At the end of the first month, Yu Youming led a fleet up the Minjiang River and arrived in Chengdu. More than 3,000 Zhejiang people, more than 1,000 Huguang men, and some family members came with Yu Youming.

Seeing that the Ming army transported tens of thousands of stones of grain, Deng Ming couldn't help but be surprised: "Why do you want to transport grain? Where does Chongqing need military ration?"

"We don't know if there is enough food in Chengdu, so some are transported. But the admiral is worried that the military rations in Chongqing are definitely enough." Yu Youming replied that Zhongxian, Tongluoxia and other places have been abandoned by the Qing army, and the Ming army pioneers have also arrived near Chongqing and are building camps to support the large troops in the rear.

However, Deng Ming was still a little puzzled because he had told the Ming army to take Chongqing with all their might, and then transport the population and materials in a hurry: "Why do you want to come to the Du Mansion first? Is this what Master Wen wants to do?"

"It was Duke Jingguo who asked me to come first," Yu Youming told Deng Ming that Wen Anzhi is still in charge of Fengjie and supervising the delivery of food and grass. Yuan Zong was once again appointed as the vanguard to attack Chongqing. He is now commanding the vanguard to confront Chongqing Qing army: "Duke Jingguo thinks that Chongqing may not be able to be taken down for a while, and those who come with me are all auxiliary soldiers with no combat experience. Duke Jingguo thinks they can't help, so he asked me to bring them to the Du Mansion first."

"How many enemy soldiers are there in Chongqing? Why does the Jingguo Guild say that?" Deng Ming's impression of Chongqing was still more than a year ago. At that time, there were only a few thousand Qing troops in Chongqing, and there was no strength to go out of the city to camp. The troops of Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen could start to clear the city defense fortifications under the city walls with just the troops of Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen. Therefore, Deng Ming originally thought that once tens of thousands of Ming troops arrived, he would soon be able to capture Chongqing.

"Duke Jingguo said that there are at least two or 30,000 Tartars in the city," Yu Youming also lacked combat experience, so he could only repost Yuan Zongdi's judgment: "The Tartars were camping outside Chongqing City, and our army could not get close to the city wall at all."

"Didn't you get close to the city wall until now?" Deng Ming was even more surprised when he heard this: "Didn't you send troops to Chongqing in November?"

Yu Youming shook his head: "After the admiral came to Chengdu, the supervisor was worried that we would attack Chongqing. We had to wait until Duke Jingguo arrived before sending troops from Wanxian. Duke Jingguo led his troops to Fengjie in December and began to send troops to Chongqing in the middle of the year."

According to Yu Youming, it was also fortunate that Yuan Zongdi led the front army, so the Ming army did not suffer any accidental losses. After Yuan Zongdi set off, he quickly judged that the strength of the Qing army was far beyond Deng Ming's estimate. Wang Mingde also set up an ambush in the Tongluo Gorge area, hoping to ambush the Ming army that was going upstream. After Yuan Zongdi saw it, the Qing army was not willing to fight and quickly retreated to Chongqing to join Li Guoying.

Because of the strong strength of the Qing army, Yuan Zongdi advanced very cautiously, and he was obviously in charge of every step and could not directly attack the city like he did when he attacked Chongqing last time.

"In the last future, Duke Jingguo had just set up a camp at the intersection of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River. The Tartars' navy retreated back to the Jialing River, so the last general could come to Chengdu." Yuan Zongdi asked Yu Youming to bring a message to Deng Ming, saying that he believed that the capture of Chongqing might be a long-term war, so he deliberately brought the families of the Ming army, and there was no need to stay near the battlefield, all the men who were the men who were first transported to Chengdu.

"Are you really the north shore or the south shore now?" Deng Ming pondered for a moment and asked, "Have you gained a foothold on the north shore?"

"It's not the end of the future." Yu Youming shook his head: "Duke Jingguo now has more than 5,000 former troops, and he cannot reach the north shore. Now the Taurus Hedgehogs gather under Chongqing city and confront us across the Yangtze River and Jialing River. Duke Jingguo originally planned to set up two battalions to control the east bank of the Jialing River and the south bank of the Yangtze River. Later, he saw the banner of the Tartars' governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi at the top of Chongqing city, and concluded that there were at least 20,000 Tartars around Chongqing city, so they only defended on the south bank of the Yangtze River. However, the Taurus was also very cautious. Although we retreated from the east bank of the Jialing River, they still strictly guarded the west bank."

