Master Ling came to Runing Fucheng quietly. The governor of Henan would never make a big deal about negotiating with Wu Shigong, a small guard, and he could not afford to lose this person.
Wu Shigong did not make things difficult for Master Ling. Knowing Master Ling's arrival, Wu Shigong immediately rushed to the garrison Yamen and met Master Ling immediately.
It is impossible for Wu Shigong to lead Master Ling to his residence in the Runing Camp. After all, there are more than 2,000 Wu Shigong soldiers in the Runing Camp. It is always a good idea to prevent the outside world from knowing his true strength.
A prudent approach.
After the first exchange of greetings, Master Ling started to have an old friendship with Wu Shigong: "Students haven't seen Wu Shoubei for many years, but I didn't expect that Wu Shoubei is still so energetic!"
Wu Shigong smiled and replied: "It's just gold and jade on the outside, but failure on the inside. I'm very weak. I've been exhausted from many years of fighting and have been sick in bed. I just learned that an old friend was visiting today, so I mustered up my energy to meet Mr. Ling!"
Master Ling looked at Wu Shigong, whose face was glowing, and couldn't help but smile and shake his head and said: "I didn't realize that Wu Shoubei was so brave in battle and so articulate. He doesn't tell lies in front of a real person. This student's visit is to ask Wu Shoubei to go to war.
. And before the students came, the governor also knew about Wu Shoubei's suffering, so this time as long as the Runing camp goes out, it is understandable that the governor has some demands. "
"Oh? Then what conditions does the governor give to our Runing camp to go on an expedition?"
"That's wrong." Master Ling smiled again and shook his head, "The governor will not be coerced by the Runing camp to satisfy Wu Shoubei's request. The governor just cares about his subordinates and does not want to see the expedition soldiers suffer."
Master Ling's words made Wu Shigong laugh all of a sudden. This was obviously an act of bribing him to send the Runing camp to the expedition, but Master Ling said it in a different way. This scholar really wants to save face!
Wu Shigong did not try to expose Master Ling's statement, and then asked: "Mr. Ling, can you tell me?"
"This time when the students came to Runing Mansion, the governor also said that he knew that the military pay in the Runing camp was low and that the grain and silver taxes in the Guidewei were a little high. When this natural disaster comes, no one's life will be easy. The governor
Your Excellency, please be kind. Starting from next year, the military pay for the Runing Camp will be 70% of the rated amount, and the food and silver tax for the German Guards will be 80% of this year's rate."
Master Ling gave Wu Shigong a hollow glutinous rice dumpling to eat as soon as he came up. This condition seemed to give Wu Shigong some benefits, but if everything goes well next year, the governor of Henan will have been transferred to the capital as a minister. This account will still have to be paid.
As for Wu Shigong and the newly appointed Henan governor, there is no need for the current Henan governor to worry about it.
But the governor of Henan and Master Ling didn't know. They thought it was the chief minister Zhou Yanru's idea to mobilize Wu Shigong's Runing camp. They didn't know that Yangzhou salt transport envoy Guan Yin and Yangzhou salt merchant Qi Jia were behind this.
To cause harm.
Therefore, the Governor of Henan and Master Ling just thought that this time they were just mobilizing the Runing Battalion to fight in Liaodong. They had no idea that no matter whether Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion won or was defeated, Chief Assistant Zhou Yanru would not let Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion win.
Ningying returned to Henan again.
However, Wu Shigong learned the whole story through Guo Zeng'an's tip, so Wu Shigong immediately heard that Master Ling was eating hollow glutinous rice balls for him. Wu Shigong's reason was somewhat different from Master Ling. He believed that he was basically
I couldn't go back to Henan last time, so next year, whether it's an increase in military pay or a reduction in grain and silver taxes, it's simply a promise made in the air.
Therefore, for Wu Shigong now, it is the best choice to seize the cash and put it in his pocket. However, after hearing Master Ling's conditions, it was too insincere, so Wu Shigong was ready to put Master Ling to dry first.
So Wu Shigong picked up the tea cup and said: "Mr. Ling is tired from the journey, so let's go back and have a rest first. I am also feeling unwell now, so this time Mr. Ling and his party will stop here."
Wu Shigong's flat refusal surprised Master Ling. He quickly asked: "Wu Shoubei can say whatever he wants! Some things are not difficult to talk about."
Wu Shigong smiled slightly and said: "Mr. Ling is too unhappy. He hides everything and just doesn't want to tell the truth to me. If we continue to talk like this, it is just a waste of time."
"How can you say that? Didn't the student's conditions give Wu Shoubei great benefits?"
"What are the benefits you mentioned? We at Runing Camp should have received 70% of the military pay. The grain and silver taxes that belong to the German Guards were originally paid the most. Next year, we will pay 80% of this year's salary, which is still higher than others.
There are so many guards here. How can this show Mr. Ling's sincerity?"
"What do Wu Shoubei mean?" Master Ling breathed a sigh of relief. As long as we add or subtract from these two points, it will still have no impact on the current governor of Henan, so Master Ling decided that if Wu Shigong's conditions were not excessive, he would
Be prepared to agree immediately.
"The Runing Battalion will receive 80% of next year's military salary. I am not a shady person, and I don't want to tamper with the interests of other colleagues. As for the food and silver tax of Guidewei, I will pay 50% of this year's salary."
