Daming talker

Chapter 533 The most critical year

Lin Tailai and Prefect Xu were talking back and forth, as if the matter of Songjiang Prefecture borrowing troops from Suzhou Guard for garrison was about to be settled.

This scared the local gentry around, as there were precedents of this kind of thing.

For example, in Yangzhou, since hundreds of Suzhou guards entered Yangzhou Shuicang, the power structure of Yangzhou City has changed drastically in a few years!
In fact, normally speaking, 1,500 soldiers were not scary to the powerful gentry. The Jinshan Guards and Jinshan General in Songjiang Prefecture had more soldiers under their command, so they were not taken too seriously.

But if these 1,500 government troops had someone like Lin Tailai as their political backer, that would be another matter!
"No way!" Xu Fan interrupted, "The matter of garrison is of great importance, we must take a long-term view!"

Mr. Lin chewed the dried fruit fed by the beauty in his arms and said without even raising his eyelids:
“I, a Nine Yuan True Immortal, a member of the Hanyuan Tsinghua University, and the first deputy leader of the literary world, was tricked into jail in your precious place, and was almost surrounded and killed!

Of course, I don't mind the suffering I endure, I will just consider it as my spiritual practice in the human world, but I only hope that this can improve the atmosphere in your precious land!

If your precious land doesn't improve at all, then wouldn't I have suffered in vain?"

Everyone: "."

Before you, Lin Jiuyuan, say that you have suffered and been in trouble, can you let go of the beauty in your arms first?

Xu Fan gave Feng Shike a look, asking him to come out and smooth things over, but Feng Shike pretended not to see it.

If you don't listen to the old man, you will suffer! Feng Shike has been trying to persuade people from the beginning, but did anyone listen? Now that the situation is out of control, why do you think of him again?
Xu Fan was helpless. Regardless of whether he was the relative of Lin Taifu or a prominent local figure, he had to step forward and face Lin Tailai in person.

In fact, he really doesn't like such passive negotiations. All the advantages are in the hands of the other party, and he has almost no ability to fight back. How can he negotiate?
The main reason was that the pace changed too quickly. They thought Lin Tailai would continue to stay in jail and delay it. After all, one more day of delay would allow Suzhou to earn one more day of money.

But they didn't expect that the situation would take a sudden turn for the worse and the locals had no time to react at all.

Xu Fan prepared himself mentally and said to Lin Tai: "You said before that Xinwu Society would take over the cotton cloth produced by all the tenants of Lin Taifu's family? Now it can be decided."

Mr. Lin was surprised and said, "Wasn't this something that was decided a few days ago? Why is the Minister of Rites repeating it again?"

The well-trained Xu Fan asked patiently, "So what are the new rules now?"

Mr. Lin finally let go of the beauty, stretched out his hand, and made a circle towards everyone, as if to circle everyone in.

Then he said, "It's not just the Lin family. All the cotton cloth produced by your tenants will be taken over by the Xinwu Society! We will buy and sell it all!"

The gentry present silently calculated that the total amount of cotton cloth that their tenants could export was about one million pieces.

Xu Fan subconsciously said, "Too much, right?"

Mr. Lin sneered, "Is that a lot? Your families must own hundreds of thousands of acres of land, right? You must have tens of thousands of tenants, right?

With so many tenants, they can only produce one million pieces of commercial cloth every year. The small peasant economy is just a small peasant economy. "

Xu Fan emphasized, "Whether a million horses is a lot is another matter, but your appetite for everything is indeed a bit big."

Mr. Lin looked at Xu Fan as if he were a fool, "Did you forget something?

Am I the only one who can take care of it? Does Xinwu Company also have shares in you or yours?"

Xu Fan: “.”

Very good, there is no problem with this condition!

As long as there is no "stationing of troops", it would be fine if we can reach this conclusion.

Lin Tailai took the opportunity to push his luck and said, "I heard that the seawall in the southeast of the county town has been in disrepair for a long time. After dredging the old course of the lower reaches of the Wusong River, we can consider rebuilding the seawall.

We have a general engineering bureau within the Lin Group, which has two engineering teams under it, and they are responsible for general contracting, design, budgeting, and public relations."

After discussing with the others, Xu Fan said, "The reconstruction of the seawall can be started, but it must be carried out by the Xinwu Society as the main body. We don't want your Engineering Bureau to enter Songjiang Prefecture!"

"That's fine." Lin Tailai did not insist on this issue.

Xu Fan just felt exhausted. The last time he felt so exhausted was when he was exiled by Gao Gong. He felt that the negotiations could be ended, so he asked tentatively, "Is that it?"

Then Mr. Lin seemed very satisfied with Xu Fan's attitude, "Very good, I appreciate your sincerity in improving the atmosphere.

Therefore, the Suzhou Guards can reduce their garrison troops from 1,500 to 1,000. We don’t need that many people anymore!”

