Probably in order to prevent Deng Ming from admitting his account, Zhou Peigong recorded all the previous transactions in detail, and each record was signed by the officer who broke into the camp. While the staff was reviewing one by one, Li Laiheng sat on the side, and Ju Jīng watched them take notes attentively.

After a while, Li Laiheng shouted: "Why do you want so many quilts?" ”

Zhou Peigong, who had been on guard for a long time, explained unhurriedly: "Seeing that it is about to be winter, doesn't the army of Tiger Shuai need to protect against the cold?" As far as I know, most of Hu Shuai's subordinates don't have good cotton clothes, so they can't withstand the cold wind at all. ”

Of course, Li Laiheng did not have good cotton clothes, and he had a very hard time breaking into the camp over the years, and the imperial courts of the Southern Ming Dynasty did not allocate military salaries, and even if he got the money, he had to use it to smuggle grain and pig iron. Many soldiers are still wearing the cotton clothes used by their fathers, and the cotton in them has fallen a lot, and it has long been completely crushed to death, even if it is such a thing, it is also a good thing in the Kuidong Army, and the soldiers cherish it very much. In the summer, many soldiers will take out the old cotton sleeve very carefully, try to re-fluff it, and then pick it up without any slag, even if the cotton has rotted, they are reluctant to throw it away, and they can continue to use it with some straw.

After suddenly having a large amount of money in their hands this time, the officers who broke into the camp wanted everything, plus Zhou Peigong's shareholders, and ordered 30,000 sets of new cotton clothes.

"But a set of cotton clothes costs three taels of silver, which is inevitably high, right?" Li Laiheng also knew very well that his subordinates had had a hard time over the years, and he had seen soldiers crying loudly more than once because they had accidentally burned out their "ancestoral" winter clothes, so he could understand that the officers ordered cotton clothes, but it was only a set of three taels of silver...... Let Li Laiheng have a feeling of being slaughtered by Jiān Shang.

"The cotton clothes I provide are brand new from the inside out, the cotton covers are all made of new cotton that has only been harvested this year, and the outside is also made of fine linen, which is so strong that a knife can't get into it all at once." Zhou Peigong is indeed prepared, not only is he very familiar with the content of the transaction, but he also knows the materials used. In the face of Li Laiheng's questioning, Zhou Peigong was not nervous at all about answering Ruliu.

"But three or two...... It's too much new cotton, and how do I know you're using new cotton. Lee Rae-hyung's voice was an octave lower, but he still tried to resist.

"Hu Shuai Hugh wants to spew blood, although you and I belong to the enemy country, but you can't slander my Zhou's innocence like this! If Hu Shuai doesn't believe it, he can take out a few sets of tests and open them in person, if it is mixed with old cotton, I would rather not have a penny. Zhou Peigong seemed to have been greatly insulted, and said indignantly: "Your army wants it so urgently, it needs 30,000 sets at once, and it is all new cotton this year, won't the price of cotton rise?" Wouldn't it attract the attention of people who care about making so many cotton clothes? Don't you need hush money, don't you need to spend more money to rush to work at night? What's so strange about a higher price? ”

Li Laiheng was speechless when asked, and after a long time, he whispered: "It's cheaper." ”

"No," Zhou Peigong shook his head and said: "These cotton clothes were originally made at the request of your army, and your army doesn't want it now, who do we sell them to?" Besides, this price was also agreed by your army, and it has already been transported to your military camp. I, Zhou, have always respected Hu Shuai and will do what he says, am I wrong? ”

For these cotton clothes, Zhou Peigong is very confident, although the price is higher, but the quality is indeed quite good, the materials are all of the highest quality as he said - after all, Zhang Changgeng is also afraid of giving the Ming army an excuse to rely on his kickbacks.

Reluctantly put aside the text of the deal, Li Laiheng asked his staff to continue, and he originally wanted to reason with Zhou Peigong about the large number of quilts and blankets he wanted to buy for the Ming army. But their situation is similar to that of cotton clothes, and Li Laiheng estimated that he had no chance of winning, so he had to give up this idea - although he felt that it was a bit expensive, Li Laiheng thought that his subordinates had suffered with his father and himself for so many years, and there was nothing to say about buying some quilts when he had money.

After another moment, Li Laiheng shouted again: "Fifteen hundred spears, five taels of silver each, what is this?" Are your guns made of gold? ”

"I'll take a look," Zhou Peigong took the transaction slip from the puffing Li Laiheng, glanced at it, and said with a smile: "Hu Shuai is too anxious, isn't there a specification here." Then Zhou Peigong read it out: "The gun is two zhang long, the three-foot-long jīng iron gun head, and the two-foot-long iron casing ......."

