Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 318

After the suburban festival, there was naturally a big banquet for the ministers, and Yang Menglong was lucky, he was included in the banquet at a young age, and he could be regarded as the first one in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

What gave him a headache was that the banquet dishes were only a little richer than the home-cooked dishes, and there were not many meat dishes. This foodie who had made up his mind to lean in against the wall and exit against the wall was disappointed.And at the banquet, the ministers of the DPRK and China talked to him endlessly, and there was always a hint of wooing in the words. This kind of half-spoken and half-hidden conversation made Yang Menglong very unhappy, can you fucking make me happy!Depressedly, he ate two bowls of plain noodles and drank a glass of imperial wine that was almost watery, then looked at Chongzhen who was smiling and toasting frequently, counting the white hairs on his head to pass the time.In fact, counting his age, Chongzhen is not much older than him, and he has only succeeded to the throne for four or five years. Being tormented by Daming's rotten situation where smoke and fire is everywhere.He said in his heart: "With such a mess and such a group of unscrupulous ministers, his life is hard. This emperor is not happy at all, what's the point!"

——According to Yang Menglong’s logic, no matter what you do, the most important thing is to make yourself happy and everyone else happy.Although it is very hard work to set up farms and reclaim wasteland, it is very fulfilling. He is very happy to see so many people living a life of food and clothing because of his own efforts. Bringing a steady stream of wealth, he was full of a sense of accomplishment, so this command made him very happy.But the emperor, who was N rank older than the commander of the guards, was worried day and night, and his gray hair grew early, so what's the taste?
A gust of fragrant wind blew over, calling back his spirit, oh, it turned out that a lady with a phoenix crown and xiapei, a lady of the Ming Dynasty, was holding a gold cup, smiling, and coming slowly.Lu Xiangsheng and Zu Dale hurriedly stood up and saluted: "See you, empress!" He also hurriedly followed the same pattern, but his eyes still glanced at her, and the curious baby's nature could not be changed in 1 years.You can't blame him, this is the legendary queen, you have to see what she looks like.

The queen smiled slightly, and said softly: "The three lovers don't need to be too polite. The three lovers fought bloody battles, re-created the slaves, and made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty. I admire them very much. I respect the three lovers and have a chat. respect."

Lu Xiangsheng and Zu Dale said in unison: "Your Majesty, you are too polite, I am ashamed of you!" They picked up the golden cup and touched the Queen.Yang Menglong imitated the example and drank the cup, but kept frowning.

The queen's eyes fell on this bastard, and she asked with a smile: "Why is General Yang frowning all the time? Are the food and wine not to the general's taste?"

Yang Menglong nodded again and again: "That's right, the dishes are crude, and the wine is bland and tasteless. It's not as good as what I usually eat."

As soon as this remark came out, the people around him stared at him stupidly as if under a holding spell, and opened their mouths wide in a gesture of biting.Lu Xiangsheng wished he could kick him to death. It's a well-known fact that the food and drink are not good, so what do you need to say?As a courtier, seeing the emperor eating so badly should be touched, should be praised, but you are fine, complaining!
The queen was a little apologetic: "The national treasury has already been exhausted, and there is not much money left. There is really nothing decent to collect, so I can only make do with it, and I have wronged all my loves!"

Lu Xiangsheng rushed to say: "Queen, please don't say that! I wait..."

Yang Menglong didn't know how to write the word "dead" at all, so he interrupted Lu Xiangsheng: "The food here is terrible. The empress comes to Nanyang when you have time. I treat you to a good meal!"

Lu Xiangsheng was so choked that he couldn't speak, the jaws of the officials almost fell to the ground, but the smile on the Queen's face became wider and wider: "Oh? I don't know what General Yang is going to invite me to eat?"

Yang Menglong said vigorously: "There are too many! I have raised tens of thousands of sheep, thousands of cows, thousands of donkeys, 10,000+ chickens and ducks, and hundreds of acres of ponds with fish in them. There are also goats, bison, wild boars, deer, orchids, and even leopards! I can treat the empress to eat roasted lamb chops, stewed donkey meat, roasted chicken and roasted duck, stewed chicken with mushrooms, braised fish, braised beef... er , cattle cannot be killed, anyway, a lot of delicious food is enough!"

The queen giggled and said, "Hearing what General Yang said, I really want to go to Nanyang! General Yang managed Nanyang very well at a young age. It is a great merit to have enough food and clothing. I have thanked General Yang on behalf of the people. Now His Majesty has handed over the Luoyang Guard to General Yang. I hope that General Yang will continue to work hard and let the people of Luoyang live a good life. Don’t let the emperor down. ah!"

As soon as he heard "Luoyang Wei", Yang Menglong's face collapsed, and he asked with a mournful face, "Can I get rid of Luoyang Wei?"

The queen asked in surprise: "Why not Luoyang Guard? Compared with Nanyang Guard, Luoyang Guard has a lot more military fields, and the land is more fertile!"

