Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 185 Building a Harmonious Lingao ([-])

Zhang Youfu had already greeted him outside the main room, and he could be regarded as an old acquaintance of Xi Yazhou.Every time the county communicates with the Time Traveling Group, he is the one who comes forward. Among the landlords and gentlemen in the county, he is the one who has the most favorable impression of the Time Traveling Group—he has earned a lot of money in the past few months.

Welcome into the main room, where the red candles are bright, and the Eight Immortals table is lifted immediately, and a table of banquets is set up.A middle-aged Confucian scholar in the main room, seeing Wen Desi and others coming in, stood up and bowed his hands in salute, smiling all over his face, and greeted them to sit down. His expression was extremely warm, and he was not at all restrained at first. Everyone knows that this is today Invite the Lord.

The person who came was Wu Mingjin's master Wang Zhaomin.The whole process of Xiong Buyou's arrival was clearly seen from behind the screen, and he read the letter several times afterwards.

He has been traveling for many years and has experienced a lot of things. The purpose of the traverser's group defense is very clear.He estimated that this group of thieves with unknown origins had the same plan as Zheng Zhilong, who was recently recruited by the court: he didn't want to be an enemy of the government, but he hoped to occupy a piece of land in the coastal area to do sea trade business.Similar to Zheng Zhilong occupying the center left.

No matter how smart and experienced Wang Zhaomin was, he would never have thought that the real purpose of this group of people was to replace Daming.In his view, not attacking the county seat means that the gangsters are telling the government that they will not step out of the bottom line-in contrast, Zheng Zhilong also occupied the center left city of the imperial court.

With this as the premise, the conditions proposed by the Kun thieves are not too much. After careful consideration, Wang Zhaomin thinks that it is possible to talk to the Kun thieves about the price and conditions.After all, the other party sent over a hundred genuine pirate heads as a meeting gift, which was enough sincerity.

Wu Mingjin was helpless, he was unwilling, but he was powerless in the current situation, so he had no choice but to meander around.So Wang Zhaomin was sent out to negotiate.

If the banquet dishes at Landlord Zhang’s house were placed in another time and space, it would be a shame for those who have traveled through the sea, but for those who have been eating fish and vegetables for several months, whole chicken, whole duck, and large A piece of stewed meat, and a whole roasted suckling pig whose skin was crispy and browned. This thing alone made the saliva secretion of the people who lacked oil and water accelerate.

Naturally, there are some fresh vegetables and other things, and there are also a lot of drinks, which are locally produced earthenware.However, things like "raw seafood" are not served on the table-there are too many locals for this item, and it is not worth the money at all.

Out of the need to put on airs, the accompanying 8 time-travelers as guards could not serve the table together. Only Xi Yazhou and Wen Desi ate the banquet despite everyone's resentment.

Everyone squatted in the main room outside. There was also a table here, but it was just a young and virtuous chicken and a few bowls of vegetables. There was a bowl of sliced ​​meat that was piled up on top of the hill. After one person took a slice, the following It's all fried sweet potatoes, and there are only 8 slices of meat-it's only made after counting the heads.

But everyone didn't dare to eat it - after being threatened by several doctors from the health department with the parasite problem in turn, they were still wary of the local cooked food, and at the same time, they were also wary that it might be poisonous.At the moment, two people guarded the gate, and another two guarded the side.

Everyone said a few words of politeness. As usual, they had to drink a few rounds of wine. After the two committee members ate a few mouthfuls of roast suckling pig, the topic came to the point.It was Zhang Youfu who spoke first, and he tried again to ask the executive committee to ask the villages to go to Bairen City for a meeting. At the same time, he said that the gentry in the county are willing to help the executive committee with food and wages. Don't bother them to organize some group defense training.

Wen Desi asked straightforwardly: "Is this the meaning of the Ming government, or the meaning of the gentry in the county?"

Zhang Youfu was speechless for a moment.He glanced at Wang Zhaomin in embarrassment.These remarks were actually taken care of by Wang Zhaomin, the county magistrate's teacher.As far as the gentry are concerned, they are not opposed to organizing regiments to practice joint defense-the northern part of Lingao has always been harassed by pirates very bitterly, and many bandits in the village have colluded with pirates to block roads and rob people to extort ransom.The gentry and tenants suffered greatly.The gentry somewhat lost confidence in the county government, and would be happy if there was such a powerful group willing to take the lead in organizing them.

Wang Zhaomin said, "Of course the gentry meant it."

Xi Yazhou sneered slightly: "What do the gentry mean?" He tapped his finger on the table, "December [-], what did Wu Ya say to the village elders in Meitong Village? December [-], Fu Bowen went to After visiting the three villages of Da, Meiyang, and America, what did you say? Just the day before yesterday, your Dian Shi deliberately went to Bowen Village to say something like, 'When the heavenly soldiers arrive, they will be turned into flying ash'?"

Wang Zhaomin was taken aback, he didn't expect that this group of thieves knew everything about the actions in the county.He forced a smile and said, "It's common for officials in the county to go to the countryside to make inspections—"

"We don't care about inspections or not. It's the responsibility of the adults." Xi Yazhou said, "Recently, the county is in a hurry to go to the countryside to catch up with the autumn grain. Maybe it's not enough?"

"It's a matter of course to collect the imperial grain and national tax, why not?"

