A dream of Yangzhou in ten years.

The spring breeze is ten miles away from Yangzhou Road.

He has a hundred thousand strings of money and rides a crane to Yangzhou.

On the bright moonlit night of the Twenty-Four Bridges, where can the jade man teaches to blow the flute?

Yangzhou.

This is the most prosperous and important city in Chinese history, and it is almost impossible to describe it as an overuse.

Since the opening of the Grand Canal, this place has become the most important economic center of China, a barometer that directly affects China's economy, and is also a holy place for countless foreign barbarians to worship China's prosperity.

Unfortunately, Yangzhou is no longer as prosperous as before at this time.

It is clearly in the season of "Spring Breeze Ten Miles of Yangzhou Road" and the spring breeze is just right, but the streets are full of bleak winter. Apart from a group of tired soldiers on duty, no one can see the figure of ordinary people.

I don’t know if it hasn’t rained these days or something else, but the many buildings around it that are full of historical heritage do not have that kind of heaviness, but instead have some unspeakable stains and dilapidation.

After the model army entered the city, Xu Changqing and Shi Kefa rode their horses straight to Yangzhou Prefecture.

Seeing Xu Changqing frowned from time to time, he was obviously dissatisfied with the situation in Yangzhou City at this time, Shi Kefa felt all kinds of feelings in his heart.

When he arrived at the government office, Shi Kefa dismissed the servants around him and bowed to Xu Changqing with a wry smile and said, "Marty, I have the entrusted by the Marquis..."

"Um?"

Xu Changqing was stunned for a moment before coming to his senses. He also understood what Shi Kefa meant. He hurriedly helped him up with a smile: "Gei Department, you don't need to blame yourself too much. This matter has nothing to do with you. If we really want to discuss it, all of us must take responsibility."

Shi Kefa was busy looking at Xu Changqing, his eyes a little incredible.

Who would have thought that Xu Changqing could say such words...

Xu Changqing stopped talking to him and patted his shoulder with a smile: "Gei Department, rest, let's talk slowly."

Shi Kefa then realized that he was busy leading Xu Changqing to the main hall.

Sitting in the main hall, the servant brought the fragrant tea, and Shi Kefa began to report to Xu Changqing in more detail the details of Yangzhou at this time, including the war during this period.

Although Yangzhou is one of the most prosperous cores of the Ming Dynasty, the base camp of Lianghuai Salt Field and the most important transit station for merchants from north to south, the actual economic situation occurred seven or eight years ago, and even more than ten years ago.

The reasons are very complicated.

Shi Kefa dared not say it clearly.

Even more likely, he did not grasp the core, so he was almost struggling to handle Yangzhou affairs.

What's even more terrifying is that Yangzhou's food and grass were not rich at this time.

Several major grain merchants in Yangzhou City dared not stock up. Long before hearing the news from the Qing army, many of them had retreated to Jiangnan. Now the ones who stayed here are all small fish and shrimps.

This made Shi Kefa extremely depressed and unable to use his strength. He could only contact some middle-class and wealthy gentry in the city.

These middle-class rich gentry didn't want to leave, but they didn't have the ability to leave. Even if they peeled their skin and sucked their tendons, how much oil can they get?

It's no wonder that I just live a life.

At the end, Shi Kefa couldn't help but shake his head and smiled bitterly: "Marty, you can always feel that it is shallow. You must practice it if you know this. Only now do you know how difficult it is to accomplish something..."

Although some of the core things in Shi Kefa's words are vague and not very exciting, Xu Changqing himself has some information from Yangzhou, and with the other side of Nanjing, he can basically figure out a framework when summarizing them on both sides.

Yangzhou is not without money.

Her location in the trade center is still there.

Even though the Ming and Qing dynasties have fought each other over the past few years, many things are indeed worse than before, but the huge profits of smuggling still have to go to Yangzhou.

What has changed!

The money that should have been handed over to the court and the treasury in the past flowed into the private pockets for some reason.

In this situation, Shigemen itself is already difficult, and Xu Changqing will never do it anymore

Forced him to cross this page with a smile, and directly handed over the defense of Yangzhou City with him.

Shi Kefa naturally did not greedy for power, but instead received a general amnesty.

After all, with his foundation, even if Yangzhou City is high and thick, it will be difficult for them to defend it. If they are not careful in any place, the overall situation will collapse.

At this time, Xu Changqing and the Model Army, who were so powerful in the world, came over, so how could he refuse?

After arranging the defense, he briefly patroled the city. It was already evening. Shi Kefa summoned some middle-class gentry in the city to relieve Xu Changqing.

