I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 220: Xu Gongfu's Outrageous Operation

Seeing that the morale was high, Xu Pengju selected four sons of nobles and instructed them, "Go to Zhenwu Camp immediately and persuade them to understand the situation and take the soldiers back to the camp quickly and stop acting recklessly.

Tell them that the money is being prepared and that they will definitely get a lot of it, and tell them not to act rashly. I know what they want to do, and tell them not to go through all the hard work in vain and get nothing!"

The four sons of the nobles stood up with a smile, patted their chests and said, "Don't worry, Duke. The guerrilla garrisons in the Zhenwu Camp are my lifelong friends. We even drank together a few days ago.

Once we get there, we're sure we'll be able to convince them to pack up their weapons and return to the barracks.

But Duke, the promised silver must be delivered as soon as possible. These bastards only care about silver. When they see silver, they will naturally recognize our brotherhood. If there is no silver, it is really hard to say. "

Xu Pengju waved his hand, signaling them to hurry up and do their work: "Stop making noise, and get down to business. There are so many people here, I, Old Xu, will not steal this little money."

After the four men left, Xu Pengju said to the other nobles and their children, "Okay, go back and raise money. Your family will give 500 taels, your family will give 300 taels, and your family will give 400 taels."

When some sons of noble families complained that the money was too much, Xu Pengju glared at them with a majestic look, as if Yue Fei had been reincarnated, and shouted, "You think this little bit of money is too much! How much money have your family earned over the years? Do you think I know?
Hurry up and spit it out! Why are you so sad? I will return it to you when the money that was distributed is collected."

After everyone was coaxed out of the place with words and scolding, only Xu Pengju, Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng were left in the hall.

There was no one around, so Zhao Zuzheng said bluntly: "Duke, the imperial court is here with bad intentions this time."

"If you have bad intentions, you shouldn't throw these stinky shits out of Zhenwu Camp. These shits will be thrown all over the ground, making the air smoky and foul. We will be covered in stinky shit and unable to escape."

Xu Pengju is very dissatisfied now.

Zhang Tong spread his hands and said, "Duke, this matter has nothing to do with us. We swear to heaven, if we have anything to do with this matter, heaven will punish us with lightning!"

Zhao Zuzheng quickly echoed, "Yes, yes, we have absolutely nothing to do with this!"

Xu Pengju looked at the two men with a half-believing and half-doubting look, "Zhenwu Camp didn't make a fuss earlier or later, but it had to make a fuss when Lord Zhang came. I am the deputy governor of the Central Army and the garrison commander of Nanjing, and you two are the commander-in-chief and the deputy garrison commander. How are you going to explain this to Lord Zhang?"

Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng looked at each other, and Zhang Tong said softly, "Duke, wait until they pacify the Zhenwu Camp, then find an excuse to transfer them out of the city and place them in various military camps, and then arrest a group of officers and soldiers who caused trouble."

Zhang Tong made a vicious beheading gesture with his right hand.
Zhao Zuzheng's eyes sparkled. "Great! If we kill a group of people, then Zhang Ge Lao will have nothing to say. He can also report to his superiors that he acted decisively and led the troops to suppress the rebellion and kill a group of the main culprits. We will definitely sign our names and agree with this memorial."

Zhang Tong smiled happily: "Yes, this way, Lord Zhang has made a contribution, and so have we, and everyone is happy!"

Xu Pengju stroked his beard, listened to the two men singing the same tune, and nodded involuntarily: "Well, this is also a solution. When Lord Zhang comes, I will go and make peace with him."

Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng looked at each other, with a smug look in their eyes.

Zhao Zuzheng added: "The court still doesn't trust us."

Zhang Tong nodded in agreement, "Yes, this time they inspected the Lianghuai Salt Administration twice in one go, it's obvious that they don't trust us."

Xu Pengju said sternly: "The biggest threat to the southeast is not us nobles, but the local families and the Shilin Academy. The court is keeping an eye on us, which is putting the cart before the horse!
If you have the guts, keep an eye on those aristocratic families and those scholars. They are robbing and usurping land, and they will not let go of anything that can make money. They are much more ruthless than us. Why are you keeping an eye on us? "

Zhang Tong's face was filled with a sense of solidarity, "The Duke is right! Damn, those hypocrites, they all shout about justice and morality, but secretly their little hands are happily playing tricks.

