When Tu Guobao returned to camp, he was as wilted as an eggplant beaten by frost.
Bad news came one after another. He was extorted of more than one million taels of silver by the fake admiral Zhu Wu. He had always been the only one who could extort money from others. Unexpectedly, he was being blackmailed by someone else now. He was so ruthless that he was trying to steal the marrow. His techniques were better than his.
Much more ruthless.
But in order to save his official title, and especially his life, he had no choice but to accept the offer.
With extreme reluctance, he wrote several letters of trust to Zhu Wu and signed and signed them as pledges. Zhu Wu told him another bad news with a smile. All his money in the underground secret room of Suzhou City Government Office was stolen.
The search was complete. When he heard the news, his vision went dark and he fainted without even taking a breath.
After being awakened by being pinched, he had been in a daze.
"Brother Tu, there is no need to be too sad. Money and money are all external things. For people like us, surviving in cracks and preserving lives is the most important thing. As long as lives and official positions are there, there will be men, and women will have money.
Come on." Li Yuchun persuaded from the side, looking like someone who had come before.
Yang Guohai, Zou Xixiang, and the captured Central Army Lieutenant General Cao Hu, who had just been released by Zhu Wu, were all listless. The more than 100,000 taels of silver that Yang Guohai had saved through hard work in smuggling, extortion, and robbery were also found and confiscated. Zou Xixiang and
Cao Hu also lost tens of thousands taels each.
Cao Hu was even more unlucky. He was abandoned in the Qionglong Mountain camp and became a prisoner. He suffered a lot at the hands of the Ming army. He was almost killed with a whip and a tiger's bench. In his heart, he actually had resentment towards Tu Guobao and the others. After all, they usually kept talking about it.
Talking about my brother, I actually sold him at the critical moment.
Tu Guobao also felt a little ashamed of his brother, but he didn't have the energy to comfort him now.
Returning to Yan Wagong's camp, Tu Guobao still asked with some suspicion, "Are you really willing to help me like this?"
"We are all fallen people from the end of the world." As Yan Wogong said, he quickly drafted a secret loan agreement. Yan Wagong, Li Yuchun, Wu Zhikui, Zheng Jiwu and other generals each dispatched a group of war horses to save the money.
Horses, armor, swords, guns, food, etc. were given to Tu Guobao to collect the down payment of 360,000 taels of silver.
Of course, this is not selfless. This is borrowing. Not only does it have to be repaid, but there is also interest.
The pseudo-admiral Zhu Wu asked Tu Guobao to pay 30% of the down payment, and the remaining 70% could be paid in ten-year installments without interest, but they would not be so generous and the interest would have to be collected.
There are even handling fees.
Li Yuchun proposed to calculate the profit at three points, and then charge 20% for the handling fee. From the down payment of 360,000 taels needed for Tu Guobao, he was willing to collect 160,000 taels of materials for him, with a monthly profit of three cents, and the annual interest would be 50,000.
Seven thousand six hundred taels, and the handling fee will be another thirty-two thousand taels. After one year, the principal and interest will total 249,600 taels.
He can earn half of the profit in one year. This transaction is very cost-effective for Li Yuchun. Anyway, he is learning and selling now. The money Zhu Wu gave him to redeem the city silver and redeem the people's silver was even more ruthless. The compound interest increased year by year, and the handling fees were even higher.
high.
When Tu Guobao saw the agreement drawn by Li Yuchun and the others, the muscles in his face couldn't stop twitching. This was really blood-sucking.
Especially since this was a capitalless business, Li Yuchun would get a batch of horses, livestock, money, food, equipment, etc. from the army and give him money to lend him, and he would be able to collect nearly 90,000 taels of interest a year, and then later report the battle losses to his superiors, which would consume a lot of money.
, there is no capital at all, it is a huge profit.
But he couldn't say anything yet, and even had to force a smile, very grateful for their generosity in helping.
"As I said, we are both fallen people from the end of the world. From now on, when we work as officials in the south of the Yangtze River, we will have to rely on each other and hug each other for warmth, right." Li Yuchun was in a good mood at this time. He was not only earning ninety thousand taels of silver with a huge profit.
.
But my way will never be alone.
In the past, he had always been on tenterhooks, always feeling that it was difficult to keep the things he had done secret. Now that more and more people are making secret deals with Zhu Wu, he feels much more relaxed.
