Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 259 Redemption
But Wang Chengen will never be satisfied with this. Why did Zhu Youjian pull down his face and ask Li Jing to pay the money in advance?If there is no money, the soldiers below will not be willing to contribute, or they will use too much force, and if they have no money, they will find a way to solve it by themselves and take it directly from the local area.

Then the common people will be unlucky again, it’s fine if the rogues come to rob them, after all, that’s what the rogues do, they are professional robbers, if they are robbed, they can only pinch their noses to recognize them.

But the nature of the officers and soldiers' robbing is different. Are you here to help us fight the rogues or to join forces with the rogues?If you don't let us live, just use a knife to fight with you, and then force another group of rebels to come out.

Wang Chengen knew that the officers and soldiers had done a lot of things like this. Over the past few years, the frontier army had either mutinied or joined the army of rogues. In the final analysis, they had no money.

The officials and soldiers who had no money started to rob, and after they knew that they had committed a capital crime, they immediately joined the camp of the rogues, and the strength of the rogues grew stronger and stronger.

Originally, the rogues were just a group of farmers who only knew how to use hoes to cultivate the land. They seemed to have a lot of momentum, but they were actually just a group of rabble.

The big victories won by the rogues are usually thousands of people against a hundred or so officers and soldiers, some of which cannot even be called officials. When people swarmed up, it was easy to take it down, but once they met the regular army, the rogues would be caught blind.

Because they don't know how to fight at all, a few thousand officers and soldiers can beat tens of thousands or even 10,000+ bandits and run around.

But after these defected officers and soldiers join in, it will be different. After these professional swordsmen and guns join, the rogues who were originally farmers will naturally have to learn the skills of fighting and killing people from the officers and soldiers, so the overall combat ability of the rogues has been greatly improved. As a result, the encirclement and suppression by the government and army began to become more and more difficult, and they were not even opponents directly.

The biggest reason for this situation is that the imperial court has no money to pay the soldiers. Zhu Youjian naturally understands why this happens, so this time the bandits in Hebei revived, he was anxious to raise military salaries.

After pondering for a while, Wang Cheng'en suddenly said: "General Li, the Jingji store is your property, and Ma Wu, the big shopkeeper of the Jingcheng store, must be the general's confidant. I think the five Ma brothers mentioned Wang to the general."

Li Jingjing nodded. He would never deny such a big matter. If he said that Ma Wu never mentioned to him that he knew Wang Chengen, then he would simply underestimate Wang Chengen's IQ.

Wang Chengen will not be ignorant of his own methods of imperial power. If Ma Wu dared to conceal such a major event as knowing Wang Chengen, how could Li Jing use him so much?

Seeing that Li Jingting nodded and said nothing, Wang Chengen sighed and thought, I've found it now. I didn't mention that it was against the rules for him to receive me in Yuncheng, and he won't accept me now.

After a wry smile, Wang Chengen continued: "General Li, I guess Brother Ma Wu also told you about our relationship?"

Li Jing still nodded with a smile.

Wang Chengen shook his head, pointed at Li Jing and said with a wry smile, "Ma Wu and I are brothers, no one in the Jingji firm in the capital dared to touch Wang, and he did his part."

Seeing what Wang Chengen said, Li Jing couldn't pretend to be stupid any longer, and clasped his fists at Wang Chengen and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Wang, for your great help. Fifth Brother did mention to me what Eunuch Wang did."

Wang Chengen waved his hand and said: "General Li, you are being polite. Wang has no other intentions in mentioning Brother Ma Wu. He just wants to ask the general to take care of Ma Wu and let Wang hand over the errand."

Li Jing sighed and said: "Wang Gonggong said so, how can Li shirk it? But 50 taels of silver is indeed a lot! Li can't take it out for a while. I know that my father-in-law may not believe it, so let's do it, anyway, Wang Gonggong is not I will leave immediately, and I will take Wang Gonggong to look around Pingyang Mansion in the past few days, after Wang Gonggong has seen it, he will know why Li refused to advance the money."

Wang Chengen nodded. He still knew a little about Li Jing. He knew that Li Jing always said one thing and two things. There are too many places, and Li Jing's money can't be opened any more.

At this time, Zhou Hengchen next to him said: "My lord, in fact, the Pingyang Mansion is in its current situation thanks to the support of General Li. I calculated it a few days ago. In the past year and a half, the Pingyang Mansion owes General Li a lot." There are at least 200 million taels of silver. Originally, I planned to pay the debt with taxes from the Pingyang Mansion, but General Li said that money is needed everywhere now, so there is no need to rush to pay back the money.”

Wang Chengen nodded slightly, and said in his heart, even the salaries of you officials are probably paid by Li Jing. According to the military salaries Li Jing gave to the soldiers, the salaries of you people are not low, and the low-level officials below are estimated to be at least a year. It also costs more than ten or even tens of thousands of taels of silver.The water conservancy projects in various parts of Pingyang Prefecture have been greatly promoted in the past year, and Li Jing presumably paid for all the expenses. If the military salary is included, I am afraid that 10 million is far from enough.

Li Jing waved his hand and said: "Money is something outside of the body, Li doesn't care about it, as long as it is taken from the people and used for the people, even if Li throws all his belongings in, Li doesn't mind."

