Seeing that Zhou Peigong fell into silence and did not answer himself immediately, Deng Ming did not ask but said generously: "Mr. Zhou, don't worry, think about it, think about it carefully, and think about everything that needs to be done before it is too late, so that we can discuss it clearly." Then Deng Ming further looked for the other party's steps: "Maybe Governor Zhang has more ideas, Mr. Zhou can send someone back to Wuchang to ask, I still have to wait for the past few days." ”

Zhou Peigong pondered for a moment, got up and said goodbye to Deng Ming: "Since the Admiral can wait, then I will retire today and come back to visit the Admiral in two years." ”

"No problem." Deng Ming ordered the guards to send off the guests.

After Zhou Peigong went out, Li Xinghan immediately said: "Admiral, this guy is not telling the truth!" ”

Deng Ming nodded, Zhou Peigong's last expression had already clearly stated this, and everyone present could see that Zhang Changgeng had more requirements.

"I'm not going to force him to say it, because if he does, he might lie, and once he starts lying, he'll have to stay the course." Deng Ming explained his intentions to the people around him as usual, and before he made the threat just now, he was not sure that Wuchang must have other plans; But now that Zhou Peigong has said goodbye and left, he will definitely reveal more truths when he comes to him next time: "Since he left today, then he himself knows that we have seen through their intentions, and we will not tell any more lies that no one believes when we come next time." ”

"What does the Admiral think they want to do?" Ren Tang asked, today Deng Ming's expression made him admire very much.

The others also looked at Deng Ming intently, hoping to hear from him a rough judgment of the Qing army's intentions.

"I don't know," Deng Ming shook his head.

Everyone was a little disappointed that they couldn't see Deng Ming's ability to perceive a qiē, but soon this disappointment was overshadowed by a full sense of admiration.

"Zhou Peigong actually wants to play tricks with the Admiral," Li Xinghan sneered: "It's really a class with an axe." ”

Deng Ming, who was drinking water, almost choked because of Li Xinghan's words, since he learned a lot of idioms, Li Xinghan had the opportunity to use it, this kind of jīng god Deng Ming who learned to apply it was very appreciative, but it seemed to imply that Deng Ming was the king of tricks. In Deng Ming's view, Zhou Peigong's progress can be called fast, after just a few months of training, Zhou Peigong's negotiation skills are not what they used to be, and he even found a set of means to control the pace of negotiation.

"I've watched a lot of business movies and novels, and there are often biographies of business tycoons in newspapers and on TV, which are detectives and mystery films, and often involve negotiation skills; Zhou Peigong can also get in touch with the owners of some merchants, the first 20 years are estimated to be immersed in study, and he doesn't need to do anything to buy vegetables and bargain. Deng Ming thought in his heart, if you talk about the breadth of vision and vision, Zhou Peigong will not say a lifetime, I am afraid that ten or twenty lifetimes will not want to catch up with Deng Ming: "If Zhou Peigong has the opportunity to have the same amount of information as me, I am afraid that I will not be his opponent." ”

When Deng Ming secretly lamented Zhou Peigong's talent for negotiation, the latter was full of frustration and was so annoyed that he wanted to whip himself twice when he left the Ming army camp. Zhou Peigong knew that Deng Ming was several years younger than him, and Zhou Peigong had seen many high-class gentlemen, who had been a staff member in the Yamen of the Governor of Huguang for almost two years, and he thought that his experience was much better than Deng Ming, a guy who spent all day in the ravine and was in the company of the rogues. However, during the first negotiation under Wuchang City, Zhou Peigong was led by Deng Ming's nose, and the next few confrontations were even more miserable - Zhou Peigong felt that it was not a confrontation at all, and he was completely swayed by Deng Ming, and he was powerless.

Since Deng Ming left, Zhou Peigong has seriously summed up the lessons of the past, and also asked many gentlemen for ways to persuade others - most of the gentry did not help Zhou Peigong much, they were good at giving red envelopes and patting sycophants, this Zhou Peigong knew that it was of little use to Deng Ming; In order not to continue to be pressed by Deng Ming and have no ability to fight back, Zhou Peigong did not hesitate to surrender his identity to learn from the merchants in Wuchang, and practiced with the Ming army officers around Wuchang for a long time.

