Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 134 Military Intelligence and Trade

Although Japanese pirates have not been seen in the past few decades, there are still cases of pirates coming ashore to rob.

To ordinary people, it was probably just the Japanese pirates changing their clothes, so they still had to continue to take precautions.

Therefore, the common people had a rough idea of ​​the temperament of the military towns and garrisons along the coast.

Take General Wu for example, although there is no record of his men robbing the county town, this general has a big appetite.

Therefore, whenever pirates landed here, the people in the city would tend to head south to seek help from the commander.

But for now, these are not important. After all, the general's asking price has been lowered, and the amount is reasonable. As long as the full amount is handed over, we can live a peaceful life for a while.

This is what Wen Hongfeng thought, and it is roughly what the people in the city think.

just
"Uncle, they are leaving at night, what should we do?"

After finishing the discussion with each family, the clan elder kept Wen Hongfeng and asked him to go with him to meet the general.

This could be considered a great promotion, and he was naturally grateful. However, who would have thought that after the representatives of the aristocratic families met the general leading the troops, he not only urged them to pay money and food, but also directly displayed their carriages and horses, saying that the army would leave Huating soon.

In this situation, everyone cried out for help, but the general directly rejected the request on the grounds that his superiors had ordered that they could not stay for long.

Afterwards, a large group of local gentry and elders could only leave the government office with sad faces and return to their homes.

If you ask them why they look so sad, it is not because they have Ming Dynasty in their hearts.

The main thing is that more than a thousand Qing troops in the city were killed overnight. How could the Tartars not take revenge after taking over the city again?
As for who will bear the vengeance in the end.
"Hongfeng, as soon as the army leaves tonight, you and your nephew should go to Suzhou."

"Fourth Uncle, wasn't it you who summoned the Ming army? How..."

"Nonsense! The Ming army sneaked into the city while the Qing army was slack at night. What does this have to do with me?!"

"Yes Yes."

Seeing that his fourth uncle seemed a little angry and a little flustered, Wen Hongfeng responded several times but did not dare to say anything else.

Although they are all from the same family, the differences between each branch are surprisingly large.

Take the eldest branch for example. Not only does it account for 40% of the clan's wealth, but it also has people who serve as officials in the court from generation to generation.

By their generation, the assets of the eldest branch of the family were not much different from the clan assets. Unlike his branch, not only were there few people, but their lives also depended entirely on the clan assets.

However, every advantage has its disadvantages. Although Wen Hongfeng's family is weak, they can still get the support and protection of the eldest family.

That's why my fourth uncle handed this dangerous and private matter to Wen Hongfeng.

"This matter must not be known to others, otherwise the second and third houses taking power will be a small matter. If the Tartars take advantage of it, my Wen family may end up following the Liu family's footsteps."

"Don't worry, Uncle Four. How could I be so ignorant? It's just..."

"Don't worry, it only takes two or three days to go back and forth to Suzhou. I will take care of your family."

The Liu family that the clan elders were talking about was originally a wealthy family in Huating like their Wen family, but who would have thought that the Tartars almost took away all of their family property during a horse race. After a lot of pleading, the Liu family ended up with no one dead and all their wealth gone.

Wen Hongfeng naturally knew about this, but he hesitated not because of this or because he was worried about his family, but because he really didn't know how to report this matter to the Tartars after meeting them.

"Fourth Uncle, I feel relieved when you are here, but what should I say when I see the Tartars?"

"You are still a Tartar, how come you still can't change your words after all this time? That's the king's teacher!"

"Got it. I'll change it right away."

Facing his fourth uncle's scolding, Wen Hongfeng nodded repeatedly. However, when he looked at his fourth uncle, he saw that he was frowning, as if he was also having a headache about how to explain the matter.

"Uncle, why don't you just say that I don't know much. Anyway, I was fine when I slept. As soon as the sun rose, I saw a lot of Ming troops. Then you arranged for me to leave the city and report to the king's division."

"Yes, it's okay, but you still need to be careful with the details. We still have a long time on the road, so you have to think it over carefully."

"Yes, fourth uncle."

There was nothing more to say at this point, and after accompanying his fourth uncle back to the mansion, Wen Hongfeng hurried back to his own home.

The next seven or eight hours were not worth mentioning. They were nothing more than some matters of demanding money and grain from the people and taking advantage of the situation.