Yang Menglong said: "That's right, the problem is that every time I take over a guard, I have to spend a lot of money! In order to improve Wuyang Guard, I invested 10,000+ taels of silver, and now I haven't paid back my money. Taking over Luoyang Wei will kill me!"

The empress laughed heartily at his dejected look, and said: "There is nothing I can do for this palace, you can go to the emperor and see if he will take back his life."

Yang Menglong also hoped that she could help blow the pillow wind and make Chongzhen take back his life. Now it seems that there is no hope. Alas, why is my life so hard!
Chongzhen also came over and said to Yang Menglong: "Nanyang and Luoyang are the places where the Four Wars took place. The safety of King Tang of Nanyang and King Fu of Luoyang is up to General Yang!"

Yang Menglong curled his lips, well, he got into two big troubles.These days, there are more vassal clans than dogs, and those who belong to the great vassals include King Zhou of Kaifeng, King Tang of Nanyang, King Fu of Luoyang, King Weihuilu, King Zhao of Anyang, King Zheng of Huaiqing, King Chong of Runing, King Hui of Yuzhou Wait, there are piles of county kings, generals of Zhenguo, generals of Fuguo, generals of Fengguo, lieutenants of Zhenguo, lieutenants of Fuguo, lieutenants of Fengguo...these guys all want to get salaries.Thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang's nearly perfect system, the Zhu family's descendants have had no worries about food and clothing for more than 200 years. It can be said that they were born lying on the pile of money. They cannot do business, participate in imperial examinations, or participate in local political affairs. Human beings are still human beings, and the number of clans snowballed like a snowball. By the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the number of clans had increased to one million, and they had to be paid for by the state, even if they sold the Ming Dynasty. I can't afford their salaries anymore!Judging from the emperor's tone, it seems that he is throwing this burden on him?
Bully me honestly, you have a good idea!
The queen asked with a smile: "The general is handsome, so he must be very popular with girls, right? Have you got married yet?"

Yang Menglong said: "Not yet..."

The queen looked at Chongzhen and said: "General Yang is a rare young hero. If you can find a princess in Nanyang or Luoyang to marry him, it will be a great thing."

Chongzhen took it very seriously: "The queen's words are justified, I will ask someone to check later to see if there is a princess in the palace of Tang Wang or Fu Wang who has not yet married..."

Come on, really?
Yang Menglong became anxious and shouted: "Don't! I... No, I'm already engaged!"

The queen was startled: "Already engaged?"

Yang Menglong said: "Even the date of the wedding has been set. We originally chose to get married on the Double Ninth Festival, but the bandits suddenly rushed into Nanyang, so I had to postpone the wedding. Let's pacify the bandits first. After finally pacifying the bandits, I was ordered to lead troops to western Liaoning , the wedding has not yet been held, she doesn't know how annoyed she is, and if there is another princess, the minister will not have to live, she can strangle the minister to death!"

Chongzhen's focus is completely different from his: "So, Aiqing is not married yet, right?"

Yang Menglong: "...Yes!"

Chongzhen: "If you haven't married yet, you haven't started a family yet, right?"

Yang Menglong: "...Yes!"

Chongzhen: "Before we get married, I have the right to appoint a marriage for Aiqing, right?"

Yang Menglong: "... dear, your face has become bigger!"

Chongzhen didn't pay attention to this bastard anymore, and turned around to discuss with the queen passionately which princess would be more suitable for betrothing Yang Menglong.Yang Menglong wanted to protest several times, but they didn't take it seriously. He was extremely depressed.

Depressed Yang Menglong made up his mind, went back and got married quickly, he and his Princess Tianxian came to this point after a lot of hard work, and Chongzhen couldn't let Chongzhen mess it up!
In fact, Lu Xiangsheng has been winking at Yang Menglong, signaling him to agree to the emperor immediately.In his opinion, if Yang Menglong can marry into the clan, it will be of great benefit to his future development. After all, he can be regarded as one of the emperor's own family members, and it will be easier to gain trust.However, the circuitry of this idiot's brain is different from other people's. To put it simply, he has intermittent mental retardation. He is a well-deserved genius when training in the field, but when it comes to important matters such as this, his IQ is completely below the average line, and he has no ability at all. Thinking that there would be such benefits, he made up his mind not to be a princess.

Yang Menglong was very depressed after eating this meal.

