People live in the Ming Dynasty, evil spirits are soaring into the sky

Chapter 122 The Crazy Shanxi Merchants! Colluding with the Jurchen Tatars to betray national interests! !
Ma Gui was shocked when he saw someone suddenly appeared in his room, and he was also a person dressed as a eunuch.

You must know that his military headquarters is also heavily guarded and it is impossible for anyone to break in easily.

If someone had just come in casually, he, the general of Datong, would not have to do anything, and his head would have been removed in the middle of the night.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Cao Zhengchun didn't talk nonsense to him and directly took out two documents.

One of the seals was written by the eunuch, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and the other was the seal of the emperor's jade seal.

As soon as Ma Gui saw these two documents, he immediately understood that Cao Zhengchun was an imperial minister of the imperial court.

"General Datong General Magui pays a visit to the Governor!"

Nowadays, the name of Cao Zhengchun, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, can be heard even in Shanxi.

Everyone knows that he has great martial arts skills and together with Uncle Zhonghu, he has carried out some reforms and made things prosperous.

But he had no idea when Cao Zhengchun came to Shanxi without even making a sound.

"I wonder why the Governor came to Shanxi? If there is any help from my subordinates, it is my duty to do so." Ma Gui is not only outstanding in leading troops in combat, but also not inferior to anyone in terms of humaneness and sophistication.

Cao Zhengchun had no time to chat with him, "I wonder what Commander Ma thinks about the Tatar invasion of the Ming Dynasty?"

When Ma Gui heard this, he immediately jumped up: "Governor, to tell you the truth, without the cooperation of others, how could these Tatars have spared my subordinates' defense? I..."

Cao Zhengchun nodded: "This matter has nothing to do with you!"

Ma Gui was very moved when he heard this, "Thank you, Lord Governor, for your understanding."

"To be honest with the Governor, the general and others have always felt that this was a collusion between Shanxi Shanxi merchants and the Tatars. It is an unforgivable crime for them to betray my Ming Dynasty defense line.

Those Tatar thieves are killing my people, and I can't wait to eat their flesh and drink their blood. My Ma family has been guarding Shanxi for generations, and has fought fierce battles with these Tatars for hundreds of years, and I have a deep hatred for them. "

Ma Gui's eyes were red when he said this, and Cao Zhengchun was relatively satisfied when he saw this scene.

"Okay! Since Mr. Ma has such ambitions, we can cooperate this time."

Ma Gui was slightly dazed.

I have never thought about it, what can the eunuch in charge of the ceremony and the eunuch cooperate with me?
Cao Zhengchun said: "Three days ago, by killing five or six thousand Tatars, our family has controlled about 10,000 Tatars.

Since it is the Shanxi merchants in Shanxi who are colluding with the Tatars this time, we can use the trick to make them taste the taste of being wiped out by the Tatars. "

After hearing what Cao Zhengchun said, Ma Gui's head almost exploded.

what?
Killed five or six thousand Tatars?
And then directly controlled the remaining 10,000 people?
Although the fighting power of the Tatars today is not the same as that of the Ming Dynasty, it is not a soft persimmon.

To kill five or six thousand people, it would take an army of ten or twenty thousand.

But as the commander-in-chief of Datong, why didn't he see so many troops coming to Shanxi?

"Duke, how many people have you brought this time? I will make arrangements for food and accommodation!" He was talking about arranging food and accommodation, but in fact he was testing how many people Cao Zhengchun had brought.

Cao Zhengchun understood what he was talking about and did not hide it: "Our family has brought a thousand people, you don't need to know this."

It is incredible that only one thousand people controlled the Tatar army of 20,000 people.

Ma Gui asked, "I wonder how the Governor will cooperate?"

Cao Zhengchun said: "You only need to give up the defense line. If you hear the Tatar invasion, just pretend you didn't hear it. You don't have to bear the responsibility."

After hearing this, Ma Gui almost felt numb.

what?
Give up the line of defense?

Because Shanxi had a relationship with the Tatars in the north, although Ma Gui was only the commander-in-chief of Datong, most of Shanxi's troops were in his hands.

Although he was only a second-grade general, but when there was a war on the border, he was given the title of admiral. He was directly promoted from a first-grade general, which was half a level higher than the commander-in-chief of the inland provinces.

What he controls is not just Shanxi's military strength. But with great power comes great responsibility.

All the troops in Shanxi are in his hands. If Tatars appear in Shanxi, it will be terrible. He will have to bear the first responsibility.

Cao Zhengchun saw Ma Gui's worry.

"Mr. Ma, you don't have to worry. All the responsibilities are on our family. I can't blame you. With His Majesty's seal, you just have to obey his orders."

After hearing this, Ma Gui was very moved and what he wanted was this sentence.

……

Taiyuan Prefecture.

Shanxi Chamber of Commerce Headquarters.

The Qiao family gathered twenty major merchant houses in Shanxi.

But this time they were discussing the matter of luring Tatars into Shanxi.

"This time it went well. Our goal has been achieved for the time being. Ma Gui has written to the imperial court requesting for additional military pay. We Shanxi merchants have been supervising the food and salary matters for the important towns on the nine sides for so many years.

This time the food and salary are still the same as before, 30% goes to Magui as military pay, 10% goes to Tatars for travel expenses this time; 20% is converted into silver taels and given to various generals in the Xuanda area, and the remaining 40% is ours . "The head of the Qiao family spoke.

Such heart-rending words were said on such a serious occasion, and the businessmen present actually burst into laughter after listening to them.

The meaning contained in this sentence is so obvious.

The merchants colluded with the Tatars in the north and invaded the Ming Dynasty border. The military generals on the border asked the court to allocate more military pay.

And this supervision of military pay fell to these masters in Shanxi.

Then 60% is military pay, or even less.

The rest is divided among the military commanders along the way.

This is how this chain of interests is formed.

Businessmen, generals, and Tatars cooperated with each other to defraud the court of military pay.

Hahaha……

The remaining Shanxi merchants laughed.

"We have accomplished multiple things with one stone. Since the court understands our energy, we have also helped the chaebol in the southeast to deal with the man named Chen Han, and we have obtained the 10% maritime smuggling dividend we want.

Logically speaking, if we have achieved this step, we should have a drink to celebrate, but the court has sent news that His Majesty the Emperor seems to be having trouble handling it, so we have to keep up our efforts. "

The head of the Chang family said.

Although these are businessmen, when their wealth reaches a certain level, they can affect the national economy and people's livelihood.

The head of the Qiao family said again: "The Tatars we have at the imperial court can handle it. As long as the Tatars are destructive enough, the more lowly people they kill, the more bargaining chips we have.

One more thing to say here, take care of your people, and don't take advantage of others to occupy the land of those stinky people at this time.

Let’s wait until everything calms down, okay? "

The remaining Shanxi merchants nodded.

The head of the Qiao family said again: "For the 200,000 dans of grain and 100,000 jins of iron that the Jurchens asked for, 40% of the army's salary will be spent here, and it is still a business without capital.

The ginseng, mink skin, and deer antlers exchanged were transported from Zhangjiakou to the capital. After they were sold out, 70% belonged to us, 10% went to the ministers in the capital, 10% went to the main generals of the Nine Borders, and 10% went to the Li family of Liaodong. "

It turns out everything is business...

(End of this chapter)