scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 333 Math Problem
On the [-]th of February, the second year of the Chinese New Year, Mite Qing Kang Mazi, the main force of the Mite Qing Southern Expedition, who had been stationed at Xiba Ferry, Qingjiang County, Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province for more than two months, finally launched an operation to cross the river under the command of the coach Yue Le. After crossing the turbulent and rolling Yellow River, set foot on the real Jiangnan land.

On the same day, the closely monitored Fatty Army worked as scouts. After confirming that the Qing army's Southern Expedition Army was indeed the main force to cross the river, they immediately sent this crucial news to the Fatty Army's headquarters - Nanjing!
The time when the news arrived in Nanjing was the afternoon of February [-]th in the second year of the Lunar New Year. It was also on the same day. Fatty Lu, who has always disliked extravagance and waste and had a very poor drinker, for the first time in his temporary residence, the former governor of Liangjiang In the yamen, a very grand festive banquet was held, and more than [-] gentry and landowners who were the most famous, hopeful, wealthy and well-off from all the prefectures and prefectures in the Jiangnan area were invited to participate. Gao Dejie, Li Guodong and Han Daren The top general of the Fat Army was present. Although Li Tianzhi, who was stationed in Suzhou, was unable to attend the meeting due to the emergency of the military situation on the southern front, he also sent Yang Yingyuan, the deputy commander of the army, to Nanjing to attend the meeting.And Wu Mei, the daughter of the traitor Wu, the princess of Pingxi Wangfu, also left the Humble Administrator's Garden and Suzhou for the first time, and came to Nanjing to participate in this grand event!
The reason for holding this banquet is that Lu Bangning, the second son born to Fatty Lu by Line Yuer, is full moon. This is also Fatty Lu's first son since he got rid of the control of old traitor Wu. Do it, and celebrate it in Daqing—at least that's what the big gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River, who were invited by Fatty Lu himself, thought so.In addition, Fatty Lu, a country bumpkin, even specially stated on the invitation that there will be [-] dishes for each table at the banquet, in order to show off his wealth and wealth. Fatty Lu secretly despised it again—a bumpkin from Yunnan, and he didn't ask how many dishes the old man had for a table of flower wine.

Contempt is contempt, Fatty Lu is also the current emperor of the south of the Yangtze River. He issued an invitation to make a full moon wine for his son. The gentry and landlords who live under the eaves have not dared to come. When they came to Fatty Lu's Xingyuan, which was decorated with lanterns and festoons, they presented gifts and sat down at the table.But fortunately, the Fatty Army went up and down from Fatty Lu himself to the most ordinary soldiers of the Fatty Army. Their attitude towards these big landlords and gentry is quite friendly, and there is no such thing as the arrogance of other warlords and senior officials who say that life and death are all in my hands , so the atmosphere of the banquet was not bad, and it was very unreal.

At the time of You, Fatty Lu Xingyuan's servant girl began to serve dishes. Four dishes were placed on each table, which were a plate of scrambled eggs with leeks, a plate of fried shrimp with leeks, a plate of braised chicken nuggets and a bowl of spinach tofu soup. There was no movement.All the generals of the Wu army and the gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River thought that the food would be served, so they didn't move. Fatty Lu, who had never wanted to sit in the master's seat, stood up and smiled with an invitation gesture: "Generals, distinguished guests , twenty dishes are served, everyone please use your chopsticks, you are welcome, eat and drink whatever you want, you must enjoy yourself. Please, please."

"Twenty dishes?" Wu Jun's generals, gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen looked at each other in blank dismay, almost suspecting that Fatty Lu could not count.Only Gao Dejie, a high-ranking member of the Fatty Army, smiled and said, "Brother Lu, what are you talking about? It's obviously four dishes, how can you say twenty dishes?"

"Brother Gao, count carefully." Fatty Lu pointed at the table and counted decently with a smile: "One scrambled eggs with leeks, one scrambled shrimps with leeks, two leeks (nine) is [-], plus Serve a plate of braised chicken nuggets and a bowl of spinach soup, what are twenty dishes?"