Before Zhou Peigong came to negotiate with Deng Ming this time, he also made serious preparations in advance, and most of today's lines have been rehearsed several times in his abdomen, and even his demeanor and expression when speaking have been practiced in the mirror. At the beginning, it was also very smooth, firmly grasped the rhythm of the negotiation, and firmly controlled the feelings of Li Laiheng and others, but I didn't expect it to be the same as last time, and it was simply resolved by Deng Ming at the last moment.

Knowing that up to now, Zhou Peigong still couldn't believe that he was so vulnerable in front of Deng Ming, so he casually defused the psychological offensive he had prepared: "Deng Ming is so young, and he hasn't seen any big scenes, why is he so sophisticated?" Is it because you are born to know? ”

Now Zhou Peigong's benevolence advocates Chang Gung, and he has encountered some problems that need to be solved.

First of all, it is yùwang: after learning that Jiang Guozhu was commended and Liang Huafeng was praised by Emperor Shunzhi, Zhang Changgeng was very jealous, and also wanted to get some prestige and merit from Deng Ming, of course, this must be fished while Deng Ming was still in Huguang, otherwise there would be no chance; Second, Zhang Changgeng had some personal debts to repay: in order to win over the gentry of Huguang, Zhang Changgeng made a vow and promised many official positions -- now the world is undecided, and the background of the imperial examination may not guarantee a position, but the guarantee of the feudal officials will almost certainly be able to get the consent of běijīng. Especially in a war zone like Huguang, Zhang Changgeng, as the future governor of Huguang, is more effective than the champion background, so Zhang Changgeng has won the support of a group of gentry by relying on the wish of the official. But there are more monks and less porridge, and after the situation is stable, Zhang Changgeng carefully calculated, and found that there was no such vacant position at all, and the wish to go out should almost be returned after Deng Ming left Huguang; Finally, Zhang Changgeng still has some economic problems: in the recent period, goods worth millions of taels of silver have been transported to the Ming army, although this problem can be solved by two methods: falsifying accounts and pushing the charges to the former Wuchang prefect, but such a large amount of property flow is still too big and involves a large number of people. At first, Zhang Changgeng used the kickbacks given to him by Deng Ming, and later switched to using the sealing funds given to him by the Ming Army to buy insiders, but then Zhang Changgeng was reluctant to give the sealing funds to others. He didn't want to pay for it, but the number of insiders increased, so Zhang Changgeng decided to pull more people into the water, for example, the cotton clothes for the Ming army were subcontracted to some gentry in Wuchang City, promising to allocate funds to them from the feudal treasury in the future...... In short, it was this batch of cotton clothes that finally fell into the hands of the Ming army, Zhang Changgeng not only wanted to get kickbacks, but also used the new cotton that should have been given to Yungui as a material in the name of making winter clothes for the officers and soldiers of the Green Battalion, and the Huguang Domain Treasury paid to hire the gentry to manufacture them. Zhang Changgeng also handled many other goods in this way, so that he could not only get kickbacks from the Ming army, but also receive gifts from the gentry, and win the heart of the gentry in Wuchang and Hanyang because of his wealth. Although this method is very good, it also has a sequelae, that is, Huguang's financial gap is getting bigger and bigger, and it is difficult to cover it up by simply falsifying accounts.

A warehouse full of grain, if the caretaker steals a stone of rice, no one will know; stealing a percent of rice can also be interpreted as a rat infest; But if all the rice in the warehouse is stolen, there is only one way left - to steal the remaining half of the rice in the warehouse, and then burn the warehouse and report the lightning to struck away the water.

In the past few months, many gentry in Wuchang have made a fortune, and they can't watch Governor Zhang's accident happen, otherwise no one will have good fruit to eat after the Qing court investigates it, and the idea that these gentry gave Governor Zhang is to "burn the warehouse".

