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Text Section 44 Jing Nan (Part 2)

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    The development of Zhejiang's coastal areas was not Yu Youming's idea alone. Many other banks also planned to participate. Because the development of Jiaodong made them covetous, they turned their attention to Zhejiang.  When applying to Deng Ming, Baoguo Gong asked them to pay attention to the risks - the Manchu Qing Dynasty was engaged in seclusion, and land development along the coast of Zhejiang was unlikely to lose money. The so-called risk meant that Zhao Guozuo would not admit his debt in the future.

    "If Zhao Guozuo wants to take advantage of the enemy, can the Baoguo Guild lead the imperial army to seek justice for us?" The bankers asked eagerly when they heard that Deng Ming actually thought there was a risk.

    "As long as the Imperial Council agrees to send troops, I will not object."

    Deng Ming¡¯s answer immediately made all the bankers feel relieved.  It is not difficult to convince the Imperial Parliament. As long as everyone pays part of the profits to the imperial government as taxes, it will be easy for the parliamentarians to agree to send troops to protect the rights and interests of the bankers.

    And everyone has also agreed to pay to help Zhao Guozuo arm the Green Camp and help him gain the strength to fight against the Manchu Qing court.  As long as Zhao Guozuo understands the situation, these financial giants intend to support him to continue to sit on the throne of Zhejiang Governor, and are even willing to create bridges to help Zhao Guozuo recruit Anzhuang Yuncheng.  Of course, none of this help is free. For the time being, the bank group is only willing to provide blunderbuss. Other services can be slowly considered in the future to see what kind of price is appropriate for Zhao Guozuo.

    And of course the Sichuan consul in Hangzhou has to serve his own people. He uses everyone's taxes as salary, so he has to work for everyone.  However, although Yu Youming and others made good plans, and Zhang Tao also enthusiastically served taxpayers, Zhao Guozuo was not on the right track and hesitantly refused to agree to hand over the coastal areas to Sichuan people.  In other words, Zhao Guozuo also understood that such a large area of ??land could bring high profits to Sichuan people. He was unwilling to sell it at such a low price, but wanted to bargain for more money.

    After receiving Zhang Tao¡¯s letter and learning that Zhao Guozuo was still resisting, Yu Youming and others were furious.  Although Zhao Guozuo hinted that as long as more Sichuan people gave him some benefits, he would not be able to consider it, but the bankers unanimously believed that Zhao Guozuo did not deserve more.

    "The house is in such a mess, and he still wants to bargain?" Yu Youming said angrily.  Everyone immediately wrote a letter to Anlesi. Boss An not only counted on the bank's loan, but also knew that these bankers would pay for his military version models in the future, so he readily agreed to help.

    ¡­¡­

    Two days ago, Zhao Guozuo hinted to Zhang Tao that if the Ming army wanted to monopolize the entire restricted sea zone in Zhejiang and all maritime-related businesses, it would have to give him at least one million taels of silver every year.  However, he was willing to use half of it to purchase Ming army arms or other military services.  Zhao Guozuo felt that the asking price was not very high. If he had not been forced into a hurry, he would never have packaged these rights and sold them to the Ming army at the risk of making the court angry.  Zhao Guozuo was convinced that even if the Ming army paid this amount, there would still be a huge profit margin.

    In the past two days, Governor Zhao has been waiting patiently in the Yamen for Zhang Tao to visit again, reporting to the Governor that the unscrupulous businessmen in western Sichuan have accepted the generous suggestion of the Governor's Yamen.  However, Zhao Guozuo did not wait for Zhang Tao, but instead waited for the bad news that Gui'an County had been captured by Jingnan's army.

    Speaking of the fact that Zhuang and Zhu formally reorganized their rebel gang into the Jingnan Army, Zhao Guozuo became very angry when he thought about it: "You are just two village owners, why are you Jingnan? Why are you Jingnan?  You are not even Manchurian, let alone Aixinjueluo, you are so embarrassed to say that you are Jingnan."

    " But it's useless to be angry. Zhuang Yuncheng, Zhu Youming and their Jingnan accomplices are still alive and kicking.  Soldiers who escaped from Gui'an County reported that the Jingnan Army actually used heavy siege artillery this time.  These days, Gui'an County summoned a group of road bullies to defend the county. People in the county were already in panic. As soon as the cannons of the Jingnan Army were fired, the heroes responsible for the defense at the two city gates immediately led their disciples to surrender to the Jingnan Army.  .

    Two days later, Huzhou was also declared to have fallen.  This time Zhao Guozuo received a more detailed report. Tan Ximin did not die in the city, but chose to flee back to Hangzhou. Magistrate Tan said that his death was not a pity, but if he could not personally deliver the details of the enemy to the governor, then he would  I will never die with my eyes in peace.

    "The thieves used at least thirty red-coated cannons." Tan Ximin wailed to Zhao Guozuo and Songkui: "I personally led all the government officials to defend the city tower, but the thieves had too many red-coated cannons, as well as countless small cannons. Let's start a war.  It was like rain of bullets falling from the tower behind the city."

    "Red cannon!" Songkui shouted: "How come Zhuang Yuncheng even has a red cannon! Was he really forced to rebel? Why do I think this has been planned for a long time?"

    Neither Zhao Guozuo nor Songkui believed that Zhuang Yuncheng could have thirty red cannons. He simply had more cannons than Prince Kong Youde.  Just beat the number mentioned by Tan XiminThe discounts are still staggering.  But this is only a question of quantity, not whether there is one.  Governor Zhao believed that Zhuang Yuncheng did possess the cannon. This news was indeed important. If it was confirmed, Tan Ximin would not be completely exempt from guilt if he used this as an excuse to escape and report.