"Heh..." There was a burst of happy laughter in the banquet hall, and Gao Dejie couldn't help laughing again: "Brother Lu, no wonder someone calls you the God of Wealth. You really know how to count carefully. There is still such a way of counting in the world?"

"It doesn't work if you don't count carefully." Fatty Lu smiled and said loudly: "Brother Gao, do you still remember when we two brothers killed dogs at Yuping Pass? At that time, only one brother in our army had the highest salary. It was six renminbi a month, and it was the period of war, and the price of goods was soaring. The military salary of six renminbi was not enough to cover three tables of this kind of food and drink. The brothers were all eating chaff and swallowed vegetables, and the two of us ate in the same pot with the brothers. At that time, we had a table of such dishes, and we really didn’t even have the mood to drink wine, so we threw ourselves on the table and grabbed it.”

"Brother Gao, do you still remember?" Fatty Lu asked again: "When we were in a stalemate with Man Gou at Yuping Pass, a brother's horse died of illness, and we couldn't bear to throw away the dead horse meat. Cook it to add vegetables to the brothers, and Yungui does not produce salt, so I am reluctant to put more salt, but just because of that plate of dead horse meat that I am reluctant to put more salt, you and Brother Gao Hongchen will touch each other Three glasses of wine."

"I remember." Gao Dejie nodded and said with a smile: "I still remember that Gao Hongchen and Wu Yonghua fought for the last piece of dead horse meat. We were really suffering at that time."

"Brother Gao, since you still remember what happened at that time, why now that you see such a sumptuous dish, you don't yell like you used to when you grab a plate—who dares to grab it and send him to be the Death Squad next time?" Fatty Lu asked with a smile.

"Because..." Gao Dejie suddenly blushed halfway through his words, and vaguely understood Fatty Lu's real intentions.

"Because we have entered the south of the Yangtze River now, and have fallen into the mountains of grain and the sea of ​​silver, right?" Fatty Lu smiled and finished the second half of Gao Dejie's speech for Gao Dejie. The other fat generals smiled and said: "It's the same with all the generals. The best tradition in our army is to eat in a pot and stir vegetables with a ladle. We used to be like this. But it's different now. Only a small number of brothers have maintained such a tradition, and most of them have already taken advantage of their mouths and started to pay attention."

Most of the fatty generals lowered their heads in shame, and Fatty Lu laughed again: "I also heard that some brothers now eat fish instead of meat, and only eat the blood from the head of the fish. On the boiling water, use a hammer to break the head of the fish, let the fish blood flow into the boiling water and boil it into shreds, and a dish needs about twenty carp." Li Guodong buried his head even lower, his old face turned into a red cloth.

"There are also brothers who need four beauties to accompany them when they eat, and they also like to let the beauties feed him wine and vegetables with their mouths." ——This time it was Han Daren and Han Yuanren's turn, and they blushed to the base of their necks together.

"There are also a few brothers who need eighteen dishes for a meal, and they will pour them out if they can't finish them. They will never eat leftovers."——Yang Yingyuan dared not say anything, and the same is true of generals such as Hu Tongchun and An Jiarong .

"Brother Wang Xu is worthy of praise." Fatty Lu changed his tone and smiled at Wang Xu: "Brother Wang, you live in the barracks 360 five days a year and share weal and woe with your brothers. Can't keep up with you."

Wang Xu also blushed a little, and hurriedly said: "The general has won the award, I'm just used to it, I can't change it, but don't blame other brothers, this is human nature, after so many years of hard life, you should enjoy it Besides, the diet of soldiers in our army has also improved a lot, there is meat every day, and there are fish and chicken every three days.”