It just so happened that Deng Ming returned from Nanjing, and in the script of producer Zhang Changgeng, Deng Ming would play the role of Lei Gong, and capture a few of the capital cities and county towns in Huangzhou Mansion and other places. Zhang Changgeng can ruthlessly report the loss, because he knew in advance that the city would be lost, Zhang Changgeng can also preemptively transport away the inventory in these places and use it to fill the deficit of some feudal treasury. As for the issue of leadership responsibility, Zhang Changgeng is not worried, this can be completely blamed on his predecessor, Hu Quancai, the governor of Huguang, who has led to such a situation by draining the troops of various Hubei provinces regardless of it, and Zhang Changgeng is not afraid of anything as long as he can guarantee the recovery of these lost territories -- what Zhou Peigong said to Deng Ming Zhang Changgeng did not want the Ming army to attack the city and seize the land for the position of governor, it was simply a smoke bomb used to confuse Deng Ming, or it was a flaw that was deliberately leaked to the other party.

This can not only solve the economic troubles, but also help Zhang Changgeng solve the political problem, Hu Quancai's previous protection was also very effective, and Governor Hu did not waste this power, appointing many local officials. For the remnants of the Hu Party, Zhang Changgeng, who is a thief, has always been quick to get rid of them, and after using Deng Ming to eliminate them, he can also make room for Zhang Changgeng to use his wishes, which is the so-called killing two birds with one stone.

As for the credit and reputation that Zhang Changgeng longed for, after "recovering the prefectures and counties that were "captured" by Deng Ming, he could blow it as much as he wanted.

Shut down

After Producer Zhang handed over the script to Zhou Peigong, he was strongly opposed by Director Zhou, who said: If the actor Deng Ming sees this script, then he will definitely open his mouth and shout a sky-high salary. If you don't give it, it's still a trivial matter if Deng doesn't take the film, what if you bring someone to the studio?

Producer Zhang thought about it reasonably, and hurriedly asked Director Zhou if he would be released? After a little thought, Director Zhou came up with an improvement solution: pretend to be pitiful first, and let Deng Ming believe that as long as he attacks the city and plunders the land again, Zhang Changgeng will lose his position, and he will take the initiative to sue the other party about this matter to win the trust of others; Deng Ming must have been able to realize the value of Zhang Changgeng's ascension to the throne of the governor of Huguang, so he could use this to persuade Deng Ming to cooperate with Zhang Changgeng's actions and be content to accept some grain and grass for peaceful transit; Then Zhou Peigong could send false information to Deng Ming, claiming that some county officials had noticed the abnormality, or swore allegiance to the Qing court and refused to provide food and grass, and planned to denounce Zhang Changgeng and let Deng Ming take action to exterminate these magistrates; Since Deng Ming has the intention to keep Zhang Changgeng's position, then he will definitely return the city happily and allow Zhang Changgeng to brag about the victory.

Director Zhou pointed out that this kind of filming method can greatly save the salary, and the starring Deng will also work harder, and what Zhang needs to pay for the film is only the 18,000 taels of gold balance that he didn't plan to ask for in the first place.

Again, Zhang Changgeng was scratching his ears and cheeks when he heard this, and he was overjoyed, and immediately ordered Zhou Peigong to go to the Ming military camp to fool Deng Ming, and take full charge of Hubei's suppression and pacification.

Originally, Zhou Peigong was not too worried that Deng Ming would wake up afterwards, first of all, he might be kept in the dark forever, and secondly, Deng Ming regretted it, and the Qing court was unlikely to believe his words - the Ming army's defeat on the Qing court's feudal officials, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a counter-strategy.

However, today's Deng Ming's expression shook Zhou Peigong's confidence, and the words he had prepared in his heart were suddenly disintegrated by the other party, which greatly shook Zhou Peigong's confidence, and he suspected that Deng Ming had guessed part of their plan. After leaving the camp of the Ming army, Zhou Peigong immediately asked a confidant of Zhang Changgeng to rush back to Wuchang to report, and told him word for word about today's negotiations and Deng Ming's threat.