"The world is not good recently, and there are so many pirates and bandits. We want to form a team to practice joint defense, but the adults don't allow it," Xi Yazhou showed a gloomy smile, "I'm not sure what will happen to the food delivery team on the way—"

Wang Zhaomin flinched: If the other party threatened to attack the city, he would not be afraid—the attack would have already happened, why come here to negotiate?It must have been false threats.But robbing the food transport team is beneficial and harmless to the Kun bandits, but it is life and death for Magistrate Wu.

He hurriedly smiled and said: "You are all good citizens of the imperial court, and you want to hold a group training for the sake of the local people. This matter is negotiable, negotiable."

Wen Desi ate another mouthful of crispy suckling pig - the taste was indeed more mellow than the ones eaten in later generations.Said: "Mr. Wang, open the skylight and speak plainly. Wu Mingfu is always the parent official of the county. Law-abiding citizens like us who adhere to the purpose of 'protecting the environment and the people' will definitely not embarrass him. Not only that, we also have to Wish him 'rise to the top' for that."

Wang Zhaomin nodded, he had made up his mind, and winked at Zhang Youfu.Zhang Youfu hurriedly stood up, found a reason and went out.

The two sides lowered their voices and started a secret discussion.

At the beginning, Wang Zhaomin only agreed that the county government would take a tacit attitude towards this matter, but Wen Desi firmly refused. In his opinion, acquiescence and refusal are totally the same thing. From the experience of another time and space, acquiescence is for the future. The prohibition left a foreshadowing.Although this does not hinder the traversing party itself, the villages will have certain concerns.

In the end, the two parties reached an agreement: the county will no longer obstruct the crossing party to organize a regiment to practice joint defense.But the leader cannot be in the name of the crossing party, but must use the head of a certain village—this is not difficult, Wen Desi suggested that Damei Village should take the lead.After the report came up, the county approved it with a seal.

The crossing party promises: to be responsible for the county's defense against pirates, organize the suppression of bandits, and maintain the safety of the four townships.At the same time, it will not interfere with the county government's daily administrative affairs, and will assist the county government in certain tasks when necessary.Such as autumn grain collection.If there is a situation in the county where the summer and autumn grain cannot be paid, the crossing party will provide assistance-the method of assistance will be discussed again.

The salt tax and various miscellaneous amounts of the Mayiao saltworks controlled by the crossing party continued to be paid, and an "extra" 100 taels was paid every year as miscellaneous expenses for the county.Dongmen City pays miscellaneous taxes of [-] taels every year, and the county government issues "Ya Tie" to Dongmen City to recognize Dongmen City's market status.

The two parties agreed that all the heads obtained by the Crossing Group during the suppression of bandits and resistance against pirates belonged to the county government, and the seals, symbols, flags, and documents seized were the same.Other spoils belong to the party who traversed.

If Fu Bowen is willing to return to Bopu to be his inspection department, the crossing party agrees to his return.Another yamen will be built for him, and twelve archers will be assigned to him.One of the incidental expenses shall be borne by the traveling party.

The county government will give the crossing party all conveniences within the scope of the law, such as capturing escaped slaves, recovering debtor tenants, and transferring ownership of real estate and fields.Because there is no Daming household registration on the crossing side.Wang Zhaomin suggested to set up a Bairen Village in Bairen City, and go to the county to compile the household registrations of seven or eight families.In this way, even if the transmigrating party has a legal subject, otherwise all kinds of documents and contracts cannot be written.

In the end, it was naturally a discussion of personal interests. Wang Zhaomin was extremely concerned about this, not only actively fighting for himself, but also working hard for Dong Weng.

After haggling for a while, Wen Desi agreed: give Master Wang 300 taels of silver, and Wu County Magistrate 1000 taels of silver.The two parties also reached an agreement to jointly sell salt in Lingao County and [-] markets in Lingao.The crossing party is responsible for the supply, and as for the procedures and sales of privately changing officials, it will be handled by Mr. Wang, and the two parties will split the accounts [-]-[-].

In order to avoid suspicion, the two parties agreed to use Zhang Youfu as the contact person to deliver the news. If there is a need for an interview, the meeting place will be at Zhang Youfu's home.

In the end, Wang Zhaomin also persuaded Wen Desi and others that if they want to conduct activities in the county in the future, it is best to wear their hair and short jacket attire, so as not to be too conspicuous.Wen Desi laughed it off, but later thought it might be necessary. In the future, there will be a lot of things to do to make friends with gentry and peasants, making his own side too special and unfavorable to penetrate into the masses.

Now that the matter has been settled, the burden on both parties is lightened.The wine also drank much more happily.When the wine was hot, Wen Desi presented the prepared gift again.What was given to County Magistrate Wu was a goose egg glass mirror, and what was given to Master Wang was a glass cup.All the other officials in the county were given a string of freshwater pearl bracelets, the kind sold at the pearl wholesale market for five yuan each—according to the materials reported by the Guangzhou advance station: the freshwater cultured pearls they brought were very popular in Guangzhou.

Master Wang is naturally overjoyed, this group of thieves really knows something.

Because it was dark and the city gate was closed, Master Wang couldn't go back to the city, so he rested at Zhang Youfu's house.Wen Desi finished his work, but he was not in a hurry to leave. They still needed to have a good talk with their contact person, Zhang Youfu.

(End of this chapter)