"That's a bit too much!" Master Ling pretended to think about it for a moment and then said, "Then the student will just take this risk and agree to Wu Shoubei. But, about the Runing camp's expedition...?"
"I haven't finished talking about my conditions yet." Wu Shigong immediately said, "This year I was deducted more than 3,000 taels of military pay by Li Bing Beidao for no apparent reason. The governor will have to handle this matter for me."
Be fair."
Master Ling frowned when he heard this. Master Ling also knew about this matter, but it involved colleagues in the Henan officialdom, which made Master Ling a little embarrassed. This blocked Li Bingbeidao's financial path for no reason.
This kind of thing is also a big taboo in officialdom.
So Master Ling discussed with Wu Shigong: "Now that the new year is approaching, all government expenses have been written off. Wu Shoubei's matter of money has to wait until next year." Seeing the anger on Wu Shigong's face, Master Ling
He quickly continued, "Don't worry, Wu Shou Bei! Do you think this will work? This time the Runing Battalion goes on an expedition, the supply of food and grass will be given to the Runing Battalion more, and then it will be allocated to Wu Shou Bei from the arsenal and the governor's Biao camp."
These horses and armor, students promise, Wu Shoubei will never suffer a loss."
After hearing this, Wu Shigong's expression relaxed. He was also in the mood to joke with Master Ling: "I can't be too reassured by your guarantee. I have also suffered a loss from you once."
After hearing Wu Shigong mention the last time Wu Shigong gave money for military merit, Master Ling quickly explained: "This may have misunderstood the students. The students did their best to do what Wu Shoubei did last time. But the students also explained it in advance.
, we, the governor, are unable to handle the arrangements made by the officials!"
"Okay! Okay!" Wu Shigong smiled and waved his hand and said, "I don't mean to blame you. Let's not talk about the past. But this time, I hope Mr. Ling will keep his promise!"
"That's for sure! It's for sure!"
Next, Wu Shigong reached a detailed agreement with Master Ling. In addition to the military salary for the Runing camp and the grain and silver taxes for the Guide Guards, the Henan governor will also allocate Wu Shigong 500 shi of grain and 100 shi to Wu Shigong for this expedition.
Horses, armor, weapons and some bows and arrows. Although Wu Shigong's army did not use bows and arrows frequently, it was not in vain to get bows and arrows.
Wu Shigong did some mental calculations and found that the value of these things was about the same as three thousand taels of silver. The main purpose of his trouble this time was to test the bottom line of the civil servants, not to completely break up with the civil servants. Since he had already obtained
If there are benefits, then just accept it as soon as it is good.
In addition, Wu Shigong proposed that the Runing Battalion will march along the canal this time. Although it is already winter and the water in the canal has frozen, it is impossible to sail, but there are water transport official warehouses on both sides of the canal to provide the army with food and grass.
, Wu Shigong’s dilemma when King Qin had no food and grass last time would never happen again.
Of course, Wu Shigong would not make it clear to Master Ling that during the Runing Camp's expedition this time, he would turn around and run away as soon as he saw something was wrong.
Wu Shigong's Runing Battalion was not familiar with the terrain of Liaodong at all, and without a map of Liaodong, he had no idea how long it was from Shanhaiguan to Dalinghe City. Therefore, Wu Shigong was always on the army's cart, loading the army.
One month of food and grass. If they escape, they can always escape from Dalinghe City back to Shanhaiguan within a month. Otherwise, even if the army can escape, they will starve to death due to lack of food and grass.
Master Ling also agreed to Wu Shigong's request. The last time Wu Shigong went north to King Qin, there was a huge quarrel over food and grass in Beizhili.
Until now, some state capitals in Beizhili are still fighting lawsuits with the governor of Henan over the issue of grain and grass. Although it was Wu Shigong's rogue behavior that embarrassed the officials in Beizhili, in the end most of those officials still
The account was charged to the governor of Henan.
Although the Governor of Henan is not afraid of these low-level officials, they are always a troublesome matter, so this time Wu Shigong marched along the canal and no longer caused trouble for the Governor of Henan. How could Master Ling disapprove of such a thing?
After negotiating all this, Master Ling left several followers in Runing Fucheng to supervise the dispatch of troops from the Runing camp. He immediately returned to Kaifeng City and reported to the governor of Henan. Wu Shigong also arranged for some soldiers to follow him.
He went to Kaifeng City with Master Ling to receive the provisions, horses, armor and weapons that Master Ling had promised to the Runing camp.
After Master Ling left, Zhang Xuebin asked Wu Shigong: "Sir, you didn't sign any written documents when Mr. Ling left this time. What if they regret it later?"
"Is a written document useful?" Wu Shigong asked, "Even if there is a document, if the governor regrets it when the time comes, I may not be able to take this document and go to court with him?"
Zhang Xuebin thought it was right when he heard it, but he then asked: "Then your Excellency should also give Mr. Ling some local specialties, so that he returns empty-handed. This is also a lack of etiquette."
"It's not necessary! This time, the governor can put down his dignity and talk to me, just to ask me to go out. As long as my Runing camp goes out, it will be the best gift for the governor. Besides, the governor has repeatedly
Let my Runing camp fight, because I already don’t want to see you anymore, so sending gifts now won’t make up for the relationship between me and the governor, so it’s refreshing to pay with one hand and deliver the goods with the other!”
So in the end, Master Ling quietly left Runing Fucheng, and he didn't take a single cloud with him when he left!