Chapter 304: The Dark Tide

Li Hu said angrily: "Why should I believe you?"

The merchant sneered: "General Li can not believe us, but you should know that if you let Li Zicheng suffer a loss, even if you join his troops, can he spare you?"

"I don't understand what you are talking about at all." Li Hu said in a muffled voice, "Why should I join the army of the treacherous robbers? All the soldiers of our Henan Army will be soon incorporated by the Central Army. We are not allowed to be good Central Army, so why should we become treacherous robbers?"

"Haha." The merchant smiled, "General Li doesn't need to deceive himself."

Li Hu said coldly: "What do you mean?"

The merchant said: "Everyone can be incorporated by the Central Army, but you, Li Hu, cannot be incorporated by the Central Army! General Li Hu's affection for Hong Niang is even blind. As a man, how could you watch your beloved woman throw herself into the arms of other men? Hum?"

"What's more, even if you change your original intention and no longer commit to the thief, and accept the adaptation of the Central Army, do you think you can still have such a prominent position after the reorganization? You are not making alarmist statements. With the threat of your general, even if Wang Pu doesn't kill you, he will never be able to reuse you."

These two sentences hit Li Hu’s key!

Li Hu may not care whether he could be heavily influenced by Wang Pu after the Henan Army was reorganized by the Central Army? But he had to watch the Hongniang fall into Wang Pu's arms and become Wang Pu's woman, but he couldn't stand the stimulation. If this is the case, Li Hu would rather choose to die.

"General Li." said the merchant, "Now you should understand the current situation, right?"

Li Hu said in a narrow voice: "Who are you?"

The merchant looked solemn and said, "There is no need to hide the matter from General Li anymore, otherwise wouldn't it seem that our Wu family in Shanxi lacks sincerity? I am the younger brother of the King of Pingxi - Wu Sanfu!"

Li Hu's eyes narrowed and he said in a deep voice: "Are you Wu Sanfu?"

Li Hu is naturally familiar with the name of the three masters of the Wu family. Although the second brother Wu Sangui is the helmsman of the Wu family, the eldest brother Wu Sanfeng and the third brother Wu Sanfu are not Yiyou.

Wu Sanfu said: "General Li, now you should believe in the sincerity of our Wu family?"

Li Hu asked, "What do you want?"

"It's very simple." Wu Sanfu said, "We help General Li hold the beauty back, but General Li has to help our Wu family get 40,000 war horses from the Henan army. If you really can't get this war horse, then kill these war horses. In short, no matter what, you can't let these 40,000 war horses fall into the hands of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty!"

After saying this, Wu Sanfu said again: "Of course, General Li will be the guest of honor for our Wu family after the matter is completed."

Li Hu pondered for a moment and said coldly: "I can agree to this condition, but after the matter is completed, I will lead the army alone, and I will only have a cooperative relationship with your Wu family!"

Wu Sanfu agreed readily: "Of course there is no problem with this."

Wu Sanfu agreed readily, but he looked kind on the surface, but he sneered in his heart. He thought to himself that Li Hu was really ignorant of life and death, and he didn't say how much weight he had. He actually wanted to lead the army alone and be on par with the Wu family? No wonder he is only a small character until now, and even the Hongniang and a female streamer can crush him to death.

Li Hu pondered: "There are two hundred personal guards around Hongniu, which is difficult to deal with. If you want to kidnap Hongniu, you must first find a way to deal with these two hundred cavalry..."

Wu Sanfu said: "These two hundred personal guards are left to be dealt with."

Li Hu frowned and said, "You have a way?"

Wu Sanfu smiled and said, "There is indeed a solution, but General Li needs help."

Li Hu said: "How can I help?"

Wu Sanfu said: "Imagine a way to lead Hong Niangzi and her two hundred personal guards to Kaifeng Beixiao."

"This is no problem." Li Hu responded without thinking, "As long as you can abduct the popular lady in Kaifeng Beixiao, the Henan army will immediately fall into a situation where there is no leader. At that time, I will be able to control the overall situation and pull the troops to Shanxi before Wang Pu leads the Central Army to Kaifeng."

"Okay." Wu Sanfu stretched out his right palm and said happily, "Then let's just say that."

Li Huqiu slapped Wu Sanfu heavily and said, "One word is certain!"

Ji County, Henan.

When the main force of the Central Army was still in Zhangde Mansion, Wang Pu had already led the vanguard battalion to Ji County of Weihui Mansion. From Ji County to the south is Kaifeng Mansion. The defenders of Weihui Mansion had received the order from Hong Niangzi and knew that the Henan Army was about to accept the reorganization of the Central Army, so Wang Pu's vanguard battalion was grandly received.

