stubborn thief

Chapter 280
The officials of the Tea Horse Department returned to the official office one after another, and they were relieved.

Because the surveillance eunuch newly sent by the imperial court failed to request an interview with Liu Chengzu on the second day of his arrival, he made the next best move and met Wang Kun, who was in charge of the Juerwan market.

After that, eunuch Zhang transferred a lot of tea bricks from Sichuan, and also devoted himself to the vigorous smuggling business.

The middle officials sent by the imperial court to monitor the tea and horse department have all joined in the smuggling. What are the other officials to be afraid of?

Only Chengyun's father-in-law Wang Kun knew what happened.

Wang Kun was born as a litigator and had never experienced the war between Liu Chengzong and Ming Dynasty. Even during the entire rebellion period, relying on the protection of Mr. Liu and Chengyun, he lived comfortably in Yan'an Fucheng. The most involved things were grain trade and distribution to Fucheng officials. Salary.

He doesn't like war, and especially he still has a great sense of awe for the Ming court. In his opinion, the best state between Qinghai Marshal's Mansion and Daming is not to go to war.

On this point, the eunuch Zhang Yuanheng was able to reach a consensus with him.

As long as there is this consensus, the rest is easy to discuss.

But what Zhang Yuanheng wanted was not to smuggle, but to fulfill his own mission. The mission given to him by the imperial court was to monitor the tea horse department, and the deeper purpose was to let the Xining tea horse department send horses to Guyuan.

Because in the northwest of Ming Dynasty, there is a shortage of war horses.

This sounded like a joke. How could there be a shortage of horses in the Northwest?
There was no shortage at first, but Liu Chengzong went there and it was missing.

Where Liu Chengzong walked, the horse garden was emptied, and the horses continued to fall to death. In the past, thousands of war horses could be obtained from Namafan every year, but now Namafan no longer accepts horses.

Guyuan is short of war horses.

Zhang Yuanheng wants to perform, he only has this chance in his life, and he must firmly grasp it.

Anyway, the eunuch guarding Guyuan said, as long as there is no war, let him do whatever it takes... Isn't it easy to want a horse?
In the past, tea was exchanged for horses, but now tea cannot be exchanged for horses, but if official tea is smuggled, it can be exchanged for sheep, and sheep are used to buy horses among the people in the Northwest.

In fact, Wang Kun disliked this method. He hoped that Zhang Yuanheng would exchange tea bricks from him for mules and hand them over to the imperial court, but Zhang Yuanheng had no choice but to ask for sheep.

Because Zhang Yuanheng wanted to trade sheep and cooked horses for horses from Hezhou and Taozhou in the southeast of Xining, and that place was not within the control of the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion.

Wang Kun didn't decide on his own, but only asked Zhang Yuanheng to mix the tea first, saying that he would send someone to Kangning Mansion to ask the Generalissimo's intention.

The person who was sent to inquire had just been on the road for a few days, when a murderous military man came from the south, his expression was very arrogant, and he didn't show any kindness to the supervisory eunuch: "The Generalissimo wants to see you, so leave immediately."

Not easing up for a moment made Zhang Yuanheng suffocate but did not dare to attack.

He had contact with the Tuncheng Banner Army of the Xining Guard and the battalion soldiers of the Zhenhai Battalion. Except for the difference in accent, these soldiers gave him almost the same feeling as his elder brother who was a soldier in the Beijing Camp.

In the past few days when there were no officials in the Tea Horse Division, his daily meals were delivered by the Tuncheng Banner Army. In five days, he ate two meals on fire, one of which was donkey meat.

At first Zhang Yuanheng thought it was Liu Chengzu, the commander of the Xining Guard, who knew he was from Baoding, but after asking, he found out that this is what all the soldiers in this city eat. The menu has three meals with meat.

People say that this is a famous delicacy in northern Shaanxi, and Henan donkey meat is roasted, and it will be a century-old restaurant in 98.

The soldiers in Xining City were well equipped. Many of them wore military uniforms different from the mandarin duck battle jackets. The materials were solid and wear-resistant, and the workmanship was also very fine. Some soldiers had the aggressive spirit of being stationed on the frontier all year round, but they respected the eunuchs very much.

Some people saw that he didn't respect him, but they whispered from a distance with the cunning rusticity of a farmer in the field. When he came close to him, the indifference disappeared when he answered.

But the soldiers who came from Kang Ning Mansion were not like this.

Under their armor were khaki military uniforms with very rough workmanship. They had the killing spirit of frontier soldiers but did not have the respect for eunuchs from frontier soldiers. Looking at him was like staring at a piece of meat.

This was the first time he really realized that although Xiningwei could no longer be said to be the frontier defense of the court, it was far from being an enemy territory.

Being surrounded by the guards of the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion to the west of Xining, and embarking on the road to Kangning Mansion, that is the real enemy territory.

