Chapter 775 Gao Qiqian’s Hongmen Banquet? [Please give me a monthly ticket!]

(0775)

【Today's third update is delivered!】

"Wu Sangui?"

"He... is here again?"

Zhang Zhun's expression was also a bit strange.

Why did Wu Sangui come here sneakily? Did he change Wu Sangui's fate because of his time travel, and he actually became a full-time errand runner? Isn't Wu Sangui feel depressed when Eunuch Gao hires people like this?

"please."

Zhang Zhun said calmly.

"Sir, please pay homage to the Governor!"

Soon, Wu Sangui appeared in front of Zhang Zhun.

This time, he was wearing a first-class military officer uniform, with a burly figure, with his head held high and his chest raised, and he looked energetic and talented. If someone who doesn't know the details doesn't think he looks like a traitor. Well, Wu Sangui is indeed not a traitor at this time, so don't put a hat on it.

Zhang Zhun said with a smile: "General Wu, what kind of wind is blowing you?"

Wu Sangui said respectfully: "The lower officials came to ask the governor for instructions on some important matters."

Zhang Zhun nodded and said calmly: "Sit down and talk."

Wu Sangui sorted out his official uniform, sat down properly, bowed his hand again, and then said solemnly: "Governor, the lower official is ordered by Eunuch Gao..."

His coming this time is indeed a serious matter.

The most important thing is of course the general step of handing over and moving defense between Zhang Zhun and Gaoqiu.

The move of the army is very particular, and both sides must coordinate well. Otherwise, trouble will occur. If the two armies are not careful, if they are attacked by the enemy during the handover, the consequences will be very serious. Especially for such large-scale adjustments, you must be more careful.

As the highest leaders of the two armies, Zhang Zhun and Gao Qiqian must reach an agreement on some major procedures, and then the following personnel can refine the specific steps according to the major agreement. Gao Qiqian must deal with Zhang Zhun and discuss the general procedures. The best contact person is naturally Wu Sangui. This is the main reason why Wu Sangui appears again.

Zhang Zhun said calmly: "What does Eunuch Gao mean?"

Wu Sangui said cautiously: "I would like to ask the governor to send troops to first garrison Songshan Fort near Jinzhou, and then to Jinzhou. Our army will retreat to Tashan Fort first and then retreat into the pass."

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "No problem."

The retreat of 200,000 Liaodong troops is definitely not an easy task. It is said that it will start at the end of June, but in fact, the vanguard troops must be the vanguard. It is impossible to complete all the troops without half a year. In other words, the handover work will last at least half a year.

The most important strategic position of the entire Liaodong front is actually Jinzhou. Jinzhou directly borders the Tartars. The first thing that the Huben Army needs to take over is of course Jinzhou. The Huben Army occupied Songshan Fort and was only a short distance from Jinzhou, and could enter Jinzhou at any time. As long as the Huben Army successfully took over Jinzhou, the next thing will be easy.

Huang Taiji was defeated, and I believe that other Tartars did not have the intention to make trouble at this time. As for the Mongols in the north, there was a big deal within them, and it was impossible to go south to Jinzhou. In fact, if you learn that the Hu Ben Army was in Jinzhou, the Mongols should feel nervous. Where can you have the courage to come and fight the Hu Ben Army?

Wu Sangui said that the Liaodong Legion had a total of 150,000 people, plus their relatives and families, about 300,000 to 400,000. It would take a long time to withdraw from Liaodong. Therefore, Gao Qiqian had to say hello to Zhang Zhun in advance. It was definitely not that he was dragging him down and did not want to retreat as soon as possible, but that there were too many people and too many supplies. He really had no choice but to ask Zhang Zhun to understand.

Zhang Zhun said calmly: "I can understand, please don't worry, Eunuch Gao."

Wu Sangui breathed a sigh of relief and continued to say that the biggest problem encountered by the Liaodong Legion's retreat was that some of the Liaodong officers and soldiers were unwilling to leave Liaodong. Their families and their land were all in Liaodong. If the court withdrew, Zhang Zhun came and their land was divided by Zhang Zhun, there would be nothing left.

At that time, Yuan Chonghuan built a magic weapon for the Liaodong cavalry, which was to distribute the land to the cavalry. Because Liaodong has few people and more land, an ordinary cavalry can basically be divided into twenty or thirty acres of land. In this way, as long as you are more diligent, the whole family will not have to worry about food and clothing. In order to protect their own fields, the Liaodong cavalry actively fought with the Tartars, which is also the main source of their combat effectiveness.

