My life skills in Daming Liver

Li Yangong said immediately: "I will take the brigade commander to see the new equipment, but some equipment needs to be demonstrated at the shooting range."

"Go to the shooting range quickly!"

The Fourth Brigade has a shooting range outside Guangzhou. After Li Yangong brought the new equipment to the shooting range, Tan Lun and Bai Zhifu also came to the shooting range to check out the new weapons.

The governor-general was very strict about this batch of new equipment, and Tan Lun and Prefect Bai followed curiously.

Li Yangong directed the soldiers to open the box and revealed an exquisite cannon. He said to Yu Zigao:

"This is a new mountain gun produced by Fuzhou Gun Foundry. It is lighter than a six-pound army gun and can be carried up the mountain by horses, mules and other beasts of burden."

Two soldiers demonstrated it, and sure enough, only two people were needed to carry it.

"Where's the power?" Yu Zigao asked quickly.

Li Yangong said: "It is similar to an ordinary land combat gun, with a slightly shorter range and can use shotguns and solid projectiles."

After speaking, Li Yangong directed the soldiers to prepare for firing. Tan Lun and others couldn't help but nod slightly when they saw the firing effect of this mountain cannon.

If the artillery can be moved up the mountain, those Tusi Yao villages will be much easier to attack.

Then Li Yangong said: "Thirty mountain guns have been shipped this time, which can arm two artillery battalions."

Yu Zigao said: "With this thing, we will be more confident in entering Guangxi and suppressing the rebellion!"

Li Yangong added: "Brigadier Commander, in addition to mountain guns, this time there is also a weapon specially developed by the Ordnance Supervisor. It is said that it was designed by the Grand Governor himself."

After hearing that it was designed by the Grand Governor himself, everyone showed expectant expressions.

All I saw was that Li Yangong took out a strange object from the box. It had a cylindrical iron rod on the wooden handle, and a lead wire protruding from under the iron rod.

"This thing is called a grenade. Sirs, please step back a little."

After saying that, Li Yangong opened the fire bag he carried with him, lit the fuse, and threw the grenade forcefully.

All I saw was that the grenade drew an arc and exploded before it landed on the ground.

The flying iron pieces tore apart the straw dummy on the shooting range, leaving a huge explosion crater in the center of the explosion point.

Now even Yu Zigao was frightened by this huge power!

"Grenade? Why is it so powerful?"

Li Yangong said: "The grenade is filled with a new drug developed by Hu Gong."

Hearing the new medicine, Tan Lun and Bai Zhifu couldn't help but take a few steps back. Yu Zigao quickly asked: "But the new medicine that exploded Jiujiang and Nanjing?"

Li Yangong nodded and said, "It's this new medicine."

Now even Yu Zigao had to take a few steps back.

Li Yangong said with a smile: "Sir, don't worry. Hu Gong has improved the new medicine and mixed it with ingredients that make the new medicine stable. It will not explode easily without detonation. This box of grenades was shipped from Fuzhou and is absolutely safe."

Everyone was finally relieved after hearing that it was absolutely safe. Eunuch Hu's skills were reassuring.

Yu Zigao was the most courageous. He directly took a grenade and studied it. The more he looked at it, the more he thought it was good.

Compared with mountain artillery, weapons such as grenades may play a greater role in fighting in the mountains. Yu Zigao is more confident in quelling the Yao rebellion in Guangxi.

"let me try."

When Yu Zigao wanted to go too far, Li Yangong said quickly:

"Brigade commander, you need to be trained to throw grenades. You must throw them safely so as not to hurt yourself."

Yu Zigao quickly put down the grenade and said, "Yes, yes, or am I being abrupt? Will the training take long?"

Li Yangong said: "Not long ago, I also brought fake bombs for training. The weight, feel and appearance are the same as real grenades. They are specially produced for throwing training."

Yu Zigao said: "Sure enough, the governor is thoughtful! With this magic weapon in hand, the chaos in Yao can be quelled in just a month!"

The joyful Yu Zigao was busy recruiting, expanding and training troops, while Tan Lunze and Bai Zhifu returned to the Governor's Yamen.

Tan Lun said to Magistrate Bai: "Prefect Bai, it is easy to quell the Yao chaos, but it is difficult to control the people of Guangxi."

Magistrate Bai also nodded and said: "When I was the magistrate of Guangfu, I also dealt with the problem of Han barbarians. It was indeed very difficult."

"According to the wishes of the Grand Governor, it is still necessary to implement the conversion of native officials to local officials in Guangxi, replace hereditary native officials with local officials, and then open up trade and promote Chineseization."

Magistrate Bai shook his head and said: "Returning to local status is just a means. The problem in Guangxi is that there are too few Han people."

Tan Lun nodded, he naturally knew this problem.