    At this point, Zhao Guozuo felt that he was no longer sure whether Zhuang Yuncheng was forced to rebel.  If he wasn't sitting on the throne to capture the Forbidden City, then why did King Zhuang prepare the red cannon?  The governor's office of Zhejiang reported this shocking news to the court. At the same time, the situation in northern Zhejiang continued to deteriorate rapidly.

    After the Jingnan Army swept through various counties in Huzhou, they rushed into Jiaxing Prefecture without stopping.

    Like Huzhou, the prefectures and counties in Jiaxing are also surrounded by a large number of road bullies.  Before the Jingnan Army came, these road bullies who blocked the roads did not think they had the ability to capture the county. Their main purpose of surrounding the city was to collect tolls from passers-by and merchants, so they would not cut off internal and external traffic.  If no one enters or exits the city, then the heroes surrounding the city will have no money to collect.

    When the Jingnan Army arrived, there was no shortage of supplies in each county. Under normal circumstances, the city should be able to hold on for a long time.  However, this time those who came to besiege the city were not refugees or conquerors from other provinces, but local gentry.  Moreover, due to the siege by bandits and road bullies some time ago, prices in the county have soared, and the people are complaining.  Those heroes and gentry who were urgently recruited by the government to help defend the city were also the targets of blackmail by the government not long ago. Two months ago, they were falsely accused of participating in the Zhuang Ming Dynasty case, and a bucket of blood was poured out by the government.  The hatred and hatred are still vivid in my mind.

    Before the Jingnan Army reached the city, their relatives and friends who were responsible for defending the city sent their confidants in an endless stream to discuss plans and study how to deal with out-of-town bosses such as the prefect and county magistrate.  Especially after hearing that the entire territory of Huzhou Prefecture was wiped out by the Jingnan Army in just a few days, the views of the Jin gentry in Jiaxing Prefecture towards Green Camp have grown from contempt to contempt.  As a result, Jingnan's army was so powerful that the city gates were defeated as soon as the cannons were fired.  In the battle to conquer the three county towns, only three county magistrates and several long followers who came with the county magistrate lost their lives.  But all the local gentry, heroes, green camp officers, and subordinate staff were unscathed, and they all joined the Jingnan Army.

    After learning that Jiaxing Mansion was also in danger, Zhao Guozuo finally couldn't sit still.  Because Jiaxing gathered troops in the city early, there were still some troops loyal to the government, and they did not need to rely entirely on the power of local heroes and gentry like those counties that had been drained of their troops.  Therefore, Zhao Guozuo felt that Jiaxing Mansion should be able to hold on for a while and would not be captured immediately by the Jingnan Army.

    But dispatching troops from the provincial capital to reinforce Jiaxing is still very risky. Now the whole Zhejiang is in turmoil. The city of Hangzhou is full of rumors that the Ming army from Zhoushan is coming to attack the provincial capital, which makes Zhao Guozuo dare not go out in full force.  Songkui meant that Jiaxing had to be saved, but it was best to ask Deng Ming's consul to give a guarantee that the Ming army would not attack Hangzhou while it was empty, so that he could concentrate on dealing with the Jingnan army.

    "However, Zhang Tao refused to give such a guarantee.  The sudden offensive launched by the Jingnan Army was the result of Anlesi's lobbying. He told the Jin gentry who spent a large sum of money to buy the Hongyi cannon that since so much money had been spent, several counties must be opened to recoup the money.  After Jin Shen tried it, he found that it was so easy, so he became more and more successful. After defeating Huzhou City, he rushed to Jiaxing.

    Zhang Tao refused to come to the governor's office because he was sick. Zhao Guozuo and Songkui thought about it, but they still didn't dare to take out the troops in the provincial capital and make a desperate move. After defeating the Jingnan Army, they had no time to eradicate the roots and had to withdraw immediately.  to defend Hangzhou.  As soon as the officers and soldiers leave, the Jingnan Army may be able to surround Jiaxing again; and if it is defeated by the Jingnan Army, the eager chaos parties in Ningbo and Shaoxing will immediately jump to the forefront, and Zhejiang will change.

    "It was good to have one governor-general of Zhejiang and Fujian at first, but the imperial court insisted on splitting it into two governors. Now it's better. If something happens to Zhejiang, there are no troops from neighboring provinces to mobilize. Last time, several Fujian Green Camps died, and Li Shutai actually returned  Ask me for money!" The resentful Zhao Guozuo finally scolded the Beijing court.  If Li Shutai were to ask for reinforcements now, the other party would probably ask Zhao Guozuo to pay off the debt first, and where would Zhao Guozuo have the money to pay back?  Not to mention that Zhejiang is also responsible for part of Fujian and Geng Jimao's military pay, and Zhao Guozuo has been in arrears for this money for a long time.

    "We can't ignore Jiaxing." Zhao Guozuo had no choice but to write a letter and go to Nanjing, asking Jiang Guozhu to send troops to help him suppress the Jingnan Army.  Jiang Guozhu never lent Zhao Guozuo troops and horses, so Zhao Guozuo did not owe him any money, so he might lend him the troops first.  As for collecting the money from the government, we can slowly think of a way. If it doesn't work, we can just buy more rights and interests in Zhejiang and give them to the gang of black-hearted Sichuan bankers.

    "Seeing that this year's water transport is about to begin again," Zhao Guozuo felt that his few hair and beard were rapidly turning gray: "It's stillWe haven¡¯t paid the grain tax, and we haven¡¯t paid Fujian¡¯s regular army rations. Our vassal treasury is already empty enough to race The Jingnan Army is on the side of Qing Jun, and there is still a large debt"

    Suddenly, Zhao Guozuo remembered what Obai said about going to Ninggu Pagoda in northern Xinjiang to eat old corn. It seemed that the future was not too scary.
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