If I had to say something, I would probably only spend some time on the issue of how to collect money and grain from the people.

The way the government collected taxes at this time was somewhat like contracting. The government collected money from the wealthy and powerful families, and the wealthy and powerful families collected money from the people.

There are all kinds of drawbacks in this, for example, when the Wen family collects money and grain from the people on their own farm, there will inevitably be some casualties.

The imperial court was not unaware of these matters, but due to various factors, it had no solution and could only let it go.

Closer to home.

As soon as night fell, Wen Hongfeng took Qi Laoer into the clan elder's house. After a series of arrangements and instructions, and after making promises, the two men received twenty taels of silver and two teams of fast horses, and under the arrangement of the clan elder, they secretly left the county.

In fact, Qi Laoer was extremely reluctant to make this trip.

Firstly, he was a man who had done great things, and if he showed up in public, he might be recognized by someone. Not only would his uncle's business be affected, but even his family might be implicated.

Second
Such a large sum of money is still buried outside. If it is dug up by someone, then all his efforts will be in vain.

But after all, he still had to settle down with his uncle's family, and he might need their care in the future, so no matter how many concerns he had, he had to go on this trip.

However, the two of them were lucky. In those turbulent times, they ran nearly a hundred miles and only spent some money to buy their way. They arrived in Suzhou safely.

This has to be said.
Fast horses do work.

At noon the next day, the two finally arrived outside the city of Suzhou. With the power of the four words "urgent military intelligence" and silver, they finally met Erdu, the person in charge of Suzhou, in the evening.

During this period, life in Ordu was still very comfortable.

The Ming troops that came to harass from time to time were dealt with by the surrendered troops led by Li Chengdong and Wu Shengzhao, and the unbearable hot weather was dealt with by ice supplied by wealthy merchants in the city. There could not be any better days for Ordu than these.

This afternoon, he was discussing the matter of becoming a member with the owners of several large cloth shops in the city, but he never expected that someone so blind as to mention some urgent military intelligence at such a critical moment.

Emergency military information on ass!
Can Wu Yi really break into Suzhou City?

So after dismissing Goshaha, he stayed until he had discussed the deal with a few people before returning to the newly acquired house.

"Did you say there was military intelligence in the restaurant earlier?"

"Yes, Master, I'm from Huating." "What's the matter?"

"I didn't say I had to see you first."

Today's deal was not about Erdu seizing other people's property, but about those merchants taking the initiative to find him.

As we all know, the business of selling cloth overseas was very profitable in the early years. However, since more than ten years ago, no one knows what happened, the business of selling cloth overseas has gradually declined, and the sales of silk, porcelain, tea and lacquerware have also experienced a serious decline.

Under such circumstances, the amount of silver flowing into the Ming Dynasty naturally decreased sharply, and even the social structure in the Jiangnan area, which had been built up under the influence of the foreign trade system for decades, showed signs of collapse.

Of course, Ordu would not understand this.

Those wealthy businessmen did not elaborate too much, only saying that they could revive their ruined business and would pay 500 taels of silver to Ordu every month, and all he had to do was to ensure the safety of the caravan in the Qing Dynasty.

Think about it, you can only get three or four thousand taels for conquering a city, not to mention the profits for your subordinates. But for this job, you only need to send a small team of soldiers to easily make five hundred taels a month.

At the critical moment of negotiating such a big deal, Ordu would of course keep the so-called "urgent military intelligence" away.

It can be said that E'er did not forget his job. Although he was a little tired when he returned to the mansion, he still remembered the "urgent military situation" during the day.

After a little hesitation, he finally decided to call the person over to meet him.

"Call him to see me."

As soon as he finished speaking, Goshaha took the order and left, but Erdu sat on the chair with his eyes slightly closed, thinking.

To be honest, he didn't believe at all that there would be any important military intelligence here.

He thought that it was probably a group of fallen ministers from the former Ming Dynasty or merchants from somewhere who wanted to ask him for something under the guise of military intelligence, and his servants had accepted bribes and could only use this excuse to report.

This situation had happened several times before. When he hurriedly met the people who came, he only found that those people either carried jewelry and beauties, or carried real estate deeds. As for the "military intelligence", it was that traces of the Ming army were found somewhere.