In fact, the matter of reforming the native land and returning it to the local people has been carried out since the early Ming Dynasty, and the implementation effect is not ideal. In addition to the problems of the Ming court bureaucracy itself, there is also the problem of the imbalance of Han and barbarian forces.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze's time travel, Guangxi's conversion to native land was not completed until the Qing Dynasty. In addition to carrying out the return to native land, the Qing Dynasty also forcibly carried out a large number of immigrants to Guangxi.

These immigrants changed the balance of Han-Barbarian power, gave the Central Plains culture the upper hand, and accelerated the assimilation of Guangxi.

But now that immigration is being carried out, it is a very cruel thing. When the Qing Dynasty implemented the border settlement in Guangxi, only two or three households out of ten could reach Guangxi alive. Next, they had to face the acclimatization, land reclamation, public security, etc. Various questions.

Tan Lun agreed with Magistrate Bai's view and said: "Another reason why the chieftains of Guangxi have repeatedly caused rebellion is Annan."

Magistrate Bai asked doubtfully: "Is Annan going through civil strife now? He shouldn't be able to control Guangxi, right?"

Tan Lun nodded and said: "Annan is now a period of struggle for hegemony between the north and the south. Zheng Jian, the powerful minister of the Li Dynasty in the south, is attacking the Mo Dynasty in the north of Annan."

Magistrate Bai asked: "Annan did spy on Guangxi when he was strong, but now Annan has no time for him, right? I heard that Annan sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties to request the Ming Dynasty for canonization. In recent years, he has been very respectful. very."

Tan Lun said: "What I mean is that the Yao Rebellion in Guangxi was not instigated by Annan, but it was precisely because of Annan's example here that the chieftains of Guangxi had the idea of ​​​​reliance."

"Many of those Yao people who failed in their rebellion would flee to Annan and wait until the Ming army retreated to return to their hometown. This is one of the reasons why the Yao rebellion in Guangxi has not been quelled for more than a hundred years."

Bai Zhifu looked at Tan Lun and felt that his words seemed strange, but the reason seemed to be very good.

"Governor Tan, do you want to intervene in Annan affairs?"

Tan Lun nodded and said: "Annan is a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, not a vassal state in the southeast of us, and it has not claimed vassal status from the Metropolitan Governor's Office, so why can't it intervene?"

"Furthermore, Annan produces grain, and Champa in the south of Annan is the center of rice production in Central and South China. If Annan can be recovered, the troops of Guangdong and Guangxi will no longer be short of food."

Tan Lun changed the topic and said: "All plans must be based on winning the war. It depends on how Brigadier Yu is doing in Guangxi."

Prefect Bai also nodded. Border issues can only be solved through hard power. If hard power is not enough, no matter how good the strategy is, there is no solution.

Just when Southeast was preparing to fight against Guangxi in the south.

November 1st, Jiubian, Datong.

The caravan carrying the flag of the new Qingyuan Bo Li Wei family arrived at Datong Gong City on the nine sides.

It's just that the dignified Uncle Qingyuan will not come to Gongshi to do business in person. The owner of this caravan is Hou Ping. He spent three hundred taels of silver to buy the qualification for Gongshi from Li Wei, so he took him with him. The goods arrived in Datong.

Seeing the flag of Uncle Qingyuan's family, the surrounding caravans showed disgusted expressions, but Hou Ping disagreed.

When the tribute market was opened in Datong, the qualifications to trade in the tribute market were determined by the court, that is, through auctions.

Only thirteen businesses were awarded the title of tribute market at high prices, and each of them spent a lot of money.

At that time, the imperial court also made a lot of money by questioning the qualifications of selling tribute.

After others spent a lot of money to purchase qualifications, forcefully inserting Li Wei would naturally infringe on the interests of other families.

What was even more unacceptable to other businesses was that the Qingyuan Bo Li family actually openly auctioned off the qualifications for the tribute market. As long as they paid a few hundred taels of silver, they could participate in the Datong tribute market in the name of the Li family.

The thirteen merchants immediately united and complained to the Datong tribute envoy about the Li family's actions.

But who is Uncle Qingyuan? He is the father of the current Queen Li and the grandfather of the prince. What can a small Datong tribute envoy do to the Li family?

Not to mention that the Datong tribute envoy was well-paid and appointed by the emperor. It was too late to curry favor with the Li family, so how could he offend the Li family?

The result is that in Datong Gong City, there are more and more caravans under the banner of the Li family.

This is not the first time Hou Ping has come to Datong. Last time he brought not much goods, but he also made a huge profit. This time Hou Ping directly staked all his wealth and bought a batch of tea from Tianjin. All were shipped to Datong for sale.