"Then it won't cost five taels of silver!" Li Laiheng shouted.

"Hu Shuai, our guns in Wuchang are different from the kind of wooden spears used in your army, our guns are made of good pine wood, and we don't want any insects, and Hu Shuai doesn't want these guns to suddenly break on the battlefield, right? And this is also a request made by your side, claiming that the imperial court ...... Well, it is the Eight Banners of our imperial court that is good at cavalry, so we want this kind of two-zhang long horse rejection gun, and the material of the gun barrel must be good, which can support the cavalry assault. This kind of gun is not only not available in the Wuchang army, but also has not been equipped in the green battalion in the whole world, so the craftsmen will not make it, and we must select the old craftsmen with ingenuity and work hard at night to complete these 1,500 spears on time...... In fact, this price is not expensive, at the beginning when the craftsman was not familiar with it, it did a lot of damage, and a lot of materials were lost, and the governor said that these losses would be borne by us, and we would not settle accounts with you. ”

Next there are knives, and a set is priced at ten taels.

"These knives are all made of good Fujian iron, each knife is made of ten catties, the scabbard is also hardwood, and it is also brushed with anti-cháo paint, although it is a little more expensive, but Hu Shuai must not want the soldier's knife to be embroidered soon, right? And in addition to the scabbard, each set of knives is also equipped with a gourd full of oil, a brand new whetstone, embedded in the scabbard can be used to sharpen the knife at any time, very convenient, your army wants so urgently......"

"So you had to gather skilled craftsmen and hurry up at night to complete it." Deng Ming, who had been silent for a long time, made up this sentence for Zhou Peigong.

Zhou Peigong didn't seem to hear the sarcasm in Deng Ming's words, and accepted it all with a smile: "Just like that, what the Admiral said is not bad." ”

The more Ren Tang on the side listened, the more he had a sense of absurdity, at this time all the items were clear, the staff set up the abacus and began to add and subtract, Li Laiheng watched them crackling and planning to plan, and from time to time he had to say: "Did you add more...... After four on five just now, you haven't forgotten to subtract one, right? ”

After the liquidation was completed, Zhou Peigong's bill looked right, Li Laiheng personally held the abacus, and when he reviewed it under the guidance of his staff, Deng Ming sighed lightly: "What does Mr. Zhou want?" ”

"I want this eighteen thousand taels of gold." Zhou Peigong said with a smile. When he was in Wuchang, Zhou Peigong analyzed Deng Ming to Zhang Changgeng, saying that although Deng Ming was cunning, his credit was not bad, and he was more like a businessman than an official, no matter how he bargained before, he would abide by it once an agreement was reached. Originally, Zhang Changgeng felt that he had gained a lot of benefits, and there was no need to chase after the balance of 20,000 taels of gold, so as not to anger Deng Ming, but Zhou Peigong decided that this was a good bargaining chip.

"The two countries fight each other, and the soldiers are not tired of cheating!" Ren Tang shouted: "Do you want gold? Bring the troops to get it! ”

Ren Tang had just figured out what was going on with the other guards, and although he had a loud voice, he was not very confident in his heart, because the current situation was completely beyond Ren Tang's imagination, and it seemed that there was no similar precedent in history to refer to.

Zhou Peigong was still calm and relaxed, and asked Deng Ming, "Who is this?" ”

"Ren Tang, Jiangxi Shiren." Deng Ming introduced Ren Tang to Zhou Peigong.

"It turned out to be Mr. Ren." Zhou Peigong heard that the other party was a scholar, and he made a friendship with Ren Tang with a smile, and after a twist and turn, he actually found that one of Zhou Peigong's uncle's teachers and Ren Tang's father's boss were classmates in the same year.

Shut down

After finishing the friendship, Ren Tang's voice was also a lot lower, and Zhou Peigong shouted "Brother Ren Shi" on his side, although it is not good for each to be the master, it is not good to shout and kill, but it is still necessary to be reasonable.

"Brother Ren, this money is not the treasury silver, which is owned by our imperial court, but the private property owed by Admiral Deng and Hu Shuai to our governor. To put it mildly, that is, in the future, the soldiers will meet each other, Governor Zhang is invincible to the Admiral, and he has three long and two short, this money Admiral is good, Tiger Shuai is also good, and it is still for the son of the Governor, and it is natural to repay the debt, this is justified......"

