued to rush towards the city wall.
In the world view of these Tatars, there have always been only warriors who died in battle and no warriors who retreated. They believed in the protection of the Immortal God, so they all rushed forward with only a close proximity.
The musketeers on the Ming army's side are already holding firing muskets!
Three hundred steps!
Two hundred steps!
One hundred steps!
Crack, crackle!
The Ming army pulled the trigger and fired the bullets in the rifled guns. The primer produced by the guncotton directly ignited the propellant, causing the conical bullets to spin and pierce the air, directly penetrating into the brains or brains of these Tatars. In the chest, it continues to rotate in the bodies of these Tatars, causing secondary damage.
The Tatar who was shot fell off his horse.
Or the shot horse fell to the ground, tripping its owner, or even crushing his owner to death!
The dense bullets formed a dense rain of bullets, and the Tatar cavalry fell one after another.
The rifled guns of the Ming army ejected a bullet by pulling the trigger once. The bullet in the magazine was then loaded directly into the gun under the action of the spring, and the bolt was continued to be pulled to fire. The whole process was very fast, and dense rain of bullets continued one after another. The entire city wall was Within a hundred steps area, there are corpses everywhere! Howling!
The Tatar cavalry had no choice but to retreat. Kaiping City, which was defended by only 2,000 people, did not allow the 100,000 Tatar army to take any advantage!
……
Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong and Guangxi.
Although the weather has become increasingly hot, the teahouse opposite the Daming Stock Exchange is still full of guests.
Dr. Tea shuttled back and forth between the tables, serving tea to these gentry and dignitaries while accompanying him carefully.
Nowadays, with the development of the empire's industry, you can not only drink hot tea when you come to the teahouse, but also iced black plum, iced double skin milk, and even iced fruit slices.
In this hot solar term, the people of Guangdong and Guangxi naturally prefer the latter. A sip of ice-cold watermelon juice will dissipate the heat all over their body. However, when the stock prices after the opening of the stock exchange come out, they feel a cold pleasure. Then it disappeared completely. The excited people were so excited that they pulled their clothes, banged the table, and looked out the glass window: "Oh my God, the price has risen again!"
"In just a few days, Shanxi Commercial Bank's stock has tripled!"
"Isn't that right? Didn't you see the stragglers outside? They are still queuing up to buy on such a hot day. Isn't it just because the market is good!"
"However, why do I always feel like something is wrong! Even if it goes up, there is no way to increase it!"
"What's wrong? The professors from Zhaoqing University who came from Beijing Normal University said a few months ago that stocks were abnormal and would plummet. It's been almost half a year and they haven't seen a drop! If you have money, buy it as soon as possible. Recently Another Liaomeng trading company has gone public, specializing in large-scale business outside the customs. They are all looking for ways to buy original shares! ”
People in the teahouse were chattering away, and everyone was excited because of the rising stocks.
In a quiet villa in the backyard of the tea house, Fan Yonghe from Shanxi was not as excited as the people outside. He just played chess with his housekeeper Yang Feng calmly. After the chess game was over, he asked: "The stock price has gone up." What’s the situation? ”
"It has risen by nearly 70% today. We should have wiped out all the money in Guangzhou. Now some people have begun to borrow money from banks and gentry to speculate in stocks. There are even people from Zhaoqing and Chaozhou coming to buy! You see , when will we stop ruling them?”
Yang Feng asked.
"Don't rush now. Once the Liaomeng Commercial Bank is listed, we will invest another sum of money and then stop. Tell Keteduo that you remember to continue to invest a sum of money when the time comes. Their leader Hua Dang hopes to make three investments in Guangdong, Guangxi and Guangxi this time." More than one million silver dollars! But we must pay our Shanxi Commercial Bank half a million silver dollars in advance! Otherwise, Fan will let them lose everything!”
Fan Yonghe continued to ask: "When will Xia Budang return to Guangzhou?"
"It's expected to be at the end of this month!" Yang Feng replied.
"Then try to return to Shanxi at the end of this month and let Xia Budang clean up the mess. Then say hello to Meng Budang. I cannot be without my Jin people in this cabinet!"