"That's it." After listening to the narrative, Deng Ming felt that the battle situation was much more difficult than he imagined. If there were 20,000 Qing troops under Chongqing city, their armor would be more than 5,000. Even if Yuan Zongdi's troops were added, the Ming army's armor was only about 10,000, and the combat effectiveness of Zhejiang soldiers and Huguang new recruits was probably not as good as that of Sichuan and Shaanxi Green Camp. Yu Youming mentioned just now that Li Guoying, the Sichuan and Shaanxi Governor had a battalion. The governor, like the Eight Banners of Manchuria, all had a cavalry, and the number of people was estimated to be around 1,000.

"Since that's the case, I'll go to Chongqing now." Deng Ming felt that he had almost rested and there was nothing particularly important here in Chengdu, so it was necessary to go to the Chongqing front line to take a look. Even if he couldn't help, it could at least play a role in encouraging the morale of the Ming army.

Before leaving, Deng Ming gave Yu Youming a detailed explanation of the laws and regulations here in Chengdu, asking him to communicate with the Criminal Office to help the people who arrived to open up the land. In addition, Deng Ming was still worried that Xiong Lan would send money indiscriminately. When Xiong Lan came to see him with Liu Jinge for the first time, she obviously did not take the interests of the people and the credit of the banknotes seriously. Therefore, before leaving with the guards, Deng Ming scared Xiong Lan again, saying that if the prices were rising, Deng Ming would sue Xiong Lan to the people for an explanation.

"Do you know Cao Cao's grain officer?" Deng Ming asked, and nodded when he saw Xiong Lan: "It's good to know!"

...

Deng Ming hurriedly left with the guards, and Yu Youming also started running to the Ex-Punishment Office every few days. After several negotiations failed, Yu Youming finally made a big fuss in front of Chengdu Prefect Liu Jinge: "Why do you need IOUs in Chengdu?"

Originally, Yu Youming thought that organizing the Zhejiang Army and opening up the land was not difficult, it was just farming, but soon he found that things were not as simple as he thought. The people who had just arrived in Chengdu needed to buy a lot of things. Although they brought some farm tools, they were not enough. The more urgent need was salt, which was consumed every day.

Originally, Liu Yao and Yang Youcai, who made salt, also took their auxiliary soldiers to the Dujiangyan area. They had to buy salt from several salt-making shops first. However, these shops are not large at present and have very limited output, so it is difficult to supply locals. In addition to some reserves, locals also have IOUs in their hands - each salt shop only accepts this currency.

Yu Youming originally wanted to ask Liu Jinge's yamen for some, but Liu Jinge said that after Liu Yao and the others left, the yamen itself did not have the ability to produce salt, so they could not help it. So the newcomer wanted to exchange food for some salt. If the salt industry was willing to exchange it, it was not a big deal, because Deng Ming had harvested a lot of food in Nanjing and other places, and Yu Youming also brought tens of thousands of stones.

But the salt shop refused to change it. Every salt shop claimed that it was in debt and owed a large number of IOUs from the bank, and the rent of the yamen shops and the tax on business were all required to get the IOUs. If you don’t pay the IOUs, you have to borrow more IOUs from the bank and pay interest. Anyway, farmers near Chengdu still have IOUs in their hands, and there is no need to worry about not being able to sell the salt output so low, so the salt shop refused to accept the grain.

In addition to salt, agricultural tools are also a big problem. There are two blacksmith shops in Chengdu now, and they can't make a few items every day. Yu Youming once went to talk to one of the blacksmiths named Li Muyang about the purchase of farm tools. Li Blacksmith said that his products were ordered to be taken away in a month. Even if the people of Zhejiang and Chu wanted to decide what they had in two months, they had to pay the IOU as a deposit, and they had to pay the full amount.

"I took out the money for him at that time," Yu Youming shouted in front of Liu Jinge: "I asked him to help me, and I would like to do two more hours a day to help us get something urgently needed. It is easy to discuss how much money we need."

"What did Li Xiucai say?" Liu Jinge had already guessed the answer in his mind because Xiong Lan had discussed with him about lending to this blacksmith shop.

"He said he wanted nothing, just wanted an IOU! He also said that he owed the bank now, and his neighbors had tens of thousands of IOUs, but he still had to make a profit. If he couldn't pay it back then, he would have to jump into the Minjiang River with gold and silver!" Yu Youming shouted excitedly.

"Well, he said it right. I know that this Li Xiucai owed tens of thousands of IOUs. In order to open this shop, he sold all the land he had reclaimed last year to others. Every day he had to use the IOUs to buy iron and charcoal." Liu Jinge nodded: "If he can't pay it back, the shop will not be able to be kept."

"Yes, there is still charcoal!" Yu Youming suddenly remembered: "Even those who sell charcoal have to collect IOUs and don't have copper coins. It's not enough for men to do this cold weather, but there are women and children."

"Yes, because we collect IOUs." Liu Jinge said to Youming with sympathy, "But you can go and burn charcoal by yourself."