"Indeed." Fatty Lu nodded, and said, "Brothers, don't pay too much attention. I never mean to blame you. After so many years of hard life, the conditions have improved now. It is time to enjoy and improve the food. Yes. This is human nature, and there is nothing to criticize. It is impossible for me to ask brothers to wear coarse cloth and sandals, eat sweet potato porridge and pickles every day, and occasionally catch a rabbit or a pheasant for tooth sacrifice. "

"However, I want to remind you brothers of one very important point." Fatty Lu changed his majestic face and said seriously: "Brothers, please don't forget, where do we get what we eat, wear and use now?" It was snatched from Man Gou! Now we eat meat and soup, and Man Gou eats chaffy vegetables. Can Man Gou feel balanced? Can you try to get all of these back? And Those who have never eaten meat or soup, can they only want to eat bran swallowed vegetables for the rest of their lives, and watch us eat spicy food?"

"Brothers, please tell me, is this possible?" Fatty Lu asked again: "Brothers, please answer me, is it time for us to sit back and relax and enjoy the time in peace?"

All the fat soldiers present were silent. After a long while, Gao Dejie stood up and said, "This is definitely not possible, and we haven't reached the time to enjoy it with peace of mind—Brother Lu, I understand what you mean, I'm back in Yangzhou I moved back to the barracks to live in the city, and as before, I ate in a pot with my brothers and stirred vegetables with a ladle."

"Me too." Han Daren nodded, "I'll dismiss all the beauties when I go back, and give them back the deeds of prostitution, so that they can marry freely."

"Me too, me too." Fatty's army generals agreed one after another, and they all understood Fatty Lu's good intentions.Fatty Lu was very happy, nodded repeatedly and said: "Very good, very good, as long as we can follow the glorious tradition of the past, always guard against internal and external troubles, and always be prepared for danger in times of peace, then I can assure you that when we fight against the Qing Dynasty After you're done, you'll all have better enjoyment, more enjoyment!"

"The general taught, the last general will always keep it in mind!" Wu Jun's generals agreed in unison.

"Very good, I believe all brothers will remember, after all, our enemy is squatting not far away, squatting with green lights in his eyes, and may pounce on us at any time and bite us to death!" Fatty Lu Lian nodded, and hurriedly greeted him: "Okay, brothers, please sit down, today is your nephew's full moon day, you must have fun."

Fatty thanked all the generals, and then sat down one after another. Lu Fatty turned his attention to the Jiangnan landlords, gentry, and wealthy businessmen present, and said with a smile: "Squires, shopkeepers, I'm really sorry, I originally invited you Come to drink the full moon wine, but let you participate in the internal rectification meeting of our Dazhou army, I am really sorry, I made you laugh."

"There, there, the general is polite." All the gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen hurriedly humbled, but they were quite prepared for danger in times of peace, never forgetting external threats, and secretly hoped that Fatty Lu could continue like this. After all, as long as the fat man can It is also a great thing for them to hold Jiangnan and prevent the flames of war from burning on the land of Jiangnan again.Moreover, the fat army's appetite is obviously smaller than that of other people, and they can also consider their interests while extorting money.

"Squires, shopkeepers, in fact, I invited you here today. In addition to inviting you to celebrate the puppy's full moon, there is one more thing I want to ask you." Fatty Lu smiled and asked: "Squires, everyone Shopkeeper, which one of you is good at arithmetic? Can you stand up and help me do the math?"

The gentry, landlords, and wealthy merchants looked at each other again and whispered for a long time. A salt merchant who was fatter than Fatty Lu was pushed out by the crowd, and he said to Fatty Lu cautiously: "The general, the villain Yu Lun, is a salt merchant in Yangzhou." Buying and selling, both hands can calculate the abacus at the same time, and I have read "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and "Zhoubi Suanjing", I can barely understand some arithmetic, and I am willing to serve the general."

"Master Yu, thank you very much." Fatty Lu cupped his hands to thank, and asked Xiao Erlang to bring Yu Lun an abacus, and then asked in a drawn-out voice: "Master Yu, please do the math for me. 800 million taels of silver military coins are issued every month, with an annual interest of three cents, so how much silver will Emperor Mangou have to repay in total including principal and interest by October of this year?"