"The fall of Suzhou was mainly due to Li Shutai's dereliction of duty. If he had not advanced rashly, ignored Suzhou, and insisted on taking away all the elite cavalry who stayed behind, Suzhou would not have been defeated and then defeated."
He put a hundred thousand taels of IOU in his arms and said slowly. He used Tu Guobao to send a large amount of money, food, horses and armors he had accumulated to Jianguo smoothly. He could also find Tuguobao to repay the principal and interests later, and even Lu Jianguo
He also gave him a cash back commission. This kind of good thing, eating the plaintiff and being passive, both inside and outside, made Mr. Yan feel comfortable all over.
"Yes, the loss of Suzhou was due to Li Sutai's serious dereliction of duty. We worked hard to recapture Suzhou, but it was a success." Li Yuchun said quickly.
Tu Guobao's eyes gradually became brighter after hearing this.
"Where is Li Shutai?" Yan Wogong asked.
"We haven't made contact yet. I guess the yellow thief has gone too far. He may have gone along the Wusong River to Shanghai or Baoshan."
Zheng Jiwu, who had not spoken much, put the 50,000 taels of debt that belonged to him into his arms and interjected, "Li Shutai is not only a third-class Maile Zhangjing, he also holds the title of minister."
, especially if his father is Li Yongfang. If a lawsuit is really going to start, given his status, I'm afraid the higher-ups will favor him instead of Tu Futai."
When Tu Guobao heard this, his face fell instantly.
Indeed, his national treasure is incomparable to Li Sutai.
Zheng Jiwu added slowly, "Of course, if Li Shutai unfortunately died in Wusong, and the blame for the fall of Suzhou was placed on him, the dead would never refuse to refute."
Tu Guobao was stunned.
this·····
Zheng Jiwu said slowly, "Of course, I'm just saying this, but if Li Shutai was tougher, or even luckier, not only did he not die, but he also made great achievements in Wusong, such as capturing Huang Fei and annihilating the thieves Ni,
Even if Tufutai can redeem Suzhou City, I'm afraid it will still be difficult to explain."
The subtext is obvious. We have to find someone to take the blame, and Li Shutai is the most suitable. After all, he is the minister of the Xieshou, Meile Zhangjing, who commands the elite Manqi. He is responsible for Wu Shengzhao, Li Chengdong, and others who stayed in Suzhou after they left.
of.
Tu Guobao pondered undecidedly.
Over there, Yang Guohai couldn't help but ask, "But Li Shutai can't be contacted, how can we kill him?"
Zheng Jiwu still said slowly, "It's not difficult to say that it's difficult. If Tufutai needs my help, I can, but..."
"If you have any conditions, just ask General Zheng." Yang Guohai now also knew that if he wanted to stand up, he had to keep his uncle's official position.
"I can lead troops to find Li Shutai, kill him, and then blame Zhu Wu. But after the incident is completed, I hope to get 50,000 taels of silver. In addition, if I kill Li Shutai, I will also invite the local governor.
Please help me win the position of chief military officer guarding Suzhou."
Tu Guobao was shocked by these words. He didn't expect this cold guy to be so ruthless and even a little wary. They were too kind to him. Li Shutai was not an ordinary person. He killed Li Shutai for himself.
The risk is too great.
"Brother Zheng is so righteous." Tu Guobao said.
"It's nothing. It's a deal for fifty thousand taels of silver. Let alone Li Shutai, I'm willing to try to kill Hong Chengchou."
Tu Guobao sucked in the air-conditioning.
Yan Woggong laughed and interrupted, "Actually, Brother Zheng was just joking with Brother Tu, but if Li Sutai is unfortunate, it will be good for us all. After all, we have spent so much real money to help Brother Tu, and we don't want this to happen."
It’s all wasted.”
"Of course, if Brother Tu wants to be on the safe side, it would be best to kill Li Shutai, but there is no need to trouble General Zheng to personally lead troops to fight. You only need to send a loyal soldier to chase Li Shutai on a light horse.
, approached him on the pretense of delivering a message, stabbed him to death in his camp, and then blamed the Ming army assassin for what he did."
Zheng Jiwu added next to him, "Killing Li Shutai, Tufutai can also take the opportunity to annex his troops. Then there will be a scapegoat and troops, killing two birds with one stone!"
Tu Guobao felt that these guys were more ruthless than the other, and he immediately felt like he was on a pirate ship trying to steal the skin of a tiger.
