"We must hire more people, and we need to replace the braised utensils and stoves with iron." In Ye Tianming's view, the first important thing is of course to expand production. There are only more than 100,000 people in Chengdu now, and the amount of salt required is only one million kilograms per year. Even if we export some to Jianchang, the production capacity required is also very limited. But if we want to meet the salt needs in Wuchang, we undoubtedly need to hire a large number of workers, and more and better tools are needed.

The three million kilograms of salt brought by the Ming army this time were produced by the Dufu Mansion using the manpower of the disbanded army to work overtime. Deng Ming once again summoned the army to recruit many temporary salt workers into the army. Even if the salt merchants in the Dufu Mansion wanted to expand production, they might not have such manpower to hire for a while. To increase production, they would inevitably improve tools.

"I plan to buy some iron tools from Wuchang." Ye Tianming said casually.

"Yes, but if I buy ironware from Wuchang, I will draw taxes from it, at least half. If the quantity is large, I will increase the tax rate. If you just buy pig iron, I will send it back and entrust the iron smelting company in the capital to help you make it. My tax rate will not exceed 10%... Well, I can do if I don't charge taxes this time, and I can also transport it for free." Deng Ming replied immediately and further explained: "This is to protect the ironware smelting company in the capital, otherwise what should you do if you buy them from Wuchang?"

"But," Ye Tianming argued: "The iron smelting merchants in the capital also lack manpower, and it is difficult for them to build such a large number of iron tools at once."

"So I only draw half of the tax, and this money will be used to support the iron shop in the capital. If you don't leave any business to the iron shop in the capital, I will have to draw higher taxes to ensure that the iron shop in the capital will not go bankrupt." Deng Ming replied in a natural tone: "Tie shop is like your salt shop, both are run by veterans, and many of the employed men are fellow juren. Of course, I will not favor one or the other. But I will not interfere with you purchasing tools from Wuchang. I am happy to see you make money. You weigh your own trade-offs, or pay taxes to help the iron shop in the capital, or leave the work to them. Both are OK."

Ye Tianming thought about it for a while, but did not make a decision immediately, but said, "Admiral, I need to calculate this matter and I also need to inform you of my colleagues in the Ministry."

"No problem. If you have a letter to send it back to the Du Mansion, I will arrange a Clipper and an envoy for you." Deng Ming did not immediately force the salt merchant to make a decision: "Is there any other request?"

Deng Ming's question made Ye Tianming silent for a while. Although he made up his mind many times before returning to the military camp, he still felt embarrassed when he really wanted to spit out this request, because Ye Tianming also knew that this request was too much.

"Can the admiral...can it..." But Ye Tianming finally mustered up the courage to open his mouth and said boldly: "Can you take the fleet around Jiangxi?"

Deng Ming did not show a surprised expression on his face, but asked calmly: "Why do you want me to go downstream for a walk?"

"Because..." Ye Tianming bit his teeth: "Huai Salt is sold to Wuchang, and the one who borrows the heavy load is the Yangtze River shipping. As long as the shipping is cut off, let alone 50,000 kilograms a day, even 5 kilograms will not be transported here."

"As long as Huai salt is not transported, the people here in Wuchang will not think about lowering the price of Sichuan salt. If enough salt cannot be transported for a long time, they will rely more and more on Sichuan salt. Boss Ye has made a good plan." Deng Ming sighed lightly. Ye Tianming's request was not too unexpected. When he saw Ye Tianming's hesitant look just now, Deng Ming vaguely guessed that the other party hoped to influence his military strategy.

As he spoke out his request, all the courage Ye Tianming had gathered for hard work disappeared without a trace. Now he was all left with shame and regret for his frivolous and arrogant request.

"Our military plan this time is to Wuchang. As long as we can force Wuchang to accept the salt we brought, we will not completely prohibit our Sichuan salt from entering Wuchang, we will be satisfied. I also announced it to the entire army before sending troops." Deng Ming seemed to explain to Ye Tianming, and also seemed to be talking to himself. Deng Ming's support for merchants far exceeded the habits of this era. He also knew that one day the merchant group would try to influence his politics and military decisions, but Deng Ming never thought of this.

One day would come so quickly. The young Chengdu Salt Merchants Group is now a baby who has just given birth. Before she even opened her eyes, she had the intention to show her teeth to her colleagues under the feudal system: "If I order to march to Jiangxi, it will expand the war, and the soldiers will be in danger, and the soldiers may encounter danger or suffer losses. All this is not to conquer cities or help the alliance, but to make more profits simply for the Dufu Salt Business to make."

"The villain knew he was wrong." Hearing this, Ye Tianming was already ashamed and sweating profusely. He even forgot to maintain the dignity of the court's fame and reputation, and even claimed to have been replaced by the original one.

Deng Ming looked at Ye Tianming again, and he felt that this seemed to be the first step for the emperor to transform into an imperialist country. In feudal imperial countries, the most important thing is the interests of each family, just like the Opium War in his previous life. As long as the external compromise can protect the interests of the Aisin Gioro family, it is nothing great or even natural to sacrifice domestic interests. However, imperialistism tends to decide on the choices within and outside the country. As long as it is beneficial to the country, it doesn't matter how much sacrifice foreigners have to make for it.