Wu Sangui didn't know how Zhang Zhun would deal with the fields of these soldiers. He was very worried that once Zhang Zhun wanted to implement the equal-field order in Liaodong, these Liaodong cavalry would rise up to fight against Zhang Zhun. If they had no strength to fight, they would rise up and rebel. According to the city's internal strife, it was like Kong Youde at the time. At the worst, they would seize their superiors, just like Bi Zisu, the governor of Liaodong.

Of course, Gao Qiqian didn't want to see such a scene. This old eunuch was very afraid of death. He didn't want someone around him to get up and cause trouble for him. However, this requires Zhang Zhun's cooperation.

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "According to the city's internal strife, it is absolutely impossible. All the money, grain and materials in Liaodong rely on imported from outside. Without the import of money, grain and materials, what kind of civil strife they rely on? The Tartars have been getting worse and worse. Do they still want to surrender to the Tartars? If they surrender to the Tartars, they will be the enemy of all the Ming people and everyone will be punished."

After a slight pause, Zhang Zhun said slowly: "You can tell them that it is what I said. As long as the property they obtained legally, they are rewarded with military merits, the Hu Ben Army will be preserved. However, the upper limit cannot exceed fifty acres. If it exceeds fifty acres, the Hu Ben Army can give other properties instead."

According to comprehensive information from all aspects, the land of ordinary soldiers of the Liaodong Legion is generally about 20 to 30 acres, and the grassroots officers will definitely not exceed 50 acres. Those who exceed 50 acres are all middle and high-level officers. Zhang Zhun will not worry about this group of people. As long as the grassroots soldiers remain stable, there is no need to worry about anything else.

In fact, Zhang Zhun could vaguely feel that Gao Qiqian and Wu Sangui were really worried that the Hu Ben Army took the opportunity to dig some of the officers and soldiers of the Liaodong cavalry to the Hu Ben Army. After all, from then on, the land in Liaodong belonged to the Hu Ben Army. The imperial court could hand over this land to Zhang Zhun for management, but Zhang Zhun could never turn it around and return the land to the court in the future.

In other words, the imperial edict from Emperor Chongzhen was equivalent to completely ceding the entire Liaodong to Zhang Zhun, allowing Zhang Zhun to establish a real kingdom here. No matter how much Zhang Zhun struggled in Liaodong, it had nothing to do with the court. In Shandong, the court could occasionally make plans and think about it psychologically, but Liaodong didn't have to think about it anymore.

Wu Sangui said hesitantly: "Our army still has some supplies to deal with..."

When Zhang Zhun saw Wu Sangui's face was quite nervous, he knew that the opera meat was coming, so he asked solemnly: "What materials? Public or private?"

Wu Sangui said slowly: "Private..."

Zhang Zhun couldn't help but frowned.

It is Gao Qiqian's private property again!

I don’t know how much private property Gao Qiqian and others have purchased in Liaodong over the years. More than 80% of the fiscal revenue of the Ming Empire has become military expenditure. At least 60% of the military expenditure has been invested in the Liaodong Legion. It can be said that the court had almost the same fiscal revenue, which was taken away by the Liaodong Legion. These borers from the top leaders of the Liaodong Legion would not be able to be undeveloped.

This time the army moved its defenses, and Gao Qiqian's private property must be moved away from Liaodong. I wonder how many carriages the eunuch leader's private property would take to transport it away? Thinking of the scattered silver, Zhang Zhun couldn't help but think about what kind of way could the Liaodong Army keep all the property in Liaodong and give it to the Hu Ben Army to control it.

Gao Qiqian cannot take away some of his private property, such as fields. There is not much field outside Jinzhou Pass. However, within Shanhai Pass, there is a considerable amount of field within the jurisdiction of Yongping Prefecture belongs to Gao Qiqian's private personalities. In fact, the fields under Yongping Prefecture have long been occupied by the senior leaders of the Liaodong Army, and all the military households living there are tenants of superior officers.

Since the imperial edict was to guard Liaodong, then Yongping Prefecture was naturally under Zhang Zhun's jurisdiction. Of course, all the fields here must be handed over to Zhang Zhun for disposal. They were worried that Zhang Zhun's killing weapon would immediately follow Zhang Zhun to rebel. Who would not want to have their own fields?

The areas under the jurisdiction of the Liaodong Legion are quite special. The main force is the recruited war soldiers, and the number of military households is also quite large. There are 26 guards and more than 100,000 households in the entire Liaodong area. When the military households were the most, there were more than 100,000. In addition to Yu Ding and his family, there were definitely more than 500,000 people. These military households are the main sources of the Han people in Liaodong.

