After seeing off Jian Yong and his party, they returned to the city lord's palace. Li Mengxi and Guan Yu discussed together. The two of them discussed where to prepare some important supplies such as grain, grass, money, and ironware.

Li Mengxi believes that for the rebel army, although war is coming, there is now a time gap that can be used.

Assuming that the imperial court really wanted to wipe out the rebels, according to the imperial court's slow actions, the news has not yet spread to the world, and the world still does not know that Liu Xuande has rebelled.

Therefore, you can seize the time and take advantage of this information gap to quickly find a place to borrow some money, food, grass and weapons. As long as you borrow it, you will make a profit. Even if the matter is leaked soon, it doesn't matter. If it is leaked, it will be leaked. Anyway, the money, food, grass and weapons have been deceived.

Already.

Li Mengxi asked Guan Yu whether there were wealthy merchants near Julu or Zhuozhou, or where there were iron mines.

Guan Yu thought for a while, then shook his head and said he didn't know.

Guan Yu reminded, "Xi'er, didn't you appoint various officials? Why don't you ask them?"

Li Mengxi thought about it, and it was the same.

Among the ministries, there is the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are people in the Ministry of Commerce who are familiar with business affairs, and they may know where the wealthy merchants are. And if you can't find out why, you can let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs go around and inspect the locations of wealthy merchants.

Having made up his mind, Li Mengxi summoned officials from various ministries to come.

After a while, officials from various ministries gathered at the city lord's mansion.

The City Lord's Mansion is still a bit too small. When there are more people, there is no place to sit. A large group of people can only stand.

Li Mengxi glanced at the officials and asked them, "Which of you knows where the wealthy merchants are? Or, who has connections?"

Now that the military is running out of money, I am going to find someone to borrow some military resources."

Finally, Li Mengxi added, "Of course, you will pay back the interest if you borrow it."

The officials began to whisper.

After a while, an official said, "There are wealthy businessmen in Julu, and the Tian family is..."

Li Mengxi raised his head and asked in confusion, "Tian? Where are you now?"

The official smiled sadly, "I am a member of the Tian clan. The Tian clan was originally a big businessman, but now it is gone."

Before Li Mengxi could react, his fellow officials immediately burst into laughter, laughing at the fact that the once powerful Tian family had nothing to do with it now.

The officials all laughed, but the Tian clan member himself laughed heartlessly.

Li Mengxi felt that it was a bit bad to mention someone else's sadness, so he felt comforted for a while.

He said to the Tian clan, "The wealth of our family comes from humble beginnings. Since your ancestors have become great men, it shows that the family tradition is righteous. In time, if you work hard, you will be able to reproduce the glory of your ancestors."

Li Mengxi's sincere words made the Tian family members feel grateful. He stepped out from the crowd and saluted Li Mengxi seriously.

After the ceremony, after hesitating for a moment, the Tian clan member said, "If the military advisor wants to find a big businessman, he knows a place."

Li Mengxi's eyes lit up, "Oh? Tell me quickly."

After thinking for a while, the Tian clan member said, "Does the military advisor know about the Changshan Zhen family?"

Li Mengxi thought for a moment, Zhen family, among the Three Kingdoms, the surname is Zhen, Zhen Mi? Could it be this Zhen family?

Li Mengxi shook his head, "I don't know anyone about this Zhen family."

Seeing that Li Mengxi didn't know, the Tian clan members explained seriously, "The Zhen family is a wealthy businessman with a fortune of billions, and is as rich as the country.

Our Tian family is already one of the richest people in Julu, but even compared to the Zhen family, the Zhen family has great financial resources, so if a military strategist wants to find some help, the Zhen family is the right place to go."

Li Mengxi looked at the Tian clan members in front of him for a while, and asked curiously, "Mr. Tian, ​​do you have any contact with the Zhen family?"

Li Mengxi must have forgotten what his name was. He couldn't pronounce his name, so he just called him Mr. Tian.

Mr. Tian nodded and said, "When our family was still in ruins, my family had some interactions with the Zhen family."

That's it, there's a matchmaker.

Li Mengxi asked again, "Does the young master know where the Zhen family is?"

Mr. Tian nodded, "I know."

Li Mengxi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll let you do the contacting on my behalf."

Afterwards, Li Mengxi left Mr. Tian behind and dispersed the others.

——

Li Mengxi didn't know where the Zhen family was, and he didn't know how to borrow money from others in this era, especially if he wanted to borrow a lot of money.

Li Mengxi said with some embarrassment, "Master Tian, ​​the current situation in our army is not good. We don't have much food and money. As for the cloth, we don't even have enough for our own people, so we can't sell much."

Mr. Tian then thought, last year he spent more than a thousand carloads of money to buy grain, and the rations for hundreds of thousands of people depended on it. How could the money not be empty?