Therefore, Ye Tianming's request was undoubtedly infringing on Deng Ming's feudal rights. Although his request was small, it was essentially asking the private army belonging to Deng Ming to serve his interests.

"If the army acts according to his requirements, it will be more like the imperial team than the heavenly soldiers." Ye Tianming didn't know that Deng Ming was thinking about it now: "Imperialism is notorious. In my previous life, I was like a rat crossing the street. The most typical representative was the British Empire. In order to have an extra dollar in the pocket of the British, the British Empire does not care how much suffering the people of the world will suffer."

Other imperialists are similar. For example, in 1929, Deng Ming's previous life, the Soviet Union refused to return the extremely affiliated rights of the Central and Eastern Railways that Tsarist Russia robbed from China and had expired. For this reason, the Soviet Union launched a war of aggression against China, traitors and looted in China, killing nearly 10,000 Chinese people, forcing the Chinese government to agree to continue ceding the railway and its affiliated rights, and finally sold it to the Japanese Kanto Army.

After the Soviet Union launched a war of aggression, some people in China immediately planned to carry out violent and strikes across the country to achieve the goal of supporting the Red Army and armed defense of the Soviet Union. This idea of ​​putting the interests of the people of the world above the country and nation is the world-renowned internationalism and is infinitely respected by people all over the world.

"A step ahead of the times is a genius, and two steps ahead of the times is a madman." Deng Ming thought silently in his heart. He did not believe this sentence, but occasionally he would use it as a reason to convince himself: "Internationalism has surpassed this era too much, so let's live with imperial xism first."

"Call all the officers to meet." Deng Ming called a guard and gave him an order, then turned around and said to Ye Tianming: "This is not something I can decide by myself. I must discuss this matter with all the officers."

Ye Tianming was both ashamed and grateful. He didn't know why Deng Ming could not make a decision. Under the current mood, Ye Tianming did not have the ability to think carefully.

"If I make this decision, then the army will still be my private army, the army of warlords. If one day I am put on a yellow robe, they will turn from warlords into emperor soldiers, emperor soldiers, not imperial teams." While waiting for the officers to gather, Deng Ming was still thinking about this serious philosophical issue. There were no other time travelers around him to discuss. All the definitions were his own understanding: "I just don't know if these officers have the enlightenment of emperor officials? I guess most of them do not. They mostly regard themselves as subordinates of warlords."

Soon all the Ming army officers above the second lieutenant gathered in front of Deng Ming's podium, and Deng Ming began to speak: "You all must know that we came to Wuchang this time to sell the three million kilograms of salt in our hands. These salts were made in the Du Mansion in the past two months. Among the soldiers who followed us to Wuchang, seven or eight of them had burned salt before they could get dividends after they were sold."

Then Deng Ming loudly announced that the task of selling salt had been successfully completed, and cheers suddenly sounded from the audience.

"There is a new question now, that is, should we return to the Du Mansion as soon as we are going to siege against Chongqing? Or take further action." Deng Ming carefully told the officers that the salt market that Ye Tianming had found. The officers present were almost the same as Ye Tianming. They had never seen ten taels of silver in their lifetime, and they could not imagine how big the fifty taels of ingot would be. So when they heard that Wuchang's salt industry could bring Sichuan salt industry a day of 1,000 taels of silver to Sichuan salt industry, many officers showed incredible applications. After the initial shock, many officers' breathing became heavy.

"But if the salt shop wants to get the 1,000 taels of silver per day, it needs the army to continue to cut off the shipping in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Please note this point. It is the salt shop of the capital mansion, not our army, who has received such a large amount of silver. However, if the salt shop can indeed get the money, they will have the ability to hire thousands of short-term workers in the capital mansion, so that these workers and their families can live a better life. These workers may be you, or you may be your relatives and friends. The development of the salt shop will allow them to buy more tools, and will allow the iron shop of the capital mansion and mine shop to hire more people and increase their wages."

Deng Ming tried his best to explain the prospects and finally asked: "But this requires the army to risk their lives. If we return as planned, the war will end; if we march towards Jiangxi, a new battle will break out." Deng Ming looked around the officers present and asked: "How do you think our army should act? Should we train this time or launch a new offensive?"

The officers below were all surprised by Deng Ming's question. No one could answer his question for a while. It took a long time for Zhou Kaihuang to raise his hand with a confusion.

"Major Zhou, please tell me." Deng Ming immediately pointed at his confidant who raised his hand.

"The admiral said what to do, we will do what we should do." Zhou Kaihuang stood up and said loudly: "I am a rough man, and I only know that only the admiral's order is to obey."

Zhou Kaihuang's words expressed the voices of many people, and a large number of people responded one after another, expressing their firm obedience to Deng Ming's decision. Obviously, like Ye Tianming, they believed that this army was Deng Ming's personal tool, and all they needed to do was to submit it.