"This?" Yu Lun laughed out loud, and quickly replied: "General, the villain can answer it immediately without using an abacus. The annual profit of 800 million taels of silver is three points. With interest, you need to repay 340 million taels of silver."

"Very good, the calculation is really fast." Fatty Lu nodded in satisfaction, and asked again: "Then shopkeeper Yu, may I ask again, from whom did Emperor Mangou get the money for repayment?"

"Of course it is from the people's heads." Yu Lun replied with a smile: "Taxes are collected from the people's heads and then returned to the people."

"Then I would like to ask shopkeeper Yu, and I would also like to ask the shopkeepers of the country gentry who have been in Zhili, Shandong and Shanxi. Do you think that Emperor Mangou can collect 340 million taels of silver in these three provinces within one year?" Is it the tax?" Fatty Lu asked with a smile: "Please remember that the taxes collected by the Emperor Mangou, after supporting the Mangou army and the Mangou Bannermen, and maintaining his huge court expenses, the rest Can you repay the two thousand three and four million taels of silver?"

"Absolutely not enough!" Countless gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen shouted, "Most of the annual tax revenue of the full dog court comes from our Jiangnan, and those ghost places in Zhili, Shandong, and Shanxi are absolutely impossible. So much money has been collected!"

"Let's not talk about the three poor provinces. Without us in Jiangnan, even if all provinces in the country pay taxes to Emperor Mangou, Emperor Mangou would not receive 340 million taels!"

"During the Taiping period, Mangou's annual tax income was only more than 400 million taels. Now the Emperor Mangou has only three poor provinces, one Henan flooded by the Yellow River, and a few poor places where wars are fought every day. Even if you sell Emperor Mangou, you won't be able to get so much money!"

The gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River were chattering, laughing at the financial difficulties of the Qing court, and despising the poor provinces outside the south of the Yangtze River. However, many smart people quickly woke up and began to understand Fatty Lu's real intentions , For example, Yu Lun yelled, "Everyone, please be quiet, I understand what the general means. The Emperor Mangou will never repay this huge sum of money. The only way is to break into the south of the Yangtze River and search our heads. Steal our money to fill his bad debt!"

"Shopkeeper Yu is really smart!" Fatty Lu applauded and said with a smile: "Everyone, shopkeeper Yu has already understood, do you understand? Emperor Mangou owes this huge sum of money, what is the only way to repay it? It is from you fat Scavenging the sheep, cutting your flesh to mend his Kangxi dog's sores! Shopkeeper Yu has realized it, have you realized it?"

After being reminded by Fatty Lu and Yu Lun, the largest and richest landlords, gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River who were present at the scene all came to their senses and said that it was right that Emperor Mangou owed such a big bad debt. If we want to pay back, what else can we do besides cutting meat from us?Cutting meat from others, how much can you cut?
"Everyone, it seems that you have already understood." Fatty Lu said loudly: "The Emperor Mangou gathered an army together, and expropriated and borrowed this 800 million taels of silver from the people in the north. It is useless. What is the purpose of using the Jiangnan battlefield when the situation is most critical? Is it to cut meat from you, and pay off the debt after cutting more meat, and then use it to beat the princes of Zhou, Geng Jingzhong, and others? Zheng Jing, Dashang Zhixin, everyone, are you willing to pay back this bad debt for Emperor Mangou? Are you willing to use your money and food to fill the bottomless pit of Emperor Dog?"

"Everyone, everyone." Gao Dejie also jumped up, and said loudly: "There are many shopkeepers and squires from Yangzhou present, and they must all know that there is an alley in Yangzhou called Screw Knotting. Thirty years ago, the city of Yangzhou was slaughtered by dogs. Killed 30 of our Han compatriots, most of the corpses were piled there, the pile was as high as a mountain! 80 years ago, Mangou killed 30 Yangzhou people, and robbed tens of millions of taels of real gold and silver , are you willing to be killed and robbed by Man Gou again?!"

"I don't want to!" Yu Lun was the first to yell, and the other gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen also rushed to shout, "I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to!"