There are several huge barracks, a huge market, and soldiers with bright armor at the mouth of the valley, commanding the slaves captured in the war to move stones and building small forts with wooden and stone structures.

The archery tower of the fortress built on the hillside is heavily guarded, with long cannon tubes protruding outwards, aiming at the Fanzi tartars who are driving livestock to the market for trade.

The veteran who took him to Haibei said that those were not slaves, but nobles, chieftains, stewards and soldiers who did not want to surrender in the south.

Zhang Yuanheng didn't care about nobles or slaves, he himself was a eunuch with incomplete limbs, male and female, and had no interest in the world's classes. A slave might not be a human being, but he must not be a human being.

He cares more about the large-scale military bureau in the valley at the source of Huangshui. It is hard for him to describe whether those long and thin pipes belong to big guns or small cannons. arms workshop.

People called the place west of Xining the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, and he wanted to know where the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion was.

To the west of Xiningwei, the closest place to the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion is Haibei. There is a big town there, about the size of an inland township, but the city wall has not yet been built. The market town is protected by low chest-length loess walls and ditches.

The Qinghai Marshal's Mansion is also not here. He saw the tall wooden archway and the huge warehouse spreading all the way to the seashore. When he got closer, he found that there were six big characters written on the archway-Qinghai Haishi Yamen.

But when he looked at the sea, he couldn't see the scene of sailors' paddle sails covering the sky and the sun, but there were quite a few simple-structured paddle-sail fishing boats, which were driven by soldiers to go boating on the sea, quite carefree.

In the far deep water area, a small sailboat anchored, looking extremely lonely.

The guards were always too lazy to talk to Zhang Yuanheng, not to mention he was also afraid of these Ma Bian who stared at him and wanted to kill someone, but in Qinghai Haishi's yamen, he met an official.

The nominal No. [-] figure in Qinghai Propaganda Envoy Division, Tong Zhi Zhou Riqiang.

Zhou Qiang was the magistrate of Ningzhou, he was very happy with Zhang Yuanheng's arrival, originally wanted to invite him to stay in the navy yamen for a few days, but he heard that it was the Generalissimo who summoned him, so he gave up.

After some inquiries, Zhang Yuanheng found out the confidential information of the Navy Yamen. The Navy Yamen under the command of Marshal Qinghai has 19 generals and officials, including Zhou Riqiang, commanding a [-]-wheel warship.

There are no sailors, and all eighteen arhats in the navy are officials.

It is said that after the commander-in-chief launched the Southern Expedition, Sunday forced the entire army to stay behind and searched for those who could sail and steer and were proficient in water skills. Eighteen of them were found, and they were promoted immediately.

But the naval yamen has only instructors and no soldiers, because it is very difficult to recruit soldiers. Within the rule of Qinghai Marshal's Mansion, recruiting sailors is much more difficult than recruiting coachmen.

The veterans on the frontier are willing to take a boat rather than sail a boat, willing to eat fish but not to fish, not to mention that the commander-in-chief fought the battle in the south, they are all looking forward to the start of the next war, and they will return to Qinghai Lake as sailors and directly become The Qinghai tyrant may not have a maritime hegemon who can compete with them in this life, and basically loses all opportunities for war.

But this is only a secondary reason.

The main reason is that Sunday Qiang's status in the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion is embarrassing. In name, he is under one person, but in fact he is slightly higher than his toes.

That's why Sunday Qiang is the one who most hopes Liu Chengzong's class teacher will return to court in the entire Qinghai Marshal's Mansion. Without Liu Shizi's chicken feather arrows, he can't control anyone except the Eighteen Arhats, and don't want to do anything.

Even if he wanted to come over after looking at the sun-dried wood in the West of Shanghai, no one would give him a head start.

Otherwise by now they should have two warships on wheels.

The scientific name of the wheel warship is the wheel boat. It was originally the shape of the ship in the Tang Dynasty. Paddle wheels were placed on the two sides of the ship, and the interior was connected by an axle. One axle and two wheels formed a cart. From the Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, two carts to thirty or forty There are both cars and ships.

However, there were not many such ships in the Ming Dynasty. It was a kind of warship and military ship. It was more expensive to carry more soldiers, and the applicable water area was relatively narrow. Because of the heavy hull and deep draft, it could not be used in shallow water; if the ship was tall and narrow, it would be difficult. The sea breeze is forbidden, so it is usually used for the defense of the Great Lakes and rivers.

In the Great Unification Dynasty, the demand for internal defense of the Great Lakes and Rivers was low, so it was used more in the Song Dynasty.

During the Battle of Xiangyang, Zhang Gui and Zhang Shun built hundreds of vehicles and boats at the Danjiangkou of Hanshui. They assembled and rushed into the besieged Xiangyang with salt and cloth supplies, which greatly encouraged the besieged Song army in the city.

On Sunday, I made a forced calculation. For the Qinghai Navy, the ship does not carry cannons, only muskets, and pays attention to the speed of sailing from south to north. The demand for freight is not too large, and the vehicle and boat are very suitable.

