Fu Shanhe

Chapter 53 The Art of Spending Money
"Do you have any different opinions?"

Marquis Wuyang asked as usual.

Pardoning the relatives of traitors is a big deal.

With such a heavy responsibility, we must find more people to share it.

Everyone may not care about the life and death of the Yangzhou gentry, but the safety of Yangzhou City is related to everyone's lives.

The political risks of making decisions on one's own have never been a problem for a group of people with connections.

“Since no one objects, let’s draft a notice and post it as soon as possible.

Recruiting young and strong people to defend the city must also be implemented as soon as possible.

Captain Li, you have been in charge of Yangzhou affairs recently and are most familiar with the situation here, so this matter will be handed over to you.

You have three days to recruit 50,000 young men to defend the city!"

Wuyang Hou's decision did not surprise Li Mu.

Those who are capable should work harder, and this is the same in any world.

The more capable you appear, the heavier the tasks you will be required to undertake.

"Commander-in-chief, three days is too short. It is impossible to recruit 50,000 young and strong men.

Although Yangzhou is a large prefecture, its population is widely distributed.

The remote counties are now bordering the rebels, and all places are recruiting young and strong people to defend the city. We can only recruit people from the provincial capital and the suburbs.

What's more, the military supplies in the treasury are limited, and there are not that many weapons for them to use.

The Wucheng Bingmasi had five thousand soldiers, plus the garrison troops of Yangzhou Prefecture, the three shifts of yamen runners, and the young and strong men in service, totaling over ten thousand people.

I suggest that we recruit another 10,000 young and strong men to help defend the city!"

Li Mu explained helplessly.

It is also troublesome if the boss does not understand military affairs.

Do you really think this is a play? With just a random order, 50,000 troops can be mobilized.

Even without considering logistical issues, managing so many soldiers is a difficult task.

Even if only 10,000 young and strong men were recruited, the number of troops under everyone's command would be three times more.

The number of soldiers actually assigned to each general will only increase further.

Who would dare to hand over the troops to those guys who are just there to make up the numbers?

"no!
Recruiting only 10,000 young and strong men is too few. At least 20,000 people should be recruited.

With 30,000 men guarding the huge Yangzhou Prefecture, the military force is already very tight.

During the founding years, Duke Xingguo led 50,000 troops to defend Yangzhou Prefecture, but the battle was extremely fierce and they even lost three counties!"

Marquis Wuyang decisively refused and also took the opportunity to popularize his half-baked historical knowledge.

"The general will get the order!"

Li Mu agreed reluctantly.

Deep down, he was too exhausted to complain.

Comparing the struggle for supremacy among warlords during the founding years with the current local rebellions is too much of an overreaction to the rebels.

What's more, what was being guarded at that time was the entire Yangzhou Prefecture, not just the city of Yangzhou.

……

The palace in the west of the city.

Looking at the pardon document in his hand, Wang Wenju did not speak for a long time.

The efficiency is so high that the job is done right after I give the gift.

Except for not being able to meet Marquis Wuyang, everything was perfect overall.

"Yichen, you have done a great deed this time!
The Wang family was able to escape this disaster, it was really..."

Before Wang Wenju could finish, Wang Yichen interrupted and said, “Uncle, this is not over yet.

The gift we gave before was only for the middleman, and Marquis Wuyang’s share still needs to be supplemented.

In addition to the Five Cities Military Affairs Department, the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard also need to be taken care of.

The offer over there was very high. The document of pardon alone cost fifty thousand taels, and the one for Marquis Wuyang was also fifty thousand taels.

The package price for the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard is 100,000 taels. If we get the emperor's pardon decree, we will need to add an additional 100,000 taels."

As soon as the specific figures came out, the faces of the people who were originally happy suddenly turned ugly. "Haha...

It's just three hundred thousand taels. It can buy the lives of more than a hundred people in my Wang family. This money is worth it!
All the families should pool their money together, even if it means selling everything they have, they must raise the money as soon as possible.

Yichen has prepared a generous gift for your classmate. Tell him to do as they say. I just hope to introduce Captain Li to you."

Wang Wenjuan laughed.

It doesn’t matter if you have a big appetite. The more you want, the more capable you are.

If he only accepted tens of thousands of taels and said that he could settle the case of treason, he would not feel at ease.

He had also heard of Li Mu's name.

Although I don't know where this person got his connections, the fact that he was able to speak in front of Marquis Wuyang and have connections with the factory guards cannot be faked.

"Brother, you have to think about it carefully.

This is two hundred thousand taels, maybe even three hundred thousand taels.

After paying out this money, my Wang family suffered serious damage and it will take several years to recover.

Otherwise, if you use your connections in Beijing, you definitely won't be able to spend so much money.

Yichen, why don't you hang out with your classmates and see if you can reduce the amount.

He is just a thousand households, so it doesn't matter if he takes a little less."

A middle-aged man who looked like a businessman said with a frown.

In name, all the families contribute together, but in reality, his family definitely pays the heaviest share.

There is no other reason, his family runs the family business and has the most cash on hand.

If given a choice, few big families would sell their fields or land.

Even though the profits from these industries are far lower than those from the clan’s business.

"Old Five, shut up!

Remember, distant water cannot quench immediate thirst, and the officialdom is not a business world.

Can the connections in the capital be used to deal with the Five Cities Army, or the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot?
Or in other words, can they obtain the emperor's edict of pardon before we are settled with others?

If you do something knowing it is impossible, you are courting death.

In the future, when you meet people in official positions, you can bargain for some money, but you must never save the money for your life.

Now our lives are in the hands of others.

If we are not careful enough during operation and leave any hidden dangers, we will die without a burial place.

Captain Li is very kind to give us a pardon document from the imperial envoy first. If it were someone else, they would have asked for money first!"

Wang Wenju couldn't help but scold angrily.

He had been an official and was very familiar with the unspoken rules of officialdom.

Many times, the most frightening thing is not spending money, but having money but not being able to spend it.

Their previous marriage with the Yin family was just to expand their network of contacts, but they were unlucky and ended up falling into a deadly network.

"Brother is right, I was the one who was confused!"

Seeing that the head of the family was angry, the middle-aged man hurriedly stood up and apologized.

You are so busy worrying about the money that you forget that there are differences between military generals.

The thousand households who hold the power of life and death and those thousand households in the garrisons outside the city who have been reduced to the level of village chiefs are obviously not on the same level.

"Humph!

I don't want you to make the same mistake today again.

The Seven Great Families of Lianghuai are the best negative examples.

If they hadn't been so greedy, they wouldn't have been wiped out today!"

Wang Wenju said earnestly.

He was really scared.

If I go out to work as an official and my clansmen cause trouble, I would be in great trouble.

　Recommended book: The End of the Qing Dynasty

　　
　
(End of this chapter)