"General, speak up!" Another big landlord roared: "If you want money, we will give you money, if you want food, we will give you food, as long as the Zhou army can repel Mangou and guard Jiangnan, and prevent the Emperor Mangou from coming to rob us and kill us again!" We cut our meat, and we will give you whatever money and food you want!"

"Yes, we'll come up with as much silver and food as we want!" Yu Lun roared, "I'll take the lead in pledging 3 taels of silver! Help the general kill all the dogs!"

"I will donate 1 taels, and another [-] shi of grain!" A big landlord from Changzhou also shouted.

"I will donate 5000 taels, and another [-] shi of grain!"

"I donate 1 taels and ten ships!" A Songjiang maritime merchant shouted, "The general loves the people like a son, and is so kind to our maritime merchants. I would rather donate all my property to the general to kill the dog and defend us." Jiangnan, don't give Mangou a tael of silver!"

"Yes, I will also donate 1 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain!"

"I donate too...!"

Infected by each other, the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen who were worried about being slaughtered by Kang Mazi scrambled to express their joy and lose, and boiled into a pot of boiled porridge, and also collected an astronomically huge amount of money for the fat army— —No way, the richest people in the world in this era are basically here.It made the Fatty Army smile up and down, the financial situation of the Fatty Army, which holds the essence of the world, is already very good, there is no deficit at all, and after receiving such a huge sum of money and food, the future life will naturally be better .

"Thank you, thank you, thank you all." Fatty Lu cupped his hands in thanks, and hurriedly arranged a pledge book for the gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen to sign, and write the number of pledged money and food.After the venue was basically quiet, Fatty Lu said loudly again: "Guys, there is one thing I have to correct. I must repel the army of invading dogs. In fact, we don't need to lose money and donate money. The money and food are basically enough. I invite you to lose money and food today, but there is actually another purpose."

"Huh?" All the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen present were stunned.

"Do you want to know my other purpose?" Fatty Lu smiled, then suddenly raised his voice and said, "We and our Great Zhou army are going to use your money and food to become our swords! Then use our swords to go Fight for more land, more trade routes, more tenants and customers for you!"

"Jiangnan is good, but Jiangnan is too small! You need more people to buy your salt, your tea, silk, silk, cotton and your food, so you can get more money! Although the land in Jiangnan is fertile, But there is too little land in the south of the Yangtze River! Now you have enough to eat and live. In the future, you will have more and more sons and grandchildren. What should we do if we don’t have enough to eat, use, and plant? We can only use our common sword for you. We won more land and more tenants for us, and we won more tea mountains, cotton fields, mulberry fields and more mines for you. Your children and grandchildren and our children and grandchildren will never have to worry about money and food. worry!"

Speaking of this, Fatty Lu waved his fat arms and shouted: "Everyone, please shout with me! Use our swords to take our land! Take our way and let others have no way to go!"

"Use our swords to take our land!" Fatty Lu shouted, and everyone present shouted in unison, "Follow our way and let others have no way to go!"

"Hahahahaha..." After shouting, everyone in the banquet hall laughed, feeling that Fatty Lu's slogan was extremely selfish and appetizing to the extreme!And the newcomers and old people of the Fatty Army also think that Fatty Lu is reasonable. Jiangnan is very good, and there is enough to eat and use now, but what if our sons and grandchildren will not have enough to eat and use in the future?It's better to take advantage of the current chaos in the world to grab more land, or even grab all the land and people in the world, so that our children and grandchildren can live without worrying about food and clothing forever.

"Follow the prince wholeheartedly, do you really follow this fat man?" Gao Dejie, Han Daren and other Wu Jun elders also began to ponder in their hearts, "The prince is nepotism, and the fat man is meritocracy. The prince's generals are like a cloud, and his relatives and friends are like a sea. In the future, the prince will rule the world. At most The best things must be given priority to the relatives, friends and confidantes of the prince. We can only eat leftovers. But if this fat man..., who will benefit the most? The son, son-in-law, grandson and grandson of the prince There are a lot of them, we can still play without us, but this fat man..."