After the Tartars successively occupied Shenyang, Liaoyang and Guangning, most of these military households, except for those who were abducted by the Tartars, were concentrated in Yongping Prefecture, in Funingwei, Shanhaiwei, Kaipingtunwei, Ningyuanwei, Guangningwei, Yizhouwei and other places. Among them, the largest number was Guangningwei.

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "This is impossible, the Juntian Order must be implemented."

Wu Sangui's last trace of hope was shattered, and he couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. In fact, most of Wu Sangui's land was also in Liaodong. Now, the court wants them to withdraw from Liaodong, but they are indeed unwilling. However, the imperial edict has been sent, and they are unwilling to do so, unless they follow them to rebel.

Rebellion in Jinzhou is not a good idea. If I had been saying that I could be shameless and surrender to the Tartars and survive by relying on the power of the Tartars. Now, even the Tartars have surrendered. Seeing that the Tartars have been beaten up by the Hu Ben Army, Isn’t it because they still surrender to the Tartars at this time? Isn’t it reliable to surrender to the Mongols? The strength of the Mongols is worse than that of the Tartars.

The only possibility is to surrender to the Hu Ben Army. However, this decision was too difficult. Gao Qiqian knew very well that Zhang Zhun would not want a eunuch like him. Once he left Emperor Chongzhen, he would be nothing. For this reason, he had to obey Emperor Chongzhen. Chongzhen asked him to retreat. Even if he had many grievances, he had to retreat obediently.

For Wu Sangui and others, the concern was the influence of the Juntian Ling. The land accumulated by officials was quite a lot. It seemed that Wu Sangui had at least three or four thousand acres of land under his name. He was indeed unwilling to ask him to share all these lands to others. He was unwilling to surrender to Zhang Zhun until the last step.

Wu Sangui was silent for a moment and did not dare to ask Zhang Zhun to change the regulations of Juntian Ling, so he had to change the topic and said: "Eunuch Gao and his business..."

Zhang Zhun said without hesitation: "Continue!"

The profits of the previous business with Gao Qiqian were really good. After the capital was besieged, prices soared, and they were also very popular for sweet potatoes, corn and other grains. Tie Yaozi and others purchased sweet potatoes and corn in Shandong at a very low price, and then sold them to Gao Qiqian to make the difference. In just a short time, they actually had tens of thousands of taels of silver, which scared Tie Yaozi. He had never seen so much money in his ten lives!

Of course, Zhang Zhun was unwilling to give up such a huge profit. Even if Gao Qishu moved to the defense, the business of both parties would continue to be maintained. I believe that Gao Qishu's side is the same. This military supervisor has an amazing ability to make money.

Wu Sangui wanted to speak but stopped.

Zhang Zhun asked casually: "What? Are there any difficult questions?"

Wu Sangui said slowly: "Do you want to establish some relationship with the Mongolians?"

Zhang Zhun's eyes lit up slightly.

Wu Sangui is indeed interesting. He knew that he needed the Mongols' war horses, so he took the initiative to establish a good relationship with him. Zhang Zhun did not hesitate to this issue. In fact, Zhang Zhun not only needed the Mongols' war horses, but also wanted to directly organize mercenaries from the Mongols. The Han people's horse riding skills required too much time to train, which was very expensive. On the contrary, if they hired the Mongols, the cost would be much lower.

After defeating the Tartars, Zhang Zhun's next goal was to march Guanzhong. It would definitely not work to march Guanzhong, or even to the Western Regions, leaving a large number of cavalry. In fact, it would be better to march into the Western Regions, but it would be even more difficult to march into Central Asia and other places. Without the assistance of nomadic peoples who live on horseback for many years, it would be basically impossible for Han cavalry to occupy this place. The Tang Dynasty, in those days, also used the Tuqishi, Geluo and other nations to expand its territory to Central Asia.

Zhang Zhun estimated that once he wanted to march to the Western Regions, there would be no effect without more than 100,000 cavalry. However, if the Hu Ben Army's own cavalry expansion speed is based on the speed of its own cavalry expansion, it would not be possible to expand the number of cavalry to more than 100,000 without ten or eight years. However, if some people were hired, it would be much easier.

The problem is that this mercenary was not easily organized. If you hand over the Hu Ben gun to the Mongols for use, you must be effectively controlled. The ancients said it well that if you are not of my race, your heart will be different. These mercenaries must be trustworthy people. Well, to be precise, they are people who bind interests and those who can effectively control the Hu Ben Army.