"I don't have any money." Li Laiheng spoke again to interrupt Zhou Peigong's crooked reasoning, he had already completed the review, there was no problem with the accounts, Li Laiheng took out a few transaction documents: "These livestock, and these boats, are worth about 20,000 taels of gold, I don't want it, please ask Mr. Zhou to take it back." ”

"Hu Shuai, but you want to sell us these things?" Zhou Peigong shook his head and said, "We don't buy it." ”

Li Laiheng's face suddenly turned red and shouted: "If you don't buy it, you won't have it!" ”

Although he was in the enemy camp, although Li Laiheng was already very excited, Zhou Peigong was not afraid of sè, and snorted: "Hu Shuai has a heavy army, but he is threatening me, a scholar who has no power to restrain chickens? It will inevitably damage the demeanor of the tiger handsome. ”

Deng Ming knew that Li Laiheng would definitely not be able to fight Zhou Peigong, so he interjected again: "Ming people don't say secret words, what does Mr. Zhou want to do today?" ”

Seeing that Deng Ming was as he expected, and did not turn his face and deny people for the sake of this eighteen thousand taels of gold, Zhou Peigong shook his head and shook his fan lightly: "I heard that the Admiral was defeated by Liang Huafeng under the city of Nanjing?" Is this true? ”

"Of course not." Deng Ming shook his head and said, "He's just boasting." ”

When he heard that Lang Tingzuo was captured by Deng Ming, Zhou Peigong was shocked, but couldn't help but congratulate himself on his correct choice, and did not make an enemy with Deng Ming, but made a deal. But Zhang Changgeng was suspicious of this, and felt that Lang Tingzuo was in the midst of ten thousand armies and should not be caught by Deng Mingqing. Zhou Peigong immediately used Deng Mingzeng to kill Hu Quancai in front of Zhang Changgeng as an argument, but Zhang Changgeng was not immediately convinced, but immediately began to ask if Jiang Guozhu was next to Lang Tingzuo when he was captured? This strange reaction and association made Zhou Peigong inexplicable and never understood. Later, more news came, and Zhang Changgeng believed that Deng Ming really rushed into the army, arrested Lang Tingzuo, and began to celebrate, and praised Zhou Peigong fiercely, calling him "my son's room" for the second time.

After the battle of Nanjing came to an end, Zhou Peigong lamented Liang Huafeng's martial arts to Zhang Changgeng: although he only defeated Deng Ming's vanguard, Liang Huafeng was able to kill the traitor Lang Tingzuo who was in Deng Ming's army, and under the pressure of Deng Ming, he eliminated the loyalty of the Ming army and tried to protect Nanjing, which is still quite remarkable. At least compared with Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong, Liang Huafeng's appearance is very eye-catching, and it is much stronger than Wuchang's side.

But Zhang Changgeng once again expressed his skepticism about the war report, when Zhou Peigong argued: "The governor of Liangjiang rebelled and was killed, this is the report of Governor Jiang, can it be fake?" And Zhang Changgeng was unmoved, but said incomprehensibly: "The governor's report cannot explain whether it is true or false. ”

Zhang Changgeng decided that Liang Huafeng and Jiang Guozhu's battle reports were watery, but since most of the court officials had similar ideas to Zhou Peigong, if Deng Ming was allowed to stir up Huguang again, then the court would feel that Zhang Changgeng was incompetent when compared with Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng, who turned the tide.

"It's not a secret, Governor Zhang also wants to brag about himself," it seems that Zhou Peigong doesn't seem to plan to continue going around in circles, he said to Deng Ming: "I hope that the Admiral will make it convenient, then the 20,000 million gold will be regarded as Governor Zhang's own pocket to redeem the city for the prefecture and county along the way." If the Admiral is still not satisfied, I have come to Hubei on the orders of the Governor to take full charge of the defense matters, and the grain and grass of your army along the way have been wrapped in me, so as to ensure that the Admiral's needs will not be shortened. ”

Li Laiheng and Ren Tang were all relieved, and from the discussions in the past few days, it seems that Deng Ming has no interest in attacking these prefectures and counties, since the Qing army is so sensible, it is also the best of both worlds for the Ming army.

"No," Deng Ming immediately shook his head: "The money owed, although I don't have it now, I can make an IOU, and I will definitely pay it back in the future, as long as it is fair and reasonable, I can pay interest; I used to tell Governor Zhang that as long as I pay the ransom fee, I will not move around Wuchang, and this agreement is still valid, but other prefectures and counties in Hubei are no longer in the agreement, and I cannot guarantee this matter. ”

The other guards were suspicious again, and just before Zhou Peigong arrived, Deng Ming also said that as long as the Qing army paid for food and grass, there was no need to attack the city. After Zhou Peigong's intention was clarified, Li Laiheng and the others all felt that their luck was too good, it was like someone gave them a pillow when they dozed off, why did Deng Ming regret it again?

