Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 84
After pondering for a long time, Liu Hong suddenly said: "The bandit leader said other than making friends with me, did he say anything else?"

Liu Ming shook his head and said: "No, but brother has a few words to say to the adults."

Liu Hong glanced at Liu Ming, nodded and said, "Let's talk!"

"My lord, our food and grass were burned this time, and more than 200 elite brothers were lost. How will you explain this defeat to the Commander when you go back? And the third young master of the Xu family was killed, how can you explain to the prefect Xu? "Liu Ming said.

Liu Hongmoran, if the soldiers and horses of Zhangde Mansion are still there, they can join forces with the soldiers and horses of Weihui Mansion to defeat the bandit army, and then they can communicate with the commander. Said that so many subordinates have been damaged, no matter how good the relationship between the commander and himself is, he has to take himself down as a scapegoat.

Looking at Liu Ming, Liu Hong said, "What can you do?"

Liu Ming looked around, and suddenly whispered a few words in Liu Hong's ear.

After listening to Liu Hong, he pondered for a while and sighed: "That's the only way. But those bandits who surrendered can't be taken back to ask for a reward. Well, it's not short of this reward. Liu Ming, you take the people yourself, and bring them back. Those people cut me off."

Liu Ming smiled and nodded.He turned around and took two of his subordinates out, and after a while, he brought a few soldiers into the account with more than twenty heads.

Liu Hong waved his hand and ordered several soldiers to retreat.

"Liu Ming, you take these heads to the mountain and tell the head of Li Da that I, Liu Hong, have made him a friend. However, let him not make too much noise around here, otherwise the higher-ups will send me to suppress the bandits. , I have to come, I'm afraid I will conflict with him then." Liu Hong said.

Liu Ming smiled and said: "I won't take the head back. The head of the family didn't explain this, but I will tell the head of the matter. In addition, I have to send some silver taels to the families of the brothers so that they can Have a good year and then I'll go back."

"The head of the family also arranged for the brothers' households?" Liu Hongqi asked.

"That's natural. The head of the family is generous. I only asked for 40 taels of silver, and he gave me 200 taels. Moreover, the head of the family not only paid the brothers the expenses of settling down, but also paid the brothers, three taels of silver a month. The frontier troops are all tall." Liu Ming said with a smile.

"Three taels of silver per month? His grandma's, the head of the family is so generous. No wonder you guys surrendered to him these days. If I were you, I'm afraid I would have surrendered too." Liu Hong scolded with a smile.

Liu Ming said with a smile: "If my lord takes refuge with the head of the family, the monthly salary must be at least ten taels."

Liu Hong shook his head lightly.

Liu Hong was from a thousand households, and it was okay to make friends with the bandit leader, but he couldn't just surrender like ordinary officers and soldiers. This was a matter of status and face.

Seeing Liu Hong shaking his head, Liu Ming didn't force it. Since Liu Hong agreed to be friends with the head of the family, this task is considered complete.

And since Liu Hong promised to make friends with Li Jing, he would not stay in Xiaozhuang Village any longer. Seeing that the weather was bad, he hurriedly ordered his men to leave camp and return.

After Liu Ming returned to Wei Hui's resident, he first went to the homes of several subordinates to send silver taels, then settled down at home, and then returned to Hongshanling.

Liu Ming followed Liu Erleng up the mountain, and seeing a big banquet on the mountain, he was taken aback for a moment, not knowing what happened, and asked Liu Erleng for a while, only to find out that it was Chen Dahu who got married.

Liu Ming slapped his head and said annoyedly: "I don't know that Brother Dahu got married, but he didn't prepare a gift."

"Hehe, brother Liu, the news we brought to eldest brother will surely make him happy. This is the best gift." Liu Ming's entourage said with a smile.

Liu Ming nodded and followed Liu Erleng to the mountain quickly.

Seeing Li Jing, Liu Ming was about to come forward to pay respects, Li Jing waved his hand and said with a smile: "Let's forget about these silly things, come and sit down, I'll introduce a few people for you to get to know."

After finishing speaking, he pointed to Sun Meng, Gao Qi, Ma Wu, Chen Laohan, Zhang Ao and Chen Dahu's father-in-law to introduce Liu Ming one by one.

As for Shen Zheng, the two already knew each other, so naturally there was no need to introduce them.

Seeing the arrival of officers and soldiers, Chen Dahu's father-in-law knew how to look, and hurriedly pushed himself to leave because he was drunk, Li Jingjing nodded, and Chen Dahu hurriedly got up to see him off.

After Chen Dahu's father-in-law left, Sun Meng looked at Liu Ming and glared, "I said, old Liu, why did you go up the mountain wearing this dog skin? Fortunately, the elder brother stopped me, otherwise I would have brought someone down the mountain and chopped you down by now. "

Seeing Liu Ming's embarrassment, Li Jing smiled and said, "Liu Ming, don't listen to Lao Sun's nonsense, he just has this temper. Hehe, he is a thousand households of Zhangde Guard, and he was dressed more arrogantly than you when he returned to the mountain." !"

"Ah?" Hearing that Sun Meng was from a thousand households, Liu Ming and his two attendants were shocked.

"Hahaha! What? Are you afraid? I'm not afraid to tell you that my old grandson bought this thousand households for my elder brother. Only my old grandson has the virtue and ability to be an official?" Sun Meng patted Liu Ming on the shoulder. laughed.

Sun Meng spoke boldly, but Liu Ming and the others felt really kind when they heard it.

These people were all soldiers, and they talked about their parents and fathers all day long. If they listened to a literati like Zhang Ao, they would feel awkward.

