lcionline Chapter 380 Bribery
Chapter 380 Bribery
If arquebuses were icing on the cake for the Guan Ning Army, then this type of artillery was a godsend. The Guan Ning Army was primarily a cavalry force, with highly mobile and impactful cavalry units. However, they lacked effective countermeasures against heavily infantry in formation and were incapable of breaching fortified positions; they couldn't even take down a small fortified village. With the addition of this type of artillery, the Guan Ning Army's ability to fortify fortified positions would be significantly enhanced.
Upon hearing Liu Ye's "out-of-the-mouth" price, Wu Xiang and his son were overjoyed. Ten warhorses for a small cannon was a great deal!
Seeing the undisguised joy on the faces of the two men opposite him, Liu Ye smiled inwardly. In his opinion, exchanging one mountain cannon for ten warhorses was quite a bargain!
He had more or less guessed the other side's plan of feigning one move while secretly advancing another. The Guan Ning army was primarily cavalry, and they wouldn't waste time and effort retraining arquebusiers. In comparison, mobile cannons were what the Guan Ning army needed more. He seemingly generously quoted a price of six hundred taels, but the mountain cannons were actually worth less than two hundred taels, still a significant bargain. Most importantly, what he sold to the Guan Ning army could be a modified version, perhaps mimicking the trick he used in his deal with Zheng Zhilong years ago, using easily bursting white cast iron as the casting material. This way, he would gain warhorses without causing future problems.
With both sides harboring their own agendas, they quickly reached an agreement, and the price for the transaction was set: two muskets for one warhorse, and one mountain cannon for ten warhorses. In the end, Wu Xiang and his son agreed to two thousand muskets and fifty mountain cannons, equivalent to one thousand five hundred warhorses. They agreed that the transaction would be fulfilled after the Shandong war ended, and the specific time and place of the transaction would be negotiated separately.
After the deal was agreed upon, both sides were very happy. Wu Sangui was happy because the Guan Ning Army had gained a powerful new weapon, making them even stronger; Liu Ye was happy because he had unlocked the potential of cavalry technology, allowing the Qiongzhou Camp to embark on a path of comprehensive development.
The next morning, Lin Tianming sent someone to privately inform Liu Ye that the governor was free that evening and could come to "report his thoughts," and implied that the governor "does not refuse gifts" and could make some gestures.
Upon hearing such a blatant hint, Liu Ye grinned from ear to ear. He wasn't afraid of officials not being corrupt; he was afraid of people not being corrupt. As long as someone had something to ask for, he could please them. He hadn't brought a large sum of silver with him to Shandong this time, but just in case, he had exchanged some gold bars for backup, which unexpectedly came in handy. Since establishing the two major customs offices in Tainan and Bofu, coupled with his monopoly on the raw silk trade around Suzhou, money was just a number to Liu Ye. He wasn't short of money now, but he lacked people and territory.
After finally waiting until late afternoon, estimating that Zhu Dadian had finished dinner, Liu Ye went alone to the central military tent to request an audience. As if they were waiting for him, Zhu Dadian immediately let him in after announcing his arrival.
Zhu Dadian remained composed and asked slowly, "These past few days, generals from all directions have been coming to see me one after another, all for the sake of attacking Dengzhou City. I wonder if Lieutenant General Liu has also come for this matter?"
Without Lin Tianming's guidance, Liu Ye might have taken the opportunity to request a position to attack the city. However, after Lin Tianming's analysis, Liu Ye understood and naturally wouldn't willingly suffer at the city walls for a little military merit.
He replied respectfully, "Your Excellency surely has a plan in mind for how to arrange the various forces to attack the city. I have already made some minor contributions, so I will not trouble Your Excellency further. I have come tonight on another matter." As he spoke, he took out a small package containing five gold bars from his pocket, gently placed it on the table, and pushed it slightly across from him. "These are some local products from Guangdong, a small token of my appreciation. I hope Your Excellency will accept them with a smile."
Zhu Dadian immediately recognized that the thing wrapped in the cloth was not a local specialty. Without making a sound, he reached out and touched it. Sure enough, it was hard and made a faint metallic clanging sound. It was a gold bar. This Guangdong military officer has quite the lavish spending power!
He casually put away the cloth bag, coughed, cleared his throat, and said, "You have traveled thousands of miles from Guangdong to Shandong to quell the rebellion. Whatever your request, I will try my best to fulfill it. But you brought local products with you. You must not do this again."
Seeing that Zhu Dadian accepted the bribe without any psychological barrier, Liu Ye felt reassured.
"I have heard that the governor has begun to plan the governance after the rebellion is quelled, and the most difficult issue is the starving people who have been displaced by the war."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Dadian sighed: "Yes, these starving people have had their homes destroyed and their fields abandoned. They have no clothes to wear and no food to eat. In the Qingzhou area, some starving people have already started to vandalize wealthy households. If this is not handled properly, it could lead to a popular uprising and spread like wildfire, which would be even more troublesome than a war."
Liu Ye tentatively asked, "Does the Governor have any good ideas?"
"I have also considered this, it is nothing more than a matter of hard and soft tactics. Hard tactics refer to using military force to suppress the starving people's looting, arson and vandalism, while soft tactics refer to opening granaries and distributing grain to relieve the starving people. However, suppression is only a temporary solution, and opening granaries and distributing grain and porridge can only solve the immediate problem. Moreover, after the rebels looted the granaries, most of the granaries in various prefectures and counties are empty, so distributing porridge is like a skilled cook without rice."
Liu Ye was overjoyed: "This humble general has a plan, but I don't know if I should tell you?"
Zhu Dadian's eyes lit up. "Tell me about it."
"Qiongzhou is sparsely populated and has large tracts of uncultivated wasteland. If Governor-General grants permission, the Qiongzhou garrison can organize and transfer starving people to Qiongzhou to reclaim wasteland and become self-sufficient. In this way, the situation in Shandong after the war will surely be stabilized, and Governor-General will be able to handle various government affairs with much more ease."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Dadian realized it was a radical solution. Moreover, military officers organizing immigrants to reclaim wasteland was not a new practice. As early as 1628, Zheng Zhilong, who had just been pacified, with the support of Xiong Wencan, transported famine-stricken people from southern Fujian to Taiwan by sea to reclaim wasteland and settle down. He recruited tens of thousands of disaster victims from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, providing each person with three taels of silver and three people with one ox. This not only eliminated the potential for peasant uprisings in Fujian but also earned Xiong Wencan a good reputation, leading to a smooth career path.
Thinking of this, he glanced at Liu Ye. Zheng Zhilong was Xiong Wencan's "lucky general," so could Liu Ye be his "lucky general"? He couldn't help but ask, "Lieutenant General Liu, are you aware of the matter between Xiong Wencan and Zheng Zhilong in Fujian?"
How could Liu Ye not know? He knew it all too well. To deal with Zheng Zhilong, he had practically investigated Zheng Zhilong's ancestors for eighteen generations. How could he not know the story of how this civil and military strategist worked seamlessly together in Fujian? It seemed that Zhu Dadian was clearly trying to recruit him. He understood the implied meaning and took the initiative to say, "As long as the Governor doesn't mind, this humble general is willing to be the Governor's right-hand man and help the Governor stabilize the post-war situation in Shandong."