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

Chapter 726 The War Caused by Puffer Fish

The exercise was over, and all soldiers who participated in the exercise received a reward, and the injured were rushed to the hospital for treatment.Sufficient material supply and relatively complete medical treatment are important reasons why the Dongjiang Army can survive these months of hellish training. What else do you have to be afraid of?Isn't being a soldier just a matter of life?

Of course, there are people who have made arrangements for these things, so Yang Menglong doesn't need to worry about them.In fact, he was about to leave Fuzhou and return to Beijing—the sea ice in the Bohai Sea had just melted, and Beijing sent people to remind him.After going to the hospital to condolences to the wounded soldiers in person, he rode on a fast horse and headed straight for Lushun Port with his entourage, where there was already a boat waiting for him.

As the weather gets warmer, the Dalian area is also bustling. Fishermen sail out to sea in groups. Small fishing boats fish for shrimp and kelp in the offshore, while big boats enter the whale sea to hunt down whales. Whales are a good thing. The lighthouse provides a large amount of high-quality fuel, and also provides a large amount of meat for the Dongjiang Army. Whale meat has become an important part of the diet of the Dongjiang Army.The chimneys of the salt field also emitted a large cloud of white smoke, and they started to cook salt again. Farmers carried hoes and were busy in the fields, diverting water to irrigate the wheat fields. Rice——In the past, the main crop in Northeast China was wheat. Under Yang Menglong’s suggestion, the Dongjiang army used some wetlands that were not suitable for growing wheat, and organized Japanese prisoners and Korean immigrants to grow rice.The Korean immigrants brought rice seeds themselves, and the Japanese captives... don't take them with you. The rice and rice that Yang Menglong robbed was eaten by the Dongjiang Army for several months, and only half of it was eaten. At least it is a high-quality rice seed, just sprinkle it. If there is a harvest, it is a surprise. If there is no harvest, it does not matter. Just try a few more times... After hundreds of years, the Northeast has become a well-known granary, and Northeast rice is famous both at home and abroad. , Those high-yielding rice varieties are slowly bred in this way.

Wu Yong smiled and said to Yang Menglong: "You are really a lucky general, Champion. Wherever you go, it becomes paradise... Look at what Lushun looks like now. Our family can't believe that this place turned out to be the territory of Dongjiang Town." !”

Yang Menglong asked: "What happened to the Dongjiang Town site?"

Wu Yong said: "The territory of Dongjiang Town? Poor! So poor that even beggars don't want to go! Of course, all of this is over!"

Yang Menglong snorted: "What is this small improvement? I said that one day the entire Northeast China will become Daming's granary, will you believe it?"

Wu Yong said firmly: "Believe it!"

Yang Menglong rubbed his nose and muttered: "It's so boring...you should doubt it anyway!"

When we arrived at Lushun Port, it was just in time for the last batch of soldiers from the Denglai New Army to board the ship and return to Shandong.Denglai's new army was rather depressed. Last year, they followed Yang Menglong to Japan and burned and killed Japan, causing Japan to turn upside down. The burning and killing were enjoyable, and they retreated urgently because of the change of building slaves. They thought they could follow Yang Menglong to beat them up After a meal of building slaves, the great victory of Lushun was reproduced again. As a result, his grandma's Jiannu didn't plan to fight them at all, and they stayed in Dalian for several months. They couldn't do anything except drill the rookies of the Dongjiang Army. Really So discouraged.Fortunately, they are not completely wasting time. In the past few months, the tiger soldiers who ran back to the Northeast have brought more than 2000 people through the jungle to Dalian. Nearly half of the more than 2000 people are enough to be white armor soldiers. Standard, all of these high-quality soldiers were allocated to the Denglai New Army, and it was considered a reward for them staying in Dalian to train the Dongjiang Army.

Yang Menglong took one of the transport ships to Tianjin. Along the way, he saw that this route was extremely busy. Those who transported grain, cement, steel, and cotton cloth kept shuttling, which meant that Tianjin, Denglai and other ports were also busy. It has become extremely prosperous, not as deserted as before.This is the benefit of a country with a large population. The development of a region will always lead to the common development of neighboring regions. Dalian is on the fast track of development, and the surrounding regions will naturally have a share of the pie.He squeezed his chin and said to Wu Yong: "Oh, our population is still too small. If there are another [-] million people, the development will be faster."