Even the Lianghuai Salt Administration is the same, they are the farthest away, but they make the most money, much more ruthless than us."

As the three were scolding the greedy civil servants, the servant came to the door and announced, "Master, the Minister of War, Master Liu, is here."

"Liu Cai?!"

Xu Pengju was stunned for a moment, then he understood the purpose of the Nanjing Minister of War's visit.

He turned to look at Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng, and they immediately came to their senses and said, "Sir, we'll take our leave first."

"Okay, you should go back and make preparations early. This matter in Zhenwuying is not a good thing, but a big trouble."

"Ok."

"Xu Jia, take the two of you out through the back door."

"Yes."

After the two left, Xu Pengju waited for a while and saw Liu Cai hurriedly coming. "Duke," Liu Cai walked into the flower hall and bowed to get straight to the point.

"Minister Liu, what can I do for you?"

"Duke, why do you have to do this?"

Xu Pengju heard that Liu Cai's tone was a little off, so he asked, "What's wrong? Minister Liu, why did you say that?"

"The Zhenwu Camp is rioting over pay, which is tantamount to a mutiny. Do you know, sir?"

"I have received the notification."

"Then do you know who instigated the Zhenwu Camp?"

"Who? It's those bastards. They took advantage of Elder Zhang's arrival to embarrass me. Minister Liu, this is also embarrassing you."

"Of course I know that you are embarrassing me. Sir, don't you really know who instigated the Zhenwu Camp?"

"Who is it?" Xu Pengju was startled, his mind suddenly flashed, and he suddenly thought, "Could it be that rebellious son in my house, Xu Bangrui!"

Liu Cai was stunned by what Xu Pengju said. Hmm, why are they talking about him?

"Sir, why did Xu Bangrui instigate and incite the Zhenwu Camp? He holds a public office and has some connection with the Zhenwu Camp. If something goes wrong, he will be in trouble. Why did he go and cause trouble?"

When Xu Pengju heard this, he thought it made sense.

Although he did not like this eldest son of a concubine and only wanted to pass the title of Duke to the youngest son of a concubine, Xu Bangning, the imperial court was most concerned with the seniority of legitimate and illegitimate sons. The Duke of Wei's mansion had no legitimate son, so he would choose from the concubine sons according to seniority, otherwise it would be against the moral code and disrupt the law.

I have spent so much energy and done so many things, but I just can't go beyond the moral code. Xu Bangrui just needs to stay honest, and the position of Duke of Wei will be his.

There's really no need to do so much.

Xu Pengju wondered in his heart, if it wasn’t Xu Bangrui, then who could it be?
Which bastard dares to plot against our Xu family!

His expression suddenly changed, and he blurted out, "It's Xu Bangning, the rebellious son!"

Liu Cai sighed, "I just received news that Xu Bangning instigated and instigated the Zhenwu Camp to cause chaos."

Xu Pengju jumped up like a toad, waving his sleeves and shouting, "Impossible, this is impossible! My youngest son is the most sensible, how could he do such a rebellious thing?"

Liu Cai sighed and said, "Master, no matter how sensible your son Qilin is, he can't resist someone secretly tempting him."

"Who?"

"Master, think about it carefully. Think about it again. Who could have persuaded him to do such a thing and try to take advantage of the chaos?"

Xu Pengju finally came to his senses, his face changed drastically, "You bastard! I trusted you so much!"

Suddenly, Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng came running back in a hurry, sweating and terrified.

"My Lord, something bad has happened! The people from Zhenwu Camp suddenly went crazy and rushed into North City, looting merchants and civilians. North City is now in chaos."

Xu Pengju and Liu Cai were both shocked and hurriedly ran out of the flower hall. Standing in the yard, they looked up and saw several columns of black smoke rising from the direction of the north city.

Liu Cai's face turned pale, and he stamped his feet repeatedly: "Duke Wei, you better take care of yourself!"

After saying that, he turned and left.

Xu Pengju's face turned pale and he was as dumb as a wooden chicken. He didn't know what to say for a moment.

Zhang Tong and Zhao Zuzheng didn't understand what was going on. Looking at Xu Pengju's extremely ugly face, they didn't know what to say.

(End of this chapter)