Chapter 25 Entering Rencheng

Chapter 25 Entering Rencheng

Chapter 25 Entering Rencheng

After that, the three of them avoided the prefectures and counties along the way and headed straight towards Jining.

When we arrived in Dongping Prefecture, news from the north had already started to arrive.

The Bazhou rebels captured Linqing, obtained a large amount of food and fodder, and then went straight back to Hebei.

According to many people's detailed analysis, Liu Liu and Liu Qi had food and grass, and planned to join forces with the troops heading west to directly besiege the capital.

But Pei Yuan still believed that the next target of the Bazhou rebels must be Jining.

Jining Prefecture was an important town in Yanzhou Prefecture.

In the early days of the founding of the country, Jining Prefecture was Jining Prefecture, which governed three prefectures and twelve counties. In the 18th year of Hongwu, it was changed to Jining Prefecture, which governed only three counties.

However, the importance of Jining has not been reduced.

The Grand Canal was clearly not enough to provide food and clothing for millions of canal workers simply by transporting grain.

The large amount of materials from the north and the south carried on ships are the main reason why the Grand Canal can feed so many mouths.

Jining Prefecture has Nanwang Lake in the north and Weishan Lake in the south, which is particularly suitable for ships to dock and transfer goods, thus becoming the most important material distribution center of the canal in the north.

Furs, wild delicacies, and soybeans from the north and tea, silk, and porcelain from the south were all traded here and then transported north and south through the canal.

When Pei Yuan and others arrived at Rencheng, the capital of Jining, the atmosphere was only slightly tense, and the city gates were still open to allow merchants to come and go.

This was a significant deviation from what Pei Yuan had expected.

Their news was already later than the imperial court's express report, and the retreat of the Bazhou rebels to Hebei made Pei Yuan's judgment less convincing.

They couldn't possibly use outdated information and the guess of a Jinyiwei captain to ask all the surrounding garrisons to march here and prepare for battle, right?
Pei Yuan felt a little depressed, as if the emotions he had finally mustered were not cherished.

Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang didn't care much.

In any case, Linqing was eventually broken by the rebels. They left Linqing and headed straight for Jining, thus escaping the disaster.

Seeing Pei Yuan remained silent, the two knew that he was unwilling to give in, so they suggested, "If you are worried, why don't you talk to the commander of Jining Guard about this matter?"

Pei Yuan did not answer, but silently called up the interface of the "Debt Settlement System".

Character: Pei Yuan

Occupation: Jinyiwei (sixth rank centurion).

Property debt:
Debts receivable: 0
Debts payable: (55/55)

The total amount of money owed was 38,090 taels of silver (Gu Dayong 30,000 taels, Zhang Yaochen 120 taels, Tao Liben 32 taels, Chen Lu 55 taels...)
Debt of favor:
Debts Receivable (1/1): You fulfilled Mei Qinniang's dying wish and can ask her for a favor.

Debts Receivable (1/1): Zhang Cong owes you a favor, and he promises to accept your advice in his spare time. You can also force him to ask for advice once, but this promise will become invalid.

Debt to be repaid (0/1): You owe a favor to Chang An, the Dianshi of Daxing County. Chang An hopes that you can marry his daughter to offset this favor. He has given up this idea. The host can delete this debt or force repayment.

Current debt ceiling: 203 taels (currently overspent by taels, days until the settlement date, the overspent part will be forcibly settled)

Current credit value: 18/100 (You have gained widespread support from all your subordinates)

Special state: Don’t worry about having too much debt (you are now in an inexplicable calmness).

Pei Yuan's gaze remained on "Gu Dayong's thirty thousand taels" for a moment.

Then, the words "Gu Dayong's 30,000 taels" lit up slightly, and then a simply outlined map popped up, with a small red dot clearly displayed on the top.

Pei Yuan muttered silently in his mind and reviewed the previous day.

After reading it several times, a series of simple maps appeared one after another, showing Gu Dayong's trajectory in the past seven days.

As the governor-general in charge of suppressing the rebellion, Gu Dayong's movements are of great reference value.

A few days ago, Gu Dayong was still staying in Linqing, but in the past two days he has been slowly moving south.

According to common sense, the fall of Linqing was enough to make Gu Dayong extremely anxious. The fact that he did not go to Hebei to pursue the rebels but chose to go south showed that Mao Rui, the Earl of Fuqiang, who was in charge of military affairs, and Lu Wan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, both saw the risks faced by Jining.

Considering the timeliness of information transmission, perhaps major changes have occurred on the front line.

Pei Yuan thought for a moment and said to the two, "We can't stay in Jining for long. If we can't help, we have to leave as soon as possible."

He added, "Let's go find a money shop first and exchange our valuables for gold which is easy to carry. This will prevent us from making mistakes and benefiting others."

In this era, money shops have already assumed some financial functions.

The main reason was the tightening liquidity of copper coins, which prompted the court to allow silver to enter the market.

But the disadvantages of using silver are also obvious.

Silver is of high value and needs to be cut into pieces and weighed when used in small amounts.

There was too much loose silver, so it had to be melted down again for transportation and storage.

This makes the use of silver inconvenient and the quality of the silver after melting varies greatly.

Thus, money shops came into being as a means of exchange.

The money shop can exchange loose silver into copper coins, and can also estimate the value of silver of various purities, providing a reference for both parties in the transaction.

The exchange into gold that Pei Yuan mentioned is also one of the businesses.

Although gold is not directly circulated as currency, this natural high-value equivalent is itself a hard currency.

Although the stolen goods on them did not pose any hidden dangers, those flattened gold objects, scattered beads, and silver ingots with marks on them certainly could not be used just like that.

This time when entering Rencheng, the Jinyiwei official uniform on his body is no longer enough.

The nine horses with marks on them were not handed over at the post station outside the city, which was already very eye-catching, and the valuables on the three people were also difficult to explain.

Pei Yuan had no choice but to take out the official document and show it to the officials guarding the city.

It was not until he entered Rencheng that Pei Yuan saw the prosperity of this famous canal capital.

There are restaurants, shops and brothels of northern and southern styles everywhere. Merchants are not restricted to the categories of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, and can ride fine horses and wear silk and satin at will.

Luxurious enjoyment, beauties of all kinds, cargo ships shuttling back and forth, and money flowing in each transaction, all these various things outline a city that is completely dependent on trade and serves trade.

As far as Pei Yuan could see, he saw more than a dozen large-scale money shops, brothels, and teahouses.

Pei Yuan was about to turn around and greet the two of them, but he saw Chen Toutie and Cheng Leixiang looking at the red sleeves waving in the street, their faces red and their eyes hot, and they were eager to try.

Seeing Pei Yuan looking back at them, the two couldn't help but wink and said, "Sir, if you are not in a hurry to leave, why don't you let us brothers express our gratitude?"

Pei Yuan didn't want to care about these things, but he didn't want to spoil the fun either.

He just reminded the two of them, "There are all kinds of people here, and we can't get by just by relying on our Jinyiwei status, so don't be careless."

Chen Toutie listened and said carelessly, "It's okay, it's not like we won't pay."

(End of this chapter)