At this time Gao Qi also came over and said: "Hehe, Big Brother Liu, in fact, my younger brother is also a soldier, everyone is a fellow traveler, so we have to make good friends in the future."

"That is, that is" Liu Ming said hastily.

Liu Ming was very clever. Seeing that Li Jing was accompanied by Shen Zheng at the table, and seeing Sun Meng, Gao Qi, Ma Wu, Zhang Ao, and Old Man Chen speaking freely, he knew that these people must be the leaders of the mountain. figure.

After Liu Ming sat down, Li Jing asked Ma Wu to call for some bowls.

After a while, the wine bowl was brought, without waiting for Li Jing's order, Gao Qi took the wine jar and filled them with wine.

"Come on, it's rare for the brothers to reunite today, so I'd like to offer you a bowl." Li Jing raised the wine bowl and said.

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly got up and picked up the wine bowls, raised each other, and then drank it all in one gulp.

Li Jing drank the wine in the bowl, took the wine jar from Gao Qi's hand, sifted it up for everyone one by one, then raised the bowl and said: "This second bowl of wine, I hope brothers will work together to achieve great things."

Needless to say, everyone drank the bowl of wine in one gulp.

Then Li Jing wanted to pour a third bowl of wine for everyone.

Seeing that Li Jing was about to fall again, Shen Zheng hurriedly pressed Li Jing's hand and said, "Nephew, drink slowly."

Then he signaled to Gao Qi, and Gao Qi hurriedly took the wine jar from Li Jing's hands: "Brother, I'll pour the wine."

Li Jing nodded with a smile, turned to Liu Ming and said, "Brother, why did you go back to the mountain so quickly? Has everything been settled at home?"

"Brother Meng is concerned, everything has been settled, and I will also send money for the New Year to the brothers' homes." Liu Ming said hurriedly.

Li Jingjing nodded and patted Liu Ming on the shoulder.

"Brother, I have already brought my brother's words to Liu Hong. He said that he would like to make friends with him." Then Liu Ming told the story of meeting Liu Hong in detail, and told the story of the person who killed more than [-] bandits. I also said something.

"Hehe, this man is a smart man, and his words are very thought-provoking!" Li Jing shook his head and laughed.

Gao Qi laughed and said, "He's trying to sell to big brother, bullying Old Liu is sincere."

Seeing that Liu Ming was puzzled, Gao Qi said with a smile: "Old Liu, we are all soldiers. Don't you understand the tricks of being an official? Those people, Liu Hong, were originally going to kill them for credit. If the bandit succeeds, those who surrendered will inevitably die. If you fail, these people will not be able to survive. It’s just that there are only three of you in this group going back, which can be said to be a heavy loss. How can he ask for credit from above? Since he can’t ask If you don’t have merit, it’s better to sell it to your elder brother.”

When Liu Ming heard this, he was suddenly taken aback.

"But it's true that he said that he wants to make friends with Big Brother, but I'm afraid it's for the sake of money." Gao Qi laughed.

"How do you say that?" Sun Meng wondered.

Gao Qi said with a smile; "The key lies in the sentence 'Let him not make too much noise around here, or if the superiors send me to suppress the bandits, I have to come, and I'm afraid I will conflict with him." Ha ha, we never He has never been out of the mountain to rob, and there is no movement nearby, but he said this on purpose, obviously he doesn't believe it, and secondly, I hope we don't forget to give him some profit when we rob, and he has to respect the people above. Old Liu, this Liu Qianhu has a good relationship with your commander, right?"

"Yes!" Liu Ming nodded.

Gao Qi nodded and said nothing, just looked at Li Jing.

Li Jing smiled and said: "If Liu Hong can really talk to the commander, then we have to do something, otherwise we are sorry for him? However, this matter needs to be discussed carefully. So two days ago, it was just two days ago. Fuck, I forgot that the Chinese New Year would be two days away. Uncle Shen, give it to Liu Ming..Liu Ming, how much money do you think Liu Hong spent to honor the commander? Is that enough?"

Gao Qi and Li Jing's thoughts turned so fast, Liu Ming felt that he couldn't keep up with their train of thought at all. After a while, he remembered Li Jing's question, and hurriedly said, "I guess two or three hundred taels of silver would be enough."

Li Jing shook his head, looked at Sun Meng, Gao Qi and the others and said with a smile, "How much do you think you need?"

Sun Meng shook his head and said, "Although I'm not familiar with Wei Hui's commander, I guess he has the same virtue as Zhangde's commander. I'm afraid two or three hundred taels of silver is not enough, and a little more is about the same. I think 300 taels It's okay."

Gao Qi shook his head and said: "500 taels of filial piety to the commander, but don't those colleagues still manage? You must know that there are more than one thousand households of Liu Hong in the guard command post, it seems to be five?"

After finishing speaking, Gao Qi looked at Liu Ming.

Liu Ming nodded and said: "There are six in total, one died this time, but another one will definitely be promoted."

Gao Qi nodded and said: "Then it will be counted as six, Liu Hong himself is one, and there are five left, 100 taels per person, and 1000 taels if you add the command envoy."

Ma Wuwen immediately answered: "1000 taels is not enough. You must know that besides thousands of households, there are hundreds of households below, and there are also Liu Hong's cronies. These people have to be managed. One is to help Liu Hong buy people's hearts, and the other is Help Liu Hong consolidate his strength. The stronger Liu Hong is, the tougher he will speak. I don’t know how many cronies Liu Hong has, but I estimate that five hundred to one thousand taels of silver will be enough to manage these people.”

(End of this chapter)