Thinking of this, Mr. Tian also sighed with emotion. He knew that if the rebel army cherished money as much as life, it is estimated that many people would have starved to death last winter.

Thinking that he was also grateful to the rebels for surviving until now, and that he could still hold an official position as a merchant, Mr. Tian was extremely emotional.

Now, seeing that the military resources were scarce and the military advisor was in trouble, Mr. Tian wanted to repay Li Mengxi and Guan Yu. He bowed his hands and said solemnly, "I don't need to worry about the military advisor. My family has good relations with the Zhen family. I am going to do whatever I can to get it."

The money comes back..."

Li Mengxi smiled and shook his head in refusal, "Your family's friendship was saved by your ancestors, and it belongs to your family. I don't want to do it at the expense of private interests."

Mr. Tian wanted to say something more, but Li Mengxi waved his hand to stop him.

Li Mengxi raised his head and looked at the ceiling, saying to himself, "We have no food and no cloth... How about armor?"

Mr. Tian was stunned for a moment, not knowing what the so-called armor meant.

Li Mengxi stared at Mr. Tian and said, "In this way, I will give you a thousand pieces of armor, and you can go to the Zhen family to exchange money for food.

They say they are exchanging money for food, but these thousand pairs of armors are actually loan vouchers for our army.

Think about it, if we borrow money rashly and people don’t know the details of our rebel army, how can they lend us money?

If you go there with a thousand pairs of armor, it will be different.

Being able to produce a thousand pairs of iron armor is enough to show that our army carries at least thousands of armors. With these thousands of pairs of iron armor, the Zhen family members should be able to see clearly and see whether our army is worthy of being won over by the Zhen family."

What he said is very clear. Li Mengxi did not understand the logic of dealing with wealthy businessmen in ancient times, but he understood the financial rules of later generations.

The purpose of sending people to find wealthy businessmen this time was essentially to ask for money, or to put it more politely, to solicit sponsorship.

So, if you want to ask for money, you must show off your strength. If a beggar goes there with a broken knife and asks for money, not only will you not get the money, but you will also be beaten to death. If you want to attract sponsorship, you must let the sponsors see your strength.

Thousands of armors are a reflection of strength.

Being able to take out a thousand pieces of armor at one time means that there are at least several thousand pieces of armor in hand, and having thousands of armored soldiers means that there are tens of thousands of troops.

With such a huge force, as long as the Zhen family is not stupid, they will be able to make the right choice.

Thousands of armors were brought out as soon as they were told. Mr. Tian admired Li Mengxi's courage.

He hesitated for a moment and then advised, "Military advisor, you don't have to sell your armor. I think it's because of my family's friendship with the Zhen family..."

"Hey, we are in business. We are here to borrow money, not to steal it. We are not robbers, so how can we get it for nothing."

The words "business talk" made Mr. Tian's expression slightly move.

A good man was talking about business. Mr. Tian said with emotion that his military advisor knew the essence of business.

Li Mengxi has decided to take the Thousand Collar Iron Armor in exchange for a huge amount of money and food that is ten times or even a hundred times equivalent to the Thousand Collar Iron Armor.

Ask, does Guan Yu have any opinions?

Just a thousand collars of iron armor, what can Guan Yu say?

After that, more details were finalized with Mr. Tian. Seeing that it was still early, Li Mengxi said to Guan Yu, "General Guan, pack your armor."

Guan Yu nodded and went out to organize things.

——

After leaving the city lord's palace, Young Master Tian went back. As soon as he returned, his colleagues surrounded him and made fun of him.

"Ah, Mr. Tian is back!"

"Master Tian is back!"

…

Colleagues teased him kindly.

Li Mengxi didn't expect that he would just give him a nickname by calling him casually. Since then, Tian Lei from the Department of Commerce has been called Young Master Tian.

After teasing for a while, colleagues gathered around and asked, "Tian Lei, what did the military advisor tell you?"

Tian Lei then mentioned that the military advisor asked him to get the iron armor and exchange it for food.

When colleagues heard this, they all started talking.

"What? We're short of food again, and we need to replace it again?" Some people are very concerned about the food situation.

"Tian Lei, you boy, don't you have a relationship with the Zhen family? Please help me, don't let me exchange my armor for food."

Tian Lei had a look of helplessness on his face, "I told you, if the military advisor insists on selling armor, what can I do?"

Tian Lei and other officials were formerly Yellow Turban refugees. They had been following the rebels for a long time. Tian Lei and the others knew very well how the rebels were doing.

When we were still refugees, in order to keep the refugees alive, the military advisors and Duke Xuande bought food and fished, and they worked so hard that no one went hungry.
To be continued...