Within two days, Zhang Changgeng's henchmen rushed back from Wuchang with another governor's cronies, and after listening to the report, Zhang Changgeng ordered Zhou Peigong without thinking to "tell Deng Ming bluntly, and then meet his demands." Worried that a person would not be able to tell, Zhang Changgeng also specially sent a second henchman, and he repeatedly told Zhou Pei to be fair: "The governor said, don't lose a big one because of a small thing, don't play any tricks anymore, the governor said, Mr. Zhou, you are a righteous gentleman, you can't fight with Deng Ming, let's talk to him all." ”

After explaining clearly, these two people also asked to go with Zhou Peigong and observe his negotiations with Deng Ming.

Now that the top boss has disarmed and surrendered, Zhou Peigong has also lost all his fighting spirit, and after entering the Ming army camp for the second time, he honestly put forward Zhang Changgeng's true request and asked Deng Ming the price of cooperation.

"It's impossible for me to agree with Governor Zhang's boast of defeating me, and the rest is negotiable, but this is about my reputation, and about the loyalty and morale of my soldiers," as Director Zhou expected, after Deng Zhuang's understanding of it, he immediately began to change the script: "My great cause of Zhongxing cannot be bought with silver." You can only say that I gave up voluntarily because I had no food, and you can't say that you defeated me and drove me away, otherwise don't blame me for turning my face and not recognizing people. ”

The two people who were listening behind Zhou Peigong nodded their heads like chickens pecking rice, and Zhou Peigong didn't see their movements, so he still wanted to resist stubbornly: "But it's not good for Governor Zhang to explain to běijīng." ”

"Anyway, you can put the blame on Hu Quancai." Deng Ming looked at Zhou Peigong's two negotiation deputies who nodded like garlic, and sneered: "These magistrates don't agree with Governor Zhang, I did my best to solve it to help, Governor Zhang still wants me to damage my reputation, is there anyone in the world who treats friends like this?" Deng Ming felt that fighting two battles was not a bad thing, actual combat was the best way to train the troops, and this kind of actual combat without risk was really hard to find.

Syllable!

Li Laiheng, who was listening from the Ming army, slammed the table and shouted: "It is precisely because Governor Zhang has enough friends that we help him, if Governor Zhang doesn't treat us as friends, then why should we protect him?" Even if he were to change to a governor, would he stop doing the good things he had money for? Governor Zhang doesn't want to be the governor of Huguang, some people want to be! ”

"No, no." The face of the person behind Zhou Peigong turned white with fright, and he hurriedly shouted: "The governor is definitely a good friend of the admiral and Hu Shuai, just do what the admiral wants, just do what the admiral wants." ”

Deng Ming then put forward a condition, that is, after the Huguang Qing army recovered the city, it must not harm the people in the city, which Zhou Peigong had no objection to. If the army suffered heavy casualties but did not allow the soldiers to slaughter the city, then the soldiers may not be willing to fight hard in the future, and the recovery of the city of Deng Ming obviously does not need to fight, there is no reason and need to boost morale; Secondly, there will be sequelae in the city washing, and there are many Hubei people in the yamen of the governor of Wuchang, if there is no fierce fighting, there is really no need to condone the army to sack their hometown and offend their colleagues.

"In the recital given to Běijīng by Governor Zhang, I want to see the following words: 'Deng Mingqiu has committed no crimes, no property has been taken, no women have been fortunate, this thief has won the hearts of the people, and his ambition is not small.'" The meaning is almost the same, in short, I want everyone in the world to know my benevolence and righteousness, and I can use this reason later, or Governor Zhang himself can think of a reason to promote for me. Deng Ming unceremoniously used Fan Zeng's words about Liu Bang on himself.

"Just do as the Admiral wants." Seeing that Zhou Peigong was hesitant in such a trivial matter, and seemed to want to push back, Governor Zhang's henchman servant was so anxious that he agreed for Zhou Peigong.

Deng Ming did not agree, but stared at Zhou Peigong, who sighed and nodded lightly in approval.

After all the demands were met, Deng Ming paused and pondered for a moment. And Zhou Peigong was full of despair, he could only wait for the other party to make an offer now, and the people sent by Zhang Changgeng gave up all the bargaining chips that could be bargained, and now Zhou Peigong didn't want to struggle, he knew that even if he tried to resist, two pig-like teammates could help Deng Mingshun achieve his goal.