Xu Changqing had just come down from the west gate and was about to drink. Huang Shu quietly came up and said quietly: "Marty, the situation is not optimistic... The Yangzhou soldiers may not be able to hold on to the food and grass in the Yangzhou treasury. In addition, all kinds of daily necessities in the city are in short supply, prices soar. In private, many ordinary people are selling their children and daughters to make ends meet..."

Today, Xu Changqing left the official face, and Huang Shu left the "dark side".

This guy is an old man, who is very proficient in the grassroots, middle and upper levels. He doesn’t have much effort to sort out the core framework of Yangzhou at this time.

After hearing this, Xu Changqing couldn't help frowning: "The people are short of oil, so let's forget about food, but his mother's Lianghuai Salt Field is around, why are the people still short of salt?"

Seeing that Xu Changqing was a little angry, Huang Shu smiled bitterly and could only whisper to explain to Xu Changqing in a low voice.

Xu Changqing was so angry that he heard itchy!

He finally understood what it means to have a policy from above and a countermeasure from below.

Although the auction at Lianghuai Salt Field made Xu Changqing, the court, and several noble people in the palace, the local salt merchants suffered extremely heavy losses.

They dare not act randomly on the surface, but in private they keep making small moves.

After the war broke out, the official salt was basically cut off, and there was no need to find any reason. The goods were stolen by the Tartars. Now all the circulating in Yangzhou market is "private salt".

Other core materials such as grain, oil, cloth, etc. are similar.

Now, Xu Changqing's folk reputation in Yangzhou is not very good, and he is not very friendly to the entire model army.

This is Huang Shu’s more implicit statement, and you can imagine the real situation!

After Huang Shu finished speaking, he was busy looking at Xu Changqing's expression carefully.

The current situation is not just an external problem, but the internal hidden worries are also terrible. Even though Huang Shu is very confident in Xu Changqing, he still has little clue now...

What confused Huang Shu was that Xu Changqing's face only chilled for a while, then quickly melted away, and even showed a smile: "Old Huang, thank you for your hard work, don't think too much, let's focus on external troubles first! Let's go and drink!"

"this……"

Huang Shu couldn't touch Xu Changqing's thoughts for a while, and he was busy with it because he subconsciously followed.

...

A large restaurant near the Yangzhou Prefecture Office hung a long-lost red lantern, and the door was full of traffic and was quite lively.

Many well-dressed gentry and wealthy families were talking and laughing in groups in the restaurant.

"Here you come, the carriage and horse of the Marquis of Haicheng are here."

At this time, the servants outside the door suddenly shouted in a sharp voice. The originally noisy building quickly quieted down, and then there was a restlessness, and everyone went out to welcome them.

When they saw Xu Changqinglong, wearing a purple-gold python robe, walking down from the carriage, everyone came up to him.

"Marty..."

"Hao Ye, Marquis..."

"Marty, the student saluted you..."

Shi Kefa, Zhou Chang, Shi Dewei and others also rushed forward to meet him.

"Haha, all the Yangzhou elders have been polite. In this situation, I have to worry about the Yangzhou elders spending money. Changqing really feels sorry."

Xu Changqing didn't have much airs. He had a look of eye contact with Shi Kefa and smiled and called these people first.

These rich gentry families were a little flattered, but they didn't expect that Xu Changqing was so easy to get in touch with, and they were all very energetic.

Xu Changqing had been to Yangzhou before, but he didn't enter the city much. He stayed in the "Xuyuan" in the north of the city, among these people at this time

At that time, there were very few people who could talk to Xu Changqing. I never expected that Xu Changqing was not the kind of arrogant and proud person who was young and successful.

Xu Changqing's attitude is very good, which directly determines the tone of today's dinner, making everyone feel much more relaxed.

When he arrived at the banquet, he responded to everyone's speculation. Xu Changqing did not mention the serious matter at all, but just met everyone one by one. While he was talking to everyone, he basically refused to give up the toast.

This made the atmosphere of the banquet tonight unstoppable.

After getting familiar with each other for a while, Xu Changqing cleared his throat in a slow manner.

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly stagnated.

The original harmony and excitement seemed to disappear without a trace in just this moment.

Shi Kefa's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but feel his throat and his face turned a little sallow.

If this man was too impulsive and offended these men, then the current situation in Yangzhou would probably not be able to be protected.

But even if he was anxious, he had no chance to speak. Even if Shi Kefa was so anxious, he could only bear it in his heart first.

"hehe."

Xu Changqing smiled faintly and looked around everyone: "Everyone, it's Changqing's work that has not been done well, and he actually let the Tartars rage in the heart of my Ming Dynasty. However, there is no need to worry too much. My model army has defeated the Qing army twice in the past few days. I think it will take not much time to drive the Tartars away."

Crash.

As soon as Xu Changqing said this, the hall was filled with noise.
To be continued...