Wu Yong was terrified, there would be another [-] million people!My God, do you want to let the emperor live?Just managing these [-] million people is already exhausted!He said, "Don't be kidding. If there are [-] million more people, where can we find so much land for them?"

Yang Menglong said: "Didn't I tell you that there is a lot of fertile land in the Northeast, and it is easy and enjoyable to accommodate tens of millions of people! The biggest problem now is not that there is no land for so many people, but There aren’t that many people farming land!” After thinking for a while, he waved his hand vigorously and said, “Forget it, wait until Jiannu is wiped out, and then find a way to immigrate.

That tone, it seems that both Japan and Houjin are vegetables in his garden, and he can pinch as he likes...

The ship docked in Tianjin. Yang Menglong originally wanted to go to Beijing quietly. He didn't want to shoot. Who knew that before the ship stopped, he saw Tianjin officials, big and small, waiting on the pier. Seeing his ship docking, one by one Smiling like a flower, I almost didn't shout "Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome".It seemed that he couldn't hide, so Yang Menglong went up depressed, and was immediately surrounded by these guys, vying to ask for their health, that's called a caring person.Tianjin Wei put in a lot of effort to prepare a feast for him, delicacies from mountains and seas, fresh fish from rivers, and more.When he got a little drunk, the prefect of Tianjin finally spoke his mind: Can you help them and connect them with the Dongjiang army, so that Tianjin can also get a share of the sea salt business?

————During Mao Wenlong’s period, the civil officials in Tianjin bullied the Dongjiang Army too much, and they didn’t treat them as human beings at all. Now the Dongjiang Army has turned around by relying on sea salt and salted fish, and the business is getting more and more prosperous. These officials are greedy No, I wanted to go over to share a bite but I was too embarrassed, so I had no choice but to ask Yang Menglong for help.

Yang Menglong readily agreed to this little idea.With his help, the Dongjiang Army and Tianjin officials reached a settlement, and provided Tianjin with a large amount of high-quality sea salt at a relatively favorable price, and Tianjin resold it to the mainland. Due to the low cost, the salt price in many major cities in Hebei fell accordingly. The common people have enjoyed many benefits.

After having a big meal in Tianjin, Yang Menglong continued on his way and went straight to Beijing—the big boss was already waiting for him to go back to report on his work.

After entering Beijing, Yang Menglong's first feeling was that the refugees and beggars had almost disappeared. After asking, he found out that as long as they had healthy limbs and normal intelligence, the government would arrest them and send them to the Hetao area.Well, it's simple and rough enough, but it's better than letting so many refugees huddle in Beijing and wait to die of starvation or cold.After resting his feet, he took a big bag and went to the palace, begging to see the queen.

At this time, Chongzhen was going to court in high spirits, discussing state affairs.It could be seen that he was very excited. Throughout the winter, the Mongolian prairie was in chaos. The Tumed part split into two factions to attack each other, and the Tianxiong army fanned the flames. As time went by, more and more The Mongolian tribes were involved in the flames of war, and even forgot the routine spring raids and looting on the border areas of Ming Dynasty; while in the southwest region, a large number of ethnic minorities, which caused Ming Dynasty a headache, migrated to Annan, causing more than ten years of chaos. The trouble can't go on—the Yi people and the Miao people have all run away, what's the matter?Of course, the most important thing is that when the houses of the eight major surnames of Shanxi merchants were copied last year, the imperial court received a total of 500 million taels of silver, and Lu Xiangsheng secretly gave Chongzhen 100 million taels of silver and 5 taels of gold. With an extra year of financial income, with this money in hand, many things are much easier to handle.Based on this, Chongzhen was in high spirits, and those old ministers who were only breathing more than the dead also showed some energy, making suggestions and talking endlessly, which formed a sharp contrast with the dullness of the past.