Wang Chengen couldn't help but feel ashamed when he heard this. Zhu Youjian wanted the money to pay the soldiers and let them fight the rogues. In fact, many rogues surrendered during the process of exterminating the rogues. These surrendered rogues could not all be killed The rogues who surrendered also had to spend money to resettle them.

The rogues were originally good people. If the emperor had raised money and food to relieve the disaster earlier, the people would not have rebelled at all. Now it is equivalent to spending two shares of money for one thing.

In addition, during the encirclement and suppression process of the rogue bandits' rebellion against Heren, the production in the places where the rogue bandits passed was severely damaged, and what the court lost was not a matter of money.

When a disaster occurred in Henan, Li Jing took people and food to the disaster relief immediately, obviously knowing the serious relationship.

However, Zhu Youjian was still suspicious of Li Jing during the disaster relief process, and even the courtiers impeached him.From this point of view, Zhu Youjian and the court ministers are far from Li Jing's realm.

Seeing that it was getting late, the soldiers reported that the banquet had been arranged properly. Li Jing waved his hands to Wang Chengen and said with a smile: "Eunuch Wang, you are a guest from afar. Mr. Li has prepared some thin wine. Please enjoy a drink."

Wang Chengen said with a smile: "I heard that there are so many generals, I'm afraid Wang can't afford to accompany him."

Li Jing shook his head and said with a smile: "What a huge amount! I can't take it anymore! During the Chinese New Year the year before last, my brothers drank together. Everyone was fine, and I was the only one who got drunk."

Wang Chengen couldn't help being astonished when he heard this.

Zhou Hengchen sighed and continued: "General Li used to drink a lot, but he has been too busy in the past two years, his body has lost weight, and his physical strength is far from what it used to be, so his drinking capacity has naturally decreased. Alas! Don't work too hard, but you can't persuade the general at all, if the general's body is exhausted, then what can we do! The prince is here, help us persuade the general!"

Wang Chengen heard that he looked at Li Jing's face carefully, and couldn't help being surprised, he saw that wrinkles appeared in the corners of Li Jing's eyes.

At Li Jing's age, if he hadn't been overworked, how could he have wrinkles at the corners of his eyes so early?
Sighing lightly, Wang Cheng'en said: "General Li, you have to take care of your health! Our Great Ming is counting on you! If you collapse from exhaustion, who else can clean up the dilapidated situation!"

Li Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "It's okay, my body is fine, don't listen to what Heng Chen is doing. I am still young, I will do more while I am young, and when I am old and can't do it anymore, I will naturally quit."

After listening to Li Jing's words, the corners of Wang Chengen's eyes suddenly became moist.

This person is tough in doing things, but he is simple and unpretentious. People who want to come to Pingyang Mansion are fascinated by his personality charm, so they do things wholeheartedly. How can there be another person like this in Daming?

Sighing, Wang Cheng'en said: "General Li, no matter what, you have to take care of your health. When Wang returns to Beijing, I will definitely recommend you in front of the emperor."

Waving his hand, Li Jing smiled and said, "Eunuch Wang, let's avoid the matter of recommendation! I won't hide it from you. Although I have never met the emperor, I am quite clear about the emperor's character. If you recommend it to me, I'm afraid you can't protect yourself."

Hearing this, Wang Chengen was silent. He knew Zhu Youjian's character better than Li Jing. He was agitated just now, and he regretted what he said too much. He didn't want Li Jing to rescue him directly.Although Li Jing spoke very bluntly, Wang Chengen couldn't help admiring Li Jing even more.

During the conversation, everyone came to the living room, Li Jing greeted everyone to sit down, and then sat on the left and right of Wang Chengen with Zhou Hengchen.

After everyone was seated, Li Jing raised his wine glass and smiled at Wang Chengen: "My lord, Li doesn't have as much delicious food as in the palace, so you can make do with it!"

Wang Chengen looked at the banquet, although it was not as simple as Li Jing said, but compared with Li Jing's status and wealth, these dishes were indeed very simple.

Nodding silently, Li Jing is very similar to Zhu Youjian in terms of simple life, but Zhu Youjian was forced to be frugal, while Li Jing took the initiative to be frugal.

Wang Chengen raised his wine glass to Li Jing and said with a smile: "The conditions in the palace are not very good, and these dishes are already very rich. Come, Wang respects General Li!"

Li Jing raised his wine glass and drank it down in one gulp. Someone beside him hastily filled their wine glasses.

Picking up the wine glass, Li Jing smiled and said, "My lord, Fifth Brother once told me that my father-in-law takes care of the trumpet's business in the capital. I would like to thank Li for that."

After finishing speaking, he drank another glass, Wang Chengen smiled, raised his glass and drank it all, and then said with a smile: "It's just a small effort, nothing to worry about!"

Li Jing smiled and said: "For the friendship between you and Fifth Brother, this time Li will naturally not let Wang Gonggong go back empty-handed. Later, I will give you a 20 tael redemption ticket. You take the redemption ticket to find Fifth Brother." Withdraw the money. In two months, I will ask Fifth Brother to send it to you, what do you think, father-in-law?"

Wang Chengen was overjoyed, raised his wine glass and said, "Thank you General Li, Wang respects General Li."

　Ask for support~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)