"But we can't do everything ourselves, mine ourselves, burn charcoal ourselves, and make iron ourselves, so when will we go to farm?" Yu Youming complained loudly.

"Oh, yes, I forgot to say that you can't just mine, make iron or burn charcoal. Everything here in Chengdu is a monopoly sale. You have to exchange my IOU for license."

"What!"

"It's not expensive, one hundred yuan per coupon. Originally, the admiral said that the business could not exceed ten people, but I turned a blind eye. As long as you don't sell it to others, I won't care." Seeing that Yu Youming was about to explode, Liu Jinge took a step back: "Forget it, you can owe the IOU for the license first. As long as you don't sell it privately, I will pretend not to see it. Just stop doing it in two months."

...

More than a dozen days later, Liu Jinge sent someone to call Yuan Xiang and Xiong Lan to his yamen.

Yuan Xiang didn't need to return to Jianchang anymore. After Deng Ming learned about the situation of the Sichuan Xingdu Department, he felt that Yuan Xiang's official office was useless. When the entire Jianchang Capital was under the control of the military's military, the existence of this civil affairs department was not very meaningful. Moreover, the Jianchang military was strong, and Deng Ming felt that the possibility of implementing this set in Chengdu was very small, so he simply removed the institution and let Yuan Xiang stay in Chengdu to work.

Deng Ming felt that Liu Jinge had too much power before, so he divided it into three parts, and issued currency and loans to the bank. Yuan Xiang and Yuan Ti were responsible for the trial of the case, and the prefect Liu Jinge was responsible for the administration. Although Deng Ming said that the three of them were not subordinate to each other, these three people often gathered together to discuss. Although Yuan Xiang theoretically only had the right to trial the case, Liu Jinge also attached great importance to his administrative suggestions.

In addition to these three people in the yamen, there is also Yu Youming, a regular visitor from these days. As soon as Xiong Lan stepped into the lobby of the yamen, Liu Jinge immediately pointed at him and said to Youming: "Do you want an IOU? Ask him!"

"Are you President Xiong?" Yu Youming jumped over and asked.

"I am, who are you?" Xiong Lan asked back.

"Yu Youming."

"So you are the big smuggling leader! I haven't come to find you yet, so you dare to come to find me!" Xiong Lan shouted loudly, and her eyes immediately turned red.

After Liu Jinge agreed that Yu Youming could burn charcoal by himself more than ten days ago, the Zhejiang soldiers immediately started to do this job with the lowest technical content. After the charcoal burned enough for themselves, they began to sell the rest to the people without hesitation, and exchanged IOUs to buy salt and other daily necessities.

But after only two days of selling the Zhejiang soldiers, they were sued by the charcoal-burning business, saying that these Zhejiang soldiers had robbed their business. Xiong Lan was of course concerned about these businesses that borrowed bank loans, so she encouraged them to go to Yuan Xiang to complain, and ran to Liu Jinge to put pressure on him.

After hearing this, Liu Jinge felt very dissatisfied. Yu Youming's group of people did not pay taxes. The robbery of the business of the business was equivalent to robbing money from the yamen. So when Yuan Xiang came to ask, Liu Jinge said that he would never agree with this behavior. Seeing that Liu Jinge and Xiong Lan both had the same intention, Yuan Xiang immediately approved the complaints of the scholars who complained, and asked the soldiers of the Ex-Jing Yamen to drive out all the people who sold charcoal without a license out of the city. Their goods were confiscated and compensated to the charcoal-burning business. In fact, he gave Yu Youming some face, at least he did not arrest his people in prison.

When Youming came to cause trouble again, Liu Jinge also resolutely turned his back.

Seeing that Liu Jinge did not help, Yu Youming simply refused to go to the city and organized people to sell them in the countryside, and even had the intention of burning salt. After learning about this, those who had licenses were of course angry. This time, even other businesses joined in. Everyone felt that if they did not stop these Zhejiang people, everyone would suffer from business damage in the end and no one could repay the bank's debt.

After seeing that almost all the businesses came to file a lawsuit, Yuan Xiang felt that the situation was serious, so he approved their complaint again despite the protests of Zhejiang people and authorized the prefect Liu Jinge to stop this unscrupulous smuggling behavior. The power of the newly established pavilion was used for the first time. The pavilion soldiers stopped learning cultural knowledge and went out to catch smuggling vendors, and promoted to the people not to buy unlicensed goods, otherwise they would be fined!

Of course, smuggling is unforbidden, but this has caused great trouble to Yu Youming's people. If they are caught, they will be confiscated. There have been many conflicts between the two sides, but fortunately, no serious harm has been caused. As Zhejiang people became more and more dissatisfied, Xiong Lan's anger at these smugglers who harmed the interests of the commercial banks was also accumulating. Today, the two of them spit out and blamed each other at the sight.