"It turns out that he is still the emperor's officer, not the emperor's officer." Deng Ming sighed in his heart. He did not intend to implement a voting system in the army, and he also believed that obedience was the duty of soldiers. He just hoped that the officers could have their own opinions on war.

"I just can't make up my mind now because I can't weigh the pros and cons, and before I sent troops, I had already agreed to sell salt and go to the right place. It was because I hesitated that I invited you all to express my opinions." Deng Ming knew that the concept could not be reversed all at once, but it could be induced. At the same time, he also wanted to know how these officers would choose.

After Deng Ming announced his free discussion, the young officers in the audience immediately started a loud conversation. Not long ago, they were all volunteers from Zhejiang, and some people also knew the profits of business. However, for most people, the purpose of sending troops this time made them feel a little confused and confused. In the past, when they were under Zhang Huangyan, no matter how lacking the training and organization of the army, everyone knew in their hearts that their purpose was to expel the Tartars and seize the Han dynasty. Every action of their Zhejiang army closely revolved around this purpose, to regain the land and power from the Qing army.

After arriving in Chengdu, Deng Ming gave the Ming army better training and more sophisticated equipment, but Deng Ming's military purpose was much more complicated than Zhang Huangyan, which made many officers very confused. It was as if Deng Ming sent troops to Wuchang this time, not to seize land or annihilate the Qing army, but to sell his salt.

If only this is the case, these officers could barely understand that this was to improve the lives of officers and soldiers and the people of Chengdu, to obtain precious materials to further increase the strength of the Ming army, and ultimately for Deng Ming's great cause. But if the downstream sent troops to satisfy Ye Tianming's monopoly of salt trade, what is the significance of this battle to Deng Ming? No matter how Deng Ming explains it, the officers felt that the benefits Deng Ming could get from it were really turned too much, and the army seemed to be serving the interests of merchants, followed by the interests of the people. In contrast, Deng Ming's interests seemed too little - this is the ideological confusion that the feudal army must transform into the imperial team.

"This should also be an enlightenment. The real imperial team should act for the interests of the empire rather than the emperor." Seeing the people in the audience discussing enthusiastically, Deng Ming thought about the pros and cons of this decision in his mind: "The imperial team is undoubtedly more combative than the emperor's soldiers and more capable of fighting for the country. But for the emperor and warlords, this can be a road to the guillotine and gallows, because there will be no feudal emperor sentenced to death for committing treason, but the imperialist country is completely different. The army is truly loyal to the interests of the empire rather than one surname. But I have nothing to worry about. Now I am just a warlord, and the Qing Dynasty has nine out of ten in the world. Besides, even if I finally defeated the Qing Dynasty, it would take many generations to worry about committing treason, right?"

...

Ye Tianming was not an officer and had no right to attend the Ming army's officer meeting, so he could only wait for news outside the tent.

It took more than an hour before Deng Ming slowly walked out of the camp. Seeing this, Ye Tianming immediately greeted him and asked with anticipation: "Admiral, what do the soldiers say?"

Deng Ming held a letter in his hand. He waved the letter to Ye Tianming for a moment, then handed it to a very neatly dressed guard behind him, and ordered the latter: "Let's go immediately."

"As for orders, admiral." The guard saluted Deng Ming and strode out of the tent.

"This is the envoy I sent to Zhoushan. He will take the letter I just gave him to Zhang Shangshu." Now Deng Ming has learned from Huguang that after Dasu drove Zhang Huangyan and Ma Fengzhi out of the mainland, he had already taken the main force to Fujian and joined Geng Jimao's Fujian navy to peep at Xiamen. So Jiangnan has become empty again now, only Jiang Guozhu, Liang Huafeng and others have just rebuilt the green camp. Jiangxi, which was the Great Wall of the Governor's Office of the Liangjiang Governor, was destroyed by the sneak attacks of Deng Ming and Li Laiheng. Although Jiang Guozhu worked hard to rebuild, it was only six months, and the strength was far inferior to before.

"They go to Zhoushan?" Ye Tianming repeated it gently, inspiring and enduring the excitement in his heart, waiting for Deng Ming's following.

"In the letter, I asked Shangshu Zhang if he was interested in standing on the Yangtze River with me to show our army's military power to the Lu Chou in Nanjing." Deng Ming smiled slightly. Most of the Ming army officers present today supported continuing to march. However, relying on the few troops at Deng Ming's hand, he felt that the deterrence effect might be limited, and the risk was a bit too great: "But if we see Shangshu Zhang, we cannot say that our purpose is just to cut off the shipping of the Yangtze River. If Shangshu Zhang discovered our true purpose, he might be in a big way."

"The admiral means that you agree to launch an offensive for the salt shop in the capital?" Although the facts were right in front of you, Ye Tianming still felt as if he was in a dream.

"The will of the people is the mission of the Emperor* team." Deng Ming said with a smile. When he saw the puzzled expression on the face of the merchant in front of him, he couldn't help laughing: "Yes, what I mean is that we will march towards Jiangxi, Nanjing, and Yangzhou!"
Chapter completed!