Everyone: "."

Xu Fan, who was presiding over the negotiations, felt that if he were forty years younger and one or two feet taller, he would rush up and strangle Lin Tailai to death!
Even Feng Shike, who insisted on right-wing capitulationism, could not stand it anymore and said, "Jiuyuan Jun! Be a human being!"

Lin Tailai asked: "Without stationing troops, how can we ensure that the agreement is implemented? If I come to Songjiang Prefecture again in the future, how can I be guaranteed to be safe?
After all, Lin Taifu is a relative of the Xu family, and I can't place a huge bet on Lin Taifu's character."

Feng Shike had no choice but to smooth things over, pulling Xu Fan aside and whispering, "The future of Lin Jiuyuan's legitimate son is uncertain, but he still has two illegitimate sons from his harem.

One of them has been engaged to the daughter of Shin Sang's second son, and the other is unmarried and can be decided immediately."

After thinking for a while, Xu Fan nodded and said, "If Lin Jiuyuan agrees, I have no objection.

My eldest grandson Xu Youqing has a daughter who is about the same age."

Feng Shike returned to Lin Tailai and whispered a few words.

After thinking for a while, Mr. Lin nodded and said, "Okay!"

It's a pity for a legitimate son to marry a daughter of the Xu family, but if it's a bastard's son, there's nothing wrong with it.

The speech was finally coming to an end, and Mr. Lin suddenly seemed to have just remembered something, "Oh, right, the Lin family instigated the tenants to besiege me, so they should be fined 10,000 acres of land as compensation to me!"

Xu Fan didn't want to say anything more except "Alpaca" and just looked at Feng Shike.

Feng Shike could no longer bear it and said, "Reduce it by half to 5,000 acres! This is the final condition!"

Mr. Lin muttered loudly, "Five thousand acres is five thousand acres. I really can't do anything about you locals who protect each other."

The arduous negotiations finally came to an end and the sovereignty crisis of Songjiang Prefecture was resolved.

The price that the gentry of Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, paid for this was just the right to purchase and sell a mere one million pieces of cotton cloth, the general contracting rights for the future 100-mile seawall project, the ownership of 5,000 acres of land, and the "marriage of a daughter".

Coming out of the county government office, Xu Fan, who had come to his senses, sighed to Feng Shike, "I really don't know what we talked about. It seems like we've lost more after this discussion?"

Feng Shike replied: "At least I bought Lin Taipu's life. How much do you think Lin Taipu's life is worth?"

Xu Fan: “.”

Feng Shike, do you know that the way you speak is becoming more and more like Lin?
After the crisis was over, Mr. Lin happily moved out of the county prison and compensated Lin Taifu with 56 stone of rice.

He then continued his neighborly visit in Songjiang Prefecture and visited the Feng family, staying there for two days.

Then he went to Shanghai County, symbolically walked around the construction site, and then continued to meet with various gentry. During this period, Chen Jiru brought a man named Xu Guangqi who failed the imperial examination to ask Lin Daguanren for help in finding a job.

Xu Guangqi, Chen Jiru, Dong Qichang and others all took the provincial examination together that year and could be considered "classmates", but Xu Guangqi and Chen Jiru have both failed consecutively until now, so they can hardly bear the same fate.

Chen Jiru had given up the idea of ​​taking the imperial examination, but Xu Guangqi still wanted to continue to challenge the path to fame and fortune.

After thinking about it, Mr. Lin asked Xu Guangqi to temporarily help him manage the newly acquired 5,000 acres of land in Huating County, and to study for the exam at the same time.

After visiting Shanghai County, Mr. Lin’s eastern tour officially ended and he returned to the loyal Suzhou Prefecture.

When they entered Suzhou Prefecture along the waterway, they heard loud gongs and drums, and firecrackers. Hundreds of gang members and ordinary people on the shore warmly welcomed Lin Zuoguan's safe return.

A few months ago, when Mr. Lin had just returned to Suzhou and inspected the group internally, he issued an instruction to "march eastwards and march towards the waterways" and actively prepared to control the new Wusong River waterway.

The blockade of the waterway leading to Songjiang Prefecture some time ago was, in Mr. Lin’s eyes, equivalent to military training and testing with actual combat.

Mr. Lin was quite satisfied with the test results, and the effect was gratifying.

When Mr. Lin returned to the Lin Mansion in Canglang Pavilion, it was already November.

The 17th year of the Wanli reign was about to pass. In his two lifetimes, Mr. Lin had never been so busy and had never experienced so many things as this year.

This year may be the most critical year in Mr. Lin’s career.

Fortunately, all the big things that needed to be done were completed relatively smoothly. As the end of the year approaches, I can finally relax a little and have the energy to worry about some small things.