It is of course not easy to find such people in Mongolian tribes. Their number cannot be too many. If there are too many people, the Hu Ben Army will be difficult to control, and it will be troublesome if it is backfired. However, their number cannot be too small. If there are too few people, they cannot provide enough troops. They must also have a relatively good record. At least, they have never killed the Han people and invaded the mainland of Ming Dynasty, which will not arouse the disgust of the people of the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, Zhang Zhun would not dare to hire them.

Obviously, it will take a long time to obtain the detailed information of these Mongolian tribes, and perhaps it will cost a lot of money. However, if someone is familiar with the situation within the Mongolian tribe and gives Zhang Zhun an accurate reference, it may save a lot of time and a lot of money.

Zhang Zhun said casually: "Yes."

Wu Sangui was silent for a moment before he said tactfully: "If the governor trusts the officials, the governor is willing to recommend them to the governor."

Otherwise, Wu Sangui was cunning, his speaking level was indeed first-class. He refused to tell which Mongolian tribe it was, and only said that he was willing to recommend it. Obviously, this guy was planning to sell this news to Zhang Zhun with valuable value.

Zhang Zhun nodded and said without any concealment: "Okay."

He really needed to establish a relationship with the Mongols, and there was no need to hide it at this time. As for the price Wu Sangui needed, Zhang Zhun did not care about it. At this time, he believed that Wu Sangui would not speak loudly. Because doing so would not be of any benefit to Wu Sangui. Perhaps Wu Sangui was indeed unwilling to surrender to the Hu Ben Army, but he was even more unwilling to anger the Hu Ben Army.

Sure enough, Wu Sangui whispered: "There is a cousin who is doing some business in Jiangnan. Recently, I heard that Shandong's business is very easy, so I went to Shandong and asked the adults to take care of him. His name is Wu Haide."

This is Wu Sangui's condition. It's not very high. I just asked Zhang Zhun to take care of his cousin, and there was no big requirement for it. Wu Sangui's hometown is in Gaoyou, Yangzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili, and is very close to Yangzhou. With the power and financial resources of the Wu family, it is not a problem to gain some money in Yangzhou.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that this so-called cousin is mostly a servant of Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui. The money they do business is the money of Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui put his money on Zhang Zhun's territory, and the meaning of this is not to be clearly stated.

Zhang Zhun smiled slightly and said slowly: "I welcome Wu Haide's arrival as the Grand Governor of the Hu Ben Army. If there are any difficulties, you can ask him to find me directly."

Wu Sangui understood that Zhang Zhun had begun to accept him, so he hurriedly said: "Xiaguan had been stationed in Shanhaiguan for a long time and often had contacts with some Mongolian vendors. He accidentally learned that there was a Hulunbuir grassland north of the Korqin Plain. On this grassland, there was a Mongolian tribe called Aoter. It is said that the population and horses were not under the Korqin tribe. Their leader was called Hailar."

He took out a note from his arms, handed it to Zhang Zhun with both hands, and then said respectfully: "This is their address in Shanhaiguan. If the adults are interested, you might as well negotiate with them in person. Because their relationship with the Tartars is not very good, Korchin and the Tartars cut off their business dealings with the Han people, and Hailar was also very upset."

Zhang Zhun took the note, glanced casually, nodded, and said, "Thank you!"

Wu Sangui felt relieved and struck while the iron was hot, saying, "The General of the Army wants to invite the Governor to discuss the issue of moving defense in person. I wonder when the Governor is free?"

Zhang Zhun said lightly: "You can be free at any time."

Wu Sangui hurriedly said, "The next sixteenth month, the military supervisor will welcome the governor's commander in Jinzhou."

Zhang Zhun nodded and said affirmatively: "No problem, on June 16th, Mr. Zhang will definitely arrive on time."

Wu Sangui then said goodbye and left.

Wang Shide said with some concern: "Sir, can it be the Hongmen Banquet?"

Zhang Zhun nodded and said casually: "It's possible."

Wang Shide hurriedly said, "Do you need to mobilize the Marine Corps?"

Zhang Zhun shook his head and said slowly: "No! The number of Marines is too small, it's dangerous. I will transfer Dingziying and I will take Dingziying over there. In addition, I will order Ningziying to prepare for departure and support. If Dingziying takes over Jinzhou, Ningziying takes over Songshan Fort."
To be continued...