Fan Yonghe said.
"Understand, Meng Butang has just taken charge of the Ministry of Personnel. When the time comes for Guangdong and Guangxi to be in chaos, he, Xia Yan, will be blamed. Naturally, it will not be his turn to join the cabinet! And except for him, Xia Yan, no one can His qualifications are higher than Meng Butang's," Yang Feng said.
"Why not? Don't forget Uncle Xin Xin who leads the troops in the border town!" Fan Yonghe said with a smile.
"I'm afraid that the court still needs him to guard the Xuan Mansion and fight against Hua Dang's 100,000-strong army." When Yang Feng said this, Fan Yonghe just smiled faintly: "In the end, we still need our Jin Party to clean up the mess!"
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……
At the Pearl River Estuary, the setting sun gradually sets on the sea. The afterglow embellishes the turquoise water with sparkling waves, like gold hidden in the sea of sand, attracting countless ships to dig for wealth on the dangerous sea.
Xia Yan, who was in charge of all shipping routes and colonies in the entire Pacific and Indian Ocean, opened the glass window and looked at the city of Guangzhou with dozens of high-rise buildings in front of him. He was not very sad. He had never thought that in the past few years, Guangzhou would The city has developed so fast that almost every household of the wealthy people has a boat, filling the entire Pearl River estuary, and the fish restaurants squeezed on the shore stretch for miles.
Xia Yan's wife, Su, took off the hair gauze on Xia Yan's head and nestled on Xia Yan's shoulder. Xia Yan put his arms around his wife's waist and enjoyed his wife's tenderness: "Is Yuan'er sleeping?"
"He is asleep. He is the first child born on board in our Xia family. He sleeps very peacefully even in the wind and waves. I am afraid that he will have to travel on the sea like my husband in the future."
Su Shi replied.
Xia Yan couldn't help but smile: "When you get to Guangzhou, take Yuan'er back to your hometown of Guixi. When he grows up, let him go to a new school to study!"
"Master, why do you say this suddenly?" Su said and couldn't help hugging Xia Yan tighter: "I just want to be with you!"
Xia Yan sighed: "There are some things that I couldn't tell you, but now I have to let you know. You know my current position. Although I control the military and political power of the entire Nanyang, there is a saying that when you climb high, you must fall." Heavy, I killed so many smuggled dignitaries I am afraid that the wealthy gentry has offended many people, and I am afraid that I will inevitably end up abandoning the market in the future. Have you noticed the recent stock price in Guangzhou? According to my early experience of studying sacred science in front of His Majesty, the stock price in Guangzhou is very abnormal. ! ”
"Isn't it always rising? The people are very happy and even boast that this is your credit, sir," Su replied.
"That's just a superficial phenomenon. Let's not talk about it anymore. Even if we end up in a different place in the future, it will be enough for Xia to be able to lay such a foundation for our Ming Dynasty and repay the kindness of the Supreme Being."
As Xia Yan said this, he couldn't help but hug his wife tighter: "Let's go and see Yuan'er. We don't know when he will be able to call him daddy!"
Three days later, just when Xia Yan was about to land, Wen Jinghua, the prefect of Guangzhou, hurriedly found Xia Yan: "Master Bu Tang, you are back. Something bad happened. Just two days ago, the stock price plummeted! All listed companies suffered losses. It has reached tens of millions of silver dollars, and it is still During the fall, nearly a hundred private businesses closed down, and six businessmen couldn't accept it and jumped into the river to commit suicide! The people were panicked, and some green-skinned gangsters took the opportunity to rob them. Look, what's going on right now?" br>
Xia Yan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then asked: "Is there any Shang Shu?"
"According to your request, I have rushed to Beijing for 800 miles! Xiaguan has just been transferred from Yunnan and is not familiar with stock price control and business management. Everything depends on you, sir, to save Xiaguan!"
Wen Jinghua, the prefect of Guangzhou, bowed to Xia Yan again. In fact, even Xia Yan himself was a little confused.
(End of chapter)