"Everyone, everyone." Fatty Lu waved his hand again to signal silence, and after everyone was quiet, Fatty Lu said sincerely: "Everyone, today the puppy is full moon, and you all gave gifts. I saw the gift list, and there are too many. It's too precious. So I ask you one thing here. When you leave after drinking, please take back all the gifts you brought. Lu Yifeng is already very happy that you can support our Da Zhou army so enthusiastically. I am satisfied, but Lu Yifeng himself cannot take any more from you."

"How can I do that? General, don't say that." All the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen hurriedly waved their hands and refused.

"It must be taken back!" Fatty Lu insisted: "I have already said that I accept your money and food in order to turn your money and food into our common sword and fight for our common land for you. You can receive a salary, but I will never accept any gifts from you..."

"Report—!" The messenger who rushed in suddenly interrupted Fatty Lu's hypocritical defense, rushed to Fatty Lu and knelt down on one knee, holding an urgent military report over his head.

"What happened?" All the gentry, landlords and wealthy businessmen present were shocked.Fatty Lu kept his composure, took the military report and opened it for a glance, then immediately raised the military report and said with a smile: "Everyone, let me tell you the great news that the dog-man army led by Yue Le Xiaoer finally Stepped into the ambush circle of our Great Zhou army! It is just around the corner to wipe out this army of dogs!"

"So that's how it is." All the gentry, landlords, and wealthy businessmen breathed a sigh of relief, and quickly expressed their joy to Fatty Lu, while the generals of Fatty's army looked at each other in blank dismay, saying that most of the people who lead the troops in our army are here. , How could the full dog army step into our ambush circle?Also, when did our army set up an ambush against Yue Leman's army, why didn't we know?
"Everyone, please sit down." Fatty Lu greeted: "Please sit down and drink to your heart's content, my general, but I have prepared for you—a full twenty dishes!"

Everyone roared with laughter, and hurriedly re-entered the table, drank some food, and enjoyed the 'twenty' delicacies prepared by Fatty Lu for them.It was also at this time that Fatty Lu quietly pulled the salt merchant who claimed to be able to plan with both hands at the same time, and said in a low voice, "Master Yu, please do the calculations for me immediately, 88 days, three catties of rations per person per day, 12 How many catties of grain did ten thousand people eat in 88 days? Calculated at one hundred and six catties of grain per stone, how many stones is converted into stones?"

Without saying a word, Yu Lun grabbed the abacus with both hands and shook it to separate the upper and lower beads. Then his ten fat fingers fiddled with the abacus quickly and gracefully like playing a piano. After flicking for a while, he quickly answered in a low voice. Said: "Back to the general, 29 seven stones and 860 catties."

"For 3 war horses, how much is the total consumption of eight catties of concentrated feed every day, or 88 days?" Fatty Lu asked again in a low voice.

Yu Lun once again showed off his great skill of dialing the abacus with both hands at the same time, and after a while, he said quickly: "2000 two million five hundred and twenty-eight thousand catties, if calculated at one hundred and six catties per stone, it is 52 catties 21 nine stones."

"That's enough, thank you." Fatty Lu replied with a smile.

"General, what are you doing?" Yu Lun asked curiously again.

"Of course, when will the military rations of the full dog court bottom out?" Fatty Lu smiled more happily, and said to himself: "That nursery rhyme should have been spread in the capital area, right? Kang Mazi, you must be careful." Don't let me down."

Jiangnan Lu, the demon dragon is flourishing, and thousands of troops are out of the army!The true son of heaven, wield the heavenly soldiers, subdue demons, subdue monsters and slay demon dragons, retake Jiangnan and rejuvenate the Qing Dynasty! ——According to Fatty Lu’s crow mouth, this nursery rhyme has indeed been spread in the Zhili and Gyeonggi areas under the meticulous work of Fatty’s army. It has spread quietly, and it has also spread to those in the Qing court In the ears of the official censor who had nothing to do...

(End of this chapter)