Of course, there are also some unpleasant things. For example, someone proposed that the Heluo Xinjun and Tianxiong Army should hand over the power of producing weapons to the Bingzhang Bureau——Now the Bingzhang Bureau is almost starved to death. After the arsenals of the Heluo New Army and the Tianxiong Army developed, no army wanted the rubbish they produced. In the past, generals had to spend money on the Bing Zhang Bureau if they wanted to get weapons and equipment. Now they don’t even have to pay the army. People want their shit.This is a very sensitive topic. It is always a big taboo for generals to manufacture their own weapons, and they are better than those of the imperial court. Chongzhen is also a little uncertain. He feels a little uneasy about letting these two armies make their own weapons for a long time, but He is more aware that if these two powerful armies hand over the arsenal to the Bingzhang Bureau, within a few years, the weapons and equipment of the Heluo New Army and Tianxiong Army will degenerate to the level of the second year of Chongzhen. tolerated.Before he could make up his mind, Wang Chengen sneaked in, stepped forward and said something in a low voice, Chongzhen's eyes lit up immediately, he swallowed loudly, and said, "My dear friends, I feel a little unwell , let’s come here first today, you wait for a good discussion, and come out with a charter first..." Don’t say don’t step down from Danbi, just run out, Wang Chengen shouted "Retire", and ran away , Throwing down a large number of civil and military ministers looking at each other there.

Wang Yingxiong thumped his waist and complained to Wen Tiren: "The emperor is so indifferent to such a major matter that concerns the safety of the country, it is very inappropriate!"

Wen Tiren said helplessly: "Maybe the emperor is really unwell. Forget it, I'll go back and get a charter first, and discuss it tomorrow."

Chongzhen didn't know that a group of ministers were whispering about him behind his back. He returned to the harem with windy feet, and smelled a strong fragrance from a long distance. Crazy secrete obediently, no, if this continues, he will die of lack of water!He rushed into the Imperial Garden in three steps at a time and saw Princess Kunxing, Zhu Cihong, Empress Zhou, Concubine Yuan, Concubine Tian, ​​etc. all gathered in front of a large glass jar, and in that expensive glass jar, several There are small fishes with dark green stripes and spots on their backs and white bellies swimming around, and two of them have exaggeratedly bulging bellies, which seem to be angry and very cute.On the other side, a few short guys with very flexible hands and feet are cooking a big fish weighing eight or nine catties, carefully cleaning off the internal organs, fish eyes, and fish eggs, cutting the meat into thin slices, and putting them in clean water Rinse repeatedly to wash away the blood, not daring to leave a trace.A small pot has been set up over there, and the fish soup is being gurgled. The incomparably rich aroma is wafting out of the pot. A few maids in the palace are drooling fiercely by the pot!

What about Yang Menglong?

Yang Menglong was pointing to the few puffy little fishes in the glass tank and introduced to the little ones: "This kind of fish is pufferfish... remember, it's pufferfish, not pufferfish. Pufferfish and pufferfish are different. Yes! Look at them, they look like tadpoles, round and puffy, aren’t they very cute? I can tell you, this kind of fish is not only cute, but also very delicious. The meat is delicious and smooth. After eating, several The fragrance still lingers on your teeth and cheeks when you are young! But be careful, they are highly poisonous, and they will kill you if you are not careful!"

Princess Kunxing asked nervously, "How poisonous is it?"

Yang Menglong said: "How poisonous is it? Such a small amount can poison people to death! Especially the fish eyes, fish liver, and fish eggs are extremely poisonous. You must be very careful. If you accidentally eat it, there is no cure!" The ones who are best at cooking puffer fish are the Japanese chefs, that is, those short guys who are busy. They are very experienced and know what to do to maximize the freshness of puffer fish while avoiding poisoning! But ah , I managed to catch these cooks back from Japan, and I can’t give them to you, if you still want to eat puffer fish, you can find a way yourself!”

Zhu Cihong snorted: "It's such a small thing, I'm so rare? I'll let my father send troops to fight Japan, catch dozens of Japanese cooks, and cook puffer fish for me every day!"

Princess Kunxing clapped her little hands and called, "Okay! Come back a few more times!"

Chongzhen was dumbfounded...

His children have been spoiled by this bastard!
(End of this chapter)