The wheeled battleship parked at sea has two sails and two carts. It carries [-] soldiers, [-] boatmen and [-] stepping soldiers. It uses sails and the terrifying erectus ape as power. It consumes [-] bowls of fried noodles per [-] kilometers.

When Zhang Yuanheng was forced to introduce this warship on Sunday, Zhang Yuanheng looked very novel and was very happy.

Until a shore cannon placed on the pier was fired, it was a Buddha Wolf machine that was moved from the Acropolis of Xining. It was an old object in the Jiajing period. The sound is loud.

Amidst the sound of cannons and horns, the swimming fishing boats returned one after another. Eighteen arhats were summoned to Zhou Riqiang's side. Everyone happily embraced Zhang Yuanheng and boarded the fishing boat. Twenty Mongolians from surrounding market towns also boarded the boat together. Stepping on Zhengfu, the mighty fishing boat team sailed towards the car and boat.

Zhang Yuanheng gradually realized that something was wrong: "No, Master Zhou, why do you take a boat? Riding a horse is very good."

Sunday Qiang is excited, the guards are not only here to pick up Zhang Yuanheng, they also asked Sunday Qiang to report the situation of the Navy Yamen to the south. For him, what situation is more convincing than sending the guards to sail from Qinghai Lake?
"There's no such thing as riding a horse. Let me tell you, this boat is fast."

Can't help but say, the fishing boat was rowed to the side of the car and boat, everyone climbed up the rope one by one, the front went up and the back pushed, Zhang Yuanheng couldn't help hesitating, they were already standing on the car and boat.

This boat has two layers of cabins, the bottom cabin can hold some goods, the upper cabin is in the middle of the hull, half is under the deck, and the other half is on the deck. half protected.

After a while, the sails were hoisted, and twenty troopers were divided into two carts on the deck, ten in a row, facing the stern and standing in front of the axle with pedals, holding the front guard bar in hand, shouting chant Step on the pedals and sail slowly with the car and boat. The four round wheels on the side of the boat rotate slowly, and the resistance becomes smaller and smaller.

These troopers are all carefully selected fat people. As human-driven, the pedals cannot be stepped on with strength alone. They follow the drums on the forecastle like climbing stairs, and use their weight and strength to accelerate the hull.

Zhang Yuanheng didn't have time to appreciate this crystallization of human wisdom, he was flustered.

People's feet cannot stand on the ground, which will always make people uneasy, especially since he also treats the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion as a hostile force, which intensifies his panic.

This made Zhang Yuanheng restless, and asked in a low voice to the radiant Sunday: "Master Zhou, you asked me to board the boat, didn't you want to harm me?"

"Oh?"

Sunday pulled his official robe sleeves forcibly. In Qinghai, he was probably the only one still wearing Daming’s official uniform. He smiled and asked Zhang Yuanheng, "How did Zhou harm you?"

Zhang Yuanheng stood on the edge of the upper deck and took a step back, stretched out his palm and slashed at Lang Tao who was separated by the bow, his eyes widened with fear and uneasiness: "Drown me."

"Hahaha!"

Sunday Qiang was amused and laughed: "Mr. Zhang said something stupid, you and I are officials in the same court, why did Zhou want to drown you?"

An official in the same dynasty?

Zhang Yuanheng's pupils shrank suddenly, which direction you are talking about...which fucking direction is it?
But he dared not ask.

Sunday Qiang wanted to laugh seeing his nervous look, he was also like this when Yang He sent him to Liu Chengzong's side, he was no better than Zhang Yuanheng.

Don't you feel normal now, why don't you work with a salary?

Except for a little homesickness, nothing is different, it's just a little more worry about the big event coming, but this kind of worry has always existed even in Ningzhou.

In Ningzhou, don't you worry about the peasant army trapping the city and killing you, or worrying about the later gold entering the customs and harming your family?

it's the same.

It's just that now he is more worried about Liu Chengzong's entry into the customs and let the court harm his family in Baoding.

Thinking of this, Sunday Qiang turned his head to look at Zhang Yuanheng: "Don't worry, since the commander-in-chief wants to see you, he won't harm you. If you think about it carefully, if you really want to harm you, you still need Zhou to invite you to the boat and push you into the sea? Where can Xining not bury more than a dozen people like you?"

Zhang Yuanheng thought about it, and it seemed to be the case.

"Well, if you're worried, there's nothing else to do in the navy office. I'll send you to Kangning to meet the commander, but when you get back, you have to do me a favor."

Zhang Yuanheng's strong sense of Sunday is still good, at least much better than those guards with cold eyebrows, he asked: "Master Zhou, please tell me."

"I'll send a few people to Baoding, and I'll be back after the Chinese New Year." Said Zhou Qiang, looking at Zhang Yuanheng and said, "In the name of your tea and horse department, let's say they are your followers, and go back to your hometown to do something."

　Ugly is good!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)