Or'er understood the principle that if he ate meat, he had to let the people below drink soup. Since nothing serious happened, he did not pursue the matter.

But this was not a long-term solution, so he decided to set some rules for his subordinates, requiring them to at least tell the truth to his master when reporting.

"Master, people are here."

When he heard the words, Ordu's closed eyes opened slightly. When he saw that the man had empty hands and was not dressed to the standard of a wealthy man, he couldn't help feeling a little confused.

"What's the matter?"

"Your Excellency, Huating has been lost."

"What is this?!"

After seeing the two of them, Erdu realized that he probably wouldn't get much benefit, so he planned to ask a few questions and then directly reject their request.

However, after a day of hard work, his brain still retained the instincts accumulated over the years. When he heard the word "lost", he immediately straightened up.

These days, Ordu has been living an extremely luxurious life, and even some fat has grown on his belly. He even secretly thought that if it weren't for Wu Yi, wouldn't he have missed this paradise on earth?

But he is, after all, a warrior who has been fighting for half his life. Once the blood in his heart is activated, he will immediately become a beast that bites and devours anyone he chooses.

Needless to say, Wen Hongfeng, even Qi Laoer, who had seen many big scenes, was frightened and his mind was a little unstable.

"Hua Huating is lost."

A slightly trembling voice reached Erdu's ears again, but it took him a long time to fully understand the meaning of this sentence, which was so obvious that it couldn't be more obvious.

However, he had already sent more than a thousand troops to garrison Huating County. Even if a large number of Ming troops really came to attack, it would not be a problem to hold out for three or two days. How could it be lost as soon as he received the news?
Thinking of this, Erdu's eyes suddenly became sharp as he looked at the two of them.

"Who are you? Why are you the ones reporting this?"

"My Lord, Your Excellency."

"You tell me."

I don't know if Wen Hongfeng was frightened. Although he had the title of Juren, his words were stammering. Seeing this, Erdu pointed at Qi Laoer standing beside him and waited for his reply.

"Sir, I was fine when I went to bed at night, but when I woke up in the morning, I saw many more soldiers dressed in Ming army uniforms in the city. I discussed it with my uncle and then dared to come here to report the news."

Although there was not much information in Qi Laoer's words, he spoke concisely and without any complicated words, so Erdu roughly understood what had happened in Huating County.

Just understanding it won't help. In the end, you still need to distinguish the truth from falsehood in what these two people say before you can respond.

After a brief thought, Erdu ordered his men to take Wen Hongfeng and Qi Laoer away for further questioning, while he himself half-lay in the chair and began to think carefully.

Judging from the current situation, something must have happened in Huating, and the thieves must have an accomplice in the city, otherwise, with the combat power of more than a thousand people, it would be impossible for all of them to escape.

This situation made Ordu a little puzzled. Why did they surrender so readily in the first place when they were doing this now?

After thinking for a while, he still couldn't figure out the reason, and then he turned his thoughts to the two people who came to report the news.

Judging from the performance of these two people, they are probably not spies of the Ming army. After all, people who can tremble with fear at the sight of a few words from oneself would not have the courage to do this job.

But does the Ming army know that they came to report the news?

He also did things like deliberately revealing a flaw and allowing someone with bad intentions to go out and report the incident.

When the news gets there, he only needs to ambush the enemy on the road they must take and he will be able to gain a lot of military merit.

Thinking of this, Er couldn't help but sneer.

If the enemy was the Ming army from Liaodong or Liaoxi, he would probably send people to find out the truth first and then think of a countermeasure. But now he is facing the Ming army from Jiangnan. He is afraid that even if they succeed, they will not be able to hurt his subordinates at all.

Is Ordu arrogant?

About arrogant.

But his arrogance was built up because the Ming army surrendered without a fight and fled at the first sign of trouble.

So when Gosha brought the two men back, Ordu just asked them a few questions casually and let them go down to rest first. They would march to Huating after reorganizing the army tomorrow.

Of course, he would not be the one to go there in person. After all, over the years, he had discovered the benefits of Li Chengdong and other surrendered soldiers. He and his warriors had to make up for the losses and regrets brought about by decades of living in this bitter and cold place in Suzhou City.

But things did not go as planned. Just when he was about to send someone to notify the two surrendered generals, he heard another report from outside.

"Master! Urgent military information."

(End of this chapter)