As for why you buy tea in Tianjin? Since the Southeast New Army withdrew from Gyeonggi, it has left Dagu Fort to control Dagu Pass.

Outside Tianjin, a bazaar for southeast goods distribution soon appeared.

This market also has tax collectors from the southeast collecting taxes at the market. The scale of the market is larger than the Dengzhou Wharf Market that Hou Ping went to back then, and the goods are more complete than Dengzhou.

From cotton clothes, tea, porcelain, silk, spirits to soap, whale oil lamps and other new gadgets, the market has everything.

This time Hou Ping also brought a new kind of goods, which was also a specialty that had just appeared in the southeast and quickly became popular in the north.

This thing is called a match. It is a small box. Just rub the red match head gently, and the match can ignite.

With matches, making fire is much easier than using flint before!

Matches entered thousands of households in the capital almost overnight. It is said that matches are now used to light fires and candles in the palace.

Regarding the Tianjin market, the Ming court turned a blind eye.

Hou Ping heard from Uncle Qingyuan that the imperial court wanted to close the market in Tianjin, but it was also wary of the strength of the southeastern thieves in Dagu.

In the end, the court's solution was to set up a tax card next to the market to collect taxes. If you levy it, I will levy it too!

Hou Ping's goods were taxed twice, but as long as he could sell them in Datong, he would definitely make money on this trip!

Hou Ping's goods included not only tea and matches, but also some special goods ordered by the Mongols.

In the Ming Dynasty's tribute market in Datong, not all goods could be traded.

What merchants in the Ming Dynasty could sell were goods such as tea, porcelain, silk, and daily necessities. The sale of ironware, weapons, and gunpowder was strictly prohibited.

On the Mongolian side, Ming merchants could only purchase commodities such as horses and furs, and other commodities were also prohibited from trading.

This system was to prevent Ming merchants from selling weapons to the Mongols, and also to prevent Ming merchants from acquiring stolen goods looted by the Mongols.

At the beginning, when the thirteen trading houses that the Ming Dynasty was selling were trading in Datong Gong City, this system was still implemented very well.

Because there are only thirteen trading houses, everyone is afraid of losing their trading qualifications by trading contraband. Moreover, these goods are inherently profitable, so there is no need to risk trading contraband.

Even if Mongolia made any request to buy contraband, the Ming merchants here would just ignore it.

But as a large number of businessmen under the Qingyuan Bo banner entered Datong Gong City, all this changed.

As the number of merchants increased, so did the products in the tribute market. Faced with competition from numerous Ming merchants, the Mongols became tougher.

Having come all the way to Datong to do business, if the goods cannot be sold, they will lose money. Naturally, the merchants from Qingyuan's uncle's family readily agreed to the "small requests" from Mongolian merchants with contraband.

Anyway, their qualification for the tribute market was bought with a few hundred taels of silver. Even if they were caught and their qualifications were revoked, they could just buy another one from Uncle Qingyuan.

These merchants under the banner of Uncle Qingyuan brought in contraband and competed with lower prices, and they quickly defeated the original thirteen Gongshi merchants.

If you don't sell what others have, how can you still do business?

These thirteen families are not kind-hearted people. Since your court doesn't care about them, don't blame me for messing up.

So now almost every house in the tribute market will bring some contraband to sell.

Hou Ping entered the tribute market and quickly found the Mongolian businessman he wanted to trade with.

There is a lack of vegetables on the grassland, and tea is an important material for them to relieve fatigue and clear fire. The main purpose of Datong Gong City is to exchange tea leaves with the Central Plains through trade.

The sturdy Mongolian businessman gave Hou Ping a hug, and then began to inspect the goods brought by Hou Ping.

Seeing the knives hidden under the tea leaves, the Mongolian businessman smiled and quickly brought out a few horses as promised.

Hou Ping frowned. Even if he didn't understand horses, the condition of these horses was too bad. At first glance, they were not good horses.

The Mongolian businessman said in half-baked Chinese: "Besides these horses, there are some good things."

After saying that, Hou Ping followed him into the tent and saw some scattered silver jewelry, which were items used by ordinary people.

The silver was of poor quality, and much of it was stained with blood.

In addition to silver jewelry, there are also some daily necessities for the people of the Ming Dynasty, including copperware and the like.

Hou Ping quickly understood where these things came from. He pretended to be embarrassed and said: "The court has an order not to trade anything other than horse fur. This is against the rules."

The Mongolian businessman said: "How can this be considered a transaction? This is just a gift from me to my dear friend."

Hou Ping thought for a while, and he could sell these things by cleaning up the pass. Although the horses were not in good condition, the imperial court was collecting the horses. As long as the roads were cleared, they could be sold as war horses. It would just cost more. It’s just money.

After this calculation, we can still make some money. Hou Ping immediately said:

"My dear friend, deal!"