Faced with Wu Shigong's visit, Wan Wendong and other gentry had already made preparations. Wan Wendong even brought several gentry to the camp in Dahuai Village early in the morning to accompany Wu Shigong all the way to the county seat.
The whole journey was speechless. After arriving at the county town, Li Lu personally stood at the yamen gate to welcome Wu Shigong and his party in. Behind Li Lu, there were also many local gentry, most of whom were private mining owners.
After Li Lu and Wan Wendong returned to the county yesterday, the private mine owners actually knew the contents of the agreement reached with Wu Shigong. Compared with the iron ore that had been recaptured, they all believed that Wu Shigong's conditions were not high at all.
Of course, no one would want to tear up this agreement just because the process of retaking the iron ore was too easy. After all, they also saw Wu Shigong's powerful force.
The reason why these private mine owners want to meet with Wu Shigong today is simply to confirm the content of the agreement, and they are afraid that Wu Shigong will add more conditions.
So when the guests and hosts were seated, Li Lu introduced everyone to Wu Shigong. After everyone exchanged pleasantries, Li Lu said to Wu Shigong: "Today all the village elders came to see my brother-in-law, just to see his majestic appearance. I also
As I said here, I won’t come home until I’m drunk tonight!”
Everyone in the hall cheered loudly: "It's all thanks to Wu Shoubei's intervention this time!" There was a burst of grateful praise in the hall.
When the voices in the hall gradually became quieter, Wan Wendong felt that all the private mining owners present were looking at him. Wan Wendong could only helplessly cough a few times, and felt that Wu Shigong's eyes also turned to him.
So Wan Wendong asked: "General, how will we arrange the iron mine in the future?"
Wu Shigong raised his eyebrows and said, "Didn't we already reach an agreement? Just follow this agreement!"
Wu Shigong's words stunned the private mine owners present. In their minds, Wu Shigong would put forward some additional requirements, but Wu Shigong seemed to abide by the contract, which made these private mine owners a little at a loss.
.
Wan Wendong had no choice but to ask: "General, your soldiers have worked hard this time. We villagers have to express our feelings at least. The general just said a number, and let us prepare it."
"No need! I can take as much as I should, and I won't bother you with the military expenses." For Wu Shigong now, he has already obtained two mining areas, and in the future, Li Lu, the two county salt
Wu Shigong felt that what he had gained was enough, so he did not want to appear greedy.
But Wu Shigong's statement made Wan Wendong and other private mining owners even more worried. They were worried that this was just Wu Shigong's pretense, but in fact they wanted to make a fortune. What if they really did what Wu Shigong said?
, if no labor expenses are paid, then Wu Shigong will have to intensify his efforts to get back the profits from the iron ore?
This shows that the image of the Ming Dynasty officials' insatiable greed is unforgettable in the eyes of the gentry in these places. However, this is because people like Wan Wendong do not understand Wu Shigong's nature very well.
The gentry who were accustomed to dealing with Wu Shigong and who knew that Wu Shigong had a true nature of keeping his word would definitely save such a sum of money without hesitation.
There was no way, who knew that it was Wan Wendong and Wu Shigong who negotiated the agreement at that time. So Wan Wendong could only bite the bullet and asked: "General, you can give me a number at least!"
Wu Shigong burst out laughing after hearing this. Could it be that this is not the right time, and there are still people who are eager to give money to themselves, but they are not happy if they can't give it away? But at this time, Wu Shigong also vaguely understood the thoughts of Wan Wendong and other private mining owners.
After laughing for a while, Wu Shigong said: "You! You are all villagers, and you are worried that my words will not count! That's it, just get three thousand taels of silver. This time my soldiers were also injured or killed.
If there are dozens of them, let’s use the money as a pension for those soldiers.”
Seeing Wu Shigong finally made the conditions, and listening to Wu Shigong's words, the private mine owners all laughed. There are more than a dozen private mine owners here, and each of them only needs to pay more than 200 yuan for the 3,000 taels of silver.
Two, completely affordable.
The atmosphere suddenly became relaxed, but Wu Shigong continued: "This time we need to rebuild a large iron mine and build a saltpeter mine. This official is very short of manpower! If you village elders have any children, you can
Come and join the army here with me and Li Shou. As long as you dare to fight and work hard, there will be no problem in finding a future."
"Also, I am still very short of literate people here. We also need manpower for official documents and miscellaneous tasks. We also need some help from the village elders."
Wu Shigong's words suddenly enlivened the scene. Wu Shigong's actions gave the children of local gentry a way out. Although this was not the right path, it still gave them hope of becoming officials.