After a few days, the generals of Wuyangwei, Tianxiong Army, and Guanning Army bid farewell, and took their respective troops back to their respective homes, looking for their respective mothers.The Guan Ning Army returned with a full load. They not only washed away the shame of Lien Zhan's losing streak, but also brought back the bad influence of Zu Dashou's surrender. It was definitely a bumper harvest.The Tianxiong army didn't make this trip in vain. In addition to rewarding silver, they also got a thousand good horses.These thousand horses are all from the Beijing camp. I heard that the Tianxiong Army is extremely short of good horses, especially after learning that the powerful hussars battalion lost more than half of their horses in the Battle of Daling River. With a swipe of the pen, he allocated the thousand horses that made Yang Menglong jealous to Lu Xiangsheng—these horses were left to the Beijing camp to pretend, but to the Tianxiong army, they could charge into the battle, break the army and kill them. Which one is more cost-effective, Chongzhen still knows.This time the Tianxiong Army made a fortune. First, the Guan Ning Army presented them with 1000 war horses, plus the 1000 two hundred war horses exchanged with Wu Xiang for their heads and spoils. He has nearly 300 excellent war horses.Using these horses and more than [-] horses obtained from the Guanning Army, Lu Xiangsheng can rebuild the hussar battalion that has been dismantled.Three years later, the size of the hussar battalion had expanded to [-] men, making it a formidable assault force.

Yang Menglong was rather depressed. Originally, he wanted to get the war horses from the Beijing camp, but now it's a good thing, it's cheaper for the Tianxiong army.The most depressing thing is that Chongzhen doesn't respect his wishes at all, insisting on appointing him a marriage, it's really maddening!Fortunately, he also got the consent of Chongzhen, and obtained the right to do business with Nanyang and Luoyang vassal kings. I heard that Wuyangwei lacked skilled craftsmen, and Chongzhen generously set aside 72 artisan households from the 1000 guards of the Beijing Army. Hand it over to Wuyangwei, most of whom are bow and crossbow craftsmen.In other words, Wuyangwei has more than [-] skilled craftsmen.Yang Menglong is quite satisfied with such a harvest.

The army left the capital and headed south.Now it is thousands of miles frozen, thousands of miles of snow, and the North China Great Plain is covered with a layer of silver makeup. Looking at this magnificent mountain and river, and recalling the scene of thousands of miles to aid the west of Liaoning, it seems like a big dream.Lu Xiangsheng let out a breath of white air, looked at the snow fluttering in the sky, and said, "Good snow, good snow!"

Yang Menglong said: "Yes, with such a heavy snowfall, next year's harvest will definitely be better."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Yes, auspicious snow heralds a prosperous year!" He smiled slightly: "Why do you refuse to marry a princess?"

Yang Menglong said: "Does this need to be said? I have a wife!"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "A big man has three wives and four concubines, just wait for your own business!"

Yang Menglong said: "I'm not going to do it. Three women live in one street. The more wives there are, the more troublesome they will be. Noisy can kill them!"

Lu Xiangsheng laughed: "I'm afraid it's not up to you... By the way, when will you lend me some geologists to help me find some phosphate rocks on Daming Road? Without phosphate fertilizer, the harvest is really much worse!"

Yang Menglong said: "Let's start spring next year. I will send five geologists to you at the beginning of next year...Actually, I didn't pour cold water on you. Phosphate fertilizer doesn't mean that you can find phosphate rock. You still need sulfuric acid. To get sulfuric acid, you have to have a factory that produces sulfuric acid! You can’t even transport sulfuric acid from Nanyang, can you? The shipping cost will scare you to death!”

Lu Xiangsheng's eyes were firm: "As long as I can find phosphate rock, no matter how difficult it is, I will make phosphate fertilizer!"

Yang Menglong waved his hand and said, "I'll sell you a sulfuric acid production line. Make sure you agree in advance that I won't give you any more discounts this time!"

Lu Xiangsheng cupped his hands and said, "Thank you!"

Yang Menglong said: "That's not necessary, who said we are friends?" He sighed and said: "Actually, phosphate rock is not a rare thing, there must be some in the famous Tao, but the grade may be different. Not ideal. The best-grade phosphate rock is in Hubei, where there are phosphate rocks that cannot be dug for 300 years, and they are high-grade phosphate rocks with very few impurities!"

Lu Xiangsheng was startled: "How do you know?"

Yang Menglong said: "In the second half of this year, people from Hubei brought a boatload of phosphate rock to Nanyang to sell. I have seen that the grade is really much higher than ours."

Lu Xiangsheng said: "This is a great thing! I want to report to the imperial court to let the imperial court vigorously mine phosphate rock in Huguang to produce more phosphate fertilizer and benefit the people of Ming Dynasty!"

Yang Menglong pursed his lips again: "You should give up your mind, the imperial court will be interested in this kind of mine that requires huge costs and is not very valuable?"

Lu Xiangsheng was in a hurry: "Phosphate rock can be used to make fertilizer and make crops more harvestable. How can it be said that it is worthless!"

Yang Menglong said: "It is very valuable to us, but worthless to the imperial court! Don't waste your efforts, you should think about how to control the phosphate rock in the Huguang area in your own hands, and then dig slowly. , at least the people under your rule can benefit from it, if you let those guys from the imperial court get involved, hehe, who knows what they will do to a good thing!"

Lu Xiangsheng sighed, and made up his mind: in the future, he must find a way to control a large phosphate mine and build his own phosphate fertilizer production base!
(End of this chapter)