bestfiction Chapter 337 Messenger
Chapter 337 Messenger
The next morning.
Meng Hong woke up when he heard the rooster crowing. After several days of rest, he had regained some energy. He had only had a brief talk with Du Yinxi yesterday, and the specific matters of sending troops still needed to be discussed in detail.
After Meng Hong packed up, he was about to go out when Zhou Guangyuan rushed over. Before he could say anything, Meng Hong said with some dissatisfaction, "Why are you so unstable?"
Zhou Guangyuan came close to Meng Hong and whispered, "General of Shun Army, Liu Erhu wants to see you."
Meng Hong was stunned and murmured, "Liu Erhu? Could it be Guangshanbo Liu Tichun?"
Seeing that Meng Hong didn't speak, Zhou Guangyuan urged him again. Meng Hong reacted and said immediately, "Please come in."
After a while, a middle-aged man strode over. This man was Liu Tichun. He had an angular face and a pair of eagle eyes that were as sharp as a sword.
Meng Hong bowed and said: "General Liu"
"Haha, Mr. Meng, did you have a good rest last night?" Liu Tichun laughed heartily.
"Thank you for your concern, General. I am doing fine."
The two exchanged a few pleasantries. Meng Hong saw that Liu Tichun came for something, so he immediately said, "General Liu, it's cold, please come in and talk."
Liu Tichun nodded, then followed Meng Hong into the house.
After the two of them sat down, Meng Hong asked, "General Liu, is there anything important that you are here for?"
Liu Tichun hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not a big deal, I just want to ask Mr. Meng, what are the chances of King Zhou winning the battle against the Tartars in Huguang?"
Meng Hong laughed and said confidently: "My king has won every battle and has repeatedly defeated the enemy army. Bolo, Geng Zhongming, Lekedehun, Hong Chengchou, Jin Shenghuan, these people are either famous or have a large number of troops. Among them are the princes and dukes of the enemy. But these people, one after another, were all defeated by my king. Now my king controls the rich land of Jiangnan and the land of fish and rice in Jiangxi. In my opinion, the chances of winning the decisive battle with the enemy in Huguang are 100%."
Liu Tichun was speechless after hearing this. It was useless to ask. Could it be that Meng Hong would say something bad about his family? Thinking of this, Liu Tichun went straight to the point and asked, "If we gather a large army, go down the river, and besiege Jingzhou, will the King of Zhou be able to provide us with food and military supplies?"
Meng Hong said firmly: "I have said it before, my king controls the rich land of Jiangnan. You should know that the supply of the Zheng family and the army of the King of Jin, hundreds of thousands of troops invited by my king, are all borne by my king alone. The matter of money and food is not worth mentioning!"
(Yang En: "Let's see how many kilograms of rice we can get from breaking your bones...")
Liu Tichun swallowed his saliva. After all these years, this was the first time he heard someone talk about money and grain. It was nothing to worry about. He had heard that Jiangnan was prosperous. It seemed that the King of Zhou who occupied Jiangnan was indeed the richest force in the world.
Liu Tichun hesitated for a long time, not knowing how to express his desire to follow King Zhou. He sat for a while, and after a long while, he said that he wanted to prepare to contact various departments and prepare to send troops to Jingzhou, and then he said goodbye and left.
Meng Hong looked at Liu Tichun's departing back, and felt that something was wrong with him. After thinking for a while, Meng Hong pinched his forehead and sighed, "He is still old and lacks energy."
Then Meng Hong pulled himself together, stood up, and prepared to go and discuss something with Du Yinxi.
………………
Jinling City.
Although the war is not far away, there is not much atmosphere of war in the city of Jinling today. The city is full of vitality. Today's Jinling city has long been the de facto political center of the Zhou army. Rich families, merchants, and gentry from all over the country have flocked to Jinling, making the city of Jinling more prosperous.
The Qinhuai River, which had gradually declined due to wars in the past, now has high-end brothels rebuilt on both sides. This scene seems to have not changed for thousands of years.
Until someone advised Yang En that while the king was now engaged in a bloody battle in Huguang, it was inappropriate for the best place in Nanjing to have slow singing and dancing and stringed instruments.
Upon hearing this, Yang En felt that it was very reasonable, so he issued an edict strictly prohibiting singing and dancing. He also said that if scholars entered brothels, it would be a pollute in the selection process. Although it was only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution, under the strict order, the vocal music on the Qinhuai River and the trend of brothels were stopped.
Under the rule of the shogunate, no place, whether it was Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, or Huguang, had not experienced war. However, compared with the more than ten years of chaos and fighting in the north, it was much better.
Moreover, now that the north has fallen into the hands of the Qing court, the Jiangnan region no longer needs to transport grain to Beijing. Having gotten rid of this large and dilapidated burden from the north, the grain in the south is definitely enough to support Meng Jun's army. The merchants in Jiangnan even have enough grain to make wine.
Although there is enough food in the south, it does not mean that the shogunate has enough food. In order to supply the Huguang battlefield, not only Zhou's army, but also Zheng Chenggong and Li Dingguo's troops need to be provided with supplies.
The astronomical amount of money and food was consumed every day, which made the shogunate officials feel overwhelmed. Fortunately, Zheng Chenggong led most of his troops to withdraw to Fujian and no longer consumed food from the south of the Yangtze River. This made Yang En feel a little relieved.
Yang En had a rare half day off, so he hosted a banquet for Yang Kang's family at home.
After drinking a few glasses of wine, Yang Can's face flushed. He looked at Yang En with satisfaction and said to his wife Yang, "I knew from the beginning that my nephew is the best of our family. The glory of our family depends on him."
Yang smiled but didn't expose her, and Yang En also smiled and said, "Uncle, you are overpraising me. When the king entered Suzhou, you were the first-class hero."
Yang Can laughed proudly upon hearing this and said, "Haha, I've known for a long time that the king's appearance is invaluable. This is why I opened Suzhou City."
As Yang Can's words became more and more outrageous, Yang slapped him in anger and said, "We are all family, why are you talking nonsense?"
Yang Gan choked, laughed, and changed the subject, saying: "Mu De, now you are the Prime Minister, but you haven't married yet, this is not right. Your parents are gone, and I am your elder. Your uncle will take care of your marriage for you!"
Yang En was a little hesitant. He was a little worried about his uncle. At this time, Yang said, "Don't worry, Mu De. Your aunt will check for you."
Just as Yang En was about to say something, a servant hurried in and said, "Sir, the shogunate has something important to do!"
Yang En immediately stood up and said to Yang Gang and his wife, "Uncle, aunt, my nephew has something important to do and needs to leave first. You guys continue eating."
"Go ahead, go ahead, important things happen." Yang Can said indifferently.
After Yang En left, Yang commented on the women of marriageable age in each family as if they were her own treasures, looking very interested.
Yang En, who had returned to the shogunate, looked at Councillor Ma Quan and asked with some doubt, "A Korean envoy?"
Ma Quan replied, "Yes, sir, Korea sent an envoy. Lord Shen's navy stopped them at the mouth of the Yangtze River. When they heard that they were envoys, they sent a fast ship to report first."