Wang Pu also promptly sent the Central Army to post notices along the streets to stabilize the people's hearts.

Because the people of Henan had certain concerns about returning to the Ming Dynasty, when the Hongniang ruled Henan, he killed tyrants and evil gentry, and distributed all their land to the poor people according to the heads of the people. Even King Fu's land manor had been divided up by the Kaifeng people.

Now that the Henan Army is going to accept the reorganization of the Central Army, the entire Henan Province will be re-organized under the imperial court. The people cannot help but worry that the land they just assigned will be lost again and become tenant farmers who farm for others. Many people are even more worried that the rich and wealthy families who fled will retaliate against them after they come back.

In order to dispel the concerns of the people, the Central Army began a powerful propaganda offensive as soon as it entered Henan. It continuously sent Central Army soldiers to post notices in various prefectures, counties, towns and even villages along the way, and spared no effort to carry out propaganda, emphasizing that the court would never take back the land that had been distributed to the people.

At the same time, the imperial court issued a decree to kill Hu all the prefectures and counties along the way, and encouraged the people to go to Shandong and settle down in Beizhi.

Although Wang Pu said that the scope of the killing of Hu was the five northern provinces, after careful consideration, the cabinet thought that it was better to take Shaanxi, Shanxi, Beizhi and Shandong provinces. Moreover, because Shaanxi and Shanxi were not under the rule of the court, the actual scope of the killing of Hu was the only two provinces in Beizhi and Shandong provinces.

Jixian County Town, Inn.

Liu Qingyan entered Wang Pu's wing with a serious expression and whispered: "Marty, Zhao Liujin Feige passed on the letter."

"Zhao Liujin?" Wang Pu Ning said, "What do you say?"

Liu Qingyan said: "In the letter from Zhao Liujin's Feige, Wu Sanfu, said that Wu Sanfu, the third brother of Wu Sanfu, suddenly disappeared in the past few days, and the most elite Wu family members have also disappeared! The I suspect that Wu Sanfu and these five hundred family members may have sneaked into Henan secretly, in order to be detrimental to the Henan army."

Wang Pu frowned and said, "There are a lot of five hundred people. If so many people sneak into Henan, will Hong Niangzi not notice anything?"

Liu Qingyan said: "If you sneak in in batches and phases, it may be difficult to detect it. After all, the forces of the Henan army are mainly concentrated in Kaifeng, Runing, Nanyang, and Henan, and their control over the surrounding prefectures is not strong. If Wu Sanfu and Wubaijiading pretend to be traveling merchants or peddlers and pawns, it will be difficult to detect it."

Wang Pu said in a deep voice: "Immediately condemn the quick horse to convey the news to Monk Zhang and let him tell the Hong Madam!"

Liu Qingyan responded and took the order.

Watching Liu Qingyan's graceful and plump figure leave, Liu Rushi's voice suddenly rang in Wang Pu's ears: "Because of poor logistics supply, it will be difficult for the Central Army to launch a major offensive. If the Marquis intends to use the newly reorganized cavalry battalion to attack Shanxi, although there is no concern about lack of ammunition, he will also face a situation of lack of food and grass."

"There is a shortage of food and grass?" A sly smile flashed through Wang Pu's eyes, and he shook his head and said, "No, the food and grass are already ready."

"Huh?" Liu Rushi widened his beautiful eyes when he heard this and ate, "Has the Marquis ready the food and grass? When did he prepare it?"

"Haha." Wang Pu smiled, "It was ready as early as the beginning of this year."

Huguang, Longyang County, Changde Prefecture.

He Tengjiao, who had just been promoted to the governor of Huguang, was patrolling the grain with Zhao Xin, aides of the Governor's Office and officials in Longyang County. He Tengjiao looked at the vast Dongting Lake and was busy farmers. Women were busy digging the ground and digging out fat sweet potatoes from the loose soil. The children picked up the sweet potatoes and put them in baskets, then carried them to the fields and poured them into bamboo baskets, while the men were busy carrying a load of sweet potatoes home to hide them.

The Longyang County Magistrate, who was following He Tengjiao, blushed and introduced excitedly: "He Butang, this year is a rare and good year. The wheat harvest in spring and rice in autumn are good. The sweet potatoes that have just been introduced have even received a bumper harvest. On average, nearly 2,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes can be harvested per mu of land!"

"Good guy." He Tengjiao stroked his hand excitedly and said, "So has this wasteland been over?"