"Can't you collect gold, silver and food? You must collect IOU?" After a quarrel, Yu Youming complained for the first ten thousand times.

"This is the admiral's order." Liu Jinge still repeated the answers he had repeated many times.

"After the admiral left, we came two more groups of people. Now there are thousands of people. We only bought more than one hundred farm tools, and it will take two months to deliver the goods. How can we open up the land? If we missed the farming season, would we all want to drink the northwest wind?" Yu Youming's shouting was shocking.

"These hundred pieces were stolen by smuggling." Xiong Lan said hatefully.

"You can use wood first, we didn't use it last year." Liu Jinge replied.

"Isn't this a monopoly?" Yu Youming said in a sarcastic tone.

"As long as you don't sell it to others, I will open my eyes and close my eyes."

"We are willing to sell food," Yu Youming also knew that getting angry was not a solution, so he came up with his own solution: "After we leave seed grain and food, we can still sell 10,000 stones of food," Yu Youming said to Xiong Lan: "Give us a million IOU."

"What are you asking me for this?" Xiong Lan immediately reached out to point to Liu Jinge: "You go find him, he is responsible for exchanging food with IOUs."

"He said he had no IOU," Yu Youming sneered: "Master Liu said that President Xiong, the great God of Wealth, needs to give him the IOU first so that he can buy our food."

"No." Xiong Lan shook her head: "Admiral doesn't allow me to seal more." After that, Xiong Lan asked Liu Jinge again: "You have collected millions of yuan in IOUs by trading people alone. How could you not have an IOU?"

"The flowers have disappeared long ago." Liu Jinge cried poorly: "Now, Liu Shuai and Yang Shuai and others also asked me for IOUs, saying that water conservancy cannot be cleared for vacancies, and the soldiers of the army also had to send IOUs; here, the soldiers in the yamen need IOUs, the Tingshi want IOUs, and the men who teach the Tingshi also want IOUs. Although it is a mansion, how many people are they raised now?" Because Deng Ming wants to strengthen the government's control ability, the scale of Chengdu Prefecture's staff has become very large: "Didn't the criminals of Yuan Tixing and the bank's account settlement men under your command also ask me to give IOUs here?"

"That's not," Xiong Lan still shook her head: "I have sent more than 15 million IOUs, too much, and one yuan can't be printed anymore. By then, the grain price will rise by 12, and the admiral will only ask!"

"Where is more?" Liu Jinge pointed out: "Now you can buy one stone of grain outside for more than 80 yuan."

"That's because there are too many people hoarding IOUs, not that IOUs are not enough." Xiong Lan said angrily. Because the value of IOUs has an upward trend, the people began to hold their coins and wait and see: "And I haven't settled the score with you yet!"

Seeing that the grain prices continued to fall, Xiong Lan once printed a million IOU to Liu Jinge, asking him to purchase grain for 100 yuan per stone. No need to spend more, just one hundred stones a day. Xiong Lan felt that this would not be willing to sell 80 yuan per stone, but would wait to queue up to change the IOU at the yamen. However, Liu Jinge did not do what Xiong Lan said, but used 85 yuan to collect grain for 100 yuan, which made Xiong Lan's plan to raise the grain price to 100 yuan and bankrupt.

"What's wrong with me?" Liu Jinge shouted: "The admiral said that the most important job of the government is to make money and collect grain. I collected more grain and saved a lot of IOUs. If I hadn't been so frugal, what would I do if I bought a mare from Liu Shuai? Wouldn't I have to print it?"

"If you don't have an IOU, don't buy it."

"What should I do if I don't buy those horses? Didn't you make an extra 30% of the IOU if you sell those horses to the horses? Even if you buy them, it will take fourteen months before there will be a horse."

"No, I can't print too much anyway. I've earned more horses, but it took a long time to get the IOU back. They won't pay it off immediately." Xiong Lan gritted her teeth: "At most, 5,000 yuan a day, you must use these IOUs to collect fifty stones of grain at a price of one stone to one hundred, and you have to collect them from the people, otherwise the price will not rise. So many IOUs have been spread out. Now everyone sees that prices seem to be falling, so they are reluctant to use them. If you want to take advantage of the price, you will definitely use them. Liu Shuai, Yang Shuai and the others are the same. IOUs that have been worth tens of millions, and print a few million more? By then, the grain price has risen by one hundred and two, and the admiral will kill my head!"

...

While the debate was endless in Chengdu, Deng Ming had already arrived at the Chongqing frontline and met Yuan Zongdi.
Chapter completed!