In addition, since Wu Shigong has absorbed the children of those gentry, it proves that Wu Shigong really wants to cooperate with these gentry. Therefore, he immediately received enthusiastic support from those gentry.
Li Lu was the only one here who felt a little uncomfortable. Wu Shigong and Li Lu were on the same level, but after seeing today's conversation and the behavior of those gentry, Li Lu found that he had become Wu Shigong without knowing it.
a subordinate relationship.
But Li Lu then thought about it: "I am a cripple myself, and my future in the officialdom is completely gone, so why should I seize power if I can't let go? It is a serious matter to seize more money and return to the capital for retirement!"
Not mentioning Li Lu's psychological activities, Wu Shigong then discussed the construction issues of the two mining areas with the private mine owners. However, we will have to wait until Wu Shigong sent Yuan Xingshan, Yang Goudan and others to discuss the details.
After Nanyang Mansion, let them have detailed discussions with these private mine owners.
But at the end of the sentence, Wu Shigong solemnly warned: "We are all a family behind closed doors here, so I will say some offensive things. The reason for the chaos in the mine this time is the instigation of those horse bandits, but
I also know that the lives of those miners were too hard in the past."
"We want to expand these two mines and make more money. There is nothing wrong with that. But there is no benefit in squeezing those skilled miners too hard."
"Not to mention that those miners may cause rebellion again in the future, but the income earned by those miners from going down the mines cannot support their families. They have no strength to work, and the loss is not our own; if they cannot survive, then the new
The miners recruited will not do as much work as the old miners."
"I just want to improve the treatment of these miners. At least it is higher than what the bandits give them. In this way, our mining area can produce with peace of mind, and we will earn more money than before."
Wu Shigong's idea of improving the treatment of miners is not only a modern consideration of improving labor interests and increasing productivity, but also Wu Shigong regards those miners as a future source of soldiers and wants to bribe these miners through these means.
of the human heart.
But Wu Shigong's proposal made the scene quiet down. After all, those private mine owners did not have the ideas and concepts of modern capitalists. They just felt that the miners were just consumables. If one dies, another one can be replaced. There is no need to improve the wages of the miners.
.But because this was proposed by Wu Shigong, the private mining owners were unwilling to raise objections at this time.
Wu Shigong looked at this scene and then said with a smile: "Everyone, please don't worry. After I do this, if the income of the village elders is not as high as before, then I will take it out from my own share."
I’ll give you the money to make up for it, fellow villagers. How about this?”
All the private mine owners immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As long as their incomes are not reduced, who will stop Wu Shigong from causing trouble in these two mining areas? Anyway, this agreement also stipulates that Wu Shigong will send people in the future.
to manage these two mining areas.
After talking about all this, everyone started chatting easily. Soon, it was time for the dinner. There was no need to elaborate on this big fish and meat dinner. It was just that the gentry arranged for local famous prostitutes to come in and accompany them.
At that time, the military attachés under Wu Shigong stopped drinking and looked at Wu Shigong, waiting for Wu Shigong's decision.
Wu Shigong's military regulations are very strict. When he is out fighting, he is not allowed to touch women casually. But Wu Shigong took these military attaches to relax today, and of course he would not do such a spoiler.
So Wu Shigong ordered: "What are you doing waiting around? Let each person choose one!"
The military attachés suddenly beamed. Wan Wendong and the gentry had indeed made careful arrangements. They arranged for Wu Shigong to be a top figure in the county, and even arranged for Li Lu to be accompanied by a local good family. It seems that this special hobby of Li Lu can be described as
It's notorious.
Only the actions of He Fei and Shu Mo made Wu Shigong feel that he had lost some face.
They both fell in love with a flower card, and He Fei started to talk about the reason: "Master Shu, brother, my ears are hurt, so let this woman be given to brother, so that brother and I can be happy and energetic!
"
"Don't do this, I even shed tears for you. This brotherly love is so deep, you should be the one to let me do it, right?"
"Pull it down! Who doesn't know that you cried because you were scared? You might have peed your pants at that time."
"You just peed your pants! No matter what, brother, this woman will definitely not let you go. What nonsense are I talking to you about? Come sit over here!"
…
After the dinner, Wu Shigong entered the arranged bedroom with the card in hand. Wu Shigong thought proudly: "Maybe this is a war dividend!"
But Wu Shigong didn't know that Genghis Khan had said before: The greatest happiness of mankind lies in victory! Conquer your enemies, chase them, seize their property, make their lovers cry, ride their horses, embrace their
Wife and daughter.
So compared to Genghis Khan sleeping with other people's wives and daughters, Wu Shigong slept with the top brass in a county, and that level was obviously not there yet!