For example, Mr. Lin went to Mr. Shen's house and said to Mr. Shen, "Earlier, you and I agreed on the marriage of our children, but we couldn't decide who it would be. Now you can choose!"

Master Shen complained, "You just couldn't make up your mind, right? How come you can be sure today?"

Mr. Lin replied: "I have a good way of managing my household, and I always treat everyone equally.

No matter which of my sons from the Fan and Huang families marries the granddaughter of your Prime Minister, the other one will definitely feel unbalanced, so we can’t make a decision lightly.

Now I have reached an agreement with the family of Grand Tutor Xu next door, and they are also the family of the Prime Minister.

It just so happens that there is a prime minister in each of the two houses, so no one suffers and there is no imbalance!

For the sake of our friendship, I allow you to choose between my two sons!"

As Mr. Shen was thinking about it, he suddenly became conflicted and didn't reply for a long time.

"What's wrong?" asked Mr. Lin.

Master Shen sighed and said helplessly, "It's too hard to choose! You are so equal, it's really abominable!"

If Lin Tailai is biased, then you would definitely choose the one that Lin Tailai favors more without thinking.

But now both houses are very powerful, one controls fish, salt, water transport, smuggling, and in the future there will be maritime trade;

The other is to control many halls, customs, river expressways, and the future Wusong River golden waterway.

Mr. Shen looked at this side and thought it was good, then looked at the other side and thought it was also good, and he was deeply troubled by the dilemma of making a decision.

"How about I give up my two daughters and take them all?" Mr. Shen asked tentatively.

Mr. Lin flatly rejected Mr. Shen's unreasonable wish, "Impossible! The other one wants to marry the daughter of Master Xu!"

Then he added, "If you can't decide, I'll let the two families decide for themselves! Let's see who is willing to marry the daughter of the Shen family!"

"Okay! Okay! I can do anything!" This is all Mr. Shen could say as he couldn't make a decision.

After returning home, Mr. Lin told his first wife, Wang Shiwu, about this matter.

Wang Shiwu smiled and said, "My husband is really generous. He arranged marriages for both of his concubines' sons with relatives like the prime minister.

So what are the future plans for our Shuangxi?"

Faced with this subjective question, Mr. Lin answered wittily: "Our Shuangxi will marry the prime minister's wife, or the prime minister's mother in the future!"

The time for rest and entertainment always passes quickly, and in a blink of an eye it is the end of the twelfth lunar month.

There were only a few days left in the 17th year of the Wanli reign, and the gatherings and banquets before the New Year had reached a small climax.

Mr. Lin held his first year-end banquet at the Shuixuan Pavilion in Canglang Pavilion, inviting officials or relatives and friends of officials.

The participants included Governor Zhou, the prefectural governor Wang, the county governor Yuan Hongdao, the second son of the prime minister Shen Erye, the prefect Liu Tongpan and Guo Tuiguan who had made great contributions to the government, as well as the family members of some Suzhou officials working outside the government.

From the perspective of power, this is considered the most high-end gathering in Suzhou.

This year has been pretty good, everyone is very relaxed, and after three rounds of drinks we started chatting.

Governor Zhou asked Lin Tailai, "When will Jiu Yuanjun's vacation end?"

Mr. Lin replied: "The court is not a good place to go now. Let's stay in our hometown as long as we can!"

This is what Mr. Lin really said. With the national disaster so intense, who would want to go to the imperial court to survive it? Isn't it nice to be a local tyrant in your hometown?

How does one sing in a play? Emperor Wanli is in the capital, and I am the second emperor in Suzhou.
At this moment, a servant from the Shen Mansion suddenly came in and delivered a letter to Mr. Shen Erye.

This is normal. After all, it is the end of the year, which is also the peak period for sending and receiving letters home.

After reading the letter, Mr. Shen raised his head and said to Lin Tai, "My father asked me to tell you that Xu Xianqing, our fellow Suzhou native and Minister of Rites, could not stand the criticism and was dismissed from office!"

"What does it have to do with me?" Lin Tailai said in confusion.

Everyone present was truly one of our own, so Master Shen didn't shy away from saying anything, "My father meant that the situation is tense now, so he wants you to return to the capital as soon as possible!"

Everyone: "."

Suddenly, he saw another servant of the Wang family, who also handed a letter to the governor of the mansion, Wang Zhiyou.

After Wang Fuzun finished reading, he also looked up and said to Lin Tai: "Brother-in-law! My second brother Situ said that Sun Yu, who belongs to the Qingliu faction, was recommended by the court to be the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and he can't stop it!
The affairs of the Ministry of Revenue will be constrained in the future. After the New Year, you should hurry back to the capital to stabilize the situation!"

Everyone: "."

After a moment's silence in the hall, Mr. Lin let out a long sigh.

"Why can't the imperial court do without me, Lin Tailai? I've only been away for half a year, and the situation has already deteriorated to this point!"

(End of this chapter)