"The debt of 18,000 taels of gold will be forgiven." Deng Ming made the first condition.

"Okay." Zhou Peigong agreed very happily, which was also expected, and he estimated that the big head was still behind.

"Provide food and grass for our army along the way." Deng Ming said the second condition.

"No problem." This request is even more reasonable, Zhou Peigong didn't even expect Deng Ming to take this out solemnly.

"Nothing else." Deng Ming smiled: "If Mr. Zhou has nothing else to do, let's go here." ”

"No other requirements?" Zhou Peigong couldn't believe his ears, this extremely cunning Deng Ming didn't take the opportunity to knock a bamboo pole fiercely, and as for the two henchmen of Zhang Changgeng who were listening, they were even more dumbfounded. Although both of them met Deng Ming for the first time, they had heard about each other's strength from Zhou Peigong many times, and before leaving Wuchang, they saw Zhang Changgeng also with a sad face, asserting that this time they must be bleeding profusely.

"There are no other requirements." Deng Ming said with a smile, he observed the expression on the other party's face, full of surprise and joy, and gradually began to have doubts and worries - Zhou Peigong was more troublesome, but his two teammates were easy to see. After the doubts of the two of them became heavier and heavier, and basically occupied the entire face, Deng Ming explained: "To be honest, this time Governor Zhang would be so attentive to me, which greatly surprised me and moved me. Ask yourself, if I were to get along with Governor Zhang differently, I am afraid I would not be able to do such righteousness, and righteousness must be reciprocated with righteousness! Since Governor Zhang treats me as a friend, what is it for me to make a little effort for my friend? Friends share weal and woe, and they go together for a lifetime. ”

After listening to Deng Ming's words, one of Zhang Changgeng's henchmen was so moved that his eyes were red, and he stood up suddenly, kneeling to Deng Ming: "The villain has heard the Admiral's righteousness for a long time, and now I see that the name is really worthy of it, the Admiral is right, the head of the family is a good friend of the Admiral, and he has always regarded the Admiral as a good friend." ”

Another person also had a similar appearance, and assured Deng Ming: "The head of the family will definitely treat the admiral with sincerity in the future, and the admiral has written down this affection, if there is a place for the villain in the future, the head of the family will definitely repay the admiral." ”

After being polite to these two people, Deng Ming got up to see off the guests, he kept sending Zhou Peigong and them to the camp gate, and finally said goodbye to Zhou Peigong affectionately.

"The Admiral is really righteous." Zhou Peigong smiled wryly, hugged his fist at Deng Ming and said, he pondered for a while, and found that Deng Ming's move had shaken his status as a "negotiation expert" and "expert on Deng Ming's issue". Although no one believes in the nonsense that Deng Minghui and Zhang Changgeng are heart-to-heart, after these two servants of the Zhang family go back to report, it may affect Zhang Changgeng's strategy against Deng Ming, and they may also send more family members to participate in negotiations in the future, after all, they are the Zhang family, and they are more reliable than Zhou Peigong, an outsider. Zhou Peigong believes that Deng Ming's lack of a lion's big mouth is not a good sign, most of them are putting a long line to make the fish bigger, if there are no two servants on the side, Zhou Peigong can also give Zhang Changgeng a careful analysis and persuade him to agree with his own views; If Deng Ming had opened his mouth today, it would have been easier for Zhou Peigong to do this, and at the same time, it would have made Zhang Changgeng aware of the dangers of involving his henchmen who had no negotiation experience. But it is almost impossible to do these two things now, and the two servants' good opinion of Deng Ming will definitely affect Zhang Changgeng, and the latter will not fully trust Zhou Peigong's analysis.

"I'm not afraid of god-like opponents, I'm afraid of pig-like teammates." The two servants of the Zhang family were far away, Deng Ming whispered in Zhou Peigong's ear, then laughed, turned around and strode back to the camp.

And after hearing this, Zhou Peigong was like a lightning strike, standing in place in a daze and unable to move, and a surging emotion surged up from the bottom of his heart, so that he almost couldn't help but look up to the sky and roar: Parents of those who gave birth to me, Admiral of those who know me!