Among the people present, the calmest one was Zhou Peigong, who thought that this was Deng Ming's intention to bargain, which was also expected by him: "The students sincerely live in peace with the Admiral, and the Admiral is too insincere when he says this, well, the students are not afraid of the Admiral's price increase, and they will talk to the Admiral as soon as they want." This time, the admiral will not continue to attack the city and plunder the land in Hubei, and the governor's promotion to the governor of Huguang is a sure thing, and the students can also get a Wuchang prefect to sit down. ”

The original prefect of Wuchang has been taken down and executed by Zhang Changgeng, of course, the crime is to fornicate with the Ming army, meaning to sacrifice the city, in addition to a large number of letters and exchanges with the camp to discuss the sacrifice of the city, Zhang Changgeng also found evidence that he privately engraved the letter of the deputy general of Yuezhou to Li Laiheng.

"When the governor becomes the governor and the student becomes the prefect of Wuchang, will it be much more convenient for the governor to do things in Huguang in the future? Helping the governor and students will do no good to the admiral. Zhou Peigong said confidently: "Before I came, the governor had already told the students that the governor could talk about whatever he wanted, and he could talk about how much grain and grass he wanted. ”

After finishing speaking, Zhou Peigong calmly waited for Deng Ming's offer, he felt that his construction was very tempting, and Deng Ming had no reason to object.

"After my troops came to the city of Nanjing, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu gave me 500,000 taels of silver, asked me to withdraw from the army, and at the same time asked Lang Tingzuo for his head, and promised to give me another 1 million taels of silver after the matter was completed; Liang Huafeng and Lang Tingzuo also gave me 500,000 taels of silver, asked me to withdraw from the army, gave him five days to clean up Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu, and also promised to give me a thank you gift of 1 million taels of silver after five days. ”

Just now, Zhou Peigong didn't wait for Deng Ming to ask, and automatically said the purpose of Zhang Changgeng's desire to be promoted to governor, showing a frank look, as if he had already laid out all the hole cards - this is also Zhang Changgeng's hole cards that Deng Ming originally guessed. When he first heard those words, Deng Ming was overjoyed and felt that the matter had become clear and he could start bargaining. But after thinking about it, Deng Ming suddenly felt that things were a little suspicious, and he felt that Zhou Peigong would not be so honest. Deng Ming has watched a lot of movies about business wars and spy wars, and many honest people with a kind face in them will be like Zhou Peigong today, but the real purpose is indeed better to hide the hole cards.

In line with the principle of leniency for the enemy, Deng Ming suppressed the urge to start asking for a price, and told Zhou Peigong about the dealings between the two factions in Nanjing and himself, who was also dumbfounded.

"Then why did Governor Jiang and Admiral Liang kill Lang Tingzuo and Guan Xiaozhong together in the end?" After Zhou Peigong reacted from the shock, he hurriedly asked.

"This, I don't know, Mr. Zhou can go back and discuss with Governor Zhang, I can't guess the reason anyway." Deng Ming took a leisurely sip of tea, and for the first time since the start of the negotiations today, he felt that he had the initiative.

"Why did the Admiral tell me such a confidential matter?" Zhou Peigong's mind turned, feeling that Deng Ming would not be so kind, and he confided this secret without any intention, and asked tentatively: "Could it be that the admiral wants the governor's help and report this matter to the imperial court?" ”

"Of course this is impossible, and even if I make such a request, how can Governor Zhang explain to Běijīng where he learned about it?"

Zhou Peigong was just a temptation, but after hearing Deng Ming's words, he nodded secretly in his heart, and asked, "Then why did the Admiral sue the students about this?" ”

"It won't do me any good, but it will do a lot of great harm to Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng." Deng Ming explained: "No matter what I say, your court and other provincial officials will not believe it. But Governor Zhang is different, although Governor Zhang can't report it, it can be said that there are such rumors; In addition to Governor Zhang, I will also have the opportunity to talk about this matter, and gradually the rumor will spread, and your court may be suspicious; Besides, Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng will also have enemies, and they can also use this matter to find all kinds of clues to overturn the case for Lang Tingzuo and Guan Zhong, so that Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng will not die well. ”

Zhou Peigong was stunned: "Does the Admiral hate Jiang Guozhu and Liang Huafeng so much?" ”

"Hate? No, I don't hate them at all. Deng Ming laughed.

"And what is the Admiral?" An ominous premonition rose in Zhou Peigong's heart, and he felt as if he was stepping into Deng Ming's trap.

"Because they didn't inform me beforehand." Deng Ming replied: "Not only did they do things indiscriminately in my name, but they also didn't pay afterwards, and they also broke the contract and lost the one million taels promised to me. ”

"Oh." Zhou Peigong was thoughtful.

"Okay, let's start from scratch." Deng Ming put down the teaglass: "Governor Zhang asked Mr. Zhou to come this time, what do you want me to do?" What else are you going to do in my name? ”