"Hey, what else are you talking about in the deserted year?" Longyang County Magistrate shook his head and said, "The people of Longyang County have set off firecrackers to celebrate. In their words, this year is a rare harvest year in the past fifty years! The grain harvested this year will not be eaten up in the next four or five years, haha."

He Tengjiao couldn't help but say, "I can't finish it for four or five years? Is this true?"

"Of course it's true." said the magistrate of Longyang County. "It's better to settle the accounts for the masters of the ministry. Our Longyang County is flat and has sufficient land. Each family can have about ten acres of eight acres of land. This acre of land is two thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes, and ten acres of land is twenty thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes! Even a family of ten can only eat four or five thousand kilograms of grain a year. Wouldn't it take for 20,000 kilograms of food to eat for four or five years?"

"Haha." He Tengjiao smiled and said, "It's really something you can eat for four or five years!"

The magistrate of Longyang County said: "However, I have to thank the Ministry of Revenue. If the Ministry of Revenue had not introduced sweet potatoes to Huguang, it would have been enough to make a living by harvesting wheat and rice."

"Yes." He Tengjiao nodded and asked again, "Before frost this year, our governor ordered all counties to rush to harvest sweet potato vines. Have you collected it in Longyang County?"

"I have collected it, I have collected it!" said the magistrate of Longyang County, "Now it has been completely dry, so it is piled outside the south gate of the county town. It is as big as a hill, with hundreds of thousands of pounds."

"Okay." He Tengjiao excitedly patted the Longyang County Magistrate's shoulder and smiled, "Don't underestimate the pile of sweet potatoes, that's a lot of silver."

"What, silver?" The magistrate of Longyang County said in surprise, "Can you exchange the silver for those sweet potato vines that cannot be eaten or worn?"

"Haha." He Tengjiao laughed, "You don't need to ask too much about this. In short, I'm right. I'll take a look at the sweet potato vines and replace them with white silver patterns at that time."

He Tengjiao has already received news from Wang Ju that Wang Pu is about to acquire 40,000 bandit cavalry from Henan, and will next use troops to Shanxi and Shaanxi. In addition to the large amount of food, the cavalry also needs a larger amount of food. This amount of food and food will be provided by Huguang Province!

At that time, the surplus sweet potatoes and seemingly useless sweet potato vines in Huguang will turn into white silver. When He Tengjiao's thoughts of the excess sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines in every household in Huguang exchanged them for silver, and then exchanged them for salt, cloth, silk, tea and other daily necessities and even luxury goods, He Tengjiao's heart was turbulent.

He Tengjiao served as an official and benefited the people. He had no other wish in his life, so he wanted the people under his rule to live a good life!

Kaifeng, Hong Niangzi's Headquarters.

When Li Hu strode into the lobby, he found that Monk Zhang was there, so he couldn't help but groaned from his nostrils. He had always been very hostile to Monk Zhang Li Hu. The reason was very simple, because Monk Zhang was once Wang Pu's subordinate, and Li Hu still suspects that Monk Zhang was a spy who Wang Pu invaded the Henan army.

The Hongmao glanced at Li Hu coldly and said to Monk Zhang: "General Zhang, you already know this."

"Then I'll say goodbye."

Monk Zhang bowed to Madam Hong, turned around and left.

When Monk Zhang left, Hong Madam's cold eyes fell on Li Hu's face and asked, "Hu Zi, are you doing something?"

Li Hu said: "Sister-in-law, do you still remember Old Man Zhang?"

"Old Man Zhang?" Hongzi thought for a moment and nodded, "Of course I remember, why did you suddenly mention Old Man Zhang?"

"That's right." Li Hu hurriedly said, "Old Man Zhang's son Zhang Xiaobao has already married a wife. He said that it was only after our rebel army arrived in Henan that their family had a good life, and that his son Zhang Xiaobao could marry a wife. He insisted on asking his sister-in-law to drink his son's wedding banquet."

"Is that true?" The Hongniang looked a little bit of joy on her face and said happily, "This is a happy event. I can't disturb Old Man Zhang's interest. Let's do this. Hu Zi, go to the street to choose a few gifts. We can't drink other people's wedding banquet with empty hands. I will prepare for it and come soon."

"Oh." Li Hu responded and said, "Sister-in-law, do you want me to help you summon the guard first..."

"No need." The Hongniang waved her hand and said, "This is going to have a wedding banquet, not a war. Why do you want to summon the guards?"

"Yes, I'm too worried."
Chapter completed!